Feed Me

Ruth is convinced it should be friday; tough day for the Weymouth contingency.

2008-12-03T18:47:08+00:00

Chris ... no work for four days. :-.)

2008-12-03T17:02:13+00:00

Mara is astonished that max has been on the outside for nine months in less than a half an hour.

2008-12-03T07:35:07+00:00

Ruth is in Weymouth for an extra day this week.

2008-12-03T00:04:29+00:00

Eddie previously updated his status.

2008-12-02T22:35:39+00:00

Eddie updated his status.

2008-12-02T21:27:52+00:00

Eddie is updating his status.

2008-12-02T21:19:42+00:00

Chris logged on to his computer to do something but can't remember what for! :-S.

2008-12-02T20:08:43+00:00

Ruth had a hard day "in the office" & has definitely earnt steak & chips; Ministry of Silly Walks is back - Hitchin grade.

2008-12-02T18:18:51+00:00

Chris is hoping that the KitKat Chunky he just ate will keep him awake at work! :-|.

2008-12-02T16:02:21+00:00

Jamie if I changed the way I look today to be like someone else... like someone eeeeeellllse.

2008-12-02T13:26:31+00:00

Ruth is annoyingly WIDE AWAKE.

2008-12-01T23:30:20+00:00

Ruth is in Weymouth.

2008-12-01T17:44:41+00:00

Curtain twitting

2008-12-01T15:04:32+00:00

I think I may just be a curmudgeonly hermit, but the proposal of 'hyperlocal' social networking from Tom Watson MP (via Ben Goldacre's delicious links) makes me shudder. I can imagine it beginning as a noble endeavour, that we all join forces to work for a better community, fight parking restrictions and encourage local businesses, etc. But the rate at which it could degenerate into the worst kind of curtain twitching is too easy to imagine. "Her at number 16 never puts her bins out at the right time"; "Whoever lets their dog crap outside my gate should clean it up"; "The party last night kept half the street up til past 3am and you should be ashamed of yourselves" (this last from my street on Friday).

I like London because of its anonymity. I don't mind working on a local scale for specific projects and I chat to my neighbours. What I definitely do not want is the nosy cow across the street being able to send her complaints directly to my computer. I have a front door for a reason.

Jamie is just sick of everything.

2008-12-01T13:19:48+00:00

Chris has a three day week. :-.)

2008-12-01T12:22:07+00:00

Jamie Schrödinger's cat.

2008-12-01T10:02:46+00:00

Ruth has had a rubbish morning, already. 9am felt like it should be lunchtime, at the very least.

2008-12-01T09:55:27+00:00

Mara is trying to get things done...and more or less, failing-- unless housecleaning/baby care/forum maintenance count, which they don't.

2008-11-30T19:42:18+00:00

Eddie has post datapuddle stupor.

2008-11-30T13:10:27+00:00

Chris actually had some breakfast for a change!

2008-11-30T09:15:05+00:00

Chris is happy :-.)

2008-11-30T01:15:41+00:00

Karen is addicted to Fable 2 on the Xbox 360. ><;;;;;.

2008-11-29T19:20:00+00:00

Chris hopes the fog does not hinder his cycling!

2008-11-29T11:33:02+00:00

Mara is scratching her head whilst being grateful for not having grown up in the generation where being passive-aggressive was acceptable (wait, it still is?)

2008-11-28T19:36:48+00:00

Eddie is accepting offers.

2008-11-28T15:20:28+00:00

Jamie is the filthy columnist.

2008-11-28T13:17:13+00:00

Ruth is back, and too tired to be too nervous.

2008-11-28T13:12:02+00:00

Chris wishes it was Saturday. :-.)

2008-11-27T21:15:13+00:00

Tom has everything to prove once again.

2008-11-27T20:14:55+00:00

This should never happen in the modern world

2008-11-27T19:26:26+00:00

"Mr. G... may have begun vomiting during the night and most likely experienced muscle spasms and sharp abdominal pains. At a certain point, he would have been overtaken by a crushing thirst. But the experience was largely dominated by one hideous process: vast quantities of water being evacuated from his bowels, strangely absent of smell and colour, harbouring only tiny white particles. Clinicians of the day dubbed this 'rice water stool'. Once you began emitting rice-water stools, odds were you'd be dead in a matter of hours.

"Mr. G would have been terribly aware of his fate, even as he battled the physical agony of the disease. One of cholera's distinctive curses is that its sufferers remain mentally alert until the very last stages of the disease, fully conscious both of the pain that the disease has brought them and the sudden, shocking contraction of their life expectancy. The Times had described this horrifying condition several years before in a long feature on the disease: 'While the mechanism of life is suddenly arrested, the body emptied by a few rapid gushes of its serum, and reduced to a damp, dead... mass, the mind within remains untouched and clear, - shining strangely through the glazed eyes, with light unquenched and vivid, - a spirit, looking out in terror from a corpse.'

"By Friday, Mr. G's pulse would have been barely detectable, and a rough mask of blue, leathery skin would have covered his face. His condition would have matched this description of William Sproat from 1831: 'countenance quite shrunk, eyes sunk, lips dark blue, as well as the skin of the lower extremities; the nails... livid.'"

From The Ghost Map, by Steven Johnson

This is a description of the first victim to die in the Soho cholera outbreak of 1854, the outbreak that led to Dr John Snow identifying the cause of the disease - contaminated water. 1854. Since then we've known how to avoid cholera and how to treat it - simple rehydration. Nobody should die of cholera in the 21st century. Nobody should even catch cholera in the 21st century, it's a straightforward case of keeping sewage away from drinking water. Sanitation. The fact that cholera even exists in the world should be a major source of shame for all of us.

News of the massive cholera outbreak in Zimbabwe should provoke outcry. Chronic mismanagement by Robert Mugabe has left 'his' people without clean running water and a sewage system that is leaking. It doesn't take much of the cholera bacteria to leak into groundwater near a bore hole - or just to have sewage standing in cesspools or the street - and cholera will break out. This is why it's a constant threat in refugee camps and other places where huge numbers of people have to spend signficant amounts of time in places without proper sanitation.

But this is happening in cities. Hospitals are closing and don't even have the basic rehydration salts to save lives. The seasonal rains are starting, which will wash contaminated water into even more sources of drinking water and make the pandemic worse. The Zimbabwean government is trying to hide the scale of the disaster, claiming only hundreds have died, rather than the thousands that are not only being reported but are likely, because of cholera's virulence, to have died.

And I had to search for reporting on this disaster because the main news sites are overdosing on the orgy of violence in Mumbai. A terrible situation, but one that has killed (as of now) approximately 125 people. Channel 4 News just suggested 300,000 are affected by cholera in Zimbabwe. Read the first three paragraphs again: this is an appalling way to die. It's just not necessary. And it's happening because the rest of the world (not just the West; African leaders too) stood by and let Zimbabwe collapse.

We should be rioting in the streets. This is a disgrace.

Jamie is The Fifth Columnist.

2008-11-27T12:56:23+00:00

Taking their ball home

2008-11-27T12:15:29+00:00

Picking up a copy of City AM yesterday, I couldn't help but notice their front page story Top Think Tank: Tax Grab Will Backfire. The jist being that introducing the new 45% income tax band for those earning above £150,000 won't actually raise any extra money for the government because those affected will "contribute more to their private pensions, convert income to capital gains [taxed at 18%], emigrate or work less".

They also quoted a poll: "37% were 'outraged and leaving for Dubai', while 15% of those polled were unhappy and could not afford it".

Oh, my heart bleeds for you, my poor little sweethearts. After all, someone with an annual salary of £160,000 has a take home pay of £100,370. Imagine paying an extra 5% tax on £10k of that! Because, of course, it would have been taxed at 40% anyway, but that extra 5% on anything over £150,000 is really going to hit hard. The children may have to be pulled out of Roedean and the Aston sold off. However will they cope?

By playing the system to avoid paying. Just as they do now. The wealthy employ accountants to come up with all the tax loopholes possible so they can keep as much of their lucre as possible, in just the same way as someone on £10k a year can't. But they have to whine about the introduction of a tax band that is largely symbolic and will cost them pennies.

What childish tosspots. 'Oh no, with the economy in trouble I object to being asked to pull my weight in maintaining the stability and security of the nation as a whole. I'm going to fuck off to a country with an incredibly dodgy record on human rights instead. But hey, at least people don't need government help to pay their heating bills so that makes it OK by me.' This is same kind of threat that persuaded the government to relax regulation, which in turn led to the credit crisis. 'Do what I want, no matter what the effect on the economy, or I'll leave. Because I only care about me.'

Mara is realizing that thanksgiving is tomorrow... must go late night shopping for green bean casserole/fruit salad fixin's.

2008-11-27T01:40:50+00:00

Eddie is blaming red wine.

2008-11-26T23:55:33+00:00

Chris in a cunning move spilt soup on his lap... Grrrrr!

2008-11-26T20:13:04+00:00

Spot the dichotomy

2008-11-26T14:51:45+00:00

Yes! New in time for Christmas, it's the fun game for all the family! See if you can spot the problems deep within the Thailand crisis! (Points mean prizes!)

Heard on BBC News 24: 'The People's Alliance for Democracy are occupying the airport in an attempt to force the democratically elected government of Thailand to step down.'

From the BBC website: "The People's Alliance for Democracy wants to replace Thailand's one-man, one-vote system with one in which some representatives are chosen by professions and social groups rather than the general electorate."

Ah, democracy. It's not what it used to be.

Jamie aaaaaaaaahhhhhh I DUNNO SEE!

2008-11-26T12:44:55+00:00

Chris ... Mmmmmmmm. Daim Bars. :-.)

2008-11-25T16:28:17+00:00

Eddie got the black sambuca stains out of his lovely jacket and is available for functions.

2008-11-25T14:03:05+00:00

Conversations with my cat

2008-11-25T13:30:32+00:00

Continuing the neverending series

El Mog: Myaaaaw.
Bagelmouse: No. No you don't. Don't you start whining at me.
El Mog: Mrooooooow.
Bagelmouse: It's interesting documentary night on Channel 4. Shut up.
El Mog: Mraaaaaaaaw.
Bagelmouse: Fine. You asked for it. Mrrraw.
El Mog: Maaaaaaaa.
Bagelmouse: Mrooooow.
El Mog: ...
Bagelmouse: ...
El Mog: Myraaaw.
Bagelmouse: Mrooow.
El Mog: [lying down and rolling over on his side] Brrrip?

Oh. What on earth did I say to him?!

Jamie loves PBR.

2008-11-25T11:29:56+00:00

Ruth should have known better than to try to be organised and plan her travel for New Year; now she has to un-plan and re-organise :o|.

2008-11-24T23:18:58+00:00

Chris enjoyed his bean and chocolate soup. :-.)

2008-11-24T18:46:26+00:00

Karen wanted to go to Comiket but was working. Working Saturdays is evil.

2008-11-24T10:59:40+00:00

Jamie people don't stop playing because they get old, they get old because they stop playing.

2008-11-24T09:42:28+00:00

Ruth is Cornwall bound.

2008-11-24T09:24:58+00:00

Chris is sure everything will be fine. :-.)

2008-11-23T22:59:26+00:00

Tom is very happy after catching up with so many friends at Matts party.

2008-11-23T18:11:00+00:00

Chris is enjoying a bag of scampi fries. :-.)

2008-11-23T17:54:58+00:00

Chris has lowered his standards and is curently eating McDonalds fries at Leeds train station! :-|.

2008-11-23T00:22:30+00:00

Chris ... Pitchshifter rocked like the proverbial boulder. :-.)

2008-11-22T23:50:41+00:00

Chris reckons the gig has take a turn for the worst! Roll on MDB and Pitchshifter. :-.)

2008-11-22T19:49:56+00:00

Chris is enjoying the gig tonight... though he wishes the drinks were free! :-.)

2008-11-22T18:08:42+00:00

Vested interest

2008-11-22T17:15:43+00:00

The other day I was wandering the stalls of the St James's Church Market off Piccadilly. I had to duck out of the way of a man pushing a buggy, wearing nothing more cosy on his upper body than a vest of the wifebeater variety. Brrr. Pausing briefly to look at some necklaces, I heard the stallholder mutter something as he polished up a wooden thingummy.

Stallholder: ...mentally retarded...
Me: Hmm?
Stallholder: Must be mentally retarded that bloke.
Me: Hmm?
Stallholder: It's the only explanation.
Me: Er, sorry?
Stallholder: Out here looking like that. Just a vest.
Me: Oh yes, I saw him. I bet he's cold.
Stallholder: It's disgusting. I wouldn't go out looking like that.
Me: Ahhhm. Well, maybe he just got off a plane from somewhere colder and this is warm for him.
Stallholder: No, I see him around all the time. I wouldn't look like that at home in front of my kids. [His polishing becomes more vigorous, his face is starting to twist]
Me: ...
Stallholder: He's out here in front of his kids, dressed like that, it's shocking.
Me: [Starting to edge away] ...
Stallholder: Disgusting, I tell you. What an example. Out in public like that. He can't be right in the head. [Polish, polish, polish]
Me: [Rabbit in headlights expression] Ahm. [Tight smile, making my escape]

Chris having a few warm-up drinks while watching the rugby. :-.)

2008-11-22T16:01:16+00:00

Chris is very very sleepy! Zzzzzzzzzz.

2008-11-21T23:26:20+00:00

Tom is amazed at how quickly the weeks are flying by.

2008-11-21T21:44:28+00:00

Chris is on the cusp of falling asleep in his beer! Need a Red Bull to perk me up!

2008-11-21T21:34:56+00:00

Ruth got 4 trains on each day of this week, and can count on one hand the total number that were on time.

2008-11-21T19:44:18+00:00