The Ramblings of an Accountant

First of all, thank you all for your kind wishes and sympathy last week. I was a bit of a mess for a while, and C and friends poured alcohol into me on Tuesday night.

Dad's already talking about getting another dog. (Yet) another tricolour bitch, so, whatever her name ends up being I suspect her real name will be Luce-Pop-Whatever... I know even when I was home a couple of weeks ago I managed to call Poppy "Lucy" by mistake.

(If you're not familiar with "Shelties", I would have a quick gander here - they are utterly adorable, incredibly affectionate and quite intelligent.)

I'll try and get hold of some photos of both Lucy and Poppy at some point and PICSPAM y'all!

Work's been manic this week, so in lieu of any other content, have some newscientist content instead.

Thanks to newscientist, a successor to the Oncology Ontology Project has been found. Kill or Cure?. For the uninitiated, the website categorises those things that the Daily Mail have proclaimed (loudly and clearly) either causing or curing cancer.

A few selections:

Cause: Aspirin, Babies, Bread, Calcium, Cheese, The Pill, Dieting, Eggs, Fibre, Fish, Gas, HRT, Mammograms, Milk, Mouthwash, Pizza, Pregnancy, Rice, Sex, Spices, Statins, Stress, Sun, Sunscreen, Tea, Vitamins, Wine.
Prevent: Aspirin, Babies, Bread, Calcium, Cheese, The Pill, Dieting, Eggs, Fibre, Fish, Gas, HRT, Mammograms, Milk, Mouthwash, Pizza, Pregnancy, Rice, Sex, Spices, Statins, Stress, Sun, Sunscreen, Tea, Vitamins, Wine.

(And yes, I am quite aware that a lot of those are valid. But, trust me, you don't want to put yourself on the Daily Mail's side in that debate.)

Also from newscientist (you can tell I've been going through back issues, can't you?), excuses for failing at sport with scientific accuracy

And finally (as Feedback would say) if you're of an apolcalyptic bent, Fifty ideas to change the Earth is rather quite interesting. Unfortunately you do need to be a subscriber to see all fifty. (And NS seems to have removed the Institution Subscription, more bad luck.)

So, two dispicable pieces of bigotry are in the news today. First up, as you will all be aware, Jan Moir seems to be a poisonous homophobe.

I wouldn't bother clicking on that link though - try this one instead - it captures both the essence of Jan Moir's vile outpourings and also the dispicable mentality behind it in an amusing way (Link now with 100% less added Daily Hate Mail!!! - Thanks, capra_maritimus!)


Oh, and late yesterday the Daily Mail issued a press statement from Jan Moir stating

"In what is clearly a heavily orchestrated internet campaign I think it is mischievous in the extreme to suggest that my article has homophobic and bigoted undertones."

In case any of you are thinking that that might be a reasonable response, please remember:

Another real sadness about Gately's death is that it strikes another blow to the happy-ever-after myth of civil partnerships. Gay activists are always calling for tolerance and understanding about same-sex relationships, arguing that they are just the same as heterosexual marriages. Not everyone, they say, is like George Michael.

While she might think that the "myth" she is trying to dispell is that civil partnerships are more glamorous than straight marriage. Nope, she's rebutting "gay activists" claims that "they are just the same as heterosexual marriages".

Other Parodies / Comments
Newsarse Parody
Not So Wunderbar Parody
The Enemies of Reason Blog
Charlie Brooker on the Grauniad's Comment is Free
Ray Greenslade in the Guardian
News that M&S has asked for their ads to be pulled from the internet article
Liberal Conspiracy Blog
Penny Red, asks why homosexuality = unnatural, but violent hetrosexual marriage = natural.
Anorak News
Akela's Diary
Hagley Road To Ladywood
Caron's Musings

(Any more? Post them in the comments! Thanks to clanwilliam and burkesworks for the current list.)

Oh, and I've realised that Jan Moir is the snooty arse who wrote an article about shopping in Poundland a few months ago. This woman severely needs a career change. For all our sakes.

Secondly, and not so publicised, we have the news that a white US justice of the peace has been criticised for refusing to issue marriage licences to mixed-race couples.

Mr Bardwell, who has worked in the role for 34 years, said that in his experience most interracial marriages did not last very long and estimated that he had refused applications to four couples in the past two-and-a-half years.

He said he had "piles and piles of black friends" but just did not believe in "mixing the races".

Oh yes, that old chestnut. "I can't be racist - I've got lots of black friends". Right.

Oh, and

"There is a problem with both groups accepting a child from such a marriage," he said "I think those children suffer and I won't help put them through it."

Will somebody think of the childrun!!!!eleventyone!!!!

Sheesh. And here was I thinking this sort of thing was illegal in the States.