RUSSIA TO FIGHT WITH GIANT ROBOTS (CTHULHU DISMISSED AS THREAT)

I have just now discovered that 3 years ago, then-President Putin of Russia was asked the question of giant robots and Cthulhu, and replied in the affirmative!

http://www.chaosium.com/article.php?story_id=224

Ok, so maybe he wasn't quite explaIning that we should read the bible or koran to defend ourselves against the Elder God, but...ROBOTS!!!

We need to set up a committee to review the committee!

Can you believe what councils can get up to?

If fact-finding missions to the bahamas were not bad enough, some are now wasting public money on, to quote the Telegraph (Nick Britten), 'chasing their tales'!

Mr Britten reports that Wealden District Council in East Sussex set up a working party to 'scrutinise the council's scrutiny arrangements.'

A council spokesman said the party was to improve services and save money.

Unsurprisingly, the TaxPayers Alliance was on it like a shot!

"the council appear to have wrapped themselves up in knots and ended up in an absurd situation," said Mark Wallace of the Alliance.

"Local residents would prefer they were asked how the council was run instead of adding this extra layer of bureaucracy."

ANALYSIS

The Alliance makes a fair point. Our government has become rather over-bureaucratic for its own good, in all areas. Two examples straight off my head are the police and the trams. 

1. When phoning the police for an explanation as to why their online crime map marks a part of trinity, merton as 'high crime', I was told that the information 'could not be given over the phone.' Eh...why? What am I going to do with it? How is it in any way a danger to society?

2. 'This tram stop is a request stop'...but eh, excuse me, the tram stops at every stop. Waste of time and energy really...

From a news writing eye, the article is too Daily Mail intro, not getting to the sting until the third column.  Not what I'd want in the Telegraph... Good thing this is a blog and so I do not have to write in a proper style!

My fiendish social experiment!

So I have been running a rather fiendish experiment with a good friend of mine (she is an expert in the Middle East) to see what attracts people to blog sites.

We set up a website combing what we judged to be a good niche market of punters (what might be called perverts in some areas, or experimentalists in others) and crafted an idea together to spellhold them.

Effectively we looked about and decided we both like apples, and seeing how I had just written an article on apple day in Mordon (visible here http://mertonmatters.co.uk ), the fruits seemed, well hot. 

We then added the other most important ingredient for 'user hits'. Sex.

So yes, the apple sex or whatever (forbidden fruit I think we called it) attracted around 33 clicks in the first 4 days of operation...

You dirty old fruits you!

UN.I.T...

Quoted from the Doctor Who Wiki:

"Following the broadcast of the 2005 series, in his regular column in Doctor Who Magazine #360 (August 2005), executive producer Russell T Davies explained that the United Nations were no longer happy to be associated with the organisation, and its full name could not now be used. However, the "UNIT" and "UN" abbreviations can be used, as long as it is not explained what the letters stand for. It is unclear how this affects UNIT appearances in the various spin-off media. The modified "Unified Intelligence Taskforce" name was first uttered on screen in The Sontaran Strategem, although the same episode includes a line of dialogue indicating the United Nations still supports UNIT with funding; in addition, the acronym as shown on the organisation's insignia still nearly defines U.N.I.T. as separate words."

Well U.N., just what have you got planned for defending us against hostile alien threats then? 

Related link: http://www.unit.org.uk/

Critical culture

I have been requested to look at some of television's recent (and perhaps not so recent) examples of 'entertainment', and to formulate some sort of opinion, in as dry a witty way as possible.

I will attempt to interpret these programs through a foil; while I believe myself insufficently experienced as to be able to give a full and complete dissection, as say a trained Media or philosophy student might consider trying, I will nonetheless enjoy the arguments that will surely erupt from the attempt.

And now, as this space is free, I would like to spite the chap who, when I was writing a music article in late may, told me I should not write the phrase 'musical volcano', despite the fact that the music did, in its surroundings, evoke the effect of a musical volcano. 

'Musical Volcano.' Hah!