Thursday, June 07, 2007

[seven dishes] designed to churn the stomach

Seven foods which really make you marvel at man's mind:

1] Cало: A top entry in the competition would have to be Russian Sala, where fatty pork, replete with blood and jellied, wobbly, oozing gristle is lovingly served with delicious sauteed vegetables.

2] Tripe: It's a type of edible offal made from the stomach of various domestic animals. Beef tripe is typically made from the first three of a cow's four stomach chambers, the rumen (blanket/flat/smooth tripe), the reticulum (honeycomb and pocket tripe), and the omasum (book/bible/leaf tripe). Abomasum (reed) tripe is also seen, but with much less frequency, owing to its glandular tissue content.

3] Black Pudding: It's a sausage made by cooking blood with a filler until it is thick enough to congeal when cooled. Black pudding can be eaten uncooked but is often grilled or boiled in its skin.

4] Frog's legs: Only the upper joint of the hind leg is served, which has a single bone similar to the upper joint of a chicken or turkey wing. They are commonly prepared by frying or deep-frying, sometimes breaded and sometimes unbreaded.

5] Sheep's brains … I can't go on any longer.

6]

7]

[fishy stories] of halibut, tin cans and mobile toilets

Never let it be said that this blog never brings you cutting edge news. Iceland Review informs us, in that quaint way which only they seem able to manage:

The crew of Gudmundur í Nesi recently caught a fish that appeared to be wearing tribal jewelry around its neck. After a more detailed examination it was determined that the necklace was in fact a tin can.

“This Greenland halibut must have looked down into a tin can on the ocean floor out of curiosity at some point,” Gunnar Gunnarsson, an employer at the fish processing plant Brim who received the strange fish, told Fréttabladid.

Gunnarsson said the fishermen, who had caught the halibut, first thought the tin can looked like tribal jewelry they had seen in history books. It had a rusty golden color and it appeared as if the halibut had worn it around its neck for a long time.

“The tin can had partly grown into its flesh,” Gunnarsson explained. He said these days nothing is supposed to be thrown into the ocean, but evidently tin cans are sometimes tossed overboard, which is dangerous for fish. Gunnarsson said the halibut would not end up in stores.

Name me one mainstream newspaper which would bring you that story. Meanwhile, the Age reports that:

Britons accidentally flush 885,000 mobile phones down the toilet each year, according to new research. The phones fall out of pockets or into the toilet after being placed on the toilet-roll holder.

Just tell me - have you ever accidentally flushed yours down the loo?

Wednesday, June 06, 2007

[blogpower] voting has started has started

If you get a chance, either visit Blogpower [banner top left] or hit one of these links to take you to the polling. 19 and 20 aren't yet ready:

1 Best Britblog or Column

2 Best North American Blog or Column

3 Best Blog or Column outside North America and the U.K.

4 Best Fisker

5 Best Ranter

6 Best Political Blog or Column

7 Best Blogpower Blog or Column

8 Best Layout and Style

9 Best Blog Name

10 Best Little Blogger [i.e. under 100 uniques a day]

11 Most Articulate Wordsmith

12 Most Under-rated Blog or Column

13 Most Over-rated Blog or Column

14 Most Politically Incorrect Blog or Column

15 Most Sadly Missed Blog or Column

16 Most Consistently Entertaining Blog or Column

17 Prettiest or Tastiest Blog or Column [refers to food or domestic bloggers]

18 Award for Services to Blogging

19 Best Post of All Time

[beauty] and blogpower

How long till I post something decent again?

Right after I get the last poll up over at Blogpower. Sometime this evening, hopefully.

Meantime, some people have been unkind enough to think that my little guy in the pic [top left] looks a bit dorky.

I don't really look like that, of course.

I actually look like this [lower right]. Handsome little chap, aren't I?

[msm commenters] wot us illit ... lit ... er ... wottev'va

Not everything is as it seems. Predictable MSM blast here by James Farmer, of The Age but this time not at the bloggers themselves:

Comment is twee

I am utterly sick of blog comments. Honestly, I've had enough.

Enough of the flaming, the trolling, the moderation, the spam, the 'who's-got-more' syndrome, the inanity and the sheer stupidity behind allowing them on sites like theage.com.au.

They devalue our content, insult much of our readership, piss off our advertisers, waste massive amounts of our time and place us at an enormous legal risk.

They're also perhaps the least web-savvy thing we, as a large media organisation, should be doing. They're yesterday's online communication forums, they're twee.

This, needs revisiting. Let's get rid of them now.

Thing is - this blogger half agrees with James Farmer. I've seen the comments on my own site and on my fellow bloggers' and the worst they get is incorrect but still readable. But at the newspaper just mentioned, you just need to look at any regular lifestyle column and the illiteracy of the average commenter is staggering:

Not so fast: a lot of 'splaining to do when your teenage son finds it accidentally. "Ewwww" he says.... [Migs is a bit sheepish at June 6]

puts up hand*...ooook...i'll join yours then...[ecboy under a thumb at June 5]

what do I tell you people....research, research research practise, practise an then some … [KARMA at June 6]

*whisper* just between you & i, bornagirl...it's only to keep the peace...i'm not surrendering...[ecboy keeping the peace at June 6]

Tea spluttering out the nose moment, here.Yes, where do you keep it, flightless bird? It's a bit like 'where to put the jewelery' - every place you think of you imagine a burglar finding easily… [bornagirl at June 6]

Rivetting stuff. I don't know how James Farmer finds the exchange above incoherent, near-illiterate and pitched at the lowest common denominator. The pathos is moving and the creative use of the written word poetic.

Bloody MSM snob!

Tuesday, June 05, 2007

[rest their souls] v-line crash

I'm not going to say one word about Connex.

[awards] sleepless but smiling

I went into this Blogpower Awards thing thinking it would be fun to do and would expose lots of people to other blogs.

Personally, I'd hoped I'd do respectably in Category 11 but never dreamed I'd get anywhere in Category 3. I wish I wasn't there now because I'm getting a little nervous. My little circle has already nominated me and now I'm watching late nominees surge.

Don't think I don't appreciate Category 18. I'm a bit stunned that it's gone as it has against such powerful blogpowers as Iain and Doughty but it's still early days. But even if I'm swamped here at the end, I'll never forget those nominations.

There are so many really good things happening. There are some bloggers we all love, self-effacing and yet hopeful and now people are putting them in and I hope it gives them a real lift and makes their day.

From the e-mails, I know many people are enjoying it and that is great for the soul. I'm b-gg--ed but happy. Except for Category 3, where I'm biting my nails.

[visits to blogpower site] today should be interesting

[nour-obscur] my blog's feeling neglected

Don't know if I can post here today, given the state of the nominations over at Blogpower and day-job commitments but I'll be back with a vengeance a.s.a.p.

Of course, the sharpest of you will have picked up that I am, in fact, posting now.

I know I'm biased but it's good to see the Blogpowerers doing so well and nominated, not only by our own kind, but by non BPers as well. And a heck of a lot of BPers have nominated heathens ... er ... sorry ... I mean non BPers.

Phew! Have a good Tuesday!

Monday, June 04, 2007

[not long now] posts will be back

Normal service will be resumed after the Blogpower polls are put up on Wednesday evening and there's some breathing space.

There's been comment and some people have been good enough to communicate it to me. What will I do if this or that happens? Wouldn't it be better to ... ? Most of the suggestions and banners and so on have been taken on board and the feedback has been great.

None of which explains why I took the Awards and just ran them. Doesn't seem too democratic. The thing is, I am virtually my own boss over here and I tend to seize opportunities. As the majority of my clients were taking breaks for a few weeks, the opportunity was too good not to seize, particularly as my blog hiatus is coming up soon.

It had to be now.

As for opening it up to the known universe instead of keeping it cozy and clubby, there seemed little point in running some transparent awards if no one was going to be around to experience them. So if the Blogpowerers get shut out of most categories, then this blogger is going down in flames. He'll be hung by his groupmates. The test will be tomorrow.

There's been criticism of two kinds - that expected, for example by the politically opposed blogger who just said "here's my list" and not one Blogpowerer was on that list. Ho hum. But one which did rankle was the fellow Blogpowerer who sent me an e-mail with the header "[SPAM] Blogpower Awards."

That was constructive of him and I'd like to point him to the 237 e-mails, last time I checked - on the whole people who took it seriously and thought through their nominations. There are 24 waiting now.

I think it's all worth it but we'll see tomorrow.

[taking the p--s] smouldering anger

I'm a non-smoker and I'm angry. I'm sick of coughing my lungs out on a train which is why I drive now. However, this is not why I'm angry.

Very angry.

Let me steal from this brilliant piece by Jim Schembri, on public transport, and say:

"not fly-off-the-handle angry. This is focused, laser-guided angry - we are reasonable people pushed to that point of sheer exasperation which only the inefficiencies of our wretched, run-down, asinine, political system can push us."

It's a double-whammy, a double insult. First, the incomparable Reactionary Snob asks the question: "[Is this] The end of the humble fag break?" He goes on to explain:

Now it looks like our friends in Brussels have their overly litigious eyes on our doorways and expect those of us, who at the end of a hard day defending the innocent (or, indeed, the guilty) will have to go even further afield [for a fag].

Soon enough, we will have to stand in the middle of the street with a sign saying 'I will stub this fag out on my face if a non-smoker comes anywhere near me' hung around our necks.

As if that wasn't enough, on cue, RS's Google ads at the top of his sidebar launched into this:

Catch Smokers Lighting Up

Unique accurate method of catching smokers in the act of lighting up

They're seriously advertising technology to help you turn in a work colleague or friend for something he or she dearly needs at that point in time? What the f--k is this world coming to? Honestly!

You know what? I'm going to take up smoking. Yes I am.

I'm going to fly over to Edinburgh and light up a giant, one foot long joint in the middle of Princes Street and stuff them when they come for me. I'll blow smoke in their faces and knock 'em all out.

I'm angry!

UPDATE: Mutleythedog has just inspired me:

SMOKING IS GOOD FOR YOUR HEALTH!

TAKE UP SMOKING - ITS COOL AND MAKES YOU LOOK MANLY*!

I DEMAND MY RIGHT TO COUGH AND SPLUTTER TO AN EARLY GRAVE!

Now come on over and arrest me! Illegal, my a-se, you non-comps!

*Apologies to the ladies for the unreconstructed non-inclusion there.

[wedded bliss] stymied at the 11th hour

More than interested in this because a similar thing happened to us:

A Gloucestershire couple who spent £4000 on a Caribbean wedding are not legally married because of a spelling mistake. Mike Goodhall and Heidi Loader have spent six months trying to correct the misspelling by a clerk.

They returned the marriage certificate asking for it to be amended, but the travel agents had lost it and their booking records.

Our particular situation was in Thailand and we chose that to avoid local difficulties at home. Everything was fine except for one particular document. We were at Pattaya at the time and needed to take a taxi to Bangkok, [a Mercedes], just to get the certificate.

Nothing wrong with Bangkok - some good shopping there but we'd had other plans and had just come from Bangkok anyway. Still, it was a nice ride in the Merc.

Sunday, June 03, 2007

[special jmb type quiz] try your luck

1] Vancouver is named after:

a. Captain George Vancouver

b. Captain James Vancouver

c. Captain Joseph Vancouver

2] Vancouver is located between the:

a. Strait of Jacquet and the Coast Mountains

b. Strait of Georgia and the Coast Mountains

c. Strait of Georgia and the Toast Mountains

3] The Port of Vancouver became internationally significant after the completion of the:

a. Suez Canal in the 1950s

b. Toronto Sewers in the 1940s

c. Panama Canal in the 1920s

4] The 2010 Winter Olympics will be centred in:

a. Banff and Calgary

b. Vancouver and Whistler

c. Victoria and Seattle

5] The major park in central Vancouver is known as:

a. Stanley Park

b. Laurel Park

c. Hardy Park

6] 40 years ago, the following happened:

a. John Lennon and Yoko Ono had their "Love In"

b. Apple Records went bankrupt

c. Sgt. Peppers was released in the U.S.

7] The next PM of the UK, barring a terrible accident, will be:

a. Angela Merkel

b. Gordon Brown

c. Nicolas Sarkozy

8] Voltaire's Maxim was actually written by:

a. François-Marie Arouet

b. Evelyn Beatrice Hall

c. Beatrice Evelyn Arouet

9] Tiberius Gracchus was a Roman troublemaker [social reformer]. His brother was:

a. Gaius

b. Marcus

c. Tarkus

10] ELP were a musical group of the 70s. The initials stand for:

a. Electric Light Provider

b. Eno, Loggins and Pitney

c. Emerson, Lake and Palmer

Answers here

[u.s. and china] circling like sharks

So Washington is clearly a little worried about the future:

US Defence Secretary strikes conciliatory tone toward Beijing, saying the US and China have the opportunity to "build trust over time".

China's not interested:

China is the new giant on the block, with enormous resources at its disposal. An exporting powerhouse, China displaced the United States last year as the largest exporter to the European Union.

And you know, of course, that the North Pole is now Chinese:

Chinese scientist Liu Shaochuang planted his national flag at the North Pole on Saturday after successfully completing a 56-day odyssey to become the first Chinese to reach the pole alone on foot.

However, all is not necessarily well:

All major Asian stock markets except Bangkok fell on Wednesday after a slump in China's shares triggered by the tripling of the stamp tax on securities transactions.

But analysts believe the impact of the increase will be limited, causing a correction in the short term as the Chinese government does not want to see a big plunge ahead of the Communist Party's 17th National Congress this autumn.

The thing is, it might have Might, China, but it still lacks Knowhow. The U.S. has more to fear from the CFR at this moment than it does outside the country.

[nominations being accepted] we need you

Nominations are now being accepted, via e-mail, to:
jameshighamatmaildotcom
Are these the first, the original, Transparent and Non-Corrupt Awards? There is a theory which says that the best way to deal with corruption is just to factor it in. In a spirit of goodwill, we urge you to e-mail your nominations for the categories of your choice, always remembering the old adage:
"Vote early and vote often.

[bob woolmer] it's just not cricket

This is the sort of thing which makes one throw up the hands in despair:

According to the Daily Mail, police in Kingston now believe Mr Woolmer died of natural causes, brought on by chronic ill-health and possibly diabetes.

And now they're coming out and saying "told you so":

Former Pakistan player Asif Iqbal told the BBC that Jamaican police carried out a "Bollywood kind of investigation". "Every day there were different stories in the newspaper, every day there was a different way of his being murdered. I think they made a mess of it to be very honest."

All right, if everyone's so wise now, after the event, why did the BBC not report these comments in full at the time? The answer is that if was not the story they were running with at the time so they downplayed it.

Murder is a great headline grabber. Natural causes is not.

What is sickening is the way the BBC acted earlier and is now acting "the sage" on the matter, as if they knew this all along.

Saturday, June 02, 2007

[blogfocus saturday] up in arms

1 Maalie is up in arms about boring holidays:

A year or so ago I had a wacky idea to hold my retirement party in the Coto Doñana - one of Europe's iconic wildlife wetlands, situated in the delta of the River Guadalquivir in Andalusia, south from Sevilla in Spain. Since most of my friends have some interest in wildlife, I figured I might be able to tempt a few to join me.

I therefore felt delighted, flattered and honoured when no fewer than 26 representatives of my family, former colleagues and students, Maalie Courtiers and friends (including one from Australia) sat down to dinner with me at the restaurant of La Aldea

2 Wulf's Web Den is up in arms about boring flag designs:

All the nations of the world have flags and none of them have chosen to go with a simple, chic, black and white design. The colours often have as much symbolism about them as the other elements of the design, the patterns and motifs. However, how many flags would you recognise by colour alone?

However, I am left with one question - why did no-one pick purple when they were looking for inspiration?

3 Big Chip Dale is up in arms about Tuesday:

First, the dull news.

There are times in life when you just have to cast aside your thong and go with the flow. Today was one of those days. The schools have broken up for a week so the Chipster's normal routine has been invaded by prepubescents crying about who is a 'smelly head' and what so-and-so's brother will do when he gets back from the off license.

It was a nightmare and it go no better when Gabby shouted told them to clear off and they called her something obscene involving vinegar. That prompted Monica to wave her commando dagger in their general direction. Then there was screaming, calls to the police, a slight standoff involving police with guns...

4 Heather Yaxley is up in arms about green serfdom:

A new study reports lower carbon emissions from working at the office rather than at home. I don’t know about the other 3,399,999 million people who’ve escaped the rat race, but there’s no way I’m ever going to return to being a wage slave in a regular 9-5 office environment.

Besides, the heating at home would be on during the Winter months to keep my stroppy 22-year old cat warm.

5 Wayne, whom you don't know, is up in arms about how we light the criminals' way for them:

Should we as law abiding people have a duty of care to criminals that come into our homes? Midlothian council seems to think so. They have kept the lights on in an abandoned school to make it easier for criminals so they don’t get hurt. The electricity bill comes to £3000 per year.

I think this is stupid. No one should have a duty of care to criminals. If they hurt themselves they deserve it and it is their own responsibility.

6 LFB is up in arms about 20 mph speed limits which target the wrong people:

The majority of accidents are caused by people walking into the road without looking! Whilst speed could contribute slightly, the simple fact is the pedestrian should not have been there!

Be it a youngster dashing between parked cars, running across the roads, or even city centre pedestians and their refusal to walk an extra 30 yards to the nearest pelican/zebra crossing. Lets put the blame back where it truly belongs, at the feet of the pedestrian.

7 Tim Almond, the quiet man of blogging, is up in arms about the BBC:

A week or so ago, the BBC made a documentary about how some supermarket branches had staff who were doing things like trying to deliberately extend the shelf life of food for sale.

So, I was a little surprised to hear a report on Today on Radio 4, in which a freegan (along with a BBC reporter) were trawling through bins at the back of a store picking up food, condemning the waste of perfectly edible food.

It is right that supermarkets are investigated over matters of public health, but I don't think this is what the BBC is up to. For some time, they've had it in for the supermarkets.

8 Sally in Norfolk is up in arms about ... well ... about nothing really. Anyway, I want to know why she's home and not out rambling:

With Geoff still away in Copenhagen till tomorrow evening. I had time to go and visit my Craft club ladies, see what they have all been up too and start a project I have been meaning to start for a few weeks.

Why I want to knit a fluffy bag , I really don’t know !!!

What I will do with it when its finished , I really don’t know !!!

Maybe I will send it to welshcakes as we all know how much so loves hers bags……

More in a midweek Blogfocus [there's the little matter of the Blogawards first, you know]. Hope to see you then.

[saturday quiz] ten more to test you

1 Donald F. Duncan introduced in 1929 a toy based on a weapon used by 16th-century Filipino hunters. What is it called?

2 Which was the first credit card?

3 Name anything that happened in Britain on September 3rd, 1752.

4 In which Puccini opera do friends ply their landlord with drinks to avoid paying the rent?

5 Mrs. Thomas Smith of Ryde, NSW, Australia, produced a new variety of fruit in 1868. What is it called?

6 The city of St. Petersburg stands on which river?

7 Which is the largest Spanish-speaking country in terms of population?

8 We know that a camel with one hump is a dromedary. What is a camel with two humps?

9 What's the world’s most popular Non Alcoholic Drink?

10 What are the caves at Lascaux famous for?

Answers here ...

[gay parades] russia's view of the matter

I wrote about the Russian attitude to homosexuality here.

Bag wrote, I believe tongue-in-cheek … Quick. Set the Police on to her.

Not Saussure may have missed Bag's intent [or not] … Remember James is writing from Russia, Bag.

The link shows the homosexuals beaten up in the Moscow parade.

Russia is a country of family values and traditions. It believes that a man and a woman get together, marry and have a family, though not always in that order. There's always been deviance [using the term to mean 'differing from the norm in this particular society'] but in the acting profession and certain other sections of society.

It doesn't see any problem with what they call 'normal relations' as the model for society. It's a literal country. The doctor is dressed like and looks like a doctor. The airline pilot looks like an airline pilot. The pharmaceutical chemist looks like it, in his white jacket and mask.

A little girl looks like a little angel and stays with mama and babushka. A little boy roams the yards but not the streets. A man must be strong for his woman because there are many dangers. A woman must also be strong in her own way.

This is their society and true, it is changing, becoming more westernized.

Into this comes the foreign gay activist to coordinate a demonstration of local gays. The man is therefore on a hiding to nothing because he is directly challenging a huge society's values. I'm quite surprised he is still alive. Maybe he's on borrowed time, unless he can get out of the country quickly.

Please read nothing more into my comments than what I have stated.

[discrimination] voltaire maxim must prevail

Charles Robertson has said, upon his return:
It is, apparently, a problem that we don't have anti-discrimination legislation. But why?

I'm with him to this point. Then he adds:

It is certainly appropriate that such rules should be applied to public bodies. That goes without question - the government is paid for by all of us, and exists to serve our collective interests. Bigotry has no place there.

I must respectfully disagree. However, Charles qualifies his own remarks:

If the owner of Prejudiced Ltd has an irrational hatred of a given group of individuals, and doesn't want to employ them or trade with them - why force him or her to?

Charles then adds:

Please note: I'm not defending discrimination of any kind.

To which I reply, in his comments section:

I am. Very much so. People can say what they darned well like, as far as I'm concerned. The moment we make rules about what a person can or cannot say, it's the road to tyranny.

Having strongly asserted the Voltaire maxim, [mentioned here]I also assert the Free Jersey maxim - that if they want to shoot themselves in both feet by denying themselves access to a wider (and potentially more talented) pool of labour, and prefer to artificially constrict their own available market, isn't that a good thing as it will be harder for their business to survive?

Precisely. The only arbiter here is market forces. As for the public sector, he should have every right to bad-mouth, say, dirty Trinitarians - he just won't be promoted or given any position of note. He'll just be shunned. That's prejudice against him.

So yes - I defend discrimination because it's impossible to stop and because to try to legislate it out of existence is worse than the original offence.

And there is a self-actualizing tendency against the bigot anyway, without any legislation being required.

Friday, June 01, 2007

[language] storeroom of values

This blog tries to steer a neutral course on this issue but just had to report a conversation from today:

Lady client [seeing the post on reading maps]: What's heterosexual?

Me: Opposite of homosexual.

Lady client: You mean "normal"?

[blogpower awards] final categories posted

Annual Blogpower Awards

Categories have now been prepared and are posted over at Blogpower for your perusal.

[greener than thou] bush and the eu jockey for position

This is bad:

First some good: Angela Merkel has called for a major [ecological] deal, including slowing the rise in average temperatures by way of a cut in global emissions by 50% below 1990 levels by 2050.

However, George W Bush, who has consistently refused to countenance Kyoto, instead seems to be trying to set up a separate framework on climate change talks outside the G8.

In Washington, he said the US would hold a series of meetings bringing together "nations that produced most greenhouse gas emissions, including nations with rapidly growing economies like India and China".

"The United States is in the lead," he said. "The world is on the verge of great breakthroughs that will help us become better stewards of the environment."

I think if you look through this blog, which is generally quite pro-American, even pro-Republican, if not pro the current White House incumbents, you'll never find me refer to Bush as an environmental criminal. Now you can. Bush is an environmental criminal.

This is good

Odiyya reports that despite Bush's attempts to have it his own way:

Arnold Schwarzenegger arrived in BC today amidst a ceremonial welcome by the provinces First Nations community. Arnold was given three ceremonial gifts before getting down to business with BC Premier Gordon Campbell and signing a five point agreement on fighting global warming.

The two leaders have committed to working together on the issue regardless of the participation of the US and Canadian federal governments.

So, while world leaders squabble over who'll get the kudos and whose plan they'll use, other leaders actually get down to business.