[birthday present] just a little house in the country

Introducing the new home I just bought for a birthday present to myself. You like it?

Updown Court in Windlesham, Surrey, has 58 acres of gardens and woodlands, five pools, 22 marble bathrooms and more than 50,000 square feet of living space, according to the list posted on Forbes.com, which did not say who the seller was. Oh, and a bowling alley, too.

Coming a close second is The Hala Ranch (welcome in Arabic), a 95-acre property in Aspen, Colorado, owned by Prince Bandar bin Sultan bin Abdul Aziz, the former Saudi Arabian ambassador to the United States - a job that must pay well as the asking price is $135 million. The 56,000-square-foot mansion has 15 bedrooms and 16 baths.

You doing anything speical next weekend?

[help please] between a rock and a hard place

Recently, I put out a distress call to the blogosphere because though New Blogger is tolerating my current template for the moment, they're poised to reject it, should I make any changes. I know this because I've been experimenting on another blog.

I dearly want to tweak the colours and make other adjustments but I daren't go into the template for fear of New Blogger. That's why I asked if anyone knew of a good three column template, acceptable to New Blogger.

Tim Almond, bless him, made a very sound suggestion but it involved leaving Blogger altogether, which I'm loathe to do, as it's the only free blog which allows flexibility on headers, html etc. Wordpress doesn't give you this freedom in its base version.

UPDATE: I've finally decided on one which I can tweak and am in the process of building it right now. If you'd like to see paint dry, it's here at Mister Badger. When it's near done, it will be transferred across.

[who's guilty] us psy-ops, iran or saudi

Nice article on the growing Saudi-Iran factor in the Middle-East:

Given the unprecedented instability across the Middle East - with opposing factions allied either to Iran or to the US - there is a real danger of misunderstandings spinning out of control.

An example of US psy-ops, according to the Ahmadinejadists is:

The Rafsanjani camp has lately started a widespread misinformation campaign against the Ahmadinejad government, accusing it of radicalism, unnecessary militancy, economic incompetence and disregard for the national interest.

In explaining the mindset of the current Iranian elite and their blaming of the U.S. for all Middle-Eastern ills:

From their perspective, the Islamic Republic ensured its long-term stability by facing much of the world with modest means and with iron will as its only real strategic asset (against an enemy that enjoyed the unqualified support of much of the Arab and Western worlds). They believe that the culture of sacrifice born out of eight years of war, and the unique nationalist-Islamic political heritage it has spawned, will ensure the survival of the Islamic Republic against all odds.

The Saudis have been pursuing a more pro-active foreign policy, brokering the Abbas-Hamas truce, for example but the Iranians tend to solely blame the Americans for the new Saudi stance:

If this is indeed the case, then the Iranians have badly miscalculated. All evidence suggests that the Saudis have decided on a more pro-active foreign policy largely because of Iran's growing role in the region. Far from neutralizing US intrigues, by engaging more closely with the Saudis the Iranians are in fact bolstering the position of their only serious regional rival.

It's an interesting read, touching, as it also does on the article in Jane's Intelligence Review last month by Michael Knights, implicating Iran at the deepest level in Basra and therefore leaving one to puzzle over the U.S. backpeddling on what is seemingly obvious.

[cutting edge] vital issue of the day

Far more important than cash for honours, more profound than Richard Rorty and as dramatic as the recent blogwar, you might be forgiven for feeling that trivialization such as this does dirt on a genuine tragedy such as this. Not a bit of it. Read the purple prose below and you'll agree, I'm sure, that this is where the real world's truly at:

Giorgio Armani took hemlines higher for his less formal Emporio Armani collection, while Gucci swept evening dresses right to the floor in jewelled black and Grecian column white. Armani, who kept dresses just above the knee for his main Giorgio Armani line on Monday, made them shorter and cheekier for Emporio Armani, but kept to the bubble skirt shape nipped in to the hem that he had used before.

He also kept feet firmly on the ground in flat pumps, after saying on Monday that you did not need high heels to be sexy. Models strolled down the catwalk in pairs, wearing complementary outfits so that chiffon stoles slung over shoulders were twinned, black spots on white and white spots on black. Charcoal grey with a fine horizontal chalk stripe was used in one outfit for a skirt, and parallel for a shirt.

For the breathtaking attempt to put socks on models, you'll need to read the full article. This news most definitely qualifies under the Cutting Edge label.

[another year] the power of a kiss

Birthday celebration tomorrow, nothing else planned. Kisses today and chocolates. Minus 20 degrees and snow everywhere. Happy man.

[thought for the day] misogyny

Most abused word in the blogosphere: misogyny. There are very few people out there who hate women. Hating what feminism has done/is doing to society does not equal misogyny. Wendy [commenter on Vox Day's recent post]

Don't know about you but I have a real weakness for an intelligent woman with common sense as well.

[cutting edge] the issue all bloggers should catch up with

What with ID cards, the NHS, presidential elections, the EU criminal justice horror and so on, it's so easy to miss the REAL world issue just now:

Fifty large trees went missing from Reykjavík’s largest outdoor recreational area, Heidmörk, during the installation of a water pipeline. Police found the trees in Hafnarfjördur yesterday. They are currently investigating whether the contractor hired by Kópavogur City, which is responsible for the operations in Heidmörk, was planning to sell the trees. Fréttabladid reports.

Kristinn Wium Tómasson, supervisor of the water pipeline project on behalf of Kópavogur, denied those accusations: “We decided to try and save trees that were three metres and lower in cooperation with the head gardener of Kópavogur. They will be replanted after the operations are finished.

Tómasson explained that the company Klaedning ehf. had moved the trees from Heidmörk to the lot of the contractor company Gardafell ehf. at Kópavogur City’s request because then the trees would be more likely to survive. Kópavogur Mayor Gunnar I. Birgisson said he was surprised by the reaction to the operations in Heidmörk. “We will plant trees instead of these, so everything will be as it should,” he said.

Now I think you'll agree - this is an issue that has to be thrashed out.

[blairs id cards] the definitive answer

Disillusioned and Bored has written perhaps the definitive response to Tony Blair's reply to the ID card petition in Extent Of Blair's ID Card Intrusion Revealed . It's not my intention to rehash the issue here but simply to conclude with Guido's words:

The Downing Street e-petitions exercise tells us something fundamental about Tony Blair and his government. They are not listening, your opinion is irrelevant. They view the e-petitions project as a means by which they can put their case to opponents. Tony doesn't take note, a million signatures against road pricing merely means that they will have to explain it again and again until they get their way.

[lit quiz] part 2 - thursday

All of these describe or are spoken by famous female characters. Who are the females, what was the book and who was the author? [Score half each for the literary work and the author and one point for the character.]

6. 'She had the oddest sense of being invisible; unseen; unknown; there being no more marrying, no more having children now, but only this astonishing and rather solemn progress with the rest of them, up Bond Street.'

7. '. . . handsome, clever, and rich, with a comfortable home and a happy disposition, seemed to unite some of the best blessings of existence and had lived nearly twenty-one years with very little to distress or vex her.'

8. 'She speaks much of her father; says she hears There's a trick i' th' world, and hems, and beats her heart; Spurns enviously at straws; speaks things in doubt That carry but half sense.'

9. 'Being alone, and conscious two yards of loose earth was the sole barrier between us, I said to myself- "I'll have her in my arms again! If she be cold, I'll think it is this north wind that chills me; and if she be motionless, it is sleep." I got a spade from the toolhouse, and began to delve with all my might.'

10. 'Being of a sentimental nature rather than an artistic temperament, in search of emotions, not scenery.'

Clues

6. M D in M D by V W
7. E W in E by J A
8. O in H by W S
9. C L in W H by E B
10. E B in M B by G F

Answers are here. Part 1 is here.

[renault] how many suicides to make one car

A 38-year-old worker hanged himself in his home in the town of Saint-Cyr-l'Ecole west of Paris on Friday after leaving a note in which he complained of problems at work. French authorities are investigating working conditions at carmaker Renault following the suicide of three employees in four months at one of its plants near Paris. The workers who committed suicide worked at "The Beehive", where new car designs are developed.

Of course, it might have nothing to do with the working conditions. Why not go on strike, for example? Why not leave the job and go elsewhere? Was it bullying by sub-managers? Or was there more to it? Keep your eye on this space.