[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.