[trapped in a lift] what would you do if

Two cleaning women were trapped inside a broken lift for two days with only two cough drops and six aspirin to sustain them. After the doors closed, the women discovered they were stuck on the first floor of the two-storey building.

There was no response from an emergency call alarm and the women could not pry open the doors, said Ms Bartoszewicz, 25. Neither had a mobile phone and the building was not due to open until after Christmas.

The women tried to sleep on their coats and used a corner of the lift as a bathroom. On Christmas Eve, an employee went to work. Ms Borowski said she heard him talking on his mobile phone. The women yelled and he heard them. Fire crews freed the women an hour later.

Russian domestic lifts are pretty safe and undergo periodic maintenance and with not a lot of money about, still residents of housing blocks pay, every few years, for a new lift . However, the electrics can and do stop and you're suddenly trapped.

Picture this - a man has just nipped down to the shop downstairs for milk and bread. He returns, uses the electronic button to get into the foyer of the house and pushes the lift button, stands back and observes the light above the door - 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 ... ping.

The door slowly slides open [and why do they always do this so slowly - is it an exaggerated attempt to portray gravitas and solidity?] and at that moment there is the buzz from the outer door and some girl comes through, clattering towards the lift. The man pushes Hold Lift Open and she skittles into the four person lift, also clutching packets.

Nods to him, he asks which floor and presses it, then steps back and they pretend to ignore each other as the hushpower door closes. Suddenly he pulls out his bloodred axe - no, that's a different tale ...

A little desultory conversation ensues [love both those words] and he glances over again and compliments her on her new jacket. Then the lift dies. Just dies. Her shoulders sag because:

1. she's been through this before, as she eventually explains, many times;

2. she's in there with a middle-aged man.

He calls the emergency woman below and there's no luck. She's obviously gone shopping. He glances up and around the lift for the first time, noting the elegant decor of brown wooden panels and a rickety roof which has possibilities. At least it is allowing in a finger of light producing a dull glow in the lift.

She's withdrawn into herself so he starts to cheerfully tell her about his last lift entrapment in all its gruesome detail, just to cheer her up, like. It doesn't appear to cheer her up and she reaches into a packet and pulls out a snickers bar. He, on the other hand, has done his three day shopping and has a smorgasbord in those packets. He pulls out a meat and veg pasty and starts munching and she glances over enviously.

He reaches in and pulls out the little packet with the three pasties and offers her one - urges her now. She takes one and offers the end of her snickers bar in return. He gracefully declines then tries the Emergency Woman again - still no luck.

They begin to discuss possibilities of escape and he reflects on his attire - he's in tie and good trousers for work and she's in the latest fashion jeans and snazzy jacket but at least her jeans are already ripped and the unworthy thought crosses his mind that he'll send her up through a panel in the roof.

He's damned if he's going to sacrifice those trousers for an idea and she, surprisingly, has chimed in with this thought and agrees - one's wardrobe is more important in this situation. So ... time to think this one out. There's sufficient food until tomorrow for both of them but the problem is going to be the bathroom [American sensitivities here].

And now she has to go to that particular room and actuals murmurs so. He reflects on his packets - if he repacked his food - well.

"How long?" he asks her and she understands what he's referring to - the time she has left before she really has to "go"? Some time, it seems. Now it occurs to both to use her mobile phone but no luck. He tries the Emergency Woman again but no luck. It's becoming apparent she's waiting for him to play the superhero but if he does, it will have to be sans trousers and jacket.

Still, that's an option because they must be near his floor now and he can nip back there and put some old clothes on. Problem will be leaving her in there alone. Actually, to be honest, he's worrying about leaving her in there alone with his packets of food. He discusses the plan with her and she's relieved but just before he disrobes, he tries the Emergency Woman one more time.

Eureka! She'll send an engineer. Where from? They'll have to phone him. Twenty minutes. The girl looks at him and he surmises, "An hour." She nods and indicates she has to "go". He starts to rearrange the packets and puts three plastic packets inside each other and hands them to her, then turns to the corner like a naughty schoolboy.

He tries not to listen but begins to hear sounds below on the first floor but it's people deciding the lift is not working and they'll go round the back to the stairs. Now if one of them at least were to get out at either of the floors they're between, well - it has possibilities.

She's now done and highly embarrassed and he has a strange sort of feeling inside but one thing for sure - they now must get out of there with the presence of ... that ... in the corner. The vigil begins with both squatting down, backs to the wall until the sound of the Emergency Woman and two men above.

Conversation ensues and all is well. Eventually the door above the lift is prized open, someone drops onto the roof and this now opens. Superhero now offers his hands and shoulder for her to climb onto and as she's young, she makes the lst athletic little climb up, assisted by the guy above. Packets are now passed up as well.

Now it's his turn and this is going to take some strength on both their parts. There go the trousers. He scrambles through the gap finally and the trousers are still OK but marked. She's disappeared by now. He dusts himself off, picks up the remaining packets and goes home.

Next day they find themselves in the lift again together and that's a special little moment.

How Do Americans Vote? Other Musings too

Thanks, Matt but I somehow think you'll get to a computer over there:

I remember long before embarking on this major that I used to debate a friend of mine. I said to him, "Most Americans vote based on one issue alone." He would lob obscenities at me, claiming I knew not what I said. Little did I know how right I was!

Last summer I took my first 400 level class and learned just how Americans vote. Philip Converse, who is considered by many in my field to have written the work on public polling did research on this subject. His definitive work is entitled The Nature of Belief Systems in Mass Publics. Rather than bore you all to death with the work, much of which I don't understand (public polling isn't my specific area, btw), I will briefly summarize what he said.

Converse conducted research in 1956 on how elites and ordinary citizens vote. Briefly, he found out that 11.5% were ideologues or near-ideologues (meaning these are the people who think in terms of liberal or conservative). The majority of Americans, 42%, vote on what is known as group interest. This usually falls to one issue: immigration, Iraq, etc. 24% of Americans vote based on nature of the times, the issue that is in vogue (terrorism, right now); this isn't necessarily the group interest issue. Finally, 22.5% of Americans vote on no issue content: Obama's hair cut looking better than Romney's or some thing of the like.

Now, I will have to go out on a limb here and trust what my professor told me. She told me recent research had been carried out to see if Converse's findings hold true, considering they're a little over fifty years old. They do.

I just turned on the debates about an hour ago, catching the Republicans debating about immigration. A common theme I heard among the candidates was that we can not remove twelve million illegal aliens from our country. Personally speaking, I've heard the number is much greater (through various estimates) than twelve million (specifically that twelve million illegals reside in California alone by one estimate). Above all else, it distresses me that all of the candidates who said it is impossible to remove these illegals from this country. They lied to everyone watching that debate. IT HAS BEEN DONE BEFORE. DO NOT LIE TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE!!!!

One more thing, I won't be contributing here much longer (on a regular basis). Where am I going? A clue lies in the video below:

[fragmentation] strength of the sphere

How's this, from a U.S. Anonymous, as a rationale of the blogosphere?

There is a freedom in this technology, and yes that freedom is under drastic attack from centralised powers that wish only to control. Thus control is anathema to me. The strength of the 'sphere is in its fragmentation. If I don't like a place, I don't go there. Places open up, places close down. Thats the strength of the 'sphere.

It is indeed. Have a lovely night.

[townie ant] the fragrance of the city

Ares Den Dig meeting minutes 010208: The Townie Ant

Gibberish? Now, imagine the blogger has been at a meeting in the city for a length of time and the result of his frame of mind is in the pic he produced. Now, reflect on the fact that this is a blog, so for what purpose? To engage who in deep discussion on the meaning of life?

Now, in that light, the post appears brilliant to me, after which he drops this in to his next, concerning Harrison Ford kicking a Russian off his plane and Bill Bixby making his umpteenth return to the action:

Ms. Manners has emphasised that manners are the glue that hold society together. We turn the other cheek when we can, lest we stoop to vulgarian levels of behaviour. But what do we consider ‘crossing the line?’ When someone’s actions threaten the safety and well-being of others. That, and seeing this raving bloke marching towards the cockpit.

I think if I ever found myself in that position, my mind might work along similar lines. Perhaps Sean should take a look.

[new hampshire] more important than ever

Having read the the American pieces and then the Dizzy piece, the question comes down to whether the Lizard Queen can be the "Comeback Kid" in New Hampshire.

They're similar in that they both polarize voters but different in that he was perceived as young and she as old and as a woman. Before anyone writes off the Lizard Queen, it's also worth noting that a caucus is not a primary - a primary is more direct. Plus she's east coast.

With the exception of Gary Hart in 1984 and some others, NH has been pretty good at picking eventual nomination winners. Detractors of NH point to the uneven sample not reflecting the national split and yet it has the record to back it.

All eyes on New Hampshire. Too close to call.

[martin scriblerus] a fine tradition

Martin Scriblerus was the name given by Pope, Swift and others to a fictional writer of satire in the 18th Century.

Emerging from the particular literary coffee house they were members of, the joke was that anyone in the group could publish a satire and use the moniker Martin Scriblerus.

From this was born the Scriblerus Club and though it was never formal and never really a club, it became associated with fine writing and with a sense of humour. It seems, even today, a fine idea for a group of modern writers, e.g. bloggers.

The idea is completely different to what people feared in the first post on ethics below. In fact, it would be a freewheeling "brand name", as the 18th Century variant was intended to be. All would be equal, there'd be no rules or admins and it would be a collective only insofar as, to be in it, that would signify that you were a quality blogger.

The ethics question would just come naturally with the territory, rather than from any regulations or rules - in fact, in the manner Tony Sharp indicated.

The idea is to create a brand name synonymous with quality and in no way to "hand out Civility Enforced code of conduct badges to good little blogging boys and girls." That would never come into it as it would just be a collective of freewheelin' bloggers doing their own thing to the best of their ability but happy to be associated with the name.

Just as it was with Pope and Swift.

Who would decide such a thing? All members plus the readership's opinion on each blogger. It possibly wouldn't require a special site and paraphernalia and might act more like the Barbarians or I Zingari or like the current Britblog. The Baa Baa's code, by the way, is:

Membership is by invitation and the only qualifications considered when issuing an invitation are that the player's rugby is of a high enough standard and secondly that he should behave himself on and off the field.

It might be a nice combination of Brits, Americans, Canadians and others of a range of persuasions - the only criterion being good blogging.

The danger, of course, is that it could become seen as a club of high-noses and that would be nauseating to fellow bloggers but that could be solved by the simple expedient that caring for the blogosphere might be one criterion and a certain outwardlookingness as another. There's no reason members couldn't be in any other group they like.

Possibly it should have a self-destruct button too to prevent it becoming monolithic.

The question of swearbloggers comes into it. It was raised in the posts below. Speaking purely personally, I can't see the problem when it's for artistic effect but when it's just gratuitous, then it's an issue for some.

For example, in the Touch 'n Go song about Harlem, the girl who's just been mugged of her last $50 says, "F--k you." I'd suggest it was necessary in that context, especially as the whole thing's tongue in cheek. But there's a young conservative girl blogger who drops swearwords anywhere in lieu of good blogging, in an effort to impress as some sort of hard-girl, e.g. "What's that coming over the hill? Oh it's a big f--k off grey cloud."

Bloggers who come into the swearblogger category include DK, Mr. Eugenides, Reactionary Snob and Longrider among others. Clearly top bloggers who know how to provoke and there's nothing wrong with a bit of provocation now and then [I'd never do it, of course :)].

Anyway, the whole thing's just an idea only at this stage.