Yet another Airbus down. Previous articles here:One
Two
Three
Four
Five
Six
Friday, November 28, 2008
[christmas banned] here we go yet again
Sorry to get so MSM this morning but just caught this one. A group of girl guides has been banned from singing carols ... wait for it ... for health and safety reasons!The girls, who range from children aged five to teenagers, have sung for pensioners and disabled people at a late night Christmas shopping event at the Marlowes centre in Hemel Hempstead, Herts for more than 20 years.
But the centre's managers have not invited the group of more than 100 members of the Rainbows, Brownies and Guides back this year because they fear they will obstruct fire escape routes.
Fearful of obstructing the fire escapes or fearful that the Christian message of hope and good cheer would be brought to an uneasy and financially suffering population? Fearful that people might want to actually enjoy themselves and that pensioners especially hold to the old traditions and heritage of this land? Plus youth.
And does the centre have no area for such things as concerts? It did for 19 years. And are there no such things as those bank type pillars and cloth barricades to keep people away from fire exits?
Could that not have been done?
Thursday, November 27, 2008
[thought for the day] thursday evening
He who loses money, loses much; He who loses a friend, loses much more, He who loses faith, loses all.
[Eleanor Roosevelt]
I'd add this - let's not misplace our faith in unworthy things. They might look good now but sooner or later they'll betray us. Faith won't necessarily save us in the way we think but it certainly helps us on the way down.
To be without faith is to stumble round in the dark, trying this solution, then that, looking bewildered at how these things betrayed us. Faith in good is really the only way to stay sane and rational.
UPDATE FRIDAY: Oops. The pic above was so atmospheric I had to choose that one from four in front of me at the time. I knew it was originally from a fellow blogger but couldn't remember from whom exactly. It was from Cherie. A thousand apologies for committing the cardinal non-attribution sin, Cherry Pie, of not hat tipping. Wrist is duly slapped.
[Eleanor Roosevelt]
I'd add this - let's not misplace our faith in unworthy things. They might look good now but sooner or later they'll betray us. Faith won't necessarily save us in the way we think but it certainly helps us on the way down.
To be without faith is to stumble round in the dark, trying this solution, then that, looking bewildered at how these things betrayed us. Faith in good is really the only way to stay sane and rational.
UPDATE FRIDAY: Oops. The pic above was so atmospheric I had to choose that one from four in front of me at the time. I knew it was originally from a fellow blogger but couldn't remember from whom exactly. It was from Cherie. A thousand apologies for committing the cardinal non-attribution sin, Cherry Pie, of not hat tipping. Wrist is duly slapped.
[2008 weblog awards] state of play
Apparently nominations closed on November 21st and there were 47 nominated, from what I can gather, from whom 10 will be selected as finalists.Therefore, the chances of my blog being selected are small, with some pretty top blogs in there - UK Daily Pundit, DK, Flip Chart Fairy Tales, Melanie, Samizdata, and so on. They say that voting starts on December 8th and that the final lists will be announced some days before.
There's not a lot a blogger can say in that situation without hypocrisy but if I do manage to make it to the list of finalists and you can see your way clear etc. etc., well ...
What are my chances? I shouldn't say they were high. Once, an old headmaster told me that about 80% spoke highly of me but 20% wanted my guts for garters. I should think, in the light of the unpleasant truths I've recently been telling from this blog, that the latter percentage might be considerably higher at this moment. Plus there are some damned good blogs in there.
Anyway, we'll see what happens.
[housekeeping] email problem
Sorry to those friends who have been trying to mail me. Don't know what's happening but the james higham one is just not operating. It is taking ages to load in Firefox and then won't take a message. I write it in and then it disappears from the panel. I was told by one person he'd tried to send to me a few times and it was registering sent but I have no record at this end.
With the regular mail, the nourishing obscurity, I know two mails got through this morning but I'm told someone tried this afternoon and it was being rejected.
I'll try to get it sorted as quickly as possible or maybe it is a glitch which will disappear.
With the regular mail, the nourishing obscurity, I know two mails got through this morning but I'm told someone tried this afternoon and it was being rejected.
I'll try to get it sorted as quickly as possible or maybe it is a glitch which will disappear.
[thanksgiving] and the space shuttle
The Thanksgiving feast shuttle astronauts will eat in space is displayed Thursday, Nov. 20, 2008 at Johnson Space Center in Houston. Clockwise from upper left: green beans and mushrooms, candied yams, cranapple dessert, cornbread stuffing and smoked turkey. (AP Photo/Pat Sullivan)Thanksgiving for the astronauts is a little different. The food needs water injections first, before heating and then the crew floats, presumably strapped to the seats, with fire extinguishers at the ready and other emergency equipment.
I'm interested in what the sole Russian there thinks of it all. His big holiday is New Year.
I'm interested in what the sole Russian there thinks of it all. His big holiday is New Year.
[thanksgiving] who'll be thanking whom for what
Thanksgiving Day is today.
Traditionally, it is a time where family has flown in from all parts, they sit down to a grand meal and give thanks for being part of America.
Behind the scenes, this year in particular, is the retail price war. Last evening, BBC news ran an item on the "sales ambush", the tendency this year for firms like M&S and others to put on sudden sales with huge discounts, sometimes, 60-70%, on selected items.
In America, the retail chains are in such heavy competition for the dwindling dollar that they can't afford to let Thanksgiving Day slip by and so are opening late on this very day, hoping to catch the bargain shopper who is looking to Christmas shopping at bargain basement prices:
Driving this is the fear that:
From the consumers' point of view, it is a bit galling to go in and buy a toy now for, say $50, when the regular price is $70, only to find that on Black Friday, the price is $35. This is the gist of the "sudden sales "resentment in Britain, as customers purchase items at a certain price, only to discover that next week the price has dropped substantially.
It's not that people are greedy but that they face Christmas without the cash or with the threat of redundancy and they must find a solution. Thus there is a scenario of people rushing about, hearing about a vast discount at some place, a discount which could be gone tomorrow and yet they feel no option but to down tools and get over there. This is third world stuff.
These are unsettled times.
Jon Swift has an excellent piece on Thanksgiving today.
Traditionally, it is a time where family has flown in from all parts, they sit down to a grand meal and give thanks for being part of America.
Behind the scenes, this year in particular, is the retail price war. Last evening, BBC news ran an item on the "sales ambush", the tendency this year for firms like M&S and others to put on sudden sales with huge discounts, sometimes, 60-70%, on selected items.
In America, the retail chains are in such heavy competition for the dwindling dollar that they can't afford to let Thanksgiving Day slip by and so are opening late on this very day, hoping to catch the bargain shopper who is looking to Christmas shopping at bargain basement prices:
At stake is the ability for many retailers, from department stores like Macy's to specialty chains such as AnnTaylor Stores, to keep their loyal customers and eke out a profit as rivals cut prices up to 40 and 50 percent. With times this grim, some are willing to sacrifice more profit rather than risk losing clients for good.
"It's the retailers in the middle who are trying to avoid losing customers," said Anderson. "Macy's is worried about customers who have never spent a lot of money at Wal-Mart trying out Wal-Mart and liking it."
Driving this is the fear that:
Some consumers said they are putting a different emphasis on celebrating the holidays, focusing on time spent with family and friends rather than purchasing the latest hot toy or gadget. They may even choose to craft presents by hand or swap goods gathering dust in the attic to save money.
From the consumers' point of view, it is a bit galling to go in and buy a toy now for, say $50, when the regular price is $70, only to find that on Black Friday, the price is $35. This is the gist of the "sudden sales "resentment in Britain, as customers purchase items at a certain price, only to discover that next week the price has dropped substantially.
It's not that people are greedy but that they face Christmas without the cash or with the threat of redundancy and they must find a solution. Thus there is a scenario of people rushing about, hearing about a vast discount at some place, a discount which could be gone tomorrow and yet they feel no option but to down tools and get over there. This is third world stuff.
These are unsettled times.
Jon Swift has an excellent piece on Thanksgiving today.
[private finance initiative] mechanism for concealing debt
The Spectator, not so long ago, ran this, about the days when Nu-Labour was just coming to power. There was apparently a dinner and Gordo explained himself this way:
Therein lay the ethics, the agenda and the manner of operation of Nu-Labour. Now, as for what it was meant to do, here is an excerpt from an article on how the PFI related to the NHS:
So, even within its stated purpose, it seems not to have been as efficacious as was first supposed.
H/T Jailhouse Lawyer for yet another fisking of Nu-Labour. Well spotted.
As the conversation turned to the inevitable Labour victory, Mr Robinson said how much he was looking forward to turning the government spending tap on again, putting an end to what he saw as the years of Tory parsimony. Mr Davis was bewildered. ‘You can’t do that,’ he replied. ‘You’ve promised to keep within our spending plans.’
The future Paymaster-General smiled broadly. ‘We’re going to do it as capital,’ he said. ‘And then put it on as PFI.’ Davis was understandably baffled. The Private Finance Initiative (PFI) was a controversial, but little-used mechanism established by Norman Lamont to privatise specific construction projects. But it meant something much more to New Labour.
Officially, the scheme could be a beacon for the Third Way: a means of injecting the ethos of the private sector into the sluggish public sector, and an opportunity to get projects completed quickly and efficiently. Unofficially — and this is what Mr Brown grasped from the off, and what Mr Robinson was hinting at — PFI was an incredibly convenient way of concealing the true extent of public debt.
Therein lay the ethics, the agenda and the manner of operation of Nu-Labour. Now, as for what it was meant to do, here is an excerpt from an article on how the PFI related to the NHS:
We began this series by arguing that the private finance initiative, far from being a new source of funding for NHS infrastructure, is a financing mechanism that greatly increases the cost to the taxpayer of NHS capital development.
The second paper showed that the justification for the higher costs of the private finance initiative—the transfer of risk to the private sector—was not borne out by the evidence.
The third paper showed the impact of these higher costs at local level on the revenue budgets of NHS trusts and health authorities, is to distort planning decisions and to reduce planned staffing and service levels.
So, even within its stated purpose, it seems not to have been as efficacious as was first supposed.
H/T Jailhouse Lawyer for yet another fisking of Nu-Labour. Well spotted.
Major news story leading to Major disaster for the economy
Major news story leading to Major disaster for the economy
Do You Know What it is Yet?
First clue.
Second clue.
UPDATE: 12.16am All I know is that a fellow blogger is well on the way to cracking this story...
UPDATE: 02:12 Bombs Away!
Watchout for Cherrypie's post from another angle later today...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)