The New Year begins here

As some of you may know, I have been out of action for over a month. I am now back, and having spent a couple of weeks reminding myself what the world is like, I am ready and able to make my New Year's Resolutions and begin what everyone else began on January 1st. I always make resolutions, and I always keep them.

This year's:

1. Attend more academic conferences
2. Attend more work-related networking events
3. Get back down to the dress size I was when I got married six months ago
4. Swim in the boating lake near my house every day, even if it's cold

Those are the main ones, and then there are a few smaller ones that I'll attempt to implement on a day-to-day basis.

Wish me luck!

What have been your resolutions? How are they going? Have you kept them so far?

Decorating? Look no further.

Checking out Designer's Block today, I noticed a link to Ghost Furniture, on which Di sells her amazing creations. I did spend a long time looking at everything and wanting all of it, but am probably moving house soon (having already moved four times in the space of a year), so I might wait a while until we're settled. Well, as settled as two nomads can ever be. 

You, however, have no excuse. Go, see, buy. Now. 

Support Katie for Beat

A friend of mine is doing a parachute jump for Beat, a UK-based charity promoting awareness and understanding of eating disorders. She's certainly braver than I am!

If you'd like to support her (go on, you know you would!), you can join the group on Facebook.

It's Eating Disorders Awareness Week from February 23rd-28th. If you want to get involved - or to find out more about what's going on - you can request a free pack from Beat here.

Thanks! :)

And still we laugh.

Should we laugh about a moron having been in a position of abundant power for the last several years? Probably not. But when you read the things he says, it's impossible not to. As James George Frazer states in The Golden Bough, 'more mischief has probably been wrought in the world by honest fools in high places than by intelligent rascals.'

If you, like me, do quite enjoy having a giggle at the previous US president, take a look at Slate for a full list of The Complete Bushisms. Classic. 

Easily the best customer complaints letter ever written

Logging on to Facebook earlier, I saw that one of my friends had posted a link. 'If you do nothing else today', it said, 'read this'. So I did. And so should you. I laughed more than I have in a very long time. 

Ouch. Ouch. Ouch. Ouch. Ouch. Ouch. Ouch. Ouch.

A woman in California has just given birth to octuplets - six boys and two girls. They were born by C-section, which was probably a massive relief to the mother, and are all 'healthy and energetic', according to one of the nurses who was interviewed. The scans had shown seven babies - enough, you might think! - so the arrival of number eight was a surprise. 

Just imagine how much she's going to have on her hands when they're teenagers... not for the faint-hearted. 

Confused shoes

I have never been a fan of Uggs. I imagine that, in my previous freezing cold house, they would have made useful slippers; but as boots, they look horrendously uncomfortable and rather like old lady houseboots. Having said that, I'm hardly one to comment on style, having always had the reputation of being able to work the 'straight out of bed' look, due to the fact that I do indeed just roll out of bed and throw on whatever comes out of the blue chest in the living room. 

The advertising campaigns for Uggs, however, are even more confused than the shoes themselves. Around a year ago, I was walking through a London tube station, probably wearing some ancient, beaten-up shoes, and I saw an advert for Uggs, bearing the slogan 'I am not a sheep'. All very well. But the picture was of five sets of legs, all wearing blue jeans and beige Uggs. This did not seem to make sense to me; except, I suppose, that the legs did appear to be human legs, rather than sheep legs. 

And now, to continue the confusion, I have just logged on to the ridiculously addictive Scramble application on Facebook to floor my friends with my linguistic abilities (most common words: 'inane', 'tits'; longest word: 'trilobite'), and noticed a banner ad for Uggs directly above the Scramble board. It pictures two pairs of Uggs - one beige, the other sort of the colour of a sheep's diced kidney before it's been cooked - and asks the question 'Which Uggs do you like?' 

'Neither', I replied in my head, having not even realised I was paying attention to the advert (this happens when you work in online advertising). 

'Can't choose?', it continued. My mind remained a bit of a blank. (Well, it is Monday evening.)

'Let your friends decide!', it suggested as a solution to the problem of being unable to make your own decisions. 

So, the overall message from Uggs seems to be: 

If you don't want to be a sheep, it's ok! You're a human being! But obviously, you're only a human being if, like the rest of humanity, you wear Uggs. And, if you can't decide which nondescript colour of granny slipper you prefer, you can always ask the rest of humanity how to best express your individuality. 

 

How can you love someone who's called Gumpert?

When they look like this:

 

Ohhh, the Gumpert. Horrible name. Not, to be honest, the prettiest car ever made. That would make a nice blog post. But it's so damn exciting! An 8-cylinder, 650 horsepower, 850 Newton metre monstrous machine with a top speed of over 300km/h. Yeehah. 

Still, I'm not sure saying "I have a Gumpert" has quite the same ring as "I have a Ferrari", "I have a Lambo", or "I have a Bugatti Veyron". 

But LOOK AT IT. 

I'm going to creep off to my corner and drool for a while. 

Peugeot looks into the future

Peugeot is looking into the future for this year's Paris Motor Show. Applying the theory of evolution to cars (apparently), they've come up with a number of designs that might be workable in 2060. I like the fact that they don't look too outlandish: no wings, no hovering, no human faces or fur. Just cars that look like they come from the future. More pictures can be found here. 

Advertising at its finest

Goodbye Guantanamo

...hello Obama 

:) 

No sentance could be long enough

http://kelseyspurpose.org/

Bush Street this morning

Found this over at True Teaser Blog. Perfect.

Epidémie d'overdose

Je viens de lire en Yahoo! actualités qu'il y a eu vingt-et-un cas d'overdose à l'héroïne en Ile-de-France: quinze en Seine Saint-Denis, et six dans le Val d'Oise. Lisez l'article entier ici. 

Daily Dose of Helium

Are People Inherently Good?

Is this how things will end up?

Having read the recent Guardian article about a man who was so desperate to help his son's rise to fame that he wore a t-shirt with his name and photo on it, I would not be at all surprised if this began happening in schools: 

A Slightly Different Dose of Helium

Recommended articles, because I'm feeling too lazy to write one this evening: 

Women in Afghanistan: Is their plight our business?

The Importance of Philosophy in Everyday Thinking and Decision-Making

Poetry: Awakening

Why is Modern Judaism so Divided?

How much do you want to visit this shop?

Scrabble Keyboard

Brilliant. I want one: 

The Daily Dose of Helium

Just the one today, as I spent so much time blogging! 

What Are Green Wheels? 

First? Great? Last. Rubbish.

Since moving to Pretty Country Cottage, I have had to get the train to work three days a week. This does not bother me in the slightest: I have no objection to travelling, so long as I can read, write, or think whilst doing so. So far, so good. The journey from doorstep to doorstep takes around three and a half hours, which gives me plenty of time to satisfy my voracious academic appetite both before and after work. 

There is, however, one small problem. The trains. They don't run on time. Ever. And I mean ever. Every day since beginning work, there has been a delay on the line. Whose fault is this? I don't know, but it doesn't seem like too much of a coincidence that all bad experiences I've ever had on trains have been with the same company. If you live in England, chances are you're now shouting "FIRST GREAT WESTERN!" at the screen. 

When I was based in London, I was for six months simultaneously co-managing a gallery in Brighton, doing a research project in Oxford, and travelling on an almost-daily basis to Farnham in Surrey. When travelling between Brighton and London, my train would arrive at the station, I would board and be at my destination within about an hour. The same could be said about Farnham. The first time I went to Oxford, however, my train was delayed so much that it took me three and a half hours, rather than one, to get from station to station, let alone door to door. I dismissed it as a one-off. Until I started making this trip on a more regular basis. 

On Friday of this week, to give an example, I arrived at the station in the morning to hear the announcement: 'We regret to inform you that the 10.31 has been delayed, due to a delay to an earlier train.' I thought this was hilarious, having heard a couple of days ago the following announcement from the driver when we inexplicably made a stop in the middle of nowhere: 'Apologies for the delay, there is a train on the track in front of us.' You'd think they'd be prepared for that, wouldn't you? 

Anyway, I decided that the Friday morning announcement was so unbelievable that I had to tell my husband all about it, so I sent him an incredulous text. On the way home from work, I arrived at the station to discover that the 19.18 to my destination was delayed. Fine by me: that isn't the one I get, anyway. But then I looked to the right, and saw an announcement on the board: 

'All FGW services will be subject to delayed boarding. This is due to delays on incoming trains.'

Since when did it become acceptable to blame the delays to your service on the delays to your service? I suppose they've run out of other options. 

The Daily Dose of Helium

Articles for the day: 

Poetry: Drugs

The Sum of All Parts: A Dialogue on Consciousness between Platonism and Quantum Physics

Are Angels Real or Imaginary? 

The Garden of Earthly Delights

I was reading The Triangle Sky the other day (well worth a look!), and noticed a post about Hieronymous Bosch. Aside from having an amazing name, the guy could paint. Above is The Garden of Earthly Delights (click to enlarge). Trippy. 

Lobelias - you learn something new every day.

Wikipedia is an amazing place. Today I learned all about the lobelia (in the masses of free time I have on my hands in between everything else..!). There are around 400 different species of lobelia; other names for it include Athsma Weed, Pukeweed and Vomitwort. What a great little plant. 

In the Victorian language of flowers (another good Wikipedia article), lobelia symbolises malevolence and ill will. But I think I'd know that, if someone had sent me Pukeweed. Or Vomitwort. 

Lobelia has a number of medicinal uses, including the treatment of athsma and food poisoning; Native Americans used it as a purgative. 

All very exciting. Where would we be without the wonders of Wikipedia? 

Ferrari 206 S

Oh so pretty. I would say more, but I'm speechless in the face of such beauty. More details can be found here, where I found the pretty picture. 

I knew some people were stuck in the '80s, but...

We really are living in 1984. A recent article on the Daily Mail's site reports how a primary school used its CCTV footage - ostensibly available for the protection of its pupils - to find out which child had hidden a pair of black patent ballet pumps belonging to another student. The eight-year-old shoe-hider's mother has labelled the action as 'ridiculous': a statement with which I am inclined to agree. She's eight years old, for crying out loud. And now her parents have been sent a 'yellow warning letter'; after receiving three of these, a pupil is expelled. 

Can you believe it? At this rate, any child of mine would not go to primary school. 

Ritual flashmobbing?

Today, I stumbled across this article by Theo Hobson, which I found fascinating. Many of the points stated seemed to correspond with ideas I've been having in the course of researching comparative religions.  

I particularly liked the statement: 'There is a crucial difference between sacramentalism that is institutionally controlled and forms of it that are not.'  

I couldn't agree more. Often, the point of a ritual lies in itself - as someone once said about prayer, I can't remember who. Perhaps it was one of my old lecturers.  

One can perform rituals that have no theistic basis - many of us do. And one can have spiritual beliefs without being ritualistic, which I believe to be true of certain strands of paganism. One can also have a designated set of rituals which can be called 'religious', in that they are carried out regularly, viewed in some ways as 'sacred', etc.; but such rituals do not necessitate a belief in the 'spiritual'.

Hmmm. Thoughts?

Could be interesting

Allegedly compiled from leaked surveillance footage taken during an official investigation in 2002, WMD pieces together the story of an ordinary MI6 desk officer who discovered deliberate flaws in the evidence being compiled to invade Iraq and tried to expose the truth.

The Daily Dose of Helium

Today's Helium article is all about tea, and can be found by clicking the link below: 

Brew Your Own Medicinal Teas 

My Party is Better than Your Party

Emmy the Great is a living legend. The video's good too. Though it's 'pheasant', not 'fezzek'. But never mind. Embedders can't be choosers! 

While you're at it, check out Amanda Palmer's Black Cab Session. 

Addicted to Helium

My words to my husband earlier today as I looked up from my place on the floor in front of the computer were easy to misinterpret. "I think I'm becoming addicted to Helium." No, don't worry. My voice is not going to alter its pitch from womanly to squeakishly clownlike. I have discovered Helium, a website where up-and-coming (or, indeed, established) writers can post articles on almost any subject and be paid for the privilege of doing so. You are, however, required not to post exactly the same article elsewhere, which is understandable. Thus a new feature of this blog is going to be an occasional list of recent titles of mine on Helium, which you can click on to read if you're so inclined. 

Today's list: 

What is Customer Service? 

Landlords: The Highwaymen of this Century. 

Leather Office Chairs for that Home Comfort. 

Happy reading! 

Contents of my Noticeboard

I think a noticeboard can tell a lot about a person. Having recently moved into a lovely new house, which I'm sure I'll write more about at a later date, I have my study looking the way it should. Being us, we have a study, a music room, a kitchen and a bathroom. We sleep in the music room, where the bed is, and eat also in the music room. But, when we're not playing music or studying, we're not doing anything. 

Anyway; for want of a better idea, I thought I'd post the contents of my noticeboard, for anyone weird enough to be interested. 

      A list of my academic pursuits, just so I can keep up-to-date with what I’m doing.

      An article about class, including the priceless statement from Sewell: “One could never make love to a woman with a glottal stop.”

      The article from the Guardian about ridiculous book titles, including: Bombproof Your Horse; Fancy Coffins to Make Yourself; and The Stray Shopping Carts of Eastern North America: A Guide to Field Identification.

      A picture of me at Anita Roddick’s memorial service, holding a sign bearing the slogan: ‘If you think you’re too small to be effective, you’ve never been in bed with a mosquito.’

      A pink piece of card with the words ‘Junk box’ written on it in yellow. I have no idea why it’s there.

      A flyer and business card for my friend’s shop.

      An orange voodoo doll.

      An article about fatherhood – how many children should one have?

      A definitive guide to the most ambitious scientific experiments.

      A leaflet containing a list of all the secondhand, rare and antiquarian bookshops in the Cotswolds.

      A Charlie Brooker column about children being horrendously mollycoddled.

      A picture of three Romany children in Italy, taken just after Cristina and Violetta drowned uncared for by the Italian general public.

      An article about the LHC.

      An article about married life.

      The receipt from Blackwell’s for The Satanic Cult by Gerhard Zacharias.

      An article by a man who is very angry with himself.

      An illustration that once accompanied a column in the Guardian: a woman smoking, and the words: ‘smoking inspires works of genius’. I really do believe this. I think the smoking ban is a terrible thing. Now that there are no smoky cafés, how will we grow our philosophers?

      An article about artificial intelligence.

      A ‘top ten’ list of American conspiracy theories.

      Three cartoons.

      An article exploring the tortured mind of Victorian artist Richard Dadd.

      The Q&A with Slavoj Žižek from the Guardian. I enjoyed his answer about love: ‘What does love feel like? Like a great misfortune, a monstrous parasite, a permanent state of emergency that ruins all small pleasures.’

      My theory of the universe (still in its initial stages), in diagrammatical format.

      An empty packet of powdered dragons’ blood.

      Course notes from Philosophy and Law.

      A review of Victory, the artsy club in London where members are selected on the basis of how interesting the owner thinks they are. I’m not sure if I find this intriguing or terrible.

      A note from Shop Friend telling me to look up some people for the Pilgrimage Project.

      A bullet-point list of themes in the book I’ll eventually write.

      A small paper bag full of pegs.

      The ‘Did I Say That?’ page with Jeremy Clarkson, also from the Guardian.

      A measuring tape.

TThe view from the desk (terribly inspirational):