A Gypsy's Prayer

Amaro Dadus
Savo jives drey o tem oprey
Be sherrafo tiro nav
Avel tiro
Be kaired tiro buti
Oprey o poov sar drey o tem oprey
Del mandi to-divvus amaro divvesko
morro
Ta fordel mandi mandi's pizarripens
Sar mandi fordels wafor mushes
lengues pizarripens
Ta ma sik mandi o drom te temtation
But lel mandi abri fon wafodupen
For tiro se o tem
O ruslipen ta o corami
Cana ta ever-komi
So covar ajaw.

Setting an Example

'The End' by The Doors is playing on Last.fm; I'm not really sure why I mentioned that, it's just a good song, and one I'm not ashamed to be listening to. Which isn't something I could say about the entirety of my musical taste range. 

The Obamas are putting a vegetable patch in the garden of the White House, in the hope that it will yield some sort of sustenance later on in the year. For this (and many other things), I applaud them. I had a vegetable garden for years; now, ironically, I don't, despite living in a 450-acre park (it's not mine).

Good luck to 'em, I say.  

Not your average ad campaign

Since Honda's people started jumping out of planes, spelling words and waving hello to their mothers from the sky, all sorts of agencies have been jumping on the bandwagon of originality. Is that really possible? It's hard to say. Being a bookworm, however, and also a sucker for punishment, I'm quite a fan of the idea of a parachutist reading whilst falling, as per the guy in this clip: 

Jezza would turn in his grave, if he weren't still alive...

You may, or may not be aware that the National Speed Limit in the United Kingdom is to be cut to 50mph, down from 60mph on 70% of the UK's A-roads.

So, we'll all drive 10mph slower, and save 250 lives a year (according to the Department for Transport), whilst cutting emissions.

However, research has proven just 5% of road deaths are caused by speed. The greater problem lies with drink drivers, drug drivers, fatigue and more importantly slow drivers!

If you want more information take a look at these:

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=55590146273&ref=mf

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/driving/article5864847.ece

and then sign this Government petition:
http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/noNSLreduction/

Photo credit: izaeus|argazk on Flickr

All you need is Lynx

For all your beautiful women needs:

An Analytics Update

Google Analytics is so much fun. I love seeing the weird things people have typed in to find my blogs. Here are the latest weird chart-toppers: 

Bunnycat Suicide: 'asses', 'beautiful women asses' 

Paracademia: 'paradox of researching speechless terror', 'classification necrophilia'

This one: 'human released into the wild', 'corvette stingray c7.r rendered', 'somnophilia', 'sweetness at the bottom of the pie' 

Studdying: 'my math and science blog'

The Daily Blast: 'and the resident advisor found me', 'boyfriend handcuffed fire alarm'

The Social Media Junkie: 'spongebob nspcc'

Whatif Books: 'sweetness at the bottom of the pie' (again?!), 'broken bulbs', 'deanna reybourn silent on the moor' 

One of my Favourite Things in the World

Life is for living, not lecturing

It was my husband's birthday at the weekend, and we travelled down to visit his family by the sea and be given wine and other liquid-based presents. During the course of the evening, his sister was talking about how necessary it is to have a university degree if you're going to get anywhere in life. Now, I don't disagree that getting a degree is often useful, but it really isn't the be all and end all.

I was quick to point out that my husband has a BA in Philosophy, Religion & Ethics from the University of London, and is currently working as Servery Supervisor in a hotel, rather than for an academic/research institution. His brother has a BA and an MA in Astrophysics and Law respectively, and speaks fluent Mandarin. He is, therefore, an incredibly useful person to have around. Can he find a job in the current market? No.

I, on the other hand, went to university, but then decided to skip the conventional route. I didn't like the fact that the other students seemed to be there for the social life, and that I was the only one who had read the reading list before turning up. I also shouldn't have chosen a Catholic college to go to when I am, if anything, an agnostic who wavers on the atheistic side, but is far too philosophical to attribute herself to it. I, however, am an acting research assistant at the University of Oxford, and have a wonderful job in advertising.

So why me? Why not someone with a 'real' education? Well, for a start, I think my school education has something to do with it. I went to a wonderful school where I got along with everyone, worked incredibly hard and did really rather well. But I don't think that's the reason. I think it has far more to do with the fact that I have been working for years in admin jobs, freelance positions, voluntary placements, and so on. I therefore have a wealth of experience under my belt; and this comes in handy when applying for jobs. After all, it's far less time-consuming to find someone who already knows what they're doing than someone who has to be trained.

To be fair, I did find my job before the recession hit. But I do seem to be employable, and I think that what makes this true is my experience, my enthusiasm and my tendency to do things a little differently.

Over to you. What do you think? Do you have a college/university degree? Has it helped you?

Am I a Fraud?

According to this post, a 'Facebook sociologist' has been examining the Dunbar number and its implications for brain growth among humans. Allegedly, networking with more than 500 people is practically impossible. Thus my having 1,737 friends on my personal profile on Facebook, plus another 162 on my public profile puts me at 1,399 over my limit. Having said that, most people haven't moved house seventeen times, and I do network like crazy. Plus, I hold down a number of jobs, as well as an extensive social life. Well, not so much a 'social life' as an 'I still talk to old friends from school/college/university online' life.

What do you think? Possible? No? Why?

Christina's ad campaign goes well

1:10

Each year, around one in ten women in the UK experience rape or other serious aggression. One in four local authorities allow women to be left in violent, abusive situations without the help they need.

At 1:10 on Friday, March 6th, Amnesty International is asking you to take action on Facebook. How?

1. Changing your profile picture to the avatar here.

2. Updating your status to the following:

'Each year, 1 in 10 women in Britain experience rape or other violence. http://oneten.org.uk'

The idea is that everyone changes their status and picture, which raises awareness; people click on the link and find out what action they can take.

Find out more here.

Pledge to do this here.