Undeserving

I happened to be reading an article about a new book by Polly Toynbee (of The Guardian) and her partner David Walker (fo The Guardian). It's called Unjust Rewards and it's about the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer, that kind of thing. But something struck me as odd while I was reading it. While conservatives are criticsed for "Victorian" views of the deserving and undeserving poor, it seems to me that the views of the media elite are founded on similarly outdated notions of the deserving and undeserving rich: Some people who earn more than, say, five times the average wage deserve their money (eg, Guardian columnists) whereas other people (eg, lawyers and bankers) don't. I have a family member who is a lawyer, and I can testify that he works far harder than I do and definitely deserves his money. I don't have any family members who are bankers, so I can't say whether they deserve it or not.

In the future, everyone will be famous to fifteen people.
[posted with ecto]

Man, kids are smart

As we all know, video games are the cause of most of the world's ills -- for another few weeks. The kids are well aware of this, so as a consequence when a kid was caught making Molotov cocktails, he naturally blamed it not on TV, cinema, rock n'roll, comic books or anything else the judge might not go for. No, he blamed it on Grand Theft Auto (GTA). There was a flaw in his plan...

It’s questionable whether the kids actually discovered how to make Molotov Cocktails from any of the games in the GTA series, because the weapon comes ready-assembled in the game.

[From Teens admit to Grand Theft Auto-inspired petrol bombfest | Register Hardware]

When you were a revolting yob in the 1950s you could blame it on rock n' roll. In the 1960s, you could blame in on television. In the 1970s, Clockwork Orange. In the 1980s, Mrs. Thatcher and yoof disenfranchisement. In the 1990s, it was rap music. Today, it's... computer games.

In the future, everyone will be famous to fifteen people.
[posted with ecto]

Psychlepath

I was riding my government-subsidised bicycle to work again today and I noticed that I'm actually turning into a proper cyclist, and this is only my first month. I got really upset by cars cutting me up on the A320, gnashed my teeth because the council has let bushes grow over the path, swore at cars parked half on the pavement and felt a strange, warm glow of supercilliousness as I freewheeled past the petrol station. I don't know what's happening to me...

In the future, everyone will be famous to fifteen people.
[posted with ecto]

Paint it black (and then and jewels)

I was walking down Oxford Street with a friend and he pointed out a Muslim woman walking past in black head-to-toe covering, which I believe is called a hijab. In the back, picked out in sparkly stones, was "Dior". We remarked to each other on the cleverness of designers and walked on. But then, alerted to the phenomenon, we began to notice that many of the hijabs that you see on Oxford Street have jewels around the cuffs or stones set on the sleeve and that sort of thing. I'd never noticed it before, but I guess there's a deep seated human desire to display status -- my husband is richer than your husband -- that will always find a way. It's just a different kind of bling.

In the future, everyone will be famous to fifteen people.
[posted with ecto]

The evil of dihydrogen monoxide

This is pretty funny -- it's Penn and Teller sending out a researcher to get members of the public to sign a petition complaining about dihydrogen monoxide -- but there's a serious point behind it: the public are, generally speaking, a bit thick. They're not as thick as pop stars though: so what the campaign against dihydrogen monoxide really needs is a high-profile spokesperson like Chris Martin from Coldplay.

In the future, everyone will be famous to fifteen people.
[posted with ecto]

Smooth operators

How odd. I went into Starbucks with no. 2 son. I had a relaxing Latte, he wanted something with fruit. On the blackboard was advertised some form of special that seemed to involve apples and mangoes. He asked if it was a smoothie. The assistant told us "we're not allowed to call it a smoothie" but then went on to inform us in a conspiratorial aside that "but it is a smoothie". Has someone patented the word "smoothie"? I wonder if next time I ask for a coffee after lunch in a restaurant I'll be told "we're not allowed to call it coffee" because of a retaliatory strike by Starbuck's legal team. But, as always, truth is stranger than idle speculation in a snide aside. It turns out that Starbucks has already been trying to trademark particular coffee bean types!

Starbucks, the giant US coffee chain, has used its muscle to block an attempt by Ethiopia's farmers to copyright their most famous coffee bean types, denying them potential earnings of up to £47m a year, said Oxfam.

[From Starbucks, the coffee beans and the copyright row that cost Ethiopia £47m | World news | The Guardian]

I'm bored of saying it, but you can't make this stuff up.

In the future, everyone will be famous to fifteen people.
[posted with ecto]

It's all about the kiddies

In the strange, looking-glass world of modern Britain, most stories in the daily newspapers are already beyond parody. For instance: I read in my newspaper (at least, I read in the newspaper of the man sitting next to me on the Tube) of an 82 year-old of woman who was stopped from taking photographs of an empty paddling pool in a public park because a council official was worried that she might be a paediatrician.

So it's true. Anyone out with a camera in a public place is now, officially, either a terrorist or a pervert (perhaps even both). How did this happen?

In the future, everyone will be famous to fifteen people.
[posted with ecto]