Barbie gets serious...not decisive...but still serious.

I read this article recently, it's being doing the rounds on some of my friends Facebook pages.  I'm impressed.  It takes a huge amount of courage and strength of character to be able to face people who are potential threats to you so I very much applaud Mr Davis for his achievement. 

Reading the article made me think of my own recent internal argument relating to this subject....I admit that I have been a little disturbed of late by a number of posts I've seen shared by friends which are either a little questionable, or in some cases, outright offensive. I'm not going to share any of them here as I don't wish to add to their distribution.  Just to clarify, they are mostly posts which scream of religious intolerance and general misunderstanding of the subject they speak of.

 I've been in two minds on many occasions to instantly remove those posters from my friends list.  The internal argument goes something like this:

Voice 1: "do it! you don't want to be associated with people who actually think like that! Anyone who would share that is a bigoted ass hole." 

Voice 2: "but they're your friend, you've know them for "X" years and you know that they don't actually have that opinion.  Maybe they're being sarcastic or missing the point."

Voice 1: "or maybe they've changed...you haven't seen them for a while, friends drift and people's opinions can be influenced.  Maybe they are that person now."

Voice 3: "but I don't actually know. Jumping to conclusions in either direction may make me the exact person that I'm condemning.  I need to think on this more."

I know I said two minds, but there's always a little voice of reason in there!
(P.S. I'm not actually crazy...I have been tested ;) )

I did challenge someone on a post lately...I pointed out the inconsistencies and errors, and the response I got was confusing.  The person responsible for the post replied saying that they agreed with me and that they wanted to understand more about why people wanted to do such bad things and "ruin our country".  I know that not everyone has a pre-determined level of common sense, but surely, if you want to understand something (in this case it was Islamic beliefs) then the way to do that is to ask questions, or read and learn for yourself...not post intolerant garbage on Facebook. 

Is it me who's missing the point? 

My internal argument therefore rages on...the myriad of voices bickering over whether or not to hit that de-friend button...I guess that in some ways actually writing this post may solve that problem for me....I'll let you now if my friend count inexplicably goes down once this is published!

Breaking News!...Man wears mask on Halloween

Yeah, really.  The Scotsman must have been digging deep for stories yesterday so they actually bothered to publish this story  Maybe they had forgotten the date of Halloween?

On the other side of the country however, the clock in Glasgow Central station was dressed up for Halloween for weeks and nobody even seemed to notice!  I, of course, took a photo like the stupid tourist that I am!

Whats in a name...

OK so there's been lots of talk lately about names...mostly because some stupid lady (she's "famous" because she was on a reality TV show) went on TV and offended three quarters of the UK population by admitting (and then trying to defend her thoughts) that she made instantaneous decisions about whether or not other people's children could be friends with her children based on their first name.  If you feel like venting some outrage the actual interview is below:

 To be honest I thought it was quite funny and the woman in question simply made herself look stupid when she declared that "India is not a geographical name"....I think someone should send her a map.

I like names.  I'm interested in how they can either shape the person you become, or how some people shape their names to fit who they are.  For example, I hate it when people shorten my name.  I don't complain about it but those who really know me would never dare (except for one especially close friend who has never called me Annalee because she's too lazy to pronounce that many letters so calls me Al instead...I let her away with it because hearing her say Annalee would be like her speaking a different language!) Don't be fooled however, I hated my name until about the age of 12 and wanted a normal name like everyone else.  As I grew up I realised that it made me different and that I didn't have to fit into a stereotype.  Instead could be whoever I wanted to be which I think allowed me to become an individual earlier in my development than others. 

Nowadays I meet/hear of many more people who share my name, (mostly with different spellings but the pronunciation is the same) but people still often react when they read or hear it because it's not common and I'm often asked about it.
Some people assume I have an exotic background because it's not a typically English name (apparently its Germanic) and when they hear I was named after a well known horse rider - Anneli Drummond-Hay - they assume that I'm from a posh background where people are interested in who wins the steeplechase....Nope. My parents heard the name and liked it...simple as that.  (As you might have noticed I don't think they saw it written down or I would probably have a different spelling!)

My name doesn't however mean that I'm a good influence on anyone else (usually in fact the complete opposite!) Whilst I probably would have been allowed to play with the snobby woman's children in my youth she would have likely learned quite quickly that I wasn't the best role model unless she wanted a child with piercings and tattoos who drank too much and definitely didn't do homework!

I found this article about the subject today which made me smile, mostly because the author (Periwinkle Jones) themselves has an unusual name and added the wonderful final line "Let the comments on my own ridiculous name start."   If it's any consolation, I quite like the name Peri but I know how evil children (and adults) can be about names so I guess that Periwinkle has possibly had a rough time of it. 

There has been a visible change in baby names in the last few decades, when I was small there were an awful lot of Claires, Emilys and Johns but looking at the top 40 baby names for 2013 there are very few "standard" names as more parents opt for the "unusual" (which therefore paradoxically makes them common) with Freya and Imogen gracing high spots on the list for girls whilst Noah and Oscar strike high for the boys.  The comments at the bottom of the page illustrate how the more common a name becomes the more off put people can be.  I admit that I would avoid any popular names for my children too but whether they would thank me for their unusual name during their formative years would be another story...

Aggressive Fruit?

Sometimes I'm unsure whether some people have much of a concept of reality....in today's case the award for overly-cautious-health-and-safety-hazard-spotting goes to the Royal Mail who have refused to deliver to a house due to it's aggressive raspberry plants.

I'll pause there to let you reflect...


Raspberry plants.
Not triffids.
Not giant Venus flytraps.

Raspberries.
Honestly.

The bushes' retired owner is quoted in the article:
"The Royal Mail say it is dangerous. They came round and told me they were aggressive raspberries. It was a visit out of the blue....I have got a fierce growth apparently and the postmen are intimidated and threatened by it....But they haven't got any thorns on them and they are not like nasty brambles so I don't see what the problem is.'"


Royal Mail certainly get my vote for overzealous claim of the year so far...intimidated by raspberries.

Barbie uncovers an evil plot

This week there was a house fire...I think I can spot the arsonist from the photos posted in the news story about it..

 

This little chap was found in the wardrobe (I know it says closet in the article but I'm not American so it's a damned wardrobe!)   Look at that face....I think he was definitely cursing that his master plan had been rumbled...

Like a Rollercoaster

No Its not a cryptic title, it's actually a post about roller coasters...

I love roller coasters...They scare the life out of me but that's exactly what I love about it.  The news today contained a rather chilling story of Rameses Revenge at Chessington World of Adventures getting stuck after the electronics failed and the ride  came to a controlled stop just a few seconds in.  Sitting up there for four hours not really knowing what was happening sounds pretty scary in itself but I'd have at least been glad they were the right way up when it happened!

Amazing that a very still ride can probably be far more scary that when it's moving!

Spoiler Alert...or not

Anyone who has access to a TV or the internet over the last couple of weeks has probably seen something about the most wonderful Game of Thrones.  A recent episode sent shudders throughout the series' fan base and set the media alight....two days after its showing on UK TV however the free newspaper Metro published a story about the episode, which detailed the event that caused so much controversy.  (I was lucky enough to have watched the episode already so wasn't bothered myself!)

I guess they had a vast number of complaints however as the next day they published this article. It amused me, seeming to be a tongue in cheek not-quite-apology to hit back at the complaints.

But this does raise a valid question...how long to leave it until you can reveal a storyline without getting hassle?  Personally if its on TV then its fair game to discuss it openly in the same week...I'm a heavy Sky+ user but if I'm really taken with a show I'll keep up to date!  Movies are a bit harder to gauge...I remember a friend of mine reveling the ending of the movie Armageddon as he returned from seeing it at the cinema - I was livid as I was planning to see it myself a few days later...I didn't bother to watch that movie until fairly recently when it was being shown on TV!

Arrrrgh!

Matey! I know its a little early, because talk like a pirate day isn't until September, but a with a little planning (and cash) you can go the whole hog thanks to Dress Like A Pirate.com Their range even include rum barrels of varying shapes and sizes and other piratey accessories like dubloons and feathers.

All kidding aside, they have some lovely stuff for the alternative dresser too!

Clean up your garden - it'll save you from the bugs!

A recent study has found that another species is nearing the endangered list, but its not some lovely animal that we all want to save this time...its the Pubic Louse - or lovingly also known as Crabs.

 These ugly parasites are being wiped out because of the Brazilian - or maybe a Hollywood if you prefer.  Yup, you got it, people (especially women) having their *ahem*..private gardens cleared has resulted in The Sydney Sexual Health Centre in Australia reporting it had not dealt with women suffering from crabs since 2008 and cases in men had decreased by 80 per cent in ten years.

So, today's conclusion: however much it might sting when that wax strip comes off, every inch of that rainforest you destroy with a Brazilian is saving you from these...

Ewwww!..I hope you weren't eating

The Obligatory Festive Posting...

Can you actually believe its January again already?  2012 went extremely quickly, I guess my lack of posts kinda proves that....*whistles*

I've actually had an excellent time this festive season though, a nice quiet time mostly spent relaxing around the house with Mr B...we both had a cold (I've still got mine unfortunately!) so didn't really get around to getting out very far but we are both a little reclusive so that suits us just fine!

We had a fair bit of excitement when it came to our gifts though....I got the best present I could ask for of a new computer. There was much jumping around and clapping when I opened it!  I've always had hand me down machines from other people and never actually a nice new one of my own (not since I was 10 and I got an Amstrad for Christmas! - you know the ones with the tape deck in the keyboard)   Everything is all nice looking and shiny on the interwebs now and I've been loving turning up the graphics on all my games at last! Anyway..enough of my gloating, I should just say I was very spoiled. 

After a huge amount of food and a couple of family visits, suddenly new year was upon us.  Again the reclusive side of me would be quite happy to sit at home in the warm, but we had been invited round out for some drinks and movie watching instead...Apparently we all got bought slogan t shirts for Christmas too... 
  

As an odd choice of "festive" movies we watch Nude Nuns with Big Guns (I know it sounds like an adult movie but it wasn't completely (Gurn argued this vehemently as it was his choice!)...I wouldn't however recommend anyone adding to to their must watch list!) and after the bells had gone and we had hung out the window watching fireworks we watched The Rocky Horror Picture Show.  B and Lorne had never seen it so have obviously been begging for the education :s...They both seemed quite amused and weren't too put off by the rest of us singing along and joining in with the audience participation so that's something!

Another new year is here now though...lets hope that 2013 is a year of peace, love and happiness...but doesn't fly by quite as fast as 2012 did!