I've wrestled with this for a few days now. How the hell am I supposed to make some kind of judgment based on so many conflicting voices?

Why do individuals I know believe, without question, the human induced climate change theory? Is there something they have read or watched that tipped them over the point of any doubt?

The climate models and proof of this theory seems to be so damn complicated that I can't see how anyone could possibly understand it. People seem to be interpreting the data in completely different ways and reaching opposite conclusions.

Regardless of the reality of this threat, it seems very strange that the government are lamping us with huge amounts of propaganda to reduce our energy consumption without ever linking these changes with how it will affect the temperature of the earth. How much CO2 reduction is enough from the UK? When can we stop? Should we all go live in caves and eat moss?

Gahhh I'm sick of hearing about it all. The only program I've ever seen that makes any sense is the Channel 4 doc explaining the sceptics point of view.
"An Inconvenient Truth" has been shown to be a complete pile of lies (mainly because the temp variations happened 800 years before the CO2 rise, not after) and everything else seems to just make the leap from a warming climate to a human induced warming climate.

I keep reading comments like, "the overwhelming evidence for human induced climate change is irrefutable!". Is it? How do you know that? Where did you find this mine of information and manage to get through enough of it that you were left with no doubts at all!

In short, when scientists are receiving millions of dollars worth of funding for climate research, can we really trust them to tell us that "actually it's not really a problem after all" we don't need any more funding this year.

The opinion that we should all fundamentally change the way we live "Just In Case" they are right seems so stupid when we've got so many more tragic and troubling problems in the world.

I don't agree with landfill, I do agree with recycling. That's just common sense but this CO2 thing is still just a crazy mystery to me!

...with the amount of misleading "public information" adverts appearing on TV.

Let's take the "Rat poison in medicines bought online" ad.

Now I'm not saying that it's not true, it could happen and the advert certainly get's its point across but notice the sponsors at the end of the advert. The first is Phizer who have a notorious reputation for overcharging for drugs and forcing people to buy from them rather that alternative cheaper suppliers from India for example. These Indian firms are a little cheeky in that they produce patented drugs without authorisation and sell them at a far more reasonable price.

Now I'm not going to get into the merits of the patent system here but it does seem to be a very strong offensive advert in order to convince you not to go to an alternative supplier. A bit like MacDonalds claiming that all your local burger resturants use dog meat.

Next up is the "Act on CO2" adds which are misleading to say the least. The famously banned ad showing a father reading a bet time story to his daughter about rising sea levels boils down all the information to a simple fact. "Adults should feel guilty for driving their cars and putting the heating on". It's really the worst example of fearmongering and seems to suggest we should all go live in caves.

Finally is the "Change For Life" ads. Now this one I can agree with in principle. Yes the government should be promoting healthy living. All good stuff.
My problem comes when they decide to sponsor The Simpsons on Channel 4. Their chosen slogan...

"..supporting the Simpsons...Sometimes!"

Why the fuck did you choose to sponsor a TV program where the main character promotes the exact opposite of everything you are suggesting?
We love Homer because he says "fuck it! Life's for living" (not a direct quote).

My fav Homer quote "To alcohol! The cause of and solution to all of life's problems!"

So Change 4 Life basically suck all the fun out of The Simpsons at the beginning and end of each episode and at the ad break! What a complete bunch of twats!

OK rant over!

Just found the film Creep in my collection!

Forgot I had it. Think some late night horror would go down very well.

Wait till Mel goes to bed though cos it's not her sort of thing.

Nice!

OK so obtained a Terabyte network drive the other day and started the process of ripping my DVD collection. Not a small project as its quite a sizeable collection.

But where to start?

Decide to organise films by genre. Mainly because I know that Mel is mainly a comedy, documentary, thriller kinda gal so would make selecting a film easier on future nights. Trickier than it first appears though..

Initial catagories were pretty easy...

Comedy
Action
Thriller
Sci-Fi
Horror
Family
Documentaries

In the course of my ripping have added the following catagories:
Christmas (for specifically Christmas themed films e.g. Muppets Christmas Carol, Miracle on 34th St etc..
Adventure (Indy Jones, National Treasure, The Goonies etc..)
Comic Book Heroes (V for Vendetta, Batman etc...)
Disaster Movies (Titanic, Cloverfield, Independance Day)

Think I need to add a Crime section.

There will still always be questions of course... here's a bunch of problematics. Give me your opinion...


The Lord Of The Rings Trilogy (new section for Fantasy?)
Pulp Fiction, Kill Bill etc... (possible new section for Too Cool For School)
AngelA, It's A Wonderful Life, Eternal Sunshine, Vanilla Sky (Weird off the wall jobbies like this are hard to place)
Fallen, Identity, The Usual Suspects (plot twist buggers)
The Borne Trilogy (is it action or thriller?)

Any comments much appreciated!

N.B. Oh and I refuse to add a Drama section! I don't really count drama as being a valid catagory because everything should have drama in it...

Climate scientists accused of 'manipulating data'

Lying bastards whipping up the crowd so their grant money keeps rolling in...

And the headlines just keep cumming!

Dammit!

It seems that every advert is for a fragrance of some kind... Weird, confusing, pointless, and cryptic messages that seem to have something to do with you're soul. Somehow your choice of how you smell is directly linked to who you are or who you want to be!

Ciggarette manufacturers for a long time were the masters of advertising a product that they were not allowed to mention. It seems the perfume and aftershave manufacturers seem to have a similar challenge. It's not that they're not allowed to advertise of course but purely, how do you advertise a product that has no purpose? That is purely based on the vanity of individuals.

Perhaps one of them may one day produce an honest ad about perfume...

You're a minger but I've had a few drinks and you smell nice!

Yes it's sad but we cannot ignore the obvious comedy value in the headline!

OK so it's pretty miserable outside today. Got bored and went in search of some free online First Person Shooters..

First up is Quake Live. Browser based Quake multiplayer. Very small download, lots of servers to play on.

www.quakelive.com

Brought back fond memories but had to re-learn rocket jumping... great fun! Plus its incredibly fast to jump into a game! Bonus!

Then I hit the jackpot!

TribesNext is an online community who have vowed to bring Tribes 2 back into life after Sierra went bust and Vivendi shut down all the servers!

www.tribesnext.com has free download of Tribes2 plus their own patch to enable multiplayer on new servers and other shiny new functionality. I had forgotton the joy of leaping to the top of a mountain and zapping someone half a mile away with a sniper rifle... then jumping on a speeder bike and zipping through a canyon at 100 miles an hour. Truely a fantastic gaming experience for anyone who hasn't played. The downloads are quite hefty but not too bad compared to todays bloated standards. Will probably take you an hour or two to download all the files. Then it's gunship heaven baby!!!

Here's a vid showing exactly what it's all about...

I now have gainful employment after receiving a job offer from Price Waterhouse Coopers. I'll start the first or second week of December. So a few weeks to enjoy myself!

YAY!

As per the advice of my new friend on the council I wrote the following letter to the editor of the local rag - The Bucks Advertiser!

Dear Sir / Madam

I write to you to share my experiences of living in Tatling End and cycling down to Gerrards Cross everyday to commute into London. It's about a 20 minute ride and in the summer its lovely. In the winter however it becomes a desperate gauntlet of death!

Allow me to explain how a simple, healthy journey to work can become a heart-pounding, skin of the teeth, terror experience. Riding from Gerrards Cross station to the Apple Tree bar / restaurant is safe as houses. Then the fun starts. As I take to the A40 (Oxford Rd) and head towards Tatling End I'm plunged into darkness (there's a helpful sign telling me that the streetlights are switched off too! How thoughtful!).

Down the dip I go, hoping that the bottom isn't waterlogged or icy and try and hug the curb as much as possible so as not to end up under the wheels of the many dump trucks (from the Tesco's build in the High St) that roar along this road at 50 MPH. Then comes the climb out of the dip (time to get a sweat on) and it happens! Round the corner 400 meters ahead of me come full beam headlights. So now I'm climbing uphill, totally blind with a 50 MPH truck closing in behind me. The oncoming driver's don't register my bike lights at such distance and so don't dip them until they are much closer. Some don't dip at all (but that's a different issue and let's not get off track..). This rather desperate situation continues on until I reach the M25 bridge at the beginning of Tatling End.

Ahh but some may say "There's a cycle path! Use it!". Oh I have... and I ended up in the hedge at the side of the road. With the oncoming full beams I'm still blind while on the path but the dangerous fun is multiplied by branches seeking to decapitate me and an ever narrowing path covered in mud.

I've spoken with several councilors on this and I know it's burning issue for others in our community. I've also had it confirmed that the primary reason they have turned off street lighting in some areas is to save money. In my opinion turning the streetlights off during commuting hours on roads that are the main connection between communities is a very dangerous way to save money.

Bucks County Council claim they have a green agenda. They encourage us to cycle more. Yet the roads conditions they provide for us work completely against this advice.

I really don't want to be the accident/death statistic that convinces them to turn the lights back on, nor would I wish it on anyone else.

So please, Bucks CC, turn the lights back on!

Yours cold, blind and more than a little terrified...

Jim Partridge

Am Re-playing Half Life 2 on PC this time on hard difficulty setting. Has made me fall in love with it all over again.
The original x-box version didn't have difficulty settings so you simply had the same experience over and over. I'm an original PC gamer and loved HL1 but didn't have a good enough PC at the time HL2 came out so settled for the X-box version.

I've re-discovered the true thrill of the original HL. When you're down to 10 health. With 5 bullets in the gun and you have to pull off some John McClain type shit to move on.

Bam! Headshot one guy. Boom 2 to the chest and finish off the last guy with the cro bar and hope you're faster than him... Yippie Kai Aya Mutha Fuckers!

The "We don't go to Ravenholm" chapter is where it comes into it's own though. Screaming zombies with an edge of pleading for you to end their misery really sets the tone. Especially when you set them on fire, you almost feel sorry for them. On hard mode you can run out of ammo real fast so I'm trying to get through everything using the Grav Gun until the leaping fast zombies turn up and I'll need my ammo to waste them.

I don't think I've ever been so terrified of a computer game than when I hear those fuckers coming for me. Rat-tata-tata-tata... you can hear thier claws on the rooftops and drain pipes outside.... Oh shit! Close the door! Crap the room has a glass roof! Ahhh 6 of em blast through the ceiling and slash me to peices....

This is the stuff of nightmares!

I've been shitted up by Thief 1 and 2 (not 3 cos it was dull) and System Shock 2 was pretty freaking scary too ("Ahhhr KILL MEEEEEE!") but nothing can beat HL2 Ravenholm for inserting the willies in you IMO!

Headphones are fully recommended for fully immersive, terrifying fun!

It's about to go off big time!

Amazing facts about Guy Fawkes night (Nov 5th).

Billy Connelly claimed (in his tour of Britan show) that Guy Fawkes testicles were placed between the hammer and bell of Westminster Cathedral. Ouch! (although I can find nothing to back this up it's an interesting idea). Quite how you get someone into that position is quite beyond me.

Guy Fawkes actually jumped off the gallows to his death. Ensuring a long drop and therefore a broken neck rather than strangulation. Clever chap!

A sparkler reaches a temperature of up to 2,000 degrees Celsius - that's 20 times the boiling point of water.

According to statistics from the DTI, there were nearly 1000 separate injuries related to fireworks in the UK in late October and early November in the last recorded survey in 2005.

The largest bonfire had an overall volume of 1,401.6 m³ (49,497 ft³). The bonfire was built by Colin Furze (UK) in Thistleton, Leicestershire, UK, and lit on 14 October 2006.

The world's tallest bonfire tondo measured 37.5 m (123 ft) high, with a base of 8 m² (86 ft²) and an overall volume of 800 m³ (28,251 ft³). The event was organized by Kure Commemorative Centennial Events Committee, and lit on 9 February 2003 at Gohara-cho, Hiroshima, Japan, as part of a traditional ceremony to encourage good health and a generous harves.

The record for the largest firework display consisted of 66,326 fireworks and was achieved by Macedo'S Pirotecnia Lda. in Funchal, Madeira, Portugal, on 31 December 2006.

Thank Wiki for those interesting facts...

Maid In Manhatten... seems to be an advert for more hispanics to come and work in the service industry in New York!
Much like Pretty Woman attracted thousands of girls to work as hookers in LA.
Yes yes it's a cinderella story but watching the gang of cleaners swoon over possibly working as front of house staff is rather uncomfortable.

And I know its all going to come to a head and her secret will be revealed that she's a lowley cleaner... and he won't care in the end.

Ahhh the US rom com cookie cutter script must be very tatty round the edges by now.

Over the course of my life there have been several occasions where due to a large amount of grog I've let Mr Johnson out of his cave at the request or encouragement of others.

Running down a lane in Bexley at the age of 17 with my trousers round my ankles shouting "Last Chicken in Sainsburys!" comes to mind.

What I don't understand is the need to "flash" people at random that some males possess. We're not talking about a good ole' public mooning from the back of a bus window. That's always welcome and part of the very fabric of UK society. We're talking about those creepy guys that hang around in parks.

As a kid we were warned to not go to the local woods alone for fear of the creepy men. You know the kind of demon folk who offer kids sweets or keep puppies in the back of their van. Were these the same people who left porno mags in the woods or left johnies down allyways? We certainly thought so.

Men with beards etc...

Yesterday my future sister-in-law was flashed at (well technically masturbated at) while waiting at a bus stop near a local park. She's 16. Now obviously this makes me rather angry that someone can just flop it out at a young girl and run off into the woods but it got me wondering... where's the fun?

Is it a spur of the moment thing or do they go out with a pretty specific mission? Do they get home afterwards with a sense of mighty achievement over the whole event?

Is there a moment of clarity afterwards? "Wow, that was pretty fucked up! I probably should stop doing that!"

Or are they so far gone at that point that they'll just carry on... possibly try something a little more risky next time.

I'm guessing it's generally a power thing. I have the power to make you feel very uncomfortable and invade your world with my sexual perversion. As a result you will be disturbed and I will get away with it and there's nothing you can do about it.

This too makes me angry! Makes me want to say to women that they should chase the bastard down and hit him with your shoes... in the eyes with your heels if possible. Just like a bully in a playground the power must be taken away from them. I know it's not that easy and must be pretty terrifying if there's no one else around.

What a complete and utter bastard!

Finally re-installed my editing software. Put this together in about 3 hours....

Mmmm I love being in the zone. It's a bit scrappy in places but I'm just getting back in the saddle.

Hope you like it!

My reasons why ID cards are a very very bad idea...

My response to Mr Hardy below... lets see if he clams up or is willing to help me find what I need.
We await his response tomorrow with baited breath! (does that mean maggot breath?)
--------------------
Dear Mr Hardy

Many thanks for the fantastic turn-around time of your response.

Having read your advice with enthusiasm I attempted to look up the "decisions made by the Cabinet Member for Transportation" as you directed. I believe they should be found on the following page at the council internet page: http://tinyurl.com/yzl7nc6
Unfortunatly no Transportation decision details are listed here (to be honest most of the pages that are linked on this page are empty).

With regard to your comments about street light timers, are you certain that these do not exist in the lights on the A40? Would you have any suggestions as to who I could speak to at the council who could confirm if those lights have a timer or not?
I'm sure that establishing this would assist with any further enquiries I need to make.

Also, I wondered about your personal support for this cost saving project and your reasons. If you could clarify and expand on your position it would certainly help me to understand all sides of the issue.

Many thanks for any help you can provide.

Jim Partridge

See Peter Hardy's response  in full below!

In short it reads like this:
Note that he's aware of the problem... so he's admitting it's a problem (a good start!).
So the lights are switched off for both "green" and money saving reasons. He's in favor of it purely for cost saving reasons...

The decisions he referred to are not listed on the council site (in fact most of the links from the decisions page are dead or empty).

He thinks we may need to put timers into the street lights which would cost more money. I get the feeling he would be against this.

So in short, it's his preference to put peoples lives at risk to save a little cash.
My response in the next post...

---------------------

Dear Mr Partridge

Thank for your letter.  I am aware of the problem and I am sorry that you
feel your route is not safe.

In answer to your questions:
- Both advantages apply, but in my own mind the cost saving is probably the
more important and is the reason why I am personally in support of the
switchoff for suitable roads
- The Council's decision-making process is set out in the constitution which
you can find on the website www.buckscc.gov.uk.  Full details on this
particular decision can be found under decisions made by the Cabinet Member
for Transportation.  I should say that there was full and detailed
consultation, including with the police on safety matters
- I agree on the timing, and I understand that this limited switch off is
used on some motorways.  I think however that there has to be additional
investment in electronic timers for each street light

If you wish to pursue this from the safety of cycling viewpoint, I suggest
you get in contact with Chris Brown who is Chairman of the Highways Ctee on
GX Parish Council (christophersbrown@btinternet.com). I know Chris holds
similar views to your own.

Your sincerely

Peter Hardy

I'm gonna have to go back to work soon. As part of my commute is  a 20 min cycle down a major A road with no street lights.
Local council have turned them off for some insane reason. So I decided to get involved! Standing up for what's right!

Secretly I think they've turned off the lights to save money. They claim its for "green" purposes. It seems that saving the planet can cover up a multitude of sins!

I can totally recommend the following site to submit your concerns to your local representatives: http://www.writetothem.com/
Quick, easy to use and very helpful!


-----------------------------

Dear Mr Hardy,

I write to you to express my concern about public safety for cyclists
on our roads around Gerrards Cross. I live in Tatling End and regularly
work in the city and commute to London via Gerrards Cross train
station. I don't drive and therefore cycle to the station along Oxford
Rd (A40) between 7am and 8am and then return along the same journey
between 7pm and 8pm.

As I'm sure you are aware sections of streetlights on many A roads in
the area have been switched off. This makes my regular commute both
daunting and quite dangerous during the hours of darkness and with
winter drawing in this then impedes on my daily routine. The lack of
street lighting encourages drivers to use full beam headlights which
effectively dazzle and blind cyclists. There is a cycle path on this
stretch of the A40 however this is often overgrown and I believe is
more hazardous to ride on in the dark than in the road. The problem of
being blinded by headlights provides even more of a risk while on the
footpath as there are more hazards to avoid.

I have been told this lighting scheme was implemented as an energy
saving initiative as part of the councils green agenda. While I
understand efforts of the council to be seen as "green" I feel the
safety of the public is being put at risk by this issue. On balance I
feel that public safety must come first.

As part of a green agenda I would think that the council would want to
encourage cycling rather than car use. I believe the lack of street
lighting puts a lot of people off cycling along our local roads.

I hope you can respond to the following questions:

Is the lack of street lighting intended to promote a green agenda or to
save money?

Could you provide me with further information about how this policy was
decided upon and the rational behind it?

When is it up for review and what can I do to help persuade the council
to change this policy?

In order to be constructive I have a simple suggestion to eliminate the
problem. Switch the lights on between the following hours:

5am - Dawn
Dusk - 9pm

This will then allow for safe cycling along these roads during
commuting hours.

Yours sincerely,

Mr J Partridge

Like many people I quickly became sick of the whole Madeline McCann affaire very early on. It was clear that she was dead from the outset but a number of things didn't sit well with me.

Advice to parents in abduction cases is to not put their child in danger. Keep a low profile and let the police do what they do best. The McCann's ignored this advice from the outset getting every living European involved and aware and pretty much dooming thier daughter to her death at the hands of any abductor. Who would keep hold of a child who is so recognisable. Like holding on to a hand grenade and someone else has pulled the pin out for you!

Anyway, as the british media pressed on and the waters got so damn muddy it became impossible to establish fact from rumor.

Wikileaks have just published a leaflet that was suppressed recently by a libel case (through Carter-Ruck) which lays out the facts of the case very clearly and gives 60 reasons why Maddie is dead and why she was not abducted at all.

It draws some very naughty conclusions (by legal standards anyway) but that can't detract from the questions it raises that have never been answered to my mind.

If what is included is fact, and all details can be checked against police documents that can also be found online, then the miscarraige of justice that's occured is quite sickening considering we're talking about the death of a very young child here.

Anyway, happy reading...

http://wikileaks.org/wiki/Suppressed_Madeleine_Foundation_leaflet%2C_2009