Thursday, February 26, 2004

Don't Switch Horsemen Mid-Apocalypse

First post for quite some while. There have been various reasons that I haven't been posting, but the fact that I've been mourning the passing of Silly Cone V is as meaningful as any.

We have been fairly busy - Claire spent last weekend working on a dragon sculpture that will ultimately be used to mold a dragon puppet. I'm a little vague on the details, but understand that lots of clay and latex are involved, though probably not at the same time. This is part of a weapons making workshop (of the rubber sword LARP variety) that several of our friends are doing. Which, unfortunately, meant that last Saturday's HQ game was cancelled, and I have no idea when we're going to be able to re-schedule. Not that I'm bitter.

While Claire was busy, I spent the weekend visiting my parents, and trying to work out how to build a practical compost bin. The green plastic cone we have seems a good idea, but getting a spade in to turn it isn't as easy as it needs to be. I've just about worked out how to make a three bin structure from old fencing, chicken wire, and lots of effort. Now I just need to find the time...

I also spent some time setting up our new toy - a third hand amp for the DVD player. Claire's sister (Fiona) and her boyfriend (Andy) came round for dinner on Friday. Partly, so that Claire could give Andy a lift to the weapons workshop, partly so we could finally get to watch Pirates of the Caribbean - which I enjoyed a lot - and partly so Andy and Claire could talk about chainmail. Don't ask. They brought their old amp for us - having aquired a better one themselves. It's big and ugly and half-hidden from Claire's sight, but has the power and quality to make DVDs sound better, and turns our DVD player into a pretty decent CD player too. I like new toys.

Online Opinion is soldiering on. Writing columns is becoming more of a struggle - the news seems less conducive to passionate rants than in the build up to Iraq. Yesterday's piece ("Fear is the Key") deals with the increasingly common tactic of playing on our fears to sell just about anything. I'm quite pleased with it - something I haven't been able to say for a while.

The title of today's entry was a suggestion for campaign slogan for the Bush/Cheney re-election campaign, reported by Atrios although the originator is unknown. It made me smile.

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1 comments so far.

Nick wrote :

Re: Global Promotions (from the linked OO piece) - I perversely enjoy complaining about this kind of stuff. And, thank goodness, it is now illegal: http://www.tpsonline.org.uk/cgi-bin/news.pl?p=news&s=tps&item=1

If you kept a copy of the text message spam, there's a couple of online sites you could use to complain: www.asa.org.uk (Advertising Standards Authority) and www.icstis.org.uk (regulator for premium-rate numbers). While it sounds like the SMS spam advertised a non-premium number that advertised a premium number, that sounds like semantic nonsense which won't cut much ice with ICSTIS.

Or, if you're bored and could do with a laugh, you could invoke the awe-inspiring powers of the Information Commissioner (http://www.informationcommissioner.gov.uk).

I've had replies from all three bodies - some satisfactory, others risibly clueless. But hey, at least you get a smile instead of just a spam.

Also, you could consider registering with the UK DMA's global opt-out lists: TPS, MPS, etc. The Mailing Preference Service really works, and saves squillions of trees and bits of plastic wrapping for me.

http://www.tpsonline.org.uk/mpsr/

Cheers, Nick

07:17 am, 28/02/2004