News Archives: February 2004

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.

Posted by graham @ 04:58 pm

Thursday, February 5, 2004

Strange Day

Something I never expected to do was evict a wasp from the house in early February. A little earlier, I heard a strange buzzy noise coming from the far wall. At first I thought it might be something to do with the gas man, who had come to do something mysterious. (Apparently our working pressure was 24 when it should have been 21. I assume he's fixed it now.) A quick check revealed a wasp trying to fly through the window. Quite a big one too - not exactly Japanese giant hornet sized, but big for Britain. Two minutes with a jam jar and an old envelope and it was gone. But odd to see one alive at this time of year.

Equally odd is to find myself in agreement with Michael Howard. Blair - who proudly boasted this time last year of all the intelligence reports on Iraq that crossed his desk every day - claims he didn't know that the 45 minute claim referred to battlefield rather than strategic weaponry. Robin Cook claims he discussed the issue with Blair. Geoff Hoon claims to have considered running a correction when the newspapers first made the mistake. But Blair didn't know.

Now, either he wasn't shown the intelligence reports - which at the time he claimed he was - or he's very stupid - which I've never considered him to be before. Something doesn't make sense here, and I think it's Blair leading the country.

Posted by graham @ 04:28 pm

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