h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Ah, you're not quite following me I think. There are two, shall we say, quite prominent slots in a strip bar where you could swipe a card, and I know that at least one of them has been used for comic effect, if only I could remember by whom

By the way, I forgot the link a few posts ago http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-21756567

Well, you referenced the strip bar rather than the stripPer.

Knowing someone who's the head DJ at such a place for so long has made me a bit jaded on the subject. It's quite banal to me anymore.

Who'd a thunk it.

Okay... back to the subject.

Their goal is to make recipients more fiscally responsible. That sounds like a good idea... the kind of good idea that everyone should expect to turn out really bad.

Seriously, one of the best ways to manage your money is to never touch it. It's better to have direct deposit of your paycheck than to have a paper version. And to be even smarter, it's better to have a direct transfer to savings and for retirement accounts, etc. than to manage them directly.

Heck, I've recently automated my rent payments to my parents. It's much more responsible to do so than to write a check each month. Why would they expect folks to do it the hard way?

Daft.

Ah but that is you and them are they..plus yours goes to your parents...

Could be several reasons why Some Mps like the direct payments, given the number of them whom are landlords...payments to them generate a paper trail leading back to them personally...then you have the administration when you have a change of managing agent or landlord 0f rented properties which necessitates extra work for the departments (no doubt some one came up with amount would be saved by cutting out these payments) plus the extra money that will go through the Post Office which I think the government uses to pay benefits now

Overall its a bad idea, as many of those receiving benefit are unable to manage money, (alcoholics, drug addicts, gamblers, those suffering with memory problems/depression) to name but a few plus those who are robbing Peter to pay Paul (paying other bills as they fall due for those who have not heard that term before) add those who just don't give a toss and its no wonder arrears have increased.

If this does go ahead Nationally will be a disaster for the people but good news for all those solicitors who will make loads of cash prosecuting/defending those facing eviction for arrears..

Eddie Mair puts it to Boris Johnson that he's "a nasty piece of work".
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-21916721



One of the funniest things I've ever heard, Pot, kettle, black.

Despite disagreeing with most of Boris's political opinions and positions, I respect and like the fact that he's a character and has plenty of colour, something missing in 99% of politicians today. I also like the way he doesn't melt under the hot air that comes out of the mouths of BBC presenters like Mair and Paxo.

Last week the Archive on Four programme broadcast a documentary called 'Wheeler: The final Word' http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01r93sr I've only listened to the first five or ten minutes so far but the few clips of Charles Wheeler interviewing Nixon in those opening moments highlight his class as a journalist and an interviewer.

I remember listening to Charles Wheeler throughout much of his career with the BBC, in India, in the US, on Panorama and on Newsnight. Mr Mair, you are no Charles Wheeler.

Coincidentally, Boris is married to Charles Wheeler's daughter. How's that for synchronicity?

I've always thought Eddie Mair was quite good actually. Yes, he does ask blunt questions to politicians and those in authority, but when he interviews a 'normal' person he treats it more like a conversation than an interview, and generally lets them talk in their own time.


Geggs

Politicians and people in positions of authority shouldn't ever be given an easy ride, but I find his technique and manner counter-productive and far too adversarial (and often downright rude) because it puts people on the defensive and diminishes the value of the interview in terms of the knowledge that will come out of it.

He's far too eager to find a way to apportion blame when often none exists, and will twist someone's words in the most appalling manner in order to do so. I've heard an exchange where an interviewee has said that a situation exists because they don't have enough money, and when pressed, one of the reasons they gave was that taxes don't bring enough revenue. Mair's response (as an interruption) to that was "Oh, you're blaming the taxpayers?". That's sensationalist gutter journalism designed to do little more than provide a headline and make someone look bad for no good reason. There's an astonishing disconnect, judging by comments I read in news stories (in them, not under them), in so many people's minds between having services provided, and paying for them. Whether journalism like that is partly responsible for it or is playing on it (chicken and egg), I couldn't say.

Politicians and those in local government, or in businesses which provide us with services like gas, electricity etc are no angels and sometimes mess up, but I don't think Mair's MO is a good way to interview someone and get to the truth because once they're on the defensive they're likely to clam up, which is effectively the end of the interview as far as getting any useful information goes.

"Mr Trump said: "We will be bringing a lawsuit within the allocated period of time to stop what will definitely be the destruction of Aberdeen and Scotland itself.""
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-shetland-21938247

Oh Donald

I recently read a good science article on so-called wind turbine disease. It's most prevalent, by a very pointed margin, in areas where there is political opposition to wind farms. Basically, it's obviously an effect of the power of persuasion. In residential areas where local wind farms are not the targets of radio, print and television adverts espousing the harms of wind farms, there are virtually no instances of people complaining of health effects caused by them.

The Donald is literally making people sick.

Nice

What also make me feel rather is the amount of corporate speak quoted in that story. "Successful and sustainable", "cutting edge", "commercial deployment", "offshore renewables", "in order to accelerate its growth", "secures Aberdeen's place", "supply chain", "global vanguard of the sector", "next phase of the scheme", "forefront", "a cleaner, greener, job-creating nation", "global hub", "extend its reach", "strong engineering and technology skills base".

I think I need a shower now. I feel dirty after typing that lot, and I didn't even type it - I cut and pasted.

I don't really have a thread for this kind of thing, like BG's wow/cool/interesting conversation, but since the subject of this post is most certainly in orbit around planet light years from the rest of us I reckon this'll do.

A petition to have the Westboro Baptist Church legally recognised as a hate group has three times as many signatures as any other petition currently on the White House petitions page http://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petitions/popular/0/2/0

I don't know how much longer that link will be relevant but it is for now.

Apparently they have ALREADY tweeted that they'll protest the Boston Bomb victims funerals and Anonymous has tweeted that they'll oppose them.


How is the WBC NOT listed as a hate group? Or more specifically, what official list of hate groups should they be placed on and what will that result in? No matter what list they could be put on, they'll still have 1st amendment rights to free speech and assembly. The Klu Klux Klan hasn't gone away because they're labeled a hate group.

The best thing I've seen in response to the WBC to date has been their new neighbors. http://i.imgur.com/hB1XPc1.jpg

You're right, they have said they'll be there, and now there's another petition to ban them.

Some, shall we say, interesting ideas from the chairman of Nestlé http://keithpp.wordpress.com/2013/04/15/nestle-chairman-says-water-is-not-a-human-right/ and a little damage limitation in the comments. Naturally, one shouldn't read too much into any scare headlines such as 'Nestlé chairman says water is not a human right', but when it's someone like Nestlé, a multi-national which is held in the same kind of regard as Monsanto, there's probably a good slice of credence there.

Chris does love telling us at every possible opportunity that he works for media relationships at Nestlé, doesn't he. I'll give him credit for keeping his calm and being rational and polite, and he even makes one or two points that seem quite plausible, but that's his job. He's probably very well trained and gets equally well paid for it. Can't have a company representative shouting and ranting. It's a sad fact that most of the people he spends his days talking to in comments sections can't manage the same thing. His job would be an awful lot more difficult if that was the case.

Just when you thought the morals of the internet couldn't get any lower... although the fact that it's Facebook, who give every indication of lacking all decency, doesn't surprise me http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-22368287 (Facebook first refuses and then decides to delete decapitation videos).

Unbelievably crass and stupid, and one more reason (as if I needed any more) why I won't ever have anything to do with them. There's nothing I can say that fully articulates the contempt I have for them. A mind-bogglingly detestable thing done by a mind-bogglingly odious organisation.

Now, if in the video of the woman's beheading her breasts became exposed, they would have removed it quickly.

Appalling violence, sure. A nipple, NO WAY!

I think that sums up American prudence quite well.

Very true, that.

There's a fine line between lovable eccentric and complete nutter http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-wiltshire-22558293

Actually, I thought it was a difference in net worth. I'm not sure what the minimum accumulated wealth is to be considered "eccentric", but I'm fairly certain I'll never attain it.