Trees

There's a tree outside my window. Must be 30ft. tall.
I like trees.
I'm reminded of the place where I grew up. There was an old chestnut tree that'd been there for as long as I can remember. That one must be nearer 50ft tall. I climbed that tree. Hung a swing from it's branches. Grew up playing in it's shade.

Last time I went by, that tree was still there. There's a new family living in that house now. A couple with triplets. I wonder if they will play beneath that chesnut as I did.

That tree has stood there for at least twenty five years, probably nearer a hundred.
It's been through a lot. Achingly cold weather, fierce storms, long periods of drought and long years.

And through it all, it's still there. Giving shade and shelter to all that would seek it.

That tree taught me an important, if simple lesson.
It's stood as a monument to a single fact.

"Life goes on".

That tree has been there many years. And will probably still be there when I die.

It takes a lot to worry a tree.

"Life goes on" is just a way of saying that through joy and woe, bad times and good times, there's always tomorrow. Always a new day, that may bring the first rains of spring.

I think to myself, that that tree has probably had a lot of shit go it's way. It's still there, defiant and proud because it's been through the storms.

Sometimes I think it would be good to be a tree. Looking on at the world, seeing it go by, and knowing that in a hundred years, things that seem so terrible and overwhelmingly important now won't really matter.

Fax your MP

http://www.faxyourmp.com

What a glorious website. It's a really marvelous way to be able to annoy the living shite out of your MP. Or more importantly, get your opinion on certain matters expressed to a person who's in a position to make the difference.

I've just sent one in about council tax. I've always thought that the 'shared household, joint liability' way of dealing with council tax was something of a bugger. Now I appreciate that from the point of view of the council, they're just after the money to pay for services, as painlessly as possible.
And that sometimes the most effective way of doing this is by crucifying several people in the hopes that one will crack and cough up.
I just don't like the fact that I stand to end up with a choice of magicing up around 700 quid, or going to court, because a housemate has proven recalictrant about paying their share of the council tax bill.

So I thought I'd whinge at my MP about it. Great.

Head chopping

Someone at work has just raised an interesting question.

If you're head's chopped off, you lose blood supply to the brain. And so the lights will go out _pretty quick_.

But apparantly 'pretty quick' means about 8 seconds.

So what'd be your last thoughts at your head getting separated from your body by really sharp cutting things.

Would you be feeling detached?
Or would you be thinking 'oh fuck, you bastards, you chopped my head off, and I'd swear at you, but my lungs and voice box are over there on the floor'.

I think in the interests of science, we need a volunteer for head-chopping, so we can hold a seance and ask them what it was like.

Weebls-stuff

I don't know.
I'm netlink-less for a mere 6 weeks, and in the meantime the weebls-stuff website is spammed. Spammed I say!. With more of those shockingly entertaining flash toons.

So without further ado, we have:

Chase Me
Magical Trevor
Clive the frog
And the rather creepy Salad Fingers Part 1 and Part 2

Best appreciated with sound.
No really, Magical Trevor makes fuck all sense without the audio when at work. Which admittedly, is only _marginally_ worse than the standard situation. But then you'd miss out on that quality soundtrack.

Couch Potatos.

Hmm a news story of the perils of being a couch potato.

http://www.wftv.com/news/3643877/detail.html

This is very wrong

Currys

Now I remember why I despise 'main' electrical retailers.
Currys, Dixons and their ilk.

Just been on a shopping trip to buy a DAB clock radio.

Now is it unreasonable for me to assume that because 'they' charge a premium for their products, and their 'shopping experience' to want them to have _some idea_ of what it is I'm after?

Specifically, the difference between Digital Audio Broadcast and PLL Digital tuning. I mean, I know they both have the word Digital in there, but there's really an _awful_ lot of difference.

Trying to get me to buy and extended warranty too, was really quite irritating. I don't really need a £40 warranty, on a £70 bit of kit. Especially when if it breaks in under 3 years, I'll be returning it as 'Not Fit for Purpose' (A statutory right in the UK) anyway.

I also have a danger survey on The Register that needs filling out.
You can find it here

And here's a meme, just because it's almost ironic...
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