I loved this pic for Bush! Very nicely done!
Now if only we could get one for Brown!!!
General snippets and opinions of news stories and articles that have caught my eye; rants and opinion on all sorts of things from what is in the news to book reviews and even occasionally some humor!
How to win a competition hands down.
In response to a radio competition 'what is the weirdest thing you have eaten?' - a female caller said 'little girls.'
She of course did not know this at the time - she found out many years later when the butcher her mother went to at the time was arrested for the murders of girls and mincing them up and selling them as meat!
How the heck would you feel knowing you had been eating children for a few years? Sick or 'well - didn't know what it was but it was yummy!!!'
http://yeahthatsodd.com/2009/01/19/i-ate-little-girls-for-two-years-it-was-delicious/
Well to be fair - what the heck did they expect?!?!?!?
One of the funniest statements in this story has to be:
"In no other part of Europe is the Church's influence as strong on politics and citizens' lives as in Italy," he added. ('he' being Raffaele Carcano, national secretary of the Italian Union of Rationalist Atheists and Agnostics.)
Altogether now ....... 'well duhhhhhhhhh!!!!'
Okay so everyone is entitled to their point of view and the bus ads are not going to be to everyone's taste - especially for those of us that believe in God.
It would be nice to see what the outcome would be if Christian religions wanted to do the same thing? Would it be allowed? Would they dare not allow it after allowing these in England?
The one thing that puzzles me - if these Atheists do not believe in God or religion - they sure as hell spend a lot of time trying to look like a religion themselves and trying to convert others to their beliefs!
Fans of Winnie the Pooh are said to be appalled that the return of Winnie the Pooh to the Hundred Acre Wood will include psychological analysis for the bear’s ‘chronic binge eating’. Other changes will see Eeyore diagnosed with depression and prescribed ‘Prozac’ before being re-housed in a council donkey sanctuary.
The updated Winnie the Pooh had not been expected to incorporate quite so many negative aspects of modern life, but the publishers said that contemporary readers would expect some sort of analysis and explanation for the dysfunctional behaviour of so many of the famous characters.
‘Pooh is undergoing treatment for an eating disorder related to feelings of low self esteem’ explained cognitive therapist Jim Rouse, ‘He feels that he is a bear of little brain so he compensates for his feelings of low self worth by binging on honey and condensed milk’.
Tigger has been prescribed Ritalin for his behavioral problems, which are believed to be ADHD related, and this has calmed down his ‘bouncing’ behavior. Beetle was destroyed by a council infestation officer who visited the wood to condemn Eeyore’s house as uninhabitable while Kanga has been forced into work by the government’s policy of getting single mums into the job market. Having completed a course in childcare, she now struggles to make ends meet in a low paid children’s nursery job while Roo spends most of the day in childcare, which eats up most of her earnings. Social workers are concerned that Roo is now becoming an overweight child because he doesn’t get to play outside as much as he did. DEFRA have a number of questions pending about pig welfare issues and the introduction of non indigenous Kangaroos into the 40.4685642 hectares woods.
Christopher Robin is currently in care due to his negligent parents allowing him to roam on his own in the woods. He had already been served with an ASBO for repeatedly polluting a local river with sticks, while Ofsted are said to be concerned at local education standards which has left most of the inhabitants of the area unable to spell words such as ‘Owl’.
The new book will follow Christopher’s attempts to escape from his social worker and return with his animal friends to the woods, which he sadly finds have been bought by developers, chopped down and turned into executive apartments.
http://newsbiscuit.com/article/pooh-bear-diagnosed-with-eating-disorder-438
(Take a look at http://www.newsbiscuit.com/ to inject some light relief and humor into your day!)
I chose this book because of the subject matter - 'Resurrectionists' - i.e. grave robbers. It is one of those subjects that has fascinated me for some time and having read a little about it, I am always interested to see how it is portrayed in both fiction and non-fiction.
Told in first person narrative, this is the story of Gabriel Swift, an orphan in 1820's England, sent to work as an apprentice to one of the greatest anatomists of the time - he helps prepare bodies for dissection. At the time it was only legal to use prisoners whom had been executed for this purpose - hence 'Resurrectionists' filled the severe shortage of bodies which anatomists could use - digging up fresh corpses and selling them.
The story tells of Gabriel's personal demons from when his apprenticeship fails to him becoming an opium addicted Resurrectionist himself.
Over halfway through the story there is a location and time jump to New South Wales 1836 - which I did find rather unsettling and awkward.
By the time I had finished the book it felt as though the time jump had been an imposed added extra by an impatient editor.
Although the writing style is good - there was little development in the characters themselves with too many 'walk-on' characters. The main characters were thin rather than full-blooded so it was difficult to care one way or the other as to what was happening to them.
The story itself lacked pace somewhat and because of the 'thin' characters I could see a lot of people finding this book not very easy to get into and enjoy, and be turning over a few pages to find the next bit of 'gore' rather than wanting to turn page by page because they are enthralled by the story. I did not find it to be the 'brooding gothic horror' it was depicted as although there are certainly moments which will make the skin crawl slightly.
I DID however enjoy James Bradley's writing style immensely. His place and time description in the first part of the book are excellent and his use of prose and turn of phrase are very well displayed - so I shall be looking at one of his other novels to see if this was indeed a one-off slow read.
Stephen King - long known as the 'King of Horror' - especially in my early years - appeared to have lost the 'knack' - if you like - after the 1999 roadside accident which 'altered his consciousness'.
Having gone from joking about what his bedtime stories to his kids must have been like - to somewhat mourning the loss of one of the best horror writers of my time - it is fair to say that I began reading Duma Key with a fair amount of trepidation rather than anticipation.
So, we have characters who seem to acquire psychic powers after accidents and retreating to Duma Key for convalescence - in the case of the main character Edgar Fremantle.
Edgar lost an arm in an accident - wealthy - and needing time to convalesce he is 'drawn' to Duma Key and to a house there - 'Big Pink' - with it's whispering shells beneath. He starts to paint - sunsets at first - but when his missing arm starts to 'itch' and more - he finds his paintings take on a prescience that become reality - for example - causing the death of a child murderer by leaving his face blank in the painting.
He is befriended by Wireman - who has his own story - and cares for the owner of Duma Key and it's properties including the one Edgar is staying in.
The portrayal of the characters - e.g. Fremantle's recovery, his anger, his depression show that King can still certainly keep his characters credible and real in the most bizarre of situations.
King's ability to still be able to tell a gripping story is what keeps the reader turning the pages - the reader knowing that under the deceptive calm of the island and the whispering shells that there will indeed be something 'undead' revealed. It is in these moments of unease that the page turning speeds up.
Horror may not be his main focus or impetus - but the usage of sanity as the worst form of fear is displayed remarkably throughout this book.
A page turner, good live characters and some 'undead' with some good fear thrown in - not too bad at all!
What the hell is wrong with some people that they would treat a person worse than they would a dog - or any other animal??
This poor woman was found so emaciated and dirty that her shoes were embedded in her feet!
We would all like to think that in being cared for when we are older that care is indeed what we will receive including any medical attention required.
Her son - her sole provider - 'provider' being used rather loosely here - said he did not have a good relationship with his mother.
To be able to sit day after day for possibly years and watch someone deteriorate to such an extent before your own eyes - simply through lack of normal care takes some doing.
Don't ya just know he would have been collecting/claiming money on her behalf too!
He definitely belongs in the 'people you will see in hell' pages!
http://blogs.app.com/saywhat/2009/01/05/woman-90-found-with-shoes-grown-into-her-feet/