Recently, at TED, the Technology, Entertainment, Design conference, Al Gore spoke about the challenges facing our world:
I guess it’s too late for him to break into the Democratic nomination now. The remaining Democratic runners have been rather quiet on the most important issue of our time. Hilary Clinton and Republican John McCain even want to suspend petrol tax (18 cents a gallon) for the summer. While that might be a temporary help to low-income drivers, the vast amount of money it would cost would be far better spent on fuel conservation, such as subsidising fuel-economic vehicles, and promoting car-pooling. Not to mention that gas taxes are ringfenced for maintaining road infrastructure, so the long-term cost to the public purse would be far greater than any short-term gain.
Oddly, the idea of a windfall tax on those oil producers enjoying a profit bonanza has not occurred to any of the Presidential nominees. Such a windfall tax could pay for a gas tax holiday, subsidised fuel, and more besides.
So, this blog has gone a little quiet for a month or so. What have I been up to?
The chief suspect is Pirates of the Burning Sea. I got quite heavily into it, running the forum for my Nation, and currently chairing the Council of guilds. My addiction seems to be waning though, so we might see a bit more posting here in the future.
Far more importantly, I was lucky enough to get the chance to do a week of work experience in the newsroom of Radio Broadland. It was a massive learning experience for me, and the folks I was working with were wonderful.
Even better, they hired me the next week to do some filming and film-editing for their website. Nikki Fox and myself travelled down to Wembley with Lowestoft FC in preparation for their FA Vase final on the 11th of May. Neither of us had ever done anything like this before, so I think the results turned out quite well, especially considering the only video editor we had was Moviemaker! If you look really carefully, you can see my head reflected on the side of the coach, and yes, that is me waxing lyrical about the joys of bacon.
Not got any more work coming up there currently, but I’m hoping they’ll get desperate enough to call me eventually. I’m missing the place like crazy.
I was recently asked to write an RP report on the recent happenings in Pirates of the Burning Sea. Unfortunately, it turned out they were looking for a straight journalistic report, rather than anything too fancy. But in the interests on never wasting anything, I may as well post my first unfinished draft (the only draft there shall ever be, now) of it here.
Sir Robert Walpole,
His Majesty’s Chancellor of the Exchequer of the Kingdom of Great Britain,
First Lord of the Treasury
Sir,
I pray that this epistle finds you in good health, and enjoying your new role, and that the recent business with the South Sea company has not caused you any personal hardship. Myself, I was fortunate enough to have already moved all my financial stocks into the West Indias, though that was happenstance rather than any foresight on my part. In time I am sure that the economy of our Nation shall be revivified, and once again be the marvel of the modern age! Certainly, we shall never again fall into the trap of speculative “bubbles”.
For our part, here in Port Royal, we have scarcely even noticed the passing of the South Seas Company, bar the heavy financial blow the Mississippi Company took from it. The East India Company goes from strength to strength, and I would council it as a sound investment, at least until my own company becomes listed at Change Alley!
The French have finished the reconstruction of their local capital, Pointe-Ã -Pitre, and I am told it is a majestic sight indeed! With the finest gothic architecture transplanted from Europe, it may well become one of the most popular destinations for travellers and sight-seers. This will not do at all, and so I am pressing the East India Company for more funds for the rebuilding of Port Royal to an equal or greater splendour. It is a shame that our hands are bound by treaty, else we might well look to acquiring Pointe-Ã -Pitre for the crown.
The Astronomer Royal, Sir Isaac Newton, said recently, so the dispatches tell me, “that he could not calculate the madness of people”. If such a man as he cannot, then what chance your humble correspondant? The recent decision by your Parliament to return all captured holdings in the West Indias to Spain and France, has made many here wonder if the House has been paying the slightest attention to our struggles, the sacrifices in bone and oak, through which those ports had been won. I, of course, do not number amongst such people, and continue to be your most obedient servant, but I most surely hope that you gained the greatest of concessions in return, for the loss of those lands has placed us in a perilous place indeed.
As I write, a report lies beside my inkpot. In hurried hand, it tells of a rogue fleet of that most insolent of knaves, the false King William Kidd, which is harrassing our northern territories with newfound impertinence. Spain and France too, once again eye us hungrily. Their perfidy is immeasurable, and I expect, nay dread, the arrival of dispatches with news of their latest act of infamy. I beseech you to send whatever forces may be spared, that our flag may continue to fly over these lands for the greater glory of our illustrious Nation, and his most exceptional Majesty, King George.
God Save the King!
Arkenor Oakshadow, Chairman of the British Council of the West Indias.
MILWAUKEE, Wis. (AP) — A sad day for fans of role-playing games: The man who co-created Dungeons & Dragons is dead.
Gary Gygax died Tuesday morning at his home in Lake Geneva, Wis. His wife Gail says the 69-year-old had been suffering from health problems for several years.
Gygax and Dave Arneson developed Dungeons & Dragons in 1974 using medieval characters and mythical creatures. The game known for its oddly shaped dice eventually was turned into video games, books and movies.
It’s considered the grandfather of fantasy role-playing games and has inspired legions of adoring fans. Gygax’s wife says he always enjoyed hearing from them. – Associated Press
Here’s the great man at his best:
Goodbye Gary. The only time our lives directly intersected was that time you commented on that DDO related Youtube post I did (Sadly taken down by the authorities :( ), but you gave my generation the chance to use our imaginations in ways that had never been possible before. Your work will live on. I’ll be rolling some dice in your honour this Thursday, and my cleric will strike down evil in your memory.
There is an extremely good chance that I will be buying Pirates of the Burning Sea tomorrow, when it is released. I know I shouldn’t. I know I have better things to do with my time and money. But, but…
“I have opponents in this race who do not want to change the Constitution. But I believe it’s a lot easier to change the Constitution than it would be to change the word of the living God. And thats what we need to do is amend the Constitution so it’s in God’s standards rather than trying to change God’s standards so it lines up with some contemporary view of how we treat each other and how we treat the family.†– Mike Huckabee
In some parts of the world, they have a special name for a system of laws based upon “God’s standards.”: Sharia Law. It is quite strange that many of the same folks who recall in horror from the idea of Sharia law, are the same folks who would relish Evangelical Preacher Mike Huckabee becoming the next President of the United States. As things stand now, he is one of the front-runners for the Republican nomination, having won in Iowa. He is likely to win the upcoming South Carolina primary also.
“A wife is to submit herself graciously to the servant leadership of her husband even as the church willingly submits to the headship of Christ.” – Mike Huckabee.
“I don’t think the issue’s about being against gay marriage. It’s about being for traditional marriage and articulating the reason that’s important. You have to have a basic family structure. There’s never been a civilization that has rewritten what marriage and family means and survived.” – Mike Huckabee.
“If a person dresses provocatively, they’re calling attention — maybe not the most desirable kind — to private parts of their body.” – Mike Huckabee. Perhaps if the women were to wear some sort of full body covering, or a veil, that might solve the problem, Mike.
“If you want to believe that you and your family came from apes, that’s fine. I’ll accept that. I just don’t happen to think that I did.” – Mike Huckabee
“It is now difficult to keep track of the vast array of publicly endorsed and institutionally supported aberrations—from homosexuality and paedophilia to sadomasochism and necrophilia.” – Mike Huckabee.
In 1997, Huckabee requested an amendment to a state Senate bill stating “that it is Arkansas public policy to prohibit sodomy to protect the traditional family structure.†. That was as Governor of that state. Would he take similar actions as governor of the whole country?
As the video shows, he desires to alter the Constitution of the United States to fit into his own narrow view of what it is that God desires. How far would such a man be willing to go? I move that if all his beliefs were enshrined into the Constitution, it would be very similar to Sharia indeed.
Bible literalism is incredibly dangerous.
HAYDEN, Idaho (AP) — A man who believed he bore the “mark of the beast” used a circular saw to cut off one hand, then he cooked it in the microwave and called 911, authorities said.
The man, in his mid-20s, was calm when Kootenai County sheriff’s deputies arrived Saturday in this northern Idaho town. He was in protective custody in the mental health unit of Kootenai Medical Center.
“It had been somewhat cooked by the time the deputy arrived,” sheriff’s Capt. Ben Wolfinger said. “He put a tourniquet on his arm before, so he didn’t bleed to death. That kind of mental illness is just sad.”
It was not immediately clear whether the man has a history of mental illness. Hospital spokeswoman Lisa Johnson would not say whether an attempt was made to reattach the hand, citing patient confidentiality.
The Book of Revelation in the New Testament contains a passage in which an angel is quoted as saying: “If anyone worships the beast and his image and receives his mark on the forehead or on the hand, he, too, will drink the wine of God’s fury.”
The book of Matthew also contains the passage: “And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.”
I just handed back the keys to my old flat to the council. After a week of cleaning up the detritus of 5 years of not being terribly tidy, I am overjoyed to see the back of it.
In the time I lived there I had to cope with crack-dealers and prostitutes using my stairwell as a meeting point, and constant screaming and yelling outside my flat. There were mysterious fires, including arson attempts on the chap who lived in the flat downstairs from me. There was also the famous time when someone took an almost impossibly large dump at the bottom of my stairs. Goodbye Magdalen Close. Ain’t missing you at all! I’m amazed I got away from you without being stabbed, shot, or burned alive.
Back in Christmastime 2006, East Anglia was terrorised by a serial killer. Not something that’s supposed to happen in our quiet little bit of the country. His final tally was 5 Ipswich prostitutes. Due to his choice of victims he was known as the Suffolk Ripper, though in fact the Suffolk Strangler would be a far more appropriate title for him, and I shall use that term. While all the crimes took place in Suffolk, the fear definitely spread the few miles north to Norwich. In early December it seemed that every day there was a new grisly discovery, or turn in the investigation.
The killings were spread over November and early December 2006, at an unusually high rate of activity for serial killings. They stopped when Steve Wright was arrested on the 21st of December, but at that point the case could no longer be reported, so as to not prejudice his trial. As a result we don’t actually know very much about what went on, or why the police think Steve Wright is responsible.
Steve Wright’s trial begins today with jury selection, and many of our questions will be answered. He has plead “Not Guilty”.
