|
|
Monday, April 15th, 2030
| |
12:33 pm - This journal is now friends-only
|
|
I'm Mike, an old punk rocker from Edinburgh, Scotland.My user-profile can be found here. Most of my journal-entries are friends-only, but feel free to add me if you know me or feel we have some interests in common.
|
|
(1 comment | comment on this)
|
| Sunday, April 14th, 2030
| |
11:50 am - Last.fm charts
|
|
| Saturday, April 13th, 2030
| |
7:26 pm - Artwork by me
|
|
| Friday, June 26th, 2009
| |
12:44 am - I'm really not superstitious, but...
|
|
It was only today that I was thinking about how Tommy Cooper is still thought of as a great and instantly-recognisable comedian twenty-five years after his death; how there are certain years when numerous actors, comedians and musicians seem to shuffle off this mortal coil within weeks of one-another; and how nobody very famous seems to have died lately...so perhaps it was inevitable that I should have checked the BBC News web-site before I headed for bed tonight and discovered that Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson both died today. Not that I regard either of them as any great loss (I always hated that ghastly Farrah Fawcett poster that sold twelve million copies: it represents all that was cheesey and naff about the seventies!), but the news about Michael Jackson still comes as a bit of a shock. I wonder if he knew his time was up when he announced all those concerts he was supposed to be doing this year?
|
|
(2 comments | comment on this)
|
| Saturday, May 9th, 2009
| |
11:14 pm - Another day of zero accomplishment
|
This morning (or was it this afternoon?*) I got up, climbed into my clothes (getting dressed often feels just like climbing a rock-face), sat down in front of the computer and never moved for the rest of the day, apart from to crash out on the living-room floor for a couple of hours. This was the probably not-unexpected result of ending an extremely stressful week with numerous much-needed pints of Guinness in Whistlebinkies, The Royal Oak and The Canon's Gait last night, without having eaten beforehand. Well, I haven't done absolutely nothing today; I've edited and uploaded another load of photos to my Flickr gallery; but I was supposed to be heading around town in search of the gym-shoes that I'll need for my circuit-training session on Monday. I must get them tomorrow. A visit to Tesco is required in any case as I'm out of bread, sugar and even-vaguely-appetising comestibles of any sort. This evening, I've had a terrible craving for comfort-food (you know, crisps on buttered rolls or Pringles and garlic dip), but even this wasn't enough to make me do anything as drastic as to actually leave the house. So now I'm going to have a bath and head for bed.
Tomorrow cannot, must not and will not be anything like today!
*It was this morning. I was rudely awakened by pneumatic drilling right outside my flat, which went on for about two hours until I finally gave up on trying to sleep and hauled myself out of bed, whereupon the bloody racket promptly stopped!
current mood:  tired
|
|
(2 comments | comment on this)
|
| Friday, May 8th, 2009
| |
12:10 am - My inner Fascist says...
|
...Put schemie scumbags down humanely.
Following a singularly unsuccessful trek to the shopping 'park' at Newcraighall in search of simple, bog-standard black lace-up gym-shoes this afternoon, I was waiting at Newcraighall Road for a bus back into town. Shortly, one arrived, and as I and a few others before me waited to get on, this runty lassie in typical schemie-gear appeared to be about to get off the bus, then stood in the doorway in front of the driver with her mobile-phone at her lug, getting in everyone's way. The driver said, "Come on, hurry up, are you getting off or no'?", at which the schemie runt turned around and smacked the driver in the face. Totally uncalled-for. The driver then ordered her to get off the bus and pushed her towards the door, and she started hitting him again and mouthing off about "A big man like you hitting a wee lassie like me" when she was the one who'd started it! I often read about stuff like this in the Evening News, but I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it. I thought the driver would have been quite justified in calling the polis (and I'd have backed him up), but of course the obnoxious little bitch would have been long-gone by the time they arrived; schemie scumbags bet on this fact of course, and probably care nothing for the law since they've been in and out of jail all their lives in any case. But if these half-wits have no respect for the law, what are the chances of them having respect for their fellow-citizens? None whatsover, obviously.
If that's how female schemies behave towards male bus-drivers, I wouldn't want to have to deal with their male counterparts.
As for the gym-shoes, I'll try Tesco, but I don't have much hope that they'll have what I'm looking for. I want simple rubber-soled gym or tennis-shoes with canvas uppers; black, preferably. Why is it that everything has to have stupid logos and gimmicky bits all over them?
current mood:  disgusted
|
|
(12 comments | comment on this)
|
| Wednesday, April 29th, 2009
| |
12:41 am - Who's got a Flickr account?
|
When my paid LJ account expired earlier this year and all the photos in my journal-entries were replaced with horrible little red 'X's, I decided to re-edit and upload all the relevant photos to an old, free Photobucket account that I had but hadn't used for several years. No sooner had I done that than a certain someone (to whom I am most grateful) gifted me with a renewed paid LJ-account. This was fortunate as I was none too impressed with Photobucket; each page takes half an age to open, no doubt due to all the nasty adverts (You are currently on-line at this moment in time! That's why you have been selected to win $1,000,000! Just click here!) that litter the site. So I've arrived at what I think will be a more logical arrangement: henceforth, I'll upload to my LJ galleries only those photos that are included in my LJ-entries, and I'll transfer all the rest to a Flickr account which I've recently opened.
I tried using Flickr previously, and aside from the really stupid name, I wasn't very impressed (and I'm still not) with the way it insists on uploading the photos in part-random, part-reverse order. This isn't much use if you want them displayed in chronological or alpha-numerical order, and since consecutive photos are most likely to require similar annotations and tags, it makes the task of tagging and annotating that much more complicated too. However, having tried Flickr again, I've found it has certain features that I like, such as the ability to mark the locations of your photos on a map. There also seems to be a good level of interaction on Flickr, and a good chance of your photos being located and commented-upon by people with similar interests searching by tag. So, though I really can't afford it (I've already managed to spend £50 more than I'd budgeted for over the past fortnight), I've decided to splash out on a paid Flickr account. I'm here; feel free to add me if you're also on Flickr.
current mood:  accomplished
|
|
(comment on this)
|
| Tuesday, April 28th, 2009
| |
1:10 am - You get what you pay for
|
Now I know why the Gaymer's pear cider was only £1.20-a-bottle: it's tasteless muck! It certainly doesn't taste of pears in the slightest. Oh well, in the immortal words of Magnus Magnusson, I've started, so I'll finish!
current mood:  somewhat unimpressed
|
|
(1 comment | comment on this)
|
| Sunday, April 26th, 2009
| |
12:58 am - Power-cuts? What's going on?
|
Grrr! I've just had the third momentary power-cut in the past hour-or-so. Each time, it's gone off barely long enough to make the lights flicker, but long enough to make my computer shut down and restart. I'm pretty sure whatever's causing it isn't anything to do with me as the only things on in the house are the fridge, the freezer, a couple of lights and the computer. I'm still in a heightened state of anxiety after my ordeal on Friday, and I keep wondering if there's been a meltdown at Torness power station or something. There's no mention of power-cuts on the Evening News web-site, but of course we'd be the last to know if anything disastrous did happen, wouldn't we?
Anyway, I'm going to shut this thing down and head for bed before the power goes off again and I lose this post.
current mood:  anxious
|
|
(2 comments | comment on this)
|
| Saturday, April 18th, 2009
| |
2:29 pm - Bands-what-I've-seen-thing (revisited)
|
I've spent the past couple of days trying to sort out my LJ photo-galleries, eliminating duplicate images, etc., and fixing broken image-links, adjusting privacy-settings and generally editing my past journal-entries. In the course of this, I rediscovered the following, which was originally posted by ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) _fascistpanties. Here's how it works: copy this list into your own journal, leave in the bands you've seen perform live, delete the ones you haven't, and add new ones that you've seen until you reach 25. An asterisk means the previous person had it on their list. Two asterisks means the last two people who did this before you had that band on their list.- Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster*
- Manic Street Preachers**
- The Smashing Pumpkins**
- Queen Adreena*
- The Lurkers*
- Splodgenessabounds
- The Sex Pistols Experience
- Michael Schenker Group
- The Exploited
- The Cult
- Eddie Tenpole
- New Model Army
- Zombina & the Skeletones
- Dream Theater
- Symphony X
- Dinosaur Jr
- Killing Joke
- Gary Numan
- Graham Coxon
- The Buzzcocks
- The Damned
- U.K. Subs
- The Dickies
- Oi Polloi
- The Mission
current mood:  busy
|
|
(comment on this)
|
| |
3:16 am - Back by unpopular demand: McEwan's p@sh!
|
According to the Edinburgh Evening News, Scottish & Newcastle are relaunching McEwan's Lager (Pubs raise a glass to the Revival of McEwan's Lager). For anyone's who's in need of a laugh, I recommend scrolling down to the comments below the article, which will give some idea of the great popular esteem in which this brand is held. It seems like no time at all since the advert below was constantly on TV (here in Scotland, at least). It's so familiar that I can hardly believe it was over twenty years ago, though the cheesey '80s pop tune certainly dates it. It takes me back to the days of guys with crap moustaches in ghastly grey suits and shoes, and girls with ridiculous shoulder-pads and big wavy perms with blonde highlights. Nevertheless, I had some good times in the pubs and clubs of Kirkcaldy back then!
I actually didn't realise McEwan's had gone, but then, one boggin' fizzy lager tastes much like another, doesn't it? It's probably not the sort of thing you'd miss.
I'm sure there'll be other equally-familiar lager-ads. Didn't McEwan's have a whole series of them through the eighties?
current mood:  nostalgic
|
|
(7 comments | comment on this)
|
| Thursday, April 16th, 2009
| |
11:40 am - Ye olde tasque-list
|
Wash underwear.
Liquidise & freeze soup.
Make GP appointment.
Tidy up living-room.
Post Cooncil Tax cheques.
Buy card & small present for my nephew's birthday.
Visit the above.
Make another large pot of soup, as cabbage needs used up.
- Do food-audit and plan meals for coming fortnight.
current mood: groggy
|
|
(comment on this)
|
| Tuesday, April 14th, 2009
| |
12:12 pm
|
Today's task-list:Put boxes of model wagons away.
Put clean washing away.
Hoover living-room.
1 hour of weights.
Dinner: soup.
Plan meals for coming fortnight and write shopping-list.
Get mini-statement.
Get shopping. Remember to take reusable bags.
- Buy rechargeable batteries for use in camera.
Pay Cooncil Tax.
More tasks to be added later.
current mood:  lethargic
|
|
(comment on this)
|
| Sunday, April 5th, 2009
| |
2:06 am - It's all happening around here!
|
I'd only been in bed for ten minutes when there came the sound of blaring sirens, and I was compelled to get up and see what all the bloody racket was about. It's far too cold tonight to spend much time peering out of my window (in my underwear), but there are four fire-engines presently outside my flat, along with various police cars and an ambulance, and one of the fire-engines has one of those big anglepoise-type cranes extended up to the top floor of the block, one or two doors down the street from my stair. No apparent sign of smoke or fire, but presumably something fairly drastic must have happened to warrant the four fire-engines.
Luckily, the fire, if such it is, isn't in my stair; having to get out of bed and stand in the street in my underwear in the middle of the night would be bad enough at any time, but as I say, it's bloody chilly out there tonight.
( Poor-quality photos )
Apologies for the poor quality of the photos, but it was icy-cold and I couldn't help shivering. The regular readers amongst you will be quite bored with pictures of emergency situations in my street by now, of course!
current mood:  cold
current music: 'Lover Man' ~ Jimi Hendrix
|
|
(4 comments | comment on this)
|
| Saturday, April 4th, 2009
| |
10:58 pm - Fussy-eaters' poll
|
Poll #1378116
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: AllMushrooms? What do you like/dislike about mushrooms? Which foods do you particularly dislike?
current mood: motivated
current music: 'Little Miss Strange' ~ Jimi Hendrix Experience
|
|
(4 comments | comment on this)
|
| |
8:12 pm - Fewd! (As they say on the BBC News)
|
Because I've been feeling somewhat more positive and motivated over the past few days, I've been trying to inject a bit more organisation into my life, and I decided it would be a good idea to plan my meals in advance and work out beforehand what I need to buy and how much it's going to cost. I'm sure doing stuff like this is common-sense to most folk, but what usually happens is that I eat everything in the house that's edible, then I hit the supermarket when I'm starving and buy a load of whatever takes my fancy, i.e. crisps and Bakewell tarts! Well, I have successfully avoided doing this today. I made a shopping-list for a week's worth of food, which I reckoned would come to £14.97 (though it didn't include some stuff I already had, such as stir-fry veg and soya mince). In fact, quite a few items were cheaper than I'd allowed for, and the food came to £13.18 altogether. I've tended to get into a lazy habit of eating nothing but stir-frys or pasta for weeks-on-end. I'm far too lazy to be a chef; I demand my food instantly, and the aforementioned feasts only take about ten minutes to make! However, pre-planning my meals should also have the advantage of increasing the variety in my diet.
This week's plan is as follows:
- Today: dinner: soup & bread; tea: stir-fry veg, soya mince.
- Sunday: dinner: soup & bread; tea: cheese & onion pastry-rolls, fresh salad.
- Monday: dinner: soup & bread; tea: stir-fry veg, soya mince.
- Tuesday: dinner: soup & bread; tea: cheese & onion pastry-rolls, fresh salad.
- Wednesday: dinner: soup & bread; tea: grilled soya burgers, fresh salad.
- Thursday: dinner: soup & bread; tea: pasta, tomato & garlic pasta-sauce, grated cheese.
- Friday: dinner: soup & bread; tea: grilled soya burgers, fresh salad.
Still rather a lack of variety there; I'll need to revisit those recipes that ishkhara and strangelover, amongst others, were good enough to send me a few months ago.
A big pot of soup, which I'm going to liquidise, put into small containers and freeze, is presently simmering on the cooker. The plan is to defrost and heat a large mugful in the microwave each day, thus avoiding the need to use the cooker and wash pots, etc.
I've also bought a liquidiser today; tasty liquidated soup, for the making of. I reckon this'll be about the fifth one I've had in the last two years; all the others 'liquidated' themselves after about three weeks. Even the expensive shiny metal one I bought from Lewis's expired after I'd used it about twice, which presumably goes to prove that I'm definitely not cut out to be a chef! I'll have to be extra-careful with the new one, won't I?
I'm wondering if it would be worthwhile ordering a regular delivery of vegetables from a market garden. It seems like a good idea, but I've also heard that you're likely to get palmed off with piles of beetroots or radishes that are of use to neither man nor beast. Can anyone offer any advice?
Right, I'd better desist from gibbering and continue with my exercise regime!
current mood: busy
|
|
(2 comments | comment on this)
|
| |
12:37 pm - Today's task-list
|
Wash kitchen curtains.
Open and file mail.
Audit food.
Plan meals for coming week.
Work out and cost shopping-list.
Wash dishes.
Hit the shops.
- Get mini-statement.
Make large pot of soup.
Enquire about vegetable deliveries from market gardens.
- Calculate finances.
- Pay Council Tax if possible.
- Make database for model wagons.
Do massive big load of weights.
[Update: my curtain-washing proved not to be an unqualified success, in as much as they completely disintegrated in the machine. They are now in the bucket, in several pieces. Acht well, I never liked them anyway!]
current mood: busy
current music: 'Lady Madonna' ~ The Beatles
|
|
(comment on this)
|
| Monday, March 30th, 2009
| |
11:44 pm - A wee plug for my erstwhile band
|
|
| |
2:44 pm - So far, so good
|
Today's tasque-list:13:30-14:30: weights.
Dinner: soup & bread.
Wash dishes.
Clean bathroom.
Put washing on airer.
17:30-18:30: weights.
Tea: stir-fry.
Clean cooker.
- Reply to e-mails.
21:30-22:30: weights.
- Formulate plan for tomorrow.
current mood: busy
|
|
(comment on this)
|
| |
12:30 pm - Dreams: mad or what?
|
I rarely remember my dreams, but, owing to having had a decidedly crap sleep last night, I still had this fragment in my mind when I awoke: for some reason, I was sharing a big house with the members of 10cc (of 'Rubber Bullets' fame), and they were having a massive row and kicking fuck out of each other because they couldn't come up with any ideas for songs. One of them was trying to write a song on his computer but hadn't any inspiration, and was just sitting on his arse, staring at the screen. Another band-member then got hold of a cheesy-sounding kids' keyboard and composed one of their hit songs on it, and peace and happiness was magically restored. Then one of them commiserated with my girlfriend (who wasn't anyone I know IRL) for having to go out with a guy with teeth like mine, and recommended that I see a dentist immediately. He was quite right, but tact evidently wasn't his strong point!
I blame that cheap wine I drank last night.
I never made it to my class this morning. In fact, I didn't get up until about quarter-to-twelve, and I still feel like my brain's made of concrete.
current mood: groggy
|
|
(comment on this)
|
| Monday, March 23rd, 2009
| |
10:32 pm - Today's wee adventure
|
I decided to head over to Kirkcaldy again today to see if I could locate the graves of some of my long-dead forebears in the Windmill Road cemetery. The cemetery is actually in Dysart, but as there isn't a bus from Edinburgh to Dysart I had to bail out at Kirkcaldy and walk. As a mission to the frozen polar wastes it was highly successful; as a mission of discovery, slightly less so (though I did eventually locate a couple of family-members after about two-and-a-half hours of methodical searching). The icy wind blasted incessantly and I got painfully pelted with snowy-haily stuff at one point, though strangely there were no snow-clouds overhead at the time.
On the way to Dysart I saw thick black smoke rising from a few streets away. Then, as I approached the junction of Victoria Road and Dunnikier Road, smoke, soot and ash began blowing around the streets and I saw that a section of Dunnikier Road had been cordoned off and the police were diverting traffic away from the area. The fire turned out to be in a derelict factory, something there's absolutely no shortage of in Kirkcaldy. I suppose that's why disused buildings tend to be demolished, leaving acres of ugly waste-ground, if other uses can't quickly be found for them.
Ooh! Drama!
View along Victoria Road, Kirkcaldy, towards the junction with Dunnikier Road, with buildings obscured by smoke.
I didn't see flames, but presumably there were some. It even merited a very minor mention on the BBC News web-site.
Right, I'm very, very tired indeed, so I'm going to gulp down some jakey-juice and head for bed.
current mood: tired
|
|
(comment on this)
|
| Sunday, March 22nd, 2009
| |
3:46 pm - Dodging the rain
|
As it was another lovely day yesterday, I decided to hop on a random bus and head off to somewhere beyond the city boundary for the first time in several months. Actually, my choice of destination wasn't very random: I chose Kirkcaldy, having got on a St. Andrews bus and decided that I probably couldn't justify the expense of going all the way there. I don't know what it would have cost to go to St. Andrews, but the single fare to Kirkcaldy was £6.30. However, the driver was good enough to offer me a return ticket, which in the typical logic of public transport concerns, only costs £5.50! There were clear blue skies and bright sunshine all the way to Kirkcaldy, but you can probably guess what happened almost as soon as I'd got off the bus:
View up St. Clair Street, Kirkcaldy, from adjacent to the former Sinclairtown station (stone facade on the right with blocked-up doorway and windows).
I'd intended to walk quite a lot further and thought I might end up at Thornton or Leven, but I could see rain approaching and decided I'd be wise to head back to the town centre before I got caught in it. I seem to have become a right wimp in my old age. I'm sure I never used to let a wee shower of rain get in my way when I was wee! After hanging around in a book shop in Kirkcaldy High Street for a while, I emerged to discover that the clouds had vanished and it was sunny again, but my motivation had dissipated and time was getting on. After dosing up on salt and lard, I went up to the car park on the roof of the 'The Postings' shopping centre and took a couple of photos of chimneys. For some reason, I find them fascinating. We never really notice them from street-level, but they're a vital part of the vernacular architecture and the skyline wouldn't be the same without them. I suspect that deeper study would reveal that specific types of chimney, as with other architectural details, are associated with particular areas. I remember seeing one up close when I was wee, and being amazed at how huge it was compared to how they appear from street-level.
( Chimney photies )
P.S. If the photo is buggering-up anyone's friends-page, let me know and I'll invisify it.
current mood:  lazy
|
|
(6 comments | comment on this)
|
| Saturday, March 21st, 2009
| |
10:02 am - Summer's here: must make the most of it!
|
The sun's shining here for about the fifth day in a row. I keep thinking it's bound to start pissing down soon, but there's no apparent sign of thunderclouds yet. Mind you, I haven't actually ventured outside yet! Anyway, I must force myself to take some photos today, and try to get back into the habit of it. I wonder where I could go?
current mood: groggy
|
|
(comment on this)
|
| Friday, March 20th, 2009
| |
11:26 am - Those trams that everyone's complaining about
|
Has anyone had a look around the mock-up tram that's outside Jenner's in Princes Street? I had a nose at it last night when I was out buying bog-roll, and on first impressions it looks pretty smart. The seats look a bit thin and hard but in general the interior looks more like a train than a bus, and much more spacious. They'll undoubtedly be a great deal quieter, cleaner and smoother-running than buses too. I think people will flock to them once they're up and running, though I suspect that a single fare will be considerably more than £1.20, or whatever the equivalent bus-fare is by the time the trams start running. (It'll probably be about £5 by that time!) I'm certainly looking forward to travelling on them. I was even thinking I might apply for a job as a driver, but then I thought about the shifts and changed my mind.
The mock-up looks very similar to these trams which are now running, apparently very successfully, in Dublin:
( Dublin tram )
current mood: groggy
|
|
(11 comments | comment on this)
|
| Thursday, March 19th, 2009
| |
11:58 pm - Those evil trainspotting terrorists!
|
There's been a lot about this issue (though not yet this particular incident) in the railway press lately. The powers-that-be have seemingly decided that no-one is allowed to take pictures of trains, or even to take photos on railway property, without permission, because it apparently constitutes a 'security risk'. Over the past few months, there have been numerous reports in the railway magazines about enthusiasts and photographers being instructed to stop taking photos at stations, and some have even had their films and memory-cards confiscated. I'm sure the utter ridiculousness of this doesn't really need explaining, but go into any bookshop and you'll find dozens of books on railways, illustrated with innumerable photographs of trains taken without permission on railway property, all taken by potential 'security threats', presumably. People have been photographing trains since the very invention of photography, and thousands of books have been published containing nothing but photos of trains. I have dozens of them on my own bookshelfs! As far as I'm aware there is not and never has been any restriction on taking photos in public places, except during wartime. Not only do I consider any such restriction on personal freedom absurdly pointless, but it's police-state authoritarianism gone way over the top. What's 'Big Brother' going to clamp down on next? No taking pictures of buses? Canal-boats? Bicycles? No pictures of giraffes or golf-balls, perhaps? That would make about as much sense.
The worst of it is, I'm actually afraid to take photos of trains myself now - something I've enjoyed doing all my life and have never thought to ask permission for - for fear of encountering the law. Perhaps I should wear a t-shirt which says 'Do I look like a fucking terrorist?' in big writing! One thing's for sure: I won't be asking permission to do something that's perfectly legal - or should be - in a supposedly-free society.
current mood: annoyed
|
|
(4 comments | comment on this)
|
| |
10:06 pm - Porn stars
|
|
| Wednesday, March 18th, 2009
| |
10:55 pm - Capitalism actually a pile of crap: shock!
|
I bought this interesting book for £3.49 in the Oxfam bookshop last Wednesday:
( To End Poverty )
The author describes himself as a 'green anarchist' but appears to me to be at the extreme libertarian end of anarchism, which isn't a viewpoint I necessarily sympathise with. For example, he appears to value liberty over equality, which certainly isn't my view. Nevertheless, there's a lot in the book that I do agree with. The author's basic premise is that, contrary to the current orthodoxy, trade and industry do not create wealth, they merely transfer it from the poor to the rich. This might seem a pretty hard concept to grasp when even the poor in our own society have washing machines and TVs, but our relative wealth is reckoned to come at the expense of the starving millions in the so-called 'developing' countries. They starve because, instead of growing food for themselves and manufacturing their own products, they are forced to grow cash-crops to trade for the mass-produced goods of the rich countries, thus destroying their own industry. According to the author, a truly affluent society is one that is self-sufficient; one in which people share the necessities of life rather than exploiting and trading them for profit. So far, so good; but if the suggestion is that we follow Pol Pot's example and return to the stone-age, I might have a slight issue with that. I haven't finished the book yet though, so I don't know what the conclusion will be.
He also has this to say about banks, which sums up my views on them fairly concisely:
"Banking is not neutral. Those given credit are put in a stronger competitive position than those without. It is the rich, because they have security, who get credit. So credit helps the rich against the poor. Also, credit creates inflation and inflation helps the rich, who can borrow and pay less back because of inflation. If two people each have £100,000, they can bid for a house up to that price. If one also has £10,000 credit, he can bid up to £110,000. The credit has increased the price of the house. There's more buying-power chasing the same amount of goods.
"That only applies, of course, if the lender's loan has not reduced the lender's own buying-power. With bank-loans it does not. The bank has deposits of say £1,000,000. Because it does not think that everyone is going to come for their money all at once, it lends out more than £1,000,000. It is that extra which is inflationary." So banks profit by lending money they don't actually have on the basis of future repayments which might or might not be made, in the process creating inflation from which the rich benefit. Since this is the shaky foundation upon which 'economic growth' is built, it's none too surprising that the whole edifice is collapsing around us at this very moment. It's always been obvious to me that this would happen sooner or later. Incidentally, the book was published in 1997, long before the present 'downturn' (or whatever Gordon Brown and his bunch of Capitalist arse-lickers choose to call it).
Wouldn't it be nice if we could all lend money we don't actually have and charge interest on the repayments? Poverty would be eliminated at a stroke!
current mood:  contemplative
|
|
(2 comments | comment on this)
|
| Sunday, March 15th, 2009
| |
1:25 pm - Motivation, please!
|
I've been up and about since 11:30 this morning. It's now almost 1:30pm and so far, despite having listed my tasks for today before I went to bed last night, the sum total of my efforts has been to get dressed and tie my bootlaces. I'm fighting the urge to curl up on the settee and go back to sleep. Also, the fires's on but I can't seem to get warm, which is probably precisely why I should be running about like a mad thing what runs about. Anyway, I'm out of sugar, and without sugar I can't have coffee, and without coffee I can't wake up, so I suppose I have no option but to take the appropriate action! That tasque-list in full:General tidy-up & hoover.Set up weights-bench.Find out when internet contract expires & get cheaper tariff.Put rubbish out.Check cash situation.Buy bread.Buy sugar.Buy salad ingredients.- Clean bathroom.
- Sew around inside of patch.
- Reply to e-mails.
current mood: lethargic
|
|
(comment on this)
|
| Tuesday, March 3rd, 2009
| |
3:04 pm - With apologies to any genuine hillbillies who may be reading...
|
...Here are a couple of Swamptrash vids which I found on YouTube, featuring Harry Horse - who died in tragic circumstances a couple of years ago - on vocals and banjo. I never saw them live, but I had their 'It Makes No Never Mind' LP back in the day. Watching this fair' cheered me up; pity about the irritating scrolling text during the live performance.
current mood: nostalgic
|
|
(2 comments | comment on this)
|
| Sunday, March 1st, 2009
| |
10:27 pm - Pronunciation pontification
|
|
| |
8:56 pm - British Bullshit Corporation, pt. 94
|
Is it just me, or is the BBC now the official mouthpiece of Israeli propaganda?* I refer to Blair shocked by Gaza destruction. According to the BBC, this destruction was caused not by Israel but by "recent fighting in Gaza". The report then refers to "schools, hospitals and homes damaged in the three-week Israeli offensive against militants in Gaza", and immediately follows this with the admission that "Around 1,300 Palestinians, of whom 412 were children, were killed during the fighting and 21,000 homes were destroyed or badly damaged". In what possible way does killing 412 children qualify as an "offensive against militants"? Are children "militants" who deserve to be blown apart, burned alive or crushed beneath the rubble of their homes?
As for Blair being a Middle-East Peace Envoy, what a sick joke that is. What possible credibility can that lying warmonger have? The magnitude of his commitment and impartiality can no doubt be gauged from the fact that he's only now set foot in Gaza after two years in the job.
*As if this wasn't obvious, given that they recently refused to broadcast an emergency charity appeal for the people of Gaza, as doing so would apparently have breached their so-called commitment to 'impartiality'.
current mood: disgusted
|
|
(2 comments | comment on this)
|
| Saturday, February 28th, 2009
| |
11:30 pm - Quite amusing!
|
Wikipedia entry for Addiewell. I wonder if there's one for Kelty, or Ballingry, or Breich?
Pumpherston: the place to be if you're in need of lavatorial facilities, apparently!*
Also, I've been pointed towards this very interesting web-site by my sister. It aims to produce a photographic record of every square kilometre of the UK from photos submitted by the public, and I've just spent a couple of hours looking at photos of Inverkeithing, Kinghorn and Kirkcaldy - my 'home turf'. I also found the picture below, which suggests to me that evolution has taken a wrong turning somewhere. I mean, wouldn't life be so much easier and more fun if we could spend all day swimming or 'relaxing by the pool' like these lazy creatures? I bet seals don't suffer from depression.
*Anyone who has been to Pumpherston will understand the absurdity of this advert which Google threw up when I typed in 'Pumpherston'.
current mood:  amused
|
|
(2 comments | comment on this)
|
| Monday, February 23rd, 2009
| |
12:26 am - *Beetroot*
|
I do appear to have received an unexpected gift from an unknown benefactor. To whom it may concern, your gift is certainly appreciated. Thankyou!
current mood:  grateful
|
|
(comment on this)
|
| Sunday, February 22nd, 2009
| |
8:02 pm - Make me stop looking at videos of planes!
|
I discovered this old amateur footage last night of planes at Edinburgh Airport in 1965; there's a Handley Page Herald landing, a Vickers Vanguard standing at the old terminal, and a view of South Queensferry and the Forth Bridges from a plane (the Herald, I think) as it climbs away from Edinburgh. (This is of particular interest to me as amongst my parents' slide-collection are some faded old slides of much the same view). The planes are all in the red, black and white BEA livery that they carried in my earliest days of plane-spotting when I moved to Kirkliston in 1971. Weren't old-fashioned cine cameras crap though? For some reason, the whole video seems to be speeded up to two or three times the actual speed, like those old fragments of film from the First World War. My guess is that speeding it up improves the picture-quality when it's transferred to video.
And this is quite scary!
A lucky escape for all concerned, I should think.
Right, I must drag myself away from the computer for a few moments at least!
current mood: lethargic
|
|
(comment on this)
|
| |
2:35 pm - I may have slept until 2pm, but my day shall be busy!
|
Wash underwear.
Make some soup.
Wash dishes.
Reply to e-mails & comments.
File ECDL stuff.
- Transfer photos from Slide to Photobucket.
- Prepare second patch for jeans & sew around two sides of outside.
- List subjects for photography.
Put appliances out for inspection. (This will be about the sixth time the letting agency has demanded entry to my flat so far this year. Fortunately I have to be up and out tomorrow morning in any case.)
Set alarm for 8:30am.
In other news, now that I'm back on a basic LiveJournal account, I've decided to reactivate my Photobucket account and start uploading some photos to it. So far I've uploaded all the images from my previous LJ-entries and edited the links in my journal-entries so that the Photobucket images display. This is the kind of pointless activity I can waste hours and days on when I have nothing more important to do, or even when I have other much more important things to do! I also thought it would be a good idea to add tags to all the photos as Photobucket allows this, but it's a dreadfully slow process and the more images you tag, the longer it seems to take for the tags to apply themselves. However, if this restricts me to only uploading those photos that I actually need to upload, that won't be a bad thing.
Does anyone else here use Photobucket? My account is here; the title page is blank at the moment but I'll get around to rectifying that sooner or later.
Right, time for more coffee!
current mood: groggy
|
|
(5 comments | comment on this)
|
| |
4:36 am - New steam locomotive
|
Further to my previous journal-entry, here's what got me looking at vids on YouTube tonight: it's No. 60163 'Tornado', the newly-constructed near-replica of an LNER class A1 4-6-2, which has recently entered service hauling special trains. It's limited to 75mph for now, but the fact that it was blowing off steam in some of the videos whilst running at line-speed with a full load shows that it's capable of plenty more. There are loads of shuddery, out-of-focus videos on YouTube of it flashing by, but I think the one below stands out. Not only is No. 60163 a mechanical work of art, but the rapid acceleration within a few seconds demonstrated here with a thirteen-coach train - longer and heavier than any in normal service today - shows that steam power wasn't quite the redundant, archaic technology it was made out to be in those days when it was considered politically expedient to scrap steam and spend £millions on feeble, untested, unreliable diesels in the name of 'modernisation' (i.e. bailing-out private industry with public money*). Incidentally, the video was taken by an eleven-year-old lassie, which just goes to show why adults should never be condescending towards children!
No. 60163 is booked to visit Edinburgh next Saturday, though I don't know at what time. I think I might prefer to see it tearing through the countryside at full speed though. A wee trip down to Prestonpans or Drem might be in order.
Right, I suppose I'd better get to bed as it's nearly 6am. I only have to start going to bed and getting up another couple of hours later and I'll have totally turned night into day.
*Nothing new there, then.
current mood: impressed
|
|
(6 comments | comment on this)
|
| |
2:17 am - Sound and fury!
|
Probably not a job I'd choose to do...the aviation equivalent of a shunter on the railway:
Who would want to be within lethal range of those propellers rotating at supersonic speed while being deafened by about the loudest noise ever to have blasted the human ear? Which isn't to say I don't love those old turbo-prop planes; they're way more impressive than modern airliners, which - like modern cars - all look and sound exactly the same to me. Those old Lockheed Electras are - or were until very recently - flying out of Edinburgh on mail services, and I often saw several of them parked at the old Turnhouse terminal when I was driving the trains. Their deep, noisy drone was quite distinctive when they flew overhead after midnight. I'll have to head out to the airport sometime and see if any of the Electras are still on the go, but I suspect they'll all be away to the scrappie by now.
Taking off in an Electra:
I was quite fascinated by this, too. I think only one was ever built. It was a beautiful-looking thing, but was already reckoned to be obsolete when it was built, and within five years was totally outclassed by the Boeing 707.
current mood: nostalgic
|
|
(comment on this)
|
| Wednesday, February 18th, 2009
| |
1:40 pm - The fruits of my laziness
|
Stuff what I might eventually get around to doing today:Make soup with leeks, savoury rice and leftover pasta sauce.
Wash underwear.
Shave.
Wash dishes.
Tidy & hoover living-room.
Work out cash situation.
Buy some black fabric dye.
( Stupid quiz )
current mood: lazy
|
|
(comment on this)
|
| Saturday, February 14th, 2009
| |
4:39 am - RMS Titanic
|
Haunting and disturbing, but quite fascinating: BBC Titanic archive. I was reading a book in Waterstone's book shop today about the expedition to locate and photograph the remains of the Titanic, and I couldn't stop thinking about it afterwards. Hearing the voices of people who were actually involved makes it seem a much less distant event.
Apparently, no trace remains on the ocean floor of the bodies of those who died, although pairs of leather boots show where they fell. Beneath two-and-a-half miles of sea, I imagine the human body would be crushed to a pulp in any case. It's a spooky thought.
As of now, I'm not going to think about this horrific event any more. It's not as if I'm not depressed enough already.
current mood: haunted
|
|
(4 comments | comment on this)
|
| Thursday, February 12th, 2009
| |
3:11 am - That fucking dog!
|
I know I've posted these before, but they're just so fucking amazing that I feel compelled to give them another airing. For those amongst you who are fucked-off with life in general or even in particular, I guarantee these'll put a smile on your face!
...And an old classic from the eighties...
They don't make 'em like that any more!
Oh fuck, I should have been in bed hours ago. Why am I wide-awake at nearly 3:30am?
current mood: astounded
|
|
(comment on this)
|
| Monday, February 2nd, 2009
| |
6:17 pm - Are we nearly snowed-in yet?
|
It's been snowing on-and-off all last night and throughout today, sometimes quite heavily. I reckon it's the most snow we've had in many a year and it must be lying pretty deep further inland. Here in Edinburgh all we've got is the usual horrible, wet and extremely slippery slush on the pavements (which are an absolute nightmare to walk on), though it's feeling distinctly colder now than it was earlier, so I suspect it'll soon turn to ice and any further snow we get will lie. I have to head out again to my band-practice in a moment. Tonight in particular, I really can't be bothered.
In other news, I'm pleased to note that the painter has finally been and done his thing in the hall. He's painted it Magnolia, which is probably my least favourite colour in the entire universe, but at least I shouldn't have to worry about being pestered by the letting agency and their minions for a while. A much-needed long lie tomorrow morning beckons. In fact, I wish I could just head for bed with a couple of hot-water bottles just now. I didn't get much sleep last night at all, and my eyes feel like golf balls.
current mood: cold
|
|
(2 comments | comment on this)
|
| Sunday, February 1st, 2009
| |
12:52 am - Dear oh dear oh dear!
|
I've had a totally unsatisfactory day. I've spent almost the entire day since I got up sitting here on my arse, doing absolutely nothing useful whatsoever. It was a bright, sunny day too, but I hadn't the slightest inclination to get off my lazy arse and go out. I desperately need to get a grip.
I'd better list my priorities tomorrow and tackle them in strict order of importance, because I might as well be dead as have another day like today.
In other news, I see our friend Bones has made the headlines.
And in other, other news I saw somebody sort-of famous last Wednesday, namely George Galloway MP. He was walking up the Royal Mile as I was about to turn into St. Mary's Street.
current mood: apathetic
|
|
(comment on this)
|
| Monday, January 26th, 2009
| |
12:12 am - LJ accounts
|
I received a couple of e-mails from LJ over the past couple of weeks warning that my paid-account was about to expire. I disregarded them as I could swear my paid-account has always previously been renewed and the $25 (or whatever it is) debited from my bank-account automatically. Am I just imagining this? Anyway, sure enough, my paid-account has expired and I'm now lumbered with a crappy basic account. I must say I find those adverts quite irritating (I dare say they're intended precisely to persuade you to sign up for a paid-account), and not being able to post polls or upload photos to the galleries is probably going to prove a bit of a nuisance. On the other hand, in my present circumstances I don't think I can really justify spending even the equivalent of $25 on something as inessential as the ability to post the occasional LJ-poll.
Actually, I was going to post a poll to see who on my friends-list has a paid-account and who's content to live with adverts and limited functionality, but now that my account has reverted to 'basic', I can't. Mind you, I'm sure I was perfectly happy with a basic account for the first year or more that I was on LJ. I suppose I didn't miss what I'd never had, but then, wasn't one of the founding principles of LJ supposed to be that it was - and would remain - advert-free?
current mood: irritated
|
|
(17 comments | comment on this)
|
| Sunday, January 25th, 2009
| |
12:48 am - Who'd have guessed, eh?
|
My Political Views
I am a far-left moderate social libertarian
Left: 7.63, Libertarian: 1.52
Political Spectrum Quiz
While I wouldn't argue with that result, many of the questions are largely USA-specific. Most civilised countries legalised abortion and did away with judicial killing decades ago, and - in the UK at least - possession of guns is largely banned. No-one here (apart from columnists in The Sun and the Daily Mail, probably) seriously advocates bringing back hanging, banning abortion or allowing the public to buy guns in supermarkets.
As for question 22, I quote: "Laws regulating private behaviour are put forth by the weak, who prefer security to freedom"...what? I can neither agree nor disagree with a statement that makes no sense to me. For a start, security and freedom are human needs which are in no way mutually-exclusive. Nor is there anything inherently wrong with laws regulating private behaviour if they prevent people from committing assault or rape, for example, and I don't see how it follows that those who "put forth" such laws are "weak". I would suggest that those who advocate and implement such laws are not "the weak" in any case, but politicians, lobbyists and media-barons.
Right, enough gibbering!
current mood: lazy
|
|
(3 comments | comment on this)
|
| Saturday, January 24th, 2009
| |
12:16 pm - Today's news
|
The good news: the past week - which has been absolutely hellish from start to finish - is finally over, and once I've satiated my caffeine-addiction and actually woken up, I can make a start to doing some useful and productive tasks.
The bad news: it looks like my camera has done a vanishing-act at some point during the gig at Bannerman's last night. I'm normally relieved upon waking up after a pished night out to discover that it's sitting safely on the mantel-piece, but there was no sign of it this morning. I reckon I put it down by the side of the stage during Sad Society's set, but in the rush to get our equipment off-stage afterwards I must have neglected to pick it up. I'll ask at Bannerman's if a camera has been found, but I should think it's highly unlikely that someone won't have nabbed it. Not that it's likely to be much use to anybody without the USB connector and the software disc.
...Unless...I wonder if I put it in Bally's kit-bag for safe-keeping? That's a possibility. Don't panic!
Right, I'm off to concoct an action-plan.
current mood: groggy
|
|
(4 comments | comment on this)
|
| Wednesday, January 14th, 2009
| |
5:53 pm - Coldplay must die!
|
The Cherry Bombz on The Tube, c.1986.
Fucking tremendous! When was the last time you saw a band anything like that?
current mood: nostalgic
|
|
(comment on this)
|
| Saturday, January 10th, 2009
| |
4:52 pm - No snowdrifts, just pishin' rain and howling gales
|
Firstly, the not-so-good: the weather is even worse now than it was earlier; in addition to the cold and blasting wind, it's now raining sideways too. As a result, I have deemed it necessary to spend this afternoon in the relative comfort of my rabbit-hutch, with my fire at full-blast. However, I have exhausted my supplies of the basic life-essentials of bog-roll and margarine, and a visit to the supermarket is therefore more or less unavoidable, hellish weather notwithstanding.
Secondly, the slightly less not-so-good: after many months of fruitless searching, SoulSeek has finally turned up an mp3 of Do Anything You Wanna Do by The Almighty (otherwise known as The Alshitey). As a band, I thought they were somewhat derivative and one-dimensional, but I think their cover of the old Eddie & the Hotrods classic is quite an improvement on the original. Good guitar-crunch!
current mood: lethargic
|
|
(2 comments | comment on this)
|
| Friday, January 9th, 2009
| |
6:13 pm - Screensavers
|
Here's a slideshow I've knocked together from a selection of the photos which I use as screensavers on my my computer. I'm hoping that if I can convince myself that some of these are actually quite good, I'll be able to summon up the motivation to get out and about with the camera and take some more soon.
Anyway, I must 'nash', as they say in Edinburgh, as Sad Society are playing at The Ark in Waterloo Place tonight, and I'm supposed to be down there for the soundcheck just about now.
current mood: tired
|
|
(2 comments | comment on this)
|
| Wednesday, January 7th, 2009
| |
1:19 am - Getting angry isn't good for my blood-pressure
|
I've been trying to avoid thinking about this issue as it only makes me angry and there's nothing much I can do about it, but I was glad to see some of the great and good speaking out against Israel's latest act of slaughter against its neighbours the other day, even if those protesting were 'the usual suspects'. We keep hearing about these 'Hamas rockets targeting Israel' as if a few unguided fireworks were somehow equivalent to Israel's vast military might with all the aircraft, tanks and guns at its disposal, and the indiscriminate mayhem and slaughter they are bringing to an already dispossessed, subjugated and defenceless people. According to the BBC's current report: "Palestinian medical sources say more than 560 Palestinians have been killed since the violence began on 27 December 2008. The Israelis say they have suffered eight casualties, including three civilians and one soldier killed in Palestinian attacks on Israel." I believe the ratio was much the same during Israel's invasion of Lebanon a couple of years ago.
How any rational, humane being can attempt to justify this outrage is beyond me. Politicians talk about ceasefires and negotiated settlements, but stand by and do nothing while innocents are massacred. It's sickening.
Tom Shields in the Sunday Herald sums up my feelings pretty well: Gaza ghetto is destroyed and the world stays silent.
current mood: annoyed
|
|
(comment on this)
|
| Friday, January 2nd, 2009
| |
11:18 pm - Music-player quiz-thingie
|
(Nicked from goddessofchaos. Now seems like a good time to do this as I've just gone through my entire music library, playing each track in turn and weeding out all the crap I've downloaded from LimeWire and SoulSeek. Actually, I'm at 'Xanadu' by Rush, but I've only got titles beginning with Y and Z to go. This process has taken about three weeks and I thought I'd never get to the end of it!)
How many songs total: 1,374.
How many hours or days of music: 94 hours 28 mins.
Sort by song title
First Song: #9 Dream ~ John Lennon.
Last Song: Zwitter ~ Rammstein.
Sort by time
Shortest Song: Heinz Baked Beans ~ The Who (1:00)
Longest Song: Cygnus X-1 Book II Hemispheres ~ Rush (18:08)
Sort by album
First album: ...And Then There Were Three ~ Genesis
Last album: Youthanasia ~ Megadeth
Top Five Most Played Songs
1. Punk Rock Stars ~ Art Attacks (112)
2. Action Time Vision ~ Alternative TV (99)
3. There's No Other Way ~ Blur (93)
4. Savoir Faire ~ Family Fodder (87)
5. Deeps And Shallows ~ Dreamgrinder (85)
(The number-of-plays according to my WMP differ from those recorded on my Last.fm page, for some reason.)
First song that comes up on Shuffle: The Yearning ~ Marty Friedman.
Search the following and state how many songs come up
Death - 1
Life - 15
Love - 28
Hate - 0
You - Can't be arsed counting
Sex - 2
current mood:  sleepy
|
|
(comment on this)
|
|
|
|
|
12 (80.0%)