ugly rumours, indeed...

Now that records can make the chart purely by digital sales alone (saving the likes of me the embarrassment of actually walking into shops and revealing my poor taste in music), I'd love this to make number one! So much that I've purchased it once and may do so again. Problem is it needs more media coverage to reach beyond the demographic of peeps like me who check the stop the war website regularly.

hmmm peace marches

Well I didn't go to the peace march in Glasgow yesterday, but the BBC's reporting is curious - 'Unlikely allies unite on Trident'.

Anarcho-syndicalists. Communists. Scottish Nationalists. Anti-racism campaigners. Trades unionists.

It was an eclectic mix which wound its merry way from Cowcaddens to Glasgow's George Square.

Why are they 'unlikely allies'? It sounds like just the sort of random left-of-centre groups that normally attend marches of this kind. If the Guild of City Bankers or the Countryside Alliance had been there too, then one might say that unlikely allies would have been uniting. As it is, it is just typical slapdash BBC reporting. But then I'm bitter that the beeb never gave me a job!

I have written to my local MP about the Trident, and have now been waiting nearly two months for my response. I'm sure it's in the post, but I wonder how much longer I should wait.

Wet weekend

Well, it continues to rain so I have resorted to my wet sunday routine of booting up a computer model of the troposphere is SE Asia and setting it running (on a remote server). Every 90 minutes, I download the results and issue fresh instructions. I only feel safe running it for 90 minutes unsupervised because there is a good chance my connection will crash after this time. Each 90 minute window gives me just enough time to do the other type of running, outside (should the rain stops, which it might do later on), visit Sainsbury's or make some phone calls. Yes - a sheltered life, but my own...

Arthur's Seat Watch

... and yes, it's a very wet, overcast Sunday in prospect. Maybe I should rename this website SeatCam.com and be down with it. There must be a tidy demographic of people who would like to see regularly updated pictures of dormant volcanoes from the same viewpoint, but under different climatic conditions.

A milestone

Yesterday, I experienced my first ever Salsa lesson.

I don't think I'm sure yet what this act represents.

Big in China

Well, well... according to my webstats most visits to this blog originate from China. I'm flattered, and I'm glad there is one corner of the world where my ersatz brand of humour strikes gold! This week I have abandoned my usual mainstay of the Guardian newspaper and have been trying to learn Mandarin in The Times. Unfortunately 'the US State Department estimates that it will take an Englishspeaker 2200 hours to reach anything resembling proficiency in Mandarin'. Since I was never any good at languages, that'll be more like 4400 hours for me. Nevertheless, if it turns out I really am more popular in China than anywhere else, I shall move there.

In the meantime, I will try and stay on the right side of the Chinese internet censors and not talk about anything too controversial. I certainly don't want to lose all my readers!

red sky at morning

someday I will leave the house to take pictures... when I have a less bulky camera maybe. Shame the sun doesn't rise behind arthur's seat though.

Support global warming

I just received an email about a cycle ride 'in support of global warming'. They must be hoping for more bright and warm february days like today!

Oh great, not again...

Since government policy-making is normally based around whatever happens to be the top headline on BBC News, I'm getting increasingly worried that I will have to start going on (ugh) peace marches again. Here's hoping George Bush doesn't also have BBC News in his bookmarks.

Virtual running

Well today I was planning to scout out the route for the race that I am doing next weekend, but the weather outside just doesn't look that inviting for a brisk pedal out to the Pentlands. At least I can still check out the route virtually, from the comfort of my own computer:


Despite the closely packed contour lines, it looks a lot more straightforward in Multimap than what it plainly is in real life. My psychological preparation is complete!