WoSblog is internationally renowned for its psychiatric expertise, so I wasn't surprised yesterday when a viewer of the WoS Forum asked me, quite out of the blue, to assess their mental stability.
"I want to know if I'm going barmy", wrote the clearly-distressed reader, whose cause for doubting his very sanity was – of all things – a review of an incredibly expensive office chair.
If you're a member of WoSblog's highly secretive Alert Viewers Society, you might recall that WoSblog recently visited the intriguing city of Gloucester, and in passing mentioned the presence – on the menu of the Varsity Bar pub chain – of an item by the name of the Dirty Dog's Dinner.
It didn't seem fair, though, that WoSblog's beloved viewers should be expected to simply picture it in their minds. So here it is.
Anyone who's been reading WoS or WoSblog for any amount of time will probably already have noticed that I have very little time for videogames that want to tell stories.
There are plenty of fields of culture available already for people who want to be told stories. Books, films, comics, TV, theatre and even music are all ideally suited to story-telling, and frequently do a brilliant job of it. You wouldn't hire a footballer to come round and do your plumbing, so why would you look to videogames for storytelling?
Chatting to a chum yesterday, something they said gave me cause to recall a feature from Amiga Power in which former full-time members of the AP team recounted their experiences on leaving the mag for the “real” world.
Sadly the issue in question (AP54, October 1995) is one of those that still hasn’t been scanned for the Amiga Magazine Rack, and only a fragment of it is available in the WoS Archive, so I had to go and get the actual magazine off my shelves, like some sort of caveman.
This is totally NSFW, if you’re a dragonfly. It may also cause depression among male viewers. If you’re absolutely sure you can handle XXX-rated dragonfly action, then click on the pleasant picture below to peek through the leafy window and into the dragonfly boudoir.
(Pics taken this afternoon in the botanical gardens of Victoria Park, Bath, with a Fuji Finepix F70 EXR compact digital camera.)
We're almost done with the politics stuff, viewers. Normal WoSblog service will be resumed shortly, but first I thought I might as well share with you an email I received this morning.
Back on Monday, when uncertainty still ruled as to who'd be forming the next government, the website 38 Degrees invited its users to send emergency emails to Labour MPs, urging them not to block any potential "progressive alliance" by vowing to vote against electoral reform, as many threatened to.
The momentum behind a Lib-Lab coalition seems at the time of writing to be slipping away, as one braindead Labour MP or grandee after another comes out to argue against it in front of an eager media. If Labour's 1983 election manifesto was the longest suicide note in history, today's collected BBC News interviews could be among the shortest.
Because here's what happens if Labour retards like David Blunkett, John Reid, Tom Harris and Wee Dougie Alexander scupper this agreement.
1. That the Tories hadn’t offered the Lib Dems anything on electoral reform. The sudden, desperate and resentful least-possible offer of a referendum on the absolutely useless AV (which does almost nothing for the Lib Dems) was a panic reaction to Brown’s game-changing resignation.
At least, it’s statistically probable that you do. The majority – 53% – of votes cast by the British electorate last Thursday were worthless, because they were cast for candidates who didn’t win, and are therefore simply thrown in the bin by the First Past The Post electoral system.
So if you were one of the thousands of people locked out of polling stations across the country on Thursday night, don’t fret too much. Your vote would probably have been completely ignored anyway.
Because the aim was a hung parliament, and we got just about the hung-est parliament possible. The Tories need the Lib Dems to form a majority, Labour needs nearly everyone to form a majority, and the smallest parties could yet have the crucial say. Wow, that's hung. But what now?
TURABDIN on All The Dirt From My Eyes: “A rather romantic interpretation. If the people fail to engage with being «raised up» what then? Ultimately, as Fanon came…” May 28, 11:57
Aidan on All The Dirt From My Eyes: “Do you think the former party chief exec going to prison for a 12-year campaign of embezzlement which has left…” May 28, 11:52
Spartan 117 on All The Dirt From My Eyes: “We had our say on 18th September 2014. You must have forgotten. Are you saying blatant corruption is acceptable because…” May 28, 11:51
James Barr Gardner on The Final Robbery: “Dented buoys an’ Aspro pouder ?” May 28, 11:46
Geri on No Money Back, No Guarantee: “Bloomberg also mentioned a staggering £177 billion excess profits for Energy firms. So there is more income down the City…” May 28, 11:30
Northcode on No Money Back, No Guarantee: ““Of course the ONS doesn’t take an institutional view of political questions…” Time for another packet of Tunnock’s Tea Cakes…” May 28, 11:28
Izzie on All The Dirt From My Eyes: “Im at a loss as to how this endless stirring and poking advances the Cause. The Unionists should be the…” May 28, 11:10
DavidT on All The Dirt From My Eyes: “The Spectator on X has posted a very good graph showing SNP funds spent by Peter Murrell over the years.…” May 28, 11:08
Alf Baird on All The Dirt From My Eyes: ““the workings of the state institutions in current-day Scotland” ..is indeed a subject requiring of careful consideration, especially given the…” May 28, 11:00
Aidan on No Money Back, No Guarantee: “Of course the ONS doesn’t take an institutional view of political questions, it collects, analyses and publishes data. So what…” May 28, 10:49
Captain Caveman on No Money Back, No Guarantee: ““Unlike you, I’ve never tried “… pushing shite uphill.”” On the contrary, Northy. Most would conclude that’s an activity (hopefully…” May 28, 10:40
Kate on All The Dirt From My Eyes: “If only we could see front page headlines followed by a full investigation of the behaviour of SNP & especially…” May 28, 10:39
Nemisis Benn on All The Dirt From My Eyes: “It’s irrelevant whether the accounts are signed off by the Party Leader or the Treasurer – at least one person…” May 28, 10:38
Northcode on No Money Back, No Guarantee: “I could be wrong, of course… there is always that remote possibility to be considered. But I think this is…” May 28, 10:38
Northcode on No Money Back, No Guarantee: “Unlike you, I’ve never tried “… pushing shite uphill.” Tell me, is it really a very difficult thing to do,…” May 28, 10:31
Geri on No Money Back, No Guarantee: “Data shite in = data shite out. A. GERS has been admitted by various ex London MPs that it’s bullshit…” May 28, 10:29
Captain Caveman on No Money Back, No Guarantee: “Ah, my bad. Of course! The ONS are “in on it”, all part of some grand Fanon-tastic conspiracy – in…” May 28, 10:25
Spartan 117 on All The Dirt From My Eyes: “Keep digging and asking the awkward questions, Stu. As another commenter stated, it gives a good insight into the workings…” May 28, 10:24
Northcode on No Money Back, No Guarantee: ““The ONS hasn’t a clue…” On the contrary, I think the ONS knows exactly what it’s doing when it omits,…” May 28, 10:18
Tinto Chiel on Off-topic: “You’re lucky to be so near the coast to see all those divers. We stayed in a house over-looking “Anthrax…” May 28, 10:00
Northcode on All The Dirt From My Eyes: “I believe that what Fanon is really doing here is trying to break a psychological chain. Colonised peoples are often…” May 28, 09:57
Captain Caveman on No Money Back, No Guarantee: ““I wouldn’t trust much of what the ONS has to say” Well, therein lies the problem, in a nutshell. “The…” May 28, 09:50
Northcode on No Money Back, No Guarantee: “Conclusion This report looks at the social background of the people who run Scotland… Our research suggests that the top…” May 28, 09:35
TURABDIN on All The Dirt From My Eyes: “«To educate the masses politically does not mean, cannot mean, making a political speech. What it means is to try,…” May 28, 08:48
Andouillette on All The Dirt From My Eyes: “Thick? Or devious? Maybe both. One thing I am sure of is endless paragraphs of “Oooh look, squirrels” from the…” May 28, 07:11
DavidT on All The Dirt From My Eyes: “It is hard to believe that Colin Beattie could have been paid for being the SNP treasurer all those years,…” May 28, 07:11
Aidan on No Money Back, No Guarantee: “Well here’s the good news Geri, the Office for National Statistics produces an extraordinary amount of high quality data through…” May 28, 07:00
robertkknight on All The Dirt From My Eyes: “I’m not surprised it doesn’t resonate with the equally deluded and myopic types I imagine you speak to… all regular…” May 28, 04:59
gm on All The Dirt From My Eyes: “Stuart McDonald is down as treasurer. My theory doesnae work then! They couldbae hae been that brassneckit.” May 28, 00:42
