“Obviously, it is up to the European countries themselves to tackle their financial problems. But China can do within its capacity to help as a friend.”
…
Xinhua said Europe needed to make “more concerted efforts.”
The G20 summit in Cannes next month should accord China the respect it deserves, the commentary added.
It’s time you kissed our arses properly, I think is what they mean.
I’d be surprised if modern tents weren’t well insulated. Neil and I were talking about this last night — if tents were all that shit, those camping out at OccupyLSX (and everywhere else) might as well rig up a sheet between two poles.
I also don’t think it’s fair to brand them anti-capitalist protestors. I’m sure some of them are anti-capitalist, but I suspect most of them have got together because they’re anti-inequality.
Oh the inhumanity — how in Deity’s name did we ever survive the decades when mobile phones were just phones? How could we possibly face a day, let alone a week, when we couldn’t immediately speak to, text, or email one another without taking a break? I guess it won’t be long before phone Internet access and email will be described as a human right. *sigh*
For the moment, there are enough Singaporeans who are getting along okay for the 99% to not worry about it too much, but what will happen when we (they? I haven’t lived there in over five years) reach a critical point and frustrations boil over — will we riot?
If it does happen, it won’t be for a very long time, but if things continue the way they’re going, I do worry that the anger will elbow aside any well-entrenched feelings of guilt, shame, and the fear of getting caught.
And if Singaporeans ever reach breaking point, I really have no idea how we can come back from that. The PAP government really needs to pay attention to these much more subtle signs before it’s too late.
I may have been slightly too brutal with my culling of books up in Edinburgh. We made sure we had lots of bookshelf space, and it turns out we don’t need that much of it to actually hold the dead tree products!
I’m not sure how many titles you can identify by their spines.
But you can also see a couple of sock dolls, Neil’s motorcycle helmet (at some point he might actually get his finger out and go get his licence), a chair he inherited from his gran, a teapot, glass milk bottles, and a blank dummy that was produced for the illustrated version of Life of Pi. They were getting rid of them in the office and it makes a nice — if hefty — notebook.
What you can’t see is the scene of almost-devastation a metre away: all the paint tins and toolboxes, and the stuff I haven’t been able (er, bothered) to put away yet. And Neil’s drills and things related to drills. He has a lot of those.
What’s in the box? Something music-y of Neil’s. I don’t know.
Yes, these are the fairly cheap Billy bookshelves from IKEA. I’m currently obsessed with white and having furniture, for the most part, fade into the background. So I didn’t see the need to buy expensive shelves.
Wall St. Protest Isn’t Like Ours, Tea Party Says: you’re fucking right it’s not. If a majority of voting Americans see bankers paying themselves bonuses despite incredibly poor management, and still think that banks need less regulation, not more, they deserve exactly what they get. So if you don’t feel that way, make sure you vote at the next election.
Finally, sense has prevailed (previously; also). In a weaselly way. Someone’s incredibly touchy about their skin colour when they find a clear anachronism (i.e. the golliwog doll, an inanimate object) so offensive as to accuse the owner of racially-aggravated harassment. And God Deity Forbid the court should laugh the accuser out of court for wasting their time — that would be racist.
A couple of short story collections, picked up fairly randomly.
I’ve read a few Joyce Carol Oates novels in the last few years, and I’ve always found them a decent read. I’d vaguely heard of this collection (Dear Husband,), so when I saw it at the library, I figured, why not?
She doesn’t disappoint. I’ve grown to really like short stories, and while these may not be the best I’ve ever read (not that I’m really qualified to judge, as I’ve only come to the genre fairly recently), they’re certainly up there when it comes to pathos.
Tangent: one of my friends told me about a recent read (well, in the last six months) and thought it might be my thing. It was a Joyce Carol Oates. Heh.
This collection of stories is from the author of Bright Lights, Big City — Jay McInerney. I’ve never read him. The stories in The Last Bachelor — with one exception, if I remember correctly — are about people in the time following the attack on the World Trade Centre in New York.
Again with the pathos. There’s a lot of sadness in short stories, and sometimes the author can go overboard a bit. I think McInerney is guilty of that. While the ideas behind the stories were interesting / good, I found it a little harder to identify with the characters or even give a monkeys about them.
This is not to say that I didn’t read it cover to cover with ease. I think maybe his style just doesn’t fit me too well.
While I do believe that if Vincent Tabak had got away with killing Joanna Yeates, he might have had fewer qualms if he felt he ‘had’ to kill again in future, I do actually reckon that he had no murderous intent when he killed her.
I find this interesting. Particularly so as we’ve just seen Source Code on DVD and the whole idea of the multiverse has therefore been on my mind. Too bad I lack the physics to actually think about it properly.
While Source Code was good, Moon was better. Much better.
On a personal level, I support being responsible for your own destiny (and weight / general health). But children whose parents don’t eat properly are only going to pick up their bad habits and then pass them on, and something needs to be done about it.
Vincent Tabak’s behaviour (more) after he killed Joanna Yeates makes me wonder about his personality. If he hadn’t been arrested, would he have been less inhibited if he felt he ‘had’ to kill again?
