Corvidae Corner

Tweets for Today

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 23:11:38 GMT

08:09 Pushin forty, which should be enough excercise for anyone (thank you Mark Twain) #
09:53 things you should be allowed to do on your Birthday: Sing along to your last.fm station at the top of your voice... at the office. #
10:55 and now, kids, why grammar and punctuation are important: tinyurl.com/6s6hpo #
10:55 and now, kids, why grammar and punctuation are important: tinyurl.com/6s6hpo #
10:55 and now, kids, why grammar and punctuation are important: tinyurl.com/6s6hpo #
11:48 darn, I already blew Learn Nothing Day sandradodd.com/learnnothingday/ #
12:52 on facebook, my Wall is filling with birthday tributes. The first google ad on the page is "Have you made your will yet?" #

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Tweets for Today

Wed, 23 Jul 2008 23:04:14 GMT

07:23 woke up and realised my audio recording session last night was my first nude acting gig (I recorded it in bed. No video, for helfansafety) #
07:44 knives with freeze/ exploding tips... did ANY youth gangs know about these BEFORE the police issued a warning? #
11:46 @notsheep I know, i keep getting caught by the ad with laughing babies (awesome) advertising formula (anti-awesome in most cases). #
13:08 @DianeOliver its like very lazy stalking, isn't it? #
14:11 That co-worker is NOT wearing an Issaries Rune t-shirt, Darby, go home, go to bed, wake up older. #

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Tweets for Today

Tue, 22 Jul 2008 23:04:12 GMT

08:20 1. iexploder crashes taking my "look at later tabs" with it. 2. BBC radio through iPlayer like eating porterhouse steak with a spork. 3. arg #
11:02 @themightyone how about badgers? #
13:49 @notsheep well thanks for getting that stuck in my head. My psychiatrist's bill will be with you shortly #
14:20 clearing out brain with Masterson Inheritance #

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Just sayin'

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 10:09:11 GMT

If there are one or more people on your friends list who make your world a better place just because they exist, and who you would not have met (in real life or not) without the Internet, then post this same sentence in your journal.

Tweets for Today

Wed, 16 Jul 2008 23:12:02 GMT

07:53 have spotted both effective moderation and intelligent comment in the face of trolling. faith in online humanity somewhat restored. #
07:54 a team fit for heroes: tinyurl.com/6hulgo #
08:57 The more I look at this, the more I think the emphasis is on "manager" not "community": tinyurl.com/5es3ck #
12:40 feeling a bit tinyurl.com/68k9bs #
13:17 Ivor Cutler, national treasure: tinyurl.com/29hvdz/wethandle #
14:51 @themightyone as Mr Cutler was a scotsman who lived and worked for most of his life in England, I think he qualifies however you define it. #

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How long will Irdial stand aside?

Wed, 16 Jul 2008 06:52:44 GMT

http://irdial.com/blogdial/?p=1128 ... or irdial republishes a slightly less bare faced call to fascism than the odious original that he publishes underneath it.

Now, taking a leaf out of his playbook, let's twist it a little bit again..

I have stood aside and watched while the greatest, most civilized, and most humane nations in history were being converted into a dystopia.

I have stood aside and watched while the greatest good will the world has ever seen between multiple nationalities within one nation, was being deliberately changed into suspicion, dissension and hatred.

I have stood aside and watched while this “land fit for heroes” was being conditioned by traitors to seek "security" at any price-even at the price of freedom.

I have stood aside and watched while our courts encouraged and our press glorified the perpetrators of crime who have spread riots, vandalism, robbery, and murder across our land in the name of corporate profit, national security and a narrow, bigoted patriotism.

I have stood aside and watched while our colleges have been continually run by mendacious plutocrats who established them without the slightest understanding of the civilization they have inherited, or of the evil forces by which they have profited.

I have stood aside and watched while our system of public education has been maintained as a propaganda agency for complacency and spawning ground for depression, hopelessness, opression and crime.

I have stood aside and watched while meretricious scoundrels, using our television media, our motion picture screens, our newsstands, and other available means, have contrived to bring about a breakdown of individual moral, intellectual and productive agency that has kept millions of people at the level of serfs.

I have stood aside and watched while the basic human loyalties- loyalty to community, loyalty to country, loyalty to family and loyalty to one's own freedom- were being destroyed by evil forces, which now permeate every segment of Western life.

And I have had enough. I am only one person, but I shall no longer refuse “to get involved” what about you? How much longer will you stand aside?

Tweets for Today

Tue, 15 Jul 2008 23:07:46 GMT

09:02 Start the day with ISIHAC #
11:01 and continuing with radio7's I Am Legend #
11:02 @themightyone He is not gone as long as we remember innocently delivered filth. #
12:58 Wondering if an appropriate repsonse to online trolling is "I think you are a silly person. I am poking you with a balloon". #
13:14 @themightyone really? As in read the book (because they threw that out early on) or otherwise #
13:47 I needed this: tinyurl.com/5w9cj5 #
14:22 @themightyone expect the usual Hollywood Ghost Train ride. Though apparently Richard Mattheson is writing the sequel to the movie... #

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Yes, I'm pouting, why do you ask?

Tue, 15 Jul 2008 12:20:36 GMT

So how come when I hypothetically say that if someone is demonstrably lying to me online I'm going to take it badly, I get publicallly lectured on how I should be less judgemental by an NVC practitioner, but when someone comes right out and abusively accuses a home ed organisation leader of bad mouthing another home ed organisation in order to drive up their members, they get one polite reply and one, well deserved* if ill judged, telling of where to go from the accused?

Where's the lecture?

I need someone like the cop at the end of Chinatown: "Leave it Jake. It's the internet".

*Gosh, there I go again, like I'm the Judge of the Internet.

Tweets for Today

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 23:07:30 GMT

12:37 Monday? MONDAY!!?!??!?! I refuse to believe it, I demand documentary evidence #
13:00 Hmmm... outquisition.org/ #
14:42 I appear to have taunted happy fun thermos mug #

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Tweets for Today

Fri, 11 Jul 2008 23:10:37 GMT

09:04 anybody mind if I just spend all day filling my twitter feed with obscenities? #
12:17 Ruth has discovered we were considering naming her "Willow": she's decided that's her nickname #

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Tweets for Today

Thu, 10 Jul 2008 23:04:08 GMT

09:23 not so much satire, as a parable for home educators, etc: tinyurl.com/6mdqbk #

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Tweets for Today

Wed, 09 Jul 2008 23:22:58 GMT

12:42 tinyurl.com/684lha but I can't help thinking he's missed the last 100+ years of compulsory education... #
12:56 tinyurl.com/55nfku - this article could do with a bit more depth on false positives vs true positives #

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Tweets for Today

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 23:07:07 GMT

09:47 Must stop reading or listening to anything to do with government education policy, as it merely promotes high blood pressure. #
12:19 Kay, Bodyboarding with a seal? ANIMAL CRUELTY, USE A BODY BOARD NEXT TIME! #

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Tweets for Today

Mon, 07 Jul 2008 19:51:28 GMT

07:37 Hasn't it been several decades since we learnt the Tardis was supposed to have a 6-time-lord crew? Or did I dream it? #
07:48 Children alienated from Shakespeare from an early age: news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/education/7490360.stm (yes, I'm a horrible cynic) #
07:55 Home secretary confirms that she is paranoid: feeds.feedburner.com/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/328370661/uk-home-secretary-gr.html #
12:45 British Colleague: "says here NZ TV showed some porn during a rugby match!" Kiwi Colleague: "Really? Who was playing?" #

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Tweets for Today

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 23:09:21 GMT

08:28 I gots a free, real book! TENK U, Faber & Faber! tinyurl.com/5ucgel #
10:16 4th of july is when you dress up like the village people and throw tea bags into the harbour shouting "no representation without taxation!" #
15:32 preparing for the revelation that the whole of the last four years of Doctor Who was a time paradox #

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Tweets for Today

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 23:13:23 GMT

09:19 internet drama, round two, where everyone competes to be more "tired of all this" than everyone else. #
10:05 hmm.... friendfeed.com/petedarby hmm.... #
10:55 Laughing at people complaining of bias when they're being treated based on both personal and recorded experience. #
11:02 new blog post, Ed Balls, headdesk headdesk headdesk tinyurl.com/6mhsts #
11:09 Aphorisms for today: read other people with as much generosity to their motives as you can manage... or at least pretend to when posting #

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Ed Balls... headdesk headdesk headdesk

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 10:01:19 GMT

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/7487018.stm

"Sure, the results of this will affect not only the rest of the children's school experience, but also in the long term the viability of the institution they work for as well as reflecting on their personal records.

"But just treat SATS exam day like any other, okay? Oh, and don't teach to the test, just because that will make all of us look good at the expense of a real education.

"Basically, do what you're told, not what you're rewarded for."

And this is the man they say has the common touch and is tipped as future leader of the party? Time to make more sacrifices to my pagan gods...*

*since in ancient time the celebrants ate the meat and the god got the bones of the sacrifice, I am offering up my empty tins to the lord of the recycling bin...

Tweets for Today

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 23:17:02 GMT

07:18 Who was it in Ewloe Co-Op with an EO sticker in the back of their black ?rover? Didn't recognize anyone in the shop... #
09:41 can't stop now, there's DRAMA on the INTERNET! #
10:50 @themightyone now I look like an anti-EO stalker... I deny letting down their tyres and leaving a note "HA! HA! AHEd" #

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Tweets for Today

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 23:33:41 GMT

08:13 Saw Doctor Who: worried RTD may pull a really lame "plot twist"... no, not worried, almost sure. #
11:10 Trying to start a rumour that I'm David Tennant's replacement: all help appreciated. #
13:29 Apparently I'm a cult... at least, I think that's what they called me. #

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Tweets for Today

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 00:38:44 GMT

09:49 back at work, given up on Yoono #
10:24 HAVEN'T SEEN DOCTOR WHO YET, I WAS AT A WEDDING, NO-ONE SAY A THING, I HAVE ALREADY HEARD TOO MUCH. #

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Tweets for Today

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 23:32:28 GMT

09:14 Dealing with it at home today #
09:40 I'm testing Yoono ! #

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Tweets for Today

Thu, 26 Jun 2008 23:11:16 GMT

07:27 @streamlines liverpool, eh? Just down the road (well, about 40 miles from home, but 20 miles from work...) #
08:44 I haven't still got what I had yesterday, honest, guv #
09:32 tinyurl.com/3vnxy2 & tinyurl.com/5pr3s4: Co-incidence or is Rhys Ifans a were-puma? #
10:22 Which cleaners, Sanjoy? #
10:43 le singe est dans l'arbre, mais il pleut. #
11:02 Quand l'horologiste ferme la fromage, il n'a pas de erotocisme #
11:03 Quand l'horologiste ferme la chemise, il n'a pas baeucoup de fromage encore. #
11:05 Je ris, parce-que j'ais une malle boite de fromage. #
11:59 Malhereusement, Pepin n'a plus de gendarmes de tristesse. #
12:33 Et, maintenant, VOILA LE SINGE DIABOLIQUE! #
13:36 Why do I look like I'm heaven/ With a heart all full of glee?/ Because I was in here at seven/ And I can go home at three. (actually 3.15) #

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Inspirational material for Narrative GM's

Thu, 26 Jun 2008 13:53:32 GMT

[88 kb]
No.8: “Interesting . . . that he could separate fact from fantasy so quickly.”
No.2: “I told you he was different! I knew it wouldn't work! `Feed him with hallcinatory drugs. Put him in a dangerous environment. Talk to him through microphones!'”
No.8: “It's always worked and it would have worked this time if you hadn't . . . ”
No.2: “But it didn't, did it? `Give him love; take it away. Isolate him! Make him KILL . . . then face him with DEATH! He'll CRACK! Break him, even in his mind, and the rest will be easy!' Hmph. I should never have listened to you!”
No.8: “It would've worked, if you had kept your head . . .”
--Living in Harmony

Book Meme

Thu, 26 Jun 2008 08:49:58 GMT

Bold those you have read.
Italicise those you intend to read.
Underline the books you LOVE.
Strikethrough on the "barge pole" ones

1. Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4 The Harry Potter Series - JK Rowling
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
6 The Bible
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12 Tess of the D'Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveller's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
34 Emma - Jane Austen
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli's Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell
~~42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown~~
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
~~68 Bridget Jones's Diary - Helen Fielding~~
69 Midnight's Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce
76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession - AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte's Web - EB White
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo

Though the italicized ones are a little specious, as I intend to read as many books as possible... the strikethroughs are due to starting the books and then, in the words of Dorothy Parker "nor put aside lightly but thrown with great force".

Tweets for Today

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 23:34:05 GMT

10:00 cold came back dammit #

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