Useless Information #7

Emley Moor TV Transmitter is the tallest free standing structure in the UK at 328m, that`s 1084 ft !

For those of my friends and family who have no idea where Emley Moor is here -

Photo taken by

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Wait

Wait

Wait, for now.
Distrust everything, if you have to.
But trust the hours. Haven’t theycarried you everywhere, up to now?
Personal events will become interesting again.
Hair will become interesting.
Pain will become interesting.
Buds that open out of season will become lovely again.
Second-hand gloves will become lovely again,
their memories are what give themthe need for other hands.
And the desolationof lovers is the same: that enormous emptiness
carved out of such tiny beings as we are
asks to be filled; the need
for the new love is faithfulness to the old.

Wait.
Don’t go too early.
You’re tired.
But everyone’s tired.
But no one is tired enough.
Only wait a while and listen.
Music of hair,
Music of pain,
music of looms weaving all our loves again.
Be there to hear it, it will be the only time,
most of all to hear,the flute of your whole existence,
rehearsed by the sorrows, play itself into
total exhaustion.

by Galway Kinnell

Liz saved this out of this of the paper for me – think the glove reference made her think of me!

Useless information #6

What are you looking at?
Originally uploaded by Merrony’s Moll.

If you are in London you are caught on camera about 300 times a day.

Pesto or Mold?

green
Originally uploaded by Merrony’s Moll.

Pasta for dinner, with pesto. Everytime I get the pesto out of the fridge I have to take a long look at it – has it got mold? The difficulty is that it looks like mold anyway.

I’m sure that Gee will be appalled, but I usually just scrape off the top and then give it a stir!

Anyway, tonight it was mushroom pasta, pesto, soft cheese and yummy french sausage accompanied by sweetcorn, coleslaw and tomato.

Send a message to the other side

I have to report that I’ve found the funniest website ever! Well, actually I guess the idea is funny actually (and I didn’t find it, it was mentioned in the Feedback pages of New Scientist magazin from February 2004).

Afterlife Telegrams say that they use terminally ill volunteers to deliver messages to those who have passed away!! Only $5 per word (minimum of 5 words), which the volunteer will memorise and pass on when the pass on!

As it pointed out in the New Scientist letter, they assume that the person delivering your message is going to the same place as your dearly deceased – they don’t seem to offer a ‘heaven’ or ‘hell’ option!

Sorry if you find this distasteful so soon after Mum’s death, but she would have found the idea hilarious!

Useless information #5

Banging your head against a wall uses 150 calories an hour (although I guess it depends how vigorously you do it).

The Stranger…..

A few months before I was born, my dad met a stranger who was new to our small town. From the beginning Dad was fascinated with this enchanting newcomer, and soon invited him to live with our family.

The stranger was quickly accepted and was around to welcome me into the world a few months later. As I grew up, I never questioned his place in our family. The stranger was our storyteller, he could weave the most fascinating tales, adventures, mysteries and comedies were daily conversations. He could hold our whole family spellbound for hours each evening. He was like a friend to the whole family.

He showed us the world and introduced us to many different people.

The stranger was an incessant talker, but we didn’t mind even when it meant that the family talked less to each other and just listened enthralled by one of the strangers stories. My dad ruled our household with certain moral convictions, but this stranger never felt an obligation to honour them.

Profanity was not allowed in our house, but our long-time visitor swore often. To my knowledge neither of my parents ever confronted the stranger despite the fact that he introduced me and my brother to alcohol, smoking and sex. Yet my parents never asked him to leave.

Today I have my own home and the stranger moved in with me too, he still sits in the corner waiting for someone to listen to his stories and watch him draw his pictures.

His name?

We always just called him……………………………TV

I was sent the above some time ago and thought it was really interesting. Although Colin and I do have a television in the living room I’ve actually only watched one hour since the end of September (a really interesting programme about the history of University Challenge).

If we ever have children I will seriously think before allowing the ’stranger’ to influence our children.

My wish list – from October 2002

About seven years ago I wrote a list of things I wanted to achieve in my life, I’ve just found a copy on an old computer disk – my, how things have changed, and how few I’ve managed to do! (todays comments in red)

To visit

Every stone circle in Britain - why? most of them are boring!?
The Olmec Heads
Easter Islands
Great wall of China - wouldn’t go to China now, they need to clean up their Human Rights
Rome and Vatican City - still like to visit Rome
Machu Piccha, Peru - probably missed the chance to see these unruined by tourism
Valley of the Kings, Karnack and Luxor - would be interesting but not really bothered now
Catal Huyuk, Turkey - not really interested in anymore!
New Grange, Ireland - done that one!
Orkney - would still like to visit
Carnac Stones, France - one day maybe!
Marrakesh - done that one too!
Tikal Mayan City - not really interested in anymore!
Constantinople/Istanbul, Turkey - Managed that one just last year
Chartres, France - would still like to visit
Fountains, Whitby and Rievaulx Abbeys - been a number of times
Angkor, Cambodia - this is definately still on the list!
Lhasa, Tibet – and this one
Lindesfarne - had the opportuntity but didn’t, don’t know why!
Iceland - not until they stop whaling

I guess a lot of these are off the list now as I’ve become more ethically minded and less likely to want to fly – also I’m not so desperate to visit archaeological sites, those that remain on the list do so as I would like to photograph them.

Things to do

Ride a horse on the Montana plains - well perhaps not in the states, Mongolia appeals more now
Ride a horse bareback on a beach - yes, this would be great
Write a book - problem is that I don’t know what about!
Dive off the Great Barrier Reef - I’ve realised over the years that this would compeltely freak me out!
Pass motorbike test - I did this
Complete a degree in archaeology - I did this too!
Discover and excavate a prehistoric burial - would be interesting but not high on the list!
Type 50 words a minute - I can probably type faster than that!
Swim with dolphins - I’m not sure ethically what I think of this, would have to be in the wild
Play with a tiger cub – I did this with Mum, also played with a lion cub
Publish an article or photograph in National Geographic - would love to have a photo published
Own a house on the beach/in the countryside - just to own a house would be good!
Learn Latin - HAHAHAHA! Me, learn a language – Spanish maybe?
Bungee Jump - did that, don’t think I could do it again
Fly in a stunt plane - did that and would love to do it again but not with the same guy as he expected me to return the favour by sleeping with him!
Fly over the Nasca Lines - happy to look at pictures these days
Set up own website - okay so I didn’t do it myself but the bookshop is about to get a new website
Walk in the Atlas mountains in Morocco - I’d love to to do this, maybe next year?
See the book of Kells - not sure why I wanted to do this, but I’ve done it anyway!
Own an E-type Jaguar - no not anymore, I’m told that they are a pig to drive due to the over long bonnet
Wing walk - yep, I’d still like to do this.
Own a library - not sure what this means, guess I meant a room just for my books – need more than one room for them all now!
Ride a unicycle - well I’ve got one but I just can’t master it!!
Learn to meditate - not sure you need to ‘learn’ this, just need to set aside some time (ha!)
Go gliding – I’ve done this too – love and peaceful.

Useless information #4

Although I in no-way endorse MacDonald’s, this piece of information came from a comment from my brother (the details come from a MacDonalds website – oh! I feel dirty!)-

The average number of sesame seeds on a Big Mac bun is 178.

Letter from Michael Moore – and my reply

The following letter has been sent to the Michael Moore mailing list and posted on his website.

Below is the email I sent to him – I’m astounded at his arrogance where the US involvement in WWII is concerned. To be honest I’m disappointed.

“Cut and Run, the Only Brave Thing to Do …a letter from Michael Moore

Friends,

Tomorrow marks the day that we will have been in Iraq longer than we were in all of World War II.

That’s right. We were able to defeat all of Nazi Germany, Mussolini, and the entire Japanese empire in LESS time than it’s taken the world’s only superpower to secure the road from the airport to downtown Baghdad.

And we haven’t even done THAT. After 1,347 days, in the same time it took us to took us to sweep across North Africa, storm the beaches of Italy, conquer the South Pacific, and liberate all of Western Europe, we cannot, after over 3 and 1/2 years, even take over a single highway and protect ourselves from a homemade device of two tin cans placed in a pothole. No wonder the cab fare from the airport into Baghdad is now running around $35,000 for the 25-minute ride. And that doesn’t even include a friggin’ helmet.

Is this utter failure the fault of our troops? Hardly. That’s because no amount of troops or choppers or democracy shot out of the barrel of a gun is ever going to “win” the war in Iraq. It is a lost war, lost because it never had a right to be won, lost because it was started by men who have never been to war, men who hide behind others sent to fight and die.

Let’s listen to what the Iraqi people are saying, according to a recent poll conducted by the University of Maryland:

** 71% of all Iraqis now want the U.S. out of Iraq.

** 61% of all Iraqis SUPPORT insurgent attacks on U.S. troops.

Yes, the vast majority of Iraqi citizens believe that our soldiers should be killed and maimed! So what the hell are we still doing there? Talk about not getting the hint.

There are many ways to liberate a country. Usually the residents of that country rise up and liberate themselves. That’s how we did it. You can also do it through nonviolent, mass civil disobedience. That’s how India did it. You can get the world to boycott a regime until they are so ostracized they capitulate. That’s how South Africa did it. Or you can just wait them out and, sooner or later, the king’s legions simply leave (sometimes just because they’re too cold). That’s how Canada did it.

The one way that DOESN’T work is to invade a country and tell the people, “We are here to liberate you!” — when they have done NOTHING to liberate themselves. Where were all the suicide bombers when Saddam was oppressing them? Where were the insurgents planting bombs along the roadside as the evildoer Saddam’s convoy passed them by? I guess ol’ Saddam was a cruel despot — but not cruel enough for thousands to risk their necks. “Oh no, Mike, they couldn’t do that! Saddam would have had them killed!” Really? You don’t think King George had any of the colonial insurgents killed? You don’t think Patrick Henry or Tom Paine were afraid? That didn’t stop them. When tens of thousands aren’t willing to shed their own blood to remove a dictator, that should be the first clue that they aren’t going to be willing participants when you decide you’re going to do the liberating for them.

A country can HELP another people overthrow a tyrant (that’s what the French did for us in our revolution), but after you help them, you leave. Immediately. The French didn’t stay and tell us how to set up our government. They didn’t say, “we’re not leaving because we want your natural resources.” They left us to our own devices and it took us six years before we had an election. And then we had a bloody civil war. That’s what happens, and history is full of these examples. The French didn’t say, “Oh, we better stay in America, otherwise they’re going to kill each other over that slavery issue!”

The only way a war of liberation has a chance of succeeding is if the oppressed people being liberated have their own citizens behind them — and a group of Washingtons, Jeffersons, Franklins, Ghandis and Mandellas leading them. Where are these beacons of liberty in Iraq? This is a joke and it’s been a joke since the beginning. Yes, the joke’s been on us, but with 655,000 Iraqis now dead as a result of our invasion (source: Johns Hopkins University), I guess the cruel joke is on them. At least they’ve been liberated, permanently.

So I don’t want to hear another word about sending more troops (wake up, America, John McCain is bonkers), or “redeploying” them, or waiting four months to begin the “phase-out.” There is only one solution and it is this: Leave. Now. Start tonight. Get out of there as fast as we can. As much as people of good heart and conscience don’t want to believe this, as much as it kills us to accept defeat, there is nothing we can do to undo the damage we have done. What’s happened has happened. If you were to drive drunk down the road and you killed a child, there would be nothing you could do to bring that child back to life. If you invade and destroy a country, plunging it into a civil war, there isn’t much you can do ‘til the smoke settles and blood is mopped up. Then maybe you can atone for the atrocity you have committed and help the living come back to a better life.

The Soviet Union got out of Afghanistan in 36 weeks. They did so and suffered hardly any losses as they left. They realized the mistake they had made and removed their troops. A civil war ensued. The bad guys won. Later, we overthrew the bad guys and everybody lived happily ever after. See! It all works out in the end!

The responsibility to end this war now falls upon the Democrats. Congress controls the purse strings and the Constitution says only Congress can declare war. Mr. Reid and Ms. Pelosi now hold the power to put an end to this madness. Failure to do so will bring the wrath of the voters. We aren’t kidding around, Democrats, and if you don’t believe us, just go ahead and continue this war another month. We will fight you harder than we did the Republicans. The opening page of my website has a photo of Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid, each made up by a collage of photos of the American soldiers who have died in Bush’s War. But it is now about to become the Bush/Democratic Party War unless swift action is taken.

This is what we demand:

1. Bring the troops home now. Not six months from now. NOW. Quit looking for a way to win. We can’t win. We’ve lost. Sometimes you lose. This is one of those times. Be brave and admit it.

2. Apologize to our soldiers and make amends. Tell them we are sorry they were used to fight a war that had NOTHING to do with our national security. We must commit to taking care of them so that they suffer as little as possible. The mentally and physically maimed must get the best care and significant financial compensation. The families of the deceased deserve the biggest apology and they must be taken care of for the rest of their lives.

3. We must atone for the atrocity we have perpetuated on the people of Iraq. There are few evils worse than waging a war based on a lie, invading another country because you want what they have buried under the ground. Now many more will die. Their blood is on our hands, regardless for whom we voted. If you pay taxes, you have contributed to the three billion dollars a week now being spent to drive Iraq into the hellhole it’s become. When the civil war is over, we will have to help rebuild Iraq. We can receive no redemption until we have atoned.

In closing, there is one final thing I know. We Americans are better than what has been done in our name. A majority of us were upset and angry after 9/11 and we lost our minds. We didn’t think straight and we never looked at a map. Because we are kept stupid through our pathetic education system and our lazy media, we knew nothing of history. We didn’t know that WE were the ones funding and arming Saddam for many years, including those when he massacred the Kurds. He was our guy. We didn’t know what a Sunni or a Shiite was, never even heard the words. Eighty percent of our young adults (according to National Geographic) were not able to find Iraq on the map. Our leaders played off our stupidity, manipulated us with lies, and scared us to death.

But at our core we are a good people. We may be slow learners, but that “Mission Accomplished” banner struck us as odd, and soon we began to ask some questions. Then we began to get smart. By this past November 7th, we got mad and tried to right our wrongs. The majority now know the truth. The majority now feel a deep sadness and guilt and a hope that somehow we can make make it all right again.

Unfortunately, we can’t. So we will accept the consequences of our actions and do our best to be there should the Iraqi people ever dare to seek our help in the future. We ask for their forgiveness.

We demand the Democrats listen to us and get out of Iraq now.

Yours,

Michael Moore

My email to Michael Moore -

Dear Mr Moore

As a supporter of your views, I often visit your website – but today I was upset and disgusted by the letter I found.

Although I agree with your views on the Iraq War and some of the sentiments put forward in the letter, I am astounded by your comments regarding World War II.

Your comment that ‘We were able to defeat all of Nazi Germany, Mussolini, and the entire Japanese empire in LESS time than it’s taken the world’s only superpower to secure the road from the airport to downtown Baghdad.’ totally amazes me!

As an intelligent man I would have hoped that you could recognise that this type of ‘revisionist’ history of WWII is just plain incorrect – AMERICA DID NOT WIN THE WAR – it helped (coming late, and after the Allies in Europe had lost many men), but comments such as this truly lead me to question other comments you have previously made.

I would have hoped that you would be more sensitive to other nationalities – seems not – America rules ?!

What a shame. I hope that you will reconsider your comments, the world is NOT a Hollywood movie where America saves the day – but perhaps that’s a truth that the American population aren’t ready to hear?


Don’t flame me for my comments, but feel free to tell Michael Moore what you think – mmflint@aol.com