The Great Clothing Conspiracy

I've just come back from clothes shopping in Manchester. It's been a really hot week here, and I kind of realised very early on that I actually have no decent clothes for the summer aside from a couple of dresses that make me bulge out in bad places. Therefore, t-shirts and shorts were required.

I have such a love/hate relationship with clothes shopping, I really do. I love the buying of new things that I immediately want to wear as soon as I get home, and I love finding quirky t-shirts and things that nobody else will have. I hate finding my size.

I'm a strange person who is between a size 14 and 16 in most places. I'm not massively fat, surprisingly, I'm just wide in hip and shoulder, which means I can't go in a few high street shops. Places like Top Shop, Urban Outfitters, Pulp, Jane Norman and River Island, mostly.

The problem with these places is that they cater for thin, sleek types of girls - thinner than me, with absolutely no bust or curves. I don't even bother going in these places anymore (apart from Pulp, which occasionally has XL sizes that will fit), because despite them sometimes having nice things in there, I know there is literally no way I'll find my size.

Top Shop doesn't even have a size 16 - not in the shops, anyway. I find this massively discriminative. Why can't women of a certain size wear the same clothes as thin girls? It's like we're not allowed to look nice and expected to retreat to places like Marks and Spencer and various plus-size shops to buy our clothes. I went in a plus size shop today (I didn't realise it was one until I saw all the sizes started at 16, and the women in there were all obese), and the clothes in there were basically all shapeless t-shirts or baggy dresses - all the jeans had elasticated waistbands. That doesn't make anyone look nice, especially if you have a noticeable amount of flab on you.

I'm willing to entertain the idea that some of these places were established in different countries and are worldwide chains. However, it's important to remember that the average dress size is a 16. So why, then, are these shops not catering for the average size? American shops are the same, where the average dress size is no doubt even bigger than it is here. How they make any money from the public, I have no idea.

If I was feeling particularly cynical, I'd say it was all a giant conspiracy to keep fat people looking ugly so the thin people could still be the perfect idea of beauty. I might be right, seeing as I've still not seen fat women being used in clothes advertising (even for plus size retailers) unless it's to make a statement. Same goes for catwalk models, for that matter. A size 14/16 model looks odd and is usually made a big deal of in the fashion industry, if seen at all.

The fact is, people are still believing that thin people are better, and therefore more clothes are aimed at people lucky enough to have a size 0-8 figure. Things will usually look or fit better on these sorts of people too - a dress that looks attractive on a size 8 woman won't be as flattering on a fatter woman because of the cut of the dress.

I can't exactly think of a way to change this unless people try and make more of an effort to include size 14-22 women in more fashionable high street chains. However, I don't ever see this happening because people still have this image of a thin woman implanted in their heads as the aesthetic ideal. It's discriminative, sexist (because men don't have the same obligation to look nice) and backward as hell - but this is society.

War Never Changes

In case you've missed the news over the past 2 days, I just thought I'd remind you that we're technically at war with Libya now. 

Yep, we're being dragged into a 'coalition' (once again) which aims to stop Col Gadaffi's reign of terror. Deja-vu, anyone? 

I was watching This Morning today (it was on in the gym, I had no choice), and they had a rather interesting debate going on about this. I forget the name of the man on there, but he raised the point that Gaddaffi has been in power for 42 years, and has been just as crazy as he is now and yet all of a sudden, he kills 1,000 of his own people and we can't accept him anymore. Didn't he kill 270 people from other places when he ordered theLockerbie Bombing in 1988? A further 230 people during theBerlin Diskotheque Bombing in 1986 and 170 during theUTA Flight 772 bombing in 1989 (both of which he was directly linked to)? He has supported and actively encouraged acts of terrorism made by a number of different militant groups around the world, has allied himself with political groups and individuals responsible for atrocities and war crimes (such as Slobodan Milošević), and has been responsible for attempts to radicalise Maories and Australian Aboriginals. To top it all off, he's also paid for meetings with the BNP. So now we have a problem with this guy?

It's a massive tragedy, what is happening to innocent Libyans- don't get me wrong. Everyone should have the right to protest against their government- especially one as corrupt and downright nasty as the Gadaffi regime, and I hope they get the fair and democratic government they so obviously deserve. My problem here is why other countries have to be dragged in. I suppose for the US and UK it's long overdue retribution for Lockerbie, Berlin Diskotheque and Flight 772, but again, as I said earlier they've had almost 30 years when they could have done this. Our forces are arguably stretched enough as it is, being still placed in Afghanistan- do we really have the resources to engage in another potential long-term conflict? Let's face it, Gadaffi isn't going to move unless he's killed - a action that the UN are not actually allowed to suggest, as today's decision has revealed. It took 3 years until Saddam Hussein was captured and excecuted. How long will it take with Gadaffi? If we get dragged into Libya, we can probably expect to be there for a while.

Also, why Libya? Egypt overthrew it's government recently, and 384 people died and 6,000 were injured. Did we at any point intervene? No. Yemen is also having an attempt at a revolution that is proving to be just as violent as Egypt, but again, we're not involving ourselves too much apart from suggesting British nationals should leave. Is there some other reason why we're there? Isn't it funny how we're still running out of oil and Libya relies on it for exports? 

A happy coincidence? Maybe. I can't help thinking, though, that nobody has learned anything from Iraq, and that we're going to end up being in there for longer than we intend, all because of a coalition and the UN. It's amazing how world leaders seem to develop amnesia whenever the price of oil is at risk. How many more Middle Eastern crises will it take before we learn to keep our nose out of other country's politics.

Just goes to show, war never changes.

Lovey Dovey Nonesense

So today is Valentines Eve, and I have no doubt men and women all around the world are hurriedly raiding the shops looking for something to buy that person they're currently shackled to. As I may have mentioned before, I'm sat at home, as I'm probably going to be doing all my romantic things the day after you're supposed to. Stupid exams.

Anyway, I'm thinking I might make some little cupcakes or something, because I'm a massive soppy bugger when the mood takes me. Get my man a few bottles of nice cider, stick some bows on them, present done.

They'll look like this, except much less pink

I don't feel like I have to observe V-Day because I'm in a relationship, for me it's more of a appreciation of what I have that's good in my life. That's why I'm going to spoil my boyfriend rotten.

Some people are going to be angry and miserable tomorrow, and this is what I don't understand.
Singles-warriors, as I like to call them, are people who despise Valentines Day and all it's meanings. They think just because they're single, the entire world is mocking them on this one day because the focus is, of course, on couples.
I think people who think like that need to take a step back and realise that a: they are not expected to take part and b: the holiday is actually a ancient festival dedicated to a SAINT and not in fact a reason to make them miserable each year.

People that put things like "Valentine's Day tomorrow, I hate it with a passion" really make me sad. It's really not worth getting angry about. So what if you're single, nobody is laughing at you or expecting you to be miserable. Sure, I'm not single right now, but I know plenty of people who are single and proud of it, and STILL like Valentines Day.  Are you that self important and sad that you think an entire holiday is devoted to the fact that you don't have a partner? It's not even that important whether you have a boyfriend/girlfriend or not.

Celebrate it differently- buy your parents and friends gifts to show them you love them. I'm pretty sure that's allowed to do. It's not just about couples. Stop the hate, feel the love, whether it be for your lover, your best friend or you parents.

Twatter

To launch into today’s rant-a-thon; what is the point of Twitter? You know, the latest social networking craze to hit the internets that has every self-obsessed weirdo pawing at their iPhone or typing on their cookie-encrusted keyboard every time they blow their nose.

Twitter joins a long list of social networking sites claiming to be the last thing you will ever need to stay connected with friends (because nobody appears to use the phone these days), and like its cousins, Twitter has a function specific to it’s users; Facebook is for people who have a kind-of social life but like to think that everyone loves them regardless of personality flaws, Myspace is for people with imaginary social lives, and Bebo is for people who have clearly never heard of Facebook.  Twitter is for people who think that their every movement is a significant world event.

Twitter is apparently just as awesome as Facebook, according to the people that use it, but I beg to differ. The difference between Twitter and it’s more elaborate goliath of a counter-part, Facebook, is that the latter actually has a use. I myself own an account on Facebook, and despite the constant inundation of useless updates telling me that “Bob has taken the Which Pokemon Are You? Quiz and is a Magikarp”, it’s a wonderful tool for getting invited to parties and other events.  Twitter appears to serve no other purpose than to inform someone you’ve probably only met once that you’ve just come back from an awesome party that they weren’t invited to. 

Out of sheer curiosity I visited the Twitter website to see whether or not I was wrong in my assumption that Twitter has no apparent purpose. It seems that the developers also have no real clue about what it’s for;

“Why? Because even basic updates are meaningful to family members, friends, or colleagues—especially when they’re timely.

• Eating soup? Research shows that moms want to know.
• Running late to a meeting? Your co–workers might find that useful.
• Partying? Your friends may want to join you. “

Translation: Buggered if we know.

I suppose if you read between the lines, the only real use of Twitter is to help the crazed ex-boyfriend that has been stalking you for the past 3 months  by telling him your every movement  so he doesn’t have to sit in a bush outside your house with binoculars.  Even the people that subscribe to your twitter feed are called “followers”. Think about that before informing the world that you’ve just popped into W H Smith.

So, if you’re the kind of person who thinks that everyone should know every time you fart or play scrabble, then go ahead, get a Twitter account today! I can’t  say I didn’t warn you. To quote Newsweek, “all the world's a-twitter” with the mating calls of  14,590,000 birds who want you to know what they’re doing right now.

Tech Support

I'm  rather sick of technology right now. My iPod, my sleek, black 140 gig baby who has given me almost a year of loyal audio-visual  service has decided to stop working properly.  For good, it seems. 

I was happily uploading a couple of songs on Saturday, when I rather hastily disconnected my iPod before both it and my laptop told me it was ok to do so (I was in a hurry) and suddenly it came up with an error message and then wiped itself clean of all 2700 songs and 75 videos stored on there,  some of which I'll never get back.  It had done this little trick before, so I thought "Meh, big deal, I'll just re-connect it and reformat it and it'll be fine". Hah, fat chance.

Now whenever I try and connect the damn thing to any computer, it recognises that it is indeed connected to something, but the iTunes program does not recognise the iPod. Neither does the computer system, which crashes My Computer when I try to view the iPod's files, and tells me something along the lines of  "The file  cannot be rewritten, please save somewhere else". Of course, Apple Inc.  have been less than helpful- their online troubleshooting guide for iPods essentially says "turn it off and on again and hope it works" . Thank you Apple, nice to see I'm not the only person with no clue here.

I've given up for the moment and decided to give my old first generation iPod Nano some love and attention. I used to love the little thing, but I've been spoiled by my iPod Classic's huge screen and massive hard drive, so I no longer appreciate it. In fact, I hate it because for the first time in a year I've had to choose what music I want on my iPod. I just can't decide, I love all of my music! I'll just have to leave my poor broken one for a few days and hope it magically fixes itself before crawling to my Dad for the warranty and hope Apple gives me a new one before I got to uni.

Incidentally, if anyone out there has any idea what has gone wrong with my iPod, please let me know. I'll send you a picture of a pigeon or a cookie or something as a reward.

The terrible price of a bargain

Happy new year, first of all. I hope everyone had fun getting smashed and setting themselves or other people's houses ablaze with fireworks.

So, what can I say about 2009? It's not 2008 or 2010, it's somewhere in between. It doesn't roll of the tongue quite as well as 2008 did, it actually requires articulation to be understood rather than 2008, which could be slurred and easily understood (rather helpful when drunk). Lots of stuff will happen this year, especially for me; I'll be leaving school finally, I'll have to adjust to whatever regional British accent I have to put up with, I'll have to struggle to make friends and influence people and I'll have to come to terms with the fact that my parents are actually more useful that I previously thought.

I got back from the UK a few days ago, and my god, what madness I experienced there, in that horrible, dark and soul-destroying world of the After-Christmas sales. I will never understand what exactly it is about sales that can turn even the sweetest old lady into THE INCREDIBLE HULK WITH A HANDBAG. I'm not kidding, by the time I managed to squeeze my way out of M&S in Birmingham, my ribs ached from how often I was elbowed around the shop. I wasn't even trying to browse (I hate Marks and Spencers and their old-women clothes), I was just elbowed while wandering aimlessly around the shop. Apparently on the opening day of the sales in the UK, there were countless reports of shoppers behaving less like humans and more like animals as they invaded shopping malls round the country. Considering the behaviour I saw when I was there, I can believe it. Even in M&S, there were clothes strewn on the floor that obviously had been picked up and deemed unsuitable for purchase by some permed middle-aged biddy and thrown to the ground in a flurry of coat hangers and tags. Spectacular, yet grossly disheartening at the same time. Sales, it has to be said, reduce the human race into rabid consumerist animals- like crack addicts desperate for that one quick fix- willing to do anything for something that costs just a few pounds less than before.

On the bright side, the areas of most shops that were not part of the sales were very quiet, so I managed to pick up some stuff. To be honest, I didn't see the point of venturing into the sales at all, as because of the current mess the British economy is in, the pound was worth much less compared to the euro, so everything was a bargain. Thank you America, thank you for the gift of brand new DVDs at 8 euros each!

Cookie Monster

Alright, I'll cut to the chase. Today's lesson is on a certain tv-show involving a set of random people who get locked in a house under heavy surveillence for a pre-determined amount of time. Yes, it's Big Brother. Ironically, my original topic (now deleted out of sheer boredom) was on all things Orwellian, but an entirely accidental glimpse of Big Brother 9 made me change my plan.

Yes, Big Brother is on it's 9th series, and is swiftly going even more downhill than ever (though how that is possible after the Celebrity BB with George Galloway and Pete Burns, I don't know). If you track the housemates from the first series to the current, you'll notice soon enough that suddenly the contestants became bizzarre, including transvestites, asylum seekers and tourettes sufferers. Obviously, this was Channel 4's idea to get more views, and sadly, it seems to have worked.
A lot of the time the 'excitement' comes from arguments and romance (presumably because a large chunk of BB's viewer's are unable to get excitement from their everyday lives), not from the contestants themselves. Or so I thought, until I saw Kathreya during the current series:



Remind you of anyone?



Clearly Channel 4 have lowered their standards- this is nothing short of freakish. If Kathreya were only blue and hairy, she'd be the most accurate impersonator of Cookie Monster known to man. What kind of normal person's dream is it to- and I quote BB 9's website here- "travel the world and taste cookies in every country"? I kid you not.
Another sample from her massive repertoire designed to brutally rape the human existance include- (on her shape) "If you love jacket potato you will love me", and of course, her "Happy House" song, which I simply refuse to put up here, so you'll have to go hunting for it.

I feel that, all joking aside, Channel 4 are becoming a bit too discriminatory now when it comes to picking housemates. Big Brother used to be popular because it forced a group of normal, average human beings who had never met before to interact under observation- this clearly has changed. Now, it appears that contestants are picked because they will make "good tv" because of their quirky and downright weird behaviour or less than average appearence- for example, Darnell, the albino, or the ever present "token gay guy" in almost all series, who is often camper than a row of tents (see Dennis). If BB is feeling particularly racist, it might throw in the odd ethnic minority for viewers to laugh at innocently.

Am I being scathing? I don't think so. If you look at the housemates, you will often notice that the "different" ones are deliberately stirred up by events and activities, which I think is rather cruel. Then again, maybe it is the fashion for all reality TV shows to be cruel and unforgiving to those who are the most unstable- for example, in shows such as I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here. Maybe it's time everyone woke up and realised how unfair these shows are, before we all start watching Japanese game shows.

Earphones and the Number 13

Firstly, I'd like to have a quick go at the stereo and earphones industry for clearly ripping us all off. Shame on them for making really funky headphones that advertise that they are built for people that listen to music a lot, that then promptly die on the inside (in the wires) after 3 months. I've had this happen so many times I've lost count. I don't tend to mind as much if they're cheap earphones that come free with stuff, but when you've paid 45 euros for a really nice pair of sound-blocking headphones, it's really annoying.
So people, don't buy into the scam! Get imported ipod earphones from Ebay for 5 cents (yes, they do exist) instead of forking out for a nice pair.

Ok, so now that rant's over, I'd like to turn your attention to the fact that it was Friday the 13th this week. I sort of forgot until I ended up staring at a Friday the 13th baseball cap wondering why it seemed so significant. Obviously, it's a significant day because it's THAT day... the day when people suffering from paraskevidekatriaphobia (fear of Friday the 13th and also a word I HAD to copy-paste to spell correctly) doesn't go to work, doesn't travel or doesn't even go out to eat. The combined unluckiness of the number 13 and Friday seems to make some people really nervous, but the question is, what's the reason for this superstition?

Ok, so first, to consult Wikipedia:

Both the number thirteen and Friday have been considered unlucky:

• In numerology, the number twelve is considered the number of completeness, as reflected in the twelve months of the year, twelve recognized signs of the zodiac, the twelve tribes of Israel, the twelve Apostles of Jesus, etc., whereas the number thirteen was considered irregular, transgressing this completeness.^[2] There is also a superstition, thought by some to derive from the Last Supper, that having thirteen people seated at a table will result in the death of one of the diners.
• Friday, as the day on which Jesus Christ was crucified, has been viewed both positively and negatively among Christians. The actual day of Crucifixion was the 14th day of Nisan in the Hebrew Lunar calendar which does not correspond to "Friday" in the solar calendar of Rome. The 15th day of Nissan (beginning at Sundown) is celebration of Passover.

But as we all know, Wikipedia is for losers, right? The above theories are all religious (and wrong- there were 13 disciples at the Last Supper), and don't really carry any real historical fact (unless you believe that all that happens in the bible is true, in which case, you have your answer already).

In an artical from Urban Legends (dot com), it is revealed that this superstition dates back as early as primitive man- they only had 10 fingers and 2 feet to count with, meaning that they could only count up to 12. 13 was a mysterious number. Also, in Ancient Egypt (huzzah!) there were believed to be 12 stages of life and a 13th beyond it- 13 therefore symbolising death. Then there's the theory that 13 represents women (of course there'd be a problem with that) and the Hindu belief that 13 people meeting in the same place is unlucky.
As for Friday, it was supposedly a Friday when Adam and Eve were cast out of Eden, when the Great Flood (you know, the Noah's Ark story) happened, when King Solomon's Temple was destroyed, execution day in Rome and Britain... yet strangely enough it used to be Sabbath Day for non-Christian religions.

It is reckoned that Friday the 13th became an unlucky day not only because of an amalgamation of these superstitions, but also because of an event that happened 700 hundred years ago. On Friday the 13th October 1307, the Knights Templar were hunted down by King Phillip IV of France and executed. However, it's only recently that the phonomenon of Friday the 13th has been talen seriously. It's not mentioned in early books on superstitions or unlucky days. It only arises in revised versions of these books, and even then, no real reason for it's unluckiness.

So maybe this day has only recently become unlucky. Maybe we're more superstitious than we were 200 years ago, and maybe this is just a phase that will pass eventually. Is there really any cause for such superstition?

I will leave you with one final thought, however; Margaret Thatcher was born on Friday the 13th.

Clockwork Monkey

One man's trash is another man's treasure

So my old friend caffeine races to the rescue on wings of ebony...

You'll have to forgive me, I'm slightly distracted today, and all this abstract 8-bit music isn't helping. I keep getting the urge to lock all the doors, close all the curtains and play Pokemon Yellow in the dark.

Speaking of Pokemon, I was charged with the mission of selling around 7 years worth of tat at a carboot sale at school yesterday. Talk about soul-destroying! 7 years of stuffed toys and children's board games that have never seen the light of day since we moved suddenly appeared from behind a cupboard in my bedroom and were placed under the unforgiving gazes of the Dutch. Now, not to be rascist, but the Dutch are not the most generous of nations, as a quickly found out when a grizzled, 70-something year old man repeatedly attempted to persuade me to lower the price of a bass guitar I was selling from 75 euros to 40. 40! I couldn't buy half a guitar for 40 euros, and to be honest, when I finally did sell it (for 80 euros to a man whose whole appearence and character screamed "I am a bassist") I was rather pleased to be able to shake my head in faux-sympthay and say "Sorry mate, sold it"... not that he understood me.

As the day dragged on, and me and my bemused parents realised that our increasing dribble of customers were not planning on doing anything other than tut our prices (reasonable prices, might I add), people started losing the will to live and started packing up, throwing all their unsold garbage into a skip. This was all well and good... until various people decided that it was a good idea to rummage in this skip for free goodies. OK, some of the people there seemed less than wealthy, in which case, fair play to them. However, some of the scavangers were just there for the sake of getting free stuff. One woman who bought a electric piano from us was happily rummaging in there for a good half hour... someone who can afford to buy a 30 euro piano doesn't need to grab second-hand stuffed toys. I'm not sure what was more frustrating; people just rummaging in there and running off with stuff that was only priced at 1 euro to begin with, or the fact it was almost exclusively my toys they were grabbing.

Any-hoo, my dad and a couple of other stall-holders got the idea into their heads that it would be fun to start smashing and maiming all the stuff about to be dumped into the skip, therefore halting the scavanging. So the standing on technology and glassware began. The technology part was especially fun, as much of the sales (and, in one case, a return) made were cameras, PDAs and memory cards, and I was a bit frustrated that I was never able to sell any of it because my Dutch is pretty poor. The glassware was, in hindsight, a bit dangerous- one woman cut her finger on a shard of glass while trying to perloin whatever it was in the box with it, but seeing as she also wasn't without money, I have less sympathy.

I feel that there should be a point to this post... but I can't really see one at the moment. Maybe it should be about the greediness of the wealthy members of humanity or something.

Oh yes, and about the presentation I was supposed to do last week; my memory stick doesn't seem to like OpenOffice documents, and decided it would be best to neglect the fact that I had saved my presentation on it, leaving me a gibbering wreck when trying to explain my misfortune to a Head of Year. Luckily I can do it another time, huzzah!

End of post.

Guns Don't Kill People- People Do (and monkeys do to, if they've got gun)

Oh how I hate not having anything to do but work and wait until I have to slouch off to my music lesson. Wasting time used to be such fun when I was actually having proper school, I'd end up mindlessly watching movies or playing retardedly simple tunes on my bass and then wondering why I was repeatedly up until 1am furiously typing out english essays due in 8 hours time. But during exam leave, procrastination is difficult to achieve. I'd end up having bouts of guilty feeling every time I'd leave the turmoil that is British politics to stare at my emails, which is something nobody needs to feel. I'd come home after a few hours with a friend cursing them for dragging me away from my EDEXCEL approved poetry anthology. For someone that regularly holds education with a mixture of scorn, cynicism and dread, the frequent subconcious need to study was a quite frightening feeling. Thankfully, though, that time has passed, and I am free to waste time again... if it weren't for Global Citizenship.

I'm just starting to design a presentation I'm required to do by the moaning eejits at the UN stronghold in Finland, in exchange for a piece of paper proving I'm a "well-rounded induvidual" as apposed to a complete fruitcake. Global Citizenship is one of those stupid formalities that a international school such as mine would use to prove to snub-nosed, posh international bonces (such as the ones that frequent the UN) that their students are the best in the land at caring about current issues such as gay rights and famine. Now, I have nothing against people who feel like they must deal with these issues, but as soon as they start trying to take over my school time, I get a bit tetchy. How on earth am I supposed to get through my exams, attain straight A grades, write articals on my chosen issue AND keep a healthy social life at the same time? Whoever thought up this "certificate" must be the earthly incartnation of the Hindu god Vishnu- as many arms as it takes to do all these tasks at the same time.

Anyway, my chosen issue is school shootings- or rather, the causes of them. I have a slight affiliation with this, because according to Everybody And Their Mum, anybody who so much as stands next to a violent video game or a Marilyn Manson album must have homicidal tendencies. I have yet to experience these tendancies, despite the fact I own every Manson album and enjoy games that involve violence, so I think Everybody must be a bit wrong.
I've noticed, in fact, that a lot of the kids that raid their grandfather's arsenal and blow away their school are often quite normal. Take Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris, for example; these guys killed 13 people and injured 23 others at Columbine High School in Colorado. They were both perfectly normal guys, with normal lives etc. Klebold was a depressive however, and was lead on by Harris, who by all accounts was a psychopath, who, if not for the massacre, would have probably gone on to do something much worse later on in life. These were probably the causes for their decision to shoot up their school.
On the other hand, other shooters have different reasons; one simply got into trouble at school. Then there's the famous quote 'I just don't like Mondays" from Brenda Ann Spencer, another shooter , as immortalised in the song by the Bay City Rollers.

The main point I'm trying to make is that people don't decide to kill just because a song or a game makes it sound good, or they dress or act in a certain way. In some schools in America, it has been made law that schools are allowed to regularly search the lockers of goth kids, simply because the fashion they follow is associated with homicide in schools. How is that fair or even productive? While they're searching Obsidian Blackbird McNight's locker, Generic Teenager #5 could be loading up his (or her) shotgun. That's the point I hope to get across in the presentation.

Then of course, there's how one would go about preventing school shootings. The obvious answer that immediately screams out at me is gun control. Unfortunately for Americans, at least, gun control is a word that just doesn't exist in certain areas of the US, particuarly in Texas, Alabama and other parts of the Bible Belt. The removal of the 2nd Amendment (the right to bear arms) would certainly control gun crime in America, but it is also something that it highly unlikely to happen unless the Bible Belt suddenly became liberal. Another possible way of stopping school shootings would be to spot the killer before they killed and subjected them to massive amounts of therapy. Unfortunately, as mentioned before, it is virtually impossible to pick out a likely killer unless they make it obvious themselves. Even then, the therapy might not work. The current method being used to prevent shootings is the consistant blacklisting of games and musicians- pointing the finger of blame at them, basically. This is in no way productive, as it is forcing those of us who are more easily persuaded to focus completely on them, rather than on other possible causes. It's also dangerous to the parents and friends of the killers themselves, as it is providing them with a way of forcing the blame of the child's behavior onto something else when really they should be considering what they could have done to prevent it.

It seems, then, that there is no immediate way of stopping shootings without breaking into the US 2nd Amendment. The only thing that parents could do to help stop more shootings from occuring is to take a good look at their child's state of mind and behaviour and help them.

That's just my 2 cents on the issue, anyway.

This was a public service announcement from Clockwork Monkey. You may now return to your business.

Ho-Hum

So yes, here I am with my own shiny new blog.

...It's very empty at the moment, hopefully I'll fill it with all my stray thoughts and ramblings and rants (a lot of those, yes).

Just to give you an idea as to why I have decided to publish my ramblings on the internets, it's mainly because I hope to become a journalist in the future, and I thought that because of the seeming lack of work experience that doesn't involve advertising coffee mornings and self-help for expats who can't seem to handle living somewhere without Cadbury's and PG-Tips, I'd explore and exhibit my writing technique by doing weekly (or daily, depending on how addicted to this I become) bllog posts. How I'm going to eventually show this to my future university to prove I'm not a idiot is beyond me, but it's good for the practice, eh?

Yeah, I can just imagine myself in 10 years time writing snappy and cutting editorials for The Times, grilling the odd politician about the government's recent blunders, commenting on the current state of the nation, that sort of thing. Could also end up working for Private Eye, writing utter nonsense about something or other. Now that would be good, I like Private Eye.

You'll never find me working for a tabloid, though. Never. My brain would melt if I was exposed to the pathetic goo that is celebrity worship (unless people were worshipping me, of course). I find people who constantly need to know about how many face-lifts Sharon Osbourne has had, or how many african children Madonna has adopted incredibly annoying. As if it matters... the whole point of being a human being is to be unique and induvidual, rather than hanging on the every word of a blonde, big-breasted bimbo who's only claim to fame is said big-breasts. If it really matters what celebrities are eating, wearing or thinking, why don't you just become one of those celebrity look-a-like people? That way you can be like them without bothering any of us real people.


...oh dear... I did warn you about the rants.