Zombie

Yeah, and "100" is a nice big macho number 38, or whatever, is just so .... so wimpy!

"It is meant to be an online safe haven where children can socialise and feel safe. But the virtual reality of the world's largest social game and online community for teenagers is also attracting a different, less well-meaning audience. Habbo Hotel - in which users can, according to the site 'make friends, chillax, (and) get noticed!' - is also a hotbed of pornographic sexual chat between users." http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2158301/Habbo-Hotel-childrens-website-defences-paedophiles.html I wasn't even aware of Habbo until I saw Channel 4 News tonight which stated the site temporarily withdrew chat services that have since been reinstated. Curiously, Habbo users then made death threats on Twitter against .... Channel 4! GA seems a pretty safe environment but this news item just illustrates the potential dangers of online social networking and the need for younger members to understand and be aware of these dangers.

This Saturday will be the 100th anniversary of the birth of Alan Turing, the man whose code-breaking work during WWII probably shortened the war and saved countless lives. He also did ground breaking work on computing (his seminal 1936 paper "On Computable Numbers") and artificial intelligence (his 1950 paper "Computing Machinery and Intelligence" which included the "Turing Test"). This man did so much for his country and for the war effort. So how did his country repay him? With honours and plaudits? No. He was rewarded by being prosecuted for having a gay lover and forced to take female hormones to make him "normal". He was so distressed by the appalling side effects that he committed suicide. What a waste. What a tragedy. Not just for him, personally, but for what his country lost - a brilliant mind that could have contributed so much, not just to Britain's post war recovery, but to the world. So, if you don't already know about Alan Turing, maybe this would be a good time to put that right. And remember the man, and what he did. http://www.bbc.com/n...nology-17662585

"BBC Panorama goes back to school to examine government plans to send in the troops to Britain's troubled classrooms. Can they help restore discipline, leadership and respect? It is an idea born in the USA, where around 15 thousand ex-military personnel have become teachers and done their bit in some of America's toughest inner-city schools." This approach seems to have worked to improve discipline and behaviour in schools. It makes sense - ex-military guys often have an impressive "natural" authority from the work they've done and the training they've had, and kids sense this and respond to it. After all, these guys are probably among the most respected in society, especially by kids. But what's your experience? Have you been to a school where ex-military guys were employed to improve discipline? How did it work? Once overall discipline and behaviour in a school has been improved then school bus problems should be less likely especially if CCTV cameras are installed on every school bus. You may hate the idea but the reality is this is a cheap crime prevention solution. In the UK, CCTV is everywhere - in the streets, on buses and trains. Surprisingly there has been little resistance because people see the benefits: reduced crime and antisocial behaviour where they are installed PLUS convictions where CCTV footage has enabled many criminals to be identified and prosecuted. You can watch the whole BBC programme here (3 parts) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9C4ULBPDB4

Jeeeeeze that was so disturbing. Those wild scaaaary eyes. Agree 100% with one of the comments "WTF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I DONT GET SCARED EASILY BUT THIS CHICK MADE ME LOCK ALL DOORS 'N' WINDOWS 'N' CALL ADT SECURITY SYSTEM TO INSTALL ONE" I know I'm just not gonna sleep tonight .... those eyes .... that horrible bit at the end .... I just know she's fondling a meat cleaver .... what have you done to my mind wildone??? ... where's my mommy!!

Happy Summer Solstice Mike We're having a weird summer so far in the UK - cool, rain and more rain. And it's Wimbledon next week. So that means more rain

Hey, next time just ask the guy out. Who could refuse you?

I've started reading Dreamchasers by Grasshopper (excellent beginning - hope it's a good one ) and read this: Jase frowned. "The house? You don't know? I live there now. He left it to me. To me and to Davy. He said you'd never want it ... We'll both be gone tomorrow, if you want to come out. It's never locked." There's so much bad stuff going on in our crappy world, and yet decent honest people are everywhere. This set me thinking of examples: "honesty boxes" I still find these in rural parts, e.g. farmholdings selling their produce, displayed by the road with just a box for payment Shetland When I visited my brother a few years ago, he never bothered locking his house either - and he left his keys in the car. He reasoned "this is an island, everyone knows what everyone else is doing, and what would they do with a stolen car anyway?" If you've similar experiences I'd love to hear them. Makes me realize the world isn't such a bad place after all.

He falls for a bi boy. And, unlike with Brandon Teena, happily it doesn't end in murder

Sooooo, Tanner will become his own CSI detective, gathering facts for his corporeal assistant to follow up as they close in on the Evil One ... Thanks for all your effort to amuse, entertain and surprise us KC

Ah well. Maybe your next checkout guy will make proper eye contact And it's all good material for your writing

"... he was really excited and ... Anyways ...." No no no! You can't just leave us all dangling like that! What happened next??

Romeos 2011. Saw this over the weekend and it's currently my fave gay movie. The lead is an FTM. It's just a brilliant film. Rent/buy/borrow/steal it (I posted about it yesterday in the Transgenderization thread) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1830792/

Agree with Bill. In Britain it was more about regional dialect coupled with the accent, but nowadays dialect has largely gone though regional accents remain. With increasing mobility and media influences I wonder how long that will continue. And Ashi's right - in cities it's all about "street" and gangsta-speak. Gotta say English spoken in a foreign accept can so damn sexy! Here's a hot Mexican - Gael García Bernal Britain is full of regional accents. Used to be a time when you couldn't get jobs at the BBC or in acting unless you spoke "standard" English using "received pronunciation" (= talking posh ). Then more acting roles used regional accents and today the posh accent roles are limited to things like costume drama and Hugh Grant type stuff. Oh yeah, and the English villian in Hollywood movies. Yeah, gotta have the posh English guy as the villain - dude, that accent is just sooooo eeeevillll ! Btw I hafta switch on subtitles to understand you damn Yankees

Got to tell you about Romeos which I downloaded and watched yesterday. This is a German film about Lukas, a transsexual who has not (yet) undergone reassignment surgery, and his life as a teenager. It gives real insight into the humanity of transsexualism - the ignorance of others (me included), the ridicule, the humiliation, the self-centeredness of Lukas as a transsexual (understandable given the daily struggle to assert his identity), the grim reality of taking daily hormone injections, not being able to wear summer clothes because of the tight chest bindings needed underneath in order to appear male. Never mind the courage and resolve to take the medical steps necessary to complete the transition. This is not a grim, sensational, disturbing or depressing film. It is vibrant, full of life and humour, with engaging characters filmed on location, produced and acted to a high standard. And the love interest is portrayed with real emotion and conviction. But the star is Lukas. He is (for me anyway) utterly convincing. I cannot recommend it highly enough. Get it and see it. You won't be disappointed http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1830792/

Time for another peeve Just filled up my car, carefully squeezing the trigger to get the price counter to stop at whole pounds (£37) and NO PENNIES (it's another OCD thing ) then, releasing the trigger, gently withdraw the nozzle, shake off the last few drops with eyes glued to the display to confirm still showing whole pounds and NO PENNIES. Which it is. Pump stopped. Happy smile. Feeling good. Then carefully replace the nozzle/trigger thing into its "holster" while looking back at the display .... to see it suddenly FLIP to £37.01 Aaaaaaaarrrrghhh!!!!!!!.

I could see there was a pic as I was scrolling down and I just KNEW it was THAT street and it would show a partially obscured street name sign, or maybe spraypainted out C. I still larfed though

Er, thanks for that Ashi. I think. I'll never look at a penguin the same way again ....

Soooooo Y_B, you like being walloped by assertive women ....

Yep. But this is 2012, Bill. We have sports science, sports medicine and so much more. And still these (often a cabal of old men - look at FIFA - and words fail me sometimes to describe adequately my view of them) "sports regulators" fail to turn their attention to basic welfare of the sportsmen and women they regulate. Maybe too busy focusing on more important stuff - like doing TV deals with Murdoch or worse. But I digress. And this is not meant to be political

Second that

That's very strange. I felt really embarrassed watching this. And I had a big smile on my face throughout! And the last guy - the beefy jock - I was not expecting his reaction

I was watching men's gymnastics the other day *hmmm, wonders if maybe all those super-buff male bodies, muscles all pumped, groaning and grunting had something to do with it?* Anyway, there I was, enjoying it. Then I noticed all the straps and bandages the guys had on (modern HD tellys show everything ). And when a gymnast landed awkwardly it was obvious it hurt. Then I realized maybe some of those grunts and groans might be pain. And then I stopped enjoying it. I've just had a look around on Google. Seems there's a particular problem with "stick" landings. Here are just a couple of bits I found: Biomechanics of Sport and Exercise (2nd ed 2005), Peter McGinnis "Research funded in part by the United States Olympic Committee and the United States Gymnastic Association is concerned with the impact forces gymnasts experience when landing from stunts and what strategies they use to reduce these forces (cited 1991, 1993, 1994). Judges award higher points to gymnasts who "stick" their landings. But such landings may involve greater and more dangerous forces. These forces are the cause of overuse injuries in many gymnasts. A landing in which the gymnast flexes the knees, hips and ankles may reduce these impact forces but it also results in a lower score." http://books.google.... injury&f=false This book also went on to to say: "One outcome of this research has been new rules allowing for landing strategies that reduce these impact forces without penalty to the gymnast's score" BUT it does not appear to be true that using different landing strategies to avoid the damaging stick landing will not affect the scoring: Dummies.com - Men's Gymnastics Events in the 2012 Summer Olympics "Gymnasts display various grips on the bar and perform giant swings over the bar. All are judged on form and dismount. It's important for gymnasts to keep their bodies straight and their toes pointed during routines and to stick the landings." "Sticking the landing means landing on both feet together without taking any extra steps. Any steps or partial steps incur deductions." "Sticking the landing is very important in the scoring of a still rings routine. Dismounts usually involve some sort of back flip or full-body twist, and landing on both feet together without taking an extra step is particularly difficult. Scoring deductions are given for bad form, ring movement, falls, useless swings, bad dismounts or landings, and timing errors." "Body position is maintained while "popping" the vaulting platform. The gymnast completes multiple twists and somersaults in the air before landing on the far side of the vault. The difficulty of the flips, the strength exhibited, and the ability to stick the landing affect scoring." "Dismount is just a fancy way of saying getting off the equipment. However, the style and difficulty of the flipping, twisting, or body motion the gymnast completes in midair (as well as that sticky landing) affect the start value and deductions awarded." http://www.dummies.c...r-olympics.html coachesinfo.com - article seems to date from 2010 (most recent citation) "Strategy adjustments accommodating inherent physical profiles were found to be essential in ensuring effective load attenuation but were acknowledged as potentially incompatible with current constraints in gymnastic scoring systems." http://www.coachesin...ding&Itemid=295 OK, I know all sports requiring extreme physical performance by top athletes at the highest level have the potential to cause injury - maybe serious long term injuries. But the rules for getting high scores in gymnastics seem to require the gymnasts to land with their legs together and more or less straight. If I wanted to formulate a rule to cause maximum damage to a super fit athlete ... that's the rule and scoring framework I would introduce. And it doesn't give me pleasure to see top athletes providing an "entertainment" that seems designed to cause them physical injury. But what do you think?

Hmmm, I'm curious how this is gonna turn out. Especially as Tanner/Casper's still talking in the present tense about "whichever school I decide to go to”. The admissions process will be interesting ....

Yikes I'm later than late! Hope you had a great day, Bob, and here's to many more happy returns of the day