Clark's Unoriginal Miscellanea

[zotz]

So. Lord Lucan probably didn't die in Goa. Shame. It would have served the bastard right, I'd say. Of course, he may well be dead by now anyway, and if he is then we can't catch him and make him tell us whether any of his aristo pals have been covering for him or helping him out, which would result in some nice court cases and jail sentences. After all, now Jeffrey's out, where are we all going to get our schadenfreude fix?

Possible-ex-associate Rachel Shabi has an article in yesterday's Guardian about the upcoming arms fair in London. I notice she's "specialising in social justice issues" these days. Presumably not having to write articles about handbags means that her career's going the way she wants it. She also, I note, is now on the comment page rather than in the colour supplement.

Archbish Ndugane of Cape Town is talking what seems to me to be sense about the current dispute within the Anglican communion. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3089762.stm for details.

Pinochet's family are complaining about the good press the late President Allende is getting in the runup to the 30th anniversary of the coup. Aw diddums.

One in the eye for the late ElRon. Hmm . . . which reminds me - I must get round to publicising that copy of Dianetics.

Spider Robinson has written an article on the depressing state of SF. Those of you who read /. will already have seen this, I'm sure. William Gibson said something similar . . . last week, I think. Charlie Stross, for the record, disagrees.

blufive's post here will probably be enjoyable and instructive for anyone who reads much SF.

Weird article about abstinence - they key point, at the end, is that those they con/convince (delete according to opinion) hold out between one and two years, on average, longer than they would have. And then they don't know anything about useful stuff like condoms, so they have a much higher risk afterwards of disease and pregnancy. Ho hum. Evolution in action, I suppose. What's one less fundie on the face of the earth anyway?

There's a rather more sensible followup today ("I once asked Andrew Doniger, director of health in Rochester, New York state, how long people were supposed to wait. He said: "We don't specify, we just say 'wait'." I said: "What, you just take the time you want to have sex, add an unspecified amount of time, and then have sex? He said: 'You're a pain in the ass, you know that?'").

Also today, of course, is an obituary for Warren Zevon.

And Leni Riefenstahl's pegged it too. As far as I can tell, the reason ungrateful leftists went on being suspicious of her was that she followed Albert Speer's example of being phenomenally mealy-mouthed over whether she actually regretted getting involved with the Nazis. Indeed, I did see her described as "the last surviving unrepentant senior Nazi", although that is a bit harsh. Fellow-traveller is probably more accurate. Guardian obit here.

And Edward Teller. Gosh. They're dropping like flies, aren't they? "The father of the H-bomb", they called him, in spite of the fact that his design couldn't be used and they settled on someone else's. His involvement in SDI and the X-ray laser fiasco finished his career on a low note.

Ballboy have announced a Leeds gig very soon.

Finally, of course, many thanks to razornet for pointing out to me that a cuddly minotaur is on the market. I've been looking for one of them for a couple of years now.

Comments

[reddragdiva]

I get my schadenfreude here.

And you do have to get that copy. And take pictures.

[zotz]

If only we coud do the same to the band Hanson.

[nisaba.livejournal.com]

Yes yes YES!!! I did not know that. You've just utterly made my day.

[razornet.livejournal.com]

I should point out that it is, in fact, vyvyan you have to thank for this as she was the one that remembered when we showed her the release sheet.

[valkyriekaren.livejournal.com]

The sudden media resurgence of the True Love Waits movement caused me to search for that wonderful spoof website that was out there a couple of years ago; the one that encouraged teens to have anal sex, become lesbians and use vibrators, because you can't get pregnant that way and 'ruin your future'.

Unfortunately, I couldn't track it down again (and googling for 'Everything Butt' turns up some really random stuff!)

[zotz]

Ah yes, I think you refer to http://www.technicalvirgin.com/

A most noble conceit.

[rowan-leigh.livejournal.com]

That article about abstinence is disturbing. It won't surprise you to know that at least some branches of Planned parenthood have had to put their prices up because state funding had been cut. ;/

[http://users.livejournal.com/_nicolai_/]

... which is rather idiotic, since abstinence and "planned parenthood" go fairly well together: if you only have sex with your spouse after marriage, this is fine with all the religious nutters. That doesn't stop you wanting to plan your parenthood.

(yes, I know "Planned parenthood" aren't just about married couples wanting to space out their sprogs, in case anyone was going to suffer a humour failure)

[ex-lark-asc.livejournal.com]

And an Anubis plushie too! Waaant! :)

[inulro.livejournal.com]

I'll be waiting to see the photo of the Anubis plushie, but yeah, I might have to have it.