And why not?

"Everyone has things they don't blog about.

Challenge me out of my comfort zone by telling me something I don't blog about, but you'd like to hear about, and I'll write a post about it. Ask for anything: latest movie watched, last book read, political leanings, thoughts on lima beans, favorite type of underwear, some crazy experience, etc.


I'll screen comments because of other people's privacy and stuff like that. So, if you want your comments not unscreened, let me know...

Prompted Blogging

Someone asked me:

"Have you ever been a visceral racist?

Not being a racist per se, but having racist feelings/thoughts without agreeing with them intellectually, and probably feeling guilty for having them."

It’s a very good question.
I guess I’ve been guilty of stereotyping – at some level I expect groups of people with identifiable characteristics to behave in a certain way, and those groups can be football fans, comic geeks or Irishmen. My internal models say that at a football game fans will chant, at a comic convention we’ll fawn over Alan Moore and on Saint Patrick’s day an Irishman will get drunk. That probably does make me racist at some level, but I’m not sure that it’s helpful to class that sort of stereotyping with the comment I got from someone who should have known better that “Mexicans have problems with numbers”.

On the other hand, I grew up in a mono-culture, pretty much, and didn’t imbibe any racist stereotypes with my mother’s milk (not because they were pretty free from racism themselves – which they were – but because there were very few opportunities for racism in Maryhill in the 60’s).

...a little bit of exercise...

Since I managed to get my bike down to the cottage, I thought I might as well use it to ride to the badminton club tonight. To do that, I had to buy some cheap lights and a lock. This came VERY close to costing me £526, but I managed to not buy the Specialized Tricomp.It was a close run thing though. The ride to the club was ridiculously easy, and made me remember that bicycles can be useful, too.
Badminton was fun, despite the fact that my fencing muscle memories are fighting my badminton muscle memories. I won around half my games, and broke a sweat.
I also decided not to go and see the Partick Thistle game tomorrow night, in favour of a quiet night in. Because I want that more.

Damn this Spam... (Via Bill Gibson)

DEAR AMERICAN:

I NEED TO ASK YOU TO SUPPORT AN URGENT SECRET BUSINESS RELATIONSHIP WITH A TRANSFER OF FUNDS OF GREAT MAGNITUDE.

I AM MINISTRY OF THE TREASURY OF THE REPUBLIC OF AMERICA. MY COUNTRY HAS HAD CRISIS THAT HAS CAUSED THE NEED FOR LARGE TRANSFER OF FUNDS OF 800 BILLION DOLLARS US. IF YOU WOULD ASSIST ME IN THIS TRANSFER, IT WOULD BE MOST PROFITABLE TO YOU.

I AM WORKING WITH MR. PHIL GRAM, LOBBYIST FOR UBS, WHO WILL BE MY REPLACEMENT AS MINISTRY OF THE TREASURY IN JANUARY. AS A SENATOR, YOU MAY KNOW HIM AS THE LEADER OF THE AMERICAN BANKING DEREGULATION MOVEMENT IN THE 1990S. THIS TRANSACTIN IS 100% SAFE.

THIS IS A MATTER OF GREAT URGENCY. WE NEED A BLANK CHECK. WE NEED THE FUNDS AS QUICKLY AS POSSIBLE. WE CANNOT DIRECTLY TRANSFER THESE FUNDS IN THE NAMES OF OUR CLOSE FRIENDS BECAUSE WE ARE CONSTANTLY UNDER SURVEILLANCE. MY FAMILY LAWYER ADVISED ME THAT I SHOULD LOOK FOR A RELIABLE AND TRUSTWORTHY PERSON WHO WILL ACT AS A NEXT OF KIN SO THE FUNDS CAN BE TRANSFERRED.

PLEASE REPLY WITH ALL OF YOUR BANK ACCOUNT, IRA AND COLLEGE FUND ACCOUNT NUMBERS AND THOSE OF YOUR CHILDREN AND GRANDCHILDREN TO WALLSTREETBAILOUT@TREASURY.GOV SO THAT WE MAY TRANSFER YOUR COMMISSION FOR THIS TRANSACTION. AFTER I RECEIVE THAT INFORMATION, I WILL RESPOND WITH DETAILED INFORMATION ABOUT SAFEGUARDS THAT WILL BE USED TO PROTECT THE FUNDS.

YOURS FAITHFULLY MINISTER OF TREASURY PAULSON

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