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<channel><generator>iloblog 1.0</generator><title>SerialFailures Feed</title><link>http://serialfailures.connectable.org.uk/</link><description>This area is dedicated to silly behaviour, from the life-threatening to the simply divine.</description><item><title>An act too hard to follow?</title><link>http://iloapp.connectable.org.uk/blog/serialfailures?Home&amp;post=108</link><description><![CDATA[  Despite howls of outrage from the US, and pressure by a supine British Government, Scotland – a small nation of just 5 million souls showed the world this week that despite the alleged murder of so many innocents over Lockerbie, showing compassion for the imminent death of the main suspect, would override any dubious satisfaction obtained by further adding to this man’s suffering by letting him rot in a jail in Scotland. 
 Posturing by politicians, including O’Bama, is disgraceful. Everyone knows that the terrible incident over Lockerbie was just one of the acts of terrorism carried out on behalf of the government of Libya – aka Gaddafi. Even if this man is guilty, and there are many that doubt this, he is simply a pawn. It suited the British Governments and the US at the time to go after the foot-soldiers rather than the General – literally. It suits them now to go on making noises about this man – rather than the Libyan government, because they are engaged in deals with this countries dictator for it’s oil, and they don’t want to ‘rock the boat’. Welcome to real politique. 
 They are playing the same game in Afghanistan – the installation of a warlord and murderer – Hamed Karzai, as an American puppet is vital in the strategy to keep control of vital oil pipelines in Afgahnistan. Meantime, Gordon Brown insists that keeping troops there is vital for the protection of the British people – when we are all aware that the terrorists committing atrocities in our cities are disillusioned young Pakistani men from HERE IN BRITAIN. 
 Both this country and the US need to regain the respect of the rest of the world. Recent revelations of atrocities carried out by Americans and British soldiers in Iraq, and the torture carried out by the US, condoned secretly by a spineless British Government, have done nothing but harm to both our countries, and rendered us incapable of the criticism of anyone else carrying out such atrocities against humanity. The Scots have shown mercy and compassion – two qualities that sadly are lacking by the reactionary US and British governments alike. The path ahead has been shown to them – but will they follow? 
 JWBD4  
 ]]></description><pubDate>Fri, 21 Aug 2009 11:47:26 +0100</pubDate><category>News &amp; Comment</category></item><item><title>Revenge Of The Red Pirate</title><link>http://iloapp.connectable.org.uk/blog/serialfailures?Home&amp;post=107</link><description><![CDATA[  The Red Pirate exacts a terrible price from the 'baddie' in this short story.  Revenge of The Red Pirate  
 JWBD4 
    
 ]]></description><pubDate>Sun, 16 Aug 2009 12:14:39 +0100</pubDate><category>Stories</category></item><item><title>Bandits at 3 O&#039;clock skipper - shit! Too late!</title><link>http://iloapp.connectable.org.uk/blog/serialfailures?Home&amp;post=106</link><description><![CDATA[  Oh The seagulls have a white house, In Mobil; Oh The seagulls have a white house, In Mobil, Oh The seagulls have a white house, and they use it as a shitehouse; Oh The seagulls have a white house, In Mobil. 
 Oh The seagulls they fly high, In Mobil; Oh The seagulls they fly high, In Mobil, Oh The seagulls they fly high, and they shite in your eye; It's a good job cows don't fly, In Mobil. 
   
 This one extends 2ft high, by about 1ft across. Maybe Cullercoats seagulls have been cavorting with cattle? 
 JWBD4 
   
 ]]></description><pubDate>Sat, 15 Aug 2009 19:05:16 +0100</pubDate><category>The things we do</category></item><item><title>Struck down in my prime</title><link>http://iloapp.connectable.org.uk/blog/serialfailures?Home&amp;post=105</link><description><![CDATA[  Obviously jealous of all you sweet young things and your piggy 'flu, my frail old frame has decided to come up with an alternative. Since Sunday I've been trying to put a name to what I've got but can't. I've got a slightly-runny nose, a dry ticklish cough, itchy eyes and each day since the weekend starts OK but by lunch-time I have a blinding headache, a temperature and nausea. 
 This couldn't have happened in a worse week, as today I had to MOT the car, so had to give it a good talking-to on both Monday and Tuesday mornings, because every afternoon has been spent half-dozing in bed. It passed thankfully. 
 I've been up an hour simply because I ache, but I'm now off back to bed. Sorry, no rants this week - I haven't got the energy. 
 Oh, BTW, a letter from NHS informs me of an 'up to 18 weeks' wait for surgery on my left knee - no hurry there then! 
 JWBD4 
 ]]></description><pubDate>Wed, 12 Aug 2009 21:13:37 +0100</pubDate><category>The things we do</category></item><item><title>The BBC: From Exemplar to sloppy also-ran</title><link>http://iloapp.connectable.org.uk/blog/serialfailures?Home&amp;post=104</link><description><![CDATA[  I hate sloppiness. Let me re-phrase that: I hate sloppiness in those whose raison d'etre is to inform and educate. Now that most newspapers are simply comics, pandering celebrity pap to the masses, I expect that at least the BBC would retain it's high standards in the reporting of news and presentation of it's programs. 
 Two things annoyed me last week. The first was in the trailing of the excellent swedish-language crime series Wallander - using a picture of Kenneth Brannagh?! 
 Yes, I know the BBC made it's 'own' version of Wallander - to much acclaim, however, I regard the swedish version vastly superior. Is it pettiness, ignorance or just sloppiness that allows misinformation and misdirection such as this to take place? 
 Number two annoyance was caused by a radio news reader describing the USA as Britain's 'oldest' ally! This is at best, extremely contentious, at worst, plain stupid, and smacks of hastily-written copy gleaned from that font of all misdirection - WIKI, which as everyone knows can be altered - is altered - at the whim of anyone with a revisionist streak. 
 The BBC were first to criticise this bunch of crooks we call a government for obtaining it's 'intelligence' regarding Saddam's WMD's from a 19-year old student's essay he'd published on the Web, but apparently they themselves are no different. Perhaps if the job of reporting news was done by reporters, instead of 'readers', we might recover some of the accuracy that the BBC used to excel in and which is now woefully lacking. 
 Welcome to the dumbed-down 21st Century BBC. 
 JWBD4 
 ]]></description><pubDate>Tue, 11 Aug 2009 09:22:32 +0100</pubDate><category>Misery from misinformation</category></item><item><title>When Terror Strikes</title><link>http://iloapp.connectable.org.uk/blog/serialfailures?Home&amp;post=103</link><description><![CDATA[  In conversation with a friend yesterday, I had touched briefly on the subject of risky behaviour, and with the benefit of insight how the most dangerous aspects of mania can be avoided by simply staying in the house and keeping your blue cape and red knickers locked in a closet, as an antidote for when, in your worst moments you feel like superman. 
 The conversation had triggered recollections of the most bizarre and downright foolhardiness of some of the things I’ve done in the past - a lot of which I cringe to think about, and which would not bear scrutiny even in these enlightened times, however I dressed them up. I couldn’t bear knowing that when face to face with friends, they might be thinking ‘this man did  that ‘, and questioning themselves as to why they still talk to me. 
 The world is well aware of the risk-taking propensity of young men, and despite the rate of attrition, it has been accepted that this behaviour is as necessary for the survival of our species as taking breath. Those young men that do survive tend to act more sensibly as they mature or ‘mellow’ - making way for the ‘young bucks’ to have their time too. However, my experience has been that manic behaviour manifests itself ‘out of the blue’, and worse than that, triggers pleasure receptors that should be long dormant given my mature years. Then there can be terrible moments of reality - when for a brief (and thankful) second I realise that I am acting out a scene purely because of the ‘high’, and I’m left attempting to extricate myself from the very sticky stuff I’ve willingly jumped into. The tendency to panic in such a situation is very strong, and it’s probably only my pig-headed stubbornness to admit defeat, that has allowed me to exit left, with at least a little dignity remaining. 
 Knowing what to look for has enabled me to recognise the same behaviour in other people - who it might be said of that they should know better. As a result, I tend to be more tolerant of aberrant behaviour than I might have done in the past. I also sympathise when I see another’s actions go terribly wrong, and would unhesitatingly give assistance should it be required. 
 The worst case of ‘lost bottle’ I have witnessed first-hand, took place just up the road from here, at the Whitley Bay Ice Rink and Bowling Alley. I was a young man at the time and was employed as a steel erector involved in building the Bowling Alley above the existing Ice Rink. Steel erectors are notorious risk-takers and I admit to pushing myself to the point of silliness, in an effort to be like my other, more mature, workmates. 
 There was one man, in his middle-forties who although heavily built, could shin up a stanchion, and walk along 3 inch horizontal ties as if he was a wire-walking monkey. It came as a great shock then, one afternoon, to hear him calling for help, which set everyone running. Barry (name changed) was sat on a cross beam arms clinging to a large stanchion about 45ft above the ground. I joined the others below him whilst the foreman tried to coax him down, and I’ve never witnessed such terror in anyones eyes either before or since. His face was contorted with fear, tears streaming down his face, and he didn’t reply to any of the foreman’s coaxing - just sat there, visibly shaking and paralysed with fear. 
 When it was realised that he wasn’t going to be talked down, the foreman and another workmate shinned up the stanchion to just below where he sat, and another man climbed up another stanchion and worked his way along the cross beam until he could sit beside Barry. The presence of these brave souls both beside and below him seemed to calm Barry enough for him to loosen his grip and be persuaded to move out and onto the stanchion - his feet guided into place. Thus it was that two men - one behind him, the other to one side shuffled and shinned Barry and themselves painfully slowly to the ground. 
 Barry was plied with hot, sugary tea, and when he had calmed down sufficiently, was taken home by one of his mates, and I never saw him again. I had asked the foreman (my father) why it had happened and he had simply shrugged: ‘Who knows - it just happens’. I had suspected that this wasn’t the first case he had ever witnessed, and like so many of the other awful events he had seen, he simply accepted it and probably considered trying to analyse or evaluate it a waste of time. What he also obviously accepted without question, was a responsibility to help his workmate, despite a very real threat to his own life. 
 JWBD4 Monday 10th August 2009 
 ]]></description><pubDate>Mon, 10 Aug 2009 10:50:50 +0100</pubDate><category>The things we do</category></item><item><title>Pass my Voltarol Dear - there&#039;s a vulture in the garden!</title><link>http://iloapp.connectable.org.uk/blog/serialfailures?Home&amp;post=102</link><description><![CDATA[  The 'wonder' drug Sodium Diclofenac has been blamed for a catastrophic 97% decrease in certain vulture populations in India. The widespread (ab)use of the drug in domestic animals has lead to vultures ending up with kidney failure and worse. As someone who took these seriously nasty little pills for too damn long, one sentence in the BBC report speaks volumes, and I quote: 
 'Early signs that the raptors are affected   can be seen from the way they hang their heads down to their feet for long periods  .' 
 Yeah, I know how they feel! 
 So, Voltarol joins the ever-growing list of 'miracle' cures that turn out to have devastating effect on the other animals with which we share our planet. 
 Full story  here  
 JWBD4 
 ]]></description><pubDate>Thu, 06 Aug 2009 18:46:58 +0100</pubDate><category>Misery from misinformation</category></item><item><title>Through The Keyhole - of my Knees</title><link>http://iloapp.connectable.org.uk/blog/serialfailures?Home&amp;post=101</link><description><![CDATA[  The visit to the Consultant this morning confirmed suspicions about the damage to both knees. Keyhole surgery is to be used to both examine and attempt a repair to the medial meniscus in both knees - starting with the left, because of it's greater damage. 
 I'm assured that 'only as much cartilage will be removed as is necessary', and recovery 'will depend on actual damage found'. Also initial weight-bearing will need assistance from a stick. 
 Both Ops will involve attendances to a day clinic, but a general anaesthetic, so escort from Hospital is assumed. 
 I'm assuming that because of normal Hospital delays, a date for the 1st Op will be well after my Grand Tour in the last week of this month. 
 That's all for now, I'm going to have a cook-out to celebrate. As Mr. Craddock allegedly said:- May all your Doughnuts turn out like Fannies! 
 JWBD4 
 ]]></description><pubDate>Thu, 06 Aug 2009 11:30:40 +0100</pubDate><category>The things we do</category></item><item><title>Rant of the day - The Lies We are Told</title><link>http://iloapp.connectable.org.uk/blog/serialfailures?Home&amp;post=100</link><description><![CDATA[  1. Kneel before God every Sunday on a f**cking hard stool in Church and He will love you and take care of you. 
 2. Hard work never did anyone any harm, so when you've finished your homework, get that floor scrubbed. 
 3. Exercise is good for you, get out there and have a game of football. 
 4. Climbing stairs is good for you because it gives your body an all-over workout. 
 5. Get on your bike and do a 100 miles each weekend, to make up for all the sitting-around you do at school. 
 Yes, there are more, but I've said enough. The fact is sadly, that all of this shite was drummed into me as a schoolboy, and I'm now paying the price for nearly 12 years of abuse to my young skeleton as a result of these no-doubt well-meaning exhortations from parents. 
 But what the Hell? The sun's shining, get out there and have a game of football... 
 JWBD4 
   
 ]]></description><pubDate>Thu, 06 Aug 2009 11:13:30 +0100</pubDate><category>The things we do</category></item><item><title>Ankles, Photos and Tunnelling</title><link>http://iloapp.connectable.org.uk/blog/serialfailures?Home&amp;post=99</link><description><![CDATA[  Visit to Physiotherapy Dept. today. 
 The lovely Nicola was delighted to find that my right ankle muscles have improved, due to the exercises and extra support I've given both feet by disposing of flimsy slippers and wearing shoes full time with thicker socks. She agrees that full mobility is still compromised by the serious damage to both knees, but she intimated that she expects the consultant will offer surgery for both knees. We'll find out more on the 6th. 
 TripAdvisor have accepted and published three of the photos of Cullercoats I took recently, these are here:  http://www.tripadvisor.com/LocationPhotos-g1093664-Cullercoats_Tyne_and_Wear_England.html  
 I intend going tunnelling this weekend - through the original pedestrian/cyclists tunnel under the Tyne - a short hop from the much (newer) road tunnel.  
 I remember my old man taking us kids on our bikes back in the early fifties, and standing on what was at the time the longest escalator (made of wood!!) in the world, as at the time the lifts never worked. The journey started at home in the centre of Gateshead following the old coast road through Pelaw to Jarrow, under the Tyne, then back home via the north side of the river. At that time of course, it was a very different river scene than it is today, with industrial activity all the way up both banks. 
 Info on the tunnel is here:  http://www.bridgesonthetyne.co.uk/tyneped.html  
 JWBD4 
   
   
   
 ]]></description><pubDate>Sat, 01 Aug 2009 01:40:27 +0100</pubDate><category>The things we do</category></item></channel>
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