Sunday, December 31, 2006

Orwell

A passage from George Orwell's , 'A Hanging'

It was about forty yards to the gallows. I watched the bare brown back of the prisoner marching in front of me. He walked clumsily with his bound arms, but quite steadily, with that bobbing gait of the Indian who never straightens his knees. At each step his muscles slid neatly into place, the lock of hair on his scalp danced up and down, his feet printed themselves on the wet gravel. And once, in spite of the men who gripped him by each shoulder, he stepped slightly aside to avoid a puddle on the path.

It is curious, but till that moment I had never realized what it means to destroy a healthy, conscious man. When I saw the prisoner step aside to avoid the puddle, I saw the mystery, the unspeakable wrongness, of cutting a life short when it is in full tide. This man was not dying, he was alive just as we were alive. All the organs of his body were working — bowels digesting food, skin renewing itself, nails growing, tissues forming — all toiling away in solemn foolery. His nails would still be growing when he stood on the drop, when he was falling through the air with a tenth of a second to live. His eyes saw the yellow gravel and the grey walls, and his brain still remembered, foresaw, reasoned — reasoned even about puddles. He and we were a party of men walking together, seeing, hearing, feeling, understanding the same world; and in two minutes, with a sudden snap, one of us would be gone — one mind less, one world less.

Wednesday, December 27, 2006

Cola

I gain great pleasure from pointing out that the average soft drink has as many calories as a beer, and in fact is even more fattening (something to do with the thermal calorific content or whatever).

As a rough gauge, I would like you to let me know how many cans you drink in an average week.

Diluted coke anyone?

Monday, December 25, 2006

Xmas

I laughed out when I saw this photo. In the spirit of Xmas (dun even get me started about how christmas turned into xmas), I present to you a picture of the ex-Nazi, Emperor Palpatine.

I have a sneaky suspicion that the editor who approved that photo is going to get a pretty small bonus this year.

Puzzle

If anyone needs help with this, it is going to cost you a beer.

ATM

btw the N in PIN stands for number so, PIN is sufficient, PIN number is redundant.

Yes I am grumpy today.

Sunday, December 17, 2006

Less/More

Ten Ways to Good Health

  • Less Alcohol, More Tea
  • Less Meat, More Vegetables
  • Less Salt, More Vinegar
  • Less Sugar, More Fruit
  • Less Eating, More Chewing
  • Less Words, More Action
  • Less Greed, More Giving
  • Less Worry, More Sleep
  • Less Driving, More Walking
  • Less Anger, More Laughter

Thursday, December 14, 2006

Otters

I think they are really cute animals. Like little swimming cats, except for the giant otters of the Amazon which can grow to 6 feet in length. I love how they dive, pick up shellfish and rocks at the same time, float on their backs and crack the buggers open like dinner at Fatty Crab (tm).

Oh and after what could have been a potentially embarrassing mistake, I can now also tell the difference between an otter and a beaver.

Monday, December 11, 2006

33

I am sure this is going to help someone in Scrabble sometime