Her Welshness

The 10 most scariest buildings in Britain..

Fri, 31 Oct 2008 13:58:37 GMT

http://www.architectsjournal.co.uk/news/dailynews/2008/10/the_ten_scariest_buildings_in_britain.html;jsessionid=7EB1FC43E98955E59E4AE5509AC72945?tmcsTrackingInfo=$dVtssyR3BIF5NxfDKREttzkAUUGhIzb10P-LDiZTdFF9eU_SIK0f93RdVU2U09K0YhxsvvEXkxq$

(According to Architects Journal)

The asylum buildings look pretty atmospheric...

Just over...

Thu, 30 Oct 2008 16:29:06 GMT

..7,000 words written for the dissertation. I hand it in just over 12 weeks time, yippee! 3 months left...gahh!

Anyone..

Thu, 30 Oct 2008 13:15:55 GMT

...looking for a really cheap 3 piece suite? One of my friends is getting rid of it and hasn't got the space for his new place (£50). Either collect from Sevenoaks or he's got a van that can deliver it...

Not a big surprise then..

Wed, 29 Oct 2008 13:18:20 GMT

http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/tv_and_radio/article5037322.ece

Although I don't mind watching Brand's stand-up, as the street urchins would say 'he ain't all that'. Similarly with Woss, I think his show on Friday is getting boring and the format is very tired. Like Noel's House Party, perhaps this could be a good moment to review his TV show?

The wonderful Tina Fey

Mon, 13 Oct 2008 12:03:06 GMT

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/us_elections_2008/7665644.stm

"Every morning, when Alaskans wake up, one of the first things they do, is look outside to see if there are any Russians hanging around.

"And if there are, you gotta go up to them and ask: 'What are you doing here?' And if they can't give you a good reason, it's our responsibility to say, you know, 'Shoo! Get back over there!'"

* Try typing 'Katie Couric' into YouTube and see the real interviews, they are ace..

An ode to BBC iplayer

Thu, 09 Oct 2008 15:49:43 GMT

Oh, how I love you, let me count the ways...

As well as downloading and streaming it on my laptop, I think I have found another way of watching bbc programmes on the go and utilising my stupid Nokia N95 (its not stupid, its just too intelligent for its own good and therefore just drains the battery)see this: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/bbcinternet/2008/10/bbc_iplayer_goes_portable.html

If you like blogs, then I thoroughly recommend this one, I don't think its just BBC technology navel gazing but a really clear way of communicating to your audience the latest schemes that they have simmering away.

Peter the Painter

Fri, 26 Sep 2008 09:13:44 GMT

http://www.mailonsunday.co.uk/news/article-1061719/Honouring-anarchist-Fury-Siege-Sidney-Street-killer-gets-tower-block-plaque.html

I was listening to LBC this morning (yes I know, but it is entertaining) and this story came up so I went googling around for it.

I think rather than further glorification it would have been better for the council to have put up some boards explaining the history of it and how Churchill was shot at.

Memes (normally don't do them but here goes).

Wed, 24 Sep 2008 11:23:47 GMT

Sarah Palin married her high school boyfriend, Todd Palin, on August 29, 1988. The Palin family lives in Wasilla, about 45 miles (72 km) north of Anchorage. The Palins have two sons (Track, 19, and Trig, four months) and three daughters (Bristol, 17; Willow, 14; and Piper, 7) [ages as of August 2008]. Todd Palin has said Track's name came from the interest Sarah's parents had in the sport and the fact that he was born in the sport's season; Bristol was named after Bristol Bay in Alaska, where Todd grew up and where he does commercial fishing; Willow was named after Willow, Alaska; Piper got her name because it is uncommon and "a cool name"; Trig's name is Norse for "strength".

1)Your first-born will be named after your parents favorite sport:
Squash

2)Your second-born will be named after a nearby area that you're not from but you like the sound of part of the name, and maybe you have nostalgic memories of said place:
Bath

3)Your third-born will be named after another nearby place, for no reason other than you already have two children and don't have time to put much thought into another name:
Bellingham

4)Your fourth gets a "cool" name:
Kat

5)Your fifth gets something mythological, possibly straight out of Lord of the Rings:
Elbereth

This lady was just being interviewed on LBC

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 12:00:20 GMT

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/2619168/Mother-stands-up-to-car-vandals-in-her-pyjamas.html

OMFG - Olympics

Thu, 21 Aug 2008 13:02:55 GMT

The Americans (both male and female) have dropped the bloody baton in their heat races (4x100m).

Meanwhile, the British men are rubbish because our last guy only ran out of the starting box, earning us a disqualification. So much for defending our gold medal.

And apparently the 16 year old Chinese gymnast who won is 14, although her passport says that she is 16.

Come on Philips Idowu!

Sad news..

Wed, 20 Aug 2008 12:47:45 GMT

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/aug/20/digitalmedia?gusrc=rss&feed=media

He passed away this morning.

In other Olympics news...

Wed, 13 Aug 2008 13:54:27 GMT

..the Murray bros have been stuffed by a bunch of Canadians, and the British women swimmers who had been widely tipped to do well in the relays have failed to qualify. : (

Hahahahahahaha...

Fri, 25 Jul 2008 09:08:35 GMT

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/David-Camerons-Mountain-Bike_W0QQitemZ150274987872QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item150274987872

Got an e-mail from No 10 Downing Street..

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 08:54:43 GMT

Its says:

More than 500,000 people have signed this petition, and we are grateful to you all for taking the time to do so.

Your support is a clear sign of the strength of feeling across the United Kingdom that we must do more as a country to recognise the contribution of our Armed Forces, and in particular those who have died or been injured in the service of their country.

The Government recently published The National Recognition Study (new window), undertaken by Quentin Davies MP, which looks at the ways in which the Government, other institutions and the country as a whole can do more to recognise the service of our Armed Forces and Veterans.

One of its recommendations was the institution of a special British Armed Forces and Veterans Day, which would complement the events held around Armistice Day and Remembrance Sunday in November to commemorate those who have fallen in the service of our country.

These proposals are being given careful consideration by the Government, alongside other representations we have received to institute a new 'British Day', and as part of these deliberations, we will of course examine the case for introducing a new public holiday.

There is considerable debate amongst supporters of a new special public holiday to remember our Armed Forces and Veterans or our fallen servicemen about when in the year such a day should take place.

While there are a very large number of people - including signatories to this petition - who believe the Monday after Remembrance Sunday is the best option, there are others - including the Royal British Legion (new window) - who do not support that proposal, because they are concerned that a public holiday then would not be in keeping with the solemnity and special status of the Remembrance Sunday commemorations.

Quentin Davies MP has suggested holding the new day close to the current Veterans' Day at the end of June, while others have suggested holding the day to coincide with the anniversaries of the D-Day Landings in early June or of V.E. Day in early May.

We greatly appreciate your contribution to this ongoing debate, and whatever the final outcome, we hope that all signatories to this petition will see that we have very much taken on board their desire to see much greater national recognition for our Armed Forces.

*Oh well at least the government have taken our opinions on board - I want my extra holiday!

Questionnaire/Poll question

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 14:05:26 GMT

Perhaps this sounds very lazy, but for my Masters Diss (sorry to be boring again) I want an online questionnaire to e-mail to people. Can I develop this on live journal? I've seen that you can create a poll, but is it better to design a questionnaire using a different product (somewhere out there).

If anyone could help I would be very grateful!

K x

Senate House Library

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 14:02:23 GMT

Was anyone aware that Senate House Library may have to close in the future? I hope to God not, that was a great place to borrow books when I was an undergrad at UCL.

http://savesenatehouse.blogspot.com/

100 books thingymajig

Thu, 26 Jun 2008 15:56:59 GMT

Top 100 books (supposedly) meme thing - which I don't like doing often tbut this one is alright.

Have read:

1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4 The Harry Potter Series - JK Rowling
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
6 The Bible
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte Hate hate hate this book!
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12 Tess of the D'Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
34 Emma - Jane Austen
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis (the only one I read of his)
38 Captain Corelli's Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones's Diary - Helen Fielding
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession - AS Byatt Apart from that stupid poetry that she made up
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl

Intend to read:

8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveller's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
25 The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo

Have no intention of reading:

24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
69 Midnight's Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville
75 Ulysses - James Joyce
76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare

Not heard of:

78 Germinal - Emile Zola
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry

Total:
Read - 51
Intend to Read - 24
Have no intention of reading - 19
Not heard of - 6

Bone Marrow Petition

Tue, 24 Jun 2008 11:04:52 GMT

Have been meaning to post this for a while - you must have seen Adrian Sudbury in the news or articles, he is trying to raise more awareness of the importance of bone-marrow transplant in the UK and would like to highlight (before he passes on)this in schools across the UK.

http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/bone-marrow/

I heartily recommend his blog too http://baldyblog.freshblogs.co.uk/

Anglican Church in a mess?

Mon, 16 Jun 2008 11:30:14 GMT

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article4142107.ece

I despair at some of the comments that people have left underneath this article. To say that being gay is a sin and an abomination is ignorant and does not reflect the true tenet of faith that 'God loves all'.

Dissertation: The London Library

Wed, 11 Jun 2008 14:49:30 GMT

Hi folks

I have finally got to grips with my dissertation topic (with the proposal due in on Friday - eek).

I am focussing on the London Library (based in St James's Square) and what is so great about their services, what unique position are they in the world of Libraries and scholarship.

I have obviously got to interview members and get their opinion and was wondering whether you know anyone who subscribes to the London Library? So far I know of one.

If you do know anyone who is a member would you kindly find out if they are willing to be interviewed and are they happy to provide an e-mail address, if so that would be brilliant.

Dear friends, if you could pass this around LJ (and I know several of you who are well-connected) I would be hugely grateful!

Many many thanks/Diolch yn fawr

Katie

e-mail: katie.williams@lycos.com

Bullsh*t Bingo

Fri, 25 Apr 2008 10:31:39 GMT

I have started to gather a selection of words, a new generation of silly jargons which have replaced the likes of 'innovative' or 'bedding down' or somesuch other managerial crap-speak.

This is what I have come across recently:

'soft touch approach'
'optioneering'
'turnkey solution'
'forensicated'
'skill sets'
'information literacy'
'web 2.0'

This is not just from the Apprentice show you know, some of these terms come from Tfl, CABE, my Masters coursework and even the Metropolitan Police.

Anyway, can anyone think of other glorious examples. My Friday afternoon chocolate goes to the best ones. I am so generous to you guys.

The Apprentice Episode 3

Thu, 10 Apr 2008 15:42:04 GMT

Well you could say a lot:

I did really want the men to win as I don't particularly like the women in this series (although I may change my mind) but the men cocked it right up - the team leader Ian (loser - at least I can say the word and yes I can spell accent!)who attempted to pass the blame onto the Matt Lucas lookey-likey who was the head-chef Ian, and not the bluddy pricer. Also getting ragu sauces from the supermarket and ciabatta stick from the local deli was hardly going to be cost-cutting was it?

Raef is class, isn't he? God I love his hair. I adore Simon - but hes just opted for an Alexa and asked Suralun to lead the task next week and then he will implode.

The girls on the other hand were quite shrewd - lets get things for free, spend very little on total cost of food. Yes Sara and Claire did a bit of sniping, but Claire I think is quite a shrewd little devil and she doesn't look like she is going to lose it, as opposed to that wet Lucinda (different beret this week) or that hag Jenny Celeriac.

Anyway, here is the fabulous Guardian Organ Grinder, bow down:

http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/organgrinder/2008/04/the_apprentice_series_four_epi_2.html

Apprentice Episode 2

Thu, 03 Apr 2008 10:02:39 GMT

Loving it, loving it, loving it!

The fabulous Grace Dent has gone off to write a book, so no episode write-ups from her, but not to worry as there is someone equally as talented to review it:

http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/organgrinder/2008/04/the_apprentice_series_four_epi_1.html

The girls were moronic (£4.99 per item) - the men cracked on (apart from Raef and his latte friends) and deserved that win. Jenny is scary (not just her chin)and Lucinda is wet. Lindi is thick. Not impressed with the girls at all. Shazia should not have been fired.

What do people think?

Oh and..

Mon, 31 Mar 2008 11:24:37 GMT

..gently_snoozing and I watched Beowulf last night. I quite enjoyed it! Good story isn't it?

Currently watching..

Sat, 29 Mar 2008 19:37:22 GMT

..'I'd do anything'on BBC 2 and the two welsh lasses (one from my hometown)on the show are rubbish, quite frankly. I know I'm harsh but Connie Fisher they ain't. And there is so much crying! Stop it!