Thursday, 18 February 2016
Wednesday, 17 February 2016
Cuts
So some of the council cuts in the Western Isles have been reversed in the face of popular
(sic) opposition. Isn't it more like the SNP group on the council (see http://www.hebrides-news.com/snp-oppose-council-cuts-12216.…)
prompted this volte-face. Actually quite disingenuous, bearing in mind
that it is SNP policy (Scottish Government) to starve local authorities
of funding through the council tax freeze (popular measure, I'm sure)
and blaming Westminster for depriving Scotland of funding, of which
the SNP administration do not use about 400 million a year and
relinquish back to the UK Treasury. Sorry, this is an intensely
party-political post, but don't expect me to have anything good to say
about any of the opposition parties either. Labour has become a pallid
reflection of itself, and is heading for annihilation at the Scottish
Parliament vote in May; and the Tories I like even less. Politics. No
thanks.
Tuesday, 16 February 2016
Fifteen years on-line
This month, it will be 15 years ago since I set my first steps on the
World Wide Web. My Hotmail account records my first email on 1 February
2000. I still have that account, and it is active. Also active is
my pharmolo account with AOL; any email that comes into that inbox is
automatically redirected to my adb422006 account with Gmail. An email
account with Yahoo is only used because of its link to my Flickr photo
accounts. I set it up whilst staying in a place which blocked the AOL
website.
I joined AOL for its dial-up ISP service in April 2004, and brought me the first experiences of social networking on-line. The News Debate Chat was a rough and ready affair, invaded at times by the less appetising elements in British society. Following my relocation to Scotland in the summer of 2004, this fell by the wayside for a while, as I changed to blogging.
AOL Journals allowed me to record my travels in the north of Scotland in the summer and autumn of 2004. A year later, the much maligned VIVI awards introduced me to the circle of journalers; the untimely death of Pam (his1desire) at Easter 2006 turned me into a full member of Jland.
Jland ceased to exist in October 2008, after AOL decided to scuttle its journals division. A fair few of us migrated to Blogger, but many others abandoned the community.
My fifteen years on-line has seen a marked change in my personal circumstances, much of which I have decided not to discuss on here. Reading back through the emails from 2000 to 2015, I can see that quite clearly. The biggest shock, which I did share, was the death of my mother, now nearly 7 years ago. I tend to operate on a "live by the day" basis, which means I do not make a forecast for the next few years.
The Internet has proved an invaluable source of information to me, and a way of meeting new people, new friends. The Internet has also caused me a fair bit of distress, both directly and indirectly. Not all my friends understand the concept of social networking involving people you have not met, and are unlikely to ever meet. The Internet has an extremely unpleasant dark side to it, the least manifestations of which are the spam emails. However, it is here, and here to stay.
I joined AOL for its dial-up ISP service in April 2004, and brought me the first experiences of social networking on-line. The News Debate Chat was a rough and ready affair, invaded at times by the less appetising elements in British society. Following my relocation to Scotland in the summer of 2004, this fell by the wayside for a while, as I changed to blogging.
AOL Journals allowed me to record my travels in the north of Scotland in the summer and autumn of 2004. A year later, the much maligned VIVI awards introduced me to the circle of journalers; the untimely death of Pam (his1desire) at Easter 2006 turned me into a full member of Jland.
Jland ceased to exist in October 2008, after AOL decided to scuttle its journals division. A fair few of us migrated to Blogger, but many others abandoned the community.
My fifteen years on-line has seen a marked change in my personal circumstances, much of which I have decided not to discuss on here. Reading back through the emails from 2000 to 2015, I can see that quite clearly. The biggest shock, which I did share, was the death of my mother, now nearly 7 years ago. I tend to operate on a "live by the day" basis, which means I do not make a forecast for the next few years.
The Internet has proved an invaluable source of information to me, and a way of meeting new people, new friends. The Internet has also caused me a fair bit of distress, both directly and indirectly. Not all my friends understand the concept of social networking involving people you have not met, and are unlikely to ever meet. The Internet has an extremely unpleasant dark side to it, the least manifestations of which are the spam emails. However, it is here, and here to stay.
Thursday, 4 February 2016
More Syria
One of the reasons I got so thoroughly fed up with the news tonight was that image of self-congratulatory politicians, only capable of working their tongues, uttering meaningless words on a catastrophic situation that is Syria.
Russia's president Putin accuses the Turks of preparing for a ground invasion - read, he wants a bust-up with the Turks; Putin can safely be accused of exacerbating that situation by propping up a vile regime, which has sent its entire populace to flight. Why? 'Coz Mr Assad is best described using an expletive, and Mr Putin finds that Mr Assad is his sole remaining ally in the Middle East. By continuing the civil war, more people will flock into Turkey, i.e. Europe, and the EU stands in grave danger of political paralysis and collapse. And that's what Mr Putin would REALLY like. But the Turks have their nefarious part to play as well, facilitating the transit of those hapless refugees to Greece, a country they historically dislike. Cameron, Tusk, Juncker - shut your faces and stop treating the symptoms. Address the root cause.
Russia's president Putin accuses the Turks of preparing for a ground invasion - read, he wants a bust-up with the Turks; Putin can safely be accused of exacerbating that situation by propping up a vile regime, which has sent its entire populace to flight. Why? 'Coz Mr Assad is best described using an expletive, and Mr Putin finds that Mr Assad is his sole remaining ally in the Middle East. By continuing the civil war, more people will flock into Turkey, i.e. Europe, and the EU stands in grave danger of political paralysis and collapse. And that's what Mr Putin would REALLY like. But the Turks have their nefarious part to play as well, facilitating the transit of those hapless refugees to Greece, a country they historically dislike. Cameron, Tusk, Juncker - shut your faces and stop treating the symptoms. Address the root cause.
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