Miscellaneous

First of all, here’s another US vs. UK word thingie:

A daddy longlegs is not a spider here, it’s what we call a mosquito hawk or nighthawk – one of those bugs with the long, dangly legs that eats mosquitos in the States. They have neither dadddy longlegs spiders here, nor mosquitos, as far as I can tell, although they DO have mosquito hawks.

I know what they’re called because one brushed my head last night when I was on the computer, and I let out a scream that could have woken the dead, if any were lying piled in the crawlspace behind the Troll Door. Probably DID wake the dead, actually, because that’s who are most probably lying in wait for us to finally explore the tiny attic where we haven’t bothered to venture yet.

Anyway, Phil caught him and tried to release him outside, but the little bastard kept showing up back in the house…must not have wanted to go out in the rain.

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is, on a blog called the Survival of New Orleans, blogging from New Orleans. Read his/her blog for a very scary viewpoint on the disaster, and a lot of things they’re not showing in the news.

“The situation for the NOPD is critical. This is firsthand information I have from an NOPD officer we’re giving shelter to. Their command and control infrastructure is shot. They have limited to no communication whatsoever. He didn’t even know the city was under martial law until we told him! His precinct (5th Precinct) is under water! UNDER WATER — every vehicle under water. They had to commander moving trucks like Ryder and UHaul to get around. The coroner’s office is shut down so bodies are being covered in leaves at best or left where they lie at worst.”

Best wishes to all there. The news is horrifying.

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I don’t know if they have the same type of reality shows in the States, but there are tons of shows on here at the moment that involve people letting the cameras in to display just how messed up their lives are.

There is a show called “How Clean Is Your House?” which involves a different house every week: absolutely filthy, drifts of animal hair, science labs instead of kitchens, bathrooms and cooking areas where every surface is literally crawling with thick coats of green and black goo. Why on earth would you want to go on this show? Everyone you know, everyone you might meet in the future, every possible love interest, employer, etc., will see how you live. I just don’t get it.

And then there are the “bad kid” shows…personally, if I had been so misadvised as to have a bunch of children even though I was totally and completely incapable of installing even the slightest shred of manners or normal human social interaction into them, I wouldn’t want the whole world to see it. Can you imagine a small child giving his mother a fat lip? Cursing her like a sailor? Breaking livingroom furniture up like a lager lout on a rampage, at the age of four? The mind boggles.

And for a final comment on reality TV, who could say it better than my favourite Barry Beelzebub: “Why would you rise at the crack of dawn, slap on the make up and the Sunday suit, queue all day in some soulless hotel lobby, only to be cut off before you’ve got four bars into I Will Survive and then be gratuitously insulted by some middle-aged poseurs for the delectation on the watching millions? Why?”

Indeed. :)

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Oh, and a final suggestion from someone who admittedly knows absolutely nothing about politics here: forget Ken Clarke, the Conservatives should choose Boris Johnson instead. Yes, it would probably be a disaster in any real sense, but at least he would be fun. Yaay for politicians with charisma, both a backbone AND a sense of humour, and gorgeous floppy golden hair to constantly mess with on camera. Boris rocks. :P