Desperate women

I caught a programme called "Desperate women" on TV on Saturday night. It was presented by Janet Street Porter who tried to find out why so many women feel dissatified with their lives. It was pretty interesting and I agreed with most of what she said - that the media portayed an image of women that made most ordinary people feel unhappy. She targeted cosmetic surgery and TV's programmes such as Ten years younger.

But it struck me that JSP was an odd choice of presenter - sporting a hair style that would be better suited on a 16 year-old - and I couldn't help but think that she was simply annoyed that she didn't have the guts to go under the surgeon's knife herself.

At least she didn't blame it all on men ("What do men and women have in common? They both hate women."). She made a point of criticising female journalists whose main aim appeared to be spotting cellulite on celebrities. But, oddly, there was no criticism of the women who chose to buy the mindless magazines or read the poisenous newspapers or watch the celebrity-obsessed TV programmes - even the women who chose to undergo surgery were presented as victims. The Department of Health isn't so shy. It advises people considering cosmetic surgery to see a psychologist.

Life in the universe

Interesting lecture from Stephen Hawking on evolution and life in the universe.

I was a little surprised that he asks why we don't see lots of "space tourists" if there is intelligent life in the universe. Any civilisation that can travel through space would have to be very advanced - and any advanced civilisation would have well developed rules about engaging with primitive species (us). So the absence of aliens is not a problem. I think that Carl Sagan got it right - if there is intelligent life in the universe there will be age-old protocols for communicating with new worlds.

USB Turntable with USB Record: Electronics

Great 404 Error

Warning - Sound required but don't play in front of children.

Do you think Naka likes the keeper's left-hand post?

Is he one dimensional;-)

Sven caught with his pants down again

What is the Internet for?

Strachan's rollercoaster continues

At 2-0 today I said that the game was not over. At 2-2 I was confident that
we would score again. That's what it's like being a Celtic supporter these
days. We have a kamikaze defence, a schizophrenic midfield and a decent
attack. Never a dull moment. Every time we or the the opposition attack, a
goal is on the cards.

Nakamura typifies the team. Lightweight, unpredictable, at times sublime,
and at times infuriating. It's the antithesis to last season when MON
fashioned a team that was deadly predictable - and deadly boring.

Strachan needs to reign in some of the creativity. I don't want to go back
to MON's style of play - but I want some of the uncertainty removed. We
could play Renfrew Juniors next weekend and lose. He needs to find a little
consistency. And if that means losing some flair then so be it.

I supported Strachan's appointment but unless he sorts out some of these
problems now he might not be the man for the job. If we're heading in the
right direction, we're going in a pretty round-about way.

Real or fake?

Can you tell the real thing from a fake [NSFW]? I scored 80%.