You couldn't make it up #67889

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Thomas the Tank Engine attacked for 'conservative political ideology'
http://www.augustana.ualberta.ca/images/group/113/shauna_wilton.jpgChildren's favourite Thomas the Tank Engine has been attacked by a Canadian academic for its "conservative political ideology" and failure to adequately represent women.

The show's right-wing politics shows the colourful steam engines punished if they show initiative or oppose change, the researcher found. She also highlighted the class divide which sees the downtrodden workers in the form of Thomas and his friends at the bottom of the social ladder and the wealthy Fat Controller, Sir Topham Hatt, at the top.

The criticism comes from one Shauna Wilton, a professor of political sciences at the University of Alberta (above), aka, The Fat Controller.
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Sound familiar?

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US refuses to allow UN inspectors to investigate its WMDs
Bioweapons Sound familiar? US refuses to allow UN inspectors to investigate its WMDs.

The United States said Wednesday that it remained opposed to international inspections of biological weapon sites, even though it stressed its commitment to a UN treaty covering such arms and invaded Iraq in part over its alleged stalling of -- UN weapons inspectors.

See you in 2010, maybe.**

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UPDATE: Ignore my comments below about blogging. Since giving up Twatting I've rediscovered the joys of my long neglected blog and I shall post here as and when I feel like it. The Christmas wishes stil apply, of course.



I'm off until the New Year. 

I've stopped all Tweeting completely now, for good. Had a good run but it became tedious.  You know when you find a nice little pub but within six months it fills up with shitheads? A nice civilised restaurant that gets reviewed and then fills up with noisy hooray henrys People say, never mind, don't let them spoil things, sit in the corner with your friends and ignore it all. No, you need to find a different watering-hole and if you can't you need to stay at home with a nice bottle of wine and a takeaway!  When (if) I get back I'll revamp this blog and just do my own personal thing. I'm tired of Twitter, blogging, social media blah, blah. It mostly bores me now and takes up far too much time for no great reward. There also seem to be a great many more dickheads around than there used to be and I'm utterly fed up with them. I've got tons of stuff to do and I'd do more of it without the distraction of Twitter and the rest. I also think these things have run their course. Something else will replace them and when it does I've no doubt I'll investigate and give it a try. But for me, the shark has been well and truly jumped.

Truth is, nobody gives a shit. Mention Nadine Dorries, Paul Staines or Iain Dale to most people and they wouldn't have a clue what you were on about. None of this stuff matters in the end. 99% of people on the web would rather read about the women Tiger Woods has fucked or about the death of a member of a poxy boy-band. It's the law of diminishing returns and for me they've diminished to almost nothing.

I'm glad that young people seem to be showing absolutely no interest in blogging or tweeting. It means there is hope yet. 

Have a lovely Christmas and a happy, prosperous and productive 2010. TTFN! :-))

UPDATE: I've completed the design revamp already. Just used an old header, tweaked it and matched the font colours accordingly. Then changed the font and some font sizes and Bob's your uncle! Piece of piss this web design lark! :-))

UPDATE 2: ** Make that - definitely! :-))

Amanda Knox is a psycopath?

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After reading this piece of drivel I decided to send the writer an email asking her to clarify a few things.

Dear Dr. Covington,

I am about to comment on your piece about Amanda Knox, in First Post, but I would like to confirm a few details before doing so.

For which subject was your BA awarded? Do you hold a psychology degree? Are you a qualified clinical psychologist? Do you have any forensic psychology qualifications? Did you, or any agent on your behalf, attend any part of the trial of Amanda Knox in Italy? How many murder trials have you attended? How should a murder suspect behave during a long trial? Do innocent people behave differently from guilty ones? In what way? If so, could you point me to any respected, peer-reviewed research results to back this up?

You say in the piece that 'during the next few days, Knox was seen to repeatedly press her hands to her temples, a gesture interpreted as trying to get rid of what was in her mind'. Interpreted by whom? Do you think such an interpretation has the slightest validity? If so, could you again back this up with independent scientific data?

Are you seriously comparing Knox's demeanour to Adolf Eichmann? You are clearly too young to have attended Eichmann's trial but perhaps you have been privy to film footage of him at his trial beyond the very short clips which the rest of us have seen? In any case, what is the evidence that Eichmann was a psychopath? Hannah Arendt, who had the advantage of attending the trial in person and writing a classic work about it, certainly didn't think so. Several fully medically qualified psychiatrists who examined Eichmann prior to his trial agreed with her.  I have other questions but this will do to be going on with.

I look forward to your response.

Yours sincerely,

Mike Power

I'll be interested in the response, if any.  Her doctorate was in sociology.


Last ever PaperRound :(

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Make the most of it, people. This is the last Specific weekend)PaperRound I'll be posting. There will be rolling links to news stories in the sidebar again, like there used to be, added as and when I feel like it. But I wont be getting up early on Saturdays and Sundays to find twenty interesting news items to link to! I'm making changes to my online presence (as it is pretentiously referred to) which includes closing down my "MrPower" Twitter account and revamping this blog as a more personal webspace. In the meantime I'm taking a nice break until the new year. I've enjoyed doing the PaperRound over the years and, indeed, I've enjoyed both blogging and Tweeting but things change and both activities are far less rewarding than they used to be. Like many bloggers I know, I hardly read blogs anymore and rarely post anything here beyond these links to news stories. Blogging used to be fun and held out lots of promises very few of which have beeen realised. Twitter is going the same way. Indeed the entire web is going the same way. Suddenly, real life with real people in the flesh, real discussion, debate and argument seems very attractive again. Anyway, enjoy:

Chattering ourselves to death

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Truthdig -  Addicted to Nonsense
Celebrity worship has banished the real from public discourse. And the adulation of celebrity is pervasive. The frenzy around political messiahs, or the devotion of millions of viewers to Oprah, is all part of the yearning to see ourselves in those we worship. We seek to be like them. We seek to make them like us. If Jesus and “The Purpose Driven Life” won’t make us a celebrity, then Tony Robbins or positive psychologists or reality television will. We are waiting for our cue to walk onstage and be admired and envied, to become known and celebrated. Nothing else in life counts.