Why I Don't Like Facebook Part Two

I've already posted about Facebook but that was way back in November, so this is just an update to say that nothing in fact needs to be updated.

I still dislike it, despite having a profile. I don't care if someone regretted eating that whole bag of revels, wishes the snow would melt or is returning from somewhere (and 'friends' who are supposedly employed in full time jobs are often the worst offenders). It's just a devourer of time. Maybe it's just me - maybe I'm too antisocial (I don't have time for twitter or even instant messaging, barring one person of course, either) but I think you'd have a hard  time trying to disprove the time wasting aspect.

Seth Godin will back me up on this - think you know better than he does? In fact he's not having a go at Facebook or social websites per se, just their abuse. He recognises the technology does have its uses, well, more than that, it's a central plank of his approach and seemingly noone below the age of about 90 can really afford to ignore it. I suppose once something's available to the masses it runs the risk of getting compromised and degraded - look how people drive cars compared with (I presume) the requisite etiquette or mandatory detailed knowledge of how a car actually works that was the case in the early days of motoring, yet they have made our lives incomparably easier (again, I presume).

So, maybe I'm wrong. But I still don't like Facebook. And I don't even want to hazard what the next social networking site round the corner is....

Business How Usually

The PMC is back open following almost a week in London, and it's good to be back in the cold.

Spotted a certain media star on the same flight (so even they have to fly sleazyjet!) which amused us; they look a lot better on the TV...

Forthcoming contributions to look backward to including offerings from Walt Gleeson, the Rabbi and a short awaited new installment of Charlie Moraine's 'book', so watch this space.

Londo Zoo Revisited

Seth posted a while ago about how we have to accept that some things just won't recur. The media have for as long as I remember been searching for the next Beatles, applying this tagline in even the most pitiful of cases (Kajagoogoo anyone?) when of course, there won't ever be anything like the Beatles again. Just as on a personal level, one's schooldays will never be recaptured (there is a huge variation as to whether this is a good thing or not of course) nor will the initial rush of enthusiasm for a new hobby (without starting another and the recently-divorced ponce de leon has been mocked sufficiently by more worthy pens than that of the PMC..

..so it was in this spirit that PMC man in London (this week) went to the Zoo for the first time in over quarter of a century. With that in mind, it was actually quite good. Not so huge as the writer's eight year old memory had retained, and it was perfectly doable in half a day; some of the animals didn't cooperate of course but we've learnt to accept that too, and watching the pecking order within a group of hyenas as the keepers threw half a mutilated calf into their enclosure made an impact.

I'm not too keen on the 'hey, animals are really funky, check out these [insert piss poor alliteration here] spiders/bugs etc; surely the animals themselves are the draw, they certainly used to be in my day (same applies to the same patronising and rather silly treatment that seems to be applied to history nowadays) and the entry price is, well, London priced;  but you know what you're getting, and there's something timeless about the appeal of viewing other species than our own..for a bit anyway.

On This Day 344 Years Ago

21st March 1666...

Sir Robert Long told us of the plenty of partridges in France, where he says the King of France and his company killed with their guns, in the plain de Versailles, 300 and odd partridges at one bout. With Sir W. Warren, who tells me that at the Committee of the Lords for the prizes to-day, there passed very high words between my Lord Ashly and Sir W. Coventry, about our business of the prize ships. And that my Lord Ashly did snuff and talk as high as him, as he used to do to any ordinary man. And that Sir W. Coventry did take it very quietly, but yet for all did speak his mind soberly and with reason, and went away, saying that he had done his duty therein.

On Seeing Alice in Wonderland in Estonian...

I thought it worked rather well, 'Kallis Alice' and all; well, Tolkien used the related Finnish language as a basis for either the Noldorin or Sindarin tongue, I don't remember which and the books are just slightly out of arm's reach on the PMC bookshelf, so why shouldn't Estonian have an other-worldly quality all of its own, huh?
Film itself was a bit too Tim Burtoney for my liking, since he made it, I guess that wasn't unexpected.

Thought For the Day No. 10 - With the Rabbi Anders Weiss

.religious leader, psychologist, spiritual guru and arbiter of good taste..

 In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.

George Orwell

Is This All Politics Really Is?

I had an interesting dream last night. I found myself assisting the current Mayor of Tallinn in a rather puerile ridiculing of some of his political opponents. These antics took the form of simply scrawling moustaches, glasses, sideburns etc on photos of the aforementioned, but he didn't have a pen or his pen ran out. My role simply involved finding a new pen with which to continue this visual character assassination, and all I could find was this crappy old broken black biro (I actually do possess one, I broke it yesterday by stepping on it) which I was worried about as not being something sufficient to present to such a pezzonovante. It didn't seem to matter however and after scribbling a bit to get the ink flowing he continued to work on making a picture of the current Prime Minister look like Groucho Marx.
Not very significant, maybe even just childish, but it occured to me, that much of modern politics is little more than this. The UK political landscape in particular, is to my mind simply and endless "you are"..."no, you are".."no, you are" conversation of the type that most of us have left long behind, and perhaps they might just as well resort to defacing pictures, sticking notes saying "kick me" on each others backs or forming a circle and chanting "new kid, new kid" at any neophytes on the political scene. It would save money anyway.

Walt Gleeson's Ovular Analysis for the Day

Canfield, Proctor, Nightingale, Zagler, Hill, Robbins, Tracy, Aaron... step aside please..there's a new success guru in town! Walt Gleeson is a highly successful, internationally renowned author of motivational books and CDs and other products. With a career spanning over half a decade, he has enthralled readers all over the world, from Alaska to Florida and from Hawaii to Rhode Island, with such titles as You Can Do It!, You Can Do It! Too, Literally Make Your House Work For You and Become a Billionaire Whilst On The Toilet, 

Hi, this is Walt...you know, and old British commercial advised people to 'go to work on an egg', a very clever play on words worthy of Shakespeare, Joyce or even Richard Stillgoe, and it had me thinking about eggs...stay with this for a minute because it's brilliant, or so my PA told me when I was thinking it up last night in the hotel bar. After all, we all eat eggs, don't we? There's noone in the world who doesn't- you'd die if you didn't eat eggs.

Think of all the ways you can cook an egg; you can boil it, fry it, poach it, scramble it; you can put it into an omeletter or even bake it. but has it ever occured to you that they way you cook an egg shows exactly what type of person you are, wholly accurately and reliably with no hyperbole, speculation or cod science thrown in? No, me neither.

For example, people who favour boiled eggs are usually dependable, cautious sturdy types but maybe a little unimaginative, while those who like fried eggs tend to be flashier, more of a risk taker. If you like poached eggs that definitely means you are turgid and unglamorous, rather than trying to be a bit healthier. Those who like to scramble their eggs are a bit too reckless, and making an omelette is just too complicated and involved. There is a more sophisticated variant, namely baked eggs. This is really for the international club sandwich set. Finally, you can also eat eggs raw, although this is only for real plebs.

If I were to analyse myself, I'd say I'd have to be whatever the best one is, probably a combination of fried, baked with a bit of boiled thrown in on the side. I suggest you do the same, and if it's not exactly the same as mine, I suggest you change your habits and follow my directive, or you're going to die, freezing in poverty in the dark.

Have a great day! - Walt