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Younger readers may not know about an American sixties TV show which featured a boy and his dolphin, Flipper.
Dolphins are quite intelligent, sleek creatures who may have a language of squeaks and screeches, pick on porpoises and have a mouth shaped in a perpetual grin.
They don't live in houses of course, but seem to go back and forth between rich fishing grounds, switching between them periodically...

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One for my brother.

Hootsmon Crimethink

Sorry to all the folks who read 1984 in the fog of schoolroom boredom.
Fuck, Aldous Huxley wrote about drugs, and sixties popstars were all over him.
All poor Eric got was some biker trying to find his Rudge on Jura.

Oh no, I've said a naughty word; will I have a job this time next week?

Blogger begone

Don't worry folks, I haven't been silenced by the MSM mafia, just the usual excuse of "pressure of work" and excessive drinking.

The next edition of the Hootsmon should be out soon...unless of course I am nobbled by the MSM mafia...

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"The messy fudge of the commission's proposals and their arbitrary nature are subject to a number of significant flaws which make them demonstrably inferior to the fiscal levers available to an independent country."

Forgive me for for rehashing an old post, the above statement from the SNP made me do it.

And the voices.

John Bull's condiment of choice, perfect for the Union of British bullshit and Scots bread; slather it on thick, but keep oil out of the recipe.

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I have just found out that Willie Bain provides respite care for one of his parents. Arrgh.

Sorry Willie, an unreserved apology.

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Thanks to the Group Captain for the idea. Labour accused that is, not dribbling.

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Takka takka

Brown to walk the walk

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So the Orange Lodge is going to mobilise it's members to support Labour...

Long pause for a good chortle.

With friends like them...

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A hung Parliament

Had it all planned about what I was going to write about today, but have just come back from a huge Sunday roast and an afternoon walk with the grandchildren; I'm stuffed and mellowed out.
We took the wee ones to a play park I played in when I was their age; as I walked down the street the memories flooded back.
My Grandmothers house with it's wee stane dyke.Wee on one side that is, a five foot drop on the other.
One Hogmanay first footing, the booze in my rucksack, I sat on that wall to finish a can throwing my head back to glug it down, then found myself like an upended turtle in her rose bushes...

King Alexander IV?

What would us cybernats do without Geordie? He makes our life so much easier.

I remember why I vote SNP. Again.

I've just been on the English blogs finding out what they think of The Great Debate.

No suprise that the SNP is in the same category as UKIP and the BNP.

Oh God, what I'd give for a really big hammer and chisel.

TV or not TV

Brown versus Cameron. A quite straightforward televised debate by the leaders of two of the major parties would be excellent, high ratings, viewing; throw a bone to Clegg as he may get a lot of disenchanted Labour voters and that's it sorted.

If you happen to be a London based television producer who believes Britain means England that is.

But of course in Scotland Cameron isn't even a blip on the radar, and even with the "I'll vote for a monkey in a red rosette cause ma faither did" syndrome, Labour support is nowhere near the levels it once was.

Some of the subject matter they would be debating about would be irrelevant to Scotland, health, education and the law, all different.

On the subjects of Foreign Policy and Defence, how many people would be swayed by the SNP's policy of nuclear disarmament, and just maybe bringing our troops home?

Some people are arguing that because it will be a debate between the leaders of the Westminster parties, the smaller ones have no chance of governing the UK; so they should be excluded, ignoring the fact that if the SNP get enough MPs, there will be no UK to govern.

Sun Shuns Manse Son

So the weathervane of the dead tree press has shifted again.Will they be able to claim that they won the next election for the Tories, or has the influence that they had in the eighties and nineties been eroded by more sophisticated media?
Certainly the younger generations rely more on Facebook and Google for news than any slanted newspaper.
In Scotland the SNP managed to form a government in the teeth of a hostile press; yet in the comments section of the online Scotsman and Herald there were many rebuttals of those papers editorial stances.Did they make a difference?
So, what now for the Scottish Sun? A cleft stick indeed.Does the SNP need or even want it's support? If they go with the Tories they will lose readers to the Record, support Labour and they will probably have to write a whole different edition to the English one.

Mind you that probably wouldn't take too long...

ID Cards R'nt Us.

A recent couple of posts on Libertarianism has made me think more about it than I have done before.

I even did the wee test. The blue cross is official SNP policies, red is me.Just like when that picture was taken...

It all comes down to laws. Lots of them. Isn't it what Governments do?Make laws and more laws.Won't there be a point where no more laws can be made?

So the Libertarians have a point; to reduce laws to the minimum and only for life threatening crime.But where do you draw the line?

Would the worlds envisioned by Heinlein be utopias or dystopias?Strapping on a gunbelt to go shopping has a certain appeal, but would you like your daughter to do so?

Anyhow I strongly disagree with ID cards, although would like one like the one pictured.

So long as it wasn't compulsory.

Smeato to banjo Glasgow

Been having Manflu symptoms since Monday, not being able to do much except sneeze over the keyboard and pitifully plea for another cup of tea.Dog walking has been farmed out to just about everybody, but still, four pairs of eyes watch my every move...Am going to bite the bullet and take them out after finishing this.

Airships, a new dawn?

I've always loved airships ever since I read H G Wells' "The War in the Air" in the early seventies.Then along came Michael Moorcock's similarly titled "The Warlord of the Air" and I was truly hooked on these remarkable machines.

In the real world of course, using hydrogen for lift proved too dangerous(Oh the humanity!)and for years the only airships flying were the helium filled Goodyear blimps and eccentric inventors creations.

Now a new structural materiel has been designed, light and tough which is capable of powering electric fans for propulsion, using the sun during the day and fuel cells at night.

Of course it's the American military which has funded the research and they are concentrating on battlefield surveillence as it is much cheaper than putting up all those high maintainance AWACS.

http://www.defensenews.com/story.php?i=4083026

The civilian aspects of it are immense; leisurely travel, perhaps even door to door? Although I doubt the Government would like that, across borders.

Goods in containers could be airshipped straight from the factory right to the customer, bypassing all the current chokepoints.

Smaller versions could support mobile phone masts, giving far better, safer, coverage.

So, maybe along with Bert Smallways and Oswald Bastable I may get a ride on an airship yet...

Escape from Glasgow NE

It's quiet...too quiet.
They have gone back to prepare for the move, and one half of me is relishing the peace; but the other...

Pricks fail to execute

Another quick post as I look at the devastation that is my front room, but all is not bad; the dogs are loving all the extra food that drops like manna from heaven from the wee ones chair.
I'm also finding "Big cook, Little cook" strangely mesmerising...