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So much for democracy...

According to the blurb that goes with this petition, 99% of people asked, said NO to the change of the trespass law that would allow fracking companies to extract shale gas from the rocks beneath their houses.  I can easily believe this, since in the main, only those violently opposed or in favour would bother to respond in the first place. It seems to me, therefore, that what's required is to get word out to a much wider audience, and let people make informed decisions for themselves.

Here's the petition:
http://action.sumofus.org/a/forced-fracking/?akid=7591.1908066.2n2q-Z&rd=1&sub=fwd&t=1

And here's a more balanced Wikipedia entry on what fracking actually is.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydraulic_fracturing

I live in coal mining territory. All the deep mines in the Rhondda are now long gone, but there are plenty of people here who either worked underground or played as children amongst the remnants of already closed mines. Even allowing for nostalgia, the general feeling is that the whole area looks and feels a lot better without the constant pall of coal dust and the ever-present fear of injury or death. We recently remembered the appalling day the slag heap fell on Aberfan. No one here wants more underground disruption, and I've added my name to that list.

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John Finneman on BBC Radio 4's "The Now Show" first broadcast 7th July 2011.

A magnificent speech that must have been written on the same day as the closure of the News of the World was announced for broadcast the following day.

See also (if you haven't already done so)
http://www.38degrees.org.uk/page/s/murdoch-deal-petition
http://www.avaaz.org/en/stop_rupert_murdoch_3/
http://www.38degrees.org.uk/page/speakout/email-your-mp-about-murdoch

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In the light of recent Phone Hacking accusations...

http://www.avaaz.org/en/murdoch_messages_2/?rc=fb&pv=42 - pro-forma letter that can be sent to MPs

http://www.38degrees.org.uk/page/s/murdoch-deal-petition - petition to stop Murdoch taking over BSkyB

Feel free (or even obliged!) to propagate.

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If like me you thought the ivory trade had been wiped out, I'm sorry to say that you - and I - were wrong. But there may be something we can do about it.

Please read and sign this petition to stop ALL trade in ivory, including stockpiled or confiscated ivory that was collected years ago.

Thank you.

Hi Eric, I've added you as a friend. If you've forgotten who I am, think 'shed' and 'Sena'.
Most of my LJ is f-locked, but for fairly obvious reasons this post isn't.

This Writer's Block post is PUBLIC

A piece of music or other sound that simply will not go away no matter how hard you try is called an earworm.
The antidote I usually suggest is the theme tune to the cartoon series Flintstones.

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Thanks to cat63 for pointing me in the direction of this poll, which has apparently come to the attention of the LJ Powers That Be.

With only two questions, this poll takes less time to answer than it does to read.

Feel free to propagate further.

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What on earth are LJ playing at, giving all and sundry the chance to post everything including comments to FB?

Here's my take on their crass stupidity:

I have a Facebook account, but I deliberately keep it completely separate from LJ.
The majority of my LJ posts are friends-locked, and that's my choice. My occasional public posts are open to all and sundry on LJ, but I'd prefer it if even these aren't copied to FB.

I have no intention of ever cross-posting LJ entries or comments to FB, and anyone posting anything of mine to FB without my explicit permission will be removed from my friendslist immediately.

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KING RICHARD III:
A horse! a horse! my kingdom for a horse!

CATESBY:
Withdraw, my lord; I'll help you to a horse.

A sad story is doing the rounds at the moment. For those of you who are unable to view the relevant Facebook page, here it is:

"After a long discussion, the decision has been made that this years Dartmoor Pony weaned foals should be culled due to the recession.  This is a very hard and brave decision for the pony keeper that I (the author, Lynne Chappell) support and work with.

Some farmers are still breeeding 100-150 foals a year which will give you an idea of the problem.  These will go to market in October, suffer the stress of transport, suffer the stress of the market environment, wont be sold, then taken home and shot.  The seriousness of the over breeding cannot be over stressed. 

 Should you want a filly foal or two, they would be handled, have head collars on, and you can have them for nothing.  If you have no transport, transport can be provided.  Alternatively they make lovely companions until they are old enough to back. "

Anyone want a pony?

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What a marvellous idea - exploit the willingness of children to play, and as they play they pump clean fresh water from deep under ground into a storage tank.


Fabulous! We can all help to fund these pumps by buying products from One Difference. I don't usually buy bottled water, because like you I already pay for water to be piped to my house. But I make an exception for One Water, because all the profits are used to buy and install Play Pumps in areas where fresh, clean water is not otherwise readily available.

Those of you who use Facebook can sign up to One Difference's FB page. If they get 250,000 members by the end of today - which is World Water Day - they will install a Play Pump in the name of their FB group. There. Isn't that nice.

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This post has a lot of links. Please follow at least one of them.


World Water Day 2010 is on 22 March

There's an outfit calling themselves One Difference who install Play Pumps in far-off places where access to clean water is at best limited and at worst non-existent. 

In preparation for World Water Day, a replica of one of these pumps is to be installed in Terminal 5 at Heathrow Airport, so that lots of people can see it and wonder why no one ever thought of such a brilliant idea before.

One Difference market bottled water. They also market condoms. Obvious combination really... All profits from the sale of the water go to fund Play Pumps. All profits from the sale of the condoms go towards AIDS, HIV and related education projects. Brilliant, huh?

Even if you never buy bottled water or condoms (there are other products in the, er, pipeline), the nice people at One Difference want you to be aware of their existence and to tell all your friends about them.

They even have a group on Facebook, and if they can get so many supporters by World Water Day a Play Pump will be installed somewhere in that group's name. By doing this, they've also ensured that thousands of people have heard of them - and that can only be a good thing because it raises awareness of the problems faced by people without sensible access to clean water, and it also raises awareness of how some of those problems can be solved.

One Difference; One Water; because it's One World.

Thank you for reading. Will you tell everyone else now, please?

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Many motorists seem to use their fog lamps as a fashion accessory. They drive around with them switched on, in clear bright conditions, dazzling other road users and having the potential to cause accidents.

If you're as fed up as I am with with the illegal use of blindingly bright, pointless fog lamps on cars, you might want to have a look at this petition, created by my friend Austin. And when you've looked, perhaps you'd consider signing it? Please?

Thank you.

I don't make any assumptions at all until I've heard what they're saying, and then I judge according to what I hear.

Me? I believe in unidentified flying objects, but I don't necessarily believe they've got anything to do with little green men from Alpha-Centauri. They're just objects that fly or appear to fly, that either:
A) haven't been identified at all
or
B) have been identified, but the observer doesn't know it.

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I've been on the organ donor register for years, which answers the basic question.

It occurs to me though that the question refers to donations given whilst one is alive. The answer now becomes more complicated...

Bone Marrow - I don't have a rare blood group so the chances of my being a stranger's best match are remote. I am also unlikely to be invited to donate bone marrow because my medical history prevents my donating of blood. That said, if I were permitted to then yes, I would donate bone marrow. It's renewable, after all.
Kidney -  I have dependent family, and anything that puts me at risk causes potential problems for them. Such a risk is unacceptable to me, and therefore I must - with sincere apologies - decline.

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September 2007
Channel 4 Chairman buys Borders
Mr Johnson said today he "believes passionately" in the future of books and that Borders "has a great formula". He plans to revitalise the business, which includes 28 Books Etc outlets as well as Borders' 42 stores in the UK and Ireland.

July 2009
So passionate is Mr Johnson about books that...
Borders announced yesterday that leases for five stores, Blanchardstown in Dublin, Llantrisant, London Colney, Oxford Street, and Swindon have been sold to the fashion retailer, New Look. (The Bookseller)

No.1 son and I spent a very sad hour or so in Borders at Llantrisant today. We enjoyed buying half-price books, but we'd prefer to have the only bookshop for miles around to stay open. The staff would prefer that, as well. And rumour has it that should any of the staff get upset enough to say what they really think, they will lose all hope of redundancy pay.

According to the staff, New Look offered money with a capital M to Luke Johnson, on the condition that they could take over any five stores they wished. The retail outlets in Talbot Green/Llantrisant are in a prime location, so New Look decided they wanted it. We already have clothing shops at Talbot Green, and we have a large Tesco. We do not need more clothing shops. The nearest proper bookshops are now in Cardiff or Swansea. The University of Glamorgan and Coleg Morgannwg no longer have access to a decent bookshop, but does anyone care? Certainly not Mr Luke "believes passionately in the future of books" Johnson.

I understand business and I understand market forces. I also understand greed when I see it. Mr Johnson is already a very rich man. He could have said 'no' to New Look, but no. He didn't get rich by being more passionate about books than money, so money (and greed) won the day.

It won't happen, but I hope New Look fails at Talbot Green. It's probably too much to hope Mr Luke Johnson's parentage is legitimised.

... auf wiedersehen, good riddance.

What will he be most remembered for? I'll leave it to others to discuss the political side of things like Iraq, Guantanamo Bay etc. I shall remember him as an inspiration. A what? Are you serious? An inspiration? But yes! Just look at what he inspired...

Guantanamo Bay
God Luv Ya G Dubya
Bush Pilot
Sunday Bloody Sunday
Is Bush An Idiot?
Bloopers

Etc.

This post is PUBLIC, by the way. Feel free to share :)

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To those for whom 2008 left something to be desired - may 2009 be a definite improvement

To those for whom 2008 was just fine, thank you - may 2009 be just as 'just fine', if not better

May 2009 be successful and fulfilling for all of us.

This is for artela or for anyone else who knows the answer.

I've been trying to explain to jestersong the method for adding Mel's blog (Beansprouts) to his f-list. Only thing is, I've also realised that I've forgotten how I did it myself.  Help please?

Thank you.

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The current Writer's Block asks for the most romantic thing we've ever done for someone. In many respects the most romantic thing one can ever do is to get married, which we did 21 years ago tomorrow. Since then I have produced five children. But since I suspect that's not the answer the OP really wanted, I offer the following:

For his 40th birthday I arranged a surprise weekend away in a 5 star award-winning hotel in Bath. It rained.
For his 50th birthday I arranged a surprise weekend away to Venice on the Orient Express. It rained.

(I blame his parents for having their son in November *g*)

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I haven't done anything about it yet, but I found this page whilst browsing around the World Wildlife website. In a couple of months' time when maybe I'll have some spare(ish) money, I might adopt a librarian.  I have friends who'd probably love to adopt pygmy elephants, meerkats, tigers..

If you think you could adopt an animal (you don't have to take it home with you) please do so. It would be a shame to see endangered species disappear, wouldn't it?

As previously mentioned (somewhen or other), innocent drinks (it seems so wrong without an initial capital!) have a tree-planting scheme. Called "Buy One, Plant One Tree" it involves buying a carton of innocent fruit smoothie with the special logo, and finding the unique code. Log on to innocent's website, type the code in the appropriate box, and lo! you have planted a tree. Well actually, all you've done is type a code into a box, but hey. innocent will donate funds for every code entered that will provide for a tree to be planted somewhere where trees are needed. Trees help to stop soil erosion, provide shade, can provide food, help with getting the balance of gases in the air just right, and are generally Very Good Things.

I've 'planted' two trees so far, and would like to plant others; however I haven't seen any of the special cartons for ages. Meanwhile, those nice people at innocent have produced a virtual badge for me to post into my blog. Isn't that kind of them :)

It should update automatically if and when I plant another tree. We shall see.


Edit - 16 July 21:30
For some reason the virtual badge will have to remain virtual, because although it shows up beautifully in the 'edit' box, it's not showing through to where anyone but me can see it.  Bah.

EDIT: I've opened this up to a wider audience: as of Monday 30 June 2008 at 15:37 local time this poll is PUBLIC

Following a discussion chez moi this morning, what do people really think of underwired bras and high heels?

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OK, so this is the third post in almost as few minutes, but the other two were A) lighter hearted and B) friends only. I'm feeling extremely aggravated, annoyed, angry - and a whole lot of similar words beginning with 'a' that I've forgotten or haven't learned yet.

( Certain people are on strike, because they want more money. Don't we all!Collapse )

Bugger the lot of you. Literally. With coconut matting.

Edit: 17 June 2008 - main body of text hidden under LJ Cut

I've just 'planted' my first tree for innocent drinks. They (innocent) are putting special codes on the sides of their litre cartons of smoothies, and entering this code into a box on their website instructs them to pay for a tree to be planted in rural India. What a perfectly brilliant excuse reason to spend more money on those lovely innocent smoothies!

Nicked from caerleon via hooloovoo_42

Productive worker?? Good grief.


Created by OnePlusYou - Free Online Dating

Unbelievable behaviour from a woman who used to be a lady. Allegedly.

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There's an interview published on the Guardian's website today, in which Pterry talks about his frustration at the lack of funding for Alzheimer's Disease compared with, say, cancer.

There's also a mention of the film of The Colour Of Magic, which will be screened on satellite television at Easter. Which is just great for all those thousands of Pratchett fans who don't have satellite television.

With a bit of luck someone somewhere will require off-site storage for a back-up DVD...

I know it looks a bit rude, but the icon for this post is a demonstration of where Easter eggs come from, should such be needed.

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Since the news came out that Terry Pratchett had received a diagnosis of a rare form or Alzheimer's Disease, some of his fans have pledged to raise money for research into that most undignifying of illnesses.  Pratchett himself has donated around half a million pounds to Alzheimer's research; his fans want to do likewise. Details and other information can be found here:

http://www.matchitforpratchett.org

Some people are posting 'what if' on their blogs. What If I Hadn't Read Pratchett?

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PUBLIC POST

A friend of mine posted the following on her blog.  It's a youtube video that I think is worth watching at least once, and thinking about lots.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zORv8wwiadQ