Robyn, please don't look at my leg like that

I can't remember why Robyn was really licking his lips (so to speak). This week's entry For the Friday Ark and Carnival of the Cats. More cat photos as ever at Plant porn and pussycats and at Yet to be named.

Girlschool - Emergency

Sometimes all my taste is in my mouth but what teh hell, it's my blog, so my rules.. I did see them live when I was 17

Kurt Vonnegut

I was sorry to hear that Kurt Vonnegut had died as he was one of my favourite authors.

For no good reason at all Vonnegut's passing brought to mind (and brought a smile) "the Dancing Fool", the Kilgore Trout story outlined in Breakfast of Champions:

A flying saucer creature named Zog arrives on Earth to explain how wars could be prevented and how cancer could be cured. Zog brings the information from his home planet, Margo, where the natives converse by means of farts and tap dancing.

Zog lands at night in Connecticut. He no sooner touches down than he sees a brush-fire spreading toward a house. He rushes into the house -- farting and tap dancing -- warning the people about the terrible danger they're in. And the head of the house brains Zog with a golfclub.

We shall not see his like again

click here for the Guardian report of his passing

Wordless Wednesday - Hornchurch Country Park Easter Sunday

This week's entry for Wordless Wednesday. Another picture where I played with my infra red filter.

We the people of the Blogosphere, in order to form a more perfect cyberspace....

When Tim O’ Reilly and Jimmy Wales came together to propose a set of guidelines that would filter out offensive and abusive comments from blogs, it is perhaps unsurprising that they were met by a torrent of abuse.

For example the media site 910am described it as "weapons of mass stupidity" and carried the health warning "do not read on a full stomach". What has gotten people’s goats is a draft set of rules on introducing the concept of civility to the blogosphere. They have posted a seven-point programme that would attempt to address abusive comments on the web, while preserving the free spirit of the medium. Point one of the code is that anyone signing up to it would commit themselves to a "civility enforced" standard to remove unacceptable comments from their blog.

Unacceptable is defined as content that is used to abuse, harass, stalk or threaten others; is libellous or misrepresentative; or infringes copyright, confidentiality or privacy rights. Anonymous postings are also to be removed, with every comment requiring a recognised email address, even if posts are made under pseudonyms.

To back up the code, they propose a "civility enforced" badge marking sites which subscribe to the guidelines, and an "anything goes" badge to denote those that do not. The proposed guidelines can be interactively amended by web users, until a final version is agreed.

Many blogs already do some or all of what is proposed but It is the first attempt to apply a common framework to the blogosphere (pop 71m and rising)

The draft guidelines have prompted wide debate with varying responses. Dan Gillmor of the Centre for Citizen Media, a group devoted to grassroots media attached to Berkeley's graduate school of journalism, rejects the need for a code of conduct. He says bloggers require only one simple rule: be civil. To define unacceptable behaviour is to create a monster, he says, as "Who'd be the judge of it? The government? Libel lawyers? Uh, oh."

This is the draft code of conduct is set out on Radar O' Relly and is basically thus

1. We take responsibility for our own words and for the comments we allow on our blog.

2. We won't say anything online that we wouldn't say in person.

3. We connect privately before we respond publicly.

4. When we believe someone is unfairly attacking another, we take action.

5. We do not allow anonymous comments.

6. We ignore the trolls.

The site expands on these points. O’reilly and Wales also propose an "anything goes" badge for sites that want to warn possible commenters that they are entering a free-for-all zone. The text to accompany that badge might go something like this:

This is an open, uncensored forum. We are not responsible for the comments of any poster, and when discussions get heated, crude language, insults and other “off color" comments may be encountered. Participate in this site at your own risk.

To be honest, I can’t see why the code has been greeted with such a harsh reception given that many bloggers do some of these things already. All it does is codify civility! Anyone who has been on the receiving end of a web-psycho’s attentions would welcome the code, I’m sure.. or would we?

Personally I don’t violently disagree with what is proposed although I can’t see that it will make a lot of difference. If you have a blog you set your own rules as to what is acceptable (the Poor Mouth runs on the “my blog, my rules” basis”) . I don't need a code of conduct for that and I expect all but a tiny few who have commented here don't need it either.

The problem is that the trolls and psychos out there obviously wold not comply with a code and would not react positively to any attempts to make them comply (the prospect of them getting beaten to death by a man mountain might, but I am a peaceful soul and would never suggest any thing of the sort! on the other hand I wouldn't mind an hour with the arsehole who cloned my old yahoo chatroom id and some pilliwinks...).

I don't see how banning anonymous comments will solve anything. How easy is it to create an id. What does jams o donnell really mean apart from the fact that I've read Flann O'Brien's book the Poor Mouth, what's benefit do you get from asking for email addresses on haloscan comment thingies if you get kissmyshinymetalarse@upyours.com? many of us that use pseudonyms do so to protect our anonymity anyway.

The maxim "don't feed the trolls" is good advice for anyone.

I must create a button (who am I kidding, get someone to do it for me) that says "this blog may feature use of words like poo, bum, boobs and willy. Enter this blog at your own risk."

Another Crab Spider photo

The dangers of You Tube

For me, You Tube is a goldmine of music videos that I can blog when I am too tired to post , if I have nothing to say, or if I just want to put up a video of a favourite musician. Copyright issues aside, You Tube should be a harmless entertainment medium. It should not be banned (as it was recently in Thailand) and unless someone posts a criminal act it should;d not land anyone in prison. Criticising an exam system does not in my view constitute a criminal act, but then I am not the Turkish state!

Last year , a Turkish teenager made a video of himself lip-synching a song that blasted Turkey's university entrance system and put it on YouTube. Unfortunately the video did not go down well with the Turkish authorities. Deli, the band that released the song, faces charges of insulting state employees and will go on trial May 2 in Ankara. If convicted, the five musicians, along with their manager and a former band member, face up to 18 months in jail, although they could get off with a fine or a warning.

I'm not sure if this is the original video

The clip shows a teenager bopping around and making gestures against a blank backdrop while lip-synching the song. The minor, identified in media reports only by his first name, Hakan (or hako?) , will take the exam this year. Hiss video logged hundreds of thousands of hits and elevated the song to prominence among young Turks who dread the university exam, and many older Turks who viewed the experience as a trauma.

The song is called "ÖSYM," the Turkish acronym for The Student Selection and Placement Center, the state institution that decides which students go to university, based on a three-hour exam every June . The lyrics of are mild by western standards (Apparently the worst thing said is “shove that exam up your arse”) and despite claiming to enjoy the video Prof. Ünal Yarımağan, chairman of the university placement system, asked lawyers to investigate anyway.

Deli will release its first album in April, and didn't include the song "ÖSYM" to avoid controversy. Bass guitarist Enis Çoban, who studied textile manufacturing, said there was more censorship in Turkey than in Europe or the United States, but less than in China or Iran. "Compared to dictatorships, Turkey is like heaven," Çoban said. "Turkey still has a lot missing, but we believe that it is on the right track to improve itself."

News source: Today's Zamam

Hamilton, the Hammers and the Daggers

Apparently Lewis Hamilton is the first F1 driver to get two podium places from his first two races since Peter Arundell did so in 1964. Having taken third place in the Australian GP, Hamilton was runner up in yesterday's Malaysian GP. Although Arundell's career did not reach match his early promise, Hamilton looks as he has all the makings of a champion.

Meanwhile Dagenham & Redbridge won the Nationwide Conference on Saturday and thus promotion to the Football League. I really hope they have success next year.

West Ham beat Arsenal 1-0 and are now giving us a faint hope that they will avoid relegation. Hammers fans the world over are offering votives to all known deities as I write. Me, I might make an offering to Blind Io in the hope that they remain a premiership side next season!

Snakeshead Fritillary

Fritillaria meleagris

Welcoming back an old garden friend

I first noticed this Crab spider a couple of days ago when it was on stake out duty on one of our tulips. Be aware. there will probably be more photos of teh mmembers of teh species Misumena vatia that inhabit my garden as the year progresses!