View from Mercat Cross vid

View from Mercat Cross vid
Originally uploaded by byronv2

Taking advantage of Doors Open Day to go inside the Mercat Cross and to the top - not terribly high up, but it does give a different perspective on the Royal Mile from what I normally see and besides, I walk past it all the time but had never been inside it, which was reason enough.

"Aren't dreams fragile?"

Even although the Bradford & Bingley has now been nationalised after falling apart like so many other financial institutions recently I notice that they are still running adverts on the TV, the ones which replaced their old 'Mr Bradford and Mr Bingley' chaps in their bowler hats with a more modern look and a rather cute actress in a bowler who exclaims "aren't dreams fragile?" Seems like the bank was even more fragile... Presumably they have time slots for their ads booked in advance but it still seems odd to see adverts running for a bank that's just failed as if everything were business as usual. The whole financial mess these idiots have gotten themselves into - and the rest of us with them - is getting scarier day by day. Personally I am preparing for the final entire meltdown of the Western financial system by keeping some small pigs under my bed to use for barter when money becomes valueless.

Meantime I note David 'lot of talk, no actual policies' Cameron at the Tory conference going on about who encouraged the living beyond our means society which lead to huge amounts of personal debt that has contributed to the mess? He meant the current government, of course, and while they have some responsibility I think richboy Cameron is being a bit selective - I seem to recall that it was a Tory government in the 80s which first really kick-started and encouraged the idea of living on easy credit, but I don't see him mentioning that. And of course the history of living on credit and debt goes right back to prosecuting foreign wars, most notably fighting the French, as a way to finance foreign policy. Which reminds me, I wonder how many billions we've poured down foreign adventures in the last few years (to say nothing of the awful human cost), which can't really have helped our economic health either, can it?

Old Nag Ale

Peggy the horse, long a regular at the Alexandra Hotel bar in Jarrow, Tyneside, has lost her access to her local watering hole. The twelve year old mare usually accompanies her owner Peter Dolan to the pub, where Peggy enjoyed a pint of beer and a packet of crisps (I wonder what flavour?), but now she has to wait outside - no, not because she likes a ciggie, but because the bar has recently been refitted and the owners decided that they didn't really fancy having a horse clip-clopping through it. I suppose it says a lot that they let her up to now, we have trouble in a number of bars if my mate tries to take his dog in with him. Wonder what they'd say if we turned up on our trusty steeds instead? What do you say, chaps, let's form the world's First Ale Cavalry squadron! (via the BBC)

view across Glasgow from the Lighthouse vid

view across Glasgow from the Lighthouse vid
Originally uploaded by byronv2

A panoramic view from the top of the highest tower in the Lighthouse, the old building restored in the centre of Glasgow into a gallery, art and architecture space, looking across the city of Glasgow from several stories up, shot during Glasgow's Doors Open Day

"Wir gegen, nach Vienna..."

The recent Austrian elections have seen a jump in support for far right political parties. Oh dear, oh deary, deary me. Its not the first time a large number of Austrians seem to favour right wing nutters most civilised people would find hideously offensive in recent years, previous such support earned the land of mountains and schnapps sanctions from the EU. And then there was the unfortunate Kurt Waldheim affair and the disputes over certain parts of his war record before that. And then going back several decades there is, of course, a rather more extreme example of Austrian support for mad right wing lunatics. Its nice to see that Austria doesn't feel it has to tiptoe around its rather unfortunate mid-20th century history. While right wing nutters are everywhere (disgustingly some people even voted for them in some local English councils; those self same people pretend they aren't supporting racism and bigotry but they ain't foolin' anyone) in a country with the still fairly recent history Austria has you would think they'd be keen not to be seen as the sort of people who love a good, strong, right wing orator. Listen to that sound? Is that the sound of many brushes polishing jackboots?

Rock the world

Geologists have found the oldest rocks on Earth, dating back some 4.28 billion years (a Thursday afternoon), in Hudson Bay, Canada, reports the BBC. You might think since the Earth is ancient it should be relatively simple to find rocks almost as old as our world itself, but since the Earth is a very dynamic world where even the very continents move many of the oldest rocks have long been crushed or slipped back into the interior of the world.

The Woolamaloo Gazette spoke to Billy Granite, a leading local rock, who said he and the entire Igneous, Metamorphic and Trans-sedimentary community were extremely pleased with this new scientific discovery. "Our rocky community is often disparaged by many religious groups, "Mr Granite explained, "they maintain that some mythical creator came along and waved a magic wand to make everything in a few days. Rock-kind find this a bigoted and ignorant view point as it completely dismisses the millions and billions of years stones and rocks have put into crafting our wonderful world and we think these religious bigots should shut up and give some credit to us. They're happy enough to use us to build their bloody churches but then spread lies about us."

While religious bigotry and ignorance to rock-kind is, sadly, fairly common, especially in certain parts of America, the problem can escalate to outright hate crimes and violence - only last month two fossils were attacked in a public park in Seattle by fundamentalist Christians. It can only be hoped that new scientific research helps to undermine the ridiculous position of the religious right.

Equi's ice cream - eat the Credit Crunch

Equi's ice cream - eat the Credit Crunch
Originally uploaded by byronv2

A more palatable approach to the credit crunch by Equi's, the finest ice cream parlour in Scotland.