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Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in the "Brett Dunbar" journal:

[<< Previous 20 entries]

November 29th, 2009
06:59 pm

[Link]

 Epic Fail
Translate Server Error

From http://adweek.blogs.com/adfreak/2008/07/then-well-grab.html

Current Location: Sofa
Current Mood: amused
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November 28th, 2009
07:35 pm

[Link]

 Libel
It is often said that there is a reversed standard of proof in libel under English law, this isn't in fact true. The complainant has to demonstrate that the defendant made a statement liable to damage the complainant's reputation to a third party. This does not usually present much difficulty. The defendant can then raise a defence of Justification, on the basis that the statement was true. Justification is an affirmative defence so the defendant has to demonstrate that it applies. This is true of all affirmative defences. There is a slight oddity in there are a few statements which are true but are not justified, mostly this relates to spent convictions which can be libellous even if demonstrably true.

Current Location: Sofa
Current Mood: thoughtful
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November 18th, 2009
12:19 am

[Link]

 The Times 100 Best Books of the Decade

100 Best Books of the Decade article of Times website

Read in Bold

1 The Road by Cormac McCarthy (2006)
2 Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi (2003)
3 Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance by Barack Obama (2004)
4 Masterworks of the Classical Haida Mythtellers trans Robert Bringhurst (2002)
5 Suite Française by Irène Némirovsky (2006)
6 The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference by Malcolm Gladwell (2000)
7 Life of Pi by Yann Martel (2002)
8 Payback: Debt and the Shadow Side of Wealth by Margaret Atwood (2008)
9 Atonement by Ian McEwan (2001)
10 The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown (2003)
11 War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy, in a new translation by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky (2007)
12 A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers (2000)
13 Austerlitz by W. G. Sebald (2001)
14 Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books by Azar Nafisi (2003)
15 The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins (2006)
16 Rapture by Carol Ann Duffy (2005)
17 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J. K. Rowling (2007)
18 Bad Science by Ben Goldacre (2008)
19 The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen (2001)
20 White Teeth by Zadie Smith (2000)
21 The Plot Against America by Philip Roth (2004)
22 The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman (2000)
23 The 9/11 Commission Report (2004)
24 Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro (2005)
25 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon (2003)
26 Bad Blood by Lorna Sage (2000)
27 Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (2004)
28 The Rest is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century by Alex Ross (2007)
29 The Accidental by Ali Smith (2005)
30 The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini (2003)
31 The Collected Stories of Amy Hempel (2006)
32 Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer (2002)
33 Chronicles: Volume One by Bob Dylan (2004)
34 Seabiscuit by Laura Hillenbrand (2001)
35 The Arrival by Shaun Tan (2006)
36 How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff (2004)
37 William Trevor: The Collected Stories (2009)
38 The Noonday Demon: An Anatomy of Depression by Andrew Solomon (2001)
39 Runaway by Alice Munro (2005)
40 Sir Gawain and the Green Knight trans Simon Armitage (2007)
41 The Secret Scripture by Sebastian Barry (2008)
42 Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic by Alison Bechdel (2006)
43 Thursbitch by Alan Garner (2003)
44 Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner (2005)
45 London: The Biography by Peter Ackroyd (2000)
46 Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides (2002)
47 Collected Poems of Ted Hughes (2003)
48 A Short History Of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson (2003)
49 The Ghost by Robert Harris (2007)
50 No Logo: Taking Aim at the Brand Bullies by Naomi Klein (2000)
51 Home by Marilynne Robinson (2008)
52 Youth by J. M. Coetzee (2002)
53 Wolf Brother by Michelle Paver (2004)
54 Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation by Lynne Truss (2003)
55 Imperial Life in the Emerald City: Inside Baghdad’s Green Zone by Rajiv Chandrasekaran (2007)
56 If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things by Jon McGregor (2002)
57 Fleshmarket Close by Ian Rankin (2004)
58 Dart by Alice Oswald (2002)
59 Moondust: In Search of the Men Who Fell to Earth by Andrew Smith (2005)
60 Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed by Jared Diamond (2005)
61 The Line of Beauty by Alan Hollinghurst (2004)
62 Fingersmith by Sarah Waters (2002)
63 The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature by Steven Pinker (2002)
64 Staying Alive: Real Poems for Unreal Times edited by Neil Astley (2002)
65 Peeling the Onion by Günter Grass (2007)
66 Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell (2004)
67 The Kindly Ones by Jonathan Littell (2009)
68 Out Stealing Horses by Per Petterson (2005)
69 My Name is Red by Orhan Pamuk (2001)
70 The PowerBook by Jeanette Winterson (2000)
71 Experience by Martin Amis (2000)
72 True History of the Kelly Gang by Peter Carey (2001)
73 Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman by Haruki Murakami (2005)
74 War Music by Christopher Logue (2001)
75 The Damned Utd by David Peace (2006)
76 England in Particular: A Celebration of the Commonplace, the Local, the Vernacular and the Distinctive by Sue Clifford and Angela King (2006)
77 Collected Poems by Michael Donaghy (2009)
78 Giving up the Ghost by Hilary Mantel (2003)
79 Jimmy Corrigan, the Smartest Kid on Earth by Chris Ware (2000)
80 The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga (2008)
81 The Emperor’s Children by Claire Messud (2006)
82 Born Yesterday: The News as a Novel by Gordon Burn (2008)
83 This Republic of Suffering: Death and the American Civil War by Drew Gilpin Faust (2008)
84 Unless by Carol Shields (2002)
85 Berlin: The Downfall, 1945 by Antony Beevor (2002)
86 District and Circle by Seamus Heaney (2006)
87 The Carhullan Army by Sarah Hall (2007)
88 Fatal Purity: Robespierre and the French Revolution by Ruth Scurr (2006)
89 The Enchantress of Florence by Salman Rushdie (2008)
90 Twilight by Stephenie Meyer (2005)
91 My Father and other Working-Class Football Heroes by Gary Imlach (2005)
92 Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned by Wells Tower (2009)
93 The Ascent of Money: A Financial History of the World by Niall Ferguson (2008)
94 Maximum City: Bombay Lost and Found by Suketu Mehta (2005)
95 The Emperor’s Babe by Bernardine Evaristo (2001)
96 The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda's Road to 9/11 by Lawrence Wright (2006)
97 The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz (2007)
98 Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie(2007)
99 The Lost Leader by Mick Imlah (2008)
100 The Position by Meg Wolitzer (2005)

Current Mood: contemplative
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July 7th, 2009
08:33 pm

[Link]

 Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level
Apparently a lower score is better, simple sentences, clearer vocabulary and so forth. Last time (December 2006) I got grade 12.
Seen on [info]james_nicoll.
Brett_Dunbar's Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level: 8
Average number of words per sentence:17.84
Average number of syllables per word:1.45
Total words in sample:6316
Analyze your journal! Username:
Another fun meme brought to you by rfreebern

Current Mood: confused
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June 25th, 2009
05:55 pm

[Link]

 Hated Books
There has been a recent discussion on rec.arts.sf.written about The Catcher in the Rye by J D Sallinger. This is widely used as a set text in American high schools and as such is forced on many who would never voluntarily have finished it. Not surprisingly it is widely hated, however it does also have it's fans. I'm Welsh and didn't have it taught to me, I read it following its appearance in the BBC Big Read top 100. Holden Caulfield's clearly having a nervous breakdown following the death of his brother and while I thought he could do with a slap I did care about him. He was legitimately having a bad time and was trying to do something about it, nothing very productive but at least he was trying. In Britain it seems the novel that gets set for 14-16 year old the way The Catcher in the Rye is in America is A Kestrel for a Knave by Barry Hines; I would far rather have had The Catcher in the Rye. Billy Casper is incredibly easy to dislike. Passive and stupid, I hated the moron. When he had an opportunity to tell his career advisor what he is interested in and what hobbies he has he doesn't. So he ends up being directed into coal mining, which he doesn't want to do, when he would be far happier working outdoors even if the pay was much worse. He is illiterate and it is fairly clear that he's basically squandered the ten years of schooling he has had, managing to avoid learning anything. Mr Farthing, his teacher, who is clearly a decent and humane man and a good teacher tries to get Billy to think about what he wants and to have some aspirations, without much success. Billy's violent bullying brother kills the kestrel at the end of the book in one more example of Hines attempting to manipulate the reader into feeling sympathy for Casper by having the one thing he actually tries to do end in tragic failure. In the entire book the only bit that is any good is the football game with the PE teacher Mr Sugden, who is a big cheating bully it was genuinely funny, I had a PE teacher who was rather like him. The novel seems to have moral of "don't try to rise above your station" which is rather ironic as Hines had done exactly that.

Current Mood: annoyed
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June 9th, 2009
04:45 pm

[Link]

 Which Fantasy Writer Are You?
Seen on [info]james_nicoll

( Large Image Alert )

Current Location: Bedroom
Current Mood: amused
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April 10th, 2009
11:16 pm

[Link]

 Fantasy Book List Meme
Seen on [info]james_nicoll

Read in bold
Ones I didn't like crossed out

( List of Books )

Current Location: Bed
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(Leave a comment)

April 5th, 2009
05:31 pm

[Link]

 Science Fiction Book List Meme

From [info]james_nicoll

The ones I have read are bolded.
The one I have but haven't yet read is in Italics

( List of books. )

Current Location: Sofa
Current Mood: calm
Current Music: Chart Show Radio 1
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February 6th, 2009
05:38 pm

[Link]

 My Live Journal Mind Map

( Click here to see! )

Current Location: On the sofa, with cat on cushion
Current Mood: relaxed
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January 24th, 2009
08:04 pm

[Link]

 Guardian 1000 Novels To Read Before You Die Meme

Bold = Read
Italics = To read
Strikethrough = Gave up on
Strikethrough and Bold = Read and hated
Bold and italics = Read some, intend to finish

( Very long list )

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02:50 am

[Link]

 Guardian SF book list Meme

Seen on [info]kgbooklog

Bold = Read
Strikethrough = Gave up on part way


1. Douglas Adams: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (1979)

2. Brian W Aldiss: Non-Stop (1958)

3. Isaac Asimov: Foundation (1951)

4. Margaret Atwood: The Blind Assassin (2000)

5. Paul Auster: In the Country of Last Things (1987)

6. Iain Banks: The Wasp Factory (1984)

7. Iain M Banks: Consider Phlebas (1987)

8. Clive Barker: Weaveworld (1987)

9. Nicola Barker: Darkmans (2007)

10. Stephen Baxter: The Time Ships (1995)

11. Greg Bear: Darwin's Radio (1999)

12. Alfred Bester: The Stars My Destination (1956)

13. Poppy Z Brite: Lost Souls (1992)

14. Algis Budrys: Rogue Moon (1960)

15. Mikhail Bulgakov: The Master and Margarita (1966)

16. Edward Bulwer-Lytton: The Coming Race (1871)

17. Anthony Burgess: A Clockwork Orange (1960)

18. Anthony Burgess: The End of the World News (1982)

19. Edgar Rice Burroughs: A Princess of Mars (1912)

20. William Burroughs: Naked Lunch (1959) -- I read Junky instead.

21. Octavia Butler: Kindred (1979)

22. Samuel Butler: Erewhon (1872)

23. Italo Calvino: The Baron in the Trees (1957)

24. Ramsey Campbell: The Influence (1988)

25. Lewis Carroll: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865)

26. Lewis Carroll: Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There (1871)

27. Angela Carter: Nights at the Circus (1984)

28. Michael Chabon: The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay (2000)

29. Arthur C Clarke: Childhood's End (1953)

30. GK Chesterton: The Man Who Was Thursday (1908)

31. Susanna Clarke: Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell (2004)

32. Michael G Coney: Hello Summer, Goodbye (1975)

33. Douglas Coupland: Girlfriend in a Coma (1998)

34. Mark Danielewski: House of Leaves (2000)

35. Marie Darrieussecq: Pig Tales (1996)

36. Samuel R Delaney: The Einstein Intersection (1967)

37. Philip K Dick: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (1968)

38. Philip K Dick: The Man in the High Castle (1962)

39. Umberto Eco: Foucault's Pendulum (1988)

40. Michel Faber: Under the Skin (2000)

41. John Fowles: The Magus (1966)

42. Neil Gaiman: American Gods (2001)

43. Alan Garner: Red Shift (1973)

44. William Gibson: Neuromancer (1984)

45. Charlotte Perkins Gilman: Herland (1915)

46. William Golding: Lord of the Flies (1954)

47. Joe Haldeman: The Forever War (1974)

48. M John Harrison: Light (2002)

49. Robert A Heinlein: Stranger in a Strange Land (1961)

50. Frank Herbert: Dune (1965)

51. Hermann Hesse: The Glass Bead Game (1943)

52. Russell Hoban: Riddley Walker (1980)

53. James Hogg: The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner (1824)

54. Michel Houellebecq: Atomised (1998)

55. Aldous Huxley: Brave New World (1932)

56. Kazuo Ishiguro: The Unconsoled (1995)

57. Shirley Jackson: The Haunting of Hill House (1959)

58. Henry James: The Turn of the Screw (1898)

59. PD James: The Children of Men (1992)

60. Richard Jefferies: After London; Or, Wild England (1885)

61. Gwyneth Jones: Bold as Love (2001)

62. Franz Kafka: The Trial (1925)

63. Daniel Keyes: Flowers for Algernon (1966)

64. Stephen King: The Shining (1977)

65. Marghanita Laski: The Victorian Chaise-longue (1953)

66. Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu: Uncle Silas (1864)

67. Stanislaw Lem: Solaris (1961)

68. Doris Lessing: Memoirs of a Survivor (1974)

69. David Lindsay: A Voyage to Arcturus (1920)

70. Ken MacLeod: The Night Sessions (2008)

71. Hilary Mantel: Beyond Black (2005)

72. Michael Marshall Smith: Only Forward (1994)

73. Richard Matheson: I Am Legend (1954)

74. Charles Maturin: Melmoth the Wanderer (1820)

75. Patrick McCabe: The Butcher Boy (1992)

76. Cormac McCarthy: The Road (2006)

77. Jed Mercurio: Ascent (2007)

78. China Miéville: The Scar (2002)

79. Andrew Miller: Ingenious Pain (1997)

80. Walter M Miller Jr: A Canticle for Leibowitz (1960)

81. David Mitchell: Cloud Atlas (2004)

82. Michael Moorcock: Mother London (1988)

83. William Morris: News From Nowhere (1890)

84. Toni Morrison: Beloved (1987)

85. Haruki Murakami: The Wind-up Bird Chronicle (1995)

86. Vladimir Nabokov: Ada or Ardor (1969)

87. Audrey Niffenegger: The Time Traveler's Wife (2003)

88. Larry Niven: Ringworld (1970)

89. Jeff Noon: Vurt (1993)

90. Flann O'Brien: The Third Policeman (1967)

91. Ben Okri: The Famished Road (1991)

92. Chuck Palahniuk: Fight Club (1996)

93. Thomas Love Peacock: Nightmare Abbey (1818)

94. Mervyn Peake: Titus Groan (1946)

95. John Cowper Powys: A Glastonbury Romance (1932)

96. Christopher Priest: The Prestige (1995)

97. François Rabelais: Gargantua and Pantagruel (1532-34)

98. Ann Radcliffe: The Mysteries of Udolpho (1794)

99. Alastair Reynolds: Revelation Space (2000)

100. Kim Stanley Robinson: The Years of Rice and Salt (2002)

101. JK Rowling: Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (1997)

102. Salman Rushdie: The Satanic Verses (1988)

103. Antoine de Sainte-Exupéry: The Little Prince (1943)

104. José Saramago: Blindness (1995)

105. Will Self: How the Dead Live (2000)

106. Mary Shelley: Frankenstein (1818)

107. Dan Simmons: Hyperion (1989)

108. Olaf Stapledon: Star Maker (1937)

109. Neal Stephenson: Snow Crash (1992)

110. Robert Louis Stevenson: The Strange Case of Doctor Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1886)

111. Bram Stoker: Dracula (1897)

112. Rupert Thomson: The Insult (1996)

113. Mark Twain: A Connecticut Yankee at King Arthur's Court (1889)

114. Kurt Vonnegut: Sirens of Titan (1959)

115. Robert Walser: Institute Benjamenta (1909)

116. Sylvia Townsend Warner: Lolly Willowes (1926)

117. Sarah Waters: Affinity (1999)

118. HG Wells: The Time Machine (1895)

119. HG Wells: The War of the Worlds (1898)

120. TH White: The Sword in the Stone (1938)

121. Gene Wolfe: The Book of the New Sun (1980-83)

122. John Wyndham: Day of the Triffids (1951)

123. John Wyndham: The Midwich Cuckoos (1957)

124. Yevgeny Zamyatin: We (1924)

Current Mood: tired
Current Music: Radio 1 Surgery on iplayer
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January 22nd, 2009
07:59 pm

[Link]

 A new quick political quiz meme
Seen on [info]autopope

My Political Views
I am a center-left moderate social libertarian
Left: 1.56, Libertarian: 3.34

Political Spectrum Quiz

My Foreign Policy Views
Score: -1.41

Political Spectrum Quiz


My Culture War Stance
Score: -7.21

Political Spectrum Quiz

Current Location: On the Sofa
Current Mood: amused
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December 28th, 2008
02:54 pm

[Link]

 Why I feel little Sympathy for Israel
Israel has been engaged in a continuous attack on the Palestinian people for at least the last forty years, seizing land and building settlements in blatant violation of a number of treaties regarding occupied land to which Israel is a signatory. The Israeli public has clearly endorsed this criminal behaviour at the polls and several times elected war criminals and mass murderers as prime minister (Begin and would be Nazi collaborator Shamir). Israeli civilians are not innocent bystanders, they are directly responsible for their government's actions. Like Apartheid South Africa for whites, or Stormont for protestants, Israel is democratic for Israelis, even if not for the rest of those it rules. Anyone who failed to vote for political parties opposed to the settlements is guilty of supporting them and has by their actions declared themselves an active enemy of the Palestinian aspiration for an independent state. Hamas are not doing anything that Israel didn't do when they attacked Lebanon last year, attacking the infrastructure that supports the attacks on their people.

Israel has never done anything to indicate a sincere desire for peace, not even remove less than a hundred violent racist religious fanatics from the centre of Hebron, indeed rather than remove them Israel retained control of about 20% of the city and many thousands of Palestinians. The cowardice of the Israeli government in the face of a tiny number of people, who if they were any other ethnic group would be called neo-Nazi, is deeply shameful. Especially when compared with the murderous savagery with which Palestinian protests are met. Israel has  violated the land for peace principal by not only failing to remove the settlements already built nor even by merely freezing the settlements, as they are, but has actually vigorously expanded them.

During the previous Hamas ceasefire it was Israel who initiated the cross border fighting by first conducting an air attack and then a launching a ground attack when Hamas retaliated. During the ceasefire before that (the one in place during the Palestinian elections) Israel responded to Hamas winning the election (a result of Fatah's corruption incompetence and the failure of negotiation with Israel to achieve anything) by imposing harsh sanctions before Hamas had actually done anything. Israel demanded that Hamas explicitly endorse existing agreements rather than treating practical compliance as implicit endorsement. Fatah had got very little for making some very big concessions, only promises of future concessions which were never fulfilled. Hamas might, at length, have been willing to make those concessions but wanted Israel to make concessions of a similar scale at the same time. As it is Israel has repeatedly failed to respond positively to Hamas ceasefires, this does not give Hamas much incentive to try a peaceful approach. Violence has borne results, Israel has been forced to retreat from both Lebanon and the Gaza strip meanwhile in the West Bank settlements continue to expand, underlining the failure of negotiation.

Current Location: Bedroom
Current Mood: angry
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November 22nd, 2008
06:05 pm

[Link]

 Visited countries and Ignorant Americans
Both seen on [info]autopope


visited 13 states (5.77%)
Create your own visited map of The World or try another Douwe Osinga project

Americans scored really badly on this quiz I got 32 out of 32, 96.97% and I'm Welsh.

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/18/20081120/tod-us-officials-flunk-test-of-amerian-h-f62056d.html

US officials flunk test of American history, economics, civics



US elected officials scored abysmally on a test measuring their civic knowledge, with an average grade of just 44 percent, the group that organized the exam said Thursday. Ordinary citizens did not fare much better, scoring just 49 percent correct on the 33 exam questions compiled by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute (ISI). "It is disturbing enough that the general public failed ISI's civic literacy test, but when you consider the even more dismal scores of elected officials, you have to be concerned," said Josiah Bunting, chairman of the National Civic Literacy Board at ISI. "How can political leaders make informed decisions if they don't understand the American experience?" he added. The exam questions covered American history, the workings of the US government and economics. Among the questions asked of some 2,500 people who were randomly selected to take the test, including "self-identified elected officials," was one which asked respondents to "name two countries that were our enemies during World War II." Sixty-nine percent of respondents correctly identified Germany and Japan. Among the incorrect answers were Britain, China, Russia, Canada, Mexico and Spain. Forty percent of respondents, meanwhile, incorrectly believed that the US president has the power to declare war, while 54 percent correctly answered that that power rests with Congress. Asked about the electoral college, 20 percent of elected officials incorrectly said it was established to "supervise the first televised presidential debates." In fact, the system of choosing the US president via an indirect electoral college vote dates back some 220 years, to the US Constitution. The question that received the fewest correct responses, just 16 percent, tested respondents' basic understanding of economic principles, asking why "free markets typically secure more economic prosperity than government's centralized planning?" Activities that dull Americans' civic knowledge include talking on the phone and watching movies or television -- even news shows and documentaries, ISI said. Meanwhile, civic knowledge is enhanced by discussing public affairs, taking part in civic activities and reading about current events and history, the group said.


Amusingly American was misspelt in the headline....

Current Location: On the sofa, with cat on cushion
Current Mood: accomplished
Current Music: The Surgery on Radio One Listen Again
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October 22nd, 2008
10:48 pm

[Link]

 Art Meme

Seen on [info]james_nicoll.

Your result for What Your Taste in Art Says About You Test...

Non-conformist, Visionary, and Independent


Abstract art uses a visual language of form, color and line to create a composition which exists independently of what may appear to others as visual realities. Western had been underpinned by the logic of perspective and an attempt to reproduce an illusion of visible reality. It allowed the progressive thinking artists to show a different side to the world around them. By the end of the 19th century many artists felt a need to create a 'new kind of art' which would encompass the fundamental changes taking place in technology, science and philosophy. Abstract artists created art that was diverse and reflected the social and intellectual turmoil in all areas of Western culture.


People that chose abstract art as their preferred art form tend to be visionaries. They see things in the world around them and in people that others may miss because they look beyond what is visual only with the eye. They rely on their inner thoughts and feelings in dealing with the world around them instead of on what they are told they should think and feel. They feel freed from the tendency to be bound by traditional thought and experiences. They look more toward their own ideas and experiences than what they are told by their religious upbringing or from scientific evidence. They tend to like to prove theories themselves instead of relying on the insight or ideas of others. They are not bound by common and mundane, but like to travel and have new experiences. They value intelligence, but they also enjoy a challenge. They can be rather argumentative when they are being forced or feel as if they are being forced to conform.

Take What Your Taste in Art Says About You Test at HelloQuizzy

Current Location: On the Sofa
Current Mood: contemplative
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September 23rd, 2008
08:39 pm

[Link]

 Politics Test
You are a

Social Liberal
(75% permissive)

and an...

Economic Moderate
(41% permissive)

You are best described as a:

Democrat




Link: The Politics Test on OkCupid.com: Free Online Dating
Also : The OkCupid Dating Persona Test

Current Location: Sofa with dog at my feet
Current Mood: relaxed
Current Music: It's A Sin - Pet Shop Boys
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September 22nd, 2008
12:35 pm

[Link]

 Meme
Interesting meme via [info]feorag:

"Grab the nearest book. Find the 5th sentence on page 23. Append it to the paragraph below. Append your name to the list below of people who have contributed to the paragraph. Post the result to your LJ."

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They also talk of our being guilty of injustice, and their being the victims of an unjustifiable war. Brandy, and Tom got increasingly close-mouthed and sour. Although a certain sense of tripartite society survived down to Christian times, the three classes described in the Eddic poem "Rigdthula" bear little resemblance to Dumezil's three. It is often argued, and still oftener thought, that none but bad men would desire to weaken these salutary beliefs; and there can be nothing wrong,it is thought, in restraining bad men, and prohibiting what only such men would wish to practice. At its nearest point the wall was little more than one league from the City, and that was south-eastward. When he saw Jack Hare jump towards the fire, and the Practical Man brandishing the toasting-fork, Sir Isaac grabbed the strings of gravitational force that bound Jack to his destiny and PULLED--- That's a seventy-four gun privateer, besides. To honour a group of British nobles, treacherously slain at a conference by Hengist's guards, Aurelius decides to erect a great monument near Amesbury. That being so, he did not chortle when he went upstairs. Let stand. This ensures that when the garbage collector runs, it has complete access to the memory in the heap and can perform its tasks safely without the threat of being preempted by another thread. And then you may begin to laugh. The data are stored in Column 1 and renamed "Age." Pull your hand back. I don't remember that any secrets were revealed to me, nor do I remember any avid curiosity on my part to learn something I wasn't supposed to--perhaps I was too young to know what to listen for. You don't remember how awful it is being normal. Highlight the desired state tax table and press Enter. Abraham had now reached a ripe old age, and the LORD had blessed him in every way. This doesn't alter either string, any more than 2+3 alters either 2 or 3. And I will say firmly that it is the author who says, "One does feel," who is really an egoist; and the author who says, "I believe," who is not an egoist. I too have noticed symptoms of the same sort of thing, a slightly put-on manner of affectation, perhaps a sort of aftermath of his fine performance in the School Play. Until the police killed all of her fish by emptying ashtrays into the tanks, Mrs. Bond had raised and sold tropical fish. There was a silence at the other end of the line then a woman's voice said 'You have reached the BT Cellnet answering service'. 'Thank you'. But if it had been thrown into the pool, and held below the water in the darkness by a stronger swimmer... 'And then I'll come home and cry 'Bianca, Bianca', and you'll be gone, and no one will know where you went.' Until that moment, I would have said that the old town was established, settled, mature. The pattern rule target must start with the prefix and end with the suffix (if they exist). If we track him down and point a musket at him, it should convince him that it's time for him to move on, I hope. They turned to each other and smiled. また、葉がやわらかいのに比べ、茎のほうがかたい。If you brave the chill of Barrow, Alaska, you'll be at latitude 71 degrees north and moving at a leisurely 550 kph (340 mph).


1) Ranger Rick - 2) Rialian - 3) Elenbarathi - 4) Starsandfishes - 5) Echthros - 6) Doltaghey - 7) Ebonhost - 8) Tibicina 9) Browngirl 10) ceo 11) roozle - 12) quietann 13) Dale (achinhibitor) 14) tigerbright 15) autographedcat 16) kitanzi xvii) annonyno חי)thnidu 19) smallship1 20)thalinoviel 21) valkyriekaren 22) razornet 23) mrph 24) dmh 25) battyblingtrash 26> Daevid 27) Venta 28) oxfordgirl 29) aidansean 30) feorag 31) Brett Dunbar

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August 27th, 2008
08:10 pm

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 Pedestrian Crossing Fail


Seen on http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/08/27/freak-shots-blame-it-on-the-moon

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July 12th, 2008
09:01 pm

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 Inflation Adjusted and Expanded Movie Meme
Bold: Seen in Cinema
Italics: Seen somewhere else
RankTitleStudioAdjusted GrossUnadjusted GrossYear
1Gone with the Wind MGM $1,390,067,000 $198,676,459 1939
2Star Wars: Episode IV - A New HopeFox $1,225,462,800 $460,998,007 1977
3The Sound of Music Fox $979,817,800 $158,671,368 1965
4E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial Uni. $975,957,800 $435,110,554 1982
5The Ten Commandments Par. $901,280,000 $65,500,000 1956
6Titanic Par. $883,019,700 $600,788,188 1997
7Jaws Uni. $881,182,300 $260,000,000 1975
8Doctor Zhivago MGM $854,051,900 $111,721,910 1965
9The Exorcist WB $760,712,400 $232,671,011 1973
10Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs Dis. $749,920,000 $184,925,486 1937
11101 Dalmatians Dis. $687,430,700 $144,880,014 1961
12The Empire Strikes Back Fox $675,482,800 $290,475,067 1980
13Ben-Hur MGM $674,240,000 $74,000,000 1959
14Return of the Jedi Fox $647,128,700 $309,306,177 1983
15The Sting Uni. $613,302,900 $156,000,000 1973
16Raiders of the Lost Ark Par. $606,416,000 $242,374,454 1981
17Jurassic Park Uni. $593,096,200 $357,067,947 1993
18The Graduate AVCO $588,731,200 $104,901,839 1967
19Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace Fox $583,601,600 $431,088,301 1999
20Fantasia Dis. $571,339,100 $76,408,097 1941
21The Godfather Par. $542,987,300 $134,966,411 1972
22Forrest Gump Par. $540,393,800 $329,694,499 1994
23Mary Poppins Dis. $537,890,900 $102,272,727 1964
24The Lion King BV $531,354,700 $328,541,776 1994
25Grease Par. $529,221,700 $188,389,888 1978
26Thunderball UA $514,624,000 $63,595,658 1965
27The Jungle Book Dis. $506,917,800 $141,843,612 1967
28Sleeping Beauty Dis. $500,011,300 $51,600,000 1959
29Shrek 2 DW $488,830,400 $441,226,247 2004
30Ghostbusters Col. $486,626,600 $238,632,124 1984
31Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid Fox $485,438,000 $102,308,889 1969
32Love Story Par. $481,587,200 $106,397,186 1970
33Spider-Man Sony $478,055,100 $403,706,375 2002
34Independence Day Fox $476,569,900 $306,169,268 1996
35Home Alone Fox $466,011,300 $285,761,243 1990
36Pinocchio Dis. $463,734,900 $84,254,167 1940
37Cleopatra (1963) Fox $462,222,200 $57,777,778 1963
38Beverly Hills Cop Par. $461,992,100 $234,760,478 1984
39Goldfinger UA $456,144,000 $51,081,062 1964
40Airport Uni. $454,845,600 $100,489,151 1970
41American Graffiti Uni. $452,114,300 $115,000,000 1973
42The Robe Fox $450,327,300 $36,000,000 1953
43Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest BV $444,643,200 $423,315,812 2006
44Around the World in 80 Days UA $444,553,800 $42,000,000 1956
45Bambi RKO $438,341,600 $102,247,150 1942
46Blazing Saddles WB $435,005,300 $119,500,000 1974
47Batman WB $433,127,800 $251,188,924 1989
48The Bells of St. Mary's RKO $431,686,300 $21,333,333 1945
49The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King NL $423,382,400 $377,027,325 2003
50The Towering Inferno Fox $422,264,600 $116,000,000 1974
51Spider-Man 2 Sony $413,892,200 $373,585,825 2004
52My Fair Lady WB $412,800,000 $72,000,000 1964
53The Greatest Show on Earth Par. $412,800,000 $36,000,000 1952
54National Lampoon's Animal House Uni. $412,045,000 $141,600,000 1978
55The Passion of the Christ NM $410,769,300 $370,782,930 2004
56Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith Fox $408,153,100 $380,270,577 2005
57Back to the Future Uni. $406,268,500 $210,609,762 1985
58The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers NL $396,497,300 $341,786,758 2002
59The Sixth Sense BV $396,144,400 $293,506,292 1999
60Superman WB $394,623,900 $134,218,018 1978
61Tootsie Col. $391,499,100 $177,200,000 1982
62Smokey and the Bandit Uni. $391,010,500 $126,737,428 1977
63Finding Nemo BV $387,601,800 $339,714,978 2003
64West Side Story MGM $385,075,600 $43,656,822 1961
65Harry Potter and the Philosoper's Stone WB $384,681,300 $317,575,550 2001
66Lady and the Tramp Dis. $383,456,000 $93,602,326 1955
67Close Encounters of the Third Kind Col. $382,359,700 $132,088,635 1977
68Lawrence of Arabia Col. $381,038,800 $44,824,144 1962
69The Rocky Horror Picture Show Fox $378,877,600 $112,892,319 1975
70Rocky UA $378,675,000 $117,235,147 1976
71The Best Years of Our Lives RKO $378,400,000 $23,650,000 1946
72The Poseidon Adventure Fox $377,725,500 $84,563,118 1972
73The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring NL $376,363,000 $314,776,170 2001
74Twister WB $376,254,300 $241,721,524 1996
75Men in Black Sony $375,762,700 $250,690,539 1997
76The Bridge on the River Kwai Col. $374,272,000 $27,200,000 1957
77It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World MGM $370,662,900 $46,332,858 1963
78Swiss Family Robinson Dis. $370,199,000 $40,356,000 1960
79One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest UA $369,355,300 $108,981,275 1975
80M.A.S.H. Fox $369,347,400 $81,600,000 1970
81Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom Par. $368,305,800 $179,870,271 1984
82Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones Fox $367,863,100 $310,676,740 2002
83Mrs. Doubtfire Fox $362,468,600 $219,195,243 1993
84Aladdin BV $360,803,300 $217,350,219 1992
85Ghost Par. $354,080,700 $217,631,306 1990
86Duel in the Sun Selz. $351,020,400 $20,408,163 1946
87Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl BV $348,464,400 $305,413,918 2003
88House of Wax WB $347,659,600 $23,750,000 1953
89Rear Window Par. $346,440,600 $36,764,313 1954
90The Lost World: Jurassic Park Uni. $343,380,500 $229,086,679 1997
91Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade Par. $339,985,500 $197,171,806 1989
92Spider-Man 3 Sony $336,530,300 $336,530,303 2007
93Terminator 2: Judgment Day TriS $334,755,900 $204,843,345 1991
94Sergeant York WB $331,087,600 $16,361,885 1941
95How the Grinch Stole Christmas Uni. $330,974,900 $260,044,825 2000
96Toy Story 2 BV $329,115,300 $245,852,179 1999
97Top Gun Par. $327,841,700 $176,786,701 1986
98Shrek DW $325,359,600 $267,665,011 2001
99Shrek the Third P/DW $322,719,900 $322,719,944 2007
100The Matrix Reloaded WB $321,268,000 $281,576,461 2003


List from http://www.boxofficemojo.com/alltime/adjusted.htm

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08:31 pm

[Link]

 Movie Meme

Seen on [info]autopope

IMDb's top 25 all-time box office hits. Bold the ones you saw in the cinema, italicise the ones you saw some other way instead, and leave the unseen ones alone.

1. Titanic (1997) $600,779,824
2. Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977) $460,935,665
3. Shrek 2 (2004) $436,471,036
4. E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial (1982) $434,949,459
5. Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) $431,065,444
6. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006) $423,032,628
7. Spider-Man (2002) $403,706,375
8. Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) $380,262,555
9. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) $377,019,252
10. Spider-Man 2 (2004) $373,377,893
11. The Passion of the Christ (2004) $370,270,943
12. Jurassic Park (1993) $356,784,000
13. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002) $340,478,898
14. Finding Nemo (2003) $339,714,367
15. Spider-Man 3 (2007) $336,530,303
16. Forrest Gump (1994) $329,691,196
17. The Lion King (1994) $328,423,001
18. Shrek the Third (2007) $320,706,665
19. Transformers (2007) $318,759,914
20. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (2001) $317,557,891
21. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) $313,837,577
22. Iron Man (2008) $311,708,133
23. Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) $310,675,583
24. Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (2007) $309,404,152
25. Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) $309,125,40

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