People in the US are getting nervy about people sending anthrax spores through the post. FBO blunderers have figured that the spores are from somewhere in the US, and are frantically trying to pin the blame on bin Liner's network. I have a suspicion that this is originating closer to home. Look at the targets - liberal tabloids, liberal NBC news, the Democratic party. This smells of disaffected extreme right-wingers.
World President Blair meets with with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, and calls for the establishment of a Palestinian state. This is the first time WPB has made such a call explicitly.

Names Victoria:
I think Siobhan is pronounced something like 'Shivan' or maybe more like 'Sharon.'
I've always gone with "Shi-vaun", emphasis on the last syllable. There's an occasional contributor to radio who puts the emphasis on the first syllable, so it may be a matter of personal taste.

I've always like Ciaran (sometimes spelled Kieran). Brendan has a lot of friends and relatives named Sean and Fiona.
Lots of Seans and Fionas from Scotland, too, and they're in common use in England. So is Kieran, come to think of it.

Cathleen is a favourite of mine, though perhaps not as unique as you'd like. And Cara.
Yes, definitely and Cara (: [See post from the end of May.]

And of course since you are witchy, Morrigan is cool. :)
There's also Erin, and Fionnula, just springing to mind. And the ultra-cliched Patrick.

And of course I'm partial to Brendan. In many ways.
Tell us something we do not know!

[hugs]

---

Jaeda:
LOLOL a crap English name? my friends and I always thought Victoria and names like that, you know, Alexis, Elise, Alexandra and the like were wayyy elegant...we had a thing for elegance.
Well, you should know about elegance, being The Comptressa Of The Metroplex, and all. Elegance is your middle name.

no nothing much explains jamie...her newest was her calling me today to ask if she needed to wear gloves at work
From a fashion point of view, gloves do add something to a lady's glamour look. Especially if worn with a sleeveless dress.

(How many dresses does Jamie have? I thought so.)

she often touched people's hands...she didn't want to get anthrax...I couldn't make her understand that if they had it on their hands, they'd have it too!
There is that.

Blimey, she's as useless as the Afghan Cricket Team, which lost heavily to a Pakistan village side yesterday. The losers will go on to play England for the title Worst Side In The World.

It's a thoroughly gorgeous day, nice and warm, with an autumnal dampness in the air. The kind of day where daily stresses just seem to fade away.

Sadly, all the travelling I've been doing - along with a driver who prefers to get there now than a little later and in one piece - leaves me with a thumping headache. Tired, decaffienated, and badly in need of sleep.

World President Blair addresses the Afghans. Once we've dropped the first few thousand 15,000lb bombs, believe me, your country's going to be a lot less mountainous and awkward than it was - ideal for a major development of motorway and rail networks. We can help you with that.
The people of Britain would be delighted to send you over executives, specialists, in fact, the whole damn staff of a wonderful organisation called Railtrack which will provide you with literally stunning railway lines and signalling in no time. And we guarantee that its services will kill fewer innocent civilians than we ever will. Just.
Look, I know the last time we asked you to stand shoulder to shoulder with us, we just sent over a few SAS men to research their novels and then rather dropped you in it with the Russians and the raging poverty and extremism and so on, but things will be different this time. We will not walk away. No. We're going to stay - even though, frankly, a great deal of your countryside is going to be a tad radioactive with all the depleted uranium we'll have blasted into it.
We will happily build you, for example, pricey hospitals to accept the deformed children of the wealthy new class of capitalist robber barons we'll create. Everyone else's children can choose to sell a kidney in exchange for treatment, or simply enjoy the benefits of random genetic mutation - that's the free market for you!
You'll be offered a rich variety of satisfying new jobs - the kind of employment you goatherds and opium farmers have only dreamed of. You'll be able to stitch trainers, jeans, or even cheap, Gucci replicas. Or we'll help you get those clever, foreign fingers of yours busy assembling parts for mobile phones, personal organisers and other humanitarian devices. Some of you may earn up to $1 a month! I know it's difficult to believe, but this is the wonderland that our missiles and token food drops are bringing you.

War thoughts Henna .:
I don't know where to begin..but I'll start somewhere.
Begin at the beginning and move right along
You can all sing along at the sound of the gong.

I don't accept that US and England are bombing Afganistan.
I'm singularly unimpressed with it myself.

And what about if they decide to attack other countries as well??
Then public opinion will go down faster than a lead balloon.

I'm sad that almost all countries and politicians have said that they accept the attacks.
Readers are pointed to the sig I've been running the past week or so. The man who claims to be the US Defense (sic) secretary may not have said a truer word.

The afghan people are starving and the food-drops won't help anythig.
The food drops contain such regular Afghan staples as peanut butter and pop tarts. These are not proper food drops. These are bad TV meals from a rotten US cook.

Then there's also media telling that almost all people in US/England are supporting the bombigs (might be)
Well, het Grauniad put the collected stats from its poll on its website. Some interesting findings, just from reading the questions...

Q3: Military action should
() Stop now
() Stop after bin Laden is handed over / killed, before the Taliban removed.
() Stop after bin Laden is handed over / killed and the Taliban removed.

What about those who want the Taliban out regardless of bin Laden?

Q5: Are you less likely to book a holiday involving air travel or has it not made any difference?
() Less likely to
() Not made any difference

What about those who are *more* willing to travel, for whatever reason?

Q12: Political affiliation (amongst Labour supporters only)
() Conservative: 4%
() Labour: 93%
() Lib Dem: 3%

Last week I read from the newspaper that with the amount of money US had spent on the weapons/warfittings could have saved the lives of thousands/millions of people for months.
One month's rations for the people of Afghanistan costs the same as seven Cruise missiles.

I don't remember whose post it was, but I'd just like to say that Finland does not belong to NATO-countries, and I hope that we won't belong in the future either.
Thanks for the correction, mea culpa.

this is not against anyone personally (well maybe George W. Bush but he's not on the list).
It's the waffle iron, stupid! The other three are animals.

You say he's not on the list... echelon, bert, menwith hill. He is now.

---

President Wrigley Field, speaking of the Taliban:
They began by accepting US funding, military training and arms; as recently as this summer they accepted $43 million dollars from the US for stopping opium production (just about the only thing Afghans can grow to keep from starving, but it impeded our "war on drugs"), and that was in addition to US aid they've been accepting continuously for years.
A proposal of what to do with the counter After The War. Use it to grow opium for medicinal. At the moment, the majority is grown in Tasmania, a fertile soil that can grow many other crops. The farmers in Afghanistan have genuine difficulty in growing anything else. If the west were to purchase their opium for more than the current purchasers are prepared to pay, this would a) release a lot of opium into the medical market, b) act as useful aid to the country, c) give an infusion of valuable western currency to the country, and d) give the farmers something useful to do.

And now we can do the same thing with the misogynistic rapists and pillagers, the Northern Alliance!
If ever the UN was needed to provide cover for a protectorate while the country returns to normality, this is it. The concept worked in East Timor, under two years of Responsible Government from the UN before August's free elections.

An Israeli cabinet minister is assassinated by Palestinian terrorists.

Things They Didn't Know On Tonight's Weakest Link:

• Marshall Mathers III's stage name
• The difference between a twist and a pirouette
• Elementary hairstyling techniques
• The difference between one's "all-time favourite film" and one's "all-time favourite film of all time."
• A laughing stock. That's you, that is.
• Read my lips! No new taxis! I'm George Bush!
• The Thompson Twins appeared in the Tintin books.

  Oo ar Cory:
  Lixz, btw, is the coolest person in the *universe*, because she bought me livestock for my birthday.
  She bought you livestock? Like, cows, and pigs, and sheep? Are you a farmer now? If so, then we'll have to get you to appear on the BBC's daily documentary about regular country farmers...

  "At eight o'clock, join Michael Buerk and his guests for David Starkey Insults. But first, The Archers. Ambridge is surprised by a new arrival...

  [cue Barwick Green]

  Joe Grundy: Oo ar oo?
  Cory: Cory Falcon, your new neighbour farmer.
  Joe: [mutters something unintelligable.]
  Cory: Good to meet you, too. Do you know where The Bull is? I've a barmaid's daughter to chat up.

  [cut scene involving Hellern and Greg. Please!]

  [cut to The Bull]

  Fallon: Ed Grundy, yer disgust me. Not only do yer run off in a stolen car and land yerself in hospital, but yer do it for that thick bint Emmer Carter. You're dumped.
  Ed: Fallon!
  Fallon: I'm going find a cute person in this bar. Do you think I'll succeed, Ruth?
  Ruth: Ooh noooo!
  Fallon: Ruth. Deavid. Edward. Willierm. Short girl I've never seen before with the braided hair and cute accent?
  Cory: Hi. Can I get you a grilled cheese sandwich?

  [cue Barwick Green]

We have a temp in to help answer the phones, and sent out a big mailing of software to our field folk yesterday. There are calls, but hardly more than on a usual day. But they come sporadically - very few early, but then in lumps late morning and mid afternoon. That's the worst part.

Breaking up... Jaeda:
So ok I was watching a rerun of friends, and it was the one where ross and rachel break up...I had forgotten how traumatic it was to watch...
It was? Oh. I thought they were on a break.

who do you think was the worst, most traumatic, heartbreaking breakup and why? choices are:

Ross & Rachel (of course)
Joey & Dawson
Joey & Pacey
Chandler & Janice (Chandler kept the *shoe*)
Ellen & Anne (before she went nuts, that just made her pathetic)
Angela & RayAnne
Of these six, I think it has to be Angela and Rayanne. There's letdown and emotion on both sides.

Other (I've forgotten some I was going to put in here...)
But probably another. Willow and Oz was a blubsome ending, the person she thought she knew goes off and enjoys wild animal sex with a hairy beastie without her suspecting a thing and all the crushing defeat and disbelief that that causes.

Not that I'm an expert in this, or anything.

---

Jaeda:
as the list that launched a thousand romances, I've got a HYPOTHETICAL situation I need opinions on.
Well, hypothetically, ask away.

so ok you meet this person online...and they're attached, and you're attached,
So, say, Toby is with Hayley, but meets Caggie who's with Nick...

but you talk everyday about everything, really begin to care about each other, in a not-just-friends way...but neither of you have any intentions of ever meeting in person, or leaving who you're with....is it wrong to continue the relationship?
...and Toby and Caggie discuss the best restaurants and bath oils and carry on after the rest of us have gone to bed... They say they won't meet, until they do. They say they won't leave their other halves, until they do.

Remember, both parties are clear that no one is leaving anyone, no plans to ever meet, and there is NO cyber sex going on...mild flirting, that's it.
Mild flirting will either turn into not so mild flirting, or it'll turn into swapping pictures. They'll develop into serious flirting, or meeting for coffee. Before we know it, Toby and Caggie are busy having kittens.

OK go for it.....
Your cats (coz that's what we're talking about, right?) are missing something. Hayley and Nick, in their own ways, are just right for Toby and Caggie. Hayley knows Toby in a way that Caggie can't. Toby's projecting his ideal feline into Caggie, and he's going to be disappointed.

Get your cats to read the archives of Dear Prudence on Slate.com. They'll pick up so many tips about managing their love lives, and she has recipes for a fine fish platter, too.

Speaking of cool cats, here's Vic:
I think it depends on your conscience. And on the conscience of the person you are committed to.
This is a valid point. Does Hayley believe in the concept of the open marriage? Of non-exclusive relationships? I mean, cat morals are not the same as human morals.

I took it a little too far once with someone, though, and it hit me that if Brendan were acting like that, I'd be very hurt (and probably kick his ass). And so I try to be more considerate even when he is not with me, because he wouldn't do that to me and I would never want to hurt him.
Maybe this is the reason why B&V work so well. Mushy hugs all round.

is it just for fun or is it because you lack attention from the one you love? Why the other person is flirting...it may mean nothing to you, but you don't want to lead someone on for your own gratification.
Equally, Toby doesn't want to end up dating the feline equivalent of Ewan Kerr...

it may start out as nothing, but you can't control how things build and it may hurt or end both of the relationships if it goes too far and you give into the temptation.
We're back to Willow and Oz here, aren't we.

We are all so much more open online that it's easier for others to get past our defenses and into our hearts and minds. Even if it doesn't lead to an affair, it can lead to so many other hurts and angers. And this goes for offline as well. Hearts are fragile things. Playing is fun, but be careful.
These are blinkin' wise words. Take notes, cats.

Another government U-turn. First, there was the about-turn on student finance signalled by Blair in his Brighton speech - Education minister Estelle Morris will make a speech on this topic next week. Then came Stephen Byers' on-off-on again sort-of renationalisation of Railtrack two weeks ago. Now comes an announcement by Patricia Hewitt that the government is proposing to give shareholders the legal right to vote on company directors' pay deals.
It's inconceivable that Nu Labour would have made any of these moves before now, never mind make all three of them in the space of three weeks. In each case, the moves represent a key policy change for a party that spent most of the 90s purging itself of past commitments to high state spending, public control of industry and wealth redistribution. Whether the new moves are really as radical as all that is another question.

General silliness This came through on work's fax... names have been deleted to protect the guilty.

You _don't_ need an expensive new computer to type letters, enjoy the internet... We are disposing of 'second user' computers, which were once amongst the best you could buy. Now one can be _yours_ for only GBP 195 complete.

The Desktop computers have Windows 95 _and_ Word Processing, Database, and Spreadsheet loaded and running. Why spend £1000 or more on the latest computer with tricky gizmos that you won't use and will require a "rocket scientist" to get going?

+ DX66 Computer (16 RAM, Min 340Mb Hard Drive)
+ Colour Monitor (14" SVGA)
+ Keyboard and Mouse (new)
+ Windows 95 (loaded and running with *online instructions and help*)
+ Microsoft Works (Word Processing, Spreadsheet, Database all loaded and Running.)

But wait... there's more! Drivers on the M6 between Birmingham and Coventry are getting that sinking feeling. The motorway is slowly subsiding into the earth, causing cracks in the tarmac and the sudden appearance of some quite large holes. The motorway, elevated two metres above the surrounding countryside, is expected to be in a shallow cutting by Christmas, and will be entirely in tunnel by next summer. Roads Agency spokesmodel Quentin Thribb said that they are looking down on the problem, and hope to have firm proposals soon.

Researchers have had to abandon a four-year long project into the safety of meat because they couldn't tell the difference between cows and sheep. The experiments, supposedly conducted on the brains of dead sheep, were to establish if BSE could spread from cows. The inability to tell a white fluffy animal from a black and white one has caused major embarrassment. Even Mariah Carey can tell the difference between the two, commenting "This is really silly. Anyone can tell the difference between a cow and a sheep. They wanted the ones that go oink."

We do lunch (a fine spinach and pepper lasagne) and head south for a couple of miles, arriving at a large house in the country. Inside, the objective: Gemma and Silvereagle are pledging to each other and their goddesses.

The plan had been to hold a ceremony at dusk, on the grass outside. Three hours before, the rain has stopped but the ground is still sodden. Should we suggest holding it inside? "Only if it's raining," says Gem, and that's the final answer.

There's a strange tension for the next couple of hours, waiting for the sun to set and the main event to begin. It's complicated by the odd spot of rain, and the ever-present mistiness. Finally, it all begins to come together. Gemma's changed into a long flowing white dress, Silver into a very dark green crushed velvet suit.

We'd been worried about the state of the ground because everyone is going to be barefoot during the ceremony. Though the mist has never lifted, and the turf is damp to the touch, that's as wet as it gets. The fears about treading mud are groundless. Someone's looking out for all of us.

The ceremony is simple, and beautiful for its simplicity. We guests form a loose circle around the couple. Gemma explains why she's pledging to Silvereagle, with a similar explanation from Silver. Then they call on their chosen deities to bless them, swap rings, embrace, and we're done.

They're one of those couples that fit together in a simple, uncomplicated manner, and a simple ceremony brings out the best in them. I just know that they'll be a fixture for years to come.

Anne Thrax writes... Angela Bigos:
> Jo Public is not going to be the target of anthrax through the post.
> Remember, there's the non-trivial chance that the USPS will come to a
> planned grinding halt, as opposed to the usual sort of grinding halt.
I disagree! For maximum terror impact what could scare people more than sending the stuff to a few Mr. and Mrs. J. Q. Publics?
Sending the stuff to Jo Public is an expensive and risky business, with no guarantee that there will be any infection, never mind exposure in the media. And without the oxygen of publicity, the putative terrorists aren't terrorising anyone.

On the other hand, sending nasty stuff to the media guarantees that the story will - quite literally - fall into their lap, and straight onto the front page. Lots of publicity, lots of terror, lots of success.

For now we can calm ourselves by saying "It's only the media and big business" but for how long? Nope, my money is on attacks on Joe Average next.
Well, I disagree, and those are the reasons.

I also maintain that this whole scare is more likely to be a disaffected US resident than a foreign intrusion. I have little evidence to back up this theory; those propounding the opposite have no evidence to support *their* claims.

Discount Iraqi involvement; that country is aiming to get sanctions lifted, not spark a renewed conflict against an enemy it's been beating in recent years.

Note that the strain of anthrax is native to the US. And that only the "liberal media" has been targetted - where is the package at Fox? Or the NY Post? Or at the general public; if someone only has enough material for (say) a dozen packages, they all need to count.

I hope I'm right. And I'm going to act as though I am unless there's evidence to the contrary.