CHILD DISCIPLINE 1960 v 2006

Scenario: Johnny and Mark get into a fist fight after school. 1960 - Crowd gathers. Mark wins. Johnny and Mark shake hands and end up best friends. Nobody goes to jail, nobody arrested, nobody expelled. 2006 - Police called, SWAT team arrives, arrest Johnny and Mark. Charge them with assault, both expelled from school even though Johnny started it. Scenario: Jeffrey won't stay still in class, disrupts other students. 1960 - Jeffrey sent to office and given a smack on the bum by Principal. After a very short time, sits still in class. 2006 - Jeffrey given huge doses of Ritalin. Becomes a zombie. School gets extra money because Jeffrey has a disability. Scenario: Billy breaks a window in his father's car and his Dad gives him a thumping. 1960 - Billy is more careful next time, grows up normal, goes to uni, and becomes a successful and responsible citizen. 2006 - Billy's Dad is arrested for child abuse. Billy removed to foster care and joins a gang. Billy's sister is told by psychologist "Of course, you remember being abused" and their Dad goes to prison. Billy's mum has affair with psychologist.
Scenario: Mary is pregnant. 1960 - five high school boys leave town. Mary does her final year at a special school for expectant mothers. 2006 - School counsellor contacts Planned Parenthood. Mary gets an abortion. Mary given condoms and told to be more careful next time, and also kids don't need fathers, anyway.
Scenario: Johnny takes apart leftover firecrackers from cracker night, puts them in a bottle, blows up a red ant hill. 1960 - Ants die. 2006 - Fire brigade and police called. Johnny charged with domestic terrorism, government investigates parents, siblings removed from home, computers confiscated, Johnny's Dad goes on a terror watch-list. Scenario: Johnny falls while running during recess and scrapes his knee. He is found crying by his teacher Mary who hugs him to comfort him.
1960 - In a short time Johnny feels better and goes on playing. 2006 - Mary is accused of being a sexual predator and loses her job. She faces three years in prison

Return Of The Blogger

Greetings bloggers, is anyone reading this blog anymore, of course you all are! Recovering after 7 days of the worst food poisoning I have ever had, in 2 doses, ill last Monday - Wednesday, slight pick-up on Thursday, then very ill with food poisoning - V & D - from Friday to Sunday. 2nd last week of my training course at Claverhouse, progressing fine, Blondie - Heart of Glass - and Queen - Radio Ga Ga - on the stereo. Good taste in music! Keep posting, especially you, Scaryt and leigh and you, Fluffy, D, SR. Keep in touch and watch this space for new postings. Liverpool were, of course, robbed of 2 points by a ridiculous penalty award to Chelsea on Sun. - clearly an accidental collision, except not to the referee. EZ

PERTH FILM SOCIETY NEW SEASON THURSDAYS 7.45 PERTH CONCERT HALL

THE BEAT THAT MY HEART SKIPPED (6 Sept, Cert 15, 102 mins)
Handsome Romain Duris glistens in this Paris gangland thriller
(French with subtitles)

RED ROAD (13 Sept, Cert 18, 110 mins)
Acclaimed Scottish film set in a Glasgow highrise, Andrea Arnold directs

LAKSHYA (27 Sept, Cert 12, 185 mins + interval)
Bollywood comes to Perth, with mega-stars Amitabh Bachchan and Hrithik
Roshan in this war epic. (Hindi with subtitles)

PAN’S LABYRINTH (18 Oct, Cert 15, 119 mins)
Visually stunning fantasy about the Spanish civil war (Spanish with subtitles)

THE DEATH OF MR LAZARESCU (1 Nov, Cert 15, 150mins)
Acclaimed black comedy about the unwell Mr Lazarescu (Romanian with subtitles)

L’ENFANT/THE CHILD (22 Nov, Cert 12A, 100mins)
Story of a new born child, this film is both sensitive & gripping
French with subtitles)

VOLVER (13 Dec, Cert 15, 121 mins)
Vibrant, warm, witty Almodovar film. And Penelope Cruz too!
(Spanish with subtitles)

All films start at 7.45pm in Perth Concert Hall, Norie Miller studio.
Tickets at Horsecross box office (0845 6126320 or email tickets@horsecross.co.uk)
£4.50 at the door or £20 for all 7 films (concession £3.50 or £15 for all 7).
Any questions, please call Susannah (01738 636339) or Lis
01821 642195) or email perthfilmsociety@tiscali.co.uk

FILMS SPONSORED BY OMNIINSTRUMENTS
(www.omniinstruments.co.uk)

Liverpool FC Website

See www.liverpoolfc.tv for details of this evening's opening Premier League win versus Aston Villa, highlights and post-match reaction. Check the league table standings as the season progresses. Good luck to the Reds in their Champions League final round qualifier versus Toulouse next week.

LIVERPOOL OVERCOME VILLA WITH LATE WINNER

GOOD START TO PREMIER LEAGUE SEASON! Liverpool win 2-1 over Aston Villa thanks to a Gerrard free kick 2 minutes before the end of normal time and 2 minutes after Villa had equalised with a penalty. Earlier Villa scored an own goal, after half an hour, to give the Reds a 1-0 half time lead.

International Radio Stations at www.live-radio.net

This could be an interesting website, one-stop shop for accessing radio stations, music, speech and arts, from around the world, divided into continental areas. As they say in the blurb...

On the site you will find links to many thousands of radio stations worldwide, all of which, with the correct (free!) software, you will be able to hear via your computer.

The stations you will find on our website will be genuine, proper radio stations which can be heard on a normal radio.

This site is used by many radio stations themselves, including the BBC World Service and the BBC's Monitoring Service.

Come on Blogger, fix the viruses, system crashes, polls not working, blog entries saving but not really saving, not being published/updated.

Thanks for your advice and expertise, scaryt. Looking forward to some new postings from you, Fluffy and Shadowrebel.

Gobbledygook, gobbledygook, 1234 testing system, go-slow everything grinding to a halt, will this ever publish a new blog entry ever again?

Hope you like the new features on the blog. Not much general news to tell you about recently. I am commuting between Dundee (mornings & afternoons) and Perth (evenings & overnight), caring for my Mum whilst my Dad takes a deserved week's holiday at the Nairn Jazz Festival. Have 4 weeks' training left at Claverhouse until 31 Aug. Still trying to update passport and arrange a short break in Paris, via GNER train to London and Eurostar train through Channel Tunnel to Paris.

Am trying to sell a front row stall ticket for the amateur production of 'We Will Rock You' at the Whitehall Theatre, ticket is valid for Tuesday 7 August (tomorrow), time 7.30pm, have put up a poster on the Clavie noticeboard, ticket is £12. Should be someone interested in a ticket. All in a good cause, show is in support of Caring For Kids charity. Keep blogging! - No takers for WWRY musical ticket - I'm surprised! Mumbo jumbo mumbo jumbo system crashing on a go-slow, do I need new login password, new account, is system just very slow?!

The Top 10 Guide To...

Today: The Top 10 Guide To Jazz, Rock & Pop Singers

• Freddie Mercury www.queenonline.com/fmercury.html
• Frank Sinatra www.franksinatra.com
• Debbie Harry www.deborahharry.com
  
• Billie Holiday www.cmgworldwide.com/music/holiday
• Stevie Nicks www.nicksfix.com/
• Robert Plant www.robertplant.com
• Christina Aguilera www.christinaaguilera.com
• Pink www.pinkspage.com
• Paul McCartney www.paulmccartney.com
• Tony Bennett www.tonybennett.net

Agree or disagree, let me know in the Comments link.

LES TROIS PETITS COCHONS (THE 3 LITTLE PIGS) by Erik Zoha

Once upon a time, in a faraway land called France, there were 3 little pigs, who lived in a small village on the edge of rolling hills and rich farmland. They lived a happy life, and got on well with all their neighbours – including the dogs, cats, cows, bulls, sheep and swans.

One pig worked as a carpenter and his house was made of wood.

The second pig was a farmer and his house was made of straw.

The third pig was a builder and his house was made of bricks.

One day, along came a big, bad wolf, jet black in colour, called Napoleon. He wanted to buy the village and farmland, and turn it into a cotton-spinning mill, enslaving the farm animals, and exploiting their labour for only a handful of pennies in pay.

“Not by the hair on my chinny chin chin,” the pigs shouted.

“Then I’ll huff and I’ll puff and I’ll build an empire, bring down the British army and navy, and declare war on Russia and the Germans,” said Napoleon.

“Fair enough,” said the pigs. “We’ve been reading Karl Marx and have decided to set up our own Communist collective village and then live happily ever after.”

flickrvision (beta)

flickrvision (beta)

Addictive, 'slide show' of photos/pictures posted every second of every day.

DUNNOTTAR CASTLE by Erik Zoha

Perched precariously on 100-foot cliffs between

North Sea and Highland Boundary Fault,

Guarded by a hard mile-long slog down stone steps,

Brooding Dunnottar unravels its contents slowly,

Tardis-like, larger on the inside than out.

Guardhouse, living quarters, barracks, well-preserved

Chapel and tower-house, munitions room,

Half-intact, half-ruined; when complete,

A natural safe-house for Scotland’s Crown Jewels

When Cromwell’s forces put down rebellions, post-Civil War.

Now thousands more Americans, Japanese and European tourists

Invade, armed with digital cameras and camcorders,

Shooting the architecture and spectacular scenery:

Dunnottar’s good looks, captured on-screen, supporting “Hamlet”.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

THE VIEW by Erik Zoha

Silvery, sinewy concrete span

Bridging the silvery Tay –

Bisecting the photo of Dundee.

Lush, green Fife contrasts with grey-

Toned City of Discovery.

Unloved, unlovely Tayside House

Dominates centre-right, scraping sky

With D.C. Thompson nearby,

Separated by Caird Hall; memories of

Graduation, class of ’89.

Academic and office tower blocks

Jostle for space with church spires

That McGonagall would have described

In compellingly obvious rhyme.

And, in the foreground, ex-DRI, red-hued

And white-toned townhouses

Separated by lofty conifers

From limestone semis and terraces.

A Dundee snapshot overview seems

Devoid of life save for road bridge cars.

Hi everyone, here (above) are some samples of my creative writing, poetry and short stories, that I have been working on at the Highwayman Community Centre, in Dundee's Hilltown. Hope you enjoy them, comments welcome!

Welcome to a new feature which will be updated regularly.

The Top 10 Guide To...

Today: The Top 10 Guide To Rock & Pop Groups

• Queen www.queenonline.com
• Blondie www.blondie.net
• The Rolling Stones www.rollingstones.com
• Guns N Roses www.gnronline.com
• Scissor Sisters www.scissorsisters.com
• The Beatles www.beatles.com
• The Who www.thewho.net
• Foo Fighters www.foofighters.com
• Kaiser Chiefs www.kaiserchiefs.co.uk
• The Eagles www.eaglesband.com

Agree or disagree, let me know your views, choices in the Comments link.

One day a guy died and found himself in hell. As he was wallowing indespair,he had his first meeting with a demon. The demon asked, "Why so glum?" The guy responded, "What do you think? I'm in hell!" "Hell's not so bad," the demon said. "We actually have a lot of fun downhere. You a drinking man?" "Sure," the man said, "I love to drink." "Well, you're gonna love Mondays then. On Mondays all we do is drink. Whiskey, tequila, Guinness, wine coolers, diet Tab and Fresca We drink tillwe throw up and then we drink some more!" The guy is astounded. "Damn, that sounds great.." "You a smoker?" the demon asked. "You better believe it!" "You're gonna love Tuesdays. We get the finest cigars from all over the world and smoke our lungs out! . If you get cancer, no biggie. You're already dead, remember?" "Wow, the guy said, "that's awesome!" The demon continued. "I bet you like to gamble." "Why yes, as a matter of fact I do" "Wednesdays you can gamble all you want. Craps, blackjack, roulette, poker, slots, whatever. If you go bankrupt, well, you're dead anyhow. You into drugs?" The guy said, "Are you kidding? I love drugs! You don't mean . . ." "That's right! Thursday is drug day. Help yourself to a great big bowl of crack, or smack. Smoke a doobie the size of a submarine. You can do all the drugs you want, you're dead, who cares!" "Wow," the guy said, starting to feel better about his situation, "I never realized Hell was such a cool place!" The demon said, "You gay?" "No." "Ooooh, you're gonna hate Fridays!"