Iun

As child, I never understood the significance of this man every time we saw him on the news. As I grew older, I began to understand that not everybody was as free and liberal as me, and that was a sad moment. He was a man, a great man. A tirelessly great man. He deserves our respect.

See Justin Fashanu for why this is a good thing and also a big deal.

How did they taste?

Oh this, very, very much this. The smell is like someone who bathes in raw pork meat. Urgh. Still, props to those who can and do eat them - it means that I don't have to.

Son. Of. A. Bitch.

That's the nicest thing that anyone's ever done for me!

SHITTER WAS FULL!

Scrooge The musical with Albert Finney. Hauntingly beautiful.

I'm peeing blood again. Good times.

I know it's... three days before December, but I've allowed myself the luxury of listening to a few of my favourites before the start of the "Season" as it were. Now, the question is.... what are your favourites? I personally love: Ding Dong Merrily on High And: Fairytale of New York ....et tu, Brutes?!??

The online marketplace - taobao.com - where I buy all my shit has just changed somehow and I can no longer buy shit from there. They won't accept my foreign ID anymore...HOW AM I GOING TO GET MY MIDORI NOW, FUCKERS???

High demand and low supply more than anything else. Even the shitty ones get paid a good wage. Many middle-class families here just can't be arsed with domestic tasks - the boys are pampered and never learn how to take care of themselves and the girls are brought up to believe that they are princesses who will not need to lift a finger around the house because they will marry a rich man who can afford servants. All of them. Every single one of them.* *note: this only applies to middle-class Shanghai-born families.

We have a bolt, interior/exterior lock and chain. The interior/exterior lock can be unlocked with a key from either side, the bolt lock only from the inside and the chain also. But I kind of demonstrated the flimsiness of the chain when I charged the door after going out for a run and our domestic helper* put the chain on. Why the hell she put the chain on I'll never know. Also, a week later, we came home early and she and her friend were in our apartment together. We fired her the next day. Should have changed the locks though. *Context: A "Domestic Helper" is a common thing in most Shanghai households: she cooks, cleans and hangs out the washing for two hours a day, six days a week and costs about 150GBP per household per month. Normally they will deal with three households a day, making 450GBP a month. Doesn't seem a lot? To put it into perspective, the average security guard makes about 80GBP a month, a factory worker 150GBP a month and a fully-qualified teacher 400 GBP a month.

You should craugh.

I'm drunk as fuck and reading that letter makes me think those people were fuck ass drunk. Racial discrimination note? Attach a "my parents are so fucking insecure in their religious beliefs that I can't go near a crucifix/mosque/sacred cow/totem pole without them praying their asses off to God/Allah/Ganesha/Wumbadum" note. And to be honest, I doubt its veracity.

Exactly the sort of challenge that Luis Suarez deserves. But not the one he gets. 2-1 to the Toon! The phrase I am looking for is "w00t" I believe?

What are you more accustomed to thinking of them as? A salad bar? Do you look at the England players and say to yourself "Oh, that Townsend would be lovely covered in blue cheese and with bits of crunchy bacon"? Is this something we need to talk to Ine about?

Happy Birthday @Gentleben! Seems a lot of us have been mired in the job/life/family doldrums of late... We could all do with remembering that there are positive things in life, and birthdays are one of them!

Oh, alcoholism... My late mother was an alcoholic. But to be honest, I know nothing about the condition. I hope she can get herself sorted. @Raining_again I'm terribly sorry to hear that, stay strong.

Very much this. Massages here cost between 5GBP and 25 GBP. The good ones tend to be the cheaper ones at "blind massage" centres where the masseuses and masseurs are actually blind. There's nothing sexual about it and you can have a lovely poo afterwards. But the others, well... you have to pick your place carefully. It will become obvious within about five minutes whether or not they are going to give you a ... umm "full body" massage. They'll touch you in places... So disgustingly cheap and just the ticket after a long day at work.

Problem is, how many generations does it take for "them" to become "us"? And as soon as they are "us", the values that "they" espouse are "our" values too. I'm just poking you on semantics here: face coverings of any kind are incompatible with operating a vehicle if they are at risk of obscuring your vision.

Have you heard about how airplane chem trails are responsible for inducing seizures in the NSA security operatives spying on our every move?

@Mokong X\-C Condolences Mokong, it's terrible to lose anyone close, even if you knew it was coming.

I stopped using Swapnote a while ago because I found it unusable - I never knew if people got my notes, and my friends would always just send off random discussions about bollocks that I wasn't interested in. The execution of the whole thing was poor. Anyway, I think Nintendo did right to shut it down: it was a free service that some idiots were abusing. If you don't treat something well and with respect, you really just don't deserve to have it. And though a majority probably used the service properly, there's no sense in risking the company's reputation.

I bought Alien Hominid from a nearby Blockbusters in Reading sometime around 2005. Can't say I enjoyed the game, therefore I am glad this place is closing.