The Bureau of Sabotage

From Wikipedia

As older science fiction readers will know, the Bureau of Sabotage was a fictional government entity invented by science fiction writer Frank Herbert. It came into being as a means of slowing down the pace of government lawmaking, allowing people time to reflect on what was being enacted. 

From Wikipedia

In Herbert's fiction, sometime in the far future, government becomes terrifyingly efficient. Red tape no longer exists: laws are conceived of, passed, funded, and executed within hours, rather than months. The bureaucratic machinery becomes a juggernaut, rolling over human concerns and welfare with terrible speed, jerking the universe of sentients one way, then another, threatening to destroy everything in a fit of spastic reactions.

Founded by the mysterious "Five Ears" of unknown species, BuSab began as a terrorist organization whose sole purpose was to frustrate the workings of government in order to give sentients a chance to reflect upon changes and deal with them. 

First a corps, then a bureau, BuSab gained legally recognized powers to interfere in the workings of any world, of any species, of any government or corporation, answerable only to themselves. Their motto is, "In Lieu of Red Tape."

Threatening to destroy everything in a fit of spastic reactions?

Hmm...

Class war

Maybe we need a new definition of class if we are to have a proper class war. Political class rather than social class. Social class has become outmoded and confusing, which may be deliberate but that’s another story.

So maybe we should keep things simple and begin with the political upper class and the political lower class.

Upper class denotes the franchised, those who vote directly or exercise direct influence on matters of policy, lawmaking, regulation etc.

Lower class denotes the disenfranchised, those who are allowed to vote at elections, but exercise no direct or even indirect influence on matters of policy, lawmaking, regulation etc.

The two classes may as well include everyone. Highly artificial I know, but these are inclusive times and anyway ideas are merely tools, not laws of physics. So a doctor and an unemployed layabout may be in a different social class, but politically they are both lower class.

The class war still feels real enough but has become bogged down by the middle class mess we still tend to refer to as politics. The old narratives have been kept on because the upper class finds them politically useful, not because they are still relevant.

Who is lower class in this new political dichotomy, apart from doctors and unemployed layabouts? Well I certainly am and so are you because members of the upper class do not read blogs. Not mine anyhow.

Who is upper class? It’s a varied and diffuse mix from senior EU and UN bureaucrats, senior celebrities, senior executives of global companies and so on. Even Dave, Nick and Ed are upper class, although they only just make it and that may change. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are lower class of course - and destined to remain so.

Names eh? Good ones are never around when you need them.

Beautiful woman

And yet a spirit still and bright

Walked the length of our street,

A golden, shining, superior type

Of person with whom to meet

I crossed the road, nodded to her,

Gave a friendly little smile,

But she scarcely noted my overture,

Made me feel quite small for a while

I saw her again on Thursday night

As EastEnders neared its close,

So I knew she wasn't a TV fan,

More cultured I supposed.

What was her name I asked myself,

Was it cool romantic and rare?

A golden name of soft delight

A name to go with her hair?

I later heard she was Kylie Brown

From a street just off Park Road,

She had two kids by a married man

Whose name was Barry Snoad.

What's in a name, I mused when I knew,

And a couple of kids on the side?

What's inside matters far more,

Such as warmth and beauty and pride.

But Barry Snoad was a bit of a prat,

So what did that make Kylie Brown?

I simply had to talk to her,

I’d begun to feel let down.

One evening as darkness began to fall

I stopped her in the street,

To ask what kind of life she led

But she turned as white as a sheet

"Piss off" was all I heard her say

As she ran off in a bit of a lather.

After that she changed her route,

So what did she see in old Bazza?

Logaholic

My log store

It's that time of year again - when I finally give the woodburner a well earned break until those deliciously chilly autumn evenings return. It's also the time of year when I stock up on a fresh load of logs. Even though they are supposed to be seasoned, I like to give them another year in the log store.

The pic above shows the interior of my log store after restocking yesterday - and this is only part of it. For some reason I buy more and more logs each year that goes by. I'll never manage to burn this lot unless we have a super severe winter lasting from October to March.

It's a grand sight though.

Derbyshire banana threat shock

Derby Telegraph reports on fungal problems with the Cavendish banana, the western world's most popular banana developed in Derbyshire. No I didn't know that either.

A VARIETY of banana created in Derbyshire and eaten around the world is in danger of becoming extinct because of a deadly disease.

The Cavendish banana was first grown at Chatsworth House by gardener Joseph Paxton in 1835.

It is now thought to be the most popular variety in the western world, accounting for 95% of the bananas shipped to export markets, including the United Kingdom.

It is a trade worth £5.4 billion. But scientists have warned that it is under threat from Tropical Race 4 (TR4), a fungus which has already destroyed Cavendish crops in Taiwan, Indonesia and Malaysia.

The Monty Hall Problem

I enjoy problems like this. They remind us that probability can be counter-intuitive.

Car park snugglers

From motorcloud.net

My wife and I call them snugglers - a term which came down to us from Yorkshire. You park your car in an almost empty car park, but when you return it is quite common to find a snuggler has parked next to you in spite of all the empty spaces. Why is that?

One possibility is that some people use another car to guide them into the parking bay. They can't see the lines and don't have the spatial awareness to park without lining themselves up with something visible such as your car.

Are there other possibilities?