You can see the tree, but you miss the forest...

Warning: Heavy WoW content.

Gumdrops, over here wants to try and change my mind. He thinks I should respec my Warcraft Main Character to a discipline priest.

And he does have some points...good ones. He even has some stats.

But he misses the forest, because he's looking at the tree.

Looking at this site here, approximately 1/3 priests in a 2000pt rated 2v2 team are a shadow/disc spec, like mine. But on the other hand, priests account for only 7% of characters in 2v2 teams with scores of 2200 or better - see here.

If I build a character for PvP, what I should do is clear - forget the priest. 72% of characters in all 2200pt or better teams are....druids, rogues and warriors. In the top teams, druids and warriors alone account for more than 50% of the total.

So Gummy, my response is - don't look at the tree. Playing a priest in PvP is fairly pointless..and I'm not playing that much of a minority build.

Examine the forest - you should be saying "Level a druid!"!

Minister for Women and Equality

Meet Harriet Harmon. She's the labour minister for Women and Equality.

Now, for the moment lets ignore the impossibility of being the minister for "Women and Equality" - how you can be a minister for a special interest group and for equality at the same
time...

Lets instead look here. We have here the video of her proposing alterations to the current laws on murder and manslaughter in the UK.

First, we have her abolishing the current partial defenses that exist for men. Rage caused by sexual infidelity....well, if I came home to find the wife I loved having sex with another man I'm not sure I'd be able to just turn around and walk away. But no, that's got to go.

If a man has been nagged senseless for years - a verbal tirade, constant attacks and nagging continuing to the point of madness....nope, not a provoking factor.

Men are evil. Men should never be allowed a defense to kill a women.

But then....well, then we get to women. And here she establishes clearly her intention that a women who fears serious violence should always have the charge downgraded to manslaughter...and the example she gives is clearly premeditated.

What's so wrong with this?

Well, if you've gone far enough to plan a murder, why don't you report him to the police? Walk out the door? Tell someone?

What if it's just that - the fear. Fear might not be justified...ignoring the risks of say, mental illness...what if the fear doesn't exist? How the hell can you prove she was afraid? How can you prove "years of abuse"?

If you can prove it, the police will quite happily put him in jail. Present evidence to a magistrate and you will get restraining orders and a host of other aids.

But what if it doesn't exist? It wouldn't take much effort to create the image of fear. A few whispered words here, there...a few secrets between friends....or even lie to the court. A little decent acting...

My point is that while this Minister for "Equality" is removing a partial shield to one group, she's given the other side body armour and a helmet. Either Men and Women are equal in the eyes of the law.

Either killing your spouse is bad and wrong - or it isn't.

It shouldn't matter if it's a man or a women...either a defense is valid - or its not. But lets see what Harriet said.

"What we want is an end to domestic homicide and to intervene early to stop women being beaten and we want no excuses for men to say I killed her, but only because I loved her"

Balance free...no excuses for men, but for gods sake help those poor, defenseless kitten- women.

Giving women a pass to kill men isn't right - but don't believe me. Ask Erin Pizzey, who founded the women's shelter movement in the UK. Of course, the feminists hate her...you see, she has a pesky believe that women can be as violent as men.

My hope is that this stupidity never comes close to law. Killing is wrong, for most reasons. Handing out excuse card - bad idea.
---

And before anyone says the obvious...no, I believe domestic violence is bad and wrong. There is rarely an excuse to kill those you love - mercy killings are another topic.

Women should be offered help to leave abusive relationships safely.

But so should men.
--

Does this make me evil?

While at work today, I was chatting to one of the girls from upstairs.

She tends to hang around the IT Team, while waiting for her mother. Which basically means she's hanging around about 2m away from me, so I usually end up being friendly. Because the alternative is just to be nasty.

Anyway, she was talking about taking her PGCE (aka teaching qualification) and commented to Andrew (one the several we have - there's lots here) that if he tried to talk her out of it, he'd qualify for a slapping.

So I promptly tried to talk her out of it.

Not because I really care, but...well...the idea of a 5ft, slim, (ok Helen, she is a cute brunette - but that's not the point) girl in silly shoes (2 inch heels with about 1 cm square of surface area per foot) trying to slap me was just funny.

I really wanted to see her try.

The odds of her not falling over her own shoes....

Does that make me evil?

Being ill...and unwelcome truths

I hate being ill.

No - really, I do.

I agree, it has upsides. You get to sleep in, you don't have to go to work...you don't have to do anything.

But I believe the downsides more then make up for this. For example - last night at Dungeons and Dragons, I had to look up a rule. This isn't something I do very often, because the rules to me are...well, fairly straightfords. I know them all.

But this time....this time I stood there, reading the book. Having found the paragraph in question, I was distracted by someone. Distraction dealt with, I returned to the book - looking at it blankly, as its pages held no meaning for me.

I stood there, pretending to read while I tried to remember - what was I looking for?? A few moments of reconstruction...I was looking at my character sheet...looking at skills....ah, racial skills.

Find the paragraph and read it, quick. Go to close the book and realise that I couldn't remember what it said.

I really did have the attention span of a rather small gerbil.

Thats one downside...the others....well...being ill!

---

Talking of being ill, what do you do when you are? I play computer games because they share two things in common. First, they help the time to pass quickly without requiring you to move much.

And the other is that most games consist of a large number of very small, short bits. Kill one monster (or two) at a time. Loot this, make that. But nothing that requires huge concentration or co-ordination - so perfect for the ill.

But this led to a dilema for me yesterday.

There's someone in the guild, called...well, lets call him Paul. Paul and I talk when we're on, even though we've never met. Back before I left the UK, when I played much more then I do now, we chatted as we played for months.

But yesterday, he said something odd...

Now, the Elder Brother and I are both in the same Warcraft Guild. Our main characters are known to be owned by siblings. For roleplay purposes, we usualy use the pronoun suited to the character not the player...so my priestess is almost always a "she".

Why's this an issue? Well, Paul said something that shows that he thinks I was a girl. A real, honest to god girl playing warcraft.

Now, what do you say to that?

What do you say to someone who's built up an image of you based on one little detail that's never been mentioned. It probably doesn't matter - we've never actualy met, I doubt we ever will.

But do you say something, or....?

A new definition of hell

There are many things in life that can make life hell.

People, places, disease...I've got a new one for the list.

Decorating.

Right now, we're re-doing the kitchen, the hall and stairs. There's dust, everywhere. Fine particles of the stuff sitting in the air. Small bits that stick to everything and get everywhere.

The smell of paint...paint everywhere. No where you can escape, there when you wake - there when you sleep. The headache that goes with paint...dull, constant and throbbing.

Right now I'm seriously considering the brothers offer of sanctuary at his for a few days. True, the spare room is a mess. True, I won't have my laptop or other bits. True, the cats run away and hide from you.

But relief from the smell...oh I'm tempted.

I'll donate a pint....

A joke courtesy of Trixy...

A driver is stuck in a traffic jam on the motorway. Nothing is moving. Suddenly a man knocks on the window.

The driver rolls down his window and asks, 'What's going on?'

'Terrorists down the road have kidnapped Gordon Brown, Alistair Darling, David Miliband, and Jack Straw.

They're asking for a £10 million ransom.

Otherwise they're going to douse them with petrol, and set them on fire.

We're going from car to car, taking up a collection.'

The driver asks, 'How much is everyone giving, on average?'

'Most people are giving about a gallon.'

I hold views

Now, you may (or may not, but I doubt it) have noticed that I hold Views.

Some of these are somewhat less then Politically Correct. But broadly, I believe in fairness - and that fairness trumps special interest.

However - and this is important - I am amenable to having my mind changed. If you can prove, with statistics and reasons I consider to be unbiased I'll freely change my mind. It has happened before...although if the source of your numbers is ultimately an organisation named "xxxx against..." or "xxxx yyyyy rights" or the like, you're going to have your work cut out for you.

But I will listen.

However, here's an example of someone I can't stand...a feminist. Now, feminists per se I don't have a problem with. In the past, they've had a point. They still may have one, in some areas - I remain Highly Unconvinced, primarily because they're only interested in one side of the coin. Women, rather then looking at everyone. (But that's a side issue).

Have a look at the site here....

Now, why do I bring this up? Because it's an example of the one sided nature of some single issue activists that just Annoys ME.

We have someone who's campaigning to have porn banned on the tube system....well, ok. But we're not talking about "porn" as most people would accept the term. We're not talking about images of actual sex, or even hugely revealing, A1 size pictures or posters used in advertising.

Nope, we're talking about such things as the page three girl. Not exactly hugely offensive.

But she wants it banned, because those evil men look at it.

But lets look at say, "Hello magazine", "Ok magazine", all the gossip and picture magazines....all these have photos of what I would imagine to be rather tasty young men, as well as all the gossip and "human interest" articles you could want to burn.

But apparently these are all right, because, well, it's for women, and not offensive. Nope, only men's soft porn must go...

And for added fun, here's a quote from the site that really pissed me off.

"Unfortunately I had to end the poll early, because a silly chap decided to put a link up on his blog and the poll was suddenly flooded with other silly people who decided to sabotage the poll."

Lets translate..."I put a poll on the site so that everyone who agrees with me can do so, but the minute someone disagreed and linked to it, I had to stop it. Because they were going to vote the wrong way."

If you're going to have a poll, at least have the guts to let people disagree. Continuing by deleting comments...

Even if I thought that her point had merit (which, in a limited way it might...I doubt it, but I can't rule it out) that alone is enough to say "Nope, ignore this".

Now, time to go comment there, I think...

What I did on my wednesday

Now, in my time I've been in many slightly odd social situations.

People who believe that horses are more important then the homeless. Those who consider a good beating to be a perfect tuesday night. Discussions as to the best way to cook a small child.

This time...after a committee meeting we're at The Darlek's place. We're not screaming Exterminarin...or drinking vodka and coke.

Well, I'm not drinking vodka and coke.

We're instead making fools of ourselves on a new toy...a "Wii fit". And it looks hilarious. No, really, it does. They haven't dragged me on it yet though...

It does look like a great motivational tool for loosing weight and/or training. Well, the opening stages of any training. Wouldn't necessarily consider it as a primary training tool to say, run a marathon.

But for the parents....

(I'll see if the Darlek and his Limpit loose much weight - they're on a 30 day binge...)

How to handle holidays

Here I am, at the bunker, wondering how to handle holidays.

My co-worker, next desk over, is taking off two days this week and all of next week...which leaves me an issue - what do you do with holiday?

I've got something like 28 days worth of the stuff - call it 25 days, of paid holiday.

Now, I'm thinking of spending two weeks later this year somewhere where they get Real Snow if I can afford it. Assuming that works out, that's 2*5 days....so 15 days left.

Yep, 15 days, three weeks for all real purposes. I can take it in days, half days, long weekends...and I don't know how I want to do it.

Take a day a month, say, fridays? Leaves me 9 months this work year (I'm thinking of my work year, no matter what Human Resources say) so thats, um, 6 days left to burn.

Or do I go somewhere? Or reserve some for a evil, nasty binge at Christmas? Or enjoy hiding from the sunshine now, when I can?

Ummm....help?

Ten minutes in the bunker

Morning all - quick message from the bunker here, while lunch break ticks away...

I was listening to the radio this morning, as I drove down the nasty, nasty road on the way to work today. Nothing there, listening to the radio...

Today it was about something that I couldn't understand, not at first. It was about illiteracy - that small percentage of the population who can't actually read.

But here I ran into a problem.

I tried to imagine not being able to read. This turned quickly into an "imagine you can't see colour" exercise. Try, as hard as I could, I failed.

Finally, after an Eternity of Hell on the road to work, I arrived and attempted an exercise, but again I was simply unable to do it.

I could not see a word and not read it. If I tried, really, extremely hard I could read the letters before the meaning came. But even then, the meaning was always there waiting for me.

Turn the word around in my mind, reading it 10 times quickly - I could start to strip away the meaning, approach it from a new perspective. Try it - say a word to yourself, in your head. Taste each sound, change in taste. Perspective. Perspective...perspective...

But even then, focus a little and the word springs back - its meaning, uses and abuses.

So I tried french, still seeking an understanding of the issue - to understand not understanding - but even as I looked at writing I couldn't read I was still thinking, ticking away. Trying to match the words back to English. Treating it almost as misspellings, trying to twist it back into understanding.

Even then, knowing that I couldn't follow it I started to piece together limited meaning. That's a regular verb, past tense I think. Reverse that word order there to make sense. In the corner there, that's a name...

Finally I ended up on a Chinese language site - finally, I had the blessed sense of blankness. I had a wall of text that meant nothing. Even the letters were wrong, and could not be fully followed. They may not have been letters - but it didn't matter.

I had found oblivion - but still I could not understand.

For I looked away, and saw a message on the board. I saw, read and understood in less time then it took to run my eyes over the whiteboard.

How do you understand someone who lacks a skill so deeply ingrained in you that you can't not use it, even if you try?

How long is your arm? How loud is your voice?

How long is your am?

Mine is about 3ft...well, between 2 and 3. Nothing to unusual...fingers, wrists...elbows. All as nature intended. Mostly. Close enough to pass as normal.

My voice though...my voice is also as nature intended - but with technology I can amplify it. I can make it audible around the world in seconds. Canada, France or Iraq - it doesn't matter, I can pick up a phone and call.

With a little more work I can setup or watch a camera feed - a second or three of lag, but otherwise real time. I can see through a planet - eat your heart out superman.

But all this is as nothing - I can not reach out and touch anyone or anything more then a yard away.

I could not stroke my own cat as she dies a planet away.

I'm sorry Jinks.

I'm sorry.