The Official Nonsense Thread

[Ollie]

How sad, particularly at 60.

Anyway I had a fantastic day at PAX Aus the other day, meeting my favourite YouTuber and getting pictures with him was great. It was kind of funny as I had one eye open; half looking out for them and finally when we went to grab some dinner and sit down at a table, I took my first bite, and then I saw them at the table across from mine. I was asked if the food was spicy (which it wasn't really) so I answered, "No but I'm in a bit of shock..."
I was literally frozen and shaking creepily staring at them before my dad went over there with me feeling quite embarrassed.

[Minty]

Favourite YouTuber? OK, spill the beans!

[Ollie]

I've mentioned him before, with a house that I made appearing on his channel. If you dig deep enough you may find that photo of me and him somewhere...
Now search!

Edit: wait what?! Quxxn apparently passed away.

Edit 2: it looks like that video has disappeared, but still, I have mentioned the youtuber in question.

[Caspin]

Ah and was PAX all that you'd hoped it would be, Ollie, aside from meeting your fave youtuber?

[Ollie]

It is what I expected it to be, apart from the fun board games, didn't really expect them to be there. I enjoyed it because I wasn't expecting it to be anything like e3, gamescom, etc. considering it was only it's first year and the fact it's in Australia (which is not really known for gaming). I was glad to see ubisoft were there at least. I was semi disappointed because intuitive game studios didn't say anything, considering they're an Australian company (made up from some of the team behind LA Noire) and we know they're working on something.

[Caspin]

Sounds like a fun event, I'm glad you were able to go. My brother has that LA noire game. He enjoyed playing it but then at some point he got stuck and hasn't returned to it yet due to being occupied with matters in Skyrim.

[Minty]

Don't mention Skyrim! Word came out today that the Elder Scrolls online will be for bloody consoles up to two months before it will be out for PCs as a suck up to their manufacturers for messing them around with Skyrim.

It also confirms that's why Skyrim got junked - so they could get ESO out on time for the new gen consoles.

You know it's still too hot when it is pouring with rain & you can see a cat sitting quite happily out in it in the middle of someone's driveway probably because it's the nearest it can get to cooling down.

Look who is going on the banknotes in the UK:




Jane Austin. JANE EFFING AUSTIN! Like, WTF?

The official line is that it's because there isn't enough women on Bank of England notes: but at the same time Austin replaces Charles Darwin, Winston Churchill will replaced prison reformer Elizabeth Fry on the £5.




This is the muppet to blame for it, one Caroline Criado-Perez of Rutland. She described the expected announcement as "a brilliant day for women"?!?!?!? Oh yeah, it could have been Millicent Fawcett, it could even have been Florence Nightingale again (never mind the nursing, she's the queen of applied statistics as an academic discipline) but no, let's have the Godmother of Chick Lit on the notes instead. Gaaaaaaaaah!

Could have been worse, we could have had the Ricardians demanding he got his head on the notes!

[Caspin]

I've nothing against Miss Austen's books (at least she had good grammar), but yes there are plenty of other people who could be considered more worthy of a place on a bank note.

[Minty]

It could have been worse, it could have been Mary Seacole. There was a big campaign to put her on largely around the myth that her role in nursing during the Crimean War was forgotten about because she was black & working class, unlike Florence Nightingale who was white & middle class.

In reality Seacole came from a very well to do background, only looked after officers in the Crimea (her so-called "British Hotel" of Balaclava) not the ranks, & the refusal by Whitehall to supply her with funds (much touted by The Voice & The Guardian) was down to her ample investments in the gold mining industry (& yes, before you guess, it was in South Africa!) & the fact she was clearly as much in it out there for the money as the munitions sellers.

Nightingale covered up for her to a ludicrous extent, largely because the situation was so critical that anyone proffering any form of competent medical facilities (which Seacole did, to be fair) was a bonus (Nightingale was a pragmatist to the "nth"), even if she were what we'd call nowadays a "war profiteer". But she forbade any of her nurses from working with Seacole's operation as she was running to all intensive purposes a private medical business for profit: selling booze & camp kit to troops, even providing catering for toffs going along to watch battles from a safe distance.

If they stick her on the notes, they may as well stick Dr John Dee on them next & be done with it! Knowing our luck, it'll be Victoria Beckham next.

[Caspin]

If they want to avoid looking sexist by having the "wrong" ratio of men:women on banknotes they should just use pictures oflandmarks instead, or native plants or something.

I am home after my holiday with happy memories, a bunch of photos (don't be afraid i'm not going to subject you to a slideshow), no tan at all and lots of bourbon and a bottle of Ardbeg from duty free. I have used five types of transport today if you don't count walking. I wonder how many days of work next week it will take to undo all my good work at relaxing. I reckon about three days should do it. I had such a nice time but now it's good to be home. I see that there are some things to read in the Stories section so I'll catch up on those tomorrow.