Linky Linky
Yummy mummies strip for Farepak victims: For those not aware of the story, Farepak has become a British national scandal: it was an unregulated Christmas ‘savings company’ that was deliberately wound up, leaving thousands of poor UK families a total of 40 million pounds out of pocket, with no Christmas for their children and no prospect of recovering what they’ve lost.
“A group of Cumbrian women have stripped off to raise cash for families hit by the crash of the Farepak hamper firm. It was the idea of Anna Stewart, a childminder, who attends a mother and toddler group where the demise of Farepak has hit five mums and 14 children. She hopes to sell hundreds of copies of the calendar and will donate the proceeds to local Farepak victims, reports the News & Star. The mother-of-three organised a photo-shoot at Venture studios in Carlisle, which offered facilities free of charge.”
Well done, those women. If you’d like to help or get a calendar, contact details are available here.
War on youth: chucked out – foto-novela gallery with soundtrack of what happened when a group of young lads in hoodies tried to visit their local taxpayer-funded, public Manchester art gallery.
My Half-Year of Hell With Christian Fundamentalists: a Polish exchange student shares the horror. (Via):
One day I was talking to my host parents about my mother, who is separated from my father. They were appalled — my mother’s heart was just as possessed by the devil as mine, they exclaimed. God wanted her to stay with her husband, they said.
The Golden Winger nominations are up at The Poor Man:
The Soggy Biscuit Award: (biggest circle jerk)
A) Lee Seigel and ?sprezzatura?, The New Republic Lee Siegel is a genius?
B) Assorted, ?Glenn Greewald is eeeeeeevil?
C) Assorted, ?James Webb writes kiddie porn!?D) The Washington Post, ?stop being mean to Deborah Howell!?
I’d vote for Lee Seigel because he’s such a twat, but in view of the breadth of the ensuing fallout, it has to be the WaPo. Nominations are still open, so I may have to nominate Sadly No’s pet insane winger Jeff Goldstein for something, the Palme D’Hair perhaps. It’s all a bit insular, but still fun.
Sometimes you just want to bang your head on the keyboard…
The same conference that reiterated the Catholic Church’s hardline position on homosexuality (“No 1: Be celibate”) voted more money for research into priests’ sexual abuse of children. Ow, ow, ow ow, the wilfully blind, it hurts……
America’s first socialist senator has his own video game
Oy, how I miss Channel 4: luckily there’s bittorrent for things like Black Books and Green Wing. This is one series I have to obtain somehow: the first series of The IT Crowd is now out on DVD, with subtitles in ‘leet. $w337!
SF publisher gives away books to disabled:
“Baen Books, a publisher of science fiction, will provide its books to fans who are blind, paralysed, or dyslexic, or are amputees, in electronic form free of charge, effective immediately. Baen Books is making this offer in recognition of Veterans Day, and all our disabled military veterans. Many Baen authors are veterans themselves, using a military setting as the setting of their tales. Right now convalescing vets might welcome an exciting, fast-action tale to pass the time.”
And finally: Is that all? We British spend 3 full days a year moaning, apparently. Seems a woeful underestimate to me. Bloody useless bloody surveys.
Read more: UK , Farepak, Fundraising, Publishing, Veterans, Fundies, Disability, Catholic Church, Sex, TV, Channel 4, IT Crowd, Demonised youth , Nude Calendars
