civilservant

AC, my turn to apologise I speak as a humble admirer of your wit, wisdom and general guard-doggery against forum trolls, lite or otherwise Group hug, everyone (except the nasty people who set their dogs on smaller animals). Have a good weekend yourself!

Oh dear - no need for apology, humble or otherwise - I was just a bit worried about being lumped in with the hunting, shooting and squirrel-baiting brigade. Anyway - we met a squirrel in Peckham Rye Park this morning. He was very tame and stood up and begged, even though we had a dog (on a lead) with us! Silly squirrel. Some passing girls went 'awww' and even took snaps. The squirrels in Battersea Park, Hyde Park and St James's Park do the same - beg, I mean, not take snaps. There used to be one who had his regular pitch at the Queen Anne's Gate entrance to St James's Park. Given that all these squirrels get away with it in other parks, are park-goers in Dulwich more brutish than in Peckham or Central London (wonders civilservant, inviting further controversy...)

On the footpath past Green Dale, I was hit by a falling piece of bread - looked up to see a squirrel perched on a branch chomping away on a slice as big as itself. A magpie was sitting next to it - they seemed quite comfortable together, although the magpie did look as if it would have liked a share of the bread... Back home, no sooner do I put a fat ball in the bird feeder than the local squirrel ruffians do a Mission Impossible-style upside down raid on it. The birds wait to see if there's any left! We've got a lot more birds as well as the cheeky little fluffy-tailed blighters this year - possibly since some of the local cats moved away.

Thank you, Otta. Tallulah, can I say that I think dogfights, catfights, cockfights, bullfights, cagefights, [add your fave fight here] are ALL deplorable. So... the point that I was trying to make is that when dog fights dog, or mouse fights mouse, the fighters are (usually) picking on someone their own size. Or being made to pick on someone their own size. Any fight in which someone is outclassed by their opponent e.g. squirrel against dog, is not a fair fight, and is therefore worse than deplorable - and anyone who promotes it is wicked. AND I said that Delainie was perfectly right to write about it on the forum and should not have been accused of trolling OK?

Delainie, I agree that you were right to post about these people's cruel and barbaric behaviour and I am sorry that you've been accused of trolling. Dogfights are deplorable, but a dog is fighting a dog. Siccing a dog on a squirrel (or even a rat) is just wickedness.

The crows may have had unfortunate experiences with cats before. They are very bright birds and have long memories - see http://news.discovery.com/animals/angry-crows-memory-life-threatening-behavior-110628.html for example but frankly, I am finding it very difficult to feel sorry for your cat. Its species is responsible for the wanton killing of backyard wildlfe - see reports on other threads of cats attacking bats and killing fledglings - so those crows are being very sensible. Probably best to keep it indoors while birds are nesting.

stationary parties or moving parties?

Alec, I didn't mean to quibble - believe me that I am hugely impressed at the way you've met this challenge

Well done! But shouldn't you factor in the cost of your road miles? And wouldn't some of your stuff have been even cheaper at Iceland?

what Sue said

a burglary? An acquaintance who runs a business in Forest Hill was burgled some weeks ago by a gang who came in through the ceiling from the empty flat above.

the chicken song - spitting image

the use of the word 'crispy', other than by a small child the person who gets onto public transport and sits on one of the last two adjoining seats, ignoring the couple or the mum and child behind them, who then have to find what seats they can and sit apart from each other

I read Embassytown at one go while in bed with flu... afraid that I was not in the best of conditions to appreciate the thatness of anything! I still think that the later battle scenes were a bit... over-long, shall we say? But I agree that a lot of tedious stuff is passed off as SF these days. It seems to be sold by the pound as well - where have all the editors gone? Although you must admit that a nice bit of noir-ish cyberpunk once in a while is good fun - Richard Morgan or early Walter Jon Williams, say.

people who keep reviving the EDF's M&S/Waitrose thread

bad moon rising - creedence

Very sorry to say that CPRSPOC will not be organising a Crystal Palace Road Street Party this year, for a multitude of reasons. However, if anyone else is up for organising one, PM me and I'll talk you through what you need to do.

first mate, thanks for the advice. Just one thing - I don't know who John Rogerson is but he is wrong about guide dogs being trained to 'go' on command. I've walked a colleague's guide dog when he wasn't able to take her out himself, and can say from experience that she definitely isn't trained to do this. And if she's off harness, she'd be after that squirrel just like any badly-trained staffie!

silverfox, I am sorry if you think that I'm running with a lynch mob here I can't answer for the Daily Telegraph article - indeed it is one of a piece with the kind of mischief-making that that paper and others like it make a living from. My problem, and the one that is relevant to this thread, is that ignorant people then take up that argument and run with it. Jelly didn't have to start this thread, after all, and use this story to damn a whole religion on the basis of one bad apple (and we don't know the truth of the story - only what the DT and the DM chose to report). I am pointing out that Jelly has, on another thread, attempted to defuse criticism of a group to which she claims to belong, using a 'few bad apples' argument. This is hypocrisy. I have not got a problem with the Catholic church. I too believe that you can't damn a whole group because of the behaviour of a few. But when people start using special pleading for their own, and deny the same gair hearing to others, I feel very angry. Jelly, you are a disgrace

on another thread, jelly excused the Catholic church from association with the behaviour of child-abusing Catholic clergy thus: ------------------------- > To be fair, Jews are just as guilty as Muslims of practicing genital mutilation. ... Cristians (sic) - especially > Catholics, of which I am - are taking an underhand bashing on the strength of their faith's unfortunate association > with a few very bad apples among a far greater number of good. not just racist and disreputable, but hypocritical as well don't waste your time on her

I recently re-read Neuromancer and was re-blown away As an old SF trufan, I second the endorsements of Ian M Banks and China Mieville. El P's assessment of The City and the City and the Bas-Lag books is spot on, but Embassytown follows the Bas-Lag pattern IMO: he begins enthrallingly well, does China, but can't quite seem to work out how or when to finish. It's probably significant that The City and the City was one of his shortest and least Gothic books. Polite note to Bon3yard - it's SF, never Sci-Fi!

up up and away - johnny mann

gwod wrote >Surely schedule mums feed their kids if they get hungry between feeds, and equally, surely demand fed babies fall into a bit of a routine. The distinguishing criterion seems to be maternal intention. A schedule mum would not feed her child between scheduled feeds, by definition. By feeding a child who cries - from hunger? for any other reason? can you really tell with a small baby? - between scheduled feeds, a schedule mum stops being that and becomes instead 'a mother who tried but did not manage to feed to a schedule'. And it's perfectly normal for a demand-fed baby to fall into a routine. Is the mother baby-led in determining when the baby eats? Then she would be feeding on demand even if these feeds were so spaced as to give the impression of a schedule. ETA Not at all helpful that the research is being cast as a 'baby's future attainment v. mum's current well-being' type battle

Penguin68 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Theft is wrong, theft of > something of no value is wrong and pointless. I agree, and it is very sad that these people are teaching their children to steal too. Whether they are North Cross Road daffodils or Goose Green daffodils is hardly the point.

just one look - the hollies