Resolutions

by Simon J James on January 3, 2010

It’s that time of year when making resolutions is the generally accepted thing to do and talk about to strangers in the street. I made a big deal at the start of last year of publicly announcing my resolutions with great expectation, resolve and determination. I failed on every single one of them which has dented my spirits and left me in a deep funk in this traditional time of hope and expectation. Therefore I am going to significantly scale down my originally lofty 2009 resolutions:

Become a trusted advisor to Barack Obama – Fail

What more can I do? I sent my ideas and he has never even written back to engage me in political discussion or strategic implementation of my initiatives. In February of this year I sent Rahm Emmanuel a fax with a plan to send Mr Obama’s approval rating through the roof throughout America and establishing him as a unifying force. My, ‘Get Him To Wear Oldstyle Hats More’ plan fell upon deaf ears no matter how many times I faxed random numbers in America. (Seventeen times).

Find Bigfoot – Fail

Only partial fail here really as I had a really good look around Brentford and Chiswick and didn’t catch him (or her) anywhere. Although I did see a very large rat, a bigger than average pigeon and a dead fox. Also, a friend of mine has big feet.

Control the Weather with my Mind – Fail

I seem to be able to recognise weather relatively easy so I thought that preemptively establishing the conditions for a particular weather via the medium of dressing up may work, even in the opposite sense. However, I made the vital scientific connection, based on less than rigorous testing, that individual clothing choice has no bearing on the weather. Although I have not tested this outside of Middlesex.

Assert my claim and demand the throne of the United Kingdom and re-establish the Empire – Fail

I just thought the ‘House of James’ sounded good and shouted it at the Queen as she went past on The Mall. I think she heard but I’m not 100% it was the Queen. It could have been a black cab with an advert for Hairspray on it.

Invent a new new colour – PASS

Booniche. It’s the new shade that everyone’s talking about and about to take the fashion roughly by the arm and march it out of the store. It’s the colour the end of your finger goes when it’s really cold and you can’t feel it anymore. I have registered this with The Colour People at Dulux and they assure me that I am not welcome in their office anymore.

This year I have committed to breathing everyday, walking to places sometimes, watching football and very occasionally drinking too much. Only Failing on one of them so far.

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Celebrity Science Idiots

by Simon J James on January 2, 2010

If you are used to having your every whim catered for and words hung upon like you’re preaching from the mount, it is inevitable that you will sometimes say very stupid things. This is why I love listening to celebrities who have heard a tiny amount of information on a subject they like the sound of spout off as if they had been researching it for 20 years.

For example, everyone’s favourite Beatle swindling hopalong, Heather Mills, said that when you eat meat it stays in your gut for 40 years, putrefies and turns into disease that kills you. She followed up that with the phrase, “That is a fact”. It’s magnificent, isn’t it? She believed that enough to actually say that to someone who was going to put it in a newspaper.

Sense about Science have been publishing rebuttals to these people for ages but I had to highlight a couple that tickled me.

  • Actress Suzanne Somers said that the contraceptive pill must be unsafe “because is it safe to take a chemical every day, and how would it be safe to take something that prevents ovulation?” She was unaware that natural substances such as hormones are chemicals and never thought to look it up.
  • Roger Moore claimed that foie gras causes Alzheimer’s disease. WHAT?
  • Sarah Palin dismissed evolution out of hand, with no other reason but she wanted to curry favour with Middle America. She “didn’t believe in the theory that human beings — thinking, loving beings — originated from fish that sprouted legs and crawled out of the sea” or from “monkeys who eventually swung down from the trees.” Dawkins was all over that one.
  • Arsenal and Netherlands footballer Robin van Persie had horse placental fluid dripped onto an ankle injury by a Serbian doctor. And then claimed it was a miracle remedy that promoted faster healing. He is still unable to play through injury.

Aren’t they great? The combination of ego, ignorance and a forum with which to spout forth leads to hilarity. It’s very much worth going to the site and downloading reading the PDF entitled ‘Celebrity and Science 2009′, it’s tremendously enlightening, funny and saddening all at the same time. It’s an essential site.

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The Things We Learned In 2009

January 1, 2010

Domestic pigs can quickly learn how mirrors work and use them to find food. Therefore this means that scientists have done all the east stuff and and are now putting all the hard stuff off with side projects. Next week, can an ant catch? Babies pick up their parents’ accents from the womb, and infants [...]

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Bush: A Little Learning is a Dangerous Thing

August 2, 2009

Published over at Blogcritics.com. http://blogcritics.org/politics/article/a-little-learning-is-dangerous-thing/ The original I submitted was poorly fact checked so thanks to Dave Nalle for his patience. Pimp Me Out:

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Where does Inspiration come from?

August 2, 2009

New FWJ post here: http://freelancewritinggigs.com/goodstuff/where-does-inspiration-come-from/ Pimp Me Out:

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What Are Your Ambitions?

July 14, 2009

More stuff from the my other gig. An article about the origins of ambition. Pimp Me Out:

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My Pitch

July 7, 2009

Well, here it is then, my first foray in the world of semi pro-blogging. Sounds like some sort of Ultimate Fighting Championship, doesn’t it? No? Just me then. Pimp Me Out:

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Yay me.

June 21, 2009

Good Freelance Writing Jobs Network and good old Deborah Ng: I have a writing job! Surely it’s just a matter of time before that best-seller now? Pimp Me Out:

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Monster Raving Loony Party Expenses Revealed

June 15, 2009

The Daily Torygraph today revealed the full extent of John Clownsweat’s  expenses, the MRLP’s only MP. In a text that reads like a surreal litany of humorous greed. This news comes as a hammer blow to the MRLP who’s executive has been fighting off claims of seriousness and lack of mirth-some candidates. In 2006, Clownseat [...]

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The Pope causes AIDS

March 17, 2009

It’s now finally official, the Pope causes AIDS. On his first visit to Africa, Pope (Ratty) Benedict XVI told journalists that AIDS “is a tragedy that cannot be overcome by money alone, and that cannot be overcome through the distribution of condoms, which even aggravates the problems“. What was that now? Africa is a tremendously [...]

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