Dark Alex's Really Long Post Thread.

[Paquita]

Nothing that cool.. I have 18 years of HR experience, mostly behind the scenes. Apparently, I'm pretty good at it or I'd be fired by now.  I can flare my nostrils and sneer my lip like Elvis.. that's got to be good for something!  I can draw pretty good.. I used to do portraits for money on the side.

[Alex]

So it won't be starting for a few months yet (I expect around the end of the summer), but I've been planning out my next campaign. A sci-fi one for a change of pace. The party will start out as part of border control and enforcement on Gateway Station, the main entry point to earth in the year 2300 at the top of the beanstalk (a sort of elevator reaching from the earth to space. They'll get caught up in a web of intrigue, corruption, and betrayal*.  After the first adventure, it will be entirely up to the players where they go and what they do. Humanity has spread out to 29 colony worlds along three routes of exploration referred to as the French, American and Chinese arms. Each arm has its own problems. The American one has simply ran into a dead end, with technology not sufficient for it to reach any further solar systems. The Chinese army is beset with unusual terrorist attacks and all from an as yet unidentified source, while the French arm has came under attack from an alien race.

The party will be free to wander the human worlds, or stay on earth as they please.

*Oh and some very big guns.

Anyway, anyone fancy joining in when it does start, just let me know.

In a fit of either boredom or creativity last night I decided to build a model for a Call of Cthulhu game. Meet Col (ret) Herbert K Fransberry. A veteran of the African campaign of The Great War. While fighting against German forces he discovered some very nasty creatures living deep in the African wilds . As a result he now hunts such creatures with the biggest damn gun he could find, which in this case is a Boys Anti-Tank rifle. Most of the creatures in the Mythos wouldn't be phased by such a weapon anyway, but he feels a lot better totting it around. Of course, such a gun would be the cause of much comment should he venture back to Europe.





All I need to do now is find some people who are playing Call of Cthulhu lol.

Time for me to go find some food.

[Alex]

I was reading a report on the ways North Korea's dictator has supposedly had people executed. It seemed to suggest that the most horrific way he'd had anyone killed was by an anti-aircraft gun. I thought about that for a while and I am not really seeing what is so 'horrific' about it. Brutal yes, overkill no argument but as soon as that trigger is pulled it is all over. All in all, it seems no worse than a regular firing squad. The guy he had killed by flame thrower sounds much worse to me. I am not sure how long it would take to die being caught in the blast from one of them. Presumably not the comparatively quick death I am told you would get if you were on a bonfire, overcome by the smoke long before the flames reach you.

Although all the ways he is said to have sentenced people to die I would say lack imagination. If you want to set an example to people there are much more gruesome ways to kill them. Or you could be really mean and force them to have the same haircut as he does.

We had what I thought was quite a good D&D session tonight. In truth I didn't have to do anything, it was all down to the party roleplaying with each other. Occasionally I had to fill in the role of an NPC but mostly it was them talking to each other and dealing with the consequences of each others actions. Oh and planning for the next stage of the adventure. I gave them two choices. They could either play the game of lords and ladies, preparing for war or return to the life of adventurers. They would also have to choose carefully to avoid losing their castle and indeed their heads.

[indianasmith]

I was reading a report on the ways North Korea's dictator has supposedly had people executed. It seemed to suggest that the most horrific way he'd had anyone killed was by an anti-aircraft gun. I thought about that for a while and I am not really seeing what is so 'horrific' about it. Brutal yes, overkill no argument but as soon as that trigger is pulled it is all over. All in all, it seems no worse than a regular firing squad. The guy he had killed by flame thrower sounds much worse to me. I am not sure how long it would take to die being caught in the blast from one of them. Presumably not the comparatively quick death I am told you would get if you were on a bonfire, overcome by the smoke long before the flames reach you.

Although all the ways he is said to have sentenced people to die I would say lack imagination. If you want to set an example to people there are much more gruesome ways to kill them. Or you could be really mean and force them to have the same haircut as he does.

We had what I thought was quite a good D&D session tonight. In truth I didn't have to do anything, it was all down to the party roleplaying with each other. Occasionally I had to fill in the role of an NPC but mostly it was them talking to each other and dealing with the consequences of each others actions. Oh and planning for the next stage of the adventure. I gave them two choices. They could either play the game of lords and ladies, preparing for war or return to the life of adventurers. They would also have to choose carefully to avoid losing their castle and indeed their heads.

If I recall correctly, the AA gun execution was his own UNCLE.  Geez . . .

[ER]

I was reading a report on the ways North Korea's dictator has supposedly had people executed. It seemed to suggest that the most horrific way he'd had anyone killed was by an anti-aircraft gun. I thought about that for a while and I am not really seeing what is so 'horrific' about it. Brutal yes, overkill no argument but as soon as that trigger is pulled it is all over. All in all, it seems no worse than a regular firing squad.

I'm with you, bring on the AA gun if I had to die. The impact shockwaves alone would probably kill you in a blink.

I've often thought wrapping someone up like a mummy in aluminum foil with a tiny breathing slit and leaving them there til they died from buildup from their own body heat would be a sucky way to get rid of someone, but me, if I wanted to make sure someone knew he was dying, I'd strap him to a chair and leave him til he died of thirst or shock in 3-4-5 days. Plenty of time to reflect that way and anticipate the end while he stewed in his own juices. I wonder which would go first, hope or sanity?

Y'know, the world is lucky I'm not a psychotic dictator because I am creative. 

[Alex]

There was always the face full of a chemical weapon he (allegedly) gave his half brother.

You could always keep them barely supplied with water and stretch out their death so it's by starvation and takes a lot longer.

[Alex]

I had to go to a brief today with my 2 steps up boss, my 3 steps up boss and my old 2 steps up boss. Got chatting with the three steps up one. He is off for a six-month deployment to the Falkland Isles later this year. Having done six months out there myself I can sympathise, although he has never been out there before. I gave him some advice on what to do while he is down there (mostly battlefield tours), and who to fly with etc. He is down there for the summer while my tour was in winter and I am told the summer weather is actually worse as the ever-present wind is stronger.

As I am going to be doing between 2 weeks to a month (depending on call-outs) with no time off, I am getting tomorrow off work as a freebee. Woohoo. Kristi was looking super stressed out with Ash today when I got home, so I've suggested she goes out for the day and gets a manicure, or her hair done or something. You know womeny things.

Cheated on dinner tonight and ordered out for pizza. I'd made dinner the last two nights and Kristi looked like she could do with another night off.

Feeling old at the moment. My knees are screaming at me when I carry Ash up stairs. Wondering if I am having a gout attack in them, they've been sore for a while now and I've been fairly good at taking my meds. I suspect it is just all the accumulated injuries and abuse from over the years. Alas there is a limit to the number of times our bodies can repair itself.

Damn silly design if you ask me. Whoever did the work should have asked a decent engineer who could have included things like replaceable parts.

[Alex]

Today the news broke that one of the last three remaining pilots from the Battle of Britain has died. He was an ace and from all accounts actually enjoyed the whole thing.

Yup, there are folks who really find these kinds of things fun. Go figure. I can understand getting addicted to the whole Adrenalin rush and the feeling that your only really alive when you are facing death and I guess since he survived it clearly worked for him.

I had a couple of Jehovah’s Witnesses at my door many years ago. They were talking about the end of the world and quoted some part of the bible that said it would happen before the last veteran of the world wars had died.

Best get a move on then with it.

[Alex]

So today I got to go find out what the job I'll be doing for somewhere between two to four weeks out of the next month. They told me one thing I'll be doing and I said "Hey, don't you need to be trained and auth'd to do that? Because I haven't been."

As it turned out neither had anyone else who is going to be in charge. Oh and I then pointed out that you need to be the rank above us to do that job anyway unless the man in charge of our entire camp signs a bit of paper saying that he is willing to accept the risk of having juniors doing it and therefore is legally responsible if it goes wrong. I then spoke to the people who do this job on a permanent basis just to confirm I was right and the people whose role it is to provide the training and mentioned that hey you are expecting people to do this job from tomorrow and you haven't trained anyone to do it right. By that point, it was around 14:00 so they'd better get off their arse and get it organised pretty damn sharpish.

This wasn't the only thing I found wrong and I went to have a chat with my senior boss about it and all the things that have not been done right. There is so much more than I can write here about it. We will make it work though, because that is what we do. Hopefully, I've saved work from any embarrasing incidents by pointing this stuff out.

Bet it doesn't even get mentioned on my annual assessment though lol.

[Alex]

Spent today at work thinking how awesome I am. Heh, that's me trying to build my confidence up for this interview next week and just thinking of the positive things I have achieved during my time in the job. I can at least use the stuff I was trying to sort out yesterday and point out how I can look at sorting out problems and issues, thinking on my feet and if I think something is wrong digging deep until I find out if it is ok or not and how to get it fixed. Even if it isn't something I can get sorted myself, I can at least get the problem to the people or person who has to make the decision. I like to think thats of value in the post I am after.

I might be totally wrong there.

Tonight we decided to go out for a meal. We basically walked all the way around Lossiemouth past all its assorted eateries until we found one we both fancied. It was the second last restaurant in the town. Had a decent Piri Piri Chicken. Ash had a pizza and then I got him some ice cream. He didn't seem to like it though and wouldn't eat it. I think it was the cold that was putting him off it, but there was a Flake with it and he happily ate that. It was quite late (for him anyway) by the time we got him home and into bed, but he's settled down to sleep and I am hoping he'll sleep through until tomorrow.

[chefzombie]

i had to google what a flake is when it comes with ice cream...i want one.

[Alex]

I'll bring some over with me next time I come visit the US.

Hopefully you'll have a different president by then. I think the one you have right now is broken. Much like our prime minister.

Tomorrow is my big interview day. Its funny just how much hinges on this. It decides if I finish my career in Lossiemouth or if I move down south for a start. Kristi has built herself a life here and asking her to leave it and start again is a big ask that I have no wish to put her through.

Besides if you are not from England it tends to be an unplesant place to live. Saw this on facebook today.

Buying wine in a shop, I was being stared at by a random man. The person at the counter chatted away to me, and when walking out the guy from inside the shop stopped me and asked "where is your accent from?". I replied Scotland, and he asked me what I thought about Brexit.

His mate joined him and both were leering over me. I felt intimidated, so I tried to walk off. He and his mate followed me and kept repeating the question, getting more aggressive until he called me a "stuck up c**t" and "if I hate it so much I should f**k off back to Scotland".

This, in my opinion, had little to do with being Scottish and everything to do with being a woman. The guy had made me uncomfortable the minute I walked into the shop, before I ever opened my mouth, and my accent isn't overly strong.

However, I think this an indication of how horrendous English and British nationalism has become. I think it's an indication of how today and Brexit generally has emboldened people in their worst opinions, and I'm not under any illusion I'm a person most at risk.

The reason I'm sharing this thread is because being harrassed on the street and told to come back to where you're from is something which happens to migrants, black people and ethnic minorities all of the time. White Brits are very much protected and disconnected from this.

We white people can't really understand how rising English nationalism and fascistic attitudes are affecting minorities in this country right now. They need our solidarity more than ever and they need us all to fight back against the rising hatred in the wake of Brexit.

I'm sure there will be *many* experiences of racist and xenophobic harrassment and hate crimes against minorities and migrants tonight and in the near future, and we all need to be uplifting their voices, raising awareness of what's going on and fighting back alongside them.

Not that I think any country is totally free of such attitudes, its just that is where I have seen such people at their worst. I mean I've met plenty of nice English people too, but I don't want Kristi to meet the bad apples like in the example above and the place we'd be moving to is ratedas having one of the highest incidences of race hate crime in the UK.

I wonder if any gods still owe me any favours? Or maybe I could sell a soul to the devil. Not mine obviously. There are plenty other peoples souls I could sell, no sense in giving mine away.

Someone at work today asked what is the difference between Budweiser and a vagina. Someone else called out that Budweiser has less yeast.

[chefzombie]

i saw that on facebook too. it sucks that england is starting to resemble my country when it comes to rampant racism and hatred. and that nice people like me and my friends/ family get profiled as racists because of the loudmouth bigot/racist douchebags who get noticed because they ARE what they are.
   i hope you get to stay in lossiemouth, and i'll do what i can to make it so. off to open a circle for you.

[Trevor]

i had to google what a flake is when it comes with ice cream...i want one.

In Zimbabwe, we used to call it a "Choc 99". 

[Alex]

Well that is the interview all over and done. Either they want me now or they picked someone else. Even then the chosen one’s name goes to manning and they say yes or no so I won’t find out for a week or so. No point in worrying about it as I can’t influence the result any further.

My favourite John Carpenter movie hit the cinemas 25 years ago today. And when I say favourite I should point out that I have many favourite Carpenter movies. This though was the last of his period of greatness in my opinion anyway.

Saw something on the news today about trump and a speech. Even heard a little of it where he was talking about how America is respected again. Uhm, no. Sadly that is not something he has achieved. Indeed if I was to walk around the building I am in and ask anyone I am willing to bet they’d say he’d made it in international laughing stock. Hell just look at the way other leaders were talking about him in that leaked video from the NATO summit for how his country is currently viewed.

I’m not complaining too much though as I suspect the only reason the pound is holding any value against the dollar comes down to the US national debt. Yeah piling that on will give you a short term economic boost, but if (ok, it isn’t if but when there is) a financial crash all that fake growth vanishes and unless you’ve spent the debt wisely you have a huge interest bill to pay. Sadly we have our own ass clown running our own country and he is no better. I think business will do well put of brexit but the ordinary workers are going to be the ones to suffer.

Oh well, they shouldn’t have voted for it then. Funny that the areas that received the most money and investment from the EU were also the areas that voted to leave. They are expecting central government to step in and fill that gap. Best of luck there then. I genuinely hope it happens. But then there are a lot of things these days I find myself hoping I am wrong about.