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Please can we stop journalists from making up non-stories, without proper justification. There just seem so many “we’re all doomed” stories, twisted from reality.

According to our beloved Echo there is a crime wave happening to local businesses because of the recession.

27 crimes in 2007

38 crimes in 2008

20 crimes in 6 months of 2009

Really? Thats quite a leap of faith – how exactly can that be linked to the recession?

If you could show that there were approx 18 crimes in the first 8 months of 2008  and then a jump in the last 4 months to 20… continuing at that level for the first 6 months would of been 30 reported crimes not 20 in 2009.

That could be argued to demonstrate a trend, the fact that these 6 months seem consistent with the last 4 months of 2008  (Remembering that 8 months of 2008 were NOT in a recession).

You could also argue that the crime levels should still be rising as the effect to the “man on the street” happens after the point at which we technically enter a recession – redundancies didn’t really start till the beginning of 2009 so really, it would need to show a more significant rise as of this year than in 2008 at all.

Pah.

              

Hello world! So I update bits of my life in so many places I don’t write here that often, sorry…

My march to more sustainable, responsible living continues:

1) No more carrier bags – win
– used 2 since June, donated the first half of the money to Julia’s House for the parachute jump. Its actually quite hard to break the habit, try it.

2) Sell the car – done
- A few reasons, but mainly –> I don’t need one! I was getting lazy and using it when I didn’t need. So I sold it. Also to encourage me to plan a bit better and use public transport (I get loads done on the train). I’m going to work out how much it cost me to run across the year and compare to a year without.

3) Own an electric car by 2012 – that’s the plan… if someone can make one that does > 100 miles!

4) Do more meetings over the web – I’m trying to cut down some of the meetings I do that I don’t really need to do face-to-face. First proper one this Wednesday.

5) Don’t eat air-freighted food – bye bye sugar snap peas

6) Your ideas – suggestions please.

              

look out, i’m making some changes, starting with a much needed back-enbd update… if it goes wonky, sorry

              

From the interwebs:

ROBOT DANCE
At 12.30pm on Monday 13 July 2009 in the courtyard at KUBE.

We will be attempting to break the official Guinness World Record for the LARGEST NUMBER OF PEOPLE ROBOT-DANCING AT ONCE… and you are invited to come and help us make robot-dancing history!

The official rules are:

- Everybody must be dressed as a robotof some description, so tin-foil hats, cardboard heads, washing machine tube arms, pipe-cleaner antennas and neon clothing are strongly encouraged.

- With the above rule in mind, if you turn up dressed as a human then one of our volunteers WILL ambush you with silver tin-foil – be warned!

- We must dance for at least 5 minutes in a robotic manner.

- You must sign in on arrival so that we have an official count of numbers.

- Please arrive for 12.30pm, we may have a run-through first to get us in the pop-locking mood and possibly require a second attempt, so please allow until around 1.30pm to complete the attempt.

- There will be a ready-prepared routine to follow so don’t worry about choreographing your own routine or not knowing the moves! Just follow our lead! It’s very simple and doesn’t require any dancing experience or skill!

- The attempt will take place in the KUBE Courtyard.

- Please be aware that the attempt will be being filmed by artists and press and photographed and may be broadcast later in public or on television (you can always wear a robot mask if you’re shy!)

- PLEASE BRING FRIENDS / COLLEAGUES / FAMILY / NEIGHBOURS / KIDS / ROBOTS – to break the current record we need 300 people or more. The more the merrier. Recruit passing strangers on your way!

              

You can still sponsor me

              

… with the proposals to convert a medium size office block at lansdowne into a treatment centre.
(i’ll add a link to the echo article here later)

I totally understand why a lot of the businesses locally are worried about the proposal.

There are people in our society that need our help and yes, some of those may turn to crime/drugs, But… and it’s a very big but.. Most of the people who need this unit will be ‘normal’ people who are on the edge of alcoholism, or substance abuse. They’ll be living ‘normal’ lives, maybe have partners or children, who are we to alienate them further away from ‘normal’ society? Having a centre, this central, where they can drop in to get support has to be something rational human beings can understand the need for. Its not a drop in centre, in the sense anyone can just rock up and be seen. It’s for those who have a case worker already, its to assist the police prevent people turning into offenders.

This is a bit of a ramble as i can’t sleep, i’ll rewrite it soon to try n make it coherent.