Just popping in to mention how much Charlie Brooker makes me laugh, sometimes.

Phear the terrifying headcock!

Woot! Look at my shiny new username! I've been waiting for months for the inactive username purge to get to manna, and as soon as the e-mail showed up in my inbox I pounced on the rename link like a panther.

I've been vague annoyed by the ms_ prefix since the whole ms_scribe debacle. And now it's gone. Yay!

Argh! Sometimes I'm so undomesticated I'm practically feral. I threw a load of washing in before I went out this morning, and when I took it out I discovered that one of the things I'd thrown in was a wool-wash-only sweater. Now I'm sitting here wearing a damp, shrunken sweater, trying to stretch it back into shape. Let's hope the Victorians really were wrong about damp clothes leading to pneumonia.

I had to take one of the degus to the vet this morning to have her put to sleep. She's been wobbly for a few weeks, but still eating and pottering around. When I got back from being at mum's yesterday, I was really shocked by how quickly she'd gone down the nick in just a few days. The vet (the lovely and sympathetic Rachel, always my vet of choice for putting my pets down) agreed that it looked like time.

So, RIP Little One. She had a good run -- seven and a half years, which isn't bad for a little critter.

We're down to one degu now, and I'm not sure what to do. While they're social creatures, they're also supposed to be very difficult to introduce to new cagemates, and Tricksy has always been the most domineering and bossy of the three. I think I'm going to leave it for now, and see how she goes on her own.

Went to Belvoir Castle, which was open for the day. Amazing house, and nice gardens. Very busy, but got a good guided tour. Fun to have pictures of the current family everywhere.

On the way home, we went to Woolsthorpe Manor, the birthplace of Issac Newton, and the place where he noticed gravity while escaping the Black Death in London. They still have the apple tree!

Had a lnog weekend in Kent. Things we did:

Down House - very interesting.
Dover Castle - a whole day out, and probably the best weather of the whole summer. Castle + WWII displays. Could see France amazingly clearly.
Brighton - Another lovely day. Tons of people. Brighton Museum is well worth a visit (and free, unlike the Pavillion!).
Lullingston Roman villa - nice complete foundations, and some interesting finds.
The Royal Gunpowder Mills and Gunpowder Park in Waltham - random stop on the way home, as we saw the sign from the M1. Faascinating museum, and lots of grounds to walk in, most of which we didn't see.


Kent is lovely!

I've been watching the BBC news coverage of the Murdoch and Brooks interviews over the phone hacking scandle, and I'm extremely confused by the constant harping on how we've supposedly found out that they 'Didn't know what was happening at NotW', and how inexplicable it is that they weren't all thoroughly briefed before the committee.

Dudes, come on. They *said* they didn't know what was going on. As they had a choice between saying they didn't know, or admitting complicity in criminal acts, what exactly would they be expected to say? Gosh, yes, I TOTALLY knew my journalists were paying people to hack the phones of dead children, but I thought it was awesome! Yes, there was a dossier of emails at the solicitors, and I read EVERY WORD OF IT!

Let me see -- incompetance, or prison...let me think about this one.


Also, one of the MPs on the committee was Teresa Coffey, Tory MP for Suffolk elected in 2010. She started at Somerville College with me. (She got sent down the first year for failing her exams, though, due to spending way too much time in the Student Union. Funnily enough, she doesn't mention that on her 'about me' on her website, heh.) Anyway, she seems to have changed her tune since she was getting booed in Parliament a few days ago for defending Rebecca Brooks.

Apparently, today has been declared 'taunt Anna during the pre-credit sequence' day on DS9. First they hold out the hope that I'm going to get an exciting Garak-filled episode (and while I do understand why Garak couldn't go along -- like, he would've been waaaaay too suspicious to allow Julian to fall into the Section 31 trap -- I still missed him so much). Now I'm offered the tantalising possibility of Worf being killed in a Dominion ambush.

Lies, I tell you! I'm not falling for your cruel trick, DS9 writers!

I bet this is going to lead to yet another outbreak of the All Ezri All The Time show, though.

Oh, wow. DS9 has just hit on my secret weakness for heist movies. If this episode is good, there could be 6 25/26 seasons of suck, and it would still be worth having made the show.

Okay, so far there's no GARAK, but I guess he's off somewhere, oh, doing stuff that will actually help the war against the Dominion that everyone else seems to have forgotten about lately. Still, I haz a sad, 'cause he looks so nice in a tux.

Are the writers actively trying to make it sound like Julian and Miles only go into the holosuite for sex, or do I just have a warped imagination? (I guess the question would more accurately be: I know I have a warped imagination, but are the writers actively trying etc.)

Also, why does everyone in Starfleet freak out about AIs, but no one seems to care that DS9 has accidentally acquired a sentient hologram who can affect station systems from inside the holosuite? AIs are okay if they can carry a tune?

ETA: I confess, I am not hugely enjoying the All Ezri All The Time show. This is, what? The third Ezri episode in a row? Also, 'You must get inside the mind of the killer!' is a stupid trope. Season 7, you are not pleasing me so far. Or maybe I'm just in a bed mood. But, anyway. Get better, Season 7! Soon!


In other news, due to a combination of missing TV channels on the media box, an evening appointment to see about getting a replacement for my engagement ring, and fail on my part, I managed NOT to record Luther. I am gutted. There's a repeat next week before the second episode, but I think I might have to make a trip to the iPlayer before then.