So were going to get the Queen in 3d on Christmas day. For those outside the UK, I feel the need to mention that thus far, the Queen’s speech has never been a high octain event renowned for action sequences. It’ just a woman with a posh voice talking to a camera. Now, all the queenly excitement, in 3d. What is going on?
The pop charts are full of old hits, a strange phenomena that owes everything to internet downloading. Apparently we’re all getting nostalgic for cheesy 80s pop. Not that there’s any shortage of new cheese available for pop music fans, but a lot of that turns out to be covers of old cheese.
This morning brought 160ish flood warnings for the UK, and yes, to use the proper meteorological term, it’s well and truly pissing it down here. Roads and trains are in chaos, supermarkets are packed and high street shops are failing to make ends meet. Right outside the window, right now, climate change is strutting its stuff, and very loudly and moistly announcing its presence. No doubt a great many Christmases are going to be wrecked by the weather, with flooded houses, cancelled travel, and we’ll get a sprinkling of tragedies too, I expect. Cornwall has enough flood risk to put life in danger.
But we’ve got the Queen in 3d.
The government are going to help struggling businesses by making it easier to sack people. Because we all know that nothing improves growth like laying people off, and the one thing you really want to be able to do at this time of year, is get rid of all the pesky people who actually did the work. It’s another random, pointless gesture that won’t help anyone. The politics of fiddling while Rome burns. Their borrowing goes up, and their ideas get ever smaller and less helpful. Rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic, would be an apt description. As the country slowly floods and drowns, not one of them has dared to suggest that this unprecedented, nightmarish flooding might have anything to do with climate change. That might require them to do something, although at current rate, they’ll probably ‘help’ us by adding extra tax to umbrella sales and rationing wellie boots.
The end of civilization did not come with a bang this week, but we’re going out with a slow, pathetic whimper.
But in the meantime, pull up a chair, if you still have one, because the Queen’s on the telly in 3d. Only, no one’s got any glasses.
December 24th, 2012 at 11:37 am
Perhaps the world may make it yet – but it looks pretty stupid. The same thing is going on here. To avoid the fiscal cliff, most high roller businesses here are cutting 40 hour a week employees down to 15 hours. What’s more important? paying your rent, or affording trans to work? Take your choice. It demonstrated to me that those who can’t take care of their people who run the business, have no right to be in business. If they go belly up, it will make room for those few REAL business people who take care of the product AND the people, know that letting people buy what they need affordably, and STILL have a bit of ready in their pockets when they leave – makes for happy repeat customers. The most successful business here, are the Dollar Stores. Everything is 99cents or less. Everything, and now they are doing groceries,& fresh produce and dairy, too. These places are PACKED with people. Retailers here (the wowwow stores, xmas glitz), are frantic, because a much lower percentage are buying anything. Hey – I bought a string of little multi-lights for my garland, and some bells. I am stoked, and that is Yule for me, because yule is a state of mind – not the landfill items that end up all over. (How many plastic necklaces does one need?) I have heard about the guy who is trying to cut disability, etc. And Heard about the backlash. Now, in any endeavor, the savvy business person knows A. Production B. Keep the lines IN – man it up. Get the body traffic in. Promote. NOT -cut everything and get smaller. Nope, get BIGGER – have people bringing bodies into the shop. There is all kinds of simple ways to stay afloat, but contracting will ensure death. You gotta promote, and you have to man the product lines and service.This is a big (orwas) Casino town. And it was fine in it’s heyday. However, Education was never considered important, because they hired “transients. Grunts, for the customer service jobs. Except now, we can’t the good business to move in, because it would take 10 – 15 years for the Ed. system to start producing highend hireable people. So no thank you, we’ll look elsewhere. I am not sure what we have that will match the Queen, unless it is the furniture stores and the auto dealerships. They pretty much go all day. The furniture stores are the worst. Oh! Let us make your home YOUR way. – It’s more important to have matching end tables that to feed your family – in fact, if you give up buying gas, we’ll throw in this lamp! Everyone needs to have a high-end leather couch, so come on in, we give free credit, and we deliver free! (But when we repossess it, we’ll charge you for picking it up, along with the legal fees).
December 24th, 2012 at 2:15 pm
This has been a resounding theme with me this year, and one that makes my Druidic studies more profound. I do believe that humanity IS going to suffer a long, protracted decline over the next century as climate change takes hold (even further) and the water and fossil fuels run out. Yes, there will be wars, but the famine and disease will get most and we’ll find ourselves where we were pre-industrial age. Those with the skills to truly heal our planet and those left will be the next leaders.
I was out walking this morning in a local wildlife refuge and was thinking about our ancestors. Yes, they would have likely been envious of our relative ease of living, but I find myself envious of their lives because even though it was brutal, they were more truly alive, in my opinion.
December 25th, 2012 at 3:19 pm
I’m so used to seeing her Maj in profile, I forgot what her nose looks like from the front. Having her in 3D will be a real boon.
December 27th, 2012 at 10:52 pm
Next year it will be holographic Queen. Can’t wait.