Richy's Random Ramblings – Page 196 – Random ramblings and ravings of Richy B

Poll: Are You Crazy?

December 24, 2002

[Are You Crazy?] Here’s a little quiz from those guys off at the See-Thru site again.

The Are You Crazy? quiz starts with the introduction “Let’s fact it, crazy people rock. They get all the attention, drugs, and films made about them. Not everyone’s got what it takes be a serial killer. What about you? Are you normal? Are you on the edge? Or are you full blown crazy sexy cool?” – and with question/answer combinations such as “Which of your old childhood habits do you still secretly indulge in? Killing small animals and licking their bones” and ” often hear voices telling me that they hear voices” – it’s quite an entertaining quiz!

Somehow, however, I only managed to score 110 which is “Yawn. Sorry. You’re totally sane. You’re not even anally retentive. You might as well get married, buy a house and settle into your banality right now, you boring bastard. Oh look – you already have…”

Unless, of course, I’ve a very very cunning sociopath who knows how to play the system and look perfectly normal until I strike…

Personal: Christmas Cards

December 23, 2002

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Well, Christmas is finally on it’s way! On Saturday, I received my first 3 Christmas cards: one from my Parents (which was a wide rectangular one with ‘beads’ and ‘cut-out’ effects on the front), one from my Uncle and Auntie and a quite cute Giraffe one from The Positive Internet Company (who also have a fun Shockwave Flash game where you’ve got to help a long-necked quadruped land on a ski-jump target with the help of a penguin and a buffalo).

This morning, I received two more cards – one very impersonal one from Telecity (the one from Positive Internet was ‘signed’ by all the staff there: the Telecity one didn’t even have a single human name on it) and the one sent to me by my GESF. It’s a very nice Winnie the Pooh card with Pooh and Piglet sitting in front of a Christmas tree with stars/snowflakes falling around them (it’s actually the picture for this blog entry: the text at the bottom says “little stars glow bright like candle light.”).

Only thing is, it was posted by First Class post last Monday (the 16th), actually postmarked 17th December (7pm) and arrived this morning – nearly a complete week after posting (since it wasn’t posted until around 3pm, but arrived around 8.30am). 7 days for a “First Class” item is currently the record – previously it was 6 days, but looking at an article on BBC News it appears that I’m not the only person that may be loosing faith in the British Royal Mail postal service (currently a monopoly here for “letters and small packages”).

Snippet: Love

December 22, 2002

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*snippet* I’ve just seen episode 14 of series 2 (“Chef Aid”) of South Park, and this phrase sticks in my mind: “Love isn’t a decision, it’s a feeling. If we could decide who we love, it would be much simpler, but much less magical” (actually said by Mr.Twig/Garrison near the end – consult the script if you want)

Game: Sonar Football

December 22, 2002

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[Sonar Football] Well, I haven’t blogged about a game for a couple of days now (just haven’t had the time to play them), but I have been forwarded details of the Japanese Flash game Sonar Challenge where you’ve got to keep a football “in the air” by bouncing it off your mouse cursor.

It’s easyish (but I wish I could understand what the Japanese ‘commentator’ is saying), but as soon as you lose control of the ball that’s it. My highest score so far is 42 bounces (lasting 35.17seconds).

Don’t forget – if you can do better or know of any other games: let me know! 🙂

Books: The Jigsaw Man

December 22, 2002

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[Cover of The Jigsaw Man] Yesterday I was loaned a copy of Paul Britton‘s “The Jigsaw Man – The Remarkable Career of Britain’s Foremost Criminal Psychologist”. It’s about a criminal psychologist (strangely enough) from Leicestershire (who actually worked in the same place as my parents) who helped with such cases as the Leicestershire murders of Caroline Osborne and Amanda Weedon by 18 year old butcher Paul Bostock, the Lynda Mann and Dawn Ashworth by Colin Pitchfork (which was the first use of DNA testing – the testing of over 2,000 men has been nicknamed ‘The Blooding’), the murder of “Baby James” Jamie Bulger by Jon Venables and Robert Thompson and many other murders.

I think the back cover of the book sums it up extremely well: “Paul Britton has assisted the police in over a hundred cases and has an almost mythic status in the field of crime deduction. His achievements read as though from the pages of Conan Doyle or Agatha Christie. What he searches for at the scene of the crime are not fingerprints, fibres or bloodstains – he looks for the ‘mind trace’ left behind by those responsible: the psychological characteristics that can help the police the identify and understand the nature of the perpetrator.”

It’s quite a fascinating read (I’ve already got to page 404 of 650: and I’ve been reading it for around the last 6 hours solid): not just from the “local angle” (I actually lived quite close to the scene of the Pitchfork murders and went to the schools mentioned), but also from the whole psychology and criminal investigation angle.

It’s going to take me another day or so to finish it, but I really need to now consider getting out of bed and making breakfast (yep, I’ve just been lying in bed reading this book since I woke up and I’ve got lots to do…)