Thoughts of the day every day in 2013

[Anthea]

25 November

It tried to snow here - a few very fine flakes - definitely snow

[Anthea]

26 November

Kurdish leaders have launched their independence blueprint, calling it a "mission statement" for North Kurdistan's future.

The 670-page Kurdish white paper promised a "revolution" in social policy

On 18 September, Kurdish voters will be asked the yes/no question: "Should North Kurdistan be an independent country?"

It also pledged to tailor economic policy to Kurdish businesses and industry.

Launching the paper, "Kurdistan's future: Your guide to an independent Kurdistan", Kurdish leaders said: "This is the most comprehensive blueprint for an independent country ever published, not just for Kurdistan but for any prospective independent nation.‬‬‬

"But more than that, it is a mission statement and a prospectus for the kind of country we should be and which we the Kurdish people of North Kurdistan believe we can be.

STOP !

Do not get excited - replace the word Kurdistan with Scotland and re-read the quote.

If any of the so-called leaders of Kurds living within Turkish occupied Kurdistan - actually cared about the future of the Kurdish population and not their own self-aggrandizement - they would have ASKED Kurds to VOTE on what they want - NOT be like Ocalan and DENY all future generations the right to an independent land of their own

[Anthea]

Change in English law:

Fines for employers not paying the minimum wage will be quadrupled

There goes my local kebab shop

This will stop some of the evil kebab shop / cafe / barber shop owners from getting rich while giving their workers slave wages - there are far too many of these people who make use of Kurdish workers - granted many Kurds in England have limited English - but making them work long hours for sometimes less than half the legal minimum wage is disgusting - and to make matters worse the poor worker is not allowed to have time off to attend English lessons

[Anthea]

27 November

I wonder why anyone would ever trust the PKK - or it's off-shot the PYD - since Ocalan has openly denied the Kurds autonomy

I have no idea what is going on in those groups - but I am certain that we are not being told the truth.

Another sad thing is that after all the advancements in technology and communications - most Kurds still know very little about what is happening in Kurdish regions other than their own

[Anthea]

28 November

I seldom see anyone smoking - occasionally I see someone smoking in the town centre - but it is extremely rare - perhaps smokers are so ashamed of their disgusting habit that they keep it to themselves and only inflict it on their own unfortunate families in their own homes.

But I do wonder who actually smokes - so I posted the following:

Do YOU smoke - if so why do you smoke ? ? ?

viewtopic.php?f=5&t=14181

I will have to wait and see if anyone confesses

I once had the misfortune to kiss a man who smoked - must have been the shortest romance in history - I did not know how to stop myself throwing up over him

On a couple of occasions I have been in restaurants where the waiter has smelt of cigarette smoke

Below are a few facts on smokers in England:

“Smoking Related Behaviour and Attitudes” (Office of National Statistics, 2002) showed that in 2002, 17% of men and 16% of women in “managerial and professional occupations” smoked, compared with 34% of men and 30% of women in “routine and manual occupations”.

The prevalence of smoking varies markedly between socio-economic groups. People in deprived circumstances are not only more likely to take up smoking but generally start younger, smoke more heavily and are less likely to quit smoking , each of which increases the risk of smoking-related disease.

In England, 28% of adults in routine and manual occupations smoked regularly in 2009 compared with 15% of adults in managerial and professional occupations2

Smoking accounts for a significant proportion of inequalities in life expectancy at birth in the UK. The health impact for London has been estimated in the London Health Inequalities Forecast. This found that 37% of the difference in life expectancy at birth in males and 30% of the difference in females between the 11 London authorities in the worst fifth for deprivation and health and all English local authorities, was accounted for by mortality attributable to smoking.

The main source of information about cigarette smoking among minority ethnic groups is the Health Survey for England 2004.7 It found that:

Bangladeshi men were 43% more likely (risk ratio of 1.43) and Irish men were 30% more likely (risk ratio of 1.30) to smoke cigarettes than the general male population after accounting for age. Indian men were less likely (risk ratio of 0.78) to smoke cigarettes than the general male population in England.

Smoking is less common among women in most - but not all - minority ethnic groups compared to the general female population, when age is taken into account. Compared to the general female population, Bangladeshi women were the least likely to smoke cigarettes (risk ratio of 0.11), followed by Pakistani women (risk ratio of 0.19), Indian women (risk ratio of 0.23), Chinese women (risk ratio of 0.32) and Black African women (risk ratio 0.34). However, Irish and Black Caribbean women were as likely to report cigarette smoking as the general population for women.

So who is actually smoking - and where are they smoking ? ? ?

[Anthea]

29 November



The tiny gif above tells me it is going to SNOW on Saturday 7 December - just one week from today - perhaps we will have a white Christmas in England

[Anthea]

30 November

Sad but interesting film "Women In Iran Divorce Iranian Style"

phpBB [video]

[Anthea]

! December

Sad to say that there are people who love coming to forums such as this just to complain - too many children here pretending to be grown-ups

What really annoys me is that anyone would insult Piling - she has been here for more than 8 years - she knows much more about Kurdish culture - politics - history

Certain nameless people should show much more RESPECT to Piling

Must dash got to write down what I had to eat

[Piling]

Don't worry for that : internet is a field of savagery making people as if they were in their car and shouting about others in a hard trafic

If you face them in reality they are suddenly shy and embarrassed : Big Mouth and small balls.

Relax, it is winter and Advent :

[Anthea]

2 December

Don't worry for that : internet is a field of savagery making people as if they were in their car and shouting about others in a hard trafic

If you face them in reality they are suddenly shy and embarrassed : Big Mouth and small balls.

Big Mouth and small balls we have the same saying in England

Relax, it is winter and Advent :

Turn the lights and relax - perfect

[Anthea]

3 December

My freckles have almost gone - every day they become smaller - my last reminder of the lovely hot summer we had

My arms are now covered in thick jumpers and I have a new woolly hat - ready for the freezing winds and 8 inches of snow that are expected here on Thursday

I will have to check my wellies for spiders

Got to stock up on chocolate tomorrow - would hate to run out of Cadbury's when the snow comes and the shops close down - YES my local shops close in the snow because the staff cannot reach here

[Anthea]

Shopping List

Chocolate to give me more energy

Cheese to make my mouse go faster

Letter to Santa

Dear Santa

Please may I have a new mouse for Christmas

And please make Piling's computer work slower

[Anthea]

The news about snow storms heading my way - has been overtaken by:

The first Reading Festival headliner announced

Reading Festival has announced Blink-182 as its first headliner.

The band will be joining Jake Bugg, Disclosure, Metronomy, Of Mice & Men, Wilkinson and I Am Legion at the three day event, held on August 22 to 24.

Blink-182 first played Reading and Leeds festivals in 1999, and performed on the main stage in 2010.



I cannot help but wonder if this news is supposed to cheer us up on cold winter nights - or give us nightmares

[Anthea]

4 December

Sulking

[Anthea]

5 December

I now have a different mouse - also feeding it better quality cheese

I tried different computers but this is the most secure - and the one with most encryption on it - so many passwords it is hard to remember which one goes where

Just installed new distros on a couple of my computers

Now waiting for special anti-spy software from a friend - I will tell you what it does - in order to remember all our passwords people often write them down and leave them somewhere close - new software has special password - intruder thinks password unlocks computer - password activates emergency message and wipes hard drive then reformats the entire disk with rubbish to make it extremely difficult for forensics to obtain any information at all