Scatmania

Having read the BBC’s article about cannabis reforms from Class B to Class C drugs, and a new “semi-legal” stance over (ab)users, I can’t help but think that, for the purposes, “semi-legal” is best defined as “it’s fine, unless you get caught doing it”.

And isn’t exactly the same as with other crimes. Like burglary, say? It’s fine unless you get caught. Is that also “semi-legal”, then?

Oh… but I see the difference. You won’t get nicked and you won’t get fined, but the drug will be confiscated. Now here’s a thought - you’re a police officer and you’ve just caught some kids skinning up a nice fat one, and so you confiscate it and send them running off back to school. Now you could return to the station… to report a crime for which there will never, ever be a trial… and turn in the joint to be destroyed… or…

…what’s the bet that drug use on the beat will increase somewhat when these changes go through?

In any case, I’m all in favour of the decriminalisation of cannabis, but I still think it should be legalised and controlled, like tobacco. And the tax benefits to the treasuary would be fantastic. Not to mention the better control over where it is grown and sold, reducing drug-related crime (not a huge issue with cannabis, anyway, but nevertheless a good move).

In other news: I e-mailed Emma, the girl I quite horribley dumped for Claire (who I was already sleeping with) about 18 months ago, and we made peace. Which is very nice, because I was a complete bastard and I broke her poor little heart when I left her. Anyway: she’s doing really well with the guy she’s with now, who is, let’s face it, far more suited to her than I ever was, and I wish her the best. It feels good to be on better terms with people like that.

My mum and my sisters came down for the weekend. I’d not quite gotten around to recovering from my illness these past few days, so I was probably at least slightly grotty company, but nonetheless we all had a good time.

We visited Little Amsterdam, Aberystwyth’s first sex shop, shortly after they opened on Monday morning. They’ve got a huge selection of smoking goodies on display, and magic mushrooms for sale, but the sex toys won’t be arriving until Friday, I’m told. Aww. I play with myself a lot more often than I smoke. Ah well; I’ll return when they have some. At any rate, I got the chance to congratulate the store on making it to Aber after it’s months of legal efforts. Great work!

I’ve just bought a lifetime subscription to Yohoho! Puzzle Pirates!, perhaps the best MMORPG I’ve ever seen. It’s very, very impressive. If you haven’t seen it yet, give it a go.

When my family left, Paul, Claire and I lounged, drank a couple of bottles of red wine, and played You Don’t Know Jack, a hilarious quiz game, on our TV. Paul won by a mile, and only a few times did I manage to finish with a score above zero (although I did improve as I got more drunk). Claire puked.

I need to catch up on all the lecture notes I’ve missed this last week. And apologise to my personal tutor for not having been at the tutorial meeting. And get to the office tomorrow and catch up on some *real* work. And harrass the Student Loans Company into getting me money faster.

This made my day:

[diagram removed]

If I were a NetHack monster, I would be a mimic. I can be whatever I think you need me to be - it might look like I’m here to help you, but really you’re here to help me.

Which NetHack Monster Are You?

I laughed until I mimicked a boulder.

(if by some strangeness you know me but don’t know what NetHack is, start here)

Had a heated debate with Paul, Kit, Claire and Bryn about religion, morals, and parenting. And I’m proud to say that I’ve come to the conclusion that my parents acted in a way that I believe exemplifies the best aspects of morality, tolerance, spirituality, open-mindedness, protection, and honesty. I’m immensely proud of the way that I was brought up, and wish that other children could be so lucky as to have such enlightened and level-headed parents as mine were for me during my youth. They… were there when I needed them, but they weren’t always standing over my shoulder. They… were selfless in their dedication to my wellbeing, their love for me, and their respect for my individuality. And I owe them the world.

In other happy news, my friends - in particular Paul - made me very happy today when they revealed that they had secretely acquired from the states Chez Greek and Chez Grunt, two rare and brilliant additions to complete my Chez Geek card game collection, which will undoubtedly provide much enjoyment for both myself and all of them in the future. It’s great to have friends who really care. I love you guys.

I have lots of work to do tomorrow, and a busy weekend ahead of me, so I’m likely to be offline for a few days. Be happy;

My new web site, Penbryn Residence (the sequel to the immensely popular Penbryn Hall web site I set up several years back) is now under development. And I’ve made a link to it here so that Google starts picking it up. <wink>

A friend of mine has allowed me to read the draft of a book she’s been writing for the best part of the last year. I feel honoured to be trusted with this task - it’s heartwarming. I’ve been looking forward to getting hold of a copy.

Paul’s given the inspiration - and the domain name - to produce an exciting new project over the next week: a new web site that’ll keep Aberites amused for some time to come. I’m keeping it tightly under wraps - even Paul doesn’t know what it’s actually going to be, yet - but if you’re looking for a clue, start with Penbryn-Hall.co.uk, a prank site I set up two and a half years ago.

It’s deeply satisfying to back-up a heap of stuff to a DVD and free up several gigabytes of hard drive space.

I have to go to work in a few hours, but I can’t sleep. I wish Claire was here.

And I thought I was supposed to be the ‘old fogie’!

I remember last semester that we’d have three or four films on a Troma Night, drinking until well past 2am. Tonight, it wasn’t even midnight before Kit, Liz, Adam and Bryn decided that it was past thier bedtime. Disappointing.

I’ve found a supervisor for my major project, although he has stipulated the condition that I reduce the complexity of my proposed project, as he’s said it’s too ambitious. Needless to say, I didn’t point out to him that I’ve pretty much finished developing it already, and I just need to write the accompanying paper. Ah well. That’ll make this academic year all the sweeter.

Bought new jeans and socks to celebrate.

Claire’s Dad is visiting for the weekend, which is nice. He’s also brought his new Jaguar, which is also nice.

Will post more soon. For now, I’m being dragged to bed by Claire. Goodnight, all;

Why is it that when people wake up during the night - to go to the toilet, for example - they almost certainly check their clock as they get back into bed, even if (a) this means going out of their way [sitting up and leaning over, or whetever] and (b) there is still no light streaming through the windows [therefore: it's not even remotely near the morning anyway].

The only valid reason I can think of for this behaviour is to see how close it is to their alarm time, and, if it’s almost time to get up anyway, to get up - but if it’s still dark outside then it obviously isn’t anyway, so they needn’t bother. Knowing the time does not help you sleep, does it?

I’d be interested in a study in which people who frequently make 8am-ish starts and who can say that they have engaged in this behaviour have their alarm clocks replace with a specially-crafted alternative which does not show the time on the face between the time that the alarm is set and the time that it goes off. Volunteers for the study would have to use this special clock for several months and record instances of it changing their behavioural patterns - and any other comments - in a diary for submission at the end of the experiment (say a month later). Ideally the experiment would be performed at a time of year and location at which, for the people involved, thier ‘usual’ alarm time fell shortly after sunrise, to eliminate oddities in the ‘light effect’ above, and would be repeated with different study groups around the year. No control group is necessary (technically, everybody has been part of one for the last ten years, so we’ll use them); instead, testimony will be collected from interested parties among the general populace and used during the analysis of results.

Just a thought. I’d be interested to see any conclusions and theories into why humans engage in this interesting behaviour.

Right: off to lectures.

I feel really stupid. Earlier this evening Claire desperately wanted my attention, and I pretty much ignored her, quite selfishly.

I absolutely adore her, and - away tonight as she is - now I’m missing her loads but it’s too late to call her and tell her so, and in any case she’s forgotten to take her mobile phone with her. I can’t sleep for waiting ’til the morning, when I can see her.

In other news, my suspicions were last night confirmed that Pink Floyd really does sound even better after a joint.

Going to try again to get some sleep;