Tag: Gabriel Smy

Commatose

The Board is mindful
of the guidelines produced
by the Association
of British Insurers
and the attention being given
to CSR issues
by investors and wider
stakeholder communities.
The Board acknowledges
the commercial and ethical importance
of the development and maintenance
of a culture of continuous improvement
in CSR matters
as far as they are relevant
to the Group’s activities
and accepts that
the implementation of a system
for measuring and reporting
on key CSR indicators
may, over time, be appropriate.

From Harvard International’s Corporate Responsibility statement, 28 June 2010.

Vivid

I am not sure why this summer seems so vivid,
with each day somehow more beautiful than the last.
I only know that is the way it feels. The days
are moving as if each hour is two, and every
detail – a salad, a bunch of sweet peas or box
of tiny broad beans – is somehow more rich than it
would normally be. It is as if the colours,
sounds and scents of summer have been turned up a notch.

Tiny broad beans so tender you could eat them pod
and all; sweet little peas (they love a drop of good
steady rain) and lettuces that have benefited
from the cooler mornings and evenings. I made a
bean sauce this week with a base of crisp purple
and white spring onions, broad beans and tarragon. I
gave it a backbone of cubed unsmoked bacon and
bound it with a little cream. I skinned the larger beans
but left the real babies in their paper-thin skins.

The early peaches are at last arriving from
France and Italy. I wait all spring for these fruits
with their rose-scented juice. It is rare to find them
perfectly ripe in the shops, so I make sure I
buy them a couple of days before I need them.
The old trick of putting them in a paper bag
with a ripe banana to speed up their ripening
works well, but they do very nicely just left out
for a day or two. But there is no need to squeeze
and prod. An unripe peach has virtually no smell;
a ripe one will tell you it is ready to eat.

From Nigel Slater’s recipe column, 4 July 2010.

The Death of Alden

Many of them are neither
in the army nor in war work.
Many have found this a golden
opportunity to make money
during a war boom—by writing,
by commercial photography,
through the movies, or by other
worthless activities—worthless
when compared with what
your brother Alden was doing.
These bastards let your brother die, Forry,
and did not lift a hand to help him.

I mean that literally. The war
in Europe would have been over
if all the slackers in this country
had been trying to help out—
would have been over before
the date your brother died.
The slackers are collectively
and personally responsible
for the death of Alden.
And a large percent of fans
are among those slackers.
Alden’s blood is on their hands.

A letter from sci-fi writer Robert Heinlein to a fan, 28 January 1945.

By Saturn’s Moons

An aurora, shining high above
the northern part of Saturn, moves
from the night side to the day side;
tall auroral curtains, rapidly
changing over time when viewed at the limb
of the planet’s northern hemisphere.

Irregularly shaped Calypso is one
of two Trojan moons that travel in
the same orbit of the larger moon Tethys;
Appearing like eyes on a potato,
craters cover the dimly lit surface
of the moon Prometheus.

Saturn’s moon Dione passes in front;
Enceladus continues to spew ice
into space; A closer view of Baghdad
Sulcus, one of four tiger stripes
that cross Enceladus’ south pole.

Cassini is on the night side
of the moon, viewing brightly-lit plumes
of ice being ejected from fissures
at Enceladus’ south pole. Rhea
looms near its sibling Epimetheus.

Cassini looks down on the clouds
just over the shoulder of the moon
Helene; Saturn’s rings, made dark
in part as the planet casts its shadow
across them, cut a striking figure
before Saturn’s largest moon, Titan.

The shadow darkens a huge portion
of the gas giant planet. Titan’s
golden, smog-like atmosphere
and complex layered hazes appear
to Cassini as a luminous ring
around the planet-sized moon.

From NASA’s notes on spacecraft Cassini’s photographs of Saturn, published in The Big Picture 21 May 2010.

Meet me in Johannesburg

Honduras, Algeria,
Germany, Nigeria,
USA, Slovenia,
Ivory Coast.

Denmark, Spain, Slovakia,
Ghana, France, South Africa,
Chile, Greece, Australia,
Japan, Mexico.

Cameroon and Uruguay,
Portugal and Paraguay,
Serbia and Italy,
Switzerland.

England and North Korea,
Holland and Argentina,
Brazil and South Korea,
New Zealand.

The 32 teams in the FIFA 2010 World Cup.

Spectrum

Blue with a hint of your mother.
Jesus Christ, what is with you and green?
What I’m sure was once nice wallpaper
before you stained it with your nicotine.

My dentist’s office orange. I still remember
his dandruff slowly wafting into my gaping jaw.
It’s pink, but not totally pink. It’s purple,
but not totally purple. Sorry for

spazzing earlier, I had a seizure.
White if it had a wine spill on itself and let it dry.
Maybe a half hour before the first stars
start showing up in the night sky.

Red as the cute boy to my right’s hoodie.
I’m sorry for polluting your stats.
That awful color, that forever remains a reminder
grandma needs to be cut off after the third glass.

Dark red. Velociraptor cloaca.
Shark invested water blue. Unsure-
whether-boy-or-girl baby room color.
Nothing looks like a proper color any more.

Comments in the xkcd survey about identifying colours.

In the Beginning

On days one to two: Wees –
two or more per day; Poos –
one or more per day;
Poo at this stage is called meconium
or mec for short. It’s very dark
brown green black and sticky
and it’s already in the bowel
at the time of birth.

On days three to four: Wees –
three or more per day; The
amount of wee increases,
and the nappies feel heavier than before.
Poos – two or more per day;
The colour changes and looks more green.
These poos are called ‘changing stools’
and they change because your baby
is taking in more milk and digesting it.

On days five to six: Wees –
five or more heavy nappies per day;
(see what heavy means overleaf).
Poos – At least two soft, yellow poos
per day; They’re yellow, because there is
no more mec in the bowel.

Day seven onwards: Wees –
six or more heavy nappies per day;
Poos – at least two soft, yellow poos
per day; greater than the size of a two pound coin
– not just skid marks. You might notice
little seedy particles in it – that’s fine.

From the National Childbirth Trust notes ‘What’s in a nappy’. 16 May 2010.

Grundy remarked let slip

Grundy remarked let slip safely cross shall take small price dropped money at gas stations only generated with jewels smart girl but try ome closer joyleen dice michigan child even racto howled seemed inclined her breasts than leaving red or black formal dress chief considered undane version whether the readily solved that makes high flow low pressure air compressor stay with the wrong remarkable gift walk back can affect pirates cove treasure knew that dark shapes torso pressed for similar your set first five san bernardino servations are cold inside husband was not been somewhat like ll moyers four kinds of activists remain longer she might circled the probably here extra eyes jacks or better on excite against the himself away bats swarmed ncarnation she language into forever twenty one atlanta urely this olph fought light toward are all magic mirror dod payline officially made the oncoming married her asked for goblins took red eyes on sick dog olph wanted were abraded tapestry that sudden downdraft hat kind egm magizine three girls more intense was wondering match for not diminish i love reality big brother six golden vegetation goblin form the spirit what counts small tingle double street sign banished because ada saw much harder certain compelling mutual agreement poker bankroll management bags dropped his room poke their annoy her and bottom hang straight up form for the momentary teeth bit spun off next question easy dice games about food that this swung over the bear mouths gaping download pictures from blackjack inquired guardedly opened out ust hold roads looked should inquire rite way house leveling ortunately not can take been known then approached his fangs free down load card games man had after they the blow know these aversion for where did fuzzy dice come from recognized the this had was then marks the all around cole brothers circus discount tickets worm called could save and departed that expression tender body jacks or better free play been good eleven years seeming life olph grimaced erhaps that buy awp was beyond even scare for that leaving the fter several from full house stephanie other kinds any time sounded bad hen return wrist was deuces wild characters quiltlike floor stay clear bumped down but these into progress free bonus round slots well satisfied hat sailboat rlene fathomed started crying put him fruit machine emulator downloads she spoke the fireplace colors not with something learn quickly gaming machine cheats illusion puffed curse had stand vertically with each most utterly red engliah bulldogs got there his speed other plants nothing untoward the betrayal discovercard down skeletons had was impressive itness has the breeze stronger than high current low voltage transformer and closer olph inhaled small clearing this isle hey gouged upper back shoulders neck hands feet other necessitie cave ended but desperatio creature vote this disaster even or odd worksheets not said now knew stayed back think about winding path blackjack and caribbean stud in casinos was reach want you merwoman had said hotly become betrothed fruit machines home use how tired little trouble seeing the would happen land when baseball wild card closing and progress when and quickly hey tried her lover jack nickolson the joker picture costume his troop suddenly very said anything your assistance forested mountain dew-point comes in contact with and watched condemned for two together arrows and mean that buying fruit machines undania right winner and are invisible indeed used more fruit play free pai gow four hours pits here ent you any mistake him more poker run rides in creston wv ing snapped agician always that far recognized bravery ffectively invisible backseat hand job year the meal with were made regret being olph pushed wild card hostesses see whether was just her alive domestic service had those lyrics going on twenty-one bones when monster hunt plaque set olph inquired ask him overdrive let it ride instead she reputation precedes eyond the one path present seemed bonus fun games ditionally awakened square buildings distant one guess these glanced around half way house for sex offenders most outrageous herself with fingers were clumsy flier ith these egm services inc dangling down the developmen all focusing will send boat tilted one one twenty twenty incomplete coverlet overtake.

A spam comment posted to my content strategy blog, 13 April 2010, with the blue of the hyperlinks preserved.

Paternity

You
must be able to declare that
you
are the baby’s biological father,
or
married to
or
in a civil partnership
with the mother,
or
living with the mother
in
an enduring family relationship,
but
are not an immediate relative,
and
you will be responsible
for
the child’s upbringing,
and
you will take time off work
to
support the mother
or
care for the child.

On the HMRC Statutory Payment Pay/paternity leave form, page 1 (April 2010).