I don’t understand the hate directed at Greta Thunberg and the relentless campaign against her and the inevitability of the depletion of the finite resources our planet holds. Honestly I don’t. Neglect climate change and her concerns remain valid.

It depresses me when people use nonsensical arguments masquerading as facts (or science), attack her Aspergers, attack her parents… it’s almost as-if a 16 year old cannot be allowed to have an opinion, and must not be allowed to convert that opinion into action.

The most depressing thing, everyone with an inquiring mind can wade through the bullshit and examine the evidence behind her concerns. We’re living in what I naively thought an age in which information is so readily available there’s zero excuse for ignorance.

Oh, as for writing a book and those accusations of personally cashing in, it’s not even true.

What’s the thing that buries its head in the sand when danger approaches? That’s right, it’s a myth too.

Now, the only thing that remains to be said, do I get her book as a paperback, a hardback, or as an electronic download (that’d be for my Kindle)? I can’t share it with my daughters if it’s all-electronic, and yet…

After watching the BBC’s Christmas 2019 oddly controversial adaptation of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, I bought the paperback. It’s quite the allegory for our times this book, and for the world in which we now find ourselves.

Prompted by a tweet by @mlv:

‘Daughter gave me a challenge. Write a story using only these verbs in this order (verbs like “will be” are okay).’

Abused
Bargain
Cease
Decapitate
Elaborating
Fabricate
Gnashing
Honeymooning
Ignite
Jam
Knitting
Loved
Minced
Notified
Object
Petrify
Querying
Resist
Savvy
Tax
Unfrozen
Verbified
Waxed
X-irradiate
Yelped
Zeroed

“Verbified”‽ Wow.

Challenge accepted:

The Cleveland Browns fans, abused by all and sundry and one particular owner, bargain for their lives in 1995 (cease operation, decapitate the fan base.) Elaborating, the owner fabricates the narrative leading to gnashing of teeth throughout football.

Fast-forward to 1999, a honeymooning of sorts, a phoenix team with desire to ignite a new dynasty; but with an unprecedentedly short time to jam a knitting team, a loved fanbase minced by the previous owner, one who notified his intentions, into the established order.

Object back in ‘95 though, it’s useless. Petrify one’s desires until the return. Querying why brings no joy, resist and a savvy owner, with tax unfrozen, verbified The Move.

Thr press waxed lyrical. Who X-irradiated their brains?

The fans yelped “the league zeroed our chances!”

I am a Cleveland Browns fan.

I have 3 items of official merchandise: a #57 Matthews jersey predating my fandom, a cap also predating my fandom but worn in First Energy Stadium on opening day 2004, and a Cleveland Browns phone case commemorating the NFL’s Centenary year – this just arrived on Christmas Eve. This isn’t what makes me a fan.

Since becoming a fan I’ve also bought a Bulgarian-made bright orange custom Red Right 88 tee, a #7 Scottish Hammer tee (Szabo Apparel) and a bright orange CLE beanie (also Szabo.) This isn’t what makes me a fan.

I met Sam Rutigliano before that 2004 game, and what a great guy he is (long story), but even meeting him and Dante Lavelli and Kevin Mack in the stadium didn’t make me a fan.

It’s not seeing Browns memorabilia in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton Ohio.

It’s not the parallels I saw between the Browns at the end of the 2017 season and the Dallas Cowboys – a team to which I committed after their 1-15 season, at the point the JJs took the reins, after which they went on to win a Super Bowl within, 3 years was it?!

It’s not because I read Terry Pluto’s ‘False Start: How The New Browns Were Set Up To Fail’ – the account of how the Browns were shipped off to Baltimore one night in 1995, and Cleveland had no football until the league grudgingly allowed a new team to exist in 1999.

It’s definitely not the team’s W-L-T record since 1999, but who doesn’t love the underdog‽

I didn’t even become a fan because I’ve found a home of sorts in Reddit’s r/Browns discussion forum, or due to the fact that only a small number there habitually downvote my posts and comments.

I can probably think of more reasons which singly didn’t contribute much to me becoming a Browns fan.

Jamie Gillan from Inverness made the Browns 2019 roster cut; we have a starter. I’m buzzing about the season now for the first time!

I asked the guy a totally trivial question earlier. Given the magnitude of what’s just happened for him I’m not expecting a reply. (If I allowed myself to post them in the blog I’d put a smiley face here.)

My wife mentioned the gift she’d left for me in the top of the kitchen cupboard. Due to the length of time I’ve been on the Internet, I quite naturally parsed what she said incorrectly.

Earlier this afternoon we arrived home from our week away in a farm cottage between Bridgnorth and Ironbridge, within an area promoted as the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution.

I bought a cheap souvenir anvil which is, though predating the Industrial Revolution by thousands of years, indicative of industry, of engineering. What’s it’s not indicative of though is the massive social upheaval brought about by the increasingly rapid change starting in the early 18th century.

Here’s my anvil, it’s 3-1/2″ long and awesome:

We visited a range of museums throughout the week:

• Blists Hill Victorian town (a wide range of buildings moved from elsewhere and reconstructed.) (Here we purchased annual passes for most of the biggest attractions in the area.)
• The Broseley clay tobacco pipe works (at which pipes are still made in limited numbers, most notably for films such as The Lord of the Rings),
• Abraham Darby’s home, incongruously opulent for a Quaker,
• The Jackfield ceramic tile museum,
• We travelled from Bridgnorth to Kidderminster on the Severn Valley Railway, and had an excellent meal at the King and Castle pub (which has a wide range of local beers),
• The Acton Scott historic working farm,
• Enginuity, a series of interactive exhibits targeted at children of all ages.
• The Bridgnorth Cliff Railway (a magnificent 1-1/4 minutes of travel on a 64% incline),
• The world famous Ironbridge Iron Bridge.
• The Museum of the Gorge,
• The Coalport China Museum,
• To top all this off we had a last night meal and drinks at the Old Castle pub in Bridgnorth, known for its hanging baskets.

I might add links to the list at some point, and check if I’ve missed anything out (apart from a few visits to the Bridgnorth Sainsbury store.) Here are some map screenshots.

The area we explored, the cottage is indicated by the blue flag:

Aside from the Southern terminus of the Severn Valley Railway at Kidderminster, the longest drive to a starred point on this map is just about 35 minutes (from the cottage to Acton Scott farm.)

The area around the Iron Bridge:

Incidentally, the Ironbridge Gorge is a UNESCO World Heritage site. It’s entirely justifiable!

Headline:

McDonald’s paper straws cannot be recycled

The BBC is currently reporting on a story ‘broken’ by The Sun, that McDonalds straws cannot be recycled.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-49234054

Buried deep within the article, the revelation that the materials are recyclable, but McDonalds statement reads:

“As a result of customer feedback, we have strengthened our paper straws, so while the materials are recyclable, their current thickness makes it difficult for them to be processed by our waste solution providers, who also help us recycle our paper cups,”

We’re in the ridiculous situation that McDonalds and the BBC are misleading the public. From the article:

“Last year, it axed plastic straws, even though they were recyclable, in all its UK branches as part of a green drive.”

Meh.

Ok, the paper straws are indeed recyclable but, it seems, only by everyone outside the McDonalds company. Officially. The bad thing here, how irresponsible is this reporting repeated across a wide range of clickbait headline news sources‽

People simply won’t recycle them because of this crap excuse for journalism.

I’m curious now; what cardboard thickness would you consider unsuitable to put in your recycling bin? Egg box? Washing machine soap powder box?

Dear:

• Prime Minister,
• Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs,
• Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy,
• Secretary of State for Transport.

What progress is being made in developing the United Kingdom’s electric vehicle charging station infrastructure, and are we on schedule to meet the Government’s current all-electric vehicle target?

Cheers,

Baz.

Someone told Dominic Raab that Russia is developing secret missiles that can strike European capitals including LONDON.[efn_note]https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7315003/Russia-developing-powerful-secret-missile-strike-LONDON-says-Dominic-Raab.html?ito=rss-flipboard[/efn_note] Unprecedented, naah. Raab, he’s no Gavin Williamson.[efn_note]https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/tory-defence-secretary-wants-put-13125030[/efn_note]

In past news, someone told Dominic Raab that Great Britain is surrounded by sea. Details, details.[efn_note]https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2018/nov/08/dominic-raab-dover-calais-brexit-uk-france[/efn_note]

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This morning I experienced a revelatory moment, a realisation a thing we will all take for granted was foreseen.

My boss is collecting green plastic milk bottle tops for a hospital charity drive, the caps from white plastic bottles of skimmed milk. You know, the ones that always leak in the fridge when stored on their side after opening.

The moment?

They all have words emblazoned around the top face:

STORE UPRIGHT AFTER OPENING

Ah.

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Here’s an appropriate video.