Scffmm-rrrfffmmm

I wouldn't mind if the aching shoulders and hands first thing in the morning meant that I had actually been working in my sleep rather than just unconsciously worriting about work and clenching bits of myself, but that's not how it is.

At the moment I'm really afraid we won't make it - with this publication, I mean, that is some six weeks behind schedule owing to the recent upheavals in my office. That would be a serious disaster for us.

But I don't know if I have the energy to prevent it.

Extortion

Today's Irish Times (motor supplement) reports on the extension of the penalty points system to not wearing a seatbelt, which will come into force next Monday. You can get a maximum of four penalty points if you don't wear the belt or if you permit someone under 17 to travel without wearing it.

The refinement that caught my eye, though, was that (I paraphrase) "alleged offenders" can choose to pay a €60 on-the-spot fine (increased from €25) when stopped by the Gardaí. If they do this, they will receive two penalty points. If they contest the charge they face a maximum fine of €800 and four penalty points.

Nice to see the Gardaí seizing the opportunity to generate some extra income, isn't it?

My very own hell

People who have the opportunity to vote, but don't
Circle I Limbo

People who smoke around children
Circle II Whirling in a Dark & Stormy Wind

Fianna Fáil
Circle III Mud, Rain, Cold, Hail & Snow

George W. Bush
Circle IV Rolling Weights

Racists, sexists, homophobes and other blinkered thinkers
Circle V Stuck in Mud, Mangled

River Styx

Corrupt politicians
Circle VI Buried for Eternity

River Phlegyas

Fundamentalists of every stripe
Circle VII Burning Sands

Clergy who concealed abuse
Circle IIX Immersed in Excrement

Bombers and the bastards who command them
Circle IX Frozen in Ice

Design your own hell

Rumblings without

Two things made me laugh a lot this evening:

1. A fabulously vicious Salon review of Chuck Palahniuk's new novel, Diary. I'd never heard of Chuck (apparently he wrote Fight Club), and I haven't read his book, but this didn't matter in the slightest.

2. The Onion's New Crispy Snack Cracker To Ease Crushing Pain Of Modern Life. All the cool kids had presumably seen this already (I followed a link from jinxremoving), but it brought a guffaw to my evening.