PurpleHeather's shared items

Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

What? Afternoon Play: boardgame larks in a lovely coffee shop
When? Sunday 7th November
Yes but when? 2-5:30pm
Where? Urban Coffee Company, 30 Church Street, Birmingham, B3 2NP

Inspired by our Midland neighbours over at Gambling Lambs we’ve decided it was high time to host a boardgame event of our own in the West Midlands so are pleased to announce our upcoming lazy afternoon of play on  Sunday 7th of November ‘Afternoon Play‘ (see what we did there ….. sigh* yes I know its not the best name, but we can work on that alright?)

We’ll be bringing along some German classics such as Catan & Carcassonne but you’re welcome to bring along your game of choice. Although we’re selling this as a boardgame afternoon if there is anything else you’re keen to play (safely) within the confines of a coffee shop then let us know.

You don’t need to sign up anywhere but as this is the first one (please note mild insinuation that if all goes well we might repeat said event) it’d be good to get an idea of rsvp numbers on this here facebook event page. So pack up your zocchihedron, bring your friends, meet some new ones and come join us on Sunday the 7th.

That was not the week I planned to have. Whoa.A week ago yesterday, I went to bed like I do every night. I read “Shouts & Murmurs” in the New Yorker and wondered, as usual, why it wasn’t very funny. I set my glasses on top of the stack of books on my bedside table and then retrieved them when they fell, as usual, and slid behind the table. I felt pretty normal - which is to say, I didn’t feel

Back home again, weathering that odd shift from one time zone, place and job to another.  It always throws me for a loop- a rapid change in expectations and pace. The first day home from a trip is almost always...

A new opinion poll shows that, when they are asked how much different jobs should be paid, people tend to propose higher pay for the low-paid jobs and lower pay for the high paid ones.

The opinion poll was conducted by ComRes for Pay and Tax: The Radio 4 Debate, due to be broadcast tonight at 5pm.

One thousand people were asked what they thought different jobs should pay.

Some coverage has focused on the fact that footballers were accorded the highest ‘merit’ pay, but what I noticed immediately was the equalising tendency it revealed – for every job that is paid £30,000 a year or more, the public came up with a figure lower than the actual pay rate.

For every job paid £25,000 a year or less they came up with a higher figure:

What workers in different jobs are paid and what the public think they should be paid

Profession	Average Pay (£000s)	Should be paid (£000s)	Difference
CEO of a FTSE 100 company	2,100	118	-94%
Premiership footballer	1,700	365	-79%
Bond trader	225	58	-74%
Prime Minister	142.5	119	-16%
Head teacher in a secondary school	73	43	-41%
Train driver	40	28	-30%
Social worker	30	28	-8%
Nurse	29	29	=
Technician	29	28.7	-1%
Airline cabin attendant	23	25	+9%
Secretary/PA	23	25	+9%
Hospital porter	18	21	+15%
Call centre worker	17	19	+14%
Care assistant	16	24	+50%
Retail cashier	13	18	+36%

Taken from BBC News website: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-11350383

None of this is proof of what people ‘should be paid’ – my guess is that the public’s views are very influenced by what they think people actually are paid. (The high figure for footballers is probably because the average person probably has a more accurate idea of how much they are actually paid.)

But it is a useful corrective to the assumption you often come across, that egalitarianism is bound to be unpopular.

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​From News.com.au:

ENGLISH fantasy author Sir Terry Pratchett says he was so excited after being knighted by the Queen that he decided to make his own sword to equip himself for his new status.

It was not enough, however, simply to find some metal and get a blacksmith to bash it into shape.

Pratchett, believing the sword would not truly be his own unless it was made from metal he had produced, found a field with deposits of iron ore near his home in Wiltshire, west of London.

He gathered the deposits and smelted the iron ore himself.

The author, 62, who has sold about 65 million copies of his books, which include the Discworld series, said: "Most of my life I've been producing stuff which is intangible and so it's amazing the achievement you feel when you have made something which is really real."

With help from his friend Jake Keen -- an expert on ancient metal-making techniques -- the author dug up 81kg of ore and smelted it in the grounds of his house, using a makeshift kiln built from clay and hay and fuelled with damp sheep manure.

Pratchett, who has Alzheimer's disease, also said he had thrown in "several pieces of meteorites -- thunderbolt iron, you see -- highly magical, you've got to chuck that stuff in whether you believe in it or not".

After days of hammering the metal into bars, he took it to a blacksmith, whom he helped to shape it into a blade, which was finished with silverwork.

Pratchett has stored the sword, which he completed last year, in a secret location, apparently concerned about the authorities taking an interest in it.

He said: "It annoys me that knights aren't allowed to carry their swords. That would be knife crime."

To recap: Terry Pratchett -- author of the wonderful Discworld books, member of the Order of the British Empire, sufferer of Alzheimer's -- made himself a sword. This would be incredible enough -- the dude smelted his own goddamn weapon! -- but then he also made his own sword out of fucking meteorites.

Nerdy ladies and gentlemen, I believe we have a new god. Thanks to everyone who sent this in. (Via Obvious Winner)