I'm all for reaching out across political divides...

... but WHAT THE BLUE BUGGERY FUCK is Our Glorious Leader doing writing for LabourLost?

Seriously, who thought that would be a good idea? He's pissing off the Labourites (Google for the post and look at the comments, I'm not linking to it and bumping up LL's Wikio ranking) and he's pissing off his own party. Lose/lose. If you're going to put something up on the site of another party, here are some ideas to make it NOT an exercise in shooting yourself in the foot:

1. Tell your own people you're going to do it first, so it doesn't look like an overture to defection
2. When the Tory press are already sowing rumours of a Lib/Lab coalition, and telling people that if they vote Liberal they will be supporting a failed government, for FUCK'S SAKE don't pour petrol on the flames.
3. Crosspost it from a Lib Dem site, to drive traffic TO us, rather than doing this which drives traffic AWAY from us
4. Don't pick the most discredited, hated and partisan of the other party's sites as the host for your post

It's a shame the mechanics of the post made it such a tactical cock-up, because the post itself is quite a good one. Oh well.

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The Blood is the Life: Pride Special

Fresh Squeezings from the veins of the internet!

• Pride Central! Gay-pride.org.uk is a central resource for finding out about pride events local to you.


• London Pride! Today is, of course, Pride Day for those of you who live in That London. Have fun, if you're going, and if you see a really gorgeous mixed race girl in devil horns, give her a smile, for she is ginasketch.


• Bi Pride! djm4 has an excellent post on what bisexuals really want.


• Lib Dem Pride! Daddy Alex's post about the difference between Labour and Lib Dem stances on equal rights for those of different sexual orientations seems curiously salient today.


• Self-determination Pride! I love you, Pterry. You rock.

And today's Meme:

Your result for The Kinsey-n-Klein Orientation Test...

Kinsey - 2

Predominantly heterosexual, but more than incidentally.
You could be straighter. You're like a rubber eraser. You might look solid but you are a bit more flexible than average. You have a leaning towards members of the opposite sex but generally you love people across the board.

Take The Kinsey-n-Klein Orientation Test at HelloQuizzy

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Louhi: The first couple of days

Things I love:

• The fact that she's a proper phone. Louhi is not an iPod with a phone grafted on as an afterthought, she is a phone with other useful features. This means that her primary function - being a phone - is well designed and easy to use.


• The Satnav. Louhi has a proper GPS satnav in her innards, and once I got the settings sorted, it works really well. If you are driving, I'd recommend downloading and using googlemaps rather than the in-phone one because it's less resource-heavy and updates more quickly. If you're walking, though, the in-phone one is brilliant, and even directs you to the nearest pub :D


• The MP3 player, and how it integrates with my computer. Having played about with the phone and the software required to sync to my computer, I think I am actually going to end up using Nokia Music rather than any of the other bits of software I have for music playing on my computer. The interface is clear and simple, and the way it works is brilliant.


• The notes feature. I already have a "notes to self" and a "beers Mat likes" note


• The camera. I have seen other people online complain about the camera, but I love it. The flash is really bright, the picture quality is grand, and it's easy to use.


• The resolution of the screen. The resolution is sharp, bright, and clear. It's actually usable for watching videos. For something smaller than an iPhone, this is a big surprise.


• The screen-lock system. Because it's a touchscreen, it's extra important to lock it securely. The screen lock button is positioned well for one-finger use, but is really difficult to hit accidentally.

Things I am less keen on:

• The size. I got very used to my little 7373, and much as this phone is far more capable, it is also physically bigger, and takes up a lot more pocket room


• The touchscreen. There's nothing wrong with the touchscreen per se, it's just odd getting used to having one. It means I have to be much more careful with my phone, because damaging the screen at all will make it unusable, and I can't just close it to protect the important bits as I am used to. I'm sure I will get used to it, but...


• The handwriting recognition software. While it does a reasonable job of recognising my handwriting, it would be better if you could train it to recognise WORDS rather than just individual letters.


• Gaps in the databases. The satnav couldn't find John B-M's house until I downloaded google maps, and when you ask it to find the nearest pub, several are missing from the list (including the one I work in)

Over all, though, I am really loving her. I've gone for a new ringtone, too. The 7373 had Phantom of the Opera by Iron Maiden. Louhi is ringing in the changes with Billion Dollar Babies by Alice Cooper.

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