So it's been a month now since Our Dear Leader ran and hid prorogued parliament, three weeks since anyone noticed, and a week since the MPs were supposed to be back to yelling at each other. Naturally then, I felt this was a good time to comment.

(  (Well that and the fact that the weekend before they were due back to the House, I was sick. Aside: links get steadily funnier) )

- ... but you knew that was going to happen.
- Of course I did!
- but, then why -
- If it makes me happy, it makes me happy. It doesn't matter if it makes sense!

And on that note:

The One Ring to Rule them ALL
Legendary Frog
Kind of old, but is truly the one parody TO RULE THEM ALL, and makes me giggle every time I see it. Is also the only parody I've ever seen that has a special edition version. This is it. The original is only slightly less funny.

And Just Whose Wedding Is This?
A wonderful, hobbity story, in which a disgruntled groom is annoyed by his future in-laws. Although he tries to maintain his dignity as a knight of Gondor, he is still a young hobbit of the Shire and has much to learn about the ways of hobbit-lasses with regards to wedding plans.

A Matter of Record
A meeting between the king of Gondor and the leaders of the Shire (Mayor, Master, and Thain), set many years after the events of the War of the Ring. This one makes me happy for it’s pure hobbittude.

A Moment of Reflection
Lord Elrond has an encounter with a young Took and a very large book, causing him to perhaps re-evaluate his decision sending the younger hobbits with the Fellowship. I’m not sure exactly when this fic is set, but I’m not sure it really matters.

A Lesson on Hobbits
One for every non-hobbit member of the fellowship. Yes, even Gandalf has something to learn about the small people he has been learning about for the past hundred years or so. Despite (as he says) knowing more about their history than they do themselves. The one with Boromir is charming and blends book and movie-verses quite nicely. Many of the rest paint the hobbits as being more childish than is generally expected, but it leaves you with the idea that they're sensible and mature when they have to be. After all, to be so always would be boring!


And for those of you more appreciative of Sci-fi:

The Atlantis Local Stitch'n'Bitch Chapter
Question, does this really need a description? Contains John/Rodney, a fair amount of Atlantis gossip and giggling, some Celine Dion, and lots of knitting.

No he's not dead.

Hans Rosling started the website gapminder.org which is actually surprisingly fun. (Basically it lets you play with statistics without having to actually do statistics (bloody fake math) I made this one, (when you get there hit play) it doesn't say much in terms of patterns, it just points out something interesting in 2006)

Interesting you say? you want to find out more? Probably not, but you should anyway. Hans Rosling gave two TED Talks, using this software to point out trends and debunk myths in the developing world. (two TEDtalks, seriously!)

One in 2006: two points about this one, most importantly when he splits up the sub-Saharan Africa to show where each individual country fits on the graph. I'm especially grateful for this because I get kind of annoyed when people get into their heads Africa = bad. It's a diverse continent people, the colourful bouncy graphs prove it. Also, take a look at the specific countries he uses in the quiz at the begining. I don't know if he did it on purpose, but when he asks the students to choose between two countries, one of the countries is one which has much more of a "third world" reputation. Scewing the results of the quiz a bit, or pointing out prejudices? hmmm...

Second is from 2007 when he revisits some of his points from before and then speaks for a bit on development. I like how he stresses research and speaking with people in developing countries. He mentions briefly that the best ideas come from speaking to people and asking them what they need to bring themselves out of poverty, which is great considering that, as an idea, it's a bit of a side-track from the rest of the talk, but it's also an idea that cannot be stressed enough and should be continually pointed out.

*Note* I apologize for the ramble-yness of this post, I've been reading blogs all day... :P