Racism in Glasgow

I was chatting to a guy I used to work with the other day. He was born on Glasgow and grew up in Glasgow. He is very Scottish. He is also a Sikh. He thinks that Glasgow has become more racist in recent years.

My friend used to be a loyal Rangers supporter and go to Ibrox the other week. He stopped going when he heard other fans calling opposition players 'black bastards'. As he is a Sikh, he wears a turban all the time and he has a full beard. Since 2001 he says that things have become much worse. He tells me that two weeks ago he and his wife were walking through Glasgow City Centre when a ned called him a 'paki bastard'.

All of this makes me sad and angry. My friend is a Scottish as I am but he is picked on because of the colour of his skin. I want Scotland and Glasgow to be the best place in the world. We are failing when we ignore racism.

Everyone should stand up against that sort of shit.

Dodgem logic

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The Algebraist by Iain M Banks

I read the Algebraist a couple of weeks ago. It's a great space opera style science fiction book. It's full of interesting concepts I really enjoyed it. Well worth a read if you are a geek.

NHS history website

This is a website about the history of the NHS - http://www.nhshistory.net/

I think it's interesting. You might not.

I hope some Americans take a page out of our 'socialist' book.

Film - Up in 3D

I can't remember the last time I saw a 3D film at the cinema. I may have watched a 3D superman film as a kid but I can't remember. I wasn't sure what to expect of Up in 3D but I wore contact lens so that I could comfortably wear the 3D glasses.

The cinema tickets were slightly more expensive than usual to cover the price of the fairly solid glasses. There was a short feature about a stork before the main film. The 3D technology was well showcased in the short.

Lots of people have told me that Up is a great film. The first 10 minutes or so pack a solid emotional punch. It's nice to see adult emotion in a cartoon. It shows people what the medium is capable of. The film is about dealing with loss and getting on with life. It's also about talking dogs and multi-coloured birds. Generally it's good, although maybe not as good as The Incredibles.

The 3D was really prominent at the start of the film although it seemed to blend into the background a bit later on. This either means that the 3D was so good that I didn't notice it or that it stopped being there/stopped working.

Anyway, I'm glad that I saw this on a big screen. It was a good experience.