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[LMNO]

How does that work?  Create an alt and then insult yourself?

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

How does that work?  Create an alt and then insult yourself?

Exactly.

[LMNO]

And the point is, what?  Have your friends rally around you and bomb the sock puppet?

So it's a move to gain attention and have people show compassion towards you.  Sad, I suppose, but no more unusual than anything else.

[Payne]

PD has been doing this for years, but we don't even get an honourable mention from Aunty Beeb.

[minuspace]

And the point is, what?  Have your friends rally around you and bomb the sock puppet?

So it's a move to gain attention and have people show compassion towards you.  Sad, I suppose, but no more unusual than anything else.

Attention, till it escalates to a flame war, then it's just publicity, right?

[Salty]

And the point is, what?  Have your friends rally around you and bomb the sock puppet?

So it's a move to gain attention and have people show compassion towards you.  Sad, I suppose, but no more unusual than anything else.

I could see kids doing it out of sheer boredom.

[Reginald Ret]

In a moment of selfloathing i once sent a hateful mail to my own email address. It was quite hurtful to read because it gave me an outsiders perspective on myself, but an outsider who knew me as well as i did.
It was weird and painful so i didn't repeat it.
I understand the attraction though, yesterday's you has a slightly different view of things than current you does and the difference can be interesting.

[Cain]

Back when I was a kid, we just called this "attention whoring".

Hell, aini was doing this back here in 2004...though aini was not exactly a model of mental stability.

[Junkenstein]

Some HA HA?

Some of you may be familiar with Derek Acorah, TV Psychic of "Mary LOVES DICK" fame:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ZCChwZL17A

Well:
http://metro.co.uk/2013/12/09/tv-psychic-derek-acorah-charged-with-careless-driving-following-car-crash-4223220/

TV medium Derek Acorah – famous for his appearance on Living TV show Most Haunted – has been charged with careless driving.

The 63-year-old media personality was in a car crash on Saturday night in Merseyside.

Acorah was also charged with failing to provide a specimen of breath for analysis and has been bailed, due to face Sefton magistrates' court on December 30.

His Nissan GT-R sports car collided with a Ford Ka, resulting in two members of the other car suffering 'whiplash' style injuries.

Whiplash is quite common in Southport. Causes include : Walking too fast, standing up too quickly, standing up too long, being made to stand up etc, etc, etc, so what's happening here is a fraudulent fool is now going to get sued by a couple of folk who more than likely have no actual injury.

Smells like justice.

[Junkenstein]

Non-UK readers may not be familiar with "Comic Relief". It's a fairly simple concept, get famous faces to do amusing things to raise money for charideee. It seems to be on more often in the past years and I've always had a bit of disdain towards it. Whether it was the enforced joy or grief porn, there was always something that just left me very cold about it all.

Some HA HA?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-25273024

Millions of pounds donated to Comic Relief have been invested in shares in tobacco, alcohol and arms firms, BBC Panorama has learned.

It includes £630,000 in shares in arms firm BAE Systems and more than £300,000 in alcohol manufacturer Diageo.

The BBC has also seen evidence which suggests Save the Children censored criticism of energy firms to avoid upsetting corporate partners.

Both charities deny any wrongdoing.

It declined to comment on whether any money invested since 2009 is in shares in alcohol, arms, or tobacco companies.

Comic Relief said its approach is within regulatory guidelines.

"We put the money into large managed funds, as many other leading charities and pension funds do," they said.

"On balance, we believe this is the approach that will deliver the greatest benefits to the most vulnerable people."

That is, nearly verbatim, the exact same argument and stance the Church of England took when it's funds in Arms, Tobacco and payday loans came out.

Once again, famous faces screaming for social justice while faceless people invest in the best return. We still keep thinking that the best return has something to do with social justice unfortunately.

But wait, there's more!

Panorama has also seen evidence to suggest that Save the Children censored its criticism of the energy industry to avoid upsetting potential and existing corporate partners.

Its 10 year relationship with British Gas ended in November 2012 having yielded £1.5m.

Dominic Nutt, its former head of news from 2007 to 2009, told the BBC that he was keen to campaign on the issue of rising energy prices when he worked at the charity but was stopped from doing so.

"Every year I would prepare a line on that, to go to the media, to criticise British Gas. Every year, it would be quashed," he said.

"It was a clear, 'We can't do that, because we take money from British Gas...' - that would have come down from on high."

The self censorship here is quite interesting, and possibly part of the deal. By excluding them from a list about rising prices, many will infer that British gas didn't/haven't/won't do exactly the same. Sales phone monkeys will almost certainly use this, they've worked with much less. £150,000/ year to have a well known charity shit on the competition and not mention you. Welcome to the UK.

[LMNO]

I'd be interested in seeing a comparison with how much these investments earned vs the amount of funds put towards charatible acts.

[Junkenstein]

I'd be interested in seeing a comparison with how much these investments earned vs the amount of funds put towards charatible acts.

While I have no numbers, I'd suggest that the investments are likely to have done extremely well. BAE is a national institution that UK politicians are regularly sent abroad to drum up business for. Diageo has some of the most recognisable drinks under it and has been doing quite well (People drink when depressed/in a recession. Who knew?)

The actual split is somewhat irrelevant to me, I suppose. I guess I just can't take anyone seriously who preaches about saving the children while funding anything at all to companies that regularly ruin lives. As soon as you give any money to people who make landmines you've pretty much destroyed any moral authority you can try to claim.

[Junkenstein]

For historical BAE hilarity, there's many examples.

Have this one. It involves Saudi Arabia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Yamamah_arms_deal

[Junkenstein]

http://www.thelocal.se/20131209/teen-to-juvenile-detention

The robbery took place in March this year, when the teenage girl and an accomplice used a 30-centimetre-long knife to rob a Max hamburger restaurant in Halmstad, southern Sweden.

The girls had used a smartphone to take pictures of themselves wearing balaclavas and holding the knife right before the robbery, evidence the police later used in apprehending them.

Welcome to the future. Please remember that future does not mean smart.

[Junkenstein]

For historical BAE hilarity, there's many examples.

Have this one. It involves Saudi Arabia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Yamamah_arms_deal

Readers with good memory may remember Prince Bandar. Notice how and where he crops up. Most interesting.