Bombings

I've got the news on right now. Two bombs have gone off in Turkey, a few minutes apart, the first designed to be small and draw people out, but the second one was specifically planted to attack the people who were trying to help the victims of the first.

Yesterday SEVENTEEN bombs went off in ONE city in India. The wankers who planted them were evil enough to plant them outside hospital trauma wards, so that victims would be hit again when they reached help.

The Turkish bombs were in a residential area. The Indian ones were simply so numerous and planted in places like hospitals so that nobody would be safe. This strikes me as a new type of attack. We've seen it before when bombs are planted that they are in public places to inflict maximum damage. But these ones were planted to inflict maximum damage, and THEN hurt the people who were trying to help. Terrorism sinking to a new low?

Maybe it's naive of me, but it seems to me that attacking medical staff and rescuers is something that even terrorists should not do. But like I said, this seems like a new level of callousness.

I'll tell you what, give me five minutes alone in a room with one of the men who did these things, and I'll show them what terror is, and they'd soon regret trying anything like this. Maybe you haven't guessed, but I'm very angry right now.

Here a book, there a book, everywhere a book book!

I like books. That's a given. So I thought I'd share the love by bookcrossing! Now, in case you don't know what bookcrossing is, you read a book (or not!), register it at bookcrossing.com, put the registration number on the cover, and leave it in a public place. Somebody finds it,goes to the website and enters the number, and you know it's been found. Assuming people enter the number each time they find it, you can track where it goes! And people get a free book, which is always good!

So far, Wuthering Heights has been left at a viewpoint on the Struie road, and Wicked has been left at the Heather Hut in Edderton - others will be dropped off as and when I feel like it, keep your eyes open around Inverness, Tain, Alness and Edderton! Keep track of what I have and what I'm releasing here: http://bookcrossing.com/mybookshelf/AgentCheesecake

And on a related topic, publishers are planning on printing age banding on kis books. Bad idea - very bad. Children's reading age doesn't develop at the same speed for everyone - I was well ahead of my age group for reading, but I know people who were way behind. By putting age bandings books, publishers will be effectively saying 'this is what you have to read at this age'.

Kids who aren't at the 'recommended' reading level will be tempted to give up reading completely, for fear of having to read things that are too 'young' for them, and they're not exactly going to feel good about themselves if they know they're behind what they should be.

My other problem with this is that a lot of teenage books also tend to be stocked in adult sections as well - take for example, Eragon, Harry Potter and the Earthsea trilogy. These are all technically kids books, yet adults love them. However, adults are often wary of being seen to read kids books, so the publishers have, in the case of Eragon/Eldest and Harry Potter, repackaged them with adult covers. How would it look to have the children's cover with 'age 10' printed on it, but the adult one with no age grade on it? That doesn't seem at all odd...

There's a full argument at the campaign website, which has received signatures from people as prestigious as Terry Pratchett, Darren Shan, Philip Pullman, Neil Gaiman, and Anne Fine. Please visit the website and see what they have to say, and sign the petition if you agree: http://notoagebanding.org/