So the talk went pretty well (I think so anyway). The audience mainly consisted of a load of journalism lecturers with one or two from the blooging community. So obviously I felt incredibly qualified to be there...

Thankfully I think I entertained them a bit and gave them a few things to think about. After the talk there was a workshop session and a panel discussion which I also think went well.

The very lovely (and all round top bloke) Ian Forrester videoed my talk and has posted it up for everyone to see. I don't think that I was too nervous, especially given that I don't know *anything* about journalism. But I think I need to talk Ian into getting a radio mike so that the audio is a bit better.

So fun, interesting and I hope people got some good out of it.

This post should go live just as I finish my talk on ‘Citizen Journalism’ somewhere in Birmingham.  I’m actually writing this at 5am before getting ready to leave and catch my train.

It’s been a weird thing to write – I had no idea who my audience would be.  Would they be hard-bitten editors of national newspapers?  Would they be bloggers seeking insight into citizen journalism, or would it be a mix of all different people.

So I decided to keep my talk pretty simple, not concerning myself with the nuts and bolts of how ‘us’ and ‘them’ (an what a distiction that is!) would work together.  I even stopped myself from trying to predict the future.

Instead I thought that I’d tell everyone about two ethical concerns that have popped up in the last few weeks, and have a discussion around them.  There is going to be a panel discussion in the afternoon which I’m more looking forward to – hopefully they won’t mistake the simplicity of the presentation with a simplicity of my mind.

If you are interested in the presentation, there is a Powerpoint file for download.  Note that some images may be copyrighted, that the powerpoint goes with the presentation and that I do indeed have cute animals in it.  If there is a video, I’ll try to make it available for download.

I’ll update later with how it went.

(I wonder if they'll notice I never slept last night?)

If we could hold conversations with animals, would we all be vegetarians?

The simple answer would be 'No' - we kill people so why wouldn't we kill animals.

Since recorded history we have invented progressively more lethal ways to kill our neighbours, rather shamefully we have consistently used such equipment upon those members of humanity that are 'of the other'. This killing has gone on for generations despite our ability to communicate with one another. Did the fact that the Nazis and German Jews prevent the Holocaust? Does the shared language in Sri Lanka prevent the killing between the different people? Did the ability to understand one another prevent members of North and South Ireland from killing one another? One final example - the genocide in Darfur.

It is obvious that an ability to communicate does not stop violence.

As humans we have found more and more ridiculous reasons to kill one other, from fighting over resources (oil, gold, water), tribal conflict (Ireland, Sudan) to the craziest argument of who has the biggest God.

This previous criminal history of humanity of a whole lets me believe that, even were animals able to talk to us, we wouldn't stop for one instance in our pursuit of meat to eat. Once you understand that we will kill each other over the shape of the nose, because you own more of a type of mineral or because your God is 'wrong' - is it so wrong to imagine that we would continue to kill in order to live in the fashion to which we are accustomed?

Finally, if we can kill and torture great apes, which have been shown to be able to communicate, for novelty ashtrays and medical experimentation - then what makes you think that we would pay any attention to the cow saying "No!" as it reaches the bolt-gun operator.

This blogpost is an attempt to win a laptop over at Lovetolead - I just need people to go to the site and vote for it. Yes, it would make me very happy to win a laptop. You have all week - Do you need me to beg?

I don't normally 'do' memes, but given my current situation, and that I've been tagged by Mr Man's Wife I thought I would indulge...

A - Available/Single? - Not Available, happily 'luvved up' for the first time in my life.
B - Best Friend? - Don't have one really, unless you count my brother, anyway all 'friends' are resources to be used in reaching my goal of world domination.
C - Cake or Pie? - Both? To choose I'd probably go for Pie - warm and filling on a cold winter day.
D - Drink Of Choice? - Caffeinated, the more caffeine the better.
E – Essential Item You Use Everyday? - Macbook, mainly for keeping in contact with my resources for world domination.
F - Favourite Colour? - For clothing, black. Everything else, a nice shade of powder blue.
G - Gummy Bears Or Worms? - Gummy bears have more capacity for torture.
H - Hometown? - London, and strangely proud of that.
I - Indulgence? - Bailey's ice cream and World of Warcraft, both at the same time may explain the lack of progress in the latter.
J - January Or February? - February, when the world starts to wake up. Or get snowed under. Either is good.
K - Kids & Their Names? - Named after where they will be conceived, Alley, Ford Cortina and Back'o'thepub.
L - Life Is Incomplete Without? - Connecting to other people
M - Marriage date? - Dunno, Engagement date will be (if going to my plan) Feb 28th 2008.
N - Number Of Siblings? - One, but a good one.
O - Oranges Or Apples? - Oranges, tastier and don't make my mouth bleed.
P - Phobias/Fears? - Used to have phobia of spiders - reprogrammed own brain to get rid of it.
Q - Favourite Quote? - 'In a hundred years, who'll care' - The Terminator. That or 'Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law' - Uncle Crowley.
R - Reason to Smile? - Life in general, good music, decent weather, good company.
S - Season? - Autumn.
T - Tag people? - Laura's Blog (although I suspect some of her answers may be the similar), Vivdora, and Faith.
U - Unknown Fact About Me? - I can chew my toenails.
V - Vegetable you don’t like? - I like all vegetables, actually I like pretty much all food.
W - Worst Habit? - You'll have to ask other people.
X - X-rays You’ve Had? - Foot, knee, chest, skull, dental. Maybe a few inadvertent ones in Resus. Plus ECGs and EEGs.
Y - Your Favourite Food? - Anything hot. Actually my mum's cooking - best in the world.
Z – Zodiac Sign? - Sagittarius, not that I believe in such codswallop.

Quite simply superb writing from Inspector Gadget.

This is the worst kind of drama for us. It’s the kind where we have arrived before the other emergency services, specifically, before the paramedics. The officers from the response team are trying to save lives and calm the shattered pleas from relatives who were in the car behind and saw it all.

It's one of the ways I can tell if someone has been seriously hurt at a police incident, the coppers look worried.

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Normal blogging schedule resumes tomorrow. For those that are interested I have graduated from crutch to cane.

Just a quick post so let people know that there is going to be a Blog Meetup in London on the 21st of December (next Thursday). Location and time are yet to be determined, but I;m guessing that it will be a bar in London in the evening. It's being organised by my publishers, so if you have a book idea I'm sure you'll be able to collar them to try and sell it. Anyone who blogs is more than welcome to turn up.

More details as and when I get them.

I'm particularly interested in dragging along people who know how to play 'Werewolf'...

I’ve been using Twitter a fair bit these days, it’s an interesting web-app that may well have…

Well, why tell you here when I have my shiny new blog to fill.

However, this belies the beauty of it. Once you have added a few friends (and more and more people are signing up as this meme spreads), then the inflow of short messages become like a Zen cloud of how people are feeling.

Here is the deal – on this blog I shall continue to write about ambulance work and the like.  I’ll keep up the normal posting frequency (when I have inspiration).  ‘Mental Kipple’ will be for anything that isn’t connected to ambulance work.  It’s somewhere for me to fool around, write about the things that interest me outside of the ambulance world and to let me practice different forms of writing.

It will let me keep this site ‘pure’, so that folks can’t moan when I post about things unrelated to ambulance work.

Lets see if I get bored after three months.