So the MPAA have closed down some TV tracker sites while the BBC are going ahead with legal download trials.  I’m not going to comment on how the MPAA seems to have taken a ‘global cop’ role, and seems to have to power to shut down websites at will.  I’m not going to comment on how the owners of those site are completely unable to mount a court defence because the MPAA can throw millions of pounds at the case until the defence goes bankrupt.

I’m not going to comment on how the companies can broadcast something and then want it all ‘returned’ back in their control.

I’m not going to comment on how, when aliens land after tracking our radio/TV signals, the first people they are going to meet are the lawyers who will want to sue them for all the copyrighted material they’ll have recorded.

Now there is an idea for a short story…

I’m not going to comment on how I think that once the oil has gone, the next big wars will be fought by America bombing places that don’t have strong copyright controls.

I’m not going to comment on how transmission of programmes are delayed around the world, and are dependant on local stations buying that programme.

And I’m not going to comment on how it seems that these days, laws concerning copyright seem to be more important that laws protecting people.

What I will comment on is…

Where am I going to be able to download the last couple of episodes of “Lost”?!?!

This night-shift is overtime for me, I'm doing this overtime to make up for the pay that I was docked because I couldn't work my shift, on account of being stuck in Houston.

It started to look like it might be an interesting night, my first job was to a 24 year old male who had been attacked by a group of people outside his home with some sort of weapon. He had been properly beaten up, swollen eye, multiple cuts, grazes and swellings. He also probably had a broken rib or two. Luckily for him there didn't seem to be any serious injury, but he'll probably be sore for the next week or so.

From there, I got bounced to another job which meant I was following the police down to road to a stabbing.

The patient was an alcoholic who had apparently been set upon by a gang of youths. It looked like they had tried to stab him with a kebab knife, which had snapped. So they took another kebab knife and made a mess of his left hand, he had multiple cuts down to the bone, and also some serious tendon damage. They had then stamped on his head and chest, breaking a few ribs.

Once more the patient was very lucky that the wounds they had weren't life threatening. He was whisked off to hospital, and I had to run back to base in order to remove the blood that I'd dropped my service phone in. I later learned that the patient would be going to another hospital in order to get the tendons in his hand repaired.

The night then got back to normal, with my next patient being a mother who had possibly overdosed, we persuaded her to attend hospital, and the crew that took her in to hospital had another, more serious, overdose later that night (I told you that you get a jump of suicides this time of year)

Then I was sent a call in Ilford to an elderly gentleman, who had flow in from India two days before, and was having an asthma attack made worse by a chest infection. He got a bit better with some of the medication I gave him, and he was taken off to hospital where they will probably give him some antibiotics.

Then I got even further from my area into Seven Kings to the train station for a "male vomiting blood". Well he wasn't - he was vomiting up some red wine, red wine that he had drunk to excess in the city earlier in the evening.

At this point I was quite happy to be wandering around the Ilford area, it's a nice change of scenery - so obviously the next job I got was a maternataxi back in the middle of my own area. The patient's contractions were two minutes apart, and were lasting a minute, so I was quite happy when the ambulance turned up - although to be fair, I was thinking that if I did have to deliver in the dingy corridor we found ourselves in, at least it'd make a good blog entry...

I had a short time on station - just long enough to close my eyes before being sent to one of our "frequent flyers" who claims to have fits, but only when he is drunk (which is pretty often). I've never seen evidence of him fitting, but maybe I'm just lucky. He is one of those patients who you don't have to touch, as all he wants is a 'big white taxi' ride into hospital.

Back to station long enough to have a dream about trying to smuggle drugs into Russia by hiding them in my mouth - then out again to a 27 year old female with chest pain. She didn't have any symptoms that pointed to anything serious, so it's up to the hospital to work out what is wrong with her - I'd suspect she'll find her way home later today with a diagnosis of "muscular-skeletal pain".

I have an hour to go until the end of the shift, so I'll post this, and if I get anything interesting I'll let you know after I get home.