I keep doodling balloons today for some reason. Pins and balloons. And my left hand has gone into spasm. Ow. ow.

News: I have a cold, I have a new neice, I have purple primroses. I made a joke about the primroses but it fell flat.

Today's infogov has among the usual round of current hot issues (obesity, bird flu, flood defences) a report on the current state of research on whether violent games causes violence. Nothing much new in it, but the conclusion is interesting: "To this end future studies need to place video game playing within a wider cultural and social context that sees video games as one element of a young person’s engagement with a range of media and social factors which may influence behaviour. A more nuanced approach to this more general area is required. We agree with Egenfeldt-Neilson and Heide Smith (2004) who suggest that rather than ask do violent video games cause violent behaviour, we should be setting a research agenda around a question that examines: Are there combinations of types of games, types of personalities and situations which might have the potential to have adverse affects – in other words, are there types of games which might cause damage to certain types of (children and young) people in certain circumstances?" [ref] -- a statement that could perhaps usefully be applied to a whole range of potentially harmful behaviours.

Doing some art research for a friend, I stumbled across katardat, extraordinary resource for Russian/cultural revolution/anti-fascist/war art and photography. Tractor driver. Production worker. Concert of factory sirens and steam whistles.

And while we're on weird and wonderful Russian stuff: teeny tiny people and mouse sculpture (cheers, aperrot).