Be Disclaimed

"It is no good to try to stop knowledge from going forward. Ignorance is never better than knowledge."
Enrico Fermi

November 30, 2005

Christmas?

Now as the season is nearly upon us, I thought I'd ponder a little. The thing that puzzles me most is the almost ridiculous lengths that people etc are going to in order to not say Christmas. Why? It seems to be Festive this, and Festive that. Perhaps there is an element of American influence, as they have Happy Holidays! I've heard Winterval, amongst others. Before anyone says anything, I'm not knocking Americans. They have great enthusiam for celebrations, and their warmth and generosity is always apparent.

I thought it was Christmas...you know, like Christmas Parties, Christmas Eve etc. It appears however that it is being done so as not to offend anyone. This seems quite odd, as we are living in a Christian country.

As you may have gathered from previous posts, I have lived in a Muslim country....and Muslims celebrated it along with us. I think it is to do with the spirit of the occasion more than anything else. Obviously there are places that don't allow Christian events etc, and that is irrelevant to this post.

The point I am trying to make is that we seem to be trying to avoid mentioning it. I don't know about not offending anyone, because at the very least it must be offending Christians.

It is bad enough that things have to be deemed politically correct before they can be implented....
see what I mean? Of course that is before Health and Safety get stuck in.

Santa on skis? Er...
no, it's too dangerous. How about Christmas Lights?...no..Winter Lights or Celebrity Lights is what you get. Even Santa is having trouble...although it appears to have been sorted. Now, it is to be hoped that the NORAD tracking people are on the ball this year....we don't want any nasty incidents.

Hopefully there won't be a
fight this year either. I'm not going to mention the blatant commercialisation of Christmas, because you must have noticed it by now.

So, to conclude I'll leave it to the great Slade to say it best....."IT'S CHRISTMAS!!!"

Feel free to check out Bill Sticker's own rant about Christmas
here.

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November 29, 2005

China

So Paul McCartney won't play in China because of the fur. I would have thought that despite the obvious cruelty to the animals, there are more important considerations.

For example, it appears that China is quite happy to
poison it's population...especially seeing as Russia is being affected as well.

Not only that, they are cavalier about safety when it comes to
coal mining for example. What about bird flu?

What about
political prisoners? Restriction of information? Human rights?

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November 28, 2005

News Items

Aung San Suu Kyi has had her arrest extended.

Iranian weblogs are making their presence known. Good luck to them.

Congratulations to Vijaypat Singhania for setting a new hot air balloon
altitude record for India.

Violence against women should be dealt with, unless incidents like
this will continue.

One of the last white farmers in Zimbabwe has been
murdered.


Top Gear won an Emmy! Not that you were likely to hear about it...seeing as I only found out last night....and then searched the BBC site to find the news article here.

Well, who'd have thought the Daleks would do
this? Understandably, Terry Nation isn't amused.
Ah, the perils of
live reporting.


Greetings to the regular visitors from Microsoft HQ in Redmond, Washington State. Feel free to comment anytime.

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November 27, 2005

Comment

Now, I'm probably going to annoy a few people now, but it has to be said.

George Best was not god's gift to mankind. Admittedly he was an impressive footballer, but he threw it away with the partying and the women and the drink. After that he basically drank his life away. He was given the opportunity to redeem himself with the liver transplant, but still hit the drink hard.

He was selfish, and should have dealt with the consequences, instead of denying someone else the use of that liver in order to enhance their life.

The minutes silence in football grounds across the country yesterday was excessive, as is the huge coverage that the press has devoted to George Best.

Contrast that with the almost negligent mentioning of the death of Richard Burns, who succumbed to the brain tumour that he had been fighting since 2003. You wouldn't have known that he was the youngest winner of the British Championship in 1993, and indeed the only Englishman to win the World Rally Championship in 2001.

End of rant.

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November 26, 2005

RIP


Richard Burns has died.

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Random

Iraq courtesy USS Neverdock. Things are better than we are led to believe apparently. Why is information not really getting out there?

Oh, so the
Church doesn't treat women well? What a surprise.

Look we get a little snow, and everything goes to
pieces. Why? Does the road look blocked with snow to you?

Talking of cold...how about going to
Everest using 1924 clothing?

Entertainment news - Pat Morita has
died. Take That on tour, but no Robbie.

Tech - Gone and bought an xBox360? Does it still work? Watch out for spam allegedly from the FBI amongst others....it's the Sober worm again.

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November 25, 2005

RIP



George Best, probably one of the finest footballers ever, has died.

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November 24, 2005

Comment

Well I hope Blair loses this one. Make your mind up Mr Blair, are you fighting terrorism, or giving into it? You should be ashamed.

On other news, some of you may have heard what President Bush said about a certain news station. Well,
here is a view on it...but be warned.

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November 23, 2005

Hmmm....Amazon's at it now with regard to the Sony saga....which seems to be getting worse and worse.

Sam, the world's ugliest dog has
died.

Well....
one day to go. Of course how many pubs and clubs are going to go 24 hours? Probably few to none. Lets face it, probably all the Tescos that go full day opening have them. Talking of clubs, Syndicate will be reopening on the 26th.

Side link....talking of
Tesco....sex rings? How very odd.

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November 21, 2005

News Items

Well...it seems there are moves being made. Courtesy USS Neverdock.

Hmm....has there been a
breakthrough? Courtesy Blognor Regis. See also here.

Tone wants his own
fleet? I don't think so....can't he make do with commercial flights? As if it wasn't enough using the Royal Flight.

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November 20, 2005

Target?

Is there any condemnation of this and this?

As for
this....does anyone remotely believe that nutcase when he says he isn't targeting Islam? If the destruction of 2 mosques is not considered a targeting of Islam, I don't know what is. They will kill anyone..regardless of nationality, religion or political leaning. They are killers....why does it only seem to be the West, Jordan and the Iraqi people be they Shia or Sunni, that realise this?

Do you think this is normal? It appears that Iraqis seem to be of two distinct camps at the moment....psychopaths or victims of psychopaths.

Update: Disowned?

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November 18, 2005

Tragedy

This is a tragedy.
Condolences to the families of the officers involved.

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Random

This was quite amusing. Courtesy : Rachel from North London.

Ever been annoyed at being flashed by a Gatso? You have? I bet it wasn't as much as
this guy. Gorse Fox found it.

Squirrels? - Death to Grey Squirrels!

Well it is Children In Need tonight..which means nothing to watch on BBC1 from 7:00. As it is, I think Ghostbusters is on ITV or Channel 4..I can't remember which.

When something comes to me, I'll have another long post...until then....the usual.

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November 16, 2005

Various items of information - Time, Sony, and chemical dumping

A question of time part 2.

Well it comes to something when Microsoft thinks you're spreading
junk. Sony has decided to stop making them now. This is the article that set things moving.
For further info check out
Boycott Sony.

Chemical weapons dumping, a surprising amount of which is done by the USA. The article is from the Daily Press.
part 1 & part 2

Also here is a
global map, as well as dumping around the US coastline. All links taken from Daily Press.
courtesy
A Welshman In Milano. Link

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November 15, 2005

Comedy?

Ok...so will someone tell me why Little Britain is plastered over loads of papers and magazines? They are rubbish, and should never have managed to get on BBC3 in the first place, let alone being anywhere near BBC1.

Lenny Henry on a bad day is still several times funnier than Little Britain on a 'good day'.

Peter Kay is occasionally amusing. It isn't consistent enough for me to say 'yes, Peter Kay is funny'.

The Office? Please...nothing Ricky Gervais has done is any good. I didn't watch Extras either.

Royle Family? I couldn't watch more than a couple of minutes of it...and that was still far too much.

I have spent time in the US...I liked the Blue Collar Comedy Tour. I laughed so hard I ended up coughing. Seinfeld?? Pardon? This is comedy?

I'm sorry, there is a load of rubbish out there being touted as 'funny', and quite frankly it doesn't hit the funny bone at all.

The stuff I like : Blackadder, The Goon Show, Thin Blue Line, Dinnerladies, The Navy Lark, Ab Fab, Dennis Leary etc. There are probably more....I'll post them when I remember.

What do you like? Also, am I wrong about Little Britain or not?

On a side link, what happened to Saturday night telly? Sodding X Factor, Strictly Come Dancing and other puerile entertainment. What happened to showing decent movies? I don't mean showing the same ones over and over again (BBC). There are only so many times you can watch Armageddon.

Oh and while I'm on that thread, what is with putting the news in the middle of a film? Do it at the beginning or the end. Don't do it half way through and with the full programme. five do it properly...little 5 minute headlines then back to the film.

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November 14, 2005

Israel has been remembering Yitzhak Rabin, on the 10th anniversay of his assassination.

Talks on Muslim
relations. Talking of which, did you know Miss England is Muslim?

Oh look, and old wives tale happens to be
true. Wrap up warm.

In sports news, apparently the odds on England winning the World Cup have been
slashed. Really? If Michael Owen hadn't scored, it would have been another defeat. Oh well, maybe people will realise that it probably won't happen.

Nigel Mansell wins the opening race of the Grand Prix Masters series. Nice one Nige.

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November 12, 2005

News Items

Isn't it interesting that at the same time as trying to get the 90 day detention through Parliament, Tony Blair's Government put this through. A little bit of hypocrisy I think.

Talking of the
vote in Parliament, I notice the Police were lobbying. I didn't know that they were allowed to do that.

Jesus Juice anyone? Apparently MJ isn't happy.

What's the
time?

Sony CD
problems?

Lord Lichfield has
died.

Random Comments :
Prescott on a
bonfire.
Pay more for
sea views? Why?

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November 11, 2005

Remembrance

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.

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November 09, 2005

Jordan

I was going to post something completely different, then this happened.

Condolences to those that have lost their lives or have been injured in these attacks.

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November 06, 2005

Various items

Now, I don't know about you, but if you want a voice, you don't smash the hell out of the place where you live.... This is not going to get you any favours or indeed any respect. Attacking the police, stockpiling petrol bombs, is generally a bad move. Muslims are doing themselves a huge disservice by allowing this to continue.

Unless they want it to continue.....

Honour killings are a disgrace whichever country they are commited in.

Update 7/11 : A journalists view. Also on the twelfth night of violence, the first death.

Update 8/11 : I mentioned Muslims in my initial comments, and I should state that this is an assumption based on the news reports. The comment from Dominique de Villepin to question of who was causing the violence, was that it was being done by 'rioting youths, many of whom are children of Muslim immigrants from Africa'.

Thanks to Tololy for mentioning this.

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November 05, 2005

5th November

Today is the 5th of November...better known as Bonfire Night, when an effigy of Guy Fawkes is burned atop a bonfire. In some towns, an effigy of the Pope is used, as the conspirators of the plot were Catholic.

On the 5th of November 1605,
Guy Fawkes was captured in an attempt to blow up the houses of Parliament. His sentence was to be hung, drawn, and quartered.

Further information can be found at
The Gunpowder Plot Society

Remember

Remember
The 5th of November.

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November 03, 2005

Musings

I was thinking about all the scares that seem to be prevalent these days. It would be interesting to find out how many are actually true, as opposed to a huge hype.

There is the CJD epidemic....which seems to have dropped off the headlines. Of course that links in with BSE.

Now of course it is chickens.....except for the fact that if you cook them properly, you have no worries.

Regarding the H5N1 virus....you know the 60 people...ok, maybe 61 now...but anyhow, when do you think that figure is from? Last year? Nope....mid 90's apparently...I must find the source for that...to be updated when I do.


Actually, talking of dropping off the headlines, have you seen a single headline in the newspapers regarding H5N1 this past week?

I was utterly gobsmacked by the information however that some 12,000 people die in the UK every year from ordinary, common or garden flu. I mean 12,000??!!?! How are we supposed to deal with a deadly virus if we can't deal with an ordinary one?

Anyhow....random thought below.

I am Rabies. Grrrrrrrr!
Which Horrible Affliction are you?
A Rum and Monkey disease.

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November 02, 2005

Thoughts

Hmm...well David Blunkett has finally resigned. There are only so many times that you can ignore the ministerial code of conduct. Oh well.

Well, Halloween went off fairly quietly....only had one trick or treat. Didn't get the dog wound up at all.

Fireworks...now this annoys me intensely. They should be for the 5th November. It shouldn't be from about a month before through until probably mid-January. That doesn't include the random attacks made with fireworks, including
this, perhaps even this, but definitely this, and this.

It is about time that fireworks were not sold to the general public.

On a final thought....Eid Mubarak

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