They aren’t a resistance, they’re murderous scum.

What’s the betting this will get less press than Bigley (about whose sad case, incidentally, Stephen Newton says all there is to be said)? High, I suspect.

On nasty man and closet batty boy Buju Banton, by a daft PC idiot: "Personally I believe that he is singing about his culture and no one, no matter what the situation, should be criticized for expressing his or her beliefs".

Fortunately I disagree, which allows me to state that Melissa Henry’s beliefs are outrageously, unequivocally stupid. I’m not sure whether she’s incapable of understanding the difference between criticism and censorship… it sounds implausible, but the idea that she believes everyone should have impunity to express their beliefs without being challenged on how fuckwitted they are is even more so.

Ho hum. Thanks to slightly surprising source Laban Tall for that one. Although I’m less convinced by his thoughts on the similarities or lack thereof between hostages in Iraq and captives in Guantanamo.

In response to a BBC Have Your Say piece comparing the two situations, Eric the Unread points out that George Bush is unlikely to cut the Gitmo prisoners’ heads off personally while reciting the Lord’s Prayer. This is true, although it seems to fit Peter Cuthbertson’s point about attacking an analogy based on irrelevant dissimilarities (the salient features in both cases are that they’re in cages, they don’t know what’s going to happen, they might well end up being topped, and it’s mostly being done to appeal to the home crowd).

Laban’s example is a little more surprising: "Not exactly the same, Eric. The beheadee would be an innocent bloke pulled off the street, chosen on racial or religious grounds". This appears to be a claim that the people in Guantanamo are all guilty, and weren’t chosen on racial or religious grounds.

I’m sure Ms Henry wouldn’t offer any criticism of this belief, although I’m less convinced about the rest of the world…

Given that the people of Florida are clearly being punished by God for electing Jeb Bush, it seems strange that his approval ratings are at a record high.

Maybe the opinion polls involved some questions that could be answered incorrectly if you were an idiot. Or maybe they banned black people from answering – after all, it’s important to reflect election conditions in your polling.

On the other hand, maybe the people of Florida have just decided that God can go fuck himself. In which case I salute them.

I’m the #1 Google hit for living up to stereotypes. Fucking typical. I reckon I must have been secretly Googlebombed into it – probably by a bunch of pseudo-lefty cunts who think that killing brown people is a good laugh. Or maybe by the RNC.

A shock new survey finds that people who watch Jon Stewart’s Daily Show are better educated and more knowledgable about politics than people who watch Bill O’Reilly on Fox.

So fans of liberal-ish political satire are smarter than fans of right-wing demagoguery? Next you’ll be telling me that UKIP voters aren’t very bright…

(via Class Worrier Raj)

Gotta love the BBC’s tech coverage. The linked article talks about attempts at Imperial College to make an optical disk with a terabyte of storage capacity (equivalent to about 120 DVDs, or 240 DVD-Rs). The Beeb say you could fit 472 hours of video on this, equivalent to the whole of the Simpsons.

Now, there are currently 15 series of the Simpsons, each with around 24 episodes lasting for around 25 minutes each, making a total of 150 hours of telly. It’s possible the show will run for another 30 seasons (and presumably season 16 has already been made), but even so this seems a little presumptious.

More irritatingly, the article ignores the most important change in digital video since DVD launched – which is that compression technology has improved so much you can now squeeze 25 minutes of DVD quality video into less than 200MB, so you only need 72GB, nine DVDs, or 18 DVD-Rs, to store the whole of the Simpsons anyway. If you go for VHS quality instead of DVD quality, you can cut the file size down to 50MB, which gets the entire show onto 2.5 DVDs anyway. And by 2010, compression will have improved still further, by the power of Moore’s Law.

I guess the author’s suffering from DVD-price-based brainwashing (‘in the crazy future, you’ll be able to get £1000s worth of telly on a single disk… what do you mean you can do that already?’)

(via Insert Joke Here)

An Arab professor wrote the deranged screed below against the Americans and the Jews. Outrageously, he still has a job teaching at an Egyptian public university; clearly the country is run by savages and lunatics.

"Ordinary Muslims are arming themselves for war with you. I and many of my friends have closets full of handguns, rifles, shotguns and thousands of cartridges. If we had enough ammunition and time, we would kill every last one of you.

"We completely support Bin Laden and our martyrs. We only wish they would destroy you faster, but we are certain that they will.

"One day soon, our bombs and bullets will begin turning your churches, your godless universities, your hotels, your government offices, your hideouts, and your neighborhoods into rubble.

"And then our Jihadis will enter your cities and begin the work of killing you, roaches, as you crawl from the debris…. We will transport the Jews to our deserts, where they can pray to scorpions under the blazing sun."

Oh no, wait. This was an Christian professor at an American university, talking about the Americans killing all the Muslims. And yup, he still has a job, and isn’t in jail or Guantanamo Bay. It’s all good to know…

(via Crooked Timber)

Rightwing think-tank Civitas has a new blog, which claims to be ‘classically liberal’.

If they followed the Adam Smith Institute‘s lead and suggested that the government should privatise everything and legalise most things, that would be fair enough. But no. Their first posts discuss how it would be great to send more people to jail, let in fewer immigrants, and hire more coppers.

If that’s classical liberalism, then I’m Norman Tebbitt. Still, what can you expect from an organisation which makes Stephen Pollard a Senior Fellow?

I’m glad I’m getting out of Manchester. The useless wankers who run the council are so impressed by the Irish pub smoking ban that they’re planning on imposing one of their own.

Now, if Ken follows suit when I get down south, I’ll be *really* angry.

Incidentally, I think I’ve finally followed Damien and Dave in giving up on the halfwitted illiberal editorial line of the Guardian. OK, I do still buy it on Saturdays, but only for the Magazine, the Guide and the Review…

The latest list-meme is a ‘200 things you may or may not have done’-type thing. My total is 83, so my chances of achieving the full quota before I die are reasonable; questions below, with things I’ve done in bold.

1. Bought everyone in the pub a drink

2. Swam with wild dolphins

3. Climbed a mountain

4. Taken a Ferrari for a test drive

5. Been inside the Great Pyramid

6. Held a tarantula

7. Taken a candlelit bath with someone

8. Said ‘I love you’ and meant it

9. Hugged a tree

10. Done a striptease

11. Bungee jumped

12. Visited Paris

13. Watched a lightning storm at sea

14. Stayed up all night long, and watch the sun rise

15. Seen the Northern Lights

16. Gone to a huge sports game

17. Walked the stairs to the top of the leaning Tower of Pisa

18. Grown and eaten your own vegetables

19. Touched an iceberg

20. Slept under the stars

21. Changed a baby’s diaper

22. Taken a trip in a hot air balloon

23. Watched a meteor shower

24. Gotten drunk on champagne

25. Given more than you can afford to charity

26. Looked up at the night sky through a telescope

27. Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment

28. Had a food fight

29. Bet on a winning horse

30. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill

31. Asked out a stranger

32. Had a snowball fight

33. Photocopied your bottom on the office photocopier

34. Screamed as loudly as you possibly can

35. Held a lamb

36. Enacted a favourite fantasy

37. Taken a midnight skinny dip

38. Taken an ice cold bath

39. Had a meaningful conversation with a beggar

40. Seen a total eclipse

41. Ridden a roller coaster

42. Hit a home run

43. Fit three weeks miraculously into three days

44. Danced like a fool and not cared who was looking

45. Adopted an accent for an entire day

46. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors

47. Actually felt happy about your life, even for just a moment

48. Had two hard drives for your computer (do I get extra points for four?)

49. Visited all 50 states

50. Loved your job for all accounts

51. Taken care of someone who was rather drunk

52. Had enough money to be truly satisfied

53. Had amazing friends

54. Danced with a stranger in a foreign country

55. Watched wild whales

56. Stolen a sign

57. Backpacked in Europe

58. Taken a road-trip

59. Rock climbing

60. Lied to foreign government’s official in that country to avoid notice

61. (there is no 61)

62. Sky diving

63. Visited Ireland

64. Been heartbroken longer then you were actually in love

65. In a restaurant, sat at a stranger’s table and had a meal with them

66. Visited Japan

67. Benchpressed your own weight

68. Milked a cow

69. Alphabetised your records

70. Pretended to be a superhero

71. Sung karaoke

72. Lounged around in bed all day

73. Posed nude in front of strangers

74. Scuba diving

75. Got it on to “Let’s Get It On” by Marvin Gaye

76. Kissed in the rain

77. Played in the mud

78. Played in the rain

79. Gone to a drive-in theater

80. Done something you should regret, but don’t regret it

81. Visited the Great Wall of China

82. Discovered that someone who’s not supposed to have known about your blog has discovered your blog

83. Dropped Windows in favor of something better

84. Started a business

85. Fallen in love and not had your heart broken

86. Toured ancient sites

87. Taken a martial arts class

88. Swordfought for the honor of a woman

89. Played D&D for more than 6 hours straight

90. Gotten married

91. Been in a movie

92. Crashed a party

93. Loved someone you shouldn’t have

94. Kissed someone so passionately it made them dizzy

95. Gotten divorced

96. Had sex at the office

97. Gone without food for 5 days

98. Made cookies from scratch

99. Won first prize in a costume contest

100. Ridden a gondola in Venice

101. Gotten a tattoo

102. Found that the texture of some materials can turn you on

103. Rafted the Snake River

104. Been on television news programs as an “expert”

105. Got flowers for no reason

106. Masturbated in a public place

107. Got so drunk you don’t remember anything

108. Been addicted to some form of illegal drug

109. Performed on stage

110. Been to Las Vegas

111. Recorded music

112. Eaten shark

113. Had a one-night stand

114. Gone to Thailand

115. Seen Siouxsie live

116. Bought a house

117. Been in a combat zone

118. Buried one/both of your parents

119. Shaved or waxed your pubic hair off

120. Been on a cruise ship

121. Spoken more than one language fluently

122. Gotten into a fight while attempting to defend someone (I’m assuming ‘myself’ doesn’t count here)

123. Bounced a cheque

124. Performed in Rocky Horror

125. Read – and understood – your credit report

126. Raised children

127. Recently bought and played with a favourite childhood toy

128. Followed your favorite band/singer on tour

129. Created and named your own constellation of stars

130. Taken an exotic bicycle tour in a foreign country

131. Found out something significant that your ancestors did

132. *Called or written your Congress person Member of Parliament…and confronted him…*

133. Picked up and moved to another city to just start over to be with the one you love

134. …more than once? – More than thrice?

135. Walked the Golden Gate Bridge

136. *Sang loudly in the car, and didn’t stop when you knew someone was looking

137. Had an abortion or your female partner did

138. Had plastic surgery

139. Survived an accident that you shouldn’t have survived

140. Wrote articles for a large publication

141. Lost over 100 pounds (Sterling yes, but I suspect the question means lb)

142. Held someone while they were having a flashback

143. Piloted an airplane

144. Petted a stingray

145. Broken someone’s heart

146. Helped an animal give birth

147. Been fired or laid off from a job

148. Won money on a T.V. game show

149. Broken a bone

150. Killed a human being

151. Gone on an African photo safari

152. Ridden a motorcycle

153. Driven any land vehicle at a speed of greater than 100mph

154. Had a body part of yours below the neck pierced

155. Fired a rifle, shotgun, or pistol

156. Eaten mushrooms that were gathered in the wild

157. Ridden a horse

158. Had major surgery

159. Had sex on a moving train

160. Had a snake as a pet

161. Hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon

162. Slept through an entire flight: takeoff, flight, and landing

163. Slept for more than 30 hours over the course of 48 hours

164. Visited more foreign countries than U.S. states

165. Visited all 7 continents

166. Taken a canoe trip that lasted more than 2 days

167. Eaten kangaroo meat

168. Fallen in love at an ancient Mayan burial ground

169. Been a sperm or egg donor

170. Eaten sushi

171. Had your picture in the newspaper

172. Had 2 (or more) healthy romantic relationships for over a year in your lifetime (I’m assuming that spending the middle six months of the year not talking to each other doesn’t count as healthy, in which case I’m firmly stuck at the ‘one’ mark)

173. Changed someone’s mind about something you care deeply about

174. Gotten someone fired for their actions

175. Gone back to school

176. Parasailed

177. Changed your name

178. Petted a cockroach

179. Eaten fried green tomatoes

180. Read The Iliad

181. Selected one “important” author who you missed in school, and read

182. Dined in a restaurant and stolen silverware, plates, cups because your apartment needed them.

183. …and gotten 86’ed from the restaurant because you did it so many times, they figured out it was you

184. Taught yourself an art from scratch

185. Killed and prepared an animal for eating

186. Apologised to someone years after inflicting the hurt

187. Skipped all your school reunions

188. Communicated with someone without sharing a common spoken language

189. Been elected to public office (I’m assuming student unions really don’t count here…)

190. Written your own computer language

191. Thought to yourself that you’re living your dream

192. Had to put someone you love into hospice care

193. Built your own PC from parts

194. Sold your own artwork to someone who didn’t know you

195. Had a booth at a street fair

196. Dyed your hair

197. Been a DJ

198. Found out someone was going to dump you via LiveJournal

199. Written your own role playing game

200. Been arrested

Via Neil’s World, among others.