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.
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.