The juiciest morsels from the net

Fox News gets the slepping it deserves.

2006-09-24T20:06:00.001+01:00

This is a clip from Fox News of Bill Clinton giving an interviewer a real going-over about whether or not he was to blame for all the ils of the world as they constantly infer. It's also worth remembering the statistics that show that although 50% of the American still think that Al Quaida was involved in the 9-11 attack, that rises to over 90% amongst people whose primary source of news was Fox. It is a channel created for brainwashing and rightwing propaganda.

Today's the day.

2006-09-17T09:46:00.001+01:00

Or maybe not. Countering my twice-yearly excitement at the Arsenal-Scum
game is the prospect of 6 hours of recording Herbert Howells' Hymnus
Paradisi. It's no worse than a lot of other English choral music, but
when the harmonies are so ridiculously dense that you can be playing in
the wrong clef for a line, and when you do it right the next time it
sounds no better, you know there's something very wrong with the piece.

A Pathetic Display of Spite.

2006-09-02T11:24:00.000+01:00

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2006/08/doing_the_enemys_work.html

It shouldn't come as a suprise that nut-case rightwing Christians have started turning on people they should be supporting, but when they do it so unpleasantly. it really takes my breath away. The two Fox journalists who were captured and forced to convert to Islam under god-knows what kind of threats, have been condemned by a fellow journalist called David Warren. This evil little weasel says that they are unforgivable cowards for not allowing themselves to be murdered.

I wonder what goes through the obviously timy minds of people like Warren. Clearly he thinks that death is better than life, or he would applaud the captured men for convincing their captors that they had indeed converted. He clearly thinks death is better than life, as he gives an example of some Italians who were captured, one tearing his hood off before being shot, and comparing him favourable with those who begged for their lives.

I like to think that I would beg for my life in those circumstances, I would want to see my wife, children, family and friends again, and I like to think they would rather see me alive than dead. As my dad used to tell me when I didn't want to wear a high visibilty stripe to cycle to school, 'There's no point being a cool corpse', and frankly if staying alive means eating humble pie, and pretending to believe something I don't for a couple of days, then I'm all for it. I'm also all for courage, and those who place their lives in danger to accomplish real benefits for others are deserving of the highest praise, but there is no benefit or glory in dying for the sake of it.

Trouble is, with people like David Warren, they love the little baby Jesus far more than anyone who is actually alive now. Maybe the little baby Jesus doesn't argue with him, and point out his mistakes like real people can. Imaginary friends always were better for children and the feeble-minded.

Alternative Therapies

2006-09-01T21:10:00.000+01:00

One thing I look forward to each week is the arrival of The Advertiser, our local free paper. The quality of the journalism isn't what draws me to it, nor the headlines like 'Hotel Dispute is Costing Council'. No, what I like are the classifieds at the back, particularly the, ahem, personal services. Not so much the escort ads, but the ones that try to come over as something else. This weeks best effort was the only entry in the 'Alternative Therapies' section.

Let-go and peace of mind in Christchurch.
Holistic/Full-body massage from qualified lady.
Naturists welcome.

Ignoring the hyphenated let-go, I love the coyness of Naturists Welcome. The love that dare not speak its name...

AAARGH!

2006-08-30T12:38:00.000+01:00

I've been happily posting to this blog for the last week or so through googles blog comment plugin for firefox, only to find that since I 'upgraded' to Beta Blogger, it doesn't bloody well work, and all the posts have been lost. Bollocks. Needless to say, it's impossible to revert to the blogger that works. Double bollocks.

Mmm, breasts...

2006-08-16T10:45:00.000+01:00

Celebrity Launches Own-Breasts Awareness Campaign

LOS ANGELES—Jessica Simpson said her breasts have received "dangerously little attention," in the last several years.

Powerful evangelical churches are pressing Kenya's national museum to sideline its world-famous collection of hominid bones pointing to man's evolutio

2006-08-13T10:42:00.000+01:00

How depressing this is. Yet another example of religious leaders seeking to obscure the truth, essentially in order to protect their jobs. I've never quite worked out why deference is automatically given to people who are professionally religious. Surely people should be respected because of their body of work, or talents, rather than their ability to believe the unbelievable.

GI Who Exposed Abu Ghraib Feared Revenge

2006-08-12T14:39:00.000+01:00

Here's anothe example, after the naming of an undercover CIA agent, of the Bush administration putting other peoples lives in danger, just to get revenge for being inconvenienced. There really is no end to the vile behaviour exhibited by Rove, Cheney, Rumsfeld and Bush.

The perils of search-and-replace on Flickr

2006-08-12T14:34:00.000+01:00

Silly sods.

www.flickr.com/photos/m...

Sink and Swim.

2006-08-09T12:14:00.000+01:00

A series of photos showing what happens when you try to tow against the tide of a river in full flow.

This is really not something that should be tried by an amateur, it takes a true professional to get as lucky as this.

koti.mbnet.fi/~soldier/...

Engrish

2006-08-08T22:55:00.000+01:00

This is a flickr set of pictures devoted to English words popping up in inappropriate settings in Chinese adverts, clothing etc. There are some beauties.

www.flickr.com/photos/a...

Bed, bed, where is thy spring?

2006-08-07T20:27:00.000+01:00

Never mind the ibuzz , this bed has got to be the best ipod accessory available. No more cable-dangling-by-the-side-of-the-bed misery, just plug and listen. Now if there was some way of having an under-pillow speaker system like the Roberts Pillow Talk , that would be perfect. www.designmobel.co.nz/p...

Google warns on 'unsafe' websites

2006-08-07T11:04:00.000+01:00

This is good news, alerting people to malware can only be useful, if only there was a built-in virus scan on XP like the built-in firewall, I wouldn't mind getting emails from my parents-in-law. Despite clearing their computer out several times, and buying them anti-virus software ( they don't trust the free stuff), they never update it, and always open attachments from people they've never heard of 'In case it's important.' When my father-in-law suggested that people making viruses should be strung up, I said that it was just as much the fault of the computer owner if they haven't taken basic precautions to prevent spreading the virus. He gave me a peculiar look, and I haven't been asked to sort out his computer since.

Doonesbury on Bush

2006-08-07T09:57:00.000+01:00

This neatly encapsulates Bush's, and to a lesser extent Blair's method of argument, 'Do you want what I want, or do you want the end of the world?'.

A while ago, I got a questionaire from Charles Clarke asking 'Do you want the police to be able to do their job effectively, or do you disagree with Labour policy?'. I paraphrase slightly, but that was the gist of it. I think many people besides me must have complained about it, because a couple of days later I got a circular email apologising. Treating people like idiots always backfires in the end.

images.ucomics.com/comi...

Over 450 reviews for Tuscan Whole Milk, 1 Gallon

2006-08-06T13:06:00.000+01:00

I love it when things like this happen. Hundreds of people have written reviews of a gallon of milk on sale at Amazon.com Somewthing similar happened to a guy selling a car on Ebay a few months ago, he was pestered by hundreds of stupid questions, but replied to most of them, albeit in an increasingly tetchy way. www.amazon.com/gp/produ...

The Shamless Ignorance of the American Right

2006-08-05T16:41:00.000+01:00

This guy, Congressman Westmoreland, has done nothing at all in his period as a congressman, but co-sign a bill requiring the Senate and House of Representatives to display the ten commandments, yet when asked to name them, he hadn't a clue what they were. Honestly, it's grade A morons like this that make the rest of the world worry about America. We have our own morons in parliament too of course, but it is a struggle for me to think of any that are quite as 'special needs' as this Congressman Westmoreland.

Fame at last.

2006-08-05T12:07:00.000+01:00

Hilariously, the previous post was mentioned in The Guardian today, in the 'How the bloggers saw it' section. At last, an appreciative audience.

Mel Gibson Launches Rockets Into Israel | The Onion - America's Finest News Source

2006-08-04T09:29:00.000+01:00

This is great, the first of many anti-Gibson satires I hope. I hate the way he's tried to wriggle out of his dangerous behaviour by saying he's 'wrestling with the disease of alcholism', as if he has no will power, and despite driving in a way that was likely to result in other people being injured or even killed was deserving of sympathy. The whole Jew-hating thing is exactly what we've come to expect from a man who has rejected the second Vatican Council as deviating from the word of god. The Jews killed Jesus, the Jews are Evil, is basically his belief. Never mind the fact that Jesus said that the second coming would take place within the lifetime of those he was talking to.

Matthew 16:28 'Verily I say unto you, There be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom.'

www.theonion.com/conten...

Atheist Quotes

2006-08-03T18:16:00.000+01:00

Here are a whole load of one liners to use when smugly dissing your religious friends, my favourite being

Religion has actually convinced people that there's an invisible man -- living in the sky -- who watches everything you do, every minute of every day. And the invisible man has a special list of ten things he does not want you to do..And if you do any of these ten things, he has a special place, full of fire and smoke and burning and torture and anguish, where he will send you to live and suffer and burn and choke and scream and cry forever and ever 'til the end of time! ..But He loves you.

-George Carlin

www.chrisbeach.co.uk/vi...

Bottled Mozart

2006-08-02T19:25:00.000+01:00

This man has a lot of spare time, but he's not wasting it.