I spent Sunday in London with my folks, I went to the Royal Festival Hall with my mum for a concert (St Matthews passion - fab), while my dad met up with my bro and they went to the Imperial War Museum.
I realised about 10 minutes after arriving in London that each time I visit it, I loathe it more and more. The beautiful "Old London" with it's churches, minsters, architecture, heritage, monuments, museums and history is slowly being drowned by the "New London" with it's misfit architecture, filthy sooty streets, Millennium eyesores, and what must be the scruffiest dressed people in the universe.
The coach journey into Liverpool Street took us through the outskirts, properties crammed and bursting out of the pavements, shops with shutters down, black bulging bin bags in the gutter, litter litter everywhere, filthy windows, filthy unpainted doors, broken railings, so many tatty houses all no doubt with ludicrous price tags just because they were in London. Lovely old buildings with exquisite masonrywork were standing next to hideous modern steel and glass blemishes that had been erected with no consideration for their surroundings (hideous new building like this right next to the Houses of Parliament, check it out).
Miles of cracked pavements, some of them dotted with red sprayed circles where there are plans to replace them (eventually). Lovely lattice-brickwork pedestrianised areas spotted with grey blobs of chewing gum, flower borders and small lawned areas overgrowing and unkempt, grafitti everywhere, litter everywhere, the Thames with its lovely shade of shit-brown, its fetid stench, and floating parade of litter, and gaunt beggars puffing away on expensive ciggies while asking for spare change for their next pack of Marlboros. Concrete steps and slopes had been chipped away by skateboarders, and crumbled brickwork spilt out from every stairway.
I realise that I am describing most large cities in the UK but London is meant to be our flagship - one of our biggest tourist attractions, bringer of foreign income, shining contender for the Olympics (interval while I fall off chair laughing). All I could see was "Shithole" plastered over every slab of dirty concrete I passed by.
Whilst people-watching with my mum in a grotty street cafe, we tried in vain to spot a smartly-dressed human being. Why do Londoners always dress in shit? I get the impression they all think they are being cool, trendy, hip, arty and very "London" but they all looked like f*cking dossers. Fat girls who have no right to wear hipsters were spilling out over their waistbands, guys were wearing their jeans halfway down their arses, girls with greasy matted dreads, girls with badly fitting stretched coats, guys in hideous ancient badly-fitting jackets shuffled along in battered trainers, it was like being in one huge shelter for the homeless. Maybe I'm too used to spenidng time at Forties events, where the men and women were all beautifully tailored in clothes that flattered their figure, whatever that figure may be? I was just sick of looking in all directions and seeing SCRUFF.
I guess it can't be helped - mass production of clothes and todays junk and processed food generation of all shapes and degrees of fatness can't be tailored for anymore, so clothes are made to just "hang" on our bodies, not shape to them and flatter them.
In all my entire day in London just painted a very depressing scene. In my mind it's no longer the flagship of our country, it's just overhyped, overpriced, tired, dirty and polluted. I was very relieved as we sped away from it on the train and I was surrounded by greenery and space once more.
On a slightly different note, aren't parents embarassing? My mum is 64 now and my dad 67 - they are in amazing shape for their ages but they're at that stage in life now where they say stuff too loud and don't care who hears it.
Mum sat in the middle of Liverpool St Station and said loudly "ooh there are a lot of Chinese people here aren't there....and they all look the same!" she also commented "there are too many male couples walking around", even though I pointed out they could just be mates hanging out together, and if they were a couple then so what? She whinged loudly about the skateboarders, and while I agree that they were doing a great job trashing all the concrete steps, they could be doing worse things like peddling drugs on a street corner, or mugging grannies like her.....
During our lunch break she picked up one of the chicken salad wraps I had carefully prepared that morning, and likened it to "a floppy wet penis" (cue surprised looks from neighbouring table and me crawling under said table), then when we met back up with my dad and brother for a meal on a Thames-side boat restaurant, dad commented loudly about "big stiff poos" floating by the window, before beaming around the restaurant like he had told the funniest joke of the universe.
I know that you are meant to turn into your parents when you get older, so I'd like a volunteer now to monitor my progress and shoot me if I ever get close to my own dear folks....
Thursday, April 21, 2005
Wednesday, April 20, 2005
Visions
A mixture of the curious and the devout have flocked to an underpass in Chicago to see the supposed image of the Virgin Mary which has appeared on a wall. Police have started regular patrols at the site which has attracted hundreds of devotees.
Many have left candles and flowers at the site which has become a pilgrimage point in the United States. A picture of the late Pope John Paul II and the Virgin Mary in a similar pose as the image on the wall had been put next to the site.
Despite some who believe it is a divine image, there may be a more physical explanation. Officials at the the Illinois Department of Transportation say the image is merely the result of salt run-off but they have no plans to scrub it off. A spokesman for the department said: "We're treating this just like we treat any other type of roadside memorial."
Some visitors are true believers though. Elba Tello, of Chicago, said: We have faith. We can see her face."
But another on-looker, Victor Robles, said: "I see just a concrete walkway and an image that could happen anywhere. "If that image helps more people feel closer to God then maybe that is a good sign."
========================
What a bunch of idiots. They are basing their ideas of Mary on artistic representations of Mary throughout the ages. Nobody KNOWS what she looked like (if indeed she ever existed), but it's quite probable that she was NOT the delicate-featured white woman we are all used to seeing in church windows and statues. She was probably anything but delicate-looking, with manky teeth and terrible hair, and would have darker skin, NOT white. It's down to the old inkblot test theory - you can see what you WANT to see in whatever you look at, regardless of what it really is.
If an image of a manky woman appeared on a subway wall nobody would know who it was so they'd likely ignore it. Mary could be walking among us every day but we would pass her by, probably mistaking her for some foreign scruffy illegal immigrant.
I suppose that if some salt on a subway wall gives people strength and helps them get through the day then that's a good thing, but FFS when is common-sense going to come into play with all of this???
Many have left candles and flowers at the site which has become a pilgrimage point in the United States. A picture of the late Pope John Paul II and the Virgin Mary in a similar pose as the image on the wall had been put next to the site.
Despite some who believe it is a divine image, there may be a more physical explanation. Officials at the the Illinois Department of Transportation say the image is merely the result of salt run-off but they have no plans to scrub it off. A spokesman for the department said: "We're treating this just like we treat any other type of roadside memorial."
Some visitors are true believers though. Elba Tello, of Chicago, said: We have faith. We can see her face."
But another on-looker, Victor Robles, said: "I see just a concrete walkway and an image that could happen anywhere. "If that image helps more people feel closer to God then maybe that is a good sign."
========================
What a bunch of idiots. They are basing their ideas of Mary on artistic representations of Mary throughout the ages. Nobody KNOWS what she looked like (if indeed she ever existed), but it's quite probable that she was NOT the delicate-featured white woman we are all used to seeing in church windows and statues. She was probably anything but delicate-looking, with manky teeth and terrible hair, and would have darker skin, NOT white. It's down to the old inkblot test theory - you can see what you WANT to see in whatever you look at, regardless of what it really is.
If an image of a manky woman appeared on a subway wall nobody would know who it was so they'd likely ignore it. Mary could be walking among us every day but we would pass her by, probably mistaking her for some foreign scruffy illegal immigrant.
I suppose that if some salt on a subway wall gives people strength and helps them get through the day then that's a good thing, but FFS when is common-sense going to come into play with all of this???
How can this happen?
Student gunman Jeff Weise fired 45 times during his rampage through the halls of a Minneapolis high school last month, it has been revealed.
New details of the Red Lake High School shootings show the teenager killed all seven of his victims in three minutes. The 16-year-old then wandered through the school firing at random, wounding other students.
Weise killed five students, a teacher and a security guard on March 22 after earlier killing his grandfather and his grandfather's girlfriend at their home. The teenager arrived at the school armed with a shotgun and a semi-automatic pistol and wearing a bulletproof vest.
The FBI said Weise's personal journal and e-mails suggested he planned the attack in advance.
=============================
This is such a sad story - HE WAS 16 YEARS OF AGE and he planned this murder in advance, and executed it with the clinical detatchment of a seasoned killer.
What makes a child so young so ANGRY and so full of hate that he would do such a thing?? It's almost beyond my comprehension the rage that must have been inside that young boy. What caused it? What happened in his childhood to fuck him up so badly? I don't know anything about his background, who he was brought up by, whether there was any abuse, any history of mental problems. But this certainly goes beyond your average teenage hormonal hissy fit. How on earth are we going to spot the signs and help these kids before such deaths occur?
Will the media and the family once again blame Marilyn Manson? Will they blame the State for "letting him down", will they blame the school for messing with his mind, will they blame his friends and peer pressure, or TV and movies and their "promotion of violence"? It seems that before they start lashing out at others they should take a long hard look at themselves and their parenting and the 16 years of that boy's life. Then they and other parents should bloody learn from it.
Meanwhile in the good ol' US of A, they continue to sell firearms to Tom, Dick, Harry and Harry's mom without decent background checks, Hollywood keeps churning out violent movies, TV keeps showing them earlier and earlier, parents install TVs in their 5 year olds bedroom and leave them to be brought up by Big Bird or Arnold Schwarzennegger, and the desensitising, dumbing down, and maturing-too-quick of the next generation continues. Land of the Free, home of the Dead....
New details of the Red Lake High School shootings show the teenager killed all seven of his victims in three minutes. The 16-year-old then wandered through the school firing at random, wounding other students.
Weise killed five students, a teacher and a security guard on March 22 after earlier killing his grandfather and his grandfather's girlfriend at their home. The teenager arrived at the school armed with a shotgun and a semi-automatic pistol and wearing a bulletproof vest.
The FBI said Weise's personal journal and e-mails suggested he planned the attack in advance.
=============================
This is such a sad story - HE WAS 16 YEARS OF AGE and he planned this murder in advance, and executed it with the clinical detatchment of a seasoned killer.
What makes a child so young so ANGRY and so full of hate that he would do such a thing?? It's almost beyond my comprehension the rage that must have been inside that young boy. What caused it? What happened in his childhood to fuck him up so badly? I don't know anything about his background, who he was brought up by, whether there was any abuse, any history of mental problems. But this certainly goes beyond your average teenage hormonal hissy fit. How on earth are we going to spot the signs and help these kids before such deaths occur?
Will the media and the family once again blame Marilyn Manson? Will they blame the State for "letting him down", will they blame the school for messing with his mind, will they blame his friends and peer pressure, or TV and movies and their "promotion of violence"? It seems that before they start lashing out at others they should take a long hard look at themselves and their parenting and the 16 years of that boy's life. Then they and other parents should bloody learn from it.
Meanwhile in the good ol' US of A, they continue to sell firearms to Tom, Dick, Harry and Harry's mom without decent background checks, Hollywood keeps churning out violent movies, TV keeps showing them earlier and earlier, parents install TVs in their 5 year olds bedroom and leave them to be brought up by Big Bird or Arnold Schwarzennegger, and the desensitising, dumbing down, and maturing-too-quick of the next generation continues. Land of the Free, home of the Dead....
Monday, April 18, 2005
Modern Art
An artist has vandalised nearly 50 cars - in the name of art. Mark McGowan scratched dozens of cars in England and Scotland with a key. McGowan, who once pushed a monkey nut for seven miles with his nose, said his artwork examined the "worldwide pandemic" of keying.
"What I have been looking at are issues of property and linking it with art and performative action." he said. "There is a strong creative element in the keying of a car, it's an emotive engagement. Maybe it will enter the mainstream like graffiti."
Other stunts include:
I'm sorry but MODERN ART PEOPLE ARE WANKERS. Keying cars is not art. Rolling across London is not art. Stuffing chips up your nose is NOT ART. I hope everyone whos car he scratched sues his arse off.
Can someone please explain to me why these people are taken seriously??? Why Tracy Emin's unmade bed surrounded by condoms and alcohol is art? Why a flickering light in a blank room wins the Turner prize? Why the Tate Modern is so full of crap?
I think the cleverest thing about "Modern Artists" is that they actually FOOL people and critics into believing the crap they spout, and then pay obscene amounts of money for it.
How can you compare the old masters of painting and sculpture, and the skill, passion and time spent creating these masterpieces, with unmade beds?
"What I have been looking at are issues of property and linking it with art and performative action." he said. "There is a strong creative element in the keying of a car, it's an emotive engagement. Maybe it will enter the mainstream like graffiti."
Other stunts include:
- Nailing his feet to the floor of an art gallery
- Pushing a monkey nut for seven miles with his nose to 10 Downing Street in a protest against student debt
- Sitting for 12 days in a bath filled with baked beans, with two chips up his nose and sausages wrapped around his head - to defend criticism of the full English breakfast
- Rolling himself across London for four-and-a-half miles singing We Wish You a Merry Christmas to highlight the work of office cleaners
- Cooking and eating a fox to draw attention to the plight of "crackheads"
I'm sorry but MODERN ART PEOPLE ARE WANKERS. Keying cars is not art. Rolling across London is not art. Stuffing chips up your nose is NOT ART. I hope everyone whos car he scratched sues his arse off.
Can someone please explain to me why these people are taken seriously??? Why Tracy Emin's unmade bed surrounded by condoms and alcohol is art? Why a flickering light in a blank room wins the Turner prize? Why the Tate Modern is so full of crap?
I think the cleverest thing about "Modern Artists" is that they actually FOOL people and critics into believing the crap they spout, and then pay obscene amounts of money for it.
How can you compare the old masters of painting and sculpture, and the skill, passion and time spent creating these masterpieces, with unmade beds?
Friday, April 15, 2005
Blue blooded?
Sannie pad adverts piss me off. The latest one I saw last night involves a warning that if you have your period and you sit down for long time then suddenly stand up, "your pad could let you down" - ie a load of blood could run down your leg. This is illustrated by a pic of a sannie pad and yes there it is again - BLUE LIQUID being poured all over it to simulate the blood.
FFS we all KNOW you mean blood, why not just use red liquid?? Actually, liquid isn't accurate at all cos it's thinner than blood and will absorb differently - they should have a slightly squidgy thicker liquid, and RED NOT BLUE.
It's like that on the nappy adverts too - blue liquid instead of yellow pissy liquid. And not a trace of a thick brown poo-substitute, which is mainly what babies do in nappies - yet this is wholly missed out of the advert. So all their harping about absorbency is crap when you think of the fact that the, errr crap - isn't ABSORBED at all into the nappy????
It's amusing that we have gory battle scenes drowning in blood, full-frontals, tits and arses, and even full on shagging on our TV and cinema screens nowadays, yet we still refuse to put accurately coloured bodily fluids on nappy and Always Ultra adverts. If Mel Gibson beheaded someone in Braveheart and blue liquid spouted from his neck, would we be satisfied? No! So we should demand realistic bodily fluid in our adverts!
It seems that the word PERIOD is still taboo in this modern age, I remember when Monica referred to "her period" in 'Friends' and there was a big OOOOH cos she's said PERIOD. FFS is this the dark ages? Is this blue liquid some form of denial that PERIODS EXIST?
Do sex education videos substitue white sperm for a nice pretty purple liquid I wonder??
We all bleed, shit and piss and we all know what colour they are so why try to deny it!
FFS we all KNOW you mean blood, why not just use red liquid?? Actually, liquid isn't accurate at all cos it's thinner than blood and will absorb differently - they should have a slightly squidgy thicker liquid, and RED NOT BLUE.
It's like that on the nappy adverts too - blue liquid instead of yellow pissy liquid. And not a trace of a thick brown poo-substitute, which is mainly what babies do in nappies - yet this is wholly missed out of the advert. So all their harping about absorbency is crap when you think of the fact that the, errr crap - isn't ABSORBED at all into the nappy????
It's amusing that we have gory battle scenes drowning in blood, full-frontals, tits and arses, and even full on shagging on our TV and cinema screens nowadays, yet we still refuse to put accurately coloured bodily fluids on nappy and Always Ultra adverts. If Mel Gibson beheaded someone in Braveheart and blue liquid spouted from his neck, would we be satisfied? No! So we should demand realistic bodily fluid in our adverts!
It seems that the word PERIOD is still taboo in this modern age, I remember when Monica referred to "her period" in 'Friends' and there was a big OOOOH cos she's said PERIOD. FFS is this the dark ages? Is this blue liquid some form of denial that PERIODS EXIST?
Do sex education videos substitue white sperm for a nice pretty purple liquid I wonder??
We all bleed, shit and piss and we all know what colour they are so why try to deny it!
Tuesday, April 12, 2005
Stop them now!
It's official - fat girls should NOT be allowed to wear hipsters . At Banham Zoo I witnessed a girl who actually looked like she had a beer belly. She looked like the big dude out of The Incredibles - a huge belly and bum belted in over tight hipsters, then normal sized legs. As she walked past me and I got a side view of her, she actually had the classic "beer-belly overhang" of your average Tetley drinker. HOW THE F*CK DOES SHE THINK THAT'S ATTRACTIVE? How can it be comfortable for her to wear?
During the falconry display another young girl "of significant girth" sat down in front of me, once again in hipsters. As she sat down I don't think she realised that the whole of her lower back, top of her arse, and a good percentage of her butt-crack were promptly displayed to the whole audience sitting behind her. Oh how I longed for my camera...
People openly go "yuk" when they see beer-bellied men rippling down the street, but I bet I will receive a few nasty comments from people because of my comments on fat girls in hipsters. Isn't it much the same thing though? Why is it taboo to comment on a girl's size, yet funny when we comment on men's sizes?
And why don't clothing manufacturers just NOT make hipsters above a size 14, that would solve the problem overnight!
"They can wear what they want" you cry - well yes, but when it's screamingly obvious that it's too small for you or a poor fit, or very unflattering, or reveals acres of podgy pinky flesh, why wear it?? Are we that slavish to fashion? Discuss!!
UPDATE 13-4-05: fantasy_dreams701 you have a good point - when the f*ck are hipsters going to become unfashionable so people will stop buying them? Which celeb can we get to promote better-fitting trousers and make hipsters undesirable? If we want better fitting trousers the only choice is granny stuff from Debenhams or M&S, or in my case, repro 1940s trousers that cost me nearly £40. Hence learning to sew, then I can make my own and sod what the shops are selling!!!
During the falconry display another young girl "of significant girth" sat down in front of me, once again in hipsters. As she sat down I don't think she realised that the whole of her lower back, top of her arse, and a good percentage of her butt-crack were promptly displayed to the whole audience sitting behind her. Oh how I longed for my camera...
People openly go "yuk" when they see beer-bellied men rippling down the street, but I bet I will receive a few nasty comments from people because of my comments on fat girls in hipsters. Isn't it much the same thing though? Why is it taboo to comment on a girl's size, yet funny when we comment on men's sizes?
And why don't clothing manufacturers just NOT make hipsters above a size 14, that would solve the problem overnight!
"They can wear what they want" you cry - well yes, but when it's screamingly obvious that it's too small for you or a poor fit, or very unflattering, or reveals acres of podgy pinky flesh, why wear it?? Are we that slavish to fashion? Discuss!!
UPDATE 13-4-05: fantasy_dreams701 you have a good point - when the f*ck are hipsters going to become unfashionable so people will stop buying them? Which celeb can we get to promote better-fitting trousers and make hipsters undesirable? If we want better fitting trousers the only choice is granny stuff from Debenhams or M&S, or in my case, repro 1940s trousers that cost me nearly £40. Hence learning to sew, then I can make my own and sod what the shops are selling!!!
Saturday, April 09, 2005
Pay road tax and you can kill people!
Cycling home again last night and yet another female motorist with a car full of kids pulls out in front of me from a side street. Screech of brakes and torrent of vaguely abusive words towards said motorist (I'd been working late, was slightly stressed) and I carried on. She catches me up with her window wound down and screeches back "don't tell me what to do until you pay road tax". PARDON????
So let me see - you nearly knock me off my bike then tell me I'm in the wrong because I don't pay road tax? Fantastic! I'm sure that if I'd been lying in a heap on the road with a smashed bike and a smashed leg you would tell me the same thing? So paying road tax gives you the right to drive like a blind woman, nearly kill people, and STILL be in the right? I'll be going out tonight in my Volvo and picking a few off then....
So let me see - you nearly knock me off my bike then tell me I'm in the wrong because I don't pay road tax? Fantastic! I'm sure that if I'd been lying in a heap on the road with a smashed bike and a smashed leg you would tell me the same thing? So paying road tax gives you the right to drive like a blind woman, nearly kill people, and STILL be in the right? I'll be going out tonight in my Volvo and picking a few off then....
Monday, April 04, 2005
Poison gas?
Shock Jock Howard Stern got a new ruling from the lawyers this week: No long farts. Short farts are OK. Fart sounds made with the mouth (or, I assume, armpit) are apparently OK. But long farts from the fart factory are now feared to be illegal.
Yes, this is why mankind invented the law and broadcast technology: to argue about the the legal length of a fart.
There've been many final straws on Stern's back and he's lobbying to leave now whenever he can. He has also made clear that the minute the indecent indecency bill is signed into law, he'll do nothing but play records, for it's certainly not worth fines that could add into millions -- long after the alleged crimes -- for a medium he's leaving.
But this was the unkindest cut of all. Howard said he found farts funny at 5 and still finds them funny at 51. He makes no pretense of having a sophisticated sense of humor about this. They're just farts. Farts are funny. But now farts are illegal -- or lawyers think they could be, though no one will ever make it clear.
This is beyond silly, it's below stupid. Do we really need legislation about farts? Is it going to be tied in with the "War on Terror" that a fart could be construed as a noxious gas, produced to threaten the freedom of Americans (well, what's left of their "freedom"). Imagine the scene - you and your mate sitting in McDs enjoying a slice of corporate junk-food, when "Phhhhrrrrrrrt" *CRASH BANG* cue the arrival of anti-terror squads, "EVERYBODY DOWN NOW!!! YOU!! STEP AWAY FROM THE BIG MAC!! You're under arrest!!"
Yes, this is why mankind invented the law and broadcast technology: to argue about the the legal length of a fart.
There've been many final straws on Stern's back and he's lobbying to leave now whenever he can. He has also made clear that the minute the indecent indecency bill is signed into law, he'll do nothing but play records, for it's certainly not worth fines that could add into millions -- long after the alleged crimes -- for a medium he's leaving.
But this was the unkindest cut of all. Howard said he found farts funny at 5 and still finds them funny at 51. He makes no pretense of having a sophisticated sense of humor about this. They're just farts. Farts are funny. But now farts are illegal -- or lawyers think they could be, though no one will ever make it clear.
This is beyond silly, it's below stupid. Do we really need legislation about farts? Is it going to be tied in with the "War on Terror" that a fart could be construed as a noxious gas, produced to threaten the freedom of Americans (well, what's left of their "freedom"). Imagine the scene - you and your mate sitting in McDs enjoying a slice of corporate junk-food, when "Phhhhrrrrrrrt" *CRASH BANG* cue the arrival of anti-terror squads, "EVERYBODY DOWN NOW!!! YOU!! STEP AWAY FROM THE BIG MAC!! You're under arrest!!"
Saturday, April 02, 2005
Queueing
Along the main entrance corridor of Norwich Castle Mall there are two cash machines. Now this is a fairly wide corridor, flanked by shops, so it's very busy. WHY ON EARTH do people queue for these cash machines ACROSS the corridor?? Why not down the SIDE of the corridor, doesn't that make more sense?
Friday was another repeat performance. Half-term, a full mall, lunch hour, crowds of people, and a queue of cash machine TWATS stretching out ACROSS the corridor and blocking everyone off. Lots of "excuse me's" and people pushing through and woman in pushchairs barging past, and pissed off glances, and still nobody thought "I know, let's queue down the side, that will be so much easier!!!!" FFS It's common sense????!!!!!
I was dying to speak up and say "come on everybody why don't we all move?" but feared the "God she's nuts or drunk, ignore her" stares of the idiotic queue. After standing there being barged for 5 minutes while two teenage girls pissed around at the front of the queue, I gave up.
Friday was another repeat performance. Half-term, a full mall, lunch hour, crowds of people, and a queue of cash machine TWATS stretching out ACROSS the corridor and blocking everyone off. Lots of "excuse me's" and people pushing through and woman in pushchairs barging past, and pissed off glances, and still nobody thought "I know, let's queue down the side, that will be so much easier!!!!" FFS It's common sense????!!!!!
I was dying to speak up and say "come on everybody why don't we all move?" but feared the "God she's nuts or drunk, ignore her" stares of the idiotic queue. After standing there being barged for 5 minutes while two teenage girls pissed around at the front of the queue, I gave up.
Sunday, March 13, 2005
Phenylalanine Part II
I had to reproduce this comment from a_Pashion81 on my blog about Phenylalanine:
"Any thoughts on all this food been taken off the shelves at the moment cos of the said Sudan cancer scare.. I think its bloody histerical...well for god sake...the cigarrette counters are still stacked and its proven without no shadow of doubt that smoking causes cancer! The Government obviously gets a fatter tax profit! I offered a friend of mine a pot noodle and she said "oh nooooo i can't eat that, its got that cancer stuff in it" as she lit up a ciggy!...and yes I can say she IS blonde lol"
Despite official sources saying "Sudan dyes (Sudan I, II, III and IV) are not appropriate as a food additives for humans despite the extremely low risk." and "The risk, if any, for anyone who has consumed food made with this chilli powder as an ingredient is so small as to be immeasurable, and consumers are advised not to be concerned.", the media's treatment of the Sudan scare and the Public's subsequent reaction have been OTT as usual (not that i'm too fussed, anything that stops you all eating chemical shit is fine by me). People recoil in horror when offered their usual boil-in-the-bag Spag Bol, then sit back and light up their cigarettes, safe in the knowledge that they won't get cancer cos they're avoiding Sudan 1.
FOR F*CKS SAKE
If Sudan 1 was a taxable food additive I'd bet that it'd still be out there. How can the Government continue this enormous blind eye, driven by nothing but pure greed? Why haven't the Cancer Research people demanded that ciggies are banned? If Sudan 1 caused deaths to the same level as smoking does, there'd be a massive terror alert and TOTAL BAN - for ever.
Why don't we just do the same as ciggies and put labels on the Birds Eye Lasagne saying "This will harm your baby", "This will give you cancer", or "This will kill you" - people would not TOUCH it would they! Yet people who are enslaved by their nicotine cravings ignore labels like this every day when they buy their Bensons. Then if they live in America, the SUE THE CIG COMPANIES for giving them cancer!
I guess banning ciggies would be a near impossible task now, there would be mass anarchy from the Addicted, and the black market would explode and be impossible and very expensive to police. The only thing that can stop the cig companies profits AND dent the purse of the Government is US and OUR WILLPOWER to quit. Only trouble is then, any money you save from not smoking would be eaten up from other taxes the Govt would impose to make up for the lack of ciggie taxes! We're trapped and it's so f*cking frustrating.
The only winners are the Ciggie companies, the Govt and the Pharm companies, who sit back and rake in the profits from their cancer drugs, knowing they have got a captive market.
Click here for an interesting article "Cancer industry promotes misleading warning on supplements in order to protect cancer treatment profits".
PS I am a non-smoker but my grandfather died a coughing, wheezing, hacking mess thanks to his love for roll-ups.
"Any thoughts on all this food been taken off the shelves at the moment cos of the said Sudan cancer scare.. I think its bloody histerical...well for god sake...the cigarrette counters are still stacked and its proven without no shadow of doubt that smoking causes cancer! The Government obviously gets a fatter tax profit! I offered a friend of mine a pot noodle and she said "oh nooooo i can't eat that, its got that cancer stuff in it" as she lit up a ciggy!...and yes I can say she IS blonde lol"
Despite official sources saying "Sudan dyes (Sudan I, II, III and IV) are not appropriate as a food additives for humans despite the extremely low risk." and "The risk, if any, for anyone who has consumed food made with this chilli powder as an ingredient is so small as to be immeasurable, and consumers are advised not to be concerned.", the media's treatment of the Sudan scare and the Public's subsequent reaction have been OTT as usual (not that i'm too fussed, anything that stops you all eating chemical shit is fine by me). People recoil in horror when offered their usual boil-in-the-bag Spag Bol, then sit back and light up their cigarettes, safe in the knowledge that they won't get cancer cos they're avoiding Sudan 1.
FOR F*CKS SAKE
If Sudan 1 was a taxable food additive I'd bet that it'd still be out there. How can the Government continue this enormous blind eye, driven by nothing but pure greed? Why haven't the Cancer Research people demanded that ciggies are banned? If Sudan 1 caused deaths to the same level as smoking does, there'd be a massive terror alert and TOTAL BAN - for ever.
Why don't we just do the same as ciggies and put labels on the Birds Eye Lasagne saying "This will harm your baby", "This will give you cancer", or "This will kill you" - people would not TOUCH it would they! Yet people who are enslaved by their nicotine cravings ignore labels like this every day when they buy their Bensons. Then if they live in America, the SUE THE CIG COMPANIES for giving them cancer!
I guess banning ciggies would be a near impossible task now, there would be mass anarchy from the Addicted, and the black market would explode and be impossible and very expensive to police. The only thing that can stop the cig companies profits AND dent the purse of the Government is US and OUR WILLPOWER to quit. Only trouble is then, any money you save from not smoking would be eaten up from other taxes the Govt would impose to make up for the lack of ciggie taxes! We're trapped and it's so f*cking frustrating.
The only winners are the Ciggie companies, the Govt and the Pharm companies, who sit back and rake in the profits from their cancer drugs, knowing they have got a captive market.
Click here for an interesting article "Cancer industry promotes misleading warning on supplements in order to protect cancer treatment profits".
PS I am a non-smoker but my grandfather died a coughing, wheezing, hacking mess thanks to his love for roll-ups.
Wednesday, March 09, 2005
Aaargh put it away...
Today was the first mildly warm day of the year, and walking through Norwich on my lunch hour I observed the typical Brit reaction to this weather. KIT OFF!!!!!
Suddenly everyone had the urge to strip. It wasn't quite t-shirt weather but what the hell! The sun's out! Kit off!! Acres of pale pinky corned-beef flesh was revealed as girls who have yet to visit a gym donned cropped tops and short skirts, and let it all hang out - literally. Quiet word girls...midriff-baring tops are a privilege, not a right! I don't get it - if I looked in the mirror and saw that my flobby belly was hanging out over my belt, I'd totally not leave the house! Are they blind? Do they think it's attractive? (PS I don't have a flobby belly...) One girl was spotted in flip-flops, the lads donned their Oakleys and wore their sleeveless t-shirts, and pub beer-gardens were dotted with people sitting outside and rubbing their goosebumps. I suspected there was already a rush on to find a beach and lie on it.
I felt quite silly because I was still wearing my duffle coat! Pace yourself guys, summer won't be with us until July at the latest......I guess that here in the UK we are all so desperate for a bit of cheerful sunshine that the first sign of it and we go a bit bananas. I wonder how we Brits would cope if the tropics suddenly reversed and the UK became as hot as Australia. So much sun, so much heat! Aaargh! Kit off every day! Can't cope! Must lie on the beach and crisp myself in the first day!
Suddenly everyone had the urge to strip. It wasn't quite t-shirt weather but what the hell! The sun's out! Kit off!! Acres of pale pinky corned-beef flesh was revealed as girls who have yet to visit a gym donned cropped tops and short skirts, and let it all hang out - literally. Quiet word girls...midriff-baring tops are a privilege, not a right! I don't get it - if I looked in the mirror and saw that my flobby belly was hanging out over my belt, I'd totally not leave the house! Are they blind? Do they think it's attractive? (PS I don't have a flobby belly...) One girl was spotted in flip-flops, the lads donned their Oakleys and wore their sleeveless t-shirts, and pub beer-gardens were dotted with people sitting outside and rubbing their goosebumps. I suspected there was already a rush on to find a beach and lie on it.
I felt quite silly because I was still wearing my duffle coat! Pace yourself guys, summer won't be with us until July at the latest......I guess that here in the UK we are all so desperate for a bit of cheerful sunshine that the first sign of it and we go a bit bananas. I wonder how we Brits would cope if the tropics suddenly reversed and the UK became as hot as Australia. So much sun, so much heat! Aaargh! Kit off every day! Can't cope! Must lie on the beach and crisp myself in the first day!
Bus Behaviour
Ever noticed that when you are on a bus and all the seeats fill up, that anyone else who then gets on, will stand right at the front of the bus near the luggage holders? And the next, and the next, and the next, until the entire front quarter of the bus is crammed full of people.....meanwhile the whole aisle of the bus right to the back is free and empty with plenty of room for standing.
WHY DO PEOPLE DO THIS?
I used to bus to work every day and marvelled at this strange phenomenon of human behaviour. As they'd get on the bus they'd look very briefly down the aisles to see if there were any seats, and sometimes even if there WERE a few free, they'd still crowd right at the front. Then whenever somebody else wanted to get off, they'd have to negotiate this dense ball of humans all struggling to hang onto the luggage rack - bloody nightmare when you had a big bag with you as I invariably did (cue lots of tuts as I dragged my bag past them, injuring them in the process). It's also not good for the old people as they aren't as strong at pushing past!!
If the bus was crowded when I got on I'd push past them all at the front and walk right to the back and stand there - but still none of them copied me. Are they that scared of maybe a few people staring at them as they walked the length of the bus??
The bus driver doesn't help by never insisting that they "step to the rear" or move down. One time he DID do this, and the idiots shuffled down a few feet and then stayed grouped together. Were they on a group-pheromone trip and didn't want to leave eachother's scent??? I wanted to scream at them "FOR F*CKS SAKE ARE YOU STUPID, LOOK HOW MUCH SPACE THERE IS!!!!!"
I vote for electrically-charged luggage racks, so that if anyone stands next to them the bus driver can zap them until they move.
WHY DO PEOPLE DO THIS?
I used to bus to work every day and marvelled at this strange phenomenon of human behaviour. As they'd get on the bus they'd look very briefly down the aisles to see if there were any seats, and sometimes even if there WERE a few free, they'd still crowd right at the front. Then whenever somebody else wanted to get off, they'd have to negotiate this dense ball of humans all struggling to hang onto the luggage rack - bloody nightmare when you had a big bag with you as I invariably did (cue lots of tuts as I dragged my bag past them, injuring them in the process). It's also not good for the old people as they aren't as strong at pushing past!!
If the bus was crowded when I got on I'd push past them all at the front and walk right to the back and stand there - but still none of them copied me. Are they that scared of maybe a few people staring at them as they walked the length of the bus??
The bus driver doesn't help by never insisting that they "step to the rear" or move down. One time he DID do this, and the idiots shuffled down a few feet and then stayed grouped together. Were they on a group-pheromone trip and didn't want to leave eachother's scent??? I wanted to scream at them "FOR F*CKS SAKE ARE YOU STUPID, LOOK HOW MUCH SPACE THERE IS!!!!!"
I vote for electrically-charged luggage racks, so that if anyone stands next to them the bus driver can zap them until they move.
Monday, March 07, 2005
"Phenylalanine for tea please dear"
If I put the following chemicals in front of you, in liquid or powdered form - and asked you to eat them, I fear you would tell me to feck off:
Acidity regulator (Sodium Diacetate), colour (Paprika extract), sweetener (aspartame), Lactose, glucose syrup, sugar, drier whey, malt extract, raising agents (Ammonium bicarbonate, sodium bicarbonate), flavour enhancer (monosodium glutamate), lactic acid, pepper extracts, contains a source of phenylalanine.
These are from the ingredients list of "Cheesy Beans" flavour Mini-Cheddars. They taste BLOODY FANTASTIC but LOOK HOW CHEMICAL THEY ARE.
Are our bodies made to process such chemicals? What sort of strain does this put on our liver? Did you know that the average human body today contains 500 more chemicals than our relations of 50 years ago? The advances in toiletries and processed foods have caused this. Have we adapted to deal with them?
But what's more worrying is the presence of two ingredients - aspartame and phenylalanine. Phenylalanine is a hidden danger to anyone consuming aspartame. Most consumers don't know that too much Phenylalanine is a neurotoxin and excites the neurons in the brain to the point of cellular death.
The 1976 Groliers encyclopedia states cancer cannot live without phenylalanine. Phenylalanine makes up 50% of aspartame.
But it's also one of the essential amino acids found in proteins, and is found naturally in foods such as eggs, milk, bananas, and meat. I'm confused now - is it OK to eat or not? This website HERE says that we should avoid anything with isolated amino acids, and eat them in combination.
Are Mini-Cheddars potentially lethal then? Are a lot of these chemically-pumped foods? And if so, why are they still being sold? Think about how many chemicals you consume in one day - I dare you to keep a chemical diary of all the foods you eat, it will probably scare the crap out of you! Next time you go to Asda, read the label before putting it in your trolley.....
Our bodies don't need this crap - yes, Cheesy Bean mini-cheddars taste fab but it's not worth it!
Acidity regulator (Sodium Diacetate), colour (Paprika extract), sweetener (aspartame), Lactose, glucose syrup, sugar, drier whey, malt extract, raising agents (Ammonium bicarbonate, sodium bicarbonate), flavour enhancer (monosodium glutamate), lactic acid, pepper extracts, contains a source of phenylalanine.
These are from the ingredients list of "Cheesy Beans" flavour Mini-Cheddars. They taste BLOODY FANTASTIC but LOOK HOW CHEMICAL THEY ARE.
Are our bodies made to process such chemicals? What sort of strain does this put on our liver? Did you know that the average human body today contains 500 more chemicals than our relations of 50 years ago? The advances in toiletries and processed foods have caused this. Have we adapted to deal with them?
But what's more worrying is the presence of two ingredients - aspartame and phenylalanine. Phenylalanine is a hidden danger to anyone consuming aspartame. Most consumers don't know that too much Phenylalanine is a neurotoxin and excites the neurons in the brain to the point of cellular death.
The 1976 Groliers encyclopedia states cancer cannot live without phenylalanine. Phenylalanine makes up 50% of aspartame.
But it's also one of the essential amino acids found in proteins, and is found naturally in foods such as eggs, milk, bananas, and meat. I'm confused now - is it OK to eat or not? This website HERE says that we should avoid anything with isolated amino acids, and eat them in combination.
Are Mini-Cheddars potentially lethal then? Are a lot of these chemically-pumped foods? And if so, why are they still being sold? Think about how many chemicals you consume in one day - I dare you to keep a chemical diary of all the foods you eat, it will probably scare the crap out of you! Next time you go to Asda, read the label before putting it in your trolley.....
Our bodies don't need this crap - yes, Cheesy Bean mini-cheddars taste fab but it's not worth it!
Monday, February 21, 2005
Cat rescuer gets £80 ticket
COLD-hearted traffic wardens slapped an £80 ticket on a car — after the driver stopped for a cat she had run over.
Mum Carla Barroso, 40, was overcome with guilt when the moggy dashed under her wheels. She pulled partly on to the pavement and spent five minutes searching bushes for the creature. Two wardens swooped as she returned to her car cradling the badly-injured cat in her arms in Ruislip, Middlesex. Carla, who is to appeal, said: “They gave me a ticket for parking with my wheels on the pavement. “I explained to them about the cat and they had to have seen the whole thing happen. “I wasn’t obstructing the road. It’s ridiculous.”
A spokesman for Hillingdon Council said: “Parking attendants are instructed to issue parking tickets where they see vehicles with one or more wheels on the pavement or a verge, unless exemptions apply.” The cat was last night fighting for life at a vets.
======================
UNLESS EXEMPTIONS APPLY - so a half-squashed cat isn't a good enough exemption?? B*stards! I hope her appeal is successful!
Mum Carla Barroso, 40, was overcome with guilt when the moggy dashed under her wheels. She pulled partly on to the pavement and spent five minutes searching bushes for the creature. Two wardens swooped as she returned to her car cradling the badly-injured cat in her arms in Ruislip, Middlesex. Carla, who is to appeal, said: “They gave me a ticket for parking with my wheels on the pavement. “I explained to them about the cat and they had to have seen the whole thing happen. “I wasn’t obstructing the road. It’s ridiculous.”
A spokesman for Hillingdon Council said: “Parking attendants are instructed to issue parking tickets where they see vehicles with one or more wheels on the pavement or a verge, unless exemptions apply.” The cat was last night fighting for life at a vets.
======================
UNLESS EXEMPTIONS APPLY - so a half-squashed cat isn't a good enough exemption?? B*stards! I hope her appeal is successful!
Sunday, February 20, 2005
Blondes vs Brunettes - hey what about Redheads?
I came across a very weighty blog today that was discussing who was cleverest - blondes or brunettes. Not even a MENTION of redheads, as far as she's concerned we don't exist (maybe she just couldn't SPELL it).
Here is her argument - prepare yourselves, it's highly technical:
"y does evry1 fink brunettes r cleverer den blondes??? im blonde, + im 1 of d cleverest in my group (not boastin) but i am, + outta d 5 or us im 1 of d 2 blondes, + d blondes r d cleverest!!!! (go blonde!!!) i mean sum of d worlds leadin women r blonde!! so y du brunettes hav dis reputation as being cleva??? my m8 (d ova blonde) is dyin her hair brunette but shes got lovely hair!!!! so why d brainy brunette rep??????????? blondes r ment 2 av more fun + brunettes r ment 2 b brainy, but relly us blondes r jzt as brainy as n.e1 else!! sum1?????? plz explain??? BLONDES RULE!!!!!"
I am very intrigued, and I'd like a teen who types like this to please leave a comment and tell me whether you actually write your schoolwork like this, or whether you just use this slang to type faster - like a kind of teen shorthand. It should be made a rule in schools that if you hand in your homework written like this, you are sent back to sit in a class with a bunch of 5 year olds who are all learning how to write their names.
Surely this person must have been taught to write and spell properly in her early years....did the advent of youngsters having mobile phones undo all that good work? Even with predictive text, that helps you spell everything properly, they use this horrid style of grammar. Does this mean that when she spawns kids (many, I'm guessing), will she be teaching THEM to write like this? Are schools going to go the easy route and allow this form of shorthand to be become legal? How the hell can this tide of abuse against the english language be stopped?
On her blog she seems to to enjoy and promote books, and even has a book list, which is great (apart from Animal Farm which she describes as "a horribl buk") - could she have a proper grasp of english and is just typing slang to be like her mates?? Or are these a new generation of books that are written in txt spk? Aargh, someone out there will do this one day, just to make money.......actually that's a point........*composes email to publishing house*.
PS I'm not leaving the Blog URL cos someone will probably go tell her what I've written and she'll come on here quoting Nietzsche and totally humiliating me.
Here is her argument - prepare yourselves, it's highly technical:
"y does evry1 fink brunettes r cleverer den blondes??? im blonde, + im 1 of d cleverest in my group (not boastin) but i am, + outta d 5 or us im 1 of d 2 blondes, + d blondes r d cleverest!!!! (go blonde!!!) i mean sum of d worlds leadin women r blonde!! so y du brunettes hav dis reputation as being cleva??? my m8 (d ova blonde) is dyin her hair brunette but shes got lovely hair!!!! so why d brainy brunette rep??????????? blondes r ment 2 av more fun + brunettes r ment 2 b brainy, but relly us blondes r jzt as brainy as n.e1 else!! sum1?????? plz explain??? BLONDES RULE!!!!!"
I am very intrigued, and I'd like a teen who types like this to please leave a comment and tell me whether you actually write your schoolwork like this, or whether you just use this slang to type faster - like a kind of teen shorthand. It should be made a rule in schools that if you hand in your homework written like this, you are sent back to sit in a class with a bunch of 5 year olds who are all learning how to write their names.
Surely this person must have been taught to write and spell properly in her early years....did the advent of youngsters having mobile phones undo all that good work? Even with predictive text, that helps you spell everything properly, they use this horrid style of grammar. Does this mean that when she spawns kids (many, I'm guessing), will she be teaching THEM to write like this? Are schools going to go the easy route and allow this form of shorthand to be become legal? How the hell can this tide of abuse against the english language be stopped?
On her blog she seems to to enjoy and promote books, and even has a book list, which is great (apart from Animal Farm which she describes as "a horribl buk") - could she have a proper grasp of english and is just typing slang to be like her mates?? Or are these a new generation of books that are written in txt spk? Aargh, someone out there will do this one day, just to make money.......actually that's a point........*composes email to publishing house*.
PS I'm not leaving the Blog URL cos someone will probably go tell her what I've written and she'll come on here quoting Nietzsche and totally humiliating me.
We *really* need to sort our priorities out
- 771,000: The number of visitors to Johnkerry.com during the week of the US Democratic Convention
- 3.5 million: The number of visitors during the SAME WEEK to the website of Japanese soccer star, Hidetoshi Nakata
- 23-60 million: The number of unique visitors to porn websites every day
- 2-3 million: The number of unique visitors to the five largest news websites
Face it folks, you can have sex whenever you want with whoever you want - is this really a priority over reading about the shit that is happening to us and our world, resplendent in the hands of a small group of power-hungry and corrupt "leaders"?? FFS put down the Penthouse mag and start reading stuff that MATTERS!
Saturday, February 19, 2005
Chelsea Tractors Ahoy
Woke up today to thick, thick snow. I hate days like this because all the f*cking Chelsea Tractor owners climb smugly into their RAV4s and Land Cruisers, ready to drive fat Timmy 30 yards to school, thinking "I'm in a 4x4 I'm not going to get stuck in the snow! Look at meeeee!"
Well correct my dear, if you lived on a farm in the middle of nowhere (and rightly needed to own a 4x4) you'd doubtless be OK. BUT YOU LIVE IN SUBURBIA, and no amount of dual gearboxes or 4WD on your stupid gas-guzzling dangerous status-symbol is going to prevent you from queueing for hours in the snow-snarled traffic, along with the other "normal" cars and Chelsea Tractor owners . With your higher centre of gravity you are actually more likely to be skidding off the roads, ploughing into other motorists, and causing all the pile-ups in weather like this.
I'll give you a wave as I cycle by you in the queue.....
Well correct my dear, if you lived on a farm in the middle of nowhere (and rightly needed to own a 4x4) you'd doubtless be OK. BUT YOU LIVE IN SUBURBIA, and no amount of dual gearboxes or 4WD on your stupid gas-guzzling dangerous status-symbol is going to prevent you from queueing for hours in the snow-snarled traffic, along with the other "normal" cars and Chelsea Tractor owners . With your higher centre of gravity you are actually more likely to be skidding off the roads, ploughing into other motorists, and causing all the pile-ups in weather like this.
I'll give you a wave as I cycle by you in the queue.....
Friday, February 18, 2005
One step closer to "Terminator"
This from the New Internationalist Magazine (a very good read!):
Of all the Hollywood visions of the future that could end up coming true, you have to hope that the Terminator films will not be among them. Is there anything more terrifying than an invulnerable robot blowing people away with a sawn-off shotgun while uttering "Hasta la vista baby" in an Austrian accent?
Well, as always the military and scientific communities are on the fast track to making such a nightmare a distinct possibility. In a joint venture, the British MOD and the US Carlyle Group (close ties to the BUSH FAMILY) have developed a series of tactical robot soldiers called SWORDS - Special Weapons Observation Reconnaissance Detection Systems (read more about them HERE). The US military is already planning to deploy 18 of the one-metre high killing machines in Iraq within the next few months.
The robots are operated by soldiers near the battlefield using video-game style controls. Work is currently under way to enhance the experience by adding "virtual-reality goggles", confirms one enthusiastic engineer.
"It's a premonition of things to come" says www.globalsecurity.org director Jonathan Pike. "It makes sense. These things have no family to write home to. They're fearless. You can put them places you'd have a hard time putting a human soldier in".
Scientists meanwhile are working on ways to graft living tissue onto robotic skeletons. Recently, scientists at the University of California Los Angeles have successfully combined muscle tissue from rats onto robotic parts, creating small "bio-bots" that could move on their own. "They're absolutely alive" says the Project Leader, Professor Montemagno. "I mean the cells actually grow, multiply and assemble - they form the structure themselves. So the device is alive".
Cut to Terminator 3. Kate Brewster "So what's his story then?" John Connor "He's a robot from the future. Living tissue over a metel skeleton. He means you no harm".
=============================
This is a very scary article. In some ways, robot soldiers would be good - it means that our boys won't need to risk their lives to defend their country anymore (or nowadays, to defend the interests of the Oil business), and no soldier would be killed, disabled, psychologically screwed up, or subjected to torture or imprisonment. Instead they'd be holed up in armoured vehicles with their VI masks on, seemingly playing video games - sheltered from the horror of actally killing a human being thanks to the digitization of the whole act thru a Playstation-esque video screen. I guess all those hours in front of the X-Box can be valuable after all!!!!
But in other ways it's very scary. A robotic army will do as it is told. Without compassion, reason, rationale, or considering all the facts and evidence. To quote Kyle Reese from Terminator 1:
"Listen! And understand! That terminator is out there. It can't be bargained with! It can't be reasoned with! It doesn't feel pity, or remorse, or fear. And it absolutely will not stop, ever, until you are dead!"
Lastly, what if it is embued with the power of Artificial Intelligence, so it would ultimatly learn and think for itself? We are *this close* to becoming the very same people we watch on our movie screens, fleeing and screaming from the robots that will hunt us down and blow us to pieces. I believe that the US military will push ahead with this plan and spend untold billions on making it a reality - in which case I wish for the same outcome as the TERMINATOR films - complete annhilation of the human race, so we can all start over, learn from our mistakes, and never let madness like this happen again.
In the meantime, are we now meant to gag all our sci-fi filmmakers and script writers, whose ideas to entertain us may soon be killing us?
Of all the Hollywood visions of the future that could end up coming true, you have to hope that the Terminator films will not be among them. Is there anything more terrifying than an invulnerable robot blowing people away with a sawn-off shotgun while uttering "Hasta la vista baby" in an Austrian accent?
Well, as always the military and scientific communities are on the fast track to making such a nightmare a distinct possibility. In a joint venture, the British MOD and the US Carlyle Group (close ties to the BUSH FAMILY) have developed a series of tactical robot soldiers called SWORDS - Special Weapons Observation Reconnaissance Detection Systems (read more about them HERE). The US military is already planning to deploy 18 of the one-metre high killing machines in Iraq within the next few months.
The robots are operated by soldiers near the battlefield using video-game style controls. Work is currently under way to enhance the experience by adding "virtual-reality goggles", confirms one enthusiastic engineer.
"It's a premonition of things to come" says www.globalsecurity.org director Jonathan Pike. "It makes sense. These things have no family to write home to. They're fearless. You can put them places you'd have a hard time putting a human soldier in".
Scientists meanwhile are working on ways to graft living tissue onto robotic skeletons. Recently, scientists at the University of California Los Angeles have successfully combined muscle tissue from rats onto robotic parts, creating small "bio-bots" that could move on their own. "They're absolutely alive" says the Project Leader, Professor Montemagno. "I mean the cells actually grow, multiply and assemble - they form the structure themselves. So the device is alive".
Cut to Terminator 3. Kate Brewster "So what's his story then?" John Connor "He's a robot from the future. Living tissue over a metel skeleton. He means you no harm".
=============================
This is a very scary article. In some ways, robot soldiers would be good - it means that our boys won't need to risk their lives to defend their country anymore (or nowadays, to defend the interests of the Oil business), and no soldier would be killed, disabled, psychologically screwed up, or subjected to torture or imprisonment. Instead they'd be holed up in armoured vehicles with their VI masks on, seemingly playing video games - sheltered from the horror of actally killing a human being thanks to the digitization of the whole act thru a Playstation-esque video screen. I guess all those hours in front of the X-Box can be valuable after all!!!!
But in other ways it's very scary. A robotic army will do as it is told. Without compassion, reason, rationale, or considering all the facts and evidence. To quote Kyle Reese from Terminator 1:
"Listen! And understand! That terminator is out there. It can't be bargained with! It can't be reasoned with! It doesn't feel pity, or remorse, or fear. And it absolutely will not stop, ever, until you are dead!"
- A robot army would do the bidding of it's master, whether that master's bidding is for good or for evil.
- It would round up human beings desperately trying to rise up against the unjustice and oppression, human beings opposing its master's will - whether that will be for good or for bad - and it would wipe them out without a second thought.
- It would be invulnerable to attacks barring some serious weaponry that would probably be impossible to obtain
- It would be equipped with the most accurate tracking devices that would mean nobody could hide from it.
- And it would not need to be paid, or fed, or have thousands spent on its training.
- It would not sue for mental distress, or for disablement in the line of duty, it would not oppose orders that it knew were morally wrong, it would not write letters to the Free Press talking of bodged orders, lack of body armour, and voicing it's disillusionment at the reasons it was fighting.
Lastly, what if it is embued with the power of Artificial Intelligence, so it would ultimatly learn and think for itself? We are *this close* to becoming the very same people we watch on our movie screens, fleeing and screaming from the robots that will hunt us down and blow us to pieces. I believe that the US military will push ahead with this plan and spend untold billions on making it a reality - in which case I wish for the same outcome as the TERMINATOR films - complete annhilation of the human race, so we can all start over, learn from our mistakes, and never let madness like this happen again.
In the meantime, are we now meant to gag all our sci-fi filmmakers and script writers, whose ideas to entertain us may soon be killing us?
Wednesday, February 09, 2005
It's only a shark......
During a day trip to London I went to the London Aquarium. As was expected on a Sunday, it was packed, mainly with parents and kiddies. What I noticed and what alarmed me quite a lot is that every single parent was instilling in their kids FEAR of the sharks that were in one of the large central tanks.
Parental cries of "OOH look Katie, A SHARK!!! Ooohhh look at THAT, isn't it SCARY!!!" and "look look, here it comes again! Oooh look at it's TEETH Steven!" went on and on, and immediately each child was mock-screaming whenever a shark swam past. One little girl started crying, her dad had scared her so much banging on about poor Sharkie. "Nothing will happen while Daddy's here" he assured her....I wished something WOULD happen and someone would give him a slap for being so ignorant and for passing that ignorance onto his kids. Steven Spielberg has a lot to answer for!
Sharks are NOT carnivores nor do they feed on a diet of humans. Yes there have been incidents of shark attacks but they are very rare, and probably a case of mistaken identity (human, not seal, *CHOMP*, oops!). Parents should be telling their kids the other amazing and fascinating facts about sharks, like Great White Sharks can go as long as three months without eating, or more people are killed each year by dogs, pigs and deer than by sharks.
Give them all the facts and a balanced view of what a shark is. I'm sure that next time Little Timmy is told to go swim in the sea by Daddy he will stand and blub because he's scared a shark will come along and bite his bum.
Parental cries of "OOH look Katie, A SHARK!!! Ooohhh look at THAT, isn't it SCARY!!!" and "look look, here it comes again! Oooh look at it's TEETH Steven!" went on and on, and immediately each child was mock-screaming whenever a shark swam past. One little girl started crying, her dad had scared her so much banging on about poor Sharkie. "Nothing will happen while Daddy's here" he assured her....I wished something WOULD happen and someone would give him a slap for being so ignorant and for passing that ignorance onto his kids. Steven Spielberg has a lot to answer for!
Sharks are NOT carnivores nor do they feed on a diet of humans. Yes there have been incidents of shark attacks but they are very rare, and probably a case of mistaken identity (human, not seal, *CHOMP*, oops!). Parents should be telling their kids the other amazing and fascinating facts about sharks, like Great White Sharks can go as long as three months without eating, or more people are killed each year by dogs, pigs and deer than by sharks.
Give them all the facts and a balanced view of what a shark is. I'm sure that next time Little Timmy is told to go swim in the sea by Daddy he will stand and blub because he's scared a shark will come along and bite his bum.
Monday, January 31, 2005
Osama who?
It seems that America has forgotten who Bin Laden is, and still doesn't seem to care WHERE he is.
First they threw the blame at him for 9/11, then they flooded the media with shots of him in his cave, extolling his evilness and how he was going to nuke the world from his little bunker. According to Bush Arch-Nemesis Michael Moore, they then sneakily flew all his relatives out of the country to safety, stayed very hush-hush about the Bin Laden family's involvement with the highest echelons of American Government, and decided to blame Saddam Hussein for 9/11.
Bush declared on 17 September 2001 that bin Laden was ‘Wanted: Dead or Alive’. But on 6 April 2002, General Richard Myers, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff said ‘The goal has never been to get bin Laden’. The US media networks also promptly stopped mentioning him, and stopped asking where he is and why there was such a massive U-turn by the President. AND NOBODY ELSE IN AMERICA SEEMED TO QUESTION THIS EITHER.
Whether he is to blame or not here is not the issues, but the fact that the American people don't seem to care where he is, after he was painted as the biggest threat to the US ever?? What's wrong with these people! How can they just forget what was initially said about Bin Laden? Isn't there a higher power in Congress that can force Bush to answer these questions, can anyone make him stand up and explain WHY the Bin Laden family were flown out of the US without being detained and questioned about 9/11?
Also, has any hard evidence surfaced to say that Saddam was responsible for the 9/11 attacks? What about the WMD? Why do we always blindly lie down and accept huge bodges like this, from the people that are running our lives? It seems that as long as the Bin Ladens are still in bed with the Bush family, and financing half of the American economy, that they are going to be safe for a long while yet.
It makes me laugh that poor old Clinton was impeached and dragged thru hell and high water because he likes stuffing cigars up intern's orifices....yet an offence 1000 times more heinous has obviously been committed by Bush (one of several offences) and nobody is saying a THING.
First they threw the blame at him for 9/11, then they flooded the media with shots of him in his cave, extolling his evilness and how he was going to nuke the world from his little bunker. According to Bush Arch-Nemesis Michael Moore, they then sneakily flew all his relatives out of the country to safety, stayed very hush-hush about the Bin Laden family's involvement with the highest echelons of American Government, and decided to blame Saddam Hussein for 9/11.
Bush declared on 17 September 2001 that bin Laden was ‘Wanted: Dead or Alive’. But on 6 April 2002, General Richard Myers, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff said ‘The goal has never been to get bin Laden’. The US media networks also promptly stopped mentioning him, and stopped asking where he is and why there was such a massive U-turn by the President. AND NOBODY ELSE IN AMERICA SEEMED TO QUESTION THIS EITHER.
Whether he is to blame or not here is not the issues, but the fact that the American people don't seem to care where he is, after he was painted as the biggest threat to the US ever?? What's wrong with these people! How can they just forget what was initially said about Bin Laden? Isn't there a higher power in Congress that can force Bush to answer these questions, can anyone make him stand up and explain WHY the Bin Laden family were flown out of the US without being detained and questioned about 9/11?
Also, has any hard evidence surfaced to say that Saddam was responsible for the 9/11 attacks? What about the WMD? Why do we always blindly lie down and accept huge bodges like this, from the people that are running our lives? It seems that as long as the Bin Ladens are still in bed with the Bush family, and financing half of the American economy, that they are going to be safe for a long while yet.
It makes me laugh that poor old Clinton was impeached and dragged thru hell and high water because he likes stuffing cigars up intern's orifices....yet an offence 1000 times more heinous has obviously been committed by Bush (one of several offences) and nobody is saying a THING.
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