Next, The Kiddie-Tazer

“Scan It®” says the manufacturer’s blurb, ” is an educational and creative play toy that helps children become acclimated with airport and public spaces security. “  Just what we need to train the next generation in mindless compliance and bovine docility. 

The State of China – part one

Michael Ledeen is not a man whose opinions I would naturally respect.  A prominent voice calling for war against Iraq (“One can only hope that we turn the region into a cauldron, and faster, please.  If ever there were a region that richly deserved being cauldronized, it is the Middle East today”) he has been [...]

Ideologically Bankrupt?

Whatever has happend to the Project for a New American Century website? Can’t they afford to pay their bills now?

Misinterpreting the Candidate

It takes a bit of a reach to wilfully misunderstand some unguarded words by Hilary Clinton, but many have done so. This is what she was reported as having said:
“My husband did not wrap up the nomination in 1992 until he won the California primary somewhere in the middle of June, right? We all [...]

McShit

Just one of the many ways in which McDonalds are prettifying our inner city streets. Thank you, Ronald!

Protect Us From Ourselves

“A massive government database holding details of every phone call made and letter sent by the public is being planned as part of the fight against crime and terrorism. The Post office would open and copy every letter before delivery, and would hand over their records to the Home Office under plans put forward by [...]

Beef

Improbably large-breasted prostitute Natalie Springer complains in today’s News of the World that celebrity hairdresser Nicky Clarke treated her “just like a piece of meat to be paid for his pleasure”.
That is the whole point of prostitution, Ms. Springer, and I’m rather surprised no-one has pointed that out to you before.

Kill This Bot Now

After a few seconds of watching this nightmarish new bot, you just know it’s going to be used for ineffably evil purposes… just look who funded it… I don’t relish coming up against this bastard when it’s fully tricked out with all its hardware…

Naked Bar

The right of British soldiers to drink in the buff is a time-honoured tradition and must not be abrogated by a bunch of nancy-pancy spoilsport Euro-trash nanny-state Johnny foreigners. There’s a lot of talk about what’s wrong with young people today, but as long as our fine young men continue this hallowed custom [...]

Message To Google – Don’t Kill WikiPedia (And Ball – Eye – Keep On)

photo credit: dewet
Google has become an indifferent search engine, largely unimproved in its core functionality since its inception. Anyone used to “proper” database searching is frustrated by its shallow command set – nor do casual users have the benefit of true “natural language” searching. It’s also my own impression that an increasing number [...]

Secrets of Xenu the PowerSeller

photo credit: Rob Sheridan
Further confirmation that some of the biggest websites on the net are largely dominated by a bunch of mindless bullies for who “customer service” is an alien concept comes in the form of that megalith, E-Bay.
An author of mine recently experimented with writing and producing his own e-book, and popped it [...]

No Evidence Airport Security Make Planes Safer

photo credit: Roebot
A team from the Harvard School of Public Health recently asked a very simple question. Does the barrage of abusive “security” procedures long-suffering passengers are subjected to make flying any safer?
In view of the billions of public money spent on no-bid contracts (no danger of corruption there, then) it seems a reasonable [...]

Dangerous Emotional Propaganda

The brave sailors aboard the Yushin Maru, who risk their lives sailing the seven seas in search of cheap dogmeat for Japanese consumers, today accused the Australian government of “dangerous emotional propaganda” for releasing pictures of a mother Minke whale and her baby calf being hauled aboard a whaling ship. They couldn’t tell whether [...]

McShit

You simply can’t make this kind up thing up. McDonalds, one of the world’s most despicable companies, are today officially approved in Britain to give out their own exam certificates up to degree level. Would that be an A-level in de-greasing, garbology or obesitology? And do you want fries with that?

Gym Sins/1

Over the past few years, I’ve been to the majority of gyms in central London - and, in one way or another, found most of them wanting in one way or another.
The best gyms of all are old-fashioned boxing gyms.  Should you happen to live near one (unlikely), go for it.  Sadly, they are a [...]

They Really Are Watching You - Official

“Within two weeks of taking office, the Bush administration was planning a comprehensive effort of spying on Americans’ phone usage.”
- The New York Times, yesterday.
This is clearly nothing to do with the threat from terrorism, and everything to do with moving towards a surveillance state. No sensible person would object to [...]

Word 2007, You Are The Spawn of Satan

Weeks after making the transition, my productivity is still less than 40% that of Word 2003.  So many things to hate, so little time… I used to have all the functions I wanted on a single toolbar, and could access them all with a single click.  Now, most common functions are three clicks or more [...]

Conspiracy Theory

In 1933, a group of American businessmen (owners of Heinz, Birds Eye, Goodtea, Maxwell House & George Bush’s Grandfather, Prescott) believed that their country should adopt the policies of Hitler and Mussolini to beat the great depression.  So they instigated a coup.  Their treasonous plottings were aimed at toppling President Franklin D Roosevelt with the [...]

Oil Has Peaked - Official

If you live anything other than a 100% self-sufficient lifestyle, this new study (apart from explaining the logic behind the Iraq war) is some of the most important news this year. I’m still digesting it – but mark my words – times are a changing.

A Million Terrorists, And You May Be One Of Them

The No-Fly list is being expanded again –will soon top 1m.  Are there really that many terrorists in the world?  The comments on this piece are revealing:

“…this ruined my career. I used to be a consultant with Accenture and travelled constantly, including internationally. Having to spend 6 to 7 hours every single week at special [...]

Goodbye, Halo

Just fyi, and for all my fellow geeks out there, I won’t be playing the massively over-hyped Halo 3.  I’m old enough to remember when Bungie wasn’t a polyp in the corporate gut of Microsoft, and when they produced damn good games for the Mac - one of which, Marathon, will always be a legend.  [...]

Search Me

I’ve always felt uneasy about the widespread searching (in the US) of shoppers’ bags on the exit from certain stores - Circuit City and CompUSA come to mind, but there are plenty of other offenders. The presumption is that every consumer is a potential shoplifter, and that every megalithic company has a right to [...]

Well, that’s me out…

It was a nice idea while it lasted. But now that the UK iPhone is a looming reality:

“Mobile phone operator O2, owned by Spain’s Telefonica, has won the exclusive contract to sell Apple’s much-hyped iPhone in the UK costing £269… Customers have to sign up for an 18-month contract on a tariff of £35, [...]

Giving Your Right Arm for A Diamond

OK, I can accept that some people may want to have their partners (or, indeed treasured pets) carbonized and turned into a diamond they can then sport as a fashion accessory (“Darling, is that your third husband you’re wearing? He looks gorgeous!”). But reading further, I grow apprehensive:
“Whether you’ve lost a loved one [...]

Iran Will be Bombed

I think it is a foregone conclusion that Iran will be bombed.
I had an interesting discussion this afternoon with someone who is well-informed about the region, and much more of an insider than I am.  He was considerably less certain about it than me, and I respect his opinion.  However, barring last-minute changes of plan, [...]