Terrorists Amongst Us

What can anyone say about the news tonight of the slaughter (it can hardly be classed as murder, the victim was unarmed, while his assailants were allegedly armed with knives and a gun), in London, of a man whose only crime was that he reportedly was wearing the T-shirt of the military charity 'Help for Heroes'. He is believed to have been a soldier from the nearby Woolwich barracks. The two black attackers then apparently ran about, waiving their gun, knives, and their blood soaked hands, shouting 'Allahu Akbar', (Arabic: الله أكبر, "Allah is Great"),  and trying to get people to photograph them. All the while encouraging members of the public to take videos of them.

ITV broadcast this video footage.

In video footage broadcast by ITV, one of the alleged attackers says: "We swear by almighty Allah we will never stop fighting you ..... I apologise that women have had to witness this today, but in our land our women have to see the same ..... You people will never be safe. Remove your government, they don't care about you".

ITV broadcast this video footage.

All this in a 'South London accent' ..... You would think that a lot of eyes would now be opened, but no doubt the PC driven politicians will make the usual 'Its only a minority', 'Islam is peaceful', 'Islam is good for our society and should be free to proselytise', and finally that 'People in every community will be equally shocked' .... which are all shorthand for lets pretend that this hasn't happened ...... until the next time .... and rest assured there will be a next time, and another, and another.

I am only mildly surprised that they didn't leave instructions for the welfare benefits their wives and children are to receive. After all they will survive this, be sent to prison for 30 yrs or so, their families will be able to visit them, and no doubt another set of Jihadist's will be brought up on the streets of our cities. In London, they will likely find a lot more support, as Muslims become the largest proportion of the population inside the probable lifetimes of these two Islamists.

ITV broadcast this video footage.

For what its worth, my thoughts aren't with the scum who did this, but firmly with the poor family and friends of the victim. His loss to the world is a thousand times more tragic, than anything his attackers offered it.

Geek v Geek

Now here's a real 'Clash of the Titans' ..... Star Wars and Doctor Who fans started fighting at a Sci-Fi convention. What makes it even better is that its old school. I mean really Dr Who and Star Wars!!

Apparently Norwich in the middle of nowhere, is a veritable hotbed of Sci-Fi fanaticism, and was holding its fourth Sci-Fi and Film Convention at the University of East Anglia, but importantly it was organised only by the Norwich Star Wars Club. They had also arranged for two Doctor Who actors to attend, but that was the cause of the later trouble, that apparently flared after members of the 'rival' Norwich Sci-Fi club arrived to get autographs from the two actors.

Norwich Sci-Fi Convention 2013

It appears that there was what's known colloquially as 'previous history' between the Norwich Star Wars Club and the members of the Norwich Sci-Fi club and this spilled over into a heated argument between two rival groups of fans. What made the scene all the more colourful was that most of the participants were 'in character' so to speak. The reports describe the visiting disputers as being dressed as 'the fifth Doctor', with two others outside the convention dressed as the '10th Doctor' and 'Judge Dredd'.



Dr Who and Star Wars Conventioneers

The Police were eventually called after reports of a man being assaulted at the convention, and they spoke to both groups of fans. However after reviewing the security camera footage they were able to confirm that "After a lengthy investigation, talking to witnesses and reviewing good CCTV footage, it was confirmed that there was no assault. The two rival groups were spoken to and advised to keep out of each other's way".

As one member of the Norwich Sci-Fi club said afterwards “This wasn't a fight between Star Wars fans and Doctor Who fans with light-sabers and sonic screwdrivers drawn”

Star Wars and Dan Dare were Strange Bedfellows

While a member of the Norwich Star Wars Club said "It does sound comical. People that dress up in costume are labelled geeks and some people laugh at us, and this just makes it even more so".

Storm Trooper v Cybermen - Who Wins?

What the two Doctor Who actors thought of all this, is sadly, not recorded in the annals of Gallifrey.

The Riddle Of The Sphinx

I am following on to an earlier post, in which I bemoaned this strange idea in current western archaeology, that ancient monuments such as Stonehenge, or Hadrian's Wall, should be left in disrepair, to some how make them 'Authentic'. In fact of course they are only 'authentic' when they are as the makers intended them to be seen.

Take, the Sphinx ....... probably built by Pharoah Khufu in his likeness.

The Sphinx as Archaeologists like to see it

It's age, weathering, and vandalism, have left it a pale shadow of its original self. But instead of the Chinese model of repairing heritage sites, all we do is say, "what the heck, the damage is 'historical' so we'll leave it", and then strangely, we proceed to spend millions to keep the sites in exactly the current stage of disrepair that we found them in. How weird is this?

So how would the sphinx look repaired? Well I had a go at 'repairing it' (apologies for the poorness of my Photo-shop skills) ..... maybe something like this?

A Repaired, Brick Faced Version Of The Sphinx

Assuming that after it was carved from the bed rock, it was faced with shaped stones or shaped bricks (like the Great Pyramid of Giza was), then it would have been something like the image above. Or maybe if they just carved the rocks and left it, maybe more like the image below.

A Repaired, Rock Version Of The Sphinx

In either event how much more wondrous to see it as it was intended to be seen?

Princess Fiona Hulk

As any visitor to this site knows, I love Super Hero / Super Villain stories from around the world, and indeed posted one such story recently. So its not going to be a big surprise that when I came across another such tale, it quickly appears here.

Princess Fiona Hulk?

Apparently this err, lady, allegedly attacked a teenage girl outside a McDonald's restaurant in York at 3 am in the morning on Saturday the 4th of May, in what was described as an unprovoked attack. The victim was left with a black eye and bruising and police are looking for this raging hulk of a woman.

Just a pity that Super Heroes like Batman or Spiderman don't really patrol our streets ..... or do they?