Careful What You Wish For ......

The North African political world is apparently in turmoil ....

• The Christian South of Sudan has voted overwhelmingly to secede from Muslim Arab control
• Tunisian street protesters have brought long time dictator (he took power in 1987) President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali down after 23 years.
• In Egypt, similar street protests appear to be on the verge of bringing down President Mubarak who took power in 1981.
• In Yemen, at the bottom of the Arabian peninsula, and an already volatile country, is subject to street protests

If Mubarak falls there could be similar protests in other regimes such as Libya or Morocco, or even Saudi Arabia .... nearly every regime in the Arab world is a corrupt, nepotistic dictatorship that suppresses the population.


Protests in Egypt

Its hard to argue that these regimes could all be swept away without a tear being shed .... but, and there's always one but, theres one problem ... What Comes Next?

In every recent instance of 'popular' revolt in the Muslim world, its been the mullahs, hardlined and autocratic who have assumed control. Iran is arguably worse off than when the Shah was ruling, with very corrupt millionaire Mullahs stealing from the state, while the illiterate poor (who were the backbone of their support, and allowed them to seize power from the Iranians middle classes), just get poorer.

Tellingly, when the educated students and youth tried for democracy in Iran last year ...


Peaceful protests in Tehran last year

the theocracy used brutal force to crush the uprising.


Secret Police stop protest in Iran

There must be every chance that we are about to see the 'Muslim Brotherhood' seize power in Egypt and some similar grouping in Tunisia ... the domino effect would be in full flow, and the world really could be plunged into a 'clash of civilisations' as radical Islam sweeps to power in North Africa and beyond (Pakistan is already flirting with the Taliban).

Publically the West supports 'reform' in the region, but privately they must be worried that we could be seeing a lurch towards hardline Islamic regimes across the Muslim world.

British Or Scottish?

Andy Murray, the tennis player has made the final of the Australian Open, one of the four "Grand Slam" events on the tour ...... I believe he has made a Grand Slam final before but then faced either Federer or Nadal and predictably lost, but I understand he has a good chance this time ..... I'm not interested in tennis, but hey, credit where its due so ..... Great! 

But my interest is in his nationality .....I happened to be listening to the BBC's World Service radio when they gave a sports report which stated that "Scottish Andy Murray " had reached the semi finals .... Hmm.

This begs the question about whether you are really Scottish, English or Welsh first, or just British?   

Are Google Bad Guys Or Good Guys?

The 'Google Motto' is informally "Don't be evil" ...... but can a very big company really avoid doing bad things?

There was of course all that trouble with Google in China in which Google agreed to censor its Chinese search engine (google.cn.) results to comply with the Communist regimes truth suppression laws ..... this somewhat dented the image of the Internet giant. However the relationship with the Chinese has cooled dramatically after a "sophisticated and targeted" cyber attack originating from the country attacked the GMail accounts of Chinese human rights activists. Google stopped censoring results by redirecting all search queries from Google.cn to Google.com.hk to bypass censorship.  

A few 'doubting thomases' have suggested that Google, having found themselves in second place in the search engine stakes to Chinese search engine 'Baidu' (a copycat clone of the Google site), which held more than 60% of the market (Google had only 31%), was looking for an out of the mainland China market, and regaining its morals was a convenient way in which to 'not be evil'. 

Now however a researcher who has accused Google of bias in its search results says the Internet giant is now waging a campaign to discredit him ......  Ben Edelman, an associate professor at Harvard Business School, had published a study this week claiming Google boosts its own products in search results which is of course 'being evil'.

Google have responded by claiming he was actually working on behalf of its rival, Microsoft "Mr Edelman is a longtime paid consultant for Microsoft, so it's no surprise that he would construct a highly biased test that his sponsor would pass and that Google would fail," it said.

.... but we may be on the edge of big problems for Google as in November last year, the European Commission announced that it was launching an investigation into whether the company was abusing its dominance and also last year, the attorney general of Texas said he was looking at claims that Google manipulates results to boost its own products and therefore make more profit.

So corporate 'dirty tricks' afoot and as the Chinese curse goes for Google it "may be interesting times" ahead ......

Things We Didn't Need Manufactured

Criminals show little compunction in using weapons to hurt, threaten, or injure the rest of us ..... knives of course are very easy to get hold of, guns less so, but still comparatively easy to obtain. I myself was offered a gun in a pub for £250.00 in the early 1990's, so I know it wouldn't have been hard to get one if wanted.

But even so, miss-using a genuine tool as a weapon is far better and easier for a criminal, as it offers the possible defence of a genuine usage as an excuse if stopped with it. The sort of thing I am talking about is the Nail Gun, which fortunately for all of us, needs to be attached to a mains power unit to generate the air compression required to shoot the nails. Unfortunately, even as I write this, I suggest that some idiot will be trying to find away to remove the need for a mains power supply, and once they crack this, nutcases will be able to 'tool up' and use them as portable weapons.

In the meantime, the other most dangerous 'weapons' available to criminals, outside of the gun or the knife, are the Taser or a high voltage electric 'stun gun', both of  which are both illegal in the UK, but not necesarily in Europe. The high voltage electric 'stun guns' for example are freely available in 'novelty' shops in Italy, and Bulgaria (I saw them in both countries last year), as well as other Eastern European countries for about €40 - €50, and which I should imagine would be comparatively easy to return to the UK with, hidden in holiday luggage .... certainly if you were driving back on the ferry, in any event they are available on the Internet as well ...


Pocket 'Stun' gun of the type on sale on the
Internet and some European Countries. 

 

In the US of course, these are likely to be freely available in many states, and illegally in the rest, but neither are really killing machines ...... so when you read that some manufacturer has built and manufactured a 'Super Taser', which is designed according to the makers, to "incapacitate larger animals more effectively and safer than current animal control tools", you have to wonder if there is any accountabilty in the world anymore. The $2,000 (£1,250) Wildlife Taser has a range of up to 35ft (10m) and can fire three shots without reloading, all of  which can penetrate a large animals hide.

Taser Gun

 

Now correct me if I am wrong, but if a normal Taser shot (or electric stun gun) can incapacitate normal people (with a maximum of two shots sufficient for even the most violent drugged up nutter), then one that can knock a grizzly bear over, would most likely carry a higher risk of killing a human?

I accept that the odd Forest Ranger (such as Ranger Smith), may have had the odd need to knock over a Bear or a Moose in some extreme situation ..... but surely it has never been such a need, that it could justify mass production of this 'control tool'? After selling them to all the "wildlife managers, field biologists and zoo caretakers" in North America, who else will they be sold to in order to justify the cost of manufacture of this potentially lethal weapon?

It's not a cheap item, but no doubt cheaper Chinese copies will soon flood the market, and therefore I strongly suspect that its just a matter of time before they are just another part of the criminals arsenal against the rest of us ....... a fatality must happen sooner or later.  

Sometimes the free market produces items that we were better off without, because they can be very easily misused ...this in my opinion is one of them.

Anglican Christians Look South For Salvation .....

My favourite bunch of politically correct 'left wingers', are busy going through the first spasm of their eventual collapse as a mainstream religious organisation ...... when this week seven Anglican priests, and 300 lay members from six Essex and East London congregations have started the process to join a new section of the Roman Catholic Church (known as the 'Ordinariate').

Three Ex Anglican Bishops

Three former Anglican bishops have been appointed to lead the Ordinariate, which allows Anglicans opposed to developments including women bishops, gay clergy and same-sex blessings etc etc to convert to Rome, while maintaining some of their traditions. As you might expect the CofE is downplaying these movements with one vicar saying "....it is a small group of people. The Church of England remains the church for everyone."

Meanwhile 'back at the ranch', the 'wimmin' and homosexual brigade, who have pushed so hard to create the break up, are preparing to use a a pointy stick to provoke as many traditionalists as possible at the next Meeting of Primates, which will take place, rather oddly, in Catholic Ireland from Jan 25 to 31, 2011 in Dublin.

The traditionalists (i.e. Christians who believe the Bible has something to do with this), are led in large by the 'Global South' group of Archbishops (an African and South American grouping, who represent the vast majority of the communions membership), have stated  that they were nonplussed that their suggestions did not influence the agenda for this meeting .... which is a bad sign. In 2003 the Archbishop of Nigeria was the first to object to participating in a Eucharistic service with the US Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold.

Dr. Williams apparently tried to prevail on Archbishop Akinola to relent to his objections, but failed, and since that event, successive meetings of Primates have seen diminution's in the time spent in worship, as more and more primates absented themselves from any group 'Eucharist', as they could not apparently bring themselves to worship with those with whom there were not in 'fellowship'. By the 2009 meeting in Alexandria, no attempt was made to hold a corporate Eucharist for all the primates, and no group photo was taken ...... so expect more bad blood in Dublin (especially as the meeting was originally slated for South America).

Vulture Is Israeli Spy .... Saudi's Convinced

After the Egyptians accused a Shark of being a Mossad agent ....... 

 

The Arabs Always Missed
  The Real Vulture Spy!

 

....Saudi Arabian officials have "detained" a vulture on accusations of being a spy for Israel.

Where "Super Heroes" Walk The Street

Phoenix Jones is a man who likes leather .... he's also a good citizen and loves his home city of Seattle. 

 

Phoenix Jones Patrols Seattle's Mean Streets

"If police aren’t here, criminals feel free to run wild in my city," the father of two said, "and I’m not going to stand for it."

 

New Phones And Other Technology

I just bought a new phone that is a 'touch' phone ..... I mention this only because I was reminded  once again how fast the technology has moved since I last bought a phone. I now remember why I always hang on as long as possible to my old ones ..... I have just spent a good day learning how to  operate the phone in new ways, that are not intuitive to an old dog like me ..... and this wasn't an expensive android phone LOL

From this


The first "mobile" phone

To this ......


Android Operating system 2010 

... in just 35 years! What a world of advances we live in ..... the technology just keeps advancing like a form of magic ..... its easy to see why some people think it is just that .......

Clarke's Third Law

"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."

— Arthur C Clarke

"If it is distinguishable from magic, it's not advanced enough."

— Anonymous

"The essence of magic is to determine the root cause of all things. There's no distinction between science and magic. The power of magic is like those of science. Meaning, it's at the forefront of the times!"

— Patchouli Knowledge

A Lesson In Democracy?

Today the Sudanese Christians of Southern Sudan have started the process of getting away from their Muslim overlords .....

..... it remains to be seen if it passes off peacefully, or even at all, as the South has all the oil. Of course the South is cripplingly poor, after decades of attacks by Muslim 'government' troops, followed by internal conflict and being starved of oil revenues, so the chances of the fledgling state ever developing into anything more than another desperate Black African failed state are slim, but at least they are trying.

In theory, there should be no trouble, as Pres. Bashir (yes the one from the Mohammed Teddy bear row, and wanted by Interpol for genocide crimes) has promised rather like a latter day Pharaoh to let them go.

However, should they succeed  then the message is out that those states tied in a loveless partnership with others they despise, can escape this bond by peaceful means. Nigeria springs to mind but parts of Indonesia (where the Christians of  East Timor seceded in 1999 but other Christians are still being attacked), and some African states such as Buruni and Rwanda also have issues that might be resolved peacefully by referendum, we can only hope .....

Update 2017:

Sadly these hopes were dashed by the usual African taste for violence and guns and South Sudan has descended into violent chaos.

The Real Story The BBC Wont Tell

The PC driven BBC has reported on yet another Muslim, Pakistani paedophile rape ring operating in the UK ... however in the radio reports they don't mention the racial and religious aspects of the gang.... all the victims (one aged 12) were white, non Muslims.


Child Rapists

All the gang were non white, Muslim men of Pakistani descent. 

 

You Know Things Are Going Badly Wrong When ....

... Drunken Prisoners are rioting and burn down their cell blocks .......


4 Drunken prisoners refused to be breath tested and started
a riot burning the prison cell blocks

... they no doubt believed that their 'Human Rights' were being impinged .... the "right to a private life" probably covers breath testing prisoners .....

The fact that prisoners can freely obtain alcohol in the UK says everything about what 'Law and Order' has descended to here.