"...may the heaven-rescued land praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.

Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just, and this be our motto: "In God is our trust."

That's a fairly representitive extract of the American national anthem. I had intended to show that this indicator of 'western' attitude was no better than that of countries 'we' class as perhaps rogue or tyrannically misguided. However, USA's song is seems far worst than just level! Here's North Korea's anthem, it actually sound pretty peaceable, philosophical:

" Let morning shine on the silver and gold of this land,

Three thousand leagues packed with natural wealth.

My beautiful fatherland.

The glory of a wise people

Brought up in a culture brilliant

With a history five millennia long.

Let us devote our bodies and minds

To supporting this Korea forever. "

" The firm will, bonded with truth,

Nest for the spirit of labour,

Embracing the atmosphere of Mount Paektu,

Will go forth to all the world.

The country established by the will of the people,

Breasting the raging waves with soaring strength.

Let us glorify forever this Korea,

Limitlessly rich and strong. "

Fair enough, Iranians do come across a little borderline:

" Upwards on the horizon rises the Eastern Sun,

The sight of the true Religion.

Bahman - the brilliance of our Faith.

Your message, O Imam, of independence and freedom

is imprinted on our souls.

O Martyrs! The time of your cries of pain rings in our ears.

Enduring, continuing, eternal,

The Islamic Republic of Iran. "

And Saudi Arabians pay an unsettling amount of attention to religious 'glory':

" Hasten to glory and supremacy!

Glorify the Creator of the heavens

And raise the green, fluttering flag,

Carrying the emblem of Light!

Repeat - God is greatest!

O my country,

My country, may you always live,

The glory of all Muslims!

Long live the King,

For the flag and the country! "

Ahhhh, ye' goode olde English national anthem (not sung all around the globe so much these days). A little more religious than I remembered, even getting a little ernest in verse 2 (scary stuff!) until it's 5th line when it becomes obvious that it's all a piss take, thank....er, god! 

1

God save our gracious Queen,

Long live our noble Queen,

God save the Queen:

Send her victorious,

Happy and glorious,

Long to reign over us:

God save the Queen.

2

O Lord, our God, arise,

Scatter her enemies,

And make them fall.

Confound their politics,

Frustrate their knavish tricks,

On thee our hopes we fix:

God save us all.

3

Thy choicest gifts in store,

On her be pleased to pour;

Long may she reign:

May she defend our laws,

And ever give us cause

To sing with heart and voice

God save the Queen .

4

From every latent foe,

From the assassins blow,

God save the Queen!

O'er her thine arm extend,

For Britain's sake defend,

Our mother, prince, and friend,

God save the Queen!

5

Lord grant that Marshal Wade

May by thy mighty aid

Victory bring.

May he sedition hush,

And like a torrent rush,

Rebellious Scots to crush.

God save the Queen!

6

George is magnanimous,

Subjects unanimous;

Peace to us bring:

His fame is glorious,

Reign meritorious,

God save the King

......O - K!  That full version is more extended than me and Morley's perpetual Christmas card. It does acknowledgeably air on militarism, but thankfully it's lyrics aren't taken seriously, even by those who attempt to sing it, largely because no one cares to know the words and quite probably takes more notice of the sex pistol's version (u mean that song was really a cover?! i thought they wrote the original?!!!!!). I can only hope that the other citizens of the world with themes as radical as the US pay equally little attention to them!

(08-03-2005)

Theme tune for today: The Killers - Mr Brightside

(15-03-2005)

Hmm, I'm a little smitten with that song. Sufficiently so to listen through the whole album for a second night (which is unprecedented!) while reading the lyrics......"He-takes-off-her-dress-now, Lettttttt meeeee gooooo, I-just-can't-look, It's killing meeeeeee, And-ta-king-con-trol....<build up>... Jelllllousy! turn-ing saints intoooooo the-sea".......

I'm pleased that I've departed from a state of musical stagnation; my music collection is receiving some fresh meat. This decade had been fairly devoid of good new bands and new releases from existing heavy hitting groups, until recently. I was beginning to worry that music trends would leave me stranded in my native 90's indie-grunge: a throwback, dismissing new styles due purely to inflexibility. New material, like that of The Killers, can be said to be 80's naustalgic, but draws heavily from the 00's indie Stroke-esq style. I just have to keep reminding myself: new music is only ever and amalgamation of past music with small stylistic modifications. It has *always* been thus; the giants on whose shoulders we stand, are only taller for the shoulders they have perched themselves upon.

(17-03-2005)

It's another picture-page update!: Easter Friday night out. I was pretty damn knackered by 1am, after getting up to work overtime at 8am, so it wasn't quite a complete night, but it was damn good to see, relatively, so many people out, against the odds in some cases!

I was quite impressed this morning when I woke to find I'd received the CD I'd ordered a week ago from a Florida based Amazon Market Place seller for £6. It's not available at all in the UK and I've had as little luck finding a torrent or such like, so I actually resorted to buying it! After one listen I'd say that it's a pretty good album, but doesn't achieve the raw energy of Aimee Echo's previous band: Human Waste Project.

(26-03-2005)

Proof that we don't live in Euclidian space: Curious as to the distance from my house to Pailton (in the interests of a bike ride to Stevie's to retrieve a pillow I'd left in Bristol) I innocently requested directions in multimap to find that it's apparently 32 miles, not the 7 or so I would have guessed....and here's why!: The Stupidest Route in the world!

<= Oh Yeah, had a bit of a gathering on Saturday to watch the new Dr Who series/episode (for some odd reason), played a long game of risk thereafter. The Sumners turned up part way through and somehow we all fit in my bedroom with only 2 spillages!

(28-03-2005)

Word of the day is: prophylactic

Accidentally watched film of the day: 10 Things I Hate About You

Best song in an accidentally watched film today: I want you to want me! (Performed by Letters To Cleo, but originally by Cheap Trick)

Best previously unlistened to album of the day: Belle & Sebastian - The Boy With The Arab Strap (incidentally, the single from the album which bears the same name is used as the 'Teachers' title song) [small technical note: the album hasn't technically finished playing yet, but I can tell it's going to remain a high standard, and besides, it's the only album I've listened to today!]

(29-03-2005)

"Daddy's" birthday tonight with accompanying big Chinese take away and chocolate cake (the writing originally said 'PARTY' but Rhea couldn't resist switching it about to see if he noticed).

Food to school dinners. After watching an episode of Jamie's (school dinners) I feel much more strongly in favour of the programme than I expected. I'm most impressed with the scope of changes he's managed to instigate, flowing right up the levels of influence to the government. Thus giving the whole country the perfect opportunity to accept the changes with a positive attitude.

You may grumble that it shouldn't take some celebrity to kick the government over this, but I think him setting all this in motion will allow it to succeed far better than an impersonal governmental reform. I must say I'm wholly inspired (hence the whittering!) on a personal level, just wishing I could maintain that level of energy and directed motivation!

Speaking of which, reality always seems flat when you're trying to choreograph a hand full of friends into activities: my internalised ideas of group spirit are overly optimistic, presumably not sufficiently weighing individual's respective lacks of interest in any one unifying thing/activity/topic. Risky to vest much excitement in a summer adventure when it's clearly doomed to fall far short of expectations if it even transpires. I don't mean to be accusatory, I understand the problem with horses and water, so I'm going try to set these frustrations aside and avoid trying to force ideas on mates while trying hard as possible to get some cool stuff to happen!....Yeah baby!

Sorry again about wordiness, but anyway, let's start by saying that me and Stevey are gona rock Leeds Festival this year and I hope more people decide to come along too! (go on guys!!!) Still wana do Download too, but for the damn cost (finance is seriously worrying me with heavy forthcoming 2nd degree costs).

(31-03-2005) <= oooOOh, April fools tmrw!

Oooo, didn't encounter or even hear of a single April Fools this year, how boring. However, did find out last Friday that my warehouse manager the idian version of Jabber the Hutt had been fired for non-ethical conflicts of interest (i.e. he was taking back-handers from haulage companies!). Friday evening held a night out with Morley and also Stevey (who had a, err, 'facial encounter' with a very friendly 16 year old girl in O'hagans. Fairly usual dance, sweat and leave story other than that.

Saturday was a damn nice day, when I eventually got up, so I cycled to town and had a mini shopping frenzy: ended up with new floppy belt, pre-distressed jeans (NOOOOOoooooo...) and I also gave in to a proper pair of expensive sunglasses (Oakley's!) as I've been lacking any at all since Skegness and no cheap ones fit/suit. After a comical, scientifically abstenate Doctor Who, I drove to my supervisor's new house in the country for a proper piss up which was a fairly small affair but highly alcoholic: I didn't drive home til 3pm the following day and I strongly suspect I might have been pushing the legal limit based on 1 unit per hour of bodily capacity.

I've found the coolest entire world, satellite imaged, 3D, mapping visualisation from NASA. It's a big download and you'll need a fast connection (preferably better than my 700Kbit cable modem) because it downloads a LOT of image data on the fly. I've spent a couple of hours just flinging the globe about; e.g. from a fascinating view of Thailand's capitol city at a resolution where roads are easily visible, zooming smoothly straight out, round and back down to little old Rugby and my housing estate by eye. It gives a great sense scale of the world we live on: BRIL-LI-ANT!

(05-04-2005)

One of those long weeks that disappears without a trace. I did, however, buy Leeds festival weekend tickets (2 of, for myself and Steve-E, no one else committed as expected) which have now sold out.

(09-04-2005)

TECH SUPPORT!!!!!!!!.............TECH SUPPORT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!................Ok, so chances are that was totally wasted on u, even if u have seen Vanilla Sky before. A film that's been at the top of my acquisition list for quite a long time turned up on channel 4 last night: i was dismayed when Cameron Diaz Turned up, but it turns out she's quite convincing as a ugly, jealous, stalker psycho. Also, the story line wasn't totally obvious as i was entertaining the idea that he was just supposed to be plain mad, until they head for the EL centre. After watching Constantine the other day i'd already decided that Tilda Swinton makes a brilliant agent of 'god', so after this film i think i've decided that her physical apparition should be the avatar that greats me upon revival.

For critics who brand the science behind the story fanciful, i would say that it is fact pretty unimaginative!: Cryostasis has been around for decades with companies freezing people (or bits thereof) for almost as long. All the promises and services offered by the "Extended Life" company will be realised at some point of future technological advancement, all they have to do is keep the personal remains intact until these processes are commercially viable. Vanilla Sky is even less creative in the respect that it is faithful remake of Open your Eyes (the Spanish original of 1997) which oddly stars Penélope Cruz in exactly the same part! I like that the remake (i've not seen the original) seems to spell out the ending in the same brave way that A.I. does, though it sensibly halts at the point of physical revival due to impossible levels of unpredictability for a 150 year distant future. Besides, the film would work exactly the same if the 'reality' Tom Cruise ultimately wakes up to is 'Heaven'/a Frank Tippler Omega Point type simulation.

(10-04-2005)

Warning!: Van Helsing is a waste of life, don't watch it! Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind, however, is superb! A stylish tangle of increasing surrealism that somehow ends up making total sense in a satisfying way. The discordance of their relationship is pure nostalgia for me, and their conclusion mirrors my philosophical standpoint: even if it doesn't work out I don't regret having done it and certainly never want to forget!

IRL: it's 1:16am (so it's really 14/04/2005), i've just finished listening to the second Joni Mitchell Album tonight: Court and Spark (& Blue, which are both very good, even if her voice is a little high pitched for my tastes) and i'm contemplating watching a movie/episode of something, even though i'm getting tired again, because i feel the day will have been insignificant otherwise. At work i'm feeling undervalued because i'm still a temp (and likely to stay so as they know i'm leaving in september) and other staff have been taken on fulltime for 'unskilled' labour while i'm doing electronic repairs and organising 2-5 peopledoing guitar production, on a daily basis, and sorting out all their problems. Meanwhile simon (my boss) 's mate (tim who's a nice enough guy) has recently come along to the company and immediately been employed as guitar production supervisor though i'm more often the one dealing with the problems, which is of course entirely fair enough! At least i don't have to feel responsible.

Ooo, saw the the funniest thing in a long time yesterday, i was still laughing about it today: "Well we can't tickle Elmo no more....<kuchy, kuchy> When Elmo says no, he means NO! <smack>" (S14 E17 - Moe Baby Blues)

(13-04-2005)

Soooo much i've thought about and could write (my hopes of Lib Dem success verses uncertainty of some of their policy's validity....omega point theory and our future history.....Andy Kaufman and the 1999 tribute film to him) but i can't be arsed. I'd like to say it's because i'm too busy thinking about and experiencing these interesting items to piss about blogging about thinking about these interesting things, but largely i just wana wallow in a mix of tiredness, contemplation and depression! Mmm-K?!!!!......and just to make a point i'm gona go lay awake in bed for an hour or so!

(18-04-2005)

I think the channel 4 program: "Why the politicians can't tell the truth" hit the bottom line in explaining the modern state of UK democracy. The main parties have been moulded by the evolutionary selection pressures of the voter into commercialised advertising machines with the overwhelming purpose of selling themselves to the electorate. 'New Labour' was the first to capitalise on this modern market and has held an effective monopoly for some time. To do this labour effectively dropped it's old political ideals and began to pander to the whim of the majority, which worked perfectly. Conservatives have now cottoned on and, despite desperately claiming to be different, have only marginally biased variations in policy.

Sadly, the Liberal democrats are now following suit, with some success; I've been surprised by the volume of television turned over to Charles Kennedy and how high profile he has been. Even though he receive a verbal lashing from Jeremy Paxman (like all else who've crossed tongues) I still feel that channel 4 particularly wants to extol their virtues, but is also being disappointed by generic rhetoric. That may just be skew of my perception, but as far as ideals go (even if they are defunct as election 'issues') Liberalism has traditionally occupied the middle ground that all 3 parties now inhabit so they should be voted for. Even if they're not (which is likely), the reality of our society is ever increasing liberalism regardless of which party is currently claiming control.

The most worrying part of all this is that in saying what we, the citizens, what to hear, the politicians have totally neglected commitments to climate change and planning of power generation. People will absolutely not support any changes the will financially inconvenience them and so the prospect of higher taxes on airline operations, that would stem the most rapidly growing source of pollution and reduce the need for further airports by reduced demand, will not even be broached! God forbid any party member even mutters the 'n' word! NUCLEAR power is a necessity to reduce green-house gas emissions in the medium term, but no one will point that out. Lib dem are adamantly against fission but won't admit that would mean lots of wind farms (cos they look ugly), instead mumbling about fusion (which is at least 20 years from making the slightest difference, however potentially massive it will be eventually).

To avoid very real and serious national and global catastrophes (instead of blundering through them as is already inevitably happening) the general populous needs it's collective head removing from the sand, to stop singing "LAA, LAA, LAAAA" as loud as possible and make some actual decisions.

(25-04-2005)

<sigh>...such a beautiful day...and spent retrieving 2' by 3' concrete slabs with my dad and hanging out with my sister and her friends (6 years younger, for those of u not in the know)! Did I go out friday night with mates? No, course not, my only remaining cohort in Rugby was off (and still is) in Birmingham (though i should be meeting him there tmrw), so i ended up staying up just as late as a night out, finishing Monkey Island 2 (relying fairly heavily on an online walkthrough!) (hence the pics of the main character => and his nemesis <=) and being disappointed at the 'it was all a dream' style ending, mainly because he didn't get together with 'the girl', which is almost certainly me projecting feelings onto unrelated things. Sorry for the moan, but.....(aww! he's not finished yet!)....not having close friends around and sunny summer days both exacerbate my singleness.

(23:51 30-04-2005) It's going to be May in 9 minutes! <woot>...

The Laze gig at the Flapper & Firkin in Brum

(02-05-2005)

Finally got to see the film i've been waiting for! It certainly wasn't a disappointment (well certainly not totally, would have liked the making of a cup of something not entirely unlike tea not to have been fuller). My main suggestions for alterations would be for Marvin to maintain his composure: i.e. I think of him as being much like the old cartoon dog droopy, who always take a leisurely pace, but gets to where he's going in a blink of an eye, therefore i think Marvin running on 'Vogosphere' was a mistake. Secondly, it would have been far more in character if the Vogon's final bout of fire had ignored him altogether (just typical) and he'd picked up the point of view gun (which wasn't in the book, right?) in a bored 1/4 hearted way and done the business without any of that silly American-chese-Rocky-esq-underdog come back malarkey. Apart from that (and Deep Thought's voice not being NEARLY deep, ponderous and rumbley as it should have been) the unnecessary soppiness was mitigated by Zooey Deschanel (who's very likable as Trisha Mc Mill{a/io}n). Bill Bailey was very well cast as the whale! Steven Fry was, of course, perfect as the book's voice, which worked very well with fast paced cartoons. My only acting criticism was of Mos Def in that it was obviously he was; somewhat awkward. The film story started almost exactly like the book, before turning spontaneously emotional (a total departure, aside from the extra plot material), the book music and some of the animation style was nicked from the TV series but made to work far more fluidly. The guest appearance of the original Paranoid Android costume was cool but a little too un-subtle. All considered, I did laugh quite a lot, so go see it! (if u haven't already, which most seem to have, and if my spoiler's haven't ruined it for u! yeah)

Oh....u way have noticed my new shoes which i wore for the first time tonight! I know it's not that amazing (especially as they're almost exactly identical to my old ones) but i need something to get excited about, however banal!

While i remember, here's a link to barney's blog! Got to stick together, us self-chronicling sados! Well, actually i only speak for myself, Barney actually has interesting stuff about new programs, web sites, etc!

aw yeah...election exactly as predicted: conservatives gained practically no ground due to the devil u know attitude of the general public who are amazingly slowly rendering more support to lib dems who should get in under the current representation system within this century.....with luck. Can't really be arsed being disillusioned, might just watch another episode of scrubs season 4 while i wait for the new System of a Down album and Robots to download. cya!.........(bugger! i've gone totally mad! who was that supposed to be directed at?!)

(06-05-2005)

That really should be a challenge as there's only 6 hours to complete the ride and I only averaged 11.7 mph on my 1 hour ride today (and i had to stop for 10 minutes to spit up phelm! but it was windy and i do have a cold...still!).

(07-05-2005)

Like the pretty rainbow from the other day?! Had the damn dentist tonight, after a hard day shuffling 30kg boxes about, I absolutely hate having my teeth poked, it goes right through me...even now....ow. Anyway, this sexually inhibited online interactive knowledgebase really amused me tonight, have a go, and don't hold back, it's very clever: http://y.20q.net/

(11-05-2005)

Brand new £30, 2 person tent ready for Leeds and my biking adventure (+my sister'll probably nick it for her DV). I know the guy ropes aren't up but I couldn't be arsed as it's solid enough without.

(15-05-2005)

I was in two minds whether to continue in the same vein and watch Attack of the Clones (which I've still not seen), but I'm blogging instead. Yes, that means I watch Episode One earlier (even though I'm totally not a star wars head) and I've decided that it's not as bad a film as I considered it on first viewing (many years ago). It gives a solid plot base for the double trilogy, though it does drag, and Jar-Jar Binx does irritate, it has Natalie Portman and Kiera Knightly as her double!

More notably, I concluded reading The Crow Road last night. My first foray into Iain M. Banks without the 'M.' (reserved for his sci-fi pseudonym) did not disappoint. Having started it in small, sporadic bursts last calendar year (i think) i embarked properly last week upon being drawn in. The 22 year old (for some part) main character's degree flunking is very reminiscent for me and makes me feel: perhaps partly autobiographical for the author. Though lacking the grandeur of a Culture classic such as Use of Weapons (a book I'd most like to re-read given more precious time), it put forth a great warmth on aggregate besides being an interesting portal to Scotland at the time of the first gulf war. (apparently the novel was BBCed into 4 episodes)

I've read a number of Bank's Books on my XDA (finding it pleasantly convenient) as posses a very handy Zip file off most of his works. I can't recommend highly enough that u read as many of his books as possible. Given that u may not be willing to rush out and buy on my word alone, here's that compilation:

Also today: received in the post my LED conversion kit for my 2*AA Mini Mag Lite torch. It's totally nifty and i'm quite cuffed with it. Of course I bought it with The Adventure more than partially in mind.

(18-05-2005)

Going to work sucks, etc. I've entered the bikeathon (on internet by a £5 debit card transaction), so if u're someone who was going to come along, please follow suit NOW cos there's not long left til the event and forms need to be sent out, etc.

REGISTER HERE

(24-05-2005)

Starting point of thought train> Revenge of the Sith: a film that totally fails to disappoint, fitting into place all the other films neatly down the the very last details. <saw it tonight finally after Brett turned up out of the blue>

Observation> The Star Wars universe postulate of A.I. being incapable of consciousness (an idea championed by quantum physist Roger Penrose) is as necessary for the films' context as hyperspace travel.

> This idea is echoed in the GITS (Ghost in the Shell) universe where it is commonly perceived that only biological brains can achieve conscious thought until an A.I. (or several) come(s) along to thoroughly quash that misconception.

> The Culture (Iain M. Banks Sci-fi universe) are the living embodiment of the Strong AI Postulate, but the story lines are as dependant on hyperspace travel as is Star Wars. (stories with fundamental assumptions that directly conflict with my real world do not make those stories inherently bad, being impossible in this universe (the sign of an inaccurate, ugly, scientific theory), because many of the other points it subsequently allows the story to make ARE meaningful and valid. In addition: universes where such strange assumptions are realised could be made to exist in an Omega Point)

More meandering thoughts that are not necessarily my point of view> The reason why I can not be instantly transported and transformed to a 'heaven' of total knowledgeable understanding is that part of that understanding is the path taken to reach it; someone has to walk the distance in the first place, even if i were to be a copy of a being who had lived through the whole of their life, second by second, I would still remember having lived that life in it's entirety, and so in a very real way therefore would actually have done! (pattern theory).

Blatantly half-arse musing> If consciousness resolves quantum wave functions, then a person could never be wrong about the past (as long as they were logically self consistent) because uncertainty principle surely extends into that direction of time also. Therefore, if it wasn't for everyone else holding averaging out the perception of the past: i.e. there was only 1 conscious being in the whole universe, then reality would be bent to their thoughts. Perhaps then, each individual already inhabits their own universe, where their perceptions are God.

Cropped up (in my head) while cycling into town this Friday night> Can I ever die? Will there not be increasingly more unlikely events that step in to prevent it at each turn, saving me at first from unfortunate accidents and going on to defy belief as miracle aging cures come into place to keep me going. Ala Anthropic Principle: I can not be here to perceive the past unless the past conspired to create and preserve me! Perhaps in that case I may have unwittingly avoided many fatal disasters already via Deus-Ex Machina, but i could never know for sure. Besides, the human race is a group(ish) consciousness and therefore me, the individual, is not required to perceive the past in order to reach the future (presumably Omega). This is more a question of the origin of conscious thought and what it means (this is almost certainly self referencing as conscious thought is required to even attempt to understand itself. Also, what are the boundaries of consciousness and meaning itself?).

(05-06-2005)

I randomly decided to digitise my 1998 school photo. If u can find me on there i'll be impressed. ^

+ Good things come to those who wait over half a year for the PC version to come out! >

Thankfully the weather's been too nice not to play table tennis and go for a bike ride so i've not become embroiled in my new acquisition yet (though i have Blue-Tac-ed the fold up map to my wall). Job satisfaction has been particularly lacking recently, sorting through hundreds of broken electrical parts, which is nice. Bikeathon's coming up soon and after the way my legs feel from a 4 mile ride on the flat today the 50 miles on Sunday are gona be pretty severe! Good luck to me!

(08-06-2005)

U should be able to guess that means i completed the 50 mile Sponsored bikeation....Not convinced....!!! U cynical sods! Ok, here's some more evidence: medal, number, congratulatory slip of paper and unfakeably hole-punched checkpoint card!

Seriously, i'm "well knackered" but thanks to a combination of the goodwill and guilt of the guys working at Line 6, O'Hagan's people (mobbed by drunken Morley and me), family and friends, we've raised £138.29 for some clever scientist dudes to figure out how to fix a nasty type cancer! Thanks all!

BTW: Started at 10am exactly, finished at 2:40pm after stopping for snacks and lanch. My speedometer reads 32.55miles, but i accidentally reset it at 13.8miles. I strongly suspect it's inaccurately calibrated on the pessimistic side. Average of 12.1mph, ride time of 3h41m (inc. missing hour). Despite exhaustion (and the memory the feeling of an arse seemingly made of concrete), i recon 50 miles a day could easily be completed on the upcoming (but unplanned) biking adventure, even with copious pub stops!

(12-06-2005)

The Live8 gigs are all well and good, but seems to have totally forgotten to state what it's all about!: unless the general populace (YOU) make it clear to the politicians that we're prepared to make some small self sacrifices then they'll just pull out their fake smiles, try to look like they're jumping on the band wagon and actually do absolutely nothing different!

Here's the page anyway, though it'll be too late now: http://www.live8live.com/

(02-07-2005)

Maybe it's the time of the month, or that it was still only just tuesday this morning, or that I've got a nasty sounding chesty cold, but i ain't exactly full of beans at the mo. This despite going on holiday to The Land of The Free (free to be belligerently stupid) on Sunday for nearly 2 weeks: NY, Niagra falls, Boston (relatives). Many planes will be flown on, adding to my polutarama guilt from driving to work everyday.

2 things to be briefly enthused about (the left hand one there <=): M-Audio Studiophile BX5 monitors at nearly trade price due to work contacts. Spliced a custom audio cable together from two 1/4" mono jack ends (trash from work) on friday, and they're pretty high fidelity. At least game and movie sound now no longer comes solely from the Wharfedales behind me (less confusion for a simple mind).  [nb: my 5 year old Wharfedales are Valdus 400s which bear a striking similarity to their current Xarus 4000 model. Cunning use of an extra zero there guys!]

(05-07-2005)

I remembered to check that NTL had stayed true to their word and actually upgraded our cable connection to 2Mbps for free as stated, and was pleasantly unsurprised. (http://specials.zdnet.co.uk/misc/band-test/speedtest500.html)

Whilst looking up mobile roaming charges I decided that i want the upgrade to the XDA IIi cos it's so cooler than than my XDA I. Maybe i'll get it with a retard (dyslexia) grant from Uni....umm, w/e, i'm being rather consumerist atm.

(06-07-2005)

A small side note for the tiny life that was lost in a bath tub the night before the huge carnage of the London bombings (07/07/05)

+ Heavy weight US political figures jumping on the band wagon against GTA San Andreas and it's makers. This is intervention by prohibition/nanny state advocates in a country of frightened, over protective parents (i.e. a trendy witch hunt). This issue really highlight s the hypocrisies involved in modern censorship: The basis of this game is to steal and kill (in multitudinous ways, inc. blowing 'peoples' head's right off) to obtain money and rise up the criminal hieracy. All this is considered to be whole hearted good fun provided u're over 17 (in the US, 18 UK side where there's little/no fuss ATM). However, the same textured-in wire-fame models being shown to move in a blatantly sexual way (with some apt sound effects) is suddenly outrageous an scandal!!! (personally i think the whole game mod is initially funny and generally boring and pointless) My main point is that graphic violence is totally overlooked in comparison to graphic sex, presumably because the latter is more embarrassing for parents, etc. An 18+ certification is justifiable for games (and films) as violenltly explicit as the GTA series, but certificates higher than 16+ for purely sexual (i.e. not a mixture of violence and sex) content is stupid as persons are legally free to engage in such conduct IN REAL LIFE!

Being liberal i think there should be no legally enforceable age limit on media, just mandatory advisory limits to help parents who wish to 'protect' their children. There is no correlation between countries with lower sexual consent age restrictions and increased teenage pregnancy so i would have that limit dropped to between 12 and 14 in the UK. The highest limit on Movies or Games i'd have as 16 because if a person's old enough to leave full time education, earn and pay tax they should be considered a full adult (besides, they'll get hold of it one way or another). Driving is a little more tricky as cars are extremely physically dangerous for the moment. I'd leave the 17 limit be until clever cars make it safer (and drivers redundant). As far as potentially lethal mind altering drugs for recreational use go: idealy i'd legalise all of them for distribution by non profit organisation(s) to recorded customers with taxes on each drug levied proportional to their induced health care costs. In practice many of these drugs are highly addictive so would lead to too many good for nothing junkies, greatly undermining the economy, so only relatively non-chemically addictive agents would be legalised (such as alcohol, caffeine and possibly marijuana). Again i find it difficult to justify an age limit higher than of a considered adult, so 16 again. That'll do for the mo...

+ Use of the word 'evil' by Blair, following the trend of US politics - it is exactly the same language used by the radicals to describe the western world and justify acts of terrorism. It's a word designed to stir up an emotional over reaction to gain unilatteral backing. Considered lack of strong feeling is far more conducive to reaching a state free of hatred which is needed to avaoid politically motivated violence (i.e. if no one really cared about who was what religion, or what sovereignty your country officially is, it'd all be hunky dory). The old Star Wars saying is pretty much a truism in this respect: Love (obsessionate devotion/patriotism) >leads> Fear >leads> Hate >leads> [evil] (AKA: The Dark Side).

+ The latest news splash of African famine (Niger this time), again highlighting the developed nation's pitiful treatment of poor African peoples: nothing gets done until there's distressing pictures of people staving and dying, then there's a merge charity handout of food which barely makes a difference. There needs to be preventative action: i.e. spent the aid money in advance of a coming crissis when it can be spent most effectively, not when it's most obvious when its practically too late (this would involve giving that's be already been promised and allocated now, not just in theory). Also, setting the trade laws to be fair so that cancelling the debts actually makes a long term difference. The biggest killer always seems to be a lack of water...with all that wather just floating about in the sea (and even more now we're melting the ice caps so effectively), would it be beyond human capabilities to desalinate it on mass and pump it to inland africa? Yes it would be an humungous engineering feat, but still, could it be achieved to some extent? For now i'll make my monthly direct debit guilt pay off to WaterAid.

+ China's rapidly growing economic and sci-tech power coupled with it's already superior manufacturing capability (i mean the UK government has had to have Shanghi Automotive step in to save what little remains of Rover, that's a real indicator of the coming economic climate: china outsourcing to the UK!). What troubles me here is not a patriotic worry of the west loosing it's dominance of 'the cutting edge', more that this superpower is still essentially a communist dictatorship. And not in a 'commy' paranoid Redneck type way, more for because of how such a regime lends itself to corruption and the suppression of individual human rights. However, with the inroads the internet has made in China, i feel that a quite revolution is already far underway, power slowly slipping trough the governments hands to the general populace. It's all over bar the last futile attempts to hold onto control of information, such as their internet-police censorship taskforce. I doubt there'll be any wide scale violence in the remainder of this transitory period.

Actually, in some ways i cheer on some of China's current antics, such as blatant production of technology copyrighted in the US. For use internal to the country, the copyrighters don't have any way to stop them, it shows how a lack of restrictive patenting and copyright law greatly helps economic growth.

+ Interesting that Microsoft seem to be tentatively moving towards detecting all illegal copies of 'their' operating system (wouldn't be an issue in China, i'd imagine it would belong to the people). I think they've been cautious of doing this for a long time because although they don't get any income from the illegal copies, they help ensure market dominance. If they fore people off free MS Windows there'll be greater uptake of alternatives including Linux and it's various distributions. This could in turn be more detrimental to the monopo-riffic company in the long run.

Observation: After being state side for most of the previous 2 weeks, it now appears that the UK is an odd balance of capitalism and socialism. Personally, i think it's a sensible medium protecting from heavy corporate influence on politics while allowing a free economy and preventing dictatorships. (though there are the downsides of high taxes and lower than top average salaries)

Observation: Something i think will be as big as ebay in a socio-political arena is pledgebank. It allows groups of ordinary people to club together to be heard and/or fight against corporate or governmental policies. Giving assurance that u won't be left on your billy in supporting something, therefore encouraging support.

(27-07-2005) BTW, it's 7:27am and i've been up since 1am so i can look forward to another misserable day of work beyond the reasonable boundaries of tiredness...g8!

(02-08-2005)

Finally! I'm so behind with webifying pics at-the-moment: got a folder of the best of all my digital pictures every for Flickr which has been waiting to go up since thursday night, now i've just been on a 2 day bike ride (with brett) camping in the country and taken a 1/3 GB more photos. I've not even ready any of my usual internet news pages for 3 days! I'm knackered and must sleep for work....arrhhh....big comfy bed! not damp tent with sweaty friend!

 (07-08-2005)

(new Zalman TNN 300 totally fan-less computer, no moving parts except highly quietened hard drive)

Pissed off with people's laziness/incompetence at work, but i've had a very productive evening: drumming, biking, showering, eating much dinner, finishing filling out student load forms, talking on the phone, talking much interesting oddness online, reading news (as usual), webifying...

Music of the evening: Cyclefly

Totals for last weekend's bike ride (sat-sun):

Distance: 42.21miles
Ride Time: 5h57m33s
Average: 7.5mph
Max Speed: 34mph

So a little disappointing in getting nowhere near the coast, but very informative with the fun of camping in a random field + many photos taken of outdoors, but will have to wait for next entry for that.

(09-08-2005)

Been busy ing and put up a friends picture set & best of the best set + many more in my general stream.

(11-08-2005)

I've bought a Bass guitar, YAY! It's a second hand Cruiser by Crafter, used once so immaculate, active pick ups, etc. Not had too much chance to muck about on it this week, but managed to get the gist of 'Song 2' (Blur) and recorded some of it using Cool Edit Pro + Some of the guitar part courtesy of my sister's playing. Hopefully gona get time to lay down the rest of the instruments and perhaps wail some lyrics in too (depending how bad i/sister sounds on 'tape').

Anyway, goto finish preparing for Leeds Festival!: off tmrw evening (thursday) with Stevey to stay at the Sumner's for the night to get an early start to pitch on Friday. My 'must sees' are Incubus and naturally the Pixies, but hoping for good performances by Bloc Party, Killers, Foo Fighters.

(24-08-2005)

But the coolest thing is i've achived, perhaps, my most important goal in life!: i found myself in someone i've never met's photo!

> That's half my head on the far right! Can't express just how chuffed i am about this! I feel like Thomas when he kicked ass on those troublesome trucks!.....(so sad isn't it)

My weekend pictures

(30-08-2005)

THEY'VE SOLD THE ROCK-WAGON!: Parents have considered it time that our Mitsubusi Space Wagon moves on to new owners in exchange for a measly £480! So here's a fair well pic to the old beast! (posing by my sister after a photo-shoot of Rugby train station to capture 'atmosphere' for her A-Level art project, fancy parking by me!).

The Greatest Car in the World: Tribute!

(09-09-2005)

My GPS receiver avec car kit arrived yesterday, exactly too late to guide me to my dyslexia (re)assesment in Brackly, but in enough time for me to prat around with it today travelling to work: it's definitely cool!

Anyway, also been messing around with Cool Edit Pro 2.1 (as i've been threatening to do for weeks) and laid down a little ditty all on my lonesome!:  IncyWinsy1

(13-09-2005)

Me with scarily straight hair (courtesy of a persistent sister). See why i keep my hair in a bit of a mess now?!

I Had Measles, Mumps and Rubella in my left arm and Meningitis-C in my right today before doing a mammoth Sainsbury's shop with mother. Been feeling very tired this week, despite going to bed at reasonable hours and having at least 11 hours sleep, so naturally I'm a little worried about being alert, and indeed present, at lectures for the next 4 years (and work thereafter for that matter) as usual.

Have no pictures of my new GPS car kit (cost all of £80 as already had my Pocket PC/phone with Tom Tom navigator - Bittorrent is a wonderful program). But here it is bodged up to my PC for 12V power and working (but not going anywhere fast). I had the unit apart to see if i could run it off batteries for bike or walking use....and yes i can, but i can't easily reduce the bulkiness of the cradle which makes the whole thing too cumbersome to carry about. n/m, gona mod the side grippers with technic to stop my XDA nose diving out.

Again, must say i feel so very odd: in limbo between stress, motivation, lethargy, inspiration, hopelessness, tiredness and insomnia...(+ the usual sensation of missing something/someone major).........night!

(21-09-2005)

I'M AT UNI!!!!......(agian)

(26-09-2005)