Tuesday, May 14. 2013
Prince Charles' Royal Dosh For Bahraini Royal Gloss
This story should come, sadly, as no surprise. In a nutshell: our very own Prince Charles of our unelected regime is helping out another (highly repressive) unelected regime with a spot of 'good publicity' for some cash (£700,000) for one of his hobby groups of chums. So when Charles is not talking to plants, baking biscuits or helping his dear old open parliament, he's now filling his time with activities usually left to other sniveling toadies like Prince Andrew or Mark Thatcher.
'Prince Charles has been accused of “giving legitimacy to one of the world’s most repressive regimes” after sealing a deal on behalf of his architecture group who will advise the Bahraini government on housing and planning.
'According to the Bahrain News Agency, the £700,000 deal was signed by Hank Dittmar, CEO of the Prince’s Foundation for Building Community, and Bahrain’s housing minister Basim Alhamer earlier this month. It followed a meeting between Mr Alhamer and Prince Charles at Clarence House on April 26.
'The agreement will see advisers from the group “supervise and review” plans for a new 4,000-unit housing project in the south of the kingdom, which will take inspiration from Poundbury, the model village in Dorset created by Prince Charles 20 years ago. A team from the Foundation will visit Bahrain later this month to begin work.' (Republic article).
Saturday, May 11. 2013
GSK Launches African PR Campaign
Big bad pharma megalith GSK is banging the PR drum in Africa about a partnership with the charity 'Save The Children'. Call me cynical, but are GSK's motives really about saving sick kids in Africa when the very same company has fought tooth and nail to deprive this continent of affordable life-saving drugs for decades? Or is it more likely to be a response to more recent bad publicity over GSK buying-off competition to its extortionately priced anti-depressant 'Seroxat'? Also, reading between the lines, 'Save The Children' is definitely edgy about whoring it with GSK, so it looks like this story may not have a happy ending...
'Britain's biggest drug manufacturer has launched a new partnership with Save The Children to develop medicines to tackle child mortality in Africa. GlaxoSmithKline and the charity said together they could save a million children's lives.
'Save The Children chief executive Justin Forsyth said there was the potential for "huge gains". But critics are wary about the close involvement of a pharmaceutical company in charitable work.
'Save The Children admitted that its alliance with GlaxoSmithKline would be controversial - but said the project would save children's lives. For example, a formula for mouthwash will be turned into a gel that can be applied to the umbilical cords of babies to stop infection.
The new medicines will be sold at cost price. GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) said the partnership would set a new standard for how companies and charities could work together.
'Initially, two flagship programmes will operate in DR Congo and Kenya. These will be followed by other initiatives in Sub-Saharan Africa, Asia and Latin America.' (BBC News article).
Thursday, May 9. 2013
Stephen Hawking Joins Academic Boycott Of Israel
As if there was ever any doubt about this man's advanced intelligence, superbrain Stephen Hawking flips the bird to Israeli president Shimon Peres over Israel's treatment of Palestinians. Way to go Stephen!
As seems to be customary amongst the me-me-me generation, Hawking's intelligent and individual decision has been met with abusive Facebook responses that focus primarily on his physical condition. Personally I would've thought that Mr. Hawking was way too smart to be using the likes of Pusbook, but then I guess he's got to find someway of promoting his ideas to the intellectually challenged plebs of the 21st century...
'Professor Stephen Hawking is backing the academic boycott of Israel by pulling out of a conference hosted by Israeli president Shimon Peres in Jerusalem as a protest at Israel's treatment of Palestinians.
'Hawking, 71, the world-renowned theoretical physicist and former Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at the University of Cambridge, had accepted an invitation to headline the fifth annual president's conference, Facing Tomorrow, in June, which features major international personalities, attracts thousands of participants and this year will celebrate Peres's 90th birthday.
'Hawking is in very poor health, but last week he wrote a brief letter to the Israeli president to say he had changed his mind. He has not announced his decision publicly, but a statement published by the British Committee for the Universities of Palestine with Hawking's approval described it as "his independent decision to respect the boycott, based upon his knowledge of Palestine, and on the unanimous advice of his own academic contacts there."' (Guardian article).
Saturday, May 4. 2013
Prince Charles Funds Hobbies With Dead People's Money
It is common knowledge that Prince Charles, our hereditary heir to the throne, is well known to be on a nice little earner selling biscuits from Cornwall that 'earns' him about UKP 18 million a year. What is much less well known is that when someone dies down in darkest Cornwall without a will, this blood-sucker gets their assets too. However, keen to be altruistic he then generously shovels some of this unearned dosh to worthy causes like private schools and his other hobby 'charities'.
It's funny, however, that you never read about this shit in the Daily Telegraph, The Daily Mail or the Murdoch rags when they are banging on about 'scroungers'. The same mouthpieces then attack anyone who criticizes the royals - upon uncovering such breathtaking greed - as 'waging a class war'.
Fucking right, bring it on!
'Prince Charles has used money from people who die without wills or family in Cornwall to fund his own charities and to support bursaries at his old private school in Scotland.
'As Duke of Cornwall, a title that already provides him with an £18m private annual income, a quirk of history means Charles becomes the owner of the assets of anyone living in the county who dies "intestate".
'Last year that provided him with more than £450,000 and he is sitting on £3.3m in cash from many years of collecting Cornish legacies, latest accounts show.
'In 2012, the benevolent fund he set up to use the money made one of its largest grants of £5,000 to the elite public school of Gordonstoun in Scotland where a place now costs £30,000 a year.' (Guardian article).
Monday, April 8. 2013
The Witch Is Dead!
Woo hoo! Good riddance to bad rubbish! Thatcher has finally died from a stroke (a stroke of good luck). And not before time. Great news like this demands a celebration. Now stock up on coal and get ready to lob it at her hearse during the forthcoming state funeral!
Thursday, April 4. 2013
One Is Not All In This Together
On the very day that our disgusting coalition government gives a huge tax cut to millionaires and hammers the poor, one little old lady billionaire has had a tidy little top-up. Yes, our unelected head of state has just trousered a UKP 5 million pay rise, raising the bundle of public money that our royal parasite gets from UKP30 million to UKP 36 million per annum.
However, the keen-eyed among us have noticed that as Buckingham Palace is owned by the state, then Liz effectively lives in 'social housing' - and this old house has rather a lot of spare bedrooms. Curiously though, the sniveling coalition toadies don't seem to have applied there disgracefully regressive 'bedroom tax' to this old dear. Funny that.
'The Queen has received a £5m boost in the funds she receives from the taxpayer to carry out her official duties.
'The sovereign grant, which covers the running costs of the Queen's household, has been set at £36.1m for the 2013-14 financial year.
'The figure has increased from the £31m allocated during the previous 12 months which included £1m to cover the extra costs of the diamond jubilee.
'The sovereign grant replaces the old funding system of the civil list and grants-in-aid and came into full effect at the start of the new financial year, which began on Monday. It also covers the maintenance of the royal palaces in England and the cost of royal travel for official engagements in the UK and overseas tours.
'Under the new grant the Queen receives 15% of the profits from the Crown Estate, but from funds two years in arrears.' (Guardian article).
Tuesday, March 19. 2013
The Modern Day Hobos
Having been interested in the old-time American hobo lifestyle for some time, it has come as a great surprise and pleasure to find a thriving subculture of modern hobos still riding freight trains across the US. PBS has a superbly evocative film about hobos here.
Indeed, some old-timers are still out there migrating by freight-train to find work but there is a new wave of hobo riding simultaneously. It would appear that the new younger generation of 'bos' brings a decidedly 'punk-attitude' that simply rides the rails just for the sake of riding the rails - wonderful stuff. This creates an amazing mixture of young punks and old hobos doing the same thing, just for different reasons.
Riding the rails is also referred to as 'freight-hopping' or 'train-hopping' and there is quite a bit of stuff out there. Railroad Semantics is the website of Aaron Dactyl who publishes his own 'freight zine' about his adventures and is well worth a read. Northbank Fred has a very comprehensive website that has loads of hobo stories and links.
There is also a ton of stuff on YouTube and I particularly liked the videos from Wizehop.
Sarah George's documentary Catching Out is also a good all round study of the modern hobo. (Isohunt torrent download).
Sunday, March 17. 2013
James Steele: America's Mystery Man In Iraq
A new investigative documentary by The Guardian and BBC tells a story of one Colonel James Steele, a veteran of the Latin American Dirty War and the Vietnam War and his involvement in the Iraq War. Apparently, Colonel Steele was involved in helping organize and finance Shia death squads, torture, helping to instigate, perhaps, the civil war in Iraq. His reports went directly to the desks of Rumsfeld and Cheney.
Friday, March 15. 2013
The Sergeant Matron's New Pipe Smoking Revolution
Having taken up the briar a little over a year ago (as a result of a few pals accusing me of being a 'Chap' and saying that "you should smoke a pipe"), I began investigating the unusual world of contemporary pipe smoking. What at first glance appeared to be a moribund pastime soon revealed a distinct, thriving, colourful, and even subversive subculture, with adherents from all over the world.
Wishing to do my bit for the new wave of the pipe smoking revolution, I suggested to a couple of pals - whilst sitting in the remote Scottish bothy of Kearvaig one night - that we form the 'Kearvaig Pipe Club' (KPC). It seemed so bizarre that they immediately agreed, and the rest, as they say, is history.
With smoking of any kind being almost completely banned in any indoor public space, the Scottish bothy offers a last 'off-grid' bastion where one may legally sit in warm comfort with friends (and strangers), and enjoy a good smoke. Even folk who are not in the 'brotherhood of the briar' tend to enjoy the 'room note' emanating from some wonderfully fragrant pipe tobacco. So if you are interested, why not get yourself a pipe, head for the hills and seek out fellow pipe-smoking oddballs? (Kearvaig Pipe Club website).
Monday, March 4. 2013
Douglas Rushkoff: "Why I'm Leaving Facebook"
Cyberpunk and media theorist Douglas Rushkoff talks perfect sense, yet again, on the dangers of using Facebook. As he aptly points out: "The true end users of Facebook are the marketers who want to reach and influence us. They are Facebook's paying customers; we are the product. And we are its workers"...
'I used to be able to justify using Facebook as a cost of doing business. As a writer and sometime activist who needs to promote my books and articles and occasionally rally people to one cause or another, I found Facebook fast and convenient. Though I never really used it to socialize, I figured it was okay to let other people do that, and I benefited from their behavior.
'I can no longer justify this arrangement. Today I am surrendering my Facebook account, because my participation on the site is simply too inconsistent with the values I espouse in my work. In my upcoming book Present Shock, I chronicle some of what happens when we can no longer manage our many online presences. I argue - as I always have - for engaging with technology as conscious human beings, and dispensing with technologies that take that agency away.
'Facebook is just such a technology. It does things on our behalf when we're not even there. It actively misrepresents us to our friends, and - worse - misrepresents those who have befriended us to still others. To enable this dysfunctional situation - I call it “digiphrenia” - would be at the very least hypocritical. But to participate on Facebook as an author, in a way specifically intended to draw out the "likes" and resulting vulnerability of others, is untenable.
'Facebook has never been merely a social platform. Rather, it exploits our social interactions the way a Tupperware party does. Facebook does not exist to help us make friends, but to turn our network of connections, brand preferences, and activities over time - our "social graphs" - into a commodity for others to exploit.' (Rushkoff article).
Monday, February 25. 2013
Ratzinger Running From Vatican Gays?
It's pretty obvious that Mr. Ratzinger did not quit because he's old and infirm. There's definitely bigger things brewing; money laundering and child sex-abuse scandals, threat of arrest if he leaves the Vatican, etc. But the latest theory revealed in the Italian press about a 'gay network' in the Vatican, if true, could really see the wheels come off of the Catholic Church. Fingers crossed.
A potentially explosive report has linked the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI to the discovery of a network of gay prelates in the Vatican, some of whom - the report said - were being blackmailed by outsiders.
'The pope's spokesman declined to confirm or deny the report, which was carried by the Italian daily newspaper La Repubblica.
'The paper said the pope had taken the decision on 17 December that he was going to resign - the day he received a dossier compiled by three cardinals delegated to look into the so-called "Vatileaks" affair.
'Last May Pope Benedict's butler, Paolo Gabriele, was arrested and charged with having stolen and leaked papal correspondence that depicted the Vatican as a seething hotbed of intrigue and infighting.
'According to La Repubblica, the dossier comprising "two volumes of almost 300 pages - bound in red" had been consigned to a safe in the papal apartments and would be delivered to the pope's successor upon his election.' (Guardian article).
Tuesday, February 19. 2013
Ratzinger To Stay Holed-Up In The Vatican
It looks like Mr. Ratzinger is so rattled by the prospect of being held to account for his cover-up of the child sex-crimes of Catholic priests on his watch, that he is going to stay holed-up in the Vatican after he stops being God's representative on Earth. Of course someone, someday, might put a stop to the nonsense about the Vatican being a 'state', and then he's toast but I'm not holding my breath. Contrast the international kid-glove treatment of this vile individual to the hounding of Julian Assange, and one gets a good insight into the priorities of powerful western nations...
'Pope Benedict's decision to live in the Vatican after he resigns will provide him with security and privacy. It will also offer legal protection from any attempt to prosecute him in connection with sexual abuse cases around the world, Church sources and legal experts say.
'The Vatican has consistently said that a pope cannot be held accountable for cases of abuse committed by others because priests are employees of individual dioceses around the world and not direct employees of the Vatican. It says the head of the church cannot be compared to the CEO of a company.
'Victims groups have said Benedict, particularly in his previous job at the head of the Vatican's doctrinal department, turned a blind eye to the overall policies of local Churches, which moved abusers from parish to parish instead of defrocking them and handing them over to authorities.
'The Vatican has denied this. The pope has apologized for abuse in the Church, has met with abuse victims on many of his trips, and ordered a major investigation into abuse in Ireland.
'But groups representing some of the victims say the Pope will leave office with a stain on his legacy because he was in positions of power in the Vatican for more than three decades, first as a cardinal and then as pope, and should have done more.
'The scandals began years before the then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was elected pope in 2005 but the issue has overshadowed his papacy from the beginning, as more and more cases came to light in dioceses across the world. (Reuters article).
Friday, February 15. 2013
Ratzinger May Run, But He Can't Hide
The surprise resignation of the PPPP (Paedophile Priest Protecting Pope) could open up new avenues for this odious little man to be sued. US court cases have already featured letters from 'Cardinal Ratzinger' linking him directly to the Catholic Church's cover up of their child sex abuse scandal. Bring it on!
'Yesterday’s resignation by Pope Benedict was merely expedient - he has become too old to cope. It would have been both astonishing and courageous, a few years ago, had it been offered in atonement for the atrocity to which he had for 30 years turned a blind eye - the rape, buggery and molestation of tens of thousands of small boys in priestly care.
'His “command responsibility” for this crime against humanity goes back to 1981, when he was appointed Prefect (i.e. Head) of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Vatican body that disciplines errant priests. Although the CDF files are a closely guarded secret, letters from Cardinal Ratzinger have emerged in several US court cases, always protective of rapist priests. As father Hans Kung, the eminent Theologian, put it in his open letter to Catholic Bishops in 2010, “There is no denying the fact that the world-wide system of covering up cases of sexual crimes committed by clerics was engineered by the CDF under Cardinal Ratzinger”'. (Independent article).
Thursday, February 14. 2013
Nasty Little Man In A Big Church Resigns Over Gay Dog?
Well, okay, I maybe extrapolating things a bit here, but hell, the God Squad does it all the time. So, am I the first to link the resignation of Mr. Ratzinger with the hillarious story of a 'gay' dog called Elton and a Catholic gob-shite called 'Bill Donohue'? I think dear old Ratzinger read this story and said: "Right, fuck it, I've had enough of this Catholic shit, I'm off!" Enjoy. (Daily Kos article).
I Predict A RIOT
War company Raytheon has developed some software called RIOT (Rapid Information Overlay Technology) that is designed to deal with vast amounts of personal data on social networking sites etc, with the aim of giving anyone who wants to pay for it the ability to spy on and/or track people. Good! Now will all those Twitter and Facebook numbskulls out there, happily sloshing their personal information all over the internet, pay attention? Probably not, the me-me-me generation I fear is here to stay...
'If you have attracted the “wrong kind” of attention by the government, then the intrusive data-mining analytic software developed by defense contractor Raytheon may be able to figure out your next move before you make it.
'Wikipedia explained the “extreme-scale analytics” systems that Raytheon calls Rapid Information Overlay Technology (RIOT). It “allows the user to track people's movements and even predict their behavior by mining data from social networking sites including Facebook, Twitter, Gowalla, and Foursquare. Raytheon claims that it has not sold this software to any clients, but has shared it with US government and industry.”
'The software is not “new,” but the video obtained by the Guardian is new to us, the public. In it, Raytheon's 'principal investigator' Brian Urch explained how RIOT software works. He used a Raytheon employee dubbed “Nick” before showing how to use the software to find pictures of Nick as well as where he checks in or has otherwise given away his location. Some of the most disturbing quotes include, “Now we know where Nick’s going; we know what he looks like and now we’re going to try to predict where he may be in the future.” The results showed the top ten places where he has checked in.' (Computer World article).
Saturday, February 2. 2013
GSK: The Baddest Of Bad Pharma Is Back
GSK, the iconic Bad Pharma giant, has had it's arse well and truly kicked in the US for witholding clinical trails data for the dodgy diabetes drug 'Avandia'. GSK was fined $3 billion+ in the US and has since settled out of court in the US with numerous victims who have suffered heart attacks/problems caused by Avandia.
So, what about Avandia victims in the UK? GSK has decided to make UK citizens fight in court for similar complaints that have been settled out of court in the US. Double standards or what? Why has GSK decided to play tough in the UK when it rolled over in the US? This is partly to be explained by the fact that our Tory Governement has changed the rules on legal aid so that 'medical negligence' cases no longer qualify. Therefore it's down to 'no win no fee' lawyers to take the cases. Perhaps someone should call the Police about these fuckers?
'Thousands of families in the UK could be deprived of compensation for the death or harm of a relative caused by the diabetes drug Avandia, even though the British maker has agreed to 'pay billions of dollars to settle similar claims in the US.
'The licence for Avandia was revoked in Europe, in September 2010, because of evidence that it could cause heart failure and heart attacks. The drug can still be prescribed in the US, but not to patients at risk of heart problems.
A scientist with the Food and Drug Administration estimated that Avandia could have been responsible for 100,000 heart attacks in the US.
'The manufacturer, GlaxoSmithKline, has admitted concealing data about the damaging side-effects of the drug, and there is evidence of the drug's harmful effects. But, despite this, GSK is not prepared to settle claims in the UK without a court fight.' (Guardian article).
Tuesday, January 29. 2013
There Ain't No Stopping Gangstagrass
Upon hearing that Gangstagrass were coming to Europe sometime this year, Media Underground's very own Sergeant Matron decided to push his luck, contact their manager, and try get them to come to the incredible Glenuig Hall in remote West Lochaber, Scotland. To everyone's surprise, he seems to be making some headway and there's every chance the gig will go ahead providing the dates fit in with the band's schedule.
As many of you know, The Matron suffers from 'Go Fever' and never takes no for an answer, so my fingers are tightly crossed that one of the most original bands I've ever heard will make it to one of the most wonderful venues I've ever been to...
Friday, January 18. 2013
Movie Review: 'Zero Dark Thirty' By James Inman
I downloaded Zero Dark Thirty off BitTorrent because I thought I’d review the film exclusively for Media Underground. I’m not going to pay one dime for a Lockheed Martin commercial and I knew how it ends so here’s my take. The film should be called Zero Fuck Movie. It begins with a retarded looking ginger anorexic pale Carrot Juice Maya bitch standing in the background during a torture scene, but you’re supposed to feel sorry for her because she can’t stand to watch torture. First thoughts: any CIA agent in that room is going to be a West Point graduate and a professional sadist and is not going to give a fuck about torture. When they keep cutting back to her with that Florence Nightingale compassion cunt-face, it’s utterly laughable.
Carrot Juice has a good guy sidekick. He’s the bearded creepy CIA Torture Bro who looks like a Christian Singles extra from the Left Behind series, or if Wolf Blitzer’s pothead stepson had an anal baby. He’s also a grown up version of the kid in Mask or Cher after her facial surgery. I guess they wanted the film to have that artsy, glassy-eyed, North Korean indoctrination feel to it. Or maybe the Pentagon’s casting director spotted him at an industrial Screen Actors Guild party for the Kansas National Guard. I’m not sure which but he has to be the most annoying actor I’ve seen on film ever. And that means worse than Jar Jar Binks and Steven Segal in Above the Law combined.
Continue reading "Movie Review: 'Zero Dark Thirty' By James Inman"
Thursday, January 17. 2013
Democracy In The UK?
The tired myth of the 'non-meddling monarchy' is in tatters tonight, as even a snivelling, complicit No. 10 has failed to stop secret papers showing the level of influence our un-elected head of state and her idiot son has over the running of our country. When we have to put up with an un-elected monarchy being protected by a semi-elected government what chance has democracy in the UK got? We send people to die in Afganistan in the name of 'democracy' and we have to put up with this shit. Enough, Republic, NOW!
'The extent of the Queen and Prince Charles's secretive power of veto over new laws has been exposed after Downing Street lost its battle to keep information about its application secret.
'Whitehall papers prepared by Cabinet Office lawyers show that overall at least 39 bills have been subject to the most senior royals' little-known power to consent to or block new laws. They also reveal the power has been used to torpedo proposed legislation relating to decisions about the country going to war.
'The internal Whitehall pamphlet was only released following a court order and shows ministers and civil servants are obliged to consult the Queen and Prince Charles in greater detail and over more areas of legislation than was previously understood.
'New laws required to receive the seal of approval from the Queen or Prince Charles cover issues from higher education and paternity pay to identity cards and child maintenance.
'In one instance the Queen completely vetoed the Military Actions Against Iraq Bill in 1999, a private member's bill that sought to transfer the power to authorise military strikes against Iraq from the monarch to parliament.
'She was even asked to consent to the Civil Partnership Act 2004 because it contained a declaration about the validity of a civil partnership that would bind her.' (Guardian article).
Tuesday, December 18. 2012
Amazon, Google, Starbucks & The Duchy Of Cornwall
Prince Charles of the 'black-spider letters' is not shy in spewing his opinions on a range of issues. Funny that one of his little lobbying campaigns to ministers seems to be remarkably silent on the hot topic of large companies avoiding tax. Not so funny when you see his main cash-cow the Duchy of Cornwall does not pay corporation tax. Why is this the case, when quite obviously the Duchy is a "company" that, at the very least, makes overpriced biscuits? Well, the Duchy of Cornwall claims it is not a "separate entity for tax purposes". So let me see, Prince Charles and the Duchy of Cornwall are one in the same thing, and he just sells all the biscuits that he can't eat or throw to his servants as a a spin-off. I wonder if Cameron and the rest of the Eton posh boys will go after Charles with the same gusto that they've shown for the likes of Starbucks, Google and Amazon?
'HM Revenue & Customs has been asked to investigate alleged tax avoidance by Prince Charles's £700m hereditary estate.
'The duchy of Cornwall last year provided Charles with an income of £18m and HMRC's anti-avoidance group is now being asked to examine its non-payment of corporation tax following a potentially significant court ruling on its legal status.
'The issue has been raised by an accountant investigating the tax affairs of the duchy - an agricultural, commercial and residential landowner.
'He has analysed the impact of a judicial ruling handed down last year. Anti-monarchy campaigners claim it shows the duchy is running "a well-entrenched tax avoidance scheme".
'The duchy insists it "is not subject to corporation tax as it is not a separate legal entity for tax purposes". But John Angel, principal judge at the information rights tribunal, ruled last December it was a separate legal body to the prince.
'Accountants now believe the ruling could leave the duchy exposed to the 24% levy on profits other organisations must pay. Any change to its tax status could result in a cut to the prince's income.
'Republic, the campaign for an elected head of state, has asked HMRC's anti-avoidance team to investigate whether the ruling means the duchy is now "using a highly questionable interpretation of its legal status as a means of avoiding corporation tax obligations"'. (Guardian article & Republic commentary).
Wednesday, December 12. 2012
Sense In The Census
I love hard facts that stick it to the god-squad, and they don't get much harder that the census for England & Wales. People who claim to be Xtian have nose-dived, whilst people who say that they have no religion has risen to 1 in 4 and it also appears that the Jedi have had a really successful recruitment drive. I wonder when Xtians will ditch the rosary for light-sabres.
'Findings from the 2011 census for England and Wales have revealed the number of people who say they are Christian has dropped dramatically from 72% to 59%. The figures published today by the Office for National Statistics also show the number of people who say they have no religion has risen from 15% to 25%.
'The number of people defining themselves as Jedi Knights was 176,632; atheists 29,267, agnostic 32,382; humanist 15,067; Freethinker 513.' (National Secular Society article).
Tuesday, December 11. 2012
How Xmas Gives Us A Shove Towards Wrecking The Planet
A succinct article from George Monbiot detailing some depressing examples of the pointless consumer-fest that Xmas is, ensuring that even in a mega-dip recession we can keep on consuming our way to sawing off the branch that the human race sits on.
'Researching her film The Story Of Stuff, Annie Leonard discovered that, of the materials flowing through the consumer economy, only 1% remain in use six months after sale. Even the goods we might have expected to hold on to are soon condemned to destruction through either planned obsolescence (wearing out or breaking quickly) or perceived obsolesence (becoming unfashionable).
'But many of the products we buy, especially for Christmas, cannot become obsolescent. The term implies a loss of utility, but they had no utility in the first place. An electronic drum-machine T-shirt; a Darth Vader talking piggy bank; an ear-shaped iPhone case; an individual beer can chiller; an electronic wine breather; a sonic screwdriver remote control; bacon toothpaste; a dancing dog. No one is expected to use them, or even look at them, after Christmas day. They are designed to elicit thanks, perhaps a snigger or two, and then be thrown away.
'The fatuity of the products is matched by the profundity of the impacts. Rare materials, complex electronics, the energy needed for manufacture and transport are extracted and refined and combined into compounds of utter pointlessness. When you take account of the fossil fuels whose use we commission in other countries, manufacturing and consumption are responsible for more than half of our carbon dioxide production. We are screwing the planet to make solar-powered bath thermometers and desktop crazy golfers.' (Guardian article).
Friday, December 7. 2012
This Week's Royal Gibberish
So an over-priveleged woman who has married into the royal family has been promoted from a mere clothes horse to a sausage machine. The royal response to all this is go into panic mode and quickly change the act of succession (something that campaigners have been urging for decades) so that any resulting girl-sprog can wear some metal and gems on her head. The real insult, aided by the snivelling David "I'm sure they will make great parents" Cameron is that the change is dressed up in a cloak of 'equality'. Still, with the country falling apart at the seams, I guess the Eton posh boys in charge are desperate for anything to take peoples' minds off of the fact they they can't afford to heat their home this winter.
Graham Smith over at 'Republic' has, as usual, nailed all the equality bullshit. (Republic article).
Saturday, November 24. 2012
Ever Heard Of 'Rubik Agreements'?
The Tories have said in public that they will clamp down on tax avoidance, and to this end their slime-ball-in-chief George Osbourne has stated that tax avoidance is 'morally repugnant'. However, it looks like our duplicitous Tory Government is ensuring that the wealthy can happily evade tax all they want by signing dodgy deals, or 'Rubik Agreements', with the tax-haven of Switzerland, therby undermining serious European attempts to get the rich to pay their fair share in tax. Does anyone seriously believe that the Tories, who after all exist to keep the rich rich, will ever effectively clamp down on the tax avoidance of the wealthy?
'In August last year, Switzerland threw a huge spanner into the works. It signed bilateral tax deals - "Rubik Agreements" - with Germany and Britain, based on a very different principle: wealthy people with Swiss accounts can preserve their secrecy and, instead, merely pay a one-off, withholding tax on assets, and a bit of future income. "Trust us," say Swiss bankers - who have centuries of form helping the world's wealthy get around the rules of civilised society.
'The British tax authorities promised it would yield a tantalising bounty: a one-off £4-£7bn for cash-parched, austerity Britain. But the deals are riddled with catastrophic loopholes, some so egregious as to amount to signs planted in the text saying: "Evade me here". You can skip around them with discretionary trusts, foundations, insurance wrappers, offshore companies and more - or just shift your wealth to Singapore.' (Guardian article).
Friday, November 23. 2012
A Bad Week For The God-Squad
People like me often get branded 'aggressive secularists' (a badge of honour) by the various brands of god-squad, whose claptrap we so often have to listen to. They then accuse aggressive secularists of 'marginalising their faith'. Really? Well this week, with all the stuff about the Church of England allowing only men to wear frocks, I think the god-squaddies in the C of E have done a fine job themselves of 'marginalising their faith'. In fact, I think any secularist, agressive or otherwise, would love to have been able to bash such a massive nail in their coffin.
As I've puffed my pipe this week whilst reading reams of serious stuff about what will happen to the C of E etc, I stumbled across a short video that, in under 4 minutes, puts it all in perspective. Funny and wise words for all of us...
Thursday, November 22. 2012
Science On The Brink Of Death
Once again Sam Harris deploys his incisive intellect discussing near-death experience or NDE. In doing so he puts the boot in simultaneously to Newsweek magazine and neurosurgeon Dr. Eben Alexander.
'The latest NDE to receive wide acclaim was featured on the cover of Newsweek magazine. The great novelty of this case is that its subject, Dr. Eben Alexander, is a neurosurgeon who we might presume is competent to judge the scientific significance of his experience. His book on the subject, Proof Of Heaven: A Neurosurgeon’s Journey Into The Afterlife, has landed atop the New York Times paperback best-seller list. As it happens, it displaced one of the best-selling books of the past decade, Heaven Is For Real - which is yet another account of the afterlife, based on the near-death adventures of a 4-year-old boy. Unsurprisingly, the two books offer incompatible views of what life is like beyond the prison of the brain (as colorful as his account is, Alexander neglects to tell us that Jesus rides a rainbow-colored horse or that the souls of dead children must still do homework in heaven).
'Having now read Alexander’s book, I can say that it is every bit as remarkable as his Newsweek cover article suggested it would be. Unfortunately, it is not remarkable in the way that its author believes. I find that my original criticism of Alexander’s thinking can stand without revision. However, as he provides further “proof” of heaven in his book, there is more to say about the man’s mischief here on earth. There is also a rumor circulating online that, after attacking Alexander from the safety of my blog, I have refused to debate him in public. This is untrue. I merely declined the privilege of appearing with him on a parapsychology podcast, in the company of an irritating and unscrupulous host. I would be happy to have a public discussion with Alexander, should it ever seem worth doing.' (Sam Harris article).
Monday, October 29. 2012
Elon Musk's Mission To Mars
How exactly is it that SpaceX can do everything so cheaply? Well, it would seem from this recent interview with Elon Musk that there are a couple of reasons in particular. The first being that there’s a tendency for big aerospace companies to outsource everything to subcontractors who then, bizarrely, outsource work to other subcontractors who subsequently - in what seems to be little more than an utter bureaucratic shambles by this point - outsource to other subcontractors and so on and so forth... ad nauseum. As one commenter aptly points out at the foot of this Wired article: "One reason for all that expensively administered subcontracting is that it pleases exactly those committees [who control NASA's funding]. The large projects they favor can subcontract in many different districts, whose congressmen then have a good reason to vote for NASA's budget. This means the committee members need not trade away any more of their political capital to get the projects that support contractors in their districts."
In short, SpaceX don't engage in this subcontracting farce but do it all themselves from the bottom up.
The other reason SpaceX can manufacture rockets so cheaply is to use an advanced welding technology called "stir welding" which can create as strong a structure as is currently manufactured using more conventional construction methods - but without the material wastage of machining thick aluminium plate. How can Elon tell us about this without generating competition from rival companies?
"The reason I can talk about it is that nobody else knows how to build a rocket this way," he laughs.
I have high hopes for Elon Musk and Space X despite some of his seemingly more outlandish pipe dreams like making a privately funded human trip to Mars possible. Is Elon Musk's head in the clouds? Hopefully, because that's the only sensible place to have it when talking about making humanity a multiplanetary species.
'When a man tells you about the time he planned to put a vegetable garden on Mars, you worry about his mental state. But if that same man has since launched multiple rockets that are actually capable of reaching Mars - sending them into orbit, Bond-style, from a tiny island in the Pacific - you need to find another diagnosis. That’s the thing about extreme entrepreneurialism: There’s a fine line between madness and genius, and you need a little bit of both to really change the world.
'All entrepreneurs have an aptitude for risk, but more important than that is their capacity for self-delusion. Indeed, psychological investigations have found that entrepreneurs aren’t more risk-tolerant than non-entrepreneurs. They just have an extraordinary ability to believe in their own visions, so much so that they think what they’re embarking on isn’t really that risky. They’re wrong, of course, but without the ability to be so wrong - to willfully ignore all those naysayers and all that evidence to the contrary - no one would possess the necessary audacity to start something radically new.' (Wired Science article).
Thursday, October 18. 2012
We All Need A Bit More Of The Medusa Touch
I remember The Medusa Touch having quite a profound affect on me the first time I saw it as a child. It's possibly even an earliy influence that was responsible for steering me towards the works of Aleister Crowley in my teens. (The Pirate Bay magnet link).
In the following clip Richard Burton delivers a powerful and scathing criticism of western society's infatuation with war. I think his words hold much more relevance in today's current political climate than they did back in 1978...
Wednesday, October 17. 2012
Royal Priviledge Alive And Well
It is no secret that Prince Charles abuses his position of influence and power routinely to meddle in the politial affairs of the UK. This meddling often takes the form of writing self-interested letters to ministers. The British people forever hear the lie that the royal family, and particularly the monarch, are 'politically neutral'. The other great lie is that the royal family and monarch have no 'real' power. So, this week in brazen demonstration of these lies, the establishment has closed ranks in the form of the Attorney General blocking the disclosure of Charles' letters to ministers following a FOI request from The Guardian.
These issues are serious, as we allegedly live in a democracy, and in a withering editorial, The Guardian hits the nail on the head.
Tuesday, October 16. 2012
Petrodollar Warfare
I've been hearing this phrase "Petrodollar Warfare" floating around recently on the intertubes and did a little searching. It seems it's a phrase coined by William Clark from his book Petrodollar Warfare: Oil, Iraq And The Future Of The Dollar. I wasn't able to find the eBook anywhere on BitTorrent so I may have to buy it, but I did find an interesting essay he wrote in 2005. I know this may seem like old news but reading it now the guy seems like he pretty much nailed why we're hearing all this crap about Iran today. I also found a neat little video from Etopia News Now (you won't find it on YouTube) if you want to hear him speak. To me he doesn't seem like he's got an axe to grind, he's just a little nerdy and pointing out in simple terms why we have been at war for the past 100 years. It's always good to have everything summed up if you can't get it from the mainstream news networks who control 90% of all information in the U.S...
'Contemporary warfare has traditionally involved underlying conflicts regarding economics and resources. Today these intertwined conflicts also involve international currencies, and thus increased complexity. Current geopolitical tensions between the United States and Iran extend beyond the publicly stated concerns regarding Iran’s nuclear intentions, and likely include a proposed Iranian “petroeuro” system for oil trade.
'Similar to the Iraq war, military operations against Iran relate to the macroeconomics of ‘petrodollar recycling’ and the unpublicized but real challenge to U.S. dollar supremacy from the euro as an alternative oil transaction currency.
'It is now obvious the invasion of Iraq had less to do with any threat from Saddam’s long-gone WMD program and certainly less to do to do with fighting International terrorism than it has to do with gaining strategic control over Iraq’s hydrocarbon reserves and in doing so maintain the U.S. dollar as the monopoly currency for the critical international oil market.' (Energy Bulletin article).