Abandon All Fear

I’ve been tagged by Andy of VandaWeb for this unnamed, unthemed random meme. So here we go,

1. Last movie you saw in a theater?
Be Kind Rewind. This is an awesome and totally underrated movie. It’s not a typical Jack Black but nevertheless he brings it to the role. You haven’t seen Ghostbusters till you’ve seen it ‘Sweded’. The cinema experience ticked me off though. Lots of parents with kids. Which made me question why parents would bring their kids to a movie which would contain lots of references to 80’s movies?

If you’re hoping for whacky Jack Black in something to keep your under 12 year olds entertained and distracted for a couple of hours, don’t go to this movie. If you’re looking for a hilarious, cult comedy with a subtle message containing tons of pop-culture shout-outs then this is the one.

2. What book are you reading?
Several actually, I tend to think on many different wavelengths at different times which is why my blog tends to be formed of inconsistent ideas with one common theme - stuff I’m passionate about. The Shack, The Way of the Wild Heart, Freakonomics, Super Crunchers, Plato: The Republic, When Good Men are Tempted and The Quick and Easy Way to Effective Speaking.

3. Favorite board game?
Risk. I used to play it a lot with friends before we all moved away. Now I play Attack on Facebook.

4. Favorite magazine?
It used to be Newsweek, but as I became more cynical I started reading Private Eye. I just picked up a copy of Linux Format and now I’m into that.

5. Favorite smells?
My wife, she smells great all the time.

6. Favorite sounds?
Lifehouse, Nickelback, Soundtracks, Classical Music.. it varies, I’m not keen on RnB.

7. Worst feeling in the world?
My life is compartmentalised, it’s something I resent but currently don’t feel like I can bring to a head, my worst feeling when these comparments occasionally meet or clash outside of my control.

8. What is the first thing you think of when you wake up?
5 more minutes.

9. Favorite fast food place?
In the world? A&W

10. Future child’s name?
We’re not decided on any names yet for future children but we’re definitely looking outside Anglo names.

11. Finish this statement. “If I had lot of money I’d….?
Put it to work on a lot of projects I have burning holes in my head.

12. Do you sleep with a stuffed animal?
Heh… no.

13. Storms - cool or scary?
Cool.

14. Favorite drink?
Some days I’ll just chug one can after another of Coke Zero. I don’t know why.

15. Finish this statement, “If I had the time I would….”?
waste it… as I do now.

16. Do you eat the stems on broccoli?
I don’t eat broccoli.

17. If you could dye your hair any color, what would be your choice?
Jet black

18. Name all the different cities/towns you’ve lived in?
Bedworth, Coventry, Nuneaton, Leicester, Dielsdorf, Zurich, Ealing, Watford.

19. Favorite sports to watch?
Tobogganing and the Winter Olympics.

20. One nice thing about the person who sent this to you?
I’ve never met Andy but from his blog and communication I’ve had I can tell he’s a thoughtful, considerate guy and occasionally funny guy.

21. What’s under your bed?
Some plastic boxes with stuff my wife packed.

22. Would you like to be born as yourself again?
I almost feel like I was back in 1997, when I became a ‘born-again’ Christian.

23. Morning person, or night owl?
Night Owl, the later it is the more efficiently I work- I still go all night occasionally.

24. Over easy, or sunny side up?
Sunny side up.

25. Favorite place to relax?
Home, on our balcony with a beer and book or watching one of my favourite shows.

26. Favorite pie?
Apple.

27. Favorite ice cream flavor?
Fish food.

28. Of all the people you tagged this to, who’s most likely to respond first?
I imagine it will be LWTC or Lord Matt. I’d like to see Grace (since I trolled her comments for a while) and The Dane (haven’t had a good debate since DYL went offline).

Now, I tag Louise, Grace, The Dane, Lord Matt, LWTC and Gavin.

The last meme I took part in only got answered by Cecilleaux, I didn’t see a response from Yellow, Stef, Joshua or Kel, so if any of you guys want a second chance just go to the previous meme and follow it up.

Let us never forget the terrorist visa overstayer rapist junkie innocent Brazilian, Jean Charles de Menezes. Executed without warning for running jumping a barrier wearing heavy jacket with wires sticking out a toilet break during a steakout looking like another terrorist suspect a management failure a health and safety failure.

This one has been around for a long time, but it’s so good it deserves another airing.

HT to Stef for reminding us the government never makes decisions behind closed doors about how to hide or spin the truth.

And for anyone who hasn’t watched The Bourne Ultimatum, here are the opening scenes at Waterloo Station. “Kill the cameras”.

I have nothing to add other than… I know the feeling.

On second thoughts, another problem I’ve always had is posting a long and/or excellent comment on someone elses blog and wishing I had done a post on my own blog instead!

I do that often.

I have to admit, I’m one of those people who usually has a laptop with me whenever I’m visiting the city in the hope that I might be able to grab some time to sip a latte and surf, or just catch up on some work.

A few months ago McDonald’s announced they were doing free wifi, and although I’ve used this service a couple of times, there’s really a fine line between free wifi access, and trying to surf/work with a dozen kids screaming around you. Perhaps they should upscale some of their restaurants and restrict Happy Meals.

Well there is a new contender for my bean addiction and I’ll be making a fast switch to Coffee Republic now that they’re rolling out free wifi access for customers.

“The new service is aimed at providing Coffee Republic’s broad customer base with added-value to the service they receive in the Bars; from business professionals looking for a comfortable ‘mobile office’, to students looking for a leisurely place to download music or work on a project.” - The Retail Bulletin

This is what the laptop jockey patrons of Star Bucks have been wanting them to do for ages and they’ve been beaten to the spot by Coffee Republic.

… but Hillary is too tired to pick up…

HT: The Osterley Times

I’m pretty fed up of the same circular arguments and debates going round and round the tubes. Based on logical fallacies, false premises and rabid hate.

So listen closely I’m about to reveal the truth that Christians don’t want you to know. It’s hidden in their own book, the bible, and all you need to do is point out the evidence, one simple line, and you will end their faith. You will completely decimate it.

There is no need to mention Occam’s Razor, the 3rd law of thermodynamics, the Jesus Seminar, logic and reason, counter-arguments, semantics, OT eschatology, Witty Diatribes, Pseudoscience, the Da Vinci code, the FSM or the celestial teapot.

It was written long ago by one of the founders of Christianity, hidden in plain sight, the means to bring Christianity and belief in Jesus crashing to the ground. Simply prove this and even the most God-fearing, bible-bashing fundie will be stumped.

Here is the verse, from 1 Corinthians 15:13-16 of the New Testament, written by Paul:

“If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile;”

It’s that simple. If there is no resurrection of the dead, no resurrection of Jesus Christ, then their words are false and faith is futile.

If you want to rid the world of Christianity, all you have to do is prove that Jesus Christ did not rise from the dead. Should be an easy task, right?

Watch the faith drain from their eyes and their expression fill with doubt… go get ‘em tiger!

Anyone with an ounce of intelligence knows that the main religion in America is not Christianity… it’s Patriotism. Christianity is fair game along with every other belief, but to appear not to be a Patriot is not only a sin, it’s an act of terrorism itself.

In the age of the internets, the Salem Witch trials are replaced by cleverly cut and edited video and images by the media.

I wonder how many of those, swift to condemn Rev Wright in the past couple of months could disagree with this one in context. I didn’t hear him mention homosexuals, abortionists or feminists once during his tirade. But he did commit the cardinal sin of criticising American foreign policy - which is the Holy Grail of Patriotism.

The only exceptions I can find of those who are free to criticise American foreign policy and have not only their words treated in context, but to have their Patriotism unquestioned are the military. So perhaps Wright should really leave it to ex-servicemen and military-men to speak out on American foreign policy and not try to win too many hearts or minds in the near future.

Some oldies but goodies.

[Viewer discretion is advised]

I received an email a while ago from Sue Craig of not-for-profit Hidden Fees requesting a link to their site providing genuine, free advice on avoiding hidden fees.

The site looks promising and contains many articles. I thought it was a great idea and have now added a link on the blogroll. I wrote back to Sue and advised that it needed some guides and template letters to make it really useful and she wrote back to thank me and advise it “should be on the site in the next month or so [emailed 5 Apr 08]”. For now you’ll have to have a bit of time on your hands to navigate and read the detailed but useful articles.

One thing that did concern me was their archaic and heavy-handed IP & Copyright Notice which surprises me coming from a site that purports to be helping people avoid fees and such:

Except as permitted below no part of the Website may be reproduced, displayed, copied, translated, adapted, downloaded, broadcast, used or republished in any form including (without limitation) distribution, or storage in a system for retrieval.

Considering the service they are offering it’s forgivable, but I would hope as they progress they change this not to be so drastic. Technically speaking your webpages are already downloaded and stored in the cache (physically on the hard drive) of anyone who visits the site to read the information from a library or shared computer (read ‘public’) then they are already breaking your copyright notice.

It’s something I’m willing to overlook in linking to Hidden Fees but it’s something worth bearing in mind when considering the target audience- people who seek to avoid or fight predatory and subversive systems. People who read software EULAs and seriously consider open-source. People who don’t like signing unfair contracts.

Another edition for my new section capturing the evolving culture of spam, achieving in years, what a dozen monkeys and typewriter couldn’t do in 60 billion.

Salve,

Hohe hoholulu

Become of tranquil soul. When a person abstains of their
nuptialsong. The night fell, shrouded who had vanquished
all the celestials with the the money i had taken from it
to my father’s purse, productive of grief. When bonds are
severed or of the impotently dumb. Rescued in the nick of
sprinkler. Fortune placed the ring in the basin, that might
be said but perhaps it could be better expectant of loving
regards from all her husbands for joy to see thee after
long absence all the also are very much smaller than those
of good jambu. Here hath been described the great depression
wheel, making circles from right to left. The begets upon
a spouse taken from the one order my wife first taught me
the knowledge of god,.
Martinolli Swor

There’s something elegant in the way author describes the nuptialsong. I haven’t really heard anyone describe the nuptialsong in this way. You can see a lot of time went into this work of art. It’s as though Swor is trying to communicate something, using a mixture of old and contemporary english words, and failing.