For him, for her, for you. But not for dogs, apparently. City shopping scales new heights, with this delightful establishment spotted on Walthamstow high street, in east London. This is across the road from a place called “Style Overdose”, of all things.
So you thought Richard Dawkins had it all figured out? Think again, as American creationist Chuck Missler explains in this video: the fact that he doesn’t find new life when he opens his jar of peanut butter means the theory of evolution is a load of nonsense.
Glad we cleared that up then.
[found at extra-extra, who found it at Evil Bobby]
15 British marines get arrested by Iranian forces. The Iranian’s say they were in Iranian waters, the British say they were in Iraqi waters. While this is going on, a supposedly spontaneous demonstration occurs outside the Foreign Ministry in Tehran. The crux of the demonstration appears to be that the people want the marines to be executed. The western media quite happily print pictures of the protest, which of course gives the imprssion that the Iranian people, like everybody else in non-western countries, like nothing better than a nice day out burning flags, holding placards and shouting stuff.
Strange thing is though that this was a protest by Iranian people, in the capital of Iran, outside an Iranian government ministry. The people were apparently requesting that the Iranian government take a particular course of action, so we are to believe that the protest was for their benefit – the western media have been covering it as such.
So, can someone explain to me why the signs they were holding up were in English, not Farsi?
On the day of Ireland’s victory over England in rugby’s 2007 Six Nations Championship, that famous group of bright sparks that is Republican Sinn Fein staged a protest.
A protest against foreign games.
This picture says it all.
[courtesy of slugger and The ToryGraph]
I’ve posted some (blurred as usual) pictures of some vintage computer gaming equipment taken while on a recent visit to London’s Science Museum for the excellent Game On exhibition of the history, technology and culture of computer games.
If you’re into old computer gear (and hey, who isn’t?) it’s worth a visit if you get a chance.
In the UK, when you text a fixed line phone, such as one in a home, from a mobile the text message is turned into a voice message read by a robot.
Until today (January the 7th 2007), in aid of the housing charity Shelter, Tom Baker has been providing the voice for this robot, and thus the voice of all mobile to landline SMS messages within the UK.
This has led to people all over the place texting landlines so that their friends answer the phone to hear the familiar voice of Baker, who is currently the narrator of the hugely popular Little Britain, and formerly played the role of Doctor Who, say something like “Hello, this is the Doctor, it is imperative that you put the kettle on immediately!”
This website uses this feature to hilarious ends, the best bits being the jokes section and bakaraoke – where you can hear the man himself “sing”.
In fact, BT have collaborated with the site to produce a charity single [free preview available] of “You Really Got Me” by the Kinks. It may make tea or coffee come out your nose (if you are drinking such a drink when you listen to it).
I managed to miss this the other day, but anyway…
While 2007 has begun for most of us with a shrug of the shoulders to the passage of time, the French are not a people to accept these things lying down, hence new years eve demonstrations in the French city of Nantes, protesting with slogans like “No to 2007″ and “Now is better”.
Apparently they did not succeed in stopping the flow of time this year, but are expected to be out in force on 31/12/2008.
You just can’t make this up.
Michael “Looney Loyalist” Stone, he of the recent “I am here to kill Gerry Adams” visit to Stormont, has said (via his solicitor) that his sojourn to the hill equipped with nothing but his wit (and an axe, a garrot, some guns and a handful of nailbombs) was not an attempted terrorist attack but in fact a piece of performance art replicating a terrorist attack.
Well, were any of us expecting that as a defence? What next, the Omagh bombing being hailed as an artistic commentary on the commercialisation of our society? Bloody Sunday, a cubist rejection of 1960s peace and love?
Undoubtedly Stone’s murder of six people, for which he got a prison sentence of nearly 700 years, was a complete misunderstanding then, with his appearance at the funeral of the three IRA members, who had been shot by the SAS in Gibraltar, in which he shot the place up was simply his expression of man’s inhumanity to man, using a sawn-off shotgun as his brush and the people in Milltown Cemetery as his canvas.
This isn’t Stone’s first foray into art though. After his early release as part of the Good Friday Agreement, he famously appeared in the Late Late show, showing Pat Kenny what a reformed character he was, painting pretty pictures and such. More recently one of his paintings has been offered on eBay for nearly £10,000.
This new “War as Art” idea could be just the thing to get DUP bigwigs Ian Paisley Jnr and Jeffrey Donaldson out of their latest spot of bother over a series of emails between themselves and convicted loyalist killer Kenny “Pastor” McClinton. In the emails, McClinton implies that actions he took, including a murder in May 1977, were in direct support of Ian Paisly Snr’s strike of 1977, making a connection between Loyalism and the DUP that the DUP haven’t been quick to deny.
The DUP, who have difficulty sitting in the same room as people from Sinn Fein (who have already stated that the “war is over”), have had no problem with the son of their glorious leader saying to McClinton that “We couldn’t kill them but we can destroy them and their ideology.†I didn’t realise the DUP were trying to kill anyone, thanks for clearing that one up Ian. Great to see you guys sticking to your guns, as it were, and not talking to terrorists.
Perhaps Ian and Jeffrey could just enter their “email as art” piece for next years turner prize? They would be head-to-head with Stone’s tour-de-force though, and you know what he’s like about surrendering.
As they say, I don’t know much about art, but I know what I like. And I don’t like any of these muppets very much at all.
There’s quite a good posting on slugger o’toole today, in relation to the activities (or lack thereof) of the the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission.
The Northern Ireland Human Rights Council’s two-day conference, Building a Human Rights Culture in Northern Ireland, starts today. The NIHRC says its role is “to ensure that the human rights of everyone in Northern Ireland are fully and firmly protected in law, policy and practice.†However, does it practice what it preaches? The most significant assault by government upon our human rights is the ID Card Scheme and National Identity Register. Human rights group Liberty believes it has the potential to “…change our society and the way we live, forever.†What does the NIHRC think of this issue? ANSWER: Nothing.
In 2006 the NIHRC made 15 submissions – 3 on prisoners rights, 6 on policing and criminal justice, 4 on itself and associated work and 1 on victims and 1 on adoption. In one year, prisoners rights merit 3 submissions but an issue that effects everyone does not merit 1 over 3 years. Human rights for everyone?
[http://sluggerotoole.com/index.php/weblog/comments/human-rights-for-everyone/]
From The Register:
An Ulster used car dealer has had his dodgy cordless phone confiscated after airline pilots were entertained by “Arthur Daley-style banter about makes and prices of used cars”, The Daily Mirror reports.
Skyjockeys cruising at 25,000 feet through the Dean Cross air traffic sector – extending from Manchester to central Scotland – had been picking up “snippets of conversation” since last year, leading to concerns that haggling over used Ford Mondeos might “block out vital instructions from controllers on the ground”.
[http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/11/28/dodgy_cordless_phone/]