The gotidude blog

Blogging via an iPad

2010-07-05T23:02:00.002+01:00

Hey, this is my first blog via an iPad. It is not a bad toy, rather cool and a lot easier to type on then a normal keyboard or a small phone. I think my brother will be jealous of me blogging on this device.

Sent from my iPad ;p

Another update

2010-06-26T22:45:00.003+01:00

So it has been a long while since I last updated - work is amazingly busy so I don't get the chance to blog regularly. However, I might have some more time going forward in future to blog.

Since the start of 2010 a lot has happened. More recently the world cup has started, ships trying to break the siege of gaza, the tories and lib dems getting elected, an exciting premiership campaign and a lot more.

Anyway, England are playing tomorrow so hopefully will have more to blog about.

Israel police 'arrest Mossad spy on training exercise'

2009-11-25T08:32:00.002Z

As mentioned in the story below - a Mossad agaent was arrested in Israel - planting a dummy car bomb...this shows that Israel actually trains to carry out extra judicial killings. Furthermore as Mossad is the spy agency for Israel and operates abroad - this shows their intent and that they are likely to plant the car bombs abroad. Surely if this happened in any non-Western country this would cause a media frenzy.

A trainee spy for Israel's secret service agency Mossad was arrested by Tel Aviv police while taking part in a training operation, media reports say.

The young trainee was spotted by a female passer-by as he planted a fake bomb under a vehicle in the city.

He was only able to persuade police he was a spy after being taken in by an officer for questioning on Monday.

The authorities have refused to comment on the story although Israeli media outlets have expressed their surprise.

'Just a drill'

Mossad does not tell local uniformed police about its training exercises.

The country's commercial Channel 10 said it hoped the agency's operatives were "more effective abroad", AFP news agency reported.

Niva Ben-Harush, the woman who reported the novice's suspicious behaviour to police, told Ynet News that 15 minutes after she made the call, Tel Aviv's port was closed and people evacuated.

She said police initially asked her to come with them and identify the suspect.

"But after a few minutes, they told me it was just a drill," she said.

Up to three agency employees were believed to have been suspended following the incident, Ynet reported.

It quoted the prime minister's office as saying it did "not respond to information about such activities undertaken by security agencies or attributed to them".

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/8377746.stm

Enemy Combatant by Moazzam Begg

2009-08-08T13:12:00.002+01:00

Just read this book last weekend, and it is a good read, about how a man from Birmingham was locked up in Guantanamo Bay. Reading through the book, it is quite sad how he misses his family, but it also gives a good insight into the "war on terror". He mentions both good and bad aspects of his captures and the guards that were looking after him - some nicer and more humane than others. I read it within two days - it was that much of an engrossing read.

Is your life average

2009-07-11T23:57:00.002+01:00

There is a new website called my life is average, which shows just how average people's lives are.

Reason I posted are for these following quotes:

Today, I paid $22.22 to fill up my gas tank. I got back in my car to notice I had driven 222.2 miles. I was thoroughly excited by this. MLIA

Today, I was vacuuming and a mosquito was flying around me. Instead of killing it normally, I sucked it up with the vacuum. I felt powerful. MLIA

Today, I was sad about Michael Jackson's death. So I looked up all his songs and downloaded them illegally, but I didn't feel bad cause he doesn't need the money anymore. MLIA.

Today, I decided it would be okay to wear the same clothes I wore yesterday because I will be hanging out with different people. MLIA

Today, I watched a really scary movie before going to bed. When it was done, I went upstairs and ran down the hallway as fast as I could before any monsters could kill me. I made it to my room safely. MLIA.

Today, I opened the fridge. There was nothing I wanted to eat in there. After 15 minutes, I opened it again. There still wasn't anything I wanted to eat in there. MLIA

Update again

2009-06-06T19:47:00.002+01:00

Yes, been a while but I have nearly finished studying. So what has happened since I last blogged away in Feb 09? Well the main thing after finishing study that has been affecting my life is athelete's foot. It makes your skin no nasty, so I am using something called daktarin aktiv to get rid of it. Politics wise, London voted for the Eu candidate, so here is hoping the BNP don't get in. I voted for an independent this year...mainly because she was from Insead, a well renound business school. On the negative side she did work for a bank.

Pizza Hut

2009-02-15T19:59:00.000Z

OK, so I blogged a while ago about how good Subway was. Well now it is the turn of Pizza Hut. Their Pizza is OK, had dominos recently which is an eye opener, but Pizza Hut are OK. However, when you get a Pizza, 2 pieces of garlic bread a glass of diet coke all for £4 then it is excellent. And the Pizza was not just a small mini pizza, it was a good descent sized pizza that took up a whole plate and allowed you to have 4 good slices. Unfortunately this is only between 3 and 6 on weekdays which is not good for someone working, especially if you put in long hours, but considering the value it is excellent. For 2 people the price is £7.50 and for 4 people just a mere £14!!

So let me put this in perspective, that is £4 for a pizza, garlic bread and a drink eating in! So if you want to stay indoors someplace, instead of grabbing a small bite from a coffee shop and a drink, for the same price you can have a pizza!! Plus it is quieter. And awesome value. So instead of buying a Mcdonalds, having food from a supermarket and even a subway, you could go and buy a Pizza Hut meal. Kudos to Pizza hut for thinking of this, an excellent idea to try and get people in the store and rather than get no-one in whilst they have staff working, hopefully the cost of the pizza meal will offset this. So my next problem is to see if I can get to a hut near me to get a £4 pizza before 6!

Subway

2009-02-05T12:22:00.001Z

Only very recently this year have I had my first Subway. I was very apprehensive at first - people mixing veg and meat sandwiches in the same place - so much so that the last time I entered one near where I live I was put off. However, recently around Christmas I had ventured near Kingston and smelt a Pizza type smell although I resisted the temptation to go into pizza hut. I was then returning tio my car and noticed the small was coming out of Subway, 'but no' was my first reaction. I thought subway did cold sandwiches or subs. So on the outside they had a manager’s special for a med veg and cheese subway, so I went inside to investigate.

Once inside I noticed that people were putting meat onto the subways via boxes and the people that put the veg on are separate from those people that put the meat on. That is genius. I then also saw the subs were being put into an oven to get cocked before coming out. I was hooked, I then ordered my first sub, copying whatever the person in front of me was asking (well apart from the fact I ordered a med veg). First time I had it, it was good...and apparently a lot healthier than McDonalds.

I then later discovered to my delight that Kingston University has a Subway onsite. Not any subway, but a halal subway. That is correct people a Halal subway, so I ventured in there another 3 times - as it is only open weekdays and not till late, to order me some chicken subway. All I can say is wow, although to be fair another £1.50 for a cookie and drink didn't leave me with much change for £5. I have also recently tried a tuna subway - and they always put cheese on it, so very nice and that by itself was only £2.50

So subway gets my recommendation - it is awesome, and although not fully healthy - healthier than a McDonalds.

Gaza siege continues

2009-01-11T23:35:00.003Z

Israel continues to attack gaza, with over 870 people killed with numerous civilians including children (estimtae around a third) and whole families being killed and over 3,500 being injured. A school was hit, killing over 30 people. This makes me very sad and angry. All the politicians can do is just sit and talk shit while innocent people are dying. Yes, there once once a ceasefire, but after Israel bombed Palestine, Hamas responded with some rockets. All Israel needs to do is go away and lift the blockade it had on Gaza and the ceasefire will be there. Hamas was legally elected but the US and Israel do not like them, so all organisations and countries have put pressure and blockages on, so the people of Gaza continue to suffer.

Doctors have said over half the people they have seen are civilians, and the casualties continue to rise. But what can we do? Donate to organisations on the ground that help, such as islamic relief, who have an aid worker in Gaza - with his own diary:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/7802295.stm ? We could try and pray for peace, justice and definately not the america way.

Hopefully I will put up some up lifting stuff on my blog soon.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/7822786.stm,

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_pictures/7822942.stm,

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/7823204.stm

Also, here is a graphic to indicate how the Palestinian land has been stolen by Israel over the years:

More on the slaughter of Gaza

2009-01-03T00:02:00.002Z

The BBC reported today that the UN said out of 400 people killed in Gaza so far, AT LEAST 100 are civilians. Not at the most, but that means AT least 25% failure rate at killing people - so for every 4 people killed, at least one is an innocent civilian, a bystander. Possibily a child, like many of those that have been slaughtered over the last few days.

RECENTLY 3 children were killed. That is not overall, that is within the last 2 days as Israel still refuses to let journalists in despite a high court ruling urging it to do so. There have been scores of children killed, as well women.

Again Israel has been bombing a mosque, killing leaders alongside their families - Nizar Rayan was killed alongside his family - so wives and children die, and the joke of the US and UK refusing to look at a draft UN resolution because it mentions nothing of Hamas rocket attacks is a joke. I again refer you to the cartoon in my post yesterday.

Sources:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/7808825.stm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/7807564.stm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/7807124.stm

Gaza Siege

2008-12-31T22:13:00.006Z

This makes me sick and my blood boil. Hamas more or less kept to the ceasefire, but only started to break it once Israel dropped some bombs on them. In return, Hamas fired back and then Israel went and unleashed some bombs using their airforce and look to be preparing some type of ground operation. Reminds me of this picture:

There is no need for me to insert thousands of pictures of what is going on there, but I will endeavor to put in some later.

There is a lot I can say on this issue, so I will probably do it over a few days including:

The large number of civilians killed - the UN so far has said at least 57 women and children have died out of 360 odd total (note this was on 30th Dec, probably a lot more know) - that is excluding any male civilians. That is at least a 15% civilian hit rate if being conservative on women and children only - not all those male civilians. One family had 5 daughters killed. I have not even mentioned the 3,000 odd people that have been injured either
People saying Hamas hides behind civilians - The Gaza strip is one of the most populous places in the word, so a bit hard to go and hide somewhere.
Hamas should not be in power - Hamas won the whole of the palestinian elections legally and then Fatah tried to take power back off them. Fatah have done nothing to really help them, saying it is up to Hamas to stop the attacks. Fatah want to hold onto power not help the people in the Gaza strip. See my previous blog post about two-faced american hypocrisy on democracy
No reporters - Israel is not letting reporters into Gaza - wonder why?
Stop terrorism - the only thing this will do is inflame and polarise people around the world. In fact what Israel is doing is terrorism!
US - still supporting Israel completely. Scum.
Aid getting through - Israel hit an aid ship and bullied it into not going into Gaza
Israel bombing a mosque in Gaza - Not good:

After an Israeli air strike in Jabalya refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip December 29, 2008

Sources for all these stories can be found in most mainstream news sources, which include the bbc, ft and yahoo - picture source: http://uk.news.yahoo.com/22/20081229/img/ppl-palestinians-look-at-a-9fa2649be17f.html

Woo hoo Internet is back

2008-12-07T14:27:00.000Z

After what seems like ages, I have finally got internet connection back in my room, so expect some blog posts coming shortly.

Gotidude update

2008-11-08T20:11:00.000Z

So, long time no post - over a month. So what happened you may ask? Well the main reason is a lack of internet connection which is rather annoying.

So lots has been happened so here is my take on things:

Economy - yep, screwed. That is what happens when you have people playing with imaginary money and trying to buy things they cannot afford.

Arsenal games - Well a dissapointing 4-4 draw with spurs was a bad result, considering arsenal were 4-2 up with less than a few minutes to go. A pity Harry joined at that time, otherwise I would eb sure we would have rolled them over. This was then followed by a 0-2 loss away to stoke thanks to a delap free through. Also injuries were not that great either or the sending off of RvP. I went and saw the Fenerbache 0-0 draw, and Arsenal had chances, but good goalkeeping and an excellent defence meant Fenerbache came out most please. Not enough movement is the main problem, and I think we needed Walcott playing. Finally a 2-1 win over Utd, which is good for the confidence and table.

Obama - yes the US voted for a new black president. Pleased they have finally got a president, especially considering their treatment during the last 100 years or so in the US. Will it make a difference? Well anything is better than the piece of shit that is Bush, but having listened to Obama talk, I doubt foreign policy will be that different. Maybe somethings will things change, althought I guess not as much as I would like.

Anyway, thats enough of an update for now...more shall be coming your way once the Internet can work properly!

Arsenal lose to Hull

2008-09-28T12:10:00.000+01:00

After an emphatic 6-0 win over sheffield utd in the carling cup, wenger rested all 11 starlets who played the flowing attractive football that arsenal are known for. With an average age of 19, the future of arsenal looks bright...especially compared to the loss at home to Hull on Saturday. Although in both games arsenal managed 18 shots, the finishing of the youngsters in the win over utd was excellent, and on Saturday arsenal were far too guilty of trying to pass the ball in the back of the net.

Still, roll on the next carling cup match at home to Wigan.

Plastic shopping bags

2008-09-25T22:28:00.000+01:00

Yes, I too like much of the eco-mad population have beef (annoyance for those unfamiliar with british slang) with shopping bags, but unlike most of the eco-zombies out there I have beef for a different reason. With the various eco-zombies moaning about how plastic bags are ruining the environment \ local landscape \ their lives and for one shall voice opposition. I like plastic bags, as they can be used for bin bags, and here is where my beef comes in. Why so many holes in the bags? If anyone has ever user Tesco bags for bin bags, then they understand the pain of having great big holes at the bottom of the bags just in case some poor kids puts it over the heads and they suffocate. Other bags are generally OK but it does really annoy me.

On another note, I went to Tesco the other day and rather than the bags being available at the bag (so I could take as many as I wanted) they were only giving them out as I was asking for them. Slightly annoying but as long as they do not go the same way as other retailers who charge for plastic bags. Yes Netto \ Lidl charge but you expect it there as you want to get goods at a cheap price as these discount stores. M&S on the other hand started to charge for plastic bags earlier this year (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7268283.stm) but is it any surprise that their performance has been quite bad (http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/retailing/article4258460.ece?Submitted=true). Yes there may be many other factors but this is probably one and as it is buy blog I can make the rather weak, or in my opinion, strong link. So why go to M&S when you can get free bags elsewhere such as Tesco or Waitrose?

Also a member of my family just empty the content of the shooping bin bags, rather than just replace them. When asked why, he replied "they are not free". SO, there could be the possibility of germs breeding in these shopping bin bags by people not replacing them as often as they should.

So where is your name most prolific?

2008-09-14T23:02:00.000+01:00

Here is a website that you can enter your surname in and shows you what countries your surname is popular in:

http://www.publicprofiler.org

Apparently my surname is quite popular in some nordic countries!

Question I have about the Large Haldron Collider

2008-09-13T20:36:00.000+01:00

Had the Large Haldron Collider experiment failed, would the DFS sale actually have ended?? Hmmm.

Friggin security with Google Chrome

2008-09-12T22:23:00.000+01:00

Bah. Yes, I'm using the new Google browser - Google chrome. One thing that has annoyed me about it so far is that it tells me if a website is deemed safe or unsafe, and if one is unsafe up pops a box telling me so that I have to tick before I proceed. Now every time I visit my own blog it pops up telling me I am linking to a site that is unsafe...aaghhhh. As it was driving me nuts, I have now unlinked the place that Google tells me is unsafe and it is a website called wordofblog.net that was liked on a page that showed where all the visitors came from when I reached 1000 visitors - I now have now had over 3,400 visitors by the way...and I have a summary of where they have come from. One day I might even share with you the weird and wonderful things people put in the blog to get them directed here via whatever search engine they use!

Anyway after I removed that link I found that Google still came up saying there was a problem so further investigation revealed it was a link to the 'I'll publish the aljazeera memo' on blairwatch.co.uk' Hmmm....maybe evil forces are at work to sabotage that old campaign.

Highest number of visitors yesterday for one day (in the last year)

2008-09-09T11:08:00.001+01:00

W00t. Thanks to the vast number of people searching for the term 'Amir Khan gets knocked out' on google - which has directed people to this blog post that I posted a few days ago and because of it I got the largest number of people visiting my blog in one day - 41 (for the last year that is). Not bad at all, but will the record ever be broken which is due to the Zidane Gifs and minigames I have.

Amir Khan gets knocked out

2008-09-07T17:18:00.003+01:00

Amir Khan was undefeated in all his 18 professional fights until last night when a left from Colombian Breidis Prescott sent him spinning to the canvas. It was a fight that lasted less than a minute - circa 54 seconds, and if you were one of the people that wanted to pay £15 to watch the fight I must say you must be annoyed. As reported by the BBC, it took him only 30 seconds to hit the canvas for the first time and the second one, less than half a minute later. If you have not seen the fight, you can see the whole fight here (commentry in another language but I don't think that matters):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWE8I9pzOz0

Check out the hit on 1.17 - that must of hurt and all I can say is that I would certainly not have gotten up! Prescott, like Khan, was undefeated having won all 19 fights in his career, 17 by KO and an incredible 10 in rounds 1 or 2. Maybe not the smartest idea to rush out then!!

Also a quick joke:

What's the difference between Amir Khan and a Rustler's burger?

About seven seconds.

And finally using what we learned in the last blog post, here is a picture of Khan after his knockout, slightly amended with an appropriate comment added:

Failblog.org: Failure, Fail and EPIC FAIL

2008-09-06T22:02:00.000+01:00

For those of you who have not seen it, here is a weblink to Fail blog - http://failblog.org/

[Please note you may need to click on some of these pictures below if you want to see it full size]

It contains many pictures, and now youtube videos, of Failure, Fail and EPIC FAIL plus every now and again variants of FAIL. Sometime humorous and sometimes just very funny.

Just in case you don't know what all this Fail is, we will start with the basics. Failure, can be defined as George W. Bush. Other pictorial examples of failure can be seen here:

Slightly humorous yes, funny probably not. But you get the idea. Now we can move on.

Defined by urbandictionary (good site if you can't understand slang) Fail is:

either an interjection used when one disapproves of something, or a verb meaning approximately the same thing as the slang form of suck.

1] "you actually bought that? FAIL"

2] "this movie fails.

Now, here are some pictures to illustrate this..

A lot funnier you may say. Along with Fail, there are also times when EPIC FAIL needs to be used. This is defined as:

When something can be seen to be a total failure

And examples of these are:

Of course as well as Fail, and Epic Fail you can adjust these to get some new varieties of Fail, some using the words epic fail but changing words around because the epic failure is so massive and other times adding words that describe the situation or the object that is focus of FAIL:

So check out the fail blog every now and again for more examples of failure, Fail and EPIC FAIL.

Google retract Chrome EULA

2008-09-04T21:41:00.000+01:00

When after the mass of bloggers and users have been complaining about the Chrome EULA, it appears Google have listened and acted within a day (Masterfoods - yes you fools, take some note) to retract the statement. So Woo hoo, apparently google cannot use this blog post for free. Further details can be found at the Register:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/09/04/google_retracts_lousy_chrome_eula_terms/

Google Chrome

2008-09-03T20:38:00.000+01:00

So google released a new browser yesterday called Chrome. Well what is different you may ask?

Lot's of things in fact - google even made a very easy to follow cartoon explaining what all the new features are, how they work and why they are important - so for example if one tab freezes you won't lose the data on all the other tabs as a result of you having to shut down your browser - you can just kill that one tab. If you want to download it you can go to http://www.google.com/chrome.

I've used it and so far not too bad - was a bit slow but that was maybe because of the damn windows updates in the background. Another feature is it has the most visited pages on your homepage, which is quite useful for me. However some people have some reservations and beef about chrome, the main one being that Google can use any material you submit, post or display. This I was not please with until I looked into it further and found you still retain the copyright. Well I don't plan on hatching my next super dot-com plan through the web or anything that important so it's all cool with me. Here is a good article that my youngest bro referred me to at the register: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/09/03/google_chrome_eula_sucks/

Tom Fishburne

2008-09-02T21:26:00.006+01:00

So who is this 'Tom Fishburne'? Tom is actually a senior marketer at a place called method - people who make very trendy household goods (such as toilet or multi-purpose cleaners, etc). He also has a blog, which is http://www.tomfishburne.com/ where he not only gives some hints, tips and advice to marketers he also draws some very funny cartoons. However, similarly with dilbert - if you don't or have not ever worked in an office\cubicle you don't get dilbert if you have not worked in marketing you may not get his cartoons.

He also has a website called http://www.skydeckcartoons.com/ which has a selection of cartoons (without any of the tips). He has three main sections of cartoons (which you can sort of relate to life) - one in postgraduate business school, one for brand marketing and one for parenthood. Have a quick look and check it out.

I think his blog will be on my favourite's list.

So here is one for people who work in marketing or are just sick of all the 'green-washing'

http://tomfishburne.typepad.com/tomfishburne/2007/07/the-art-of-gree.html

PS - this post took about 10 revisions because of posting the picture and then getting rid of a phantom image link that was invisible (only got rid of it by looking at the html in the end)

Orwell: Animal Farm

2008-08-29T22:10:00.000+01:00

I wrote a review a while ago on 1984 which I thought was a superb book, and this book by Orwell is awesome too. Basically it shows how and why communism goes bad and how from a point of everyone being equal there are some who would thing of themselves as higher than others. It is an eye opening book of how an equal communist regime will eventually turn into a totalitarianism regime and the process of how this happens. I have to admit that I actually listened to this via Audio book during a few train journeys and this is superb to listen too. By the end, you will be singing "four legs good, two legs baa-aaa-ad". Without giving away too much more, the book focuses on farm animals taking over and running a farm.

More political comment to come one day - this is related as you can actually see a mirror of many states in this and also how to control the people you work with. For me, the new ways it showed of controlling people, as not mentioned in my earlier post about 1984 (see post for ways to keep people supressed) was making sure all people are not literate, have the 'firepower and muscle', be in control and adjust rules when applied, have a person that people are impressed by praising you, tell lies and make people forget about the good past and make it appear that there is always an improvement.

Another dwarf joke

2008-08-27T00:33:00.000+01:00

In the absence of time to do any type of political analysis, given even the recent Georgia Russia conflict or time to blog about football (alas no Flamini, but no more Hoyte and Big Phil) I will carry on doing jokes.

I was reading in the paper today about this dwarf that got pick-pocketed.
How could anyone stoop so low?

Gotidude Blog is taking off again

2008-08-21T00:39:00.000+01:00

After only being mid-way through August, the number of hits on the blog has sky-rocketed again with having as many visitors for any of the months in the past year. Of course the blog was at its peak about 2 years ago when Zidane did the headbutt and I made quite a few links, plus a few other popular stories that were enticing people in. At that time, I was posted up one article a day. Now it will be more like one a week if I am lucky, but the intention is still there so I will see.

Also on a separate note, Arsenal have signed Silvestre from Man Utd. Why people may ask? Well we have two good fullbacks, but when Sagna was out we suffered so he is probably a fall back for that position, as well as being able to play at centre back (bye bye Sendros I wonder?).

The Goti is coming back

2008-08-15T00:43:00.000+01:00

Yes, after a very long lay off the goti is back. Although I can't promise the daily posts as before with in-depth political coverage I can at least post every now and again with some footy news, a few funny pictures or just a joke or two.

Anyway, a 'big-up' to those people who still come and visit my blog. Just seen my whatcounter stats (best site counter ever - lots of detail w1.whatcounter.com if you are interested) and I still get a few visitors each week if not daily.

Lots of political things to write about from Osama bin ladens driver, the recent russian conflict, hijab bans in turkey, the credit crunch and more. Stay tuned folks...

What is the most stupid animal in the jungle?

2008-04-11T00:20:00.000+01:00

A polar bear!

Anyway, just to say I have been busy but I shall be back soon.

Why is David Blaine Sad?

2008-03-09T20:35:00.001Z

David Blaine is apparently gutted at the minute. He has discovered his 44 day record of doing feck all in a box has been smashed by Michael Owen.

another awesome flash game

2008-03-02T21:32:00.000Z

No - I have not dumbed down. I am just extremely busy, so in the midst of me being busy in the place of political comment, please find the link to a very addictive flash game:
http://www.freegamesnews.com/en/games/2008/Filler.html

300 wishes

2008-02-24T00:03:00.000Z

Back in December 2001, me and one of my cousins challenged each other to write out 300 wishes.

Here is his list:
1. A job as an Oracle database admininstrator
2. 5 Kids, 3 boys 2 girls.
3. Order of my children : Girl Boy Boy Boy Girl
4. A wife
5. A nice wife.
6. A wife that will make me Pasta, Spinach and Biriyani on demand
7. A wife that will enjoy making fun of my friends and family as much as I do.
8. A X-box.
9. All the games with X box.
10. A PS3. Yes 3.
11. All the games for it too. Before they are invented.
12. A buyer for all these as soon as I am bored of it. (within a week)
13. To be best friends with Liam Howlett.
14. To be neighbours with Gary Neville.
15. To be able to program in C++
16. To be able to program in VC++
17. To be able to speak fluent Arabic
18. To be ambidextrous.
19. To love myself as much as I love others.
20. All the accessories for my Compaq IPAQ
21. To be able to invent new accessories for my Compaq IPAQ
22. Some sense of fashion. (Please !)
23. A nice haircut.
24. To weigh no more than 12 stones.
25. To be no shorter than 6’2’’
26. To be able to punch Britney Spears and get away with it.
27. To be able to slap Tony Blair in his sleep and get away with it.
28. An invisibility cloak.
29. A nice bum.
30. The perfect smile.
31. To have an “off” switch for my incredible sense of perception.
32. A VW Beetle. Purple coloured.
33. A Nokia that can control my car
34. A device to control the weather
35. A flying carpet.
36. A magic wand
37. A spell book
38. Fame
39. Money
40. Power
41. Knowledge
42. Nike’s
43. Gills
44. Wings
45. To look like Kurt Kobain
46. To not end up like Kurt Kobain
47. A Ferrari
48. The drivable one, not the mantelpiece model.
49. Voice like the lead singer of muse.
50. The owner of Manchester United Football Club
51. The owner of concorde.
52. An owner of a F1
53. An owner of a F11
54. A normal sense of humour.
55. A sense of greed.
56. To write the book floating around in my head.
57. To have it be a bestseller
58. All over the world
59. To be granted 3 wishes by a Genie
60. To grant “A quadzillion wishes “ as my first wish.
61. To be able to dance.
62. And not be arrested for it.
63. For someone to recognise me as the world class DJ that I am
64. To belong.
65. To be shallow.
66. To be a successful player in the dog-eat-dog world.
67. To be the best at my job.
68. To have a house in Cambridge
69. To have a toilet in Buckingham Palace
70. To be able to say to Elizabeth Hurley “sorry, you are not my type”
71. To be able to say something in Swahili
72. To have a poo in outer space
73. To be cloned into an army and live on Saturn
74. To be the person who sparks of the “revolution”
75. To be a freedom fighter
76. To be an astronaut
77. To be a cricketer
78. To be a footballer
79. 340 Fererro Rocher bumper size Packs.
80. A country to call my own
81. Water to produce the effects of Ecstasy
82. A helicopter
83. A wheelie bin
84. Natalie Imbruglia
85. For this list to reach the end soon
86. A mini disc recorder
87. A laptop
88. a palmtop
89. a chip implant in my brain like Neo from Matrix
90. To be able to convince everyone we are living in the Matrix
91. For Manchester United to win everything, for ever.
92. For ICQ, AOLM, YahooM, and MSN to combine their messaging systems.
93. A one-way ticket to Heaven
94. A Get-Out-Of-Hell-Free Card
95. A wireless mouse and keyboard.
96. A soundproof room
97. A padded room
98. A straightjacket.
99. More holidays
100. More sunshine
101. No more pain in my knee
102. A six pack
103. A gym to open up on my street
104. A snooker hall next to it.
105. Happiness for my friends
106. Success for my family.
107. A lifetime supply of Doritos for me.
108. For The Prodigy to perform on my wedding
109. For The Prodigy to dedicate an album to me.
110. Long fingers
111. Small nose
112. A detached house
113. A non-expirable visa to anywhere.
114. To be the emperor of Japan
115. To invade USA
116. To kill all the hippies!
117. A zippo
118. A healthy cigarette
119. A servant
120. A butler
121. A driver
122. A nanny
123. A boarding school of my own
124. A spare body
125. A pair of shoes to be able climb on the wall with
126. A pair of trousers with a waste disposal unit
127. A nuclear weapon to use as a paper weight
128. To be able to give the Queens speech
129. To be the Queen
130. A boomerang
131. A dog
132. A cat
133. A dog and cat that do not fight.
134. A brother
135. A sister
136. A brother and a sister that fight each other to amuse me
137. Bigger toes
138. A felt tip pen
139. A Mercedes for my wife
140. A BMW for my kids
141. For Oasis to ask me to write them a song
142. For Madonna to admit who she really is
143. For Walt Disney to be held accountable.
144. A shooting star
145. To be a bird of prey
146. To have a degree in Comedy
147. To have a diploma in diplomas
148. To be able to recite the complete works of Tarantino whilst burping
149. To be able to jump higher than Michael Jordan
150. To be able to run faster than Linford Christie
151. To be able to swim the channel
152. To be able to run the marathon
153. To warn Aliyah
154. To meet Tupac
155. To thank Mohammed Ali
156. To advise David Beckham
157. An electric toothbrush that makes a difference
158. Never ending soap
159. To be a scriptwriter on Eastenders
160. To have broadband internet access
161. To download ALL the songs available on Napster
162. To run my own Napster
163. To have my own TV channel
164. To invent the cure to stupidity
165. To buy everyone I know a Laptop with StarCraft
166. To party forever
167. To have a loft conversion
168. A nightclub
169. A roller coaster
170. An eiffel tower
171. A big cornetto
172. A small pill that can replace all the healthy food i must eat
173. To be a great street magician
174. To be a juggler
175. A Porsche
176. A Suit by Hugo Boss
177. A pair of glasses by Armani
178. Laser Corrective Surgery
179. A Football
180. A pet lion
181. My own Zoo.
182. A clean windowsill.
183. A Kitkat
184. A Rubicon Mango
185. Mangoes all year round
186. A business in Pakistan
187. To be able to time travel
188. To be able to Yoga
189. Geri Halliwell
190. Popcorn
191. My own cinema
192. My own snooker table
193. To make first contact with Aliens
194. An umbrella
195. Cufflinks
196. My own tailor
197. A month of the year named after me.
198. To stop picking my nose
199. To stop reading body language
200. To say Hello to Bono
201. To write my memoirs
202. To have a webcam
203. To have a digital camera
204. To have white hair
205. To have a beard
206. A watch
207. A Tivo
208. To tell Robbie Williams that he has proved his point, now shut up.
209. To tell Gary Barlow he was wrong.
210. To tell Alex Ferguson he is right.
211. A gerbil
212. My own radio show
213. To be reincarnated
214. To be mummified
215. A balloon.
216. For my website to be read by millions.
217. For my mates website to be read by none.
218. A Harry Potter potty.
219. To be a poet
220. For them to make a Ghostbusters 3
221. For Bill Murray to be knighted.
222. For Lee Evans to be crowned king of stand-up.
223. Every stand up show Lee ever did.
224. The Ferengi Rules of Acquisition to be made law in some country.
225. Grandchildren
226. Marlboro Lights
227. Bigger portions of fries.
228. For Mickey Mouse to be exposed in some scandal.
229. No debts
230. A cardigan that looks cool.
231. For this author to remain anonymous
232. For me to be the world’s leading source of useless knowledge.
233. For me to be popular with the ladies because of #232
234. A DVD player
235. A DVD re-recorder
236. A job in Manchester
237. A king size bed
238. My own fridge
239. A white Xmas
240. A motor bike
241. Dinner
242. Free internet access
243. To invent the transporter
244. To invent a car that runs on human waste products
245. To invent a skateboard like in Back to the Future 2
246. To have a snake living in my front garden
247. To have an electrified fence
248. To own a mountain
249. And a lake
250. Braces
251. No nose hair
252. Non- growing toenails
253. A venus fly trap
254. The skeleton key
255. A bazooka
256. A Hula hoop
257. To live in Hawaii
258. To shop in New York
259. To bathe in Turkey
260. To die in battle.
261. A TimeOut bar
262. To meet Adolf Hitler
263. To shun Marilyn Monroe
264. To hug Marilyn Manson
265. A bigger hard drive
266. A smaller stomach
267. Vivaldi’s Four Seasons
268. To play Supermarket Sweep in Harrods
269. To get more than 2 questions right on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire
270. To get asked only easy questions on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire
271. To win the lottery every week for 40 years.
272. To prove the lottery is fixed.
273. To make Apple Crumble
274. To be a naked chef
275. A Juicer
276. A juicer that peels the fruit as well
277. A nice pair of slippers
278. An all-night rave in my honour
279. To hold the world record on farting
280. For my Compaq IPAQ to receive Sky Sports
281. For my car to reach the speed of light.
282. A loofah
283. To learn 114 chapters of a book in a foreign language by heart.
284. To be a pilot
285. To be a train driver
286. To be a Police Officer
287. To be a General in my own army
288. A text message from Mustafa
289. A Spaceship
290. A lucrative record deal
291. A collaboration with Basement Jaxx
292. A duet with U2
293. A medley with Radiohead
294. A fight with N-Sync
295. For you to never ask me to do this again
296. For your brother to teach me Tae-Kwon-Do
297. To realise my potential
298. A pony tail
299. A pint of Vimto
300. For this list to be made famous.

So as everyone can see from this list, point 300 is now a reality!!

Oh, also I know I have not posted recently, been busy!!

I am still here

2008-01-20T21:04:00.000Z

Just a note to people - I am still here. Apologies, been a bit busy with studying, marriages, illnesses and a general lack of time, so I thought I would just make another note. One thing that has disturbed me though is the words that people type into google and arrive at my webpage. You know who you are. Anyway, a quick thanks to the person that actually read my blog for over 45 minutes one day!

Will be back sooner this time round.

G.

I'm alive

2007-07-29T22:59:00.000+01:00

Sorry just been on hols and wedding season so apologies for lack of posts.

Will hopefully be back soon.

Israel using a boy (aged just 13) as a human shield

2007-06-11T23:43:00.000+01:00

(Please click the picture for a larger size)

Funny animal rights picture

2007-06-11T00:11:00.000+01:00

Racism is still alive in the US

2007-06-06T23:29:00.000+01:00

This was broadcast on the US airwaves on the The Rush Limbaugh Show (this wiki mentions that he gets around 13.5M listeners: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rush_Limbaugh):

http://www.alternet.org/blogs/peek/50979/

How glad are we for political correctness in the UK? Very.

Awesome flash game

2007-06-04T22:59:00.000+01:00

Here is an excellent tower strategy game, which looks like it has been made in flash. It is quite addictive. I managed to get to level 4o something...and it's quite cool as once you've got to a certain part and have set things up in the right way you can leave the PC and come back to it. Enjoy the game:

http://www.andkon.com/arcade/missiledefender/vrdefendery3k/

What a load of fuckwits.....the republican debate on CNN

2007-06-04T01:36:00.000+01:00

Was just about to go to sleep when I caught the republican debate on CNN. One of the questions asked the republicans to raise their hands that if they had a 20 minute window to take out Bin Laden in Pakistan and also take out a few innocent civilians they would do it and most put their hands up....what an absolute load of fuckwits. Earlier that question was also asked to Barak Obama and he said yes...he would take him out and mentioned that Bin Laden killed 3,000 people. And just how many innocent civilians have the US slaughtered over the years.

Hilary Clinton also mentioned the fact that her Husband tried this after an earlier incident. Yes her Husband order the seding of missiles into a camp in Afganistan to kill Bin Laden. And what happened? Yes innocent people were killed. Why - America missed. Not by much though? A WHOLE FUCKING COUNTRY THEY MISSED. Yes that's right they missed the whole fucking country and hit Pakistan and killed some innocent civilians.

LOOK YOU FUCKING IDIOTS......you start justifying the killing of innocent civilians to kill one person that is wanted and you slide down a slippery slope. I do not agree with the term collateral damage - you are killing an innocent person. So the next a Palestinian suicide bomber blows himself up, what should I do - rejoice? Hey, he only killed 2 innocent people and a couple of soldiers, so hey, that's OK?!? But what will they do, start moaning about how the 'terrorist organisation' is going around killing innocent civilians. SO killing a few innocent civilians for the killing of an 'insurgent' (people trying to free their country from occupation to normal people) in Iraq is OK. NO IT IS FUCKING NOT!!!!

You switch it on it's head, and by the same argument anyone fighting america can now hit back saying if it's OK for America to think it can kill civilians, then we can surely kill civilians too? Oh yeah and what will the killing of Bin Laden bring? The end to a war on terror? Fuck no. And if it is OK to kill a person who is indirectly responsible for killing 3,000 then surely it is OK to kill Bush and Blair, who by the same argument are responsible for the deaths of many thousands of people by the same logic.

Oh please god...and some of these are the potential for the US president. We are so fucking doomed. They need to stop thinking in their fucking little box and realise there are more things and people outside america. Even I know you need to think about other people and other countries when doing politics - look at the stakeholders guys! You guys are shit. I would say I hope you all lose (apart from the ones that are sensible...are there any???) but then again the other party (democrats) are all fucked up too. Go independent candidate with some brains. Oh shit...sorry I forgot...it may be a bit hard to find a couple as it's America (no offense but not a great majority of people there think about non-americans)!

Apologies for swearing and spelling mistakes...it is late and I am tired!!

In defense of the Muslim sisterhood

2007-06-04T01:10:00.000+01:00

I was going to write an article on the Hijab, and the continuing trend of anger against it and the repression of people trying to wear it, from so called Muslim countries such as Turney and Tunisia to France and Germany. Anyway, I managed to come accross this article which does mention some unsavoury things about this issue:

(Source: http://www.islamicawakening.com/viewarticle.php?articleID=1304&)

In defense of the Muslim sisterhood
Yvonne Ridley
Article ID: 1304 | 63 Reads

In defense of the Muslim sisterhood

I have a bee in my bonnet – or hijab to be more precise. On an almost daily basis there are horrific stories pouring out of Tunisia about how the state police are ripping off the hijabs of women living there.

Some of these women, who are merely fulfilling their religious obligation to wear a hijab, have been assaulted, sexually abused and even locked up in prison by the authorities. Unbelievable when you consider western tourists are topless sunbathing on the coastal resorts, soaking up the Tunisian sun.

So it is okay to get your kit off if you are a western tourist who pays handsomely for sun, sand, sex and sangria …but try wearing a hijab and see what happens in this so-called liberal, Muslim country.

At the moment I am in Tehran where Iranian police are occasionally stopping women in the streets to remind them of their religious obligations by wearing a full hijab. There's been an outcry in the Western media about how the Iranian authorities are fining women who fail to wear their hijabs correctly in public.

I call these women the half-jabis – you know the ones, they balance their designer scarfs precariously on the back of their heads and spend the rest of the day adjusting and picking their scarfs from the nape of their necks. It might have endeared Princess Diana to half the Muslim world when she 'covered' in Muslim countries, but most women who try and emulate the Di style just look plain stupid.

But what a pity those same journalists don't travel to Tunisia and write about a real story like the human rights abuses against women in down town Tunis instead of focusing on Tehran. Why do journalists choose to ignore the Amnesty International report which outlines in clinical detail how the Tunisian authorities have increased their "harassment of women who wear the hijab"?

Is it because the Tunisian government is a craven devotee of the Bush Administration whereas Iran was identified as the now infamous Axis of Evil? Surely the media is not that fickle? (Rhetorical question merely for the benefit of the mentally challenged).

The actions of the Tunisian regime make Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his government look like a group of Tupperware party planners. For instance, the Ministers of Foreign Affairs and the Interior and the Secretary-General of Tunisia's ruling political party, the Constitutional Democratic Rally, have stated they are so concerned about rise in the use of the hijab by women and girls and beards and the qamis (knee-level shirts) by men, that they have called for a strict implementation of decree 108 of 1985 of the Ministry of Education banning the hijab at educational institutions and when working in government.

Police have ordered women to remove the head scarfs before being allowed into schools, universities or work places and others have been made to remove them in the street.

According to Amnesty's report, some women were arrested and taken to police stations where they were forced to sign written commitment to stop wearing the hijab. Amnesty International states quite clearly it believes that individuals have the right to choose whether or not to wear a headscarf or other religious covering, consistent with their right to freedom of expression.

They have called on the Tunisian government to "respect the country's obligations under both national law and international human rights law and standards, and to end the severe restrictions which continue to be used to prevent exercise of fundamental rights to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly". They have even kindly asked President Ben Ali's government to "end the harassment and attempted intimidation of human rights defenders".

I would like to be more forthright with Mr Ben Ali and remind him of his Islamic obligations as a Muslim. I doubt if Zine Alabidin Ben Ali would take much notice. The man is clearly an arrogant fool and somewhere in Tunisia there is a village which is missing its idiot (Hamman-Sousse in the Sahel, actually).

This is the man who once said the hijab was something foreign and not part of Tunisian culture. Hmm, he obviously has not seen pictures taken before he came to power, clearly show Tunisian women going about their business fully covered. He has a history of despising the French colonialists who occupied his country, but at least under the French, the Tunisian people had more freedom than they do now.

And since I have no family, friends or connections in Tunisia I write this without fear or favour. Also, there is no rank in Islam so I care nothing for his title nor do I have any respect for him as a man. I would certainly never doff my cap to this particular President of Tunisia and would happily spit in his face if he told me to remove my hijab.

Perhaps those Muslim women in Tehran might like to consider the plight of their sisters in Tunisia before trying to balance their hijabs on the backs of their heads. And I would ask them to read the harrowing report below before bellyaching to more journalists about their rights to parade around like Diana-look-a-likes.

It was written by an imam from Tunisia who had it smuggled out and given to me because he wants the world to know exactly what is happening to the women in his country. Here is a snippet: "The police will randomly make their way into markets and rip the hijabs from women's heads as well as take away any fabrics being sold to make hijabs.

"They will also go into factories where women are working and rip the hijabs off women's heads. This is the least of what they have done.

"I will give you just one example of what these dogs with Arab faces but the hearts of devils, have done to our sisters. They have, at one time ordered a public bus to halt in the middle of the road while two plain clothes detectives went inside. The buses are similar to the ones in the west except they will usually have three times more people inside it.

"They grabbed one women wearing hijab and took her outside of the bus. This was a sister who they had warned before. They brought her into the side of the street and began slapping her across her face and cursing at her with the worst language you could think of.

"They took her hijab off and the main policeman said, "When are you going to stop wearing this ****. She said she would never stop and she was crying. The men took her around the corner by a public bathroom.

"They ripped her clothes off. They grabbed a soda bottle, these bottles are made of glass, and they raped her with it. They were laughing and they were many people around but no one did anything. When they were done they made her wear a short skirt and a sleeveless shirt and made her walk home to her husband like this. I swear by Allah that this is true".

The time is fast approaching when sisters across the world have to unite and come together in defence of the hijab and in defence of the Muslim sisterhood. My appeal goes out to feminists of all faiths and no faith but please don't think Muslim women are weak because the reality is that Islamic feminism can be just as radical as western feminism.

Our parameters and values are slightly different as Muslims but that does not make us any better or lesser human beings than western feminists. There is certainly no room for sectarianism in the Muslim sisterhood and we have no time for petty squabbles, divisions, cultural or tribal affiliations.

The bottom line is that we need to show solidarity with our sisters in Tunisia … it is a very small country which makes it easy for the army to control the people and brutally squash any signs of resistance.

Even those Tunisians living abroad have a fear in their eyes because while they may be safe, members of their families left behind are often held to account for any actions overseas regarded as subversive. The brutality of the regime, combined with the happy clappy clerics and their narcotic-style preachings in praise of the Sufi-style government have also collectively subdued parts of the Tunisian population.

No wonder the Muslim youth no longer clamour to get into masjids on Fridays to listen to these khateebs who spend half the khutbah praising the President and his followers. Which is why I salute the bravery of those sisters in Tunisia who are fighting for the right to fulfill their religious obligation as Muslim women, to wear the hijab.

If you want to help, then copy and paste this article and send it to the nearest Tunisian Embassy demanding that Muslim womens' rights to wear the hijab are respected.

I don't think that the above article needs any further explanation or comments...but it is a very sad state of affiars in a so called Muslim country that a women does not have the choice to put on a Hijab without fearing for some reaction from the authorities.

Dwarf joke

2007-05-30T23:49:00.000+01:00

Was driving fairly fast when this car in front of me braked really hard and I hit it up the arse.
This guy gets out and he's a dwarf!
He looked up at me and said "I'm not happy!"
I said "Which one are you then?

Yes....I know it's poor...but I am tired!!

Shout out to my cousin from mancs

2007-05-29T22:45:00.000+01:00

Didn't update the blog yesterday so here is another post.

My cousin in mancs complained he had not got a shout out in my blog. So here is a whole post dedicated to him and giving him a shout out.

Also decided to add some pictures of him, but slightly hidden to save his face and identity being known. He was the cousin that first mentioned the loose change (2nd edition!) film to me.

Anyhow here are the pictures - the first being of his foot:

The second being of him surfing a website:

The thids shows him posing:

Mark Thomas: My Life In Serious Organised Crime

2007-05-29T22:37:00.000+01:00

Mark Thomas on radio 4 with the title: My Life In Serious Organised Crime.

This is via youtube:
Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRGZr2m4r7M
Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vEProPFvNx8
Part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hz4z-XvUGqA

Funny yet factual at the same time.

The Liverpool Champions League Bus...Oops!!

2007-05-27T23:41:00.000+01:00

Apologies....I have been busy with doing a campaign to stop Masterfoods using animal-based rennet to make the whey....it's been going OK. They have said they will stop with a few products...but let us see what happens overall...I guess their Sales in the UK will suffer as a result (please see http://masterfoodspetition.blogspot.com for more details).

Anyway, because of that I have not been posting in my blog regularly....so let's start things up again...even if with silly jokes and un-political bits and bobs. We start today by showing how Liverpool FC screwed up. Yes, they presumed they would win the champions league in greece against AC Milan, taking their tally of the european cup up to 6....but they failed!! Anyway, they already had the bus mocked up to celebrate their victory, and you can see a clip of the open topped bus on youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9XnO1XDZQOE

Links to the Masterfoods petition

2007-05-15T01:01:00.000+01:00

I currently have two blogs....my own personal one (ta-da) and one specifically to deal with the Masterfoods \ Mars issue of their rennet \ whey. Please note that this website can be found here:
http://masterfoodspetition.blogspot.com/

With the actual petition being available here:
http://www.petitiononline.com/MarsWhey/petition.html

Please note you can also give them a call to discuss your displeasure (and to tell them to read the comments on the petition):
0800 952 1234 (I now know this off the top of my head...how sad!!)

I have posted this, as I have something that tells me how people have got to this page (http://w1.whatcounter.com - it is excellent) ...and it looks like they were trying to find details for the other blog. Hence, here is the link for the blog again: http://masterfoodspetition.blogspot.com/ - it contains details of the products, letter scans, updates to the petition and other related news.

Links specifically for Muslims on the Whey \ Rennet issues

2007-05-07T22:53:00.000+01:00

With regards to the Masterfoods \ Mars issues and as mentioned in: http://masterfoodspetition.blogspot.com/2007/05/links-specifically-for-muslims-on-whey.html,

First of all don't forget about signing the petition:
http://www.petitiononline.com/MarsWhey/petition.html

For Muslims, here are various links mentioning the whey \ rennet issue that give different views from different perspectives, some saying that it is allowed, others erring on the side of caution and saying best not to eat it and others saying it is not allowed (best to try and read all of them!). I won't go into all the reasons for the differences but if you read all of them it might help you to understand and make up your own mind.

http://www.gmwa.org.uk/foodguide2/index.php?page=viewquestion&id=20
http://www.albalagh.net/halal/col4.shtml
http://www.nzmuslim.net/article232.html
http://www.eathalal.org/faq.htm (or this if that does not work!)
http://www.canadianhalalfoods.com/faq.shtml#2
http://www.halaldiets.com/faqs.aspx#FaqID_5

For the following you need to search for the word rennet to find the relevant section:
http://www.islamonline.net/livefatwa/english/Browse.asp?hGuestID=o5PHSN
http://www.islamonline.net/livefatwa/english/Browse.asp?hGuestID=20WzgK

The following is from an Internet forum:
http://www.sunniforum.com/forum/showthread.php?s=568cfb91892210d7be6dffbf09bbb5fb&t=9075

In fact even the Wikipedia mentions a little about the rennet issue for 'Strict followers of the dietary laws of Judaism and Islam'!!: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheese

Finally, a few months later and i'm back in action

2007-05-06T14:53:00.000+01:00

After months with a broken laptop hardrive, followed by waiting for a copy of Windows XP (legal version may I remind you!) and waiting to get wireless internet working, it finally all works!! SO expect this site to me getting updated more often....well as soon as some exams end in June anyway!

Still it is a step in the right direction.

The Masterfoods petition

2007-05-05T20:29:00.000+01:00

From http://masterfoodspetition.blogspot.com/

A few days ago I got a letter from Masterfoods stating:

“Due to a change in the ingredients used in our chocolate recipes from 1st May 2007 many of our products now contain whey. This is a by-product of the cheese making process and uses rennet derived from an animal source. Therefore we feel it is for individual vegetarians to judge whether they are comfortable in consuming cheese products that do not bear a vegetarian symbol; we would consider our products to fall into this same category.

Products that are currently in store or that you may have already purchased that carry a Best Before Date of 1st October or before are still suitable for your consumption, however if you have purchased any products with a best before after this date then we will be more than happy to refund the value of the product. Please see attached lists for further information.”

I was not happy. The lists itself is:

Vegetarian Suitable Products:

Confectionery:
Aquadrops ®
Skittles Fruit ®
Starburst ® Sours/Fruits/Strawberry
Tunes ® Blackcurrant/Cherry/Strawberry
Lockets ® Blackcurrant/ Extra Strong/ Honey & Lemon

Ice Cream:
Starburst® All: Varieties

Milk Drinks:
Mars ® Original Drink/ Extra Chocolate/ Thick Shake
Galaxy ® Smooth and Creamy/ Thick Shake
Maltesers ® Chocolate
Bounty Frappe®
Bounty Drink®

Powdered Drinks:
Galaxy ® Hot Chocolate/ Hot Chocolate With Caramel/ Hot Chocolate Bliss
Maltesers ® Hot Chocolate

Products which may contain whey Derived from animal rennet:

Confectionery:
Bounty ® Dark / Milk
Celebrations ®
Flyte®
Galaxy Ripple®
Galaxy Minstrels®
Galaxy ® Block/Caramel/Fruit & Hazelnut/ Hazelnut
Galaxy Promises ® Cocoa Crisp/ Caramel Crunch/ Roast Hazelnut/Rich Coffee
Maltesers ® Original / White
Mars Original ®
Mars Delight
Mars Planets®
Milky Way ® / Crispy rolls / Magic Stars
Revels®
Snickers®
Topic®
Tracker ®Chocolate Chip / Forest Fruit / Lemon / Roasted Nut
Twix®

Ice Cream:
Bounty ® Ice Cream
Galaxy ® Caramel Swirl Ice Cream / Vanilla / Triple Choc
Maltesers ® Ice Cream
Mars ® Ice Cream / Xtra Ice Cream
Snickers ® Ice Cream / Xtra Ice Cream

Products Which Are Not Suitable for Vegetarians:
Confectionery
M&M’s ® All Varieties
Skittles ® Sours / Rainbow

The actual petition is available here:
http://www.petitiononline.com/MarsWhey/petition.html

I do know and understand that it will probably be easier to just not eat the chocolate, but no more bounty ever??? So please sign it.

And yes, the Internet on my laptop is still down, dso hence still no regular updates!

Arsenal vs. West Ham..25 shots 63% Possesion = no goal!

2007-04-14T23:19:00.000+01:00

Yes a few weeks late, but still no XP cd that I ordered!

Anyway, here are some stats from the match:

Arsenal	Team Name	West Ham United
0	Goals	1
11	Shots on target ( Inc Goals )	4
14	Shots off Target (inc woodwork)	1
4	Blocked Shots	1
14	Corners Won	1
11	Total Fouls Conceded	16
0	Offsides	4
0	Yellow Cards	1
0	Red Cards	0
63%	Possession	37%

Arsenal really need to work on their finishing...

Mir: Religion affected Pakistan

2007-04-08T16:03:00.000+01:00

(http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/6035CC7A-A305-4147-B28C-76BB0506DCE2.htm)

PJ Mir, media manager for the Pakistan cricket team, said some players' fixation on religious activities resulted in their dismal performance in the World Cup, reports in Lahore said on Saturday. Mir made the observation to reporters after submitting his statement to the evaluation committee of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) in Lahore, who are reviewing the team's woeful performance in the Caribbean.

"I could not disclose the fact before, but today I informed the media that most of the members had no focus on cricket," Mir revealed in the English daily Dawn newspaper. "Their fixation was on preaching, affecting the team's preparation." The media manager added that some players had "no drive for the game and were much more active in preaching and praying."

"I have video footage which will prove me right and I will handover those tapes to the Pakistan Cricket Board," he said. "It was beyond the limit, this religious influence, and the players were even made to offer prayers during the flights," Mir added, without naming who had forced team members to pray. The newspaper said Mir's bold statement was seen as an attempt to check the growing religious extremism within cricket in Pakistan amid reports that the PCB had devised a plan to rid the team of extremism.

The world number three side were sensationally beaten by World Cup minnows Ireland on March 18, eliminating them from the tournament after just two matches after they also lost to hosts the West Indies in the opening match of the competition. A day after their loss to Ireland, Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer's strangled body was found in his room on the 12th floor of the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel in Kingston adding further controversy to the team's poor performance.

My reply to this is simple - sack PJ Mir. There is nothing wrong with cricketers who want to pray or even preach about religion. The simple fact is that everyone does not see cricket as the most important aspect of their life. In addition, if someone wants to blame religion for the reason for a loss in a game of cricket, the person is an idiot!!

The captured UK Soldiers: Spying on the Iranians!

2007-04-08T15:47:00.000+01:00

(http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,70131-1259413,00.html,
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/6533987.stm)

As mentioned many times before, the soldiers have always maintained they were in Iraqi waters whilst they were captured:
'Far from straying into Iranian territory, the British crew say they were well within Iraqi waters when Revolutionary Guards rammed their vessels and trained machine guns on them'.

However, 'The captain in charge of the 15 marines detained in Iran has said they were gathering intelligence on the Iranians. Sky News went on patrol with Captain Chris Air and his team in Iraqi waters close to the area where they were arrested - just five days before the crisis began.' Sky News mentioned the interview was withheld until now so as not to jeopardise the safety of the british saliors.

Captain Air and his team were on an 'Interaction Patrol' where their patrol boats came alongside fishing dhows. The operation was mainly to investigate arms smuggling and terrorism but Captain Air said it was also to gain intelligence on Iranian activity.

He told Sky Correspondent Jonathan Samuels: "Basically we speak to the crew, find out if they have any problems, let them know we're here to protect them, protect their fishing and stop any terrorism and piracy in the area," he said. "Secondly, it's to gather int (intelligence). If they do have any information, because they're here for days at a time, they can share it with us."

"Whether it's about piracy or any sort of Iranian activity in the area. Obviously we're right by the buffer zone with Iran." The UK Defence Secretary Des Browne told Sky News it was important to gather intelligence to "keep our people safe".

He said: "Modern military operations all have an element of gathering intelligence. "We need to understand as much as we can about the environment we operate in and intelligence gathering is an every day part of that." He added: "The UN mandate would clearly empower the military taskforce to gather information about the environment in which they were working."

Captain Air said that fishing dhows had been robbed by Iranian soldiers on a number of occasions. "It's good to gather int on the Iranians," he said. Fifteen sailors and marines were taken captive nearly two weeks ago after the Iranian government claimed they had strayed into their waters.

A more detailed transcript of the conversation can be found here:
http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,70131-1259451,00.html

So the newspapers and Bush scream at injustice and the horror of the British sailors captured by the Iranian officials, even though they admit they have been trying to spy on the Iranians. Most countries, would capture anyone caught spying on their country, whether it be in their territory or just outside. And let us not get started on the Americans who seem to capture and take everyone from mant countries throught the world.

However the important thing is, and well done to the sailors, is that they did not fire shots, which could have caused the start of world war 3!!

Please spare a thought for those detained illegally

2007-04-02T22:53:00.000+01:00

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6514567.stm

President George W Bush has condemned Iran's "inexcusable behaviour" after its capture of 15 Royal Navy personnel. The US leader added that he would "strongly support" the British government over the crisis. Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said Iran was waiting for a "change in attitude" from the UK and a "moderate approach" to its requests. Scottish Secretary Douglas Alexander has told the BBC diplomacy would continue with a "twin track approach".

Mr Bush told reporters at Camp David: "The British hostages issue is a serious issue because the Iranians took these people out of Iraqi water. "And it is inexcusable behaviour". "I strongly support the Blair government's attempts to resolve this peacefully. "And I support the prime minister when he made it clear there were no quid pro quos. The Iranians must give back the hostages."

His calls were echoed by German Chancellor Angela Merkel who said Britain had the "full solidarity of the European Union". Meanwhile, Mr Mottaki confirmed the receipt of a note from the British embassy about the military personnel, Iranian television reported. "This note contains many points which will be considered," he said.

"However, we are waiting for a change in the attitude of the British and a moderate approach by this country towards Iran's legal requests. " Meanwhile, Mr Alexander told BBC One's Sunday AM programme diplomatic efforts would continue.

"On one hand, working closely with international partners to make clear the strength of international feeling that these British service personnel should be returned," he said. "And on the other hand exploring the potential for dialogue with the Iranians." Britain denies Iran's claims that the UK crew was in its waters when seized on 23 March and is demanding their "immediate" return.

BBC diplomatic correspondent James Robbins said that, although there was no sign of a major diplomatic breakthrough in the crisis, there was now a sense of dialogue between the two countries. Both sides appeared to be "lowering the temperature", he added. The Liberal Democrat leader, Sir Menzies Campbell, told Sky News there were signs Iran had engineered the crisis for political purposes.

"The speed at which the marines and the sailors were captured and the way in which it happened suggests that either it had been organised before or there was a spontaneous effort made to try and get hold of some British troops for some other purposes beyond anything to do with the waters that they were operating in," he said. Tory former foreign secretary Sir Malcolm Rifkind welcomed statements from the EU and UN, but said "pressure" was needed.

He told Sunday AM: "But if you are going to make threats of economic sanctions, for example, they have to be made privately because otherwise the Iranians are pushed into a humiliating climb-down." He called for "solidarity" from EU allies over possible sanctions such as withholding export credit guarantees.

Meanwhile, former hostage Terry Waite, who was held captive for 1,760 days in Beirut before being released in November 1991, has offered to travel to Iran to negotiate with those holding the Britons. Mr Waite said threatening the Iranian government was counterproductive and said he would be able to "cut through some of the rhetoric". The Britons, based on HMS Cornwall, were seized by Revolutionary Guards as they returned from searching a vessel in the northern Gulf.

Yes, Iran may have illegally detained some British soldeirs...but that is not what I am talking about. How about those innocent people illegally detained in Guantanamo bay for so long?? "Inexcusable behaviour"?? No Mr Bush, bombing the shit out of Afganistan, invading and looting Iraq of oil, grabbing people from foreign countries and then detaining them illegally without giving them their proper rights is "Inexcusable behaviour".

We view the papers each day and news each day and we see examples of the following:
http://news.sky.com/skynews/picture_gallery/popup_paper/0,,30000-1258621,00.html
but where are the daily pictures of Guantanamo? Where is the constant international pressure to close it down and return those illegally detained with minimum rights? The answer? Hidden and lost somewhere in the hypocrisy of the so called 'west'.

Free World of Warcraft CD from the times

2007-03-31T20:30:00.000+01:00

http://www.offersinthetimes.com/warcraft/

Get a free CD that allows you to play World of Warcraft (also known as WoW) free for 14 days - just click on the link above. As a note you need to include your telephone and e-mail details though.

Damn laptop

2007-03-31T20:28:00.000+01:00

It's broken again - my laptop...so there have been less updates than I had wished.

Bah....but I will be back!!

President of Egypt, Hosni Mubarak, scared of Islam

2007-03-27T01:19:00.000+01:00

(http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/6494247.stm,
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/6481909.stm,
http://www.dailystaregypt.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=5701,
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aREpCnXiWjLI&refer=home,
http://memri.org/bin/articles.cgi?Page=archives&Area=ia&ID=IA32107,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hosni_Mubarak#Mubarak_and_corruption)

Egyptians have voted in a key referendum on constitutional changes, which the opposition criticise as paving the way for a police state. The information minister put turnout at between 23% and 27%, but unofficial estimates were much lower. The 34 amendments include a ban on the creation of political parties based on religion, and sweeping security powers.

The government says the changes will deepen democracy, but opponents say it will be easier to rig future elections. Some independent groups monitoring the poll put the turnout figure at 5% or less. They say that voting stations stood empty for most of the day in many places, and that in some areas the authorities bussed in public sector workers and government employees to ensure a reasonable turnout.

But correspondents say there has been little sign of the "millions of voters heading to ballot boxes" reported by the official news agency, Mena. The BBC's Heba Saleh in Cairo says that if voters stayed away it was not because of opposition calls for a boycott but because Egyptians feel their votes do not count.

"What's the use? All referendums are fixed," said one taxi driver quoted by AFP news agency. "Egyptians know what's going on but we can't say anything or we'll be arrested and put in jail," he added.

Under Egyptian election laws, a low turnout would not affect the outcome, as a simple majority of votes cast is required for victory. The government says the changes will allow the drafting of a new anti-terrorism law to replace the emergency legislation in place since 1981, giving police wide powers of arrest and surveillance.

In addition, the amendments ban all religious-based political activity and parties, a blow to the Muslim Brotherhood - an Islamic party banned in Egypt which represents the strongest opposition force. They also allow the adoption of a new election law and do away with the need for judicial supervision of every ballot box.

Voting began at 0600 GMT and ended at 1700 GMT, although a number of the country's 10,000 polling stations were reported to have opened late. About 36m people are registered to vote. Hundreds of riot police were deployed in Cairo. Our correspondent says for many in the opposition this is a black day in Egypt's history as they say the changes spell the death of the constitution as the main guarantee of liberties and democracy.

The opposition says the changes will consolidate dictatorship, and that watering down judicial supervision of elections will make fraud easier. They are also deeply uneasy about the wording of the articles on the new anti-terrorism law because it will be possible to bypass the constitutional guarantees protecting basic freedoms. Human rights group Amnesty International has called the changes the greatest erosion of human rights in 26 years.

KEY AMENDMENTS
Article 5:
Bans political activity/parties based on religion
Article 88:
Removes judicial supervision of elections
Article 179:
Invokes special powers to fight terrorism

Hosni Mubarak (also known as Hosni Mubarik if mis-spelt) is running scared. By introducing a bill that not only bans political activity and parties based on religion, but removes judicial supervision of elections and invokes 'special powers' to fight terrorism, President Mubarak has succeeded in a temporarily halting the inevitable growth of the Muslim brotherhood as a political party. He has tried numerous times to halt their ascension into politics, whether it be through jailing members or fixing elections so their supporters cannot vote. However the intention to separate religion from the state does not conform to Article 2 of the constitution, which clearly states that the principles of Sharia are the main source of legislation

In 2005, The Brotherhood won 88 seats in parliamentary elections, the strongest showing in its 85-year history. Brotherhood candidates ran as independents because, under previous law, the group was formally banned from politics. Under the constitution's now revamped Article 5, the prohibition can't be challenged in court. In recent months, there have been crackdowns on the Brotherhood. More than 200 members are in jail, while hundreds of others have been detained and then released. Police jailed 47 members in the past week on charges of belonging to an illegal organisation (the Muslim Bortherhood is still considered an illegal organisation!). Courts have frozen assets of members amounting to about $200 million.

In late December 2006, Muslim Brotherhood Supreme Guide Muhammad Mahdi 'Akef announced the imminent unveiling of the platform of a new political party to be established for the first time in the history of Egypt by the Muslim Brotherhood movement. Sources in the movement's leadership said that it would be a civil party with an Islamic source of authority, and that it would also be open to non-Muslim Brotherhood members. This had President Mubarak running scared.

Why is he scared of an Islamic party though? Well apart from the fact it would win, the answer is simple...money, power and corruption. Egypt recieves the second or third most aid after Israel. The reason? To keep it sweet, so it does not invade Israel or cause harm to it. By keeping himself in government, as Hosni has done over the last years, Hosni can decide where to invest money. Money that may not be spent in the interests of the people - and more specifically into his sons companies. His son Alaa was favoured in government tenders and privatization and both of his sons owning directly and indirectly shares in vast number of companies and minor projects. With this money, also brings power, power to keep him where he is, keep his opponents on the ground and make sure his sons get a sustained source of income. Money + Power = Corruption

One must also remember that whenever an Islamic based political party comes into power, the forces of the world are generally against it. Who can forget Algeria, Afganistan and more pertinently Palestine now, where the legally elected Hamas government have been forced to form a shared government after most of the western world imposed economic santions on them. This was after they shouted for democracy, year after year, and still shout about it now. The people of Palestine spoke, but no-one listened. People relate Hamas to a terrorist organisation, I relate them to freedom fighters (OK, may not agree with suicide bombing innocent women and kids), but they also provide the likes of what the UK would term as social security - the distribution of food and clothing.

The biggest threat from any party within Egypt from Hosni comes from the Muslim Brotherhood, and these laws have been drafted in, not just to supress any Islamic based parties, but also to aid in the removal of judicial supervision of elections. This, as the BBC points out 'seems connected to a high-profile struggle last year when two senior judges unsuccessfully pressed for an inquiry into alleged electoral fraud during the general election in 2005'. Finally last and not least, the 'special powers' to fight terrorism. We unfortunately all know that such an ill defined term such as terrorism can be construed to mean practising an islamic faith.

Video: The slaughter of innocent civilians getting cause in the crossfire

2007-03-25T00:06:00.000Z

(http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article17393.htm)
Here is a video showing the american army shooting at some cars that were passing by:

Winning hearts and minds...never.

For those that have not heard of what went on in Vietnam, and the suppression and lies that was told then, I recommend you read up about it. The slaughtering of many innocent lives by the Us armed forces...it's just like deja vu all over again.

Bush issues dire Iraq warning

2007-03-22T23:45:00.000Z

Mon Mar 19, 2007 6:25PM EDT

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN1823608820070319?&src=031907_0936_TOPSTORY_few_iraqis_trust_u.s.

By Matt Spetalnick

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Striking a subdued tone on the fourth anniversary of the Iraq war, President George W. Bush pleaded for patience on Monday and warned skeptical Americans of dire consequences of a swift troop withdrawal. Bush defended his Iraq policy in the face of new polls showing Americans increasingly oppose the war and Iraqis with little or no confidence in U.S. forces seemingly unable to halt sectarian bloodshed bordering on civil war.

With his approval ratings near the low point of his presidency, Bush made a brief televised appearance at the White House, appealing for more time for his plan to send in nearly 30,000 additional troops, mostly to stabilize Baghdad. He acknowledged, however, that "prevailing in Iraq is not going to be easy."

Bush's cautious tone contrasted sharply with the swagger shown when he stood on the deck of an aircraft carrier weeks after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein and declared major combat operations in Iraq over. As the war entered its fifth year on Monday, insurgents carried out deadly bombings in Kirkuk and Baghdad.

"Four years after this war began, the fight is difficult but it can be won," Bush said after a teleconference with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki. "It will be won if we have the courage and resolve to see it through." Bush said the Baghdad security plan is "in its early stages, and success will take months, not days or weeks."

Bush did not repeat his earlier vow to achieve outright victory. But he stuck to his refusal to set a timetable for a withdrawal, despite stepped-up pressure from the Democratic-led Congress. "It can be tempting to look at the challenges in Iraq and conclude our best option is to pack up and go home. That may be satisfying in the short run, but I believe the consequences for American security would be devastating," he said. The House of Representatives plans to debate a proposal that would tie approval of emergency war funds to a troop pullout by September 2008. Bush, who has threatened a veto, urged lawmakers to approve funding "without strings."

"The American people have lost confidence in President Bush's plan for a war without end in Iraq," Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said. House Republican Leader John Boehner accused the Democrats of a "slow-bleed scheme" to choke off support to the troops.

Bush said in January he was sending 21,500 more troops to Iraq, mostly to secure Baghdad, a number that has since climbed to around 30,000 with the addition of support troops. A CNN poll showed support for the war had fallen to 32 percent, with 63 percent opposing it. Anti-war protests were mounted in U.S. cities over the weekend. Some 40 protesters were arrested outside the New York Stock Exchange on Monday.

Another poll showed four in five Iraqis have little or no trust in U.S.-led forces and most think their presence is making security worse. Despite that, only about a third want them to leave now. The poll, commissioned by the BBC, ABC News, USA Today and ARD German television, showed faith in U.S.-led forces was highest in the north, at 46 percent, and non-existent in Baghdad, where 100 percent said they had not very much or no confidence. Overall, just 18 percent of Iraqis expressed confidence.

Americans' frustration over the Iraq war cost Bush's Republicans control of Congress in November and is the main reason his public approval ratings are stuck near 30 percent. Bush reiterated that premature withdrawal from Iraq would endanger the United States. "The terrorists could emerge from the chaos with a safe haven in Iraq," he said.

His critics contend Iraq has distracted Washington from the war in Afghanistan, which they see as a more important fight. The Iraq war has killed more than 3,200 U.S. military personnel and tens of thousands of Iraqis. Bombers struck in Kirkuk, to the north, on Monday, killing at least 12 people, and near a Shi'ite mosque in Baghdad, killing four. Nearly three months after Saddam was executed, legal sources said his former vice president, Taha Yassin Ramadan, would be hanged on Tuesday for crimes against humanity.

What Bush does not yet realise is that the war can never be won. Truth and justice will prevail, greed and injustice in the long run will and has failed, as can be viewed with the so called wars against Afganistan and Iraq. The people understand this phoney war, this war for oil, not this war for freedom from saddam and democracy. Democracy is what happened in Palestine before all those nations refused to accept the result because it was not to their liking.

In addition, 80% of people have no trust in the US-led forces, and just 100% had very little confidence or less in the US-led forces. Compare with with era of Saddam. Although some people label him as a tyrant, there was security, there was health care there was the basic amenities such as water and electricity. Now there is only chaos and oil pipes.

US defiant on cluster bombs

2007-03-19T22:25:00.000Z

(http://www.yorkshiretoday.co.uk/ViewArticle.aspx?ArticleID=2074713&SectionID=55)

THE United States said last night that cluster bombs should be preserved as a military option, rejecting a call by 46 nations for a ban. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said: "We take the position that these munitions do have a place and a use in military inventories."

The 46 nations adopted a declaration – accepted by Britain – at a meeting in Norway yesterday calling for a 2008 treaty banning cluster bombs, saying the weapons, which kill and maim long after conflicts end, inflict "unacceptable harm" on civilians.

Mr McCormack said the US chose not to attend the meeting because the matter was being dealt with by an existing negotiating forum called the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons.
He said the Convention had produced a treaty that the US had signed and forwarded to the Senate for ratification. He did not give details of what it says about cluster bombs.
"We have taken very seriously the international discussion with respect to the threat posed by unexploded ordnance to innocent civilians," Mr McCormack said.
He added that the US has spent about £500m over the past decade or so to help clean up unexploded munitions in East Asia, south-east Europe and the Middle East.

Some other key arms makers – including Russia, Israel and China – snubbed the conference nations. Of those attending, Poland, Romania and Japan did not approve the final text.
Norwegian Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere said the conference surpassed expectations. "We are now ready to move ahead towards an international ban on cluster munitions."

Cluster bomblets are packed by the hundreds into shells, bombs or missiles, which scatter them over vast areas. Some fail to explode immediately and can lie dormant for years until disturbed. Children can be attracted by their small size, shape and bright colours.
24 February 2007

So the US openly admit that cluster bombs - which are essentially land mines dropped from the sky, have a place and should be used by the military. The problem with these, which as stated above, if they do not explode straight away they are essentially land mines. In fact, according to one study by Handicap International, 98% of cluster bomb victims are civilians (http://sg.news.yahoo.com/061102/1/44iic.html). Even worse is the fact that when the US were bombing Afganistan, they not only dropped cluster bombs, which were of a yellow colour, but they also dropped yellow food parcels which meant for a child unable to read english, both packages essentially looked the same (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/monitoring/media_reports/1624787.stm). An example of what they look like can be seen below. However, just imagine both of these packets covered in dust and partially submerged in the ground - they would both seem the same to a small kid:

A game for geeks

2007-03-19T00:53:00.000Z

OK, so I have been super busy and not had a chance to update my blog. However, here is something that most geeks will enjoy, and will be worth the wait:
http://forums.cisco.com/CertCom/game/binary_game_page.htm

It is basically figuring out numbers using binary. More post to follow soon, just as soon as I can find my CD, so as to install software and download some pics of off my phone.

Arsenal out of the champions league

2007-03-08T07:10:00.000Z

Arsenal are out of the champions league after PSV scored with their only shot on target. As you can see from the stats, Arsenal dominated but couldn't do enough to get through. On top of that Henry got injured too. Bah.

Arsenal	Team Statistics	PSV Eindhoven
1	Goals	1
0	1st Half Goals	0
5	Shots on Target	1
8	Shots off Target	5
6	Blocked Shots	1
7	Corners	4
18	Fouls	15
1	Offsides	9
1	Yellow Cards	1
0	Red Cards	0
81.1	Passing Success	76.6
21	Tackles	38
66.7	Tackles Success	78.9
59.4	Possession	40.6
63.7	Territorial Advantage	36.3

(Stats from http://home.skysports.com/matchreport.aspx?fxid=313330&CPID=5&channel=)

Iraq body count

2007-03-08T00:49:00.000Z

Now I first put the counter on the right hand side of my blog around a year or so ago for the Iraq Body Count....but already the counter has increased massively. As a note below is shown the number of civilians killed because of the military intervention in Iraq. That's a minimum of at least 58,000 innocent civilians killed.

Civilians reported killed by military intervention in Iraq
Min	Max
58022	63800

Bedouin girl shot in head; IDF suspected

2007-03-06T00:11:00.000Z

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=831843
By Mijal Grinberg

A Bedouin girl in the northern Negev was shot in the head on Wednesday, apparently by a soldier of the Israel Defense Forces. The military police are investigating.

The girl, 12, was hospitalized at the Soroka Medical Center in Be'er Sheva with life-threatening wounds. The girl, who had been herding sheep, was brought to an IDF base by a Bedouin man who said the girl had been shot by IDF soldiers after wandering into a firing zone.

A paramedic confirmed severe head wounds. The girl was evacuated to the hospital.

The IDF has not confirmed any details of the incident.

It is unclear whether the girl's family had a permit for herding in the area. The herding season has begun and many Bedouin have complained of a shortage in herding permits.

Since 1999, no new permits have been issued.

Right, should I talk about the girl getting shot by the IDF or the fact that no new permits have been issues for seven years!

In AIPAC speech, Obama repeats support for Israel, peace talks

2007-03-04T14:53:00.000Z

(http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/832668.html)

By Shmuel Rosner, Haaretz Correspondent

United States Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama reiterated his support for Israel on Friday, while at the same time calling on the U.S. to make a concerted effort to revive the peace process.

"Our job is to rebuild the road to real peace and lasting security throughout the region," Obama said during a speech to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee in Chicago. "Our job is to do more than lay out another road map."

"That effort begins with a clear and strong commitment to the security of Israel: Our strongest ally in the region and its only established democracy," he added. "That will always be my starting point."

Right, let us stop there for a sec. So a democracy in the region is important to you, why don't you take note of who the Palestinian people voted for Hamas, and stop forever accusing them of being terrorists and imposing economic blockades upon them. It is you America who are the biggest terrorists of the world, invading countries and taking advantage of nations just to further your interests.

Anyway, where were we. That's it...
In what may have been a veiled reference to reports of American opposition to Israeli negotations with Syria, Obama said: "We should never seek to dictate what is best for the Israelis and their security interests. No Israeli prime minister should ever feel dragged to or blocked from the negotiating table by the United States."

The Illinois senator also called for continued American military assistance to Israel. "We must preserve our total commitment to our unique defense relationship with Israel by fully funding military assistance and continuing work on the Arrow and related missile defense programs," he said.

Obama added that he was concerned about the Palestinian unity government accord.

Turning to Iran, the presidential hopeful called for direct engagement with the Islamic republic over its nuclear program.

"We need the United States to lead tough-minded diplomacy," he said. "This includes direct engagement with Iran similar to the meetings we conducted with the Soviets at the height of the Cold War."

"Tough-minded diplomacy would include real leverage through stronger sanctions," Obama continued. "It would mean more determined U.S diplomacy at the United Nations. It would mean a cooperative strategy with Gulf States who supply Iran with much of the energy resources it needs. It would mean full implementation of U.S. sanctions laws."

Obama blamed what he called the Administration's failed strategy in Iraq for strengthening the Iranian position, placing "Israel and other nations friendly to the United States in greater peril."

Fully funding military assistance?? You Mr Obama are a fuckwit.

Go me: Over 2000 visits to my blog

2007-03-03T21:54:00.000Z

Yes, I have finally past the 2000 visits mark (currently 2003). As I did when I got to over 1,000 posts, I will now show a summary of my statistics thanks to whatcounter (http://w1.whatcounter.com), a site that offers an excellent summary of what pages people are viewing, what they typed in the search engine to get to my page, top referrers, top domain, what systems and browser people are using and more including a calender on what dates peopled viewed my page.

My top 40 keywords (what people type into a search engine to get to my blog) are:

Top 40 keywords	uniq
zidane funny	134
zidane minigame	18
hotukdeals.com	11
zidane funnies	11
chav roundabout	9
zidane mini game	9
sickjokes	7
two brothers stabbed in tooting	7
explaining the offside rule to women	7
hal	7
zidane funny headbutts	6
gotidude	6
drunk thief	5
mariyah amin	5
brothers stabbed in tooting	5
marioandluigi	4
stand on his head and juggle ice cream	4
impeach the president lyrics immortal technique	4
zidane funny gif	4
guantanamo uighur	4
forums.islamicawakening.com	3
ummah films	3
immortal technique impeach the president lyrics	3
funny headbutts	3
zidane mini games	3
two men stabbed in tooting	3
mohammed haider ali tooting murder	2
brothers mohammad and hayder ali tooting	2
12 days of christmas for the brown folk	2
hotukdeals	2
teacher arrested in terror alert	2
chav scooter	2
roundabout scooter	2
islamic video blogs	2
somethingawful.com ramon israel	2
immortal technique background	2
funny pics	2
saddam hussein found guilty	2
zidane mpegs	2
funny zidane gifs	2

My last 30 referrers are:

last 30 Referrers	uniq
..M:&tbnh=65&tbnw=98&prev=/images?q=postsecret&star	2
..?hl=en&q=mohammed haider ali tooting murder&meta=	2
http://zakkz.blogspot.com/	2
..ww.mab-x-music.com/artist/immortal-technique.html	1
..8&rls=RNWE,RNWE:2006-25,RNWE:en&q=FUNNYSHORTVIDEO	1
..l=en&rls=GGLF,GGLF:1969-53,GGLF:en&q=zidane funny	1
..logs/referrers?page=153&sort=asc&order=Last visit	1
..s=org.mozilla:en-GB:official&hs=5jj&start=10&sa=N	1
..s=org.mozilla:en-GB:official&hs=5jj&start=10&sa=N	1
..old a cabinet position in the federal goevernment	1
..earch?hl=en&q=dilbert six sigma&btnG=Search Blogs	1
..=61&hl=en&start=90&tbnid=l64v85OEJlAOiM:&tbnh=97&	1
..h?hl=en&q=bomb that ideal out of them travel more	1
http://www2.blogger.com/posts.g?blogID=19335545	1
http://www2.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=19335545	1
..SO-8859-1&scoring=d&q=mohammed hayder ali tooting	1
..k/search?q=haydar ali tooting&hl=en&start=10&sa=N	1
..ebtool.com/backlink_checker?domain=hotukdeals.com	1
http://www.google.com/search?q=zidane funny&hl=en	1
...com/result.aspx?q=fluoxetine&mrt=en-us&FORM=LVSP	1
..om/publish-body.g?blogID=19335545&inprogress=true	1
..en&q=explaining the offside rule to a women&meta=	1
..=382&w=512&sz=57&hl=en&start=28&tbnid=e7RuLBzzHgU	1
..8&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official	1
..b&hs=RLV&q="funnyshortvideo.blogspot"&btnG=Search	1
..=61&hl=en&start=46&tbnid=l64v85OEJlAOiM:&tbnh=97&	1
..hl=en&rls=GGLG,GGLG:2006-20,GGLG:en&start=10&sa=N	1

Top 10 resolution sizes:

Top 10 Res	uniq
1024x768	793
1280x1024	193
800x600	161
1280x800	87
1152x864	59
1440x900	20
1680x1050	13
1280x768	13
1280x960	10
1600x1200	8

The top colour definitions from visitors are:

Top Color	uniq
32	1180
16	139
24	66
8	3

(3 people with only 8 colours in their screen?!?)

Top territories:

territories		uniq
undefined	55 %	683
Europe	29 %	362
America	6 %	75
Asia	5 %	61
Ozeania	2 %	29
Africa	2 %	21
GUS	0 %	1

(Go Europe!!)

My top 30 referrers are:

Top 30 Referrers	uniq
www.google.com	232
www.google.co.uk	159
images.google.com	81
images.google.fr	68
blogsearch.google.com	52
search.blogger.com	51
www.thedvdforums.com	48
www.google.ca	36
zakkz.blogspot.com	30
www.google.de	30
www.alwasluae.com	27
www.google.com.au	25
search.yahoo.com	15
www.google.co.nz	13
www.britblog.com	11
images.google.co.uk	11
images.google.de	11
www.yesdubai.ae	11
images.google.co.ma	11
www.blogger.com	10
www.thedvdforums.co.uk	10
images.google.ca	9
aolsearch.aol.co.uk	8
www.google.fr	8
www.google.be	8
uk.search.yahoo.com	7
www.google.co.in	7
blockedReferrer	6
images.google.com.eg	6
w1.whatcounter.com	6

The top 30 domains are:

Top 30 domains		uniq
net	Networks	338
com	Companies	332
uk	United Kingdom	218
ae	United Arab Emirates	40
fr	France	33
ca	Canada	28
be	Belgium	22
au	Australia	20
de	Germany	19
ma	Morocco	17
edu	US Educational Institutions	13
org	Organizations	12
it	Italy	11
mx	Mexico	11
nl	Netherlands	9
nz	New Zealand	9
pl	Poland	9
ch	Switzerland	9
no	Norway	8
sg	Singapore	8
br	Brazil	7
us	United States	5
dk	Denmark	5
gov	US Governmental Entities	5
jp	Japan	4
ar	Argentina	3
in	India	3
pt	Portugal	3
za	South Africa	2
hu	Hungary	2

(5 US government entities)

As for when people visit, as you can see there are only a handful of days when I get no-one viewing my blog (please note my laptop is not counted in these numbers!!) and at one stage I had a peak of 22 people visit my blog in a day. How peeved amI at not having adsense!


Apr		3	6	8	2	1	4	3	3	2	11	2	5	5	1		2	2	1	5	3	2	3	6	4	5	4	8	5	4		4	110
May	14	3	4	7	8	6	4	1	5	5	5	4	3	2	7	6	4	4	5	1	3	6	3	2	3	2	4	7	3	3	3	4	137
Jun	7	4	4	2	7	3	9	7	6	5	4	6	3	7	17	12	3	2	5	5	4	2	5	5		2	2		2	4		5	144
Jul	2	5	5	2	7	8	6	8	2	7	11	3	3	7	9	4	6	4	5	6	14	18	12	11	17	13	19	13	7	20	22	9	276
Aug	19	18	15	5	10	11	6	10	9	9	10	4	9	9	15	5	6	12	10	10	3	2	6	3	5	6	5	5	8	7	7	8	259
Sep	8	6	6	10	11	12	3	5	12	12	8	9	5	5	9	8	5	13	5	7	9	6	1	4	5	7	6	2	2	2		7	203
Oct	6	10	4	6	6	6	5	6	6	4	3	5	8	4	4	3	3	2	7	5	6	7	9	3	7	6	3	8	4	9	8	6	173
Nov	7	5	7	6	10	6	3	4	2	1	7	8	6	2	9	4	2	2	3	4	8	7	2	4	8	6	6	4	4	4		5	151
Dec	6	8	6	7	6	7	6	5	5	4	12	3	3	3	11	10	10	5	2	7	5	7	3	7	6	8	9	5	3	6	5	6	190
Jan	4	2	3	3	5	5	4	6	6	5	1	3	3	7	7	5	7	5	6	6	2	2	2	3	1	8	4	8	4	2	3	4	132
Feb	6	5	7	2	2	2	3	3	1	2	2	1	4		1	6	4	1	2	1	3	3	1	3	2	5	3	2				3	77
Mar	1	1	2																													1	4

[ clean-up ]																																6	1,856

(please note that for Feb and March 2003 which is not on this calender you need to check out my previous 1,000+ post at http://gotidude.blogspot.com/2006/08/woo-hooofficially-1000-visitors.html)

As for browsers:

browsers	uniq
Internet Explorer	991	65.9 %
Firefox	392	26.1 %
Netscape	89	5.9 %
Opera	15	1 %
Mozilla	9	0.6 %

(come on firefox - we love tabbed browsing!)

Operating systems:

OS	uniq
Windows XP	1209	80.4 %
Windows 2000	117	7.8 %
Windows 98	31	2.1 %
WinNT5.2	16	1.1 %
Mac OS X	15	1 %
Linux	5	0.3 %
Mac OS	4	0.3 %
Windows Me	4	0.3 %
MacPPC	3	0.2 %
Windows NT4	3	0.2 %
Windows NT	3	0.2 %
WinNT6.0	2	0.1 %
Windows 95	1	0.1 %

A mix of the two:

Top 40	uniq
IE 6.0; WinXP	779	51.8 %
Firefox 1.5; WinXP	257	17.1 %
IE 6.0; Win2000	103	6.9 %
NS 6.0;	79	5.3 %
IE 7.0; WinXP	70	4.7 %
Firefox 1.0; WinXP	42	2.8 %
Firefox 2.0; WinXP	36	2.4 %
Firefox 1.5; Win98	17	1.1 %
Firefox 1.5; Win2000	10	0.7 %
IE 6.0; WinNT5.2	10	0.7 %
Firefox 1.5; MacOSX	10	0.7 %
[undefined]	7	0.5 %
IE 6.0; Win98	6	0.4 %
Firefox 1.0; MacOSX	4	0.3 %
OP 9.02; WinXP	3	0.2 %
OP 9.1; WinXP	3	0.2 %
IE 7.0; WinNT5.2	3	0.2 %
OP 9.0; WinXP	3	0.2 %
Firefox 1.5; Linux	3	0.2 %
IE 5.0; WinNT	3	0.2 %
Firefox 1.5; WinNT5.2	3	0.2 %
IE 6.0; WinMe	3	0.2 %
NS 7.2; WinXP	2	0.1 %
OP 9.01; WinXP	2	0.1 %
Firefox 1.0; Win2000	2	0.1 %
MZ 1.8; WinXP	2	0.1 %
MZ 1.4; WinXP	2	0.1 %
NS 8.1; WinXP	2	0.1 %
IE 7.0; WinNT6.0	2	0.1 %
Firefox 1.0; Win98	2	0.1 %
NS 3.01;	2	0.1 %
OP 8.54; WinXP	2	0.1 %
IE 6.0; WinNT4.0	2	0.1 %
IE 4.01; MacPPC	2	0.1 %
IE 5.5; Win98	2	0.1 %
Firefox 1.5; Mac	2	0.1 %
IE 5.5; Win2000	1	0.1 %
Firefox 2.0; Win98	1	0.1 %
MZ 1.7; Win98	1	0.1 %
OP 7.54; WinXP	1	0.1 %

Now for the search engine:

top 20 search engines	uniq
Google	570	95.8 %
Yahoo !	22	3.7 %
AltaVista	1	0.2 %
Earthlink	1	0.2 %
MSN	1	0.2 %

I feel sorry for altaVista with 1, but please take note MSN, you got 1. Yes 1, the same as Earthlink (WTF??). Go google anyhow.

As for the pages that people visit, here they are in order:

multi-page	hits	since
/	1301	Feb 19, 2006
..ne-funny-headbutts.html	260	Jul 15, 2006
..res-games-gifs-and.html	54	Jul 27, 2006
..stabbed-in-tooting.html	51	Apr 26, 2006
/2006/07/zidane-mini-game.html	43	Jul 11, 2006
..ideoswith-immortal.html	42	Jul 08, 2006
..1_gotidude_archive.html	38	Apr 30, 2006
..side-rule-to-women.html	32	Apr 20, 2006
..scooter-roundabout.html	30	Aug 22, 2006
..scam-in-us-history.html	22	Jun 18, 2006
..e-marshmallows-and.html	16	Sep 14, 2006
..s-to-tell-ur-asian.html	15	Sep 26, 2006
..j-malik-el-shabazz.html	15	May 21, 2006
..s-from-halliburton.html	15	Apr 30, 2006
..-are-exposed-again.html	14	Jun 23, 2006
..scooter-playground.html	13	Aug 06, 2006
..1_gotidude_archive.html	13	Mar 10, 2006
..1_gotidude_archive.html	11	Jul 29, 2006
..1_gotidude_archive.html	11	Jul 18, 2006
..ssein-found-guilty.html	11	Jul 06, 2006
..ogs-by-ummah-films.html	10	Aug 27, 2006
/2006/08/sick-jokes.html	10	Aug 05, 2006
..cracy-in-palestine.html	10	Mar 18, 2006
..nister-to-stand-on.html	9	Nov 19, 2006
/2006/08/god-save-deen.html	9	Aug 30, 2006
..ed-in-terror-alert.html	8	Sep 12, 2006
..wo-men-from-flight.html	8	Aug 29, 2006
..ngs-family-tragedy.html	8	Jun 05, 2006
..ton-hold-title-top.html	8	Apr 11, 2006
..iumph-insult-comic.html	7	Nov 11, 2006
..ally-1000-visitors.html	7	Aug 20, 2006
..urkey-court-attack.html	7	May 19, 2006
..usic-videos-anyone.html	7	Apr 29, 2006
PNAC 101 - Rise Of The Neocons" border="0" height="16" width="12"> ..e-pnac-101-rise-of.html	7	Apr 26, 2006
..tainment-technique.html	6	Jul 31, 2006
..-bextor-found-dead.html	6	Jul 28, 2006
..-from-craig-murray.html	6	Jul 14, 2006
..-for-vendetta-less.html	5	Dec 03, 2006
..rtvideoblogspotcom.html	5	Nov 25, 2006
..e-speech-no-thanks.html	5	Sep 03, 2006
..1_gotidude_archive.html	5	Aug 31, 2006
..ur-appeal-rejected.html	5	May 10, 2006
..m-death-of-freedom.html	5	Apr 15, 2006
..d-to-july-bombings.html	5	Apr 09, 2006
..ush-administration.html	5	Mar 29, 2006
..ysics-exam-answers.html	4	Nov 13, 2006
/2006/10/doctor-8-ball.html	4	Oct 01, 2006
..enal-football-club.html	4	Sep 12, 2006
..iddle-east-july-06.html	4	Jul 17, 2006
/2006/06/football-funnies.html	4	Jun 24, 2006
..from-threadlesscom.html	4	Jun 15, 2006
..-short-flash-video.html	4	May 16, 2006
..1_gotidude_archive.html	4	Apr 24, 2006
..1_gotidude_archive.html	4	Apr 04, 2006
..-us-foreign-policy.html	4	Mar 24, 2006
..dogg-dmx-and-jay-z.html	3	Jan 16, 2007
..-football-goals-on.html	3	Dec 02, 2006
/2006/12/six-sigma.html	3	Dec 01, 2006
..hers-chemicals-bnp.html	3	Oct 09, 2006
..1_gotidude_archive.html	3	Oct 03, 2006
..-unprovoked-attack.html	3	Sep 03, 2006
..about-situation-in.html	3	Aug 20, 2006
..irza-tahir-hussain.html	3	Aug 03, 2006
..bout-diet-coke-and.html	3	Jun 10, 2006
..erican-inquisition.html	3	Jun 05, 2006
..-vs-jacques-chirac.html	3	May 17, 2006
..-had-nothing-to-do.html	3	Apr 13, 2006
..lies-to-new-photos.html	3	Apr 03, 2006
..rothers-stabbed-in.html	2	Feb 26, 2007
..luigi-vs-vice-city.html	2	Jan 18, 2007
/2006/10/oh-bollards.html	2	Oct 29, 2006
..telemarketer-prank.html	2	Oct 23, 2006
..-training-camps-in.html	2	Oct 16, 2006
..o-link-to-al-qaeda.html	2	Oct 03, 2006
..-iraq-fuels-terror.html	2	Sep 25, 2006
..restroom-etiquette.html	2	Sep 19, 2006
..s-time-to-maintain.html	2	Sep 12, 2006
..1_gotidude_archive.html	2	Aug 18, 2006
..nd-classy-t-shirts.html	2	Aug 15, 2006
..vages-and-owns-sky.html	2	Aug 13, 2006
..not-want-ceasefire.html	2	Jul 27, 2006
..azi-fashion-anyone.html	2	Jul 02, 2006
..ney-tracking-by-us.html	2	Jun 26, 2006
..lestinian-children.html	2	Jun 21, 2006
..of-of-god-existing.html	2	Jun 17, 2006
..1_gotidude_archive.html	2	May 21, 2006
..tells-of-us-attack.html	2	May 10, 2006
..pect-denied-rights.html	2	May 01, 2006
..-911-not-according.html	2	Apr 29, 2006
..-for-picture-round.html	2	Apr 28, 2006
..-for-united-states.html	2	Apr 27, 2006
..ontractor-fails-to.html	2	Apr 07, 2006
..ib-photos-released.html	2	Apr 03, 2006
..aining-manual-says.html	2	Mar 30, 2006
/search	1	Feb 25, 2007
/2006/07/job-roles.html	1	Feb 24, 2007
..rst-page-of-google.html	1	Feb 24, 2007
/2006/12/syriana.html	1	Feb 24, 2007
..-new-yearand-im-in.html	1	Feb 24, 2007
..1_gotidude_archive.html	1	Feb 03, 2007
..nstream-guantanamo.html	1	Jan 14, 2007
..top-terror-sponsor.html	1	Jan 09, 2007
..id-and-drunk-thief.html	1	Dec 16, 2006
..prison-long-lartin.html	1	Dec 04, 2006
..odbye-my-signature.html	1	Nov 22, 2006
..x81-style-graphics.html	1	Nov 22, 2006
..aordinary-outburst.html	1	Nov 19, 2006
..1_gotidude_archive.html	1	Nov 15, 2006
..illed-in-war-world.html	1	Nov 11, 2006
..-fly-into-pentagon.html	1	Nov 05, 2006
/2006/10/racist-media.html	1	Nov 03, 2006
..hosphorous-bombing.html	1	Oct 29, 2006
..orce-feeding-wrong.html	1	Oct 26, 2006
..e-golfing-nun-joke.html	1	Oct 21, 2006
..merican-century_31.html	1	Oct 19, 2006
/2006/08/chavs-dryer.html	1	Oct 11, 2006
/2006/08/fireman-dryer.html	1	Oct 11, 2006
..rning-muslim-in-uk.html	1	Oct 09, 2006
..ir-discussed-using.html	1	Sep 21, 2006
../well-done-england.html	1	Sep 19, 2006
..children-killed-by.html	1	Aug 19, 2006
..ush-and-brazilians.html	1	Aug 06, 2006
..about-situation-in.html	1	Aug 06, 2006
..-from-tooting-gets.html	1	Aug 03, 2006
..from-us-government.html	1	Aug 03, 2006
..-us-government-and.html	1	Aug 01, 2006
..ture-dungeon-found.html	1	Jul 28, 2006
..-one-project-is-on.html	1	Jul 22, 2006
..an-children-amoung.html	1	Jul 14, 2006
..ke-news-stories-on.html	1	Jul 12, 2006
..s-skull-crushed-at.html	1	Jul 09, 2006
..alestinian-refugee.html	1	Jul 06, 2006
..ices-on-high-alert.html	1	Jun 23, 2006
..-curbs-spark-anger.html	1	Jun 21, 2006
..nt-to-liberate-you.html	1	Jun 21, 2006
/2006/06/bunny-suicides.html	1	Jun 17, 2006
..-end-all-break-ins.html	1	Jun 12, 2006
..on-of-human-rights.html	1	Jun 07, 2006
..youth-unemployment.html	1	May 14, 2006
..volution-squeezing.html	1	May 10, 2006
..sh-in-uk-for-years.html	1	May 09, 2006
..-iraq-kurdish-area.html	1	May 08, 2006
..road-to-guantanamo.html	1	May 05, 2006
/2006/04/enter-goti.html	1	May 04, 2006
..ropagada-continues.html	1	May 02, 2006
..mericas-war-on-web.html	1	May 01, 2006
..army-in-disgust-at.html	1	May 01, 2006
..mit-shooting-iraqi.html	1	May 01, 2006
..w-american-century.html	1	May 01, 2006
..d-up-in-guantanamo.html	1	Apr 30, 2006
..pleasethe-us-pulls.html	1	Apr 20, 2006
..or-bush-death-plot.html	1	Apr 11, 2006
..-gaza-after-israel.html	1	Mar 23, 2006
..f-abu-ghraib-abuse.html	1	Mar 22, 2006
..ys-nuclear-arms-in.html	1	Mar 18, 2006
..strike-attack-plan.html	1	Mar 17, 2006
..-confess-to-agents.html	1	Mar 16, 2006

PS - top one is the homepage.

Now that tooks ages to cut and paste. Just a quick thanks to everyoe who viewed these pages!

A joke about a talking clock

2007-03-02T00:34:00.001Z

A bit tired today, so have a joke instead.

A drunk was proudly showing off his new apartment to a couple of his friends late one night. When they made it to the bedroom, they saw a big brass gong next to the bed.
"What's a big brass gong doing in your bedroom?" one of the guests asked.
"It's not a gong. It's a talking clock," the drunk replied.
"A talking clock? Seriously?" asked his astonished friend.
"Yup," replied the drunk.
"How's it work?" the friend asked, squinting at it.
"Watch," the drunk replied. He picked up the mallet, gave it an ear-shattering pound, and stepped back. The three stood looking at one another for a moment.
Suddenly, someone on the other side of the wall screamed, "You asshole, it's three o'clock in the morning!"

UN envoy hits Israel 'apartheid'

2007-03-01T00:24:00.000Z

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/6390755.stm

A UN human rights envoy has compared Israel's occupation of the Palestinian territories to elements of apartheid. The UN's Special Rapporteur, John Dugard, describes the regime as being designed to dominate and systematically oppress the occupied population.

Mr Dugard is a South African professor of international law assigned to monitor Israeli human rights abuses. He has extensively studied apartheid in South Africa and has compared it to what he saw under Israeli rule. Special rapporteurs are independent experts appointed by the UN secretary general to present reports on human rights to the organisation. Their findings do not represent UN policy.

In a new report, Mr Dugard says: "Israel's laws and practices certainly resemble aspects of apartheid". He points to what he describes as "unashamed discrimination" against Palestinians in favour of Israeli settlers. "It is difficult to resist the conclusion that many of Israel's laws and practices violate the 1966 Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Racial Discrimination," says the report.

"House demolitions in the West Bank and East Jerusalem are carried out in a manner that discriminates against Palestinians.

"Throughout the West Bank, and particularly in Hebron, settlers are given preferential treatment over Palestinians in terms of movement (major roads are reserved exclusively for settlers), building rights and army protection and laws governing family re-unification".

The report ranges widely over the events of the past year and focuses on the Israeli military assault on Gaza during the summer. This came after Palestinian militants captured an Israeli soldier, who they are still holding.

The army also described its campaign as an effort to stop the firing of crudely-made rockets from Gaza into nearby Israeli towns and villages. Militant groups like Islamic Jihad often describe these attacks as retaliation for army raids and killings. During the reporting period, two Israelis died and 30 others were injured in these random Palestinian attacks on civilian targets, and Mr Dugard says that they clearly constitute war crimes.

But his report also condemns the two Israeli offensives launched to counter the missile threat from Gaza. Four hundred Palestinians died, and some 1,500 were injured - many of them civilians. Three Israeli soldiers were killed. Mr Dugard says that this was a "grossly disproportionate and indiscriminate" response that led to the army committing "multiple war crimes".

He also criticises the very tight controls that Israel maintains over the flow of goods and people in and out of Gaza. These add to the poverty-stricken territory's chronic economic problems - contributing to mounting levels of unemployment and desperation. Mr Dugard says that Israel is imposing a policy of "controlled strangulation" that is helping to give rise to a failed state on its doorstep.

The Israelis argue that their border controls around Gaza are necessary for security reasons. Militants have attacked crossing points in the past, and a suicide bomber recently emerged from Gaza and killed three civilians in the Israeli resort city of Eilat. And more broadly, Israel has dismissed Mr Dugard's report as being one-sided.

A foreign ministry spokesman, Mark Regev, said that it was a product of what he called "rank politicisation" of the UN's human rights apparatus. "This is the promoting of partisan, one-sided political attitudes which frankly don't serve the interests of anyone who is seriously interested in human rights," Mr Regev said.

So Mark Regev describes and promotes political attitutes which don't serve anyone interested in human rights. I'm afraid the human rights that Mr Regev talks about are the same human rights that the US talk about - rights that are applicable to them and their people but not anyone else.

In addition, people describe the situation in Palestine as apartheid. However, in apartheid, there was one side of the road for people of one colour, and the other side of the road for blacks. In Palestine, they don't even get to use the same road! It is not apartheid it is worse, it is discrimination. Even worse is the way that the Palestinians are being collectively punished and the dire poverty situation faced by many Palestinians.

Cheney: China's anti-satellite test 'not consistent' with stated goal of a peaceful rise

2007-02-28T00:54:00.000Z

http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2007-02-22-cheney-asia_x.htm
Updated 2/23/2007 5:48 AM ET
SYDNEY (AP) — Vice President Dick Cheney said Friday that China's recent anti-satellite weapons test and rapid military buildup were "not consistent" with its stated aim of a peaceful rise as a global power. In a speech in Sydney after visiting Japan, Cheney also expressed wariness about North Korea's commitment to a landmark deal on ending its nuclear programs.

As anti-war demonstrators clashed with police outside the hotel where Cheney was speaking, the vice president also expressed gratitude to Australia for sending troops to the Iraq war, which he said must be won or terrorists would be emboldened worldwide.

Cheney praised China for playing an "especially important" role in the negotiations that resulted in the North Korea deal, under which the North is to seal its main nuclear reactor and allow international inspections in exchange for fuel oil.

"Other actions by the Chinese government send a different message," Cheney told the Australian-American Leadership Dialogue, a private organization that promotes ties between the two countries. "Last month's anti-satellite test, China's continued fast-paced military buildup are less constructive and are not consistent with China's stated goal of a peaceful rise," he said.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Cheney's remarks. Many government offices were closed Friday for the week-long Lunar New Year holiday. Beijing previously said its Jan. 11 firing of a missile into a defunct weather satellite was for scientific purposes, but the test was widely criticized as a provocative demonstration of China's growing military clout.

Washington says the test — which made China only the third nation after the United States and Russia to use weapons beyond the atmosphere — undermined efforts to keep weapons out of space. Beijing countered by saying the United States is blocking a possible global treaty that would ban weapons in space.

China's military has grown rapidly along with its economy in recent years, prompting concern that the balance of military power in the Pacific could start to shift away from the United States. China said in late December it was strengthening its military to thwart any attempt by Taiwan to push for independence, but vowed it was committed to the peaceful development of its 2.3 million-strong military, the world's largest.

Regarding the North Korea deal, Cheney said it represented "a first hopeful step" that would "bring us closer" to a nuclear-free Korean peninsula — but he also sounded a note of caution. "We go into this deal with our eyes open," he said. "In light of North Korea's missile test last July, its nuclear test in October and its record of proliferation and human rights abuses, the regime in Pyongyang has much to prove."

Cheney, a key backer of the Iraq war, praised Prime Minister John Howard for sending troops to Iraq and Afghanistan, saying Australians had won the respect of the world through their support of the fight against terror. "The notion that free countries can turn our backs on what happens in places like Afghanistan or Iraq or any other possible safe haven for terrorists is an option that we simply cannot indulge," he said.

He said that if the U.S.-led coalition leaves Iraq before domestic forces can handle security, violence among rival factions would spread throughout the country and beyond. "Having tasted victory in Iraq, jihadists would look for new missions," joining the Taliban fighting in Afghanistan and spreading "sorrow and discord" across the Middle East and further afield, he said.

"Such chaos and mounting danger does not have to occur, it is however the enemy's objective," Cheney said. "For the sake of our own long-term security, we have a duty to stand in their way." Outside, about 100 protesters waved placards saying "Go home Cheney" and "Bring the troops home." Three people were arrested after scuffles broke out and officers on horseback moved in to disperse the crowd.

Cheney later visited a military barracks in Sydney and held talks with a group of Australian troops who had served overseas. He also met with opposition leader Kevin Rudd, who wants a timetable set for withdrawing Australian troops from Iraq and faster action to deal David Hicks, an Australian who has been jailed without trial at the U.S. military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, for more than five years.

Cheney was to hold talks Saturday with Howard, a staunch ally of Washington who has become a rarity by offering more, not fewer, troops for Iraq and Afghanistan. Among the protesters on Friday was former Guantanamo Bay detainee Mamdouh Habib, who demanded immediate release for Hicks, a former kangaroo skinner caught on the Taliban side in Afghanistan in 2001. A small group held a counter-protest nearby with a banner reading: "The world needs more men like Dick Cheney — we love America."

Right, let us get one thing straight. The US has already lost the Iraq war. Full stop. The world has already seen the lies it has used to get into Iraq, the way the soldiers have treated civilians, women, children and the men through Abu Ghraib. The world also knows that Iraq now has less clean water, electricity supply and safety then it did before the US arrived, and it is funny how the oil has already started pumping! As for countries that are safe havens for terrorists - I think they mean safe havens for people that oppose the US foreign policy. Oh, and as for those who love America and love Dick, all I can say is "the world needs less 'men' like Dick Cheney - I hate America!"

OK, that's a few things out the way. Now on to the main point. Recent anti-satellite weapons test. We all know from the PNAC document (http://gotidude.blogspot.com/2006/01/project-for-new-american-century_31.html) that point 1 is to control space. Now, as China is getting in on the act with Russia of carrying out these anti-satellite weapons tests, the US is getting worried. Now longer is it seen as the dominant force now and in the future, in terms of space exploration, and it is getting peeved. As for not being consistent with China's stated goal of a peaceful rise, neither is the issue of human rights record of the US with it's stated goal of being the 'world policeforce'. As China mentioned, the United States is blocking a possible global treaty that would ban weapons in space. I wonder why that could be....

Petite anglaise blogger sacked by work

2007-02-27T00:00:00.000Z

http://www.petiteanglaise.com/

For those of you that don't know about the Petiteanglaise blog, here is the about section:
petite anglaise started on a whim one day, after reading the guardian’s guide to weblogs and becoming engrossed in the adventures of Belle de Jour. A matter of minutes later, I created a site of my own using blogger. I came across the union jack eye image quite by accident, but it summed up my perspective nicely: a Brit’s-eye view of life in Paris.

anglaise means, quite simply, English female, and petite means little. French people tend to refer to all English females, regardless of age or size, as petites anglaises so it seemed like the obvious choice for my nom de souris.

petite anglaise started out mainly as light hearted commentaries on aspects of life in France/French, with some anecdotes about the trials and tribulations of raising a bilingual toddler thrown in. It has evolved somewhat over time, becoming more personal, touching on adoption, the breakdown of my relationship with Tadpole’s father after “meeting” a man in my comments box, and our subsequent separation.

petiteanglaise.com was site of the day on the Guardian newsblog back in July 2004, and has since been nominated for a Satin Pyjama European Weblog Award (cue rash promise involving posing in pair of satin pyjamas) and a Bloggie for best new weblog.

And then I got the sack. For blogging. And the sky fell down. Well it didn’t, actually, but for a while I thought it had, and then I had to cope with a lot of press interest unleashed after giving a single interview to the Daily Telegraph. I certainly didn’t expect my story to make the front page of CNN.com, and my web host simply couldn’t cope with the traffic that ensued over the next week.

The silver, even platinum lining to all of this is that I am now working on “petite anglaise” the book, which will be published by Penguin in the spring of 2008.

Yes, she got sacked....just for blogging (hence you will notice no mention of work in my blog!!)

The Independent and the telegraph have more on this story, but for the sake of brevity (and the fact I am not a big fan of the telegraph :p ) I will just show you the Independent article:

Sacked: British woman who became Mme Bridget Jones
By Cahal Milmo
Published: 19 July 2006

Maybe it was a giveaway remark during aperitifs after work or a clue too many left sur internet. But for a British secretary in Paris, efforts to keep her blog and work life separate have ended in legal acrimony - and a race for her signature on a book deal.

When the La Petite Anglaise blog began two years ago, it was described by its thirtysomething author as a "whim" offering a wry look at life as a PA and mother of a bilingual toddler in France.

By yesterday, the secretary who wishes to be known only by her first name - Catherine - was fighting to set a legal precedent in France and coping with a media onslaught after she was dismissed by her employers, a firm of Anglo-French accountants, for allegedly bringing them into disrepute with her postings. The single mother and award-winning "blogeuse", whose online diary gets up to 3,000 hits a day, has never revealed her identity; that of "Mr Frog", her French former partner and the father of "Tadpole", her three-year-old daughter; or that of her employers.

But management at Dixon Wilson, which has offices in London and Paris offering a "personal service to wealthy individuals and their businesses", took a dim view when word of Catherine's pensées on love and work became known. On 26 April this year, she was summoned before a senior partner and told she was being suspended pending dismissal for gross misconduct. The grounds for her sacking were eventually downgraded to a lesser offence but she is fighting a claim for compensation, one of the first in France over alleged transgressions relating to a blog.

She does not know how knowledge of her blog, which she kept secret from colleagues, reached her employers. "I'm not sure how it came out," she said. "I didn't talk to anyone at work about it. But then one day I noticed from the feedback on the blog that someone had looked at all 200 pages in a single day. I thought it was a bit odd but thought nothing more of it. But shortly afterwards I was called in and told I was being suspended. I was told that what I had written had brought the company into disrepute and given five minutes to clear my desk and leave."

Catherine, 33, a French and German graduate from York who has lived in Paris for 11 years, confirmed that she sometimes worked on her blog during office hours but only when she had been told there was no other work. But although La Petite Anglaise was in part inspired by Belle de Jour, the sexually explicit blog of a London call girl, the Paris secretary's blog is significantly less racy and, as its author puts it, more in the style of a "Bridget Jones in Paris".

Dixon Wilson yesterday declined to comment on its dismissal of Catherine or her forthcoming case before a French employment tribunal, where she could be awarded up to eight months' pay or £18,000 if she wins.

Such a sum could be a drop in an ocean of royalty cheques if interest in La Petite Anglaise from publishers yesterday turns into a firm book deal. At least two publishers approached the secretary yesterday expressing interest in a book version.
(from http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/legal/article1185350.ece)

Another article can be found here:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/07/18/wblog18.xml

Anyway, I hope her well in her new career when she will be publishing at least one book.
She is no. 8 on the technoranki charts (http://technoranki.com/charts/) and has a rank: 3,424 (1,159 links from 613 blogs) in technorati (http://www.technorati.com/search/www.petiteanglaise.com%2F).

Carling Cup Final

2007-02-25T23:08:00.000Z

After the heartbreak of losing the champions league final, the gooners have lost another final, the carling cup final. Heartbreaking, but we took the lead through young theo, before Drogba equalised. Then, if you thing your having a bad day, check this picture:

Now that hurt...no doubt about it. The video can be found here.

You can also see Baptista doing an impression of the karate kid on one leg. Either that or he has had to close his legs at seeing the pain that John Terry is going through. He turned out alright, so he should be OK (Terry, not Baptista).

Anyway, after that Drogba then scored again, before a mass brawl bought some more excitement to this entertaining game. However to view this clip you need to login.

Not bad for Arsenal though, playing a bunch of youngsters against the multi-million pound megastars. The future is bright, the future is Arsenal!!

A mini-highlight vid can be found on YouTube as well.

An update on the two brothers stabbed in tooting: Mohammed Ali and Hayder Ali

2007-02-25T15:14:00.000Z

For those of you that type in 'two brothers stabbed in tooting', or 'brothers stabbed in tooting', you may notice that this website comes in the top couple of results, especially due to the page it links to (http://gotidude.blogspot.com/2006/04/brothers-stabbed-in-tooting.html if you have not yet noticed) which I first wrote when two brothers called mohammed ali and hayder ali were stabbed in tooting.

Without mentioning or linking to certain websites (try google - Tooting boys....a Tamil gang involved in the stabbing?? Eh???), and even talking about things which I don't have too much knowledge of, I think it would be more appropriate if this website was bought to the attention of people searching for these words:
http://www.mohammedandhayderali.gonetoosoon.co.uk/my_index.php
It is basically a memorial site for the two brothers (there is another site on there...but it looks less 'official').

As an update on what has happened, they have arrested some of the people responsible and they have appeared in court. You can read as follows:
http://www.thisislocallondon.co.uk/display.var.873329.0.0.php
http://icsouthlondon.icnetwork.co.uk/southlondonpress/wandsworth/tm_headline=tooting-brother-murder-trial-begins%26method=full%26objectid=18498337%26siteid=50100-name_page.html
http://icsouthlondon.icnetwork.co.uk/southlondonpress/merton/tm_headline=blood-on-the-streets%26method=full%26objectid=18519815%26siteid=50100-name_page.html
http://www.thisislocallondon.co.uk/whereilive/localheadlines/display.var.1165485.0.court_hears_of_brutal_and_fatal_gang_attack.php
http://www.yourlocalguardian.co.uk/misc/print.php?artid=1147578:
An expansion of the above website mentions:

Gang war erupted over grudge court hears

Two Pakistani brothers were dragged from their van, beaten and stabbed to death when gang warfare broke out in front of terrified bystanders, a court heard.

Mohammed, 24, and Hayder Ali, 25, were murdered in Fircroft Road, Tooting, following a fight that saw at least 25 Asian men brawling with knives, machetes and baseball bats.

The Old Bailey heard how the victims were friends of a young man called Hamad Bhatti, who had fallen out with two of the defendants, brothers Hassan, 18, and Sultan Mir, 24.

The grudge went back to 2003 when Hassan Mir accused Bhatti of being a "pussy" because he would not take sides in a fight outside a Tooting mosque.

The hostilities then escalated after Bhatti crashed a car belonging to a friend of the Mir's, there were false accusations against Sultan Mir of kidnap and, in December 2005, Sultan began a "hate campaign" against Bhatti, by way of a string of abusive phone calls.

Older relatives had tried to intervene to stop the hostilities but the simmering tension turned into full-scale gang war just after Easter last year, the jury heard.

Prosecutor Aftab Jafferjee said the Mir brothers had seen Bhatti while he was sitting in his car in a traffic jam on the Upper Tooting Road on April 20.

"Hassan Mir leant over towards the car saying What are you doing in Tooting, bruv? You know you're not supposed to be in Tooting'. To reinforce the observation Hassan Mir struck Bhatti in the face, adding: 'I'm waiting. Come back. We'll sort it out today'.

"This was not the first time that either of the Mir brothers had been making threats to Hamad and his friends.

"That assault was plainly intended to provoke a response from Hamad Bhatti and his brothers and associates. It eventually did provoke a response."

The court heard how Bhatti recruited his brothers and other friends including Mohammed and Hayder Ali.

A gang of 11 men in total returned to Tooting in a van belonging to the Bhatti family shortly after midnight on April 21.

Mr Jafferjee said the Mir brothers gathered substantially more reinforcements and set to work ripping up estate agents' 'For Sale' signs to use as weapons.

He told the court the gang had armed themselves with "an array of weapons" including baseball bats, knives and metal bars by the time the Bhatti group showed up.

"The defendants were not only bent on violent confrontation but simply relishing the prospect of causing considerable harm to the people they had been taunting for so long."

He said it was true the Bhatti group "did not show restraint" in responding to the threats but added: "They were totally outnumbered and frankly outmanouevred by the waiting mob.

"They achieved absolutely nothing in terms of any injury done to any of the other people and they ended up with two of their number dead.

"The Bhatti brothers group was vastly outnumbered and out-weaponed."

He said "members of the public who got swept up in this terrifying incident" saw more than 13 members of the Mir gang attack the van, drag the Ali brothers out, beat them and stab them repeatedly.

The victims later died in St George's Hospital, Tooting.

Hayder, a recruitment consultant, lived with his family in Elborough Street, Southfields.

Married Mohammed, an accounts manager, lived in Tyneham Road, Battersea.

One suspect, Imran Aslam, is still wanted by the police and is believed to be on the run in Pakistan.

Imran Ali, 20, of Wilson Avenue, Mitcham; Noor Kayani, 22, from Gatton Road, Tooting; Imran Hussain, 23, of Selkirk Road, Tooting; Kashif Khan, 20, of Hebdon Road, Tooting; Aazam Butt, 20, of Halford Road, Fulham; Hassan Mir, 18, Sultan Mir, 24, both of no fixed address, and a 17-year-old who cannot be named all deny two counts of murder and one charge of conspiracy to cause grievous bodily harm with intent.

The trial continues tomorrow. Five others are due to stand trial later this year.

6:55am Friday 26th January 2007

By Andrew Westbrook

There is another forum that also mentions some interesting info, but because of certain people that have been mentioned within it, I won't post that up (and so i'm not sure it is 100% correct!) ...although feel free to google it and you will find it! Thought I would put this up, as recently more people have been searching for certain words (I know what words people have searched for most of the time when the try and do a search thanks to whatcounter) and my website still comes in the top few links.....so instead of old news, I decided I would re-direct them to a more appropriate site whilst at the same time updating people on various information.

Season 2 of video blogs from Ummah films

2007-02-24T22:03:00.000Z

If you have not already seen season 1 of these video blogs, here is the link:
http://gotidude.blogspot.com/2006/08/islamic-video-blogs-by-ummah-films.html

The shortcut to the season 2 video blogs can be accessed from this page:
http://www.ummahfilms.com/season2.html

If you are that lazy, then exact links can be found here:
"That's not Hijab"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4jQi0Gjy3M

Ramadan Reruns
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixN0qhN39k0

Arrogant People
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9fka3Lu_pr0

Fisibilillah Discount
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iyczVCnHloY

All very good I am sure you will agree and some reminders for us all!

Woo hoo, guess who is back!!

2007-02-24T13:21:00.000Z

After a catalogue of disasters, at last I have good internet connection and a power supply that works, so expect this blog to be updated more regularly from now on. To celebrate, I have just been cleaning the crap comments from my blog, were I have been spamed by people trying to get me to goto a website so I can earn $900. If you are that idiot, as a tip if you want to earn $900, just go and work you lazy ass!!

As a side note, I had to switch when I logged on this time and use my gmail account to log onto blogger instead of my standard username - I am not pleased!!

Sorry for the absolute lack of updates...

2007-02-18T19:15:00.000Z

As mentioned in previous posts, the internet connection to my room was a bity dodgy to say the least. However, after yesterday my younger brother sort of fixed it. That was I could browse downstairs properly for the first time in about two months or so in my bedroom. However, everyone today has seen the internet connection become quite good, but cut out every now and again. I tried it downstairs, and although it cut out once or twice, on the whole it was generally very good. However, then it looks like my powerpack blew. So I have found the old powerpack and that is not exactly working either...! So whilst browing with no power, I decided to surf on eBay, get a a new powerpack, but my laptop died before I had the chance!! Luckily the desktop PCs still work so I ordered a new powerpack via eBay. Lets hope it gets here soon, so the blog can start getting updated regularly again and I move into the top 200 or so blogs on one of the sites that I am registered with.

First blog of the new year...and i'm in the technoranki charts

2007-01-26T00:12:00.000Z

Yes, it's been a long time coming..but after my hard drive broke, my wireless network has been down, so I was not able to blog. In addition, I have been going to the gym quite often, so now time to do any blogging of any kind.

Anyway, this post is due to the fact that I am now in the technoranki charts at number 272. Not bad for someone who has not updated his blog for nearly a month. Anyway, as soon as the wireless is back working, I shall get back to blogging.

For all you Star Wars fans...

2006-12-26T22:58:00.000Z

....be warned, this is very long...but very good:

Type the following in the run command (Start --> Run --> Open)

telnet towel.blinkenlights.nl

1984 by George Orwell

2006-12-24T20:57:00.000Z

Just read 1984 by George Orwell and it is an excellent book that was written around the 1950's about life in the future, and it is quite scary to see how similiar this to the situation today - swap the words Oceania for the western world, Goldstein for Osama, the Brotherhood for Al-Qaida, Jews for Muslims and a few other substitutions and how have the world as it stands today. What is also of more interest is the book mentions how each of the different classes can be subjugated - keeping the lower classes occupied by sport and Beer, keeping all the classes occupied by excussive work - all to make sure people can't think independently and of course don't forget the central hate figures . I could reveal more, but instead I recommend you read this book. The only bad side is that it is also a bit of a love story...but hey, it's still a good book.