Bill Hicks - It's Just A Ride

The BIG Picture - A brief note from the editor

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over 14,000,000 page-views and counting.

HERE

TED Talk: Nicholas Christakis: The hidden influence of social networks

Anger over reality television 'virgin auction'

Justin Sisley was forced to move the auction from the Australian state of Victoria to Nevada in America, after authorities said they would charge him with prostitution if the filming went ahead.  Sisley has gone public with the controversial project, claiming to have at least three willing participants.           

Family First Senator Steve Fielding described the documentary as "absurd, ridiculous and disgusting"  The virgins will be paid $20,000 each to take part in the auction and will also receive 90 per cent of their "sale price", according to a report in the Sydney Daily Telegraph.  The remainder of the money will go to the Nevada brothel which is hosting the event.  Initial bids will be placed online, but bidders will attend the final part of the auction, coming face to face with the people whose virginity they are bidding for.  One 21-year-old woman from Sydney, who used the name Veronica, said she had signed up for the auction to earn money and challenge traditional perceptions about sex.  "Technically I'm selling my virginity for money, technically that would be classified as prostitution, but it's not going to be a regular thing, so in my head I can justify that I'm not going to be a prostitute," she told the paper.  "I don't think I'll regret it."  One of the male virgins, identified only as Alex, said he had applied as a way of meeting someone.  Sisley admitted his plan was unpopular with the parents of the people involved. "They hate me," he said.  An Australian documentary maker has convinced several young people to appear in a reality television programme in which they auction their virginity to the highest bidder.

@'The Telegraph'

We are really civilised here in Victoria, Australia...no really we are!

Madonna and Child - Art or Child Porn?

I must admit that it is the last photo of Madonna and the baby Jesus that offends me the most!

The transcript of tonight's 4Corners documentary on Australia's proposed Internet Censorship

HERE

Paul Chambers found guilty of twitter 'bomb hoax'

"Crap! Robin Hood Airport is closed. You've got a week... otherwise I'm blowing the airport sky high!"

£1,000 fine and a criminal record... 
Full story

@'Jack of Kent'

UPDATE:

Paul was half way through qualifying as an accountant. 

Conviction means he can't qualify. 

His career is ruined! 

Fugn hell!!!

What can I say?

Dispute brews over pornographic images on Wikimedia

Jimmy Wales has revoked some of his Wikipedia founder's privileges

A row over sexually explicit content on the web encyclopaedia Wikipedia and related sites has escalated.

Co-founder Jimmy Wales gave up some of his site privileges following protests by contributors angered that he had deleted images without consultation.
Mr Wales had previously urged the deletion of "pornographic" content, and removed images from the site.
This followed a complaint about "child pornography" to the FBI from another Wikipedia co-founder.
In early April, the estranged co-founder, Larry Sanger, reported Wikimedia Commons to the FBI, alleging that the organisation was "knowingly distributing child pornography".
He later clarified that his concern was not about photographs of children, but "obscene visual representations of the abuse of children", which can include drawings and sculpture.
Sexually explicit content Last week, administrators of Wikimedia Commons, a media file store widely used for Wikipedia articles, deleted hundreds of images.
Some images deemed by the Wikipedia community to have educational merit have since been reinstated.
Mr Wales had earlier posted his support for the removal of "images that are of little or no educational value but which appeal solely to prurient interests", deleting many pictures himself.
Pressure on the organisation had increased after Fox News reported the story, contacting a number of high-profile corporate donors to the Wikimedia Foundation, which owns Wikipedia, Wikimedia Commons and related sites.

It asked whether the donors were aware of "the extent of sexually explicit content" on Wikimedia Commons.

It is not clear whether Mr Wales's support for the removal of explicit content was in response to Mr Sanger's concerns, pressure from Fox News, or something else.
But Michael Peel, Chair of Wikimedia UK, told BBC News that a continuous debate over explicit content has recently "come to a head". The central issue at the moment, he says, is "whether the content is educational".
"Anyone can come to Wikimedia Commons and upload media. Illegal stuff is deleted, and copyright stuff is deleted."
Mr Wales has faced criticism from the band of volunteers who help to maintain the site, some of whom argued that the decision to delete was undemocratic and taken too quickly. They also expressed concerns that valid material might be deleted accidentally.
On Sunday, in response, Jimmy Wales voluntarily revoked many of the "permissions" given to him as Wikipedia's founder, to delete and edit "protected" content on Wikimedia Commons.
In a message to the Wikimedia Foundation mailing list he said this was "in the interest of encouraging this discussion to be about real philosophical/content issues, rather than be about me and how quickly I acted".
A more detailed policy statement from the Wikimedia Foundation is expected in the coming days.

@'BBC'

Academic paper for

'busty blondes get more tips' 

[pdf]

RIP Lena Horne

Vatican cardinal attacks fellow cardinal for 'covering up' abuse case

Cardinal Christoph Schoenborn, 65, who is seen as a possible future Pope, slammed his fellow prince of the Church, Cardinal Angelo Sodano, 83, for dismissing the paedophile priest crisis as "petty gossip."

Cardinal Schoenborn said that Cardinal Sodano, who is currently Dean of the Vatican's all powerful College of Cardinals, had attempted to cover up of a high profile Austrian sex abuse case.

 Vienna Cardinal Schoenborn told Austrian Catholic news agency Kauthpress: "The days of cover up are over. For a long while the Church's principle of forgiveness was falsely interpreted and was in favour of those responsible and not the victims."

He added that during the 1990's when Cardinal Hans Hermann Groer, the leader of Austria's Catholics was accused of sex abuse a "track of Vatican diplomacy" had muddied the investigation and led to a cover up.

Cardinal Schoenborn said Pope Benedict XVI, then Cardinal Josef Ratzinger and head of the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, had immediately pushed for an investigative commission when abuse allegations against Cardinal Groer emerged.

But Cardinal Schoenborn said that the then Vatican Secretary of State at the time, Cardinal Angelo Sodano indirectly blocked the attempts and Cardinal Groer had simply faded into the background.

The scandal hit Cardinal who was accused of abusing boys, resigned in 1998 without ever admitting his guilt, without any official Church punishment and he died five years later.Cardinal Schoenborn also accused Cardinal Sodano, of causing "massive harm" to victims when he dismissed claims of priest abuse as "petty gossip" during Easter Sunday Mass at St Peter's.Two months ago Cardinal Schoenborn acknowledged church guilt during a service for victims in which he openly addressed attempts to cover up abuse.

There was no official comment from the Vatican and it's official newspaper L'Osservatore Romano carried no coverage of Cardinal Schoenborn's attack. 

 Nick Pisa @'The Telegraph'

Harry Chapin - W.O.L.D.

"...grab life by the ears every day and French kiss it to the ground"

Endgame.

Jacqueline du Pre was diagnosed with MS in 1973. She died in 1987. 14 years.

(Snappy opening, eh?)

Richard Pryor was diagnosed with MS in 1986. He died in 2005. 19 years.

Ronnie "Plonk" Lane was diagnosed with MS in 1977. He died in 1997. 20 years.

I had been diagnosed with MS in 1990.

Tick-tock...tick-tock...tick-tock..

(I've just realised that "tick-tock" might mean nothing to anyone under 30. It represents the sound of an old-fashioned, wind-up clock; a metaphorical representation of the inexorable passing of time as it heads towards its inevitable conclusion. Young people might like to think of a Tom Cruise movie.)

I'm just treading water and that's not easy with my legs.

Don't panic. It won't be for some time yet. It's not as if I'm dictating this while trying to plug the chair into the mains. No, everything is lovely at the moment. Indeed, as Ronnie "Plonk" Lane and his Small Faces so eloquently put it, "I feel inclined/to blow my mind/get hung up, feed the ducks with a bun." You can't argue with that kind of searing insight into the human condition.

Actually, I had made my decision on 10^th May 2007, which happened to be the day that Blair announced that he would be standing down. My decision had nothing to do with Tony's decision. Thad ended a long time ago when he went mental in the brainbox and became George's bitch.

I had been running various MS scenarios in my head the night before and they had brought me to a simple truth. I did not want to grimly hang on to a life where success would be measured by how long I could keep going."Wake up, Jim! Good morning! Now, just give us a minute to clear up all this piss and shit, give you a bed bath, change the sheets, feed you breakfast, give you your medication and then you can have a nice little sleep until lunch."

I am slowly withdrawing from the world. As walking became more difficult, I got the walking stick. As walking with a walking stick became more difficult, I got the wheelchair. As my hands weakened, I travelled by car with assistance. When my legs packed up completely, I was chauffeur wheelchaired up the road. As the whole body packed up, I stayed home.

I have been indoors for 2 1/2 years. Now, I watch the world through my TV, which seems to have become a portal into the future. 3D TV?  Apps? Wii? Britain's Got Talent?

I'm back here in the late 90s and you've all moved on.

I am like a fisherman standing in the middle of a fast flowing river, flicking the fly upstream into the water, watching it rush by and reeling it back again hoping to have caught something.

(Having read that last paragraph, I can't decide whether it is: (a) a simile (b) an analogy (c) bollocks.)

I spend all day in my room. It's a lovely room with plenty of space and patio doors that open onto a secluded garden that I have not been to since I don't know when....and I continue to grow weaker.

My immune system had fought bravely but eventually it was overwhelmed, particularly the left hand side of my body. It has behaved like Austria in 1938, i.e. grumbled a bit then put out the bunting, trestle tables and jellies to welcome the conquering hero.

My daily drug regime includes: Baclofen, a muscle relaxant to ease the leg spasms.(at the maximum dose of 120 mg.)Diazepam(sounds like low-fat yoghurt , acts like a full-fat elephant tranquilliser). Tizanidine (rides shotgun with Diazepam at bedtime).

 My District Nurse’s comment when I told her? " My God! How do you stay awake?"

 I did not mention the Pinot Noir and medicinal marijuana – that would have been showing off.

I have my wonderful carers. They hoist me out of bed in the morning, undress and shower me, hoist me back on the bed to dry me and apply the various creams that help control little bedsores, as well as a recent addition to my MS symptoms, eczema. They dress and hoist me into the wheelchair, feed me breakfast, give me my medication, put the MacDictate headphones in place and ride off to another client before returning at lunchtime.

By the time I have brushed my teeth and changed from a daytime T-shirt to a nighttime vest and been safely tucked up in bed, it's 20:45. Give or take the odd five minutes, the routine never changes; 24/365 (366 in a leap year).

The same routine every day; breakfast, lunch, bed, teatime, bed. 7:30/12:30/17:00/20:05.

Mission Impossible...Mission Impossible II...Mission Impossible III...

So, the seatbelt sign will be switched on at some point as I'm coming in to land. But, my hermit lifestyle has given me the time to run through my life with a fine tooth comb, (although my short-term memory is a bit dodgy) and this has meant that I have been able to re-examine events in my life from childhood memories right up to the present day (although my short-term memory is a bit dodgy).

The result of this forensic exploration? I have had a fabulous life. My Catholic infused education was woefully inadequate. It would be a nice to have learned a little about Darwin and his Satanic Verse, "Origin of Species."  But, apart from that it has gone spectacularly well. (I'd love to have a proper session in a pub but my hands are too weak and I'm not drinking Guinness through a straw. I'd end up with a hernia.)

I still enjoy my life, my family, my friends. My beautiful daughter reads, "Cold Comfort Farm", I listen to music old and new, I’m learning a bit about Darwin, confirming my atheism through the consciousness-raising works of Richard Dawkins, and I'm going to be able to get to the garden if it's a good summer which it will be even if it rains! I'm not in any pain, my voice still works and my brain is still ticking over nicely (although my short-term memory is a bit dodgy.)

Regrets? Apart from missing "Brtain's First High Definition Election Night Broadcast" on Sky, I lean towards Edith rather than Frank.

I have no advice on how to live life. Except this; (a) grab life by the ears every day and French kiss it to the ground and (b) don't get to old age clutching a list headed, "I wish I'd......"  I haven't got one. Mind you, I had no plan to begin with. Life just happened and took me along with it. Fabulous fun. 

...and I get by with a little help from my friends.

Jim Sweeney @'My Space'

Sweetest moment of the UK election!