Tuesday, 11 May 2010

'Oot mah way!'

This remind you of anything Rodda?

(you know like the disappearing mountain bike from the pole outside the Twee Prinsen? Sorry man - but it was fugn hilarious! For us NOT you...)

BP 'may stem oil with golf balls and tyres'

This the move for a Labour-LibDem coalitation???

Gordon Brown 'stepping down as Labour leader'

Gordon Brown has been prime minister for nearly three years

Gordon Brown has said he is stepping down as Labour Party leader.

Mr Brown, prime minister since 2007, said he wanted a successor to be in place by the time of the party's conference in September.
Mr Brown announced his intention to quit in a statement in Downing St in which he also said his party was to start formal talks with the Lib Dems.
The Conservatives won the most seats and most votes in the election and have been in talks with the Lib Dems.
Mr Brown said no party had won an overall majority in the UK general election and, as Labour leader, he had to accept his part in that.
He said he had no desire to stay in his position longer than was needed to form a stable government, and that he would ask the Labour Party to set in form the process of a leadership contest.
He said it could be in the interests of the country to form a "progressive" government - possibly in coalition with the Lib Dems - the UK's third largest party.
It emerged earlier that the Lib Dem negotiating team, who have held days of talks with the Conservatives, had also met senior Labour figures in private.
The BBC's political editor Nick Robinson said one of the stumbling blocks to any Lib Dem-Labour deal had been Mr Brown himself.\

@'BBC'

BREAKING: Gordon Brown Resigns

A must read (coming soon)

Reviews

“In this path-breaking book, Polakow-Suransky traces the evolution of the alliance between Israel and apartheid South Africa, from its murky beginning to its inglorious end, following the transition to majority rule. It is based on the most meticulous archival research supplemented by remarkably revealing interviews with decision-makers in several countries. Wise, elegantly written, and strikingly fair-minded, it deserves the widest possible readership.”
—Avi Shlaim, author of The Iron Wall: Israel and the Arab World

“Interesting, unique, and telling. Its lesson is very clear: doing the right thing may also be the best political option. It also tells us that sometimes we need others to save us from ourselves.”
—Yossi Beilin, justice minister of Israel, 1999-2001

“A major, long-overdue study of the rise and demise of one of the most intriguing alliances of our time. Polakow-Suransky has written a masterfully researched history that reads like a thriller unraveling the secrets of an alliance between two embattled societies under siege. Woven into the author’s fascinating narrative lies the disturbing debate about the degree of moral end political congruence that might have existed between the two allies—Israel’s political and defense establishment on the one hand and the Afrikaner ‘master race’ on the other.”
—Shlomo Ben-Ami, foreign minister of Israel, 2000-2001

“An intensely observed, eye-opening book.”
—Kirkus Reviews

Product Description

A revealing account of how Israel’s booming arms industry and apartheid South Africa’s international isolation led to a secretive military partnership between two seemingly unlikely allies.

Prior to the Six-Day War, Israel was a darling of the international left: socialist idealists like David Ben-Gurion and Golda Meir vocally opposed apartheid and built alliances with black leaders in newly independent African nations. South Africa, for its part, was controlled by a regime of Afrikaner nationalists who had enthusiastically supported Hitler during World War II.

But after Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories in 1967, the country found itself estranged from former allies and threatened anew by old enemies. As both states became international pariahs, their covert military relationship blossomed: they exchanged billions of dollars’ worth of extremely sensitive material, including nuclear technology, boosting Israel’s sagging economy and strengthening the beleaguered apartheid regime.

By the time the right-wing Likud Party came to power in 1977, Israel had all but abandoned the moralism of its founders in favor of close and lucrative ties with South Africa. For nearly twenty years, Israel denied these ties, claiming that it opposed apartheid on moral and religious grounds even as it secretly supplied the arsenal of a white supremacist government.

Sasha Polakow-Suransky reveals the previously classified details of countless arms deals conducted behind the backs of Israel’s own diplomatic corps and in violation of a United Nations arms embargo. Based on extensive archival research and exclusive interviews with former generals and high-level government officials in both countries, The Unspoken Alliance tells a troubling story of Cold War paranoia, moral compromises, and Israel’s estrangement from the left. It is essential reading for anyone interested in Israel’s history and its future.

PREORDER @'Amazon'

Hardcover: 336 pages
Publisher: Pantheon (May 25, 2010)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0375425462
ISBN-13: 978-0375425462

Bill Hicks - It's Just A Ride

The BIG Picture - A brief note from the editor

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?

Monday, 10 May 2010

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'