Aug 24, 2004
Behold The Eurocar
The European Union has put its best bureaucratic minds together in a bid to dominate the automotive market.
Hope the guy doesn’t mind me Photoshopping the background out of the page. If he does, I will mollify him by linking to his main page. (He’s a quite talented artist and designer, doing work for the likes of Sony and Microsoft.)
Quite…
Aug 23, 2004
When being P.O.ed is a good thing…
Hot on the heels of launching our merchandise line and my having an excellent phone chat with our pinch-hit guitarist Mitch Benn, we have made some more progress. But not before the usual amount of dramas and bizarreness. Jon was off in Malta last week until early Sunday and Rob was off dealing with various familial dramas. Nevertheless, John and I were determined to audition a possible guitarist in the form of Per-Ove (aka P.O.) on Saturday. Per-Ove, friend of Birger and Anders claimed he could play a mean guitar. But first, the drama of the day.
John was out with a client until late afternoon. Not a problem for a Norwegian and a rocker, that is for certain. Eventually John joined us for a drink. It was on the way back that things got odd. In the time it took John to get to us and have a belt, some arsehat had glued his front-door lock so we couldn’t get in. A quick return to the pub and the acquisition of Gav, assistant manager and solver of problems, resulted in our getting back into John’s flat. This was not until after Gav and John had to break in the back way, after scaling a wall. Very rock & roll, especially considering the brick used for entry bounced at least once.
It was not for naught, however, as Per-ove impressed John and me with his guitar skills. I wasn’t too surprised, as we had a chat in the pub and turns out he has been playing for 14 years (he is 28) with live experience. He was also the man responsible for the guitars on the drunken song-writing session that happened after the beer-festival. We went through a few of our songs and he heard the demo in all its glory. Most amusing moment of the evening was his description of my vocals as “a bit death-metal"; yes it was meant as a compliment. He then went on to describe how he liked the juxapostion between my scratchy growl and the backing vocals.
After hitting the music curfew, P.O. and I headed back into London. While I joined Birger and Anders for a few more beers in the company of two lovely Swedish ladies on Hoxton Square, P.O. went home, content. Per-Ove might be a break from the norm…a sensible guitarist!
A poser
9/11 was supposed to be 9/18? It does make a wee bit of sense.
Janet Jackson: my tit was a distraction!
Drudge reports that Janet Jackson believes this
was used by President Bush to distract from the Iraqi war. Of course, accusing her of bringing this up again to distract people’s attention from her brothers child molestation trial would be unreasonable.
Via: Telemachus
Walter Block on S,DandR&R
Yesterday I wrote to Walter Block regarding his critique on a recent Wall Street Journal piece on libertarianism. Out of curiosity I sent the link to my piece on the subject. I am not sure I entirely agree with his critique of my piece, but I welcome it none-the-less. I frequently get into friendly debates with fellow libertarians who are more of theoretical nature than a practical one.
Thanks for your comments on my piece:
Block, Walter. 8/21/04. “Libertarianism and ‘Sex, Drugs, and Rock ‘n’ Roll’” http://www.lewrockwell.com/block/block42.html
I am sorry to have to be critical of a fellow libertarian’s writings, but I can’t see my way clear to agreeing with your contention that R&R IS libertarianism. In my view, it is no more quintessentially libertarian than any other non aggressive act, such as playing checkers, eating eggs.
I think you are in danger of conflating libertarianism and libertinism, two very different things. On this see my:
Block, Walter. 1994. “Libertarianism vs. Libertinism,” The Journal of Libertarian Studies: An Interdisciplinary Review, Vol. 11, No. 1, pp. 117-128; http://www.mises.org/journals/jls/11_1/11_1_6.pdf
Best regards,
Walter
Two on the free-staters
“Thousands of voters who say the country’s two-party system has become too homogenous, bureaucratic and inept have begun a pilgrimage to New England with the dream of starting a new party that will become a national force and unite legions of the equally disenfranchised.’Most elections are like trying to get lunch out of a vending machine,’ said Philip Boncer, 41, a biomedical engineer from San Diego. ‘You have choices, but they’re all bad for you. Democrats are increasing regulations and the strain on business, and Republicans are increasing moral laws.’” (08/22/04)
And some entire towns in Vermont want in…
“They may not wear breeches or padded doublets. Nor do they boycott tea. But a group of 21st-century revolutionaries in Vermont say they want nothing short of a tax revolt. Their plan? Secede to New Hampshire as a means to save millions in property taxes they say unfairly penalize resort communities across the state. The push began in Killington, a ski town of 1,000 some 25 miles east of the New Hampshire border, where residents voted last spring to explore the practicalities of becoming Granite Staters. Now there are similar rumblings in Dorset, Manchester and Ludlow.” (08/23/04)
Both these bits of Free State news come via Rational Review.
Blog-link stop
First out of the jump-gate is the Symphony and this week it has a Bab5 theme. But, egads, no Ivanova?
You ever wanted to have your own merchandise? Well Murray wants to handle it for you. He seems to have figured out a way of actually making money on the deal.
Oh yeah and some leftie twat is labelling me (and everyone else he doesn’t like) a racist. Most amusing and entirely predictable.
If that doesn’t suit your fancy how about an The Idiots Guide To Blood Sacrifice? You can never be too careful when sarcrificing something to your favoured god/goddess/daemon?
This is not blog related but; has anyone noticed the new Skittles advert campaign (print) in the UK? It features some bloke eating the candy while tentacles coming for him from this giant evil-eyed mass squirms in the background. Methinks valiant fighters against the Great Old One should avoid the candy at all cost! You have been warned!
krej a llits si desrever yrreK
Kerry: “When I was a young man, he was in the state department stationed in Berlin when it and the world were divided between democracy and communism.” The silly mark, may you succumb (A desire to see the continuing fall of communism)
Kerry: “I am determined now to restore that pride to all who look to America.” Bush gone with war (Implying that Bush’s priorities are with war)
Kerry: “We have it in our power to change the world but only if we are true to our ideals.” I found it in the hill (A reference to Capitol Hill. He believe power lies in the (Capitol) Hill.)
Some people have got way too much time on their hands. The above excerpts were taken from John Kerry’s acceptance speech at the Democratic convention. The bolded portions are allegedly “reverse speech,” an interpretation of phrases heard when (you guessed it) you play the tape backwards. To quote from the website:
It has been called the discovery of the 7th sense. The research into this phenomenon has been described as being of “Nobel calibre". It has been featured in numerous publications around the world, and in the United States it became a household name in the late 90s. It is called Reverse Speech, the phenomenon of hidden backward messages in speech. It initially gained worldwide fame in the early 80s as those strange backward messages in rock and roll. Since that time, research has progressed significantly and it is now known to exist in all forms of human speech.
If human speech is recorded and played backwards, mixed amongst the gibberish at regular intervals can be heard very clear statements. These statements usually appear in short sentence form and are nearly always related to the forward speech. It appears constantly throughout language, so much so in fact, that it is believed to be a natural part of our speech processes.
Uh-huh. The guy deserves some kind of award, I guess (what a maroon) for actually listening to the entire speech backwards. Though maybe it was an improvement over the forwards version.
There’s much more here. He also has “analysed” GWB as well. Bush is much more profane, and “says” things like hide the filthy nigger, but he is a Republican, so that’s no surprise.
Aug 22, 2004
The Enemy within?
The newspapers have in the last week carried two stories which demonstrate the blindness and ignorance of a certain type of Left Wing Liberal Intellectual. Unfortunately they also happen to be in government, in charge of our universities and of large swathes of the media, the BBC being a prime example of the latter. There is an absolute refusal among this group to acknowledge their errors, to admit that they have promoted some of the world’s worst tyrants as “model” statesmen, and to recognise the fact that “socialist” ideals and models work only when enforced by tyranny!
One example is the refusal by the left to acknowledge that their hero of the “model” socialist state - Russia - a certain Joseph Stalin, was an even worse mass murderer and genocidal maniac than Hitler. Such luminaries of the left as Andre Gide, George Bernard Shaw, Bertold Brest, Pablo Picasso, Jean Paul Sarte sang the praises of this monster even as he was describing them as “useful idiots!” Labour party members Beatrice Webb and her husband Sidney wrote a book lauding the Soviet model as “The New Civilisation", conveniently ignoring the gulags, the death camps, and the mass displacement of populations, either writing them off as “Facist Propaganda” or “necessary for the good of the people!” A pity some of them could not have been made to live in the “model” society they thought so wonderful. Even H G Wells fell under this illusion and wrote praising that monstrous system.
In our day, the unmasking of certain Oxford Academics as Soviet KGB informers is greeted by the Intelligentsia not with repugnance for their deeds, but with howls of outrage that these traitors should have been publically identified. This present government has even decorated one of the worst of them, Eric Hobsbawm, a Communist Party member who, as a historian, has had a huge influence peddling his warped version of the evil communist regime, but was awarded the decoration of Companion of Honour almost as soon as that disgraceful apology for a Prime Minister, currently enjoying his usual freeloading holidays, came to power! Hogsbawm is still lauded and feted in New Labour circles, ignoring his disgraceful support for the Russian invasions of Hungary and Czechoslovakia and his continued promotion of Communism as an “ideal state” despite the evidence of its failure.
This blindness to fault extends into many other areas of policy as well - and the tragedy for this nation is that these are the cretins who make the laws! …
D&D turns 30
Boy, this makes me feel a wee bit old. As it’s an NPR report they have a helpful audio clip entitled Hear D and D players roll the dice in a fantasy battle with nefarious foes. Quote: why they felt this necessary is beyond me.
Mater assures me that the overall report is not as patronising as you would expect from NPR.
Alice to anti-Bush musos.
Alice Cooper is not impressed with anti-Bush musicians. Or rather with anti-Bush musicians who use their celebrity to oust the President.
“To me, that’s treason. I call it treason against rock ‘n’ roll because rock is the antithesis of politics. Rock should never be in bed with politics,” says the 56-year-old Cooper, who begins a 15-city Canadian tour on Aug. 20 in Thunder Bay, Ont.
Quite.
SS Ver 2.0 goof
Here is the rest of Statism Sucks! Ver 2.o I didn’t realise the end was cut off of my original posting.
Aug 21, 2004
Touch your inner Viking…
Not only do you get to slaughter god-botherers monks; you learn something as well! Post your scores in the comments section. To the longships!
Points: 863
Found this via the Cthulhu-appreciating Ghost.
In Space, Nobody Can Hear You Scream
You probably recall this guy from the Olympics.
Painted on his chest and back were advertisements for Golden Palace, an Internet casino, which is also sponsoring the Canadian entry in the Ansari X Prize, the $10 million contest to develop a relaunchable sub-orbital space vehicle.
Golden Palace’s contribution is not entirely altruistic, of course. It has the dream – a crazy, groovy, far-out dream, sure – of eventually establishing the first Casino In Space.
Evan Kirchhoff rides the rocket to the logical conclusion:
In the future, you will be able to pay $100,000 to be transported into orbit around the Earth, humanity’s only home, a glistening blue jewel against the vast black unfeeling cosmos, and play Pai Gow Poker on a website. If they add online bill-paying and tax preparation software, I am so there.
Reaching out for world peace
Today BBC R4 announced “There has been tension between Moslems and Jews in France over Middle East policy”.
“Tension between?”
I guess that’s when Moslems attack Jews, and Jews retaliate by ruthlessly increasing prayer and emigration. Haven’t heard of Mohamed getting kicked into the gutter by a bunch of Ultra Orthodox Yeshiva boys up to no good.
Is this the same “tension between” peace loving Nazis and sneaky Germany Jews.
Or perhaps the “tension between” rapists and victims?
I guess this is the Left’s famed ‘cycle of violence’.
You gotta hand it to the French though, can’t see the our Socialist Government banning an Arab channel over a bit of Jew baiting. Killing foxes, yes. Jews.. naah.
Let me get this straight. Britain will grow and prosper into a healthy multicultural society, while much of the Moslem population brings its children up on a healthy TV diet of race hate propaganda, death glorification, and the hope of religious dictatorship.
I don’t know about you guys, but I’m starting to think this isn’t going to work out promised.
No racism here
Aug 20, 2004
Judenhaas oneupmanship
Not be outdone by those judenhaas Egyptian journalists, the Saudi Armed Forces Journal are attempting to take back the title of biggest bunch of judenhaas scum in the world. Basically: anything bad in the world is the fault of guess who?
Speaking of judenhaas scum, or rather their apologists: Oliver has unleashed another torrent against the left-wing version. It is a long piece, but well worth the read.
Colby on Canuck Defence
In yet another one of Colby’s briliiant pieces, he slaps down the hypocritical attitudes of Canadians towards continental defence.
Blunkett record…
Blunkett and his cronies are enamored with monitoring everyone’s activities. Yet can they stop street crime? Nope, Birger, a mate of mine just had his Ipod mini ripped out of his hand. In the spring, my mother had a similar thing happen with her phone.
