1. The first screw to get loose in your head is the one that holds your tongue in place.
2. You're only young once. After that it takes some other excuse for behaving like an idiot.
3. Even if the majority agrees on an idiotic idea, it is still an idiotic idea.
4. There are more important things in life than money. The trouble is they all cost money.
5. On sex education in schools: Let them teach it! If the schools teach sex the way they teach everything else, the kids will lose interest anyhow.
6. Somewhere on this globe a woman is giving birth to a child every ten seconds. She must be found and stopped.
7. You must learn from the mistakes of others. You can't possibly live long enough to make them all yourself.
8. I admit that my wife is outspoken, but by whom?
9. Insanity is hereditary. You can get it from your children.
10. Lead us not into temptation. Just tell us where it is; we'll find it.
Friday, February 15, 2008
Amazing Tool, courtesy of NASA
World Wind is an interactive world map that looks great and has the efficiency and simplicity of Google. Along with the basic geographic longitudes and latitudes, there is an endless source of geographical information.
LAYER MANAGER button offers you to choose the types of information World Wind will deliver: satellite, geo-satellite or aerial photographs. Every corner of the planet is visible and can be viewed. The final range of the browser ends with 100 metres from the surface. World Wind has obvious graphic superiority and accuracy of data, and it is becoming increasingly better connected with the rest of online open source contents daily.
PLACEFINDER tool - after choosing a location one can get abundance of information about it from encyclopaedic sources; images, maps and animations of immeasurable geographical significance. It is also in a real-time mode in which data and images of the virtual globe are only one or two days old.
I love the mission and alleged purpose of this program: To inspire the next generation of explorers!
Check it out!
So after over 60 years...
Germany launches the Tintin-style comic Book called `The Search` that tells the story of Esther, a fictional Jewish survivor of the Holocaust. Schools will aim to teach underprivileged children about the Nazi era. Germany now has the world's fastest growing Jewish community, with 220,000 arriving from the former Soviet Union since 1990. Racist violence remains a big problem there, and the revival of a Jewish community has brought a rise in anti-Semitism with it.
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Now, this is unexpected
What a combination...
Scarlett Johansson has worked with Tom Waits on the LP 'Anywhere I Lay My Head' which is coming out in May. Waits was "very pleased" with her vocal talent. She said: "Tom Waits' melodies are so beautiful and his voice is so distinct. I sent him some of my early, early recordings, and he said, 'Go ahead.'" Almost all songs are covers of Waits' songs. David Bowie and Yeah Yeah Yeahs guitarist Nick Zinner also worked on the record.
Can't wait to hear that one...
Scarlett Johansson has worked with Tom Waits on the LP 'Anywhere I Lay My Head' which is coming out in May. Waits was "very pleased" with her vocal talent. She said: "Tom Waits' melodies are so beautiful and his voice is so distinct. I sent him some of my early, early recordings, and he said, 'Go ahead.'" Almost all songs are covers of Waits' songs. David Bowie and Yeah Yeah Yeahs guitarist Nick Zinner also worked on the record.
Can't wait to hear that one...
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Monday, February 11, 2008
Another interesting documentary
Kevin Macdonald's film, The Last King of Scotland, was a fictionalised account of Idi Amin. Now, Macdonald has raised the intriguing possibility that Che Guevara's capture by the CIA in the forests of Bolivia 40 years ago was orchestrated by Klaus Barbie, the Nazi war criminal called the 'Butcher of Lyon'. Barbie was the Gestapo chief in Lyon whose crimes included the murder of 44 Jewish children, taken from an orphanage and sent to Auschwitz. Improbably, the men's paths crossed in Bolivia. My Enemy's Enemy, a documentary directed by Macdonald, examines how Barbie's record was disregarded when he was recruited by US intelligence after the Second World War as a useful tool against communism. He evaded French justice by fleeing to Bolivia where, living under the alias Klaus Altmann, he was welcomed by fascist sympathisers. In 1966 a disguised Guevara arrived in Bolivia to organise the overthrow of its military dictatorship.
The Americans had been hunting Guevara and turned to Barbie for his first-hand knowledge of counter-guerrilla warfare: he had attempted to crush the French Resistance and was responsible for the death of its celebrated leader, Jean Moulin. Barbie met Major Shelton, the commander of the unit from the US, and gave him advice on how to fight this guerrilla war. Barbie had little respect for Che Guevara. He said once, "This poor man wouldn't have survived at all if he fought in the Second World War. He was a pitiful adventurer, nothing like his popular image. The people have turned him into a myth, a great figure. But what has he actually achieved? Absolutely nothing".' I suppose Barbie himself thought he had achieved a whole lot...
The Che claim came from several sources. In October 1967 the Bolivian army, with CIA help, captured the 39-year-old Guevara and killed him.
Barbie was involved in torture again in Bolivia and dreamed of establishing a Fourth Reich in the Andes. But he was tracked down by Nazi hunters and eventually extradited to France, where he was sentenced to life imprisonment and died in jail in Lyon in September 1991.
The Americans had been hunting Guevara and turned to Barbie for his first-hand knowledge of counter-guerrilla warfare: he had attempted to crush the French Resistance and was responsible for the death of its celebrated leader, Jean Moulin. Barbie met Major Shelton, the commander of the unit from the US, and gave him advice on how to fight this guerrilla war. Barbie had little respect for Che Guevara. He said once, "This poor man wouldn't have survived at all if he fought in the Second World War. He was a pitiful adventurer, nothing like his popular image. The people have turned him into a myth, a great figure. But what has he actually achieved? Absolutely nothing".' I suppose Barbie himself thought he had achieved a whole lot...
The Che claim came from several sources. In October 1967 the Bolivian army, with CIA help, captured the 39-year-old Guevara and killed him.
Barbie was involved in torture again in Bolivia and dreamed of establishing a Fourth Reich in the Andes. But he was tracked down by Nazi hunters and eventually extradited to France, where he was sentenced to life imprisonment and died in jail in Lyon in September 1991.
Friday, February 8, 2008
Conspiracy - a must see series
Chicken...crossing the road, of course
Robert De Niro:
Are you telling me the chicken crossed that road? Is that what you're telling me?
Martin Luther King, Jr:
I envision a world where all chickens, be they black or white or brown or red or speckled, will be free to cross roads without having their motives called into question.
Grandpa:
In my day, we didn't ask why the chicken crossed the road. Someone told us that the chicken crossed and that was good enough for us.
Captain James T Kirk:
To boldly go where no chicken has gone before.
Sigmund Freud:
The fact that you are at all concerned that the chicken crossed the road reveals your underlying sexual insecurity. How do you feel about your mother?
The C.I.A:
Who told you about the chicken? Did you see the chicken? There was no chicken. Please step into the car.
Albert Einstein:
Did the chicken really cross the road or did the road move beneath the chicken?
Bill Clinton:
I did not cross the road with THAT chicken. What do you mean by chicken? Could you define the word 'chicken'.
Homer Simpson:
Mmmm Chicken.
Are you telling me the chicken crossed that road? Is that what you're telling me?
Martin Luther King, Jr:
I envision a world where all chickens, be they black or white or brown or red or speckled, will be free to cross roads without having their motives called into question.
Grandpa:
In my day, we didn't ask why the chicken crossed the road. Someone told us that the chicken crossed and that was good enough for us.
Captain James T Kirk:
To boldly go where no chicken has gone before.
Sigmund Freud:
The fact that you are at all concerned that the chicken crossed the road reveals your underlying sexual insecurity. How do you feel about your mother?
The C.I.A:
Who told you about the chicken? Did you see the chicken? There was no chicken. Please step into the car.
Albert Einstein:
Did the chicken really cross the road or did the road move beneath the chicken?
Bill Clinton:
I did not cross the road with THAT chicken. What do you mean by chicken? Could you define the word 'chicken'.
Homer Simpson:
Mmmm Chicken.
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
"Delicate" Art
The Centre for Recent Drawing art gallery in a London, England, suburb scheduled a series of 55 works by artist Jordan McKenzie, called "Spent," even though they consist merely of canvases onto which he had ejaculated and covered with carbon sprinkles. McKenzie maintained that the works were "heartfelt and delicate."
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
Metropia - Our Future?
Swedish animated feature film for adults is taking place in a near future in Europe. The world is running out of oil and the net of undergrounds has been connected, creating an enormous web underneath Europe. Roger from a Stockholm suburb tries to stay away from the underground, however one day he finds out that his life is controlled in every detail (Matrix?). He tries to break free, and in order to succeed he needs super-model Nina to help him...
It is a mix of animated and non-animated scenes. Voices by Juliette Lewis (Natural Born Killers) and Vincent Gallo (Buffalo '66). Sounds like a good one.
Monday, February 4, 2008
Hexes and Sexes
FBI was investigating Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction (SIGIR), and found that the deputy director of that office, Ginger Cruz, a self-described Wiccan, had been threatening to place hexes on employees if they co-operated with outsiders' evaluations of the agency. The Director of SIGIR, Stuart Bowen, who was a former aide to President Bush, commissioned a book telling the history of the SIGIR, and also claimed printing cost of the book to be millions of dollars. He was "dating on government time", had unexplained absences from work and did some cover ups on time sheets to hide the absences. Former employees accuse him of taking non-work related trips to Texas and France, but counting it as paid time.
Bowen inteds to run for congress in Virginia...
Bowen inteds to run for congress in Virginia...
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Satellite on the lookout
As you know, an out-of-control the size of a small bus US spy satellite, whose engine had failed, is plummeting out of its orbit and is expected to crash somewhere on the planet within weeks. It has been claimed that a spy satellite heading uncontrollably towards Earth is not an uncommon event. Satellites come out of orbit and fall back to Earth harmlessly on average once a year. Normally, when US spy satellites reach the end of their lives, they are disposed of through a controlled re-entry and dumped in the Pacific Ocean, so that no-one can learn their secrets (!!!!). However, older satellites are often more difficult to de-orbit properly.
When they re-enter they usually burn up in the atmosphere because a lot of heat has developed and there is a lot of friction. Only heat-resistant or very heavy objects will survive. There is a risk in this case that something will hit the ground.
Officials have no idea where it might land but they are keeping other countries abreast of the situation. By now the satellite is around 200km up, and it's falling by almost 1km a day. So it is expected it will hit the top of the Earth's atmosphere by the end of February or early March.
24 hours before it hits the ground they can predict ground track very well (the line over the Earth where the satellite is overflying). An hour or so beforehand experts might know roughly where the satellite will land - but it is only rough because the line is something like 10,000km long.
The pieces are believed will drop into the sea somewhere ( given that almost three-quarters of the Earth's surface is covered by water). There is the possibility, however, that they could land in Russia or China. Now, with all the "secrets" aboard, we'll see what happens next!
When they re-enter they usually burn up in the atmosphere because a lot of heat has developed and there is a lot of friction. Only heat-resistant or very heavy objects will survive. There is a risk in this case that something will hit the ground.
Officials have no idea where it might land but they are keeping other countries abreast of the situation. By now the satellite is around 200km up, and it's falling by almost 1km a day. So it is expected it will hit the top of the Earth's atmosphere by the end of February or early March.
24 hours before it hits the ground they can predict ground track very well (the line over the Earth where the satellite is overflying). An hour or so beforehand experts might know roughly where the satellite will land - but it is only rough because the line is something like 10,000km long.
The pieces are believed will drop into the sea somewhere ( given that almost three-quarters of the Earth's surface is covered by water). There is the possibility, however, that they could land in Russia or China. Now, with all the "secrets" aboard, we'll see what happens next!
Oh, Almighty!
Relative to strengthening their commitment to Islam, many men in Egypt suddenly appeared to start getting dark calluses on their foreheads ("raisins") as a signal of perhaps-overenthusiastic daily praying. The five prayers require, in all, 34 contacts with the ground (of forehead and nose), and additional personal prayers add to the total. Rumors persist that some men use sandpaper to darken the calluses to appear even more pious...
*************
At Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, where Roman Catholic, Greek Orthodox and Armenian clerics share space at the site thought to be the birthplace of Jesus, some Orthodox faithful wandered into the Armenian section during Christmas season, and officials of both faiths squared off and flailed at each other with brooms before being separated by Palestinian police...
*************
At Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, where Roman Catholic, Greek Orthodox and Armenian clerics share space at the site thought to be the birthplace of Jesus, some Orthodox faithful wandered into the Armenian section during Christmas season, and officials of both faiths squared off and flailed at each other with brooms before being separated by Palestinian police...
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
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