To die or not to die

Euthanasia has been in the news lately here in the UK. There are those who want to be put out of their misery due to terminal illness, and there are others that say it in-humane to do so. In-humane? What about the thousands of pets and other animals such as horses that are killed humanely just because they are old and/or in pain. Who campaigns for their lives? Certainly not the animal liberation terrorists. How can we say that it is wrong to put a human being out of their misery and yet not bat an eyelid when it comes to an animal. Humane ideals has two faces it seems. Moblogged via Gmail - Edited and then published later for layout purposes

Fiction threatens Catholics

Now that the Da Vinci Code has been released on the big screen, those wacky Catholics are claiming it threatens the teachings of it's faith. I think I'm missing something here. The book, The Da Vinci Code, is a work of fiction. It is a collection of conspiracy theories all put together to form a plot for the book. Or is it? If we are to believe the Catholics claim that there is a threat to them from this book, then there must be a grain of truth somewhere in it. Work of fiction or work of partial fact. Which is it? Moblogged via Gmail - Edited and then published later for layout purposes

Priest - Nun - Ritulistic murder?

Suddenly the Roman Catholic church gets interesting. The best comment of this case comes from a supporter of the disgraced priest who told Ms Vercellotti: "I hope you rot in hell." Very forgiving.

Godless and proud of it

I was reading the Daily Express today, and I came across this in the letters page... It's time this great nation rediscovered its very soul In the 1940s we did not have cars, TVs, washing machines, fridge freezers, telephones, central heating, personal computers, holidays abroad or stress counsellors and security guards. But then neither did we have muggings, joyriding, road rage, happy slapping, druggies, hoodies, lager louts, football hooligans, New Age travellers and Islamic clerics spewing out hatred. Litter, graffiti and vandalism were almost unheard of. Although the early Forties has come to symbolise a time of danger, hardship and depression (which it certainly was), nevertheless it was safer on the streets and in the home. All of which surely begs the question, what on earth has gone wrong? Today, vigorously responding to a mugging or burglary can result in the victim being incarcerated and the offender being cautioned. We have regrettably become a godless, spiritually impoverished society which desperately needs to restore the Christian values on which this once-great nation functioned and to discard the constraints of political correctness, which crushes our individuality and suffocates our very souls. Jim Price, Moulton, North Hants If I get a message of censorship from either the Daily Express or Mr Jim Price telling me to delete this post, then we will know just how free this country is. So, on to my thoughts paragraph by paragraph... All these products (except for personal computers which was a product of the 1970s) were too expensive for the general public to own. Yes you did have muggings, they are as old as time and were not invented recently. Joyriding and road rage are a product of the ever increasing use of the car. Something which you pointed out was not in the hands of the general public. Happy slapping involves the use of a mobile phone to take pictures and/or video of the event, which I am sure you will agree were not around in the 1940s. Druggies: Victorian England, nuff said. Hoodies are a product of fashion. (Remember Teddyboys of the 1950s and 1960s?) Lager louts are again not a new product. Read this PDF file from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation Here's a few facts about Football hooligans What's wrong with New Age travellers? Do you really mean Gypsy travellers who do not respect the land they camp on and leave it an eyesore when they move on? "Islamic clerics spewing out hatred" - Religious history is full of different clerics and prophets spewing out hatred. Litter, graffiti and vandalism - Litter is a by-product of the throw away culture we now live in, graffiti is just another form of marking ones own territory and vandalism, well Britain had already just been vandalised by the bombs of the NAZI’s. I doubt that you could have vandalised it any more. I quite agree that the early Forties was "a time of danger, hardship and depression." Bombs falling on you would certainly contribute to that, which is why I can not understand why you say that it was "safer on the streets and in the home." As for your question, you could easily have asked "what on earth has gone right?" It is just like asking how long is a piece of string? Vigorously responding to a mugging or burglary is wrong. That is not self-defence. Join a martial arts course or ask your local authority on how to take a SIA course. You do not have to be a doorman (or door supervisor in this politically correct day and age) to take the course. I did one and it taught me a lot about what is considered "reasonable force" when sub-dueing someone. No "vigorously responding" needed. Here we come to the meat of the rant/letter. Why is it that people say that our current problems in society are created by the lack of god in our lives? Christians, read your bible again. God is an evil and vindictive being. He could quite easily teach us a thing or two about how to do things even more badly. Look at all the wars that were started in the name of Christianity. Do I have to remind you about the Spanish Inquisition? I agree with Mr Price about political correctness. Can anyone tell me why I have to address the "chair" and not the chairman or chairwoman? Does that mean a manhole cover is actually just a hole cover or a personhole cover? What about Menstruation? I just found this on the problems of political correctness. So, do a bit of fact finding first - engage the brain before engaging the mouth or pen hand.

Sheep + Asteroids = FUN!

Sheep are fluffy! Sheep are docile! Sheep are food! Now sheep are cannon fodder! Sheepteroids GO SHEEPY FUN!!!

Humpty Dumpty

Here is a repost from an old blog of mine... Originally posted on Tuesday, May 25, 2004 I used to be all for the war against terror. I was, really. Maybe it was the destruction of the WTC that did it. Hell, I live in Britain and I am old enough to remember the IRA back in the 1980's. That was scary shit when you found yourself approaching Piccadily Train Station (Manchester, UK) only to be told that the train would be heading back because they (IRA) had bombed the crap out of it. Or being in the Trafford Centre (Shopping Mall) a week before it got trashed. I'm lucky, a lot of people died during the reign of terror under the IRA. But all that didn't faze me. I, and the rest of the UK just got on with life and coped with it. This is the second time I have tried putting down my thoughts about this. I still haven't come up with a title for this article. I knew it wouldn't be easy to write down. Many of my friends who really know me will probably be a bit surprised about what I am writing. Maybe I am still for the war against terror, just not what is being done in its name by our troops. What went wrong? Still haven't thought of a title. I have decided (just now) to put this article in the General category. Just thought of a title. Humpty Dumpty - For those who don't know it is a nursery rhyme which goes like this... Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall, Humpty Dumpty had a great fall. All the King's horses and all the King's men, couldn't put Humpty back together again. Rather apt I think. The whole point of this article is that we fucked up. Big style. It was the politicians that ended up running the show and not the Armed Forces. Before anyone says that our side would have done better, bullshit is all I can say. Leave the fighting to those who are trained in it. I think I'll leave it there before I lose even myself.

The Wand

Here is a good flash cartoon I just "Zen Browsed" onto... The Wand Finally, the truth behind Creationism vs Evolution! *grin*

Village Cricket

The season started yesterday for local cricket, and here in East Bierley it started with controversy. The visitors Saltaire were first in to bat, and after a poor start managed to pull back with a score of 160 all out. The weather had started out great but during East Bierley's innings the clouds rolled in and the light level fell. East Bierley started off well but as the light fell so did the wickets. At 149 for 5, Saltaire decided that the light was too bad to carry on. The Umpires agreed and the players left the field, leaving the two East Bierley batsmen on the crease. The East Bierley captain came out to put in an official complaint to the Umpires that the light would hold out for the remaining balls it would require to finish the game without abandoning it. The Umpires disagreed and that was that as far as the spectators knew. Much to everyones delight, the players came back out after 5 minutes, and within 10 minutes it was all over. A final 6 ensured victory for East Bierley with a score of 166 for 6. Moblogged via Gmail - Edited and then published later for layout purposes

Firefox 1 - MSIE 0

If it wasn't for the current hostilities between me and Firefox, I would not even touch Internet Explorer. Let me explain: for the past 2 years Firefox has refused to display a minority of webpages for me. Just me. Everyone else I have talked to have said that they don't have this problem. It has to be a registery conflict in Windows. And now if you view my site in any browser that uses the IE engine it doesn't display properly. Even they [the print firm] can't handle PDF files.I know what some of you are thinking... "dump Windows for Linux." If only it was that simple. Open Office is a great alternative for Microsoft Office (that just about takes the piss, my phone knows Microsoft but had to be taught Linux) that I can use under Linux, unfortunately my computer is used to create newsletters for a group that my mother is an editor for, and what they require is documents in Word format for the print firm. Even they [the print firm] can't handle PDF files. I know, Open Office can export to Word format, but I have to load the document into Word to re-jig the formatting so it looks the same. I'm at a loss here. Does anyone have a solution to my problem with this website? On a slightly lighter note, this blog seems to be turning into a Moblog. I have got to do something about that. Moblogged via GMail - Edited and then published later for layout purposes

Hmm...

Dunno what I did with the template. I bet it is one simple statement in the CSS section that will take a week to sort out. Oh hum! Edit - Firefox seems fine, except for some of the Adword ads not showing.