High Volumes of Traffic

http://www.flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=4260463&size=o&context=set-89655 Look at the amazing amount of traffic generated by the clients feeding LastFM. That is what I call 'high volume'.

For how much longer will we tolerate mass murder?

BRIGHTON, England -- British Prime Minister Tony Blair has apologized to an 82-year-old man who was thrown out of the Labour Party's annual meeting after heckling Foreign Secretary Jack Straw over the Iraq war.

Blair said stewards had been "overzealous" in their treatment of Walter Wolfgang, telling British television on Thursday: "I'm really sorry about it."

Wolfgang, a veteran peace campaigner who fled Nazi Germany as a Jewish refugee to make Britain his home, shouted "nonsense" at Straw on Wednesday as he said UK troops would remain in Iraq.

Stewards grabbed Wolfgang and physically removed him from the conference hall, prompting another delegate, Steve Forrest, to shout out a complaint about his treatment.

Forrest also was ejected from the conference center on Brighton's seafront.

Wolfgang tried to re-enter the conference venue but was stopped by police using powers under the Terrorism Act and had his pass confiscated, the UK's Press Association reported.

On Thursday, Blair told BBC television: "People are perfectly entitled to freedom of speech in our country and we should celebrate that fact and I'm really sorry about what happened to Walter and I've apologized to him.

"It's just an unfortunate thing that happened. The Labour Party has apologized. The chairman of the Labour Party and I have apologized to him."

On Wednesday night, Labour officials invited Wolfgang back to the conference Thursday provided he gave assurances he would not cause a disturbance.

"The Labour Party reserves its rights to remove from the conference site people who cause a persistent disturbance. However it is clear from TV footage that the way in which Mr. Wolfgang was removed was inappropriate," a party statement said.

The incident cast a shadow over the final session of the party's annual conference, as Blair was forced to field a series of questions about Wolfgang's treatment during a round of early morning broadcast interviews.

Wolfgang, from Richmond, southwest London, said he was approached by stewards after shouting "nonsense" as Straw was speaking.

Wolfgang said: "I shouted out 'nonsense.' That's all I said. Then these two toughies came round and wanted to manhandle me out.

"I said 'Do you want me to leave? I will leave, you don't need to manhandle me.' Physically, I am not too well, so I said I would follow them.

"Most of the Labour Party stewards are very nice people. One or two people lend themselves to this nonsense."

A Labour Party member of 57 years' standing, Wolfgang said: "It makes me feel that the people who resort to these tactics are very unsure of themselves and they are on the losing side." [...]

CNN

Well DUH, and my emphasis.

All the heckling and shouting in the world will not stop these people, "wake up, time to die..." I wonder just what it would take for someone like this to resign from the Labor party? Honestly, this man is a 'Jewish refugee as who fled Nazi Germany' Illegal invasions, bogus wars, unquestioned introduction of special powers, ID cards to be issued in response to a foreign threat, and then those powers used directly on you in front of millions without consequence...COME ON, how obvious do they have to make it?

And not that we needed any proof, but they used the terrorism act on this stupid man; just as everyone said, the police will use this legislation whenever they need it for any purpose not just the prevention of "terrorism", which now includes shouting out a single word of the english language.

The only reason why this man was apologised to was because they were all caught red handed on TV. Bliar all but admitted it himself; astonishing that he believes he can be exhonerated simply by granting apologies by the high priests of new labor, as if by virtue of their rank, the apology 'makes it all ok'.

"It's just an unfortunate thing that happened." The murderers of England are the unfortunate "thing" that has happened. They took over the great house, stripped off the wood paneling of the ancient rooms and burned them simply because the central heating went off in the middle of winter.

...newsflash...

Summer is icumen in!

17 year old warriors and posters under stairs

There are many references to the activities of Peter Hain, who is described as "an implacable enemy of apartheid over many years." Other individuals mentioned who, like Hain, are now government ministers include Richard Caborn and Fiona Mactaggart. The files also contain reports of local group meetings attended by as few as six people, of whom one must have been the police informant. At one point in the 1970s Special Branch noted that a new anti-apartheid movement group had been formed in Ealing by a 17-year-old schoolboy. At another point it is noted that a member of a local group has written a letter to the Guardian in defence of Tony Benn. On occasion the most low-key form of anti-apartheid movement activity was drawn to the attention of Special Branch. In 1982 they investigated the discovery of posters in "a shed under a fire escape at the back of a factory" in Barnet. In 1984 the Surrey Police Special Branch sent the Met a confidential telegram to report that a part-time worker at Sainsbury's in Croydon "is actively passing anti-apartheid literature to other members of staff". [...] http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4285964.stm You might well laugh at some of this, but as you finish your guffaw, think about what must be going on today, on a massive scale thanks to electronic communication. Then after you have thought about that, consider that none of the spying, reporting, and record keeping made a single bit of difference to the sucessful smashing of Apartheid. Anyone that is paranoid about targeted surveillance of blogs for example, has not paid much attention. No amount of surveillance can stop a tsunami or a hurricane or, topically, a sand storm. False Evidence Appearing Real is the greatest weapon that they have against you, and its a gun of your own ceation that you point at your own head, without anyone compelling you to do it. Peter Hain, today, a man of pure grease. Jack 'Straw Man' straw - accessory to mass murder. Both of these people in their youth were on the right side, and they can both of them, prove it. How did they both get turned to the Dark Side? It really is rather odd and horrifying to see how people go 180°....'I can overthrow the Emperor...we can make things the way we want them to be'... The darkest thought of all; Hain, Straw and the other back turners and Dark Siders are on the inside of the real truth, and are acting accordingly....Now that is truely scary...and no less probable than any other possibility.

Then there was a loud 'pop' noise....

http://wordpress.pvassar.net/index.php?p=433 A very shocking graph, even for non economists

The most otherworldly

Strip away their fake claims of grievance and see them for what they are: terrorists who use 21st century technology to fight a pre-medieval religious war that is utterly alien to the future of humankind. T. Bliar BBQ Probably the most 'parralell universe' statement he has ever made. By saying this... first of all, the people who peddle fake claims are named Bliar and the Neocons - 'Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)'. Those are the fake claims. And they are the only fake claims that matter in this case. Anyone who has a TV knows that the grievances that drive these people are anything but fake. They are absolutely real, a true outrage, really horrible and unforgivable. To say that these people's claims are 'fake' reduces them to animals; animals who don't have the right to dignity, true self determination (where THEY decide what form of government is best for them, not a cabal of murderers) and life. That is why they are doing what they are doing....uh oh, have I just justified terrrism?! 'My feet just touched Yankee soil; got to burn my boots!'. Speaking of anyone with a TV, if you have Sky and go to the numbers above 801, you can see 'The Islam Channel' that has all of the Ummacentric media you could want, in English. I guarantee you that the relevant people are watching these channels and not BBQ.

Boycott Supermarkets: the evidence

And here is a photo of the protest. It covers almost all the windows on this building!

The worst example of a drop down

This site has the worst implimentation of a drop down I have ever seen. This is the worst way to create a navigable list....astonishing miles long, not sort()ed...ghastly. Perhaps the guy who made this never expected it to be popular....you know how it is, you leave something running and before you know it, the disk is full, the pot has boiled over, the cake is burning, you are out of gas, you've reached your credit limit, the battery runs out, the ice has melted....like that.

Pensioners lead the way

Prison for tax protest pensioner

A retired social worker from Devon has become the first woman pensioner to be jailed in England for refusing to pay her council tax. Ms Hardy was cheered by supporters when she arrived at court, complete with a packed bag in expectation of serving a jail term. She was jailed after missing a deadline to settle arrears of £53.71. She said she was not afraid of going to prison. Before the case she said: "If we pay it now, if they keep on increasing the taxes like they are doing, we eventually won't be able to afford to pay the bills and then we will have no existence at all, no quality of life at all. "We'll just have to sit at our homes and do nothing. That is not for me." When told that it would cost tax-payers' more to send her to prison than it would for her to pay, she said: "What we're doing now could save them money in the long-run. [...] http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/devon/4280040.stm The old people in this country have got the right idea. Now imagine the ten million people who are against the illegal occupation in Iraq taking a similar disobedient action. It would cause a total panic in government and would initiate a 180° policy turnaround. Nothing strikes fear into the heart of government more than mass tax disobedience. The stop war people should replace their planning team with OAPs - it looks like they are the only ones that have a got a grip!

More marching?!

Incredibly the Stop War people are STILL marching. Thoussands of drones turned out again, on their own time (a Saturday) and at their ownn expense, to march, the same way they did last time. Something is terribly, frighteningly wrong with this behaviour. We all know that this marching business (after having had to test it for one last time) simply doesn't work to bring about policy changes. What kind of person keeps putting their hand in the fire after feeling the ferocious pain and smelling the singed flesh? They have even written a letter, signed by the great and the good (except Billy Bragg, he is niether great nor good) for what purpose heaven only knows. A million letters a million marchers none of it will do any good against people who will not be moved and who have absolute power. The only thing that will stop this outrage, and the outrage being planned on Iran is a complete withdrawing of all monies that are given to the government, en masse until they get the message that warmongering with your money is not going to be permitted, full stop. You will note that there has just been an announcement that there is yet another cash crisis in the NHS. It is absurd that billions of pounds are spend on these murderous and counterproductive adventures while everything falls to pieces all around us...this is perfectly clear. What is NOT clear is why people still believe that marching and petitioning are usefull tools. A hammer that cannot drive in a nail would be discarded after the first failure; marching and petitioning are precisely the same, and should have been thrown out long ago. It's high time that these people connect the dots and take an action that will actually have a result, or, go home stop blocking up the streets with their useless and self promoting displays of lemming logic, which not only has been proven not to work, but which actually gets people killed and takes away your liberty as the victims become ever more brutalized and hell bent on revenge. Finally, some of these pathetic creatures have been flypostering all over London with calls to march. Honestly, these people are beyond the pale.

Quelle Attitude!

Guide aims to help bloggers beat censors

Thursday, September 22, 2005 Posted: 1457 GMT (2257 HKT)

Copies of the handbook are displayed at the Apple Expo computer show in Paris.

RELATED

PARIS, France (AP) -- A Paris-based media watchdog has released an ABC guide of tips for bloggers and dissidents to sneak past Internet censors in countries from China to Iran.

Reporters Without Borders' "Handbook for Blogger and Cyber-Dissidents" is partly financed by the French government and includes technical advice on how to remain anonymous online. [...] http://edition.cnn.com/2005/TECH/internet/09/22/blog.handbook.ap/index.html ??!! This is the same French government that banned and then u-turned the use of cryptography by individuals not so long ago...hmmmm! Now thats what I call a 'u-turn'. Perhaps in their next u-turn they will promote the production of GSM telephones with real public key encryption so that everyone's calls cant be intercepted and listened to at will, like they are now. This would be another real u-turn because it was the French that developed the crackable / crippleable A5 algorithm that is used in all GSM phones. Here is a link to the guide.

Ethical Network

http://ethicalnetwork.org/essays/supermarkets.php A huge (and I mean HUGE) three story tall banner covering the entire facade of a house in central london has gone up to promote the above website. We have one farmers market every saturday morning near us, which we go to...great meat and pastry stalls, vegetable stall with edible flowers and yellow carrots on sale...excellent.

Portable devices rendered useless

2005-07-28 Thursday - Southwark, London 19:10 From my workplace in Southwark, South London, I arrange by text message (SMS) to meet my girlfriend at Hanover Square. To save time – as I suppose – I decide to the take the tube to Bond Street instead of my usual bus. I am wearing greenish Merrell shoes, black trousers, t-shirt, black lightweight Gap jumper, dark grey/black light rainproof Schott jacket and grey Top Shop cap. I am carrying a black rucksack I use as a workbag. 19:21 I enter Southwark tube station, passing uniformed police officers by the entrance, and more police beyond the gate. I walk down to the platform, peering down to see the steps as, thanks to a small eye infection, I'm wearing specs instead of my usual contact lenses. The platform is mostly empty. The next train is scheduled to arrive in a few minutes. As other people drift onto the platform, I sit down against the wall with my rucksack still on my back. I check for messages on my phone, then take out a printout of an article about Wikipedia from inside jacket pocket and begin to read. The train enters the station. Police officers, all uniformed men, appear on the platform and surround me. They ask me to take off my rucksack. They must immediately notice my French accent, still strong after living more than 12 years in London. They handcuff me – hands behind my back (the handcuffs have a rigid bar between the two cuffs – i.e. not like the ones often shown on TV). They take my rucksack out of my sight. They explain that this is for my safety, and that they are acting under the authority of the Terrorism Act. I am told that I am being stopped and searched because they found my behaviour suspicious (from direct observation and then from watching me on the CCTV system): I went into the station without looking at the police officers at the entrance or by the gates, i.e. I was ‘avoiding them’ two other men entered the station at about the same time as me I am wearing a jacket ‘too warm for the season’ I am carrying a bulky rucksack I kept my rucksack with me at all times (I had it on my back) I looked at people coming on the platform I played with my mobile phone and then took a paper from inside my jacket. They empty the content of all my pockets into two of their helmets and search me. They loosen my belt. [...]

This is particularly relevant given the EU's new plans on cross-border
sharing of police databases:
http://www.edri.org/edrigram/number3.19/dataprotection

The weather was too cold for the season

So, basically the Police have decided that wearing a rain jacket,
carrying a rucksack with a laptop inside, looking down at the steps
while going in a tube station and checking your phone for messages just
tick too many checkmarks on their checklist and make you a terrorist
suspect. How many other people are not only wrongly detained but wrongly
arrested every week in similar circumstances as myself? And how many of
them are also computer and telecoms enthusiasts that fit the Police's
terrorist behavioural profile so well? I accept and understand spot
checks can be useful, but profiling... this would be a joke if it didn't
affect many ‘innocent bystanders’.

The officers must have failed to hear the Met Commissioner Sir Ian Blair
when he claimed ‘We are not in the business of stopping and searching
people who fit a particular profile.’

Interestingly, while a police officer did state that my rain jacket ‘too
warm for the season’, could it have been instead that the weather was
too cold for the season? This is what the other Met, the Met Office had
to say about the weather the day before: ‘London recorded its coldest
July day for 25 years on the 27th when temperatures only reached 15.6
°C.’ At least I'm still alive and, over a month later, no longer under
arrest.

The Police eventually decided to take No Further Action (NFA): ‘a
decision not to proceed with a prosecution’. In a democratic country
such as the UK, one would be forgiven for naively thinking that this is
the end of the matter. Under the current laws the Police are not only
entitled to keep my fingerprints and DNA samples, but apparently,
according to my solicitor, they are also entitled to hold on to what
they gathered during their investigation: notepads of the arresting
officers, photographs, interviewing tapes and any other documents they
collected and entered in the Police National Computer (PNC). (Also, at
the time of this writing, I still have no letter stating that I'm
effectively off the hook and I still haven't been given any of my
possessions back.)

Aren't the Police supposed to keep tabs only on convicted criminals and
individuals under investigation? So even though the Police consider me
innocent, otherwise they would have had a duty to prosecute me, there
will remain some mention (what exactly?) in the PNC and, if they fully
share their information with Interpol, in other Police databases around
the world as well. Isn't a state that keeps files on innocent persons a
police state?

This gradual erosion of our fundamental liberties should be of concern
to us all.

http://gizmonaut.net/bits/suspect.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/attackonlondon/story/0,16132,1575532,00.html

This is real horrorshow, but something amazing about this story stands out to me. Days after the bombs went off in London, I was continually astonished to see people walking around with black backpacks similar to the ones used by the bombers. Even people who looked like the bombers were wearing them. Now, if we are talking about a place where a volcano is spilling out lava, destroying all the houses and covering the roads, you dont go there to eat lunch, do you? I know perfectly well that you have the right to wear whateve you want whenever you want, but if you know in advance that the police are using profiles to stop people, how stupid do you have to be to go out into the street, and then onto the Underground, deliberately fitting the profile? You can use any type of bag to carry your junk; why would you deliberately use a bag that is the same as the bags used by those dimwits? Obviously you can't change what you look like, but this isn't about that. This is about being reckless in a war zone, where the police have been given powers to destroy you just because you don't look right. Only a totally fast asleep fool would keep using a bag like that, knowing what everyone now knows about the modus operandi of these very stupid bombers. There is not a single person in the whole of the UK that does not know that the bombers who blew themselvs up in London wore dark backpacks. If you wear one in the streets of London, and then go onto the underground with it, you are insane. I have sympathy for anyone stopped by the police for no reason, but if you go out and provoke them, well, like jumping into a stream of lava, you can expect to be burned, and you will get no sympathy from me. What is happening in the UK is not a joke. It is not fun and games. It is real, and it deserves a real response from everyone who lives here. My advice to you is do not provoke the police into destroying you. Stay off of the Underground. Make sure that in your clothing and the places you go, you do not fit the profile by changing everything that you can change to cause a mismatch. If you want to restore the UK to what it was, then this is the first step to doing it. Change your behaviour --- can you imagine what it would be like if everyone stopped using the stations where this arrest happened? This is the only signal that the mass of people can give, indicating that we will not live for one second in a police state. Sadly, most people don't have any imagination at all, and are quite willing to carry on as if nothing is wrong. Some will even blame the people who are the victims; I just now, have poured scorn on this man for carrying the wrong type of bag. Imagination however, is crucial. Imagine if it was you that was arrested simply because you fit the profile? Imagine the humiliaton the fear...its not hard to do, and once you put yourself in someone else's shoes, you can understand the horror almost first hand, and that should be enough to spur you to act. Or not act as appropriate. I wonder how many people have to be stopped before everyone wakes up and takes notice. Really, it should only take one, but thanks to the low imagination rates, that isn't enough. Indeed, they have already KILLED one man and no one's behaviour changed, so why should we be concerned about this man who was stopped with a black backpack. It's the laptop!

Ben Jeffrey: PIG!

The Home Office display was a hit with shoppers at Merry Hill

A typical response about the desirability of such measures comes from Barry Burton, from nearby Netherton.

If the ID card didn't exist, this would all still be happening Home Office spokesperson What data will ID cards store?

"I'm all for making everything more secure," he says. "If you've got nothing to hide, you've nothing to fear."

The roadshow is on stop three of a seven-day tour of the UK, in what has been described as a "charm offensive" to promote biometric passports and, ultimately, the government's ID card scheme, which will also rely on biometric technology.

[...]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/west_midlands/4261858.stm

A fine piece of biased garbage by 'Ben Jeffrey' BBQ shill and professional lie spreader. I can say this with total confidence, because there is no way that a writer of any quality (and the BBQ only hires quality people right?) would know that this phrase that I emphaquoth is one of the stock phrases of the apologists and the ignorant. It is so often used that it has become a cliche. Only an insider would print that as a genuine statement from a real punter, and if he DID come across someone who made this statement, he should not have included it, were he an honest person, because he well knows that this is not in any way a correct way of thinking aobut this issue. We can therefore say that this pig is a jackass. Also, look at the upside down crazy anonymous 'Home Office Spokesman' doublespeak pullquote, and the doublecrazy caption stating that it was a 'hit with the shoppers'. Listen BUSTER you are going to have to do MUCH BETTER THAN THIS, or get another inside job spreading lies, disinformation and absolute nonsense on another website.

They must believe that people in the UK are amongst the stupidest in the world to write such a thing and get away with it. For your information JACKASS the British are amongst the smartest per capita on earth, and they laugh at these pathetic word tricks and outright lies that you try to spread.

I would like to know who, as in the NAME of the person who has editorial control over the articles that appear on the BBQ site. Someone MUST check off each article, and really, these names should be prepended to every article that appears on the site so that we can monitor bias.

It's all very well signing up for creative commons and all that, but BBQ News needs to be more accountable on the article level. 'And why not?' as Barry Norman used to say; why not give all of these details at the end of each article? Time constraints cannot be given as an excuse, since the time it takes to read and approve an article will not be increased by 'signing' it - what exactly does the BBQ have to hide? Why should there not be a profile of every writer that works for the BBQ news service?

The fact is, they need to hide these details because it would then be trivial to expose bias in the articles, and the BBQ administration don't want that.

The buck stops here

it's a horror story. Why hasn't this been discussed more? The buck stops here. YOU need to discuss it; in detail. precisely WHY is it a horror story? You are a programmer, you know why its terrible, so spell it out!

Sheer Brilliance

Like the guys who sell land plots on the moon, these guys: http://www.milliondollarhomepage.com/ are genius.

Lookdown!

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/09/20/google_earth_democracy_two/page3.html

That would be number three

http://www.rizzn.com/2005/09/kate-moss-does-coke-world-takes.asp It's number three. And there is no number six. I am number two.

The Guardian Discovers Skype

It is obvious now that such gatherings are the future. With the proliferation of broadband and the increasing availability of free internet telephony, it is possible to plonk a computer on your dinner table and enjoy a virtual meal with a distant friend. Soon, when everyone has an internet telephone service, it should be possible to have a room full of virtual guests. But why wait? With a little ingenuity, we decided to attempt the future today. Well, the day before yesterday. We conduct the experiment using Skype the pioneering internet telephone service provider purchased recently by eBay, mainly because it works on our Guardian-issue iBooks and connects to landlines. If we limited ourselves to other Skype clients we could not assemble such a stellar guest list. Along with Agnès, novelist Rick Moody (New York), gossip columnist Paula Froelich (also New York), comedians Wil Hodgson (Chippenham) and Lucy Porter (London) and lottery winner Elaine Thompson (Lyme Regis) have all agreed to take part in the groundbreaking tea party experiment. [...] The Guardian My word, is this really THE BEST that they can churn out over there?

BLUTO or BRUTUS

Popeye faced a different opponent in almost every adventure. Halfway through 1932, Segar wrote a narrative titled, "The Eighth Sea". A fearless fiend named, 'Bluto the Terrible' was introduced into this story. He was treated as a 'throwaway' character, the same way that Segar had originally planned to handle Popeye when he debuted in January of 1929. In the case of Bluto, Segar never returned him after Popeye was allowed to engage him in a bloody battle and defeat him with his legendary 'twisker punch'.
The following year Popeye made his motion picture debut at the hands of Max and Dave Fleischer. To add some spice to the cartoon, Olive Oyl was cast in the role of the jealous girlfriend, but the Fleischer's wanted to really spice things up, so they resurrected Bluto to be Popeye's on screen 'enemy'. He was immediately accepted as Popeye's number one nemesis.
	In 1956, the old theatrical cartoons were released to television. The 'Popeye' phenomenon met an entirely new group of fans - the 'Baby Boomers'. Popeye's popularity soared. The kiddies of the 'nifty fifties' were consuming the cartoons faster than Popeye could open his can of spinach. King Features Syndicate recognized the potential of their animated adventurer - so 220 new cartoons were ordered. BUT there was a problem, the Disney organization complained that Bluto sounded too much like Pluto. To avoid legal hassles, Brutus made his screen debut in 1960's
For the next 18 years, Brutus was Popeye's formidable foe. In 1978, Hanna-Barbera introduced, "The All New Adventures of Popeye" - (aka "The Popeye Hour"), and Bluto was returned to the stories. Unfortunately, Brutus was not. It's too bad, because the cartoon series might have been fun with the two bad guys teaming-up against good guy Popeye. http://www.popeye-n-olive.com/snipplets.html

ride free

The Liberator?