Strangely Perfect

Block ACTA and Stop ACTA! Truly, our freedoms are at stake.  While notionally an idea to prevent copyright theft, it’s real purpose opens the floodgates for any undemocratic organisation to walk over our freedoms (such as they are) for which our forefathers slugged their guts out.  Read this, then either; walk away (wondering in a [...]

Guidelines for a Better World Laws are like sausages — it is best not to see them being made.  Perhaps I should re-phrase this as: The Rules of Law and International Diplomacy are like sausages — it is best not to see them being made It’s a strange world out there.  Two recent political events [...]

No doubt hoards of guitar players were avidly checking James Williamson’s fingers in this clip, just to make sure they had it right! For me, I’m just glad I’ve got to see it in case I die before May or something else happens. The guy is still great – so many fills, so many runs, [...]

PreScript Advice If you think you’ve had your bank ‘cleaned out’ by any of a multitude of ‘life cleanse’ or ‘colon cleanse’ type internet scams, there is only one real remedy… Ask for a charge-back against the company through you credit card company. Your reason, when asked, is that the company has either: Not adhered [...]

WordPress User Registration Spam Last year I told how I tackled various sorts of spam hitting the website, in particular, in this post, User Registration Spam.  Even now, my main defence is SABRE, although I don’t use all the options.  This gives me the combination of flexibility, security and openness I require on this website.  [...]

G20 UK Protests – an Appraisal Following on from this post about the protest(s) the other day and the obviously censored reporting, we can now look back for a little unheated analysis. Spin What’s clear to me during the event, was the useless reporting and photograph work, the news organisation’s focus on violence and the [...]

I’ve just been reading this fascinating book, Encountering the Dharma: Daisaku Ikeda, Soka Gakkai, and the Globalization of Buddhist Humanism by a non-Buddhist, Richard Seager, who gives a really good, well-balanced investigation into Buddhism, the Soka Gakkai (SGI) and it’s meteoric rise in popularity under the inspirational personas of Makiguchi, Toda and Ikeda. Well you’d [...]

Apocalyptica featuring Till Lindemann: Helden Since I first heard this version, it won’t leave my head, which means for me, as a lingering tune, it fully deserves the soubriquet, “Strangely Perfect”. I don’t care if no-one agrees with me as music is something that is perceived in an individual’s mind, at one point in time.  [...]

Paul Tibbets died today. He commanded and flew the airplane that dropped the world’s first atomic weapon on people. What does it mean? Some people are really het up about him and have been so for years. Who flew the airplane that dropped the second bomb on Nagasaki? I don’t know and I’m not bothered. [...]

08/07/2007:Excellent finish by McEwan in the TDF finish at Canterbury. Just plain guts and anger; brilliant.