The Horror Of Cluster Bombs.....

It wasn't until I saw a report on last night's tv news, that I had any awareness of cluster bombs and the horror that they bring to human lives.
This particularly unpleasant piece of military hardware falls haphazardly from planes overhead, scatters into hundreds of smaller 'bomblets', before hitting the ground and each exploding into thousands of tiny shards of high velocity, white hot chunks of metal.

The fact that these explosive pieces of shrapnel can fly through flesh and bone indiscriminately, causing injury and death to all around them is in-human enough.

But it gets worse. These little beauties have a 40% 'fail rate'. So once they've been dropped, 40% of them just sit on the ground, waiting to flay the flesh from anyone who happens to pass by at any moment, or who might accidently disturb them. More often than not, this will be civilians. In farming and rural communities, it is particularly dangerous, as the bomblets sit among crops, just waiting to deliver their deadly message, long after the original, (supposed) target has moved on. This side effect is well known and documented in military circles.

Knowing this, Israel dropped thousands of these little bastards on Lebanon during the recent 'conflict'. And 90% of the ones they dropped were dropped in the last 72 hours of the conflict. When cessation of hostilities was well under way.

The UN currently has over 100 mine clearing experts working the area. There are reports of at least one child having set one off already this week. Many farmers are unable to harvest crops whilst clearing takes place.

Could Israel do any more to earn the reputation as one of the nastiest bunches of bastards on the planet?

Trust Me, I'm A Celebrity....

From BBC News

Two-time Oscar-winner Tom Hanks is the most trusted celebrity in America, according to business magazine Forbes.

Isn't it amazing the way members of the general public can suspend their powers of common sense so far as to assign attributes, personality traits, skills, even feelings, to people they've never met, or often, even seen doing anything other than playing a made up character?

It just goes to prove that you don't actually need to be anything in life, you just need to be good at pretending to be something. Or as we used to say.....

"Bullshit Baffles Brains"

New Friends For Old....

From BBC News

The European Commission has announced that Romania and Bulgaria will be admitted to the EU in January 2007, but under strict conditions.
Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said both countries had made enough progress to join the union.

So we will be inundated with a stream of low-cost foreign workers, disrupting local economies, creating yet more cultural tensions, shifting Eastern Europes problems into our laps.

It's not that I have an issue with immigration per-se. But why are we opening the doors to more and more people who share no language, culture or history with us, when we have a massive Commonwealth full of individuals with deep social and cultural bonds that find it harder and harder to get into the UK?

Just how ridiculous is it that people from Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Kenya, Nepal, India, South Africa and many other countries all have deeply woven cultural and historical links with us, yet it becomes harder and harder for their citizens to come to our country to live and work without restriction. Some of them still have the Union Jack on their flag for crying out loud!!

The people of the commonwealth have served this nation well, often giving their lives, in numerous conflicts, for many many years. Yet they are considered less deserving of a life in our country than people who have no connection to us what so ever.

I have long been a supporter of this country's involvement in the EU. But going that extra mile for new friends is serious folly, if it is at the expensive of long standing ones.

Stop The War Demo...

No, please, stop the war demo. It's time we marched against these annoying gatherings and put a stop to them.
Ok, perhaps I'm just a little jealous. You see, I've been unfortunate. I've never gone through that "young western world citizen" rite of passage that is going on an 'anti-war' demo.

There is actually a very good reason for this. Despite the fact that I'm not what you'd call a supporter of war. I do accept that sometimes, it happens. And frankly, we've not yet been involved in one that I didn't think was necessary. I went on the odd anti-Nazi stroll as a teenager, little skirmishes with skinhead National Front supporters, that sort of thing. But we were all on the same team if a 'proper' war broke out.

There's a change these days, professional protesters, out waving banners at the drop of a political agenda, fill the streets, backed by Chelsea tractors full of young mums eager to support the cause put forward by their favourite daytime tv presenter. All good for the political health of the nation I'm sure. Just try getting most of them off their backsides on polling day though.

Perhaps I'm just put off by the type of protester I saw being interviewed on the BBC news half an hour ago. A middle aged banner waving Liverpudlian, telling the news reporter in no uncertain terms how Tony Blair was personally responsible for the death of 250'000 human beings because of the wars he'd dragged us into.

It's fuckwits like that, with no sense of reality, or scale, who let their entire political stance be moulded by headlines without reading the stories, that put me off.
People who look at the pictures, but can't be bothered to read the words.
Street corner 'soundbite politicians' with only the tiniest veneer of factual content to cover their otherwise butt-naked, naive, ill-considered political opinions.

Perhaps is to avoid those type of people that I've never been on an anti-war march.

Now if they had an "Anti-War On Drugs" march............

Pic Of The Day...

Warwick Castle, coolest looking castle in England, gotta love those crenellations!

Not So "PC" for potential PCs....

From the bbc news channel....
"Force admits rejecting white men
Gloucestershire police force has admitted illegally rejecting 108 job applicants because they were white men.
The Police Federation said the force has been trying to recruit more female officers and more people from ethnic minorities to meet a government target.
But one of the unsuccessful applicants, Matt Powell took legal action and has been awarded £2,500 by a tribunal.
Mr Powell, 30, said he became suspicious when he was told he had been "randomly deselected".
No response
"I couldn't get 'randomly deselected' out of my head so I made some enquiries," he said.
"I wrote letters, spoke to them and they were coming back with nothing, absolutely nothing.
"They were refusing to talk to me, so I thought, well if you're not going to talk to me you'll talk to somebody, so that's when I got my MP involved and then my solicitor involved and that's when they started to talk."
The case comes six months after Avon and Somerset Police admitted it had illegally rejected almost 200 applications from white men for the same reason. "

So once more our fine boys in blue give members of the public yet another reason to distrust them. After years of endemic racism, and totally alienating much of the non-white population through the seventies and eighties, what do we end up with after 20 years of trying to change things? Racism from the top down.

The discovery of racism in the ranks these days is usually (quite rightly) dealt with swiftly. The officers responsible hardly have time to draw breath before they are put before the courts, dragged over the front pages and cashiered out.

But when someone gives an order (and someone must have, I find it hard to believe a whole bunch of recruiters started acting on their own initiative in unison) that people should be rejected because of skin colour, how many are being disciplined? How many are being dragged through the papers, into court, out of the force? None that I can see.

Some may argue that the attempt to increase the number of ethnic minorities in the force is essential enough that sometimes 'Positive discrimination' is needed. I submit there is no such thing, discrimination always has negative results.
The law is not vague about this. It does not only recognise racism against black skin. So what gives some 'Dudley DoRight' the remit to start trying to convince us it's sometimes ok to make decisions on peoples futures based on race? Not a very 'PC' attitude is it?

Pic Of The Day....

Berlin a few years back. What we liked to refer to as "The Album Cover Shot".

Sublime To The Ridiculous Aussie Style...

Seeing a little of the memorial service for Aussie animal 'bloke' Steve Irwin, I couldn't help but be in awe of the amazing juxtaposition of the situation.

On the one hand we had the incredibly moving experience of watching his young daughter Bindi read a tribute to her dad, beautifully done by a brave little girl at a very tough time in her life.

On the other hand, the sight of a bunch of guys dressed in Irwin-esque safari suits laying out wreaths of flowers to spell the word "CRIKEY", quite possibly the biggest demonstration of tackiness and bad taste so far witnessed on the planet. Only in Australia.

Good News....

I'm in quite a good mood.
I have just, to some degree at least, once again become gainfully employed.
I've just healed a rift with a good mate.
Plans for the Knowwhere party on the 6th are going well.
I'm in good health once again, as I can finally move my neck after four days of walking around like Herman Munster.
And we've just completed a little 'revamp the living room' project, and saved a bucket load on the cost by using the taxman's worst nightmare, Ebay, to do most of it.

File today in the "Plus" box I think.

Pic Of The Day....

One of my favourite shots from one (I forget which) of my trips to NYC. Still up there in my 'Three Favourite Cities In The World' list, along with London and Amsterdam, and just edging out Paris.

On This Day In History....

Today marks the 36th anniversary of the death of Jimmy Hendrix. Not only could he play a mean guitar, he was one of us.
One of the few.

One of that great creative minority that the rest of you out there should be very grateful for and more respectful to.

He was Left Handed. Far and away the best minorty group to be a member of.

For God's Sake Don't Quote Me Pt II....

So the Pope apologizes, Egyptian Opposition group The Musilm Brotherhood initially accepts the apology as genuine, then later decides it's not enough after all. Do you get the impression someone's looking to pick a fight?

Pic Of The Day....

Time for some more self-indulgence. One of my favourite pics, but then it is of the most gorgeous creature on the planet, my (much) better half:-)

For God's Sake Don't Quote Me....

Ok, now I never ever thought in a million years I thought I'd find myself coming to the defence of the Pope. I'll save my thoughts on the Catholic church's 'contribution' to civilization for another time.
But when a public figure, makes a speech, fully aware that it is being recorded by tv cameras, and quite clearly starts a sentence with the phrase "And I Quote...", I think it's a bit much for a whole bunch other religous fanatics to then start taking the quoted words as his own.

I think it's a bit much, but sadly I'm entirely un-suprised.

If there's one thing about (all) religion and the misguided individuals who allow it into their lives, it's the fact that it does tend to make people hear what they want to hear and disregard the rest.

So some Muslims took what the Pope said to indicate that he felt Islam was a violent faith, (which wasn't actually what he said at all) and reacted to this by burning effigies and waving their arms about....violently.

Just Imagine, a world without religion...... didn't some bloke from Liverpool say something about that once?

Pic Of The Day...

A nice little pic of the Melbourne night sky from a couple of years ago, coz I think it's pretty:)

Stop Press: Colonies Revolting.....

Today in history, marks the anniversary of the drawing up of the US Constitution. I’d like to take the opportunity to say well done young’un. I hope you’re doing ok over there without us?

This might be a good chance to point out a slight error is US calendars that may have been over-looked however. For some reason you’ve gone and put down 4th July 1776 as Independence day, when in fact it wasn’t until 3rd Sept 1783 that the treaty of Paris was signed and you actually gained independence.

Just because the kid stamps his feet and says he’s leaving home, doesn’t mean he’s independent until he’s actually out the door. ;-)

Pic Of The Day....

Ok, I know I failed to deliver yesterday, but I woke up virtually unable to move due to a screwed up neck muscle. This morning I've been pulled about by a bone-cruncher, and I can once again move to the keyboard so....

One from the stage at the last Knowwhere, just to give my ego as much massaging as my back had this morning;)

Stevie Stopped By War On Terror....

Yes, the international crackdown on terror and those who use it as their stock-in-trade has finally clamped down on my underhand lifestyle. That fine institution Paypal is currently stopping me from paying for a rather cool rug, because I've been a bit too successful in selling odds & sods over the last few months.

Therefore, in an attempt to crack down on Gun Runners, Terrorists, Drug Smugglers & Money Launderers, I can't use the account until a few more checks have been run. (Checks that involve buggering about and, you've guessed it, paying a bit more cash to them of course!)

Good to see they're doing their bit to protect us here in the free world, though I'm still intrigued to know how someone selling a few old Dungeons&Dragons books, some toy soldiers and an unwanted futon is going to be enough for Osama or the Cosa Nostra to be interested in using me as a front.

Pic Of The Day....

Today's pic is Paris, taken in mid 2005. I've messed with the colours a bit obviously but still one of my favourites.

Simple Pleasures & Perfect Moments...

I've just been out on the doorstep. Just before midnight, a big old lightning storm putting on a free show better than any firework display could ever manage. A cup of black coffee in one hand, a splif in the other. Great big globby raindrops plopping onto my tourist trap Aussie bush hat as I stand next to the love of my life. Just taking it all in.

Life is good.

The Cheapening Of Heroism...

Some topics I just know are going to piss some people off before I even start to write about them. It's particularly bad when I know people are going to get pissed off for the wrong reason.

This is one of those topics. In an effort to avoid the above, please accept from the start, this is NOT about the heroism of the people who lost their lives in the incident I'm about to refer to, but the media's use of heroism as a tool.

Recently a number of people serving in Afghanistan were flown home after losing their lives in an horrific helicopter crash. It was the largest 'single incident' loss of life of military personnel for UK forces since the Falklands war.

The crash was nothing whatever to do with enemy action. So why is it that when such an incident occurs, one would think we are witnessing the return home of mighty heroes slain in pursuit of some lofty freedom or other from the way the media presents it?

Yes, these people would not have been in Afghanistan were it not for military reasons, but if someone had died choking on a chicken bone in the mess hut would that also be treated with the same level of drama?

People who die in crashes or any other circumstances are not heroes simply because they died. It cheapens the word when there are plenty of people in the world who still deserve to have it applied to them.

And Mum Does Not Always Know Best......

The incident gave some TV stations the chance to roll out a mother of a serving paratrooper, recently shot in the conflict (the paratrooper, not his mother). She gladly gave us her opinions on why our boys should come home and the fact that no-one knows why our boys are still there being shot at.

I really fail to see the link between the two stories, other than a chance for a TV station to inject a little 'political comment' of it's own making.

We live in a country where joining the military is done with complete freedom of choice. Part of serving in the military means acceptance of the fact that you go where you are told, and do what you are told. I for one would not want an army protecting me, in which any given trooper decided to hang up his rifle and go home because he didn't fancy being in this particular fight. That Para has a tough job to do. It's the job he accepted when he signed on. It's the job we paid him for, regardless of his political opinions.
Or those of his mum.

Pic Of The Day....

As promised earlier, a "Pic Of The Day" spot.

Brighton again, not sure if this one was taken on the same trip. It shows the burned out ruin of the West Pier. Not the luckiest building in the world. It burned beyond use once, then some time later, before it had been repaired, caught fire once again and was almost completely destroyed.

Pete Doherty Life A Shambles...

I've just been sadly reminded of the existence of Pete Doherty by receiving a spam email advertising the release of an album by himself and his hangers on, Babyshambles entitled "Back to the Bus".

What a complete waste of fresh air this bloke is. He stumbles through life being an irritating little twat, feeding the media's frenzy for anyone with a 'drug problem' and generally making a prick of himself, much to the delight of angsty teenagers who want to model their pathetic lives on a pathetic anti-hero.
It truly is depressing, that 'celebrity' is so cheap. It's not like he even makes good drug choices. The twat doesn't pick the ones that lots of people chose to do recreationally without screwing up their day to day lives, but insists on doing heroin, a substance that helps along the Darwin theory by eliminating a number of the human races less useful members.

Sadly, his story will end one of two ways:

A heavily publicized series of rehab sessions, followed by a 'welcome back to the world' frenzy, which allows him to once again pursue his talentless musical career.

Or a 'Hendrix/Cobain' ending in which thousands of screwed up teens will forevermore see him as the greatest influence on their lives, and lots of music journo's will try to tell us that the shite he produces is in fact the most important music of our time.

Kate Moss really must have had the Coke/Beer goggles on the night she met him.

Look At This...

Just spotted this image in a folder and thought I'd put it on here as it pleases me to do so:)
Hey, I might even start a "Pic Of The Day" spot...

Review... 10 Years Late....

I can't believe I've not seen it until now, but last night I sat down and watched LA Confidential for the very first time. What a bloody awesome movie! I should be ashamed to call myself a movie fan I know, taking 10 years to get round to seeing it, but hey, I've been busy. All the performances are excellent, but pale into insignificance next to the incredible storyline. A truly great piece of script-writing in my opinion from Brian Helgeland & Curtis Hanson (who also directs). I've got to get my hands on the novel by James Ellroy now to see if it lives up to the old test of novels always turning out to be even better than the movies.

One thing, did Russell Crowe base his off-screen persona on this particular on-screen performance forever after or is it just me?

Gangster or Gangsta.....

I've had a bit of time on my hands today, (well, technically, I had things to do but was able to have movies on in the background), so I had a bit of a 'Gangster' day. I watched "Goodfella's" followed by "Casino". Both are bloody good movies, ok, they're a bit violent, and they are both 'based' upon real characters (with traditional hollywood style & good looks added for effect).

I've always loved a good gangster movie, the appeal of the 'good' badguy, the toughguy image, extremely cool suits (not sure about those Hawaiian shirts when they get older, but hey, "Wata ya gonna do?") Gangster movies have always been great entertainment for the boys. I don't know many blokes who don't think they're cool, and who don't secretly fancy themselves as a bit of a Gangster as they watch these movies, especially with the advent of in recent years our own uber-cool brit-gangster movies such as "Lock-Stock " & "Layer Cake".

So what is the difference between me, (and the thousands of blokes like me in the UK) who think these things are cool, but accept them as artistic/entertaining representations of what would, in reality be a very un-pleasant way of life, .....and these morons running around the street of Moss Side in Manchester this weekend?

Why do some young men seem to be unable to understand that Manchester is not "The 'hood" Birmingham is not anyone's "turf", London is not the OK fucking Corrall!

Because someone, somewhere failed to explain the difference to these young men at some point, yet another young boy is dead.

Everyone is aware of the fact that Jesse James, the boy who died, shared his name with another, more infamous character. By all reports the kid was not involved in gangs himself. He also shared the name with the son of Jimmy Conway, (Robert DeNiro's character in Goodfellas) who thought it was 'cool' to name his sons after the James Brothers of the old west.

It's time some parents took a little more time to teach their teenage boys where reality starts and the movies end, then perhaps there will be a few less who have to suffer the way young Jesse's mum is doing right now.

The Great Thing About Blogging Pt III

Yet again I'd like to dedicate a small piece of my time to the useless pricks that are NTL.

As my TV service seems to be a bit screwed up right now, I thought I'd call customer service and try to get it sorted out.

They don't take calls after 4pm on sunday. (Although they are still happy to charge me for using the service after 4pm on sunday). So silly me thought I'd simply drop them an email, hey, it's not life or death after all, but they may be able to sort the problem for me right?
Wrong.
Go to their home page, follow the links to contact them, and the clever people at NTL have engineered things so that if you're an existing customer, and you click the buttons relating to tv problems, it sends you to a page that gives you the customer service phone number (remember that? The one they don't answer after 4pm on sundays?). What the page does not give you is.....
AN EMAIL ADDRESS!!!

NTL, you truly are a bunch of souless wankers who still don't give a shit about their customers. I'd go so far as to say that anyone who allows themselves to be a member of your companies' board or management deserves to die drowning in their own excrement.

There should be a law that allows us to hunt them through the streets beating them with a fistful of old NTL television cables.

Their children should be taken from them at birth, is case the poor little innocents are corrupted by the souless scum that are their parents.

If Al Qeda decided to start targeting NTL, shit, I think I'd even consider changing religion.

....and relax.

On This Day In History....

Today in 1976 saw the death of: Mao Zedong,
Political Leader of Communist China.
Born: 26 December 1893
Birthplace: XiangTan, Hunan Province, China
Best Known As: Founder of the People's Republic of China & wearer of particularly style-less suits.
A victim of severe Male Pattern Baldness Chairman Mao was almost single-handedly responsible for the removal of the neck-tie from Chinese fashion.

As The Fifth Anniversary Draws Near...

I'm sitting here wondering about how the events of 11th September 2001, and the reactions of our western governments that followed, have influenced the world in the long term.

There are some direct personal changes for me, but frankly very few.

Flying has become progressively more of a pain in the butt in the intervening years.

I've developed an overpoweringly strong dislike of religious fundamentalists of any persuasion.

But if I'm honest, the direct effects on my life have been virtually nil.

I also have a sneaking suspicion that the same is true for the vast majority of the population of the planet. It's like when a natural disaster hits a part of the world other than your own. While the pictures are freshly broadcast, you feel the horror, the despair, the collective pain of humanity as another bunch of faceless statistics are added to the casualty figures, but in real terms, the direct influence it has on your own life is often no more than if you had just watched a movie and the tormented faces were those of actors living out a script.

For many, 9/11, as the Americans like to call it (and it was predominantly their disaster after all) will never be out of their minds.
Lots of people will have lost a loved one.
Many more lost someone they knew, or cared about just a little, and even more knew someone who lost a 'friend' or colleague. Such is the nature of levels of grief after death. It spreads out in progressively less harmful waves until it's final ripple is the billions of us who only ever saw events on TV or in the newspapers. Many of us myself included if I'm honest, had reached a point when "I've heard too much about this now", was the thought going through our minds as the news agencies pump out the stories of remembrance.

So perhaps those of us in the big ripple should take just a little time to think about it and remember. It wasn't a TV movie. It doesn't matter whether you think it was a US Government conspiracy that caused it, or it simply happened exactly as it looked on the news and we've been told the whole truth. What really matters is, people really died.
Lots of them.
So give them a moments thought.

Congratulations....

I've just heard that two very good friends of mine have brought a new life into the world today, and in spite of my image as a cynical old sort, the news has made me extremely happy and smiley:)

Well done to you both, I wish all three of you everything you wish for yourselves.

Happy Birthday little fella, welcome to the world.

Talent Crossover....

Now don't get me wrong. There are some out there for whom fortune has smiled, and they can turn their hands to just about anything. Ian Botham, cricketer, half decent on the footie field, Billy Connolly, top comedian, can act a bit, to name just a couple, but who are these fuckwit little agents who constantly tell 'celebrities' that they are talented enough to cross over into other genres? Why did the whole cast of neighbours throughout the eighties and nineties believe they could sing for example? Why do so many comedians insist on delivering a painfully badly sung favourite at the end of an otherwise entertaining night of laughter, with a ludicrously serious look in their eyes?

And why does celebrity welsh-chav Charlotte Church (right) think that she's talented enough to present us with the imaginatively titled "The Charlotte Church Show" last night on TV? She can sing. The girl has a lovely voice, it can't be denied, and the transition from teen classical singer to pop starlet must have been a tough one which she managed to deal with. Can't knock the lass for wanting to stay on top of her game. But who the hell told her she'd be good in a comedy sketch/variety type show? She was dumped into the middle of a script which was entirely reliant on bucket loads of self-mocking welsh jokes, and (cringingly looking like the bits she wrote herself) chavette style snide remarks about other celebrities body shapes. Now when the girl is quite cute, but has got 'future Miss lard -arse of the world' written all over that body shape, she wants to watch who's body she chuckles at. (No, it isn't puppy fat, she ain't twelve anymore.)

Perhaps we should all take a leaf out of the celebrity cross-over phenomenon. Perhaps they're right, we're all incredibly multi-talented, if only we had their courage in exploring our skills. So next time you've got the plumber round fixing a leak, get him to have a bash at cooking you a meal for later. Get your dentist to fix that annoying banging noise from under the bonnet of your car next time you see him, and while the vet's got his hand up the dog's bum, see if he can run you up a nice cocktail dress for this evening.

Goodbye Anonimity...

Since this is the coolest picture ever taken of me, or ever likely to be, I figured it would be an appropriate one to use on here.

Between Thoughts & Dreams...

It's fucking irritating to be gripped by the realisation of one's pointlessness in the big scheme of things. Particularly at 1 o'clock in the morning.
At 1 o'clock in the morning, whilst some things seem clearer, many thoughts disappear into a quagmire of confusion. It's that bloody awful period between waking and sleep, between thoughts and dreams. The issues that crowd your head, your daily life's ups and downs, get all jumbled up with each other. Stir it up with a sleepy brain, the odd drug or two, too much cheese and an already over-active imagination and you end up with a fucking awful mess. Is there any wonder dreams are weird? Often in my dreams, in some way or another I am still back working in a newsagents, or with the people I worked there with. That was ages ago, and it was bloody boring, yet it often pops into my sleeping reality. There's no escaping life's little banalities, even in dreams.

I'm feeling pretty disappointed and let down right now.
Feelings that are always made worse by the fact that you know full well, the only person who really built you up to a much higher expectation of events than was healthy, was of course yourself. You'll blame others of course. That's expected. But it's a real shit, trying to 'not get excited' about something, 'not build one's hopes up' etc. The second that thought enters your head, your hopes are already up, you are too excited.
It was arrogant of me to think that I could do something that would make a difference. I'm well aware of the abilities of the badger to promote arrogance, and his aunt's propensity towards egocentricity. Nonetheless I did, for a short time at least, convince myself that I might be able to perform a role that was for a greater good or a higher purpose, if only in some small way. Obviously allowed myself to be 'fished in' there then. Arse.


Religion...
I think I've just realised why mankind invented religion (other than to control one another) it gives you a way to pretend your life has a purpose on those occasions when you don't know which way to turn. You don't need it during the good times of course, when you're happy, you have drive and focus, or you think you do, and who cares anyway, because you're happy!
When you are not, religion points the way, any way, the direction is not important, so long as it's going somewhere.
So religion is kind of like a map. When you're not lost, you don't need it, stuff it in life's glove compartment and put your foot down. One day when you lose your way, pull it out, scratch your head for a bit, then power on, full of new-found confidence and direction.

The problem I have now is a tough one though.

Since I've realised that the map doesn't actually show me where to go, it's just a placebo, designed to get you going in 'a' direction, it's lost it's motivational power for me.

I reckon I need to start making my own map.

US Government in over-reaction shocker...

A friend of ours arrived from the USA yesterday. Her expensive purfumes, bought as a gift was confiscated in the usual "USA shits it's pants saga" fashion.

She then had the brainwave of sending the offending item by post to the person intended to receive the gift. She was told that once it was in the bin it became US government property and was non-returnable.

The US Government are truly a bunch of ham-fisted morons. It's so nice to see our own government is hell-bent on copying them so closely.

Crikey.....

Steve Irwin, Australian icon and all-around madman was killed by, yes, you guessed it, a dangerous animal.

I actually read one report in which it was described as "extremely unlucky". How is spending 40 years messing about with dangerous animals before your number coming up, unlucky exactly? I'd have thought there are few people who could honestly argue against the fact that he'd had a good run on luck.

I wonder if his final words were... "This fella can be really dangerous..."