Pres W Bush is an intellectual - proof - he reads books

http://www.alfrankenweb.com/rollingstone.html
The above is just one of many links to this item about Dubyer.....
He was asked which was his favourite children's book and replied 'the very fat caterpillar'.
Unfortunately he was at least 26 when he could have read it for the first time [published in 68? ].
So Dubyer still reads books folks ! Maybe there's hope for USA yet ?

EU Fishing Limits

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/041222/325/f90v2.html
THe EU is to stop fishing bans and is instead to order all depleted caught fish stocks to be returned dead back to the sea , along with any undersized fish .

And we voted to join this club ?!
The UK said we won the debate as well, so we're getting into this madness.....
The good news about this is that the prawn,lobster and other shellfish stocks will rise rapidly with the demise of cod and haddock, so all is well really [ I hate cod , but do like prawns]

the holy city of..........

No links on this one, just an observation.
Have you ever noticed that in UK News [but probably others also ] that when a foreign city is mentioned that has a famous shrine or some such stuff, the news ALWAYS says its 'the holy city of ' [Najaf- was the one I've just heard on the radio ]
The media manipulate us in very subtle ways..............

child bribery

Click on the underlined above for story [ well its sort of relevant ]....
Basically , I was wondering why we bribe children, presumably its a worldwide phenomenon, not just Western ?
We have Santa Claus who gives kids LOADS of prezzies, tooth fairies . Why ?
Surely we should be teaching kids that they shouldnt lie, but all they get from day1 is 'Santa's coming soon , listen for those sleighbells ! '

Strange isn't it ?
Anyway thats me just being topical ! :)

dopes for dopes

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/041201/325/f7oxa.html
2 posts in a day ! Unheard of....
See above article.
I'm afraid to say that I know 3 guys who have been heavy smokers for years. [wrecked most waking hours]. Of which 2 are slightly psychotic, and the third is certainly not as spry mentally as he was.
I concur with the experts maybe on this- but its like any drug, it can be over- abused !

corruption in uk Government ?

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/041201/325/f7og2.html
1. So a senior UK Politician gave his girlfriend a rail ticket from monies allocated purely to MPs' wives ? Wow, does that mean there are still loads of subtle ways to ensure MPs are married and not just living together ? Throwback to pre 60s......... Can't say I'm impressed with this scandal , especially when he repaid the money immediately once someone queried it . I am assuming that this info was found out when every MP recently published their expense accounts , so it couldnt really be hidden anyway .
2. So a senior UK politician got his girlfriend a fast track visa , then denied it.
Think if I was the Home Affairs MP and my girlfriend had a problem , I would fast track it as well. NUff Said.... ???? Doesn't hurt anyone and albeit corruption[but no cash] , its on such an innocent scale that it should be a case of 'who cares ?'

However ....

he denied it.

The party machine then goes into action

The visa was approved in 19 days- fact.

Government spin today is .... "at the time it was quite possible that the application could have been authorised within just a few weeks " [may not be exact quote - the 'few weeks ' is tho ]

19 days is , 'just a few weeks' , but it seems to be stretching the grammar to almost breaking point IMO--- sort of typical Labour Govt.

Blunkett is, IMO , honest and shouldn't have listened to his peers about this one. he should resign for lying

chernobyl children

Just came across this story, the headline stuff is terrible. Click on the title above for story ...

On the surface of the story is the statistic that 80% of the kids are ill and that a couple of weeks away from the area transforms them [ this article doesnt really say, but google a few more and it does] .
Any other place where 4/5 of the young population of the area were ill , the world would be in uproar and pledging shedloads of dosh and humanitarian aid, here all we seem to be doing is giving some kids a break from the radiation !

I was unsure previous to this about whether I was in favour of nuclear power as I know the safety audits that go on in a reactor's design - a friend was employed on a Hazop for one - but the consequences of failure are evident here and not just in your head.

The problem is low levels or radiation for extended periods certainly do you in , and that's official ?

The report stated that a 16 year old child in Belarus has the cells of a 65 year old .

Why is some News sort of buried like the above and other bits overexposed ?!

corruption in low places ?

ok - got a new job ! well as well as my old one - pin money is always welcome as they say ......
Anyway this new job involves listening to what people say ..........
Remember im from Europe, so this might sound strange to some...........
This is gossip, but first hand [ I ignore 2nd hand stuff - it gets soooooo distorted ] --- pleas e note i am trying to not distort it !
Its from a guy, nowt special , who has a shitty job refilling printer cartridges, and looks it [ inked fingers at home]
Anyway he states that the company is on a grant and when the grant guys come around [ he didnt say how frequently ] - they get an agency to give em temps so when they are counted they up the level of grant that is 'granted ' .
It reminds me of of the problem with foot nad moyuth disease a few years ago ---- it was exacorbated by moving sheep around farms to get a maximum grant - sort of gets to you that the EU aint 'quite' what it should be , dont it ----- and remember that the auditors of the EU accounts have never in the last 10 years said they are happy with the accounts of the EU !!!!!

fallujah

Um, sort of dont know how to say this.......
Fallujah is a city , thats an oversized town. Oversized that is, cos its got more people in it than a town.
US forces are reported to be bombing , strafing and otherwise dismantling this big village.
Why are there no reports about the number of civilian deaths ? These must number 1000's , but no media coverage.
The US is getting desperate , lets hope it can cope . I agree that the only settlement is to pull all foreign troops out of Iraq, but this action ? is it going to help.......?

you heard it here first arafat dying of liver failure

ok it was obvious, but see last posting predicting this - well 50-50 chance id put it at with kidney failure the other shot .
Not difficult , Im sorry to say

American Elections !

I was gobsmacked that one of the key elements to the election was the issue of gay marriages and that this may have swung the election result.
Surely what consenting adults do is their own business and the government should not discriminate against them.
I worry about the conservative nature of the worlds major megapower sometimes, it's so stuck in the past.
Could you please grow up Americas' citizens

Arafat

Well, what do you reckon?
His captors are well known to destroy people they consider against them.
They were told by the US not to kill him last year
They control his every move and presumably his food.
They presumably have access to some quite unusual chemicals
They are famous for not listening much to anyone else in the world .
My guess is kidney or liver failure fairly shortly....

casinos gambling on UK politicians

There is something really weird about this new law which would allow loads of new large casinos.
Forget the morality etc of the industry, what I find intriguing is the fact that the government is saying that this will be revenue neutral

If this is true, then there is 100% of corruption somewhere, no self-respecting government would not take money it could easily get !

Corruption in a Labour Govt ? Surely not ?

microwaves - now we're cooking !

As you may be aware , microwaves cook by adding energy to water molecules. Unfortunately a human being is around 95% water, so microwaves get absorbed very well by living things.
The USSR conducted tests in the 50s [?] and came to the conclusion that microwaves could heat up the brain and affect peoples' personalities even with a small amount of radiation.
It followed up the research by banning even low levels of radiation [but exempted the military use of microwaves] and irradiated the USA embassy in Moscow with [legal in the USA - i believe but not 100% sure] microwaves . Sort of proves it in my book.
Because microwaves are apparently good for radar etc , its use in the open environment has steadily increased over the years.
Contrast that with the steadily more frequent bizarre scenes throughout the world where a member of the public goes mad and kills indiscriminately.
I did read somewhere once about a suicide and spontaneous combustion[things not people] hotspot in the UK which just happened to be near a microwave transmitter.
Now we are putting lumps of plastic which are emitting microwaves nexxt to our heads and we hear reports of how brain tumour incidences are increasing.
What can we do about it ?
1. Its military aint it. Nothing
2. "Phones cant do wivout em, can we Trace ?" Nothing
Oh well, oh shucks, oh sh1x........

religious thoughts

Well I'm none of the mainstream religins, or of most of them, depending on your point of view, and view your choice of belief as your given right. I was brought up as a christian, so this is sort of christo- central
That said , a few observations, today and over the next few days.
Judaism : their 'book' has been shown to be historically false- do a google on it if you dont believe me
Christianity : I know there is a section which repudiates this in revelations(?) , but if the only way to get to heaven is through Jesus, then before he came down all the population were never going to be allowed into heaven . The revelations bit sort of backdated it- but this is inconsistent.
Hinduism: at first sight , the only main belief that has multiple gods- sort of stands out- till you look at angels etc, which are sort of gods - if not think about Satan, for instance.
Buddhism: you can achieve 'nirvana' just by crossing a bridge , i think was one statement.
Islam: God is great, jesus was not a bad prophet neither.

These are primarily ramblings - they hopefully will come together over the next few posts.

democracy afghan style !

http://www.economist.com/agenda/displayStory.cfm?Story_ID=3281317
And these are said to be democratic ?
Where most of the coiuntry is run by warlords - how can you have proper law and order ?
Sorry Bush - you're hoodwinking the world on this one

US elections draw nearer

Yes folks even if you aint living in the good old US of A , you probably know its on soon.
With all the problems from the last election, redrawing polling boundaries,chards and all the other 'democratic' fiddles that goes on in that country , shouldnt the UN have observers in to check that polling represents as real a facsimile of its electors' intents as is possible in its rigged election ?

politicians never say what they mean ?

Lets look at Pres Blairs' news this week.
Firstly he buys a house for £3M- is he thinking of moving ?
Secondly he has an artery scraping session.
Thirdly he says he will stand down after the end of the next parliament.
Fourthly his chief oppo says nowt.

Its a no- brainer that one of the above isnt correct ........
Looks like labour may win the next election ...

games children [aka politicians] play

news today in the local rags says employers are up in arms about the minimum wage level rising yet again.
UK citizens should know that a labour government is in power and with enough nous to lie + lie well enough to fool the media [its still questioning whether 'New' Labour is working when 'New' Labour died at the last election and Old labour [tax and spend] rose out of the ashes ] .

When it brought in the minimum wage in 1999 at a level that people thought was fair - we all breathed a sigh of relief . [ was roughly the US minimum wage rate]

Then president Blair, started his wage inflation and that rate has risen by 8 % a year since then.
Thus the minimum wage has risen by 40% in 5 years. Unfortunately people do like to have a wage heirarchy so this was always going to increase wage inflation for the country as a whole or to do other macroeconomic stuff.

The other macro stuff is largely complete [ staff buying own uniforms,unpaid breaks, redundancy, shorter hours etc] and so look out for inflation starting to rise again - thanks to our glorious leader- its allready about 40% above the warning point [ although HM govt changed the goalposts by changing the way inflation is worked out which miraculously hides it ].

If you are wondering how many employees I have - its now just me , [ seemed the easiest way to get around the regulations]
Sorry folks , but you cannot hide something this large indefinitely. Employees are ong to be asking for 8 % increases shortly - cos they have to , not cos they need to ...... whence Tony is going to say 'this is the fault of the last Tory government' or ' its Gordon Brown's fault'

Next year should be interesting as this unravels

20 Sec world viewpoint of a goldfish - well...

This is a personal observation....
I have tropical fish and they're smaller than a goldfish, so presumably commensurately smaller brains. When I open the lid of my 5ft tank, most know exactly where the food is going to hit the water first and swarm [school?] round there.
On the other hand , people wax lyrical about how intelligent birds are? We have a fatball feeder in the back garden ,just bits of plastic coated steel wire as a holder for the feed. Our tits dont know when theres food or not and constantly fly/perch to it- whether food is there or not.
On the other,other hand , we have a very young 2yo ? vine which has loads of small grapes at present. One [or more] blackbirds has found that these are rather tasty , but the vines wont hold the weight of such a lummox. So this bird has developed a rather funny humming bird hovering system whilst it grabs a grape.
Unfortunately , blackbirds cant hover, but can move back? and forward ? for about 1-2 secs before cartwheeling and crashing , so maybe all birds aint built like goldfish ?

active passive smoking

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/040909/325/f28my.html
Looks like the smoking ban in public places in the UK is happening voluntarily slowly.
In terms of protecting employees, it's sensible I reckon, but in pubs etc, you should be allowed to smoke outdoors [ hopefully the beer garden is gonna get resurrected big time ]
Let's hope HM Govt doesnt get involved or it'll get gold plated as usual....... Lets see, smoke travels, so we must ban it for half a mile from any business premises ...... would be the sort of thing ?????

speed trap stealth tax !

The news today is that there will be a grading of speeding offences caught via speed traps.
At least that's what the newspapers trumpet.
In reality , there will be a £20 fine for people who travel at up to 39mph in a 30mph zone with ONLY 2 points on your licence [you need 12 to lose your driving licence]. Sounds great uh ?
As I understand, the speed trap system is set up as follows :
30 mph - fine. Then there is a 10% allowance for the speedometer being faulty/tyres not inflated properly, then there is a further 10% allowance for the camera [not the doppler] and its associated white lines for the photographic evidence, then finally there is a nominal x for 'luck'.
Thus cameras in a 30mph zone are set to click at about 37-39mph.
Hence we have another stealth tax coming in , but portrayed as a 'present' to the victims.
I find it very hard to keep under 30mph except in built up areas, so its gonna clobber me quite badly, and I suspect lots of others.
Last year apparently those metal monsters caught 3 million vehicles and I reckon this new measure will double it to 6 million. That would make 10% of the population of the UK being fined each year, and assuming there is 1 car/2 people in the UK, thats a fifth !

Something is seriously wrong with this system

Violence in Iraq

Well US/UK got into a right mess, and got out of it , sort of...
Unfortunately the violence doesnt seem to be dying down.
You have to ask yourself why are the people of Iraq messing with their own country ?
I don't believe its because US guys over there are seriously sodding it up- although that jail takes some beating [bit like the inmates]-else only US companies would be getting into trouble.
So what's left?
1. The new provisional government is too US oriented ? Very likely as it was put together by the US. As there is gonna be an election though, they could get booted then- so possibly but unlikely
2. Another country is happy for Iraq to be in chaos? Well, yes....... Israel would love a disfunctional Middle East and has been engineering it since 1967. Iran would love a neighbouring country that recently tried to take it over [albeit under old management] to be at civil war. Saudi Arabia would love a tentative muslim representational democracy to fail [sort of stops it's own population wanting to play].
Wonder if Saudi and Israel are co-operating on this one ?

uk annual school grades row update

Well , if you aren't in the UK, you wont know about this, but every year more guys pass their school exams and every year there are more and more people who say its a swizz. This year was different, examiners 'came out' and exposed what they had to do in marking. Grammar incorrect in an English exam - so what, you cant mark it down, only up it seems-

It was in the news about grade inflation - see my entry of a cpl weeks ago.
Anyway it seems that no-one trusts the grades anymore, so theyre thinking of having a new exam or increasing the no of grades above A*

It used to be said that exam results were so that you could grade within a batch of students.. weird that they may be coming back round to that.....

legalise cannabis for medical useage?

There was an article in the Times today about dope being legalised for medical use in Holland [ yes it did acknowledge that its very easy to obtain it illegally there] and that it wasnt working because the cost was too high vs the competition [coffee shops] amongst other things.
Strikes me that human adults have the right to expect to be able to obtain and use (whether via the NHS or privately ) the best medicines/treatment for any illness/disorder he/she may have .
Its bad enough having a nanny state, but it should not be allowed to stop you having drugs to help your medical condition . ...........................
I know that doing this would probably make obtaining cannabis much easier, but even so , a person's health is a top priority .

UK Annual school grades row

Well nearly time for the above,.... again.
I think it's time the world knew about this problem.
The problem with exams is that it's impossible for them to be equally hard.....
Thus in the 70s and before , as well as pre checks on the exams, after the results were in, the pass marks were established - it used to be 45% as a pass mark.
Then someone in government decided to show how good their education [ whatever] policy was and the pass marks started to creep up which has continued to the present day.
Of course, allowing up to 50% of students into unis has inevitably dumbed down the average input - sorry HM , but if the 'elite' already went there, if you increase the intake further, you MUST get less than the elite by definition, and at 50% you are getting totally average guys attending [again by definition !].
Time to come clean I reckon you lot................ Its probably inevitable that the present exams should be scrapped as they are useless as an indicator of prowess, but dont let the 'new' ones go the same way - ie same as the old , but with a lower pass mark.

world speaks with forked tongue

Oh well, not forked but too many tongues.
I think the world would get on much better if we had a world language.
It would take time of course, but being able to understand every person would have immense pluses for everyone.
Choices would be a problem but it would come down to either French or English. Chinese,Arabic and Spanish are probably non starters.
The final choice would be which country/organisation moted it first. If EU or USA , then time to get out the French dictionary. Else the golden land beckons. Come on Germany, get the ball rolling , or Russia or ......
Just wonder - you could understand the menus in every cafe you visited ! WOW :)

you heard it here first- nanotechnology

Hi,
see previous entry on asthma incidences.
The government has just brought out a reveiw which states that nanotecnology can have serious problems when 'normal' chemicals are used as very small particulates, sort of what I said about platinum in vehicle exhaust systems. Hope its wrong cos its affecting the entire world's health ...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/3930179.stm

Iraq,Iran,.... Germany

Sounds stupid. It is, well....
Unfortunately the US has declared war on any country/individual/industry that it thinks may harm its interests.
I agree with invading Afganistan [that was ostensibly done to catch the perpetrators of 11/9 ] , but Iraq was hit cos of dubyas dad. Iran is next in case it gets the bomb and could harm Israel . After that a few years down the line it could be any country that gets up the US nose that couldn't hit the States hard. So n.Korea, Israel,UK,France,Russia, S.Africa and a few others are safeish, but watch out Germany .........
It's a frightening thought, I think we should surrender now .  May have said this before, but talking of Iran makes it worth saying again.

Lets have Pax Americana for the world or impose serious sanctions against it by every other country in the world, something is gonna have to give ......

global warming heard it here first !

news item :    http://uk.news.yahoo.com/040722/12/eyl8u.html

US States are trying to sue power companies over global warming ! isn't the government the responsible party here ? Oh well, at least it's started .......

Well i  was wrong , sort of : see my entry of
http://www.blogger.com/app/post.pyra?blogID=7188645&postID=108668904430465785

MRSA

I started this blog with the intention of not putting personal stuff into it. Last week there were reports of an item that could kill MRSA contamination , but the NHS werent interested. Then a couple days later there was a report saying that they'd found a way of disinfecting areas from MRSA [ apart from the usual idea of cleanliness]. So maybe the NHS was right ?????
Then Sunday I read a report that a major source of MRSA contamination is via ballpoint pens ![passing from nurse- nurse] and that cleaning up can help this deadly problem. [ wow thats a novel idea about health matters- cleanliness helps :~ ]
Meanwhile a friend dies from MRSA. Apparently it affects 8% of patients in the UK- sort of thing you dont want to get if you are so sick you need to go to hospital- especially as 5000 people in the UK die from it .........../ year
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/040714/140/exz0i.html is some of it
Grow Up Please our health service- not read reports from other countries about this - is it a problem ?

President Blair survives another inquiry [phew]

The Butler report sort of exonerates him. Not a surprise I suppose.
However, I am minded to give my own ,short report. No quotes, so I am open to criticism.
P. Blair stated in Parliament in 2002 that Iraq posed a real and present danger to the inhabitants of the United Kingdom. [the 45 minutes bit is totally irrelevant, but may have been part of this speech also ].
That is the essence of the speech as I remember it- ie Mr/Mrs John Smith could get hit with WMD via long range missiles .
During the Hutton enquiry it turns out that he did not mean this at all, just that anyone who was on holiday in Malta or nearer Iraq [ but preferably within it ] could be in danger of attack. I jest.....
He actually meant that some soldiers who were stationed in Malta could be in danger - especially if their surname was Smith. These soldiers and the soldiers we sent into Iraq were the ones we went to save according to the Hutton findings
If I am wrong and the Maltese caveats were always mentioned in the debates at the time so people were not hoodwinked, then fine.
My memory states not , and I personally was not in any danger from Iraqi long range missiles ........

fruit and veg are fine !

I know there are loads of arguments about whether GM stuff is doomsday or saviour material.
I just have one
niggling doubt.....
GM is done by insertion of a gene that makes a protein or organic compound that does something.
These compounds can and do come from poisonous organisms [I suspect- cos they do come from esoteric flora/fauna]. I'd be all for GM if the genes came from an organism that humans were known to eat without keeling over.

fish might not be , cows are?

Ok we all know about BSE and that we are no longer allowed to be sold cows that were over 2.5 ? to 3 ? years old [legally].
Take a look at how the prions [ the bits of the cow that cause CJD- mad cow in humans] are produced - as I understand it.
Prions are mis-shaped proteins that accumulate in the brain and other tissues. These eventually overwhelm the normal operation of the brain and the brain starts to 'dissolve', causing death within 18 months [ in humans ] .
The keyword here is ACCUMULATE. The evidence is that cows who are slaughtered within 3 years [or earlier] do not show signs of BSE.
This is because not enough prions have formed to produce symptoms. You still eat what they have in their body.
Thus we are eating BSE contaminated products.
Doctors have stated that we would need to be 150 years old for us to be affected by this toxin and develop CJD or one of its variants.
Information given below is supposition on my part as I haven't seen the technical data, but..
1. This information is by necessity extrapolated from a very small database , so cannot be rigorous and must be subject to error. Without the technical data, it is impossible to speculate about the degree of uncertainty [in statistical terms] in that figure.
2. The physical figure of 150 years in 'lethal' terms is prone to massive error without the covering caveats/assumptions. Lethal doses in pharmaceutical terms are normally done using what is called LD50 - ie the dose required to kill 50% of the population exposed to the substance . The article I read had no such detail [it was a newspaper- so they do tend to miss out on these figures]. If it is an LD50 number then even ignoring the huge errors above in point 1 - if the standard deviation was something like 25 years[I have picked this number totally out of the air as it gives a number you can think of] , then we would lose something like about 1% [ I'm struggling here but isnt 3 sd= 1% ish ? ] of the population above 75 years old due to CJD- I know this is alarmist, but its broadly true.
3. A third way exists to extrapolate the data and that is to fit the data into a 'bell curve' . This is to say that the deaths that have occured already fit into a statistical normal distribution pattern.
This *can* produce a reasonable extrapolation if sufficient data points [deaths] exist, but they don't. Also this method fails to take into account of actions oustide the curve- like if showing the disease is a function of how many prions have been ingested and/or the time scale to be affected- then we could see HUGE parts of the population dying and would make AIDS look like a midge bite
The reason for hiding this fact from the population of the world ? So the UK did not have to slaughter its herd , is all. Frigtening aint it , what else has been swept under the carpet over the years....

then fish are healthy eating ?

HM Govt has told us to eat x grammes fatty fish /week as part of a healthy diet.
Unfortunately what they haven't told us is just how healthy are the fish themselves.
Fish are quite high up the food chain as marine life goes, so they concentrate toxins found in their environment.
The North Sea is a natural toxic bowl as much of Europes waste ends there and has done since before the start of the Industrial Revolution , of course. It has the dubious distinction of being almost enclosed so it doesn't have much of a cleansing current, so poisons can and do accumulate.
Unfortunately this has had the effect of killing the marine life tryng to survive there. Much of the fish harvest cod/haddock and other bottom feeders have ulcers , tumours and other serious problems . Once again the media dont seem to want to know.
Oh , newspapers in the UK have articles saying that fresh water fish arent breeding too well because the males are too female [see yesterdays rant] - pity they cant go that extra step- or they just dont want to alarm us......
Anyway--- you cant drink water, or eat fish, breed easily. Whatever next?

We're becoming women !

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/040709/80/exocm.html

The above is a news item stating that fish are becoming more feminine due to oestrogen and other such stuff coming from the sewers.

This was the subject of quite a detailed Horizon TV programme about 15 years ago about the above , but with more emphasis on how it was affecting human beings. Basically, it was able to show that penis sizes have dropped over the last 50 years and fertility has also declined.

It then went on to show that this phenomenon was not due to hormones in the water , but was due to an additive that was used in making plastic bottles. It was something like nonanol or maybe decanol if I remember correctly.

I had assumed that because there was no major outcry after this programme that companies had stopped this chemical [I think it was/is used as a stabiliser] before the pogramme had appeared.

Looks like I was wrong. Oh , one of the nastier health bits is that its used to make bottles that mineral water is stored in - so you cant escape that way !

Oops, I am starting to get very worried about the world's health - see next few blogs .........

saddam goes on trial

You cant help but think that this trial is going to be a little like a "display what attrocities he's done and then lynch him can you" ?
Shouldn't an independent court do the above ?
I'm actually against the death penalty, but can see no other course of action in his case.

why are there no baby pigeons and why dont cars drive in inner lane

Think the baby pigeon theme has been covered elsewhere, so I'll ignore that.
I live in London [near enough], and drivers always seem to drive in the outer [fast?] lane, so you get to thinking as to why- a few thoughts on London driving.
Vehicles on inner lane: these are horse and carts and very slow moving lorries. Please note if driver of slow lorry owns a car- this no longer applies.usually considered 'wouldnt be seen dead in this lane'

Middle lane drivers. This includes slow moving lorries [see above], and any vehicle going at less than speed limit. Mainly occupied by frustrated drivers who would like to overtake others.... usually considered 'lane for wimps'

Outer lane drivers. This is for vehicles who need to turn right in next 20 miles. Or for vehicles who need to turn left sometime. Or for vehicles whos drivers own a washine machine,or who are scared if other drivers overtake them [negated by above you think- but if they go at same speed as a (preferably) lorry in middle lane, then.... ]. I reckon its down to education on the whole. We have been taught that passing exams is good, so passing cars is excellent.

same sex unions

I really cant stop wondering why there is so much controversy here. Most developed countries have a constitution where it states roughly that members cannot be discriminated against due to their... sexuality.
Thus governments, churches etc have no leg to stand on in this respect and must allow it. QED IMO

Constitution of Europe strong enough for a constitution?

The wording of the draft constition of the EU is finalised.
President Blair has okayed it, so that's fine - there should be no WMD in it's text then.
Britain is in the same boat as Switzerland IMO, neither of these countries 'fit in'. Switzerland is too democratic and UK is too capitalist [although Pres Blair is trying hard to stop that].
We are gonna become a whole lot more socialist through the back door now if Tony gets his way- and thus a whole lot less rich [didn't say poorer please note- that's just in the short term].
I think that the EU is gonna implode on this one- watch out folks in a couple years time.

Tilting at Windmills

These things are in the news again today [UK} .
IMO these things are a wonderful sight, Northern Ireland for instance has tourist signposts up so people can go to view them.
The noise is a severe problem, when you see them, you think of the Rideof the Valkyries [in slow motion] or some such like, but all you hear when you get very near them is a slow stroking noise [my description- apologies for the grammar ] --- sensual almost.
We need MORE of these, and the 'antis' want to use correct arguments.... 'They are beautiful, and they dont make enough noise' would be good starting points.....

hypocritical vegetarians

Those vegetarians who eat fish get my goat [ :) ]. Fish are killed by probably the most inhumane of methods........ they are firstly tied up for hours (?) then taken out of their environment and allowed to suffocate often in inclement weather .
Just because we don't see this in action, have never stroked a live cod at the bottom of the sea, and they've never complained/bleated/moaned made any noise at all, we as a species reckon it's fine .
Refer you to the title......
PS : I like to eat fish , animals, and most other nutritional stuff.

Alcohol and taxes

Just *wasted* an entire day in going to France, filling up the car with booze and fags ,quick repast, and return.
Ok saved a few bob, but everyone's doing it- cant Brown bite the bullet rather than NEVER putting up alcohol taxes- twud make it sooooo much easier for us all [and Customs + Excise]
NO Taxation on [non] sobriety is the buzzword !

European Elections

Strange , but one cant help feeling a little proud of democracy. For years the European Project has been rattling along , bringing the 'old countries' closer together, with or without the consent of its populace. Now we have up to 15% of the MEPs elected on a Eurosceptic stance. Just goes to show about fooling all of the people all of the time ........
Hey, I realise the EU was formed to stop a future european war, which it has done admirably, but maybe its time to rethink ?

Its Polling Day- democracy in action ?

Have you ever noticed that when a brit MP talks to the media, the word 'democracy' is mentioned about every 20th word?
This is due to insecurity complex, 'yes, I know that you b......ds can put me out of my dead cushy number, and wish I know how to stop it' and also possibly to NOT say 'representative democracy', which is different.
the nearest we come to a democratic country is Switzerland and to a lesser extent California [did say nearest...]
With the web now almost ubiquitous, could and should a major country try democracy..... WOW that would be interesting as Confucious said.

Global Warming and US opts out.

Just been having a think about the above. It's a bt obvious how the US Govt is going to get into the swing of things green-wise.
Someone's going to sue the US Government for their house flooding.
It would be nice if it was a class action group by say 100,000+ asians , but I expect it will be by a middle aged couple in Florida.
Let's hope it's sooner rather than later......

the world is dying of asthma?

Gawd this is a serious one and fairly technical- time to turn off perhaps.....
Everyone must be aware of the rising incidence of asthma in first world countries, and been told its due to our lifetsyles becoming 'too clean' . If you've got it, it reduces your lifespan to around 51 years old, so its serious enough. Everyone I know has a family member [not just a mate] who has bad asthma. You get to thinking.......
About 20-25 years ago, Uk and most first world countries were given auto cat cars, ie cars which cleaned their exhaust emissions. This was to remove a lot of greenhouse gasses NOx etc and which did its job very well indeed, and actually earnt UK PLC a load of dosh [and good luck to it !]
Then in about 1985 [ish], there was a check on roadside particulates to find out about PGM levels in the dust by the roadside.
PGM= Platinum group metals [the type found in car catalysts], ie had car catalysts been 'burnt' and evaporated/fouled/something. the results were frightening...... The levels in the initial report was someting like 100-1000 x the limit allowable ! Wow
This was the preliminary report. Before telling the world, they were asked to double check the findings [ by the way I dont know if it was UK HMG that had commssioned the study or a UK car cat manufacturer].The results on the check were that the results were correct, but that they had been reported incorrectly.
Background: Platinum is used in jewellery and is pretty and expensive and safe.
There is a form of platinum called 'soluble platinum' that is frankly horrible. It causes asthma in atomic amounts [if you are sensitised to it- ie 1 molecule/atom = asthma attack].
As far as I know there is no evidence that exhaust fumes + car cat= soluble platinum .
However Pt [platinum] is a very good catalyst [it can convert chemicals to other chemicals given the right circumstances]- which is why it's used in car exhausts. NOx= N2+O2, + co- co2 etc.
I wonder if small particles of Pt can act in the same way as soluble platinum? A small particle of Pt could react with NOx say , become soluble [very possible- its sort of how its made anyway] or just the small site area/volume could help it.
Anyway the bottom line is ..... are car catalysts responsible for quite a few deaths/rising to a HUGE amount of deaths in the future.
Readers please note : the supposition that small particles of atomic Pt causing soluble Pt or giving rise to the metal having similar properties to sol Pt is mine alone and as far as I know has no other research. the rest is true,

Aids in Muslim Countries

Just been speaking to an Egyptian [female ]doctor. She says that because she's a muslim, when she marries she has to be a virgin[vaginal]. So for sex she has/uses oral and anal options.
This may explain why heterosexual transmission of Aids is prevalent in some African countries - I'm not into Aafrican social stuff, so other non muslim countries may well have the same 'traditions'

Euro or do you Know

Just seen in Yahoo Odd News http://uk.news.yahoo.com/040603/80/ev6i7.html that Berlin is going to have it's own alternative currency- the "Berliner". So much for the Euro integrating Europe that Some German cities are playing with their own mickey mouse type currencies.
Plus ca change......

Brown and the price of Oil

Wow, Blair and co have managed to get OPEC to get the price of oil down.
That means hes gonna be able to increase the tax on it, so it stays at the price it would have been if.....
And if it doesnt go down by much, then VAT and oil taxes means hes even more quids in, which means that he can afford to keep spending my money not very efficiently...
Oh there's a naked bike ride in various cities on 12/June to protest about oil dependency [?- yup sounds stoopid], a great chance to ge stared at I suppose...

Wed 2 June

Winning the war on Terror
No definition of a terrorist has been published [that I know about], so how can you 'legally' carry this out? What needs addressing is first principles, ie why are there guys out there willing to die to do these terrible acts?
The answer is US/Israel, in my humble opinion. The US is the strongest nation on earth , but to create friendship, it has to be seen to be even handed if not magnaminous in its dealings with other countries. I used to be for the US until W Bush took over and said effectively 'what's good for the US is good for me- so f..k off everyone else'. I was blinkered till he came on stream so I presume it was the same but at a lower key.
Then there's Israel. The UN told it to give back the land it took, but the US said 'fair enough'. Wouldn't you have a grievance if someone nicked your land?
I personally think that Israel is why there's been no published definition of a terrorist [its kinda hard not to get it defined as one]
Please W- sort out Israel , I implore you