Saturday, December 27, 2008

Hexstatic

A super awesome tune and video from Ninja Tune's Hexstatic. Complete with some of the most, uh, striking looking ninjas you'll ever see.

Thursday, December 25, 2008

Flight of Fantasy

Wonder Woman by Adam Hughes. Need I say more?

Another Compilation

A little collection -

Labour does even more to reduce the rights of British home-owners. Try to restrain a burglar breaking into your home or attacking you and you'll be charged- but now debt collectors are being given the right to not only break into homes to collection possessions, but they're also being allowed to use "reasonable force" against home-owners.

So much for the GOP learning their lesson from McCain's defeat. Michael Steele shows he's no friend of the Second Amendment.

Army scientists delve into the realms of science fiction- by developing the ability to regrow lost tissue (for example a lost fingertip) and new research which has allowed them to regrow bone in rats.

Have a happy Christmas!

Monday, December 22, 2008

Hokey Cokey Hate

The Christmas decorations are still up so I know it's not April Fool's Day. Given that, I'm not sure how to explain this- an attempt by some Scottish politicians to have people arrested for doing *gasp* the Hokey Cokey!

According to the Catholic Church and some Scottish politicians, singing the popular tune that begins with the words "You put your right hand in, your right hand out," may constitute an act of religious hatred.

A spokesman for the leader of the church in Scotland said the song had disturbing origins.

Critics claim that Puritans composed the song in the 18th century in an attempt to mock the actions and language of priests leading the Latin mass.

Quite apart from the fact that 99.9% of the population has no clue about the origin of the song and actions- why should mocking a religion constitute a hate crime?

Making fun of = hate.

Welcome to Great Britain.

Saturday, December 20, 2008

Varied Items

A little sign that there's still some life left in the blog.

People are willing to torture others if in the presence of an "authority figure". The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Reforestation in the Americas centuries ago helped to plunge the world into the Little Ice Age.

Pork, pork and more pork - a request by US mayors for funds to be used for "infrastructure" improvements (allegedly to help the economy) is packed with extra spending for the likes of a polar bear exhibit, a water park ride, zoos, museums, etc. Politicians- is there any crisis they won't use to their own advantage?

A woman's rights activist in Iraq has been beheaded in her own home.

Judge Dredd looks like he'll be returning to cinema screens- though without Stallone this time. Here's hoping they hire a director and script-writer who has actually read the comics. Interesting to note the call for Jason Statham to play the part in the comments. That might actually be a good idea.

Frank Miller is apparently going to make a Buck Rogers movie. I'm not sure what to make of this one. My initial thought is that Miller's too dark for this. It seems to be that this should be more of a Spielberg-ian effort. And they should definitely go back to the old serials for inspiration.

That's all for now but please do keep checking back for more!

Monday, December 08, 2008

NY Preparations

After the Mumbai terrorist attacks New York City's "only ones" are getting tooled up-

The NYPD wants all 1,000 Police Academy recruits trained to use M4 automatic machine guns - which are now carried only by the 400 cops in its elite Emergency Service Unit - in time for the holiday celebration in Times Square.

These are, of course, the exact weapons that Obama declares are only for use on foreign battlefields- not on the streets of America. The highly trained "only ones" are exempt of course.

The recruits currently at the academy will get three days of training to familiarize them with the weapon, police said.

Friday, December 05, 2008

Random Musing

The M1 carbine would seem to make for a pretty ideal home defense weapon. Light and handy, it fires a reasonably powered cartridge with a tendency not to over-penetrate. Here's a question though - does anyone make a tritium front sight for it? I've looked on line but can't find any hint of one.

Monday, December 01, 2008

Economics

Economics is not my strong point and I don't understand the howling and wailing about the sky falling because the stock market has fallen to the same level is was about five years ago. Did I miss that last Depression?

Anyway, as far as "fixing" the problem goes the best commentary I've read on the matter comes from a post by Tam a few days ago.

Any money that the government "pumps into" the economy to "boost" it had to be pumped out of the economy in the form of taxes in the first place. Why is this so hard to understand? You can't raise the water level in a swimming pool by siphoning its contents from the deep end to the shallow end, nor can you build a wall higher by removing bricks from the bottom and putting them on top. Why is this extremely simple fact so terrifically difficult for otherwise smart people to grasp?

I notice that among the calls for a way to salvage the economy (both in the UK and the US) no one in power is talking about reducing their spending or slashing their budgets. They're all too happy to suggest injecting billions of pounds/dollars of taxpayers' money into various institutions but not so keen on actually cutting their own operating budget in any way, shape or form.