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Hiya all :)
Uncle Joel stopped over today. He came to wait at the flat before he got an evening train back to cambridge as he had been 'cat-sitting' for a 2nd cousin of mine. At the end of dinner he made an attempt to counsel my grandmother on her current state of mind (extreme anxiousness leading to constant jabbering on). I always find the most ironic thing about counseling is that given that the person you are trying to talk to isn't mentally together concerning the topic of your counsel, then how are you supposed to make any progress?
Granny was a clear example of this as she just jabbered on, took nothing in and then later whilst I was trying to watch 'Scrubs' she walked into the room and started talking at me. For a full half hour, and she interrupted WHILST I was watching. I'm not one of these "Sit and watch TV in silence" people but I love scrubs and there was no reason for her to talk to me.. Especially not for the entirety of the show on subjects I either really wasn't interested in or her own bloody troubles and woes. I paid as little attention to her as possible but STILL she spoke to me. Gah :)
If ever there was someone who needed to learn when to shut up...
"Panzer coming in from the East!!!"
In my spare time I've taken to playing my 2 week free trial of World War II Online. For those of you who don't know the game its a multiplayer online game set in WWII Europe in which you fight on either allied or axis side for supremacy. In it you can pilot planes, steer boats, drive tanks, trucks, aim artillery platforms and run around as a foot-soldier. All of the options are heavily researched and as realistic as possible. Its balanced so that you can only have so many airplanes available, or particular tanks etc by making them 'respawn' like fruit growing on a tree so that only so many people can be using them. The numbers are different at each 'choke' point (representing a particular battlefield element).
It is played by trying to 'capture' facilities in cities. These are buildings out of which fly the flag of the current holders (German, French, british etc). If you have all the facilities flying your flag you 'liberate' that town and it shows up as one of yours on the world map.
Its really quite superb to be running along and diving into some tall grass whilst a Spitfire swoops down, strafing some enemy troops before returning to its dogfight. You learn to recognize specific sounds of specific machinery.. The metalic slicing of a Panzer is something which immediately prompts a heightened state of alertness.
Good fun game. No real point to it but a superb battle experience and a great laugh with historical detail :)
And of course of chief importance: Its free for 2 weeks :D
Right, tomorrow back to the house :D Ahh.. Sweet release :D
Later
John
Dinner
Just had a great meal with my Autny jilly and 2nd cousin Jean Phillpe. We went to a place called "Masala Zone". I had a Thali with a "Butter Chicken" (actually a tikka variant) and it was most welcomed after so little variation whilst in the flat.
I got a fantastic Gap Shirt from them which was also well received :D
Denning, my newton has been employed in preparation for the Criminal Liability Tutorial tomorrow after a time out thanks to a stint of not writing down my preparation. I can wing it but I find the Tutorials run 10 times smoother when I've prepared thoroughly as no one else seems to be capable of answering the flipping questions (Come on folks!! Its not secondary school!! You aren't supposed to sit in the corner pretending to work!!).
The reason I enjoy contract tutorials so much is (apart from the virtuosity of the tutor - Edwin Shorts) because somehow myself and a girl called faith manage to form diametrically opposed opinions on nearly everything which leads to a thorough and detailed debate from which we all learn. Nothing sucks more than being in a tutorial which becomes a second lecture on the subject, or just as bad, a conversation between you and the tutor. :D
Riiiiiise up
The popular uprising in Basra is clearly indicative of the intention of the Iraqi people to sacrifice their own safety for the removal of Saddam. An example of this must be taken from this report in the Telegraph on the Human Shield's who have returned from Iraq:
One said the trip "shocked [him] back to reality." The Rev. Kenneth Joseph, an American pastor with the Assyrian Church of the East, told the Times that some of the Iraqis he interviewed on camera told him they would commit suicide if American bombing didn't start.
"They were willing to see their homes demolished to gain their freedom from Saddam's bloody tyranny," Joseph said. "They convinced me that Saddam was a monster the likes of which the world had not seen since Stalin and Hitler. He and his sons are sick sadists. Their tales of slow torture and killing made me ill, such as people put in a huge shredder for plastic products, feet first so they could hear their screams as bodies got chewed up from foot to head."
If these people are willing to throw themselves, against heavy mortar fire and AK47's in the hope that they can remove the shackles of Saddam's regime then sure there can be no doubt (as so many of us have asserted before) that Saddam is hated by the people who he suppressed and ruled through fear for all these years.
Why then, when there is so much comprehensive evidence of the hideous human rights abuses performed by Saddam - which is never disputed by Anti-War protestors, when there are people willing to sacrifice their lives against overwhelming odds, do some still insist that this war is not in the best interests of the Iraqi people? I think that if anyone is to be the arbiter of what is in the best interests of the Iraqi people it is the iraqi people themselves and in Basra they have displayed what was always their judgment.
I don't usually like to go down the moral route but I figured I'd give it some attention since I heard some ridiculous MP launch into a huge, illy thought out although well learnt, diatribe.
Right time for bed.. Criminal liability tomorrow at 10 (ack! early :D)
Later
John
Birthday!!!
Ok so it is my birthday now (yay!) although I make it a rule not to celebrate stuff till the morning and it is currently just past midnight on March 24th.
I just had my psuedo-birthday party at home with my family. They really did a great job. The cake was made to look like me (they make fun of my ridiculously long legs and so the cake's legs were similarly proportioned) with little card hands, feet and a head. All drawn with my sister's remarkable free-hand comic style. I also received a massive card which sits atop the shelf over the radiator in my room. It has a big stick out tree with lots of foliage on the front to play on my family nickname "Tree" and inside is written greetings and blessings from all my family ;)
I also received a card from my Aunty Debbie, her hubbie Ron and their squid (kid) Amanda. The card has about 5 jelly babies stuck to the front and 2 jelly adults who say "All these babies and no private parts" hehe.. Classic :)
My aunty Jilly has offered to take me out to lunch on tuesday which I am greatly looking forward to. Jean Phillipe, my mother's cousin will also be there so I'll get to catch up with them both which will be nice.
I've decided to put all the money I receive towards a "MyTV" for my Powermac so I can watch TV in little adjustable screens (using the power of Quartz Extreme to play about 6 million at once) or in one small one for when I'm doing something else like absentmindedly surfing or chatting on AIM/ICQ/MSN/iChat. Equally it does all the cool preset recording and realtime recording/playback with pause and fast forward because of Quartz Extreme. Mmmmmm.. Nice... I'll never miss an episode of Futurama, or anything for that matter, again :)
I might even be able to tape "JAG" for my mother and sister as they are having withdrawal symptoms having spent far too much time without gazing upon "Harb/Harm/Harv" (whatever his name is) the hunky jetpilot-naval officer-lawyer (surely an amalgam of all female fantasy professions) :) its on at about 2am and the VCR here doesn't work (of course it doesn't work its back from a time when it was fighting a war of attrition with Betamax) :)
The Sunday Times reports that there is a majority in favor of the war now :)
I now am going back to my books and reading through Unreasonable Influence once more before my contract tutorial :)
Later
John
Birthday Coming Up
Go mee go mee, its my birthday, its my birthday!
Well it will be on Monday when I reach the big 19.
Ack SGR Colchester, the local radio station is really screwing with my head. I hate them because they spam the airwaves with adverts which are so bad that it honestly makes you want to cry. Their Dj's are either really good and fresh or totally obnoxious and thick (One Dj played Sugar Ray's "Every morning" and then said "Sugar Ray! What a one hit wonder!! Wonder what they're doing now?". Well Mr Dj the answer to that was "Touring around the US promoting their platinum 2nd album if you must know").
I was just hit by a 3 minute barrage of mindless advertising drivel. The people here seem to think the only way in which to advertise on the radio is to spam your phone number incessantly in the most annoying voice possible (in stark contrast to the TV advertisements which are seriously works of art in this country). Anyhow after the station had almost made me want to drive a large van into their transmitter they played Peter Gabriel's Sledgehammer. Quality! After that they moved right onto "Hot stuff". I doubt the neighbors will be able to purge the image of me dancing around the house (complete with the mandatory accompaniment of pelvic thrusts for each syllable of the title lyric) from their minds for quite some time.
I've been trying to sort out my holiday to Italy with my mates. Richard, Ben and Matt. However Matt is in the RAF and by all accounts won't be able to get leave as his authorized leave starts in August (peak of the season). Combine that with the fact that I can't get hold of my Nonno to make sure he's booked Rick and Ben in along with the rest of us and we have some fun stuff to sort out :D.
Still it ought to be a great laugh and its also dirt cheap (a most important factor for my friends) and the food is fantastic (an immensely important factor for my friend Richard) and of course the beach is great and commonly visited by Lovely Italian Girls (perhaps of chief importance for Richard). Of course there's also the joy of just sitting on the beach and walking round.
Richard's reaction is here documented:
"Alright!! I'll finally get a stamp on my passport!" *punches the air*
"Err Rick there are no stamps for the EU anymore"
".... Doh!!!!!"
:)
The weather here hasn't actually been all that bad, we've had some lovely sunshine but I haven't really gone outside, instead choosing to mope around the house and read up on my contract law for the tutorial tomorrow.
I could have been here for my birthday this week but sadly some git of a surveyour forgot to tell us he was in spain last monday so I was forced to stay in the house waiting for him. Had he told us I could have gone to the tutorial last week and would have been able to justify enjoying my birthday at Home.
Granny is no doubt intent upon dropping in on me for my 'special day' at which I will instead leave the house and treat myself to a nice walk, perhaps checking out the Tate and getting my Vitasoy from China Square.
My Aunty Jilly has offered me a post-birthday dinner out which I have gladly accepted. Jean Phillipe (my 2nd cousing I think) will also be there with his girlfriend de jour :).. Err I've forgotten how you calculate cousins. Anyhow he's my mother's cousin and that's my Tuesday sorted out :)
I've decided upon the birthday present I'll put any cash I receive towards.. The godlike "MyTV" to let me watch TV in an adjustable window on my Mac. It also uses software to let me record certain shows I set and stuff.. Nice :) I might even be able to record "JAG" for my sister and mother who are having severe withdrawal symptoms :)
I also managed to speak to my dad this morning, although it was a short chat as we normally have a longer talk during the weekday calls (which I had been prevented from making last week by Nazi-Gran who follows me whenever I try to make a call which is longer than 2 minutes).
For those who want an update on Denning my Newton. He's just doing his job as he is supposed to and taking notes and organizing my day :)
Right I'm going to get ready for my early Birthday celebration before heading off via train to the flat.
Later!
John
Pondering
I have a number of things swimming around my head at the moment so I think I'll try and put them down in type.
My first is the brilliantly crafted letter I read in the times today which my mother went to buy during a trip to the COOP where she also purchased some baking materials - probability of cookies being munched on tomorrow has risen sharply at the news.
Anyhow the letter was printed thusly:
Sir, I am a reservist in the process of demobilising after a tour of the Balkans. To ease myself back into my civilian calling I undertook one day's supply teaching this week. Of the five classes I had, ranging from Year 7 to Year 11, nobody knew of which country Sarejevo was the capital, and most didn't know where Bosnia was or its recent history.
I doubt very much whether man of the children protesting against the war this week could point out where Iraq is in an atlas, let alone explain what the conflict is about.
I have to commend this individual on writing in to The Times and saving me the trouble of doing so, in fact I was content to simply stew in rage at having watched 16 year olds audaciously attempting to lecture MP's on the legality or morality of war. It is a telling sign that the anti-war lobby, so desperate to make itself heard, irrespective of how futile such an effort might be, is willing to allow and indeed encourage such blatant ignorance to be paraded about the streets of the United Kingdom.
When I watched the news a few days ago and heard an individual of sixth-form age say that "We are having our democracy defecated on" (presumably the use of the scientific term for 'shitting' was designed to give his argument a semblance of intellectual weight) I couldn't help but marvel at his stupidity. To suggest that the manner in which a government carries out its business is to be decided by the day to day sway of public opinion, much less to see the British constitution as obliging the government to rule by plebiscite, is ludicrous.
Had I been present would have simply told him that when he voted for representation in parliament he did just that; voted for a representative, not a delegate but I realized then that not only had the individual in question not voted for any representation in parliament but also that he would still be ineligible to vote today failing to possess the sole prerequisite of such action - a mind capable of a comprehensive understanding of the issues at hand. He was put simply, below voting age and hence not possessing of the necessary mental faculties to exercise that right.
I admit that it seems remarkably elitist for me to sit here and write my disapproval of such an assumption when I believe that myself and most of my colleagues at Shatin College sixth form would have made perfectly adequate decisions based upon intellectual deliberation and intelligent debate. However the simple fact remains that there is a wide and substantial gulf between our knowledge of international affairs then and that of our English counterparts.
In Shatin college we were deprived the joy of a sixth form common room. Instead we had a sixth form study centre, presided over by a draconian dictator whose duty it was to safeguard the hallowed stationary of the room and to maintain a cerberus like watch over all who dared speak. As a result the one refuge that could be taken was in the ring of comfy cushioned benches in one corner of the room. It was neatly surrounded by a surfeit of international media; Time, The Economist, Newsweek, New Scientist, The Guardian (although sadly my favourite 'The Times' was absent). Consequently nearly every member of my year would have read through the week's Time magazine at least once, we would take to the economist occasionally and consulted Newsweek if we had time. Tuesday heralded the arrival of the new Time magazine and my sprint towards the SSC at the beginning of the day would commonly be performed in competition with others who wished to snatch the red covered journal before me. I honestly have never been in an institution which had such a remarkable knowledge of international affairs. We would debate the merits of the United State's strategic missile defense policy (and laugh at the Russian 1 and a half A4 length European counter proposal) amongst talking of music or films. The outside world was as much a part of our discussion as any other topic.
The Collegiate and truly 'internationalistic' (a term positively 'pimped' by our headmaster at the time) sixth form I enjoyed is in stark contrast with what I have witnessed and been told of its sister institutions here in the United Kingdom. My mother teaches an Italian A Level class and although their knowledge of 'EastEnders' is encyclopaedic the group is thoroughly ignorant when it comes to international affairs. When one receives the answer to the question of "What can you tell me about Mussolini" as "Who was he?" it is time to survey the number on the door to ensure you are in the right year group. All right, you might say, Mussolini was in the past and his fascist movement has been largely overshadowed by Hitler's in the current curriculum but when the group is unable to answer the question "Who is Gerhard Schroder?" one is forced to call into question how the same individuals can actively seek to have an impact upon the foreign policy of Tony Blair's Government.
For the record the last time a class I attended in England was asked who our foreign minister was (at the time it was Robin Cook) one girl immediately piped up "Ooh is it that Slobodan Millosevic?".
I move from that to another thing which interested me as of late. I was watching the commons debate on the possibility of military intervention via webcast (as I wrote earlier this week) and one MP raised an issue I wished to address here but failed to. He noted that after the events of the 11th of September there had been brought into being, a new era of international governance.
Just as the 1st World War taught us that bilateral treaties could not solve international dispute, the 2nd World War showed us that without the credible threat of force there could be no implementation of international consensus and the Cold War taught us that deterrence and containment could be feasible policies to prevent war, the 11th of September should have shown that the world cannot continue using the previous manual for international politics.
Terrorism in its previous incarnation could be easily handled under the framework of international governance provided by the UN and other treaty organisations such as NATO. It was a tool to force political change and compliance. The IRA used Terrorism as a heinous weapon to bring about a unified Ireland.
However the war on Terrorism is not about fighting against the terrorism of that time. Terrorism today is in fact not terrorism at all. It is a genocidal form of war-waging fought not by boundaries and borders but by attrition and the massive murder of civilians. The use of the term "Jihad" by its chief perpetrators is a far more accurate moniker. It is a war conducted with the sole aim of killing as many of the enemy as is possible and makes no attempt to differentiate military forces from civilian.
The threat to our country is not from Iraq as a state. The terrorists do not seek to capture Essex. They have no want of the rich mineral resources of our land (what little there is) they simple wish to kill as many people as possible. Iraq is a threat to our nation for what it can provide terrorists. No one fears, as Robin Cook asserted an Iraqi military strike, for they do not have the means to carry one out, particularly against such a well defended nation as our's. What we should fear, and what the Prime minister does fear is not the missile filled with Chemical warfare agents, stamped with the 3 bands and 3 stars of the once forseen alliance between 3 middle eastern countries (the Iraqi flag) but those same agents released in a far more crude although no less effective way.
To suggest that the principles of containment could work against a rogue state when the act it seeks to prevent requires no transcendence of physical borders by military means is clear and obvious folly. If one were to stop an imminent gun-related crime it would be far easier to close the arms shop than attempt the long and arduous task of hunting and killing the perpetrators. That is a simplistic analogy I admit but it remains effective.
What remains is for people to switch their minds to operate on a different frequency, just as we had to after each war. The old rules no longer apply and as comforting as it might be to believe we can protect ourselves through subscription their well rehearsed form we cannot delude ourselves. If only a few of us have realized this new state of affairs then I could not be happier than I am at the fact that our number includes the leaders of the United States and the United Kingdom.
I now move to a shorter but just as interesting observation. It concerns the current "Shock and Awe" bombing of Iraq. When one looks at the map in The Times the awesome accuracy of the strikes on Baghdad becomes clear. There set out in plain plan form we can see the devastation of the buildings which act as Saddam's centre of power and the complete lack of harm caused to other targets. In fact so accurate was the assault that whilst briefing reporters on site, the Iraqi information minister showed them on of Saddam's ruined palaces. Given the the department was so quick to try and capitalize on the 1 civilian casualty of the previous strike the very fact that he could only show a palace which had been bombed and not a hospital or a school or a market proves that, not for want of trying they were unable to find a single civilian structure hit by the bombing.
Looks like those military commanders who spoke of the extreme accuracy of coalition weapons have been vindicated.
Seems that the argument "Stop bombing innocent iraqi children" is just as vacuous as it was before although I do not doubt it will be wielded in a club like manner by the neanderthals who desire the fiery self-assurance of moral imperialism (or indeed a simple get out of double maths free card) for many weeks to come.
Why is it that everyone assumes that the rest of the world operates on the same level of ignorance as they. "Its all about the oil.." Well perhaps if the people in charge of making foreign policy decisions had the same astounding knowledge of the issue and profound intellectual depth as yourself this might well be the case but, astonishingly a much higher level of deliberation is exercised by those in power.
Right well I think that's everything
Oh yes.. I joined the Labour party on wednesday. Mr. Blair I put my money where my mouth is.
I previously supported the Lib Dems. Their policies on student fees and increased public spending attracted me and I paid no heed to their reputation in Parliament as Vote-Grabbing opportunists. However their activities concerning the war, proved to me 2 things. Firstly that they were entirely without the sufficient ethical fortitude to resist politicising the issue and Secondly that their complete inability to grasp the change in international politics would render them hopelessly inept at any task concerned with the running of the country.
Quite simply it demonstrated to me in completely unequivocal terms that they are not a party ready or capable of running the country and hence unworthy of my vote and forced home the absolute capability, unswerving resolve and true leadership Mr. Blair had demonstrated all these years. I am quite ashamed of my previous inability to tear my eyes away from the obvious distraction put in place by the Liberal Democrats whilst they engaged in rampant metamorphosis to garner as many votes as was humanly possible.
Later
John
God save Tony Blair
Labour Supporter on BBC News website:
"Step down Tony Blair, we don't support and respect you! "
One has to question how a labour suppporter of sound mind can propose such a thing when the Prime Minister secured a party Majority in the debate in the commons.
My position remains firmly behind the Prime Minister and the impassioned and intelligent speeches by Jack Straw and Tony Blair strengthened my resolve.
During the debate one MP called for the Prime Minister's speech to be distrubuted to the whole of britain as it had convinced him for the rightness of military action. I fear most of the people who are anti-war will not have taken the time to watch the debate in the house yesterday. Nor will they consult Hansard for the relevant points of the discussion.
Its really pretty grim when you watch the whole debate and then walk through past the BBC News 24 TV and see brilliant quotes taken way out of context and some idiot trying to divine (unsuccessfully, I might add) the mood of the house and how the debate was going.
Anyhow 412 to 149 is by parliamentary standards a hefty kicking of opposition, especially for a bill which authorizes conflict.
There are students protesting at the moment according to BBC News, but not student students, Sixth form students, Secondary students. Now I'm sorry but although democratic voice should be afforded to all, there is a reason why people below the age of 18 are not allowed to vote under the authorities of our constitution, it is the same reason why minors cannot enter into certain contracts it is because in law they are not considered to have the mental capacity to take responsibility for their actions.
Given that half the protesters I saw were not actually of Voting age I wonder how they can justify a cry of "Shame on you, Shame on you, Shame on Shame on Shame on you" to MP's who voted with their hearts and minds for the bill and actually took what was an immensely difficult decision to vote with their consciences, as Jack Straw said at the beginning of the debate, reaffirming his previous position; "Noone in this house has a monopoly on wisdom or morality" and everyone voted as a matter of their personal belief, the whips were hardly taken into account.
Shame on you for playing truant, why not let those who can actually take responsibility for taking time out do the protesting, like a banker who will suffer at his job for it. What they do is an act of sacrifice, of their pay, of their prospects. What you do is simply illegal and I've got to laugh when I see pictures of some of you getting arrested for disorderly conduct and truancy :)
Including that git who decided to shout from the public gallery for a full 5 minutes, at high volume during the debate yesterday. If you want to view a parliamentary session then you have to abide by the rules of the house which apply to you, ie: no audible talking which might disrupt the debate, no clapping, no cat calling etc.
Its hard to stop yourself, I watched the whole 9 hours or so and joined in with "Hear Hear!" and "Absolutely" despite the fact that I had noone to talk to but the fact that I couldn't stop myself shows that I rightly know I shouldn't have attended and that my little webcast is better suited to a more vociferous viewer.
Overall the best thing about the debate is how the cut and thrust of british politics is played out. It really is the most interesting system in the world. In America you just have 2 parties as one, the Republicrats; both with identical policies but simply painted in different ways. In Italy you have a vast gap between the main parties in terms of beliefs which ultimately leads to fractious and foolish debate. But over the years it seems England got the thing right. I think its a credit to the evolutionary nature of our constitution but if you listen to a parliamentary debate you are sure to be entertained. Some of the rebuttal was brilliant and you can easily pick out those who are at ease, who are brilliant debaters, those who thrive in the unique environment of the commons: Blair, Jack Straw, Robin Cook, William Hague (odious though he is) Anne Clwyd (although on this occasion she was quite reserved).
So now its war. I believe it will be quick and I certainly hope will be carried out with minimal loss of life. 'Chemical Ali' will face our boys as we're undoubtedly going to be given a primary role in taking Basra but such is the absolute excellence of the English armed forces that what we'll see will be an utter decimation of the loosely deployed Iraqi forces outside of Baghdad. The Desert Rats is the only tank company in the world capable of firing a tank of the caliber of the Challenger 2 on the move without stopping.
My prayers are particularly with the 16th Air Assault Brigade (the paras) as our next door neighbours, a young couple called Jo and Gary, are attached to them (Jo is a field medic).
My prayers are also with the Iraqi people. The problem with the Anti-War protest seems to be their reliance upon an old standby of conflict - the death count of the indigenous people. I would have thought that having listened to all the intentions issued by the armed forces and leaders they might have gathered our intention is not to "Bomb the iraqi people" but to debilitate the structure of political and military command of Saddam's Baath party. In addition to which the Iraqi military are given clear and simple ways in which to signal surrender. Conscripts need not be killed unnecessarily and given that there is both a Lawyer and a political advisor sitting on the Target Selection committee there should be no mistakes as to targeting either civilian structures or structures which are surrounded by a high civilian density.
I think what s most important is that I have faith in the leaders of this country, irrespective of what I might think about George Bush I have the upmost respect and belief in the intentions of Tony Blair. There is a rising wave of cynicism in England and people seem to forget just what a great and moral man Mr. Blair is, its a symptom of the "Tall Poppy Syndrome" that seems to have been so liberally distributed in contagion throughout the UK. You build someone up so you can watch them fall from a much higher height when you cut them down. They do it to everyone but it saddens me particularly when the victim is a man so principled, so good and so much the greatest leader this country has seen since Churchill. Mr Blair has my continued respect and support.
Later
John
Longest successive webcast viewing record set
Well my Personal Best at least.
I've bene watching the BBC Parliamentary webfeed which has been superb. I've watched the entire debate on Iraq from this morning and its been a fantastic show. The debate has for the most part been intelligent and well argued. To be honest its refreshing when one sees the hideously poor standard of TV Panel programming such as "question time".
To be honest when one sees the commons in action you become embarrassed watching what I just caught sight of walking past the sitting room, namely on BBC News 24 a group of teenage girls weilding anti-war signs running after and mobbing an ex-government minister whilst shouting some ridiculously simplistic slogan about killing Iraqis. The peace march on london was superfluous but well ordered however the 'Die-ins' and the demonstrative mobbing are to be honest stupid, excessive and ridiculous given the fine example which others have previously set for peaceful protest.
I would suggest following the peaceful example of the NAACP or CORE when they marched on Washington. Running after an MP and assaulting can be likened in the previous analogy to the movement by the SNCC toward direct action.
Naturally I'd also recommend that if that suggestion is delivered to those who ran after the MP they are informed as to the groups who I described there because if they can exhibit such ignorance then I would doubt they had any knowledge of those who set such a fine example of peaceful protest.
Oh there's nothing quite like a bit of absurd rhetoric in the evening. One labour MP just spouted more anti-american cliches and poor logic than I have heard since the Charles Kennedy got up to speak. And in the public gallery a young girl shouted some anti-american rhetoric and received an applause from the public gallery. That is why she's not IN parliament because intelligent debate seems beyond a vast number of people.
Ironically my high point so far has been the devastating destruction of Charles Kennedy's speech by of all people William Hague. I hated William Hague whilst he was Tory leader and I used to support the Lib Dem's... Funny how one situation can lead to such a change of opinion.
Still it looks fairly obvious that
a) The amendment will be shot down
b) The motion will be carried by a larger majority than before
Tony Blair has worked flat-out 24/7 for a Second resolution but ultimately its failed. I for one believe France's intention to veto irrespective of circumstances can did nothing more than oblige America to take military action but irrespective of what you believe one cannot doubt.. Oh goddamn I can't write constructively because there's another simplistic firebrand waffling on. I wish we could just replace all the anti-war MP's with Robin Cook because aside from 3 others I've been subjected by the others to a nauseating display of rhetoric and simplistic propaganda
Right bring on the votes :)
John
Saturday
Its a conspiracy, I swear.
Until recently I had been sleeping from ungodly hours of the morning till the afternoon, but on tuesday it was all changed.
It began with me having to get up early in order to accommodate a house viewer (why do they always choose the morning?) so I figured "No problems.. I'll just sleep later tomorrow" Wrong! because on Wednesday I have an early tutorial.. That's ok I figure, thursday will provide me with my sleep. Nope because we have ANOTHER house viewer. Friday I'm getting a train in the late morning so I can't sleep in either.
Saturday I am pulled out of bed by my siblings in order to eat breakfast with the family. Uurrrrg.. I'm just not allowed the sleeeeeeeeep I so urgently require as a student :)
Anyhow after breakfast and a lot of sitting around and reading The Times (which is pretty much my favorite activity at the moment) I get a call from Ben and Richard. Apparently they are driving around in the countryside for no very good reason and ask if they could pop round. Permission granted and we end up sitting on a sofa for an hour before my mother returns as I have offered to look after the little'uns whilst she's out.
We decide to head out and enjoy ourselves in Richard's new car. He's gone and bought himself a Ford Fiesta.. a first edition ford fiesta. a Bare Bones ford fiesta. Here are just some of the mandatory add-ons it doesn't have Tape player, central locking... I mean it doesn't even have a cigarette lighter!! For flips sake even cars produced in the eastern bloc had cigarette lighters in them :) None of us smoke so its not exactly vital but it does serve to show just how bare bones the car really is :)
We decided to head to the Cinema and watch a film. The good thing about not having the farm to use has been that we've all seen the films we want to see which has been a good laugh. This time round it was Equilibrium.
I don't like giving film reviews. Films depend on who watches them for their appeal. Equilibrium has quality action, some far-fetched statistics (He's got handguns with a 'fully automatic setting' and somehow rarely runs out of ammo) and an interesting Orwellian society to be destroyed. Its a fun film to watch, nothing great, its certainly not on a par with Minority Report but again its about what you like in a film. Entertaining I thought.
Anyhow after the film we head off to go and visit a few of Richard's friends in some underground loading area where he works. Ben and I are horrified to find they are in fact Gary Boys. If I have not explained the term 'gary boy' before indulge me in this brief synopsis of what you will notice when you encounter one.
1) He will be driving a 'gary boy car' this can be any of the following models:
Ford: Escort, Fiesta, Focus
Vauxhall: Corsa, Nova
2) The car will be decked out as if he is desperate to be an extra in "the fast and the furious" (a film which is their bible). With at least 4 "six by nines" (6" by 9" speakers) and a "sub" (a massive and completely unnecessary sub-woofer. Other additions include under-car lighting and utterly pointless LED's. Irrespective of the money spent the result will be a poor implementation and the car will look like crap.
3) He will be dressed in attire from both sports and racing companies irrespective of the fact that he has no actual affiliation with their brands.
4) He will never have heard of the term "Equalizer" and instead manages to spend £600-1000 on a completely unbalanced sound system which will sound like shit.
5) He will not need to have heard of the term "Equalizer" or have assembled a decent balanced sound system because the music to which he listens is shit.
6) If he has a girlfriend, she will be 14. This is primarily because that is perhaps the only age at which a girl can be so stupid as to think a guy who fits all the above descriptions is "an alright bloke", however one must not discount the role which Alcohol has to play in this scenario or the absolute incapability of the Gary Boy to get a girl his own age.
There are plenty more points but ultimately I think you now have a measure of the being I am writing about, you could probably infer the rest by taking the template and judging someone you know or have seem against it. If they fit it there is a good chance that the other facets of their character will also typify a Gary Boy as they don't tend to be too different.
Anyhow after we had walked around the 6 or so parked Gary Cars the drivers got into their vehicles and accelerated away at reckless speeds. Richard pursued and we were taken on a drive to McDonalds where we sat for about 5 minutes.
Then the convoy moved again, for no readily apparent reason to a deserted PC World carpark and parked.. Ben and myself were unfortunately pulled out of the car by 14 year olds whilst I was relating the whole event to Matt on the phone.
About 4 minutes of Gary Boys looking at each others engines (no mate it hasn't changed since you last looked at it 10 minutes ago) we drove off again.. To do a 'lap'. A 'lap' is short for a 'lap of town' where a gary boy will drive in the circuit which goes along the highstreet and Head street in order to look cool. It is the most ridiculously stupid event I had ever witnessed :)
Finally we returned to the underground.. So in about 20 minutes we'd done some driving and were soon to embark on some more random driving. To be honest I didn't really know what the F*** the appeal to this was but then those present weren't really capable of much more deliberation than "Do I want 'Alloys' or under-skirt lighting for my car next??".
Eventually Richard gave me a lift home and I slept..... Not for too long of course :)
I just bought Lilo and Stitch on DVD.. I also got a cuddly Stitch with my purchase.. I've already said how fantastic the movie is being something of a disney animation connoisseur and I'm going to watch it before I write some more.
Oh and by the way. Upmost respect for Tony Blair. He tried the diplomatic route and the French instead explored a policy of undiluted nationalistic interest. Saddam will be gone in a week and my friend Ranj will be able to return to his home nation with in a year and visit his uncle again.
Later
John
Hellooooo
Yep back from the dead. After much playing my shadowbane character reached Rank 5 and has a huge house.. Enough powergaming for me :D
Today by freak accident I managed to meet up with a friend of mine, Ranj. Thanks to illness we hadn't seen each other in a while and he had chosen to take my Torts tutorial to catch up on what he had missed. He's kurdish and holds the same views on Iraq as I do (in fact so do 99.999% of the Iraqi refugees living in England) so it was nice to talk to someone on the same wavelength.
Plans are being made for a return to Hong Kong for the easter (woo!) where I'll be able to catch up with helen who is also planning on going there. See we both study in England but only actually meet face to face whilst we're in Hong Kong hehe. Thankfully she's one of the people who shares the same opinion of Email as me (its a letter, so write a letter not 3 lines) and I love getting email from her describing her thoroughly overworked days at University in York playing hockey, revising and researching 24/7. Unlike myself as I have managed to do very little and clock up lots of spare time :D
Right a more post tomorrow..
Later
John
HOLD THE LINE!!
Woohoo!
I just took part in one of the primary elements of Shadowbane - Massive Guild v Guild warfare and more particularly Siege Warfare.
A few days ago one of our allies had had enough of the Pk'ing (player killing) and Grief playing antics of the nation Shadow Dominatio and so placed a Bane Circle on their Tree of Life. The Tree of Life is the centre of a city, it acts as a protectorate force to most of the buildings within its surrounding area of influence. A Bane Circle is a magic artifact and spell used to sap those powers of protection. Anyhow when the Bane Circle becomes active the Tree of Life's protection is no longer available to the buildings around it and hence they fall prey to Siege weaponry. However the way that the system works the defender chooses within a certain timeframe, when the Bane Circle will become active and hence sets the time of the siege.
So the job of my guild, Exile was two fold. Our first obligation was to smash a hole in the city wall of the City of Shadows using Trebuchets from our Siege encampment without. Our second was to then take and hold the inner city until the Bane Circle became active and our trebuchets set up within the city could start the destruction of the Tree and the surrounding buildings set up by the guild.
I was designated a position within the second group and our orders were to hold in our home city until further orders were given. However soon there came the call to organize into thematic groups (casters, scouts etc) and we were off. Unfortunately all our military planning was slightly pointless as we weren't fighting against a well regimented military force. We were fighting against Grief Players and PK's who specialized in small scale solo operations or 'Group v 1 player' attacks consequently taking the city was a complete sinch although I was killed by a hidden assassin and had to run back from Exile.
On the way there I heard reports over the Guild channel that there was an enemy wizard south of the city invisible (a Rank 5 spell) and killing (or attempting to kill) folk with his summoned Demon. I had re-spawned at our Tree of Life with a channeler called Cirwaen and so we both carefully made our way towards the south side of the city so as to try and jump the wizard. I flicked through my targets list and caught a glimpse of a Shadow guild crest and immediately set my demon on it. It turns out it was hit demon, which had been ordered to attack me. I immediately began to leg it in the direction of the hole in the wall with the demon in hot pursuit followed by mine swiping at it when it could. Cirwaen being a Channeler had a flight spell which she used to neatly float over the wall but I had no such luxury afforded to me. Then I remembered I had a teleport spell so I quickly turned round, whipped off a root on the demon to hold it in place and teleported over the wall into the city to join my guildmates who currently held a line at the hole in the NW wall of the city.
There were still some enemy Non-Player-Character soldiers on the walls and turrets of the city and they occasionally rained down arrows on our siege captain NPC's so we were obliged to take them out. I ran along the walkway and set my demon on 2. They died after a bit of heavy spell casting from myself and I went on with my duties whilst the other soldiers were destroyed by my fellow guildmates who had also assumed the task.
We had scouts placed all around the perimiter to monitor enemy movements as we knew that our second duty had to be performed - hold the city. In about 30 minutes the members of the Northerly Guild "Hell's Elite Legion's" (sic) were called to their friends' aid. They made several small attacks but thanks to some intelligent commands from Rojan the centaur commander of our segment of the force we weren't drawn out.
Then quite suddenly a scout report shot over the airways.. The enemy was massing in huge numbers bearing North and summoning a vast entourage of pets (demons, panthers, wolves etc). The call went out across the lines guarding the North Western breach to hold the line at all costs and not let the invaders sabotage any of our Siege weaponry.
I saw on my overhead map a number of blue (enemy) dots and red (pet) dots slowly trickle into range of the city. Then more come, and more and soon my minimap was awash with a sea of blue and red dots as the enemy forces fell upon us. A number of the Melee fighters dashed outside to stop the fight reaching the inner walls so as to prevent any possible damage to our siege engines. They held their ground and set up a forward point to which many of us dashed. I did not dash.. I instead cycled through my targets till I found an enemy guild crest and pressed 'a' and with that my demon sprinted off to go and chew on the limbs of the unfortunate wizard who I had targeted. In truth I could do little more with my lag which was pretty obscene at certain times.
The minimap showed our green dots slowly overcoming the blue and reds. Eventually there came a call to sally forth and run them down and our forces duly obliged as the enemy sprinted off back into the distance.
We cheered at our feat and got back to our defensive positions waiting for the bane circle to become active. In time however there came another call of massing enemy forces and in a suprise twist, instead of attacking the breach in the wall they came through the main northern gate (it was their city after all and they had the keys) This time my lag was far less severe and I was able to loose off a couple of spells which hit their targets in a suitably destructive manner. Once again however my Demon was the real victor sprinting off after their retreating forces and actually returning (albiet with little life remaining) where most other pets simply died at the hands of the enemy :)
After the second assualt the enemy evidently decided the city could not be re-taken at that time and so relented and destroyed their own Tree of Life. With it destroyed our Siege artillery pounded their buildings into rubble and with one last hurled bolt from a trebuchet their final building, a Wizard's tower, collapsed leaving nothing of what once was a home city for harassment and annoyance.
Quality gaming!
Later
John
Shadowbane > Me
Now a level 34 Wizard. What can I say.. I love this game.
I'm pledged to a guild called Exile. Its a sort of a statement about the fact that the European Shadowbane Publisher Swing! has been cut short and is now insolvent so we have nowhere to go and play shadowbane. Its so obvious; as if the fact that we all play at Euro times isn't enough.. Our guild crest is the European flag :)
It just doesn't get any better than that.
And as I was fighting together with the other people in my guild I realized that European Unity truly has arrived. If 80+ gamers can all put aside their differences and fight on the same side in an MMORPG (and to be honest sometimes ties within an MMORPG are stronger than some RL) under the flag of the EU then there truly is hope :). For once that flag actually speaks to me..... *sniff*
Perhaps because the blue is a little darker and the stars a little more metallic :D
Later
John
Levelathon!
In shadowbane at the moment I'm trying to reach Rank 2 (I'm level 19 and I need to reach level 20) so I've been killing trolls.. Seems simple enough doesn't it? They're not especially big and I've taken on multiple Rank 2 mobs before. Wrongo! The devastating combination of truly immense Server Lag and group ineptitude has led to complete failure in this regard and about 6 deaths that should not have been.
Basically it went like this. My gargoyle went in, started smacking about one forest troll, then ALL his troll-buddies come and start beating up on the gargoyle.
I've been doing like 70% of the damage and then when my summoned gargoyle dies guess who gets aggroed by ALL the beasties and then my group can't even coordinate their attacks so as to pick off the buggers one by one, hitting the weakest first.. Each one that's alive, no matter how little health its on, is another 68 damage per swing or so on my Gargoyle which I can't fully heal!
Argh!
So the same thing happens, the Gargoyle dies, we all run and get owned.. I mean I was taking Rank 2 mobs with a group the same size before and I was 5 levels lower. It all comes down to tactics and frankly they don't appear to have enough of them...
Grr :)
Anyhow better luck today I hope..
And this is the blue bedroom featuring the University student in a shirt and boxers making his bed
Doh!
My grandmother told me that people would be coming to look at the flat today, at 3pm. Wrongo.. Apparently I recieved (of course I wasn't actually awake to answer it) a call which told me that people would be coming over to look at the flat at about 10:30am. I was asleep for it. What woke me up was the flipping doorbell!! Arrgh! So anyhow the guy asks if anybody's in and I say "Yeah!" and he says ok I'll do that room last then, which I thank him for. About 30 seconds later in they come and I am seen in boxers and a shirt which I thankfully had the presence of mind to put on making my bed.. He decided to save the sittingroom till last arrrrrgh!
Of course the other alternative is that another person will be here at about 3pm but I'm at least dressed properly this time :D
Later
John
Urge to kill grandmother rising!!
Arrgh!! She was supposed to go back down to the farm today but guess what?!?! She's managed to find an additional excuse to stay at the flat and drain my soul. Arrgh! I've just had her following me for the past 6 minutes straight talking to me about all sorts of crap and putting me down with ever 8th word. She does it in such small, tiny nips but there are so many of them that they take their toll and result in you getting totally deflated. Thankfully so far I've managed to stay bouyant but I have to put up with another day of this!! I mean you can't cook what you want to cook, you can't eat what you want to eat, if she had her way she'd decide what I was going to wear. And its not because these things are prohibited or that she is the sole arbiter is that she has perfected the devastating technique of taking constant pot-shots at you whilst you're doing these things to bend it to her will. Its what she does to my grandfather (part of the reason my father prefers her to stay in England and not go to Hong Kong) and he just shrinks into a shadow of his former self. *sighs*
At the moment I have to just constantly jut in "Yep"'s and "Yeah" and "Fine" at slightly uneven intervals to try and stop her but its tough because she is bizarrely tenacious.
Right I'm going to play some shadowbane to drown her out..
Later
John
Hello all
Hiya, sorry for the haitus. Its been mostly caused by my getting into Shadowbane beta. If I were to draw a pie chart of my current life Shadowbane would be a pretty significant chunk of pie. In fact it'd probably be enough to satiate even the most substantial of appetites assuming the pie was of suitable flavour.
The other parts of the pie chart would be designated 'Sleep' 'Uni' and 'Plotting to kill Grandmother'. At the moment she's doing me some serious psychological harm, so much so that I'm contemplating getting a different place to stay - which has been encouraged by both of my parents who agree my grandmother has some serious problems and can pretty much depress the hell out of anyone within earshot. Fun stuff!
Later
John