What Comes To Pass

"El Presidente - our agents have returned from Russia with Suitcases filled with money!"

From the BBC

Apparently it doesn't cost much to abandon the liberty of several million people. $100 million was how much China paid Dominica to switch allegiance.

In a blow for Taiwan, the Caribbean island of Dominica on Tuesday switched diplomatic recognition to China.

Dominican Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit said his government had decided its policy on China was wrong.

Mr Skerrit also said China had agreed to give Dominica more than $100m in aid over the next five years.

Communism isn't new to throwing massive aid bundles at nations to secure their political ambitions but typically it requires a far more bloc-centric policy (for instance Castro, who's nationalist ambitions were quickly swayed to communism in exchange for massive aid payments in light of US policy).

I do however derive a great deal of laughter from the manner in which this was presented:

"We are committed to 1 China, oh and theygaveuslotsofcash any questions?

Oh and the title of this post is a quote from the classic Island Dictatorship game - Tropico :)

Hurrah!

England have won the Hong Kong Rugby 7's for the third year running! Boo yah!

Whilst many other Hk Bloggers might not enjoy the 7's, (or more accurately, dislike the yobbish hordes who descent upon Hong Kong for the weekend of play) I happen to consider it an indispensable part of Hong Kong life. Like siting in the clipper lounge despite the fact that you patently don't enjoy the socialite life - it must be experienced at least once a year, if only to observe the other people there.

Hong Kong withdrawal symptoms are becoming rather acute here. I thirst for Vitasoy and would give anything for the lifts at my university to have a "door close" button that worked.

Later

John

Ok.. This is so cool

This site was brought to my attention by Tycho from Penny Arcade.

It's close to every dialect in the world speaking a single english phrase. As a total fan of accents and speech being a decent mimic from an early age I found it fantastic. There's only one slight problem - the showing from England is woefully poor.

Although 'Birmingham' purports to be represented the person speaking clearly doesn't have much of a 'Brummie' accent and the site is missing such classics as Cockney, Geordie Bastard, Scouser, Essex Lad, Mancunian Lout, Yorkshire Farmer, Somerset Smallholder and many many more.

In fact there are more US accents represented than UK ones whereas despite being significantly smaller the accents found in the UK are as least as, if not more diverse by nature of the ancient and mixed lineage of the isle - certainly if compared by region and distance.

One thing is particularly lacking and that is a dialect which one heard almost exclusively just 40 years ago - that wonderful english which is now berated as 'posh' or 'upper class'. I'm convinced it exists somewhere but I could certainly do with hearing someone speak the sentence properly.

In the words of the deadpan comedian Jimmy Carr:

"I'm from the home counties, no I don't have an accent this is how things sound when they are pronounced correctly"

Enjoy the site! I'm listening to a quality Tagalog recording. I can't wait for the words "Fresh", "Five" and "Frog" :D

(btw, for the uninitiated Tagalog speakers tend to pronounce 'f' as 'p')

Later

John

Ecto

This blog is Ecto powered once more! Hurrah!

I finally managed to get them to accept my credit card and bought me a serial number. What's more it actually supports Markdown which is pretty amazingly cool. Markdown has more or less become my 'cool technology of the moment' even though it's actually quite simple stuff. I find myself wishing it was more prevalent throughout my internet experience, for writing forum posts and whatnot. At least iChat has the normal text editor commands (ie: Command-i for Italics).

My easter break begins now so I've got 3 weeks of fun ahead of me, (or more accurately 3 weeks of some fun and lots of extra study to fill up the time I might have spent in Hong Kong).

I got my hair cut yesterday which was a relief for all concerned as it actually covered my eyes and came close to eclipsing my nose if pulled straight. I can now enjoy showers without having to spend 10 minutes drying my hair.

It does however mean that there will be no more funny photographs taken of my unkempt mop being tamed by some particularly effeminate hair bands, circulated around the house. "Pigtails" is a particular favourite amongst the girls. I'm a good sport like that :)

Later

John

Consumption

Phew

I've just finished a marathon de-spamming of my site. I got hit pretty nastily by a load of comment-spambots (87 comments in 1 day!).

Most of the work was done using MT-Blacklist, which is a wonderful plugin built to not only de-spam your site but also to learn from the de-spamming in the same way that your body learns to develop anti-bodies to a virus. After it's cleared spam from a source it will block that source from attacking you next time.

I also found some new flames which had been nestled in older posts, I laughed myself silly reading them before deleting them with the same satisfaction one might garner from pulling out a very deep-rooted weed.

Not the best way to spend your birthday evening, I'll grant you but I did at least have a wonderful dinner with my family. I ate so much Tortellini that it's a wonder I can stand.

My sister made me some totally rocking T-Shirts featuring old family photos with sarcastic captions. I'm lovin' them!

Right, tomorrow I actually get to have my haircut for the first time in 4 months! Curse my laziness!

Still at least I'll look less like wurzel gummage.

Later

John

w000000!

I 4m t3h Br1thd4y d00d!

Disregard previous day's deep thought - I'm going to eat sooooo much tortellini this evening.

Normal posting to resume when I've finished the vast amounts of eating I have planned out.

Later

John

Another Candle...

It's my Birthday tomorrow, I shall be 20 and instead of gleefully awaiting the day's arrival like I might have done in years past I am feeling introspective and perhaps weighing the event far too heavily.

If you were to ask me what my most treasured possession was I'd be able to answer you instantly. It is a large bound volume I received upon my 18th Birthday, within it are written the thoughts and a crochet of well spun advice of my Aunts and Uncles, my brothers and sisters and my parents.

Its pages bare testament to the love that I can always rely upon and provide guidance when I might need it. There is little doubt in my mind that this is an occasion warranting the employment of that guidance.

I'm to be 20, I've officially seen 2 decades of life and now it's time to stop treating it as a spectator sport.

So, is this another one of those lame "I don't know what to do with my life" posts you get on Livejournals the net over? No, because I more or less know exactly what I want to achieve.

I want to finish my study and read for the bar, I want to practice as a barrister in Hong Kong and embark upon an epic attempt to single handedly finance Apple HK's quarter by impulse buying a whole lot of geeky hardware.

I want to find a love of my own somewhere.

I want to wake up each morning knowing that I'm where I want to be. Happy with life.

Sure, a lot of people might say "He's a greedy bast, that lad" but what can I say? I have high expectations.

The problem, as always, is in actually achieving all that.

Nonetheless I've realised something, I've spent so long striving to create a stable platform to reach my goals, that I've neglected to think of what I might do now that said platform doesn't exist.

By stable platform I mean a flat in London. On my own. Independent and with all the paraphernalia of a relatively untethered existence. I've been at university almost 2 years and you know how 'independent' I've been over that period?

I spent my first six months living happily in the flat in Victoria, ultimately relying not only upon my parents but on my grandparents insofar as the flat was my grandmother's. I then spent the rest of that year being utterly suffocated by my grandmother.

When I finally move out of that flat I end up being right back at home again, living in some pseudo-suburban family environment which I can't pretend doesn't make my blood boil.

My counselor's spent so much time telling me that I'm trying to break free and I'm only just realizing that she's been right all along.

I can't 'grow' whilst I'm here. In 2 years I've achieved nothing of the independence I sought. University so far for me has just been 6th Form part 2, I've spent my whole time in the custody and effective care of someone irrespective of whether or not I wanted to.

I can't say this without sounding ungrateful but for fuck's sake I'm 20 and I'm currently living at home and commuting to University. That's perhaps one or two ladder rungs above living in your parent's basement.

Now with all this idiocy over my flat in London it almost looks as if I won't be moving out until next year. The past two weeks with my counselor being sick and unable to meet my appointments have been a fortnight when I've really needed someone to talk to and now I'll have to settle for another 4 week drought as the Easter Holidays begin on Friday.

If I manage to settle the lease on this apartment then I'll be a lot happier, but as it stands I don't even get to leave this frikkin' country to head to Hong Kong for easter so I shouldn't expect anything less than another kick in the stomach on that front too (I've noticed that they tend to come in pairs).

I guess I might as well just wait and see what the future brings.

Later

John

The Proletariat Sucks

I saw this Graffiti as I was walking to University.

Just to be contrary I said "Yes sir!' and immediately purchased a McChicken Sandwich from the nearby McDonalds, like a good little capitalist consumer drone.

Propping up the system tastes mighty fine.

Later

John

Congratulations

Abdullah Ahmad Badawi has won a substantialy election victory in Malaysia. Why's that important? Because he relegated a hard line Islamic Fundamentalist party to a bit-part status in parliament by sustaining a moderate muslim line. His tolerant policy appears to have wrested back a lot of the support garnered by Parti Islam se-Malaysia (PAS). 3 Cheers for a forward thinking and open future.

Oh and Markdown rocks.

Later

John

#1 With a Bullet

Well the results are in from the Taiwanese Election and brilliantly Chen has been re-elected, albeit by a small margin, in fact one which was very much in line with what the polls suggested.

The KMT are immensely annoyed by this outcome and as a result are calling for a recount, along with accusing him of setting up his own shooting in order to gather votes.

Naturally it's party time for me. A pro-independence candidate, hell bent on sticking it to the PRC now has all the mandate he needs to do exactly that. I somehow doubted that the Taiwanese people would vote for a party intent upon tying the island to China so firmly that it would effectively bind successive governments after listening to the current hissy fit Beijing is throwing over Universal Suffrage (threatening to invoke the State of Emergency clause of the Basic Law if things got 'out of hand' - dissolving Legco and ruling by proxy from the National People's Congress). 1 Country 2 Systems my ass.

Bombastic Cumulative Best Case Scenario:

1. Chen gets elected and starts whipping up a firestorm of independence, instead of sitting back and shutting up China foolishly make good on their offer to invade. (50% Likelyhood)
2. PRC gets its sorry proletariat ass kicked and the people get sufficiently pissed off to boot out the 'gov't' whilst the military isn't in a force capable of quelling unrest Tianamin Square style. (20% Likelihood)
3. Then Hong Kong gets independence, a flag which doesn't suck and can get back to its age old motto of "Lets just shut up and make money". (5% Likelihood)

"He's Buggered off!" "So he has!"

On the subject of spanish prime minister Zapatero's heroic removal of troops from a fledgling democracy in order to appease the demands of the murderous bloodletters who bombed Madrid last week, Andrew Sullivan had this to offer:

MINSTREL: [singing]
Brave Zapatero ran away,
Bravely ran away, away.
When danger reared its ugly head,
he bravely turned his tail and fled.
Yes, brave Zapatero turned about
And gallantly, he chickened out.
Bravely taking to his feet,
He beat a very brave retreat,
Bravest of the brave, Zapatero.

With apologies to Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

Lol!

In other news, an Al Qaeda linked group has rewarded Spain for turning against the "axis of Crusader evil" by announcing that they won't be bombing any spanish people for, ooh at least 5 years, which is about as long as it will take for Al Qaeda to get back to blowing up spaniards for daring to be infidels and getting in the way of "the reestablishment of Andalusia".

I like how the Liberal Left can try to rally against claims that they're giving up and 'opening the sweet shop' for the Terrorists when the Terrorists effectively send them a thank you letter.

later

John

Think Plagiarism

I wonder how long Apple legal will take to rip out EasyJet's metaphorical trachea for this one?

Spotted on the London Underground at Aldgate East Station, two billboards either side of the tracks featuring in big bold letters the term "Think Differently" an obvious and blatant ripoff of Apple's acclaimed "Think Different" slogan. I can almost hear Steve's ninjas now, but for the fact that Ninjas are silent. Everyone knows that.

For the uninitiated Easyjet is a low fares low frills airline operating out of the UK, run by the entrepreneur Stelios Haji-Iannou, who's penchant for painting things orange and making them cheaper is only matched by his love of slapping phone numbers onto every available surface his projects present him with.

(note the pics are only of one of the billboards but the other was identical)

I'm sending an email to Apple legal cause the folks over at AtAT could use some more UK courtroom drama to add to the current beatles related lawsuits against Apple computer.

Warning, this post has been rated 'R' for 'Rant'

I came to the keyboard today knowing exactly what to write but Andrew Sullivan has already written it so I don't need to.

And in yesterday's election victory for the socialists, al Qaeda got even more than it could have dreamed of. It has removed a government intent on fighting terrorism and installed another intent on appeasing it. For good measure, they murdered a couple of hundred infidels. But the truly scary thought is the signal that this will send to other European governments.

Reading The Times today made my blood boil. Idiocy, sheer idiocy, not on the part of the writers for William Rees Mogg's article hit the nail on the head but on the part of the Spanish Left. They have actually succeeded convincing themselves not only that they can appease terrorists but that it's a good idea, which will no doubt lead to the nasty men leaving Spain alone next time. Please excuse me for a minute, I need to go do something...

HOLY FUCKING SHIT! HOW STUPID CAN YOU GET!?

Thank you.

Spain has always been a target as I explained in my previous post. People often give me weird looks when I explain that Italy actually has had the most vigorous of Anti-Terrorism units running since even before September 11th, rooting out and destroying Islamic Terror cells. Why has Italy been, and continues to be a target?

The Pope.

Yep, ain't nothing more likely to piss off Islamic fundamentalists than the biggest baddest infidel of them all; Pope John Paul II.

Al Qaeda is still stinging from the whupping fundamentalist Islam endured at the end of the first world war! It's in the videos and documentation recovered! Its the zaniest side of Islamic terrorism documented but it's the reason why there can't be any peace or negotiation with them, we still must all pay a blood price for the many failures of islamic fundamentalism in the past both military and social.

And in the results of a poll printed in The Times today, 10% of Muslims in Britain back terror strikes on the United States akin to September 11th. You know to be called a religion of peace, you have to tell anyone monumentally disgraceful enough to hold that opinion that they're wrong. I'm waiting for a statement denouncing such sentiment from Islamic scholars in England because I have enough faith in the intelligence and peaceful nature of non-fundamentalist Islam to believe one might come.

But come on!! 10%!?! You mean that 1 in 10 of the predominately Muslim population of my University believe America not only deserved September 11th but that they should have some more!?

Right, thats enough fundamentalist Islam bashing for now.

How is it that after failing to learn the lessons of September 11th, the people of Europe are failing to learn the lessons of March 11th when the terror is brought to their very doorstep?

In the words of the classic First Person Shoot'em'up game "Counterstrike":

*radio hiss* Terrorists..Win *radio hiss*

Rofl!

I never listen to Radio 1 (primarily because I think it's total crap), but my sister does. Anyhow I just heard a phone in question which basically revealed that Chris Moyles, the Dj got an iPod last weekend and can't work out how to use it. HAHHAHAAHA!!

I mean you plug it in and it syncs automatically with iTunes! If you're a windows user you just install iTunes and it grabs all your music (if you're a mac user you've been using iTunes for like, ever so it has all your music).

How frikkin' stupid can you get!?

Personally I think he's joking and just taking advantage of this neo-ludditism which seems so prevalent amongst the 'older' generation these days (and Moyles has to be about 30 something but they get in on the act anyway) - it's actually considered cool to be too 'out of touch' to work simple technological devices.

Later

John

How many more will it take?

We have all read of, heard, or watched the horrific scenes in Madrid. The blogosphere is alight once more and just about everyone has weighed in on it. So much so that I don't even think it's worth my chiming in on who did it, or why - because the facts in my opinion point to Al Qaeda and it is a matter for the intelligence community to discern. What I will write of concerns the inevitable idiocy which will be pronounced throughout certain wings of the media, when they can throw away their masks of sorrow and proceed with their spinning.

"Well if it is Al Qaeda... It's Spain's fault for supporting the war on Iraq"

It's coming. You know it is. Most importantly it will highlight the most fundamental flaw in the beliefs and understanding of its utterers. That flaw is the assumption that if Spain had done nothing, that this horror would not have been inflicted upon it, or any other peoples of the world.

On September 11th, when Al Qaeda massacred 3000 people, if it could have killed 30,000 it would have, if it could have killed 3,000,000 it would have. There is no equivalency in their murder, no sliding scale of brutality. If Spain hadn't help liberate Iraq then those explosives wouldn't have sat in some abandoned warehouse - they would have still killed 300 Spaniards or perhaps 300 Brits, 300 Italians, or 300 Germans instead.

Al Qaeda is a ruthless genocidal group of psychopaths - they literally hold no regard for the sanctity of human life, anywhere in the world. A lot of liberal minded pundits need to wake up to that fact and stop implying some sort of rational agenda to their motives. I can only hope that the events in Madrid might help achieve that end.

UK Commentators

Concerning the sickening terrorism and bloodshed in Iraq against Shia muslims, UK Commentators have found a grand BBC report.

(Oh, and the BBC chose to put in their report an email from Christian of Liverpool - "Many of those who protested against the war saw this coming". I well remember all the banners saying 'If you invade, terrorists will kill all the Shias. And Shias in Pakistan'.)

UK Commentators is a must read blog. In fact I'm rather astonished that I've only just found out about it.

Oh dear. Why Mr Jenkins? Why?

I opened up my copy of The Times with some enthusiasm, I am rarely awake in time to pick up a copy at the local coop here in Rowhedge when back from university (could it be that the village is so awash with intelligent, measured inhabitants that there is an early morning scrum for the enlightened paper?) so it is an infrequent treat - save when my mother is kind enough to pick up a copy on the way back from her work.

However in today's Times, poor old Simon Jenkins has picked up the topic of Iraqi democracy and in keeping with his anti-war stance propagates further one of the most insulting and idiotic myths held up by the anti-war camp. Although he structures his argument in such a way as to skirt it, he fails to disguise what is ultimately a metaphorical elephant shrouded by a tea cosy.

The myth in question is the assertion that Iraq is not capable of democracy.

There is no more bigoted or cynical idea floated by the anti-war camp than the belief that any one group of people are incapable of engaging in what most consider the most elegant system of order constructed by man.

Certainly Jenkins does a marvelous job couching his argument in the divisions in Iraqi society. He correctly identifies the centuries old friction between Sunni and Shia communities and latches on admirably to the importance of a decent degree of Kurdish autonomy, however he makes one critical false presumption:

"Just one prerequisite of democracy is that all groups share sufficient national cohesion for a minority to acquiesce in majority rule. Only a fool would say that of today's Iraq"

There it is, amongst reams of historical anecdotes (I suspect Mr Jenkins would be quite capable of ordering a complete lunch for 6 people with a pertinant historical point for each dish) the vital evidence which Jenkins relies upon to support the notion that Iraq is incapable of democracy.

Then what Mr Jenkins? If Iraq is indeed not viable as democratic state as you assert then should the people be left to tyranny?

"My apologies, but you're not capable of living peaceably in a prosperous and free society, here's the Fascist Dictator Du Jour he'll be running your administration for a bit."

Indeed he ignores entirely the evidence which so far supports the view that the religious and ethnic groups in Iraq do have sufficient belief in the establishment of one democratic nation, intelligence and grace to accept majority rule:

The hundreds who join the security forces each day eager to fulfill a desire to see peace returned to the nation they call home and who continue to do so in spite of the constant threat of death in a suicide bomber's hate-fueled conflagration.

The hundreds of newspapers springing up, each saluting in columns of arabic text the new possibilities of a united Iraq whilst continuing the hen-pecking of journalistic cynicism rightly directed at the provisional governing bodies.

To assert that the Iraqi people do not have the requisite cohesion to accept majority rule is ultimately to believe that they care so little for the future of Iraq that they would be willing to see their own nation carved asunder by selfish theocrats and powerbrokers. It is this naivety that is so prevalent in the debate surround Iraq.

Thousands of Iraqis toil each day to build back up a once proud nation. It will be their choice whether or not a democracy will be born from the ashes of tyranny, stirring rhetoric though this might be, it is clear cut fact. The prognostications of anti-war sophists who marvelously declare the war's illegality to be self-evident before moving swiftly onto this travesty of an argument debase the Iraqi people by cultivating such idiocy.

I do not lend credence to the racist and bigoted suggestion that any person is incapable of self determination, liberty or any of the freedoms we enjoy in our own nations. Just because a people are disadvantaged in their struggle to achieve such freedoms does not mean that one should ignore outright that struggle or belittle the veracity of their resolve.

Later

John

Photos from Spaaaaaaaaaace!

Fan Smegging Tastic.

Big White Guy posted a link to this site. It's a satellite picture of Hong Kong, downtown central, across victoria harbour and into a bit of Kowloon-side. It even stretches far enough back for you to see Happy Valley and the Aberdeen Tunnel.

I'm loving it. I really needed a dose of Hong Kong whilst arrangements are being made for a trip there over the easter break and this is perfect. I miss the "Home of the Shiny Green Suit".

Later

John