Do we need another reason to be concerned about the US Government?
Well if we do then I think I have it here.
So basically The President said he was waiting until the Supreme Court came to a decision. When the decision came out he said that it upheld his position on Camp X-ray. It didn’t. It didn’t take a position either way. He was advised on the issued by the Department of Justice.
When asked if the President was right about that conclusion, the Acting Deputy Attorney General said ton Congress [and I quote] “The President is always right”
How can there be any meaningful inquiry into things like the War in Iraq and the Rove saga, when the Department of Justice adheres to this type of dogma. and to think I’m going to live next door to this country someday.
mm……a little scary.
Celebs
Are there no depths to which LL will stoop. Is she trying to be a Paris Hilton clone? I know she said she wanted more adult roles for her films but isn’t this going too far?
I remember why I always liked Christina – it’s because of this and this. Why she ever got married I’ll never know. [EDIT : and this]
Paris Hilton is disgusting. do not click if you are eating. or have eaten. ever.
And WTF is this? Desperate Housewives ? desperate for a paper bag ?
Awkward Silences
I was asked by a neighbour to come and check his computer because he thought he had been infected by a virus. I went over and could see that he’d had several virus and malware infections. I sat there and worked through with anti-virus software and anti-malware/spyware software, rebooting – scanning in safe mode – cleaning the Reg etc. All the while i was sitting there watching the screen and typing away my neighbour was sat peering over my shoulder.
I felt as though I was being monitored myself in case I tried to steal all his information or install some hacking software. The PC wasn’t particularly fast so the silence was deafening as the progress bars ticked along slowly and we sat there, me in my trousers, smart shirt and shoes, him a 60 year old man in his vest, shorts and slippers.
I began to wonder if there was something on there that he didn’t want me to see. (bomb plans, seditious essays or nasty letters to the BBC about the swearing on ‘Eastenders’, you know….the usual stuff) and what would happen if something popped up on screen that I wasn’t meant to see. It was a little creepy.
Does anyone have any suggestions as to what topics of conversation I could use to avoid those long awkward silences?
SMS for geeks
I saw this post on Liz Revision Blog – really funny but I feel sad that I don’t know enough geeks for this to be of any use to me – my non-geek friends (who are in the majority) would end up texting me back with ” WTF?” or “what?” and I’m too lazy to try to explain to them.
New Mac / PC ads – very funny
Some new Mac/PC ads are on ifilm (they’re not the real ads obviously) but they should be.
A mouthful?
So while we were away in Egypt we found a very surprising menu.
Mrs S didn’t really fancy it and I couldn’t persuade my sister-in-law to order it either.
(apologies about the quality of the pic – cameraphone of course)
Gay marriage
Go check out Bligbi - really funny and so penetrating (if thats the right word?).
Buccaneers
If there was ever a reason to worry about the bullying tactics of the current government of the USA it was the recent story that broke about ‘The Pirate Bay’.
The Pirate Bay is a site (the servers being based in Sweden) which hosted torrents for a range of materials including Movies, Music, Games, TV and Books (to name but few categories) It is one of the world’s most popular websites for file-sharing.
On May 31st Swedish Police entered the premises of Pirate Bay and seized a number of file servers. The servers not only hosted the torrent information but also the files and pages for a number of perfectly legitimate sites. It behoves me to say that Pirate Bay is operating legally under Swedish Law. The sites were back up and running within a couple of days from the Netherlands and are now back up and running in Sweden.
The RIAA in America obviously have a big problem with this information being hosted and materials being made available with royalties being paid to artists. They have a sent lots of legal request for cease and desist and warning letters which Pirate Bay promptly ignored because they were operating perfectly legally.
Now it turns out the White House was behind the raids. Swedish Television says it has documents that show the U.S. threatened to go to the World Trade Organization to impose economic sanctions against Sweden if the site was not stopped. The message reportedly came through the American Embassy in Stockholm.
According to the documents, a chief prosecutor was called to the Justice Ministry and ordered to take action. Dan Eliasson, state secretary to the Minister of Justice, has admitted that the American government suggested there was a risk of sanctions against countries that don’t respect international copyright protections. He also says the ministry provided information on the issue to the chief prosecutor including what are described as “instructions and priorities”. But, Eliasson says, no improper pressure was put on the public prosecutors.
What on earth are the American Government doing trying to bully another government into taking actions against it’s OWN citizens when they are obeying that country’s OWN laws? Does anyone think for ONE SECOND that America would do that if it were asked told to do that by another government?
My Thanks to Radio Sweden
My Holiday (part 8)
The Valley of the Kings. (3 tombs)
The first was a relatively short tomb, when we went inside it was amazing, the colours were fresh and bright. The fact that it had been carved from SOLID ROCK over 3000 years ago was mind boggling and tribute to an amazing technological feat. The 2 engineers in our group were suitably impressed.
The 2nd tomb we entered was one of the longest open to the public and had a ‘dogleg’ about halfway down. This dogleg had actually recently led to the discovery of what was thought to be a new tomb but was more than likely a cachette of Roman origin given that there were 7 or 8 coffins in the tomb.
This tombs walls were protected from Wear and graffiti by large plexiglass panels which (sadly) distanced the viewer from the Chamber wall (and history)
It seemed like a competition as to who could point out the Gods and Goddesses that we had recently become so acquainted with. (there were some in the party who were a little too competitive I think.)
The final tomb was a downward sloping tomb again very long and very richly decorated. About halfway down the cavern was a huge red granite cover for something, we couldn’t quite come to a consensus about what it could be for and by the time we got out we forgot to push the matter with our guide. At the bottom of the cavern was an enormous room containing detailed carvings and painting of religious scenes as well as the lid of a great stone sarcophagus with the pharaohs body carved onto the lid.
My Holiday (part 7)
Today was another early start but only 6:00am today.
We got up and had breakfast as usual before catching the minibus with another (older) couple (from Scotland)
Our first stop was the Colossi of Memnon, 2 huge seated figures of an ancient pharaoh at the site of an Temple that had been destroyed by an earthquake thousands of years ago.
It was here that our guide really showed his worth, he told us he was a former archeologist and teacher who gave us a great overview of the history of Ancient Egypt.
He told us that the Colossi were named not after an Egyptian figure but a Roman Emperor. The Roman Emperor Memnon died and thereafter his mother began having strange dreams wherein a strange voice called the name of her son. These dreams continued for some time. She travelled led to Thebes and visited the site of the destroyed temple. The statues were still standing (seated) but had become somewhat derelict, wind and occasional rain having created fissures and holes and chambers in the great stone giants.
As she stood before the figures the warm desert winds blew across the chambers creating a sound which she was adamant was the voice from her dreams. In an effort to please the monther of the former emperor, the district commander had the statues renamed after Memnon. is this tale true? – who knows but it was a great story and well told.
Next – The Valley of the Kings
My Flickr pics
