Summer 2012 - A Disaster Ahead

With the Middle East in turmoil, Colonel Gaddafi running away, Turkey attacking the Kurds with helicopters and Israel with diplomacy, London's Burning (and not the TV show!) and Greece is about to slide down t bankruptcy, I can already foresee next summer's disaster.

And may God have mercy on our souls.

kthanxbai!

Related articles

• Full-scale Middle East war is 'imminent', warns Israeli general (telegraph.co.uk)
• Ask Turkey about genocide, Kurds (blogs.jta.org)
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Are You Crazy?

Its been a while I admit but this got me riled.

Actually pretty annoyed.

And I can hope that it only starts people thinking, both in and out of Europe.





And yes - I was raised in the area of Walthamstow.

kthanxbai!

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Too Much Murder?

Like any red blooded young chap who owns a TV in 2011 I get to see a lot of murders on TV.


There are some great detailed  detective work in some of the amazing shows in the list below, which I have put in order of which ones I am addicted to the most at the beginning;


Sherlock, NCIS, Morse, Justified, Memphis Blue, Frost, The Glades, Bones, Bergerac, CSI, CSI Miami, CSI Hoboken, Taggart, CSI New York, Law + Order, Criminal Minds, The Protector, The Closer, Dexter

Image via Wikipedia

Danny Cohen, who I respect tremendously, in his position of head of BBC1 in the UK, who create a myriad of high class detective shows,  was recently quoted in the Daily telegraph as saying shortly before the latest rush of detective shows hit our screens, there’s simply too much of this crime stuff on the telly. “One of the things I want to do,” Mr Cohen, the network’s youngest-ever controller, explained helpfully, “is to broaden the palette a bit.”

Interesting attitude. Is it for the TV show makers to decide what people see or is it up to the viewing public? Admittedly the most watched shows in the US and UK are not dramas or murder shows but are in fact the talent shows where 'normal people' get to strut their stuff.
Image via Wikipedia

So should we be watching reality murders? Are we already watching too much murder on tv? The infographic below, and more importantly, it's popularity around the world in 2011 as opposed to 2001 - might lean us towards an answer;


The original can be found at www.forensicnursing.org 

kthanxbai!

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Some Great Reads

I like me some Vietnam stories. I don't particularly enjoy the fighting part of it, generally I don't believe half of what I read. I do like reading about the helicopters over there and how these guys went into the breach, time after time.

Image by colincookman via Flickr

There aren't many instances that I can think of where you get to see the same events but through different sets of eyes. Even 9/11 with photographers and videographers and eyewitnesses didn't see things significantly differently.

So I was pleasantly surprised when I stumbled upon 2 books in my personal library (ooh, doesn't that sound fancy?!!) where a pair of slick pilots had flown together, got shot at together and had told the tales differently.Image by javaczuk via Flickr

'Lest We Forget ' by William Meacham is a fantastic read about Huey pilots in The Nam doing a wide variety insane and ridiculous operations to save their buddies on the ground. Meacham was an enlisted man and worked his way up to become an officer which probably explains his rather more rigid and focused views on certain matters within the book.

What blew me away was that he brought W T Grant up to speed when he first arrived in The Nam. W T Grant wrote his book 'Wings of the Eagle' about those first flights and those very hair-raising (aka insane) missions.

Its not just me who is raving about these books, I'm just a few years behind the others!

I strongly suggest you get your hands on one of these books - they are well worth a read. Or two.




kthanxbai!

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Going Full Circle

I've been floating around the interwebz a fair bit this week and the most impressive thing I found for your delight and delectation is exceptionally close to my last posting Piff The Magic Dragon.

But its darned good.

Do you know how he does it?



Answers in the comments below please!

No seriously, I want to know how he does it!!

kthanxbai!

Piff The Magic Dragon

A rather hilarious young magician out to impress Messrs Penn & Teller.



Hat tip to Damn Cool Pictures



 kthanxbai!

I Do Like Me Some Angry Birds

Way back when, (well in mid-May) I mentioned just how much I like the game Angry Birds.

 

 

Angry Birds & Pomplamoose was a favourite post of many people.So here is proof that I am not a complete nutter;

 I guess its not 'proof' as such. It just shows that I'm not alone!

 Oh, and there's a movie coming out too.


 

kthanxbai!

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Simply A Great Ad

As the blurb at the top of the blog says 'Bringing you interesting articles, pictures and views from around the Blogosphere and the Interwebs'.


Probably the best ad I've seen in the past 6 months. Try and work out what product the ad is for before the clip ends.


Enjoy! 



The Exorcist from MrPrice2U on Vimeo.




kthanxbai!

The Good, Bad & Ugly* of long-distance scooter riding

An internet chum of mine just went on a rather amazing 24hr trip. He attempted a 1,000 mile trip in 24 hours. On a scooter.

Here are some quotes:

Image by sigma. via FlickrIt doesn't matter how old you are or how fit you think you are, riding a scooter for 24 hours (or anything close to that long) is physically demanding. The word 'grueling' comes to mind now that I'm on the other side of it.

A good chunk of my ride took me through two of the more inhospitable sections of desert in the world (the Negev and Arava). Twice!

'Nuff said! Read more about it and maybe donate to his cause. I know I will...



kthanxbai!

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Allan McNish

In my last, earth shattering, blog post 'Twitter, iPhones and Fast Cars' which caused furor in the world of... well, nowhere really.

Anyway...

I have always been a fan of motor-sport so it was interesting for me to see this week that 'Le Mans 24 hour' was trending on Google, Twitter and YouTube.

YouTube? Here's why:




At the time of writing, this clip had over 2,400,000 views. Nice.

And the funky thing for me? I've been in touch with Allan McNish in the past, discussing Formula 1 stuff on Twitter.

Weird to see someone you 'know' going through such a crash.

kthanxbai!

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Twitter, iPhones and Fast Cars

I do love me some fast car action.

I have been a fan of Formula 1 for over 25 years (OMG!!) and I can always be tempted to watch some of the feeder formulae too.

There are some great Formula 1 blogs out there. I personally think that Sidepodcast and Formula1blog.com are two of the leading ones. In fact is was Sidepodcast's latest announcement that brought me to write this blog entry.

I follow Formula1blog.com's Todd aka 'Negative Camber' and Grace via my iPhone, and their weekly podcast.

And on Foursquare.

And Twitter.

And I comment on their forums and website.

Sidepodcast have just launched a great App for the iPhone which brings you the latest Formula 1 info as written and read. And they have a seriously awesome SERIES of weekly podcasts. And they have live race coverage. And tweet like crazy.

Image by lukehmuse via Flickr

Hey Toto, we're not in Kansas any more. Waving a flag and wearing a Ferrari top just isn't gonna cut it as a fan. This is some serious technology that's being used here - and all for free (to the end-user) and all created by fans without any advertising or business model.

This surely is the way the world is going. And as always, its the 'little people' with a passion who lead the way.

You heard it here first...


kthanxbai!

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Politics and Music

We all know that Bono and Sir Bob Geldof have changed the face of charity and giving throughout the world.

But what do we do when a band or group we like suddenly takes a stand against what you believe in? Its confusing for me for sure.





Their music seems more hollow to me now. For no other reason, well, none that I can think of.

Thoughts?

kthanxbai!

Blah blah blah

I know I've been talking a bit much about the bloggers who I follow and admire but i just wanted to share these with you as they brightened up my day;

The Breda Fallacy: 

I'm going to go open carry now. And maybe get an ice cream cone.

I mean come on - how cool is that phrase??!!

And then we have Joe, delicate, wouldn't hurt a fly, cute as a fluffy bunny Joe, and his sharing of a 'recipe' email over here - 'Can he Really...' (Well worth a read)

Kristen over at We Are THAT Family has an exceptionally interesting chapter in her family's life going on now. You can kind of guess what by the first line of her latest post; We leave for Kenya, Africa in 5 days. FIVE.


All great people, all just living 'normal' lives and sharing it with us.


I love the blogosphere! 


kthanxbai!

Peace in The Middle East?

A nice idea from Pajama Media.

Its so crazy - it might just work!



kthanxbai!

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More Amazing Bloggers To Follow

I've started a new job recently and as I am now at the computer 25 hours a day I have been somewhat remiss on keeping up with 'mon bloggage'.

I dipped into Google Reader today and stumbled upon 3 insanely different blogs which I regularly read and smile at. What they had to say made me think about who I am, or more specifically, what I read to improve myself.

Here are the blogs;

• The View From North Idaho - Last day at Microsoft
• We are That Family 
• Chopper Chick 
• The Brick Man

And I'd just like to add that Blogger really is beginning to pish me off. I have tried repeatedly to change the font and layout of this and previous posts to no avail.

I am seriously considering moving over to WordPress because of it. What do you think? Good or bad idea?

kthanxbai!

Its ma Bathday

Its ma Bathday and I'll fry if I want to!

And also, according to Tanker over at Mostly Cajun, All American and Opinionated - Viewing the world from south-west Louisiana

1780 – Lieutenant Colonel Banastre Tarleton massacres Colonel Abraham Buford’s continentals allegedly after the continentals surrender. 113 Americans are killed. Nothing like a good massacre to show how you really feel.

1849 – Lincoln says “You can fool some of the people all of the time, all of people some of time, but you can’t fool all of the people all of time”. The dimmocrat party says “all you gotta do is fool enough to get yourself elected, then screw the rest…”

1864 – Emperor Maximilian of Mexico arrives in Mexico for the first time. He has the full backing of the French government which naturally means he’s a despot, later executed by his own rebellious people.

1886 – Chemist John Pemberton places his first advertisement for Coca-Cola, the ad appearing in the Atlanta Journal.

1942 – Bing Crosby, the Ken Darby Singers and the John Scott Trotter Orchestra record Irving Berlin’s “White Christmas”, the best-selling Christmas album in history, for Decca Records in Los Angeles. It’s either this, or “Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer”.

1953 – Sir Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay are the first people to reach the summit of Mount Everest, on Tenzing Norgay’s (adopted) 39th birthday. Hillary Clinton, born in 1947, is, by her own words, named after Sir Edmund, who was completely unknown in 1947. (why I love Everest)

1977 – Janet Guthrie becomes first woman to drive in Indy 500, completes first ten laps while applying mascara.

1987 – Michael Jackson attempts to buy Elephant Man’s remains, offering a slightly used Cub Scout troop and an undisclosed amount of cash.

kthanxbai!

The End of Days - or Just The Beginning?

I have frequently quoted the grouchy old bugger known as Wirecutter over at Knuckledraggin My Life Away.  He is witty, forthright and his writing is highly entertaining.*

One of his recent posts started me thinking about how advanced our society is, especially as we are moving more and more towards recycling, reusing, garage sales and generally thinking twice before spending too much money on new items.

My truck has been getting worse and worse gas mileage and I have my registration due soon, requiring a smog check. Total cost for a full tune-up and smog check will run me about $500 - I've got the money but don't want to part with it if I don't have too. So today I wander down to my mechanics' garage (who I've bartered with before) to see how I can knock down the price.

 
The whole, worthwhile post, can be read here.



kthanxbai!

*if Wirecutter turns out to be a group project for a psychiatry research paper out of one of the smaller universities I wouldn't be too surprised...

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How Would You Say 'I Do?'

It all began with a tweet. It was an innocent little tweet

'Guaranteed to make you a weepy mess: Greatest Marriage Proposal EVER!!! http://youtu.be/pnVAE91E7kM'

So I clicked on the link and found this:



Which I thought was AWESOME!!

So I went onto the good ship Google and looked for a few more interesting proposals. You know, there aren't that many intimate, subtle proposals on film, here are a few outlandish, public and I'm guessing, somewhat scary, proposals.

Marriage Proposal of the Decade - The best bloopers are here

kthanxbai!

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Angry Birds & Pomplamoose

As I mentioned on this very blog back in November 2009, in the brief yet interesting post Put your ears back and listen I like cover bands and I especially like Pomplamoose.


I also like me a little bit of Angry Birds on my iPhone.

Image via CrunchBaseIts all harmless murder of innocent pigs with a catapult and a variety of birds as ammunition.

Yeah. That didn't come out as well as I'd hoped.

Anyway, Pomplamoose are a great cover duo, so good in fact that I have included a variety of their offerings below.

Enjoy!










kthanxbai!

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English for Americans

I'm a simple Englishman. Give me a warm pint of dark ale and a lit fire in the fireplace and I am a happy bunny.

And yet I married an American. We speak the same language and yet we don't.

When I visit our family in Chicago its embarrassing enough that I have to speak slowly, and yet they still do not 'understand' me. 

Luckily I am not alone in this plight and help is at hand:

I think I'll send this off to the in-laws as well.

hat tip to @jackschofield 

kthanxbai!

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