Googling the Earth

Google has recently released a new version of their Google Earth product.

There are several versions but the home use one is fun.

It saves having to look up things in an atlas, and can be downloaded from here

Firewalls To Go

My favourite anti-virus software people, Grisoft, have just released a combo anti-viral and firewall product: AVG Anti-Virus plus Firewall Edition

I have not tested yet but will update when I do.

It will be interesting to compare it with ZoneAlarm freeware version

Grisoft offer a freeware version of their standard anti-virus scanner: AVG Free Edition

New Popinjays

Whilst I was never in favour of the invasion of Iraq, I do find that the
Drink-soaked Trotskyite Popinjays For WAR are sometimes very amusing.

Site of the Week 2

I have always liked Orwell's writtings, in particular Down and Out in London and Paris.

His Homage to Catalonia is a bitting indicment of pre-WW2 Stalinism, best read with any of Paul Preston's fine works.

Therefore, it is with great pleasure I present two sites of the week:

http://www.k-1.com/Orwell/

http://orwell.ru/

On-line copies of his work can be found on these sites.

Shock! Horror! They are Nazis!

Officially, and finally it has been acknowledged that the BNP are Nazis, as if we didn't know, but still:

"a landmark ruling by the Standards Board for England, other politicians can refer to them as "Nazis".

The decision came after the BNP complained about comments made by Liberal Democrat councillor Gavin Stollar of Epping Forest Council."

Found Out?

Having completed the Feminist Test, I 'scored':

"Gender-Liberal
You scored 66% Gender-Abolitionist, 60% Sexually Liberal, and 40 % Socialist

You are the Gender-Liberal. This means that you share qualities with both Liberal Feminists and Gender Abolitionists. Like the Liberal Feminist.."

and it goes on and on.

"You scored higher than 53% on Gender
You scored higher than 7% on Sexuality
You scored higher than 46% on Class"

Shame, the questions on the feminist test sounds like they were constructed by Post-Modernist graduate, I am sure that the campaign for plain English would be very annoyed.

I should never have read my old girlfriend's Spare Rib look at the after effects!

One Down and Now the Rest

The Ku Klux Klan leader Edgar Ray Killen is to be jailed for 60 years for his part in the murder of civil rights activists, James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner in 1964, finally.

Galloway the Cur

George Galloway is a contemptible cur. He was happy to stoke communal tension during the general election and attack Oona King, a black Jewish MP

Now Louise Ellman, the Jewish MP for Riverside, Liverpool as being called ‘Israel's MP on Merseyside’.

There is no depth to which he will not plummet, his Middle-Eastern paymasters must be very happy.

Galloway is another demagogue and very much like a modern day Oswald Mosley, with his new party, Respect/SWP

Mozilla Firefox 1.0.5 Test Builds Available

Mozilla is gearing up for the release of Mozilla Firefox 1.0.5 with test builds available now

Use them but take care

Take Me to Your leader

As the Tory leadership election contest comes nearer I begin to get a happy feeling.

The reason? addiction!

The Tories seem addicted to picking losers for leaders: William Hague and Iain Duncan Smith. Oh and the current one (I almost forgot him) Michael Howard.

And I'm hoping that they pick David Davies or some other incapable nonentity.

Sadly, it does seem unlikely that the Tory party will implode after a string of incompetent and ineffective leaders, but we can live in hopes.

Always look on the bright side of life!

Klans Man Guilty

Klans man, Edgar Ray Killen has been found guilty of manslaughter, the burning issues of justice delayed was partially satisfied

Radio 4

Via Eric, there is a series on Radio 4 concerning Saudi Arabia.

Listen again to it via Saudi Stories

Best with Real Alternative

Lipstadt in the Blogosphere

If you are interested in history, or worried about the sickening phenomena of holocaust denial and the rise of the extreme right, I would suggest reading Deborah Lipstadt's blog

Additionally, see the page on “David Irving is one of the most insidious of Holocaust deniers.” from the Holocaust History Project.

Background information on David Irving
from the Nizkor Project and The Guardian
(Best avoid the fpp sites at the bottom of The Guardian page, unless you want to study his lunacy up close).

See David Irving's secret backers and have laugh at Irving goes bankrupt

Update 1: Holocaust Denial On Trial web site, very good coverage.

Women in the Middle East

The work of Azam Kamguian and her colleagues, Mona Basaruddin should be applauded. They edit a monthly bulletin for the Committee to Defend Women's Rights in the Middle East, which can be found here

Azam Kamguian’s article on Stifled Steps: Islam and Education is worth reading

and The impact of religion on children's development

Site of the Week 1

Time permitting, I will post a site of the week.

They should either amusing, relevant or even timely but we'’ll see, starting with: http://distrowatch.com/

Distrowatch has news, reviews and the latest downloads of Linux distributions, a must for aficionados!

A Testing Time

I don't much believe in tests, etc but some on-line ones are funny.

I came across the Feminist test recently, which made me laugh and I'll post my score when I have the time to complete it.

Old Dogs with Foxy Tricks

Old browser never die just become more foxy?

AOL has released Netscape 8.02 based on Firefox

Opera is not going to be outdone with their new downloads.

Is There No End to Them?

The pub philosopher is on the ball with the depressing news of the creation of yet another extreme right-wing grouping : Nationalist Alliance

I hope the Guardian will up date their page on the extreme right

Are Your Filters Working ?

Via Harry's Place a piece on a recent speech by Dr Rowan Williams

Rowan Williams makes some interesting points, and it is a much more balanced article than the snippet in The Times would suggest.

But there are number points to bear in mind about Internet sources:

• the lack of social constraints on the Web allow people to indulge themselves;
• this indulgence can produce some 'extreme' views or attitudes;
• many people do not take the trouble to filter out information from the Internet and take extreme views and attitudes as 'gospel';

this can be seen in the conspiracies relating to WTC/911 or the tsunami, etc.

The popularity of conspiracy sites and their related links is somewhat worrying, but not unexpected given the diversity of humanity and the predisposition of some people towards irrational belief systems.

For examples, we only need to look at the popularity of sites such as www.rense.com or www.conspiracyarchive.com

It does point towards people using more critical judgement on Internet sources than maybe they have in the past

This reminds me of two anecdotes:

a customer calling up a Utility company only to be told “that’s wrong, the computer says you're dead"

in the early days of the mainframe, many people set their watch by the time on the computer screen and thinking " it comes from a computer there for it must be right?", little appreciating that the time set on the mainframe often owes more to the accuracy of the computer operators watch and typing skills than some atomic clock in rugby

Most people working in IT have learnt to take information from computers with a handful of salt and hopefully that attitude is extending out.

Simply because information is placed on a web site (such as this) or comes from a computer does not mean it is definitive or accurate, it might be, and then again it might not.

We all, in this information age, need to apply critical thinking to all aspects of news and views and not take the lazy way of accepting what we are told either from the mouths of politicians, the pens of journalists or some wacky keystrokes from the Internet.

Selective Nature?

Eve Garrard's piece at Norm's Blog and the selective nature of the AUT blacklist set me thinking about Tibet and China's role there.

We rarely hear much about the massive settlement process by Tibet or Chinese occupation in 1950 or the later full annexation of Tibet in 1965, which seems to have been conveniently forgotten by many people.

The Chinese 'settlers' in Tibet now number millions.

The only argument trying to justify it, that I ever heard, suggested "China did away with feudalism in Tibet, and brought progress..."

Then surely United States could use a similar argument in Iraq or many of their other foreign policy adventures. British colonial rule could be justified using a Chinese argument, but who now would try to defend the indefensible?

Fact sheet on Tibet is here

Video of Chinese violence

Major Allegations: Key Facts on the Chinese Occupation

Free Tibet

WTC Conspiracy Part 999

I enjoy a good wacko conspiracy as much as the rest, including but not limited to the black Pope and end of days.

Which is all good fun if not taken too seriously and an indicator of how far humanity has moved on from the Middle Ages, some might say not very.

The latest, as far as I can see, to come out from the United States is from Morgan Reynolds, quoted at arcticbeacon

"If demolition destroyed three steel skyscrapers at the World Trade Center on 9/11, then the case for an 'inside job' and a government attack on America would be compelling," said Morgan Reynolds, Ph.D, a former member of the Bush team who also served as director of the Criminal Justice Center at the National Center for Policy Analysis headquartered in Dallas, TX”

I am almost lost for words, but one: weird

A word of warning: many of these conspiracy web sites may link to nasty neo-Nazi or similar sites, be warned

Take everything at these sites with a handful of salt, just because it is written on the Web doesn't mean it is true.

Words Fail Her?

I have frequently noticed that those articulating an 'anti-Zionist' case, and in this instance: for the AUT blacklist are often unwilling to put their arguments, motives and the consequences of their actions under close scrutiny.

Thus it is with Sue Blackwell.

The people at Engage wish to argue through the case and give her a chance to explain her actions and motives, but sadly she has become reticent.

Rather strange for someone who’s main scholarly powers are linguistic!

I would have thought anyone genuinely interested in this topic and motivated by the highest of interests would welcome an opportunity to articulate a carefully argued case, but no Sue Blackwell has retreated.

Having seen such people in the past, I am not entirely surprised.

Another View

Events in the Middle East can leave us all angry or depressed, Lisa in Tel Aviv is a welcome antidote

Humanist have views too

Never much read Nick Cohen (maybe because I tend to read for news not views) but he made some useful and funny points here, which reminded me of the election:

"At the risk of sounding bombastic, I want to say that there are two parties about which there can be no shilly–shallying. The first is the BNP, which is simply an old neo–Nazi movement with a PR makeover. The second is Respect, an alliance between the intellectually exhausted Marxist–Leninists of the Socialist Workers Party and Islamic fundamentalists, which has come together under the leadership of George Galloway, a charismatic huckster who praised Saddam Hussein for his “courage, strength and indefatigability”.

He blogs here.

Burning Justice

Who says there's no justice in the world? Edgar Ray Killen goes on trial in Mississippi

As the LA times put it "Country Preacher to Be Tried as 1964 Murder Mastermind"

Engaged - David and Sue

Norm beat me too it again, Engage has an interesting piece: Sue Blackwell Needs to Respond to Charges of Antisemitism - David Hirsh

This caught my eye:

“In Poland in 1968 the Polish state, under the cover of solidarity with Palestinians, launched a purge of the Jewish intelligensia. The language of this purge was one of anti-Zionism. Jewish intellectuals were challenged to declare themselves anti-Zionist. Most of them refused, and Poland lost a whole layer of its thinkers, teachers, writers and researchers.”

Nowadays after the fall of eastern communism few of us ever really consider Soviet anti-Semitism and how it was constantly masked under the label of anti-Zionism.

Even as late as 1983 anti-Semitism was hiding under the backcloth of anti-Zionism as the advent of Anti-Zionist Committee of the Soviet Public shows

See Pamyat

Does this sound familiar?

“The recurring motive of the groups's ideology were the alleged "Ziono-Masonic plot" against Russia as "the main source of the misfortunes of Russian people, disintegration of the economy, denationalization of Russian culture, alcoholism, ecological crisis." The "Zionists" were also blamed for causing revolutions, for death of millions in the course of Russian Civil War and Stalin's personality cult. The contemporary Soviet government apparatus was alleged to be penetrated by "Zionists and freemasons" with the purpose to subordinate it to the "Jewish capital". The "Zionist Occupied Government" accusation was often used.

Officially the organization emphasized that its ideology was merely anti-Zionist and not anti-Semitic. This was also the official Soviet stance. The hate speech and fostering ethnic conflict is punishable under Russian law. It was punishable also under the Soviet law, but this article has never been enforced.”

Religion or not

This funny posting at Israellycool about Tom Cruise and Scientology made me wonder if the up-and-coming bill on religious hatred will protect Scientology and similar cults from deserved ridicule

Weekly around up

Blogger.com seems to have problems once the US wakes up so I thought post early today.

For the lazy readers: a guide to British and Irish Blogs at Tim Worstall via Natalie Solent

Quizing Satan

I tried out a religious quiz via innerwestcentral

and got a strange result:

"You scored as Satanism.

Your beliefs most closely resemble those of Satanism! Before you scream, do a bit of research on it. To be a Satanist, you don't actually have to believe in Satan. Satanism generally focuses upon the spiritual advancement of the self, rather than upon submission to a deity or a set of moral codes. Do some research if you immediately think of the satanic cult stereotype. Your beliefs may also resemble those of earth-based religions such as paganism.

Satanism 100%

atheism 83%

Paganism 58%

agnosticism 58%

Judaism 50%

Islam 33%

Buddhism 33%

Christianity 33%

Hinduism 0%"

Honest, I am not a Satanist, just more like pluralistic atheist but may be I am marked out for other things?

Enough Sleep?

The Torygraph had an amusing piece on teenagers:

"Research published in the journal Pediatrics has shown that adolescents often fail to get enough sleep because despite still needing up to 10 hours a night, puberty affects their body's production of sleep-inducing melatonin, making going to sleep early more difficult. Those who slept the least and had to get up the earliest had the lowest cognitive performance and worst moods."

Now we know, that might explain many blog entries or does it?

Linux and Red Hat

Red Hat's decision to spin off Fedora is to be welcomed, and anything that gives impetus to be open source movement.

Linux is progressing nicely with ubunu taking a good slice and many small vibrant distributions, my favourite, SystemRescueCd

Question for George Galloway Fans

Johann Hari has produced 15 questions for a Galloway supporter, which are bril:

"Journalist Johann Hari poses 15 questions to a supporter of George Galloway.

If you are ever confronted by somebody who supports George Galloway or
has any sympathy for him, here are 15 questions to put to them:

(1) Do you believe Saddam Hussein's genocidal assaults on the Kurds, democrats and Marsh Arabs in 1991 were "a civil war with massive
violence on both sides"?

(2) Would you go on holiday with the foreign minister of a fascist state?

(3) Would you go disco dancing with the foreign minister of a fascist state?

(4) Would you call for the release of the former foreign minister of a fascist state on the grounds that he is "an eminent diplomatic and intellectual person"?

(5) Do you believe Iraqi trade unionists today are "quislings"? Would you dismiss their tearful recollections of torture at the hands of Ba'athists by calling it "a party trick"?...."

Arab News Reports

Arab News reports from the OIC:

"The US must live up to its responsibilities and not be lenient with the perpetrators of the desecration and should bring those responsible for the despicable crime to justice immediately,” said OIC spokesman Ambassador Atta El-Manan Bakhit."

Which makes me wonder what is the Sharia punishment for such a matter?Death?Or worst?

This stuff is scary and what is the 'punishment' for Apostasy?

Reminds me of the old Catholic Church's attitude to heresy

The Spanish Inquisition

EU constitution

Harry is spot on

"The left needs to articulate a vision of a democratic EU for this new generation ..

Part of the European left finds itself sinking into that reactionary mire where it shares a stinking nihiism with the far-right. "

A simplified minimalist EU constitution would make better sense and easier to discuss. In this case following the American model might not be a bad idea.

Although tedious anti-Americanism would probably get in the way of admitting that a shorter and simpler EU constitution is better. The EU is not going to go away, therefore it is incumbent on people to ensure decent social policies and workable structures within it

The current 'Euroscepticism' which infects a wide range of people is little more than sophisticated xenophobia, even though people don't like to admit it.

New version of Spybot released

Version 1.4 of Spybot, the anti-spyware tool has just been released and can be downloaded from here