"I don't feel frightened by not knowing things, I find it much more interesting"

November 07, 2010

Sagan Day

Yesterday was the 2nd annual 'Carl Sagan day' a tribute to simply the greatest science communicator of the 20th century of which I will write more about either tomorrow or Tuesday (his Birthday) All I can say right now is that the NASA Kepler site has ran a brilliant essay contest here featuring some brilliant pieces on Sagan and the Cosmos. One in particular I loved was by Stuart Atkinson who runs the Cumbrian Sky website and can be reached on twitter (@mars_stu) His short story to cut a long story shot had me filling up, not just with hope and pride that as a species we're taking this "Giant Leap" into the cosmic ocean but with a tinge of sadness that the man isn't here to witness our efforts.

Like I said more later but for now, go outside when it's dark and look up. Out there are infinite possibilities, and our future.

"I believe our future depends powerfully on how well we understand this cosmos, in which we float like a mote of dust in the morning sky"

November 02, 2010

Are you ready for some midtermzzzzzzzzzzzzzz


So it's election day in the US, what's that I hear you say "Already" yes. Thanks to the brilliance that is the US Constitution every 2 years there's a vote. This time up for grabs is the entire House of Representatives led by the the Son'a from Star Trek:Insurrection and 1/3 of the Senate led by Droopy's slower Brother Harry Reid. Along with a few Gubernatorial races.
Nancy Pelosi

Today also marks D-Day for that bunch of patriotic chancers known as the Tea Party. Yes everyone's favourite sunshine coach party have had a string of good luck this year. First their preferred candidate for the Senate seat in Delaware (Previously occupied by VP Biden) beat out the Republicans favourite Mike Castle by over 3540 votes, a move which former evil one turned Pundit Karl Rove said "Cost us the Delaware seat. So what is it about Christine O'Donnell that turned Delaware from a solid red to a cool blue?

Christine O'Donnell it transpires is a certified Lunatic who makes Sarah Palin seem "Book smart". First she was vehemently against the simple joys a man has by grabbing onto his Johnson and having a bit of a fumble saying:
"The Bible says that lust in your heart is committing adultery. So you can't masturbate without lust."
 Wow that has to beat the crap out of Jimmy Carter's "Committed lust in my heart" quote. Not satisfied with alienating every computer nerd and teenager she then claimed to have "dabbled in witchcraft" and more surprisingly asked on a national debate where in the constitution the separation of church and state is. I'll give her a hint. It's #1 on the Bill of rights.
However my favourite bit of crazy came in September this year when someone found a clip from 2007's O'Reilly factor where she claimed:
"They are -- they are doing that here in the United States. American scientific companies are cross-breeding humans and animals and coming up with mice with fully functioning human brains. So they're already into this experiment."
You might be thinking now "Surely everyone can see she is a joke" and you'd be right, however the BBC forgot that part and instead yesterday ran a 5 minute segment on a 30 minute show profiling O'Donnell mentioning only once that she was "trailing in the polls".... Really you call a 10 point Deficit "trailing" I bet you think Reagan "Narrowly beat Mondale in 1984" (Mondale only won one state, his own) So O'Donnell seems to be history by this time tomorrow.

Like I said at the Beginning the Tea Party have had a string of luck with O'Donnell ultimately being the big winner (Because let's face it she'll be working for Fox by tea time tomorrow) but they also have had other good things, not least the rather large turn out to the Glenn Beck "Restoring Honor by being a giant twat" rally in August and many other rallies around the country. 
Yet the stink of it's obviously racist ties are going to drag the party down, it's lack of clear vision, the inanity of it's followers and the resulting defeats it seems to be expecting tonight mean that the Party may be over by 0300UT tomorrow.

As for the rest of the Republican party preliminary polling has them regaining the House of Representatives but the Democrats will retain control of the Senate which for a US Junkie like me is exciting since it would be the first time since 1931.

The Democrat fightback has been rather slow with the most action happening in the last week or so, which saw President Obama sit down with Jon Stewart (First President to do so) and saw him defend not only his record but himself from the accusation that he has been "Timid" since he was elected 2 years ago. This was an obvious attempt to get the 18-25 voters out and voting since they are the demographics the Democrats need to energise if they are to stand. Hopefully they will.


June 17, 2010

New Deal? New Waste


Having been unemployed for 6 months the DWP decided it was time for me to go onto the "New Deal" which claims:

[T]o help you get a job if you are out of work. It will give you the chance to train, learn and do work experience so that you:
  • can become more confident
  • get new skills
  • can be worth more to people looking for staff
  • can find and stay in work

Well that sounds all lovely now doesn't it?

No it doesn't.

Your voyage on new deal is broken into steps, step one is a meeting with your new deal advisor who is different from the job centre advisor you are given on your 13 week interview. Why they think this is smart is beyond me. Your old advisor knew who you were, was helping you find employment and in my case was a massive help even after she admitted there was very little the DWP could do for me.

However your new deal advisor will not be like that. As far as they are concerned you're simply a boil that needs popping, mine was a complete numpty and our conversation went like:

Me: Hi
NDA: Oh finally made it did we
Me: I'm early
NDA: Not by my watch
Me: well your watch is clearly wrong. Unless every watch in the universe is wrong.
NDA: Well you've been out of work for 6 months, why is that?
Me: Well the economy is in a mess and there are no jobs in the NE
NDA: I think it's because of something you're doing but you're now on new deal and there is a 2 week course you must go to that is compulsory they'll walk you through how to do your CV..
Me: I saw someone yesterday over that
NDA and tell you how to write letters
Me: I know how to do that and have certificates in it
*Note while this was said he never stopped rattling off a list of what I had to do*
NDA: Is that something you're interested in?
Me: Well to be honest:-
NDA:(cuts off) Well you have no choice it's compulsory

This pretty much set the tone for the worst hour of my life in which he rewrote my JSA Agreement ignoring everything I said and misspelling various words including “commute” “applicant” oh and my frigging name.

Next came what would happen after this 2 week course I apparently had a choice in attending but didn't. He put me on an Administration course which quote
“Teaches you how to use a computer for various administration tasks including word processing, email sending and the use of spreadsheets”

Now I have a GNVQ, Btec National Award and a Btec National certificate in IT with the grade Merit,Merit. You don't get that by not knowing how to use a computer. I mentioned to him I liked the idea of the Teaching Adults in Lifelong learning which is a prep course for the PGCE with a focus on Further Education and Higher Education (So College/Uni teachers) Now that IS something I want to do in the future. However on asking about it he point blank ignored me and put me on the Admin course while Saying “I'll let you decide”

I also mentioned the Job fair today with the Job Centre and was told rather coldly “You're not going to it you're unsuitable” Well guess what came through the door not long after that exchange...

Yup the invite to the job fair.

The final straw was when I was telling him I cant do the course because I had only 2 weeks to get my stuff packed and move out into either a new place or back home for a month. His reply was “Not my problem, try Gentoo” By now I had enough and was ready to punch him. ( a rare feat that only Alex from Currys had achieved prior) When I mentioned about the Physics degree I could tell he was about to turn around and say I cant do it, however seeing the look on my face he thought it best to say nothing than have to go for a bootectomy from the anus.


So the “Advisor” dealt with it was now time to go to this 2 weeks course.

The Gateway to work courses are contracted out to various companies for example A4e have Newcastle and “Working links” has Sunderland. The first thing they tell you is that it is NOT the job centre they're right. The first day was purely administration, filling out the forms etc.
The second day was how to write a letter and yes it was worse than I imagined 10 minutes on how to write the address at the top alone. Then it was to the “IT” rooms. A room with ~11 computers of which 3 were fully working (that is internet and Printer access) 3 had access to the internet only and the other 5 you couldn't get on because the password screen was on and they didn't know it. There were also the job listings from the dam job centre and the job paper that was out of date. How they expect you to search for jobs with that poor excuse of a room is a laugh so needless to say after 2 days of been belittled and treat like a child I had enough. The Other half has a job coming up and we'd be intelligible to claim anything and the working links is a hindrance not a help so tomorrow we're cancelling our claim.

It's sad to think of the number of people who are going to have to endure that place many of whom already knew everything and saw it as a waste of time taking up space that could best be filled by someone who genuinely needed the spot, needless to say there is going to be a letter written to Sunderland's MP raising the concern I have that are not just limited to the ones listed above. It is genuinely a vicious circle on that course. They expect you to find work while on it yet lack the basic infrastructure to do it.

June 08, 2010

In which there was an election, a Riot and a shooting

Ok so it's been a busy few months over in Media-land.

Firstly the election came and went, to me the whole situation was like a poor one night stand. You start off optimistic it ends badly and Nick Robinson spends 4 days sifting through the Wreckage
"And How was it for you? Do you think a coalition effort is out of the window?"
So we are now a month into the administration of Dick Clamberon (Apologies to Alastair Campbell for nicking that) and we've had an expenses scandal an ever increasing economy nosedive. New politics indeed. Well if you had Alztheimers it would be.

What was more spectacular was the sheer volume of airtime it got. We were treat to overhead shots of Number 10, the Cabinet office, Whitehall and parliament square (Scene of the best Prescott moment until HIGNFY) telling some gobby cow to shut up, idle speculation more specualtation and more opinions pushed onto us. They had managed to spend the night of the election saying that the PM would have first dibs on a coalition to making him seem like Hitler in Downfall (Complete with parodies)

More recently there was the shooting in Cumbria by taxi driver Derrick Bird. Now having been to Cumbria I can say that the area could use tourists but the flock of ghouls who have descended on the area is quite simply creepy, couple this with the Media's fixation on it and you have the most interesting analysis of how fucked we are if we believed everything we read.

Right now the BBC complement their articles with a photo of Mr Bird with the facial expression of Pvt. Pile in full metal jacket, as if to remind us of the heinous acts he committed and to suggest he was a crazed psychotic not a descent bloke who just couldn't take it any more. What is more uncomfortable was ITN's report on Friday of Mr Bird featuring home footage of him relaxing on holiday (as you do) complete with a VO saying "His face not giving any indication of the horror he's about to bring" OF COURSE NOT. It's quite clear he didn't plan on doing this 3 years ago. It's probable he didn't think of doing it 3 hours before doing it. It's not like Hitler was walking around in 1917 with "I will kill Jews" written on his forehead.

Now I admit I think we could take lessons from what happened and the importance that good people go bad, however what merit was showing holiday footage going to do? it simply catered for the ghouls who rub one out watching things like the Human Centipede or the beheaing videos on Al Jazeera. W

What we have to ask ourselves is where do we draw the line? are we still going to be treat to pictures of him in his living room with captions like "the sky blue curtains giving no indication of his terrible deeds" after that we should see a drop in sales of sky blue curtains because they were indicative of our hidden maniac.....

April 16, 2010

A Master debater, and a Wanker.

Now the smoke has settled (Unless you live at 50,000ft) we can finally work out what the hell we were all watching last night.

I am of course talking about the leaders debate on ITV which as Alastair Stewart constantly reminded us was a 'Historic First' and for two of the leaders was a 'historic last' Of course ITV have set the bar for the Sky News Debate (Which promises to be as fair as an Iranian election)

Every News channel was dominated by the Debate (Except ITV oddly) and how it was a Historical first. LIVE FROM A STUDIO and everything. Oddly enough the Studio used was the same one used for the Krypton Factor, it was nice to see the original Decorations mixed in with the crap left over from "15 to 1" also, it looked like an 80's nightclub not a place where serious things were said.

Well that was the expectation what we instead had was not so much a debate as a posh boy beating up the old knackered cleaner who just wants to go home begging the other boys to make him stop. It would begin with Brown saying a variation of "Nick Agrees" then leading into a story of his parents or his policy. While Just call me a cunt Dave reminisced about the times he met a minority who wasn't cleaning his dorm.

Once both Posh boy and the cleaner were lying exhausted in a heap of frothy pre-cum Nick Clegg (Yes BBC he is a real person don't think I've noticed the sheer lack of attention you're giving him) swanned in and cleaned up the mess with policies and telling it like it is. (Maybe that is why he won't be PM. We now have the attention span of a fucking goldfish with ADD and Alztheimers and we can only take information in small soundbites)

Eventually the debate moved from the elderly cleaner getting buggered both literally and metaphorically to what can only be described as a Hollyoaks-esque love triangle with both Call me Dave and Brown fighting over Nicks love. At one point Clegg said he didn't agree with brown and if you slow the tape down you can see Gordon's heart break. While Cameron did what every stroppy teen did and try to tar Clegg with the expenses scandal a sort of "Fuck you I don't even need you anyway you whore!" statement that will ultimately seal their fate should Parliament get hung.

The Debates did prove one thing. That it works better in the US because the candidates don't have the luxury of PMQ's where all this crap we saw yesterday can be sorted. Instead of a reasoned debate that we associate with the US Elections we were instead treat to a re-run of last wednesday minus the Boos from the rest of the house.

My only gripe of the night was that talentless alcy Alastair Stewart shouting like a kid who needed a piss, Moderators should be calm not shouting like a fucking Spaniel on LSD.


April 13, 2010

Why we have to be more worried about been overrun by twats in 30 years than Muslims

Mass immigration policies pursued by both Labour and Conservative parties have caused English-speaking children to become a minority in 1,500 schools in Britain and if left unchecked, will see British people reduced to an absolute minority within 30 years.

According to a new report issued by the Department for Children, Schools, and Families, more than half the pupils in 1,284 primary schools, 210 secondary schools and 51 special schools across England now come from a “non-English speaking background.”


The first part was reported in August of last year after the Department for Children, Schools and Families released a report saying "there were 866 schools in England where more than 50% of pupils had English as a second language. By 2009 this figure had climbed to 1,545 schools, a rise of 78 per cent."
However A DCSF spokesman stressed that the figures 'only indicate the language to which the child was initially exposed at home, irrespective of whether they speak English fluently later on. It is only a relatively few recent arrivals for whom communication problems are acute.' It seems the BNP overlooked that part (Funnily enough the only newspaper that included that was the Daily Mail)

According to the report, one in seven — almost 500,000 — primary pupils and just over one in ten, or 364,000, secondary students do not speak English as their first language.

Birmingham has 116 schools where more than 50 percent of pupils have English as a second language, while in Bradford the figure is 60, Leicester 34, Manchester 33, Lancashire 30, and Kirklees 30.

That bit is copied almost verbatim from the telegraph story.

The new statistics confirm earlier research by BNP News which revealed that if the current Tory/Labour immigration policies are only checked but not reversed, Britain is set to be completely overrun by the Third World within 30 years.

I have a sneaky suspicion this 30 year claim stems from the Youtube video widely viewed that claims that Muslims will be the majority in Europe, widely debunked here:http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/8189231.stm

The BNP research revealed that:

- According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), legal Third World immigrants made up 14.7 percent (7.5 million) of the population of England in 2004.(1)

Slightly misleading here the source quoted actually says "People of a non-‘White British’ ethnic group comprised 14.7 per cent of the population of England at mid-2004" The number is only for those who Identify themselves as 'White British' and not 'White other' 'British Asian' etc. The full numbers are:

White (other)3,096,1695.27%
Indian1,053,4111.8%
Pakistani977,2851.6%
White Irish691,2321.2%
Mixed race677,1171.2%
Black Caribbean565,8761.0%
Black African485,2770.8%
Bangladeshi283,0630.5%
Other Asian (non-Chinese)247,6440.4%
Chinese247,4030.4%
Other230,6150.4%
Black (others)97,5850.2%

- According to the ONS, 10.9 percent (or 6.7 million) of the currently resident population of Britain was not born in this country.(2)

First of all that should read 'were not born' not 'was not born' I wonder if the person who wrote this went to one of those schools from the first point.

Secondly a report from the 'Centre of Economic Performance' states that: "12.5% of the UK’s working age population was born abroad, up from around 8% in 1995. There are now 4.3 million adults of working age in the UK who were born abroad." and Over the same period, the UK-born population of working age grew by a similar amount, from 29.6 million

to 31.2 million. The Article the BNP used as a source also points out that the number has risen over 20 years and the CEP report says that Poland is the biggest contributer of working age immigrants with the US in 2nd. The ONS report includes babies born overseas to UK citizens as 'born abroad' distorting the numbers somewhat.
However the last solid figure we have is the 2001 census that stated the foreign born population was 8.3% that figure has gone up by 27.7% from 2001 however even in 2001 it was just over double what it was in the 1950's
The countries of origin however paint a different picture than the one of Brown people flooding us: (First column is total population and the 2nd column is the 2008 estimate.)
United Kingdom53,923,642N/A
533,901415,000
India467,634625,000

Pakistan321,167437,000
Germany266,136281,000(a large portion are thought to be German-born children of British military personnel)
United States158,434182,000

- In 2005, the ONS issued a separate report which said that 36 percent of all births in England and Wales were not “white British.”(3)

The report also said that determining that fact was difficult as the information on ethnicity is not collected on registration of a birth. White British accounts for 64.4% of all births (418,000) with Pakistani 2nd with 3.7% (24,000) I think you will agree that it is a pretty big gap between them and that it clearly shows we are not going to be overrun.

- This 2005 birth rate figure does not include births to second and third generation immigrant mothers. Figures released by the ONS in January 2009 revealed that the Muslim population in Britain has grown by more than 500,000 to 2.4 million in just four years. Their population multiplied 10 times faster than the rest of society.(4)

I fail to see what births to 2nd and 3rd generation mothers has to do with anything. The Muslim birthrate argument is brought out all the time by the BNP et al. However as I wrote some time ago:

"Although I can start you off by reading this article from the BBC
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/8189231.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/more_or_less/8189434.stm

although for a simpler Breakdown try the Snopes page (uses the BBC but is less cluttered) and also contains the video.

http://www.snopes.com/politics/religion/demographics.asp

It addresses some of the claims made on a Youtube Video, which seem to be used by some in the EDL, BNP etc.

Although to make it easier and for those who think we're going to be "Overrun" by muslims the Video claims 90% of European population growth has been through Muslim immigration, whereas the total growth was ~85% in 2005 but it doesn't classify immigration by religion and as this coincides with the influx of East Europeans.

Also Predictions for the total amount of Muslims in the UK have it at around 2 million up from 1.6 so that's only 400,000 more.

Whereas the 2001 census had the number of Christians (All Denominations) at 42.07 Million Bearing in mind that there is a 40 million gap between them it's safe to assume that if the Muslim population continues to increase it will be Generations before it overtakes the amount of Christians if at all. Unless the amount of Christians drops dramatically, (Church figures are dropping but many still regard themselves as Christian)

Using this information and the idea of a Muslim majority within our lifetime (70 Years approx) It is clear there will be no shift, we have Youtube to blame for all this."

- An August 2008 ONS population report stated that, on average, ‘foreign’ women have 2.5 children each, rising to 3.9 for those from Bangladesh and almost five for Pakistani women.(5) When these figures are added in, the immigrant birth rate is estimated to be around 50 percent of all live births in England and Wales.

Well seeing as I have just shown your figures to be wildly inaccurate it is safe to say this is a moot point. However this echoes a claim made in the youtube video I mentioned above to show how that conclusion was made and debunked please see the 2 bbc links.

- The majority of the “new immigrants” are not from Eastern Europe, as is often widely claimed. According to the ONS figures, immigrants from Eastern Europe had 25,000 children in Britain last year — an absolute minority of the just over 700,000 live births.(6)

I can't think of many people who though the Majority of Immigrants were from Eastern Europe. However if you look at the BBC link it states that the Total births were 700,000 BUT

of those 700,000 only 170,000 were to foreign mothers. When you put it in context it looks less scary. Also the ONS numbers include those who have given birth and have returned to their country of origin.

- According to the Birmingham City Council, 61 percent of all primary school children in greater Birmingham are of Third World origin. (7)

Again the BNP are equating that anything other than White British is 3rd world, also the article cited says it is 40% not 60.

- Over 300 languages are currently spoken in London schools. Some of the most established of these are Bengali, Gujarati, Punjabi, Cantonese, Mandarin and Hokkien. (8)

Point? London is where most immigrants go to first and settle in the area. I know our Nick has a thing about London not being British anymore (Look for his reaction to the QT debacle)

Again it seems to insinuate (With some backing from the points earlier) that English is the second Language, I Learnt French at school and German at university meaning in my house French and German are common languages. Again apples and oranges.


- Some 150 languages are spoken in schools in Reading, an indication of the extent of the invasion in Berkshire. (9)

Oh be quiet, Invasion? Surely your cadre of "No Surrender" and the mongs who parade around carrying guns going "Waiting for the next Muzzie to drop" would have done something about it? The Sun actually hit the nail on the head when it wrote that many have different words for the same language, also the BNP seem to forget that Kids pick up languages remarkably quick so many will be fluent English speakers as well as retaining their native tongue.

All these statistics taken together show that the non-British ethnic population is increasing in number exponentially, and given current immigration and birth rates, will utterly overwhelm the indigenous population of Britain within the next 30 years.

All these statistics taken together show that the non British ethnic population is increasing in numbers consistent with other countries and given current immigration and birthrates will never utterly overwhelm the "White British" population of Britain within the next 30, 60 1000 years.

My Sources:
http://www.statistics.gov.uk/articles/population_trends/PT126Gask.pdf



Why Politicians don't get the internet.

If you are not aware it's election time in the UK. The few weeks when Parliament is no more and the country runs smoother than it normally does, it is also the time when MP's live without expense thus earning them the right to claim that 'they know how you feel.'

Your main choices this year are the energetic Gordon Brown, the Charming and Intelligent Cameron or the world famous master of Illusion Nickenct Cleble. Currently we've had arguments over National Insurance, VAT, and Twitter.

One thing that is going to decide this election is how well the 3 parties utilise social media. Although some MP's like John Prescott who has used it quite wisely for his Go4th campaign. Also Nick Clegg and Vince Cable have used it well and, unlike most well known people, will even follow you so they can see what you think about the election or even just to read about that epic crap you just took.

Another thing the parties have realised is if you release a photo or poster, we will take the piss mercilessly for example look at all the mock ups of the David Cameron Poster. The big parties have now jumped on the bandwagon for example Labours "Don't let him take us back to the 80's" poster is of Gene Hunt sitting on the bonnet of the Quattro with "just call me Dave's" head on it.
The Conservatives then 'mocked' up the poster to say "Fire up the Quattro it's time for change"
What is amusing about this is they brought these posters out the same day they anally raped photographers and internet users by shoving the Digital Economy bill through saying copyright infringer's will have their internet cut if they get caught.

Guess what!

Neither party asked the copyright holder of the original image therefore they should have the internet cut off. *Edit: It also turns out the Conservatives have used a Keane song to launch their manifesto without consulting the band. Strike two!*

The conservatives seem to have taken the doctoring lightly but have tried in turn to make it a part of their campaign they are asking for good doctoring submissions of Labour posters and their Maoist manifesto cover. They haven't realised the joke was on them instead they seem to be begging for mockery.

Social media is also showing people how the three sides are fighting the campaign in what MP describes as the "Pipes of the internet" The Conservatives are updating you on where they are and what they are doing, Labour is just attacking the Tories without putting forward alternatives and the Lib Dems are putting policy out there while offering alternatives to the policies of the other 2 parties.

Facebook the social gathering place of crappy groups about pictures and poo is the site of the Democracy UK group. This is a brilliant idea in my eyes, as it gets the Internet Generation involved in politics. It also has a section where you can register to vote.
Granted as with the rest of the Internet you have the 30 year old Socialist and NWO nuts but they're easy to ignore.

One thing I have overlooked is the role the Internet is playing in the spread of the far right. However that is for another Blog entry. In the meantime please check out United Shades of Britain on the internet