And she’s buying a stairway to heaven…

Spent this week attempting to get some work done and failing, so far. Need to work out what i want to do for my dissertation. I think i may schedule a meeting with the dissertation module convenor this week so i can chat to her and see if i can come to a conclusion as to what would be a good diss topic. I did have one, but after thought and talking to various lecturers, the common consensus (I.E. what everyone said, including myself) was that my topic was a good title for a series of books, rather than for a diss! Not helpful. May do something on non-governmental warfare – such as the recent ascendency of various iraqi groups, referring to pmc’s and terorism at the same time. Might be interesting.

In other news, i’m still far too picky for my own good. Met a cute girl this week, got chatting to her the next day (since she lives with some mates of mine) and the simple fact that she doesn’t like cats put me off her. Found that… interesting. ah well. I think i’m getting over my cute freind lucy too, which is good. Means i can now attempt to look like less of a fool around her.

Bit pissed off at the uni at the moment. I was supposed to be living with Timo and Tauren this year. Currently i’m living with a bunch of randomers. What happened, i hear you wonder? First off they offer my freind Timo a wardenship. Fair do’s, he wanted it, and he gets free accommodation as a result. Would it have horribly mutilated anyone to either A) offer him it in PJM or B) offer him it in Cwrt Mawr AND offer myself and tauren a place there? Speaking of tauren, he’s not made it into university this year because he fucked up majorly last year. I had wondered, given his utter failure in canada, whether he’d be ok. Turns out he wasn’t. When did they tell him? almost certainly two weeks before he had to come back, since i saw him two weeks before and he said nothing and was acting normally (i’m good at telling when people are trying to hide something like that)

On top of this, i forgot i had to register with the university when i came back. This is largely to do with the fact i didn’t recieve any reminders. Why do they include all sorts of obscure random crap in the weekly emails – such as “Ukranian photography – a film festival” or “Local Welsh Writers Festival” which a tiny proportion of the university will be interested in, yet leave out important bulletins like “DON’T FORGET TO REGISTER”? It boggles the mind.

Sailing club is looking to improve markedly this term. Given that last year we started the term with 9 members – not even enough to be a proper club, and ended it with about 15-20 regulars, we’ve swelled our ranks considerably to the point where the number of people turning up far exceeds that of how many we can send out (especially given the current “DEAD” state of Dangermouse) And we now have a racing team!. We can also probably raise a B and maybe even a C team! Should be interesting, especially seeing as dangermouse was taken out yesterday to be fixed. If it actually gets fixed this time, we will have to institute a lynching penalty for anyone who buggers it up again.

currently trying to figure out what to do after uni. I’m thinking going straight into work – either as a Law secretary or somewhere in the city in london. If i do the former, i’ll have some decent experiance, and it will help me figure out what to do next. After that? I’m currently thinking of going to Uvic, this time to do a full Law course – with the eventual aim of living in either Vic itself or Vancouver doing law-type stuffs. Why? because canada is just that beautiful.

Anyways, thats about it so far.

Toodles. P

Back in black!

Back in aberystwyth. Not got anything to do at the moment so a bit bored. think i might do some washing tonight. other than that, not much else to report. Last night was… interesting. the sports thing at the union was rather shit since there was some daft woman on the microphone shouting into the mike, whilst whoever it was on the sound clearly couldn’t find their arse with both hands, a map, and a full search and rescue team. the night afterwards was pretty good fun tho. got chatting to a rather awesome fresher called adam, and hung around with good mates, drinking good beer.

neil got rather wasted, which was awesomely funny, and i managed to find my way home whilst drunk. always a good sign.

anyway, GTG and buy some essentials. Toodleoo

On Conspiracies and the truth

I’m currently watching an excellent BBC documentary on 9/11 and conspiracy theories. I have a SERIOUS problem with conspiracy theories – especially the likes of Loose Change. Here’s just a few pointers.

A 747 has a very light, thin shell. IT WILL NOT behave like a steel rod or solid cylinder. It is mainly air and soft plastic – they’re Aircraft, not ships! they have to withstand very little in the way of compression forces from the front backwards, so if it hits something solid dead on, an aircraft will simply collapse. This goes dobley for the wings and tail-sections. They are designed to come off in the event of a major collision, since this is where all the fuel is stored. In an air crash, the last thing you want is several thousand gallons of highly flammable fuel attatched to a cabin full of people. The last thing anyone wants is crispy fried air-passengers.

The laws of momentum apply to EVERY plane, no matter how vital to your conspiracy theory. Not just the plane either. several thousand gallons of air fuel will continue to move in the same direction it had been moments before, especially if the main body of the aircraft and the leading edge of the wings (packed with lots of hard things like flaps, hydraulics, pumps etc) has made a hole in whatever the aircraft just hit.

Check your facts. There are documented examples of bits of plane at all sites on 9/11. All sites. You just have to look for them.

Jews were NOT warned of the attacks. Again, check your facts. the root of the story comes from the jerusalem post article published the day after the attacks, which said that 4000 Israelis in and around the area *could* have been caught in the attacks. Note could – this is taken from the whole area, and was simply an attempt to bring the gravity of the situation home. Al Manar (a “News” group less trust worthy than Fox News [seriously! I didn't think it possible either!] which has been designated a terrorist entity by the US, has been taken off a french owned satellite for anti semitism, and banned in several countries) began broadcasting the idea that 4000 israelis did not show up for work on 9/11/01.  “Israelies” was then substituted for “Jews” by some douchebag anti-semite (not that Al Manar is not anti semitic, they just hapened to be outdone). The whole thing is provably false – around 119 victims of the world trade center attacks were jewish, and a further 72 are beleived to have been. All in all around 9.2% of the victims were jewish – nearly ten percent! this is close to the 9.7% of new york which is jewish.  The idea that the jews did it is all Bullshit of the worst kind – Ignorant, anti-semitic, racist bullshit!

Nearly as bad is the idea of a radio controlled plane – what happned to the passengers? they were all murdered, say the conspiracy theorists. The idea that united states military personell would engage in murderous acts JUST BECAUSE THEY WERE ORDERED TO is inherently ignorant and small minded. the average man in uniform is more likely to say no to such a horrific order, since the average man in uniform understands life and death a hell of a lot more than the average fucktard on the street.

but then, without the idea that the world is much simpler than people imagine is a hard pill to swallow. The idea that the USA could have done far too much interference in the middle east and has reaped the whirlwind is far too harsh for some, whilst the tantalising “I’m smart cus i figured this out” feeling others have will always lead to fertile ground for conspiracies. I have no doubt that any conspiracy theorist coming across my post just won’t be able to resist arguing against me. Let me save you the time. Go cuddle your conspiracy blanket. i can’t be bothered with arguing something you will never accept, so keep your blind faith and stupidity to yourself.

NB – all facts taken from my own research – you don’t have to look that hard. Nothing in this post should be taken as anti-semetic, or as me blaming the americans for 9/11 – i’d just like to make it clear that these psychopaths that committed the crimes did so with no justification whatsoever apart from the tenuous reasons they gave themselves.

The Politics of Linguistics

I had to write a paper last term on Terrorism, and the one thing that really really pissed me off about the essay was the amount of bullshit i had to wade through from linguists who had something to say about political issues. Key figures in this – Richard Jackson and Noam Chomsky. I really cannot stand either of them. I agree with the odd view Richard Jackson has, and recognise that both are incredibly smart gentlemen. However, Both are obsessed with their political ideas, and are convinced that they are right. They then proceed to make linguistic arguments which, whilst dazzling and impressive, are (in my eyes at least) no more impressive or convincing than a circus trick where someone saws a man in half, or makes a woman dissappear from a box.

Richard Jackson is a particularly bad one for this, since he tends to define everything on his own terms, and does so in such a way as to never be wrong. Similarly, Noam Chomsky’s seeming hatred of everything the united states does is matched only by the clever tricks he makes words do. I find it very difficult to read more than a few paragraphs either have written without getting annoyed at the way in which they make words jump through hoops. On top of this, their emphasis on linguistics makes it impossible to argue against them from a purely political point of view – one must have a knowledge and understanding of linguistics. This made the fact that i had to argue against them in my essay even more annoying – If i’d wanted to argue about semantics, i would’ve taken up English at degree level, rather than the politics and strategic studies degree i’m currently studying.

Anyway. No word on how well i did on that course yet. The little i did read of Chomsky and Jackson just annoyed me so much i had to get it off my chest. That i’m still miffed this long after i wrote the essay should indicate just how fucking annoying i find linguistics arguments in political debate.

Noam, We get it, You don’t like the US Government

Richard, We get it, You don’t like the Israeli Regime

Get over yourselves already!

Still Here

Been a reasonably boring month this month. Did my exams, came home, bummed around looking for a job. Had an interview last week, hopefully it went ok, but not heard anything back.

Anyways. May post soon, just (as you can probably tell) have nothing interesting to say atm.

On awesomely crap films

I saw Iron Man on Friday. Tis an awesome film. We got into a conversation (that is, myself and Tauren, my good friend who i went to see said film with) afterwards, about good films versus shitty films. For example, Iron man is an amazing film for its escapism. you watch this film, and you watch a film where a man can be punched through a bus and survive simply because he’s wearing a metal suit. and you don’t care, because its well acted, well paced and generally good fun to watch (plus, gwen paltrow/martin as a redhead = spicy).

Similarly, one of my favorite movies is Boondock Saints, again for its pure escapism. entertaining, rediculous and fun. Same goes for Independence Day.

This does not excuse shitty film making. you know the films i mean, the horrifically made hollywood “horror” movies, which don’t know anything about psychology and rely on cheap thrills or excess gore (i’m looking at you, saw and hostel series’) to get the blood pumping. “The Ring” is an excellent example of this. the original was brilliant for its subtle horror and sublime storytelling and was genuinely unsettling (i slept with a towel over my television for weeks after i first saw it), whilst the hollywood version relied far too much on “BOO! I’MAGONNAGETCHA!” style scares and suffered as a result.

another excellent example of a shitty film is the original AVP. The whole film stank. it was such a complete and utter defilement of two of the greatest film franchises in history. The second one was much more enjoyable since it took itself less seriously, and had a much better script, and had better action (heck, the whole film was just far superior to the original). However, had they taken the script for the original i caught online (written by Peter Briggs – read it Here: http://www.imsdb.com/scripts/Alien-vs.-Predator.html) and ran with it, it would have been an excellent film. Alas, this was not to be.

Anyway, in conclusion, sometimes you want to see something excellent, like American Gangster. Sometimes you just want to see Will Smith beating the shit out of an alien spouting pithy lines like “Welcome to earth!” (THWAP)

Now thats what i call a close encounter…

funny fact of the day

China’s main television network is called China Central Television (CCTV)…

Is it just me or is that a really really funny name for a state owned tv service in a highly authoritarian state?

So don’t take my photograph, cus I don’t wanna know how it looks to feel like this

Firstly, Lol : http://politicalinquirer.com/2008/04/23/the-best-08-assessment-to-date/

Secondly, may i just register my absolute jaw dropping disgust at EA for price gouging in the UK.

Rock band will be shipping as two different packs – the game and the instruments. The game will cost at least £40. the instruments will cost at least £100.

well, fuck. There goes my summer. I wanted to buy that game, but at £140 it’s just not gonna happen. Sorry EA. I don’t like being fucked over. i would have bought it in a second at £100. £120 is the absolute bloody highest i would go. I remember guitar hero ONE cost £50 and that was with the guitar and the game!. Seeing as you’re selling it with a guitar (just the one as well! Not two, like the game kinda needs if you want the whole experiance) a shitty mike and a drum kit which breaks easily, i would’ve said that another 50 on top of the original game+guitar deal would’ve been great. but no.

THIS IS WHY FREE MARKET ECONOMICS DOESN’T WORK! COMPANIES ARE RUN BY GREEDY PEOPLE. GREEDY PEOPLE ARE NOT GOOD FOR ‘THE MARKET’.

ARG!

Anyway. the sailing kit turned up earlier. Sexy stuff! Musto = awesome

well, sleep sounds like a good idea. toodles

Maybe I’m overcast, and maybe all my luck’s washed down the drain

I stumbled across an excellent article earlier, touching on the subject of Creationist thought VS Evolution. Specifically, it was criticizing some colleges in the USA which had fired people based on their disagreement with Creationist thought.

( see http://northstatescience.wordpress.com/2008/04/20/richard-colling-a-real-case-of-being-expelled/)

I have to say, i agree with the editor that a belief in the literal adam-and-eve genesis story, whilst perfectly valid (if one takes the bible-as-literal-truth seriously), ignores serious biological, geological and physical scientific evidence. Personally, i find the idea of God as this kid with crayons is a little disconcerting. Why would God create every species individually, when he could create a single spark which then creates the sun, earth, sea and sky, plus every living organism on the planet as well, all at the same time?

It is my personal belief that the big-bang theory of universe creation is a good, solid scientific argument, which also has room for God. What was before the Big bang? Nothing. Nothing but God. He then set in motion a single spark which was perfectly formed to create everything in the Universe. He then sparked life into a pool of nutrients, again, perfectly formed to create every single living organism on planet Earth.  Who knows, maybe he did this on other planets as well. It looks as if it may have happened on mars at some point (remember the bacteria in the rocks?) and perhaps also in the deep oceans of Europa and other icy moons. Who knows, maybe God, the great designer, created a system which would do this automatically on planets suitable for life.

This, in my opinion, is a far more interesting idea of God, since it is one of a supernatural being who is so far beyond comprehension, and so intelligent, so powerful, that with a single spark he can literally create a universe.

Feel free to disagree, but like i said, this is my belief, I’ll leave you to yours.

Liar, Backstabber, Betrayer, Deceiver!

I sit here, outraged and appalled at the behavior of one of my fellow students who, in a fit of ideologically-fueled stupidity, has written to the Spectator to complain of the nature of the course he CHOSE to take. The module in question is Understanding Terror. As the name implies, its a critical look at terrorism in a world where anyone can build a bomb and blow it up on a bus to make a political statement. it has been one of the best courses i have taken at aberystwyth, and has been interesting and intellectually stimulating on many levels.

The Cunt who wrote to the spectator, is obviously too far up his own arse to realise that criticism of a country does not make one anti-that country. I love Israel. The people are beautiful, the place is great. I’d love to visit at some point. Unfortunatley, their heads of state seem to be very good at being complete dicks. I don’t for one second pretend to agree with the ideas of the Palestinian terrorists, but bombing the shit out of the neigbourghood they MIGHT be in DOES NOT HELP MATTERS!

If you are reading this, i hope you know that i feel that i hope you get expelled for this shit. More than that, i hope you get expelled, and that the university sues you for libel, because thats exactly what this is. Also, know that if i hear you boast in person of this utter shit-like behaviour, i will personally cram my fist so far down your throat I’ll be able to wipe your arse with your underwear.

And also, Melanie Phillips, You really are a shit. Fuck you and your small minded bullshit. your ideas are so full of shit and borderline racism they aren’t even worth me addressing them

Pete out.