tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6961150302770035942024-02-19T14:29:57.956+00:00Vladd's view of the WorldMy View of the World and News stories I find interestingVladdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11431472884781207247noreply@blogger.comBlogger267125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-696115030277003594.post-58813442420858071912012-01-29T14:28:00.001+00:002012-01-29T14:30:55.365+00:00The Media<b>A short moan about the consumers of media.</b><br />
<br />
I have no idea what it is like in the rest of the world, but here in the UK media consumers are becoming almost tribal. <br />
<a href="http://socyberty.com/issues/the-media-4/">Read more</a>Vladdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11431472884781207247noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-696115030277003594.post-26841345203951630562012-01-27T12:01:00.000+00:002012-01-27T12:01:11.270+00:00Sherlock Holmes<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://s3.amazonaws.com/readers/2012/01/24/sherlockholmesportraitpaget_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/readers/2012/01/24/sherlockholmesportraitpaget_1.jpg" width="245" /></a></div> Mr Sherlock Holmes was born on the 6th of January 1854 the youngest child of Siger Holmes and Violet Holmes (nee Sherrinford). His father was a country squire with a small estate in Yorkshire, his mother was the niece of the French artist Horace Vernet (1789-1863). Sherlock was the youngest of three brothers,<br />
<a href="http://bookstove.com/book-talk/sherlock-holmes-4/">To read more</a>Vladdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11431472884781207247noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-696115030277003594.post-37152248098249177992010-10-28T21:02:00.000+01:002010-10-28T21:02:30.039+01:00The Man Who Saved The World?His name was Vasili Alexandrovich Arkhipov and he quite possibly saved your life or, if you were born after 1962, those of your parents, so enabling you to be born. He personally stopped the launch of a nuclear weapon which could have led to Armageddon between the word’s then superpowers, the USA and the USSR.<br />
<br />
http://www.kuriositas.com/2010/10/man-who-save-world.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Kuriositas+%28Kuriositas%29&utm_content=Yahoo%21+MailVladdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11431472884781207247noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-696115030277003594.post-19974453832155024262010-10-28T09:37:00.000+01:002010-10-28T09:37:29.106+01:00The hero in a kilt who tackled a Panzer division on his own! (and then accepted the surrender of 23,000 German soldiers)A tale of courage and bravery.<br />
<a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1324390/The-hero-kilt-tackled-Panzer-division--accepted-surrender-23-000-German-soldiers.html">The-hero-kilt-tackled-Panzer-division--accepted-surrender-23-000-German-soldiers.html</a>Vladdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11431472884781207247noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-696115030277003594.post-74587074528735119222010-10-22T12:26:00.001+01:002010-10-22T12:26:36.857+01:00Join City and You're Dead<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i485.photobucket.com/albums/rr220/vladd67/29bf601e.jpg?t=1287743092" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="179" src="http://i485.photobucket.com/albums/rr220/vladd67/29bf601e.jpg?t=1287743092" width="320" /></a></div>And so the Wayne Rooney circus rumbles on. Once again one of footballs overpaid children shows his overwhelming ego by basically claiming the football club Manchester United isn't good enough for him any more. Of course it remains to be seen whether it is Rooney behind this or his agent. The most disturbing thing about this whole situation is not that one of football's mercenaries deciding to move to another club for more money but by the reaction of some of the fans. It's one thing to vent your anger by shouting insults and waving banners at a football match, after all that is all part of 'the beautiful game' but it is a completely different thing when a number of sad individuals with nothing else to fill their empty lives but supporting a group of men paid unbelievable amounts of money to play what is just a game, feel the need to go to someone's house ring his door bell and say they are going to kill him if he goes and plays for another football team. These football fanatics are alleged to be from the same gang that have previously threatened players because they didn't agree with their actions or, horrors of horrors, the almighty United actually lost a game. In the end the police were called and the masked men quietly slunk off home, leaving Rooney and his wife in peace.<br />
Graham Taylor ex manager of the English national side, where Rooney recently displayed lacklustre performances, claimed that if Rooney did decide to play for Manchester City, another of footballs super rich clubs which prefer to pay for the sport's army of mercenaries rather than take the time to develop home grown players and revitalise the national game, then Rooney would need 'protection for the rest of his life'. Isn't that just a little bit ridiculous? The idea that people could be so angry about a change in football clubs that someone who is now 25 would be in fear of his life for the next 50 to 60 years is just is too far fetched to contemplate, does this mean the current crop of football thugs would pass on their irrational desire to kill a man onto the next generation? Or in actuality will it just mean that where ever Rooney ends up playing, when ever that team plays against Manchester United he will just be subjected to some name calling from the crowd?Vladdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11431472884781207247noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-696115030277003594.post-70217736940970442312010-10-21T21:13:00.001+01:002010-10-21T21:13:22.518+01:0015 classic science fiction and fantasy novels that publishers rejectedScience fiction's greatest authors have brilliant ideas, storytelling mojo... and plenty of stubbornness. Many of the field's greatest writers were buried in rejection slips, before they finally broke in. Here are 15 classic novels that publishers didn't want to touch.<br />
<a href="http://io9.com/5668053/15-classic-science-fiction-and-fantasy-novels-that-publishers-rejected">http://io9.com/5668053/15-classic-science-fiction-and-fantasy-novels-that-publishers-rejected</a>Vladdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11431472884781207247noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-696115030277003594.post-71958770881545226972010-10-21T13:47:00.001+01:002010-10-21T13:58:28.216+01:00The Top 50 funniest jokes of all timeA recent survey by <a href="http://www.onepoll.com/"> www.OnePoll.com</a> scoured the web for jokes, after selecting what they thought were the funniest 50 they then asked 36,000 people to vote for their favourite.<br />
Here are the results:-<br />
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50. I went to the Doctors the other day, and he said, 'Go to Bournemouth, it's great for flu'. So I went - and I got it. <br />
<br />
49. A seal walks into a club... <br />
<br />
48. Went to the corner shop - bought 4 corners. <br />
<br />
47. So I met this gangster who pulls up the back of people's pants, it was Wedgie Kray. <br />
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46. I'll tell you what I love doing more than anything: trying to pack myself in a small suitcase. I can hardly contain myself. <br />
<br />
45. I tried water polo but my horse drowned. <br />
<br />
44. A three-legged dog walks into a saloon in the Old West. He slides up to the bar and announces: 'I'm looking for the man who shot my paw.' <br />
<br />
43. You see my next-door neighbour worships exhaust pipes, he's a catholic converter.<br />
<br />
42. I've got a friend who's fallen in love with two school bags, he's bisatchel. <br />
<br />
41. Two Eskimos sitting in a kayak were chilly. But when they lit a fire in the craft, it sank, proving once and for all that you can't have your kayak and heat it.<br />
<br />
40. 'I said to this train driver "I want to go to Paris". He said "Eurostar?" I said, "I've been on telly but I'm no Dean Martin". ' <br />
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39. 'My phone will ring at 2 in the morning, and my wife'll look at me and go, "Who's that calling at this time?' "I don't know! If I knew that we wouldn't need the bloody phone!" ' <br />
<br />
38. A lorry-load of tortoises crashed into a trainload of terrapins, What a turtle disaster <br />
<br />
37.' I swear, the other day I bought a packet of peanuts, and on the packet it said "may contain nuts." Well, YES! That's what I bought the buggers for! You'd be annoyed if you opened it and a socket set fell out!"' <br />
<br />
36. I backed a horse last week at ten to one. It came in at quarter past four. <br />
<br />
35. 'I went down the local supermarket, I said, "I want to make a complaint, this vinegar's got lumps in it", he said, "Those are pickled onions". ' <br />
<br />
34. There was a man who entered a local paper's pun contest.. He sent in ten different puns, in the hope that at least one of the puns would win. Unfortunately, no pun in ten did. <br />
<br />
33. I was having dinner with Garry Kasparov and there was a check tablecloth. It took him two hours to pass me the salt.<br />
<br />
32. 'Four fonts walk into a bar the barman says "Oi - get out! We don't want your type in here" '<br />
<br />
31. 'So I went to the Chinese restaurant and this duck came up to me with a red rose and says "Your eyes sparkle like diamonds". I said, "Waiter, I asked for a-ROMATIC duck". ' <br />
<br />
30. I'm in great mood tonight because the other day I entered a competition and I won a years supply of Marmite......... one jar. <br />
<br />
29. 'I was in Tesco's and I saw this man and woman wrapped in a barcode. I said, "Are you two an item?" ' <br />
<br />
28. 'A group of chess enthusiasts checked into a hotel and were standing in the lobby discussing their recent tournament victories. After about an hour, the manager came out of the office and asked them to disperse. "But why?" they asked, as they moved off. "because," he said "I can't stand chess nuts boasting in an open foyer." ' <br />
<br />
27. Went to the paper shop - it had blown away. <br />
<br />
26. I cleaned the attic with the wife the other day. Now I can't get the cobwebs out of her hair.<br />
<br />
25. 'The other day I sent my girlfriend a huge pile of snow. I rang her up, I said "Did you get my drift?".'<br />
<br />
24. 'A sandwich walks into a bar. The barman says "Sorry we don't serve food in here" '<br />
<br />
23. 'A priest, a rabbi and a vicar walk into a bar. The barman says, "Is this some kind of joke?" '<br />
<br />
22. Slept like a log last night........ Woke up in the fireplace. <br />
<br />
21. 'A jump-lead walks into a bar. The barman says "I'll serve you, but don't start anything" ' <br />
<br />
20. I met a Dutch girl with inflatable shoes last week, phoned her up to arrange a date but unfortunately she'd popped her clogs. <br />
<br />
19. 'I rang up British Telecom, I said, "I want to report a nuisance caller", he said "Not you again".' <br />
<br />
18. My therapist says I have a preoccupation with vengeance. We'll see about that." <br />
<br />
17. 'When Susan's boyfriend proposed marriage to her she said: "I love the simple things in life, but I don't want one of them for my husband". ' <br />
<br />
16. I went to buy some camouflage trousers the other day but I couldn't find any. <br />
<br />
15. 'There's two fish in a tank, and one says to the other "How do you drive this thing?" '<br />
<br />
14. 'A woman has twins, and gives them up for adoption. One of them goes to a family in Egypt and is named 'Amal.' The other goes to a family in Spain, they name him Juan'. Years later; Juan sends a picture of himself to his mum. Upon receiving the picture, she tells her husband that she wished she also had a picture of Amal. Her husband responds, "But they are twins. If you've seen Juan, you've seen Amal." ' <br />
<br />
13. 'I saw this bloke chatting up a cheetah; I thought, "He's trying to pull a fast one". '<br />
<br />
12. My mother-in-law fell down a wishing well, I was amazed, I never knew they worked. <br />
<br />
11. 'I went to the doctors the other day and I said, 'Have you got anything for wind?' So he gave me a kite. '<br />
<br />
<b>THE TOP 10</b><br />
<br />
10. 'A man walks into a bar with a roll of tarmac under his arm and says: "Pint please, and one for the road." '<br />
<br />
9. I'm on a whiskey diet. I've lost three days already. <br />
<br />
8. Another one was: Doc, I can't stop singing the 'Green Green Grass of Home'. He said: 'That sounds like Tom Jones syndrome'. 'Is it common?'I asked. 'It's not unusual' he replied. <br />
<br />
7. Two aerials meet on a roof - fall in love - get married. The ceremony was rubbish - but the reception was brilliant. <br />
<br />
6. Police arrested two kids yesterday, one was drinking battery acid, the other was eating fireworks. They charged one - and let the other one off. <br />
<br />
5. A classic Tommy Cooper gag: 'I said to the Gym instructor "Can you teach me to do the splits?" He said, "How flexible are you?" I said, "I can't make Tuesdays"'<br />
<br />
4. 'A young blonde woman is distraught because she fears her husband is having an affair, so she goes to a gun shop and buys a handgun. The next day she comes home to find her husband in bed with a beautiful redhead. She grabs the gun and holds it to her own head. The husband jumps out of bed, begging and pleading with her not to shoot herself. Hysterically the blonde responds to the husband, "Shut up...you're next!" '.<br />
<br />
3. 'Dyslexic man walks into a bra...'<br />
<br />
2. 'I went to the zoo the other day, there was only one dog in it, it was a shitzu.'<br />
<br />
1. A woman gets on a bus with her baby. The bus driver says: 'Ugh, that's the ugliest baby I've ever seen!' The woman walks to the rear of the bus and sits down, fuming. She says to a man next to her: 'The driver just insulted me!' The man says: 'You go up there and tell him off. Go on, I'll hold your monkey for you.'<br />
<br />
Mmm I've heard better.Vladdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11431472884781207247noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-696115030277003594.post-20888884443577907262010-10-12T13:18:00.000+01:002010-10-12T13:18:17.811+01:00Good Things Happen To Bad People All The Time.Good Things Happen To Bad People All The Time.<br />
<br />
October 12, 2010 by inspectorgadget <br />
<br />
Ruraltown Magistrates Court smells of defeat. The crumbling 1960′s stained grey concrete building sits on a hill and shouts contempt at the few remaining honest citizens in this town. The obese, one-eyed security guard speaks with a thick Polish accent as he half-heartedly runs a cheap Argos metal detector over me. I then walk through the weapon detecting arch. Neither piece of equipment indicates an alarm despite my handcuffs, baton and radio.<br />
<br />
The latest blog from Inspector Gadget<br />
<a href="http://inspectorgadget.wordpress.com/2010/10/12/good-things-happen-to-bad-people-all-the-time/">http://inspectorgadget.wordpress.com/2010/10/12/good-things-happen-to-bad-people-all-the-time/</a>Vladdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11431472884781207247noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-696115030277003594.post-47423547970201829512010-10-12T11:04:00.003+01:002010-10-12T11:11:52.410+01:00Ruled Britannia by Harry Turtledove<p><strong>Ruled Britannia</strong><br />by Harry Turtledove<br />Published by ROC<br />ISBN 0-451-45915-6<br /><br /><em>The year is 1597. For nearly a decade, the island of Britain has been under the rule of King Philip in the name of Spain. The citizenry live under an enforced curfew - and in fear of the Inquisition's agents, who put heretics to the torch in public displays. And with Queen Elizabeth imprisoned in the Tower of London, the British have no one to unite them against the enemy who occupies their land.<br />William Shakespeare has no interest in politics. His passion is the theatre, where his words bring laughter and tears to a populace afraid to speak out against the tyranny of the Spanish crown. But now Shakespeare is given an opportunity to pen his greatest work - a drama that will incite the people of Britain to rise against their persecutors - and change the course of history....</em><br /><br />The man called "The dean of alternate historians" (Is it just me or does alternative sound better than alternate?) brings us another of his what ifs. Only this time it is in Elizabethan England after a successful Armada conquers England. Starting with the pageantry and spectacle of an auto-da-fe he brings us everyday life in London under Philip II. Not only do we get to sample the everyday life of William Shakespeare, we also get to meet some historic Elizabethan characters such as Lord Burghley and his son Robert, Christopher 'Kit' Marlowe, Richard Burbage and Francis and his older brother Anthony Bacon. Adding to Shakespeare's problem is his friend and Spanish officer Lope de Vega sent to infiltrate the theatre looking for treason. Written somewhat in the language and style of the era Turtledove finds many ways to insert Shakespearean quotes into the story to good effect. In the notes Turtledove states that Lope de Vega was Spain's Shakespeare who actually survived the Armada, I'm sure anyone here with a knowledge of Spanish Literature will recognise the name. All in all a fun read with a bonus for Shakespeare fans of spot the quote, or more often misquote.<a href="http://www.freeviral.com/?r=214600"></a></p>Vladdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11431472884781207247noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-696115030277003594.post-54531814480362701082010-10-12T10:58:00.002+01:002010-10-12T11:11:31.292+01:00The Dealer by Tony Royden<p><strong>THE DEALER</strong><br />by Tony Royden<br />Published by Shotgun Publishing Ltd<br />ISBN 978-0-9561253-0-9<br /><br /><em>Hard-core East London villain, Danny 'The dealer' Dempsey, has settled for a quiet country life in the rural village of Buntleyford, but wakes one morning, in his heavily secured home, to find a letter resting on his pillow. He is bewildered by how it got there, as there are no signs of an intruder, or a break in.<br />The mystery of who the letter is from - and what it contains - is something The Dealer will not share, even with his closest friends, or his dear sister Sally.<br />The Dealer, normally a clear lateral thinker, is suddenly behaving out of character; and so begins a crazy 12 - hour period, in which he succeeds in ruining his sister's wedding, disrespecting other gangland leaders, and turning his hand to gambling on ludicrous bets. Slowly but surely, The Dealer is dangerously offending and taunting everyone around him.<br />Could The Dealer be on the brink of self-destruction? Or will he somehow succeed in saving his own skin at the final hour - while revealing to all the secrets of the letter that has clearly been dictating his bizarre behaviour?</em><br /><br />What looks at first glance to be a typical crime novel soon turns out to be something completely different, with a collection of great characters,(a blind bodyguard a cross-dressing Colonel and the unhinged, pot-smoking, Harley Davidson-riding Vicar of Buntleyford) a quirky novel full of British humour and a great surprise ending, although I had my suspicions, it is an enjoyable and easy read.<a href="http://www.freeviral.com/?r=214600"></a></p>Vladdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11431472884781207247noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-696115030277003594.post-81713972978926103262010-06-06T08:56:00.001+01:002010-06-06T08:56:10.640+01:00Car parking wars<p>Will councils antagonise residents by charging extra for parking permits for the most polluting cars? As long as it's under the guise of traffic management, it seems that councils can charge what they like.</p> <p>By David Williams <br />Published: 11:04AM BST 04 Jun 2010</p> <p> </p> <p><a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/green-motoring/7733412/Car-parking-wars.html?utm_source=tmg&utm_medium=TD_parkingwars&utm_campaign=motoring0606" target="_blank">http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/green-motoring/7733412/Car-parking-wars.html?utm_source=tmg&utm_medium=TD_parkingwars&utm_campaign=motoring0606</a></p> Vladdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11431472884781207247noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-696115030277003594.post-37964022295487177852010-06-06T08:20:00.001+01:002010-06-06T08:20:52.872+01:00Please, carry on filming - I'm only burning to death<p>Jeremy Clarkson</p> <p>With the next series of Top Gear just weeks away, we are in a frantic race against time to finish off all the films. I won’t say what they’re about here, though, because obviously you already know. This is because every single thing we do is photographed and videoed by passers-by. And then either posted on the internet or sold to the newspapers.</p> <p><a href="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/jeremy_clarkson/article7144673.ece" target="_blank">http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/jeremy_clarkson/article7144673.ece</a></p> Vladdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11431472884781207247noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-696115030277003594.post-87112786563004546562009-10-16T11:36:00.001+01:002009-10-16T11:36:27.607+01:00Ian From The London Underground Vs An Elderly Man<p>From a Blog by Jonathon MacDonald</p> <p>Today, just after 230pm, I saw an elderly man with his arm trapped in the closing door of a faulty train at Holborn Station. </p> <p>We all thought the train was heading further east but actually, for reasons we shall never know, the train was terminating at Holborn and we were ushered out onto the platform by two (shouting) staff in Underground uniforms.</p> <p> </p> <p><a title="http://www.jonathanmacdonald.com/?p=4024." href="http://www.jonathanmacdonald.com/?p=4024.">http://www.jonathanmacdonald.com/?p=4024.</a></p> Vladdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11431472884781207247noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-696115030277003594.post-42163784833447079492009-10-11T11:20:00.001+01:002009-10-11T11:20:10.697+01:00Cleverness is no more. This is a dumb Britain<p>Jeremy Clarkson</p> <p>Forty years ago, my dad came into my bedroom and made me get up. </p> <p>I was nine and sleepy. I was snuggly and warm. I wanted to stay under the covers. But he was insistent. “There is something on television you need to see,” he said. And I remember the next bit vividly: “It’s going to be important.”</p> <p> </p> <p><a href="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/jeremy_clarkson/article6869288.ece" target="_blank">http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/jeremy_clarkson/article6869288.ece</a></p> Vladdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11431472884781207247noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-696115030277003594.post-45920886691780714982009-07-27T14:24:00.001+01:002009-07-27T14:24:47.458+01:00Announcing the Apple iProduct<p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhMrc-KI9UxvF9TsM-SoepEkZjljmJwKkkPgOpyvs2DKnlPvjt2TlznyQZFE46F88ZhEuOCp5fdhYBgkfOdTgONPeFzSub8djxwllbZLvvrddYONFDyb2_bqieWUOUXeY5vBTGWwtPkQI/s1600-h/announcingtheappleiprodtm0%5B4%5D.gif"><img style="border-right-width: 0px; display: inline; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px" title="announcingtheappleiprodtm0" border="0" alt="announcingtheappleiprodtm0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfOYQOrX3m-3ZkRvMNYLLGx67iTzAsKxFtsmM5eV7NAEXeXMkxlgQ4xHw6p0IA5d5L4X60x9kVeRCohhYvGn92Yx4EoH6FlHQ09zNIY_L0WxOEiiEv9PbzAzC9_Xe7BfsSNXueI9MG_m0/?imgmax=800" width="445" height="844" /></a></p> Vladdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11431472884781207247noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-696115030277003594.post-27176625091263037532009-07-20T16:16:00.001+01:002009-07-20T16:16:27.628+01:00Apollo anniversary<p>Today is the 40th anniversary of one of mankinds greatest achievements. Forty years ago today human beings took their first steps on land that was not part of planet Earth. The names of Armstrong, Aldrin, and Collins will forever be a part of history, and yet there are a number of people, in fact sadly a growing number of people, who seriously think it was just a huge hoax. Now I can understand people like the government of North Korea casting doubt over these events, after all they have a population to brainwash, but why does an average man in the street believe such rubbish? I guess it is just an example of the publics growing lack of actual scientific knowledge and some peoples willingness to believe any bad science thrown in their direction. Here are some of the so called reasons given as proof as that the moon landings were faked, with a brief explanation as to why they are wrong:</p> <p><strong>1) When the astronauts are putting up the American flag it waves. There is no wind on the Moon.</strong> </p> <p>The flag is held up by a horizontal bar and simply moves when it is unfurled and as the pole is being fixed into position by the astronauts. The flagpole is light, flexible aluminium and continues to vibrate after the astronauts let go, giving the impression of blowing in the wind. </p> <p><strong>2) No stars are visible in the pictures taken by the Apollo astronauts from the surface of the Moon.</strong> </p> <p>The Apollo landing takes place during lunar mornings, with the Sun shining brightly. Exposure time on the cameras is set very rapid so as not to let in too much light and obscure detail. The stars, whilst being visible to the naked eye on the Moon, are not bright enough to be captured in the photographs. </p> <p><strong>3) No blast crater is visible in the pictures taken of the lunar landing module.</strong> </p> <p>The landing module touches down on solid rock, covered in a layer of fine lunar dust, so there is no reason why it would create a blast crater. Even if the ground were less solid, the amount of thrust being produced by the engines at the point of landing and take off is very low in comparison to a landing on Earth because of the relative lack of gravitational pull. </p> <p><strong>4) The landing module weighs 17 tons and yet sits on top of the sand making no impression. Next to it astronauts’ footprints can be seen in the sand.</strong> </p> <p>The layer of lunar dust is fairly thin, so the landing module sits on the solid rock. The dust, whilst blown away by the blast from the descent engines, quickly settles back on the ground and is under the astronauts when they begin their moonwalk. </p> <p><strong>5) The footprints in the fine lunar dust, with no moisture or atmosphere or strong gravity, are unexpectedly well preserved, as if made in wet sand.</strong> </p> <p>The lack of wind on the moon means the footprints in fine, dry lunar dust aren’t blown away in the way they would be if made in a similar substance on Earth. </p> <p><strong>6) When the landing module takes off from the Moon’s surface there is no visible flame from the rocket.</strong> </p> <p>The rockets in the landing module are powered by fuel containing a combination of hydrazine and dinitrogen tetroxide, which burn with no visible flame. </p> <p><strong>7) If you speed up the film of the astronauts walking on the Moon’s surface they look like they were filmed on Earth and slowed down.</strong> </p> <p>The best you can say is: yes, a bit, but not really. </p> <p><strong>8) The astronauts could not have survived the trip because of exposure to radiation from the Van Allen radiation belt.</strong> </p> <p>This claim is largely based on a claim from a Russian cosmonaut. The short time it takes to pass through the belt, combined with the protection from the spacecraft, means any exposure to radiation would be very low. </p> <p><strong>9) The rocks brought back from the Moon are identical to rocks collected by scientific expeditions to Antarctica.</strong> </p> <p>Some Moon rocks have been found on Earth, but they are all scorched and oxidised from their entry into the Earth’s atmosphere as asteroids. Geologists have confirmed with complete certainty that the Apollo rocks must have been brought from the Moon by man. </p> <p><strong>10) All six Moon landings happened during the Nixon administration. No other national leader has claimed to have landed astronauts on the Moon, despite 40 years of rapid technological development.</strong> </p> <p>This is a favourite among conspiracy theorists because it needs no evidence but points the finger at the presidency of Richard Nixon. The fact is that after the Apollo landings, the race had been won and the money dried up. The USSR has no interest in coming second, and politicians on both side realised that lower-orbit missions had much greater commercial and military potential.</p> Vladdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11431472884781207247noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-696115030277003594.post-61108088361371396142009-06-30T10:36:00.001+01:002009-06-30T10:36:43.902+01:00Giving up my iPod for a Walkman<p>When the Sony Walkman was launched, 30 years ago this week, it started a revolution in portable music. But how does it compare with its digital successors? The Magazine invited 13-year-old Scott Campbell to swap his iPod for a Walkman for a week.</p> <p><a title="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/8117619.stm" href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/8117619.stm" target="_blank">http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/8117619.stm</a></p> Vladdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11431472884781207247noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-696115030277003594.post-86206274757743474742009-06-28T08:55:00.001+01:002009-06-28T08:55:29.478+01:00The Death of Michael Jackson<p>Its amazing what people will ignore about you and your life just because they like your music. Its sad that a fellow human being has died, even more so that he has left children without a father although some might argue that now they have a chance of a normal life, for his family and friends it is a tragedy but reading some of the online comments from his fans you would have thought it was the death of the second coming. The man was a deeply flawed, deeply disturbed entertainer who’s time, lets be honest, had been and gone. Cut out the hysteria and just let the family move on with their lives.</p> Vladdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11431472884781207247noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-696115030277003594.post-11399702510323467682009-06-16T10:01:00.002+01:002009-06-16T10:05:05.982+01:00<p></p>Vladdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11431472884781207247noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-696115030277003594.post-21308816004181220752009-06-16T09:53:00.001+01:002009-06-16T09:53:30.084+01:00And now, on Tehran TV, the latest news from London<p><a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-1193238/LITTLEJOHN.html">http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-1193238/LITTLEJOHN.html</a></p> <p>There's been blanket coverage here of the unrest which has followed Iran’s disputed election. But imagine how our own political crisis looks from the Middle East. Do we really have any right to sit in judgment on other countries? Here’s how Tehran Television is reporting recent events in Britain... </p> <p>Allahu Akbar! Welcome to a special edition of Eye On The Infidel, live from London, capital of the hated New Labour tyranny. </p> <p>The Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Brown, is clinging to power despite receiving only 15 <br />per cent of the vote in last week’s elections. </p> <p>In some conservative tribal regions, the ruling junta’s share fell to just 8 per cent, with government candidates beaten into fourth place by fascists and separatists. </p> <p>Even in lowland Scotland, formerly a Brownite stronghold, Labour was humiliated <br />by nationalist forces. </p> <p>It represented a new nadir in the fortunes of Labour under the dictator Brown, an ultra-orthodox Presbyterian theocrat, who replaced the despised Bushite running dog Tony Blair in a coup two years ago. </p> <p>But Brown is refusing to accept the result of the election and has declared himself the <br />winner. He told the official state broadcaster that he was getting on with the job, which is what people wanted him to do. </p> <p>A clumsy attempt to remove the Supreme Leader by dissidents rallying under the banner of the breakaway Guardianista faction was ruthlessly crushed. </p> <p>Brown then embarked on a shambolic reshuffle of his Cabinet, in an attempt to purge reformists from key posts. But at least two of the leading dissidents remain in office, a stark illustration of the Supreme Leader’s underlying political weakness. </p> <p>Such is the parlous level of his support at home, he has been forced to draft in from Europe exiled party elders like the twice-disgraced mortgage fraudster Ayatollah Mandelson and expenses baroness Harridan Kinnock to shore up his crumbling regime. </p> <p>Civil unrest has been mounting since the collapse of the infidel capitalist <br />banking system. </p> <p>In London, a newspaper vendor was clubbed to death by masked police during violent clashes between security forces and anti-globalisation protesters. </p> <p>Similar hardline tactics, involving riot shields and baton charges, have also been used to suppress peaceful protests by demonstrators opposed to Labour’s totalitarian efforts to eradicate traditional English countryside pursuits. </p> <p>In the Islamic province of Luton, troops clashed with brave members of local jihadist groups campaigning peacefully for the introduction of Sharia law in Britain and an end to the religious wars of aggression against Muslims in Iraq and Afghanistan. </p> <p>Hundreds of thousands of women have taken to wearing hijabs to express their support for Sharia. The burqa is now a common sight in British towns and cities. <br />Meanwhile, in London, millions of commuters took to the streets after the Underground system was brought to a standstill because of a strike by revolutionary transport workers loyal to the deposed spiritual leader, Ayatollah Redken. </p> <p>At the heart of this crisis is the fact that under the Supreme Leader’s profligate stewardship, the country is effectively bankrupt. Britain’s vast oil and gas reserves <br />have been squandered and taxes are soaring. </p> <p>As well as a run on the banks, there has been widespread looting of department stores, particularly the John Lewis chain, led by members of the ruling elite making off with sofas, plasma televisions and kitchen sinks. </p> <p>Politicians from all parties have stolen millions of pounds submitting false expenses claims and using public money to build private property empires and watch pornographic films. </p> <p>This corruption goes right to the heart of the political establishment, with even the Treasury Minister implicated in wholesale tax evasion. Scandalously, he remains in office, even though The Speaker, Ayatollah Gorbals, has been forced to resign. </p> <p>Once the home of parliamentary democracy, Westminster is little more than a talking shop, poorly attended and utterly discredited. Most of Britain’s laws are now imposed by foreign bureaucrats and judges without any debate. </p> <p>Freedom of speech has been brutally repressed. Police arrested an Opposition spokesman simply for doing his job. </p> <p>There is also the question of the democratic legitimacy of the Brown junta. He seized power without an election and has repeatedly demonstrated his contempt for accountability and the will of the people. </p> <p>Yet rather than acknowledge their anger, he persists in changing the subject and is now considering tinkering with the voting system in a cynical last-ditch attempt to remain in power. </p> <p>The Supreme Leader has withdrawn into his bunker and is reduced to issuing deranged statements on YouTube. </p> <p>It is frightening to think that this madman has access to nuclear weapons and has never accepted Middle England’s right to exist. He appears to be hell-bent on wiping <br />the United Kingdom off the map and submerging it into an imperialist European superstate. </p> <p>And yet the British still have the nerve to lecture us on democracy. My fellow Iranians, we should give thanks that we are in the safe hands of our beloved President Ahmadinejad, peace be upon him. Allahu Akbar!</p> Vladdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11431472884781207247noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-696115030277003594.post-31945885365542846412009-04-27T08:47:00.001+01:002009-04-27T08:49:51.246+01:00Team GB use video games to produce medals<p>From The Times<br />April 27, 2009<br /><span style="font-size:130%;">Team GB use video games to produce medals</span> <br />Ashling O'Connor, Olympics Correspondent</p><p>The surge fist, dragon punch and hurricane kick are not typical taekwondo moves, but the signature exploits of characters in Street Fighter IV may start creeping in as the Great Britain team take inspiration from the computer game. Athletes at the elite training facility in Manchester are playing the latest version to improve their mental agility.</p><p><a href="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/olympics/article6175519.ece">http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/olympics/article6175519.ece</a><br /><br /></p><p><a href="http://www.freeviral.com/?r=214600"> Send me One Million FREE Guaranteed Visitors</a></p>Vladdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11431472884781207247noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-696115030277003594.post-87688875028625027912009-04-13T09:01:00.001+01:002009-04-13T09:03:39.481+01:00National Service is Back?<p><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2009/apr/12/young-people-compulsory-voluntary-work-community-service">Labour plans compulsory community service for youngsters | Education | guardian.co.uk</a></p><p>Compulsory Voluntary work? This will not be voluntary it will be work done on the cheap, has someone realised just how impossible it will be to force everyone to stay in education until they are 18 and decided to find them something else to do. Now I am all for encouraging teenagers to volunteer to do community work,but the important word there is volunteer. Who will supervise these 'volunteers' and what will be the penalty for not hitting the 50 hour mark? This will not increase a sense of community in our young it will probably just bring about resentment at being forced to do this service.</p><p><a href="http://www.freeviral.com/?r=214600"> Send me One Million FREE Guaranteed Visitors</a></p>Vladdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11431472884781207247noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-696115030277003594.post-32495850990963620172009-04-04T10:57:00.000+01:002009-04-04T10:58:35.247+01:00Wages in Soccer a personal view<p>The whole of football needs to sort out its wages situation, no other industry in the world can survive with such a high percentage of their outgoings going on pay. If all the teams slashed the pay of players to more realistic levels what would happen? The players strike OK replace them with people who will play for the money offered. I suspect even the most diehard fan would have little sympathy for these overpaid pampered leeches of their hard earned cash. If less money was paid to the players then more money could actually be spent on the clubs and we wouldn't have the pathetic situation of clubs starting the season x number of points behind everyone else as a punishment for getting into financial difficulties. During the 2007/08 season the wages bill of the premiership alone broke the £1 Billion mark, that is 1.48 Trillion Dollars which is higher than the GDP of most countries and that was just 20 clubs. When you have wage bills of this level is it any wonder you end up with players having no connection with the fans anymore, for some the honour of playing for their country just seems to be an extra bonus to the bank balance. I don't know about you but I think the level of pay to people that don't actually produce anything is obscene. When you hear of the big 4 clubs setting unofficial pay limits of £100,000 a WEEK it is beyond a joke. In the NFL they have a wage cap and any team found breaching it can be heavily fined or even lose their franchise, in 2008 the cap was just over £78 million pounds per team and look how many players there are in a NFL team. So next time you hand over your hard earned cash to watch a football match just think how much of that ticket price is caused by the greed of these pampered performers who are there to entertain you, not you being there to pay their wages. If only we could remind some of the players of this then maybe they wouldn't appear to hold the fans in such contempt.</p><p><a href="http://www.freeviral.com/?r=214600"> Send me One Million FREE Guaranteed Visitors</a></p>Vladdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11431472884781207247noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-696115030277003594.post-86237831525514084512009-02-19T17:23:00.001+00:002009-02-19T17:23:01.066+00:00The Great House Husbands Lie:<p>The great house husbands lie: Men go mad if they don't go out to work, one mother insists </p> <p>By Sandra Parsons </p> <p>19th February 2009</p> <p>Not since he let slip that he had slept with 'no more than 30' women has Nick 'Calamity' Clegg made quite such a silly remark. </p> <p>In an article published this week, the Liberal Democrat leader has suggested that the recession offers men a chance to reinvent themselves. </p> <p>With breathtaking stupidity, he has compared it to World War II in terms of the opportunity offered: just as women then discovered the heady power of independence and earning money, men now, he says, should seize redundancy with a merry heart and become house husbands. </p> <p><a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1149382/The-great-house-husbands-lie-Men-mad-dont-work-mother-insists.html#comments">The Great House Husband Lie</a></p> <p>As a househusband myself I find this woman's drivel insulting. I took voluntary redundancy almost a year ago, and now my wife works earning twice as much as I did. So for me to stay at home makes economic sense, I don't feel emasculated by this fact, in fact I always said that the one who earnt more should work while the other one looked after the kids. To clump househusbands in with the sort of woman who hires a nanny to look after the kids while she goes shopping and plays tennis is just a further insult. She seems to be saying the only people fit to stay at home and bring up children are women, and I thought we were past such sexist rubbish. I enjoy the time I spend with my children and quite a few men have said to me they wish they could have done the same, I find that it is mainly women that make snide or sarcastic comments when they discover what I do. Lets be honest here given the choice between men who stay at home and raise children, and a non job like a journalist, who would society miss more if we weren't there?  </p> Vladdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11431472884781207247noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-696115030277003594.post-35611934191810210882008-11-28T10:21:00.001+00:002008-11-28T10:21:22.380+00:00Opposition MP arrested by Anti Terrorist Police.<p>Now just stop and think about the above statement for a moment and ask yourself which country this has happened? Maybe in Zimbabwe where opponents of the Zanu party are routinely arrested? No it happened here in the United Kingdom, MP Damien Green the shadow Immigration Minister was arrested and held for more than nine hours by the Metropolitan Police force on suspicion of conspiring to commit misconduct in a public office and aiding and abetting, counselling or procuring misconduct in a public office for which the maximum sentence is life imprisonment .</p> <p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguZiUWu6HqyMvuDDX_6GpoXUZW2YDcFECYMow2wpLOgFU0cWGKBRMrkUJz0GlFmkFzxUsbg3IIkyuczIJ_PJTey-PbOoVQYc7lVfjs9OBVLyEVFdWgPVibb1JZU6dIFxe8V1z-3SCs6WY/s1600-h/damian_green_441284a%5B2%5D.jpg"><img style="border-top-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px" height="119" alt="damian_green_441284a" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcUHpRowZP60u2ZXmz2r38G_fiiubMPgD_0RFri4-f4oDiZ45wmxBWyOs3f8xb2M_ti1LvvohPh_KbUXC8OV9WUWA95Tnmmp6qw9XPBPJlSKqbEoGPzxnmVdxa96cAD7zzi_VbGDB5b_s/?imgmax=800" width="244" border="0" /></a> </p> <h5><strong><em>Damien Green MP arrested and held for over 9 hours</em></strong></h5> <p>Speaking outside the House of Commons, he said: “I was astonished to have spent more than nine hours under arrest for doing my job. I emphatically deny I have done anything wrong. In a democracy, opposition politicians have a duty to hold the Government to account. I was elected to the House of Commons precisely to do that and I certainly intend to continue doing so.” </p> <p>The police action followed the arrest 10 days ago of a government whistleblower who allegedly leaked four documents to Green, who then passed them to the press. They include a letter from the Home Secretary Jacqui Smith to Mr Brown over the economic downturn’s impact on crime. It is understood that the Home Office and Whitehall were alarmed at this disclosure because it was circulated among so few people. Other damaging stories include a list, prepared by Labour whips, of MPs’ likely voting intentions on legislation to extend to 42 days’ detention without charge, internal memoes suggesting that Jacqui Smith was involved in covering up the licensing of illegal immigrants as security guards in Whitehall, and a Border and Immigration Agency memo which revealed an illegal immigrant was able to work at the House of Commons using false id. </p> <p>Speaking on BBC One's Question Time, shadow chancellor George Osborne said: "I think it's absolutely extraordinary that the police have taken that decision. "It has long been the case in our democracy that MPs have received information from civil servants - I think to hide information from the public is wrong. It is early days, it's an extraordinary case. I think there are going to be some very, very big questions asked of the police." </p> <p>A spokesman for the Conservative Party said Mr Green had "on a number of occasions, legitimately revealed information which the Home Office chose not to make public. "Disclosure of this information was manifestly in the public interest. <br />"Mr Green denies any wrongdoing and stands by his actions." <br />Conservative sources said a police investigation into a high-ranking politician would have to have been cleared at "the very top" and have described the actions as "Stalinesque". Conservative sources said that Mr Cameron supported Mr Green fully and was confident that he had not paid for the documents. The arrest is certain to start a political row over who in government knew about or sanctioned action against a Tory frontbencher.</p> <p>A spokesman for the Prime Minister insisted that Gordon Brown had “no prior knowledge” of the arrest. The Metropolitan Police denied any ministerial involvement in the decision to arrest Mr Green. “The investigation into the alleged leak of confidential government material followed the receipt by the Metropolitan Police Service of a complaint from the Cabinet Office. The decision to make today’s arrest was taken solely by the Metropolitan Police Service without any ministerial knowledge or approval.” </p> <p>Cameron and the London mayor, Boris Johnson, were informed that Green would be arrested. Johnson reportedly asked Sir Paul Stephenson, the acting Commissioner of the Metropolitan police, whether he was sure that he needed to arrest Green, who could have been questioned, and voiced "grave" concerns, warning him that he did not regard it as "common sense policing". </p> <p>Former shadow home secretary David Davis insisted the action was "somewhere between an astonishing error in judgment through to judicial intimidation". Mr Davis, who quit the Tory front bench to campaign against the Government's erosion of civil liberties, said Mr Green had only been "doing his job". He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "None of this put in any way national intelligence, national security, or international relations at risk - yet we end up with a situation that is in some way reminiscent of Robert Mugabe's Zimbabwe, with an opposition spokesman being arrested for nine hours. "It is extraordinary, frankly." Mr Davis said he found it "hard to believe" that ministers were not told that Mr Green was about to be arrested. "I cannot believe it," Mr Davis said. "Why were they not told?"</p> <p>The Lib Dems said Mr Green's arrest was a "worrying development" with serious implications for the balance of power between the government and parliament. "Receiving information from government departments in the public interest and publicising it is a key part of any MP's role," said Chris Huhne, the party's home affairs spokesman. "It seems that either the law needs to be changed or the police have overstepped the mark."</p> Vladdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11431472884781207247noreply@blogger.com0