Radical Terrorists or an Army of Spies

Imagine a terrorist organisation. This organisation might be seen as a threat to the security in a great number of nations. Rumours abound but in reality this terrorist organisation only exists in the minds of two radical students who probably would have grown out it by the time they left university. The Americans are worried so the CIA sends a couple of agents to infiltrate the group. Unbeknown to the CIA, Home security and the FBI have also sent agents as infiltrators. The UK’s MI5, French DRCI, Finish SUPO, Danish FE, Czech BIS, and Israeli Mossad also infiltrate the group. None of the agents know that the other agents are anything other than members of this terrorist cell. Those keeping watch on the group see that the threat seems to be growing; they are recruiting more and more members. As the level of paranoia rises more and more security agencies send people to infiltrate the group. Canadian, Italian, Russian, Chinese, Japanese Kuwait, South Africa, Norway and Spain send agents. Australia, New Zeland, Norway and Qatar are not far behind. The group keeps growing but the original two students have discovered girls and are working hard for their degrees. To them their radical dreams are all but forgotten, but the infiltrators feel they need to prove themselves to the others in this expanding group. Small acts of terror are carried out as proof of their seriousness and loyalty. As time goes by these acts need to be made more and more audacious to impress the others in the group so the infiltrators are trusted by the organisation. What we now have is a large terrorist organisation where almost everyone is a spy, so is highly trained and has access to almost unlimited 

funds. In reality the whole thing is a non-entity but is just as dangerous as a real group of terrorists.

Think it sounds far-fetched?  It has happened in the past, is happening now and will most certainly happen again.            

Magpies and Shiney Objects

This week the BBC and various other press reports that "Magpies do not steal trinkets and are positively scared of shiny objects." http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-28797519

I for one know this simply is not true or at least was not true, they do or at least did like shiny things when I was a lad. When I was a child I observed Magpies nesting in a tree that I used to climb. The Magpie's nest was always full of bits of tin foil and other shiny oddments.  On one occasion I caught a Magpie trying to take or at least peeking away at a small mirror on my bedroom windowsill.

When I was a child everyone had their milk delivered to the doorstep by the milkman. A well observed habit of various birds was to peck open milk bottles to get at the cream. It was a favourite trick of Blue Tits, but on my early morning paper rounds I often saw Magpies, Starlings and Sparrows following their example.

I suspect that the Magpies associated shiny with food and tried to take that food back to the nest. Bearing in mind that the foil off chocolate and sweets might often contain traces of food and along with the milk bottle thing it is hardly surprising that an intelligent bird like a Magpie should display such behaviour.

This behaviour in Magpies was no doubt a learned rather than a natural thing and maybe due to the lack of milk bottles on doorsteps and the somewhat improved cleaning methods use in our streets, since I was a child, has been unlearned by successive generations of the birds.

The so call scientific tests with only 64 observations is such a small sample as to be insignificant. To be of any use there would need to be several thousand observations in Magpie colonies in different parts of the country, but then what would be the point. Sorry BBC, sorry DR Sheppard - Myth not busted.     

    

Identity theft is on the increase. First my bank inform me my financial details have been compromised and now my insurance company tells me someone has been sacked for selling my details too. I am getting so paranoid I have to see photo ID every time I look in the mirror just in case I'm not me.

GB2FLB - Jan 2013 SOS radio week

Dave MW6NTG operating GB2FLB run by Flintshire Raynet Group for SOS radio week in the Flint Lifeboat station. Helen GW7AAU is logging. Dave is a 'white stick operator' and this is his first time operating on HF. Pretty good for his first try I think you will agree, but he is a professional radio presenter on Calon FM in Wrexham North Wales.

Lord Turner of FSA attacks free banking

Lord Turner, the head of the Financial Services Authority thinks Britain's tradition of free bank accounts is wrong and we should be paying the banks for looking after our money. Can somebody tell me what is actually free about free banking? They have our money, because very few companies will actually pay their workers in cash these days and so we have no choice, they then lend us our own money at exorbitant interest rates and pay us sod all for giving them the money in the first place. At one time we actually got interest on our savings, but now it is all used to finance big banking frauds and big bonuses for those responsible for those frauds. It is time the banks got their houses in order and started remembering that it is their customers who are both their investors and their biggest asset. I am no socialist, but it is time the big corporations, bankers and politicians are reminded just who put them where they are today; the general public. Personally I would set up a guillotine in Thread Needle Street and then heads would really roll, but until the revolution starts just remember banker is spelt with a capital W.

Three films I have been waiting for

Three films I have been waiting for... No 1 Ridley Scott's Prometheus

Three films I have been waiting for... No 2 Peter Jackson's The Hobbit

Three films I have been waiting for... No 3 Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight Rises

Also out this year... Chronicle / Sherlock Holmes - Game of Shadows / The Raven / Hugo. 2012 looks like a good year for films.

Never ever buy gift vouchers.

Never ever, ever buy gift vouchers or book tokens. 30% of gift vouchers are never cashed. Most gift vouchers have an expiry date of between 6 and 12 months, but if the retailer who issues them has old stock they can be expired before you walk out of the door.

I was treated like a criminal because I tried to use £50 worth of gift vouchers I won in a competition in work. I was trying to spend them before they expired. After spending hours on the telephone I was told that because of fraud I needed to write a letter to get issued new vouchers.

Most issuers of vouchers don't do refunds or replace expired vouchers. This is corporate theft as far as I can see. I had £20 of vouchers from Capital Bonds that were short dated. I did not know where I could spend them until it was too late. When I contacted them I was told "We don't reissue or honour expired vouchers". We need a change in the law or at least someone to make a test case.

Eli Pariser: Beware online "filter bubbles"

Eli Pariser: Beware online "filter bubbles"

Gary Moore - RIP

When I was a teenager all my heroes were all motorcycle racers and I remember one day lying in bed thinking that most of my heroes were dead. They were not all that much older than me. Move along 30 odd years and I keep loosing my musical heroes. Rest in peace Gary Moore, he too was not much older than me. Gary was best remembered as one of the guitarists in Phil Lynotts brilliant band Thin Lizzy, but he was so much more. Gary's solo career spanned the globe and he was a big name in Japan. I rate Gary as one of the best rock guitarists of all time and have a stack of probably 25 of his CDs not including my Thin Lizzy collection. I recently watched one of his concerts on Sky Arts channel along with some of his old Thin Lizzy pals it was an absolute cracker. It is incredibly sad we will hear no more Moore anymore :0(

http://www.gary-moore.com/

Going Postal!

The British Post Office can go to hell! Yesterday I had an A4 card through the door telling me I had mail with underpaid postage. It would cost me £1.19 and I had to collect it from the sorting office. So I drive five miles only to find it is a Christmas card. Why I ask is the post not enough? Due to a small diamanté jewel on the card it would not fit through their slot. So what do I want with a Christmas card for in the middle of January? I told them to stuff it where the sun doesn't shine.

So be warned if you send Birthday or Christmas cards with badges or are a little thicker than normal it needs to be posted as a large letter. A normal 1st or 2nd class letter needs to be less than 5mm. Not that 5mm means anything to half the population who where raised on Imperial measurements and who measures their letters before sending anyway?

The GPO is so screwed, if only there was an alternative like electronic mail. We could call it email for short. I think I will refuse to send anything through the mail in future if I can help it.

So if you sent me a Christmas card in a gold envelope with a small diamanté jewel on I never got it.

Where have all the Clacks towers gone?

Tax Rises Fund Criminal Activities

So VAT is 20% and it stinks. I don't really blame the present government for the rise, that was brought about by the mess left by the last lot. I do however think it is the wrong move on so many levels. In a faltering economy it is going to slow growth and plunge us headlong in to a true recession. Even those with a good income are already crippled by 40% income tax, local taxes in the form of rates and insanely high taxes on fuel for both our homes and cars, then there is road tax and so on. You are not safe with money in the bank these days either. Because interest rates are so pathetic prices are rising faster so you just loose, loose, loose. Whenever a country gets in to this sort of mess the way out is to start a war and it would not surprise me if this time it did not erupt on our own streets. I am quite afraid that if someone does not get a grip of things soon then all hell will break loose. Modern communications mean the people are the press and they cannot gag us all. When the riots start the word will spread faster than has ever been seen before.

Hopefully I am being too pessimistic about things and we will not see a civil war in the streets of the UK in 2011, but what is unavoidable is a growing black economy. If you can avoid paying income tax by going "Underground" and sell your goods VAT free you can be making a profit of at least twice what you could as a legitimate business. One can see the attraction.

I already know of businesses on the edge who have offered to service my car, supply tyres or electrical goods for cash in hand, no VAT. If I visit people I know who live on council estates I often see the visitors they get selling cigarettes and booze smuggled in to the UK from door to door. The higher the taxes go up the more people are tempted to buy from these criminal types, for that is what they are. They may start out as doing what they have to to make ends meet but at some point they cross the line between what is tax dodging and what is downright criminal. So effectively by increasing tax the government is funding criminal activities.

Tonight the price of Diesel is up at my local petrol station from £1.24 per litre to £1.31 so a full tank of gas now costs me £107.83. When the 1973 oil crisis was in full swing my father complained that it cost him just under 10 shillings to fill up, that is 50 pence in today's money or a 21,566 % price rise in 38 years. If we look at the average UK wage in 1973 as being £38.10 then the average wage in the UK today would be £819,508.

Crisis what crisis? We are on the Titanic and we are not about to hit the iceberg we have already hit it.

Hang on it may be a bumpy year.

A few bad jokes

A few bad jokes but not quite as bad as those in Christmas crackers...

It was Thursday and the Booblie Oobulie bird was sitting in his favourite tree when he spied a Boa Constrictor passing by. "That's a big worm" he thought "I'll have that for my tea!" He flew down and tried to attack the snake, which crushed him and swallowed him whole.

The moral of this story is ambition can be a good thing but an over estimation of your abilities can get you in trouble.

...Or maybe "He should have gone to Specsavers."

I was in a bar the other night waiting for my pal Louis when a short wrinkled guy came in wearing a Parka. As we stood at the bar waiting to be served he told me he was an Eskimo. His name was near impossible to pronounce but said "Everyone calls me Ig." Just then my friend walked in and I was able to introduce them. "Ig, Lou!" I announced.

An officious looking man walked up to a woman who was breast feeding. "Mrs Walker" he said "I know breast is best but you cannot feed your son here." "But" she protested "that woman is feeding her baby." "Yes Mrs Walker" said the man "but Johnny is 25 and you are freaking out the other passengers on the bus."

The Scandal of Unsorted the Mail

Great Britain already has one of the most expensive postal systems in the world particularly when one takes in to account income levels. Royal Mail continues to deny that fact by saying stamp prices for letters weighing up to 100g are among the lowest in Europe. The price of a first-class stamp will rise by 5p to 46p in April and a second-class stamp will cost 36p, an increase of 4p. Posting a large letter will also become more expensive, 75p ,up 9p, for first-class and 58p, up 7p, for second-class mail.

Why the hell do we even have a second class service when sending a first class letter to an address in the same town can take over a week? Personally I have been keeping track of my mail and I very rarely get mail other than on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. I may get some mail on Fridays but until this week I have not had anything on Monday or Saturday since forever. So imagine my surprise when I was woken a 08:30 on Sunday morning by a Royal Mail delivery, it was a parcel that needed signing for.

So why is Royal Mail so crap? There may be a clue in the conversation I had with a postal worker the other day. This chap told me he is working overtime doing extra rounds. "Some off the guys are going out three times a day" he said "but my bag is not even half full because no-one is being given overtime on the sorting side." Apparently the sorting office is floor to celling but there is little or no sorting going on. It is not just the Christmas post that has caused this. I was told that the condition has been like that for months. For anyone familiar with the TV adaption of Terry Pratchett's book 'Going Postal' the Royal Mail is rapidly becoming the Ankh Morpork Post Office, but Royal Mail has no Moist von Lipwig to pull them out of their rapidly spiralling swan dive in service.

The latest news is Royal Mail had announced they are to commence evening deliveries to try to catch up with the backlog caused, they say, by the bad weather. So now not content at waking me up on a Sunday morning they want to disturb my evenings tucked up by the fire too. I am sure the postmen and women are looking forward to working sixteen hour shifts as well.

There is one good side to the price rises; Direct mail services are facing price rises of up to 19%. Hopefully that will cut the crap coming through our mail boxes. Why do I get half a dozen mail shots a week from Sky television when I have it already? How the heck can a local Indian Restaurant afford to send me their menu three times a week? Never mind recycling to save a tree, if we banned direct mail services we could save a whole forest every week. If the postal workers did not have to deliver this junk we might have a postal service that works and one we did not mind paying for.

Dark Knight Rises

Details are emerging of the third Batman movie by Christopher Nolan, it will be called 'The Dark Knight Rises' . In an interview with the Los Angles Times Chris says he is not ready to reveal the villain of his 2012 film, but it will not be the Riddler. He has also previously revealed it will not be Mr Freeze. You can read more here.

Personally I was looking forward to Nolan's working of the character after the brilliant playing of the Joker by the tragic Heath Ledger. Turning the Joker from the camp clown of early incarnations to something resembling Dr Hanibal Lecter on acid would I am sure have made the latest adventure of the Dark Knight even darker. I would have liked people to leave the cinema trembling and scared to walk in the shadows, which is more like what reading the graphic novels alone in the dark felt when you were thirteen.

Comedy Awards 2010 *** VOTE Ed Byrne ***

Foster’s Edinburgh Comedy Awards 2010 *** VOTE Ed Byrne *** http://bit.ly/mm-comedy-god
There are so many good comedians out there who you could vote for but I am voting for Ed Byrne. Ed is out there on edge between mainstream comedy and alternative yet manages to pull it off without resorting to the gutter. Vote for him this time, he might be 'Byrned out' by next year.

Fosters lager - for when the real beer has run out.

Twitchers in a Twitter

Bird watchers are one of a number of hobbyists who have taken the Internet to their bosoms and used it to its full advantage. They are perhaps second only to radio amateurs who use spots via what is know as the DX cluster to keep each other informed of where the action is. Bird watchers use a variety of Internet alerting systems via mobile telephones and email to tell each other when a rare bird is spotted in the wild. In fact Twitter was made for what folk these need.

Not surprising then when Balderton Brook in nearby Saltney suddenly became the most popular destination in Wales as information was Tweeted, emailed and sent by text that a rare bird had been spotted. The Purple Gallinule, also known as a grey-headed swamp hen, which is a type of Moorhen from the marshlands of France and Spain and the lily beds of Asia had not been seen in Wales for at least 100 years. Chester Zoo was informed but they denied it was one of theirs as did various local collectors. The bird was around for three days and by Sunday there where fifty or so Twitchers with there scopes, binoculars, cameras and other optical equipment trained on the little bird, but it did not seem to perturbed. That lead to a rumour that although this bird was not ringed it might be an escapee from some colection or other.

A local Councillor and renowned nut case was interviewed by the local press about the bird and said “Why has it come here? Because it likes Saltney!” When are they going to get that man a straight jacket is what I want to know. Surely even a bird brain does not go to Saltney because they like it? I mean what is there to like? Except maybe a rare bird or two.

Unfortunately for the Twitchers the bird had not come as they hoped from India but had escaped from a collector. Apparently two of the birds escaped from an aviary three weeks ago. One returned but the other was missing. The owner arrived and easily recaptured his prize much to the disappointment of the onlookers. The RSPB were on hand and once he had proved to them it was his bird they let him take it away. What a pity since this is the most excitement since 1786 when the brothel burnt down and naked ladies of the night ran out in to the street causing much amusement amongst the young men of the town and red faces all around.

Predator Escapes

Don't cinemas want my custom? My son's and I were going to go and see the new movie 'Predators' on Thursday night, but when my eldest called to book tickets he was told that the only showings during the week were at 23:30 hours and that they were not in 3-D. If we wanted to see it at a sensible time and in 3-D we would have to go Friday, Saturday or Sunday. Due to my work pattern I cannot make those showings so I guess I will have to either buy the DVD or wait until it is on Sky TV.

My original post about Predators is here.

American McGee's Alice is back

Be afraid, be very afraid because eleven years after the original American McGee's Alice is coming back and it should be more twisted and scary than ever. I can't wait. Unfortunately I will have to, as it is not due out until next year.

The rumours started when Thewhiterabbit Tweeted, "Follow me and stay tuned for a major announcement from the mad world of Alice today!" Thewhiterabbit's Tweet was then retweeted on the official EA Twitter, leaving Alice fans desperate to know more.

The official website is now up with screen shots and more teasers http://www.ea.com/alice and there is even a Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/alicemadnessreturns so it is all true. Now all we have to do is wait for the nightmare to begin.

The game info on the Alice website reads:

Eleven years ago a horrific fire took Alice’s family from her and left her terribly burned—and her mind terribly scarred. Afterwards she was confined to Rutledge Asylum, struggling to come to terms with her demons by slipping into her fantasy world of Wonderland. Now, after ten years, she has finally secured her release--yet she still bears the heavy psychological burden of that tragic event.

In Alice: Madness Returns, Alice is released from the asylum to a London psychiatrist’s care. As nightmarish hallucinations continue to haunt her and invade her reality, she seeks to understand her torment in order to recover herself. Her mind in tatters, she is unable to resolve the fear and neuroses prompted by her strange memories, dreams, and visions. Her relocation to London seems only to add to their number and intensity.

Perhaps she’ll do better in Wonderland. She always has. She travels there, seeking what the “real” world can’t provide: security, knowledge, and the truth about the past. But in her absence, Wonderland too has suffered. Something has gone horribly wrong, and now a great evil is descending upon what once was her beautiful refuge.

Can Alice save Wonderland—and herself—from the madness that consumes them both?

Follow the White Rabbit!

One pill makes you larger
And one pill makes you small
And the ones that mother gives you
Don't do anything at all
Go ask Alice
When she's ten feet tall

And if you go chasing rabbits
And you know you're going to fall
Tell 'em a hookah smoking caterpillar
Has given you the call
Call Alice
When she was just small

When men on the chessboard
Get up and tell you where to go
And you've just had some kind of mushroom
And your mind is moving low
Go ask Alice
I think she'll know

When logic and proportion
Have fallen sloppy dead
And the White Knight is talking backwards
And the Red Queen's "off with her head!"
Remember what the dormouse said:
"Feed your head. Feed your head. Feed your head"

White Rabbit by Jefferson Airplane

Rage Against The Mayo

Mayonnaise (often abbreviated to mayo) is a stable emulsion of oil, egg yolk and either vinegar or lemon juice, with many options for embellishment with other herbs and spices. The stuff you buy in the shops also contains tons of salt, preservatives and sugar. Mayonnaise has frequently been the source of mass food poisonings due to the use of raw egg yolks full of salmonella bacteria. If not properly refrigerated even bacteria free fresh mayo goes bad extremely quickly. We are told that most people should avoid eating more than one or two eggs a week and that while the white is good for you the yolk is an evil cholesterol bomb. So can someone please explain to me why every ready made sandwich maker in Britain has stopped using butter or margarine and started to spread their bread with the potentially lethal concoction that is mayonnaise? I absolutely hate mayo and even if I did like it I would think twice about eating it at all outside of my own home where I know how it has been kept. Just what is wrong with a decent bit of butter? Just to rub it in these ready made sandwich makers sometimes supply "Mayo Free" versions, but these consist of dry bread, which is usually stale on both sides. I know I should try not to eat from service station refractories, but needs must. Sorry to moan but I have had enough of the dodgy pasties, sausage rolls and pies too.

Lodewicus Theodoru Oosthuizen

Lodewicus Theodoru Oosthuizen what a name! What a worthy champion. Well done Louis, well done South Africa. That was a nice 92nd Birthday present for Nelson Mandela and a great touch from Louis to mention it in his winners speech. Somehow the final round of the Open seemed a bit of a foregone conclusion and maybe a bit of an anti-climax, but it never really is. Every shot counts and it was brilliant to watch a man that seemed to have nerves of steel enjoying his final round like he was just out for a knock about with his mates. That was certainly some of the neatest driving I can remember watching. Everyone wanted to see him get loads more birdies and the field to give him something think about but they failed and he played the percentages, and did what was necessary. The mark of a true champion.

I was disappointed that Paul Casey could not rise to the challenge. Maybe he too was playing the percentages and waiting for Louis to make mistakes, but the mistakes never materialised. I hope we see Paul win a Major soon, he has the talent and a Major win could just be the confidence booster he needs to become an unstoppable force in golf.

If Rory McIlroy doesn't win a Major in the next five years I will be most disappointed. Rory has talent by the bag full and seems destined for big things. After his amazing 63 in the first round he came in with a torrid 80 in the second but that did not stop him putting in two more excellent rounds in the difficult Scottish weather. If the weather on Friday had been better I think we might have seen this young man taking the Claret Jug.

South Korean amateur star Jin Jeong was for me the highlight of the championship. It was just a pity that we did not see more coverage of his progress on TV. Jin is the British Amateur Champion after his win at Muirfield last month. I would really like to see him match this weekends performance with a similar one at the Masters next year, before he turns professional.

Some new golfing stars worth watching, but it is always such a pity watching your old golfing heroes playing like amateurs. The weather made things difficult for everyone but somehow you expect the older guys to be able to cope better with the conditions than the young ones, but a lot of them never even made the cut. Maybe they have lost the hunger for the fight or maybe they are just no longer good enough but it doesn't matter we still love 'em.

My thanks to everyone involved for providing a wonderful weekends entertainment. One tip to the BBC though; Cut the build up and show the golf. Golfers out at 6:30 and coverage started at 9:00 yet it was after 10:30 before we saw any live golf.