The joint inheritance l

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Mr Brown goes to America



Brown:
Their values, blah, blah, blah, indifference to human life, killing and maiming, devastating effects, blah, blah, blah...Our values...universal, dignity of the individual, blah, blah...the freedom and liberty that we can bring to the world, blah, blah blah... everyone should have the chance of opportunity... blah,blah,blah,blah,blah, blah,blah,blah,blah,blah,blah,blah,blah,blah,blah,blah,blah,blah,blah,blah, blah,blah,blah,blah,blah,blah,blah,blah,blah,blah,blah,blah,blah,blah,blah,
blah,blah,blah,blah,blah,blah.

The joint inheritance ll



Bush:
"There's no doubt in my mind, that Gordon Brown understands that failure in Iraq would be a disaster for the security of our own countries, that failure in Iraq would embolden extremist movements throughout the Middle East, that failure in Iraq would basically say to ... people sitting on the fence around the region that Al Qaeda is powerful enough to drive great countries like Great Britain and America out of Iraq before the mission is done."

You're doing a heckuva job, Brownie




We don't want a bloodbath do we? Whoops, too late...

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Alexander Cockburn: Now the NYT is Selling "Bloodbath" as a Rationale to Stay in Iraq
There’s been no stage in the grim progress of the US onslaught on Iraq at which the New York Times hasn’t been shoving the whole ghastly enterprise along. First there were Judy Miller and Michael Gordon promoting the WMD rationale for attack. More recently there was Michael Gordon selling the surge.

Now it’s John Burns, pushing the notion that if the US withdraws there’ll a bloodbath of unimaginable proportions as the Iraqis slaughter each other. The administration is seizing eagerly on this, which is a bit like Dracula saying his castle is the best security guarantee against local peasant girls being attacked by vampires.


Ollie, Ollie, Ollie

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Fake 'bird-scaring' owl becomes home for family of swallows
When migrating swallows turned her house and barn into a home from home, Vivien Reynolds thought she had hit upon the ideal deterrent. She placed a model of a giant eagle owl high up in the barn, hoping the plastic predator's golden eyes and sharp talons would scare off the birds. Sadly, the swallows had other ideas. After two days eyeing up Ollie, the fake 3ft owl, a pair of the birds settled on its head. They then built a nest out of mud and twigs - where they are now raising a family of five hungry chicks.



They also serve who only sit and type...

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RAF typist who hurt thumb is awarded eight times more than soldier who lost leg
An RAF typist who injured her thumb at work is to be paid almost half a million pounds by the Ministry of Defence. The civilian's award is almost 30 times the amount a serviceman would receive for the same injury. It is eight times more than a soldier would receive for losing a leg and almost double the amount he could expect if he lost both legs.



Slow: Children Ahead

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Lifesize cut-outs slow traffic for homeowners
Traffic flow along Main street has frightened children for a long time. "The speed limit is 55 MPH just down the street," explained Mike Wood, who lives near the downtown area. "Then over here, it changes to 35 mph so cars come speeding by." Then Wood put some pictures of his children in his front yard and ever since then, drivers have been slowing down.



All shall have weapons

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US supplies Middle-East with arms worth over $50 billion over next 10 years:
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has confirmed that the United States is planning a significant increase in military and defence aid to Israel...the package is seen as an attempt to allay Israeli concerns over the planned arms deal with Saudi Arabia, reportedly worth $20bn (£9.8bn) over the next decade. Defence officials quoted by US media said the sales would include advanced weaponry, missile guidance systems, upgraded fighter jets and naval ships. Mr Olmert said the increased support was a sign of US commitment to maintain Israel's military "advantage over the Arab states". "We understand the need of the US to assist the moderate Arab states which are in one front with the US and us in the fight against Iran, and on the other hand we appreciate the renewed and re-emphasised support for Israel's military and security advantage," he said.


What's age got to do with it?

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Tim Worstall: What a Welfare System We Have

TW responds to this story about Esme Collins, a 103 year-old resident of a nursing home, who faces eviction because she cannot afford the £500 a week (!) bill.

It's not unreasonable to expect people to save for forseeable events: that you will live to the average age of the previous age cohort...Living to 103 is clearly unforseeable, a suitable case for that social insurance. However, these days, living to 70 or 75 is not unforseeable: in fact, it's highly likely, more likely than not in fact. So those in those age groups are not suitable candidates fo the system of social insurance.
Worstall speaks from his comfortable position as a metal dealer working three hours a week in the Algarve. Good luck to him. I speak from my comfortable position of working zero hours a week from a slightly colder part of the world. But for many people out there work means long hours on piss-poor wages (the sort of workers who look after 103 year-old Esme, for instance) and the idea that they are in a position during their working lives to save for their old age and should only receive welfare support after reaching 70 or 75 is, frankly, unrealistic.



It was a joke, geddit?

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BBC admit Top Gear caravan blaze was a stunt too
The BBC has admitted that a scene in its hit show Top Gear apparently showing an accidental caravan fire had been faked. The episode showed presenters Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May taking the caravan on a trip to Dorset, with the blaze erupting after Clarkson began cooking some chips at a campsite. Viewers saw a fire engine race into the site, with sirens wailing, as if the crew faced a real emergency - but the fire service involved have confirmed that the entire scene was set up.

 

Only a complete idiot would have thought that this caravan blaze was anything but a joke. Jeez.


Vindicated

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Jason Calacanis: Turning comments off
Inspired by Dave Winer I think I'm going to try the no comments route for a while. I've always felt you can't call yourself a blog without having comments, but I've found that the level of comments has gone down over the last couple of months. It's to the point at which all I do is delete vile comments that are, well, dumb...It feels like the comments are a place for the same five wacky folks to use sockpuppets to debate themselves and spew bile while linking back to their adsense honeypot...I wish someone would make a new platform to end all platforms. One that could be invite only comments and one that helped me express myself better. Feels like the blog format is lost and adrift.
Calacanis is a big cheese in the blogworld - founder and CEO of Weblogs.inc, GM of Netscape and now a web entrepreneur at Sequoia Capital. Dave Winer is no small potatoes either and his take on comments (he doesn't allow them) is explained by Joel Spolsky:

"...to the extent that comments interfere with the natural expression of the unedited voice of an individual, comments may act to make something not a blog.... The cool thing about blogs is that while they may be quiet, and it may be hard to find what you're looking for, at least you can say what you think without being shouted down. This makes it possible for unpopular ideas to be expressed. And if you know history, the most important ideas often are the unpopular ones.... That's what's important about blogs, not that people can comment on your ideas. As long as they can start their own blog, there will be no shortage of places to comment." - Dave Winer

The important thing to notice here is that Dave does not see blog comments as productive to the free exchange of ideas. They are a part of the problem, not the solution. You don't have a right to post your thoughts at the bottom of someone else's thoughts. That's not freedom of expression, that's an infringement on their freedom of expression. Get your own space, write compelling things, and if your ideas are smart, they'll be linked to, and Google will notice, and you'll move up in PageRank, and you'll have influence and your ideas will have power.

When a blog allows comments right below the writer's post, what you get is a bunch of interesting ideas, carefully constructed, followed by a long spew of noise, filth, and anonymous rubbish that nobody ... nobody ... would say out loud if they had to take ownership of their words.

That's been my view since I started this lark. Interesting to see the slow demise of commenting over the years. I've often pointed out to those bloggers who insist that a blog isn't 'genuine' if it doesn't allow comments (or a 'right of reply' as some prefer to call it) that some of the most well established and respected bloggers in the world have never allowed comments on their sites and if it's good enough for them (and now Jason Calacanis) it's good enough for little old me.