Yeah, right, just call me an anti-Semite and get it over with...

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So Many Tragedies in So Little Time


Where to start…, what to talk about…? The crippling electricity shortages, affecting hospitals as well as civilians? The air strikes & on-going, daily bombings by the Israeli army, their indiscriminate targeting of civilians and police stations…? Israel ’s non-accidental, enforced starvation of 1.5 million people by closing off ALL borders and not allowing in even UN aid, let alone basic medicinal, food, and construction needs…?

Shortages of fuel have re-surfaced in Gaza : most of Gaza has no electricity and even more importantly, the shortage of medicine in Palestinian hospitals continues to increase, with the Ministry of Health reporting a looming humanitarian catastrophe.

Or should I begin with the bomb which just hit a wedding close to the Ministry of Interior building in Gaza City , with 15 apartment buildings within the bomb’s target range? One woman was killed and 47 others were injured –mostly children and women who had been inside their homes or playing on the street!! Scenes of children injured, bleeding and crying just moments after they had been enjoying a wedding celebration in a Gaza wedding hall…a horrific sight likely to go without mention of that in most news sources.
Image via JSF

(Crystal) Balls

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TomDispatch
Let's see. They were wrong on Hillary Clinton, essentially nominating her for the presidency months before a primary was held. In Iowa, they were wrong on Mike Huckabee and Barack Obama, John Edwards and Clinton (again). In New Hampshire, wrong on Obama, Clinton (yet again), and -- at least earlier in the campaign season -- John McCain. In Michigan, wrong on McCain (again) and Mitt Romney. Just remind me, in this strange presidential nomination season in which each obscure primary is treated as if it were the night of the presidential election, when have they been right?


$49 MacHeist - Last Few Days

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Just three and a half days to go until the latest $49  Mac Heist Bundle closes shop.

So far over 22,000 bundles have been sold and almost a quarter of a million dollars raised for charity. In addition to the ten listed below (all now unlocked) MacHeist has also included the best dowload manager for Mac, Speed Download, as part of the deal. Two great Freeverse games, including Magic Tiki Mini Golf and the Apple Design Award runner up, WingNuts 2 have been added, bringing the $49 bundle value to over $400 and the deal to an unprecedented 90% off!  This is the second bundle I've bought and it's such a great deal it's hard to see any reason not to go for it, unless you don't use a Mac or you already have all the apps!



UPDATE: 21/01/2008

MacHeist are adding VectorDesigner to the bundle if they hit the $300,000 charity target (which looks very likely at this point). (UPDATE: 22/01 am -  they've done it and Vector Design is now unlocked!) This app alone is worth $70 and you'll get 11 others plus 2 games.
With the latest version of Adobe Illustrator costing $600, it's no surprise that the Mac community has been clamoring for a powerful, fast, and easy to use program for creating vector art that doesn't break the bank.

Say hello to VectorDesigner. Though relatively new, VectorDesigner features an impressive feature list, including Bezier lines, vector shapes, iSight, QuickLook, and scanner integration, and a conversion tool for turning non-vector images into vector.

In need of some photos? VectorDesigner not only integrates with your iPhoto library, but offers Flickr search as well. Instantly search for images on the popular photo sharing site by name or even color... a feature that must be seen to be believed.

Though only a few days old, VectorDesigner has already established itself as one of the best design apps in the market, winning Macworld's Best of Show award at this year's expo.

VectorDesigner will be unlocked for all past and future customers when we reach our goal of $300,000 raised for charities.




Hillary, wife of 'the first black president'.

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Alexander Cockburn: The Campaign in Black and White
The Clintons' relationship with African-Americans has always been starkly instrumental. When he was in trouble with white voters in New Hampshire in 1992 Governor Bill sprinted back to Little Rock to preside over the execution of a mentally retarded black man. To ensure her husband's victory in his reelection race in 1996 Hillary insisted Bill chop poor mothers--a good slice of them black--off the welfare rolls. Nonetheless many blacks rooted for Bill, absurdly dubbed by Toni Morrison "the first black president" and in the impeachment crisis over Monica Lewinsky they were his most steadfast friends, as Bill recognized when he summoned the Rev Jesse Jackson into the White House to help him pray for forgiveness and redemption.

Other well known landmarks in the Clintons' relations with blacks include Bill Clinton's set-up of Sister Souljah and his disgusting treatment of Lani Guinier and Jocelyn Elders. The Clintons reach out when they have no alternative and stab you in the back when it seems marginally to their advantage. They are without doubt among the most unprincipled duos ever to have operated in the upper tiers of American political life.


Visiting the Statue of Liberty (post 9/11)

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The Statue of Security
During my visit, a group of elderly World War II vets festooned with embroidered patches reading “POW” and “Combat Wounded Veteran” were struggling to get through a secondary screening in a tent outside the statue. “No exceptions to the secondary security screening,” a burly officer growled as the EntryScan 3 puffed in the background. If these men want to visit the emblem of what they bled for on some godforsaken battlefield, the hats, belts, jackets, canes, and insignia pins all need to be removed and examined…again.

Two weary veterans demurred and were given a single stool to share between them while their comrades made the tour. Honoring veterans, U.S. Park Police style. It seemed ludicrously disrespectful, but perhaps Homeland Security had received a tip about a recently activated Al Qaeda sleeper cell recruited at Guadalcanal in ’42. Maybe someone saw something/said something. You don’t want some modern Fifth Column to blow off Lady Liberty’s arm, do you?


Hardly surprising really is it?

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China Close To Becoming World’s Largest Internet Market By Users
New statistics released by the Chinese Government show that China is due to surpass the United States as the nation with the most internet users in the coming months. The state-owned China Internet Network Information Center said that China’s total number of Internet users rose 53% to 210 million at the end of 2007 up from 137 million at the end of 2006 and 162 million in June 2007. According to the WSJ, China is now just five million users shy of surpassing the United States as the world’s largest Internet market.


Cutting edge

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The Nutcracker Suite. - By Michael Lewis - Slate Magazine
Splayed on the operating table, staring at the back of a nurse scrubbing her hands, I was struck by the possibility that, in addition to its other challenges, a vasectomy might be a socially awkward experience. "Do you need to empty your bladder?" asked the nurse, who clearly found hospital English the safest language in which to address a stranger's genitals. The clinic walls were undecorated, save for a lone medical drawing of the male sex organ, flayed to reveal its sober inner logic.
I suppose it's a precondition of being a writer that you can get a story out of almost anything. I admire that ability, I really do. But there is no way I could get a two page Slate piece out of my vasectomy experience which was quick, quiet, completely painless and free (well, I did make a 'donation' to the International Planned Parenthood Federation). It was performed by a retired missionary doctor who had spent most of his life in Africa and the Indian sub-continent and had carried out thousands of 'snips' over the years. Unlike the writer of the Slate piece I knew that a bollock-shave was required so I made sure I did it myself,beforehand. The thought of this old doctor slicing through my vans deferens didn't trouble me one bit but I just couldn't face the idea of having him shave me. Nah! 

Hot towel, sir?


That's because they ARE big, dearies.

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WPCs call for end to Simon Cowell-style trousers saying: 'They make our bums look big'
Unflattering: Female police officers have complained about their uniform's high waistbands, similar to Simon Cowell's. (left)

Women. on average, have bigger hips (that's code for bigger bums) than men it's just that, despite that fact, most of them still want to wear trousers that are, ahem, 'figure hugging'. Oh, and where, exactly, do these people think the waist is located? It's ABOVE the pelvis and BELOW the bottom rib, exactly where Cowell's belt is sitting in the picture above. And his abs seem a lot trimmer than the WPCs as well.