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Archive for September, 2009

Two-Wheeled Robotic Table

I had to put this in here. Wouldn’t you just love one of these….

A nice weekend in Jersey

After endless sunshine in Spain over August I figured that was about our lot for the year… but no, until Sunday we’re in Jersey at an annual conference at the hotel L’Horizon in St Brelades… and loving the seaside. My job yesterday was to answer a load of IT questions – that out of the way I spent the afternoon enjoying a really nice walk along St Brelade’s Bay (bottom left on the map), beautiful sunshine, nice breeze. This place really IS nice. To me it’s how a seaside SHOULD be (as against some of our abysmal and often cold efforts).

Beach at St Brelades Sea at St Brelades

Now if INCOMPETENT ORANGE would just stop sending me endless text messages…. “Hi from Orange,. Browse the Internet and keep in touch while in Jersey…. for just £2.94 per megabyte” – CAN YOU IMAGINE – nearly 3 quid for 1 email if it has an attachment.  Well, the first 5 identical texts yesterday morning had me going so I rang up Orange to complain – the usual “we really value your custom” just before they bombard you with crappy music… to cut a long story short I was PROMISED I’d get no more texts AT ALL from them. So by the end of the afternoon when another 5 or 6 had turned up I rang them up again. This time they were PROFUSELY sorry and gave me 10% off my bill for the next 3 months… “you will DEFINITELY get no more texts from us”.

That was teatime – since then I’ve had another 8 identical texts from them – including one at 7.01am this morning!!  I’m going to give them HELL when they open shop!

Well, we were up anyway, so off we went this morning to the sea… I can tell you – the water was FREEZING cold… thankfully after a short swim the hotel has the most amazing pool, sauna, hot tub etc… so now we’re ready to face the day… and breakfast!

Fed Ted

Hotel L'Horizon

Iraq Shoe-Thrower released

Muntadar al-Zaidi who threw a shoe at former US President Bush, has been released.  The act made him a hero in the Arab world and beyond.

Let’s reflect on that a moment. Under the rule of the dictator Saddam Hussein who is no longer in charge thanks to Mr Bush and other western leaders, had he done the same thing to Hussein, does anyone want to take bets as to what would have happened? Perhaps he would have been shot immediately and his family shot shortly thereafter?

The fellow attempts to physically assault a leader of the free world and what happens?  A jail sentence and how he’s out and about to enjoy his popularity! Come to think about it even the Russians would have sent him of to Siberia for the rest of his days.

We’re getting soft and we WILL regret it.

Darwin “Too Controversial” for the USA – Give me a BREAK!

As the first decade of the 21st century draws to a close, I find this deeply, deeply worrying…

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/6173399/Charles-Darwin-film-too-controversial-for-religious-America.html

In case you’re short of time – an extract…

“Movieguide.org, an influential site which reviews films from a Christian perspective, described Darwin as the father of eugenics and denounced him as “a racist, a bigot and an 1800s naturalist whose legacy is mass murder”. His “half-baked theory” directly influenced Adolf Hitler and led to “atrocities, crimes against humanity, cloning and genetic engineering”, the site stated.”

The film has sparked fierce debate on US Christian websites, with a typical comment dismissing evolution as “a silly theory with a serious lack of evidence to support it despite over a century of trying”

So I’m guessing the mountains of fossils etc are just a theory. It’s hard to fathom how such blind ignorance can flourish in a “free” country. As for Hitler, they can’t even get that right! He was a member of the Catholic church. Most trouble-spots in the world today involve countries who are highly religious.

Can you believe such an attitude can be prominent in the Western World in the 21st century?  None of which would matter if America was not in military terms the only remaining “superpower” – as our religious friends would say… “Lord help us”.

The End of a Holiday

We’re on our way back to the UK after 5 weeks of incredible weather in Spain (see the Spanish blog) to rain, recession, flu and on a brighter note, 4 new kittens – which is quite exciting. I’m assuming our cats have forgotten all about us by now – I think this is the longest single stretch we’ve ever left them alone (well, not alone, friends have looked after them at our place in Wark).  I’ve a week of intense meetings to come one after another so maybe I won’t notice the tan disappearing.. got the phone packed with stuff to watch on the plane. All that remains is to turn off the computer, package it up and put it in the car.. it all seems far too final… but then, it’s only a matter of months before we’re back in the sun. Maybe just 10 minutes more tanning….

Bedrock