War on Terror - 4:13 pm - 28-09-2006

I’m reading a book at the moment (The End of Faith by Sam Harris) which is about religion and terrorism. It raises a very interesting point in the first chapter:

On September 11th, Osama bin Laden committed an act of terrorism and killed many people. As a result a war on terrorism was declared.
If Osama bin Laden had been the leader of a state and had attacked the World Trade Center with missiles, it would have been an act of war. Would a war on “war” have been declared? I think not…

Global Day for Darfur - 5:27 pm - 07-09-2006

Hey guys, just a note. The 17th of September is the Global Day for Darfur. Pop to their website for more information.

Here is a quote from the site to give you the general gist.

Despite the signing of a Darfur peace agreement on 5 May 2006, the violence in western Sudan has not stopped; in fact, in some parts of Darfur, the violence has grown worse.

We hope that you will be able to join us on the Global Day for Darfur.

They are also asking for people to wear blue hats on the day to represent the UN Peacekeeping Force’s blue berets. Better still they have a really simple way of putting the image of the beret on a photo of yourself!

Check out their gallery, which has a picture of me on!

EDIT: It also has a picture of Pete on.

Google in China - 12:52 pm - 05-02-2006

Google have set up a base in China, offering the new www.google.cn. The whole thing isn’t as great as it could be, but overall I feel it’s a good move forwards.

Read the article here and the follow-up here.

Google claim to be pressuring the US to stop trade with China due to censorship. I’m not sure what I think about that. Economically it seems quite dangerous but morally… I don’t know.

Debate on the EMA - 10:07 pm - 29-01-2006

Myself and Jordan fell into a slight debate today over MSN. I found it quite interesting (if occasionally repetitive) so I thought I’d pop it onto here. Comment me your views afterwards.

http://mcash.dlpwd.co.uk WANTED: Photos from parties (for my blog) says:
hi

Only an elite team of Americans can stop it! says:
evening

Only an elite team of Americans can stop it! says:
hw goes life?

http://mcash.dlpwd.co.uk WANTED: Photos from parties (for my blog) says:
good thanks, you?

Only an elite team of Americans can stop it! says:
mmm yea pretty good, i ts been quite the weekend

Only an elite team of Americans can stop it! says:
much fun had by all and what not

http://mcash.dlpwd.co.uk WANTED: Photos from parties (for my blog) says:
goodgood

http://mcash.dlpwd.co.uk WANTED: Photos from parties (for my blog) says:
did i offend you with my outrageous political views?

Only an elite team of Americans can stop it! says:
haha, not at all, im often the one causing offence with mine

http://mcash.dlpwd.co.uk WANTED: Photos from parties (for my blog) says:
lol

Only an elite team of Americans can stop it! says:
its one of the main reasons brookes next door neighbour didnt quite take too much of a shine to me i feel

http://mcash.dlpwd.co.uk WANTED: Photos from parties (for my blog) says:
what did you say to him lol

Only an elite team of Americans can stop it! says:
not much all things considered he was generally quite off with me from the start ever since brooke said “well your quite posh so…” (talking to me…i cant remember why she said it) then he just started…clawing away at me all eve, oh and he was offended that i said ema was a bribe to go to college

http://mcash.dlpwd.co.uk WANTED: Photos from parties (for my blog) says:
lol

Only an elite team of Americans can stop it! says:
(which it blatantly is)

http://mcash.dlpwd.co.uk WANTED: Photos from parties (for my blog) says:
sort of

http://mcash.dlpwd.co.uk WANTED: Photos from parties (for my blog) says:
funny way to put it though

Only an elite team of Americans can stop it! says:
you could say your paying them to go to college…..

http://mcash.dlpwd.co.uk WANTED: Photos from parties (for my blog) says:
or “providing financial support for those who have chose to continue in full time education rather than entering the world of work”

Only an elite team of Americans can stop it! says:
well yes, but what does it go on really? the families have survived sending them to school for years they’ll survive sending them to college for 2, and if you want to give them money for the bus journeys dont give it to them give it to the bus company so they ride for free, or better yet just give the money to the college so the cost isnt much at all, for 9/10 people the ema goes on clothes

Only an elite team of Americans can stop it! says:
or something equally unneeded (when i say clothes, i mean new clothes in an all ready full wardrobe)

http://mcash.dlpwd.co.uk WANTED: Photos from parties (for my blog) says:
“the families have survived sending them to school for years they’ll survive sending them to college for 2,” on those grounds, there is no reason why anyone should ever leave education

Only an elite team of Americans can stop it! Says:
there is, as there come’s a point where people have enough knowledge to perform a reasonable function in society, aiding the economy as a whole, providing them with more useless knowledge wont help any one

http://mcash.dlpwd.co.uk WANTED: Photos from parties (for my blog) says:
so apart from a sense of duty towards your country you needn’t bother leaving education?

Only an elite team of Americans can stop it! says:
not so much a sence of duty towards your country, more towards the world and the ongoing stability of the human race whether your function in society be waste removal or orthapeadic surgery, and also im not saying there isnt a financial strain in leaving education and getting a job you take a step towards being able to support yourself and so remove the financial strain from your parents

http://mcash.dlpwd.co.uk WANTED: Photos from parties (for my blog) says:
“not so much a sence of duty towards your country, more towards the world and the ongoing stability of the human race “
i dont think anyone gets a job out of duty towards the global economy.

“getting a job you take a step towards being able to support yourself and so remove the financial strain from your parents”
so does the EMA

Only an elite team of Americans can stop it! says:
1) no1 does, they get jobs because they need money

Only an elite team of Americans can stop it! says:
brb! mother dearest needs to send an e-mail

http://mcash.dlpwd.co.uk WANTED: Photos from parties (for my blog) says:
1) so if the primary motive for getting a job is because they need money, then less people who would be best staying in education are going to get a job out of money needs because they will get EMA money.

http://mcash.dlpwd.co.uk WANTED: Photos from parties (for my blog) says:
i realise that this might be a fairly futile argument, as both of us agree that the EMA is a good thing:S

Only an elite team of Americans can stop it! says:
not at all, people can do what they want (as long as its legal….) im simply saying they shouldnt be given money for free that goes to no real good other than impulse buys that they want, people are aloud to spend money on unneeded (but enjoyable) activities as long as they have earned that money, sadly EMA simply gives them the money without the earning it

Only an elite team of Americans can stop it! says:
(and im back!……though im not sure for how long as my younger sister is hovering apparently she needs the computer…)

http://mcash.dlpwd.co.uk WANTED: Photos from parties (for my blog) says:
i think they have earned it. i think full time education is just as tiring as full time work and in many respects more stressful. And it’s just as productive for the human race.

Only an elite team of Americans can stop it! says:
not really, as some1 who has tried both full time education, and full time work, im quite confident full time work is far more stressfull, having held discussions with many people in the same position, my dad, my piano teacher, some friends who chose not to continue too college and so on, we are in total agreeman that full time work is far more tricky, and full time education is quite the picnic

Only an elite team of Americans can stop it! says:
by comparison

http://mcash.dlpwd.co.uk WANTED: Photos from parties (for my blog) says:
and the pay is much less

http://mcash.dlpwd.co.uk WANTED: Photos from parties (for my blog) says:
sorry, i meant proportional to money

Only an elite team of Americans can stop it! says:
the reward for work is pay, the reward for education should be simply the fact that you are gaining an education, the gift of knowledge, happy and gratefull to be granted that knowledge, not everyone who wanted to go to billborough would have got in, the very fact that they are there, should be reward enough

http://mcash.dlpwd.co.uk WANTED: Photos from parties (for my blog) says:
work offers education too, just in a more informal way.

Only an elite team of Americans can stop it! says:
to some extent, but then again without a person spending a week or two teaching how to do that job, then no progress would be made, and that education will not help you outside of that job
http://mcash.dlpwd.co.uk WANTED: Photos from parties (for my blog) says:
not necessarily, that may be the case in starbucks. but many jobs teach you things that you will find useful outside your workplace

Only an elite team of Americans can stop it! says:
do give an example…

http://mcash.dlpwd.co.uk WANTED: Photos from parties (for my blog) says:
a teacher will find raising their own children easier, an accountant will be able to cope with their finances better, a carpenter will be better at doing their DIY

Only an elite team of Americans can stop it! says:
a carpenter is a trade that you teach yourself, or get taught by becoming an apprentice, either way you dont get paid for learning it, only for doing it, the same for a teacher, all of whom do a course which amongst many things teaches you how to deal with children, once again you dont get paid for the course, and most accountants do a degree in it an university

http://mcash.dlpwd.co.uk WANTED: Photos from parties (for my blog) says:
so once all those three have finished their qualification they’ve learnt everything? a carpenter who’s just finished his apprentice will have the same knowledge as a carpenter who has been doing it for 20 years?

http://mcash.dlpwd.co.uk WANTED: Photos from parties (for my blog) says:
everything that can be taught about a subject is taught during the qualification years?

Only an elite team of Americans can stop it! says:
its true, you do pick certain things up, its all rather off topic any way, you dont enter into a job to gain an education you enter into it to get paid, you enter into college to get an education not to get paid, the education in a job is an inevatable side effect but the money given in going to college isnt at all necessary for the students

http://mcash.dlpwd.co.uk WANTED: Photos from parties (for my blog) says:
besides, education (although very nice) isn’t the same as material posessions or the opportunity to go out and have a drink with some mates

Only an elite team of Americans can stop it! says:
if you would like those things, get a saturday job, or live two more years without them, the government shouldnt give you the money to go and do them, if your saying the government is giving people money to convince them to go to college, and a side effect of it is they enjoy that money, then that is (quite literally) by definition bribery

http://mcash.dlpwd.co.uk WANTED: Photos from parties (for my blog) says:
i never said that it wasn’t bribery

Only an elite team of Americans can stop it! says:
you said it was “providing financial support for those who have chose to continue in full time education rather than entering the world of work”"

Only an elite team of Americans can stop it! says:
“financial support” for their drinking?

http://mcash.dlpwd.co.uk WANTED: Photos from parties (for my blog) says:
support in keeping the people in full time education in a financial state where they are able to spend money on things they choose to.

Only an elite team of Americans can stop it! says:
yes but they dont need those things, and as such they should earn them, they can still have those things if they get a saturday job, most people get money from their parents, i never did unless i earned it and i managed to get by fine

http://mcash.dlpwd.co.uk WANTED: Photos from parties (for my blog) says:
“yes but they dont need those things, and as such they should earn them, they can still have those things if they get a saturday job,”
the general idea is to prevent students needing to take saturday jobs as they affect the student’s education

http://mcash.dlpwd.co.uk WANTED: Photos from parties (for my blog) says:
“most people get money from their parents”
1) if students are forced to rely on their parents for money then their parents are going to be less keen on their children pursuing full time education
2) why should the financial burden be solely on the parents? why not the state as a whole?

Only an elite team of Americans can stop it! says:
2 is once again off point, some burden is being put on the state purely through ema, and im not saying its a bad thing, im saying how its distributed is a bad thing, if students get money from their parents, the parents get ema, the parents can give…some of that ema to the students increasing the students general spending, the rest can be put to good use (compromise)

Only an elite team of Americans can stop it! says:
especially as most saturdays are just spent messing around not working on their studies any way

http://mcash.dlpwd.co.uk WANTED: Photos from parties (for my blog) says:
the parents can take the money off the children if they’re staying with them. however, as they are 16 they can legally live elsewhere in which case it would be absurd for the parents to take the money.

http://mcash.dlpwd.co.uk WANTED: Photos from parties (for my blog) says:
everyone needs time to relax and enjoy themselves. an 8 hour saturday job will have to infringe on either leisure time or study time and it can cause great stress to students having to juggle all their commitments

Only an elite team of Americans can stop it! says:
far from it, people underestimate the amount a determined mind can handle, if a student were determined enough they’d easily handle a few hours on a saturday, and the five hours, probably less (on average) work a day they have to do on weekdays, sadly they are all mothered too much on notions of “everyone needs time too relax” it begins getting disproportionate, eventually they get comfortable on

Only an elite team of Americans can stop it! says:
“more time to relax” than they really need

http://mcash.dlpwd.co.uk WANTED: Photos from parties (for my blog) says:
students are among the poorest demographic groups in the UK. college students are children, mere children. I agree that a determined mind can handle a lot, but what are the affects of that? Should we reintroduce child labour for people who don’t get a high enough grade in their year 6 SATS?

http://mcash.dlpwd.co.uk WANTED: Photos from parties (for my blog) says:
i dont think that pumping children with the maximum amount of work they can handle is at all healthy for the child or the country

Only an elite team of Americans can stop it! says:
they are far from children, many are 17, only a short skip from being 18, in fact many 17 year olds conicder themselves to be very mature and grown up, most turn 18 whilst still at collegehow many times have we heard “im 18, im an adult now” many in college being of this age….they can vote they can drink they can do an awfull lot, they are far from children in the eyes of society they are adults

Only an elite team of Americans can stop it! says:
in a day she spends more time relaxing than she does working and such is the case on weekdays for the vast majority of students

http://mcash.dlpwd.co.uk WANTED: Photos from parties (for my blog) says:
they’re as good as children. you can call them whatever you want but they won’t have matured enough to cope fully in the world until at least 25

Only an elite team of Americans can stop it! says:
if they arent mature enough then they shouldnt be allowed to vote or drink untill they are atleast 25

http://mcash.dlpwd.co.uk WANTED: Photos from parties (for my blog) says:
since when does being able to have an independent political opinion and having a body that can cope with the effects of alcohol mean that they can handle all the responsibilities of an adult?

http://mcash.dlpwd.co.uk WANTED: Photos from parties (for my blog) says:
however, i do think the voting and drinking age should probably be increased

Only an elite team of Americans can stop it! says:
(me too) its not about the physical ability to cope its about the mental, if they are mentally unequipped for something as simple as working 30 hour weeks (lets do the maths, college, on average, 5 hour days…and thats being kind, then lets say another 5 hours on weekends as thats all you need to get by at that age) then they are mentally unequipped for more important things in life

http://mcash.dlpwd.co.uk WANTED: Photos from parties (for my blog) says:
what’s your point?

http://mcash.dlpwd.co.uk WANTED: Photos from parties (for my blog) says:
what did i say that students could cope with?

Only an elite team of Americans can stop it! says:
alcahol and what not, but the point is i feel a30 hour week (25 “working” at school and 5 on a job at weekends) is well within the reach of students and as such EMA for the students is pointless, it should be given to parents, and if students want money they should go and earn it with a not overly taxing 5 hours on saturday

http://mcash.dlpwd.co.uk WANTED: Photos from parties (for my blog) says:
i never said that the students could cope with alcohol

http://mcash.dlpwd.co.uk WANTED: Photos from parties (for my blog) says:
but it now seems like we are going in circles, so shall we agree to disagree? (to use a cliché)

Only an elite team of Americans can stop it! says:
haha quite

http://mcash.dlpwd.co.uk WANTED: Photos from parties (for my blog) says:
can i put the debate on my blog?

Only an elite team of Americans can stop it! says:
certainly, it was rather a good one

Why have Norman Kember and his friends not been released yet? - 5:41 pm - 10-12-2005

It doesn’t seem to make sense. The Brigades of Swords of Right are an Islamic Iraqi terror group who are against the war in Iraq. They have kidnapped a group of peace activists including a 74 year old man called Norman Kember.
So a group of anti-war activists have kidnapped another group of anti-war activists…
Abu Qatada, a terror suspect who has been held in prison since 2002, is among the many people who have appealed for the release of Kembers and his friends. He pleads that they release them “in line with the principle of mercy of our religion”.

Why kidnap someone who agrees with you politically for political reasons?

Racism, Sexism, Agism, Homophobia and other barbaric ideas - 10:02 pm - 02-12-2005

Racism, Sexism and Agism are badly named. They should not be “isms”- that almost excuses it. They should have hard cutting names like “rape” or more derogatory term like “homophobia”. Another problem is that they ae considered to be social flaws. They aren’t. As far as I’m concerned, they should be classed as mental ilnesses. Councelling for mild offences and long term imprisonment for “patients considered to be a threat to themselves or others”.

There is something seriously wrong with someone if they think someone’s skin colour invokes physical attack.

“We don’t need no British Movement
Nor the Ku Klux Klan
Nor the National Front
It makes me an angry man”
The Specials- Why