Hello gun nuts! have a look at Iraq to see what happens when everybody has a weapon and insists on defending his civil rights against others.
Separation of power is not only essential for the government - also for the people. You give away your (fire) power to settle disputes by civil, peaceful and legal ways.
Bullets don’t create democracy, the rule of law does.
Since Munich is flooded with Dirndls because of the Oktoberfest: Germany’s most exciting photographer works with Miss Plain Vanilla. I never understood why so many people a magicians got excited about her? She is just a nice looking Gretel.
Thanks to some recent successes in uncovering some political and media lies the armchair pundits called ‘bloggers’ consider themselves a new political force.
What they don’t understand that they are the bottom of the information food chain. They only reexamine scraps dropped down to them, checking inconsistencies of the overall news feed produced by the alliance of international big media and mostly American big politics.
Political deals and money powered lobbyism happens between real people, real bank accounts and real backrooms. Places you can’t google. Place you can’t hyperlink to.
The culture of fear and the terror of the media can’t be stopped with a mouse click, but by an active democratic culture on the ballot and on the streets. Mouse pointers won’t stop tanks nor political subversion.
The US wants that Iran, North Korea and many other countries give up their atomic bombs. On the other side they recently started new programs to build such weapons of mass destruction (or even smaller tasks like bunker busting). Plus recent events have shown us, that the US adopted a new doctrine to strike first …
Anyone surprised that even more countries want nukes?!
The graphics were shit, but the fun was real. I don’t need super-3d-pixelation - I just need a good game. DigDug was simple, cool and nerve wrecking.
Since you can afford a computer and live within a society that can afford high speed Internet access and electricity - you must be rich! Plus you can read - so someone gave you an education.
Most people on this planet hardly can afford proper housing, running water and electricity.
You rich bastard!
No traffic rules, no cops, no tickets, no traffic jams, no pedestrians … no drive in either!
Want to watch something unusual? Apparently the book was very popular - the movie flopped a bit. I am just happy that Elija Wood is getting proper roles instead of being the eternal Hobbit. Trailer is here and I like the music a lot.
America seems to have forgotten one of it’s most important founding father: Thomas Paine. We was an insightful man and he has written many pamphlets which were the basis for later events. Most important he wrote for the common men - and not for an educated aristocratic few. And he was a bloody liberal and an anarchist (in it’s original sense).
Especially his ‘The Age of Reason’ should be nailed on every Christian-right-wingers forehead. Here Thomas Paine rejected any notion of organized religion as well as the bible. Although he considered himself a believer - he could very well do without a church or any organization around his relationship to God.
Paine himself was an all around genius, he worked as an inventor as well as a writer and sort of early global activist. Although he supported the french revolution - who dared to oppose the execution of King Louis XVI before the french assembly - and was promptly thrown into jail. The British Crown was highly paranoid about him as well and feared he might start a revolution there as well.
His other great works included ‘Common Sense’ and ‘Rights of Man’. He proposed the name United States of America.
Paine was later shunned for his rejection of Christian ideas and concepts - and died a lonely death in New York. Hardly anyone remembered him for a long time. Thanks to Thomas Edison and an enlightened few his memory was kept alive.
The tank is a British invention and was used by the allied troops to break that dreadful stalemate in World War I. Tanks easily rolled over the fortified trenches and pushed the German troops back.
The Allies were actually not too impressed by this new weapon, since those tanks were a nuisance: they had many technical problems and were expensive. It were the German generals that were impressed and pushed tank warfare to new heights: the Blitzkrieg.
More? Wikipedia
My own piece of virtual sim land, my own sim virtual citizens and my own virtual sim kingship. All hail the King Sim!
"He attacked everything in life with a mix of extraordinary genius and naive incompetence, and it was often difficult to tell which was which."
"In those days spirits were brave, the stakes were high, men were real men, women were real women and small furry creatures from Alpha Centauri were real small furry creatures from Alpha Centauri."
"There is a theory which states that if ever anybody discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory which states that this has already happened."
"Nothing travels faster than the speed of light with the possible exception of bad news, which obeys its own special laws."
I really miss this guy. He was one of a kind.
Every decent army develops new weapons and defenses against other armies. Especially in war you want your people to be superior, kill and dominate the enemy - it’s as simple as that.
The web is often full of stories of secret weapons, military experiments and strange sightings of new deadly toys.
I think it’s only normal and actually the duty of your countries military to ‘waste’ some money on improved weapons and keep their development secret as long as they can. There is no such thing as a friendly war - but there is a mechanism called ‘the balance of power‘.
We are not a peaceful global society yet, so the military and the balance of power will stay with us for a some time.
So we need our military guys to watch the other military guys and give them the same toys. Plus we have to allow them to do stupid research projects.
But our politicians have to watch them carefully and make sure that other countries don’t feel threatened by your own military and gimmicks.
Imbalance, fear and over confidence can be as much a reason for war as race, religion, resources and football.
Inspired by Edosan’s links: The Weird Russian Mind-Control Research Behind a DHS Contract and Run away the ray-gun is coming : We test US army’s new secret weapon
Now available in black, brown and bush.
White sold out a long time ago.
Energy efficient light bulbs have been around for many years now. Have you replaced all of the old energy wasting bulbs in your home?
It is easy to hate big corporations!
It is easy to hate consumerism!
It is easy to hate globalization!
It is also easy to have nothing.
Instead of complaining about too much commerce, money and capitalism we should work on better distribution, competition and fair markets.
The Soviet Union for example was a rich country, but unable to create and maintain proper markets so people could earn money and buy stuff a decent price.
"Either that wallpaper goes, or I do."
Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) - his last words before dying in Paris.
I am so with you Dude!
Excuse me - there is a hole in your spine!
Edosan sent me this great link about X-Ray records:
In the USSR and Eastern Europe in the 1950s underground night spots would play music pirated from the west. The only media they had were recorders etched into discarded X-ray film.
The human spirit can be pretty inventive when it’s about pleasure and getting forbidden stuff. No matter if it’s teenagers or anti-communists.
Enjoy this brilliant and tasteless advertising. It is good to see that more and more marketing people understand the cynicism of our times and the sarcasm swelling in their clients.
We all hate advertising! So smart marketing drones help us to love hating it.
via the BRILLIANT 2WENTY 4OUR blog.
Evening Standard UK: Tens of thousands of CCTV cameras, yet 80% of crime unsolved
Politicians have long figured out that promising ’security’ is a great favorite with voters. So under the guide of providing security millions of cameras have been installed world wide. There is hardly any public space left in rich countries that is not filmed from several angles.
This hasn’t reduced crime - it has just increased the documentation of crime. Nothing else. Thieves are not stopped by cameras, nor are bullies or murderers. All these cameras have not even helped catching criminals -apart from speeding tickets and congestion charges for the ‘normal’ people.
Technology isn’t the way so solve social problems. More social involvement and real humans are the solution.
Geisha faces are pure magic to me - maybe because I am not used to them? But the white color, dark hair, red lips and black eyes create such an unique look which is hard to ignore. Geisha’s always look a bit sad, but also unreal and almost like angel …
They must the holy muses of Nippon.
I have searched far and wide - but I haven’t found a single religion nor spiritual discipline that made pathetic behavior for it’s followers mandatory. Do you know one?! But people love being pathetic, doesn’t matter if they are new age incense burners or old school Catholics. They all go for it! You can see sparkling eyes and hear thundering voices during sales presentation as well as in churches and meditation centers. Being pathetic seems to work like an universal fudge to help us poor humans to make ourselves and our believes larger than life - whenever we need to feel bigger …
The show must go on! Why do we love pathos? Does it help us to be better believers or sinners?
Religious or spiritual practices mostly work with rules and rituals to help, educate and guide it’s followers to god/enlightenment. It doesn’t matter if you go the way of the Yogi, Buddha, Tantra or Catholic, you are expected to follow certain rules or better say ‘frame of mind’ to reach enlightenment. Since practice makes you perfect, this is always an ongoing process with no brakes and bonuses. Spirituality mostly means working with yourself, which can be pretty boring, annoying and most of all very personal.
One professor called this generation once screenies:
We work all day in front of a screen.
We relax in front of a screen.
We educate ourselves with screens.
We socialize via our screens.
We pick out our next date on a screen.
I think he is right.
Some people call it love, others call it hormones. Some people call it lust, others call it hormones as well. Our brain loves drugs and loves being in love. That pink feeling is just the nicest kick around.
Great eyes - and Mr. Stieglitz made sure that her beauty was caught for eternity.