Now this is a great page showing some fantastic bookshelves. This was my favourite:
Followed by
Although not so good for my peace of mind, lol.
Technorati Tags: bibliophilia
Sunday, March 22
An angel comes to town
People see me coming and then hide from me. I am now turning into a giant bore for people who can assist in getting money or equipment for the charity. But does that stop me? Of course not, BD keeps on barrelling ahead with people despite them being totally so not interested.
It is not easy to get hold of equipment as I have alluded before, but I was at a corporate dinner and bumped into a friend who was previously the CTO of a very large universal bank. She gave birth to a lovely little baby and then has now rejoined the bank as their head of strategy and planning.
She was quite interested in the story and gave me the name of their hardware provider. This hardware provider takes care of the disposal of their assets. I met the lady concerned from their hardware provider and it became very clear that they have other commercial angles to this. She asked me if there was a chance of me getting them a contact at my bank, some sort of quid pro quo for her, so that if i get her some business then she can see if some equipment can be shaken loose. Needless to say, and I know pride is a bad thing in charity, I walked away. Not interested.
I thought that was the end of the story and gave it up as a learning experience. But to my surprise, my friend called me up out of the blue and said, I have 30 PC’s and laptops for you. I was near over the moon.
I think I have mentioned before how the recession is meaning that more and more children across the country are unable to afford PC’s and laptops, more and more children are falling ill. So Pat is constantly bombarded by requests for equipment and the pressure is going up and up. It is so tough to even talk to these students, teachers and hospitals. I dont know how Pat does it, really.
30 computers means that we will be able to help 30 students, 30 children who otherwise might not have been able to study, to work, to learn about Egypt or Greece, to understand algebra or check out the football scores online or create their websites or mash utilities. Makes me happy that few more bits of knowledge are being created in this world and few more smiles are going to come because an angel in the bank decided to help in getting these computers to the charity.
I know she does not want me to use her name, but all I can say again is, THANK YOU.
Saturday, March 21
When even Canada bans you…
Canada is supposed to be uber liberal and when even it bans you, then you know you are really lowest of the low. Here is a roll call of the brave Canadian soldiers who have died in the line of duty and they are pretty brave chaps. So what has he been banned for? I quote from the Guardian:
A Canadian government spokesman said that the decision would not be overturned for a man regarded as an "infandous street-corner Cromwell". The description of the Respect MP may have led him to his dictionary the definition of infandous is "too odious to be expressed or mentioned".
Galloway has been deemed "inadmissible" to Canada under section 34(1) of the country's immigration act. Alykhan Velshi, a spokesman for the immigration minister, said the act was designed to protect Canadians from people who fund, support or engage in terrorism.
"We're going to uphold the law, [and] not give special treatment to this infandous street-corner Cromwell who actually brags about giving 'financial support' to Hamas, a terrorist organisation banned in Canada," said Velshi.
Even the Canadian Lebanese agreed with the banning. I dont, I think banning is wrong and freedom of speech is to be accepted in principle and in practise, but George Galloway always gets on my nerves with his shrillness and “indefagibility silly sod comment to Saddam Hussein” See here:
Friday, March 20
Would the last man figure out the lights?
This was very amusing. You might have heard about the saying, “would the last man out please switch off the light?”, something that means that all hope is gone, and lets all make an orderly exit. Well, in this particular case, seems like the last man is out, but the lights are still burning. I quote:
Ilva, an upmarket Danish-owned furniture shop in Manchester, went into administration in September.
But the lights, which are computer-controlled, have remained switched on - running up a huge electricity bill.
A spokesman for Town Centre Securities Ltd, the property's landlord, said: "We are looking into the issue with a view to sorting it out, but the lights are controlled by a complex computer system.
"We need the lights to be able to show interested parties around. If they could have been turned off easily, we would have done it."
Environmental campaigners described the situation as "absurd and unacceptable".
Simon Ashley, leader of the Liberal Democrat group on Manchester council, added: "This takes 'computer says no' to a new level."
Spencer Fitzgibbon, spokesman for Manchester Green Party, said: "There is a good case for whichever energy company is concerned to simply pull the plug."
Technorati Tags: unemployment,Humour
Why I am not worried about the Surveillance Campaign in the UK
One of my friends sent me this link. This reminded me of the whole fight over privacy and the national identity card scheme in the UK. There is a huge hoo haa fight over this card. Well, I am not very worried about this at all, for the following reasons:
- it will take them 10 years to collect the data.
- then some ham fisted idiot is going to leave the laptop on a train
- a public inquiry will be launched
- another 3 years delay
- then they will hire IBM/EDS/Accenture/BT to build a hideously giant system to manage this.
- Spend 3 years to negotiate
- 2 years later, the suppliers will be back to ask for more money and it will fail.
- Then the Scottish National party will want a Scottish specific system
- Then the EU human rights court will get involved and the system will be delayed by another 7 years (like the VAT argument on food in France)
- Then the technology will change
.....
See? nothing to worry about.
Thursday, March 19
Britons abandoning their dogs
I am a dog lover and grew up with them. Love them, they are just adorable and seriously if the kids didnt have asthma, I would have had 5 of them at home! :).
But when I read about situations like this, it really bewilders me. I quote:
Rescue centres along the Costa del Sol report that their intake of animals has almost doubled in the last year, leaving them full to overflowing with some 1,000 abandoned dogs - and unable to care for any more.
Although it is not always possible to be certain who owned the abandoned dogs, these figures and the experiences of animal welfare workers suggest that scores of Britons, defeated by the credit crunch, have simply flown home and left their dogs to fend for themselves in Spain.
Despite the UK's reputation as a nation of dog lovers, one rescue centre manager claimed that when it comes to abandoning pets "the British are the worst culprits".
Tragic, no? but then, having been in old age homes, when people can abandon their old folks on the state, why should I be surprised that they mistreat their pets? How can you do this?
Recently three small dogs were found in a boarded up villa on the outskirts of Estepona weeks after their British owners left because they could not keep up their mortgage payments.
"It was an incredible act of cruelty," said Mrs Stevens. "The dogs had been left some food and water but if a neighbour hadn't heard the barking and called us they would have eventually started eating each other before starving to death."
Read this comment:
"That doesn't excuse the huge number of British people who just abandon their pets," said Mrs Lago. "A dog is like a member of the family. They wouldn't just leave their children behind would they?"
As it so happens, they do leave their children behind as well unfortunately. A dog, child and parents are for life, not just for Christmas, you know?
Wednesday, March 18
Man bites dog and horse bites man
Finally it came true, a man has been banned for life from owning animals after he bit his dog.
You got to admit that there might be a case for the man biting the dog, as the dog bit the man first. But then, one has to be careful about these animals and their bites as this case shows: I quote:
The 35-year-old was unloading sand from a horse-drawn cart at a construction site in Indonesia when the attack occurred.
A witness said the animal suddenly lunged at the man in Sulawesi, sinking its teeth into him. As bystanders put the man in a car to take him to hospital, one noticed a piece of flesh on the pavement.
"Luckily the horse did not chew up or swallow his testicle, but spit it onto the pavement," a witness said. "So I picked it up and brought it to the doctor at the hospital where the victim was being treated." It was not known whether doctors attempted to sew it back on.
So if a dog biting a man is not news worthy, but a man biting a dog is newsworthy, where does a horse biting off a man’s testicle fall? (and please, not on the pavement…). Actually, can you really sew a detached testicle back on? Worrying.
Technorati Tags: humour
Quote of the day:
Any war that requires the suspension of reason as a necessity for support is a bad war. - Norman Mailer
Quote of the Day:
If you haven't got charity in your heart, you have the worst kind of heart trouble.
--Bob Hope
Tuesday, March 17
What is the link between Cuba and Islam?
Geddit? This is perhaps the first time that I have linked Cuba and Islam together :)
oh! goody, more restrictions on singers and actors
Dont you think this is good? Restricting those caterwaulers and actors? Bunch of manky gits, doing things that is prohibited under the eyes of God. Can you imagine? Actually singing and dancing and acting? Criminal. Lock them up. Or cane them. Or better still, blow them up. How about shooting them and hanging their bodies up as a warning to others? Now that’s the way to impress God.
Wagma, another Pashtu-language woman singer, said that she had also received death threats and joined the group of preachers.
"In the initial stage, I joined the group under threat, but now I have realised that this is a noble way of life and I shall stick to it and shall never return to singing," she said.
Very noble :)
The militants are attempting to alter the city's religious diversity. The people of Peshawar believe that the Lashkar-e-Islam was involved in the recent bombing of the shrine of a Sufi poet, Rehman Baba.
The group had destroyed mausoleums of other saints in the city before, arguing that visiting tombs is un-Islamic.
Rehman Baba, known as the "Nightingale of Peshawar", is venerated as a mystic throughout NWFP and in Afghanistan.
Militant groups disapprove of Pakistan's majority religious tradition that allows for spiritual intercession through the tombs of saints, where visits are often accompanied by music and dance.
The Sufis have fought back. Earlier this year in Swat, Pir Samiullah, the custodian of a shrine who spent three years meditating in a cave, formed a militia to fight against the Taliban.
But militants killed him. His body was mutilated and strung up in public.
Welcome to Heaven on Earth.
Monday, March 16
These Hindu Rage Boys are idiots
Now imagine you whining about putting up a big statue of the Star Wars Death Star in a film set because you are a Buddhist? What on earth are these morons complaining about? This is what they say:
The protesters were said to belong to the Hindu Jagarna Vedike (Hindu Enlightenment Group), a group linked to an attack on a Christian school in the same state last May. They demanded that Mr Hegde instead erect a statue of Swami Vivekananda, a 19th-century Hindu missionary to the West.
They most certainly are not enlightened, actually, what they need is a through caning to get rid of the demons of stupidity which has gone into their heads. And for sure, Swami Vivekananda would feel the same that their energies are being dissipated in this manner.
Bloody morons. And not content with that, the head of the local political party, which has pretentions to rule India in the next general election, also chimes in.
The local head of the Bharatiya Janata Party, a Hindu nationalist and India’s main opposition party, said there was no place for Chaplin in the region. “If the locals are against such a statue, I am also against it,” he told The Times of India. “Why should one bother so much about Charlie Chaplin, who was not even an Indian?”
Weep, my country, weep, for they have idiots like these running around like morons saying incoherent and stupid things like this.
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