Krioma.net

I came across a great site whist looking at the Nofx website today. The site is http://punkvoter.com, it contains lots of anti George Bush stuff and some more factual stuff about him. Here is their George Bush File: http://punkvoter.com/dls/dls-flyer-gwb_resume.html it is actually quite good and in general fits in well with other information that I know of, some of the points are a little of the mark but most are either seemingly true or just funny. Here are a few of my favourites:

"First US president in history to have a majority of the people of Europe (71%) view his presidency as the biggest threat to world peace and stability."


"At least one conviction for drunk driving in Maine (Texas driving record has been erased and is not available)."


"Bought an oil company, but couldn't find any oil in Texas, company went bankrupt shortly after he sold all his stock."


"First president in US history to refuse United Nations election inspectors (during the 2002 US elections)."


Not only do they have that but they have lots of other funny and interesting stuff including some classical cartoons such as:





The main theme for the site is basically well described by this banner:

Both George "the idiot" Bush and John Kerry (lets hope he does George over) are using Blogs during this election, an excellent idea - bet they don't have anything to do with them though - just there aids! The reason I mentioned this is I came across a site which shows both at the same time. I guess this could be interesting. You are thus able to look at both at the same time and maybe see what each is saying about the other. At the least it could be fun, see: http://coollame.org/bushkerry.php

Here is how I get to this value. According to the US Census Bureau it is predicted that there are roughly 288 000 000 Americans in the country at the moment.

Now from CNN.com (http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2004/) it can be found that 115 409 172 people voted.

Anywayback to the calculation. So we have 172 590 828 people being idiots already, well we also have to count the ones who voted for George W Bush - they must have something wrong in their head!

Ok CNN again - 59 459 765 votes for George W Bush. So then this means that 232 050 593 Americans are stupid. Giving a percentage of the US populace to be: 80.5% - bloody hell!

Well I guess when that many of you are idiots then it makes sense to be run by an idiot.

Oh any questions or comments about this? Why don't you direct them to here.

Or is it just a Satanic hand gesture? Make your own mind up:















Here is the original article titled [Satan Displays Bush 'Hook 'em' Hand Gesture; Is The Devil a UT Fan Too?"]

I'm not one for resisting change and I'm definitely for the Euro but I think this image says we should think about it.....





I found this image on my computer earlier today when I was tidying up. It is off the launch of the Euro. If this is the way a new major currency was launched then I think as sensible people we might want to have a rethink!

Fancy wiping your bum with the face of US president (sorry I mean idiot) George W. Bush well the Zhucheng Senke Paper-Making Co.Ltd. plant in China have the answer. Well according to [this] article.

Ok I have put this under polical but it really isn't! Heck it does come roughly into it but not really. You will understand why when I say, does George W. Bush look like a chimp? Well.. the people over at [bushorchimp.com] seem to think so! :-) I'm not saying that he does or doesn't.. but heck it is a good way to pass 5 minutes on one of those slow days. I wonder when people will stop coming with ways of insulting the ruler of the free world. Now who am I kiding with that sentance! Free world, we would have more chance in N. Korea.. at least there you know you haven't got a chance.

...well not as often as previous US Presidents, take a look at [USAtoday]

I hope [this website] is having a laugh and not taking itself seriously but heck the [article titled "Coincidence or Conspiracy?"] is utter coincidence, pretty interesting and at time compeling and interesting, well and scary that someone though of that. It does have a few funny comments and a few interesting statements but overall just cause you fold a piece of a paper in a random way doesn't mean you will start uncovering a code and a conspiracy!

The Evangelical Christian Union, a previous member society of the University of Birmingham Guild of Students, has been derognised by the Guild and now has know way back into the Guild - unless it abides by Guild policies. This is a case of the Guild saying be democratic or get out. I think this is perfectly fine, the Guild sets its own laws, which are decided by a democratically elected council. No sub-organisation can have rules which go against this! The Evangelical Christian Union has been told to cahnge to conform or bye bye. I have no sympathy for their battle. If you want to have your own organisation that has these rules then fine, but you can't be part of another organisation that stands for democracy. I say this cause the consitution, as currently is, of the Evangelical Christian Union is not at all democratic. Sort it out people! You are supposed to be educated people. Oh and going and making press releases is just daft, what do you think that will do.... just make more students against you. This got press coverage in the Times and was also in [local media]. I believe the Guild of Students and the University have both made press releases about this, but I'm being too idle to hunt them down, sorry!

The issue of freedom of speech is forever coming up and recently it has been highlighted by the over reaction of people to cartoons. I understand that they were offensive but then there are so many others that are offensive to all religions. The point with freedom of speech is that everyone should have it. No censorship. I should be able to write here what I feel and although, as I am sure, not all people will agree with me I have the right to express myself. I agree words can hurt, but you have to take the context and act appropriately. When it comes to European media they are trying to drive up controversy (and thus sell papers!). Guess what, they did on that one recently and thus offended people worldwide (but please remember it is only a cartoon...). As for the issue behind this post, it is not the case. In China they just want to report fact and not impose feelings.. well I'm sure you will, when you write you naturally impose your thoughts on the subject even if you are trying to be completely netrual. It appears that in China they can't even write about fact without government censorship. I agree at times government censorship is useful, i.e. national security or court cases, but when it comes to historical information then it is just plain and simple propaganda, in the most offensive manner. Today I sit reading an [article] in the New York Times about people losing their jobs just because they wanted to write the truth. The truth they wanted to write about was about 100 years ago and has no consequence on anything apart from historical thoughts. Maybe it is just me, but I feel that we should be able to investigate, express and involve. I moan about the British press and their takes on things but at least they do have the 'balls' to print things. Oh and of course our government would never dream of being so backward that you aren't able to print fact. Though saying this, the paranoid part of my mind goes.... ummm, maybe there is more censorship going on than I would ever no about, but I doubt it. Anyway, let people tell the truth, speak their mind and then you can judge the facts and their words.


Gosh, that was too political for me... I'll go back to astronomy later.

George Bush for renewable energy? You have gotta be pulling my leg.. but according to the Washington Post "Bush Urges Funding for Alternative Energy", yeah..come on. Though the [article] is interesting it is more of a restatement of Bush's belief that the USA should move away from imports of foreign oil rather than a pro alt energy one. 'tis a shame, as this would have been interesting, but then again he can't go anti oil... he has lots of friends who make lots of money in this - they probably will make even more if the US imported less foreign oil. Maybe I am just being cynical, but I doubt it. If I am misreading the situation, then Go Bush! Go get your dirty hands over the new tech companies...

Oh and the article includes a rather funny picture (By Jason Reed -- Reuters) of Bush embracing renewable energy, lol (anyone else think he looks like he was saying "and its that big" ;-) )

Great, if it wasn't enough that "followers" of Islam have been overreacting across the world in response to some stupid decisions by European press now we have bloody "Christians" kicking off for the same stupid reasons, well in protest against the original protests. People are dying, come on people - it was just a cartoon. Take a look at this [Washington Post] article.

This is now getting bloody ridicoulous... [Nigerian Christians Burn Corpses]. Come on people! Be human!

I came across a rather interesting [article] in which British cartoonist, Martin Rowson, desribes how he would not produce such a cartoon but feels it is cool to have a go at politicians. I do agree, his points make sense. Politicians should be attacked! :-)

Just to prove people take the piss out of Christanity.... [onehorseshy.com]

I guess this is a little political.. How gracious that a cardinal deems that the use of a condom is "a lesser evil" when trying to stop AIDS. I sware the Catholic church are centuries behind the game here. People across the world are dying because of people not using a bit of rubber... and in some cases directly because of the BS coming out from idiots like this. I'm sure God doesn't want people to die from such a horrific illness... oh and for more of this take a look at this [BBC News report]

I don't know if this is really political but I guess it could be... anyway thanks go to Clive for sending me in this direction: "Hacker fears 'UFO cover-up'".

In 2002, Gary McKinnon was arrested by the UK's national high-tech crime unit, after being accused of hacking into Nasa and the US military computer networks.

If that hasn't gotten your attention then I don't know what would... take a look at this rather interesting [BBC News article]

Well the title is what the Scotsman.com says (see: [here]). This is sort of what he said but definetely not to that much of an extreme. This was before a talk in Glasgow, a talk I went to last week here in Brum. Anyway if you read the article and had listened to the talk you would have not got that he was being so extreme, he was merely discussing things and not make such bold statements. I don't like creationism, I think it is bollocks but still thats not what he said, well not how it was meant.

Sitting around in the Sun or protesting to the core about your country, what should a student do?? I personally feel I didn't do enough when the recent education reforms can into affect here in the UK, effectively up the cost of education by about doubled. I left Uni with a £16k debt to the UK government, yet they will (and society as a whole) benefit from the skills I have.. I did a useful course, Physics! Now student are looking more towards £30k.... WOW! What as students did we do, ummm, not much.. not enough. Now in Chile education is probably not taken for granted like it is by many here, so what do they do.. protest and protest in numbers, good on them. Wish we had done something more in peoples face.... and no I am not talking about rioting but something, in numbers. Well that is the past. For the present in Chile take a look at this [BBC] article.

Well I'm not sure if this is good news or bad. It does look that Tony Blair might have finally removed his head from the sand and from up George Bush's.... The UK and California sign a deal on the climate, something really does seem odd. I have come to the conclusion that it is not a bad thing cause essentially it means that California is signing up to the Kyoto agreement without their Federal Governments agreement. It does seem rather odd though that we are (the UK) are signing deals with a specific state and not the USA government. Maybe this is a sign that specific states of the USA don't want to follow their stupid federal governments opinion on climate change. I do wonder if this will mean that more of the states will sign the deal, if so then, maybe, the whole USA will sign up and follow the EU. More on this at [independent.co.uk]

Now that sounds funny doesn't it? But according to a bunch of scientists, who I bet all like a drink but would never take ectasy, that is the case. If you think about what actually happens to you when you drink lots then you can sort of understand why it is so high, but I am sure it does matter how much you have at any time. If you had a low alcohol drink then how does this relate to the other contenders in the top 10? Does one glass equal one tablet of ectasy? or one mushroom? The news story I saw and now what I read (on the [independent.co.uk]) neither actually stated the exact quantities required. Does make me wonder. It even seems that they are really include the consequences of drinking lots as a factor.. i.e. if you are really drunk you might get into a fight. I guess this is a reasonble thing to include but I bet you need to take a much larger dosage of alcohol than you do of other drugs to get into this stupid stupid situation.

I came across this early today, I know it is a bit late but I really think the video (see youtube page for more info on creator) is pretty impressive and really made me think. Though I may not believe all the stuff that is said about the hijackings from official sources it doesn't matter. People died that day and they need to be remembered, the below video is really just about that. No conspiracies just pictures of what happened, as ordinary people saw it. I feel I probably should make a warning that a couple of the images are a little disturbing.

An interesting advertisement at Selly Oak Triangle on the Bristol Road Birmingham

The Doomsday clock has been moved to 5 minutes to midnight. The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists have decided that the threat of global climate change is so bad that it now has to be included into the end of the world scenario. Scary stuff really. We are now on the point when we could destroy the Earth, not by war but by our own stupidity. Come on people do you need to drive that car for a 10 minute walk?

More at: [reuters.co.uk]

I have never been convinced about the reports of how the WTC collapsed, it just didn't sound physical possible / rather coincidental that all the conditions existed for it to collapse. Today I came across the 9/11 Mysteries documentary on Google videos, take a look [here]. It is well worth a watch as it is rather interesting.

[Israeli Defense Minister] inspires you with confidence..

Umm, I'm not sure how I feel about the news that Iran has launched its first rocket to space.. I always think that scientific endeavour is good but I have a feeling they are only doing this to show of some pride in what they are military capable of. I guess this might make the US think twice about attacking them... more [here]

" The whole world reacted with horror to 2006's images of ice floes bloodied with the carcasses of hundreds of thousands of baby seals whose skins have been ripped from their backs. Unless caring individuals speak out and demand the seal hunt's end, that gruesome scene will be repeated again later this month.

The Canadian government has given the go-ahead for hunters to bludgeon to death 335,000 baby harp seals this year. To stop this atrocity, we must generate an international outcry against the Canadian government for sanctioning it.

We need to collect 50,000 signatures on PETA's international petition to Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper before the hunt begins. It's time for Canada to erase this stain on its reputation and call off the slaughter immediately."

More at: [peta.org]

Now this is a question I don't particularly want to address as you never know what could happen. Anyone who reads my blog regularly can guess my view on this... I have had my stress test and came out of it with a moist feeling on my hands that can only mean I sweated and caused the current of the detector to increase... anyway the reason I bring this title up is because of the recent BBC Panorama programme which I thought was quite interesting though it did not address the question at hand. Is Scientology a cult or religion? I don't actually think they went out to address this question but more to look into their activities. I was shocked what they found. If you want to watch the programme try [here]. Worth a watch. Their aggressiveness and complete disregard for laws and common human respect was awful. Nevermind if they are or aren't a cult - they are indeed a bunch of scary, paranoid, people. All I would say to anyone who is a scientologist or thinking about becoming one... have a look around and read the info that other people are telling you than just them. If you were buying a phone you would and this is a far more drastic decision.

Well are you concerned and confused about climate change? I know I am at times. I am a strong believe that human activity is doing damage to our climate but when you get lots of "scientists" arguing about it, it can be hard to figure out what is actually going on! Well NewScientist are attempting to make this info easier to take in... well if you are interested, read [this].

"If the world's future lies in scientists' hands, the answers are unlikely to come from the UK unless we reverse decades of political neglect" wrote Nobel laureate Sir Harry Kroto in a article for the Guardian newspaper last week. Shame its all true.

The UK is seeing a drain of people interested in science... and it has been noticeable over the years I have been at Uni.. more people now do "silly" courses than did when I started my undergrad.. what do they hope to get from this? Do they really think that a useless degree will help them in a future career.. a degree is a degree after all, it has to mean something doesn't it? Well this is not true for all degrees. It is well worth doing a subject if you have a natural enjoyement / interest in it but is it worthwile doing if you think it will make you rich? Possibly, some degrees might but most probably won't. They will put you in financial debt. Of course going to Uni is far from just about the academic education but it is not worthwhile going into it blindly.

Anyway, the article by Sir Harry Kroto (thanks to Lizzie's mom for pointing it out...) is well worth a read and can be found at: [education.guardian.co.uk]

Recently an e-petition was given to the government on the use of open source software in schools (see: [here]). I signed it. I thought it was an interesting question and I feel that people leave schools underprepaired for using anything apart from commerical software. Anyway, the goverment has responded to this... it is an interesting response (see [here]) and is postivie to using open source software as they point out they have an agency which looks into such matters. Though it has some nice comments I do wonder and doubt if within a decade we will see the use of open source software in schools... they say they want to prepare people for work, well thats fine but maybe giving them a wider education would work. It would be good if they just had other tools installed and maybe just some basic training in the open source tools. I can see a situation were both M$ Office and Open Office is installed and the students can choose which they prefer and it is marked accordingly - also Open Office is free and students whose parents can only afford a basic machine at home can easily get open office at no cost!

It is believed that an all white computer screen, such as the Google page, uses 74 watts to display, whereas a black screen consumes only 59 watts and so a black version of google, such as blackle.com would infact save energy! Sounds ok, apart from the eye strain doesn't it? Well I'm not entirely sure I believe it though as surely this doesn't apply to LCDs... not sure though, but the Wall Street Journal backs this up here.

Maybe its worth it.. but I think I'd rather not deal with the awkwardness of reading and save energy elsewhere...

The War On Democracy by John Pilger - I watched this the other week and I meant to post about it then - this is an eye opening (and independent) documentary that I would recommend anyone watched. He shows how the USA is undermining so much progress that Latin American countries such as Venezuela are making... if you want to watch it you can find it [here] (google streaming video)

As I'm sure you are all probably aware by now, if you read this blog you are, Physics is facing a massive cut in funding (about £80million, so 4 premiership football players!). The reasons are multiple and you can read many of this elsewhere, such as at [www.saveastronomy.org.uk]. I recommend you taking a read there, it has all the background stuff you need to know. Anyway, yesterday the undergraduates at Birmingham did a sterling job of trying to promote the petition to the UK prime minister.

Oh and if you believe that this should be stopped show your support by petitioning the UK prime minister at: [http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/Physics-Funding/]

The International Year of Astronomy 2009 has a trailer... so be prepared...

... is not in Alabama! I'm from Birmingham in England (the original Birmingham!) but it seems our city council are destined to think we are actually in Birmingham, Alabama.... [Chiefs admit Brum skyline mix-up ]. Bloody idiots. Anyone who has lived in Birmingham for a few years would easily be able to tell you, though it looks like a city environment, that is not the Birmingham city centre skyline... oh and I think I have one of those leaflets somewhere!

My week started off with my Monday evening astronomy class at the botanical gardens... we actually got to go observing! They have a few of the trees there lit up for Christmas, looks quite nice and its not too light polluting:

On Tuesday I took a quick trip out to the University Observatory to fix an issue with our imaging camera... all sorted. It was a lovely day, unlike today (I was intending to do some observing out there tonight):

I also went to the IoP public talk here at the University of Birmingham on Tuesday night (the talk was excellent and it was on the "Star of Bethlehem") and there was a lovely sunset beforehand:

Ok so maybe not a full week but I've not gotten around to sorting out the rest of the pics from the week as I've got a cold....