Far be it for me to add to the exponentially growing hysteria surrounding this current swine flu outbreak – really, I just wanted to make a picture of a pig wearing a mask. So I did – but I felt it was my duty as a citizen of the world to share this PSA with as many people as possible.

Released by the U.S. Public Health Service in 1976, it’s a cautionary tale of how a guy called Joe managed to single-handedly infect the whole world with the deadly swine flu virus, causing zombies to roam the earth feasting on the brains of their victims who they held down with their trotters which had replaced their hands and feet and who liked to listen to Coldplay and U2 and etc etc etc.. Or something like that.

Either way, it’s worth listening to regardless of whether you’re skeptical or susceptible. In the first instance, it’s funny, and if you fall within the latter group, it’s helpful.

Play the clip here.. (60 secs long)

(Still not sure what swine flu is? Have a look at the ever reliable wikipedia page for all the actual facts.)

A little, previously unknown and quiet Buckinghamshire village by the name of Broughton has hit the news for ’standing up’ to Google in the latest example of hysteria surrounding their much vaunted (by me) street view service. A handful of residents there successfully managed to deter the Google camera car by forming a vigilante type mob and waving pitchforks and crosses at it. Or something like that..

… once Paul Jacobs spotted the Google camera when he glanced out his window on Wednesday, the photographers did not get far. The car was an unmarked black Opel, but the 360-degree camera on the roof was a bit of a giveaway. Jacobs rushed round banging on neighbours’ doors, and soon had a posse surrounding the driver. When one of the residents called the police, there was a swift U-turn. Jacobs said there had been three burglaries in the last six weeks: “If our houses are plastered all over Google, it’s an invitation for more criminals to strike.“

via

In fact, since the UK version launched a few weeks ago, there have been a multitude of privacy rows in the press and plenty of nervousness in affluent leafy suburbs. This idea that being able to see a photo of a house will cause crime is all too oft cited. I don’t know if anybody has pointed out to Paul Jacobs that burglars have been successful on at least 3 occasions in recent times, without the benefits of street view, but it seems that he’s made his mind up, and has possibly also never heard of logic. So who am I to argue? Also, the fact that burglars are generally opportunistic creatures slightly puts a dampener on the idea of stripy-topped villains looking for targets on their iPhones and then driving to them with the built in satnav.

Nonetheless, the media love this type of shit. I don’t remember such a fuss over the initial launch of street view, but then maybe that’s because it wasn’t in my country. I mean, there were some complaints about photos but most people seemed to accept Google’s promise that they blur any faces and personal stuff and that they would remove any image on request. They still have that promise, and a few people here have taken them up on it. Notably, the guy spotted coming out of a sex shop. Incidentally, how did he find himself on Google? Surely he must have started up streetview and went straight to look at the shop front of his local porn merchant? Who does that? Anyway, at least some people are content with letting Google continue their work and waiting to see the results before getting all twisted. Also, who the fuck cares about a house in Broughton? And surely the place is even less private now that it’s been all over the news(?) The residents don’t seem too fussed about having their soul captured by the evil beings with cameras, as long as those cameras don’t have a multicoloured company name in a bad font on the side.

(* not original ‘John Holmes’ face. replaced to maintain his privacy.)

I for one, love streetview. I’ve been using it for years now; mostly fueled by holiday planning (the views of L.A. are great) but also just because it’s there. I’ve literally spent hours looking at film locations, places I’ve heard about in songs, potential holiday destinations, places I’ve been, random interesting sights, etc.. I’m not trying to pretend that that’s a cool way to spend time, but it can be fun, and more pertinently, it’s harmless. The technology is great, and until the court case that features a burglar confessing about the map he created of spots to run up in (complete with directions), then I will maintain my view that Broughton is one village that has the idiot/normal ratio the wrong way ’round.

(photo from here)

* or, most of the ones that end up on TV are

Firstly; protests should happen. Protests can be good. Get out there and get heard. etc etc etc. But do it properly.

Having been semi-raised on on a diet of NWA and Public Enemy, I’m always down for fucking the police and pointing out their jokeness. In the last few months alone there have been plenty of reasons to criticise police tactics/methods/fuck ups: such as this, and this, or this, maybe this, or this, and definitely this. All awful examples of what can happen when you give a badge to a bigoted fuckwit and each of those fuckwits deserve to share a cell with a Schillinger for a long long time. But they’re not representative of police in general. Some po-po (that’s what I call them. It’s affectionate) are believe it or not, just trying to do their job, and we’d be massively worse off without them. But that’s not really the point (I seem to have diverted myself).

My point is; Protest = good. Protesting about bent cops = good. ‘Protesting’ and needlessly targeting cops = bad. Also, ‘protesting’ in the wrong direction = very bad. It negates the original aims of the demonstration and makes me want to side with the opposition just because I don’t want to be associated with wankers with poorly designed banners and kazoos.

Take this twat for example.

I would happily advocate any and every attempt by that police officer to break that guys nose.

Similarly, there was some footage on the BBC news last night from the G20 protests in London yesterday, that had a bloke in a mask, repeatedly blowing what sounded like a kazoo, really loudly, inches from a policeman’s face. As a quick test, I’d like you to think of the most irritating person possible. Think of how angry they make you. Think of how much you’d like to smash their irritating little twattish face in.

Now give them a kazoo.

(artists impression)

Can you imagine what that policeman felt like?! The man has surely redefined what ‘restraint’ means.

It’s people like that, and people who smash up computers from RBS branches who give protests a bad name. Unsurprisingly, they’re the ones that end up on the news and in the photos because a bit of violence goes a long way toward making a story exciting and newsworthy. But it consequently takes away airtime from people who have the ability to actually articulate why they’re protesting and why people should support them.

Quick example:

• This video of people ‘rioting’ outside the Bank of England and chanting what sounds like ‘arsekicking’(?) has 2,574 views.
• This video of ‘Low Key’ actually speaking about stuff has 301 views.

That means that riots are technically 8.5 times more exciting than dialogue. Of course.
(Incidentally, the lyrics at the end of that Low Key video are from this track – ‘Long Live Palestine‘, which is dope. Score 1 for hip-hop maintaining a political voice in 2009. And it thankfully has 54,000-odd views which makes hip-hop 20 times better than riots! Brilliant.)

Ugh. I dunno. I’m just increasingly baffled at the number of people who vent their frustrations/anger/opposition in ways that just simply do not help. Why can’t they just stay in and write a blog post about it? Much more productive.

I’ll leave you with a piece of media from the G8 in 2005, just because it timely popped on my iTunes and still seems apt.

Fuck it, rioting can be fun

Barack Obama.

71% of first time votes; 66% of under 30’s; 95% of the black vote, (43% of the white vote); 56% of female voters. Even 24% of white evangelical Christians is a victory in itself surely(?) And a commanding win in the Electoral College results. Deservedly so too. (via).

I didn’t stay up too late last night to follow the results because to be honest, I expected it to take a little longer than it did, but since early this morning I’ve been listening to DJ Z-Trip’s ‘Obama Mix’, reading the coverage from the BBC, then watching the acceptance speech. Without wanting to sound cheesy, it really does feel like we’re living through a genuine piece of history. And it feels good. (ha! and there was me trying not to sound cheesy! ). Regarding the speech briefly, I thought it was great. Particularly liked the Ann Nixon Cooper thread and referencing the changes she would’ve seen in order to raise hope for the future. Nicely done. Some sort of credit should go to John McCain for appearing magnanimous in defeat, though the people who still insist on boo-ing any mention of Obama really need to take a cue from the man they so adoringly support. Ridiculous.

But anyway, as poplicks says; Hello to President-Elect Barack Obama. … So long to the nightmare of the last eight years. Hello to the next four (at least) of trying to clean it all up. … So long to 24 hour, cable news insanity, hologram punditry. Hello to TMZ and Perez Hilton coming back as our leading news sources. … Hello America. Welcome the new dawn.

What began 21 months ago in the depths of winter cannot end on this autumn night. This victory alone is not the change we seek – it is only the chance for us to make that change. And that cannot happen if we go back to the way things were. It cannot happen without you, without a new spirit of service, a new spirit of sacrifice.
…
And to all those watching tonight from beyond our shores, from parliaments and palaces to those who are huddled around radios in the forgotten corners of the world – our stories are singular, but our destiny is shared, and a new dawn of American leadership is at hand.

- Barack Obama, November 4th 2008.

(the photo at the top is taken from here.. lots more photos here too)

(via flickr)

Today’s the day. Exciting innit(?)

If you’re American, you really need to go out and vote. Do the right thing. If you’re not American, join me in keeping your fingers crossed.

Click here for more videos from Vote For Change

The one downside to this culmination of months and months of campaigning is the end of all those designs/free music/comedy videos/etc that have ran alongside the campaign trail. Ah well. Who cares, as long as they don’t get in.

Barack Obama x Z-Trip x Shepard Fairey x Fresh Pressed from Barack On! Obamathon on Vimeo.

Go forth and vote!! Oh, and if you need something to listen to while you’re strolling to the polling station, try this.

This isn’t really the time nor the place to have a discussion on religion and all that jazz.. But in a nutshell, I don’t believe in God and I think it’s a bit odd that other people do. But if you want to believe, that’s fine. I really don’t care, just don’t feel free to share your beliefs and I’ll do the same .

I don’t dislike religites, in fact some of my best friends swear blind that there’s a God, but I do dislike being preached to. And alas, there’s plenty of examples of that happening in day to day life. Which is why I think it’s nice that things like this exist – if only to provide a bit of balance because let’s face it, much like the ‘Deus Caritas Est‘ type of posters, this campaign wont get anybody to change their mind will it(?) Or will it? I dunno. I suppose a bit of atheist publicity might sway some of the undecided currently languishing in limbo. Or it’ll just offend staunch believers. Either way, kudos to Ariane Sherine for getting the thing started. I read about it last week, and then it was on Have I Got News For You, and then I saw some more stuff about it this morning and I felt like I wanted to add my (albeit limited to this blog) support to it.

There’s a nice quote on the website which says (regarding atheism);

It’s about making sense of the world, thinking freely and feeling liberated because of it. It’s about using your intellect and sense of reason to learn what life is about, and having the courage to think for yourself. It’s about relying on evidence when deciding on your beliefs, and being brave enough to speak the truth.

Surely no-one can disagree that that’s a decent system to live your life by?
Go atheism!
Dinosaurs are great!

Atheist Campaign.org

If you believe what pessimistic, panicky uninformed nutters are saying, the world will end tomorrow. It’s been fun.

In case the news has escaped you, tomorrow is finally the day when CERN are unleashing the Large Hadron Collider (not at all to be confused with the Hardon Collider as seen on cracked…).

The details are far far far far too complex for a lowly blog like mine, but National Geographic did a nice piece about it earlier in the year that’s now available to read online and worth a peep if you’re baffled by the idea of subparticles, neutrinos, antimatter, supersymmetry and multiple dimensions that affect gravity. Actually, I’ve read it a few times, and still don’t fully get it, so maybe it wont help, but it should. Basically, it’s exciting if you’re into quantum things or even if you’re just curious about what a $6 billion 17 mile long machine that can fire things at 99.99 percent the speed of light will end up doing.

The whole ‘end of the world’ thing stems from the potential of some sort of black hole being created, but even it if did happen, it’d be so massively small that it’d do nothing other than destroy itself. Which is reassuring, but at the same time, slightly disappointing The worse thing that could happen is nothing; the best thing is.. who knows. All sorts of crazy particle/matter/dimensional stuff is going on and seeing as the LHC records 15 million gigabytes of information yearly (that’s about 41 thousand gb a day), it might take a while to sift through the results. Still, that’s what we pay those scientists for. Watch this space!

It wouldn’t be right to let such an awesome spectacle go completely unnoticed; although I think that the BBC are managing to single-handedly cover enough Olympic action for the whole world. Apparently if you were to take every televised minute and written sentence that has been produced by the BBC about this years Olympic games, turn them into tiny people called Olymbits whose natural inclination is to stand on each others shoulders Cirque du Soleil style, then climb up the Olymbit stack, you would actually bump into God and the baby Jesus in the sky. Apparently.

I actually love the amount of coverage the beeb are putting out this year. Non stop live coverage online for every event, mostly with video footage – 6 different live streams on the red button on tv – hours of dedicated coverage on the terrestrial channels – and 5 Live doing the business for the radio. It’s loco. All your needs catered for. Unless you’re not a sporting person of course. Actually, scratch that because surely no-one can deny how good these games have been. Pure entertainment and so many amazing feats I wouldn’t even know where to start with a list of my favourite things thus far. Though it would probably be something like…

The opening ceremony.

Managed to see bits of it while we were in Paris, and the sight of Li Ning running around the inside edge of the stadium roof was brilliant. Unless we have someone running in the London Eye like it was a giant hamster wheel, I don’t think we’ll be able to top that in 2012. (more pictures here)

Argentina coasting to the football final
After the mini dispute with Barcelona regarding Messi was sorted, they’ve not looked back, winning every game on the way to Sundays final against Nigeria and are moving one step away from retaining their Olympic title. I’m not a big Argentina fan (blame it on this) but they deserved to beat Brazil in the semis yesterday. Ronaldinho has been a bit of a non-event which doesn’t bode well for Milan this season but who knows.

Yelena Isinbayeva jumps insanely high (with a pole)
Helped in it’s greatness because of the ‘gonna kick her butt’ comments by her American rival who really couldn’t compete..

“For the first 90 minutes of the competition Isinbayeva did not attempt a vault but sat trackside, her baseball cap pulled down low over her eyes. When the bar reached 4.70m she decided to stop passing and cleared the height at her first attempt. By that point seven of the 12 competitors had been knocked out.”

- The Guardian

She then went on to sail over 5.05m (16ft 7in) for a new World Record. See, that strikes me as kinda cocky (and rightly so) but not as cocky as..

Usain ‘Lightning’ Bolt

How can someone not even really try for the last 10m or so and still get a World Record in the 100m(?) At least he worked hard for the 200m record last night. Both are unreal achievements but the latter in particular is probably more memorable. Michael Johnson, while commentating on the race, seemed happy for the Jamaican but surely deep down he’s curled up in a ball, hugging his gold shoes and weeping.

Natalie du Toit comes 16th in the 10k swim
16th doesn’t sound especially impressive but if you know about her, you’ll see why I think this is worth a mention. Good stuff. It’s the first year that the 10k outdoor swim has been an event, and I can think of few events that I’d least enjoy doing. Utterly knackering.

8 Golds, (7 World Records, 1 Olympic Record) for Michael Phelps
Not to mention approximately 173 drug tests too I’d imagine. Not that I’m trying to imply anything. He’s clearly not on performance enhancing drugs, he’s just a machine sent from the year 2029 by a race of artificially intelligent computer-controlled machines who want to crush every humans will to compete in swimming competitions in order to dominate the medals table in all future Olympic games. And speaking of the medals table..

Great Britain is 3rd
With 17 gold, 11 silver and 11 bronze (at the time of writing). Kudos to everyone involved. So many individual success stories and noteworthy moments but I’m happy to leave it at a general level of praise. Does this mean we get a massive bronze medal at the end?

Just three days left to go til the closing ceremony on Sunday and I’m sure it’ll be on a par with the opening. Politics aside, it looks like China have done a great job hosting this and heaped the pressure on London to match it in 4 years.. I’m sure it will. I mean, the logo is a great start isn’t it(?) What could go wrong(?)

Anyone know how to get tickets for the opening ceremony…?

Wow. Just wow. Evolution has taken a mighty step forward.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/page/item/epeng001.shtml?src=ip_potpw