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"Like I always say, there's no 'I' in "team". There is a 'me', though, if you jumble it up."

respice prospice

We would worry less about what others think of us if we realized how seldom they do.
Wisdom - that part of knowledge that isn't only true, but also happens to be helpful.
writetothem.com
Wisdom speaks softly... Thereafter the volume increases proportionate to the level of ignorance
A punctured bicycle
On a hillside desolate
Will nature make a man of me yet?
All designed objects are propaganda for a certain way of life.
Sometimes we need to stop analysing the past, stop planning the future, stop figuring out precisely how we feel, stop deciding exactly what we want, and just see what happens.
We are not the same persons this year as last; nor are those we love. It is a happy chance if we, changing, continue to love a changed person.
"Never ascribe to malice that which can be explained by incompetence." --Napoleon Bonaparte

BMI Calculator

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The best designed clothes: invite being removed but reward being kept on.
It's that you just can't take the effect and make it the cause

An INTENSE moment of TRUTH with MAINSTREAM Media – YouTube

An INTENSE moment of TRUTH with MAINSTREAM Media – YouTube.

The Stolen Scream

The Stolen Scream: A Story About Noam Galai from FStoppers on Vimeo.

To us, it’s an obscure shift of tax law. To the City, it’s the heist of the century

Our political system protects and enriches a fantastically wealthy elite, much of whose money is, as a result of their interesting tax and transfer arrangements, in effect stolen from poorer countries, and poorer citizens of their own countries. Ours is a semi-criminal money-laundering economy, legitimised by the pomp of the lord mayor’s show and multiple layers of defence in government. Politically irrelevant, economically invisible, the rest of us inhabit the margins of the system. Governments ensure that we are thrown enough scraps to keep us quiet, while the ultra-rich get on with the serious business of looting the global [

continue reading To us, it’s an obscure shift of tax law. To the City, it’s the heist of the century

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Eilidh Cairns – Campaign – See Me Save Me

SEE ME SAVE ME

It’s nearly two years since Eilidh was run over by a truck that failed to see her. Her mum Heather has been working with their local Member of European Parliament to try and get an EU declaration signed to get HGVs fitted with sensors and cameras to remove their blind spot.

4000 people, mostly unprotected road users such as cyclists, motorcyclists and pedestrians are killed each year in Europe because of HGV blind spots.

This declaration needs to be signed to be signed by half of the 736 MEPs before it lapses on [

continue reading Eilidh Cairns – Campaign – See Me Save Me

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Egypt’s Revolution: Coming to an Economy Near You

All of which brings me back to Egypt as the canary in a very large coal mine. It’s hard to overstate just how unexpected a transformation is occurring in Egypt. Death, taxes, and Hosni Mubarak — they were the three great certainties in modern Egyptian life.

But just underneath the surface, the tectonic pressure of dumb growth was steadily mounting. Bogus prosperity’s like magma, filling the volcanic chamber of a society: you can bottle it up for only so long before it erupts, and spectacularly. Today, the world’s gaze is fixed on the pyroclastic flow: never-ending demonstrations, protests, people [

continue reading Egypt’s Revolution: Coming to an Economy Near You

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TUNISIA and OPEN SOURCE REVOLT

DK Matai has a great little outline on how the open source revolt spread in Tunisia.

It was very open much open source warfare (OSW, the dominant form of warfare in the 21st Century), but with a rapidly evolving protest/revolt twist (OSW + flashmobs). Thing is, the conditions within which the revolt spread are becoming pretty common. Here they are:

Extreme price shocks in basic commodities. Food and energy. Extreme corruption. A globally connected elite appropriating everything. Extreme connectivity. Cell phones and other social media.

Given that the global system is highly unstable (extreme leverage, concentration, tight coupling, [

continue reading TUNISIA and OPEN SOURCE REVOLT

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For sale: Britain’s forests and seas, and David Cameron’s claims to be green

So if you go down to the woods today, you’ll find the best metaphor for Cameronism. Change your party’s logo to a lovely green tree – then sell off all the real trees to corporations. Oh, and then say you are “empowering volunteers” by doing it. The Prime Minister has said the forest sell-off “empowers local communities” to take over the forests for themselves as part of a “Big Society.” Yet sources within the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs say that – unsurprisingly – only about [

continue reading For sale: Britain’s forests and seas, and David Cameron’s claims to be green

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The Hillsborough Football Disaster: Context & Consequences

Welcome to our temporary website, deliberately simple, purely functional. It will improve visually later!

This webpage enables free downloading of the updated ‘press pack’-style documentation that originally appeared here in 2008 under the name “Hillsborough For ‘Dummies’: Facts Behind The Disaster”. The updated version consists of several documents, all of which can be downloaded as separate PDF files, or as a combined package in one easy click.

We updated and changed in order to appeal to a much wider audience and the concern was that the original name would not sit well with the publishers of the “…For Dummies” [

continue reading The Hillsborough Football Disaster: Context & Consequences

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#WikiLeaks #cablegate – Mirrors of the website & #Visa, #Mastercard transferring funds to racists

As writers say, the difference between fiction and fact is that fiction has to be believable. So all those Bourne films are so believable and everything on ‘The News’ is so ridiculous. Osama Bin Laden: still at-large, Ratko Mladic: still at large, Sylvio Berlusconi: in charge of a bankrupt country – and its media, Tony Blair & George Bush doing lecture tours, the €uro bankrupt while the workers of Germany subsidise a continent, and so on.

The world changed years ago. Just ask the Book, Music and Film Industries, newspaper publishers, television companies, High-Street shopkeepers and expense-fiddling MPs, who can [

continue reading #WikiLeaks #cablegate – Mirrors of the website & #Visa, #Mastercard transferring funds to racists

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‘Strict liability’ and legal protection for cyclists « UKcyclerules

I dislike conflict. This is a questionable characteristic for a barrister.

As a result there’s a sombre tone in this week’s post, as I’m tiptoeing precariously close to a shouting match.

The Guardian recently posted this article asking whether the law does enough to protect cyclists. As expected, the comments express some fruity road-related read rage.

At the same time there’s a strong debate in the cycle blogosphere on what can be done to increase the numbers of people cycling (see ibikelondon vs Carlton Reid, for example).

Lots of people talk about ‘strict liability’ as one possible solution, and [

continue reading ‘Strict liability’ and legal protection for cyclists « UKcyclerules

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I am Spartacus – Twitter goes bonkers #IAmSpartacus

“Crap! Robin Hood airport is closed. You’ve got a week to get your shit together, otherwise I’m blowing the airport sky high!! #IAmSpartacus #twitterjoketrial “

The Lakota Sioux; still prisoners of war. Pine Ridge, Wounded Knee and ‘what happens next?’

Aaron Huey’s effort to photograph poverty in America led him to the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, where the struggle of the native Lakota people — appalling, and largely ignored — compelled him to refocus. Five years of work later, his haunting photos intertwine with a shocking history lesson in this bold, courageous talk from TEDxDU.

THE BLACK HILLS ARE NOT FOR SALE.

“The best things in life aren’t things”

[

continue reading The Lakota Sioux; still prisoners of war. Pine Ridge, Wounded Knee and ‘what happens next?’

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at least she won't know anything about it

“Mrs Thatcher is 85 today but ironically she’s been knocked off the news by a Government that looks after their miners! « LOL – RT @iancawsey” .

This seems to be one of the commonest tweeted perspectives this morning. Great news that they will get the lads out of their mine but what a media scrum! Don’t the billionaire politicians line-up to get in the pictures with people they were barely aware of before? Let’s see how the miners cope with fame of this magnitude, it will not be easy to adjust.

It’s hard for me to believe that Chile [

continue reading at least she won’t know anything about it

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Philip Hammond: rail is “subsidised”; roads are “investments”

This spew of a speech must surely go down in the annals as one of the most ridiculous collections of words and hyperbole this week – I refuse to believe that many of the people in that hall truly believed a word of it. DAILY MAIL GOVERNMENT.

(CLICK HERE FOR MORE »» YouTube – Philip Hammond: rail is “subsidised”; roads are “investments”: .)

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continue reading Philip Hammond: rail is “subsidised”; roads are “investments”

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Identifying scofflaw drivers – how far is far?

Saw this post by a blogger I enjoy and respect and find that I am troubled by the action of the post here. I am told that in Switzerland every registration number is searchable to owner and that this results in more polite and considerate driving. Any cyclist, or driver for that matter, must be aware of the number of drivers phoning, texting, smoking, eating and whatever else while their children roam the car unrestrained and wonder at why it is so difficult to photograph and prosecute by tech with an equal approach to all offenders.

It’s easy [

continue reading Identifying scofflaw drivers – how far is far?

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‘Zebra’ stops cars in Russia road ‘accident’ campaign (what’s accidental?)

Russian police trying to make motorists respect pedestrians on zebra crossings thought of drafting in exotic zebras to halt Moscow traffic.

Only, police in the Russian capital could not get any zebras – so they painted black stripes on white horses instead.

They paraded the horses over crossings, forcing motorists to slow down and read road safety messages.

Thousands of pedestrians die in road accidents COLLISIONS in Russia every year.

(CLICK HERE FOR MORE »» BBC News – ‘Zebra’ stops cars in Russia road accident campaign: .)

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continue reading ‘Zebra’ stops cars in Russia road ‘accident’ campaign (what’s accidental?)

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What would the Met get in return for not looking hard at News of the World phone hacking?

You might not have noticed because most of the British press seems curiously reluctant to cover it, but earlier in the week, the New York Times produced some new evidence that the Conservative party’s chief spin doctor Andy Coulson knew much more about the phone hacking scandal of 2006 than he was letting on. Maybe they were too busy covering allegations regarding William Hague’s sexuality, and his emotional revelations about not being gay that came out at the same time, handily and totally coincidentally for the Conservatives’ spin doctor. Ahem.

(CLICK HERE FOR MORE »» Five Chinese Crackers: [

continue reading What would the Met get in return for not looking hard at News of the World phone hacking?

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Jeremy Hunt: when only the freshest information will do | Bloggerheads

Jeremy Hunt has recently suggested that hooliganism caused the Hillsborough disaster in which 96 people died, then apologised “IF his comments caused any offence” (which many regard to be a more offensive gesture than his original remarks). There are, at the time of writing, 150 comments published under the short apology on his website.

But the people leaving comments on Jeremy Hunt’s ‘blog’ deserve to be warned that Jeremy’s apology is scheduled for deletion (probably within a month) along with any comment(s) they contribute.

No, I am not extrapolating wildly from Jeremy Hunt’s recent mass deletion of tweets; I [

continue reading Jeremy Hunt: when only the freshest information will do | Bloggerheads

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The Ghost (2010)

Wonder why I am having a Hollywood/Reality crossover …

scofflaws

be an ARSE and email while driving with Text'nDrive Pro for iPhone (!!! you what?)

Well this is rich isn’t it? “If the app stops you having one ‘bad’ accident” – what is the sliding-scale and what would be accidental!! SHAME ON YOU TUAW – AND APPLE© FOR ALLOWING IT ON iTunes.

Is Text’nDrive Pro worth $19.99? If you avoid even one traffic citation for “texting while driving,” you’d probably come out ahead. If the app keeps you from having a bad accident while you’re distracted by your iPhone, then it’s worth every penny you pay for it, and more.

(CLICK HERE FOR MORE »» TUAW review: Email while driving with Text’nDrive Pro [

continue reading be an ARSE and email while driving with Text’nDrive Pro for iPhone (!!! you what?)

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'Hypocrisy' of speeding middle-class motorists

Julie Spence, the outgoing head of Cambridgeshire police, says drivers consider speeding as acceptable and change their minds only if they lose a child in a road accident.

“Speeding is middle-class anti-social behaviour,” she says. “People think we should be able to get away with it. They wouldn’t tolerate lawbreaking by somebody else but they do it themselves without thinking.

In an interview with The Daily Telegraph, she claims that the biggest problem perceived by the public in her county is speeding drivers in rural areas and illegal parking by parents outside schools.

‘Hypocrisy’ of speeding middle-class motorists – Telegraph.

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continue reading ‘Hypocrisy’ of speeding middle-class motorists

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‘you caught us and our expense-frauds, now it’s payback time’

Don’t get mad, get even …

David Cameron has defended plans to use credit rating firms to “go after” people fraudulently claiming benefits.

He said the firms, [

continue reading ‘you caught us and our expense-frauds, now it’s payback time’

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Maude and NAVCA on volunteering

This article is provided courtesy of the blogs feed at http://www.newstartmag.co.uk/blog

“And what volunteering do you do?” “I do…golly, what do I do? Umm, a whole load of things….Um, gosh, that’s a really unfair question cold…” (Cabinet Office Minister Francis Maude in an interview with Eddie Mair on the PM Programme yesterday evening to talk about the Big Society). There was more: “Well, I do various things. It’s a great question to err… drop on me err… and if I had time to think about it…”

It was both hilarious but painful to listen to. You can hear the [

continue reading Maude and NAVCA on volunteering

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Monbiot.com » Tory Boy Racers

The real reason why conservatives hate the enforcement of speed limits is that this is one of the few laws which is as likely to catch the rich as the poor: newspaper editors and council leaders are as vulnerable as anyone else. The conservative reaction to speed cameras suggests that they love laws, except those which apply to them.

(CLICK HERE FOR MORE »» Monbiot.com » Tory Boy Racers: .)

Flocking (behavior)

Flocking behavior is the behavior exhibited when a group of birds, called a flock, are foraging or in flight. There are parallels with the shoalingbehavior of fish, the swarming behavior of insects, and herd behavior of land animals.

Computer simulations and mathematical models which have been developed to emulate the flocking behaviors of birds can generally be applied also to the “flocking” behavior of other species. As a result, the term “flocking” is sometimes applied, in computer science, to [

continue reading Flocking (behavior)

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Row over new Snowdon path surface

Snowdonia National Park Authority prove they are blithering fools without the sense, vision or understanding to care for the land in their charge.

A project to create a tarmac surface on part of a path on Snowdon has been criticised.

The Miners’ Track is a popular starting point for walkers attempting [

continue reading Row over new Snowdon path surface

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wish I’d done that to the git!

twitpic

Sports Fan’s Dilemma: Trusting An Athlete Today

I’m sorry, it’s just too difficult any longer to believe any athlete about drugs. Too many of them have lied and lied and lied, until they were proved to be … lying. Oh, I know they’re all innocent until proven guilty. It’s just that by now, I’m afraid that I think sport — all sport — is guilty until proven innocent.

Sports Fan’s Dilemma: Trusting An Athlete Today : NPR.

Metro word search SNAFU deselects ‘improvement to’