An interesting thing happened on the way to war today

I dunno, I take this as the same as the WikiLeaks "Collateral Murder".

I don't really know much about the origins of the story, but I know the outcome, as much of us will by now.

There was a "Freedom Flotilla" coming out of Greece, apparently backed by Turkey - somehow - where a set up called "The Free Gaza Movement" were trying to get thousands of tonnes of humanitarian aid into Gaza and did so previously in 2008. No other international shipping had got there previous to that in 41 years. This information came from their website.

What ALSO came from their website was this:

"The strategy of the Freedom Flotilla, however, is to resist any attempts by the Israeli Navy to hijack its ships or to divide cargo ships from passenger vessels."

Naively - possibly - they figured they could get through an Israeli blockade by just steaming on through. Israel had been saying for DAYS they would stop them ... but anyway, noble cause and all that.

Late yesterday - Au time - I started to see reports of Israeli commandos having boarded at least one of these ships, opened fired, and many - 20ish - had been killed and at least 30 wounded. Horrific stuff. I guy I respect, but usually go to war with on Twitter and YouTube started posting comments by others in regards to this. They were being called the Freedom Flotilla and I got shot down - so to speak - about some of the double standards that were being posted. The following being fairly typical:

"How many Israelis killed by #Gaza rockets in 10yrs? Less than # of peace activists massacred this a.m. #flotilla"

Which is a fucking ridiculous statement, and I pretty much told him so. If we're gonna start taking scores and quoting facts let's not pick and choose which ones suit our agenda. And I told him that too. Hundreds of Israeli's have been killed by suicide bombers in the last ten years....but that's irrelevant to the issue. But that bloke turned out to be a reasonable fella.

On and on they went about the evils of Israel and murdering of "humanitarian freedom pacifist loving mung bean munchers" yadda yadda. Israel started making comments about how they were attacked and retaliated, and of course, this was ridiculous and equal the minister for info in Iraq in '03 etc etc...according to the people of Twitter.

Then I found this online and uploaded it to YouTube. I had been waiting for Israel to cough up some proof of their statements .... and here she was.

Check out the weapons, but mostly check out the gas mask worn by one bloke. It was a prepared ambush. Why else would you have gas masks?. They KNEW Israel would never let that aid through - right or wrong - and they KNEW they would be boarded, why else prepare for it?. Does this justify the killing of 20 people?.....no, it doesn't, but does it justify the commandos defending themselves?...you bet it does. IF the ONLY thing you've got to defend yourself with is a rifle, then you'll use it. There's another video released by the IDF of the weapons these "humanitarian workers" were using. Sling shots and steel pipes etc.

The Israeli's were ALWAYS destined to be forced into defending themselves. That was apparently the point of the flotilla.

The interesting thing, and the point of this, as with "Collateral Murder", is the almost WANT by usually reasonable people to ride a wave hysteria instead of waiting for all the info to come in.

...anyhoo, Blunty day.

AMAZING Oil Rig Photo

It's the one that went down recently off the coast of the states. Looks like something from a movie. Click to enlarge.

Moko Vid. Red Dead Redemption.

This is what makes the game GREAT. The story is good, but this sort of thing is the heart and soul of it. This is just hunting in the woods. Soz about the quality, dunno what happened there, but you get the idea.

If you haven't played it, the 'slow mo' part is the 'Dead Eye' that allows you to shoot accurately. You only get a certain amount. If another bear, or wolf, or pig, or cougar, or bobcat came I was gone.

Help us get Doc a sex change

Our mate Doc - who apparently has gender issues - mentioned on his blog that he'd get a 3D Tv the day after his sex change operation. Our other mate Al started a fund to raise the money FOR a 3D Tv to ease the transition for Doc.

Just for sheer joy for Doc I'll chip a hundy bucks for this tele.

We may need a lawyer to get around Docs reasoning that he'd buy one AFTER his sex change. Paul?.

Who's in?.

Browsing Home Page

It's perplexing me. I need a browsing home page and can't find anything that fits. Google's unnecessary because the last thing I do when opening a page is google shit. The address bar is the google search now, anyway. Once I'm actually browsing I really don't need to head back to the home page unless I'm using it for a 'standby page', but I don't even have a "Home" button. I removed it.

Maybe make one.....home page, not button.

Carry on.

Me, and other opinionated fools.

Banned from another debate website. lol

This is what got me booted.

"You're SUCH a hypocrite "ALGOREisRICH". You don't like being repressed but you're MORE than comfy shoveling homosexuality into the same barrel as paedophilia. You SHOULD be repressed. Intolerance and inciting hate is a crime, last I heard.

Why is it any of yours, and Akermanis', business what gays should and shouldn't do?. How does it affect you and how you go about your life?. If ANYONE, straight or gay, acts sexually inappropriately that is a crime and should be dealt with according to the laws of the land. What you need to do is crawl out from whatever mud filled hole you're in and spend some time with the gay community and you might find they are human beings and don't continuously look for 'victims' and plot their 'next attack'. Fool.”

It's only a week ban, which isn't bad compared against one that's for life, apparently. lol I really shouldn't go there and it's even labelled as "DON'T CLICK" in my links, but arguing is my drug of choice.

If only we had our own forum.

Red Dead Redemption

Rightio, so I got it the other day and had a bit of a play around. You can fuck knuckle around as much as you want, like 'go bush' and just hunt, or you can get in on 'the shit' and be a super hero and a super villain. Be prepared to do time though....either way. I was minding my own business just going for a ride in the scrub when I heard shooting. I stopped. A ricochet went right past my ear then 3 heads popped over a ridge. I lined them up with my 'dead eye' slow mo thingy and pow pow pow.....I became wanted. Turns out, they were hunting and didn't need to die. Three counts of murder, looting bodies, and stealing a horse got me about a week in jail. Fucked if I was going to pay the charges off.

You can skin the animals you kill and take their meat to sell. I killed one random dude butchering a prostitute. Curiously enough, that was a highlight. You can get into fist fights and duel at ten paces type stuff. Mini missions, large missions, bounty hunting, whatever you want. There's even a movie theatre, poker games - which you can cheat at and get into shoot outs over, you can play the horse shoe throwing game, or the one where you tap a knife between your fingers. You can hunt for gold, or just go on a murder spree. You have a lasso that you can catch what-the-fuck-ever with except lynching - so far - and I don't think you can scalp people.

MASSIVE map, but you do have the option of bouncing quickly between townships if you get tired of riding. You're doing too much to really take in much of the scenery, but it looks great. A FRACTION glitchy, and I think Just Cause 2's scenery looked better, but it's hard to fault.

Get it, I don't think you'll be disppointed if you like that sort of thing.

Sex Offenders and Housing

Never been comfy with the term 'sex offender'. What they do isn't really related to sex, apart from the TYPE of degradation the victim goes through that generally affects their long term dealings with consensual sexual contact and future partners. But the type of 'sex' that normal functioning people experience shouldn't really be part of that same definition...

Anyhoo...

Interesting thing going on here at the moment in regards to 'sex offenders' - I really don't know if it's only paedophiles or if they've included others - that apparently still pose a threat to the community is that understandably no one wants them in their neighbourhood. The problem is, they've served the time the judge gave them for the crime they committed and just like every other convicted criminal they should be given their freedom....if not restricted, and monitored.

These offenders coming out of a local prison here are being given established houses on prison grounds and all will be monitored via CCTV, patrols, and randomly searched. Part of me applauds this and is grateful for it, but the liberal PC lefty in me feels this is a sort of discrimination that reflects negatively on us as a society.

Isn't someone who murdered out of pure rage and is without remorse still just as much of a threat to the welfare of the wider community as some paedophile?. What's stopping him from going to the pub straight from prison, getting shit faced, and then killing someone else?. If he isn't thoroughly tested for anger response shouldn't he be housed away after sentence?. Where should we stop?. What about career criminals?.

Don't get me wrong, these predators of the worst kind will inevitably stayed locked up, but really, we should be aware of how thin the ACTUAL belief in true democracy and peoples belief in civil liberties really are. We believe in it, as long as we don't have to deal with the dark stuff...

Photographic art versus photography

Didn't know there was a difference...or considered it, but check this out. I was watching a show on the weekend about photographers and the different types of photography. One bloke get up in choppers and just clicks away. Some you and me could do and really those ones came across as really just getting access to the areas. Stunning photos, for sure, but altitude + a camera = his.

Then on the show I saw this photo that just blew me away. I. Just. Went. WOW.

Click to make it bigger.

What a moment to capture. Obviously a HUGE moment in this guy's life and the photographer was THERE and snapped it....

Turns out, it was staged, a production. It's what Gregory Crewdson does and his images are AMAZING, but for some reason the fact that it's a pose seems to lessen it for me.

Then there's this one by Andrew Moore. For some reason, it now says WAY more than the production photo.

Kinda weird I spose, and a little bit picky, but I don't reckon I'd spend money on a posed photo trying to capture emotion.

Thank you SO MUCH Mr Bedak

Simon felt sorry for me and the missus regarding missing the Tasmanian Babes Fiasco with all the guys. We're both still spoiling from it, especially me, but not much less Tracy as it was an event like no other for me.

Simon wrote to me via Twitter offering a copy of the script to soften the blow. I understand it is one of only a handful of copies in existence and I'm the only one outside of him, Birmo, Nat, and cast that has one. It is humbling to say the least and I have no idea how to show my gratitude other than saying thank you. I'll treasure it with pride. It's going to get printed and bound....just for me.

Obviously this is trust, as well, from Simon, and of course I'm FULLY aware of the significance of this trust and I'm humbled by your faith in my character.

Prepare to be hounded for signatures. lol

Thanks again.

The Tasmanian Babes Fiasco: My Experience

Me and the missus had been excited about the prospect of seeing the sequel to He Died With a Felafel in His Hand because we LOVED it. We bought the tickets to closing night the moment they went on sale and had been eagerly counting down the days. As a bonus, I'd get to meet a man I greatly respect in @Havock, the playwright @Simon and the author @JB again and introduce the missus to all these faceless names I'm continually rabbiting on about. Of course, there's the usual cast of characters that are always fun to hang with and some I'd hadn't met and was very keen to. This WAS, The Burger Night of Nights.

Due to the job not giving me hours I had to take on a shift on the day....but that was okay, I was going to the show. The missus had to judge a goat show at the Boonah Show, but that was okay, we are going to the show. We never get to go out just coz we can't afford the extra expense but this was something special to both of us. Seriously.

I get home from work at about five. Long fucking day, but I felt great, because I was going to the show. The missus got home from her show and I was SURPRISED she was keen as mustard to go. We were stoked.

We jump in the car at 630 and we're off. I FKN forgot to grab the address of the theatre to punch in to the GPS and after much fuck knuckling around rang a mate and he googled it for me. Problem solved. Just at that moment I notice a sign on the Warrego RIGHT at the last exit before the FUCKEN PILE OF SHIT Ipswich Motorway - or carpark, as it's been referred to. I said to the missus, "Alternate Brisbane route???"...which was what was on the sign. Sure enough, we get round the corner of no return and here's a sign that says, "Ipswich Motorway Closed. Find Alternate Route".

There is no alternate route at where we were at. There are no exits. You're stuck on it until Redbank. We got to that sign at around 650. We got to Redbank at 8pm. Redbank, normally, would 5 minutes from that sign. There was no way we were gonna make before 9:30. The show started at 8.

That show was a oncer, and we're devastated. I got home and found this online.

May 15, 2010

Huge delays when Ipswich Motorway closes

QT.com.au

TRAFFIC heading towards Brisbane this weekend will face massive delays as the Ipswich Motorway closes for a total of 29 hours.

From 5pm today to noon tomorrow, and again from 7pm Sunday to Monday 5am, major roadwork will be undertaken between Redbank and Wacol.

Un-fucking-believable.

Cause celebre versus reality

A few weeks ago WikiLeaks released footage of US military action in Iraq that wound up wiping out two reporters. Yes, it was tragic, and yes it was disturbing. What was more tragic and disturbing was the way they went about "reporting" it. To me, and me alone going by the reception I got on YouTube when I asked the question about WikiLeaks integrity regarding this footage. It was flawed to the point of embarrassing. But, he who accuses first gains allies by default...

People were, and still are condemning the action and calling it murder - obviously by the title - many major news sources have waded in on the debate, there's calls for enquiries, charges, war crimes investigation etc etc...

Regardless of the debate about this footage there's one thing that blows my mind. Two Reuters reporters and several unarmed people were killed, this is a fact, but just yesterday 110 people were killed in Iraq by insurgents, AQ, or whatever you choose to call them. ONE HUNDRED AND TEN...as opposed to the TEN in Collateral Murder...

Where's the debate and nearly seven million views on this news item?.

Avoid the MIO GPS.

It's a great little piece of equipment, but I'm wanting to update the maps cause I've had it a few years now and the roads have changed alot in some places. Turns out I can't update the maps on mine - C310 - and they kinda push you to trading and upgrading. The one I've got works fine, it only needs maps. It also seems the company is a pain in the arse to deal with ... from what I've read.

Just for what I'm going through with updating I won't get another MIO.

The Pacific

We're coming up to episode four on Wednesday and I gotta say .... MEH .... so far.

Band of Brothers was awesome. The Pacific was sold off to me as the sequel Band of Brothers so I'm expecting something of that quality. Thing is, it isn't. Dunno what's missing, but it definitely doesn't have the same feel.

It's like what Treyarch did to the CoD series with Call of Duty: World at War. Just saying.

Cloudy With a Chance Meatballs

Whoever made this is on hardcore drugs, and FINALLY, someone is using them in a positive way.

Funny as, and random as. Watch it.