I have joined The Sect of Homokaasu, but there is nothing to worry about my little web chums for they shall not steal my soul – only my time.
For this sect is all about rather addictive web-based games, including games titled Wanker which is not at all explicit and Fuck It which is not for the easily offended.
My current favourite is Gravity which I find oddly compelling and which has also been described as being very psychedelic… almost hypnotising.
Tags: games
These aren’t the droids you’re looking for.
Unfortunately unlike Obi-Wan we don’t have the ability to influence the minds of people demanding to see our identification. There is however a chance for UK citizens to prevent the introduction of ID cards in the first place though. In a last gasp effort before the Queen’s Speech on 23rd November the NO2ID group have organised a petition to allow UK residents to voice their opposition to the proposed scheme.
NO2ID are a non-aligned diverse group of people and organisations who stand against the Government’s attempts to introduce intrusive, expensive and ineffective control of personal identity.
The British government seems dead set on pushing through this legislation so the petition is unlikely to dissuade them. However by voicing our concerns it is still possible to prevent it’s implementation. The Home Office in October of this year published A Summary of Findings from the Consultation on Legislation on Identity Cards 
(file size 749kb) which broadly outlines their thinking on this issue.
In June 2004 I published my analysis of the British national identity card scheme titled Identity and ID cards, in which I argued that privacy concerns aside the proposal will be ineffective in it’s aims.
Thanks to BoingBoing.
bar the inevitable lawsuits.
I’m surprised that Bush seems to have won the popular vote as well as the electoral vote as the early results had shown a small swing to the Democrats. Perhaps the conspiracy theorists are right and the Diebold electronic voting machines are easily manipulated to show a win for whichever candidate you want.
Well at least I can console myself with the knowledge that another four years of Bush will cause the US economy to be further fucked up resulting in a Great Depression for the 21st century. Not that I really want that to occur, but a weaker US economy could have benefits for the EU and Britain.
Tags: politics
Bush or Kerry, what does it matter anyway?
The world is gripped by the US election but should they be? The US president is referred to as the ‘leader of the free world’ but I’d be surprised if anyone in the ‘free world’ outside of the US really believes that’s the case.
Whoever is elected will hold sway over the foreign policy of America, but is there a clear difference between the broad policies of the candidates?
Iraq is a key area of difference but I believe the damage has already been done. With Kerry as US President can he really claw back the damage of the Bush administration or if Bush were to win can his government make the situation any worse than it is already.
But the key point is that neither candidate is prepared to put the fate of the World in front of that of America. International treaties such as the Kyoto Protocol are not seen as being in the best interest of America and so go unsupported and are stuck in the mire. Nationalism over Internationalism.
No major government of the world has made any significant movement to combat world poverty although there was an agreement made to further the debt relief of third-world nations. The opening up of international trade barriers would be a huge step to combatting third-world poverty but that is unlikely to happen either. Free trade is only for those with the economic clout to enforce it apparently.
The irony is that the long-term gains far outweigh the the short-term losses of such a move and as the prime economic force on the planet the US is the key to such a future.
There is much hatred and resentment for the Western world and America in particular due to the inequities of the status quo of the system of the world. By redressing the balance of world trade through creating a truly fair and free trade system without tariffs and subsidies increased prosperity can be brought to the third-world and with it an erosion of hatred. This is an oversimplification but the essence of the argument is there.
In addition creating a relatively poverty-free world with it creates new markets in which products and services from the West can be sold. This is a long term achievement that is viable if the political will was there.
This is rambling essay that has ended up in a different place than I though it would when I started it. Time to go check the latest exit polls, not that I believe it matters much.
Tags: politics