Tuesday, January 30, 2007

Gene Patent

I didn't think i'd find myself agreeing with Michael Crichton, but in his new book
Next, there is an authors note with some remarks on the state of modern research in botech, and an appeal to repeal the Bayh-Dole act in the US, as well as comments on Gene Patents which I thoroughly recommend!! just do it! madness must end!

Saturday, January 20, 2007

apologize or else

The fact that someone is too stpuid to know that what they say is racist, does not get them off the hook - the fact is it makes them a stupid racist.

Jade and her two chums are both incredibly offensive human beings, but the people who make big brotther should be taken to court for inciting racial hatred, especially since they probably are all posh tv producer people with degrees and educations which means that they ought be able to tell the difference between irony and literal bone headed hate.

apologize or else

I just bought Neil Young's newish album, Living with War, since I
a) like Neil Young's songs (both the folksier goldrush, and the grungier weld)
b) was interested to hear that it was virulently anti-war, but still very patriotic (in the odd way Neil Young is patriotic about the US of A whilst being originally Canadian, but lets leave that aside:)

I like the songs and the 100 voice choir takes a bit of getting used to but melds in quite well BUT:
there's never heard, not a solitary word about the real victims of war - the iraqi civilians - there are admittedly a few thousand dead and maimed american soldiers who never bargained to be fighting like this. but there are, by conservative estimates, 50,000 and more likely 350,000 iraqi dead and most of their families probably dont think its a very good price
to pay for getting rid of saddam... ... ...

still, i don't blame Neil for missing part of the story - at least he's singing strongly about another part in the right direction:)

reading Hotel California (about laurel canyon in the late 60s and early 70s of the "me" generation of singers and songwriters, and he's pretty central (along with joni mitchell and the usual other suspects) but was surprised not to see the new riders of the purple sage mentioned at all - and very little about tim buckley and his crowd, or the links between joni and the jazz scene in LA (e.g. LA Express, and onwards to crusadaers and weather report etc) or the links from the dead (and airplane) to the art scene...oh well, thats what you get if you read books by an english public school boy who was a tad to young to have been there:)

Tuesday, January 02, 2007

apologize or else

Pit Stop Terror

so yet another kid dies because some stupid white trash macho man has to have a dog that is so dangerous it hosptialises an adult trying to stop it kill a 5 year old. Why do people want dogs like that? well if you ask me (and I know you didn't) its same reason redneck morons in the US want guns: its a bigger willy type thing. certainly people i know that have dogs because they _like_ them, pick dogs for company - dogs are pack animals and normally trate humans as the pack leader, even kids smaller than themselves - only some breeds designed (yes, genetically selected by breeders) have aberrant behaviour and are cosntantly o na hair trigger to try to become alpha male - not great comapny unless you want to keep excercising your ego in re-imposing will power over the beast - what kind of ego boost is it to someone to triumph over a small animal like a pit bull? obviosuly, its a sad expression of superiority which really represnts an inferiority to the rest of the human race, from which these folks should be evicted for a few years to learn their lesson.