Aw, how special!
Former East End gangster Ronnie Knight recently launched the internet site Crooks Reunited, which helps convicted criminals keep in touch with the chums they made in prison.
Knight based the venture on the popular school reunion site Friends Reunited. But now he complains that Friends Reunited is stealing his ideas.
“When I was growing up, we used to refer to the area we lived as our manor,” says Knight. “So in Crooks Reunited we put in a ‘Your Manors’ option, where you can search for people from your turf. And what does Friends Reunited do? They go and stick a copy of the idea on their website.”
Anxious to avoid picking a fight with “The Celebrity”, a spokesman for Friends Reunited says: “We are constantly updating our services and added the ‘Your Streets’ feature after requests from users.”
So how long before someone gets “iced” using this method to track him down?
Comments are off for this postGuardian on Bush?
Peter has the latest personal attack on Bush by a Guardian writer. The piece says more about the author than about Bush. Michele takes her best shot as well.
And on the subject of coshing Mike tears Ted Rall a new one. Be warned, this will get you angry. Ted, in his wisdom, thinks those nutjobs running around killing people in Iraq are “freedom fighters” and “patriots.”
Comments are off for this postBuffy an example of great televisual art?
The mere existenceof Buffy proves the declinists wrong about one thing: Hollywood commercialism can produce great art. Complex and evolving characters. Playful language. Joy and sorrow, pathos, and elation. Episodes that dare to be different — to tell stories in silence or in song. Big themes and terrible choices. In the shows most wrenching moment, Buffy kisses her one true love and saves the world by sending him to hell. (09/02/03)
Well, Anna seems to agree, and, I have to say, but for series 1, Buffy was pretty durn good. It never took itself too seriously, tried to make moral statements, or be high drama. And heck, for this viewer, they even managed to create a werewolf character that was well done. Let’s hope the powers that be ditch the horrid Enterprise and pick up Ripper (staring Giles) in its place.
Via: Rational Review.
David Janes breaks down Postrel’s piece and adds his own comments. He has found some great quotes from Buffy too, like this little ditty.
Principal Snyder: I know Principal Flutie would have said, ‘Kids need understanding. Kids are human beings.’ That’s the kind of wooly-headed liberal thinking that leads to being eaten.
Comments are off for this postThou shalt pay higher taxes?
It has long been said that patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel. Today, religion plays that role. At least it does for Gov. Bob Riley of Alabama …. Political activists routinely claim to be fulfilling God’s will. Conservatives typically cite divine commandments to justify their positions on social issues — that government should toss gays in jail, for instance. Liberals prefer to rely on scripture that they think supports income redistribution. Now, however, an alleged conservative has discovered that God favors higher taxes.” (09/01/03)
Via: Rational Review
Comments are off for this postGiving up your liberty because of stupidity is not wise
Unlike the airwaves or the highways, the Internet is not subject to government oversight. And even the specter of intervention can raise hackles among business leaders and technologists who see the Internet’s openness as crucial to its success as a platform for innovation. But the increasing frequency and severity of computer virus attacks — last month’s dual assault cost billions of dollars in lost productivity alone — may have muted the antiregulatory reflex. ‘Heck, despite being libertarian in nature, I’m all for a government crackdown in this area,’one frustrated Web user wrote in an online discussion about the recent virus attacks. ‘Obviously most home users are not going to know how to install a fire wall.’” (09/01/03)
The people who got affected were either stupid, ignorant or careless. The rest of us should not have our rights abridged because people can’t be bothered to learn how to protect themselves online. The internet is like anything else with protection: you either pay now (virus software, firewall or get a Mac) or you pay later. What is so hard to understand?
Via: Rational Review. Radley has a few words to say on the subject.
Comments are off for this postHow about turning in the terrorists?
National Muslim leaders at their largest convention of the year announced plans to register 1 million Muslim voters and make civil
rights a top issue in any endorsement of a presidential candidate. Upset by government scrutiny of their community in the domestic hunt for terrorists, they are mobilizing to express their anger at the polls. ‘A defining moment of Islam in America is approaching,’ said Nihad Awad, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a civil rights group based in Washington. ‘We cannot surrender our future and our destiny to hate in this country.’” (09/01/03)
Muslims in this country and the UK still don’t get it, do they? If they co-operated a bit more and did more to help with extremists they would get a bit more sympathy from the rest of us. How many more Americans need to die so that we don’t offend the sensibilites of this country’s Muslim population?
And as far as hate, the Islamic world has no right to lecture on the subject.
In the UK, Muslims in Scotland are doing their best to assimilate into their adoptive society. (Via: Tim)
In Canada Muslims are beating the crap out of people who pro-Israel bumper stickers on their cars. And it being Canada, the car driver was the aggressor.
Comments are off for this postNetherlands see sense on Medical Cannabis
The Netherlands on Monday became the worlds first country to make marijuana available as a prescription drug in pharmacies to treat cancer, HIV and multiple sclerosis patients, the Health Ministry said. The Netherlands is making the drug widely available to chronically ill patients amid pressure on countries like Britain, Canada, Australia and the United States to relax restrictions on its supply as a medicine.” (09/01/03)
Via: Rational Review
Comments are off for this postFor A Price, I Can Find Out Where He Lives.
It’d be a tossup as to which television network is more hostile to the war in Iraq, but allow me to nominate the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
However, tonight on the CBC National, a shocking confession.
If you have a Quick Time viewer installed, you can listen to it (the video won’t come up for some reason) here.
Or to spare you the time, I’ll just transcribe the last few seconds of the clip.
[on the assassination of Ayatollah Mohammed Baquir al-Hakim, and “Saddam’s” latest tape, disavowing responsibility]
Now of course Saddam Hussein himself ordered hundreds of Shia clerics tortured and executed for real or imagined opposition to his regime. But that hardly matters now.
Iraq has become a murky pool of intrigue and violence, and for the time being , the Iraqi people have just one [hint, hint] visible target to blame for their misery:
Neil MacDonald, CBC News, Washington.
Wow. Who’da thunk it? The Iraqis suspect Neil MacDonald, CBC News, Washington in the matter!
A good thing that Neil MacDonald, CBC News, Washington, is safely tucked away in DC, because it wouldn’t be pretty if the Shiites ever got their hands on Neil MacDonald, CBC News, Washington.
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