Dr Lee Rotherham has done an interview with Anyone But Ken laying out his plans for the city and the office of mayor. While he has many detractors; Lee seems to rising above the critics and showing himself to be a leading candidate for the Tory nod.

There is a site that allows Free Sports Betting Picks. Now I am not into Online Sports Betting but I understand lots of people are quite keen especially in the UK. I am absolutely useless at gambling, managing at one point to go the first 14 weeks of the UK national lottery without getting one number. However I know quite a few people who do rather well from sports betting including my friend Gideon. He seems to be able to pick winners quite often making himself a few extra schkels every week or two. I have to admire the fact he does well and never gets stupid with it.

It will probably shock a few of you but I am actually going to praise something this government has done. I think the new law on organ donation is a good one. It not longer allows family members to meddle in a person’s organ donor instructions. As someone who may soon be in need of an organ, or rather part of one, I am quite interested in this new development. Fortunately they have resisted the temptation to adopt the French system which basically rips organs out of a body if the state deems them needed. In France your organs are on loan to you throughout your life.

Now many of you might realise that I am moving out of the Central London and eventually a bit farther out than outer London where I am now. One thing I have always liked is wood laminate flooring rather than carpets; especially in places like the kitchen and the bathroom. Quite frankly I am not keen on carpet in any part of the house. Its a pain to get clean and I always spill on it…because lets face it I am a clutz.

My first born has a name that no one else has, he is a first, Abeus ( Abe E us ) it is a strong name, and as for getting along with other children his age, there is not a doubt in my mind he has friends. He gets along with other children, and is not picked on because of his name.

This is one of my favorites. It has everything, nice and compact. It’s got a bad name, which sounds like a combination or fragment of a normal one, spelled strangely, and emphasized poorly.

Plus, it has a mother who insists the child is unique, and then insists in a rather desperate tone that he isn’t a total social outcast, spurned by humanity and destined to live in a sewer in the bowels of Gotham City because of the badly spelled, poorly emphasized bad, bad name. Really, she acts like having friends is something you believe in, as an act of faith, as opposed to something you witness with your own eyes.

All this, and there’s a good bet the kid’s no more than 10, so she’s presumably watching him with her own eyes a good deal. Is she rationalizing the time the kids locked Abeus in the composting toilet as a friendly hazing incident?

(Reader Tom points out, and I can’t believe I missed it, that Abeus is an anagram of “abuse.”)

I spent way too much time today reading this site. It’s by a woman who harvests awful names that people are thinking of naming their kids off pregnancy-related bulletin boards and then makes snarky fun of them. I love it. *

• It might be pointed out that someone named “gnotalex” has little room to laugh at other people’s names.

In my defence, I would like to point out that at least it is the traditional spelling and not some new-fangled abomination like “gnotylex” or “knnnotalexx.”

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There is Poker TV on the web that is free to view. It features footage from The British Poker Open 2006 & the The World Speed Poker Open. There are also videos from pros like Howard Lederer & Devilfish that teach you how to play like them.

“Marxism is a perfect example of the chimeras that fueled the sixties. And it was probably the most potent one. Albeit, much of this Marxism would have been unrecognizable to Marx. It was Marxism watered down, Marxism spiked with LSD and Marxism adulterated with mystical food colouring. But it was Marxism nonetheless because the wildest hippie and the sternest member of the Politburo shared the same daydream, the daydream that underlies all Marxism: that a thing might somehow be worth other than what people will give for it. This is just not true. And any system that bases itself on such a will-o’-the-wisp is bound to fail.”

P.J O’Rourke, Give War a Chance.

It is ironic, really, that great economists of the “Austrian” school and others have expended a huge amount of ink debunking Marxism, and its foundation economic theory, the labour theory of value. And yet a humourous writer like O’Rouke shafts the whole, rotten body with one devastating paragraph.

Quite literally as a sewer line has burst/a sink-hole developed in the middle of the intersection in the heart of the Pimlico commercial area. It was flowing fast and furious.

Snide remarks/snappy lines appreciated in comments.

Head over there and make your suggestions.

VW is bringing back the Scirocco. Hrm, this is the car that we in Miami used to refer as the Shitrocco because it was so bad. Might be a good idea to think of another name.

www.spreadsheet-cad.com is the site for those wanting information on SolidWorks’ Application Programming Interface (API) and spreadsheet intergration. There are example, free models and of course there is a forum so you can discuss any questions you might have with others using the software. Its well laid out and rather user friendly; so if you have the need go check it out.

There is a new Storyblogging one on show for us all. Of course, there is a new BOMS. for this week. Tim has his Briblogger lot over at his place. There is a nice collection in this week’s COTV. Good job Lil Duck Duck!

was originally composed for three violins and basso continuo (a bass-chord combination like cello and harpsichord). Jeong-Hyun Lim, who’s only been playing for six years, manages to combine all of that into an electric guitar (with a bass-and-drum backing track) tour de force.

The first time I saw this I was impressed. The second time I saw it I was amazed.

You ordinarily can’t get those complex syncopations without using some variant of fingerpicking, i.e., using the fingers of the strumming hand to separately pluck and chord, while the thumb hammers out an independent bass line. But look at his right hand. He’s playing all of this with a pick. That’s dazzling technique.

The New York Times, which tracked him down, was “target=”new”>similarly impressed:

...it require[s] high-level mastery of a singularly demanding maneuver called sweep-picking.

Over and over the guitarists left hand articulated strings with barely perceptible movements, sounding and muting notes almost simultaneously, and playing complete arpeggios through a single stroke with his right hand.

The Times piece requires free registration, but it’s nothing too complicated: Just your real-or-fake name, a password, and country, if I recall correctly.

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This time its iNETTING.com Affiliate Program which offers several different ways to earn money from your site. You can merely have a search function on your site with a simple bit of HTML. They pay 60% of advert revenue from clicks as opposed to far less for other such programs. I have signed up for this service and you can find the search hole below my blog-roll on the left side.

The source is the SF Chronicle so no possible motive is mentioned. Not like members of the ROP have run groups of people down before in the US. Sad thing is that one person was killed .

Well a certain moose wants your vote!

I particularily like her bit on Taxes (now there is a shock) and that daft little box on your taxes asking if you want all of your refund or not. Her bit on Philosophy is funny as well. I rather like the fact she considers Nitzche’s inspiring Hitler as a “philosophical faux pas”. Her material on MySpace is pretty funny one has to admit. She is New York based and is also a blogger; which is a great reason to plug her. So check her out and enjoy a little bit of comedy in your day. If you are wondering why her site is named Jen is Famous it might because her last name is rather hard to pronouce…its Dziura. Butchery of her last name no doubt has some influence on her becoming a comediene in the first place.

Being sober on a bus is, like, totally different than being drunk on a bus.

Ozzy Osbourne. Yep, makes sense to me.

At a Red Sox game even! You have to listen to the whole thing; its hilarious. Humour at a baseball game? Who knew?

Those of us that are not keen on ‘fair trade’ products, knowing full well the whole idea is a load of bollocks, now have our own “sound” coffee. (Well not me as I think coffee is rather vile stuff.) You might have heard of it already but the folks at First Post have discovered that those of us who supported the Contras can now buy Contra Cofree. It is grown by former Contra fighters in Nicaragua.

Speaking of lefties; you must read the sneering article in the First Post. To say its biased against the Contras is an understatement. Mike Power mentions allegations of torture and murder against the Contras but fails to mention the genocide of Northern Nicaraguan blacks by the Sandinistas or the forced removal of people from their homes in Managua so that Cubans and East Germans could move in.

He naturally takes potshots at Ollie North calling him infamous. Funny thing I seem to remember lots of my friends both Nicraguan and non considered him a hero for arming the Contras against a Cuban supported tyranical regime.

It both amuses me and angers me, as I know people who lost everything including family members thanks to the Sandinistas, that ageing lefties still look on their days of supporting that group of left wing thugs with pride.

Ever wondered if all that stuff being flogged on your telly is any good? Have you ever considered getting something but were worried that you would get ripped off? Well there is a site that lists a top ten of infomercial products and has product reviews. It wont shock you to know two soduku products are in the top ten: one for your PC and the other a handheld version. The site is pretty well laid out and you don’t have to go hunting for the info you want. A nice touch is the fact you can see the TV product top ten on the front page. You can see what others are buying right away.

It seems that Charlie Kennedy wanted to tell the voters he was an alky and his party ixned the idea. He was in full piss-head mode before he was elected leader. What amuses me is that the Lib-Dems believed that it was not widely known that he was a complete drunkard. The long and the short of it is; the Lib-Dem leadership including its current leader covered up the fact that their leader was a complete drunk. Wonder what else they are not telling us about?

I don’t have a house yet and don’t even have a garden but when I have had to do gardening in the past at my parent’s house I would have appreciated this newHose Reel. At the touch of a button the device, that also houses the hose, reels in the hose so that you don’t have to that particular wet & messy task. With something like this in the back garden I would be far more willing to volunteer to water the plants. Needless to say I would seriously consider the product to give my parents in Maine for their back garden. It would be terribly useful for when my dear Vera needs a bath or more often needs to have the salt water washed off her coat before she goes inside.

what’s the hook, the twist
within this
verbose mystery?

afi

National Review Online:

Recruiting women into the organized feminist movement begins with convincing women that they are victims. Recruits are told that women suffer because of an oppressive societal structure the patriarchy which gives men power over women. Marriage lies at patriarchys core: Traditional marriage and family is a trap for women. Men are viewed with suspicion, potentially violent and looking to oppress. Salvation lies in an enlightened workplace, with generous paid maternity leave, free onsite daycare, and salaries that ignore factors like the number of hours you work or your job responsibilities, but ensure men and women are all paid the same.

Job-hunters with a degree in Women’s Studies might want to play down that fact. Personnel directors are beginning to understand that it is almost invariably the sign of at best a moron; at worst, an abrasive, combative, litigious moron.

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There is a new interesting Tantra site for all those of you interested in tantric sex and its related disciplines. There is quite a bit of free content including e-books and a picture gallery.

But white guilt’s most dangerous suppression is to keep from discussion the most conspicuous reality in the Middle East: that the Islamic world long ago fell out of history. Islamic extremism is the saber-rattling of an inferiority complex. America has done a good thing in launching democracy as a new ideal in this region. Here is the possibility-if still quite remote-for the Islamic world to seek power through contribution rather than through menace.

Shelby Steele, telling the truth like it is: radical Islamism is a loser-cult.

Columnist Janet Daley asks the pertinent question of how long can Tory leader David Cameron go on running on nothing more than “vote for me, I am a nice guy with children and everything?” schtick that he has employed for nearly a year:

The (very) small electoral advantage of this operation to present Mr Cameron as a pleasant family man with the right fashionable concerns is rather cancelled out by what the country sees as an essentially shallow approach to politics.

The sad truth is that I suspect that Cameron does not really know what he wants, other than to acquire power. Why anyone should be surprised is perhaps, surprising.

He is supportive of them and their army; even sending a message of support to a wounded soldier; a member of both the Kiss & Israeli Army. He was born in Haifa before emigrating to the US to make his fortune with Kiss. Good to see he still pulls for the land of his birth. Wonder what he would do if he ever met up with Mel Gibson…

VOIP is the latest thing discovered by the media and others to go on about. I assume that most of you, my loyal readers, are probably using Skype, iChat AV or any of the other VOIP services kicking around. I have been chatting to my parents in Maine over VOIP (despite the fact they are on 56k) since Apple released iChat AV quite a few years ago. In fact I probably chat more to my father now than I did at any time before; even when I was living at home. We can have a chat while I am doing other things and he is likewise. Its great to be able to with chat with people in other parts of the world and not having to stop what you are doing online or even move from your seat. Now if you don’t know what hell I am on about let me recomend this VoIP site. It will explain all you need to know in simple and concise language.

The intrusion of harassment law into office politics can only make matters worse by poisoning relationships. Already there have been calls for yet more zero-tolerance anti-harassment codes, more policing of e-mails, more awareness training. At this rate, we might all soon be scared to talk to workmates, unless reading from a script approved by company lawyers.

Schools were the first to expand the definition of bullying to include such everyday playground issues as being shouted at or excluded. Now it is being imported into the adult worlds of the City – and even the Armed Forces.

Mick Hume looks at the worrying trend of using the courts and government to regulate any and all manner of personal conduct. If you wonder who’s employing those otherwise unemployable psychology majors, wonder no more.

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