I have a huge pile of photo's from my travels, which I hope to post soon.

More to come. Soon. Really.

On another note, some parts of Britain have had the heaviest rainfalls ever recorded.

I'd like to see the whole thing. This has has quite a bit chopped out, but still well worth a look.

3 hours till Spurs v Sunderland. Beaten by Arsenal 3-0 last week. Here's hoping for a better performance.

I plan to do a few more TV reviews in the coming weeks, time permitting.

Coles backs down over 'racist ' biscuit - The Age 27/10/09

Supermarket giant Coles will change the name of an in-house brand of biscuits amid claims it is racist.

Coles Spokesman Jim Cooper said the name of the "You'll Love Coles" brand of chocolate and vanilla biscuits, called Creole Creams, will be changed as part of the company-wide rebranding of Coles products.

The name change comes on the back of claims of racism, with the word Creole used to describe a person of mixed European and African ancestry.

"The word Creole comes from a period when people's humanity was measured by the amount of white blood they had in their bloodstream. This is the same kind of thought that underpinned horrific regimes like the Nazis," Sam Watson, the deputy director of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies Unit at the University of Queensland, told brisbanetimes.com.au yesterday.

Is the word 'Creole' really that offensive? It clearly does refer to race, or more specifically skin colour, but is it derogatory? Is this evidence of political correctness overstepping the mark? Personally I don't see what the fuss is about and by being pedantic does more harm to race relations than good.

'What the f---?' Aussie arrested in Dubai after swearing at policeman - The Age 26/10/09

When Sun McKay was manhandled by a stranger in the arrivals hall at Dubai International Airport, he did what many young Australians would do. He swore.

"This guy in a blue shirt grabbed my wrist quite hard, pulled me towards him and started yelling at me in Arabic, and I just said: 'What the f---?'" Mr McKay said.

Unbeknown to Mr McKay, the man was a plainclothes airport policeman, and the 32-year-old private security consultant had just committed a crime.

Almost a month later, with his passport confiscated, Mr McKay remains stranded in the Emirate awaiting trial on charges of insulting and using inappropriate language to a police officer.

Mr McKay has already spent 15,000 dirham ($4500) on legal fees, with no end in sight.

Good grief. Maybe he should have tried a bribe. That normally works in countries as corrupt as Saudi Arabia.

Australian oil spill 'contaminating one of world's richest marine wildernesses' - The Guardian 23/10/09

Conservationists warned yesterday that one of Australia's worst off-shore oil spills was killing wildlife and "massively contaminating" one of the world's last great wildnernesses. Amid a fourth attempt to plug the 64-day-old leak at the Montara drilling rig, the slick – which has already spread over an area 10 times the size of London – continued to expand at the rate of 300 barrels of oil a day in an area of the Timor Sea famed for its marine reserves and coral.

A survey by the Worldwide Fund for Nature found dolphins, migratory sea birds, sea snakes and marine turtles were exposed to toxins. The slick has killed hundreds, possibly thousands, of animals.

Since August 21 when there was an accident at the Montara offshore drilling rig's well head, around 403,000 litres of oil have been pumped into the Timor Sea. The rig is owned by the Thai oil company PTTEP.

Why am I reading about this a British publication, you may wonder. Because the Australian media seems not to be interested in this catastrophe. In fact, the aussie media is hardly reporting on it and seem mostly content to reprint AAP , Reuters or indeed the above article on the subject. What of the company that cant seem to plug the leak? They have been recently reward with new licences. This is an absolute outrage and warrants a full investigation of criminal negligence.

Lets all hope the fifth try at plugging the leak is successful.

]]> http://thegenxray.com/blog/2009/10/26/wwf-says-oil-slick-massively-contaminating-fauna-in-the-timor-sea/feed/ 0 http://thegenxray.com/blog/2009/10/26/uk-police-spotter-card-leaked/ http://thegenxray.com/blog/2009/10/26/uk-police-spotter-card-leaked/#comments Mon, 26 Oct 2009 02:19:02 +0000 Mark http://thegenxray.com/blog/?p=226

Spotter cards: What they look like and how they work - The Guardian 25/10/09

This kind of highly confidential document – pictured above – is rarely seen by the public.

These so-called "spotter cards" are issued by police to identify individuals they consider to be potential troublemakers because they have appeared at a number of demonstrations.

The photographs are drawn from police intelligence files. This card was apparently dropped at a demonstration against Britain's largest arms fair in 2005.

Golly. Wouldn't want to be the cop that lost this.

Are religious people this desperate for miracles to fortify their faith? Not all fortunately. I have read a number of Islamic blogs that express scepticism.  Well I suppose it's a bit more convincing than a grilled cheese Madonna. A possible non-supernatural explanation here.

Controversy and chaos but BBC is delighted by BNP leader's 'humiliation' - The Times 23/10/09

The BBC said that it was delighted with the outcome of Question Time last night, insisting that the decision to change the format of the show to focus almost entirely upon Nick Griffin had humiliated the British National Party leader.

But the reaction from viewers suggested that the gamble had not been a complete success, with many of the audience writing on internet messageboards that they felt the programme was one-sided and allowed Mr Griffin to claim that he had been victimised.

Four out of the five questions the panel were asked directly related to the BNP, with the fifth focusing on Jan Moir, the Daily Mail columnist, who attracted more than 20,000 complaints for a piece about Stephen Gately, the deceased Boyzone singer.

For crying out loud, what are the BBC playing at? This thing reeks of a political stunt.

I managed to view the whole program and it was pretty much an EPIC FAIL on all counts. It mostly amounted to politicians waffling on deceptively about their own agenda's while beating up on Griffin at every opportunity. The audience was packed to the rafters with anti-BNCers who looked around angrily whenever anyone clapped Griffin.

The only one who actually tried to take Griffin to task on rational grounds was Bonnie Greer, the black woman strategically placed next to Griffin and, ironically,  the only non-politician on the panel.

Griffin presented himself as moderate and patriotic and even came up with a good point on immigration, but was predictably schtum on the BNCs own policies. Interestingly, and rather unconvincingly, he declared that he was no longer a holocaust denier based on some military transmissions he has only just heard about.

In the end, the only ones humiliated are the British public. If this is the quality of debate in Britain, its no wonder the BNC is getting votes.

Dallas police chief: Dozens of tickets issued for not speaking English - Dallas Morning News 24/10/09

Dallas Police Chief David Kunkle said this afternoon that his officers have written at least 39 citations to people over the past three years for not speaking English.

Apologizing publicly to the city's Spanish-speaking community, the chief said all officers and supervisors involved will be investigated for dereliction of duty. All pending citations will be dismissed, and people who paid fines will be reimbursed.

"I was stunned that this would happen," Kunkle said at a news conference.

Good grief. Cant say I'm surprised though. I wonder what they do to people with Australian accents.

From The Guardian 23/10/09

In passionate exchanges on the BBC's flagship current affairs programme, a black member of the audience accused Griffin of "completely disgusting" behaviour as he was forced to explain why he had met a Ku Klux Klan leader and attacked Islam.

The BNP leader Nick Griffin was repeatedly pilloried and criticised on the BBC's Question Time tonight when he was dubbed the "Dr Strangelove" of British politics after attempting to claim the mantle of Winston Churchill and struggling to explain his denial of the Holocaust.

Hells bells, just let the guy speak. I congratulate the BBC for having the balls to have him on the show. I find most of what he has to say abhorrent but trying to silence him is an affront to free speech. Let him and all the racists speak up and challenge them on their ideas. I'm sure the guy must have at least one good idea.

Of course, beating the crap out of racist scum in a back alley does have its appeal, especially if you're the target of the malice.

From The Age 23/10/09

Australian customers will have to stump up almost double the US price for some versions of Microsoft's new Windows 7 operating system that arrived in Australian stores yesterday.

The company cited taxes, freight costs and currency fluctuations as key reasons that the retail price for full and upgrade versions of its software were substantially higher than in the US.

"We see the same questions being asked about most consumer electronics products," David McLean, Microsoft's regional director of entertainment and devices, said.

Taxes, freight costs and currency fluctuations? What a load of crap. The Aussie dollar is currently 92 US cents! Shipping? Are they using Haliburton to move the stuff? C'mon whats the deal here Microsoft?