Random musings: The Brain

December 15th, 2009 § 1 comment § permalink

The brain. That big lump of goo that controls everything about us, that lump of cells that give us our thoughts, that makes sense of the world aruond us, that does things that we have no control over in ways that we don’t know about. It makes us who, and what, we are. Without it we are nothing.

So who’s clever bloody idea was it to put it where it is?

It sits right on top of our bodies, exposed to what ever falls out the sky onto it and ready to be smacked against the ground whenever we take a tumble. It is attached to the main part of us by the flimsiest of connections, the neck, which really doesn’t take a lot to crack or break resulting in the disconnection between the control room of the body and the rest of the machinery rendering us to various degrees of helplessness.

It is packaged inside a hard case that has no softening on the inside. Even when the case is left undamaged by a blow, the brain inside can still be damaged by being bounced against the sides of its’ abode.

It really is a ridiculous arrangement for such an important organ. Intelligent design? If it was, it was a Friday afternoon job.

Private Eye: Putting the boot in

December 15th, 2009 § 2 comments § permalink

Private Eye, we expect better of you than this.

There is a word for what has happened here. Hypocrisy, and it fucking stinks.

BBC silenced

December 15th, 2009 § 1 comment § permalink

Trafigura, the multinational oil company that got it lawyers, those most ethical of legal eagles Carter-Ruck, to put a super-injunction on the UK press and, inadvertantly or not, Parliament have threatened to sue the BBC about a Newsnight report.

That report has now gone. It’s been pulled. Below is the Newsnight report:


The is also a .pdf of the report too.

For more see Richard Wilson.

Please embed the videos (1, 2) and link to the .pdf on your site too.

/via D-Notice

Naomi Klein on Copenhagen

December 11th, 2009 § 2 comments § permalink

via Liberal Conspiracy

Selly Oaks Hospital refuse BNP Donation

December 9th, 2009 § 2 comments § permalink

I still haven’t had a proper reply to my email to Selly Oaks Hospital regarding the BNP donating the funds from the sale of their ‘Bring Our Troops Home’ stickers. I sent my original letter on 4th December and have only had one reply. That reply was…

I have replied to you

I originally thought Ms Fiona Alexander, the hospitals Director of Communications, had replied and I had accidentally deleted deleted it or was sent but didn’t get to me for some reason. Now I think it was childish joke.

Thanks Fiona, for taking me oh, so seriously. That made you look sooo clever.

Moving on, because, I’m bigger than that, I’m not the snarky idiot, it appears a *real* journalist got a reply. No, really I don’t mind. Selly Oaks has refused the donation…

a spokesman for Selly Oak Hospital, which houses the army’s Royal Centre for Defence Medicine, said: “The British National Party is selling merchandise with the promise of donating the proceeds to the Selly Oak Hospital burns unit.
“Neither the University Hospitals of Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust nor its official charity, UHB Charities, have been contacted by the BNP about this venture, and the Trust does not accept money from any political party,”

So. That’s a partial answer to the couple of questions in my email. That’ll do.

The BNP, typically, haven’t changed their article, or stuck up a new one, to let people know that the hospital won’t accept their donation, and are presumably still selling them under that guise (although I could be wrong).

The spin machine elsewhere has started to work. One of their top supporting blogs, Green Arrow, has a few words to say about it…

it seems strange that an hospital that is supposed to care for people would prefer them to suffer than accept money from a political party because they do not approve of its policies.

See what they did there? The hospital refused the donation not because the BNP are a political party but because the hospital doesn’t like it’s policies. The hospital though, doesn’t accept donations from any political party irrespective of policies.

I’m just surprised Selly Oaks hasn’t been called a communist organisation that’s part of the leftie conspiracy to replace the white man with in his own home.

Copenhagn on the blink

December 8th, 2009 § 3 comments § permalink

Well, it’s only day two of the Copenhagen Climate Conference, and already it all seems to be going wrong, a leaked draft treaty that concentrates power in the hands of the rich nations! Could you make this up?

It seems that the world leaders are failing us in a big way, but this is hardly unsurprising. In the last blog, I highlighted the fact that there are too many vested interests that stand to lose large amounts of money, and this is borne out by the attempt to push through a deal that will mean the developing world has to bear the brunt of emission reductions. Of course, this is the only logical thing to do for western big business, as it is obvious that their profits simply cannot exist alongside business practices that treat the climate with respect. Capitalism and the natural environment are simply not compatible.

The question is, where do we go from here? Just yesterday, we heard the conference chairperson, in the opening speach, telling us that this is the last best chance to make an agreement on cutting emissions, yet a day later the only agreement on the table will merely protect the profits of a tiny minority. That the fate of mankind is left in the hands of those who apparently represent us is a farce… We don’t just need disobedience, as Naomi Klein has called for, we need something that will revolutionise the way that we run the world economy…

Cycling for Climate Change

December 4th, 2009 § 0 comments § permalink

Two students, one a great friend of mine,  from the Institute of Social Studies in the Netherlands are cycling from the Hague to Copenhagen, raising awareness of the threat of climate change along the way. To make it more difficult, they are doing it on dutch granny bikes! They are relying on locals putting them up on the way, and are doing it on a shoe-string budget.

Follow them and send the messages of support!!

Their aim is to get to Copenhagen to for the demonstrations at the farce that is to be the latest Climate Change summit.

The UK send off demonstration is Saturday December 5th in London, meeting in Grovesnor Square at 12pm, to encircle Parliament later in the afternoon. We need to urge our governments to do more, but unfortunately it seems as though they are unable to fight the interests of the oil companies and big business.

This is unlikely to happen within the current economic system. The threat of reduced profits means that rich nations are unable to reach an agreement with the developing world on reducing emissions. Markets need to be protected, companies need to remain ‘competitive’, profits rates upheld, and the system needs to grow. And grow, and grow.

However, even the planet has limits – it cannot support limitless growth, but the system is unable to function without it, so we keep heading down the path of environmental destruction full speed ahead. We know how to stop it, but are we strong enough to put on the brakes?

BNP & Selly Oaks Hospital

December 4th, 2009 § 5 comments § permalink

I was going to post this once I got a reply, but I’m getting a bit impatient so I’m doing it now.

To: Fiona Alexander
From: Sim-O
Subject: BNP Donation

Good morning Ms Alexander,
The British National Party have launched a ‘Bring Our Troops Home’ sticker, declaring all the proceeds will be donated to Selly Oaks Hospital burns unit.

As you probably know, the BNP is a racist and divisive organisation that is “is wholly opposed to any form of racial integration between British and non-European peoples” and is “committed to stemming and reversing the tide of non-white immigration”.

‘Opposed to any form of racial integration’ sound strikingly similar to apartheid, doesn’t it?

‘Reversing the tide of non-white immigration’ is a term the BNP use for the deportation of people, British people to other countries. This would include, not just recent immigrants, but people born here, have had family in Britain for generations and which no other country has an obligation to take purely on the basis of the colour of the persons’ skin.

With this in mind, have the BNP informed you of their declared intention of donating money from the sale of these stickers to the Selly Oaks Hospital burns unit? If so, have they told you when that donation might happen?

What is your reaction? Do you have a statement?

Will the hospital be accepting the donation, which the BNP will no doubt use for political purposes?

Does the hospital have a policy regarding donations from political parties, as apposed to a campaigning local MP? If so, what is that policy?

Thank you for you time.

Sim-O
http://sim-o.me.uk

Update 09/12/09:
I got a reply.

Where am I?

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