Monthly Archives: May 2006

I scarcely dare mention Mark Steyn

Posted on May 15, 2006 by acb

But this tale of apparent plagiarism is very funny. On the other hand, when so much of political discourse consists of repeating “talking points”, I can see that this kind of thing might be easy. Continue reading →

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Read and weep

Posted on May 14, 2006 by acb

The Diebold voting machines used in at least three states in the USA — California, Pennsylvania and Iowa — boot Windows CE off PCMCIA cards, in slots accessible to anyone with three minutes and a phillips screwdriver. They will also … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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The roots of subservience

Posted on May 13, 2006 by acb

Very long, and characteristically thoughtful piece from Billmon on the NSA surveillance state, which contains one fresh point that I think is important, and not widely made. Americans put up with a degree of interference and minute control from their … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in War | 2 Comments

Pareidolia notes

Posted on May 13, 2006 by acb

Some of you may have wondered what happened to the grilled cheese sandwich on which appeared an image of the Virgin Mary some years back It was auctioned on Ebay for $28,000 and then seemed to vanish. If you had … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Journalism | 1 Comment

Friday pike blogging

Posted on May 12, 2006 by acb

I was down on the river yesterday afternoon and wandered further down than I have ever gone before, through a field of "setaside", which means that the EU pays farmers to leave it wholly wild. The result is mostly nettles, … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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Getting paid

Posted on May 11, 2006 by acb

OK — so I travel to the European Patent Office in Munich to do a day’s unpaid consultancy. They put me up for two nights in a nice hotel, and I get to meet some interesting people. It seems a … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Blather | 7 Comments

Told you so

Posted on May 10, 2006 by acb

Now that Bush and Blair are racing each other to the bottom of the polls, I remembered one of the most unpopular things I ever wrote, a Worm’s Eye column nearly two years old today. I stole one of the … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in War | 4 Comments

Reasons to love the BBC

Posted on May 9, 2006 by acb

Their monitoring service, from which I found this report of activities in Uzbekistan: Excerpt from report by Uzbek Namangan TV on 29 April [Presenter] Various measures to increase the effectiveness of work aimed at increasing people’s spirituality are being taken … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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the world’s wierdest search engine

Posted on May 8, 2006 by acb

I have been playing with the Encyclopaedia Britannica which is available online to the ratepayers of Essex, along with a phenomenal number of other goodies, such as the OED, much of the Lexis-Nexis newspaper database, the DNB, and the Grove … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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Old time religion

Posted on May 8, 2006 by acb

My thanks to Simon Sarmiento, who sent me this nugget from the South African Press. Bishop Joseph Tanzwani, commonly known as Ramafamba, of Makonde village, is alleged to have taken part in the ritual murder case of a promising soccer … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in God | 1 Comment