The computer ate my news feed. After several hours’ work on the tips, the Baron’s computer decided to wipe my screen. Thus, all the stories disappeared into the bowels of this monster. I can see them in Access, but I’ll be darned if I can figure out how to retrieve them.So apologies to TB, JD, Insubria, C. Cantoni, E.R.R., Steen, REP, Yorkshire Miner and all the rest of you who took the trouble to send in those stories. Perhaps they will be made to reappear when the Baron returns.
Meanwhile, here are a few highlights, totally denuded of their URLs. That’s probably a blogging flogging offense, but there you go. No pain spared in bringing you the news:
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Here’s one of the more intriguing stories that went missing: there’s some big confab going on at Lake Placid among top-ranking military leaders from a number of Western countries. No one knows what it’s about, though some are guessing it might be to consider the ramifications of the death ship sent from China and captured by the Somalis. A bunch of these leaders came in one plane, but the Italians arrived separately. The little airport in the Adirondacks is crawling with military guards.
In another story, Russia and America are purportedly in secret meetings also — about the same issue. However, one is supposed to demur that the information is coming from Debka. I don’t think they are meeting anywhere as accessible as Lake Placid, though.
And then there are the 3,700 terrorists currently living in Lebanon. Who would have thought there could be so few? That must reassure Israel no end.
In England, the church is suggesting that the Beatles replace that banal old Bible as a source of spiritual inspiration for today’s young. Yes, that’s what the priest called it: “banal”.
As you may have guessed, since oil prices are dropping, OPEC has rescheduled its regular meeting to an earlier date to discuss cutting production in order to keep the choke hold on the world economy. Meanwhile, America the brain-damaged still isn’t drilling for its own oil or building nuclear power plants. The only thing to be said for the US is its refusal to sign the Kyoto blackmail. Go enjoy the lowered petrol prices while they last.
Let’s see…the Taliban killed a Western aid worker in Kabul. Supposedly she was proselytizing, though the real story seems to have been that she worked with the disabled. The Taliban reaction is understandable given that their vocation is creating the disabled.
Oh, and the Chinese are asking for help with some Muslim terrorists while at the same time they appear to be planting microchips in all our computers. These chips can call home whenever the Chinese bid them do so, proving once again that all God’s plagues aren’t crazed, sword-swishing, unemployed young Arab males. Some of them are paranoid Chinese nerds with big ideas.
A radio host in Dubai was fired for playing God in a live skit on the air. People objected to such blasphemy and he was promptly booted. His excuse? He was from South Africa and wasn’t aware of local sensibilities. The guy must live under a rock larger than the one I use.
Saudi Arabia now has about a thousand terrorists on trial. Yesterday it was seventy miscreants. The story from today doesn’t say how they came up so quickly with the other nine hundred or so prisoners.
Here’s a good one: Jordan is holding a regional conference on the problems of wife abuse by Middle Eastern men. There was nary a mention of the elephant in the room: the Koran. As long as they insist on following the program, wife abuse will continue unabated, but these showy conferences allow everyone involved to feel good about “doing something” for battered women.
A request: does anyone have access to some good news out there? Surely there is some? Please share.
5 comments:
That Jordanian conference isn't about wife abuse as a Westerner would understand it, though I have no doubt they wish Westerners to take that interpretation. The Koran, after all, sanctifies abusing your wife. It's about the problem of beating your wife so badly that the injuries are publicly visible. Things a Westerner would find repugnant are A-OK in Islam, so long as they're done behind closed doors.
"A request: does anyone have access to some good news out there? Surely there is some? Please share."
Well, Dymphna, I found one at Snaphanen.dk. It looks like Mo and the Mountain has got a medium. Maybe they will now be able to sort out all their controversies in a peaceful manner. Thats one less conflict for the world to worry about:
http://snaphanen.dk/upload/2008/10/striphandler.gif
"So apologies to TB, JD, Insubria, C. Cantoni, E.R.R., Steen, REP, Yorkshire Miner and all the rest of you who took the trouble to send in those stories."
Don't think about it. Your account of yesterdays absurdities is much more fun. What about making it your daily coloumn? Then all the european GOV-readers could start their day with a good laugh!
LAKE PLACID
Top world military leaders meet -- Published October 21, 2008 09:28 am
Some of the most powerful military commanders in the world met in Lake Placid over the weekend. Speculation was rife after a C-32, the military equivalent to a Boeing 757 airliner, touched down Friday at the Adirondack Regional Airport in Lake Clear. The 155-foot-long jumbo jet, which is used as Air Force 2 when the vice president is aboard, was emblazoned with “United States of America” on the side and parked on the eastern edge of the airport.
- Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff and military leaders from several countries discuss Afghanistan and o t h e r i s s u e s.
http://tinyurl.com/57zsd6
Microsoft black screening XP users all over China
Beijing (China) - Microsoft has come under significant criticism in China following the scheduled release of a new version of their Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) tool this past Monday. Making good on an August warning, the new version changed their stance on piracy and now affects the desktop environment in versions of Windows Microsoft believes are pirated. Users experience constant nag messages and a black desktop background after 60 minutes of use if WGA cannot authenticate Windows. At least one lawyer believes Microsoft's actions are illegal, while other software agencies believe Microsoft isn't targeting the pirates, but rather victims of what appears to be well established piracy rings.
[Some of the money lines]
Beijing lawyer, Dong Zhengwei, wrote in China Daily that Microsoft could be engaging in illegal activity under Chinese Law. He states, "[What Microsoft has done] will cause serious functional damage to users' computers and, according to China's Criminal Law, the company can stand accused of breaching and hacking into computer systems of Chinese ... [Microsoft is] the biggest hacker in China with its intrusion into users' computer systems without their agreement or any judicial authority."
[Hahahahahahahahaha!!! That’s rich! Microsoft is the “biggest hacker”. Hoo boy! Try telling that to the World Bank. China continues to be the source of a huge number of major hacking assaults on Western commercial and government installations. In view of how carefully China’s government monitors the Internet, it is doubtful in the extreme that the Politburo is unaware of these activities and who the actual perpetrators are. We won’t even go into how the government participates in what amounts to institutionalized theft of intellectual property and software in general.]
Dong believes that what Microsoft has done is illegal under Chinese law because many users purchased what they believed to be legitimate copies of Microsoft products - including operating systems. They are only now finding out they were victims of a complex and massive piracy ring.
[The only way these consumers could be victims is if they paid full price to the pirates. If someone is going to pay full price, why don’t they just buy their software at a reputable store and play it safe? This “users-as-victims” hooey doesn’t wash.]
Dong states the high cost of Microsoft products is a key factor in the large percentage of piracy. According to one source, when launched Microsoft Vista Home full, for example, sold for the equivalent of $310 in China compared to only $159 in the U.S.
[Maybe Microsoft is trying to make up for the piracy-related losses that China causes them around the world.]
Dymphna, you are too funny! You seriously ought to do the news feed more often--your way of writing what the stories are about makes me laugh.
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