I have been a bit quiet the last few weeks or something I think, and for that I apologise to any (if there are indeed any) regular readers. Just I think my writing ideas have dried up a bit, not much left in the tank or whatever - I am sure it is just a phase though, and sometime soon fingers crossed, I will get new inspiration and the ideas will flow again.
The thing is though, that not much has happened this week in my personal life, and I think I am wiped out news-wise after all the commenting on the Katrina debacle. One news item to note this week was a British Labour delegate, who had been in the party for 57 years, having to leave the party conference after heckling Jack Straw, who was speaking in generalities about how positive the situation in Iraq was. No specific mention of Iraq all conference of course, because, as everyone knows, good news is no news - yes I am being sarcastic LOL.
And then Walter Wolfgang wasn't allowed back into the conference for a day because of the new British anti-terrorism laws. Apparently he was a threat to national security for saying what 56% of Britain thinks, that government policy in Iraq is rubbish. And what made it ironic surreal was that Mr Wolfgang had been German and in one of the concentration camps. Flashback sixty years shall we?
George Orwell's 1984 anyone? Doublethink good, war is peace LOL. I so need to read that book again... Oceania always being at war with the other continents, global war on terror anyone? Wow, that link leads to an entire online version of the book - methinks I will re-read it on the computer perhaps - because, of course, Big Brother can look up my IP and see what I'm reading LOL, or if I used eftpos to buy it at the store, they would know my buying habits, or hmm I have to have personal ID to get it out of the library, or worst case scenario, when I get cash out of the bank, and then pass over notes to buy the book, they have the note serial numbers.
Anti-terrorism laws aren't that extreme yet, surely? Big Brother is watching us though, and surely anything that is still top secret would be much more advanced than what is already public. Although, going back to Katrina for a second, with a government like the one on display the week after the hurricane hit, would you trust their spy agencies to be any more competent (cf, September 11) - not sure whether that is a glass half full, half empty thought LOL.
The latest bird flu estimates, from the World Health Organisation no less, estimates a death toll somewhere between five to one hundred and fifty million when the next pandemic strikes. Whether it is H5N1 that mutates, or another similar mutation that finally cracks the human to human transmission route, those are scary figures. Of course, reading about the 1918/19 Spanish flu pandemic in my history class at high school was also scary.
Indonesia is the latest hot spot of H5N1 concerns, six dead, twenty other possible cases in hospitals at the moment. An 'extraordinary event' has been declared by the government, which means that people showing symptoms of bird flu could be forcibly sent to hospitals. Didn't the Steven King book, and subsequent mini-series, The Stand start out like that?
On the slightly positive side though, the Spanish flu pandemic started out in the last few months of World War One, whereas the just as virulent 1958 and 1967 Asian flu breakouts claimed 'only' a few million dead. The optimists, relative word in this case, are saying that perhaps for a pandemic to kill hundreds of millions, a huge event on the order of World War One needs to happen beforehand. Hmmph, that's if you're an optimist of course.
From 1984 -
'The telescreen received and transmitted simultaneously. Any sound that Winston made, above the level of a very low whisper, would be picked up by it, moreover, so long as he remained within the field of vision which the metal plaque commanded, he could be seen as well as heard. There was of course no way of knowing whether you were being watched at any given moment. How often, or on what system, the Thought Police plugged in on any individual wire was guesswork.'
CCTV via broadband internet anyone LOL?
I let the hairdresser do whatever he wanted to my hair last week, so I have it spiked up at the moment. Have got a lot of compliments about how good it looks, and how it suits me at work this week. Think I will keep it spiked up or swirled or whatever with the gel for maybe a few more months at least :)
Think I will leave it there for the moment, will post more later today I am sure.
Pauly
The thing is though, that not much has happened this week in my personal life, and I think I am wiped out news-wise after all the commenting on the Katrina debacle. One news item to note this week was a British Labour delegate, who had been in the party for 57 years, having to leave the party conference after heckling Jack Straw, who was speaking in generalities about how positive the situation in Iraq was. No specific mention of Iraq all conference of course, because, as everyone knows, good news is no news - yes I am being sarcastic LOL.
And then Walter Wolfgang wasn't allowed back into the conference for a day because of the new British anti-terrorism laws. Apparently he was a threat to national security for saying what 56% of Britain thinks, that government policy in Iraq is rubbish. And what made it ironic surreal was that Mr Wolfgang had been German and in one of the concentration camps. Flashback sixty years shall we?
George Orwell's 1984 anyone? Doublethink good, war is peace LOL. I so need to read that book again... Oceania always being at war with the other continents, global war on terror anyone? Wow, that link leads to an entire online version of the book - methinks I will re-read it on the computer perhaps - because, of course, Big Brother can look up my IP and see what I'm reading LOL, or if I used eftpos to buy it at the store, they would know my buying habits, or hmm I have to have personal ID to get it out of the library, or worst case scenario, when I get cash out of the bank, and then pass over notes to buy the book, they have the note serial numbers.
Anti-terrorism laws aren't that extreme yet, surely? Big Brother is watching us though, and surely anything that is still top secret would be much more advanced than what is already public. Although, going back to Katrina for a second, with a government like the one on display the week after the hurricane hit, would you trust their spy agencies to be any more competent (cf, September 11) - not sure whether that is a glass half full, half empty thought LOL.
The latest bird flu estimates, from the World Health Organisation no less, estimates a death toll somewhere between five to one hundred and fifty million when the next pandemic strikes. Whether it is H5N1 that mutates, or another similar mutation that finally cracks the human to human transmission route, those are scary figures. Of course, reading about the 1918/19 Spanish flu pandemic in my history class at high school was also scary.
Indonesia is the latest hot spot of H5N1 concerns, six dead, twenty other possible cases in hospitals at the moment. An 'extraordinary event' has been declared by the government, which means that people showing symptoms of bird flu could be forcibly sent to hospitals. Didn't the Steven King book, and subsequent mini-series, The Stand start out like that?
On the slightly positive side though, the Spanish flu pandemic started out in the last few months of World War One, whereas the just as virulent 1958 and 1967 Asian flu breakouts claimed 'only' a few million dead. The optimists, relative word in this case, are saying that perhaps for a pandemic to kill hundreds of millions, a huge event on the order of World War One needs to happen beforehand. Hmmph, that's if you're an optimist of course.
From 1984 -
'The telescreen received and transmitted simultaneously. Any sound that Winston made, above the level of a very low whisper, would be picked up by it, moreover, so long as he remained within the field of vision which the metal plaque commanded, he could be seen as well as heard. There was of course no way of knowing whether you were being watched at any given moment. How often, or on what system, the Thought Police plugged in on any individual wire was guesswork.'
CCTV via broadband internet anyone LOL?
I let the hairdresser do whatever he wanted to my hair last week, so I have it spiked up at the moment. Have got a lot of compliments about how good it looks, and how it suits me at work this week. Think I will keep it spiked up or swirled or whatever with the gel for maybe a few more months at least :)
Think I will leave it there for the moment, will post more later today I am sure.
Pauly
No comments:
Post a Comment