Animals and Birds Vs Mirrors

This is nuts.

New Year - Old Troubles

Jeez. Things look pretty grim at the start of 2009 - and that's just the footage from Gaza. My grandad was telling me at the weekend that he was part of the British armed forces out that way when Israel was established post WWII. It sounds like it was ugly back then and that its been ugly ever since.

I don't pretend to understand all the complexities and subtleties of the situation out there. Violence seems to beget violence. Which makes it all the harder to forgive and much simpler to seek revenge for the bloodletting. Retaliation begets retaliation.

I was lucky enough to meet and chat with some really interesting Jewish Israelis on my trip to South America last year. One guy I spoke with at length told me a bit about his religion and about his time on the front-line in the Israeli army (he was part of the Lebanon invasion force in 2007 i think). It struck me that they do have a strong siege mentality - understandably so. Further, and i think I'm right here, a central belief to Judaism is the fact the only Jewish people can have a relationship with God. All others are inferior and can have no relationship with god and are barred from 'heaven'. I can only assume that this sense of superiority might well have some affect on decision making.

Anyway - I've just read an article by Robert Fisk of the Independent and found it interesting and thought provoking... tho I'm no closer to feeling certain on the issue. While it's debunking the myths Israel feed the media, I'm certain there's untold underhandedness from the Palestinians. Not that it makes any of it right.

Anyway... Back to the dick jokes in the next edition of very un-dude.

Word / phobia of the day:

Hexakosioihexekontahexaphobia

Make Sense of the Financial Meltdown Apocalypse

Head of International Monetary Fund: "I give about this much of a f***."

Ooo... It's all a bit scary isn't it. Financial institutions collapsing. Icelanders viewed as terrorists. Bankers sobbing into the steering wheels of their Ferraris.

See this here site to help make sense of it all: themoneymeltdown

Muxtape

This site is a bit good for listening to some random music and brings a tear to the eye for the lost golden age of the mixtape

www.muxtape.com

Big Fat Hairy Liar

It's all true. Over 6ft tall, too much cerveza and ham and cheese sandwiches while i was away, a big beard and no blog posts for some time.

Ok. So i've been back for a while and modern london life has meant that it does nearly feel like i never went away. the first few weeks back were great. seeing friends, family and broken social scene with muxloe were all great. Going into work was interesting - it felt like i was on an excursion into a western office. Now its all starting to be the routine again.

Not that being back is rubbish. I've been on a stag do for my good friend Jon Barnes and, as best man, i'm preparing a speech for his wedding. Also Beeches are back up and running which is great fun, tho 6 months without singing/shouting much means my voice is back to sounding like pat butcher.

This is surely very very wrong

When the Wildlife Conservation Society discovered a new species of titi monkey in 2004, it decided to forfeit its right to name the animal. Instead, the society auctioned off the naming rights to raise funds for the Bolivian national park where the monkey lives. To a mixture of chuckles and horror, the rights were bought by internet casino company Goldenpalace.com, who festooned the poor animal with their own name.

More details here...or look at the monkey's official website!