EVERYTHING I SAY IS RIGHT
THE DEEP AND PROFOUND THOUGHTS OF CITIZEN STUART, MANCHESTER BASED LIBERTARIAN, TARGET SHOOTER AND SPACE ENTHUSIAST. EVERYTHING I SAY ON THIS BLOG IS MY OPINION, AND NOT NECESSARILY THAT OF THE LIBERTARIAN PARTY.
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FRIDAY NIGHT IS MUSIC NIGHT - BY ORDER!
Sorry about the light (OK non-existent) blogging lately. Don't worry, I've not died, I've just been busy. To make it up to you, and being as the great Patrick McGoohan has recently passed away prematurely at the age of 80, here are no less than six music videos inspired by his classic TV series "The Prisoner". I thought I'd start with the opening titles, which are among the best title sequences ever made IMIO:
Coming up next is "The Prisoner Remix" by G-Pilot:
This next song is one of my favourite pieces of Prisoner-inspired music, "Danse Macabre" by the brilliant Carme Morris:
Are you starting to feel creeped out yet? Fearful, edgy and uncertain of who is your friend and who is your enemy? Don't worry, you're not paranoid, that is actually the way the world works - they actually are all out to get you. Why don't you relax with Iron Maiden? This mellow song of there's is called (surprisingly) "The Prisoner":
Or if that's not quite your thing, how about this - "The Prisoner (Free Man Mix)" by MC Number 6:
Finally, here's another song by Carmel Morris - "I'll BCNU". I like Carmel Morriis - I bought her album "Another Number" in Portmeirion when I went to my first Prisoner convention, and I still play it pretty often. Enjoy:
I hope you enjoyed tonight's selection - although you're probably stuffed if you never got into the TV series. If you are into The Prisoner though, you might enjoy this online comic which I've just found out about. It looks promising. RIP Mr McGoohan. Be seeing you.
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HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Please note that "Happy New Year" is a wish, and not a legally binding guarantee. I thought it would be fun to have a look at my post from last year and see how well I did with my resolutions. Last year's post is reproduced below in bold, with comments added in italics: Happy New Year to both my readers. May all friends of freedom enjoy good health and prosperity (but watch out for the recession that's coming) I told you so. and may all enemies of freedom catch nasty skin diseases. Same thing goes for this year.
Failed on this one unfortunately. I started the year with what was supposed to be a permanent job, but I was made redundant at the end of January. I've been alternating periods of unemployment with temporary jobs ever since. Achieved, surprisingly. Some days I have as many as a couple of dozen readers. Not achieved through any increase in quality of my writing, I'm sure, more probably with my new political affiliations. Never got round to this - I did mean to make enquiries about learning quaterstaff fighting. Maybe next year, but I'll have to see what the job situation's like first. I can at least exercise a bit more at home.
Sorry, I failed on this one too. I tried my best to save the necessary money, but there's been too much going against me lately. I think the legal term is force majeur. 5) Have a nice holiday, preferably in a country where I can do a bit of pistol shooting. Holiday postponed, see above.
Succeeded, surprisingly. Only because I got a big tax rebate, but the new Command Module is in better condition than the old one.
I have been doing my level best. So you see last year didn't go completely to plan for me. It wasn't completely terrible though. Two good things happened which I didn't plan on. First was the emergence of the Libertarian Party. I never thought I'd find a political party I'd want to join and work for, but there you go. We're small but we're growing, and I'm convinced that we've got a better idea of how to turn this stricken country around than any branch of LibLabCon. Second, I started experimenting with making money online a few months ago. I'm not making big bread yet, but I am enjoying exercising the entrepreneurial side of my nature a bit. Who knows where that could lead? Here are my resolutions for 2009: 1) Earn more money in 2009 than I did in 2008 (difficult in a recession, but not impossible if I work both hard and smart). 2) Do whatever I can to support the Libertarian Party, and in particular to help it grow stronger in the North West. 3) Get a bit more exercise (I mean it this time). 4) Buy two new guns, in order to make up for missing out on buying one last year. Maybe a Remington 58 and a reasonable quality air rifle. 5) Settle at least one of my debts. 6) In support of Resolutions 1, 2, 4 and 5, get a job which will last more than a few weeks. My predictions for the new year: 1) The recession will get worse and will last at least into 2010. Pumping even more credit into the system is not the answer. Frankly there's not a lot that any government can do to make things easier, other than cutting taxes and government spending, as well as removing unnecessary over-regulation of business whenever possible. This is not happening. 2) There will be a General Election this year. Gordon Brown has to realise that it's going to be a long time before the economy improves, so he'll cut and run while he's still got at least half a chance of being re-elected. He's been throwing money around like there's no tomorrow in order to keep at least some support in the short term, but if he doesn't go for an election soon, his support is going to melt away. There's been recent speculation that he might go for an election in February. Nothing definite, but I have heard that the Labour Party have been buying up advertising space for that month. 3) Whenever the General Election is held, the Libertarian Party will be fielding one or more candidates. No, we won't sweep into Parliament overnight, but you've got to start somewhere. Jesus started with only twelve men - and we've got a lot more members than that already. OK, that's the heavy political and financial stuff finished with. I'll finish this post with a blast of U2 to help you clear the cobwebs. Have a happy and prosperous new year.
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DARE YOU MAKE A STAND?
In order to highlight just how stupid some of the laws passed by this control freak government are, my fellow Libertarian Party member Pagar has set up the website Make a Stand , which will enable you to put yourself on the wrong side of the law with only two clicks of your mouse button - and have a bit of fun in the process, at least if your mind works like mine. Do you dare click this link, knowing that it could put your name on a government "watch list"? Can you live with the thought of being hunted and hounded by anti-terrorist police for the rest of your life? Are you comfortable with the thought of sleeping with one eye open? Go on, click the link. You know you want to. |
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1968: FIRST TO THE MOON!
Forty years ago today, this happened:
The launch of Apollo 8, the first manned spacecraft to reach the Moon. The crew were Frank Borman, James A Lovell Jr and Willam A Anders. Apollo 8's mission was originally meant to be the first manned test flight of both the Lunar Module and the Command and Service Module (CSM) in Earth orbit, and would have included practicing rendezvous and docking and EVA procedures. As it turned out, the LM wasn't ready to fly yet, and the CIA had received intelligence that the soviets may be about to launch a manned Zond spacecraft around the Moon and back (neither side being ready for a landing at that point). So a decision was made to pre-empt this by launching a CSM to the Moon and back. Not only did this effectively win the Moon Race for the Americans, but it also provided the opportunity for a photo reconnaissance of future Apollo landing sites.
This was the first manned launch of the Saturn V - a previous unmanned test launch of the vehicle was less than 100% successful, so the mission wasn't without risks. But in those days people seemed to have been a bit more willing to take risks if they thought is was worthwhile, and this mission did end up being a complete success. The Apollo 8 crew became the first men to see the far side of the Moon with their own eyes, and the mission was a vital stepping stone towards the lunar landings that started the following year. Brave men, to spend several days locked up in a tiny capsule, surrounded by vacuum, and to travel further than anyone else had ever gone before, with no guarantee of a safe return.
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THE LEADER HAS SPOKEN!
Following on from the previous post about the failed attempt to impose a congestion charge on Greater Manchester, I did a search for local political blogs on the subject and found The Leader's Blog . This is the weblog of Councillor Richard Leese, Leader of Manchester City Council (hereinafter referred to as The Leader). For some reason unknown to me, instead of taking advantage of one of the many free blog hosting services that exist (like this one, for instance) The Leader has decided to make his blog (which is of course full of his personal political opinions) part of the official Manchester City Council website. No idea how much this is costing the innocent council tax payer, but is it really appropriate for a party political blog to be hosted on an official site? Not in my book. It's worth visiting though, just remember to stand to attention while you're reading The Leader's Blog. Shortly before the result of the referendum was announced, The Leader posted a blog entry on the subject entitled "White Van Man-v- The Future" - I assume by "White Van Man" The Leader means people who have to drive vans as part of their job, and therefore don't get much of a choice about where they go and at what time. The working class, in other words. In this post, The Leader claims not to have any idea what the outcome of the referendum would be - this would make him very out of touch if true, because I was never in any serious doubt. Out of all the people I've talked to about this, I've only met three who admitted that they thought congestion charging was a good idea. But apparently, they were right and the rest of us are enemies of the future. If only I'd known this before I voted! At least The Leader has shown me the error of my ways. I'll follow his blog more closely in future, so he can let me know what to think, instead of me having to work it out on my own. You should do the same - just remember to get down on your knees while you read The Leader's Blog. |
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THE COPS GET A NEW TOY
Greater Manchester Police are trying out a new handheld electronic gadget that checks people's fingerprints against a national database. According to the BBC story: "The unit will allow officers to see if people are wanted for any other crime in the country and within minutes, their identity can be established so officers can decide on the spot if any further action is needed." Surely the criterion for deciding if any action is to be taken is if the copper on the spot has reasonable grounds for believing that you've committed a crime? You know, the traditional way. Because the alternative is that some cop has stopped you in the street and wants to fingerprint you just on the offchance that you may have done something wrong - and that's not exactly the way they should be operating. Another quote from the website: "Anyone stopped will have to voluntarily agree for the device to be used." If I'm stopped without good reason, there's no way that I'm agreeing to this. Instead of wasting money on these Robocop gadgets that are only likely to alienate innocent members of the public, the police force should concentrate on proper community policing. If we changed over to a system of elected chief constables (which is Libertarian Party policy), I hope we'd have a bit less of this statist rubbish and a bit more common sense policing.
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