memory of the alps

rainy day library

Islington Central Library, Holloway Road from my window with weeds growing in the foreground.

St Pancras Station Wi Fi censors political websites London UK

Major International Transport Hub Censors Political Websites


Paul Joseph Watson
Prison Planet
Monday, August 4, 2008

While establishment media outlets in the UK spent most of last week reporting on China’s censorship of political websites in anticipation of the Olympic games, they ignored the fact that London’s St. Pancras International, one of the biggest transport hubs in the west, has already implemented stringent filters that block users of their wi-fi service from accessing even mildly political websites.

Traveling through St. Pancras in order to board the Eurostar on my way to Switzerland, I had an extra couple of hours that I thought I would fill by checking in on some of my favorite alternative news websites.

Upon clicking on my favorites menu and selecting prison planet.com, I was quickly met with a white screen and bold black text informing me that the website in question was blocked and could not be accessed.

Was this some kind of a technical error? No, as I was soon to discover that all websites affiliated with Alex Jones are blocked in St. Pancras.

Not only that, but even far milder left-leaning commentary websites like thinkprogress.org were on the same blacklist. In fact, every non-mainstream news website was inaccessible.

By the way, when I visited Communist China last summer, which filters every website through a government blacklist, prison planet.com was not blocked and neither were any other English language alternative news websites.

Internet censorship of alternative news websites is worse in London than it is in Communist China. The hypocrisy was painfully evident as I sat reading newspaper headlines about how evil China is for censoring anti-government material while London’s biggest transport network, which recently underwent a £300 million regeneration, did exactly the same thing with not so much of a peep out of London’s broadsheets or tabloids.

St. Pancras connects to Kings Cross station and the London Underground. Perhaps it was our exposé of the fraud of the official story behind the 2005 London bombings that irked the censors, yet there is little explanation for also blocking a website like thinkprogress.org, which doesn’t even cover UK-related issues.

This is another precursor to Internet 2, where only government-approved websites that have obtained permission by means of an accepted registration application are allowed to be seen by web users.

It’s also a stark reminder about how our media has diverted all attention concerning Internet censorship towards what is happening in China when the exact same control measures are being put in place right here at home.

anthrax suspicions

If you think the suicide of the man accused of the anthrax plot smells fishy
then read this article

Dr. Bruce Ivins, Ms. Jean Duley, and the FBI’s “Court Document”

and this one

NYT Changes Anthrax Story…As I Was Reading It!

this is rotten mackerel and prawns left in a binliner in the sun kind of fishy...

inevitable climate change

"from guardian comment is free"

Ask yourself what politicians represent in human society. The answer is unmitigated growth in the economy as this feeds their innate lust for power. The EU is a small example of politicians coming together to create an entity which is economically bigger that other states to hence increase their relative power to other states in the world.

To do anything meaningful about climate change would mean cutting back on fossil fuel use. Your economy would suffer due to extra costs and not be competitive with others that don't cut back. Even if 90% of the public want politicians to control climate change nothing will be done. The real clients of politicians are companies not the public and companies will never OK anything that restricts their competitiveness or profits compared with foreign companies. As example the EU will not be passing any regulations any time soon which place EU car manufacturers in a poor position in the world.

The reality is there is no body with any power in society that can offer more that a token of control of climate change. The lack of a mechanism means we will burn all the fossil fuel we can lay our hands on as quickly as we can get it out of the ground, price permitting. Even if this means that long term humans have no future nothing will be done. There is no monetary value that can be placed on balance sheets throughout the planet for the death of the human race. i.e. it's irrelevant whether the human race survives or not.

Fascist Pigs!!

The bloody battle of Genoa

When 200,000 anti-globalisation protesters converged on the Italian city hosting the G8 summit in 2001, all but a handful came to demonstrate peacefully. Instead, many were beaten to a pulp by seemingly out-of-control riot police. But was there something more sinister at play? And will the victims ever see proper justice? Nick Davies reports

Brown's new human rights initiative

alien baby

Lupo Pensuite - The Greatest Free Download Ever!!

This download has blown my mind.
It is a collection of standalone portable freeware apps,
lovingly crafted into a nicely arranged nested menu operated package that runs with one click.
Install this on your usb stick and run it on any xp or vista computer.
Great for work where installation is blocked.

Check out the homepage for more details and a download link.

Ask the PM - You Tube Gordon Brown special

Gordon Brown has called on British users of internet video
channel Youtube to ask him questions. Kind of like Prime Ministers Question Time but for youtubers...

So I've made this response. I can't put it to him as it goes against his rules.
Apologies for the sound - the sound card on this laptop is awful.

The Ultimate Old School Class of 85 Hip Hop Collection

Courtesy of the blog linked to in the title.
This music got me into listening to late night radio
when I was about 14. I listened to Mike Allen on Capital Radio on
Friday nights then I found Dave Pearce on Radio London.
But I still preferred Mike Allen.
Anyway it was listening to these shows that eventually led
to me discovering John Peel show and Andy Kershaw.

The Hip Hop started to make way for a whole world and history of music.
But I still have a soft spot for this sound.
Check it out here.

The Roof Is On Fire - Rock Master Scott And The Dynamic Three
Funkbox 2 - The Masterdon Committee
Rapp Will Never Die - MC Shy-D
King Kut (f. DJ Cheese) - Word Of Mouth
Def Jam - Jazzy Jay
Itchin' For A Scratch - Force M.D.'s
Bite This (Long Version) - Roxanne Shanté
Bite It - UTFO
Brooklyn's In the House - Cutmaster D.C.
Triple Threat (Vocal) - Z-3 MC's
(Nothing Serious) Just Buggin' - Whistle
The Show - Doug E. Fresh & The Get Fresh Crew
Big Mouth - Whodini
Larry's Dance Theme (Tribute To The Electric Boogiers) - Grandmaster Flash
Beat Of The Street (f. Fresh Gordon) - Choice MC's
Rock The Bells - LL Cool J
P.S.K. What Does It Mean? - Schoolly D
King Of Rock - Run DMC
The Home Of Hip Hop - Grandmixer D. ST.
Marley Marl Scratch (f. MC Shan) - Marley Marl
Just Say Stet - Stetsasonic
Breakdown (12" Version) - T La Rock
Needle To The Groove - Mantronix
Fresh Is The Word - Mantronix
Nightmares - Dana Dane
Bust This Rhyme - MC Chill
If I Ruled The World - Kurtis Blow
The Fat Boys Are Back - Fat Boys
You Ain't Fresh (Morning Dew Mix) - Boogie Boys
Batterram - Toddy Tee
Freshest Rhymes In The World (Vocal) - Dr. Jeckyll & Mr. Hyde
Dangerous - LL Cool J
I Can't Live Without My Radio - LL Cool J
Take Your Radio - Steady B
Together Forever (Krush Groove 4) (Live At Hollis Park '84) - Run DMC

the eton boys

shards - d jaxes eno

following on from two posts back and the
magic mountain soundtrack here is
mister world peace 2020 jaxing to the same piece of music.
Don't know what jaxing is? neither did I until five minutes ago.
anyway click on this link to hear d jax to eno.

comment on bears credit crunch disaster

GolemXIV

March 16, 2008 11:42 AM
I love this phrase people keep using - crisis of liquidity. It isn't. It's actually a crisis of SOLVENCY. The banks and brokers are largely insolvent.
Don't take my word for it. Ask anyone who trades in this stuff day to day. Below is what they will tell you.
A liquidity crisis is when you have lots of money but unfortunately, in the short term, it's all tied up and you can't lay your hands on it just now. That's liquidity.
If that was the case the US the banks have had plenty of time to sell their assets and get their hands on the liquid money. Why haven't they? Answer - they can't sell these assets because everyone trading day to day knows they are not worth even a fraction of what the banks say they are worth. Even grade A corporate paper is trading at 60 - 70 points on the dollar. When the journalists say 'the banks won't lend to each other' that's at best a half truth. The whole truth is that none of the banks and brokers will accept as payment any of the 'assets' they all hold. What is this stuff they all have and none of them will accept? Debt backed paper. They stuff they have been creating and trading in for the last decade.
The brokers and banks are suffering 'a liquidity crisis' because no one will buy their assets. And worse, the banks are reluctant to even bring these paper assets to market. Why? Because if they did they would have to 'mark them to market' - ie let the market decide what they were really worth. They CANNOT mark to market. Because the whole deal is that their solvency depends on everyone believing the assets are worth what they claim they are worth.
Why are their assets not worth what they say they are?
Banks and brokers used to trade in money - dollars. For a decade they have been creating and trading in their own unofficial and unregulated paper money.
How can you trade mortgagees like money? Simple - a dollar says 'I promise to pay the bearer...' The 'I' in that case is the Federal Government. A mortgage says 'Joe Bloggs promises to pay the bearer', the value of his mortgage. Difference is Joe Bloggs might default and not pay, leaving you with a worthless bit of paper.
And that is the sub prime crisis. Who is holding all this worthless paper money ? The banks and brokers!
And it gets much, much worse. The banks and brokers took this dodgy money and leveraged or geared it. What does that mean?
Banks and brokers are only required to hold a fraction in 'assets' of the amount they lend out or spend. Which means that they can spend 30 to 40 times the value of the actual assets they have in the vault. And remember these assets aren't even worth the value printed on them.
What does this leveraging mean in ordinary terms?
Imagine the bank's vault-- inside are gleaming bars of gold. Their 'assets'. They say, 'there you are. we're solvent. Look at all those solid gold assets'. But what leveraging means is that over the years the banks and brokers have been adding tin to the gold. They won't bring this 'gold' to market to sell because if they did the buyer would scratch the surface and find the gold is wafer thin and underneath its worthless tin. A thin veneer of assets that really are worth their weight in gold wrapped over a brick of worthless promises to pay mortgages made by people who have no ability to ever pay.
It's a solvency crisis. The banks are sitting on mountains of worthless tin 'assets'. So this is why actions taken by the FED and the BoE have not worked. The FED can lend them as many billions of Fed backed bonds as they want. The point is the banks and brokers don't have any 'assets' in their vaults with which to pay back those loans.
In the end either the banks and brokers have to bring out the worthless 'assets' and dump them - revealing the fact they have no money - they're insolvent. OR the Fed, the BoE and the ECB will agree to buy this worthless s***, bailing them out so they can carry on being rich and we, the tax payers will have footed the entire cost of their greed.
Have a nice day.

Brian Eno - An Ending (Ascent) - last fm comments

click on this link to listen

when I reached the highest point climbing in the alps I would smoke a cigarette and
listen to this piece of music - amazing - it became my theme for the journey.
at night before sleep overwhelmed my tired body and as strange mountain hallucinations came , I would listen to this music





Thank you Chataya,it is great !

This is immense!

This song is so good, it was even used as the foundation for a track called 'Hear Me Out' by 'Frou Frou'.

When this song plays at the end of Traffic, it's . . . ethereal. & gorgeous.

Music gets no better than this.

Yeah, nobody knows you...

I think its safe to say that birth, life, love, death, and afterlife are all contained here.

Wow! this is nice like a commercial on LAST-TV

wow! this is nice

sometimes, this is the only song left fit for listening

still makes me shiver every time a listen...... an absolute classic

Absolutely gorgeous.

sound of becoming a spirit

...beautiful...

Could last forever

Wow! Perfect track.

but only because you lose your hearing

A great track, one that gets better as you get older

Maybe not. It feel like you are in the space between vacuum and the infinite.

great track and great video too!

flickering eye

I finally changed the photos
link at the top of the page here
to go to my flickr page,
check it out y'all.

Crap Art

Hi!

Crap Art is a new art movement. We're still working out our manifesto, but here are a few of our principles:

1. The practice of art should be primarily explorative, and the creation of art should be discovery rather than invention.

2. Popularly held views about what constitutes art, or what constitutes artistic talent, are elitist and discourage other forms of art and artistic talent from being explored or utilized.

3. The creation of art is more important than its consumption. Therefore, aesthetics (except in the biased eye/ear of the creator) are overrated as a judgment of the worth of art.

4. That which is created rapidly and in high quantities contains more variety and is more likely to be successful/innovative. Applying the 80%/20% "rule": If only 20% of the effort is needed to get 80% of the quality, then spending by spending only 20% of the effort, we can create five times as many artifacts at 80% quality!

---=++++=---

dweller: I can totally relate to this concept.
I am a crap artist myself and have been ever since a
wee child. Spontaneous instant creation. Hard and fast.
Thats how we likes it.

Street Sounds

I hear those drunk boymen
whistle their bath stains
along by the taxi arcade
crew mouth and the Cabbage Hall
at red light ticking over.
I lie awake as left to right
traffic passes
Drunk boys help me sleep
Heavy goods and bus brakes
Keep me up.

Human expression no matter how
wild is a comfort to me
up here safe on high.
The moving of traffic is like a
threat, a commentary, a judgement.
They stake their noisy claim that this
is a place for movement, not for rest,
not even drunken shouting at the kebab shop.
Not for church bells on wednesday night.
Not for Islington in Bloom.
The relentless filthy draughts that sweep over the
carefully laid hanging baskets of flowers
soon leave them dead and sooted.

No the traffic is telling me I am
in the wrong place. It doesn't want me
to lie in my bed feeling the magical
stillness of the night that all my
ancestors did.
No the traffic has greater rights than
me in this location.
If one of my flatmate's push-up bra
inserts blew out of the window and landed
on a windshield causing a car to
knock down a pedestrian.
Then that would be a gift.
For the police tape would halt those beasts
for a while.

I long for peaceful nights.
They are sacred now to me.
I once took them for granted.
Now a holiday means rest from
noise as well as work.
This can't go on.

the climax (more triplets)

Again we tread the boreds.
fellow ship of the wholly toast.
Cram merry juice and swallow it down.

The deep black hollow
my anchor and chain
don't feel the pull from above

glass is opaque
major flaws
never never land

gangrene elbow
youngsters old stony
beeblebrox smile

hermit's chancer
gets fed and the dog
lucky devil

my neck up to it in again
dirty turd pipe cleaners
lemon zest rubber gloves

gunk tallow lit
oven ship ahoy
slab murder toad

ghostie laddie
crispy nightie
flithy drinkie

plates and scones
zebra kojak
armpit lane

deirdre's divorce
ken's makeup secret
ginger cat sleeps

bye hallo
forced to by beatles
onion breath in work van

skin diseases
nurse's hand squeezes
tramp's delight

perfume seller
gorgeous frog
I'm one of you too

goodnight matrix
bourne again
mornings of the lord

dew drops
scally slippers
donkey dipper

fudge it up
nag it dead
right old state

you need glassed
hemlock got her in
raised profiles

skibbly dibbly dob
the mouse is chop chop chop
all the way home....

Ludwig - Hiccups (1977)

Back in the 1970s I used to watch this odd cartoon.
It was one of those animations that I imagined was made in some
eastern European country and had an English narrators voice dubbed on to it.

Very sweet, surreal and seventies.
Take a look.