Not so Ancient

They call this "the Gherkin" Like as in a pickle...yep Brits are kooks. I'm working on the 27th floor doing a job and there's a balcony that goes around, right near the top.

Pile of Rocks

Here's that old Roman Wall that runs through the middle of downtown London. This is near the Towe where it really comes out of the ground.
There's a pretty cool walking tour that takes you to 20-odd points around the City of London and has plaques telling you the history. By the way, the City of London is actually really tiny. Only something like a mile and a quarter a side. The rest of the Metro area is called the Greater London Authority, which except for about a decade in the 80's/90's has had it's own, autonomous government for a thousand years, since William the Conqueror in 1066.

What a Web..Everything Connects

Today is Martin Luther King Day. A time that the US celebrates the contributions to civil rights
that Dr King made. Obviously a man who lived, and died for what he believed in. Which ties into my sight-seeing on the weekend. Toured around the Tower of London (actually made up of a lot of Towers), the Tower Bridge, and all the sites surrounding. I came across this in the garden/memorial to all the Merchantmen Sailors who died in the 2 World Wars.



Notice in the top picture the second name from the bottom; Sir Thomas More. Another man, who by opposing Henry VIII, died for his beliefs and his conscience, at that exact spot. The plaques lie where the Old Scaffold stood for hundreds of years outside the Tower, and high profile "Traitors" were beheaded there. The connection?.... Thomas More, who was later canonized by the Catholic church, is known for a lot of things, but in the latter years of his life he was involved in what can only be described as a heavyweight match with the Reformer, and original Protestant, Martin Luther. The Namesake of Dr King. Yep, pretty much had to go buy A Man For All Seasons and re-read it.

Please Read This...and Act.

I posted about this last summer when I first heard about it. For more info go to the links in the story, or click the UN Foundation link on the right. It's only $10, which is actually $20, so you are saving 8 lives....for the cost of a case of beer.

"Dear Friend,
Thanks to your support, the Nothing But Nets campaign is gaining incredible momentum moving into 2007. Together, we raised over $2.2 million in 2006 that means more than 220,000 children in Africa will be safe each night because of you! But we have a lot more to do in 2007.
Today we wanted to let you know that we've received our first-ever challenge grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The Gates Foundation grant will match your donations dollar for dollar, net for net! For every bed net you send to a child in Africa, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will send one, too. That is twice the number of bed nets, twice the impact, all from your donation!
Double your donation of nets today!
The announcement of the challenge grant was featured today at a Nothing But Nets event hosted by the National Basketball Association. Many of the partners of the campaign, including the People of the United Methodist Church, Sports Illustrated, VH1, United Nations Foundation, UNICEF, Mark J. Gordon Foundation and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation joined the NBA in New York City to share their commitments to the campaign and raise awareness about malaria. Check out www.NothingButNets.net for stories about the event from supporters like Rick Reilly, Katherine Commale and Sam Perkins!
You can show your commitment to combating malaria as well join us by buying at least one bed net today. Your $10 donation will now go twice as far, providing two bed nets thanks to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Send a Net. Save a Life.
Wishing you the best in the New Year,
The Nothing But Nets Teamwww.nothingbutnets.net"

The Man, The Myth

I had some people asking me who the heck is Chuck Norris and why is there always stuff about him. Can you say bad-A$$ed martial arts god? Defender of Liberty? ehhhh would you believe cheesey actor who made a bunch of really corny action movies in the 70's, 80's and 90's??? Anyways, for forever he's been this kind of inside joke in the Hacker community...someone you bring out when you're trash talking someone. But it's turned into this Internet quasi-legendary thing. Like: "I heard the collapse of Communism was due to the Kremlin watching a TBS weekend long Chuck Norris marathon and decided to pack it in."
Truth is, in the 60's he was a pretty good fighter, and the scene in Return of the Dragon where he is a bad guy (only time), and fights Bruce Lee, is a classic.
Here's his real website...mind you don't trip on the fromage as you enter....
http://www.chucknorris.com/

I prefer this one for obvious reasons:
http://www.chucknorrisfacts.com/

Happy New Year!

In the time-honoured tradition, here is my year-end, top 5 lists of '06:
Albums
1. Rise Against - The Sufferer and the Witness
2. Dropkick Murphys – The Early Years
3. Tiger Army – II Power of Moonlite
4. The Misfits – Famous Monsters….EvilLive (tie)
5. The Kooks – Inside In, Inside Out

Books
1. An Inconvenient Truth – Al Gore
2. Freakonomics – Dubner & Levitt
3. Constantinople, The Last Great Siege 1453 – Roger Crowley
4. Portrait of the Young Man as an Artist – James Joyce
5. Reveille for Radicals – Saul Alinsky

Movies
1. Did we even go to the movies????
2. Walk the Line – Johnny Cash at least was cool
3. ummmmmm can’t remember anything else
4. Reservoir Dogs (always will be on my top 5 every year)
5. Pulp Fiction (ditto)

Chuck Norris Facts
1. Chuck Norris eats beef jerky and craps gunpowder. Then, he uses that gunpowder to make a bullet, which he uses to kill a cow and make more beef jerky. Some people refer to this as the "Circle of Life."
2. When Chuck Norris sends in his taxes, he sends blank forms and includes only a picture of himself, crouched and ready to attack. Chuck Norris has not had to pay taxes, ever.
3. When Chuck Norris was denied an Egg McMuffin at McDonald's because it was 10:35, he roundhouse kicked the store so hard it became a Wendy's.
4. When an episode of Walker Texas Ranger was aired in France, the French surrendered to Chuck Norris just to be on the safe side.
5. There are no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, Chuck Norris lives in Oklahoma.

Thank you very much, you’re a beautiful audience, I’m here all week, try the Veal. What are your Tops of ’06?

I've Seen a Miracle!!

Yep, forget water to wine, walking on water, and driving the snakes from Ireland. A true, dyed-in-the-wool miracle. British Telecom has now installed my phone line.....Wow. And the true miracle of modern customer service: it was only 2 weeks late and required only 11 phone calls to complain. Made Telus look like they move at Lightspeed.

Pre New Year Site Seeing/Rocky Road to Dublin

Finally we had more than 2 consecutive hours of sunshine on Saturday before the galeforce winds brought the storms in. I had to work early, but was done pretty quick, and downtown already, so a little site-seeing was in order. Did a daylight walk around St Paul's where I went Xmas Eve, and took some great pictures that in a couple days I can post because, yeah, you guessed it, my stuff is finally getting delivered. Also, got some great shots of the Temple Bar Gate, which is the only, and oldest surviving original gate for the City of London. Back in the 1800's they took it down stone by stone to clear traffic congestion, and some rich guy reassembled it at his estate for a while. Eventually, it made itself back to the original site. It separates St Paul's Barbican and the London Stock Exchange Plaza. Lots of pictures. Best part though, was finding the Blackfriars Pub. It was built a couple hundred years ago on the site of a Monastery dating from the 13th century (hence the name). Found my new favorite bitter, London Pride, and they serve the wickedest pies ever. About ten different types, huge, and a great deal cause you get a pint with the meal. Only thing is, I don't get why the Brit insist on serving Brussel Sprouts with every meal? No wonder they're such gloomy and depressing people. Did I mention the leather, high-back chairs that you get to sit in? Yeah, Gord, Brad, lads, this is a slice of heaven, King for a Day.
Now, the night before was a bit of British culture too. A different sort. Went down to the Spotted Dog to watch a replay of the Ireland-Australia rugby match from November. Place was packed, I live in a neighbourhood with a lot of Irish. Now the Brits, in their understated, semi-pompous manner would call my neighbourhood "edgy". I would call it tough. It's no West Vancouver that's for sure. So, we're all watching the match, and we all know who's going to win. (Ireland 21-16). I'm there at the bar, and I'm wearing my Irish Rugby jersey(from my Favorite Girl!!)...minding my own business...well there was also a sizable contingent of Aussies pounding Fosters and being "enthusiastic." I'll let the verse from The Rocky Road to Dublin finish the story:

"The boys in Liverpool, when we safely landed called myself a fool, I could no longer stand it, blood began to boil, temper I was losing poor old Erin's Isle they began abusing hooray me soul says I, let the shellaillagh fly some Galway boys were nigh, saw I was a-hobblin' with a loud arragh, they joined me in the fray and soon we cleared the way on the rocky road to Dublin"
Faugh-a-ballagh indeed.
And that's a true London story, and I've got the scars to prove it ;)

More Happy News

I emailed this story to our PM, and our Environment Minister.....funny, haven't heard anything back. I guess I'm not a big enough demographic group to warrant attention.
http://edition.cnn.com/2006/TECH/science/12/29/
canada.arctic.ap/index.html

Duality of Conflict

Came across this story, thought it was interesting
http://edition.cnn.com/2006/US/12/26/iraq.soldier.parents.ap/
index.html
While it's obvious the majority of Iraqi's in the southern 2/3's of the country want coalition forces to leave, I'm glad that other stories come out as well. There's no doubt that the American public, and the rest of the world was lied to about the threat that the Hussein regime posed, the world is better off without him and his butchers. Getting crippled because you lost a soccer game, or being gassed with chemical weapons because you're Kurd are not normal things for citizens of a country to worry about, especially from their government. So now all these ethnic and religious groups are using this chaos to secure their power base....tell me Iran and Syria aren't involved. Ok, that the legal reasoning for invasion were false, or at best misleading is undeniable....fine, what do we do now? I think the most ironic part of the Iraq conflict and the Middle East as a whole is the dogma of hatred and intolerance that is preached by radical Imans towards Israel and the Jewish. Ironic how close the two are to each other. What do you mean? Ok, read "1,000 Questions on Islam" by Dr. Mohamed Elmasry. You'll see how Islam in 600AD was created by the Prophet Mohammed to bring faith to the pagan Arabs, and he did it by retelling the Old Testament Hebrew stories....yep, meaning that Islam is just Judaism in a different wrapper. Which makes that whole conflict even more ridiculous. I heard Dr Elmasry on the radio a while back (he's a devout Muslim BTW), and he kept saying, "there is nothing new in Islam"...and also spoke how Christianity had it's time of upheaval in the Middle Ages with the Great Schism, the Reformation, the Inquisition, probably the low point of Christianity, and now it's Islam's turn. Back to the original point. So, we were lied to...can't go back in time so we either fix the mess that's gotten started, or cut and run. Whatever path, I would love to be spared the indignant pontificating...it's getting old, and has become self-serving. Problem is, because of partisan politics, and an editorial media looking for advertising dollars, and a fickle public, the will to just bear down and finish the job will never materialize. So more innocents, and soldiers following orders will die, and nothing will get fixed. Probably better just leave the whole mess.