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July 25, 2005

Into The West

I have just finished watching the 6 part series 'Into The West' which was on TNT in the US. It is a great mini series which follows the story of the exploration and expansion into the west and the terrible treatment that the Indian's suffered. The massacre of thousands of innocent Indian, men, woman and children by the US Army in a genocide like policy has almost been erased from US history, so I am surprised that is was shown so vividly in the series.

I really enjoyed watching the show and have always found that time in history to be very interesting. If I could experience any time in history I would love to go back to the 1830's and explore the vast plains of the west.


Posted by lonesniper at 08:46 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

July 24, 2005

Line of coke

In the early hours of Saturday morning 3 young man, about 15 to 18 years old, stood outside my neighbors house, weighed out some coke, cut it into 3 lines on the wall and then argued over who was supposed to have which one. I have no problem with them trying to kill themselves but I just wish they would do it in their own home and do it quietly. I was annoyed they woke me as they were being so loud and drunk and then high. I contemplated throwing water over them to ruin the drugs or going out with a pistol and doing a ‘John Shaft’ on them and scaring the life out of them. But I opted for the safer legal option, I called the Police. It has been over 24 hours now and the Police have not been and obviously the teenage coke-heads have gone. Was it worth it calling the Police at all?

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July 21, 2005

Captivated by Cinema Display

Today I visited the Apple Store that recently opened in a large shopping mall near me. The store was full of 'trendy' young people looking at the all computers to go with the iPods they probably already have. But I was captivated by the huge 30-inch cinema display, which was so amazingly clear I just stared at it in disbelief of the sharp colours I was seeing. It has a cinema display sized price tag to go with it, so will forever be out of my reach. But it is a master piece and should be seen by all.

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July 13, 2005

Today I saw 'Stupidity in Action'.

Two boys (who were not in a PE class) somehow took a javelin and wandered down to the fields when no staff were around. I watched in amazement from the top floor as they stood about 40feet apart and started to throw the javelin to each other just like a game of catch or 'chicken'. Thinking that this behaviour might be wrong, I told reception as they have the walkie-talkies to contact the Senior Teachers. I went back to watching the exciting game of chicken, and in my head worked out what I would say when I dialled 999 after the obvious would happened. I figured I would ask for a helicopter as the field was big and it would be exciting to see it land. Anyway in between daydreaming about calling an ambulance and watching the javelin throwers I thought 'hummm....maybe I should tell someone else'. So I told the Head of IT who immediately phoned down to the PE department, and then we watched the Head of PE run across the field towards the idiots, who dropped the javelin and just ran further down the field. Everyone was thankful I mentioned the javelin chicken throwers as apparently there is TONS of paperwork to fill in once a kids gets impaled.

Posted by lonesniper at 07:08 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

July 10, 2005

‘24’ in 48 Hours

This weekend I watched all 24 episodes of season 4 of Fox Televisions hit TV show ‘24’ back to back. It lasted 17.6 hours and started Friday evening, when I watched 2 episodes, then 15 Saturday and 7 Sunday. I think this is the best way to watch it as it was SO exciting I can’t see how people coped waiting 7 days for the next episode. As it is supposed to be real time action for 24 hours it makes sense to watch it like that if possible.

On Saturday afternoon I was actually watching what was happening between say 3pm and 4pm between 3pm and 4pm my time, which kind of added to the excitement. Out of all the episodes I think I enjoyed the first ones where Jack was trailing the man though the desert roads and then stormed the bunker to rescue Audrey and her father.

There was a lot of product placement in the show. I saw Sprint PCS phones, Motorola phones, HP TFT's and PDA's, Alienware laptops, Polycom speaker phones and Cisco phones by the dozen. When they did scenes in the control centre all you heard was Cisco IP phones ringing, with a special ring tone. It took some Googling, I had to revise my search string about 4 times, but I found the ring tone and now it is my Skype ring tone. I hope to have it as my cell phone ring tone when I finally get a new phone.


During the show there are lots of shots of computer screens as the technical analysts search through data or bring up satellite images and it seems the operating system of choice is Linux. In episode 8 Jack and Audrey go to Tony’s house for safety and to use his computer and I noticed Tony’s Linux distribution was using BeOS icons. You can see them in these pictures.








Other things I noticed quickly in the story line;
1) The scheming black lady (Marianne) was a traitor.
2) Marianne was going to set up the brunette.
3) Curtis going to the office build with Marianne to access the computer files was a trap.
4) Tony and the assassin weren’t in the car explosion.

I had noted lots of other things during the program but can’t remember them at the moment. I should have made notes. As I think of them I will update the list.

Now that Jack is officially dead, I wonder if there will be a 5th season and what will happen. What ever happens I will wait until the end of the series and watch all the episodes back to back again. Until then I think I might get the box set of Season 3 as this was the first season I had ever watched.

Posted by lonesniper at 07:33 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

July 07, 2005

One year today.

This date will always be remembered because of todays events in London, but for me it is a special day because one year ago I moved in to my first home. It is amazing how quickly time goes by. There are lots of things that need doing in the house but so far I have fitted double glazed windows to the rear, replaced the back fence, had some work done in the loft and replaced the boiler. Hopefully in the next year I will update the kitchen and maybe put a small shed in the garden.

Posted by lonesniper at 10:49 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Attack on London

This morning the United Kingdom was attacked by terrorists in a vicious series of explosions that was always expected to happen. The timing of the 4 bomb explosions could be to coincide with the G8 Summit in Scotland or yesterdays announcement that London would host the 2012 Olympics. It will be sometime before the security services or the terrorists themselves can tell us the exact reason for the attacks. But I am sure it is due to our support of the USA invasion of Iraq and its other overseas policies.

Most English people knew we were a target for an attack and knew that terrorist cells were working in the country. There have been many terrorist arrests and warnings. Unfortunately under this Government and it’s seemingly ‘open door policy’ on Immigration it is all too easy for the terrorists to come to England and then commit these crimes. Our politically correct weak lefty Government has been spending OUR taxes, housing, feeding and educating these people while all the time they are plotting to kill us. It will take a strong Government, obviously not this one, to secure England and the English people. An integrated multi-culturally society does not work……..when part of that new society is determined to kill the established society.

There was a film in 1998 called ‘The Seige’ with Bruce Willis and Dezel Washington. Some of the methods used in that film to secure New York should be used here, and I would have no problem with that.

Posted by lonesniper at 07:09 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

July 06, 2005

Miracles do happen

It is with utter amazement that London has won the bid for the 2012 Olympics. The Government and organizers are openly celebrating, but I am sure that behind closed doors they are saying ‘Holly $^*! what have we done? Now we have to do what we said we were going to do. How can we build everything in time and get the money for it.’ They have been telling us it will only cost each individual a chocolate bar a week to finance it, but I am sure that the costs will escalate and before long it will be costing me a Venti Frappacinno a day.

The east end of London is apparently already feeling the effects of winning the bid as all the flats and houses that were on sale have now been taken off the market as people are waiting, hoping, to cash in on price rises. Greed wins every time.

Posted by lonesniper at 07:00 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

July 05, 2005

Incapacitated

This past weekend I learnt how it feels to be less than physically capable, and from now on I will treasure my health. Somehow on Saturday I strained my back and come Saturday evening I was bent over double unable to move unless in pain. I could lie on my side or sit in a straight backed chair and that was it. Cooking for myself and carrying a drink out of the kitchen was almost painfully impossible, I was moving like an elderly man, not the young person I am. Luckily after a few painkillers and Ibuprofen I can now move again freely, and hope I can for a long time to come.

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July 03, 2005

Test of Technology

Technology rocks!!

Posted by lonesniper at 04:56 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Test of Starbucks

Humm coffee

Posted by lonesniper at 04:55 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Test of NewsHeadlines

I like CNN.

Posted by lonesniper at 04:54 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Test of General

More tests.

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Global Frequency

Global Frequency is the best Tv show that will never be aired. That is what a lot of people on the internet are saying and after watching the leaked pilot I have to agree with them.

This is another test of category icons.

Posted by lonesniper at 02:35 PM | Comments (0)

Test of icon

This is just a little test to see if the catigory icons show up.

Posted by lonesniper at 01:12 PM | Comments (0)