Author Archives: Tim Hall

Search string of the day

“Tony Blair, Motorhead fan”.

I’m still mulling over the implications of this one, and which Mötorhead songs might have inspired our glorious leader. “Overkill”? “Bomber”? “Killed By Death”? Surely not “Eat The Rich”….

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Torture is always wrong

A large segment of the Blogosphere, including Ginger, are alarmed at the idea that Al Queda suspects might be tortured to reveal information, and that some warbloggers are actually in favour of the idea.

I’m concerned that the are almost certainly people in the Bush administration that condoned the torture carried out in countries like Argentina and Chile in the 1970s and 80s, and have no moral qualms about using such methods themselves.

I wonder how some pro-torture neo-conservatives would feel if it was their loved ones having electrodes attached to their genitals in order to reveal the whereabouts of fugitives from Hilary Clinton’s revolutionary regime that took power with the popular uprising following Jeb Bush’s “victory” in the blatantly rigged 2008 elections.

OK, so the above is an apocalyptic fantasy scenario I don’t expect anyone to sake seriously, but once you start believing “The End Justifies the Means”, you’re on a slippery slope. If we (and I say ‘we’ despite the fact I’m British, since Blair has coupled his wagon to Bush’s locomotive) allow ourselves to sink morally to the terrorists’ level would mean the terrorists will have won in at least one respect.

There’s also the fact that if ‘we’ use torture, it’s a green light to every two bit dictator (Mugabe, anyone?) to do the same. And we’ll have lost the moral right to condemn him.

We are supposed to be the Good Guys. Once we lose the moral high ground, we might even be on the way to losing the War against Terror, in part, because we’ll longer deserve to win.

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Naughty Thomas!

According to this BBC News story, Thomas the Tank Engine, as well as being blatantly steamist propaganda, is a bad influence on today’s children:

Mr Young, an expert on how children react to TV programmes, said there was evidence that children who watch programmes that consistently portray the same image tend to think there is more danger than normal.

“As a result there is a possibility that the sheer amount of crashes they see on Thomas could frighten them,” he said.

“Seeing lots of crashes on TV means they could end up absolutely terrified of going on a train.”

Time for Thomas to retire and be preserved. He should be replaced by a show that represents the reality of today’s railway, starring Timmy the Turbostar and Fred the Freightliner 66. Of course, The Fat Controller will be replaced by the Even Fatter Accountant, and Timmy will be in a completely different livery in each episode.

Alternatively, we could have the never-broadcasted episode, Thomas Gets Scrapped

“Hello Thomas”, said Axel the Oxy-Acetylene Cutting Torch.

“B*gg*r”, said Thomas.

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Movie Train Blunders

On Pyramid Online there’s a thread on “Movie Goofs”, which ranges from such things as visible microphones to historical goofs.

Being a rail enthusiast, I have issues with just about every film featuring a train. Whereas filmmakers might make an effort to ensure cars or even planes are appropriate for the region or period in which the film is set, for trains they don’t bother. And if anyone complains they’re mocked as ‘sad anoraks’. Bastards!

For a recent example, on a BBC TV Sitcom about five years back, when we saw an northbound InterCity 125 pull into Leamington Spa station. Then we change camera angles and the HST turns into an older class 47 locomotive on a train of Mk2 coaches. Or the World War II film “Eye of the Needle”, featuring a train from London to Scotland starting from Marylebone(?) headed by a Southern Railway N class(!)

Of course I could mention such turkeys as Cassandra Crossing, except that the entire film is totally preposterous, from the ludicrous plot to the idea of O J Simpson as a Catholic Priest.

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Instapundited!

Fame at last! This post of mine on Blogcritics about a rather nasty fundamentalist website slandering the dead of the Great White fire tragedy got Instapundited this morning.

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Osama, AOL and Microsoft

Tom Coates of plasticbag.org ponders the parallels between the fundamentalism of Osama Bin Laden, and the closed proprietry standards of AOL and Microsoft. An interesting analogy,

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The Page of Generators

Making Light linked to this page of generators. Many of them are fantasy naming generators of the sort I guess most computer-literate gamers have come up with at some point. However, there are some good ones here:

An unlimited supply of corny Star Wars villains from the Darth Maker.

Darth Blasphemocity
Darth Mutiluction
Darth Sleness
Darth Slithical
Darth Venidious

And then there’s the B-Movie Generator

Santa Claus Versus King Arthur
The Tower of the Crawling Bikini
The Holocaust of the Neptune Vampires
The Guillotine of Perversion

Fear the Eye of Argonizer

Join the wonderful adventures of Uoca! A amazing combination of wisdom and sinewy pectorals ensure none can stand against him! He seeks to find his niece! Imprisonment by the vile devil Iuzcrui complicates matters, but may lead to wealth!

And finally, Action Film Trailers

In a demon-haunted kingdom, in a time of suffering and madness, a watchman attempts to prevent the destruction of mankind.

In a distant city of secrets, in an era of corruption, four peasants and a bounty hunter try to participate in the greatest fighting tournament of history.

In a hellish world, in an age of dark magic, an astronaut and a theologian seek hope and combat a syndicate of ninjas.

In a universe of secrets, a scribe and a swordswoman quest for vengance and oppose crime.

In a universe of terror, a xenobiologist searches for a lost treasure and fights a horde of assasins.

In an empire of sin and darkness, a policeman combats evil.

In an empire of sin and fear, four space pirates search for freedom.

On a damned planet of enchantment, in an era of illusions, an elementalist quests for an ancient treasure.

On a world of barbarism, in a time of enchantment, a xenobiologist and a warlord search for vengance and combat lawlessness.

On an evil planet, in a time of hopelessness, a grave robber quests for hope.

I couldn’t find one for dubious management buzzwords, such as Genericisity or Nebulosity. Perhaps that’s the next one to come?

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New Livery of the Week

Since privatisation, British train companies seem to change their liveries as often as some people change their socks. Latest one to rebrand themselves is Midland Main Line. Opinions on mailing lists are divided over this one; it’s vaguely reminiscent of the 1990s Rail Express Systems livery. There’s also a hint of British Rail corporate blue as well. I’m not sure of the shade, as the two on line photos I’ve seen have looked different, and I have yet to see one ‘in the flesh’.

Why is it that train companies feel compelled to do this? The older MML livery was quite striking and stylish, why change it? I notice American railroads don’t feel they have to rebrand themselves every couple of years; doesn’t Union Pacific still stick to the same colour scheme they used in the 1950s?

One thing the photo does show is what a classic design the HST power car is. They’ve been the backbone of non electrified inter city routes for 25 years now, and are likely to be with us for some years to come.

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Metal fans jailed!

The stereotypical out of touch British judge claims to know nothing about “teenage beat combos”. But they’ve got nothing on this loon in Morocco. From BBC News comes this disturbing story about the jailing of heavy metal fans and musicians.

The 14 men, all between the ages of 22 and 35, were convicted of “acts capable of undermining the faith of a Muslim” and “possessing objects which infringe morals”.

Their sentences of between one month and one year followed newspaper pieces which dubbed them “Satanists” involved in international devil-worship.

Nine of the convicted men were in three Moroccan heavy metal groups Nekros, Infected Brain and Reborn.

The case has highlighted concerns that the country’s authorities are totally out of touch with young people.

French-language weekly magazine TelQuel particularly rounded on the judge for saying “normal people go to concerts in a suit and tie”, not a black T-shirt with heavy-metal symbols that the court saw.

No doubt some people will use this as another opportunity to bash Islam, but it seems to me it’s more the fault of a reactionary judiciary, egged on by the Moroccan equivalent of the “Daily Mail”. The fact it’s being opposed by others in Morocco is a positive sign, at least.

Andrew Ian Dodge has some further comments, and notes this is the sort of thing Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson and Tipper Gore would dearly love to do.

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An example of true wingnuttery

Exploring non-Euclidian Cthulhoid concepts can result in loss of SAN. Lose too much SAN and you create web pages like this. You yourself may end up losing SAN from reading this, so be warned. (Link from Maurice Lane on from pyramid.chatter)

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