Monthly Archives: May 2005

Privatisation Kills Indian Farmers

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More than 4,000 farmers have killed themselves in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh since a programme of free-market measures was implemented by a “hardline liberalising regime” with the help of a £1.65m grant from the Department for International Development (DfID).

A study for Christian Aid claims that the dramatic increase in the suicide rate, which saw 2,115 farmers take their lives last year compared with 588 in 2003, is directly linked to British support for policies joining aid to economic liberalisation in developing economies.
(Source: The Independent)

“Economic liberalisation” is the euphemism for “rapacious free-market capitalism,” the tying of aid money to working practices which are disastrous for the people being given aid.

The previously beneficial departments providing subsidised machinery and seeds were shut down under this “liberalising” programme. What should the poor farmers do now? Why, grow cash crops and all become millionaires in the wacky world of global capitalism! All they needed to do was buy all the paraphenalia of commercial farming, as opposed to the subsistence farming they’d been carrying out:

Research found that farmers in Andhra Pradesh who had traditionally grown their own food were persuaded between 1999 and 2004 to swap to cash crops and incurred large debts which they were unable to pay due to wildly fluctuating global prices.

The result has been a catalogue of family tragedies among thousands of peasant farmers who were forced to approach unscrupulous money lenders to fund fertilisers, pesticides and water boreholes that produce little or no financial return.

Among the methods of suicide chosen by victims has been to drink the pesticide they hoped would transform their economic prospects.
(Source: The Independent)

Have a read of the full article, linked to above. It’s a horrible example of the true nightmare of the capitalist myth, what happens to average people once socialism gets hacked away by the Adam Smith-quoting barbarians.

This is what capitalism does: it robs people of common land, of common resources and then sells a corrupted, packaged version back to the people, at no benefit apart from profits for the thieves. In Andhra Pradesh, the capitalists dismantled the tiny oases of socialist support and the result is thousands of dead farmers. Another glowing victory for the free-market.

These are the same capitalists who are looking to dismantle our socialist healthcare system here. Why? It’s simple: if the money flows from taxpayer -> government -> NHS, where can they weasel their way in? But take away the NHS, hobble it so it becomes unusable and people will be forced to turn to private healthcare.

The result will be the same as in India: death and despair for the ordinary people but fat pockets for the exploiters.

First Fuji F10 Test Shots

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Flower Macro

Recently, I purchased one of these sleek babies:

Fuji F10

Click here for a full review.

I was swayed by its small size, the battery stamina (apparently 500 shots per charge) and the snappiness of the start-up. But the main thing that made me go for the little Fuji is the fact it can shoot at ISO 1600. For a lot of walkabout shots, this is immensely handy because you don’t have to rely on flash. To be honest, I hate using flash on compact cameras, the results are nearly always rabbit-in-headlights horrible. The Fuji’s flash is better than most but I still prefer the no-flash shots.

I managed to find it online for £230 which, for a six megapixel camera, is a great price.

Have a look at the gallery of test shots I took today. They aren’t Photoshopped at all, they’re straight out of the camera, warts and all. The flower macro at the top of the page is one of the better test shots. Some of the exposures are a little bit off but I could have got better in Manual mode, I just stuck to full Auto because that’s how most people will use the Fuji.

Click here for the test gallery!

Microsoft Rely On Apple G5s!

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XBox 360

The nifty clips of video games supporting Microsoft’s new Xbox 360 console are running on Apple machines, Microsoft confirmed on Friday.

“We purchased a number of Apple G5′s because very specific hardware components of the G5 allow developers to emulate some of the technology behind future Xbox products and services,” a Microsoft spokesperson said in a statement.
(Source: ZD Net)

What would good old Microsoft do without Apple, eh? :-)

CIA = Terrorists

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Luis Posada, CIA Terrorist
Luis Posada, CIA Terrorist

Declassified US government documents show that a man suspected of involvement in the bombing of a Cuban passenger plane worked for the CIA.

Luis Posada Carriles, a Cuban-born Venezuelan and anti-Castro dissident, was an agent and informer.

The papers also reveal that an FBI informer “all but admitted” that Mr Posada was one of those behind the 1976 bombing that killed 73 people.

Mr Posada, who denies any involvement, is said to be seeking asylum in the US.

His lawyer says his client, thought to be in hiding in the Miami area, deserves US protection because of his long years of service to the country.
(Source: BBC News)

How the US government poses and struts, whinnying about “rogue states” and “terrorists.” All the while, their agencies sponsor terrorism worldwide against regimes they dislike. And their military invades any country it pleases, massacreing civilians and torturing survivors with impunity.

You won’t see the above report on major TV news bulletins. It won’t be deemed “important.”

It would only be important if the terrorist was a Muslim or a Communist. Then, the US would trumpet it’s repugnance of this bombing. It would probably use similar documents to justify another invasion of a country with plenty of oil.

Look at the quality of Posada, that defender of The American Way:

One FBI report quoted a confidential source as saying that Mr Posada was one of several people who met at least twice at a hotel in Caracas, allegedly to discuss bombing a Cubana airlines plane.

The report recommended that no action be taken on the information, as it would compromise its source.

Mr Posada was arrested in Venezuela after the bombing, but was not convicted before he escaped from prison.

The US documents show that he later went to central America, where he joined the covert US operation, led by Lt Col Oliver North, to rearm the anti-communist Contra guerrillas.

Mr Posada once boasted of being responsible for a series of bomb attacks on Havana tourist spots in the 1990s.
(Source: BBC News)

Wonderful reading, isn’t it? Bombings, arming terrorists, organising assassinations. And this is the country that’s meant to be the champion of global freedom and democracy?

Imagine being on that plane, the few seconds you may have had, the horror of realising your were going to die. But, as always, when the US slaughters people, those lives don’t count.

No-one will be brought to justice and the 73 innocents murdered by the CIA will be airbrushed out of the grand fairytale the US weaves about itself.

Say Hi To Your Mom

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Say Hi To Your Mom
Say Hi To Your Mom (pic by M. Vorrassi)

Say Hi To Your Mom made my favourite record of last year.

Their new album, ‘Ferocious Mopes,’ will be released on June 7th but you uber-hipsters can have a sneak preview by clicking here. Looks like it’s going to be another tasty treat.

Eric Elbogen, the SHTYM primary node, graciously agreed to do an interview for Bzangy Groink. And here it is! Enjoy!

1. What is Say Hi To Your Mom band? Is it Eric Elbogen + others for gigs or is it a collaborative creative project? Who does all the songwriting? Arranging? Tea-making?

I’ve done everything on the three records. Because I can’t afford the proper components for robots to recreate the music live, I’ve been forced to hire actual, fleshy human beings.

Sometimes the humans end up being pleasant, sometimes not. I’m thinking of incorporating some of the pleasant ones when I start the fourth record.

2. There’s a new SHTYM coming out in 2005, what’s it called, what’s it like, what’s it about?

Ferocious Mopes comes out on June 7th. It’s thematically dark, sometimes funny, lushly produced, cryptic, catchy and intimate. At least that’s what I tried to do with it. There’s another robot on the cover:
Ferocious Mopes

3. I think my favourite thing of all about SHTYM is your lyrics. Are they as autobiographical as they seem or are you a great fiction writer?

Fiction. Always fiction. Autobiographies are boring and I’m sick of listening to people sing about their generic lives.

4. Lyrically, who are your favourite songwriters?

Malkmus, Merritt, McCarney, Lennon, Black (Francis)

5. I would never have heard about SHTYM if I hadn’t found your songs floating round the the cyberwent. The internet – good or bad for SHTYM?

The internet is great for Say Hi. I can’t imagine existing without the www and many Say Hi listeners would not have found out about the band without it.

That said, I really wish people would stop stealing my records from file sharing outlets.

I understand and appreciate the function of such technology. It would just be cool if people bought the record or a t-shirt if they download the music and enjoy it.

There is very little money in indie rock and I work very very hard to function as a professional musician and make good records.

It feels really bad when you encounter people getting your records for free, knowing how much work went into them. If someone really doesn’t have the money, I’d be willing to trade a record for something of equal or greater value, like a bunch of unused undergarments or a toaster.

I don’t currently have a toaster.

6. I think tracks like ‘Pop Music’ and ‘Laundry’ sound like films, they have a certain flowing, rich narrative. Have you made any films? Would you like to?

I haven’t made films. I applied to film school in college but didn’t get in. It was probably a blessing in disguise, because studying literature and writing really helped my craft.

7. Of the following, choose one of each pair:

Copenhagen or multiverse?
Cyclohexane or dichloromethane?
TV or bowling?
Sharks or tigers?
Nuns or cheese?
Emo or indie?

Multiverse
The Occasional Hydrocodone
Bowling With The Cast Of A Popular TV Show
Tigersharks
Nuns Covered In Cheese
The latter, definitely. Although I’m thinking of using ‘Brian Emo’ as one of my pseudonyms. Either that or ‘Stevie Blunder.’

8. You’ve so far released all your music on Euphobia, your own label. Would you consider signing to another label, indie or major?

Yes. It’s time to be on a label. I spend all my time stamping and stuffing bubble mailers, an object I’d be content never to see again. I’ve also pretty much maxed out all my credit cards. Bubble mailers and maxed out credit cards are the two dominant ingredients in owning a record label, a fact anyone who owns a label will surely attest to.

The difference between me and them, however, is that I don’t yet have any interns. Does anyone want to be an intern? I am, however, very content that I’ve done things myself thus far. I keep telling other bands to do the same, instead of waiting for a magical label to improve their lives.

Like I said, however, I’d rather be spending my time on tour or making more records than stuffing bubble mailers right now. The problem is, there are only two record labels in the US I’d trust to put out my records and I haven’t been able to convince either of them to do so.

9. What have you got against cats?

Nothing. I’m just a little obsessed with death sometimes.

10. Is SHTYM a political band? And if so, is that with a big P or little p?

No. Unless your talking about the politics of the music industry. Then yes, because every band is political in that sense.

11. You become KING OF THE WORLD. What changes would you make? Would you abuse your position or become a benevolent dictator?

King of the World like the Italian kid from “Titanic?”

12. ‘Let’s Talk About Spaceships’ is key SHTYM for me: funny, sad and acerbic all in the one song. It’s an amazing pop song. Why do you think so much contemporary pop songwriting is pure shite? Does it make you feel lonely?

There are good bands out there. At least enough to fill my 40 gig iPod. Sometimes you just have to dig a little harder.

13. I’m a one man band, I do everything – writing, recording, mastering, graphics, label. Sometimes that fucks me off and I’d love to just hand over everything non-musical to some nice, clean people. Do you ever feel the same about SHTYM?

Please see number 9.

14. Is Euphobia purely for SHTYM or have you/will you release other artists via it?

I’d like to release other bands at some point. I can’t afford it yet. I want to it right when I do, which means a hearty financial investment.

15. Can you make your living totally off SHTYM? Do you want to or would you rather do it the Scottish indie way and work to support the band, thus maintaining greater artistic freedom?

Sometimes.

16. Every single person I’ve played SHTYM to has loved you. Whenever I DJ and play your stuff, I get people coming up asking what band I just played. You make excellent, hyper-catchy pop music so you should be a megastar. Are you prepared for that? Do you want that?

Yes and yes.

17. What’s with the exploding drummers?

I should stop feeding them gasoline.

18. Would you ever consider writing more mainstream pop for other artists? If Britney / Christina wanted a sprinkle of your magical pop semen, would you oblige?

Yeah, sure. I might end up using one of my aforementioned pseudonyms though.

19. Please name five little-known artists every SHTYM fan should check out.

Dirty On Purpose
Aqueduct
Pela
The Deathray Davies
Cantinero
Viva Voce
Summer At Shatter Creek
The Hockey Night
Sea Ray
Troubled Hubble
Say Hi To Your Mom

(no offense to any of the above that don’t consider themselves “little-known”)

20. In bourgeois democratic societies, does the self-censorship of songwriters make them complicit in the ideological hegemony of the ruling class?

Pop Tarts sure are tasty.

A big thanks to Eric for the interview!

Please visit SHTYM’s website, email Eric (he’s a friendly bloke, he won’t bite!) and then buy all his records.

Some May Flowers & Trees

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Flowers

Click here to see a little gallery of some piccies I took today. The sunshine was gorgeous, in between bouts of strange hail. Strange weather…

And, as a little bonus, here’s three pics wallpaper sized, click on the images for the big versions:

May SkyBumblebeeMay Sky

Ta-ra!

Where’s Google Gorn?

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Ten minutes ago, I tried to check my Gmail. Got a strange “The document contains no data” error popup from Firefox.

Hmmm…

So, I thought I’d do a search and see if there were any reports of Gmail being down. It was only after I clicked the search box that I realised all my searches are through Google too.

Double hmmmm…

After a bit more experimentation, I’ve found that Google UK is working (but not the news or images searches) but Google.com is definitely buggered.

Thank god my blog isn’t through Google or I probably wouldn’t be able to post/access that either!

Here’s a thought: eggs, basket?

I love Google. I remember the far-off days of Inktomi and Alta-Vista, Google came and was blessedly powerful, simple and clutter-free.

But the bigger something gets, the more we rely on it for more aspects of life, the more disastrous it is when it fails. Take CDRs and DVD-Rs. If a CDR gets damaged beyond repair, that’s 650 or so meg of data down the shitter. If a DVD goes bad, that’s potentially 4.7 gigabytes gone. That could be all your photos, a precious wedding vid, your kid’s first steps.

I’ve just sent out a load of Gmail invites to friends. Now I’m wondering if that was wise.

Eggs, baskets… tricky feller, Johnny Chaos…

UPDATE!

Apparently, Google was actually hacked! Weird or what?

Close But No Cigar

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Butcher Blair is back in Downing Street, his nose bloodied. He’s got the lowest proportion of votes for a winning PM in British history. Blair’s trying to be bullish but 36.2% is nothing to be proud of. Certainly not a mandate.

If only the Lib Dems had gained just a few more seats… There were so many surprise gains last night for the LDs, in the early part of the evening I was hoping the percentage swings (often 10% and more) would be carried nationally. Sadly they weren’t.

At least Galloway ousted the pro-war Blairite Oona King in Bethnal Green & Bow. New Labour had mounted a hugely personal campaign, King sticking the boot in memorably:

“What makes me sick is that when I come across someone who is guilty of genocide I do not get on a plane and go to Baghdad and grovel at his feet,” said Ms King, referring to Mr Galloway’s controversial meeting with Saddam Hussein 11 years ago.
(Source: The Guardian)

No, when King meets a genocidal maniac she kisses his hand and says, “Hello, Prime Minister.” For King, the 100,000 Blair has murdered don’t even exist. Fortunately, her electorate disagreed with her warped view of morality and thus gave Galloway their vote, a 26.2% swing in his favour.

If there’s any sense left in New Labour, they’ll get rid of Blair as smartly as Galloway did King. Who can now deny what a liability he is for the party? Maybe if they manage a smooth changeover, they can win back some of the Lib Dem switchers.

BUT

The issue is more than personal. What happens when Bush tries to invade another oil-rich country illegally? Will our PM, whoever that is, stand up to the worst warmonger on the planet?

Or will they be Bush’s poodle?

Today, I’m Voting Lib-Dem

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Since 1984 I’ve voted Labour. In fact, I couldn’t wait to turn 18 so I could vote Labour and do my bit in evicting the vampire known as Margaret Thatcher.

In the mid-’80s, I used to be chairman of the local Labour Party Young Socialists. I campaigned for Labour, went door-to-door. I was a delegate at many conferences and rallies, speaking on the same platforms as Pat Wall, Tony Benn, Keith Vaz and many other Labour MPs and activists. In Walworth Road, I even got to meet Roy Hattersley, just after Neil Kinnock had been haranguing me and my comrades outside, blaming the troubles of Labour on us “hardline Leninists.”

But even when Kinnock spent more time expelling socialists from his party than fighting the Tories, I kept voting Labour. I never thought I’d see a Labour Party leadership that would make me miss Kinnock and Hattersley. How wrong I was.

Today, I’m voting Lib-Dem.

I cannot vote for a party lead by a liar, a war criminal, a murderer. A man who’s killed more people than Mugabe or Milosevic.

I also cannot vote for a party that supported his war crimes. The whole top layer of the Labour party is complicit in Blair’s crimes. My local MP, Bob Laxton, voted for the illegal invasion of Iraq. He’s an accessory to murder in my eyes.

I want to see the “New” snipped from New Labour. I want a Labour Party that believes in socialism, that is proud of our socialist healthcare system, something so far advanced beyond anything in the United States, where they check your wallet before they check your pulse.

I’m not deceived by the Lib-Dems: I know they’re not the party for me. All they believe in is efficient management of capitalism rather than its dismantling. The trouble is, that’s exactly what Blair’s New Labour believes too.

Do you remember Ice Pops? I used to skive off school and buy them from Blenheim Parade shops. I loved crunching their hyper-sweet iciness, the cold making my teeth wail. Some of my mates preferred sucking the flavour out of the Ice Pop, leaving a husk of tasteless, pointless ice.

That’s what Blair and his cronies have done to the Labour Party. They’ve sucked all the blood out of it, removed any nasty taint of socialism wherever their withered lips found it. What’s left now? An empty shell, the People’s Flag replaced by a ragged rose, meaningless platitudes about “justice” and “progress” covering over yet another capitalist party.

Presiding over it all is Tony Blair. A man who can personally take part in killing over 100,000 Iraqis and yet feels he did nothing wrong. What does that say about his character?

I’m voting today to get rid of Blair. And Brown, and Alistair Campbell, Geoff Hoon, David Blunkett, the whole stinking heap of ordure that calls itself New Labour.

A Holy Apparition!

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And LO, was it revealed in the blind which dangleth, yay, in my downstairs bathroom. The HOLY IMAGE of the IMMACULATA DEVINE! :

Magenta?

Look at how closely it resembleth the HOLY SARCASTA! :

Magenta Devine

Do you not see it? BOW DOWN BEFORE THE HOLY APPARITION!

Okayeth, to make it easier for your SATAN-BLINDED EYES! :

HALLELUJAH!

HALLELUJAH!

Do you not see, doubtful fools, that she is DEVINE and DIVINE!? Truly, you are lost to GOD’S GLORY!

Anyway, I’d better go. I heard someone has just found the face of Jesus in a kebab.