Give That President A Cigar …er… A Great Big Cuban One!

January 30, 2015January 29, 2015 fasab Business, Current Events, Politics, Rants A Big Cuban One, America, American Airlines, amnesty, Bay of Pigs fiasco, big rich kid in the schoolyard picking on the poor little kid, big seat, bitten the dust, business interests in Cuba, capitalism, capitalize on his advantage, Castro, Castro's communism, change, changer of things, comfortable Congressional majority, condemned, continental US, crushing defeat, Cuba, Cuban embargo, Cuban Missile Crisis, Cuban system, Current Events, decisions, defiance, Democrats, disintegration of the Soviet Empire, elected, end of his term as President, failed, Fidel Castro, financially afloat, Give That President A Cigar, half a century old, Hilton Hotels, illegal immigrants in the US, imposed the embargo on Cuba, jfk, left to its own devices, liberal reforms, liberalisation, maker of decisions, Musings, Obama the bold, Opinion, past its sell-by date, PepsiCo, politics, President Barack Obama, Raúl, Rants, re-establish diplomatic relations with Cuba, small businesses, Soviet Empire, Thoughts, thumbing its nose, Uncle Sam, US corporations, US regime

“Fight Against Stupidity And Bureaucracy”

Strangely, when President Barack Obama was elected with ease in 2008 and had a comfortable Congressional majority he didn’t really capitalize on his advantage. He may have gotten elected promising ‘change’ but he didn’t make many when he made it into the big seat.

Now, perhaps sensing the end of his term as President, and in spite of the Democrats’ recent crushing defeat, he is becoming ‘Obama the bold’, maker of decisions, changer of things.

Hence his recent decisions to re-establish diplomatic relations with Cuba and an amnesty for five million illegal immigrants in the US.

JFK imposed the embargo on Cuba way back in 1962, in the midst of the Cuban Missile Crisis. In JFK’s day the embargo was America’s way of thumbing its nose at the Soviet Empire. Cuba was less than 100 miles from the continental US and its defiance of the mighty Uncle Sam was an embarrassment, particularly after the Bay of Pigs fiasco.

Curious therefore that Obama cannot see the similarities with Putin’s stance in the Ukraine, but that’s another story.

However, getting back to the Cuban embargo, it was a decision that has been condemned by almost every nation in the world ever since. I think it smacked too much of the big rich kid in the schoolyard picking on the little poor kid.

But, like a lot of things that are half a century old and more, the Cuban embargo was well past its sell-by date. Not least because it didn’t work!

Neither of course did the Cuban system, which failed mainly due to the disintegration of the Soviet Empire that had kept Cuba financially afloat long after Castro’s communism would have bitten the dust if left to its own devices.

In Cuba today there is a realism and a recognition of that very fact. Fidel Castro himself admitted that their model “….no longer works even for us,” when he was speaking in support of his brother Raúl’s “liberal” reforms announced a few years ago.

For the moment, that ‘liberalization’ in Cuba means allowing employees, most of them former civil servants, to become the owners of the small businesses that employ them.

I call that capitalism. What do you think?

Lots of US corporations are queueing up to develop their business interests in Cuba. Big names, like American Airlines, Hilton Hotels and PepsiCo are already in the starting blocks.

It will be interesting to see what happens when the new US regime sweeps into power.

In the meantime I think I’ll buy a nice big box of cigars.

==================================

It’s International Litarasy Day 2day

January 29, 2015January 4, 2015 fasab comedy, Humour, Language, Puns amusing, Bacardiologist, bad jokes, bloke, bookmark, changing room, checking out this blonde girl, class, Comedy, compulsive shouter, doctor referred me, drinking, Entertainment, friend, funny, get you stoned, getting hammered, girl, girlfriend, girls, GoDaddy, Humor, Humour, impregnable, inconceivable, inventor, jacket, jokes, jug, lend out books, librarian, lost the plot, lost without it, Maid Marion, make a choice, me or your career, moron, nail bar, name of Robin Hood's girlfriend, never buy her flowers, new GPS, news, news reporter, obsessed, Paddy, Palindrome Club, pouring in, pun, pun day, puns, Rene Wals, Renewals, resounding yes, Robin Hood, sending me emails, silly jokes, sold, song, spells her name, stupid, stupid jokes, teacher, the Qur'an, Trudy Glen, trying it on, unbearable, weed, wife, woman who can't have a baby, word play, word plays

“Fight Against Stupidity And Bureaucracy”

Final Pun Day.

For this January that is. I hope I didn’t get your hopes up . 🙂

Here we go.

Enjoy or endure!

The Inventor of the jug died today.

Tributes have been pouring in.

I asked my friend if he is a compulsive shouter.

The answer was a resounding yes.

Caught a bloke in the changing room earlier,

holding my jacket saying he thought it was his!

I think he was trying it on.

I don’t like my wife going out drinking

with the girls from the nail bar.

They always end up getting hammered.

This girl, Rene Wals, is obsessed with me.

She keeps sending me emails.

She works at GoDaddy, but I think she’s a moron

— she spells her name “Renewals.”

The first rule of Palindrome Club is

si bulC emordnilaP fo elur tsrif ehT.

Is a woman who can’t have a baby,

unbearable, impregnable or inconceivable?

My girlfriend was complaining

that I never buy her flowers.

I didn’t even know she sold them.

My wife asked me how much I like

the new GPS she bought for me

I replied, “Well, I’d be lost without it.”

I think I first realized that my drinking

had got out of control when my doctor

referred me to a Bacardiologist.

I call my weed “The Quran”

Because burning that shit will get you stoned.

My wife found out that I’d been moving her

bookmark forward a few pages every night.

She really lost the plot.

I was checking out this blonde girl,

when the librarian said,

“Sir, we only lend out books in here.”

Girlfriend: You have to make a choice,

it’s either me or your career as a news reporter.

Me: Well, I’ve got some news for you then.

A teacher asks her class

“Can anyone tell me the name of Robin Hood’s girlfriend?”

Little Paddy raises his hand and says

“Yes Miss, it’s Trudy Glen.”

“No Paddy, the answer is Maid Marion.”

“But Miss, what about the song?

Robin Hood, Robin Hood, riding Trudy Glen.”

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I Spy With Your Little ‘i’ – A Free And Open Internet?

January 28, 2015January 6, 2015 fasab Business, Computers, Current Events, Factoids, Legal, Politics, Rants a free and open Internet, advertisers, Allies, Angela Merkel, apple, arrogance, Blogs, break neck speed, capture information, China, citizens of America, classified documents, Clinton administration, cloud computing services, commercial surveillance, commercial surveillance of users, common sense, communicate, communication, computer consultant, congress, contacts, corporate advertisers, culprit, Current Events, data protection, decent, Deutsche Telekom, Dilma Rousseff, Edward Snowden, emails, escaped, ethics, EU, European citizens, European institutions, facebook, facts, financial crisis, find information, foreign countries, Free And Open Internet, freedom of expression, Friendly nations, general public, German Chancellor, German government, giant corporations, Google, greed, groups with similar interests, hard working, hate and detest freedom, head of US intelligence in Germany, heads of state, honest, human right, Humor, IBM, immoral, innocent, International Atomic Energy Agency, internet, Internet companies, internet searches, intrusive, iran, Ireland, irresponsibility, journalists, lobbied, microsoft, military establishment, minimize privacy restrictions, moral authority, necessary evil, north korea, NSA, Opinion, politics, popularity was assured, President of Brazil, Prism program, private lives, profit strategies, public interest groups, Rants, re-engineer the Web, remove child pornography, Russia, search engines, search for friends, service providers, snooper's gaze, snoopers, Snowden, social and cultural life, social networks, spy, stranglehold, surveillance programs, surveillance society, telecommunications service contract, telephone conversations, terminated, the UN headquarters, UN General Assembly, unfriendly nations, United States government, unnecessary, unproductive, US, US Army, US digital companies, US Justice Department, US National Security Agency, Verizon, videos, war on terror, websites, world wide web, wrongdoing, XKeyscore program, Yahoo

“Fight Against Stupidity And Bureaucracy”

When the internet was born it was a tool of the military establishment.

Then it broke out of that stranglehold and escaped into a world of freedom of expression and communication for everyone.

Never before had a system like this been available to the general public. Never before had it been so easy to find information, search for friends, communicate with groups with similar interests, etc. Its popularity was assured.

The world wide web developed at break neck speed, much too quick for the people who hate and detest freedom. They were confounded.

It was a free and open internet.

So how could it ever go wrong?

Well, as with the financial crisis, when you dig down a bit you find the Clinton administration again as the culprit.

During the 1990s, when the World Wide Web was first being woven into social and cultural life, internet companies and corporate advertisers lobbied the Clinton administration to minimize privacy restrictions, so that they could re-engineer the Web to enable commercial surveillance of internet users.

The warnings of public interest groups were ignored as social networks, search engines, service providers and advertisers lobbied hard against even the smallest of efforts at data protection. Motivated by greed, they ensured that commercial surveillance would be pervasively integrated online. They are still at it today, that’s really what cloud computing services are all about.

A few thousand giant corporations, like Google, have become able to capture information every minute, of every hour, of every day, from everyone who uses the internet. And they can’t stop because their profit strategies totally rely on accumulating user data.

Thus began the surveillance society. The government saw how easy this could now be done and began to catch up fast. If there was snooping to be done, they were not to be left out in the cold.

Until Edward Snowden, who had been a computer consultant working for a subcontractor to the US National Security Agency (NSA), copied several hundred thousand classified documents relating to surveillance programs being conducted by the US and its allies in the name of the war on terror, and sent them to journalists, nobody really understood the level of snooping that was going on.

Most of it was unnecessary, intrusive, unproductive and immoral, and after Snowden’s revelations nobody believed the United States government was totally innocent of any wrongdoing.

Further revelations published since have helped to reveal a surveillance system that intrudes into almost every facet of our private lives. Privacy in fact is a thing of the past, unless you have the time, resources and knowledge to try to circumvent it.

If the government was only spying on the communications of foreign countries such as China, Russia, North Korea and Iran, and if it was confined to what could be termed ‘unfriendly’ nations and their agents throughout the world, then I don’t think anyone would mind so much. It’s a necessary evil in today’s world.

But unfortunately it doesn’t stop there. Friendly nations and heads of state, European institutions, the UN headquarters, the International Atomic Energy Agency, to name but a few, have all also come under the snooper’s gaze.

This has not only shown up the irresponsibility and arrogance of those in charge of the snoopers, and their lack of common sense and ethics, but it has also created even more ill will against the United States.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, an ally of the United States, was a victim of the snoopers. As a result of that revelation, the German government protested publicly its outrage. It also terminated its longstanding telecommunications service contract with Verizon, directing its business to Deutsche Telekom instead. Two weeks after that it expelled the head of US intelligence in Germany.

The President of Brazil, Dilma Rousseff, also took public stands against US privacy invasions. He, like Merkel, had also personally been a victim of the US snoopers.

Then the UN General Assembly voted unanimously to affirm online privacy as a human right, and in June 2014, responding to the EU, the US Justice Department had to promise to send legislation to Congress that would grant European citizens many of the (inadequate) privacy protections accorded to US citizens.

Bad enough not trusting your supposed ‘allies’, but US intelligence agencies have gone even further. Now they don’t even trust the decent, honest, hard-working citizens of America who have never broken any laws, nor have any intention of doing so.

The Prism program, for example, allows the NSA to collect data from your emails, telephone conversations, contacts, videos, etc., from major US digital companies including Facebook, Apple, Google, Microsoft and Yahoo.

The XKeyscore program uses several hundred servers distributed across the world to store information on the activities of every Internet user, including your emails, internet searches, the websites you visit, what you post on social networks, and blogs like this. (Whoops!)

The list goes on and on.

After Snowden’s revelations, commercial firms like Google, Facebook and others scrambled to distance themselves by professing outrage. Their protestations had little to do with political principle but a lot to do with ensuring they continued to make fortunes by collecting data on us.

The US Internet companies went on a public relations offensive, and also raced to reorganize their overseas operations, to reassure worried foreign customers that they were complying with local data protection measures.

IBM, for example, committed over a billion dollars to building additional data centers overseas, hoping to ease customer fears that their data was not safe from the US government’s surveillance. But then the US authorities demanded that Microsoft, which deploys more than a million computers in over 40 countries, hand over emails stored on its servers in Ireland. Data is not safe and private anywhere it seems.

Last week I wrote a post about the Facebook/US Army experiment in trying (successfully) influence how people thought. (Click here if you want to read it.)

And so it continues.

Personally I think it is a pity that the powers that be are able to devote time, energy and money against people who have done nothing wrong, yet seem unwilling to remove child pornography and other evils from the world wide web. But the latter would require a decree of decency and morals that is sadly lacking in those who direct such matters for the government.

The US has lost the moral authority to talk about a free and open Internet, because that free and open internet has already been destroyed.

No doubt there is worse to come.

==============================

Sweaty Palms And Underarms – I Smell Fact Day!

January 27, 2015January 4, 2015 fasab Factoids, Unusual 50th Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, Australian census, Blue whale, body, boost their mood, dance, dancers, dancing plague, deaths, decoration only, died on July 4th, Divine Wind, doctors' sloppy handwriting, education, emotional stress, Entertainment, exhaustion, fact, Fact day, facts, four smokestacks on the Titanic, Great Pyramid of Giza, Greece, Greek origin, Greek population, heart attack, help regulate their menstrual cycle, help women relax, her lips, hit the nail on the head, information, James Bond, Japan, John Adams, Kamikaze, ladies, largest Greek population, largest heart, man's underarm, maritime bear, Melbourne, Mongol fleets, most watched YouTube video, origin of the phrase, palm sweat, polar bears, Psy’s “Gangnam Style”, real working chimneys, remember four things at a time, scientific name, sea, Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, smell, still in existence, street in Stasbourg, stroke, sweat, Sweaty Palms, temperature, The Book of Margery Kempe, Thomas Jefferson, triggered, trivia, typhoon, Underarms, Ursus Maritimus

“Fight Against Stupidity And Bureaucracy”

Yes, today’s selection of facts includes sweaty palms and underarms.

You may be surprised by these and some of the other offerings below.

Enjoy.

A person can only remember

four things at a time.

And speaking of four,

of the four smokestacks on the Titanic,

only three were real working chimneys,

the fourth was totally for decoration only.

Palm sweat can be triggered by two separate things,

your body trying to control its temperature

or trying to cope with emotional stress,

both of which are closely linked.

In July of 1518 a woman began to

dance in the street in Stasbourg.

She was eventually joined by about 400 dancers.

It’s not clear exactly how many people died

due to this ‘dancing plague’, but some

definitely died from heart attack,

stroke or exhaustion.

The Great Pyramid of Giza is the oldest of

the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World

and the last one still in existence.

In his entire career (so far) James Bond

has been shot at 4,662 times.

The blue whale has the largest heart

weighing over 1,500 pounds.

Although polar bears are usually born on land,

they spend most of their time at sea.

Their scientific name Ursus Maritimus

means ‘maritime bear’.

When a person gets right to the precise point

or says something that is verified as correct it is

often said that they have ‘hit the nail on the head’.

The exact origin of the phrase is not known,

but it appeared for the first time in print in

1438 in The Book of Margery Kempe.

7,000 deaths occur each year because

of doctors’ sloppy handwriting.

According to the Australian census,

Melbourne has the largest Greek population

outside Greece with over 150,000 people

being of Greek origin, which technically

makes Melbourne the sixth biggest city

in terms of Greek population.

The sweat from a man’s underarm

can help women relax,

boost their mood and

help regulate their menstrual cycle,

if applied to her lips.

There you are ladies, now you know.

Mongol fleets tried to conquer Japan

twice in 7 years, but both times

they were stopped by a typhoon.

These events were described as

Kamikaze or ‘Divine Wind’.

Thomas Jefferson and John Adams

both died on July 4th

on the 50th Anniversary of

the Declaration of Independence.

Psy’s “Gangnam Style” is

the most watched YouTube video ever

with nearly 2.2 billion views and counting.

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

Another Monday Quiz!

January 26, 2015January 25, 2015 fasab Questions, Tests animal, answers, atomic Number 1, britain, California Dreamin, chain of hills or mountains, churchyards, city, common name, communications, distance, easy questions, education, element, Entertainment, first published, flat-screen televisions, fleshlike, flower, founding of Rome, general knowledge, Geography, gladiator, golf, highest digit, history, hole, LCD, letter S, Mauritius, Monday quiz, monitors, movies, music, musical instrument, nature, novel, ocean, Octal number system, painted, President of the Russian Federation, questions, quiz, quizzes, rails on a railway track, regions of high pressure, Romans, sackbut, science, slave revolt, sleeps standing up, solid carbon dioxide, Spanish mackerel, Spanish Steps, test, tests, The Laughing Cavalier, The Whale, title, traditional date, tree, two under par, weather

“Fight Against Stupidity And Bureaucracy”

It’s another Monday quiz, but you are quite at liberty to try it any day of the week that you want.

Some quite easy questions in this selection, but also some that will make you stop and think.

If you get stuck the answers are, as always, waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay down below, but please NO cheating!

Enjoy and good luck.

Q. 1: What animal sleeps standing up?

Q. 2: By what common name is solid carbon dioxide known?

Q. 3: The name of what flower means ‘fleshlike’?

Q. 4: In golf, what term is given to completing a hole in two under par?

Q. 5: This word is the name of a chain of hills or mountains, a Spanish mackerel, and a word used in communications to represent the letter ‘S’, what is it?

Q. 6: Which element has the atomic Number 1?

Q. 7: What is the distance between the two rails on a railway track called?

Q. 8: Mauritius is found in which ocean?

Q. 9: Who was the first, and who is the current, President of the Russian Federation? (A point for each correct answer and a bonus point if you name both correctly.)

Q. 10: The ‘sackbut’ was a precursor to which musical instrument?

Q. 11: Which 1851 novel was first published in Britain under the title ‘The Whale’? (A bonus point is available if you can also correctly name the author.)

Q. 12: What is the traditional date for the founding of Rome?

a) 735BC b) 753BC c) 573BC

Q. 13: Who painted ‘The Laughing Cavalier’? (You can have a bonus point if you know why he was laughing.)

Q. 14: The ‘Spanish Steps’ are found in which city?

Q. 15: What type of tree is often found in churchyards?

Q. 16: Relating to flat-screen televisions and monitors, what does ‘LCD’ stand for?

Q. 17: What is the highest digit that can appear in an ‘Octal’ number system?

Q. 18: Which gladiator led a two-year slave revolt against the Romans?

Q. 19: In weather, regions of high pressure are also known as what?

Q. 20: Who was ‘Dreaming’ about ‘California’ in 1965?

ANSWERS

Q. 1: What animal sleeps standing up?

A. 1: A horse.

Q. 2: By what common name is solid carbon dioxide known?

A. 2: It is known as ‘Dry Ice’.

Q. 3: The name of what flower means ‘fleshlike’?

A. 3: The carnation.

Q. 4: In golf, what term is given to completing a hole in two under par?

A. 4: It is called an ‘Eagle’.

Q. 5: This word is the name of a chain of hills or mountains, a Spanish mackerel, and a word used in communications to represent the letter ‘S’, what is it?

A. 5: Sierra.

Q. 6: Which element has the atomic Number 1?

A. 6: Hydrogen.

Q. 7: What is the distance between the two rails on a railway track called?

A. 7: It is known as the ‘Gauge’.

Q. 8: Mauritius is found in which ocean?

A. 8: In the Indian Ocean.

Q. 9: Who was the first, and who is the current, President of the Russian Federation? (A point for each correct answer and a bonus point if you name both correctly.)

A. 9: The first President of the Russian Federation was Boris Yeltsin (1991–1999) and the current President is, of course, Vladimir Putin (2nd tenure 2012–present).

Q. 10: The ‘sackbut’ was a precursor to which musical instrument?

A. 10: The trombone.

Q. 11: Which 1851 novel was first published in Britain under the title ‘The Whale’? (A bonus point is available if you can also correctly name the author.)

A. 11: Moby Dick written by Herman Melville.

Q. 12: What is the traditional date for the founding of Rome?

a) 735BC b) 753BC c) 573BC

A. 12: The correct answer is b) 753BC.

Q. 13: Who painted ‘The Laughing Cavalier’? (You can have a bonus point if you know why he was laughing.)

A. 13: The artist was Frans Hals (and I have no idea why the Cavalier was laughing, a well earned bonus point if you do.)

Q. 14: The ‘Spanish Steps’ are found in which city?

A. 14: Rome.

Q. 15: What type of tree is often found in churchyards?

A. 15: The Yew tree.

Q. 16: Relating to flat-screen televisions and monitors, what does ‘LCD’ stand for?

A. 16: Liquid Crystal Display.

Q. 17: What is the highest digit that can appear in an ‘Octal’ number system?

A. 17: 7.

Q. 18: Which gladiator led a two-year slave revolt against the Romans?

A. 18: Spartacus.

Q. 19: In weather, regions of high pressure are also known as what?

A. 19: Anticyclones.

Q. 20: Who was ‘Dreaming’ about ‘California’ in 1965?

A. 20: The Mamas & the Papas.

===================================

A Few Friday Funnies.

January 23, 2015January 4, 2015 fasab Awkward Moments, Bloopers, comedy, Humour, Politics aggression, Al Gore, Alaska Governor, amusing, automobiles, browns, can't let nature run wild, Carbon dioxide, Charles de Gaulle's funeral, Cold War, Comedy, Desert Storm, Entertainment, fools, Frances "Sissy" Farenthold, French President, Friday Funnies, funny, Germany, great day for France, harmful gas, harming the environment, Humor, Humour, idiots, impurities, Jerry Falwell, Kathleen Willey, lawlessness, Les Aspin, Michael Steele, Michele Bachmann, morons, North Korean allies, one-armed midgets, People, political jokes, politics, pollution, President Clinton, President Putin of Germany, president richard nixon, republican, Republican National Committee Chairman, Rick Perry, rocket science, Ronald Reagan, running the country, running the government, Sarah Palin, secretary of defense, Senator John McCain, sex with prostitutes, sexually harassed, small-breasted woman, smart, South Dakota, space-based missile defense, stupid, stupid people, stupidity, Texas, Tom Daschle, Tweeter, unqualified blacks, unqualified men, uptick our image, US senator, Vice President, vice president dan quayle, victory, Walter Hickel, wolves, women

“Fight Against Stupidity And Bureaucracy”

Last week we had a few political jokes.

This week we are having a look at some of the things political jokes have said when they were trying (in vain) to sound smart.

Try to forget that these are the idiots who are running the country and instead….

Enjoy .

“This is a great day for France!”

President Richard Nixon at

French President Charles de Gaulle’s funeral.

Senator John McCain in his presidential run:

“I was in Germany over the weekend and

President Putin of Germany gave

one of the old Cold War speeches as

he addressed the conference there.”

Alaska Gov. Walter Hickel once justified a

plan to kill hundreds of wolves by saying,

“You just can’t let nature run wild.”

“Desert Storm was a stirring victory for

the forces of aggression and lawlessness.”

Vice President Dan Quayle

“We will not close any bases that are not needed.”

Les Aspin, secretary of defense

“I would never approach a small-breasted woman.”

President Clinton, denying that he

had sexually harassed Kathleen Willey.

“I am working for the time when unqualified

blacks, browns and women join the unqualified

men in running the government.”

Frances “Sissy” Farenthold, Texas state representative

“This isn’t rocket science here.”

Tom Daschle, U.S. senator from South Dakota,

denouncing spending on space-based missile defense

”We need to uptick our image with everyone,

including one-armed midgets.”

Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele

“Grown men should not be having sex with

prostitutes unless they are married to them.”

Jerry Falwell

“Trees cause more pollution than automobiles.”

Ronald Reagan

“You can always follow me on Tweeter.”

Rick Perry

“Carbon dioxide is portrayed as harmful.

But there isn’t even one study

that can be produced that shows

that carbon dioxide is a harmful gas.”

Rep. Michele Bachmann

“But obviously, we’ve got to stand

with our North Korean allies.”

Sarah Palin

“It isn’t pollution that’s harming the environment.

It’s the impurities in our air and water that are doing it.”

Al Gore, Vice President

==============================

Starting: What Jamaican Astronomers Look At.

January 22, 2015January 4, 2015 fasab comedy, Humour, Language, Puns acceleration, American conservation movement, amusing, aracknophobia, bad jokes, baker, baking flatbreads, boyfriend, braking efficiency, Bushes in the White House, cannibal, Chinese censors, cocaine home delivery service, Comedy, complete clock, contribution, dad, David Rockefeller, doctor, dwarf, Entertainment, Faraday, ferrari, French class, funny, Handel, handling, huge tower of books, Humor, Humour, Instagram, Jamaican astronomers, jokes, media, merciless, morbid fear of breasts, more action, music puns, no thanks, panda, passed away, physicist, planted, Plumbing For Dummies, power-to-weight ratios, profitable, pun, pun day, puns, puns day, raffle, second hand shops, sex change, silly jokes, sink in, sinks in, soft ground, star ting, Starting, stories, stupid jokes, Tom Bola, torque, transparent, use of puns, Western governments, wong move, word play, word plays

“Fight Against Stupidity And Bureaucracy”

Starting with a star ting must mean it’s Pun Day.

Another selection of word plays for you to ….

Enjoy or endure!

Sadly, the man who invented

the raffle has passed away.

R.I.P Tom Bola.

I’ve been merciless with my French class.

I get no thanks.

I was standing on soft ground

but I didn’t realize at first

because it took a while to sink in.

If you give a physicist to a cannibal,

he’ll eat Faraday.

I’ve read ‘Plumbing For Dummies’ twice and

I still haven’t got a clue what I’m doing.

I guess it’s going to take another

few reads before this sinks in.

If your dad had a sex change,

would he be your transparent.

Chinese censors are trying to

ban the use of puns in the media.

This is the wong move, and I hope

Western governments don’t panda to it.

I’m beginning to see loads of second

hand shops opening up in my area.

Surely selling the complete clock

would be more profitable???

I just built a huge tower of books.

It had to be like 50 stories.

When David Rockefeller was asked to make

a contribution to the American conservation movement,

he planted two Bushes in the White House.

Have you seen the new

’30 minutes or it’s free’

cocaine home delivery service?

They call it Instagram.

My boyfriend took me out in his new Ferrari last night,

and spent the whole time going on about acceleration,

power-to-weight ratios, handling and braking efficiency,

before dropping me at home and zooming off into the night.

Frankly, I was hoping for less torque and more action.

I went to the doctor because

of my morbid fear of breasts.

He said I’m suffering from

aracknophobia.

I met this dwarf called Peter the other day,

he’s a baker and he was telling

me all about baking flatbreads,

it was fascinating.

I love to hear the

Pita patter of tiny Pete.

Music puns,

Not everyone can Handel them…

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Were YOU Part Of The Secret Facebook Experiment?

January 21, 2015January 21, 2015 fasab Computers, Current Events, Rants altering their news feeds, banned by law, book, brainwashed, britain, bureaucratic hell of it, cash, change peoples’ moods, China, commercial online world, computer server farms, Current Events, data, data-thief, detailed, disseminate, dumb, Edward Snowden, emotional contagion, emotional states can be transferred to others, end goal, enemies of the state, experience the same emotions without their awareness, experimenting, facebook, fact, facts, free services paid for by advertising, friendly newspaper journalists, George Orwell, Google search page, government agencies, government control, herd, immediacy, independent commercial operation, indirect paying customers, influence people online, intimate, manipulate consumers, manipulate people, manipulated how people thought, mass surveillance, mentality, moronically naïve, motives, national security, negative News Feeds, negative status messages, NSA, Opinion, personal, planted news reports, politics, popularity of social media, positive News Feeds, positive statuses, powerful countries, private information, private lives, question marks, Rants, Russia, secret experiment, Secret Facebook Experiment, secretly manipulate, sinister process, smear the reputations, snooping, Snowden, social networks, spooks, spy, spy agencies, spying, study, subliminal advertising, targeted advertising, technology, terrabytes of data, unwanted intrusions, US Army, valuable, vast scale, whistleblower, wrong title, zombie

“Fight Against Stupidity And Bureaucracy”

Many years ago subliminal advertising was banned by law because it manipulated how people thought – brainwashed them to a degree. Since then the practice has been frowned upon, but, with the popularity of social media, are some people, particularly in some government agencies, trying to secretly manipulate us again?

In January 2012, Facebook ran a secret experiment on 689,000 of its users.

The purpose of that experiment was to see if the company could change those peoples’ moods by altering their news feeds.

The scary thing is that it worked.

The study found that by manipulating the News Feeds displayed to 689,003 Facebook users, it could affect the content which those users posted to Facebook. More negative News Feeds led to more negative status messages, and more positive News Feeds led to more positive statuses.

This means, as the report on the experiment stated, “that emotional states can be transferred to others via emotional contagion, leading people to experience the same emotions without their awareness.” To put it another way, it is the manipulation of the herd, or zombie, mentality.

Such mass manipulation is only possible now with the immediacy and vast scale of social networks such as Facebook. Now, because of the numbers of people involved, even minor manipulations in how they think can have far reaching consequences.

One of the groups funding the experiment was the US Army which flags up big question marks over their motives and over Facebook’s place as an independent commercial operation.

The fact that government agencies are experimenting as to how they can influence people online has been known for some time, but you have to search for the evidence because they never tell you what they are up to.

The mass surveillance that whistleblower Edward Snowden highlighted is only the first step in a more sinister process. The big question everyone should be asking is, once the government and its agencies have gathered all of that information on us, what are they going to use it for? There must be some end goal. You can be sure that just leaving terrabytes of data languishing in remote computer server farms is not it.

The most obvious use of that information is to manipulate people, which is essentially what the Facebook experiment tells us. Only the moronically naïve or dumb would think otherwise.

In the commercial online world where everyone is used to free services paid for by advertising, information can be used to manipulate consumers into becoming indirect paying customers by simply turning their private information into cash. The more personal, detailed and intimate the data on you is, the more valuable it is to the company collecting and selling it, either directly, or indirectly via targeted advertising especially for you. Yes, what you see when you go to a Google search page is not what I see!

In the world of government control, some of their spy agencies will collect information just for the bureaucratic hell of it. Don’t believe that the NSA, that Snowden highlighted, is the only government data-thief. It may well be the biggest and best funded, but there are many others busy snooping away. And not just in the USA, but in Britain, China, Russia, and many other powerful countries too.

These groups will justify their unwanted intrusions into our private lives by hanging a ‘national security’ sign on it, it’s the excuse they always use. To an extent that is true at the moment since they use information collected by these snooping techniques to smear the reputations of what are deemed to be ‘enemies of the state’. They used to do much the same via planted news reports and information given to friendly newspaper journalists to disseminate. At the moment ‘enemies of the state’ are terrorist groups, particularly Islamic terrorists like ISIS. But in the future, who knows?

Increasingly government agencies will use the manipulation of social media to influence the general population and thereby bring about outcomes that suit their needs.

George Orwell had the right idea about what would happen. His only problem was that he chose the wrong title for his book. By 1984 technology had not caught up with the aspirations of those who wish to exert such control.

Now it is almost here.

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One Of Today’s Facts Is Really A No Brainer!

January 20, 2015January 4, 2015 fasab Factoids, Unusual 27th century BC, Albin, aluminum body panels, anxious, apply adhesives, art director’s son, Aston Martin, average person, Brfxxccxxmnpcccclllmmnprxvclmnckssqlbb11116, Buzz’s girlfriend, changed his plans, chocolate bars, corneas, Creator, doomsdays, education, Entertainment, fact, factoid, factoids, factory, facts, fart gas, farts, Fridays, frontal lobe of the brain, Great Pyramid of Giza, hair follicles, hallucinations, hear the blood flowing in your own body, heart pumps blood, Home Alone movie, Humor, ice hockey coach, information, James Bonder, Kelsey Grammar, Lethbridge Herald, Mars, Milton Hershey, need to pee, no-brainer, oldest Egyptian pyramid, parents, plays the piano, polar bear’s fur, protest, Pyramid of Cheops, Pyramid of Djoser, Pyramid of Khufu, robot, Saqqara Necropolis, Saturday, scared, scared the piss out of me, sings, stressed, Sweden, Swedish naming laws, tall humanoid creature walking, tall humanoid statue, teenage girl, theme song of Fraiser, tickets, Titanic, transparent, trivia, uploaded, US networks, very easy decision, videos, world's quietest room, YouTube

“Fight Against Stupidity And Bureaucracy”

Yes, one of today’s facts in a ‘no-brainer’, but hopefully interesting as well.

There are lots of others too on a range of unrelated subjects.

So peruse at you leisure and….

Enjoy.

April 4, June 6, October 10 and December 12

will all fall on the same day of the week in any year.

These days are called ‘doomsdays’,

and they are meant to help calculate

the day of the week of any given date.

In 2014 the doomsdays were all on Fridays

whereas 2015’s doomsdays are all on Saturday.

Milton Hershey,

the man creator of one of the

greatest chocolate bars of all time,

had tickets to be on the Titanic,

but changed his plans and did not go.

The oldest Egyptian pyramid is

believed to be the Pyramid of Djoser

which was built in the Saqqara Necropolis

during the 27th century BC.

However, the Pyramid of Khufu

(also known as Great Pyramid of Giza

or the Pyramid of Cheops) is the largest,

its original height being 146.5 meters (481 feet)

(the current height is 138.8 meters (455 feet)).

A child born in Sweden in 1991 was named

Brfxxccxxmnpcccclllmmnprxvclmnckssqlbb11116.

Which his parents said was pronounced ‘Albin’.

The name was meant as a protest

against Swedish naming laws.

The parents were fined 5,000 kronor

in 1996 (roughly 740 U.S. Dollars).

A polar bear’s stark white fur

is not exactly what it appears to be

because their hair follicles are transparent,

hollow tubes which reflect whatever

light surrounds them.

When their fur takes on a yellowish

or greenish tint it is due to age and dirt,

while the greenish color is caused by

algae that can grow on polar bear fur

in unnaturally warm and humid environments.

On Mars

there is something that looks exactly

like either a really tall humanoid statue.

The heart pumps blood to almost all

of the body’s 75 trillion cells,

only the corneas receive no blood supply.

About one hundred hours of video

are uploaded to YouTube every single minute.

In other words, more videos are uploaded

to YouTube in two months

than the three major US networks

created in sixty years.

The Aston Martin factory has a

robot nicknamed the ‘James Bonder’.

That is used to apply adhesives that

bond aluminum body panels together.

The term ‘No-brainer’ is a relatively modern

phrase used to describe making a very easy decision.

One of the earliest sources for it comes from an

issue of the Lethbridge Herald of 1968

which stated about an ice hockey coach:

“He’d break in on a goalie and the netminder

would make one of those saves that our

manager-coach, Sid Abel, calls ‘a no-brainer.’ ”

The world’s quietest room is -9 decibels,

so quiet you can hear the blood

flowing in your own body!

The silence of the room can cause

hallucinations, and the longest anyone

has ever spent in the room is 45 minutes.

The average person produces about

half a liter of fart gas per day

or about 14 farts worth on average.

Some have been clocked at speeds of 10ft per sec.

Phew!

When a person becomes very stressed,

anxious or scared the frontal lobe of the

brain can sometimes be overridden which

can make you feel the need to pee

at that moment or more frequently.

Hence sayings like such and such ..

”scared the piss out of me.”

In the Home Alone movie

Buzz’s girlfriend was not a girl at all,

she/he was the art director’s son

made up to look like a girl.

They thought using a real girl’s photo

would be too cruel for an actual teenage girl.

Kelsey Grammar sings and plays the piano

for the theme song of Frasier.

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The Quadling Country Quiz!

January 19, 2015January 19, 2015 fasab Questions, Tests amino-acids, Archimedes' Screw, below sea level, biology, body, book, britain, canton, chemical, CL, counties, country, curd, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, dogs, education, Entertainment, field, food, fought, France, fruit crops, fruits grow on palms, general knowledge, Geography, Gillkin Country, halyard, history, ippon, Ireland, Knesset, land, landlocked sea, L’etat c’est moi, legislature, metals, Monarch, movies, music, nature, news, Northern Ireland, pewter, Piedmont, poisonous, political entities, politics, Quadling Country, questions, quiz, quizzes, Republic of Ireland, Russia, sailing, science, singer, species of animal, sport, symbol, test, tests, Turkey, War, waza-ari, Whey, Winkie Country, wolves, Yas Marina Motor Racing Circuit, yuko

“Fight Against Stupidity And Bureaucracy”

You will find out what the title means later in the quiz.

For now get your thinking caps on and have a go at the following twenty questions in this week’s fasab quiz.

As always, if you get stuck, you can find the answers waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay down below, but please NO cheating!

Enjoy and good luck.

Q. 1: The terms ‘curd’ and ‘whey’ are associated with making what?

Q. 2: Which species of animal contains the most poisonous animal in the world?

Q. 3: Which two metals are used to make pewter?

Q. 4: What two fruits grow on palms? (A point for each correct answer and a bonus point if you are able to name both correctly.)

Q. 5: What would you use ‘Archimedes’ Screw’ for?

Q. 6: Amino acids are essential for the formation of what in the body?

Q. 7: What can dogs do that wolves cannot?

Q. 8: A ‘canton’, ‘halyard’ and ‘field’ make up what item?

Q. 9: What are the two largest fruit crops on earth? (A point for each correct answer and a bonus point if you are able to name both correctly.)

Q. 10: Which chemical has the symbol ‘CL’?

Q. 11: Who wrote the famous book ‘Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire’?

Q. 12: Ireland is divided into two political entities, the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, how many counties comprise each part? (A point for each correct answer.)

Q. 13: In what sport can you score a ‘waza-ari’, ‘ippon’ and ‘yuko’?

Q. 14: The Knesset is the legislature of which country?

Q. 15: What landlocked sea is 422m (1385ft) below sea level?

Q. 16: Which monarch observed “L’etat, c’est moi”? (The language should give you a clue.)

Q. 17: Where is the Yas Marina Motor Racing Circuit?

Q. 18: The name was mentioned in the news a lot towards the end of 2014, which war was fought by Britain, France, Turkey and Piedmont against Russia between 1853 and 1856?

Q. 19: In what land are ‘Quadling Country’, ‘Winkie Country’ and ‘Gillkin Country’ to be found?

Q. 20: Which singer was ‘sailing’ in 1975?

ANSWERS

Q. 1: The terms ‘curd’ and ‘whey’ are associated with making what?

A. 1: Cheese.

Q. 2: Which species of animal contains the most poisonous animal in the world?

A. 2: Frogs.

Q. 3: Which two metals are used to make pewter?

A. 3: Tin and Lead.

Q. 4: What two fruits grow on palms? (A point for each correct answer and a bonus point if you are able to name both correctly.)

A. 4: Coconuts and dates.

Q. 5: What would you use ‘Archimedes’ Screw’ for?

A. 5: Lifting water to a higher level

Q. 6: Amino acids are essential for the formation of what in the body?

A. 6: Proteins.

Q. 7: What can dogs do that wolves cannot?

A. 7: Bark.

Q. 8: A ‘canton’, ‘halyard’ and ‘field’ make up what item?

A. 8: A flag.

Q. 9: What are the two largest fruit crops on earth? (A point for each correct answer and a bonus point if you are able to name both correctly.)

A. 9: Grapes, followed by bananas.

Q. 10: Which chemical has the symbol ‘CL’?

A. 10: Chlorine.

Q. 11: Who wrote the famous book ‘Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire’?

A. 11: Edward Gibbon. (You may have the point if you gave the surname only.)

Q. 12: Ireland is divided into two political entities, the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, how many counties comprise each part? (A point for each correct answer.)

A. 12: The Republic of Ireland has 26 counties and Northern Ireland 6.

Q. 13: In what sport can you score a ‘waza-ari’, ‘ippon’ and ‘yuko’?

A. 13: Judo.

Q. 14: The Knesset is the legislature of which country?

A. 14: Israel.

Q. 15: What landlocked sea is 422m (1385ft) below sea level?

A. 15: The Dead Sea.

Q. 16: Which monarch observed “L’etat, c’est moi”? (The language should give you a clue.)

A. 16: Louis XIV.

Q. 17: Where is the Yas Marina Motor Racing Circuit?

A. 17: Abu Dabi.

Q. 18: The name was mentioned in the news a lot towards the end of 2014, which war was fought by Britain, France, Turkey and Piedmont against Russia between 1853 and 1856?

A. 18: The Crimean War.

Q. 19: In what land are ‘Quadling Country’, ‘Winkie Country’ and ‘Gillkin Country’ to be found?

A. 19: The Land of Oz, from The Wonderful Wizard Of Oz.

Q. 20: Which singer was ‘sailing’ in 1975?

A. 20: Rod Stewart.

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