Scoville Units Unite

Opened the papers this morning to find that Channel 4 and it’s various offshoots are still off limits. It appears the last series of Big Brother was not really the last series and they have beat the dead horse even further. Like something from a parody the walking dead are still there. Having churned out people who are famous for being famous they have dredged up some who are famous for being famous for being famous to give them another shot at stardom.

For god sake just let it fucking go so that sane people with more than 3 braincells can turn over to your stations without wincing due to your show plus 24 hour feed of show and daily half hourly analysis of the hour broadcast etc.

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I just caught part of a report on Reporting Scotland on BBC. The Church of Scotland has just released new figures showing a low for membership.

The piece was started by showing a trainee minister rearranging chairs in an empty room which was amusingly symbolic. In the short interviews there was mooted explanation behind this although there is a programme on later tonight where it will no doubt be explored further.

I haven’t posted much on here about religion which no doubt surprises many but I thought it fitting to post a few details about this.

The first is the figures:
In 1957 membership was 1.32 million
Today it is around 464,000.

This is around 9% of Scotlands population. Although at the last census 42% identified as Church of Scotland there were 27.5% with no religion. Given the truer figure of 9% for Church of Scotland membership that puts Non-religious as the largest religious group in Scotland. A fact I tried in vain to drum home to some a while back in the local press.

The other interesting factoid around the Church of Scotland is a quotation from their Constitution – the first article also enshrined in the Church of Scotland Act 1921

The Church of Scotland is part of the Holy Catholic or Universal Church; worshipping one God, Almighty, all-wise, and all-loving, in the Trinity of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, the same in substance, equal in power and glory; adoring the Father, infinite in Majesty, of whom are all things; confessing our Lord Jesus Christ, the Eternal Son, made very man for our salvation; glorying in His Cross and Resurrection, and owning obedience to Him as the Head over all things to His Church; trusting in the promised renewal and guidance of the Holy Spirit; proclaiming the forgiveness of sins and acceptance with God through faith in Christ, and the gift of Eternal Life; and labouring for the advancement of the Kingdom of God throughout the world. The Church of Scotland adheres to the Scottish Reformation; receives the Word of God which is contained in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments as its supreme rule of faith and life; and avows the fundamental doctrines of the Catholic faith founded thereupon.

I mention this only as no doubt part of that 33% of people who claim to be Church of Scotland but never attend are those who repeatedly espouse anti-Catholic bigotry their ignorance doubled by their claimed membership a Catholic church, albeit not a Roman Catholic one.

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It appears that a lot of people find my site by searching for First Search Consultancy Scam. This is possibly related to a couple of previous posts I wrote – almost 650 at the last count.

More than likely though it is related to the large number of people who claim to be dissatisfied with First Search Consultancy.

No doubt the sudden appearance of First Search Consultancy shooting up the rankings in Google for the term First Search Consultancy Scam is related to this too.

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Hardly a day goees by without one of the scummy papers ranting about Health and Safety gone mad. These new rules always provoke outrage and rage and anger, but of course only in the mind of the readersand writers of these sorts of papers. The worst of course being the Hitler supporting Daily Mail.

This can range from some local authority sending all staff on a course to learn how to lift boxes properly (so staff don’t knacker their back at work, go off work for ages on the sick and potentially sue their employer) to some school deciding that the latest fad sweeping the playground can potentially result in one child getting hurt and banning it.

Quite ironically of course these same papers will happilly support whatever ludicrous scheme dreampt up by the government because will no one think of the children!! etc.

Of course the real reason for their opposition to Health and Safety is never revealed, it mainly came about because of workers trying to imprive the working conditions of their workplace. Some employers were quite happy to cut corners putting peoples lives at risk to save a few bucks.

Well I quite expect them to be quite on the health and safety front for a bit as a major story has shown just why such policies exist.

The Buncefield Oil Depot went on fire a few years back destroying dozens of buildings and injuring 43 people. The cause of the fire: several companies cutting corners and breaching Health and Safety regulations.

Full disclosure: I ordered Gennas Christmas present that year from a company located on the estate – who were due to ship it out the day of the fire. I then had to panic and rush round finding a replacement elsewhere a couple of weeks before Christmas.

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So as of today the Times is starting to charge for content. Lets hope Rupert Murdoch gets egg on his face.

He can whinge all he wants about Google stealing content but if he was so concerned all he had to do was block access to Google’s search bots. Two minute job and it’s done. Instead millions spent and hundreds of column inches spent discussing the plan.

Why anyone would pay for access to the Times when the Independent, Guardian and BBC are available online with frequently added articles is beyond me.

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2 minor annoyances with Travel Dundee lately.

Firstly they have binned the flexi-cards and replaced them with paper tickets to be stamped by the drivers. Notices say this is to speed up the journey etc. Except the driver taking ticket, inpecting it, then leabning forward lining up stamper, stamping, checking stamp is in correct place then handing back. See that nit, it takes about twice as long as putting a flexi card in the machine did.

Secondly I got on a new bus yesterday and the notice for Conditions of carriage had changed. First it looked like the minimum charge (i.e. fine for fare dodging) had doubled. It was only seeing the figure which dre my attention to the poster. The poster says for full journey rules I should pop into their store in the West Midlands. Bit of a jaunt to find out if I cans tick my feet up on the seat eh?

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Hi Jim,

When you meet with DC Thomson to discuss their slashing of jobs will you be bringing up their Lets Get Dundee Working Campaign?

Recession recovery to take longer in Dundee

Council backing Courier jobs campaign

Surely a local company shedding 350 staff is ideal for being a focus of their campaign? They should be able to get loads of column inches on fighting to retain these jobs in the city.

Thanks,

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Found via Evolving Thoughts

This should be about 95% correct. Some of the names are familiar but I can’t remember definitely seeing them.

X what you’ve seen
O what you saw some but not all of
Bold what you particularly liked
Strike-through what you hated

CLASSIC DISNEY
——————————-
[ X ] 101 Dalmatians (1961)
[ X ] Alice in Wonderland (1951)
[ X ] Bambi (1942)
[ X ] Cinderella (1950)
[ X ] Dumbo (1941)
[ X ] Fantasia (1940)
[ X ] Lady and the Tramp (1955)
[ X ] Mary Poppins (1964)
[ X ] Peter Pan (1953)
[ X ] Pinocchio (1940)
[ X ] Sleeping Beauty (1959)
[ X ] Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)
[ ] Song of the South (1946)

DISNEY’S DARK AGE
——————————-
[ X ] The Aristocats (1970)
[ ] The Black Cauldron (1985)
[ X ] The Fox and the Hound (1981)
[ ] The Great Mouse Detective (1986)
[ X ] The Jungle Book (1967)
[ ] The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (1977)
[ ] Oliver and Company (1986)
[ ] Pete’s Dragon (1977)
[X ] The Rescuers (1977)
[X ] Robin Hood (1973)
[ ] The Sword In The Stone (1963)

THE DISNEY RENAISSANCE
——————————-
[ X ] Aladdin (1992)
[ X ] Beauty and the Beast (1991)
[ ] A Goofy Movie (1995)
[ ] Hercules (1997)
[ ] The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996)
[ X ] The Lion King (1994)
[ X ] The Little Mermaid (1989)
[ ] Mulan (1998)
[ ] Pocahontas (1995)
[ X ] The Rescuers Down Under (1990)
[ ] Tarzan (1999)

DISNEY’S MODERN AGE
——————————-
[ ] Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001)
[ ] Bolt (2008)
[ ] Brother Bear (2003)
[ ] Chicken Little (2005)
[ ] Dinosaur (2000)
[ ] The Emperor’s New Groove (2000)
[ ] Fantasia 2000 (2000)
[ ] Home on the Range (2004)
[ ] Lilo & Stitch (2002)
[ ] Meet the Robinsons (2007)
[ ] Treasure Planet (2002)

PIXAR
——————————-
[ X ] A Bug’s Life (1998)
[ ] Cars (2006)
[ X ] Finding Nemo (2003)
[ X ] The Incredibles (2004)
[ X ] Monsters Inc. (2001)
[ ] Ratatouille (2007)
[ X ] Toy Story (1995)
[ ] Toy Story 2 (1999)
[ ] Wall-E (2008)
[ ] Up (2009)

DON BLUTH
——————————-
[ X ] All Dogs Go to Heaven (1989)
[ ] An American Tail (1986)
[ ] An American Tail: Fieval Goes West (1991)
[ ] Anastasia (1997)
[ X ] The Land Before Time (1988)
[ ] The Pebble and the Penguin (1995)
[ ] Rock-a-Doodle (1991)
[ ] The Secret of NIMH (1982)
[ ] Thumbelina (1994)
[ ] Titan AE (2000)
[ ] A Troll in Central Park (1994)

CLAYMATION
——————————-
[ ] The Adventures of Mark Twain (1986)
[ X ] Chicken Run (2000)
[ X ] Coraline (2009)
[ X ] Corpse Bride (2005)
[ ] James and the Giant Peach (1996)
[ X ] The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)
[ ] The Puppetoon Movie (1987)
[ X ] Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005)

CGI GLUT
——————————-
[ ] Antz (1998)
[ X ] Happy Feet (2006)
[ ] Kung Fu Panda (2008)
[ ] Madagascar (2005)
[ ] Monster House (2006)
[ ] Over the Hedge (2006)
[ X ] The Polar Express (2004)
[ X ] Shrek (2001)
[ X ] Shrek 2 (2004)
[ ] Shrek The Third (2007)
[ ] Monsters vs. Aliens (2009)
[ ] How to Train Your Dragon (2010)

IMPORTS
——————————-
[ ] Arabian Knight
[ ] Back to Gaya
[ ] The Last Unicorn (1982)
[ ] Light Years (1988)
[ ] The Triplets of Belleville (2003)
[ ] Persepolis (2007)
[ ] Planet 51 (2009)
[ ] Waltz With Bashir (2008)
[ X ] Watership Down (1978)
[ ] When the Wind Blows (1988)
[ ] Yellow Submarine (1968)

STUDIO GHIBLI/MIYAZAKI
——————————-
[ ] The Cat Returns (2002)
[ ] Grave of the Fireflies (1988)
[ X ] Howl’s Moving Castle (2004) Skip the movie; read the book instead.
[ ] Kiki’s Delivery Service (1989)
[ X ] Laputa: Castle in the Sky (1986)
[ ] Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro (1979)
[ ] My Neighbors The Yamadas (1999)
[ ] My Neighbor Totoro (1993)
[ ] Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984)
[ ] Only Yesterday (1991)
[ ] Pom Poko (Tanuki War) (1994)
[ ] Porco Rosso (1992)
[ ] Princess Mononoke (1999)
[ ] Spirited Away (2002)
[ ] Whisper of the Heart (1995)
[ X ] Ponyo on a Cliff by the Sea (2009)
[ ] Panda! Go Panda!
[ ] Tales from Earthsea
[ ] Horus, Prince of the Sun

SATOSHI KON
——————————-
[ ] Millennium Actress (2001)
[ ] Paprika (2006)
[ X ] Perfect Blue (1999)
[ ] Tokyo Godfathers (2003)

SHINKAI MAKOTO
——————————-
[ ] She and Her Cat (1999)
[ ] Voices of a Distant Star (2001)
[ ] The Place Promised in Our Early Days (2004)
[ ] 5 Centimeters per Second (2007)

OTHER ANIME FILMS
——————————-
[ X ] Akira (1989)
[ X ] Appleseed (2004)
[ ] Appleseed: Ex Machina (2007) -
[ ] Arcadia of My Youth (U.S. Title – Vengeance of the Space Pirate) (1982)
[ ] Cowboy Bebop: The Movie (2003)
[ ] The Dagger of Kamui (U.S. Title – Revenge of the Ninja Warrior) (1985)
[ ] Dirty Pair: Project Eden (1987)
[ ] End of Evangelion (1997)
[ ] Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz (1998)
[ X ] Fist of the North Star (1986)
[ ] Galaxy Express 999 (1979)
[ X ] Ghost in the Shell (1996)
[ ] The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (2006)
[ ] Lensman (1984)
[ ] Macross: Do You Remember Love (U.S. Title – Clash of the Bionoids) (1984)
[ X ] Metropolis (2001)
[ ] Neo-Tokyo (1986)
[ X ] Ninja Scroll (1993)
[ ] Origin: Spirits Of The Past
[ ] Patlabor the Movie (1989)
[ ] The Professional: Golgo 13 (1983)
[ ] Project A-ko (1986)
[ ] Robot Carnival (1987)
[ ] Robotech: The Shadow Chronicle (2006)
[ ] Silent Möbius (1991)
[ ] Space Adventure Cobra (1982)
[ ] Steamboy (2004)
[ ] Sword of the Stranger (2007)
[ ] Unico and the Island of Magic (1983)
[ ] Urotsukidoji: The Movie (1987) Hell no.
[ X ] Vampire Hunter D (1985)
[ ] Vampire Hunter D Bloodlust (2000)
[ ] Wings of Honneamise: Royal Space Force (1987)

CARTOONS FOR GROWN-UPS
——————————-
[ ] American Pop (1981)
[ ] The Animatrix (2003)
[ X ] Beavis & Butthead Do America (1996)
[ ] Cool World (1992)
[ X ] Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (2001)
[ ] Final Fantasy: Advent Children (2005)
[ ] Fire & Ice (1983)
[ ] Fritz the Cat (1972)
[ ] Heavy Metal (1981)
[ ] Heavy Metal 2000 (2000)
[ ] Hey Good Lookin’ (1982)
[ ] Lady Death (2004)
[ ] A Scanner Darkly (2006)
[ X ] South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut (1999)
[ ] Street Fight (Coonskin) (1975)
[ ] Waking Life (2001)

OTHER ANIMATED MOVIES
——————————-
[ X ] Animal Farm (1954)
[ ] Animalympics (1980)
[ ] Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon The Movie (2007)
[ ] Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker
[ ] The Brave Little Toaster (1988)
[ ] Bravestarr: The Movie (1988)
[ ] Cats Don’t Dance (1997)
[ ] Care Bears: The Movie (1985)
[ ] Charlotte’s Web (1973)
[ ] Fern Gully (1992)
[ ] G.I. Joe: The Movie (1987)
[ ] Gobots: Battle of the Rock Lords (1986)
[ X ] He-Man & She-Ra: The Secret of the Sword (1985)
[ ] The Hobbit (1977)
[ ] The Iron Giant (1999)
[ ] Justice League: The New Frontier (2008)
[ X ] Lord of the Rings (1978)
[ ] Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland (1992)
[ ] My Little Pony: The Movie (1986)
[ ] Pink Floyd’s The Wall (1982)
[ ] The Prince of Egypt (1998)
[ ] Powerpuff Girls: The Movie (2002)
[ ] Quest For Camelot (1999)
[ ] Ringing Bell (1978)
[ ] The Road to El Dorado (2000)
[ ] Rock & Rule (1983)
[ ] Space Jam (1996)
[ ] Starchaser: The Legend of Orin (1985)
[ ] Superman: Doomsday (2007)
[ ] The Swan Princess (1994)
[ X ] Transformers: The Movie (1986)
[ ] Wizards (1977)
[ X ] Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988)
[ ] Wonder Woman (2009)
[ ] Balto (1995)
[ ] Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron (2002)

ADDENDUM
[ ] 9 (2009)
[ ] The Ant Bully (2006)
[ ] Batman: Mask of the Phantasm
[ ] Bee Movie (2007)
[ ] Beowulf (2007)
[ ] The Chipmunk Adventure (1987)
[ ] Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs (2009)
[ ] Felix the Cat: The Movie (1988)
[ ] Flushed Away (2006)
[ ] Happily N’Ever After (2007)
[ ] Hoodwinked (2005)
[ ] Horton Hears a Who (2008)
[ ] Ice Age (2002)
[ ] Ice Age: The Meltdown (2006)
[ ] Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (2009)
[ ] Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius (2001)
[ ] Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa (2008)
[ ] Open Season (2006)
[ ] Pokemon: The First Movie (1999)
[ ] The Princess and the Frog (2009)
[ ] Robots
[ ] The Rugrats Movie (1998)
[ ] Shark Tale (2004)
[ ] Shrek Forever After (2010)
[ ] The Simpsons Movie (2007)
[ ] Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas (2003)
[ ] Space Chimps (2008)
[ ] The Spongebob Squarepants Movie (2004)
[ ] The Tale of Despereaux (2008)
[ ] Valiant (2005)
[ ] We’re Back! A Dinosaur’s Story (1993)

ADDENDUM II
[ ] Mind Game
[ ] The Secret of Kells
[ ] Shonen Sarutobi Sasuke (U.S. title “Magic Boy”) The first anime I ever saw.
[ ] Princess Arete
[ ] Urusai Yatsura: Beautiful Dreamer
[ ] Cat Soup
[ ] Summer Wars

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Reply to Freedom Flotilla letter

David Martin MEP – Labour

First reply from Jim McGovern’s secretary

Dear Alan,

Thank you for your email.

Unfortunately I am unable to attend the rally in Edinburgh tomorrow, but I share your outrage over recent events on the Gaza-bound flotilla, and fully agree with the points you raised in your email. I strongly condemn the Israeli raid, and would in the first instance call for an immediate and unreserved apology from the Israeli authorities. I fully support calls for an international investigation but, in order to ensure an independent and unbiased inquiry, do not believe this should be led by Israel.

The continued policy of the blockade is unacceptable and politically counter-productive. It has devastated the private sector economy and damaged the natural environment, notably water and other natural resources. The EU has consistently called for an immediate, sustained and unconditional opening of crossings for the flow of humanitarian aid, commercial goods and persons to and from Gaza. This has been reiterated following the flotilla raid, and I am pleased that the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon is urging Israel to end the blockade.

The EU is the biggest contributor to aid in the Palestinian Territories. In March 2009, the EU pledged more than €61 million (around £55 million) in humanitarian and food aid for victims of the crisis. Food, emergency shelter repairs and medical aid is being provided through the United Nations to Gaza Palestinians.

Relations between the EU and Israel have been frozen following a vigorous campaign by the European Parliamentary Labour Party, amongst others, in the European Parliament. I recently asked the European Commission for clarification on the upgrading of the EU-Israel Association Agreement, and I am pleased to say that there are no plans to upgrade the Agreement. Please find my question and the Commission’s response attached.

A human rights clause is an essential element of all of the EU’s diplomatic agreements with third countries, and Israel’s respect for human rights must be an essential part of any consideration to upgrade relations. Given recent events, I believe the EU should go further than this and withdraw all trade preferences under the current Agreement as well as beginning the process of imposing trade sanctions.

Please be assured that I fully support an immediate resolution to the conflict, an end to trade preferences for Israel and an end to the blockade, to ensure humanitarian aid gets to those who need it most and to help secure a lasting two-state solution. I have already written to the chief executives of British supermarkets urging them to end the sale of products from the Israeli occupation which I believe is complicit in the suffering of the Palestinian people. At the European level, a delegation of MEPs returned this week from Gaza. They have called for the EU to launch a political initiative immediately to lift the blockade and begin the reconstruction of basic infrastructure. The delegation has also urged that the EU and other donors increase funding to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA), and I will fully support the attempts in the European Parliament to increase financial support to the UNRWA.

I hope this has addressed your questions. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any further questions.

Best wishes,
David

David Martin
MEP for Scotland

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Reply to Freedom Flotilla letter

Jim McGovern – Labour

First reply from Jim McGovern’s secretary

Thank you for your message which I shall pass to Jim McGovern.

Jane O’Neill

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