Tuesday, May 01, 2007

[blogfocus tuesday] special bumper may 1st edition

The first surprise is that this Blogfocus is going out so early. I have the weight of proof-reading hanging heavily on my mind in my day job and not even a Soviet holiday today will allow respite from this. So let's get down to it.

1 I love film buffs like Keith Demko, at Reel Fanatics, who are capable of this sort of thing, without drawing breath:

The story of Magneto, however, is just cool. Magneto comes to grips with his mutant ability to manipulate metal objects as he and his parents try to survive in Auschwitz. He meets Professor Xavier when the good prof. is a soldier liberating the concentration camp.

Magneto hones his powers by hunting down and killing Nazi war criminals who tortured him, and his lust for vengeance turns Xavier and Magneto into enemies. It's hard for me to see how Goyer could screw up a story this good, but it's certainly been done before. And, for my money, the world needs more movies about villians.

2 Here's a young man going places. The rugby union and Jeeves & Wooster fan, Rob Marrs, has a blog I've only seen for the first time today but he seems to have his finger on the pulse and one would almost think he blogs like one of the old hands. On Scotland returning to the Union, for example:

Without wishing to be a spoilsport, whilst an independent nation does, of course, have self-determination I would wager that the good people of England, Wales and Northern Ireland would want to have a say on allowing Scotland back into the Union - especially as Scotland would most likely return to the Union only because independence had failed spectacularly.

3 Outside Story, the English conservative with the eerie, other-worldly blog, has his own answer on the Scottish question:

Indeed, England should agitate for independence. I believe that if someone were to go back through my archives they would find my views have changed several times since beginning this blog. What has caused me to settle on the most extreme solution - total break-up - is the realisation that political unions are a negative-sum game.

We sometimes believe that the Union is a zero-sum game. That England's loss is equal to Scotland's gain. Politicians like us to believe that unions, such as the EU, are a positive-sum game. That by working together we are all better off.

The reality is far different.

4 Flip Chart, who stays mum about his identity,does not stay mum with his wisdom, in this case, on the subject of "passion":

Passionate is one of those inflationary words used by people who are just trying too hard. When business people say ‘passionate’ they really mean enthusiastic or, at best, excited. But these words have been around for a while so by saying ‘passionate’, people think they are going one better. Rarely do they stop to think about what passion really means.

Most dictionaries define ‘passionate’ as “having or dominated by powerful emotions” or something similar. If people really were passionate about a new brand of toothpaste, or a project management methodology, they would be psychotic.

I am not passionate about many things. I save my passion for important stuff, like helping my family and friends, defending people from bullying and abuse or for issues of principle like freedom of speech. How could I ever be passionate about making money for shareholders or partners?

5 Johnathan Pearce has been around since the dawn of time and is there a blogger who does not know of Samizdata? The Blogfocus is not only for new blood - it's also a showcase of old blogs for blogger newbies who still might not know. Johnathan asks how far journalists should be permitted to go in entering homes to pursue a story:

In my own hazy thoughts on the matter, I tend to take the view that the public interest test has to be very rigorous indeed, ie, life has to be at stake. It is not enough to say that "X is a famous man who is interesting to lots of people" sort of yardstick.

It has to involve the exposure of murderous, criminal behaviour by the person(s) being investigated to justify breaking into a private home or breaching a confidential document.

6 Norman Geras himself has been around since the dawn of Euston and some say, even earlier. Norm is right on the money with this scathing comment about THAT cricket tournament fiasco:

It wasn't only the end of the final game that was a farce. A tournament that takes nearly 50 days to get two semi-finalists up against one another, but can't be so arranged as to ensure that they get a full complement of 50 overs each per innings when they meet - now, that's a farce.

7 Paul Burgin looks back nostalgically at the dawn of the wonderful 10 years of Tony and follows this piece with a list of all Tony's achievements over those ten years. Thanks goodness we have Paul to put us straight:

I remember going back home (I was at a friend's house) at about 5:30 in the morning, seein a glorious sunrise (in fact, looking out of the window, we have some lovely weather now) and it felt like a new dawn. And what a wonderful ten years it has been.

Admittedly there have been some awful moments, but like any marriage it has it's ups and downs. Hopefully we have instituted a pace of quiet reform that, should the Tories ever get back in, they will find difficult to dislodge.

8 The boffin and excellent blogger, Peter Cruikshank, asks; "What would be the implications if the server was hosted in China or Singapore?" and his answer is, in part:

Sites outside the EU (or the UK, or Scotland) have different attitudes to privacy, libel and what it is permissible to debate. Obvious example: the Nazi’s various holocausts of WWII - it’s illegal to deny it in France or Germany, but up for debate here and in the USA.

The USA has a different attitude to discussion of sex or race than many EU countries, so a debate between UK residents on a UK subject that happens to be hosted in USA (or NZ) could suddenly have the plug pulled. Alternatively, the BNP could use a USA hosted site to express political opinions that are illegal here (incitement to race hatred etc - in fact I have a feeling they have).

BONUS BLOGGER: We wind up today with Benedict White, whom I'm hoping will allow me to claim as "one of our own" and here's his take on 7/7, who knew what and could MI5 have done anything:

Two of the July 7th bombers turned up on the radar of MI5 during the surveillance operation, Mohammad Sidique Khan and Shehzad Tanweer. They did some surveillance on them, but decided that they were only involved in credit card fraud. This meant that of the 50 people who were on the edge of the investigation, 15 were followed up closely but these two ended up being in the "desirable" category.

Obviously hindsight being what it is that was an error. What concerns me though is that this information was not passed to any other agency for any sort of follow up, either before or after the main arrests.

4 comments:

  1. I realize it's odd to describe as "cool" any story that takes place at Auschwitz, even if it is a comic book story ... Thanks for not taking me to task for it!

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  2. Keith, I was being serious - I like your style of writing. Now I'm hoping others will get over and enjoy it too.

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  3. another fine selection, James. Where do you get the time?

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  4. Merci beaucoup. I schedule it, TD. incidentally, I like your current post.

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Comments need a moniker of your choosing before or after ... no moniker, not posted, sorry.