The Nerd Zone

Getting roped into a workplace trivia quiz can be dangerous stuff. Today I was roundly booed for knowing who the boxer known as Hands Of Stone was. Thank god I didn't admit I probably only knew because one of my favourite blogs was named after his most famous statement or it would have all been ever.

Then I redeemed myself by having no of what a Star Trek answer was. Credibility saved for another few hours...

Is thing still on..

Now, I don't like to be needlessly controversial - but hey, I figure nobody is reading any more and it'll just be random googlers who come on here to lay the smack down so here goes...

Australian soldier dies. Very tragic, boo hoo and all. There's no doubt about that, but should we really be THAT upset about it. Allow me,

The wife of slain Australian commando Lance Corporal Jason Marks, 27, said today that all the father of her two children ever wanted to be was a soldier.

"There are no words to express how we are feeling,'' Cassandra Marks stated via a defence department media release today.

"Our family is devastated at the tragic loss of Jason in Afghanistan today. [He] was a devoted father to our two beautiful children and a loving husband to me.

"All Jason ever wanted to do was to join the Army,'' she wrote.

"He was the type of of man who knew what he wanted, even from the age of 12, all Jason ever wanted to be was a soldier.

"Becoming a Commando was a dream of Jason's, he was proud of who he was and proud of what he did.

So basically he wanted to go out, wave a gun around and patrol the hot spots of the world - possibly killing people. And what happens to people who wave guns around whilst patrolling the hotspots of the world? They get shot back at, or blown up. If you're dragged into the army kicking and screaming then you're officially a tragic victim. If you sign up to go over for a smackdown and you get killed then it's no less tragic for your family, and no sadder that two kids will grow up without a father, but can you really act like it's a surprise?

It's like when somebody who works on constructing a 70 storey building plummets out the window and dies. It's tragic - yes, I know that please don't write in - but when you put yourself in a position like that it's an occupational hazard. The same as being a soldier. I'm not saying that we don't mourn this loss, but I'm not sure it's worth putting somebody up on a pedestal as a massive legend when they did the job they were paid to do.

Please address all letterbombs to PO Box 4646 in your Capital City.

So, you thought that the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) had a monopoly on unintentionally amusing names for terrorist organisations. Well, look no longer because we introduce you to...

FNAR!

NAR (also known as Front National Anti Radar, Antiradar National Front or Fraction Nationaliste Armée Révolutionnaire, Armed Nationalist Revolutionary Faction) is a group that has exploded several radar stations in France. They have demanded from the government lower taxes, less repression for the automobilists, the stop of immigration, and 4 millions euros. If they have any ideology, the group's one could be described as National-Anarchism.

Coming soon... COR! OOER! and LOL!

Crazy Melbourne

The problem with extreme nutbags is that you usually can't get close enough to take a picture without either being lured into their lunacy or yelled at. For this reason I was unable to take the picture of the guy holding up a giant sign calling a judge a "murderess" outside the Magistrates Court today.

Whoever you are sir, you are a king of komedy.

You shifty bastards!

How convenient is this? China and their tainted Olympics have been hammered from all angles for the last few weeks, and suddenly their "crack security forces" take five minutes out from putting people in front of firing squads and running protesters over in tanks to miraculously foil a daring terror plot.

China has cracked two terrorist groups in its heavily Muslim west that were planning attacks aimed at the Beijing Olympics, the nation's security ministry says. One group was plotting to kidnap foreign journalists, tourists and athletes during the Games, Chinese police said. 

"The terrorists, who numbered 45 in all, had attempted to carry out sabotage to undermine the Beijing Olympic Games,'' the official Xinhua news agency quoted Public Security Ministry spokesman Wu Heping as saying today. 

In one case, police in the western Xinjiang region January broke up a group "sent from abroad'' by the East Turkestan Islamic Movement to stage a violent attack, it said. Police seized a large amount of explosives, materials used in manufacturing explosive and Islamic "Jihad'' training materials, according to Wu. 

Wu said all the suspects involved had confessed. Xinhua provided no details on the second case. China maintains it faces an imminent terror threat from the independence-minded East Turkestan Islamic Movement, which is listed by the United Nations and the United States as a terrorist organisation. Xinjiang officials had already said last month that police on January 27 smashed a terrorist group planning an attack on the Beijing Olympics and that a separate bid to blow up a Chinese airliner was foiled in March. 

Now, far from me to suggest that these terrorists don't exist - but as if all this horseshit about cracking their network isn't a carefully orchestrated gimmick to make people go "aww, those repressive dictators are ok after all". As I said about five years ago, the Olympics are dead the moment they open in Beijing. God knows how many people killed so Nike can flog a billion pairs of shoes. Shame that the national thirst for bronze medals is too strong to see us take a stand and tell them to cram their games.

Blog Emo

I'm increasingly concerned that the TSP archives on BBVZ.com are lost and aren't coming back. How freaking depressing - about two months ago I had the thought that I'd better save it all in case something happened. Idiot.

As it is I have 2003-2006 saved but the rest - other than what I can find on random Google cache pages - might be lost. I know there was nothing even moderately essential contained within but I'm still depressed.

Motza!

At this very moment Melbourne are starting 72.5 point underdogs against Geelong tomorrow. My god I'm depressed. Has there been a lower point in our history since losing to Fitzroy by 190 in 1979? Don't ask me, I was minus two at the time.

So, if you're considering a minor flutter onthe 'mons only getting half flogged tomorrow then let this ad, almost certainly featuring the best jingle ever, be your guide.



Win a motza on the footy. Bet against Melbourne.