They just can't leave god out of it

I have been subscribing to the radicalviews.org newsletter for some time, as I am all in favour of freedom of speech and the pursuit of the truth from point of the underdog. Issues such as the Palestinian struggle and the treatment of Muslims by certain Western powers have been dealt with quite well, and although frequently biased and unsubstantiated, the articles posted on radicalviews.org have been thought provoking and at times even refreshing to read. That is, until yesterday.

I here reproduce the newsletter, as well as my reply, because the article by Yamin Zakaria is so devoid of journalistic competence that it puts the entire profession to shame.

Earthquakes and Tsunamis: Is God a Murderer?

The recent earthquake in Indonesia has evoked memories of the catastrophic Tsunami of 2004 that left hundreds of thousands dead. Natural disasters of cataclysmic proportion always raise the question of how a merciful God can permit indiscriminate carnage and devastation. How can a just God allow such injustices to take place? The secularists, atheists and agnostics use such catastrophic events to reinforce their belief in a Godless universe. They reason, if God does exist He should stand trial for murder and cruelty.

Murder by definition means to take a life unlawfully. But which laws has jurisdiction over God? He is the lawgiver, the creator and the owner of the entire universe and its content; hence it is His
prerogative to give and take, life. He is above any law by definition.

Furthermore, God created mankind and placed them on earth with a limited life span as the giver and taker of life. Therefore, according to secular ‘logic’ He has been committing ‘murder’ from the death of the very first man! By the way: what is about the 'mass murder' of cattle, sheep and chicken in the slaughter-houses just to satisfy the nutritional needs of humans: how does this squares with ‘murder’ and 'justice' in the secular minds.

Another point is the ability to resurrect life. The creator has the ability to recreate mankind after they have perished, as recreating is easier than creating from scratch. The divine can easily undo the
alleged ‘murder’ of his subjects and He will on the Day of Judgment by resurrecting everyone! This is something a human being could not do to the murdered victims. Thus, the concept of murder can only be applied to those human beings that take another life unlawfully; they are guilty as they did not create the life in the first place, thus have no rights over it. And they are not able to resurrect the victims: the guilt persists forever.

Who knows the fate of those who have perished? Who has this knowledge? To assume that they are worse off is an assumption. The creator may have given them a better life and spared them further sufferings in this world. From the Islamic perspective those who have perished are martyrs, they will be rewarded greatly and the young will enter paradise as they are innocent, they do not need salvation and no one needs to die for their ‘sins’. Therefore, to pass quick judgment upon the divine without the full picture is premature, foolish and in reality impossible.

As for the hardship suffered by those who have survived the recent disaster, it cannot be construed as evil. Many tend to confuse between evil and suffering in general. According to the Islamic text, evil is rebelling against Gods commandments and the consequential suffering inflicted upon the victim. But not all forms of hardship constitutes evil by definition, a serious error often made by many. The creator is entitled to test us from time to time and how quick are we to forget all the bounties that He has given us prior to that.

Adjectives like ‘love’, ‘merciful’ used in describing God Almighty should be understood not in terms of human qualities but as divine attributes. When for example God says He hears everything that does not mean He has big powerful ears but the use of such vocabulary allows the limited human minds to get an infinitely small appreciation of the power of the divine, whilst remembering that HE is nothing like the creation, not part of it and not subjected to the laws of the creation.

There is a clear distinction between the creator and created. This is fundamental point about the notion of God. He created human beings and their mind, given it the ability to compose, analyze and deduce ideas.
By rational necessity the finite human mind cannot comprehend the nature of the infinite and eternal God. Furthermore, the reality shows that the human mind being finite struggles to comprehend the creation itself let alone the nature of the creator.

Despite this, the secularists, atheists and agnostics have attempted conceptualize the essence of God using their limited mind, and perhaps the Christian and Pagan traditions have also contributed to this; the end result is God is a more powerful being with super human qualities. Naturally God is now thought of as a being that can be understood in terms of having human qualities and therefore subjected to the same principles that are applied to human beings. And this is where the error begins with charges of murder.

By rational necessity the eternal and uncreated God can never be subjected to the principles that have been derived from the minds of those who HE has created. Similarly, He cannot be subjected to the laws and ethics derived from the human mind as He has created the mind, body and soul. Just as a slave cannot command his master in the same way the eternal sovereign God cannot be commanded or evaluated by His own creation.

These major events like earthquakes and tsunamis are for us to reflect about the meaning of life, the limitations of human beings, these events are proof that the span of life on earth is pre-determined.

Yamin Zakaria (yamin@radicalviews.org)


so I replied:

We can only move forward as a species once we stop taking about blind faith and start talking about facts. Without Islam there'd be no jihad, without Christianity there'd be no Crusades or TV evangelists. Whether God is a murderer or not is not really relevant.

"Furthermore, God created mankind and placed them on earth with a limited life span as the giver and taker of life."

Presumably Yamin is a journalist and looks for truth. Leave religion behind, it has no place in truth. All any discussion about the relative merits of god or gods (some people believe in more than one,
you know - are they wrong?) achieves is more arguments, wars and misery in the name of religion.

"Natural disasters of cataclysmic proportion always raise the question of how a merciful God can permit indiscriminate carnage and devastation."

No it doesn't always raise that question. Funny how only religious people think this. For an atheist, it is simply a natural disaster, nothing more nothing less.

"The secularists, atheists and agnostics use such catastrophic events to reinforce their belief in a Godless universe. They reason, if God does exist He should stand trial for murder and cruelty."

Simply not true. Poor journalism. Do some research next time. Atheists don't believe in a god, regardless of whether a tsunami takes place or not. A natural disaster is not evidence to atheists of the absence of a god. It is just a natural disaster. Why is that so difficult to grasp? Atheists don't reason that if "God does exist He should stand trial for murder and cruelty" - atheists reason that there is no God, period, and as such the debate on whether or not he should stand trial is irrelevant.

"Therefore, according to secular ‘logic’ He has been committing ‘murder’ from the death of the very first man! By the way: what is about the 'mass murder' of cattle, sheep and chicken in the
slaughter-houses just to satisfy the nutritional needs of humans: how does this squares with ‘murder’ and 'justice' in the secular minds."

Apart from the obvious need to employ a sub-editor, Yamin once again makes a sweeping statement with zero reference to a source or sources. How can a religious person, talk authoritatively about secular 'logic'? Is there a logic in blind faith?

"Who knows the fate of those who have perished? Who has this knowledge? To assume that they are worse off is an assumption."

To believe that god exists is an assumption. This whole article is based on one big assumption.

"Despite this, the secularists, atheists and agnostics have attempted conceptualize the essence of God using their limited mind"

Really? Source, please. This is another example of poor research. Atheists are not trying to conceptualize the essence of god one way or the other. Atheists don't believe in god or gods. Who in their right mind would seek to conceptualise the essence of something they know not to exist? Journalism is not about saying what you think, it is about critically investigating the objective truth.
And surely, being able to ask questions shows a mind that is not limited, as opposed to a mind that accepts anything as fact because some scripture or community leader says so?
That is why the majority of Muslim countries are underdeveloped in the first place – ignorance. I hasten to add that certain parts of America are developing in intellectually underdeveloped areas too, given the trend by fundamentalists Christians towards espousing creationism as the 'true' alternative to science. What makes that scarier is the fact that America is a rich and powerful country.

"By rational necessity the eternal and uncreated God can never be subjected to the principles that have been derived from the minds of those who HE has created."

How convenient. And is it really rational? Is it a necessity? And, for the sake of argument, why not? Is 'HE' scared of what 'those HE created' might say?

"These major events like earthquakes and tsunamis are for us to reflect about the meaning of life, the limitations of human beings"

On this I agree, but that has nothing to do with religion. Atheists mourn the loss of life, too. Atheists too reflect on the limitations of human beings, but unlike believers atheists seek to confront and remove those limitations through science and the application of rational thought, not to accept them and remain in ignorance.
Medicine is a perfect example of this. When Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin, the limitations of human beings was significantly reduced. Millions of deeply religious people of all faiths use penicillin to prolong their lives. If Alexander Fleming had accepted the limitations of human beings as dictated by god, we'd die from what are considered common ailments even today. Compassion does not exist purely as a consequence of religion, otherwise how do you explain the compassion shown by people of all faiths, not just Islam (and indeed atheists, Gnostics etc.)?

We're now in the 21st century and the biggest challenge we face as a species is the destruction of our planet through war, pollution and over-consumption. If we are ever to move forwards, we have to stop wallowing in god this or god that.

Yamin is entitled to his/hers view, of course, presumably that is what radicalviews.org is all about – indeed that is why I subscribe(d).

But the article is not radical nor new - the god is evil / god is not evil, god exists / god doesn't exist debate is as old, worn and inconsistent as the scriptures upon which it is founded. The article is full of misinformed, one-sided statements that achieve nothing but to perpetuate stereotypes – the kind of rubbish we need to move away from if we are ever to become one as a species.

If poor journalism is radical, this article is your organisation's finest moment.

Yamin's article lessens all other articles I have received from radicalviews.org so far. It lessens the debate about Palestine, it lessens the debate about political injustice, it lessen the debate about the rights of women.

Nothing in this article is radical. Religious propaganda IS conformity.

I am very disappointed.

Kind regards,

C C C


note: Yamin also writes for a blog called A Moderate View in a Radical World. I would argue that there is no such thing as a moderate religion.

Needless to say I have had no reply.

Bangs is (da) shit

Bangs is da shit! Or, in layman terms, Bangs is shit.

No amount of backdrops with tacky sportscars and bundles of cash can convince anyone that this guy is gangsta. If he was driving the sportscar, or actually seen holding some cash, then maybe I'd be convinced. And that is just the video. The actual song is horrendously bad.

"Hold the popcorn and the drinks - let me pay so we can get inside"

Whoever posted the vid is screening comments, too. Clearly lessons learned from scores of youtube users expressing their disbelief at this shit endeavour, if it can be called that. Retarded and misguided cack is probably a more apt description.


Loser.



Speaking of retarded, - holy shit this video says it all. Wait, that should read retarded and camp. Again, lyrically, my boy Bangs is on to a winner: "I' trying to make you my special girl, 'cause there's nothing like you".



To reiterate: loser.

What is wrong with Sweden?

Well, where does one start? It is a country that, despite popular international opinion, is almost exclusively inhabited by facists, communists, state flunkeys and hypocrites. The pseudo-communist culture has been so prevalent in recent Swedish history that there is little or no concept of personal responsibility left. People in the UK express fears of an impending nanny state, - well Sweden is a textbook example of such a scenario. Except in Sweden it isn't a scenario, it is a national identity. Forget the beautiful women (if you can - communist or not they're still hot), forget the amazing nature, forget the Nobel prize. On the surface Swedes may give off the image of being industrious, fair and open minded. As a rule, none of these qualities exist in reality in the kingdom of Sweden today. Everyone here is a racist, everyone here is narrow minded, but worst of all, everyone here are happy to have the state govern every aspect of their life. This archetypal, holier-than-thou image is so rotten, it makes Eva Braun's last days seem like a petty form of denial.

Crap lyrics

Just look at me and listen
I'm the man, the man, give you my hand
Come down with fire
Lift my spirit higher
I'm the man on the silver mountain
I'm the man on the silver mountain
I'm the night the light
The black and the white
The man on the silver mountain

Man on the silver mountain, by Rainbow

Boring colleagues part one

Gasp!

One of my colleagues must take the prize for most boring conversationalist of all time. Today he has been "entertaining" me on the topic of 5 1/2" floppy disks for almost 45 minutes. You know, about stuff like how the disks used to come unformatted ("as opposed to today, where media comes pre-formatted"), how many kilobytes the disk had available and how much of that you could actually use etc. What the fuck? No one has used those disk since 1989 or so, and no one cares.

Still, it is infinitely preferable to him talking about bus routes..
"I used to take the 43, which is actually called the 52 now, and then I would change in (insert random Swedish provincial shithole) and walk across the street and take the 26 or 27, can't remember which, although I think it was the 27, either way it is now called the 6B, and that would take me to work quite quickly, unless of course it was snowing badly, in which case I was better off taking the 400 all the way to (insert random Swedish provincial shithole) and then take the 88 for the final journey. 88 did I say? I mean the 88A, of course, silly me, the 88 doesn't stop at the bus stop I use, of course unless I need to go the park, but then I'd probably just take the 52 and then walk, unless I was bringing a picnic basket or something, but in that case I might just drive as well".

Yawn.

Raaah

Check this guy out. It is SFW unless your boss is a raging redneck, a Southern Baptist Priest, a fundamentalist Muslim etc – you get the message. No nudity, just great bass-playing and a weird, milk-drinking Japanase or Korean dude (I can't tell the difference and tbh I don't really care all that much, it is not really that important). I especially like when he is rubbing / squeezing his underarms. Also, the sequence of the yacht at the end of the video is timeless. I presume it all makes sense in Japanese or Korean or whatever, but secretly I hope it makes no sense in any language / culture.

The comments are brilliant as well. Here's a few tasters:

”ilovebasketball86
the good thing is he is talented the bad thing is he is fucked in the head.”

-very insightful, straight to the point sort of commentary

”nickmorgan19457
I don't know what I'm looking at, but I never want to see it again.”

-this guy must have a hard time on youtube and the internet in general

”DaRuler92
I can live with the cross dressing but MILK in a COKE GLASS WTF is this shit?”

-yeah, what the fuck? That is seriously uncouth and shows a complete lack of decorum

and my favourite:

”Giovanni222
This video is SO FUCKED UP. The wooden frame of the bed TOTALLY clashes with the wooden texture of the wardrobe.”

-quite.

Troopers

Start around 1:05-1:06.

At some point in this particular episode of Wife Swap, the spouse of the guy having a breakdown explains how in their family, they brush their teeth with toothpaste made from butter mixed with clay. And they eat raw chicken that they keep in a jar on a shelf.
The world is a scary place, especially with people like that in it. Poor kids.

It is all wrong

Police arrest naked 'Terminator'

A man found naked at a casino claimed he was a Terminator sent from the future.

19-year-old Sean Stanley Smith was arrested on the Nevada border after he was spotted by a motorist wondering around the highway nude. He was ordered by police to stop but proceeded into a nearby casino - where he was then tasered in front of a group of children.

Smith claims he was a Terminator sent back in time from the future - a reference to the film character made popular by Arnold Schwarznegger in the sci-fi franchise. The films usually start with a naked man being transported to the past.

However, it turned out that Smith was not a time-travelling Terminator but was in fact suffering from the side effects of LSD and marijuana. He was charged with indecent exposure and resisting a police officer.

(from Yahoo)

Imagine how traumatized those kids must be. Not only are they in a casino surrounded by the grim spectacle of bona fide gambling addiction in all its guises, they also get the pleasure of witnessing a naked, delirious man getting tazed by burly cops.

This is just all so wrong. First of all, what where the kids doing in the casino in the first place? And with whom? And with what money? Isn't there an age limit for casinos? I mean, a casino is hardly the ideal place for a family vacation or a field trip with school. Especially not if it is the kind of casino where naked men go to get tazed by cops.

Clouds

America the Great

Too many quotes to really mention, but here's a selection:

“Peoples (sic) have kids, that they try to feed with the special, and you mean to tell me that we can't feed our kids, because ya'll didn't order enough chicken .... that's wrong”

“I was trying to feed my family tonight, - can't get that bucket in now”

And my favourite:

“We're more disappointed than angry, you know we've been looking forward to this day”

Get a fucking life. Stop feeding yor kids shit food and stop relying on drive-throughs for sustenance! Go to a bloody shop, buy ingredients and make a proper meal. You do have kitchens in the US, right?

Holy shit this is a sad state of affairs. No wonder America is such a fucked up place. Bred on a diet of fried chicken, inane TV and Texan presidents.

Mini Ramp in the Barn, Day Three

My Dad's cousin, who happens to own and run a machine factory, kindly supplied me with two airplane grade aluminium tubes for coping. Using his industrial drills and cutters, the pipes became two beautiful, shiny bespoke items perfect for my masterpiece. He also furnished me with a great selection of nuts and bolts to attach the bastards, and gave some sound advice. In return I had to work for him on May 1 which in Sweden is a national holiday for the workers.
Ha! I didn't mind too much, though. I don't agree with parading around waving red flags moaning about capitalists in 21st century Europe. It's not like the Swedish workforce is exploited in any way, on the contrary, they probably have the most comfortable working directives, laws and conditions of any labour force in the world. Besides, my ramp is way more important than some socialist, hypocritical donuts who all use iPhones, drink Starbucks and think communism is a good thing, whilst being covertly racist, ignorant, uncharitable and fully dependent on state intervention in all aspects of their lives.
Anyway, I digress. I worked in protest and got a nice coping set-up out of it.

Mini Ramp in the Barn, Day Two

Today was the day I started putting together the 4 quarter pipes that will make the transition of the ramp. I gave up on using the oak beams I had sourced for cross joists, as they where hard as nails, so hard in fact that I could use neither screw nor nail on them.

IF I COULD DO ANYTHING DIFFERENT, I WOULD START BY NOT DECIDING TO USE OLD, HARD AS FUCK OAK BEAMS FOR BUILDING ANYTHING OTHER THAN A HOUSE!

Anyway, most of day two was spent looking for alternate lumber instead of the oak bastards. As it is a big farm, several hundred years with several massive barns, it wasn't too difficult. I figured the cross joists could be a various shapes, as long as they were strong and thicker and 1".
After an hour or two (generous estimate - I got blisters on my hands) of sawing, I had enough non-oak beams with which to begin construction of the first quarterpipe.

quarterpipe #1

By now it was getting late, I wanted beer and I couldn't be fucked to do any more sawing. I learnt a lot from doing this first quarterpipe, and I was certain the next 3 would go a lot quicker. I closed the doors to the barn and to the project and tried to think of other things.

Mini Ramp in the Barn, Day One

So on Saturday morning I got up early, worked on my loose construction plans and headed to the local timber yard to make some purchases. I bought 10 sheets of 8' x 4' plywood. Unfortunately they didn't have the plywood in the thickness recommended by the the Dahlen/Pukeboy manifesto, so I had to settle for sheets that were in-between. The guy in the store assured me that, when soaked, the thickness I got was bendable. I was too excited about the prospect of my very own mini ramp to really worry too much at this stage. Dahlen/Pukeboy recommends using 3/4" thickness for the sideboards and 3/8" for the surface. I got 12mm thickness instead. So I decided to use two 12mm sheets for each sideboard to make it strong enough, and then hope that the 12mm would be pliable enough to use for the surface too.

12mm 8'x4' on trailer - exciting stuff

In terms of lumber, I sourced countless planks, all more or less 2"x4" of various lengths, around the farm that I reckon I could use instead of the standard 2"x4" suggested by Dahlen/Pukeboy. Screws and tools were plenty too. So far so good.

The next step was to design the sideboards. I used the string method for drawing the gradient on to the first sheet of plywood and drew the rest of the sideboard outline with a long ruler.


I opted for a 6 1/2' - 2m gradient, as all websites on the topic seem to suggest that is a mellow gradient, suitable for 3' - 1m ramps. The string method is well-explained in the Dahlen/Pukeboy manifestos.

I also spent a bit more time measuring out the exact space in the barn and revised my figures slightly:

Total length: 6.40m
Flat: 1.80m
Each platform is about 0.60m long (ca. 2') - enough to do a rock fakie with trucks all the way to coping and still have breathing space
Height from ground: ca. 1m
Vertical height, coping to flat: ca. 0.90m (3')
Width: 2.44m (8')
Transition gradient ca 2m (ca 6 1/2')

Hopefully it'll just fit (probably a bit snug, but I wanted to use all possible space to ensure a decent length of ramp).

I proceeded to cut out the first sideboard with a jigsaw. I then traced the the cut-out on to the remainder of the sheet and cut that out too. I repeated this process a few more times to leave me with 12 sideboards, all roughly identical. As I'm using thinner plywood than that recommended, I plan to have the outer sides of the four quarterpipes I make to be double layers. The insides will become double once I put the quarterpipes together. To allay confusion, I should add that the Dahlen/Pukeboy method suggests building 4 quarterpipes that, when combined, will make up the two main quarterpipes in each end of the ramp.

A few sideboards cut out

The rest of day one was spent cutting planks to size for the cross joists. I found a whole heap of oak planks that were of a suitable size. Oak is very hard wood and it took a while to saw enough cross joints for the first qaurterpipe.

Day one drew to a close, and I went to bed praying that this project will work.

Mini Ramp in the Barn, Day Zero

One of the advantages of relocating to rural shitsville (possibly apart from being able to go swimming butt-naked in total privacy whenever it takes your fancy), is the ability to take full use of the spaces afforded for purposes that would have been difficult to do in the middle of an urban setting. Friday night I decided to break the monotony of country-living and realise a childhood dream all in one fell swoop: I'm going to build my very own miniramp in one of the many barns scattered around my family's farm. I used to be an avid skateboarder in my teens and early twenties before London, drugs and partying took over. Since having moved out of the City of Filth to a 100% contrasting setting in hickstown, southern Sweden, I've had to fill my evenings and weekends with something other than fishing and moose counting. Luckily I brought my old deck with me, hence the plan and desire to start skating again.
Once a skater, always a skater as they say.

So, following some hard-fought negotiations with the family, I have been granted permission to build an indoor mini ramp in a suitably sized barn next to the main house. I will try to document its progress in this blog over the course of the next few weeks (well, ambitiously I am aiming to have it finished by the end of next weekend, but let's see, eh? As I am the only person working on it and I have no prior experience in the field, it might take longer than that).

I spent Friday night scouring t'internet looking for diagrams and how-too's, and I must admit it was more difficult at first than I had imagined. Ramp Plans Dot Org is a good starting point, but it contains no actual plans (not useful - trade descriptions fuck-up if you ask me) and many of the links are dead (not useful either). After a somewhat confusing browsing session, however, I came across and settled for plans provided by the following two websites:

Rick Dahlen's Mini Ramp
(has a great downloadable PDF with decent diagrams and a walk-through)

Pukeboy's Mini Ramp Plans
(confusing and cheap looking website, but once successfully navigated, extremely useful. Has some cool pics of the final product, too. Not too hot on diagrams, but well-explained)

As Rick Dahlen's ramp plans are loosely based on those provided by Pukeboy, I decided to make my ramp based on a bastardization of the two. The beauty of the plans provided on the two sites mentioned is that the ramp construction uses standard size wood, both lumber and plywood, which makes the process easier and quicker.

(I will go into the various techniques as and when they crop up in my construction over the next week or two.)

So, Day Zero of my ramp construction, I came up with the following rough outline, based on space restrictions in the barn (see below), and my liberal adaptation of the dimensions of the Dahlen/Pukeboy beast:

Total length: 6.5 m / 21'(ish)
Transition: 1.99m / 6.5' (supposedly quite mellow, perfect for 3' height)
Height: 0.91m / 3' (ish)
Width: 2.1 - 2.4m / 7' - 8' (not decided yet, space issues. Might be as wide as 10')
Flat: 1.8m / 6'
Platform width: 0.60 - 0.8 m / 2' - 2.5' (again, space issues, will decide once transition and flat is up)
Surface: either one or two layers of 1/2" plywood, covered by one layer of Masonite
Coping: yet to purchase, PVC is easier to work with, iron lasts longer... depending on availability etc.

I'm going to construct sideboard/frames first (draw and cut out gradient etc), then flat section. Planning to soak surface plywood in lake over night to enable it to bend properly (best method, apparently).

This is where I intend to fit the ramp:

Dying in a skiing accident is a luxury problem

So Natasha Richardson has died and the world mourns.

First of all, who the fuck was she?

Was she on the brink of solving world poverty? Did she have the answers to saving our environment? Could she have invented a vaccine to cure all our ills?

No. She was an actor. An actor who died whilst on holiday in an upmarket resort. An actor. How will the world recover from this tremendous loss?

57 million people die each year. Compared to the fate of the majority of people her life was far from tragic. Dying in a skiing accident is not comparable to dying from starvation, violence or disease (although dying on a beginner's slope is a form of tragedy, I suppose...).

My condolences to her family and friends. I'm not that cold-hearted. But to everyone else who feels sadden by her demise - get a fucking grip. If she touched your lives you need to join the other 57 million post-haste. The world looks exactly as fucked up today as it did before she kicked the bucket.

NOTHING HAS CHANGED.

Popping out for a Raskolnikov

Reading Dostoyevski's Crime and Punishment piecemeal during loo visits doesn't lessen the pleasure. The book is also rather good.

Bjørnebryg - the reason God invented Denmark

"Far back in history the bear has been a part of the Harboe Brewery and it is still adorning the Bjørnebryg. The strong and characteristic beer contains 7,7% alcohol."

Possibly the best piece of copywriting ever conceived. Look at that awesome design. Only White Ace looks more attractive.
I dare say this beer is better than White Ace, both in terms of flavour and in terms of strength. White Ace is, of course, more readily available in the UK and much more likely to generate disgust from the public when consumed in broad daylight whilst waiting for your smack dealer to come through. White Ace is of course also not a beer but a white cider (sulphate overdose!), so the comparison falls short on several points. Well no, just the one.
I don't think this beer is available in the UK, which is tantamount to a crime. In Denmark the "Bear Brew" is fave among the drinking classes. Combined with a few 30mg codeine pills this golden liquid is an adequate and quite beautiful intoxicant.

Coolest tatts ever

A friend of mine sent me the link to this blog (English Russia) with some of the best (or worst) tattoos ever.

The two I've selected below are just so shit they're cool. Seriously, I am considering it...

'Drunken biker with chick'















We all know the feeling. You've been enjoying a couple of beers on a Tuesday night, just cruising around Vladivostock on your BSA, when your old lady shows up out of the blue, bitching and making demands, to the effect that you crash your bike and subsequently pretend to pass out in the vague hope that she'll go away.


'Weird lady standing in a puddle'




















Not sure what the story is here. Some weird woman standing in what looks like a shallow fountain. No story needed, the mystery is what makes this tatt.

Fear and loathing in Sweden

Three codeine tablets, two beers, two large glasses of gin and the last of my UK skunk. Listening to Land of Talk's new album, 'Some Are Lakes'.

I'm missing the filth, the depravity and the madness of London.

Earlier today I went walking in the forest. I say in the forest as if there is one distinct forest I go walking in. There isn't. It' all just one big fucking forest. The snow that fell last night and this morning was melting. The usual silence of the deep forest was replaced by the sound of a thousand drops of melted snow falling from branch to branch, drifting from leaf to leaf, as the frozen water transformed itself for the millionth time. I sat in the forest for an hour, silent, just listening. The lack of human made stimuli was amazing. The air was fresh, my footprints were the only ones visible in the snow and the air was so clean.
Yet I find myself missing all the misery of hyper inner city life. Missing it badly.

My resume so far.

Lies, lies, lies.