Silly Remarks

Dumbo Euro Soccer-Heads

It might seem curious to the rest of the World, but in a country like France, the daily minutes of News devoted to Soccer are at least equal to All the Rest of the News from the Entire World. Soccer is firmly in the category "Opium of the People". It is true, France has been spinning out a Soccer World Cup Victory, on its own territory, employing foreign players, and some years ago now, for all that it is worth - and maybe beyond. Well, we guess that when one has no other valid contribution to make and massive unemployment, the theme-Park, "Footie" stuff is about all there is left to exploit. Soccer, Football as they call it in Europe, is Very Big Business - makes more money that some Euro-States have as National Budgets. Don't Fool with Football - You might end up wearing cement shoes, like Jimmy Hofer. The Soccer folk do not dig any kind of questioning or controversial stuff. Euro-Soccer is played by bone-heads, for bone-heads, and managed by knuckle-heads. It is not a game. It is a slot-machine : Pull the handle, win every time - the Punters are that dumb.

Tears Along Our Damn Face 4 Ray Charles

Euro Nooz

Not much to say today. First off, provisionally and temporarily, the collapse of the CdG Paris Airport Terminal remains a mystery. Normal - it only fell down 2 days ago. However, there are three possibilities, which should not be difficult to identify, as only a section of the building collapsed. 1) The design was flawed. 2) Construction was skimped. 3) Deliberate sabotage. Silly discounts movement of techtonic plates and drastic temperature changes : there were none. The process of examination goes by elimination : whichever process is eliminated, there remain only two possibilities. One of which is not the case. It is highly unlikely that the collapse was caused by a combination of any 2 of the above possibilities. It is extremely unlikely it was caused by a combination of all 3. The collapse was caused by One of the above. With modern techniques there should be no real difficulty in rapidly finding the area where there is an anomaly. If they tell You any different, Beware : It is Fog.
As for the more interesting news today, Martina Navratilova, now aged 47 the cool babe, got hustled out of the French Open Tournament by a 19 year-old, we think, Russian girl. That is pretty much how life goes and as it should be. However, Martina gave great joy to tennis fans the world over with her classic style of serve and volley - she shifted her backside and went to the net - during a period when the male slammers were developing the behind baseline cannon-shots, begun by Borg, which has just about killed the game. She got fired today. But Martina is a great lady of tennis, the game, not brute hitting power with huge rocket rackets. We salute You, Martina, a cool babe. Thank You.
'Nother guy, not strictly in Europe, in Kenya, Africa, strikes us as cool : 84 year-old Kimani Maruge is going to Primary School to learn to read and write and do elementary arithmetic. Kimani was part of the dreaded, and Very Heavy-Duty Mau Mau who fought the Whites and the British in the 50s. These guys were beyond Your wildest nightmares of Africa. So Kimani is going to school to learn how to add up and so on. He has scores of grand-children in and out of school with him.
Just as an aside, the BBC seems to be very proud of itself - new director, fogotten his name, ex-BBC re-poached from a Channel 4 tv company in Britain. Well, less hope, after congratulating themselves mutually : the Brit Gubment and the BBC after the Hutton Enquiry - that the Nu Director can hire folk who can write Basic English. The BBC News Website is so full of basic English errors that it appears to have been written by Primary School attendees, whose mother-tongue is not English. Sorry, Hip is Hip. But there are limits. It is usual for the media, in general, to take their audiences for ignorant idiots. That is not a course silly would advise. However, continue like that. That's fine : the more folk will come to the bloggers and the free-lancers. :-)

Euro Nooz

First off, as regards Nooz Outta Euroland this Monday, You might find it interesting and more than revealing to consult the following Link : Euro Parliament Members Leech Taxpayers' Money You will have to Log On to the NYT. It is no big deal. However, the article, dated Monday 24 May 2004, is entitled "Perks at the EU Parliament". It is reproduced in the International Herald Tribune, of the same date. Silly has in the past mentioned EU Korruption from time to time. Specifically this "MEPs" area. However, Silly does not have the massive means of the NYT. You might care to take a glance at the NYT stuff. It is a real eye-opener. They have their facts right. Silly is No Friend of the NYT nor the IHT : they employ bum editors and bum journalists. But not only. Carvajal is okay. Gottlieb, we'll see. Vincour and Whitney and Rich are Ok. So is Sciolino. Anyway, for the moment. Take a look at "Perks". The Euros are due again to vote for Euro "MEPs" in about 15 days. Early June. Lucky for the MEPs that most of their 25 countries do not and cannot read the "Anglo-Saxon" Press. Were the Euros really aware of MEP corruption, there might not just be any. Any MEPs, we mean.
So You saw that part of the CdG, Paris Airport collapsed at 5 or 6 am Sunday. Fortunately, there were few folk there. France does love "Prestige" operations. This new part of CdG was another "Prestige" operation. Here, at silly, we find it unlikely that the architect's bureau committed mistakes. They have load-bearing equations and alogrithms to apply. If You want to get it wrong You really have to try. The Builders Unions, on the other hand, seem to be claiming that they were pressured to finish the construction "Quick-Quick". You know the song. Uh-huh. The French Gubment is now to hold and "Inquiry". As we have all seen in this modern day and age an Inquiry is the new word for a Looong Drawn Out Smokescreen. So much so, that by the end of it Nobody really can remember or knows what happened. Silly will offer You a bet on this one, just for Fun, evens. Silly bets that there is just one single reason why that airport collapsed : Greed.
Madonna is shipping out on a 50-date world tour. She is now a 40 year-old Britsh castle resident who writes childrens' books. For the tour, according to the BBC, she is toting 100 people with her. Only five are musicians. She also has her personal Bag-Pipe player in attendance for concerts, a guy called "Spud" Something-or-Other. She will be making a film/DVD of the whole shamboozie, back-stage an' all. Frankly, here at silly, we never thought she was cool. Seems like that will be confirmed.
The Olympic Games and Greece. Yeah, well. You do what you can do. It is the same for everybody. Ms Gianna Angelopoulos, attractive and so forth as She may be, would do better to say, "We are doing the best we can. Nobody can ensure 100% security. That is impossible." Instead, Gianna is attacking Australia for saying to its Citizens and Athletes, "If U go to Athens for the OG, be careful." What is more reasonable than that ? It is a Fact - there is an element of risk at the OG. Also a Fact : Wherever the Games are held, there will always be an element of risk. It is a stupid, kind of prestige act to deny it.
It might be cool if the media twigged to the fact that mammoth million-person meetings in muddy fields as per old-fashioned rock-concerts are now Over. The Olympic Games are now over-blown hype from the Geneva OG Committee and paying-and-charging media. Ordinary folk are not that interested - the OG are a secondary side-show. Sorry, go out on the Street and ask folk.

World Health Org Zaps Fatties

Well, Kids, the World Health Organisation hot shots of Geneva are really on the ball. All 192 countries in the WHO have "tentatively" agreed to fight "global obesity" (sic).
About 17% of the world's population is considered overweight. That leaves 83% that is not. Let us wish the Geneva people luck. If the WHO Folk downsize obesity like they have eradicated famine and disease, they are in for long and fulsome careers over there in Geneva.

More Euroland Internet Surveillance

In case You should be in any doubt about which way Liberty, Fraternity and Equality are moving on the Internet in Euroland, reports on Statewatch Euro Civil Liberties Monitor will give You a few indications.
The UK, France, Belgium, Ireland and Sweden - all already noted for their opaque and selective investigative and judicial procedures - are pushing to compel all Euroland (25 countries) ISP and Phone companies to conserve details about each and every client for between one and three years.
Such information would cover traffic and location information about each call made on every Account: Where a mobile phone is used, caller and recipient identities concerning Phone-calls, E-mails, and SMS. Plus the complete lists of all Websites visited.

Not bad, eh ? No such draconian requirements exist in the US nor Japan. Unlikely they could ever get through Legislation. France is already pushing ahead with its own initial 12-month national storage obligation. The problem for the ISP and Phone Companies is where are they gonna stock all this stuff. That naturally begs the question, Who will Pay for the stocking, and the examination of such a huge quantity of material? We shall let You guess who the costs will be passed on to.
As to the notion of the Individual's Right to Privacy and Freedom, You might care to mull that over, also, in light of the above.

Don't Buy Symantec

(April2404OuttaThisWhirl) You'll be glad to know that with Symantec, whom, hitherto we have always defended, You'll be in for something rather worse than the hackers. At least the hackers do not charge You. Symantec charges You - and You fix it Yourself. Disinstall - reinstall is something of a Nightmare: Complicated and takes Hours. Suddenly, our Ol' friend Symantec does not work - clean it up Yourself. No doubt that is the handy-work of MIT College Graduates. Fine. Next attempted trick like that and they are outta here - and double-quick.

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