The Olympics: One Big, Fat Advertising Exercise

With the start of the London Olympics less than 100 days away, is anyone apart from Seb Coe really excited? I, for one, am not. Why would I be excited about the £24 BILLION that it's supposedly going to cost us taxpayers? And what have we done with all that money? Given vast sums to international corporations in order to woo their support, that's what. The level of corporate control over these games is unprecedented. Here's the full list according to the London Olympics Wikia:

Burning money Joker? Can we help?

Coca-Cola, McDonalds, GE, Dow, Panasonic, Acer, Astos-Origin, Omega, Visa, P&G, Samsung, Adidas, BMW, BP, British Airways, BT, EDF, Lloyds TSB, Adecco, ArcelorMittal, Cadbury, Cisco, Deloitte, Thomas Cook, UPS, Aggreko, Airwave, Atkins, The Boston Consulting Group, CBS Outdoor, Crystal CG, Eurostar, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP, G4S, GlaxoSmith-Kline, Gymnova, Heineken UK, Holiday Inn, John Lewis, McCann Worldgroup, Mondo, Next, The Nielsen Company, Populous, Rapiscan Systems, Rio Tinto, Technogym, Thames Water, Ticketmaster, Trebor, kathmandu bazar plaza, banjara group
Source:http://olympics.wikia.com/wiki/London_2012_Sponsors

And not content with this corporate sponsorship clusterfuck, officials have clamped down, propaganda-style, on anything that may "mislead" customers into thinking that it is "Olympics-related". This even includes Cafe Olympic in Stratford, which was forced to change its name, at the expense of the owner, because trading standards officials threatened legal action. A spokesman for the local council commented: "“The Olympics are crucial for the regeneration of Newham and we are following legislation put in place by the government. There are copyright restrictions for businesses around the use of the word Olympic and the five rings. We are currently discussing with LOCOG the best way to deal with those who use such words or marks unlawfully.”


Now it might just be me, but how can you claim copyright infringement over the word "Olympic"? A word used to describe the area of Olympus in Greece that is the games' spiritual home? And then forcing the owner himself to pay for the changes.


So let's recap: £24 Billion for TWO WEEKS of sport. Surely that sum of money could have been used to boost the economy and give more back to the poorest in society. And I don't think that it's any coincidence that the London Olympics also happens to fall in 2012, the year that many claim will be the end of the world.


Wouldn't it be perfect if the opening ceremony kicks off and Boris appears on stage waving a paper Union flag, blowing a kazoo, just as the aliens invade or the massive tsunami rolls over London. The London Olympics; an event so shit that they're having to force Daniel Craig to pretend to be James Bond and launch the games. They couldn't even get someone REAL to do it. This feels a lot like winning EuroVision, but with a significantly bigger hole in all of our pockets.


Oh, and in case you're interested, Cafe Olympic's address is:78 Portway, Stratford, London E15 3QJ. You can phone them on: 020 8555 3477 .


Sources: http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2012/apr/02/london-2012-daniel-craig-olympics-bond
 http://www1.skysports.com/olympics/story/15234/7454487

Murdoch slams UK Government - Pot, Kettle, Black?

Rupert Murdoch has lashed out at the Government ahead of his appearance at the Journalistic Standards inquiry next week. He called plans to donate £10 billion to the IMF and the Pasty Tax on hot food "Mad" in messages sent over Twitter.


Now excuse us for splitting hairs, but isn't this a case of the pot calling the kettle black? How can anyone under such scrutiny even comment on the state of the country, when he is just as culpable? Surely the idea of hacking murder victim's voice and emails is a bit "mad", not to mention the wide spread corruption throughout his organisation that he claims not to have any knowledge of.

He continued: "English spring countryside as beautiful as ever if and when sun appears! About to be wrecked by uneconomic ugly bird killing windmills. Mad." How exactly are they "uneconomic"? Surely anything that might kick our fossil fuel habit should be lauded about. And for someone who spends so little time in this country in favour of hotter climbs, isn't this a bit rich?

He even commented on education funding: "Only one answer, really fix public education and give everyone equal opportunity," he Tweeted. Oh, thanks for that helpful insight into how to fix the education system. How exactly are you going to give everyone equal opportunity? Hack the exam board's email and distribute the answers to kids? It's all very well criticising, but if you don't have any helpful suggestions, then please, just shut up.

These rants appear to be the death throes of a dying old dog. Why would someone up to his neck in it even bother to wade into a bigger shitstorm that is the current state of this country? Surely it would be better to just keep your head down.

For Murdoch, it seems, the vultures are closing in.


Original story: http://uk.reuters.com/article/2012/04/23/uk-britain-murdoch-idUKBRE83K0AG20120423

Stealing Candy from a Baby: Government Takes Away Free School Meals

That's how I remember it!

In proposed changes to the benefit system, the Government is risking taking away free school meals from the poorest kids in society. Under the reforms, which will see benefits lumped into a "Universal Credit" system, would put a cap on benefits for families if they work longer hours to provide for their children. This would mean that it would cost an extra £500 million in order to provide these free school meals.


What kind of sick government would take away the poor kid's lunch? How about instead of limiting benefits for the poorest in society, we tax the hell out of companies that avoid tax in this country by funnelling it through foreign banks? Again, it appears as if the Government is looking after its friends. Not only has there been a tax cut for the top 1% of earners in this country, but now we see that they are literally snatching candy from babies. I hate to use the old chestnut of "This country's gone to the dogs" but I really believe that it has. Do these posh wankers have any idea what it's like to work on minimum wage? Do they have any idea what it's like having to worry about if you can even pay the rent? I think it should be compulsory for constituency MPs and ministers alike to have to work a 50 hour week on minimum wage and see how far it gets them. Greedy bastards.


Original story: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-17765533

Swedish Minister cuts "The Racist Cake"

http://www.mirror.co.uk

Kneejerk cries of racism in Sweden have marred an event at the Museum of Modern Art in Stockholm as Lena Adelsohn Liljeroth, Minister for Culture and Sport cut a cake designed to look like a black woman. The cake itself, designed by black Swedish artist, Makode Linde, was designed to highlight the horrific issue of female circumcision. the artist even placed his own head at the top of the cake. The association of African Swedes has called for the minister to resign.


Has it come to this again? That a minority group becomes offended by something that they simply misunderstood? And calling for a minister to resign over the issue? If the world worked like this, we would have had hundreds of different cabinet ministers in the past year alone.


Original story: http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/swedish-minister-of-culture-slammed-for-racist-797906

Tim Berners-Lee says: Block Internet Monitoring! Right on Brother!

http://datanamics.files.wordpress.com/2010/04/tim-berners-lee1.jpg

Sir Tim Berners-Lee, the founder of the World Wide Web has told The Guardian that we as a populous should block the proposed Internet monitoring legislation that is currently being debated in Parliament. Speaking to the Guardian, he said: "The amount of control you have over somebody if you can monitor internet activity is amazing. You get to know every detail, you get to know, in a way, more intimate details about their life than any person that they talk to because often people will confide in the internet as they find their way through medical websites... or as an adolescent finds their way through a website about homosexuality, wondering what they are and whether they should talk to people about it."


Sir Tim is right. Why should the Government monitor what my social habits are? What right have they got to know every intimate detail about my life? All this is simply a knee-jerk reaction to stem the amount of abuse that celebrities are getting on Twitter. They masquerade this cause as a way to combat terrorism and crime, but in reality, criminals will always find ways around this type of monitoring, using proxy servers or mirrored accounts, so all this really does is disadvantage regular people. Would you want some Government lackie perusing what your favourite films are or where you drink on Friday nights? 
If the creator of the Internet says "Don't Do It!" then DON'T DO IT! Simples.


Don't forget about the E-petition against it HERE!


Original story: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-17753971

A Lesson in Viral Media: Kony and Invisible Children

Over the past day or so, my social media feeds have been crammed with statuses trying to persuade me to watch a video and donate money to a charity called Invisible Children. After watching the film, it raised some questions about how a film such as this is used to promote a certain cause and the ways in which society is shifting towards new media technologies.


The way in which the film is presented has an obvious bias towards bringing Kony to justice, and rightly so. No one can argue that recruiting children as soldiers; effectively slaves, isn't inhuman. What the documentary is arguing is that people across the world should be aware of who this person is, and through this, bring him to justice. Through the current social media campaign, Invisible Children has garnered over 15 million views of it's documentary on YouTube and Vimeo.


The danger, however, is that the issues presented in this film offer a nice bite-size summary of the problems faced in Uganda, but the film is only giving attention to one very specific facet of the problem. There are still hundreds of thousands of children directly involved in armed conflicts across the globe, over half of all of them are estimated to be operating in Africa.(1) There are still many unnamed warlords who are still recruiting child soldiers right now, including many of Kony's generals.(2) This also does not include adults who are forced into armed conflicts.


The way in which the film was presented felt like it was targeted at a very specific demographic. I felt that whilst watching the film, I was being told that I should do something about this. I was being told what characterises the human race in the modern world; the use of social media. I also felt that the film gave a lot of attention to Invisible Children, when I feel that more should have been devoted to addressing and educating about the issues involved with child slavery not only in Uganda, but around the world. If you want me to donate to a campaign, you have to give me enough information to make my own decision. If we look at the way that this film is promoted, we can see that it has been picked up by millions of people almost overnight.


The film also talks about using US funding and "advisers" to train the Ugandan military to hunt down Kony, who will undoubtedly rally the child soldiers against them. How can a charity such as this advocate an inevitable armed conflict with this man? Aren't they just perpetuating the horrible crimes that they claim to want to do something positive about?


This documentary ticks all the boxes for being well made and presented in a way that garners a lot of support for the cause, however we should also be careful in donating to a charity that does not make it's motives entirely clear; check out THIS LINK to an article discussing Invisible Children, it's motives and the current state of corruption in the Ugandan government.


While causes like this should gain support, we have to be very careful what bangwagons we jump on without investigating the underlying issues and motivations behind those involved.

"Lamb Chop Killer" Finally Brought to Justice; Raises Worrying Questions

The notorious "Lamb Chop Killer" was today brought to justice in a daring operation that was months in planning. The killer, a giant 4ft 9in fox, was cornered after trying to break into an Aberdeenshire barn. A chase ensued, in which a special team of commandos was given the green light to use lethal force. After a 5 hour marathon, the team tracked the fox down to a wooded area. A brief standoff followed, in which the fox was heard saying "I could have killed 'em all, I could kill you. In town you're the law, out here it's me. Don't push it. Don't push it or I'll give you a war you won't believe. Let it go. Let it go. " He then raised a pistol to the commandos before being neutralised in what is known as a "double tap".


This comes after authorities reveal a detailed and premeditated plan to get rid of the killer in a sting which required the utmost secrecy. Sources inside the operation are saying that the planning involved predicting where the killer would strike next and acting in order to eliminate him quickly and without collateral damage.


However, the standoff claimed the life of a lamb, who was taken hostage during the siege, and caused injuries to 14 police officers, most of which were linked to a faulty kettle in the makeshift situation room.


While the scene today suggests an end to the wanton slaying of lambs across Scotland, the affair raises bigger questions: how exactly did the fox obtain and learn to use a pistol? How did it manage to operate a DVD player and then learn English in order to recite that Rambo: First Blood quote? Scientists are still baffled, but one thing is clear; this is an clear case for the prohibition of DVD players for foxes. The monitoring agency, WeWatchU, commented that there had been a "significant" rise in fox-action movie related crime in recent years. The Government is yet to respond. An official report is due to be released in a few days.


Original story HERE