The RSS feed is back – it doesn’t validate and it’s a bit crap but it works for the Firefox live bookmark. It works much better in FeedReader than in FeedDemon so I’m happy. I will get the issues sorted in the near future….
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The best and worst of 04
My people/things of 2004:
- Ben Goodger, lead developer of Firefox
- Firefox, the browser
- Space Ship One
- Wigan, Maida Vale’s celebrity cat
- Wireless Broadband at home
- Best film of the year? Well, maybe not the best but I really liked it: Elephant, by Gus Van Sant.
- Quote of the year: “If they don’t have the guts, I call them girlie men.” – Arnie (sarcasm here)
The worst of 2004:
- The Lone Ranger, George Dubya and his nutcase extremist partners in war and hatred, regardless of their religious persuasion, race or nationality.
- Brian Tamaki, evil overlord of get rich quick scheme Destiny Church
- The proposed corporate logo for the flag of NZ
- Worst film of the year? Hmm, I’ll go for “Lost in Translation”. People who like this film, I call them girlie men.
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Person of the year
I had to buy TIME magazine when I saw that they had made George W Bush their ‘Person of the year’. Not at all surprising seeing that 2003’s person of the year was The American Soldier. 2004 is Bush’s second time, he is in the company of Hitler (1938), Stalin (also named twice, in 1939 and 1942), Nixon (1971 and the following year with Kissinger), along with a number of US Presidents, saints, innovators and groups of people (the twenty-five and unders of ’66 for example).
TIME regularly name bad guys, this selection includes two commies, an Ayatollah and Adolf. No bad guys from the US of course, they probably don’t exist.
You can find a complete list here at About.com .
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Rainy day in Wellington
Have watched three vids – “Une pure formalit? (A pure formality)” in which Gerard Depardieu is held in purgatory for his suicide. Reclusive writer Onoff (Depardieu) gets a lesson in the dangers of what happens when you shave your majestic beard.
“Waco – the rules of engagement” a doco showing the shocking incompetence and brutality of the ATF and FBI in Waco. An eye opener as I really knew so little about the Branch Davidians other than the one-sided sound bites of the time.
And we’re half way through a picture about Tammy Faye Bakker (the ex-wife of Jim Bakker the tele-evangelist) called “The eyes of Tammy Faye” . Once again, I knew nothing about her but this doco outlines her positive characteristics, and she seems quite likable although I’m sure that she’s no saint.
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Tegal – you couldn’t wish for worse?
While I was sussing out the NZ web design scene, I came across the company that designed the Tegal poultry site. Tegal is New Zealand’s best known brand of cook-at-home-chicken and turkey, and I was relieved to read that all their chickens are barn raised (scroll to the bottom of the page):
Broiler chickens are raised in large, modern, well equipped barns. They are free to move around, with access to food and water 24 hours a day.
Excellent. But then I thought, what does barn raised really mean? I had a quick look on Google and found this on the Auckland Animal Action web site.
Broiler chickens are chickens raised for their meat. They are reared in packed sheds, with up to 45,000 other chickens. This often gives each chicken a space the size of an A4 piece of paper. They live in these sheds for the whole of their 6-7 weeks lives…
and
As if the life of a broiler chicken wasn’t hellish enough, their death is even worse.
I haven’t eaten much chicken over the last few months because I suspected that most UK/European chickens lived and died in appalling conditions. I had thought that chickens in NZ would have space to roam, but being naive I underestimated the power of the profit motive.
That about wraps it up for Tegal – I think I’ll go organic from now on.
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Nightstand
Cat sitting with wireless broadband. Yipee! Currently reading Journey to the end of the night by Celine and Straw Dogs by John Gray.
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Wellington
I’m back after a hiatus. I’m also back in NZ rather unexpectedly, due to my fathers illness and somewhat sooner than anticipated death. It is spring here, and the weather is changeable. Temperatures go from warm(25) to f-ing cold(13) in half a day. However, it is great to be back in Wellington, a city that I never knew I had missed so much.
