First they came for the smokers

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The indomitable LegIron has been talking about the methods the righteous have used to attack smokers for sometime now, and pointing out repeatedly how they are starting to use the same methods on drinkers, fat people and people that like salt (to name but a few). I keep meaning to link to these posts and add some erudite comment of my own and never getting round to it. However today he brought to my attention that things seem to have actually progressed to the point where it seems that smokers are being attacked with police sanction.

Now of course it having happened once for one disapproved of activity, it will be so much easier for more attacks for more reasons to happen. Even if it started as a bit of street theatre it sets a precedent and “show trials” do have a good record for getting the mob going. The one bright side is that the initial video has been taken down and most comments to it are negative.

As the police where informed, even if they did believe it to be just street theatre as it seems to have gone beyond that I trust we’ll soon be reading of charges being brought against the students carrying out the attacks.

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Three from the register

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For those of you that already read the tech news site The Register, sorry for drawing your attention to three rather interesting articles on there today.

Following on from Anna Raccoon’s article on ASBO’s given to prostitutes/a> the register observes that the police normally object to people publishing details of suspects under investigation. One would assume that unless caught actually in the act by the police, or even then, that a decent lawyer would be able to weaken the value of any witness statements if the ladies concerned ever get taken to trial on the grounds of all the publicity the accusations have received. They also point out the oddity of ASBO’s in that they can be issued easily without the full weight of a trial but as soon as you breach the arbitrary conditions attached (something easier to do when the whole world has been told you have an ASBO) you automatically get a criminal record.

Moving over to the US a shopping mall is appealing its right to prevent you talking to people you’ve just met in their mall. I’m actually torn on this one, on the one hand their mall their rules and if people object they can go elsewhere (though if they do have such rules they better be very well advertised) on the other hand it does seem incredibly draconian and stupid. On balance they should be allowed to ban whatever they like on their premises and hopefully be suitably punished by their customers if the bans are this stupid. Mind if such a ban was in place you could have great fun with a flash mob.

Finally on the subject of stupid yet again it seems that Eco-freindly enthusiasts have no idea what they’re on about, with many of the advocated green things to do being either pointless of actively counter-productive. I didn’t know (assuming the report is accurate) that energy wise aluminium is more eco-friendly than glass. Though I’d assume that not to be true if the old 10p-deposit on returned bottles came back allowing bottles to be cleaned and re-used without being melted down in between uses.

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A small grumble and a question

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Catching up on that afore mentioned reading of blogs, the dauntless LegIron has commented on Bin rage which is currently a minor grumble of mine with currently no obvious solution. Where I live my non-recyling is taken away fortnightly which is usually fine I don’t normally have more than a shopping back of rubbish a week to throw out, so I have a small wheely bin, all well and good. Except every now and then I have a sort out, such as when my housemate/lodger moves out and suddenly my bin is full to over flowing. Now back in the day this wasn’t a problem you just filled a few more council bin bags and put them out for collection, but no the sticker on my bin says no “side waste” and the lid must close. There’s a recycling depot just 10 minutes away which is no use as none of this is recycling material, I don’t drive so the dump’s not an option. So either I pay the council about 35 quid to turn up with a garden clearance van for a few bags of rubbish, or I get to store my trash for a number of weeks or months filling up my bin each fortnight once the more fly friendly trash is in there … or I could investigate fly tipping and then report that to the council get them to take it away for free and maybe if I’m lucky get a reward or something. I know which option is more appealing.

Now onto the question, the news which I accidentally watched has alerted me to the fact that there have been terrible floods in Pakistan and that this humanitarian disaster requires the west to dig deep into it’s pockets and give large amounts of aid from money it doesn’t have. All very normal but what I’m wondering about is the pakistani officials/spokes people and the like talking about “avoidable loss of life”.
Pakistan is officially the “Islamic Republic of Pakistan”, and last I checked Islam believes in predestination, when it’s your time to go it’s your time to go and no matter what you do you can’t avoid it. Therefore surely none of that lose of life is avoidable and it’s an affront to Allah for us to try to prevent these people from dying? I suppose the argument is that we should give succour to the living who aren’t on the days list to die to make them more comfortable, all well and good – but “avoidable loss of life”?

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