Oh, Hello 1984

Oh, Hello 1984

So you know how when people say that a situation is very "Orwellian", they're almost always exaggerating or completely misunderstanding what that means from Nineteen Eighty-Four?

Well, for once I can actually say that something is truly Orwellian and if you doubt me, tell me that This isn't actually like 1984 

Obese and other unhealthy people could be monitored to check whether they are taking exercise and have their benefits cut if they fail to do so under proposals published on Thursday by a Conservative-run council and a local government think tank.

Westminister council and the Local Government Information Unit say new technologies such as smart cards could be used to track claimants' use of leisure centres, allowing local authorities to dock housing and council benefit payments from those who refuse to carry out exercise prescribed by their doctor.

The report, A Dose of Localism: the Role of Councils in Public Health, precedes the transfer in April of responsibility for community wellbeing and public health from the NHS to local authorities.

The proposals address how councils can meet the financial challenges posed by their new public health function amid rising levels of obesity and major budget cuts. The report suggests linking benefit payments to claimants' lifestyles, and notes that some councils have introduced schemes allowing GPs to prescribe exercise at swimming pools, yoga, gyms and walking clubs.

"Where an exercise package is prescribed to a resident, housing and council tax benefit payments could be varied to reward or incentivise residents," the authors state

A Westminster council spokesman said the proposal would have to involve a "carrot and stick" approach.

Yes ma'am. That right there. Now that right there is fucking Orwellian as you can possibly get. It's truly shocking and rather sickening to think about it. I just wonder what else we can specifically penalize poor people for next. Maybe smoking? Or perhaps some alcohol. Those two seem like the obvious choices.

Perhaps we will eventually be able to cut benefits for people based on nutritional profile and carbon footprint. How about genetic make up and genetic dispositions? Fuck Obesity! It's ruining everything, I tells yah.

Unproductive Week Comes to a Close

Unproductive Week Comes to a Close

Lets face it - the two weeks that encompass Christmas and New Years and the few days following New Years have to be the most unproductive of any weeks around. Shit just doesn't get done. So let's take a moment and not get anything done here.

Occupying Wall Street - Fucking Clueless

Occupying Wall Street - Fucking Clueless 

The other day Occupy Wall Street did their Rose Parade float bombing. This follows their attempt to do the same thing as last year


Eh, I like their attempt and they have a great message about getting awareness of the economic situation, but I just dislike their whole approach. This peaceful protest stuff just doesn't work. No one cares.

The funny thing to all this is that the OWS group had no fucking clue how much they were like an ant with a boot on top of them just waiting to stomp. Take a look at this, which shouldn't surprise you in the least, but it's a little concerning.

Released Documents saying how the OWS crackdown was organized

"The crackdown, which involved, as you may recall, violent arrests, group disruption, canister missiles to the skulls of protesters, people held in handcuffs so tight they were injured, people held in bondage till they were forced to wet or soil themselves –was coordinated with the big banks themselves."

"The document – reproduced here in an easily searchable format – shows a terrifying network of coordinated DHS, FBI, police, regional fusion center, and private-sector activity so completely merged into one another that the monstrous whole is, in fact, one entity: in some cases, bearing a single name, the Domestic Security Alliance Council."

"...plans to crush Occupy events, planned for a month down the road, were made by the FBI – and offered to the representatives of the same organizations that the protests would target; and even threats of the assassination of OWS leaders by sniper fire"

"in Denver, Colorado, that branch of the FBI and a "Bank Fraud Working Group" met in November 2011 – during the Occupy protests – to surveil the group. The Federal Reserve of Richmond, Virginia had its own private security surveilling Occupy Tampa..."

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA. I seriously can't stop laughing now when I think back at how the Occupy Movement was just so clueless at how little power they had. It also makes all that push to have a peaceful revolution just laughable.

If anything, this shows that you can't go the peaceful protest route. You just need to go full tilt revolution with backs against the wall. Then again, you'd have no chance in hell to succeed in that since we've been inflating that government military and armed forces budget to the point that we fucked ourselves.

Even better is that they created this hush hush Domestic Security Alliance Council. So hey, you keep doing that whole speech about how the protestors should work WITH the police.

P.S. Hello, FBI agent who has been assigned to now monitor this socialist's blog. It's going to be a boring job, so hope you have some Sudoku to keep you occupied.

Waiting for Justification

Waiting for Justification

With a new year comes a new season of shows. First up is the much anticipated new season of Justified. Oh man, do I love me this show about a Kansas Marshal kicking ass in them there hollars. Here's a few teasers to get you ready.




and how about another..



Yeah, they didn't really show much but they still planted the sees of making me want this show back on at once. So there's at least that. Here's some music as you wait.

Instagram'ed

Instagram'ed

So there's something going around that has shaken the very fabric of most hipsters on the internet. It's the simple fact that their once beloved photo dump Instagram just turned on them.

Instagram said today that it has the perpetual right to sell users' photographs without payment or notification, a dramatic policy shift that quickly sparked a public outcry.

The new intellectual property policy, which takes effect on January 16, comes three months after Facebook completed its acquisition of the popular photo-sharing site. Unless Instagram users delete their accounts before the January deadline, they cannot opt out.

The first thing that comes to your mind is "Can they just do that?!" And the answer is more than likely Yes, so what if it's not legal - lots of money thrown at lobby's in Washington make your rights go away... that and the whole, you know, fact that you probably signed away the rights to your photos in that agreement you signed when you installed the crappy software.







Sure, there's probably rules in place saying they can't do this, but you know what they say about them rules, that they're made to be broken. Also rules actually don't apply to billion dollar corporations, so best of luck going and fucking yourself. 

I'm actually really glad that people are going to have their personal photos taken for use in things like advertising as instagram/facebook sells them off to corporations and that users have no say so in the matter whatsoever. What, you expect me to be on your side? Facebook is fucking awful in every possible way. You sign up to be advertised. It's as simple as that. You're being marketed at the cost of staying in touch with friends and getting birthday wishes from people who haven't seen you in years.

How is any of this some sort of shocking revelation? Just assume that something like this is being said in the offices;
"Hey, we're just going to steal pictures of your children and sell them to advertisers and there's nothing you idiots can do about it. So get fucked!" Mark Zuckerberg.

Besides, no one's going to prosecute the companies anyway, Especially since the main customer is the CIA and FBI on facebook waiting to bust you on that other shit you do, you pot head.

Just realize that society is literally to the point where we found a way to monetize the human experience. It's identify theft via billboards. Isn't it utterly amazing?

Then again, I guess you could just take photos and share them in some kind of, I dunno, other slightly less convenient way. Go figure.

Dumb Ways To Die

Dumb Ways To Die

Congrats, you actually made it to 2013. Well, that's assuming this post and we aren't all dead from some stupid Mayan calendar ending prematurely. In any case, here's a simple little message that there's plenty of dumb ways to die. Congrats on bypassing them to see a new year.



To 2013, a year that may not suck as much.

Advice from a Jazz Musician

Advice from a Jazz Musician

While we're heading into a new year, it seems only fitting to give you some advice in life and all the things that you do. So here, take a moment to read these notes scribbled by Thelonius Monk. They're really inspiring and who knows, maybe they'll help you out with some things in your life.

Obviously click for bigger.

Some highlights include;
stop playing all that bullshit/those weird notes, play the melody!

don't play the piano part, I'M playing that. Don't listen to ME, i'm supposed to be accompanying YOU

a note can be as small as a pin or as big as the world, it depends on your imagination

you got to dig it to dig it, you dig?

How can you top that last one? You got to dig it to dig it, you dig?