Anthropax's Old Blog

Yay! Watched 28 Days later for the first time today. The Zombies (they fill the role of Zombies in the film, so don't get all smart alecy in be technical) scared the hell out of little old me, so I had my face in my (new) scarf for the first half at least. My Le Tigre album came today, so I've been singing along to 'New Kicks' a lot - is that Jesse Jackson on there? Not sure. Just played 'guess the song from random typed lyrics over IM' game with Amanda - great fun. Was going to Halloween party as a Conservative, but ended up as a pumpking (an important Pumpkin, with scarf. And legs.) in my lovely orange jumper. Meh "We accept you! One of Us!" (sorry for the dreadful spelling et al in this, but I'm not in the best state to blog - and if you're a visiter, then comment please - I can see you from your far off lands)

I’d placed some frozen butter (don’t ask…) in a fridge to defrost overnight, but in the morning, with my toast, erm… toasting well it sill felt a bit hard. “I know!”, I muttered, “I’ll us that newfangled microwave thing to make it a bit softer”. I shuffled over to this contraption, and but the solid pat in. “I’ll just put it on for a minute”, said young, naive I, “Then it’ll be nice and soft”. I placed it on a plate, and in it went. Distracted by the aroma of carbonising bread, I left it for the full minute. When it cane out, it didn’t seem to be full of lovely soft butter, rather, some not too nice looking liquid. On closer examination, it seemed that the butter had melted, and although the thick paper of the packaging held some of its shape, it sagged and leaked distinctly. Panicking, I rushed the ghee like substance to the freezer, and, in the absence of any traditional toast condiment, had to go with sweet mango chutney. Well, it was either that or sun–dried tomato paste. I hope you have been entertained.

Happy Birthday Ronald! I've known Ronald since I was 7, and we've been good friends since. I can recall the giddy highs, and the terrible lows (cross country races, and forced rugby playing). He's now at Cambridge, doing some hard science... stuff. So Happy Birthday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This lovely fan of Enoch Powell had a rant about immigration. I've asked him a few questions, and I'll post any answers he gives. "Before I attack this one "taboo'd" subject, I would just like to point out that I am by no means a racist. I am merely expressing my right as a British citizen to use freedom of speech and explain my opinions on asylum and immigration in the same ways that Enoch Powell once did in the 1970's. Personally, I cannot see how both the Liberals and this present government can be so relaxed upon the border controls of our country. It is absolutely shameful. Michael Howard has even given the shocking statistic that only 2 out of 10 immigrants within the United Kingdom are actually employed within legal work. Fair enough on those 2 in every 10, I have no problem with people moving to Britain to help our economy grow in a successful way. But what about the remaining 80% of immigrants? Those who choose to be held responsible by the government welfare state, and contribute nothing in the face of Economic growth within our nation. How can the government let them get away with this? Recent data has shown that every asylum seeker within Great Britain costs the average tax payer over £14,000 a year, which in my opinion, does add up considering 1 in 20 people within London is in the UK illegally (Daily Mail figure). And if this was not enough, how can we let this government take away our national pride & identity just to make these ethnic minorities feel they're being treated equally amongst us. I had always grown up believing that Britain was a White/Christian majority nation, but now, my thoughts are beginning to challenge this notion. Leicester has become the first city ever within Europe to hold a black majority, and political correctness has also sold out to the British people. Incidents such as "banning bibles from hospital bedsides" and " the Red Cross not supporting Christmas charities" has taken racial equality to the extremes; as some people describe: "Political correctness gone mad". What is wrong with our national identity? What is wrong with saying "Im proud to be pure British"? I was taught that the British flag stood for unity between England, Ireland, Scotland & Wales, not Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Bosnia, Moldova, and every other middle eastern/eastern european country on the planet. The time, in my opinion, has come to stand up for what we fought for in the world wars; to stand up against being taken over by another race of men; to say that this is our free nation, and to take an Austrailian style system only allowing legal/economic migrants into the country. The time for this political correctness of the Labour government must stop now, and the time to reclaim our national identity, which millions of British men paid the ultimate sacrifice for, must start. Enoch powell once warned of this very event occuring, and in the face of war, bloodshed & racial hatred, this vision could soon become a reality." 1."Recent data has shown that every asylum seeker within Great Britain costs the average tax payer over £14,000 a year, which in my opinion, does add up considering 1 in 20 people within London is in the UK illegally (Daily Mail figure)" Even if that fair and unbiased source the Daily Mail provides accurate figures, since when has being someone seeking asylum and being in the UK illegally been the same thing? There is literally no such thing as an illegal asylum seeker. There is nothing illegal about claiming asylum, and, as a Christian, would you not agree that it is a moral duty to take in refugees fleeing torture? 2. "I had always grown up believing that Britain was a White/Christian majority nation, but now, my thoughts are beginning to challenge this notion" Well, according to the 2001 census, Ethnic Breakdown is as follows: White: 90.9% Indian: 2.1% Pakistani: 1.4% Mixed: 1.4% Black Caribbean: 1.1% Black African: 0.9% Chinese: 0.4% Black Other: 0.2% And Religion: Christian: 71.7% No Religion: 14.6% Not Stated: 7.7% Muslim: 3.1% Hindu: 1.1% Sikh: 0.7% Jewish: 0.5% Buddhist: 0.3% Other: 0.3% 3. "Leicester has become the first city ever within Europe to hold a black majority" So what? 4. "Incidents such as "banning bibles from hospital bedsides" and " the Red Cross not supporting Christmas charities" has taken racial equality to the extremes" Why racial equality? What religions demand that their followers have a certain skin colour? And what is extreme racial equality? Why would people of a certain ethnic background have a problem with a certain religious text?

Although with the exchange rate as it is, I could just about get a bowl of soup and some sweet potatos for that.

... erm, well, it wasn't too bad at times, but this is a slight indicator of the weather we braved. It was worth it though.

...located on top of a hill, with two sides protected by a steep gorge, that can be seen here.

Being good humanities students, a small group of us decided to head off to visit a local castle on Sunday. It dates from the C13, and was rather impressive.

I hope my MP gives his support to David Davis in the most tasteful way.

The Apollo Project on the Tory Leadership race: Lou: "So here's your ballot paper... you've got four choices. Now, which one are you going to vote for?" Andy: "That one!" [points to Fox's name] L: "Liam Fox. Now are you sure?" A: "Yeah." L: "But you said his aggressive American-style conservatism would keep the party out of power for a generation. You said Ken Clarke was the man who could appeal to the public." A: "Yeah I know." L: "So who do you want to vote for?" A: "That one!" [points to Fox again] L: "All right then." [marks X against Fox. Wheels Andy out of the ballot box to a fourth general election defeat] A: "I want Ken Clarke!"

I've just finished my Christian Doctrine lecture, and back in my room, I've discovered the joys of internet radio - sure, you can't control what you listen to, but it's free, and there can be some great things on. I drove back home for the weekend, mainly to conform to the student stereotype of taking washing home to be done. However, it seem that my mother lacks knowledge of this convention, and made me do it. Damn. Anyway, between hanging items out to dry, I packed the few things I hadn't taken to Uni with me. I was very pleased to find my first British Sea Power album, which was like, well, like music to my ears on the way back. This week, I have mostly been listening to: Le Tigre The Hidden Cameras Mull Historical Society P.S. I got made Duke of Idaho.

Well, quite a bit's been going on, and I haven't been able to get blogging in the way that I should. In other words, I've been ill. With a cold. Sniffles, coughs and a blocked nose all struck me on Sunday, and I'm only now bravely fighting off this hideous lurgy. I went out for a lovely Indian meal on Tuesday with Bridgit (brash American) and Nick (tall, from Cheltenham), because 'Study of Religion'. We worked out questions to ask when someone asks "Any questions?" at the end of a lecture. My favorates include 'Is it better to have loved and lost, than never to have loved at all?', 'What's the plural of moose?' and 'Am I an Autumn or a Winter?'. These fiendish things would only be deployed after a dull lecture, in order to spice things up for everyone else - it's a public service almost. Wednesday, I had Chinese food with Louise (before sunset), and then got ready to watch 'lost'. We'd forgotten that it had been moved to Thursday, and so I went arround then. Not a bad episode, but all the running through jungle got a bit tedious. Fasted on Yom Kippur, and sorry to anyone who feels slighted by me. Tried to give blood today, but couldn't, as I had an MMR jab three weeks ago, and they need to give it four just in case. I'm also joining the bone marrow donation thing.

Bah humbug. I'm putting up a new set of links also.

After walking out of the SU club for them playing some ghastly "R'n'B", I'm now listening to both the original verson of Joy Devision's 'Love Will Tear Us Apart', as well as a Siberian Folk group's cover of it, both at the same time. Yat-Kha's kanzat (throat singing) is very powerful, and although it has similarities to the more renownd Mongolian type, this is clearly from Tuva (a small republic, with interesting history), which, if I recall is near the Jewish Oblast, a place where only 1.2% of the population are actually Jewish.

Good to see that George Orwell Plazza has CCTV

On my Laptop!!!!!! This means that I can blog far more often - Yay!!! And can put up photos without having to transfer them to memery stick/disk etc. As a treat, I'll give coverage of the freshers fair. In short, I was compelled into joining Anime soc and also joined Chinese soc (free Mandarin lessons baby!) and Gamer-soc. I think I met a few people from the Lampeter forum, but can't be sure.

Religious belief can cause damage to a society, contributing towards high murder rates, abortion, sexual promiscuity and suicide, according to research published today. According to the study, belief in and worship of God are not only unnecessary for a healthy society but may actually contribute to social problems. The study counters the view of believers that religion is necessary to provide the moral and ethical foundations of a healthy society. It compares the social peformance of relatively secular countries, such as Britain, with the US, where the majority believes in a creator rather than the theory of evolution. Many conservative evangelicals in the US consider Darwinism to be a social evil, believing that it inspires atheism and amorality. The paper, published in the Journal of Religion and Society, a US academic journal, reports: “Many Americans agree that their churchgoing nation is an exceptional, God-blessed, shining city on the hill that stands as an impressive example for an increasingly sceptical world."

Follow link for full article. The journal website has some good articles that make great reading.

I'm having a great time at Uni so far. I've made friends with lots of people in my building, as well as those in my course, and people I've just randomly met! My first lectures were in Islamic Doctrine (we went over the early history of Islam) and Study of Religion. We (American B, and tall N) went to a pub, and talked about how great the UK is compared to the US, mainly in regards to the Health system and how cheap the Uni fees are. A group of us then went to a Christian Union thing at a X-ian cafe. We (the athiests, moderate/non-practising christians and muslims) kept to ourselves and had a chat about Ramadan with Isa. Then off to a pub quiz just over the county border, and then back to halls. A good day.

... despite being away for quite some time. I'm just saying hello quickly before I head off to my first lecture - Islamic Doctrine. Ciao!