Thursday - June 19, 2008
FireFox 3
In just five hours, the new version of the Firefox Web browser had as many downloads as its predecessor got during its entire first day, the software’s developers say. Firefox 3 reached 1.6 million downloads by early evening Tuesday to match Firefox 2’s first-day downloads. In the opening hours, Firefox’s Web site was distributing nearly 9,000 copies of the free software every minute. Downloads continued Wednesday as Firefox supporters sought to set a world record for most software downloads in a 24-hour period.
Pretty neat. Pretty obvious a huge number of people want some alternative to Microsoft’s Internet Explorer.
Users of Yahoo Inc.’s mail service can also use Firefox 3 to send e-mail by clicking a “mailto” link they might come across clicking on a name or a “contact us” link on a Web page. Previously such links could only open a standalone, desktop e-mail program.
Really? Super. To use the Yahoo mailer, go to Firefox’s Tools button, click Options, go to Applications, then scroll down to “mailto”. Then select Yahoo from the pulldown on the right. I ran a little test and I noticed that a complex mailto with parameters doesn’t work properly: the cc=, bcc=, and the body= text disappear, and the subject= text winds up in the address line. Also, the word “mailto” shows up in the TO field, and that ain’t right. So if anybody knows how to fix this, let us know.
Let’s see ... what else? Ah. Firefox’s status bar tells me more of what is going on on a webpage than Netscape did. I notice that the Dilbert comic strip here seems to reload all the time. As much as I like old Dilbert, that seems to be a bandwidth suck, and he might go. Also I see this “pagead2.googlesyndication.com” thingy which I want to look into. I don’t like not knowing what my blog is doing.
Posted by Drew458
on 06/19/2008 at 09:20 AM
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Permalink • Terrorise the non-believers, orders ‘Bin Laden’s right-hand man
This is NOT the posting I had planned to start the day with but I found it and the headline at The Daily Mail.
Much of it may be a rehash of yesterdays posting so I merely left the link below.
Much frustration on my part because, the damned Daily Telegraph is about as screwed up as a submarine with a screen door when it comes to finding stories in their online version. Even when you have the name of the reporter. Their archives (Telegraph) are next to useless unless you’re really checked out well with their use. I mean, someone like Drew will make me look silly and find it in one second.
What I was looking for but can’t find, is an article by Duncan Gardham and is titled.
“World’s most wanted terrorist to be freed on bail within days.”
I just can’t get the damn link, if there is one, to open. Doesn’t matter what browser I use. They are not even referring to this guy by name but are calling him “U” in court papers. So, if anyone can find the story, which I couldn’t even find on line at the Mail, good luck.
Terrorise the non-believers, orders ‘Bin Laden’s right-hand man in Europe‘ after he is freed on bail
By Stephen Wright
Last updated at 8:22 AM on 19th June 2008Abu Qatada will be required to wear an electronic tag
Suspected Al Qaeda leader Abu Qatada is celebrating his release from prison with the release of a book in which he urges Muslims to commit terrorist attacks in the West.
In the 71-page tract, published in English translation on the internet, he repeatedly claims that fighting jihad, holy war, is obligatory for all Muslims and urges them to ‘terrorise’ non-believers.
Security sources say his clear incitement to violence makes a mockery of the decision to set him free.
A judge ruled there were no grounds to keep him in jail, but the Special Immigration Appeals Commission imposed unprecedented conditions on his release, including a stipulation that he observe a 22-hour curfew and wear an electronic tag.
Posted by Drew458
on 06/19/2008 at 08:01 AM
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Permalink • Wednesday - June 18, 2008
Union official is branded a racist in row over ‘wise monkeys’ leaflet
Well here we damn go again with the ism crap. Racism. Of course. The great bug-a-boo of the late 20th and 21st centuries.
Here’s a case where another idiot, or a group of idiots who obviously have zero education and quite possibly have never been acquainted with the Three Wise Monkeys, has decided to become “offended” by them.
Read all about it.
Union official is branded a racist in row over ‘wise monkeys’ leaflet
By Andrew Levy
Last updated at 9:55 PM on 17th June 2008It is an ancient proverb that seemed to sum up Onay Kasab’s modern grievance perfectly.
So he used ‘see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil’ in the leaflet he circulated about union bosses ignoring members’ concerns.
He even included a sketch of the three wise monkeys which commonly illustrate the phrase.
Unfortunately, those he targeted read the message a little differently - and accused him of a racist slur against a black member of their standing orders committee. Mr Kasab, secretary of Greenwich Unison, in Greater London, is now under investigation and facing expulsion from the public sector union Unison, along with three other members of local branches.
Onay Kasab of Greenwich Unison is threatened with expulsion over his involvement with an alleged racist leaflet
The 40-year-old activist, from Bexley, South East London, said: ‘It’s upsetting that I am accused of racism by my own union.
‘We felt it was an apt image to illustrate our point that the committee were refusing to listen to members’ concerns over issues such as the funding of the Labour Party, the election of full-time officialand control over strike action.
‘But in the conference hall, the Unison president denounced it as racist and when we went to respond the microphone was switched off. We have been gagged and subjected to a witchhunt.
‘I am Turkish-Cypriot and have faced racism, so to be accused of being something I despise is terrible.’
The leaflet was circulated at last year’s June conference in Brighton.
Mr Kasab’s co-accused are Glenn Kelly, secretary of Bromley Unison, Suzanne Muna, secretary of the Housing Corporation Unison branch and Brian Debus, chairman of Hackney Unison.
All four, who are members of the Socialist Party, are awaiting a disciplinary hearing after the end of this year’s conference, which is being held in Bournemouth this week.
The group are now considering legal action, such as an employment tribunal, over their treatment.
A fifth person, Matthew Waterfall, who does not belong to the Socialist Party, was investigated but not charged.
Mr Kasab said: ‘The fact they cleared Mr Waterfall shows that this is motivated by the New Labour supporters in Unison against the Socialist Party.’
He added that thousands of members have signed a petition against their treatment.
The Socialist Party said the reaction was ‘crazy’.
A spokesman said: ‘The leaflet was about the fact that the standing orders committee ruled out something like a third of all resolutions on various grounds.
‘The proverb has no racial connotations and was used by the “No” campaign in the Irish referendum on the Lisbon Treaty. It is about being ignorant of the facts.’
Unison, which represents more than a million public sector workers, yesterday refused to discuss the case in detail.
A spokesman claimed the charges against the members had been ‘ misrepresented’.
She added: ‘There has been an investigation according to union rules and that’s completed. We are in the process of going through the rest of the disciplinary process.
‘We will not go into details of what allegations have been made until the process is completed.’
A BRIEF HISTORY OF A PROVERB
The phrase ‘see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil’ probably came to Japan from Buddhist legend in India and China in the 8th century.
The three wise monkeys are thought to have been used in Japan because of the similarity in Japanese of the negative suffix ‘zaru’ to ‘saru’, meaning monkey.The proverb acts as a reminder not to be nosy or gossipy but is also used today to refer to someone who turns a blind eye to the immorality of an act in which they are involved.
Posted by Drew458
on 06/18/2008 at 01:42 PM
Filed Under: • Stoopid-People • UK • Unions-Labor •
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Permalink • Girl, 15, torched in gruesome attack by another girl.
This kind of thing is beyond words. We really don’t expect this sort of thing from girls. Or anyway, we didn’t used to. Says something that I’m not surprised.
Police have a “suspect.” Wonder if arrested and identified, what her ‘penalty’ might be. Ya know, they now have Super ASBOS. Wonder if she’ll get one of those. The perp here should I believe forfit any claim to “human or civil rights” And a fitting punishment would be to do the same to her. The punisment should damn well fit the crime.
Girl, 15, torched in gruesome attack by love rival who told her ‘You won’t be pretty anymore’
Last updated at 8:57 PM on 17th June 2008A 15-year-old girl was set on fire using white spirit in a street ambush by a love rival who was jealous over a kiss.
Schoolfriends have said she turned up to a meet a friend when her attacker allegedly leapt from the bushes and doused her in the highly flammable liquid hidden in a Coca-Cola bottle.
Police say that as she flicked a lighter, the attacker said: ‘You won’t look pretty anymore.’
Resident Carly Costin rushed to the scene in Eltham, South-East London, with partner Jamie Kelsey after they heard the screams from their garden on Sunday afternoon.
‘It wasn’t a normal scream. It was a chilling, horrible sound like something from a horror movie,’ the mother-of-one said.
She saw the victim writhing in agony as her hair blazed until it was all gone.
‘The skin on the left side of her face was peeling off. She looked like she had been burnt under a grill.
Her T-shirt and bra had melted and her skin was bubbling,’ Ms Costin told told the Sun newspaper.
Mr Kelsey eventually managed to beat out the flames with a towel from the couple’s washing line.
The 15-year-old is in a ‘critical but stable’ condition in a specialist burns unit at Broomfield Hospital, Chelmsford, Essex.
One friend, who asked not to be named, said: ‘She was set up. It’s disgusting.
‘She was with two girls. One of them set her up and the other girl was innocent and had no idea what was about to happen.
‘The one who set her up phoned her to come and meet them and go to the shops, but the attacker was waiting.
‘She jumped out of the bushes and attacked her, spraying the liquid on her from a plastic bottle.
‘It was white spirit that she sprayed on her and then she lit it. She was set on fire.’
She added: ‘This is all over nothing. I’ve been told the girl who attacked her thought she had kissed or even slept with her boyfriend and was getting her back for it.’
Police say the attacker was with a baby in a pram at the time of the attack, and clearly intended to leave her victim permanently disfigured.
They have not yet confirmed the victim’s name.
A 19-year-old woman is being held on suspicion of attempted murder.
http://tinyurl.com/64wo46
Posted by Drew458
on 06/18/2008 at 12:29 PM
Filed Under: • Crime • UK •
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Permalink • On the run? Count it as time served, convicts told. (more moonbat thinking)
What’ll they think of next? Is this total and absolute stupidity er what? Great way to fight crime huh?
Be much interested to read what you folks think about this. Not that it matters to the powers that be but this really is bizarre. Do they stay up nights thinking this stuff up? Or does it come suddenly like a flas of lightening?
By James Slack
Last updated at 1:53 AM on 18th June 2008Prisoners who go on the run could have the time cut from their sentence, internal Government papers revealed last night.
Convicts will be able to count both the day they absconded and the day they were caught as time spent behind bars.
A criminal could walk out of an open jail in the morning and hand himself in the next day, and both days would count as time served.
The Tories accused the Government of ‘rewarding bad behaviour’.
If an inmate is released in error by a prison governor, he could have all the time spent at large counted as if he had been inside, according to the new Prison Service rules.
This applies if he is unlawfully freed for as much as a quarter of his sentence and in ‘very exceptional circumstances’ even longer.
As prisoners are automatically released after half their sentence, this could mean a criminal could serve as little as one quarter or less of his term.
Prisoners can cite holding down a job or looking after their children as reasons to get a full discount.
The burden of proof is on the governor to show the prisoner knew he was supposed to be in prison.
It also emerged last night that there are 110 escaped or absconded prisoners at large. The average time spent on the run is three years - one convict is still at large after five years.
There are 161 criminals on the run who have not responded after being recalled from early release on End of Custody Licence - a controversial measure to ease overcrowding.
Last year, 510 prisoners absconded from open prisons.
Escapees and absconders who are caught usually do not face any action, as a mountain of paperwork is needed to secure a conviction.
The Tory justice spokesman, Nick Herbert, said: ‘Only this Government could reward prisoners by giving time off for bad behaviour.
‘We know that Ministers are desperate to reduce the prison population, but even by their standards of incompetence this latest policy is completely absurd.’
The revelations came as Justice Secretary Jack Straw admitted there will be no blanket ban on granting bail to murderers - despite a Government promise to review the law.
The Daily Mail revealed yesterday, that Whitehall lawyers have ruled such a move would be a breach of a suspected killer’s ‘human rights’.
The new rules on escaped and absconded prisoners are set out in a long instruction note to governors.
A Prison Service spokesman said: ‘A period of absence will not be treated as part of the sentence served, unless there are exceptional circumstances.’
http://tinyurl.com/3wcvo6
Posted by Drew458
on 06/18/2008 at 12:09 PM
Filed Under: • Crime • Judges-Courts-Lawyers • Nanny State • Stoopid-People • UK •
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Permalink • FRANCE WANTS TO WHAT ? GOTTA BE A BAD JOKE. BRITS NOT LAFFING.
Somethin’ just a bit different.
France set to hijack our Royal Navy to create a European military force
By Benedict Brogan Last updated at 11:11 AM on 18th June 2008The Royal Navy could have to hand over one of its aircraft carriers to Brussels under plans for a joint European naval fleet.
French politicians said yesterday that Gordon Brown is negotiating a scheme that would mean an end to the centuries-old independence of Nelson’s ‘Senior Service’.
The revelation is likely to embarrass Mr Brown, who is already under fire for failing to pull the plug on the European constitution.
The French have been pressing for the creation of a joint European military force to match the might of U.S. forces for years.
The defence co-operation project, proposed by French president Nicolas Sarkozy, is expected to be a centre-piece of the French presidency of the EU, which begins in July.It would see a British aircraft carrier become a permanent part of an EU naval force, along with ships from other countries.
An aide to French defence minister Herve Morin said negotiations with Britain were well advanced on creating a ‘European naval group’.
But the fact it is France leading the push for an EU defence force will be seen by many as a direct threat to Britain’s military independence.
Tory defence spokesman Dr Liam Fox said: ‘The EU’s military ambitions know no bounds. If they think the Royal Navy will sail under the EU flag they had better think again.
‘How is it supposed to work? Are we supposed to say, “Sorry, it’s our turn to use the aircraft carrier”? It’s ridiculous.
‘The whole concept of sharing naval assets with any other country is sheer nonsense. The idea of the Royal Navy flying the EU flag makes a mockery of centuries of British naval tradition.’
Work is also under way to create a fleet of A400M military aircraft which would be available to EU members on a timeshare basis.
The French are also looking to introduce military exchanges that would, for example, allow Polish officers to have some of their training in France, helping to create a more integrated European military culture.
In Berlin, a government spokesman said Germany would give the plans serious consideration.
‘We’ll have to wait and see what sort of proposals the French pres-idency unveils,’ he said.
France and Britain have been looking for ways to increase military cooperation for at least a decade and are working on creating a joint fleet of helicopters for deployment in Afghanistan.
The MoD is pursuing talks with the French in part because it is facing budget pressures that are forcing it to share costs.
The Government is expected to give the go-ahead this week for the Royal Navy’s two new aircraft carriers as part of an Anglo-French project.
The French are happy to cooperate because they are also under pressure to spend less.
Mr Sarkozy said yesterday that he planned to create a smaller French army which is better equipped to respond to modern day threats and announced plans to cut more than 50,000 military posts, reducing it to 225,000 personnel.
Posted by Drew458
on 06/18/2008 at 11:38 AM
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Permalink • Osama bin Laden’s “right-hand man in Europe”, has been released from jail.
Abu Qatada: Islamic cleric is released from jail
By Duncan Gardham and Gordon Rayner
Last Updated: 5:59AM BST 18/06/2008Abu Qatada, the radical Islamic cleric described as Osama bin Laden’s “right-hand man in Europe”, has been released from jail after a judge ruled that there were no grounds to keep him in prison.
The decision to allow him to return to his home in London – where he will receive around £1,000 per month in state benefits – made a mockery of the government’s promise to crack down on terror suspects, and embarrassed the Home Office, which had pledged to deport Qatada to Jordan to face terror charges.
The Home Secretary, Jacqui Smith, said she was “extremely disappointed” at the court’s decision to bail Qatada, while the Conservatives branded the decision “offensive”.
Mr Justice Mitting signed an order to release Qatada on bail, with strict conditions, following an earlier Court of Appeal decision to refuse his deportation on the grounds that it would breach human rights law.
The judge was sitting at the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC) in London, the same court which had previously described Qatada as “a truly dangerous individual” who was “heavily involved, indeed at the centre of terrorist activities associated with al-Qa’eda”.
But because Qatada has never been convicted of a criminal offence in the UK, and because he cannot be deported, the judge ruled that he had to be freed pending a last-ditch attempt by the Home Office to have the deportation ruling overturned in the House of Lords.
After being freed from HMP Long Lartin in Worcestershire he is scheduled to be driven to Acton in West London where he must spend at least 22 hours a day at home, wearing an electronic tag.
Police are expected to maintain a constant presence outside Qatada’s home to protect him from vigilante attacks, at an annual cost of tens of thousands of pounds.
The taxpayer will also fund at least £12,000 per year in benefits for Qatada, his wife and five children, even though Qatada was once found to have £170,000 in cash in his possession when he was stopped by police.
Qatada, 47, has been accused of helping to inspire the September 11 attacks after videos of his sermons were found in the flat used by three of the hijackers, including their leader Mohammed Atta.
He is wanted in his native Jordan for allegedly plotting a series of bomb attacks in Amman in 1998 and for providing finance and advice to terrorists planning a series of explosions there on Millennium night.
Although he has been convicted in his absence, he had been promised a retrial, and in 2005 the government secured an agreement with Jordan that returned terror suspects would not be tortured and would be given a fair trial. However, the much-trumpeted Memorandum of Understanding fell at the first hurdle after the Appeal Court judges said evidence against him might have been obtained through torture.
Even if the government is successful in its appeal to the Law Lords, Qatada could take his case to the European Court on the grounds that deportation would breach his right to a fair trial under the European Convention on Human Rights.
It leaves the government’s strategy for deporting terror suspects in tatters, as 11 other suspects awaiting deportation hearings, who include Jordanians and Algerians, are likely to rely on the ruling to keep them in Britain.
Despite Tony Blair’s promise in the aftermath of the suicide bombings on July 7, 2005 that “the rules of the game have changed”, no terror suspects have yet been forcibly removed from the country.
Last night Jacqui Smith said: “The Government’s priority is to protect public safety and national security and we will take all steps necessary to do so.
“I am extremely disappointed that the courts have granted Abu Qatada bail, albeit with very strict conditions. I am appealing to the House of Lords to reverse the decision that it is not safe to deport Qatada and the other Jordanian cases.”
There’s more. If interested here’s a link: >> http://tinyurl.com/4dedma
Posted by Drew458
on 06/18/2008 at 02:19 AM
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Permalink • Tuesday - June 17, 2008
Teach Your Children Well
via smallest minority, via To Which I replied ...:
To which one commenter wrote:
I was pretty pumped to get this model. After my Leviathan teddy-bear burst at the seams and my Guantanamo slip and slide tore into several pieces, I was looking for a petty distraction as durable as state tyranny itself.
Finally, I found the Playmobil Police Checkpoint. It’s everything a colorful plastic method of indoctrination should be: mobile, plastic, and filled with red warning signs. I love setting it up outside my house. That way I feel like I have to show papers to get in. I know I own it, but it’s cooler if the state lets me in. They know best.
Still, I have a complaint about this darling set. I mean, I’m no curmudgeon, and I hate to nit-pick, especially over such a usefully didactic toy. But I must-
No taser?
No, this is not a sick and twisted joke. This is a toy company smelling the breeze and coming up with a toy for your budding little socialist. Bill of Rights NOT included.
Posted by Drew458
on 06/17/2008 at 09:24 PM
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Permalink • Fox News: PC Pussies
E.D. Hill and from Fox News show “America’s Pulse” have been pulled from the airwaves because of how she did the teaser for yet another of Fox’s stupid Body Language segments. Introducing the little dap done by Obambi and his wife Mrs. Proud ....
Caving into instant and rabid pressure from George Soro’s Media Matters group, FoxNews pulled both E.D. and her show.
Ms. Hill had apologized on the air about the characterization, but that did no good. Gone. Poof. Can’t be pickin on da obamessiah bout nuttin!
“I want to start the show by clarifying something I said on the show about an upcoming body language segment. Now I mentioned various ways the Obama’s fist pump in St Paul’s had been characterised in the media,” she said.
“I apologise because unfortunately, some thought I personally had characterised it inappropriately. I regret that. It was not my intention. And I certainly didn’t mean to associate the word ‘terrorist’ in any way with Senator Obama and his wife,” Hill added.
FoxNews: Fair and Balanced, but totally overreactive.
Think this is bad? You just wait until Black Jesus here gets elected.
Posted by Drew458
on 06/17/2008 at 04:20 PM
Filed Under: • Politically-Incorrect •
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Permalink • On your marks, get set,
Looks like the new version of the Firefox browser is ready to go. And they better have some major servers ready to handle to bandwidth loads. Join the hordes and get your tomorrow.
Posted by Drew458
on 06/17/2008 at 03:53 PM
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Permalink • Election Season BS
Sen. John McCain on Tuesday will propose lifting the ban on offshore drilling as part of his plan to reduce dependence on foreign oil and help combat rising gas prices.
“The stakes are high for our citizens and for our economy, and with gasoline running at more than four bucks a gallon, many do not have the luxury of waiting on the far-off plans of futurists and politicians,” McCain will say Tuesday in Houston, Texas, according to excerpts of his speech released by his campaign.
“We have proven oil reserves of at least 21 billion barrels in the United States. But a broad federal moratorium stands in the way of energy exploration and production. And I believe it is time for the federal government to lift these restrictions and to put our own reserves to use.”
McCain’s plan would let individual states decide whether or not to explore drilling possibilities.
McCain does oppose drilling in some parts of the wilderness and says those areas must be left undisturbed.
“When America set aside the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, we called it a ‘refuge’ for a reason,” he will say.
McCain on Tuesday will also criticize the energy policy of rival Barack Obama.
“He says that high oil prices are not the problem, but only that they rose too quickly. He’s doesn’t support new domestic production. He doesn’t support new nuclear plants. He doesn’t support more traditional use of coal, either,” McCain will say.
“So what does Sen. Obama support in energy policy? Well, for starters he supported the energy bill of 2005—a grab bag of corporate favors that I opposed. And now he supports new taxes on energy producers. He wants a windfall profits tax on oil, to go along with the new taxes he also plans for coal and natural gas. If the plan sounds familiar, it’s because that was President Jimmy Carter’s big idea too—and a lot of good it did us,” he will say.
McCain will argue that a windfall profits tax will only increase the country’s dependence on foreign oil and be an obstacle to domestic exploration.
“I’m all for recycling—but it’s better applied to paper and plastic than to the failed policies of the 1970s,” he will say.
Obama on Tuesday blasted McCain for changing his stance on offshore drilling.
“John McCain’s support of the moratorium on offshore drilling during his first presidential campaign was certainly laudable, but his decision to completely change his position and tell a group of Houston oil executives exactly what they wanted to hear today was the same Washington politics that has prevented us from achieving energy independence for decades,” he said in a statement.
Which proves that both candidates are pretty stupid. No you dope, McCain’s new position is called “adapting to current circumstances.” We didn’t have this problem back in 2000 when McC first ran. Remember how gas was $1.58 a gallon? And how is suddenly changing over to a pro-drilling stance going to prevent us from acheiving energy independence? And how is it the same old DC politics, when for decades DC has been against drilling anywhere for anything? Claptrap from Obambi.
Crap. I don’t believe either one of these sock puppets.
- Change the rules. Playing the oil futures market should require a 65% investment, not 7%.
- Drill everywhere for everything in every way. Oil, shale, natural gas. Find it, pump it, put it in a brand new pipeline.
- Not a drop of American oil gets sold to anyone other than Americans. Hmm?
- A chicken in every pot, and a nuclear reactor in every garage.
- 15 more refineries, not just 1.
- 2 gasoline blends, not 57.
- Build some of these alternative renewable sources we’ve heard about for 35 years already. Large scale.
- We’ve got lots of methane hydrate too. What’s the plan for that stuff?
- Screw corn ethanol. Food is for eating.
- Nice fat tax breaks/incentives for more efficient machines and building insulation
- Realistic CAFE requirements for vehicles. And no exceptions. If it doesn’t weigh more than 3 tons and isn’t registered to a corporation, it’s a private vehicle. Cars, SUVs, Minivans, light trucks all subject to the same requirements
Posted by Drew458
on 06/17/2008 at 12:23 PM
Filed Under: • Oil, Alternative Energy, and Gas Prices • Politics •
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Permalink • Another picked on group heard from
A red-haired family claims to have been driven from their Newcastle home because of abuse. Why is the harassment of redheads dismissed as just harmless fun?
Here’s a joke. “What’s the difference between a terrorist and a redhead?”
Here’s the punchline. “You can negotiate with a terrorist.”Is this offensive? If it was made in your workplace, within hearing of a redheaded colleague, would you make a fuss? Probably not. But mock someone’s ethnicity, religion or sexuality and you will attract the beady eye of management. Make a sexist joke and prepare to be dismissed as an antediluvian relic.
Verbal abuse
Carrot-top, copper-top, ginger-nut, ginger minger, bluey (among Australians), Duracell, Ronald McDonald, Simply Red, Queen Elizabeth. And so on for hours and hours of the typical redhead’s life. No wonder some gloss over their hair colour as “auburn” and “strawberry blonde” and even “titian”.
Photographer Charlotte Rushton has been chronicling the UK’s redheads for a book, Ginger Snaps. Of the 300 she snapped, only two have been spared bullying because of their hair. She herself has suffered verbal abuse from complete strangers.
“I was on the Tube, pregnant, and I was really humiliated by this drunk yob. He was shouting ‘do the cuffs and the collars match?’ He got right up into my face. You don’t do that to other people.”
She believes the phenomenon is long-standing and uniquely British in its most virulent form.
“In other countries redheads will get teased at school but it stops when they become adults. If you are a woman you are fiery and alluring, beautiful.”
In adult life, women get stereotyped and red-haired men take much of the worst abuse. Treatment of red-haired children in school ranges from mild taunts to grim persecution.
Michele Eliot, the American director of British children’s charity Kidscape, regularly has significant numbers of red-haired children in courses on coping with bullying.Racism row
While there has been at least one report of a serious anti-red hair hate crime in the UK - a 20-year-old stabbed in the back in 2003 - it’s unclear whose responsibility it is to monitor discrimination.
“It is certainly not us,” says the Commission for Racial Equality.For those who claim their workplace taunts are just harmless banter, it could be stress rather than an anthropological aversion to red hair.
Workplace psychologist Professor Cary Cooper, of Lancaster University, says abuse can be “an unhealthy release valve for stress” and redheads, as a visible minority not protected by law, have become a target.
While other forms of the discrimination are the subject of marches, lobbying and education campaigns, redheads cannot expect the arrival of the politically correct cavalry anytime soon.
This one blows me away. What’s next, a news piece from Finland complaining that people with brown eyes are being picked on? Unbelievable. Thank God that Americans have somehow managed to miss out on this one. I hope.
Posted by Drew458
on 06/17/2008 at 09:56 AM
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Permalink • Muslim woman refused job as a hairdresser because she wears a headscarf wins £4,000 payout
I started writing something and discovered how angry I was an so have censored myself. But I really hope someone takes this pile of garbage out. As in, put a stop to her un-necessary breathing! Yeah, I really have censored myself. You outta see what I wrote before.
It’s this kind of lunacy that makes me see red every time. Then I get tongue tied in anger. I don’t understand it. So here.
You can read it for yourself.
By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 8:23 AM on 17th June 2008Bushra Noah has been awarded £4,000
(That’s $8,000 in our money guys. And all ya have to do is say your feelings are hurt.)A Muslim woman has been awarded £4,000 for “injury to feelings” after a hair salon owner refused to employ her because she wears a headscarf.
Bushra Noah accused Sarah Desrosiers, owner of a trendy central London hair salon, of religious discrimination after she failed to offer her a job in May last year.
A panel sitting at the central London employment tribunal dismissed her claim of direct discrimination but upheld her complaint of indirect discrimination.
Mrs Noah, of Acton, west London, applied for a job as a junior assistant at the Wedge salon in King’s Cross.
Giving its judgment, the tribunal said it accepted that Ms Desrosiers said that Mrs Noah lived too far away but was persuaded to give her an interview.
But when the 19-year-old applicant arrived at the salon she claimed that the Canadian salon owner was clearly shocked by the fact she wore a headscarf.
Ms Desrosiers told the tribunal she was surprised that the younger woman had not mentioned it earlier.
She said she needed stylists to reflect the “funky, urban” image of her salon and showcase alternative hairstyles.
If an applicant had a conventional hairstyle she would insist that it was re-styled in a more “alternative” way, she said.
After a 15-minute meeting she and Mrs Noah parted and both parties told the tribunal it was obvious that the 19-year-old would not be offered the job.
The panel refused an application by Mrs Noah for aggravated damages and rejected her claims that the episode had put her off hairdressing, finding that she applied for further salon jobs before deciding to retrain in tourism.
(So, she’s proved herself a freekin liar. But she’s truthful about everything else? Yeah. In a pigs eye. Not only is the bitch a liar, she’s damn ugly as well.)
Sarah Desrosiers said she needed stylists to showcase alternative hairstylesBut they did find that she had been badly upset by the 15-minute interview and awarded Mrs Noah £4,000 damages for “injury to feelings”.
In their judgment, the panel stated: “We were satisfied by the respondent’s evidence that the claimant was not treated less favourably than the respondent would have treated a woman who, whether Muslim or not, for a reason other than religious belief wears a hair covering at all times when at work.”
But they also concluded: “There was no specific evidence before us as to what would (for sure) have been the actual impact of the claimant working in her salon with her head covered at all times.
“We concluded that, on a critical and balanced assessment, the degree of risk, while real, should not be assumed to be as great at the respondent believed.”
Ms Desrosiers, 32, said: “I feel it is a bit steep for what actually happened. It’s really scary for a small business.
“I never in a million years dreamt that somebody would be completely against the display of hair and be in this industry. I don’t feel I deserve it.”
She said she still had not appointed someone to the job and had decided to “leave it for a while”.
Mrs Noah’s legal representatives were not available for comment.
Posted by Drew458
on 06/17/2008 at 04:24 AM
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Permalink • fell off stepladder sues , for £50,000 over ‘inadequate training’ . I couldn’t make this up.
I had no intention of booting as early as I have, but I just couldn’t ignore this. First, I think the old bastard is a bloody liar! Go ahead fart face. Sue me.
This sort of lunacy shouldn’t even be taken up by any lawyer to begin with.
In the past I have ranted on about Health and Safety here in the Nanny State. On occasion, Lyndon has also had a comment or three on the subject.
But reading this morning’s paper earlier then usual, I just thought I was still asleep reading the actual instructions H & S has had printed up.
I wish the telegraph had printed H & S instructions online as well as hard copy. I’ll try and scan it in awhile.
I don’t know about you ppl reading this, but the subject isn’t really a Moonbat. A liar maybe. A jerk? Could be.
No. The Moonbats are the ppl in the legal system that allow this sort of thing to go forward. The real Moonbats are the folks who actually do buy his fairy tale. And they certainly do exist. He sees an opportunity to take in some free money. The system allows for that and caters much to dishonest ppl.
It can only get worse.
Caretaker who fell off stepladder sues for £50,000 over ‘inadequate training’
By John Bingham
Last Updated: 10:20PM BST 16/06/2008A school caretaker who was injured falling off a six-foot stepladder is suing his employer for £50,000 claiming he was not trained how to use it properly
Anthony Gower-Smith says his bosses did not show him how to use the 6ft ladder safely, although he admits using others for at least 30 years without mishap.
Mr Gower-Smith, 73, fell while removing a card display and staples from a wall in the gym at Awbridge Primary School near Romsey, Hampshire, in January 2004.He fractured his skull, broke a cheekbone, split a kidney and spent time in the intensive care unit in nearby Southampton General Hospital, Winchester County Court heard.
Mr Gower-Smith, a former garage proprietor, is suing Hampshire County Council for liability, claiming they did not tell him how to properly use a stepladder.
He is claiming damages of at least £15,000 pounds and up to £50,000 pounds. The council denies negligence.
Mr Gower-Smith told the court he had signed a form to say he had received “ladder training” but said this only consisted of being warned not to stand on the top platform or work at higher than three metres off the ground.
“I thought that was the extent of ladder training,” he told the court. “I didn’t know there were other things regarding ladders.”
Mr Gower-Smith said he started work at the school in October 2002 and had induction training with caretaker support officer Chris Higgins.
He denied that Mrs Higgins had given him other safety advice such as placing the ladder at right angles to the wall being worked on. The court heard that the ladder was placed side on to the wall, potentially making it more unstable, when he fell off.
Mr Gower-Smith said he had filled in a form at work, ticking boxes to indicate he had received training about aspects of the job including ladder safety.
“When you are given something to sign by your superior you just sign it,” he said.
Mr Gower-Smith denied he was standing on the top platform when he fell but the court heard that he told police officers called to the incident that he had been standing on the top and had blamed himself.
“I don’t remember what I said,” he told the court. “I was dazed. But I wasn’t on the top step because I had no need to go to the top step.
“I was in and out of consciousness. I was blaming myself for coming off the ladder.
Not until afterwards did I think about it.”
In a statement of defence, the council said Mr Gower-Smith, of North Baddesley, near Southampton, was negligent, adding “The claimant knew perfectly well how to use a stepladder.”
Mr Recorder Christopher Moger QC asked Mr Gower-Smith if he had a stepladder at home. He said he had.
The judgement is expected this week.
Posted by Drew458
on 06/17/2008 at 01:39 AM
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It's been a long strange trip without you Skipper, but thanks for pointing us in the right direction and giving us a swift kick in the behind to get us going. Keep lookin' down on us, will ya? Thanks.
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Oh, and here's some kind of visitor flag counter thingy. Hey, all the cool blogs have one, so I should too. The Visitors Online thingy up at the top doesn't count anything, but it looks neat. It had better, since I paid actual money for it.
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