Get your tinfoil hats ready, the Sapiens are coming

Prenzel man founds new world movement

Blenheim man Hugh Steadman has withdrawn from his management role with Prenzel distillery company to focus on leading a new political movement called the Sapiens.

He will maintain his role as a company director.

The Sapiens are dedicated to the establishment of a democratic world government.

Mr Steadman has founded the Sapiens with a group of 22 like-minded New Zealanders and encouragement from similar organisations overseas.

"There's a whole body of this work going on worldwide," he said.

He estimated 22 people belong to the Sapiens in New Zealand, with many more sharing the same political view worldwide.

Mr Steadman, who has a degree in politics and international relations, said Sapiens aimed to provoke debate, and did not expect a democratic world government to happen overnight.

"Someone needs to get the ball rolling," he said.

Among their policies is a call for countries to give up certain political rights, among them the right to send troops to war.

Mr Steadman agreed it may be hard to get superpowers like America and China to agree to this policy, but said crucial political changes were in the wind, spurred by a series of impending crises.

"America is going to ultimately face a serious defeat in the Middle East and there will be serious reconsideration given to that aspect of American life."

Mr Steadman said a starting point could be the democratisation of the United Nations.

The next step for the Sapiens could be to form a political party to contest the 2008 general election.

Marlborough Express, 24 November 2005

[I like how it says that he estimates that there are 22 members. Not 20 or 25, then?]

Blue Sky In Games Campaign

Now here's something to challenge the status quo and stick it to The Man. Just like you, these people want to return to the days when female game characters were something other than prostitutes, and black game characters were something other than drug dealers...

Blue Sky In Games Campaign

[Courtesy of Junglette]

Last words from Death Row

A chilling and morbid exhibition of the men and women executed by the punitive Texans. Their deeds were often evil, but the bland facts point towards tragic stupidity as a prime motivator for some of the crimes, like the woman who murdered her family and immediately placed a life insurance claim.

Texas Department of Criminal Justice - Executed Offenders Last Statements

Executed Offenders

[Courtesy of Popbitch]

Penguin bat game

Click once to make the penguin dive, and a second time to make the caveman swing his club. See how far you can make the penguin skip across the ice! He seems to be enjoying it, the wee scamp.

Penguin bat game

[Courtesy of KFa. Best I managed was 316.3m]

These ice-trays are bulletproof, presumably?

'The Pentagon has been paying a contractor $20 each for plastic ice-cube trays that sell over the counter for 85 cents, said Rep. Joel Hefley (R-Colo.), citing an Oct. 23 report by Knight Ridder newspapers.

According to the report, the military bought the ice trays through a 'prime vendor program' run by the Defense Logistics Agency. It also paid prime vendors $32,642 for a refrigerator for airplanes that cost $17,267 from the manufacturer, $81 for a coffee maker that the manufacturer sells for $29, and $43 for packs of coffee filters that usually sell for $11'

- Defense News, 7 November 2005

'Off with this costume can I take?'

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Montage-a-google

Just type anything into the search box and this fun site will dredge the net for related pictures, and compile a montage of the results for your edification. Try typing in your suburb, or a city you'd like to visit, or your name (if you're famous!). Searching for 'autumn leaves' produced a pretty pattern too. Plenty of room for experimentation!

Montage-a-google

[Courtesy of Davotfm]

Pants for the memories

Lot 328: a pair of embarrassing trousers

A recent auction on eBay ended with a pair of leather trousers being sold for US$102.50 after 22 bids. Buyers may have been attracted by the following short essay written by the owner:

"You are bidding on a mistake. We all make mistakes. We date the wrong people for too long. We chew gum with our mouths open. We say inappropriate things in front of grandma.

And we buy leather pants.

I can explain these pants and why they are in my possession. I bought them many, many years ago under the spell of a woman whom I believed to have taste. She suggested I try them on. I did. She said they looked good. I wanted to have a relationship of sorts with her. I'm stupid and prone to impulsive decisions. I bought the pants.

The relationship, probably for better, never materialised. The girl, whose name I can't even recall, is a distant memory. I think she was short.

Ultimately, the pants were placed in the closet where they have remained, unworn, for nearly a decade. I would like to emphasise that aside from trying these pants on, they have never, ever been worn. In public or private.

I have not worn these leather pants for the following reasons:

I am not a member of Queen.

I do not like motorcycles.

I am not Rod Stewart.

I am not French.

I do not cruise for transvestites in an expensive sports car.

These were not cheap leather pants. They are Donna Karan leather pants. They're for men. Brave men, I would think. Perhaps tattooed, pierced men. In fact, I'll go so far as to say you either have to be very tough, very gay, or very famous to wear these pants and get away with it.

Again, they're men's pants, but they'd probably look great on the right lady. Ladies can get away with leather pants much more often than men can. It's a sad fact that men who own leather pants will have to come to terms with.

They are size 34x34. I am no longer size 34x34, so even were I to suddenly decide I was a famous gay biker I would not be able to wear these pants. These pants are destined for someone else. For reasons unknown - perhaps to keep my options open, in case I wanted to become a pirate - I have shuffled these unworn pants from house to house, closet to closet. Alas, it is now time to part ways so that I may use the extra room for any rhinestone-studded jeans I may purchase in the future.

These pants are in excellent condition. They were never taken on pirate expeditions. They weren't worn onstage. They didn't straddle a Harley, or a guy named Harley. They just hung there, sad and ignored, for a few presidencies.

Someone, somewhere, will look great in these pants. I'm hoping that someone is you, or that you can be suckered into buying them by a girl you're trying to bed. Please buy these leather pants"

- Quoted in the Guardian, 2 November 2005

[Links added by me. Y'know, this is the 100th posting to the Very Blog. Free champagne for everyone!]

Wise counsel for soldiers and most of the rest of us

'If there is one subject to avoid it is politics. Just say you don't know anything about it. Which is undoubtedly the truth'

- Advice for US servicemen embarking to serve as occupation forces in post-WW2 Korea