h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

"The writer [, journalist & Professor at Brunel University] ... Will Self has said he was stopped by police while out walking with his son because they suspected he was a paedophile.

The 51-year-old, who also regularly appears on television, was enjoying a long walk with his 11-year-old when a squad car and a police van stopped him on a Yorkshire roadside.

Self, author of Great Apes and The Book of Dave, said he was questioned about what he and the schoolboy were doing out walking together and his details were checked on the police national computer (PNC)."

http://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/aug/18/will-self-reported-suspected-paedophile

Long gone are the days of a family walk after Sunday lunch.

ATOS, the French IT company that carries out the controversial Work Capability Assessments for the DWP has been the subject of widespread condemnation from Disability Charities and the British Medical Association, who call for the assessments to be scrapped completely. The firm has been accused of target chasing for cutting the number of people found eligible for benefits. A Channel 4 Despatches documentary found that Atos assessors were being put under tremendous pressure to find 7 out of 8 claimants “fit to work” so that their benefits can be stopped. Given that disability benefit fraud is only 0.5%, the lowest of all types of benefit fraud, this brutal process therefore condemns hundreds of thousands of disabled people to immense suffering, destitution, homelessness, and ill-health. The impact of the exacerbation of ill-health this system causes cannot be understated: in addition to those driven to suicide by this process, the DWP’s own figures show that an average of 73 people a week die within 6 weeks of their benefits being stopped by the DWP following Atos finding them “fit to work”.

http://disabledactivistswales.wordpress.com/2013/08/15/cardiff-dwpatos-protest-please-send-this-letter-to-your-mp-am-and-local-councillors/

join the protest if you can.

It's funny, I know 6 people who are disabled, including my wife. 4 are on the higher rates for mobility and care of DLA and 2 are on the higher rates for mobility and the lower rates for care. 5 of them have been ATOS assessed. All 5 rated the experience positively and all of them are getting more money and or services than they got before.

What's the chances that all 5 of them have the total opposite experience to that portrayed by activists and protest groups?

My sister and son are carers working in the private and public sector respectively. they tell me that the genuine clients they care for have experienced no apparent difficulties with ATOS at all. In fact my sister has had her hours increased as the personal care assessments of her clients have granted more money.

Why is it that the two people i know working in this field have the total opposite experience to that portrayed by activists and protest groups?

Can anyone explain that to me - seriously?

Further, the one who wasn't ATOS assessed but on the higher rate for mobility has seen her condition improve to the point that she can get out and about and has taken on a job. She phoned up to tell the DWP that she was now working and didn't need the DLA money because she was recovering and was told to keep claiming for four months in case her condition returns.

Some people receive benefits who are outwardly fit for work, but for some reason are not mentally disciplined enough for regular routine work, or tend to spend most of their time drinking and / or taking drugs.

My brother used to receive DLA for mental problems, after a while he was feeling better as it were and didn't need the money so he got hold of the DLA and told them to stop the payments. It took them about a year to do so.
He's never been able to work full time or hold down a job longer than a few months, but he's lucky that he lives with my parents and they can provide for him.

Well whatever one might say about US foreign policy at least some of the records are released to the public eventually:

CIA documents acknowledge its role in Iran's 1953 coup
"Iranians elected Mossadeq in 1951 and he quickly moved to renationalise the country's oil production, which had been under British control through the Anglo-Persian Oil Company - which later became British Petroleum or BP.

That was a source of serious concern to the US and the UK, which saw Iranian oil as key to its post-war economic rebuilding.

Until now the intelligence agencies have issued "blanket denials" of their role, says the editor of the trove of documents, Malcolm Byrne.

This is believed to be the first time the CIA has itself admitted the part it played in concert with the British intelligence agency, MI6.

The documents show how the CIA prepared for the coup by placing anti-Mossadeq stories in both the Iranian and US media.

The US and UK intelligence agencies bolstered pro-Shah forces and helped organise anti-Mossadeq protests.

The Shah returned to Iran after the coup and only left power in 1979, when he was overthrown in the Islamic revolution.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-23762970

The on-line porn boom, an economic success story:

"I think over the past 15 years there has been a marked change in the nature of pornography being offered. We're talking about a subtext of violence, hair pulling, slapping, spitting, abusive language during sex - the very extreme gender power relationships in which the man is all powerful and the woman is submissive."

And it is an issue of demand as well as supply. Once you got masses of free porn, unregulated in Britain, what happened is what always happens with e-commerce - the providers could see what the users were clicking on most, and the content changed accordingly.

Victoria, the webcam performer, says she can see signs of addiction among her clients, who are typically married men.
"It is addictive, it has the potential to be addictive, it's easy, it's friendly and it's warm and a lot of these clients ... "
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-23700395

The internet was built on porn, anyone who thinks differently is either ignorant or kidding themselves.

Over the many years I've helped build porn sites, and helped develop anti-porn software. It used to be that they had the money, so they could employ the best developers, so they had the best technology.

Fifty year old women in court after crashing her car into a kebab shop in Bristol (UK).

The Defence: her flip flop got caught on the accelerator pedal.

The Prosecution: She had earlier head butted a teenager (which she admits to). An eye witness reported her saying "I'll run you all over", "I hate you all" and "I'll mow you all down". The car was directed towards the same teenager in the kebab shop. CCTV shows the car being driven into the kebab shop, reversing, and going back in several times.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-23754997

Is driving in flipflops even allowed?
I know it's not in France. People do it anyway, but the law says you must have footwear that is actually attached to your feet.

That said, it's not allowed to run people over either. But not many people disregard that one, fortunately.

I'm pretty sure you meant unfortunately there frenchie

No, you meant fortunately, and I didn't see the "not"

...meanwhile, as the Snowden controversy subsides;

http://www.cnn.com/2013/08/16/opini...-cruz-gop/index.html?iref=allsearch

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.co...enship-in-statement/?iref=allsearch

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.co...s-birth-certificate/?iref=allsearch

There's a moral to the story, high levels of overseas deployment create windows of opportunity.




The American constitutional law requires the President and the Vice President to be native born American citizens.

Parentage is irrelevant, only the question as to whether one was born on American soil counts.

Even if one's parents are illegal immigrants, if one is born within the territories of the USA, one is a native born citizen.

Even if both one's parents are native born citizens themselves, if one is born outside the territories of the USA, one is not.

I saw the flip-flop story, initially I thought ah hah, that is why you are not allowed to wear flip-flops, or drive in bare feet, or in some circumstances not drive in wellies,

this I remember from taking my driving lessons test *cough* some decades ago*

turned out that there is more to this story than flip flops but I did then have to look up what the guidelines are regarding driving and footwear

seems in UK we have to wear shoes that do not comprise driving safely,

things like flip flops, footwear with particulary thick soles or high heels would be considered inappropriate but not illegal

Cross-posting from the 'Boring and banal' thread:

F16034?thread=244117&skip=25280#p110783309

Featuring this excellent piece of journalism:

"Unremarkable men walk 40 miles for no particular reason"

http://www.thisissurreytoday.co.uk/Unremarkable-men-walk-40-miles-particular-reason/story-19658769-detail/story.html#axzz2c7RD7wwK


Geggs

swl, I´m glad that the people you know have no problem with ATOS.

I´ve read time ago, and posted here, testimonies of many people about how the ATOS and the Bedroom tax were affecting them. I´ve followed this issue in the web and it´s really a big problem.... Although those who believe in social darwinism ( a pretty fascist idea) surely are not considering it a problem but a great idea.

If you want to contrast your experience with that of disabled people:

http://dpac.uk.net/

That's not really a contrast of my experience with those of disabled people in general though is it? Those are the views and opinions of some disabled people who feel they have had a raw deal and are annoyed enough and motivated enough to become active on the issue. And quite frankly, the writing there is just as inflammatory and biased as anything in the right or left wing press. I don't think they represent the majority opinion at all and I don't think they give a fair representation of the facts. Some of them haven't gone through the ATOS procedure and seem to be reacting to what they think it's about.

The reality is, people are assessed by a Doctor who understands disability issues in a way that few GPs can in depth, understands the benefits available in a way that few GPs can and has specific knowledge of the facilities and resources available in each geographical area. A GP, pushed for time and overworked, cannot possibly know as much as a specialist doing this job every day. It's not all about money either. The people I know who have been assessed suddenly find out they can claim for other things such as specialised personal care, help with shopping, befriending services and so on. Charities are reporting higher take-up of their services which can either be viewed as a good thing or spun by the politically motivated to read "Huge rise in number of housebound needing personal carers under ConDem government"

Sorry to be a windbag but this is such a misrepresented subject that is being used as a stick by political activists to hammer a government of the "wrong" political hue.

As an aside, it's also a sad fact that *some* disabled people find it hard to cope with the psychological aspect of their disability and often react negatively, becoming quite angry and bitter about life in general. Protest groups can help channel this and are a natural outlet but these people are not representative of the whole.

"A man accused of benefits fraud has had his prosecution dropped because the investigations looked at the wrong leg."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-devon-23771631