Suzanne's description of me and my relationships . Suck people in like a whirlwind and then drop them! Oh dear certainly true...

yet another attempt

another attempt to post the Salam Pax blog, what is wrong with blogger.com today?

Well done blogger for giving salam pax huge amount of bandwidth for his blog inside Baghdad mirror here with the frightenening tale of waiting 6 hours from when the bombers leave the UK to their arrival over Baghdad.

An excellent quote from his site here ""the West won the world not by the superiority of its ideas or values or religion but rather by its superiority in applying organized violence. Westerners often forget this fact, non-Westerners never do." Samuel P. Huntington

Interesting nugget on The Kurds taken from here:-
Turkish fears of Kurdish desire for secession go back to the carving up of the Ottoman Empire following World War I. The Kurds, who number some 20 to 25 million and are concentrated in an area spanning southeastern Turkey, northern Iraq, Iran and parts of Syria, were promised in the 1920 Treaty of Sevres their own state. But Turkey forced a renegotiation of the treaty, and the Kurds were left without a state. Those living within Turkish borders became part of the new Turkish nation which attempted to unite the various ethnic groups living within it. However, the Kurds did not take well to this, rebelling in 1925 against attempts to assimilate them. A deal was struck in 1937, leaving the Kurds to their own devices, but also leaving the area undeveloped, without investment from the government.

Coming weeks will be interesting to see what the US puppet government in Iraq will do

And to follow that old adage " Those that can do, those that can't teach" we see here Microsoft teaching students how to write secure code! Lovely

And here is the link if you, have smoked and are over 50 and want you to check your risk of getting cancer. Tool developed by Researchers at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, in collaboration with the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center,

An interesting fact from The Daily Star . GAZA: Even as US forces launched a first salvo of missiles against Iraq, Saddam Hussein distributed more funds ­ $210,000 ­ Thursday to the families of Palestinians killed in fighting with Israel.
Throughout nearly 30 months of battles, Iraq has paid more than $35 million to the families of Palestinians killed in the conflict, including relatives of scores of bombers as well as Palestinian civilians.. Just compare that aid to what Israel gets from USA a boggling $134,791,507,200 since 1949 see here for full details. Be interesting to see if he gives Rachel Corrie's family a donation, what a coup that would be!

An interesting fact from The Daily Star . GAZA: Even as US forces launched a first salvo of missiles against Iraq, Saddam Hussein distributed more funds ­ $210,000 ­ Thursday to the families of Palestinians killed in fighting with Israel.
Throughout nearly 30 months of battles, Iraq has paid more than $35 million to the families of Palestinians killed in the conflict, including relatives of scores of bombers as well as Palestinian civilians.. Just compare that aid to what Israel gets from USA a boggling $134,791,507,200 since 1949 see here for full details.

Googles answers to french military victories has now been bombed out by some site that apparently gums up your computer thank goodness I use The Proximitron to keep the nasties at bay.

Another new low cost airline, Iceland Express, flying between Stansted and Reykjavik in Iceland. must give it a try, the hot springs sound great.

And for those who uphold google as a definite source of knowledge. Just type in "french military victories" press I'm Feeling Lucky and oops someone has bombed google with "Did you mean: french military defeats" and clicking that gives:-


- Gallic Wars
- Lost. In a war whose ending foreshadows the next 2000 years of French history, France is conquered by of all things, an Italian.

- Hundred Years War
- Mostly lost, saved at last by female schizophrenic who inadvertently creates The First Rule of French Warfare; "France's armies are victorious only when not led by a Frenchman." Sainted.

- Italian Wars
- Lost. France becomes the first and only country to ever lose two wars when fighting Italians.

- Wars of Religion
- France goes 0-5-4 against the Huguenots

- Thirty Years War
- France is technically not a participant, but manages to get invaded anyway. Claims a tie on the basis that eventually the other participants started ignoring her.

- War of Revolution
- Tied. Frenchmen take to wearing red flowerpots as chapeaux.

- The Dutch War
- Tied

- War of the Augsburg League/King William's War/French and Indian War
- Lost, but claimed as a tie. Three ties in a row induces deluded Frogophiles the world over to label the period as the height of French military power.

- War of the Spanish Succession
- Lost. The War also gave the French their first taste of a Marlborough, which they have loved every since.

- American Revolution
- In a move that will become quite familiar to future Americans, France claims a win even though the English colonists saw far more action. This is later known as "de Gaulle Syndrome", and leads to the Second Rule of French Warfare; "France only wins when America does most of the fighting."

- French Revolution
- Won, primarily due the fact that the opponent was also French.

- The Napoleonic Wars
- Lost. Temporary victories (remember the First Rule!) due to leadership of a Corsican, who ended up being no match for a British footwear designer.

- The Franco-Prussian War
- Lost. Germany first plays the role of drunk Frat boy to France's ugly girl home alone on a Saturday night.

- World War I
- Tied and on the way to losing, France is saved by the United States. Thousands of French women find out what it's like to not only sleep with a winner, but one who doesn't call her "Fraulein." Sadly, widespread use of condoms by American forces forestalls any improvement in the French bloodline.

- World War II
- Lost. Conquered French liberated by the United States and Britain just as they finish learning the Horst Wessel Song.

- War in Indochina
- Lost. French forces plead sickness; take to bed with the Dien Bien Flu

- Algerian Rebellion
- Lost. Loss marks the first defeat of a western army by a Non-Turkic Muslim force since the Crusades, and produces the First Rule of Muslim Warfare; "We can always beat the French." This rule is identical to the First Rules of the Italians, Russians, Germans, English, Dutch, Spanish, Vietnamese and Esquimaux.

- War on Terrorism
- France, keeping in mind its recent history, surrenders to Germans and Muslims just to be safe. Attempts to surrender to Vietnamese ambassador fail after he takes refuge in a McDonald's.

The question for any country silly enough to count on the French should not be "Can we count on the French?", but rather "How long until France collapses?"

"Going to war without France is like going deer hunting without an accordion. All you do is leave behind a lot of noisy baggage."

Or, better still, the quote from last week's Wall Street Journal: "They're there when they need you."

Copied from http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/text/france.html

A welcome bit of sense in the RIAA wars against music sharing here . I guess that's the advantage of having BT with no media interests so that music companies cannot put pressure on it. Whereas NTL et al are very susceptible to pressure from media outfits. Never thought I would say . WELL DONE BT

A test to see if this updates to my website at www.geoffjones.com

Did the programme for Hilary's concert at Little St Mary's on Sunday 17 March full deatails are here