Farewells

Jade Goody the 27-year-old chavette who died following a public battle with cervical cancer. A reality show star who showed the world the common face of the UK.

Stephen Fry has compared Jade Goody to the late Princess Diana by saying she was 'a kind of Princess Di from the wrong side of the tracks.'

Gordon Brown has said how saddened he was and anyone else who wanted TV face time also turned up to look sad.

This by Jan Moir:

Somehow, luckless Jade Goody, born in a time of plenty, passed through the English education system without touching the sides. She became an adult who didn't know what asparagus was, wondered if the pattern on a peacock's tail feathers was its real eyes, who believed Rio de Janeiro to be a person, that East Anglia was abroad and wasn't quite sure if Americans spoke English.

This is not Jade's shame. It belongs to all of us. Yet what a terrible indictment on our state education system that the last wish of this woman was to provide a private education for her children. To 'give them the chances I never had', is how she put it. So maybe Goody herself did collaborate on three books - each a volume of autobiography - but she never showed any sign of having read a book.

Or had a teacher who inspired her. Or met anyone who encouraged an interest in anything other than herself. The miracle is that, despite this unprepossessing start, she somehow managed to make something of herself. To make herself matter beyond the confines of her own nearest and dearest. It is sad that any young woman has died, leaving two motherless sons behind. For those bewildered boys, only time will tell what the real emotional price will be for this ghoulish media circus.

The family has pleaded for privacy now, a laughable conceit in the circumstances. Yet Goody's decision to sell herself in this manner was never going to be a plea for respect or a struggle for sainthood. Even if, in death, she will undoubtedly be redeemed. Indeed, the sanctification process is already under way as the uglier parts of her character - her ignorance, racism, bad temper and catastrophic taste in men - are airbrushed away.

It is not her fault that she came to represent everything that is ugly and asinine about reality television. But a saint she ain't.

The complete opposite

Natasha Richardson who died during a freak skiing fall had her private funeral service. The emotional ceremony took place in upstate New York, near to where Richardson shared a home with her husband Liam Neeson and their two children.

Unlike the Jade Goody media circus which was her life and death Richardson was given a dignified send off with the media tolerated to a bit as well what can you do? You wave the odd time and pose and that is it.

A Changing World

Look at the big picture people. The world is a chess game and if you don't have any morals or scruples then the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are a good idea. It doesn't matter if you win as long as you prolong and stay in the area, a foothold in the middle east where the oil and money is.

Dependency on foreign oil, think about it folks the US uses foreign oil for decades and when that has run out or it suits the US they still have the vast fields of oil under their own feet. Its a good idea use up everyone else s oil then get stuck into yers.

The world is changing and its time to honker doon and close yer borders. Spain wants rid of all its immigrants legal and illegal when only years ago they wanted them to cum and harvest their crops.
Countries are feeling a little tribal right now.

The UK is opening 7 mines pits and getting back to coal, fuck all the environmental agreements its no time to be a hero.

Like I said its easy to be generous when you have money but its a real test of character to be generous when you aren't so well off.

To Serve Is An Honour

In the UK people are just not giving the army the recognition it deserves, but at St Paul's Cathedral 763 servicemen and women killed as a direct result of violence in Northern Ireland were honoured.

Known as Operation Banner, it was the longest campaign in British military history, from 1969 to 2007.

John Heasley, 57, who served in the Ulster Defence Regiment in Newry, had scars to show. In 1976, he was hit by three bullets in his right leg, two in his left leg, one in his right arm and one in the back of his head.

When asked what would Northern Ireland be like if the Army hadn't stepped in?

"It would still be like 1972," he suggested.

That was the worst year of the Troubles - 496 people died, of whom 134 were soldiers.

It was also the year of Bloody Sunday when 14 unarmed civilians were shot dead by the Army.

That led many in the nationalist community to conclude that the troops were part of the problem, not the solution. The troops were sent in to protect the Catholics, hardly the armies fault if the Fenians were dumb enough to attack them.

A candle was lit in memory of the dead by Mary Moreland, whose husband John, a part-time soldier, was shot dead by the IRA just before Christmas in 1988.

She believes the conflict was a fight between "good and evil".

She said: "What we have to do is not live in the past but remember it. Don't let us rewrite history but let us remember it how it was."

It is a history covered in blood.

Northern Ireland isn't quite at peace, but the absence of troops on the streets is a sure sign that the so-called Troubles are over.

I served in this war in the late 80's and early 90's because it was a conflict that was killing my people and put us all in harms way for the religious background you were perceived to have come from. It was a war even though in the 30 plus years only 3000 people died which is the same amount as those who perished in one day on 9/11.

It affected your every day life and became a part of life. Violence carried on by the former generation that taught the young how to hate others out of stupidity and ignorance. Killing their own if it suited them, tribes of thick necked thugs and loud fishwives.

It will never be over for the normal person in the street. The police and the military will still be cagey about their jobs when asked what they do for a living when off duty because they will never be safe from their neighbours but thats the price you pay to serve.

Its Never The Ones You Want To Drop Dead

In 1971 Dr Judah Folkman published an article stating that all cancer tumors were angiogenesis-dependent.
That means the cancer tumors gives out a substance which grows new blood vessels and draws them toward it so it can feed off them like plant roots heading towards water.

He was disregarded by most experts but still he kept on. His work developed compounds, such as angiostatin, endostatin and vasculostatin, which have successfully halted the growth of tumors in laboratory mice and has advanced cancer research by leaps and bounds. He has also reversed blindness caused by macular degeneration with the drugs he has discovered.

He wrote some 400 papers and more than 100 book chapters and monographs. He received scores of United States awards and honors for his distinguished research, as well as numerous international awards, including Canada's Gairdner Foundation International Award, Israel's Wolf Foundation Prize in Medicine, Germany's Ernst Schering Prize, the Italian Association of Cancer Research in Rome's Gold Medal, the United Kingdom Society for Endocrinology's Dale Medal, and Switzerland's Dr. Josef Steiner Cancer Research Award. In 2006, Folkman was one of seven people appointed by President Bush to the National Cancer Advisory Board of the National Institutes of Health.

He was in short a miracle worker, a pioneer but was ever such a modest fellow who taught patient care with compassion. On a way to a convention this year in January his heart stopped and he died aged 74. The amount of useless cunts that go on to live longer lives and this fella who could have and has cured cancer died.

Does God have a plan? was his work done? all I know is that if I get up to the pearly gates I'm going to say to God, "you've got some explaining to do" and his answer had better be a good one.

Why all the rape and suffering? yeah yeah free choice my arse God should know that many people are cunts by now. Its like Superman watching a pedo with a child and saying its not my problem.

Go Fuck You Al Qaeda Cunts

On this day in 2005 a series of bomb attacks on London's transport network killed 52 people and injured about 700 others.

Home grown terrorists who supported Al Qaeda. Britain didn't fold like Spain did it takes more than a few sand savages to scare us.

Having lived with terrorism for years these attacks don't make me scared they make me angry just normal people trying to live they don't deserve this, it could have been me on numerous occasions but no it was always some other unfortunate bastard.

These scum breed like flies and are just as smart the only way to defeat them is to be brutal with them for you can bet that they will be just as brutal with us. Back out of Iraq but know that it won't be the end.

Ever Wonder Why There Are So Many Conspiracy Theories About ?

In 1985 a mission to find the lost wreck of the Titanic was launched headed by Dr Bob Ballard due to documents that have now been declassified the Titanic search was actually a cover story for inspecting the wrecks of two nuclear submarines.

The United States Navy lost two submarines during the 1960s the USS Thresher and USS Scorpion which had more than 200 men on board, since then they have put tracking devices on board subs. Officials feared at least one of them had been sunk by the USSR.

When Dr Ballard approached the Navy for funding to find the Titanic using his robotic submarine craft, they asked him to discover the submarines first.

The USS Thresher (SSN-593) was the lead ship of her class of nuclear-powered attack submarines. She was lost during deep-sea diving tests in 1963 after a high-pressure pipe blew causing the vessel to lose power and implode as it sank.

The USS Scorpion disappeared in 1968 amid speculation that it was sunk by Soviet forces.

Dr Ballard mapped both submarine wrecks using his newly developed underwater robot craft. He concluded that the most likely cause of the Scorpion's destruction was being hit by a rogue double agent torpedo it had fired itself.

Ballard then only had 12 days left to find the wreckage of the enormous ship 73 years after it sank in the Atlantic. He had little time to explore further.

It was not until he returned to the site in 1986 that he was able to make a detailed study.

Most people don't understand this, when you invite the Devil in anything can happen and the Devil calls the shots. It all worked out well and a crappy film was made.

Lets hope that US subs have improved since then but then again would we find out if they had until 20 years later?

A Cautionary Tale

Pictures she sent me allegedly taken in the 70's, funny she had no up to date ones.

Old Knudsen is not issue free, no its true I do have issues that colour my decisions and effect how I deal with the world in general. It may shock you all to know I have issues as I usually appear so carefree and full of love, well full of something.

It was about 10 years ago and I was on-line, there was Yahoo groups rather than blogging to be had and I was member of some groups getting into flame wars and getting slagged off for posting too much, the usual not much has changed except now its 'my' blog to do with what I want and only those with the secret decoder rings in their brains will want to read me and not the dross that get on like Gollum who say, "stay on the subject, stop having so much to say about it, whats a metaphor?" in reality they are saying, " my life is shit, why can I not think of opinions? I'm taking it out on you cos yer better and far too different."

I met this woman on-line in one of these groups, it was a group that claimed to be a political activist type group but did fuck all but complain.

Mave McDonnon was an older woman from Oklahoma but claimed to have come from Ireland when she was 5 or something.

One of them Americans who has a taste of Irish blood or think they do and want to be Irish. She did the heap claiming to have marched in civil rights marches and peed on the White Hoose once,a nightclub singer she also claimed to be psychic and often talked to her old dead Irish grandfather whose name I promised never to reveal and still haven't.

At least one failed marriage and a son in the Naval Intelligence, her childcare business had failed her hoose that was owned by her mother was reprocessed when she couldn't keep up with the payments. She had one friend who was a younger gurl named 'Holly' she would type for Mave when her arthritis got too bad.

Mave had a lump in her neck that she had ignored for years as she didn't have healthcare, it turned out to be cancer in an advanced stage and there was no hope.

On top of this Mave had a boyfriend she referred to as 'Sir' he was a pastor who spent most of his time protesting the death penalty for criminals, when he heard about Mave's cancer he chose to ignore it and carry on as usual.

I talked to Mave on e-mails a lot and a little by phone, I considered her a friend, no need for fake screen names or personas. If only you lot knew how much of myself I really put into this blog, I am a most honest person and expect no less from my friends.

I offered Mave a place to spend her last days as she was depressed and lonely, it turned out that in those later times she then decided to just pop a piece of information about herself into the conversation that would negate any plans we had.

Her excuse was that she was taught to be secretive on-line but this was after so much info had passed between us and the trust was lost.

She went a bit nuts and started saying things in lists about me that she shouldn't. I wondered what else wasn't true about her because I wanted to believe she was being honest, why wouldn't she?

There is a time and a place for persona and a time for truth. Some only want to go as far as the persona because maybe they feel that reality is not enough for them, I write what I know and from some experience and then of course I'm just maybe a little crazy who knows? at least I came by it honest and not like those drugged out wannabe crazies.

I stopped talking to Mave, she sent me a letter saying she had moved in with Holly (did she even exist?) but I didn't reply I didn't trust anything that woman had now told me.

10 years on and Mave should be dead, she never visited me like she said she would after death.
Now I take everything with a pinch of salt On-line and in Real-life until I have proof. Psychic are ya? a blogging gorilla/cat/dog or lemur are ya? a hot 18 year-old gurl are ya? yeah well I'm a Scottish one-legged geezer from Killamory unless you talk to me in private e-mails because then I reveal my true name of Jake the Bolivian spy from Arkansas (pronounced Ar-can-sass) be what you want to be I'll play along as its the polite thing to do.

There are still many out there who remain guarded even in private and even mistrust you when you tell the truth but I think that's because a liar will think the worse of people because that's what they would do themselves.

I can't be arsed with silly games a lot of the time, Mave lowered my level of bullshit, don't trust me I don't care you can't judge character, go on try to get personal to get the dirt on me well I just don't hand out bank information on a plate to people who just pop up from nowhere and ask me as they often do.

Having lived among terrorism for decades and not knowing if the car belonging to the cop across the street is going to explode or not I've had paranoia ingrained.

I know Bloggers have lots of personas, I do. I don't use to fool people into a relationship though I just have fun or to validate my wild claims on my blogs, many of you know my other names or its just so obvious.

I no longer live by my site meter, I can usually smell a yank even with a UK addy as for my real UK spammers I don't care. I know you are out there pretending away whatever, its only blogging. You will get all you deserve have no fear about that.

The worse thing about the Mave episode is that I miss her as a friend even though everything was probably a lie but we live and learn and care a little less with each heart break.