chicken out!

i've been watching the chicken out campaign on channel 4 and it has really opened my eyes to the way chicken is farmed. the programme was fronted by hugh fearnley-whittingstall of river cottage fame and showed the differences between free range and intensively farmed chickens. it made some good points about how buying free range chicken need not be greatly more expensive than the bog standard variety.

he also tried to get interviews with the major supermarkets in the uk but they were unsurprisingly reluctant.

give the campaign website a look and and show your support by signing up!

remembering rhys

one of the most moving things i've seen in a very long time is the sight of the family of the late rhys jones standing on the hallowed turf of anfield, wearing the blue of everton as the theme from z-cars, the song everton run out to every week, was played for all to hear.

i was not ashamed to say it made me weep with sadness but also with a sense of pride. pride in the fact that football can still be something that brings people together and gives them a way to pay tribute to someone like rhys.

today my brother told me that rhys's father stephen had written a poem about his son and his untimely death and having read it i felt i had to post it here for others to read;

A poem written by Rhys’s father, Stephen

Now God wanted a football match
And to play it up in heaven
But first he needed players
And select his first eleven

Georgie Best, big Brian Labone
The legend Dixie Dean
Alan Ball and Bobby Moore
All made it in the team

He needed one more player
Someone who would be quick
From up above he looked down
And saw Rhys there in his kit

So Rhys was taken up above
God took him by the hand
To play the game he loved so much
Where sponsorship is banned

There is no cheating either as
God is the referee
There are no mega wages
And the transfers they are free

The games are live on telly
You don't have to subscribe
The players all stay on their feet
Cos no one takes a dive

So Rhys plays now so happily
To the angels in the crowd
And every time he hits the net
They roar his name so loud

Have fun my little blue boy
You’re safe and in God’s care
‘Till it’s time for me to get my boots
And join with you up there

may rhys rest in peace, may his family and friends remember him with love and may the person who brought this tragedy upon them meet with swift justice.

brilliant prank, with a very clever message

this stunt was reported by reuters and published in the 7th july 2007 issue of new scientist.
It was pulled by a group of political activists called the yes men who describe their work as "exposing, perhaps deviously, the nastiness of powerful evildoers" by taking part in "identity correction".

basically, two guys from the yes men posed as representatives from ExxonMobil and the U.S. National Petroleum Council, at the Gas and Oil Exposition – aka GO-EXPO 2007 – in Calgary.

they had a keynote speech on the programme and promptly proceeded to reveal a new fuel called "vivoleum" which was "to be used in the event of a global climate calamity and made by transforming the billions of people who die into oil.”

sounds a little sick i know but it could be a valuable option in the event of a nuclear holocaust or similar catastrophe - well here comes the clever bit of their prank.

one of the the yes men, “Shepard Wolff” (aka Andy Bichlbaum) began to explain the process of turning living beings into fuel using 3-d animations and powerpoint slides. he stated “we need something like whales, but infinitely more abundant.”

now here's the very clever bit:

“vivoleum works in perfect synergy with the continued expansion of fossil fuel production,” noted the supposed Exxon rep “Florian Osenberg” (aka Mike Bonanno, another member of the yes men). “with more fossil fuels comes a greater chance of disaster, but that means more feedstock for vivoleum. fuel will continue to flow for those of us left.”

i just love the smell of irony in the morning, smells like victory!

ps. read about the rest of the prank at reuters, including how they gave delegates at the conference a candle made from the "by-products" of the production of vivoleum.

money+football=ripped off supporters

so not only do we have to pay £30+ a time to watch 22 rich men play in a sponsored stadium, wearing sponsored shirts, whilst 'enjoying' over-priced sponsored food & drink, reading the 'advert' that passes for a match day programme, we now have to pay for the privilege of knowing who our team is playing.

the information below was taken from freethefixtures.com and it makes very interesting reading.

"On Thursday 14th June the fixtures for the 2007/08 football season were published. However most fan run websites will not be displaying them....

Football DataCo Ltd is a British company that grants licenses to third parties allowing them to reproduce certain intellectual property such as fixture lists and statistics.

Football DataCo is wholly owned by FA Premier League and The Football League. Fans have 3 options.....

1) Become the clubs nominated fanzine and get a licence for the fixtures for £1+VAT and a delivery charge to your site £104+ VAT, delivery via email! A total of £123

2) Get authorisation from the club to use their fixtures in isolation. This would be £266+VAT plus delivery charge A total of £435

3) Without authorisation from the club you must buy fixtures for all clubs - this is £4244+VAT for the licence and £5200+VAT for delivery A total of nearly £12,000.

The fees are charged to all 3rd parties including independently owned football fan sites and fanzines. Numerous fan sites have been closed as a result of legal action initiated by Football DataCo Ltd.

We the fans should be free to publish our teams fixtures on our sites.

Please sign the petition and we will present it to the people that are responsible for charging the fans to publish THEIR fixtures!"

i think you'll agree that this is getting silly and needs to be stopped before the soul is totally taken out of the dying body that is football.

sign the petition!

stop it now!