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For my American readers, you may not know about Mock the Week, its a BBC satirical show about the week's news, and nobody is safe (except Obama, who they described in terms of the second coming), and their favorite punching bag this week... John McCain. The topics of attack included

• Apparently the best person the republicans could come up with was someone who was considered less competant than Bush
• Getting shot down 5 times and sent to a prisoner of war camp doesn't make you a war hero, it just makes you a really rubbish pilot
• Apparently due to his torture he can't raise his hands above his head... i hadn't heard this one before, but it was made heavy use of
• His age and general likelyhood of dying of natural causes were also up for ridicule
Personally i do normally enjoy Mock the Week, and some of their points were valid, but the general level of jokes were pretty pathetic, and some in bad taste. That said, McCain deserves a thorough satirical roasting, this was a pale attempt at it. Still if McCain gets elected, i can just see the BBC being declared a terrorist organization...
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I keep reading online polls on websites like this

My biggest issue is, i want two extra options, "I don't know who these people are" and "I really don't care" I'd be interested to see what the statistics would show if that was put into more polling.

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Its a little bit odd, and to understand everything you really need to start from the beginning to understand it all and its worth it.

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I wish i could be one of those standing in the path of the torch in London. Failing that, i'm hoping that either an impromptu drizzle puts out the flame, or some brave soul manages to use a fire extinguisher to put it out. We should not be offering support or help to China, if the flame is meant to make it through London, then let it do without the police protection.

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I actually came across this on the Mail, but the BBC interpretation is a little bit more accurate and fair handed. It turns out, that a health think tank is suggesting that in order to smoke you would need a permit. Not only would this cost you in money, but you would have to fill out a deliberately complex form, obtain a suitable passport photo, and have to renew this permit yearly. An addition that seems to make this group positively orgiastic is the additional idea that you would have to go to your doctor in order to prove that you are still healthy enough in their opinion to smoke. Surprisingly for this open, egalitarian, social justice and personal empowerment preaching quango of a government, they seem rather keen on the idea, and you have to wonder whether they really are as clever as they should be with all those degrees and life experience. Smokers smoke, yes many would like to give it up, but this is something they need to come to terms with themselves, possibly via willpower and nicotine substitutes, or maybe checking into rehab. This will not stop people smoking, it will stress people out and make them miserable but they will either trundle through the form, or they will buy cigarettes from France instead. It all comes down to how you view your fellow human beings. Do you see them as dumb animals who need carrot and stick style policies to be controlled into doing the right thing? or do you see incredibly complex and capable individuals with stresses and influences you might not see or understand? This government treats us like dumb animals, and we assume they are complex individuals. All people in Britain deserve respect, even if they smoke, this government seems to fail to see this.

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I do have to say, big muscly assassin may have been a competent fighter, but since when does he win in a fight against Robin Hood. Also did anyone notice how he was very subtly able to escape being killed (or escape with the sheriff) so he can mysteriously and suddenly appear as an unknown factor in a future episode?

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I'm sorry, i've enjoyed this season of Robin Hood for the most part, but its been getting steadily worse. Aside from the fact that they conveniently forgot that Marian was a skilled fighter recently, and seemingly any man could beat her in a fight (wear-as it was a lucky blow that almost cost her life in the first season). But in case nobody studied their history, there is a villan to the Robin Hood myth. It was not guy of gisborne (a flunky) the sheriff (he was a tax collector), it was not even Prince John (a stand in doing an impossible job). It was that evil, self obsessed, self agrandising bastard King Richard, the winner of the most incompetent ruler in history award. The reason for the taxes was not to kill the king, it was to serve his eternal lust for glory. He would have happily sold London, if only he could have found a buyer. On the other hand while John raised the ire of legend (and the noblemen writing the legend) for trying to not only rebuild the country in the wake of his brother's decimation, but trying to fund said sibling's hard on for slaughter and mass genocide, the analysis of his actions suggest an exceedingly competent and capable ruler. Now i know that Richard supposedly was doing this because he was the whipping boy of the current great corrupt chief criminal of the western world (also know as the Pope), but still no King before or after has fulfilled the pointy hatted bastard's wishes so willingly. So with the stage set, i should now explain why i am so upset over the season finale of Robin Hood. Firstly, and quite obviously, the Sherif beating someone who its clearly his superior in training and ability is just frustrating (not once, but TWICE!). Secondly, that the supposedly very educated King Richard, would not find it strange that the man who had told him about the Black Knights would come to kill him on behalf of the Black Knights, and would also dismiss the words of his exceedingly talented bodyguard. Thirdly that Marian would fail to arm herself (everybody else seemed to). Fourthly that even unarmed Marian would still have been able to defend herself (were she to be still in possession of her impressive fighting skills) to a certain extent. Fifthly is more just a general ...

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I just got round to watching the the Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, It was bittersweet, odd, fun, sad, beautiful, and worth watching for all the wackiness and awkwardness at times. I know its difficult to do something so odd, but well done that it feels like art. Movies started out as pieces of art like music, paintings, books and poetry, but now they seem to be just about money, simple plots and special effects. This is not an epic movie, and i'm sure i can come up with a few films that were more enjoyable, but this felt like a movie that someone loved making. It was totally unbelievable, like a dream, but it was one that is worth trying to remeber. I don't want to see another Steve Zissou, but i want to see films filled with more passion than sense.

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I'm definitely going to remember this idea in future.

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I came across this brilliant short film on the internet

Its a little long, but well worth the time to watch.

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It shouldn't be happening, Apple the great friend of the consumer, the idealist, the innovator has probably done more to hurt its image than Google making nice with the Chinese sensors. Its all to do with the iPhone (although iPod games are another very valid point of contention). I think everyone is in love with the idea of the mobile widget, that by a clear mile the iphone is closest to being. I have to say that the Nokia N95 8GB version is the next closest, and it has some very nice features which apple could think about implementing. However if i had to choose, i'd still go for the iPhone The biggest trouble is that Apple has made some very questionable decisions on things that should not beyond the realms of a small software update.

• Visual Voicemail, which while has huge potential, has locked Apple into AT&T rather than being able to release to every network (although CDMA might take a few steps longer). Apple should not have included it, the benefits are small, the price was to high
• Not syncing tasks, I was under the impression that calendar on the iPhone, was as capable as iCal on the mac... this is unforgivably bad and until apple fixes it, the iPhone is useless to me.
• No bluetooth DUN or even better PAN profile. I always have my phone as a backup data device if there is no free wifi about, this should be implemented asap. I'm sure AT&T would complain, because they are trying to market their data card, but one of the reasons i like my current system, its one unified device and i don't want to pay for 2 contracts.
• No SDK, the variety and capability of iPhone 3rd party apps demand a SDK to easily put them onto the iPhone.

There are obviously other things wrong with the iPhone, but those are my major gripes, particually because they each on their own stop me from buying the iPhone. Apple needs to smarten up its act, show regular development work on the iPhone (Given leopard release soon, some delays are understandable), ditch the dead weight (AT&T), and turn the iPhone from a good attempt, to a near perfect mobile device.

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I was just thinking, looking at the iphone, as a piece of technology, aside from apple's attrocious implementation of AT&T, trying to violate the principle in europe of subsidised phones and other attendant problems. (Currently not an apple fan, i'm eagerly awaiting the gPhone this week). At what point can i start having copyrightable ideas about iphone like concepts... it all started with the apple patent application for the ability using an iphone interface to be able to rearrange buttons with fingers (aside from being a terrible exploit of the "process" patent), got me thinking. If a person, say Tio Holtzman, discovers (probably in a drug induced stupor) the "Holtzman Effect" or rather a method of manipulating super strings to produce interesting spacio-temporal effects... and then someone, named Norma Cenva, comes along and takes the work (saves a couple of planets from bad math), and proceeds to produce a Foldspace engine, based on the initial equations and techniques of the first, in our system of patents, who owns the right to the foldspace engine? The kamakaize inventor who stumbled on the equations or the intuiative genius who took a badly implemented invention and built something truly amazing out of it?

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I'm watching allo allo returns on BBC 2. For those who don't know its a 80s and 90s sitcom set in a french town during the german occupation of World War 2. On a level with the great british comedies, and miles above the office.

The documentary side is rather fun, but the stage side is a little bit rehashed, and out of sequence with the final episode that tied up the plotlines.... its sad really because the show itself wasn't forced, this feels very forced. If this is the first exposure people get to the show then they would probably get put off finding the real show.

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Thinking about my previous entry, i thought i'd muse on who might be the fifth hidden cylon. As far as arguments, since none of the other 4 hidden cylons have done anything anti-fleet we know of, lack of such evidence should not discount them as cylons, it has been indicated that these new cylons are very different and may hold differing viewpoints to the other cylon models.

Kara Thrace

Initially some cylon connection has been applied since the Leoben Conoy interrogation in the first season, she apparently has a destiny to play, which has been somewhat confirmed by her imagination inspired paintings matching the symbols in the Temple of Five. This suggests that she has some forsight which has yet to be proved as a human ability, however the sacred scrolls do seem to accurately predict at least parts of the future, written prior to the cylons so at least someone in the past had the ability to see the future. The biggest chunk of evidence is that Kara managed to survive an apparent explosive destruction of her viper while already under pressure conditions that apparently destroyed the viper. The only known method of surviving such an incident would be to be downloaded into a new body, a technology only available to the cylons at this point. However since she allegedly has been to Earth, and has returned in a non-colonial craft over interstellar distances, the earth based humans are technologically at least on a par with the fleet, possibly far ahead so there may be alternative solutions, although it has yet to be determined if she is flying an earth ship or a ship of another spacefaring power. One note should be that Kara Thrace is deeply religious about certain things, but not others (Marriage unbreakable, but affairs morally allowed), the Final Five are hidden for a reason, whether its related to their beliefs or not would make this fact either a piece of evidence for or against Kara.

Laura Roslin

Given that Laura Roslin has managed to enter a dreamworld inhabited by 2 cylons (Six and Athena), and potentially a Cylon/Human hybrid (Hera), it implies she may be a cylon, however there are several explainations, Firstly the Kamala extract has mind altering abilities which may allow connection to the dreamstate generated by the other three. Secondly the presence of cylon hybrid blood may produce a mental link they ...

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While it seems clear that the shows producers mean for Galen Tyrol, Saul Tigh, Tory Foster, Sam Anders, There is also several clear hints that Baltar, Roslin, or Kara Thrace may be the fifth cylon, however this has not been implicitly stated. However the comfirmed four have at least 2 members that doesn't add up.

Sam Anders

Sam Anders was a major sports star during the pre-fall period of colonial history, and if the news media bears any resemblance to our own (which they have done repeatedly), they would have nitpicked over the past of any sports star in a way that would make a military background check look like a walk in the park, so if there was a suspicious lack of childhood friends who remebered, extended family, old girlfriends, or anything that looked out of place it would have been brought up. Of course its possible that the cylons developed the humanoid cylons early on, however this would mean that Anders was actually staying perpetually young back into his past, which would raise questions because at least earth based athletes have a relatively short career when they are at their prime, which Anders apparently was.

Saul Tigh

It has been established that there was no capability in the original cylon arsenal (copied from the Colonial technologies) to produce human cylons, and Saul Tigh was known by Adama for 50 years back to that period so could not have been born a cylon (aging has occured during the flashbacks). Therefore evidence is against Tigh being a humanoid cylon.

Ways round this

It is possible that these 2 humanoid cylons were replacing existing humans, although this suggest biomimacry which has never been shown beyond creating a humanoid form rather than a specific already existing human form. If the general cylon fleet possessed this ability, then why would they limit themselves to inflitrating with a very limited highly recognisable set of troops. Another possibility is that somehow they are human physiologically (Tory Foster seemed not to possess Boomer's lack of sleep tolerance), and the cylon presence has either complemented(symbyotic personality) or replaced the human conciousness that originally existed there. Again this does question how this technology was developed separate from the cylon fleet. It is indeed possible to think out solutions to the problems as i have demostrated, however it does go against everything we know about the cylon humanoid forms ...

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