U.S. builds evidence against Iran’s central bank

I just hope it’s better than the undisputed evidence they released about WMD in Iraq.

Q: why do I always attract the available, but never the unavailable?

A: Because many of the unavailable, are more emotionally available than those who are available.

Today you are the most beautiful you will be in the rest of your life, take advantage of it.

Some people have creative minds, some people have great skill, a rare minority has both, the big majority has none. What group do you belong to?

It seems that so many people have unsatisfactory love life. Is it true?
How important is to have good love life?

Most people fail at most things most of the time; make failure your friend

Many a face
on the net he assume.
A soldier a teacher
a child and a groom
He can be any person
he’s wanted to be
there are no limitations
the net set him free.

Friendships affairs,
they are all within reach
Discussions, new feelings,
his life is so rich.

One day she appeared,
just like that on his screen
the fairest of women
avatar of a queen.
So funny and smart
and they always agreed
The cyber is great
He is lucky indeed.

He is so much in love
that he tends to forget
it’s his own creation
that he loves on the net.

I have got a few comments to one of my posting calling to shun the Chinese Games stating that the separation of Sports and politics is a value we must adhere to. Although I respect this principle, I completely disagree.

The Olympic Games have always been entangles with money and politics. After all, by supporting the UK team you make a political statement, that you prefer people because they are British and not because of who they are.

Sports people represent their countries, and go to the Olympics under flags. What is this if not a political statement? Countries spend millions to win these medals and count how many they got. Countries are ranked by the number of medals they got, and successful sport people become national heroes. There can be no national heroes without politics.

But this is not all. I strongly believe that all of us, human, must have basic principles to live by. You may believe that people should live they way they believe right – unless they abuse their children. You may not want to interfere in country’s internal affairs, unless it performs genocide. There are always a limit we, human, must stand for.

When our principles collide, as often happens, we must make a choice. So even if we agreed that the separation of sports from politics is such an important principle, would you still support it if you knew that some country executed any of its sportsmen that did not win a gold?

Here we have two principles, the first is freedom of sport; the second is the gross human right violation, including the support of genocide, and extracting organs from political prisoners. When these two principals are conflict, I know which one I will be standing for. Do you?

A recent research claims that married people have, in average, more sex than the unmarried. As usual, I am sceptical about this research, and I can think of lots of flows in the way it’s conducted (does it include widows in their 70s for instance?) However, let’s assume that the conclusion is correct, so why are church and government struggle with family values, and why do they insist to market the marriage lifestyle in irrelevant ways? Instead, just put next to every condom machine an add saying:

“If you want to have more sex, get married”

Can you think of a better marketing?

To: The citizens of the United States of America:

In light of your failure to nominate competent candidates for
President of the USA and thus to govern yourselves, we hereby give
notice of the revocation of your independence, effective immediately.

Her Sovereign Majesty Queen Elizabeth II will resume monarchical
duties over all states, commonwealths, and territories (except Kansas ,
which she does not fancy).

Your new prime minister, Gordon Brown, will appoint a governor
for America without the need for further elections.

Congress and the Senate will be disbanded.

A questionnaire may be circulated next year to determine whether
any of you noticed.

To all those who claim that the failure of communism is a proof that the communist philosophy is a failure, will you follow the same argument and claim that the failure of our democracies is the failure of the democratic philosophy?

There is nothing you can’t achieve if you can reliably fake honesty.

thanks everyone for the wishes for my trip. Today I discovered that the trip got postponed by a few weeks

hope it's only postponed and not cancelled. Will keep you updated

On Sat I am going for 10 days in SE Asia. Sun, hot, and the trains work. What a dream

If we are already asking questions trying to find more about each other. Here is one for you,

What was your first memory of you being of a gender (male, female, or other)?

Recently I have this pop up banner appearing on my screen:

I know that advertising is an art (in other words nobody knows how it works), but can anyone explain how this banner is supposed to work.

Does it suppose to make me feel unique of privileged that I am one of those only 400,000,000 who have seen this banner? Or maybe it’s trying to make me believe that if this number of people got this award it must be a good one. But what’s the budget the company has for these awards? Let’s say £10,000,000. This will make your personal unique award worth 3p. Do you feel special now?

Next banner please

My workplace recently changed our blackberries to the latest model. You know the one I mean. It has GPS, so that you’ll never get lost on your way to meetings; built-in camera, so they can always ask for a proof of your whereabouts, and voice recording (can’t think what it may be good for). It’s a wonderful (though mostly useless) gadget, but with one major drawback: the keys are so small that I cannot use them.

Things started falling into place when I realised that the blackberry was issued to us by Virgin, whose airplanes have the smallest leg room. Can it be that the picture above is not of a model, but of the full size spacecraft?

You see, the problem of technological miniaturisation nowadays is not of technology anymore, but of usability. It’s the interface that restricts the size of our tools, not technology. Just imagine how much more profitable airline carriers, car and mobile manufacturers could be if we were half our current size or smaller.

I am sure that for someone who does not believe in impossible, like Sir Richard, shrinking us to support the development of space technology is a worthwhile enterprise. Small telephones and airplanes seats are just a step in this direction.

So when on an airplane beware of mushrooms and bottles that say ‘drink me’. It may be a trick.

What was the last song you sung and how long ago did you sing it?
Yesterday – time to say goodbye

What was the last joke you told?
I hardly ever tell any (can’t remember then when I need to), but funnily enough it was yesterday. However, I cannot put it on line as it’s the opposite of politically correct. If you are curious it had a donkey in it.

What was the last joke you heard?
Same as above, but it had to do with some women exploding

What was the last thing you pinched and who did you pinch it from?
My son’s bottom (shall I wait for the sirens at my door now?)

What do you wish you had that you haven't already got?
Nothing. I don’t think I am smart enough to know what I don’t have.

On a second thought, maybe a lover

It was amazing to read all your comment to the Death question part 1 posting. When I wrote it I had a question in mind, but it was fascinating how different people saw different things in it. Some saw it as a way of sickness, some as a way of therapy, some of the meaning of the question ‘what am I’? Isn’t it amazing how we can all look at the same thing and see something completely different?

And I have had some basic comments telling me I was too rude. That I did not accept people answers but rather kept asking, playing devil advocate. I apologize if anyone took me as rude, it did not meant to be like that, but simply my way of clarifying things I don’t understand. I do it to myself all the time 

So now let me try and focus a bit more of the question of what am I, and am I anything more than the sum of my memories?

Let’s make some hypothetical though experiments and imagine that we have the technology to transfer minds (not only brains, but mind with all your memories and way of thinking)

- If someone or something got your mind, would it be you?
- If someone else’s mind replaced your own, in your own body, will you still be you, or will you be the other person?

Now try to meditate on erasing your memories,

- First you lose your past, the good and bad
- Then you lose your knowledge, you don’t know where you live, you can’t take a bus
- Then you lose your language, and the ability to think in concepts – a house, a bus, a door they are all learnt concepts
- Then you lose your recognition of things sounds, feelings, we learn that red is red, we learn that this is cold and this is hot, every time something touches you is a new feeling.

So what’s left? Is it still you?