Fellow anons, please help the Egyptian people in their hour of need.

With the World Cup just around the corner, flags are flying proudly
all over the world and quite rightly so. There's nothing wrong with
being patriotic and proud of your nationality... Or is there?

Looking at various statuses on Facebook, one might think differently.
According to the all knowing masses, they (whomever they may be) are
trying to ban the English national flag from being flown in public
places etc. Various stories such as pubs being told to take them down
and even ordinary folks having flags removed from their private
property.

It's so ridiculous that it just can't be true. There's a fine line
between political correctness and poppycock and I very much suspect
that this is the latter.

With that in mind, I had a bit of a google around to see if there's
any fire behind all this smoke and who'd'a thunk it, I found nothing
of the sort. I did find one instance of a woman having her flags cut
down by the council but to be fair, they were tied up to a lamp post
that wasn't on her property and all public sector services have to
remain completely apolitical so the council worker was probably right
to take them down.

So where has it all come from? I suspect it's a mixture of Chinese
whispers, ignorance and good old fashioned racism. It's a common
misconception that most people living in Britain whose roots lie
elsewhere in the world are offended by our national pride. Personally,
I've never met anyone fitting that description and I doubt you have
either. I wonder why that is?

That said, I wouldn't be surprised if people were offended by the
nonsense Facebook statuses which sit somewhere on the fuzzy line
between nationalism and racial hate.

Fly your flag, whatever your nationality or preference. Do so proudly
and prominently. It is your right to do so, wherever you were born. If
your flag is different to mine it won't offend me. If you do find my
flag offensive then I'm terribly sorry, you'll just have to avert your
eyes but I very much doubt that's going to be the case anyway.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that you should stop and think
before you start making a fuss. It's not the immigrants that are to
blame for this, it's most likely your own ignorannce that is the real
problem.

I'm a little confused about racism and what is or isn't offensive.

So it seems our all knowing, all seeing Government have come up with a plan to tackle piracy by putting a stop to illegal file sharing on the internet.  Spearheaded by Lord Mandelson, the plan is to employ a three strike strategy to cut off the internet connections of those sharing files over P2P networks.  Read more from The Guardian here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/oct/28/mandelson-date-blocking-filesharers-connections

So some idiot broke RBS' window.  Now that's sticking it to the man...

Windows don't come cheap these days so that will have cut the share price of RBS in half at least.

Here's something that the hapless "protestor" probably didn't think about:

Who owns the Royal Bank of Scotland?

That's right, we do!

Might as well take a piss on my own doormat to show displeased I am.  It's me that's going to have to buy a new doormat, just the same as it's us that is going to have to pay for all the damage caused in the G20 protests.

Genius.

Not.

Just a thought...

How about trying something really radical with our justice system in the UK?  Prisons are overcrowded and it doesn't seem to work anyway because so many people reoffend.  You often hear the phrase "The punishment should fit the crime" when people criticise the justice system and that is fine to a dgree but is heavily flawed.  How can you fittingly punish a pedophile under those rules?

The trouble with custodial sentences is that most people who might have been unlikely to reoffend usually end up worse off by influence.  Death penalties are obviosly a problem too because there is always a chance that the person might actually be innocent.

My suggestion is a three strike system that applies to any and every crime.

First time: No sentence.  Just give counselling.  For most casual offenders or those forced to commit crime under difficult circumstances this is more than enough.

Second time: A custodial sentence.  Six months or a year would probably be enough.

Third time: Death penalty REGARDLESS.

Well, what do you think of that?  It would solve a few problems...

When I tell people that I don't do piracy, more often than not they find it hard to believe.  It's perfectly understandable too because I used to be a pirate just like you probably are.  The reasons for being a pirate are fairly obvious: music, movies and software are expensive and it can be hard to justify those costs.  I'm not made of money either so I can totally see logic in that thinking.

Why is it different for me?  Actually it is quite simple.  I offset the cost of the paid content I consume with the amount of free content I consume.  Basically my iPod is full of free podcasts, giving me plenty to watch and listen to on my daily commute and I use a lot of free and open source software alongside the expensive stuff.  I believe that overall I'm getting pretty good value for money.

The golden rule is to always look for a free or low cost alternative to the expensive things in life.  If you can't find a free or cheap alternative then the expensive stuff is obviously worth spending a bit of money on.

Another (slightly weak and very flawed) argument is that pirate software actually makes the big software companies more money because it ultimately leads to more sales.  Not only that but because we tend to rely on the stuff and see it the only solution it allows them to increase their prices...  Consider it a luxury tax if you will...

Imagine what would happen if we all stopped using cracked versions of expensive software...  We wouldn't desire that particular software anymore and it would ultimately lose its status of being an industry standard.  This would lead to lower sales and they would be forced to bring the price down to a more realistic level.

Yes it is an idealistic view but if a few more of us thought that way we could change the world.

Just try it...

I may have the answer to most of the problems on the London Underground. Basically I want to get rid of the trains... Think I'm crazy?  Well, read this and pass it on: http://leestacey.com/ideas-to-make-the-london-under Thankies.