Thursday 13 September 2012

100 facts about me....

Wanted to know something random about me?

Here's me answering 100 random questions for you to enjoy!

1. Are you ready for 100 questions? ~ I presume so yes.

2. Do you watch college football? ~ I don't really watch any football.

3. Who will fill this survey out after you? ~ Erm.... Jesus? I dunno....

4. Who was the last person to send you a text message? ~ Errrr.... I think Sian....

5. Do you love anyone? ~ Not love, but i certainly have a crush.....

6. Are you happy? ~ Yes.

7. Where was the last place you went shopping? ~ Erm, the conni on tuesday :)

8. How do you feel about your hair? ~ with my hands.

9. Where do you work? ~ I don't....

10. Last thing you ate/drank? ~ Ate was a chicken tikka in a garlic naan bread, drinking summer fruits juice :)

11. Do you wish you were somewhere else right now? ~ Yes.

12. Do you have any pet peeves? ~ Oh my god yes....

13. Do you have any expensive jewellery? ~ No.

14. AIM or Yahoo? ~ None.

15. Do you like maths? Does anyone? No, exactly. Math is old enough to solve its own damn problems....

16. How many hours on average do you work a week: Errr.... Zero....

18. Favourite baseball team? ~ I don't think i've ever watched a full match of baseball tbf....

19. Favourite NBA team? ~ What's NBA?

20. Do you watch the Olympics? ~ Sometimes....

21. Last restaurant you went to? ~ Weatherspoons on walton vale :)

22. Who was the last person to call you? ~ My nana

23. What’s your sign? Gemini, and yes that bit about the twins is true....

24. Do you have a favourite number? I can't say i do really...

25. Last time you did volunteer work or made any donations? ~ Ho god.... about a week ago?

26. What do you spend the majority of your money on? ~ Food, Electric, water, toilet roll and bleach :)

27. Where does your family live? ~ In various locations....

28. Are you an only child or do you have siblings? ~ An older brother

29. Ever been called a bitch? ~ All the time....

30. Got any guilty pleasures? ~ Yes, lots :)

31. Do you drink beer? ~ Yes! I have developed abit of a liking for it's taste :)

32. What's your favourite colour? ~ Blue

33. Did you ever collect Beanie Babies? ~ No

34. Ever bought anything on line? ~ Yes, loads of stuff....

35. Myspace or Facebook? ~ Facebook, since nobody knows what myspace is anymore....

36. Do you have T-Mobile? ~ Erm, no....

38. Do you sometimes wish you were someone else? ~ Yes.

41. Last time you saw your parents? ~ Err.... monday night....

42. Do you have any talents? ~ Yes, but i shan't be listing them here :)

43. Ever been in a wedding? ~ It depends how you mean "In a wedding"

44. Do you have any children? ~ No

45. Last movie you watched? ~ Last movie? Errrr.... american pie the reuinion....

46. Are you missing anyone at the moment? ~ Yes

47. Did you take a nap today? ~ Yes.

49. Ever been on a cruise? ~ Haha, not one that sails in the water, but yes....

50. Did you notice number 40 was missing? ~ that and 39, but no, i'm too busy filling in retarded questions tbf....

52. Do you have any wealthy friends? ~ Apparently, although i don't feel their wealth....

53. Ever met anyone famous before? ~ Yes, rather a few :)

54. Favourite actor? ~ Erm, Robin Willians....

55. Favourite actress? ~ Cher.

56. Are you multi-tasking right now? ~ Well i'm typing and breathing so yes!

57. Could you handle being in the military? ~ No.

58. Are you hungry or thirsty? ~ Abit of both, but diet for me, so only water from now on :)

59. Favourite fast food restaurant? ~ Subway because i gets the points :)

61. What is your average cell phone bill? ~ Nothing, since im on PAYG :)

62. Do you own a camera phone? ~ Yes

63. Ever had to take a sobriety test? ~ Errr.... no....

64. Do you believe in Karma? ~ Yes

65. Can you speak any other languages? ~ Yes, Shite and crap aswel as english....

66. Last time you went to the gym or worked out? ~ Hahaha, too far back to mention....

67. How many pairs of shoes do you own? ~ I think it's like 9, but usable pairs is like.... 3

68. Do you have a photo hosting site that you use? ~ Photobucket on twitter

69. Last place you were? ~ On the internet.

70. What is your college mascot? ~ I don't go to college sooooo.....

71. Ever been to Las Vegas? ~ No

76. Have you ever been gambling? ~ Yes

77. How old are your parents? ~ My mother is 54 i think, my father must be pushing 60....

78. When is the last time you updated your blog? ~ In about 5 mins when i finish these questions....

79. Do you have your wisdom teeth? ~ No that i know of....

80. Favourite place to be? ~ Canada

81. Have you been to New York City? ~ No

82 Favourite sit down restaurant? ~ Pizzahut. It combines my fave things, overly priced food and chairs.

83. Ever been to Disney Land? ~ Yes

84. Do you have a favourite cartoon character? ~ Yes, Peter Griffin.

85. Last thing you cooked? ~ Erm, if i pushed the buttons on the microwave does that class me as having cooked?

86. How is the weather today? ~ Rain, sunshine.... nice sunset....

87. Do you email? ~ Yes

88. Last letter/piece of mail you received besides junk or a bill? ~ Oh god... Not sure :S

89. Last missed call? ~ Errr, yesterday?

91. Last voicemail you received? ~ I don't remember, not had a voicemail in years....

92. Do you drunk dial/text? ~ My mum :)

93. Stupidest thing you ever did with your cell phone? ~ Get drunk.....

94. What is the best city in the state that you live in? ~ Liverpool

96. Did you just die? ~ Slightly yes....

97. Are you bored right now ? ~ Yes.

98. Last concert you went to? ~ Last concert? Fleetwood mac about 2 months ago... ish....

99. What do you think about before you go to bed? ~ "How long am i going to sleep for this time"

100. What are your plans for tomorrow? ~ Cleaning and washing, same as every other day....


So there you go!

The more you know....

Hillsborough.

On the 12/09/2012 David Cameron the UK prime minister, made this speech....


Now of course yes, his full speech did go into alot more depth about what had come to light in the wake of this current investigation. This whole event and the times after has led to what can only be called a massive failure on all accounts. Why? Well, lets take a look at some of the facts we have here.

On the 15th of april, 1989, thousands of people arrived to see a football match. Liverpool vs Nottingham forest. Nobody quite knew how things were going to turn out, thing's were done a little different back then, but how things were to change after that day....

You see, back in them days, it was legal for a stadium of that size to have what can only be called a penn, in which people stand to observe the match. While these did work for sometime, what happend on that day ended up with it being illigal for a stadium to have a standing area. These days all football match attendee's must have a seat allocated to them, even if they are stood infront of that seat.

The match was due to start at 3:00pm. Before the match started outside there was a crush of people, nothing new to this sort of event, only how it was being handled. People came flooding into the area inside the stadium and it looked as if it was going to be a good football match for all involved.

The chanting was taking place and at 3pm, the whistle was blown and the game begun, as did something else.

It is currently unclear as to what time exactly the crush begun, but here is how it started.

The entrance to the area was from the rear of the stadium, down rather narrow passages, which follow on from turnstyles which people couldn't have gotten through without a ticket at the time. It is believed that there was road works nearby which resulted in a large number of fans being late to the match, so of course when 3pm comes, people want to get in. Here's where it went wrong though.

To deal with the numbers of people still turning up it is believed that the police officer in charge orderd that all turnstyles be opend up to people, ticket or not. As a result people were hearded from the outside in, presumeably by the police. This of course puts pressure onto the people inside the stadium, who were already in a rather full area, which is now being force fed more and more people.

At 3:06pm, the whistle is blown and the match play suspended, trouble is happening at the liverpool supporters end of the feild and something isn't right. Police charge over and see that people are being crushed. Due to the large barriers between the penn and the field, police are limited as to what they can do at the front, other than try to assist people as they climb up and over it in order to escape.

Moments later, the football player's are called off the field and the match is left abandoned, due to scene's like this....


The death toll took a while to filter through to everyone as to how many people were injured and had passed. Yes, people did die in the crowed as a result of the crushing.

Here is some rather interesting news clips taken from news items after the event. Pay close attention to what the police officer in charge has to say.... his story changed several times and we shall go into this a little later on....


While yes, that is a long bit of footage, it's important to try and watch as much of it as you can to hear what different people are starting to say about it.... Particually the police.

You'd presume after an event like this, the police would be most upset about what has happend and the people at the top would look honestly and fairly into what happend and bring to justice those who were responsable for the worst tragedy event in footballing history.

THIS is why i'm blogging about this 23 years later, because what happend next split liverpool away from alot of people, companies and has ensured that those 96 who died as a result never saw justice, until now it would seem....

The report after explained of how people had gained access to the stadium because they had gotten through the turnstyles without permission and the police couldn't stop these un-controlable people. It claimed that people were robbing the dead as they lay on the field, it claimed that police officer's were urinated on..... Utter rubbish. As if that wasn't bad enough The Sun newspaper published an artical in which it claimed these were all true and basically, pointed the finger of blame purely on the "Drunken liverpool hooligans".

To this day, stickers, posters and word of mouth in and around liverpool, still speaks and promotes a campaign of "Don't buy the sun". Although i'm not there everyday, i can hand on heart say, i've never seen the sun newspaper available in liverpool.

Anyway.... What has happend in those 23 years?

Well, literally, nothing.

As much as people have called for this to be honestly looked into, it hasn't been. The cheif of the operation i believe has since passed away, so he will never be brought to any kind of justice, even though if you ask me and many others, the blame lies with him for ordering the gates to be opend and the crushing allowed to begin.

Government after government may have all called for justice, but still, nothing got done, infact even on the 20th annaversary of the event happening, a government member was there, he said NOTHING about an investigation, which is why you'll hear the crowed chant, Justice for the 96.


A few point's id like to finish on here as this chapter draws to a close.

The events that took place on that day showed people around the world that safety is nothing to be messed around with, it taught us that we should sometimes take infomation from those we trust with a pinch of salt as is the case with the orig police report.

It really did unite people in a way that you very rarely see.

When hillsborough took place afterwards at Anfield (Liverpool football club's home stadium) saw a sea of scarf's, left there by people who wanted to show a sign of respect for those who had lost their life.

Liverpool's colours are red, but scarf's of almost every colour was left, because no matter what team people supported they all saw what had happend and how nobody should have had to have gone through that.

It does actually make me happy to think that after all these years, we are on the edge of the truth finally coming out and the finger of blame being pointed at those who created this problem in the first place.

Thank you for reading.


Tuesday 4 September 2012

The trouble with the Northern Ireland riots....

Today, i found the very disturbing news that 47 police officers were injured in riots which took place in NI.

I have a problem with that. Not only the fact that these police officers are only trying to do their job, to get paid and try and lead a normal life, but that these are people who need controlling.

Now before ya'll try and jump down my throat on this, of course the disturbances all over ireland, DO NOT represent the people who live in the country. Irish people (Yes, i know a few of them now) are exactly the same as everyone else and are just stereotyped as the drunk on guiness violent people.... which is simply not true to the 99.9% of people who live there.

On the 2/9/12, trouble started around lunch time, when (You'll laugh at this bit, i did) a simple parade was walking through an area. The exact route would have taken the parade

  • Duncairn Parade

  • Newlodge Road

  • Antrim Road

  • Churchill Street

  • Lepper Street

  • Newlodge Road

  • North Queen Street

  • Clifton Street

  • Henry Place

  • So where has it all gone wrong then?

    WELL, this does go back a fair few years, so hold on to dr who's tardis, it's time for a breif history lesson....

    Upon the partition of Ireland in 1921, six of the nine counties in the province of Ulster were excluded from the independent Irish Free State (later the Republic of Ireland).
    These counties, two of which had slim Protestant majorities, remained a part of the United Kingdom. Two other Ulster counties also remained part of the UK, despite having Irish nationalist (pro-independence) majorities. Academically cited records from 1926 indicate that at that stage 33.5% of the Northern Ireland population was Roman Catholic, with 62.2% belonging to the three major Protestant denominations (Presbyterian 31.3%, Church of Ireland 27%, Methodist 3.0%).
    Tensions between Northern Ireland's Irish nationalist/Catholic population (which mostly supports Irish reunification) and its Protestant/unionist population (which mostly supports remaining part of the UK) led to a long-running bloody conflict known as The Troubles (late 1960s to late 1990s).

    Trouble has never strayed too far away to this day to be fair, this is why it does not effect every irish person, you see the irish people who i know, are happy to live in northern ireland, wether it's a part of the uk or not, it's a slightly different way of life, culture.... experiance!

    These riots which i'm reffering to of course are no different to "The Troubles".

    Have a look at the past years events when these sides have clashed....


    Now of course, dearest reader, we're all well aware that religion's CAN live happily near to each other, it is THE PEOPLE who cause the problems.... but how to solve this kind of problem?

    See, many have tried and failed, some thought that people at the top of the political ladder's signing things would work, but it's harder than that to stop these people from causing the trouble they do. It's almost been built into some of these rioters that this kind of action is acceptable and to honor their fore-fathers who have been fighting for years, they must go out and trash the place, even though... pardon my french here.... but fuck all has changed.

    What would i do?

    It needs to be shown to people that religion does not matter here, these rioters need to be afraid of what happens if they take part in these riots.

    Sure, the police have in most cases, got it nailed, bringing out the water cannons, armoured vans and trucks, makes for some very good viewing and of course, crowed control. But what after? What happens to those arrested? IF they get sent to prison (More than likely, they wouldn't, they would simply be given a fine or some community service or... blah blah blah) then they would be given 3 meals a day, an education, rehab facilites.... everything, given to them. Know what we need to do? We need to make prison a place to be afraid of. Human rights? Pfft, no, if you're in prison you have done wrong and do not deserve human rights.

    So make the punishment more tougher and i don't just mean by making prisons scary, i mean tougher sentencing, no longer a slap on the wrist, i'm talking the whole slap on the face pushed down a hole kinda punishment, get these people off the streets.

    I'd love to say the way to bring about the change would be to protest against it, but i've no doubt the cause would be hi-jacked and the trouble starts all over again.

    In essense, NI does have some nasty people on it's streets and it's about time someone higher up turned around and said that enough is enough, take these people off the streets and dont let them back out until they can behave in a normal society....

    But we all know, i can be cruel like that and thus, am never given any power at all....

    My final way of summing this up, after decades of riots has the message still not gotten through that it is the people causing the problems not the religion? Has the message not gotten through that if you don't like living in an area, move out of it?

    Too long and not enough is being done, until someone heavy handed comes in and takes control, NI will continue to be a scary place to be at times.

    ..... When it comes to agression, ceaser millan ( That dog training guy) always says that if a dog is showing aggression at a level 6, you need to come in at an 8 or 9 and show that animal who is in control. So why, do we not do this to these rioters?

    Pha!

    Whatever....