The Diary Of John
What difference does it make to the dead, the orphans, and the homeless, whether the mad destruction is wrought under the name of totalitarianism or the holy name of liberty and democracy? - Gandhi
Friday, January 14, 2005

Idiot..

Brazil's Foreign Ministry Says No English Needed

Should aspiring Brazilian diplomats be able to speak English? Not according to President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who reached the top without it.

The foreign ministry of the Portuguese-speaking country has eliminated fluency in English as a requirement to enter its school for diplomats.

Lula, Brazil's first president to rise from the working class, has often said Brazilians do not need to speak English to get ahead in the world, pointing to himself as an example. Lula has no secondary education and is a former metal worker.

Local newspapers are running long articles about the decision.

"This is just a statement of infantile anti-Americanism," leading daily Globo said in an opinion piece on Thursday.

"This is a serious threat to Brazilian diplomacy."

Foreign Minister Celso Amorim, who has given Brazil a much louder voice in the world, said dropping the English requirement was intended to make entry to diplomat school more "democratic."

"We can't allow that somebody doesn't pass the test just because they didn't study or live abroad," Amorim was quoted as saying.

Brazil is one of the world's most unequal societies and the rich minority has access to much better education than most Brazilians get in public institutions.

Portuguese is one of the world's top 10 languages, with around 194 million speakers, according to Ethnologue Web site. Brazil, with a population of 180 million, accounts for most of those with the rest mainly in Portugal and its former colonies in Africa and Asia.


I cant see these people pulling another term in office, what sort of idiot is this foreign minister? English is the international business language as well as the universal language of communication. Its no wonder its taking Brasil so long for it to finally start finding its feet when the politicians are running ten paces behind the rest of the world. Luckily though i think the people of Brasil have more sense and know whats imprtant..

posted at 1:05 PM by john |  

Harry..

Well they are still yawping on about Price Harry in the news, personally i think its just because the press dont have anything else better to print. After all alot of us werent even alive when the 2nd world war happened and for us it wouldnt really make any difference whether one side won or another. I'd like to see some decent news instead of this dribble about Prince Harry going to the army so they can straighten him out and other such crap. I'd like to see what sort of skeletons we can find in the closets of some of these newspaper reporters so we can splash it all over the front pages of a few journals and then see what they would have to say. Its boring, boring, boring!

I was going to go downtown but then it started raining so i decided not to go and now its fine, i should have just gone hehehe! Also i found out that i have some students for monday morning but not sure how long i am going to teach them as i have classes starting 1st feb at another school. I'll have to swap a few days around and sort out the problem quick as i dont wanna be teaching at more than one or two school this semester. I worked 5 last semester and it was tiring so this semester i am going to cut back a little so i can put up my feet more and spend more time with Roberta too. I've got a couple of things to make that i wanna use at Formosa, I'll get Roberta to give me some ideas on how i can make them look better. When i need something to look really good she always comes up with some really good ideas :-)

posted at 11:45 AM by john |  

F4J..

15 held after BB compound invasion

Fifteen protesters were being held after fathers' rights campaigners stormed the Celebrity Big Brother compound.

The group Fathers 4 Justice said members who wanted to become "superhero housemates" entered the compound at Elstree Film Studios, Borehamwood, Hertfordshire, on three sides while a firework display diversion drew security guards towards the main gates.

Police said that, with the help of a helicopter, 15 people - 13 men and two women - were arrested in the vicinity of the compound, on suspicion of conspiring to cause criminal damage.

The group said the raid "was just the start of their General Election campaign which will target the Labour Party, other high-profile events and the disruption of activists' trials which start next Tuesday at Southwark Crown Court".

A spokesman said: "Protesters had packed an F4J goodie bag for the housemates including a bottle of Diet Coke, a bottle of vodka, a large bar of Cadbury Dairy Milk chocolate and a pack of Mates condoms.

"Once over the perimeter, protesters faced rottweilers, security guards in Land Rovers, police officers and a police helicopter with heat-seeking imaging equipment, though some protesters evaded detection for over an hour.

"F4J wanted to raise awareness of the risks posed to young unmarried men who watch Big Brother and who might become fathers but are not aware that they have little or no rights in law to protect them."

The group protests over the treatment of fathers in the family courts. F4J campaigners Jason Hatch and Dave Pyke sparked an embarrassing security breach on September 13 when they staged a protest at Buckingham Palace dressed as Batman and Robin.

F4J national co-ordinator Mr Hatch said from his police cell: "Forget about Big Brother, this was big bother compared to when I scaled Buckingham Palace. The only saving grace was that we didn't come face to face with Sylvester Stallone's mum otherwise I would have had to give her my Batman mask."

It appeared from live coverage of the Big Brother house that contestants remained asleep and unaware of the protest.


The heroes of fathers all over the UK strikes another blow for fathers by storming Big Brother hehehe!! Mind you, i cant stand this program so it must have been the most exciting thing thats happened since they started this terrible program. As for the police, well we can see what a total waste of space they were cant we? Helicopters, attack dogs and still they couldnt control these guys. Everyone should raise a glass and cheer for these guys. The UK has the worst record for abuses of Fathers rights and this is all thats left for most fathers, protests and protests and the Government and local authorities still refuse to do nothing. And the UK is supposed to be a first-world country too..

posted at 7:19 AM by john |  

Thursday, January 13, 2005

Assholes..

Ga. Evolution Stickers Ordered Removed

ATLANTA - A federal judge Thursday ordered a suburban Atlanta school system to remove stickers in its high school biology textbooks that call evolution "a theory, not a fact," saying the disclaimers were an unconstitutional endorsement of religion.

"By denigrating evolution, the school board appears to be endorsing the well-known prevailing alternative theory, creationism or variations thereof, even though the sticker does not specifically reference any alternative theories," U.S. District Judge Clarence Cooper said.

The stickers were put in the books by school officials in Cobb County in 2002. They read: "This textbook contains material on evolution. Evolution is a theory, not a fact, regarding the origin of living things. This material should be approached with an open mind, studied carefully and critically considered."

"This is a great day for Cobb County students," said Michael Manely, an attorney for the parents who sued over the stickers. "They're going to be permitted to learn science unadulterated by religious dogma."

Doug Goodwin, a spokesman for Cobb County schools, had no immediate comment.

The schools added the stickers after more than 2,000 parents complained the textbooks presented evolution as fact, without mentioning rival ideas about the beginnings of life. Six parents of students and the American Civil Liberties Union (news - web sites) then sued, contending the disclaimers violated the separation of church and state.

At a trial in federal court in November, the school system defended the stickers as a show of tolerance, not religious activism.

"Science and religion are related and they're not mutually exclusive," school district attorney Linwood Gunn said. "This sticker was an effort to get past that conflict and to teach good science."

But the judge disagreed: "While evolution is subject to criticism, particularly with respect to the mechanism by which it occurred, the sticker misleads students regarding the significance and value of evolution in the scientific community."

The case is one of several battles waged in recent years in the Bible Belt over what role evolution should play in science books.

Last year, Georgia's education chief proposed a science curriculum that dropped the word "evolution" in favor of "changes over time." That plan was dropped amid protests by teachers.


These religious crackpots never give up, do they? Talk about trying to ram religion down other peoples throats. what babbling bullshit will the come up with next. Its no wonder more and more people every day all over the world are losing faith in religion. More lies and bull are spread everyday by greedy, money-grabbing priests from filthy rich churches and the disillusion grows and grows, sad init? But then what do we expect from these people, they are really the saviours of our souls? They cant even save themeselves, we read in the papers all the time how the abuse instead of saving people. The catholic church is already reeling from crisis to crisis as more and more people speak out the truth about these people. How many more kids must they abuse and how many lives and families must be destroyed before we outlaw these types of cults. And yes, the Catholic church is a fucking big cult! I cant see how science and religion are related, well in the way that science always refutes religion and its claims i guess but thats about all. Luckily my kids were raised with open minds and they think about things scientifically. They will decide for themselves if they wanna have religion as part of their lives but i hope they choose not to. After all the one thing that kills more people in the world that anything else: Religion.. My god is better than yours.. the human race still has a long way to go as far as i can see..

posted at 2:07 PM by john |  

Research..

I've been researching some stuff to use with my new group for next semester, i'd like to try lots of conversation type stuff as well as some written stuff as well. There are loads of sites online and the british Council have a great search engine you can find HERE that i found some nice stuff with. Also good is Dictionary.com if you dont have a good dictionary in your house. It provides good definations and all the ones i tried so far the website found definitions with no problems. My fav to try to use is music as most people love to listen to music and my friend Joao made a great cd with music clips on it for me to use. I like to use music sometimes as a cooler at the end of a lesson or just for something different when i know the methodology is getting boring: usually when i have a long basic teaching lesson that drags on and on. I'm hoping in my MEC groups in Formosa i'll get to try out quite a few things as the length of class is longer than i'm used to so we have time for something else :-) I've got some stuff already prepared but my view is that you can never have enough activities when you're an english teacher hahaha!!

I had to go find some blank paper this afternoon to wrap around the package i wanna send to the UK. Apparently it has to be a certain sort of paper and i was told a certain color too so a trip to the paperstore sorted that out. Now all i have to do is pack the box and off it goes to the UK. I guess around two weeks for it to get there if i get it in the post by the weekend. I'1l have to get Roberta to go to the post office though just in case there are any forms etc to fill in as its alot easier for her to do than me, plus i'm a little lazy too hehehe!!

I have to pick up some copies of photos that i left at Fujioka too, can u believe that i forgot one of the negatives and i had to go back again hahaha! Not to worry though as they will be ready in around 20 mins so i can get them picked up and put into envelopes ready to go into the box. I like sending as many photos as i can as it'll be a while before my brothers get around to visiting here so that my family can see the places i visit with Roberta. Funny thing is they dont get many photos of Roberta and I together as usually its one of us taking the photos. Here you dont ask someone to take a photo for you as they would probably run off with your camera hahaha! See how wonderful it is here??

posted at 11:45 AM by john |  

Macca..

Paul Macartney, what a total prick he is, so what if hes just donated a million pounds to charity? He's been ripping off Beatles fans for year by charging 50 bucks for one of their cds and we're talking about a group where most of them are dead too. He should be giving millions to charity besides apologising for exploiting and using Beatels fans over the years as cash cows. What an idiot, plus his new wife is a total loser too, yeah like we all dont know she married him to get her hands on his money (that he made ripping the people off) Maybe we could just have him run over by a bus, that would be worth paying for and we could give some money to charity just to see it happen.

Also Prince Harry is in the news again. Man he must really hate being part of the Royal family. Cant blame him really though especially after the way they treated his mother princess Di. This time he dressed up as a nazi for some fancy dress party but got caught by photographers. Hey, im sure that people really love seeing how the royal family really behave, after all The queens husband has been abusing people for donkeys years and no ones really cared so why bother about Harry? Check out the scan of the Sun newspaper here, i think this guy really needs to get as far away fromthe royal family as he can before he goes competely round the twist.



We watched The Grudge yesterday, the storyline is a little strange as it jumps from the past to the present and back again alot but its great. Roberta's cousin spent most of the time with her hands over her eyes hehehe! Its worth watching though just for the fun of seeing if you jump or not ;-)

Hmm now i have to go to the supermarket, i have to say it should be fun as i get to talk just in English with the cashier again as Roberta isnt here at the moment. dont you just love it when they give you that blank expression when you speak and they cant understand a word they say? hahaha!!
posted at 7:27 AM by john |  

Tuesday, January 11, 2005

Arrived..

Well my book arrived and it was covered in loads of stuff to stop it getting damaged so theres not even a fingerprint on it :-) Theres no payment slip though, i wonder if it'll come separately? The books called Illustrated Everyday Expressions With Stories, i think it'll be alot of fun to use with the students as its bright and colorful with loads of expressions that the students will love. I like teaching expressions and sayings with the students, its nice to take a break and do something different once in a while. The CCAA methodology can get a little boring sometimes, its always good that the students see I like doing different things every so often as i think they get more interested in English.

I have to go photocopy some stuff for Roberta this afternoon. She borrowed a book about False Cognates and wants me to get copies of everything. Not a problem in Brasil, the piracy capital of South America hehehe! You can easily copy a whole book for a fraction of its real price, mind you the cost of some books here is crazy. You can pay 200% extra if the book is English for example. Just look at any Harry Potter book here to see what i mean. It costs around $7 to buy in the USA or UK but here you're talking R$70. Most people just use Kazaa and download a scanned copy for free and read on their computers. With the binding i guess this book for Roberta will cost around R$9 hehehe!

I'm trying out the new Microsoft Antispyware program to see what shit the students have installed on the system when they are surfing. Its free, easy to install and detected 180searchassistant straight away and consigned it to a quick and painless death hahaha! Sometimes there is that much spyware on the computers that its like running on a P60+ instead of a 600, yeah you read that right, our server here is a shitty P600+. It says i have to close IE so off i go..

posted at 9:22 AM by john |  

Late..

Well the salary payment is late!!! What a crock, i wanted to go and take advantage of the sales this morning and see what stuff i could pick up cheap. It's more than likely going to be paid alot later today or maybe even tomorrow. Pisses me off a little really as we all signed some paper a while back saying that our payemtns would definately be paid tenth of each month. I was sort of hoping that i would get to pick something up for Roberta for a surprise when she arrives here wednesday, still maybe it'll be there by lunch time.

I'm waiting for the post to arrive here, I had to ring and find out where my books have got to as they are supposed to be here after two days but i guess with the weekend they are going to take a little longer. I called and asked about my stuff and they said its in the mail so i hope it'll arrive this morning or afternoon. I wanna go to SBS though as the website doesnt always list all of the special offers they have in the store, example: once i went to the store and they had some grammar dictionaries for just R$10 on promotion. also one of my friends wants me to find out how much the biggest maps of the USA cost there, not sure why he wants one though hehehe!

I have to get a package ready to send to the UK, some stuff that we got together for my mum and dad. We had to check on a few things here at the post office as things arent always as simple here as in the US or UK when it comes to sending things out of the country. Just sending something like a packet of seeds has to be checked as Brasil has strict laws about biopiracy but luckily the ones i wanna send there shouldnt be any problems. I picked up a couple of things from the tv tower in Brasilia to send too, i like getting this hand made sort of stuff to send back home. I hate sending that touristy type stuff back as its so boring and dull. Who wants to have a boring rock with Greetings from Brasilia painted on it? hahaha! They have some hand-painted stuff that i got and also some statues hand-carved out of wood too as well as other stuff i dont remember. I dread to thing how much its going to cost to send this as its going to be a little heavy. Nice thing is mail from here to the Uk only takes around ten days or so. Mind you getting mail into Brasil isnt as easy, im sure there are light-fingered people working in the post office here, most of my packages from the UK never get to me and asking at the post office is a waste of time as they cant tell me anything useful. You have to keep reminding yourself all the time your here that its not a first-world country, either that or paint a BIG sign for your house to hang on the wall to remind you ;-)

I found a great letter online that someone apparently wrote to complain about their isp's customer service. Its so great that i copied it here so you guys can read it too. Man i was pissing myself when i read it for the first time hehehe!!

The wrath of Paul

St Paul wrote to the Corinthians, this Paul wrote to his cable provider...

Dear Cretins,

I have been an NTL customer since 9th July 2001, when I signed up for your 3-in-one deal for cable TV, cable modem, and telephone.

During this three month period I have encountered inadequacy of service which I had not previously considered possible, as well as ignorance and stupidity of monolithic proportions.

Please allow me to provide specific details, so that you can either pursue your professional prerogative, and seek to rectify these difficulties - or more likely (I suspect) so that you can have some entertaining reading material as you while away the working day smoking B&H and drinking vendor-coffee on the bog in your office.

My initial installation was cancelled without warning or notice, resulting in my spending an entire Saturday sitting on my fat arse waiting for your technician to arrive.

When he did not arrive at all, I spent a further 57 minutes listening to your infuriating hold music, and the even more annoying Scottish robot woman telling me to look at your helpful website.... how?

I alleviated the boredom to some small degree by playing with my testicles for a few minutes - an activity at which you are no-doubt both familiar and highly adept. The rescheduled installation then took place some two weeks later, although the technician did forget to bring a number of vital tools - such as a drill-bit, and his cerebrum.

Two weeks later, my cable modem had still not arrived. After several further telephone calls (actually 15 telephone calls over 4 weeks) my modem arrived ... a total of six weeks after I had requested it, and begun to pay for it.

I estimate that the downtime of your internet servers is roughly 35%... these are usually the hours between about 6pm and midnight, Monday to Friday, and most of the useful periods over the weekend. I am still waiting for my telephone connection. I have made 9 telephone calls on my mobile to your no-help line this week, and have been unhelpfully transferred to a variety of disinterested individuals, who are it seems also highly skilled bollock jugglers.

I have been informed that a telephone line is available (and someone will call me back), that no telephone line is available (and someone will call me back), that I will be transferred to someone who knows whether or not a telephone line is available (and then been cut off), that I will be transferred to someone who knows whether or not a telephone line is available (and then been redirected to an answer machine informing me that your office is closed), that I will be transferred to someone who knows whether or not a telephone line is available (and then been redirected to the irritating Scottish robot woman.... and several other variations on this theme.

Doubtless you are no-longer reading this letter, as you have at least a thousand other dissatisfied customers to ignore, and also another one of those crucially important testicle-moments to attend to. Frankly I don't care, it's far more satisfying as a customer to voice my frustrations in print than to shout them at your unending hold music. Forgive me, therefore, if I continue.

I thought BT were shit, that they had attained the holy piss-pot of god-awful customer relations, that no-one, anywhere, ever, could be more disinterested, less helpful or more obstructive to delivering service to their customers. That's why I chose NTL, and because, well, there isn't anyone else is there? How surprised I therefore was, when I discovered to my considerable dissatisfaction and disappointment what a useless shower of bastards you truly are. You are sputum-filled pieces of distended rectum - incompetents of the highest order.

British Telecom - wankers though they are - shine like brilliant beacons of success, in the filthy puss-filled mire of your seemingly limitless inadequacy. Suffice to say that I have now given up on my futile and foolhardy quest to receive any kind of service from you.

I suggest that you do likewise, and cease any potential future attempts to extort payment from me for the services which you have so pointedly and catastrophically failed to deliver - any such activity will be greeted initially with hilarity and disbelief - although these feelings will quickly be replaced by derision, and even perhaps a small measure of bemused rage.

I enclose two small deposits, selected with great care from my cats litter tray, as an expression of my utter and complete contempt for both you, and your pointless company. I sincerely hope that they have not become dessicated during transit - they were satisfyingly moist at the time of posting, and I would feel considerable disappointment if you did not experience both their rich aroma and delicate texture. Consider them the very embodiment of my feelings towards NTL, and it's worthless employees.

Have a nice day - may it be the last in you miserable short life, you irritatingly incompetent and infuriatingly unhelpful bunch of twats,

Yours psychotically, Xxxx Xxxxxxx

Paul


Christ, i bet the people from the company must have been in stitches when they got this in the post hahaha! Its nearly as good as when someone from British Gas hacked the automated bill system and started adding evil messages to peoples gas bills. I would have loved to get one of those bills, just imagine how much it would be worth after some time :-)

I'd better go check and see if they paid me yet hehehe!!


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