The End of Scrabulous? I can only hope....

Technorati Tags: facebook,scrabulous,bbc bias,copyright,copyright infringment

Oh heavens forbid. When will the various corporations and companies realise that copyright infringement is not always a bad idea and can sometimes improve sales?

"Facebook has been asked to remove the Scrabulous game from its website by the makers of Scrabble."

Though I can only cheer on one side the impending doom of another scourge of my life via my girlfriend's obsession with all things 'casual gaming' but, WHAT ON EARTH ARE THEY DOING?!  I can't see the makers of Scrabble being able to buy such publicity and promotion for their ancient form of entertainment. Truly, how can games on facebook equate to anything but sales of the board game?

That being said, maybe it is the connotations that they are unable to accept that the Internet is anything but bad and does nothing but watch porn and steal music; offensive and incorrect understandings of what is actually happening in 'cyber-space' (ha! not used that phrase in a LONG time). The final quote and word on the BBC article is possibly telling from the journalist's point of view.

"One message read: "I didn't have any Scrabble sets when I started playing Scrabulous a few months ago. Since I got hooked on that I have bought two sets."

Links have also been posted to the customer service areas of the Hasbro and Mattel websites so fans can register their protests with the toy makers. "

Yup, who said the BBC wasn't biased?

From Not a sheep: The 'Islamic Jesus'

Not a sheep: The 'Islamic Jesus'

In somewhat of an inflammatory comment on a normally right minded blog, 'Not A Sheep' could possibly be highlighting a prejudice held within Britain towards the Muslim faith. Though I may be proved wrong and the tone of the post is stronger than it is intended I would like to make my own opinion and understanding known about the story she/he is referencing.

Essentially it comes down to the fact that an Islamic Iranian Director has created a film which shows the story of Jesus from the Islamic perspective. And in an expressed attempt to create dialogue and understanding between faiths he expresses the Muslim understanding of the story, as well as he admiration for Mel Gibson's 'Passion of the Christ' in production if not in plot.

"So the "common ground" would appear to be that Jesus existed and was a prophet but not that he was the son of God, or was resurrected. I think the idea of "common ground" might be a little fanciful."Not a Sheep

I have written a comment on this post within the blog, have a look if you want (though it is awaiting moderation). Here I want to focus more on the above comment by NaS. The common ground is massive between Muslims and Christians on this topic. I would like to ask, what more would you ask of the Muslims to believe before it is acceptable common ground?

That he was the son of god as part of the Holy Trinity?
That he was crucified? (indeed the Muslim view is that his body did not die, but ascended into heaven)
Or that he preached a new gospel?


Well number one is right out. That aspect of the story of Christ IS Christianity.

Number two becomes trivial for Christians or external parties when number one is rejected; who cares how he died? Muslims and obviously Christians find it important but to say it matters that he was Crucified to a Muslim on Christian grounds is missing the point and could be mildly disrespectful. Indeed the perception of Crucifixion is seen by Muslims to be correct, but as wikipedia explains, this was a divine illusion.

Thirdly, jesus within Islam is a vital and important figure. In some ways second only to Muhammad as Jesus was a Messenger from God whose message became corrupted by man. However you look at this, this is high praise, and how this has become corrupted, which areas Jesus can be seen as 'right' and also the historical accounts of the time from the dual faith perspective can all be looked at.

Yes. This does open the possibility that there is open accessible cross-faith dialogue within the world community. The only thing that i can see you could possibly be offended by this news article Not A Sheep is the fact that it has come from Iran. But as you may (or may not) now see there is a real theological basis for what the director was saying and how it is ultimately quite a politically neutral topic if taken as such.

Cheers
Anthony

The Devil on Drugs....

Wonderful!

At last someone who is sane and articulate enough to show what I have been thinking about Drugs for such a long time. Have a a look here! This has made my evening so much i may even get all the work I set myself to do completed for a change instead of wondering off into the endless battlegrounds of Internet gaming as per usual.

Not that I should be all that surprised that this has happened in that Dk generally expresses my views before I realise them in their entirety myself, but still its another happy occasion where I can congratulate the Devil on hitting the nail, on the proverbial head.

Whilst giving Magic Mushrooms the verdict of "Fucking Funny" as well as other lighthearted comments, he lines this all with a definite sense of the serious. That being the absolute belief that the illegality of recreational drugs causes more harm and is ideologically a disaster for society by right thinking libertarians.

The point that I am trying to make is that it is in the nature of a good proportion of human beings to want to "escape" from time to time. That can be the simple escape from the hum-drum of working life, through holidays or whatever. For some it's the escape from being oneself, for a while. And for many, it is simply that they like the effect that mind-altering substances have.

And look at the two drugs that we have legalised: smoking provides very little mental effect, and develops into a habit that kills through the way in which it is ingested.

Drinking (especially to escape) very often makes people violent, melancholy and irrational.
Seriously, what the fuck are we playing at? We've made entirely the wrong stuff illegal!

 

Anyway, please read, I'm sure everyone who reads this post will find it both provocative as well as reassuring/fearful to find intelligent people thinking in this way. Me? Well I can't see much changing... Though I can but hope. The only possible practical method of making any real alterations the systems surrounding drugs would be through some sort of total re-jig of the system for some other reason than the blatant reclassification of substances or indeed their full legalisation.

Really it wouldn't happen even if everyone wanted it. How could they then justify the thousands in jail. The social stigmatisation and ruination of thousands more and finally the money spent in an ineffectual law by the sate for nearly a hundred years? And possibly even more to the point, the jealousy held by those in power who missed out within their lives through misconceived fear of the substances as well as the law the joys of drugs.

I am no heavy user, nor will I be. But my minute dabbles would probably have landed me in jail for no other reason than I own curiosity and enjoyment of something that had NO NEGATIVE EFFECTS WITHIN MY OWN LIFE OR THE LIFE OF OTHERS.

Technorati Tags: Drugs,Devil's Kitchen