Magic Statistics

The Who’s lead singer says he was fooled by Live 8.

Roger complains that unlike the original Live Aid in 1985, where the money went directly to famine relief, the follow-up 20 years later had no achievable aims.

Roger moaned: "What did we really achieve at Live 8? We got loads of platitudes and no action.

"Who were we kidding there?

But he won’t get fooled again.

JUST when it looked like every rock star on the planet was jumping aboard AL GORE's green bandwagon, there’s a backlash already underway.

THE WHO's ROGER DALTRY has blasted the big Wembley gig Gore is organising to raise awareness of global warming.
. . .
Roger, who played with U2 at Live Aid and Live8, reckons the whole thing is a waste of time.

Speaking exclusively to Bizarre, Roger said: "Bo***cks to that! The last thing the planet needs is a rock concert.

"I can't believe it. Let's burn even more fuel.

How about a solar-powered rock concert?  That would be the first rock show in history to burn no fuel and cause no noise pollution.

h/t: Sobering Thoughts

Previous related posts:

• Myth: More foreign aid leads to less poverty
• Keith Richards knows who he is
• “Little evidence” that foreign aid promotes economic growth

Our favourite car critic Jeremy Clarkson (photo at right) has once again run afoul of the humourless mavens of political correctness.  Last December, the BBC upheld a complaint against Mr Clarkson after he disparaged a car as “a bit gay”.  Another PC guardian has now found Clarkson guilty of political incorrectitude in connection with the same incident.

Clarkson was unimpressed by the Daihatsu Copen, last year. He asked a member of the studio audience on the BBC’s Top Gear programme whether he would consider buying one. The man replied, "No, it's a bit gay” and Clarkson added, "A bit gay, yes, very ginger beer.”

Ofcom, the media watchdog, ruled this morning that there was “no justification” for the comment.

Humour can be its own justification.  Ofcom just didn’t like the joke.

The watchdog turned to the Oxford English Dictionary and agreed that “gay” can be used to mean “foolish, stupid and socially inappropriate, or disapproved of and lame”. However, it ruled that in conjunction with “ginger beer”, Cockney rhyming slang for queer, Clarkson intended to criticise the car by describing it as homosexual.

Thankfully, Jeremy Clarkson has not restrained his anti-PC instincts in the least.  Even as Ofcom was considering Clarkson’s breach of public morality, he went and did it again.  Here’s a bit from his review of the Audi S3, published last week.

Last week I was in Isachsen, a remote settlement high in the Arctic. It’s so far north that anyone who lives there would be well within their rights to call the Inuit of Greenland a bunch of southern poofs.

Two politically esteemed minority groups—homosexuals and Inuit—can take offence at that, if they feel so inclined.  No doubt more complaints are on the way.

Previous related posts:

• Clarkson guilty of homophobia for calling car “gay”
• One of Jeremy Clarkson’s least favourite cars in the world
• Green machine: A bicycle that can do 70 mph
• Car critic frustrates environmentalist cause

Fr Jim Tucker started this musical game.  Here are the rules:

Get your ipod or media-player of choice, select your whole music collection, set the thing to shuffle (i.e., randomized playback), then post the first ten songs that come out. No cheating, no matter how stupid it makes you feel!

This is what turned up on my iPod:

• 1. "Werewolves of London", by Warren Zevon, from Excitable Boy
• 2. "Burning of the Midnight Lamp", by Jimi Hendrix Experience, from Electric Ladyland
• 3. "String Quartet no. 15 in D min, K. 421: Andante", composed by W.A. Mozart, performed by Alban Berg Quartett
• 4. "Go Rest High On That Mountain", by Vince Gill, from When Love Finds You
• 5. "In The Garden", by Johnny Cash, from My Mother's Hymn Book
• 6. "Neon Bible", by Arcade Fire, from Neon Bible
• 7. "Sunburn", by Muse, from Showbiz
• 8. "Simon Says", by The Shangri-Las, from 45 rpm single
• 9. "Why Believe In You", by Texas, from Mother's Heaven
• 10. "The Ballad of El Goodo", by Big Star, from #1 Record/Radio City

That was so much fun that I did ten more:

• 11. "Driving Wheel", by Emmylou Harris, from White Shoes
• 12. "Slowburn", by Peter Gabriel, from Peter Gabriel [1]
• 13. "Monkey In Your Soul", by Steely Dan, from Pretzel Logic
• 14. "Dreams", by Allman Brothers Band, from Beginnings
• 15. "Hello Goodbye", by The Beatles, from Magical Mystery Tour
• 16. "I've Got To Find It", by Brenda Holloway, from Greatest Hits & Rare Classics
• 17. "The Wanderer", by Dion, from King of the New York Streets
• 18. "Day Of The Eagle", by Robin Trower, from Bridge Of Sighs
• 19. "String Quartet in B flat, Op 71, no. 1: (Finale) Vivace", composed by F.J. Haydn, performed by Kodály Quartet
• 20. "Paradise", by Sade, from Lovers Live

On the whole, that's a fair representation of my musical tastes although, inevitably, there are omissions: The Kinks, Procol Harum, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, Beethoven.

h/t: Dappled Things and Insight Scoop