søndag, januar 24, 2010

Metal Søndag 24. januar


Primal Fear - Primal Fear
Nuclear Blast, 1998

Er det en ting tyskerne kan, så er det power metal. Selv power metal har røtter mange forskjellige band fra forskjellige deler av verden, så er det ingen tvil om at det var tyskerne som gjorde power metal til power metal. Da er det neppe noe overraskelse at de fleste store bandene innenfor sjangeren er tyske.
En ting som er typisk for sjangeren er at mange av bandene ønsker at de var Iron Maiden og ender ofte opp som en mer dobbelbassdreven kopi av dem. Det er på dette feltet at Primal Fear skiller seg ut. De ønsker ikke at de var Iron Maiden, de ønsker heller å være Judas Priest.
Det er tydelig at Primal Fear gjør alt for å høres ut som oppfølgeren til Painkiller av Judas Priest, bare med litt mer hint av Accept og tysk power metal. Ralf Scheepers er kanskje ikke Rob Halford, men han prøver så godt han kan, og det er det som teller i lengden.
Det er det ene stereotypiske power/speed metal riffet etter det andre som man har mest sannsynlig har hørt tusen ganger før, men fordi man elsker metal over alt annet her i verden, så får man gåsehud og den fantastiske følelsen god power metal gir.

Dette er klisjeer på klisjeer som faktisk fungerer. Dette er metal for de av oss som hører på metal for å høre metal, og ikke noe annet.

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Fuil Na Seanchoille er et irsk enmanns black metal band med to demoer ute. Er du ute etter å høre lyden av primitivt mørke, så sjekk ut denne fyrens Myspace.

Nå over til metal musikkvideoer.

Nekrogoblikon - Army of Goblins

Bolt Thrower - ...for victory
Fanvideo.

Kreator - Betrayer

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lørdag, januar 23, 2010

James Randi the ADE651 aka Quadro Tracker

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Condoms? Useless!

Welcome to the Webcam Ward where we magically make the unwatchable watchable! In this week's update, a man with long hair talks about condoms! Is it real? Who cares!?

Link

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Export ban for useless 'bomb detector'

The UK government has announced a ban on the export to Iraq and Afghanistan of some so-called "bomb detectors".

It follows an investigation by the BBC's Newsnight programme which found that one type of "detector" made by a British company cannot work.

The Iraqi government has spent $85m on the ADE-651 and there are concerns that they have failed to stop bomb attacks that have killed hundreds of people.

The ban on the ADE-651 and other similar devices starts next week.

Link

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fredag, januar 22, 2010

Death of Gay Activist Brings Turkey's Attitude Toward Gays Into Focus

For 26-year-old Ahmet Yildiz, the choice to live openly as a gay man in Turkey proved deadly. Prosecutors say his father, charged with allegedly killing his son in what is being dubbed as the first gay honor killing, traveled more than 900 kilometers from his hometown to shoot his son in an old neighborhood of Istanbul. The case has drawn international attention and is putting the spotlight on Turkey's attitude towards homosexuality.

The young physics student, Ahmet Yildiz, was one of the few openly gay men in Turkey, a country in which the military, the guardian of Turkey's secular state, regards homosexuality as a disorder.

Yildiz represented his country at a gay meeting in San Francisco and wrote for gay publications in Turkey. Observers believe his activism is probably what got him killed.

Link

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50 % Never go to Church!

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torsdag, januar 21, 2010

BBC - The Secret Life of Chaos











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onsdag, januar 20, 2010

Solar-powered Bibles sent to Haiti

As international aid agencies rush food, water and medicine to Haiti's earthquake victims, a United States group is sending Bibles.

But these aren't just any Bibles; they're solar-powered audible Bibles that can broadcast the holy scriptures in Haitian Creole to 300 people at a time.

The Faith Comes By Hearing organisation says its Bible, called the Proclaimer, delivers "digital quality" and is designed for "poor and illiterate people".

It says 600 of the devices are already on their way to Haiti.

The Albuquerque-based organisation says it is responding to the Haitian crisis by "providing faith, hope and love through God's word in audio".

The audio Bible can bring the "hope and comfort that comes from knowing God has not forgotten them through this tragedy," a statement on its website says.

"The Proclaimer is self-powered and can play the Bible in the jungle, desert or ... even on the moon!"

Tens of thousands of Port-au-Prince residents are living outdoors because their homes have collapsed or they fear aftershocks following Wednesday's quake.

Link

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Failure Report: Space Shuttle Excursion

On January 16th, 2010, Space Shuttle Excursion experienced a catastrophic failure during the launch process, resulting in the complete explosive disintegration of the craft shortly after takeoff. All crew members on board, including astronauts Dan Peppergrave, Ruth LaGatta, Roger Birdcastle, Jack Hug and Lawrence DeLong, suffered mild to moderate injuries, including second-degree burns, fractured ribs and the total death of all of them.

This document, as ordered by the NASA Accountability and Safety Agency (hereafter referred to as "NASA"), seeks to outline the cause or causes of this launch failure. While NASA is still collecting evidence from the site of the Excursion explosion and a final accident report cannot be completed until the investigative process has concluded, our preliminary investigation points to several possible faults in the launch process that may have partially contributed to the catastrophe.

The shuttle's orbiter vehicle and rocket boosters are comprised of hundreds of thousands of extremely sophisticated components; even a failure rate of 0.01% would result in thousands of components failing, so it's very difficult to pinpoint the exact malfunction or malfunctions that resulted in the shuttle's rapid destruction upon takeoff. Some evidence suggests that the relatively warm weather on the launch day may have caused the O-rings that connect the orbiter's cooling system to its secondary subwoofer to expand, resulting in decreased output to the shuttle's life support and stereo systems. Some weathering of the craft's external shingling was observed, as well as light mossing around the rain gutters, but these factors were determined to be narrowly within standard safety parameters.

Link

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tirsdag, januar 19, 2010

The 10:23 'overdose' event

At 10:23am on January 30th, more than three hundred homeopathy sceptics nationwide will be taking part in a mass homeopathic 'overdose' in protest at Boots' continued endorsement and sale of homeopathic remedies, and to raise public awareness about the fact that homeopathic remedies have nothing in them.

Sceptics and consumer rights activists will publicly swallow an entire bottle of homeopathic 'pillules' to demonstrate that these 'remedies', prepared according to a long-discredited 18th century ritual, are nothing but sugar pills.

Link

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søndag, januar 17, 2010

Metal Søndag 17. januar


Ancient Rites - The Diabolic Serenades
After Dark Records, 1994

Belgiske Ancient Rites er et bands som kanskje mer kjent for sine mer folkemusikkbaserte album der de hyller sine hedenske forfedre, men før de begynte med det spilte de god gammeldags satanistisk black metal.
Dette er den mer brutale typen av black metal med hint av death metal som er fylt opp med blast beats og riff det går an å headbange til. Det er ingen steder hvor musikken stopper opp for å gå inn i mykere partier eller noe sånt tull, bare brutal headbanging hele veien. Med dette mener jeg ikke at det monotont, men at det ikke er noe ambient tull eller unødvendige akustiske partier som bare er der som fyll eller dårlige forsøk på atmosfære. All atmosfæren kommer fra de tunge riffene, og det er sånn det skal være i ekstrem metal.
Som nevnt er det hint av death metal. Om vokalen hadde vært dypere og mindre hes, og om man bare forandret litt på noen riff her og der, så hadde dette vært et ganske tøft death metalalbum. Det er brutalt og tungt nok, og lydproduksjonen er ikke så langt unna.

Hvis du bare er kjent med Ancient Rites mer melodiøse album burde du absolutt sjekke ut dette albumet for å høre en mer rettfrem ekstrem metalutgave av dem. Har du ikke hørt dem før er dette albumet et like bra startsted som de senere albumene, spesielt hvis du er ute etter black metal som minner om Celtic Frost.

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Ars Goetia er et tysk black metal band som har gitt ut to demoer. Du kan høre dem på deres Myspace.

Nå over til metal musikkvideoer.

Stormtroopers of Death - Sargent D

Austrian Death Machine - Get To The Choppa

Black Tribe - Victory of Conscience

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lørdag, januar 16, 2010

Pakistani couple charged with 'occult killing' of baby

A couple in the southern Pakistani city of Karachi have been charged with murdering their baby daughter as part of an alleged "black magic" ritual.

Officers found the body of the four-month-old girl buried in the couple's house, a court heard. Doctors say it had been there for about four days.

They believe the couple were planning to murder their second daughter, a girl of three, who police found tied up.

Superstitious rituals are not uncommon in Pakistan, but rarely lead to murder.

Link

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James Randi & Massimo Polidoro - Linking Ring Trick

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Why Religion?

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fredag, januar 15, 2010

James Randi and Norm Edmund

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