Capitalism or Faith

I got a mail yesterday, it may feel a bit like hate-speech at first, but before I share it I would like to put my take on things forward too.
The Western world and most democracies have happily pushed capitalism on the world (oh sorry, I meant to say push democracy), and mix it all in with Christianity. We use large corporations to establish bases in heathen countries employ the natives to work in factiries there and build things for us all to buy and sell, pay the natives a pitance and ship the profits back home. BUT WE DO NOT KILL ANYONE.

If I go live in another country, (which I did do 3 years ago) I first study that countries culture, I mean for pete's aske, I could have emigrated to the Netherlands, but did not on account the language barrier my family would face, I'm in the UK now, its not my intention at all to change this country, but rather enjoy it to the fullest. And it's hard not to disagree with the content of this disgree, in fact I think Kevin is one of the few gutsy citizens of civilised Earth.

Ok the email I got:

'IMMIGRANTS, NOT AUSTRALIANS, MUST ADAPT. Take It Or Leave It. I am tired of this nation worrying about whether we are offending some individual or their culture. Since the terrorist attacks on Bali , we have experienced a surge in patriotism by the majority of Australians. '

'This culture has been developed over two centuries of struggles, trials and victories by millions of men and women who have sought freedom'

'We speak mainly ENGLISH, not Spanish, Lebanese, Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Russian, or any other language. Therefore, if you wish to become part of our society . Learn the language!'

'Most Australians believe in God. This is not some Christian, right wing, political push, but a fact, because Christian men and women, on Christian principles, founded this nation, and this is clearly documented. It is certainly appropriate to display it on the walls of our schools. If God offends you, then I suggest you consider another part of the world as your new home, because God is part of our culture.'

'We will accept your beliefs, and will not question why. All we ask is that you accept ours, and live in harmony and peaceful enjoyment with us.'

'This is OUR COUNTRY, OUR LAND, and OUR LIFESTYLE, and we will allow you every opportunity to enjoy all this. But once you are done complaining, whining, and griping about Our Flag, Our Pledge, Our Christian beliefs, or Our Way of Life, I highly encourage you take advantage of one other great Australian freedom, 'THE RIGHT TO LEAVE'.'


'If you aren't happy here then LEAVE. We didn't force you to come here. You asked to be here. So accept the country YOU accepted.'

see : radio and article.

How to change Scalextric Drifter braids

Google search is not your friend in this case, so here is my how-to. For some reason the Scalextric homepage has got no instructions on how to do this, and 5 minutes of googling (my limit) yielded no results. So to save you breaking things, or wasting any more time, just click play on the video.


I am still puzzled about the lack of an instruction published by anyone, hence my contribution. (also on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZbcU3Ruvfs) / A better video is available here - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LvfvRmbrS_o but missing the explanation:
The big thing to help figure it out is the little arrows on the underside, visible only to anyone with good eyes. A bit of firm downward pressure is needed, I found it easier when the blade is rotated 90-degrees to either side before slipping it off.

I finally spotted a small slip of paper latter in the packaging, which shows the little arrows more clearly. Duh!

I've not made a blog post for a long time now, and was loosing courage until now. It's at times when I feel frustrated by everyone just going around and expecting to find the answer and then greedily consuming without ever giving in return, that I get "rilled". I probably have a healthy net-esteem that let's me do this kind of contributing while knowing that if my work is junk, nobody will link it, if it's great, then someone will link it. It's like the law of averages.

Anyway, so if you have kids who love scalextric and you have discovered the joy of drifting, share it. It's the best scalextric fun ever, and you can use your existing set, but beware, the cars take a beating, and so do the braids and tires.

God bless.