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Save the NHS: The real message of the London 2012 Olympic Games opening ceremony
07.28.2012
04:15 pm
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nhs_olympics
 
Congratulations to Danny Boyle, Frank Cottrell Boyce, and the thousands of people (volunteers, builders, technicians, caterers, nurses, doctors, dancers, singers, musicians, actors, etc) involved in London 2012’s opening Olympic Ceremony. You all did a grand job.

For me the real and most important message of the ceremony is the one above. Health care is a right. No one can help being ill, and no one should ever be denied access to free health care.

In 1948,  the Labour Party established the National Health Service in Britain, offering free healthcare at the point of use to all of its citizens.

Today, tthere are many countries across the world with universal health care coverage (including Germany, Canada, Australia, Italy, Spain, Ireland, Russia, etc, etc), but it is said the NHS is the largest and oldest single-payer health care system in the world, funded primarily by taxation.

However, over the past few decades, successive governments, both Conservative and Labour, have pared down the services available to the public, and now the NHS, as it is known and loved by the British public, is set to be destroyed by the present Tory government.

To stop this happening we need to write to the Prime MInister David Cameron, and your Members of Parliament, demanding that the government rethinks its plans and listens to the people they are supposed to serve.

Please share the above picture and get involved through Keep Our NHS Public.
 

Posted by Paul Gallagher
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07.28.2012
04:15 pm
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Would you want the Olympics in your town?
07.11.2012
12:57 pm
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“Just a couple of missile launchers and a few sharp-shooters on your rooftops, what are you big babies whining about anyway?”

The British army plans to deploy high-velocity missiles in the east London town of Leytonstone during the Olympics, but a high court judge has ruled that the residents of a 17-story housing tower have no right to challenge this extraordinary move in court! As seen in The Guardian:

Residents of the Fred Wigg Tower in Leytonstone, east London, argued that the missiles could expose them to a terrorist attack. The block is one of six sites in the capital where missiles, including Rapier air defence weapons and high-velocity systems, will be deployed for the duration of the Games.

The Fred Wigg residents applied for permission to seek judicial review of the government’s decision to deploy the missiles, saying it was a “disproportionate interference” with their human rights, and they were not consulted properly over the siting of the ground-based air defence system. They argued that those who wanted to move out should at least be relocated in hotels by the MoD or a gantry should be erected for the missiles away from the tower block.

Marc Willers, representing the residents, told the judge: “It is the unprecedented siting of a military base or missile site in peacetime on English soil that brings us to this court.”

But Justice Haddon-Cave said on Tuesday: “In my judgment, the MoD’s voluntary engagement with the community and residents in this matter were immaculate.” He said the MoD had no duty to consult, had not promised to and no “conspicuous unfairness” was caused by not consulting. He agreed with the MoD that a tower block was the only suitable site for missiles and the facts of the case were “not susceptible to a sensible challenge”.

The judge said residents had expressed “shock, anxiety and worry” over the prospect of missiles being stationed at the tower. But they had been under “something of a misapprehension” about the nature of the equipment to be deployed and the risks deployment would bring.

Well, I guess that’s why ee’s a bleedin’ judge then, ain’t it?

Read more at The Guardian

Thank you Chris Campion of Berlin, Germany!

Posted by Richard Metzger
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07.11.2012
12:57 pm
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Not Loving It: McDonald’s make killing out of London 2012 Olympics
07.11.2012
07:35 am
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olympic_chips_mcdonalds
 
So much for an Olympics for the people.

This poster has allegedly been put up on London 2012 Olympic sites, notifying customers that chips (or French fries) will only be served with fish, “due to sponsorship obligations with McDonald’s”.

Fast food chain McDonald’s, along with Coca-Cola and Cadbury’s are among the main sponsors of this year’s Olympics, well that is, along with the British public who will be actually footing the bill.

Note - the original estimated costs of the London Olympics have increased tenfold from £2.4 billion to £24 billion.

McDonald’s will be supplying 10% of all meals served at the games, and under an exclusive deal with the International Olympic Committee, the burger chain have the sole rights to sell chips / fries at the event. This means any other of LOCOG’s (London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games) caterers can only sell chips with fish and not on their own. So much for the capitalist belief in free enterprise.

Och well, another fine example of how capitalism works - if you are a major company, you can pay in your fifty cents and fuck-up all the competition and customers. Nice. Especially when the Olympics are being underwritten by the public’s money. 
 
Via Reddit, with thanks to Kash Farooq, Jon Stone and Graham Linehan
 

Posted by Paul Gallagher
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07.11.2012
07:35 am
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‘The Golden Breed’ : Classic surfing film with a killer soundtrack
06.29.2012
05:46 pm
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Dale Davis’ The Golden Breed (1968) is a classic surfing film with a soundtrack almost as famous as the film itself. Featuring San Fernando’s Davie Allen - who did the score for the awesome biker flick The Wild Angels - on guitar and a tubular horn section, The Golden Breed is a perfect blend of sound and vision and captures legendary longboard riders like Mickey Munoz, Nat Young, Mickey Dova, Barry Kanaiaupuni and Mark Martinson at a time when longboards were starting to fall out of fashion.
 

Longboards.
 
My mother bought me a Jacobs longboard when I was 13 years old. It cost $50 used and was almost 10 feet long. I weighed about 95 pounds and riding that board was like trying to ride a really pissed-off bucking bull. I was waaaay too small for the beast. When I was 29 I bought a Schroff shortboard and had the opposite problem. The stick was so light and fast that it would shoot out from under me and I’d end bouncing off the rocks in the shark-infested waters off of Montauk, Long Island. I ended up spending most of my time just sitting on the thing, nursing booze and cocaine hangovers while watching the smooth glide of dorsal fins off in the distance.

The Golden Breed was filmed in California, Peru, Hawaii and Mexico. Cowabunga crushers!  
 

Posted by Marc Campbell
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06.29.2012
05:46 pm
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Dock Ellis: Believe in Yourself
06.29.2012
05:33 pm
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Dangerous Minds pal Glen E. Friedman is involved with a new “dockumentary” about flamboyant major league baseball pitcher Dock Ellis, who threw a no-hitter for the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1970 while high on LSD.

Friedman listed Ellis in the acknowledgements of his book, Fuck You Heroes and considers him to be a personal hero. Recently Glen gave an interview about his youthful interaction with the man they called the “Muhammad Ali of Baseball” and told his story to the filmmakers:

How did you meet Dock Ellis?
I first met Dock at Shea Stadium, here in New York, when I was a kid around 11 years old. When I went to games, I was fervent about getting autographs and memorabilia and I would always get there early to watch batting practice and to try to talk to the players ... asking for autographs, loose practice balls, broken bats, whatever a player had access to.

One afternoon Dock walked over to me, probably 1973, and asked why was I yelling so much. Of course I just wanted his attention, to say hello and to get an autograph. He said relax, not to worry, after he was done practicing he’d come back over and give me an autograph. A few minutes later, he came over and asked me why I wasn’t wearing an authentic Dock Ellis shirt? I happened to be wearing the nearest thing to a game jersey one could get in the early seventies - a 100% nylon Willie Stargell kid’s jersey I picked up in Cooperstown, just across from the Baseball Hall of Fame. There was Dock, pulling at my most prized shirt and asking why was I wearing a fake. I was bummed he was making fun of my favorite shirt, so I asked him, “Well, where can I get one of the Dock Ellis shirts you’re talking about? I’ve never seen one.” He didn’t really clue me in on that, but he signed my autograph book, for the first of many times.

Eventually in the conversation… Dock told me to meet him by the press gate later in the day, once he was sure he wouldn’t be called upon to pitch (midway through the 2nd game of a double header). I went to the designated place at the designated time and there came Dock strutting out in platform shoes, double-knit black flair paints and a red fishnet t-shirt. He was behind a fenced-in area, near the press gate and player entrance. People saw him and started yelling his name, “Dock, Dock!” He walked straight towards me. He’s got a brown paper bag, lunch bag sized, in his hand. He knelt down and started to talk to me, and said, “Don’t open this up! Don’t even peek inside this bag, until you get back to your seat, otherwise you won’t get outta here alive.” I said, “OK, Thanks Dock! See you around ...” thinking I’d got some super cool “Official” Dock Ellis T-Shirt.

I got back to my seat and looked inside the bag then, as discreetly as possible. I didn’t really believe my eyes, so I couldn’t just peek in the bag, I had to take out the contents to really see what it was, if in fact it was, yes it was his actual game jersey right off his back! I had a Number 17 Pittsburgh Pirates visiting team jersey. That was the first time I met Dock, but I saw him and hung out with him several times over the years after that.

You grew up a bi-coastal kid, in both Los Angeles and the New York metropolitan areas, how did you become a Pittsburgh Pirates fan?
I grew up a Pirates fan, because as most little kids, I just liked PIRATES—with eye patches, bandannas, swords and severed limbs—and I never let go. I never lived in Pittsburgh. The Pittsburgh Pirates team that I grew up with became great winners just as my baseball enthusiasm was peaking. Remember, from ‘70 to ‘75 they won four out of five National League East pennants, one NL Pennant, and the World Series in 1971. Those years had to be there strongest in the history of the franchise. With players like Roberto Clemente, Willie Stargell, Al Oliver, Bill Mazeroski, Dock Ellis, Steve Blass, Manny Sanguillen, what’s not to like?

How important are the Pittsburgh Pirates to Dock’s story and how important is he to theirs?
Dock was the personification of the growth of the Pirates team through the civil rights era, as much as they were the steel town they became a melting pot of the new American society. Dock was the antithesis of Jackie Robinson, but he was the man who Jackie and so many other black major league players before him were waiting for. He was the Satchel Paige of his generation: unapologetic, friendly, spirited, confident, rebellious and wise. The pitcher as the first all black opening line-up took the field, there were few who could pull that off as Dock. Being one of the first two black pitchers, with Vida Blue, to open the All Star game. Being the first pro ballplayer ever to be talked about for wearing curlers in his hair, which unless you were black, you had no idea in the ‘70s what that meant culturally. Dock, perhaps more than any other player up to that time (or since), “kept it real.” Who was important to whom? You figure it out.

Read more…
 

 

Posted by Richard Metzger
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06.29.2012
05:33 pm
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Wonderful interview with Muhammad Ali on Irish TV in 1972
06.19.2012
03:23 pm
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Muhammad Ali is a riveting storyteller and has undeniable presence in this entertaining, gutsy and inspiring interview conducted for Irish TV on July 1972. Interviewer RTÉ’s Cathal O’Shannon does a fine job of navigating the enormous personality of Ali and much of what the boxer has to say is painfully true and often way ahead of its time.

The interview took place while Ali was in Dublin to fight Al “Blue” Lewis 16 months after suffering his first defeat at the hands of Joe Frazier.
 

 

Posted by Marc Campbell
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06.19.2012
03:23 pm
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Esoteric secrets of pro wrestling: The dirty tactic
04.27.2012
04:14 pm
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Here at Dangerous Minds we are on a mission not only to entertain but to educate as well. And I can’t think of anything more essential, in terms of getting through life with both grace and cunning, than knowing the secrets of pro wrestling, particularly the esoteric art of the dirty tactic. What was once forbidden knowledge is now made accessible to you, dear reader, as a way of thanking you for your loyalty and steadfast support of our humble website. This knowledge is given freely. The only thing that I ask is that you keep it to yourself.
 

Posted by Marc Campbell
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04.27.2012
04:14 pm
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Classic skateboarding film from 1965
04.25.2012
06:11 pm
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Skatedater, one of the best skateboarding films ever made, has finally popped up in a decent color version after years of bouncing around the ‘net in terrible looking transfers.

Skaterdater is a short film that was released in 1965. It was Produced by Marshal Backlar, and written and directed by Noel Black and was the winner of the Palme d’Or for Best Short Film at the 1966 Cannes Film Festival. It was also nominated for an Academy Award in the Best Short Subject category. First prizes in international film festivals including Moscow and Venice.

The film tells a story with no dialogue. The surf rock-esque soundtrack was composed by Mike Curb and Nick Venet with Davie Allan and the Arrows playing “Skaterdater Rock” .
It was the first film on skateboarding. It was distributed theatrically, both domestically and internationally, by United Artists. It was reviewed extensively, including “Time Magazine”.

The skateboarders were members of the neighborhood Imperial Skateboard Club from Torrance, California. Their names are Gary Hill, Gregg Carrol, Mike Mel, Bill McKaig, Gary Jennings, Bruce McKaig and Rick Anderson. Most of the action shots were taken in Torrance, Redondo Beach, Palos Verdes Estates. The final shot was Averill Park in San Pedro.” Wikipedia.

These young dudes have some classy moves and an almost Zen-like grace. I lived in Southern California for awhile as a kid and this brings back some memories.

If you dig the soundtrack, you can stream all the tracks here.
 

 
Thanks Jimbo

Posted by Marc Campbell
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04.25.2012
06:11 pm
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London 2012: The Lympics are Coming!
04.13.2012
07:23 am
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lympics_are_coming_exploding_heads
 
The Olympics are coming! O, yes they are. And It’s been relentless, ever since 2005, when London won the bid to host the 2012 Olympic Games, the London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (LOCOG) has jollied along the British public with daft ads, events and exhortations to get behind 2012.

No matter that the country can’t afford it - latest figures for the estimated cost of hosting the Games has risen from £9.3bn (GBP) to between £12bn and £24bn (GBP). No matter that there is high unemployment. No matter that there is a world-wide recession. No, no, no. Let’s forget all about that and enjoy some bread and circuses.

It strikes me that rather than London hosting the Games, or any other country for that matter, it might have been an idea to keep the Olympics in Athens, thereby helping Greece out of its economic meltdown and bringing the country a regular and sustainable income. It would also make better far better and more sensible economic use of the £9 billion’s worth of buildings erected for Athens 2004, which are now abandoned, derelict, and vandalized.

But fuck all this whinging - the Lympics Are Coming! And here are The Exploding Heads - Mark Davison and Anthony Richardson - to get us in the mood! But first a word of warning:

“This video has very little to do with the actual Olympic Games. We didn’t copy the London 2012 logo. I simply imagined a suitable logo and did it on paint. Maid Marian, an Owl, the cast of Sister Sister and Home Improvement, Geoffrey from The Fresh Prince of Bel Air and Des Ree will not feature at the London Games.”

The Exploding Heads are the very lovely and perfectly formed Anthony Richardson, Mark Davison, Ben Tonge, Keith Gubbins.
 

 

Posted by Paul Gallagher
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04.13.2012
07:23 am
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Radical skateboarding video shot in NYC in 1985
04.10.2012
04:05 pm
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Skateboarding the mean streets of Manhattan in the 1980s - the concrete Banzai Pipeline.

Along with the Bones Brigade, that’s Christian Hosoi in there with the green hair, along with Dave Hackett (acid-dropping off a semi truck), Ian Frahm (ollieing up onto the wall at the Brooklyn Bridge banks - big trick at the time) and some other NYC locals.

Some great shots of NYC as these urban skafarists ride the wild turf.
 

Posted by Marc Campbell
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04.10.2012
04:05 pm
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