July 2005 Archives

(Translated from the French by our Foreign Correspondent)

In a few hours, the jury of five men and four women will deliver its verdict in the world's largest pedophile case in the town of Angers in Western France.
The jury had already returned to the court as we speak, but were sent back to their chambers after it was discovered that they had failed to answer two of the 1,972 questions submitted to them...
Extraordinary measures were taken to ensure the impartiality of the members of the jury who had no access to TV, news or any contact with the outside world while benefiting from constant psychological support in a case described by the magistrates as "particularly sordid".
65 men and women, ages from 21 to 73 years old, are accused of rape and repeated sexual assault on 45 children, some of whom their own children. Marine, now 10, is the child who was submitted to the most abuse: 21 people are accused of raping her and 30 of having assaulted her. Her parents are in the dock.
The reading of the verdict will take a full two hours and readers of nofear.org will be informed of its result as soon as it comes out.

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All accused so far have been found guilty. One was evacuated on a stretcher from the court upon hearing the verdict. Patricia, Marine's mother, guilty of rape and of corruption of minors. Franck V. and his father, both guilty of rape and condemned to 18 and 28 years in jail respectively.
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Only three of the 65 accused have been acquitted. Jean-Marc J, one of the ringleaders, condemned to 26 years in jail. he had to be expelled from the courtroom after making a fracas following his verdict. All in all a good day for justice and a bad day for pedophiles.

Well the comments system thought this was questionable so I'll put my comments to the previous post as a separate entry:

Presumably there'll be an O'Reilly book out soon called "Drinking, Beer", with a picture of a drunk on the front. Reasonably priced at 19.95 and available from all good retailers. Inside there'll be a very well written guide to how to brew and use the open source beer. Many people and companies will buy the book on sight, and then the books will moulder on the shelves as people find it's easier just to buy the stuff...

Towards the back of the book - the only bit that actually gets read - there'll be a overly quirky section on "Care and feeding of your wino."

As you may be aware, this week is 'National Moan Week 2005'. My own contribution to this has to be regarding the food at Clown's Cafe on King Street in Cambridge.

Now, I'm no food snob, I have eaten at some of London's finest eateries, and lowered myself with no qualms to eating at greasy spoons, roadside cafe's and work canteens. However, none of these prepared me for the sheer awfulness of what I have eaten (twice now, more fool me) at Clown's.

The first time I ventured into this eatery was with a colleague, he chose the breakfast option, I naturally chose the vegetarian version. Whilst the regular version looked (and I gather, tasted) perfectly adequate, the meat free selection, for the same price, consisted of some watery tinned chopped tomatoes, baked beans, and a vegetarian sausage. Dismayed as I was with my meagre offering compared to my colleagues, and it's unerring blandness, I nevertheless chose to revist a few weeks later.

This time it was a simple lunchtime meal of scrambled egg on toast. I have to admit, the toast was OK, but despite repeated attempts since at home to recreate the scrambled egg, I have never eaten anything so bland and rubbery that purported to be egg, scrambled or otherwise.

I really wanted to like eating here, as it has friendly staff and a great atmosphere, but until they stop trading on their image, and put some effort into the cooking, I'm afraid this restaurant really only appeals for its opening hours and its bohemian clientele.

Still, if it's any consolation, absolutely nothing in Cambridge currently compares to the absolutely fucktasticly poor service one gets at the Cambridge Arts Picturehouse bar. That, dear readers, will take up a whole new article. Stay Tuned.

It's good to see that any situation can create an opportunity. Nofear HQ received a missive only this morning detailing a new style rucksack already being produced in large quantities by our diminutive friends in China.

As the blurb says 'Asian? Sikh of being treated like a terrorist? ... No more stares rucksack - Completely Transparent'

'Travel on the bus or train without stigma - no more furtive glances from aryan passengers.'

Many column inches have been devoted in both the UK and International media about how stoic the British are behaving in the face of terror. What a load of old bollocks.

How are we supposed to behave? Hide indoors and not venture outside? It is a matter of necessity for those trapped in the rat race of modern life to continue the daily grind of work to ward off the ever present threat of the baliff.

Besides, if we were really that stiff upper-lipped, why do you think the sale of bicycles in London has rocketed in the last couple of weeks.

In this spirit of cowardice, I am pleased to see that 'Transport for London' have unveiled their new logo:

[ Chenapan, our european correspondent, somehow managed to miss this story ]

NANTERRE, France, July 25th 2005

Lance Armstrong may be stripped of his seventh Tour de France title. In a random check for banned substances, French authorities found three substances in Armstrong's hotel room that are banned by the French:

Toothpaste, deodorant, and soap.

Here we see the most recent snap of Syd Barrett, Cambridge's most famous resident rock dinosaur. We at Nofear fully appreciate his commitment to staying out of the limelight, and if he's got enough royalties to keep him going then we're all behind him.

However, we couldn't resist capturing this intimate moment with a magazine in a centre of Cambridge shop.

Also note the distinct change (improvement?) between the old photo - ripped off from a web site - and our picture which shows how careful living can keep even a heavy rocker going through thick and thin.

[ Note added 12th July 2006 - attention all readers - check out the updated post on this subject here

(From our Foreign Correspondent, article translated from the French)

The first “open source” beer has been unveiled under the name “Vores Oel” (meaning “Our Beer” in Danish). There are no commercial rights attached to it, its industrial process and content are publicly available. Version “1.0” of this beverage does however contain an ingredient that makes it unique: a plant extract from South America called “Guarana” that acts as a stimulant and is aimed at boosting the effects of this 6% alcohol nordic beer.
While “Vores Oel” is not yet available in store, anyone can brew it by simply respecting its free licence.

Touted as a return to form for Woody Allen's film making prowess "Melinda and Melinda" is an analytical take on the two sides to every coin analogy. In this case we take a look at the story of Melinda a flustered middle-aged woman who has turned up in New York at an old school friend's house under a cloud. From one side we view the unfolding events as a tragedy from the other we it appears as a comedy.

The opening scene of Allen's film is set in a restaurant where two couples are discussing whether life is on the whole tragic or comic. The main protagonists see things from a slightly different point of view. At this point the tale unfolds before us on the screen, seen from each side of the fence. In each case Melinda is played by Rahda Mitchell, fortunately for the viewer confusion between which version of the tale is being told is reduced by two distinct ploys from Allen. Firstly, Melinda's hairstyle is radically different for the different versions, and also the supporting cast differs - certain similarities do exist in context and plot.

Whether this is a return to form or not is debatable, the film itself is enjoyable. The acting is, as usual, quite fine with Woody Allen presumably giving actors his usual freedom. Production wise the film is mostly well made but there are quite a few technical issues mainly involving the machinery of film making being visible on the screen. Obviously Allen has been turning out almost a film a year, and this is quite a feat possibly necessitating a reduction in perfectionism. As Allen himself has said, he makes a film, once he's happy with it he puts it out then does not read reviews and even will go as far as not to watch the film again! One way or another he will leave a massive legacy of films behind him.

Ultimately the film is not overly involving, which is not a problem in itself, and the main conclusion it draws is that there are often elements of comedy in a tragic story and likewise elements of tragedy in a comic story. I can see his point, I found rather more comedy in the tragic scenes of the film than others in the audience, which could be put down to my weird view of life itself.

***1/2 (out of 5)

By now most will have heard or read about the bombings on the London Underground and the bus explosion. The full details about the exact nature of the bombs have yet to be understood or revealed.

One thing seems to be apparent, and that is the anti-war lobby in this country will have suffered a blow as a result of these series of attacks. Even if the attacks were isolated or merely the start of a larger front of terrorism in this country, the general feeling will surely be to punish the people who carried out the attack. If history has taught us anything it is that a threatened nation, even when threatened by an almost invisible enemy will not worry about tact and diplomacy in trying to get revenge. The events in New York led to two middle-eastern countries being invaded. Londoners are used to terrorism, and to think that their resolve will be crushed by the bombings is a flawed hypothesis, I sense that it will actually bring people together there.

Unfortunately peace and environmental campaigners, whether they demonstrate by peaceful or other means will never gain the attention that terrorism and war generate. After all, force is the ultimate way of getting the point across, rightly or wrongly...

From our European Correspondent Chenapan (photo courtesy of Reuters)

At the “Art Basel” show in Switzerland, visitors can admire a soap made from… Silvio Berlusconi! The Swiss artist Gianni Motti got hold of some of the Italian Premier’s grease after he “left” it behind in a Swiss clinic following a liposuction a year and a half ago. The soap, nicknamed “Mani Pulite” (Clean Hands) is being sold for 15,000 euros. Motti said that “he was amused at the idea that one could wipe one’s bottom with a piece of real Berlusconi”.