'Auld Lang Syne' (Times Long Gone)

Today in the Book of Days: the folklore and customs of New Year's Eve. And free New Year's Eve e-cards.

Should auld acquaintance be forgot
And never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot
And days of auld lang syne?

Chorus
For auld lang syne, my dear,
For auld lang syne
We'll tak' a cup o' kindness yet
For auld lang syne.

We twa hae run about the braes
And pu'd the gowans fine
But we've wander'd mony a weary foot
Sin' auld lang syne.

We twa hae paidl't in the burn
Frae morning sun till dine
But seas between us braid hae roar'd
Sin' auld lang syne.

And surely ye'll be your pint stoup
And surely I'll be mine
And we'll tak' a cup o' kindness yet
For auld lang syne.

Robbie Burns in the Book of Days

Categories: calendar-customs, new-year, poetry, scotland, music

Farewell to the Almanac Yahoo! Groups ezine, for a while

To the members of Wilson's Almanac ezine group,

We've done the ezine http://groups.yahoo.com/group/WilsonsAlmanac/ every day for five years!

As I announced in the Almanac last week, today completes five years of daily posting (1,929 posts) and from today I'm taking a break from sending the daily Almy -- just the ezine, as the rest of the project will be uninterrupted. I can't promise how long, but it will be at least 3 months while I complete my novel http://www.wilsonsalmanac.com/novel.html which I hope you will read and enjoy. No need to unsubscribe, as we'll be back.

Here's a potted history of the Almanac:

How it began
On about December 29, 2000, I suddenly decided that January 1, 2001, would be the perfect time to launch an Almanac ezine from my two decades of hobby research into calendar customs. I had two days to work out how to do it, but we launched on the first day of the millennium as planned.

On January 1, 2001, the Almanac was launched with one reader. Soon I learned how to make a website http://www.wilsonsalmanac.com/ with the plan of having two pages: an entrance, and a subscription page. It just kinda grew and now there are thousands of pages with millions of words.

By March, 2001, we had 22 members. Discouraged? Hmm, maybe a bit.

Growth soon became rapid, doubling every 70 days on average. By 2002 there were more than 1,500 members.

In 2001 we launched the Articles page http://www.wilsonsalmanac.com/articles.html which now has several hundred original articles.

December 27, 2001, saw the first in the series of Essays for a New World http://www.wilsonsalmanac.com/essay.html -- inspirational essays by friends of the Almanac.

On February 2, 2002, we launched the word 'scungeous' on the Internet http://groups.yahoo.com/group/WilsonsAlmanac/message/429 -- we are humbly convinced still that the English-speaking world needs this word.

In February, 2002, we launched the FeelGood Manual http://www.wilsonsalmanac.com/manual.html , uploading a chapter a week for 17 weeks, thereby creating an online book on how to Feel better * Think better * Act better * Dramatically * easily * quickly. Readers say it is useful; some say it has changed their lives. (We still need a book publisher or even an agent.)

On March 15, 2002, we started building The Wall of Divine Almaniacs http://www.wilsonsalmanac.com/support.html -- let me give you a customised brick!

On August 2, 2002 Wilson’s Almanac ezine No 650 http://groups.yahoo.com/group/WilsonsAlmanac/message/650 posted the following notice to members: "The government of my country, Australia, and several others apparently, are planning an invasion of Iraq". Some scoffed. On this day the Almanac announced its opposition to war as a method of combatting terrorism, and the rates of membership growth immediately dropped to a level that has remained slow (but steady) to this day. Gone was the bacterial doubling every 70 days, which (an econometrician mate of mine kindly calculated) would have given us more members than the population of the world in 4.25 years.

Before the invasion of Afghanistan (and therefore of Iraq), in a poem http://www.wilsonsalmanac.com/poetry3.html we predicted that Bush and Blair's misguided "crusade" would increase terrorism around the world. Sorry about that.

A world scoop
On February 13, 2003, http://www.wilsonsalmanac.com/bin_laden_tape.html we scooped the world's media with the story that Colin Powell, in order to aid the war plans of the George W Bush administration, had misinformed the UN Security Council that Osama bin Laden was friendly to Saddam Hussein. We showed that in fact, bin Laden was calling for the assassination of Hussein, on the very tape that Powell was using to pretend the opposite. On the same day, we sent the information to hundreds of media outlets in Australia and about 80 other nations. Despite our most intense efforts, we could not get this story into mainstream media, and again many scoffed -- for 32 months, that is. Then, in September, 2005, Colin Powell admitted that this event was a "blot" on his record http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=KHA20050911&articleId=931 . Now the accepted fact is as we stated it before the war.

On February 8, 2003, before the invasion of Iraq, we also showed many other lies and myths being promulgated by the pro-war lobby: http://www.wilsonsalmanac.com/myths.html -- most if not all of our assertions (ferociously attacked by many at the time) are now the accepted facts.

In April, 2003, we broke the story of President George W Bush's conversion to the cause of non-violent conflict resolution: http://www.wilsonsalmanac.com/summit.html Of course, it was just wishful thinking and a bit of fun with the worst President in US history.

Also in April, 2003, we launched the Blogmanac http://wilsonsalmanac.blogspot.com/

May, 2003, saw the nascence of the Yellow Pages http://yellow_pages.blogspot.com/

At about this time, we unveiled our remarkable Search Engine http://www.wilsonsalmanac.com/search.html which is very efficient for finding what you want from more than 6 million Almanac words.

On January 1, 2004, we launched the Book of Days http://www.wilsonsalmanac.com/book/book_of_days.html , adding each day's folklore and history just a day or two ahead of the members' reading of it. Today (December 31, 2005) it has 405 pages and 3,454,778 words -- more than 9,000 words for your birthday and Uncle Herbert's.

Sometime (I don't know when), we launched Daily Planet News http://www.wilsonsalmanac.com/news.html -- I still think it's our best-kept secret, with 150 news sources on one page. All the other news agencies seem to have very few sources, and usually only one. I invite you to bookmark it and use it instead of TV news as it is much broader.

On January 1, 2005, A Sandy Beach Almanac http://sandybeachalmanac.blogspot.com/ had its birth. In it we try to show that one does not have to be a beachcomber or an anarchist hippie bum, as the two are not mutually exclusive. Other blogs were to follow.

Naturally, I haven't recorded here the blunders and errors, and their numbers are legion, often generously pointed out by dedicated members of this project, to whom thanks and blessings.

Of course, there's been much more, like Toonimations, podcasts, poetry pages for adults and kids, a tagboard, games, resources and all sorts of things you can find at the SiteMap http://www.wilsonsalmanac.com/sitemap.html -- and all of it fun for me and a great learning experience. I hope you will stay with the Blogmanac http://wilsonsalmanac.blogspot.com/ and subscribe http://www.wilsonsalmanac.com/blogmanaczine.html to its regular posts. You'll find the free Blogmanaczine similar to what you've been getting in the Almy.

Don't go back, we'll be right away!
Thank you for your support and friendship over five incredible years. Don't go away, because the ezine will be back, as soon as I can do it, gods willing. Your continuing support is always invited http://www.wilsonsalmanac.com/subs.html

This has been a privilege for me.

Abundance and gratitude, bright blessings, and, as always, "Carpe diem!" -- "Seize the day!".

Pip

Calling all bloggers: These documents need publishing

The UK government has been quick to deny that it practises or tolerates the practice of torture. So it is perhaps not suprising that they are determined that you should not see the following documents ...

Calling all bloggers: These documents need publishing

Tagged: torture, war+on+terror, human+rights, civil+rights, blair

Dubya's 'Brownie' quote wins award

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - "Call it the wrong phrase at the wrong time but "Brownie, you're doing a heckuva job" was named on Thursday as U.S. President George W. Bush's most memorable phrase of 2005.

"The ill-timed praise of a now disgraced agency head became a national punch line for countless jokes and pointed comments about the administration's handling of the Hurricane Katrina disaster and added to the president's reputation for verbal gaffes and clumsy turns of phrase."

And who can forget Brownie's awful emails during the hight of Katrina? Here's a photo of the one sent to him by one of his aides, telling him that in such a "crises" (sic) he should roll his sleeves up when on TV so he actually looks like he's working hard ("Even the President rolled his sleeves to just below the elbow"). It's hard to imagine that PR still works on people, but it does, and Brownie's aide was correct, unfortunately. There's one born at least once a minute -- every 17 seconds in TV land.
More

Tagged: dubya, bush, hurricane+katrina, fema, bushism, bushisms, humor, humour

The Shelleys get hitched

1816 Two and a half years after eloping to Switzerland Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin (daughter of the philosophical anarchist William Godwin and the equally famous Mary Wollstonecraft, feminist author of Vindication of the Rights of Women) and Percy Bysshe Shelley were married, upon learning that Shelley's first wife had drowned herself. Mary, author of Frankenstein, is generally called Mary Shelley to distinguish her from her illustrious mother.

Tagged: english+literature, anarchism, history, poetry, feminism

How Kerry Packer will get through the Pearly Gates

Now that Australia's richest man, media and gambling magnate Kerry Packer, has died, there are many anecdotes about 'The Goanna' circulating. I'll add one more. It's from his lighter side, not the darker one.

I never met him, but through two unrelated chances I knew both his gardener and his caretaker, and also his pilot -- his plane pilot, not the helicopter pilot who famously donated his kidney to the tycoon. One of these gents showed me through Kezza's house when he wasn't home, but I won't divulge anything from his private domain.

However, one memorable anecdote one of Kezza's employees told me was that one night, the great man was being driven home and the enormous iron gates to his mansion wouldn't open automatically. The chauffeur fiddled with the remote control until Packer said "Drive through the bastards", which solved the problem.

Kerry Packer's hold on the media, enabled by the legion of politicians who revered and feared his money and power, is one of the reasons that Australia has one of the least free media in the OECD. This will remain even after he's gone to that opulent cesspit of disinformation and human misery in the sky.

Someone once expressed to me a sense of awe and surprise that Packer would bring a butler and two maids to his holiday house at Palm Beach, Sydney. I did a rough calculation on the back of a train ticket and decided that if he wanted to, he could employ a personal staff approximately equal in size to the population of Australian city of Newcastle.

Tagged: australia, media, television, sport, gambling

Murder in the Cathedral

On this day in 1170, Thomas a Becket, fortieth Archbishop of Canterbury, was murdered in his own cathedral by four knights acting, as they perhaps mistakenly believed, on orders of King Henry II of England.

The assassination shocked contemporaries in an age that was relatively used to deeds of violence. Becket's life has been the subject of two 20th century plays: Jean Anouilh's Becket and TS Eliot's Murder in the Cathedral.

"What a parcel of fools and dastards have I nourished in my house," Henry had said earlier that month in an outburst in his court, "and not one of them will avenge me of this one upstart clerk." Some of his knights took his words literally. (Other versions include expressions such as "Who will rid me of this troublesome priest?") ...

Tagged: british, history, saints

I nominate Boog Highberger as world's best mayor

Lawrence to celebrate Dada days

LAWRENCE, Kansas, USA: "Mayor Dennis 'Boog' Highberger wants to recognize Dadaism by devoting a month to the early-20th-century countercultural movement.

"Well, not exactly.

"Highberger plans to proclaim International Dadaism Month on Tuesday during the city's weekly commission meeting.

"But in the spirit of the Dadaists -- who declared 'art is dead' and rejected conventional forms, often making deliberately absurd works -- the Lawrence mayor hasn't picked a certain month to celebrate the movement.

"Instead, International Dadaism Month will be Feb. 4, March 28, April 1, July 15, Aug. 2, Aug. 7, Aug. 16, Aug. 26, Sept. 18, Sept. 22, Oct. 1, Oct. 17 and Oct. 26.

"To choose the dates, Highberger rolled dice and pulled numbers from a hat.

"As part of the proclamation, Highberger will utter a phrase from a poem by the late Hugo Ball, a founder of Dada: 'Zimzim urallala zimzim urallala zimzim zanzibar zimzalla zam.'
AP (emphasis mine)

Nonsense takes center stage as city honors art movement (nice picture)

Pictured: Hugo Ball, a patron saint of the Book of Days

Tagged: dada, art, dadaism

The birth of cinema

1895 Louis and Auguste, the Lumiere brothers, had their first paying audience at the Grand Cafe in Boulevard des Capucines – this date is commonly considered the debut of the cinema, but at least one source challenges that, stating that a similar event took place in Sydney, Australia in November, 1894 ...

Tagged: cinema, history

Aussie puddle

Thanks Kate. :) Is it real? See Snopes.

Today in the French Revolutionary Calendar

Just added a script that shows today's date in the French Revolutionary (or Republican) Calendar. It was easier than I thought, and seems to work well. Here 'tis.

The escape of William Buckley

1803 At 9pm, William Buckley (1780 - January 30, 1856), Cheshire, UK-born convict in Australia, escaped. Thus began his 32 years of living in the bush among Aboriginal tribespeople, the only European in what we now call the State of Victoria.

In 1799, the more than 2-metre-tall (6 ' 7") teenager had gone to Holland to fight, under the command of the Duke of York, against Napoleon. Later, while in London, he was convicted of stealing a bolt of cloth which he swore he had been carrying for a woman and didn't know was stolen. Despite his war service record, and the relative insignificance of his crime, William Buckley was sentenced to transportation to New South Wales for 14 years (this was in the days when the British still believed that sending people to Australia was a punishment) ...

For a few days he wandered in the bush without sustenance. Some friendly indigenous people of the Wathaurong tribe of the Barwon River district caught a yabbie (freshwater crayfish) for him, which he cooked and ate. However, fearing that they might prove unfriendly, he decided for a time to take his chances in the bush. It was not long, though, before the hardships he encountered made him decide to seek out Aboriginal people again, so he set out to where he had met them before. Finding a spear stuck in a grave, and being so weak from thirst and hunger, he took it for support ...

Buckley’s chance
In Australia there is a common expression, 'Buckley's', short for 'Buckley’s chance' meaning 'without a chance or hope', as in the phrase, "You’ve got Buckley's, mate". Its configuration, then is similar to ‘Hobson’s choice’, which is no choice at all.

There are two main contenders for the original creation of this term. One is that there was a department store, named Buckley and Nunn's. Hence, one has two chances: Buckley’s and none. The other is that it derives from William Buckley.


Tagged: australia, history

Shakespeare's smoke and mirrors tricks

"The longstanding mystery of a floating dagger in Shakespeare's Macbeth may now have been solved thanks to the detective work of an Australian National University researcher.

"Professor Iain Wright, from the ANU Faculty of Arts, has uncovered a potential source of inspiration for the famous scene. The source is a description contained in a book edited by one of the fathers of modern science, John Dee, who was fascinated with how the eye could be deceived by tricks of the light.

"'Macbeth is a great enigma,' Professor Wright said. 'It’s a bigger mystery than Hamlet. We don’t have any record of its first production.'

"Professor Wright estimates that Macbeth was written and first performed in 1606, soon after Scottish monarch James I assumed the throne of England. He made Shakespeare’s players the official royal company, meaning the bard would have been under pressure to please his royal patron.

"The new king and his family had a great appetite for theatre, especially masques, which combined music, performers and special effects to create an elaborate and illusion-rich amusement for the aristocracy.

"Professor Wright argues that although Shakespeare kept his distance from the emerging masque hype, the bard acknowledged the trend by incorporating references into his later works, and tailoring his plays for performances in the closed, exclusive space favoured by the king.

"'You notice at once that Macbeth is full of optical illusions -- there are floating daggers, the ghost of Banquo, ghostly kings, and ghostly cauldrons. I thought, surely if that’s the case, Shakespeare is probably saying to himself, "What sort of special effects are available to make these more spectacular?".'

"This train of thought took Professor Wright to the library at the University of Cambridge where he picked up a copy of Euclid’s Geometry edited by John Dee. A contemporary of Shakespeare, Dee is now regarded as one of the fathers of the modern age because of his talent for what was then called natural magic -- science. He was especially interested in how specially modified mirrors could create tricks of the light, making things appear as if by magic."
Source

John Dee, William Shakespeare in the Book of Days

Tagged: shakespeare, science, magic, theatre, theater, drama, alchemy

1908 'The Fight of the Century' Down Under

I very rarely cover competitive sports in the Almanac, as they get plenty of coverage elsewhere and I don't believe them conducive to inter-communal harmony.

However, on this occasion (and it is Boxing Day, after all) I will mention a remarkable event: the 1908 World Heavyweight Boxing Championship fought a long way from home by two Americans -- one black, one white -- in a 10,000-seat stadium especially constructed for the bout. The building was meant to be torn down afterwards, but lasted another 62 years and even Bob Dylan, The Who and the Beatles played it.

The stadium was more than packed full for its premiere function. Twenty thousand boxing fans watched the Jack Johnson/Tommy Burns fight at The Stadium, Rushcutters Bay, Sydney, Australia (the first time ever in boxing history a black man -- in this case Johnson -- had been allowed to fight for the World Heavyweight Championship, boxing's most prestigious prize).

The fight was covered by telegraph for the New York Herald by American author Jack London (The Call of the Wild), who was recuperating in Sydney from a double fistula operation, which interrupted his South Pacific wanderings ...

Tagged: trivia, boxing, sport, australia

Family at Christmas

Season's greetings from my daughter, my elder son and my grandchildren. Photo (copyright Pip Wilson) was taken on Christmas night.

Merry Christmas

Have a great Christmas. I have some busy days ahead as most of you do as well. I'll be wrapping presents on Saturday, bingeing with my children and grandkids in the bush on Sunday (temperature forecast to be SCORCHING), pigging out with an all-day musical jam session among friends on a mud-brick house veranda on Boxing Day, and then back to abnormalcy on Tuesday. See you then, gods willing. Stay safe, happy and optimistic.

Although the world is full of suffering it is also full of the overcoming of it.
Helen Keller

Bluegrass jingle bells

If you're like me and you love bluegrass, like Christmas carols, and hate midi files unless they're good ones, I think you'll like Dueling Jingle Bells.

Aussie Prime Ministers: Skeletons in the Closet

"Australia is the arse end of the world."
Former Prime Minister Paul Keating

Interesting webpage. Needs more skeletons and proofreading. The former should be easy enough. For example, as we note in the Book of Days, in his younger days, William Morris Hughes worked (with later NSW Premier Jack Lang) on Arthur Desmond's anarchist magazine, Hard Cash.

Tagged: australia, history, australian+history

All about Christmas, in the Almanac

The Almanac has more info on the origins and folklore of Christmas than you can pole-vault over.

Recently updated and much embiggened. Dubya would even say it has embetterment, and is ungrinnable.

Tagged: christmas, xmas, folklore, lore, customs

Six white boomers and other Aussie carols

Click for the movingamation

Six white boomers, snow white boomers
Racing Santa Claus through the blazing sun
Six white boomers, snow white boomers
... On his Australian run

Kayla from California writes: "heard on the radio that there is a myth that Santa uses 8 white kangaroos instead of reindeer".

My reply: In 1960 the Australian singer/songwriter Rolf Harris wrote a hit novelty Xmas song called 'Six White Boomers', about Santa having white boomers (buck kangaroos) pulling his sleigh -- read lyrics/listen to midi. There are some graphic depictions here, but none are particularly good ones. Artists, we need some good pix of Santa's six white boomers.

There's no old folklore about it, but after four decades it is folklore now, I suppose.

My favourite Australian carol, however, is 'Carol of the Birds' which has beautiful words and tune ('orana' means 'welcome').

Out on the plains
the brolgas are dancing
Lifting their feet
like war horses prancing
Up to the sun
the woodlarks go winging
Faint in the dawn light
echoes their singing

Orana! Orana!
Orana! To Christmas Day.

Down where the tree-ferns
grow by the river,
There where the waters
sparkle and quiver,
Deep in the gullies
Bell-birds are chiming,
Softly and sweetly their
lyric notes rhyming

Orana! Orana!
Orana! To Christmas Day.

Friar-birds sip the
nectar of flowers,
Currawongs chant in
wattle-tree bowers
In the blue ranges
Lorikeets calling
Carols of bushlands
rising and falling

Orana! Orana!
Orana! To Christmas Day.

Tagged: australia, christmas, folklore, lore, kangaroos, santa, santa+claus

Put the X back in Xmas

From time to time over the years, I've drawn criticism for my occasional use of 'Xmas' rather than 'Christmas', at times being told that it is some new marketing shorthand.

In fact, the term 'Xmas' is centuries old. The 'X' stands for 'Christ' (which is why many Neopagans use the expression 'Xians' for Christians'). The ancient Greek letter 'Chi', the first letter in the Greek word 'Christ' ('Anointed one'), was represented by an 'X' -- hence the 'Ichthus' bumper stickers displayed by some Christians, which is an acronym for the Greek words for Iesous Christos Theou Huios Sotir ('Jesus Christ, Son of God, Saviour'). That famous fish symbol, by the way, was supposedly scratched on walls by early Christians to point the way to their illegal meetings, and it was revived by hippie Jesus Freaks in the early 1970s, then gradually adopted by conservative Christians.

Another use of the 'X' in Christian tradition is explained at November 25 in the Book of Days -- how it pertains to St Andrew and the 'XXX' we put at the end of letters to represent kisses.

Merry Xmas!

Tagged: christmas, christian, jesus+christ, folklore, customs, religion, english, language, words

Deaths show bird flu virus resistant to Tamiflu (poor Rummy)

"A bird flu virus that killed two people in Vietnam is resistant to the drug that health officials are counting on to halt spread of the disease, according to a study released on Wednesday.

"Two new deaths, added to a similar case in October, showed the H5N1 virus was resistant to oseltamivir, sold under the name Tamiflu, according to an article released by the New England Journal of Medicine. "
Deaths show bird flu virus resistant to Tamiflu: study. 22/12/2005. ABC News Online

Has Hussein been beaten and tortured?

"I want to say here, yes, we have been beaten by the Americans and we have been tortured," Saddam told the court before gesturing toward his seven co-defendants, "one by one."
Source

I doubt it very much. Saddam Hussein is a nasty muhfuh, and he'll say anything, not to beat this rap, because he knows he can't, but for propaganda purposes (although it's too late for that; he is yesterday's bastard).

The other reason I doubt it is because even Bush's horrible administration wouldn't be that stupid. They have been torturing uncounted people all around the globe -- it's these muhfuhs' stock in trade -- but they are electroding and savaging only the powerless and unknown. I doubt they would expose themselves by torturing a celebrity because it would soon get out (I wish they would start with Schwarzenegger and Pat Robertson). Have his co-accused been beaten and tortured? That's much more likely under Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld and the rest of their gung-ho pro-torture gang.

The other compelling bit of evidence, though by no means conclusive, is that Saddam Hussein neither provided any photos of injuries, nor stripped off to show the bruises and scars. Hussein is savvy enough to know that if he did some courtroom theatrics, he would get half the world on side, but he kept his shirt on.

No, he's just another political leader full of shit. Another one who deserves to spend the rest of his life in prison.

By the way, why do the US press always call him by his first name? They didn't do that with Adolph, Joseph or Henry.

Tagged: saddam+hussein, iraq, usa, torture

Gouldians: Red-heads top the pecking order

Pictured: My flatmates, John and Elizabeth Gould-Wilson. Lizzie is the redhead. Click to embetter.

Red-headed finches dominate their black-headed and yellow-headed peers by physical aggression and by the mere fact of being red-headed, according to research published today in the Proceedings of the Royal Society.

University of New South Wales biologists made the discovery following experiments with stunningly colourful Gouldian finches (Erythrura gouldiae). Among Australia's most endangered native birds, Gouldian finches are now restricted to small isolated populations across the tropical north.

The bird has a bright green upper body, blue rump, violet-purple chest, yellow breast and bright azure-blue collar. But its most distinctive feature is its head, which occurs in one of three discrete colours: red, yellow or black. This colour polymorphism makes the Gouldian finch unique, with three distinct forms all naturally occurring and inter-breeding in the same wild populations ...
Source

Tagged: gouldian, gouldians, birds, australia, finch, finches

Today is Winter Solstice, or Yule

Yule is one of the eight solar holidays or sabbats of Neopaganism.

It is celebrated on the winter solstice, in the Northern Hemisphere circa December 21 and in the Southern Hemisphere circa June 21. The name is of Germanic origin; it is also called Midwinter ...

Tagged: christmas, yule, pagan, neopagan, religion, calendar, customs, folklore, mythology, lore

Free seasonal e-cards

Check out the Almanac's Yule, Christmas, Season's Greetings, New Year, Hanukkah, etc, free e-cards. More than 30,000 sent so far.

Tagged: christmas, yule, hanukkah

'He is President, Not A King: Russ Feingold

"He is President, Not A King" Russ Feingold

See Bush try to defend this indefensible and illegal use of wiretaps on American citizens, and Sen. Feingold's emphatic response.A video from InformationClearingHouse.info.

Tagged: bush, dubya, terrorism, nsa, homeland+security, espionage, civil+liberties, civil+rights, usa, america, liberty, wiretaps

Bush isn't drinking

'Breathtaking Inanity' and a victory for reason

'Breathtaking Inanity': How Intelligent Design Flunked Its Test Case

A federal judge minces no words as he comes down against evolution's rival

"Intelligent design is a religious idea and a Pennsylvania school board may not introduce it into the classroom, a federal judge ruled today. Judge John E. Jones III ruled that the Dover Area School Board improperly introduced religion into the classroom when it required science teachers to read a brief statement during the 9th grade biology class telling students that evolution was 'Just a theory' and inviting them to consider alternatives. The only alternative specifically mentioned was intelligent design,' the notion that life is so complex that it could not possibly have been the work of natural selection alone and must have been the work of an unspecified creative intelligence. 'We find that the secular purposes claimed by the Board amount to a pretext for the Board's real purpose, which was to promote religion in the public school classroom,' Jones wrote.

"The Dover school board became the first in the nation to explicitly embrace intelligent design in October of 2004, when it required teachers to read the brief statement at the start of the evolution unit in the biology class. Teachers later refused and the statement was read instead by administrators. Jones said the Dover case was the result of 'the activism of an ill-informed faction on a school board, aided by a national public interest law firm eager to find a constitutional test case on ID, who in combination drove the board to adopt an imprudent and ultimately unconstitutional policy.' He derided the school board’s decision as 'breathtaking inanity' and said the resulting 'legal maelstrom' was an 'utter waste of monetary and personal resources.' The judge’s decision clears the way for the plaintiffs in the case to demand repayment of legal expenses. It's not clear, therefore, how much the case may wind up costing the taxpayers of Dover."
TIME

'Intelligent design' teaching ban
Google News: dover inanity
Creationism (rotten.com)
Design Yes, Intelligent No (CSIOP)
What the blogs are saying (Technorati)

Tagged: intelligent+design, darwin, evolution, science, religion, fundamentalism

The Long March of Dick Cheney

"The hallmark of the Dick Cheney administration is its illegitimacy. Its essential method is bypassing established lines of authority; its goal is the concentration of unaccountable presidential power. When it matters, the regular operations of the CIA, Defense Department and State Department have been sidelined.

"Richard Nixon is the model, but with modifications. In the Nixon administration, the president was the prime mover, present at the creation of his own options, attentive to detail, and conscious of their consequences. In the Cheney administration, the president is volatile but passive, firm but malleable, presiding but absent. Once his complicity has been arranged, a closely held 'cabal' - as Lawrence Wilkerson, once chief of staff to former Secretary of State Colin Powell, calls it - wields control ..."
Sidney Blumenthal, Salon.com opinion piece via TruthOut

Tagged: cheney, usa, bush

WWW's creator 'tries this blog thing'

So Timbl's finally worked out how to blog. I hope it's not too hard for him.

I'm just kiding, of course, because Timbl is Sir Tim Berners-Lee, the man who created the World Wide Web. His Timbl's Blog, launched a week ago, should be interesting to watch, although it doesn't look like he'll be posting all that often.

He writes: "In 1989 one of the main objectives of the WWW was to be a space for sharing information. It seemed evident that it should be a space in which anyone could be creative, to which anyone could contribute. The first browser was actually a browser/editor, which allowed one to edit any page, and save it back to the web if one had access rights.

"Strangely enough, the web took off very much as a publishing medium, in which people edited offline. Bizarely, they were prepared to edit the funny angle brackets of HTML source, and didn't demand a what you see is what you get editor. WWW was soon full of lots of interesting stuff, but not a space for communal design, for discource through communal authorship.

"Now in 2005, we have blogs and wikis, and the fact that they are so popular makes me feel I wasn't crazy to think people needed a creative space. In the mean time, I have had the luxury of having a web site which I have write access, and I've used tools like Amaya and Nvu which allow direct editing of web pages. With these, I haven't felt the urge to blog with blogging tools. Effectively my blog has been the Design Issues series of technical articles.

"That said, it is nice to have a machine to the administrative work of handling the navigation bars and comment buttons and so on, and it is nice to edit in a mode in which you can to limited damage to the site. So I am going to try this blog thing using blog tools. So this is for all the people who have been saying I ought to have a blog."

Tagged: internet, blog, blogging, www, world+wide+web

Another view of Santa's Cave

Another view of Santa's Cave

Santa's (fridge) Cave

Santa's (fridge) Cave,
originally uploaded by wilsonsalmanac.

Merry Christmas to subscribers and visitors. (Click.)

Rummy and Saddam Hussein

Click to embetterment

1983 Donald Rumsfeld met Saddam Hussein in Baghdad, Iraq. In a lengthy report in the Washington Post (December 30, 2002) based on analysing thousands of pages of declassified government documents and interviews with former policy-makers, it was asserted that "US intelligence and logistical support played a crucial role in shoring up Iraqi defences" following this meeting.

Tagged: rumsfeld, bush, iraq, war, peace, military, wmd, wmds, usa

More guestbook spammers

Sorry to bore you but I think it's best to make these available to the whole Internet. Just ignore, thanks.

http://oil-tankstelle.lollerhverv.dk
http://foto-loro.phpcenter.dk
http://therapie-hamm.tulavedivadlo.sk
http://studieren-im-ausland.phatsites.co.uk
http://gelijkheid-van-kansen-en-voor.opel-ebeltoft.dk
http://seigneur-des-anneaux-le-retour-du-roi-sur-pc.malmundra.be
http://toner-laser-color.africars.be
http://listado-de-partidos.quadrant4guitars.be
http://architecte-en-chef-des-monuments-historiques.mfoteppe.be
http://cursos-a-distancia-de.miss-moses.be
http://calculo-de-pendientes.kirenia.be
http://technische-tekening-van.cnpp.fr
http://effetti-pinnacle-studio.deom.co.uk
http://hotel-palmeras-playa.jozefbucek.sk
http://paul-artisan.aissr.sk

Sea bird plunging into Pacific Ocean at dawn

If you would like to see a short 9.5MB flm of a gannet (or maybe a tern?) plunging into the Pacific in front of the same dawn I posted a pic of here yesterday, click here before Christmas (when yousendit.com will remove it as they only keep items for seven days). It was a lucky shot, best watched enlarged but not full screen.

Guestbook spamming is now organised crime

I run a webpage called Tell J-9 You've Read It, and it's for increasing awareness of a deadly form of breast cancer called IBC.

The following are recent spammers of the Tell J-9 guestbook, all of which I have had to remove manually tonight when I'd rather be in bed, till around 2.15 am. The creepiest things is the messsages these bastards leave, along the lines of: "This website is Great! I will recommend you to all my friends. I found so much useful things here. Thank you."

Guestbook spamming is now obviously organised crime. If you know which authorities or friendly hackers to report these spammers to, please cut out the middle-man and do it for me. Thank you.

http://de-la-enfermera-a.web-helpers.dk
http://technische-betriebe.nutrilife.sk
http://investigacion-en-enfermeria.houses-in-dunfermline.co.uk
http://sangue-leonino.valuecard.be
http://der-halle.minervatraject.be
http://bases-de-loisirs-en.mfoteppe.be
http://frequenties-den-haag.trouwfotografie.be
http://meaning-of-led-zeppelin.dopinglijst.be
http://con-la-luce.succescontact.be
http://sims-party-codes.ebz.fr
http://ashley-simpson-on.webcasters.org.uk
http://platos-tipicos-de-cada-region.steinecker.sk
http://proprieta-olio-di.pcpiacenza.it
http://tussenstand-voetbal.weston-welbeck.co.uk
http://park-hotel-londres.tonsite.fr
http://abogado-com.mijnsamenvattingen.nl
http://seguros-para-automoviles.jc-birkeroed.dk
http://black-hand-in.fc-zenit.co.uk
http://pour-chaussure.gblogs.org.uk
http://erfenis-belasting.ebz.fr
http://esperto-nella.houses-in-chesterfield.co.uk
http://off-to-thee.zar.sk
http://charge-de-batterie.tgnumic.sk
http://get-data-back-from.orggrow.co.uk
http://legalisierung-von-drogen.technorganic.co.uk
http://top-gun-jacket.solgames.dk
http://noorse-kronen.ldu.sk
http://grupos-de-bate-papo.rover-75-45-25.co.uk
http://munchen-zahnarzt.lets.sk
http://patrones-de-enfermeria.hostgeneration.co.uk
http://cadeaux-fete-des-peres.ek-mantis.dk
http://depressie-and.property-sale-norfolk.co.uk
http://et-appareil-photo-numerique.manfridaydiving.dk
http://como-se-hacen-las-monedas.peryt.waw.pl
http://kamera-5.aufob.sk
http://muestras-en-el-laboratorio.darlington-estate-agents.co.uk
http://karte-frankische-schweiz.property-south-yorkshire.co.uk
http://wrestlemania-21-video-game.hotelmilanosanremo.it
http://cracker-le-logiciel.houses-in-bingley.co.uk
http://wolfram-richter.camcorders-cameras.co.uk
http://services-sharepoint-portal.cpaction.org.uk
http://how-to-spot-a.targetingtechnology.co.uk
http://persoonlijke-bescherming.cnpp.fr
http://viagra.hut1.ru
http://phentermine.freebox.ru
http://lol.to/bbs.php?bbs=phenonline
http://phentermine-us.ql.st
http://viagra.drugs-worldwide.com
http://www.1st-phentermine.net
http://spaces.msn.com/members/1-online-casino
http://roulette.up-a.com
http://casino.20me.com
http://www.gambling-online.nu
http://online-slots.spycounter.net
http://voli-verona-lampedusa.clan-fubar.co.uk
http://ciencias-en-valencia.maxi-super.sk
http://prefecture-certificat.dragy.sk
http://quien-fuma.webg.dk
http://nike-air-max-total-365.hernesnesthouse.co.uk
http://u-handels-gmbh.cybersamenleving.nl
http://tierarzte-in-koln.hotelristoranteilporto.it
http://dagelijkse-leven-van-de.opel-risskov.dk
http://um-virus-de.1sck-kosice.sk
http://ein-anruf-von.cockycharlie.co.uk
http://correction-d-exercices-de.lkw.sk
http://baseball-diamond.agibilita.it
http://www.xxx-blog.com/
http://di-promessi-sposi.bmwz.co.uk
http://video-vault-software.property-west-midlands.co.uk
http://buckwild-bus-tour.manfridaydiving.dk
http://garten-wasser.nutrilife.sk
http://una-cuenta-hotmail-com.houses-in-dunfermline.co.uk
http://stichting-bedrijfspensioenfonds-voor-de.opel-ebeltoft.dk
http://xu-wei-lun.infoskola.sk
http://arbiter-flats-pro.halflifesource.be
http://www.fortuneplayer.info/11217
http://rote-kuh-hannover.hotelristoranteilporto.it
http://www.phentermine-information.us/weight-loss-surgery-new-word-in-the-weight-loss.html
http://www.viagra-inform.com/feedback.html

Tagged: spam, internet

Parodic pictures

These photo-cartoons from a Belgian site are worth checking out. Click this one to embetterate.

Tagged: parody, satire, humor, humour, cartoons

Schwarzenegger Stadium to be renamed 'Tookie Williams Stadium'?

"In Schwarzenegger's hometown of Graz, local Greens said they would file a petition to remove his name from the southern city's sports stadium. A Christian political group went even further, suggesting it be renamed the 'Stanley Tookie Williams Stadium.'

"'Schwarzenegger has a lot of muscles, but apparently not much heart,' Dray said.

"In Italy, the country's chapter of Amnesty International called the execution 'a cold-blooded murder.'"
PHX News

Drunk Santas cause New Zealand mayhem

Forty drunken Santas have rampaged through central Auckland, stealing from stores and assaulting security guards in a protest against the commercialisation of Christmas.
The New Zealand Herald reports some of the Santas threw beer bottles, one tried to climb the mooring rope of a cruise ship and a security guard was punched during the fracas.

"They came in, said 'Merry Christmas' and then helped themselves," convenience store staff member Changa Manakynda said.

The newspaper says the event organiser, Alex Dyer, had warned the antics would only stop when someone was arrested.

It links the incident to "Santarchy".

Santarchy (www.santarchy.com) records protests going back around 10 years in the United States, with participants marking Christmas in anti-commercial manner involving street theatre, pranks and public drunkenness.

Police say identification is a key issue as they try to sort out which of the 40 men and women had done what.

"With a number of people dressed in the same outfit, it was difficult for any witnesses to confirm the identity of who was doing what," Senior Sergeant Matt Rogers said.

- Reuters

Season's greetings to all

Click to embiggen

Is Google stepping closer to EPIC?

So, Time Warner is selling 5 per cent of AOL to Google. Where will this lead?

According to the NY Times, "Google, which prides itself on the purity of its search results, agreed to give favored placement to content from AOL throughout its site, something it has never done before." They also note, "Representatives of Time Warner, Google and Microsoft declined to comment."

This is the same Google that always promised it would never play the favourites game. As InfoWorld says: "The lesson? Never, ever trust a capitalist who pretends to be otherwise."

Google has much to commend it, and I'm a fan, but like many others, more than a tad concerned about monopoly. It's amazing how much news Google is generating in just one day (on Google News):

Google to Pay Billion Dollars for 5% AOL Shares
Google Launches Music Search Feature
Google to Build Pennsylvania Research Facility
Google goes mobile with Gmail

Now listen to the ABC documentary, Googlemania: "Google is now all pervasive, it's a cultural phenomenon, a boundless mediascape and a huge business empire. It's also entered the language as a verb, and it is changing everything. It now plans to digitise every book ever written, and to find it you have to google it. It's creative destruction, it's cool, it's scary -- and it's happening."

Listen in :: Real Media Windows Media :: Download MP3 :: Podcast :: [ File size: 22MB ]

Then watch EPIC -- it's the year 2014 and Google owns everything. Food for thought.

Tagged: google, corporation, corporations, globalization, business

Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Oz and USA

1863 Franz Ferdinand, Archduke of Austria (d. 1914). His assassination by Gavrilo Princip on June 28, 1914 precipitated the Austrian declaration of war against Serbia, which triggered World War I.

Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Australia and USA
The Archduke arrived in Sydney on May 17, 1893 on board the Austrian warship SMS Kaiserin Elisabeth on a world tour when he was 29. Within 24 hours of his arrival he left Sydney by train for Nyngan, a frontier town in the west of New South Wales, accompanied by Francis Bathurst Suttor, Member for Bathurst and Minister for Public Instruction in the Government of Sir George Dibbs, and Herr Alfred Pelldram, the German Consul-General. He spent most of his time in Australia hunting in the Nyngan and Narromine districts, but also travelled to Moss Vale in the Southern Highlands of NSW ...

Tagged: trivia, austria, royalty, monarchy, australia, usa, history

The Hard Gay

He's the Hard Gay, a funny Japanese guy, and Google video has a clip.

Wikipedia Vs Britannica: Suck it and see

Compare Wikipedia and Britannica

The vested interests that lie behind a constant carping against Wikipedia are much more than the corporate interests of the big publishers.

Wikipedia, being an online encyclopaedia that anyone (not just paid staff and consultants) can edit, challenges the whole ethos of neo-conservatism (or what I call the econo-rats, ie, economic rationalists).

The Wikipedia project has at its heart and soul a faith in humankind, altruism and generosity. At the heart and soul of conservatism is a skepticism of these, and a promotion of self-interest over community. Where the neo-cons gain influence, their values increase, and where community-minded enterprises gain influence, their values increase. With the neo-cons in many ways in the ascendancy today, is it any wonder that they love to hate people-based (not profit-based) enterprise?

But suck it and see for yourself
Encyclopaedia Britannica since 1768 has been pretty much unchallenged as the best encyclopaedia in the world. Feed it some search queries on topics you know something about. Then try the same queries on Wikipedia. I did with the following search terms, and out of five stars, overall I rate Wikipedia at four stars compared to half a star for Britannica:

Coffs Harbour in Britannica :: Coffs Harbour in Wikipedia

Permaculture in Britannica :: Permaculture in Wikipedia

Gregorian calendar in Britannica :: Gregorian calendar in Wikipedia

Samhain in Britannica :: Samhain in Wikipedia

Henry Lawson in Britannica :: Henry Lawson in Wikipedia

There is simply no contest. Apart from the greater content and useful graphics, the Wikipedia articles are richly hypertexted. And of course, I don't need to pay to get the full article because we Wikipedians aren't in it for money. Furthermore, Wikipedia gave me 25 external links for more information. Unlike Wikipedia and our Almanac, very few profit-based websites will ever give you that.

Of course Wikipedia isn't perfect. Its readers are currently working on 868,701 articles and there are bound to be some glitches, but they usually get corrected quickly -- if they don't, then you can have your say, unlike with the corporate encyclopaedias.

Support community over profits
But let's keep it in perspective and remember that in the age-old struggle between community versus corporate capitalism, the moneyed guys will never quit fighting. Neither should the people with the better cause quit, so let's counter the claims of the neo-cons (as with the racists, see below), whenever they are argued, as argued they will be at every opportunity. In other words, we can be activists for community values through supporting Wikipedia and similar projects, and it costs us nothing. That's an advantage we have that frustrates the neoliberals* as they don't understand the strategy or tactics. They simply do not understand why anyone would do something that can't be tallied in an accounts ledger. They are cynics who think they are born to rule the world:

What is a cynic? A man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.
Oscar Wilde at Wikiquote

If it's a bet between optimism and pessimism, spirit and cynicism, altruism and self-interest, I prefer to take the positive gamble every time even if I lose some of the time. On the whole, taken over a lifetime, I'm winning the bets and breaking the bank.

Study: Wikipedia as accurate as Britannica (yes, there are accuracy problems at Wikipedia, but also at Britannica)

Note that the Neoliberal page in Wikipedia is disputed -- a sign of Wikipedia's strength, not weakness. That is something that simply doesn't happen in corporate encyclopaedias or the conservative mindset as a whole -- human debate and dissent are discouraged, as with the Patriot Act.

Tagged: wikipedia, encyclopedia, encyclopaedia+britannica, progressive, anarchism, activism

Patriot Act renewal blocked

Patriot Act renewal blocked. Congratulations, America. The world still has faith in you and knew you would someday start to break through Bush's phony war. Don't keep the pressure off him as there's a long way to go.

Tagged: patriot+act, usa, liberty, civil+rights, civil+liberties

Saturnalia, Roman Empire

Four major Roman festivals were held in December, including the Saturnalia which celebrated the returning Sun-god. Saturnalia (from the god Saturn) was the name the Romans gave to their holiday marking the Winter Solstice and many of our Christmas customs derive from it.

Saturn was a Roman cognate of the Greek god Chronos (Time). He devoured all his children except Jupiter (air), Neptune (water), and Pluto (the underworld, or grave). These time cannot consume. He carries a sickle, like the Grim Reaper, and we know him in our day as Father Time ...

Tagged: christmas, folklore, customs, ancient+rome, mythology, roman+mythology