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Blogmanac team
Jeannine Wilson (USA)
Veralynne Pepper (USA)
Pip Wilson (Australia)
Carpe diem!
Seize the day with more than 150 articles at Wilson's articles department
This blog is dedicated to the 353 victims of the SIEVX disaster,
and casualties of poverty and authority all around the planet
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Saturday, April 02, 2005
America's first 'Trial of the (19th) Century'
April 2, 1800, Manhattan Well Mystery: In New York City, the trial of carpenter Levi Weeks ended with an acquittal. Weeks, accused of murdering Gulielma (Juliana; Elma) Sands, was defended by a 'dream team' of former Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton, and later Vice-President Aaron Burr, in a short trial that had the whole city talking.
Pretty Elma Sands, a 21-year-old milliner, had lived in a boarding house (pictured) on the south-west corner of Greenwich St and Franklin St in New York City, run by her uncle and aunt, Quaker couple Elias and Catherine Ring. It was said in evidence that she had just become engaged to marry Levi Weeks, who lived in the same establishment. She was described by a neighbour as "uniformly cheerful and serene, and on the day previous to the murder was remarkably so. Her expectation of becoming a bride on the morrow was the natural cause of her liveliness. Her temper was mild and tranquil; her manners artless and tender; her conversation ever chaste and innocent. She was one of those virtuous characters against whom the tongue of slander never moves." Levi, too, was a man of good repute – even the prosecutor, assistant attorney-general of New York State and future mayor of New York City, Cadwallader David Colden, referred to Levi's "amiable and engaging manners”.
"Oh, Lord have mercy upon me! What shall I do? Help me!"
A female voice heard by witnesses from the well vicinity on the murder night On the evening of Sunday, December 22, 1799, Elma left the boarding house and was never to return alive, but her body was not found until January 2. It was found in the bottom of one of New York's wells, the so-called Manhattan Well, which coincidentally had been dug by the Manhattan Co., owned by lawyer Aaron Burr. In Weeks's subsequent two-day trial, 75 witnesses testified, but the evidence was all circumstantial and, at worst, Weeks appeared to be a likeable and respected man who had been having sexual relations with Elma Sands.
The judge advised the jury to find Weeks not guilty, which was the verdict returned after only five minutes of consideration. At this point Mrs Ring shocked all present by turning to Attorney Hamilton with the words: "If thee dies a natural death, then there is no justice in heaven". Or, so it is said. Weeks left New York and the public spotlight, apparently moving around the USA for some time then ending up in Natchez, Mississippi, where he lived as a respected architect and family man, dying in 1819 at the age of 43.
One of the witnesses, Richard David Croucher, on whom suspicion had fallen during the trial, was later tried for rape of a 13-year-old girl and sentenced to life imprisonment. As a strange footnote, Hamilton was killed in a duel by his associate Aaron Burr less than five years after the trial. Later, Burr was arrested and tried for treason and his career was shattered.
This is just a snippet of today's stories. Read all about today in folklore, historical oddities, inspiration and alternatives, with many more links, at the Wilson's Almanac Book of Days, every day. Click today's date (or your birthday) when you're there.
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Almanac guests double since July
As this shot of the last nine months of stats for visitors to the homepage of Wilson's Almanac (the Scriptorium) shows, traffic has been increasing steadily. That's just visits to the home page; as we have more than 3,000 fully searchable pages, we must be getting a huge number of readers overall; in the hundreds of thousands per year would be a conservative guess and the only conservative thing you'll get out of your almanackist.
If the bars of the graph were to scale, the image would be more accurate as it would show that traffic has actually more than doubled in nine months. Thanks to all our readers and supporters for helping us grow. More than 440 websites (that we know of) have linked their sites to the Almanac, for which we are very grateful.
We nearly went under last week
Trouble is, there's no such thing as a free Almy. Despite our growth, we are having serious trouble paying our online fees. In fact, I didn't tell you this but just last week I nearly had to pull the plug on the whole project (I couldn't pay by the month and had to pay an annual fee -- money I didn't have). I think it would be a real shame if we had to go, and I'm sure many readers would think so too. If you would like the Scriptorium, Book of Days, Blogmanac and all our other many free features to be sure to stay online, will you throw Puppy a coin? Even a couple of bucks will help pay our Internet bills and keep about 6 million words of Almanac material online for the people of 190 nations, rich and poor, to read absolutely free.
If you prefer, home shopping at our Cafe Diem! store is another great way to make sure we will still be around in another nine months. If you intend to buy a gift or a book for yourself (or software, DVD, home wares, etc, etc) anyway, you can avoid mall carparks and have fast delivery through Cafe Diem. You'll be amazed what a range of products can be found with our search box. Many thanks for your support.
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Blogroll Us Friday, April 01, 2005
Britannica takeover of Wikipedia
(Wikipedia victim of onslaught of April Fool's jokes)
"Today Wikipedia, the free encyclopaedia that anyone can edit, was the victim of an onslaught of practical jokes, as April Fool's Day kicked in in various timezones around the world. Wikipedia contributors were kept busy tidying up and removing prank articles and changes made by other Wikipedia contributors, and were expecting to be cleaning up the aftermath for days afterwards.
"The most highly visible prank was the prank 2005 Britannica takeover of Wikimedia encyclopaedia article ..."
Source: Wikinews
2005 Britannica takeover of Wikimedia (it's very funny)
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 April Fools' Day
(Noddy Day, Gowkie Day, Gowkin’ Day)
If this year’s first day of April is like any other, you’ll have to keep your guard against the practical jokes that others can play on you, much to your annoyance and their delight. But what are the origins of the strange cult of April Fools' Day?
There are a couple of explanations put forward by scholars to account for the trickery that takes place throughout much of the Western world on April 1.
One theory suggests that, because of the tradition of sending someone on 'a fool's errand', the practice might derive from the Biblical story in which Jesus Christ was sent uselessly back and forth between Annas, Caiphas, Pontius Pilate and King Herod, each of them not being able to resolve what to do with him ...
This is just a snippet of today's stories. Read all about today in folklore, historical oddities, inspiration and alternatives, with many more links, at the Wilson's Almanac Book of Days, every day. Click today's date (or your birthday) when you're there.
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T Rex fossil found with blood vessels
"A 70-million-year-old Tyrannosaurus rex fossil dug out of a hunk of sandstone has yielded soft tissue, including blood vessels and perhaps even whole cells, U.S. researchers reported on Thursday.
"Paleontologists forced to break the creature's massive thighbone to get it on a helicopter found not a solid piece of fossilized bone, but instead something looking a bit less like a rock.
"When they got it into a lab and chemically removed the hard minerals, they found what looked like blood vessels, bone cells and perhaps even blood cells."
Source: MSNBC
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Become a Republican (Flash animation)
Click
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Bike Tour Riders Burn Granola Bars Not Fossil Fuels!
"The Portland Peace and Justice Center, a non-profit organization working to advance global peace and justice by promoting local economics and grassroots democracy, is launching its first annual Sustainable Energy in Motion Bike Tour and fundraiser this June. Using one of the most sustainable means of travel – a bicycle – participants explore real examples of local businesses and communities working together to create thriving regional economies and environmentally sustainable societies.
"Sustainable Energy in Motion combines the fun and adventure of bicycle touring with the added benefit of learning about the sustainability movement. These fully supported rides concentrate on active involvement with Native American communities, permaculture and organic agricultural sites, sustainable businesses models and educational organizations. Participants need to be prepared to get their hands dirty as they give back to these host communities through service, participating in projects such as building a Native American sweat lodge, organic farming/orchard work, and wild land restoration."
Source: emediawire
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The Undoing of America
Gore Vidal on war for oil, politics-free elections, and the late, great U.S. Constitution
"For the past 40 years or so of Gore Vidal’s prolific 59-year literary career, his great project has been the telling of the American story from the country’s inception to the present day, unencumbered by the court historian’s task of making America’s leaders look like good guys at every turn ..."
Read this great interview at Bellaciao
Thanks Chris Keeley for the tip.
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Blogroll Us Thursday, March 31, 2005
Please newspapers, charge for online content!
By Duncan Riley
"One of the most spectacular examples of why the old guard of the mainstream media just don’t get blogging, and to some extent, the entire internet, has been provided by Gordon Crovitz, president of electronic publishing at Dow Jones who has said that more U.S. publishers were likely will try to wean readers off free Internet versions of their newspapers by starting to charge online subscription fees.
"I say 'bring it on'.
Why, well it’s simple: it will drive more users to blogs.
"Crovitz tells Reuters that by offering free internet services 'Publishers in all mediums have tended to devalue their brands'. He also argues that charging for news that appears in print and then giving it away over the Web is 'an unsustainable business model'.
"In stating his bizarre beliefs, Crovitz seemingly ignores, or perhaps just does not understand that online advertising and e-commerce is now a multi-billion dollar part of the US and world economy and that online advertising is, even according to the same Reuters article, growing at a faster rate than print advertising. Perhaps his conclusions are being driven by the continued downward slide of print readership over the past 20 years, and he concludes that the only way to save print is to withdraw free content from the web? If this is the case then he ignores blogging at his own peril."
Source: The Blog Herald
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Bloglines adds Package Tracking
"Bloglines, recently acquired by Ask Jeeves, has lauched a new package tracking service, that has been billed as the services first move beyond blogs and RSS news feeds. Ask Jeeves states that this is the beginning of a change to the service that will add even further individual features to 'enable individuals to receive updates that are personal to their daily lives' which will include services such as neighborhood weather updates and stock portfolio tracking.
"The new service allows users to track the shipping progress of package deliveries from FedEx, UPS, and the United States Postal Service within Bloglines.
"'Bloglines is a Universal Inbox that captures all kinds of dynamic information that helps busy individuals be more productive throughout the day-at the office, at school, or on the go,' said Mark Fletcher, vice president and general manager of Bloglines at Ask Jeeves. 'With an index of more than 370 million blog and news feed articles in seven languages, we’re already one of the largest wells of dynamic web information. With unique-to-me news updates we’re aiming to be the most comprehensive and useful personalized information resource on the web.'"
Source: The Blog Herald
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WMD inspector challenges Aussie gov't story
"TONY EASTLEY: A former Australian weapons inspector says the Federal Government was told about concerns of political interference in the preparation of an interim report on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction.
"Rod Barton was a member of the Iraq Survey Group which was searching for the WMDs, but he resigned in March last year claiming 'there was no real objectivity in the investigation'.
"The United States, British and Australian Governments used the prospect of Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction as the key justification for the invasion of Iraq two years ago.
"Now Mr Barton has told a Senate inquiry that a second Australian member of the Iraq Survey Group also resigned, and that this unidentified official later discussed his concerns that the group's reports were politically tainted, with Foreign Minister Alexander Downer.
"From Canberra Kim Landers reports.
"KIM LANDERS: Rod Barton is a scientist and former intelligence analyst who was part of the Iraq Survey Group hunting for Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction.
"When preparing its interim report in March last year, he says there was pressure from London and Washington to leave the impression that weapons may still be found, even though the Survey Group had concluded there were none.
"Rod Barton resigned.
"ROD BARTON: To hide information that we knew about I thought was very wrong.
"KIM LANDERS: Now for the first time he's revealed a second senior Australian official also resigned for similar reasons just weeks earlier. And Rod Barton has told a Senate inquiry his former colleague then sent him three emails describing what had happened when he arrived back in Australia.
"ROD BARTON: He had, according to this, 20 minutes with Mr Downer.
"JOHN FAULKNER: Ah. Mr Downer. That would be the Minister for Foreign Affairs?
"ROD BARTON: Yes, that's correct. In Defence he saw Mr Ric Smith.
"JOHN FAULKNER: Well, just to interpolate there, of course Mr Smith, that's pretty heavy, isn't it? He's the Secretary of the Department of Defence, Mr Ric Smith, yep.
"KIM LANDERS: Mr Barton has refused to reveal the second Australian's identity, referring to him only as 'J'.
"ROD BARTON: I'm reluctant because he's asked me not to. He's a colleague of mine, and I'm trying to respect his privacy. He is a consultant to a government dept.
"KIM LANDERS: Labor's Foreign Affairs spokesman Kevin Rudd questions why the Government has never conceded that this Mr 'J' discussed concerns about the Iraq Survey Group's interim report.
"KEVIN RUDD: So in other words, in mid March last year we have a second Australian government official telling Mr Downer, it seems, that there are problems in terms of political influence being brought to bear on the Iraqi Survey Group, but from that time on Mr Downer continues to use the Iraqi Survey Group as his source of authority for underpinning the Government's claims on Iraq's WMD status all the way up to the election held last October.
"KIM LANDERS: Rod Barton has also told the inquiry there was no interference from Canberra.
"KEVIN RUDD: I think Mr Downer would do the country an enormous service if he issued a full and complete statement about his and his department's awareness of these concerns by senior Australian government officials who were working for the Iraqi Survey Group at the time. If Mr Downer has integrity, he will do that without the pressure of Parliament.
"TONY EASTLEY: Labor's foreign affairs spokesman, Kevin Rudd. And the Foreign Minster, Alexander Downer was unavailable to comment on Rod Barton's claims."
Source: ABC AM
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Blogroll Us Wednesday, March 30, 2005
 Experts Warn Ecosystem Changes Will Continue to Worsen
"WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 30, 2005--A landmark study released today reveals that approximately 60 percent of the ecosystem services that support life on Earth -- such as fresh water, capture fisheries, air and water regulation, and the regulation of regional climate, natural hazards and pests -- are being degraded or used unsustainably. Scientists warn that the harmful consequences of this degradation could grow significantly worse in the next 50 years.
"'Any progress achieved in addressing the goals of poverty and hunger eradication, improved health, and environmental protection is unlikely to be sustained if most of the ecosystem services on which humanity relies continue to be degraded,' said the study, 'Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA) Synthesis Report,' conducted by 1,300 experts from 95 countries. It specifically states that the ongoing degradation of ecosystem services is a road block to the Millennium Development Goals agreed to by the world leaders at the United Nations in 2000.
"Although evidence remains incomplete, there is enough for the experts to warn that the ongoing degradation of 15 of the 24 ecosystem services examined is increasing the likelihood of potentially abrupt changes that will seriously affect human well-being. This includes the emergence of new diseases, sudden changes in water quality, creation of 'dead zones' along the coasts, the collapse of fisheries, and shifts in regional climate."
Source: Business Wire
Study highlights global decline
"The most comprehensive survey ever into the state of the planet concludes that human activities threaten the Earth's ability to sustain future generations."
Source: BBC
Planet Under Pressure
"Alex Kirby introduces a six-part series on the some of the most pressing environmental issues facing the human race today."
Source: BBC
Millennium Ecosystem Assessment
UN Study: Earth's Health Is Deteriorating
Google News on this subject
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Stairway to hyuks
Jessica Mitford singing 'Maxwell's Silver Hammer'? Lorne Greene sings 'As Time Goes By'? Jerry Springer: 'Mr. Tambourine Man'? Johnny Cash singing in German? 'I Am The Walrus' - by Jim Carrey? ...
All this necessary stuff, and more, at this site.
Hint: If you need an extra-big laff, hear Australian actor Leonard Teale recite 'Stairway to Heaven' (especially the bit where "the forest will echo with laughter"), and the Aussie Beatles tribute band Beatnix doing a Fab Four-style of the same Zep classic.
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1853 Vincent van Gogh, painter (d. 1890). The only painting he sold during his lifetime, The Red Vineyard, was created in 1888. It is now on display in the Pushkin Museum in Moscow.
 Vincent and the Starry Night There are some wonderful nights here, I must paint a starry night.
Vincent van Gogh, during his incarceration at the asylum at St Remy, France, in 1889 In 1889, at his own request, the painter was admitted to the psychiatric centre at the Monastery Saint-Paul de Mausole in Saint Remy de Provence, Bouches-du-Rhône, France. Here, looking out his east-facing window, near dawn on the morning of June 19, 1889, he saw the blazing sky that he immortalized in the painting Starry Night. The painting is the subject of the well known song ‘Vincent’ or ‘Starry, Starry Night’ by Don McLean. American art historian Dr Albert Boime enlisted the aid of astronomer Dr Ed Krupp from Griffith Observatory in California to recreate the night sky as it would have appeared to Van Gogh on the night he painted it and amazingly the basic image was the same (with the significant exception that the Moon on that night seems not to have been a crescent, but a gibbous moon). In the painting we see three stars of the constellation Aries as well as the Moon and Venus. There are eleven stars in total, reminiscent of the Biblical Joseph reporting his dream to his brothers: And he dreamed yet another dream, and told it his brethren, and said, Behold, I have dreamed a dream more; and, behold, the sun and the moon and the eleven stars made obeisance to me.
Genesis 37:9
(For those interested in doing their own calculations, Saint Remy de Provence is Lat: 43 deg 47 mins North; Long: 4 deg 49 mins East.)
This is just a snippet of today's stories. Read all about today in folklore, historical oddities, inspiration and alternatives, with many more links, at the Wilson's Almanac Book of Days, every day. Click today's date (or your birthday) when you're there.
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Blogroll Us Sunday, March 27, 2005
Baxter 05: Cops arrest kite-flyer
Baxter protesters object to arrest over kite
"Protesters have staged another noisy demonstration at the front gates of the Baxter detention centre in South Australia's north.
"This time the peaceful protest was in response to the arrest of at least one woman who was caught attempting to fly a kite.
"Police in buses and paddy-wagons stopped the protesters as they were making their way to the detention centre.
"A Melbourne woman was arrested for flying a kite in restricted air space."
Source: ABC
Police deflate Baxter protest
"There has been another clash between protesters and police at the Baxter detention centre in South Australia's north, with police in riot gear bursting protesters' balloons."
Source: ABC
Baxter Police behaviour and "media spin" scandalous, meanspirited
"'Behaviour of the South Australian State Police towards the very, very clearly non-violent Baxter protesters, and the blatant attempts at media spin by the SA Police Media liaison unit amount to a scandal, and an indication that police is involved in playing politics, going far beyond their mandate and call to duty,' WA Refugee group Project SafeCom said this morning."
Source: BX05
Photo of Detainee on Roof at Baxter
What can we do? Learning is a good first step
International and Aussie readers: Australia, instead of welcoming and helping asylum seekers as it has done in the past, and is required to do under international law, locks them and their children up in remote, inhumane camps like Baxter, often for years. The camps are run by private enterprise and the health of detainees is often highly impaired because of the conditions of their imprisonment. Suicide and attempted suicide are quite common.
Find out more about Baxter at baxterwatch.net and help tear down the fence!
Links to useful resources
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Happy birthday, Julia
Thirty-one years and one day ago, I was blessed with the first of my three wonderful children. Since 1994, Julia has blessed me with four children of her own: seen here with my daughter and friend are my granddchildren, left to right, Briar Rose, Sienna, Bailey and Jayden. We're looking forward to another such blessing in June.
A stranger at a shopping mall kindly took this photo of me, Julia and kids yesterday as we celebrated Julia's birthday. I hope you enjoy seeing some of my tribe. Thanks, Baz le Tuff, for the loan of the camera for the morning.
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 Baxter 05 uses tech well
The Easter campaign to close the Baxter Detention Centre in South Australia has been impressive in its use of modern communications technology. I've seen nothing to equal it, whether in Australia or abroad, and feel that other campaigns could learn from it.
Check out the Baxter 05 (BX05) website, where you will see good use of self-publish technology -- the format was invented by the good folks from Sydney's CAT (Community Activist technology, http://www.cat.org.au/) and is now used by Indymedia sites worldwide.
BX05 is up to date as the hundreds of protesters face riot-clad police in the demonstrators' determination to bring to world attention the plight of asylum seekers in Australia. Photos and video are being posted via mobile phones to the website as soon as the actions occur. I dips me lid to the Baxter crew and bilby media consortium, and wish I could be there.
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