Bird flu pandemic could kill 150m, UN warns
Bird flu pandemic could kill 150m, UN warns.
Wilson's Blogmanac
"Now that we have total control of your economy, we would like to show our appreciation by presenting you with this beautiful ballot box." -- Archibald Sarantoff
Friday, September 30, 2005
The arrest of Mordechai Vanunu
1986 Mordechai Vanunu (b. 1954) was kidnapped by Israeli secret police in Rome (although upon release Vanunu claimed it was the CIA rather than Israel’s notorious Mossad secret agency). Vanunu, who had leaked details of Israel’s secret nuclear weapons program to the London Times, was convicted in a secret Israeli military court and held in solitary confinement for much of his 18-year imprisonment.Vanunu secretly wrote details of his kidnapping on the palm of his hand which he showed press photographers. Shots of his hand were beamed around the world, and soon car window stickers with 'Free Vanunu' slogans were being displayed in many places. However, it was to be nearly two decades before the government of Israel was to release this whistleblower ...
Tagged: vanunu, nuclear, anti-nuclear, nukes, activism, progressive, peace, war
Dutch solar car wins Australian outback race
"Dutch team Nuon won the eighth World Solar Challenge on Wednesday, piloting their bug-shaped car in record time across the vast, inhospitable Australian outback.
"Nuon's Nuna 3 car beat 21 other entrants from around the world over the gruelling 3,000 kilometres (1,860 miles) race from the tropical northern city of Darwin to Adelaide in South Australia state.
"Using nothing but the power of the sun, Nuna 3 appeared to have broken its 2003 record of 30 hours and 54 minutes."
ENN
Tagged: solar+power, solar, sustainability, sustainable, energy, climate+change, global+warming
"Nuon's Nuna 3 car beat 21 other entrants from around the world over the gruelling 3,000 kilometres (1,860 miles) race from the tropical northern city of Darwin to Adelaide in South Australia state.
"Using nothing but the power of the sun, Nuna 3 appeared to have broken its 2003 record of 30 hours and 54 minutes."
ENN
Tagged: solar+power, solar, sustainability, sustainable, energy, climate+change, global+warming
Arctic ice cap 'will disappear within the century'
"The Arctic ice cap is on track to disappear within a century, according to a study published yesterday."The satellite survey by the US National Snow and Ice Data Centre (NSIDC), and the space agency Nasa reveals that for the fourth consecutive year there has been 'a stunning reduction' in Arctic sea ice at the end of the northern summer, placing species such as polar bears at risk." Continues here
Lid dip to Extra! Extra!
Tagged: global+warming, environment, climate+changeI can't believe it's not Jesus
Religious Joke 1
The Vatican has announced a new low calorie communion host. It's called "I can't believe it's not Jesus".
Religious Joke 2
I was walking along when I saw a man standing on a bridge getting ready to jump. I tried to find a reason to dissuade him, and asked:
Are you religious? Yes, he replied. Great, so am I
Christian or Buddhist? Christian, he said.
Episcopalian or Baptist? Baptist, he responded.
Baptist Church of God, or Baptist Church of The Lord? Baptist Church of God.
Are you Original Baptist Church of God or Reformed Baptist Church of God? Reformed Baptist Church of God.
Are you Reformed Baptist Church of God Reformation 1879 or Reformed Baptist Church of God Reformation 1915? Reformed Baptist Church of God Reformation 1915, was the answer.
Die heretic scum, I said. And pushed him off.
Source
Tagged: religion, christianity, baptist, humor, humour, comedy, joke, jokes
The Vatican has announced a new low calorie communion host. It's called "I can't believe it's not Jesus".
Religious Joke 2
I was walking along when I saw a man standing on a bridge getting ready to jump. I tried to find a reason to dissuade him, and asked:
Are you religious? Yes, he replied. Great, so am I
Christian or Buddhist? Christian, he said.
Episcopalian or Baptist? Baptist, he responded.
Baptist Church of God, or Baptist Church of The Lord? Baptist Church of God.
Are you Original Baptist Church of God or Reformed Baptist Church of God? Reformed Baptist Church of God.
Are you Reformed Baptist Church of God Reformation 1879 or Reformed Baptist Church of God Reformation 1915? Reformed Baptist Church of God Reformation 1915, was the answer.
Die heretic scum, I said. And pushed him off.
Source
Tagged: religion, christianity, baptist, humor, humour, comedy, joke, jokes
Thursday, September 29, 2005
Scroll the Diamond Sutra
Great.
[Don't mind me. Just practising Instapundit-style blogging because I need some big awards and millions of readers.]
[Don't mind me. Just practising Instapundit-style blogging because I need some big awards and millions of readers.]
Child's play powers water pump
Speaking of permaculture, this is a great example of clever design:
"A South African nonprofit that developed a way to use children's merry-go-rounds to power water pumps in rural areas has entered Mozambique and also plans to build the 'Play-Pumps' in Swaziland. Have you seen President Thabo Mbeki on a merry-go-round?"The Play-Pump, invented by Roundabout Outdoor, uses a very simple method to alleviate the back-breaking chores of hauling water over long distances in rural Africa, where more than 300 million people lack safe drinking water ..."
Global Pulse
Tagged: permaculture, sustainable, sustainability, technology, south+africa, africa, water, development
Clever trick to have a Blogger photo blog
This bloke used free RSS/java scripts from FeedDigest to come up with a great photoblog format. Cool.
Tagged: blog, blogging, blogs, rss, javascript, tips
Tagged: blog, blogging, blogs, rss, javascript, tips
No longer just hippie, green is finally chic
It seems to me that there's a level of environmental consciousness higher than it has been since the early-'70s. Hurricane Katrina and (because of the Iraq invasion) much more press about oil running out soon, probably have most to do with it. We are seeing with our own eyes the things environmentalists have been talking about for 30 or 40 years. I'm noticing not quite so many doubters and scoffers these days and although the scene is grim, I find that refreshing.
No Longer Just Hippie, Green is Finally Chic, says the LA Times:
"Don't look now, but the '70s are back. Not disco, thank God, but the energy crisis. Gas not only costs an arm and a leg, but consumption is peaking toward that dreaded point where demand may outstrip supply. California's electricity crisis of 2000-2001 may have been orchestrated by corporate bad boys, but rolling blackouts and brownouts could become as much a part of our summers as record-breaking temperatures and water rationing. And speaking of water, we have a problem: There's not enough of it."
And Wall Street Discovers Climate Change, says the Moscow Times:
"The deadliest hurricane season in more than a century has some Wall Street investors sounding like members of the Sierra Club.
"Firms including Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase are telling U.S. clients for the first time that climate change poses financial risks. With damage estimates for Hurricanes Katrina and Rita as high as $200 billion, an increasing number of investors are joining public pension funds in urging action on global warming, which scientists say may be making storms more powerful."
And even the NY Times editorialised on September 28:
Time to Connect the Dots
"Along with ruined homes and upended trees, the recent hurricanes left behind a revived debate about global warming. While some environmentalists point to the wreckage as a kind of retribution for America's failure to control greenhouse gas emissions, right-wing talk show hosts repeat, over and over, that even if global warming did exist, there is no proof it had anything to do with Rita and Katrina."
If you're interested in the latest news on climate change, and I'm sure most people are these days, there's a big popup page of it linked from Daily Planet News -- easy to access any time. Looking for solutions on the micro and macro levels? There are lots of Sustainability and Permaculture news links there too.
Tagged: climate+change, sustainability, hurricane, katrina, hurricanekatrina, rita, environment, global+warming, oil, iraq
SIEVX: Gov't still says tragedy position 'unknown'
"In June this year, soon after the trial of convicted people smuggler Khaleed Daoed concluded, two Government Ministers (Senators Ellison and Vanstone) independently released statements that included reference to SIEVX having sunk in 'international waters'. These statements were at odds with the Defence Internal Review of Intelligence pertaining to SIEVX provided to the CMI Committee and with the findings of the CMI Report (see paras 8.5 & 8.144). They also contradicted John Howard's oft repeated refrain throughout the 2001 Federal election campaign that the boat had sunk in 'Indonesian waters' (see p.2 & endnote #8)."This seeming about face by Ellison and Vanstone caused some commentators (1, 2, 3) to conclude that the Government had officially changed its line on this issue. However, this is not the case ... [a large part of Marg Hutton's article not included here for space reasons, but well worth reading -- PW] ...
"The SIEVX survivors have consistently claimed that there was a ship or ships in their vicinity on the evening that their boat sank. This radar contact at 1930 fits with this information and what is more, it also fits with the 0919 contact from the morning flight. If 0919 is SIEVX then it appears that it would not have travelled very far into the area depicted by the white square by 3.10pm, the time of the sinking. Similarly, 4 hours after the sinking, if the boat had sunk close to the edge of the white square, then you would expect that the survivors would have drifted to a similar position within the pink square, four hours later, which would put them close to the 1930 radar contact.
"It is also worth noting that the ship or boat seen at 1930 could have moved closer to the survivors - the point plotted on the surveillance map is not necessarily the closest point that that boat/ship came to the area represented by the pink square that evening ...
"So it is apparent that there is data within the Government's own surveillance maps that supports the sinking location derived from the Jakarta Harbourmaster's report. We know where SIEVX was rescued. An expert in Oceanography has assessed how far the boat drifted from the sinking site while the survivors were in the water. The map above is based on this data and is the best information we have on the probable sinking location.
"When is the government going to come clean and admit the blindingly obvious - that SIEVX sank in international waters inside our border protection surveillance zone?"
sievx.com
"SIEV-X stands for Suspected Illegal Entry Vessel X (the X means 'unknown'). It is the name ... commonly used to refer to a dilapidated Indonesian fishing boat that was en-route to Christmas Island carrying over 400 asylum seekers. It sank in October 2001, killing 353 people, mostly women and children." Wikipedia
Siev X Memorial Exhibition Coming to Canberra 19-22nd October 2005
Invitation to our Aussie and overseas readers: Sign the condolence book
Get Google news alerts on SIEV-X :: or by RSS on your feed reader
Our motto since this blog's foundation in April '03 (see the sidebar): "The Blogmanac is dedicated to the 353 victims of the SIEVX disaster, and casualties of poverty and authority worldwide."
Tagged: progressive, activism, sievx, australia, human+rights, disinformation, refugees
Ian Cohen catches the big wave
1986 The biggest flotilla ever to enter an Australian port, 26 ships from six navies, assembled in Sydney Harbour. It was larger even than Teddy Roosevelt's Great White Fleet that sailed into the harbour in 1908. Surfing anti-nuclear protester Ian Cohen clung to the bow of USS Oldendorf, appearing on front pages worldwide.Ian is the author of the book Green Fire, an account of the Australian environmental movement, a movement that has transformed Australian politics. He is also a Green Party member in the Legislative Council ('Upper House') of the Parliament of New South Wales, and, I'm proud to say, an old battle comrade of your almanackist
Tagged: anti-nuclear, nukes, surf, surfing, nuclear, protest, demo, greens, usa, navy, activism, australia
Wednesday, September 28, 2005
Handbook for bloggers and cyber-dissidents
"Blogs get people excited. Or else they disturb and worry them. Some people distrust them. Others see them as the vanguard of a new information revolution. Because they allow and encourage ordinary people to speak up, they?re tremendous tools of freedom of expression.
"Bloggers are often the only real journalists in countries where the mainstream media is censored or under pressure. Only they provide independent news, at the risk of displeasing the government and sometimes courting arrest.
"Reporters Without Borders has produced this handbook to help them, with handy tips and technical advice on how to to remain anonymous and to get round censorship, by choosing the most suitable method for each situation. It also explains how to set up and make the most of a blog, to publicise it (getting it picked up efficiently by search-engines) and to establish its credibility through observing basic ethical and journalistic principles."
Reporters sans frontieres
"Bloggers are often the only real journalists in countries where the mainstream media is censored or under pressure. Only they provide independent news, at the risk of displeasing the government and sometimes courting arrest.
"Reporters Without Borders has produced this handbook to help them, with handy tips and technical advice on how to to remain anonymous and to get round censorship, by choosing the most suitable method for each situation. It also explains how to set up and make the most of a blog, to publicise it (getting it picked up efficiently by search-engines) and to establish its credibility through observing basic ethical and journalistic principles."
Reporters sans frontieres
Study says belief in God may contribute to society's dysfunctions
"There's a new twist to the evolution versus creationism debate. A new study from America suggests that widespread belief in God may contribute to the dysfunctions of a society ..."
The World Today
A curious theory that might or might not have any scientific basis, but it does strike one right in the "I just knew it!" nerve.
Of course, saying that the USA's greater religiosity than other nations explains its higher crime rate, and so on, is rather like saying that unmarried old women have fewer birds in their gardens because they shoot them, when it might be because they own more cats. Of course, they might shoot the poor little birds, who knows? American spinsters, anyway. More study on all these hypotheses must be done.
As for this bloke with the new theory -- I wonder if he just took a mortgage out on his house, or wants a European vacation or something. Because he can always defend his belief by saying "more study must be done" (meaning he wants some money) and no one will disagree with him. Don't you just get the feeling a lot of scientists do this?
I think America has a high crime rate because they have too many birds in their gardens, and we all know what they can do about that.
Tagged: usa, intelligent+design, evolution, christianity, religion, science
The World Today
A curious theory that might or might not have any scientific basis, but it does strike one right in the "I just knew it!" nerve.
Of course, saying that the USA's greater religiosity than other nations explains its higher crime rate, and so on, is rather like saying that unmarried old women have fewer birds in their gardens because they shoot them, when it might be because they own more cats. Of course, they might shoot the poor little birds, who knows? American spinsters, anyway. More study on all these hypotheses must be done.
As for this bloke with the new theory -- I wonder if he just took a mortgage out on his house, or wants a European vacation or something. Because he can always defend his belief by saying "more study must be done" (meaning he wants some money) and no one will disagree with him. Don't you just get the feeling a lot of scientists do this?
I think America has a high crime rate because they have too many birds in their gardens, and we all know what they can do about that.
Tagged: usa, intelligent+design, evolution, christianity, religion, science
New laws will lead to racial profiling: Aussie cops
Australia: "The Premiers may largely be in agreement over the new terrorism laws, but police and Muslim groups are raising their voices in concern.
"The Police Federation of Australia says the new laws will inevitably lead to racial profiling of the Muslim community and it wants the Federal Government to legislate to protect police officers from any civil action that may come from focussing their investigations on any particular group.
"Muslim organisations say the admission from the Police Federation is proof that their community is at risk under the new laws, despite assurances to the contrary by the Prime Minister ..."
The World Today
Tagged: australia, war+on+terror, terrorism, islam, muslims, civil+rights, human+rights, police
China's Sorrow
1887 In one of the worst floods in history, 'China's Sorrow', the Huang Ho River (Huang He; Yellow River) in China flooded, killing about 1 million people. The flooding covered about 130,000 square kilometres (50,000 sq. miles) and completely buried many villages under silt. More than two million people probably died from drowning, starvation, or the epidemics that ensued. Ten years before, in 1877, another million had died in the flooded Huang Ho, and two years later, another flood destroyed 1,500 villages ...Tagged: china
250,000 US bullets for every rebel killed
"US forces have fired so many bullets in Iraq and Afghanistan -- an estimated 250,000 for every insurgent killed -- that American ammunition-makers cannot keep up with demand. As a result the US is having to import supplies from Israel.
"A government report says that US forces are now using 1.8 billion rounds of small-arms ammunition a year. The total has more than doubled in five years, largely as a result of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as changes in military doctrine."
Independent
Tagged: usa, military, iraq, peace, war
Podfather and more: New in the Almanac's Podcast Page
Adam Curry's Daily Source Code podcast is well worth a listen as it's well produced and the news and discussion about new media and Internet technologies is interspersed with music. And of course, Curry -- The Podfather -- was one of the pioneers of podcasting.
Yesterday's show featured an interview with a guy from The Watt, a news and podcast source on the subject of energy. There I learned that Willy Nelson has formed a bio-diesel company called 'BioWilly'. As Curry says, couldn't the guy who wrote 'Crazy' come up with something better than that?
By the way, Curry is innovative in that he runs a wiki for reader input on each program. I've added both DSC (Daily Source Code) and The Watt to the Podcast Page, which you can always find in the menu at the top of most Wilson's Almanac pages.
Here's the current list of our 34 featured podcasts, in my patented version of alphabetical order:
Adam Curry: Daily Source CodeTagged: podcast, podcasting, ipod, pod, energy
ITC: All Programs
AlterNet.org: Podcasts
Audio Activism
GreenWorldOnline
Earthwatch Radio
A World of Possibilities
A View from the Religious Left
Mother Jones Radio
The Spirit of Things
Background Briefing
Living on Earth
Late Night Live
IndieFeed: Alt/Modern Rock
Democracy Now!
A Moment of Yoga
The Chris Pirillo Show
Greenpeace
MondoGlobo Network
theWatt Weekly
bioneers.org
Ethical Investing
Spiritual Spice
The World Today
All in the Mind
Correspondents Report (ABC)
The Media Report
The Science Show
Ockham's Razor
Asia Pacific Podcast
From Our Own Correspondent (BBC)
Documentary Archive
Sounds Sustainable
Comedy 365
Simulacrum
Go Digital
Tuesday, September 27, 2005
How Powell blatantly lied to the world over WMDs
2003 Colin Powell publicly lied that the Clinton administration “conducted a four-day bombing campaign in late 1998 based on the intelligence that he [UNSCOM director, Richard Butler] had. That resulted in the weapons inspectors being thrown out.”
In fact, President Saddam Hussein of Iraq, after having ceased to comply with UN weapons inspectors on October 31, had sent a letter to the United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan offering to facilitate the inspections. On December 16, Richard Butler (pictured), head of UNSCOM, the UN weapons inspection team withdrew the team from Iraq, to protect his staff from the air strikes that the US and UK governments were threatening. Within hours, Operation Desert Fox began: the US and UK began pre-emptively bombing Iraq – hundreds of cruise missiles raining down on the country, marking the start of strikes to punish the Baghdad government.An avalanche of US and British propaganda was published by a mostly unsuspecting world media, justifying the aggression and ignoring the destruction of Baghdad’s utilities and the deaths of many innocent civilians and service people ...
The lie gets round the world
The ‘mistake’ has been made not only by pro-war people such as George W Bush in his State of the Union address (‘the axis of evil’ speech), Dick Cheney, Alexander Rose, the Canadian right-wing Washington correspondent of the National Post, and the editorial writers of the Sunday Times. It has also been made by those who have shown concern for the humanitarian situation in Iraq, such as the International Committee of the Red Cross, UK Liberal Democrats foreign affairs spokesperson Menzies Campbell, and the usually trustworthy Guardian Middle East editor Brian Whitaker. The BBC often makes the same incorrect assertion, although it usually acknowledges its error when it is pointed out to them.
Richard Butler became a fierce critic of the invasion of Iraq, strongly criticising Australian Prime Minister Howard and marching with more than a quarter of a million others in the Sydney pro-peace march on February 16, 2003 (held almost simultaneously with the worldwide February 15 marches due to time differences).
Tagged: colin+powell, wmd, wmds, iraq, progressive, war, peace, disinformation, united+nations, unscom
Labor leaders making Australia secure for insecurity
It's incredibly sad to see that the Australian Labor Opposition and the Labor premiers of the majority of Australian states have approved the right-wing Howard Government's draconian "security" legislation.
On the whiff of suspicion about anything at all (read: on some dickhead politician's whim), now any of us can be held for 14 days without trial. And the things in the legislation that turn the stomach just begin there. See you in jail.
As Australian Council for Civil Liberties president Terry O'Gorman said on ABC radio: "They seem to be acting like school boys playing 'Look at me, look at me, aren't I good?'"
Old Silver sticks head up own arse
Meanwhile in the news, if proof were needed that Labor is a shadow of its former self, former Labor Prime Minister Bob Hawke wants Australia to be the dumping ground for the world's nuclear waste. Is it any wonder people are leaving the Labor Party in droves for the Greens?
"The Silver Bodgie" Hawke reckons Australia's geological conditions are so stable that we can risk it, and grab lots of brown paper bags of dollars to use on environmental problems. Problems like nuclear radiation sickness for thousands of years?
If you want to see how stable things are and how Hawke's brain is turning to putty, see October 14, 1968 in the Book of Days. A photo of a 6.9 Richter earthquake in Hawkie's own state of Western Australia ... the one that famously devastated the district of Meckering.
Tagged: australia, labor, nuclear, nukes, progressive, terrorism, civil+rights
Monday, September 26, 2005
Three Brazilian
Donald Rumsfeld is giving President Bush his daily briefing. He concludes by saying: "Yesterday, three Brazilian soldiers were killed in an accident."
"OH NO!" the President exclaims. "That's terrible!!"
His staff sits stunned at this display of emotion, nervously watching as the president sits, head in hands.
Finally, the President looks up and asks ... "How many is a Brazillion ??!"
Lid dip to Nora at extra!extra!
Tagged: dubya, bush, humor, humour
"OH NO!" the President exclaims. "That's terrible!!"
His staff sits stunned at this display of emotion, nervously watching as the president sits, head in hands.
Finally, the President looks up and asks ... "How many is a Brazillion ??!"
Lid dip to Nora at extra!extra!
Tagged: dubya, bush, humor, humour
NOAA: 'Global Warming and Hurricanes'
"An implication of these studies is that if the frequency of tropical cyclones remains the same over the coming century, a greenhouse-gas induced warming may lead to a gradually increasing risk in the occurrence of highly destructive category-5 storms."
NOAA: 'Global Warming and Hurricanes'
Salute to The Online Magazine (blog by a "36 year old Navy submarine nuke")
Tagged: hurricane, rita, hurricanerita, global+warming, noaa
NOAA: 'Global Warming and Hurricanes'
Salute to The Online Magazine (blog by a "36 year old Navy submarine nuke")
Tagged: hurricane, rita, hurricanerita, global+warming, noaa
"Another Hurricane Rita" on the way
Vietnam braces for large typhoon
"Vietnam is bracing itself for the onslaught of Typhoon Damrey, which has already wreaked havoc on China's island province of Hainan. More than 100,000 people have left the Vietnamese coast in preparation ...
"Chinese officials have described it as the worst typhoon to strike the province in decades, with winds comparable to Hurricane Rita."
BBC NEWS
Tagged: hurricane, rita, hurricanerita, global+warming, vietnam, typhoon
"Vietnam is bracing itself for the onslaught of Typhoon Damrey, which has already wreaked havoc on China's island province of Hainan. More than 100,000 people have left the Vietnamese coast in preparation ...
"Chinese officials have described it as the worst typhoon to strike the province in decades, with winds comparable to Hurricane Rita."
BBC NEWS
Tagged: hurricane, rita, hurricanerita, global+warming, vietnam, typhoon
FBI raid Muslims, seize terrorist herbs & spices
"Federal agents raided a Muslim campground in Moodus on Friday. Working in concert with the US Department of Agriculture, agents seized documents, computer discs and ... amaranth seeds!"
Short Notes: Will Brady's Ruminations
Tagged: fbi, islam, muslim, muslims, usa, terrorism, civil+rights
Short Notes: Will Brady's Ruminations
Tagged: fbi, islam, muslim, muslims, usa, terrorism, civil+rights
A test of Mohawk spirituality, God, law
AKWESASNE, USA -- "This remote, windblown patch of northern New York where the Mohawks live has been the scene of numerous conflicts -- over gambling, taxes, ancient land claims and smuggling.
"A new battle, however, is going much deeper, into Mohawk spirituality, God and the Pledge of Allegiance.
"Claiming their rights are being trampled, a group of Mohawks and other American Indians want the pledge taken out of their schools.
"The sentiment comes after the local Board of Education concluded that a traditional American Indian ritual, known as the Thanksgiving Address, amounted to a prayer and shouldn't be part of the academic day."
TimesUnion.com
Tagged: mohawk, religion, spirit, spirituality, indigenous, aboriginal, usa, activism
"A new battle, however, is going much deeper, into Mohawk spirituality, God and the Pledge of Allegiance.
"Claiming their rights are being trampled, a group of Mohawks and other American Indians want the pledge taken out of their schools.
"The sentiment comes after the local Board of Education concluded that a traditional American Indian ritual, known as the Thanksgiving Address, amounted to a prayer and shouldn't be part of the academic day."
TimesUnion.com
Tagged: mohawk, religion, spirit, spirituality, indigenous, aboriginal, usa, activism
The day Stanislav Petrov saved the world
1983 On this day, it is likely that more lives were saved than on any other occasion in history, and it was by a man most of us haven’t heard of, and because he refused to obey orders.Soviet military officer Stanislav Petrov averted a worldwide nuclear war (because of time-zone differences, the date was September 26 in the Soviet Union, and September 25 in the West). Petrov refused to accept that missiles had been launched against the USSR by the United States despite the indication given by his computerised early warning systems.
For three terrifying minutes, Petrov held firm while alarms around him in his bunker were telling him his country was under attack, with five US missiles launched and headed towards Soviet territory ...
Tagged: usa, ussr, cold+war, nuclear, nukes, war, peace
David Hicks might be Pommie and escape Guantanamo hell
"Lawyers for David Hicks say his application for British citizenship should help him get out of Guantanamo Bay and avoid a US military commission."Hicks, originally from Adelaide, has been held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, since 2002.
"The 30-year-old convert to Islam was captured in Afghanistan where he allegedly fought alongside the ruling Taliban against US-led forces who invaded after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States.
"He faces charges in a military commission in October of conspiracy to commit war crimes, attempted murder by an unprivileged belligerent and aiding the enemy.
"During a chat about the Ashes cricket series with his Pentagon lawyer Michael Mori, Hicks revealed his mother was British and had never taken out Australian citizenship ..."
Sydney Morning Herald
"David Hicks' application for British citizenship is being considered by the British Government.
"Described as a proud Australian by his Adelaide-based lawyer David McLeod, Hicks' disclosure about his mother's background came out of the blue and gave his legal team another option to pursue ..."
ABC Radio AM
! More Aussie troops likely for Afghanistan !
Fair Go For David
Google david+hicks guantanamo and get Google news alerts on david+hicks guantanamo
Tagged: australia, david+hicks, human+rights, guantanamo, usa, torture
Sunday, September 25, 2005
The man who wakes up in a ditch ... then goes to work at Sotheby's
"Anushka Asthana meets Hugh Sawyer, 32, who has taken downsizing to a new level to prove that we can all get by with much less
"At 6am Hugh Sawyer wakes up to the persistent ring of his alarm clock. He rolls over with a grimace and flicks on Radio 4's Today programme. He gets up, has a wash and a shave, grabs some breakfast and rushes down to the bus stop to commute to London.
"When he gets to work in the bids department of Sotheby's he is always spotlessly turned out in a Gieves & Hawkes suit, a stylish tie and polished shoes. The Oxford law graduate is a regular at the gym and often meets friends for drinks in the capital's bars ..."
The Observer
Tagged: uk, ditch+monkey, alternative+lifestyles
"At 6am Hugh Sawyer wakes up to the persistent ring of his alarm clock. He rolls over with a grimace and flicks on Radio 4's Today programme. He gets up, has a wash and a shave, grabs some breakfast and rushes down to the bus stop to commute to London.
"When he gets to work in the bids department of Sotheby's he is always spotlessly turned out in a Gieves & Hawkes suit, a stylish tie and polished shoes. The Oxford law graduate is a regular at the gym and often meets friends for drinks in the capital's bars ..."
The Observer
Tagged: uk, ditch+monkey, alternative+lifestyles
Billy Hughes, the "Labor rat"
1862 Billy Hughes (William Morris Hughes), seventh Prime Minister of Australia (d. 1952); wartime leader (WW I) and Australia's longest-serving federal parliamentarian (51 years, 7 months continuous service). Hughes was born in London of Welsh parents: his father was a carpenter at the House of Lords. Before entering politics he was variously "a drover, boundary rider, tally-clerk, navvy, grape picker, blacksmith's striker, factory worker, farm worker, saddler, cook, and deckhand on a coastal vessel" (source). He was influenced by the book Progress and Poverty, by the then famous progressive American political economist, Henry George (who toured widely in Australia in 1890), but he forced a WWI anti-conscription struggle. Hughes was the leader of the pro-conscription side and gradually as his politics moved rightward he split the Labor movement and became a pariah to Australian progressives.
In the early-1890s, before he became a "rat", as his political opponents with the labor movement called him during WWI, he had been associated with the establishment of a paper called The New Order, which was the brainchild of the anarchist Active Service Brigade leader, Arthur Desmond. (William Holman and Jack Lang, both later Premiers of New South Wales, were also involved in Desmond's anarchist newspapers in Sydney.) ...
Tagged: australia, australian, labor, progressive, history, anarchism
Parents Vs Christian conservatism in Intelligent Design trial
"Even as Monday marks a historic court trial on how the basic canon of science, the evolution theory is taught in American schools, 11 Harrisburg, Pennsylvania parents are taking Dover High school to court for having implemented 'Intelligent Design' as an alternative in their children's curriculum that had Bush's recent support.
"The trial, now being called the 'Kitzmiller Vs Dover' after Tammy Kitzmiller, a parent who is likely to be the first to bring the concept under court scrutiny ..."
EarthTimes
Tagged: evolution, dubya, bush, intelligent+design, kitzmiller, fundamentalism, education, science
"The trial, now being called the 'Kitzmiller Vs Dover' after Tammy Kitzmiller, a parent who is likely to be the first to bring the concept under court scrutiny ..."
EarthTimes
Tagged: evolution, dubya, bush, intelligent+design, kitzmiller, fundamentalism, education, science
Houston: Downtown homeless forgotten again
"One segment of the downtown population was out in force. The homeless were on street corners and in parking lots. I stopped to speak with several. One man in a wheelchair named Brian seemed dazed and confused. I asked him what his plan was for the storm, and he asked if I knew of a store where he could purchase cigarettes. I said I didn't, but I was worried about his safety. He pointed to a semi-enclosed parking structure and said he'd stay in there, or perhaps under a bus stop canopy. I expressed doubt as to the safety of these places, and he asked me for a cigarette. As we were talking a sheriff's office van drove by, but didn't stop when I tried to flag it down to assist the disoriented Brian ...
"Passing the HPD downtown station I stopped to speak with some officers milling around outside. Both told me that the homeless 'know where to go' when storms hit, or cold weather comes to Houston. I asked why the Star of Hope was closed and the officers told me that people have to think of their own safety first. I asked if they were going to make any kind of effort to help out those who hadn't found a safe space to brave the 60+ mile an hour winds and driving rain, but they said there was no effort to this end underway at this time ..."
Houston Indymedia
Tagged: houston, hurricane, rita, poverty, hurricanerita, police, usa
"Passing the HPD downtown station I stopped to speak with some officers milling around outside. Both told me that the homeless 'know where to go' when storms hit, or cold weather comes to Houston. I asked why the Star of Hope was closed and the officers told me that people have to think of their own safety first. I asked if they were going to make any kind of effort to help out those who hadn't found a safe space to brave the 60+ mile an hour winds and driving rain, but they said there was no effort to this end underway at this time ..."
Houston Indymedia
Tagged: houston, hurricane, rita, poverty, hurricanerita, police, usa
Saturday, September 24, 2005
Ancient solar eclipse cause of Chinese wonder
1912 BCE According to Kevin Pang, a Pasadena, California, USA, geology consultant, when 4th century BCE Chinese philosopher Motze wrote, in his account of a battle some 1,500 years earlier, “The sun rose at night”, he was referring to a total solar eclipse that took place on this day.The sun’s re-emergence from behind the moon was thus recorded as a nocturnal sunrise. Because Pang knew where precisely where the battle took place, by astronomical calculations done by a computer program by Kevin Yau of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, it was possible to discover the eclipse of September 24, 1912 BCE and thus understand what event Motze was referring to.
Tagged: science, astronomy, archaeology, archaeoastronomy, archeoastronomy, solar, eclipse, china, ancient, history
US troops beat prisoners "to amuse themselves"
"Three former members of the Army's 82nd Airborne Division say soldiers in their battalion in Iraq routinely beat and abused prisoners in 2003 and 2004 to help gather intelligence on the insurgency and to amuse themselves.
"The new allegations, the first involving members of the elite 82nd Airborne, are contained in a report by Human Rights Watch ...
"In one incident, the Human Rights Watch report states, an off-duty cook broke a detainee's leg with a metal baseball bat ..."
NY Times
Human Rights group alleges Iraq prisoner abuse
"The administration demanded that soldiers extract information from detainees without telling them what was allowed and what was forbidden. Yet when abuses inevitably followed, the leadership blamed the soldiers in the field instead of taking responsibility."[Sure, the US government has adopted brutality as a policy, but let's not let soldiers off the hook either. Right is right, wrong is wrong, and some jobs are simply "wrong livelihood". Let's hope we see both the responsible political 'leaders' and the soldiers in the slammer.]
Tom Malinowski, Washington Director of Human Rights Watch
The story at Human Rights Watch
Tagged: progressive, human+rights, iraq, war, peace, usa, army, military
Friday, September 23, 2005
Bush appointees' sneak attack on healthy food
"After 35 years of hard work, the U.S. organic community has built up a multi-billion dollar alternative to industrial agriculture, based upon strict organic standards and organic community control over modification to these standards."Now, large corporations, such as Kraft, Wal-Mart, & Dean Foods--aided and abetted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and members of the Organic Trade Association, are moving to lower organic standards by allowing Bush appointees in the USDA National Organic Program to approve a broad list of synthetic ingredients and processing aids that would be allowed in organic production. Even worse these proposed regulatory changes will reduce future public discussion and input and take away the National Organic Standards Board’s (NOSB) traditional lead jurisdiction in setting standards. What this means, in blunt terms. is that USDA bureaucrats and industry lobbyists, not consumers, will have near total control over what can go into organic foods and products. (Send a quick letter to your Congresspersons online here) ..."
OrganicConsumers.org
Tagged: dubya, bush, organic, health, corporations, usa, activism
Is George on the turps again?
Way up there on the Technorati list of top searches is "Bush drinking". There's a story here and another here.
Tagged: alcoholism, dubya, bush, drinking, alcohol
Tagged: alcoholism, dubya, bush, drinking, alcohol
NOAA website and the invisible national disaster
So, you want to know about Hurricane Rita (said to be the third most powerful hurricane on record) less than 24 hours before it's expected to wreak havoc on the USA? and you go to the website of the USA Government's NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration), right? There it is.
Tagged: noaa, hurricane, rita, hurricanerita
Chicago 8, Chicago 7, whatever
1969 USA: The Chicago 8 (later the Chicago 7) trial opened in Chicago, Illinois. They had been indicted on March 19 in the aftermath of their Yippie demo at the 1968 Chicago Democratic Party National Convention.Charged with conspiracy to incite riot were Abbie Hoffman and Jerry Rubin (leaders of the Yippies – the Youth International Party), Bobby Seale (Black Panther leader), David Dellinger (chairman of the National Mobilization against the War), Tom Hayden and Rennie Davis (leaders of Students for a Democratic Society) and John Froines and Lee Weiner (local Chicago organizers). The number of defendants was reduced to seven on October 29 when Bobby Seale was bound, gagged, and sent to prison for contempt of court ...
[Pictured: Jerry Rubin and Abbie Hoffman (seen here in the judicial robes they wore to the trial, when they weren’t wearing American revolutionary uniforms, etc), perhaps the best-known and certainly the most flamboyant of the Chicago 8, are both now in Yippie heaven.]
Tagged: progressive, yippie, yippies, hoffman, sixties, peace, war, antiwar, democrats, vietnam, activism, situationism, protest
Daily Planet News now has 100 newsfeeds
I hope you've enjoyed having Daily Planet News with 38 free global newsfeeds all on the one page. Because almost all news agencies give you only their own news, I kinda thought 38 feeds made a good one-stop news page.That was when there were 38 feeds. Even then it was the biggest news page I could find on the Net. Well check it out now ... now there are more than 100 news sources! And I acknowledge the great service of Peter Cooper from FeedDigest who helped me make Daily Planet News three times bigger and even a bit quicker.
PS True, it's not the world's fastest download, but I think your patience will be rewarded. And you can just leave it open and it auto-refreshes every 15 minutes while you do your stuff.
PS Best wishes to Peter Cooper and the FeedDigest crew whose servers are right now in Houston, in the path of Rita. And of course, our thoughts and wishes go to everyone in the same situation.
Update: I spoke too soon. I think their server is down. Good luck, guys.
Tagged: progressive, blog, blogs, news, newsfeed, newsfeeds, rss, xml, syndication
Welcome Blog Herald readers
I'm a big fan of Blog Herald and read it regularly, so it was nice to be listed in their 100 Blogs in 100 Days. Welcome to BH readers, and thank you, Blog Herald.
Thursday, September 22, 2005
Katrina aid from UK to be burned; US red tape
Tons of British aid donated to help Hurricane Katrina victims to be burned
"Hundreds of tons of British food aid shipped to America for starving Hurricane Katrina survivors is to be burned.
"US red tape is stopping it from reaching hungry evacuees.
"Instead tons of the badly needed Nato ration packs, the same as those eaten by British troops in Iraq, has been condemned as unfit for human consumption.
"And unless the bureaucratic mess is cleared up soon it could be sent for incineration.
"One British aid worker last night called the move 'sickening senselessness' and said furious colleagues were 'spitting blood'.
"The food, which cost British taxpayers millions, is sitting idle in a huge warehouse after the Food and Drug Agency recalled it when it had already left to be distributed."
Mirror UK; a dip of me lid to Jim from pagans4peace
Tagged: hurricane, katrina, hurricanekatrina, usa, uk, aid
"Hundreds of tons of British food aid shipped to America for starving Hurricane Katrina survivors is to be burned.
"US red tape is stopping it from reaching hungry evacuees.
"Instead tons of the badly needed Nato ration packs, the same as those eaten by British troops in Iraq, has been condemned as unfit for human consumption.
"And unless the bureaucratic mess is cleared up soon it could be sent for incineration.
"One British aid worker last night called the move 'sickening senselessness' and said furious colleagues were 'spitting blood'.
"The food, which cost British taxpayers millions, is sitting idle in a huge warehouse after the Food and Drug Agency recalled it when it had already left to be distributed."
Mirror UK; a dip of me lid to Jim from pagans4peace
Tagged: hurricane, katrina, hurricanekatrina, usa, uk, aid
More on Calif.'s death row killed whites
"More condemned men and women are on California's death row for killing whites than for murdering people of any other race, despite there being more black and Hispanic murder victims, according to a new study.
"The study ... concluded suspects who murdered whites were almost four times more likely to be sentenced to death than those who killed Hispanics, and three times more likely to be sentenced to death than those who killed blacks."
Yahoo! News
Tagged: african-american, law, justice, death+row, usa, race, racism
"The study ... concluded suspects who murdered whites were almost four times more likely to be sentenced to death than those who killed Hispanics, and three times more likely to be sentenced to death than those who killed blacks."
Yahoo! News
Tagged: african-american, law, justice, death+row, usa, race, racism
Rita becomes the third most intense hurricane on record
Rita becomes the third most intense hurricane on record. I found that at NOAA. Their Rita XML feed is http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/nhc_at3.xml
NOAA homepage
Tagged: meteorology, hurricane, rita, hurricanerita, xml, rss, feed, noaa
NOAA homepage
Tagged: meteorology, hurricane, rita, hurricanerita, xml, rss, feed, noaa
A conman in 1890s Australia
1890 Sydney, Australia: The first edition of the Australian Workman, official organ of the Trades and Labour Council (TLC) in Sydney (a founding organisation of the Australian Labor Party), following the demise of the Australian Radical almost exactly a year earlier.
The first editor was Rev. Dr (Theodore) Oswald Keating, MA, DD, LLD, who had just stepped off a clipper ship from Britain in July and had some writings published in Truth's earliest numbers. The proprietors of the Australian Workman were impressed with him and under the circumstances of the Maritime Strike of 1890, pleased to have a clergyman's name on the masthead. By the end of October, the 'clergyman' was suing the newspaper for 5 pounds for wrongful dismissal.
Dr Keating was in fact Joseph James Crouch, a forger and conman who had impersonated clergy of various denominations for thirty years, been imprisoned a number of times, and robbed and abandoned a widow he had married for money in England. In the US in 1881 he had conned many, including the prominent American clergyman Rev. Henry Ward Beecher, who lent him money as well as his pulpit ...
Tagged: historical, trivia, progressive, labor, history, australia
Wednesday, September 21, 2005
FEMA's 2000 doc: Rebuilding for a More Sustainable Future
"Jamais over at worldchanging found an important resource for rebuilding after Katrina -- a five year old document from FEMA that focuses on building for sustainability."
Well worth a follow-up. Lid dip to Sustenance
Tagged: fema, hurricane, katrina, hurricanekatrina, sustainability, urban+planning
Well worth a follow-up. Lid dip to Sustenance
Tagged: fema, hurricane, katrina, hurricanekatrina, sustainability, urban+planning
HG Wells, anarchist - socialist sci-fi author
1866 HG Wells (Herbert George Wells; d. August 13, 1946), English social activist and writer best known for his science fiction novels such as The Invisible Man, The War of the Worlds, The Island of Dr Moreau and The Time Machine."That Anarchist world, I admit, is our dream; we do believe -- well, I, at any rate, believe this present world, this planet, will some day bear a race beyond our most exalted and temerarious dreams ... Socialism is the preparation for that higher Anarchism; painfully, laboriously we mean to destroy false ideas of property and self, eliminate unjust laws and poisonous and hateful suggestions and prejudices, create a system of social right-dealing and a tradition of right-feeling and action. Socialism is the schoolroom of true and noble Anarchism, wherein by training and restraint we shall make free men."
HG Wells; New Worlds for Old (1908)
Wells also wrote a number of Utopian novels, one of which was The Shape of Things to Come (1933) which he later adapted for the 1936 Sir Alexander Korda film, Things to Come. Some of his books led Fabian Society leaders George Bernard Shaw, Beatrice Webb and Sidney Webb to invite him to join the society, an invitation he accepted.
Wells had numerous love affairs, his lovers including American contraception activist Margaret Sanger and American feminist author Rebecca West ...
Tagged: hg+wells, british, english, author, authors, literature, fiction, anarchism, socialism, science+fiction
FBI recruits sought for porn squad
"'I guess this means we've won the war on terror,' said one exasperated FBI agent, speaking on the condition of anonymity because poking fun at headquarters is not regarded as career-enhancing. 'We must not need any more resources for espionage.'"
He's talking about the Bush administration's War on Porn.
Tagged: civil, human, rights, internet, freedom, porn, pornography, dubya, bush, fbi, usa
He's talking about the Bush administration's War on Porn.
Tagged: civil, human, rights, internet, freedom, porn, pornography, dubya, bush, fbi, usa
A Call to Billionaires: Sept 24 Washington action
"Scads of the great unwashed middle classes will be assembling to Washington, D.C. on September 24th to protest our Iraq Acquisition Effort. Join us there to defend Georgie's war and our war profits. "
More details at Billionaires for Bush
Tagged: dubya, bush, corporation, corporations, tnc, corporate, profits, humor, humour, parody
More details at Billionaires for Bush
Tagged: dubya, bush, corporation, corporations, tnc, corporate, profits, humor, humour, parody
Tuesday, September 20, 2005
St Eustace and the stag
(Common meadow saffron, Colchicum autumnale, is today’s plant, dedicated to this saint)Hubert of Liège (feast day November 3), is a Christian saint who came upon a stag (sometimes described as a white stag) with a crucifix between its antlers. The stag threatened him with eternal damnation if he did not mend his ways, and so moved was Hubert by his experience, that he entered the monkhood, and eventually became Bishop of Liège, and the apostle of Ardennes and Brabant. Hubert is one of a number of Christian saints associated with deers and other horned animals, of whom we provide an overview in the Christian saints and the Horned God page in the Scriptorium.
St Eustace, who changed his name from Placidus after his conversion, is another saint who experienced conversion by seeing just the same unusual type of creature while hunting ...
Tagged: saint, folklore, christian, christianity, catholic, pagan, neopagan, horned+god
Research challenges ADHD treatment
"New research has found there is little evidence that the drugs used to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) actually work or are safe in the long term.
"The Drug Effectiveness Review Project at Oregon State University conducted the study reviewing more than 2,000 studies into 16 drugs, including Ritalin and dexamphetamine.
"More than 50,000 children in Australia take stimulants like Ritalin or dexamphetamine for their ADHD, which makes this country the third highest consumer of these drugs in the world after the United States and Canada."
ABC News
Tagged: ritalin, adhd, health, pharm, pharms, pharmaceutical, corporations, men's+issues
"The Drug Effectiveness Review Project at Oregon State University conducted the study reviewing more than 2,000 studies into 16 drugs, including Ritalin and dexamphetamine.
"More than 50,000 children in Australia take stimulants like Ritalin or dexamphetamine for their ADHD, which makes this country the third highest consumer of these drugs in the world after the United States and Canada."
ABC News
Tagged: ritalin, adhd, health, pharm, pharms, pharmaceutical, corporations, men's+issues
Open-source software for video
"The Worcester-based Participatory Culture Foundation just released free, open-source software for video — DTV — that allows individuals to create their own alternative TVs on the computers. DTV also allows millions of independent video bloggers and makers to bypass mainstream distributors and reach their viewers for free."
AlterNet
The software for Mac is available, and there's a mailing list to get an announcement when the PC version is available. As I have a PC, I can't review it yet but hope to later.
AlterNet
The software for Mac is available, and there's a mailing list to get an announcement when the PC version is available. As I have a PC, I can't review it yet but hope to later.
Monday, September 19, 2005
North Korea nukes breakthrough: Don't clap too loud
Oh, OK, I'm a fair-minded, red-blooded, true-blue Aussie and I'll give credit where credit is due. Bush's mob was involved in the North Korea nukes breakthrough. Congratulations for a change.But before we get carried away in an orgy of applause and Bush backslapping, let's not forget China, Japan, South Korea and Russia, because they were with the US at the negotiating table. Oh, and I forgot to mention North Korea.
What does it really mean?
So what does it mean anyway? Do you think the North Korean guys at the table now cycle back to their rice paddies and put their pointy straw hats on again?
The North Korean negotiators, like the mandarins and loony dictator/s who employ them, are just like the American negotiators. So are the Chinese, Russians and everyone at the table.
They all stay in Hilton hotels and drive big Mercs when they are not being driven in big Cadillacs and Daimlers. They wear Armani suits and drink Johnny Walker, and tonight they're celebrating with Moët & Chandon. They all have a son at Harvard or Yale, or doing an MBA at the London Business School. Each one of them is part-owner of a Brazilian logging company and a block of time-share condos in the Seychelles. Without exception they all are large stock-holders in South-East Asian tsunami aid delivery utilities. Their daughters and nieces are all getting consultants to help colour co-ordinate their iPod Nano collections with their shoes.
Funny, but every damn one of them, Commie, Jap, Ruskie or Yank, has a son currently staying at Conrad Jupiter's Casino on Australia's Gold Coast, and talking by mobile each day from the beach at Surfer's Paradise, to real estate agents, newspaper editors, PR suits and the Paris Stock Exchange.
It's called "the circulation of elites". It's a post-Marxist, post-Class Struggle thing.
The negotiators and their mandarins -- Korean, Russian, American, whatever, all have shares and family and friends with shares in the TNCs (transnational corporations) that will now start building the roads, electricity generators, pipelines, hotels, telecoms and fast food empires that will traverse the old DMZ between the two Koreas. What's ideology between pals?
Rupert Murdoch will set up KoreaFox to go with CommieChinaFox. Microsoft/MSNBC and Yahoo! will be there too so you know the news coming out will be fair and balanced and you'll see about as many starving, enslaved Korean families on your TV as you do today.
Did you think that the pointy hat guys and the other negotiators were discussing how to dismantle the North Korean nukeburghs and how to set up sustainable, permaculture-based forms of land and energy use that will allow that country to survive into the 22nd century, with people having free access to fresh food, energy, water, fuel, fibre and construction materials from their immediate neighbourhood? And people not having to spend their lives in factories, offices and monoculture farm acres?
No, I didn't think that either. Hell, we don't even have that where I live ... do you?
Tagged: north, korea, nukes, nuclear, usa, TNC, transnational, corporation, corporations, permaculture, energy, sustainability
Australia: Hundreds attempt self-harm in detention
Australia: "Nearly 900 immigration detainees have tried to harm themselves in the past three years, Immigration Department figures reveal.
"The figures show there have been 878 attempts at self-harm and half of those attempts occurred at the Baxter detention centre in South Australia.
"The details have been provided in response to a freedom of information request made by Sydney academic and author Denise Leith.
"Dr Leith says the figures are appalling.
"'These are people who have sought from us asylum,' she said.
"'These are people who probably are in pain or have been traumatised, who would leave their countries and try to come here.'"
ABC
Google baxter detention (Australia's disgrace)
Baxter Watch
Tagged: australia, baxter, detention, refugees, immigration, human, rights
"The figures show there have been 878 attempts at self-harm and half of those attempts occurred at the Baxter detention centre in South Australia.
"The details have been provided in response to a freedom of information request made by Sydney academic and author Denise Leith.
"Dr Leith says the figures are appalling.
"'These are people who have sought from us asylum,' she said.
"'These are people who probably are in pain or have been traumatised, who would leave their countries and try to come here.'"
ABC
Google baxter detention (Australia's disgrace)
Baxter Watch
Tagged: australia, baxter, detention, refugees, immigration, human, rights
International Talk Like A Pirate Day
International Talk Like A Pirate Day is a parodic holiday invented in 1995 by two swashbuckling Americans, John Baur ('Ol' Chum Bucket') and Mark Summers ('Cap'n Slappy'), who proclaimed September 19 each year as the day when everyone in the world should talk like pirates. For example, instead of "hello", an observer of this holiday would greet his mates with "Ahoy, me hearty!" each September 19 ...
Tagged: folklore, festivals, talk, pirate, day
"URGENT FROM BOGALUSA...PEOPLE ARE F**KING DYING"
""URGENT FROM BOGALUSA...PEOPLE ARE F**KING DYING"According to this blogger's urgent appeal, people are still dying in heartland USA from the effects of Hurricane Katrina. Lid dip to Jim from pagans4peace.
"America is too hopelessly and willfully deluded and distracted to properly care for itself. Consider this an international alert. Worldwide assistance is desperately required in America yesterday!"
Barbara, Sat Sep 17th, 2005 at 19:37:53 PDT
Tagged: hurricane, katrina, hurricanekatrina, bogalusa, usa, blogger
A million Xinjiang herdsmen farewell nomadic life
"The longtime primitive and unsettled life of about one million herdsmen in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region come [sic] to an end as they have moved into brand-new residential areas with the aid of local governments."
China Daily
Tagged: globalization, indigenous, china, human+rights
Unlistenable+music or extreme+parenting: How to find like-minded Bloggers
Blogger says:
Their interests
http://www.blogger.com/profile-find.g?t=i&q=permaculture
http://www.blogger.com/profile-find.g?t=i&q=country+music
Their fave books
http://www.blogger.com/profile-find.g?t=b&q=Chomsky
http://www.blogger.com/profile-find.g?t=b&q=Sherlock+Holmes
Their fave movies
http://www.blogger.com/profile-find.g?t=m&q=hitchcock
http://www.blogger.com/profile-find.g?t=m&q=Prospero's+Books
Their fave music
http://www.blogger.com/profile-find.g?t=s&q=reggae
http://www.blogger.com/profile-find.g?t=s&q=Bob+Dylan
See the pattern? Here's how to make it simpler
If you bookmark just one such URL in Favorites, such as
http://www.blogger.com/profile-find.g?t=s&q=hiphop
then any time you need to search, change the s (songs) for b (books), m (movies) or i (interests), and change the last word, using word+word where you want a two-word tag (eg english+history).
All you need do is remember the meaning of s, b, m and i, and to use the plus sign (+) for double-barrelled terms like unlistenable+music or extreme+parenting.
Got a better way? Please let me know and I'll pass it on.
My Blogger profile
Tagged: search, engines, blog, blogs, blogging, blogger, affinity, groups, tag, tags, profiles
"How do I search Blogger Profiles?That's not so easy, but this is. If you want to find like-minded bloggers among the millions of people using Blogger.com, type in a URL:
Profile Search isn't currently available (though it will be soon). For now, you can click links when viewing profiles to browse through them."
Their interests
http://www.blogger.com/profile-find.g?t=i&q=permaculture
http://www.blogger.com/profile-find.g?t=i&q=country+music
Their fave books
http://www.blogger.com/profile-find.g?t=b&q=Chomsky
http://www.blogger.com/profile-find.g?t=b&q=Sherlock+Holmes
Their fave movies
http://www.blogger.com/profile-find.g?t=m&q=hitchcock
http://www.blogger.com/profile-find.g?t=m&q=Prospero's+Books
Their fave music
http://www.blogger.com/profile-find.g?t=s&q=reggae
http://www.blogger.com/profile-find.g?t=s&q=Bob+Dylan
See the pattern? Here's how to make it simpler
If you bookmark just one such URL in Favorites, such as
http://www.blogger.com/profile-find.g?t=s&q=hiphop
then any time you need to search, change the s (songs) for b (books), m (movies) or i (interests), and change the last word, using word+word where you want a two-word tag (eg english+history).
All you need do is remember the meaning of s, b, m and i, and to use the plus sign (+) for double-barrelled terms like unlistenable+music or extreme+parenting.
Got a better way? Please let me know and I'll pass it on.
My Blogger profile
Tagged: search, engines, blog, blogs, blogging, blogger, affinity, groups, tag, tags, profiles
Vincent de Paul opens Vinnies Supermarket in Melbourne
I dips me lid today to a superb Christian charity, Vinnies (as St Vincent de Paul is known here). As Sandy McCutcheon said today on Life Matters (ABC Radio National), anyone will know if they have ever stood in a supermarket queue with a charity food voucher and had the checkout operator say over the public address system "I've got a customer with a Vinnie's voucher, what do I do?", you feel like the ground will open and swallow you up. (As one such person who has been helped by Vinnies and the Salvos numerous times, I concur.)This new initiative from Vinnies is a groundbreaker and I hope will be emulated worldwide by charity organisations (atheists, leftists and neo-pagans, don't be embarrassed!):
"The St Vincent de Paul Society started its operation of Vinnies Budget Groceries in suburban Heidelberg West ... on 10th August. There are 10,000 grocery lines selling for up to 25% cheaper than regular supermarket prices.
"The store at the Heidelberg West Mall opens Wednesday to Friday, 9am-3pm every week. 'In order to keep the price as low as possible, the store does not take profits and all staffs are volunteers,' project officer Max Fletcher said. The store aims to open to pensioners, health card holders and people on government benefits ...
"According to the plan, five more stores will open in Victoria, including Moe, Ballarat and Wangaratta."
Christian Today Australia
Tagged: charity, poverty, saint, vincent, australia, supermarket, poor, social, issues
Sunday, September 18, 2005
Deaconess, 73, in jail for "looting"
"Merlene Maten undoubtedly stood out in the prison where she has been held since Hurricane Katrina. The 73-year-old church deaconess, never before in trouble with the law, spent two weeks among hardened criminals. Her bail was a stiff $50,000.
"Her offense? Police say the grandmother from New Orleans took $63.50 in goods from a looted deli the day after Katrina struck."
Yahoo! News
Guess what colour.
Tagged: hurricane, katrina, hurricanekatrina, racism, looting
"Her offense? Police say the grandmother from New Orleans took $63.50 in goods from a looted deli the day after Katrina struck."
Yahoo! News
Guess what colour.
Tagged: hurricane, katrina, hurricanekatrina, racism, looting
Feast Day of St Joseph of Cupertino, 'the Flying Friar'
An ecstatic and levitator, this St Joseph (June 17, 1603 - September 18, 1663) was born at Cupertino (Copertino), a small village between Brindisi and Otranto in the Kingdom of Naples. His father was a carpenter and he was born in a stable.
Joseph was a sickly and dull youth, nicknamed ‘Bocca Aperta, ‘the gaper’ because of his appearance when he entered a trance. Throughout his life he was considered by all to be unworldly, unlearned and not too intelligent, but with great powers of divinity. In March, 1628 he was raised to the priesthood, but this was not the last time he was ‘raised' ...
Tagged: saint, joseph, cupertino, levitation, anomaly, anomalies, unexplained, mystery, mysteries, paranormal
300 women bicycle across Middle East for peace
"Follow the Women is an international organisation of ordinary women from many different countries united in calling for an end to violence in the Middle East. In a time when terror and cruelty are spreading around the globe, there has never been a greater need for the women of the world to work together for a more peaceful planet.
"In order to work towards achieving these aims Follow the Women organised a cycle ride across the Middle East in April 2004. In 2005 the second bicycle ride will take place from 15th to the 25th September. Approximately 300 women from over 30 countries will cycle more than 300 kilometres from Beirut in Lebanon, through Syria to Damascus, on to the Jordanian capital Amman and into Palestine to Ramallah. A separate ride will take place at the same time in Israel."
Green-Travel
Follow the Women
Tagged: action, activism, activist, women, middle, east, bicycle, bike, protest, war, peace
Protests disrupt Europe's largest arms fair
"The much criticised bi-annual DSEi (Europe's largest arms fair) ran from 13-16th September in London, sparkling protests in and around the East End docklands and other parts of the UK.
"Protests started before the arms fair opened its doors. On Thursday 8th, the offices of DSEi organisers Reed Elsevier in Kidlington, Oxford, were visited by activists. See [report and pictures] [video] More links below. On Saturday the 10th, a Beat The Bombers - Party for Peace took place in the streets of east London, including some questionable police tactics against protesters. On Sunday 11th, companies in the south-east of England involved in exhibiting at the arms fair were targetted with disruptive actions against their premises. On Monday evening a Candelit Procession and Prayer Vigil took place, while a NoBorder meeting was held in the convergence center ..."
Indymedia
Tagged: DSEi, arms, fair, armaments, arms, military, army, protest, activism, activist, police, weapons, wmd
'Warming link' to big hurricanes
"Records for the past 35 years show that hurricanes have got stronger in recent times, according to a global study.
"This fits with mounting evidence which suggests the biggest storms around the world - hurricanes, typhoons and cyclones - are intensifying.
"Some US scientists say that greenhouse warming may be driving the most severe events, such as Katrina, although more research is needed to be sure." [To be sure, to be sure.]
BBC
Tagged: meteorology, katrina, hurricane, hurricanekatrina, global, warming, climate, change
"This fits with mounting evidence which suggests the biggest storms around the world - hurricanes, typhoons and cyclones - are intensifying.
"Some US scientists say that greenhouse warming may be driving the most severe events, such as Katrina, although more research is needed to be sure." [To be sure, to be sure.]
BBC
Tagged: meteorology, katrina, hurricane, hurricanekatrina, global, warming, climate, change
Saturday, September 17, 2005
If FEMA doesn't save you, then Jesus will!
George Bloody Bush. He couldn't lead dingos to babies.
vote to impeach(Thanks Un Autre Monde)
impeach bush
impeach bush
the four reasons
impeach bush bumper
stickers
impeach bush meetup groups
rise 4 news
Good article: Bush Must Resign or Face Impeachment
Lid dip to Agi T Prop for the pic.
Tagged: impeach, bush, dubya, sign, poster, photo, photos, graphics, flickr
"Saddam has no WMDs": Colin Powell, February 2001
"He (Saddam Hussein) has not developed any significant capability with respect to weapons of mass destruction."
Colin Powell, February, 2001
See him say it, and see and hear Condoleezza Rice make substantially the same assertion at http://www.wilsonsalmanac.com/multimedia/powell_condy_on_wmds.wmv (it's 1,090 kb).
Please don't hot link it on your site. Download it and upload it to your server, or else give some support (I'm poor and bandwidth is starting to affect my pocket) at the Support page.
Read more of Powell's disinformation at Colin Powell and CNN: misleading the public of the world, and check out Myths of the War on Terrorism and Iraq which has hundreds of footnotes and links for the interested student of propaganda.
Tagged: impeach, bush, colin, powell, condy, condoleezza, iraq, wmd, wmds, weapons, mass, destruction, lies, disinformation, propaganda
Impeach Bush: Just some of the many reasons ...
"President Bush has totally and utterly failed the American people. Almost every day we are presented with further proof why he should not be our President. From Halliburton to DIEBOLD to 9/11, to WMDs and other lies leading up to the invasion of Iraq, to the squandering of American Military Clout in Iraq leading to increased rather than decreased terrorism according to the CIA, to Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo to Karl Rove/CIA Treasongate, to the Downing Street Memo, to the numerous lies, crimes and coverups in the wake of Hurricane Katrina -- the reasons are many and obvious ..."Help mobilize a massive contingent for the September 24 National March Washington DC ..."
Kluster Phux
Impeach Bush Coalition
Tagged: impeach, dubya, bush, 911, 9-11, iraq, halliburton, downing, street, memo
War crimes foretold: Rabiyah, Sinjar
After the Tal Afar operation ends, we will move on Rabiyah and Sinjar and then go down to the Euphrates valley... We are warning those who have given shelter to terrorists that they must stop, kick them out or else we will cut off their hands, heads and tongues as we did in Tal Afar.
Iraqi Defense Minister Sadoun al-Dulaimi outlines some of his plans (link)"
No Contact Politics
Tagged: impeach, dubya, bush, iraq, human, rights, torture
Iraqi Defense Minister Sadoun al-Dulaimi outlines some of his plans (link)"
No Contact Politics
Tagged: impeach, dubya, bush, iraq, human, rights, torture
What's Shrub doing "leading US in day of prayer"?
It strikes me as very odd that the president of the USA, a country that likes the world to think it has a separation of Church and State, would "lead the nation in a day of prayer". It's a bit Ayatollah for my liking.
Was the USA founded on Christianity? This article makes it seem even more weird, especially to someone not living in the USA. (For the record, I live in God's Own Country, the Greatest Nation on Earth, Land of the Free, Home of the Brave, land of the Stars and Stripes flag, blah blah blah yackety yack ... Australia, of course.)
Tagged: dubya, bush, jesus, christ, christianity, usa, america, church, prayer
Was the USA founded on Christianity? This article makes it seem even more weird, especially to someone not living in the USA. (For the record, I live in God's Own Country, the Greatest Nation on Earth, Land of the Free, Home of the Brave, land of the Stars and Stripes flag, blah blah blah yackety yack ... Australia, of course.)
Tagged: dubya, bush, jesus, christ, christianity, usa, america, church, prayer
Bee Miles: Sydney eccentric who loved taxis
1902 Bee (or Bea) Miles (d. December 3, 1973), was a famous eccentric in Sydney, Australia, a town known for its eccentrics – individualists such as Webster (the immensely popular soap-box orator, a genius about whom, sadly, nothing appears to have been published); the Flying Pieman; Rosaleen Norton the Witch of Kings Cross; the Bengal Tiger; William Chidley the natural health fanatic; Dulcie Deamer the Queen of Bohemia; and of course, Sydneytown’s favourite Mister Eternity.Then there was Bee Miles, who must surely be an immortal Sydneysider. According to contemporary newspaper reports, in pre-World War II Sydney Bee was more widely known than the Prime Minister ...
Tagged: trivia, odd, oddly, bizarre, bea, bee, miles, sydney, australia, australian, eccentric, eccentrics, eccentricity
Friday, September 16, 2005
Norton I, Emperor of the USA and Protector of Mexico
1854 Norton I (January 17, 1811 - January 8, 1880), Emperor of the United States and Protector of Mexico, ascended the throne.Joshua Norton was born in London and grew up in a pioneer British family in South Africa, and inherited the fortune of his merchant father. At the age of 30, Joshua went to San Francisco from Brazil, where he had accumulated a considerable treasure of his own. California had become the scene of perhaps the world’s greatest-ever goldrush, and Joshua Norton wanted to be a part of the excitement and prosperity ...
Tagged: trivia, eccentric, eccentrics, odd, bizarre, san, francisco, sanfrancisco, usa, emperor, norton
Thursday, September 15, 2005
The day Mark Twain came to Australia
The Australians do not seem to me to differ noticeably from Americans, either in dress, carriage, ways, pronunciation, inflections, or general appearance.
Mark Twain, observing in Australia which he entered on September 15, 1895; More Tramps Abroad
I am a revolutionist – by birth, breeding, principle, and everything else.
Mark Twain
1895 American social activist and humourist Mark Twain (The Adventures of Tom Sawyer; The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn; The War Prayer) arrived in Australia on the SS Warrimoo for a three-month lecture tour.
It was part of a larger tour as told in his book, Following the Equator ...
He even wrote this about beautiful Woolgoolga, the little holiday resort noted for its large Sikh population, near Sandy Beach where I live:
In the weltering hell of the Moorooroo plain
The Yatala Wangary withers and dies,
And the Worrow Wanilla, demented with pain,
To the Woolgoolga woodlands
Despairingly flies.
What Mr Twain meant, we shall probably never know, but I assume he was just playing with Aboriginal words for the euphony. There was not much at Woopi (as Woolgoolga is known locally) then (not much now), and if he stopped in it was likely just for the steamer to take on wood and water. I haven't been able to find any other record of his visit to Woopi, though his Australian tour is quite well documented. One source is The Bulletin magazine editions of 1895.
This link will take you to many of his contemporaries in the Australian radical and artistic/literary scene, some of whom he met while in Sydney.
More on Woolgoolga, New South Wales.
Tagged: mark, twain, american, usa, australia, australian, literatureAustralians: Send an email to Downer for David Hicks
"The British, Spanish, and French Governments have all refused to allow their citizens to be tried in Guantanamo Bay. Foreign Minister Alexander Downer should have the courage to do the same. Demand that he bring David Hicks home to face a fair trial."
Know more >
Tagged: david, hicks, australia, human, rights, guantanamo, torture, law, legal, canberra
Google blog search: does it kick arse, or even ass?
And will it be called Bloogle?
RSS Blog has done a test run of Google's new blog search (Beta), rates it against Technorati and says it "kicks ass". Added: There's still tag search where Technorati is the leader, but I suspect Google will have a tag search shortly that will kick ass."
More at Freshblog, where I found this, and comments about posting the full syndicated post with blog feeds. Oh, and thanks Freshblog for the mention. Jeez, I'll even copy your tags. :)
Tagged: google, blogger, search, blogsearch, blogging, blogtech, inbounds
RSS Blog has done a test run of Google's new blog search (Beta), rates it against Technorati and says it "kicks ass". Added: There's still tag search where Technorati is the leader, but I suspect Google will have a tag search shortly that will kick ass."
More at Freshblog, where I found this, and comments about posting the full syndicated post with blog feeds. Oh, and thanks Freshblog for the mention. Jeez, I'll even copy your tags. :)
Tagged: google, blogger, search, blogsearch, blogging, blogtech, inbounds
Christmas: Is September 15 Jesus Christ’s birthday?
7 BCE Is this Jesus Christ’s birthday?Perhaps we should deck the halls with boughs of spring flowers, because an English astronomer suggested that Jesus might have been born on September 15, 7 BCE.
Dr David Hughes, of Sheffield University, argued that September 15 is the real Christmas for the following reasons:
In the Gospel of St Luke we read that Joseph took Mary to Bethlehem because “... there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed. And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria. And all went to be taxed, every one in his own city” (Luke 2:1,2). Such a decree occurred about 8 BCE.
King Herod (Herod the Great) was so infuriated that a rival had been born (the ‘King of the Jews’) that he ordered the massacre of all baby boys in Israel, but Mary and Joseph fled to Egypt. They stayed there for two years until Herod’s death, said to have closely followed a lunar eclipse. Lunar eclipses occurred in 4 BCE and 1 BCE ...
Tagged: trivia, jesus, christ, christian, christianity, christmas, religion, spirituality, almanac, calendar
People still dying every day: Michael Moore on Katrina
"My staff and the vets spend their 18-hour days delivering food and water throughout the city of New Orleans and the surrounding areas. What they have seen is appalling. I have asked them to post their daily diaries on my website along with accompanying photos and video so you can learn what is really going on. What the media is showing you is NOT the whole story. It is much, much worse and there is still little being done to bring help to those who need it."Our group has visited many outlying towns and villages in Mississippi and Louisiana, places the Red Cross and FEMA haven't visited in over a week. Often our volunteers are the first relief any of these people have seen. They have no food, water or electricity. People die every day. There are no TV cameras recording this. They have started to report the spin and PR put out by the White House, the happy news that often isn't true ('Everyone gets 2,000 dollars!')."It's been over two weeks since the hurricane
and there is simply not much being done."
"The truth is that there are dead bodies everywhere and no one is picking them up. My crew reports that in most areas there is no FEMA presence, and very little Red Cross. It's been over two weeks since the hurricane and there is simply not much being done. At this point, would you call this situation incompetence or a purposeful refusal to get real help down there?"
Michael Moore Wednesday, September 14, 2005 (thanks J-9)
Bush Takes Blame For Slow Katrina Response
Humbled Bush admits failing hurricane victims
Unused food from Burning Man to help hurricane victims
Tagged: camp, cindy, sheehan, hurricane, katrina, hurricanekatrina, new, orleans, michael, moore
Wednesday, September 14, 2005
Margaret Sanger, pioneer of contraception
1879 Margaret Sanger (d. September 6, 1966), author (The Pivot of Civilization) and founder of Planned Parenthood and the birth-control movement in general. She was also the lover of English socialist/activist and science fiction author HG Wells (1866 - 1946).Having anarchist tendencies, Sanger also participated in the Patterson Textile Strike of 1913 which she wrote about in Hippolyte Havel's Revolutionary Almanac. She contributed articles to Havel's Revolt, Emma Goldman's Mother Earth, Alexander Berkman's The Blast and Modern School magazine ...
Tagged: anarchism, anarchist, progressive, margaret, sanger, birth, control, contraception, family, planning, emma, goldman
Aussie SMS service takes ISBN and returns web-store pricing
"Kolya sez, 'BuyMate lets you SMS the ISBN of a book you're thinking of buying in Australia to 0427 767 763 and within around one minute will SMS the price details from four large Aussie book retailers and Amazon.' Link"
Boing Boing
Boing Boing
Tuesday, September 13, 2005
Good shot! Agent Meringue scores bull on Clarkson
In a shot worthy of Pie Man, Agent Meringue scored a bullseye on Jeremy Clarkson, who was being awarded an honorary degree at the UK's Oxford Brookes University.
Conservative Sunday Times motoring columnist Jeremy Clarkson has been criticised for engaging in stunts such as driving a 4x4 (4WD, SUV) vehicle through an environmentally-sensitive peat bog in Scotland.
Speaking shortly before the whammo, Clarkson said: "I do have a disregard for the environment. I think the world can look after itself and we should enjoy it as best we can."
Tagged: jeremy, clarkson, pieman, agent, meringue, situationism, 4X4, suv, 4wd
Climate change: 30 times faster than last Ice Age
"'By 2050, human beings will be using, if they can still be found, nearly two planets' worth of resources', writes Tim Flannery, in his latest essay for The New York Review of Books.
"The books he reviews in the essay describe a deeply troubling situation: 'The environmental movement in the United States has become more and more dispirited, and remains divided, while the science behind environmental causes in now stronger and more conclusive than at any moment since the movement began.'
"In this conversation, Tim Flannery, also takes the Howard government to task over its energy policy, reiterating that Australia is following the Bush White House.
"'As it becomes increasingly plain that human-induced global warming is already well underway -- an accelerating process that, if left unchecked will lead to devastating long-term changes in sea levels, weather patterns, and the fate of many species -- the time available for effective international action is running out.'
Guest on this program: Tim Flannery
Director of the South Australian Museum and Professor at the University of Adelaide; scientist, explorer, conservationist and author.
Listen Ø Real Media Ø Windows Media Ø Download MP3 Ø Podcast Help
Tagged: australia, science, environment, meteorology, climate, change, podcast, ipod, pod, podcasts, hurricane, katrina, hurricanekatrinaSt Patrick's Battalion branded and hanged
1847 Mexico: Some 40 of the 800 or so Irish of the Battalion of San Patricio (Batallón de San Patricio or St Patrick's Battalion, led by Captain Jon Riley of County Galway) were executed – soldiers who fought next to the Mexicans against the US invading force. Most of them were of Irish extraction or recent immigrants from other Roman Catholic countries.
Even to this day, an Irish person in Mexico will be told a countless number of times about the famous ‘Irish Martyrs’ who defected from the US Army and gave their lives trying to save Mexico from US aggression from 1846 - 1848. The San Patricios first emerged during the Battle of Monterrey where they served with great distinction, and are sometimes credited with defeating two separate American assaults into the heart of the city.
As per the orders of General Winfield Scott, at the precise moment that the flag of the United States replaced that of Mexico atop the citadel they were executed. Those who had entered the Army before the official declaration of war on Mexico (Riley among them) were branded with the letter 'D' as deserters and sentenced to the stockade at hard labor. Those who had entered the Army following the declaration of war were hanged en masse as traitors in the town square, in full view of the site of the Battle of Chapultepec the previous day.
To commemorate the support of those Irish-American renegades in the Mexican army, the street in front of the Santa María de Churubusco convent was named Mártires Irlandeses (Irish martyrs) ...
(I dips me lid to Dave Brown at Daily Bleed)
Tagged: trivia, usa, mexico, mexican, american, mexican-american, war, ireland, irish, battalion, army, military, history
Wanted: youth-produced podcasts on Katrina response -- funding available
( ( ( ( GENERATION PRX ) ) ) ) apparently has some bucks to disburse (lid dip to ProgressiveU).
Tagged: ipod, pod, podcast, podcasting, youth, hurricane, katrina, hurricanekatrina
Tagged: ipod, pod, podcast, podcasting, youth, hurricane, katrina, hurricanekatrina
Oz: No Petrol Day, September 22 (proofread)
This email is doing the rounds in Australia and already four people have sent it to me. All I had to do was change it from (shouting) upper case to lower, clean up the grammar and spelling and a minor thing here and there, and paste it in here because I endorse it.
While the Planet and life on it would be well served if the price of petrol hit $300 a litre, and I hope that happens, I'm another Aussie who is pissed off that there is a whiff of profiteering in the bowser biz this month. Here's the email to pass on:
It has been calculated that if everyone in Australia did not purchase a drop of petrol for one day and all at the same time, the oil companies would choke on their stockpiles.
At the same time it would hit the entire industry with a net loss over $4.6 billion which affects the bottom lines of the oil companies.
Therefore Thursday, September 22nd has been formally declared "stick it up their behind" day and the people of this nation should not buy a single drop of petrol on that day.
The only way this can be done is if you forward this email to as many people as you can and as quickly as you can to get the word out. Waiting on the government to step in and control the prices is not going to happen. What happened to the reduction and control in prices that the Arab nations promised recently?
Remember one thing, not only is the price of petrol going up but at the same time airlines are forced to raise their prices, and trucking companies are forced to raise their prices which affects prices on everything that is shipped. Things like food, clothing, building supplies, medical supplies, and so on. Who pays in the end? We do!
We can make a difference. If they don't get the message after one day, we will do it again and again.
So do your part and spread the word. Forward this email to everyone you know. Mark your calendars and make September 22 a day that the citizens of Australia say "enough is enough"!
Tagged: australia, boycott, corporate, corporations, email, petrol, oil, gas, profits, profiteering, campaign, activism, activist, culture, jamming, culturejamming
Can you pick up pens from the floor with your feet?
A number of years ago a British family I know told me how, when they immigrated to Australia, they were stunned and amused the first time they saw someone pick something (such as a pen) up off the floor with their foot.Coming from a cold climate, and thus having spent much of their lives with their feet tightly shod in hard leather, they themselves lacked the normal "pedal dexterity" as one might call it, to perform such a ... feat. I had never realised that this innate human function, commonly exercised in Australia, could be lost to whole nations, or so it seems. Do millions or billions of people lack this basic ability? Can Australians living in cold climates, such as Tasmania, pick up pens with their tootsies? Conversely, do north Queenslanders eat and write with their clodhoppers? Are people more right-footed than left-footed? Sydney has a left-handers' shop, but why no store for left-footers?
I was pondering these curious questions this morning and I'm wondering how widespread the inability to pick up small objects with the foot is, and I'm certainly curious to know more. Is there any research? Can you pick things up with your feet? Where were you raised, or where do you live? While I have little confidence in gaining feedback through Comments (I know many people are blog-comments averse, unfortunately for bloggers), it would be very fascinating to hear your perspectives.
Tagged: australia, britain, bizarre, oddly, oddity, foot, dexterity, human, anatomy
Monday, September 12, 2005
Three new features in the Almanac project
I've added three new features to the Almanac project. We now have Google News (illustrated) in Daily Planet News, making 38 global newsfeeds on the one page. I think it's a pretty good one-stop news source -- I don't know another like it (tell me if you do, I'd love to see it).
Also, I'm trialling two other features:
Blogmanac lite: Bookmark this if you want the Blogmanac in two-column format and with a faster download (no sidebar with blogroll, etc).
Tagcloud: I've added that to the Almanac Scriptorium homepage. The purpose of this is for the casual or regular visitor to see the main themes of recent posts in the various Almanac blogs. If you want to know what the blogs are, see the menu bar at the top of this page.
What is the Almanac project? At this stage, it's well over 3,000 pages to help with our aim "To give readers many reasons and many ways to 'carpe diem!' -- seize the day!". If you would like to see the project grow, or even stand still, please throw Puppy a coin. A couple of bucks every now and again will help pay our growing Internet and luxury bills. Many thanks.
Tagged: web, website, news, almanac, blogmanac
Stupid quotes about Hurricane Katrina
Daniel Kutzman's 25 Mind-Numbingly Stupid Quotes About Hurricane Katrina And Its Aftermath:
1) "I don't think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees." –President Bush, on "Good Morning America," Sept. 1, 2005, six days after repeated warnings from experts about the scope of damage expected from Hurricane Katrina (Source)
2) "What I'm hearing which is sort of scary is that they all want to stay in Texas. Everybody is so overwhelmed by the hospitality. And so many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway so this (chuckle) – this is working very well for them." –Former First Lady Barbara Bush, on the Hurricane flood evacuees in the Houston Astrodome, Sept. 5, 2005 (Source)
3) "It makes no sense to spend billions of dollars to rebuild a city that's seven feet under sea level....It looks like a lot of that place could be bulldozed." –House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.), Aug. 31, 2005 (Source)
4) "We've got a lot of rebuilding to do ... The good news is — and it's hard for some to see it now — that out of this chaos is going to come a fantastic Gulf Coast, like it was before. Out of the rubbles of Trent Lott's house — he's lost his entire house — there's going to be a fantastic house. And I'm looking forward to sitting on the porch." (Laughter) —President Bush, touring hurricane damage, Mobile, Ala., Sept. 2, 2005 (Source)
5) "Considering the dire circumstances that we have in New Orleans, virtually a city that has been destroyed, things are going relatively well." –FEMA Director Michael Brown, Sept. 1, 2005 (Source)
6) "Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job." –President Bush, to FEMA director Michael Brown, while touring Hurricane-ravaged Mississippi, Sept. 2, 2005 (Source)
7) "I have not heard a report of thousands of people in the convention center who don't have food and water." –Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, on NPR's "All Things Considered," Sept. 1, 2005 (Source)
8) "Well, I think if you look at what actually happened, I remember on Tuesday morning picking up newspapers and I saw headlines, 'New Orleans Dodged the Bullet.' Because if you recall, the storm moved to the east and then continued on and appeared to pass with considerable damage but nothing worse." –Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, blaming media coverage for his failings, "Meet the Press," Sept. 4, 2005 (Source)
9) "I mean, you have people who don't heed those warnings and then put people at risk as a result of not heeding those warnings. There may be a need to look at tougher penalties on those who decide to ride it out and understand that there are consequences to not leaving.” –Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA), Sept. 6, 2005 (Source)
10) "You simply get chills every time you see these poor individuals...many of these people, almost all of them that we see are so poor and they are so black, and this is going to raise lots of questions for people who are watching this story unfold." –CNN's Wolf Blitzer, on New Orleans' hurricane evacuees, Sept. 1, 2005 (Source) Heard another stupid quote? Send it to politicalhumor.guide@about.com
2 :: 3 :: 4 :: Next
Tagged: hurricanekatrina, hurricane, katrina, funny, quotes, humour, humor, joke, jokes
Typhoon Talim: 5 million displaced in China
"At least 80 people were killed and five million displaced with Typhoon Talim wreaking havoc in four provinces in east China, which braced for yet another battering from the approaching Typhoon Nabi."
Rediff.com
Thousands evacuated as China braces Typhoon Khanun
"More than 305,000 people have been evacuated from their homes in eastern China as the country prepared for the onslaught of Typhoon Khanun."
Tagged: typhoon, talim, hurricane, global, warming, climate, change, katrina, khanun, china
Bush rejected Afghan offer to hand bin Laden over to justice
No, it's not breaking news, and 9/11 has been and gone, but this is worthy of a headline at any time, because everywhere I go I find that many people simply don't know this. Only recently I have seen this fact laughed at in a very scary way, by a nice kid who I guess watches too much TV.
Just for the record, and please keep it on record because this negates one of the most believed and recurrent lies told by the Bush regime and conservatives worldwide:
Before the USA invaded Afghanistan, the government of that country offered to hand over Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden to an independent, international court if America provided damning evidence about bin Laden's role in the outrage, and if America stopped raining bombs on Afghani citizens. However, Bush's government, intent on gaining the geo-strategically important Afghanistan, and the oil-rich Iraq, refused -- a point generally conveniently overlooked by the pro-war faction even today. At time of writing, the people of the USA and the world have not been given the damning evidence.
The source that so many people doubt when I refer to it, and which I posted way back on February 8, 2003 (as Footnote 56 in Myths of the War of the on Terrorism and Iraq), is none other than that gang of radical, communist, anarchist, American Muslims, CNN, October 14, 2001. But you will also find related references from CBS and Washington Post. Footnote 56 is the one that should make a good dinner-party argument stopper.
Tagged: 911, bush, timeline, 9/11, september, 11, bin, laden, taliban, truth, lies, afghanistan, urban, legends
Timothy Leary escapes
1970 Psychonaut Dr Timothy Leary escaped from prison with the help of Weatherman, a radical offshoot organization of the Students For Democratic Society (SDS).Targeted by the Nixon administration as a dangerous subversive, the former Harvard professor had been imprisoned in February of that year for possessing a single marijuana joint. Curiously, when he entered prison he had been required to submit to the Leary psychological evaluation test which he himself had designed while working in academia.
Leary made his way to Algeria where he met up with exiled American Black Panther Eldridge Cleaver and was given asylum in the Black Panther ‘embassy’. The pro-violence Maoist Panthers thought he was nuts, so the welcome wore out fairly quickly. He sought asylum in Switzerland, but was recaptured by US DEA agents in Afghanistan in 1973, extradited back to America, and sent back to prison.
Read 'The Declaration of Evolution', Timothy Leary, in the Scriptorium
Tagged: timothy, tim, leary, prison, drugs, sixties, seventies, 60s, 70s, psychedelic, lsd, counter, entheogen, culture, counterculture, hippie, hippies, radical, progressive
Sunday, September 11, 2005
The trouble with Virgins
"New York-based retailer Jason Yang wants you to imagine a world in which multinational conglomerates own the exclusive rights to common, everyday words like red, fanatic, guide, funky, or stuff. Then he wants you to get very, very angry.
"Yang is the owner of Virgin Threads, a web retailer that promotes and sells the wares of independent fashion designers. In November of 2004, he was served with a cease and desist order by Virgin Group — owner of Virgin Megastores, Virgin Airline, Virgin Records ..."
AdBusters
Categories: adbusters, culture, jam, jamming, culturejamming, virgin, corporation, corporations
"Yang is the owner of Virgin Threads, a web retailer that promotes and sells the wares of independent fashion designers. In November of 2004, he was served with a cease and desist order by Virgin Group — owner of Virgin Megastores, Virgin Airline, Virgin Records ..."
AdBusters
Categories: adbusters, culture, jam, jamming, culturejamming, virgin, corporation, corporations
Funlover Jessica Mitford sings The Beatles
1917 Jessica Mitford (d. July 22, 1996), eccentric, aristocratic Anglo-American author (The Making of a Muckraker; Kind and Unusual Punishment: The Prison Business; Hons and Rebels; The American Way of Birth); one of the noted Mitford sisters.She emigrated to the United States of America from England, after having run away with her cousin, Esmond Romilly, a nephew of Winston Churchill to join the Republican forces in Spain. She was an adherent of communism (member of the Communist Party of the United States of America until 1958), despite her privileged background, and was the sister of well-known Hitler supporter Unity Mitford. Her other sisters were Nancy Mitford, the essayist and satirist, and Diana Mitford, who married the British fascist leader Sir Oswald Mosley.
Her book exposing the greed of the American funeral industry, The American Way of Death, is now considered a classic. In the 1950s she concocted the fund-raising technique of charging guests only $5.00 to come to an event, then charging them much more to leave. Mitford was a columnist for Mother Jones magazine. In her old age, she was a barroom singer in San Francisco, famously and enthusiastically performing such numbers as an hilarious version of the Beatles' 'Maxwell's Silver Hammer'.
Listen to the song (mp3, 5.13MB)
Categories: jessica, mitford, american, english, literature, communism, fascism, eccentric, eccentrics, beatles, mp3
Hoax and fake Katrina pix circulate on Net
This picture is real (click to enlarge) but non-Katrina hurricane photos are circulating the Net (natch). Search Snopes for Hurricane Katrina hoaxes -- more here.
NOAA and NASA (has multimedia galleries) are the places to go. With so many good and true images available for free, beats me why anyone would send an image of Hurricane Floyd or Andrew.
And if you think Katrina's big, check out this week's solar flare (more).
Categories: hurricanekatrina, hurricane, katrina, photo, photos, hoax, hoaxes, snopes, solar, nasa, multimedia, mpg, noaa, flare, space, weather, picture, pictures
New to our sister blog Yellow Pages: Young Blogosphere
From today you will find in the sidebar of the Yellow Pages a new feature (below the news headlines). I call it Young Blogosphere and it comprises the 50 most recent posts from a selection of more than a dozen progressive young bloggers from several continents.I think you'll find Young Blogosphere a fascinating read every day, and of course the content is constantly updating. I look forward to reading it myself as it refreshes, but I won't hold myself responsible for what they write, so I hope you won't.
I know Young Blogosphere sounds pretty hokey -- sort of Church of England -- but it's the best name I could think of without bending my mind. Bookmark and enjoy.
If you would like a particular young blogger added to the list, please let me know, but not just any blogger, thanks; we want change agents in this list.
Categories: youth, young, progressive, liberal, radical, blog, blogs, blogosphere, bloggers
Saturday, September 10, 2005
'Get Off The Fucking Freeway': The Sinking State Loots its Own Survivors
Have you read 'Get Off The Fucking Freeway': The Sinking State Loots its Own Survivors, by Larry Bradshaw and Lorrie Beth Slonsky? It's a tale of how ordinary people organised themselves in the face of disaster and a disorganised state.
US military bars media from Katrina corpse recovery
"The US military says it will ban journalists and photographers from documenting the recovery of bodies left littering New Orleans by Hurricane Katrina.
"The military ban follows a request by the Federal Emergency Management Team (FEMA) not to photograph the dead.
"The Pentagon has an existing banned photographs of flag-draped coffins returning from Iraq."
ABC
Categories: dubya, bush, iraq, military, fema, pr, media, public, relations, crisis, management, hurricane, katrina, hurricanekatrina
Australian tells of Louisiana prison nightmare
"The 30-year-old Melbourne man, who was arrested in New Orleans just before Hurricane Katrina hit, says he feared for his life in jail.
"... Mr McDonald said he was partying on Bourbon Street and refused to leave a bar, leading to his arrest.
"He says he received minimal food and water.
"'We had no toilets, no running water,' he said.
"'We had no shelter from the sun or rain and all we had to sleep on was just a white sheet.
"'And we burnt during the day and froze during the night.
"'The guards threw two peanut-butter sandwiches over the razor-wire fence once a day for us and we grabbed them as quickly as you could.'"
ABC
Categories: hurricane, katrina, hurricanekatrina, louisiana, new, orleans, prisons, prisoners, australia
"... Mr McDonald said he was partying on Bourbon Street and refused to leave a bar, leading to his arrest.
"He says he received minimal food and water.
"'We had no toilets, no running water,' he said.
"'We had no shelter from the sun or rain and all we had to sleep on was just a white sheet.
"'And we burnt during the day and froze during the night.
"'The guards threw two peanut-butter sandwiches over the razor-wire fence once a day for us and we grabbed them as quickly as you could.'"
ABC
Categories: hurricane, katrina, hurricanekatrina, louisiana, new, orleans, prisons, prisoners, australia
Stephen Jay Gould, Darwin warrior
1941 Stephen Jay Gould (d. May 20, 2002), American palaeontologist, science educator and author (Evolution: The Triumph of an Idea; The Mismeasure of Man; Wonderful Life; Time's Arrow/Time's Cycle; The Panda's Thumb; The Flamingo's Smile).Gould was the most influential and widely-read writer of research-based popular science of his generation. Although a neo-Darwinist, his inclinations were less gradualist and reductionist than most neo-Darwinists, and he opposed sociobiology. He spent much of his time fighting against pseudoscience and creationism; he was also known for his clashed in the so-called 'Darwin Wars', with Harvard colleague Edward O Wilson and British biologist, Richard Dawkins.
In the 1980s he published 'The Hottentot Venus', calling for the return of the remains of Saartje Baartman to be returned from Paris to her native South Africa.
Categories: stephen, jay, gould, darwin, wars, richard, dawkins, sociobiology, pseudoscience, darwin, creation, evolution, creationism, intelligent, design
This free tip really does increase traffic to blogs
The tutorial I wrote on how to get more hits on your progressive blog really works.At left is the latest screen shot of my hits counter. I applied the method on September 1 and hits are now running at about three times my average for this year.
Here's a comment from Nora of the excellent blog extra!extra:
"My hits have quadrupled!""I can't recommend this highly enough! Thanks for all the work, Pip, and thanks for sharing your tip.
"I thought the method might be tricky but no, I just followed the easy steps and it worked like a treat.
"First off my hits doubled. Then I had to go offline briefly and lost 2 days. Now I'm back posting again and today, using your method, my hits have quadrupled!"
Nora then wrote and said she has had a 500% increase in hits.
I will share this with any progressive blog, but only with progressive blogs. Blogs that oppose the war in Iraq, for example. The method takes about half an hour, maybe an hour, to put into effect on your blog. Grab the step-by-step tutorial for free.
Categories: free, tip, tips, blog, blogs, technorati, delicious, del.icio.us, tag, tags, blogger, increase, hits, website, internet, rss, xml, tagcloud, progressive, traffic
Special: What led to Katrina?
"From Alternet: 'An exclusive interactive timeline on the makings of an unnatural disaster'.
"We're now familiar with the disastrous response of the Bush admin to Hurricane Katrina. See this interactive timeline of the 'repeated warnings and deliberate decisions' that led to the tragedy."
I dips me lid to Nora at extra!extra!
Categories: bush, dubya, political, republican, hurricane, katrina, timeline, cutbacks, budget, disaster, predictionsFriday, September 09, 2005
Looks like Washington found its scapegoat
"Disaster chief's biography overstated record"
Time magazine
I worked in public relations for five or six years, so I find it fascinating to watch the Bush regime at work. Bush was playing when all his advice was that a city was going to be destroyed.
(Shee-yit, I live in a one-horse, one general store outpost called Sandy Beach somewhere on the east coast of Australia, and while Shrub was playing gee-tar, even I was hearing on the radio about the tragedy. How does this clown get so much time to play gee-tar and golf? I wish I had a few leisure hours a week, and five-week holidays.)
My job -- any PR officer's job -- was to get reporters in the door, or to keep them away from the door.
Crisis management Rule 39: When caught out, you must run and hide. If caught hiding, scapegoat someone. Even if it means sacrificing one of your own.
Note, too, that the Iraq-bash clique in the Administration are now working under cover of media darkness, and no doubt upping their ante in Iraq ... for them, as for John Roberts, Katrina was a balmy zephyr from the Lord. All politicians and public officials pray for something to blow up in the media when they're having a bad media day themselves, or when they need a cover for what they're doing in the back rooms -- a good disaster keeps reporters away from the door.
Categories: dubya, bush, pr, public, relations, crisis, management, hurricane, katrina, hurricanekatrina, fema, michael, brown
"God's Mercy" evident in Katrina's wake
Whale oil beef hooked! A merciful God: "Two Christian leaders in New Orleans are testifying to God's mercy in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. One suggests that the death toll could have been much higher had it not been for God's mercy -- and the other that God may have used the hurricane to purge wickedness from the city."
AgapePress ('Reliable News from a Christian Source') via Repent America (check out the index page and enter if you dare)
Categories: bush, dubya, political, progressive, gay, republican, homsexual, christian, right, moral, majority, hurricane, katrina, hurricanekatrina, bigotry
AgapePress ('Reliable News from a Christian Source') via Repent America (check out the index page and enter if you dare)
Categories: bush, dubya, political, progressive, gay, republican, homsexual, christian, right, moral, majority, hurricane, katrina, hurricanekatrina, bigotry
Powell: UN speech "a blot" on my record
"In an interview with American ABC TV news to be broadcast on Friday (US time), Colin Powell, former Secretary of State, describes his speech to the UN Security Council on Iraq's WMD capabilities as 'a blot' on his record. 'I'm the one who presented it on behalf of the United States to the world, and (it) will always be a part of my record. It was painful. It's painful now,' [Powell] said. Finally, some recognition of this fact, albeit two years too late."
Metafilter
Must read: How Colin Powell lied to the United Nations
To the best of our knowledge, Wilson's Almanac scooped the world
-- read the extraordinary circumstances under which this happened:
Wilson's Almanac: How Powell lied to the UN Security Council
Categories: colin, powell, lied, lies, bush, un, united, nations, security, council, blot, iraq, invasion, wmd, wmds, occupation, abc, news
Death of the Lion of Panjshir: Prelude to 9/11
2001 Ahmed Shah Massoud ('the Lion of Panjshir'; born c. 1953), leader of the Northern Alliance, was assassinated in Afghanistan.Massoud, probably the greatest resistance leader of the 20th century, and probably the equal of any in history, was the victim of an Al Qaeda suicide bomber attack at Khvajeh Baha od Din, two days before the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack in the USA, and as part of that strategy.
It was the event that, in my opinion, ushered in the century and the Age of the New US Imperialism.
The assassination: prelude to 9-11
Two days before 9-11, Ahmad Shah Masoud, warrior-intellectual hero of the resistance to Russian imperialism and Taliban lunocracy, was assassinated by two suicide bombers posing as journalists. It was big news when it happened, and like many I was stunned, but like everyone else except Al Qaeda, I hadn't the slightest idea what big event it was leading up to within 48 hours. In fact, we weren't even sure he was dead because his cadres denied it, saying he was only wounded, as they played for time to regroup and plan. (It is believed that the horribly wounded Massoud died within 15 - 30 minutes, although his death was denied until September 15.)
If the official explanation for the September 11 attack on America is correct, ie, that Al Qaeda was to blame, then it's reasonable to assume that from Osama bin Laden's point of view, it was necessary to eliminate the Lion of Panjshir in order to secure local territory for the expected retaliation from the US when he attacked NYC and the Pentagon. With Massoud gone, so was bin Laden's mortal enemy and a reasonable man who did not despise the West.
Who was Ahmed Shah Massoud? (continued at the Book of Days) for September 9
Categories: ahmed, shah, massoud, mahsoud, northern, alliance, lion, panjshir, valley, afghanistan, kabul, usa, imperialism, 911, 9/11, alqaeda, al, qaeda, assassination, osama, bin, laden
Impeach Bush is number 3 Technorati search
The front page of Technorati today shows "Impeach Bush" running at the third most common search of that site, behind "Ipod Nano" and "Katrina".
Categories: bush, dubya, political, progressive, tags, rss, xml, republican, iraq, hurricane, katrina, impeach, hurricanekatrina,, technorati,, tagcloud
Categories: bush, dubya, political, progressive, tags, rss, xml, republican, iraq, hurricane, katrina, impeach, hurricanekatrina,, technorati,, tagcloud
Thursday, September 08, 2005
Impeach Bush cartoon Technorati tagcloud style
Spread the meme: Impeach Bush!
Here is a better version of last Friday's cartoon, now in .GIF.
Funny how that cartoon from 6 days ago seems today. Today on Technorati,
Impeach Bush was number SIX of all searches across 16.8 million blogs -- behind Katrina but ahead of Hurricane Katrina. Who'd a-thunk it five years ago when we first rolled up our sleeves to whup this dangerous loonie and his administration?
Georgie, you done jumped the shark!
Interesting to note that in Google News, Impeach Bush is hardly a presence ... it just goes to show that the media organisations are still many steps behind the Blogosphere, as we saw when 12 million people worldwide marched to stop the war (February 15, 2003) and caught Fox etc on the wrong foot -- not to mention the politicians. Keep blogging, bloggers!
Here 'tis on Google Web Search (pretty big there -- sign a petition, get a bumper sticker, spread the meme): Impeach Bush
Google: miserable failure and see what you get.
Public domain image, 33kb, Creative Commons Licence 2 (all but commercial purposes permitted).
Categories: bush, dubya, humor, humour, jokes, comic, cartoon, political, progressive, tags, rss, xml, republican, iraq, comix, hurricane, katrina, impeach, hurricanekatrina, technorati, tagcloud
Five burning questions
I don't know what your list of burning questions comprises, but I'd certainly be interested to find out. I've just started compiling mine. A few for starters:
1) Why did a substantial minority of Americans vote for George W Bush?
2) Why do women so markedly prefer chumps?
3) What makes instapundit one of the world's most popular blogs?
4) Surely the key to (3) can't be by writing "yeah", "look" and "check".
5) Can anyone tell me what "diddy wah diddy" means?
Categories: humor, humour, quiz, instapundit, bush, dubya
1) Why did a substantial minority of Americans vote for George W Bush?
2) Why do women so markedly prefer chumps?
3) What makes instapundit one of the world's most popular blogs?
4) Surely the key to (3) can't be by writing "yeah", "look" and "check".
5) Can anyone tell me what "diddy wah diddy" means?
Categories: humor, humour, quiz, instapundit, bush, dubya
Robert Fludd, Grand Master of the Priory of Sion
1637 Death of Robert Fludd (Robertus de Fluctibus, pictured), prominent English Rosicrucian and Paracelsian physicist and mystic, known for perpetual motion machines and other unlikely oddities.Fludd was the alleged 18th Grand Master of the Prieuré de Sion (Priory of Sion). (Recently, due to Dan Brown's bestselling novel, The Da Vinci Code and the soon-to-be-published The Dundee Code, there has been a new level of public interest in this esoteric institution.)
Alchemists in the Almanac: Roger Bacon *Ø* Count Cagliostro *Ø* John Dee *Ø* Edward Kelley*Ø* Isaac Newton *Ø* Paracelsus *Ø* James Price
Categories: alchemy, alchemist, alchemists, paracelsus, perpetual, motion, medieval, fludd, da, vinci, code, priory, sion
Radical Reference resources for socially responsible Katrina relief
Radical Reference has a list of resources for socially responsible Hurricane Katrina relief, submitted by JonathanNil.Radical Reference ('Answers for those who question authority') is new to me, but looks great.
"Mission Statement: Radical Reference is a collective of volunteer library workers who believe in social justice and equality. We support activist communities, progressive organizations, and independent journalists by providing professional research support, education and access to information. We work in a collaborative virtual setting and are dedicated to information activism to foster a more egalitarian society."
"In other news… The US Department of Homeland Security won’t let the American Red Cross into New Orleans. This is the Red Cross’s official FAQ about the matter. Here is a news story about it and here is another."
AudioActivism
AlterNet: 10 great ways you can help
Radical librarians * Ø * Progressive Librarians Guild
Google: radical librarians * Ø * Google progressive librarians
Categories: radical, reference, hurricane, katrina, relief, alternative, progressive, aid, new, orleans, louisiana, donate, donations, help, resources, library, librarian, librarians
Wednesday, September 07, 2005
I had a strange thought
I had this odd reverie in which my mother phones and asks me what I'm doing these days. I tell her "It's all blog, ping, feed, blog, ping, feed" and she says "Well, at least you're eating well, but what about exercise?"
Categories: syndicate, syndication, rss, feed, ping, blog, blogs, blogging, xml <-- see what I mean?
Categories: syndicate, syndication, rss, feed, ping, blog, blogs, blogging, xml <-- see what I mean?
Firefighters' sexual harassment training while city dies
Read it, but you won't believe it:"'They've got people here who are search-and-rescue certified, paramedics, haz-mat certified,' said a Texas firefighter. 'We're sitting in here having a sexual-harassment class while there are still [victims] in Louisiana who haven't been contacted yet.'
"The firefighter, who has encouraged his superiors back home not to send any more volunteers for now, declined to give his name because FEMA has warned them not to talk to reporters ...
"But as specific orders began arriving to the firefighters in Atlanta, a team of 50 Monday morning quickly was ushered onto a flight headed for Louisiana. The crew's first assignment: to stand beside President Bush as he tours devastated areas." [Emphasis mine]
Salt Lake Tribune
Now read: Bush uses firefighters as human props in shameless PR photo opp
Pictured: Firefighters endure a day of FEMA training, which included a course on sexual harassment. Some firefighters say their skills are being wasted. (Leah Hogsten/The Salt Lake Tribune; used in Fair Use)
Categories: fema, feminism, feminist, sexual, harassment, firefighters, hurricane, katrina, new, orleans, louisiana
quis custodiet ipsos custodes*
President, Congress to lead investigations
WASHINGTON -- "President George W. Bush and congressional leaders pledged Tuesday to hold separate investigations into the initial federal emergency response to the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina, a reaction widely condemned as woefully inadequate."
freep.com
*quis custodiet ipsos custodes -- Who will guard the guardians?
Categories: bush, congress, hurricane, katrina, investigations, congressional, hearings
WASHINGTON -- "President George W. Bush and congressional leaders pledged Tuesday to hold separate investigations into the initial federal emergency response to the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina, a reaction widely condemned as woefully inadequate."
freep.com
*quis custodiet ipsos custodes -- Who will guard the guardians?
Categories: bush, congress, hurricane, katrina, investigations, congressional, hearings
Hurricane season set to be stormy
"Hurricane Dennis could be an ominous sign of tempestuous times ahead, with more storms than usual set to pummel the Atlantic, British scientists warn."
BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Hurricane season set to be stormy
July 11, 2005
BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Hurricane season set to be stormy
July 11, 2005
Financial Times: Bush 'crippled' disaster relief + 'turning point' on opinion on Govt
Financial Times: Bush 'crippled' disaster relief + 'turning point' on opinion on Govt
By Jerome a Paris
"A day after having published a shameful apology of Bush, the Financial Times publishes a series of scathing comments on the Bush presidency, one from their main US political correspondent, and the other from their other conservative editorialist, Christopher Caldwell (of the Weekly Standard)."
Daily Kos has this highly recommended story. Suggested by Chris Keeley.
See also at dKosopedia: Hurricane Katrina issue and Hurricane Katrina timeline.
Categories: dubya, bush, hurricane, katrina, financial, times, conservative, opinion
Peter Lawford, 'Ocean's Eleven' actor who died destitute
1923 Peter Lawford (Peter Sydney Ernest Aylen; d. December 24, 1984), English-born actor, member of the so-called Rat Pack, comprising Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis, Jr and Joey Bishop who appeared together in Ocean’s Eleven ...In 1972, Lawford had surgery to remove a pancreatic tumour. By that time, he was in ill health as a result of long-time alcoholism, and he died on Christmas Eve, 1984 of cardiac arrest complicated by kidney and liver failure.
Peter Lawford died a pariah in Hollwood, to whom restaurants refused to deliver food as he was a bad bill-payer. He died penniless, without even enough money for a cemetery plot, and it has been alleged that his last wife, Patricia Seaton Lawford, made a deal with the seedy National Enquirer magazine that it could photograph the ashes-scattering ceremony, in exchange for the cost of the funeral.
Lawford was also a Kennedy clansman. He was uncle of Maria Shriver (wife of Arnold Schwarzenegger) and brother-in-law to President John F Kennedy. He visited Marilyn Monroe with brother-in-law Robert Kennedy the evening she died.
Categories: trivia, hollywood, peter, lawford, rat, pack, marilyn, monroe, kennedy, sinatra, movies, movie, stars
RSS, SMS and the case of the Unknown Issue
On Saturday the server was down for a few hours, so later I wrote to Support at TelPacific, my ISP:
"Can you please put Known Issues into an RSS feed so we can view them as they are posted? It might save TelPacific a lot of annoying phone calls too."
The response was fairly fast, but hardly a reply to my point: "We do have announcement on option 4 on our phones as well as on our website under network status". Do you see a reply there?
I replied: "Yes, I know that. For many users, if the network status page info could be put into an XML file it would be very handy and I'm sure it would reduce the traffic on your phone switchboard."
No reply.
Last night the server was down from early evening until ... well, I don't know when but it still was when I went to bed at 1am. During that time I phoned TelPacific and, you guessed it, there was no announcement on Option 4.
Now I have a better idea. They could use SMS as well as RSS for any known issues. The RSS feed would let us know when an interruption to service was coming. SMS (mobile phone text message) would do the same, but be most useful when the interruption had already occurred.
TelPacific are the guys who, six months after telling me that it was technically impossible to put spam and virus filters on an ISP, put on a spam and virus filter. So maybe I've planted a seed, at least.
To be perfectly frank, while I'm sure they know what SMS is, I have a hunch they don't know what RSS is.
Categories: rss, isp, sms, text, message, support, xml, server, servers, syndicate, syndication, cellphone, mobile, cell, phone
"Can you please put Known Issues into an RSS feed so we can view them as they are posted? It might save TelPacific a lot of annoying phone calls too."
The response was fairly fast, but hardly a reply to my point: "We do have announcement on option 4 on our phones as well as on our website under network status". Do you see a reply there?
I replied: "Yes, I know that. For many users, if the network status page info could be put into an XML file it would be very handy and I'm sure it would reduce the traffic on your phone switchboard."
No reply.
Last night the server was down from early evening until ... well, I don't know when but it still was when I went to bed at 1am. During that time I phoned TelPacific and, you guessed it, there was no announcement on Option 4.
Now I have a better idea. They could use SMS as well as RSS for any known issues. The RSS feed would let us know when an interruption to service was coming. SMS (mobile phone text message) would do the same, but be most useful when the interruption had already occurred.
TelPacific are the guys who, six months after telling me that it was technically impossible to put spam and virus filters on an ISP, put on a spam and virus filter. So maybe I've planted a seed, at least.
To be perfectly frank, while I'm sure they know what SMS is, I have a hunch they don't know what RSS is.
Categories: rss, isp, sms, text, message, support, xml, server, servers, syndicate, syndication, cellphone, mobile, cell, phone
Tuesday, September 06, 2005
Katrina numerology: Statistics of a disaster
"Statistics are always selective, but here are a few to try to put the devastation of Katrina in perspective.
a few is the number of days a human can survive without water
5 is the number of days it took to get drinking water to survivors of Katrina in downtown New Orleans
30 is the percentage of people in New Olreans living below the pverty line
30 is the percentage of Louisiana National Guard members who are out of the country on active duty in Iraq and Afghanistan. The percentage is even higher for Mississippi
36-80 is the number of days needed to pump water out of New Orleans
60+ is the number of foreign countries offering aid to the US
91 is the number of today’s expected high temperature in Biloxi, Mississippi (32C)
92 is the number of today’s expected high temperature in New Orleans, Louisiana (33C)
92 is the number of today’s expected high temperature in Gulfport, Mississippi (33C)
1100 is the number of doctors Cuba is offering to send to help in the crisis ..." (Read on)
Washi Waxwing, Jodhpur, India
Categories: hurricane, katrina, new, orleans, louisiana, cuba, statistics
a few is the number of days a human can survive without water
5 is the number of days it took to get drinking water to survivors of Katrina in downtown New Orleans
30 is the percentage of people in New Olreans living below the pverty line
30 is the percentage of Louisiana National Guard members who are out of the country on active duty in Iraq and Afghanistan. The percentage is even higher for Mississippi
36-80 is the number of days needed to pump water out of New Orleans
60+ is the number of foreign countries offering aid to the US
91 is the number of today’s expected high temperature in Biloxi, Mississippi (32C)
92 is the number of today’s expected high temperature in New Orleans, Louisiana (33C)
92 is the number of today’s expected high temperature in Gulfport, Mississippi (33C)
1100 is the number of doctors Cuba is offering to send to help in the crisis ..." (Read on)
Washi Waxwing, Jodhpur, India
Categories: hurricane, katrina, new, orleans, louisiana, cuba, statistics
William Lane's utopian dream of 'New Australia'
1861 William Lane (d. August 26, 1917), pioneer of the Australian Labor movement, and certainly its most famous leader and newspaper editor in the 1890s. He is best remembered today for leading a large proportion of Australian labor activists and many working class people to found a utopian colony in Paraguay. The colony struggled for some years, but eventually failed and Lane became a conservative newspaper editor in New Zealand. Before Australia, Lane had been a newspaperman in the USA but was born in Bristol, England, and died in Auckland, New Zealand. In 1885, aged 24, after having worked in the US and Canada, he immigrated to Australia and worked in Brisbane as a journalist, eventually becoming editor of the Worker and publishing, among others, Henry Lawson, Australia's national poet, who worked under him from March-September, 1891 in Brisbane on the radical Boomerang newspaper.
In the USA Lane had worked first as a printer, then as a reporter for the Detroit Free Press (1881). In Brisbane he worked on the Courier and Evening Observer until, in 1887, he established his own weekly labor paper, the Boomerang, soon becoming a power in Queensland labour politics. He was also a supporter of Emma Miller and the Women's suffrage movement, and a strong proponent of Henry George's Single Tax Movement, very popular in Australian following George's 3-month tour. Lane was also influenced by writings on Lemuria, Shangri-la and Utopia, and the utopian writings of Edward Bellamy and writings and experiments of Etienne Cabet. A smallish man with gold-rimmed spectacles, a club foot and walking stick, he seemed an unprepossessing and unlikely character to become a major labour leader, but that is exactly what happened ...
In 1892 Lane (as 'John Miller') wrote a novel, The Working-man's Paradise. Mary Gilmore later wrote in one of her letters "the whole book is true and of historical value as Lane transcribed our conversations as well as those of others"; both she and Henry Lawson were characters under other names, he being 'Artie', according to Gilmore, although this is disputed by some. Perhaps even before the novel Lane had it in mind to establish an intentional community (it might be that the novel was written to promote the idea, or at least to sow the seeds). Alf Walker, William Saunders and Charles Leck went to Paraguay and negotiated a land grant with the government – 450,000 acres on the Tebicuari River, about 20 miles from Villa Rica in eastern Paraguay, an old Spanish colonial town, the largest in the country's interior, 70 miles north-west of the capital, Asunción.
Following many delays, and obstructions set in train by the conservative Dibbs Government, the 598-ton Royal Tar, purchased for 1,350 pounds and refitted, Mort Bay in Sydney on July 17 (some sources say July 16), 1893 bearing 220 men, women and children, the advance party of those who would "write the history of humanity on the rocks of the Andes", arriving at Montevideo on September 13, and he worked hard to establish the New Australia utopian communist settlement (he called it "socialism with a small 's'"). From the time the first idealistic people set sail for New Australia, Lane's writings consistently insisted that there was no other way for socialism to be reached in the lifetime of the Australian worker. Hundreds of workers believed him. Lane was no fringe lunatic, but one of the country's best-known labour leaders. By today's standards it may be likened to one of the best known Australian Labor Party politicians inspiring thousands of workers to pack up and sail for South America – or the Moon ...
Categories: australia, utopia, utopian, communism, communist, socialism, socialist, intentional, community, commune, communes, paraguay, australian, henry, lawson, mary, gilmore, history
Hurricane Katrina interviews on podcast
LNL 2005-09-5 from Late Night Live
Walk through the Mosque, Hurricane Katrina.
Phillip Adams and a good interview with
Robert Bullard
Author and academic; Ware Distinguished Professor of Sociology and Director of the Environmental Justice Resource Centre, Clark Atlanta University.
Michael Tisserand
New Orleans writer; former Editor of New Orleans newspaper, Gambit Weekly
Mike Tidwell
Author, environmentalist
Categories: australia, radio, hurricane, katrina, racism, poverty, new, orleans, louisiana, usa
Patel enquiry shot in foot
Never underestimate the likelihood that the "golden thread" of British (and American, Australian, etc) justice can be eroded -- vide the USA and Guantanamo.
Australia's recent offering under this head: the Patel enquiry. For starters, the media have relentlessly called this Jayant Patel bloke "Dr Death". Of course, if Australian journalists could even hold crayons they would know that that name has longed been booked by Jack Kevorkian. They would also know that they are jeopardising a fair trial and thus the chance of a guilty man, if such Patel be, getting his just desserts. And of course, to call an alleged person guilty undermines your civil rights and mine.
Now the head of the commission appointed by the Queensland government to look at the Patel matter, Tony Morris, has wasted six million dollars of taxpayers' money by showing prejudice. In fact, the dope even walked down from the bench and warmly shook hands with one of the witnesses. The commission has been disbanded by the government, and Patel is sunning himself somewhere in the USA.
D'oh! Aussies!
Categories: jayant, patel, kevorkian, euthanasia, media, guantanamo, journalism, journalists, justice, australia, queensland, law, murder, jurisprudence
Australia's recent offering under this head: the Patel enquiry. For starters, the media have relentlessly called this Jayant Patel bloke "Dr Death". Of course, if Australian journalists could even hold crayons they would know that that name has longed been booked by Jack Kevorkian. They would also know that they are jeopardising a fair trial and thus the chance of a guilty man, if such Patel be, getting his just desserts. And of course, to call an alleged person guilty undermines your civil rights and mine.
Now the head of the commission appointed by the Queensland government to look at the Patel matter, Tony Morris, has wasted six million dollars of taxpayers' money by showing prejudice. In fact, the dope even walked down from the bench and warmly shook hands with one of the witnesses. The commission has been disbanded by the government, and Patel is sunning himself somewhere in the USA.
D'oh! Aussies!
Categories: jayant, patel, kevorkian, euthanasia, media, guantanamo, journalism, journalists, justice, australia, queensland, law, murder, jurisprudence
A culture of feeds: syndication and youth culture
Even though this post dates back to last October, there are some stimulating views on RSS, email, blogs, etc, from apophenia:
"As i wrote before, i quit using RSS/syndication readers. Sitting in at Web2.0 for 20 seconds, i was intrigued by the ongoing hype of RSS - how everything is going to be syndicated and how everyone is going to access data that way. For this audience, i think that it is certainly true. But i'm wondering if that's really true beyond the info-nerds.
"Syndication is based on an email model, relatively close to a mailing list model. You subscribe to a set number of things and the program informs you of updates. Like email, updates come in the form of a new item. If you leave your syndication tool alone for too long, those new items build up and you're faced with an INBOX-esque situation, an eternal queue waiting to be checked off. Of course, there's also a morbid pleasure in keeping that number at zero, motivating most digital control freaks to obsessively and compulsively check off the items as read. Syndication readers are the modern day whack-a-mole.
"I will fully admit that my digital OCD runs deep. Mixed with digital materialism, a penchant for collecting things and a fetish for information, i found that my addiction to RSS wrecked my world, making it impossible for me to go to bed at night until everything was checked off. While email has long since weighed on me by having an INBOX full of reminders that i'm a bad friend, syndication brought out my voyeuristic tendencies, letting me feel safe lurking without feeling compelled to respond. Reading was enough; reading was everything. If only that were the case in email.
"What gets me about syndication is not my personal neuroses around it (although i fear that others will be pushed over the edge with the continuous increase in feeds). What gets me about syndication is that i can't resolve the proposed models with the usage patterns i see in youth culture.
"Melora Zaner did some great research into why youth are throwing away email for IM. In my blogging research, i was only able to validate her findings. Youth use email to talk with parents and authorities (including corporate emails like from Xanga); it's where they get the functional stuff. They check email once a day. They get notices there, but they're mostly disregarded. IM is where the action is. Youth see this as their digital centerpiece, where they communicate with their friends, thereby maintaining their intimate community. They use the Profiles in IM to find out if their friends updated their LJs or Xangas, even though they are subscribed by email as well. The only feed they use is the LJ friends list and hyper LJ users have figured out how to syndicate Xangas into LJ. [Remember: blog is not a meaningful term to youth culture.] ..."
Categories: youth+culture, rss, syndication, sharpreader, feedreader, blog, blogs, blogging, email, technology, IT
"As i wrote before, i quit using RSS/syndication readers. Sitting in at Web2.0 for 20 seconds, i was intrigued by the ongoing hype of RSS - how everything is going to be syndicated and how everyone is going to access data that way. For this audience, i think that it is certainly true. But i'm wondering if that's really true beyond the info-nerds.
"Syndication is based on an email model, relatively close to a mailing list model. You subscribe to a set number of things and the program informs you of updates. Like email, updates come in the form of a new item. If you leave your syndication tool alone for too long, those new items build up and you're faced with an INBOX-esque situation, an eternal queue waiting to be checked off. Of course, there's also a morbid pleasure in keeping that number at zero, motivating most digital control freaks to obsessively and compulsively check off the items as read. Syndication readers are the modern day whack-a-mole.
"I will fully admit that my digital OCD runs deep. Mixed with digital materialism, a penchant for collecting things and a fetish for information, i found that my addiction to RSS wrecked my world, making it impossible for me to go to bed at night until everything was checked off. While email has long since weighed on me by having an INBOX full of reminders that i'm a bad friend, syndication brought out my voyeuristic tendencies, letting me feel safe lurking without feeling compelled to respond. Reading was enough; reading was everything. If only that were the case in email.
"What gets me about syndication is not my personal neuroses around it (although i fear that others will be pushed over the edge with the continuous increase in feeds). What gets me about syndication is that i can't resolve the proposed models with the usage patterns i see in youth culture.
"Melora Zaner did some great research into why youth are throwing away email for IM. In my blogging research, i was only able to validate her findings. Youth use email to talk with parents and authorities (including corporate emails like from Xanga); it's where they get the functional stuff. They check email once a day. They get notices there, but they're mostly disregarded. IM is where the action is. Youth see this as their digital centerpiece, where they communicate with their friends, thereby maintaining their intimate community. They use the Profiles in IM to find out if their friends updated their LJs or Xangas, even though they are subscribed by email as well. The only feed they use is the LJ friends list and hyper LJ users have figured out how to syndicate Xangas into LJ. [Remember: blog is not a meaningful term to youth culture.] ..."
Categories: youth+culture, rss, syndication, sharpreader, feedreader, blog, blogs, blogging, email, technology, IT
Monday, September 05, 2005
Now TV shows come before sex, meals and chat
"Television dictates our lives to such an extent that we fit our meals, conversations with other family members and even sex around how programmes are scheduled, a new report reveals ...
"Even conversation has to wait until the end of top shows: almost a quarter of all the 18- to 50-year-olds surveyed say they refuse to talk to anyone else in the house until the credits roll."
Telegraph (UK); spotted by Nora from extra!extra!
Categories: media, culture, jamming, television, anti, tv, anti, televsion
MoveOn has me scratching my head
I wonder why a huge, famous site like MoveOn.org doesn't have an RSS feed or a Search box. Odd.
BBC TV's subtitling "risks turning shows into comedy"
"'With BBC TV's instant subtitling service, ... accuracy gives way to speed, with the result that quite serious programmes risk being turned into comedy shows. One of my favourite examples is a recent programme about food supplements, which included 'a meagre tree-fish oil' instead of 'omega 3 fish-oil'."
WorldWideWords
Categories: bbc, subtitling, speech, recognition, software, language, linguistics, english, british, opinion, history
WorldWideWords
Categories: bbc, subtitling, speech, recognition, software, language, linguistics, english, british, opinion, history
William Dampier: A pirate of 'exquisite mind'
1651 William Dampier (d. 1715) was christened in St Michael’s Church, East Coker, in South Somerset, England (his date of birth is unknown).He was an explorer, sea captain, and scientific observer, and known as a buccaneer – although he used the word himself, some dispute this.
Dampier Archipelago off Western Australia is named after him.
He was a crewmember of the pirate ship, the Cygnet, which was beached on the northwest coast of Australia (somewhere near King Sound in Western Australia).
A pirate of 'exquisite mind': Dampier influences
Dampier is little known outside Britain and Australia (and, sadly, almost forgotten in those countries), but he had an unusual degree of influence on figures better known than he:
His observations and analysis of natural history helped Darwin’s and Alexander von Humboldt’s development of their theories. He made innovations in navigational technology that were studied by Captain James Cook and Admiral Horatio Nelson. His reports on breadfruit led to Captain William Bligh’s ill-fated voyage ...
Prolific wordsmith
Dampier was more than an influential writer, he enriched the English language to an extraordinary degree and is cited more than a thousand times in the Oxford English Dictionary.
According to Diana Preston and Michael Preston, A Pirate of Exquisite Mind: Explorer, Naturalist, and Buccaneer: The Life of William Dampier, among the many words and expressions William Dampier introduced into the English language: avocado; barbecue; breadfruit; caress (verb); cashew; chopsticks; excursion (trip); kumquat; Norwester (wind); posse (iguana); rambling; sea-breeze; sea-lion; serrated; settlement; snapper; soysauce; stilts (house supports); subsistence (farming); sub-species (pre-Charles Darwin); swampy; thunder-cloud; to make snug (as a phrase) tortilla (source).
Dampier and Robinson Crusoe
Dampier helped save the life of someone very important in English literature. On February 1, 1709 real-life castaway Alexander Selkirk (or Selcraig) (1676 - 1721), the model for Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe, was rescued by the ship Duke, after four years on a deserted island four hundred miles west of Valparaiso, Chile, by Captain Woodes Rogers and Dampier, who recognised him and vouched for his identity. Defoe was inspired by Dampier’s account ...
Categories: trivia, dampier, australia, english+history, british+history, pirate, buccaneer, english, language, maritime, history, navigators
RSS for 'Known Issues' at my ISP
I have written to my ISP, TelPacific, who have a page for showing known problems (the server was down for a few hours on Saturday):
Hi,
Can you please put Known Issues into an RSS feed so we can view them as they are posted? It might save TelPacific a lot of annoying phone calls too.
Pip Wilson
Categories: isp, server, rss, feeds, customer+service, xml
Hi,
Can you please put Known Issues into an RSS feed so we can view them as they are posted? It might save TelPacific a lot of annoying phone calls too.
Pip Wilson
Categories: isp, server, rss, feeds, customer+service, xml
Sunday, September 04, 2005
De Beauvoir and Shakespeare & Co.
1935 French feminist and existentialist author, Simone de Beauvoir (1908 - 1986), joined the bookstore Shakespeare and Company, 12, rue de l’Odeon, Paris.The shop’s place in literary history is assured by its association (over two incarnations, with the second being owned by George Whitman) with such luminaries as Ernest Hemingway, F Scott Fitzgerald, George Bernard Shaw, Ezra Pound, Gertrude Stein, Alice B Toklas, Pablo Picasso, Baz le Tuff, TS Eliot, Paul Valèry, André Gide, James Joyce, Thornton Wilder, André Malraux, DH Lawrence, Aleister Crowley, Man Ray, Anäis Nin, Lawrence Durrell, James Baldwin, Allen Ginsberg, Gregory Corso, Lawrence Ferlinghetti and many others.
The famous store was opened on November 17, 1919 by American expatriate publisher and daughter of a Presbyterian minister from Princeton, New Jersey, Sylvia Beach (1887 - 1962). It had become famous after it published Joyce's Ulysses in 1922, as a result of Joyce's inability to get an edition out in English-speaking countries (Joyce's insistence on correcting on the galley proofs nearly sent Beach bankrupt and he later double-crossed her by selling to Random House for what was then a huge sum of money -- $45,000 ).
Categories: paris, bohemian, beat, beatnik, shakespeare, feminist, beauvoir, joyce, ulysses, hemingway, english, literature, american, expatriate, expatriates
Saturday, September 03, 2005
Free tip: How I more than doubled hits to my blog
I searched and searched to find a way to do technorati and del.icio.us tagging to the best effect, and quickly. I mean, almost automated.
The info can be already found on the WWW, but not a simple set of instructions, as far as I know. I've done the searching and written the easy How-To and I'll share it with progressive bloggers who ask for it (see below), because I like to see the right people get it. (I'm not publishing it openly because I would hate to give an advantage to any but the best blogs while the world is in such challenging times.)
As soon as I tried this new free method, I started getting more than twice the number of hits to this blog. Almost three times more hits, in fact. It's nothing you have to join, but a time-saving way to automate tags in technorati and del.icio.us simultaneously. It works for all blogs but even better for Blogger blogs. It does add a little time to each post if you are not already tagging, but it's certainly worth it, I've found on several of my blogs.
What I will do for free
If you have a progressive, radical or liberal blog, email me pipwilson [AT] acay.com.au and put Pip's Tip in the subject header and only your URL in the body (nothing else ... but if you are a member of Progressive Blog Alliance please write "PBA Member" in the body) and I will show you how I did it. I'll email easy guidelines for a process that takes less than half an hour if you can cut and paste html. Allow me a few days to reply please.
What I won't do for love nor money
Regrettably, (a) I'm not technically minded so I won't offer tech support, I'll just send you one email explaining how I did it, and (b) I will only share it with progressive sites, so send me your URL too so I can see it. Me no like, me no reply, OK? Also, I'm really busy this week so I don't have time to correspond with you, sorry.
What I ask in return
It's free, but if you get more traffic, I would like you to give this tip a mention and put a permanant link to Wilson's Blogmanac on your site.
Deal? Pass it on. "No correspondents will be entered into." ;)
[Speaking of Technorati, I see today the Blogmanac is ranked 4,034 out of 16.5 million blogs.]
Categories: free, tip, tips, blog, blogs, technorati, delicious, del.icio.us, tag, tags, blogger, increase, hits, traffic
President responded quickly to Hurricane Katrina
"Not President Bush. Cuban President Fidel Castro. Speaking on Cuban television tonight, Castro revealed that on Tuesday, while George Bush was still on vacation playing with his spiffy new guitar, and a day or two before the Secretary of State went shopping for shoes, Cuba contacted the State Department and offered no less than 1,100 doctors to assist in dealing with the crisis. Doctors who, unlike the hospital ship which has yet to leave its berth in Baltimore and isn't scheduled to be in New Orleans until next Saturday (!), could have been on site by Wednesday if the Cuban offer had been accepted."
"It wasn't.
Source: AlterNet Blogs Peek
Categories: hurricane, katrina, castro, dubya, bush, condy, condoleezza, shopping
Bartholomew Fair (1752 - 1855)
The play Bartholomew Fair (1614) by Ben Jonson (1572 - 1637), depicts the customs associated with the popular English fair held annually on this day. Jonson’s play is peopled with balladeers, stall holders, prostitutes and cut-purses.
Bartholomew Fair began with a vision. Rahere, the jester of King Henry I, said he had seen the apostle Bartholomew in a vision and he had directed him to found a church and hospital in his honour. After the work was done, Rahere established a fair which was to begin on his patron’s day, and go for three days. It lasted from 1133 to 1855.
Sideshows displayed such people as ‘The Wild Indian Woman and Child’, ‘The Spotted Boy’ (pictured -- and you thought it was Gorby), ‘The largest child in the Kingdom’ and ‘The female dwarf, Two Feet, Eleven Inches high’, as well as exotic animals, such as elephants, tigers and ‘the giant emew, fom Brazil’. Many locals opposed the noisy, debauched fair, for many years.
The Bartholomew Fair lasted for four days. It opened annually at Smithfield, England each St Bartholomew’s Day (August 24) from 1133 to 1752, then after the introduction of the Gregorian calendar, opened on September 3, except where this was a Sunday. It was removed to Islington in 1840, and last held in 1855.
Categories: medieval, england, english, customs, folklore, fair, fairs, festival, festivals
Pagan cops set up Hurricane Katrina fund
"Officers of Avalon began in December 1999 as an online discussion group for law enforcement officers who follow pagan spiritual paths. Today OOA represents Pagans who work as police officers and other professionals in the emergency services. Officers of Avalon wants to show the world that we follow valid and respectable spiritual paths."
"Officers of Avalon is collecting funds for those who have lost their homes and livelihood in New Orleans. All monies we receive will be forwarded to charity organizations helping to provide emergency aid to the survivors of this natural catastrophe. Help us make a difference! Give generously!"
Officers of Avalon
Thanx Almaniac Lorelei T from Vancouver, CA for the tip off. [Little-known factoid: George Vancouver was one of the first navigators to explore Australia but we haven't named a town after him as far as I know.]
Categories: pagan, police, hurricane, katrina, fund, fundraising
"Officers of Avalon is collecting funds for those who have lost their homes and livelihood in New Orleans. All monies we receive will be forwarded to charity organizations helping to provide emergency aid to the survivors of this natural catastrophe. Help us make a difference! Give generously!"
Officers of Avalon
Thanx Almaniac Lorelei T from Vancouver, CA for the tip off. [Little-known factoid: George Vancouver was one of the first navigators to explore Australia but we haven't named a town after him as far as I know.]
Categories: pagan, police, hurricane, katrina, fund, fundraising
Liberal bloggers for hurricane relief
"Hurricane Katrina has devastated thousands of lives. Today, we're announcing a coordinated effort by the liberal/progressive blogosphere to help the victims of the devastation. Together, we're going to raise $1 million for the American Red Cross - and prove that the liberal blogosphere can help our fellow citizens in need. Make a donation for hurricane relief."
Progressive Blog Alliance
I don't consider the Blogmanac to be 'liberal', but radical progressive (if one has to fit into a category). But we have a box in the sidebar to help this relief fund, and I invite all readers to chuck a few bob in the tin.
Categories: liberal, blog, blogs, hurricane, katrina, relief, aid, fundraising
Friday, September 02, 2005
The devastating influence of Hurricane George
Washington knew how to protect New Orleans
"Washington knew exactly what needed to be done to protect the citizens of New Orleans from disasters like Katrina. Yet federal funding for Louisiana flood control projects was diverted to pay for the war in Iraq. "
AlterNet: Why the Levee Broke
The devastating influence of Hurricane George
"As Sidney Blumenthal points out, 'Every two miles of wetland between the Crescent City and the Gulf reduces a surge by half a foot.' Even though he was aware of this, in 2003 Bush allowed developers to destroy the sensitive wetland areas that buffer the coast. It was the equivalent of taking the seat-belts, air bags, and bumpers off a car and then driving the opposite way on the freeway. The disaster was just the predictable outcome of dreadfully flawed policies."
uruknet
Why New Orleans is in deep water
" ... in June, Bush took his little ax and chopped $71.2 million from the budget of the New Orleans Corps of Engineers, a 44 percent reduction. As was reported in New Orleans CityBusiness at the time, that meant 'major hurricane and flood projects will not be awarded to local engineering firms. Also, a study to determine ways to protect the region from a Category 5 hurricane has been shelved for now.'"
Chicago Tribune
Katrina comes home to roost
"A year ago the US army corps of engineers proposed to study how New Orleans could be protected from a catastrophic hurricane, but the Bush administration ordered that the research not be undertaken. After a flood killed six people in 1995, the Congress created the Southeast Louisiana Urban Flood Control Project. Operated by the corps of engineers, levees and pumping stations were strengthened and renovated. In 2001, when George Bush became president, the Federal Emergency Management Agency issued a report stating that a hurricane striking New Orleans was one of the three most likely potential disasters - after a terrorist attack on New York City. But by 2003 the federal funding essentially dried up as it was drained into the Iraq war. By 2004, the Bush administration cut the corps of engineers' request for holding back the waters of Lake Pontchartrain by more than 80%. By the beginning of this year, the administration's additional cuts, reduced by 44% since 2001, forced the corps to impose a hiring freeze."
Guardian Special Report
Politicizing a tragedy
"So to any Conservative hacks out there who want me to stop “politicizing the hurricane,” I understand what you really mean is you want me to stop trying to prevent Bush and his cohorts from politicizing the hurricane. But it’s not going to happen. Bush isn’t going to be getting a free ride this time."
Carpe Datum
Michael Moore to the Disaster President
"I especially like how, the day after the hurricane, instead of flying to Louisiana, you flew to San Diego to party with your business peeps."
AlterNet
Congress: Hold Bush Accountable on Failed Katrina Response (workingforchange.com)
Categories: hurricane, katrina, orleans, bush, dubya
New Orleans hunky-dory, says Bloomberg columnist
"The oil and gas business will get up and running again. Property owners will return to their property and repair damage. Federal and state emergency money is already flowing to the area battered by Hurricane Katrina this week. The long-term prospects are bright, because Americans in general and bond investors in particular are by nature confident."
Joe Mysak, Bloomberg.com
In other words, forget reality, forget climate change, forget urban decay and the fact that New Orleans is a city that should never have been built there in the first place, and call it a natural disaster that capitalism will overcome.
Anatomy of an unnatural disaster
Man-Made MistakesIncrease DevastationOf 'Natural' Disasters
"As one 19th-century traveler put it, according to Ari Kelman, an environmental historian at the University of California, Davis, 'New Orleans is surprising evidence of what men will endure, when cheered by the hopes of an ever-flowing tide of dollars and cents.'"
After Centuries of 'Controlling' Land, Gulf Residents Learn Who's Boss
Categories: katrina, orleans, unnatural, disaster, ari, kelman
Joe Mysak, Bloomberg.com
In other words, forget reality, forget climate change, forget urban decay and the fact that New Orleans is a city that should never have been built there in the first place, and call it a natural disaster that capitalism will overcome.
Anatomy of an unnatural disaster
Man-Made MistakesIncrease DevastationOf 'Natural' Disasters
"As one 19th-century traveler put it, according to Ari Kelman, an environmental historian at the University of California, Davis, 'New Orleans is surprising evidence of what men will endure, when cheered by the hopes of an ever-flowing tide of dollars and cents.'"
After Centuries of 'Controlling' Land, Gulf Residents Learn Who's Boss
Categories: katrina, orleans, unnatural, disaster, ari, kelman
Professor Sir Joseph Rotblat
Nobel Peace Prize winner Sir Joseph Rotblat, the only scientist to resign from the Manhattan Project, and a founder, with Sir Bertrand Russell, of the important pro-peace organisation Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs, has died, aged 96.
Categories: rotblat, pugwash, antinuclear
Categories: rotblat, pugwash, antinuclear
Planet-friendly housing for cold climates
"Flooding, year-round smog days, drought… the catastrophe of climate change is prompting more and more of us to consider ways to reduce our household energy consumption and reliance on polluting energy sources. And that is easy, attractive and cost-effective, even in northern climates, with the use of natural building techniques, renewable energy sources and smart conservation technology.
"Renewable energy projects are becoming more common across North America. Here are two examples of housing in western and eastern Canada that are both highly livable and extremely educational ..."
Life.ca
Categories: sustainability, permaculture, cold, climate, sustainable, housing
Guantanamo detainees on hunger strike
"Scores of detainees are on hunger strike at the Guantanamo detention camp, lawyers for the detainees and US military authorities say.
"It is not known if Australian David Hicks is taking part in the protest ...
"'Since January 2002, the (US Defence Department) has denied prisoners access to the courts or legal counsel in an effort to avoid justifying the basis for the detentions,' said attorney Gitanjali Gutierrez, of the New York-based Centre for Constitutional Rights, which is representing some of the prisoners.
"'This policy has driven detainees to strike until they die or are afforded a fair hearing and humane treatment.'
"There are about 505 detainees at the detention camp on the US naval base in Cuba.
"Yesterday the Pentagon announced changes to the way it will conduct military trials of foreign terrorism suspects.
"Critics have dismissed the changes as window dressing that has failed to fix fundamental defects.
"'No substantive change was made to the process,' said a statement by the lawyers representing Hicks, Marine Corps Major Michael Mori and civilian Joshua Dratel."
ABC
[Major Mori proves that there must be at least one moral person in the US military. Where are the others? Speak out!]
Categories: guantanamo, military, prisoners, australia, hicks, rights
"It is not known if Australian David Hicks is taking part in the protest ...
"'Since January 2002, the (US Defence Department) has denied prisoners access to the courts or legal counsel in an effort to avoid justifying the basis for the detentions,' said attorney Gitanjali Gutierrez, of the New York-based Centre for Constitutional Rights, which is representing some of the prisoners.
"'This policy has driven detainees to strike until they die or are afforded a fair hearing and humane treatment.'
"There are about 505 detainees at the detention camp on the US naval base in Cuba.
"Yesterday the Pentagon announced changes to the way it will conduct military trials of foreign terrorism suspects.
"Critics have dismissed the changes as window dressing that has failed to fix fundamental defects.
"'No substantive change was made to the process,' said a statement by the lawyers representing Hicks, Marine Corps Major Michael Mori and civilian Joshua Dratel."
ABC
[Major Mori proves that there must be at least one moral person in the US military. Where are the others? Speak out!]
Categories: guantanamo, military, prisoners, australia, hicks, rights
Katrina gives elites chance to whittle away liberties
Be careful. Be very careful, and above all vigilant. At times when major events Katrina and the Baghdad tragedy grab the headline space, these are precisely the time that politicians and other power elites push forward with agendas they know the public doesn't want. And when the media refer to (and probably exaggerate) looting and public disorder, these elites work overtime to remove, with relative impunity and even with our approbation, more of our liberties. Keep an eye on how Rupert Murdoch pushes the public disorder thing.
Categories: katrina, human, civil, rights, looting, privacy, murdoch, liberty
Fats Domino among Katrina missing
"Blues musician Fats Domino is among those missing after Hurricane Katrina. His agent, Al Embry, said he had not been able to contact him since Sunday. "
BBC
Update: he's been found alive and well, up on Blueberry Hill.
Categories: katrina
BBC
Update: he's been found alive and well, up on Blueberry Hill.
Categories: katrina
Festival of the Grape Vines
Festival of the Grape Vines, ancient Greek islands, in honour of Ariadne and Dionysus
In the ancient Greek islands, this was a time for commemorating the deities Ariadne, the fertility goddess of Crete, and Dionysus, the son of moon goddess Semele by Zeus. Dionysus’s followers often went to libertine excesses as he was the god of wine and ecstasy.
Ariadne is also a goddess of vegetation; Dionysus was originally a god of wine and ecstasy, and later of vegetation and warm moisture. Once Dionysus was made mad by the goddess Hera, so he went on a journey to the oracle at Dodona. He crossed a marsh on the back of an ass, which he rewarded by giving it the power of speech.
Categories: goddess, wine, harvest, greek, mythology, folklore
How New Orleans was lost
"Chalk up the city of New Orleans as a cost of Bush's Iraq war.
"There were not enough helicopters to repair the breeched levees and rescue people trapped by rising water. Nor are there enough Louisiana National Guards available to help with rescue efforts and to patrol against looting.
"The situation is the same in Mississippi.
"The National Guard and helicopters are off on a fools mission in Iraq.
"The National Guard is in Iraq because fanatical neoconsevatives in the Bush administration were determined to invade the Middle East and because the incompetent Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld refused to listen to the generals, who told him there were not enough regular troops available to do the job.
"After the invasion, the arrogant Rumsfeld found out that the generals were right. The National Guard was called up to fill in the gaping gaps.
"Now the Guardsmen, trapped in the Iraqi quagmire, are watching on TV the families they left behind trapped by rising waters and wondering if the floating bodies are family members. None know where their dislocated families are, but, shades of Fallujah, they do see their destroyed homes.
"The mayor of New Orleans was counting on helicopters to put in place massive sandbags to repair the levee. However, someone called the few helicopters away to rescue people from rooftops. The rising water overwhelmed the massive pumping stations, and New Orleans disappeared under deep water."
Counterpunch
Categories: bush, iraq, katrina, new, orleans, national, guard
Waiting for a leader
"George W. Bush gave one of the worst speeches of his life yesterday, especially given the level of national distress and the need for words of consolation and wisdom. In what seems to be a ritual in this administration, the president appeared a day later than he was needed. He then read an address of a quality more appropriate for an Arbor Day celebration: a long laundry list of pounds of ice, generators and blankets delivered to the stricken Gulf Coast. He advised the public that anybody who wanted to help should send cash, grinned, and promised that everything would work out in the end."
New York Times editorial
Categories: bush, katrina, dubya
New York Times editorial
Categories: bush, katrina, dubya
Hospital parking fees for patients too high
Someone I know had to go to a clinic at the Royal North Shore Hospital (Sydney) this week. The clinic involved 3.5 hours of sitting around and this person had to pay $22 in hospital parking fees. Only two weeks ago another person I know, a former nurse who is a doctor's wife, was telling me how scandalous parking fees are for patients. Something should be done.
Categories: sydney, australia, hospital, parking
Categories: sydney, australia, hospital, parking
Aussie newspaper blogger goes solo
This is how Crikey put it:
Margo Kingston ditches Fairfax and goes solo
"She's finally done it and gone solo. Her Webdiary has gone live at its own site (webdiary.com.au) on Monday morning after a simmering dispute with The Sydney Morning Herald boiled over.'Fairfax are cutting down on journalists at the same time as they are buying a dating agency,' says Kingston. 'I believe Webdiary is a firm example of former Fairfax values.'"
Goodonya Margo, and yes, it's all about the past and the future.
Margo Kingston at Wikipedia
Her old blog (with interesting post from Mark Scott, Editor-in-Chief)
[By the way, I have named my new canary Fairfax.]
Categories: sydney, australia, blog, blogger
Margo Kingston ditches Fairfax and goes solo
"She's finally done it and gone solo. Her Webdiary has gone live at its own site (webdiary.com.au) on Monday morning after a simmering dispute with The Sydney Morning Herald boiled over.'Fairfax are cutting down on journalists at the same time as they are buying a dating agency,' says Kingston. 'I believe Webdiary is a firm example of former Fairfax values.'"
Goodonya Margo, and yes, it's all about the past and the future.
Margo Kingston at Wikipedia
Her old blog (with interesting post from Mark Scott, Editor-in-Chief)
[By the way, I have named my new canary Fairfax.]
Categories: sydney, australia, blog, blogger
Thursday, September 01, 2005
Ping-o-matic alternatives
"This is interesting," writes Kevin Burton at FeedBlog. "More meta-ping servers are coming at a fast pace. Looks like we now have Feed Shark, King Ping and Blogomatic."
See also Ping-o-Matic (which I've used and seems very good) and Pingoat (looks like the best to me). Blackhat SEO has a free blog and ping script (like to know if anyone's tried it and if it goes with Blogger).
Categories: ping, blog
See also Ping-o-Matic (which I've used and seems very good) and Pingoat (looks like the best to me). Blackhat SEO has a free blog and ping script (like to know if anyone's tried it and if it goes with Blogger).
Categories: ping, blog
Which font goes with which MS program?
I saw a nice font, one that I didn't recognise, on a web page and wondered why I could see it. So I selected it with my mouse, thinking it was a .gif, but no, it was actually typography on the page. I went to View/Source and found that it is called Papyrus.
Since Baz le Tuff built me a new computer two weeks ago, I haven't had time to instal all the fonts I have collected over the years. So the question was, how come I can see such a nice font? I mean, all the standard ones, like Times New Roman and Courier, are OK, but hardly fancy like Papyrus.
I asked le Tuff and he didn't quite have the answer, but he twigged to the fact that it was probably bundled now with some MS software or maybe Photoshop. then I found this page which has the answer. Papyrus 1.1 is now bundled with:
Greetings 99, Home Publishing 99, Office 2000 Premium, Office 97 Small Business Edition SR2, Office Professional Edition 2003, PhotoDraw 2000, Picture It! 2000, Picture It! 98, Picture It! 99, Publisher 2000, Publisher 98, Works 2002.
Categories: microsoft, fonts, papyrus
Since Baz le Tuff built me a new computer two weeks ago, I haven't had time to instal all the fonts I have collected over the years. So the question was, how come I can see such a nice font? I mean, all the standard ones, like Times New Roman and Courier, are OK, but hardly fancy like Papyrus.
I asked le Tuff and he didn't quite have the answer, but he twigged to the fact that it was probably bundled now with some MS software or maybe Photoshop. then I found this page which has the answer. Papyrus 1.1 is now bundled with:
Greetings 99, Home Publishing 99, Office 2000 Premium, Office 97 Small Business Edition SR2, Office Professional Edition 2003, PhotoDraw 2000, Picture It! 2000, Picture It! 98, Picture It! 99, Publisher 2000, Publisher 98, Works 2002.
Categories: microsoft, fonts, papyrus
LA Times, Wikipedia on 9/11 conspiracy theories
Getting Agnostic About 9/11
"Anyone who types the words "9/11" and "conspiracy" into an online search engine soon learns that not everybody buys the official narrative of what took place on Sept. 11, 2001. As a professor emeritus at the Claremont School of Theology, 66-year-old David Ray Griffin would seem to have more affinity for leather elbow patches than tin hats, yet after friends and colleagues prodded him into sifting through the evidence, he experienced a conversion. Now he's spreading the bad news. Griffin compiled a summary of material arguing against the accepted story that 19 hijackers sent by Osama bin Laden took the aviation system and the U.S. military by surprise that awful day in his 2004 book 'The New Pearl Harbor' (published by Interlink, a Massachusetts-based independent publisher covering areas including travel, cooking, world fiction, current events, politics, children's literature and other subjects). He recently followed up with the book 'The 9/11 Commission Report: Omissions and Distortions' (Interlink), a critique of the Kean commission document in which he suggests that a chunk of the blame for the worst terrorist attack on U.S. soil lies closer to home than the caves of Afghanistan. We contacted him at his Santa Barbara-area home for a report on his journey from mild-mannered scholar to doubting Thomas."
LA Times
Wikipedia has a page on 9/11 conspiracy theories that's interesting as well as kooky.
"Anyone who types the words "9/11" and "conspiracy" into an online search engine soon learns that not everybody buys the official narrative of what took place on Sept. 11, 2001. As a professor emeritus at the Claremont School of Theology, 66-year-old David Ray Griffin would seem to have more affinity for leather elbow patches than tin hats, yet after friends and colleagues prodded him into sifting through the evidence, he experienced a conversion. Now he's spreading the bad news. Griffin compiled a summary of material arguing against the accepted story that 19 hijackers sent by Osama bin Laden took the aviation system and the U.S. military by surprise that awful day in his 2004 book 'The New Pearl Harbor' (published by Interlink, a Massachusetts-based independent publisher covering areas including travel, cooking, world fiction, current events, politics, children's literature and other subjects). He recently followed up with the book 'The 9/11 Commission Report: Omissions and Distortions' (Interlink), a critique of the Kean commission document in which he suggests that a chunk of the blame for the worst terrorist attack on U.S. soil lies closer to home than the caves of Afghanistan. We contacted him at his Santa Barbara-area home for a report on his journey from mild-mannered scholar to doubting Thomas."
LA Times
Wikipedia has a page on 9/11 conspiracy theories that's interesting as well as kooky.
The 'dove of Chechnya'
Julie Rigg's audio interview with Zainap Gashaeva, the 'dove of Chechnya', will be online in a few days. Well worth hearing.
"Julie Rigg ... talks to Zainap Gaecheva, the 'dove of Chechnya', who since l994 has been using a videocamera to record and document Russian atrocities there. Her women's groups, Echoes of War, have become a political force."
Categories: chechnya, activism, activist
"Julie Rigg ... talks to Zainap Gaecheva, the 'dove of Chechnya', who since l994 has been using a videocamera to record and document Russian atrocities there. Her women's groups, Echoes of War, have become a political force."
Categories: chechnya, activism, activist
The month of September
The name of the calendar month of September derives from its being the seventh month (Latin: Septem, seven) after March, where the Roman calendar’s year used to commence. The Roman goddess Pomona, patroness of fruit and orchards, is the ruling deity of the month.
The Dutch called it Herstmaand (autumn-month), and the Saxons, Gerst-monath (barley-month), or Hærfest-monath (harvest month). After the introduction of Christianity, the Saxons called it Halig-monath, or holy-month, because of the preponderance of feast days in at this stage of the year (the nativity of the Virgin Mary being on September 8, the Exaltation of the Cross on the 14th, Holy-Rood Day on September 26, and Michaelmas ( St Michael's Day) on September 29). In the French Republican calendar it was called Fructidor (fruit-month, August 18 to September 21) ...
Categories: calendar, customs, folklore, almanac
Apes 'extinct in a generation'
"Some of the great apes -- chimps, gorillas, and orangutans -- could be extinct within a human generation, an authoritative new assessment concludes. "Human settlement, logging, mining and disease mean that orangutans in parts of Indonesia may lose half of their habitat within five years.
"There are now more than 20,000 humans on the planet for every chimpanzee."
BBC
Mississippi goddamn
"President Bush plays a guitar presented to him by Country Singer Mark Wills, right, backstage following his visit to Naval Base Coronado, Tuesday, Aug. 30, 2005. Bush visited the base to deliver remarks on V-J Commemoration Day. (AP Photo/ABC News, Martha Raddatz)." Link.
"Meanwhile, during those same hours, in Mississippi: Volunteers rescue a family from the roof of their Suburban, which became trapped in floodwaters on US 90 in Bay St. Louis, Miss. (Ben Sklar / AP) August 30, 2005."
BoingBoing
Republicans accused of witch-hunt against climate change scientists
"Some of America's leading scientists have accused Republican politicians of intimidating climate-change experts by placing them under unprecedented scrutiny.
"A far-reaching inquiry into the careers of three of the US's most senior climate specialists has been launched by Joe Barton, the chairman of the House of Representatives committee on energy and commerce. He has demanded details of all their sources of funding, methods and everything they have ever published.
"Mr Barton, a Texan closely associated with the fossil-fuel lobby, has spent his 11 years as chairman opposing every piece of legislation designed to combat climate change."
Guardian
"A far-reaching inquiry into the careers of three of the US's most senior climate specialists has been launched by Joe Barton, the chairman of the House of Representatives committee on energy and commerce. He has demanded details of all their sources of funding, methods and everything they have ever published.
"Mr Barton, a Texan closely associated with the fossil-fuel lobby, has spent his 11 years as chairman opposing every piece of legislation designed to combat climate change."
Guardian
Recent Posts
- Death of England's greatest king
- The Sinking of the SIEVX resource for high schools
- LibraryThing
- Bush's Brain doco trailer
- The Arrow of Time
- Got wood?
- Burning Man 2006
- Hundreds of book reviews on one page
- The bizarre Gil Perez teleportation case
- Daniel Ellsberg on US plans to invade Iran
Archives
- April 2003
- May 2003
- June 2003
- July 2003
- August 2003
- September 2003
- October 2003
- November 2003
- December 2003
- January 2004
- February 2004
- March 2004
- April 2004
- May 2004
- June 2004
- July 2004
- August 2004
- September 2004
- October 2004
- November 2004
- December 2004
- January 2005
- February 2005
- March 2005
- April 2005
- May 2005
- June 2005
- July 2005
- August 2005
- September 2005
- October 2005
- November 2005
- December 2005
- January 2006
- February 2006
- March 2006
- April 2006
- May 2006
- June 2006
- July 2006
- August 2006
- September 2006
- October 2006
MENU AT VERY TOP OF BLOG
Click stars for Universe today
COST OF THE WAR IN IRAQ
(JavaScript Error)
 | |
 | |
New headlines from
Daily Planet News
Register here to join the PBA.
The Blogmanac is dedicated to the 353 victims of Australia's shame, the SIEVX disaster, and casualties of poverty and authority worldwide.
Copyright Pip Wilson, 2003-2006
I killed my TV
before my TV killed me
