ME and Ophelia

INSTALANCHED ON THE SUDAN
In England

On Monday, I received acknowledgement of the letter I emailed to my Member of Parliament, Oliver Letwin, re the Sudan crisis. Over the weekend I'd spoken to two friends who said the Sudan was being prayed for in their churches. Currently, I am working on several draft posts for publishing here next week, and catching up on thanks to all who have picked up on my Sudan posts.

A few days ago, I received a lovely surprise email from Madhu saying she had sent my blog URL to the big one. As a result, this blog got instalanched by a whoosh of unidentifiable strangers who rushed in and out of here like a swarm of locusts without a hi or bye :-)

Madhu, who holds the oil-for-food scandal close to her heart, kindly linked to my posts on the Sudan three times. In one, she asked: "Wouldn't it be amazing if millions took to the streets to protest this?" Yes I agree Madhu, it would be amazing - especially since it's like pulling elephants teeth trying to get bloggers interested in linking to the latest news at passionofthepresent.org :-)

Big hugs to Doctors Madhu and Reynolds. Loved the catblogging.
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INSTALANCHED ON THE SUDAN
In Malaysia and Boston

Happily, Rajan Rishyakaran, blogging out of Malaysia, also got Instalanched by Prof Reynolds on his Sudan post. Also it was good to see the big one had picked up on Jim Moore's heartfelt post entitled: "I'm surprised more of the blogosphere is not picking up on the new developments about Sudan and Darfur, and the possibility of US and UK military intervention"

Gentleman Jim praised Rajan for the powerful annotated list of links on the genocide in Darfur and suggested that readers copy it to their friends.

Further reading:
"Pull Together" at passionofthepresent.org.
Blackfive's "Sudan - America Must Act Now".
Gregory Djerejian's Belgravia Despatch from Belgrave Square in London.
Nicholas Kristof, in his recent NYT editorial, says readers keep asking him what they can do about the genocide unfolding in Darfur, so he listed some links for readers. Patrick Hall has thoughtfully "html-ized" the links at links in his blog The Horn of Africa.
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SUDAN: WHAT IS ANNAN WAITING FOR?
By Jihad Watch blog

Thanks to Rajan Rishyakaran for pointing to Jihad Watch's post on the Sudan - "What is Annan waiting for?" - it has attracted many comments that make interesting reading.

Having asked myself the same question two months ago, I've spent every day since looking into an answer. Over the coming weeks and months I hope to complete several draft posts I've worked on since April. The answer to Jihad Watch's question is more complicated than one would imagine. I am working on articulating the answer in a simple way. Easier said than done.

Further reading:
Jim Moore: "Kofi Annan's role in the Sudan genocide".
Kathleen Nelson's Cake Eater Chronicles [via Instapundit]: Annan, the UN (interesting comments), Humanity (note comment) and SPLM/A.
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JAZZY ARM ACTION
By foot tapping squirrel

Check out the jazzy arm action of Hank's foot tapping squirrel. Click into his blog Quadrophenia and wait for the squirrel to show below "about me". Please be patient, it takes less than a minute to load and is worth the wait, I promise.

For some reason I cannot find any archives at Jim Moore's Journal or at passionofthepresent.org. Maybe the squirrel will bring some cheer to Jim (who says his brother plays the harmonica) when his roses in blender fade and disappear into the ether ;-)
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LONDON SKY
Work in progress

Thanks to Madhu at ChaiTeaLatte for finding this little gem containing photo essays from 39 year-old sculptor Richard Saum.

Richard lives and works in King's Cross, London. His studio is in a Victorian freight depot on strategic real estate near the canal, due for development in 2007. He blogs about other small businesses and people such as furniture maker Richard Newnham, who has a beautiful workshop on the Berlin Bank - and Joel Cockrill, a photographer, film-maker, location finder, who has just started blogging at A Sense of Place.