ME and Ophelia

KEN BURNS FILM MAKER EXTRAORDINAIRE
The Shakers got their name by dancing

In future, when anyone asks me what video I'd like to watch I can now simply answer - thanks to Madhu's post on film maker Ken Burns - "anything by Ken Burns".

Note this excerpt that I've taken from PBS* re his film THE WEST:

"... In a conversation with us several years ago, the Kiowa poet N. Scott Momaday remarked that the American West "is a place that has to be seen to be believed, and it may have to be believed in order to be seen." For five years we have travelled that landscape, photographed its vistas, talked to its people, sought out its history, all as part of our production of THE WEST, an eight-part documentary series for public television. Now -- 100,000 air-miles and 72 filmed interviews and 74 visits to archives and collections and more than 250 hours of film later -- we have begun to understand at least something of what Momaday meant. ..."

Also, at the site is this excerpt re the Shakers:

" ...They called themselves the United Society of Believers in Christ's Second Appearing, but because of their ecstatic dancing, the world called them Shakers. Ken Burns creates a moving portrait of this particularly American movement, and in the process, offers us a new and unusually moving way to understand the Shakers."

He sure has chosen some great topics, and even made a film on the Civil War. Looks so young too. Well done him.

*my favourite TV station in America. In its infancy, I participated in local telethons by being one of a few dozen volunteers manning the phone lines. Embarrassingly, the cameras would pan in on my phone and shy me. My phone got a lot of male callers wanting to donate generously and listen to my English accent .. heh. Not telling any more.
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HAPPY DIWALI MADHU


Photo courtesy BBC News Online

The Golden Temple in Amritsar is lit up during Diwali, which is being celebrated by Sikhs and Hindus worldwide.

Members of the Hindu, Jain and Sikh communities are commemorating Diwali, or the Festival of Lights.

Diwali is a celebration of the triumph of good over evil, light over darkness and knowledge over ignorance.

Small oil lamps or diyas are lit and placed around the home, in courtyards, gardens and roof-tops.

Festive meals are prepared, gifts exchanged and lights and fireworks feature strongly.

This post is a special hello to Madhu and to wish her a HAPPY DIVALI :)

See comments at BBC's Have Your Say - Are you celebrating Diwali?
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Week in pictures: 6 - 12 Nov

Here is another great photo courtesy BBC News Online.



Candles surround a portrait of Yasser Arafat at a makeshift shrine outside the hospital in Paris where the Palestinian leader was seriously ill.
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QUOTATION OF THE DAY - NOVEMBER 13
Courtesy New York Times

"I believe that the responsibility for peace is going to rest with the Palestinian people's desire to build a democracy and Israel's willingness to help them build a democracy."
PRESIDENT BUSH
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FACT OF THE DAY - NOVEMBER 13
Courtesy Scotsman.com

The Vietnam Veterans Memorial is dedicated today in 1982. Commemorating over 58,000 American dead in this most controversial and divisive of wars, it a simple and evocative memorial naming each of the US's fallen in chronological order.

Also, today in 1850, the great Scottish writer Robert Louis Stevenson is born. His works include classics such as Kidnapped, Treasure Island and The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

And in 2004, Blogger for the first time in a year, has speeded up. This morning, it's taking seconds to edit - and just a few minutes to post - instead of the usual grindingly slow 20 minutes or more. Hope it stays that way. Blogging isn't much fun when it takes up to an hour or more to publish, edit and publish again. When I post over at the Passion using Typepad, there's never a problem so I know it's not my Mac or ISP that's slow. Others have noted same. Technorati plays up too. Wish they would just stick to the basics and get them right, instead of keeping on introducing fancy new features. I must not complain. Blogger and flickr are free. Typepad can run at $14 per month.

My blog proves almost anyone can blog. Where there's the will, there's a way. Even those who can't read or write, can post pictures. People who aren't physically able to use a computer, can find someone to post on their behalf. We love Blogger.
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DUKE STUDENTS BEGIN REPLICA OF DARFUR SUFFERING
Germany to send airlift planes to Sudan
Britain may deploy troops to quell fighting in Darfur

This morning, I've published a post (with photo of students building mock Darfur villages) at the Passion - and I emailed the journalist of the report at The Herald-Sun.

Jim has written an excellent short summary on Darfur that puts the whole hellish story in a nutshell:

"It's not that complicated: a genocide in Darfur, by proxies of the government of Sudan, in order to suppress an insurgency and intimidate people in other regions of the country."
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Note, for reasons of keeping with my "Watchdog" theme, I have changed the name (but not the URL) of my health blog from A Breath of Hope to ME/CFS/CFIDS Watch and published a back log of posts on M.E. research and BBC report on Gulf War Syndrome link to toxins (and sarin). See link in sidebar here on right.