tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-55617962024-03-13T02:24:22.089ZME and OpheliaIngrid J. Joneshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08451813216666237295noreply@blogger.comBlogger960125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5561796.post-60798290414908829842010-08-02T06:00:00.011+01:002010-12-14T02:01:55.674ZBlogging web entrepreneur Joi Ito interviewed on the BBC World Service<span style="font-weight:bold;">BLOGGING WEB ENTREPRENEUR JOI ITO<br />Interviewed on the BBC World Service</span><br /><br /><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/Nq5qka-CfagOb7n82cpDws31gExHNkRliScWyxJpv8w?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_RrFS_d0YBSQ/TQatyTseImI/AAAAAAAAA1E/ZQ_4KXR6Hm4/s800/4851505674_72b5ab0568_o.jpg" height="217" width="386" /></a><br /><br />HISTORIC stuff. Here is a copy of a blog post from <a href="http://joi.ito.com/">joi.ito.com</a><br />by Joi Ito, 31 July 2010:<blockquote><a href="http://joi.ito.com/weblog/2010/07/31/interviewed-on.html">Interviewed on the BBC World Service "The Interview"</a><br /><br /><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/_AAjNuWqo-IOy2n4OnJPnc31gExHNkRliScWyxJpv8w?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_RrFS_d0YBSQ/TQatv8d653I/AAAAAAAAA08/xKrvC8Edppk/s144/4850591179_b0ff42e1a2_m.jpg" height="160" width="240" /></a><br /><br />Back in May, I visited the BBC in London and did an interview with Carrie Gracie for the BBC World Service. It was for a show called "The Interview". It was a lot of fun and she let the conversation cover a broad range of things including my world view. ;-)<br /><br />There is a <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p008smqc">web page for the show which includes links to the books and things that I talk about in the interview and a link to the audio</a>.<br /><br />There is also a <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-10789073">BBC News article which summarizes the interview</a>. Unfortunately, the article calls <a href="http://creativecommons.org/">Creative Commons</a> a "copyright-free, sharing movement online," which it's not. Creative Commons provides technologies and tools so that people can use copyright to help them share their works the way that they would like to legally. It's not "anti-copyright" or "copyright-free" - although it is about "freedom".</blockquote><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/0dV0Ixe-Kto5NmsTztlXC831gExHNkRliScWyxJpv8w?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_RrFS_d0YBSQ/TQattpfo0JI/AAAAAAAAA00/uoZp_YHch-4/s800/4850850427_5ac2f3f780_o.jpg" height="100" width="187" /></a><br /><br />Photo: Carrie Gracie (left) with Joi Ito (BBC)<br /><br /><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/Yw_izAQOhfNpRSzw0D35k831gExHNkRliScWyxJpv8w?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_RrFS_d0YBSQ/TQatpFcZ6JI/AAAAAAAAA0k/CJ7VHLfuH3o/s800/4850534737_658694105f_o.jpg" height="171" width="304" /></a><br /><br />Photo: As one of the most influential people on the web, Joi Ito has played a part many huge online projects (BBC)<br /><br /><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/7cIfRTzTkHDW1lfx5hmJgs31gExHNkRliScWyxJpv8w?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_RrFS_d0YBSQ/TQatm7BbYQI/AAAAAAAAA0c/Ma5arV937hM/s800/4851150398_317879e6e6_o.jpg" height="171" width="304" /></a><br /><br />Photo: On the web, for-proft and non-profit work regularly crosses over, says Mr Ito (BBC)Ingrid J. Joneshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08451813216666237295noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5561796.post-682395718533707452010-08-01T00:20:00.004+01:002010-08-01T00:29:03.498+01:00"We are What We Choose" by Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos<span style="font-weight:bold;">"WE ARE WHAT WE CHOOSE" <br />By Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos</span><br /><br />From News at Princeton - 2010 Baccalaureate remarks<blockquote>"We are What We Choose"<br />Remarks by Jeff Bezos, as delivered to the Class of 2010<br />Baccalaureate<br />May 30, 2010<br /><br />As a kid, I spent my summers with my grandparents on their ranch in Texas. I helped fix windmills, vaccinate cattle, and do other chores. We also watched soap operas every afternoon, especially "Days of our Lives." My grandparents belonged to a Caravan Club, a group of Airstream trailer owners who travel together around the U.S. and Canada. And every few summers, we'd join the caravan. We'd hitch up the Airstream trailer to my grandfather's car, and off we'd go, in a line with 300 other Airstream adventurers. I loved and worshipped my grandparents and I really looked forward to these trips. On one particular trip, I was about 10 years old. I was rolling around in the big bench seat in the back of the car. My grandfather was driving. And my grandmother had the passenger seat. She smoked throughout these trips, and I hated the smell.<br /><br />At that age, I'd take any excuse to make estimates and do minor arithmetic. I'd calculate our gas mileage -- figure out useless statistics on things like grocery spending. I'd been hearing an ad campaign about smoking. I can't remember the details, but basically the ad said, every puff of a cigarette takes some number of minutes off of your life: I think it might have been two minutes per puff. At any rate, I decided to do the math for my grandmother. I estimated the number of cigarettes per days, estimated the number of puffs per cigarette and so on. When I was satisfied that I'd come up with a reasonable number, I poked my head into the front of the car, tapped my grandmother on the shoulder, and proudly proclaimed, "At two minutes per puff, you've taken nine years off your life!"<br /><br />I have a vivid memory of what happened, and it was not what I expected. I expected to be applauded for my cleverness and arithmetic skills. "Jeff, you're so smart. You had to have made some tricky estimates, figure out the number of minutes in a year and do some division." That's not what happened. Instead, my grandmother burst into tears. I sat in the backseat and did not know what to do. While my grandmother sat crying, my grandfather, who had been driving in silence, pulled over onto the shoulder of the highway. He got out of the car and came around and opened my door and waited for me to follow. Was I in trouble? My grandfather was a highly intelligent, quiet man. He had never said a harsh word to me, and maybe this was to be the first time? Or maybe he would ask that I get back in the car and apologize to my grandmother. I had no experience in this realm with my grandparents and no way to gauge what the consequences might be. We stopped beside the trailer. My grandfather looked at me, and after a bit of silence, he gently and calmly said, "Jeff, one day you'll understand that it's harder to be kind than clever."<br /><br />What I want to talk to you about today is the difference between gifts and choices. Cleverness is a gift, kindness is a choice. Gifts are easy -- they're given after all. Choices can be hard. You can seduce yourself with your gifts if you're not careful, and if you do, it'll probably be to the detriment of your choices.<br /><br />This is a group with many gifts. I'm sure one of your gifts is the gift of a smart and capable brain. I'm confident that's the case because admission is competitive and if there weren't some signs that you're clever, the dean of admission wouldn't have let you in.<br /><br />Your smarts will come in handy because you will travel in a land of marvels. We humans -- plodding as we are -- will astonish ourselves. We'll invent ways to generate clean energy and a lot of it. Atom by atom, we'll assemble tiny machines that will enter cell walls and make repairs. This month comes the extraordinary but also inevitable news that we've synthesized life. In the coming years, we'll not only synthesize it, but we'll engineer it to specifications. I believe you'll even see us understand the human brain. Jules Verne, Mark Twain, Galileo, Newton -- all the curious from the ages would have wanted to be alive most of all right now. As a civilization, we will have so many gifts, just as you as individuals have so many individual gifts as you sit before me.<br /><br />How will you use these gifts? And will you take pride in your gifts or pride in your choices?<br /><br />I got the idea to start Amazon 16 years ago. I came across the fact that Web usage was growing at 2,300 percent per year. I'd never seen or heard of anything that grew that fast, and the idea of building an online bookstore with millions of titles -- something that simply couldn't exist in the physical world -- was very exciting to me. I had just turned 30 years old, and I'd been married for a year. I told my wife MacKenzie that I wanted to quit my job and go do this crazy thing that probably wouldn't work since most startups don't, and I wasn't sure what would happen after that. MacKenzie (also a Princeton grad and sitting here in the second row) told me I should go for it. As a young boy, I'd been a garage inventor. I'd invented an automatic gate closer out of cement-filled tires, a solar cooker that didn't work very well out of an umbrella and tinfoil, baking-pan alarms to entrap my siblings. I'd always wanted to be an inventor, and she wanted me to follow my passion.<br /><br />I was working at a financial firm in New York City with a bunch of very smart people, and I had a brilliant boss that I much admired. I went to my boss and told him I wanted to start a company selling books on the Internet. He took me on a long walk in Central Park, listened carefully to me, and finally said, "That sounds like a really good idea, but it would be an even better idea for someone who didn't already have a good job." That logic made some sense to me, and he convinced me to think about it for 48 hours before making a final decision. Seen in that light, it really was a difficult choice, but ultimately, I decided I had to give it a shot. I didn't think I'd regret trying and failing. And I suspected I would always be haunted by a decision to not try at all. After much consideration, I took the less safe path to follow my passion, and I'm proud of that choice.<br /><br />Tomorrow, in a very real sense, your life -- the life you author from scratch on your own -- begins.<br /><br />How will you use your gifts? What choices will you make?<br /><br />Will inertia be your guide, or will you follow your passions?<br /><br />Will you follow dogma, or will you be original?<br /><br />Will you choose a life of ease, or a life of service and adventure?<br /><br />Will you wilt under criticism, or will you follow your convictions?<br /><br />Will you bluff it out when you're wrong, or will you apologize?<br /><br />Will you guard your heart against rejection, or will you act when you fall in love?<br /><br />Will you play it safe, or will you be a little bit swashbuckling?<br /><br />When it's tough, will you give up, or will you be relentless?<br /><br />Will you be a cynic, or will you be a builder?<br /><br />Will you be clever at the expense of others, or will you be kind?<br /><br />I will hazard a prediction. When you are 80 years old, and in a quiet moment of reflection narrating for only yourself the most personal version of your life story, the telling that will be most compact and meaningful will be the series of choices you have made. In the end, we are our choices. Build yourself a great story. Thank you and good luck!</blockquote>Hat tip: Erik Hersman's <a href="http://twitter.com/whiteafrican/statuses/19097989393">tweet</a> on Twitter, 21 July 2010.Ingrid J. Joneshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08451813216666237295noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5561796.post-32403296448970324982010-06-09T16:44:00.002+01:002010-06-09T16:47:07.738+01:00WINNER OF MOST BEAUTIFUL TWEET CONTEST<span style="font-weight:bold;">MOST BEAUTIFUL TWEET CONTEST</span><br /><br />"I believe we can build a better world! Of course, it’ll take a whole lot of rock, water and dirt. Also, not sure where to put it.” This is the short message written by Marc McKenzie a 41 year old Canadian. The British Writer and actor Stephen Fry, announced him as the winner of the most beautiful Tweet ever in a competition organized for the Hay Festival, an annual event in Wales.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">GEORGE W. BUSH ON FACEBOOK</span><br /><br />Former US president George W.Bush now has an official Facebook page. And in less than one week around 130 000 web users have joined Barack Obama’s predecessor. The main objective of the page is to keep people informed on what the former president is up to.<br /><br />Source: http://www.france24.com/en/20100609-darfur-sudan-south-corea-george-bush-facebook-twitter-coupe-mondeIngrid J. Joneshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08451813216666237295noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5561796.post-63210041537527514822010-06-06T21:35:00.004+01:002010-06-09T16:54:34.258+01:00Albert Einstein, explaining radio<span style="font-weight:bold;">ALBERT EINSTEIN, EXPLAINING RADIO</span><br /><br />"You see, wire telegraph is a kind of a very, very long cat. You pull his tail in New York and his head is meowing in Los Angeles. Do you understand this? And radio operates exactly the same way: you send signals here, they receive them there. The only difference is that <b>there is no cat</b>."<br /><br />- Albert Einstein, explaining radio<br /><br />Source: Ralph Brandi's blog <a href="http://www.thereisnocat.com/showme924.html">There Is No Cat</a>Ingrid J. Joneshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08451813216666237295noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5561796.post-47533447707377195452010-06-05T21:31:00.011+01:002010-12-14T01:44:58.526ZBIO: DR. JAMES F. MOORE<span style="font-weight:bold;">BIO: DR. JAMES F. MOORE</span><br /><br />HISTORIC stuff. Over six years ago, utilising ground-breaking social media networking and blogging technology, Jim Moore, while working at Harvard, initiated and led the campaign that put the world's spotlight on a humanitarian crisis in Darfur, western Sudan. Here is a copy of Jim's latest bio and photo.<blockquote><a href="http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/jim/2010/04/06/james-f-moore-professional-bio/">James F. Moore: Strategic change in large-scale organizational systems</a><br /><br /><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/_QTxQ-ym4FgtSV7J1oNVSc31gExHNkRliScWyxJpv8w?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_RrFS_d0YBSQ/TQatjNl8s3I/AAAAAAAAA0U/bX4Q0nERD3M/s800/4670574217_9363e4ff04.jpg" height="240" width="500" /></a><br /><br />James F. Moore studies leaders, strategies, organizational innovations, and technologies that help businesses and other organizations succeed.<br /><br />He is involved in a number of ventures. Future Economies is a management consulting company focused on human resources strategies for the networked, community-based workforce and economy. Medical Information Innovation celebrates apps that benefit health and medicine, and tells the stories of the innovators and creatives who invent them. Cognition, Inc. develops radio technology for broadband mobile. Newsilike Media Group, Inc. develops social media software and hardware systems. Stylefeeder.com was purchased by Time Warner in 2010 to become the basis for that firm’s next generation integration of commerce and media.<br /><br />He worked as a full-time volunteer in the campaign to stop the genocide in Darfur, Sudan in 2004-2005. He was co-founder and served for more than a year as the day-to-day editor for the web campaign “Sudan: Passion of the Present” and helped develop and sustain a number of other activist individuals and organizations including Save Darfur and the Genocide Intervention Fund/Genocide Intervention Network. These organizations are part of a broader campaign to establish a world capability to prevent or intervene to halt and recover from genocidal situations.<br /><br />In 2003 and 2004 he served as the National Director of Internet and Information Services for the US Presidential Campaign of Howard Dean, overseeing all social media as well as technology infrastructure.<br /><br />He wrote “The Second Superpower Rears its Beautiful Head” which considers how citizens worldwide are joining through communications technology to engage international institutions and shape global policy. The article became an Internet phenomenon and was reviewed in publications ranging from the National Journal to the New York Times. In 2004 Jim was honored by the 4th World Forum on e-Democracy as one of the top 25 individuals, organizations and companies that are having the greatest impact on the way the Internet is changing politics worldwide.<br /><br />From 2000-2004 he was a Senior Fellow at Harvard Law School, promoting legal reforms in developing countries in order to support entrepreneurship and technology diffusion. While at the law school he organized and chaired the board of Hewlett-Packard’s “E-inclusion” program to create technology for and in developing world economies. He founded the Open Economies Project to promote laws supportive of digital entrepreneurs. As part of a team sponsored by the Markel Foundation, he advised the South African Government on policies to promote digital development, including telecom law reforms. He served as a member of the United States delegation to the Digital Opportunity Task Force of the G8 Group of Nations, and was an adviser to the United Nations ICT Task Force and to the ICT initiative of the World Economic Forum.<br /><br />From 1989-1999 he was the founder and CEO of GeoPartners Research, a management consulting and investment strategy firm, where his clients ranged from Muppets creator Jim Henson to AT&T, Hewlett-Packard, Intel and Royal Dutch Shell. In addition to management consulting, Jim was involved in corporate venturing on behalf of AT&T Ventures, Intel Capital, GE Capital and Softbank (the largest single investor in the Internet economy, and the only major investor to sustain its success). He also advised and invested in start up companies, and served on the board of directors of two public companies.<br /><br />Jim has written widely on business topics. He developed the concept of “business ecosystems” to describe networks of companies that collaborate and co-evolve to generate economic value. His Harvard Business Review article on business ecosystems, “Predators and Prey: A New Ecology of Competition,” won the McKinsey Award for best article of the year for 1993. His 1996 book “The Death of Competition: Leadership and Strategy in the Age of Business Ecosystems” won numerous awards (“one of the ten best books of the year,” BusinessWeek, and “one of the ten best books of the decade for entrepreneurs,” Wall Street Journal) and was a best-seller. It was translated into and published in several languages including Chinese. His work was featured in publications including Fortune, BusinessWeek, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal. He appeared on national television, including being interviewed on the Charlie Rose Show on PBS.<br /><br />While most of his career has been in high technology, his early work was in health care organizations. These included Boston Children’s Hospital (MA) community primary care service, Wrentham State School (MA) services for the developmentally disabled, the Bedford (MA) VA Hospital alcoholism service, the Santa Clara County (CA) mental health system, and American Medical International (CA), national health management. His doctoral thesis grew out of a multi-year study of Alcoholics Anonymous as an informal but systematic environment for community and personal healing. He has continued to follow the evolution of clinical practice under changing conditions of policy and organization, society, technology, and patient/clinician/community behavior.<br /><br />He was an early friend and adviser to the Harvard AIDS Institute and the Harvard Society and Health Program (now Harvard Department of Society, Human Development and Health), and has recently become involved with the Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies.<br /><br />Moore earned a doctorate in Human Development from Harvard University in 1983, where he combined studies in organizations with cognitive and developmental psychology. He was a post-doc in organizations at Stanford University, and conducted research at Stanford and Harvard business schools. He earned his undergraduate degree in 1976 from The Evergreen State College in Washington State—one of the most innovative organizations in public higher education. He is active in college affairs, and received the Bud Koons Award for Service from the college in 2006.<br /><br />Moore lives in Massachusetts with his wife Sarah Moore, a lawyer and minister. He has three children, two teenagers who attend public Cambridge Rindge and Latin School, and one infant.</blockquote>Jim Moore's blog can be found online at: <a href="http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/jim/">http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/jim/</a>Ingrid J. Joneshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08451813216666237295noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5561796.post-65513627149880608632010-01-03T15:31:00.007Z2022-02-19T18:03:16.938ZSteve Jobs: How to live before you die<b>Steve Jobs: How to live before you die</b>
<div style="max-width:854px"><div style="position:relative;height:0;padding-bottom:56.25%"><iframe src="https://embed.ted.com/talks/lang/en/steve_jobs_how_to_live_before_you_die" width="854" height="480" style="position:absolute;left:0;top:0;width:100%;height:100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" allowfullscreen></iframe></div></div>
Source: <a href="http://www.ted.com/talks/steve_jobs_how_to_live_before_you_die.html">TED.com</a>. Filmed at Stanford University, June 2005. View original: <a href="https://www.ted.com/talks/steve_jobs_how_to_live_before_you_die">https://www.ted.com/talks/steve_jobs_how_to_live_before_you_die</a>Ingrid J. Joneshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08451813216666237295noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5561796.post-12109231575764691932009-11-17T07:54:00.006Z2010-12-14T02:10:51.183ZSalt Ponds - Colours of salt<span style="font-weight:bold;">Salt Ponds - Colours of salt</span><br /><br /><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/21Zqisc9Xt36vi54Ffa8z831gExHNkRliScWyxJpv8w?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_RrFS_d0YBSQ/TQatgvPWMII/AAAAAAAAA0M/zZwNgbxqAaY/s800/4110957443_d75e1b6e9b_m.jpg" height="262" width="340" /></a><br /><br />Before the salt in evaporating sea water turns white, it goes through stages of color that range from jade green to brick red, with variations of orange, yellow and other colors. From above the salt ponds around San Francisco Bay look like giant panes of stained glass. The shot above is from my latest set, shot on approach to SFO [airport in San Francisco, California, USA] last week. Here’s another series.<br /><br />Source: Photo and caption from Doc Searles Weblog - <a href="http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/doc/2009/11/12/colors-of-salt/">Colors of salt</a> - November 12, 2009.Ingrid J. Joneshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08451813216666237295noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5561796.post-23292092014210559492009-11-10T22:03:00.001Z2009-11-10T22:05:03.288ZMeme: Joe Trippi's Eleven-Eleven 1111Campaign - America's and Britain's Veterans have given so much. Now, you can give back.<span style="font-weight:bold;">Meme: Joe Trippi's Eleven-Eleven 1111Campaign - <br />America's and Britain's Veterans have given so much. <br />Now, you can give back.</span><br /><br /><a href="http://joetrippi.com/?page_id=1374">Joe Trippi</a>, one of America's greatest bloggers, has launched <a href="http://www.eleven-eleven.org/about/">Eleven Eleven Campaign</a>. The objective of the Eleven Eleven Campaign is simple: to get 11 million Americans to donate $11 to support America’s Veterans. Here is a copy of Joe's latest <a href="http://twitter.com/1111Campaign/statuses/5597757316">tweet</a> on Twitter:<blockquote>Tomorrow is Veterans Day, and now is our moment to encourage our friends, family members and colleagues to join us... <a href="http://bit.ly/9Iu9s">http://bit.ly/9Iu9s</a><br />33 minutes ago from Facebook<br />1111Campaign<br />Eleven Eleven</blockquote>Hey Joe! Britain's Veterans have given so much too! <br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Stand with 11 million Brits and Give £11 to Support Britain’s Vets!</span><br /><br />Take Action Today<br /><a href="http://www.britishlegion.org.uk/support-us">Click here</a> to support Britain's Veterans<br />November 11, 2009<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/meandophelia/4092974225/" title="Britain's Veterans have given so much. Now, you can give back. by INGRIDNETWORK, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2753/4092974225_8ee4fd5fa6_o.png" width="180" height="195" alt="Britain's Veterans have given so much. Now, you can give back." /></a>Ingrid J. Joneshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08451813216666237295noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5561796.post-53323813945235827562009-11-08T12:10:00.003Z2009-11-08T12:22:40.446ZSalute Royal British Legion & Combat Stress - Remembering PTSD and GWS on Remembrance Sunday<span style="font-weight:bold;">Salute Royal British Legion & Combat Stress - <br />Remembering PTSD and GWS on Remembrance Sunday</span><br /><br />Today, on Remembrance Sunday, while watching BBC1 TV coverage of the memorial ceremony from the Cenotaph in Whitehall, London, I heard the presenter, David Dimbleby, remark on a 10% increase in requests for help from <a href="http://www.combatstress.org.uk/">Combat Stress</a>, an ex-services mental welfare society set up to help ex-service personnel suffering from psychological injuries and mental problems.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">+ + + Remembrance Sunday & <br />The 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month + + +</span><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/meandophelia/1404970/" title="Remembrance Day Poppy by INGRIDNETWORK, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/2/1404970_07e7dff748_o.gif" width="131" height="130" alt="Remembrance Day Poppy" /></a><br /><br />Photo: Remembrance Day Poppy<br /><br />Two minutes of silence at the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month because that was the time (in Britain) when the armistice became effective. The two minutes recall World War I and World War II. Before 1945 the silence was for one minute, and today some ceremonies still only have one minute of silence despite this.<br /><br />In the United Kingdom, although two minutes' silence is observed on November 11 itself, the main observance is on the second Sunday of November, Remembrance Sunday. <br /><br />Source: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remembrance_Day">Remembrance Day - Wikipedia</a><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">POST TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER (PTSD)</span><br /><br />See my blog <span style="font-style:italic;">Sudan Watch</span>, 10 October 2008: <a href="http://sudanwatch.blogspot.com/2008/10/deployed-peacekeeping-veterans-with.html">Deployed peacekeeping veterans with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) have significant impairments in health-related quality of life</a><p>Ingrid J. Joneshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08451813216666237295noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5561796.post-2740908422819187732009-11-06T13:12:00.001Z2009-11-06T13:20:39.045ZCherie Blair: Men responsible for financial crisis - The world would be a better place if women were running it<span style="font-weight:bold;">Cherie Blair: Men responsible for financial crisis<br />The world would be a better place if women were running it</span><br /><br />From ynetnews.com by Gil KoL 06 November 2009:<br /><a href="http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3800993,00.html">Quartet Mideast envoy's wife thinks world would be a better place if women were running it</a><blockquote>Cherie Blair, wife of former UK premier and Quartet's Mideast envoy Tony Blair and founder of the Blair Foundation for Women, spoke Wednesday at a Jasmine – Women in Business conference hosted by the University of Haifa.<br /> <br />According to Blair, the current financial crisis was brought on by men, seeing how equality between the genders in the business world is still lacking.<br /> <br />Many believe that if women ran things the world would be a better place, she stated, adding that the world needs women, but it has yet to fathom just how much it needs them.<br /> <br />Blair's UK critics claim that she has been trying to capitalize off of her husband's role in public life and the international arena.<br /> <br />Ofra Strauss, director of the Strauss Group and president of Jasmine also spoke at the conference, but voiced her views in a somewhat different manner.<br /> <br />"The best way we can put the recession behind us is to incorporate more women in the workforce," she said.<br /> <br />"In the US, women's businesses have a $3 trillion annual turnover, and the government allocates proper resources to it. I hope our government does the same."</blockquote></p>Ingrid J. Joneshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08451813216666237295noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5561796.post-59956498151070735792009-11-06T09:32:00.003Z2009-11-06T13:20:56.781ZAGI: Tony Blair Africa Governance Initiative</p><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">AGI: Tony Blair Africa Governance Initiative</span><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/meandophelia/4079344205/" title="AGI: Tony Blair Africa Governance Initiative by INGRIDNETWORK, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3515/4079344205_cb96b441d8.jpg" width="400" height="280" alt="AGI: Tony Blair Africa Governance Initiative" /></a><br /><br />From The Office of Tony Blair<br />November 05, 2009<br /><a href="http://tonyblairoffice.org/2009/11/tony-blair-africa-governance-i.html">Tony Blair Africa Governance Initiative to create development through good governance becomes charity</a><blockquote>The Tony Blair Africa Governance Initiative has become a registered UK charity after creating a unique 'hands-on' approach to development and poverty eradication over the past eighteen months.<br /><br />The Charity Commission approved the application from this relatively new organisation, which is underpinned by the belief that good governance and sustainable development are key to poverty eradication in the long term.<br /><br />Tony Blair, founder of the Africa Governance Initiative (AGI), said:<br /><br />"I'm extremely proud of our excellent project teams who are working in partnership with the governments of Rwanda and Sierra Leone to reduce poverty and develop new opportunities for growth.<br /><br />"It is a privilege to work with leaders as talented and as committed to their people as President Koroma and President Kagame who represent a new generation of leaders in Africa with a commitment to building a new future for their people.<br /><br />"The developed world needs to keep up its commitment to Africa expressed at the 2005 G8 Summit in Gleneagles. But lasting change in Africa will only come in the end from African solutions. By building the capacity to create sustainable long-term development through good governance and providing high level advice, we have already started to help deliver that change.<br /><br />"And it won't stop here. Whilst developing our work in Sierra Leone and Rwanda, we want to launch new projects with other countries, sharing our knowledge, experience and expertise. We want more countries to develop sustainably, paving the way to a prosperous future.<br /><br />"This work has reinforced my optimism about Africa's future, as well as my conviction that governance and growth are the key ingredients to effectively reduce poverty across the continent."<br /><br />Commenting on Tony Blair and the work of the Africa Governance Initiative, Ernest Koroma, President of Sierra Leone, said:<br /><br />"Mr. Blair has demonstrated an enduring commitment to Sierra Leone and its people. The work comes at a critical stage in Sierra Leone's development. I believe together we have an opportunity to ensure that Sierra Leone puts in place the policies, people and institutions to achieve real and lasting change."<br /><br />Commenting on the work of AGI, President Paul Kagame of Rwanda said:<br /><br />"What I would like people to know is that the type of partnership we have with Tony Blair is totally different from the type of consultancy people are used to. We work in very strong partnerships whereby not only gaps are filled where they exist, but there's also the notion of transfer of skills, mentoring, actually doing things that are measurable such that over a period of time, we will be able to know what kind of impact was made." </blockquote>Cross-posted to: <br /><a href="http://chinatibetwatch.blogspot.com">China Tibet Watch</a><br /><a href="http://congowatch.blogspot.com">Congo Watch</a><br /><a href="http://egyptwatch.blogspot.com">Egypt Watch</a><br /><a href="http://ethiopiawatch.blogspot.com">Ethiopia Watch</a><br /><a href="http://kenyawatch.blogspot.com">Kenya Watch</a><br /><a href="http://nigerwatch.blogspot.com">Niger Watch</a><br /><a href="http://sudanwatch.blogspot.com">Sudan Watch</a><br /><a href="http://ugandawatch.blogspot.com">Uganda Watch</a><br /><a href="http://africaaidwatch.blogspot.com">Africa Oil Watch</a>Ingrid J. Joneshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08451813216666237295noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5561796.post-59373976285312815762009-10-09T22:43:00.009+01:002009-10-09T22:57:47.255+01:00$10 billion takes fibre to every school, hospital in the US<span style="font-weight:bold;">$10 billion takes fibre optic cable to every school, hospital in the US</span><br /><br />The US has more than 120,000 schools, hospitals, and libraries, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation believes that they can all have fibre optic Internet for $5 billion-$10 billion.<br /><br />Report from ARS by Nate Anderson, October 9, 2009:<br /><a href="http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2009/10/gates-foundation-hopes-to-bring-fiber-to-school-hospitals.ars">$10 billion takes fiber to every school, hospital in the US</a><blockquote>The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation knows how to get things done.<br /><br />On October 5, the Foundation met with FCC broadband coordinator Blair Levin. The purpose of that meeting was to provide a cost estimate for one of the Foundation's ideas: <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0);">running fiber optic cables to every "anchor institution" in the US—libraries, hospitals, community colleges, public schools. </span>By October 8, the FCC was asking for public comment (PDF) on the plan and the viability of its cost estimates, which say the entire project could be completed for $5-$10 billion.<br /><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0);">The Gates Foundation has identified 123,000 "anchor institutions" in local communities that could make good use of fiber Internet connections. </span>In addition to serving the community that comes to each institution, the idea is also to run fiber into the center of every community in the country, with the goal of making it easier to then expand Internet access to homes and businesses in the community.<br /><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0);">A rural hospital, for instance, could stick a white spaces broadband antenna on its roof, link the antenna to its fiber connection, and suddenly bring at least basic wireless connectivity to the surrounding area at minimal cost.</span><br /><br />The Foundation admits that the cost estimate is not a complete one; it doesn't include costs for network management and upkeep, and additional backhaul costs might be needed in some areas to feed these fiber links. In addition, the group estimates that <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0);">13 percent of libraries and 20 percent of other anchor institutions already have fiber connections. Wiring up the rest would cost between $4.9 billion and $10.1 billion</span>, with much the variability linked to the amount of trenching that might be involved in running the fiber.<br /><br />In putting together its national broadband plan, due in February 2010, the FCC is considering numerous ideas like this—but the quick public request for comment indicates that it is specially intrigued by the Gates Foundation proposal. The agency wants to know by October 28 whether the cost estimates are reasonable, whether other sorts of buildings should count as "anchor institutions," and to what extent "will providing fiber to these institutions directly assist last-mile build-out economics in currently un- or under-served areas."</blockquote>Ingrid J. Joneshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08451813216666237295noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5561796.post-60762602326105019382009-10-09T15:45:00.003+01:002009-10-09T22:54:13.656+01:00Nobel laureate Charles Kuen Kao, the father of fibre optics<span style="font-weight:bold;"><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>Nobel laureate Charles Kuen Kao, the father of fibre optics</span><br /><br />From <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">Earth Times</span> by dpa, 08 Oct 2009:<br /><a href="http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/289186,brilliant-mind-of-nobel-laureate-scientist-affected-by-alzheimers.html">Brilliant mind of Nobel laureate scientist affected by Alzheimer's</a><blockquote>(Hong Kong) - The brilliant scientist awarded the Nobel Prize for physics is suffering from Alzheimer's disease and may not be able to give a speech when he collects his prize later this year, a news report said Thursday. Nobel laureate Charles Kuen Kao, the man hailed as the father of fibre optics, was diagnosed with the degenerative brain disease earlier this year and now has difficulty with speech.<br /><br />According to his wife Wong May-wan, Kao finds it difficult to complete a sentence, raising doubts that he will be able to give a lecture on his work, as is traditional for winners of the prize.<br /><br />A report in the South China Morning Post said Kao, a former vice-chancellor of the Chinese University in Hong Kong, is now living in California with his wife where he is being treated for the disease.<br /><br />Professor Ambrose King, also a former vice-chancellor at the university, said the Kao had communicated to him via his wife in a phone call after the award was announced.<br /><br />"His wife said Kao cannot speak very well," he said in the Post. "It would be good if the award came a year earlier. However it is still not too late for him."<br /><br />Kao, 75, was jointly awarded the Nobel Prize on Tuesday for his "groundbreaking achievements concerning the transmission of light in fibres for optical communication."<br /><br />Comments made by Kao following the announcement of the award, in which he said lightheartedly that his inventions had helped the news of the award travel so fast, were made through a university colleague.<br /><br />Kao, who holds both British and American citizenship, was born in Shanghai in 1933, went to school in Hong Kong and gained his PhD in electrical engineering from Imperial College, London.<br /><br />His pioneering work, carried out in the 1960s in England, demonstrated that light rather than electricity could be used to transmit speech and data accurately at very high speeds.<br /><br />It led to 29 patented discoveries and contributed to the development and commercialisation of optical fibre communications that made the technological revolution possible.<br /><br />Kao was awarded the Nobel Prize jointly with Americans Willard Boyle and George Smith for their "invention of an imaging semiconductor circuit - the CCD sensor" - the electrical eye of a digital camera.<br /><br />The group will receive their award, a diploma, medal and a share of 10 million kronor (1.4 million dollars), at a ceremony in Stockholm on December 10. Kao is to receive half the prize, while Boyle and Smith will each receive a quarter.<br /><br />Born in Shanghai in November 1933, Kao was educated in London and has dual US-British citizenship.<br /><br />In 1970, he moved to Hong Kong to establish the electronics division of the Chinese University of Hong Kong and worked on the commercial development of optical fibres and systems.<br /><br />From 1987 to 1996, he served as university vice chancellor. He also served on a government advisory panel in the then-British colony.</blockquote>Ingrid J. Joneshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08451813216666237295noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5561796.post-7334674517603630322009-08-28T14:19:00.006+01:002009-08-28T14:29:38.953+01:00People who wish to honour Senator Kennedy are urged to line the motorcade route at Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway, City Hall Plaza and Boston Common<span style="font-weight:bold;">Honoring Senator Kennedy: People who wish to honor Senator Kennedy are urged to line the motorcade route at the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway, City Hall Plaza and the Boston Common</span><br /><br />From Jim Moore's blog, Thursday, August 27, 2009 -<blockquote>Three minutes ago I recieved the following:<br /><br />People who wish to honor Senator Kennedy are urged to line the motorcade route at the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway, City Hall Plaza and the Boston Common, in front of the Statehouse on Park Street. BRING SIGNS IF YOU HAVE THEM. I’m sure that it would be appreciated if there is a good crowd on the motorcade route. Please forward this message.<br /><br />At 1:00 PM on Thursday, Senator Kennedy and his family will depart Hyannis Port by motorcade en route to Boston. Arrival time in Boston is expected to be about 3 PM. Senator Kennedy will travel Route 3 North to Route 93 North into Boston. Senator Kennedy will exit at Government Center, and travel down Hanover Street into the North End, past St. Stephen’s Church, where his mother Rose was baptized and her funeral mass celebrated. Continuing down Hanover and crossing over the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway, the park Senator Kennedy joined community leaders in creating that gives mothers and their children green space in the heart of the city. The park sits on the same land young Rose Fitzgerald enjoyed as a child. Senator Kennedy will pass Faneuil Hall where Mayor Menino will ring the bell 47 times. Continuing to Bowdoin Street, Senator Kennedy will pass 122 Bowdoin, where he opened his first office as an Assistant District Attorney and President Kennedy lived while running for Congress in 1946. He’ll pass the JFK Federal Building where his Boston office has stood for decades, and then travel to Dorchester Street into South Boston and to the JFK Presidential Library.<br />ARRIVAL AT JOHN F. KENNEDY LIBRARY AND MUSEUM<br />Approximately 4 p.m. The motorcade will arrive at the JFK Library.<br /><br />THURSDAY 6 PM to 11 PM (or longer if needed) Body will lie in repose at the JFK Library.<br />FRIDAY 8 AM to 3 PM Body will lie in repose at the JFK Library.</blockquote>Ingrid J. Joneshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08451813216666237295noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5561796.post-41756415599296567632009-08-04T15:36:00.004+01:002009-08-28T00:30:01.951+01:00Forgotten soldiers of Cyprus campaign will get memorial at last<a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/defence/5965903/Forgotten-soldiers-of-Cyprus-campaign-will-get-memorial-at-last.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Forgotten soldiers of Cyprus campaign will get memorial at last</span></span></span></a><br /><br />Almost 400 British servicemen killed by guerillas in Cyprus in the 1950s are finally to be honoured after Daily Telegraph readers helped raise £80,000 to build a memorial to them.<br /><br />From <span style="font-style:italic;">The Daily Telegraph</span><br />By Gordon Rayner, Chief Reporter<br />04 Aug 2009<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/meandophelia/3863568526/" title="Forgotten soldiers of Cyprus campaign will get memorial at last by INGRIDNETWORK, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3507/3863568526_c3e96cc76e.jpg" width="460" height="288" alt="Forgotten soldiers of Cyprus campaign will get memorial at last" /></a><br /><br />The vast majority of those who died at the hands of Greek-Cypriot terrorists were young men carrying out National Service, some of the last British conscripts to lose their lives in service of their country, but their sacrifice had remained largely unreco Photo: GETTY<blockquote>A monument bearing the names of all 371 soldiers, sailors and airmen killed during four years of bloodshed will be unveiled on Remembrance Day in a military cemetery on the island.<br /><br />The vast majority of those who died at the hands of Greek-Cypriot terrorists were young men carrying out National Service, some of the last British conscripts to lose their lives in service of their country, but their sacrifice had remained largely unrecognised for 50 years.<br /><br />The campaign for a memorial to them was highlighted in The Daily Telegraph in April, and drew a magnificent response from readers, whose generosity has enabled the British Cyprus Memorial Trust to press ahead with its plans.<br /><br />Air Chief Marshal Sir Michael Graydon, a former Chief of the Air Staff who served in Cyprus in the early Sixties and is a patron of the appeal, said: "We're hugely grateful to everyone who has given money so far, which has enabled us to honour the memory of those who died."<br /><br />The Trust has also set up a pioneering online Book of Remembrance, containing the names and short biographies of each of the dead. It includes a facility for friends and relatives to add their own comments, recollections and photographs and has already been viewed by more than 6,000 people since it went live last month.<br /><br />Sir Michael said: "We felt that by putting a Book of Remembrance online we would achieve a unique form of tribute to those who died, as it is accessible to anyone and it can grow and develop over the years. We have already had a huge response to it and I'm sure it's an idea that will be picked up by veterans of other campaigns."<br /><br />The Cyprus Emergency, as it was known, lasted from 1955 to 1959, and involved a series of murderous attacks on servicemen in what was then a British colony by members of EOKA (the Greek acronym for National Organisation of Cypriot Fighters).<br /><br />The British servicemen are buried at Wayne's Keep Military Cemetery, near Nicosia, but the graveyard is virtually inaccessible to the public because it lies in a UN-patrolled no man's land which divides the Greek and Turkish parts of Cyprus.<br /><br />For now, the memorial will be erected in another British cemetery in Kyrenia, on the north coast, with the blessing of Turkish Cypriots. It has been built in sections so it can be moved to Wayne's Keep in the future if the political landscape changes.<br /><br />The Trust still needs to raise more money, however, for the future upkeep of the memorial.<br /><br />* To donate to the appeal, make cheques payable to British Cyprus Memorial Trust and send your donation to British Cyprus Memorial Trust, 26, York Street, London, W1U 6PZ. To donate online or visit the Book of Remembrance go to <a href="http://www.blogger.com/www.friendsandrelations.com/partners/bcmt">www.friendsandrelations.com/partners/bcmt</a></blockquote>Ingrid J. Joneshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08451813216666237295noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5561796.post-31484330982757025992009-07-31T22:25:00.014+01:002009-08-28T00:32:45.042+01:00Snake 'befriends' snack hamster - JK Wedding Entrance Dance<span style="font-weight:bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Snake 'befriends' snack hamster<br />- JK wedding entrance dance</span></span><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/meandophelia/3775491001/" title="Snake 'befriends' snack hamster by INGRIDNETWORK, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2455/3775491001_934b4b6eb7_o.jpg" width="203" height="152" alt="Snake 'befriends' snack hamster" /></a><br /><br />Photo: Aochan, the snake 'seems to enjoy' being with Gohan, the hamster (AP/BBC)<br /><br />A rodent-eating snake and a hamster have developed an unusual bond at a zoo in the Japanese capital, Tokyo.<br /><br />Their relationship began in October last year, when zookeepers presented the hamster to the snake as a meal.<br /><br />The rat snake, however, refused to eat the rodent. The two now share a cage, and the hamster sometimes falls asleep sitting on top of his natural foe.<br /><br />"I have never seen anything like it," a zookeeper at the Mutsugoro Okoku zoo told the Associated Press News agency.<br /><br />The hamster was initially offered to Aochan, the two-year-old rat snake, because it was refusing to eat frozen mice.<br /><br />As a joke, the zookeeper said they named the hamster Gohan - the Japanese word for meal.<br /><br />"I don't think there's any danger. Aochan seems to enjoy Gohan's company very much," said zookeeper Kazuya Yamamoto.<br /><br />The apparent friendship between the snake and hamster is one of many reported bonds spanning the divide between predator and prey.<br /><br />Source: BBC News, 19 January 2006 - <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/4627950.stm">Snake 'befriends' snack hamster</a><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Lioness adopts third baby antelope </span></span></span><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/meandophelia/3776347374/" title="Lioness adopts third baby antelope by INGRIDNETWORK, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2627/3776347374_99a2052dcd_o.jpg" width="150" height="180" alt="Lioness adopts third baby antelope" /></a><br /><br />Photo: The last calf was killed while she was sleeping<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Odd couple make friends in Kenya</span></span></span><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/meandophelia/3776314622/" title="Odd couple make friends in Kenya by INGRIDNETWORK, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2601/3776314622_c9420747e7_o.jpg" width="203" height="152" alt="Odd couple make friends in Kenya" /></a><br /><br />Photo: Mzee and Owen have become firm friends despite the age gap (AFP/BBC)<br /><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(70, 70, 70); line-height: 15px; font-family:verdana;font-size:10px;"><div class="seeAlsoH" style="outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; text-transform: uppercase; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 3px; margin-left: 0px; font-size: 1.2em; font-weight: normal; color: rgb(102, 102, 102); border-top-width: 1px; border-top-style: solid; border-top-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); padding-top: 8px; padding-right: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; padding-left: 0pt; ">SEE ALSO</div><div class="arr" style="outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-size: 100%; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-left: 10px; background-image: url(http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/img/v3/arrow.gif); background-repeat: no-repeat; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; line-height: 1.4em; background-position: 0px 6px; "><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/4152447.stm" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(79, 133, 174); font-size: 1.2em; line-height: 1.3em; ">Odd couple make friends in Kenya </a><br /><span class="sad" style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; color: rgb(102, 102, 102); display: block; margin-top: 2px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-size:1.1em;">06 Jan 05 | Africa</span></div><div class="arr" style="outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-size: 100%; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-left: 10px; background-image: url(http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/img/v3/arrow.gif); background-repeat: no-repeat; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; line-height: 1.4em; background-position: 0px 6px; "><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/1905363.stm" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(31, 82, 123); font-size: 1.2em; line-height: 1.3em; ">Lioness adopts third baby antelope </a><br /><span class="sad" style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; color: rgb(102, 102, 102); display: block; margin-top: 2px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-size:1.1em;">01 Apr 02 | Africa</span></div><div class="arr" style="outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-size: 100%; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-left: 10px; background-image: url(http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/img/v3/arrow.gif); background-repeat: no-repeat; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; line-height: 1.4em; background-position: 0px 6px; "><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/1746828.stm" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(31, 82, 123); font-size: 1.2em; line-height: 1.3em; ">The lioness and the oryx </a><br /><span class="sad" style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; color: rgb(102, 102, 102); display: block; margin-top: 2px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-size:1.1em;">07 Jan 02 | Africa</span></div><div class="arr" style="outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-size: 100%; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-left: 10px; background-image: url(http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/img/v3/arrow.gif); background-repeat: no-repeat; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; line-height: 1.4em; background-position: 0px 6px; "><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/4530928.stm" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(31, 82, 123); font-size: 1.2em; line-height: 1.3em; ">Japan zoo walks portly penguins </a><br /><span class="sad" style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; color: rgb(102, 102, 102); display: block; margin-top: 2px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-size:1.1em;">15 Dec 05 | Asia-Pacific</span></div><div class="arr" style="outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-size: 100%; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-left: 10px; background-image: url(http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/img/v3/arrow.gif); 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outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-size: 100%; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-left: 10px; background-image: url(http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/img/v3/arrow.gif); background-repeat: no-repeat; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: initial; line-height: 1.4em; background-position: 0px 6px; "><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/4515951.stm" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(31, 82, 123); font-size: 1.2em; line-height: 1.3em; ">Tokyo delighted by visiting whale </a><br /><span class="sad" style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; color: rgb(102, 102, 102); display: block; margin-top: 2px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-size:1.1em;">05 May 05 | Asia-Pacific</span><br /><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">JK wedding entrance dance </span></span></span></span><br /><br />Kevin Heinz and Jill Peterson, the wedding couple filmed dancing down the aisle, have become an internet sensation after the video received six million YouTube hits.<br /><br />From <span style="font-style:italic;">The Daily Telegraph</span><br /><a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/5913746/Couples-wedding-entrance-dance-becomes-YouTube-viral-hit.html">Couple's wedding entrance dance becomes YouTube viral hit</a><br />By Alastair Jamieson<br />26 July 2009<blockquote>The whole dance, performed to the tune of Chris Brown?s 2008 song, Forever, lasts five minutes and takes most of the assembled guests by surprise<br /><br />The video clip, posted only one week ago, shows the pair dancing energetically towards the altar, preceded by their ushers, bridesmaids and groomsmen.<br /><br />The whole dance, performed to the tune of Chris Brown’s 2008 song, Forever, lasts five minutes and takes most of the assembled guests by surprise.<br /><br />The groom, 28, performs a somersault on his way to the altar and his hip-swaying bride, also 28, receives a standing ovation as she joins him for the exchange of vows.<br /><br />The video has already turned the couple, from St Paul, Minnesota, into celebrities in the United States with appearances on network television. It has already been viewed 6.6m times.<br /><br />The new bride said only the couple’s parents were aware of the plans for the unconventional wedding march and that the dance was only rehearsed for “about an hour and a half” before the ceremony.<br /><br />"I'm just glad I didn't hurt myself," Mr Heinz said of his somersault.<br /><br />The success of the clip echoes that of British couple James Derbyshire and Julia Boggio who re-enacted the 1987 Dirty Dancing scene between Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Gray on the dance floor at their reception.<br /><br />The 2005 clip became so popular, with more than three million hits, that Swayze himself appeared on the Oprah Winfrey Show to meet the couple.</blockquote><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/4-94JhLEiN0&hl=en&fs=1&"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/4-94JhLEiN0&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br />You Tube caption (13,092,099 views to date): Our wedding entrance dance to Forever...yeah, forever. For more information or to make a donation towards violence prevention please visit our website: <a href="http://www.jkweddingdance.com/">http://www.jkweddingdance.com/</a><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-family:arial;font-size:10px;"><h4 class="header" style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 6px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(178, 41, 41); font-size: 1.2em; ">Related Articles</h4><ul style="list-style-image: url(http://www.telegraph.co.uk/telegraph/template/ver1-0/i/articleBullet.gif); font-size: 1.3em; line-height: 1.38em; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; list-style-type: none; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; "><li class="bullet" style="background-image: url(http://www.telegraph.co.uk/telegraph/template/ver1-0/i/relatedStoryBullet.gif); 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Joneshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08451813216666237295noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5561796.post-77895134936040487172009-07-26T18:41:00.013+01:002009-08-28T00:34:13.449+01:00Queen told how economists missed financial crisis<span style="font-weight:bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Queen told how economists missed financial crisis </span></span></span><div><br />Cryptic note to self for future reference. I saw it coming, which is why I wrote and published this at <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">Sudan Watch </span>on Tuesday, June 19, 2007:<blockquote><a href="http://sudanwatch.blogspot.com/2007/06/un-head-links-climate-change-darfur.html">U.N. Head Links Climate Change, Darfur</a><br />Recently on television news, I saw the great American media baron Ted Turner talking about masses of money changing hands more now than ever before. Seems he's divesting of media to concentrate and invest in nuclear and environment.<br /><br />My point is, the climate change spending budget will be humongous and, coupled with the world's munitions spending, represents an historic opportunity for making poverty (and war!) history. Surely if world peace could be agreed, and amnesty's sorted, it would leave those who refuse to give up illegal weapons to be treated as criminals.<br /><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 102, 255);">United Nations Blames Darfur on Food, Water Shortage</span><br />IslamOnline.net & Newspapers 18 June 2007<br /><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 102, 255);">U.N. Head Links Climate Change, Darfur </span><br />AP report via Guardian June 17, 2007<br /><br />"It is no accident that the violence in Darfur erupted during the drought," Ban said. (Reuters)</blockquote>- - -<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Quote of the Year</span><br /><br /></div><div>"The Queen asked me: 'If these things were so large, how come everyone missed them? <br />-Professor Luis Garicano (Source: see here below)<br />- - -<br /><br />From <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">Telegraph.co.uk</span><div>Sunday, 26 Jul 2009:<br /><a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/theroyalfamily/5912697/Queen-told-how-economists-missed-financial-crisis.html">Queen told how economists missed financial crisis</a><blockquote>The Queen has been sent a letter by a group of eminent economists explaining how "financial wizards" failed to "foresee the timing, extent and severity" of the economic crisis, it was reported.<br /><br />The three-page letter, signed by London School of Economics professor Tim Besley, an external member of the Bank of England's monetary policy committee, and political historian Peter Hennessy, was sent after the Queen asked on a visit to the LSE why nobody had predicted the credit crunch, according to the Observer newspaper.<br /><br />The letter ends: "In summary, your majesty, the failure to foresee the timing, extent and severity of the crisis and to head it off, while it had many causes, was principally a failure of the collective imagination of many bright people, both in this country and internationally, to understand the risks to the system as a whole."<br /><br />The letter talks of the "psychology of denial" that gripped the financial and political world and says "financial wizards" convinced themselves they had found ways to spread risk throughout the financial markets - a great example of "wishful thinking combined with hubris".<br /><br />The content was discussed during a seminar at the British Academy in June, attended by Treasury permanent secretary Nick MacPherson, Goldman Sachs chief economist Jim O'Neill and Observer economics columnist William Keegan, the newspaper said.<br /><br />A Buckingham Palace spokewoman would not discuss the correspondence but said: "The Queen always displays an interest in current issues and is kept abreast of current issues. Obviously the recession is very topical."<br /><br />In March, Mervyn King became the first Bank of England governor to be invited for private talks with the Queen.<br /><br />When she visited the LSE in November last year she asked Professor Luis Garicano, of the economics' management department, about the origins of the credit crisis, saying: "Why did nobody notice it?"<br /><br />Prof Garicano told the Queen: "At every stage, someone was relying on somebody else and everyone thought they were doing the right thing."<br /><br />The Queen described it as "awful".<br /><br />Prof Garicano said afterwards: "The Queen asked me: '<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;">If these things were so large, how come everyone missed them</span></span>?"'</blockquote></div></div>Ingrid J. Joneshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08451813216666237295noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5561796.post-80698892872632117662009-07-26T16:29:00.014+01:002009-08-28T00:35:19.418+01:00Nadine the 'Pig Whisperer'<p><br /><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Nadine the 'Pig Whisperer' </span></span></span><br /><br />Love this story of pigs having fun in crystal clear water in the Bahamas.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/meandophelia/3758443462/" title="The bay of pigs: swine swimming in crystal clear water in the Bahamas by INGRIDNETWORK, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3522/3758443462_94848420db_m.jpg" width="240" height="155" alt="The bay of pigs: swine swimming in crystal clear water in the Bahamas" /></a></p><div><br /></div><div>Underwater photographer Eric Cheng stumbled across the unusual residents during a diving expedition to the area.<br /><br />"We were in the southern Bahamas to photograph oceanic white-tip sharks," says the 33-year-old. </div><div><br /></div><div>"Our captain, Jim Abernethy, had heard that there were pigs on Big Major so we decided to go and check it out"<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/meandophelia/3757650177/" title="The Pig Whisperer by INGRIDNETWORK, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2555/3757650177_f5ecc97f4f_m.jpg" width="240" height="155" alt="The Pig Whisperer" /></a><br /><br />"Nadine Umbscheiden, one of the photographers, was so at ease with them," reveals Eric<br /><br />"We dubbed her the 'pig whisperer' because she was so good at getting the pigs to swim to our cameras!"<br /><br />"Because locals bring food, the pigs will run into the water and actually swim out to the oncoming boats, as if to greet them individually"<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/meandophelia/3757721129/" title="The bay of pigs: swine swimming in crystal clear water in the Bahamas by INGRIDNETWORK, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2642/3757721129_148603eebf_m.jpg" width="240" height="155" alt="The bay of pigs: swine swimming in crystal clear water in the Bahamas" /></a><br /><br />Pictures: Eric Cheng/Barcroft Media. Source: Telegraph.co.uk - <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthpicturegalleries/5844059/The-bay-of-pigs-swine-swimming-in-crystal-clear-water-in-the-Bahamas.html?image=2" rel="nofollow">The bay of pigs: swine swimming in crystal clear water in the Bahamas</a><br /></div>Ingrid J. Joneshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08451813216666237295noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5561796.post-56508030599747119412009-07-18T19:03:00.007+01:002009-08-28T00:35:47.427+01:00USS Halyburton crew take part in historic ceremony at Tower of London<span class="Apple-style-span" style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">USS Halyburton crew take part in historic ceremony at Tower of London</span></span></span><br /><br />The crew of a US frigate made history on Saturday by becoming the first foreign ship to take part in the ceremony of the 'Constable's Dues' at the Tower of London.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/meandophelia/3732134545/" title="USS Halyburton crew take part in historic ceremony at Tower of London by INGRIDNETWORK, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3488/3732134545_7c814a3ba5_o.jpg" width="220" height="293" alt="USS Halyburton crew take part in historic ceremony at Tower of London" /></a><br /><br />Barrel of rum delivered in tradition dating back to the 14th century.<br /><br />From <span style="font-style:italic;">The Daily Telegraph</span><br />By Ian Johnston<br />Published: 18 Jul 2009<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/meandophelia/3732130009/" title="USS Halyburton crew take part in historic ceremony at Tower of London by INGRIDNETWORK, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3505/3732130009_e92afb922f.jpg" width="410" height="238" alt="USS Halyburton crew take part in historic ceremony at Tower of London" /></a><br /><br />The ceremony recreates a tradition dating back to the 14th century (PA)<blockquote>A shore party from the USS Halyburton put aside old disputes about "taxation without representation" to deliver a barrel of rum to the Tower.<br /><br />The ceremony recreates a tradition dating back to the 14th century, where ships docking near the Tower would have to give the Constable part of their cargo as a form of tax.<br /><br />This has since evolved into a ceremonial handover of what is usually an empty barrel of wine.<br /><br />Crew members from the USS Halyburton became the first crew of a foreign ship to take part in the ceremony by presenting a barrel filled with Castillo Silver Rum to the Constable and his Yeoman Warders, commonly known as Beefeaters.<br /><br />Commander Michael P. Huck led his crew to the Tower's West Gate where they were challenged by the Yeoman Gaoler armed with his axe.<br /><br />The American shore party then marched through the Tower of London to Tower Green, accompanied by Yeoman Warders in scarlet and gold state dress and a Corps of Drums to deliver the rum to the current Constable, General Sir Roger Wheeler.<br /><br />Commander Huck said: "Halyburton and her crew are honoured to be invited to take part in a tradition with such rich history. It is an excellent opportunity for my crew to not only enjoy London culture, but to be an active part of it."<br /><br />However he admitted neither the cask nor the rum was actually cargo from the ship.<br /><br />"The wine cask has been provided to us by the Tower authorities," he said. "It will actually be filled with Castillo Silver Rum. Unfortunately, since we do not typically carry alcohol on-board, that was also provided to us."<br /><br />The constable's post was once a powerful position. He was entitled to collect money from fishermen and pilgrims, and could claim any horses, oxen, pigs or sheep that fell off London Bridge.</blockquote>Ingrid J. Joneshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08451813216666237295noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5561796.post-49363286281675693682009-07-10T21:27:00.009+01:002009-08-28T00:36:18.211+01:00Over At The Frankenstein Place (Acoustic Version)<span style="font-weight:bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Over At The Frankenstein Place (Acoustic Version)</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span><br />Fond memories of attending the opening night of the original <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">Rocky Horror Show</span> in London (1973) starring Tim Curry. Regrets that I hadn't booked it, when I had an opportunity to do so, several years later. Can't recall what stopped me. Might have been around the time I was seriously injured in a car accident. <div><br /></div><div>Here is a video of Richard O'Brien doing an acoustic version of <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">Over At The Frankenstein Place</span>. I am filing it here, along with the <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">Time Warp, </span>so I can listen when the mood takes. <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Horror-Original-London-Theatre-Upstairs/dp/B000024TKB/ref=pd_krex_fa_t">Click here</a> to listen to samples of the the show's earliest recordings, better than any later versions.<br /><br /><object width="325" height="244"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/GnzQRHoXyxg&hl=en&fs=1&"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/GnzQRHoXyxg&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="325" height="244"></embed></object><br /><br /><object width="325" height="244"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/sH6Q8tZlzb0&hl=en&fs=1&"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/sH6Q8tZlzb0&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="325" height="244"></embed></object><br /><br />The Rocky Horror Picture Show: Time Warp.<br /><br /><object width="325" height="244"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/tZ7msthcyuc&hl=en&fs=1&"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/tZ7msthcyuc&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="325" height="244"></embed></object></div><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/meandophelia/3750511921/" title="The Rocky Horror Show (Original 1973 London Theatre Upstairs Cast) by INGRIDNETWORK, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2628/3750511921_712c248cc4_m.jpg" width="240" height="240" alt="The Rocky Horror Show (Original 1973 London Theatre Upstairs Cast)" /></a><br /><br />The Rocky Horror Show (Original 1973 London Theatre Upstairs Cast)<br />Image courtesy of Amazon.comIngrid J. Joneshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08451813216666237295noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5561796.post-84696779992052471242009-07-08T13:38:00.009+01:002009-08-28T00:36:43.700+01:00Michael Jackson memorial concert one of the biggest internet and television events ever<span style="font-weight:bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:large;">Thanks to Sky for great coverage of Jackson Farewell</span></span></span><br /><br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCpD72b-dfs">Click here</a> <span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); ">to hear 'Smile', an inspirational song by the late great Michael Jackson. The song was touchingly sung at his memorial service yesterday by his brother. See clip here below. I watched the event live on <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic; ">Sky News</span> TV and cried throughout the beautiful musical tributes.<br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/zlYZYUT69i0&hl=en&fs=1&"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/zlYZYUT69i0&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br />The Michael Jackson memorial concert was one of the biggest internet and television events ever. It was watched by more than funeral of Princess of Wales.<br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Fr</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">om </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Telegraph.co.uk</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> by John Bingham 08 Jul 2009:</span><br /><a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/michael-jackson/5776339/Michael-Jackson-memorial-concert-one-of-the-biggest-internet-and-television-events-ever.html">Michael Jackson memorial concert one of the biggest internet and television events ever</a><br /><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">With preliminary estimates putting the global television audience at more than a billion people, it rivals the inauguration of Barack Obama as US president but could fall short of the wedding of the Prince of Wales and Lady Diana Spencer which attracted 2.5 billion.<br /><br />Internet traffic was up by as much as 33 per cent as fans around the world posted live messages online as the spectacular event at the Staples Center in Los Angeles unfolded.<br /><br />The Jackson memorial dominated discussion topics on Twitter and Facebook with tens of thousands of messages being posted each minute.<br /><br />As the concert progressed, the words "Mandela", "Sharpton", "Jermaine", "Brooke" and "Shields" were in turn the most used terms on Twitter while "Jackson" remained near the top of the list throughout.<br /><br />The singer also remained near the top of the Twitter trending topics by Wednesday morning.<br /><br />Almost 10 million people watched the event through a video stream on CNN's website alone, the highest since the Obama inauguration.<br /><br />Yahoo also reportedly saw five million total streams, making it the most streamed ceremony in its history.<br /><br />Facebook reported that almost a million status updates containing the word "Jackson" had been posted with at least 6,000 comments per minute linked to the CNN streaming alone. There were thousands more for alternative internet showings on ABC, and E! Online websites.<br /><br />"The 6,000 is just for CNN Live," said Randi Zuckerberg of Facebook. "It is significantly higher than that when you factor in E! Online, ABC, and MTV which each have their own Facebook Connect implementations.<br /><br />"The most interesting thing is how many people are writing in internationally. The Jackson memorial seems to have a huge international presence."<br />Facebook updates from Switzerland, Israel, Britain and Barbados poured in.<br /><br />Clips of the event, including the singer's daughter Paris's emotional tribute, attracted hundreds of thousands of viewers on the video sharing website YouTube while other Jackson-related films dominated the most watched list.<br /><br />But the BBC received criticism in some quarters for clearing schedules to carry the event live.</span></blockquote></span>Ingrid J. Joneshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08451813216666237295noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5561796.post-22461674152446625182009-06-25T22:54:00.012+01:002009-08-28T00:38:06.490+01:00Call 911... he’s not breathing - Michael Jackson dead<a href="http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/showbiz/bizarre/2501914/Michael-Jacksons-last-moments.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Call 911... he’s not breathing</span></span></span></span></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/meandophelia/3660778165/" title="Call 911... he’s not breathing by INGRIDNETWORK, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3657/3660778165_6dc8b73e19.jpg" width="500" height="406" alt="Call 911... he’s not breathing" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/world/michael-jackson-dead-20090626-cyjb.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Michael Jackson dead</span></span></span></span></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/meandophelia/3661270634/" title="Michael Jackson dead by INGRIDNETWORK, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3301/3661270634_23b02e7420_o.jpg" width="420" height="273" alt="Michael Jackson dead" /></a><br /><br />Photo: Michael Jackson is rushed into hospital in Los Angeles Photo: x17online.com<br /><br />Shocking, very sad news just in (<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); white-space: pre-wrap; font-family:arial;font-size:12px;">25 June 2009 c. 22:58 GMT UK) </span>from <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">Brisbane Times</span>, Australia by Christine Kellett June 26, 2009 - 7:47AM:<blockquote>Pop star Michael Jackson has died after suffering a heart attack, it has been reported.<br /><br />Media reports have said the star, 50, was taken to hospital in Los Angeles after he was found not breathing in his Holmby Hills home earlier.<br /><br />Celebrity website TMZ said 911 operators received an emergency call about 12.12pm local time (8.12pm AEST).<br /><br />Jackson is believed to have gone into cardiac arrest and paramedics performed CPR on him en route to UCLA hospital.<br /><br />The website quoted family members as saying the Thriller singer was in "really bad shape."<br /><br />"We just got off the phone with Joe Jackson, Michael's dad, who says 'he is not doing well.'' the website reported.<br /><br />Jackson was reportedly planning a comeback and was living in Los Angeles while rehearsing a series of 50 sold-out shows in London, the LATimes has reported.<br /><br />Los Angeles Fire Department paramedics had rushed to the singer's $100,00-a-month rented home near Sunset Boulevard to find him not breathing, the newspaper reported.</blockquote>Just in from <span style="font-style:italic;">Los Angeles Times</span> a few minutes ago, 23:27 GMT UK - excerpt:<blockquote>Michael Jackson is dead [Updated]<br />2:06 PM | June 25, 2009<br /><br />[Updated at 3:15 p.m.: Pop star Michael Jackson was pronounced dead by doctors this afternoon after arriving at a hospital in a deep coma, city and law enforcement sources told The Times.]<br /><br />[Updated at 2:46 p.m.: Jackson is in a coma and family have are arriving at his bedside, a law enforcement source told The Times.<br /><br />Jackson was rushed to a hospital this afternoon by Los Angeles Fire Department paramedics.<br /><br />Capt. Steve Ruda said paramedics responded to a call at Jackson's home around 12:26 p.m. He was not breathing when they arrived. The parademics performed CPR and took him to UCLA Medical Center, Ruda told The Times.<br /><br />[Updated at 2:12 p.m.: Paramedics were called to a home on the 100 block of Carolwood Drive off Sunset Boulevard. Jackson rented the Bel Air home for $100,000 a month. It was described as a French chateau estate built in 2002 with seven bedrooms, 13 bathrooms, 12 fireplaces and a theater.</blockquote>I feel very sad that Michael Jackson died broken hearted and am still sickened by how cruelly he was treated by many of his fans and the world's press. I blogged about it <a href="http://meandophelia.blogspot.com/2003/11/super-star-michael-jackson-how-much.html">here</a> (see copy below). There's another blog post I wrote at the time of his court case, saying how I believed him to be innocent. Sorry I can't find it. Rest In Peace, far away from this cruel world, dear sweet gentle Michael and thanks for all your sensational dancing and thrilling music. The world is a sadder place without you. + + + God bless you and your family. x x x<br /><br />Thursday, November 20, 2003<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">SUPER STAR MICHAEL JACKSON<br />How much more hurt and public humiliation can he take? </span><br /><br />Michael Jackson has been urged to give himself up to police. I am feeling fearful and sad for him. It is appalling that such hurtful and humiliating allegations can be made so publicly while, at the same time, the identity of the person, or their family, making the allegations are kept private. Identities of both parties should be kept private until one is found guilty of breaking the law.<br /><br />This repetitive public hounding and humiliation must be incredibly stressful. What on earth can Michael Jackson be thinking and feeling right now? I hope his family, friends and lawyers are able to keep his spirits up and get him through this. Put yourself in his shoes right now. And ask yourself, if he is such a terrible danger to children, how come all of these families of all these children allow their children to spend so much time with Michael Jackson living out fantasies at his Neverland ranch without being accompanied by chaperones.<br /><br />Unfounded wicked gossip and public humiliation had to be endured by Prince Charles, his sons and family lately. It was awful to see on the news and internet how someone can be so publicly ridiculed and dragged through the mire - around the world - without there being a shred of evidence. And, anyway - in Prince Charles' case - who should care what goes on behind closed doors. It's none of our business. Unless it is proven that a law has been broken. Then it becomes a matter for public concern.<br /><br />Look at what happened to the quiet mannered British scientist and our Princess of Wales, her partner and chauffeur...they were hounded to death.<br /><br />There's a lot of protest about hunting as a sport in this country. The law should protect both humans and animals - around the world.<br /><br /># posted by Ingrid Jones @ 11/20/2003<br />- - -<br /><br />Update 25 June 2009: <a href="http://blogs.zdnet.com/igeneration/?p=1923">Is Michael Jackson dead? Would Twitter lie?</a>Ingrid J. Joneshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08451813216666237295noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5561796.post-10670480048700519802009-06-20T10:48:00.003+01:002009-08-28T00:38:41.409+01:00Flossie Lane<a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/5580597/Flossie-Lane.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;">Flossie Lane</span></span></span></span></span></a><br /><br />Here is a fascinating story from the <span style="font-style:italic;">Telegraph </span>published 19 June 2009:<blockquote>Flossie Lane, who died on June 13 aged 94, was reputedly the oldest publican in Britain, and ran one of the last genuine country inns.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/meandophelia/3643659904/" title="Flossie Lane by INGRIDNETWORK, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3369/3643659904_65620823d2_o.jpg" width="220" height="293" alt="Flossie Lane" /></a><br /><br />Photo: Flossie Lane in 2007, with the pub dog Hobson<br /><br />For 74 years she had kept the tiny Sun Inn, the pub where she was born in the pre-Roman village of Leintwardine on the Shropshire-Herefordshire border.<br /><br />As the area's last remaining parlour pub, and one of only a handful left in Britain, the Sun is as resolutely old-fashioned and unreconstructed today as it was in the mid-1930s when she and her brother took it over.<br /><br />According to beer connoisseurs, Flossie Lane's parlour pub is one of the last five remaining "Classic Pubs" in England, listed by English Heritage for its historical interest, and the only one with five stars, awarded by the Classic Basic Unspoilt Pubs of Great Britain.<br /><br />She held a licence to sell only beer – there was no hard liquor – and was only recently persuaded to serve wine as a gesture towards modern drinking habits.<br /><br />With its wooden trestle tables, pictures of whiskery past locals on the walls, alcoves and a roaring open fire, the Sun is listed in the CAMRA Good Beer Guide as "a pub of outstanding national interest". Although acclaimed as "a proper pub", it is actually Flossie Lane's 18th-century vernacular stone cottage, tucked away in a side road opposite the village fire station.<br /><br />There is no conventional bar, and no counter. Customers sit on hard wooden benches in her unadorned quarry-tiled front room. Beer – formerly Ansell's, latterly Hobson's Best at £2 a pint – is served from barrels on Flossie Lane's kitchen floor.<br /><br />Since she began to ail after a fall in 2006, her customers have helped themselves. There is no till. People put the money in a row of jam jars, one for each denomination of note and coin; although she was never observed to be watching, from her command-post in her favourite armchair she could distinguish between the different clinking sounds they made.<br /><br />The broadcaster Jeremy Paxman once described the pub as his discovery of the year. "Flossie, the landlady, sits in the middle of the room, wearing a pair of surgical stockings. The only food is a pot of eggs, which Flossie pickled several moons ago."<br />Her regulars have formed themselves into a Flossie Lane Society, run as a kind of guild, and are known as Aldermen of the Red-Brick Bar. Every year they appoint a mayor, nominated by the outgoing one, who wears a squirrel-skin cape made by a local butcher.<br /><br />The mayoral handover involves the eating of squirrel pie and a parade through the village, led by the new mayor wearing the honorary mayoral chain, hat and staff which bears a symbolic sun in homage to the pub.<br /><br />When Hobson, the Rhodesian ridgeback belonging to The Fiddler's Elbow fish-and-chip shop owner next door, was appointed mayor, the dog was quickly found to be not up to the job and in turn appointed a successor.<br /><br />Although they are intended as harmless fun, the rituals at the parlour pub are seen by some villagers as strange and off-putting. "There are still some people in the village who think it's a secret society," one regular admitted, "but it's not a closed shop, even though it is a bit different and off the wall. We welcome people here."<br /><br />Visiting the pub in 1996, The Guardian's food writer, Matthew Fort, noted: "There was no sound but for the ticking of the clock and the conversation between the landlady and the only other customer, which had five-minute pauses between sentences."<br />Like Paxman, Fort fudged the pub's exact location: "The landlady said that she didn't want a lot of folk coming along and disturbing the peace."<br /><br />Florence Emily Lane was born at the Sun Inn, Leintwardine, on July 10 1914, the only girl in a family of five. Her father had been a policeman at Ross-on-Wye and her mother was the first member of the family to hold the licence. Educated at the village school, as a teenager Flossie waited on the customers and helped out in the kitchen by washing bottles and glasses.</blockquote><blockquote>After the death of her parents, her brother Charlie took over the licence in 1935 – the year of George V's silver jubilee – and held it jointly with her until his death half a century later. Flossie Lane had run the pub single-handedly since 1985.<br /><br />Both she and her brother were particular about who drank there; sons of the tillage were preferred, although some approved non-rustics were tolerated. The pub is still the base and meeting point for the local cricket club, bellringers and fly fishermen drawn to the river Teme which runs through the village. Although popular, there are concerns for the pub's future; over recent years, Leintwardine has lost four of its pubs and inns.<br /><br />During her infirmity Flossie Lane's regulars rallied round to keep the Sun going, manning it on a rota basis. The owner of the neighbouring chip shop ordered the beer from the brewery, served the customers, and delivered chip suppers which were washed down with pints of Flossie Lane's ale. Although her name remained above the door, latterly the pub was effectively run for her by its devotees, all of them locals. The accounts, the washing-up, the laying of the fire and even the sweeping-up were undertaken by the volunteers.<br /><br />Flossie Lane was proud of not having kept up with the times, and did not hold with modernisation. In an age of lager louts and binge drinkers, no one at the Sun Inn can ever recall the slightest hint of trouble there.<br /><br />"The pub hasn't changed in all the years, and they are all good people here – I won't have no rough," she insisted. Although she had been serving ale since the Twenties roared, Flossie Lane's secret recipe for a long life was simple. "I'm a teetotal," she said. "I like a nice cup of tea. I leave the drink to the others."<br /><br />A chronic agoraphobic, Flossie Lane was never known, within living memory, to have ventured outside her pub (other than to take the air in the rear garden). She never learned to drive and took her holidays at home. She enjoyed a reputation as the best-informed person in the village, and every evening cheerfully dispensed local gossip to her customers.<br /><br />In her advanced old age, Flossie Lane's regulars converted a downstairs room into a bedroom to spare her the stairs, but for the last 10 years at least she had slept every night in her customary armchair. The last person out tucked her up.<br /><br />Flossie Lane, who never married, is survived by five nieces.</blockquote>Ingrid J. Joneshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08451813216666237295noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5561796.post-72241589590315026692009-06-14T22:02:00.008+01:002009-08-28T00:39:13.448+01:00New blog: Blair Foundation Watch - A Blairite's blog<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="">New blog: Blair Foundation Watch - A Blairite's blog</span></span></span><br /><br />Today, I transferred all political news reports recently filed here to:<br /><a href="http://blairfoundation.blogspot.com/">Blair Foundation Watch - A Blairite's blog</a><br /><br />From now on, I shall post political news to that site whilst continuing to maintain <a href="http://sudanwatch.blogspot.com/">Sudan Watch</a> and <a href="http://sudanwatch.blogspot.com/">Congo Watch</a> etc.<p></p>Ingrid J. Joneshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08451813216666237295noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5561796.post-10436587884740854572009-06-14T11:28:00.005+01:002009-06-14T22:12:14.103+01:00Margaret Beckett refuses to back Gordon Brown - Vote for Widdy as Speaker<p><br /><p><br /><a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/gordon-brown/5523599/Margaret-Beckett-refuses-to-back-Gordon-Brown.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 102, 255);">Margaret Beckett refuses to back Gordon Brown</span></span></span></a><br /><br />Margaret Beckett, a former senior minister sacked by Gordon Brown who is now standing to become <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">the next Speaker</span> of the House of Commons, has refused to express backing for the Prime Minister.<blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0); line-height: 17px; font-family:arial;font-size:13px;">The Derby South MP, who was criticised during the expenses scandal for trying to claim £600 for hanging baskets, acknowledged that reform was needed to MPs allowances, but warned that it would be easy to get wrong.</span></blockquote><div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:arial;font-size:10px;"><img src="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/telegraph/multimedia/archive/01423/MargaretBeckett_1423085c.jpg" width="460" height="288" alt="Margaret Beckett refuses to back Gordon Brown " style="display: block; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; " /><span class="caption" style=" line-height: 1.38em; color: rgb(102, 102, 102); padding-top: 2px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-left: 0px; font-size:1.1em;">Margaret Beckett, who is standing for Commons Speaker, said it was no longer her job to defend the Government</span> <span class="credit" style=" line-height: 1.38em; color: rgb(102, 102, 102); padding-top: 2px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-left: 5px; font-size:1.1em;">Photo: DAVID ROSE</span></span><br />Source: <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/gordon-brown/5523599/Margaret-Beckett-refuses-to-back-Gordon-Brown.html">Daily Telegraph</a> report by Melissa Kite, Deputy Political Editor, 9:00PM BST 13 Jun 2009.<br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Note, the above report tells us that Margaret Beckett, when pressed to say more about Gordon Brown's management style, conceded: "We have always worked together, we haven't always seen eye to eye." She added: <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0); ">"I don't want to hurt his feelings, because God knows everyone is giving him such a kicking at the moment</span>, but it is a matter of public record that I'm probably unique in being sacked twice by Gordon."</div><div><br /></div><div>Doesn't want to hurt Gordon Brown's feelings eh? I don't recall her being concerned about Tony Blair's feelings when he was relentlessly attacked, undermind and backstabbed by Gordon Brown for years on end. </div><div><br /></div><div>Going by the above report Ms Beckett seems unable to give straight answers. Trying to charge taxpayers £600 for her hanging baskets speaks volumes. I say, no more dodgy characters in Westminster, vote for Widdy as Speaker.</div></div>Ingrid J. Joneshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08451813216666237295noreply@blogger.com0