ME and Ophelia

Saturday, February 14, 2009

 
The 'Obama Effect' has hit New York Fashion Week, resulting in a style and cultural explosion as colourful and diverse as Africa itself.

Obama fashion

Photo: African Fashion Collective 2009 Photo: GETTY

'Obama Effect' hits New York Fashion
By Hilary Alexander, Fashion Director
Last Updated: 6:10PM GMT 14 Feb 2009
The event's tented village in mid-town Bryant Park was the setting for the first African Fashion Collective, 2009, starring the singer, Grace Jones, and featuring the collections of four designers,: Xuly Bet from Mali; Nkhensani Nkosi who designs Stoned Cherrie, the South African label; and Fati Asibelua of Momo, and Tiffany Amber, both from Nigeria.

The show opened with the voice of Jones intoning 'Man-Eating Machine', as a giant, black and white video of the singer – digitally-distorted and manipulated in the manner of 'The Terminator' – unfolded on a screen at the back of the stage.
The designs were modelled by a United Nations roll-call of girls from more than a dozen countries, including Ethiopia, Namibia, Burkina Faso, Senegal, Russia, China and the Netherlands, along with Tyson Beckford, the most celebrated black American male model, and the black catwalk superstars, Alek Wek, from Sudan, and Chanel Iman.

Xuly Bet showed contemporary sportswear in denim and corduroy and T-shirt dresses printed with President Obama's face.
Tiffany Amber's collection featured silk shantung and traditional 'Ankara' fabrics, with intricate shell and bead embroidery.
Alek Wek closed Nkosi's Stoned Cherrie collection in a shadow-dyed, burnt orange-to-earth toned, silk chiffon gown with an elaborate, jewelled collar. Zebra, leopard, giraffe and snake patterns, printed on hand-woven taffeta, cashmere and metallic silk, in shades of pewter and gold, were the feature of Asibelua's Momo collection.

The African Fashion Collective was jointly sponsored by ThisDay, one of Africa's largest daily news outlets, and Arise, the glossy style magazine devoted to African global achievement. It was timed to mark the election of Barack Obama as President, and First Lady, Michelle Obama's championing of young, culturally diverse designers.

Although Michelle Obama has not attended any shows, her fashion spirit was evident in the collection shown earlier by one of her favourites, Jason Wu, 26, the Taiwan-born designer who created her inaugurall ballgown and the dress she wears on the cover of American Vogue's March issue.
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OBAMA RELIGION
Photo from Soldier of Africa's blog post Get a grip

Obama religion

OBAMA CARTOON
'The Optimist' & 'Obama Presidency'
Courtesy of Boston Globe

Obama cartoon
# posted by Ingrid J. Jones @ 2/14/2009 0 comments

Friday, February 13, 2009

 
ON THE ROAD TO WIGAN PIER
Newsnight Friday 13 February 2008

Copy of Panorama email received today:
Hello viewers

Yet another economic thunderbolt crashed down today. The news that HBOS will post pre-tax losses of around £10 billion for 2008 and as a result shares in Lloyd's Banking Group are currently down 32% at 61p. Where were the FSA who had twice raised concerns about the bank calling its performance "disturbing"? And when the government waived competition rules to allow the takeover of HBOS to go ahead, were the taxpapers being sold a pup? I'll be asking the Chancellor and then he'll be joined by France's Finance minister Christine Lagarde to talk about the priorities for the coming G20 summit on the global financial crisis, and her less than complimentary assessment of Alistair Darling's handling ofBritain's bailout.

Then we'll be looking at the harsh realities of unemployment with our Economics Editor Paul Mason. Here's a word from him:

'When Newsnight asked me to take a look at the state of the labour market 6 months into the recession, I immediately thought of the journey made by George Orwell six years into the Depression of the 1930s. The Road To Wigan Pier is one of my favourite pieces of journalism, but I've always been puzzled as to why Orwell never actually wrote about the roadhe took. I consulted his diaries and retraced it over three days last week, from Coventry to Stoke to Manchester and then Wigan. What I've found is that today's situation is about more than just unemployment.

It's a story about low pay and insecurity for many of those in work, a downward pressure on wages, and the distinct lack of any coherent story for providing the high-paid, high-skilled work that is gradually disappearing from Britain. Together with a tiny camera, plus BBC multimedia producer Mark Lobel, I travelled, shooting impromptu interviews with the people I met, giving press officers and security guards a wide berth. Tune in tonight to see how Britain looks from the bottom end of the jobs market. And you can read more about my Road To Wigan Pier here.
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Extracts from today's Snowmail by Krishnan of Channel 4 News:
Quite a lot vying for the top spot tonight but I am late so I will be brief. The Buffalo air disaster, Lloyds Bank shares plummet amid more banking losses and the 13-year-old dad are all possibles. I'll tweet whatever comes out on top a bit later.

The air crash is still a mystery. The aircraft, a Bombadier Dash 8 twin prop, was pretty new. The weather was bad but not appalling. All we know is that the aircraft came down a few miles from its destination killing four crew, 44 passengers and one person in the house it hit. Amazingly two other people in the house escaped relatively unscathed. Theirs is the story the American media must get soon.

Watch the noon report: http://tinyurl.com/cz36do

FOLLOW CHANNEL 4 NEWS ON TWITTER
http://twitter.com/channel4news

LLOYDS SHARES DROP
Lloyds shares have plummeted nearly 30 per cent today after predicting HBOS will post a loss of £10bn pounds for 2008.

Lots of angry Lloyds shareholders.....but what a week it has been for the banks. The beginning of the apologies and more searches for blame. The trail is catching up with all those people involved in financial services and their regulation over the last 10 years.

In a remarkable interview this lunchtime on the News at Noon the former cabinet secretary who was previously permanent secretary at the treasury, Lord Turnbull, told me how everyone – bankers, regulators, politicians - just went along with the radical (and ultimately riskier) changes in how Britain’s banks operated because they were swept along by each other.

What Lord Turnbull describes sounds like a classic version of ‘group think’. Comparing it to the belief Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, and fears of the Y2K bug (remember that!!??) he said there were fears of a bubble being started but nobody imagined it would have got as big as it did.

Incidentally the noble Lord had been suggested to us by the cabinet office as an interviewee to defend civil servants accepting freebies. In a robust defence of his colleagues Lord Turnbull took an interesting swipe at a certain Labour politician at the department of business (whose permanent secretary is in for lots of stick over the dozens of hospitality events he accepted in a year).

"You need to think clearly. It must not be too lavish." he said.

"A good starting point is to stay away from private yachts." Of course it might as easily have been aimed at the shadow chancellor.

Watch the interview with Lord Andrew Turnbull: http://tinyurl.com/cau4xk
# posted by Ingrid J. Jones @ 2/13/2009 0 comments

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

 
THE MORE I KNOW ABOUT PEOPLE
The more I like animals

Last year, before I switched from EDF Energy to British Gas, my gas and electricity bills totalled £1,500 (£1,000 for gas and £500 for electricity). I have only one gas appliance: a gas fire in the sitting room.

This winter is the coldest I can recall. Rainwater in a bucket that I keep outside for watering plants has been frozen over for weeks on end.

A few days ago, I noticed this tiny news item buried at the bottom of a page of the Sunday Times 11 January 2009:
Gas alert
The National Grid is on the verge of issuing an emergency alert because reserves have fallen to the equivalent of less than a week's supply. Domestic consumers are thought to be safe for now.
Today, I noticed this online news report from Arab Times - Oil price falls towards $38 per barrel as demand weakens - excerpt:
LONDON, 12 Jan 2009 (RTRS): Oil fell more than $2 towards $38 a barrel on Monday, dragged down by growing evidence that recession is reducing global energy consumption.  The decline came as Russia and Ukraine signed a deal to help secure the resumption of Russian gas supplies to Europe, cut off for nearly a week in freezing temperatures. US light crude for February delivery fell more than 6 percent to a low of $38.12, down $2.71, before recovering slightly. By 1420 GMT, the contract was down $2.55 at $38.28. London Brent crude was down $1.77 at $42.65. US jobless data on Friday set the tone for the market. A US government report showed employers slashed jobs by 524,000 in December, driving the national unemployment rate to its highest level in almost 16 years.
No doubt the cost of using my gas fire will be reduced this summer when the weather is warmer. Right now domestic gas prices are probably based on last year when oil exceeded $100 per barrel and was rumoured to reach $200 or more. Daylight robbery are two words that spring to mind here.

Here's another thing. All pensioners in this country receive a £200 winter fuel payment from the government, regardless of whether they are wealthy or poor, working or not, at home all day or not. Woe betide those poor people under the retirement age who don't fit into any government box because they make ends meet from week to week by working hard, being prudent and saving pennies for a rainy day whilst paying taxes here there and everywhere.

Wealthy pensioners ought to donate their £200 to Age Concern. I wonder how many of them would be willing to do so. Not many, I guess. Sadly this year, I have to learn to be less generous and trusting. People take advantage and mistake kindness for weakness. Yoko Ono once said that the more she knew people the more she liked her cat. I've adopted the phrase as my new motto. The more I know about people the more I like animals. Animals are more trusty and better than people.

P.S. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown's younger brother Andrew Brown works for one of the main nuclear lobbyists EDF Energy. EDF Energy is one of the worst companies I have ever dealt with. Last November they sent me a statement saying (in tiny print, easily missed) that within seven days they would deduct £600 (my Christmas savings) out of my bank account (even though I had been paying by their gas and electricty bills automatically without fail by direct debit following regular meter readings by their staff in person). Long story short: in the end, I wrote to the Chief Executive of British Gas requesting to change back to British Gas and sent them a pile of EDF's paperwork threatening to enter my home without my consent. Had a threatened postal strike gone ahead during the week that EDF's statement arrived, £600 would have been taken from my account without my permission or knowledge. It was such a traumatic experience dealing with EDF's bombardment of paperwork and their unhelpful customer services that I still shudder at the sight or mention of EDF's name.

# posted by Ingrid J. Jones @ 1/13/2009 0 comments

Sunday, November 30, 2008

 
CHINA IS THINKING OF BOOSTING ITS GOLD RESERVES
To diversify away from paper currencies

Gold is poised for a dramatic surge and could blast through $2,000 an ounce by the end of next year as central banks flood the world's monetary system with liquidity, according to an internal client note from the US bank Citigroup.

Source: The Daily Telegraph by Ambrose Evans-Pritchard 27 Nov 2008:

Citigroup says gold could rise above $2,000 next year as world unravels:
The bank said the damage caused by the financial excesses of the last quarter century was forcing the world's authorities to take steps that had never been tried before.

This gamble was likely to end in one of two extreme ways: with either a resurgence of inflation; or a downward spiral into depression, civil disorder, and possibly wars. Both outcomes will cause a rush for gold.

"They are throwing the kitchen sink at this," said Tom Fitzpatrick, the bank's chief technical strategist.

"The world is not going back to normal after the magnitude of what they have done. When the dust settles this will either work, and the money they have pushed into the system will feed though into an inflation shock.

"Or it will not work because too much damage has already been done, and we will see continued financial deterioration, causing further economic deterioration, with the risk of a feedback loop. We don't think this is the more likely outcome, but as each week and month passes, there is a growing danger of vicious circle as confidence erodes," he said.

"This will lead to political instability. We are already seeing countries on the periphery of Europe under severe stress. Some leaders are now at record levels of unpopularity. There is a risk of domestic unrest, starting with strikes because people are feeling disenfranchised."

"What happens if there is a meltdown in a country like Pakistan, which is a nuclear power. People react when they have their backs to the wall. We're already seeing doubts emerge about the sovereign debts of developed AAA-rated countries, which is not something you can ignore," he said.

Gold traders are playing close attention to reports from Beijing that the China is thinking of boosting its gold reserves from 600 tonnes to nearer 4,000 tonnes to diversify away from paper currencies. "If true, this is a very material change," he said.
Mr Fitzpatrick said Britain had made a mistake selling off half its gold at the bottom of the market between 1999 to 2002. "People have started to question the value of government debt," he said.

Citigroup said the blast-off was likely to occur within two years, and possibly as soon as 2009. Gold was trading yesterday at $812 an ounce. It is well off its all-time peak of $1,030 in February but has held up much better than other commodities over the last few months – reverting to is historical role as a safe-haven store of value and a de facto currency.

Gold has tripled in value over the last seven years, vastly outperforming Wall Street and European bourses.
Gold bar

Photo: An employee of Tanaka Kikinzoku Jewelry K.K. displays a gold bar at the company's store in Tokyo Photo: Reuters

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Tuesday, November 11, 2008

 
'FLYING COFFIN'
Kills widow on way to husband's funeral

A woman died on the way to a cemetery when a traffic accident hurled her husband's coffin against the back of her neck.
 
Police say 67-year old Marciana Silva Barcelos was in the front passenger seat of the hearse when the accident occurred on Monday in the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul.

Mrs Barcelos died instantly.

The driver of hearse and Mrs Barcelos's son suffered minor injuries.

Her 76-year-old husband, Josi Silveira Coimbra, died on Sunday of a heart attack while dancing at a party.

Source: Telegraph.co.uk 11 Nov 2008 'Flying coffin' kills widow on way to husband's funeral

Note to self: Tell B! - not forgetting: HORSE-DRAWN HEARSE CARRYING COFFIN TO A FUNERAL OVERTURNED - When a car overtook the funeral hearse quickly

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# posted by Ingrid J. Jones @ 11/11/2008 0 comments

Sunday, November 09, 2008

 
IN FLANDERS FIELDS BY JOHN McCRAE
Remember the 11th day of the 11th month at the 11th hour

On 2 May, 1915, in the second week of fighting during the Second Battle of Ypres Lieutenant Alexis Helmer was killed by a German artillery shell. He was a friend of the Canadian military doctor Major John McCrae. It is believed that John began the draft for his famous poem 'In Flanders Fields' that evening.

In Flanders Fields

John McCrae
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved, and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders Fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders Fields.

poppies200.jpg

The poppy is the recognized symbol of remembrance for war dead. The flower owes its significance to the poem In Flanders Fields, written by Major (later Lieutenant-Colonel) John McCrae, a doctor with the Canadian Army Medical Corps, in the midst of the Second Battle of Ypres, in Belgium, in May 1915.

The poppy references in the first and last stanzas of the most widely read and oft-quoted poem of the war contributed to the flower's status as an emblem of remembrance and a symbol of new growth amidst the devastation of war.

Remembrance Day Poppy

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.

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. - Wikipedia
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"The Meaning of God"

By Mahatma K. Gandhi
(Young India, October 11, 1928)

There is an indefinable mysterious Power that pervades everything.

I feel It, though I do not see It.

It is this unseen Power which makes Itself felt and yet defies all proof,
because It is so unlike all that I perceive through my senses.

It transcends the senses....

That informing Power or Spirit is God....

For I can see that in the midst of death life persists, in the midst of untruth, truth persists, in the midst of darkness light persists.

Hence I gather that God is Life, Truth, Light. He is love.

He is supreme good.

But he is no God who merely satisfies the intellect
If He ever does.

God to be God must rule the heart and transform it.
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Gandhi's Peace Prayers

Hindu Peace Prayer
I desire neither earthly kingdom, nor even freedom from birth and death. I desire only the deliverance from grief of all those afflicted by misery. Oh Lord, lead us from the unreal to the real; from darkness to light; from death to immortality. May there be peace in celestial regions. May there be peace on earth. May the waters be appeasing. May herbs be wholesome and may trees and plants bring peace to all. May all beneficent beings bring peace to us. May thy wisdom spread peace all through the world. May all things be a source of peace to all and to me. Om Shanti, Shanti, Shanti (Peace, Peace, Peace).

Islamic Peace Prayer
We think of Thee, worship Thee, bow toThee as the Creator of this Universe; we seek refuge in Thee, the Truth, our only support. Thou art the Ruler, the barge in this ocean of endless births and deaths.
In the name of Allah, the beneficient, the merciful. Praise be to the Lord of the Universe who has created us and made us into tribes and nations. Give us wisdom that we may know each other and not despise all things. We shall abide by thy Peace. And, we shall remember the servants of God are those who walk on this earth in humility and, when we address them, we shall say Peace Unto Us All.

Christian Peace Prayer
Blessed are the PEACEMAKERS, for they shall be known as The Children of God. But I say to you: love your enemy, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. To those who strike you on the cheek, offer the other also; and from those who take away your cloak, do not withhold your coat as well. Give to everyone who begs from you; and, to those who take away your goods, do not ask them again. And as you wish that others would do unto you, do so unto them as well.

Jewish Peace Prayer
Come let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, that we may walk the paths of the Most High. And we shall beat our swords into ploughshares and our spears into pruning hooks. Nation shall not lift up sword against nation - neither shall they learn war any more. And none shall be afraid, for the mouth of the Lord of Hosts has spoken.

Shinto Peace Prayer
Although the people living across the ocean surrounding us are all our brothers and sisters why, Oh Lord, is there trouble in this world? Why do winds and waves rise in the ocean surrounding us? I earnestly wish the wind will soon blow away all the clouds hanging over the tops of the mountains.

Bahá'í Peace Prayer
Be generous in prosperity and thankful in adversity. Be fair in thy judgement and guarded in thy speech. Be a lamp unto those who walk in darkness and a home to the stranger. Be eyes to the blind and a guiding light unto he feet of the erring. Be a breath of life to the body of humankind, a dew to the soil of the human heart and a fruit upon the tree of humility.
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Further reading

Tuesday, November 14, 2006 - Sudan Watch:
The Anglo-Zulu war - A Lesson Learned?

rosary.jpg

Cross posted to Sudan Watch, Congo Watch, Uganda Watch, Ethiopia Watch, Kenya Watch

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