ME AND OPHELIA
Monday, May 31, 2004
POLITICAL BLOGS
More British MPs need to *get* blogging
Soon the news will be hotting up on the handover of Iraq. I'm collecting a new cross section of political blogs to get a balanced view of events, especially during the run up to America's presidential election in November. Tips on informative political blogs would be gratefully received.
I'm looking too for answers to elementary questions on American politics. For example: What happens if Kerry gets ill or run over by a bus, who'd take his place? Could Hilary Clinton suddenly join in the race against Bush for the White House? Seems the Americans have only two main political parties: the Democrats and Republicans. Is Kerry's party the equivalent of our Labour Party - and Bush the equivalent of our Conservative Party? Which party do liberals (and those who are anti Bush and against the war on terror) in America support - the Democrats or Republicans?
Here in England we have three main political parties plus several smaller ones. Labour Party (left). Conservative Party (right). Liberal Party (center). And smaller parties representing the views of minority groups such as the Greens, Independents, etc. Our current Prime Minister Tony Blair leads the Labour Party (referred as Socialists or Socialism - ex leader Neil Kinnock). Ex Prime Minister Baroness Margaret Thatcher was leader of the Conservative Party (also referred to as Tory or Tories) - current leader is Michael Howard. Lord Paddy Ashdown is former leader of the Liberals - current leader is Charles Kennedy.
Lately some members of the Labour Party (and a few bloggers I know of) are actively pushing for a change of leadership within their own party. Seems they're working at pulling down our democratically elected Prime Minister by openly discrediting him and backing Chancellor Gordon Brown (edited insert: Deputy Prime Minister is John Prescott) - or some other politician who hasn't much chance of being elected as Prime Minister.
If Tony Blair is pushed out by the Labour Party that he brought to power - after it was totally unelectable for 18 years - the Party will not get my vote. I'll just abstain from voting. I've no confidence in old fashioned Labour thinking as it can't seem to progress or move with the times. Gordon Brown doesn't seem to have Tony Blair's amazing energy, people skills and ability to calmly juggle and hold it all together with vision while under pressure. Bearing in mind too that we get two brilliant minds for the price of one: Cherie Blair is super intelligent, maybe even more so than her husband.
Seems that Labour has no other credible leader who'd be accepted as Prime Minister by the majority of voters in the UK. Same goes for the Conservatives and Liberals. From what I've read, only a minority of bloggers (but most of the media) appear to be fixated with the war in Iraq - and yet on the doorsteps of British voters, the war is hardly an issue. British voters, and the majority of personal blogs I visit, seem more concerned over what's happening closer to home and in their own back yards.
Of course, no one is indispensable. But I do hope Tony Blair serves at least another term as Prime Minister. If he wants to that is. I can't imagine why he (or anyone) would want to lead the Labour Party. Seems a pretty troublesome and thankless task. Especially since the criticism comes from those who are not competent to do the job.
It'd be good to see more British Members of Parliament (MPs) starting personal journals and really getting into blogging.
More British MPs need to *get* blogging
Soon the news will be hotting up on the handover of Iraq. I'm collecting a new cross section of political blogs to get a balanced view of events, especially during the run up to America's presidential election in November. Tips on informative political blogs would be gratefully received.
I'm looking too for answers to elementary questions on American politics. For example: What happens if Kerry gets ill or run over by a bus, who'd take his place? Could Hilary Clinton suddenly join in the race against Bush for the White House? Seems the Americans have only two main political parties: the Democrats and Republicans. Is Kerry's party the equivalent of our Labour Party - and Bush the equivalent of our Conservative Party? Which party do liberals (and those who are anti Bush and against the war on terror) in America support - the Democrats or Republicans?
Here in England we have three main political parties plus several smaller ones. Labour Party (left). Conservative Party (right). Liberal Party (center). And smaller parties representing the views of minority groups such as the Greens, Independents, etc. Our current Prime Minister Tony Blair leads the Labour Party (referred as Socialists or Socialism - ex leader Neil Kinnock). Ex Prime Minister Baroness Margaret Thatcher was leader of the Conservative Party (also referred to as Tory or Tories) - current leader is Michael Howard. Lord Paddy Ashdown is former leader of the Liberals - current leader is Charles Kennedy.
Lately some members of the Labour Party (and a few bloggers I know of) are actively pushing for a change of leadership within their own party. Seems they're working at pulling down our democratically elected Prime Minister by openly discrediting him and backing Chancellor Gordon Brown (edited insert: Deputy Prime Minister is John Prescott) - or some other politician who hasn't much chance of being elected as Prime Minister.
If Tony Blair is pushed out by the Labour Party that he brought to power - after it was totally unelectable for 18 years - the Party will not get my vote. I'll just abstain from voting. I've no confidence in old fashioned Labour thinking as it can't seem to progress or move with the times. Gordon Brown doesn't seem to have Tony Blair's amazing energy, people skills and ability to calmly juggle and hold it all together with vision while under pressure. Bearing in mind too that we get two brilliant minds for the price of one: Cherie Blair is super intelligent, maybe even more so than her husband.
Seems that Labour has no other credible leader who'd be accepted as Prime Minister by the majority of voters in the UK. Same goes for the Conservatives and Liberals. From what I've read, only a minority of bloggers (but most of the media) appear to be fixated with the war in Iraq - and yet on the doorsteps of British voters, the war is hardly an issue. British voters, and the majority of personal blogs I visit, seem more concerned over what's happening closer to home and in their own back yards.
Of course, no one is indispensable. But I do hope Tony Blair serves at least another term as Prime Minister. If he wants to that is. I can't imagine why he (or anyone) would want to lead the Labour Party. Seems a pretty troublesome and thankless task. Especially since the criticism comes from those who are not competent to do the job.
It'd be good to see more British Members of Parliament (MPs) starting personal journals and really getting into blogging.
# posted by Ingrid @ 5/31/2004
- - -
THE EXPANDING BLOGOSPHERE
Do political reporters *hear* political bloggers?
Excerpt from the American Journalism Review: "Political blogs--online journals featuring commentary, often highly opinionated--have rapidly become a presence in the campaign landscape. Now some established news organizations are hiring established bloggers or creating their own. How much impact does this instant punditry have on mainstream political reporting? When political bloggers bay in the blogosphere, do political reporters hear them? The answer, I quickly learned, depends on four factors: how you define "political blog"; which political bloggers you mean; which political reporters you mean; and--not to go all Bill Clinton on you--what the meaning of "hear" is." Read more...
- - -
THE EXPANDING BLOGOSPHERE
Political reporter says his blog beat Associated Press with a scooplet
In the above report on political blogs, Ryan Lizza, a reporter for The New Republic, says he's used his Campaign Journal blog to break news: On April 2, 2004 he happened to be on the phone with Jim Margolis, Kerry's admaker, when Margolis said he was leaving the Kerry campaign and read Lizza a prepared statement. "It was a very inside story, but kind of cool because you could break it and put it on the blog," says Lizza, who posted the news at 12:22 p.m. that day, beating the Associated Press with the scooplet by 11 minutes. At the New York Times, Wilgoren learned about Margolis' departure when a colleague e-mailed her Lizza's post. "My guess is that everybody who wrote about this heard about it" from there, Wilgoren says. "It seemed that everybody I called about Margolis had read Ryan's thing. So he broke news on the blog."
Lizza reads blogs "pretty religiously" and has a list of 10 or 15 blogs that he checks in with at least once a day. He thinks "one really smart blog that deserves to get more attention" is The Decembrist which "tends to be more thoughtful, more of an essay style." But he cautions that "you don't want to get too wrapped up in what some parts of the blogosphere are obsessing about, because it can sometimes be this self-contained world."
THE EXPANDING BLOGOSPHERE
Do political reporters *hear* political bloggers?
Excerpt from the American Journalism Review: "Political blogs--online journals featuring commentary, often highly opinionated--have rapidly become a presence in the campaign landscape. Now some established news organizations are hiring established bloggers or creating their own. How much impact does this instant punditry have on mainstream political reporting? When political bloggers bay in the blogosphere, do political reporters hear them? The answer, I quickly learned, depends on four factors: how you define "political blog"; which political bloggers you mean; which political reporters you mean; and--not to go all Bill Clinton on you--what the meaning of "hear" is." Read more...
- - -
THE EXPANDING BLOGOSPHERE
Political reporter says his blog beat Associated Press with a scooplet
In the above report on political blogs, Ryan Lizza, a reporter for The New Republic, says he's used his Campaign Journal blog to break news: On April 2, 2004 he happened to be on the phone with Jim Margolis, Kerry's admaker, when Margolis said he was leaving the Kerry campaign and read Lizza a prepared statement. "It was a very inside story, but kind of cool because you could break it and put it on the blog," says Lizza, who posted the news at 12:22 p.m. that day, beating the Associated Press with the scooplet by 11 minutes. At the New York Times, Wilgoren learned about Margolis' departure when a colleague e-mailed her Lizza's post. "My guess is that everybody who wrote about this heard about it" from there, Wilgoren says. "It seemed that everybody I called about Margolis had read Ryan's thing. So he broke news on the blog."
Lizza reads blogs "pretty religiously" and has a list of 10 or 15 blogs that he checks in with at least once a day. He thinks "one really smart blog that deserves to get more attention" is The Decembrist which "tends to be more thoughtful, more of an essay style." But he cautions that "you don't want to get too wrapped up in what some parts of the blogosphere are obsessing about, because it can sometimes be this self-contained world."
# posted by Ingrid @ 5/31/2004
- - -
BLOGGERS 4 FREEDOM
First person accounts from Iraq
Bloggers 4 Freedom is dedicated to spreading first person only accounts by people in Iraq.
BLOGGERS 4 FREEDOM
First person accounts from Iraq
Bloggers 4 Freedom is dedicated to spreading first person only accounts by people in Iraq.
# posted by Ingrid @ 5/31/2004
Sunday, May 30, 2004
BOSTON CALLING LONDON
The UK Today on Sudan
On May 4 Clive at The UK Today wrote "Sudan - A British Angle" and on May 12 posted an update.
Today the Sudan blog, Passion of the Present out of Harvard in Boston, featured Clive's suggestions in their main headline post "Calling London".
Clive suggested we keep pushing our MPs to support the two Early Day Motions he mentioned: EDM 1051 on the Sudan (78 signatures - now 85) and EDM 293 on Darfur, Western Sudan (42 signatures - now 43). He writes:
"If your MP feels he can only support one of the motions (for whatever reason) then 1051 is the one to sign. Whilst there is no guarantee that the motion will be debated, the more signatures that can be garnered the better and we should be aiming for 300+. So if you haven't already done so, please use the Fax Or Email Your MP link to give your encouragement. And above all - don't forget that in the current global situation we are bombarded daily with shocking stories and it is easy to lose sight of the human tragedies."
- - -
Further reading: International Crisis Group (ICG) Sudan: Now or Never in Dafur Executive Summary and Recommendations.
The UK Today on Sudan
On May 4 Clive at The UK Today wrote "Sudan - A British Angle" and on May 12 posted an update.
Today the Sudan blog, Passion of the Present out of Harvard in Boston, featured Clive's suggestions in their main headline post "Calling London".
Clive suggested we keep pushing our MPs to support the two Early Day Motions he mentioned: EDM 1051 on the Sudan (78 signatures - now 85) and EDM 293 on Darfur, Western Sudan (42 signatures - now 43). He writes:
"If your MP feels he can only support one of the motions (for whatever reason) then 1051 is the one to sign. Whilst there is no guarantee that the motion will be debated, the more signatures that can be garnered the better and we should be aiming for 300+. So if you haven't already done so, please use the Fax Or Email Your MP link to give your encouragement. And above all - don't forget that in the current global situation we are bombarded daily with shocking stories and it is easy to lose sight of the human tragedies."
- - -
Further reading: International Crisis Group (ICG) Sudan: Now or Never in Dafur Executive Summary and Recommendations.
# posted by Ingrid @ 5/30/2004
- - -
KOFI ANNAN AT HARVARD JUNE 10
Peace rally for Sudan in planning stage
Great news from Jim Moore's Journal and the Sudan blog out of Harvard:
Kofi Annan, who is a supporter of action to stop the Sudan genocide, will be speaking at Harvard on Thursday June 10, 2004.
Encouraged by television journalist Liz Walker, Jim and several others who live in the Boston area are holding a Sudan peace rally on the day.
Read the latest in Jim's journal on how action within the blogosphere is finally gaining momentum.
Today Joi Ito also posts on the Sudan and suggests how you can help googlebomb to stop genocide.
- - -
Further reading: Democratic Reforms Must Go Hand in Hand with Economic Changes Annan Says September 24, 1998.
- - -
DARFUR IN WESTERN SUDAN
Not included in the peace agreement for Southern Sudan
CNN May 27: Kofi Annan has been flooded with requests from people across the world beseeching him to provide emergency assistance to end the killing in Darfur.
A spokeswoman for the Nobel prize winning U.N. secretary-general, said he will focus on stemming the fighting in western Sudan, where the lives of hundreds of thousands of people are threatened. He fully shares the concerns of the public at large, and is following the situation in Darfur very closely and with great concern.
A day after a peace agreement marked the end of fighting in southern Sudan, attention has turned to the still embattled western part of the country - Darfur. Annan will also press for a humanitarian ceasefire in Darfur to be extended, and is urging the Sudanese government to intervene to halt human-rights violations in that region, she said.
Meanwhile, David Lambo, director of the Africa bureau of the U.N.'s High Commission for Refugees, said Thursday that Wednesday's agreement will "bring closer the day when southern Sudan's 500,000 refugees and more than three million displaced persons can go home."
Also Thursday, the president of the Security Council, Pakistan Ambassador Munir Akram, said that, with the agreement affecting the southern region now signed, the council may take further action elsewhere. [via passion of the present.com and jim moore's journal]
- - -
DARFUR IN WESTERN SUDAN
A dramatic race against the clock - hundreds of thousands will perish
The U.N. estimates that 30,000 people have been killed in a campaign of ethnic cleansing in Darfur.
On Wednesday, U.N. Emergency Relief Coordinator Jan Egeland called the situation there "the biggest humanitarian drama of our time". "This is the most dramatic race against the clock that we have anywhere in the world at the moment," he said. "If we lose, hundreds of thousands of women and children, mostly, will perish."
Egeland said the U.N. and other relief agencies were "late" to recognize the scope of the humanitarian problem in Darfur. [source: passion of the present.com via jim moore's journal]
- - -
WORLD NEEDS TO SEE AND HEAR SURVIVORS' TALES
The people of Darfur care that somebody cares about them -
It's important for survivors to know that people are telling their stories
Jerry Fowler, staff director of the Committee on Conscience at the U.S. Holocaust Museum in Washington, at a May 26 museum-sponsored program on the current crisis said: "One of the things that survivors of the Holocaust carry with them to this day, six decades after the end, is a feeling of abandonment...the sense that no one cared what was happening to them....The Darfurians who fled into Chad care that somebody cares about them. It was very important for them to know that people were telling their stories." Read more Stories of Refugees From Sudan's Darfur Echo Horrors of Holocaust by Charles W Corey, May 28, 2004. [via passion of the present.com and jim moore's journal]
Note: Jim posts about the Feedster RSS mentions on "Sudan" (down slightly, to 13200 from 13222). Sorry, I can't figure how to change my template to accommodate Feedster, so I guess the mentions of Sudan - in this blog - are not counted in those numbers. If any readers here do manage to get Feedster, please mention "Sudan" in your RSS-issuing blog and you'll help raise the total. Thanks.
- - -
PHOTOS OF SURVIVORS IN THE SUDAN
13 year-old-boy's fingers all cut off by his master
Sorry, I am unable to post pictures here. If you cannot find the words to google bomb the word Sudan, please copy and post any of these photos from the Free Sudan Movement Photo Gallery that chronicle recent trips by Rev. Walter Fauntroy and Joe Madison into the Sudan. Their efforts have resulted in the freeing of over 6000 slaves. They met Sudanese slaves freed through Sudan's Underground Railroad.
Note the photo with the caption "Right hand of 13 year-old-boy Yak Kenyang Adieu, all fingers cut off by his master." Other photos show amputees whose arms were chopped off with an ax by slave owners when they tried to rescue their enslaved wives and children. A Sudanese woman being consoled with 400 freed slaves in background. An orphaned slave baby whose mother was killed in minefield. Arek Kiir with stab wounds in chest and throat. Mawien's right hand missing finger. Agom Bol Akuei who was forced to carry heavy loads of salt (looted by attackers from Pan-Nyok market). She collasped under the weight which broke her jaw bone.
- - -
US HOLDS KEY TO PEACE IN SUDAN
By John Eibner and Joe Madison, Boston Globe, May 29, 2004
Excerpt: SUDAN'S Islamist government and the secular Sudan People's Liberation Army have passed another milestone in a long and tortuous peace process. On Wednesday, Vice President Ali Osman Taha and SPLA Chairman Colonel John Garang signed the last of six protocols that collectively constitute a framework for a comprehensive peace agreement for Southern Sudan and the Nuba Mountains. They are now poised to conclude negotiations by establishing modalities for implementation and international monitoring.
On paper, the protocols appear to lay the foundation for an end to 21 years of apocalyptic civil war between successive Arab-Muslim-dominated governments and the predominantly black, non-Muslim rebels of Southern Sudan. The South is due to receive autonomous, Shariah-free government during a six-year interim period. Free elections are scheduled within three years. Southern Sudan is promised a referendum on independence at the end of that period.
The greatest beneficiary of peace should be the South. There, the war assumed genocidal proportions: Over two million black non-Muslims perished, over four million were displaced, and tens of thousands enslaved. For Southern Sudan, the protocols open a door to economic development and self-determination. They also provide the North with a historic opportunity to free itself from a destructive jihad declared against restive non-Muslim communities.
The Bush administration deserves credit for creating conditions for a serious peace process. Read more...
Note: John Eibner, a member of the human rights organization Christian Solidarity International, and Joe Madison, a Washington-based syndicated radio commentator, are co-founders of the Sudan Campaign coalition, which works to free slaves in Sudan (see photos in next post above) [source: passion of the present.com via jim moore's journal]
- - -
Further reading in my previous posts:
April 24, 2004: IMPORTANT POST ON GENOCIDE IN SUDAN - Time is critical and hours matter
April 26, 2004: WOMEN AROUND THE WORLD - Stand and unite against mans inhumanity
April 29, 2004: BLOGGERS HAVEN'T DONE A WHOLE LOT TO CHANGE THE WORLD - Now seems like a hell of a time to try and start. THANK YOU DEAR BLOGGERS - For doing something
May 02, 2004: WHY IS THE BBC CONTINUOUSLY STIRRING UP TROUBLE FOR EVERYONE IN IRAQ - And not headlining shocking photos of rape and genocide in the Sudan?
May 03, 2004: SUDAN IS NOT IGNORED BY THE BBC - It's lack of political and media outrage
May 05, 2004: SUDAN: ONE OF THE WORLDS WORST HUMANITARIAN CRISES - BBC reports that conditions are as bad as reports suggested. SUDAN - A BRITISH ANGLE From The UK Today
May 05, 2004: SUDAN KEEPS SEAT ON UN RIGHTS PANEL - U.S. rights groups protest nomimination
May 07, 2004: SUDAN 'STARVING DARFUR REFUGEES' - BBC reports on the "politics of starvation"
May 08, 2004: BIG POWERS WARY OVER SUDAN CRISIS - Pro-government militiamen are accused of holding a town hostage
May 10, 2004: WHERE WERE WE TEN YEARS AGO? - Asks a blogging reporter in Africa
May 11, 2004: BBC RADIO ONLINE - Listen to World Service via the Internet
May 21, 2004: IMPORTANT MESSAGE TO BLOGGERS FROM DR JAMES MOORE: WHY YOUR ACTION ON SUDAN MATTERS TODAY. THANK YOU TO THE BBC FOR REPORTING ON THE SUDAN - Peacekeepers to be called to Darfur as soon as possible
June 02, 2004: RALLY FOR PEACE IN THE SUDAN - At Harvard on Wednesday June 9, 6 PM
June 01, 2004: BRITAIN REJECTS MILITARY INTERVENTION AND SANCTIONS AGAINST KHARTOUM - Time to stop dragging our feet. Time to act
June 01, 2004: BRITISH-US RIFT ON HOW TO DEAL WITH SUDAN 'CLEANSING' - Britain rejects intervention despite warnings of 350,000 deaths in the next few months
June 01, 2004: ON MAY 30, 2004 - Oxfam launched a new appeal for Western Sudan
May 30, 2004: US HOLDS KEY TO PEACE IN SUDAN - By John Eibner and Joe Madison, Boston Globe, May 29, 2004
May 30, 2004: PHOTOS OF SURVIVORS IN THE SUDAN - 13 year-old-boy's fingers all cut off by his master
May 30, 2004: WORLD NEEDS TO SEE AND HEAR SURVIVORS' TALES: The people of Darfur care that somebody cares about them - It's important for survivors to know that people are telling their stories
May 30, 2004: DARFUR IN WESTERN SUDAN - A dramatic race against the clock - hundreds of thousands will perish
May 30, 2004: DARFUR IN WESTERN SUDAN - Not included in the peace agreement for Southern Sudan
May 30, 2004: KOFI ANNAN AT HARVARD JUNE 10 - Peace rally for Sudan in planning stage
May 30, 2004: BOSTON CALLING LONDON - The UK Today on Sudan.
KOFI ANNAN AT HARVARD JUNE 10
Peace rally for Sudan in planning stage
Great news from Jim Moore's Journal and the Sudan blog out of Harvard:
Kofi Annan, who is a supporter of action to stop the Sudan genocide, will be speaking at Harvard on Thursday June 10, 2004.
Encouraged by television journalist Liz Walker, Jim and several others who live in the Boston area are holding a Sudan peace rally on the day.
Read the latest in Jim's journal on how action within the blogosphere is finally gaining momentum.
Today Joi Ito also posts on the Sudan and suggests how you can help googlebomb to stop genocide.
- - -
Further reading: Democratic Reforms Must Go Hand in Hand with Economic Changes Annan Says September 24, 1998.
- - -
DARFUR IN WESTERN SUDAN
Not included in the peace agreement for Southern Sudan
CNN May 27: Kofi Annan has been flooded with requests from people across the world beseeching him to provide emergency assistance to end the killing in Darfur.
A spokeswoman for the Nobel prize winning U.N. secretary-general, said he will focus on stemming the fighting in western Sudan, where the lives of hundreds of thousands of people are threatened. He fully shares the concerns of the public at large, and is following the situation in Darfur very closely and with great concern.
A day after a peace agreement marked the end of fighting in southern Sudan, attention has turned to the still embattled western part of the country - Darfur. Annan will also press for a humanitarian ceasefire in Darfur to be extended, and is urging the Sudanese government to intervene to halt human-rights violations in that region, she said.
Meanwhile, David Lambo, director of the Africa bureau of the U.N.'s High Commission for Refugees, said Thursday that Wednesday's agreement will "bring closer the day when southern Sudan's 500,000 refugees and more than three million displaced persons can go home."
Also Thursday, the president of the Security Council, Pakistan Ambassador Munir Akram, said that, with the agreement affecting the southern region now signed, the council may take further action elsewhere. [via passion of the present.com and jim moore's journal]
- - -
DARFUR IN WESTERN SUDAN
A dramatic race against the clock - hundreds of thousands will perish
The U.N. estimates that 30,000 people have been killed in a campaign of ethnic cleansing in Darfur.
On Wednesday, U.N. Emergency Relief Coordinator Jan Egeland called the situation there "the biggest humanitarian drama of our time". "This is the most dramatic race against the clock that we have anywhere in the world at the moment," he said. "If we lose, hundreds of thousands of women and children, mostly, will perish."
Egeland said the U.N. and other relief agencies were "late" to recognize the scope of the humanitarian problem in Darfur. [source: passion of the present.com via jim moore's journal]
- - -
WORLD NEEDS TO SEE AND HEAR SURVIVORS' TALES
The people of Darfur care that somebody cares about them -
It's important for survivors to know that people are telling their stories
Jerry Fowler, staff director of the Committee on Conscience at the U.S. Holocaust Museum in Washington, at a May 26 museum-sponsored program on the current crisis said: "One of the things that survivors of the Holocaust carry with them to this day, six decades after the end, is a feeling of abandonment...the sense that no one cared what was happening to them....The Darfurians who fled into Chad care that somebody cares about them. It was very important for them to know that people were telling their stories." Read more Stories of Refugees From Sudan's Darfur Echo Horrors of Holocaust by Charles W Corey, May 28, 2004. [via passion of the present.com and jim moore's journal]
Note: Jim posts about the Feedster RSS mentions on "Sudan" (down slightly, to 13200 from 13222). Sorry, I can't figure how to change my template to accommodate Feedster, so I guess the mentions of Sudan - in this blog - are not counted in those numbers. If any readers here do manage to get Feedster, please mention "Sudan" in your RSS-issuing blog and you'll help raise the total. Thanks.
- - -
PHOTOS OF SURVIVORS IN THE SUDAN
13 year-old-boy's fingers all cut off by his master
Sorry, I am unable to post pictures here. If you cannot find the words to google bomb the word Sudan, please copy and post any of these photos from the Free Sudan Movement Photo Gallery that chronicle recent trips by Rev. Walter Fauntroy and Joe Madison into the Sudan. Their efforts have resulted in the freeing of over 6000 slaves. They met Sudanese slaves freed through Sudan's Underground Railroad.
Note the photo with the caption "Right hand of 13 year-old-boy Yak Kenyang Adieu, all fingers cut off by his master." Other photos show amputees whose arms were chopped off with an ax by slave owners when they tried to rescue their enslaved wives and children. A Sudanese woman being consoled with 400 freed slaves in background. An orphaned slave baby whose mother was killed in minefield. Arek Kiir with stab wounds in chest and throat. Mawien's right hand missing finger. Agom Bol Akuei who was forced to carry heavy loads of salt (looted by attackers from Pan-Nyok market). She collasped under the weight which broke her jaw bone.
- - -
US HOLDS KEY TO PEACE IN SUDAN
By John Eibner and Joe Madison, Boston Globe, May 29, 2004
Excerpt: SUDAN'S Islamist government and the secular Sudan People's Liberation Army have passed another milestone in a long and tortuous peace process. On Wednesday, Vice President Ali Osman Taha and SPLA Chairman Colonel John Garang signed the last of six protocols that collectively constitute a framework for a comprehensive peace agreement for Southern Sudan and the Nuba Mountains. They are now poised to conclude negotiations by establishing modalities for implementation and international monitoring.
On paper, the protocols appear to lay the foundation for an end to 21 years of apocalyptic civil war between successive Arab-Muslim-dominated governments and the predominantly black, non-Muslim rebels of Southern Sudan. The South is due to receive autonomous, Shariah-free government during a six-year interim period. Free elections are scheduled within three years. Southern Sudan is promised a referendum on independence at the end of that period.
The greatest beneficiary of peace should be the South. There, the war assumed genocidal proportions: Over two million black non-Muslims perished, over four million were displaced, and tens of thousands enslaved. For Southern Sudan, the protocols open a door to economic development and self-determination. They also provide the North with a historic opportunity to free itself from a destructive jihad declared against restive non-Muslim communities.
The Bush administration deserves credit for creating conditions for a serious peace process. Read more...
Note: John Eibner, a member of the human rights organization Christian Solidarity International, and Joe Madison, a Washington-based syndicated radio commentator, are co-founders of the Sudan Campaign coalition, which works to free slaves in Sudan (see photos in next post above) [source: passion of the present.com via jim moore's journal]
- - -
Further reading in my previous posts:
April 24, 2004: IMPORTANT POST ON GENOCIDE IN SUDAN - Time is critical and hours matter
April 26, 2004: WOMEN AROUND THE WORLD - Stand and unite against mans inhumanity
April 29, 2004: BLOGGERS HAVEN'T DONE A WHOLE LOT TO CHANGE THE WORLD - Now seems like a hell of a time to try and start. THANK YOU DEAR BLOGGERS - For doing something
May 02, 2004: WHY IS THE BBC CONTINUOUSLY STIRRING UP TROUBLE FOR EVERYONE IN IRAQ - And not headlining shocking photos of rape and genocide in the Sudan?
May 03, 2004: SUDAN IS NOT IGNORED BY THE BBC - It's lack of political and media outrage
May 05, 2004: SUDAN: ONE OF THE WORLDS WORST HUMANITARIAN CRISES - BBC reports that conditions are as bad as reports suggested. SUDAN - A BRITISH ANGLE From The UK Today
May 05, 2004: SUDAN KEEPS SEAT ON UN RIGHTS PANEL - U.S. rights groups protest nomimination
May 07, 2004: SUDAN 'STARVING DARFUR REFUGEES' - BBC reports on the "politics of starvation"
May 08, 2004: BIG POWERS WARY OVER SUDAN CRISIS - Pro-government militiamen are accused of holding a town hostage
May 10, 2004: WHERE WERE WE TEN YEARS AGO? - Asks a blogging reporter in Africa
May 11, 2004: BBC RADIO ONLINE - Listen to World Service via the Internet
May 21, 2004: IMPORTANT MESSAGE TO BLOGGERS FROM DR JAMES MOORE: WHY YOUR ACTION ON SUDAN MATTERS TODAY. THANK YOU TO THE BBC FOR REPORTING ON THE SUDAN - Peacekeepers to be called to Darfur as soon as possible
June 02, 2004: RALLY FOR PEACE IN THE SUDAN - At Harvard on Wednesday June 9, 6 PM
June 01, 2004: BRITAIN REJECTS MILITARY INTERVENTION AND SANCTIONS AGAINST KHARTOUM - Time to stop dragging our feet. Time to act
June 01, 2004: BRITISH-US RIFT ON HOW TO DEAL WITH SUDAN 'CLEANSING' - Britain rejects intervention despite warnings of 350,000 deaths in the next few months
June 01, 2004: ON MAY 30, 2004 - Oxfam launched a new appeal for Western Sudan
May 30, 2004: US HOLDS KEY TO PEACE IN SUDAN - By John Eibner and Joe Madison, Boston Globe, May 29, 2004
May 30, 2004: PHOTOS OF SURVIVORS IN THE SUDAN - 13 year-old-boy's fingers all cut off by his master
May 30, 2004: WORLD NEEDS TO SEE AND HEAR SURVIVORS' TALES: The people of Darfur care that somebody cares about them - It's important for survivors to know that people are telling their stories
May 30, 2004: DARFUR IN WESTERN SUDAN - A dramatic race against the clock - hundreds of thousands will perish
May 30, 2004: DARFUR IN WESTERN SUDAN - Not included in the peace agreement for Southern Sudan
May 30, 2004: KOFI ANNAN AT HARVARD JUNE 10 - Peace rally for Sudan in planning stage
May 30, 2004: BOSTON CALLING LONDON - The UK Today on Sudan.
# posted by Ingrid @ 5/30/2004
Saturday, May 29, 2004
BLOGGERS GET TOGETHER WITH JOI ITO IN LONDON
NoCon '04 at Imperial College, London June 6th
Joi Ito is planning to arrive in London on Sunday June 6th and has set up a wiki page to plan a bloggers get together for that evening. Also on the same date is NotCon '04 11am-7pm at Imperial College Union, London.
Stephanie Booth will be coming in from Switzerland. She's currently studying french, philosophy and history of religions at Lausanne University - specializing in Indian religions. (Thanks for posting Delicious! - a great bookmarks manager).
Pixelfury Pete who lives in the English coastal town of Brighton will be in London for the get together with Joi Ito. And so too will freelance writer Suw (congrats on the 'Free Culture AudioBook Project' essay) who lives less than an hour away from here. I am feeling sad that I can't go. I've been too ill to even chat on IRC. It's at times like this that I wonder what is the point of blogging and getting to know people in one dimension. What is the point...
Oh well, such is life, no good moaning about it. At least inbetween the tears today I have Scaryduck to thank for the laugh and timely reminder of London life. And thanks to Suw I found out today that Chihuahuas aren't dogs at all - they're rodents. Ha! I always felt there was something different about them. Once, when I was eight years old, I cuddled one and it bit me right on my nose. It was like getting attacked by a rat. At the time I couldn't understand why everyone (and its owner) found it so funny - it really hurt.
NoCon '04 at Imperial College, London June 6th
Joi Ito is planning to arrive in London on Sunday June 6th and has set up a wiki page to plan a bloggers get together for that evening. Also on the same date is NotCon '04 11am-7pm at Imperial College Union, London.
Stephanie Booth will be coming in from Switzerland. She's currently studying french, philosophy and history of religions at Lausanne University - specializing in Indian religions. (Thanks for posting Delicious! - a great bookmarks manager).
Pixelfury Pete who lives in the English coastal town of Brighton will be in London for the get together with Joi Ito. And so too will freelance writer Suw (congrats on the 'Free Culture AudioBook Project' essay) who lives less than an hour away from here. I am feeling sad that I can't go. I've been too ill to even chat on IRC. It's at times like this that I wonder what is the point of blogging and getting to know people in one dimension. What is the point...
Oh well, such is life, no good moaning about it. At least inbetween the tears today I have Scaryduck to thank for the laugh and timely reminder of London life. And thanks to Suw I found out today that Chihuahuas aren't dogs at all - they're rodents. Ha! I always felt there was something different about them. Once, when I was eight years old, I cuddled one and it bit me right on my nose. It was like getting attacked by a rat. At the time I couldn't understand why everyone (and its owner) found it so funny - it really hurt.
# posted by Ingrid @ 5/29/2004
- - -
TOP THREE BLOGGING COMMUNITIES:
Knitting bloggers and warbloggers - No. 3 is techbloggers
Anil Dash posted this comment at Joi Ito's post re Weblogs and Authority: "...A lot of the weighting of these sites comes from the fact that they've been around a *long* time, particularly on the blogroll side. I can see about half of them are 5 years old, which is a lot more time to accrue blogroll links. I do think popularity is a misreading of the importance of blogs, since all that matters are the people whose blogs you care about, and many more bloggers read *none* of the sites on these lists than read any of them. I'd say knitting bloggers are probably one of the largest communities, along with warbloggers, and then techbloggers. However, blogging technology is something almost all bloggers have in common, and that's why tech bloggers end up being popular..."
- - -
Note: Anita points to a knitalong - a group of folks, all knitting the same or similar object and usually wriiting about it; and Much Ado About...Knitting? introduces Threaded Thoughts.
- - -
FAILURE TO COMMUNICATE
Techies developing attitude problems
In his post, "Failure to communicate", Richard Soderberg writes: "A growing segment of the technologically-enabled population is developing what I would best describe as a "derision" towards those who are not technically competent, for whatever reason. This sentiment is immediately apparent in the technical support industry, but I've seen it from peers who've never been formally introduced to tech support as well. Read more...
Note to Richard: Thanks for advice on the mac update 10.3.4. I'm on narrowband dial up and it took almost a day. Glad it's over...and thankfully no Asteroids on their way for a while yet, and hopefully no Meteorites hurtling this way... angry comments are scary enough ;-)
TOP THREE BLOGGING COMMUNITIES:
Knitting bloggers and warbloggers - No. 3 is techbloggers
Anil Dash posted this comment at Joi Ito's post re Weblogs and Authority: "...A lot of the weighting of these sites comes from the fact that they've been around a *long* time, particularly on the blogroll side. I can see about half of them are 5 years old, which is a lot more time to accrue blogroll links. I do think popularity is a misreading of the importance of blogs, since all that matters are the people whose blogs you care about, and many more bloggers read *none* of the sites on these lists than read any of them. I'd say knitting bloggers are probably one of the largest communities, along with warbloggers, and then techbloggers. However, blogging technology is something almost all bloggers have in common, and that's why tech bloggers end up being popular..."
- - -
Note: Anita points to a knitalong - a group of folks, all knitting the same or similar object and usually wriiting about it; and Much Ado About...Knitting? introduces Threaded Thoughts.
- - -
FAILURE TO COMMUNICATE
Techies developing attitude problems
In his post, "Failure to communicate", Richard Soderberg writes: "A growing segment of the technologically-enabled population is developing what I would best describe as a "derision" towards those who are not technically competent, for whatever reason. This sentiment is immediately apparent in the technical support industry, but I've seen it from peers who've never been formally introduced to tech support as well. Read more...
Note to Richard: Thanks for advice on the mac update 10.3.4. I'm on narrowband dial up and it took almost a day. Glad it's over...and thankfully no Asteroids on their way for a while yet, and hopefully no Meteorites hurtling this way... angry comments are scary enough ;-)
# posted by Ingrid @ 5/29/2004
- - -
NET ON WHEELS:
The Magicbike
One US company offers internet kits on scooters to developing world. In the 1980s a Washington resident created a connected bike based on office networks. Copenhagen taxi-bikes offer net access.
Yury Gitman is a wireless and emerging-media artist. For his latest project he's turned to cycle power to create the wireless bike. The wireless bike, or Magicbike as he prefers to call it, is not just a trendy alternative to the wi-fi cafe or office. It may look like a simple bicycle but it hides a wireless hub. It has wi-fi antennas which mounted on the bike's frame and feed into a laptop hidden in the saddle-bag. The connection is received either from the cellular network or from nearby hotspots.
In a wired city such as New York, he envisages it being used at art and cultural events, public demonstrations and for emergency access. In communities at the fringe of internet connectivity it could become a more permanent lifeline. It can fulfil an important function in bringing internet connectivity to areas ignored by the traditional telecommunications industry. "A grassroots bottom-up wireless infrastructure can be formed and pedalled to any place accessible by bicycle," said Mr Gitman.
He receives hundreds of e-mails to his Magicbike website from people interested in setting up similar ideas - and is considering setting up a community based website for wireless bikes as they spring up in other cities and countries. The closest he thinks the idea has come to being commercially available is a similar idea used on bike taxis in the Danish capital of Copenhagen.
NET ON WHEELS:
The Magicbike
One US company offers internet kits on scooters to developing world. In the 1980s a Washington resident created a connected bike based on office networks. Copenhagen taxi-bikes offer net access.
Yury Gitman is a wireless and emerging-media artist. For his latest project he's turned to cycle power to create the wireless bike. The wireless bike, or Magicbike as he prefers to call it, is not just a trendy alternative to the wi-fi cafe or office. It may look like a simple bicycle but it hides a wireless hub. It has wi-fi antennas which mounted on the bike's frame and feed into a laptop hidden in the saddle-bag. The connection is received either from the cellular network or from nearby hotspots.
In a wired city such as New York, he envisages it being used at art and cultural events, public demonstrations and for emergency access. In communities at the fringe of internet connectivity it could become a more permanent lifeline. It can fulfil an important function in bringing internet connectivity to areas ignored by the traditional telecommunications industry. "A grassroots bottom-up wireless infrastructure can be formed and pedalled to any place accessible by bicycle," said Mr Gitman.
He receives hundreds of e-mails to his Magicbike website from people interested in setting up similar ideas - and is considering setting up a community based website for wireless bikes as they spring up in other cities and countries. The closest he thinks the idea has come to being commercially available is a similar idea used on bike taxis in the Danish capital of Copenhagen.
# posted by Ingrid @ 5/29/2004
Friday, May 28, 2004
PERFORMANCE APPRAISALS FOR THE US MILITARY
Maybe It's Time To Seek Other Employment...
On Labor Day weekend 2000, Eric and Kat Meyer moved in to their lovely house and have set about making it a home ever since. These are reported to be actual lines out of OER (Officer Efficiency Report), which are performance appraisals for the military, writes Eric in his post Maybe It's Time To Seek Other Employment...
▪ Not the sharpest knife in the drawer.
▪ Got into the gene pool while the lifeguard wasn't watching.
▪ A room temperature IQ.
▪ Got a full 6-pack, but lacks the plastic thingy to hold it all together.
▪ A gross ignoramus -- 144 times worse than an ordinary ignoramus.
▪ A photographic memory but with the lens cover glued on.
▪ A prime candidate for natural deselection.
▪ Bright as Alaska in December.
▪ One-celled organisms out-score him in IQ tests.
▪ Donated his body to science before he was done using it.
▪ Fell out of the family tree.
▪ Gates are down, the lights are flashing, but the train isn't coming.
▪ Has two brains; one is lost and the other is out looking for it.
▪ He's so dense, light bends around him.
▪ If brains were taxed, he'd get a rebate.
▪ If he were any more stupid, he'd have to be watered twice a week.
▪ If you give him a penny for his thoughts, you'd get change.
▪ If you stand close enough to him, you can hear the ocean.
▪ It's hard to believe that he beat out 1,000,000 other sperm.
▪ One neuron short of a synapse.
▪ Some drink from the fountain of knowledge; he only gargled.
▪ Takes him 1 1/2 hours to watch 60 minutes.
▪ Was left on the Tilt-A-Whirl a bit too long as a baby.
▪ Wheel is turning, but the hamster is dead.
- - -
PING-O-MATIC
148,587 pings served
On Ping-o-Matic! ping page I've entered my URL, ticked all the boxes and bookmarked the page my menu bar. Now I can fast ping almost a dozen services a single click away. Ping at Ping-O-Matic after editing a post to update it, as most blog packages are set up to ping only when there's a new post. [Thanks Lisa]
Maybe It's Time To Seek Other Employment...
On Labor Day weekend 2000, Eric and Kat Meyer moved in to their lovely house and have set about making it a home ever since. These are reported to be actual lines out of OER (Officer Efficiency Report), which are performance appraisals for the military, writes Eric in his post Maybe It's Time To Seek Other Employment...
▪ Not the sharpest knife in the drawer.
▪ Got into the gene pool while the lifeguard wasn't watching.
▪ A room temperature IQ.
▪ Got a full 6-pack, but lacks the plastic thingy to hold it all together.
▪ A gross ignoramus -- 144 times worse than an ordinary ignoramus.
▪ A photographic memory but with the lens cover glued on.
▪ A prime candidate for natural deselection.
▪ Bright as Alaska in December.
▪ One-celled organisms out-score him in IQ tests.
▪ Donated his body to science before he was done using it.
▪ Fell out of the family tree.
▪ Gates are down, the lights are flashing, but the train isn't coming.
▪ Has two brains; one is lost and the other is out looking for it.
▪ He's so dense, light bends around him.
▪ If brains were taxed, he'd get a rebate.
▪ If he were any more stupid, he'd have to be watered twice a week.
▪ If you give him a penny for his thoughts, you'd get change.
▪ If you stand close enough to him, you can hear the ocean.
▪ It's hard to believe that he beat out 1,000,000 other sperm.
▪ One neuron short of a synapse.
▪ Some drink from the fountain of knowledge; he only gargled.
▪ Takes him 1 1/2 hours to watch 60 minutes.
▪ Was left on the Tilt-A-Whirl a bit too long as a baby.
▪ Wheel is turning, but the hamster is dead.
- - -
PING-O-MATIC
148,587 pings served
On Ping-o-Matic! ping page I've entered my URL, ticked all the boxes and bookmarked the page my menu bar. Now I can fast ping almost a dozen services a single click away. Ping at Ping-O-Matic after editing a post to update it, as most blog packages are set up to ping only when there's a new post. [Thanks Lisa]
# posted by Ingrid @ 5/28/2004
Thursday, May 27, 2004
PICKLED BABY DRAGON MYSTERY SOLVED
It's British!
The pickled baby dragon mystery I posted on some months ago, is solved. The dragon was created by Crawley Creatures, the model makers behind TV's Walking with Dinosaurs, and the jar was made by a specialist glass blowing studio in the Isle of Wight. The whole thing was thought up by aspiring author Allistair Mitchell as a publicity stunt that proved hugely successful for him.
The baby dragon sure is fine looking. Trust the Brits to come up with such brilliance. I wonder how much it cost. Though, like Jim says, it might all just be an elaborate cover up of the truth... :-)
- - -
BACK TO THE SEA OF CORTEZ
John Steinbeck and the Hermit Crab
See this amazing Hermit Crab discovered a few months ago by James' wife during a visit with their three children to Monterey Bay Aquarium in America. James is a fan of John Steinbeck and found the visit a great way to experience the things that he'd read about in his books. Read more in his post Back to the Sea of Cortez.
A while back, I posted on the launch of the Eglu. This next post is for you James - and your family :-)
- - -
EGGS AND THE CITY
British designed Eglu
BBC reporter Christine Jeavans writes a blogger-style account
of keeping two South American Araucana hens (which lay pale blue eggs) in an Eglu, "an iMac-style bright plastic hen house complete with run, feeders and a sun/rain shade".
The eglu (£325 including two hens and feed) was dreamt up by four industrial design students as part of a final year project at the Royal College of Art. After graduating they decided to bring chicken-keeping to the urban masses.
"We had a hunch that a lot of people wanted to keep hens but didn't know how," says Johannes Paul, 25, one of the inventors. "They think they need a massive garden and that there will be lots of mess and noise but that's not the case."
Comb & wattles keep hen cool
Crop stores food
Grit in gizzard grinds food
Clipping one wing stops flight
Egg yolk takes a week to form
Shell is 0.3mm thick
Hen lays an egg every 25 hours
No cockerel required
A hen costs 3p per day to feed
Produces average 6 eggs a week
Six free range organic eggs cost £1.55
Saving per egg: 22.5p
Annual saving per hen: (£1.55x52)-(0.03x365)= £69.65
"The key thing is demystifying what it is to keep chickens. They are easy to look after and children in particular love them."
Online bookseller Amazon UK has seen a 400% increase in sales across hen-keeping titles since 2000, something the company attributes to Channel 4's Big Brother, acquainting a new generation with the simple pleasures of keeping a few chickens roaming around.
- - -
SCOTT WESTON
At Google in Dublin and Silicon Valley
A few months ago, in my list at Technorati, I found offendedlamentation.cluevacuum.com linked to my blog. Must be an error as the link leads to Scott Weston's new blog Inexcusable Inferences.
On March 8, 2004, Scott wrote: A new week, a new blog, a new job. I am a proud G o o g l e r. I'm working in the Dublin office (in Ireland for the geographically challenged and experts alike). Next week I fly to the G o o g l e p l e x in the heart of silicon valley and get to stay there for 3 months. I can honestly say I haven't been this excited since I was a young 'un left to my own devices for an entire day in seaworld.
It's British!
The pickled baby dragon mystery I posted on some months ago, is solved. The dragon was created by Crawley Creatures, the model makers behind TV's Walking with Dinosaurs, and the jar was made by a specialist glass blowing studio in the Isle of Wight. The whole thing was thought up by aspiring author Allistair Mitchell as a publicity stunt that proved hugely successful for him.
The baby dragon sure is fine looking. Trust the Brits to come up with such brilliance. I wonder how much it cost. Though, like Jim says, it might all just be an elaborate cover up of the truth... :-)
- - -
BACK TO THE SEA OF CORTEZ
John Steinbeck and the Hermit Crab
See this amazing Hermit Crab discovered a few months ago by James' wife during a visit with their three children to Monterey Bay Aquarium in America. James is a fan of John Steinbeck and found the visit a great way to experience the things that he'd read about in his books. Read more in his post Back to the Sea of Cortez.
A while back, I posted on the launch of the Eglu. This next post is for you James - and your family :-)
- - -
EGGS AND THE CITY
British designed Eglu
BBC reporter Christine Jeavans writes a blogger-style account
of keeping two South American Araucana hens (which lay pale blue eggs) in an Eglu, "an iMac-style bright plastic hen house complete with run, feeders and a sun/rain shade".
The eglu (£325 including two hens and feed) was dreamt up by four industrial design students as part of a final year project at the Royal College of Art. After graduating they decided to bring chicken-keeping to the urban masses.
"We had a hunch that a lot of people wanted to keep hens but didn't know how," says Johannes Paul, 25, one of the inventors. "They think they need a massive garden and that there will be lots of mess and noise but that's not the case."
Comb & wattles keep hen cool
Crop stores food
Grit in gizzard grinds food
Clipping one wing stops flight
Egg yolk takes a week to form
Shell is 0.3mm thick
Hen lays an egg every 25 hours
No cockerel required
A hen costs 3p per day to feed
Produces average 6 eggs a week
Six free range organic eggs cost £1.55
Saving per egg: 22.5p
Annual saving per hen: (£1.55x52)-(0.03x365)= £69.65
"The key thing is demystifying what it is to keep chickens. They are easy to look after and children in particular love them."
Online bookseller Amazon UK has seen a 400% increase in sales across hen-keeping titles since 2000, something the company attributes to Channel 4's Big Brother, acquainting a new generation with the simple pleasures of keeping a few chickens roaming around.
- - -
SCOTT WESTON
At Google in Dublin and Silicon Valley
A few months ago, in my list at Technorati, I found offendedlamentation.cluevacuum.com linked to my blog. Must be an error as the link leads to Scott Weston's new blog Inexcusable Inferences.
On March 8, 2004, Scott wrote: A new week, a new blog, a new job. I am a proud G o o g l e r. I'm working in the Dublin office (in Ireland for the geographically challenged and experts alike). Next week I fly to the G o o g l e p l e x in the heart of silicon valley and get to stay there for 3 months. I can honestly say I haven't been this excited since I was a young 'un left to my own devices for an entire day in seaworld.
# posted by Ingrid @ 5/27/2004
Wednesday, May 26, 2004
FIRE, FIRE, McCARTHY FAMILY HOUSE ON FIRE
Jay McCarthy blogged a dramatic life changing event - as it unfolded before his eyes
Someone asked the accountant of one of the richest men in the world, who'd just died, how much was still left. The accountant exclaimed: "EVERYTHING!" This true story highlights how much the world's wealthiest man took with him when he died, and serves to remind us we are just caretakers of material things - and that "stuff", in the great scheme of things, isn't at all important.
Today, Halley Suitt pointed to Jay McCarthy's post Fire, Fire, House on Fire. Jay lives in America and wrote it last Sunday, while he watched his family's home burn down. Great post. Straight from the heart. You can feel the heat and emotion. Best personal post I've read of Jay's. Sorry the house is such a disaster, it must be a devastating experience. Glad to see that at least everyone is safe and sound. All good wishes to Jay and his family - from Ingrid and Ophelia =^.^=
Jay McCarthy blogged a dramatic life changing event - as it unfolded before his eyes
Someone asked the accountant of one of the richest men in the world, who'd just died, how much was still left. The accountant exclaimed: "EVERYTHING!" This true story highlights how much the world's wealthiest man took with him when he died, and serves to remind us we are just caretakers of material things - and that "stuff", in the great scheme of things, isn't at all important.
Today, Halley Suitt pointed to Jay McCarthy's post Fire, Fire, House on Fire. Jay lives in America and wrote it last Sunday, while he watched his family's home burn down. Great post. Straight from the heart. You can feel the heat and emotion. Best personal post I've read of Jay's. Sorry the house is such a disaster, it must be a devastating experience. Glad to see that at least everyone is safe and sound. All good wishes to Jay and his family - from Ingrid and Ophelia =^.^=
# posted by Ingrid @ 5/26/2004
- - -
MAN'S THEORY OF EVOLUTION
The monkeys would say something quite different
During my blogging break, I googled some of the issues raised in the reading material I ploughed through, and came across three links (see below). Here are some excerpts I've taken from Man relating to man’s version of the story of evolution and what the monkeys would say:
It is important to understand what the theory of evolution says about the origin of man since so many people believe this. This is what is often taught in the public schools and elsewhere.
Evolution teaches that man has gradually evolved from lower animals (such as ape-like creatures) in a slowly changing process that has taken millions of years. Thus, the evolutionists would say that man is nothing more than a highly intelligent animal. Man is not too much different from a gorilla, except man is smarter!
Let’s think this theory through carefully. If man has evolved from some ape-like creature, then where did that creature come from? Remember, to find the origin of something you need to go back to the very beginning (all the way back to the starting point).
Here is how the evolutionists tell the story of man [Note: this information was taken from two sources: (1) "The Awesome Worlds Within a Cell", National Geographic, September, 1976, pp. 392-393; (2) Evolution by Ruth Moore published by TIME Incorporated (TIME-LIFE series), 1964, pp.109-116]:
In the beginning, about four billion years ago, the air was unfit to breathe. The young earth is without life. The sun beats down; storms lash the coasts; volcanoes pour hissing lava into the ocean’s waters. These natural jolts fuse simple molecules into more complex ones. Amino acids are formed, then interact with each other, and primitive protein is fashioned, perhaps as a worm-like molecule. Somehow the right molecules get together and the first living cell appears. This first living cell is the great ancestor of all plants and animals on earth, including man. From this first cell, all other forms of life evolved. This tiny first living cell is the father of us all!
How did man come from this first cell? (Remember, there are more cells in the human body than there are people in the world) Here's the story: As time went on, this first cell developed into amoeba?-like organisms and other primitive creatures that could survive in the ocean. After millions of years, these creatures evolved into fish. Some of these fish developed lungs so that they could survive outside of the water. Gradually they began to make their way onto land as the first amphibians. These amphibians then evolved into reptiles and the earth soon became populated with great dinosaurs. Some of these reptiles started to develop legs that could move around better, and these creatures became what we today would call mammals. Other reptiles developed wings and flew away to become birds.
Where did man come from? One of these early mammals was known as a tree shrew. He was not much larger than a squirrel and in many ways looked like a squirrel. This creature lived in trees and gradually evolved into primitive monkeys and other ape-like creatures. From these ape-like creatures there evolved two major groups: 1) the great apes that we can see in zoos today, such as the gorilla, orangutan, gibbon and chimpanzee; 2) a creature who came down from the trees and who started walking upright (all monkeys and apes walk on all fours)--THIS IS MAN!
Our father (that first living cell) would have been very proud of us if he could have seen how far we have come these past millions of years!
- - -
The above is man’s version of the story
If we were to ask the monkeys, they would say something quite different:
Three monkeys dining once in a cocoanut tree
Were discussing some things that they heard true to be.
"What do you think?" "Now listen, you two;
Here, monkeys, is something that cannot be true,
That humans descend from our noble race!
Why, it’s shocking -- a terrible disgrace.
Whoever heard of a monkey deserting his wife,
Leaving a baby to starve and ruin its life?
And have you ever known of a mother monk
To leave her darling with strangers to bunk?
Their babies are handed from one to another,
And some scarcely know the love of a mother.
And I’ve never known a monkey so selfish to be,
As to build a fence around a cocoanut tree,
So other monkeys can‘t get a wee taste,
But would let all the cocoanuts there go to waste.
Why, if I'd put a fence around this cocoanut tree,
Starvation would force you to steal from me.
And here is another thing a monkey won’t do:
Seek a cocktail parlor and get on a stew.
Carouse and go on a whoopee disgracing his life,
Then reel madly home and beat up his wife.
They call this all pleasure and make a big fuss--
THEY’VE DESCENDED FROM SOMETHING,
BUT CERTAINLY NOT FROM US!!!"
- - -
MAN'S ORIGIN
Where Did I Come From?
Man’s Origin--Where Did I Come From?
Man’s Purpose--Why Am I Here?
Man’s Destiny--Where Am I Going?
[Source courtesy Man]
MAN'S THEORY OF EVOLUTION
The monkeys would say something quite different
During my blogging break, I googled some of the issues raised in the reading material I ploughed through, and came across three links (see below). Here are some excerpts I've taken from Man relating to man’s version of the story of evolution and what the monkeys would say:
It is important to understand what the theory of evolution says about the origin of man since so many people believe this. This is what is often taught in the public schools and elsewhere.
Evolution teaches that man has gradually evolved from lower animals (such as ape-like creatures) in a slowly changing process that has taken millions of years. Thus, the evolutionists would say that man is nothing more than a highly intelligent animal. Man is not too much different from a gorilla, except man is smarter!
Let’s think this theory through carefully. If man has evolved from some ape-like creature, then where did that creature come from? Remember, to find the origin of something you need to go back to the very beginning (all the way back to the starting point).
Here is how the evolutionists tell the story of man [Note: this information was taken from two sources: (1) "The Awesome Worlds Within a Cell", National Geographic, September, 1976, pp. 392-393; (2) Evolution by Ruth Moore published by TIME Incorporated (TIME-LIFE series), 1964, pp.109-116]:
In the beginning, about four billion years ago, the air was unfit to breathe. The young earth is without life. The sun beats down; storms lash the coasts; volcanoes pour hissing lava into the ocean’s waters. These natural jolts fuse simple molecules into more complex ones. Amino acids are formed, then interact with each other, and primitive protein is fashioned, perhaps as a worm-like molecule. Somehow the right molecules get together and the first living cell appears. This first living cell is the great ancestor of all plants and animals on earth, including man. From this first cell, all other forms of life evolved. This tiny first living cell is the father of us all!
How did man come from this first cell? (Remember, there are more cells in the human body than there are people in the world) Here's the story: As time went on, this first cell developed into amoeba?-like organisms and other primitive creatures that could survive in the ocean. After millions of years, these creatures evolved into fish. Some of these fish developed lungs so that they could survive outside of the water. Gradually they began to make their way onto land as the first amphibians. These amphibians then evolved into reptiles and the earth soon became populated with great dinosaurs. Some of these reptiles started to develop legs that could move around better, and these creatures became what we today would call mammals. Other reptiles developed wings and flew away to become birds.
Where did man come from? One of these early mammals was known as a tree shrew. He was not much larger than a squirrel and in many ways looked like a squirrel. This creature lived in trees and gradually evolved into primitive monkeys and other ape-like creatures. From these ape-like creatures there evolved two major groups: 1) the great apes that we can see in zoos today, such as the gorilla, orangutan, gibbon and chimpanzee; 2) a creature who came down from the trees and who started walking upright (all monkeys and apes walk on all fours)--THIS IS MAN!
Our father (that first living cell) would have been very proud of us if he could have seen how far we have come these past millions of years!
- - -
The above is man’s version of the story
If we were to ask the monkeys, they would say something quite different:
Three monkeys dining once in a cocoanut tree
Were discussing some things that they heard true to be.
"What do you think?" "Now listen, you two;
Here, monkeys, is something that cannot be true,
That humans descend from our noble race!
Why, it’s shocking -- a terrible disgrace.
Whoever heard of a monkey deserting his wife,
Leaving a baby to starve and ruin its life?
And have you ever known of a mother monk
To leave her darling with strangers to bunk?
Their babies are handed from one to another,
And some scarcely know the love of a mother.
And I’ve never known a monkey so selfish to be,
As to build a fence around a cocoanut tree,
So other monkeys can‘t get a wee taste,
But would let all the cocoanuts there go to waste.
Why, if I'd put a fence around this cocoanut tree,
Starvation would force you to steal from me.
And here is another thing a monkey won’t do:
Seek a cocktail parlor and get on a stew.
Carouse and go on a whoopee disgracing his life,
Then reel madly home and beat up his wife.
They call this all pleasure and make a big fuss--
THEY’VE DESCENDED FROM SOMETHING,
BUT CERTAINLY NOT FROM US!!!"
- - -
MAN'S ORIGIN
Where Did I Come From?
Man’s Origin--Where Did I Come From?
Man’s Purpose--Why Am I Here?
Man’s Destiny--Where Am I Going?
[Source courtesy Man]
# posted by Ingrid @ 5/26/2004
- - -
WHEN YOU WANT IT - WHERE YOU WANT IT
Never miss out on a home delivery again?
Someone wrote to MetaFilter on the problem of internet/mail order deliveries arriving at home when you're out. Seems this is a growing problem, that maybe deters people from shopping online, especially for expensive goods. Who'd be there to receive the order when you're away or at work?
One reader suggested giving out your work address for delivery. Good idea (if your work approves) but not very convenient if the package is large and you travel home on foot, by bike, train, bus or underground.
Another suggested - for those in the UK - giving out your Royal Mail Post Office address for delivery, where you could pick-up outside business hours. Good idea if the Post Office is close to your home, you have a car or the package manageable.
Same applies to Collectpoint (with 1600 locations across the UK, your nearest collectpoint is never far away - so if what you’ve bought is not quite what you wanted, you can return it in the same way). If a package was large or heavy and you had no car, you'd need to arrange pick-up or drop-off with a friend by car or taxi - or get some sort of trolley.
My mother and her elderly neighbours only shop by phone and inevitably have to deal with returns. They are loyal to one particular mail order company because the 'returns' service is so efficient. One phone call to the company and a courier arrives next day at the door, label is made up ready and goods are returned in their original packaging, without a quibble.
Another solution, discussed at Meta Filter, would be to purchase a specially designed gigantic letter box that's lockable. Or to build an outdoor storage box with a fastening that can be padlocked; leave the padlock undone so the delivery person can put the package into the storage box and snap close the padlock. Good idea, if one was expecting not more than one delivery per day (and if the padlock didn't get stolen before the goods arrived).
Here's another solution that would be good for perishable items: arrange for the order to be sent to a home delivery service such as Beck & Call who, for a small fee, would deliver to your home between 7 am and 11 pm. It makes more sense to pay a small fee to a holding bay that delivers outside of business hours.
Some years ago, I managed a mail order business. It was a nightmare. Goods were perishable (large outdoor plants and shrubs) and delivery problems and returns took up most of the customer support resources. Customers weren't at home when they said they would be, ie: in hospital, on holiday, urgent business away, ill (deceased!) ...the list of reasons is huge. On certain items - and especially when stocks run out - there's a 28-day order fulfillment cycle - and it's not always possible to give every customer an exact time/date for delivery.
IMO there's huge growth potential for home delivery services. People are now getting more confident using plastic payment cards online. It may be just a matter of time before it becomes the norm to get the best deal on purchases made over the Internet, which would create a demand for efficient and reliable delivery services prepared to serve customers outside of business hours.
Most of my purchases are over the phone, by mail or online. The most expensive and recent item is a laptop, purchased via Apple Store Online. One powerbook did get lost by the carrier but was replaced within two weeks. I was at home during the day to receive the delivery. The carrier did not phone in advance to check that I was in. If I had been at work, I'd use a service like Beck & Call - after checking fine print on policy re goods damaged or lost in transit.
It makes sense to pay a small fee to a holding bay that delivers outside of business hours. Instead of burning up car fuel, getting stressed over parking and loading. Kinder to the environment too: one van delivers to several homes, rather than several cars to and fro, clogging up roads and parking spaces to pick up goods. If home delivery services became truly efficient, people could shop at supermarkets more easily or by phone and have their goods delivered.
The problem of traffic congestion here in this small seaside town is mainly caused by shoppers. The main street gets noisy, smelly and stressful. Reminds me of the olden days when horse and carriages packed the streets and created chaos. It's still barmy and chaotic today: one person in a car, parks - and takes up the space that a holidaymaker could use - goes grocery shopping, comes back an hour or two later, loads and leaves... while another car waits in line to do the same thing.
Recently, I've read that one should not push a young child in a low pram along a pavement on a busy street because the child could develop breathing problems from the fumes from car exhaust pipes. There are bans on smoking in certain areas, even in the outdoors. But no bans on stinky vehicles polluting our lungs and giving us cancer. I've lived in London where black soot (not dust) would settle on the inside of window ledges - and on my face makeup - even cuffs of white shirts were blackened at the end of one working day. Read more in the war outside your door.
- - -
Note: Benedict Ely and Charles Doyle founded Beck & Call Delivery in August 2000. This London based service, delivers packages and parcels to residential customers at a time convenient to them. The challenge for the business was to honour the promises echoed in their mission statement to be at the, "beck and call of customers".
WHEN YOU WANT IT - WHERE YOU WANT IT
Never miss out on a home delivery again?
Someone wrote to MetaFilter on the problem of internet/mail order deliveries arriving at home when you're out. Seems this is a growing problem, that maybe deters people from shopping online, especially for expensive goods. Who'd be there to receive the order when you're away or at work?
One reader suggested giving out your work address for delivery. Good idea (if your work approves) but not very convenient if the package is large and you travel home on foot, by bike, train, bus or underground.
Another suggested - for those in the UK - giving out your Royal Mail Post Office address for delivery, where you could pick-up outside business hours. Good idea if the Post Office is close to your home, you have a car or the package manageable.
Same applies to Collectpoint (with 1600 locations across the UK, your nearest collectpoint is never far away - so if what you’ve bought is not quite what you wanted, you can return it in the same way). If a package was large or heavy and you had no car, you'd need to arrange pick-up or drop-off with a friend by car or taxi - or get some sort of trolley.
My mother and her elderly neighbours only shop by phone and inevitably have to deal with returns. They are loyal to one particular mail order company because the 'returns' service is so efficient. One phone call to the company and a courier arrives next day at the door, label is made up ready and goods are returned in their original packaging, without a quibble.
Another solution, discussed at Meta Filter, would be to purchase a specially designed gigantic letter box that's lockable. Or to build an outdoor storage box with a fastening that can be padlocked; leave the padlock undone so the delivery person can put the package into the storage box and snap close the padlock. Good idea, if one was expecting not more than one delivery per day (and if the padlock didn't get stolen before the goods arrived).
Here's another solution that would be good for perishable items: arrange for the order to be sent to a home delivery service such as Beck & Call who, for a small fee, would deliver to your home between 7 am and 11 pm. It makes more sense to pay a small fee to a holding bay that delivers outside of business hours.
Some years ago, I managed a mail order business. It was a nightmare. Goods were perishable (large outdoor plants and shrubs) and delivery problems and returns took up most of the customer support resources. Customers weren't at home when they said they would be, ie: in hospital, on holiday, urgent business away, ill (deceased!) ...the list of reasons is huge. On certain items - and especially when stocks run out - there's a 28-day order fulfillment cycle - and it's not always possible to give every customer an exact time/date for delivery.
IMO there's huge growth potential for home delivery services. People are now getting more confident using plastic payment cards online. It may be just a matter of time before it becomes the norm to get the best deal on purchases made over the Internet, which would create a demand for efficient and reliable delivery services prepared to serve customers outside of business hours.
Most of my purchases are over the phone, by mail or online. The most expensive and recent item is a laptop, purchased via Apple Store Online. One powerbook did get lost by the carrier but was replaced within two weeks. I was at home during the day to receive the delivery. The carrier did not phone in advance to check that I was in. If I had been at work, I'd use a service like Beck & Call - after checking fine print on policy re goods damaged or lost in transit.
It makes sense to pay a small fee to a holding bay that delivers outside of business hours. Instead of burning up car fuel, getting stressed over parking and loading. Kinder to the environment too: one van delivers to several homes, rather than several cars to and fro, clogging up roads and parking spaces to pick up goods. If home delivery services became truly efficient, people could shop at supermarkets more easily or by phone and have their goods delivered.
The problem of traffic congestion here in this small seaside town is mainly caused by shoppers. The main street gets noisy, smelly and stressful. Reminds me of the olden days when horse and carriages packed the streets and created chaos. It's still barmy and chaotic today: one person in a car, parks - and takes up the space that a holidaymaker could use - goes grocery shopping, comes back an hour or two later, loads and leaves... while another car waits in line to do the same thing.
Recently, I've read that one should not push a young child in a low pram along a pavement on a busy street because the child could develop breathing problems from the fumes from car exhaust pipes. There are bans on smoking in certain areas, even in the outdoors. But no bans on stinky vehicles polluting our lungs and giving us cancer. I've lived in London where black soot (not dust) would settle on the inside of window ledges - and on my face makeup - even cuffs of white shirts were blackened at the end of one working day. Read more in the war outside your door.
- - -
Note: Benedict Ely and Charles Doyle founded Beck & Call Delivery in August 2000. This London based service, delivers packages and parcels to residential customers at a time convenient to them. The challenge for the business was to honour the promises echoed in their mission statement to be at the, "beck and call of customers".
# posted by Ingrid @ 5/26/2004
Sunday, May 23, 2004
THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD
Powers of Ten and Just Six Numbers
Posts in this weblog are usually just cryptic notes to myself, on issues I think about, that are dressed up incase they prove useful to readers passing by. Often I wonder what it is that's so great about democracy. Twenty years ago I used to think and talk of the multi-nationals running the world, and about what could happen next: maybe something completely different, like a New World Order. My interest in communications technology began twenty-five years ago - I felt sure then, and still do now, that it would change the world.
Twenty years later, and even more so after 9/11, I became interested in trying to understand the Muslims, what they believe in and why. I've been online daily since June of last year, and often find my eye drawn towards news of ongoing battles involving Christians, Muslims, Jews and Arabs.
Recently I had three long phone discussions with a friend re Iraq, Bosnia and the Sudan, and why people should care. Basically, I raised four questions: (1) are the Muslims trying to take over the world? (2) is the genocide of black Africans by Arabs in the Sudan anything to do with oil being found in Africa? (3) did World War III begin on 9/11? (4) and why we should care about our fellow man whether he is next door or in Africa.
My friend is a staunch atheist and takes every opportunity to rubbish religion, so naturally God cropped up. My friend is very clever and silly me - trying to conserve energy whilst explaining why there is a God - cut to the chase by blurting out "God is Love" and "Love is within all of us." Because my friend scoffed at this, I asked him to explain why we should care, and what then is love. He said they were complicated questions and my explanations were too simplistic. Next day, he swiftly responded by sending me this stack of reading material:
1) "The New Penguin History of The World" by J.M. Roberts. I've been asked to please start with pages 1 to 38, covering The Foundations, Homo Sapiens, and The Possibility of Civilization. And then to read pages 991 to 1148, covering The Latest Age.
2) "Just Six Numbers - The Deep Forces that Shape the Universe" by British Astronomer Royal Professor Sir Martin Rees, an international leader in cosmology and Royal Society Research Professor at Cambridge University.
3) "Powers of Ten" - explains the relative size of things in the universe and illustrates relationships of size among objects. (btw I have a hard copy up in my attic given to me 20 years ago by physicist - with a bit of a story that I'll recall in a future post.)
4) National Geographic Millennium Supplement, October 1999, featuring "Secrets of the Gene".
5) Five articles in May 8, 2004 issue of The Economist:
i) on economics: "Feeding the hungry" is the fourth of a series of articles on the Copenhagen Consensus project which is basically to do with a series of proposals for advancing global welfare [See www.economist.com/copenhagenconsensus]
ii) on entomology: "Invasion of the Brood" about the 17-year cicadas that are about to emerge in force in the eastern part of the U.S.
iii) on crime prediction: "Time bandits" prospective "hot-spot" maps that show where criminals are going to be active.
iv) on human evolution: "It figures" in terms of fertility, geometry seems to matter.
v) on decontamination: "Phages are your friends" features killing bacteria the natural way; it's the first time that phages have been proposed as a way of decontaminating land - although there are few sites that need to be liberated from anthrax spores, it is not exactly a coincidence that the research is happening at a time when the American government is worried about the idea of terrorists launching an anthrax attack.
In order to get this reading started, I'm taking a blogging break for a few days. My previous two posts tie in with this. Bye for now. With love from Ingrid and Ophelia - who's having fun outdoors getting all dusty and covered in pollen. We're enjoying great weather: blue sea and sky, no wind - motor boats zooming by and the yacht club out in numbers. Carpenter will be back tomorrow to complete work on new front balcony, painter will follow to decorate exterior, two weeks of groceries arrive on Tuesday, a friend will be visiting and this new Mac works great. My cup runneth over...
Powers of Ten and Just Six Numbers
Posts in this weblog are usually just cryptic notes to myself, on issues I think about, that are dressed up incase they prove useful to readers passing by. Often I wonder what it is that's so great about democracy. Twenty years ago I used to think and talk of the multi-nationals running the world, and about what could happen next: maybe something completely different, like a New World Order. My interest in communications technology began twenty-five years ago - I felt sure then, and still do now, that it would change the world.
Twenty years later, and even more so after 9/11, I became interested in trying to understand the Muslims, what they believe in and why. I've been online daily since June of last year, and often find my eye drawn towards news of ongoing battles involving Christians, Muslims, Jews and Arabs.
Recently I had three long phone discussions with a friend re Iraq, Bosnia and the Sudan, and why people should care. Basically, I raised four questions: (1) are the Muslims trying to take over the world? (2) is the genocide of black Africans by Arabs in the Sudan anything to do with oil being found in Africa? (3) did World War III begin on 9/11? (4) and why we should care about our fellow man whether he is next door or in Africa.
My friend is a staunch atheist and takes every opportunity to rubbish religion, so naturally God cropped up. My friend is very clever and silly me - trying to conserve energy whilst explaining why there is a God - cut to the chase by blurting out "God is Love" and "Love is within all of us." Because my friend scoffed at this, I asked him to explain why we should care, and what then is love. He said they were complicated questions and my explanations were too simplistic. Next day, he swiftly responded by sending me this stack of reading material:
1) "The New Penguin History of The World" by J.M. Roberts. I've been asked to please start with pages 1 to 38, covering The Foundations, Homo Sapiens, and The Possibility of Civilization. And then to read pages 991 to 1148, covering The Latest Age.
2) "Just Six Numbers - The Deep Forces that Shape the Universe" by British Astronomer Royal Professor Sir Martin Rees, an international leader in cosmology and Royal Society Research Professor at Cambridge University.
3) "Powers of Ten" - explains the relative size of things in the universe and illustrates relationships of size among objects. (btw I have a hard copy up in my attic given to me 20 years ago by physicist - with a bit of a story that I'll recall in a future post.)
4) National Geographic Millennium Supplement, October 1999, featuring "Secrets of the Gene".
5) Five articles in May 8, 2004 issue of The Economist:
i) on economics: "Feeding the hungry" is the fourth of a series of articles on the Copenhagen Consensus project which is basically to do with a series of proposals for advancing global welfare [See www.economist.com/copenhagenconsensus]
ii) on entomology: "Invasion of the Brood" about the 17-year cicadas that are about to emerge in force in the eastern part of the U.S.
iii) on crime prediction: "Time bandits" prospective "hot-spot" maps that show where criminals are going to be active.
iv) on human evolution: "It figures" in terms of fertility, geometry seems to matter.
v) on decontamination: "Phages are your friends" features killing bacteria the natural way; it's the first time that phages have been proposed as a way of decontaminating land - although there are few sites that need to be liberated from anthrax spores, it is not exactly a coincidence that the research is happening at a time when the American government is worried about the idea of terrorists launching an anthrax attack.
In order to get this reading started, I'm taking a blogging break for a few days. My previous two posts tie in with this. Bye for now. With love from Ingrid and Ophelia - who's having fun outdoors getting all dusty and covered in pollen. We're enjoying great weather: blue sea and sky, no wind - motor boats zooming by and the yacht club out in numbers. Carpenter will be back tomorrow to complete work on new front balcony, painter will follow to decorate exterior, two weeks of groceries arrive on Tuesday, a friend will be visiting and this new Mac works great. My cup runneth over...
# posted by Ingrid @ 5/23/2004
- - -
ISLAM AND DEMOCRACY:
THE IMPOSSIBLE UNION
In today's Sunday Times, Iranian Muslim Amir Taheri says his faith cannot embrace western liberalism because our notions of equality are antithetical to the basis of Islam. Taheri writes (see copy in full below) why Islam and democracy are essentially incompatible and that Muslims should not be duped into believing that they can have their cake and eat it. Taheri says Muslims can build successful societies provided they treat Islam as a matter of personal, private belief and not as a political ideology that seeks to monopolise the public space share by the whole of humanity and dictate every aspect of individual and community life. Here's a copy of the article, in full:
In recent weeks there has been much soul-searching, in the Islamic world and among the wider Muslim diaspora about whether Islam is compatible with democracy. This sparked a debate hosted by Intelligence, a forum I took part in last week. As an Iranian now living in a liberal democracy, I would like to explain why Islam and democracy are essentially incompatible.
To understand a civilisation it is important to comprehend the language that shapes it. There was no word in any of the Muslim languages for democracy until the 1890s. Even then the Greek word entered Muslim vocabulary with little change: democrasi in Persian, dimokraytiyah in Arabic, demokratio in Turkish.
Democracy is based on one fundamental principle: equality.
The Greek word isos is used in more than 200 compound nouns, including isoteos (equality), isologia (equal or free speech) and isonomia (equal treatment).
Again we find no equivalent in any of the Muslim languages. The words we have such as barabari in Persian and sawiyah in Arabic mean juxtaposition or separation.
Nor do we have a word for politics. The word siassah, now used as a synonym for politics, initially meant whipping stray camels into line. (Sa’es al-kheil is a person who brings back lost camels to the caravan.) The closest translation may be: regimentation.
Nor is there mention of such words as government and the state in the Koran. Early Muslims translated numerous ancient Greek texts, but never those related to political matters.
The idea of equality is unacceptable to Islam. For the non-believer cannot be the equal of the believer. Even among the believers only those who subscribe to the three Abrahamic religions: Judaism, Christianity and Islam, known as the “people of the book” (Ahl el-Kitab), are regarded as fully human. Here, too, there is a hierarchy, with Muslims at the top.
Non-Muslims can, and have often been, treated with decency, but never as equals. There is a hierarchy even for animals and plants. Seven animals and seven plants will assuredly go to heaven while seven others of each will end up in hell.
Democracy means the rule of the demos, the common people, or what is now known as popular or national sovereignty. In Islam, however, power belongs only to God: al-hukm l’illah. The man who exercises that power on Earth is known as Khalifat al-Allah, the regent of God. Even then the Khalifah, or Caliph, cannot act as legislator. The law has already been spelt out and fixed forever by God.
The only task that remains is its discovery, interpretation and application. That, of course, allows for a substantial space in which different styles of rule could develop.
But the bottom line is that no Islamic government can be democratic in the sense of allowing the common people equal shares in legislation. Islam divides human activities into five categories from the permitted to the sinful, leaving little room for human interpretation, let alone ethical innovations.
To say that Islam is incompatible with democracy should not be seen as a disparagement of Islam. On the contrary, many Muslims would see it as a compliment because they believe that their idea of rule by God is superior to that of rule by men, which is democracy.
The great Persian poet Rumi pleads thus:
Oh, God, do not leave our affairs to us
For, if You do, woe is us.
Islamic tradition holds that God has always intervened in the affairs of men, notably by dispatching 124,000 prophets or emissaries to inform the mortals of his wishes and warnings.
Many Islamist thinkers regard democracy with horror.
The late Ayatollah Khomeini called democracy “a form of prostitution”, because he who gets the most votes wins the power that belongs only to God.
Sayyid Qutb, the Egyptian who has emerged as the ideological mentor of Salafists (fundamentalists who want to return to the idyllic Islamic state of their forebears) spent a year in the United States in the 1950s. He found “a nation that has forgotten God and been forsaken by Him; an arrogant nation that wants to rule itself”.
Last year Yussuf al-Ayyeri, one of the leading theoreticians of today’s Islamist movement, published a book in which he warned that the real danger to Islam did not come from American tanks and helicopter gunships in Iraq but from the idea of democracy and the government of the people.
Maudoodi, another of the Islamist theoreticians now fashionable, dreamt of a political system in which humans would act as automatons in accordance with rules set by God.
He said that God has arranged man’s biological functions in such a way that their operation is beyond human control. For our non-biological functions, notably our politics, God has also set rules that we have to discover and apply once and for all so that our societies can be on autopilot, so to speak.
The late Saudi theologian, Sheikh Muhammad bin Ibrahim al-Jubair, a man I respected though seldom agreed with, believed that the root cause of contemporary ills was the spread of democracy.
“Only one ambition is worthy of Islam,” he liked to say, “to save the world from the curse of democracy: to teach men that they cannot rule themselves on the basis of man-made laws. Mankind has strayed from the path of God, we must return to that path or face certain annihilation.”
Those who claim that Islam is compatible with democracy should know that they are not flattering Muslims.
In the past 14 centuries Muslims have, on occasions, succeeded in creating successful societies without democracy. And there is no guarantee that democracy never produces disastrous results (after all, Hitler was democratically elected).
The fact that almost all Muslim states today can be rated as failures or, at least, underachievers, is not because they are Islamic but because they are ruled by corrupt and despotic elites that, even when they proclaim an Islamist ideology, are, in fact, secular dictators.
Socrates ridiculed the myth of democracy by pointing out that men always call on experts to deal with specific tasks, but when it comes to the more important matters concerning the community, they allow every Tom, Dick and Harry an equal say.
In response his contemporary, Protagoras, one of the original defenders of democracy, argued: “People in the cities, especially in Athens, listen only to experts in matters of expertise, but when they meet for consultation on the political art, ie of the general question of government, everybody participates.”
Traditional Islamic political thought is closer to Socrates than to Protagoras. The common folk, al-awwam, are regarded as “animals”. The interpretation of the divine law is reserved only for the experts.
Political power, like many other domains including philosophy, is reserved for the “khawas” who, in some Sufi traditions, are even exempt from the rituals of the faith.
The “common folk”, however, must do as they are told either by the text and tradition or by fatwas (edicts) issued by the experts. Khomeini used the word “mustazafeen” (the feeble ones) to describe the general population.
Islam is about certainty (iqan) while democracy is about doubt. Islam cannot allow people to do as they please, even in the privacy of their bedrooms, because God is always present, all-hearing and all-seeing.
There is consultation in Islam: wa shawerhum fil amr (and consult them in matters). But, here, consultation is about specifics only, never about the overall design of society.
In democracy there is a constitution that can be amended or changed. The Koran, however, is the immutable word of God, beyond amendment or change.
This debate is not an easy one to have, because Islam has become an issue of political controversy in the West.
On the one hand we have Islamophobia, a particular affliction of those who blame Islam for all the ills of our world. Some Muslims regard any criticism of Islam as Islamophobia.
On the other hand we have Islamoflattery, which claims that everything good under the sun came from Islam. (According to a recent BBC documentary on Islam, even cinema was invented in the 9th century by a Muslim lens maker in Baghdad, named Abu-Hufus!)
This is often practised by a new generation of the Turques de profession, westerners who are prepared to apply the rules of critical analysis to everything under the sun except Islam.
They think they are doing Islam a favour. They are not.
Depriving Islam of critical scrutiny is bad for Islam and Muslims, and ultimately dangerous for the whole world. There are 57 nations in the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC). Not one is yet a democracy.
We should not allow the everything-is-equal-to-everything-else fashion of postmodernist multiculturalism and political correctness to prevent us from acknowledging differences and even incompatibilities in the name of a soggy consensus. If we are all the same, how can we have a dialogue of civilisations?
Muslims should not be duped into believing that they can have their cake and eat it. Muslims can build successful societies provided they treat Islam as a matter of personal, private belief and not as a political ideology that seeks to monopolise the public space shared by the whole of humanity and dictate every aspect of individual and community life. Islam is incompatible with democracy.
ISLAM AND DEMOCRACY:
THE IMPOSSIBLE UNION
In today's Sunday Times, Iranian Muslim Amir Taheri says his faith cannot embrace western liberalism because our notions of equality are antithetical to the basis of Islam. Taheri writes (see copy in full below) why Islam and democracy are essentially incompatible and that Muslims should not be duped into believing that they can have their cake and eat it. Taheri says Muslims can build successful societies provided they treat Islam as a matter of personal, private belief and not as a political ideology that seeks to monopolise the public space share by the whole of humanity and dictate every aspect of individual and community life. Here's a copy of the article, in full:
In recent weeks there has been much soul-searching, in the Islamic world and among the wider Muslim diaspora about whether Islam is compatible with democracy. This sparked a debate hosted by Intelligence, a forum I took part in last week. As an Iranian now living in a liberal democracy, I would like to explain why Islam and democracy are essentially incompatible.
To understand a civilisation it is important to comprehend the language that shapes it. There was no word in any of the Muslim languages for democracy until the 1890s. Even then the Greek word entered Muslim vocabulary with little change: democrasi in Persian, dimokraytiyah in Arabic, demokratio in Turkish.
Democracy is based on one fundamental principle: equality.
The Greek word isos is used in more than 200 compound nouns, including isoteos (equality), isologia (equal or free speech) and isonomia (equal treatment).
Again we find no equivalent in any of the Muslim languages. The words we have such as barabari in Persian and sawiyah in Arabic mean juxtaposition or separation.
Nor do we have a word for politics. The word siassah, now used as a synonym for politics, initially meant whipping stray camels into line. (Sa’es al-kheil is a person who brings back lost camels to the caravan.) The closest translation may be: regimentation.
Nor is there mention of such words as government and the state in the Koran. Early Muslims translated numerous ancient Greek texts, but never those related to political matters.
The idea of equality is unacceptable to Islam. For the non-believer cannot be the equal of the believer. Even among the believers only those who subscribe to the three Abrahamic religions: Judaism, Christianity and Islam, known as the “people of the book” (Ahl el-Kitab), are regarded as fully human. Here, too, there is a hierarchy, with Muslims at the top.
Non-Muslims can, and have often been, treated with decency, but never as equals. There is a hierarchy even for animals and plants. Seven animals and seven plants will assuredly go to heaven while seven others of each will end up in hell.
Democracy means the rule of the demos, the common people, or what is now known as popular or national sovereignty. In Islam, however, power belongs only to God: al-hukm l’illah. The man who exercises that power on Earth is known as Khalifat al-Allah, the regent of God. Even then the Khalifah, or Caliph, cannot act as legislator. The law has already been spelt out and fixed forever by God.
The only task that remains is its discovery, interpretation and application. That, of course, allows for a substantial space in which different styles of rule could develop.
But the bottom line is that no Islamic government can be democratic in the sense of allowing the common people equal shares in legislation. Islam divides human activities into five categories from the permitted to the sinful, leaving little room for human interpretation, let alone ethical innovations.
To say that Islam is incompatible with democracy should not be seen as a disparagement of Islam. On the contrary, many Muslims would see it as a compliment because they believe that their idea of rule by God is superior to that of rule by men, which is democracy.
The great Persian poet Rumi pleads thus:
Oh, God, do not leave our affairs to us
For, if You do, woe is us.
Islamic tradition holds that God has always intervened in the affairs of men, notably by dispatching 124,000 prophets or emissaries to inform the mortals of his wishes and warnings.
Many Islamist thinkers regard democracy with horror.
The late Ayatollah Khomeini called democracy “a form of prostitution”, because he who gets the most votes wins the power that belongs only to God.
Sayyid Qutb, the Egyptian who has emerged as the ideological mentor of Salafists (fundamentalists who want to return to the idyllic Islamic state of their forebears) spent a year in the United States in the 1950s. He found “a nation that has forgotten God and been forsaken by Him; an arrogant nation that wants to rule itself”.
Last year Yussuf al-Ayyeri, one of the leading theoreticians of today’s Islamist movement, published a book in which he warned that the real danger to Islam did not come from American tanks and helicopter gunships in Iraq but from the idea of democracy and the government of the people.
Maudoodi, another of the Islamist theoreticians now fashionable, dreamt of a political system in which humans would act as automatons in accordance with rules set by God.
He said that God has arranged man’s biological functions in such a way that their operation is beyond human control. For our non-biological functions, notably our politics, God has also set rules that we have to discover and apply once and for all so that our societies can be on autopilot, so to speak.
The late Saudi theologian, Sheikh Muhammad bin Ibrahim al-Jubair, a man I respected though seldom agreed with, believed that the root cause of contemporary ills was the spread of democracy.
“Only one ambition is worthy of Islam,” he liked to say, “to save the world from the curse of democracy: to teach men that they cannot rule themselves on the basis of man-made laws. Mankind has strayed from the path of God, we must return to that path or face certain annihilation.”
Those who claim that Islam is compatible with democracy should know that they are not flattering Muslims.
In the past 14 centuries Muslims have, on occasions, succeeded in creating successful societies without democracy. And there is no guarantee that democracy never produces disastrous results (after all, Hitler was democratically elected).
The fact that almost all Muslim states today can be rated as failures or, at least, underachievers, is not because they are Islamic but because they are ruled by corrupt and despotic elites that, even when they proclaim an Islamist ideology, are, in fact, secular dictators.
Socrates ridiculed the myth of democracy by pointing out that men always call on experts to deal with specific tasks, but when it comes to the more important matters concerning the community, they allow every Tom, Dick and Harry an equal say.
In response his contemporary, Protagoras, one of the original defenders of democracy, argued: “People in the cities, especially in Athens, listen only to experts in matters of expertise, but when they meet for consultation on the political art, ie of the general question of government, everybody participates.”
Traditional Islamic political thought is closer to Socrates than to Protagoras. The common folk, al-awwam, are regarded as “animals”. The interpretation of the divine law is reserved only for the experts.
Political power, like many other domains including philosophy, is reserved for the “khawas” who, in some Sufi traditions, are even exempt from the rituals of the faith.
The “common folk”, however, must do as they are told either by the text and tradition or by fatwas (edicts) issued by the experts. Khomeini used the word “mustazafeen” (the feeble ones) to describe the general population.
Islam is about certainty (iqan) while democracy is about doubt. Islam cannot allow people to do as they please, even in the privacy of their bedrooms, because God is always present, all-hearing and all-seeing.
There is consultation in Islam: wa shawerhum fil amr (and consult them in matters). But, here, consultation is about specifics only, never about the overall design of society.
In democracy there is a constitution that can be amended or changed. The Koran, however, is the immutable word of God, beyond amendment or change.
This debate is not an easy one to have, because Islam has become an issue of political controversy in the West.
On the one hand we have Islamophobia, a particular affliction of those who blame Islam for all the ills of our world. Some Muslims regard any criticism of Islam as Islamophobia.
On the other hand we have Islamoflattery, which claims that everything good under the sun came from Islam. (According to a recent BBC documentary on Islam, even cinema was invented in the 9th century by a Muslim lens maker in Baghdad, named Abu-Hufus!)
This is often practised by a new generation of the Turques de profession, westerners who are prepared to apply the rules of critical analysis to everything under the sun except Islam.
They think they are doing Islam a favour. They are not.
Depriving Islam of critical scrutiny is bad for Islam and Muslims, and ultimately dangerous for the whole world. There are 57 nations in the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC). Not one is yet a democracy.
We should not allow the everything-is-equal-to-everything-else fashion of postmodernist multiculturalism and political correctness to prevent us from acknowledging differences and even incompatibilities in the name of a soggy consensus. If we are all the same, how can we have a dialogue of civilisations?
Muslims should not be duped into believing that they can have their cake and eat it. Muslims can build successful societies provided they treat Islam as a matter of personal, private belief and not as a political ideology that seeks to monopolise the public space shared by the whole of humanity and dictate every aspect of individual and community life. Islam is incompatible with democracy.
# posted by Ingrid @ 5/23/2004
- - -
HE PREDICTED THE CLASH OF CIVILISATIONS
Harvard professor Samuel P Huntington foresaw the current crisis
An excellent article in today's Sunday Times by Sarah Baxter - copied here in full because, sorry to say, direct linking is not possible:
Harvard professor Samuel P Huntington foresaw the current crisis. Now, he tells Sarah Baxter, to beat terrorism America must first defend its own culture.
Few academics have more of an eagle eye than Professor Samuel P Huntington of Harvard University and author of the prescient The Clash of Civilisations. While the rest of us were celebrating the end of the cold war and jawing about peace in the Middle East in the 1990s, he was coolly surveying the crack-up of Yugoslavia and a host of other minor but bloody wars and warning of a collision to come between an insurgent Islam and a gently declining West.
An ivory tower is a natural location for surveying the grand sweep of history and its consequences. To my surprise I find the professor in a modern suite of offices on a high street away from Harvard’s ivy-clad halls. He is surrounded by books piled high on the floor, desk and shelves including many translations of his most famous tome, which launched 1,000 academic conferences before a bunch of suicide pilots turned theory into practice on September 11, 2001 and sealed his reputation as the world’s foremost scholar of the modern age.
Huntington has a limp handshake and soft voice, but he has too much intellectual self-confidence for shyness. He is lanky with a gentle, disarming smile that belies the toughness of his thinking. If his frame is weedy, his brain is supercharged. At 77 he has little tolerance for political correctness and some surprising views on the war on terror and the fighting in Iraq.
“It’s difficult not to be frank about this,” he says. “If we look around the world, polls in Muslim countries — and not just in Arab countries — reveal that Osama Bin Laden is among the most popular figures.” There can be few better examples of a clash of values than the hero worship of a mass murderer in large swathes of the globe.
When Huntington’s essay was published in 1993 (it became a book three years later), he was criticised for his pessimism. Those who believed that he was on to something have been shocked by the pace of unravelling events.
“We have now come to recognise something I didn’t,” he says. “The extent to which there was a growing network of militant Islamic groups with cells in dozens and dozens of countries that was waging a war on western civilisation. We’d had a few attacks by Al-Qaeda but tended to think of them in individual terms. We didn’t appreciate it was part of a broader pattern that materialised on September 11.”
One might expect Huntington to have a “bring it on” approach to the epic clash. If conflict is inevitable, why not go for it, I suggest.
On the contrary, the war on terror is “most unfortunate”, he insists. Battling Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan was certainly justified because “that was the base they attacked us from”. But the “with us or against us” framing of the war on terror by President George W Bush has had catastrophic implications.
“What is happening now is that all the local wars between Muslims and non-Muslims are being incorporated into a broad clash of civilisations,” the professor warns, as he surveys ethnic and regional conflicts in Chechnya, Africa, the Philippines and elsewhere. “It has given nations a great excuse to say ‘we’re fighting terrorists and we’re enlisting in your war’.
“I opposed going into Iraq. My argument was that if we invade Iraq we’ll become involved in two wars. One against Saddam Hussein and his army, which we will win quickly, and a second with the Iraqi people that we can never win, because people don’t want to be dominated by a foreign power.”
Before the anti-war left brings out the garlands, a word of caution. In Huntington’s view the only way to fight a war of civilisations is to shore up one’s own cultural values. That means tossing aside liberal nostrums such as “multiculturalism” and robustly asserting the traditions that have led the West to be a beacon of freedom and prosperity.
This has caused him no end of trouble in his new book, Who Are We? (Free Press, £18.99), about the challenge to American national identity. He has been criticised for asserting that Hispanic migration threatens the predominantly white Anglo-Protestant foundations of American society, based on individualism and respect for the law.
Even right-wing commentators have described his fears as bigoted nonsense, although a handful have praised his courage. Huntington shrugs off the criticism as an example of “how difficult it is to have a serious and informed exchange on the fundamental question about the United States’s future as a nation and a culture”. In truth he is not bothered, feeling that history has a way of vindicating him in the long term.
When it comes to Europe, Huntington is just as alarmist. He has been reading about the Spanish government’s identification of 300 suspects in the Madrid bombing from 11 different sleeper cells. He is in no doubt that there are as many terrorists in Britain hidden in Muslim communities.
“Certainly the idea of a fifth column is an issue. There clearly is a sympathetic environment which varies from country to country,” he says.
In western Europe we are uncomfortable with asserting the fundamental values of our society, he suggests, picking “ridiculous” quarrels in which “there is nothing material at stake”, such as the one over headscarves for Muslim schoolgirls in France.
There is a much broader threat. When Huntington looks at the Christian West’s declining fertility rates and the expanding Muslim population he can feel the Earth’s cultural plates shift.
He is all for religious tolerance and is lax about his own religious habits — he never attends church, for instance. But to him Christendom is not an outdated term. “Some people are embarrassed to describe it that way, but I’m not,” he says. “The historical definition of Europe is countries that are western and Christian.”
It is “perfectly justifiable”, he says, to want the European Union to be a community of countries with a common culture — a Christian club in other words — just as it is preposterous for multiculturalists to condemn the vigorous assertion of America’s traditional values as “un-American”.
The best way to fight the battle of civilisations is by defending one’s own culture. Bush’s big mistake has been to believe that a nation’s values can be exported by soldiers. Attempting to impose western ideals such as democracy on a foreign culture is an epic blunder, Huntington fears: “There has been very little appreciation of how different Iraq is from the United States. This is a society where the family, the tribe and the clan dominate everything. If you ’re in a position to give a member of your family a job, you are morally obliged to do so.”
The more Bush insists on staying the course, the more conflicts are likely to spread across the globe: “Unfortunately it’s helping to create a feeling on both sides that this really is a raging clash of civilisations. In my book I was saying, ‘We’ve got to avoid this’.”
Huntington will be voting for John Kerry, the Democrat presidential candidate, this autumn: “I think he certainly would be a tremendous improvement on the present incumbent and he will have a more multilateral, realistic view of foreign policy.”
There is, however, no quick fix for the global passions and enmities that the war has unleashed. The answer lies with us, not with politicians. How much do we believe in our own culture? Are we willing to defend it with our hearts and minds? This is where Huntington believes western intellectual elites have let us down. “I am a patriot and a scholar,” he declares resoundingly. Note that for him patriotism comes first and begins at home.
HE PREDICTED THE CLASH OF CIVILISATIONS
Harvard professor Samuel P Huntington foresaw the current crisis
An excellent article in today's Sunday Times by Sarah Baxter - copied here in full because, sorry to say, direct linking is not possible:
Harvard professor Samuel P Huntington foresaw the current crisis. Now, he tells Sarah Baxter, to beat terrorism America must first defend its own culture.
Few academics have more of an eagle eye than Professor Samuel P Huntington of Harvard University and author of the prescient The Clash of Civilisations. While the rest of us were celebrating the end of the cold war and jawing about peace in the Middle East in the 1990s, he was coolly surveying the crack-up of Yugoslavia and a host of other minor but bloody wars and warning of a collision to come between an insurgent Islam and a gently declining West.
An ivory tower is a natural location for surveying the grand sweep of history and its consequences. To my surprise I find the professor in a modern suite of offices on a high street away from Harvard’s ivy-clad halls. He is surrounded by books piled high on the floor, desk and shelves including many translations of his most famous tome, which launched 1,000 academic conferences before a bunch of suicide pilots turned theory into practice on September 11, 2001 and sealed his reputation as the world’s foremost scholar of the modern age.
Huntington has a limp handshake and soft voice, but he has too much intellectual self-confidence for shyness. He is lanky with a gentle, disarming smile that belies the toughness of his thinking. If his frame is weedy, his brain is supercharged. At 77 he has little tolerance for political correctness and some surprising views on the war on terror and the fighting in Iraq.
“It’s difficult not to be frank about this,” he says. “If we look around the world, polls in Muslim countries — and not just in Arab countries — reveal that Osama Bin Laden is among the most popular figures.” There can be few better examples of a clash of values than the hero worship of a mass murderer in large swathes of the globe.
When Huntington’s essay was published in 1993 (it became a book three years later), he was criticised for his pessimism. Those who believed that he was on to something have been shocked by the pace of unravelling events.
“We have now come to recognise something I didn’t,” he says. “The extent to which there was a growing network of militant Islamic groups with cells in dozens and dozens of countries that was waging a war on western civilisation. We’d had a few attacks by Al-Qaeda but tended to think of them in individual terms. We didn’t appreciate it was part of a broader pattern that materialised on September 11.”
One might expect Huntington to have a “bring it on” approach to the epic clash. If conflict is inevitable, why not go for it, I suggest.
On the contrary, the war on terror is “most unfortunate”, he insists. Battling Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan was certainly justified because “that was the base they attacked us from”. But the “with us or against us” framing of the war on terror by President George W Bush has had catastrophic implications.
“What is happening now is that all the local wars between Muslims and non-Muslims are being incorporated into a broad clash of civilisations,” the professor warns, as he surveys ethnic and regional conflicts in Chechnya, Africa, the Philippines and elsewhere. “It has given nations a great excuse to say ‘we’re fighting terrorists and we’re enlisting in your war’.
“I opposed going into Iraq. My argument was that if we invade Iraq we’ll become involved in two wars. One against Saddam Hussein and his army, which we will win quickly, and a second with the Iraqi people that we can never win, because people don’t want to be dominated by a foreign power.”
Before the anti-war left brings out the garlands, a word of caution. In Huntington’s view the only way to fight a war of civilisations is to shore up one’s own cultural values. That means tossing aside liberal nostrums such as “multiculturalism” and robustly asserting the traditions that have led the West to be a beacon of freedom and prosperity.
This has caused him no end of trouble in his new book, Who Are We? (Free Press, £18.99), about the challenge to American national identity. He has been criticised for asserting that Hispanic migration threatens the predominantly white Anglo-Protestant foundations of American society, based on individualism and respect for the law.
Even right-wing commentators have described his fears as bigoted nonsense, although a handful have praised his courage. Huntington shrugs off the criticism as an example of “how difficult it is to have a serious and informed exchange on the fundamental question about the United States’s future as a nation and a culture”. In truth he is not bothered, feeling that history has a way of vindicating him in the long term.
When it comes to Europe, Huntington is just as alarmist. He has been reading about the Spanish government’s identification of 300 suspects in the Madrid bombing from 11 different sleeper cells. He is in no doubt that there are as many terrorists in Britain hidden in Muslim communities.
“Certainly the idea of a fifth column is an issue. There clearly is a sympathetic environment which varies from country to country,” he says.
In western Europe we are uncomfortable with asserting the fundamental values of our society, he suggests, picking “ridiculous” quarrels in which “there is nothing material at stake”, such as the one over headscarves for Muslim schoolgirls in France.
There is a much broader threat. When Huntington looks at the Christian West’s declining fertility rates and the expanding Muslim population he can feel the Earth’s cultural plates shift.
He is all for religious tolerance and is lax about his own religious habits — he never attends church, for instance. But to him Christendom is not an outdated term. “Some people are embarrassed to describe it that way, but I’m not,” he says. “The historical definition of Europe is countries that are western and Christian.”
It is “perfectly justifiable”, he says, to want the European Union to be a community of countries with a common culture — a Christian club in other words — just as it is preposterous for multiculturalists to condemn the vigorous assertion of America’s traditional values as “un-American”.
The best way to fight the battle of civilisations is by defending one’s own culture. Bush’s big mistake has been to believe that a nation’s values can be exported by soldiers. Attempting to impose western ideals such as democracy on a foreign culture is an epic blunder, Huntington fears: “There has been very little appreciation of how different Iraq is from the United States. This is a society where the family, the tribe and the clan dominate everything. If you ’re in a position to give a member of your family a job, you are morally obliged to do so.”
The more Bush insists on staying the course, the more conflicts are likely to spread across the globe: “Unfortunately it’s helping to create a feeling on both sides that this really is a raging clash of civilisations. In my book I was saying, ‘We’ve got to avoid this’.”
Huntington will be voting for John Kerry, the Democrat presidential candidate, this autumn: “I think he certainly would be a tremendous improvement on the present incumbent and he will have a more multilateral, realistic view of foreign policy.”
There is, however, no quick fix for the global passions and enmities that the war has unleashed. The answer lies with us, not with politicians. How much do we believe in our own culture? Are we willing to defend it with our hearts and minds? This is where Huntington believes western intellectual elites have let us down. “I am a patriot and a scholar,” he declares resoundingly. Note that for him patriotism comes first and begins at home.
# posted by Ingrid @ 5/23/2004
Friday, May 21, 2004
IMPORTANT MESSAGE TO BLOGGERS FROM DR JAMES MOORE:
WHY YOUR ACTION ON SUDAN MATTERS TODAY
Look. Please read this. I'm not blogging it for my own good. Banging on about the Sudan gives me a headache and is depressing because hardly anyone's interested.
How much does it cost us to link to the Sudan blog, Doctors Without Borders and Human Rights Watch? Nothing. Except ten minutes of our time to blog a few lines about this and a few links.
Jim Moore is working hard at getting this story in the mainstream media. Lives are at stake. Time is running out. Please read why. Thank you.
PS Jim has just updated on a new form of Ebola reported today. He asks if you know any journalists, please try to interest her or him in the story today. Here's pinging - via Technorati - five professional journalists whose blogs I follow on a regular basis: Danny O'Brien, Melanie Phillips, Stephen Pollard, Gavin Sheridan, Bill Thompson.
- - -
THANK YOU TO THE BBC FOR REPORTING ON THE SUDAN:
Peacekeepers to be called to Darfur as soon as possible
Breakthrough news from the Sudan blog: Passion of the Present: "It is nice to see a small bit of enabling action taken in Sudan, as is reported today by the BBC: Sudan has said it will scrap the need for aid workers to have special permits to enter the troubled Darfur region in the west of the country. It said embassies would issue standard visas to aid workers within 48 hours. Announcing the change, Foreign Minister Mostafa Othman Ismail called on African countries to send peacekeepers to Darfur as soon as possible.
Further reading: The BBC has posted photos, accompanied by personal stories told by people in Darfur. Passion of the Present has featured a post of mine on Women and the Sudan and horrific mass rapes being used as a weapon of war.
Note Joi Ito's Web: Caring about the rest of the world.
WHY YOUR ACTION ON SUDAN MATTERS TODAY
Look. Please read this. I'm not blogging it for my own good. Banging on about the Sudan gives me a headache and is depressing because hardly anyone's interested.
How much does it cost us to link to the Sudan blog, Doctors Without Borders and Human Rights Watch? Nothing. Except ten minutes of our time to blog a few lines about this and a few links.
Jim Moore is working hard at getting this story in the mainstream media. Lives are at stake. Time is running out. Please read why. Thank you.
PS Jim has just updated on a new form of Ebola reported today. He asks if you know any journalists, please try to interest her or him in the story today. Here's pinging - via Technorati - five professional journalists whose blogs I follow on a regular basis: Danny O'Brien, Melanie Phillips, Stephen Pollard, Gavin Sheridan, Bill Thompson.
- - -
THANK YOU TO THE BBC FOR REPORTING ON THE SUDAN:
Peacekeepers to be called to Darfur as soon as possible
Breakthrough news from the Sudan blog: Passion of the Present: "It is nice to see a small bit of enabling action taken in Sudan, as is reported today by the BBC: Sudan has said it will scrap the need for aid workers to have special permits to enter the troubled Darfur region in the west of the country. It said embassies would issue standard visas to aid workers within 48 hours. Announcing the change, Foreign Minister Mostafa Othman Ismail called on African countries to send peacekeepers to Darfur as soon as possible.
Further reading: The BBC has posted photos, accompanied by personal stories told by people in Darfur. Passion of the Present has featured a post of mine on Women and the Sudan and horrific mass rapes being used as a weapon of war.
Note Joi Ito's Web: Caring about the rest of the world.
# posted by Ingrid @ 5/21/2004
- - -
MAC OS X SECURITY FLAW IS A HOAX:
Confirmed by Apple Technical Support in India
After I completed the five steps (see my previous post), my mac was working fine. Until I couldn't open any web pages. Either my ISP Virgin.net was at a standstill - or something was wrong. More likely I'd done something wrong with that chessboard :-) Because I have a 3-year warranty, I phoned Apple Technical Support to check on what I'd done.
A very helpful technician called Boris, had not heard of the OS X flaw, so I gave him my blog URL and asked him to get it up on his screen. He'd not heard of weblogs. He read my latest posts. And then offered to formally log this enquiry, make some investigations and phone me back on my mobile in ten minutes. I am typing this while I await his call.
He has just phoned. After speaking in-depth with a Product Specialist he says Apple emphatically state: there is not a security flaw in the mac operating system. He said Apple engineers around the world, work on macs every day, month after month and year after year and there is no way there is a security flaw for mac operating system. He said a few months back they gave out a security warning about a trojan horse on Microsoft software - but it had nothing to do with the operating system. I asked him if he was 100% sure. He said yes. I asked if it was a hoax. He said, well yes. I suggested that Apple post this confirmation on their website before this rumour and hoax gathers momentum on the Internet. He agreed to put the suggestion forward.
Because my machine was acting up, Boris talked me through the steps of reinstalling my software using the software install and restore CD. It took half an hour. Everything is now as good as new again. I'm glad it was only a hoax. Apple are still as awesome as they say :-)
I am pinging a copy of this good news - via Technorati - to: Chris Young, Wired News, Jay Allen, Liz Lawley and Jim O'Connell.
MAC OS X SECURITY FLAW IS A HOAX:
Confirmed by Apple Technical Support in India
After I completed the five steps (see my previous post), my mac was working fine. Until I couldn't open any web pages. Either my ISP Virgin.net was at a standstill - or something was wrong. More likely I'd done something wrong with that chessboard :-) Because I have a 3-year warranty, I phoned Apple Technical Support to check on what I'd done.
A very helpful technician called Boris, had not heard of the OS X flaw, so I gave him my blog URL and asked him to get it up on his screen. He'd not heard of weblogs. He read my latest posts. And then offered to formally log this enquiry, make some investigations and phone me back on my mobile in ten minutes. I am typing this while I await his call.
He has just phoned. After speaking in-depth with a Product Specialist he says Apple emphatically state: there is not a security flaw in the mac operating system. He said Apple engineers around the world, work on macs every day, month after month and year after year and there is no way there is a security flaw for mac operating system. He said a few months back they gave out a security warning about a trojan horse on Microsoft software - but it had nothing to do with the operating system. I asked him if he was 100% sure. He said yes. I asked if it was a hoax. He said, well yes. I suggested that Apple post this confirmation on their website before this rumour and hoax gathers momentum on the Internet. He agreed to put the suggestion forward.
Because my machine was acting up, Boris talked me through the steps of reinstalling my software using the software install and restore CD. It took half an hour. Everything is now as good as new again. I'm glad it was only a hoax. Apple are still as awesome as they say :-)
I am pinging a copy of this good news - via Technorati - to: Chris Young, Wired News, Jay Allen, Liz Lawley and Jim O'Connell.
# posted by Ingrid @ 5/21/2004
# posted by Ingrid @ 5/21/2004
- - -
WE LOVE BLOGGER - THANKS TO BLOGGER
For giving us free unlimited photo hosting
On 5/19/2004 at Blogger's homepage, Biz writes: "Did someone order unlimited photo hosting and an easy way to send pictures to a blog? Hello, Photoblogging should get you started. Oh, and that's on the house."
Unlimited photo hosting? On the house? Looks like I can soon start learning how to post pictures here. Thanks Blogger.
WE LOVE BLOGGER - THANKS TO BLOGGER
For giving us free unlimited photo hosting
On 5/19/2004 at Blogger's homepage, Biz writes: "Did someone order unlimited photo hosting and an easy way to send pictures to a blog? Hello, Photoblogging should get you started. Oh, and that's on the house."
Unlimited photo hosting? On the house? Looks like I can soon start learning how to post pictures here. Thanks Blogger.
# posted by Ingrid @ 5/21/2004
- - -
MAC OS X HIGHLY CRITICAL SECURITY FLAW:
What to do
Following on from my previous post, American blogger and techie extraordinaire Jim O'Connell, at Wirefarm in Tokyo, says "if you use a Mac, please read this. There is a serious vulnerability in OS X right now that will let a web page or email do bad stuff to your files. It could delete any file that you, as a user, have permission to delete."
- - -
Note, Of course, I can't understand a word of it and have never heard of Telnet. I'll try following the instructions again, after posting this. I may need to take a short blogging break to sort this out and, while I'm at it, get Symantec's anti virus protection (is that the best for a Mac, does any reader know?) installed on my new PowerBook G4. I hope other Mac users take the time out to do same.
- - -
Update: Thanks to Liz Lawley for posting these easy step instructions (I'll try them as soon as I've posted this):
"If, like me, you just want to know how to fix this fast (since Apple has apparently known about this since February and hasn’t fixed it, it wouldn’t be wise to wait for their patch), here’s the approach to use:
1. Download the freeware tool More Internet.
2. From the disk image, run “install prefpane,” which will put the MoreInternet preference panel into your System Preferences panel.
3. Open the MoreInternet panel, and select the help: protocol.
4. Change the application it launches from the Help Viewer (which has the script-running vulnerability) to something benign. (I used TextEdit.) I used Chess, which, unlike TextEdit, gives me a clear visual cue that a page tried to invoke the help: protocol.
5. Make sure it worked by going to the scary but harmless example.
In my comments, Jay Allen points out that you should repeat steps 3 and 4 for the disk: protocol, as well."
- - -
Update 11.05 am: I've carried out steps 1-4. If I'm not supposed to end up with the PICTURE of a chessboard when I click into step 5, please don't laugh at me - because that's what I've got. I couldn't work out step 4 and just clicked around, trying to find a way to insert the word Chess - like Liz did. I saw Chess (an application I think) somewhere and clicked onto it. All of a sudden "Chess" replaced the word "Help" in the list that step 4 brings up. Does any reader know if I've done it correctly? Can I now stop worrying about this security flaw? Do I still need to install Norton anti virus? Or is there something better to protect Macs? Any advice would be gratefully received. I cannot bear anymore computer related problems.
MAC OS X HIGHLY CRITICAL SECURITY FLAW:
What to do
Following on from my previous post, American blogger and techie extraordinaire Jim O'Connell, at Wirefarm in Tokyo, says "if you use a Mac, please read this. There is a serious vulnerability in OS X right now that will let a web page or email do bad stuff to your files. It could delete any file that you, as a user, have permission to delete."
- - -
Note, Of course, I can't understand a word of it and have never heard of Telnet. I'll try following the instructions again, after posting this. I may need to take a short blogging break to sort this out and, while I'm at it, get Symantec's anti virus protection (is that the best for a Mac, does any reader know?) installed on my new PowerBook G4. I hope other Mac users take the time out to do same.
- - -
Update: Thanks to Liz Lawley for posting these easy step instructions (I'll try them as soon as I've posted this):
"If, like me, you just want to know how to fix this fast (since Apple has apparently known about this since February and hasn’t fixed it, it wouldn’t be wise to wait for their patch), here’s the approach to use:
1. Download the freeware tool More Internet.
2. From the disk image, run “install prefpane,” which will put the MoreInternet preference panel into your System Preferences panel.
3. Open the MoreInternet panel, and select the help: protocol.
4. Change the application it launches from the Help Viewer (which has the script-running vulnerability) to something benign. (I used TextEdit.) I used Chess, which, unlike TextEdit, gives me a clear visual cue that a page tried to invoke the help: protocol.
5. Make sure it worked by going to the scary but harmless example.
In my comments, Jay Allen points out that you should repeat steps 3 and 4 for the disk: protocol, as well."
- - -
Update 11.05 am: I've carried out steps 1-4. If I'm not supposed to end up with the PICTURE of a chessboard when I click into step 5, please don't laugh at me - because that's what I've got. I couldn't work out step 4 and just clicked around, trying to find a way to insert the word Chess - like Liz did. I saw Chess (an application I think) somewhere and clicked onto it. All of a sudden "Chess" replaced the word "Help" in the list that step 4 brings up. Does any reader know if I've done it correctly? Can I now stop worrying about this security flaw? Do I still need to install Norton anti virus? Or is there something better to protect Macs? Any advice would be gratefully received. I cannot bear anymore computer related problems.
# posted by Ingrid @ 5/21/2004
Thursday, May 20, 2004
MAC OS
Security Warning
Wired News: Mac Hole Has Users, Hackers Abuzz. Apple are addressing the issue. Seems no victims have stepped forward yet.
[via Chris Young]
Security Warning
Wired News: Mac Hole Has Users, Hackers Abuzz. Apple are addressing the issue. Seems no victims have stepped forward yet.
[via Chris Young]
# posted by Ingrid @ 5/20/2004
# posted by Ingrid @ 5/20/2004
- - -
BBC FOLLOWS ONE DAY OF WAR:
In 16 locations around the world
Every minute, two people are killed in conflicts around the world. Often very little is known about the people who are fighting and dying:
The BBC programme One Day of War follows individual fighters in 16 of these wars, over the same 24 hour period. Use this map to find out about each of these conflicts. Why are people fighting? How long have the wars been going on? And how many have died? Then read accounts of the conflicts from each of the 16 locations."
[via Doctor's Orders]
BBC FOLLOWS ONE DAY OF WAR:
In 16 locations around the world
Every minute, two people are killed in conflicts around the world. Often very little is known about the people who are fighting and dying:
The BBC programme One Day of War follows individual fighters in 16 of these wars, over the same 24 hour period. Use this map to find out about each of these conflicts. Why are people fighting? How long have the wars been going on? And how many have died? Then read accounts of the conflicts from each of the 16 locations."
[via Doctor's Orders]
# posted by Ingrid @ 5/20/2004
- - -
UZBEKISTAN:
Is in danger of becoming another Iraq
Clive Soley MP recently commented in his blog, "Uzbekistan is in danger of becoming another Iraq but it is not true that we are not putting pressure on for change. I agree however that there is a strong case for much tougher action. I have raised it but not formally in the House – so you read it here first!"
UZBEKISTAN:
Is in danger of becoming another Iraq
Clive Soley MP recently commented in his blog, "Uzbekistan is in danger of becoming another Iraq but it is not true that we are not putting pressure on for change. I agree however that there is a strong case for much tougher action. I have raised it but not formally in the House – so you read it here first!"
# posted by Ingrid @ 5/20/2004
- - -
IRAQ NEVER DECLARED BINARY ARTILLERY SHELLS FULL OF NERVE AGENT - Like the Sarin round used to attack our troops this week
Tantor says: "Uh oh. Looks like those nasty nonexistent WMDs are rearing their invisible heads. Blaster's Blog reveals that:
"Iraq never declared any binary 155mm artillery shells. In fact, they never claimed any filled with sarin at all in the UNSCOM Final report (Find on "Munitions declared by Iraq as remaining"). Not declared as existing at the end of the Gulf War, not having been destroyed in the Gulf War, not having been destroyed unilaterally. The only binary munitions claimed by the Iraqis were aerial bombs and missile warheads. Not in an artillery shell."
Expect more surprises in the future. Those WMDs are out there somewhere, waiting to be found. Finding this one sarin shell is like Mel Fisher finding the first Spanish doubloons spilled on the seabed from the sunken Atocha."
IRAQ NEVER DECLARED BINARY ARTILLERY SHELLS FULL OF NERVE AGENT - Like the Sarin round used to attack our troops this week
Tantor says: "Uh oh. Looks like those nasty nonexistent WMDs are rearing their invisible heads. Blaster's Blog reveals that:
"Iraq never declared any binary 155mm artillery shells. In fact, they never claimed any filled with sarin at all in the UNSCOM Final report (Find on "Munitions declared by Iraq as remaining"). Not declared as existing at the end of the Gulf War, not having been destroyed in the Gulf War, not having been destroyed unilaterally. The only binary munitions claimed by the Iraqis were aerial bombs and missile warheads. Not in an artillery shell."
Expect more surprises in the future. Those WMDs are out there somewhere, waiting to be found. Finding this one sarin shell is like Mel Fisher finding the first Spanish doubloons spilled on the seabed from the sunken Atocha."
# posted by Ingrid @ 5/20/2004
- - -
ADOPT-A-PLANT
"You call, you dig, you haul, that's all"
Friends of mine have large gardens with lots of big trees. One was especially proud of his fruit and olive trees. I've helped to plant several but have never owned a tree. It must seem a special responsibility, like caring for a pet's wellbeing. Cuddling a tree definitely feels good. Especially when it's warm - it feels alive and emits vibes. Not like hugging dead wood.
Anita blogs about three Giant Sequoias in Lake City, near Seattle, currently awaiting adoption through a free service called Adopt-A-Plant. At ten feet tall, they're still young. Even so, imagine the logistics involved in adopting any tree. Plant Amnesty make it sound so simple: "You call, you dig, you haul, that's all" - and, they say: PLEASE FILL HOLES AND LEAVE THE SITE TIDY.
Seems to me you'd have to read up on the needs of your chosen tree, make the phone calls, get the details and directions and go check it out. Then, return home and select the right spot in your garden. Maybe move other plants to make way. Enlist the help of a friend and organise a truck. Organise another visit to the tree's site. Find necessary tools, sheeting and materials. Get the truck, friend, tools and materials to the site. Dig up a ten foot tall Giant Sequoia without harming its roots and branches. Fill-in the empty hole, clean up the mess and load the tree. Gently drive home, unload and carry the tree to its new spot. Dig and prepare another deep hole. Plant the tree (straight) and fill in the hole. Feed and water the tree and friend. Clean up the mess. Return the truck. Phew. Adopt-A-Plant is a neat idea. But I get tired just thinking about it :-)
- - -
SAY NO TO SHRUB-SHEARING
And remember, stop topping trees!
Plant Amnesty says "people never seem to grasp that all plants, including forsythias have a height and width that is genetically programmed into them, and pruning really can't keep them under a certain size (for any reasonable time). When people prune to make things smaller, they are dismayed to find that the plant speeds up its growth rate to regain its original height."
Part of PlantAmnesty's mission is to provide accurate information about pruning and landscape maintenance. Their advice states: say no to shrub-shearing - and remember, topping is for your banana split, not your tree! See Plant Amnesty's Pruning Tips and 5 Reasons to Stop Topping Trees.
ADOPT-A-PLANT
"You call, you dig, you haul, that's all"
Friends of mine have large gardens with lots of big trees. One was especially proud of his fruit and olive trees. I've helped to plant several but have never owned a tree. It must seem a special responsibility, like caring for a pet's wellbeing. Cuddling a tree definitely feels good. Especially when it's warm - it feels alive and emits vibes. Not like hugging dead wood.
Anita blogs about three Giant Sequoias in Lake City, near Seattle, currently awaiting adoption through a free service called Adopt-A-Plant. At ten feet tall, they're still young. Even so, imagine the logistics involved in adopting any tree. Plant Amnesty make it sound so simple: "You call, you dig, you haul, that's all" - and, they say: PLEASE FILL HOLES AND LEAVE THE SITE TIDY.
Seems to me you'd have to read up on the needs of your chosen tree, make the phone calls, get the details and directions and go check it out. Then, return home and select the right spot in your garden. Maybe move other plants to make way. Enlist the help of a friend and organise a truck. Organise another visit to the tree's site. Find necessary tools, sheeting and materials. Get the truck, friend, tools and materials to the site. Dig up a ten foot tall Giant Sequoia without harming its roots and branches. Fill-in the empty hole, clean up the mess and load the tree. Gently drive home, unload and carry the tree to its new spot. Dig and prepare another deep hole. Plant the tree (straight) and fill in the hole. Feed and water the tree and friend. Clean up the mess. Return the truck. Phew. Adopt-A-Plant is a neat idea. But I get tired just thinking about it :-)
- - -
SAY NO TO SHRUB-SHEARING
And remember, stop topping trees!
Plant Amnesty says "people never seem to grasp that all plants, including forsythias have a height and width that is genetically programmed into them, and pruning really can't keep them under a certain size (for any reasonable time). When people prune to make things smaller, they are dismayed to find that the plant speeds up its growth rate to regain its original height."
Part of PlantAmnesty's mission is to provide accurate information about pruning and landscape maintenance. Their advice states: say no to shrub-shearing - and remember, topping is for your banana split, not your tree! See Plant Amnesty's Pruning Tips and 5 Reasons to Stop Topping Trees.
# posted by Ingrid @ 5/20/2004
Wednesday, May 19, 2004
HOW THE BLOG WORD GETS AROUND
The Memespread Project
The blogosphere has a strange ability to push a seemingly obscure idea into the forefront of people's minds in a heartbeat. How this happens is a bit of a mystery. Sam Arbesman wanted to know how it works, so he created a meme and set it loose. Read the rest at Wired News - and the Memespread Project analysis.
Courtesy via Chris Gulker via Gavin's Blog
- - -
WEBLOGS
A history and perspective
Veteran blogger Rebecca Blood's essay on weblogs: a history and perspective.
- - -
STUCK FOR BLOGS TO READ?
Ask Meta Filter - And ye shall receive
Metafilter, a Community Weblog. Note their page on "what's a weblog? - a comprehensive history of weblogs."
- - -
TONY RANDALL DIED
And Pauly won five dollars
When you get to know how hard Pauly in NYC works at getting lucky, you can't help laughing at this.
Here's something for you Pauly: "Breaking Vegas" and the The Divine Mr. M. ;-)
The Memespread Project
The blogosphere has a strange ability to push a seemingly obscure idea into the forefront of people's minds in a heartbeat. How this happens is a bit of a mystery. Sam Arbesman wanted to know how it works, so he created a meme and set it loose. Read the rest at Wired News - and the Memespread Project analysis.
Courtesy via Chris Gulker via Gavin's Blog
- - -
WEBLOGS
A history and perspective
Veteran blogger Rebecca Blood's essay on weblogs: a history and perspective.
- - -
STUCK FOR BLOGS TO READ?
Ask Meta Filter - And ye shall receive
Metafilter, a Community Weblog. Note their page on "what's a weblog? - a comprehensive history of weblogs."
- - -
TONY RANDALL DIED
And Pauly won five dollars
When you get to know how hard Pauly in NYC works at getting lucky, you can't help laughing at this.
Here's something for you Pauly: "Breaking Vegas" and the The Divine Mr. M. ;-)
# posted by Ingrid @ 5/19/2004
- - -
BLOGGING PROTECTS AGAINST ALZHEIMER'S :-)
Use it or lose it
Courtesy of the Lancet Neurology June 2004 issue: Does doing the crossword every day protect against dementia? Or are those of us who don't participate in such cerebral activities already in the early stages of cognitive decline? Laura Fratiglioni and co-authors systematically analyse the published longitudinal studies exploring the effects of social network, physical activity, and non-physical leisure on cognition and dementia. They conclude that an active and socially integrated lifestyle in late life seems to protect against dementia and Alzheimer's disease.
- - -
ORAL SIMVASTATIN AND MS
Could it help ME?
Courtesy of the Lancet Neurology June 2004 issue: Statins and MS Drug treatments for multiple sclerosis (MS) are expensive and only partially effective. Recent knowledge that statins promote an anti-inflammatory response from the immune system suggest a potential in the treatment of MS. Timothy Vollmer and colleagues report that a daily dose of oral simvastatin over a 6-month period could inhibit the inflammatory components of MS that lead to neurological disability.
BLOGGING PROTECTS AGAINST ALZHEIMER'S :-)
Use it or lose it
Courtesy of the Lancet Neurology June 2004 issue: Does doing the crossword every day protect against dementia? Or are those of us who don't participate in such cerebral activities already in the early stages of cognitive decline? Laura Fratiglioni and co-authors systematically analyse the published longitudinal studies exploring the effects of social network, physical activity, and non-physical leisure on cognition and dementia. They conclude that an active and socially integrated lifestyle in late life seems to protect against dementia and Alzheimer's disease.
- - -
ORAL SIMVASTATIN AND MS
Could it help ME?
Courtesy of the Lancet Neurology June 2004 issue: Statins and MS Drug treatments for multiple sclerosis (MS) are expensive and only partially effective. Recent knowledge that statins promote an anti-inflammatory response from the immune system suggest a potential in the treatment of MS. Timothy Vollmer and colleagues report that a daily dose of oral simvastatin over a 6-month period could inhibit the inflammatory components of MS that lead to neurological disability.
# posted by Ingrid @ 5/19/2004
Tuesday, May 18, 2004
FROM THE COUNTRYSIDE WEST OF BOSTON:
Jim Moore with Canon Elph in his back yard
Imagine yourself blogging while sitting on cool grass beneath Jim Moore's trees, on a perfect day like this.
Surely writing in such peaceful surroundings, while taking in the sights, scents and sounds of the breeze and wildlife buzzing around, would affect the depth and tone of one's composition. And make the mindless destruction of life and this planet seem even crazier. Nature is so beautiful.
Imagine leaning back against one of Jim's trees, and looking up at the sky and sunlight through the leaves, and thinking about all the young soldiers battling to defend us, and bringing freedom and democracy to the people of Iraq. Heavily kitted out in the heat and dust. Guarding, fighting and social working on foot and in hot noisy tanks. Absorbing the daily pressures and tensions. Gas masks, chemical suits and bayonets at the ready. Being spat on and shot at, booby trapped, stoned, ambushed, beaten, tortured, bombed, maimed, mutilated or killed - and, all the while, thinking of the folks back home and the politicians and media saying that what they are doing in Iraq is wrong.
God bless and thank you to the soldiers of the world who are battling for us all, and sacrificing their lives, so that we may all enjoy freedom and democracy and continue living in peace while defending this beautiful Earth of ours.
Jim Moore with Canon Elph in his back yard
Imagine yourself blogging while sitting on cool grass beneath Jim Moore's trees, on a perfect day like this.
Surely writing in such peaceful surroundings, while taking in the sights, scents and sounds of the breeze and wildlife buzzing around, would affect the depth and tone of one's composition. And make the mindless destruction of life and this planet seem even crazier. Nature is so beautiful.
Imagine leaning back against one of Jim's trees, and looking up at the sky and sunlight through the leaves, and thinking about all the young soldiers battling to defend us, and bringing freedom and democracy to the people of Iraq. Heavily kitted out in the heat and dust. Guarding, fighting and social working on foot and in hot noisy tanks. Absorbing the daily pressures and tensions. Gas masks, chemical suits and bayonets at the ready. Being spat on and shot at, booby trapped, stoned, ambushed, beaten, tortured, bombed, maimed, mutilated or killed - and, all the while, thinking of the folks back home and the politicians and media saying that what they are doing in Iraq is wrong.
God bless and thank you to the soldiers of the world who are battling for us all, and sacrificing their lives, so that we may all enjoy freedom and democracy and continue living in peace while defending this beautiful Earth of ours.
# posted by Ingrid @ 5/18/2004
Monday, May 17, 2004
ALL MOBILE USERS PAY ATTENTION
ACE message is most definitely a hoax
There's an email circulating saying: "If you receive a phone call and your mobile phone displays (ACE) on the screen don't answer the call. End the call immediately. If you answer the call, your phone will be infected by a virus. This virus will erase all IMEI and IMSI information from both your phone and your SIM card, which will make your phone unable to connect with the telephone network. You will have to buy a new phone. This information has been confirmed by both Motorola and Nokia. There are over 3 million mobile phones being infected by this virus in USA now. You can also check this news in the CNN website. Please forward this piece of information to all your friends."
To check if this was a hoax, I emailed British technologist Pete Barr-Watson in Brighton, England. Here's Pete's response: "...As for the ACE message, it is most definitely a hoax. The ACE name would have to be in your directory to show up, and there are so many different operating systems and variations that there are no mobile viruses that are likely to produce this result. (actually, I just googled it too, and got this response --> http://us.mcafee.com/virusInfo/default.asp?id=description&virus_k=99320)."
- - -
CATCHING UP ON MEMORIES
Pete's Flash fame and dot.com years
Pete's nearly finished writing the story of his dot.com years. On his forthcoming book (the dotcom years and more) he says: "Writing about the last few years has been quite cathartic for me. I went through my 30-something years embroiled in the whole dotcom phenomenon one way or another. I saw things, heard things and did things that seem fantastical to me now and the constituent parts make for a more dynamic story than any fictional novel could deliver! Money, drugs, intrigue, subterfuge, sex and rock and roll - it's all there... I'll get it finished by summer hopefully and then publish it here under a CC license. Not sure about naming names yet though; we'll see..."
BTW Pete's wowy bod is in the link above - here's his handsome cheery face :-)
ACE message is most definitely a hoax
There's an email circulating saying: "If you receive a phone call and your mobile phone displays (ACE) on the screen don't answer the call. End the call immediately. If you answer the call, your phone will be infected by a virus. This virus will erase all IMEI and IMSI information from both your phone and your SIM card, which will make your phone unable to connect with the telephone network. You will have to buy a new phone. This information has been confirmed by both Motorola and Nokia. There are over 3 million mobile phones being infected by this virus in USA now. You can also check this news in the CNN website. Please forward this piece of information to all your friends."
To check if this was a hoax, I emailed British technologist Pete Barr-Watson in Brighton, England. Here's Pete's response: "...As for the ACE message, it is most definitely a hoax. The ACE name would have to be in your directory to show up, and there are so many different operating systems and variations that there are no mobile viruses that are likely to produce this result. (actually, I just googled it too, and got this response --> http://us.mcafee.com/virusInfo/default.asp?id=description&virus_k=99320)."
- - -
CATCHING UP ON MEMORIES
Pete's Flash fame and dot.com years
Pete's nearly finished writing the story of his dot.com years. On his forthcoming book (the dotcom years and more) he says: "Writing about the last few years has been quite cathartic for me. I went through my 30-something years embroiled in the whole dotcom phenomenon one way or another. I saw things, heard things and did things that seem fantastical to me now and the constituent parts make for a more dynamic story than any fictional novel could deliver! Money, drugs, intrigue, subterfuge, sex and rock and roll - it's all there... I'll get it finished by summer hopefully and then publish it here under a CC license. Not sure about naming names yet though; we'll see..."
BTW Pete's wowy bod is in the link above - here's his handsome cheery face :-)
# posted by Ingrid @ 5/17/2004
- - -
HOW BLOGGERS MIGHT MAKE A LIVING
Ghost blogging for celebrities
British blogger Suw Charman at Chocolate and Vodka enjoys writing and wants to make a living out of blogging. Here's Tom Mangan's great idea on how bloggers might make a living: start blogging about your favourite celeb, they might just hire you. In other words: ghost blogging. Tom suggests that famous people might eventually start blogging to use it as a publicity tool. As they may not have the time, or inclination, they could hire fans to ghost blog for them.
People ghost write books for well known people, I don't see why bloggers can't ghost write blogs.
Gavin Sheridan says "what you do is: create this wonderful celeb blog, attract all this attention and traffic, and when the celeb's "people" contact you, you say, "well, you know, I'd love to be able to do this full-time, but ...."
- - -
GAVIN'S PHOTO AND BIO
He's a 23-year-old cutie :-)
Check out Gavin Sheridan's photo and his blog's bio:
Gavin Sheridan is a freelance journalist based between London and Cork. He has been published in such luminary titles as the Irish Examiner and the New Statesman. Before doing freelance hackery he worked as a technical writer, bartender, and tradesman. He attended the Milltown Institute, completing one year of a three year philosophy degree. He is (obviously) the initiator of this weblog, established in June 2002. In his spare time he enjoys reading history, politics and philosophy. He enjoys music, mainly Irish and Classical. He also enjoys pints of Murphy's.
Gavin's co-bloggers are: Isabelle Esling who hails from France - English is her third language after German and French. She is an Eminem fanatic, and mainly posts on hip hop and R&B music. She also posts on French issues. She is a single mother with two children.
And, Anthony Sheridan, Gavin's uncle - currently retired, spending his time reading and writing. Before retirement he was Chief Petty Officer in the Irish Navy, in the communications division. Upon retirement he studied at University College Cork, achieving a degree in Philosophy and Greek/Roman civilisation."
- - -
BLOGGER NEWS
Hooray for Bloggywood
Congratulations are in order for one of Blogger's users. Film deal for 'Baghdad blogger': "The Baghdad Blog, a book based on an online diary written by an Iraqi man about life during the conflict there, is to be made into a film." First a book, then a movie and it all started at Blogger. Nice! – Biz [5/12/2004 12:16:00 PM]
- - -
MOVABLE TYPE 3.0
Mena answers some questions
Note to Wendy who's testing beta MT 3.0: there's a discussion at Joi Ito's re Mena answers questions on MT 3.0. Thought you and other MT users might be interested. Good luck with your exams. Thinking of you.
HOW BLOGGERS MIGHT MAKE A LIVING
Ghost blogging for celebrities
British blogger Suw Charman at Chocolate and Vodka enjoys writing and wants to make a living out of blogging. Here's Tom Mangan's great idea on how bloggers might make a living: start blogging about your favourite celeb, they might just hire you. In other words: ghost blogging. Tom suggests that famous people might eventually start blogging to use it as a publicity tool. As they may not have the time, or inclination, they could hire fans to ghost blog for them.
People ghost write books for well known people, I don't see why bloggers can't ghost write blogs.
Gavin Sheridan says "what you do is: create this wonderful celeb blog, attract all this attention and traffic, and when the celeb's "people" contact you, you say, "well, you know, I'd love to be able to do this full-time, but ...."
- - -
GAVIN'S PHOTO AND BIO
He's a 23-year-old cutie :-)
Check out Gavin Sheridan's photo and his blog's bio:
Gavin Sheridan is a freelance journalist based between London and Cork. He has been published in such luminary titles as the Irish Examiner and the New Statesman. Before doing freelance hackery he worked as a technical writer, bartender, and tradesman. He attended the Milltown Institute, completing one year of a three year philosophy degree. He is (obviously) the initiator of this weblog, established in June 2002. In his spare time he enjoys reading history, politics and philosophy. He enjoys music, mainly Irish and Classical. He also enjoys pints of Murphy's.
Gavin's co-bloggers are: Isabelle Esling who hails from France - English is her third language after German and French. She is an Eminem fanatic, and mainly posts on hip hop and R&B music. She also posts on French issues. She is a single mother with two children.
And, Anthony Sheridan, Gavin's uncle - currently retired, spending his time reading and writing. Before retirement he was Chief Petty Officer in the Irish Navy, in the communications division. Upon retirement he studied at University College Cork, achieving a degree in Philosophy and Greek/Roman civilisation."
- - -
BLOGGER NEWS
Hooray for Bloggywood
Congratulations are in order for one of Blogger's users. Film deal for 'Baghdad blogger': "The Baghdad Blog, a book based on an online diary written by an Iraqi man about life during the conflict there, is to be made into a film." First a book, then a movie and it all started at Blogger. Nice! – Biz [5/12/2004 12:16:00 PM]
- - -
MOVABLE TYPE 3.0
Mena answers some questions
Note to Wendy who's testing beta MT 3.0: there's a discussion at Joi Ito's re Mena answers questions on MT 3.0. Thought you and other MT users might be interested. Good luck with your exams. Thinking of you.
# posted by Ingrid @ 5/17/2004
- - -
IRAQI ARTILLARY ROUND CONTAINING SARIN
Exploded near a US military convoy a few days ago
The Scotsman and San Francisco Chronicle reports that a roadside bomb containing sarin nerve agent exploded near a U.S. military convoy, the U.S. military said today.
"The Iraqi Survey Group confirmed today that a 155-millimeter artillery round containing sarin nerve agent had been found," said Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt, the chief military spokesman in Iraq. "The round had been rigged as an IED (improvised explosive device) which was discovered by a U.S. force convoy. "A detonation occurred before the IED could be rendered inoperable. This produced a very small dispersal of agent. The incident occurred "a couple of days ago", he said.
The round was an old `binary-type' shell in which two chemicals held in separate sections are mixed after firing to produce sarin, Kimmitt said. He said he believed that insurgents who rigged the artillery shell as a bomb didn't know it contained the nerve agent, and that the dispersal of the nerve agent from such a rigged device was very limited.
"The former regime had declared all such rounds destroyed before the 1991 Gulf War," Kimmitt said. "Two explosive ordinance team members were treated for minor exposure to nerve agent as a result of the partial detonation of the round."
The Iraqi Survey Group is a U.S. organization whose task was to search for weapons of mass destruction after the ouster of Saddam Hussein in last year's invasion.
Update:
BBC News Middle East 'Nerve gas bomb' explodes in Iraq
- - -
In 1984 Iraq started producing Sarin
In 1988 Saddam Hussein used it to gas thousands of Kurds in Iraq
In 1995 Iraq admitted to possessing 790 tons of Sarin
"The former regime had declared all such rounds destroyed before the 1991 Gulf War" - Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt, the chief military spokesman in Iraq.
- - -
Update 19 May: Tantor links to the Fox News report and writes: "Military Finds Nearly A Gallon Of Sarin In Iraqi Shell. The shell, rigged as a bomb to ambush our troops, contained nearly a gallon of sarin. One drop on your skin will kill you dead. Saddam dropped sarin on the Kurdish town of Halabja in 1988, killing 5,000 and injuring 65,000."
- - -
Note, Sarin Nerve Gas. Nerve gases work by inhibiting key enzymes in the nervous system, blocking their transmission. Small exposures can be treated with antidotes, if administered quickly. Antidotes to nerve gases similar to sarin are so effective that top poison gas researchers predict they eventually will cease to be a war threat.
IRAQI ARTILLARY ROUND CONTAINING SARIN
Exploded near a US military convoy a few days ago
The Scotsman and San Francisco Chronicle reports that a roadside bomb containing sarin nerve agent exploded near a U.S. military convoy, the U.S. military said today.
"The Iraqi Survey Group confirmed today that a 155-millimeter artillery round containing sarin nerve agent had been found," said Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt, the chief military spokesman in Iraq. "The round had been rigged as an IED (improvised explosive device) which was discovered by a U.S. force convoy. "A detonation occurred before the IED could be rendered inoperable. This produced a very small dispersal of agent. The incident occurred "a couple of days ago", he said.
The round was an old `binary-type' shell in which two chemicals held in separate sections are mixed after firing to produce sarin, Kimmitt said. He said he believed that insurgents who rigged the artillery shell as a bomb didn't know it contained the nerve agent, and that the dispersal of the nerve agent from such a rigged device was very limited.
"The former regime had declared all such rounds destroyed before the 1991 Gulf War," Kimmitt said. "Two explosive ordinance team members were treated for minor exposure to nerve agent as a result of the partial detonation of the round."
The Iraqi Survey Group is a U.S. organization whose task was to search for weapons of mass destruction after the ouster of Saddam Hussein in last year's invasion.
Update:
BBC News Middle East 'Nerve gas bomb' explodes in Iraq
- - -
In 1984 Iraq started producing Sarin
In 1988 Saddam Hussein used it to gas thousands of Kurds in Iraq
In 1995 Iraq admitted to possessing 790 tons of Sarin
"The former regime had declared all such rounds destroyed before the 1991 Gulf War" - Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt, the chief military spokesman in Iraq.
- - -
Update 19 May: Tantor links to the Fox News report and writes: "Military Finds Nearly A Gallon Of Sarin In Iraqi Shell. The shell, rigged as a bomb to ambush our troops, contained nearly a gallon of sarin. One drop on your skin will kill you dead. Saddam dropped sarin on the Kurdish town of Halabja in 1988, killing 5,000 and injuring 65,000."
- - -
Note, Sarin Nerve Gas. Nerve gases work by inhibiting key enzymes in the nervous system, blocking their transmission. Small exposures can be treated with antidotes, if administered quickly. Antidotes to nerve gases similar to sarin are so effective that top poison gas researchers predict they eventually will cease to be a war threat.
# posted by Ingrid @ 5/17/2004
- - -
NEW BBC CHAIRMAN
Predicts having to argue and battle for public support
Today, Michael Grade took up his post as the new BBC Chairman, after former chairman Gavyn Davies resigned following the Hutton Report. He said his toughest challenge would be to defend the licence fee. He predicted great public debate about the future of the licence fee and said, "If the BBC arguments are strong enough, and there is enough public support, hopefully we will win the debate."
"It would be wrong to say I am confident," he added. "One is very, very hopeful that people care deeply enough about the BBC to want to see it continue. We must better their expectations." He said the BBC could not take its "privileged position as a 'cherished institution' for granted". "We need to make a compelling case for the BBC to be allowed to continue as the unique, vibrant and creative organisation we know it to be," he said.
- - -
In my view, the trouble with those statements is that the BBC has taken its privileged position as a 'cherished institution' for granted for far too long. Over the past 40 years, people like myself did care deeply enough about the BBC for it to become that 'cherished institution'. However, too much damage has been done to date. The BBC is simply too arrogant to learn anything from the Hutton Report. Who knows how many BBC staff thumbed their noses at it and put it down to a whitewash. This is why no argument they now put forward can win back trust. Once trust has gone. It's too late. I would not trust any BBC news report in the run up to political elections in the US and UK, and the all important Referendum on Europe.
Yesterday I saw a cartoon. Probably in the Sunday Times. Two reporters standing in an office at the Daily Mirror newspaper. They were looking out of a window. And could see a flying saucer in the sky hovering towards them. With cameras at the ready, they hesitated and paused... The caption said: "But who'd ever believe us?.."
NEW BBC CHAIRMAN
Predicts having to argue and battle for public support
Today, Michael Grade took up his post as the new BBC Chairman, after former chairman Gavyn Davies resigned following the Hutton Report. He said his toughest challenge would be to defend the licence fee. He predicted great public debate about the future of the licence fee and said, "If the BBC arguments are strong enough, and there is enough public support, hopefully we will win the debate."
"It would be wrong to say I am confident," he added. "One is very, very hopeful that people care deeply enough about the BBC to want to see it continue. We must better their expectations." He said the BBC could not take its "privileged position as a 'cherished institution' for granted". "We need to make a compelling case for the BBC to be allowed to continue as the unique, vibrant and creative organisation we know it to be," he said.
- - -
In my view, the trouble with those statements is that the BBC has taken its privileged position as a 'cherished institution' for granted for far too long. Over the past 40 years, people like myself did care deeply enough about the BBC for it to become that 'cherished institution'. However, too much damage has been done to date. The BBC is simply too arrogant to learn anything from the Hutton Report. Who knows how many BBC staff thumbed their noses at it and put it down to a whitewash. This is why no argument they now put forward can win back trust. Once trust has gone. It's too late. I would not trust any BBC news report in the run up to political elections in the US and UK, and the all important Referendum on Europe.
Yesterday I saw a cartoon. Probably in the Sunday Times. Two reporters standing in an office at the Daily Mirror newspaper. They were looking out of a window. And could see a flying saucer in the sky hovering towards them. With cameras at the ready, they hesitated and paused... The caption said: "But who'd ever believe us?.."
# posted by Ingrid @ 5/17/2004
- - -
A HISTORY OF TERROR
Pictures of Saddam Hussein's reign
Following on from my last post yesterday about a video showing atrocities by Saddam Hussein's regime, I've found a website called "A History of Terror" that appears to have been on the net before the war in Iraq. It shows images of some of the horrors that were committed by Saddam and his regime, against Iraq, Iraqis and the entire region. Note how the intro states: "the images speak for themselves and ask all of us to vote him out - on this page we are including images of the horrors that were committed by Saddam and his regime, against Iraq, Iraqis and the entire region."
I discovered the link to A History of Terror in a comment at Roger Simon's post re the "Saddam torture videos". The comment explains, "I have no way to authenticate but then I don't run a newspaper. There are quite a few absolutely horrible images, particularly of a child that just broke my heart. I know these images have been floating around for at least before the campaign started. Sad."
A HISTORY OF TERROR
Pictures of Saddam Hussein's reign
Following on from my last post yesterday about a video showing atrocities by Saddam Hussein's regime, I've found a website called "A History of Terror" that appears to have been on the net before the war in Iraq. It shows images of some of the horrors that were committed by Saddam and his regime, against Iraq, Iraqis and the entire region. Note how the intro states: "the images speak for themselves and ask all of us to vote him out - on this page we are including images of the horrors that were committed by Saddam and his regime, against Iraq, Iraqis and the entire region."
I discovered the link to A History of Terror in a comment at Roger Simon's post re the "Saddam torture videos". The comment explains, "I have no way to authenticate but then I don't run a newspaper. There are quite a few absolutely horrible images, particularly of a child that just broke my heart. I know these images have been floating around for at least before the campaign started. Sad."
# posted by Ingrid @ 5/17/2004
Sunday, May 16, 2004
BEST OF SADDAM TORTURE VIDEOS COMING SOON
The Real Picture Show
Today Tantor, blogging out of Washington DC, points to his fellow American blogger Roger Simon who says that videos of Saddam's torture will be released publicly soon by way of Alhurra, a new Arab-language TV station, which include Kurds being castrated, beheadings while onlookers sing "Happy Birthday, Saddam," amputation of fingers, people thrown off a four story building (one while wearing a Superman suit), scourging, gassing of babies, and much, much more. Tantor says it's enough to make Howard Dean admit Saddam is bad.
The Real Picture Show
Today Tantor, blogging out of Washington DC, points to his fellow American blogger Roger Simon who says that videos of Saddam's torture will be released publicly soon by way of Alhurra, a new Arab-language TV station, which include Kurds being castrated, beheadings while onlookers sing "Happy Birthday, Saddam," amputation of fingers, people thrown off a four story building (one while wearing a Superman suit), scourging, gassing of babies, and much, much more. Tantor says it's enough to make Howard Dean admit Saddam is bad.
# posted by Ingrid @ 5/16/2004
- - -
ON IRAQ NOW: STAY THE COURSE - NEVER LET THE BAD PICTURES
LAY THEIR HEAVY SHADOW ON THE GOOD, BRIGHT ONES
Norman Geras collected a number of different items he'd read in the last couple of days about the state of things in Iraq. Here are some extracts (note the last sentence):
Mohammed at Iraq the Model: The point behind all these pictures and stories I mentioned [earlier in the post] is that the people started to speak out and express their feelings and here we're in great need for support from the free world to back the progress. Moving back is absolutely unacceptable; we've put our feet on the right way and we need help from the others. Never let the bad pictures lay their heavy shadow on the good, bright ones.
Pam Bone in the Melbourne Age: There are other stories in Iraq too - money on a scale not seen since the Marshall Plan is being spent on water, sanitation, training, public health; 3 million children are being vaccinated; more than 80 new women's groups have been formed and last week Baghdad's first women's refuge was set up. On Wednesday full authority of the ministries of foreign affairs and of water resources was handed back to the Iraqi people. Iraq has been reinstated into the UN and the Arab League. The supervisor of 17 recent town council elections reported that nearly all the successful candidates were educated moderates. "Enthusiasm for these elections was enormous," the supervisor said.
Ann Clwyd in the the Times: There are many positive signs of renewal. Dr Latif Rashid, the Minister for Water and Irrigation, is co-ordinating the effort to restore the Marshlands, drained by Saddam. Thousands of displaced Marsh Arabs are returning to the area to resume a way of life and culture that was 5,000 years old. Civic society is flourishing. There are 91 TV and radio stations, 106 newspapers are regularly published, hundreds of Iraqi journalists are being trained to question rather than parrot regime press releases. Voluntary organisations such as the Free Prisoners' Association are proliferating. It gathers documents detailing the atrocities of the fallen regime to help to inform those who are still trying to trace their relatives. They have recorded 120,00 killings so far with a mountain of documents to work through. For them the grief and the suffering under Saddam is not yet in the past.
.....
There is little nostalgia for Saddam and a mixture of apprehension and optimism about the future. The task of rebuilding Iraq was never going to be easy. The years of brutalisation and deprivation brought Iraqis to their knees. I asked Dr Ali Allawi, the new Minister for Defence, what Britain could do now. His answer was swift: "Just stay the course."
- - -
Ann Clwyd MP
Wins prestigious political award
Ann Clywd MP, Vice-Chairman of the British Group of the IPU, was chosen as Campaigning Politician of the Year in Channel 4’s Political Awards for 2003. Ann who won the award in a ballot of MPs has been doggedly campaigning for years on behalf of the Kurds in Iraq. The year before, as the Prime Minister’s special envoy on human rights, she gave a graphic and moving account to MPs in Westminster of her post-war visits to mass graves in Iraq and Saddam’s torture chambers. Ann is also noted for her work as a long-standing member of the IPU’s International Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians.
ON IRAQ NOW: STAY THE COURSE - NEVER LET THE BAD PICTURES
LAY THEIR HEAVY SHADOW ON THE GOOD, BRIGHT ONES
Norman Geras collected a number of different items he'd read in the last couple of days about the state of things in Iraq. Here are some extracts (note the last sentence):
Mohammed at Iraq the Model: The point behind all these pictures and stories I mentioned [earlier in the post] is that the people started to speak out and express their feelings and here we're in great need for support from the free world to back the progress. Moving back is absolutely unacceptable; we've put our feet on the right way and we need help from the others. Never let the bad pictures lay their heavy shadow on the good, bright ones.
Pam Bone in the Melbourne Age: There are other stories in Iraq too - money on a scale not seen since the Marshall Plan is being spent on water, sanitation, training, public health; 3 million children are being vaccinated; more than 80 new women's groups have been formed and last week Baghdad's first women's refuge was set up. On Wednesday full authority of the ministries of foreign affairs and of water resources was handed back to the Iraqi people. Iraq has been reinstated into the UN and the Arab League. The supervisor of 17 recent town council elections reported that nearly all the successful candidates were educated moderates. "Enthusiasm for these elections was enormous," the supervisor said.
Ann Clwyd in the the Times: There are many positive signs of renewal. Dr Latif Rashid, the Minister for Water and Irrigation, is co-ordinating the effort to restore the Marshlands, drained by Saddam. Thousands of displaced Marsh Arabs are returning to the area to resume a way of life and culture that was 5,000 years old. Civic society is flourishing. There are 91 TV and radio stations, 106 newspapers are regularly published, hundreds of Iraqi journalists are being trained to question rather than parrot regime press releases. Voluntary organisations such as the Free Prisoners' Association are proliferating. It gathers documents detailing the atrocities of the fallen regime to help to inform those who are still trying to trace their relatives. They have recorded 120,00 killings so far with a mountain of documents to work through. For them the grief and the suffering under Saddam is not yet in the past.
.....
There is little nostalgia for Saddam and a mixture of apprehension and optimism about the future. The task of rebuilding Iraq was never going to be easy. The years of brutalisation and deprivation brought Iraqis to their knees. I asked Dr Ali Allawi, the new Minister for Defence, what Britain could do now. His answer was swift: "Just stay the course."
- - -
Ann Clwyd MP
Wins prestigious political award
Ann Clywd MP, Vice-Chairman of the British Group of the IPU, was chosen as Campaigning Politician of the Year in Channel 4’s Political Awards for 2003. Ann who won the award in a ballot of MPs has been doggedly campaigning for years on behalf of the Kurds in Iraq. The year before, as the Prime Minister’s special envoy on human rights, she gave a graphic and moving account to MPs in Westminster of her post-war visits to mass graves in Iraq and Saddam’s torture chambers. Ann is also noted for her work as a long-standing member of the IPU’s International Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians.
# posted by Ingrid @ 5/16/2004
- - -
BBC'S CURRENT ROYAL CHARTER EXPIRES IN 2006
Beyond the Charter - The BBC after 2006
Via Abolish the TV Licence: "In 2006, the Royal Charter under which the BBC operates will expire, and new arrangements will have to replace it. The form these will take must be decided at a time of both change and controversy. As channels proliferate, the corporation's once unchallenged role in the broadcasting firmament is being transformed. At the same time, the scale of its activities, the character of its output and the way it is run and funded are being questioned as never before, while the Hutton verdict has called into question its journalism, management and governance.
During May 2003, the Conservative Party asked a group of broadcasting experts to analyse the issues raised and to propose a path through them. The group were entirely independent of the party, which is not bound to accept their conclusions. This report sets out their proposals."
- - -
BBC INTERNAL ENQUIRY
Clears its Editors May 10 2004
Stephen Pollard writes "Quelle surprise:
Who'd have believed it, eh? The BBC's internal enquiry has has found that its senior managers and editors all behaved impeccably.
That's OK then. Much ado about nothing then. Phew."
- - -
BBC INTERNAL ENQUIRY
Public Disservice Broadcasting
Melanie Phillips's Diary
- - -
STEPHEN POLLARD
Biography
Stephen Pollard is a political columnist who writes for most British newspapers, and regularly in the Times, Independent, Sunday Telegraph and Wall Street Journal Europe. He is a Senior Fellow at the Centre for the New Europe, a Brussels-based think tank, where he directs the health policy programme; and at Civitas, the Institute for the Study of Civil Society, in London.
He is currently writing the biography of the British Home Secretary, David Blunkett, which will be published in the spring of 2005. From 1998-2000 he was a columnist and Chief Leader Writer on the Daily Express. From 1995-98 he was Head of Research at the Social Market Foundation, and from 1992-95 Research Director at the Fabian Society. He is the author of numerous pamphlets and books on health and education policy, and is co-author with Andrew Adonis of the best-selling A Class Act – the Myth of Britain’s Classless Society (Penguin, 1998).
He was recently described by the BBC as 'Britain's most prolific columnist'; has been called a 'Labour guru' on the front page of the Sunday Times; and is, according to the Guardian, the man who showed Tony Blair how to reform the NHS - an accusation for which he made the paper make a grovelling apology.
BBC'S CURRENT ROYAL CHARTER EXPIRES IN 2006
Beyond the Charter - The BBC after 2006
Via Abolish the TV Licence: "In 2006, the Royal Charter under which the BBC operates will expire, and new arrangements will have to replace it. The form these will take must be decided at a time of both change and controversy. As channels proliferate, the corporation's once unchallenged role in the broadcasting firmament is being transformed. At the same time, the scale of its activities, the character of its output and the way it is run and funded are being questioned as never before, while the Hutton verdict has called into question its journalism, management and governance.
During May 2003, the Conservative Party asked a group of broadcasting experts to analyse the issues raised and to propose a path through them. The group were entirely independent of the party, which is not bound to accept their conclusions. This report sets out their proposals."
- - -
BBC INTERNAL ENQUIRY
Clears its Editors May 10 2004
Stephen Pollard writes "Quelle surprise:
Who'd have believed it, eh? The BBC's internal enquiry has has found that its senior managers and editors all behaved impeccably.
That's OK then. Much ado about nothing then. Phew."
- - -
BBC INTERNAL ENQUIRY
Public Disservice Broadcasting
Melanie Phillips's Diary
- - -
STEPHEN POLLARD
Biography
Stephen Pollard is a political columnist who writes for most British newspapers, and regularly in the Times, Independent, Sunday Telegraph and Wall Street Journal Europe. He is a Senior Fellow at the Centre for the New Europe, a Brussels-based think tank, where he directs the health policy programme; and at Civitas, the Institute for the Study of Civil Society, in London.
He is currently writing the biography of the British Home Secretary, David Blunkett, which will be published in the spring of 2005. From 1998-2000 he was a columnist and Chief Leader Writer on the Daily Express. From 1995-98 he was Head of Research at the Social Market Foundation, and from 1992-95 Research Director at the Fabian Society. He is the author of numerous pamphlets and books on health and education policy, and is co-author with Andrew Adonis of the best-selling A Class Act – the Myth of Britain’s Classless Society (Penguin, 1998).
He was recently described by the BBC as 'Britain's most prolific columnist'; has been called a 'Labour guru' on the front page of the Sunday Times; and is, according to the Guardian, the man who showed Tony Blair how to reform the NHS - an accusation for which he made the paper make a grovelling apology.
# posted by Ingrid @ 5/16/2004
- - -
A SCOOP TOO FAR: THE TRUE STORY
The hoaxed Mirror apologised -
when will the hoaxed BBC apologise?
This morning is the first time in over two weeks that I've not woken up to the BBC screaming out headlines anti the war on terror and implying that American and British soldiers are shooting young children on purpose for nothing and are abusing Iraqi detainees for fun and games.
How strange that the BBC has all of a sudden found itself able to switch its focus and headlines onto Israel while the top headline in today's Sunday Times states "Sacked Mirror editor demands £1m payoff" - followed by a two-page spread headed: "A SCOOP TOO FAR: THE TRUE STORY".
Note how today the BBC keep their heads down on the news of a hoax, they participated in, that's destined for the history books. They relentlessly supported the hoax online: where is the apology to UK troops from the BBC, I ask myself. I guess they must be like Piers Morgan, the sacked Editor of the Mirror: too arrogant and egotistical to see the wrongdoing and incalculable damage they've caused for all UK troops in the Middle East. Why could they not stick to the allegations in writing and on air? What drove them to feel justified in showing such graphic faked pictures around the world? Ego, self-serving greed and arrogance that's what.
Some quotes printed in the Sunday Times' report:
"The regiment has seen off Louis XIV, Napolean, Kaiser Bill, Hitler and half a dozen other petty tyrants, so I don't think Piers Morgan is going to be much of a problem for us" - Lieutenant-Colonel John Downham, regimental secretary, Queen's Lancashire Regiment, on Thursday
"This idea that something illustrates a broader point and is therefore justified - when you think of the huge damage it has done around the world and particularly the Middle East - is completely unjustified" - Alastair Campbell, Tony Blair's former director of communications, on Tuesday
"It's time that the ego of one editor is measured against the life of the solder...His removal, hopefully, will start to mend the rupture of relations" - Colonel David Black, former commanding officer of the Queen's Lancashire Regiment, Friday
"It is now clear that the photographs the Mirror published of British soldiers abusing an Iraqi were faked" - Daily Mirror editorial, yesterday.
A SCOOP TOO FAR: THE TRUE STORY
The hoaxed Mirror apologised -
when will the hoaxed BBC apologise?
This morning is the first time in over two weeks that I've not woken up to the BBC screaming out headlines anti the war on terror and implying that American and British soldiers are shooting young children on purpose for nothing and are abusing Iraqi detainees for fun and games.
How strange that the BBC has all of a sudden found itself able to switch its focus and headlines onto Israel while the top headline in today's Sunday Times states "Sacked Mirror editor demands £1m payoff" - followed by a two-page spread headed: "A SCOOP TOO FAR: THE TRUE STORY".
Note how today the BBC keep their heads down on the news of a hoax, they participated in, that's destined for the history books. They relentlessly supported the hoax online: where is the apology to UK troops from the BBC, I ask myself. I guess they must be like Piers Morgan, the sacked Editor of the Mirror: too arrogant and egotistical to see the wrongdoing and incalculable damage they've caused for all UK troops in the Middle East. Why could they not stick to the allegations in writing and on air? What drove them to feel justified in showing such graphic faked pictures around the world? Ego, self-serving greed and arrogance that's what.
Some quotes printed in the Sunday Times' report:
"The regiment has seen off Louis XIV, Napolean, Kaiser Bill, Hitler and half a dozen other petty tyrants, so I don't think Piers Morgan is going to be much of a problem for us" - Lieutenant-Colonel John Downham, regimental secretary, Queen's Lancashire Regiment, on Thursday
"This idea that something illustrates a broader point and is therefore justified - when you think of the huge damage it has done around the world and particularly the Middle East - is completely unjustified" - Alastair Campbell, Tony Blair's former director of communications, on Tuesday
"It's time that the ego of one editor is measured against the life of the solder...His removal, hopefully, will start to mend the rupture of relations" - Colonel David Black, former commanding officer of the Queen's Lancashire Regiment, Friday
"It is now clear that the photographs the Mirror published of British soldiers abusing an Iraqi were faked" - Daily Mirror editorial, yesterday.
# posted by Ingrid @ 5/16/2004
Saturday, May 15, 2004
THE BBC IS A NATIONAL MENACE -
It is an enemy of this country’s interests and a fifth column in time of war
And it is now helping poison the discourse of the world
See updated post below linking to The British Quisling Corporation by professional journalist Melanie Phillips.
Also note these posts on the BBC blogged out of Estonia and Australia.
Update 23 May 2004: Daniel in Estonia posted his observations:
BBC compare
BBC compare
It is an enemy of this country’s interests and a fifth column in time of war
And it is now helping poison the discourse of the world
See updated post below linking to The British Quisling Corporation by professional journalist Melanie Phillips.
Also note these posts on the BBC blogged out of Estonia and Australia.
Update 23 May 2004: Daniel in Estonia posted his observations:
BBC compare
BBC compare
# posted by Ingrid @ 5/15/2004
- - -
IT'S GOOD THAT YOU'RE UPSET
Says Jason Fried whose blogpost attracts 86+ comments
Jason Fried's post "It's good that you're upset" attracted 86+ comments. Crikey. When I write a political post, I'm happy to even get two comments.
This blog receives an average of 400 visitors a week. And although the visitors are roughly fify-fifty male/female - out of the 63 links listed for this blog in Technorati, 14 are females. It appears males are more interested than females in discussing politics, science, engineering, technology and life-threatening events like war and genocide. I can count on one hand the number of comments and links that I've received from female bloggers in response to posts on such topics.
Of course I am generalising, but it appears the majority of males that I come across, do blog about serious issues whereas the majority of female bloggers do not. Most female bloggers appear not to be interested in the machinations of politics, power, business and war, ie the things that seem to make this world go round. Perhaps females feel that it is love that makes the world go round and so their interests are usually concerned with more sensitive and practical issues to do with day-to-day life and hands-on stuff involving creativity, the arts, nature and the environment.
Seems it's not unique to the blogosphere as I can say the same about my non-blogging friends. My female friends seldom initiate conversation on the topics I've mentioned, whereas all of my male friends do. With female friends the conversation usually turns to something else after fifteen minutes. Generally, the opposite happens with my male friends - we talk these topics all the time.
I've noticed a lack of comments on some other blogs too. For example, even some long-standing and high profile American blogs authored by Jim Moore and Halley Suitt seem to attract few comments. So it can't be to do with volume of traffic. Maybe certain posts or blogs are written in such a way that draws readers into feeling OK about posting a hi and a few thoughtful words. Or maybe it's to do with like minded people - for instance, I've noticed on Joi Ito's and Shelley Powers' blog that comments are mostly by readers who are generally supportive.
Usually, I make an effort to leave a few words at every blog I visit regularly. Or I make contact by emailing the author or linking to their post. Jim Moore is one of my daily reads but I've never left a comment. Why? I'm not sure. I've been the first to comment at other blogs elsewhere. Perhaps it's because I know he's anti-Bush/war in Iraq. Not that it makes any difference to my enjoyment of his blog. It's just that by commenting, I'd be in disagreement and I don't want to create bad vibes and upset for him or myself. Not many of us supporters of the war against terror like to be thought of - or accused - by anti-war readers as being stupid, disagreeable, unkindly, uncaring, war mongering, etc.
I'd enjoy reading lengthy discussions here at this blog. What fun to follow the threads and check out the blogs of those commenting. It'd be like having a room full of visitors here by the seaside, whose conversation I can just sit and listen to, think about and blog.
Maybe it's to do with the way one presents a view that compels people to say something. I ought to start paying attention to the construction of posts and compare my posts with others - like Jason's. Here's a copy, in full, of the one that attracted 86+ comments:
"The world is rightfully disgusted by the treatment of some Iraqi prisoners, but the fact that the world is outraged is a good sign that America is still held to a higher standard. The Arab street remained mostly quiet when Saddam tortured for three decades or when American soldiers were dragged through the streets and hung to dangle in public a few weeks back. And how many leaders in the Arab world will be outraged that one of their own ruthlessly beheaded an American contractor after forcing him to name his parents and his siblings (and don’t forget about Daniel Pearl who had to admit he was a Jew before his head was cut off)? The world barely gave notice to the Taliban’s systematic and despicable treatment of women in Afghanistan or the destruction of ancient works of irreplaceable art and culture. The world was barely interested in stopping the carnage in Bosnia until over a half-million were killed (and then the UN still didn’t want to get involved). The world is still barely affected by the genocide taking place right now in Africa. But, when the US humiliates some Iraqi prisoners, people are outraged and are calling for resignations at the highest levels of our government. And that’s a good sign for America. We’re held up to a higher standard and it’s something we should be proud of. Not the vile treatment, of course, but the world’s response. We’re in trouble when people stop caring about how we act as a nation. "
[via Jon Gales at iheartmena: in the past few weeks Jon Gales had several people cite him as "John Gales". I was one of them. I apologised over at Jon's. Copy is in my comments here as a reminder to write a post on why we get upset when our names are printed incorrectly]
IT'S GOOD THAT YOU'RE UPSET
Says Jason Fried whose blogpost attracts 86+ comments
Jason Fried's post "It's good that you're upset" attracted 86+ comments. Crikey. When I write a political post, I'm happy to even get two comments.
This blog receives an average of 400 visitors a week. And although the visitors are roughly fify-fifty male/female - out of the 63 links listed for this blog in Technorati, 14 are females. It appears males are more interested than females in discussing politics, science, engineering, technology and life-threatening events like war and genocide. I can count on one hand the number of comments and links that I've received from female bloggers in response to posts on such topics.
Of course I am generalising, but it appears the majority of males that I come across, do blog about serious issues whereas the majority of female bloggers do not. Most female bloggers appear not to be interested in the machinations of politics, power, business and war, ie the things that seem to make this world go round. Perhaps females feel that it is love that makes the world go round and so their interests are usually concerned with more sensitive and practical issues to do with day-to-day life and hands-on stuff involving creativity, the arts, nature and the environment.
Seems it's not unique to the blogosphere as I can say the same about my non-blogging friends. My female friends seldom initiate conversation on the topics I've mentioned, whereas all of my male friends do. With female friends the conversation usually turns to something else after fifteen minutes. Generally, the opposite happens with my male friends - we talk these topics all the time.
I've noticed a lack of comments on some other blogs too. For example, even some long-standing and high profile American blogs authored by Jim Moore and Halley Suitt seem to attract few comments. So it can't be to do with volume of traffic. Maybe certain posts or blogs are written in such a way that draws readers into feeling OK about posting a hi and a few thoughtful words. Or maybe it's to do with like minded people - for instance, I've noticed on Joi Ito's and Shelley Powers' blog that comments are mostly by readers who are generally supportive.
Usually, I make an effort to leave a few words at every blog I visit regularly. Or I make contact by emailing the author or linking to their post. Jim Moore is one of my daily reads but I've never left a comment. Why? I'm not sure. I've been the first to comment at other blogs elsewhere. Perhaps it's because I know he's anti-Bush/war in Iraq. Not that it makes any difference to my enjoyment of his blog. It's just that by commenting, I'd be in disagreement and I don't want to create bad vibes and upset for him or myself. Not many of us supporters of the war against terror like to be thought of - or accused - by anti-war readers as being stupid, disagreeable, unkindly, uncaring, war mongering, etc.
I'd enjoy reading lengthy discussions here at this blog. What fun to follow the threads and check out the blogs of those commenting. It'd be like having a room full of visitors here by the seaside, whose conversation I can just sit and listen to, think about and blog.
Maybe it's to do with the way one presents a view that compels people to say something. I ought to start paying attention to the construction of posts and compare my posts with others - like Jason's. Here's a copy, in full, of the one that attracted 86+ comments:
"The world is rightfully disgusted by the treatment of some Iraqi prisoners, but the fact that the world is outraged is a good sign that America is still held to a higher standard. The Arab street remained mostly quiet when Saddam tortured for three decades or when American soldiers were dragged through the streets and hung to dangle in public a few weeks back. And how many leaders in the Arab world will be outraged that one of their own ruthlessly beheaded an American contractor after forcing him to name his parents and his siblings (and don’t forget about Daniel Pearl who had to admit he was a Jew before his head was cut off)? The world barely gave notice to the Taliban’s systematic and despicable treatment of women in Afghanistan or the destruction of ancient works of irreplaceable art and culture. The world was barely interested in stopping the carnage in Bosnia until over a half-million were killed (and then the UN still didn’t want to get involved). The world is still barely affected by the genocide taking place right now in Africa. But, when the US humiliates some Iraqi prisoners, people are outraged and are calling for resignations at the highest levels of our government. And that’s a good sign for America. We’re held up to a higher standard and it’s something we should be proud of. Not the vile treatment, of course, but the world’s response. We’re in trouble when people stop caring about how we act as a nation. "
[via Jon Gales at iheartmena: in the past few weeks Jon Gales had several people cite him as "John Gales". I was one of them. I apologised over at Jon's. Copy is in my comments here as a reminder to write a post on why we get upset when our names are printed incorrectly]
# posted by Ingrid @ 5/15/2004
- - -
WHERE'S THE APOLOGY FROM THE BBC?
No other hoax on the scale of the faked Mirror pictures
The Daily Mirror newspaper and BBC News online hoax over two solid weeks endangered British troops. So much damage has been done in the meantime.
The Mirror, on its front page apologised to UK troops, saying: "SORRY..WE WERE HOAXED - Iraqi PoW abuse pictures handed to us WERE fake."
Where's the apology from the BBC? They were just as complicit in doing so much damage. The BBC should apologise too. And everyone responsible for this hoax should be prosecuted.
Note the BBC's report "Mirror not first to be duped": who can recall any other hoax on the scale of the faked Mirror pictures? The allegations made were strong enough NOT to require the use of pictures if there was any degree of suspicion.
Following on from my below listed posts, I am pinging here - via Technorati - four blogging Members of Parliament, in the hope that someone will demand that the BBC apologises to UK troops:
Clive Soley MP
Tom Watson MP
Richard Allan MP
Austin Mitchell MP
May 01: DOUBT CAST ON IRAQ TORTURE PHOTOS - Truck shown in photo was never deployed in Iraq
May 02: WHY IS THE BBC CONTINUOUSLY STIRRING UP TROUBLE FOR EVERYONE IN IRAQ - And not headlining shocking photos of rape and genocide in the Sudan?
May 03: SUDAN IS NOT IGNORED BY THE BBC - It's lack of political and media outrage
May 13: MIRROR PHOTOS CATEGORICALLY NOT TAKEN IN IRAQ - Truck in the photos had never been in Iraq
- - -
Update Sat 18.00 - This morning, BBC News online headlined this world news report: "Mirror apologises to UK troops".
This afternoon, they've replaced it with this headline: "Four arrested over 'Iraq abuse' - four British soldiers have been questioned over allegations of mistreatment of Iraqi prisoners, the MoD says." Click into that BBC report and see the soldiers were questioned under caution and released without charge. Note, it was not connected to the fake Mirror picture story.
The BBC quickly dropped "Mirror apologises to UK troops" in favour of headlining four British soldiers being questioned under caution and being released without charge and that the questioning of the soldiers was unconnected to the fake Mirror pictures. I won't be surprised if they keep that story as a headline for much longer than they kept the "Mirror apologises to UK troops" as a headline story.
- - -
THE BBC IS A NATIONAL MENACE:
It is an enemy of this country’s interests and a fifth column in time of war
And it is now helping poison the discourse of the world
Huge thanks to Melanie Phillips for her May 15, 2004 post The British Quisling Corporation. Read the full post - especially note the report on Ann Clywd MP. Here are some excerpts:
"Over the past few days, the BBC’s virulent bias over Iraq, America and Israel has gone into an utterly astounding overdrive. The scandal over the ill-treatment of Iraqi prisoners has clearly destroyed the last vestiges of any attempt at fairness as hysteria has descended on our public disservice broadcaster. Item after item has mounted attack after attack on America, hyping up the distorting defeatism over Iraq and continuing to promulgate the view that Israel, the victim of the most barbaric atrocities, is instead the root of the problem in the Middle East.
What all this shows is that the BBC has become far more than a redoubt of Guardian and Independent values; far more than a journalistic disgrace; far more than betrayal of the concept of public service broadcasting. It has become nothing short of a national menace, an enemy of this country’s interests and a fifth column in time of war. There is no doubt in my mind that a major reason why otherwise sane and sensible Britons have totally lost touch with reality, believe the US and Israel are the source of all evil while people who play football with the heads of Jews are the victims of injustice, and are on the way to pressurising the British government to pull out of Iraq, denounce America and thus hand victory to religious fascism, is because of the influence of the BBC, our secular church. And because of its immense global prestige and the fact that it is trusted to tell the truth, the BBC is now helping poison the discourse of the world.
The new BBC chairman, Michael Grade, is reported to believe that the BBC must draw a line under the Hutton controversy and that his job is to restore morale. In other words, business as usual. The government, badly burned by the inextricably linked public hostility to Hutton and the war in Iraq, will now not touch the BBC. The Tories, who do not appear to grasp the vital strategic importance for this country of standing shoulder to shoulder with Blair against the anti-Americanism that threatens Britain’s security, have opportunistically sided with the BBC against the government
If the BBC had behaved in this way during World War Two, we would have lost it. If it is allowed to carry on in this fashion, we may lose against the new fascism that threatens us."
WHERE'S THE APOLOGY FROM THE BBC?
No other hoax on the scale of the faked Mirror pictures
The Daily Mirror newspaper and BBC News online hoax over two solid weeks endangered British troops. So much damage has been done in the meantime.
The Mirror, on its front page apologised to UK troops, saying: "SORRY..WE WERE HOAXED - Iraqi PoW abuse pictures handed to us WERE fake."
Where's the apology from the BBC? They were just as complicit in doing so much damage. The BBC should apologise too. And everyone responsible for this hoax should be prosecuted.
Note the BBC's report "Mirror not first to be duped": who can recall any other hoax on the scale of the faked Mirror pictures? The allegations made were strong enough NOT to require the use of pictures if there was any degree of suspicion.
Following on from my below listed posts, I am pinging here - via Technorati - four blogging Members of Parliament, in the hope that someone will demand that the BBC apologises to UK troops:
Clive Soley MP
Tom Watson MP
Richard Allan MP
Austin Mitchell MP
May 01: DOUBT CAST ON IRAQ TORTURE PHOTOS - Truck shown in photo was never deployed in Iraq
May 02: WHY IS THE BBC CONTINUOUSLY STIRRING UP TROUBLE FOR EVERYONE IN IRAQ - And not headlining shocking photos of rape and genocide in the Sudan?
May 03: SUDAN IS NOT IGNORED BY THE BBC - It's lack of political and media outrage
May 13: MIRROR PHOTOS CATEGORICALLY NOT TAKEN IN IRAQ - Truck in the photos had never been in Iraq
- - -
Update Sat 18.00 - This morning, BBC News online headlined this world news report: "Mirror apologises to UK troops".
This afternoon, they've replaced it with this headline: "Four arrested over 'Iraq abuse' - four British soldiers have been questioned over allegations of mistreatment of Iraqi prisoners, the MoD says." Click into that BBC report and see the soldiers were questioned under caution and released without charge. Note, it was not connected to the fake Mirror picture story.
The BBC quickly dropped "Mirror apologises to UK troops" in favour of headlining four British soldiers being questioned under caution and being released without charge and that the questioning of the soldiers was unconnected to the fake Mirror pictures. I won't be surprised if they keep that story as a headline for much longer than they kept the "Mirror apologises to UK troops" as a headline story.
- - -
THE BBC IS A NATIONAL MENACE:
It is an enemy of this country’s interests and a fifth column in time of war
And it is now helping poison the discourse of the world
Huge thanks to Melanie Phillips for her May 15, 2004 post The British Quisling Corporation. Read the full post - especially note the report on Ann Clywd MP. Here are some excerpts:
"Over the past few days, the BBC’s virulent bias over Iraq, America and Israel has gone into an utterly astounding overdrive. The scandal over the ill-treatment of Iraqi prisoners has clearly destroyed the last vestiges of any attempt at fairness as hysteria has descended on our public disservice broadcaster. Item after item has mounted attack after attack on America, hyping up the distorting defeatism over Iraq and continuing to promulgate the view that Israel, the victim of the most barbaric atrocities, is instead the root of the problem in the Middle East.
What all this shows is that the BBC has become far more than a redoubt of Guardian and Independent values; far more than a journalistic disgrace; far more than betrayal of the concept of public service broadcasting. It has become nothing short of a national menace, an enemy of this country’s interests and a fifth column in time of war. There is no doubt in my mind that a major reason why otherwise sane and sensible Britons have totally lost touch with reality, believe the US and Israel are the source of all evil while people who play football with the heads of Jews are the victims of injustice, and are on the way to pressurising the British government to pull out of Iraq, denounce America and thus hand victory to religious fascism, is because of the influence of the BBC, our secular church. And because of its immense global prestige and the fact that it is trusted to tell the truth, the BBC is now helping poison the discourse of the world.
The new BBC chairman, Michael Grade, is reported to believe that the BBC must draw a line under the Hutton controversy and that his job is to restore morale. In other words, business as usual. The government, badly burned by the inextricably linked public hostility to Hutton and the war in Iraq, will now not touch the BBC. The Tories, who do not appear to grasp the vital strategic importance for this country of standing shoulder to shoulder with Blair against the anti-Americanism that threatens Britain’s security, have opportunistically sided with the BBC against the government
If the BBC had behaved in this way during World War Two, we would have lost it. If it is allowed to carry on in this fashion, we may lose against the new fascism that threatens us."
# posted by Ingrid @ 5/15/2004
Friday, May 14, 2004
IRAQ HOAX PHOTOS - MIRROR APOLOGISES
The Daily Mirror Editor sacked
I was just watching BBC1 TV and ITV3 news when they announced breaking news that Piers Morgan, the Editor of the Daily Mirror newspaper has "stepped down" with immediate effect - and that his career in Fleet Street is over.
The Daily Mirror accepted that the photos they published for two weeks were a calculated and malicious hoax. The Mirror's Board apologised unreservedly to the Queen's Lancashire Regiment. The QLR have called for a full apology on the front page of the newspaper.
BBC NEWS Politics: Editor sacked over 'hoax' pictures
BBC NEWS UK: Daily Mirror statement in full
- - -
Note, C4 News Morgan marches from Mirror report states, quote: "Investors were concerned that the photos were now clearly fakes, the editor had been hoodwinked and the paper had lost its integrity. Piers Morgan had turned himself into the bete-noir of the Blairite establishment. Blairite cabinet ministers said he's made it his mission to bring down Tony Blair and bring Gordon Brown to power. With strange echoes of the row between the BBC and the government over the dossier on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction, Piers Morgan thought he'd got the bigger story right and so should not apologise."
- - -
Was Piers Morgan's sacking right? Read comments at the BBC's Have Your Say.
The Daily Mirror Editor sacked
I was just watching BBC1 TV and ITV3 news when they announced breaking news that Piers Morgan, the Editor of the Daily Mirror newspaper has "stepped down" with immediate effect - and that his career in Fleet Street is over.
The Daily Mirror accepted that the photos they published for two weeks were a calculated and malicious hoax. The Mirror's Board apologised unreservedly to the Queen's Lancashire Regiment. The QLR have called for a full apology on the front page of the newspaper.
BBC NEWS Politics: Editor sacked over 'hoax' pictures
BBC NEWS UK: Daily Mirror statement in full
- - -
Note, C4 News Morgan marches from Mirror report states, quote: "Investors were concerned that the photos were now clearly fakes, the editor had been hoodwinked and the paper had lost its integrity. Piers Morgan had turned himself into the bete-noir of the Blairite establishment. Blairite cabinet ministers said he's made it his mission to bring down Tony Blair and bring Gordon Brown to power. With strange echoes of the row between the BBC and the government over the dossier on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction, Piers Morgan thought he'd got the bigger story right and so should not apologise."
- - -
Was Piers Morgan's sacking right? Read comments at the BBC's Have Your Say.
# posted by Ingrid @ 5/14/2004
- - -
THE TERRORISTS ANSWER [VIDEO]
Don't rely on the BBC to show the real truth
"Nick Berg, a young man from Philadelphia, recently found himself in the hands of a group of Al Qaeda terrorists. They made him state his details and then listen to a long speech against America in a language he didn't understand. While screaming started to fill the room his head was cut off by a small knife. It wasn't a clean cut." [Excerpt from "A Political Beheading is Worse" By Jon Gales]
- - -
Note: I've not watched the video because I don't want to. I'm merely archiving it here with my posts on the BBC. The BBC spent the past two weeks slandering British troops in Iraq by reporting on and showing unsubstantiated photos of British soldiers abusing prisoners in Iraq.
The photos depicting British soldiers were enlarged in newspapers and plastered over the graves of American soldiers - headstones had been desecrated and the photos daubed with graffiti and swastikas. BBC news online reported that publication of the photos had impacted on the morale and safety of British armed forces: British troops had been injured by a petrol bomb thrown by children in Iraq, had been attacked by militiamen and a patrol suffered a grenade attack in Basra.
In retaliation for photos depicting coalition personnel allegedly "softening up" Iraqi prisoners for questioning by Intelligence personnel, a group of murderous Al Qaeda terrorists in Iraq filmed themselves using a small knife to barbarically behead an innocent American civilian. Al Qaeda videotaped it for propaganda purposes. But the BBC refuses to show any of it. Why? Out of respect for the American victim and his family? All of a sudden the BBC is mindful of people's feelings? Where was respect for the Iraqi prisoners they screened for two solid weeks online? Where was respect for the British troops slandered by the British media before there was even time for an investigation to take place? Where was respect for all coalition personnel serving their homeland out there in that hellhole to bring freedom and democracy to Iraq?
Obviously, the victim's family never had control over the showing of that Al Qaeda video. The Al Qaeda terrorists released it to all and sundry for self promotion purposes. Anyone in the world could see it on the Internet. Want to know the real truth of what terrorists, Al Qaeda and the war on terror are all about ? Don't rely on the BBC to show the real truth concerning all sides - instead, read a good cross section of sites on the Internet.
- - -
btw Ref John Gale's post "A Political Beheading is Worse", here's copy of a comment left by a US marine: "I would sure appreciate if all americans could support us in what we do. It seems as if poeple care more about politics and money than the american soilders and marine in iraq and affganistan. Bush got us in this which was a great move, I trust that he is making a good decision, and I trust that he will bring us home and set these people free. Support us and stop fighting amongst yourselfs. thank you, proud serving member of U.S. military and proud american, Thanks Mr. Bush for caring about all human life."
[video link via The World Star Gazette]
- - -
BBC Have your say comments:
"Show the video. The West needs the reality therapy to cure its apathy to this increasingly deadly world war in which the next battle hit could be Athens, London, Paris, Frankfurt, LA or San Francisco. - Fr. Jim Anderson, MSA, Santa Maria, CA, USA"
"God rest his soul. I hope he didn't see it coming. These people can get really nasty because they are desperate and have nothing to lose because their leaders lack the guidance to lead their people to a better world even with a varying religion to the rest of us. Salute to the men and women who continue to fight and believe that there will be a new tomorrow for Iraq. - Sue Bateman, Australia"
THE TERRORISTS ANSWER [VIDEO]
Don't rely on the BBC to show the real truth
"Nick Berg, a young man from Philadelphia, recently found himself in the hands of a group of Al Qaeda terrorists. They made him state his details and then listen to a long speech against America in a language he didn't understand. While screaming started to fill the room his head was cut off by a small knife. It wasn't a clean cut." [Excerpt from "A Political Beheading is Worse" By Jon Gales]
- - -
Note: I've not watched the video because I don't want to. I'm merely archiving it here with my posts on the BBC. The BBC spent the past two weeks slandering British troops in Iraq by reporting on and showing unsubstantiated photos of British soldiers abusing prisoners in Iraq.
The photos depicting British soldiers were enlarged in newspapers and plastered over the graves of American soldiers - headstones had been desecrated and the photos daubed with graffiti and swastikas. BBC news online reported that publication of the photos had impacted on the morale and safety of British armed forces: British troops had been injured by a petrol bomb thrown by children in Iraq, had been attacked by militiamen and a patrol suffered a grenade attack in Basra.
In retaliation for photos depicting coalition personnel allegedly "softening up" Iraqi prisoners for questioning by Intelligence personnel, a group of murderous Al Qaeda terrorists in Iraq filmed themselves using a small knife to barbarically behead an innocent American civilian. Al Qaeda videotaped it for propaganda purposes. But the BBC refuses to show any of it. Why? Out of respect for the American victim and his family? All of a sudden the BBC is mindful of people's feelings? Where was respect for the Iraqi prisoners they screened for two solid weeks online? Where was respect for the British troops slandered by the British media before there was even time for an investigation to take place? Where was respect for all coalition personnel serving their homeland out there in that hellhole to bring freedom and democracy to Iraq?
Obviously, the victim's family never had control over the showing of that Al Qaeda video. The Al Qaeda terrorists released it to all and sundry for self promotion purposes. Anyone in the world could see it on the Internet. Want to know the real truth of what terrorists, Al Qaeda and the war on terror are all about ? Don't rely on the BBC to show the real truth concerning all sides - instead, read a good cross section of sites on the Internet.
- - -
btw Ref John Gale's post "A Political Beheading is Worse", here's copy of a comment left by a US marine: "I would sure appreciate if all americans could support us in what we do. It seems as if poeple care more about politics and money than the american soilders and marine in iraq and affganistan. Bush got us in this which was a great move, I trust that he is making a good decision, and I trust that he will bring us home and set these people free. Support us and stop fighting amongst yourselfs. thank you, proud serving member of U.S. military and proud american, Thanks Mr. Bush for caring about all human life."
[video link via The World Star Gazette]
- - -
BBC Have your say comments:
"Show the video. The West needs the reality therapy to cure its apathy to this increasingly deadly world war in which the next battle hit could be Athens, London, Paris, Frankfurt, LA or San Francisco. - Fr. Jim Anderson, MSA, Santa Maria, CA, USA"
"God rest his soul. I hope he didn't see it coming. These people can get really nasty because they are desperate and have nothing to lose because their leaders lack the guidance to lead their people to a better world even with a varying religion to the rest of us. Salute to the men and women who continue to fight and believe that there will be a new tomorrow for Iraq. - Sue Bateman, Australia"
# posted by Ingrid @ 5/14/2004
Thursday, May 13, 2004
MIRROR PHOTOS CATEGORICALLY NOT TAKEN IN IRAQ
Truck in the photos had never been in Iraq
This BBC News Politics report is the shortest I've ever seen:
"Pictures which appeared in the Daily Mirror apparently showing abuse of Iraqi prisoners were "categorically not taken in Iraq", Adam Ingram told MPs. The defence minister said the truck in the photos had never been in Iraq. Mr Ingram refused to say any more about the inquiry into the photos by the Royal Military Police because criminal offences may have been committed. The armed forces minister said he was disturbed that troops were being vilified before facts were established."
- - -
Update: The above report has been extended - note the words that Mirror Editor Piers Morgan now uses, quote: "the pictures accurately illustrated the reality about the appalling conduct of some British troops". Also, BBC Political Editor Andrew Marr said senior officers had claimed the photographs were actually taken at a Territorial Army Barracks in Preston, Lancashire. He said Mirror editor Piers Morgan told him on Thursday "there were 'two hopes for my resignation - no hope and Bob Hope', which gives you some sense of the crumbling sense of contrition inside Mr Morgan"
- - -
Update: Financial Times states: Mr Ingram said a Royal Military Police investigation had found that the truck in which the pictures were taken had never been in Iraq. This had also been "independently corroborated", the minister added. Mr Ingram called on Piers Morgan, editor of the newspaper, to "to assist fully in this inquiry" and said that the publication of the photographs had produced a negative impact on British armed service personnel. The military police investigation into the allegations is continuing.
- - -
Update: I'd vote for Piers Morgan, the Editor of the Mirror and its Board to be prosecuted - along with the BBC - for the incalculable damage they have done. The way they have operated over the past two weeks has been outrageous. Whose side are they on, I keep asking myself.
Note, on May 1st I blogged about my disgust at the BBC for stooping so low and choosing to allow unsubstantiated photos, sourced from a tabloid newspaper, to dominate the headlines online. In a posted dated May 2nd, I pinged my complaint about the BBC to four blogging MPs. And on May 3rd I addressed a post to British blogger Scaryduck, who works for the BBC. Here are the posts:
Saturday May 01: DOUBT CAST ON IRAQ TORTURE PHOTOS - Truck shown in photo was never deployed in Iraq
Sunday, May 02: WHY IS THE BBC CONTINUOUSLY STIRRING UP TROUBLE FOR EVERYONE IN IRAQ - And not headlining shocking photos of rape and genocide in the Sudan?
Monday, May 03: SUDAN IS NOT IGNORED BY THE BBC - It's lack of political and media outrage.
Truck in the photos had never been in Iraq
This BBC News Politics report is the shortest I've ever seen:
"Pictures which appeared in the Daily Mirror apparently showing abuse of Iraqi prisoners were "categorically not taken in Iraq", Adam Ingram told MPs. The defence minister said the truck in the photos had never been in Iraq. Mr Ingram refused to say any more about the inquiry into the photos by the Royal Military Police because criminal offences may have been committed. The armed forces minister said he was disturbed that troops were being vilified before facts were established."
- - -
Update: The above report has been extended - note the words that Mirror Editor Piers Morgan now uses, quote: "the pictures accurately illustrated the reality about the appalling conduct of some British troops". Also, BBC Political Editor Andrew Marr said senior officers had claimed the photographs were actually taken at a Territorial Army Barracks in Preston, Lancashire. He said Mirror editor Piers Morgan told him on Thursday "there were 'two hopes for my resignation - no hope and Bob Hope', which gives you some sense of the crumbling sense of contrition inside Mr Morgan"
- - -
Update: Financial Times states: Mr Ingram said a Royal Military Police investigation had found that the truck in which the pictures were taken had never been in Iraq. This had also been "independently corroborated", the minister added. Mr Ingram called on Piers Morgan, editor of the newspaper, to "to assist fully in this inquiry" and said that the publication of the photographs had produced a negative impact on British armed service personnel. The military police investigation into the allegations is continuing.
- - -
Update: I'd vote for Piers Morgan, the Editor of the Mirror and its Board to be prosecuted - along with the BBC - for the incalculable damage they have done. The way they have operated over the past two weeks has been outrageous. Whose side are they on, I keep asking myself.
Note, on May 1st I blogged about my disgust at the BBC for stooping so low and choosing to allow unsubstantiated photos, sourced from a tabloid newspaper, to dominate the headlines online. In a posted dated May 2nd, I pinged my complaint about the BBC to four blogging MPs. And on May 3rd I addressed a post to British blogger Scaryduck, who works for the BBC. Here are the posts:
Saturday May 01: DOUBT CAST ON IRAQ TORTURE PHOTOS - Truck shown in photo was never deployed in Iraq
Sunday, May 02: WHY IS THE BBC CONTINUOUSLY STIRRING UP TROUBLE FOR EVERYONE IN IRAQ - And not headlining shocking photos of rape and genocide in the Sudan?
Monday, May 03: SUDAN IS NOT IGNORED BY THE BBC - It's lack of political and media outrage.
# posted by Ingrid @ 5/13/2004
- - -
DOES PRAYER WORK?
Is there any evidence?
At the beginning of 2002, the world's religions got together to pray for peace. Has the planet seen any impact? Is there any evidence that praying works? What are people's perception of peace?
Following on from my posts about genocide in Bosnia and the Sudan, I've been thinking about these questions and the BBCs report does prayer work?
- - -
THE WORLD'S 200 RELIGIOUS LEADERS' DAY OF PRAYER
On the agenda in the House of Lords
In January 2002, the Pope led 200 religious leaders from round the world in prayers for peace. The venue for this landmark occasion was Assisi - the place which, fittingly, gave the world St Francis and his prayer "Make me a channel of your peace".
A month later, the impact of the day of prayer went on the agenda for Wednesday 27 February (2.30pm) in the House of Lords as crossbench peer Lord Hylton asked the government, quote: "What conclusions have been drawn from the day of united prayer for peace, held by the leaders of world-wide faiths in Assisi, Italy and in particular the declaration renouncing the use of violence."
- - -
DOES PRAYER WORK?
The findings are quite staggering
Some of the first experiments to try to answer it came in the 1800s, when the worlds of science and religion began to eye each other uncomfortably. The tests used crude methods, concluding for instance that prayer was proved by the long lifespans of royals - people who were much prayed for. These methods have been superseded by more rigorous trials. But emarkably, many modern tests have reached similar conclusions.
Professor Leslie Francis of the University of Bangor has studied 31 experiments (conducted to the "highest professional standards") into the effectiveness of prayer. The trials would typically take a group of hundreds of patients recovering from heart surgery, randomly divided into two groups, one of which is prayed for. None of the patients would know they were or weren't being prayed for. "The findings are quite staggering," he says. "Studies show that patients in hospital who are being prayed for (even when they do not know they are being prayed for) are more likely to recover."
- - -
Note, in February 2002, BBC News online asked its readers: "Does prayer work?" Here are some of the comments.
- - -
ANOTHER DAY OF PRAYER FOR PEACE SHOULD BE ORGANISED
People praying for peace, looking to become peaceful people
Extracts from BBCs report does prayer work?:
For believers, whether there is any point in praying can be a complicated issue, crucially taking in two distinct aspects:
Can praying change "external" things, for example the weather?
Can it have an "internal" effect on the person who is doing the praying?
Believers can answer the latter point for themselves, but the former point is more open to debate.
Dr David Law of the University of Manchester says: "the inner effect on praying people has a bearing on prayers for world peace such as those said at Assisi. For me it's not a matter of persuading God to do something, but of people praying for peace looking to become peaceful people. It starts with the internal effect and that, hopefully, will have an impact on the outside world."
Crossbench peer Lord Hylton says the fact of the religious leaders praying together was a significant statement in itself, and one which has made its own contribution to a more peaceful world. In particular, he says, a declaration the leaders made that their religions should not be used as pretexts for violence or wars could have a huge impact. He believes that even now, the religious leaders in the Middle East have become more inclined towards engaging with each other.
Professor Leslie Francis of the University of Bangor says: "I'm not surprised research shows an impact on people who are praying. But the studies also show an impact on people who are prayed for." He suggests that should another day of prayer for peace be organised, subsequent levels of fighting should be monitored, as should people's perceptions of peace.
DOES PRAYER WORK?
Is there any evidence?
At the beginning of 2002, the world's religions got together to pray for peace. Has the planet seen any impact? Is there any evidence that praying works? What are people's perception of peace?
Following on from my posts about genocide in Bosnia and the Sudan, I've been thinking about these questions and the BBCs report does prayer work?
- - -
THE WORLD'S 200 RELIGIOUS LEADERS' DAY OF PRAYER
On the agenda in the House of Lords
In January 2002, the Pope led 200 religious leaders from round the world in prayers for peace. The venue for this landmark occasion was Assisi - the place which, fittingly, gave the world St Francis and his prayer "Make me a channel of your peace".
A month later, the impact of the day of prayer went on the agenda for Wednesday 27 February (2.30pm) in the House of Lords as crossbench peer Lord Hylton asked the government, quote: "What conclusions have been drawn from the day of united prayer for peace, held by the leaders of world-wide faiths in Assisi, Italy and in particular the declaration renouncing the use of violence."
- - -
DOES PRAYER WORK?
The findings are quite staggering
Some of the first experiments to try to answer it came in the 1800s, when the worlds of science and religion began to eye each other uncomfortably. The tests used crude methods, concluding for instance that prayer was proved by the long lifespans of royals - people who were much prayed for. These methods have been superseded by more rigorous trials. But emarkably, many modern tests have reached similar conclusions.
Professor Leslie Francis of the University of Bangor has studied 31 experiments (conducted to the "highest professional standards") into the effectiveness of prayer. The trials would typically take a group of hundreds of patients recovering from heart surgery, randomly divided into two groups, one of which is prayed for. None of the patients would know they were or weren't being prayed for. "The findings are quite staggering," he says. "Studies show that patients in hospital who are being prayed for (even when they do not know they are being prayed for) are more likely to recover."
- - -
Note, in February 2002, BBC News online asked its readers: "Does prayer work?" Here are some of the comments.
- - -
ANOTHER DAY OF PRAYER FOR PEACE SHOULD BE ORGANISED
People praying for peace, looking to become peaceful people
Extracts from BBCs report does prayer work?:
For believers, whether there is any point in praying can be a complicated issue, crucially taking in two distinct aspects:
Can praying change "external" things, for example the weather?
Can it have an "internal" effect on the person who is doing the praying?
Believers can answer the latter point for themselves, but the former point is more open to debate.
Dr David Law of the University of Manchester says: "the inner effect on praying people has a bearing on prayers for world peace such as those said at Assisi. For me it's not a matter of persuading God to do something, but of people praying for peace looking to become peaceful people. It starts with the internal effect and that, hopefully, will have an impact on the outside world."
Crossbench peer Lord Hylton says the fact of the religious leaders praying together was a significant statement in itself, and one which has made its own contribution to a more peaceful world. In particular, he says, a declaration the leaders made that their religions should not be used as pretexts for violence or wars could have a huge impact. He believes that even now, the religious leaders in the Middle East have become more inclined towards engaging with each other.
Professor Leslie Francis of the University of Bangor says: "I'm not surprised research shows an impact on people who are praying. But the studies also show an impact on people who are prayed for." He suggests that should another day of prayer for peace be organised, subsequent levels of fighting should be monitored, as should people's perceptions of peace.
# posted by Ingrid @ 5/13/2004
Wednesday, May 12, 2004
TURNING THE SPOTLIGHT ON MYALGIC ENCEPHALOMYELITIS
Wear a blue ribbon on International Awareness Day
In order to shed light on ME/CFS, for the twelfth consecutive year, May 12 has been designated as International ME/CFS Awareness Day. Sufferers of this illness, and the people who care about them, are urged to express their concern about the devastation that is ME/CFS. The strength of May 12 event lies in the fact that it offers individuals around the world an opportunity to communicate the devastation of ME/CFS on the same day.
The May 12 date was chosen to commemorate the birth date of Florence Nightingale, the British nurse who inspired the founding of the International Red Cross. She apparently contracted a paralysing ME/CFS - like illness in her mid-thirties, and spent the last fifty years of her life virtually bedridden. Despite her illness, Florence Nightingale managed to found the first ever School of Nursing. It is fitting that the "Lady of the Lamp" now shines as a ray of inspiration and hope to victims of ME/CFS from the 20th and into the 21st century.
Wearing a blue ribbon today, May 12th, shows support for International ME/CFS Awareness Day.
What is it like to grow up having an invisible illness?
A brochure with lots of information straight from teenagers about what it's like to be sick. A great resource to send to family and friends.
Free Brochure about CFS and ME
Explains what CFS and ME is, and what the symptoms are, along with other useful information.
- - -
PLEASE, SHOW YOUR SUPPORT
And wear a blue ribbon on May 12th
My post here today, along with the previous three on M.E (dated Monday May 10th), is dedicated to my fellow sufferers, and especially for all the young children and teenagers growing up with such a devastating invisible illness.
Sending love here - via Technorati - to fellow bloggers:
Student Wendy in Scotland
Nature lover Adagio in Wales
Artist Michael in Wales
And for Librarian and Needlework specialist Hazel in England, also suffering long term chronic illness
Along with Daisy-Winifred in Wales
And a very special hello to Cass who is dying of cancer.
Tip of the Day for May 12, 2004
Carbohydrate cravings are especially common during exacerbations when energy is low. Although a psychological basis for these cravings has been proposed, evidence suggests that the source is largely biochemical, possibly related to abnormalities in neurotransmitter levels and metabolism. Consumption of simple carbohydrates may increase pain, cognitive dysfunction, and fatigue, causing a "boost and crash" cycle (in which blood sugar level rises and then plummets quickly and dramatically). Further, carbohydrates may be best tolerated in the evening.
(Source: Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Fibromyalgia, and Other Invisible Illnesses - The Comprehensive Guide, by Katrina Berne, Ph.D. Published by Hunter House books and available at www.hunterhouse.com.) This tip provided courtesy of ImmuneSupport.com.
Further reading:
Carers Together
The 25 % M.E. Group
ME-Web Main Menu: The ME-WEB is linked to all CFIDS/ME databases in the World.
- - -
LADY WITH THE LAMP SHEDS LIGHT ON ME
My complaint re The Scotsman's reporting
Having completed my post for today, I was about to publish to my blog when I came across an article in The Scotsman entitled "Lady with the Lamp sheds light on ME".
Now I've decided to contact Simon Lawrence, Chair of The 25% ME Group (of which I am a member) to bring the article to his attention. I feel it needs a robust response, our objections raised - and an enlightened correction and apology published.
In my view, ME is more fully understood than implied in the article. One quarter of all ME sufferers spend very long periods of their lives in bed and NOT, as is stated in the article: "only a very few of them". Consider at least one million ME sufferers worldwide: that amounts to one quarter of a million children and adults hidden in their homes - invisible, neglected and forgotten.
Articles such as the one in The Scotsman could raise awareness of the real shocking - and hidden - truth. I strongly object to the statements made by the so-called 'ME specialist' Prof Hutchinson. He needs to be informed asap by The 25% ME Group (the only organisation in Britain that supports seriously affected sufferers of ME).
As for the article's content re Florence Nightingale, it states, quote: "Her own doctors decided she had been suffering from what was then called neurasthenia". If my memory serves me correctly, ME was once classed as neurasthenia - before ME was defined in Britain over 50 years ago.
If reporters did their jobs properly, there would not be so many misconceptions and such poor understanding of an illness that has been documented for well over 70 years. Perpetuating misconceptions about this illness is cruel. It does huge harm to all sufferers and their carers - and drives some to commit suicide.
- - -
CULTURES OF NEURASTHENIA
Medical history - University College London
Clio Medica "Cultures of Neurasthenia, Edited by Roy Porter and Marijke Gijswijt-Hofstra, excerpt:
"Neurasthenia, meaning nerve weakness, was ‘invented’ in the United States as a disorder of modernity, caused by the fast pace of urban life. Soon after, from the early-1880s onwards, this modern disease crossed the Atlantic. Neurasthenia became much less ‘popular’ in Britain or the Netherlands than in Germany. Neurasthenia’s heyday continued into the first decade of the twentieth century. The label referred to conditions similar to those currently labelled as chronic fatigue syndrome. Why this rise and fall of neurasthenia, and why these differences in popularity?"
- - -
LADY WITH THE LAMP SHEDS LIGHT ON ME
By Ian Johnston in The Scotsman, 11 MAY 2004
Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME) was accurately defined in Britain, some fifty years ago, by Dr A Melvin Ramsay. Before then, during a time when little was known about the illness as we know it today, ME was referred to as neurasthenia. British nurse Florence NIghtingale died in 1910. For 50 years she suffered ill health and was, just like myself, virtually bedbound. In those days, her own doctors diagnosed her illness as neurasthenia.
Today is International ME/CFS Awareness Day and I am lodging a complaint with the Chair of the 25% ME Group re the Scotsman's article referred to in my post above. Here is a copy of the article, in full (note, I've highlighted my "issues" in bold typeface; I also object to the unhelpful term "yuppie flu" being perpetuated by people who should know better, including the media):
"...SHE was the founder of modern nursing who worked so long into the night to help injured soldiers in the Crimean War that they came to know her as "the Lady with the Lamp". But she was also later derided as a malingerer and a hypochondriac for taking to her bed on and off for more than 20 years.
Now sufferers of ME are claiming Florence Nightingale had the condition and have been holding a series of awareness-raising flag days in Scottish cities to mark her birthday on 12 May. But the claim that Nightingale was a sufferer of a condition once dismissed as "yuppie flu" has sparked controversy among leading historians.
During her lifetime, Nightingale’s condition was treated seriously by doctors, who saw it as a form of nervous exhaustion thought common among women at the time. Later scholars have viewed her retreat to her bedroom as a way to escape public life as she struggled to cope with the horrors of the Crimea.
But for Kelly McLellan, 32, the convener of the Edinburgh ME Self-Help group (MESH), the suggestion that Nightingale - who died in 1910 at the age of 90 - may have been a fellow sufferer could help increase understanding of the condition. "It goes to show that ME, or at least a poorly understood illness which causes serious chronic fatigue, is not a recent phenomenon and is an illness which can strike anyone," he said.
"But I think that we still have a long way to go. Recognition is not just about getting treatment - it is also about respect. A lot of ME sufferers are not treated well because people don’t recognise their illness. I hope that Florence Nightingale’s life shows that ill people deserve respect even if their illness isn’t understood."
Mr McLellan, of Barnton, Edinburgh, was forced to give up a PhD in biochemistry at Oxford University in 1996, two years after contracting ME, and now works as a private tutor. "Florence Nightingale’s story sounds a lot like many of the ME sufferers that I know. We all try to work round the condition in some way," he said.
Nightingale’s illness has been the subject of much debate since an academic paper in 1995 suggested she had chronic brucellosis, a bacterial infection often found in the Mediterranean. Her own doctors decided she had been suffering from what was then called neurasthenia, an obsolete term now associated with a psychosomatic illness. They recorded her symptoms as including headache, nausea at the sight of food, breathlessness, an irregular heartbeat, palpitations and a generally neurotic disposition.
Last year, a conference in the United States which looked into her illness decided she had "bipolar depression", which combines periods of depression with manic behaviour over a long period of time. However, it is the claim by Dr Robert Fekety, of Michigan University, that chronic brucellosis should be classed as a form of chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), or can lead to it, which has been seized on by ME sufferers.
Allen Hutchinson, a professor of public health at the University of Sheffield and an expert on ME, said the condition was still not fully understood - studies are ongoing in UK, Australia and the US - and was used as an umbrella term for a range of ailments. "There’s no doubt that a few people with CFS spend very long periods of their lives in bed, but only very few of them. But if there is a truism it is likely to be that CFS has more than one underlying cause," he said.
Prof Hutchinson dismissed claims that ME was "yuppie flu", or all in the mind, as "simplistic and ridiculous". He said: "Clearly, these people need to be helped in some way or another. "I think it is possible that someone like Florence Nightingale had CFS; it’s almost certainly not a new illness. The notion of it being yuppie flu is not very likely."
Professor Lynn McDonald, of the University of Guelph in Ontario, a leading expert on Nightingale, said: "There’s an enormous amount of speculation as to what her ailment was, but obviously none of us is going to know. "I just don’t see the point of speculating - it’s something we cannot possibly know. "I think Nightingale is very interesting and her strategy for coping with her condition is interesting. But what she was coping with ... I think this is far-fetched, speculating about somebody who died in 1910."
Alex Attewell, the director of the Florence Nightingale Museum in London, said: "I can see why it’s been suggested that Florence Nightingale may have had ME, because having a famous person who suffered from it helps to promote understanding of it..."
- - -
25% OF ALL M.E. SUFFERERS ARE PROFOUNDLY DISABLED
The 25% M.E. Group
I am a member of The 25% M.E Group. Approximately 200,000 people in the UK suffer from M.E. Some do recover. However, approximately 25% of sufferers remain long term ill and severely disabled by the disease. Many are left isolated, housebound or even bedbound by the effects of the illness. It affects people from all walks of life, all age groups and can strike when you are least expecting it.
The 25% M.E. Group exists to support all who have the severe form of M.E. and those who care for them. This includes people who are housebound, bedbound and wheelchair users.
Our Group's Patron is the Countess of Mar, who has a Message for us. Our medical advisor is Dr. Betty Dowsett. We have lottery funding support for two part time secretarial and clerical workers.
At present there is no other organisation concerned specifically with the needs of the severely affected.
Wearing a blue ribbon today, May 12th, shows support for International ME/CFS Awareness Day.
Wear a blue ribbon on International Awareness Day
In order to shed light on ME/CFS, for the twelfth consecutive year, May 12 has been designated as International ME/CFS Awareness Day. Sufferers of this illness, and the people who care about them, are urged to express their concern about the devastation that is ME/CFS. The strength of May 12 event lies in the fact that it offers individuals around the world an opportunity to communicate the devastation of ME/CFS on the same day.
The May 12 date was chosen to commemorate the birth date of Florence Nightingale, the British nurse who inspired the founding of the International Red Cross. She apparently contracted a paralysing ME/CFS - like illness in her mid-thirties, and spent the last fifty years of her life virtually bedridden. Despite her illness, Florence Nightingale managed to found the first ever School of Nursing. It is fitting that the "Lady of the Lamp" now shines as a ray of inspiration and hope to victims of ME/CFS from the 20th and into the 21st century.
Wearing a blue ribbon today, May 12th, shows support for International ME/CFS Awareness Day.
What is it like to grow up having an invisible illness?
A brochure with lots of information straight from teenagers about what it's like to be sick. A great resource to send to family and friends.
Free Brochure about CFS and ME
Explains what CFS and ME is, and what the symptoms are, along with other useful information.
- - -
PLEASE, SHOW YOUR SUPPORT
And wear a blue ribbon on May 12th
My post here today, along with the previous three on M.E (dated Monday May 10th), is dedicated to my fellow sufferers, and especially for all the young children and teenagers growing up with such a devastating invisible illness.
Sending love here - via Technorati - to fellow bloggers:
Student Wendy in Scotland
Nature lover Adagio in Wales
Artist Michael in Wales
And for Librarian and Needlework specialist Hazel in England, also suffering long term chronic illness
Along with Daisy-Winifred in Wales
And a very special hello to Cass who is dying of cancer.
Tip of the Day for May 12, 2004
Carbohydrate cravings are especially common during exacerbations when energy is low. Although a psychological basis for these cravings has been proposed, evidence suggests that the source is largely biochemical, possibly related to abnormalities in neurotransmitter levels and metabolism. Consumption of simple carbohydrates may increase pain, cognitive dysfunction, and fatigue, causing a "boost and crash" cycle (in which blood sugar level rises and then plummets quickly and dramatically). Further, carbohydrates may be best tolerated in the evening.
(Source: Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Fibromyalgia, and Other Invisible Illnesses - The Comprehensive Guide, by Katrina Berne, Ph.D. Published by Hunter House books and available at www.hunterhouse.com.) This tip provided courtesy of ImmuneSupport.com.
Further reading:
Carers Together
The 25 % M.E. Group
ME-Web Main Menu: The ME-WEB is linked to all CFIDS/ME databases in the World.
- - -
LADY WITH THE LAMP SHEDS LIGHT ON ME
My complaint re The Scotsman's reporting
Having completed my post for today, I was about to publish to my blog when I came across an article in The Scotsman entitled "Lady with the Lamp sheds light on ME".
Now I've decided to contact Simon Lawrence, Chair of The 25% ME Group (of which I am a member) to bring the article to his attention. I feel it needs a robust response, our objections raised - and an enlightened correction and apology published.
In my view, ME is more fully understood than implied in the article. One quarter of all ME sufferers spend very long periods of their lives in bed and NOT, as is stated in the article: "only a very few of them". Consider at least one million ME sufferers worldwide: that amounts to one quarter of a million children and adults hidden in their homes - invisible, neglected and forgotten.
Articles such as the one in The Scotsman could raise awareness of the real shocking - and hidden - truth. I strongly object to the statements made by the so-called 'ME specialist' Prof Hutchinson. He needs to be informed asap by The 25% ME Group (the only organisation in Britain that supports seriously affected sufferers of ME).
As for the article's content re Florence Nightingale, it states, quote: "Her own doctors decided she had been suffering from what was then called neurasthenia". If my memory serves me correctly, ME was once classed as neurasthenia - before ME was defined in Britain over 50 years ago.
If reporters did their jobs properly, there would not be so many misconceptions and such poor understanding of an illness that has been documented for well over 70 years. Perpetuating misconceptions about this illness is cruel. It does huge harm to all sufferers and their carers - and drives some to commit suicide.
- - -
CULTURES OF NEURASTHENIA
Medical history - University College London
Clio Medica "Cultures of Neurasthenia, Edited by Roy Porter and Marijke Gijswijt-Hofstra, excerpt:
"Neurasthenia, meaning nerve weakness, was ‘invented’ in the United States as a disorder of modernity, caused by the fast pace of urban life. Soon after, from the early-1880s onwards, this modern disease crossed the Atlantic. Neurasthenia became much less ‘popular’ in Britain or the Netherlands than in Germany. Neurasthenia’s heyday continued into the first decade of the twentieth century. The label referred to conditions similar to those currently labelled as chronic fatigue syndrome. Why this rise and fall of neurasthenia, and why these differences in popularity?"
- - -
LADY WITH THE LAMP SHEDS LIGHT ON ME
By Ian Johnston in The Scotsman, 11 MAY 2004
Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME) was accurately defined in Britain, some fifty years ago, by Dr A Melvin Ramsay. Before then, during a time when little was known about the illness as we know it today, ME was referred to as neurasthenia. British nurse Florence NIghtingale died in 1910. For 50 years she suffered ill health and was, just like myself, virtually bedbound. In those days, her own doctors diagnosed her illness as neurasthenia.
Today is International ME/CFS Awareness Day and I am lodging a complaint with the Chair of the 25% ME Group re the Scotsman's article referred to in my post above. Here is a copy of the article, in full (note, I've highlighted my "issues" in bold typeface; I also object to the unhelpful term "yuppie flu" being perpetuated by people who should know better, including the media):
"...SHE was the founder of modern nursing who worked so long into the night to help injured soldiers in the Crimean War that they came to know her as "the Lady with the Lamp". But she was also later derided as a malingerer and a hypochondriac for taking to her bed on and off for more than 20 years.
Now sufferers of ME are claiming Florence Nightingale had the condition and have been holding a series of awareness-raising flag days in Scottish cities to mark her birthday on 12 May. But the claim that Nightingale was a sufferer of a condition once dismissed as "yuppie flu" has sparked controversy among leading historians.
During her lifetime, Nightingale’s condition was treated seriously by doctors, who saw it as a form of nervous exhaustion thought common among women at the time. Later scholars have viewed her retreat to her bedroom as a way to escape public life as she struggled to cope with the horrors of the Crimea.
But for Kelly McLellan, 32, the convener of the Edinburgh ME Self-Help group (MESH), the suggestion that Nightingale - who died in 1910 at the age of 90 - may have been a fellow sufferer could help increase understanding of the condition. "It goes to show that ME, or at least a poorly understood illness which causes serious chronic fatigue, is not a recent phenomenon and is an illness which can strike anyone," he said.
"But I think that we still have a long way to go. Recognition is not just about getting treatment - it is also about respect. A lot of ME sufferers are not treated well because people don’t recognise their illness. I hope that Florence Nightingale’s life shows that ill people deserve respect even if their illness isn’t understood."
Mr McLellan, of Barnton, Edinburgh, was forced to give up a PhD in biochemistry at Oxford University in 1996, two years after contracting ME, and now works as a private tutor. "Florence Nightingale’s story sounds a lot like many of the ME sufferers that I know. We all try to work round the condition in some way," he said.
Nightingale’s illness has been the subject of much debate since an academic paper in 1995 suggested she had chronic brucellosis, a bacterial infection often found in the Mediterranean. Her own doctors decided she had been suffering from what was then called neurasthenia, an obsolete term now associated with a psychosomatic illness. They recorded her symptoms as including headache, nausea at the sight of food, breathlessness, an irregular heartbeat, palpitations and a generally neurotic disposition.
Last year, a conference in the United States which looked into her illness decided she had "bipolar depression", which combines periods of depression with manic behaviour over a long period of time. However, it is the claim by Dr Robert Fekety, of Michigan University, that chronic brucellosis should be classed as a form of chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), or can lead to it, which has been seized on by ME sufferers.
Allen Hutchinson, a professor of public health at the University of Sheffield and an expert on ME, said the condition was still not fully understood - studies are ongoing in UK, Australia and the US - and was used as an umbrella term for a range of ailments. "There’s no doubt that a few people with CFS spend very long periods of their lives in bed, but only very few of them. But if there is a truism it is likely to be that CFS has more than one underlying cause," he said.
Prof Hutchinson dismissed claims that ME was "yuppie flu", or all in the mind, as "simplistic and ridiculous". He said: "Clearly, these people need to be helped in some way or another. "I think it is possible that someone like Florence Nightingale had CFS; it’s almost certainly not a new illness. The notion of it being yuppie flu is not very likely."
Professor Lynn McDonald, of the University of Guelph in Ontario, a leading expert on Nightingale, said: "There’s an enormous amount of speculation as to what her ailment was, but obviously none of us is going to know. "I just don’t see the point of speculating - it’s something we cannot possibly know. "I think Nightingale is very interesting and her strategy for coping with her condition is interesting. But what she was coping with ... I think this is far-fetched, speculating about somebody who died in 1910."
Alex Attewell, the director of the Florence Nightingale Museum in London, said: "I can see why it’s been suggested that Florence Nightingale may have had ME, because having a famous person who suffered from it helps to promote understanding of it..."
- - -
25% OF ALL M.E. SUFFERERS ARE PROFOUNDLY DISABLED
The 25% M.E. Group
I am a member of The 25% M.E Group. Approximately 200,000 people in the UK suffer from M.E. Some do recover. However, approximately 25% of sufferers remain long term ill and severely disabled by the disease. Many are left isolated, housebound or even bedbound by the effects of the illness. It affects people from all walks of life, all age groups and can strike when you are least expecting it.
The 25% M.E. Group exists to support all who have the severe form of M.E. and those who care for them. This includes people who are housebound, bedbound and wheelchair users.
Our Group's Patron is the Countess of Mar, who has a Message for us. Our medical advisor is Dr. Betty Dowsett. We have lottery funding support for two part time secretarial and clerical workers.
At present there is no other organisation concerned specifically with the needs of the severely affected.
Wearing a blue ribbon today, May 12th, shows support for International ME/CFS Awareness Day.
# posted by Ingrid @ 5/12/2004
Tuesday, May 11, 2004
WE LOVE BLOGGER
Thank you Blogger
Google's Blogger, the weblogging company it purchased fifteen months ago for an undisclosed sum, has redesigned its blogging tools. On Sunday, smart and friendly new stuff was introduced to users of Blogger.
I'm still pinching myself that such a great service is completely free of charge. No hassle. No problems. User support is fab. Logging into Blogger each day is like happily turning the key in a door that leads to a good friend.
Blogger is so much easier to use. And now, at long last, it seems there's going to be a neat way to post photos. Blogger has done a deal with a company called Hello to let subscribers upload photos directly to a blog.
Google releases new Blogger - excerpts:
The new version gives publishers the option of collecting readers' comments, includes 26 new templates from Web designers, and enables postings to be made by sending an e-mail. There's also a feature, called AudioBlogger, that lets you call Blogger from any phone and leave a message that is immediately posted to your site as an MP3 audio file. (It's fun at parties, according to a tutorial on the site.)
The new Blogger also creates separate URLs, or Web page addresses, for each posting. That will make them easily indexed by search engines, like Google, and therefore create additional opportunities for advertisers buying keywords for contextual marketing.
"Blogger is committed to bringing more voices and points of view to the Web," said Evan Williams, program manager. "These enhancements make Web publishing as easy as possible." He added that since Google acquired Blogger for an undisclosed price, it has concentrated on strengthening and expanding the behind-the-scenes supporting technology to handle a vastly greater number of users.
The geeks in the Google computer labs are also working on a way to offer advertisers more keyword combinations to buy. Technology is being developed that would scour Web sites of major advertisers, hunting for relevant terms likely to be included in search requests, according to CNet. ComScore Networks reports that as few as 40 percent of Internet searches result in an advertiser's message being displayed. In the search engine marketing business, that's lost revenue. Generating relevant new search terms could spell more "inventory" and higher ad revenues for Google.
Thank you Blogger
Google's Blogger, the weblogging company it purchased fifteen months ago for an undisclosed sum, has redesigned its blogging tools. On Sunday, smart and friendly new stuff was introduced to users of Blogger.
I'm still pinching myself that such a great service is completely free of charge. No hassle. No problems. User support is fab. Logging into Blogger each day is like happily turning the key in a door that leads to a good friend.
Blogger is so much easier to use. And now, at long last, it seems there's going to be a neat way to post photos. Blogger has done a deal with a company called Hello to let subscribers upload photos directly to a blog.
Google releases new Blogger - excerpts:
The new version gives publishers the option of collecting readers' comments, includes 26 new templates from Web designers, and enables postings to be made by sending an e-mail. There's also a feature, called AudioBlogger, that lets you call Blogger from any phone and leave a message that is immediately posted to your site as an MP3 audio file. (It's fun at parties, according to a tutorial on the site.)
The new Blogger also creates separate URLs, or Web page addresses, for each posting. That will make them easily indexed by search engines, like Google, and therefore create additional opportunities for advertisers buying keywords for contextual marketing.
"Blogger is committed to bringing more voices and points of view to the Web," said Evan Williams, program manager. "These enhancements make Web publishing as easy as possible." He added that since Google acquired Blogger for an undisclosed price, it has concentrated on strengthening and expanding the behind-the-scenes supporting technology to handle a vastly greater number of users.
The geeks in the Google computer labs are also working on a way to offer advertisers more keyword combinations to buy. Technology is being developed that would scour Web sites of major advertisers, hunting for relevant terms likely to be included in search requests, according to CNet. ComScore Networks reports that as few as 40 percent of Internet searches result in an advertiser's message being displayed. In the search engine marketing business, that's lost revenue. Generating relevant new search terms could spell more "inventory" and higher ad revenues for Google.
# posted by Ingrid @ 5/11/2004
- - -
FIRST WEB-PASTOR APPOINTED
The Church of England's new virtual parish i-Church
The Church of England has appointed Ms Alyson May LESLIE as its first web pastor to oversee a new parish that will exist only on the net. The website is called i-church and is part of the Church of England's response to the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams' call for a "mission-shaped" church.
i-church is a Christian community of the Church of England in the Diocese of Oxford. It is a web-based commmunity for those who wish to explore Christian discipleship, but who are not able, or do not wish, to join a local parish church.
Although parishioners from many countries are taking part, the church will nominally be part of the Diocese of Oxford, which is funding the £15,000-a-year venture - a fraction of the cost of maintaining many physical churches. The Rev Richard Thomas, spokesman for the Diocese of Oxford, said he hoped it would appeal to people who preferred modern ways of doing things, such as dealing directly with organisations over the web.
It is the first time a web community will be a fully recognised Anglican church. More...
- - -
I-CHURCH
700 people have already joined
I've just joined i-church. BBC News online reports that 700 others have already joined ahead of its proper launch in July.
Alyson Leslie, a lay pastor, will run i-Church, a community of worshippers from all over the world who will congregate at the website for prayers in chatrooms, webcast services and e-mail socialising.
She said "They're a wide range of people. Some are working abroad, some are in countries where they find it difficult to express a Christian faith openly, and some are in residential care and can't get about. Some are disaffected by the church and want to find new ways to belong."
The website would for some be their main church; others would take part only occasionally, she said. But her hope was that there would be a sense of belonging. She said: "My experience of online communities is that they can be loving and generous and supportive."
- - -
CHURCH OF FOOLS
Launched by The Bishop of London
A separate online church, called Church of Fools, was also launched, at the same time as i-church, by the Christian website Ship of Fools and the Methodist Church. Unlike i-church, it has a virtual reality representation on screen, much like an online game.
The Bishop of London, the Rt Rev Richard Chartres, launched the Church of Fools by preaching on the potential for the web to be used for good. [via BBC news online report above]
FIRST WEB-PASTOR APPOINTED
The Church of England's new virtual parish i-Church
The Church of England has appointed Ms Alyson May LESLIE as its first web pastor to oversee a new parish that will exist only on the net. The website is called i-church and is part of the Church of England's response to the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams' call for a "mission-shaped" church.
i-church is a Christian community of the Church of England in the Diocese of Oxford. It is a web-based commmunity for those who wish to explore Christian discipleship, but who are not able, or do not wish, to join a local parish church.
Although parishioners from many countries are taking part, the church will nominally be part of the Diocese of Oxford, which is funding the £15,000-a-year venture - a fraction of the cost of maintaining many physical churches. The Rev Richard Thomas, spokesman for the Diocese of Oxford, said he hoped it would appeal to people who preferred modern ways of doing things, such as dealing directly with organisations over the web.
It is the first time a web community will be a fully recognised Anglican church. More...
- - -
I-CHURCH
700 people have already joined
I've just joined i-church. BBC News online reports that 700 others have already joined ahead of its proper launch in July.
Alyson Leslie, a lay pastor, will run i-Church, a community of worshippers from all over the world who will congregate at the website for prayers in chatrooms, webcast services and e-mail socialising.
She said "They're a wide range of people. Some are working abroad, some are in countries where they find it difficult to express a Christian faith openly, and some are in residential care and can't get about. Some are disaffected by the church and want to find new ways to belong."
The website would for some be their main church; others would take part only occasionally, she said. But her hope was that there would be a sense of belonging. She said: "My experience of online communities is that they can be loving and generous and supportive."
- - -
CHURCH OF FOOLS
Launched by The Bishop of London
A separate online church, called Church of Fools, was also launched, at the same time as i-church, by the Christian website Ship of Fools and the Methodist Church. Unlike i-church, it has a virtual reality representation on screen, much like an online game.
The Bishop of London, the Rt Rev Richard Chartres, launched the Church of Fools by preaching on the potential for the web to be used for good. [via BBC news online report above]
# posted by Ingrid @ 5/11/2004
- - -
BBC RADIO ONLINE
Listen to World Service via the Internet
Good news. I've just had word from Scaryduck that the Sudanese foreign minister is in the UK this week. Scaryduck says, quote "he will be interviewed by BBC World Service tomorrow, and I dare say that Darfur will be mentioned until he gets really, really cross and storms out."
A few years ago I was given an old radio but it's stored away in the back of cupboard. Since all of the BBCs national stations and World Service are now available on the internet, and I have a new powerbook, I clicked into BBC digital radio to check if I could listen to the World Service programme tomorrow on my laptop. It mentions "rights permitting" - not sure what that means - and says the best starting point is the BBC Radio Home page.
Next, I need to work out when it starts and how to set it up. So far, I've found a download available on a free 14-day trial. Not sure if the download is a must, or what happens after the trial. Sounds like money. I'm already paying £10 per month to the BBC, and on top of £15 per month to Virgin.net for narrowband dial up, plus £20 per month to British Telecom for one landline. That's a total of £45 per month excluding my cellphone. And I still have to pay extra to listen to the BBC via the Internet? I hope not. If necessary, I'll just download the free trial for tomorrow and then arrange for my radio to be set up instead.
BBC RADIO ONLINE
Listen to World Service via the Internet
Good news. I've just had word from Scaryduck that the Sudanese foreign minister is in the UK this week. Scaryduck says, quote "he will be interviewed by BBC World Service tomorrow, and I dare say that Darfur will be mentioned until he gets really, really cross and storms out."
A few years ago I was given an old radio but it's stored away in the back of cupboard. Since all of the BBCs national stations and World Service are now available on the internet, and I have a new powerbook, I clicked into BBC digital radio to check if I could listen to the World Service programme tomorrow on my laptop. It mentions "rights permitting" - not sure what that means - and says the best starting point is the BBC Radio Home page.
Next, I need to work out when it starts and how to set it up. So far, I've found a download available on a free 14-day trial. Not sure if the download is a must, or what happens after the trial. Sounds like money. I'm already paying £10 per month to the BBC, and on top of £15 per month to Virgin.net for narrowband dial up, plus £20 per month to British Telecom for one landline. That's a total of £45 per month excluding my cellphone. And I still have to pay extra to listen to the BBC via the Internet? I hope not. If necessary, I'll just download the free trial for tomorrow and then arrange for my radio to be set up instead.
# posted by Ingrid @ 5/11/2004
Monday, May 10, 2004
WHERE WERE WE TEN YEARS AGO?
Asks a blogging reporter in Africa
A reporter for the Christian Science Monitor is travelling across Africa, including Sudan. See this post, dated February 12, 2004, of a Sudanese view: "Thank God for George Bush!"
Here's a copy, in full, of another post - dated April 6, 2004:
"...Perhaps never in history has Rwanda been filled with so many foreign journalists as in the past week. Some 500 of us from as far away as Japan descended on the country for the 10th anniversary of the genocide. One Rwandan reporter, observing the influx, said to me, “You should have been here in 1994. You’re more powerful than a whole battalion of UN peacekeepers. You could have stopped the genocide.”
As I arrived at one genocide site, a school where 50,000 people were killed and where preserved bones are still on display, my reaction was, “What am I doing here? I’m 10 years too late.”
So why weren’t all of us here 10 years ago? Well, I was still an intern at the Monitor. But people tell me one reason was that South Africa’s first democratic elections were going on at the same time. It was a rare case of the good news – Nelson Mandela’s ascendance to the presidency and the end of apartheid – overshadowing the bad. April 1994 was also the height of the O. J. Simpson trial. So the global media was otherwise occupied.
Even now, by being in Rwanda, we all may be missing a crucial story: "Ethnic cleansing" (as one UN official calls it) in western Sudan.
I’ve already asked my editors if I can go. They've agreed. So my next big trip will be to try to get a closer look at the conflict in the Darfur region of Sudan. If my colleagues join me, maybe we’ll be in the right place at the right time to help highlight a current conflict that needs the world’s attention..."
[via Passion of the Present via Dave Winer]
- - -
Note: I am pinging a copy of this post - via Technorati - to the bloggers listed below, including Clive at The UK Today who wrote Sudan - A British Angle with links encouraging British bloggers to take action by faxing their MPs and raising awareness through blogging.
And to Counciller Bob Piper in England who thoughtfully posted: I heard ten thousand whisperin' and nobody listenin'
Blogborygmi - USA
We might as well dance - Australia
Allseasons - Canada
Conservative Propaganda - Washington DC
Tao of Pauly NYC
Hatamaran - USA
ChaiTeaLatte - USA
- - -
REGISTER AND MEETUP TO STOP GENOCIDE
International Stop Genocide Day May 22
International Stop Genocide Day May 22, sponsored by Meetup.com group formed to stop genocide.
- - -
SUDAN: THE PASSION OF THE PRESENT
Now becomes a "real" daily news blog
Note Jim Moore's update on latest links to the daily news blog Sudan: The Passion of the Present.
Asks a blogging reporter in Africa
A reporter for the Christian Science Monitor is travelling across Africa, including Sudan. See this post, dated February 12, 2004, of a Sudanese view: "Thank God for George Bush!"
Here's a copy, in full, of another post - dated April 6, 2004:
"...Perhaps never in history has Rwanda been filled with so many foreign journalists as in the past week. Some 500 of us from as far away as Japan descended on the country for the 10th anniversary of the genocide. One Rwandan reporter, observing the influx, said to me, “You should have been here in 1994. You’re more powerful than a whole battalion of UN peacekeepers. You could have stopped the genocide.”
As I arrived at one genocide site, a school where 50,000 people were killed and where preserved bones are still on display, my reaction was, “What am I doing here? I’m 10 years too late.”
So why weren’t all of us here 10 years ago? Well, I was still an intern at the Monitor. But people tell me one reason was that South Africa’s first democratic elections were going on at the same time. It was a rare case of the good news – Nelson Mandela’s ascendance to the presidency and the end of apartheid – overshadowing the bad. April 1994 was also the height of the O. J. Simpson trial. So the global media was otherwise occupied.
Even now, by being in Rwanda, we all may be missing a crucial story: "Ethnic cleansing" (as one UN official calls it) in western Sudan.
I’ve already asked my editors if I can go. They've agreed. So my next big trip will be to try to get a closer look at the conflict in the Darfur region of Sudan. If my colleagues join me, maybe we’ll be in the right place at the right time to help highlight a current conflict that needs the world’s attention..."
[via Passion of the Present via Dave Winer]
- - -
Note: I am pinging a copy of this post - via Technorati - to the bloggers listed below, including Clive at The UK Today who wrote Sudan - A British Angle with links encouraging British bloggers to take action by faxing their MPs and raising awareness through blogging.
And to Counciller Bob Piper in England who thoughtfully posted: I heard ten thousand whisperin' and nobody listenin'
Blogborygmi - USA
We might as well dance - Australia
Allseasons - Canada
Conservative Propaganda - Washington DC
Tao of Pauly NYC
Hatamaran - USA
ChaiTeaLatte - USA
- - -
REGISTER AND MEETUP TO STOP GENOCIDE
International Stop Genocide Day May 22
International Stop Genocide Day May 22, sponsored by Meetup.com group formed to stop genocide.
- - -
SUDAN: THE PASSION OF THE PRESENT
Now becomes a "real" daily news blog
Note Jim Moore's update on latest links to the daily news blog Sudan: The Passion of the Present.
# posted by Ingrid @ 5/10/2004
- - -
HOON CALLS PICTURES A HOAX
The Daily Mirror asks for evidence
I've just watched Channel 4 TV news. Jon Snow interviewed Defence Secretary Hoon who confirmed he believed the pictures published by the Daily Mirror, said to show British troops abusing prisoners, were a hoax. The Daily Mirror contacted Channel 4 while it was on air and called for evidence.
Update: Military sources later made clear they believed they had positively identified the actual truck - not just the type - shown in the Mirror's pictures. The vehicle is in the UK and had never been sent to Iraq, they said.
Piers Morgan, Editor of the Daily Mirror does not accept that the Ministry of Defence has proved these photographs are faked and he accuses government of diversion tactics.
HOON CALLS PICTURES A HOAX
The Daily Mirror asks for evidence
I've just watched Channel 4 TV news. Jon Snow interviewed Defence Secretary Hoon who confirmed he believed the pictures published by the Daily Mirror, said to show British troops abusing prisoners, were a hoax. The Daily Mirror contacted Channel 4 while it was on air and called for evidence.
Update: Military sources later made clear they believed they had positively identified the actual truck - not just the type - shown in the Mirror's pictures. The vehicle is in the UK and had never been sent to Iraq, they said.
Piers Morgan, Editor of the Daily Mirror does not accept that the Ministry of Defence has proved these photographs are faked and he accuses government of diversion tactics.
# posted by Ingrid @ 5/10/2004
- - -
BLOGGING DOCTOR/PATIENT EMAILS
Trainee doctors could diagnose patients online
American blogging doctor Nick suggests a great idea: in certain circumstances, patients and doctors could converse by email -- and trainee doctors could handle the replies (after the content is reviewed by the doctor).
Nick says that for doctors, answering emails seems like an attractive job to delegate to medical students. It would give the students the opportunity to take their time with diagnosis, consider triage, look up potential treatments and check against the hospital formulary, etc. These are skills trainee doctors have to learn anyway -- it's a lot more stressful to do when the patient is in front of them, with a full waiting room to boot. He feels the students would be more likely to write a longer, more thorough workup -- and one the patient could understand.
There are times I'd prefer talking to my GP or consultant via email.
Here in England, GPs are generally allowed 15 to 20 minutes with each patient. Someone told me that over the past few years this has been officially reduced from twelve to seven minutes.
Some GPs practices are like conveyor belts, especially on Monday's or when its raining. I noticed this when I first became ill in 1999 - on foul weather days the surgery was packed but on hot sunny days the waiting room was almost empty. Monday's were packed with a younger crowd, probably needing sick notes for their employers. Friday's were less packed.
For patients and staff, crowded waiting rooms can be stressful. Especially when a doctor is running late. People coughing and spitting, like they have flu or something else that's catching.
Attending a doctor's surgery can be a major project when you are feeling very ill. Getting organised, bathing and dressing for the outdoors. Hauling yourself out into the rain or snow during winter time. Traffic. Parking. Walking. Reporting to Reception. Waiting for your name to be called. Sorting out in your mind what to say when you see the doctor. It's such an ordeal. Makes it even more difficult to think straight. And can make patients feel worse because by the time they've sorted the prescription they've been handed - and get home - a ten minute face-to-face with a doctor may have taken up to one half day to achieve. Because time is short on face-to-face appointments, the doctor invariably recommends a follow up appointment in two weeks time. And so it goes on...
Unless it's an emergency, I'd never consider phoning my GP because he'd have a waiting room of patients and my phone call might upset his schedule. After a face-to-face consultation, it's not always easy to recall what's was said. Conversing with my GP via email would help me focus on explaining the problem, and make me feel I had every opportunity to explain things properly. I'd have a written record of my email and his reply. Our emails would be conveniently filed away in my computer for next time - and for future reference.
Sounds great for the patients with computers (who do not need a physical exam or tests). And sounds like a great way for medical students to train. By handling the incoming mail for doctors (as long as the doctor endorsed the final copy) it reduces the pressure on the GP who can spend more time on reducing face-to-face consultations. Sounds like a win-win for everyone involved. Much more efficient too. Probably would save on resources that could be spent on providing more doctors and nurses - so that everyone is less stretched, pressured and stressed.
Here in the South West of England GPs still make house calls. A few years ago, I needed my GP to provide an up to date report on my health. I phoned the medical centre (where he is one of several GPs) to say I could not get there for an appointment. They said not to worry he would come and see me. And left it at that.
Next morning around 11am there was a knock at my door. There he was standing, dressed in a jogging jacket, with a stethoscope around his neck and a bunch of patient files in his hands. No black bag or anything.
Parking is near to impossible here so he arrived on foot. And must have visited other patients in their homes around this area because he had more than one file in his arms. He stayed more than half an hour and got to meet Ophelia and see my view overlooking the seaside.
It was a nice sunny day, not too much wind. On his way out, I could hear someone in the road down below, waving to him and shouting out thanks to him for everything he had done for his wife (who'd died from cancer, the week before). The backdrop to all of this was a massive expanse of blue sea and sky right to the horizon - and Ophelia...
BLOGGING DOCTOR/PATIENT EMAILS
Trainee doctors could diagnose patients online
American blogging doctor Nick suggests a great idea: in certain circumstances, patients and doctors could converse by email -- and trainee doctors could handle the replies (after the content is reviewed by the doctor).
Nick says that for doctors, answering emails seems like an attractive job to delegate to medical students. It would give the students the opportunity to take their time with diagnosis, consider triage, look up potential treatments and check against the hospital formulary, etc. These are skills trainee doctors have to learn anyway -- it's a lot more stressful to do when the patient is in front of them, with a full waiting room to boot. He feels the students would be more likely to write a longer, more thorough workup -- and one the patient could understand.
There are times I'd prefer talking to my GP or consultant via email.
Here in England, GPs are generally allowed 15 to 20 minutes with each patient. Someone told me that over the past few years this has been officially reduced from twelve to seven minutes.
Some GPs practices are like conveyor belts, especially on Monday's or when its raining. I noticed this when I first became ill in 1999 - on foul weather days the surgery was packed but on hot sunny days the waiting room was almost empty. Monday's were packed with a younger crowd, probably needing sick notes for their employers. Friday's were less packed.
For patients and staff, crowded waiting rooms can be stressful. Especially when a doctor is running late. People coughing and spitting, like they have flu or something else that's catching.
Attending a doctor's surgery can be a major project when you are feeling very ill. Getting organised, bathing and dressing for the outdoors. Hauling yourself out into the rain or snow during winter time. Traffic. Parking. Walking. Reporting to Reception. Waiting for your name to be called. Sorting out in your mind what to say when you see the doctor. It's such an ordeal. Makes it even more difficult to think straight. And can make patients feel worse because by the time they've sorted the prescription they've been handed - and get home - a ten minute face-to-face with a doctor may have taken up to one half day to achieve. Because time is short on face-to-face appointments, the doctor invariably recommends a follow up appointment in two weeks time. And so it goes on...
Unless it's an emergency, I'd never consider phoning my GP because he'd have a waiting room of patients and my phone call might upset his schedule. After a face-to-face consultation, it's not always easy to recall what's was said. Conversing with my GP via email would help me focus on explaining the problem, and make me feel I had every opportunity to explain things properly. I'd have a written record of my email and his reply. Our emails would be conveniently filed away in my computer for next time - and for future reference.
Sounds great for the patients with computers (who do not need a physical exam or tests). And sounds like a great way for medical students to train. By handling the incoming mail for doctors (as long as the doctor endorsed the final copy) it reduces the pressure on the GP who can spend more time on reducing face-to-face consultations. Sounds like a win-win for everyone involved. Much more efficient too. Probably would save on resources that could be spent on providing more doctors and nurses - so that everyone is less stretched, pressured and stressed.
Here in the South West of England GPs still make house calls. A few years ago, I needed my GP to provide an up to date report on my health. I phoned the medical centre (where he is one of several GPs) to say I could not get there for an appointment. They said not to worry he would come and see me. And left it at that.
Next morning around 11am there was a knock at my door. There he was standing, dressed in a jogging jacket, with a stethoscope around his neck and a bunch of patient files in his hands. No black bag or anything.
Parking is near to impossible here so he arrived on foot. And must have visited other patients in their homes around this area because he had more than one file in his arms. He stayed more than half an hour and got to meet Ophelia and see my view overlooking the seaside.
It was a nice sunny day, not too much wind. On his way out, I could hear someone in the road down below, waving to him and shouting out thanks to him for everything he had done for his wife (who'd died from cancer, the week before). The backdrop to all of this was a massive expanse of blue sea and sky right to the horizon - and Ophelia...
# posted by Ingrid @ 5/10/2004
- - -
A NOVEL NEW METHOD IS ALMOST 100% ACCURATE -
Distinguishing Alzheimer's from other types of dementia
Researchers have found a novel method of distinguishing Alzheimer's from other types of dementia. A new method used by doctors at UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas is almost 100 percent accurate when combined with clinical assessment.
Testing blood flow in a specific region of the brain may boost the degree of diagnostic certainty in difficult cases from 90 percent to almost 100 percent, said Dr. Frederick Bonte, director of the Nuclear Medicine Center at UT Southwestern.
A NOVEL NEW METHOD IS ALMOST 100% ACCURATE -
Distinguishing Alzheimer's from other types of dementia
Researchers have found a novel method of distinguishing Alzheimer's from other types of dementia. A new method used by doctors at UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas is almost 100 percent accurate when combined with clinical assessment.
Testing blood flow in a specific region of the brain may boost the degree of diagnostic certainty in difficult cases from 90 percent to almost 100 percent, said Dr. Frederick Bonte, director of the Nuclear Medicine Center at UT Southwestern.
# posted by Ingrid @ 5/10/2004
- - -
COULD TESTING THE BLOOD FLOW OF M.E. PATIENTS -
Lead to a treatment for orthostatic intolerance?
Every Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (M.E.) patient that I know, complains of orthostatic intolerance. In other words, their main problem is staying vertical. Length of time that a seriously affected sufferer manages to stay vertical each day, varies greatly. For me, when this intolerence occurs, it feels like the body and central nervous system go into medical shock, like my skeleton is collapsing - and will do if it does not get horizontal right away. It is a traumatic and hellish experience that makes one feel very ill as a result. I wonder if testing the blood flow of M.E. patients might help researchers to find the right treatment for CFS/ME.
I've read a book by an American doctor. I think it was called the Faces of CFS/ME. His name may have been Bell. He was familiar with CFS/ME patients. And did research on blow flow and experimented with M.E sufferers. One patient with classic M.E. whose orthostatic intolerence was about the same as mine (15 minutes or less) was given a pair of special trousers to wear. The trousers, or body suit (I can't quite recall the details) was a sort of medical appliance that could be put onto a patient - and then inflated - to keep the body rigid. I suppose the sort of thing one might use on a patient with spinal injuries who needs to be transported on a bumpy journey.
Whilst wearing these trousers, she was made to stand up against a wall and talk. Predictably, within minutes, it exacerbated and escalated her symptoms to the point of (what I describe as shock) collapse. However, just as she was reaching that point, the trousers were inflated. So she remained standing upright. The inflated suit had taken the pressure from her body. The suit was keeping her upright. As quickly as her symptoms escalated, was as quickly as they subsided - the moment the suit was inflated.
I've heard from another M.E. patient about a tilt-table test she was given. And from another who is convinced her problems are to do with blood flow. Dr Bell mentioned something about M.E. patients having less blood than normal. I'll have to read the book again to get the details correct.
- - -
ORTHOSTATIC INTOLERANCE
Etiology by Vanderbilt University Autonomic Dysfunction Center
Orthostatic Intolerance Etiology:
The etiology of OI is unknown. For many years, such patients were felt to have deconditioning and were encouraged to pursue a more vigorous exercise regimen. However, recently it has become clear that many individuals with these symptoms have a more serious problem than mere deconditioning. The onset of OI is often predated by a recent viral infection. Patients can undergo extensive clinical evaluation without identification of a specific abnormality, and therefore most patients remained undiagnosed. These difficulties are compounded by the heterogeneity of disease states in patients with orthostatic symptoms, spontaneous fluctuations in disease severity, and no uniformity in nomenclature of disease classification. Another problem in the diagnosis of OI is its overlap with other conditions such as Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS), Neurally Mediated Syncope (NMS), physical deconditioning, etc. Improving characterization of the underlying circulatory responses may lead to a clarification of some of those issues, and will facilitate the discovery of the pathophysiology of OI.
- - -
Note to self: It's interesting to recall what doctors said for years about M.E. is what for many years they were saying about OI, quote: "...such patients were felt to have deconditioning and were encouraged to pursue a more vigorous exercise regimen. However, recently it has become clear that many individuals with these symptoms have a more serious problem than mere deconditioning..."
Our National Health Service has spent millions of pounds on introducing psychcological based treatments (CBT) and graded exercise therapy (GET) for CFS patients (amongst which they insist that M.E. falls under the umbrella of Chronic Fatigue). Many seriously affected M.E. sufferers have reported that CBT/GET worsens their condition.
COULD TESTING THE BLOOD FLOW OF M.E. PATIENTS -
Lead to a treatment for orthostatic intolerance?
Every Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (M.E.) patient that I know, complains of orthostatic intolerance. In other words, their main problem is staying vertical. Length of time that a seriously affected sufferer manages to stay vertical each day, varies greatly. For me, when this intolerence occurs, it feels like the body and central nervous system go into medical shock, like my skeleton is collapsing - and will do if it does not get horizontal right away. It is a traumatic and hellish experience that makes one feel very ill as a result. I wonder if testing the blood flow of M.E. patients might help researchers to find the right treatment for CFS/ME.
I've read a book by an American doctor. I think it was called the Faces of CFS/ME. His name may have been Bell. He was familiar with CFS/ME patients. And did research on blow flow and experimented with M.E sufferers. One patient with classic M.E. whose orthostatic intolerence was about the same as mine (15 minutes or less) was given a pair of special trousers to wear. The trousers, or body suit (I can't quite recall the details) was a sort of medical appliance that could be put onto a patient - and then inflated - to keep the body rigid. I suppose the sort of thing one might use on a patient with spinal injuries who needs to be transported on a bumpy journey.
Whilst wearing these trousers, she was made to stand up against a wall and talk. Predictably, within minutes, it exacerbated and escalated her symptoms to the point of (what I describe as shock) collapse. However, just as she was reaching that point, the trousers were inflated. So she remained standing upright. The inflated suit had taken the pressure from her body. The suit was keeping her upright. As quickly as her symptoms escalated, was as quickly as they subsided - the moment the suit was inflated.
I've heard from another M.E. patient about a tilt-table test she was given. And from another who is convinced her problems are to do with blood flow. Dr Bell mentioned something about M.E. patients having less blood than normal. I'll have to read the book again to get the details correct.
- - -
ORTHOSTATIC INTOLERANCE
Etiology by Vanderbilt University Autonomic Dysfunction Center
Orthostatic Intolerance Etiology:
The etiology of OI is unknown. For many years, such patients were felt to have deconditioning and were encouraged to pursue a more vigorous exercise regimen. However, recently it has become clear that many individuals with these symptoms have a more serious problem than mere deconditioning. The onset of OI is often predated by a recent viral infection. Patients can undergo extensive clinical evaluation without identification of a specific abnormality, and therefore most patients remained undiagnosed. These difficulties are compounded by the heterogeneity of disease states in patients with orthostatic symptoms, spontaneous fluctuations in disease severity, and no uniformity in nomenclature of disease classification. Another problem in the diagnosis of OI is its overlap with other conditions such as Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS), Neurally Mediated Syncope (NMS), physical deconditioning, etc. Improving characterization of the underlying circulatory responses may lead to a clarification of some of those issues, and will facilitate the discovery of the pathophysiology of OI.
- - -
Note to self: It's interesting to recall what doctors said for years about M.E. is what for many years they were saying about OI, quote: "...such patients were felt to have deconditioning and were encouraged to pursue a more vigorous exercise regimen. However, recently it has become clear that many individuals with these symptoms have a more serious problem than mere deconditioning..."
Our National Health Service has spent millions of pounds on introducing psychcological based treatments (CBT) and graded exercise therapy (GET) for CFS patients (amongst which they insist that M.E. falls under the umbrella of Chronic Fatigue). Many seriously affected M.E. sufferers have reported that CBT/GET worsens their condition.
# posted by Ingrid @ 5/10/2004
- - -
CHRONICALLY OVERACTIVATED STRESS-CORTISOL STATE:
A LOW CORTISOL RESPONSE TO STRESS MAY BE PRODUCED -
And continuing stressors may increase the release of certain cytokines that cause M.E. symptoms
Every seriously affected Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (M.E.) sufferer that I have spoken to, complains of stress intolerance, along with an intolerance to exercise and alcohol. Seems to me there is something awry that affects the central nervous system and spine, and in turn the muscles and brain.
In the early days of my illness, I'd suspected cortisol was the problem. Cortisol is the hormone produced by the hypothalamus in the brain to help us handle stress.
I've not given up on this theory because every M.E. patient I've known, has a problem with temperature control, concentration and stress. My understanding of the hypothalamus is that basically it handles those three functions. When I get stressed (even feeling happy or enthusiastic about something can do it) it affects my whole body like it's been attacked internally with poison running through my veins. Alcohol has the same effect.
Here is a copy of the Tip of the Day for May 10, 2004 provided courtesy of ImmuneSupport.com. It pertains to Fibromyalgia (FMS). I am posting it here because it neatly describes what I'm trying to say about M.E. Trouble is, they don't give advice on what to do - or point to any treatments. Here is the tip:
FMS may begin with a chronically overactivated stress-cortisol state. Over time, as the system gradually "tires," a low cortisol response to stress may be produced. In turn, continuing stressors may increase the release of certain cytokines (chemical messengers between cells) that cause pain, fatigue, cognitive impairment, and other problems, while inhibiting the cytokines that promote positive functions such as sleep and tissue repair.
(Source: Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Fibromyalgia, and Other Invisible Illnesses - The Comprehensive Guide, by Katrina Berne, Ph.D. Published by Hunter House books and available at www.hunterhouse.com.)
Note to self: Find info on how to inhibit the cytokines to promote positive functions such as sleep and tissue repair.
CHRONICALLY OVERACTIVATED STRESS-CORTISOL STATE:
A LOW CORTISOL RESPONSE TO STRESS MAY BE PRODUCED -
And continuing stressors may increase the release of certain cytokines that cause M.E. symptoms
Every seriously affected Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (M.E.) sufferer that I have spoken to, complains of stress intolerance, along with an intolerance to exercise and alcohol. Seems to me there is something awry that affects the central nervous system and spine, and in turn the muscles and brain.
In the early days of my illness, I'd suspected cortisol was the problem. Cortisol is the hormone produced by the hypothalamus in the brain to help us handle stress.
I've not given up on this theory because every M.E. patient I've known, has a problem with temperature control, concentration and stress. My understanding of the hypothalamus is that basically it handles those three functions. When I get stressed (even feeling happy or enthusiastic about something can do it) it affects my whole body like it's been attacked internally with poison running through my veins. Alcohol has the same effect.
Here is a copy of the Tip of the Day for May 10, 2004 provided courtesy of ImmuneSupport.com. It pertains to Fibromyalgia (FMS). I am posting it here because it neatly describes what I'm trying to say about M.E. Trouble is, they don't give advice on what to do - or point to any treatments. Here is the tip:
FMS may begin with a chronically overactivated stress-cortisol state. Over time, as the system gradually "tires," a low cortisol response to stress may be produced. In turn, continuing stressors may increase the release of certain cytokines (chemical messengers between cells) that cause pain, fatigue, cognitive impairment, and other problems, while inhibiting the cytokines that promote positive functions such as sleep and tissue repair.
(Source: Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Fibromyalgia, and Other Invisible Illnesses - The Comprehensive Guide, by Katrina Berne, Ph.D. Published by Hunter House books and available at www.hunterhouse.com.)
Note to self: Find info on how to inhibit the cytokines to promote positive functions such as sleep and tissue repair.
# posted by Ingrid @ 5/10/2004
- - -
A CURE FOR ARTHRITIS?
Using tissue engineering and biological stimulation
Sadly, a very fit and active dear friend of mine has just been diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis. These notes on osteoarthritis, the most common form of arthritis, may be of interest to another friend who underwent surgery over a year ago:
“...Other studies have shown the amount of arthritis a person experiences is related to the amount of meniscus you have left in your knee,” Cook said. “In our animal studies, we have been able to grow back 90 percent of the meniscus on average. Using tissue engineering and biological stimulation through the implantation of a scaffold derived from pig intestines, we show the tissue where it needs to grow...” Read more on A Cure for Arthritis?
A CURE FOR ARTHRITIS?
Using tissue engineering and biological stimulation
Sadly, a very fit and active dear friend of mine has just been diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis. These notes on osteoarthritis, the most common form of arthritis, may be of interest to another friend who underwent surgery over a year ago:
“...Other studies have shown the amount of arthritis a person experiences is related to the amount of meniscus you have left in your knee,” Cook said. “In our animal studies, we have been able to grow back 90 percent of the meniscus on average. Using tissue engineering and biological stimulation through the implantation of a scaffold derived from pig intestines, we show the tissue where it needs to grow...” Read more on A Cure for Arthritis?
# posted by Ingrid @ 5/10/2004
Saturday, May 08, 2004
BLOGGER'S DAY TOMORROW
An all-new release of Blogger
Blogger says it will be down tomorrow for a few hours. It's working on launching all the additional features and a whole new look for Blogger. So I'll take a blogging break and will post again Monday. Looking forward to seeing the new features. Thanks Blogger. We love Blogger.
Tomorrow is Mother's Day in America. Happy Mother's Day to all mothers in America (in the UK, Mother's Day is celebrated at the end of March) - especially Lisa Williams in Boston, MA.
An all-new release of Blogger
Blogger says it will be down tomorrow for a few hours. It's working on launching all the additional features and a whole new look for Blogger. So I'll take a blogging break and will post again Monday. Looking forward to seeing the new features. Thanks Blogger. We love Blogger.
Tomorrow is Mother's Day in America. Happy Mother's Day to all mothers in America (in the UK, Mother's Day is celebrated at the end of March) - especially Lisa Williams in Boston, MA.
# posted by Ingrid @ 5/08/2004
- - -
GLOBAL JIHAD
Saudi funds and Saudi-trained personnel
May 5, 2004 - Melanie Phillips on Global Jihad (1): When is the west going to wake up to the fact that, far from being our ally, Saudi Arabia is at the intellectual epicentre of the global jihad? According to this article by Paul Marshall, the terrible violence and repression in Nigeria are being fomented by Saudi along with other Islamic chums. Cont'd...
- - -
May 5, 2004 - Melanie Phillips on Global Jihad (2): The jihad against Christians in Nigeria goes on...Meanwhile, 20 more Nigerians have been killed in ongoing clashes between Muslims and Christians...While in the Sudan, mass slaughter and ethnic cleansing have reached horrific proportions: Where are the apoplectic denunciations in the Guardian or Independent of these outrages? Where are the BBC documentaries? Where is the moral outrage of the Archbishop of Canterbury and the bishops and establishment of the Church of England, who remain all but silent on the persecution of their own flock in Nigeria and Sudan and elsewhere across the world? But of course, when persecuted people are Christians, Buddhists, Jews, Hindus or Muslims at the hands of other Muslims, they simply don't register at all on so-called liberal Britain's conscience radar screen. Cont'd...
- - -
May 5, 2004 - Paul Marshall on Sharia and Nigeria: It is a pretty good rule of thumb that where you find Muslim extremism, Islamist terrorism, and women being sentenced to death by stoning, there you will find Saudi funds and Saudi-trained personnel. One exception to this rule has been Nigeria, but now evidence of Wahabbi mischief is surfacing there as well. Cont'd...
- - -
Definitions of jihad and infidel on the Web.
- - -
TANTOR IN WASHINGTON DC
Puts the war against terror in a nutshell
Note Tantor's latest post:
Click on the link above to see what kind of poisonous snakes the Lefties carry in their heads. In this cartoon, the venomously anti-American Ted Rall says that Pat Tillman joined the US military because he 'falsely believed Bush's wars against Iraq and Afghanistan had something to do with 9/11. Actually he was a cog in a low-rent occupation army that shot more innocent civilians than terrorists to prop up puppet rulers and exploit gas and oil resources.'
So take a breath and let that settle in.
It's hard to believe that there is anyone left on the planet that doesn't understand that Al Qaeda was camped out in Afghanistan. Bin Laden bought the Taliban with Saudi oil bucks and consequently controlled Afghanistan. The Sep 11 suicide skyjackers trained there. That means Afghanistan really did have something to do with 9/11.
Iraq provided false identities to Ramzi Yousef and Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the organizers of the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center. Mohammed went on to organize the Sep 11 attack. That means Iraq had something to do with 9/11.
We occupy Afghanistan to block it from becoming a base for future terror attacks. The charge that we killed more civilians than terrorists is pure fiction. There are no oil and gas resources in Afghanistan to exploit.
However, the facts be damned. The Left has its own rigid mythology, a faith based on anti-American propaganda, which Ted Rall feeds. The Left can simply lie faster than the Right can tell the truth.
# posted by Tantor: 8:29 AM (Washington, DC Time) May 8, 2004.
GLOBAL JIHAD
Saudi funds and Saudi-trained personnel
May 5, 2004 - Melanie Phillips on Global Jihad (1): When is the west going to wake up to the fact that, far from being our ally, Saudi Arabia is at the intellectual epicentre of the global jihad? According to this article by Paul Marshall, the terrible violence and repression in Nigeria are being fomented by Saudi along with other Islamic chums. Cont'd...
- - -
May 5, 2004 - Melanie Phillips on Global Jihad (2): The jihad against Christians in Nigeria goes on...Meanwhile, 20 more Nigerians have been killed in ongoing clashes between Muslims and Christians...While in the Sudan, mass slaughter and ethnic cleansing have reached horrific proportions: Where are the apoplectic denunciations in the Guardian or Independent of these outrages? Where are the BBC documentaries? Where is the moral outrage of the Archbishop of Canterbury and the bishops and establishment of the Church of England, who remain all but silent on the persecution of their own flock in Nigeria and Sudan and elsewhere across the world? But of course, when persecuted people are Christians, Buddhists, Jews, Hindus or Muslims at the hands of other Muslims, they simply don't register at all on so-called liberal Britain's conscience radar screen. Cont'd...
- - -
May 5, 2004 - Paul Marshall on Sharia and Nigeria: It is a pretty good rule of thumb that where you find Muslim extremism, Islamist terrorism, and women being sentenced to death by stoning, there you will find Saudi funds and Saudi-trained personnel. One exception to this rule has been Nigeria, but now evidence of Wahabbi mischief is surfacing there as well. Cont'd...
- - -
Definitions of jihad and infidel on the Web.
- - -
TANTOR IN WASHINGTON DC
Puts the war against terror in a nutshell
Note Tantor's latest post:
Click on the link above to see what kind of poisonous snakes the Lefties carry in their heads. In this cartoon, the venomously anti-American Ted Rall says that Pat Tillman joined the US military because he 'falsely believed Bush's wars against Iraq and Afghanistan had something to do with 9/11. Actually he was a cog in a low-rent occupation army that shot more innocent civilians than terrorists to prop up puppet rulers and exploit gas and oil resources.'
So take a breath and let that settle in.
It's hard to believe that there is anyone left on the planet that doesn't understand that Al Qaeda was camped out in Afghanistan. Bin Laden bought the Taliban with Saudi oil bucks and consequently controlled Afghanistan. The Sep 11 suicide skyjackers trained there. That means Afghanistan really did have something to do with 9/11.
Iraq provided false identities to Ramzi Yousef and Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the organizers of the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center. Mohammed went on to organize the Sep 11 attack. That means Iraq had something to do with 9/11.
We occupy Afghanistan to block it from becoming a base for future terror attacks. The charge that we killed more civilians than terrorists is pure fiction. There are no oil and gas resources in Afghanistan to exploit.
However, the facts be damned. The Left has its own rigid mythology, a faith based on anti-American propaganda, which Ted Rall feeds. The Left can simply lie faster than the Right can tell the truth.
# posted by Tantor: 8:29 AM (Washington, DC Time) May 8, 2004.
# posted by Ingrid @ 5/08/2004
- - -
WHAT IS LOVE AND WHY SHOULD WE CARE
About the troubles happening around the world?
A few days ago I talked to a friend who said I should not worry and bother about Iraq and the Sudan and what the media says.
He always sees the larger picture ... and of life in 500 years time (!)
I know he makes sense. But he's confused me. There's more than a grain of truth in what he says. He has a point. He asked me why I care. And said I should not waste my precious energy on such things.
My concerns were that wherever major troubles were happening around the world, they seemed increasingly to involve the Muslims, Jews and Arabs.
To me, it feels like World War III began on 9/11. And that the Muslims are trying to take over the world. Yes, Christians too are encouraged to spread The Word and the Gospels. But not by means of force and violence.
My friend did not agree with my feelings that World War III had begun. He said it was the media giving such an impression because that's how they make their money, create more work and keep their jobs.
He did agree with me about the Muslims and said it's their faith that compels them to convert the world. And the trouble is that they, like most religious people, are fanatics and nobody can sway them from their beliefs. He feels the trouble with all religions is each one of them fervently believes that only their God is the one true God.
He said the media feeds off the uneducated masses (the ones who don't do their homework) because they get work and a job out of it. And that war in the Sudan is nothing new. It's been going on there for the past 30 years. I got the feeling that he thought I was being silly by caring. And wasting my time and life.
I'm over tired at the moment. A high-energy friend visited here Tuesday - Thursday. Dell finally picked up their equipment yesterday. And I managed to erase my data. I'll try and blog it later. Right now I feel as though I have tonsillitis on top of total exhaustion. Tonsils when I swallow feel like they have shards of glass sticking in them. Head and muscles ache. Face hot. Teeth and hair hurt. Eyes burn. Feel so worn down by constant illness.
The big difference between my friend and I is that he is an atheist and I believe in God. He lays great store in science, scientific thinking and evidence. And above all, education. He often goes off on tangents and rants about the thousands of different religious sects, each believing in their own God. And thinks all religion is a load of rubbish that forms the basis of the troubles in this world. He hopes that in thousands of years time, man will be educated enough in science to phase out religion.
I get frustrated at not having the energy to argue my corner. All I can say is there is only one God and I wish God would make an appearance on Earth, in a way that all people can see, and sort everyone out.
If we don't care about our fellow man, what is it that separates man from animals? And what is love?
WHAT IS LOVE AND WHY SHOULD WE CARE
About the troubles happening around the world?
A few days ago I talked to a friend who said I should not worry and bother about Iraq and the Sudan and what the media says.
He always sees the larger picture ... and of life in 500 years time (!)
I know he makes sense. But he's confused me. There's more than a grain of truth in what he says. He has a point. He asked me why I care. And said I should not waste my precious energy on such things.
My concerns were that wherever major troubles were happening around the world, they seemed increasingly to involve the Muslims, Jews and Arabs.
To me, it feels like World War III began on 9/11. And that the Muslims are trying to take over the world. Yes, Christians too are encouraged to spread The Word and the Gospels. But not by means of force and violence.
My friend did not agree with my feelings that World War III had begun. He said it was the media giving such an impression because that's how they make their money, create more work and keep their jobs.
He did agree with me about the Muslims and said it's their faith that compels them to convert the world. And the trouble is that they, like most religious people, are fanatics and nobody can sway them from their beliefs. He feels the trouble with all religions is each one of them fervently believes that only their God is the one true God.
He said the media feeds off the uneducated masses (the ones who don't do their homework) because they get work and a job out of it. And that war in the Sudan is nothing new. It's been going on there for the past 30 years. I got the feeling that he thought I was being silly by caring. And wasting my time and life.
I'm over tired at the moment. A high-energy friend visited here Tuesday - Thursday. Dell finally picked up their equipment yesterday. And I managed to erase my data. I'll try and blog it later. Right now I feel as though I have tonsillitis on top of total exhaustion. Tonsils when I swallow feel like they have shards of glass sticking in them. Head and muscles ache. Face hot. Teeth and hair hurt. Eyes burn. Feel so worn down by constant illness.
The big difference between my friend and I is that he is an atheist and I believe in God. He lays great store in science, scientific thinking and evidence. And above all, education. He often goes off on tangents and rants about the thousands of different religious sects, each believing in their own God. And thinks all religion is a load of rubbish that forms the basis of the troubles in this world. He hopes that in thousands of years time, man will be educated enough in science to phase out religion.
I get frustrated at not having the energy to argue my corner. All I can say is there is only one God and I wish God would make an appearance on Earth, in a way that all people can see, and sort everyone out.
If we don't care about our fellow man, what is it that separates man from animals? And what is love?
# posted by Ingrid @ 5/08/2004
- - -
BIG POWERS WARY OVER SUDAN CRISIS
Pro-government militiamen are accused of holding a town hostage
I'm pleased to note that the Sudan crisis is moving up the agenda at the BBC. They've updated yesterday's report. And published it in the top story section at BBC News online UK:
After briefing the council yesterday, UN Commissioner for Human Rights Bertrand Ramcharan spoke of a "scorched earth policy" and "repeated crimes against humanity". He described aerial bombardments as well as systematic attacks on villages by Sudanese government forces and militiamen who killed, raped, and looted. "This is happening before our very eyes," he said. Pro-government militiamen are accused of holding a town hostage.
Mr Ramcharan condemned the Khartoum authorities. But the BBC's Susannah Price at UN headquarters says other officials within the organisation have been reluctant to do so. I wonder why.
BIG POWERS WARY OVER SUDAN CRISIS
Pro-government militiamen are accused of holding a town hostage
I'm pleased to note that the Sudan crisis is moving up the agenda at the BBC. They've updated yesterday's report. And published it in the top story section at BBC News online UK:
After briefing the council yesterday, UN Commissioner for Human Rights Bertrand Ramcharan spoke of a "scorched earth policy" and "repeated crimes against humanity". He described aerial bombardments as well as systematic attacks on villages by Sudanese government forces and militiamen who killed, raped, and looted. "This is happening before our very eyes," he said. Pro-government militiamen are accused of holding a town hostage.
Mr Ramcharan condemned the Khartoum authorities. But the BBC's Susannah Price at UN headquarters says other officials within the organisation have been reluctant to do so. I wonder why.
# posted by Ingrid @ 5/08/2004
Friday, May 07, 2004
SUDAN 'STARVING DARFUR REFUGEES'
BBC reports on the "politics of starvation"
On British TV last night, Channel 4 news reported on Darfur's human tragedy. They referred to it as an "under-reported" war that started one year ago.
Their video footage and report came directly out of Western Sudan. Referring to it as "the land without life", they reported on the 14 massacres where 800 people died. The perpetrators were Arabs, against Africans. Channel 4 said they'd be following up on their report and will talk to the Arabs, to get their side of the story.
Today, BBC News reports:
The United Nations says Darfur refugees are systematically starved. Human Rights Watch says black Africans are deliberately being driven off the land.
A report released by the New York-based Human Rights Watch has accused the Sudanese government of ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity in the Darfur region of western Sudan. It says the tactics involved include mass rape, summary execution and the systematic burning of villages and crops.
It said a UN team found "appalling" conditions when it visited the town of Kailek less than two weeks ago. Militias prevented food deliveries and stopped anyone leaving, the report said. One aid worker in Kailek described what happened there as the "politics of starvation". Eight or nine children were reported to have been dying from malnutrition every day.
Members of the UN team were said to be "visibly shaken" by circumstances in the town. The report said women and girls were raped and described inhumane sanitary conditions and a lack of medical treatment.
Sudanese Foreign Minister Mustafa Ismail has acknowledged there might have been human rights violations, but denies a campaign of ethnic cleansing is going on. Later on Friday, the report will be presented to the UN Security Council in New York.
BBC reports on the "politics of starvation"
On British TV last night, Channel 4 news reported on Darfur's human tragedy. They referred to it as an "under-reported" war that started one year ago.
Their video footage and report came directly out of Western Sudan. Referring to it as "the land without life", they reported on the 14 massacres where 800 people died. The perpetrators were Arabs, against Africans. Channel 4 said they'd be following up on their report and will talk to the Arabs, to get their side of the story.
Today, BBC News reports:
The United Nations says Darfur refugees are systematically starved. Human Rights Watch says black Africans are deliberately being driven off the land.
A report released by the New York-based Human Rights Watch has accused the Sudanese government of ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity in the Darfur region of western Sudan. It says the tactics involved include mass rape, summary execution and the systematic burning of villages and crops.
It said a UN team found "appalling" conditions when it visited the town of Kailek less than two weeks ago. Militias prevented food deliveries and stopped anyone leaving, the report said. One aid worker in Kailek described what happened there as the "politics of starvation". Eight or nine children were reported to have been dying from malnutrition every day.
Members of the UN team were said to be "visibly shaken" by circumstances in the town. The report said women and girls were raped and described inhumane sanitary conditions and a lack of medical treatment.
Sudanese Foreign Minister Mustafa Ismail has acknowledged there might have been human rights violations, but denies a campaign of ethnic cleansing is going on. Later on Friday, the report will be presented to the UN Security Council in New York.
# posted by Ingrid @ 5/07/2004
- - -
HOW MUCH OF OUR BRAIN DO WE USE?
We use 100% of our brains
After reading this discussion on "How much of our brain do we use?", I did a bit of googling and found there is no scientific evidence to suggest that we use only 10% of our brains.
In other words, the statement, "We use only 10% of our brains" is false; it's a myth. We use all of our brain. So next time you hear someone say that they only use 10% of their brain, you can set them straight. Tell them, "NOT TRUE; We use 100% of our brains."
HOW MUCH OF OUR BRAIN DO WE USE?
We use 100% of our brains
After reading this discussion on "How much of our brain do we use?", I did a bit of googling and found there is no scientific evidence to suggest that we use only 10% of our brains.
In other words, the statement, "We use only 10% of our brains" is false; it's a myth. We use all of our brain. So next time you hear someone say that they only use 10% of their brain, you can set them straight. Tell them, "NOT TRUE; We use 100% of our brains."
# posted by Ingrid @ 5/07/2004
- - -
TOWER OF BABEL?
We are building out telepathy -
and continuing our stretch towards omniscience
My computer acts like an extension to my brain. It stores and compartmentalizes my thoughts and data. And I can search on it all by pressing a few keys. Given a few more hundred years, I cannot see why such extensions of the human brain won't be used to develop some amazing things. And then I wonder, where it is leading mankind; for what purpose is all this progress; what exactly are we trying to do and why.
To my mind, Boris Anthony, in an insightful email to Jim Moore, puts it in a nutshell:
"We are building out telepathy...and continuing our stretch towards omniscience: Tower of Babel?"
Here is a copy of Boris' email:
Howdy Jim! Still in Tokyo, got till the 30th of April... even considering staying longer... maybe all of May as well. We see. Awesome place. :)
In your blog entry titled "Personal Television Networks", you wonder about a comparison. While I have none specific to Individual Audio/Video Broadcasting, I do think the bigger picture here can be described as "we are building out telepathy".
The Jobs observation that "computers are bicycles for the mind" is a very McLuhanish (and others surely) thing to say. Essentially, every thing man creates is an externalization/extension of some faculty he already possesses. The wheel extended our legs and feet (transportation), etc...
The computer itself is merely a memory bank and a processor. Pictures, sounds, text, video etc are stored (memory) and via increasingly better software, processed, or rather: "packaged for sharing" ... (sharing afterall IS communication, and vice versa...). So with the computer, we externalized memory storage of external things: addresses, memos, audio/video/photo (a/v/p) of our environment in raw format, etc, and formalized (and continue to formalize) ways of packaging that data into shareable media (be it RSS, HTML, MP3, MPEG4,etc etc etc etc). Internally we do this with stored experience, and package it up with languages, such as english, french, music, oil paints, granite, architecture, math, etc...
So, now we plug in a cable into this computah thingo. A network. We bang out basic communication protocols and spend 20 years moving files... until one day... poof... hmmm... all of a sudden all this moving of files... increases our awareness... I know a bit of what 30-40 people think of everyday (weblogging/syndication)... I know a bit about where 5-10 people are at and what they are doing at any given time(A/V/P mobile weblogging), I know a bit about who my friends know and how (Social networking software)...
This is all beginning, but moving ahead quite rapidly. We are building out telepathy, Jim. Telesthesia is perhaps as far as we'll get, for now, but still: we are using all our knowledge and experience to provide ourselves with one faculty we do not posses naturally. We are extending not only our minds, thoughts, experiences, but also applying our development of languages and codification techniques and formalization, in order to reach this goal.
Taken to extreme, we are continuing our stretch towards omniscience. Tower of Babel? :)
Hope you are well!! :) B.
- - -
OMNISCIENCE
Definition
The state of being omniscient; having infinite knowledge.
The concept that god is in possession of all knowledge.
An attribute of God alone. It is the quality of having all knowledge - past, present and future.
The state or quality of knowing everything. Omniscience is forever denied to human beings.
An attribute of God alone. It is the quality of having all knowledge (Is. 40:14). Omnipotence, Omnipresence, and Omniscience represent the nature of God concerning His relation to the creation.
The attribute by which God perfectly and eternally knows all things that can be known -- past, present, and future. God knows how best to attain his desired ends. God's omniscience is clearly taught in Scripture (Ps 147:5; Prov 15:11; Isa 46:10).
[via Google definitions of omniscience on the Web]
- - -
TOWER OF BABEL
Definition
Always described as some kind of spiral mountain made of brick and mortar, the TOWER OF BABEL was the largest particle-beam tool of its kind in antediluvian times. Built by the Assyrian King NIMROD, this radio transmitting electromagnetic fountain design may have "backfired" and exploded when its "tower beam" reacted with the ozone layer of the upper atmosphere and blew the parabolic crater container out - thus creating the infamous Biblical "bottomless pit" story (Revelations 9:11). See PARABOLIC MIRRORS.
Further reading: Tower of Babel Gallery and Catholic Encyclopedia Tower of Babel
[via Google Search: what is tower of babel ]
- - -
WILL THE GIANT PLANE HELP AIRBUS CONQUER THE WORLD?
The superjumbo goes into production
In 2006 a new chapter will begin in the history of air travel. Production has started of the world's biggest passenger aircraft, the Airbus A380 (originally A3XX).
Its sales pitch has attracted orders from 11 international airlines. A380s will fly to around 60 big airports around the world, the hubs. The plane was conceived as a rival to Boeing's ageing 747 Jumbo, which, for 30 years, has dominated in the size stakes. It doesn't have an obvious competitor. The share price of EADS, the Airbus majority shareholder, has risen as a result.
Airbus has carefully marketed the A380 as a luxurious way to travel, its promo videos oozing spacious inflight shopping, showers, bars, and libraries. The full size mock-up of the plane in Toulouse, France, even has an onboard waterfall.
Sections of the plane are individually manufactured across Europe: wings in the UK; fuselage in France and Germany. And tail planes in Spain. By air, sea and road they will be transported to Toulouse, France, for final assembly. Airbus has 129 orders for the A380 "superjumbo" on its books. The first is due to go into service in March 2006
Meanwhile, America's Boeing is staking its future on the new, mid-size, 7E7, after scrapping plans to stretch the Jumbo.
See the A380 in pictures.
- - -
WHAT WILL THEY THINK OF NEXT?
Great demand for transport, travel and water-related projects
If engineers get their way the coming decades will see the completion of tunnels linking continents, offshore airports and the longest bridges the world has ever seen. There is even talk of a space elevator - which will carry people from Earth to the stars without the need for cumbersome spaceships.
There is great demand for transport improvements and that is what a lot of the major civil engineering projects are about. Transport and travel are among the areas set to see the greatest innovation - with the demand for cheap, fast and convenient ways to get around likely to provide much of the momentum needed to get projects started.
The planned expansion of Heathrow and other airports is seen as essential to the UK's future economic prosperity - yet the plans are deeply unpopular with local residents and environmentalists. Engineers believe they may have the solution. "If we were to become incredibly novel we could build islands off-shore for airports," says Mr McKitterick. He suggests the terminals, which could be built by joining several oil rigs together and linked to the mainland by tunnels, would "reduce noise and avoid building in overcrowded areas".
Transport aside, many industry experts predict water-related projects may soon begin to dominate civil engineering. Desalination plants used in the Middle East to convert sea water into drinking water could have to be built in northern climes.
"There is nothing in this industry we cannot do, it is just a matter of cost," says Bob McKitterick of engineering consultancy Scott Wilson, and a former president of the Institution of Structural Engineers.
Current projects
Switzerland: Gotthard Base Tunnel, due to open in 2010 (35 miles).
Spain and Morocco have agreed a programme of engineering tests for a rail tunnel under the Strait of Gibraltar. A decision on whether to go ahead is expected in four years.
The one mile (1.6km) long Stonecutters Bridge, which is being built in Hong Kong over the next four years, is set to become the longest single-span, cable-stayed bridge.
Talks have been going on to link Sri Lanka and India across the Palk Strait by a bridge, replicating an ancient 19 mile (30km) land crossing which may or may not have been built by humans, but which is still visible from space.
Civil engineers are also keen to see the completion of a 16,000 mile (25,800km) pan-American super highway, linking Alaska to the tip of South America. Much of the road is already in place but gaps remain in areas in Colombia and through the Andes.
Nasa's plans for a space elevator
Other projects pale into insignificance when compared to the Nasa's plans for a space elevator.
A 25,000 mile (40,000km) cable would be tethered between a base station - probably in the ocean - and an orbiting satellite, which stays at the same point above the earth as it rotates on its axis. Satellites, payloads and people would be able to move up and down the cable cheaply and quickly. "It has the potential to provide mass transportation to space in the same way highways, railroads, power lines, and pipelines provide mass transportation across the Earth's surface," says Nasa.
It is spending several millions of dollars researching the idea and while it admits the idea is still far from being a reality, it believes the system could be in place in the second half of the 21st Century. Unfortunately the fastest lift currently available would take over four months to reach its destination.
Read these comments on what projects people would like to see.
TOWER OF BABEL?
We are building out telepathy -
and continuing our stretch towards omniscience
My computer acts like an extension to my brain. It stores and compartmentalizes my thoughts and data. And I can search on it all by pressing a few keys. Given a few more hundred years, I cannot see why such extensions of the human brain won't be used to develop some amazing things. And then I wonder, where it is leading mankind; for what purpose is all this progress; what exactly are we trying to do and why.
To my mind, Boris Anthony, in an insightful email to Jim Moore, puts it in a nutshell:
"We are building out telepathy...and continuing our stretch towards omniscience: Tower of Babel?"
Here is a copy of Boris' email:
Howdy Jim! Still in Tokyo, got till the 30th of April... even considering staying longer... maybe all of May as well. We see. Awesome place. :)
In your blog entry titled "Personal Television Networks", you wonder about a comparison. While I have none specific to Individual Audio/Video Broadcasting, I do think the bigger picture here can be described as "we are building out telepathy".
The Jobs observation that "computers are bicycles for the mind" is a very McLuhanish (and others surely) thing to say. Essentially, every thing man creates is an externalization/extension of some faculty he already possesses. The wheel extended our legs and feet (transportation), etc...
The computer itself is merely a memory bank and a processor. Pictures, sounds, text, video etc are stored (memory) and via increasingly better software, processed, or rather: "packaged for sharing" ... (sharing afterall IS communication, and vice versa...). So with the computer, we externalized memory storage of external things: addresses, memos, audio/video/photo (a/v/p) of our environment in raw format, etc, and formalized (and continue to formalize) ways of packaging that data into shareable media (be it RSS, HTML, MP3, MPEG4,etc etc etc etc). Internally we do this with stored experience, and package it up with languages, such as english, french, music, oil paints, granite, architecture, math, etc...
So, now we plug in a cable into this computah thingo. A network. We bang out basic communication protocols and spend 20 years moving files... until one day... poof... hmmm... all of a sudden all this moving of files... increases our awareness... I know a bit of what 30-40 people think of everyday (weblogging/syndication)... I know a bit about where 5-10 people are at and what they are doing at any given time(A/V/P mobile weblogging), I know a bit about who my friends know and how (Social networking software)...
This is all beginning, but moving ahead quite rapidly. We are building out telepathy, Jim. Telesthesia is perhaps as far as we'll get, for now, but still: we are using all our knowledge and experience to provide ourselves with one faculty we do not posses naturally. We are extending not only our minds, thoughts, experiences, but also applying our development of languages and codification techniques and formalization, in order to reach this goal.
Taken to extreme, we are continuing our stretch towards omniscience. Tower of Babel? :)
Hope you are well!! :) B.
- - -
OMNISCIENCE
Definition
The state of being omniscient; having infinite knowledge.
The concept that god is in possession of all knowledge.
An attribute of God alone. It is the quality of having all knowledge - past, present and future.
The state or quality of knowing everything. Omniscience is forever denied to human beings.
An attribute of God alone. It is the quality of having all knowledge (Is. 40:14). Omnipotence, Omnipresence, and Omniscience represent the nature of God concerning His relation to the creation.
The attribute by which God perfectly and eternally knows all things that can be known -- past, present, and future. God knows how best to attain his desired ends. God's omniscience is clearly taught in Scripture (Ps 147:5; Prov 15:11; Isa 46:10).
[via Google definitions of omniscience on the Web]
- - -
TOWER OF BABEL
Definition
Always described as some kind of spiral mountain made of brick and mortar, the TOWER OF BABEL was the largest particle-beam tool of its kind in antediluvian times. Built by the Assyrian King NIMROD, this radio transmitting electromagnetic fountain design may have "backfired" and exploded when its "tower beam" reacted with the ozone layer of the upper atmosphere and blew the parabolic crater container out - thus creating the infamous Biblical "bottomless pit" story (Revelations 9:11). See PARABOLIC MIRRORS.
Further reading: Tower of Babel Gallery and Catholic Encyclopedia Tower of Babel
[via Google Search: what is tower of babel ]
- - -
WILL THE GIANT PLANE HELP AIRBUS CONQUER THE WORLD?
The superjumbo goes into production
In 2006 a new chapter will begin in the history of air travel. Production has started of the world's biggest passenger aircraft, the Airbus A380 (originally A3XX).
Its sales pitch has attracted orders from 11 international airlines. A380s will fly to around 60 big airports around the world, the hubs. The plane was conceived as a rival to Boeing's ageing 747 Jumbo, which, for 30 years, has dominated in the size stakes. It doesn't have an obvious competitor. The share price of EADS, the Airbus majority shareholder, has risen as a result.
Airbus has carefully marketed the A380 as a luxurious way to travel, its promo videos oozing spacious inflight shopping, showers, bars, and libraries. The full size mock-up of the plane in Toulouse, France, even has an onboard waterfall.
Sections of the plane are individually manufactured across Europe: wings in the UK; fuselage in France and Germany. And tail planes in Spain. By air, sea and road they will be transported to Toulouse, France, for final assembly. Airbus has 129 orders for the A380 "superjumbo" on its books. The first is due to go into service in March 2006
Meanwhile, America's Boeing is staking its future on the new, mid-size, 7E7, after scrapping plans to stretch the Jumbo.
See the A380 in pictures.
- - -
WHAT WILL THEY THINK OF NEXT?
Great demand for transport, travel and water-related projects
If engineers get their way the coming decades will see the completion of tunnels linking continents, offshore airports and the longest bridges the world has ever seen. There is even talk of a space elevator - which will carry people from Earth to the stars without the need for cumbersome spaceships.
There is great demand for transport improvements and that is what a lot of the major civil engineering projects are about. Transport and travel are among the areas set to see the greatest innovation - with the demand for cheap, fast and convenient ways to get around likely to provide much of the momentum needed to get projects started.
The planned expansion of Heathrow and other airports is seen as essential to the UK's future economic prosperity - yet the plans are deeply unpopular with local residents and environmentalists. Engineers believe they may have the solution. "If we were to become incredibly novel we could build islands off-shore for airports," says Mr McKitterick. He suggests the terminals, which could be built by joining several oil rigs together and linked to the mainland by tunnels, would "reduce noise and avoid building in overcrowded areas".
Transport aside, many industry experts predict water-related projects may soon begin to dominate civil engineering. Desalination plants used in the Middle East to convert sea water into drinking water could have to be built in northern climes.
"There is nothing in this industry we cannot do, it is just a matter of cost," says Bob McKitterick of engineering consultancy Scott Wilson, and a former president of the Institution of Structural Engineers.
Current projects
Switzerland: Gotthard Base Tunnel, due to open in 2010 (35 miles).
Spain and Morocco have agreed a programme of engineering tests for a rail tunnel under the Strait of Gibraltar. A decision on whether to go ahead is expected in four years.
The one mile (1.6km) long Stonecutters Bridge, which is being built in Hong Kong over the next four years, is set to become the longest single-span, cable-stayed bridge.
Talks have been going on to link Sri Lanka and India across the Palk Strait by a bridge, replicating an ancient 19 mile (30km) land crossing which may or may not have been built by humans, but which is still visible from space.
Civil engineers are also keen to see the completion of a 16,000 mile (25,800km) pan-American super highway, linking Alaska to the tip of South America. Much of the road is already in place but gaps remain in areas in Colombia and through the Andes.
Nasa's plans for a space elevator
Other projects pale into insignificance when compared to the Nasa's plans for a space elevator.
A 25,000 mile (40,000km) cable would be tethered between a base station - probably in the ocean - and an orbiting satellite, which stays at the same point above the earth as it rotates on its axis. Satellites, payloads and people would be able to move up and down the cable cheaply and quickly. "It has the potential to provide mass transportation to space in the same way highways, railroads, power lines, and pipelines provide mass transportation across the Earth's surface," says Nasa.
It is spending several millions of dollars researching the idea and while it admits the idea is still far from being a reality, it believes the system could be in place in the second half of the 21st Century. Unfortunately the fastest lift currently available would take over four months to reach its destination.
Read these comments on what projects people would like to see.
# posted by Ingrid @ 5/07/2004
Thursday, May 06, 2004
KITTENS SINGING THE VINES
Yahoo's Scary Kittens
Ado's two-year-old daughter Kee is starting to enjoy rap and Eminem. Using his mobile, he made a cute video clip of her doing the lift-the-roof thingy. Heh. Kee's too young to view it, but I wonder what young children would make of Kittens Singing the Vines :-)
[via comments in Anita Rowland's Scary Kittens post re Yahoo's strange greetings card - via 8Bit Joystick]
Yahoo's Scary Kittens
Ado's two-year-old daughter Kee is starting to enjoy rap and Eminem. Using his mobile, he made a cute video clip of her doing the lift-the-roof thingy. Heh. Kee's too young to view it, but I wonder what young children would make of Kittens Singing the Vines :-)
[via comments in Anita Rowland's Scary Kittens post re Yahoo's strange greetings card - via 8Bit Joystick]
# posted by Ingrid @ 5/06/2004
- - -
WHIP IT
Real good
Is there any dessert more dreamy than home-made ice cream? London's coolest new restaurant knows exactly how it's done.
Oliver Peyton's restaurants are always fashion-forward. Atlantic Bar & Grill, which opened in 1994, single-handedly revived London's cocktail scene. Then came Mash, a sci-fi brasserie unlike anything the capital had seen before; Admiralty, with French food in a high-Georgian setting; and Isola, which brought modern Italian to Knightsbridge.
Peyton's latest venture, Inn the Park, aims to reinvent the municipal cafe, serving cakes and cuppas and other British classics. It is also championing the revival of traditional ice creams made by the pastry chef Jane Huffer. "People forget how great British ice cream is," says Peyton. "The home-made stuff has a totally different, creamier taste and texture to the manufactured sort."
Note: you don't need an ice cream machine to get good results. See 'still freezing' below. [via Sunday Times Style]
- - -
VANILLA ICE CREAM
Makes 600ml
250ml double cream
250ml milk
1 vanilla pod
6 egg yolks
100g caster sugar
Mix the cream and milk in a saucepan and heat gently.
Split the vanilla pod and scrape the seeds into the pan.
Meanwhile, whisk the egg yolks and sugar in a bowl until thick and pale yellow.
Pour the cream onto the egg mixture and stir until blended.
Return to the saucepan and cook over a low heat, stirring continuously, until it has thickened to a custard.
Pass the mixture through a fine sieve and allow to cool, then churn.
Serve rounded scoops in clear drinking glass with short stem. Two long biscuits atop. Sit onto folded linen napkin on a coloured plate. With a selection of wafers and biscuits.
- - -
ENGLISH BRITTLE TOFFEE ICE CREAM
Makes 500ml
150g brittle toffee, crushed
125ml milk
250ml whipping cream
Put 125g of the toffee in a saucepan with the milk and half the cream.
Heat gently, and stir until toffee has dissolved.
Remove from the heat, allow to go cool, and stir in the remaining cream.
Churn the mixture for two minutes.
Before the ice cream has finished churning, add the remaining toffee to the mixture.
Serve rounded scoops drizzled with hot or cold toffee sauce. On a white plate. Sprinkled with dark chocolate shavings and finely chopped nuts.
- - -
APPPLE CRUMBLE ICE CREAM
Makes 500ml
125ml whipping cream
1 vanilla pod
1 cinnamon stick
2 egg yolks 100g caster sugar
125g sour cream
175g good-quality apple puree or sauce
For the crumble
125g flour
90g unsalted butter
60g demerara sugar
60g nibbed almonds, optional
Pour the cream into a saucepan. Split the vanilla pod and scrape the seeds into the cream. Add the cinnamon stick and bring to the boil.
Whisk the egg yolks and sugar in a bowl. Pour the cream over and stir until blended.
Return to the heat and cook gently, stirring continuously, until the custard coats the back of the spoon.
Remove from the heat, pass through a sieve and allow to cool, then stir in the sour cream and apple puree. Now churn.
The crumble:
Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas4. In a bowl, rub together the flour, butter and sugar - and almonds if using - into a crumb.
Turn the mixture out into a baking tray and bake for 20 minutes, or until golden, stirring occasionally.
Remove from the oven and allow to cool.
Either sprinkle the crumble, warm or cold, on top of the ice cream, or add it two minutes before you finish churning.
Note to self: This is versatile hot or cold. Try any fruit puree or sauce. Test using Greek yoghurt with lemon instead of sour cream. See how crumble freezes.
- - -
STILL FREEZING ICE CREAM
Without an ice cream machine
This is the method for making ice cream without an ice cream machine. Put the chilled mixture into a strong plastic container about 2in deep. Cover with a lid and put in the coldest part of the freezer. Check after 1-1.5 hours. the mixture should have frozen to a firm ring of ice around the sides and the base of the box, with a soft slush in the centre. Remove from the freezer and beat for a few seconds with an electric hand-whisk or fork until the mixture forms a uniform slush. Quickly return to the freezer. Repeat the beating process at least twice at 1-1.5 hour intervals. After the final beating, transfer the ice cream to a deeper container for storage and freeze for a further 30 minutes.
Note to self: Compare other recipes for still freezing and test short cuts using Greek yoghurt.
WHIP IT
Real good
Is there any dessert more dreamy than home-made ice cream? London's coolest new restaurant knows exactly how it's done.
Oliver Peyton's restaurants are always fashion-forward. Atlantic Bar & Grill, which opened in 1994, single-handedly revived London's cocktail scene. Then came Mash, a sci-fi brasserie unlike anything the capital had seen before; Admiralty, with French food in a high-Georgian setting; and Isola, which brought modern Italian to Knightsbridge.
Peyton's latest venture, Inn the Park, aims to reinvent the municipal cafe, serving cakes and cuppas and other British classics. It is also championing the revival of traditional ice creams made by the pastry chef Jane Huffer. "People forget how great British ice cream is," says Peyton. "The home-made stuff has a totally different, creamier taste and texture to the manufactured sort."
Note: you don't need an ice cream machine to get good results. See 'still freezing' below. [via Sunday Times Style]
- - -
VANILLA ICE CREAM
Makes 600ml
250ml double cream
250ml milk
1 vanilla pod
6 egg yolks
100g caster sugar
Mix the cream and milk in a saucepan and heat gently.
Split the vanilla pod and scrape the seeds into the pan.
Meanwhile, whisk the egg yolks and sugar in a bowl until thick and pale yellow.
Pour the cream onto the egg mixture and stir until blended.
Return to the saucepan and cook over a low heat, stirring continuously, until it has thickened to a custard.
Pass the mixture through a fine sieve and allow to cool, then churn.
Serve rounded scoops in clear drinking glass with short stem. Two long biscuits atop. Sit onto folded linen napkin on a coloured plate. With a selection of wafers and biscuits.
- - -
ENGLISH BRITTLE TOFFEE ICE CREAM
Makes 500ml
150g brittle toffee, crushed
125ml milk
250ml whipping cream
Put 125g of the toffee in a saucepan with the milk and half the cream.
Heat gently, and stir until toffee has dissolved.
Remove from the heat, allow to go cool, and stir in the remaining cream.
Churn the mixture for two minutes.
Before the ice cream has finished churning, add the remaining toffee to the mixture.
Serve rounded scoops drizzled with hot or cold toffee sauce. On a white plate. Sprinkled with dark chocolate shavings and finely chopped nuts.
- - -
APPPLE CRUMBLE ICE CREAM
Makes 500ml
125ml whipping cream
1 vanilla pod
1 cinnamon stick
2 egg yolks 100g caster sugar
125g sour cream
175g good-quality apple puree or sauce
For the crumble
125g flour
90g unsalted butter
60g demerara sugar
60g nibbed almonds, optional
Pour the cream into a saucepan. Split the vanilla pod and scrape the seeds into the cream. Add the cinnamon stick and bring to the boil.
Whisk the egg yolks and sugar in a bowl. Pour the cream over and stir until blended.
Return to the heat and cook gently, stirring continuously, until the custard coats the back of the spoon.
Remove from the heat, pass through a sieve and allow to cool, then stir in the sour cream and apple puree. Now churn.
The crumble:
Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas4. In a bowl, rub together the flour, butter and sugar - and almonds if using - into a crumb.
Turn the mixture out into a baking tray and bake for 20 minutes, or until golden, stirring occasionally.
Remove from the oven and allow to cool.
Either sprinkle the crumble, warm or cold, on top of the ice cream, or add it two minutes before you finish churning.
Note to self: This is versatile hot or cold. Try any fruit puree or sauce. Test using Greek yoghurt with lemon instead of sour cream. See how crumble freezes.
- - -
STILL FREEZING ICE CREAM
Without an ice cream machine
This is the method for making ice cream without an ice cream machine. Put the chilled mixture into a strong plastic container about 2in deep. Cover with a lid and put in the coldest part of the freezer. Check after 1-1.5 hours. the mixture should have frozen to a firm ring of ice around the sides and the base of the box, with a soft slush in the centre. Remove from the freezer and beat for a few seconds with an electric hand-whisk or fork until the mixture forms a uniform slush. Quickly return to the freezer. Repeat the beating process at least twice at 1-1.5 hour intervals. After the final beating, transfer the ice cream to a deeper container for storage and freeze for a further 30 minutes.
Note to self: Compare other recipes for still freezing and test short cuts using Greek yoghurt.
# posted by Ingrid @ 5/06/2004
Wednesday, May 05, 2004
SUDAN KEEPS SEAT ON UN RIGHTS PANEL
US rights groups protest nomimination
Grateful thanks to top British blogger Scaryduck for this CNN report dated May 3, 2004. And for the news that Prime Minister Tony Blair is launching a conference for Africa. Here's hoping that Sudan will be on the agenda.
US rights groups protest nomimination
Grateful thanks to top British blogger Scaryduck for this CNN report dated May 3, 2004. And for the news that Prime Minister Tony Blair is launching a conference for Africa. Here's hoping that Sudan will be on the agenda.
# posted by Ingrid @ 5/05/2004
- - -
SUDAN: ONE OF THE WORLDS WORST HUMANITARIAN CRISES
BBC reports that conditions are as bad as reports suggested
Today (May 4, 2004) BBC News reports: "Darfur crisis 'tragic' - UN officials who have visited Sudan's western Darfur region say conditions there are as bad as reports suggested. James Morris of the UN's World Food Programme said it was "one of the world's worst humanitarian crises".
He confirmed earlier reports that more than a million people had been forced violently from their homes. He said Khartoum needed to regain control of nomadic Arab janjaweed militias, who are accused of driving out the African population.
Mr Morris, the WFP's executive director, led a fact-finding mission to the three states of Darfur from 28 to 30 April to gather information on the humanitarian situation in the region. He told the BBC World Service's Newshour programme that some humanitarian aid was getting through, but he called on the international community to provide more. Mr Morris said food was available for only about half of the displaced people. He said that without further assistance the people would "be put severely at risk" as the rainy season approaches.
"Everything has been taken away from these people. This is tragic," he said, adding that he had never before seen such frightened people."
- - -
SUDAN - A BRITISH ANGLE
From The UK Today
British blogger Clive has written an excellent piece on the Sudan - A British Angle in his blog at The UK Today - with great suggestions on how bloggers can help raise awareness of the dreadful situation in the Sudan.
SUDAN: ONE OF THE WORLDS WORST HUMANITARIAN CRISES
BBC reports that conditions are as bad as reports suggested
Today (May 4, 2004) BBC News reports: "Darfur crisis 'tragic' - UN officials who have visited Sudan's western Darfur region say conditions there are as bad as reports suggested. James Morris of the UN's World Food Programme said it was "one of the world's worst humanitarian crises".
He confirmed earlier reports that more than a million people had been forced violently from their homes. He said Khartoum needed to regain control of nomadic Arab janjaweed militias, who are accused of driving out the African population.
Mr Morris, the WFP's executive director, led a fact-finding mission to the three states of Darfur from 28 to 30 April to gather information on the humanitarian situation in the region. He told the BBC World Service's Newshour programme that some humanitarian aid was getting through, but he called on the international community to provide more. Mr Morris said food was available for only about half of the displaced people. He said that without further assistance the people would "be put severely at risk" as the rainy season approaches.
"Everything has been taken away from these people. This is tragic," he said, adding that he had never before seen such frightened people."
- - -
SUDAN - A BRITISH ANGLE
From The UK Today
British blogger Clive has written an excellent piece on the Sudan - A British Angle in his blog at The UK Today - with great suggestions on how bloggers can help raise awareness of the dreadful situation in the Sudan.
# posted by Ingrid @ 5/05/2004
Monday, May 03, 2004
SUDAN IS NOT IGNORED BY THE BBC
It's lack of political and media outrage
A few days ago Scaryduck posted a comment here, giving news of the astronauts' bulls-eye landing. I was shocked and elated. Shocked because it was news to me (BBC News online is my home page). Elated because the astronauts had landed safely.
Scaryduck works for the BBC. Doing what, is not for me to say. Let's just say he knows his stuff and nothing much gets passed the Mighty Duck. Today, in response to my recent posts complaining about the BBC's reporting on Iraq and the Sudan, he posted the following comment:
"Tell you what, I'll prod around tomorrow's editorial meeting, see what I can get. Sudan is not ignored by the BBC as these items of 27/4, 25/4 and 23/4 show:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/3662597.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/3656693.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/3652521.stm
World service has filed reports on Darfur sixteen times in the last two weeks. It is less lack of reporting, and more lack of political and media outrage. Perhaps Mr Blair would like to set some sort of agenda on this?"
- - -
My reply ended up too lengthy to fit into the comments box, so I am posting it here:
Great Scaryduck, thanks for commenting and offering to prod around tomorrow's editorial meeting, to see what you can get. Please don't get me wrong. I did not mean to imply that the Sudan is being totally ignored by the BBC. I'd read the items when they were reported on 23/4, 25/4 and 27/4.
Trouble is, the last report on 27/4 was six days ago. It stated the Sudanese President has been to the province of Darfur - and that the UN said more than 10,000 people have been killed, and more than one million displaced, during the conflict in Darfur. Last week, I gave up on trying to get the latest news on the Sudan from the BBC. As I have no radio, I searched in the World/Africa section at BBC online but found no updates after 27/4.
I find it difficult to believe that it's wrong to expect up-to-date daily news from the BBC on events of this magnitude. On following Jim Moore's weblog and his links to the Passion of the Present, I'd read that 30,000 people died in the Sudan. The BBC states 10,000. A huge difference in reporting. How are we to know what is really going on? Events in the Sudan are described by the UN as the world's worst humanitarian disaster.
Sorry to disagree with you but I do believe it is a case of lack of reporting. Without up-to-date BBC reports how else can we know what is going on in the Sudan? Are tabloid newspapers like the Daily Mirror going to tell us?
Alternative media channels are driven by commercial considerations, which is why we need and fund a Public Broadcasting Service, so it is not hampered in the same way and is free to report on news that may not always appeal to the masses.
As for an agenda, surely it would not be right for our Prime Minister or any other person in government to set an agenda on what news should or should not be reported by our Public Broadcasting Service. The management at the BBC ought to know by its Charter and editorial policy what is fair and right.
Today, is the fourth day in a row that BBC online are headlining the Daily Mirror's reporting on Iraq. Yet another photo has been added. It depicts the Mirror's front page headline, in large capital letters: "we told the truth". God give me strength before I blow a gasket here.
What are the BBC and Daily Mirror, a commerically driven tabloid newspaper, trying to achieve? I cannot understand their objective. Why are they stretching out the point over so many days? To endanger the coalition personnel in Iraq? Undermine the hand-over to Iraq? Bring down the morale of coalition forces, its governments and leaders? Or have I missed something? I really don't get their rationale. Can you explain it or please prod someone at that editorial meeting to explain? Best of luck. And thanks again.
btw Balders commented here that he would be writing a piece on the Sudan - said he was doing some digging around first. Should be interesting, I'm looking forward to reading it. Best wishes. Good it sounds like you are getting over your flu.
It's lack of political and media outrage
A few days ago Scaryduck posted a comment here, giving news of the astronauts' bulls-eye landing. I was shocked and elated. Shocked because it was news to me (BBC News online is my home page). Elated because the astronauts had landed safely.
Scaryduck works for the BBC. Doing what, is not for me to say. Let's just say he knows his stuff and nothing much gets passed the Mighty Duck. Today, in response to my recent posts complaining about the BBC's reporting on Iraq and the Sudan, he posted the following comment:
"Tell you what, I'll prod around tomorrow's editorial meeting, see what I can get. Sudan is not ignored by the BBC as these items of 27/4, 25/4 and 23/4 show:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/3662597.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/3656693.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/3652521.stm
World service has filed reports on Darfur sixteen times in the last two weeks. It is less lack of reporting, and more lack of political and media outrage. Perhaps Mr Blair would like to set some sort of agenda on this?"
- - -
My reply ended up too lengthy to fit into the comments box, so I am posting it here:
Great Scaryduck, thanks for commenting and offering to prod around tomorrow's editorial meeting, to see what you can get. Please don't get me wrong. I did not mean to imply that the Sudan is being totally ignored by the BBC. I'd read the items when they were reported on 23/4, 25/4 and 27/4.
Trouble is, the last report on 27/4 was six days ago. It stated the Sudanese President has been to the province of Darfur - and that the UN said more than 10,000 people have been killed, and more than one million displaced, during the conflict in Darfur. Last week, I gave up on trying to get the latest news on the Sudan from the BBC. As I have no radio, I searched in the World/Africa section at BBC online but found no updates after 27/4.
I find it difficult to believe that it's wrong to expect up-to-date daily news from the BBC on events of this magnitude. On following Jim Moore's weblog and his links to the Passion of the Present, I'd read that 30,000 people died in the Sudan. The BBC states 10,000. A huge difference in reporting. How are we to know what is really going on? Events in the Sudan are described by the UN as the world's worst humanitarian disaster.
Sorry to disagree with you but I do believe it is a case of lack of reporting. Without up-to-date BBC reports how else can we know what is going on in the Sudan? Are tabloid newspapers like the Daily Mirror going to tell us?
Alternative media channels are driven by commercial considerations, which is why we need and fund a Public Broadcasting Service, so it is not hampered in the same way and is free to report on news that may not always appeal to the masses.
As for an agenda, surely it would not be right for our Prime Minister or any other person in government to set an agenda on what news should or should not be reported by our Public Broadcasting Service. The management at the BBC ought to know by its Charter and editorial policy what is fair and right.
Today, is the fourth day in a row that BBC online are headlining the Daily Mirror's reporting on Iraq. Yet another photo has been added. It depicts the Mirror's front page headline, in large capital letters: "we told the truth". God give me strength before I blow a gasket here.
What are the BBC and Daily Mirror, a commerically driven tabloid newspaper, trying to achieve? I cannot understand their objective. Why are they stretching out the point over so many days? To endanger the coalition personnel in Iraq? Undermine the hand-over to Iraq? Bring down the morale of coalition forces, its governments and leaders? Or have I missed something? I really don't get their rationale. Can you explain it or please prod someone at that editorial meeting to explain? Best of luck. And thanks again.
btw Balders commented here that he would be writing a piece on the Sudan - said he was doing some digging around first. Should be interesting, I'm looking forward to reading it. Best wishes. Good it sounds like you are getting over your flu.
# posted by Ingrid @ 5/03/2004
- - -
PARK LIFE
Mysterious flower
In the Bay Area, on the west coast of America, Don Park and his wife have some great fruit and flowers growing in their backyard. But because Don's amazing head is so filled with stuff (mostly to do with computer *yawn* codes) he says there's little room left for flower names. His repertoire of flower names consists of rose and sunflower. And on wines, it's er, red. If anyone knows the name Don's early summer flowers, please let him know.
Uh Oh!
Don's Uh Oh! post - and the first comment - should make any blogger smile ;-)
PARK LIFE
Mysterious flower
In the Bay Area, on the west coast of America, Don Park and his wife have some great fruit and flowers growing in their backyard. But because Don's amazing head is so filled with stuff (mostly to do with computer *yawn* codes) he says there's little room left for flower names. His repertoire of flower names consists of rose and sunflower. And on wines, it's er, red. If anyone knows the name Don's early summer flowers, please let him know.
Uh Oh!
Don's Uh Oh! post - and the first comment - should make any blogger smile ;-)
# posted by Ingrid @ 5/03/2004
- - -
GOING GREEN
Using computer's sleep mode to save energy and wear and tear
On most evenings, after watching an hour or so of TV, I use a handset to switch the TV on to standby. It stays that way until bedtime when I unplug the surge protector's socket panel, to ensure that my two laptops, printer, TV and cell phone are switched off at night.
Now my niece tells me that a TV switched on to standby uses nearly as much electricity as when it's switched full on. If this is true - and millions of us are doing the same thing all around the world - we are all wasting a mind boggling amount of electricity. My VCR sure is wasting electricity. Although I've only used it once over the past year, it's switched on to show the correct time of day but sits too low down on the floor for me to even notice.
From now on, I'm keeping the TV and VCR switched off. Plus, instead of switching off my powerbook every few hours, I'm starting to use its sleep mode. Which means I'm switching it off only once a day, at bedtime. Hope it's right. Can't bear any more computer heat problems. I got the idea from this Q&A in yesterday's Sunday Times:
Question: Is it better to leave a PC on all the time or switch it on and off when using it?
Answer: Those in the blue corner claim that switching off saves energy and reduces fire risks; the red team says that constant power-ups increase wear and tear on components and lead to long-term waste; I'm in the purple corner. I leave my laptop on permanently, with the screen set to go blank after 10 minutes, and I power down my desktop to hibernate mode instead of full shutdown, which means a faster boot-up. CRT monitors are real energy hogs, so keep them switched off as much as possible.
GOING GREEN
Using computer's sleep mode to save energy and wear and tear
On most evenings, after watching an hour or so of TV, I use a handset to switch the TV on to standby. It stays that way until bedtime when I unplug the surge protector's socket panel, to ensure that my two laptops, printer, TV and cell phone are switched off at night.
Now my niece tells me that a TV switched on to standby uses nearly as much electricity as when it's switched full on. If this is true - and millions of us are doing the same thing all around the world - we are all wasting a mind boggling amount of electricity. My VCR sure is wasting electricity. Although I've only used it once over the past year, it's switched on to show the correct time of day but sits too low down on the floor for me to even notice.
From now on, I'm keeping the TV and VCR switched off. Plus, instead of switching off my powerbook every few hours, I'm starting to use its sleep mode. Which means I'm switching it off only once a day, at bedtime. Hope it's right. Can't bear any more computer heat problems. I got the idea from this Q&A in yesterday's Sunday Times:
Question: Is it better to leave a PC on all the time or switch it on and off when using it?
Answer: Those in the blue corner claim that switching off saves energy and reduces fire risks; the red team says that constant power-ups increase wear and tear on components and lead to long-term waste; I'm in the purple corner. I leave my laptop on permanently, with the screen set to go blank after 10 minutes, and I power down my desktop to hibernate mode instead of full shutdown, which means a faster boot-up. CRT monitors are real energy hogs, so keep them switched off as much as possible.
# posted by Ingrid @ 5/03/2004
Sunday, May 02, 2004
BOSNIAN AUTHORITIES REVEAL MORE MASS GRAVES
Europe's worst atrocity since World War II -
that Bosnian Serbs claimed never happened
The Bosnian Serb authorities, under increased international pressure, have given information about six new mass graves containing Muslim victims of the 1995 Srebrenica massacre.
"The Defence and Interior Ministries have provided us with information about six new mass graves in the wider area of Srebrenica," said Milan Bogdanic, the newly appointed president of the commission investigating the Srebrenica atrocities.
The commission was set up last year by the Serb Republic's government to investigate Europe's worst atrocity since World War II, in which Bosnian Serb forces overran the eastern town of Srebrenica killing up to 8000 Muslim men and boys.
This was the first time that Bosnian Serb successors of the institutions that were implicated in Srebrenica provided information on the atrocity, which many Bosnian Serbs claimed never happened.
Mr Bogdanic could not say how many victims would be found.
[Report courtesy smh.com.au via Al-Haffar]
Europe's worst atrocity since World War II -
that Bosnian Serbs claimed never happened
The Bosnian Serb authorities, under increased international pressure, have given information about six new mass graves containing Muslim victims of the 1995 Srebrenica massacre.
"The Defence and Interior Ministries have provided us with information about six new mass graves in the wider area of Srebrenica," said Milan Bogdanic, the newly appointed president of the commission investigating the Srebrenica atrocities.
The commission was set up last year by the Serb Republic's government to investigate Europe's worst atrocity since World War II, in which Bosnian Serb forces overran the eastern town of Srebrenica killing up to 8000 Muslim men and boys.
This was the first time that Bosnian Serb successors of the institutions that were implicated in Srebrenica provided information on the atrocity, which many Bosnian Serbs claimed never happened.
Mr Bogdanic could not say how many victims would be found.
[Report courtesy smh.com.au via Al-Haffar]
# posted by Ingrid @ 5/02/2004
- - -
EXPERT ON ANIMAL BEHAVIOUR
Iraqi abusers are like you and me
Following on from my previous two posts, today's Sunday Times reports that British soldiers' grief, after the murder of a British soldier, may have sparked brutality. And goes on to explain:
What is it that drives soldiers to risk their careers, a prison sentence and the reputation of their regiment by brutalising prisoners in this way?
Major-General Patrick Cordingley, commander of the 7th Armoured Brigade during the 1991 Gulf War, said: "You get young men ready to do something that the vast majority of people wouldn't ever want to do: to kill other people. Then next thing you bring them down and you say, 'Now you're a peacekeeper'. Of course there is a small percentage who don't make that change easily and react in a way that the vast majority don't."
Yesterday Desmond Morris, an expert on animal behaviour, described what may have driven the soldier to urinate on the Iraqi. "People have a natural need to express dominance but few of use ever get the opportunity," he said. "There is often a wild rush and the person perpetrating the act gets a high. People who do this sort of thing would normally be reasonably civilised. You can't dismiss them as psychopaths. They are like you and me."
- - -
Note: What is it that drives people - during peace time - to risk their careers, a prison sentence and the reputation of their family and colleagues by being a mass murderer like Dr Harold Shipman...or a paedophile...or a nurse that kills patients...or a carer that abuses and tortures the disabled and infirm, the mentally ill, the chronically ill and disabled, the elderly and young in their homes...
Personally, I do not find the news, photos, propaganda and allegations, coming out of the war in Iraq at all shocking. Dirty things happen in all wars on all sides. That is why war is so horrible. There's a fine line between humans and beasts. Freedom, peace and democracy come at a high price. Armed forces are trained to kill and defend. It is their job. It is what they are paid to do. Coalition forces are not in Iraq on a picnic. They deserve more of our morale support and appreciation.
Worse things are happening right now in the Sudan. Who is bleating about that? Where is the compassion and outcry about the humiliation of the horrific physical rapes? The brutality and murders? The 30,000 already dead...
Dr Jim Moore has the latest news and fresh links on the genocide in Sudan. See what bloggers can do to help by linking together.
EXPERT ON ANIMAL BEHAVIOUR
Iraqi abusers are like you and me
Following on from my previous two posts, today's Sunday Times reports that British soldiers' grief, after the murder of a British soldier, may have sparked brutality. And goes on to explain:
What is it that drives soldiers to risk their careers, a prison sentence and the reputation of their regiment by brutalising prisoners in this way?
Major-General Patrick Cordingley, commander of the 7th Armoured Brigade during the 1991 Gulf War, said: "You get young men ready to do something that the vast majority of people wouldn't ever want to do: to kill other people. Then next thing you bring them down and you say, 'Now you're a peacekeeper'. Of course there is a small percentage who don't make that change easily and react in a way that the vast majority don't."
Yesterday Desmond Morris, an expert on animal behaviour, described what may have driven the soldier to urinate on the Iraqi. "People have a natural need to express dominance but few of use ever get the opportunity," he said. "There is often a wild rush and the person perpetrating the act gets a high. People who do this sort of thing would normally be reasonably civilised. You can't dismiss them as psychopaths. They are like you and me."
- - -
Note: What is it that drives people - during peace time - to risk their careers, a prison sentence and the reputation of their family and colleagues by being a mass murderer like Dr Harold Shipman...or a paedophile...or a nurse that kills patients...or a carer that abuses and tortures the disabled and infirm, the mentally ill, the chronically ill and disabled, the elderly and young in their homes...
Personally, I do not find the news, photos, propaganda and allegations, coming out of the war in Iraq at all shocking. Dirty things happen in all wars on all sides. That is why war is so horrible. There's a fine line between humans and beasts. Freedom, peace and democracy come at a high price. Armed forces are trained to kill and defend. It is their job. It is what they are paid to do. Coalition forces are not in Iraq on a picnic. They deserve more of our morale support and appreciation.
Worse things are happening right now in the Sudan. Who is bleating about that? Where is the compassion and outcry about the humiliation of the horrific physical rapes? The brutality and murders? The 30,000 already dead...
Dr Jim Moore has the latest news and fresh links on the genocide in Sudan. See what bloggers can do to help by linking together.
# posted by Ingrid @ 5/02/2004
- - -
WHY IS THE BBC CONTINUOUSLY STIRRING UP TROUBLE FOR EVERYONE IN IRAQ -
And not headlining shocking photos of rape and genocide in the Sudan?
Following on from my previous post, more people ought to question why the BBC are stooping so low as to screen unsubstantiated photos for disproportionate lengths of time. If they're competing with the tabloids to shock and inflame the public with graphic images, why are they not showing and giving equal space to even more shocking pictures of Iraqis committing unspeakable atrocities and murder?
And why is the BBC not properly covering and headlining genocide in the Sudan where, just like before in Bosnia and Rwanda, horrific rape is being used as a tool of war? Why is the BBC stirring trouble up for everyone involved in Iraq and not using the same power and influence to stir up anger and outrage by showing graphic pictures of rape being used as a weapon of war - and the deaths of 30,000 so far - in the Sudan?
I object to the BBC being allowed to continue pursuing its own political agenda whilst licensed as a Public Broadcasting Service, that is funded through compulsory charges to almost every UK household, to present all news impartially and cover all news in the public interest.
In protest of the BBC's handling of news, especially over Iraq, I am pinging a copy of this post (and the one below from Estonia) - via Technorati - to four blogging Members of Parliament in the hope that they will raise awareness of these issues:
Clive Soley MP
Tom Watson MP
Richard Allan MP
Austin Mitchell MP
WHY IS THE BBC CONTINUOUSLY STIRRING UP TROUBLE FOR EVERYONE IN IRAQ -
And not headlining shocking photos of rape and genocide in the Sudan?
Following on from my previous post, more people ought to question why the BBC are stooping so low as to screen unsubstantiated photos for disproportionate lengths of time. If they're competing with the tabloids to shock and inflame the public with graphic images, why are they not showing and giving equal space to even more shocking pictures of Iraqis committing unspeakable atrocities and murder?
And why is the BBC not properly covering and headlining genocide in the Sudan where, just like before in Bosnia and Rwanda, horrific rape is being used as a tool of war? Why is the BBC stirring trouble up for everyone involved in Iraq and not using the same power and influence to stir up anger and outrage by showing graphic pictures of rape being used as a weapon of war - and the deaths of 30,000 so far - in the Sudan?
I object to the BBC being allowed to continue pursuing its own political agenda whilst licensed as a Public Broadcasting Service, that is funded through compulsory charges to almost every UK household, to present all news impartially and cover all news in the public interest.
In protest of the BBC's handling of news, especially over Iraq, I am pinging a copy of this post (and the one below from Estonia) - via Technorati - to four blogging Members of Parliament in the hope that they will raise awareness of these issues:
Clive Soley MP
Tom Watson MP
Richard Allan MP
Austin Mitchell MP
# posted by Ingrid @ 5/02/2004
Saturday, May 01, 2004
DOUBT CAST ON IRAQ TORTURE PHOTOS
Truck shown in photo was never deployed in Iraq
An investigation is under way into claims that British troops humiliated and assaulted an Iraqi prisoner before throwing him from a moving lorry. The claims were made in the Daily Mirror newspaper which carried photos allegedly taken during the man's ordeal. The Daily Mirror claims British soldiers handed over photos allegedly taken in Iraq.
Sources close to The Queen's Lancashire Regiment said to be involved have told the BBC they are not convinced the pictures are genuine. They believe many aspects of the photographs are extremely suspicious and that the pictures may not have been taken in Iraq. They believe the rifle is an SA80 mk 1 - which was not issued to troops in Iraq. They say soldiers in Iraq wore berets or hard hats - and not floppy hats as in the photos. They also believe the wrong type of Bedford truck is shown in the background - a type never deployed in Iraq.
BBC News Online did not let this story hang around on their front page like they allowed the so-called torture photos to dominate the headlines all day. (It's already been taken off as a headline and moved lower down on their page). I'm disgusted at the BBC for choosing to allow those photos to dominate the headlines on screen, while not giving proper coverage to the astronauts returning to Earth after six months in space - and for allowing the news of Europe's historic day to take a back seat over unsubstantiated photos that are bound to affect the morale, safety, security - and in turn the lives - of all coalition personnel currently serving in Iraq.
Update Sunday 7.30am: By this morning, BBC News online had updated the above link and moved it back up into the headlines. They've changed the photo. The one used last night for the same report showed a fully clothed and hooded male detainee. It's been replaced with a photo they'd already used a day or two ago. It shows less identifying details of a person in army fatigues standing over a partially clothed female detainee.
Update Sunday 6.45pm: They've kept the story all day today as a headline at the top of the page. But they've changed the photo (see link) yet again. Who knows, maybe their readers have complained. At least the Iraqi detainee now being paraded by the BBC is more fully clothed.
- - -
BLOGGER DANIEL IN ESTONIA
Sees through the BBC's slanted reporting
Even Daniel in Estonia is wise to the BBC's slanted reporting on Iraq. Here's what he says, quote:
Now for the BBC. The story says this:
The graphic images include one of a hooded and naked prisoner standing on a box with wires attached to his genitals. CBS said the prisoner was told that if he fell off the box, he would be electrocuted. The video report says the same, only genitals are replaced by hands. Which is it?
And at the end, they say "how will it be received here, in the streets of Iraq" while showing pictures from what appeared to be the ambush at Fallujah, with a screaming crowd and burning trucks. That's what the BBC wants its viewers to think "the streets of Iraq" look like.
Truck shown in photo was never deployed in Iraq
An investigation is under way into claims that British troops humiliated and assaulted an Iraqi prisoner before throwing him from a moving lorry. The claims were made in the Daily Mirror newspaper which carried photos allegedly taken during the man's ordeal. The Daily Mirror claims British soldiers handed over photos allegedly taken in Iraq.
Sources close to The Queen's Lancashire Regiment said to be involved have told the BBC they are not convinced the pictures are genuine. They believe many aspects of the photographs are extremely suspicious and that the pictures may not have been taken in Iraq. They believe the rifle is an SA80 mk 1 - which was not issued to troops in Iraq. They say soldiers in Iraq wore berets or hard hats - and not floppy hats as in the photos. They also believe the wrong type of Bedford truck is shown in the background - a type never deployed in Iraq.
BBC News Online did not let this story hang around on their front page like they allowed the so-called torture photos to dominate the headlines all day. (It's already been taken off as a headline and moved lower down on their page). I'm disgusted at the BBC for choosing to allow those photos to dominate the headlines on screen, while not giving proper coverage to the astronauts returning to Earth after six months in space - and for allowing the news of Europe's historic day to take a back seat over unsubstantiated photos that are bound to affect the morale, safety, security - and in turn the lives - of all coalition personnel currently serving in Iraq.
Update Sunday 7.30am: By this morning, BBC News online had updated the above link and moved it back up into the headlines. They've changed the photo. The one used last night for the same report showed a fully clothed and hooded male detainee. It's been replaced with a photo they'd already used a day or two ago. It shows less identifying details of a person in army fatigues standing over a partially clothed female detainee.
Update Sunday 6.45pm: They've kept the story all day today as a headline at the top of the page. But they've changed the photo (see link) yet again. Who knows, maybe their readers have complained. At least the Iraqi detainee now being paraded by the BBC is more fully clothed.
- - -
BLOGGER DANIEL IN ESTONIA
Sees through the BBC's slanted reporting
Even Daniel in Estonia is wise to the BBC's slanted reporting on Iraq. Here's what he says, quote:
Now for the BBC. The story says this:
The graphic images include one of a hooded and naked prisoner standing on a box with wires attached to his genitals. CBS said the prisoner was told that if he fell off the box, he would be electrocuted. The video report says the same, only genitals are replaced by hands. Which is it?
And at the end, they say "how will it be received here, in the streets of Iraq" while showing pictures from what appeared to be the ambush at Fallujah, with a screaming crowd and burning trucks. That's what the BBC wants its viewers to think "the streets of Iraq" look like.
# posted by Ingrid @ 5/01/2004
- - -
THERE WILL NEVER AGAIN BE WAR IN EUROPE
The EU now is the world's biggest trading bloc
Today is a hugely significant day for Europe.
Ten new states joined the European Union, in the biggest expansion in its 52 year history.
Initially, the EU consisted of just six countries: Belgium, Germany, France, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. Denmark, Ireland and the United Kingdom joined in 1973, Greece in 1981, Spain and Portugal in 1986, Austria, Finland and Sweden in 1995.
Today, 1 May 2004, the biggest ever enlargement took place with 10 new countries joining.
The new 25-member European Union has heralded its historic expansion with celebrations across the new bloc. The 15 old members welcomed in Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia at midnight.
Hundreds of thousands packed city squares in the 10 newcomer states to watch fireworks and hear Beethoven's Ode to Joy - the EU's official anthem. Young people from all 25 countries presented their national flags, which were then raised together alongside the EU flag as a mass choir sang the EU anthem, Beethoven's Ode to Joy.
With a population of 455m, the EU now is the world's biggest trading bloc. It is now the world's biggest single market, in population terms, though the North American Free Trade Agreement remains larger in terms of economic might.
10 new countries (up to 25)
74 million people (up to 455m)
444bn euro of extra GDP (up to 9,613bn)
738,573 sq km of territory (up to 4m sq km)
Some enthusiasts are describing the enlargement as a millenial event, comparable to the creation of great empires.
Why has it happened?
Supporters of enlargement say this was a historic opportunity to unite Europe peacefully after generations of division and conflict.
They say it has extended the stability and prosperity of current member states to a wider group of countries, making Europe a safer place.
The size of the single market should boost the EU economy and create jobs, while increasing the influence of the EU in the wider world.
As current holders of the EU Presidency, Ireland has the honour of hosting the Enlargement of the Union to 25 member states. Heads of State and Government from all the EU countries will attend a special flag-raising ceremony in Dublin as part of this historic occasion.
Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern welcomed the new members and hailed a "day of hope and opportunity". He spoke of the progress that Europe had made over the past decades, saying it had moved from war to peace. He went on: "From hatred there is now respect, from division there is union, and from dictatorship and oppression there is democracy."
Former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl, one of the fathers of European reunification said, "The message is there will never again be war in Europe."
- - -
How will such a large expansion affect Europe and the rest of the world? How will the new members adjust to life inside the union? Here's what people think.
In quotes: Leaders hail new EU.
Q&A: EU enlargement.
THERE WILL NEVER AGAIN BE WAR IN EUROPE
The EU now is the world's biggest trading bloc
Today is a hugely significant day for Europe.
Ten new states joined the European Union, in the biggest expansion in its 52 year history.
Initially, the EU consisted of just six countries: Belgium, Germany, France, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. Denmark, Ireland and the United Kingdom joined in 1973, Greece in 1981, Spain and Portugal in 1986, Austria, Finland and Sweden in 1995.
Today, 1 May 2004, the biggest ever enlargement took place with 10 new countries joining.
The new 25-member European Union has heralded its historic expansion with celebrations across the new bloc. The 15 old members welcomed in Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia at midnight.
Hundreds of thousands packed city squares in the 10 newcomer states to watch fireworks and hear Beethoven's Ode to Joy - the EU's official anthem. Young people from all 25 countries presented their national flags, which were then raised together alongside the EU flag as a mass choir sang the EU anthem, Beethoven's Ode to Joy.
With a population of 455m, the EU now is the world's biggest trading bloc. It is now the world's biggest single market, in population terms, though the North American Free Trade Agreement remains larger in terms of economic might.
10 new countries (up to 25)
74 million people (up to 455m)
444bn euro of extra GDP (up to 9,613bn)
738,573 sq km of territory (up to 4m sq km)
Some enthusiasts are describing the enlargement as a millenial event, comparable to the creation of great empires.
Why has it happened?
Supporters of enlargement say this was a historic opportunity to unite Europe peacefully after generations of division and conflict.
They say it has extended the stability and prosperity of current member states to a wider group of countries, making Europe a safer place.
The size of the single market should boost the EU economy and create jobs, while increasing the influence of the EU in the wider world.
As current holders of the EU Presidency, Ireland has the honour of hosting the Enlargement of the Union to 25 member states. Heads of State and Government from all the EU countries will attend a special flag-raising ceremony in Dublin as part of this historic occasion.
Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern welcomed the new members and hailed a "day of hope and opportunity". He spoke of the progress that Europe had made over the past decades, saying it had moved from war to peace. He went on: "From hatred there is now respect, from division there is union, and from dictatorship and oppression there is democracy."
Former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl, one of the fathers of European reunification said, "The message is there will never again be war in Europe."
- - -
How will such a large expansion affect Europe and the rest of the world? How will the new members adjust to life inside the union? Here's what people think.
In quotes: Leaders hail new EU.
Q&A: EU enlargement.
# posted by Ingrid @ 5/01/2004
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- - -
POLITICS AND RELIGION
My personal viewpoint
No matter how different their views, gender or age group, other people's thoughts are always of interest to me. Regularly, I read a cross section of blogs authored by individuals from all walks of life, living in different parts of the world. For me it's fascinating reading opposing beliefs and views and getting glimpses into how others think, what they believe in and why.
Rarely do I think in terms of "is this blogger old or young, black or white, male or female, or what". But I do try and peg a blogger's location as it helps me to visualise their natural environment, weather conditions and the culture in which they are living.
My blog has no theme but it does have several uses. It's a tool with which to communicate with friends and get to know new people. Instead of doing crosswords daily, I post here to maintain computing skills and organise my life, thoughts and health. Most of my posts are cryptic notes to myself. I present them in a way that may prove useful to others. On glancing through posts, I can roughly gauge the number of 'bad' days and tell how things are improving overall.
Basically, this blog is a conversation with myself and others. The dialogue is created through a steady stream of my diary entries, ideas, thoughts and press clippings etc., that I post and store here for my own reference. When I am a more experienced blogger, I may develop some specialist weblogs to do with life, food and socialising - and Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME).
- - -
My politics
Never have I voted Conservative. Nor have I ever voted Liberal. I am a Socialist and vote Labour. And try not to be anti any political party, person or country. I am a strong supporter of our Prime Minister Tony Blair.
In the year before Tony Blair became Prime Minister, I attended a Labour Party conference in Blackpool. And met him. He's quite tall. Taller than myself. I'm 5' 8". He's a friendly gentleman. Not at all showy, pushy or loud. His handshake was firm. Palms were dry even after a major speech and fielding questions from a packed audience. A kindly and unassuming persona really. But his eyes were extraordinary.
While we stood chatting for a few minutes, an aide came up to him and he glanced aside. A strong beam of stage light caught the right hand side of his face and his eyes. I was a foot away and saw straight through the side of his eyeballs. They were large, clear and translucent. Not worried or tired. Nor glistening with adrenalin. It was like looking into two crystal balls packed with invisible data. Quite remarkable. I've met thousands of people and quite a few in the public eye. His eyes were the most memorable. And unusual. Not penetrating. Or focused on close up detail. His gaze was slightly glazed and distant. Like a wide scope lens, absorbing a larger picture from the brain within.
My feelings are that Tony Blair is a decent, fair minded chap who is doing a great job as Prime Minister and leader of the Labour Party. He's well educated and intelligent and at 51 still has tons of energy. He is a good family man and a caring husband and father. He has nerves of steel, works hard and gives 100% of his best to the job. One can't ask for more. I'd describe him as a visionary. One who sees the larger picture - of everything - at all times.
The UK has no other credible leader. And it appears that the US has only Kerry as an alternative to Bush. My prediction is that Bush and Blair will win.
- - -
My religion
My Austrian born mother and her parents were raised as Roman Catholics. My English born father and his parents were raised as a Protestants in the Church of England. My parents had me christened as a baby and my religion is formally described as C of E (Church of England).
I'd describe myself as a Christian, not a Protestant or Catholic. A Christian is one who follows the teachings of Jesus Christ. I believe in the Old and New Testaments of the Holy Bible. It is The Word, given to us all, that no man should add to, or take away from.
I respect the views of those who believe in God or who are atheists, agnostics, humanists or whatever. But I feel sorry for those without faith in God, and for those who do believe in God but do not believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of God. I believe in God. And the Holy Trinity. In other words, I believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of God and that the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are God - three rolled into one.
Simply put, I believe God is Love and that man was given The Word - and a free will; and that's what separates human beings from animals. Lately, I am beginning to think more about the Devil. And believe there is another force at work battling for our souls.
In 1992, whilst living in London, I attended several confirmation classes at Westminster Abbey. I asked why Jehovah Witnesses pretended to believe in and follow the teachings of Jesus Christ. I was told there is one question that will stop them in their tracks - and it is this: if Jehovah Witnesses come to your door, simply ask: "Do you believe in the Holy Trinity?" They won't be able to answer - and will politely turn away and go. I've tried it. And it worked. Like magic.
POLITICS AND RELIGION
My personal viewpoint
No matter how different their views, gender or age group, other people's thoughts are always of interest to me. Regularly, I read a cross section of blogs authored by individuals from all walks of life, living in different parts of the world. For me it's fascinating reading opposing beliefs and views and getting glimpses into how others think, what they believe in and why.
Rarely do I think in terms of "is this blogger old or young, black or white, male or female, or what". But I do try and peg a blogger's location as it helps me to visualise their natural environment, weather conditions and the culture in which they are living.
My blog has no theme but it does have several uses. It's a tool with which to communicate with friends and get to know new people. Instead of doing crosswords daily, I post here to maintain computing skills and organise my life, thoughts and health. Most of my posts are cryptic notes to myself. I present them in a way that may prove useful to others. On glancing through posts, I can roughly gauge the number of 'bad' days and tell how things are improving overall.
Basically, this blog is a conversation with myself and others. The dialogue is created through a steady stream of my diary entries, ideas, thoughts and press clippings etc., that I post and store here for my own reference. When I am a more experienced blogger, I may develop some specialist weblogs to do with life, food and socialising - and Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME).
- - -
My politics
Never have I voted Conservative. Nor have I ever voted Liberal. I am a Socialist and vote Labour. And try not to be anti any political party, person or country. I am a strong supporter of our Prime Minister Tony Blair.
In the year before Tony Blair became Prime Minister, I attended a Labour Party conference in Blackpool. And met him. He's quite tall. Taller than myself. I'm 5' 8". He's a friendly gentleman. Not at all showy, pushy or loud. His handshake was firm. Palms were dry even after a major speech and fielding questions from a packed audience. A kindly and unassuming persona really. But his eyes were extraordinary.
While we stood chatting for a few minutes, an aide came up to him and he glanced aside. A strong beam of stage light caught the right hand side of his face and his eyes. I was a foot away and saw straight through the side of his eyeballs. They were large, clear and translucent. Not worried or tired. Nor glistening with adrenalin. It was like looking into two crystal balls packed with invisible data. Quite remarkable. I've met thousands of people and quite a few in the public eye. His eyes were the most memorable. And unusual. Not penetrating. Or focused on close up detail. His gaze was slightly glazed and distant. Like a wide scope lens, absorbing a larger picture from the brain within.
My feelings are that Tony Blair is a decent, fair minded chap who is doing a great job as Prime Minister and leader of the Labour Party. He's well educated and intelligent and at 51 still has tons of energy. He is a good family man and a caring husband and father. He has nerves of steel, works hard and gives 100% of his best to the job. One can't ask for more. I'd describe him as a visionary. One who sees the larger picture - of everything - at all times.
The UK has no other credible leader. And it appears that the US has only Kerry as an alternative to Bush. My prediction is that Bush and Blair will win.
- - -
My religion
My Austrian born mother and her parents were raised as Roman Catholics. My English born father and his parents were raised as a Protestants in the Church of England. My parents had me christened as a baby and my religion is formally described as C of E (Church of England).
I'd describe myself as a Christian, not a Protestant or Catholic. A Christian is one who follows the teachings of Jesus Christ. I believe in the Old and New Testaments of the Holy Bible. It is The Word, given to us all, that no man should add to, or take away from.
I respect the views of those who believe in God or who are atheists, agnostics, humanists or whatever. But I feel sorry for those without faith in God, and for those who do believe in God but do not believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of God. I believe in God. And the Holy Trinity. In other words, I believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of God and that the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are God - three rolled into one.
Simply put, I believe God is Love and that man was given The Word - and a free will; and that's what separates human beings from animals. Lately, I am beginning to think more about the Devil. And believe there is another force at work battling for our souls.
In 1992, whilst living in London, I attended several confirmation classes at Westminster Abbey. I asked why Jehovah Witnesses pretended to believe in and follow the teachings of Jesus Christ. I was told there is one question that will stop them in their tracks - and it is this: if Jehovah Witnesses come to your door, simply ask: "Do you believe in the Holy Trinity?" They won't be able to answer - and will politely turn away and go. I've tried it. And it worked. Like magic.
ME AND OPHELIA
This is the personal blog of Ingrid Jones.
I live by the sea in Dorset, England, United Kingdom.
Here on my PowerBook G4 I communicate to my friends.
About things in general and my life with M.E. and cat Ophelia.
Home user technology and business services.
Food and household management.
How it all impacts on my *lifestyle management programme*.
And my battle for more energy.
See Blogger Profile
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N Korea
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