Saturday, December 16, 2006

[blogfocus saturday] outrage and rhetoric at the keyboard

The little matter of Tony’s timing of his announcement dominated many posts this week, which can be loosely grouped under a number of headings. first off:

Saudis

1 Paul Linford, Belper boy, alleged Tory Blogger and guest at the party I wanted to go to, kicks off with the perils of old age:

I must be getting less cynical in my old age, but in retrospect I was far too kind to New Labour in yesterday's post on whether the Government might have been guilty of burying bad news under the cover of the Ipswich murders and Lord Stevens' inquiry in the death of Diana. It's now absolutely bleeding obvious that this is exactly what they were doing.

2 Shuggy provides backup with the key phrase which should strike terror into every heart:

The public interest outweighs the need to maintain the rule of law. Let's read that again: the public interest outweighs the need to maintain the rule of law. Then let's delete 'rule of law' and try it with 'democracy' or 'liberty'. I'm not one of these who thinks they know the inner-workings of intelligence services throughout the world but I can't think of a single Middle East commentator that doesn't agree that much of the money used to fund the Terror we're supposed to be at War with comes via Saudi Arabia

3 Oliver Kamm minces no words in stating his take on it:

The Saudis therefore clearly encourage an aggressive Islamist ideology, Wahhabism, to divert political dissent into the mosque and then outward to the world. There could scarcely be a more effective way of incubating the forces of fanaticism that threaten us, and the Saudis too. Pressing for political reform in Saudi Arabia is urgent. Mr Blair is not pursuing that course, but instead is acquiescing in corruption for reasons of state. It is an unprincipled decision, but worse, it is a stupid one.

More from the bloggers here

[blogfriends' party] you know what ...

[jim morrison] flawed genius or second rate pretty boy

"There are things known, and there are things unknown, and in between - there are the doors." - Jim Morrison

Whether you feel that Jim Morrison was a brilliant and complex modern-day shaman or just a second-rate pretty-boy poet, who lost it to alcohol and narcotics, it's impossible to deny his influence down through the years.

This band recorded some of the darkest and most challenging music ever penned. What is so distinctive about them is how they successfully blended uncompromising rock, manic blues, jazz improvisation, funky edginess and apocalyptic angularity into dramatic settings for Morrison's baritone voice and acid-damaged poetry.

Jim Morrison described it this way:

“I was ideally suited for the work I am doing. It's the feeling of a bowstring being pulled back for 22 years and suddenly let go. I am interested in anything about revolt, disorder, chaos - especially activity that seems to have no meaning - it seems to me to be the road towards inner freedom. The whole thing is like an invitation to the west, a new wild west, a sensuous, evil world, strange and haunting, the path of the sun, you know.”

More here

[jelena dokic] girl with a weight on her back

Spare a thought for this girl. No, she wasn’t raped, she wasn’t brutalized in the Sudan, she wasn’t an Ipswich victim. And yet her story is tragic.

Nothing detracts from the horror which is life for a huge section of the world population but this story is still a tragedy in its own way, in terms of what could have been and what never happened.

Jelena Dokic has been racially abused by a group of Croatian men in an ugly confrontation allegedly linked to inflammatory remarks made by her estranged father, Damir. Jelena who? Former tennis world No.4 Dokic was jostled, was subject to a string of anti-Serbian comments and had fruit juice thrown at her, Croatian newspaper Jutarnji List reported yesterday.

Now here’s the thing: The taunts were reportedly made in reprisal for one of her father Damir Dokic’s famous rants against Croatia and his recent unfounded claim his daughter had been kidnapped by the Bikic brothers, who are Croatian. Dokic was said to have been uninjured in the incident, but traumatised.

Now wallowing at 586th in world tennis, she has repeatedly made moves to sever ties with her buffoon father, who emigrated with his family to Sydney in 1994. Jelena's stellar junior career peaked with a ranking of world No.1 and acclaim as the International Tennis Federation's world junior champion. Nurtured by former grand slam greats Lesley Bowrey and Tony Roche, as well as Kim Warwick, Dokic's game blossomed before her father dragged her down.

And this is the thing. For years, while her father was being thrown out of stadia and was making statements such as believing the Williams sisters’ father was a ‘fine man’ and that Tennis Australia had a vendetta against his daughter, his daughter was steadfastly defending him to the press, who were having a field day.

It’s a matter of speculation how far she could have gone and maybe N4 was her true peak and yet the extraneous issue of the sapping of her confidence by her father, his tirades against any boyfriend she tried to have, her break with Australia, her attempt to come back, the whole mess, it was another Mary Pearce.

Fathers. The bane of daughters’ lives or their very best friend and help in time of need?

[saturday quiz] 10 slightly easier ones this time

1 In Roman numerals, what number is CLI?

2 Which are the fire signs of the Zodiac? A, L & S.

3 After how many years marriage do you celebrate your Golden wedding anniversary?

4 From which country does the cloth denim, used in jeans, originally come from? Do you know the town it comes from as well?

5 Which is the third letter of the Greek alphabet?

6 The screwdriver cocktail is made with vodka. What juice is also used?

7 What is claustrophobia?

8 The winter solstice occurs when the sun is furthest from the equator (on December 22nd). What do we call the days the sun crosses the equator on March 21st and September 21st?

9 To the nearest whole number, how many revolutions does the moon make around the earth in a calendar year?

10 In which organ would you find the pineal gland?

Answers here …

[confidence] is this what women want the most

Sam Brett has raised an interesting one:

British studies reckon tall men and thin women are more attractive; the Germans assert redheads are better in the sack; the Americans deem geeks, nerds and smart men have what it takes, and blogger Mr Ben Darcy (along with 500 of you) suggest it's a good sense of humour (GSOH) that gets us going.

True, when it comes to being attracted to someone, everyone has their own personal preferences, checklists and no-nos. Yet after months of deliberating, debating, arguing and occasionally agreeing on
Sam and the City, one common denominator has emerged: having confidence is damn sexy ...

Quick check of an official sort of site which deals with this sort of thing and “Vanessa” gives this list of what’s attractive in a man. After “looks”, she adds:

# you've got personality
# look good, smell better
# musical rhythm
# not so much size but how it’s used
# resisting a woman
# taking initiative
# you know what to do

Don’t think this needs further explanation. Delving into the treasure trove of saved and categorized pieces stored since the dawn of time, I found this, by “Dana Peach” [no link, sorry]:

I am now going to reveal to you what women want, have always wanted and will always be looking for in any man with whom they become intimate. It is a "Trump" attribute, which means that its presence is a more powerful influence than others and can tip the scales of emotional acceptance in your favor immediately. Confidence simply says: "I can deal with it... somehow... well at least I'll do my best". The attitude of confidence doesn't even have to be constant, just generally present in the face of most life challenges.

From what I find over here, I’d like to add one or two criteria. Confidence is one thing but if it’s misplaced, if you don’t ‘bring home the bacon’ which your demeanour leads the woman to expect from you, you’re nowhere. It’s more the feeling she gets that you can come through in any situation, at least it seems that way to me. Not giving a toss is part of it all and might help explain the ‘bad boy syndrome’ with women. You’d have to add genuineness, not caring for conventions and a shy smile somewhere in there as well.

What do you think?

[from russia with love] you can keep your nato

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov says Russia is unable to influence the process of NATO enlargement, Xinhua news agency reported on Wednesday.

His statement was in response to the NATO summit in Riga, Latvia, where 26 NATO member countries have met to focus on its mission in Afghanistan and its future role. “Each country is free to decide what bloc it should be a member of,” Ivanov said. “We have no intention of joining NATO,” he added.

NATO has recognized Albania, Croatia and Macedonia as formal aspirant countries. Georgia and Ukraine also have intentions to join, but are in an earlier stage of the process. The three Baltic states Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania joined the alliance in 2004.

I'm the first to admit I’m no strategic expert but surely it would have been better for the west [read USA] not to have blocked Russia, despite it’s being difficult. Inside NATO, it would have exerted a moderating role and would have tried to eventually play a leading role. Face is very important in all this. Now, outside the alliance, Russia can do as it wishes and that may well have suited someone’s book.

[from russia with love] strategic nuclear multiple warheads

"Russia will replace single nuclear warheads on some of its Topol-M intercontinental missiles strategic missiles with multiple warheads," Gen. Nikolai Solovtsov, commander of Russia’s Strategic Rocket Forces, said Friday.

Fitting multiple warheads to Topol-Ms is a cheaper way for Russia to upgrade its nuclear arsenals and maintain nuclear parity with the United States. Putin called the it a “serious step forward in strengthening Russia’s defense capability …It has a stronger survivability, faster launch and an ability to penetrate any prospective missile defense.”

The Topol-M missiles, capable of hitting targets more than 10,000 kilometres away, have so far been deployed only in silos. The new version, which is mounted on a heavy off road vehicle, makes it harder for an enemy to track it down. Topol-M’s chief designer, Yuri Solomonov, said earlier this year that Russia would easily be able to maintain at least 2,000 nuclear warheads by 2011 and beyond.

The Middle-East lesson of mobile deployment seems to have been learnt well by the Russians. What with this and Trident in Britain, we’re in for lots of fun in the future. Kaboom! Dr. Strangelove, eat your heart out.

[from russia with love ] election date

Interfax reported Thursday that Russia would hold its next presidential election on March 9, 2008, according to the central electoral commission chairman Alexander Veshnyakov.

However, by Russian law the election cannot be held on March 9 as that day follows March 8, which is a public holiday in Russia, the Vedomosti newspaper wrote Friday citing CEC member Yelena Dubrovina. Veshnyakov was unavailable for comment.

Gazeta newspaper wondered why the date had been announced by Veshnyakov whereas by law the day is to be set by the upper house of the Russian parliament — the Federation Council, which is to announce its decision not earlier than 100 days and not later than 90 days before the vote, i.e. between Dec 1 and Dec 10 2007.

Sounds a bit of a furphy. While it seems the man wasn’t thinking when he spoke and there also seems no political capital to be made out of the strange announcement, nevertheless, it continues the speculation and keeps the election on the front page. There are a lot of people wondering what Putin has up his sleeve for next year, given that he's leaving his own [at the moment unconstitutional] run a bit late.

Friday, December 15, 2006

[damnation] thought I could disguise it


How evil are you?
Thanks a whole lot, Notsaussure!

[sudden snow] everyone sliding everywhere

An hour and ten minutes doing a journey from the centre which, at its very best, takes about twelve minutes and on average, twenty-five.

You’d think the Russians would have the whole business of winter under control. You’d think they would be vaguely aware that around this time of year, the snow falls and that when it does, it’s a good idea to slow down just a little below maniacal speeds and thread one’s way through the traffic patiently.

Not a bit of it. I glanced out of the Ministry window about 6 p.m. and it was come down like confetti at long last, after weeks of nothing. Of course it was going to be dangerous going home – light flaky snow on top of slush and ice. Of course cars were going to slide everywhere as the temperature dipped.

And slide they did – straight into each other like billiard balls. All routes jammed, accidents everywhere, even on the escape routes people took – total gridlock. Police all over the place, horns blaring, people shouting and the prospect of two hours on the roads with an overheating car. Cars running out of fuel and refilling from bottles.

So here we finally are and at least the room is warm and dry.

[comet dust] origins of life - same old assumptions

During its seven-year, 2.9 billion-mile voyage, the Stardust spacecraft flew within 150 miles of Comet Wild 2 (pronounced Vilt). Dust surrounding the comet's nucleus was captured in a low-density material called aerogel. The mission marks the first time extraterrestrial material has been brought to Earth since the Apollo moon landings.

Since the return capsule parachuted to the Utah desert in January, nearly 200 researchers have employed some of the world's most powerful scientific tools to probe the particles. Their findings are laid out in seven reports in today's issue of the journal Science.

1] Organic molecules were found, very similar to amino acids, as well as a biologically useful form of nitrogen, which would have been important to early microbes.

2] The second particle, less than one-fifth the diameter of a human hair, was made up of unusual minerals that were created at blistering temperatures - higher than 2,000 degrees F. But that contradicts the standard view that comets formed on the fringes of the solar system, where temperatures average around minus 400 degrees. Scientists dubbed the super-high-temperature particle Inti, after the Incan sun god.

3] Though they weren't forged in such a fiery furnace, crystalline mineral grains in the comet dust also support the notion that there was a lot of mixing in the cloud of dust that coalesced into the solar system about 4.6 billion years ago. It looks like about 10 percent of the material came from the inner disc.

Those are the facts. Now to the theories. Some science-journos have immediately leapt to the conclusion that the particles bolster the theory that a rain of comet dust may have delivered the basic ingredients of life to the early Earth, that the solar system exploded rather than imploded and other minor conclusions as well. The conclusions are fine but the implications behind them, the tacit assumptions behind them, are anything but fine.

Again people are arguing along the same old lines. Those who refuse to accept that there is an intelligent force see the scenario as new specks of explosively spread life-giving debris strewn across the universe and afain, there’s nothing wrong with going that far.

But the most glaringly obvious question fails to be asked – how did the life-giving aminos come about in the first place? No one wants to ask this question because they’re more comfortable in the omnipotence of scientific a-theistic theory and they don’t want to ask any question which might lend support to a theistic theory.

And yet, even in these very findings, scientists who have studied the particles have admitted they were previously wrong. Galileo and Copernicus both had the same problem of entrenched scientific thought and the populace as a whole lapped up what the scientists gave out in learned journals and accepted fallible men’s theories as unassailable fact.

And so it is again here. Such insupportable assumptions have absolutely nothing to do with the scientific method but with philosophy.

To start out with the premise that there can be no intelligent force and to build your argument from there is highly suspect empiricism. Whatever happened to the open mind? And what of the counter-theory that this explosion of amino carrying particles was the method used by the Intelligence [for which there is more than enough literary reference to support the existence of] to carry out the operation?

I mean – why not? It’s just as scientifically valid as assuming there is no Intelligence.

Again, it’s not the findings which are in dispute but their interpretation and the swiftness with which the voices who made it into print seized on the findings as evidence of non-Intelligence is stunning in its lack of logic and its clear agenda.

[blogger] to beta or not to beta

Ian, at Imagined Community, asks the question above.

Speaking personally, I have much to lose if I transfer. I'd hate to lose my three column template which I've constructed from a base non-Blogger template and I'm fairly certain that Beta won't support this.

It would be devastating to have to go back to a 2 column template like Minima after having got NourObscur to where I want it. Does anyone know anything about this dreaded Beta thing and if there's a three column Beta available?

Also, I'll have to redo sitemeter most like, lose the readership I've built up, lose my Technorati ranking which was doing nicely and have to do it all over again from scratch. Nightmare. Help!

[miss usa] seven questions

Organisers of the Miss Universe pageant have confirmed that they are "evaluating the behavioural and personal issues" of Miss USA, 20-year-old Tara Conner. Conner, who was crowned in April, has been the subject of negative media reports following a spate of incidents that are being euphemistically referred to as "inappropriate behaviour".

The former Miss Kentucky is believed to have a drinking problem, despite being below the legal drinking age in the US. Following intense speculation, the Miss Universe and Miss USA organisation, which is owned by Donald Trump, was forced to release a statement denying the beauty queen had been dethroned.

" Mr Trump will make a determination and announcement within the coming week," the statement read.

Questions:

1] What has a drinking problem to do with being Miss Universe?
2] What qualifications must Miss Universe have anyway? What sort of ideal is being sought and in whose eyes?
3] Why is under 21 drinking a problem when 14 year olds are regularly having sex and doing drugs?
4] Who would want anything to do with the arch-sleaze Trump in the first place in a ‘competition’ which is really about which young filly he’d like to bed?
5] Does the lady in the picture actually do anything to your blood pressure or does she appear more like a bimbo?
6] Are bimbos what men actually want – women who will docilely follow them wherever they wish? The Barbies of the world?
7] Does any of it matter?

Can you think of any other questions I forgot here?

Thursday, December 14, 2006

[bob piper] still running off at the mouth

Praguetory reports: When Bob “retired” from blogging, he didn’t mean it. In continuing a debate over the rights and wrongs of the last few days at his site and others Bob Piper’s been blogging more than ever. This includes the comments section of his own blog.

One false allegation from Bob is that I ran off at the mouth to the media. As Bob gave this defiant
interview with the media on Saturday, that allegation is pretty rich. The other allegation Bob makes is that I whipped up other bloggers. What the hell has he been doing for the best part of a week? When an argument is taking place, others will get involved.

There were two things which lost Cllr Piper his support, as far as I can see. Firstly, his attempt to “out” Praguetory, to name him and this was just low. Then there was the vitriol, such as the comparison with Iain Dale which I’m not going to dignify by repeating here. There are heaps more reasons to strongly question this man’s fitness to hold his current position as Councillor but these two will suffice.

Actually, what he has done is swing a huge amount of traffic Praguetory’s way and this traffic has been able to compare the two blogs and draw conclusions on the basis of literary style and closeness to the pulse. As Iain Dale said: Increasingly unmissable.

What have I to gain from weighing into this? Zero - it’s just that I feel it’s right to do so and I can definitely say that I have had nothing in the way of being whipped up by Praguetory or anyone else for that matter.

That’s one of the prime purposes of blogging, isn’t it, to say what you feel is right? So I say Cllr Piper should 1] get out of blogging for his breach of etiquette and 2] get out of politics for his breach of ethics.

[senate] a sad stroke for the democrats

Difficult position for Richard

South Dakota Democratic Sen. Tim Johnson fell suddenly ill yesterday and,
CNN reports, underwent "brain surgery early Thursday at George Washington University Hospital," according to "two Democratic sources familiar with his condition." The possibility that Johnson may not be able to carry on his duties as a senator has placed a big question mark on the issue of which party will control the Senate.

As USA Today reports, the November election "gave Democrats a 51-49 edge." If Johnson "were unable to complete the remaining two years of his term, South Dakota Gov. Mike Rounds, a Republican, could appoint a replacement, presumably another Republican. That would deadlock the Senate at 50-50 with Vice President Cheney, a Republican, holding the tie-breaking vote."

Tragic break for Tim Johnson and his family. Tragic for the Democrats. Stroke of luck for the Republicans, although that's the furthest thing from their minds at this time.

[historic discovery] flying mammals found in inner china

Statement of absolute fact?

A team of Chinese scientists has made a dating methods but how do they know those methods are correct? By definition, the method extrapolates past history from data but how can it be sure the method has no anomalies? By their own parameters, believing what they believe to be accurate, yes, but in real terms – without having lived back then, how can they tell they’re absolutely in the right? Why not 37 500 000 years ago, because of the Reynolds’ bipolar linear flux effect, discovered in the year 2047?

Science presents itself as infallible, like a computer. But all of us on Windows know it’s anything but an accurate medium. There are serious blips in fact. Science says the biblical account is inaccurate. Firstly, how does it know that, using the word ‘know’ in its purist form? Why does Science refuse to admit the limitations of its method? Secondly, it’s bad science because one is attempting to date and the other is a mere fragment of evidence, along with all the others.

The reader might expostulate: “Stupid man, Higham. It’s been proved, hasn’t it?” Really? By whom? “By scientists, of course.” But it’s those very scientists who are being questioned. I posit that you believe, rather than know. Why do you believe? Because for sociological reasons you are predisposed to believe. It cuts both ways.

To paraphrase the words of Cromwell: ‘I beseech you, Science, in the bowels of Christ, think it possible you may be mistaken.’

[diana verdict] sadly, it’s not the last word

The kindest thing this blog can do is post the nicest picture of her it can find.

The official rejection of conspiracy and murder allegations in connection with the death of Princess Diana almost 10 years ago is unlikely to silence speculation about her tragic death, British analysts said Thursday. Lord Stevens, the former head of Scotland Yard who led the three- year inquiry, admitted, 'I have no doubt that speculation as to what happened that night will continue and that there are some matters, as in many other investigations, about which we may never find a definitive answer. There are even friends of mine who question my findings.'

Of course they are questioned because they fly in the face of simple logic. Have you seen a picture of the approach road to that tunnel? Have you been through that tunnel yourself? What are the chances of crashing right by the 13th pillar? Why so long, via a circuitous route to the hospital? Why were the extraneous personnel in the room in the last moments? It goes on and on, anomaly after anomaly. An exhaustive three year enquiry sounds final, until you see the net result of the verdict – it exonerates the Royal Family and those connected with them.

The Royal Family, to be fair, are on a hiding to nothing here. Found guilty, people would have nodded and said it was logical. Cleared, people point to the anomalies. Sadly, grievously, this thing cannot go away.

[cannabis criminalization] we are not amused

You wouldn’t expect Mr. Morality to be making this argument. Tea is a drug, coffee is a drug, tobacco is a drug, alcohol is a drug, many say chocolate is a drug. Sex is a drug, for goodness sake. Is cannabis a drug? Some say yes, some say no.

It comes down to historical likes and dislikes. In Tom Brown’s schooldays, they served ‘ale and bread and cheese, and a bowl of punch’ to the boys, rather than tea. Queen Victoria used cannabis for her menstrual cramps.

So how did cannabis move from prescribed to proscribed? Why was it criminalized? Now there’s yet another study and this time it shows the following:

Released by the Mental Health Council of Australia, a report highlights a growing body of research linking cannabis use with increased risks of mental illnesses such as schizophrenia and psychosis and is associated with "adverse outcomes" such as failure at school and not finding a job.

"You increase that risk further if you have a family history of mental illness," said the council's chief executive John Mendoza. "You increase the risk again a notch further if you begin using at a young age, when brain development is at crucial stages."

Meant to make us mad? We’re already mad, aren’t we?

Wednesday, December 13, 2006

[etiquette part 1] gentlemen are unnecessary today

Chivalry, etiquette, romance – surely dead as a dodo with the new multi-partner, dirty talking, reconstructed, inwardly-focussed and ambitious woman who knows every single one of her rights?

Where does that leave the opening of doors, the laying of a cloak in a puddle, the concern for your partner? In a puddle with the cloak? The Japanese have strict rules of etiquette, even today. Closer to home, how many of the following antediluvian precepts are still relevant? This is from an article by Michael Bucci [pre-blogging days]:

1 Always be polite. Even if you don't like someone, there is no need to lower yourself to his level. Show that you're the better man.

2 Never swear. It shows that you don't have the vocabulary to express your thoughts appropriately.

3 Do not speak loudly. It always implies that you can't reason with people. It also draws negative attention.

4 Do not lose your temper. When you lose your temper, you are showing everyone that you can't control your emotions.

5 Do not stare. Ogling at someone is the equivalent of psychological aggression.

6 Never interrupt. Let people finish what they are saying before adding in your comments. Interrupting is egotistical.

7 Do not spit. A lot of men do this almost subconsciously. Were you raised in a sewer?

Another ten points here
...

[blogvisiting] this is getting out of hand

I haven't posted so far this evening because I've been visiting, as 25% of my blogroll now know and it's taken me two and a quarter hours. Why so?

It seems to me that there are two approaches:

1] The Stats Mania approach. Visit as many sites as you can and leave a terse one line comment to show you've been there, expecting to be blogrolled and have massive traffic come to your site;

2] The Blogpower approach [at least my interpretation of it]. This involves visiting the interactive sites first and taking time to read, think out a response and reply in a paragraph or two [or not to comment at all if the post doesn't "grab"]. On my own site [and don't get any ideas now, regular commenters], one thoughtful comment every three days is better than three throwaway lines.

But if we go to extremes and have only maybe six people we regularly visit, this is cutting off our nose to spite our face. Saves us time but it's a little like someone in a profession who has no time to keep abreast of the literature.

[caption competition] couldn’t resist this one


Don’t normally go in for this sort of thing but when I saw this pic, thoughts of a not so high moral nature flitted through the mind. What’s your take? On another matter, the boss is back from Zurich today and work is threatening to wipe out blogtime so I’ll come round and annoy you later this evening, if that’s all right.

[workaholics] 70 plus hours a week and loving it

Leon Gettler reports: According to the Harvard Business Review, Extreme Jobs: The Dangerous Allure of the 70-Hour Workweek , there’s a new breed of worker where no amount of work is too much. People are putting in extreme hours, if not in the office then at their own computer, BlackBerry or fax machine.

The study, based on surveys of two million high-income earners in the US, found that more than 50 per cent of these have hyper jobs where they were putting in over 70 hours, two out of three people with extreme jobs said that they have to be available and deal with emergencies at any time, and that vacations seems to be shrinking with 42 per cent taking 10 or fewer vacation days per year.

And yes, there was a price. More than 69 per cent said they would be healthier if they worked less extremely; 58 per cent said work got in the way of strong relationships with their children; 46 per cent said it damaged relationships with their spouses; and 50 per cent said their jobs made it impossible to have a good sex life.

66 per cent said they loved their jobs and that figure rose to 76 per cent in global companies. In other words, excessive work might destroy their marriages, relationships with their kids and sex life but at least they were happy in their work. And in a weird way, it makes sense. Returning home to a bad marriage, an empty refrigerator or a neglected teenager is not much chop, so why not stay behind at work?

The study also says women are at a disadvantage. They don't shirk the pressure or hours, but they are not matching the hours logged by their male colleagues and that's particularly true of mothers. They simply can't, or don't choose to, work exceedingly long hours.

My only comment is that I’m caught up in this too, doing maybe a 15 to 17 hour day and I’d sure like to reduce it somehow. Social life is virtually non-existent and my last one week holiday was in 2003. Unlike the high flyers above though, I’m not raking in the cash but I am doing work I like and that’s possibly why I’m still not completely out of my tree yet. Exercise, diet and sleep are probably also the keys. The days fly by and we're one day closer ...

[russian girl writes] if I had $500 000

Not exactly a guest blogger but nevertheless, Фарида Досчанова wrote this here in the days when I was trying to set up a Russian forum on the site. I know her personally and apart from being a stunning young lady, she has intelligence and compassion and it seems to me that young men would accordingly beat a path to her door. Below is her unexpurgated take, errors untouched, on how to dispose of $500 000:

Hello, I thought above your theme how to dispose of such sum as 500.000 US dollars. Taking into account the present situation in the country, Russia is the country, in which many homeless children. As there are many families, which are not in a condition to grow their children and our government cannot help them.

Therefore I would give a part of the sum to children's homes and houses of babies that these children have been provided by normal conditions of residing and training. Further I would offer a part of the sum on medicine. I would like to construct hospitals in the most remote and deaf villages, and to supply existing hospitals with the newest equipment.

Still I would like to invest in education that those children who cannot pay for the study, could study in institutes and receive a desirable profession. And the most important it is necessary to help our pensioners, I would publish the law on which all medicine and tourism has been obliged to render free of charge services that pensioners could be healthy and could see the world.

For example my parents all life work and live for the children, instead of for themselves. It is wrong. I would like them have a rest and have looked the world. The remained part of money, I would enclose in good business as I consider, that money should make money. In Russia there are a lot of problems and to solve them 500.000$ won't be enough.

Therefore business and good government, which will correctly dispose of this money, will solve problems.

Tuesday, December 12, 2006

[blogfocus tuesday] piper, power and pensive

There are three themes running through today’s Focus. To start with, an issue almost everyone’s blogged on and which raises ethical questions: the Piper debate. Seems to me it was not the original offending item but the vitriolic way he attacked, by way of reply, which had people up in arms.

It’s not this post’s intention to rehash or add further fuel whilst the man is not in a position to reply [we can wait until Sunday for that] – so what follows is in the nature of final words on the topic. Dizzy thinks:

1 For me the biggest issue is that if someone from the right had produced the same "satire" the reaction would've been total outrage from the Left with accusations of racism. There is something worrying with this intellectual position that many on the Left have which asserts they are not capable of racism because of their ideological purity. It's bollocks.

Bel expands on that theme:

2
I have come to the conclusion that blindness of a sort has befallen these people. They genuinely cannot see how the spoof post they created could have caused offence. As Dizzy puts it, ‘[t]here is something worrying with this intellectual position that many on the Left have which asserts they are not capable of racism because of their ideological purity.’ I agree. Regarding the indignation of the two bloggers, the sub-text seems to be ‘how can anyone accuse us of being racist and offensive? We’re on the Left!!!’

The Tin Drummer is concerned about the sub-issue underlying it all:

3 The BBC has picked up on the Bob Piper story: Tory Leader Portrayed as Minstrel as has, finally, Iain Dale. Prague Tory has obviously been hurt by some of the personal abuse hurled at him for mentioning this story, and he says in the comments: This incident may be a prelude to my cessation from blogging. I am in a period of reflection. I will not be commenting again on this thread.

… and UK Daily Pundit, * with an eye to the main chance, sees the possibilities:

4
Bob Piper, Councillor Bob Piper, Sandwell Councillor Bob Piper, Piper Bob: Just want to see if I can get on Technorati. Hello? Anyone there?

* Having a spot of bother with the link to the post so I've linked to UKDP's other post on the issue.

Next issue here

[indecent proposal] money buys everything

This is not a film review but a look at what we were discussing today over a coffee or three. You remember the 1993 film with Robert Redford, Demi Moore and Woody Harrelson? It had a plot right up Demi Moore’s alley.

Spoiler warning: Using real forenames, the plot went something like this: Woody and Demi are childhood sweethearts who marry, travel to Vegas to win a pot to finance his real estate gamble. They lose all. Just then, along comes billionaire Robert and offers a million if she’ll stay with him one night. The married couple have an agonizing ‘discussion’, she goes, it’s done, Woody gets upset over the next time period that she’s drifting away, they separate, Robert reappears, Woody realizes he must have her and at the showdown, Robert sees the lie of the land and bows out - the rest is speculation.

The one someone raised today was a little different. It starts with a penniless couple, the billionaire appears and makes the offer of a weekend away, she’s all for it but the husband’s not. However, he concedes they need the cash and she says that without it, they couldn’t get a home, couldn’t raise a family and so on. This cash would secure the yet-to-be-kids for ever. You know the score. He concedes the point after she assures him it’d be strictly one weekend and that’s all.

Needless to say, after she is flown back, she’s changed a bit and he has the angst, as in IProp. They’re able to finance a beautiful home, cars and so on but as he looks around his ‘kingdom’, he seriously questions what she’s about and all the rest of it. I have my opinion and one of the ladies today had a similar opinion but one took the opposite point of view. I don’t want to telegraph my opinion too early. What do you feel about this situation? Was she right to go? Are there any issues or is it all straightforward in your eyes?

[barbie and bratz] girls in a catfight

Hardly possible to abridge this article, sorry – it’s that good:

Barbie has called in lawyers for a legal catfight with her arch-rivals, Bratz, the hip-hop-loving dolls with a racy fashion sense who appear to have sent Barbie's popularity crashing. In a 58-page lawsuit, Mattel, the company that makes Barbie, accuses MGA Entertainment of stealing its "intellectual infrastructure", including company secrets, business plans and 25 members of staff, and using it to build the Bratz empire.

Credit for the Bratz girls - Sasha, Yasmin, Chloe, Jade and friends — rightfully belongs to Barbie, Mattel suggests. The showdown is the biggest upset in the toy world since Barbie dumped Ken, her boyfriend of 45 years, and embarked on a summer romance with an Australian surf dude named Blaine.

Mattel says it owns the rights to Bratz, because they were conceived by one of its own designers who then defected to MGA in 2000. It is suing the designer and has now expanded its complaint to include MGA and its chief executive, Isaac Larian, accusing them of copyright infringement, misappropriation of trade secrets and racketeering.

Mr Larian said: "It's more than sour grapes, it's an absolute pure act of desperation. Mattel lives in a fantasy land. They don't own Bratz and they know it. It's all fabricated paranoia from a company that's lost its leadership. "Barbie, I think, has been around for too long. Kids have been looking for something new and different. It's time for Barbie to retire."

MGA also claims that Mattel, desperate to save its ageing beauty queen's honour amid dwindling sales, copied some of Bratz's beauty secrets and funky fashion in order to jazz up her looks and create a new line of dolls, known as My Scene. MGA claims in court papers that Mattel resorted to "serial copycatting" and used intimidation, coercion and threats against distributors and retailers to try to stifle Bratz's success as it attempted to rescue Barbie from a career crisis.

Barbie — full name: Barbara Millicent Roberts — made her debut at the American International Toy Fair on March 9, 1959, a date now celebrated by fans as her "birthday". She became a worldwide phenomenon, selling at the rate of three a second at her peak.

In 2001, Barbie's sugar-coated world was shattered by the arrival of the multi-ethnic Bratz. With their penchant for heavy make-up, risque fashion, plumped-up lips and cleavage-baring, belly-revealing outfits, they made 47-year-old Barbie seem positively demure.

Bratz – the perfect new-age way to turn your little daughter into a ---- [well, I’m not going to say it]. I know I’ll also get short shrift for saying the following from all you new age, reconstructed gen x parents but look at the naivety in Barbie, then look at these – well – Bratz and compare. Has society improved, in your opinion?

[uganda] you can have my pig if you take my name

Following on from the Nobel Peace Prize and the scheme which won it, this one from al Jazeera is even more controversial:

For most Ugandan beneficiaries, the practical help beats any lofty philosophical statement. George Sabadu Hornsleth says he is grateful as he proudly indicates a neatly constructed wooden pen where his new piglet snuffles under the shade of a papaya tree.

The pig is a gift from a Danish artist. In return, George Sabadu changed his last name to Hornsleth, after Kristian von Hornsleth, the artist who gave him the pig. Hornsleth, who on his website sometimes spells his name Horn$leth, says the scheme, offering villagers of Buteyongera aid in the form of a pig or goat if they take on his name, is a commentary on the hypocrisies of society.

Its slogan: "We want to help you, but we want to own you." But the scheme has outraged some in the Ugandan government. Officials such as James Buturo, the ethics and integrity minister, have condemned the Uganda Village Project, which Hornsleth launched in June, as racist.

Hornsleth has mounted the resulting photographs in an exhibition in Copenhagen, depicting villagers showing their "identity cards" in the red, yellow and black of Uganda's flag and each with the name "Hornsleth". "It's a remark about hypocrisy, about Western and Third World relations, about aid against free trade," Hornsleth told Reuters by telephone from Copenhagen. The project also echoes corporate sponsorship deals.

Ugandan newspapers have filled up with letters and columns, some praising, but many angrily condemning the "pig-for-name" project, as an insult to poor Ugandans. But for villagers who have taken part, the benefits are clear. "We're so grateful for these animals," said Kabaalu Muyiwe Hornsleth, trudging through a field of banana plants towards her new goat tied to a tree in Buteyongera village, central Uganda. "Who cares about a name? We're poor and he helped us."

At the side of a dirt road cutting through central Uganda's lush green countryside, a big sign in Ugandan flag colours with the name "Hornsleth" painted on it pokes out of a clearing among rows of banana plants. To its side lies a neat village full of pig pens, each one fenced in with wooden poles painted red and black, and inscribed with Hornsleth's name.

Local press reported that Uganda's immigration department had rejected passport applications for over 100 Hornsleths wanting to go to Denmark to view the exhibition.

So, what do you think, people? The artist has a screw loose but does it matter? Is he spitting on their national sovereignty, making fun of them? Does it matter? This one’s quite a poser.

The article continues here.

Monday, December 11, 2006

[superbowl] fit for a prince

Prince [you know – the purple one – the artist formerly known as] will perform during the halftime show at the Dolphin Stadium Superbowl near Miami on Sunday, February 4.

His Super Bowl performance was announced on the CBS sports show "NFL Today," three days after he received five nominations for the Grammy Awards, the music industry's most prestigious event.

I don’t get this thing with this person. Apart from "Little Red Corvette" and "Let's Go Crazy" two decades ago, what has he done? Had food thrown at him at a Rolling Stones concert? If the answer is ‘made good music’, well, has he done better than any other artist to earn this slot? Presumably there will be no wardrobe malfunction - his Jehovah's Witness commitment should take care of that but still – who exactly is this man and what has he done to deserve this honour?

[nobel prizes] de-journalized list of winners

I’ve painstakingly extracted the journo-speak from this list, removed the camouflage and this is as simply as I can present it:

Peace Prize went to Muhammad Yunus and the Grameen Bank;

Literature Prize went to Turkish novelist Orhan Pamuk, whose recent trial for "insulting Turkishness" made headlines worldwide, accepted the for a body of work that illustrates the struggle to find a balance between East and West;

Medicine Prize in went to Andrew Z Fire and Craig C Mello for discovering a powerful way to turn off the effect of specific genes;

Chemistry Prize went to Roger D Kornberg, for his studies of how cells take information from genes to produce proteins, a process that could provide insight into defeating cancer and advancing stem cell research;

Physics Prize was won by John C Mather and George F Smoot for work that helped cement the big-bang theory of how the universe was created;

Economics Prize [began in 1968] went to Edmund S Phelps, who was cited for research into the relationship between inflation and unemployment, giving governments better tools to formulate economic policy.

[christmas trees] pc and the insanity of overreaction

According to misleading news stories featured prominently in newspapers and on TV: “All 15 Christmas trees inside the main terminal at Sea Tac Airport (Seattle-Tacoma International) have been removed in response to a complaint by a rabbi. A rabbi wanted to install an eight-foot menorah and have a public lighting ceremony. He threatened to sue if the menorah wasn’t put up and gave a two day deadline to remove the trees.”

The airport panicked and ordered the removal of all trees in the dead of night. “We’re not in the business of offending anyone and we’re not eager to get into a federal lawsuit with anyone,” said Craig Watson, chief lawyer for the Port of Seattle. Patricia Davis, head of the Port Commission said, “We didn’t have other cultures represented and rather than scramble around to find representations of other cultures at this late date, we decided to take them down and consider it later.”

In fact the rabbi told the Seattle Times that he felt “appalled” by the airport’s decision to remove all its Christmas trees without warning on Saturday night. According to Rabbi Bogomilsky, “Everyone should have their spirit of the holiday. For many people the trees are the spirit of the holidays, and adding a menorah adds light to the season.” According to the rabbi’s lawyer, Harvey Grad, “They’ve darkened the hall rather than turning the lights up.”

Michael Medved says: Though some of my fellow Jews may howl in protest when I say so, there are strong arguments to be made against public menorahs that can’t be made against Christmas trees. It’s not just that Christians outnumber us in this society by about 40 to 1; it’s that Christmas trees reasonably can be construed as a secular symbol but a menorah (despite some prior court decisions) emphatically cannot.

The phrases remaining with me are:

1] ‘didn’t have other cultures represented’ Come again? It’s Christmas for goodness sake. It’s not Confucian New Year or some other religion’s high day.

2] ‘take them down and consider it later’ Oh yes? When? After New Year?

[blogpower] how to upload the banner

This all started when I made a comment that it annoys the hell out of me to see some big names promoting themselves shamelessly [I wasn't thinking of those on my blogroll], getting major traffic and they’re truly neither quality nor well laid out.

I'm not shutting anyone out here but I'm most concerned with the good blogger who's been at it a few months maybe; he or she's known in the sphere but still only gets small traffic. It might be the quality of the blog but it's more likely to be lack of 'brand recognition' and no great expertise in self-promotion, in advertising oneself; nor does he or she want to have to 'join' anything, to sign up.

Everyone knows that if a big name links to us [and I've had a few in my sidebar who've been gracious enough to do that], the traffic leaps on that day. But we can't rely on a bone thrown to us all the time and I'm certainly not knocking these powerful lads and lasses in any way when I say that. But if 50 of us little people clicked twice a day on someone's blog, there's a day's traffic. If we linked to a story now and then, it doubles or triples.

Notsaussure
has a slightly different take: [We] can co-operate to increase our traffic, not for its own sake — gratifying though it certainly is to think that folks are reading you, I certainly do this primarily for my own amusement, and I assume that’s what the writers of the other blogs I like are doing, too — but to share and direct others to articles and discussions we find interesting.

There's no compulsion in this. But if a lot of people carried the banner above in the sidebar, it would cause others to ask about it and something could develop. If you see yourself as benefitting from the idea, please click here and read the post and comments, then maybe read the comments on this post here, just to be sure, then why not upload the Banner for your sidebar?

Not Saussure
has very kindly put together the html for the Banner and it can be copied from his comment on this post. Now, what you should do, if you are technically challenged like me, is:

1] paste it to a blank MS Word page;
2] go through and being careful not to touch any other symbol, wherever you see \ you should delete it [don't touch the slash pointing the other way];
3] now you're ready to copy and paste to your template, keeping the Word doc as a back up copy.

[holocaust denial] iran kindly hosts conference on השואה

Khaled Kasab Mahameed, a Palestinian lawyer who has established the Arab Institute for Holocaust Research and Education in Nazareth, the Arab world’s first Holocaust museum, learnt from the Iranian Foreign Ministry - which had invited him to speak during a conference that opens in Iran today on whether the Holocaust ever happened - that he would not receive a visa. No reason was given.

Irving was understood to be on the original invitation list to the Tehran conference when Ahmadinejad first proposed the gathering last January but a month later was sentenced to three years’ imprisonment in Austria after disputing the existence of gas chambers at Auschwitz. Ahmadinejad has described the Holocaust as a myth, calling Israel a “tumour” that should be either “wiped off the map” or moved to Europe or Alaska.

There are two entirely separate issues here:

1] Look, there’s been film footage [I’ve seen it with my own eyes], photographs abound, there were reports by liberating armies, there were eyewitness accounts of this total abomination and descent to bestiality. There is not the least doubt that the holocaust occurred. Hitler and Himmler’s notes confirm it. So what’s with this ridiculous denial? What on earth are they trying to do? And why now, after so many years?

Denial of this nature is either political, psychological or both. To translate it into real-speak, it has to be either evil, insane or both. Calling for Israel to be wiped off the map is not strictly insane – it shows dislike only. But to blindly deny, to refuse to look at the photographic and documentary evidence – this is beyond normal and shows how deeply entrenched in their positions humans can become.

Another example of this is that yesterday, a day with many visitors to this site, I wrote to readers and gave eleven linked sources to look at. There were reader comments on posts further up, there were comments on posts below but on that challenging post – Nil. Nothing. Zilch. Not a sausage. So what hope is there?

2] The second issue is throwing people in prison for this evil insanity. Whatever happened to the Voltaire maxim about defending to the death the right to say something? The same people who are up in arms about Putin restricting freedom of speech happily go along with Irving being thrown into prison. Say something against Putin – you’re incarcerated. Say something against the Holocaust – you’re incarcerated. Same thing in my book.

[rumsfeld in iraq] why - for what purpose

Ex- Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, in a surprise farewell visit to U.S. troops in Iraq this weekend, said the consequences of the war's failure would be "unacceptable." Meanwhile, President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd and one of the staunchest U.S. supporters in the Iraqi leadership, also said that U.S. training of Iraq's army and police had gone "from failure to failure."

Talabani said: "If you read this report, one would think that it is written for a young, small colony that they are imposing these conditions on," Talabani said. "We are a sovereign country." He also pointed to the report's call for the approval of a law that would allow thousands of officials from Saddam Hussein's ousted Baath party to return to their jobs.

Rumsfeld said the consequences of the war's failure would be "unacceptable." He said to more than 1,200 troops at al-Asad "For the past six years, I have had the opportunity and, I would say, the privilege, to serve with the greatest military on the face of the Earth,", an air base in western Anbar province. Rumsfeld did not meet with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. He returned to Washington late Sunday.

1] Why was he allowed to go there to stir up the troops when he has no official position?

2] Note his words ‘serve with’. He really does believe he’s a military man, doesn’t he? He sees himself as some sort of general. This is what the generals were complaining about.

3] What else was he there for?

[stats] eternal delight or bane of our existence

Don’t know about you but sitemeter country stats are fascinating. Typical for this site is UK 35% US 25% Rus/Unkn [same thing] 15% Rest 25%.

Homeland UK wildly fluctuates and that can become frustrating – they’re very choosy people on the whole and on a day they decide to dump you, stats slump. I remember one Sunday I had 2 Brits for the day – 2! One Tuesday, there were 120 Brits alone in three hours. The US is far more consistent and almost never varies from 25% to 35%. They usually come in hard after I’ve gone to sleep but are scattered throughout the day. The Americans are important.

I try to weight UK friendly material in the morning and US material for their morning. I’ve tried to get a line on the other 25% from the other countries, the three most consistent being Russia, Canada and Australia, but there are regulars from about a dozen other countries and I don’t know what they see in the site. Perhaps they’re expats but who knows, as they don’t usually comment. Sicily is a very sweet recent country.

On overall visitors, my best days are usually but not always, Mon – Wed and then there’s a decline with Fri/Sat usually my worst. My order of quick viewing, at the beginning and end of the day, is Unique Visitors [almost never look at hits], Location [love the little flags], Country Share pie graph mainly to see which exotic countries might have visited and then I do tend to study the Entry Page Order to see the type of article which is popular with people.

Very surprised at some of the older articles still bringing in visitors but I suppose the Blogfocus is the main one and a lot of non-Brits come in for that as well. Regular and speculative visitors are hard to estimate and I don’t have time to check out individuals but I’d guess maybe it runs at 50-50. So I don’t know how all that compares to you.

One last thing – this time recently has been rewarding because there’s been communication and I’ve come to realize that though I do have a point of view to push [it comes through, doesn’t it] it’s far more important to have interaction on vital and other interesting issues – most opting for the e-mail and my e-mail provider has just increased my quota x10 to cope.

I think this is what blogging is about for me. How anyone can just post his wisdom with a 'here it is - take it or leave it' attitude is beyond me. Also beyond me is the mad scramble for hits and trumpeting it to the world. True - the Blogpower initiative [and please feel free to upload the banner] is designed to boost us all but the rest of it there's no time for. So, off to work now.

Sunday, December 10, 2006

[bloody vikings] no spam for these boys

Iceland Review has rushed us this news from their front page:

Members of Viking club Rimmugýgur fought with swords under the supervision of fencing trainer Phil Burtham in Hafnafjördur, near Reykjavík, last weekend. “We had great fun and there were no accidents except for one bruised finger,” club member Úlfar Daníelsson told icelandreview.com.

Rimmugýgur is dedicated to Viking culture and Viking sword fighting. The club’s goal is to recreate ancient battles, Viking paraphernalia and historical events. “We have made copies of swords, shields and helmets that have been put on display in museums around Iceland and used in movies,” Daníelsson says.

The club was founded at Thingvellir in 1997 at a special ceremony led by Jörmundur Ingi Hansen, former high chieftain of the Pagan Society in Iceland, and now has about 40 members. “Despite having cooperated with the Pagan Society, most members of Rimmugýgur are Christian,” Daníelsson explains.

“We recently returned from Hastings in the UK where over 2,000 Vikings from around the world fought to remember the greatest Viking battle in history which took place at that location,” Daníelsson explains. The Battle of Hastings was fought in 1066 between Duke William of Normandy and Harold II, King of England. It turned out as the most decisive Norman victory in the Norman conquest of England. For further information, visit
www.rimmugygur.is.

[N.B. There are no Icelandic ducks today for those who were waiting. Also, there’s a prize of one Icelandic cod for anyone who can pronounce all names correctly in this post.]

[worst movie ever] 6th nomination – rocky balboa

Tim Almond asks: Can we nominate on a "precrime" basis, the new Rocky movie? Stallone is going back in the ring, aged 60, to fight the heavyweight champ. Anyone like to think this is going to be good?

Firstly, we have to get a few things agreed upon. This genre and this actor are not for everyone, so we can’t add it on those grounds alone. It must be an appalling example of the genre by the actor’s own standards. To chart the course of this series so far, follow these links:

Rocky (1976), Rocky II (1979), Rocky III (1982), Rocky IV (1985), Rocky V (1990)

Now for Rocky Balboa [not called Rocky 6 for fear of linking it to the atrocious Rocky 5]:

Director:
Sylvester Stallone; Writer screenplay: Sylvester Stallone; Producers: Irwin Winkler, Robert Chartoff, Sylvester Stallone. Cast: Sylvester Stallone: Rocky Balboa; Burt Young: Paulie; Milo Ventimiglia: Rocky Balboa Jr; Antonio Tarver: Mason "The Line" Dixon; Mike Tyson: Himself. Talia Shire is in there too.

Tagline: It ain't over 'til it's over. Plot Outline: Rocky comes out of retirement to go in the ring once again.

Already the director/writer/producer bit and the inclusion of Tyson [remember the Rock?] seem to make it a worthy nominee.

Imdb comment [1]: Any Stallone or Rocky fan will love this film. And I'm sure a lot of people who had doubts about this film 30 years later or even Stallone being 60 years old will be very surprised and pleased. And it does not hurt that Sylvester Stallone is in better shape at 60 then half of Hollywood under 30.

Imdb comment [2]: I had the opportunity to see a screening of this movie. Having been thoroughly disappointed with Rocky Five, I didn't have high hopes for this movie. I am very happy to say this movie brings the Rocky series to the rightful close that the fifth left so empty.

This is not looking so good for Tim’s nomination – five reviews, all positive for the same reason. Well, we'll put it in but what do you, the reader, think?

Other nominations so far include: 1]
Manos 2] Tom & Vera 3] Arthur's Dyke 4] Starship Troopers , 5] St Elmo’s Fire

[diana] accident or execution

Diana. On the accident side:

# MI 5 categorically denied anything untoward and they should know;
# The driver was drunk;
# The car was speeding;
# The one with the motivation was Di, rather than Charles – he was the cheater;
# Mohamed Medjahdi, 29, driver, had no doubts that the crash was an accident;
# Sir John Stevens is expected to announce on Thursday that the investigation has ruled out foul play.

On the murder side:

# The couple's relationship was embarrassing the royal household;
# The enquiry is the necessary whitewash demanded from on high;
# It was the 13th pillar of the same bridge connected with the Merovingian Kings of occult fame, where sacrifices to Diana the moon goddess took place;
# Diana was pregnant at the time and she planning to marry al Fayed;
# Paul was dazzled by a blinding light;
# The white Fiat Uno car which Paul swerved to avoid went missing;
# Diana’s delivery to hospital was painfully slow and her chest was opened – also an occult punishment;
# Royal family members are Grigori whisperers;
# Mohamed Al Fayed was always convinced it was a murder;
# Diana’s letter to Paul Burrell said she suspected Charles was trying to kill her:

"This particular phase in my life is the most dangerous. My husband is planning 'an accident' in my car, brake failure and serious head injury."

She'd had a tragic life with Charles and it’s not hard to feel the anguish along with her. Plus there really are some very real questions about ‘The Firm’. On the other hand, I’m afraid I never liked Diana - even at the start, when the craziness for her was in full swing, I said to a girlfriend she had shifty eyes and I didn’t like the way she walked ahead of Charles. Of course I was shot down in flames over that remark. This is far more how people want to remember her. The Will Carling biz merely confirmed the misgivings but this one was the clincher.

Still, none of that matters any more, really, does it?

[history quiz] ten questions to test your memory

Via Appia, Roma

1] What was Operation Sea Lion in the Second World War? ... and Operation Dynamo?

2] What was the name of Haile Selassie before he was crowned in 1930?

3] Which American City is named after a British Prime Minister?

4] Which Republic exists in France since 1958?

5] Which two other countries joined the EEC at the same time as Ireland?

6] Who succeeded Charles de Gaulle as president of France?

7] Who was the last British Prime Minister not to have a wife?

8] The Roman Appian Way went from Rome to where?

9] Enola Gay was the name of the bomber that dropped the bomb on Hiroshima, but what was the name of the bomber that dropped it on Nagasaki?

10] Eboracum is the roman name for which city?

Answers here

[change] it's all part of a very black joke

It’s been suggested that many movies are studded with references to real life situations, to planned scenarios for the future and even to psychological triggers for certain purposes. The Bond film DAD is an example of the former – there seems a likelihood that a project did partly take place in Iceland or at least there was a research station there.

And what of MAD? Why would a strategic policy be given such a cynically tactless title? What about the euphemism “peaceful purposes”? There is indeed a callous cynicism running through all of this, a sense of the inconsequence of human suffering, shrouded in black jokes and where does this emanate from? People aren’t born like this.

Closer to home, Councillor Gavin Ayling alerts us to another act of quietly cynical anti-humanity in high places: Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act;
Section 22. Look at clauses [g] and [h] in particular. Does this read like carte blanch to you? As Gavin says, "it gives me the willys, so to speak."

Just as with ordinary individuals, so it is with the leaders. They are most assuredly in control and pursuing their insane agenda into a new dark age.