Saturday, March 03, 2007

[blogfocus saturday] mainly britsphere this evening

Only one non-Brit this evening but this situation will be reversed on Tuesday.

1 It's very, very difficult to access Lord Nazh's blog but it's worth persevering a few minutes for he's always unpredictable and to the point. Besides, a man who heads his blog with an ever changing toon, [such as the one I've swiped above, which you can't read, as the print's too small here and thus will have to go to the site], is OK by me. Here he reports that recent, dangerous, international incident few might have been aware of:

What began as a routine training exercise almost ended in an embarrassing diplomatic incident after a company of Swiss soldiers got lost at night and marched into neighboring Liechtenstein. According to Swiss daily Blick, the 170 infantry soldiers from the neutral country wandered more than a mile across an unmarked border into the tiny principality early Thursday before realizing their mistake and turning back.

2 This wonderful curmudgeonly piece from The Man from Islington had me falling off my mobility scooter:

I do not like young people much. They have far too good a time. I shuffle to work everyday like a miserable Monk, being harvested by the State for my life force, while they skip and cavort with sexy new media projects and have "vibrant" web communities of smarmy Conservative Future members. I see them laughing in that revoltingly carefree way and the bile rises in my throat, the bitter acrid fumes sting my nostrils. I crush a paper cup with silent disgust. “Oh bugger off and have a Craveor whatever it is you do,” I shout, waving an imaginary stick and expectorating …

And so on.

3 The intriguing, enigmatic and sartorial Benedict White [born in march 1968 in a small village in Hertfordshire, just north of London.] has this to say about an event to be held this coming Monday:

The Adam Smith Institute (as in the free market think tank named after the author of the Wealth of nations, rather than the Sith Institute) has an event organised for Monday March the 5th, in London, with Stephan Shakespeare [founder of 18 Doughty Street] and Fraser Nelson [Political Editor of The Spectator] as speakers. Should be good. I will be there. If you are wondering who I am, I will be the twit charming man with the beard and ponytail. Possibly handing out business cards as well as cards with my blog address on it as I am as always a shameless self publicist!

Another nine bloggers here.

[james elsewhere] gone over to annoy lady ellee

I've done a little piece on the former Soviet Union and my reasons for staying there and Lady Ellee has kindly invited me to post it at her site. It might be of some interest to you, particularly the comments by Newmania and Tom Paine, which add to the overall picture.

If you like the piece and if you'd like more, then maybe one day Ellee will invite me again.

[airbus] a camel designed by a committee

Airbus is a troubled monster.

French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin has revealed he'd talked with Chancellor Angela Merkel about the problems at Airbus and confirmed it is seeking to cut 10,000 jobs, saying, "This company is largely Franco-German, very European and there needs to be an equitable distribution of efforts between the countries."

Translated, that means that while profits need to be slanted France's way, job losses must be equitably distributed. Germany's Financial Times Deutschland has said that German carmaker DaimlerChrysler was responsible for halting the planned restructuring because it was worried France would keep too much of the manufacturing work and had concerns over the cost-cut targets.

American Thinker says that Reuters notes:

Franco—German friction is at the heart of a management feud that has gripped parent firm EADS and stalled appointments of a new Airbus chief executive, new EADS co—CEOs and a boss for its defence business.
Sad but true - the news of yet more delays to the Airbus A380 comes as little surprise. In recent weeks there has been widespread speculation that the problems revealed by the company in June were just the tip of the iceberg.

AM goes on to say:

Airbus has always been an odd entity, cobbled together from formerly—autonomous aerospace manufacturers in France, Germany, and Spain, with additional participation by British Aerospace. Airbus headquarters remain in Toulouse, France, Sud's former home base. It may be a European company, but to many it looks quite French.

Therein lies the squabbling plus one other factor - the French obsession with glory. A glance at my own field of sailing reveals that the French are at the heart of speed records, new concepts such as variable geometry trimarans and so on. For the French, it is shining glory which counts, rather than structural integrity and thus the A380 monster was born:

Because the new airplane is both massive and extensively employs state—of—the—art composites in its structure, the nightmare scenario would involve threats to its structural integrity. The smaller Boeing Dreamliner also employs composites, but its smaller size means that stresses due to sheer mass will be less of an engineering obstacle.

If you have only two major players in world aviation, namely Boeing and Airbus, then it is logical that the statistically few crashes around the world will be down to one or other of these. And yet, in Airbus' case, it is the nature of the structural failure which garners such attention. Not pilot error, not airport difficulties - structural errors. It has always been so. Look at some of the continuing disasters:

New York, leading to this Federal directive, Jamaica, Irkutsk, the Persian Gulf, Moscow, Canada, the list goes on.

The best way I can summarize it is Alec Issigonis' comment that the camel is an animal designed by a committee. When design and construction teams must comprise politically acceptable elements from the various nations, the result is not a think tank but a mish-mash.

Friday, March 02, 2007

[homelessness] as far away as your sanity

Some years ago I had a lady friend who was into Tarot, palm reading and the whole biz. Together with the Chinese birth years, these things pointed out that I'd likely die old, alone and in pain. I ignored it.

Now that I'm closing in on those years and have lost my entire family infrastructure for various reasons, most of them through my own fault, through my own stubbornness, the prospect of sleeping rough on the streets fills me with dread. It really does.

That's why, when I saw this first hand article, it needed to be read. It deals with how people get to that point and if I'm annoyingly self-focused here, please forgive me. Fleeing from domestic violence [not me], alcohol [not me], losing one's mind and reason [slowly, slowly] or losing one's family and friends. Ah, yes. And from pride. Most certainly.

When you sleep rough, your existence takes on an unequivocal fragility. You're exposed to the elements and frequently succumb to illness. Your blankets and possessions are often stolen. You stand a good chance of being physically assaulted, harassed or openly mocked just for being who you are.

A 70-year-old homeless woman I worked with told me how one night she woke up in a shop alcove to discover a man in a suit urinating on her. Is it any wonder that the homeless often conceal themselves from prying and judgemental eyes?

How can people live and die on the streets in a country as rich as ours [and] why do people live this way when there's help available? The truth is, the help is severely limited. People who are homeless and over 40 report being too frightened of using crisis housing because they've heard stories of younger residents' drug use or violence. How long they remain there often depends on their mental health and physical strength.


Our income depends on our mental acuity - in my case, I live on my wits. Once that becomes erratic, the cash dries up and when that happens, I'm out there. It's just a question of time. People might say, from kindness, 'James we'd never let you fall so far.' They're judging by the James they know. They might quietly slip away from the James of twenty years from now. They'll most probably not even be there by that stage.

Who knows when it will strike?

[lizard watch] hillary's not getting hollywood funds

Take the poll in the right sidebar!

"Clinton fatigue", voting for the Iraq war, losing the black vote to the very vanilla Obama, Hillary is not doing so well and her prospects against the likely Republican opponents have also grown bleak. The Rasmussen and Zogby polls taken last weekend have Giuliani ahead by as much as nine percentage points.

Pollsters place much significance on the favourable-unfavourable ratings and the Post-ABC News poll has her at 49-48, which means opinions about her are set in stone. For every voter who likes her, one detests her. Giuliani and Obama both have unfavourable ratings in the mid-20s with sky-high approval ratings.

Sherry Bebitch Jeffe says: "Her support's softened in Hollywood and there's definitely not that sense of inevitability about her being the Democratic presidential nominee any more. This is all important right now because we're in the middle of the primary fundraising season and Hollywood is a major fundraising engine for the Democrats."

The entertainment business rivals unions and trial lawyers as the biggest source of money for Democrats. Since 1989, Hollywood has given more than $US100million ($127 million) to Democrats for federal campaigns alone; this is on par with what the oil and gas industry has raised for Republicans in that time.

David Geffen, a former Clinton confidant who is now backing Obama said: "I don't think that another incredibly polarising figure, no matter how smart she is and no matter how ambitious she is - and god knows, is there anybody more ambitious than Hillary Clinton? - can bring the country together," he told The New York Times.

"Everybody in politics lies," he said about the Clintons. "But they do it with such ease, it's troubling. It's overstating it to say Hillary's lost Hollywood, but she's not winning right now," says Jeffe.

Still, it's early days yet.

[may-december] even with the best will in the world

Mention was made today of an older man with a 17 to 21 year old girl.

So much has been written about May-Decembers, mostly either the outraged morality of those who have never been there or the wishful naivety of someone who has been smitten. The old rule of half your age plus ten has much to recommend it: 30-25, 40-30 or 50-35 but 55-17 is something else again.

A seventeen year old girl can have a veneer of maturity, especially these days and especially if she's of a serious disposition. She can look and act the goods and he's the catalyst which instils confidence in her and makes her seem even more mature, just as he gets a new lease of life himself. By nineteen or twenty she's almost a different person and that is half the problem.

What he's dealing with is not a fully-fledged adult but a girl who's still 30 to 40% her mother, who lacks the experience to make a life decision of this magnitude, given the gulf between them and whose needs and directions are going to alter as she hones her purpose in life. He, on the other hand, knows where he is and what he's doing. It's just that he's smitten.

To shy away from a serious commitment with such a girl immediately raises other issues - just what does the older man then want her for? If he says: 'Do I have to want her for anything?' this is sweet and actuated only by the purest motives but how, practically, can they then relate? How does he deal with her parents?

If he says there's no sexual component, then what will he do in the long term? How can he keep her from that which comes naturally at this age? Is he being honest with himself or with her? And what of the state of play with his own sexuality?

With the best will in the world, even if he's in peak physical condition, has most of his hair and desire has still not outstripped performance, even if his musical tastes more than 50% coincide with hers, even if she loves him more than he loves her, it is still fraught.

She has a different rhythm, differing perspectives even if they agree on an issue and he can only take the mentor thing so far, can only show her so much of the world and give her so much of the earth. He'll believe that in his case it's different, that he has the flexibility and sensitivity to make it work; that she is also old enough to decide.

It still doesn't work, in the end. I've not only been there twice but two friends over the last two decades also did the same thing, one even marrying. I'm not being mean - it simply doesn't work. Sooner or later the question of children also arises and this now becomes an extended family affair. And will the broader community of relatives give the happy couple an easy time?

'So, we'll go to another country,' he or she suggests. But she doesn't know what it is to be cut adrift from her moorings and when the reality finally sets in, what then? It's a lovely ideal, they might just love each other to bits but reality will finally bite.

Of course, none of this even begins to touch on the ladies 'of a certain age' whose motherly eyes lightly fall on a young man of promise in his 20s. That's another question again.

[friday] thought for the day

Friday afternoon, Friday afternoon - the two most beautiful words in the English language [with apologies to Henry James].

May Freya’s tears turn to gold for you on this day.

[napping] yet more evidence of its efficacy

Friday is a great day to point you in the direction of this piece in the Melbourne Age:

Is this the shape of things to come? There's a new batch of stimulants, eugeroics, coming on to the market. More effective than caffeine and amphetamines, it's said, because they tweak specific sleep-related mechanisms in the brain. The result: users don't feel jittery or wired, they just stay alert with their radar on.

Welcome to the future of work, according to this report. Still, workers are getting mixed messages. A new study by Greek scientists suggests that a daily nap is actually better for your work and reduces the risk oif cardiovascular disease.

Indeed, great nappers in history have included Winston Churchill, Napoleon Bonaparte, Thomas Edison, Salvador Dali and US presidents John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan. You can read about that here. By all accounts it didn't get in the way of their work.

As Churchill famously said:

"You must sleep sometime between lunch and dinner, and no halfway measures. Take off your clothes and get into bed. That's what I always do. Don't think you will be doing less work because you sleep during the day. That's a foolish notion held by people who have no imaginations. You will be able to accomplish more. You get two days in one - well, at least one and a half."

Still, the findings of the Greek study might be inconclusive. "Napping is a great solution if you are energetic and active and if you have adequate exercise during the day, but it's not a great solution if you are a couch potato," one physiologist and businessman told Workforce Management.

Whatever the answer, the studies raise a few interesting questions.

With more of the workforce in casual employment, or coming in as contractors, is there more pressure on people to stay awake? What do we make of the companies that champion the managers who put in 80-hour weeks, or the road warriors who move from hotel to hotel? Are you more sleep deprived these days because of work? Or is other stuff keeping you up?

Maybe all you need to do is nap a little. If you feel too guilty for that, think of your increased productivity in your workplace, your increased energy and your all round well-being.

[tourism potential] how about africa

This is an abridged version of the original:

South Africa has been ranked 62nd out of 124 for attractive environment for developing the travel and tourism industry, according to the first ranking of its kind in the Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report 2007, released yesterday by the World Economic Forum. Regional rival Mauritius was ranked 39th.

Countries were evaluated for, among other things, policy and environmental regulation; safety and security; natural and cultural resources; health and hygiene; air transport; ground transport; tourism and communications infrastructure; labour practices; price competitiveness and the priority which the government gives the sector.

Switzerland, Austria and Germany have the most attractive environments for developing the travel and tourism industry, Iceland, the US, Hong Kong, Canada, Singapore, Luxembourg and the UK complete the top 10 list, Australia and New Zealand ranked 13th and 14th respectively while Spain, the world’s second-largest tourist destination, was ranked 15th.

In South Africa, safety and security is of serious concern, health and hygiene, low doctor density and poor sanitation and drinking water.

Anyone for a safari? Jeremy?

Thursday, March 01, 2007

[volcanoes] do you know where they are

These are some of the more famous volcanoes in the world:

Pelee, Caribbean, Arenal, Costa Rica, Katmai, Alaska, Santa Maria, Guatemala, Nyiragongo, Congo, Santorini, Greece, Ruiz, Colombia, Hekla, Iceland, Yellowstone, Wyoming and Mount St. Helens, Washington

Can you put a country to these ones?

Merapi, Krakatau, Agung, Tambora

El Chichon, Popocatepetl, Colima, Paricutin

Vesuvius, Stromboli, Etna

Fuji, Sakurajima

Ruapehu, White Island

Long Valley, Lassen Peak

Rabaul, Lamington

Kilauea, Mauna Loa

Mayon, Taal

Choices:

Hawaii, Indonesia, California, Mexico, Italy, Japan, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, New Zealand.

[sicily scene] need we rescue our friend

Two big lava flows burst out of Stromboli's side on Tuesday, sending up vast plumes of steam as they plunged into the Mediterranean waters below.

Authorities said there was no immediate risk to people living on the island, off the coast of Sicily.

Do we need to mount a rescue operation for Welshcakes? Will the lava destroy her latest culinary delight?

[richard m. daley] how to read the man

Mayor Richard M. Daley has just won a landslide victory over two relatively obscure challengers here Tuesday, putting him in a position to become the city’s longest serving mayor. With 87 percent of the precincts reporting, Mr. Daley had captured 72 percent of the vote, well over the 50 percent needed to avoid a runoff.

“Thank you, Chicago, thank you again,” Mr. Daley told a boisterous crowd in a Hilton Hotel ballroom.

The battle rages as to whether he is a good man or a bad man and whether it even matters. Does Chicago, not particularly noted for a history of benign altruism, actually need such a man as Daley? One view:

Mayoral challenger Bill "Dock" Walls argued that Obama "just stepped into the cesspool of corruption by endorsing the most corrupt mayor" Chicago has ever had." Walls accused Obama of ignoring Daley's role as state's attorney during the torture of 192 African-American and Latino men by former Chicago Police Lt. Jon Burge, "hundreds of millions" lost to the Hired Truck scandal, a 50 percent drop-out rate in the Chicago Public Schools, and a 40 percent unemployment rate in many black neighborhoods.

Another view:

When I think of Daley
, I do think of cronyism and I do question whether that is good for the city. On the whole, I support the Feds' efforts to route out corruption where it exists in the city government. However, when I think of Daley, I also think about the cooperation he has fostered between the different groups in the city, groups which in decades past bickered and stifled progress in the city.

I think about his beautification efforts and environmental initiatives and how they have made the city more livable. I think about his education reforms and how his administration has continually driven new initiatives to improve the quality of education in Chicago.

I think about his ability to partner city initiatives with local business and community groups (a la Millenium Park). I think about his grand vision for a Chicago Olympics and wonder what benefits to the city such dreams could bring.

[in house] on sitemeter and stats

On the impossibility of getting a monolithic organization to respond to you: I am currently locked into an impossible situation, caught between two monoliths:
New Blogger and Sitemeter.

New Blogger
tolerates my old template only under sufferance and the instant I try to do anything to the template, it will be rejected. That's not the end of the world as there's a new template to instal.

The bigger problem is Sitemeter. All my traffic count will be lost the moment I change templates because New Blogger doesn't recognize Sitemeter code. Clearly, the code must change. To do that, one must go into Sitemeter Manager.

I last did that so long ago that the password's lost. Also, my oasis e-mail is no longer operative. Therefore, I can't access the password to change ... etc. etc. So why not contact Sitemeter?

I have done so - over and over, day after day after day and there's not even an automated response. They have no facility to respond to the questions users might have. Sorry to sound so frsutrated but:

Sitemeter is a monolith which is not remotely interested in responding.

Thus this template is left in limbo, unable to be changed.

As for stats, The Cityunslicker made a comment about his and I commented on Iain Dale's. Chris Dillow, of Stumbling and Mumbling once said to me that it all comes with time. It really does expand, providing you're prepared to do a bit of work and offer something on your site. Plus, the Dales of the blogosphere are professionals, whereas we have day jobs.

In Ellee Seymour's case, she has a number of pluses - lovely modest lady, high profile Tory, interesting site. As for CityUnslicker, may I say his site and his content are so much improved and I'd say he's become pretty regular reading for many now. Seems to me that these things are what it's all about.

UPDATE
: Sitemeter have responded and the issue seems to have found partial resolution.

Wednesday, February 28, 2007

[conscience] what will it allow you to do

Andrew Walker wrote an excellent piece on Friday, April 14th, 2006 for BBC News and I'd like to present a severely abridged version of it now:

On 9 April 1945, only weeks before the end of the war in Europe, Dietrich Bonhoeffer was executed on the direct orders of Adolf Hitler, already hiding in his bunker. The liberators arrived just 11 days later.

His crime? He helped a group of Jews to escape from Nazi Germany to Switzerland but much worse, in Hitler's eyes, he was also implicated in the July 1944 plot to kill the Nazi leader.

Coming from a well-heeled family in Breslau, Poland, Bonhoeffer was ordained a pastor in 1931 and was controversial from the start, seeking to convert Jews to Christianity. On the coming to power of the Nazis in 1933, the Pretestant Church split and Bonhoeffer and Martin Niemöller created the Confessing Church.

Bonhoeffer gave a radio talk which focused on the difference between a leader ("Führer") and a mis-leader ("Verführer") and was was cut-off in mid-sentence. Clearly, he was now a marked man and the Confessing Church was outlawed in 1937 although he himself became an officer in military intelligence, the Abwehr.

He also became a courier and diplomat to the British government on behalf of the resistance and lived for a time at Ettal, a Benedictine monastery outside Munich, where he worked on his book, Ethics, from 1940 until his arrest in 1943. In Ethics, he wrestles with the essential problem: how can a Christian, essentially a pacifist, justify murder?

His argument can be summarised thus: The demand for responsible action is one that no Christian can ignore. Christians are, therefore, faced with a dilemma: when assaulted by evil, they must oppose it through direct action. They have no other option. Any failure to act is simply to condone evil.

Today Bonhoeffer is honoured at Westminster Abbey in London as one of ten 20th Century martyrs, including Martin Luther King Jr and the murdered Archbishop of San Salvador, Oscar Romero, whose statues now grace the West Front of the famous abbey.

The problem for Bonhoeffer's legacy is that his example is used by everyone from rabid feminists to animal action to justify violence. How do you see the man and his legacy?

[wednesday evening quiz] ten questions about the arts

Who is she?

1
In Botticelli's 'The Birth of Venus', what is Venus standing on?

2 With which other painter would you associate painter Françoise Gilot?

3 Emanuel Radinsky was born in Philadelphia in 1890 and died in Paris in 1976. He was a surrealist painter and photographer. By which name is he better known?

4 In the film "Summer Holiday" with Cliff Richards, where do they drive their bus to?

5 Which Bob Dylan song was written for the film 'Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid'?

6 Which film began with the following narration? "I never knew the old Vienna before the war, with its Strauss music, its glamour and easy charm... Constantinople suited me better."

7 Which of the performing Marx brothers never appeared in any of the films?

8 Who had a 1993 album called 'Diva'?

9 Who composed 'La Mer'?

10 Who holds a trumpet on the Sgt. Pepper album?

Answers here.

[strange day] something in the air perhaps

Very strange day which got better later. From the very first client this morning it was clear the day would be difficult - cold, bitter - a sort of madness creeping into the people's minds. sometimes they'd just cross the road without looking, brains sort of dull.

Visitors to this site were few and I had the feeling it was a similar situation over in Britain. It was a day of impulsive actions and interestingly, the secretary at the ministry had picked up on it and put it down to the magnetic atmosphere outide.

People were very direct, short with one another, if not rude, demanding that this be done, that be done. Then it seemed to ease an hour ago, which is London's 4 p.m. To hell with it, let's have a drink was the decision.

Now - it feels better. I suspect it will pick up later and we'll relax and enjoy the evening but I further suspect that might be the cognac talking.

[house issue] 20,000th unique just now

At 09:22, London time, someone from Lambeth became my 20,000th unique visitor. Leaving aside the fact that someone like Iain Dale gets seven times this number in a month, I'm still very happy to have passed this milestone.

[china coughs] the world catches cold

Chinese youth - quite a few, aren't there?

Are you in the least concerned about this or is it just some boring old financial biz, nothing to do with you and besides, you hardly understand it?

Stock markets around the world plummeted Tuesday in a wave of selling set off by a plunge in China that was reinforced by worries of weakening economies. The falling prices continued in early Asian trading today. Though Shanghai's benchmark index was the first market to tumble, it was not clear what set it off.

But once the selling began, it spread first to other Asian countries, then to Europe and the United States. "It was sort of one of those days where somebody snaps their fingers, and the market's hypnotic trance is over," said Stuart Hoffman, chief economist of PNC Financial.

Does this worry you any? This power of China in the market economy, not to mention Stuart Hoffman's appalling grammar? I mean - what the hell's going on here? Would the former have happened twelve years ago?

[domestic mystery] where did those glasses go

Tell me if this has ever happened to you:

After reading as document, I took my reading glasses off and put them down near the computer, then went and did this and that in the other rooms. Came back to the computer to continue work and they weren't there.

Searched everywhere, in every room, even trying to retrace the steps taken to get to the various rooms. Nothing. Went to the little room to think it out. Came back and same again. Went over by the window and there they were, on top of some books.

Twenty years ago, I went to buy a fish tank and parked the car near the shop. The Honda hatchback had a large rear area and I put my wallet and credit card down in there, cleared space, picked up the wallet but not the credit card and headed for the shop. The hatch was closed.

Panic in the shop, back to the car, everything taken out, including the spare wheel. Nothing. Then I saw the card - sitting on the window tray area near the front passenger seat. On any other occasion I might have accepted that, except this time I knew absolutely I hadn't taken the wallet out, nor the card, until I'd gone to the hatch.

Have you had similar?

Tuesday, February 27, 2007

[garlic] efficacious or not

Monsters and Critics has reported that Stanford University researchers in California have determined eating garlic has little or no effect on lowering LDL, or 'bad' cholesterol, in humans.

One commenter then said:

Funny, I must be one of the exceptions to the proverbial rule ... or we need to investigate who funded the Stanford study. I read about natural cures for common diseases, but was skeptical. A friend told me that she was taking garlic pills for her high cholesterol, and she gave me a bottle. I began to take them, and my blood work showed normal readings. A month or two later, a client told me about Omega-3 fish oils. Today, my cholesterol is fine.

A decent diet, moderate exercise and a garlic and fish oil supplement works just fine. When was the last time a patented drug cured a disease? Answer? Never! Vaccines are typically a weakened form of the virus or bacteria. Penicillin is a naturally occurring mold. They cannot be patented. Garlic is a naturally occurring plant; therefore, it cannot be patented.

See a pattern here? There's no profit in a cure. There's no profit in something that you cannot put a patent on. Drug companies exist to make a profit for their stockholders. Period.

[investigation] conspiracy theory or research

There is a tendency to immediately label anyone who doesn't accept the consensus or the 'given out' view as a conspiracy theorist, aka kook or nutter. It trips so glibly off the tongue of those who have either not looked into a matter or else have an agenda.

Jan. 2, 1979: The U.S. House Select Committee on Assassinations supported the Warren panel’s conclusion that Oswald fired the shots that killed Kennedy. However, the committee stated that a second gunman had fired at the motorcade from the grassy knoll — a key factor in its final conclusion that the president “was probably assassinated as a result of a conspiracy.”

Jean Hill, Charles Brehm, William Newman, Mary Woodward, Maggie Brown, Jean Newman, Aurelia Lorenzo and John Chism all said they'd heard shots from the grassy knoll. Then there was James Tague who was hit by fragments when a bullet, which had logically come from the Dal-Tex building behind Kennedy, hit the path near Tague.

Now anyone who takes this admissable evidence and follows it to its logical conclusion - is that person a kook? To conclude that there were any number of people who wanted Kennedy out of the way is not even far-fetched in this instance.

But what about a far-fetched explanation? Such as the existence of Manchurian Candidates and Oswald as one of them, as well as Officer Tippett? They certainly existed at the time. Yes, that's a theory but based on three things - the likely scenario on the ground at the time of the assassination plus the established connections between the military and the psychological community. Plus the host of anomalies.

If you're willing to shelve your prejudices for the nonce and travel unfettered wherever the evidence leads you, if you're willing to consider all the evidence, no matter how inconvenient or unpalatable, unlike Sergeant Holcombe, that's hardly conspiracy theory. It's standard investigative technique.

[blogfocus tuesday] something old, something new

Some new blogs and some old this evening. And no, Guido is not in this one:

1 First off, Guano Forks explains why it's not always the better team which wins:

I remember watching Chelsea defeat Liverpool last year. On the day, Liverpool deserved to win. Yet Chelsea won through a sublime goal and Liverpool failed because they lacked even a competent striker. The parallel between politics and football is so evident. The best players, the better play, and the better tactics do not always bring success. The better campaign does not always lead to a win. I’m reminded of the last election when the Tories would have had the beating of the Labour Party if only they’d had a striker who could get the ball into an open goal.

2 Martine Martin writes of that ASBO in the picture with David Cameron:

Jobless, hooked on soft drugs, electronically tagged for burglary, no interest in the workings of the country... Sad. But he's just one of an army of kids failed at every level by the government, by the education system, by his community, and consequently by himself. I do wonder what David Cameron's family must think of this picture. If it was someone related to me, or a friend, I'd be very disturbed by it. How easily it could have been for real considering how many kids are getting shot in London, Nottingham and other cities in this country. Yet I doubt this boy would care even if he knew just how sick the timing of his little prank was. That's the worst part.

3 L'Ombre explains why biometrics are so illogical:

If a biometric is required to verify ones identity then the likelihood is that people and systems responsible for verifying ID will only check the biometric and not look closely at anything else. In other words if you can fake the biometric you are golden. This means that criminals have a large incentive to figure out ways to crack the biometric and since biometrics have so far proven relatively easy to crack, chances are that the crooks will find ways of doing this. So the biometric will merely be the excuse used by the government (or bank or ...) for why they let some fraudster walk off with your savings.

Nine more bloggers here.

[chippie for pm] join us on the bandwagon

Photo courtesy of Iain Dale

Magnificent launch by Iain of the Chippie campaign and I'm right behind it:

Click
HERE for Ann Treneman's hilarious sketch of my little chipmunk's campaign launch. Sadly I had to send my apologies... And there's further analysis HERE from Tim Worstall. here are some highlights ... I come to you straight from Hazel Blears’s launch for Labour’s deputy leadership and my ears are ringing. I don’t think it’s tinnitus. Indeed, I know it’s not. Instead it is a new condition called Hazelitis or, as it is destined to be known, Bleary Ear.

As I stated in Iain's comments section:

Go Chippie! Let's get her in there quick. We need someone of her high moral fibre and intellectual calibre. Not to mention her steadfast loyalty.

Now let's all get on board and get her elected! The very best bloggers are right behind her.

[gordon brown] bilderberger at n11 or not

So, Irwin Stelzer, in today's Guardian allegedly wants Ed Balls [apparently a 4 time Bilderberger himself] as Chancellor, saying:

When Brown moves to No 10, he will need his closest ally next door.

Why would Mr Stelzer come out with something like that? Could he possibly have any connection with Rupert Murdoch and is he perhaps a fellow of the Hudson Institute, on whose board sits Maree-Josee Kravis [alleged Bilderberger and suggested CFR illuminary] and did he have any connection with Rothschild as managing director?

Does Number 10 need an alleged CFR, Bilderberger and possible global illuminist pushing the suggested EU agenda at Number 11? And anyway, whatever's wrong with being one? Why would Tony Blair have so quickly denied any connection with what is, ostensibly, an above board organization, involved in no more than post neoclassical, endogenous growth theory?

Just asking, that's all. H/T: Martin Kelly.

[jesus] why the fixation, the negation and the vandalism

Just been over at Jon Swift's and noticed a comment on the Conservapedia post by Notsaussure:

In Christian discourse, the name Jesus almost always refers specifically to Jesus of Nazareth, believed by Christian followers to be God's dad, who came to earth as a human c 2 AD. However, God has recently revealed on His blog that Jesus is actually His nephew, not His son.

Why would a supposed non-Christian be concerned with expending energy on this matter? In a slightly different way, the Dome of the Rock, a shrine rather than a mosque, was built to proclaim the central tenets of Islam but around the walls is written, in large letters, amongst other things:

The Messiah, Jesus son of Mary, was only a Messenger of G-d, and His Word which He conveyed unto Mary, and a spirit from Him. So believe in G-d and His messengers, and say not 'Three' - Cease! (it is) better for you! - G-d is only One G-d. Far be it removed from His transcendent majesty that He should have a son. His is all that is in the heavens and all that is in the earth. And G-d is sufficient as Defender. The Messiah will never scorn to be a servant unto G-d, nor will the favoured angels.

Interesting that the Messiah will not own himself the servant of G-d as I thought the idea was that we were all servants of the One G-d. Similar situation to this exhortation, it seems to me, is Oh Flower of Scotland and its fixation with Edward and the English. Seems to me that if you have an anthem, it needs to be something like:

Scotland, Scotland, über alles, über alles in der Welt, wenn es stets zu Schutz und Trutze brüderlich zusammenhält.

Not a trace of the "we hate England" fixation there. Just good old gung-ho lyrics for football matches and stuff the Bruderheist can chant at their abominations. Finally, Notsaussure again:

I'm delighted to note, though, that the page is protected - including this information - to protect it against repeated vandalism (or it was last night, anyway).

Would that it were so here, as well. Oh well, if this site goes down again, at least you'll know why.

Monday, February 26, 2007

[mini-meme] most popular posts of all time

Here's a mini-meme. Which two [2] posts have been your most viewed of all time? Seven poor souls I've tagged:

Shuggy, Devil's Kitchen, Daily Pund, Bel is thinking, The ThunderDragon, Jonathan Swift, Gates of Vienna.

[who said that] higham's half dozen

Which of the six below is in this photo? American friends can click on the photo. Don't you Brits dare.

This series began weeks ago but the problem turned out to be Thursdays. So I'll try it on Mondays now. The idea is to match the quote and the quoter. The rule is that the quote has to be from the last fortnight and not so minor that the average person wouldn't have read it.

So, here are today's half dozen:

1] "Now, keep in mind, this is the same guy that said we'd be greeted as liberators. When [he] says it's a good thing, you know that you've probably got some big problems."

2] "She's … weathered many, many storms. ... If it wasn't for her, I most certainly wouldn't be here."

3] "I think he'd probably have a nervous breakdown. He's quite sensitive. He kept repeating himself like a parrot -- nothing happened, we weren't in the toilet."

4] "If we show weakness in front of the enemy the expectations will increase but if we stand against them, because of this resistance they will retreat."

5] "I have no intention to run. I can't imagine in any circumstance to run for office again."

6] "There's a real problem of people on average incomes feeling there's a sort of super rich class right at the top. We've lost a sense of moral corporate responsibility here."

Candidates:

a] Former Qantas flight attendant Lisa Robertson
b] Peter Hain
c] Al Gore
d] Barack Obama
e] Dame Helen Mirren
f] Mahmoud Ahmadinejad


Answers here.

[state and private] good old fashioned stoush

In an astounding outburst, in case anyone else like me missed it, the econo-blogger supreme, Chris Dillow, whom I still count as a friend, posted this some days back:

Thirdly, it's not chippiness we feel towards public school kids, but contempt. I, and I hope Clive, are quite happy with the way our lives have turned out. We don't envy Etonians. Quite the opposite. It's pitiful that such people have had so much money spent on their education and yet have (with a few exceptions) turned into no-marks. Some, I've heard, are so imbecilic that they couldn't even get into Oxford.

To that, the following responses were made, among others:

"Wow - you've got it bad. That was pathetic." Posted by: Praguetory and "Wow, Praguetory, is there any reasonable and discursive blog anywhere that you will not sully with a nasty insult?" Posted by: Katherine

Then Devil's Kitchen weighed in:

The reason that I respect Chris is that he writes about what he knows, i.e. money and general economic theory, but in this case, I am afraid, he not only displays a woeful ignorance of public schools and their ethos but also a massive chip on his shoulder. In fact, the only thing that I can hope for is that he is writing with his tongue firmly in his cheek.

The fact is that when there are seven boys competing for each place, as there were when I attended Eton, one tends to find that the entry exams are quite tricky (and the more people there are going for a place, the higher the required mark). So, whilst I have known Etonians who are hardly worldly-wise, few of them are actually "imbecilic".

Chris, I don't blog about my school as I'm trying to maintain this nourishing obscurity thing but I don't see why I should apologize that my parents scrimped and saved to get me in and that I had quite an adequate education. I certainly don't feel imbecilic but that's for you to judge.

UPDATE:
Chris Dillow has replied and it's a pity the content of e-mails can't be posted. It was a good reply.

[qantas buy out] what's the role of government


Americans are set to buy out Qantas, Australia's national carrier and the second longest running national airline, after KLM. There's a hue and cry over this, downunder, as you'd imagine.

In a television interview, Mr Howard said the state could not dictate who bought and sold shares in private companies:

"We cannot have governments deciding which shares can be sold and which can't and, in the end, that is what some people are advocating," he said. "Once you go down that path, then I think you begin to alter in a quite major way that nature of the economy that we operate in."

So, what do you think, in principle? Actually, I suspect Howard's letting it be sold because of that hostess in the toilet, who's now possibly pregnant. Can't have a national carrier allowing that type of behaviour, can you?

[ferry disaster] yet again

You wouldn't credit it.

You read about the Indonesian ferry fire last Thursday and yesterday, fishermen and navy officers recovered the bodies of 22 people killed in the fire. Journalists and cameramen were everywhere.

Then, a few hours after the last body was recovered, the ship sank with 16 people still on board. A cameraman was killed, while another and two police officers were missing. Four people were seriously injured.

"It happened so quickly," Lt.-Col. Hendra Pakan told The Associated Press. "The ship almost completely disappeared into the sea."

Sunday, February 25, 2007

[blogfocus] it's ... er ... up

Admittedly I didn't e-mail anyone and admittedly it's become swamped in a flurry of other posts, but the latest Blogfocus IS up and can be found here.


Also, you may have missed these two:

1] Mr. Eugenides on St Andrew;
2] Tom Paine on Criminal Justice .

[fields of glory] croke park and murrayfield

Paul O'Connell

Yes, this may well be so - they had to wait 80 something years for the rematch, didn't they but I'm a little hazy on some of the other games. Could any of my 32 Scottish friends tell me what happened at Murrayfield? Promise I won't ask 17 times. I suppose Italy were shamed, were they?

[doug flutie] which move was it

After a pass by second-string quarterback Matt Cassel, Doug Flutie made a move which will be remembered forever. What was it?

# Throwing his last-second Hail Mary TD pass to Gerard Phelan;
# The only successful NFL drop kick in the last sixty years;
# The 74-yard Cutback.

Answer is here.

[culloden] welcome tae your gory bed


The story of the '15 and the '45 are well known. Not everyone knows who was to blame for what followed Culloden.

Culloden itself, while a huge tragedy, had one interesting aspect. Butcher Cumberland's method of diagonal bayonet thrusting, so that you killed the foe diagonally to your right instead of the one you were actually fighting, was supposedly learnt from the Blackwatch, the original Highland Regiment in the British Army. One who escaped, Donald Mackay, reported:

When we reached Culcabock we stopped, feeling faint with hunger. I had some oatcakes in my bag and we got a drink of milk from an old lady who was beside the road. "How did the day go? she asked. Badly for the Prince," we replied, and left in haste.

The Prince fled the battlefield and survived for five months in Scotland despite a £30,000 reward for his capture, then made his humiliating escape to France, disguised as a "lady's maid" to Flora Macdonald.

After the victory, Cumberland ordered his men to execute all the Jacobite wounded and prisoners, he rode into Inverness, his drawn sword still covered in blood, patrols were sent back to the battlefield to kill any survivors, executions were conducted on the basis of drawing lots on a ratio of about 1 in 20, the detachments of Irish soldiers from the French army were permitted to formally surrender, were treated well and eventually returned to France.

The clan system was destroyed, largely due to the Act of Proscription, banning the kilt and the tartan and then the real tragedies occurred.

The Glengarry [under Marjorie MacDonell], Strathglass [under Elizabeth Chisholm] and Duke of Sutherland clearances took place, with people evicted, homes burned and Cheviot sheep put in their place. Interestingly, the 2nd Duke of Sutherland later gave 80 000 pounds as a sort of apology for what had happened.

The thing which stuns me is how the Highland Chiefs themselves gave way to greed and sold out their own people. It's not excusing the English but the first two clearances were Scottish. It reminds me, in reverse, of Tony Blair, in the modern day, selling out his own people.

[apologizing] this time it's virginia

1805 portrait of one of the slavers. Is Virginia apologizing on his behalf?

The Virginia General Assembly voted yesterday to issue a statement of "profound regret" over the state's role in slavery. Missouri lawmakers are considering a similar resolution. The measure passed in Virginia 96-0 and had a unanimous vote in the Senate as well.

Which part of their history are they actually apologizing for?

1] In 1619 Virginia had no law of slavery and the arrivals became "servants." They went to work in tobacco fields alongside other servants who were white and had come from England. Conditions were equally hard for both groups, but servitude could end. On the other hand, the blacks were there under duress and the whites were not.

2] Between 1667 and 1672 the General assembly enacted legislation which increasingly defined a Virginian's status by skin color.

3] The slave trade lasted almost 200 years, until the importation of slaves was officially prohibited in 1808 by Article I, Section 9 of the US Constitution.

How far are descendants of one group of legislators obliged to apologize and those of another group not obliged? What of the families of the slavers? To whom, precisely, are they apologizing? The ghosts of the poor slaves? What result will it achieve?

Is all this recent national apologizing a good thing? When will Britain finally apologize for William of Normandy who played a low trick by coming over before Harold was ready?

[parental war] children don't know where to turn

There are three sickening things about the news report on the Lebanese man who had his children stolen from him in a snatch and grab raid.

1] The gloating of the Canadian woman who did it [see photo];

2] The way the press beat it up, giving unreserved 100% supported for the abduction of the children, whilst at the same time running a parallel post on 'children need their dad'. The slanted language was appalling. They wrote: "He then hatched a plan to use Lebanese law to assert his rights…" but in her case, it was: "Melissa's ordeal began on July 15…"

3] The complete lack of concern for the needs and wishes of the children themselves, as is usually the case in divorce, euphemized as 'for the good of the children'.

Sorry but this incensed me. Now wait for the counter-attack.

[blogpower] the paine initiative

Exciting stuff from Tom Paine on Defending the Blog. Could this be the new direction for Blogpower?

[blogfocus sunday] a dozen pearls of wisdom

On no particular theme today, beyond pieces of particular interest, let's get started straight away.

1 La Femme Contraire, like many of us, throws up her hands in despair at the state of the country and what prospects face our children:

This story has distressed me for several reasons. It serves to remind me of why I have strong doubts about bringing children into this world for one thing. Living in a non child friendly country like Britain does not help. Like most people I can only speculate on the reasons for it. The individualism of the 1980s with it's economic restructuring went a long way towards breaking down community ties and led to a greater degree of social atomisation, for one thing.

2 In a similar vein, Morag reflects on young people and low self-esteem:

So if we now know that the one thing that kids who make bad decisions have in common is low self-esteem then it seems to make sense that what we really need to do to have a long term solution to the mess we are in is to do our best to ensure that all our young people have higher self-esteem than they do now. You can rest assured that young people with low self-esteem making bad decisions will grow up to be adults with low self-esteem making bad decisions. And at £100,000 per prisoner for construction of new prison places we should do this if for no other reason than fiscal responsibility.

3 Istanbultory writes of those who can't leave the kids alone:

On the matter of dealing with paedophiles, I am firmly of the view that the full application of Islamic law has much to commend it. No need for expensive treatment programmes, group discussion and individual psycho-therapy, or conditioning methods.Alas, the Scottish Executive takes a different view. Cathy Jamieson, the Scottish justice minister/former social worker/walking disaster, yesterday rejected a suggestion by a Scottish Parliament committee that aimed to give police additional powers to enter the home of a registered sex offender without a warrant where there are concerns about the safety of a child in the area.

Nine more bloggers here.