Saturday, July 28, 2007

[blogfocus saturday] you want exotic?

I was looking at Matt Sinclair's take on the blogosphere-musings of various luminaries and wondered what I myself look for in the sphere:

# "Something different" would be first, something exotic maybe. JMB and Steve G are two great sites catering for this and I've left out many friends from this list. A different take on an issue is vital.

# Then human issues such as someone in difficulties sharing it and getting international support is a key function of the sphere.

# The bringing together of North America and Britain is a key mission of mine and I'm absolutely delighted that this is going on - it's also vital.

# The cursed cabals and presidential politics comes next.

# Local politics, I'm afraid, comes a very long last in my book. I'm sorry - I know that the NHS or what Karl Rove said or what Hillary did has ramifications for us all but it's a bit of a yawn on a blog.

So to the blogfocus this evening:

1] Maryam of Marrakesh - just the name sends shivers down my spine - has posted from her corner of the world:

The Marlboro man look-alike, Chris, scanned the ocean for perfect waves. The surf’s voice beckoned to him. The bohemian shell collecting woman, Maryam, managed this: A portrait of an American family at the beach in Morocco.

2] Kizzie is a Sudanese blogger who has only just joined us and that, for a start, is interesting enough. The fact that she can blog also adds that touch of spice:

What happens when a Scottish professor man falls in love with a Sudanese widow. Interracial relationships are unusual. Inter-religious relationships are even more difficult. Let me ask this again. What happens when a Scottish man who believes in God but is not necessarily religious falls in love with a Sudanese woman who is a strong believer in god,religious and also veiled?

3] Lady Macleod is another in the exotic class and this is a small sample:

In the Rabat Medina on my walk home I saw two young boys standing about four or five meters outside an open hannut, and in their hands they each held four thick threads, balancing the two hands to keep the eight lines of thread separate. Now you see the boys and men in the Fez Medina as a matter of course weaving the thread to different thicknesses.

One chap will hook the threads onto an anchor some ten meters away or have someone hold the end, and then swirl the threads to one for the desired thickness. You cannot imagine the array of colors in the shops where you buy thread in the Tailor’s souks.

Alas, most of us are not living in exotic locations but in Scunthorpe, Smallville or Norwood and we have day to day problems which really are quite upsetting.

4] Alice in Blogland is in such a situation. She's just been vandalized by ASBOs and doesn't know what to do. I don't know why I should be so personally angry but I am. Look at the before and after photos of her teepee:

And I will never again be able to safely stick my fingers into my soil because it’s all completely covered with tiny shards of glass. There is also a layer of large and medium sized shards of glass which I spent two hours today picking up without seeming to make much difference.

My goodness that makes me angry.

5] Dayngrzone also has her troubles on the other side of the pond. A party girl and nifty organizer, there are times one simply can't:

As the reunion committee chairperson you'd think I would have been the first one in the door but the decision not to go was a personal one. I never thought for a minute that I wouldn't be partying up and boogying down with my former classmates when I started the reunion planning last year. Since then though much has changed in my life. Specifically losing my mother in April. I just don't feel like partying and all the things that go along with it.

6] We have to have a dose of politics so here is this evening's. Phil A brings this to our attention:

Couples who live together should have the same property rights as married couples if they separate according to advice drawn up by Exeter University academics for the UK Ministry of Justice.

Doesn’t that sound grand (in a deep resonant voice) “Ministry of Justice”… It conjures up images of steely eyed agents bringing UK crime to it’s collective knees doesn’t it?

Back on topic - It seems the Law Commission may be coming up with something similar. The only trouble is the recommendations don’t seem to consider how long a couple must cohabit before the rights apply…

7] Jams O'Donnell goes left field with this piece on the Morbid Moggy:

Oscar, who was adopted as a kitten by staff at the advanced dementia unit of Providence's Steere House Nursing and Rehabilitation Centre, has revealed an uncanny tendency to pick which patient is going to die next. According to David Dosa, a geriatrician at Rhode Island Hospital in Providence, Oscar makes regular rounds, looking in on patients and giving them a quick sniff, before either moving on or settling down for a cuddle.

8] Doctor Vee rounds out the Blogfocus with his thoughts on the Formula 1 industrial espionage scandal between Ferrari and McLaren:

You only need to take a glance at the Ferrari and the McLaren to appreciate that they are not similar cars. The joke normally goes that if you gave all of the F1 cars the same paint job you would be unable to tell them apart. But the chassis of the Ferrari and the McLaren are very noticeably different to each other. Seemingly, nothing on the inside of the cars has rung alarm bells either.

Yes, Ferrari are livid. But this is typical of Ferrari. It is tough to think of a year in the past decade or so where Ferrari have not resorted to the rulebooks and the courts in an attempt to win the championship.

I really, really wanted to put Sicily Scene into the exotic class with her photos of the Sicilian Birthday Party but I've got away with it, I hope by putting her in the nav bar above. Please click on her if you haven't already been over there.

Lettonica, Toasted Bread and Hawkhill Acres were down for inclusion this evening but have raised an issue - they can't really be included if they've gone on holiday or haven't posted for some time, not when others are blogging frantically and not being noticed. They'll be under the hammer some time soon.

So, until Wednesday, including Sally, Geoff and Ellee, au revoir.

[holidays] three months on a volcanic plain

Quite frankly, I loved Iceland when I was there and that's why I blog about it so much. It is so quaint and the construction of some of the Iceland Review articles is so sweet you could eat them. This one is by an American but about something I always wondered - those summer shacks out in the middle of lava fields with people sitting on the verandah.

Do they sit there for months? Now I know. Zoe explains:

I’m currently staying in the countryside at a summer house in Flúdir, south Iceland. The small wooden house is set on a hillside dotted with dozens of similar looking cottages. On a clear day Iceland’s second largest glacier, Langjökull, can be seen in the distance but today fluffy white clouds punctuate the sky, dominating the view.

It took my friend and I about an hour and a half to make the drive here but the deafening silence (bar the sound of the golden plover or lóa) of the countryside gives the impression that we could be in the middle of nowhere.

The barbeque is being fired up and the potatoes are ready for roasting. The afternoon sun is blaring down and the humidity more characteristic of the tropics than the Arctic Circle. The temperature in the hotpot is approaching 39ºC.

The popularity of summer houses in Iceland is phenomenal. It seems that every man and his dog own one or are in the process of having one built. And those who don’t have one can easily rent one from their labor union.

The unions in Iceland own summer houses all around the country. Each year, members can apply to rent a summer house for a reduced price for a few days or a week. My friend and I are currently visiting some friends who have rented a place for the week. It cost 50,000 ISK (USD 840, EUR 600) for the week and sleeps 12 (13 if you include the couch) – a bargain in this notoriously expensive country.

Icelandic summer houses are made from wood and, unlike in other Nordic countries where they are painted a bright color such as red, blue or yellow, they are usually left unpainted. Those that are painted are done so in a more subtle color such as brown or dark green.

Union-owned summer houses are usually fully equipped with all the modern day comforts one desires, but probably doesn’t really need, while on holiday, such as a flat screen television and an outdoor hot pot. The summer house I’m staying at now is only a few months old, and as such, somewhat resembles an IKEA showroom full of brand new matching home accessories.

There’s not a lot to do here but sit back and relax. But at least you know you’ve found the right place to do that when the silence makes even Reykjavík feel like a big city.

That last remark is right. Can you imagine sitting on a verandah and all there are are similar houses two hundred metres away? What would you do? Wave to your neighbours? Then home to Reykyavik [below]?

Friday, July 27, 2007

[l'élection] en larmes, en lambeaux

Cliquez!

Nicolas Sarkozy est le candidat pour qui les frais de campagne ont été les plus élevés. Ségolène Royal arrive en deuxième position. Nicolas Sarkozy a dépensé exactement 21.038.891euros, selon le chiffre publié aujourd’hui au Journal officiel. La candidate du parti socialiste a, elle, investi 20.712.043 euros.

[coffee] a good start with new clients

Tea - I know how to prepare it and haven't had any complaints from clients - yet.

Coffee - that's another matter.

Too many during the working day are happy enough to serve from the machine or horror of horrors, even instant. They'll say it's the best instant but it's still instant. There's nothing more designed to make a client feel special than a rich [not necessarily strong], slightly frothy coffee, personally prepared.

Even if it's your secretary who prepares it, it's still personally done and that's the key to the whole matter - time and trouble was taken over this small matter - it goes a long way in business. And what you serve the coffee in and with what is just as important.

Forget the piddly little cups unless it's Turkish and forget mugs because they're a little insulting unless their special mugs. You should have a good tray as well because the serving is part of the whole experience.

My friend has three things going for him, apart from his clear expertise in his field - he's a "looker" [and the ladies find that especially nice], a "charmer" [which everyone likes] plus one more thing:

His coffee is the best in the city and yesterday he gave me a Master Class. Here is his advice. It will sound simple and obvious to you but it wasn't to me and you can't skip any point:

1] Buy finely ground coffee to taste - you probably can't get it that fine yourself;

2] The essential is that it be fresh. This is the biggest issue and if you're only an occasional drinker of coffee - the crux of the matter. Perhaps you and your friend can split a 250g pack each time and then you consume at twice the rate;

3] Have a supply of good, fresh "slivki" [cream]. Forget milk now - it must be cream and it must be the best. Having said that, the long life cream is the next best thing and it will give you two months in the refrigerator;

4] Buy little packs of cinnamon;

5] In an empty coffee tin, put in around 200g of coffee from the pack and one or two heaped teaspoons of cinnamon [no more] and thoroughly mix - the cinnamon must run right through the mix;

6] Select two cups which you yourself find ultra-pleasant to drink coffee from, remembering that it's better in a deeper cup, as there is sediment at the bottom of the cup and put one to two teaspoons of the mix in;

7] Wait till the water [from the bought bottles - not mineral water] is off the boil again [30 seconds] and then pour up to a finger below the top;

8] Open the cream pack and top the cups up with half a finger of cream and lightly whisk the top 3cm of the water;

9] Let it sit for a minute to let everything settle down and then serve with the appropriate dark chocs;

10] Seal everything and store the coffee in a cupboard, never in the fridge.

Again, the key is "personally prepared" and making the client feel special, no matter who he/she is.

Here is an entirely different take on the matter.

Thursday, July 26, 2007

[super-duper photo quiz] numero duo

Click photo to zoom. Clues below:


All numbering left to right by row. Needed:

1] Real name and the film which made her famous;

2] Their screen names;

3] Name and the long Vietnam song;

4] Name and first mega-hit;

5] Name and this film;

6] Name and which religion;

7] Name and her Bond film;

8] Name and his Bond film;

9] Group and lead singer;

10] Name and country.

Answers at the end of the link.

[plagiarism] and attribution

Former U.S. senator and current president of the University of Colorado, Hank Brown's firing of University of Colorado Ethnic Studies Professor Ward Churchill followed a number of panels':

"two year's of investigations, to unanimously find a pattern of serious, deliberate and repeated research misconduct that fell below minimum standards of professional integrity. The panels found that Mr. Churchill rewrote history to fit his own theories. Ward Churchill claimed that he was singled out for his free speech."

In an excellent earlier article by Simon Caterson of the Melbourne Age, from November 20, 2004, the thorny question of plagiarism was scrutinized in some detail:

The offence committed by Australia's best-known plagiarist, the former Monash University vice-chancellor David Robinson, was not to borrow heavily from authorities in his work, but to fail to acknowledge every part of his work that was not original.

Robinson was forced to quit his post in 2002 after allegations of misappropriation dating back to the late 1970s and early 1980s were aired in a British newspaper.

I've just discussed this with one of the Russian girls who cleans my flat [another issue] a short time ago and she didn't know the word, even in Russian. When I explained and asked if students did this, knowing full well they did, she smiled and said, "Of course."

The accusation of plagiarism is in itself so rampant that one wonders what constitutes it and what doesn't. Simon Caterson cites:

Recent scandals in the United States involving disgraced journalists, such as former New York Times reporter Jayson Blair, involved plagiarism as well as outright fabrication.

Joshua Green recounts [that] Senator Joe Biden was accused by … Governor Michael Dukakis, of plagiarising parts of a speech by the British Labour leader, Neil Kinnock. Further investigation disclosed that Biden had not only misappropriated the speech, but exaggerated his academic qualifications. As a prospective presidential candidate, Biden was finished.

The list goes on and on:

The Times Literary Supplement aired an allegation that Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita was not quite the singular masterpiece it had appeared to be. It was known that Lolita was based on a novella called The Enchanter, but no one would think less of Nabokov for plagiarising his own work.

Enter the scholar Michael Maar, who uncovered a 1916 short story entitled Lolita, by a forgotten German writer named Heinz von Lichberg.

And:

Expatriate art critic Robert Hughes was accused of plagiarising the work of another art critic, Patricia Macdonald. Hughes promptly apologised: "To my embarrassment I seem to have cannibalised it, but it was entirely unconscious."

Welshcakes Limoncello gently raised the question with me about copyright on photos, which is a slightly different and yet in some ways a related issue. So let's get down to it.

I consider plagiarism must be deliberate or at least very, very careless.

Many students here lift whole passages from the internet and download them into their research papers, not mentioning one thing about their sources. You'd be drummed out for that in the west. Quoting anything at all unattributed, unless it is so well known there's no dispute, is another example.

Failing to include footnotes or including a "further reading" list at the end, hoping it will be assumed that all these books were read, is another example.

Where one problem comes in is with, say, Wiki. Everyone uses it. If a photo is posted with no attribution, that's where it came from. Many will say that's not good enough and even if you do link, is that enough?

Or the linking problem itself. Should every utterance by someone else be linked or can it just be mentioned as a hat tip? Or can the person just be mentioned in the passage?

And what about Robert Hughes' "unconscious cannabalism"? How many times have you written something quite witty you vaguely remember but it turns out to be someone else's quote? How many times have you written something all your own, an original thought from your own mind and horror of horrors, it appears someone else said it earlier [nothing new under the sun]?

Food for thought.

[Click here for this blog's policy on posts.]

[spam] finally have one

There's a low-life called "knicks" who has been spamming me for the past few days. You'll see this person's spam every so often on various posts and when I see it, I delete it. I'm sure I don't need to warn readers not to hit the site he wants you to.

I wonder what the hell he gets out of this. I never go to his supposed site, I trust you don't so I don't see what he gains. Perhaps he wants me to put word verification back on or moderation. I'm not gonna. I'm just going to delete him.

[municipal officers] brain scans called for

Wastage, sheer wastage. Apoplexy. I need to calm down enough to explain.

I live on a six lane highway and to give the town planners credit, it is neither noisy nor excessively dirty. There are trees down the centre and on either side. Pretty. But people have to cross that road and there are no crossing points, no lights, nothing.

So we take our chances. Because of the traffic light configuration half a kilometre away in either direction, the traffic comes in waves and if one is patient, crossing is no big deal. Noone steps on the grass as there are a number of regular, well worn paths which serve well.

Question - how much would one of those wrought iron fence sections cost? $100? I've just been on our median strip now and they've sunk holes for pouring concrete today and I estimate they have about 2 or 3000 of these fence sections lying on the grass down the length of the road on either side of the median strip.

Purpose? To stop residents crossing. Ostensibly to protect the grass and trees. To stop older residents getting hit by cars and killed.

Guess what? It's going to stop no one. We MUST cross to get to the carparks and bus stops. People will continue to cross and here's the thing - they must now negotiate waist high fences instead of being able to step onto the pathway as before. Can you imagine the mayhem this winter on the slipepry icy roads?

This is going to leave people, especially the older ones, vulnerable to speeding traffic and will cause injuries from falling and the biggie of them all - leave anyone who crosses vulnerable to fines for crossing there instead of walking the half kilometre to the traffic lights and then half a kilometre back again on the other side.

By putting up these fences at an estimated $250 000, they will recoup it from fines from residents and from taxpayers over the next ten years. This also means police deployed to keep an eye on recalcitrant residents.

And for what? For what? Why bother in the first place? Isn't this typical of authority everywhere:

1] No concern whatsoever for the ordinary resident;

2] Half-arsed, super expensive solution to a non-existent problem when the real problems go untouched;

3] The ordinary resident pays through the nose for the inefficiency of the authorities;

4] Rather than the residents having the municipal authorities working for them, the latter see themselves as somehow a governing body to impose their own will on the very people who ostensibly elected them;

5] The lifestyle well-being index drops another five points and makes modern city living just that little bit more unbearable.

I did not order these barricades to be bought. I demand a brainscan be done on all municipal authorities and officers to ascertain the cause of the blockage. You are not "bosses" of us in any shape or form. We are the bosses - the taxpayers. You are just paid, elected officials doing your job for as long as we pay our taxes and deem that the job you're doing is satisfactory.

That's all.

[luxury houseboats] well no, thank you


Having only just this morning finished my latest design for an outrigger long range cruiser and feeling quite pleased about it, I clicked on The Age to see what was going on and came up with this:

The Perfect River Houseboat

Travelling on the world's great waterways is always an evocative experience. From the endless rice paddies that frame the mighty Mekong to the rugged grandeur of the Yangtze and the Mississippi's river boat gamblers, river voyages induce thoughts of romance, history, culture and commerce.

As one of Australia's greatest rivers, and the fourth longest navigable waterway in the world, the Murray River is awash with a past that resonates of trade and early settlements.

In the open-plan kitchen of our five-star houseboat, the espresso machine silently brews cappuccinos and there's the unmistakable pop of a champagne cork from the rear deck. It seems that going with the flow on the Murray River is an inevitability as we prepare to literally cruise through the day.

Now I have never been one for paying exorbitant money to fly into a "resort area" and stay at some 4 or 5 star cloned hotel, along with the whole tourist populace. Nor will I stay at a 2 or 3 star, as you can have that at home. You want something different on holiday.

A slow safari/cruise in some sort of comfort is nice. But here's the thing - the houseboat in the picture above is way over the top, far too much at odds with its surroundings, sticking out like a sore thumb.

An old style paddle steamer in wood, low, river hugging, gently chugging along - that's a thousand times more preferable than crisp linen sheets and silver service.

Each to his or her own though.

[what ales you] the efficacy of beer

From a very naughty blogger with bags of humour:

Yesterday, scientists suggested that men should take a look at their beer consumption, considering the results of a recent analysis that revealed the presence of female hormones in beer. The theory is that drinking beer makes men turn into women.

To test the finding, 100 men were fed 6 pints of beer each. It was then observed that 100% of the men gained weight, talked excessively without making sense, became overly emotional, couldn't drive, failed to think rationally, argued over nothing, and refused to apologize when wrong. No further testing is planned.

Wednesday, July 25, 2007

[blog birthday] one year of blogging

It began because of a religious argument on Stephen Pollard's site with Indecent Left and it just seemed not right to use another man's site although, looking back, I don't think it hurt his stats.

So I started my new blog, not reticently but embarrassingly forward on the Harbour template [sailing roots] - what unmitigated chutzpah on my part.

I launched into profiles of Tim Worstall and Stephen plus Clive Davis, Cleanthes, now at The Select , Oliver Kamm and Chris Dillow and was just starting on Melanie Phillips and Norman Geras when I began to burn out and became a bit more circumspect:

Jean-Remy von Matt, the CEO of a German advertising agency … called blogs "the toilet walls of the internet". "What on earth", he asked, "gives every computer-owner the right to express his opinion, unasked for?"

If it was meant to be smiled at, this comment, alas I think, in my case, it may be justified. Yesterday in my enthusiasm to get off the ground, I committed every breach known to the blogosphereThose bloggers just mentioned, plus Euroserf and Johnathan Pearce of Samizdata came in and encouraged a blogger newbie at exactly the right time and gave sound advice, sometimes as a little slap on the wrist, e.g. on linking etiquette.

Those were the days of 29 or 30 uniques a day and the blog was punctuated with posts about how my stats were so low compared to the big boys and whatever could I do? I cringe now when looking at those days. Don't know what those guys were thinking, in turn.

I "ran into" Iain Dale at this point and he turned out to be a thorough gentleman.

And so October, December, the stats slowly increased and some American blog awards really got me up in arms, one or two other bloggers picked up on it and Blogpower was born. That can all be read onsite.

The New Year saw me through the 100 uniques barrier and it's been a slow build ever since, with periods of dropping back, such as this week actually. Advice from the big boys, passed on to any newbies reading this:

1] Work hard at it and try to be consistent in style and in output;

2] Forget stats at the early stage. They will come if what you write has any quality. It's a very slow build over two or three years and as your total body of work increases, so your Google hits on various topics will also increase;

3] Never become discouraged because a post [like the photo quiz] is ignored and don't get too ecstatic when a strange little post [like the announcement of the French election result] still gets huge hits;

4] Don't be an island, hoping they'll come to you - visit, read, comment and link;

5] Never be afraid to offend [one of my problems], as long as you believe what you say and can back it up;

6] In the end, try to be entertaining, meaning don't get so far into your material that you lose your reader in a mass of text.

In the end, I'm still a new blogger. This advice just quoted is not mine - I was just passing it on. I'm still learning, myself.

[blog birthday survey] results by category

Please remember the percentages do not add up to 100%. They are percentage of those who clicked this variant from the total number clicked.

Font

Verdana/Century Gothic as of now 56.0%

Mix of fonts and sizes 28.0%

Papyrus as I used to have 12.0%

Single font throughout [though different sizes] 12.0%

Courier 4.0%


Length of posts on the main page

Short UKDP type two or three paragraph 32.0%

One paragraph intro - remainder elsewhere 32.0%

Chris Dillow type five or six paragraph 32.0%

DK type long treatise with quotation 20.0%


Pictures within the posts

Left/right alternating as I often do 57.7%

Full width banner type [my usual] 38.5%

Tiny thumbnail like BBC just to define 26.9%

No pics at all 7.7%

Full post pic [as I rarely do] 3.9%


Links within posts

Link whenever necessary 92.3%

Minimized links - only to original source 11.5%

No more than five links per post 11.5%

Maximized links for big juicy read 0.0%


Quotation style

Indented block form, colour highlighted [as now] 69.2%

Indented block form, two-grey highlighted 26.9%

Unindented, part of main text 11.5%


Page elements other than text

Blogfocus as I used to do 73.9%

Quizzes as I do now 52.2%

Questionnaires/surveys 34.8%

Interviews 34.8%

Chicken Yoghurt/Lord Nazh type cartoons 30.4%

Photo displays/slideshows 26.1%

You tube type videos [currently not possible] 17.4%

Memes 8.7%

Music files posted 4.4%

Welshcakes type recipes 4.4%


Style of writing you like to see

Quirky items as I already do 87.5%

Rants as I already do 83.3%

Serious Gracchi type articles 45.8%

Satirical Jon Swift/Dodo type 37.5%

Love romance like Ruthie or even as I sometimes do 20.8%

Swearblogger DK/Reactionary Snob type 16.7%

Theo type totty content 0.0%

Welshcakes type food posts 0.0%


Assuming I resume Blogfocus, should the style be

8 bloggers twice a week, paragraph on each, each time 43.5%

Random content linked to an extent 47.8%

My selection of new blogs 34.8%

My selection of older blogs 34.8%

Themed content 17.4%

Britblog type narrative with e-mailed links from you 13.0%

15 bloggers once a week, paragraph on each, each time 13.0%


Less of [main points]

Too many posts, hard to keep up with and generate good debate, Christianity, political comments, British politics, serious, articles which depend on you reading the whole of a very long post on another blog, long,long posts.


More of [main points]

Pics please, more personal info about you with pics, humour, your take on other blog stories, more philosophical pieces, fun, recent posts display near the top, as you produce a lot of posts, your autobiography, which you started, short and to the point you want to make, CSS styling, photos need to be edited a bit better, sometimes can't make them out, personal data about you and what you are doing and where.


In the end

I hope you'd agree that that was interesting, not only for my blog but in general - it shows how many bloggers think this way about these things. Thank you so much to all respondents. One blogger said I'd now know who he was but that's not possible - no IP addresses were recorded. Your suggestions are being incorporated as far as possible.

1st Blog Birthday

Today

So, here it is and it seems a bit strange - one year's blogging. Separate post on that later.

Also, Jeremy Jacobs - happy birthday to you for real.


Also it's my stepfather's birthday. You are remembered today, Jack, by many.


[contraception] just the stats, ma'am

Sources used were Bacchus: Smarter Sex, based on the U.S. Planned Parenthood and on Contraception: an Australian clinical practice handbook. (2006), pp 17-18. These were used because they provided charts, as distinct from the others which just yabbered on.

This started as a quiz, believe it or not - which contraceptive method is the most effective , 2nd, 3rd etc. Then two things happened:

1] I realized that many, particularly Catholics, Americans or both, were not going to see the light side of contraception; and

2] I started not to see the light side myself. As I waded through the stats, trying to collate them, I realized just how much effort goes into contraception and how far the reconstitution of society depends on contraception - plus one more thing:

3] When I saw that Planned Parenthood was behind it I baulked. This organization has some allegedly quite shady practices that I've met before and it's my right to personally be circumspect about their agenda, whatever my actual view on abortion and a woman's right to her own body.

Anyway, I'll still publish and be damned [as if you don't know all this already]. In each case, the percentage is the chance of getting pregnant again after use. The results from the two lists are listed separately and repeated so you can compare :

0% Abstinence

0.05% Norplant and Norplant-2

0.1% Etonogestrel implants LNG-IUD Mirena® (Hormonal IUD)

0.1% Etonogestrel implants Implanon™

0.1% Combined (estrogen and progestin)

0.1% LNg

0.15% Male sterilisation

0.15% Male Sterilization

0.3% Injectables Depo-Provera

0.5% Progestin Only

0.5% Tubal ligation (female sterilisation)

0.5% Female Sterilization

0.8% Etonogestrel implants Cu-IUD (Copper IUD)

0. 8% IUD Progesterone T 2 Copper T 380A

0.1-1% Injectables Lunelle

1% Ortho Evra (skin patch)

2% Nuvaring (vaginal ring)

2% Lactational amenorrhoea (LAM) when all three conditions below are met:

a. fully breastfeeding

b. <6>

c. amenorrhoea

3% Ovulation Method

3% Etonogestrel implants Depot medroxyprogesterone acetate (DMPA)

5% Pill

8% Combined oral contraceptives (COC)

8% Combined hormonal vaginal ring NuvaRing®

8% Progestogen only pill (POP)

9% Calendar Method

14% Male Condom

15% Condoms - Male

16% Diaphragms (with spermicide)

19% Withdrawal

20% Sponge Women who have never given birth

20% Diaphragm

20% Cap Women who have never given birth

21% Female Condom

21% Condoms - Female

25% Periodic Abstinence

25% Fertility awareness based methods e.g. standard days method, symptothermal method

26% Spermicides

27% Withdrawal

29% Spermicide only

40% Sponge - Women who have given birth

40% Cap - Women who have given birth

85% Leaving it up to chance

Seems to me that the best methods are to either abstain or to have some horrid chemicals and implants inserted in you, bit s of metal or else be surgically operated upon. Ouch.