Saturday, November 10, 2007

[armistice day] the story behind it

We all know about poppies, the day is celebrated around the world and yet do you know the actual story? The aim of this post, a collation of about ten articles, is to bring together the story in one package.

It was prepared for Russian students and thus repeats many things you yourselves know full well so please forgive that. It is also one of the primary reasons I see no justification for wars being declared. This is not to say we shouldn't be prepared - we should and with the best equipment.

I'm referring to the ruling donkeys deciding that a jolly good war is in order and to hell with the lives of countless young people. Sorry if this makes me hot under the collar.

June 28th, 1914

The events of July and early August 1914 are a classic case of "one thing led to another".

The explosive which was World War One had been long in the stockpiling; the spark was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, at Sarajevo's Town Hall on 28 June 1914.

Ferdinand's death at the hands of the Black Hand, a Serbian nationalist secret society, set in train a mindlessly mechanical series of events that culminated in the world's first global war.

One Thing Led to Another

So then, we have the following remarkable sequence of events that led inexorably to the 'Great War' - a name that had been touted even before the coming of the conflict.

Austria-Hungary, dissatisfied with Serbia's placatory response to her ultimatum declared war on Serbia on 28 July 1914.

Russia, bound by treaty to Serbia, announced mobilisation of its vast army in her defence, a slow process that would take around six weeks to complete.

Germany, allied to Austria-Hungary by treaty, viewed the Russian mobilisation as an act of war against Austria-Hungary, and after scant warning declared war on Russia on 1 August.

France, bound by treaty to Russia, responded by announcing war against Germany and, by extension, on Austria-Hungary on 3 August.

Germany promptly responded by invading neutral Belgium so as to reach Paris by the shortest possible route.

Britain, allied to France by a more loosely worded treaty which placed a "moral obligation" upon her to defend France, declared war against Germany on 4 August.

Her reason for entering the conflict lay in another direction: she was obligated to defend neutral Belgium by the terms of a 75-year old treaty.

With Germany's invasion of Belgium on 4 August, and the Belgian King's appeal to Britain for assistance, Britain committed herself to Belgium's defence later that day. Like France, she was by extension also at war with Austria-Hungary.

With Britain's entry into the war, her colonies and dominions abroad variously offered military and financial assistance, and included Australia, Canada, India, New Zealand and the Union of South Africa.

United States President Woodrow Wilson declared a U.S. policy of absolute neutrality, until 1917 when Germany's submarine warfare seriously threatened America's shipping and forced the U.S. to finally enter the war on 6 April 1917.

Japan, honouring a military agreement with Britain, declared war on Germany on 23 August 1914. Two days later Austria-Hungary responded by declaring war on Japan.

Italy, although allied to both Germany and Austria-Hungary, was able to avoid entering the fray by citing a clause enabling it to evade its obligations to both.

In short, Italy was committed to defend Germany and Austria-Hungary only in the event of a 'defensive' war; arguing that their actions were 'offensive' she declared instead a policy of neutrality.

The following year, in May 1915, she finally joined the conflict by siding with the Allies against her two former allies.

The Tangle of Alliances

Such were the mechanics that brought the world's major nations into the war at one time or another.

What was a strictly limited and brief war - between Austria-Hungary and Serbia - rapidly escalated into something that was beyond the expectations of even the most warlike ministers in Berlin and Vienna.

Four years later, with the dead bodies of millions of young people lying in the earth and the royal houses of Europe and the generals thinking that maybe it wasn’t such a good idea after all, the war ended.

November 11th, 1918, at 11 a.m.

The term "armistice" means a cessation of hostilities as a prelude to peace negotiations and is always remembered in the context of the end of the First World War – the armistice was signed at 5 a.m. on November 11th, 1918, and came into effect six hours later at 11 a.m. (hence the 'eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month').

Rethondes

On 8 November a German delegation met with Allied Supreme Commander Ferdinand Foch - who was to lead the military negotiations - in the forest of Compiegne, some 65 km north-east of Paris. The armistice was formally signed in Foch's railway carriage on 11 November.

The armistice initially ran for 30 days but was regularly renewed until the formal peace treaty was signed at Versailles the following year. Should the Germans have deviated in any way from the terms of the armistice the Allies would have started fighting again within 48 hours.

The French saw the terms of the Armistice and the Versailles peace treaty that followed in 1919 as too soft and tried to take everything they could from Germany. The Germans saw the terms as ‘vindictive’ and ‘humiliating’. The country however was in no condition to fight again and so reluctantly accepted these conditions.

In 1940, Hitler exacted the German revenge by forcing the French to sign an armistice - on German terms - in that exact same railway carriage.

World War 2

What is Remembrance Day?

Remembrance Day is a special day, November 11th, set aside to remember all those men and women who were killed during the two World Wars and in all other conflicts around the world.

At one time the day was known as Armistice Day and was renamed Remembrance Day after the Second World War.

In America and in Britain, Remembrance Sunday is held on the second Sunday in November. Special services are held at war memorials and churches all over the world. Americans celebrate the day as Veterans Day.

Rupert Brooke - famous for his war sonnets

But why a poppy?


Throughout the world the poppy is associated with the remembrance of those who died in order that mankind may be free, but how many of us are aware of the real reason for it?

Flanders is the name of the whole western part of Belgium. It saw some of the most concentrated and bloodiest fighting of the First World War. There was complete devastation.

Buildings, roads, trees and natural life simply disappeared. Where once there were homes and farms there was now a sea of mud - a grave for the dead where men still lived and fought.

Only one other living thing survived the million or so bodies lying dead on those fields. The poppy flowered in 1918 and kept flowering each year with the coming of the warm weather. It brought life, hope, colour and reassurance to those still fighting.

Poppies only flower in turned over soil. Their seeds can lie in the ground for years without germinating, and only grow after the ground has been disturbed.

World War 2

John McCrae, a doctor serving with the Canadian Armed Forces, was so deeply moved by what he saw that he scribbled down the poem "In Flanders Fields".

Excerpt from In Flanders Fields
We are the Dead.
Short days ago we lived, felt the dawn,
Saw sunset glow, loved, and were loved
And now we lie in Flanders fields.
If ye break faith with us who die, we shall not sleep,
Though poppies grow in Flanders Fields.
The day before he wrote "In Flanders Fields", one of his closest friends was killed and wild poppies were already blooming between the graves where he was buried.

Here is a fragment of another poem by Englishman Laurence Binyon, from 1914, which is read out at most of today’s services around the world:
‘They shall grow not old as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning,
We will remember them.’
Poppy Day

The first actual Poppy Day was held in Britain on November 11th, 1921, was a national success and so has continued every November since.

Two Minutes Silence

The first Two Minutes Silence was held in London in 1919. The Manchester Guardian reported:
'The first stroke of eleven produced a magical effect. The tram cars glided into stillness, motors stopped dead, and the mighty horses stopped also. Someone took off his hat, and the rest of the people bowed their heads also.

An elderly woman, not far away, wiped her eyes, and the man beside her looked white and stern. Everyone stood very still ... The hush deepened. It had spread over the whole city. It was a silence which was almost pain ... and the spirit of memory brooded over it all.'
This two minutes silence still continues today and though not everyone stops, most do and it is still a very impressive sight.

World War 2

Last Post


The army has always played a ‘bugle call’ at Reveille in the morning and at Last Post in the evening. This latter signal traditionally ends the two minute silence and is a moving experience for most people.

Today

As the old soldiers die and the young people grow up who never knew of these things, surely this ceremony has lost it’s personal meaning?

Here we come to a moot point, especially poignant in Russia. Here so many of the young have let May 9th slip away and yet more than a few of the new generation fiercely hold onto the memories of those sad individuals and families who were slaughtered.

Not with hatred for the enemy of bygone years but with determination, as distinct from lip service, that the people themselves can prevent it happening again.

Would that it could be so.

[blogfocus saturday] top blogging

Who is this man?

1. How's this for classic blogging:

Why?!

2. Or this:

2007 Prophecies

Remember this post?

3. Or this:

Rubbish plans are "flawed", apparently.

Aren't policies which are rubbish usually flawed as well?

Bye.

[snow falls] and all is at peace - except for skidding cars crashing

Coming home earlier today, some Russian folk music was being played in the car and the snow started falling lightly outside - a very Russian scene indeed.

There's no doubt that the slightest amount of snow transforms not only the viewable scene but the atmosphere becomes hushed too and a surreal effect replaces the usual city noises - people appear silently through the whiteness and pass, one's feet can't be heard and it's a strange feeling.

Unfortunately, birds become disoriented and hit windows as well, there is general mayhem on the roads and it's best to be either on foot or on the tram.

I could spend hours gazing down on it all from this warm flat but alas, there isn't time. I have to blog about it to you.

[education today] pistol for the teacher

It used to be "apple for the teacher". Of course this story below was a one-off, of course it couldn't become the norm:
An Oregon high school English teacher will not be allowed to carry her gun to school, a state circuit court ruled on Friday in a decision closely watched by both sides of the gun debate.

Shirley Katz, who has a legal permit to carry a concealed handgun, argued she needed the Glock semi-automatic pistol to protect herself from her ex-husband.

The teacher had support from pro-gun rights groups. In light of multiple school shootings, some gun advocates have argued that teachers, and maybe even students, should be armed to prevent such tragedies in the future.
Of course it couldn't become the norm. Could it?

Friday, November 09, 2007

[birthdays] double whammy

Belated birthday wishes to two lovely lasses - one in Canada and one in Wales.

To JMB and to Liz - hope it was everything you could have hoped for. Come and blow out your candles, girls!


[pet parade] please send your entries

Readers, readers, I need your pets! Please send photos to:

nourishingobscurity@gmail.com

The event is:

The Personal Pet Parade

Yes, I know the name's changed - I just thought I'd be able to cajole you into playing a bit more if we made it PC non-competitive. Pets can be anything from your hedgehog [above] to your spouse or even your children.

Go to it rightly and may scallops rock yer tadger.

[arnie] how to sue america


So much going down in these few lines.
Two years ago, California passed legislation requiring car-makers to cut vehicle emissions by 30% by 2016. But for the measure to take effect, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) must give its approval.

An EPA spokeswoman said the agency is planning to make a decision on the legislation by the end of December. In April, the US Supreme Court ruled that the EPA, which had challenged the California law, was wrong to say that it did not have the power to regulate exhaust gases from new cars and trucks.
So, to simplify this, Arnie wants enviro-regulations in place, a traditional Democratic policy area. The White House doesn't want and the EPA is stalling, claiming it has not the power to approve, which it quite clearly has, as it says it will at least countenance the approval in December.

Question – why would Arnie, a Republican, pressurize the Federal Government, which is also Republican, in such a public way? Possible answer – he's looking beyond Bush.

But what if the Republicans don't get back? Then Arnie will be dealing with Hillary from a traditionally Democrat state. Arnie wishes to keep his job.

But what if the Republicans do get back? Then Arnie's going to need his own state to back him to survive and the only way to do this is to cut deals with the Democrats.

How do you read the move?

[2007 weblog awards] look back bewildered


From our more narrow UK perspective, these awards were of particular interest.

For a start, these were the ones which kick-started Blogpower into being and that particular group has gone onto bigger and better things.

Then there was Iain Dale's own comment, which was probably accurate:
The American Weblog Awards are, apparently, a big deal. This year they have a Best UK Blog category, in which this blog features.
One year ago, I complained that they weren't transparent in the nominations phase, although the voting itself utilized an excellent engine. That they have included UK and other country sections this year is commendable for a start.

By contrast, the Annual Blogpower Awards for 2007 were quite transparent in the nominations but the poor voting engine caused them to become, as Mr. Eugenides put it, in his usual inimitable fashion, “a p-s-ing contest” - to see who could p-s- the furthest.

I fear that that's also what happened with the Weblogs although having now been part of the process, I can see more clearly where Kevin Aylward is coming from and perhaps it's not the fault of the administrators themselves but a basic flaw in the whole nature of awards.

Nominations Phase

There was clearly no small resentment that some of the bigger UK blogging names like Mr Eugenides and Ellee Seymour, for example, weren't there and yet the Pub Philosopher, Baggage Reclaim and yours truly were. These two bloggers themselves, I hasten to add, said not one word.

Though eternally grateful for the nomination but refusing to concede I was unworthy, yet it does seem a bit puzzling to be ranked alongside Guido, Iain, EU Referendum and yes – the inevitable Neil Clark.

Possibly this was because the awards are American and I do cater for American topics of interest more so than many of those on the list. Possibly it was the Americans' opinion of who is a top UK blog. At least that's one explanation.

Voting Phase

This is where the problem lay and continues to lie, suggesting that for next July's BP Awards, we have to find a solution to the flaws in this phase.

Keving Aylward touched on it himself when he wrote:
This is a viral event, and sites that do a better job of turning out readers to vote tend to do better. We've seen all sorts of campaigning tactics over the years and based on what I've heard many of the same tactics are being employed again this year by various sites.
The process was particularly noticeable in the Funniest Blog Award [in which certain of us were going for Jon Swift], where the leader, Sadly No, quoted this explanation, by Freep, as to what was going on:
The DUmmie FUnnies are under a bigtime attack by an organized campaign by the Leftwing Blogosphere to keep us from winning as FUnniest Blog in the 2007 Weblog Awards. Late yesterday afternoon the DUmmie FUnnies, thanx for the most part to Freeper Power, was leading in that poll by almost 700 votes. Then the Left got desperate. They just can’t tolerate a blog, dedicated to mocking and satirizing their many foibles to win that award. Therefore, led by Sadly No! and the Democrat Underground, a host of leftwing websites is now targetting us by urging their readers to vote for Sadly No! in the FUnniest Blog category.
By the way, 134 comments alone on this post shows the strike power of the Americans, something only Fawkes and Dale can really match over in the UK, [maybe EU Referendum but don't quote me].

Now I'm going to come clean here. I could have used multiple IPs and had the use of another computer altogether, which I didn't have at the time of the BP Awards.

What I did have then and now was a pool of people to draw on. If I'd put the url to all my girls plus my clients, each of whom would have brought their offices into play, my friend and I estimated, conservatively, that it would have come to a shade under 300 people, if we'd put our hearts into it.

Assuming 6 votes in that time, I could have called on about 1700 votes under these rules, plus the 130 odd genuine votes, plus about 12 from me.

That might have “won” me the award. Why not to do it? The truth now? Three reasons:

1.We were on a four day holiday during the awards period and it would have been pushing it uphill to utilize all those people and I just didn't want to;

2.Iain Dale stood above it, I noticed and didn't actually canvass for votes, even though he admitted the prestige these awards enjoyed. It seemed a higher thing to do, particularly in light of N3 below;

3.People like Neil Clark and their devotees who came over here and told me this about my vote:
I look forward to reading your excuses for this pathetic perfomance. Neil is now on almost 750 votes. Just wait until Latin America kicks in tonight - you only have about three hours to wait.
then go on to say, in answer to some folk who sprang to my rescue:
That's why he's [referring to me, of course] got less than 120 is it? I have decided to toss a few votes Bright Meadow's way. That Pub Philosopher bloke needs to come in last for having too much gob.
“Toss a few votes”? Don't think this requires much further comment, except to wonder if they really think this is what blogging is all about.

Some readers were puzzled by my singling out of the egregious Clark so to learn more about him, see Stephen Pollard's old site and maybe Mr. Eugenides for dessert, then for an update, go to the Devil's Kitchen and you'll get the general idea.

Next stop is Prodicus, who also draws in the mysterious footballer loving chick Kickette and with this girl, I just don't know what to think.

She really does add piquancy to this next section.

What is a good blog?

If we 10 are the best the UK has to offer, then the question of what constitutes a “good” blog is particularly relevant.

Must it be political? Perhaps DK and Prodicus are judging in terms of political comment, perhaps not. Perhaps there's a case for saying that a blog by a girl who loves footballers and is read by a Kickette Army of girls who love reading about footballers is every bit as “good” as the more visible DK.

To be “good”, need that mean high traffic alone or must there be some sort of product of a more “elevated' nature? I confess I don't know the answers to these questions.

Pointers for the Future

Looking at the next BP Awards, perhaps we should only have a nominations phase, with no voting phase whatsoever. It would be administratively easier, wouldn't drag these things out so long and provided they were adequately advertised beforehand, seem to be the best solution to the problem.

Finally

Thank you to the mystery people who nominated me in the first place and to those who clicked away in my defence throughout. I hope I didn't disgrace you, despite Exile's scathing remark and it was a certainly a useful experience for the next Blogpower Awards, although I'll not take an active part in their administration.

Thursday, November 08, 2007

[prosecution] p is for poor taste

In response to this:

this:

Sam has been in the computer business for 25 years and is finally sick of the stress. He quits his job and buys 50 acres of land in Alabama to be as far away from humanity as possible.

Sam sees the mailman once a week and gets groceries once a month. Otherwise, it’s total peace and quiet.

After 6 months or so of almost total isolation, he’s finishing dinner one day when someone knocks on his door. He opens it and there is a big, bearded man standing there. “Name’s Enoch… Your neighbor from four miles over the ridge… Having a party Saturday… Thought you’d like to come.”

“Great,” says Sam, “after 6 months of this I’m ready to meet some local folks. Thank you.”

As Enoch is leaving he stops, “Gotta warn you there’s gonna be some drinking.” “Not a problem… After 25 years in the computer business, I can drink with the best of ‘em.”

Again, as he starts to leave, Enoch stops. “More ‘n’ likely gonna be some fightin’ too.” Damn, Sam thinks… Tough crowd. “Well, I get along with people. I’ll be there. Thanks again.”

Once again Enoch turns from the door. “I’ve seen some wild sex at these parties, too.” “Now that’s not a problem,” says Sam, “Remember I’ve been alone for 6 months! I’ll definitely be there… By the way, what should I wear?”

Enoch stops in the door again and says, “Whatever you want, just gonna be the two of us.”

[personality legs] p is for pics of them

The idea is to match the legs with the names at the foot of the post. There are also clues in the wrong order, just to help. Good luck!

1. She was better at turning heads than winning matches.












2. She's currently the front runner.












3. Those legs weren't so coy in her video.












4. She doesn't bounce on celebrity couches.










5. He couldn't keep her by his side.










Answers - 1. Katy Holmes 2. Nicolas Sarkozy 3. Hillary Clinton 4.
Anna Kournikova 5. Paris Hilton

[petting] p is for pet time again

Ladies and gentlemen, the address is:

nourishingobscurity@gmail.com

The event is:

The Personal Pet Contest

You have until Sunday evening to get your photo [around 40kb] of your personal pet to the above address, from which the best ten will be drawn by an independent, non-higham panel of three non-pet owners and then the voting starts Monday morning.

Make sure you include the name in the form you'd like to see displayed beside your pet's photo. [You may include spouses as pets.]

[prince] p is for prat

Where do these prima donnas get off?
Fan sites dedicated to Prince say they have been served legal notice to remove all images of the singer, his lyrics and "anything linked to Prince's likeness".

However they have vowed to fight what they say is censorship.
The move, two months after Prince threatened to sue YouTube and other major internet sites for unauthorised use of his music, came as a shock to his followers.

By focusing on fan sites directly, Prince risks a backlash. The sites have vowed to unite under the banner "Prince Fans United" and take the matter to court if necessary.
The man's a prat, his music is not worth the effort and nor is he. Find a good artist to be a fan of.

[new mac 6] eureka, cables's in

Very quick one with a client coming but I'm now on cable. Theo, Jeremy, Liz and all the difficult sites to access - here we come.

Update at 14:00, my time. Next client coming but just reporting that it is so fast now and sites are coming up I just couldn't get to before. No excuses now for not visiting you daily or every two days minimum.

At least, that's the theory. More this evening - busy afternoon, like yours.

[racism 2] sexism, ageism, every -ism under the sun

I'd like to thrash this thing out once and for all, if you don't mind because there is some very woolly-headed thinking going about.

1. There's a certain type of political thinking which likes everything to be nice and luvvy-duvvy and everyone tolerant of everyone else until someone differs from them and then they turn nasty and want that person banned, excluded, legislated against, prosecuted and incarcerated, on the grounds of breaking some new law they've managed to get in place in the past few years.

If they've had any success in doing this, they become emboldened and it becomes like a narcotic until finally they set up regular weekly meetings to look for someone else to legislate against this week. Education is infested with such as these.

These people can get knotted.

2. There's a certain type of thinking which is hyper-sensitive to buzz words so that if I attack someone for his stupid comments, this is fine as long as he's a heterosexual, male WASP but the instant the person attacked turns out to be feminist, homosexual, black or Muslim, the attack is automatically labelled sexist, anti-gay, racist or anti-Muslim, when it had zero to do with that and everything to do with the shoddy argument or behaviour in the first place.

This person hides behind and invokes the group association and says anything he damn well likes, knowing he can thereby vilify and label the detractor and send him to Coventry [sorry to those from that fine city].

These people in N2 can also get knotted.

3. There's a certain type of thinking which makes no distinction between the individual and the group. One Romani kills an Italian woman so all Romanis are labelled and by association – all Romanians too.

Works the other way as well. Evil nutters like Al Qaeda and Deobanda spread their poison and all Muslims get labelled. Most Muslims I know are not like that.

But the religion itself is most certainly open to that interpretation and nasty groups, generally male but not exclusively, operate under the Muslim banner and these are people whom most Muslims would disown, e.g. at Beslan.

To answer that Christians kill each other in Ireland is transferring the argument from what the text condones to what the perpetrator does.

The woolly-headed thinking which equates faith with its devotees makes no distinction between the hard working immigrant who comes over to improve his lot and work hard to get there – and a clear nutter who is using a scriptural text as a pretext for violence.

Harder to do that with Christianity – can you find a New Testament text which exhorts violence? This is completely different to a group calling itself something and carrying out violence in its name.

This latter type can get knotted.

4. There is also a mealy-mouthed, malcontented, ne'er-do-well group-think among many groups of many orientations and causes which is forever playing the martyr and trying to either push an alien culture and alien ways of treating everyday affairs onto the majority.

A spin-off of this behaviour is that they form ghettos and then proceed to dictate to the indigenous population. They set up their own schools which preach values opposite to those of the host country.

In my book, this behaviour is right out. The standard reply that Christian schools should also be banned in Britain is total bunkum because Christianity is the religion of tradition in Britain and the Commonwealth and providing the teaching doesn't incite either violence or sexual exploitation [both punishable in any country in which the government is secular], then it is not out of line with the country's antecedents.

And that's the test. A secular test with no -isms attached and here it is in summary:
a. violence;
b. sexual exploitation;
c. values contrary to those embraced on the statute books over the last century, [before that are some pretty draconian ones] ...
So if the person who entered Italy and killed that woman made it into the country already because of the lax immigration laws, then he should get due process in regular courts, as an individual and if found guilty – sent to St Helena or similar. Elba perhaps.

Or a new one. Australia already has such an island – it's in Westernport Bay but I've forgotten its name.

Plus one more thing:
d. this applies to immigrants or visitors. Natives would follow standard due process, as laid down pre-Blair.
Now of course this deportation to an island has historical horror attached to it. Transportation to Australia in the 1780s and 90s springs to mind plus Guantanamo and similar. We're actually trying to stop the government building these internment camps, not shifting them offshore but there is a difference.

We want no internment camps for any British nationals on any grounds other than a-c above and even for immigrants and visitors there should be due process, not summary arrest. We're between a rock and a hard place here.

Do nothing and put a blanket ban on the government arresting anyone at all and crims run free. Allow it for some and it's the thin edge of the wedge. But on the grounds quoted above and no others, it might work if a non-treasonable government were in power.

As long as we have a traitor to Britain currently in power in Westminster, well, nothing can really be achieved.

Wednesday, November 07, 2007

[backpacking] when you're too old

Outside Vienna State Opera [Wiki]

Interesting article about when you're too old to backpack any more:

*you start dreading the act of travelling.
*it's taking you longer and longer to get ready in the mornings.
*you become obsessed with making sure there's a decent place to go to the toilet.

*there are kids.

*you start to hate the pub scene.
*priorities change, especially comfort wise.
I was reflecting on this and the days of not only backpacking but car trips where we slept in the car by the roadside or in some little sideroad.

I only ever stayed in three hostels, the last in Finland and they were appalling – insecure, unfriendly management and you couldn't get in until 4 p.m.

One comment was interesting, mentioning that when the fellow guests are young and raucous and you want the light out at 11 and then proceed to snore them to death, it's time to give it away.

Now we're into this, the 'tourist destination' is equally as dire. Tenerife is a case in point where all the tourist hotels are grouped in a sort of ghetto in one area and if you don't hire a car, you only get to see hotels.

Either way, with this carbon footprint thing and iris scans, the incentive seems to have dropped away, in my case, to less than zero.

The backpacking thing is really a young persons thing [with some older exceptions] but methinks a law of natural attrition will cause most to fall away soon after 30.


The timetable at the Zurich Hauptbahnhof

[facebook] trapped members to become viral marketers

I wrote a piece on Facebook, then followed it up recently. The majority of the comments were negative towards this organization and now there's more:

The Facebook free ride is over as the social network now seeks to turn its 50-million-strong user base into an army of viral marketers.

It comes as the company is under intense pressure to cash in on the wealth of personal data it has collected, following a $US250 million ($268 million) investment from Microsoft, which valued the company at $US15 billion.

But time will tell whether Facebook has overstepped the line by revealing an ambitious plan to transform each user into a salesman for its advertisers.

Does this raise or lower Facebook in your eyes?

[racism] hastilow's resignation is all wrong

Rob, at Broadsheet Rag, says, about Hastilow's resignation:

Now I might disagree with certain parts of Hatilow’s article. Also mindless racism is sickening — I don’t believe his article falls into this category. But if you are going to debate an issue, varied opinions are required.

I'd go further. There are clearly sickening things like the BNP and Irving being given a platform by the Oxford Union to spew their ideas out but even here, why not?

I wouldn't have invited them and the Oxford Union top guns have rocks in their collective heads but to bow to pressure not to represent a point of view is just plain wrong.

It's wrong at anytime but especially when the lights are going out all over the "free" world and the next five years or so will see only the party line able to be supported openly.

Don't forget Courtney's article about this very principle:
My defense of free speech means that we should have the right to ridicule or hammer our opponents in open debate - indeed, this is the whole point. It now appears that the greatest threat to our right to free speech comes not from the misogynists of the BNP, or Holocaust deniers like the discredited historian David Irving, the fiercest critics of free speech come instead from those on the left.
Not sure that Left and Right are applicable tags any more - it's more Statist & Despotic versus Free and Democratic and no prizes for guessing where I am on this scale. It was Lenin who cynicaly observed: "Freedom is precious, so precious it needs to be rationed." That sums up the Statist's position:
We believe in freedom but only as long as someone doesn't ... a ... b ... c and so on.
Courtney again:
... it's about our liberty to be able to listen to a debate and all the arguments, whether they are dumb arguments or not, we need this liberty in order to judge for ourselves - it is this freedom that the left seem to fear the most ...
We not only need this freedom, we absolutely must fight for it, as our gallant and caring leadership slowly but inexorably and surreptitiously tightens the noose around our societal neck and every fresh piece of legislation is another blow to our hopes, as human beings, of enjoying the dignity of actually being human.

Finally, to come back to Hastilow himself - what was he doing if not representing the Black Country point of view? Isn't that precisely what he should have been doing? To say that Enoch Powell was right and that we'd see rivers of blood is precisely what we are going to see if the Deobandi have their way.

Hastilow wasn't even saying this. He was speaking of "uncontrolled" immigration. Well who could argue against that? Look at the Romi in Italy now, riding in on the backs of the ordinary Romanians. Why should the Italians put up with that? For what altruistic reason?

Introduce me to an individual Romi or Jamaican. Fine, we've met and he might become my friend. If I decide I don't like him, it could well be that I don't like that individual. Good and bad people in any grouping. Why is that racist? If she's female, does this become sexist? If she's gay, does that make me anti-gay now?

For goodness sake, pro-active groups get so tied up in their own rights and are so sensitive to the slightest criticism that all members of that group have to be blanket-accepted? Give me a break.

But wholesale immigration of one group or other cannot be good, especially if they bring with them a history of criminality and non-assimilation, non-integration. In other words, a ghetto mentality. That is completely wrong.

If there was a strong British sub-community over here where I am living, I'd not join it. I'd have friends from there as I do from among the native population but for what to cut oneself off from the locals? Why bother coming here if that's one's attitude?

There needs to be some rationale in this debate but first we must ensure that we can continue to actually have the debate in the first place.

UPDATE: Wolfie mentions the Heffer piece in the Telegraph - it should be read.

[ron paul] could he be the modern lazarus

The Boston Herald says:
Bay State experts are divided over whether the record cyberspace fund-raising that catapulted Ron Paul into the media spotlight will be enough to propel him into the ranks of mainstream Republican presidential candidates.

The 72-year-old grabbed headlines when a massive online movement raised a head-snapping $4.2 million in one day, more than any other Republican candidate ever.

“If you are on that third tier of candidates, attention is the biggest part of the game. He now has two months to try and transform this little bit of impetus into something more substantial, but my sense is that he won’t get the traction,” said Thomas Patterson, of Harvard’s JFK School of Government.
Ron Paul is the thinking person's candidate, a man of intelligence and principle and not backed by the CFR and other traitorous bodies.

He could only get in if the people themselves wanted someone representing their interests but seemingly the American people are still under the illusion that someone like the Lizard Queen, who sold out decades ago and is now reaping her reward, will represent them. The CFR do not have Ron Paul on their approved list.

Perhaps a miracle can occur and the only candidate truly representing America itself can secure both the nomination and the presidency.

Tuesday, November 06, 2007

[tutanhigham selects] best of the phonetic dictionary

Shan't give links but type phonetic dictionary in the site search for all entries. Here are ten of my favourites:






6 Antelope................Absconding insect


8 Badinage................Memory, sex, teeth

11 Canteloupe...........Chaperoned

13 Carrion......................Continue

16 Condescending..........Greek Paratrooper

18.Divest........................Princess's garment

23 Felonious..................Monk

36 Ideal..........................You shuffle

63 Scintillate..................Nocturnal orgy

68 Surcingle...................Unmarried baronet

[blogfocus tuesday] mixed bag this evening


1.The lovely and talented Juliet has been touring this fair land and that's dangerous when you get near Eggs Tump – it could all pass right over our heads:
Alongside the church, which is now dedicated to St. Giles, is the picturesque 14th Century Prior's Hall, Little Malvern Court, which has been home to the Berington family for four centuries.

I didn't know any of that when I set out this afternoon, though I have visited Little Malvern Priory at least twice and have passed it countless times - it just seemed a bit pointless to put up a nice picture without any information, so now I know. :-)

Eggs Tump - what does that mean?

It may be too obvious for it to be a place identifiable by an egg shaped tump... I couldn't see one, anyway, but I liked the name. (Better, is Much Marcle, a bit further along - and where the notorious Fred West was born, and in which Letterbox Field he buried at least one of his victims, Anna Fall, his pregnant lover... )
2. Bob's a bit down, possibly due to the weather:
Something about the weather change seems to cause a slight ebb in my metabolism, which in turn affects my moods. It never reaches the depression stage, but it does cause an amazing case of apathy at times.
Add that to the pains of a bad back, edema, sleep apnea, and the normal BS of everyday life, and it can get to you at times.

Luckily I seem to be coming out of my slump, so thank you for visiting during this time.I haven't really been doing too much during this time, mainly getting things ready for winter out in the yard. I did go to a gun show Saturday, and that cheered me a bit, even though I couldn't afford some of the stuff I really liked.

Most of the weekend was classical music time; I seemed to be favoring Handel and Bach, with a bit of Vivaldi thrown in.
3. Ross Fountain is certainly a “key blogger”:
"Key workers" is the other buzz phrase that annoys me. First of all who decides which workers are "Key Workers"? From what I can tell the chosen few are exclusively public sector workers.

Apparently the private sector consists of work that is essentially trivial to the functioning of the country, so whilst Social Workers, Bus Drivers and Diversity Consultants are "Key Workers", those that work in the manufacturing or service sectors of the economy will have to damn well learn to commute.

Rather ironically the builders who are supposed to be erecting all this "Affordable Housing" aren't "Key Workers" whereas those employed at the council planning office creating obstacles to development are.
4. Chip's a brave man anywhere within proximity of the feisty Gabby but at least he's got his blog back [sort of]:
The crackle of small arms fire came from the direction of the allotment shed. I ducked. Gabby winced.

The trouble began when Gabby had uttered a few words of complaint about the quality of the cheap Chinese rockets she’d picked up in town. Compared to the Romanian fireworks that had arrived last week, the Red Star Dragon Super Burst Astro Rocket had been a rather tame addition to the night’s display. She’d decided to remedy the problem by tying four of the rockets together. The result had been as unpredictable as I’d predicted.

The bundle of rockets had begun to bounce around the garden, first taking out the chicken coop and eventually punching a hole through the side of the shed and igniting Gabby’s cache of .44 ammo.

The shed burned through the night, with the sound of the occasional bullet still making us hit the ground. At one point, a fire engine arrived but we managed to get them to leave us alone by claiming the shed was actually a bonfire, to which, by that time, it bore a great resemblance.

[housekeeping] blogrolls under construction

Please don't make anything of the total mess which is my blogrolls - the names are all over the place and in the wrong positions - plus there are new rolls with no names yet. Patience is entreated of you, dear reader, during this three day work in progress.

[eu to tighten internet] in the interests of safety, of course

This blog doesn't usually follow the blogosphere method of taking an MSM story and adding the blogger's opinion but in this case it's going to fall in line. And not one graphic to be seen!

The topic – the BBC article on new EU anti-terror proposals:
The European Commission is proposing anti-terrorism measures that include the collection of extensive flight data and tighter internet laws.
This is the Chinese method of the packaging of concepts – for example, grouping laziness, loose morals and loose tongues in one easy to remember catch-cry.

Why the internet?
Under the plan, all 27 EU members would make recruitment, training and provocation to terrorism illegal ... The plan gives special attention to the internet.

Setting up web sites that encourage violence or explain how to make bombs would become a criminal offence.
Laudable aim and where are the limits to what is deemed acceptable? They're still trying to push this one?
The plan also focuses on air passenger data, requiring EU states to collect 19 pieces of personal information about people flying to or from member states. The information would include a phone number, e-mail address and payment details, and would be kept on file for 13 years.
Phone number, e-mail address and payment details? How will this stop terrorism? I ask merely for information. And why 13 years? Why not 12 or 14? Is there any significance to the number 13?
The collection of Passenger Name Record (PNR) data would bring the EU in line with the US, which introduced a similar scheme following the 9/11 attacks.
Ah, the old “bringing into line with” line. Like increasing service facility charges “in line with common business practice”.

This is a total w—k, I'm afraid. The question is whether they think people will buy this insult to the intellect or whether they just don't care anymore.

[micro-control 5] time will confirm or deny

Alas, still not the collation some were hoping for but please give this post a chance, nonetheless, a post with absolutely no hyperlinks.

At what point does a fearless investigator become a weirdo?

Answer – when those he is investigating turn the tables on him with popular catch-cry mockery which, unfortunately, sticks in the common mind.

A case in point was in the 70s, when I was so young it's hard to credit and there was a certain urban warrior girl, elder sister of my best mate and she was right into the union of students, communism and so on.

In those early days we were in Australia and it was 1975, days of the November coup d'etat when Governor General Kerr assumed his royal prerogative and sacked an elected government. As it turned out, it was in line with the popular mood anyway because Malcolm Fraser subsequently won a landslide election.

However, I digress. This girl, Margaret by name, was right into it and the current war was between the Trots and the Stalinists for who was going to run Australia. I had a look at one of their pamphlets and it was a series of long diatribes employing all the catch-cries about imperialist dogs of war and the rest of it.

Repeatedly punctuated by the one hard fact that had actually come to light, they'd constructed an elaborate conspiracy, egged on by resident academics from the universities but their failing was that they'd consistently misread the average person who was basically apolitical and didn't want to be bullied and cajoled into joining “the cause”, much less spending hours in a street with a couple of hundred other chanting, placard waving militants.

Came the night following the midday of the coup and the streets were alive with a largely rudderless mass of angry people, not all young and I went along to have a look. There were some faces I recognized whom Margaret had brought to my friend's home once or twice and one of these now jumped up on a soapbox and started making a speech through a megaphone.

Then, shock, horror, he was pulled down from there and a different one got up and started haranguing the masses, a la Adolph and it soon became apparent that these people actually did believe a revolution was possible in Australia. We left early, the entertainment largely a fizzer, just as the recent 2007 pro-referendum rally was in London.

But I venture to say that there is a different kind of political animal, of which Unity is a fine example, who really does have his facts at the ready, though his interpretation is necessarily coloured by his leanings. DK describes him as having 'one of the finest analytical brains' and it's hard to argue with that.

I'd further venture to say that he has such wide appeal because he doesn't go outside the box and keeps a narrow political focus which goes no further. In other words, he argues within his facts.

Recently, I referred to the words of an 'escapee of the cabals' and included only the plausible part of what she'd said about our gallant leaders but I admit that that portion was only one small part of the whole. An astute reader noted that I'd 'only just scratched the surface' and it certainly looked that way to those who'd read the whole thing.

The thing is, there are some allegations which people are just not going to stomach. I don't mean I don't accept them as possible, certainly they're in line with what is already known but without hard proof, with only personal testimony, even seemingly bona fide testimony, it's hard to quote these things.

One of the easier ones to accept is Cheney's 'A Most Dangerous Game', as it is in line with his personality as observed by others. Cheney and mentor Rumsfeld are generalists, men of little talent but with a 'good ole boy' persuasive manner of speaking who get into positions of responsibility, then develop their ability after that.
"Cheney's manner and authority of voice far outstrip his true abilities," says Chas Freeman, who served under Bush's father as ambassador to Saudi Arabia. "It was clear from the start that Bush required adult supervision -- but it turns out Cheney has even worse instincts. He does not understand that when you act recklessly, your mistakes will come back and bite you on the ass."

"Dick always had this very calm way of talking," recalls his roommate at college, Jacob Plotkin, now a retired math professor at Michigan State University. "His thoughtful manner impressed people. He passed one psych course without attending class or studying, and he was proud of that. But there are some things you can't bluff, and Dick reached a point where you couldn't recover."
Rumsfeld's gung-ho final visit to the troops as their 'leader' was another case in point, at odds with the generals who came out and called him out for what he had – no military aptitude at all.

I know this type because, to a point, I am one. I write on anything and when I write a post on gold and silver, I'm using other people's expertise, such as Sackerson's and just collating it.

This sort of thing finds some support in T.D. Allman's The Curse of Dick Cheney, when he observes:
Appointed to another powerful position, Cheney promptly went about screwing it up. He pushed to turn many military duties over to private companies and began moving "defense intellectuals" with no military experience into key posts at the Pentagon.

Most notable among them was Paul Wolfowitz, who later masterminded much of the disastrous strategy that George W. Bush has pursued in Iraq.

In 1992, as undersecretary of defense, Wolfowitz turned out a forty-page report titled "Defense Planning Guidance," arguing that historic allies should be demoted to the status of U.S. satellites, and that the modernization of India and China should be treated as a threat, as should the democratization of Russia.

"We must maintain the mechanisms for deterring potential competitors from even aspiring to a larger regional or global role," the report declared. It was nothing less than a blueprint for worldwide domination, and Cheney loved it.

He maneuvered to have the president adopt it as doctrine, but the elder Bush, recognizing that the proposals were not only foolish but dangerous, immediately rejected them.
So when abused women come out and make unbelievable allegations about what these and the whole bunch of them got up to, either they're fantasizing and creating an elaborately detailed story from somewhere, possibly based on existing elements of fact ... or else they're telling the truth.

Problem is, this 'truth' is so far-fetched – trauma conditioning, military bases such as Point Magoo or UCLA Neuropsychiatric Institute in California, the CIA [always a good one as a villain], child prostitution rings, high governmental 'cocktail parties' where the cocaine flows and anything's on the menu – such things could only ever be accepted by those already unimpressed with these gallant leaders as human beings.

Slightly easier to accept in 2007 are the red, blue and yellow lists of wrong thinking people for either 'disappearing' or rounding up for 'retraining' through regional administrations at the point of the emergency powers being invoked [a la WW2].

I quote here, not from a political writer but from an allegedly abused woman who was privy to such talk in the late 60s:
What I understood was that they were planning a complete and utter economic collapse of the nations that would make the Depression of 1929 look like child's play and through that, bringing people financially to their knees, they would then come in and control them, and bring in whatever other measures they would want to in the guise of rescue - when it certainly wouldn't be that at all.
That's a little easier to accept for the general populace in the light of the financial uneasiness, Northern Rock and so on. Well, maybe it's still a year to early. However, you'd realize that if this quote had come to light in the boom times of the late 60s, before they turned sour, she would have been laughed out of town for saying it. Today the evidence is building.

I'm living in what was the SSSR, which until 1990 was well known [and nobody I know denies it] for the elimination of dissent, especially around the time of WW2. How do you think they actually went about that? The midnight car which came to collect you was known here as 'chornaya voron', black raven.

Brits and Yanks readily accept it could be so here. Why not in the west? Because everyone wishes to believe, wills it to be so, that the leaders are all for G-d, Queen or beloved President and country and couldn't possibly be Profumos, Lord Lucans, Lord Levys or Dick Cheneys.

Until now. Now it is slowly dawning on the good people in society that the writers writing all this, the Andrei Sakharovs, the Daniel Ellsbergs [who is a bit strange, admittedly] and some of the lesser known lights may not be so weird after all in their ideas and might just be investigators or victim/observers who blew the whistle on things which really, really were weird.

So people are starting to accept [and in Gordon Brown they have a fine example] that the leadership is less than pristine and not exactly looking out for the common folk.

The more forward thinking are starting to accept the internment camps of which Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib are just the tip [you might like to investigate Nottinghamshire too] and a brave few are speculating that the common man is not immune from all this [look at the investigatory and detention powers in Britain alone – search for the RIP Act as a starter] and it is reasonably clear that the elected leadership is in fact putting measures in place to turn on the average citizens who won't shut up and stay out of matters which don't concern them.

This is an inversion and deception – an inversion of sovereignty and a deception through the MSM.

However, this is minor stuff compared to the real game plan which brings in the metaphysical. Why on earth do people pass over GHW Bush's references to 1000 points of light and his labelling of the gulf war on service certificates as his New World Order. I didn't invent this – he did. And the semi-religious tone of the language in a speech to the nation:

David С Whitney & Robin Vaughn Whitney, The American Presidents, 9th ed., Nelson Doubleday Inc, Guild America, NY, 2001, pp 433-459, wrote of GHW Bush at the Republican Convention, August, 1988:
He celebrated the nation's complexity with a captivating poetic image, calling it "a brilliant diversity spread like stars, like a thousand points of light in a broad and peaceful sky."
… but contrasted this appeal to the celestial elements with:
The campaign was criticized by many as being the most negative in recent memory with campaign commercials showing convicted murderers and sewer sludge.
His inaugural address included:
"A new breeze is blowing, and a world refreshed by freedom seems reborn. The totalitarian era is passing, its old ideas blown away like leaves from an ancient, lifeless tree."
Contrast this pure ancient mystery religion terminology with the peace and harmony he brought through laser-guided weaponry, televised for all the world to enjoy and marvel at.

Why do the European authorities, late at night, not raid the house in the photo above and publish the names of all those inside at the time? Where is a European Elliot Ness now?

Why does the characterization of the old money families in films such as Brotherhood of the Wolf, as distinct from its hotch-potch story, not ring bells in people's minds as to what they really do in the darkness?

The first thesis in this post is that people cannot be presented with too much reality because the mind just closes up and turns savagely or mockingly on he who has presented the idea and that effectively kills debate.

The second thesis is that the 'ten second grab' mentality of the average punter kills serious investigation. When I questioned why serious allegations about CP were not being taken up by the blogosphere, one answered that if we took two weeks in full time collation of every link, every scrap of data and worked it into a rational, plausible whole and presented it for his esteemed perusal, he might just deign to take a look at it.

That, with all due respect, is not what this thing is about. I've been lucky enough to have been fed fragments over the past few weeks [and before that I was going it alone] but it takes huge amounts of time to work all that into plausible arguments to lay before the unbelieving sceptic and I have, quite frankly, neither the time nor the inclination to convince he who will not see.

It's all there – one just has to get off the butt and do a bit of ferreting. That's why this post has no links, no spoon feeding. One has to go out and look at it oneself, just as I had to. That would be far more effective anyway.

If I present a fait accompli, then the only thing left for you to do is to give the thumbs up or down like an emperor. If you discover all this for yourself, on the other hand, then no one can gainsay you.

But you have neither the time not the inclination, in most cases. There are more important things like what Gordon or Hillary said today.

Time will win out in this situation. Even as I delay presenting the post on the tightening of the screws in British society, so many other bloggers are writing about it and so much more is coming out anyway, day by day, that my post will be largely surplus to requirements by the time it's collated and presented.

We only have to wait for 2009-12 for the macro-picture to be revealed. All the other things like corruption, wastage, internment camps and really weird things will be lost in the information blackout for national security reasons – and the blogosphere wil be one of the first casualties.

That's why we must do all this now and though people sigh and click out, it can only be hoped that some vestige of what went on in the blogosphere will remain with people during the troubles.

The most rudimentary investigation shows the overall direction of where Europe and the U.S. are headed. The justification is terrorism. Most intelligent people know there is a terrorist threat and an Islamic incursion into Europe but don't know what to do.

I don't either. People who have been rebuffed in referenda and are terrified to put it to the people still bring in the new laws in Lisbon, riding over public opinion. And they're certain they're going to get away with it.

Probably ordained by the ancient scribes, in their eyes.

Notes
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
Part 7

Monday, November 05, 2007

[blogfocus monday] mixed blessings

1. Iain Dale is back blogging and I see it as a mixed blessing because now there is some sort of peace for both:
Eleanor was a rock in my life. I could tell her things I could tell no one else. She bailed me out on several occasions in my younger years when I was on my financial uppers. She gave me wise advice which was always appreciated. In short, she was the perfect Godmother. When I went too see her on Monday to say good-bye I admit I didn't want to go.

I was warned that she didn't look like the Eleanor we all knew and loved. I admit I was a coward, and just wanted to remember her as she always was - vibrant, laughing, funny, caring. I got to the door and didn't want to go into the room. My sister Tracey went in before me and as I was about to enter the room she gave me a look which said "you will be shocked by what you see". She was stronger than me.
2. The Vanishing American sees internet tools as a mixed blessing:
The Internet is a decidedly mixed blessing. People can (and do) track pseudonymous bloggers' identities down. However it is simply prudence and common sense not to post one's personal information, including full name, around the Internet promiscuously.

For those of us who blog, expressing politically incorrect and 'controversial' thoughts and ideas can expose us to some rather unpleasant consequences. And it may be justly argued that if you take a controversial stand, you must be willing to take the heat for it, and accept any difficulties you invite in swimming against the current.
3. Meeyauw remembers and that's a mixed blessing in itself:
I seldom post personal things but this will be the exception. I may even delete this post in the morning. I had a long nap today and dreamt a beautiful dream. I was in the home of someone unknown who was close to me. Other family was there. And in the door walked Neal, my late husband. He had not been dead after all. He had been lost. I could even feel him and smell him.

He looked exactly as he does in this photo [see site], taken only three years before he died. I took the photo on his Nikon non-digital camera as he taught me how to use it (the lessons never stuck).
The dream was so vivid and my grief began anew when I awoke and found it was not true.
4. David Farrer is doing what is commonly referred to as a number on me – a little James Higham mini-series. Though I'm flattered, it's a decidedly mixed blessing:
One of the greatest problems faced by Scotland is the comparatively high pay and pension benefits enjoyed by the 23% who do work in the state sector. Private companies (with higher than average UK transport costs) find it very difficult to offer the same packages as are available in a state sector that often has UK-wide wage agreements.

So the bright youngster chooses government employment and that is detrimental to economic growth. That's why I am perfectly happy to see Scotland's public sector expenditure slashed - quite apart from the fact that many of these jobs shouldn't exist at all.
5. Jack DM, through Cassandra's Politeia, writes of the mixed blessings of EU membership:
Since Romania entered the European Union on 1st January 2007 an estimated five hundred thousand Romanians crossed the Italian borders. That is five hundred thousand of the poorest, the most desperate, and the most determined to do whatever it takes to partake of Western prosperity.

Crime has exploded and shanty areas have sprung up like mushrooms in the Italian suburbs: the price for welcoming into the community a country that obviously isn't prepared to pay the same price.