Saturday, June 28, 2008

[saturday quiz] steal straight from wiki version


Now I did promise this would be harder than Welshcakes' second quiz so here it is - a total steal from Wikipedia:

1. What is the first name of this famous artist?

Il 15 aprile 1874 s'inaugura, nello studio del fotografo Nadar, al secondo piano del 35 di boulevard des Capucines, la mostra del gruppo Societé anonyme des peintres, sculpteurs et graveurs, composto, fra gli altri, da Monet, Cézanne, Degas, Morisot, Renoir, Pissarro e Sisley, polemici nei confronti della pittura, allora di successo, accettata regolarmente nei Salons.

2. First name of this composer?

Gebuer de 22. August 1862, als éischt vu fënnef Kanner, gouf de Claude Debussy als Jong vum Manuel-Achille Debussy a sénger Fra Victorine agedroen. Gedeeft gouf hien eréischt zwee Joer méi spéit, wat deemols ongewéinlech spéit war.

3. First name of the film director of whom this is a part fimography:

2000: Chabrols süßes Gift (Merci pour le chocolat)
2003: Die Blume des Bösen (La fleur du mal)
2004: Die Brautjungfer (La demoiselle d’honneur)
2006: Geheime Staatsaffären (L’ivresse du pouvoir)
2007: Die zweigeteilte Frau (La Fille coupée en deux)
2007: La parure und Le petit fût, Episoden aus Chez Maupassant (TV)

4. Second name of the famous actor, by which he was better known:

William ____ Rains (10. november 1889 London, Inglismaa – 30. mai 1967 Laconia, New Hampshire) oli inglise päritolu USA lava- ja filminäitleja, enim tuntud peaosalisena filmidest "Nähtamatu mees" ("The Invisible Man"; 1933) ja "Phantom of the Opera" (1943).

5. One of Derek Jacobi's roles.


Answers [highlighting required as usual]

Claude [in modern anglicized parlance]

Dedicated to Ellee - she knows why.

Toilet humour?

Toilet humour?

I'm satire by my computer what are you doing?

A plagiarist copied and pasted the above post on a forum. Within 3 minutes the person was sussed out and confronted by another poster who had Googled the first line and found the original source. The plagiarist apologised and claimed that he or she had found it stuck to a toilet door.

[zimbabwe] it's the hypocrisy which galls

Good joke that, about predicting democracy - what sheep I reign over.


Please, if you are of a delicate disposition, excuse the tone of this post:


Brown calls Zimbabwe vote "new low"

Prime Minister Gordon Brown said on Saturday Zimbabwe's presidential election was a "new low" -- but predicted democracy will come to the southern African country.


Yeah, right. Just put your sanctions where your mouth is, tell Milliband to find a spine and Mugabe might miraculously fall. But you have no intention of doing that, do you, you hypocrite? You need Mugabe for the strategic plan.

And in other news, this from David Farrer:

Astounding, isn't it? But it must be true: the BBC is the source: Scotland's only female police chief has spoken for the first time since taking up the role.

Disgraceful the way she was gagged or credit to her gender? And to wind up, some little gems on life in Brown’s Britain:

Firstly, from the Quiet Man:

People living in a north Derbyshire hamlet have been told they cannot have signposts because it is not a "recognised" place. Holestone Moor near Matlock has been mentioned in census and gravedigging records since 1851.

But Derbyshire County Council said the settlement was not shown on local maps and therefore was not a recognised geographical location. Resident Steve Clemerson said the community definitely "did exist".

Next, from the Norfolk Blogger, who is apparently now banned from using direct.gov.uk:

Well in part, the government do know that I exist because they tell me I already have a direct.gov.uk login, but they refuse to allow me to use it. So when I phoned them and asked them to reset my password, I realise just how serious a problem I might have.

You see, because I didn't send in any photo ID last year within 21 days, I have been banned and barred from using direct.gov.uk AND they have no way of re-instating me and no number I can contact in order to be allowed to use the system ever again.
And from Private Eye’s latest edition, 1213 [June 27th]:

In Salford … the Labour Council threatened to charge children from St. George’s Primary School, which is facing the axe, for the cost of a road closure if they marched in protest. No one, as yet, has paid the £1918.35 bill. A letter has arrived at the school threatening “county court proceedings” or “referral to a debt recovery agency”.

Charming, simply charming, don’t you think?

Friday, June 27, 2008

[thought for the day] friday evening


I think it was the Manx poet William Bealby Wright [but was more likely someone entirely different] who, in the late 70s, uttered:

You don't expect a decent chap to actually take you up on an invitation.

[friday olive tree blogging] and a super lunch


Under the olive trees today, the mind moved to L’Ombre in the south of France or wherever he happens to be at this moment. This post is dedicated to him.

The current heat in Sicily essentially means people are fleeing to either their country retreats or the beach [with the tourists] and ours is a bit of a ghost town really, especially during the hours of heat [10 a.m. to 7 p.m.].

For us, this means a sleep in until about 11 a.m., a few jobs, a bit of interfacing with the local population and then a wander along to a café for lunch. Today, Welshcakes went to Raffaele’s for her hair and I met her there.

Let me describe the place.

Welshcakes reaches the ante-garden patio, with its raffia table and low chairs, by lift, the marble stairway being too steep and slippery but it’s a delight nonetheless with its foliage either side. Once inside the main airconditioned room with its canvass awnings over the outside balcony, one is brought water or coffee and the coiffuring of and by the females goes ahead.

Afterwards, we take the road down along the dry stone walls, past the roundabout with its "umbrellered" beer garden and into the steep but picturesque drop down to our destination, the Caffè Consorzio, perched on a hill near the main route down to Modica Bassa.

Inside this caffè, itself on different levels, we go through one garden, past another and eventually come out on an olive tree shrouded stone terrace with table and chairs, delightfully cool and inviting. The girl comes out and puts another table beside it, covers it with a white linen table cloth and brings linen napkins and other paraphernalia.

The bread and drinks are brought and we order.

A breeze plays through the olive leaves and many float down and cover us whilst we wait. The food arrives and the service is courteous to a fault – meat, aubergines, onions, greens, tomatoes and so on, with copious liquid to help it along.

It might be climbing to 40 degrees outside this grove but it is refreshing where we are and tranquil – oh so tranquil.

Eventually we start the trek back up to our place, no direct route but a series of interconnected upward tracks, each with its own charm. At the steepest points, the Higham arm is taken and we do make it back for an extended siesta in the wood-shuttered coolness, followed by the grabbing of the Mac now and the writing of this post.

The “easiness” of the day, the lack of fuss, has been hard to put into words but it was nice for all that.


[de facto] when is it ever genuine

If a man beats his de facto to death, surely that wouldn't count as a genuine killing?

I've been in de facto marriages and in the other sort too and I can't quite see the point of de facto these days, especially as there is still a property settlement and lots of other goodies, should the two part.

In these days when same sex couples can have ersatz marriages and even children [in a manner of speaking] plus certain other difficulties, then one pauses to think. Maybe it's better to be asexual, like me.

More widely in society, for example when there are female clergy and they no longer do the services in Latin, perhaps the genuine article should be subsidized now.

William Gruff considers we should get real in other ways too. I like Welshcakes' method of getting real too.

I'm heading down the road for a genuine coffee at an ersatz caffe after that diatribe.

Thursday, June 26, 2008

[i cann] see dissimulation here


At first sight, it looks like another example of encroachment - the net's [so-called] regulator Icann … voting to decide if the strict rules on so-called top level domain names, such as .com or .uk, can be relaxed.

The BBC comments:

If approved, firms could turn brands into web addresses while individuals could also grab a unique domain based on their name, for example.
There’s already, for example, http://iangrey.org/ but this could possibly now be turned into http://morleyis.iangrey. My question is, ‘What’s the point of it?’ Ian wouldn't bother doing it. The answer to this lies in this, methinks:

If there is a dispute [over domain names], we will try and get the parties together to work it out... but if that fails there will be an auction. [Dr Paul Twomey, Icann chief executive]

Money. As simple as that.

Naturally there’ll be cyber-squatting and disputes and Icann will resolve them at a price. So what’s the story with Icann in the first place?

ICANN is a California non-profit corporation that was created on September 18, 1998 in order to oversee a number of Internet-related tasks previously performed directly on behalf of the U.S. Government by other organizations, notably the The Internet Assigned Numbers Authority IANA.

So, it used to be run by the U.S. government and yet they have a meeting in Paris? Who are these people to wield such power? And do you understand a word of this?

On September 29, 2006, ICANN signed a new agreement with the United States Department of Commerce (DOC) that is a step forward toward the full management of the Internet's system of centrally coordinated identifiers through the multi-stakeholder model of consultation that ICANN represents.
All right, so they are somehow under California law or U.S. or whatever but they hold their meetings far away:

Critics argue that the locations of these meetings are often in countries with lower Internet usage and far away from locations that the majority of the Internet-using public can afford to reach. This makes public input or participation from traditional Internet users less likely.
As I read on, the point continually comes through about them being asked to do this or to oversee that. But who asked them? Read on:

The original mandate for ICANN came from the United States Government, spanning the Presidential administrations of both Bill Clinton and George W. Bush.

Some other worrying little things:

On March 14, 2002, in a public meeting in Accra, in Ghana, ICANN decided to reduce direct public ("at large") participation.

Also:

In September and October 2003 ICANN played a crucial role in the conflict over VeriSign's "wild card" DNS service Site Finder. After an open letter from ICANN issuing an ultimatum to VeriSign.
Well Verisign itself is an issue all of its own but by now it's probably best to stop and let you put me straight over all this. Am I completely out of order in thinking that a progressively less transparent U.S. government agency is running the internet for the globe?

Just asking.

[commemoration] blending the old and the new


Nice work of art at Ian Grey's place. A slice of the old Morley is commemorated but admirers are also reminded they're under surveillance at the same time.

A bit of the old, a bit of the new, ushering in the New Feudalism and the ASBO generation.

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

[interim report] the heat is on ... and on ... and


This Wikipic of Judaea by David Sharkbone vividly shows what we are in today. Already 34 degrees early, it's building and building and certain things become clear.

Firstly - it is not always the case that in the country is cooler. The buildings in town afford shade and the large buildings have that walkway and courtyard effect which certainly cools things down. Every home has shutters and offices are airconditioned.

So, on the way back from downtown just now, it was skipping from shade to shade with the option of stopping in at any of the gelaterii and having granita or whatever. Bottled water is everywhere and it's all set up for "hot". True "hot" is when the cafe owners blanch and mutter, "Caldo, caldo!"

In Russia, the two foot thick walls, intended for the cold, also helped against the heat and certainly water and ices abounded there too ... and yet somehow it wasn't a heat-conscious place as such. This place Sicilia is organized for it.

Perhaps this is all a yawn for you in cooler climes and yet the heat is so pressing on us here that we can think of little else. Incidentally, I had my first Italian lesson yesterday and didn't do too badly.

Next report soon.

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

[thought for the day] tuesday evening



When contemplating your navel, do you ever consider:

1. Why would anyone in New York or Chicago want to scrape the sky anyway?

2. Do dogs actually talk or do the ones in the house opposite just bark in the middle of the night in sympathy with those in the house on the other side?

3. If some people get richer, must others get poorer in sympathy or
do they stay the same?

4. Why don't the centrist pollies on all sides just form one big party with a rotating administrator?

5. What is the best song ever released?

[blogosphere] mutual support and its possible limits

In March, this blog ran a post on the blogosphere to join the myriad other soul searching blogger posts and it focussed on how much we could achieve as bloggers.

There is a point to this post now and the difficulty is not to offend, particularly with fellow Brits [which statement in itself is likely to offend, I know].

The thing is, each blogger is essentially publicizing his wares and hopes that a great many people will stop by and read what he's written, perhaps even comment. Where he goes wrong is when he has other expectations of the process.

For example, the Usmanov and Darling affairs had much publicity and the blogosphere, by and large, rallied round and told those two where to get off. Rousing stuff and well done. I think most people are good natured enough to run a banner in support or even a post or two but what do we do when the question, say, of donating money comes up?

This was why I tried to resist putting a paypal or whatever during my recent troubles although I did bleat a fair bit, it's true. The resolution to the difficulty has been catalogued on this blog and it does show that things can happen for the good.

But what do we do when someone wants much much more?

When someone wants us all to lay down our lives supporting something he or she is into and when they draw it to a close, berates said people for not continuing on and on? Most people are too sensitive and tactful to say this but there are limits.

Similarly, when someone sees his blog as a route through which all other bloggers will come on any particular social issue, with all the aggregators and what have you collating the grateful bloggers' contributions or when a particular blogger sees others as paying for the use of his material and countless other schemes, I'm a little less than forthcoming, I'm afraid.

I'm aware that some will read these words and say, 'Oh, that's wonderful - look how well Higham has done out of blogging, swanning around Sicily et al.' Well yes, I am exceedingly grateful for what has happened but I really don't feel it's the same question per se.

I'm referring above to the expectation that other bloggers are going to tune into another blogger's schemes or devote part of everyday to that scheme.

I'm not explaining myself well.

I suppose the point came out of a discussion Welshcakes and I had earlier about different bloggers and expectations of how much time and effort can really be devoted to a cause when most of us are having difficulty even keeping our blogs up, answering comments and visiting our rolls. Of course we must not be selfish, of course any of us would welcome new ideas and help someone in distress but there are surely limits.

One point Welshcakes has just made is that of geographical location. Let's say there was a difficulty in the UK, for example. All right, we can write to our local MP but no MP in Britain will read a letter not coming from a resident constituent. There are, sadly, limits to what an expat can do, much as he/she might wish to help. Of course we'd do what we could from where we are.

We'd like to know what others think about this.

Monday, June 23, 2008

[plastic surgery] new improved competition

Well it's high time we ran another competition for you plastic surgery devotees and here are four to start the ball rolling:







Your task - to rate the stars in terms of the effectiveness of their plastic surgery and their attractiveness to you personally. Don't stand on ceremony - tell us your thoughts on these beauties.








Disclaimer:

We make no claim that any of these stars have actually undergone plastic surgery. Let's just say it's a hunch.







Ancillary question:

Do you feel there are any richly deserving of inclusion in this competition whom we've sadly neglected?






Hat Tip: Welshcakes, with whom I was discussing famous Welshmen and one thing led to another, you know ...

[trees] trust them to get their hands on these too


Longrider, in his Plague of Tree Inspectors, highlights just what the problem is with those in power - they try to create problems which don't exist, particularly in the case of the trees that never needed to come down:

This tells me that English common law worked exactly as it is supposed to. What we have here is the law working as intended yet a quango wants to impose regulation and inspection to solve a problem that does not need solving because, frankly, it does not exist.

Read the whole post. It's more than this though. It's utilizing any possible pretext to exert control, including that of the health of trees. I'd like to say "total prats", except that this was a quite cynical move on their part.

Pity the trees and pity us.

[total politics] give it a try



Try the new concept in total resource politics.
Mosey around and explore.


Hat tips: Iain, Ellee

[exploiting grief] masterclass by sky and the bbc

We were watching Sky News and BBC World News last evening and something occurred which we'd already spoken of for a week or more.

To put it in context, I'd been into the Melbourne Age in the morning and had noted it was full of killings and 15 girls becoming pregnant and all that and quite frankly, I don't wish to have this thrust onto my plate early morning or late at night.

Don't get me wrong - it's not that I'm uncaring or don't feel for the victims - it's just that I object to having it thrust upon me as "news".

So to last evening and sure enough - there was Sky with closeups of the contorted faces of newly bereaved people with tears rolling down their cheeks, as the reporter thrust a mike at them and asked them how they felt. But perhaps the most distressing aspect for me was how the camera rolled on, lovingly taking in their grief to enable the home viewer to cluck-cluck in sympathy and feel awful for the night.

So I suggested we switch to BBC. Not quite as bad but not good either. As for Sky, they are in no position to defend themselves on the charge that they are not only exploiting grief for entertainment purposes but are actively seeking it out in world "trouble spots".

I find it all bizarre and sickening.

Sunday, June 22, 2008

[thought for the day] sunday evening


Justice is open to all, like the Ritz Hotel.

[James Matthew, 1955]

[dunce cap] do it again, ireland

Sorry Ireland, you got it wrong and will have to sit the exam again. "No" was the wrong result and so you'll get a second chance next year:

After a week of what European leaders call reflection, another Irish referendum beckons, to be held early next year. Without it, there might well be an attempt to oust the Irish from the European Union.

A Yes vote in a second referendum is not certain, even if the Irish government were to succeed in securing another rent extracting, treaty-amending protocol. At a time when the Irish economy is about to fall off a cliff, enthusiasm for
the EU and its treaties will not increase.

Interesting how there could possibly be a second referendum. A referendum is a referendum. There was one in Ireland. There was a result. End of the matter.

Very worrying how openly cavalier they've become - seems they don't fear the public anymore in the post-democracy era.

[david davis] 'nuff said

Please look at this post and this one.

Now look at this post, particularly the comments and this one and this one .

I'm glad that serious consideration is now being given to:

1. the fact that Cameron is disastrous for the Tories [did you see BBC World's Dateline London this evening?]

2. the possibility that Davis actually has his head screwed on right.

[football and weather] hotting up here


Doesn't matter whether one is interested or not - Euro 2008 is on in full force here and it might well be Russia v Italy the way things are shaping up.

My Russian mate's just been online about it all, saying there were scenes in the centre of my former hometown he'd never witnessed before. Apparently it's the first success since 1988 when they were the USSR. Right, yeah.

Meanwhile here Italy is still in it and if it comes to this match-up - difficult to know who to go for.

For the football purist, to be male and not to know what's going on is weird, foreign in fact. Actually, football's never been my sport although there's a sentimental attachment to the Crazy Gang. Rugby though - that's another matter [Union of course].

So I'm not going to comment on NZ-England.

Meanwhile, back in Sicily, it is shaping up for a 40 degree plus day today but at 7.30 this morning it was the best - no traffic, cool, light breeze, one trattoria/cafe open and a lovely cappuccino or two whilst sitting al fresco, watching the world go by.

The reason I was out there was that our water ran out, damn it. This puts Welshcakes under the hammer more as I can just zip off to the school for a wash and wend my way back. So I feel badly for her this morning and hope to goodness the water van comes soon today.

OK, so I'll head off now and wish you all a lovely Sunday wherever you are.

[theostalgia] take me back

Welshcakes and Simi?

Now Theo's talking my language.