[in brief] thought for the day

‘There’s an east wind coming, Watson.’

‘I think not, Holmes. It’s very warm.’

‘Good old Watson! You are the one fixed point in a changing age. There’s an east wind coming, all the same, such a wind as never blew on England yet. It will be cold and bitter, Watson and a good many of us will wither before its blast. But it’s G-d’s own wind, none the less and a cleaner, better, stronger land will lie in the sunshine when the storm has cleared.’

[To those who think they may ride roughshod over our traditions, our culture,our way of life and who presume on our good-nature, you just do not understand with whom it is you are dealing.]

[malkin & vox] good old fashioned stoush in the usa

I’ve neglected the US a bit today and nearly missed a great stoush. To quote Vox Day: Malkin [says]: "I think what drives a lot of the haters crazy is that despite their ceaseless sniping, they can't shut me up." Actually, I didn't find it difficult at all. In fact, her uncharacteristic silence on the subject [her comments] was downright damning when compared to her usual volubility on matters relating to herself. Notice how she links to nearly every site but the hate-filled one? She's rather a contemptible coward behind that faux bold front. But don't forget, this is a woman who couldn't think fast enough on her feet to handle Chris freaking Matthews. Michelle’s response is unrecorded.

[airlines] between a rock and a hard place

Nose-gear falls off NWA plane upon landing

The United States and the European Union failed to reach a new deal on sharing air passenger data by Saturday's deadline, putting airlines at risk of huge fines or the loss of landing rights if they do not hand over data to U.S. authorities. Such data - including passengers' names, addresses and credit card details - must be transferred to U.S. authorities within 15 minutes of a flight's departure for the United States. But the talks in Washington broke down before the deadline, triggering a risk of massive disruptions. Without the deal, airlines that do hand over passenger data to U.S. authorities could face legal action from national data protection authorities in EU states, the Commission said. So bureaucratic infighting wins the day again. Let the airline disasters begin.

[immigration] fencing them out

Sending a message: coffins with notes in Spanish line the San Diego border control fence

The Orange County Register: After 18 months of hearings and lobbying, citizens patrolling the borders and hundreds of thousands of people marching in the streets, the debate has produced a fence. Sometime in the next few days President Bush is likely to sign the bill authorizing 700 miles of it along the border with Mexico. What the president won't be signing is a bill that meets his goals of border enforcement combined with a guest-worker program and a plan for legalizing millions of undocumented people. In the past couple of days GOP leaders were intent on making sure the fence bill got to the president's desk before the Election Day recess so all amendments were dispensed with. A quite vexed issue currently in the southern USA but at least the porn industry will suffer.

[obsession] fourth chapter now posted

Chapter 4 [Aliya] is now posted and can be read by either clicking on the photo here or in the sidebar.

[society] how can we halt this malaise

Holmes said to Watson, in His Last Bow: The Englishman is a patient creature but at present his temper is a little inflamed and it would be as well not to try him too far. And what, pray, has caused it this time around? Political correctness [a curse be on its essence] and Izzadeenism [multiple expletives]. I do not possess the journalistic style to state this any better so here is Minette Marrin: These days, and not least last week, I often think that we as a society have lost the determination to hold the line in defence of common sense and shared values against stupidity, dishonesty and external threats. Do follow this link [I understand that you’re not usually taken with such things but please do it this one time].

[gartenbau] parasit ortet duft seines opfers

Teufelszwirne lieben den Duft von Tomaten. Liegt deren Aroma in der Luft, wachsen Teufelszwirn-Sprösslinge zur Tomatenpflanze hin. Die flüchtigen Substanzen sind aber nicht nur verlockend - sie weisen auch direkt den Weg. Pflanzen haben keine Nase - und doch können sie Düfte riechen.... mehr.

[sudan] best to skip over this post – it’s quite nasty

If you’re squeamish and don’t wish to spoil your Sunday lunch, best to pass over this one - it’s not very nice. Former US Marine officer, Brian Steidle believed that following orders and doing the right thing were one and the same. Then he went to Darfur. "I was a witness to genocide," he says. Steidle had heard reports of atrocities by nomadic Arab militias armed and supported by the Government against African farmers who supported Darfur's rebels. The raiders were called Janjaweed – "devils on horseback". He’d never seen anything like it – schoolgirls bound together and burned alive, babies with bullets in the back, eyes gouged out. That month he wrote an email to his sister, Gretchen: "This is not the doing of humans, this is the work of the devil." Continued.

[aaagh] just burnt the toast a second time

Does anyone remember my profoundly erudite piece last Saturday entitled [aaagh] just burnt the toast a second time? Possibly not but I’ve just gone and bl--dy done it again, haven’t I and this time it was Dale’s fault. The first time I was trying to get his 18 Doughty Street thing linked and the second time I was altering the text around it. The only conclusion I can come to is that blogging and toast don’t mix.

[sunday blogfocus] can this medium ever be viable

The Pedant-General-in-Ordinary

[Small note: This is not a blog round-up. It’s a piece on a certain topic each Sunday, utilizing what other bloggers [not all] have said about it during the last week.]

A non-blogger I know, the manager of Apple in this neck of the woods, yesterday asked about the conversion to hard cash of the blogging idea. He’d seen a programme on the explosion of blogging all over the world and how anyone with a PC was opening a blog and expecting instant traffic and ad-sense returns.

One estimate said there were 54 million blogs worldwide and the stats said that most of these would not rise much above a standard 50 visitors a day [hits being more of course]. Then there was an exponential leap into the thousand range and all sorts of deals and advertising making the idea viable. Some do make a semi-career of it. Read on here.