Saturday, November 18, 2006
[casino royale] reviewed by praguetory
[mind games] the psychology community and the old boy net
This lecture, by Dr. Colin Ross, psychologist, given at 9th Annual Western Clinical Conference on Trauma and Dissociation, April 18, 1996, Orange County, California, has been abbreviated, including leaving out the entire section on Jonestown. [Broadcast on CKLN-FM 88.1 Toronto - International Connection Mar 16, 23, 30, 1997]
Somewhere in the course of my residency … I went to the Eastern Regional Conference, to Chicago, found out a little bit [about DID and] my personal reaction was - this sure sounds real, could be real, it's pretty scary [but] it is clear that we’ve got into some sort of hysteria wave … and a lot of people went a bridge or two too far on their journey and we have to reign ourselves back in.
Except [that] didn't work because when I systematically started looking into CIA military mind control, the more I looked, the more solid reality there was. As you will see, it's a completely different deal to SRA. If there is SRA, that information is not generally publicly available to us. It is a fact that we have not nailed down - human ritual sacrifice cults in North America if they exist. So it's all conjecture.
[However], intelligence agencies have been creating Manchurian candidates and MPD for operational use since the Second World War. This is not a conspiracy theory. This is documented. I am going to talk about not just creating Manchurian candidates, but the whole network of mind control doctors that is involved in this and supports this - this kind of old boys' network that maintains all of this.
So there is something real peculiar about the whole story. It's a very strange story. It tells us that there is something going on in our culture and in the mental health field that is hidden and secret. This is another kind of incest secret in the field of psychiatry that all of these people who have been running psychiatry in the latter half of the 20th century are either directly or loosely connected to.
Continued here …
[root of the trouble] part 3 – drawing the threads together
Glasgow and Oxford educated first Baron Tweedsmuir, Governor-General of Canada, otherwise known as John Buchan MP wrote a novel in 1915, specifically about Germany and Russia but the contention that it is equally applicable to the modern day is one supported by the chronology of part 2 and he was a man who was in a position to know. Here is an excerpt in which a little man accosts our hero in the apartments at Portland Place, seeking sanctuary from a perceived enemy:
"Is the door locked?" he asked feverishly, and he fastened the chain with his own hand. "I'm very sorry," he said humbly. "It's a mighty liberty, but you looked the kind of man who would understand. I've had you in my mind all this week when things got troublesome. Say, will you do me a good turn?"
"I'll listen to you," I said. "That's all I'll promise." I was getting worried by the antics of this nervous little chap.
There was a tray of drinks on a table beside him, from which he filled himself a stiff whisky-and-soda. He drank it off in three gulps, and cracked the glass as he set it down.
"Pardon," he said, "I'm a bit rattled to-night. You see, I happen at this moment to be dead."
I sat down in an arm-chair and lit my pipe. "What does it feel like?" I asked. I was pretty certain that I had to deal with a madman.
Buchan concludes here …
[root of the trouble] part 2 – timetable for change
May 1, 1776 - Adam Weishaupt, Professor of Canon Law at the University of Ingolstadt in Bavaria wrote these as the objectives of a new organization he nominally headed:
1) Abolition of all ordered governments
2) Abolition of private property
3) Abolition of inheritance
4) Abolition of patriotism
5) Abolition of the family
6) Abolition of religion
7) Creation of a world government
July 1782 - The Order of the Illuminati joins forces with Freemasonry at the Congress of Wilhelmsbad. The Comte de Virieu, an attendee at the conference, when questioned about the "tragic secrets" he brought back with him, replies: "I will not confide them to you. I can only tell you that all this is very much more serious than you think."
1785 - An Illuminati courier named Lanze is struck by lightning and killed while traveling by horseback through the town of Ratisbon. When Bavarian officials examine the contents of his saddle bags, they discover the existence of the Order of the Illuminati and find plans detailing the coming French Revolution. The Bavarian government attempts to alert the government of France of impending disaster, but the French government fails to heed this warning.
1789 - Violence erupts in France. The French Revolution not only overthrows the existing government but also attempts to eliminate Christianity from the nation. A half-naked prostitute is placed on the altar of the Cathedral of Notre Dame and extolled as the "Goddess of Reason."
1796 - Freemasonry becomes a major issue in the Presidential election in the United States. John Adams wins the election by opposing Masonry, and his son John Quincy Adams warns of the dire threat to the nation posed by the Masonic Lodges: "I do conscientiously and sincerely believe that the Order of Freemasonry is, if not the greatest, then one of the greatest moral and political evils."
Chronology continues here …
[root of the trouble] part 1 – changes since the 60s
So this is dedicated to both ScotsToryB and to Tom Paine who finally provoked me into it.
The jazz age perfectly reflected the moneyed 20s and the Drifters and Temptations reflected the late 50s. But so did Bill Haley and Elvis. The naivety of those days has long gone and since the 60s, there has been:
# The progressive demise of church going and the whole ecumenical language we once employed, talk of parishes and the local vicar and so on. The replacement of traditional ideas in education and the replacement of old textbooks with the new, the promotion of humanistic, man-centred values and deification of the scientific method is almost complete.
# The rise of feminism, somehow at the same time as homosexuality going public. “On the other hand, the rise of feminism and gay rights began in the 1960s and continued into the next few decades.” These were daggers in the heart of the traditional family and have played their part in the explosion in the divorce rate and reduction in the marriage rate.
# The latchkey children, as mothers worked, at first by choice and then by necessity, as the rise of credit turned the parents of partial leisure into two working machines, as aspirations increased, the glittering array of goods and services expanding, the increase in global travel, the increasing sophistication of cars and sound systems, all increasingly paid for by credit.
More here ...
[burqas] the dutch revive the issue
I’m in two minds about it. It is a security risk, no doubt, in terms of terrorists on a mission but I hardly see how it is in daily life. It is unpleasant to deal with someone with two beady eyes watching you behind a black barrier but equally, the move to ‘ban’ gets into the whole issue of first banning this and then that. What do you think?
Friday, November 17, 2006
[mike tyson] on religion and rape
1 May 2002: "Everybody says they believe in God but they don't do God's work. Everybody counteracts what God is really about. If Jesus was here, do you think Jesus would show me any love? Do you think Jesus would love me? I'm a Muslim, but do you think Jesus would love me ... I think Jesus would have a drink with me and discuss ... why you acting like that? Now, he would be cool. He would talk to me. No Christian ever did that and said in the name of Jesus even ... They'd throw me in jail and write bad articles about me and then go to church on Sunday and say Jesus is a wonderful man and he's coming back to save us. But they don't understand that when he comes back, that these crazy greedy capitalistic men are gonna kill him again."
18 Jul 1991: Mike Tyson had relations with an 18 year old beauty pageant contestant who came to his room. He was later accused of rape and sent to prison for three years. Here are the opposing arguments.
[russia] more and more live alone
The 2002 census final results are out. 50% of Moscow residents are living their lives in solitude; many still dream of finding a significant other; Russia has 1,147 women for every 1,000 men. While in the early 1990s people married at 21 or 22, these days it’s 23 for her and 25 for him.
Natalia Markova of the Institute for Socio-Economic Problems of Population said today 78% of Moscow residents back the idea of living in an unmarried partnership, 10% shun any commitments and favour free love and only 12% are for building a traditional family.
Men are fewer and fear they will not be able to support their families. Emancipation is flourishing and the woman thinks first and foremost of her career — again out of fear of being left penniless. The higher is her income the tougher are her requirements.
Many people have affairs at work and psychologist Yelena Golunova says that some 70% of Muscovites do not object to getting acquainted on the street or in public transport. Finding a wife or a husband through a marriage agency in Moscow costs $500 to $1,500.
An informal poll of about 50 girls aged 19 and 20 by yours truly reveals the story to be a little different. Most would marry tomorrow if the circumstances were right but it’s the main chance that the eyes are on and if that means waiting, then so be it. Most find the Russian boys the most attractive but that they don’t offer much else and don’t treat the girls with respect.
It would be interesting to compare that with the west.
[new book] how o.j. might have bumped off the lovers
But publisher Judith Regan told The New York Times that, in her opinion, the book is an admission of guilt and she would have had little interest in it otherwise. She said further that a lengthy interview on the Fox Television Network slated for Nov. 27 and 29, convinced her of his guilt, the Times reported.
I find many things strange here. 1] Why write the book in the first place? 2] Why did the publisher say it was tantamount to a confession? Because she’s white? Because she’s a woman? She’s supposed to be for him. 3] What is he trying to prove? That he’d do it another way, so it wasn’t him? 4] How can he be so calm, cool and collected? Seems a bit strange, the whole biz.
[advertising] what is junk food anyway
We’re agreed, aren’t we, that junk food is bad – obesity and so on, yes? We’re also agreed that once kids are allowed it, it takes over and it’s impossible to get them onto good food, even should we want to, yes? So what about banning the advertising of junk food and what about the grey areas? What about pizzas, for example? Hamburgers with salad? Dark chocolate? Peanuts? should the state compensate for parents' deficiencies?
[nuclear deal] worrying implications for china
This deal is vital as India, which had been a little left behind or at least unevenly progressing in the shadow of a ‘full steam ahead’ China, now has a power alliance with Washington and this can only put a major dent in China’s own plans for their strategic alliance with India and their plans for the world. Little wonder New Delhi does not want to trumpet the deal too loudly and why it was so keen to get it cut and out of the way before next year’s elections. For the US, this is why the 85-12 vote. There are no illusions in Washington as to what it means. Text here.
[baron bodissey] putting Christ in the closet
Now the Wren Chapel has become an opportunity for the College to abase itself … before the altar of political correctness. It seems that the gold cross on the altar is not inclusive enough to please the gods of Diversity, so it has to go. It’s not as if any Wiccans or Buddhists complained about the offensive symbol — the College just wants to demonstrate its multicultural sensitivity by pre-emptively removing the cross. Gene R. Nichol, Felowship President gave this explanation: The Chapel, as you know, is used for religious ceremonies by members of all faiths. I believe a recognition of the full dignity of each member of our diverse community is vital.
Note the PC keywords: “welcoming”, “dignity” and “diverse”. Those little markers trump other words like “tradition”, “history”, and “public opinion”, and lead you into the mind of a full-fledged multicultural college administrator. Will Coggin [is] the young man who tipped us to a website that he and his associates have set up to protest this outrage. There is also a video of the Wren Cross being removed from the altar and locked away in a closet. In a closet!
Ultimately, for the members of the Anointed who run the academy, the important thing is to install Orthodox Atheism as the institutional religion. Give me a break. This PC-multicultural nonsense which aims to eliminate all references to Judaism and Christianity — has passed the point of ludicrousness and reached the realm of demonic insanity. It’s time to put a stop to it.
The Baron is correct but let me go further – the unconscious demonic insanity of the humanistic left is certainly what’s at issue here – essentially nice men and women, swept up by insanityand the humanistic trap. And the amusing irony is that JC Himself was inclusive and tolerant in his dealings with all walks of life - and this is what the PC apostles are trying to stamp out.
But there’s also a demonstrable, documented attack, from the Temple Dome through this chapel to Christmas itself, to wipe any reference to Jesus Christ from the face of the earth. Why? And it’s a virulent, petulant and petty crusade as well. Mean-spirited. Now why go out of your way to stamp something out that you claim is dying anyway? I mean – what is it exactly that bothers you so much about Jesus? There – I’ve uttered the word now. Oh dear. And do please read the Baron’s piece if you haven’t already done so.
[norm’s razor] the lack of logic in high street retailing
From Norman Geras: [This is] the story of my Gillette GII razor and me. I've had it for so long that I don't know how long I've had it. And it works - as well as anything can work for the purpose for which it's designed. But suddenly you can't get the replacement blade for it, and so I had to buy a newfangled thing, supposedly more efficient and groovy. But you just know at once that it's inferior. It's like the difference between … wearing shoes that really fit and wearing shoes that nearly fit but don't. The thing is, the head of my Gillette GII is fixed and easy to manoeuvre; the head of the new razor I had to buy instead isn't and isn't.
This raises the whole question of service and replacement parts, which is a major issue in the former USSR. They have a new product in promotional form, they sell it and that’s that. Need refills, some months later? You’re met with a polite shrug. Another problem, more so in Britain and the US, is that big clothing stores buy one bulk set of, shirts say; the usable sizes of the nice shirts disappear off the shelves quickly and if you try to buy a fortnight later, there are only sizes for either midgets or sumo wrestlers or else the right size in some hideous design. Why don’t major chains realize this? Or do they realize it and not care? Or is it all part of their Chinese job lots?
Thursday, November 16, 2006
[influenza] transcontinental delight
Now isn’t that interesting? I went out a happy chappy today but three hours in the house of girls and I was a mess – throat, nose, head, ears, the lot. Not enough to stop the blogging but just enough to think how widespread this thing might be. Do you have it just now?
[poets corner] homespun verse of ewen mcteagle fondly remembered
If you could see your way to lending me sixpence,
I could at least buy a newspaper.
That's not much to ask anyone.
For Lassie O'Shea the memory of McTeagle is still alive. He wrote her two poems between January and April 1969:
To Ma Own beloved Lassie, A poem on her 17th Birthday.
Lend us a couple of bob till Thursday, I'm absolutely skint.
But I'm expecting a postal order and I can pay you back as soon as it comes.
Love Ewan
After this critical triumph, McTeagle developed and widened his literary scope. Where once he'd concerned himself with still quite small sums - quick bits of ready cash: sixpences, shillings, in later years he turned his extraordinary literary perception to much larger sums - fifteen shillings, £4.12.6d ... even nine guineas ... but there is still nothing to match the huge sweep ... the majestic power of what is surely his greatest work: 'Can I have fifty pounds to mend the shed?':
Can I have £50 to mend the shed?
I'm right on my uppers. I can pay you back
When this postal order comes from Australia.
Honestly.
Hope the bladder trouble's getting better.
Love, Ewan.
Sigh. He was a wonderful poet, sadly no more.
[pyramids] build your own and see for yourself
You can make such a pyramid but it should be constructed in the same ratio as for the original dimensions of The Great Pyramid: Test your new pyramid's efficacy. Put a small rectangle containing honey at the active focus point of the pyramid (1/3 of the height from the base + at the centre of the base square ) & observe: 1) If the honey completely hardens but if you alter the pyramid's direction, the honey re-liquefies after 24 hours, it's working; 2) If nothing changes, it clearly is not working yet. Alter the direction of alignment or look at your dimensions again or even your construction material. But be careful. Some people warn that after a while, the beneficial effects wear off and turn to malevolent. I can vouch for both effects so I don’t know what that says.
[teen drivers] incomplete myelination of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex
John Reid, a cognitive neuroscientist and research fellow with Swinburne University of Technology's Brain Sciences Institute, Victoria, said some teenagers' brains have not matured sufficiently to enable them to drive responsibly. The immature brain development is technically called the "incomplete myelination of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex" - basically, the wiring of the brain's control centre has not yet fully developed, making immature drivers less able to foresee the consequences of impulsive actions.
Such immature behaviour included speeding, machismo displays in front of peers, aggression and impatience, he said. "The thrill of the moment overrides any contemplation of the possible adverse consequences of the behaviour." A combination of adolescent hormonal changes that affected emotions and moods and an immature brain was "probably the real explanation of many young drivers' speed-related crashes", and was evident in other areas of adolescent life, he said.
Monash University Accident Research Centre director Ian Johnston said the theory was interesting but unproven and yet there was a trend that those who engaged in risky road behaviours tended to exhibit risky behaviour in other areas of their lives. "It's increasingly obvious that it's the same kinds of people who are involved in a whole range of high-risk situations: the same kinds of people who get into trouble on the road get into . . . drug taking, high-risk sports," he said.
November 25th, 2002, by Andrew Heasley, Transport Reporter, The Age
[fed reserve report] selected issues october 25th
# Real consumer spending appeared to regain some steam in September after a lackluster August. Although nominal retail sales fell noticeably in September, the steep drop in gasoline prices more than accounted for the decline.
# The U.S. international trade deficit widened to another record in August, reflecting a surge in imports that more than offset a sizable jump in exports.
# Mixed indicators in Canada and the United Kingdom suggested that output growth in those countries remained around recent rates.
# The staff forecast prepared for this meeting indicated that growth of real GDP had slowed further in the third quarter, reflecting both a significant drag from the continuing contraction in residential construction and a steep decline in motor vehicle assemblies.
# Participants continued to expect the economy to expand at a rate close to or a little below the economy's long-run sustainable pace over coming quarters.
# Uncomfortably high levels of inventories within the auto sector had prompted a sharp reduction in light vehicle production in the third quarter.
# Both data and reports from businesses indicated that the labor market remained tight.
# All meeting participants expressed concern about the outlook for inflation.
# Nearly all members favored keeping the target federal funds rate at 5-1/4 percent at this meeting.
Layman’s summary is that it’s steady as she goes, except for the worry about eliminating reserve requirements in 2011, as part of their strategic plan.
[we're doomed] you might be surprised
[israel] palestinian militia a novel move
[hitler] and did those feet, in ancient times, walk upon iceland's mossy rock
The issue itself is interesting but the writing style of Icelanders in English is also pleasantly quaint, especially when they always quote RUV. I’ve written to them to throw light on who the person is who writes the news [from the style, I suspect it’s a sweet young lady]:
A new history book provides an account that an American soldier along with an Icelandic interpreter searched for Adolf Hitler in Iceland shortly before the end of WWII. Hitler was believed to be in hiding in the home of Gunnar Gunnarsson, a well known and highly respected Icelandic author, as reported by RÚV. Gunnarsson was known for his connections to the Nazis during WWII and, on 20 March 1940, was reportedly the only Icelander to ever meet Nazi leader Adolf Hitler.
The book Skáldalíf (“Life of Poets”) by Halldór Gudmundsson features the life of Gunnar Gunnarsson and compares him to another Icelandic author, Thórbergur Thórdarson. Gudmundsson’s book says Gunnarsson’s house was searched twice by allied forces during the war. On the second occasion, 6 May 1945, an American soldier and an Icelandic interpreter knocked on his door in Skriduklaustur, east Iceland.
Gunnarsson evidently did not know why his house was being searched, but later learned from a farmer who lived close by that the American soldier had been looking for Adolf Hitler. A week earlier a German plane had been spotted flying over the area, dropping something off near Gunnarsson’s house. The book’s author told RÚV that the theory about Hitler being dropped off in east Iceland was “absurd,” but that it says a lot about how people saw Gunnarsson as a person.
This account in Skáldalíf is based on a written testimony given by a man who lived on the farm closest to Skriduklausur. To read another story about Gunnar Gunnarsson, click here.
[ we’re doomed] but who said it first
Mainwaring's 'Stupid boy', aimed … at Pike; Wilson's … 'Would you mind awfully falling into three lovely lines?'; Frazer's … 'We're doomed'; Hodges' … 'Ruddy hooligans!'; Godfrey's 'Would you mind if I was excused?'; and Jones's 'They don't like it up them', 'Handy-hock!'), 'Permission to speak, sir!', and 'Don't panic!'.
'Private James Frazer opened his undertakers business next door to Jones's butcher's shop in the High street, soon after he returned from the sea. Born on the Isle of Barra, he joined his first ship at the age of fourteen and spent the next thirty-five years roaming the world. Pearl fishing in the south seas, trading off the coast of Africa, a life packed full of adventure.
Wednesday, November 15, 2006
[spam attack] what took them so long
I can see it now: Message from the Euro-Commission, threatening closure. Zap! One message bites the dust. Oh James, James, I adore you and can you send me 300 quid by return mail, Your Ex. Zap! Er, Laddy, I’m a bit skint until next Thursday – can you see your way clear to slipping me a bob or eight, Yours, Ewan. Zap! The feeling of power, the sophistication, the camaraderie. And I can look back on it all and thank Spam it never affected my sincerity.
[tony’s petition] don’t fall for it unless you enjoy electrodes
Secondly, it builds, over time, a nice big database of said moaners, the complainers, the whingers, the dissidents, sceptics, cynics, and single issue yahoos. You have to give your details to sign up. Give false details? Well, that’s their excuse to dismiss your petition as the work of deceptive cranks.
Yes, yes – of course – all nicely categorized and ready for the Black Moriah to zip round and collect them for a bit of electro-pincushioning further down the track. Call me a wild, fanciful madman who sees reds under the bed but we’ll see, won’t we, about the year 2012, who was right?
Actually, they don’t need Tony’s petition – they only need to do a blogtrawl. Yikes! Tony, I love you. You’re a great man and I’ll never ever call you an illumined skull and bones avenging wind ever again – promise! Don’t send them – please? And you had nothing to do with 7/7 at all.
Absolutely nothing. [I think I got away with it.]
[bond] seems to be thumbs up all round
Craig, 38, who was accompanied by his American girlfriend, Satsaki Mitchell, 29, wasn't smiling much as he entered the Odeon cinema and didn't linger too long. He offered: "This is pretty good, I can't explain how this feels."
Just what is it with Bond? The Queen's a devotee, you probably are too, I certainly am. Why? The bulk of those Bond films were duds anyway and even the good ones had their weak points - so why do we keep coming back for more? I'm waiting for it to open to shell out the hard-earned to watch some guy get his goolies minced. Strange.
[thanksgiving] run, turkey, run
By February, when retailers report fourth-quarter and full-year earning, Wal-Mart and Target may not be able to match the double-digit percent profit increases that they announced Tuesday for the third-quarter. And what’s bad for Wal-Mart and Target may be worse for smaller retailers. So, cards at the ready? Let’s charge into debt and kill small business!
[winter tyres] the new aphrodisiac for feline females
Anyway, what I really wanted to address was this Yokohama billboard business. Could someone explain to me what a tanned, half-naked, nubile young lady with slivers of leopard skin strategically draped over her sensitive regions has to do with the Yokohama tyre she’s sprawled across and lovingly caressing with her French manicured talons? Are winter tyres a total turn on for women? I only ask for information, like.
[prodicus] hard-hitting, without the swearing
Example: Blog-Cons of the Week - Danny Finkelstein's 'blog' is nothing but a cheap attempt to advertise other Times commentators' columns. He hardly ever posts a comment and almost never posts a link to a non-Times blog. It's a con by their marketing people. I am deleting it from my newsreader. Speaking of cons, Guido's not up to much these days, is he? A lot of trumpeting but very few plots and rumours and no conspiracy. Get a grip, Fawkes, or I'll delete you, too.
Try this one: Since so many Muslims living in Britain declare that they do not feel themselves to be British, I shall not, henceforth, refer to 'British Muslims' but to 'Muslims living in Britain'.
Now, is that good blogging or is that good blogging? Not one unnecessary swearword and by the way - I agree with him on all the aforementioned.
[ecology] maybe forests are on their way back
"The forests of Earth's two most populated nations no longer increase atmospheric carbon concentration: China's forests are expanding; India's have reached equilibrium - these changes are due in large part to urban migration, agricultural yield increases and reforestation policies," the report said.
Interesting article. Maybe you’d like to read it in full here.
[rhetoric] hints on effective speaking
Hints on giving good speeches
A speech is not a delivered report from notes nor data learned and regurgitated. It is a varied composition, a ‘song of substance’. What elements combine to make a good speech?
Preparation: This is one of the keys to a successful speech and it is not common practice. No one has the time for it but you must try to prepare thoroughly or else your speech will fail. Preparing cue cards will at least lay the ground work for an effective speech.
Knowledge and experience: A real working knowledge of the material by someone who’s been there and done that, someone with a rich life experience goes a long way. When I was in New York, I saw …
Genuineness: Nothing turns an audience off more than someone who is ‘doing the speech’ rather than ‘feeling it’ and it’s impossible to fool an audience. If you’re just filling in a few minutes with a cynical mist of words, you are wasting the audience’s time and time is valuable.
This last point comes down to your character. Like a shopkeeper who always shortchanges the customer, who always gives less quality, so a speaker who isn’t interested in his topic is cheating the audience and that’s not what they came for.
Great speakers have sincere convictions. You can't convince others about something in which you yourself don't believe.
Read further …
Tuesday, November 14, 2006
[queen elizabeth] at the james bond premiere
Just in case you need that in German: Bond- Weltpremiere: Selbst die Queen wollte 007 sehen. Wenn James Bond ruft, lassen sich die Stars nicht lange bitten. Zur Weltpremiere des neuen Films "Casino Royale" in London pilgerten am Abend nicht nur Schauspieler und Fans, auch die Königin wagte sich auf den Roten Teppich - dabei hatte Prinz Charles doch Geburtstag. So there.
[blogfocus tuesday] leaner, meaner and brutally honest
Let’s face it - the old blogfocus had become strained. A couple of cut and pasted lines from each of 50+ bloggers does not an interesting article make and clearly it was time to either revamp or die. Here’s the revamped 10 point plan:
1] pour a glenfiddich
2] put on jj cale
3] put a printed list of the blogroll on the coffee table
4] flick tiddlywinks at the list until 17 names are hit
5] pour another glenfiddich
6] raid those 17 sites for some of their best posts
7] write brutally honest opinions about the 17 for an hour and a half
8] pour another glenfiddich
9] load and publish with minimal links
10] dream of the lady I was with three hours ago
So here we go, ladies and gentlemen and if you escaped this time, you’ll be got at next Saturday:
1] An A-blogger if ever there was one, The Tin Drummer has this cursed no-comments policy which I feel detracts from the universal blog-purpose and yet he may be right. Perhaps experience dictates that comments are a mere distraction. Who knows? The best bloggers have their fingers on the pulse, if we might put it that way and TTD does this to perfection, the measure of his standing in the blogosphere being the types of people who link to him in their posts [for example Tim Worstall]. Here he addresses the question of swearing [hope DK and Mr E have read this one] in his typical self-effacing way:
Laban Tall has a post up introducing this blog, and is right about the swearing and need to reduce Devil-post intake. The thing is this: swearing is actually very difficult to do properly, and is usually best left to the experts. I learned everything I know about swearing from Viz, but I haven't really absorbed the lessons well. Good swearing is borne of anger but executed coldly with precision, rhythm and vivid imagery. Poor swearing is a bunch of rude words thrown together. So I ought to leave it alone.
Blogfocus continues here …
[u2] bono and the church of england
[australia] snow in summer
Snow is forecast for parts of Victoria tomorrow, just about two weeks out from the official start of summer. Bureau of Meteorology senior forecaster Peter Blake said the situation was fairly unusual for this time of year. "It does happen at this time of year, but it's not an everyday occurrence," he said. "It's certainly not the norm."
Fairly unusual? I’d say it’s most unusual coming in to summer. Rain, yes. Sleet, yes. Snow? Since when?
[richard hammond] back behind the wheel
Hammond, who kept to less dangerous speeds for his comeback spin, had to pass a series of complicated mental reasoning, memory and problem-solving tests to win back his driving licence. But he said the crash didn't affect his confidence on the road. "I didn't have any fears or nagging doubts about driving again," he said. "I have been a passenger in a car many times since the accident and I haven't suffered any flashbacks or anything traumatic. "I was never worried that I wouldn't get back my driving licence. It was just a case of when ... I am aware of how staggeringly lucky I have been. I could have died."
[intel] quad core released in haifa, of all places
[terrorism] next it’s the food chain and water
[austin healey] remember the sprite
I’m going to set out my stall straight away. I was a Sprite 2A man. Not a Frogeye [Bugeye], not a Midget [esp. Mark III] but a 2A if you please. This is an article I cobbled together from the fragments of various articles in the pre-blogging days.
“A sports car is typically a two-seater, two-door automobile with a highly tuned engine, designed for performance – either speed, maneuverability, or acceleration.
In fact, many of the early British sports cars lacked a powerful engine and did not accelerate very quickly, but were known for having handling characteristics. They were relatively low to the ground and quite spartan in their comfort level and yet they were lively and exciting to drive.” More here ...
[revenge] how do we break the cycle
How do we break the cycle of atrocity and the escalation of violence - Ireland, Israel, Kosovo, Ossetia, Sudan? There is a passage in scripture which seems apt: Vengeance is mine, saith the Lord; I shall repay. In other words, don’t take matters into your own hands; leave them to me.
Don’t guffaw but there was a theme in the Return of the Jedi when the Emperor invited Luke to let the anger course through his veins and by so doing, lose his will to resist the urge to kill, thereby finally succumbing to the dark side.
Allegorical, yes. Christie had Poirot say to a girl who was planning murder, in Death on the Nile: “Mademoiselle, I beseech you, do not do what you are doing.”
“Leave [the revenge] alone, you mean?”
“It’s deeper than that. Do not open your heart to evil.” Her lips fell apart and a look of bewilderment came into her eyes. Poirot went on gravely: “Because if you do, evil will come. Very surely, evil will come. It will enter and make its home within you and after a while, it will be no longer possible to drive it out.”
“I – I – you can’t stop me!”
“No,” said Hercule Poirot, “I cannot stop you.”
His voice was sad.
Monday, November 13, 2006
[libertarians] 2nd rate, incestuous sycophants who enjoy a whisky
David Farrer replies: One of the useful things that this "complete eejit" learned at school in the county of Robert Burns (a "second rate old Ayrshire plagiarist") was that our national drink is whisky, not whiskey. [Further on] … Councillor Kelly describes folk like me as "libertarians of the right". I really don't know what he means. The traditional left/right political spectrum was intellectually demolished years ago. The issue is: are you a libertarian or an authoritarian? I'm a libertarian. [Entertaining.]
[nuclear energy] it’s fine, says greenpeace co-founder
Here’s an example: You were quoted as saying that global warming and the melting of glaciers is positive because it “creates more arable land.” I can understand how more arable land could be a good thing, but aren’t those positives offset by the loss of fresh water and rising sea levels? To readhis answer and the rest of the interview, click here.
[canada ] big brother’s watching you
NO ID CARDS!
[mystery island] land lost in the mists of time
[late autumn] and the big snowflakes fall
[monday] the best of days
[hezbollah] locally esteemed, re-armed and ready for action again
"Since the ceasefire, additional rockets, weapons and military equipment have reached Hezbollah," said an Israeli intelligence officer. "We assume they now have about 20,000 rockets of all ranges - a bit more than they had before July 12."
As a political party, a militia and social welfare organization, Hezbollah has used the devastation of the war with Israel to help strengthen the allegiance of Shiites, giving out money and services that the government has so far failed to deliver. Though no one knows for sure the size of each group in Lebanon — there has not been a census since the 1930s — Shiites are believed to make up more than 30 percent of the population, and by some estimates have reached a plurality.
But it would require a major leap for the Shiites to realize their political goal of dominance — and their efforts to reach it could threaten long-term instability, and perhaps bring armed conflict.
[referendum] south ossetia votes to secede
Wiki says the Ossetians are originally descendants of Iranian-speaking tribes from Central Asia. They became Christians during the early Middle Ages, under Georgian influence. Trouble is, there is no racial homogeneity in the region and there was a lot of intergenerational intermarriage with Muslims which created peace of sorts for a long time. This is similar to the situation I am now in, in another republic.
In 1991 the Georgian government declared Georgian to be the only administrative language but Ossetian leaders demanded that Ossetian be the language of their state. There have been simmering conflict and sanctions by Georgia itself, e.g. withholding power supplies and with Russia at odds with Georgia as an entity, it’s logical that they’d support South Ossetia, which then puts the whole question on the world agenda.
To try to create a separate state would require population transfer and dislocation, which is in the interests of certain parties in the background and creates a new, highly unstable region of probable bloodletting of the Kosovo type. Keep your eye on this one.
Sunday, November 12, 2006
[norway] home of the paperclip and the mobile phone
[quiz] how english are you
[colour schemes] the culture of yellow
For years, yellow ribbons were for women who waited for their men to come home from war. Yellow is for mourning in Egypt and actors of the Middle Ages wore yellow to signify the dead. Yet yellow has also represented courage (Japan), merchants (India), and peace.
Near the end of the 18th century, yellow was mental illness, insanity and depravity. In China, yellow is associated with prosperity and pornography. In ancient China, yellow was the Centre and Earth. In many countries, yellow symbolizes liberalism.
Other words associated with it: Lemon, yellow ocher, golden, saffron, cream, topaz. Read also about red, blue, green and brown.
[suicides] a few too many in japan
# A Japanese primary school principal, Kenji Nagata, 56, was found hanged in a forest in an apparent suicide, the second to take his own life in as many weeks
# Japan's education ministry last week received seven letters apparently written by students threatening suicide in response to harassment by bullying classmates.
# There has been a series of suicides by students in recent weeks caused by apparent bullying.
# A 12-year-old girl from Tondabayashi, near Osaka, leaped from the eighth floor of a public housing building and some classmates said she had been teased about her body shape.
# In late October a high school principal in Ibaraki, north of Tokyo, hanged himself in woods near his home after his school was found to be one of hundreds that skipped required courses so students could focus on competitive university entrance exams.