[quiz] this time on literature

Are you ready? 10 questions:

1] Which 1971 novel written by William Peter Blatty was turned into a classic horror film?

2] Which Shakespeare play concerns the two old friends Valentine and Proteus' love for the beautiful Julia?

3] Whose first play is called 'Catalina'?

4] Which French poet, born in 1821, was described by Rimbaud as 'The first seer, king of poets, a true god"?

5] For which Ministry did Winston Smith work in 1984?

6] In which book would you find the exceedingly strong drink called the 'Pan-galactic Gargle Blaster'?

7] What is the name of the Eugene O'Neill play set in Harry Hope's bar?

8] Jane Austen had five brothers but only one sister. What was her name?

9] Ruritania is an imaginary country which was invented as a setting for two novels. Now the name is used to describe any state where the intrigues of a reactionary court dominate politics. Name either of the two books in which it first appeared.

10] What is Sherlock Holmes' seven percent solution in "The Sign of Four"?

Answers tomorrow evening.

[middle-east again] syria won't play ball

Quick note:

Syria draws a line at the border. Syria has stated - and it means it - that it will not allow any UN peacekeeping troops to be stationed on the Lebanon-Syria border. This would in effect cripple the international force, precisely what Damascus wants if Hezbollah is to survive as a military group.

- Sami Moubayed

[new study] boys learn more from men and girls learn more from women.

Let me a tad Icelandic here and repeat the headline - boys learn more from men and girls learn more from women.

And what? Don’t we already know that? It’s confirmed now, according to Thomas Dee, an associate professor of economics at Swarthmore College and visiting scholar at Stanford University. His study was to appear Monday in Education Next, a quarterly journal published by the Hoover Institution.

His study comes as the proportion of male teachers is at its lowest level in 40 years. Roughly 80 per cent of teachers in U.S. public schools are women. I can say that over here the proportion is the same, if not higher. Teaching is not an earning profession.

Dr. Dee found that having a female teacher instead of a male teacher raised the achievement of girls and lowered that of boys in science, social studies and English.

Should teachers get more training about the learning styles of boys and girls? Should they be taught to combat biases in what they expect of boys and girls?

Ben Feller, Globe and Mail, Associated Press

[middle-east] israel and hezbollah dialogue?

The Age reports that Israel and Hezbollah are close to a prisoner exchange.

Israel and Hezbollah have reached a deal engineered by Germany for a prisoner exchange, an Egyptian newspaper reported yesterday.

"The prisoner swap between Hezbollah and Israel is to take place within two or three weeks, maximum, thanks to a German mediation, which is currently arranging the details of the exchange," the Egyptian state-owned daily Al-Ahram reported.

The newspaper cited high-ranking officials for the information. It said the swap could take place simultaneously or in two stages. The negotiations for the prisoner swap are not taking place through the Lebanese Government.

The interesting aspects for me are:

# even through Germany, they must really want those prisoners back to even contemplate negotiating with a non-state;

# would this be the precursor to renewed conflict or will Israel settle for the negotiated peace-keeping?

[men and women] 6 reasons not to be a feminist - a woman speaks out

My fragmented profession brings me into contact [last count] with 125 ladies and 8 gentlemen per working week and those are the types of odds which keep me over here.

Let me set out my stall. In me you’ll find a door opener, a flower bringer, an impulsive present giver and the physical biz is very nice as well. In short, I like women, [as distinct from loving them]. And the more intelligent, the more accomplished, the better.

What I can’t handle, not at all, are special interest groups. I’ll not speak of Jehovah’s Witnesses, Hare Krishnas and political movements but I shall speak and vehemently so, of the Feministi and give these reasons why, when you see one approaching, you should hide until she’s gone:

1. Men and women were designed for one another. Does it have to be spelled out - any man who ever stayed more than one night with his woman knows that. So when you read such pap as ‘a woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle’, once we’ve smiled at the wit, the very next gesture must be to shake the head and to sigh sadly for the woman who uttered it.

Full text here.

[blog] fixations

Interesting how writers often get locked into a topic which they keep returning to over and over, providing more and more information until they become seen as authorities on the topic. Some have fixations about Noam Chomsky, some about Petron Corp, some about the Saudis, some about Hezbollah.

I'm currently quite hot under the collar about Pluto.

Very difficult to find an unbiased writer. Is there such an animal, politically and socially eclectic, a sort of cultural tourist? I ask only for information.

[world round-up] news in three or less paragraphs

Today: Iran, USA [3], UK, Switzerland, France, Japan, Pakistan

Iran Aljazeera.net reports that the Iranian president has inaugurated a new phase in the Arak heavy-water reactor project, part of Iran's atomic programme which the West fears is aimed at producing bombs.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad inaugurated the project and toured the site at Khondab, which is near Arak, 190km southwest of the capital Tehran. The plant's plutonium by-product could be used to make atomic warheads.

USA A tornado touched down in east Massapequa early Friday afternoon, the National Weather Service confirmed. The F-0 tornado knocked out power, uprooted trees and smashed cars, but no injuries were reported.

Long Island Rail Road trains were delayed for some time because trees fell across the tracks and the twister touched down as severe thunderstorms swept through the Tri-State area, flooding roads and causing transit delays.

Heavy downpours caused residential roads to flood in areas of Long Island. The hardest-hit areas were Gilmore and Marsalis streets as well as Hillside and Liberty streets.

...continues with the UK here.

[the coming oil disaster] petron is doing everything possible

I’m just reading the latest Underwater Times article about the Solar 1, still lying on the seabed, still rusting, still with 450 000 gallons of oil ready to spill. Just skimming down looking for Petron’s plan to raise the tanker and prevent the ecological disaster:

"For us, it's a moral responsibility to help the people clean up the oil spill," said Peter Paul Shotwell, Petron's supply operations and planning manager.

Shotwell said a team from a Japanese firm, Fukuda Salvage and Marine Works, is due to arrive in Guimaras on Saturday or Sunday to retrieve the sunken ship, motor tanker Solar I. He said the team has already left Japan.

Shotwell said the firm will be bringing in a vessel, Shinsei Maru, which is equipped with a remote operated vehicle that can search the seabed down to 2,000 meters and take photos to determine the ship's condition underwater.

That’s a start.

"That's part of our commitment," said Shotwell, referring to the cleanup and subsequent rehabilitation of areas that have been affected. "Petron is coordinating with Siliman University (SU), University of the Visayas (UV), and World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and they are giving us some help" in the development of a long-term rehabilitation plan. He hoped that the cleanup would be finished in 45 days."

Petron officials are "to provide protective measures to prevent the oil spill from reaching the other shorelines that are threatened.

Yes, fine but isn't the tanker the main priority now?

[presidential election looms] vive la nouvelle france!

Good article from The Age, abridged here:

What is France’s place in the world? Can it keep its character and difference, or will it be overwhelmed by globalisation?

President Jacques Chirac's decision on Thursday to commit 2000 troops to the Lebanon peacekeeping force was also about national identity: France's standing on the world stage.

Last year's riots in poor suburbs, the failure to win the 2012 Olympics, France's catastrophic loss of primacy within the European Union after its voters rejected the European Constitution in a referendum in May 2005, the end of labour market reform and the presidential hopes of Dominique de Villepin] have not been good for French pride.

As people return to work after the long summer break, the country enters the last nine months before the presidential election in May. Some commentators say the nation's future hangs on the result.

Full text here.

[russia] putin was right to imprison khodorkovsky

You could be forgiven for looking at the smartly attired, well groomed Mikhail Borisovich Khodorkovsky and thinking butter wouldn’t melt in his mouth. In fact, there is ample evidence that he had plans to establish a parliamentary republic in Russia and who could possibly be the leader of that republic?

President Putin accused Khodorkovsky of accumulating enormous amounts of oil reserves and yet not contributing to the state, through the vehicle of taxation. Of course this was par for the course with such oligarchs, as long as they were onside with the administration.

In other words - onside with the stable governance of Russia. Because, whatever your personal opinion, Putin and the Duma are the state. But Mikhail Borisovich was a driven man. Or rather, he’d had the sniff of power and threatened to take Russia back to the lawlessness of Berezovsky and Co.

Full text here.