[wef] seeking solutions for that which attendees engendered

The news said:

Concerns about global warming and resolving tensions in the Middle East are set to dominate the agenda of the World Economic Forum's annual meeting this week, with a lack of snow in the tiny mountain community of Davos a stark reminder of the warm weather.

About 2,500 business and political leaders are set to meet, beginning today, for the annual meeting of the minds to talk politics, economics and social issues in an atmosphere aimed at finding long-term solutions instead of quick fixes.

"We are getting huge demand from our members to place climate change and issues of environmental security at the very heart of the program of the World Economic Forum," said Dominic Waughray, head of environmental initiatives for the WEF.

Ha! Was there ever a more cynical exercise? Being integrally involved in the onset of both, within other fora, little wonder attendees are going to 'seek long-term solutions’. Dear, dear, tut, tut, they might as well say. What a terrible state of affairs we and those we've succeeded have collectively brought about since World War II.

[blogfocus tuesday] potpourri of the strange and the not so strange

1 First up is a very worthy cause which I’m hoping you’ll all support just a little. Jeremy Jacobs' tragedy led to him dedicating himself to the cause of Breast Cancer ever since. He’s about to embark on a trek which is explained below and naturally needs funds for the Breast Cancer Campaign.

I'm receiving a few e-mails and hits concerning my Trek next month. For those of you who would like to donate to Breast Cancer Campaign, you're able to do so on-line here. If you would like to send me a cheque, then please drop me an e-mail to jeremyATjeremyjacobsDOTcom or call +44(0)8453 31 31 71.

Please pause a moment and drop him a line or click on the link. It's for a very worthy cause.

2 Ballpoint Wren takes us to the domestic world of bulldog cleaning kits:

I don’t think anybody except a bulldog owner understands the stuff you’ve got to do to keep the little guy clean and sweet. In our case, we’ve got a “Bulldog Kit” in our family room: a basket filled with stuff like cotton swabs and pads, nail clippers, hydrogen peroxide, ear cleaner, wrinkle cleaner, and a certain secret weapon which makes its debut in this comic. Although any brand of this particular product will do, I very much enjoy the name of this one. Yes, it really does exist, too. It works great on both ends.

3 Cleanthes has a sure fire way of getting out of bed each morning but not necessarily at one with the world:

Mrs Cleanthes will be the first to agree that I am not “a morning person”. It is in this context that the Radio 4 Today programme appears to display its only redeeming feature - its ability to get me out of bed. A few minutes of the staggeringly inept Carolyn Quinn or that impossibly arrogant toad, Humphries, and I leap into action, figure wagging admonishingly in the general direction of White City. If anyone were to find a way of converting invective into usable, transmissable energy, in a sort of grown-up allegory of Monsters Inc., Humphries et al would indeed have a claim to be saving the planet.

Eleven more bloggers plus the Mystery Blogger here.

[history] can’t fathom vorty, freddy and harry

This is the sort of day when a man’s mind naturally turns to questions such as:

1] Whatever possessed Vorty to invite Hengy and a bunch of savage Saxons over for tea and cocktails in the first place? What, in that miniscule mind of his, did he possibly think was going to be the outcome of Saxon ‘assistance’ in his Pict and Irish campaigns?

“Er, right, well that’s that done. We’ll be getting back to Saxony if you don’t mind, Vorty. I think we might have left the cakes on the hearth, tell the truth. Thanks for the beers.”

2] While we’re at it, what possessed that Athelney woodcutter’s wife to even think Freddy was going to attend to supper on the hearth when he had things like saving Wessex and driving back the Danes swirling around his noodle at the time? Didn’t she notice his distant, semi-detached look as he cupped his chin in his hands and brooded?

Didn’t it dawn on her that she had an undomesticated, unreconstructed king type person on her hands? And why cakes, when a good hunk of beef and bread and a vat of wine would seem to have been more to the immediate purpose? And did she think a bit of scolding was going to endear herself to him?

3] And whatever possessed Harry, the second of that moniker, to allow the fyrd to go back to their farms, just when Will the Con, Harry the Hard Man and Tosser were getting ready to come over and pay a visit? I mean, surely Harry was King, wasn’t he?

I know that this was actually the point at issue and that he was excommunicated for cheating and that Haley’s Comet had appeared but still. Why didn’t he just go and get them again and if they kicked up a fuss, tell them: “You ignorant prats. We got bovva, so get your gear, get in line and come down to Hastings with me and you can go home next week, orright? Otherwise there ain’t gonna be a next week, you go’ it?”

You’d agree that these are pretty vital questions to mull over with our beef, bread and vino this evening?

[russian brains] why do they never learn

Strange brains, the Russians. Last evening, the television was full of heavy snow four hundred kilometres to our west, cars stalled, bogged, crashes everywhere, following the week or so of awful rainy, sleety, drizzly British weather.

Everyone knows that this town’s weather comes to us next day. So what do we find? An eleven [11] car pile up on the pontoon bridge, cars travelling within a metre of each other at about 80kph on a slippery road. Really wise. Naturally, this occurred at peak hour and the tailbacks were unbelievable. Ambulance, police, the whole works.

Plus, the atmosphere is such today that everyone’s really, really knackered and dragging his and her feet about, making errors, myself included and there’ll be a lot of people getting an early night tonight, again myself included. Thank goodness the Focus is ready.

Quick check of the thermometer and this is more like it – minus eight and supposedly dropping to minus fifteen overnight. Lovely night for toasting marshmallows, cuddling up with one’s sweety – that sort of thing.

[blogfocus tuesday] to go out this evening at 19:00, london time

I’m putting out the Focus earlier this evening because: 1] it’s ready; 2] I’m dog tired and am already falling asleep. The e-mail notifications might take until tomorrow morning, sorry.

Hope you enjoy this evening’s edition.

[china] tigers on the brink of extinction

Should large cats like this be kept in captivity?

"China was once home to a large Siberian tiger population, but rapid growth and a demand for animal parts has pushed the tiger to the brink of extinction. Growing up to three metres long and weighing just under half a tonne, the relentless search for food has given Siberian Tigers a reputation as one of nature's most vicious killers."

The problem is a combination of booming and rapidly expanding cities squeezing the tigers’ natural habitat, plus the market in tiger parts. As the dragon looms large, the tiger unfortunately diminishes. The government has taken some measures but it’s hard to see the process reversed or even halted and naturally, western pressure would have no effect.

It seems that unless some are bred in captivity, the species will perish. Wish raises the question asked at the beginning of the article: ‘Should large cats like this be kept in captivity?’