Adobe Photoshop CS2 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Photomontage - Composite of 16 different photos which have been digitally manipulated to give the impression that it is a real landscape. Software used: Adobe Photoshop (Photo credit: Wikipedia)finance
Syria cut off from global Internet
global Internet companies say that Syria has been disconnected from "Internet communication with the rest of the world."
What Photoshop's Move to the Cloud Actually Means for You
Adobe Photoshop, along with all other Creative Suite
applications, just made a move to the cloud. Adobe decided to
discontinue software you can actually buy so they can force you to rent
the applications for a monthly fee. This change comes with a number of
problems but also some advantages. Here's what the change means to
you.Read more...
Sex crimes soar in US military
According to new Pentagon report, 6.1 percent of active duty women say they experienced unwanted sexual contact in 2012.
blogger-following
Dilbert, Skynet and the latest from the transparency front
Scott Adams (of Dilbert fame) and I have both agreed and
disagreed about transparency, for years. In his posting, Crime and
Privacy, he has opined, for example, that "Ironically, the more the
government clamps down on individual privacy, the more freedom the
residents will have. When the government can detect every sort of crime,
it will be forced by public opinion and by resource constraints to l
Reminder About SC's 100% Unverifiable Colbert Busch/Sanford U.S. House Special Election
At the beginning of last month, The BRAD BLOG explained in detail
why it was that, no matter who South Carolina's 100% unverifiable
touch-screen voting systems declare to be the winner of tomorrow's
special election for the U.S. House, there is virtually nothing that
either supporters of Elizabeth Colbert Busch (D) or of former Gov. Mark
Sanford (R), can do about it.
If there are questions about t
The worlds biggest solar PV seller was worth $13bn: now bankrupt
How is the hallowed Green tech industry working out for China?
Not so well. Shi Zhengrong was called a “hero of the environment” by
Time Magazine. He was a billionaire who ran the worlds largest seller of
solar PV cells. But the glory days of 2008 – 2011 are gone. Another
bubble bursts. Wiped out in two years. How fast was this fall? Chinese
solar panel maker Suntech flames out By Steven Mufson,
The EnvironmentaList 27 unread articles // actions
If We Could Fix Climate Change With a Flick of a Switch, Will It be More Palatable to Conservatives?
Geoengineering might get more conservatives to believe in global warming – and I’m not sure that’s a good thing
Northern California Students Call for Freedom From Fossil Fuels
Political support for divestment grows as more campuses and cities join the movement
40 US Mines are Causing Water Pollution that Will Last for Centuries, Says New Report
Water treatment for these mines could cost as much as $67 billion per year
Plans for Deep Sea Salmon Farm in Ireland’s Galway Bay Run Into Troubled Waters
Environmentalists and local fishermen concerned that sea lice from farm will harm wild salmon and trout populations
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The Corbett Report 26 unread articles // actions
Interview 657 – Radio Liberty: Diversify, Diversify, Diversify
In this week’s appearance on Radio Liberty, James and Dr. Stan
discuss a range of issues, from the rebound in the gold markets over the
past month to the illusory S&P 500 run-up to the statistical
manipulation at the heart of the so-called recovery. They also take
listener calls on a range of economic and geopolitical issues.
Defense Against the Psychopath – Stefan Verstappen on GRTV
As more and more studies demonstrating the corrosive effect of
psychopathy on government, finance, and business emerge, researchers
have begun to explore how our society itself has been molded in the
psychopaths’ image. Now, one of those researchers, Stefan Verstappen of
ChinaStrategies.com, shares his insights on psychopathy in modern
culture.
Interview 656 – James Corbett on the Boston Bombing and “Conspiracy Theories”
In this interview recorded on April 25, 2013, Pippa Jones of
iTalkFM 97.1 in Gibraltar talks to James Corbett about the Boston
bombings, the conspiracy paradigm, and how people are being divided and
ruled via events like these.
It’s A Boy!
See you in May…
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INFRASTRUCTURIST 5 unread articles // actions
Five Reasons Electric Cars Will Have Trouble Catching On
With the Chevy Volt and the Nissan Leaf set to hit the
streets very soon, and the Ford Focus Electric now scheduled to
appear late next year, many people are asking whether Americans are
ready to embrace electric cars. Some clearly are: GE already declared
its intention to buy 25,000 EVs(including 12,000 Volts). But many
believe the masses won’t be moving [...]
How Cul-de-Sacs Are Killing Your Community
The Harvard Business Review has a piece this month on research by
Lawrence Frank, Bombardier Chair in Sustainable Transportation at the
University of British Columbia, on the effects of cul-de-sacs in
neighborhoods in King County, Washington. He found that residents in
areas with the most interconnected streets travel 26% fewer miles by
automobile than those in areas [...]
How Much Gas Does Your State Use Per Person?
Your ads will be inserted here byGoogle AdSense.Please go to the
plugin admin page to set up your ad code. Now I know how can I pass a
drug test. CLICK TO ENLARGE While states with the highest populations
unsurprisingly tend to use the most gas, the real fuel efficiency
picture comes when you examine [...]
How Often Is the Gas Tax Raised? Most Americans Have No Clue
The federal gas tax. It needs to be raised. We’ve hammered this
point home enough. Our infrastructure needs help, and that help involves
money, and that money has to come from somewhere. Politicians know
this. But they won’t touch the gas tax with a ten-foot pole. Why not?
Because come election time, no one wants to [...]
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Syria Comment 7 unread articles // actions
Major salafi faction criticizes Jabhat al-Nosra
by Aron Lund for Syria Comment
The Islamic Ahrar al-Sham Movement, which is the leading faction of the
Syrian Islamic Front (SIF) and probably the biggest salafi group in
Syria, has issued a statement about Jabhat al-Nosra’s recent declaration
of allegiance to al-Qaida’s Ayman al-Zawahiri. The Ahrar al-Sham
statement is available in Arabic on Aaron Zelin’s Jihadology, always the
go-to place for so
Should the US Intervene? And Listener Responses – Positive and Negative
This hour, On Point: NPR – the U.S. and the red line. Should the US
intervene?
Guests
Anne Barnard, Middle East reporter for the New York Times.
(@abarnardnyt)
Joshua Landis, director of the Center for Middle East Studies at the
University of Oklahoma. Blogs at “Syria Comment.” (@joshua_landis)
Shadi Hamid, director of research at the Brookings Doha Center and a
fellow at the Saban Center for Mi
Oil Wars—Nusra’s Expanding Reach—Syrian Taliban
By Matthew Barber and the Syria Video team
This long post contains the following sections:
The Defectors Defect
Will EU Oil Purchases Finance al-Qaida?
Al-Musareb: Al-Nusra Punishes a Village Regime-Style
Syrian Taliban
The Opposition’s Ambivalent Response to al-Nusra’s Affiliation with
al-Qaida (and the Plan to Introduce an Alternative Islamic Law in Syria)
Jabhat al-Nusra is Now an Iraq-to-Leba
Buffer Zones: Can They Help?
Israeli buffer zone inside Syria considered by Netanyahu
Buffer Zones have become the topic de jour in Washington DC. For some
time, the language used in the White House to frame the Syria problem
has been that of containment. Here are some of the oft repeated phrases I
have been hearing from White House insiders:
“Keep the violence inside Syria
“Cauterize”
“Prepare for Syrian failure”
“Shore up
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Phronesisaical 4 unread articles // actions
Syria’s chemical weapons pose a decade-long problem for the world
That's the title of another op-ed from me and Aaron Stein at the Globe and Mail.
Bits and Pieces - April 29, 2013
Too much stuff happening.Jared Bernstein is collecting news
stories about the damage being done by the sequester. Here's this week's
collection.Why didn't 2,400 tons of ammonium nitrate at West plant
raise concerns?The blunt logic of Russian power.Forgiveness and
reconciliation need to factor into many more international
situations.Richard Haass: How to build a second American century.
Bits and Pieces - April 28, 2013
Bush and the West explosion: the untold story of deregulating
chemical plantsCharlie Stross changes his mind on nuclear
disarmament.What we need to know about Syrian chemical weapons (by me)
Bits and Pieces - April 17, 2013
This is pretty interesting. Global Military Spending Falls For
First Time Since 1998. Except in the United States. Check out this chart
showing relative spending by country.Every war must end.
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ProgressiveIslam.Org 5 unread articles // actions
Как правильно спланировать все ремонтные работы в ванной комнаты?
Каждый раз, когда мы пишем о ремонте, мы упоминаем о том, что
перед непосредственным его началом необходимо составить детальный план
выполнения всех работ. Сделав это, Вы сможете рассчитать время, которое
потребуется на проведение работ, деньги, которые придется потратить, и,
конечно же, Вы ничего не пропустите и не забудете.
Как правильно нанять ремонтную бригаду?
Ремонт – процесс не простой, который требует спокойствия, знания,
и денежных вложений. Как показывает жизненный опыт, далеко не каждый из
нас может заниматься этим делом. Есть люди, у которых как говорится и
душа и тело лежит к такому роду мероприятиям, а есть и наоборот.
Межкомнатные двери от производителя – один из способов сэкономит на ремонте
Перед тем как начинать делать капитальный ремонт, необходимо всё
внимательно и тщательно продумать, начиная от того какие работы Вы
будете делать и, заканчивая тем, какие материалы будут принимать участие
в капитальном ремонте. Продумав это всё, а ещё и записав всё на лист
бумаги, Вы сможете осуществить весь ремонт.
Трубопроводная арматура
В начале этой статьи хотелось бы сказать, что трубопровод – это
не только одни трубы.Современная схема создания трубопроводов требует не
только использования труб, но и применения специального оборудования,
которое будет предназначаться для поддержки потока воды.
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ArmsControlWonk 13 unread articles // actions
Anon O’Moose on Missile Defense
One of our more engaged commentators sent along the following
open letter to Representative Michael Turner (R-OH), commenting on some
of the more interesting statements in his latest letter to the President
Barack Obama. He chose the nom de plume Anon O’Moose.
An Open Letter to Mr Turner, a Representative from Ohio
As an American taxpayer with engineering expertise in and historic
experience with
ROK 123 Extension
Over at our Proliferation Prevention Program blog, you can see
what my boss and I wrote regarding “The Dog That Didn’t Bark: Peaceful
Nuclear Cooperation at the US-ROK May 2013 Presidential Summit.”
The first result of the decision to delay for most in my former line of
work is likely to be relief. But two years is not that far away. And
in terms of difficulty, may not be enough time to agree on
FYRP: The Price of Doing Business
After a brief (SAT-induced) hiatus, it has returned!
Washington Examiner | Congressmen Doug Lamborn and Trent Franks give us
their views on President Obama’s missile defense plans. Space-based
interceptors are still needed, they say. How much that would cost?
And how practical that would be?
Lobe Log | Usha Sahay discusses the differences between Iran and North
Korea. With roads like these, how
Shyam Saran on India’s Nuclear Deterrent
Update | May 7. Here is the full text of the speech.
On April 24th, the Chairman of India’s National Security Advisory Board,
Shyam Saran, delivered an important address in New Delhi affirming the
credibility of India’s nuclear deterrent. Mr. Saran has over two decades
of close engagement on strategic matters, including time spent as
Foreign Secretary and Special Envoy dealing with the US-India ci
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They gave us a republic... - Front Page 17 unread articles // actions
Rep. Luis V. Gutierrez (D): Q and A - Immigration town hall in Kansas City - May 4, 2013
Previously:
Rep. Luis V. Gutierrez (D): Immigration town hall in Kansas City - May 4, 2013 (May 5, 2013)
Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D): Immigration town hall in Kansas City - May 4, 2013 (May 5, 2013)
Representative Luis V. Gutierrez (D) at Representative Emanuel Cleaver's (D) immigration town hall
on the campus of MCC-Penn Valley in Kansas City on May 4, 2013.
Representative Emanuel Cleaver (D) spons
Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D): Immigration town hall in Kansas City - May 4, 2013
"....And when I say courage, uh, what the point he was trying to
make is, look, uh, we're moving too slow. We're moving too slow. And
there's no such thing as it takes time. The people who say it takes time
are the people who's rights are not in question...."
Previously:
Rep. Luis V. Gutierrez (D): Immigration town hall in Kansas City - May
4, 2013 (May 5, 2013)
Representative Emanuel Cleaver (D)
Minority Rules
By @TedFrier
In the bookcase in my office are 100 or so volumes on history,
economics, political philosophy and current events that I've read over
the years during my train-ride commutes back and forth from Boston -- a
replica collection at my home that caused my mother, on first seeing its
titles, to exclaim: "There ain't nothing fun in here!"
All too true. But there's a very good question I've b
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In These Times 38 unread articles // actions
The Gumby Act: The Republican Plan to Bend Workers Into Pretzels
A century ago, workers were a lot more “flexible” than they are now.
Veritable Gumbies in the mills and mines and factories they were,
distorting their lives to slog 10 or 12 hours a day, for six—even
seven—days a week.
Then came the 40-hour week. And weekends. And eventually sick days. And
paid vacation days. Now, bosses at mills and mines and factories regard
these rules as coddling and beli
Harold Washington and the Elephant in the Room
Thirty years ago, half of Chicago—51.7 percent, to be exact—erupted
with jubilation. After two previous unsuccessful runs and despite the
most ardent efforts of many, Harold Washington was elected mayor.
Although today many take the victory for granted, citing the dynamism of
the man and the movement, only days before the election the contest
hung in the balance, and many who were at the center
How Breaking News Broke in Boston
In September, Gallup reported that distrust of the news media had hit a
new high, with 60 percent of respondents saying they had “not very
much” or no trust in the news. The recent coverage of the Boston
bombings will hardly help. The whole event has raised serious questions
about how speculation—some of it quite pernicious—has come to infect the
news media. The New York Post’s screaming headlin
The Next Chavez?
The most important number to come out of April’s disputed Venezuelan
election is not Nicolás Maduro’s margin of victory (1.5 or 1.8 percent,
depending on who you ask). Forget, too, the 3,200 electoral
irregularities alleged by opposition candidate Henrique Capriles.
The figure that should be weighing on everyone is 645,000—the number of
voters, roughly, who switched sides, giving their vote to
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Obsolete 20 unread articles // actions
Cameron: a hostage to fortune.
Although it feels like aeons ago, it was only back in January
that David Cameron delivered his Bloomberg speech, pledging an in/out
referendum on EU membership should his party win the next election. At
the time it must have seemed a good idea, and initially it looked like
it had had its desired effect: his restive backbenchers cheered him to
the rafters, it seemed to have trapped Labour, and sure
The Sun ain't gonna shine (anymore).
If you're ever in need of a good laugh, and happen to share my
often bizarre sense of humour, you can't really go wrong with recalling
the very first editorial published in the Sun following Murdoch's
takeover. We will be politically independent it said, amongst other
highly amusing statements of how it meant to go on ("the new Sun will be
the paper that CARES ... about truth, beauty and justice",
We might deserve it, but we're not complicit.
One of the arguments made in the aftermath of the extent of the
phone hacking at the News of the World becoming clear was that, to a
certain extent, those who had bought the newspaper or tabloids and
gossip rags in general had in some way contributed to the pressure on
journalists to do whatever it took to uncover new scandals or affairs.
It's not an argument that can be completely dismissed,
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Hatewatch | Southern Poverty Law Center 10 unread articles // actions
Reported Minnesota Militia Member Arrested in Terror Plot
A 24-year-old Minnesota man with ties to an antigovernment
militia group is under arrest for what now appears to be a plot to bomb a
local police department.
Buford “Bucky” Rogers, of Montevideo, Minn., only has been charged with
being a felon in possession of a firearm, but other federal charges –
and possibly other arrests [...]
Religious Right Hurls False Accusations at SPLC
They just can’t stop lying. They claim to represent Christianity
and the celestial love for mankind that Christ embodied, but when it
comes to whomever they regard as their enemies here on planet Earth, the
crudest of libels will do.
The latest example of the religious right’s endless series of
falsifications, slanders and baseless demonizations came [...]
Oath Keepers ‘Patriot’ Group May Sponsor NASCAR Prince
Jeffrey Earnhardt, a young prince of one of NASCAR’s royal
families, and the Oath Keepers, a conspiracy-spinning
“Constitutionalist” group, are joining forces for an upcoming race that
“could help make Oath Keepers a household name.”
At least that’s the pitch – and the hope – of the Oath Keepers founder,
Stewart Rhodes, as he tries to [...]
Ron Paul’s New Organization Reportedly Stacked with Extremists
Ron Paul, the libertarian former Texas congressman whose
hard-line views are widely admired on the radical right but who claims
to reject racism, has started a new organization stacked with a
hodgepodge of far-right extremists.
As The Daily Beast reported yesterday, the Ron Paul Institute for Peace
and Prosperity is ostensibly designed to promote a discourse [...]
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NolanChart.com 21 unread articles // actions
Europe and the US in the 21st Century
by Mark Vogl: Why is it so hard to shake off the Cold War
psychology in International relations? Is globalism &
anti-nationalism the problem?
Another move to banish God, this time in the U. S. Armed Forces
by Mark Vogl: Will Christians serving see the administration's
most recent move as reason to leave? Will Christians turn from
enlistment?
The Diabolical Plot of "Compact For America"
by Bill Walker: This article discusses Compact For America and why it is such a danger to America
Get that Sequestration Spirit... first step to fix America!
by Mark Vogl: We need a new a political party that is
comfortable with cutting departments in the federal government and
understand the word republic.
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WWF - Latest News 19 unread articles // actions
Alert: Poachers enter unique elephant habitat
Poachers have entered one of Africa's most unique elephant
habitats on Monday, threatening to cause one of the biggest elephant
massacres in the region since poachers killed at least 300 elephants for
their ivory in Cameroon's Bouba N'Djida National Park in February
2012.According to WWF sources, a group of 17 armed individuals on Monday
entered the Dzanga-Ndoki National Park and headed for the Dz
Climate Change milestone demands shift to renewable energy
The need to shift to sustainable and clean energy sources will be
reinforced when the levels of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere
reached 400 parts per million (ppm) for the first time in human history
in the next few days.Scientists from the Mauna Loa Observatory in
Hawaii, are set to announce that levels of atmospheric CO2 are reaching
400ppm now, marking a critical point on the pathway to
New forest loss figures highlight need for green growth in the Greater Mekong
Bangkok, Thailand: The Greater Mekong subregion in Southeast Asia
risks losing more than a third of its remaining forest cover within the
next two decades if regional governments fail to boost protection,
value and restore natural capital, and embrace green growth, warns a new
WWF report. WWF's analysis reveals the Greater Mekong has retained
about 98 million hectares of natural forest, just over
Tuna on the move on World Tuna Day!
Mindoro Occidental, Philippines: The movements of four mighty
swimmers named Amihan, Badjao, Hagibis, and Buhawi, can now be followed
as they go about their business in the Coral Triangle. These four adult
yellowfin tuna have satellite tags attached that are providing some
interesting information about their movements through the ocean. "The
data we have gathered so far reveal that tuna movements
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Craig Murray 26 unread articles // actions
Lawson: The Banker’s Poison is Out
It is the bankers who pay the rat Lawson who want London as an
offshore money-laundering centre outside the EU. This is what Lawson
said about the EU today:
“Economic disadvantages are much greater than the advantages. In
particular – it is not the only thing, but in particular – the attempt
to overregulate and to cut down to size the financial services sector,
banking and financial services inc
Lynne Stewart – Last Chance for Compassionate Release
In the same week that the Obama administration decided there
would be no prosecutions of Bush acolytes for torture and extraordinary
rendition, they also agreed to go ahead with a move to increase the jail
sentence of civil rights lawyer Lynne Stewart. In July 2010 they
succeeded in getting her sentence increased from 28 months to ten years.
Lynne Stewart’s “crime” was to pass a message from one
Killing Syrians – A Game Anyone Can Play
Israel’s massive air strikes against Syria are, beyond argument,
illegal. There is no provision in international law that enables you to
bomb another country because that country is in internal chaos. Yet
the reporting on the BBC, and indeed throughout the mainstream media,
makes no mention of their illegality, and makes no mention of the people
killed. Contrast this to the condemnatory tone of
Political Rape
Nigel Evans is fully entitled to the presumption of innocence;
and the media seem more inclined to give it to him than they did to
Malcolm Blackman, linked to Anonymous. In this particularly disgusting
piece of journalism by Paul Cheston of the Evening Standard, the
vicious liar who brought false accusations against Blackman is referred
to as “the victim” – not even the alleged victim, but “the
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Centauri Dreams 19 unread articles // actions
Update on Starship Century Symposium
We had a successful launch last night of the ESTCube-1 satellite
from Kourou, about which more tomorrow when I’ll be talking about
electric sails and their uses both interplanetary and interstellar. But
this morning, with the Starship Century Symposium rapidly approaching, I
wanted to run this overview, which corrects and updates several things
in the post I published a couple of weeks ago. Seats
Robert Goddard’s Interstellar Migration
Astronautics pioneer Robert H. Goddard is usually thought of in
connection with liquid fuel rockets. It was his test flight of such a
rocket in March of 1926 that demonstrated a principle he had been
working on since patenting two concepts for future engines, one a liquid
fuel design, the other a staged rocket using solid fuels. “A Method of
Reaching Extreme Altitudes,” published in 1920, was a tr
Starship Musings: Warping to the Stars
by Kelvin F.Long
The executive director of the Institute for Interstellar Studies here
gives us his thoughts on Star Trek and the designing of starships, with
special reference to Enrico Fermi. Kelvin is also Chief Editor for the
Journal of the British Interplanetary Society, whose latest conference
is coming up. You’ll find a poster for the Philosophy of the Starship
conference at the end of this
Stars for JWST
Red dwarfs or brown? The question relates to finding targets as
the James Webb Space Telescope gets closer to launch. We’re going to
want to have a well defined target list so that the JWST can be put to
work right away, and part of that effort means finding candidate planets
the telescope can probe. Yesterday’s white paper on a proposed search
for brown dwarfs using the Spitzer Space Telescope li
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Politicol News 35 unread articles // actions
Highlights of the GOP NRA Gun Freak Show
The NRA Freak Show Gun Convention highlights, Glenn Beck, Sarah
Palin, Ted Cruz and how to shoot the image of the President makes people
love you more.
Ohio Police Shot At With An AK-47 Rifle by Motorist
Wild Shooting in Middlefield, Ohio when a motorist who ran a
light open fired at a police car with an AK-47 Rifle shooting 37 rounds
before officers shot James Gilkerson dead.
Zero Tolerance for Sweat Shops That Must Be Closed Down
Consumer choices can change quickly for no tolerance of Sweat
Shop factories that cost workers their lives, social media is outraged
after Bangladesh building collapse kills over 420 workers.
Consumers Avoiding Sweat Shop Clothes Will Save Lives
Consumer activism on Sweat Shop Labor that led to several major
factory accidents causing death, brands are encouraged to sign safety
agreement with offshore sweat shops.
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(title unknown) 13 unread articles // actions
2 Black Men vs 1 Black Woman
The significance of Barack Obama and Eric Holder placing Assata
Shakur on the FBI “Most Wanted Terroist List”, with the likes of Al
Qaeda’s number two leader Ayman al-Zawahiri (I guess now number one
since Bin Ladin’s death), the ONLY (black) female on this list, is and
will be lost on most African-Americans. These two “Black” men are
sending a signal to their “White” masters that they not only re
“Mrs. Gbagbo indictment long overdue” by Nkwazi Mhango
News that the International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued an arrest
warrant for Simone Gbagbo (63), the wife of former Ivorian president
Laurent Gbagbo, charged with committing crimes against humanity is a
welcome.
Mrs. Gbagbo and her husband were dug out of the bunker by UN and French
forces who assaulted their residence in April 2011 after a five month
standoff that left the country paralyzed
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red 29 unread articles // actions
Just Another Sunday, Here At The Manor
Filed under: Animal Matters, Cineman, Sunday Services
Heave Ho
I have not watched what they put on the television for more than
25 years.
As I’ve said here before, when they started using Beethoven’s “Ode To
Joy” to push dishwashing detergent, that was it for me.
Cable TV, that I abandoned some years before. Of the broadcast variety,
it is true that, from time to time, over that quarter-century or so, I
might now and again tune in the news, national or local.
Let There Be Life
(Somehow May Day has come and gone. How did this happen? Who are
these time bandits, who gallop around with the hours and the days, so
that I don’t notice that they’re passing? Oh well. Belatedly, here’s a
May Day something from three years ago.)
Millennia before the political people got hold of it, May Day was for
lovers.
Equidistant between the Vernal Equinox and the Summer Solstice, arrived
tha
Orwell Contemplates Starting A New Religion
(In which, by popular request, we revive the fabled Orwell
series.)
∞
Unless the India Office takes steps to prevent it, I am in all
probability going to India for about a year quite shortly. It is a
frightful bore and I have seldom wanted to do anything less, but I feel
that it is an opportunity to see interesting things and that I should
afterwards curse myself if I didn’t go. I wish it didn’t c
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The Arabist 46 unread articles // actions
Further reading on Salafi attitudes to greetings on non-Muslim holidays
Since we recently discussed the phenomenon of Muslim Brotherhood
and Salafi preachers warning their followers against wishing Coptic
Christians a happy Easter, some reading I did yesterday may shed some
light on the matter. It's from a book of essays called Global Salafism
edited by Roel Meijer that contains contributions by many leading
experts on the subject — Stephane Lacroix and Bernard Heykal
On the Ultras Nahdawi
Kelby Olson, writing for Muftah: Ultras Nahdawi was formed in
April 2012 by the Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party to
rally support both for the party’s platform, the Nahda Project, and
President Morsi’s presidential campaign last year.Like the original
Ultras, Ultras Nahdawi use high energy, coordinated chants to convey
their message. They also produce videos featuring pro-Muslim Brot
New sectarian fault lines drawn in Egypt
Don't get this logic from the Brotherhood:The Salafist Front
asked President Morsi to consult with Muslim scholars before attending
the Easter mass, and banned its own officials from acknowledging the
Coptic Easter holiday. Muslim Brotherhood Guidance Office member Mufti
Abdel Raham al-Barr, who is also a professor in the Al-Azhar University,
said that congratulating the Copts on the Orthodox East
A day at the gun market
Nour the intrepid intern writes in:Lately, I have been taking a
lot of taxis. Naturally, that means hearing unsolicited political
opinions, life lessons, and impromptu stories about women who match my
exact physical description and share my sense of style (and, sometimes,
my name) getting mugged, raped or murdered, in the hope of scaring me
into begging them to my full-time driver and shield of pr
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Obsidian Wings 17 unread articles // actions
The split mission and split personality of the MPAA movie ratings
by Doctor Science
This Film Is Not Yet Rated does a great job of exposing many of the deep
problems with the movie industry's MPAA ratings, but I think it
overlooks a big one. It seems to me that the movie ratings board hands
out R and NC-17 ratings based on two general factors: how much they
dislike the violence, and how much they like the sex. Just as
pornography has been defined as "what turns
A Golden Week Friday-ish Game of Kings open thread
by liberal japonicus
We are coming up on the Japanese holiday period known as Golden Week.
Which, being Japanese, is not really a week. Though I'm not a stickler
for words keeping their god-given meaning, of course, I would prefer the
translation of Ogata Renkyu. ('Have a nice Large Scale Holiday!'), but
when I try it out on my students, it doesn't seem to work.
Still, a holiday is
Fanvids are emotional bouillon cubes
by Doctor Science
Since my mind has been desperately distracted by the following fanvid, I
am going to share it with you!
Direct YouTube link.
"Starships", by bironic. Music by Nicki Minaj. Lyrics may be NSFW;
singing along loudly with them is *definitely* NSFW. And you may be
tempted; I certainly am.
I'm working on a post about the Star Trek reboots, was reminded of this
vid (which I saw wh
And one steps out
by liberal japonicus
Didn't post an open thread, as I thought Ugh and Dr. Science had things
covered. But NBA center Jason Collins piece in SI seems to be something
that you should read if you haven't and you might want to talk about if
you have.
Some people insist they've never met a gay person. But Three Degrees of
Jason Collins dictates that no NBA player can claim that anymore. Pr
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