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Google Chrome OSIt works but slowly. Definitely alpha level of development. graham November 21, 2009 - 6:15am
( categories: Miscellany | Review (book, film, etc.) )
18,000 miles to Washington Mike Shepard |Washington Post Staff Writer |November 20 Dressed in a battered black leather jacket and scuffed black jeans, he told consular officials an almost unbelievable story -- that he had just ridden his motorcycle from his home town in southern Brazil to Washington, a monumental, 18,000-mile quest for official recognition of his life's proudest work, a vehicle accessory he says he invented. graham November 21, 2009 - 3:17am
( categories: Miscellany )
UK universal childrens day sees Atheist campaign on billboards
"Nobody would seriously describe a tiny child as a 'Marxist child' or an 'Anarchist child' or a 'Post-modernist child'. Yet children are routinely labelled with the religion of their parents. Guardian graham November 20, 2009 - 6:51am
Stop a moment and enjoy some spectacular photographygraham November 20, 2009 - 4:07am
( categories: Miscellany )
Covering Mexico's cartel wars puts journalists in the line of fireCNN - The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists reports that 26 journalists have been killed since 2005 in Mexico -- most of them while covering the crime or corruption beats. By comparison, 10 journalists were killed in the same time period while covering the war in Afghanistan. graham November 20, 2009 - 3:17am
( categories: Mexico )
"Catastrophic Bush Fire Warning"For the second day in a row, the new bushfire warning system has been implemented down under. graham November 19, 2009 - 6:54am
( categories: Miscellany )
"suicide is painless"A familiar anthem to many. And an anthem that has permeated the armed forces possibly. News of the urgent review broke as the Pentagon revealed that soldier suicides this year would set another record. Last week, 13 people were killed at Fort Hood in Texas when an army psychiatrist allegedly opened fire. graham November 18, 2009 - 7:52am
( categories: USA: Armed Forces )
A cultural questionI have been reading The Habit of Being: Letters of Flannery O’Connor written over half a century ago, and have been continually struck by Flannery's use of the word nigger in a matter of fact way with no apparent underlying hint of racial bigotry. I grew up in Australia in the late '60's and '70's and was educated to understand that nigger was a racist term used by 'rednecks'. Can any agonistas comment on my perception that nigger was a common term in the USA, and became increasingly understood as dis-respectful only in the past fifty years? graham November 17, 2009 - 6:47pm
( categories: Miscellany )
Tale of two Prejeans: Sex and deathThe confused lifestyle of Carrie considered by Rebecca Hagelin, in the Washington Times who ponders the posting of explicit material on line
graham November 16, 2009 - 6:58pm
( categories: Miscellany )
'Unfriend' is word of the yearabc.net.au - The New Oxford American Dictionary has named "unfriend" - as in deleting someone as a friend on a social networking site such as Facebook - its word of the year. Oxford University Press USA, in a blog post, said "unfriend," a verb, had bested netbook, sexting, paywall, birther and death panel for the honour. "Unfriend has real lex-appeal," said Christine Lindberg, senior lexicographer for Oxford's US dictionary program. "It has both currency and potential longevity. "In the online social networking context, its meaning is understood, so its adoption as a modern verb form makes this an interesting choice for word of the year." graham November 16, 2009 - 6:41pm
( categories: Miscellany )
Hobbes in Hebrew
graham November 16, 2009 - 5:54pm
( categories: Miscellany )
BambooChinaDaily - Growing up as a farmer's son, Lin Zuojun used to play hide-and-seek with his friends in the bamboo forest of Fujian province. Little did he know back then that he would one day make millions of yuan by selling those most common plants of the region. Harvesting more than 1.6 million bamboo trees and 25,000 tons of bamboo shoots every year, his company, Asian Bamboo, is China's biggest bamboo producer today. It is also one of the only three Chinese companies listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange in Germany - the third-largest stock exchange in the world. graham November 16, 2009 - 5:41pm
( categories: China )
Renouncing Islamism: To the brink and back againJohann Hari writes: Independent.co.uk - Ever since I started meeting jihadis, I have been struck by one thing – their Britishness. I am from the East End of London, and at some point in the past decade I became used to hearing a hoarse and angry whisper of jihadism on the streets where I live. Bearded young men stand outside the library calling for "The Rule of God" and "Death to Democracy". graham November 16, 2009 - 6:35am
( categories: Faith and Spirituality | Global Politics and Culture | Global War on Terror | United Kingdom )
From the 'slick ashes of the European metrosexual'WAPO"a cyclical return to old-fashioned cocktails and chandelier lighting and waistcoats -- that is nurturing a new brand of masculinity (rugged but elegant and old-world American)" graham November 16, 2009 - 5:55am
( categories: Miscellany )
'Small beer' Blyton banned by BBCBBC Children's author Enid Blyton was banned from the BBC for nearly 30 years because her work was considered "small beer", archive documents have revealed. The best-selling writer unsuccessfully approached the corporation several times to get her material on the radio. Executives considered the Famous Five and Noddy creator "second-rate" and lacking literary value, according to 18 newly released letters and memos. She first pitched ideas in 1936 but did not appear on Woman's Hour until 1963. A memo about a short story stated: "Not strong enough. It really is odd to think that this woman is a best-seller. It is all such very small beer." graham November 15, 2009 - 7:16am
( categories: Miscellany )
Scientist announces that she is call girl and blogger Belle de JourGuardian - One of the best kept literary secrets of the decade was revealed last night when 34-year-old scientist Dr Brooke Magnanti announced she was the writer masquerading as call girl Belle de Jour. The author behind the bestselling books detailing her secret life as a prostitute decided to come out to one of her fiercest critics, Sunday Times columnist India Knight, after claiming anonymity had become "no fun". "I couldn't even go to my own book launch party", she said. Until last week, even her agent was unaware of her name. But now Magnanti, a respected specialist in developmental neurotoxicology and cancer epidemiology in a hospital research group in Bristol, has spoken of the time six years ago she worked as a £300 an hour prostitute working through a London escort agency. Magnanti turned to the agency in the final stages of her PhD thesis when she ran out of money. She was already an experienced science blogger and began writing about her experiences in a web diary later adapted into books and a television drama starring Billie Piper. graham November 14, 2009 - 11:21pm
Preachers of Truth Meet Sellers of "My Own Truth"Zenit - FACEBOOK, WIKIPEDIA AND YOUTUBE IN THE VATICAN Nov 13 | Rome | Jesús Colina And yet, when representatives of some of the most successful Internet initiatives met in Rome today with the European bishops' Commission for the Media, a great difference in mentality became obvious, even if there was also evidence of a genuine desire for mutual understanding. The chamber of the former hall of the synod of bishops -- which the producers of "Angels and Demons" rented for millions of euros -- witnessed two views of reality: On one hand, an institution, the Church, founded for 2,000 years on the proclamation of Truth; and on the other, exponents of successful business initiatives, which arose a few years ago, based on giving everyone the chance to express "his own truth." graham November 14, 2009 - 5:57am
Surfing the Arctic
newscom.auAn Australian has joined a group of world-class surfers in riding the freezing waves of the Arctic Circle. Resembling a ninja in his hi-tech heated full-body wetsuit, Matt Whitehead, from Byron Bay, took on the Norwegian waves in near-freezing conditions as part of a documentary on the increasingly adventurous fringe of the sport, graham November 13, 2009 - 4:05am
( categories: Miscellany )
'We Like Lists Because We Don't Want to Die'Italian novelist and semiotician Umberto Eco, who is curating a new exhibition at the Louvre in Paris, talks to SPIEGEL about the place lists hold in the history of culture, the ways we try to avoid thinking about death and why Google is dangerous for young people. SPIEGEL: Mr. Eco, you are considered one of the world's great scholars, and now you are opening an exhibition at the Louvre, one of the world's most important museums. The subjects of your exhibition sound a little commonplace, though: the essential nature of lists, poets who list things in their works and painters who accumulate things in their paintings. Why did you choose these subjects? graham November 12, 2009 - 8:14pm
( categories: Miscellany )
Tuesday poetryhopes hope sits dolloped on hori- hope winks at you from shoppe win- Kevin Gillam is a Western Australian writer with work published in numerous Australian and overseas journals. His two published books of poetry are Other Gravities (2003) and Permitted To Fall (2007), both by SunLine Press. graham November 10, 2009 - 6:18am
( categories: Miscellany )
JOhn Pilger - 2009 Sydney Peace Prize speechBreaking The Great Australian Silence |John Pilger | November 5 Thank you all for coming tonight, and my thanks to the City of Sydney and especially to the Sydney Peace Foundation for awarding me the Peace Prize. It's an honour I cherish, because it comes from where I come from. I am a seventh generation Australian. My great-great grandfather landed not far from here, on November 8th, 1821. He wore leg irons, each weighing four pounds. His name was Francis McCarty. He was an Irishman, convicted of the crime of insurrection and "uttering unlawful oaths". In October of the same year, an 18 year old girl called Mary Palmer stood in the dock at Middlesex Gaol and was sentenced to be transported to New South Wales for the term of her natural life. Her crime was stealing in order to live. Only the fact that she was pregnant saved her from the gallows. She was my great-great grandmother. She was sent from the ship to the Female Factory at Parramatta, a notorious prison where every third Monday, male convicts were brought for a "courting day" - a rather desperate measure of social engineering. Mary and Francis met that way and were married on October 21st, 1823. graham November 10, 2009 - 6:05am
Ian Fisher - American Soldier Photo EssayA warts and all look at a young man over several years, to Iraq and back. graham November 8, 2009 - 6:05am
( categories: Miscellany )
Plug and play Beatles, no more scratched CD's!The Beatles Store This unique, apple-shaped USB drive is loaded with the re-mastered audio for The Beatles' 14 stereo titles, as well as all of the re-mastered CDs' visual elements, including 13 mini-documentary films about the studio albums, replicated original UK art, rare photos and expanded liner notes. graham November 5, 2009 - 5:59am
( categories: Miscellany )
Science and Politics downunderPhilanthropy is not a life style choice for most of Australia's rich and famous. However, Australian politics and science remain closely related, and casting aspersions on the ruling parties attitude to global emissions is not kosher. graham November 2, 2009 - 4:20am
A year on, has Barack Obama met the hopes of the world?The Observer Debate.uk has some columnists pondering the middle east, racism, Pakistan , the environment and reality. graham October 31, 2009 - 10:15pm
( categories: Miscellany )
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