eyes in the sky

Whilst the Arab League schedules more talks; and the West tries to avoid military action:- Al Qaeda encourages insurgency.

BBC - Google has changed its privacy policy, streamlining it across its multiple services including search, email, video and social networking sites. More than 60 different policies will be combined into one that will go into effect 1 March, the company said. Google said the new policy will give people more relevant search results and help advertisers find customers.

A long dense post, looking at the legacy of Edward Bernays, and the current state of the 'oppressed', using the crushing of the 'occupy' movement as a reference point.

An interesting read.

Down under in New Zealand Megaupload taken down and in retaliation the hacktivist collective tango downs:

USA Justice (sic) Dept)
Motion Picture Assn America
Universal Music
and for old times sake: http://www.riaa.org.

Greetings from Bunbury, Western Australia. I am 2000 miles from my home in Canberra, and over the next few days will only be 2000 miles away from SeanPaul!

After working 7 days a week for the past 17 months it is good to be on a weeks vacation.Tomorrow I go on a tour of the local wineries, chaffeured by Mothie.

Long time agonistas will remember Mothie. I finally met her this week. The days of discussing the movement of BRTA buses around Baghdad, viewed on the webcams situated on hotel roofs are but a distant memory. But many friendships developed then have endured.

Since March 2003, when I first stumbled across SeanPauls invasion blog, I have had the pleasure of reading so many original words here. Sadly for my brain (since changing career in October 2009), I no longer spend nearly enough time here - perhaps that is the amount of time some here wish me to spend here (with apologies to JR Tolkien).

Down the road to the north, the CHOGM meeting is about to begin in Perth. CHOGM is an interesting organisation. From the tiniest nation states to the huge nation of India, overdeveloped nations and underdeveloped nations. A time for all member nations to listen to one another. Naturally, the biggest concern is the precipitous state of the Euro. Julia, our Welsh-Australian Prime Minister has stated "these are critical days".

I'll do my bit for the local economy, drowning my concerns in red wine, tomorrow.
Enough words from me, enjoy a photo-dump of Bunbury including more ubiquitous cat pictures

Please extend a warm agonist welcome to our newest Australian member, Nod in Aus.

Nod in Aus has been politically active on the left side since childhood days "my earliest life memories are of being too short to stuff campaign leaflets in letter boxes, and that's true. My father was in politics. "

Having lived in Sydney for many years; and a recent escapee to the north of Aust., to live in Brisbane, Nod in Aus has a mature outlook on life through Australian eyes.

Currently lurking, I await with interest diary posts!

Why I quit my job by Kai Nagata.

best wishes to Kai!

Click on teeth for very important information!

I woke up with the sunshine. A sunshine I had never seen. There was light at the end of it. Reminded me to forever dream. I was dreaming I walked into the White House. With love on my sleeve. And love for each and every one of you. Reminding you to believe. These are the words of a believer achiever. Leader of the globe, feed the souls of those in need. I bleed the blood of the struggle. Walking over troubled puddles. The hustle is in my chest. No hustle no progress. Extremities of life in this process. The birth of a son. The death of another. With love I caress both mothers. And told ‘em whose in control is the one that’s above is. I walk where money talks and love stutters. The body language of a nation. Going though changes.

Grey areas reshape the Assange debate From London, Guy Rundle writes:
ANNA ARDIN, JULIAN ASSANGE, WIKILEAKS

A popular new social movement in Sweden, dedicated to exploring the "grey areas" of sexual life, has been accused of being a campaign directed at Julian Assange, with tweets between the organisers talking of naming the movement after one of his accusers, and coaching each other to "keep the story close to the Assange situation".

The tweets seem to contradict claims by the organisers that the movement was only inspired by the Assange situation, and had no focus on it, and the leading figures are all well-connected friends of Assange case complainant Anna Ardin.

Revolutions, Earthquakes, Political manipulation, Nuclear disaster. Feeling helpless?

Claim the date! This can become the biggest positive and graced event of '11! Newsworthy to the max as being something beautiful and good amidst the horror and confusion of so much recent news.

On 15th May between the hours of 1400 and 1500 join 250000 people around the world for an hour of walking and talking. Wherever you are, invite a friend for a walk and share what touches your lives.
At the end of the walk, decide one concrete action you can take to make a difference to at least one other person.

lomography.

on rootkits, paranoia monitors, cartoons, and fake Facebook personas

Colin Powell wants an explanation

It's wet, and will be wet down under for another two months, watch the video for an example of deprecating ozzie humour!

Brisbane turns the electricity off in 8 hours, to protect the turbines :eek:

Humour me, gentle reader.

Click one note the date.

Click two note the author, and the date.

The Guardian is playing an interesting game, nuff said!

DNW - As Bank of American awaits a possible release of information from WikiLeaks, it wants to ensure that you don’t think its executives suck. Or blow for that matter. The company has been aggressively registering domain names including its Board of Directors’ and senior executives’ names followed by “sucks” and “blows”.

For example, the company registered a number of domains for CEO Brian Moynihan: BrianMoynihanBlows.com, BrianMoynihanSucks.com, BrianTMoynihanBlows.com, and BrianTMoynihanSucks.com.

ADDRESS OF HIS HOLINESS BENEDICT XVI ON THE OCCASION OF CHRISTMAS GREETINGS
TO THE ROMAN CURIA. (Especially paragraphs 11 and 12 for those who don't have time to read it all.)

Functional Fitness but don't forget the sick sexuality.

and the spin continues.

Related: Rape rampant in US military and Sexual assault reports spike in military academies, report shows.

- The year that was, some random links to enjoy ( i was flicking through the holiday issue of The Economist) and realised how print media really is different from our ability to access information on line). Persistent clicking and loading of pages brought up these:

What we read. Pakistan remains an enigma. Oil - oil spill that is.
We are only passing through but fear is everywhere. Fear of food prices, TSA, weather. What guides us? Meanwhile we stop going to Midnight Mass, and pick and choose what faith comfort brings. Poetry soothes, or antagonizes but the tubes rule! (Michael is a brave man!)

For those with no faith, conspiracy theories according to Julian. Julian should have listened to Daniel. Sean Paul has his own theories. Actor 212 ponders the hidden universe whilst Raja drew attention to Stephen Hawkings advice "Don't talk to Aliens". Michael was out front with wikileaks being branded a threat.

Somewhere it's hot and somewhere it's cold, and flamefests amuse, and help deal with smoking. Speaking of ash can you pronounce it?

Korea then and now. Privacy? Nope we are all interconnected. Numerian joined many dots during the year, including China amongst them, and also turned to old music. Brian actually provided dots to us whilst ChicXadee ensued many lulz. India went viral for SPK.

Tina kept her crown as queen of the news, with Raja as regent! Thanks to all who post, and keep us coming back.

Happy New Year!

I'm just heading out for my evening visits to clients. Merry Christmas, and Christmas blessings to all!
Thomas Merton says it all

Into this world, this demented inn, in which there is absolutely no room for him at all, Christ has come uninvited. But because he cannot be at home in it, because he is out of place in it, and yet he must be in it, his place is with those others who do not belong, who are rejected by power, because they are regarded as weak, those who are discredited, who are denied the status of persons, tortured, exterminated. With those for whom there is no room, Christ is present in this world.

The tsunami of wiki-leaks since September has pushed some of 2010 news highlights to the back of my mind.
Remember the eruption of the volcano with a name no- one can pronounce? And how about Ms Anna the sexiest spy of the year?

Ms Anna has been given a new assignment - to prevent an orange revolution in Russia.