Dear Fellow Victims
Not sure if anyone passes by this way anymore, I havent posted anything in a long time, I'm hoping you still keep an eye out.
I have something for you all to look at, its a long video (47min) but I would recommend you look and learn what the banking system really means to our everyday lives. It will eloquently explain why we have a global financial crisis/meltdown.
I hope you are as gutted as I am when you realise who really controls us all! I hope you actively pass this on to everyone you know so they can be gutted as well! Its time to buck the system! Its time to shrink our worlds back to our local area networks so we can look after our own and forget about the supposedly great globalization scheme! Its time to take our lives back! Its time to stop feeding the top feeders and allowing them take everything from the rest!
While you're at it, take a look at this letter from a guy who just closed his Hedge Fund after making shitloads of money from betting (hedging) that the sub-prime mortgage market would fall down hard!
The Big Picture!
The system is corrupt, its time to change the system, any ideas?
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
DARE DEVILS AND GODS
Bit of a mixed bag for you all today...
THE BIG WALK
The daring step of this guy blew my mind. I had vertigo just watching. The place is El Camino Del Rey in Spain. The walkway was built in 1905 and has fallen into disrepair, and although people are warned not to take the walk, many people still do and quite a few have fallen and died. That’s what makes this guy’s walk so scary, he doesn’t seem to take any precautions just keeps on going...amazing!!
PERMISSABLE IMPURITY – Managed by God!
This article is about the rules of Sharia Law for investments but its really about bending the rules with 'permissable impurity'... interesting justifications going on here!
DARA AND SARAH DONT WANT TO PLAY WITH BARBIE AND HER FRIENDS
And last but not least is the story of Barbie, Spiderman and Harry Potter all being banned from Iran for their destructive cultural and social consequences. While importing the toys is not necessarily illegal, it is discouraged by a government that seeks to protect Iranians from what it calls the negative effects of Western culture and smuggled imports pose a threat to the “identity” of the new generation.
Barbie is sold wearing swimsuits and miniskirts in a society where women must wear head scarves in public and men and women are not allowed to swim together.
In 2002, Iran introduced its own competing dolls — the twins Dara and Sara — who were designed to promote traditional values with their modest clothing and pro-family stories. But the dolls proved unable to stem the Barbie tide.
Yeah, mustn’t let things get too out of hand, throw that Barbie doll into the bin girls and get your scarf back on..... your identity is slipping!
THE BIG WALK
The daring step of this guy blew my mind. I had vertigo just watching. The place is El Camino Del Rey in Spain. The walkway was built in 1905 and has fallen into disrepair, and although people are warned not to take the walk, many people still do and quite a few have fallen and died. That’s what makes this guy’s walk so scary, he doesn’t seem to take any precautions just keeps on going...amazing!!
PERMISSABLE IMPURITY – Managed by God!
This article is about the rules of Sharia Law for investments but its really about bending the rules with 'permissable impurity'... interesting justifications going on here!
DARA AND SARAH DONT WANT TO PLAY WITH BARBIE AND HER FRIENDS
And last but not least is the story of Barbie, Spiderman and Harry Potter all being banned from Iran for their destructive cultural and social consequences. While importing the toys is not necessarily illegal, it is discouraged by a government that seeks to protect Iranians from what it calls the negative effects of Western culture and smuggled imports pose a threat to the “identity” of the new generation.
Barbie is sold wearing swimsuits and miniskirts in a society where women must wear head scarves in public and men and women are not allowed to swim together.
In 2002, Iran introduced its own competing dolls — the twins Dara and Sara — who were designed to promote traditional values with their modest clothing and pro-family stories. But the dolls proved unable to stem the Barbie tide.
Yeah, mustn’t let things get too out of hand, throw that Barbie doll into the bin girls and get your scarf back on..... your identity is slipping!
Friday, April 25, 2008
OPPOSITES ATTRACT
Sorry to have dropped out for a while, life is going very fast at the moment. I can hardly believe its been a month since I last posted. Here's something I eventually found that made my heart go thump!
This is a story about a dying professor who is now too sick to carry on teaching, his students who are praying for a miracle and the awfully sad ending to his lifetime passion. Makes for a very unusual story on a few levels really.
Professor of Law Stephen Gey is rapidly succumbing to Lou Gehrig's disease.
"Lou Gehrig's disease is amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS, a progressive, incurable disease that destroys motor neurons in the brain and spinal cord. Famed physicist Stephen Hawking has the hereditary kind, which is devastating, but not life-threatening. Gey has the nonhereditary kind, which kills by slow paralysis."
"One of the few hopeful avenues of ALS research has involved the transplanting of embryonic stem cells. Such research has been limited for seven years in the United States by religious conservatives and the Bush administration. His adversaries have erased his last chance. "The irony doesn't escape me."
"Gey uses a lawyer's words to define his situation: cognitive dissonance. He cannot pray for a miracle. "I have a disease you wouldn't give to your worst enemy," he says, as if arguing before a jury. "If you believe in a caring, all-knowing God, how can you reconcile that? I can only approach it fatalistically. Stuff happens."
This is a story about a dying professor who is now too sick to carry on teaching, his students who are praying for a miracle and the awfully sad ending to his lifetime passion. Makes for a very unusual story on a few levels really.
Professor of Law Stephen Gey is rapidly succumbing to Lou Gehrig's disease.
"Lou Gehrig's disease is amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS, a progressive, incurable disease that destroys motor neurons in the brain and spinal cord. Famed physicist Stephen Hawking has the hereditary kind, which is devastating, but not life-threatening. Gey has the nonhereditary kind, which kills by slow paralysis."
"One of the few hopeful avenues of ALS research has involved the transplanting of embryonic stem cells. Such research has been limited for seven years in the United States by religious conservatives and the Bush administration. His adversaries have erased his last chance. "The irony doesn't escape me."
"Gey uses a lawyer's words to define his situation: cognitive dissonance. He cannot pray for a miracle. "I have a disease you wouldn't give to your worst enemy," he says, as if arguing before a jury. "If you believe in a caring, all-knowing God, how can you reconcile that? I can only approach it fatalistically. Stuff happens."
Monday, March 24, 2008
RIGHT TO DIE - CHANTAL SEBIRE
I read with great sorrow that this amazing woman has died alone. Why she was alone was not revealed, but I think its a great shame that it seems, in the end, she had to kill herself secretly.
Chantal's story is an excruciatingly sad tale. Her attempt to gain the right to die by the law and her brave willingness to expose her horrifyingly fragile situation to a world obsessed by beauty and a world media always on alert for graphic pictures of non-beauty has become the latest focus of the debate on our ethical dilemma of euthanasia.
I wish that somehow she could have had a grand send off surrounded by her family and friends.....instead of alone.
Chantal suffered from an incurable esthesioneuroblastoma tumour which had been attacking her sinus cavities for eight years. She approached the Law Courts in France in the hope they would intervene in her case and permit her request for active euthanasia. This request was denied even though her face was completely disfigured, her sight was gone, she had no sense of smell or taste and she was in continual pain. In her request she cited “intense and permanent suffering” and the “incurable character of the disease” she was suffering from as reasons for “her refusal to have to support the irreversible degradation of her state”.
After the court case she said she would not fight the decision because she now knew where to get the means to do it herself. By outwitting her failing body and the cancer that was eating her up, she gets my respect. I have no idea how difficult it would have been to carry this out, and I hope I never have to find out!
Her lawyer Gilles Antonowicz called on the President to change the law on the end of life.
“Our law is inhuman. The law must be changed because we see that people are left on the side of the road”.
Active euthanasia, or the act of taking steps to facilitate a person’s death, is illegal in France. The only assistance that is allowed is for medical treatment to be withheld, or “passive euthanasia”. As my dear friend Fiery said in her blog, we wouldnt allow our faithful dog to suffer in similar circumstances, why do we allow it to happen to our fellow humans?
Prime Minister François Fillon said on radio last week "the difficulty for me in this case is that we are at the limit of what society can say, of what the law can do. I think one must have the modesty to recognize that society cannot answer all these questions."
French Health Minister Roselyne Bachelot told the same radio station that "neither the medical world nor the authorities can promote active euthanasia, whatever the gravity of the illness."
Its what is called a a moral dilemma. A moral and legal code that allows people to linger in distressing states until their inevitable demise rather than bringing about their immediate death has big issues. This is especially the case where the patient is conscious and must endure the physical pain of a debilitating illness.
The reason that we don’t take the compassionate path is because most of us cling to the belief that there is a morally relevant difference between killing and letting die. Or the belief that the sky daddy is in charge and you must literally suffer your fate to strengthen your faith...god works in mysterious ways...ugh how repugnant!
I initially felt we absolutely and irrefutably owed it to each other to not allow the other to suffer consciously in continued agony when there is in reality no chance of survival. Now, after doing some research on outcomes in countries where euthanasia is legal I find myself only just beginning to understand that the whole thing is shatteringly complicated and I'm confusedly not so sure where I stand.
Here's a link to some information on what has been happening in Holland where euthanasia is legal, there have been some reports of abuse, mostly by doctors.
"In Holland euthanasia does not remain a "right" only for the terminally-ill, competent adult who requests it, no matter how many safeguards are established. As a "right," it inevitably is applied to those who are chronically ill, disabled, elderly, mentally ill, mentally retarded, and depressed-- the rationale being that such individuals should have the same "right" to end their suffering as anyone else, even if they do not or cannot voluntarily request death."
I dont know the answers, but for this sufferer - Chantal Sebire - it was a lonely and seemingly inhumane way to die.
Chantal's story is an excruciatingly sad tale. Her attempt to gain the right to die by the law and her brave willingness to expose her horrifyingly fragile situation to a world obsessed by beauty and a world media always on alert for graphic pictures of non-beauty has become the latest focus of the debate on our ethical dilemma of euthanasia.
I wish that somehow she could have had a grand send off surrounded by her family and friends.....instead of alone.
Chantal suffered from an incurable esthesioneuroblastoma tumour which had been attacking her sinus cavities for eight years. She approached the Law Courts in France in the hope they would intervene in her case and permit her request for active euthanasia. This request was denied even though her face was completely disfigured, her sight was gone, she had no sense of smell or taste and she was in continual pain. In her request she cited “intense and permanent suffering” and the “incurable character of the disease” she was suffering from as reasons for “her refusal to have to support the irreversible degradation of her state”.
After the court case she said she would not fight the decision because she now knew where to get the means to do it herself. By outwitting her failing body and the cancer that was eating her up, she gets my respect. I have no idea how difficult it would have been to carry this out, and I hope I never have to find out!
Her lawyer Gilles Antonowicz called on the President to change the law on the end of life.
“Our law is inhuman. The law must be changed because we see that people are left on the side of the road”.
Active euthanasia, or the act of taking steps to facilitate a person’s death, is illegal in France. The only assistance that is allowed is for medical treatment to be withheld, or “passive euthanasia”. As my dear friend Fiery said in her blog, we wouldnt allow our faithful dog to suffer in similar circumstances, why do we allow it to happen to our fellow humans?
Prime Minister François Fillon said on radio last week "the difficulty for me in this case is that we are at the limit of what society can say, of what the law can do. I think one must have the modesty to recognize that society cannot answer all these questions."
French Health Minister Roselyne Bachelot told the same radio station that "neither the medical world nor the authorities can promote active euthanasia, whatever the gravity of the illness."
Its what is called a a moral dilemma. A moral and legal code that allows people to linger in distressing states until their inevitable demise rather than bringing about their immediate death has big issues. This is especially the case where the patient is conscious and must endure the physical pain of a debilitating illness.
The reason that we don’t take the compassionate path is because most of us cling to the belief that there is a morally relevant difference between killing and letting die. Or the belief that the sky daddy is in charge and you must literally suffer your fate to strengthen your faith...god works in mysterious ways...ugh how repugnant!
I initially felt we absolutely and irrefutably owed it to each other to not allow the other to suffer consciously in continued agony when there is in reality no chance of survival. Now, after doing some research on outcomes in countries where euthanasia is legal I find myself only just beginning to understand that the whole thing is shatteringly complicated and I'm confusedly not so sure where I stand.
Here's a link to some information on what has been happening in Holland where euthanasia is legal, there have been some reports of abuse, mostly by doctors.
"In Holland euthanasia does not remain a "right" only for the terminally-ill, competent adult who requests it, no matter how many safeguards are established. As a "right," it inevitably is applied to those who are chronically ill, disabled, elderly, mentally ill, mentally retarded, and depressed-- the rationale being that such individuals should have the same "right" to end their suffering as anyone else, even if they do not or cannot voluntarily request death."
I dont know the answers, but for this sufferer - Chantal Sebire - it was a lonely and seemingly inhumane way to die.
Thursday, February 28, 2008
BOOK-TAGGED
I've just been tagged by a couple of nice people, T&A and Fiery, and as I have a few minutes up my sleeve, even though I'm not wearing sleeves, thought it would be fun to get it done.
Here are the rules:
1. Pick up the nearest book with more than 123 pages.
2. Go to page 123 in the book.
3. Find the first 5 sentences.
4. Post the NEXT 3 sentences.
5. Tag 5 people.
Next to me are a pile of books purchased early last year when we first started looking at Atheism.
There is Richard Dawkins a plenty...."Unweaving the Rainbow"..."The Extended Phenotype"..."The Blind Watchmaker" and the one closest to me is "The Selfish Gene". Of all of the books this is the only one I actually started to read after the God Delusion....but it's heavy going and I have to admit I didnt even get to page 123....and as its the closest one, this is a bit I havent even read, and it interests me, so I may get back to this book quite soon...
"I am treating a mother as a machine programmed to do everything in its power to propagate copies of the genes which ride inside it. Since you and I are humans who know what it is like to have conscious purposes, it is convenient for me to use the language of purpose as a metaphor in explaining the behaviour of survival machines.
In practice, what would it mean to say a mother had a favourite child?"
OK thats the three sentences, but I thought it may have whet your appetite as well, so here's another little bit up to the end of the paragraph...
"It would mean she would invest her resources unequally among her children. The resources that a mother has available to invest consist of a variety of things. Food is the obvious one, together with the effort expended in gathering food, since this in itself cost the mother something. Risk undergone in protecting young from predators is another resource which the mother can 'spend' or refuse to spend. Energy and time devoted to nest or home maintenance, protection from the elements, and, in some species, time spent in teaching children, are valuable resources which a parent can allocate to children, equally or unequally as she 'chooses'."
Interesting and thought provoking, but out of context like this, perhaps a little difficult to grasp....get the book, oh and thanks to Richard Dawkins for allowing me to promote this book :-D
I'm looking at who has already been tagged, and hey its all over, all the people I want to tag have been tagged....dont worry, you know who you are and I'll get you next time ;-)
Just thought of something.....maybe Reg Golb is still lurking, now just for interests sake...whats the closest book to you Reg?
Here are the rules:
1. Pick up the nearest book with more than 123 pages.
2. Go to page 123 in the book.
3. Find the first 5 sentences.
4. Post the NEXT 3 sentences.
5. Tag 5 people.
Next to me are a pile of books purchased early last year when we first started looking at Atheism.
There is Richard Dawkins a plenty...."Unweaving the Rainbow"..."The Extended Phenotype"..."The Blind Watchmaker" and the one closest to me is "The Selfish Gene". Of all of the books this is the only one I actually started to read after the God Delusion....but it's heavy going and I have to admit I didnt even get to page 123....and as its the closest one, this is a bit I havent even read, and it interests me, so I may get back to this book quite soon...
"I am treating a mother as a machine programmed to do everything in its power to propagate copies of the genes which ride inside it. Since you and I are humans who know what it is like to have conscious purposes, it is convenient for me to use the language of purpose as a metaphor in explaining the behaviour of survival machines.
In practice, what would it mean to say a mother had a favourite child?"
OK thats the three sentences, but I thought it may have whet your appetite as well, so here's another little bit up to the end of the paragraph...
"It would mean she would invest her resources unequally among her children. The resources that a mother has available to invest consist of a variety of things. Food is the obvious one, together with the effort expended in gathering food, since this in itself cost the mother something. Risk undergone in protecting young from predators is another resource which the mother can 'spend' or refuse to spend. Energy and time devoted to nest or home maintenance, protection from the elements, and, in some species, time spent in teaching children, are valuable resources which a parent can allocate to children, equally or unequally as she 'chooses'."
Interesting and thought provoking, but out of context like this, perhaps a little difficult to grasp....get the book, oh and thanks to Richard Dawkins for allowing me to promote this book :-D
I'm looking at who has already been tagged, and hey its all over, all the people I want to tag have been tagged....dont worry, you know who you are and I'll get you next time ;-)
Just thought of something.....maybe Reg Golb is still lurking, now just for interests sake...whats the closest book to you Reg?
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
BELIEVERS
Two stories of brainwashed people caught my eye today, both are excruciating examples of what people will do when they are unable to think logically for themselves.
This one is loopy! Its about the phenomenon called mass trance which is apparently pretty common in Indonesia.
LINA says she was 17 the first time she was possessed by an evil spirit. "My older sister went down first. She was screaming and her body went rigid and she couldn't move. Then the spirit came into my body, too," the former cigarette-factory worker recalled.
Reports of schoolchildren, young women and factory workers going into mass trances or speaking in tongues are common across Indonesia's vast archipelago.
# National television this month showed 11 students and five teachers in a mass trance in a classroom. About 50 female workers at a garment factory near Jakarta were reported to have gone into a collective trance last June, weeping and jerking their bodies around.
"Every society has some kind of culturally appropriate place for trance experiences, usually in religious settings," said Tanya Luhrmann, a Stamford University anthropologist.
"There appears to be a contagion element to trance, but it really requires some kind of willingness on the part of the individual," she said.
Religion, education and development have done little to budge widespread acceptance of the supernatural in Indonesia.
I was semi-stunned by the methods they used to bring some schoolchildren out of it......
When more than 30 students at Kalimantan's Pahandut Palangka Raya High School fell into a trance in November, they blamed a spirit in a nearby tree.
During the morning flag-raising ceremony, one of the girls started screaming and couldn't move. Soon her friends joined in until more than 30 of them were screaming and fainting, the deputy principal, Friskila said.
Some of the girls woke from the trance after a student played a Muslim prayer ring tone on her mobile phone. Others were taken by their parents to local witchdoctors.
"Often they are people who are very religious or under pressure. They were also from low socio-economic backgrounds," she said. Eko Susanto Marsoeki, the director of Malang's Lawang Psychiatric Hospital, said overwork was closely linked to mass trance incidents in factories. "Often it is a form of protest that will not be dealt with too harshly," he said.
Then there is this sad tale of what believers in sorcery do to one another.
A pregnant Papua New Guinea woman hung from a tree after being accused of sorcery gave birth to her baby while struggling to free herself, local media reports.
Nolan Yekum and her husband Paul were dragged from their house and hung from a tree by fellow tribesmen who accused them of sorcery after the couple's neighbour suddenly died.
Their ordeal occurred in Kilip village near Banz in Western Highlands Province, PNG's newspaper The National reported today.
The woman and her newborn baby girl, her third child, were doing well in Mt Hagen Hospital after two weeks in hiding, the report said.
I keep wondering, how will logic and reason ever penetrate these cultures?
This one is loopy! Its about the phenomenon called mass trance which is apparently pretty common in Indonesia.
LINA says she was 17 the first time she was possessed by an evil spirit. "My older sister went down first. She was screaming and her body went rigid and she couldn't move. Then the spirit came into my body, too," the former cigarette-factory worker recalled.
Reports of schoolchildren, young women and factory workers going into mass trances or speaking in tongues are common across Indonesia's vast archipelago.
# National television this month showed 11 students and five teachers in a mass trance in a classroom. About 50 female workers at a garment factory near Jakarta were reported to have gone into a collective trance last June, weeping and jerking their bodies around.
"Every society has some kind of culturally appropriate place for trance experiences, usually in religious settings," said Tanya Luhrmann, a Stamford University anthropologist.
"There appears to be a contagion element to trance, but it really requires some kind of willingness on the part of the individual," she said.
Religion, education and development have done little to budge widespread acceptance of the supernatural in Indonesia.
I was semi-stunned by the methods they used to bring some schoolchildren out of it......
When more than 30 students at Kalimantan's Pahandut Palangka Raya High School fell into a trance in November, they blamed a spirit in a nearby tree.
During the morning flag-raising ceremony, one of the girls started screaming and couldn't move. Soon her friends joined in until more than 30 of them were screaming and fainting, the deputy principal, Friskila said.
Some of the girls woke from the trance after a student played a Muslim prayer ring tone on her mobile phone. Others were taken by their parents to local witchdoctors.
"Often they are people who are very religious or under pressure. They were also from low socio-economic backgrounds," she said. Eko Susanto Marsoeki, the director of Malang's Lawang Psychiatric Hospital, said overwork was closely linked to mass trance incidents in factories. "Often it is a form of protest that will not be dealt with too harshly," he said.
Then there is this sad tale of what believers in sorcery do to one another.
A pregnant Papua New Guinea woman hung from a tree after being accused of sorcery gave birth to her baby while struggling to free herself, local media reports.
Nolan Yekum and her husband Paul were dragged from their house and hung from a tree by fellow tribesmen who accused them of sorcery after the couple's neighbour suddenly died.
Their ordeal occurred in Kilip village near Banz in Western Highlands Province, PNG's newspaper The National reported today.
The woman and her newborn baby girl, her third child, were doing well in Mt Hagen Hospital after two weeks in hiding, the report said.
I keep wondering, how will logic and reason ever penetrate these cultures?
Thursday, February 21, 2008
GAY EARTHQUAKES
This story from the BBC gives a hint, which for me just confirms, the utter confusion of...yep you guessed it..... 'deeply religious' people.
Seems we have a very long way to go before some people get their heads around the fact that earthquakes are caused by...er....physical things as opposed to sky-daddy things!
Israeli MP blames quakes on gays
An Israeli MP has blamed parliament's tolerance of gays for earthquakes that have rocked the Holy Land recently.
Shlomo Benizri, of the ultra-Orthodox Jewish Shas Party, said the tremors had been caused by lawmaking that gave "legitimacy to sodomy".
Israel decriminalised homosexuality in 1988 and has since passed several laws recognising gay rights.
Two earthquakes shook the region last week and a further four struck in November and December.
Adoption
Mr Benizri made his comments while addressing a committee of the Israeli parliament, or Knesset, about the country's readiness for earthquakes.
He called on lawmakers to stop "passing legislation on how to encourage homosexual activity in the state of Israel, which anyway brings about earthquakes".
Israeli court rulings in recent years have granted inheritance rights to gay couples and recognised same-sex marriages performed abroad.
Last week, Israel's attorney general ruled same-sex couples could adopt.
Seems we have a very long way to go before some people get their heads around the fact that earthquakes are caused by...er....physical things as opposed to sky-daddy things!
Israeli MP blames quakes on gays
An Israeli MP has blamed parliament's tolerance of gays for earthquakes that have rocked the Holy Land recently.
Shlomo Benizri, of the ultra-Orthodox Jewish Shas Party, said the tremors had been caused by lawmaking that gave "legitimacy to sodomy".
Israel decriminalised homosexuality in 1988 and has since passed several laws recognising gay rights.
Two earthquakes shook the region last week and a further four struck in November and December.
Adoption
Mr Benizri made his comments while addressing a committee of the Israeli parliament, or Knesset, about the country's readiness for earthquakes.
He called on lawmakers to stop "passing legislation on how to encourage homosexual activity in the state of Israel, which anyway brings about earthquakes".
Israeli court rulings in recent years have granted inheritance rights to gay couples and recognised same-sex marriages performed abroad.
Last week, Israel's attorney general ruled same-sex couples could adopt.
Thursday, February 7, 2008
THE WORLD'S LARGEST RUBBISH DUMP!
This is an eye opener.
Read this story........as the old saying goes...'dont poop in your own nest' ...but it seems like we've done it big time now....and have done for a long time......its shocking!!
"IT has been described as the world's largest rubbish dump, or the Pacific plastic soup, and it is starting to alarm scientists.
It is a vast area of plastic debris and other flotsam drifting in the northern Pacific Ocean, held there by swirling ocean currents.
Discovered in 1997 by American sailor Charles Moore, what is also called the great Pacific garbage patch is now alarming some with its ever-growing size and possible impact on human health."
Charles Moore's Algalita Marine Research Foundation has a crew of six currently on a voyage to the area again to see first hand whats happening there.
They have a blog going here and they post everyday.
Its worth following and I hope it creates worldwide interest and some sort of action, although it sounds like its way out of control!
Read this story........as the old saying goes...'dont poop in your own nest' ...but it seems like we've done it big time now....and have done for a long time......its shocking!!
"IT has been described as the world's largest rubbish dump, or the Pacific plastic soup, and it is starting to alarm scientists.
It is a vast area of plastic debris and other flotsam drifting in the northern Pacific Ocean, held there by swirling ocean currents.
Discovered in 1997 by American sailor Charles Moore, what is also called the great Pacific garbage patch is now alarming some with its ever-growing size and possible impact on human health."
Charles Moore's Algalita Marine Research Foundation has a crew of six currently on a voyage to the area again to see first hand whats happening there.
They have a blog going here and they post everyday.
Its worth following and I hope it creates worldwide interest and some sort of action, although it sounds like its way out of control!
Monday, February 4, 2008
THE SCIENCE OF MORALS
I had a dream, I dreamt we had a holiday....I’m sure now that it was just a dream *sigh*
Since we started back at work on the 14th we’ve been totally snowed under because so much work has rushed in the door. Although it’s nice to be ‘wanted’ it is also overwhelming to receive so much work at one time.
Customers using new technology continue to misunderstand their products, or have accidents or just don’t understand how to use the bloody thing.
Snippets of reasons why their said object no longer works....”my cat peed into the keyboard, twice, she’s never done it before!’....bad cat.....smelly keyboard.....’I put it on the front seat of the car, then I had to brake suddenly and it hit the dash and all the knobs are smashed off’....duh....’I let my brother use them and now they don’t work’.....and on and on and on....it’s been a continuous stream and frankly I’m sick of it :-o
Time to post something onto my lonely unattended blog and to catch up on all the blogs I love to read!!
I know I have neglected my blog, something I promised myself I wouldn’t do way back in the holidays...so I’ve rattled around and managed to find just one good thing that caught my eye. I’ve read it a couple of times now, it’s a long read, 8 pages, well worth it. A really thought provoking article in the NYTimes by Steven Pinker (the Johnstone Family Professor of Psychology at Harvard University) called “The Moral Instinct”and its about the science of morals.
Just one other thing....
This really made me laugh...vending machine for marijuana...medical reasons only...prescription required....up to one ounce a week....never thought I’d see the day....:-D
Work things will start settling down a bit soon (well here's hoping) and the feeling that I have a life beyond work may eventually start to seep back into my brain :-D
Since we started back at work on the 14th we’ve been totally snowed under because so much work has rushed in the door. Although it’s nice to be ‘wanted’ it is also overwhelming to receive so much work at one time.
Customers using new technology continue to misunderstand their products, or have accidents or just don’t understand how to use the bloody thing.
Snippets of reasons why their said object no longer works....”my cat peed into the keyboard, twice, she’s never done it before!’....bad cat.....smelly keyboard.....’I put it on the front seat of the car, then I had to brake suddenly and it hit the dash and all the knobs are smashed off’....duh....’I let my brother use them and now they don’t work’.....and on and on and on....it’s been a continuous stream and frankly I’m sick of it :-o
Time to post something onto my lonely unattended blog and to catch up on all the blogs I love to read!!
I know I have neglected my blog, something I promised myself I wouldn’t do way back in the holidays...so I’ve rattled around and managed to find just one good thing that caught my eye. I’ve read it a couple of times now, it’s a long read, 8 pages, well worth it. A really thought provoking article in the NYTimes by Steven Pinker (the Johnstone Family Professor of Psychology at Harvard University) called “The Moral Instinct”and its about the science of morals.
Just one other thing....
This really made me laugh...vending machine for marijuana...medical reasons only...prescription required....up to one ounce a week....never thought I’d see the day....:-D
Work things will start settling down a bit soon (well here's hoping) and the feeling that I have a life beyond work may eventually start to seep back into my brain :-D
Friday, January 11, 2008
TO HELL WITH IT!
Found this on Fox News....very disturbing! The fact that they quoted passages from the babble added to the shudder I felt when reading it!
Wednesday, January 09, 2008
HAYDEN, Idaho — A man who believed he bore the "mark of the beast" used a circular saw to cut off one hand, then he cooked it in the microwave and called 911, authorities said.
The man, in his mid-20s, was calm when Kootenai County sheriff's deputies arrived Saturday in this northern Idaho town. He was in protective custody in the mental health unit of Kootenai Medical Center.
"It had been somewhat cooked by the time the deputy arrived," sheriff's Capt. Ben Wolfinger said. "He put a tourniquet on his arm before, so he didn't bleed to death. That kind of mental illness is just sad."
It was not immediately clear whether the man has a history of mental illness. Hospital spokeswoman Lisa Johnson would not say whether an attempt was made to reattach the hand, citing patient confidentiality.
The Book of Revelation in the New Testament contains a passage in which an angel is quoted as saying: "If anyone worships the beast and his image and receives his mark on the forehead or on the hand, he, too, will drink the wine of God's fury."
The book of Matthew also contains the passage: "And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to do into hell."
Wednesday, January 09, 2008
HAYDEN, Idaho — A man who believed he bore the "mark of the beast" used a circular saw to cut off one hand, then he cooked it in the microwave and called 911, authorities said.
The man, in his mid-20s, was calm when Kootenai County sheriff's deputies arrived Saturday in this northern Idaho town. He was in protective custody in the mental health unit of Kootenai Medical Center.
"It had been somewhat cooked by the time the deputy arrived," sheriff's Capt. Ben Wolfinger said. "He put a tourniquet on his arm before, so he didn't bleed to death. That kind of mental illness is just sad."
It was not immediately clear whether the man has a history of mental illness. Hospital spokeswoman Lisa Johnson would not say whether an attempt was made to reattach the hand, citing patient confidentiality.
The Book of Revelation in the New Testament contains a passage in which an angel is quoted as saying: "If anyone worships the beast and his image and receives his mark on the forehead or on the hand, he, too, will drink the wine of God's fury."
The book of Matthew also contains the passage: "And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to do into hell."
Thursday, January 10, 2008
FLOATING THE CYST
I've poached a story that I found on The Digital Cuttlefish because it allows us a rare view of the absolutely stunning skills of surgeons that operate on the brain these days and I think I should spread the word....er the video ;-D
(Big thanks also to Shelley Batt at Retrospectacle, who originally posted the story)
Also want to spread the word about The Digital Cuttlefish because his skill with words is truly amazing too!!!
If you are even slightly made squeamish by surgical procedures, dont go there!!
Personally, anything about the brain fascinates me!
(Big thanks also to Shelley Batt at Retrospectacle, who originally posted the story)
Also want to spread the word about The Digital Cuttlefish because his skill with words is truly amazing too!!!
If you are even slightly made squeamish by surgical procedures, dont go there!!
Personally, anything about the brain fascinates me!
Friday, January 4, 2008
UNBELIEVABLE TALE
This spun me out because he can actually move it......strange but true I think, I cant see how they faked it??
Kinda like 'Is that a rocket in your er...back pocket' ;-z
Kinda like 'Is that a rocket in your er...back pocket' ;-z
Thursday, January 3, 2008
GREEN SHIPPING? SURE!
I thought this was a really interesting idea, with many possibilities....
"ONE of the first large cargo ships in 100 years to cross the Atlantic Ocean with the help of the wind will set off from Europe this month on a voyage that is due to make maritime history.
When the 10,000-tonne Beluga SkySail is well clear of land, it will launch a giant kite, which wind tunnel tests and sea trials suggest will tug it along and save 10-15% of the heavy fuel oil it would normally burn. If the journey from Bremen in Germany to Venezuela and back is successful, it could become common to see some of the largest ships in the world towed by kites the size of soccer fields."
Although, once you read the whole article it becomes clear that there are still a few wrinkles that need ironing out. These tankers and super tankers are shockingly polluting, fuel-hungry behemoths and need all the help they can get!!
"It is estimated that commercial shipping uses nearly 2 billion barrels of oil a year and emits as much as 800 million tonnes of carbon dioxide, or 4% of the world's man-made emissions. Shipping also releases more sulphur dioxide than all the world's cars and lorries."
"ONE of the first large cargo ships in 100 years to cross the Atlantic Ocean with the help of the wind will set off from Europe this month on a voyage that is due to make maritime history.
When the 10,000-tonne Beluga SkySail is well clear of land, it will launch a giant kite, which wind tunnel tests and sea trials suggest will tug it along and save 10-15% of the heavy fuel oil it would normally burn. If the journey from Bremen in Germany to Venezuela and back is successful, it could become common to see some of the largest ships in the world towed by kites the size of soccer fields."
Although, once you read the whole article it becomes clear that there are still a few wrinkles that need ironing out. These tankers and super tankers are shockingly polluting, fuel-hungry behemoths and need all the help they can get!!
"It is estimated that commercial shipping uses nearly 2 billion barrels of oil a year and emits as much as 800 million tonnes of carbon dioxide, or 4% of the world's man-made emissions. Shipping also releases more sulphur dioxide than all the world's cars and lorries."
THE DUNG BEETLES WERE LATE!!!!!
Although it was really good to get away from home for a while, WOO HOO it’s great to be back!!!!!
I realised at the end of the first day in Busselton that I didn’t much like being cut off from the internet. Kept thinking that so much was going on and I was missing out!! Took a few days to come to terms with it all :-D
(*note to self *– never stay in accommodation where there is no internet connection...or a town where you can’t find the internet café :(
We stayed in a lovely bed and breakfast (dog friendly) place on a farm about 10 minutes out of Busselton (South of Perth on the coast). It was a self contained cottage fairly close to the main farm house, but facing the other way, so it was private enough to mostly feel that you were on your own. The lady of the house would bring us a cooked breakfast each morning, and we would then proceed to sit like stunned mullets for quite a few hours, slumped in lounging chairs reading on the veranda every day.
There were REAL chickens running free around the farm which Jake had never before encountered, so I think it was lucky we had our own fenced off yard, otherwise Jake may have ripped their bloody heads off :-o Especially the rooster ha...
There was also a huge protected section of wonderful Australian bushland right next door and we eventually (after a couple of days of just doing nothing) walked the four kilometres of marked trails.
We are such city slickers, literally living right inside the concrete jungle, that to step into that bushland was like being teleported to another planet. Absolutely no human/mechanical noises but many birds and lots of wind through the trees, it was very soothing. However, it was pretty hot and the bush flies were really horrendous! The bastards were literally right in your face, up your nose, in your ears and constantly settling around your eyes. A small branch of soft fresh eucalyptus leaves had to be constantly swished around your face, more like a whip in the end because you got so frustrated with the bloody things you wanted to smash them to bits! Along with the flies were the bull ants (nasty biters) and the beautifully coloured christmyth spiders which draped their webs across the trails forcing the use of a long stick waving up and down in front of you as you marched along so you didn’t end up with them draped in your face....Imagine this, walking along in the bush, swishing your gum leaves for the flies and waving the stick for the spiders and hopping over groups of bull ants....totally hilarious if you throw in having to carry Jake for parts of the way because when he’d had enough of the above he just wouldn’t walk and wanted to get into my swish zone!!!!
We were told the flies were so bad because the dung beetles were late again. Not being sure what this meant I asked around and got varying answers from ‘they’re late arriving’ to ‘they are late hatching’ I’m still none the wiser and will have to do a little searching to find out the whole story. In the early mornings up until about 8am there were no flies, lovely time of the day, then they arrived in hoards and the whole day if outside is spent swishing your branch, to the point where your arms started to feel the stress. Then about 7pm they were gone again!
In the bush with video camera in hand, Protium captured many priceless moments which I’m sure he’ll be sharing with us all really soon. We encountered a few kangaroos which was very exciting in a totally bushy kind of way, and also met a true unsung heroine of the bush, Jenny the Ranger...a volunteer ranger, aged in her seventies and very proud of her big bit of bush where she puts in quite a bit of time and effort. Along with a committee of locals and a troop of volunteer rangers they oversee the whole area and arrange groups of students to come down and help plant more native plants back into the area, keep the trails clear and check everything regularly. Amazing people!!!
Ah well, that’s the away part of our holiday, now we have two more glorious weeks at home before the mayhem starts again for the year.
Its going to take me a while to catch up with everyone’s blogs, but oh what a pleasure it will be....hope you all had a great new years eve and that 2008 brings all manner of wonderful times for you all!!!
I realised at the end of the first day in Busselton that I didn’t much like being cut off from the internet. Kept thinking that so much was going on and I was missing out!! Took a few days to come to terms with it all :-D
(*note to self *– never stay in accommodation where there is no internet connection...or a town where you can’t find the internet café :(
We stayed in a lovely bed and breakfast (dog friendly) place on a farm about 10 minutes out of Busselton (South of Perth on the coast). It was a self contained cottage fairly close to the main farm house, but facing the other way, so it was private enough to mostly feel that you were on your own. The lady of the house would bring us a cooked breakfast each morning, and we would then proceed to sit like stunned mullets for quite a few hours, slumped in lounging chairs reading on the veranda every day.
There were REAL chickens running free around the farm which Jake had never before encountered, so I think it was lucky we had our own fenced off yard, otherwise Jake may have ripped their bloody heads off :-o Especially the rooster ha...
There was also a huge protected section of wonderful Australian bushland right next door and we eventually (after a couple of days of just doing nothing) walked the four kilometres of marked trails.
We are such city slickers, literally living right inside the concrete jungle, that to step into that bushland was like being teleported to another planet. Absolutely no human/mechanical noises but many birds and lots of wind through the trees, it was very soothing. However, it was pretty hot and the bush flies were really horrendous! The bastards were literally right in your face, up your nose, in your ears and constantly settling around your eyes. A small branch of soft fresh eucalyptus leaves had to be constantly swished around your face, more like a whip in the end because you got so frustrated with the bloody things you wanted to smash them to bits! Along with the flies were the bull ants (nasty biters) and the beautifully coloured christmyth spiders which draped their webs across the trails forcing the use of a long stick waving up and down in front of you as you marched along so you didn’t end up with them draped in your face....Imagine this, walking along in the bush, swishing your gum leaves for the flies and waving the stick for the spiders and hopping over groups of bull ants....totally hilarious if you throw in having to carry Jake for parts of the way because when he’d had enough of the above he just wouldn’t walk and wanted to get into my swish zone!!!!
We were told the flies were so bad because the dung beetles were late again. Not being sure what this meant I asked around and got varying answers from ‘they’re late arriving’ to ‘they are late hatching’ I’m still none the wiser and will have to do a little searching to find out the whole story. In the early mornings up until about 8am there were no flies, lovely time of the day, then they arrived in hoards and the whole day if outside is spent swishing your branch, to the point where your arms started to feel the stress. Then about 7pm they were gone again!
In the bush with video camera in hand, Protium captured many priceless moments which I’m sure he’ll be sharing with us all really soon. We encountered a few kangaroos which was very exciting in a totally bushy kind of way, and also met a true unsung heroine of the bush, Jenny the Ranger...a volunteer ranger, aged in her seventies and very proud of her big bit of bush where she puts in quite a bit of time and effort. Along with a committee of locals and a troop of volunteer rangers they oversee the whole area and arrange groups of students to come down and help plant more native plants back into the area, keep the trails clear and check everything regularly. Amazing people!!!
Ah well, that’s the away part of our holiday, now we have two more glorious weeks at home before the mayhem starts again for the year.
Its going to take me a while to catch up with everyone’s blogs, but oh what a pleasure it will be....hope you all had a great new years eve and that 2008 brings all manner of wonderful times for you all!!!
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