Only home for 5 minutes from a meeting half way across the country and now off out for subtitled cinema! It's that rubbish film, 'Knocked Up', though... but, subtitles. At the cinema. A rare treat.

I hope you've all had a good day...

Ad astra per aspera

Anyway my task failed. I may have to change my ideas about how much I can spend cos I'm really not finding anything in the price range I wanted. Or I am but it's moon distance milage, really ratty etc etc.

anyway, on a brighter note, the deal on my flat is due to go through either tomorrow or monday.

keep to the Fen Causeway

The trial of the murderer was in the headlines of the news here every day. Today we have a verdict.

flandersnews.be - Hans Van Themsche found guilty

Thu 11/10/07 - The jury of the Antwerp Court of Assizes has found Hans Van Themsche guilty on all counts. Last year in a racist frenzy he went on the rampage and shot two people dead. A third person was badly injured.

The jury ruled that Van Themsche was accountable and knew what he was doing.

It added that his acts were driven by racist motives.

This is the first time in Belgian legal history that a defendant has been found guilty of murder motivated by racism.

The Belgian Government's anti-racism centre has welcomed the outcome.

The centre's lawyer Tom De Meester yesterday said that the jury's verdict had enormous social importance.

He added:"The jury has made it clear that racism cannot be tolerated.

flandersnews.be - Life for Hans Van Themsche

Thu 11/10/07 - The 19-year-old Hans Van Themsche, who killed two people and injured a third in a racist frenzy will serve a life sentence. On Thursday the jury of the Antwerp Court of Assizes together with the three magistrates decided that the youngster would serve the heaviest possible sentence.

...
 Almost every newspaper began their reports of Wednesday meetings between Sarkozy and Putin with Sarkozy happily telling his host of finally achieving his dream of waking to see Red Square -- a story that appeared to leave Putin cold.

"It remains unknown whether Putin has had any such experience and whether he could truly understand his guest's feelings," the state Rossiyskaya Gazeta daily said.

The Kommersant and Izvestia dailies meanwhile irreverently wondered how Sarkozy's dream had come true, noting that the National Hotel where Sarkozy stayed did not afford the view.

The Kommersant newspaper concluded that he must have slept in a bar on Red Square.

The Axis of Evil Cookbook by Gill Partington When they're not actively attempting to develop weapons of mass destruction, 'Axis of Evil' countries such as Iraq, Iran and North Korea are busy enjoying their region's finest dishes. And their 'Axis of Somewhat Evil' cohorts, such as Cuba and Syria, are at it too. With over one hundred recipes, from soups and salads to meat dishes and desserts, this unique cookbook includes snapshots of each country as well as profiles of famous leaders. Regional recipes appear alongside dictators' favourite dishes - from Kim Jong-Il's ruthless appetite for shark fin soup to Saddam's celebrated rack of fresh roasted gazelle. Full of cultural anecdotes, political insight and delectable recipes, "The Axis of Evil Cookbook" is an intriguing and forbidden treat. REVIEWS: 'Both tasteless and edifying.' Valentine Pickle

Hat tip to The Arabist, who says it's already available on Amazon.co.uk, but not the US version....

Perhaps not an original idea, though, or maybe the author had an earlier online version; I found this, apparently dating back to January of 2004.

First off,

Russia Blog has given it's "Shoe Award" (I think this is how Creationists say "you suck the most) to ...

The Economist.

The recent conspiracy yarn produced by The Economist entitled, "Russia Under Putin: The Making of a Neo-KGB State," is at best a Bond movie starring George Lazenby. More amazing still is the fact that just a few months ago, Dr. Daniel Thorniley, a prominent Russia expert and the Vice President of The Economist's own consulting wing-- the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU)--castigated The Wall Street Journal and CNN, for their bizarro take on Russia:
"More rubbish is written and spoken about Russia than any other country on the planet Earth."
Incongruously, the timeline-challenged article noted above makes The Economist sound less like the EIU and more like quacktogenarian Lyndon LaRouche and his hyperbolic Executive Intelligence Review. Meanwhile, Exile.ru does a fantastic job of debunking their lies in the highly-recommended critique "The Economist: The World's Sleaziest Magazine". The article includes great insights, such as:

"Let's leave aside for now the very strange decision to anchor an anti-silovik story to Kondaurov - a former KGB general who was a top Yukos executive (respect to the PR firm that helped arrange that)."
As one Russian reader e-mailed to Russia Blog upon reading The Economist piece:

"These KGB guys were the only educated adults left who didn't hijack the money wagon in the 90s. But think about it, who else in that age group is qualified to manage the country? Even Saint Khodorkovsky had KGB guys on his payroll. Many are highly educated, multi-lingual managers, left without jobs, but taught to aim high. Still, if you meet a lot of the old KGB guys, it is sort of like meeting Ivy League graduates. They are less impressive up close and it's hard to believe that any of them could organize anything much larger than a dinner party..."
Again, we are pleased to present this year's Shoe Award to The Economist. As a further token of goodwill, we are providing you with a free copy of Executive Intelligence Review, which is evidently not in heavily circulation in London. Apparently, The Economist seems to have cornered their market niche these days.

Here's he article in the Economist that really got their goat.  

The making of a neo-KGB state

Here's that fab article from the eXile, should any of you have recently appeared from your cave.

The Economist: The World's Sleaziest Magazine

Apparently all this attention has forced the Economist to ... get ready for this folks ... make, in Bob Amsterdam's words, "a long-overdue call to jettison the language of the democracy debate."  

That's right.  They are so pissed with RUSSIA being a democracy while they are trying to promote democracy, they are swearing off the word democracy altogether.  Oh, also, there is some Euro-bashing in there too.

The end of "democracy"

They say:
Democracy all too often means buying votes, rigging elections and mob rule.

Whoever can dig up the most quotes from the Economist touting democracy gets a pony!

Oh, and by the way, Bob, it's not long overdue.  I wrote about this a year and a half ago.  gah!  grrrrr....

"Pretending that you already know the answer when you don't is not actually very helpful." ~Migeru.

Right Brain v Left Brain | Herald Sun

THE Right Brain vs Left Brain test ... do you see the dancer turning clockwise or anti-clockwise?

If clockwise, then you use more of the right side of the brain and vice versa.

Most of us would see the dancer turning anti-clockwise though you can try to focus and change the direction; see if you can do it.

Yet reading it, I had a moment where I thought, "no". why ? Cos I'm transgendered and the one thing I want is invisibility. I don't want to "pass" a casual glance, I want to be unquestionably, socially undeniably female. I don't want to be "out", I just want to be.

Of course, I'm out here. At the time I first wrote about it, it never occured to me that anybody might assume I was born female (aka a Day-One'er). It has also been useful for me to write about something that, obviously, matters so much to me and receive a friendly hearing.

And whilst I was transitioning, everybody at work knew (and some had problems with it) and all my friends knew, and some of them had problems too and we are no longer close (or even friends).

So I have been "out". But I try not to wear it as a badge. and I wonder about all the gays that don't want to wear a badge either, they don't want to be gay so much as they just want to be. They don't want to be defined by who they sleep with.

And I guess that's what being out is all about. We live in times where we can't just be. I never could and never will just be. But by being out now, we work for a time where others can. We are the ones who have to work for the peace others may come to enjoy.

So...today, just this once, I'll wear the badge. I'm lucky, in the UK others fought for my peace. But, if at some remove I can help stand up for those who cannot imagine peace, then today this is what I do.

I am Helen. I am a transgendered woman.

(sorry if that's a bit melodramatic but I didn't know how to do it properly)

keep to the Fen Causeway

Is it wrong of me to want to file The Tao of Physics either under fiction or occult?

Eid is here.  Where are my earplugs?  The next several hours, possibly up to the next six or seven of them, will consist of this guy shouting ALLAH into the microphone at FULL VOLUME with REVERB.  It is atonal, arhythmic and agonizing.  And really, really loud.  I mean honestly, they crank those babies up to 11.

WHY DO THEY NEED TO USE REVERB?!?!?!?!  I am fairly sure that there is nothing about reverb in the Qur'an.  Or hadith, either.

Oh my.  Now we have feedback.  Great.

I think I'm going to ring in the Eid with half a bottle of whiskey.  And a pair of earplugs, did I mention the earplugs?

Ow, my head.

Called my daughter, tried it on her and the grandkids... she saw it change a lot, then it was mostly counter clockwise and she can change it.  But the KIDS, they see it constantly changing.  I wonder if that's the norm for young, "unset" minds?

And since I'm not lurking, I'll take this opportunity to say that Eurotrib just makes my day.  Thanks to all those who post all those interesting things.

Karen in Austin

Thence comes our true nobility by grace, It was not willed us with our rank and place. Chaucer

Royaume-Uni : Le projet gouvernemental Astraea, lancé en 2006 en collaboration avec sept firmes aéronautiques, prévoit l'utilisation de drones au-dessus du Royaume-Uni d'ici la fin de la décennie. A écouter ses promoteurs, les appareils, baptisés Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), pourraient être utilisés pour aider la police dans sa mission de maintien de l'ordre ou de surveillance de la circulation.

Ainsi, la police du Merseyside, couvrant Liverpool, s'est déclarée intéressée par les drones en vue de mieux contrôler les quartiers sensibles du grand port, afin de lutter contre le vandalisme et les incivilités.

Aujourd'hui, les UAV sont interdits dans l'espace aérien britannique trop congestionné, si ce n'est lors des meetings aériens ou de manoeuvres militaires dans des coins perdus du royaume. La Civil Aviation Authority, l'administration de l'aviation civile britannique, est en train de réexaminer les règlements restrictifs concernant l'espace aérien.

Belgique : La police de Bruxelles a testé, en juin, un drone silencieux. On ignore si l'expérience a été jugée concluante par les responsables politiques mais l'état-major estime qu'un tel appareil, équipé d'une caméra ou d'un appareil photo, pourrait s'avérer très utile pour contrôler des manifestations - nombreuses à Bruxelles, siège d'institutions internationales -, lutter contre le travail clandestin, ou assurer une observation lors d'une perquisition. Les images captées en altitude par un drone peuvent être instantanément transmises au sol. En 2006, la Belgique a également envisagé l'utilisation d'avions sans pilote pour traquer les navires pollueurs en Mer du Nord.

Devices that have been tested in Europe but very much used in Israel

Curiously, the only criticism against the use of these drones that the article reports is that of British Airline pilots who fear the "risk of collision" between the drones and their airplanes, "particularly near airports":

La British Air Line Pilots Association, le syndicat représentant les pilotes de ligne, s'oppose toutefois à leur déploiement en raison du risque de collision avec les avions, en particulier à proximité des aéroports.

The article does not seem to register any criticisms based on concerns about the possibility of privacy and civil rights abuse and risk of disproportionate use of firepower on civilians that the drones introduce:

Israël : Les drones peuvent être utilisés pour lancer des missiles sur des immeubles ou des voitures dans lesquelles se trouvent les personnes recherchées. C'est ainsi que de nombreux dirigeants politiques de différentes organisations palestiniennes ont été éliminés.

On the other hand,

For its defenders, the use of UAVs [Unmanned aerial vehicles] offers the advantage of being less costly than using satellites, helicopters, and small planes.

This does raise the interesting question:  In what ways would UAVs be more dangerous to civilians -- both in terms of civil rights as well as actual physical safety -- than police helicopters?

The key to culture is religion. Daniel Dennett @ TED (Feb 2006)

This may explain the fascination of the military with the spatial and organizational models and modes of operation advanced by theorists such as Deleuze and Guattari. Indeed, as far as the military is concerned, urban warfare is the ultimate Postmodern form of conflict. Belief in a logically structured and single-track battle-plan is lost in the face of the complexity and ambiguity of the urban reality. Civilians become combatants, and combatants become civilians. Identity can be changed as quickly as gender can be feigned: the transformation of women into fighting men can occur at the speed that it takes an undercover `Arabized' Israeli soldier or a camouflaged Palestinian fighter to pull a machine-gun out from under a dress. For a Palestinian fighter caught up in this battle, Israelis seem `to be everywhere: behind, on the sides, on the right and on the left. How can you fight that way?'9

Critical theory has become crucial for Nave's teaching and training. He explained: `we employ critical theory primarily in order to critique the military institution itself - its fixed and heavy conceptual foundations. Theory is important for us in order to articulate the gap between the existing paradigm and where we want to go. Without theory we could not make sense of the different events that happen around us and that would otherwise seem disconnected. [...] At present the Institute has a tremendous impact on the military; [it has] become a subversive node within it. By training several high-ranking officers we filled the system [IDF] with subversive agents [...] who ask questions; [...] some of the top brass are not embarrassed to talk about Deleuze or [Bernard] Tschumi.'10 I asked him, `Why Tschumi?' He replied: `The idea of disjunction embodied in Tschumi's book Architecture and Disjunction (1994) became relevant for us [...] Tschumi had another approach to epistemology; he wanted to break with single-perspective knowledge and centralized thinking. He saw the world through a variety of different social practices, from a constantly shifting point of view. [Tschumi] created a new grammar; he formed the ideas that compose our thinking.11 I then asked him, why not Derrida and Deconstruction? He answered, `Derrida may be a little too opaque for our crowd. We share more with architects; we combine theory and practice. We can read, but we know as well how to build and destroy, and sometimes kill.'12

In addition to these theoretical positions, Naveh references such canonical elements of urban theory as the Situationist practices of dérive (a method of drifting through a city based on what the Situationists referred to as `psycho-geography') and détournement (the adaptation of abandoned buildings for purposes other than those they were designed to perform). These ideas were, of course, conceived by Guy Debord and other members of the Situationist International to challenge the built hierarchy of the capitalist city and break down distinctions between private and public, inside and outside, use and function, replacing private space with a `borderless' public surface. References to the work of Georges Bataille, either directly or as cited in the writings of Tschumi, also speak of a desire to attack architecture and to dismantle the rigid rationalism of a postwar order, to escape `the architectural strait-jacket' and to liberate repressed human desires.
In no uncertain terms, education in the humanities - often believed to be the most powerful weapon against imperialism - is being appropriated as a powerful vehicle for imperialism. The military's use of theory is, of course, nothing new - a long line extends all the way from Marcus Aurelius to General Patton.

An impressive application of postmodernism...

I knew all kinds of academic fields could find military applications, but critical theory never came to my mind, though...

Un roi sans divertissement est un homme plein de misères