When You Wake the Black Man from Boston, Nicholas Scratch Will Surely Come to Call

liz_marcs: When You Wake the Black Man from Boston, Nicholas Scratch Will Surely Come to Call: www.livejournal.com/users/liz_marcs/106314.html

On July 12, 2003, Sen. Santorum cried out and pointed an accusing finger at the Black Man from Boston, falling into the trap that has resulted in destroyed lives, reputations, and the end of great political movements, especially religiously fueled ones.

For you see, when you cry out on the Black Man from Boston, you wake Nicholas Scratch, and he will surely come to call on you.

I am tempted to ask the good Republican Senator from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania: Are you entirely sure you want to get the estimable Mr. Scratch's attention?

Vinferno (Part 1)

Bonny Doon Vineyard :: Vinferno Part 1

Wow. Parody is definitely a large part of human creativity - in a good sense, not necessarily poking fun, but using someone else's work to inspire you.

Stuff On My Cat

Stuff On My Cat: "Do you like to put stuff on your cat while it snoozes? So do we, send us a picture with you and your cats name to stuffonmycat@gmail.com. If your submission meets our 'rigorous' standards in the fields of quality and awesomeness we will put it up for all to see
www.stuffonmycat.com

Boing Boing: Photos related to London bombings, blog coverage, Wikipedia

Boing Boing: Photos related to London bombings, blog coverage, Wikipedia -- UPDATED: Thursday, July 7, 2005
Photos related to London bombings, blog coverage, Wikipedia -- UPDATED
645AM, L.A.: Tags on Flickr that return images related to today's deadly bombings -- three in the London underground and one a bus -- include bombs, bomb, blast, terrorism, and London. Pools include The London Bomb Blasts Pool, and London Explosions Pool. (Thanks, Jake Appelbaum)

The Guardian's blog has good, ongoing coverage. Link: ( blogs.guardian.co.uk/news/archives/2005/07/07/ explosions_plunge_london_into_chaos.html).
(Thanks, Flora).

Other collaborative blogs covering the event include Londonist ( www.londonist.com/archives/ 2005/07/tube_network_do.php), and the London Metblog ( london.metblogs.com/).

Here is a highly informative Wikipedia 'current event' page, which includes links to news sources, blogs, a timeline of events, and translation of the claim for responsibility posted on the Jihadist website Al-Qal'ah: Link ( en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/2005_London_transport_explosions)
News networks in the UK are soliciting text messages and cameraphone images, videos from viewers. CNN just aired the first footage they obtained from inside a struck tube carriage; the video was shot on an eyewitness' cameraphone.

A Question for British Readers

German forces formally surrendered over 6 - 8 May 1945, marked by VE Day on May 8th, while the Japanese surrender followed on 15 August 1945 (exactly 396 years after the arrival of Francis Xavier), called VJ Day. It was signed on September 2nd on the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay.

There was quite a lot of fuss in May over the victory of the Allies in Germany. Why is the UK having another round of commemorations & celebrations in JULY? Is it just that the weather is more likely to be better then than at the time of the actual ending of World War II in August? Do they intend to have something to remember the atomic bombings of Nagasaki (M Butterfly's city) and Hiroshima, and the Japanese surrender, or is it following the grand British tradition of celebrating things -- like the monarch's birthday -- on days they didn't happen? As far as I can tell this isn't halfway between

The battle on Okinawa (~150,000 deaths) happened after the surrender of Germany, so did the final re-taking of the Philippines, some of the Tokyo raids, fighting in Borneo, etc, etc, and obviously the two atomic attacks. About 40 millions (twice the current population of Australia) had died by VE Day, but there were many deaths more before the end of the war.

[A document of unconditional German surrender was signed at General Dwight Eisenhower's headquarters in Reims on 7 May, but victory was celebrated on 8 May. The northern forces represented by Admiral Freideburg and General Jodl, surrendered to Field Marshal Sir Bernard Montgomery, near Lubeck, a day earlier. These show Keitel and Zhukov in Berlin at the Russian HQ.]

Online Library of Selected Images -- Department of the Navy -- Naval Historical Centre www.history.navy.mil/branches/org11-2.htm

This photo may be by Lee Miller.
A general of the Volkssturm lies dead on the floor of city hall, Leipzig, Germany.
www.archives.gov/research_room/research_topics/ world_war_2_photos/images/ww2_187.jpg
He committed suicide rather than face U.S. Army troops who captured the city on April 19, 1945.

Australian Climate and Weather Atlas

Front page of the Climate and Weather Atlas of Australia: http://home.iprimus.com.au/ozthunder/oz/front.html (formerly members.ozemail.com.au/~michaelt/front.html) this is a private but pretty good site. It includes a part called `Weather Features', which has sections on Bushfires, Monsoon, Snow in Australia, Thunderstorms in Australia, Tropical Cyclones & Dangerous and Destructive Seas.

Google Guide Quick Reference: Google Advanced Operators (Cheat Sheet)

Google Guide Quick Reference: Google Advanced Operators (Cheat Sheet): GOOGLE GUIDE - by Nancy Blachman www.googleguide.com/advanced_operators_reference.html

Google Help : Cheat Sheet: www.google.com/help/cheatsheet.html

Zzyzx

Zzyzx
by Ross Eckler
Word Ways, 1996

In an article in the February 1974 Word Ways, Dmitri Borgmann nominated Zzyzx Springs as the alphabetically-last United States place name.

In addition to Zzyzx Springs, there exists a Zzyzx Road, a 4 1/2-mile dirt road leading from Interstate 15 to Zzyzx Springs.

The story of Zzyzx Springs is the story of Curtis Howe Springer who, in 1944, settled without a by-your-leave on 12,800 acres of Mohave desert land, on a tract about eight miles long and three wide. On it he erected a 60-room hotel, a church, a health spa with mineral baths in the shape of a cross, a castle, a radio station and several other buildings. He even constructed a private airstrip which he called Zyport.

Springer identified himself as a physician and a Methodist minister, but in fact he was neither. For thirty years he broadcast a daily religious and health program from a radio studio at Zzyzx Springs which was carried, at its peak, by 323 stations in the US and other countries ... He urged his listeners to send him donations for miraculous cures for minor ailments as well as illnesses as serious as cancer ... [using] his magic potions (concoctions of celery, carrot and parsley juice)...

Retirees gave Springer their life savings for the privilege of staying in spartan quarters at the ranch. Vacationers stayed at the hotel for a few days at a time to enjoy the waters

These enterprises thrived from 1944 until 1974, when federal marshals finally arrested him for alleged violations of food and drug laws and unauthorized use of federal land. Zzyzx Springs and all the improvements were confiscated by the Bureau of Land Management, and Springer was found guilty and spent a few months in jail. He died in Las Vegas in 1986 at the age of 90.

Since 1976 Zzyzx Springs, now simply known as Zzyzx, has functioned as the Desert Studies Center, a teaching and research station administered by the California State University system ... under a 25-year cooperative management agreement with the Bureau of Land Management

Computer Graphics "Master and Servant"

CG Society Challenge XVII "Master and Servant" results.

Listing of artists & entries
www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/ masterandservant/view_entries.php

(Large pictures)
cgnetworks.com/challenge/entries/ 8/6721/6721_1116332313_large_tiff.jpg

The winner (called "Spoiled") - v soft porn (smaller detail is on front page, above)
www.cgnetworks.com/stories/2005_07/ master_servant_results/2d_winner.php

Or, alternatively
members.aol.com/JesusImages/

A Prayerful Tyger's Tail?

A Song and Dance over prayer and prosperity (SMH Letters, July 6, 2005) smh.com.au/ articles/2005/07/05/ 1120329444893.html "It sounds like a Christmas carol: "One Labor premier … five federal cabinet ministers, eight Liberal backbenchers and two National Party Senate leaders" line up to praise and give thanks to the power- and money-hungry patrons of the Hillsong church" ( Politicians make a joyful noise, too By Linda Morris July 5, 2005 smh.com.au/ articles/2005/07/04/ 1120329388593.html and Politics goes to church at Hillsong July 4, 2005 smh.com.au/ articles/2005/07/04/ 1120329387287.html "The nation's most powerful politicians sought to connect with a crowd featuring an oversupply of that all-important political player, the aspirational voter" )
[From the ABC 702 Sydney Local Radio Guestbook (Sally Loane)]
Name: Big Trev
Topic: Get On Board (room for plenty o'more)
Visit Time: 5/07/2005 8:53
A well known large religious movement seems to be getting some pop from Governments of both persuasions and there is no doubt the Christian Evangelical movement has some clout around the world at present...
But who is using who when politicians front up to the opening night of a Religious gathering.
I fear that precious taxpayers dollars will leak in a bid to win votes somewhere sometime and probably secretly, for the cause.

Firstly, are said well-know-large religious movement really that influential? 2% or 3% of community? Surely the 'bible-thumpers' only have as much clout as the numbers allow.
Secondly, even if they are more significant shouldn't we really concede that they have as much right to be 'represented' as co-citizens?
paulo 6/07/2005 9:50

Both in the US and here the overall vote for each major party is 40-odd% (which is why I never believe this whole 'mandate' thing, because almost half the country votes against the winner), so swinging a smallish chunk your way can make the difference between winning & losing. With non-compulsory voting, if only 50% of all electors vote, and 80-90% of, say, the 5% the groups represent, can be guaranteed to vote your way, that's worth 8%, which is more than most winning margins if you count the votes right across the country, not seat-by-seat. Religious groups are likely to be able to mobilise a widespread committed section of voters to come out and vote the way their leaders tell them; more than a local school, or motoring organisation, say.

Of course, there are many complications, eg the division into seats & states & particular groups being concentrated in some, but I believe that one dangerous thing with politics recently is that they have realised that rather than appeal to a broad selection of the population, they can target certain groups to gain winning batches of votes. This might be riding the tiger when they have to come up with the policies or money to reward the groups, but it's not the politicians I worry about getting scarred, though, but the ripping apart of the social fabric by pandering to sectional interests.

Like ships that pass in the night ...

An exchange of emails:
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Employee Benefits
>> Sent: Fri, 05 Sep, 2003 5:32 PM
>> To: All NNC Australia
>> Subject: New Benefit Available - Novated Leasing
>>
>>Improving NNCAP Reward Practices
>> Novated Leasing
>>
>> No-Name Company Asia-Pacific is pleased to
>> announce the launch of an exciting new employee benefit for
>> our Australia based employees as a next step in the
>> enhancement of our Reward and Recognition Framework.
>>
>> Novated Leasing enables an employee to “salary package” a new
>> or used motor vehicle of their choice. This service is
>> available to all permanent (Australian) employees of No-Name
>> Company Asia-Pacific.
>>
>> We are also holding information sessions for employees
>> commencing Wednesday 10 September, to explain Novated Leasing
>> in more detail. Employees are encouraged to attend a session
>> to find out what Novated Leasing is and how it might be of
>> benefit to them. Access the session booking of your choice
>> through the link - http://nncapnet/nomination/Nomination.asp.
>> Numbers are limited, so be sure to register quickly!
>>
>> If you have any questions please contact your HR representative.
>>
>> Ann Nonymous
>> Director HR, No-Name Company Asia-Pacific
>>
> -----Original Message-----
>From: Name, My
>Sent: Tuesday, 9 September 2003 5:32 PM
>To: Nonymous, Anne
>Subject: FW: New Benefit Available - Novated Leasing
>
> Interested if it applies to my $1,200 (this year) annual Green
> Travelpass - or might be applicable to, say, Sydney's highest
> priced Purple Travelpass @ $2,080.00 :-)
>___________________________________________
> As the author of this, I grant you, the next recipient, permission to pass this on in accordance
> with fair dealing, with caution as to any identified copyright material that may be included.
>
>My Name
>My Position
>
>Dust of the earth, help thou my unbelief...
>Be, beloved, threatened world.
>Each minim mote...
>the ordinary glow of common dust in ancient sunlight.
>Be, that I may believe.
> Denise Levertov, 'Opening Words'
> www.cs.rice.edu/~ssiyer/minstrels/poems/1302.html
>_________________________________________________
> The views, opinions and judgements expressed in this message are solely
> those of the author. The message contents have not been reviewed nor
> approved by No-Name Company Asia-Pacific (ABN 12 345 678 901)
>
-----Original Message-----
From: Person, Another
Sent: Wednesday, 10 September 2003 8:36 AM
To: Name, My
Subject: FW: New Benefit Available - Novated Leasing

'Me'
'Anne' has asked me to respond to your email.
Novated Leasing relates to purchase of new or used car for personal use. It is unrelated to public transport travel.
If you have any questions about Novated Leasing you are welcome to come to a session to find out more.

Regards
'Another'

Another Person
Manager
Human Resources Business Services
Asia Pacific
No-Name Company (ABN 12 345 678 901)
_________________________________________________
She was either very good at pretending she didn't know what I meant and ignoring my point or so phase-locked into a tunnel vision of car-dependency that she didn't understand it.

Dissent, Digimages & some comfort after

Dissenting Digimages
oddlots.digitalspace.net/ARX/downloads/graphics.html
wulfius-khan.deviantart.com
Poison Box image page
Poison Box - Big Version

KUBARK Counterintelligence Interrogation
The CIA's Secret Manual on Coercive Questioning - www.kimsoft.com/2000/kubark.htm
Related Documents
Psychological Operations In Guerrilla Warfare - www.kimsoft.com/guerilla.htm
Guerrilla Operations Outline - Korea - www.kimsoft.com/korea/CCRAK.htm
A Study of Assassination - www.kimsoft.com/korea/cia-0.htm

Horturba (plant-growing table thing) - www.treehugger.com/files/2005/02/grow_fresh_vege.php

Looking at aspect of spam possibly less offensive than most - see here (with over-shoulder caution if necessary) - from www.smartbitchestrashybooks.com

How Buildings Learn
www.gyford.com/phil/notes/2004/10/24/how_buildings_lear.php

Gashlycrumbs & Ghastly Ghosts of True (Sydney) History

The Gashlycrumb Tinies by Edward Gorey ( www.wishville.co.uk/gorey) An Alphabet Book of Twisted Tales, by an author with an apposite appellation.

Leviathan: the Unauthorised Biography of Sydney
by John Birmingham
www.abc.net.au/arts/books/stories/s424252.htm
[Recorded at the 2000 Brisbane Writers Festival and broadcast on Radio National's Books and Writing program, 2001. Also used at
www.abc.net.au/arts/headspace/rn/booksw/leviathan/default.htm]

ISBN: 0091842034
Format: Paperback
Number of pages: 563
[An] epic tale of a city with a cold vacuum for a moral core. John Birmingham drills beneath the cover story ... Combining intensive research with the pace of a techno-thriller, [he] creates a rich portrait of a city too dazzled by its own gorgeous reflection to care much for what lies at its dark, corrupted heart ... Leviathan is history for the Tarantino generation.

At Seekbooks.com.au.

At Dymock's Bookshops;
At The Well Bookshop

Enlightenment & the like

English and Related Literature - Eighteenth Century Information Sources
www.york.ac.uk/services/library/subjects/engl18int.htm

University of KwaZulu-Natal Library - Pietermaritzburg campus - Subject links
www.library.unp.ac.za/SubjectLinksEnglish.htm
English
General subject gateways; Period studies; South African and postcolonial literature; Dictionaries; South African Organizations, etc.

Africlassical.com
Black History & Classical Music
Composers & Musicians of African Descent
George Augustus Polgreen Bridgetower (1780-1860)
chevalierdesaintgeorges.homestead.com/Bridge.html
Afro-British Violinist Accompanied by Beethoven
A persistent urban legend claims that Ludwig van Beethoven was Black! He was not. His ancestors were of Flemish and German descent. However, his Sonata for Violin and Piano, Op. 47, now called the "Kreutzer Sonata", was originally dedicated to the Afro-British violin virtuoso George Augustus Polgreen Bridgetower (1780-1860).
Bridgetower had an African American father and a European mother. He was raised in London, and began his career as a violinist at age ten!

Paul's Humanities (mostly Latin) Links page ( romaine.home.pipeline.com/notes/humanities.html )
Related Links - Ancient Greek & Latin, and 18th Century work related to or inspired by the Classical spirit.
www.greenspun.com/boohoo/related.tcl?page_id=PWR_Lit

Guide to Dr. Samuel Johnson - Texts, biographies, writing and anecdotes
andromeda.rutgers.edu/~jlynch/Johnson

Bookish; Are fossils words in the Book of Earth?

Side by side Chaucer at the Medieval Sourcebook:
www.fordham.edu/halsall/sbook2.html#lit2

The Kelmscott Chaucer
www-tech.mit.edu/~subway/Prints/chaucer.html
After a quick glance at the Kelmscott Chaucer, one might think the book was printed in the 15th or 16th century, not long after the printing of the Gutenberg Bible. In fact, it was printed in 1896. Its intentions, however, were very much rooted in the early history of the printed book. The publisher was the founder of the Kelmscott Press, William Morris, who was not only a noted printer and typographer, but also a famous commentator on a vast array of subjects, from the design of textiles and furniture to politics and social studies. The Kelmscott Chaucer was Morris' response to what he considered the cheap quality of books of the time

Walking directions to Mordor site
www.ooblick.com/text/tomordor

From a set of not-entirely-serious commentaries on most of the book www.bedford.net/teep/moby1.htm
There are a great many jokes in Moby-Dick, including possibly the world's most erudite fart joke: "For as in this world, head winds are far more prevalent than winds from astern (that is, if you never violate the Pythagorean maxim)..."

Jim Woodring's FRANK visits the Burgess Shale!
www.seattle.gov/arts/showcase/peephole/popup/woodring/frame.asp

Bronowski's Best Available Again! (+ Ken Clark's)

Sorry that this is long, but I'm hoping to have this extract of Bronowski in so many places around the net that many people may see it, and some think about it.

The dangerousness of people who are certain of themselves is a recurrent theme we can see in history. Events have recently resonated with a couple of memories, plus there has been some recent good news (see at the end). So here are two related treatments of it, edited from old entries.

The Sydney Morning Herald runs some opinion columns by columnists that deliberately set out to bait their mostly "liberal" readership. One of them is called Miranda Devine (great name, like Athena Starwoman, Slim Pickens, Rip Torn &c.). In a column in my most difficult year ( War-wary will not weary them, SMH 12th February, 2003) she praised statesmen of great "moral purity". The type that really frighten me. Here is one strong and clear explanation of some reasons I feel that way:

Extract of "Knowledge or Certainty", episode 11 from the 1973 BBC series The Ascent of Man by Jacob Bronowski (shown on PBS in the USA), as transcribed by Evan Hunt: www.ronrecord.com/Quotes/bronowski.html

"The Principle of Uncertainty is a bad name. In science -- or outside of it -- we are not uncertain; our knowledge is merely confined, within a certain tolerance. We should call it the Principle of Tolerance. And I propose that name in two senses: First, in the engineering sense -- science has progressed, step by step, the most successful enterprise in the ascent of man, because it has understood that the exchange of information between man and nature, and man and man, can only take place with a certain tolerance.

But second, I also use the word, passionately, about the real world. All knowledge -- all information between human beings -- can only be exchanged within a play of tolerance. And that is true whether the exchange is in science, or in literature, or in religion, or in politics, or in any form of thought that aspires to dogma. It's a major tragedy of my lifetime and yours that scientists were refining, to the most exquisite precision, the Principle of Tolerance -- and turning their backs on the fact that all around them, tolerance was crashing to the ground beyond repair.

The Principle of Uncertainty or, in my phrase, the Principle of Tolerance, fixed once for all the realization that all knowledge is limited. It is an irony of history that at the very time when this was being worked out there should rise, under Hitler in Germany and other tyrants elsewhere, a counter-conception: a principle of monstrous certainty. When the future looks back on the 1930s it will think of them as a crucial confrontation of culture as I have been expounding it, the ascent of man, against the throwback to the despots' belief that they have absolute certainty.

It is said that science will dehumanize people and turn them into numbers. That is false: tragically false. Look for yourself. This is the concentration camp and crematorium at Auschwitz. This is where people were turned into numbers. Into this pond were flushed the ashes of four million people. And that was not done by gas. It was done by arrogance. It was done by dogma. It was done by ignorance. When people believe that they have absolute knowledge, with no test in reality -- this is how they behave. This is what men do when they aspire to the knowledge of gods.

Science is a very human form of knowledge. We are always at the brink of the known; we always feel forward for what is to be hoped. Every judgment in science stands on the edge or error, and is personal. Science is a tribute to what we can know although we are fallible. In the end, the words were said by Oliver Cromwell: "I beseech you, in the bowels of Christ: Think it possible you may be mistaken."

Other sites with parts of this extract: skepdic.com/science.html; www.eighty.btinternet.co.uk/page30.htm; www.wsu.edu/~brians/hum_303/bronowski.html

[Exciting news, after many years, when the BBC would only sell the series in the UK to educational bodies, and it could be bought at a very high price on VHS in the USA only, they wouldn't ship elsewhere, now The Ascent of Man (USA) and Civilization (USA) are out in DVD box sets! If we all keep our extremities crossed, perhaps "O!, What a Lovely War will make it to DVD too. (Start your wish-list ... ) The books of both series are available second-hand reasonably regularly.]

and a reaction to the events of September 11, 2001 which also refer to this:
The Danger of Knowing for Sure
www.ratbags.com/skepticism
A special joint edition of
The Millenium Project and Quintessence of the Loon
September 12, 2001 by Peter Bowditch

... Bronowski was making a distinction between science and non-science - between knowing something with confidence and knowing something with certainty. The Nazis knew with certainty that they were right. Science, and its handmaiden skepticism, is based on the principle that knowledge is testable and that ideas and beliefs can be rejected and replaced if they can be demonstrated to be wrong or outdated. It is a process of continuous learning. Yes, science can have bad outcomes, but those bad things can be challenged and changed if necessary. When ideas cannot be challenged then learning, improvement and the correction of mistakes are impossible. There is no way back ...

When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things. 1 Corinthians 13:11

Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. 1 Thessalonians 5:21

Another aspect of the 'Knowlege & Certainty' point. In late January 2003, a piece by billionaire financier George Soros, was published, first in the New Statesman. [You may be able to find other sources.] He wrote that the Nazis and Russian communists had one thing in common: "a belief that they were in the possession of the ultimate truth" - and that America too now shared this fatal flaw.

But of course, this is also true of the Taliban, the Inquisitio Haereticae Pravitatis and its other incarnations, as well as current fundamentalist Christian groups, other fundamentalist religious groups (e.g. Hindus & Sikhs have been massacring each other in the Indian subcontinent for some decades, with politicians whipping up religious groups as cynically for their own benefit as in any 'christian' society), the aforementioned political movements, and even the economic hardliners who are willing to "break a few eggs to make an omelette".

Consider also the philosophy discussed by EM Forster in his essay "What I Believe" or "Two Cheers for Democracy", published in 1938.

To me probably the most important religious principle - of which 'love thy neighbour as thyself' is a version - is "Do as you would be done by". This has to apply to the non-human world as well, which is often not appreciated.

(written for the vigil opposing the death penalty in Singapore)

alfian.diaryland.com/hole.html

2005-05-09 - 10:40 p.m.

It was a little after I had my lunch when I heard the knock at the door. When I opened it, a polite man greeted me and passed me an envelope. Please collect the body within 24 hours, or it will be cremated. There was no room for shock. The whole week I had prepared myself for this. I did not let my hands tremble as I accepted the envelope ...

Some online photos

A photo e-book
www.zonezero.com/books4sale/sarajevo/review.html by Roger Richards on Sarajevo

www.dvnetwork.net

www.esthet.org/blog - archived, now photos on www.flickr.com/photos/esthet (on the 'architectural' side, where Roger Richard's ones above are heavily human-centric).

Mezza's photos at Flickr www.flickr.com/photos/87756698@N00 - another inner-city Sydneysider.

"Heroes Never Die"

Don't Mourn - Organize!: Songs of Labor Songwriter Joe Hill
01/01/1990
Smithsonian Folkways
ubl.artistdirect.com/nad/store/artist/album/0%2C%2C77862%2C00.html

The inclusion of Joan Baez's version of "Joe Hill" on the Woodstock album has been single-handedly responsible for keeping Joe Hill in the public consciousness. Sad but true, for Joe Hill, poet, songwriter, and organizer, was the most popular intentionally proletarian artist in American culture. Not an easy feat, especially considering how many people have tried to be popular proletarian artists.
This album, named after Joe Hill's famous last words before he was executed by the State of Utah, is a testament to Hill's power as a musical and cultural figure. It also attempts to secure his place in our memory;
Baez won't last forever, of
course. The album consists of two elements, Hill songs performed by important interpreters and songs about Hill, again in historically important performances. Among the former, number Harry McClintock singing "The Preacher and the Slave," Pete Seeger doing "Casey Jones (The Union Scab)," and Cisco Houston's version of "The Tramp."
The latter category contains the more varied and more interesting contributions. Among these are poet Kenneth Patchen's spoken word piece "Joe Hill Listens to the Praying," Billy Bragg singing Phil Ochs' "Joe Hill," and both Paul Robeson and Earl Robinson performing the Robinson-penned number Baez made her own, "Joe Hill," with its classic line, "I never died said he."
Excellent as an album and as a cultural document, hopefully this album will not let us forget the important
legacy, a sense of purpose, Joe Hill bequeathed to our culture. ~ Brian Whitener, All Music Guide

Les Miller's death of Leukaemia - Media Statement by 702 ABC Sydney

Les Miller - Media Statement by 702 ABC Sydney
Tuesday, 7 June 2005
Presenter: Simon Marnie

It is with great sadness that 702 ABC Sydney farewells Weekend Woodie Les Miller, who passed away this morning.

Les, a stalwart of the 702 ABC Sydney Weekends landscape for the past 4 years was one of our beloved Weekend Woodies ...

The Weekend Woodies - Les Miller (left) and Peter Masia
Medium Resolution Image: (54.76 KB)
High Resolution Image (1.21mb)

He acquired something akin to cult status thanks to his often hysterical but always instructional co-presenting of the Weekend Woodies with fellow expert Peter Masia and 702 ABC Sydney presenter Simon Marnie. Listeners with no interest in home renovation would often tune in just to hear the highly entertaining banter that is the Weekend Woodies. Les was also a regular guest on ABC TV’s The New Inventors hosted by 702 presenter James O’Loghlin ...

All the staff at 702 ABC Sydney share their grief with Les' family and friends. Les was not only a colleague, he was a friend to all of us and his great wisdom, generosity and cheeky spirit inspired us all. We will miss him dearly ...

"Royal de Luxe" Performance piece in Nantes, in memory of Jules Verne

This looks great. Could Sydney Festival bring it out? A certain friend of mine would say I should go to "London (UK) the 8, 9, 10 and 11 of September, or in 2006: Bilbao (Spain), Antwerp (Belgium), Calais (France)." where other performances are planned :)
www.nantes.fr/detente/culture/art_675.asp
Found this at www.livejournal.com/users/jwz/488113.html, also noted at
www.livejournal.com/users/jwz/489202.html
Personal Picture Gallery at
www.lean.to/gallery
This is an official site, with commentary in French, but is mostly just good photos
http://www.nantes.fr/ext/royal_de_luxe_2005

www.worldchanging.com/archives/002825.html - bit on Jules Verne

Helmintholog (The Worm Book)
The Treachery of Technology:
oh jesus fuck
I just spent four hours straight with Robert Trivers, one of the
greatest biological theorists of our time. For two of them, I had a
digital voice recorder going, with a new battery carefully inserted
and all the old tracks on it deleted, a tricky business without the
manual. I checked after a couple of minutes to make sure it
wasworking. I watched that the little red light kept blinking … ah,
blinking. When I returned to my hotel room, exhaused but triumphant,
it turned out that I had somehow switched on the voice operated
recording function while deleting the old stuff in a coffee shop
before the interview, and it only operated when people spoke very
loudly. So I have a record of these two hours 35 minutes long and much
of that is laughter. ha ha ha.
I think we go for quote approval on this story.

UPDATE: went back and did another forty minutes, with everything
working. Now transcribed, though less funthan the original.

WormGuy, above, links to "The Weirdest Book I ever read - www.livejournal.com/users/theferrett/ 519211.html?thread=25103915#t25103915
and www.livejournal.com/users/ jwz/490497.html
which relate to www.pinkoski.com (a nother lot of stuff on creationism, but with some neat drawings & a fun theory of dinosaurs, with film suggestions)

The blade gleams Silver as it flashes out of the deep shadow ...

An Ennio Morricone~Dario Argento Trilogy
www.footlight.com/product.cfm?product_id=18833
Morricone, Ennio
Price: $16.95
Audio CD
Product Description
Includes music from: "The Bird with the Crystal Plumage", "The Cat O' Nine Tailes" [sic], "Four Flies on Grey Velvet" and an Interview between Dario Argento, the Maestro of Horror, and Claudio Fuinao about the trilogy.
16 Track total (Including Interview)

Footlight Store: 113 East 12th St. NY, NY 10003 (info-at-footlight.com )

Welcome to A Fistful of Dario: The Dark Cinema of Dario Argento, my tribute/homage web page
www.mediaroach.com/fistfulofdario/links.html

Cinequest Tribute - Dario Argento: Master of the Macabre
www.cinequest.org/2000/guide/dario.html

Alan Jones, International Film Journalist
Dario Argento
www.alanj.dircon.co.uk/Argento.htm
(Alan reports all things Argento related on the darkdreams.org Dario website
run by Nick Dawe)

Dario Argento: Master of Horror
www.houseofhorrors.com/argento.htm

Dario Argento: Master of the Macabre
www.giallo.dsl.pipex.com/main.html
Quentin Tarantino adores him. Clive Barker wants to be him. And John Carpenter directed 'Halloween' in homage to his work.

Master of Colors
www.argento.vervost.de
GoreZone
www.gorezone.net
Horror-Web.
horror-web.com

Schapelle - Not Only in America

We all used to say "only in America".
There was a story linked to the particle (April 14, 2005) involving a camel suit which an airport baggage-handler took out of a travellers' bag and wore out on the tarmac. (Tho' this didn't wear it out. <g>)

It was about a young woman in a group travelling from Australia to Bali in whose unlocked bulky sports bag a large bag of marijuana was found. This is a capital (firing squad) offence in Indonesia. She is claiming it was -- unknown to her -- put into her bag as part of an ongoing arrangment to smuggle goods between domestic airports, and that it had missed being taken out. There is at least one report of a man who phoned the consul in Bali having found a bag of grass in his luggage on arrival at his hotel and being advised to quickly dispose of it and not report it.

The whole thing has blown up into an incredible scene, rather along the lines of The Big Carnival (aka Ace in the Hole). Maybe it could be pitched as "OJ Case meets Elian on the Midnight Express"? It has ramified into some serious matters involving home affairs (like the extent of corruption in airport staff, with a cocaine smuggling ring just arrested and many passengers reporting they lost valuables from their cases in transit), international incidents (e.g., interfering in overseas criminal trials, death threats to Indonesian diplomats in Australia, groups at the court picketing in favour of the death sentence), websites, petitions, T-shirts, songs being written, etc, etc, while a rich businessman has taken up her cause. The judicial systems are fairly different so there's a lot of room for confusion, and also the rules about the kind of media coverage and the legality of commenting on sub judice cases seems closer to the US free-for-all than the usual Australian restrictions. It just goes on ... (This is the latest Schapelle Corby)

And for all the non-usians out there who get slightly irritated by references to obscure US personalities, here's 100 Aussie names you can throw around to confuse them (I've heard of nearly all of them, tho I don't know anything more than that about quite a few). Meanwhile usians & other non-Ozzies can make yourselves sound familiar with Oz affairs, if you so wish. Impress your friends! Break the ice at parties!! Readers' Digest Australian Trust Survey

Crafty Stuff

Hehehe - I like the way humans work by rubbing stuff together until they get a spark:
www.simarillion.com/Simarillion.htm

More Disintermediation
www.salwarkameezindia.com
Online Shopping - Buy All Our Products Directly from India - Free Shipping
for our International Buyers
We offer several payment options, accept all major currencies as payment modes and ship to all countries of the world. Should you face any difficulty in ordering, please feel free to send us an email.

A group of Bosnian refugee ladies who make socks, slippers and rugs in America. They survive on the income they make in knitting these things.
http://www.merrystahel.com/author/MyFavoriteCharities.htm

Yet another fibre alternative. Well, I could make a joke about fibbers, but it'd be nasty.
www.rugsandcrafts.com/yarn/banana_yarn.html
Banana Silk fibber yarn is made from the fibber of the banana tree. The fibber is refined, processed and skeined in Nepal by women. Banana trees are renewable, sustainable and produce environmentally friendly by-products. Only the decaying outer layers of the trees (aged bark) are harvested and soaked under water to quicken the natural process. When all of the chlorophyll structures are dissolved, the cellulose fibbers remain. They are extracted, washed and crushed by hand to make it suitable for spinning into banana yarn.
To make our banana fibber yarn vibrant, brilliant, and saturated with colour, the yarn is hand-dyed. Women's groups in Nepal carefully make each yarn skein. They come in 100 and 200 gram skeins. 200 grams contain about 135 yards. We currently offer 9 different colours of banana fibber yarn.

Some Sydney Stuff; Good Example or Horrible Warning

Sydney from the air in the early 60's
31 May 2005
An aerial view of Sydney taken in the early '60s. With fly-pasts of Gladesville, the unfinished Opera House, Maroubra, Coogee and Bondi beaches, through to Watsons Bay and the North Shore.

Some Links to info on the Strand Arcade, Sydney, a restored 19th century retail site.
www.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/hs_hb_strand_arcade.asp
www.strandarcade.com.au
www.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/sydney-shopping/ShoppingCentres/TheStrandArcade.html
www.sydneypubguide.net/pubs/Strand.aspx

Catherine Aird
www.xs4all.nl/~embden11/Engels4/aird.htm

1930-
Pseudonym of Kinn Hamilton McIntosh. She was born in Huddersfield, Yorkshire. She is the creator of Inspector Sloan, CID department head in West Calleshire, England
Biography
Catherine Aird is the author of more than twenty crime novels and story collections, most of which feature Detective Chief Inspector C. D. Sloan. She holds an honorary M. A. from the University of Kent and was made an M.B.E. Her other works include Amendment of Life (St. Martin's Minotaur, 2003) and Little Knell (St. Martin's Minotaur, 2001). She lives in England.
His Burial Too
Ms. Aird's version of a "locked-room" mystery is an intriguing one. Her dry wit and intelligent writing make it an excellent example of thie genre. Not only that, but the book in its entirety takes place during the space of one day. It can't get much tighter than that. It all begins when an arm is seen amongst several tons of broken plaster in a locked church bell tower ... But its her characters that make the story so special - the enigmatic Sloane, the bumbling Sergeant Crosby and the colourful Superintendent Leeyes. Ms Aird is a master craftsman of the the cozy mystery formula.
Published Bantam; 1973 Reissue 1986 ISBN: 0553139495. 1st Bantam Printing

EnglishSpace
esmeraldus.blogspot.com
A collection of snarky literary criticism, comments, and fiction. Where else can you find Jean Baudrillard and cat snot in the same post? Nowhere, I'd bet.

Los Alamos blog & assorted links

Possibly amusing caption contest
obsidianwings.blogs.com/ obsidian_wings/2005/04/contest.html

Free Online Graph/Grid Paper PDFs
www.incompetech.com/beta/plainGraphPaper
Includes Dots (Like normal graph paper - but with dots instead of lines); Hexagonal; Celtic Knotwork Graph Paper [?!? Wow] ; Asymmetric (Asymmetric graph paper is typically used for knitting patterns. Knit stitches are wider than they are tall. You can set your own width to height ratio.) and Multi-Width.

Struggle for Atomic Facts
www.commondreams.org/views04/0810-01.htm

More Atomism

Blogs seem to be everywhere. But this one is unusual, in that the Los Alamos National Laboratory, isolated in the mountains of New Mexico, has a long history of maintaining the highest level of federal secrecy.

The blog ( www.lanl-the-real-story.blogspot.com) went public in January and since then has registered more than 100,000 visits, with more than half a million pages viewed and more than 5,000 comments. Discussions run on a variety of topics, from the sanctity of retirement benefits to the likely identity of the next contractor who will run Los Alamos.

Since most messages are anonymous, there is no way to know how many laboratory employees contribute to the blog. Even so, from the sheer volume, detail and differing styles of the messages, the number is clearly many more than a handful. The language, often studded with obscure acronyms, suggests that the authors have a deep knowledge of the laboratory's exotic culture.

[Current news is about a death, see story at www.freenewmexican.com/ news/13584.html which details another nasty incident, recalling www.parrot-farm.net/%7Eroberts/ blog/Raspberry_Jam_Lost ]

UPDATE 2006: The LANL blog has been moved to its final resting place, at www.parrot-farm.net/ ~roberts/ lanl-the-real-story
LANS officially assumed the LANL contract June 1, 2006. This blog shuts down July 1.

Friday, June 30, 2006
Last Post
This is the last post to LANL, The Real Story . 869,847 visitors, 3,274,719 page views as of today.

This blog will remain on-line for some as yet undetermined period, but I have turned off the ability to comment on existing posts, and there will be no more submissions accepted. The Los Alamos Historical Society has requested that I burn a copy of the blog to DVD so that they could archive it, and I will do this. In addition, I may install a stand-alone version of the blog on computer at the Los Alamos Museum where visitors will be allowed to browse a "live" copy of LTRS, but not make any modifications to it.

By kayak from Germany to Australia

www.nswseakayaker.asn.au/mag/50/oscarspeck1.htm

[Full story not included here - see at URLs.]
from the NSW Sea Kayaker Magazine Edition 50
Oskar Speck's Epic Journey From Germany to Australia
Reprinted with the kind permission of Australasian POST magazine

www.nswseakayaker.asn.au/magazine/50/journey.htm
Incredible Journey
by Oskar Speck
As told to Duncan Thompson

Mr Oskar Spec, citizen of Hamburg, Germany, introduced the kayak to us in 1939.
He paddled it here — alone!

For seven years he paddled it, from Ulm on the Danube, to Australia, skirting the wrath of great seas and oceans, slipping from island to island, in a craft never designed for the sea.

That you did not hear of his arrival was either his fault nor yours.

For Speck chose a wrong period in world history for his amazing voyage — 30,000 miles in a frail frame-and-canvas canoe. For the kayak, the longest way round hugging the coastlines of the world is the only way home.

Germany was at peace (and in poverty) when Speck left Ulm in 1932.

Seven years later, in September 1939, he coaxed his kayak through the surf and on to the beach at Saibai, an island 60 or 70 miles north from Thursday Island. Officially, Saibai is Australia proper. At his bow, often smothered in the flying surf, fluttered the tiny Swastika which he had brought from Germany with him.

Three Australian police were waiting for him to berth his kayak. If this was the
German invasion, these cops could handle it. “Well done, feller!” they said, shaking his hand warmly. “You’ve made it — Germany to Australia in THAT. But now we’ve got a piece of bad news for you. You are an enemy alien. We are going to intern you.”

They did just that.

Speck went behind barbed wire at Tatura, Victoria ... Censorship clamped down on
the story of his voyage.

So that is why you have never heard of Oskar Speck.

Bolkein & Beyond

From The Green Man: thegreenman.net.au/mt/archives/001068.html

Martins lopsided view of the film is that he thought was excellent but would have been so much better as a musical...
Pearson has taken some of the better parts and assembled a CD that he is counting on to make him rich beyond his wildest dreams. The said CD is entitled "The Unfinished Spelling Errors of Bolkien, being a three part musical synopsis of book and file LOTR."
It is a collection of songs, ( MP3 sample: www.solsup.com.au/greenman/gandalfsong.mp3) and narrative (MP3 sample: www.solsup.com.au/greenman/narrative.mp3)

You can contact Martin Pearson by email on martinpearson@iinet.net.au or by snail mail at
Martin Pearson
PO Box 2373
Richmond South 3121
Australia
It costs $40 for the double CD. That is in Australian dollars which is
probably about 75c US

[ahem - I think he means $AU1 is about $US0.75, not that $40 is. It has sometimes felt that way, tho'. The UK pound is still quite daunting.]

... and related to another book recently adapted for film:
filmforce.ign.com/articles/607/607319p1.html
The Hitchhiker's Guide to Douglas Adams
Friends and colleagues remember the man behind the Guide

[includes] "A much better tribute to Douglas is the new, final radio series ( www.abovethetitle.com/) based on the fourth and fifth Hitchhiker books. The reason those books don't work very well is because they were rushed so there is almost no editing. Douglas needed a good editor or producer to make his work really shine and what Dirk Maggs has done with these final eight scripts is extraordinary and exactly what an editor would have done with the books had there been time.'

(Art imitates Life imitates Art? Or should that be Life imitates Art imitates Life? An Eternal Golden Braid.) Another in the world of stranger-than-fiction obituaries.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/World/ Operatic-exit-for-polisher-of-despots-sullied-images/ 2005/05/04/1115092565949.html
www.smh.com.au/text/articles/ 2005/05/04/1115092565949.html(Text-only)

Being Fractal

(See at moments.circumtech.com/1996/12/beingfractal a fine piece from an excellent site.)

... which brings me to:
Sierpinski Sieve
mathworld.wolfram.com/SierpinskiSieve.html
A fractal described by Sierpinski in 1915 and appearing in Italian art from the 13th century (Wolfram 2002, p. 43). It is also called the Sierpinski gasket or Sierpinski triangle ... Surprisingly, elementary cellular automaton rule 90 also produces the Sierpinski sieve (Wolfram 2002, p. 870).
Sierpinski Carpet
mathworld.wolfram.com/SierpinskiCarpet.html
A fractal which is constructed analogously to the Sierpinski sieve, but using squares instead of triangles.

See also:
Lindenmayer System, Pascal's Triangle, Rule 90, Sierpinski Arrowhead Curve, Sierpinski Carpet, Tetrix

Wolfram, S. A New Kind of Science. Champaign, IL: Wolfram Media, pp. 870, 931-932, 2002.

Online banking fees for the five major Australian banks:
(This needs to be put into a table, sorry will have to wait)
Bank Account: Transaction; Inquiry; BPAY
ANZ Transact: nil; nil; nil
ANZ Access Advantage: nil; nil; nil
ANZ Equity Manager: nil; nil; nil
Commonwealth Streamline: 30c; nil; 30c
National Passbook: 20c; 20c; 20c
National Smart Access: nil; nil; nil
National Smart Direct: nil; nil; nil
National Tertiary Student: 20c; 20c; 20c
St George Freedom: nil; nil; nil
Westpac Classic: 25 cents; nil; 25 cents
Westpac Classic Plus: 25 cents; nil; 25 cents

Commonwealth's online transaction fee to rise to 50 cents on July 1.

Source: The Australian Consumers Association's flickyourbank.com.au

Cheering you up a bit, perhaps, this eBay store:
stores.ebay.com/ALTER-EGO-EROTICS

'Twas early in the morning upon the fifth of May
When seven police surrounded him as fast asleep he lay.
Bill Dargin he was chosen to shoot the outlaw dead
The troopers then fired madly, and filled him full of lead
They rolled him in a blanket and strapped him to his prad
And led him through the streets of Forbes to show the prize they had.
$nbsp;$nbsp;$nbsp;$nbsp;$nbsp;$nbsp;The Streets of Forbes

Some Kind of Courage

Sign-language interpreter told `the truth' on state TV about Ukraine's election
By Nora Boustany
The Washington Post
Posted May 1 2005
Dmytruk, 48, made sign language her vocation and today interprets for Ukraine's state-run television.
Her face and hands appear in a little box at the bottom of the screen as she sends out the news on the mid-morning and early afternoon telecasts to the hearing-impaired.
During the tense days of Ukraine's presidential elections last year, Dmytruk staged a silent but bold protest, informing deaf Ukrainians that official results from the Nov. 21 runoff were fraudulent.
Her act of courage further emboldened protests that grew until a new election was held and the opposition candidate, Viktor Yushchenko, was declared the winner.
... "After every broadcast I had to render in sign language, I felt dirty. I wanted to wash my hands."
The opposition had no access to the state-run media, but Dmytruk was in a special position as a television interpreter to get their message out.
On Nov. 25, she walked into her studio for the 11 a.m. broadcast ... The newscaster read the officially scripted text about the results of the election, and Dmytruk signed along. But then, ... In her own daring protest, she signed: "I am addressing everybody who is deaf in the Ukraine. Our president is Victor Yushchenko. Do not trust the results of the central election committee. They are all lies. ... And I am very ashamed to translate such lies to you. Maybe you will see me again," she concluded, hinting at what fate might await her. She then continued signing the rest of officially scripted news.

The Zen of Computers

A classic collection for possible use in a sig-file, rotating blog header, or something similar.

In Japan, they have replaced the impersonal and unhelpful Microsoft error messages with their own Japanese haiku poetry, each only 17 syllables, 5 syllables in the first line, 7 in the second, 5 in the third.

Your file was so big.
It might be very useful.
But now it is gone.

The Web site you seek
Can not be located but
Countless more exist.

Chaos reigns within.
Reflect, repent, and reboot.
Order shall return.

ABORTED effort:
Close all that you have worked on.
You ask far too much.

Windows NT crashed.
I am the Blue Screen of Death.
No one hears your screams.

Yesterday it worked.
Today it is not working.
Windows is like that.

First snow, then silence.
This thousand dollar screen dies
So beautifully.

With searching comes loss
And the presence of absence:
"My Novel" not found.

The Tao that is seen
Is not the true Tao - until
You bring fresh toner.

Stay the patient course.
Of little worth is your ire.
The network is down.

A crash reduces
Your expensive computer
To a simple stone.

Three things are certain:
Death, taxes, and lost data.
Guess which has occurred.

You step in the stream,
But the water has moved on.
This page is not here.

Out of memory.
We wish to hold the whole sky,
But we never will.

Having been erased,
The document you're seeking
Must now be retyped.

Serious error.
All shortcuts have disappeared.
Screen. Mind. Both are blank.