Entries from February 2009
Vickie X Update
Telegraph – Victoria Cross hero Johnson Beharry condemns failure to care for veterans The British Army’s most decorated serving soldier has accused the Government of failing troops suffering from mental trauma as a result of combat in Iraq and Afghanistan. Hmmm. I have had an article open all week now, and just closed it. Figures. […]
Categories: War and Peace
Letting the Dutch Teach Sex Ed
The Times – Children having children<br/> England and Wales can tackle teenage pregnancy – with a minor social revolution Early, comprehensive sex education combined with easily available contraception have helped to give the Netherlands the lowest teenage pregnancy rate in the West. But these are not the only factors, nor the only benefits. By requiring […]
Categories: People and Current Events
Cook Porn II
The company that made our fridge (made by Kiwis!) came out with a new, under-the-counter model:
Categories: Food
Smarmy Non Apology Rejected!
The Times – Vatican rejects ‘apology’ from Holocaust-denial bishop Richard Williamson “The Holy Father and my Superior, Bishop Bernard Fellay, have requested that I reconsider the remarks I made on Swedish television four months ago, because their consequences have been so heavy,” Bishop Williamson said in a statement released by the Zenit Catholic news agency. […]
Categories: People and Current Events
Jackie Chan in: The Tale of the Looted Palace
The Times – Jackie Chan comes out fighting for China’s looted sculptures after YSL sale Jackie Chan, the action film star, has thrown his weight behind Beijing’s efforts to shame France over the sale of two looted Chinese sculptures that were part of the Yves Saint Laurent collection. The bronze rat and rabbit, removed when […]
Categories: Art and Literature
Wire Services (and Use Thereof) Getting Up My Nose Again
I find this really astonishing (why are we still reading these things?!): Power Line – NO SUCH THING AS A REAL TERRORIST? We’ve commented before on the fetish that many reporters and editors have for the word “alleged.” I’m starting to think, though, that when it comes to terrorists, our newspapers now reserve judgment on […]
Categories: Business & Media
Loewe Sound
My kind of ad:
Categories: Art and Literature
Broken Britain?
Daily Mail – The moment innocent man was killed by shoplifter in supermarket queue-jumping row A frame of CCTV footage shows a woman, Antonette Richardson, pointing at a man who cut in front of her in line at Sainsbury’s, and simultaneously her boyfriend, Tony Virasami, pulling back his fist to punch a completely different man, […]
Categories: People and Current Events
Time Wasters for Smart People
Brett McS drew my attention to this, via Jonah Goldberg’s “Odd Links“, “Thousands of free video lectures”: Academic Earth – Thousands of video lectures from the world’s top scholars With everything from “The Nature of Persons: Dualism vs. Physicalism” from the Philosophy department at Yale to “The Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs” from the […]
Categories: Science and Nature
Absolutely the Funniest Item of the Day CCVII
Not the sentiments expressed by my beloved Mr Freeman, but the look on Wallace’s face: Morgan Freeman on Race and Black History Month<br/> Curtsy: Wheat & Weeds
Categories: History
Rime of the Ancient Long-Line Fisherman
The Times – Majesty at Sea<br/> The campaign to save the albatross is a remarkable success that should be copied Save the albatross, don’t turn into undead-zombie-ghosts!
Categories: Science and Nature
Slumdog Facts 'n Figures
The Times – Build and Learn<br/> The routes out of poverty for India’s real slumdogs are surprisingly straightforward The slum in which the year’s most successful film is set is based on a real one. Dharavi, home to a million people, covers an area slightly larger than Hyde Park in the middle of Mumbai with […]
Categories: People and Current Events
School Trips to Baghdad, Anyone?
The Times – Looted and Found<br/> Six years on, a great museum is reborn Happy news!
Categories: History
Plus Ça Change, Plus Meet the New Boss
Worthy reading: The Times – The War on Terror goes on, whatever we call it<br/> Binyam Mohamed may have been maltreated, but that doesn’t mean that the threat from Islamic theocracies is not real, by David Aaronovitch
Categories: War and Peace
Finding Nemo
Melanie Ried in The Times, third item: Celtic connection I feel sorry for English rugby fans, because they miss out totally on the camaraderie of the oppressed and the beaten. Even when they are actually beaten. The Scots, of course, are expert in the dark art of finding the fellowship of the fallen everywhere they […]
Categories: Sports and Leisure