News and current affairs
The following is from a friend who has a relative who is a firefighter helping in the hurricane zone. Re-posted with permission. FEMA is the US Federal Emergency Management Agency. I find it rather frightening that they should be showing such obvious ineptitude dealing with the disaster. I just got off the phone with ****. ... [More]
After trying to stuff the Business section into its main News pages, and apparently getting flayed for it, The Age has now tried to stuff the Metro section in there instead. They say that Metro readers were sick of looking through the Sport section to find it. That’s probably true, but will they be any ... [More]
Right now, innocence is being taken by faceless government bureaucrats. The Age: Back at school after being illegally detained Immigration officers arrived unannounced at Stanmore Public School in March and removed Ian Hwang, then 11, and his six-year-old Australian-born sister Janey, after their Korean mother was arrested arriving at Sydney Airport with a false passport. ... [More]
Flashback to ten years ago: Srebrenica massacre. See also coverage on Google News.
Helping to make stoicism the media’s most over-used word of the week, Londoners continue to show their defiance against terrorism: I’ve been asked several times by members of the public whether I’m scared to drive my train now. I answer that we can’t allow ourselves to be beaten. — a District line tube driver A ... [More]
Reaction to the London bombings: US President George Bush told reporters at the G8 Summit in Gleneagles that “the war on terror goes on.” It occurs to me that if one is to wage a war on terror, it could do with not playing second fiddle to the war in Iraq. While Saddam was a ... [More]
London’s one of my favourite cities, which makes today’s events all the more shocking. Obviously it’s too early to know the cause with any certainty, but with multiple blasts around London, it does look like terrorism. Londoners, the world is watching, and I’m sure I’m not alone in sending our best wishes.
“Any chance of a VB? How are the Cats going?” — Freed Iraq hostage Douglas Wood, on his release.
From the scrolling news sign above Young & Jackson’s… Seven eh? Oh dear. Oh well that’s not as bad as 60. Wow. Do they know which seven? Only seven? Maybe they should stay home. Actually it’s five. I think I might have mentioned this before, but I always thought it looked funny when I had ... [More]
A pretty good Christmas haul. A brilliant (two volume) book, some DVDs, some chocolate, a groovy t-shirt, groovy CDs, and a stuff-yourself-all-afternoon Christmas lunch. I’ve got no complaints. Tonight I tried to make nachos. I think I may have given myself excess cheese poisoning. I was sitting at home, on my own in the dark, ... [More]
With recent accusations that IBM punch-card machines were used by the Nazis to more efficiently bring about the Holocaust, I was just pondering how companies who have had less than illustrious histories document events they’d rather forget about. WW2 footage often shows German forces driving Mercedes trucks. In their truck history, they talk about the ... [More]
It’s the weekend. The long weekend. Queen’s Birthday weekend. Even though it’s not her birthday. Amusingly, in the UK they don’t get a day off for it. It’s also the last public holiday until Cup Day in November. I may not be a monarchist, but fully I intend to make the most of it.