“In the 1920s O G S Crawford invented aerial archaeology, one of many services this eccentric Marxist misanthrope performed for the study of antiquity.”
- Jonathan Meades: Link

Bloody Old Britain: O G S Crawford and the Archaeology of Modern Life

By Kitty Hauser

Granta Books, 286pp

Amazon: Link

“Future archaeologists will perhaps excavate the ruined factories of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries when the radiation effects of Atom bombs have died away.”
- O. G. S. Crawford, from Archaeology in the Field (1953)

O. G. S. Crawford @ Wikipedia: Link.

~ Karl Jones

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Rome: It’s beautiful and it’s not. Kinda like everything else in life.

“La prossima fermata è Roma Termini.”

I moved to Italy to live at the end of September last year. I lived in Brescia (a medium-sized city in Northern Italy) until March 1, when I moved to Siena.

(I am once again back in Brescia, but that’s a story I’m going to save for another day.)

I picked up some vocabulary during those first five months in Italy, but it wasn’t until I started attending an Italian class for immigrants in Siena that I really started learning the language.

Now, finally!, I understand much of what is being said either to me or around me. The language no longer sounds foreign or like pretty sounds flowing forth from people’s mouths. Although I’m more motivated to learn the language–because it finally seems like an achievable goal to converse fluently–the glossy veneer of the nonsensical musical sounds has dulled. I don’t know, there’s something about understanding when somebody complains about the weather (or conversely, the ease in which I can complain about it) that makes any language sound less romantic.

Shiny glossy veneers are so overrated. Don’t you think? I mean, a veneer is just a thin expensive sheet of wood (or metal) with layers upon layers of unusually toxic clear varnish. If it wasn’t for the common cheap material beneath (like pine or regular mild steel), the veneer would have nothing to attach itself to.

And I’ve always preferred the look of a dull, used or aged finish anyway…and now that I’ve exhausted my analogy I’m finished with this post.

But one more thing before I go to bed on this hot summer night: it is nice to know that you can simply listen to the conductor to know when your next stop is and not have the nervous wondering of whether you’ve missed it or have yet to arrive.

Arrivederci a dopo.

~Janelle Renée

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Natural Touch is a Non Governmental Organisation based in Calabar the Eastern part of Nigeria.The inspiration come from a point of observation of handicapped people and Children roaming the streets of some citites in Nigeria mostly in Calabar begging for alms.
Most of them at the end of the day retired to uncompleted buildings to pass the night,It was a very gory site when a reported case of ritual dehumanising killing of two of such people in a street close to my residence.These two were killed and some part of them remove for rituals activities or some other things not quite known to us.

So touched by such inhuman treament to people because of their inability to defend themselves or provide proper accomodation for themselves,and even a source of livelihood was traumatic,hence,my decision to get the NGO (NATURAL TOUCH) started,with the aim to provide food and shelter for the hanicapped.Make sure there is a future for them and security of life for them.

Upon our inception,we had limited our intention to mostly the young ones and average aged.Although we could not provide accomodation for them but we  provide the basic needs which is food for them atleast once a day.

It is our aim to increase the feeding arrangement to twice a day and also build a home for them.It is our aim to accomodate at least 2000-5000 handicapped people of difiers ages in the home,and Animals too.
With support from other Organisations/Individauls that are touched just as we are.We will establish a school or a handicraft centre for them to study and become independent of their own in future.
Suffice to say here that most of them roam the street with torn cloths and look unkept,We also provide clothing where necessary and affordable to them.
Based on our inability to sustain the financial burden,we are looking forward to Groups or Individuals with similar passion as we have towards uplifting the living standard of these hadicapped and also thinking of ensuring their future.

We are planning of building a home for them in Calabar to accomodate the handicapped and also recruit personnels to take care of their cooking and tranining.
We look forward to support  from passionate groups and individuals.
Thanks,
Dennis

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Technology for human needs:

• The Outquisition
• Engineers Without Borders
• MIT International Design Summit
• Free/Open Appropriate Technology
• Transition Towns
• Technology for Humanity

(...)
Read the rest of Technology for Humanity (735 words)

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Senator John McCain, the US Republican choice for presidential nominee, has made an ill-advised, highly political choice of vice presidential candidates in Sarah Palin. She is an incredibly under-accomplished, far-right wing, inexperienced woman whose only significant political experience is being the governor of Alaskaa and an Alaskan city of 9,000 people, Wasilla.

One might think that this woman, who only holds an undergraduate degree from Idaho State and whose policies reflect her utter lack of education and grip on reality, foreign policy, economics, defense, environment, etc, might be unelectable. Unfortunately, as the election of George W Bush before her proves, Americans are apt to vote based purely on personality, looks and lifestyle, not on qualifications, education, policy or experience.

Beyond Palin's corrupt political career, abandonment of her own home state in pursuit of national political aims (her lobbying for a $200 million bridge to connect an empty town in Alaska to a local airport, and then voting against her own bridge after it became clear the country was in uproar, as other bridges in other states collapsed and multiple fatalities resulted), her undistinguished careeer as an almost-beauty queen, her support for oil-drilling on the Alaskan coast to support her personal and family oil company financial interests, and anti-environment policies, etc, Sarah Palin is a rabid right winger against women's human rights.

Ironically, her stance against sex education in schools, and her support of abstinence-only until marriage education, has resulted in her own daughter, Bristol, becoming an unmarried pregnant teenager at 17 years old. Her boyfriend Levi vows on his since-erased MySpace page that he "doesn't want kids." Yet this week, Palin has forced her daughter into becoming engaged to her underaged boyfriend still in high school, in order to uphold her political appearance and candidacy for vice president.

Terrifyingly, McCain is the oldest potential incumbent in the United States, at 70 years old. Were McCain to pop off during the presidency, this woman would become President of the United States. Even more ironically, this woman who is the staunchest opponent to women's rights wishes to reverse the slow and painstaking progress made to gender inequality over the past 100 years. She would reverse Roe v. Wade and she opposes abortion even in the case of rape or incest.

Here's some information about how "Sarah Barracuda", a self-termed "hockey mom" and mother of five, feels about people's ability to make their own choices about their sexual and reproductive health:

Source:
[Think Progress]

Palin Is A Member Of Anti-Abortion Group Feminists For Life. Palin is a member of an “anti-abortion group called Feminists for Life.” When running for governor in 2002, she “sent an e-mail to the anti-abortion Alaska Right to Life Board saying she was as ‘pro-life as any candidate can be’ and has ‘adamantly supported our cause since I first understood, as a child, the atrocity of abortion.’”

[Anchorage Daily News, 8/6/08]

Palin Opposes Abortion Even In Cases Of Rape Or Incest. In 2006, Palin said that even if her daughter were raped, “I would choose life.” She said that she would support abortion only if the mother’s life were in danger.

[Anchorage Daily News, 11/3/06]

Palin Slashed Funding To Help Teenage Mothers. Earlier this year, Palin used a line-item veto “to slash funding for a state program benefiting teen mothers in need of a place to live.” Funding for Covenant House Alaska, which provides transitional housing for teen mothers, was cut by 20 percent — from $5 million to $3.9 million.

[Washington Post,9/3/08]

Palin Supports Abstinence-Only Policies. In 2006, the Eagle Forum Alaska asked Palin whether she would “support funding for abstinence-until-marriage education.” Palin replied, “Yes, the explicit sex-ed programs will not find my support.”

[Politico, 9/1/08]

Palin Supports Parental Consent Laws For Minors Seeking Abortions. According to the Anchorage Daily News, Palin was “disappointed lawmakers let a bill die requiring girls under 17 to get parental consent for an abortion. ‘My belief is parents have the right to know about the health and welfare of their children,’ she said.”

[Anchorage Daily News, 8/14/08]

“I’m slightly afraid that fewer and fewer people will want to devote their whole life to one experiment. This may be a problem.”

- Michal Tomášek

One experiment, one life

The scale and complexity of the LHC [Large Hadron Collider] can only be rivaled by some of the greatest scientific efforts ever made, such as the race to the moon or the development of the atomic bomb. More so than those efforts, the LHC is truly international, which is made clear on a visit to its outdoor cafeteria, where, in the shadow of Mont Blanc, a multitude of languages can be heard.

The duration of the experiment — about two decades on, it is only about to begin, and it could likely operate for 20 years — means that some physicists will spend their whole careers devoted solely to the LHC. This concerns Michal Tomášek, a Czech physicist who works on Atlas.

“Back when I was a student,” he says, “there were 20 to 40 experiments that lasted five to six years, and you had an opportunity to go from one to another. … [Now] it’s really one experiment for one life.

“I’m slightly afraid that fewer and fewer people will want to devote their whole life to one experiment. This may be a problem.”

- Paul Voosen @ The Prague Post - September 3rd, 2008.

Large Hadron Collider @ Wikipedia

~ Karl Jones

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I was wondering if there were actually people out there who have changed their lifestyles to be more eco-friendly. I searched the internet to see who was doing what. Are people Makin’ it Green? The answer is a resounding… Yes!!!

One man moved to the New Mexico wilderness to live without oil. Another family in California changes their urban yard into a farm complete with animals. And a Canadian couple goes off the grid but keeps their middle class lifestyle. And there are a lot more. All wonderful stories which inspired me. 

Inspirational stories of folks ‘Makin’ it Green’…

Farewell my Subaru - a greener life in New Mexico, USA

Doug Fine is the   author of ‘Farewell my Subaru’ a book about  his life without oil. Doug moved to New Mexico, USA with his girl friend. They built a green sustainable home, are raising goats, chickens, ducks and growing much of their own food. You can read the continuing story of his new greener life at his blog. He is funny, charming and actually doing it… well. Amazing!!!

 

 

Path to Freedom - urban homesteaders in California, USA

An eco-pioneering lifestyle in Pasadena, CA. This is a story of a family who turned their lot into a 1/10th acre  farm which, produces 6,000 lbs. of organic food annually. On a path to self-sufficiency the Dervaes grow and preserve 99% of their own food, recycle, make bio-diesel, utilize solar power and more. You can read their blog or watch more videos at Dervaes’ channel on youtube.com. Awesome!!!

 

 Off Grid Living - with renewable resources in Canada

Bill and Lorraine Kemp live a normal middle class lifestyle in an average home with all the things you’d expect like a big screen TV, home office filled with computers and other equipment, washer / dryer, and even a cappuccino machine. But the thing that makes them unique is that they live completely off the grid. They have wood heat, solar/wind power for electricity, a well and waste water reclamation system. You can read their blog or watch more videos at aztextpress channel on youtube.com.

We can make it green living well and inexpensively. So exciting and inspirational!

Some wonderful sustainable resources…

Peak Moment TV - A network dedicated to sustainability and issues of our changing world. There are 23 interesting 28-minute episodes hosted by Janaia Donaldson (photo left) you can watch at Global Media. You can also read Janaia’s blog about the latest goings on at Peak Moment too.

Natural Life Magazine - A paper and online magazine that is about how to create a greener, healthier and more sustainable lifestyle.

Your Backyard Farmer Located in Portland, OR. A great concept people who love to farm, do it for you and it’s all organic.

~Bonnee Klein Gilligan

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First day of Medicine 2.0 today.  In general, the conference hasn’t focused on my global health and tech interests but is looking at practical solutions for Western health issues.  It was probably naive of me, but I didn’t expect such an academic focus: the presenters keep reminding us that they’re not tech people, but rather sociologists, anthropologists and epidemiologists.  In my head, technology is this explosive, creative, exciting thing that constantly surprises and challenges me.  The approaches highlighted here are pragmatic rather than mindblowing.  So I’m missing the global health elements, but learning a lot about practical approaches to public health and physician support online.

I always need a few days to process, but for now here are some links:

Jason Bonander from the Center for Disease Control presented on his research into how people are presenting their health behaviours and risks online by collecting data from 100 open Myspace profiles (eg, people who identified their body type or who could be seen smoking in their profile pictures).  His view seems to be that people are already sharing health data online — lets build widgits to channel this info into prevention.  He also mentioned a project called RiskBot that seems very interesting but I can’t find any more online…

Canadian Medical Association’s online initiatives MyDoctor.ca and the just-launched Asklepios offer services for Canadian physicians including professional networking and web development.  The patient platforms are geared towards chronic disease monitoring and electronic health records.

OntarioMD offers similar (but seemingly more polished and responsive) sites for Ontario doctors.  They have broken things down into three work modes and three corresponding sites: clinical, practice management and collaboration, acknowledging that physicians are spending significant amounts of time outside of clinical activities.

Bloggers Jen McCabe Gorman and Berty Mesko presented as well, though I only caught the end of the presentation.

More tomorrow!

Salut Eric,
Un grand salut à toute la communauté TIG !

Ce message était une réponse à un article de Éric Dombou, mais je pense qu'il peut être applicable à tous mes amis et membres de cette formidable communauté de jeunes leaders qui n'est autre que TakingITGlobal.

À Éric,

J'ai véritablement apprécié tes commentaires à propos de la communauté TIG, une communauté qui s'épanouit et se développe, jour après jour, grâce à son équipe de personnel dynamique et enthousiaste certes (que j'ai eu la chance de connaître depuis janvier 2008 grâce à mon travail comme Coordinateur de l'engagement des jeunes de Montréal au Canada), mais aussi et surtout grâce à ses membres qui sont tout aussi actifs, engagés dans leurs communautés pour bâtir un monde meilleur où les jeunes occupent une place prépondérante dans la société.

J'ai participé aussi au Congrès Mondial des Jeunes qui s'est déroulé en Août dernier à l'Université Laval à Québec, qui fêtait son 400e anniversaire. Mon expérience au congrès était fantastique: d'une part, j'ai eu la chance de rencontrer les membres du personnel de TIG physiquement, j'en avais rencontré plusieurs avant le congrès, mais c'était la première fois que je rencontrais Jennifer, Mike, Nick, Justine, Incia et Kirsten entre autres et que je réalisais leur passion pour la jeunesse et son épanouissement. D'autre part, j'ai rencontré physiquement toujours des membres de TIG que je connaissais virtuellement tels Adama Diop, Kabiné Doumbia et compagnie.

J'espère que j'aurais la chance de rencontrer un plus grand nombre de membres de TIG dans les prochaines années que ce soit dans des événements internationaux comme le Congrès Mondial des Jeunes en Turquie en 2010 ou lors d'événements en ligne comme notre Chat sur les Changements climatiques qui s'est déroulé en 2008 !

Bonne continuation dans vos projets !
AU plaisir de vous rencontrer en ligne ou physiquement

Photo collective des participants à la Table de la Francophonie en compagnie de Jennifer Corriero, Fondatrice et Directrice Exécutive de TakingITGlobal - Dans le cadre du 4e Congrès Mondial des Jeunes 2008: www.wyc2008.qc.ca

THE INDEPENDENT Aug 31

For the first time in human history, the North Pole can be circumnavigated

Melting ice opens up North-west and North-east passages simultaneously.
Scientists warn Arctic icecap is entering a 'death spiral'

By Geoffrey Lean, Environment Editor
*Sunday, 31 August 2008*

Open water now stretches all the way round the Arctic, making it possible for the first time in human history to circumnavigate the North Pole, The Independent on Sunday can reveal. New satellite images, taken only two days ago, show that melting ice last week opened up both the fabled North-west and North-east passages, in the most important geographical landmark to date
to signal the unexpectedly rapid progress of global warming.

Last night Professor Mark Serreze, a sea ice specialist at the official US National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC), hailed the publication of the images – on an obscure website by scientists at the University of Bremen, Germany – as "a historic event", and said that it provided further evidence
that the Arctic icecap may now have entered a "death spiral". Some scientists predict that it could vanish altogether in summer within five years, a process that would, in itself, greatly accelerate.

But Sarah Palin, John McCain's new running mate, holds that the scientific consensus that global warming is melting Arctic ice is unreliable.

The opening of the passages – eagerly awaited by shipping companies who hope to cut thousands of miles off their routes by sailing round the north of Canada and Russia – is only the greatest of a host of ominous signs this month of a gathering crisis in the Arctic. Early last week the NSDIC warned that, over the next few weeks, the total extent of sea ice in the Arctic may shrink to below the record low reached last year – itself a massive 200,000 square miles less than the previous worst year, 2005.

Four weeks ago, tourists had to be evacuated from Baffin Island's Auyuittuq National Park because of flooding from thawing glaciers. Auyuittuq means "land that never melts".

Two weeks later, in an unprecedented sighting, nine stranded polar bears were seen off Alaska trying to swim 400 miles north to the retreating icecap edge. Ten days ago massive cracking was reported in the Petermann glacier in the far north of Greenland, an area apparently previously unaffected by global warming.

But it is the simultaneous opening – for the first time in at least 125,000 years – of the North-west passage around Canada and the North-east passage around Russia that promises to deliver much the greatest shock. Until recently both had been blocked by ice since the beginning of the last Ice
Age.

In 2005, the North-east passage opened, while the western one remained closed, and last year their positions were reversed. But the images,gathered by Nasa using microwave sensors that penetrate clouds, show that the North-west passage opened last weekend and that the last blockage on the north- eastern one – a tongue of ice stretching down to Russia across Siberia's Laptev Sea – dissolved a few days later.

"The passages are open," said Professor Serreze, though he cautioned that official bodies would be reluctant to confirm this for fear of lawsuits if ships encountered ice after being encouraged to enter them. "It's a historic event. We are going to see this more and more as the years go by."

Shipping companies are already getting ready to exploit the new routes. The Bremen-based Beluga Group says it will send the first ship through the North-east passage – cutting 4,000 nautical miles off the voyage from Germany to Japan – next year. And Canada's Prime Minister, Stephen Harper,
last week announced that all foreign ships entering the North-west passage should report to his government – a move bound to be resisted by the US, which regards it as an international waterway.

But scientists say that such disputes will soon become irrelevant if the ice continues to melt at present rates, making it possible to sail right across the North Pole. They have long regarded the disappearance of the icecap as inevitable as global warming takes hold, though until recently it was not expected until around 2070.

Many scientists now predict that the Arctic ocean will be ice-free in summer by 2030 – and a landmark study this year by Professor Wieslaw Maslowski at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California, concluded that there will be no ice between mid-July and mid-September as early as 2013.

The tipping point, experts believe, was the record loss of ice last year, reaching a level not expected to occur until 2050. Sceptics then dismissed the unprecedented melting as a freak event, and it was indeed made worse by wind currents and other natural weather patterns.

Conditions were better this year – it has been cooler, particularly last winter – and for a while it looked as if the ice loss would not be so bad.

But this month the melting accelerated. Last week it shrank to below the 2005 level and the European Space Agency said: "A new record low could be reached in a matter of weeks."

Four weeks ago, a seven-year study at the University of Alberta reported that – besides shrinking in area – the thickness of the ice had dropped by half in just six years. It suggested that the region had "transitioned into a different climatic state where completely ice-free summers would soon
become normal".

The process feeds on itself. As white ice is replaced by sea, the dark surface absorbs more heat, warming the ocean and melting more ice.

FIONA MORROW

From Tuesday's Globe and Mail

September 2, 2008 at 4:38 AM EDT

VANCOUVER — Environment Canada has terminated a funding contract to the B.C. chapter of the Sierra Club of Canada, causing the possible closing of a climate-change program initiative.

Pat Dolan, executive director of Environment Canada's outreach and biodiversity priorities division, telephoned the environmental non-profit group last week to say that the $100,000 funding contract, signed May 16, was terminated.

The grant had been approved through the EcoAction Community Funding program, a federal initiative created by the Chrétien government in 1995 and supported by subsequent administrations.

"I was informed that our application had been reviewed - after the signing of our contribution agreement - against the priorities of the program, that sometimes adjustments in priorities occur, and that as a result of that review our funding was terminated," said Jenn Hoffman, development director of Sierra Club B.C. "I was told that we are not the only organization being impacted."

The money had been targeted for the Sierra Club's new House Cooling initiative, in which groups of workers, neighbours or others gather in one member's house to discuss climate change and how they, as individuals or as a group, can reduce their carbon footprint.

Sierra Club B.C. supplies materials that give information about the practical steps people can take to reduce household greenhouse-gas emissions. At the end of the gathering, guests are invited to form their own Carbon Emission Reduction Club that will meet regularly so people can support each other in their greening efforts.

Sierra Club B.C. executive director Kathryn Molloy said she was outraged by the decision to cancel funding.

"I would like clarity as to why the program has been terminated," she said. "I was told this was the best proposal EcoAction had ever seen. This issue of climate change and empowering people to make decisions to reduce their own impact and to educate them on these issues - it has never been more salient.

"It has never been more prudent for the government to be supporting this kind of work and we've never had this level of interest. In my view, right before an election, this is voter suicide on their part."

Asked for a response, Environment Canada said in an e-mailed statement: "The department regularly reviews all of its grants and contribution funding projects to ensure that taxpayers' dollars are respected. The Department is informing project proponents on the results of the annual review. As per the terms of agreements, payments will be issued where money is owing for work already done. Any money freed up will be redirected to other programs and services to help protect our environment."

An Environment Canada spokesman did confirm that Environment Minister John Baird is sometimes involved personally in the application review process. He could not confirm which, if any, other organizations might be affected, nor which specific issues had caused Sierra Club's application to suddenly be deemed ineligible.

Special to The Globe and Mail
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080902.wbcgreen02/BNStory/National/

 

Moon Walker is a Shamanic Heart Healer.

Spiritual, Esoteric. Opening, loving, allowing. He has so much compassion that hate dissolves into love. Singer, dancer, healer and spiritual facilitator. Original 9" x 12" pastel drawing was commissioned in 1997.

Giclee prints of my work are available at Spirit Art Gallery.

~Bonnee Klein Gilligan

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Mister Glasses: Episode Two @ YouTube

Strong production values and loving attention to detail make Mister Glasses more fun than the rigors of Modern Architecture.

See also Philip Johnson @ Wikipedia.

~ Karl Jones

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Interested in talking shop about the wonders of classical music?  Check out this forum, then!

- Rudy Carrera.

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A well done documentary on the life of Buddha by BBC. Includes historical data, archeological discoveries blended with current practices. A wonderful journey into consciousness. Enjoy!

~Bonnee Klein Gilligan

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