Want your
own Fotopage?
|
|
By: stewed tea
[Recommend this Fotopage] |
[Share this Fotopage]
| [Track this Fotopage]
|
|
[<< < [1] 2 3 4 5 > >>] [Archive]
|
|
|
|
| Sunday, 16-Jan-2005 00:00 |
Email | Share |  | Bookmark |
|
Workstation
|
|
[ For the backwerds.net crew. Because my sends on mIRC are b0rked.  ]
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Thursday, 23-Dec-2004 00:00 |
Email | Share | | Bookmark |
|
New views
|
|
 |
|
[Oops. Tad too dark on the camera settings.]
|
|
|
|
The trees are roaring. Today the weather is supposed to be "unseasonably mild". Just took a couple of steps out of the front door to check. "Mild" it isn't. Not with that wind in a hurry.
Yes, this is what the view from the new place looks like. When the sun's shining.
Merry Christmas!
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Saturday, 27-Nov-2004 00:00 |
Email | Share | | Bookmark |
|
WMC
|
 |
|
The WMC. Looking north from Mermaid Quay.
|
|
 |
|
Massed choirs rehearsing in Roald Dahl Plass.
|
|
 |
|
Long queues for "open house".
|
| | View all 8 photos... |
|
Watch out Sydney, watch out London, watch out New York. Wales now has a world-class concert hall to rival all yours. The Wales Millennium Centre opened this weekend in Cardiff.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/4047411.stm
http://www.wmc.org.uk
Just come back from the "Hymns and Arias" event outside the WMC this evening. Some bright spark selected "Singing in the Rain" for the programme. Yes ... it rained, it was cold and a lot of singers and sheet music got soggy. But it was all darn good fun. And the firework/sound/light display afterwards was out of this world.
WMC chief exec Judith Isherwood - formerly CEO of Sydney Opera House - shared an anecdote about last night's audience reaction to the safety curtain glitch which led to an embarrassing delay halfway through the Centre's opening performance. In any other place, she said, the concertgoers would have booed and complained. "What did the Welsh do? They SANG."
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Friday, 26-Nov-2004 00:00 |
Email | Share | | Bookmark |
|
Skies and streets
|
|
|
Can't remember when these were taken as the date/time function on my camera has b0rked due to me removing the batteries for an extended period. But the pics are recent - possibly from last Sunday evening.
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Saturday, 23-Oct-2004 00:00 |
Email | Share | | Bookmark |
|
Yellow
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Saturday, 25-Sep-2004 00:00 |
Email | Share | | Bookmark |
|
Saturday evening
|
 |
|
Tonight's sky pic.
|
|
 |
|
Blurry sunset, blurry street, blurry trees. But I still like.
|
|
 |
|
Present for ix ...
|
|
|
Will be text-blogging from now on at http://freshbrew.squarespace.com. Will maintain this page for visuals.
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Thursday, 23-Sep-2004 00:00 |
Email | Share | | Bookmark |
|
Polarized - and disenfranchised
|
 |
|
Today's cloud picture.
|
|
 |
|
The caffeine-addict's "all-purpose PC". ;)
|
|
|
Had my first online debate last night re: Bush v Kerry/Clinton. I'm actually amazed it didn't take place sooner. Also amazed that it's now less than 6 weeks to the election.
My friend-turned-political-adversary reiterated the standard religious right line about supporting Bush primarily because the Republicans are the "moral" party. Heck. Here in the UK I was being sold this line about Thatcher back in the 1980s. "The Conservatives are the only Christian party!" ranted my evangelical landlord. "Neil Kinnock [the then Labour leader] is an atheist!" Ergo: the US religious right are 15 years behind the times. And they conveniently forget the pinko heritage of their darling Mr Blair. (Oh. Not that it matters. He's forgotten that heritage too.)
My friend/opponent seemed to have an issue with the word "liberal". Suspecting that the term meant something different to what it does over here, I asked him to tell me what he meant by "liberal". Here's his definition: "humanistic philosphy, tree-hugging, socialistic/communistic tendencies." Good grief. On that level, reading the Guardian website would be regarded as a proscribed activity in the US ...
I'm still getting over my friend's description of Clinton as "a three-toed rat". "He LIED on oath!!" So it's ok to impeach Clinton for lying over the Lewinsky affair, but not ok to criticise God's favourite pres for lying to the nation and the world about non-existent WMD and a non-existent connection between Saddam and 9/11?
The more I think about attitudes in the US to the rest of the world, the more I'm reminded of a certain country whose official radio broadcasts I used to listen to occasionally across the static of cold nights back in the 1980s. The broadcasts would paint a rosy picture of life inside the country and categorically deny the assertions made against it from people outside. The country? The former USSR.
Increasingly, Bush's America reminds me of a nation that is descending into totalitarianism, an entity ruled by fear of the non-conformist and the outsider. And this time, it's not communistic atheism that rules the roost: the state religion is a bastardised, distorted, idolatrous travesty of Christianity.
...
... When George Bush spoke to the UN yesterday, he invoked democracy in almost every paragraph, citing America's declaration of independence which insists on the equal worth of every human being. Well, surely equal worth means an equal say in the decisions that affect the entire human race.
That 1776 declaration is worth rereading. Its very first sentence demands "a decent respect to the opinions of mankind": isn't that exactly what the world would like from America today? The document goes on to excoriate the distant emperor George for his recklessness, insisting that authority is only legitimate when it enjoys "the consent of the governed". As the world's sole superpower, the US now has global authority. But where is the consent?
... A survey by pollsters HI Europe earlier this month found that, if Europeans had a vote, they would back Kerry over Bush by a 6 to 1 margin. Bush would win just 6% in Germany, 5% in Spain and a measly 4% in France. No Republican is going to cede turf like that to the enemy.
You would think those numbers would hurt Bush, making clear how unpopular he is in the world. But they don't. If anything they hurt Kerry, suggesting he is the candidate of limp-wristed foreigners and therefore somehow less American. We may find that a sorry state of affairs. But there is little we can do about it. In the democratic contest that matters most to the world, the world is disenfranchised.
Still no votes in Leipzig: Jonathan Freedland in the Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uselections2004/comment/story/0,14259,1309890,00.html
...
We're oceans apart politically and geographically but at least the latter means that it won't all come to physical blows ... *grin*. And we still have a faith in common - and a love of caffeine and IRC. My kind friend has just dcc'd the "all-purpose PC" pic to me. Ten of these machines and he could open up an internet cafe ...
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Wednesday, 22-Sep-2004 00:00 |
Email | Share | | Bookmark |
|
Sanity from Sojourners
|
|
Excerpt from http://go.sojo.net/campaign/takebackourfaith:
God Is Not A Republican. Or A Democrat.
... We believe that claims of divine appointment for the President, uncritical affirmation of his policies, and assertions that all Christians must vote for his re-election constitute bad theology and dangerous religion.
We believe that sincere Christians and other people of faith can choose to vote for President Bush or Senator Kerry - for reasons deeply rooted in their faith.
We believe all candidates should be examined by measuring their policies against the complete range of Christian ethics and values ...
http://go.sojo.net/campaign/takebackourfaith
http://www.sojo.net/index.cfm?action=action.election&item=election_issues
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Tuesday, 21-Sep-2004 00:00 |
Email | Share | | Bookmark |
|
John Kerry on Iraq
|
|
Excerpt from speech given by John Kerry at New York University, 20th September 2004.
Full text: http://www.johnkerry.com/pressroom/speeches/spc_2004_0920.html
...
... In June, the President declared, ââ?¬Å?The Iraqi people have their country back.ââ?¬? Just last week, he told us: ââ?¬Å?This country is headed toward democracyââ?¬Â¦ Freedom is on the march.ââ?¬?
But the administration�s own official intelligence estimate, given to the President last July, tells a very different story.
According to press reports, the intelligence estimate totally contradicts what the President is saying to the American people.
So do the facts on the ground.
Security is deteriorating, for us and for the Iraqis.
42 Americans died in Iraq in June -- the month before the handover. But 54 died in July�66 in August� and already 54 halfway through September.
And more than 1,100 Americans were wounded in August ââ?¬â?? more than in any other month since the invasion.
We are fighting a growing insurgency in an ever widening war-zone. In March, insurgents attacked our forces 700 times. In August, they attacked 2,700 times ââ?¬â?? a 400% increase.
Fallujaââ?¬Â¦Ramadiââ?¬Â¦ Samarra ââ?¬Â¦ even parts of Baghdad ââ?¬â?? are now ââ?¬Å?no go zonesââ?¬?ââ?¬Â¦ breeding grounds for terrorists who are free to plot and launch attacks against our soldiers. The radical Shiââ?¬â?¢a cleric, Moktada al-Sadr, whoââ?¬â?¢s accused of complicity in the murder of Americans, holds more sway in the suburbs of Baghdad.
Violence against Iraqis� from bombings to kidnappings to intimidation � is on the rise.
Basic living conditions are also deteriorating.
Residents of Baghdad are suffering electricity blackouts lasting up to 14 hours a day.
Raw sewage fills the streets, rising above the hubcaps of our Humvees. Children wade through garbage on their way to school.
Unemployment is over 50 percent. Insurgents are able to find plenty of people willing to take $150 for tossing grenades at passing U.S. convoys.
Yes, there has been some progress, thanks to the extraordinary efforts of our soldiers and civilians in Iraq. Schools, shops and hospitals have been opened. In parts of Iraq, normalcy actually prevails.
But most Iraqis have lost faith in our ability to deliver meaningful improvements to their lives. So they�re sitting on the fence� instead of siding with us against the insurgents.
That is the truth. The truth that the Commander in Chief owes to our troops and the American people.
It is never easy to discuss what has gone wrong while our troops are in constant danger. But it�s essential if we want to correct our course and do what�s right for our troops instead of repeating the same mistakes over and over again.
I know this dilemma first-hand. After serving in war, I returned home to offer my own personal voice of dissent. I did so because I believed strongly that we owed it those risking their lives to speak truth to power. We still do.
Saddam Hussein was a brutal dictator who deserves his own special place in hell. But that was not, in itself, a reason to go to war. The satisfaction we take in his downfall does not hide this fact: we have traded a dictator for a chaos that has left America less secure.
The President has said that he ââ?¬Å?miscalculatedââ?¬? in Iraq and that it was a ââ?¬Å?catastrophic success.ââ?¬? In fact, the President has made a series of catastrophic decisions ââ?¬Â¦ from the beginning ââ?¬Â¦ in Iraq. At every fork in the road, he has taken the wrong turn and led us in the wrong direction.
The first and most fundamental mistake was the President�s failure to tell the truth to the American people.
He failed to tell the truth about the rationale for going to war. And he failed to tell the truth about the burden this war would impose on our soldiers and our citizens.
By one count, the President offered 23 different rationales for this war. If his purpose was to confuse and mislead the American people, he succeeded.
His two main rationales ââ?¬â?? weapons of mass destruction and the Al Qaeda/September 11 connection ââ?¬â?? have been proved falseââ?¬Â¦ by the Presidentââ?¬â?¢s own weapons inspectorsââ?¬Â¦ and by the 9/11 Commission. Just last week, Secretary of State Powell acknowledged the facts. Only Vice President Cheney still insists that the earth is flat.
The President also failed to level with the American people about what it would take to prevail in Iraq.
He didn�t tell us that well over 100,000 troops would be needed, for years, not months. He didn�t tell us that he wouldn�t take the time to assemble a broad and strong coalition of allies. He didn�t tell us that the cost would exceed $200 billion. He didn�t tell us that even after paying such a heavy price, success was far from assured.
And America will pay an even heavier price for the President�s lack of candor.
At home, the American people are less likely to trust this administration if it needs to summon their support to meet real and pressing threats to our security.
Abroad, other countries will be reluctant to follow America when we seek to rally them against a common menace -- as they are today. Our credibility in the world has plummeted.
In the dark days of the Cuban Missile Crisis, President Kennedy sent former Secretary of State Dean Acheson to Europe to build support. Acheson explained the situation to French President de Gaulle. Then he offered to show him highly classified satellite photos, as proof. De Gaulle waved the photos away, saying: ââ?¬Å?The word of the President of the United States is good enough for me.ââ?¬?
How many world leaders have that same trust in America�s president, today? ...
...
Bush needs to go. ASAP ...
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Thursday, 16-Sep-2004 00:00 |
Email | Share | | Bookmark |
|
Apples, kites and coins
|
|
A couple of afternoons ago a resident in the street next to ours set out a table on the pavement with two boxes: one full of cooking apples and one of pears. The apples were 10p each. Possibly nostalgic for the days when we had an apple tree in the garden, I bought a bagful. And, hey, it's autumn, so let's celebrate the harvest.
Somebody in chan (on IRC) had to leave home because of hurricane Ivan. He's in Louisiana. We sat online for two days worrying about him. He's just back. Complaining because, after all that preparation, they got barely any rain. He went out into the winds and flew a kite with a 25ft tail. So, for firion, here's a kite. Fell off the roofrack of a passing car one night after the late summer holiday. I heard car wheels running over something in the street so I went out and rescued it. It probably won't fly again 'cos the struts have snapped. But it can fly in thoughts and dreams.
Discovered a steam engine in my wallet. A 2004 �£2 coin, commemorating the bicentenary of Richard Trevithick's pioneering locomotive.
And yes, the electricity board found the fault and filled in the holes.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
[<< < [1] 2 3 4 5 > >>] [Archive]
|
|
|
|
