at last ....!

o.j.simpson is going to jail. i did not grow up with the images of him as an heroic football player or any of the other positive images of him in the past. my first exposure to him was via the so-called "trial of the century" when he was acquitted of killing his wife and her friend. i thought he did it, and so did those who judged the civil suit. now he's going down for charges including:

"two of first degree kidnapping, two of armed robbery, two of assault with a deadly weapon, two of coercion with a deadly weapon, burglary while in possession of a deadly weapon and conspiracy to commit a crime, kidnapping and robbery."

finally some consequences. more details here.

prop 8 - the musical?

o i do love margaret cho, and i have a sneaking secret liking for jack black (after all, he was po in 'kung fu panda'), and that doogie howser chap turned out quite well, didn't he? well, please enjoy marc shaiman's musical solution to the problem of the economy.

ps the more times i look at this the more people i recognise. how could i have missed allison janney, or kathy najimy, or possibly the woman who was the fake becky on roseanne for a while?

odetta r.i.p.

odetta, the folk singer that influenced luminaries such as harry belafonte and bob dylan, died yesterday in new york city.

""What distinguished her from the start was the meticulous care with which she tried to re-create the feeling of her folk songs; to understand the emotions of a convict in a convict ditty, she once tried breaking up rocks with a sledge hammer," Time magazine wrote in 1960. "She is a keening Irishwoman in `Foggy Dew,' a chain-gang convict in `Take This Hammer,' a deserted lover in `Lass from the Low Country,'" Time wrote.

Odetta called on her fellow blacks to "take pride in the history of the American Negro" and was active in the civil rights movement. When she sang at the March on Washington in August 1963, "Odetta's great, full-throated voice carried almost to Capitol Hill," The New York Times wrote."

i happen to be interested in family trees, although i prefer the german word "stammbaum" because for me it has more of a sense of origin not just via blood. odetta was part of one of my favourites: dan bern by bob dylan by odetta by woody guthrie by leadbelly. i know there are myriad branches ... this is how i see it today!

associated press obit here

happy thanksgiving

as a vegetarian, i did appreciate the above pic (thanks to my friend peggy who has just discovered the internet in her seventies). everyone has at least one thing for which they may give thanks - i hope you find yours.

the new pink panther

this is franck ribery, the bayern munich and french international football player, in the latest ad from nike. i have always loved the theme tune from the tv show, and this is certainly an original idea for a commercial. however, i have to confess that i have this judgmental streak within me, and upon watching the clip it caused me to think that, well, considering the squillions of euros ribery earns, why won't he do something about his teeth? ok, i said it. flame me.

view from across the pond

this is a perspective from peter brookes, as published in the times newspaper today. he is pretty brutal in his assessment of both obama and h.r.clinton. i'm not sure which way to go with this yet ... i think the state of new york will miss this junior senator ... but i certainly prefer her to condi rice. people say the darndest things when campaigning for political office - now it is no longer a competition, i see no reason why the two of them cannot work together for the good of this country. puddings, proofs and eating come to mind ...

what a load of rubbish!

after losing miserably at watford this afternoon, qpr are slipping speedily down the league table. the grauniad nicknames us "rich man's plaything", and the farce that is management, i.e., ol' flabbio sitting in the directors' box and sending down team changes via notes to the dugout, has led to some poor portugese being appointed the new coach. maybe he will be the new 'special one', but so far briatore has not got much form re good choices. factor in bernie ecclestone's upcoming divorce, and the plaything of these rich men - the team that we love - may be cast aside in favour of more pressing financial obligations. o tempora, o mores, o queens park rangers :-(

where have you gone, joe dimaggio?

as the new york yankees franchise moves across the street to the utterly unnecessary new stadium, monument park is dismantled (if i had a photo of the mick's monument, that would be a most wonderful pun).

e(vangelical)-harmony

this just in:

"NEW YORK (Reuters) – Online dating service eHarmony has agreed to create a new website for gays and lesbians as part of a settlement with a gay man in New Jersey, the New Jersey Office of the Attorney General said on Wednesday. The website will provide a dating service with "male seeking a male" or "female seeking a female" options, the Attorney General's office said in a statement. eHarmony said it will launch the new same-sex dating site, named "Compatible Partners," by March 31. The settlement was the result of a discrimination complaint filed by Eric McKinley against eHarmony in 2005, which will be dismissed under the settlement agreement.

eHarmony was founded in 2000 by evangelical Christian Dr. Neil Clark Warren and had ties with the influential religious conservative group Focus on the Family. The New Jersey complaint is not the only legal action to be brought against eHarmony for failing to provide a same-sex option. In March, lawyers in California brought a lawsuit against the company on behalf of San Francisco resident Linda Carlson, who was denied access to eHarmony because she is gay. "We believe that this case is now essentially moot, and we're confident that we will prove that in court," eHarmony vice president Antone Johnson said in a statement about the California case."

meanwhile, j-date still keeps e-mailing me with the announcement that they have found someone new for me to contact. however, for the past year it has been the same six people in rotation.

ariel soap-powder

have pity on the folk named 'ariel'. you may think it is not so bad to share a name with a fictional mermaid or the house magazine for the british broadcasting corporation. on the other hand, when your name is the same as one of the most popular laundry detergents in the world outside north america, you think that brooklyn beckham and moon unit zappa had it easy.

nb hugo sanchez was a megastar for real madrid in his day. more info if you wish may be found on his wiki page

nigella out and about

here is a pic of nigella lawson on her way to the vivienne westwood charity fashion show. there is absolutely no reason to post it in that i have nothing to say and am also speechless and maybe a bit distracted just now :-) for other pics do look here, although the text alongside them infuriates me, but then what does one expect from the daily mail?

world toilet day

today is world toilet day. why do we need to know that? because of the sad fact that 2.6 billion people around the world don't have access to toilets or latrines. according to the united nations, more than five million children die every year of sanitation-related diseases. if you want to know more, check out the world toilet organisation website, including info about the world toilet college here. get over that taboo!

wanda sykes post prop 8

big gay news is that the comedian/actress wanda sykes has officially come out. this is a halloween interview (hence the costumes) in which she discusses the apparent support of many black churches for the banning of gay marriage by pointing out that we suffer also. gosh, there are so many situations where you think that people who have suffered discrimination should know better than to do it themselves, and yet, like so many who have been abused, we repeat the behaviour. have a look here on pandagon with regard to the issue flaring up at some prop 8 protests. damn it, we should know better!

a matter of loaf and death

three cheers for the bbc: hurrah hurrah hurrah! we have just heard the news that a new wallace and gromit adventure will be unveiled as a highlight of the xmas programming next month. for spoilers, well not too many but a few, look here.

were-rabbit clips set to bohemian rhapsody here.
creature comforts ads - early work of aardman here.

young rachel maddow

don't know the magazine, or the reporter, or the photographer. what i do know is that when rachel maddow was just entering the great wide grownup world, she was quite adorable. found this article on a fan-site. if you click on it, you may be able to read the blurb that goes with the pic.

ten things you may not know about barack obama

• He collects Spider-Man and Conan the Barbarian comics
• He was known as "O'Bomber" at high school for his skill at basketball
• He is left-handed – the sixth post-war president to be left-handed
• He has read every Harry Potter book
• He owns a set of red boxing gloves autographed by Muhammad Ali
• He worked in a Baskin-Robbins ice cream shop as a teenager and now can't stand ice cream
• He can speak Spanish
• He enjoys playing Scrabble and poker
• He doesn't drink coffee and rarely drinks alcohol
• He uses an Apple Mac laptop (hurrah!)

this is the first time the president of the usa has been someone of my age, rather than that of a parent or grandparent, so it is cool and weird at the same time to see habits and interests of my own generation.

for forty more, see this telegraph article

isaac rosenberg's bee

as a belated marking of veterans day here in the usa, a verse from a rosenberg poem i heard sir antony sher reading on radio four this past weekend:

"None saw their spirits' shadow shake the grass,
Or stood aside for the half used life to pass
Out of those doomed nostrils and the doomed mouth,
When the swift iron burning bee
Drained the wild honey of their youth."

the poem is 'dead man's dump', and may be found here

resistance on rosenstrasse

a story from the shoah that i had not heard before - a group of jews (mostly men) who were married to non-jews had been arrested in anticipation of being sent to auschwitz. they were detained in a building on rosenstrasse. when the news broke, the spouses rushed to the site. it is reported:

"A protest broke out. The women who had gathered by the hundreds at the gate of the improvised detention center began to call out together in a chorus, "Give us our husbands back." They held their protest day and night for a week, as the crowd grew larger day by day.

On different occasions the armed guards between the women and the building imprisoning their loved ones barked a command: "Clear the street or we'll shoot!" This sent the women scrambling pell-mell into the alleys and courtyards in the area. But within minutes they began streaming out again, inexorably drawn to their loved ones. Again and again they were scattered, and again and again they advanced, massed together, and called for their husbands, who heard them and took hope.

The square, according to one witness, "was crammed with people, and the demanding, accusing cries of the women rose above the noise of the traffic like passionate avowals of a love strengthened by the bitterness of life." One woman described her feeling as a protester on the street as one of incredible solidarity with those sharing her fate. Normally people were afraid to show dissent, fearing denunciation, but on the street they knew they were among friends, because they were risking death together. A Gestapo man who no doubt would have heartlessly done his part to deport the Jews imprisoned in the Rosenstraße was so impressed by the people on the streets that, holding up his hands in a victory clasp of solidarity with a Jew about to be released, he pronounced proudly: "You will be released, your relatives protested for you. That is German loyalty.""

the rest of the report is here
i discovered the story in a blog on jewcy, which you can find here.
ny times movie review

my first reaction is wow, look what these women did, and if they could do this, howcome other groups of non-jews did not fight back in similar ways?

guess who

any idea who this young lady might be? a really small clue might be that the pic is black and white because it was taken a long time ago. like i said, really small clue.

losing with honour

here is a lovely picture of dear old dexter blackstock (for the uninitiated, the team i love play mainly in blue and white hoops) in action last night at old trafford holding off the former england player gary neville. qpr lost, but were not humiliated. hurrah. not to mention burnley knocking out the scum at the bridge on penalties. hurrah again.

together at last

two of the great loves of my life - a panda (ok it is po from kung fu panda, but here he is representing the pandas of the world) and angelina jolie. *sigh*

miriam makeba r.i.p.

miriam makeba, who most of us probably heard of via paul simon and his graceland album/tour, has died of a heart attack after collapsing onstage during a concert in italy. she was a major symbol in the struggle against apartheid in south africa, having been forced into exile after starring in an anti-apartheid documentary. she was known as 'mama africa'. may she rest in peace.

bbc online
the telegraph
statement from nelson mandela
the guardian obit.

avodah aravit

just saw the first three eps of this television show at the boston jewish film festival. it is a sort of sitcom about an arab-israeli family, and it is extremely funny as well as being sad. try and find it if you can.

more clips in this al jazeera report

president-elect ..... barack hussein obama!

celebrating at grant park in chicago last night - the future first family. hurrah, we won! what we have won, we now shall have to wait and see.

why a llama?

why not?

some choices are arbitrary, and ultimately irrelevant. others may determine the future. there is an air of excitement today around this election that i have not felt before in my voting life. ok, i first became aware of us politics when nixon resigned in the face of impeachment for his dirty tricks. that destroyed my innocence with regard to political leaders. i then lived through the thatcher years in london. my first vote was cast by absentee ballot for mondale/ferraro, and they lost 49 out of the 50 states (with mondale barely holding his home state of minnesota). there were the reagan years, and the blip of bill clinton between the bushes. not the most optimistic of times. but today, well something could happen today. if you live on the west coast and haven't voted yet, you have just over half an hour to get to the polls! i am thrilled to be part of this ... and hope i shall feel the same when i awake in the morning.

the power of music

the ravaj lives in one of those old family houses that the landlord has converted into 5 apartments that usually each have at least a couple of people within them. thus our population is dense. most of the time we live together in peace. however, a recent addition to our community has become somewhat of a problem. the poor man is guardian to a surly teenage boy and a bouncing four-year-old girl. for respite, he likes to sit on the porch with his buddies, have a smoke, and be very very loud! this would not be so bad except that he places his chair about 6 inches from the bed of the ravaj on the other side of the window. the neighbourly relationship is a little tense, since she recently had the temerity to ask if he might move his chair to the other side of the porch and he let loose a tirade of angry curses and insults. today is supposed to be a day of change, and it may take place on our porch at least. the ravaj decided since words did not help (and frankly she is scared excrementless to try again), perhaps music might be the solution. thus it was that this evening, when the gang gathered around 9 pm for a noisy political discussion outside, the sound of beethoven's 9th was introduced on the inside. loudly. by the end of the first movement, the porch was empty. next time, we are hoping to stage a live performance of the 1812 overture in our living room.

you gotta read this!

ok, maybe not the book, but certainly the extracts on the bbc today page here. each chapter uses only a single vowel for all the words in that section. some examples are given, e.g.:

"Kingbirds flit in gliding flight, skimming limpid springs, dipping wingtips in rills which brim with living things: krill, shrimp, brill - fish with gilt fins, which swim in flitting zigs. Might Virgil find bliss implicit in this primitivism? Might I mimic him in print if I find his writings inspiring?"

please pay particular attention to the comments, e.g.:

"An arrant grab-bag; a bland, flat mass. Appals as far as charms. Alas, Art! That many days a man can scratch hard, and halt at that tat. That man wants a slap."

victoria wood, c.b.e.

victoria wood has always been one of my favourite comedians. she does not translate at all well to the usa, however. i think that her early tv comedy was quite parochial, focussing on english classes and customs. and they'd never let her onscreen here with her lancashire accent. but i love her. here is one of her more famous early sketches (the waitress is her comedy partner julie walters).

one of my best family stories took place at the aldwych theatre in london during a performance by ms wood. it was my birthday treat, and i was there with my whole family, i.e., 2 sisters, mother and father of ravaj. the first half of the show had as a theme trailing through her monologue a tampon. at the interval, the youngest sister turned to our father (etc) and said, "poor daddy, i bet you didn't understand a word of that!" he gazed at her firmly and said, "darling, when i am in the bathroom, i read everything!"

nu - congratulations to ms wood on being honoured by the queen. long may she reign!

the final furlong

these last few days before the election are becoming terribly tense. does it really look like a victory for obama? can the republicans make a dramatic comeback in such a short time? what if mccain's heart stops beating? what if some aryan nut assassinates obama? for the first time, people i know well are going to be out there stumping for their candidate this weekend. meanwhile, i present another gem from the london times' cartoonist peter brooke. whether one agrees or not, i still think it is a fine cartoon.

ps re 'all mouth and no trousers', see here. o i do love that phrase :-)

pink bungalow

an expression of how ravaj is feeling today, with music

julia pirie r.i.p.

women do the most amazing things. this is from the obituary of a former mi5 agent, i.e., a spy. none of the drama of a james bond movie, or the violence, just a boring old lady on a variety of sightseeing trips:

"Julia Pirie, who has died aged 90, spent two decades as an MI5 agent at the heart of the Communist Party of Great Britain, most of it as personal assistant to the party's general secretary. A small, dumpy woman with the appearance of a confirmed and rather matronly spinster, Julia Pirie was the most unlikely of spies. But her unassuming demeanour masked a sharp intellect and the powers of observation essential for the task of a secret agent."

i particularly enjoyed the bit where she recalls tigers roaming around the convent school she attended as a child. you can read the rest of the obit here.

come on you rrrrr's!

it has been a while since i posted anything about my beloved qpr. things at the club have been a bit messy, with the manager sacked and turmoil reigning. tonight, we played the league leaders, and had one of our best defenders sent off at halftime. o ye of little faith. samuel di carmine (that's him above, pointing for joy) scored his first goal for the team, and r's fans were left on tenterhooks for the last ten minutes as the snow began to fall so thickly that the game might have been abandoned. but it was not. and we won. with ten men. hurrah.

christian the lion

my late grandmother, not a native english speaker, used to use the term "heart-rendering". this brief video from more than thirty years ago is just that. it is back in the news today as the born free foundation use it to promote the work it is still doing with lions. the full story of christian, bought from harrods by two australian blokes in the sixties and introduced into the wild in kenya by george adamson, may be found here.

agincourt revisionism

for hundreds of years young english people have been told that if they must speak french, the only word that they need to know is 'agincourt'. this, of course, refers to the battle in the middle of the hundred years war (1415) in which the english trounced the french despite terrible odds. you may have heard of it if you remember any of shakespeare's 'henry v'.

anyway it appears that historians got it wrong, and the nasty english behaved like war criminals, or so say the french scholars who are meeting in the town of agincourt for a conference this week. according to the telegraph:

"Academics will suggest that the extent of the feat of arms was massively exaggerated, with claims that the English were hugely outnumbered a lie. More controversially still, they will say that the foreign invaders used numerous underhand tactics against an honourable enemy. These included burning prisoners to death and setting 40 bloodthirsty royal bodyguards on to a single Gallic nobleman who had surrendered."

the rest of the article is here. meanwhile, with regard to anglo-french relations, i can only use my other phrase: plus ca change.

opie and richie for obama?

not to mention the fonz! ron howard dons toupees and a t-shirt to stump for barack obama. my favourite moments have to be the two when he removes the toupees to talk to us as 'himself'.

a playground in berlin

almost three and a half years ago, germany's official holocaust memorial was opened in berlin, not far from where hitler hid in his bunker as his evil dreams crumbled all around him. here is the ny times report on the opening.

i went to see the memorial a couple of weeks ago. it appeared to be a wonderful place for children to play. you can have a mean game of hide-and-seek among the steles. i also saw many young people jumping from stone to stone. it was an interesting question to consider: what is one supposed to do when visiting this memorial? there is an underground information centre, for which i was not in the mood. there is a small, separate memorial for homosexual victims of the holocaust. and there are these wonky, crooked paths up and down and at all angles and heights that make a grid between the stones. part of me was annoyed that people could be so happy in a place commemorating such evil and misery. part of me was rather happy that there was some joy in such a sad place. i don't know if it is a very good monument, but it is definitely a wonderful playground.

pat kavanagh r.i.p.

described by the times as a "leading london literary agent", i had not heard of pat kavanagh before now. i had read works by her husband and many of her clients. upon reading this obituary, i thought she belonged in my pantheon of strong and interesting women.

"Pat Kavanagh was a rare combination of disconcerting wide-eyed beauty, honeyed voice and incisive literary acumen. For 40 years with the literary agents A. D. Peters (later Peters, Fraser and Dunlop) she had supervised the professional lives of an array of top writing talents — a galère that was bound to contain a variety of supercharged and sensitive egos — with a mixture of cool professional appraisal and fierce financial protectiveness."
the rest of the obit is here.

papier mache pandas take over paris

the associated foreign press reports:

"Paris city hall was swamped by 1,600 papier mache pandas on Thursday, part of a WWF campaign to highlight the urgent need to protect the vanishing species. According to the environmentalist group, which uses the bear as its logo, there are only 1,600 giant pandas left worldwide, making it one of the most striking examples of biodiversity in danger. "Through this symbol we want to show our attachment to the whole of the living world," said Serge Orru, head of WWF France. "Of course, the panda is the most touching, the most tender. But worms are just as important as pandas."

According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), one in four mammals, one in eight birds, a third of all amphibians and 70 percent of plants are under threat from global warming, deforestation and pollution. The hand-painted Paris pandas, around 40 centimetres (one and a half feet) tall, are to travel around the capital's monuments in the coming weeks before setting off for sites across France."

i do have to agree - WORMS ARE JUST AS IMPORTANT AS PANDAS - and don't you forget it.

amy poehler rocks!

politics aside, i gotta say that governor palin is a good sport. she was a guest on snl this week in a couple of sketches, including the above rap with eskimoes and moose.

from worst to first

congratulations to the tampa bay devil rays who have just followed their first ever winning season by beating the boston red sox in the alcs to win the pennant. they now move on to the world series against the philadelphia phillies. go tampa! schadenfreude? moi?!

shazia mirza stand-up comedienne

shazia mirza appears to be an intelligent woman. she makes the jokes about muslims we are not allowed to make ourselves. margaret cho still makes jokes about her asian family. judy gold usually includes her jewish mother. i do hope that sometime soon mirza will be able to apply her humour to more general subjects. i did laugh. i laughed the most, though, at the canadians laughing about the american joke.

why aren't there more successful female comedians?

as i write these words, sarah silverman is appearing live in london. the broadsheets have printed many words about how such a cutie can have such a potty-mouth. it is a question that interests me - what are the qualities of a woman that is considered to be funny. the above promo for a filmfest that happened earlier this year contains some sound-byte opinions of women well-known in britain for their work.

the bonobo

this weekend, i heard for the first time of the chimpanzee known as bonobo. i was wondering to a scientist friend why human beings have such a proclivity towards aggression and being mean. she said that it had to do with survival, and being descended from the common chimpanzee rather than the bonobo. according to her, the bonobo was more like a kind of laid-back hippy kind of creature. "i want to be descended from the bonobo!" was my immediate response. and then i did a bit of googling ...

wiki says:
"The Bonobo (IPA: /bə'noʊboʊ/ , Pan paniscus), until recently usually called the Pygmy Chimpanzee (and less often the Dwarf or Gracile Chimpanzee), is one of the two species making up the chimpanzee genus, Pan. The other species in genus Pan is Pan troglodytes, or the Common Chimpanzee. Although the name "chimpanzee" is sometimes used to refer to both species together, it is usually understood as referring to the Common Chimpanzee. The Bonobo is endangered, and is found in the wild only in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Along with the Common Chimpanzee, the Bonobo is the closest relative to Humans. Since neither species are proficient swimmers, it is possible that the formation of the Congo River 1.5–2 million years ago lead to the speciation of the Bonobo, which live south of the river, from the ancestors of the Common Chimpanzee, which live north of the river. The species is distinguished by relatively long legs, parted hair on their head, a matriarchal culture, and the prominent role of sexual activity in its society. This primate is mainly frugivorous, but supplements its diet with leaves and sometimes small vertebrates and invertebrates. Bonobos also sometimes hunt and kill monkeys for food."

matriarchal and frugivorous sounds good, although i'm not sure about living in the congo (a bit hot for me).

scientific american (march 1995) says:
"The species is best characterized as female-centered and egalitarian and as one that substitutes sex for aggression. Whereas in most other species sexual behavior is a fairly distinct category, in the bonobo it is part and parcel of social relations--and not just between males and females. Bonobos engage in sex in virtually every partner combination (although such contact among close family members may be suppressed). And sexual interactions occur more often among bonobos than among other primates. Despite the frequency of sex, the bonobo's rate of reproduction in the wild is about the same as that of the chimpanzee. A female gives birth to a single infant at intervals of between five and six years. So bonobos share at least one very important characteristic with our own species, namely, a partial separation between sex and reproduction."

egalitarian and no chimp version of homophobia, eh? anyway, it was also explained to me that aggression and competition in humans were a vital part of our survival and development, and there was a reason why the bonobo are still stuck up a tree in africa. it's a pity, but that's evolution. *sigh*

a step towards a liberal islam?

the telegraph reports today:

"A female professor has become the first woman to lead a mixed congregation in Islamic prayer in Britain.
By Chris Irvine
Professor Amina Wadud gave the sermon at a centre in Oxford in what is being called a "leap forward" for equality in Islam.
The sermon was controversial as tradition holds that Muslim religious leaders, called Imams, must always be men when there are services with both sexes. Some Muslims also believe it is against Islam for a woman to conduct such services. Prof Wadud took the service, known as a khutbah, to mark the start of a conference on Islam and feminism at Wolfson College, Oxford.
"There's nothing in the Koran that prohibits it," she said. "My own theological research into the essence of Islam indicates the necessity for us to be able to move away from the tradition that restricted women from the practice of leading prayer."

The move has angered many Muslims and a small group gathered outside the college to voice their opposition. Aishah Samah, from Oxford, said: "We're here to uphold the traditions and the values of Islam and uphold the ways of the prophet - peace be upon him." Fellow protester Maryan Ramzy said: "We have no objections to women being heads of state, or organisation leaders. "Women are highly-respected in Islam. But in Islamic law, women cannot lead prayer."

Chairman of the Muslim Education Centre Oxford Dr Taj Hargey, said earlier this week he was undeterred by the possible protests, arguing the prayer service is a step in the right direction. "We believe Islam is a gender-equal religion," he said. "There is a record that the Prophet Mohammed allowed a woman to lead a mixed-gender congregation, but this precedent has been ignored. "Women have led prayers in South Africa, Canada and the US and this is a first time here – it is a celebration." Dr Hargey added: "People thought it was a bad idea to give women the vote. "When Emmeline Pankhurst chained herself to the railings in protest there was uproar, but things move on. "This is about theological self-empowerment - women as well as men have the right to determine their own theological destiny." Prof Wadud has attracted controversy before - in 2005 she led a service in New York City, which had to be held in an Anglican church after mosques refused to host the event."

more about amina wadud.

uk honey shortage

even though i am a diabetic, i still find these stories about bees rather alarming. from tomorrow's telegraph:

"English honey to run out before Christmas
By Paul Eccleston

English honey is unlikely to feature on Christmas menus this year as supplies run out. The catastrophic decline in honey bee numbers has continued with populations down 30 per cent on last year. Combined with another wet summer - which prevented the bees gathering pollen - it has resulted in a honey shortage. Stuart Bailey, chairman of the UK's biggest producer, Rowse Honey, said: "Supplies continue to dribble through and we might have enough for another six weeks or so but I expect it to be gone before Christmas." Amateur beekeepers in England produce about 3,000 tonnes annually but the bulk - 80 per cent - is distributed to family and friends or sold at the garden gate or at farmers' markets. Supermarkets and shops rely on a few dozen big commercial honey farms for their supplies of English honey but there is much less available this year. Rowse, who have a third of the market in the UK, had hoped to supply supermarkets with 250 tonnes but Mr Bailey thinks it may be only half that amount. "It has been a terrible, terrible year possibly the worst for 28 years. Bee numbers are down again and the weather has been so bad it has prevented them from foraging. We will be lucky if the total honey crop this year amounts to 2,000 tonnes," he said."

the rest of the story is here.

add to that an earlier telegraph story that israel will soon no longer be the land of milk and honey but just the land of milk:

"The land of milk and honey is in danger of becoming just the land of milk after a 60 per cent fall in local honey production because of poor rainfall. Apiarists across Israel are reporting honey harvest levels well below half the norm following poor winter and spring rains. The poor rainfall meant there were fewer nectar-bearing flowers available for the bees. The bad weather has compounded already reduced levels of honey production caused by the mysterious global phenomenon known as Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) where hives across the world have suddenly been deserted. Israel has suffered its fair share of CCD incidents and local scientists have identified a virus spread by a parasitic mite that could be the cause of CCD. This has yet to be confirmed. When Israeli academics reported the discovery of the new virus anti-Israeli articles started appearing on the internet accusing Israel of creating this virus as part of biological weapons programme."

wtf?

is this real, or is it photoshopped?

yahoo has posted this pic of mccain's reaction to heading the wrong way off the set after the debate last night. while i do love the camera for being able to isolate a nanosecond that may otherwise go unnoticed during the action, it is hard to believe that such a perfect moment really occurred.

this is who that was

"fishface". hard to believe, eh?

happy 50th birthday blue peter!

here is a photo someone else prepared earlier: my favourite presenters john, val and peter (but then i am one of them old bods).

what are they thinking?

the final debate is over. mccain seems quite pleased with himself, while obama wishes he had never heard of joe wurzelbacher. i listened to the debate on bbc radio five live. thought it would be more interesting to hear a non-american commentary. most brits i know are baffled that there is any doubt about who is the most bonkers. i am just sick of all the spin from everyone.

day is night, up is down

what kind of world have we allowed this one to become when our leaders believe that all they have to do is to repeat a lie often and with enthusiasm and that will make things right?

vote no on prop 8

"IF SAME-SEX COUPLES ARE NOT HURTING OUR FAMILIES, WHY ARE WE TRYING TO HURT THEIRS?"

fish face

any idea who this could be? i certainly did not recognise her at all. do you want a clue?

will the real sarah palin please ...

over on dorothy snarker's page, it is tina fey tuesday. she has posted this picture, and i am a little confused. it could be still some jet-lag, or maybe the fumes from our dying treadmill that engulfed me this morning. am i becoming so obsessed with the threat of sarah palin ruling my life for real that i see her in every fortysomething woman with those kind of glasses and a cutesy voice that stands near tina fey?

official jewish tartan

did you know that there is now an official jewish tartan? of course not - why would one? i happened to discover this vital piece of news yesterday when going through the post that came while i was away. in an edition of the hadassah magazine (i am a life member - it was a gift), there is an article about jewish scotland. meanwhile, good old google came up with a few words by tom hamilton in the daily record:

" A SCOTS rabbi has created the world's first official Jewish tartan. Mendel Jacobs, 32, consulted the Scottish Tartans Authority and religious scholars to come up with a design to reflect Scotland's Jewish history. He said: "As the only Scottish-born rabbi living in Scotland, I felt it was important to celebrate the rich tapestry of culture and history we share and it is particularly fitting for Israel's 60th anniversary celebrations. "The Jewish people have been an integral part of Scottish culture for more than 300 years, with the first Jew recorded in Edinburgh in 1691."

The colours, weave and number of threads in the new tartan have all been picked for their relevance to Judaism. Rabbi Mendel added: "The blue and white represent the colours of the Scottish and Israeli flags, with the central gold line representing the gold from the Biblical Tabernacle, the Ark of the Covenant and the many ceremonial vessels. "The silver is from the decorations that adorn the Scroll of Law and the red represents the traditional red Kiddush wine. "The cloth is also 100 per cent kosher - being a non-wool linen mix."

Internationally renowned weavers Lochcarron of Scotland have vested an interest in manufacturing the tartan. There is expected to be a huge global demand for the design from the estimated 15million Jews worldwide. The biggest markets will be the US and Israel, each with about five-and-a-half million Jews. At the last census in 2001, there were 6400 Jews in Scotland.""

so there you have it. if you want to demonstrate your loyalty to clan mcmoish, you know what to do. ps what do you suppose jewish men wear under their kilts?

keeping up with the news

having been in berlin for a few days and thus without access to television or e-mail - although we did look at german newspapers in the hotel and found a lovely article on how the candidates have to be careful where they eat because of how it reflects on their characters - ultimately we fell behind with regard to coverage of the election in the usa. luckily i was able to find this clip to help update me.

piglet visits the book-burning memorial in berlin

on the 10th of may, 1933 (the 6th birthday of the father of ravaj), the german students association held a massive burning of 'un-german' publications in berlin. this memorial is in the bebelplatz, on the exact spot where the burning took place.

zurueckgekommen!

the ravaj went to berlin and saw her niece and has promised to limit the viewing of photographs to five or fewer. i am now back in london to continue atoning, and will then be able to catch up with you all.

ps photo credit to the mother of ravaj

hiatus

am off to berlin to see the niece of ravaj. hurrah. see you all anon!

nobody can eat 50 eggs! paul newman r.i.p.

one of my all-time favourite movie actors has died. in the days when i was attracted to men, he was my model for the perfect man. i loved his values, his deeds and, o yes, his looks.

regarding his body of work, the three films that come to mind most clearly are 'cat on a hot tin roof', 'cool hand luke', and 'butch cassidy and the sundance kid' (i loved the music of 'the sting' more than the film). of these, the most memorable bit is the egg-eating:



is this possible? the bbc checked it out in hollywood science

by those of us who never knew the man, he will never be missed as long as his films continue to be show. to his family and friends, my condolences.

wikipedia
afp news
telegraph obit
actors pay tribute
olga craig on pn

er, um, i dunno ... sarah palin on foreign policy

Watch CBS Videos Online
that well-known hard-nosed reporter, katie couric, asks sarah palin a couple of simple questions. and there are seriously people out there who seriously think that this woman is a serious contender for public office? and qpr will be in the premiership next year! wait a minute, that could actually happen. help!!!!!!!!!

miracles abound

damion stewart celebrates his winner at villa park this evening

there i was, being thoroughly depressed by the play 'fat girl' (author neil labute), and wondering whether the ravaj would ever find her bescherte ... and then the news came through (thank you rachel's i-touch) that qpr, playing away, in the cup, against a premiership team, had not been humiliated. the thing is - they won!

TRA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA!

amazing what happened to me. depression lifted, dodgy stomach was suddenly able to eat spicy indian food, and i started being nice to people again. you may have no interest in football, or any kind of sport. however, those who love me tolerate my obsession because it truly has the power to raise me from the (near) dead. hurrah for queens park rangers!

farewell to yankee stadium

i still don't know why they have to destroy a perfectly good stadium just to build another one TWENTY YARDS AWAY. the last game was played yesterday ... a win for pettitte, a curtain call for dj, good relief by joba and closed by mo. goodbye house that ruth built.

sarah and hillary, together at last

the moment so many have waited for - tina fey dons her sarah specs

palin for president!

a fine campaign video that makes a strong case for palin ... michael palin that is.

btw, life in london has been such fun that i am a wee bit behind in posting. hoping to catch up soon :-)

do i dare to insult the pope?

sabine guzzanti, an italian comedian, is being threatened with jail by the public prosecutor in rome for saying naughty things about pope benedict. the times of london reports:

"Giovanni Ferrara, the Rome prosecutor, is invoking the 1929 Lateran Treaty between Italy and the Vatican, which stipulates that an insult to the Pope carries the same penalty as an insult to the Italian President. Prosecution requires authorisation from the Ministry of Justice, for which Mr Ferrara has applied."

responses in italy are mixed, but sabina's father commented:

"Paolo Guzzanti, Ms Guzzanti's father and a centre Right MP, said the move was "a return to the Middle Ages”. "Perhaps my daughter should be submitted to the judgement of God by being made to walk on hot coals," he added"

the cause of free speech never runs smooth. meanwhile, aren't there other things in the world that could do with such energy and attention? o, right, berlusconi (the italian p.m.) is after the catholic vote ...

here is the rest of the article

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh!

people around me are panicking. not because england won a world cup match in croatia and now the tabloids don't know who to pick on. neither was it because the large hadron collider has been turned on and the end of the world has not yet happened. it is not even because of the knowledge that angry goats who were wrongly imprisoned in the congo have now been freed to wreak their revenge.

why are we all so anxious? two simple words: sarah palin.

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh!

all of a sudden people are quoting opinion polls and reading about sp dolls selling out and claiming that obama was referring to her as the pig wearing lipstick (i don't think he is bald-faced enough to do something like that, er, i mean there are ethics and values and all that stuff) and that this slight will cause all white women to vote republican.

it's going to be ok, though, don't worry. there is a simple cure for all this. in two words: tina fey. as a separated at birth looky-likey of the vp candidate, we just need her to go on 'saturday night live' a few times and shape the conscience of our nation with a few well-designed sketches.


or, you can join me in europe for the next month or so.

a freudian slip

abc network's terry moran reveals the truth about obama's origins (tip o' the keyboard to ken levine)

the rest of the world prefers obama

the bbc online news page has announced:

"All 22 countries in a BBC World Service poll would prefer Democratic nominee Barack Obama to be US president, ahead of his Republican rival John McCain. Mr Obama was favoured by a four-to-one margin across the 22,500 people polled. In 17 of the 22 countries surveyed the most common view was that America's relations with the rest of the world would improve under a President Obama. If Mr McCain were elected, the most common view in 19 countries was that relations would remain about the same. The poll was conducted before the Democratic and Republican parties held their conventions and before the headline-grabbing nomination of Sarah Palin as Mr McCain's running mate. BBC diplomatic correspondent Jonathan Marcus says the results could therefore be a reflection of the greater media focus on Mr Obama as he competed for the presidential candidacy against Hillary Clinton."

more detailed numbers may be found here.

o dear, better not tell anyone. i have a funny feeling that if americans learned how the rest of the world wished they would behave, they would automatically do the opposite, just because they could.

fowl humour

don't ask me why i did it. here are some recent answers to the eternal question: why did the chicken cross the road?

Howard Cosell : It may very well have been one of the most astonishing events to grace the annals of history. An historic, unprecedented avian biped with the temerity to attempt such an Herculean achievement formerly relegated to homo- sapien pedestrians is truly a remarkable occurrence.

Machiavelli : So that its subjects will view it with admiration, as a chicken which has the daring and courage to boldly cross the road, but also with fear, for whom among them has the strength to contend with such a paragon of avian virtue? In such a manner is the princely chicken's dominion maintained.

Albert Camus: It doesn't matter; the chicken's actions have no meaning except to him.

Darth Vader : Because it could not resist the power of the Dark Side.

Mark Twain : The news of its crossing has been greatly exaggerated.

Dr Johnson: Sir, had you known the Chicken for as long as I have, you would not so readily enquire, but feel rather the Need to resist such a public Display of your own lamentable and incorrigible Ignorance.

H. P. Lovecraft:
To escape the eldritch, chthonic, rugose, polypous, indescribably horrible abomination not from our space-time continuum.

and the two female versions i have so far discovered (if you count the sphinx as being a female sphinx):

Emily Dickinson : Because it could not stop for death.

The Sphinx : You tell me.

piglet and the lion

on saturday afternoon, a dear friend from toronto came to visit, and managed to persuade ravaj and the pig to ride on a green-line boston transit vehicle and join her at the isabella stewart gardner museum. photography is forbidden in the museum. heck, breathing too close to the objets d'art will earn a loud and stern reprimand from the uniformed guards in each room. we did, however, manage to stage this brief interaction between a lion guarding the exit and our lovely pig.

nb no inanimate objects were harmed during the photographing of this picture.

after wolong

what next for the pandas rescued from the wolong conservation centre after the earthquake? nobody knows yet, but at least they are safe and cared for.

end of the week procrastination aid

this was my favourite candidate for the bookseller magazine's diagram prize for oddly-named publications. sadly, it was pipped to the post by 'greek rural postmen and their cancellation numbers'. noted the grauniad:

""I think the voters wanted a feelgood story about rural postmen because of all the news of post offices closing around the country," said The Bookseller's charts editor Philip Stone. He has so far been unsuccessful in his attempts to contact the book's author Derek Willan to let him know about his win. "There's no prize but the boost in sales is surely prize enough," Stone said. "When we announced our last shortlist, sales increased by 1,000%, from one copy sold in the two weeks previously to ten afterwards.""

for other losing titles, see here. for an explanation, see here.

the wisdom of shirley maclaine

interviewed in the los angeles times on the occasion of the showing of her tv film about coco chanel:

"LA Times: Are you getting smarter as you get older?

Maclaine: No. I'm getting tired."

flip-flopping republicans? no way!

ok you can probably do this to some extent with the democrats as well. you can probably do it with an awful lot of politicians all over the place. however, it was not the democrats who were in jon stewart's line of fire yesterday. watch the hypocrisy. and tell your friends!

why i cannot support sarah palin

palin poses with a caribou shot by her good self
it would be the ultimate irony if the republican candidate for vice-president of the usa ended up being the first woman elected to one of the top two political positions in the country. the euphoria of many after the attack-dog speech sarah palin gave in minnesota last night had me reaching for indigestion tablets. here are some reasons why i felt sick:

* she is an evangelical xian
* who is a member of feminists for life
* and enjoys hunting as a lifelong member of the national rifle association
* she is a big supporter of oil drilling in the arctic national wildlife refuge
* as the daughter of a science teacher, she is open to teaching creationism in public schools

as the l.a.times said:

"she is against abortion even in cases of rape and incest, sued the federal government to take polar bears off the endangered species list, has said creationism should be taught in schools and advocated a constitutional ban on providing healthcare benefits to same-sex partners"

or as gloria steinem wrote:

"Palin ... opposes just about every issue that women support by a majority or plurality. She believes that creationism should be taught in public schools but disbelieves global warming; she opposes gun control but supports government control of women's wombs; she opposes stem cell research but approves "abstinence-only" programs, which increase unwanted births, sexually transmitted diseases and abortions; she tried to use taxpayers' millions for a state program to shoot wolves from the air but didn't spend enough money to fix a state school system with the lowest high-school graduation rate in the nation; she runs with a candidate who opposes the Fair Pay Act but supports $500 million in subsidies for a natural gas pipeline across Alaska; she supports drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Reserve, though even McCain has opted for the lesser evil of offshore drilling. She is Phyllis Schlafly, only younger."

how anyone who was a hillary supporter could possibly be angry enough to vote for a person, whatever their gender, with these particular values, i just do not know.

nb i have no problems with anyone having a religious belief (re evangelical xian note), i am just a firm believer in the separation of church and state, do not believe that ms palin is able to make that division, and thus am dismayed that she is running for national office

dame alison munro r.i.p.

"Of the Miss Buss and Miss Beale rather than the bra-burning school of feminism, Alison Munro believed that if she was to fulfil what she saw as the school's mission of educating girls to be leaders of society, priority should be given to academic achievement: to a father foolish enough to inquire why his daughter was not learning domestic science, she replied: "We don't teach cookery, we teach chemistry.""
the telegraph

alison munro was the high mistress (principal) who interviewed me when i applied to st paul's girls' school. i have to say that i do not recall her all that well. clearer in my memory is the warning i was given before the interview that whatever i did i should not discuss either enid blyton or anything to do with horses. nevertheless, if she had not admitted me my life would have been quite different. i am glad that she did :-)

times obit

a favourite commercial

thank you to all who sent birthday wishes to the ravaj. am now a year older but probably not much wiser :-) in the spirit of celebration and joy, here is an ad that i love. the kit-kat slogan is 'have a break', so the theme here is beings behaving against type, e.g., roy keane (hard man footballer) with an embroidery hoop and anti-feminist bernard manning doing the dishes etc. in the end, i can take or leave those parts - it is the daleks that i love, asking for a cuddle and hanging out with the hare krishna folk. enjoy!