first the banks, then the pandas

a story from the independent newspaper last week - the prime minister of great britain, gordon brown, has lent his support to the attempts of the edinburgh zoo to borrow a pair of pandas from china:

"Not content with saving the world's banking system, Gordon Brown yesterday turned his attention to giant pandas. He gave his backing to attempts by Edinburgh Zoo to bring two of the endangered animals from China to a new Scottish home. If the zoo's project is successful, they will be the first pandas in Britain since 1994. In a letter to the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland, which hopes to get the pandas on loan from China in 2010, the Prime Minister said the Government "strongly supports" international co-operation to promote the conservation of wildlife. The society announced its proposal to include a pair of breeding pandas in its animal collection at Edinburgh Zoo in May. It has been proposed they would be on loan for 10 years, in which time, it is hoped, they will have cubs. Zoo representatives have visited China to establish a closer relationship with its officials in the field of conservation and research. A "letter of intent" has been signed by both parties, signifying a commitment to bring pandas to the Scottish capital. If successful, Edinburgh would be only the eighth zoo in the West to care for a species which has become a symbol of endangered wildlife. However, negotiations with the Chinese are sensitive. In the past, pandas were given or loaned to Western zoos, including London, with the aim of opening up relations between China and the West, in so-called "panda diplomacy".

In Mr Brown's letter to David Windmill, the chief executive of the society, he said: "The Government strongly supports international co-operation to promote the conservation of the world's wildlife. We therefore welcome the progress which the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland has made in its discussions with the Chinese authorities and wish you continuing success in bringing these discussions to a satisfactory conclusion." Mr Windmill said yesterday: "The process of bringing giant pandas to Scotland is a long and detailed one that requires political co-operation at the highest level, so having the support of our Prime Minister is essential."

London Zoo has kept several pandas from 1938 onwards. Some of the animals became famous as a result of exposure on television – the first was Chi-Chi, who was acquired in 1958 for the then enormous sum of £12,000. Attempts to mate her with the only other giant panda outside China, An-An from Moscow Zoo, attracted international interest and ensured her fame. In 1974, "Ted Heath's Pandas" – Chia-Chia (a male) and Ching-Ching (a female) – were presented to the British people by the Chinese government on the occasion of the then prime minister Edward Heath's visit to China. London Zoo kept two more animals, Bao Bao and Ming Ming, in the early 1990s but there have been no giant pandas in British zoos since."

chi-chi was the first giant panda that won my heart. i still hesitate to enter the natural history museum since they stuffed her and posed her there. apparently she was originally destined for the united states, but was branded communist goods and not allowed into the country, so she ended up in london. i am a bit confused by the last part of the article - i thought that bao bao was from berlin, and came over to mate with ming ming but their foreplay turned a bit rough and he injured her and was sent home. there were a couple of pandas there in the late '80's i think that i got to feed during a photo op for qpr.

anyway, pandas. in britain. wow. i can hardly wait :-)

mice suspects in deadly cat fire

this is not a joke, and is one of the most popular stories currently on the front page of the bbc online news page. here it is for you:

"Mice may be responsible for a blaze that killed nearly 100 cats at an animal shelter near the Canadian city of Toronto, officials say. The fire at the humane society shelter in Oshawa also killed three dogs and some rats that were up for adoption. An initial report from the fire marshal says mice or rats chewing through electrical wires in the ceiling are likely to have sparked the blaze.
Offers of help have been pouring in from animal lovers across Canada. "It's unfortunate and ironic that mice caused the fire that killed the cats," Toronto Humane Society spokesman Ian McConachie told the BBC News website. "Unfortunately, the mice probably perished in the fire as well," he added.

The $250,000 (£137,000) fire is still under investigation by the Ontario Fire Marshal's office. Mr McConachie said it would be some days before a final report would be released. In all, only nine dogs, two cats and one rat were rescued in Wednesday's early morning blaze. They are being housed in a nearby municipal shelter, while volunteers rebuild the burnt-down shelter for the Humane Society of Durham Region. "

well, i did pick it to share with you, but then i am stuck indoors while the snow ploughs rule the roads.

jay leno impersonators' convention

something a little more cheerful now - i just love this photograph of the actor george clooney and his father, nick. not quite sure what is going on, maybe a little tie-fixing? meanwhile, excuse me for a moment while i go find some photos of the father of ravaj and get a little emotional.

mukoko update

i have been searching for further news of jestina mukoko, but have not found anything via google that is more recent than when first i posted. thus i found myself at the home page of her zimbabwe peace project, where i was able to read this harrowing story:

"Rachel wept as they buried her 6 year old daughter. Who would have known that going to school would mean death for her bright eyed child? Who knew that she would come home barely able to walk, continuous diarrhoea a deadly torrent down her legs. They buried her frail body wrapped in a plastic bag thrust into a cheap coffin, purchased by the dozen by the do-gooder aid agencies. That day they buried 30 men and women. Was it supposed to be consolation that 600 women, men and children had also lost their lives to this plague? Rachel only knew that her child, flesh of her flesh, blood of her blood was gone."

on the first page they cite these words from osip mandelstam:

"You took away all the oceans and all the room.
You gave me my shoe-size in earth with bars around it.
Where did it get you? Nowhere.
You left me my lips, and they shape words, even in silence."

let us hope this remains a tribute, rather than becoming an epitaph.

update 20th december: still no news that i can find about her fate. from 14th dec, cna - the catholic news agency - has an article here recording a response by cardinal maradiaga, president of caritas internationalis calling for her release

i just thought you should know ...

[thanks to noam's facebook friend for this important message]

responses to the throwing of shoes

the independent newspaper reports today:

"Thousands of Iraqis poured into the streets of Baghdad yesterday in support of Muntazer al-Zaidi, who was catapulted from obscurity to worldwide celebrity after hurling his shoes at the US President, George Bush. As the Iraqi journalist remained in detention for what authorities called "a barbaric and ignominious act", a crowd in Baghdad pelted US troops with their shoes in one of many street protests called in support of the reporter's action."

while mr al zaidi can be prosecuted for insulting a visiting head of state, the bi-partisan support he has engendered may make it difficult for an iraqi court to follow through. as noted in the comments at the end of the article [here] , it could only have happened in a democracy.

weapon of mass indignation

this wasn't a very nice thing to do to the leader of the free world.

reuters reports:

"In a sign of lingering anger over the war that will define the Republican president's foreign policy legacy, an Iraqi journalist shouted "this is a goodbye kiss from the Iraqi people, dog," and hurled his shoes at Bush during a news conference with Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki."

would we could dispatch osama bin laden with the same ease as the security men who dragged this screaming protester from the room.

where is jestina mukoko?

first question is - who is jestina mukoko? she is a woman in zimbabwe, currently the director of the zimbabwe peace project, a group that monitors human rights in the country. the sunday times reports today:

The terrifying ordeal of Jestina Mukoko, a television news anchor turned human rights activist, began at 5am on December 3 when seven men and one woman forced their way into her house at gunpoint in Norton, a quiet, leafy town 25 miles west of Harare. The intruders were not in uniform, although one of the men claimed to be a police officer. They refused to let her dress, find her spectacles or pick up the blood pressure pills that she is supposed to take three times a day. Her 17-year-old son Takudzwa and a six-year-old niece, Tofara, who was in her care, were left shocked and alone after seeing her led away in her nightdress. Mukoko, 51, who was widowed 13 years ago, has not been seen since by family, friends or lawyers. The regime of President Robert Mugabe has said nothing about her whereabouts or her condition. Fears for her safety are growing."

nobody knows who took her, or where she is. the only thing everyone knows is that robert mugabe will be much happier when she is not around to catalogue the evidence of his tyranny. for example, the st tells us that:

"Jestina Mukoko recorded 20,143 incidents between January and September 2008 including:

- 202 murders
- 463 abductions
- 41 rapes
- 411 cases of torture
- 3,942 assaults
- 907 cases of malicious damage to property
- 444 cases of unlawful detention
- 10,795 cases of harassment/intimidation
- 73% of victims are said to be supporters of the opposition MDC
- 80% of perpetrators of violence are claimed to be Zanu-PF supporters"

how do the powers in this world decide which countries need to be invaded in order to save their people and which do not? is zimbabwe being left alone because all available forces are currently deployed in afghanistan and iraq? if such invasions ultimately do not achieve their goals, e.g., bringing democracy to the region, or flushing out and removing despots and their followers, then what can be done to help? mugabe is utterly bonkers, but it is not just a question of political violence ... MILLIONS are going hungry, and the economy has collapsed. jestina mukoko has probably been murdered already. i wish i could be brave like she is. and i wish i knew what to do with such courage.

sunday times article.
press release amnesty usa.

sign him up!

the football transfer window opens again in a couple of weeks. is this photo evidence that qpr have already made some pre-contract arrangement for a new player? after all, wallace is wearing a qpr super-hooped shirt. kaiser so(u)sa won't you tell us?

rest in peace ivor wilcox

i love it when i find obituaries of people that were not famous but did something memorable and cool. so it is with ivor wilcox, aka bjarni eriksson, who shared his love for and knowledge of the viking period with thousands of children through living history events and visits to schools. the guardian said:

"A typical day would see Ivor in a primary school hall wearing full Viking costume and surrounded by 90 or so pupils. He would often have a cart, laden with goods - jewellery, weapons, household items - to demonstrate Viking life. Teachers would be present but they would have little to do. Bjarni was in charge. As Elaine Saunders wrote in the Times Educational Supplement in 2001: "Bjarni is mesmerizing. One moment a dominant and raucous martinet, another a cuddly comic, he can lead hordes of youngsters in ear-splitting battle chants ... But the next moment he can achieve instant hush, with a single 'Quiet!'""

anything creative that opens people up to different cultures and experiences gets my attention - i like to think that it will teach me about the subject, and about how to better teach my students. i know from experience that when i appear in the classroom as an historical character, the kids rarely forget our interview; and when they play the characters themselves they have great ownership of the material. bravo mr. wilcox! it is such a shame you died so young (well, 47 seems young to me ... and it is the age of our president-elect).

the rest of the obit is here.

what is that whatsit anyway?

recently the telegraph made a note of some of the thingummys that abound in our lives and what they are actually called. i present ten of my favourites:

"Borborygmus
(Pronounced bor-buh-rig-mus) is the name for the rumbling sounds made by the stomach. These are caused by the movement of fluids and gases, as food, acids and digestive juices migrate from the stomach into the upper part of the small intestine. The average body makes two gallons of digestive juices a day. The hydrochloric acid in your stomach is so strong it could eat into metal, but a special form of mucus protects your inner linings from this acid along the length of its journey.

Caruncula
Is the small pink protuberance in the corner of the eye. It contains glands which produce sweat and tears. These tears are then secreted onto the surface of the conjunctiva. These glands are known as Ciaccio's glands, named after Italian anatomist Giuseppe Vincenzo Ciaccio, who first described their function in 1874.

Dragées
(pronounced drah-zhay) Are those little silver balls to be found on birthday cakes. They're smaller than a cultured pearl, made of sugar and adorned with a metallic coating to resemble a ball bearing.

Glassine
Is the type of paper that lines boxes of chocolates or truffles and cups single chocolates. In a special manufacturing process, paper pulp is beaten to break down the fibres, and pressed into moulds, then allowed to dry into sheets. After that, a process called ' calendering' presses the sheets through hot rollers, making the paper grease- and air-proof. This is ideal for protecting chocolates from that white 'bloom' that can sometimes appear.

The Interrobang
Is the combination of an interrogative point, or question mark, and a bang (printers' parlance for the exclamation mark). These are some sentences which require one: 'She said what?!'; 'He ate how many slices of cake?!'; 'You're going to have a baby?!'
No one uses them more eloquently than Captain Haddock in Herge's Tintin stories.

Phloem bundles
(Pronounced flo-em bundles) are the squidgy, stringy bits between the skin and the edible part of a banana.

Spogs
Are the pink and blue aniseed-flavoured jelly sweets in bags of Bassetts Liquorice Allsorts - and the only ones that contain no liquorice.

Tittle
If you've dotted an i, you have tittled, because the little dot above the i and the j is called a tittle. Hence the phrase 'jot and tittle', which indicates that every small detail has received attention.

Zarf
Is the cardboard holder for a coffee cup that has no handle. The word comes from the Arabic for container or envelope, because the device (originally a metal holder for a handle-less glass) originated in the Middle East.

Zuchetto
(pronounced zoo-ket-oh) Is the skullcap worn by Roman Catholic clergy. The colour of the zucchetto (which means pumpkin in Italian) denotes rank. Cardinals traditionally wear red, bishops and abbots wear violet, priests black and the Pope has a white one."

now aren't you glad you know that? although i would argue that the skullcap worn by the bishops and cardinals and popes is actually a kippah/yarmulke. just like mine, except theirs don't have the new york yankees or blue's clues or rainbow magen davids on them.

the rest of the article is, i hope, here.

what's in a name?

from the ny times today:

"The Yankees got their C. C. The Mets countered with a J. J. — Putz, that is. His initials stand for Joseph Jason, but no one calls him that. Perhaps of greater interest is his surname, which is pronounced “puts.” Definitely, most certainly, not “putts.” The pronunciation of Putz’s last name is a frequent topic for the Baltimore Sun columnist Peter Schmuck, who laments “that it never occurred to me to tell everyone that my last name is Schmook.”"

so i have the sense of humour of a nine-year-old boy in that i still snicker when i walk past a jewellery shop in germany. *sigh*

oliver postgate r.i.p.

this is an episode of the clangers, one of my favourite children's tv programmes ever. i watched it recently with some american friends, and the pace was much too slow for them, whereas i am calmed and comforted still by these gentle stories. i post it today in memory of one of its creators, oliver postgate, who died yesterday at the age of 83.

the telegraph obit comments:

"His programmes were simple and uncluttered, yet stimulating and not unsophisticated. They eschewed the frenetic matiness of later generations of children's television, winning the trust of their audience instead by old-fashioned reliance on plot and characterisation and by an appeal to a child's instinctive belief in magic. In short, they did not treat television as a special art but as a three-dimensional extension of the story book."

the rest is here.

hurrah hurrah for qpr

fickle fate once more affects my weekend. qpr were on live national tv against the top team in the league and we were all hoping for a draw. since, however, i was not only unable to watch the game but also fell asleep around half-time, it was inevitable that we pulled off a shock win. hurrah for martin rowlands. hurrah for formerly desolate qpr fans. it shall be a good weekend after all :-)

not an aid for sleep

was having trouble sleeping, and thought i'd calm myself down with a couple of music videos. while the song is very gentle, for some reason i really cannot get to sleep now :-)

seriously, if you haven't seen this film, i highly recommend it. '8 femmes' is the name.

walking the walk

up there with charles m. schultz i have to say that i have always loved the drawings of jules feiffer. i first saw them on sundays in the observer newspaper magazine - feiffer near the front, and peanuts on the inside back page. after discovering at the age of 5 that it was too late for me to become the first ever female rabbi, if you'd asked me what i wanted to be when i grew up then i would have told you: a syndicated cartoonist. so why did i not become one? the minor problem of not being able to draw very well :-)

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!