Huttriver8's World - My weekly selected posts

The house that hemp built...

2012-01-22T01:46:00.000-08:00

Drew and Jaime Rokeby-Thomas had the property, builder, designer and finances lined up for construction of their straw-bale home on B.C.'s Saltspring Island.
They had everything they needed -- except straw.
Construction on the 1,760-square-foot house was to start in 2003, the same year Alberta's drought made headlines across the country. The couple found that Alberta farmers, unable to grow their own bedding for their livestock, had gone shopping in B.C. That meant regular straw-bale sources were sold out.
"We started calling family and friends in the Kootenays looking everywhere and anywhere for straw," says Drew, an inventor. They never found it, but they did find a rancher with 2,000 hemp bales and snapped them up.
Building an alternative-style house can be a large-scale experiment. Each house built of alternative materials, such as earth and straw, needs to be certified by an engineer to pass building inspection. The last-minute switch made by the Rokeby-Thomases threw new variables into their plans.
"Hemp was much harder to build with," says Drew. The difficulty was due to hemp's tougher fibre, making it harder to cut the bales. "I would never do a hemp house again."
But that minus has been compensated for by a big plus. While straw-bale homes can sometimes run into trouble with moisture when not properly designed, the in-wall moisture reader on the Rokeby-Thomas house showed the hemp dropped its moisture content faster than straw-bale homes.
Everest Reynolds of Elevation Design Studio provided the basic house design. Builder Nick Langford, a building technology and design graduate from B.C. Institute of Technology, worked with the couple to fashion the two-level low-energy home. Timber-frame construction bears the load of the house, while the hemp bale walls on the main floor provide an insulating value of R30. Large windows run along the south side of the house, helping it to gain solar heat throughout the day.
The house is well-sealed, not only against the climate, but also against sound. Jaime is a professional musician whose stage name is jaime rt. Her music studio occupies the north side of the house. There, the walls were built with double-offset studs and gasketed doors so that Jaime's creative output wouldn't resonate through the house and neighbourhood.
The exterior stucco is a porous mixture of sand, cement and lime -- porosity is a traditional element of natural homes, which are said to "breathe," but here Drew drew the proverbial line in the sand, or, in this case, in the stucco.
"Vapour barriers are controversial in natural-building circles," explains Drew. "But after some research, I decided I wanted a vapour barrier. We're living in a fairly wet climate."
The interior stucco was mixed with an acrylic filler that seals the interior wall. As added protection, the house features metre-deep eaves and a large covered porch.
Jaime and Drew favour the rustic look, so they eliminated the finishing polish on their acid-etched cement floors to preserve an uneven texture that resembles the circular marks of old milled wood. The cabinetry is simple, with open cupboards in a batten-board style. Open, pull-out shelves accommodate woven baskets.
Local art adorns the home, including some of Drew's wrought-iron work from his blacksmithing days. A botanical weave of iron twists up the staircase, depicting flower petals and seaweed in the same frame.
"I don't pay much attention to the rules when I'm creating something," Drew says of the seabed and garden mix. "I just decide on the form as I go." The artistry extends outside, with garden borders fashioned from bent rebar. A spring-fed pond, rose vines and iris gardens surround the house. A bohemian atmosphere pervades the home in stained-glass frames, felt tapestries and vivid wall colourings in contrasting purple and yellow tones.
"A lot of people are tired by the time they're finished building, and they end up with beige or white walls," says Drew. "I told Jaime to go wild, be daring."
Looking at the brilliant walls in his wife's studio, Drew laughs and says, "Perhaps I shouldn't have said that."

Acknowledgements and thanks: © (c) CanWest MediaWorks Publications Inc.

The discovery of the village known as Skara Brae in Scotland's Orkney Islands...

2012-01-19T15:47:00.000-08:00

Image via Wikipedia

« Wikipedia site blackout has been confirmed - democratic rights at stake...

The discovery of the village known as Skara Brae in Scotland's Orkney Islands...

By Peter Petterson

First published at Qondio:

Let me describe a scenario that is old as ancient Egypt or Pompeii - something 4000 years or more in the neolithic age preceding the iron age, the bronze age, long before even the Celts and the Romans in ancient Britain.
The discovery of the village of Skara Brae: May be more important than Stonehenge?
During the winter of 1850 a great storm battered the Orkney Islands in northern Scotland. This in itself is not that unusual in these remote northern islands, but on this particular occasion the combination of strong winds and extremely high tides stripped the grass from a large mound there, then known as "Skerrabra".
This stripping revealed the outline of a number of stone buildings - something that intrigued the local Laird(Lord), William Watt of Skaill, who then embarked on an excavation of the site.
Excavation work was finally abandoned in 1868, after the remains of four ancient houses had been unearthed. The settlement remained undisturbed until 1925, when another great storm damaged the previously excavated structures.
A seawall was constructed to preserve the existing remains, and yet even more ancient buildings were discovered.
After further excavations betwen 1928 and 1930 the dwellings present today were released from their ancient protective cocoons. It was believed the village was actually an iron-age settlement dating from around 500 BC, but this was no Pictish village.
Radiocarbon dating in the 1970's confirmed the settlements much earlier existence - dating from the Neolithic period and being settled for 600 years between 3200 BC and 2200 BC, pre-dating even the Celtic period.
Today, Skerrabra or Skara Brae as it is now known survives as eight dwellings linked together by low covered passage-ways. Because of the protection by the sand that covered the settlement for 4000 years, the buildings and their contents are remarkably well preserved. Not only are the structures walls still standing, but they are still roofed with original stone slabs, and the interior fittings give what has been described as an unparalled glimpse of life in the Neolithic Orkneys.They share a timeframe with ancient Egypt and Pompeii.
Go to the links provided and spend a few hours reading and viewing life in the Orkneys 4000 years ago, long before Vikings, Saxons, or Celts - into the realms of ancient history. We may run into each other there.
Being down in the South Pacific I had not heard of Skara Brae before, but my younger brother who was up in Wellington with us just after Christmas this year, having a break from earthquake riven Christchurch, mentioned what he had heard. And so our story about ancient Britain has resulted.

http://huttriver.blog.co.uk/2012/01/19/the-discovery-of-the-village-known-as-skara-brae-in-scotland-s-orkney-islands-12488824/

http://www.scotshistoryonline.co.uk/scara.html
http://huttriver.qondio.com

Kiwipete

Image via Wikipedia

The day the Beekeepers occupied Monsanto France...

2012-01-13T01:19:00.000-08:00

source: http://www.ladepeche.fr/article/2012/01/07/1255541-monbequi-mais-ogm-un-commando-d-apiculteu...

An error occurred while setting up video display.

Yesterday late morning, dozens of people on t invaded the premises of the Monsanto MonbÃ©qui to voice their revendications. / Photo DDM, Chantal Longo.

This is an order of the Court of Justice of the European Union (ECJ) that September 5, 2011 set fire to the powder. A beekeeper German who found the presence of pollen from GM maize Mon 810 sued and the court found her honey unmarketable. In fact the coexistence of GM crops in open fields and beekeeping is incompatible. A few days later the same court overturned the safeguard clause for the corn taken by France in 2008. Which sows confusion among beekeepers that the number of hives and bees decreases dramatically after the problems of the Regent, the Gaucho and across the great southern Asian hornet. Starting from a standing meeting LÃ©ojac they signed yesterday a coup by penetrating so cunning in the administrative buildings of the Monsanto-MonbÃ©qui installed near the Garonne. An advance guard of about twenty of them acted as the Trojan horse posing as deliverymen and then opening the gates to the main body. The surprise was total. When the police arrived the occupants were on the premises with hives, smoker and realize what a picnic invigorating.

See you Friday 13 in Paris at the Department of Ecology

Negotiations were begun shortly before one o'clock. And the Prefect of Tarn-et-Garonne Fabien Sudry received 30 to 14 hours a delegation. The interview lasted 90 minutes with calls to the Ministries of Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet and Bruno Le Maire to find both a rendezvous in Paris on Friday from 13 to 16 hours, but mostly to see if n ' is not possible to re-route the order Barnier, 2007 prohibiting transportation and sale of seed. This progress in the dialogue was explained to 17 hours to hundreds of people still present on the premises of Monsanto. The final slogan is as follows: "We did not win, but we must remain mobilized and see what to do after January 13th." And just as quietly emptied the premises under the eye of some twenty policemen visible on the site and did not have to intervene.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

LÃ©ojac meeting or diversion?

By yesterday morning the peasant confederation organized in the hall of LÃ©ojac an interregional meeting on "GMOs and coexistence bee impossible." Over two hundred people filled the room mid-morning to hear presentations from the highest quality. Then around 11 o'clock half the hall was deserted by beekeepers from all over the Deep South who was heading the site of Monsanto MonbÃ©qui about thirty miles away. The morning ended for the public by remaining an invitation to join the militants or to be in front of the prefecture.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The developer of the witnesses

Jean Sabench> Saint-Pons-de-TomiÃ¨res. "We managed to create an event that is national in scope because there are people from all over France, as well as the ArdÃ¨che Britain or the Puy de Dome again. It comes to MonbÃ©qui to tell him to stop Monsanto's crap. With everything they traffic, we can no longer sell our products. They are asked to respect the law but also to comply with our products. We do not want them to crush everything in their path. The MON 810 will put us on the straw. We must stop this! "

Josie Riffaud> Gironde. "We're not there to burn everything. Rather, we are in the symbol. Beekeepers are increasingly worried about their future. At the rate things are going in a few years there will not be any bees on the planet. With the decision of the Court of Justice of the European Union which has invalidated the safeguard clause Monsanto 810 maize made by France in 2008 we opened a Pandora's box. We must quickly close it before it's too late. "

Alain Bernard> Tarn. "For many products that French beekeepers do not become unsaleable at once we strongly urge the competent authorities to set up a second moratorium before the start of planting GM because of the risks facing our bees with GM crops . We can not accept losing everything without a fight. Today, we play our survival. We are totally against the wall. "

(Related by J.-Ph.L.)

This is a translation

The Aldebaran Mystery and the pre-war secrets of the Third Reich

2012-01-02T19:33:00.000-08:00

Image by Marion Doss via Flickr

Image by Getty Images via @daylife

Image via Wikipedia

Image by Getty Images via @daylife

Image via Wikipedia

During Adolph Hitler's rise to power, did a daring group of Nazi scholars and technicians learn the secrets of anti-gravity and space travel from extraterrestials If true, these conclusions may shock and amaze you

. Get the facts about UFO secrets of WW11 - the Third reich and beyond in a way that will change the way we stare upat the stars for years to come.

View the video about the Aldebaran Mystery and the secrets of the pre-war Third Reich. Just who was responsible for all those UFO sightings after the Second World War?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZoMR_Oj6Qrs&feature=fvwrel

http://www.naziufosecret.com/

UFO TV

Image via Wikipedia

The chocolate world of China...

2011-12-29T13:34:00.000-08:00

Image by Getty Images via @daylife

China's Chocolate World...

Image by Getty Images via @daylife

http://travel.msn.co.nz/glance/209048/chinas-chocolate-world.glance

Kiwipete

Former prisoners want Angelina Jolie's new film banned...

2011-12-13T17:42:00.000-08:00

Expand

Angelina Jolie's new film In The Land of Blood and Honey is courting controversy. Photo / AP

The head of a group for Serbs held prisoner during Bosnia's 1992-95 war says Angelina Jolie's movie In the Land of Blood and Honeyshould be banned in the Serb-run part of the country.
Branislav Djukic of the Bosnian Serb Association of Camp Prisoners said that although he has seen only the trailer, he can already say the movie "is showing lies" and portraying Serbs as the only ones who raped women during the war.
Jolie's movie will be released in the US on December 23 and is a drama about a Serb soldier who finds his ex-lover, a Muslim Bosnian woman, among sex slaves in a camp.
The movie was praised by a selected audience of 11 non-Serb war victim groups who saw it in Sarajevo earlier this month.
Check out the trailer for In the Land of Blood and Honey:

Acknowledgements:- AP

Senate moves to allow military to intern Americans without trial...

2011-11-26T23:08:00.001-08:00

NDAA detention provision would turn America into a “battlefield”
Paul Joseph Watson
Prison Planet.com

The Senate is set to vote on a bill next week that would define the whole of the United States as a “battlefield” and allow the U.S. Military to arrest American citizens in their own back yard without charge or trial.

“The Senate is going to vote on whether Congress will give this president—and every future president — the power to order the military to pick up and imprison without charge or trial civilians anywhere in the world. The power is so broad that even U.S. citizens could be swept up by the military and the military could be used far from any battlefield, even within the United States itself,” writes Chris Anders of the ACLU Washington Legislative Office.

Under the ‘worldwide indefinite detention without charge or trial’ provision of S.1867, the National Defense Authorization Act bill, which is set to be up for a vote on the Senate floor Monday, the legislation will “basically say in law for the first time that the homeland is part of the battlefield,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who supports the bill.

The bill was drafted in secret by Senators Carl Levin (D-Mich.) and John McCain (R-Ariz.), before being passed in a closed-door committee meeting without any kind of hearing. The language appears in sections 1031 and 1032 of the NDAA bill.

“I would also point out that these provisions raise serious questions as to who we are as a society and what our Constitution seeks to protect,” Colorado Senator Mark Udall said in a speech last week. One section of these provisions, section 1031, would be interpreted as allowing the military to capture and indefinitely detain American citizens on U.S. soil. Section 1031 essentially repeals the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878 by authorizing the U.S. military to perform law enforcement functions on American soil. That alone should alarm my colleagues on both sides of the aisle, but there are other problems with these provisions that must be resolved.”

A d v e r t i s e m e n t

This means Americans could be declared domestic terrorists and thrown in a military brig with no recourse whatsoever. Given that the Department of Homeland Security has characterized behavior such as buying gold, owning guns, using a watch or binoculars, donating to charity, using the telephone or email to find information, using cash, and all manner of mundane behaviors as potential indicators of domestic terrorism, such a provision would be wide open to abuse.

“American citizens and people picked up on American or Canadian or British streets being sent to military prisons indefinitely without even being charged with a crime. Really? Does anyone think this is a good idea? And why now?” asks Anders.

The ACLU is urging citizens to call their Senator and demand that the Udall Amendment be added to the bill, a change that would at least act as a check to prevent Americans being snatched off the streets without some form of Congressional oversight.

We have been warning for over a decade that Americans would become the target of laws supposedly aimed at terrorists and enemy combatants. Alex Jones personally documented how U.S. troops were being trained to arrest U.S. citizens in the event of martial law during urban warfare training drills back in the 90′s. Under the the National Defense Authorization Act bill, no declaration of martial law is necessary since Americans would now be subject to the same treatment as suspected insurgents in places like Afghanistan and Iraq.

If you thought that the executive assassination of American citizens abroad was bad enough, now similar powers will be extended to the “homeland,” in other words, your town, your community, your back yard.

*********************

Paul Joseph Watson is the editor and writer for Prison Planet.com. He is the author of Order Out Of Chaos. Watson is also a regular fill-in host for The Alex Jones Show.

Acknowledgements: http://prisonplanet.com

Sponsored Link: The man who predicted the collapse of GM, Fannie Mae, and the U.S. dollar says most Americans are completely unprepared for what’s about to happen next. This man even hired an artist to create a series of sketches to help you prepare. See the drawings, free of charge

11/11/11: Eleven crazy facts to know about...

2011-11-11T20:02:00.001-08:00

From Freemasons, spiritualists to RPG-fans around the world, this day has something to offer to everyone.

1) First and foremost – the date’s number is a full palindrome (reads the same from left to right, and right to left), which occurs only once per century. Nothing crazy about this one, it's just plain math. Rather, it’s the date’s palindromic qualities that get people stirred up. Occultists, Freemasons and numerologists each have their own connotation for the number. Oh, and lotto players often refer to 11 as “the drumsticks”. The Last time a full double-figure palindrome date occurred (November 11, 1911), US citizens in Missouri witnessed an extraordinary temperature drop from 80F to 10 F. Friday will show if it had anything to do with the date or was mere coincidence.

2) Russians get married en masse. Registry services in various Russian towns will be working overtime and setting up additional offices to cater for all the couples who wish to tie the knot. The other popular wedding days – like January 1st, or August 28th – are given a run for their money, as the trend doesn’t stay exclusively Russian. There was also a funny coincidence concerning divorce: trying to stand out in the happy crowd, one Russian couple got married on 09/09/09…and got divorced on 11/11/11!

3) South Korean mothers desperately want to give birth on this date exactly. They flood hospitals with requests for a Caesarean section delivery in order to have the magical 111111 in their children’s registration number. The latter, according to Korean law is composed of 13 numbers, with the first six corresponding for the date of birth.

4) The Anonymous hacker group – in the spotlight lately with its promises to hack the upcoming US election – also plans to organize a flashmob reenactment of the “V for Vendetta” finale in London. They have called for protesters to join together on Friday evening from 9 to 12pm wearing Guy Fawkes masks.

5) Peruvian spiritualist Solara calls to mark the significance of having a “triple master number” date – 11, 22, 33 are called master numbers because are believed by some to process more potential than others. Some 50 groups around the world will mark the date, according to Solara. “I envision a big shift in consciousness on the planet, and it’s coming to a point with this date,” she is quoted by Scotsman.com

6) Mystics in Egypt and beyond who had planned on commemorating the day with rituals and rites have been less than lucky. In order to avoid religious clashes, Egyptian authorities have closed the Pyramids of Giza to tourists and locals alike. Several groups had planned events at the foot of the pyramids, which have long been revered for their supposedly numerological and supernatural powers.

7) Twins celebrate birthday in Wisconsin. The adorable Betsy and Katie Overman are turning eleven on this remarkable day, promising to spend no more than 11 minutes in school. RT wishes them success in each of their other future endeavors. But more than anything this stresses a lack of news topics in US regional press.

8) Mars may be seen in tandem with Regulus – the brightest star the Lion constellation and one of the most noticeable ones in the sky. To witness the rare astronomical event, one has to look eastwards around 9pm GMT. Right above the line of the horizon the orange Mars will be seen, with Regulus rising to the right of it.

Regulus and surrounding region

9) The Chinese calendar provides that silver lining, claiming 11/11/11 is in fact the most successful day of the century, as it “embodies mirror unity and balance between the sky and the land”, whatever that means. Chinese numerology regards number one as a symbol of leadership and independence – no surprises here, while Feng Shui sees it as meaning luck and success. And to think of a day that in fact contains two of those!

10) Nothing in India. Yeah, you heard it – nothing. Indian media was quick to dismiss all the speculation regarding the date saying it holds no significance in the Hindu calendar. Well, in a country as ravaged by sectarian violence as India is, the desire to get rid of numerology freaks at least is understandable. Then again wasn’t there a religion craving for nothing in India?

11) An alternative way of doing nothing can be achieved by purchasing Skyrim – the fifth Elder Scrolls series video game – 11/11/11 is the day of its release. Be advised, though, Elder Scrolls, which is the biggest Role Playing Games (RPG) franchise in history, tends to render you doing nothing for substantially longer time than just 24 hours.

The search for hangover cures - the hair of the dog and a variety of others...

2011-11-09T22:38:00.001-08:00

Image by Getty Images via @daylife

By Peter Petterson

First published at Qondio:

I recently posted about when, where and who was responsible for introducing wine and beer to humankind many thousands of years ago.

But as I wrote, no definate cures for hangovers were available. However I promised my friends who had commented about the unavailability of such cures that I would try and rectify the situation. It was even suggested, tongue in cheek no doubt, that it gave me an opportunity to post an intel dedicated to cures. Do you seriously believe that?

With a bit of 'googling' I have discovered an article which deals with that subject. "Hangover cures from around the world: From the scientific to the outlandish, every culture has its own perspective on curing a hangover." Just what do you do?

There is certainly a few to choose from: Food is a recurring theme in many of the cures.

The scientific:

In the north of England you are encouraged to eat as much carbohydrates as possible - as a consequence there are always long queues at Greggs bakery there.

At the Waldorf in 1894, New York socialite, Samuel Benedict, introduced his contribution which has become known as 'Eggs Benedict' - half an English muffin, topped with bacon or ham, poached eggs and Hollandaise sauce. Just a hungry man? However research by Newcastle University concluded it was the bread - those carbohydrates again - and bacon is full of proteins. Together they break down into amino acid which helps our system to counter the effects of alcohol.

The outlandish:

During the 19th century chimney sweeps were known to dose themselves with a lump of soot and warm milk - something also used by hospitals at the time to mop up toxins in the stomach and intestines.

In China today they drink strong green tea; the Italians prefer a pot of strong black coffee (a well known cure to us in the West). Romanians, Mexicans and Turks all recommend tripe boiled in greasy, salty soup with garlic and cream.

Koreans have a stomach soup - pork spine or cow bones with coagulated blood, cabbage and vegetables.

Rabbit dropping tea was favorites with cowboys in the old west to counter the whiskey drunk the night before, something considered in the script of Brokeback Mountain, but finally rejected.

Sicilians eat dried bulls penis; while the old Celts were buried up to their necks in moist river sand. Ancient Romans had deep fried canaries, while we today have a bucket of KFC. Some New Zealanders have a cheese and mince pie with chocolate milk.

Cannabis has been suggested because it stops nausea and creates hunger. But the Dutch have decided over many years that a bit of the hair of the dog is good for you - have a few more drinks in the morning.

As I stated earlier, food is a recurring theme in the 'cures'. I suggest you drink as much water as possible, have a strong black coffee and eat when able.

There are many more available, but we will settle with what I have revealed here. Will you be trying any of these in the future?

http://huttriver.qondio.com

http://thewriterslounge.net

Some Britons outraged at Australian 'mooning' of Queen recently...

2011-10-28T20:08:00.000-07:00

Image via Wikipedia

An Australian accused of "mooning" the Queen in Brisbane yesterday has been condemned by angry Britons.

Sydney's Liam Warriner, 22, admitted to reporters yesterday that he exposed his rear end to the monarch as she travelled along Kingsford Smith Drive on her royal visit.

According to reports, he had the Australian flag wedged between the cheeks of his bare bottom when he exposed himself at about 11.40am.

It was unlikely the Queen saw Warriner's exposed backside, a police spokesman said today
.
While flashing a V for victory sign yesterday, Warriner declared "I mooned the Queen".

"Everybody's seen someone's butt, come on. You see it on TV all the time, you see it in movies, it's accepted in PG rated programming these days, but yet it's an offence to the Queen," he told The Courier Mail.

English tabloid The Daily Mail reported on the incident, labelling Warriner "remorseless".

The article drew a furious reaction from its readers.

"A citizen for Australia to be proud of. I bet his parents think he's wonderful!" Onthereceivingend, Somewhere in England, wrote.

"Maybe all the Australians who regularly write disparaging things about the English might like to consider the vulgarity of one of their own people. Not only was it disgusting and disrespectful but also a public offence. Hope he gets a good fine for it," Despairing citizen, UK, contributed.

John of Pompey wrote of Warriner's decision to put the Australian flag in between his cheeks: "All it is fit for if idiots like this are typical."

There were some messages of support for the Sydney man, with an American reader giving Warriner's actions the thumbs up.

"Well done! May the Aussies never loose (sic) their rugged, outback culture and sense of humor (sic). Too bad Slim Dusty is gone, I'm sure he would have appreciated that and then done an Aussie C&W song about mooning the Queen," wrote Pete Sagi, of St Louis, Missouri.

On his Facebook page, Warriner proudly showed off news reports of the incident, with friends praising him for "making a difference in this world".

This prompted a series of politically-motivated posts from the member of the Occupy protest movement.

"Just doing my job..." Warriner wrote of yesterday's incident on his Facebook profile.

"As should all people. The spirit of rebellion must rise in man if we are to overcome this elite corporate financial dictatorship we are currently selling our souls to.

"Otherwise nothing happens... nothing you may control anyhow.. centralised control is what its (sic) all about. while minimising education, and when educating always maintaining the current status quo of power."

Warriner is due to appear in Brisbane Magistrates Court on Friday.

But it is doubtful that the Queen was aware of what happened.

Acknowledgements- Brisbane Times

Kiwipete

Gay coffee has arrived in the LGBT community...

2011-10-24T02:48:00.000-07:00

Image via Wikipedia

. Gay Coffee Has Arrived In The LGBT Community...

How do you combine your love for the LGBT community with an unbridled passion for roasting the very best coffee? If you’re java devotee Melissa Krueger, you create a new brand of coffee that embraces and celebrates the wonderful diversity of queer culture called Gay Coffee. (Naturally.)

Krueger’s queer coffee quest began in 2004 in Northampton, Massachusetts where she opened a small café called the Elbow Room. It was there that she honed her craft of coffee roasting and earned her café’s reputation for serving the best hand-roasted coffees in town. Krueger’s success soon inspired her to sell her small café and follow her passion by pursuing a new career as a full time coffee roaster.

Shortly thereafter, while watching images of gay couples in New York marrying on television, Melissa Krueger and her partner Mary began brainstorming a way to combine their new coffee roasting company with another big area of their life—being gay. This was the conversation from which Gay Coffee was born... or rather, came out.

Gay Coffee debuted at the Castro Street Fair in San Francisco, California on October 2, 2011 with five new hand-roasted coffee blends. Each named after various aspects of queer culture, Stone Butch Breakfast Blend, Good Morning Mary!, Red Hanky Roast, Second Date, and Weekend Pass mix humor with history to create a product that is both educational and enjoyable. Rather than simply tap into queer culture for the camp value, each package of Gay Coffee is also informative. Every blend named after an aspect of gay culture also includes a description of its place in LGBT history.

“One part of our branding is to take some stereotypes and themes we are all sort of familiar with, take ownership of them in what we hope is a fun and funny way, and then compliment the wink and chuckle with a piece of something more meaningful and thoughtful,” said Krueger. “I have actually learned quite a bit about gay history during this project. I’m always particularly delighted when someone reads the back of one of our coffees and says, ‘Oh cool, I didn't know that!’”

A brand name with such obvious ties to the LGBT community might have made some entrepreneurs nervous, but Krueger says the idea that her coffee could be controversial was never an issue. “My main concern launching Gay Coffee was more that people would take the time to interact … and really enjoy the whole product – our branding, our sense of humor, our mission and, of course, our coffee. ”

Aside from perpetuating the unique legacy of queer culture, a percentage of all profits from Gay Coffee are also donated to the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. However, it was also important to Krueger that her company be mindful in another way as well.

“Unlike the vast majority of coffee companies out there, 100% of our coffee is sourced fair trade and organic. We think the fair trade price and mission should apply to all of the coffee farmers we buy from, not just a couple,” Krueger said. “I have travelled to coffee producing areas and spoken with coffee farmers, stayed at their houses, and feel very strongly about our commitment to being a real fair trade company.”

Melissa Krueger’s commitment to fairness and quality has earned Gay Coffee high praise since the brand debuted earlier this month.

“The response to the product has been incredibly positive,” Krueger said. “I am personally in awe of the tremendous positive feedback we have received, and inspired to continue to create something that does good, tastes great, and makes people happy.”

More oil pumped from the crippled MV Rena off the Bay of Plenty, NZ...

2011-10-21T01:56:00.000-07:00

Image by Getty Images via @daylifeImage by Getty Images via @daylifeImage by Getty Images via @daylifeImage by Getty Images via @daylifeImage via Wikipedia

More oil pumped from crippled ship...

Maritime New Zealand says 171 tonnes of oil has been pumped off a badly damaged container ship of the coast of Tauranga.

The Rena ran aground on Astrolabe Reef on 5 October, spilling up to 350 tonnes of oil and shedding 88 containers into the ocean.

Work resumed on Thursday to transfer the oil from the ship to a barge following heavy swells during the week.

More oil has been transferred from the Rena to a barge on Friday.

Maritime New Zealand's salvage unit manager says a specialist was on board the ship on Friday to fine-tune the operation.

Bruce Anderson says the salvage team encountered problems on Friday including a booster pump that needed to be replaced and a 15-minute power outage.

Mr Anderson says a dive platform has been constructed so divers can start working around the ship's starboard side.

The salvage team will continue pumping overnight on Friday, weather permitting.

"We have fine weather forecast until Wednesday so we are taking advantage of the good weather while we can."

Mount Maunganui beach open

Maritime New Zealand says part of Mount Maunganui beach has been reopened to the public after it was fouled by oil and debris.

The section of beach up to Tay Street was opened on Friday afternoon.

Maritime New Zealand's commander on the scene Alex van Winjgaarden says more of the beach may be reopened to the public for the long weekend, but there is still some oil appearing along the shore.

Public access to the beach from Tay Street to Maketu Point, including the Maketu Estuary, remains restricted.

The exclusion zone surrounding the Rena has been reduced.

The Bay of Plenty regional council says the reduction is possible because oil and containers from the ship have been contained, reducing the risk of injury or damage due to navigational safety hazards.

The council says vessel operators need to maintain an active lookout for response vessels helping with the oil recovery.

It has also asked people to contact Maritime New Zealand if they see oil or containers in the water.

Copyright © 2011, Radio New Zealand

Random Blogging Writes: Day 18: Theme Song To My Life

2011-10-19T02:41:00.000-07:00

**Random Blogging Writes**: Day 18: Theme Song To My Life

Banish your beer belly for good...

2011-10-17T04:01:00.000-07:00

Are you in danger of burning out?

Male grooming myths debunked

Build an injury-free body

Men: what carbs should you be eating?

Medical myths that won’t go away

Struggling to get rid of that spare tyre? We've consulted the experts to find out how to banish that beer belly for good.
There are plenty of reasons many men find themselves carrying excess 'timber' around their middle. The good news is there are also numerous ways to reduce it. We asked a team of health experts to explain 10 ways a man can banish his beer belly forever.
It's not just about the booze
First things first, if you're carrying a few spare tyres, your love of a cold beer is unlikely to be the only cause.
"Alcohol is not the main contributor to developing a beer belly — people get beer bellies due to a number of lifestyle factors that are interconnected," points out sports psychologist and personal trainer Lisa Foley.
"Saturated fat is obviously a contributor but sugar and carbs also have a major role in storing fat and building the beer belly. When we eat food that's high in sugar and carbohydrates we release the hormone insulin. Insulin's job is to store the excess blood sugar, and its favourite place to store blood sugar is in our fat cells."
Calorie counting
However, as beer lovers it's all too easy to forget just how many calories a beer can contain.
"The higher the alcoholic content, the more calories the drink has," points out personal trainer and nutritionist Kevin Witham. "Most beer will have around 150-200 calories if you buy a pint."
Additionally, alcohol is an appetite-stimulant, so it's not just the calories in your pint that can lead to weight gain, but that fat-laden kebab or burger you'll wolf down after closing time.
The processed problem
Processed food is just one example of a food item that can lead to what we refer to as a beer belly.
"Try and cut out as much processed food as possible," suggests personal trainer Lee Siemaszko. "Eat fresh produce, try a variety of fruit and veg, and eat organic food where possible. Change your diet to one that is high in protein, but lower in carbs, have lean cuts of meat, chicken, fish, eggs, nuts and seeds, cut down on pasta, rice, potatoes and try to cut down on bread.
"Drink lots of water: cut down on alcohol, tea and coffee, with the odd cup of green tea. This will help clear your body of toxins, hydrate you, and speed up your metabolism."
Tummy trouble
It's common knowledge that having a beer belly can spell disaster for heart health.
"The problem with belly fat is that it is active," explains Lee Siemaszko. "It works like a separate organ, releasing substances that are harmful to your body. Abdominal fat bears the blame for many heart-related health problems because the fat sits within striking distance of your heart, liver and other organs, pressing on them, feeding them poisons and messing with their daily function."
Exercise alone is not enough
The bad news? While certain exercises can help tone stomach muscles, no amount of squats or crunches will banish your beer belly if you don't change your diet.
"You cannot spot reduce fat by targeting that area with specific exercises like crunches," warns Kevin Witham. "This is because the body breaks down fat where it wants to and then sends it to the liver to be used. However, you can certainly tone specific muscles with exercises."
Diet vs exercise
In other words, no matter how much exercise you do, if you don't change your diet, you'll struggle to change your body shape.
"I'd say it's about 20% exercise and 80% diet," reveals personal trainer Matthew Knights. "In trained individuals — those exercising consistently for years — exercise plays a bigger role in retaining leanness but it's still not great. We didn't evolve to cope with high calorie modern diets and they're just not balanced by the odd few hours of exercise. If the odds of exercise helping were better I'd be a millionaire!"
Walk it off
So, once you've got the diet sorted, what are the types of exercise that can make a difference?
"Walking is a great one," says Matthew Knights. "It won't get you thin — no exercise alone will — but it can help you with the common conditions associated with a beer belly such as type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol.
"Weight training can combat the loss of muscle and reverse the slowing of the base metabolic rate, although this is only suitable for those without other coronary risk factors and won't get rid of a beer belly without major dietary changes."
Reduce stress
Are you worried about that impending deadline or important presentation? Take a chill pill — research suggests that those suffering from stress are more likely to carry fat around the abdomen.
"There's evidence that high levels of cortisol can encourage the body to store fat around the middle," says nutritional therapist Angela Walker. "Cortisol is part of the body's response to stress, so working on managing stress can help to reduce the tendency to carry weight in this area."
The age issue
Unfortunately, shifting that spare tyre becomes harder as we get older.
"Men are most likely to develop what we know as a beer belly from mid-30s onwards," reveals Matthew Knights. "That's because after this age your metabolism slows due to sarcopenia (loss of muscle tissue with age) if you're not training your muscles correctly. So as you lose muscle you burn fewer calories but you're still putting the same amount of calories in, and the excess must go somewhere so it's stored as fat."
Chubby child?
Were you skinny or chubby as a child? You'll be surprised to hear that those who were overweight as children are less likely to develop what we refer to as a beer belly.
"We know that the number of fat cells under the skin is determined in childhood — if you were a lean child then you didn't grow many under the skin fat cells," explains Matthew Knights. "Lean children who then gain fat in adult life don't therefore have much fat storage capacity under the skin. So when the fat cells beneath the skin become full, the excess body fat 'spills over' into the abdomen around the organs. It's those who were lean children who you'll see with the extreme apple (beer belly) shape."
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John Travolta and Nicholas Cage doubles...

2011-09-30T03:27:00.000-07:00

Cover of Con Air

John Travolta has popped up in a vintage photograph from the mid-19th century, according to an eBay seller peddling an uncanny resemblance to the A-list actor.

Travolta's doppelganger is a bow-tied, austere-faced gentleman who posed for a camera in 1860.
The seller, from Ontario in Canada, is billing the ruby glass ambrotype photograph as a "very young John Travolta Scientologist time traveller".

The Scientology reference may be a cheeky allusion to the Church's belief in reincarnation.

The photo is listed on eBay for NZ$65,000 "or nearest offer".

"I've had this interesting photograph for years and I've been unable to part with it," the seller said on the auction site.

"When you look at it and into the eyes of the sitter you will see what I mean!"

An antique photo purporting to resemble Travolta's Face/Off co-star Nicholas Cage also recently appeared on eBay.

But this American Civil War-era photo of Cage's doppelganger comes with starting price tag of NZ$1 million.

Seller Jack Mord, from the US city of Seattle, jokes that the 47-year-old Con Air star is a vampire who rejuvenates himself every 80 years or so, before appearing in "some other part of the world, young again, and ready to start all over".

The 10cm x 6cm thin paper photograph, dated around 1870, shows a man who lived in Tennessee but his name is not known, the seller said.

Mr Mord, who collects antique portraits, believes the photograph was taken by a confederate Civil War prisoner of war photographer.

Both sellers say their images are genuine and have not been tampered with in any way.

http://money.msn.co.nz/8354054/travolta-time-traveller-photo-on-ebay

http://blogging-along-with-pete.wallinside.

Gives a whole new meaning to cloud surfing...

2011-09-29T17:33:00.000-07:00

Image via Wikipedia

Gives a whole new meaning to cloud surfing.

http://www.australianblogs.com.au/blog/australian-clouds/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+AustralianBlogs+%28Australian+Blogs+Blog%29
http://www.australianblogs.com.au
http://anzacbloggersunite.blog.co.uk

Mum helping out with the team...

2011-09-25T20:55:00.000-07:00

Cherish Arroyo admitted to sleeping with a minor.

Obesity cure? Skinny gene found...

2011-09-19T23:35:00.000-07:00

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Obesity cure? "Skinny gene" found...

Ever wanted to know why some women can eat whatever they want and still not gain any weight? New research has found it might be due to having an 'overdose' of a certain gene.

Scientists at Britain's Imperial College London and the University of Lausanne in Switzerland discovered that a duplication of a part of chromosome 16 is associated with being underweight, Reuters reported.
Previously, researchers found that people with a missing copy of this gene are 43 times more likely to be morbidly obese but this study was the first to identify a cause of extreme thinness.

"This is the first genetic cause of extreme thinness that has been identified," said Professor Philippe Froguel from Imperial's school of public health, who led the study. "It's also the first example of a deletion and a duplication of one part of the genome having opposite effects."

DNA of more than 95,000 children were analysed and half of those with the duplication of the chromosome had previously been diagnosed with a "failure to thrive", which means their rate of weight gain is significantly slower.

Researchers said that a duplication of chromosome makes men 23 times and women five times more likely to be underweight.

Professor Froguel said that while more research is needed, this may lead to new treatments of obesity and eating disorders.

"We now plan to sequence these genes and find out what they do, so we can get an idea of which ones are involved in regulating appetite," he said.

The study was published in the journal Nature

http://health.msn.co.nz/blog.aspx?blogentryid=894953&showcomments=true

Blogging along with Pete

Research between cannabis smoking and body weight

2011-09-08T01:02:00.000-07:00

Image via Wikipedia

Expand

French researchers have made a surprising link between somking cannabis and body weight. File photo / Thinkstock

A French study has found marijuana smokers may have a lower risk of obesity that those who don't use the drug.

Although a common side effect of the drug is the "munchies", the results of the study show the prevalence of obesity is lower among people who frequently smoke marijuana compared with those who have never inhaled.

Between 4 and 7 per cent of participants in these surveys reported using cannabis at least once in the last year.

Obesity was assessed using participants' body mass index (BMI).

The survey showed that about 22 to 25 per cent of people who don't smoke pot were obese, while 16 to 17 per cent of cannabis users were obese
.
Obesity was less common among users who smoked pot more frequently. For instance, the NESARC survey showed about 14 per cent of participants who used cannabis three days a week or more were obese, the researchers said. Between 0.7 and 1.8 per cent of the sample smoked marijuana this frequently.

The researchers said they were surprised by their initial results, because they expected to find the opposite.
So they examined a second sample of people, and got the same result. The two samples studied more than 50,000 people

Researchers at the Louis Mourier Hospital in France suggested the link could be because people who use cannabis also engage in other behaviors that lower their obesity risk, or smokers exercise more or have a specific diet that keeps them thin.

"From a personal point of view, I would be surprised that cannabis use is associated with a higher rate of physical activity, but this cannot be ruled out," researcher Yann Le Strat told website MyHealthNewsDaily.

Le Strat also suggested that components of cannabis may help people lose weight, adding that if this was the case, researchers should investigate which components these might be and try to put them into drug form.

Despite the results of the study, Le Strat emphasised that people should not smoke cannabis to lose weight as cannabis has well-known physical and mental health consequences, including an increased risk of psychosis.

"As an addiction psychiatrist, I see every day people struggling with cannabis dependence. I would not recommend smoking cannabis for any reason," Le Strat said.

Blogging along with Pete

A secret 20 year history of Australia and New Zealand...

2011-08-31T01:58:00.000-07:00

The Opal File - a secret 20 year history of Australia and New Zealand...

Norman Kirk 1971

A secret 20 year history of Australia and New Zealand

Author unknown
.
This is is quite long, approx 56K and contains some very amazing
information, such as Swiss Account Numbers of high profile people on Mafia
Payrolls. You may be surprised at some of the names mentioned here.
It also contains references to CIA operations to place subliminal TV
broadcasts throughout Australia and NZ, and other countries.

Happy reading.

Kiwipete says: I have found it extremely difficult to publish this link. So I want you to concentrate from the heading 'Whitlam and Kirk' and read down to the beginning of 1976 once Muldoon was in power. During this period both Anzac PM's introduced policies that were not favoured by the internationalists and in Kirks case was replaced by his successor, Bill Rowling, and carried on by Robert Muldoon. Norman Kirk died in office in 1974. A CIA spokesman claimed he was murdered by the use of Sodium Morphate, the same drug that allegedly killed the Shah of Iran. Gough Whitlam was sacked in 1975 by Australian Governor General, John Kerr. I don't know if Norman Kirk was assassinated or not, but the drug apparently gave the appearance of having a heart attack. The same with the Shah of Iran who died in America. Changes have been made in Australia to prevent a future Governor General from having the power to sack a prime minister. Enjoy the read.

http://www.netti.fi/~makako/mind/opal.txt

Kiwipete Says

Common Conspirizoid Trope...

2011-08-22T00:03:00.000-07:00

Common conspirazoid trope:

Common conspirazoid trope:

The powers that claim to protect us are actually seeking to destroy us - Rappers ex Public Enemy.
Chuck D of Public Enemy has allegedly claimed in both song and on stage the World Health Organisation is engaged in the propagation of racially targeted biological warfare. Perhaps a little more sensible and rounded these days, but still excitable at times.

Rapper MIA outlined to UK newspaper Sunday Observer her beliefs that Facebook and Google are creations of the CIA, and during adolescence, the London Borough of Tower Hamlets had been flooded with heroin on the instructions of its local MP with a view to pacifying the local Bengali population.
Another Public Enemy old boy, Professor Griff, departed the band a couple decades back after making disobliging remarks about Jews, "Is it a coincidence that Jews run the family business and its named Jewelery? Yeah right!

There are a number of other conspiracy claims that others are members of the Illuminati, the New World Order and omnipotent masters. There are freemasonery, cattle mutilations, DNA testing, bible codes - JFK,Elvis, Kurt Cobain, John Lennon - all dead - Paul McCartney was allegedly disposed of and replaced with an imposter. Oh dear! Even the poor Soviets were claimed to have invented rock n roll as their psycho weapon.

Kiwipete Says

The world's longest bridge opens...

2011-07-04T21:52:00.001-07:00

The world's longest bridge opens...

The Chinese government has unveiled the world's longest over-water bridge, which stretches 42.5 kilometres across Jiaozhou bay.

It is predicted the impressive structure, which took 10,000 workers more than four years to build and cost over $1.4 billion, will carry 30,000 cars per day.

The six-lane earthquake-proof bridge links China's eastern port city of Qingdao to the island of Huangdao and will halve travelling time.

Li Qun, the local Chinese Communist party secretary, said: “It is a magnificent and very advanced bridge.”

World's longest bridge...

Soldier 'regrows' leg after experimental operation

2011-06-29T01:13:00.000-07:00

US soldier 'regrows' leg after experimental operation...

A U.S.soldier who had most of his leg muscle blown off in Afghanistan has become the first to see it grow back in a pioneering experimental operation.

Marine Isaias Hernandez lost 70 per cent of his right thigh muscles when an enemy mortar exploded as he tried to carry out repairs to a truck in Afghanistan.

With such severe muscle damage Hernandez would ordinarily have had his leg amputated.

But a re-think in the way soldiers are treated led to the wounded warrior being injected with a growth promoting substance extracted from pig bladders.

Re growth: Corporal Isaias Hernandez, right, at Brooke Army Medical Centre has undergone pioneering surgery

The revolutionary treatment gives hope to the hundreds of maimed veterans returning from conflicts with severe limb trauma.

Stephen Badylak, the tissue engineering director at the McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh said: 'It was a remarkable recovery.'

Since the experimental growth hormone was used, Hernandez has regained most of the strength in his right thigh.

The wounded Marine's recovery is particularly exciting for scientists as it involves the regeneration of skeletal muscle which ordinarily does not grow back.

The new treatment could in theory revolutionise how not just how soldiers are treated, but all potential amputees.

In preparation for the operation, corporal Hernandez was made to build up the remaining 30 per cent of muscle left on the damaged thigh.

Surgeons then sliced into the thigh, placing a thin slice of a substance called extracellular matrix.

The surgery is the result of a $70 million investment by the U.S. military into regenerative medicine research.

Life-changing: Corporal Hernandez was injured in Afghanistan but has received the miraculous treatment in the U.S.

Honour: Hernandez saluting at the dedication of a monument marking the events of World War II during a ceremony in Texas

Marine Hernandez was 19 when he was gearing up his truck in Afghanistan ahead of a long journey.

As he approached the vehicle an enemy mortar exploded, throwing shrapnel into his exposed body parts.

Fortunately the Marine, he was carrying a TV which shielded the upper half of his body.

Speaking to The Australian, Corporal Hernandez said: 'Pretty much anything that wasn't covered, arms and legs, was hit.'

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2005595/US-soldier-Isaias-Hernandez-grows-leg-pig-bladder-hormone-injection.html#ixzz1QivHvy4E

Johan's Ark...

2011-06-27T01:27:00.000-07:00

Johan's Ark...

After doomsday vision, man builds full-sized, seaworthy ark

"I dreamed that a part of Holland was flooded," Dutch-native Johan Huibers said in an interview with Today. "The next day, I get the idea to build an ark." That Huibers did — this brick-like behemoth of a boat is "Johan's Ark."

The almost-finished vessel you see pictured above is actually Huibers' second whack at making an ark of his own. The first was a half-sized replica, though this time the Dutch construction company director decided to go whole hog. It's even seaworthy, and Huibers plans for his ark to float along the Thames in London ahead of the 2012 Olympics.

Though we really have no way of knowing, Biblical scholars peg Noah's Ark as being somewhere around 300 cubits in length, 50 wide and 30 high. In feet, that translates into a vessel 450 feet long — or about the same as a Romulan Bird-of-Prey — and 75 feet wide and 45 high. In other words, it's like a narrower, longer football field, or half the length of the Titanic. Read: pretty big.

The amount of time that Noah had to build the original Ark is also something that's rather hotly debated, but the answer usually falls anywhere between a couple of decades to dozens of years. (Dude was apparently hundreds of years old when he heard about his star-making flood, so we'll forgive him a little lethargy.) Johan did it in three years, though he also had to spend $1.6 million in the process. Just like the ark of old, inside you'll also find a gallery of animals — life-sized, but fake — including a $11,000 model elephant.

These days, Johan Huibers isn't looking to survive a world-ending flood, however. In fact, when asked by NBC News if he thought it would see him through such a calamity safely, he said, "No, I don't think so." Still, it makes for a pretty sweet tourist attraction, and the size of it is certainly impressive.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johan's%20_Ark

http://www.neatorama.com/2011/06/22/johans-ark/

Kiwipete

Icann increase web domain suffixes...

2011-06-19T22:35:00.000-07:00

Icann increases web domain suffixes...

A global internet body has voted to allow the creation of new website domain suffixes, the biggest change for the online world in years.

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (Icann) plans to dramatically increase the number of domain endings from the current 22.

Internet address names will be able to end with almost any word, and be in any language.

Icann will begin taking applications for the new domain names next year.

"Icann has opened the Internet's addressing system to the limitless possibilities of the human imagination," said Rod Beckstrom, president and chief executive officer for Icann.

"No one can predict where this historic decision will take us."

A breaking story...more news to emerge on this subject.

My Likes

Thoughts come out; worlds collide: Silent relaxing sunday--wait it's Saturday. A day lost and found! :)

2011-06-12T03:54:00.000-07:00

Thoughts come out; worlds collide: Silent relaxing sunday--wait it's Saturday. A day lost and found! :)

Montessori Writer's Thoughts: Lost and Found in Life

2011-06-12T03:48:00.000-07:00

Montessori Writer's Thoughts: Lost and Found in Life

Matariki - the Maori New Year in New Zealand...

2011-06-11T20:25:00.000-07:00

Matariki - the Maori New Year...

Matariki – A Celebration in New Zealand/Aotearoa

During Matariki we celebrate our unique place in the world.

We give respect to the whenua on which we live,

and admiration to our mother earth Papatūānuku.

Throughout Matariki we learn about those who came before us.

Our history. Our family. Our bones.

Matariki signals growth.

It’s a time of change.

It’s a time to prepare, and a time of action.

During Matariki we acknowledge what we have

and what we have to give.

Matariki celebrates the diversity of life.

It’s a celebration of culture, language, spirit and people.

Matariki is our

Aotearoa Pacific New Year.

I te wā o Matariki, ka whakanui tātou i tō tātou mana motuhake i tēnei ao.

He manaaki i te whenua e noho nei tātou i runga, he mïharo ki tō tātou whaea,

ki a Papatūānuku.

I te roanga atu o Matariki, ka ako tātou i ngā āhuatanga ō rātou mā

kua hoki ki te kāinga tūturu.

Ko ngā mahi me ngā kōrero o mua. Ko ō tātou heke. Ko ō tātou wheinga.

Ko Matariki te tohu o te tupu.

He wā e puta kē ai.

He wā whakariterite, he wā kōkiri kaupapa.

I te wā o Matariki, he mahara atawhai ki ngā taonga kei a tātou inaianei,

hei koha atu hoki a taihoa.

He whakanui a Matariki i ngā tini ähuatanga o te oranga.

He whakanui hoki i te tikanga, i te reo, i te wairua me te iwi.

Ko Matariki tō Aotearoa tau hou.

(Te Taura Whiri I Te Reo Māori)

What is Matariki?

Matariki is the Maori name for the group of stars also known as the Pleiades star cluster or the Seven Sisters and what is referred to as the traditional Maori New Year. The Maori New Year is marked by the rise of Matariki and the sighting of the next new moon. The pre-dawn rise of Matariki can be seen in the last few days of May every year and the New Year is marked at the sighting of the next new moon which occurs during June. Matariki events occur throughout New Zealand and the timing of the events varies depending on Iwi and geographical differences.

Some Iwi recognize and celebrate a different cluster of stars called Puanga or Puaka. Matariki, Puanga or Puaka are generally celebrated during the months of June and July. Common principles apply to all celebrations whether they are Matariki, Puanga or Puaka. The duration of events and activities varies from a few hours to two months.

The clusters of stars that signal the New Year and celebrations for Maori are also observed and celebrated widely throughout the Pacific. There are opportunities further down the track to align Pacific celebrations and festivals.

The Pleiades are also observed and celebrated throughout the world as they relate to important cultural and mythological events that celebrate concepts and activities related to unity, gatherings, harvesting and planting, paying tributes to ancestors and looking ahead to the future. Over centuries the Pleiades have been celebrated by the Greeks, Japanese, Chinese, Vikings, Africans, American Indians, Australian aborigines and throughout the Pacific.

New Zealand culture and heritage is core to Matariki events. While the Matariki events and celebrations are primarily kaupapa Maori driven, they are inclusive of all communities throughout Aotearoa. There are strong signs now that Matariki is playing a key role in building a better understanding between cultures, particularly the Maori and pakeha cultures. As one Matariki coordinator mentioned “Matariki is an easily accessible entry point for pakeha and other non-Maori to celebrate and understand our culture”.

Visit Matariki 2011

Todays evangelicals embracing the worlds deadliest cults...

2011-06-10T18:45:00.000-07:00

Today's evangelicals embracing the world's deadliest cults...

Pastor Wilson Ewin's latest 76 page book thoroughly documents the fact that Roman Catholicism is indeed the world's deadliest cult. It further documents the way in which Charismatic error and New-evangelical compromise have given Romanism an unwarranted and unscriptural opportunity to deceive millions of uninformed believers. In an effort to give this important documentation the earliest and widest possible readership, brother Ewin has given us permission to reproduce the major portion of his book. Additional copies of this special edition of FOUNDATION can be obtained from the Fundamental Evangelisitic Association, PO Box 6278, Los Osos, CA 93412, 805-528-3534. However, the full text of Pastor Ewin's original publication which includes important graphics and photographs with helpful captions can be obtained from

Introduction

During this period of ecumenism when churches are coming closer together is it right to be critical of Roman Catholicism? Should we not accept and respect each other's positions and work together in love for church unity? Little do some Evangelicals understand that Romanism is the same as in the 16th century-ever worse than in the days of Luther, Calvin, Farel and Zwingli. On the essential matter of the gospel, Rome has not changed nor does she claim to have changed. Vatican II (1962-1965) clearly affirmed every Roman Catholic doctrine contested by the Reformers. Evangelicalism must understand once and for all that the root error back in 1517 was Rome's official doctrine that we could and must earn righteousness with God by our own good works. A man's righteousness with God consists partly of the work of Jesus Christ and partly of his own work. Justification was by faith plus works.

It is no different in our time. When a religious system is in error concerning fundamental truths such as the atonement and justification by faith, etc., thereby propagating a Philistine gospel, we can neither cooperate with such a church nor support it. Our supreme guideline is not sentimentality nor mere opinion, but the Bible.

Entire denominations are now closer to Rome than Jerusalem. They are moving Rome-ward. There is a trend whereby certain Protestant ministers falsely so called are converting to the Roman religion. Thrilled with Vatican II changes, they fail to see that Roman Catholicism changes in order not to change; that there has been a change of image but not substance. Since the time of Luther the papacy has been reformed so that recent popes have led exemplary lives. There are no Tetzels hawking indulgences. Simony and nepotism are not a serious problem and red hats are not handed to teenagers or to those of royal blood. While there is still persecution of Evangelicals in some parts of the world, the Inquisition is no longer in practice. Nevertheless, Rome is still the harlot. She is still the false church proclaiming another gospel.

Now, more than any other time since the 16th century Reformation, God is looking for Christians to stand in the gap; to be watchmen, courageous enough to pay, as Huss did, the flaming price of martyrdom-that awful fate of untold millions who suffered similar agonizing deaths at the hands of the papal Inquisition. Remember: there is a battle to be fought (Ephesians 6:16-20). There is an enemy to be overcome (1 Peter 5:8, 9). There is a watch to maintain (Jude 3, 4, 17-23).

Read more: http://www.kingdomoflight.org/fundamental_evangelistic_associa.htm

The biggest twit on Twitter...

2011-06-06T02:36:00.000-07:00

The biggest twit on Twitter...

Justin Bieber has just cracked 10 million followers on Twitter — that's a whole lotta Beliebers!;

The 17-year-old tween dream has more people following his texty updates than Britney Spears and Barack Obama — but he's still not Number One on the Twitter charts.

Yep, Lady Gaga hot the ten million mark two weeks ago — seems more people are into face horns than bowl cuts these days.

Not that the Biebs gives a crap. "I love u... changing my life everyday," he Tweeted.

"I'm from a town of 30,000... so u guys are 333 times my town! CRAZY! NeverSayNever."

Muslim youth claims stoning girl to death was justified...

2011-05-31T22:56:00.000-07:00

"Muslim youth claims stoning girl to death was justified...

A teenage boy has allegedly claimed the stoning to death of a Muslim girl who participated in a beauty contest was justified under Islam.

Police in the Ukraine have launched a murder investigation after the battered body of Katya Koren was found in a village in the Crimea region near her home, the Daily Mail reports.

The 19-year-old had come seventh in a beauty contest and officers are looking into whether she was killed under Sharia law, a controversial religious code which is interpreted to different extremes across the Islamic faith.

Three Muslim youths are being investigated and one of the group, a 16-year-old boy, is under arrest. He allegedly told police Ms Koren had "violated the laws of Sharia" and he had no regrets about her death.

Friends of Ms Koren said she liked wearing fashionable clothes and had entered the regional heats of the Miss Ukraine beauty pageant.

The Telegraph reports police allege the teen suspect has a long history of mental health problems and he had developed an unhealthy and unrequited obsession with Ms Koren.

Acknowledgements: MSN News

http://huttriver.blog.co.uk/

http://theblogfrog.com/Users/home.aspx

Smoking banned in Kiwi prisons - try a carrot stick instead...

2011-05-31T16:26:00.000-07:00

Smoking banned in Kiwi prisons - try a carrot stick instead...

Smoking to be banned in Kiwi prisons after July 1 2011.

KIWI inmates are being told to swap cigarettes for carrot sticks before they are forced to kick their tobacco habit altogether.

New Zealand jails will go completely smoke-free in July as part of radical new laws designed to make prisons safer and healthier.

To prepare addicted prisoners in the lead-up, the Department of Corrections is trialling a bizarre national directive to supply inmates with two carrot sticks a day.

A memo leaked to the Southland Times provides costings, stating that one jumbo carrot provides 16 carrot sticks which are to be cut into uniform sizes "to the best of our ability".

It suggests a good way of distributing the carrots is by reusing bread bags, the newspaper reported.

Corrections Association of New Zealand president Beven Hanlon has admitted that when he first heard about the "alternative therapy" he thought it was a joke.

..

Read more: http://www.news.com.au/world/carrots-not-cigarettes-for-kiwi-inmates/story-e6frfkyi-1226066427144#ixzz1NyUOhWiN

http://anzacbloggersunite.blog.co.uk/

PayPal sues Google over mobile wallet technology...

2011-05-27T00:53:00.000-07:00

PayPal sues Google over mobile wallet technology...

Google is being sued by PayPal, which claims that the internet search giant stole its technology for turning smartphones into digital wallets.

PayPal alleges that Google obtained trade secrets from Osama Bedier, a former PayPal executive who is now Google's vice president of payments.

The lawsuit came hours after Google unveiled its plans to allow people to pay for shopping with their mobiles.

Google and Mr Bedier have yet to make any comment.

Google intends to launch its system in the US in the summer.

It plans to offer the service on mobile phones that use its Android operating system.

Payment processor PayPal, which owned by online auction site eBay, also claims in its lawsuit that Mr Bedier was in job talks with Google at the same time as he was leading negotiations to make PayPal a payment option on Android.

The technology that allows mobile phone users to pay with their handsets in shops is called near field communications or NFC.

It is already used in Japan, and is predicted to become popular around the world.

PayPal says it spent three years trying to secure a deal under which it would create an NFC system for Android, only for Google to end the talks.

In its court filing, PayPal said: "By hiring Bedier, with his trade secret knowledge of PayPal's plans and understanding of Google's weaknesses as viewed by the industry leader, Google bought the most comprehensive and sophisticated critique of its own problems available."

"Google put Bedier in charge of its mobile payment business, virtually ensuring that Bedier would misappropriate PayPal's trade secrets concerning planning and competitive assessments in mobile payment."

Mr Bedier was hired by Google in January of this year
http://mylikes.com/signup?token=huttriver

Falling flat on his prophetic face...

2011-05-24T22:08:00.000-07:00

Falling flat on his prophetic face...

American preacher, Harold Camping, from California fell flat on hs prophetic face with his false judgement that the world would end on May 21 2011 - it was off by five months according to him. He has made some new calculations and things would actually end on October 21, 2011, this year. Yeah right, Mr Camping!

Harold was so upset that 200 million Christians would not be joining him on Judgement Day, that he fled to a motel with his wife. Camping in a motel, perhaps?

His independent ministry, Family Radio International, allegedly spent millions of dollars -some donations - on more than 5,000 billboards plastered with Judgement Day messages. One follower personally spent $140,000 in savings on this religious crackpot's inane claims.

It's not the first time he has failed in his apolyptic predictions - the first in 1994.

Every person with even a shred of grey brain matter knows that 2012 is the most popular year that many seers from the Hopi Indians to Nostrodamus have predicted as "judgement day" - but most state it is more about a time of great human change, rather than some cataclysmic and apolyptic disaster.

The real jugement day is known only by the creator - there is no code to be deciphered in the Bible

http://huttriver.blog.co.uk/

The world ends today...

2011-05-21T02:16:00.000-07:00

The world ends today...

"We do not have a Plan B at all. There is no possibility that it will not happen because all of our information comes from the Bible."
American Harold Camping, who says the world will end today.

Maybe not! The only being who would know, is the Creator.

http://www.jesus_is-savior.com/wolves/harold_camping.htm

http://communitybloggersevolve.blog.co.uk

2011-05-13T22:47:00.000-07:00

Facebook is allegedly red-faced after a dirty tricks campaign against Google.

The war between the two internet giants reportedly exploded into the open recently after it was revealed that Facebook had paid a leading public relations company to run a dirty tricks campaign against Google.

The social networking site admitted it hired global agency Burson-Marsteller to place negative stories about Google in newspapers, magazines and online.

Claims and counter-claims spread across the internet recently, and the rivalry between the two companies was fully revealed for all and sundry to see.

Burson- Marsteller, who is owned by British group WPP, said it regretted working for Facebook on those terms and had terminated its contract.

Facebook obviously sees Google as its biggest future threat. Google has reportedly built up a big team in recent months to develop rival social networking products.

The scandal came to light after a blogger published an email exchange showing how BM touted stories on behalf of an unnamed client about a Google service, known as Google Circles.

The PR company allegedly said it could help the blogger write opinion pieces criticising Googles system. and then help it place the stories with the media, including the Washington Post, Politico.com and the Huffington Post. Nothing was offered to the Kiwi Riverman Post, however.

The blogger who I won't name here, did not want to pursue the story, apparently describing it as "making a mountain out of a molehill". Probably a good decision. He did post the emails online.

The controversy continues. Google has declined comment and probably won't take legal action against those involved.

Acknowledgements: The Times

Missing UK girl's parents wrote to newspaper...

2011-05-12T00:22:00.000-07:00

Missing UK girl's parents wrote to newspaper...

The parents of missing UK girl Madeleine McCann have urged British Prime Minister David Cameron to order a "comprehensive review" of the information surrounding their daughter's disappearance.
Kate and Gerry McCann wrote in a letter to British newspaper The Sun that it was "not right that a young, vulnerable British citizen has essentially been given up on".

"One call might be all that is needed to lead to Madeleine and her abductor," the couple's message said.
"To this end we are seeking a joint independent, transparent and comprehensive review of all information held in relation to Madeleine's disappearance," continued the letter.

A spokesman for the British leader said the government would do "all it can to help them".
A new book written by Kate McCann is being serialised in The Sun, with proceeds going towards boosting dwindling search funds.

The book, Madeleine, is released in the UK on Thursday - the missing toddler's eighth birthday - and is expected to be a best-seller.

In the 384-page account, Kate McCann, 43, admitted she contemplated suicide in the aftermath of the abduction and revealed she was haunted by "a macabre slideshow of vivid pictures".

"The pictures I saw of our Madeleine no sane human being would want in her head, but they were in mine," McCann wrote.

"I had an overwhelming urge to swim out across the ocean, as hard and as fast as I could... until I was so far out and so exhausted I could just allow the water to pull me under and relieve me of this torment," she added.

Madeleine went missing in the Portugese resort of Praia da Luz on May 3, 2007, a few days before her fourth birthday, as her parents and their friends ate at a nearby restaurant.

Five months after Madeleine's disappearance, Portuguese police made Kate and Gerry McCann formal suspects in the case but they were later cleared.

The couple, from Leicestershire in central England, warned that a search fund which they set up to find their daughter was running dry after once standing at £2 million ($4.14 million).

Acknowledgements: - AFP

Dog of War - would have run Osama bin Ladin down, if he had tried to flee...

2011-05-06T20:55:00.000-07:00

The dog used in the US raid on Osama bin Laden was trained to sniff out bombs and booby-traps, and would have run down the al-Qaeda mastermind if he had tried to escape, according to reports.

The identity of the military super-dog, like that of the 79 Navy SEALs involved in the operation in Pakistan last Sunday, will remain a secret.

But experts say the canine is either a German shepherd or Belgian Malinois — breeds the US army believe have "the best overall combination of keen sense of smell, endurance, speed, strength, courage, intelligence and adaptability to almost any climatic condition", according to a military fact sheet cited in the New York Times.

In the Abbottabad compound raid, the dog was equipped with protective body armour before rappelling onto the ground from a hovering helicopter in a support harness attached to its handler, according to US media reports.

This particular dog was known for its bomb-sniffing prowess and The Daily reports it was trained to "sniff out enemy troops from up to [3km] away".

The German and Belgian shepherd dogs can run twice as fast as humans, so if bin Laden tried to escape on foot the dog could have stopped his getaway, the Atlantic reports.

The US Army has invested heavily in training dogs for combat, deploying about 3000 canines that can parachute, rappel or swim into action.

The Navy SEALs recently bought four tactical vests for their dogs worth $20,000, each with infrared and night-vision cameras that allow handlers in bomb detection situations to see what the dog sees, but from a safe distance.

The handler can also give commands to the dog via a speaker on its vest.

General David Petraeus, commander of US forces in Afghanistan, told US network ABC News: "The capability [the dogs] bring to the fight cannot be replicated by man or machine.

"By all measures of performance, their yield outperforms any asset we have in our industry."

Dogs were officially inducted into the US Army in 1942 for use during World War II.

Acknowledgements: MSN News

The World's Craziest horse laws...

2011-05-03T22:41:00.000-07:00

"The world's craziest horse laws"...

Want to keep horses under control? It's easy. Just pass a law. Neil Clarkson looks at some of the world's silliest horse laws.

Horses tend to be law-abiding creatures. Very few end up in jail or being fined.

The same, however, cannot be said for their human counterparts. Humans, in fact, do some monumentally stupid things - and just occasionally they involve horses.

In fact, one unfortunate American woman even made the finals of the 2000 Darwin Awards for her dealings with a horse. The famous awards are given posthumously to people whose passing might, uncharitably, be considered to be improving the world's gene pool.

The woman in question struck on the less than bright idea of using her body as a hitching post while trying to bridle a green horse. Suffice to say, she won't be making the same mistake twice.

However, a little bit of research reveals that people don't just do dumb things with horses, they also make dumb laws to cover them.

Yes, while horses are quietly grazing their paddocks, there are politicians and district administrators busily coming up with ever more ingenious ways to keep law and order in the horse world.

New Zealand has not been immune from this legislative barnstorming.

The nation's Parliament passed the Police Offences Act in 1928. It remained in force until a new Act was passed in 1981.

The old Police Offences Act covered a raft of misdemeanours. It was, for example, an offence to allow a mare to be mated within site of a public road. Why it was all right for cattle and sheep and do the wild thing beside the road, and not horses, is now lost in the sands of time.

Mind you, the same Act also made it illegal to fly a kite, beat a rug in public, and wear slippers in a public place by night.

It was also an offence to "ride furiously". This beautifully crafted phrase was obviously to cover the old-fashioned equivalent of reckless driving.

Make no mistake. Plenty of people died on the roads under the hooves of horses or the wheels of carriages.

Speed, as we all know, can be dangerous, whether it involves a horse or a car.

Hence, the ingenious lawmakers in Indianapolis, Indiana, hit on the brilliant idea of imposing a speed limit on horses. If you're wondering where the speedometer is on a horse, it's right next to the fuel gauge, just above the light switch.

Any rider doing more than 10mph was in big trouble.

Imagine the court cases:

Policeman: "I reckon he was doing 14mph."

Defendant: "Well I reckon I wasn't."

Judge: "I don't know what to reckon."

Speed is also an issue in Rhode Island. It's illegal to race horses on a public road, or even to "try the speed of a horse". Expect a fine of up to $US20 or 10 days in the slammer

Horses in some parts of the world are clearly nothing but trouble. Marshalltown, Iowa, forbids horses from eating fire hydrants. I thought they were made of steel, but perhaps in Marshalltown they build them from lucerne hay.

Utah decreed that it was unlawful to fish from horseback. That's inconvenient.

Pennsylvania outlawed singing in the bathtub. Fair enough - there's some pretty bad singers out there. But when it came to horses, they afforded them the full protection of the law. Many years ago, farmers were none too pleased by those new fangled automobiles, so they used a bit of political pressure to enact some entirely reasonable laws.

For example, if a driver came across a team of horses they had to pull to the side of the road and cover their car with a blanket that blended into the surroundings to encourage the horses to pass.

If that failed to persuade them, the car owner had to dismantle the "machine" and hide it in the bushes. I bet a lot of car owners simply turned around and drove home again.

Things got even tougher for drivers in Pennsylvania at night. They were required to send up a rocket every mile on country roads, before waiting for 10 minutes for the road ahead to be cleared of stock. In Wilbur, Washington, it's an offence to ride an ugly horse, while in Calgary, Canada, they're far less concerned about ugly horses, but still have a bylaw requiring businesses to provide hitching rails.

New Orleans may have had its problem in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, but they're certainly not standing for any nonsense from horse owners. It's illegal there to tie a horse to a tree alongside a public highway.

Oklahoma will deal with you sternly if you engage in bear wrestling. They've also banned "horse tripping events". This sounds tame enough but it isn't. Horse tripping is used in training (such as a 'Running W' [running wire]) or in filming motion-pictures wherein the horse is pulled down or a trip-wire is set up, rather than trained to fall. If one reviews old films, it's easy to see where tripping is used, as the horses crash onto their faces, as opposed to trained falling horses which learn to fall when their heads are turned sideways. There's more on this here.

In Alberta, when they say they want to get crooks out of town, they mean it. There is a law that requires any person being released from jail be given a handgun, bullets, and a horse so that they can head off into the sunset.

Yeehah!

Acknowledgements: Neil Clarkson /Hubs Pages

Two dingoes maul 3 year old girl on Australian beach...

2011-05-02T01:54:00.000-07:00

Two dingoes maul 3 year old girl on Aussie beach...

BRISBANE, Australia – Two dingoes that mauled a 3-year-old girl on an Australian beach have been caught and destroyed, officials said Tuesday.

The girl suffered bites to her legs when the native wild dogs attacked her Monday after she wandered away from her family and into sand dunes on Fraser Island in northeastern Queensland state.

The two dogs blamed for the attack were trapped Tuesday and put down humanely, Environment Department general manager Terry Harper said.

More than 200 dingoes live on Fraser Island, a popular tourist spot about 155 miles (250 kilometers) north of the state capital, Brisbane.

Fraser Island is thought to be among the last refuges for purebred dingoes, and they are a protected species in the national park that covers the island. Dingoes are also protected in some other parts of the country, though in many places dingoes that have crossbred with feral dogs are killed as pests that attack sheep and cattle.

Attacks on humans are relatively rare, though visitors to Fraser Island are warned not to feed the dingoes and to leave the animals alone.

"This is a very timely reminder for everybody about how important it is to stay very close to your children on Fraser Island," Harper said. "Adults should always stay very close to their children. We know that they do excite dingoes."

A 9-year-old boy was killed by dingoes on Fraser Island in 2001, prompting the culling of more than two dozen dogs and an overhaul of conservation practices, including warnings about human interaction with the animals.

The most famous dingo attack in Australia was in 1980, when Lindy Chamberlain reported seeing a dog carry her infant daughter, Azaria, away from a tent during a camping trip to Uluru, or Ayers Rock, in Australia's central desert.

Chamberlain was tried for murder before a series of appeals and judicial inquiries exonerated her and found the dingo claims to be true. Azaria's body was never found. The story was made into the 1988 film "A Cry in the Dark," which earned Meryl Streep an Oscar nomination.

Acknowledgements: Yahoo News

Anzac Bloggers Unite

,

Warner Bros Entertainment won award as worst transnational corporation in NZ...

2011-04-30T02:48:00.000-07:00

Image via WikipediaAn industrial dispute over The Hobbit films which bitterly divided public opinion in New Zealand last year, resulted in Warner Bros Entertainment being awarded a few weeks ago, the title of worst transnational corporation operating in New Zealand for 2011.

The "Saurons of Cinema" - Warner Bros Entertainment wielded such power as to influence the New Zealand National Government to rewrite legislation in their favour after threatening to take film making away from New Zealand to other countries, something that would have costed scores of jobs in NZ.

They gained about $100 million dollars in tax write offs.

But the bottom line here is that such interference in New Zealand politics sets a precedence for all future negotiations between the NZ government and other transnational companies.

Film-maker Peter Jackson has also had his reputation badly dented as well. A brilliant film-maker he may
well be, but a rat-bag businessman who is prepared to use any tactic to get his own way is the way many saw him during the dispute..

The Anzac Day ceremony...

2011-04-22T00:01:00.000-07:00

The Anzac Day ceremony...

The Anzac Day ceremony of 25 April is rich in tradition and ritual. It is a form of military funeral and follows a particular pattern. The day's ceremonies have two major parts: one at dawn and another, more public event, later in the morning.

The dawn service

Sound: Anzac Day dawn service

A typical commemoration begins with a march by returned service personnel before dawn to the local war memorial. Military personnel and returned servicemen and women form up about the memorial, joined by other members of the community. Pride of place goes to war veterans.

A short service follows with a prayer, hymns (including Kipling's 'Recessional' or 'Lest we forget') and a dedication that concludes with the fourth verse of Laurence Binyon's For the Fallen:

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:

Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.

At the going down of the sun and in the morning

We will remember them.

The last post is then played, and this is followed by a minute's silence and the reveille. A brief address follows, after which the hymn 'Recessional' is sung. The service concludes with a prayer and the singing of the national anthem.

The Anzac parade

Another ceremony takes place later on the morning of 25 April. Returned service personnel wear their medals and march behind banners and standards. The veterans are joined by other community groups, including members of the armed forces, the Red Cross, cadets, and veterans of other countries' forces.

Patea war memorial on Anzac Day

The march proceeds to the local war memorial. Another service takes place there, and various organisations and members of the public lay wreaths. This service is a more public commemoration than the dawn service. It is less intimate and less emotional. The speech, usually by a dignitary, serviceman or returned serviceman or woman, can stress nationhood and remembrance.

After these services many of the veterans retire to the local Returned and Services' Association (RSA) club or hotel, where they enjoy coffee and rum (in the case of the dawn service) and unwind after an emotionally and, for elderly veterans, physically exhausting event. At the end of the day, the ceremony of the retreat is performed.

http://www.nzhistory.net/war/anzac-day/overview

A real alien or an elaborate hoax...

2011-04-19T21:56:00.000-07:00

The discovery of an alien's dead body in Siberia is probably just an elaborate hoax, but footage of it has captured the imagination of millions online.

Video posted on YouTube by All News Web, a site billing itself as The World's Only Inter-Galactic Daily News Service, shows two Russian men approaching and filming the apparent corpse of a small alien.

PHOTOS: World's most famous extraterrestrial hoaxes?

The shrivelled and decomposing body was reportedly found near the city of Irkutsk, just north of the Mongolian border.

"We found him around two hours ago," the cameraman said.

"It must have been lying here for days."

The body was apparently sniffed out by a dog, who led the pair to the extraterrestrial find.

'Alien corpse' found in Siberia

All News Web's Michael Cohen writes that residents of Irkutsk witnessed a UFO crashing into a forest, though the event was "deliberately kept from public view" in the West.

"An enormous team of government officials, including military personal, secret service agents and science ministry officials made their way to the UFO crash site within hours of the event occurring," Mr Cohen wrote.

"Is the alien seen in this video a survivor of that crash who managed to leave the area only to die as a result of Russia's harsh conditions?"

While the corpse itself does appear somewhat realistic, a close-up reveals the snow has been consciously moved to make it appear half-buried.

View video:

Alien or hoax

http://thenextweb.com/shareables/2011/14/18/dead-alien-found-in-russia-video/

Links to stories that have been withdrawn. Lets use our imagination?

US cleric claims Islamists are elated by revolts

2011-04-01T01:34:00.000-07:00

Image via Wikipedia

U.S Cleric says; Islamists are elated by revolts,

WASHINGTON U.S.A, So called cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, the Yemeni-“American” cleric who is a top propagandist for Al Qaeda, broke his silence on the uprisings in the Arab world, claiming that Islamist extremists had gleefully watched the success of protest movements against governments they had long despised (London Times, One dictatorship for another repression out-dated extreme Muslim one? is it better the devil you know? than you don’t no?)

“The mujahedeen around the world are going through a moment of elation,” Awlaki wrote in a new issue of the “English-language” Qaeda magazine Inspire, “and I wonder whether the West is aware of the upsurge of mujahedeen activity in Egypt, Tunisia, Libya, Yemen, Arabia, Algeria and Morocco?”

Sir Michael Black-Feather the English first minister said; Awlaki’s four-page essay, titled “The Tsunami of Change,” is among a handful of statements by Al Qaeda’s leaders countering the common view among Western analysts that the terrorist network looks irrelevant at a time of change unprecedented in the modern Middle East. In ousting the rulers of Tunisia and Egypt and threatening other Arab leaders, a core of secular-leaning, demonstrators have called for democracy and generally avoided violence, and are all at odds with Al Qaeda’s creed as it tries to install rigid Islamist rule across the world which just won’t ever happen, a few nut-cases poking sticks in wasp’s nest’s won’t change this world, the AL Qaeda creed live in the dark ages in a time that won’t ever be seen again, and is only seen by those delusional to see it within their own minds, and impose their derision’s (Dictatorship) on others .

In an audio statement this month, the Egyptian deputy to Osama bin Laden, Ayman al-Zawahri, pleaded with the Egyptians who toppled President Hosni Mubarak to shun the United States, reject democracy and embrace Islam as the answer to their problems. Arguing that Al Qaeda deserved some indirect credit for the uprisings, he said the United States’ willingness to drop its support for Mr. Mubarak and other authoritarian leaders was a “direct result” of the Sept. 11 attacks.

Mr. Awlaki’s essay is more colloquial and confident, asserting that the momentous change in Arab countries left Western leaders “confused, worried, and unhappy for the departure of some of its closest and most reliable friends.”

He quotes American commentators who describe the uprisings as a refutation of Al Qaeda, including Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton’s assertion last month that “the success of peaceful protests has discredited the extremists.”

Mr. Awlaki, who is thought to be hiding in Yemen, argues that such conclusions are premature. “The outcome doesn’t have to be an Islamic government for us to consider what is occurring to be a step in the right direction,” he writes.

By “breaking the barriers of fear” and toppling leaders who protected “American imperial interests,” he asserts, the uprisings should play to the long-term advantage of Al Qaeda’s philosophy. He points to Yemen and Libya, where embattled leaders are clinging to power, as places where turmoil could open possibilities for jihadists to organize.

Awlaki’s statement comes as some American officials have expressed anxiety about just that possibility. In Libya, an American military official said this week that there were “flickers” of intelligence suggesting that Qaeda or Hezbollah operatives were among the rebels fighting Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi. And in Yemen, President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s weakening grip on power could take pressure off Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.

Expressing hope that revolution will spread from Yemen to Saudi Arabia, Mr. Awlaki asks, “Doesn’t the West realize how the jihadi work would just take off as soon as the regimes of the Gulf start crumbling?”

Sir Michael” said the likes of Qaeda propagandists are “consummate opportunists no matter what happens, these half-wits will try to spin it to their benefit.” But he said several influential Qaeda theorists appear to believe that the departure of authoritarian leaders will prove advantageous.
“Al Qaeda recognizes how marginal they are on this,” Sir Michael said. “But it could open the kind of operating space they’ve wanted for a long time when people lose hope and leeches like Qaeda move in and offer hope which is not as it seems because people are lost the grab at it, only when it sinks in dose one realise it’s not what one really wanted, but the infection is already there and needs the skills of a good surgeon to remove it not a tank driver?.”

Inspire magazine, five issues of which have been posted on militant Web sites, is believed to be the work primarily of Samir Khan, a Saudi-born American who grew up in Queens and North Carolina before moving to Yemen in 2009.

It is a slick, graphics-heavy, irreverent publication aimed at young Muslims attracted to the extremist cause; the latest issue includes an invitation to readers to e-mail questions to Awlaki and a two-page primer on how to use an AK automatic rifle.

Khan himself contributed to inspire an appeal to Egyptians not to stop after overthrowing Mr. Mubarak but to impose religious rule.
“The question now comes: what do you do if your government decides not to rule by Shariah?” he asks, referring to Islamic law. “Who does your loyalty go to? The state or Allah?

Sir Michael said; God/Allah gave all of mankind free will, which all these extremist Muslims seem to have forgotten, or just don’t understand the true worlds of God, having their minds infected by false so called clerics.
God does not inflict his rules/laws on to any man, because you all have free will, either to follow his words or not to follow them, “But it’s not up to any of mankind to thrust Gods/Allah words on to any men in his name, only God himself has this right? Extremist in their own rule of law, which are not Gods laws, are truly blasphemous and their laws are full of blasphemy and hate.

Acknowledgements: London Times

Film Salem Witch Hunt...

2011-03-28T00:10:00.000-07:00

Image via WikipediaFilm Salem Witch Hunt

http://explore.org/videos/player/salem-witch-hunt

Fear is the quicksand of humanity; in 1692, mass hysteria led to the hanging of nineteen innocent people in Salem. Join historians as they piece together what really happened in the Salem witch trials.

2011-03-26T19:09:00.000-07:00

2011-03-25T19:08:00.000-07:00

Image via Wikipedia

Former Apollo 14 Astronaut claims aliens visit our planet...

According to former NASA astronaut, Edgar Mitchell, there have been a number of messages from the aliens but governments had classified the truth for over 60 years.

Mitchell, who was one of the astronauts who took part in the Apollo 14 mission, said that he knew of several UFO visits to our planet during his career in NASA, but all of them remained top secret.

Edgar Mitchell has a Bachelor of Science degree in aeronautical engineering, as well as a Doctor of Science degree in Aeronautics and Astronautics.

Now Dr Mitchell is 77 and during one of his radio interviews he mentioned that sources at NASA who came in contact with aliens described them as "little people who look strange to us". The former astronaut said that the earth's "guests" had the look similar to Hollywood images, i.e. small frame, large eyes and big head.

It is worth mentioning that Dr Mitchell was the 6th astronaut to step on the surface of the moon. He set a record of the number of walks on the moon, while Alan Shepard set a record for the longest moon walk - 9 hours and 17 minutes.

The interview with Mr Mitchell was arranged to coincide with the premier of second X-Files movie. During the interview he mentioned that the technology developed by humans was "not nearly as sophisticated" as the one used by aliens, but warned: "Had they been hostile ... we would be gone by now".

"I happen to have been privileged enough to be in on the fact that we've been visited on this planet and the UFO phenomena is real. It's been well covered up by all our governments for the last 60 years or so, but slowly it's leaked out and some of us have been privileged to have been briefed on some of it," Daily Telegraph newspaper quoted Dr Edgar Mitchell as saying.

Some UFO theorists consider that Roswell, located in New Mexico, was the place where a UFO crashed back in 1947.

"I've been in military and intelligence circles who know that beneath the surface of what has been public knowledge, yes, we have been visited. Reading the papers recently, it's been happening quite a bit."

According to Dr Mitchell, Roswell was indeed the site of UFO crash and similar UFO visits are still being investigated.

In an interview he told Nick Margerrison, the host of Kerrang! Radio: "This is really starting to open up. I think we're headed for real disclosure and some serious organizations are moving in that direction."

Nick Margerrison was quoted by The Telegraph as saying: "I thought I'd stumbled on some sort of astronaut humor but he was absolutely serious that aliens are definitely out there and there's no debating it."

In a response to Dr Mitchell's claims, NASA's spokesman said: "NASA does not track UFOs. NASA is not involved in any sort of cover-up about alien life on this planet or anywhere in the universe. Dr Mitchell is a great American, but we do not share his opinions on this issue."

Flight tower tried to land UFO...

2011-03-20T23:29:00.000-07:00

Image via Wikipedia

Flight tower attempted to land UFO...

by Peter Petterson

First published at Qondio:

This is an old post from a couple of years ago I thought I would brush off and recycle.

The most comprehensive British Government files on UFO activity are opened to the public for the first time today and they disclose that even airtraffic controllers and police officers have seen mysterious craft in the skies over Britain.

The sightings are recorded on official forms held by air bases and police stations, and were compiled by the Defence Ministry between 1978 and 2002.

Disclosed for the first time is a report from three experienced controllers who tried to "talk in" a UFO that landed on the runway before them.

The incident occurred on April 19, 1984, at an East Anglian airfield. The unidentified object came in at speed , made a touch and go on a runway then departed at terrfic speed in a near verticle climb, according to the files.

It was described as a "brilliant solid ball of light, bright silvery in colour". The file noted that "witnesses do not wish to be identified in case their professional integrity is questioned".

Over the next four years more than 150 files will be made available at the National Archive in Kew, southwest London.

The stories continue. Files have been opened after many years, some going back to the early 1940's and early 50's..

http://huttriver.qondio.com

http://huttriver.blog.co.uk

You're bullshitting me...

2011-03-16T01:06:00.000-07:00

Image via Wikipedia

You're bullshitting me...

A Kiwi walks into the local unemployment office, marches straight up to the counter and says, "Hi! I hate being on welfare, I'd really rather have a job."

The clerk behind the Centrelink desk says, "Your timing is excellent. We just got a job opening from a very wealthy old man who wants a chauffeur/bodyguard for his nymphomaniac daughter. You'll have to drive around in his Mercedes, but he'll supply all of your clothes.

Because of the long hours, meals will be provided. You'll be expected to escort her on her overseas holiday trips. You'll have a two-bedroom apartment above the garage.

The starting salary is $200,000 a year".

The Kiwi says, "You're bullshitting me!"

The Centrelink officer says, "Yeah, well, you started it"

http://anzacbloggersunite.blog.co.uk

Tie the Aussie to my back...

2011-03-16T00:53:00.000-07:00

Image via Wikipedia

From Best Aussie and Kiwi Jokes - we actually love each other:

Tie the Aussie to my back...

An Australian rugby fan, a South African rugby fan and a New Zealand fan are all in Arabia, sharing a smuggled crate of booze when, all of a sudden, Saudi police rush in and arrest them.

The mere possession Of alcohol is a severe offence in Saudi Arabia, so for the terrible Crime of actually being caught consuming the booze, they are all sentenced to death!

However, after many months and with the help of very good lawyers, They are able to successfully appeal their sentences down to life imprisonment.

By a stroke of luck, it was a Saudi national holiday the day, their trial finished, and the extremely benevolent Sheikh decided they could be released after receiving just 20 lashes each of the whip.

As they were preparing for their punishment, the Sheikh announced:
"It's my first wife's birthday today, and she has asked me to allow each of you one wish before your whipping."

The South African was first in line, he thought for a while and Then said:
"Please tie a pillow to my back."

This was done, but the pillow only lasted 10 lashes before the whip went through. When the punishment was done he had to be carried away bleeding and crying with pain.

The Australian was next up. After watching the South African's Horror he said smugly:

"Please fix two pillows to my back." But even two pillows could only take 15 lashes before the whip went through again and the Australian was soon led away whimpering loudly (as they do).

The New Zealander was the last one up, but before he could say anything, the Sheikh turned to him and said:

"You are from a most beautiful part of the world and your culture is one of the finest in the world. For this, you may have two wishes!"

"Thank you, your Most Royal and Merciful highness", the Kiwi replied. In recognition of your kindness, my first wish is that you give me Not 20 lashes but 100 lashes."

"Not only are you an honourable, handsome and powerful man, you Are also very brave".
The Sheikh said with an admiring look on his face.

"If 100 lashes is what you desire, then so be it. And your second wish"?

"Tie the Australian to my back."

http://communitybloggersevolve.blog.co.uk

Have a look...

2011-03-14T01:43:00.000-07:00

https://profiles.google.com/u/0/shadal87/posts/Rw9MLvV2D9y

Irish luck - what goes around comes around...

2011-03-13T23:51:00.000-07:00

Image via Wikipedia

Irish Luck - what goes around comes around...

His name was Fleming, and he was a poor Scottish farmer. One day, while trying to make a living for his family, he heard a cry for help coming from a nearby bog. He dropped his tools

and ran to the bog.

There, mired to his waist in black muck, was a terrified boy, screaming and struggling to free himself. Farmer Fleming saved the lad from what could have been a slow and terrifying death.

The next day, a fancy carriage pulled up to the Scotsman's sparse surroundings. An elegantly dressed nobleman stepped out and introduced himself as the father of the boy Farmer Fleming had saved.

'I want to repay you,' said the nobleman. 'You saved my son's life.'

'No, I can't accept payment for what I did,' the Scottish farmer replied waving off the offer. At that moment, the farmer's own son came to the door of the family hovel.

'Is that your son?' the nobleman asked.

'Yes,' the farmer replied proudly.

'I'll make you a deal. Let me provide him with the level of education my own son will enjoy If the lad is anything like his father, he'll no doubt grow to be a man we both will be proud of.' And that he did.

Farmer Fleming's son attended the very best schools and in time, graduated from St. Mary's Hospital Medical School in London, and went on to become known throughout the world as the noted Sir Alexander Fleming, the discoverer of Penicillin.

Years afterward, the same nobleman's son who was saved from the bog was stricken with pneumonia.

What saved his life this time? Penicillin.

The name of the nobleman? Lord Randolph Churchill .. His son's name?

Sir Winston Churchill.

Acknowledgements: Paul Burgess, Christchurch

Dream jobs for men. Read below...

2011-03-06T22:40:00.000-08:00

Image via Wikipedia Aron Ralston
MSN - NZ Men Lifestyles.

Dream jobs for men. Read on:

The human body — and the mind — will go to extraordinary lengths to keep itself alive. History is peppered with stories of men who, despite finding themselves in desperate situations and facing seemingly insurmountable odds, took themselves to the extremes of endurance and lived to tell the tale.

From self-surgery and amputations with a blunt knife to losing your way in the Amazon jungle and being left for dead after a grizzly bear attack, read on for some of the greatest real life stories of human survival.

Aron Ralston

How far would you go to cling on to life? Would you, for example, be willing to cut off your own arm with a cheap multi-tool? That's exactly what Ralston did after his right forearm was crushed by a boulder and pinned to a rockface while canyoneering in Utah in 2003.
Ralston had not told anyone of his location and therefore knew he would not be rescued. After five days of trying to free his arm and gradually running out of water, Ralston used the blunt knife to amputate his arm below the elbow (but only after breaking the bone himself). After making his way out of the canyon, he was found and airlifted to hospital. Ralston's ordeal is documented in Danny Boyle's recent film, 127 Hours, if you can stomach it.

Joe Simpson
Simpson and his climbing partner, Simon Yates, had done the hard part: ascending the unclimbed west face of Siula Grande, a 6,344-metre monster in the Peruvian Andes in 1985. Disaster struck on the descent when Simpson slipped and broke his tibia, which was thrust upwards into his knee joint.
Yates began lowering Simpson on a rope, but when the latter fell over a cliff and was left dangling in mid-air, Yates had no choice but to cut him loose. Simpson landed in a deep crevasse, from where he somehow managed to abseil and crawl his way back onto the mountainside.

Without food or water and in excruciating pain, he then spent three days dragging himself across five miles of rocky terrain and finally crawled into base camp just hours before Yates was set to leave.
Nando Parrado and Roberto Canessa

When Uruguayan Air Force flight 571 came down in the Andes in 1972, it was a miracle that any passenger survived the crash, never mind the events that followed.

Of the 45 people on board, 12 were killed in the crash or in the immediate aftermath, and another five died the following morning from their injuries. One week later, another passenger died, followed by eight in an avalanche. The remaining group of 19, facing severe cold and running out of food, knew they would not last long and had to resort to cannibalising the dead to survive.
Parrado and Canessa set off on a mammoth trek across mountains as high as 16,000ft, sleeping in a makeshift sleeping bag and walking for days until finally finding help. The 19 survivors had survived for two and a half months on the mountain before finally being airlifted to safety.
John McCain
Senator McCain's greatest triumph was not winning the 2008 Republican nomination to run for president, it was surviving five and a half years in Hoa Lo Prison — the so-called 'Hanoi Hilton' — after being shot down over Vietnam in 1967.

With both arms and a leg broken, McCain was bayoneted and then beaten by the North Vietnamese before being imprisoned. He spent two years in solitary confinement before he was offered early release (his father was Commander of US forces in the region). McCain refused to go, stating he should not be released while others captured before him remained in captivity.
Before his eventual release in 1973, McCain was routinely beaten and tortured, often several times a day, and at one point tried to take his own life. The injuries he suffered during his time in captivity means he is now unable to raise his arms above his head.

Leonid Rogozov

Having your appendix removed is a relatively simple surgical procedure. But not when you are stationed at a remote Antarctic station, 1,000 miles from help and you're the only doctor. This is exactly what happened to Rogozov when he was part of the sixth Soviet Antarctic expedition in 1960.
After showing classic symptoms of appendicitis, Rogozov knew his options were limited. With the help of a driver and meteorologist who held mirrors so he could view his own insides, the Russian performed the two-hour operation on himself, using a local anaesthetic and stopping only to allow attacks of nausea to pass. Two weeks later, he had returned to full duties at the station.

Yossi Ghinsberg

The Amazon jungle in South America covers 2,123,562 square miles — not the sort of place you want to wander off the beaten path while ill-equipped for the harsh surroundings. This is exactly what happened to Ghinsberg, an Israeli who was separated from his travelling companions in an uncharted part of the Bolivian Amazon in 1981.

Ghinsberg and three others set off into the jungle in search of a remote Indian village. After one of the group developed trench foot, the foursome split up into pairs, with Ghinsberg and an American named Kevin Gales launching a raft to float downriver. When the raft hit a rock, Gale was rescued by locals but Ghinsberg was forced to spend an incredible three weeks wandering the jungle before he was found. No trace of the other two men was ever found.
Mauro Prosperi

At 156 miles, the Marathon des Sables in the Moroccan desert is considered one of the toughest foot races in the world, but as an experienced pentathlete, Mauro Prosperi would have been confident of finishing the six-day event when he took part in 1994.

Prosperi was in seventh place part-way through the race when a violent sandstorm kicked up and obscured the course. Desperate for shelter, Prosperi ran off in the wrong direction, and was soon lost in 100 degree heat and with only a few gulps of water and no food. After three days, Prosperi was forced to kill two bats and drink their blood. Fearful of a prolonged death, he tried to slit his wrists but severe dehydration had thickened his blood, which quickly clotted. After nine days alone in the desert he was found and rescued by nomads — almost 200 miles off course.

Alexander Selkirk
A real-life castaway (and the probable inspiration for Robinson Crusoe), Scottish sailor Alexander Selkirk spent four years on an uninhabited island off the coast of Chile. In 1704, after a dispute with the leader of a crew on the ship on which he was sailing, Selkirk was left on the island of Juan Fernandez, with only a rifle, knife, tools, clothing and a Bible. It would be four years and four months before he would see another human being.

He proved to be remarkably resourceful, surviving by eating shellfish, wild goats and vegetables and fashioning clothing from goatskin. When finally rescued in 1709, newspaper tales of his ordeal made him a minor celebrity. He also learned that the ship he voluntarily abandoned had floundered, with most of the crew losing their lives.

http://lifestyle.msn.co.nz/nzmenslifestyle/intheknow/8210726/extraordinary-tales-of-human-survival/

Bank thiefs partner arrested on return to NZ...

2011-02-24T22:25:00.000-08:00

Bank thief's partner arrested on return to New Zealand...

Westpac - Making the most of life.

A Kara Hurring who allegedly left New Zealand with her Chinese partner when Westpac mistakenly put $10 million into his account in 2009 has been arrested at Auckland International Airport.

Kara Hurring was arrested by Rotorua police her arrival this morning and has since appeared in Manukau District Court.

Hurring was bailed to an Auckland address and will appear in Rotorua District Court on March 10.

Police say Hurring's partner Leo Gao had a $10 million overdraft facility mistakenly loaded into his business account in April 2009. Gao had asked for a $100,000 overdraft to shore up his ailing service station business in Rotorua.

They transferred $6.78 million into other accounts and then left for Hong Kong, Gao on April 29 and Hurring on May 3. The error was discovered on May 5.

About half the money was recovered, but $3,872,000 was still outstanding, police said.

Police investigation head detective Senior Sergeant Mark Loper said today the investigation remained active over the past 20 months.

"While she has returned to New Zealand voluntarily - and she should be commended for having done so -
her move has been prompted by police activity," Mr Loper said.

"Obviously this is an extremely positive development in the case, however, the investigation is by no means over. Our focus remains on eventually being able to speak to Leo Gao on this matter."

It was reported last year that Hurring and Gao had separated soon after they arrived in China, and Gao left her with little money.

Mr Loper said the investigation has been complex due to its trans-national nature.

"New Zealand police have been working with law enforcement authorities in Hong Kong and mainland China throughout, and we will continue to do so.

"We are appreciative of the support they have given to the investigation within the constraint of their own laws and we continue to have regular interactions as the investigation progresses," he said.

"At the same time, we have been working with many of New Zealand's different Government agencies on the investigation and we are grateful for their support to date. We will continue to work with them in the future."

Among the difficulties has been the fact that New Zealand has no extradition treaty with China.

In October last year, the Herald on Sunday reported a banking source close to the investigation saying that Hurring had been seeking a way to safely return to New Zealand "for some time". However, police "weren't prepared to do a deal"and Hurring will face the reality of returning to criminal charges.

The paper reported that returning had been forced upon Kara because she was unable to lean on Gao for support. The couple separated shortly after arriving in China through Hong Kong and Macau.

Acknowledgements: - NZPA, NZ Herald staff

Whose hue in the car world...

2011-02-22T20:40:00.000-08:00

Whose hue in the car world...

By Peter Petterson

First published atQondio:

Whose hue in the car world?

The British Royal Automobile Club came up with a list of what a car's color says about the owner. Here is what your vehicle could be telling you.

Black: You're ambitious and status seeking

Green: You're very traditional and an elitist

Blue: You're a team player and very sociable

White: You're aloof dutiful and methodical

Grey: You're understated and cautious

Silver: You have a sense of style, but you can be pompous

Red: You're outgoing, impulsive and easily bored.

Acknowledgements: Chicago Sun-Times

http://huttriver.qondio.com

More bloggers being arrested by repressive governments...

2011-02-21T15:37:00.000-08:00

More bloggers being arrested by repressive governments...

by Peter Petterson

First published at Qondio:

Here's an older post from 2008. I wonder what has changed out there in the blogesphere?

It is obvious that in some societies bloggers or internet based citizen journalists, are being considered dangerous - many are being arrested because they are posting information that some repressive governments just don't want published!

I believe there may be a swing towards the right in some countries who have had genuine liberal government for a number of years - New Zealand and the United kingdom are two examples. Australia has just shed their right-wing Liberal Government.

What will happen in the US this year - Obama or McCain? In NZ, re-elect the left of centre Labour Government or right wing National? The anwers to both will be known by the end of this year!

Well we all know the answers to the above, don't we?

Exerpt from Jonathan M Gitlin's article below:

"No matter what you think of blogging, Internet-based citizen journalism is a real threat, not just to traditional media business models but to totalitarian governments. How do we know that bloggers are drawing blood? Because some governments are hitting back harder and harder; last year saw a tripling in the number of bloggers arrested around the world compared to 2006, according to a report from the University of Washington.

Related Stories: China backs off mandatory blogger identity registration
Chinese government wants real names of bloggers
China says "no" to Internet rumormongering
Blogosphere growth slowing considerably
"Last year, 2007, was a record year for blogger arrests, with three times as many as in 2006. Egypt, Iran and China are the most dangerous places to blog about political life, accounting for more than half of all arrests since blogging became big," said Assistant Professor Phil Howard, lead author of the World Information Access Report. Howard also suggests that the real number of arrests may be much higher, as not every arrest makes it into the media."

http://huttsblogesphere.blogspot.com

http://huttriver.blog.co.uk

http://huttriver.qondio.com

http://communitybloggersevolve.blog.co.uk

Weapons of mass imagination...

2011-02-16T23:24:00.000-08:00

Image via Wikipedia
The British newspaper, The Guardian reported recently that an Iraqi defector made up the claims that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction to help topple his dictatorial government.

The defector, allegedly Rafid Ahmed Alwan al-Janabi, said in an interview with The Guardian that he fabricated claims of mobile biological weapons and clandestine factories made to German intelligence officials throughout 2000.

Former US president, George W Bush and senior US officials cited the threat posed by Iraqi biological weapons as justification for the US-led invasion in 2003.

The world now knows no weapons of mass destruction were ever found, and as a consequence of what are now revealed as pathetic lies, years of political and sectarian bloodletting followed in Iraq, resulting in more than 100,000 deaths, mostly civilians
.
"Maybe I was right, maybe I wasn't right," Janabi, codenamed "Curveball" by American and German intelligence officials and identified as a chemical engineer, told the newspaper.

"I had a problem with the Saddam regime," he said."I wanted to get rid of him and now I had this chance."
History and the world will never shed any tears for the monsterous Saddam Hussein and his rotten regime, but they will undoubtably question whether Mr Janabi's actions justified the means.

The information supplied by Janabi formed the basis of a 2003 speech by secretary of state , Colin Powell, before the United Nations Security Council.

"They gave me this chance to fabricate something to topple the regime," Janabi said.

"Believe me, there was no other way to bring about freedom in Iraq. There were no other possibilities."
Saddam Hussein and his despicable regime has gone, and he and many of his fellow perpetrators of evil have been executed or imprisoned, but it would be a stretch of the imagination to say Iraq and its people are free.
Iraq is on the cusp of civil war, and the coalition of the willing has all but withdrawn from Iraq.

Acknowledgements: Reuters, Peter Petterson

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