dialogue: talking, listening, hearing

Next, Back, Thread Ahead: 9/11/2001, Thread Back: André Glucksmann.

30/08/06, Yassin Musharbash, Jihad on the Web, Al-Qaida's German Blog, (Archive), Technorati Discussion.

Of course (?) the Spiegel article gives us everything but a link to the site itself. I humbly publish it here (along with the content warning): Globale Islamische Medien-Front.

I have seen the holocaust deniers exported (safely?) out of Canada, seen them tried in German courts, convicted, presumably jailed. I have seen the United Church of Canada's Lawrence Pushee smacked upside the head for his views and forced into an equivocal apology.

What I want to see is these people's views published widely and in all the languages of the planet - because when this is accomplished they will be effectively de-fanged. No one is convinced of these views through reason - they are convinced because it already suits them somehow - and the suppression, keeping them under their rocks, only contributes to the problem. This is especially true for Al-Quaida and Hizbollah and Hamas - because the language is Arabic and there are few who take the time to translate accurately (see: Hamas - National Reconciliation Document, and Hamas: National Reconciliation Document). So the pundits and the politicians are free to say what they like and fulfill the cycle of hatred through mis-information, indulge in 'war on terror' and the like nonsense.

The solution for mould in your cupboards is to open them and let in the air.

The United Church of Canada itself is useless at this - but there is a forum, the United Online, which airs civilized dialogue - and is (in my humble opinion) part of the counterforce, part of the solution.

Tags: Jihad, Al Quaida, Hizbollah, Hamas, UCC.

Gertrude Kearns

Next, Back.

28/08/06, Val Ross, Gertrude Kearns: Scenes from the Front, (Archive).

Herself; four images of Romeo Dallaire; and two of Lewis MacKenzie:


Images on-line at: CCCA - Centre for Contemporary Canadian Art, Carleton University, Ottawa, and Kingston Prize Gallery.

What look to me like authentic visions, tho' there is room for doubt. Dallaire did not 'sit' for these portraits, they were cobbled up out of photographs and such; and listening to the interview (below) I see that she is prone to some of the failings of too-literary too-literate sentences about art, could even be Toronto correctitude raising its ugly head. All that said, the images touch me, something authentic gets through ...

Background on Rwanda: CBC Archives (including an interview with Gertrude).

Dallaire has recovered; I think his wife Elizabeth deserves a lot of credit, I bet it was not an easy row to hoe. They have made him a Senator now - maybe it will all go to his head, who knows? God bless them both. One thing is clear - if Baril and Anan and soooo many others had listened to Dallaire at the time, it could have been stopped.

William Shabas, Alison Desforges, Ed Broadbent, Ingvar Carlsson, Maurice Baril, Peter Raymont.

Shake Hands With The Devil.

Listening to a tape of Dallaire today when he said something that rang true - that there is no need to wait for the United Nations to get it together, it is possible to funnel support directly to the African Union (AU) forces already in Darfur. Why are we not doing that?

Background on Somalia: CBC Archives.

Tags: Canada, Gertrude Kearns, Rwanda, Romeo Dallaire, Afghanistan, Lewis MacKenzie, Somalia, Shidane Arone, Clayton Matchee, Kyle Brown, Darfur.

Newfoundland Wind

Next, Back, Thread Ahead: Codfish, Newfoundland, Iceland, Canada, Thread Back: Nickel.

06/08/06, Stephanie Porter, Big wind blowing, (Archive).
27/08/06, Stephanie Porter, Waiting for the Wind (not yet on-line).

Ed Martin - CEO of Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro.
   Wind Generation RFP (closed Jan 2006).
   Submissions:
   - Anemos Energy Corporation, St. John's Wind Farm, Rob Parsons
   - Avalon Wind Energy Inc., Roaches Line Wind Farm
   - Bonavista Wind Power Inc., Burnt Ridge Wind Farm
   - Horizon Legacy Construction, Gambo Wind Power Generation
   - Horizon Legacy Construction, Buchans Wind Power Generation
   - Kruger Energy Inc., The Arches Wind Power Project
   - NeWind Group Inc., St. Lawrence Wind Project
   - NeWind Group Inc., Trepassy Wind Project
   - NeWind Group Inc., Monkstown Wind Project
   - Top Pond Wind Power Limited Partnership, Top Pond Wind Farm
   - UBEL Fuhrlander (?), Bay of Islands Wind Field
   - Vector Wind Energy Inc., Fermeuse Wind Farm Project
   - Wind Project Inc., Argentia Wind Farm

Gerry Skinner - Labrador Coastal Equipment Ltd.

Rutland - 50W Electric.
Bergey Windpower - Electric to 10kW.
Koenders Windmills - Aeration.
Aermotor - Water Pumping.
Fiasa - Water Pumping.


Tags: Canada, Newfoundland, Wind Power, Renewable Energy, Gerry Skinner.

Poincaré

Up, Down.

Actually Jules Henri Poincaré.

26/08/06, Siobhan Roberts, An equation for controversy, (Archive).

Sidetracked already ... first by the Google/Blogger servers which are playing silly buggers this morning, then by cute associations with 'Siobhan' - there was a woman with this name in St. John's running for the Liberals in the last election and the students then living with me decided to steal a couple of 4x8 foot plastic signs to decorate their rooms ... I don't quite know how to pronounce this name ... Siobhan ... ? no idea. A-and then she turns out to have an interest in H.S.M. Coxeter, the Geometer ... Harold Scott MacDonald "Donald" Coxeter, another like Northrop Frye that I failed to follow when the time was ripe, ai ai, and from the little I can glean, he had, like Frye, an abiding love in his life ... anyway, here is some bumph on the book and herself: King of Infinite Space - Donald Coxeter, The Man Who Saved Geometry, by Siobhan Roberts.

What caught me was this: "The Poincaré conjecture states that the three-dimensional sphere is the only three-dimensional space that does not go on forever, and does not have any walls, and in which you can shrink every loop to a point." It has been proven for higher dimensions: Stephen Smale, at the Toyota Technological Institute in Chicago, proved it for five or more dimensions in 1960. Michael Freedman, at Microsoft, proved it for four dimensions in 1983. And in the 1970s, William Thurston, now at Cornell, wrote the broader "geometrization conjecture" that encompassed Poincaré.

"Does not go on forever." - what could that mean?

Let's see if it has been stated correctly. The 'Poincaré conjecture' at Wikipedia does not quite match up: "If a closed three-dimensional manifold is sufficiently like a sphere in that each loop in the manifold can be tightened to a point, then it is really just a three-dimensional sphere." and I am lost.

Even getting just the shape of Grigory Perelman's proof is simply not on for me. First I guess you would have to understand what Richard Hamilton's concept of 'Ricci flow' is - "treating geometric manifolds in a manner that is analogous to the diffusion of heat" says the report - and I am lost again.

A-and that's it for now - I am lost ... oh well. I still have the damned signs and given the garbage situation in St. John's these days I guess I will have to cut them up into small pieces to get rid of them, maybe they can be recycled ...

Given what I learned from Anne Tyng about 3-dimensional consciousness, maybe that 3-space does not go on forever is another intimation of mortality?

I do admire Grigory Perelman (Grigori 'Grisha' Yakovlevich Perelman / Григорий Яковлевич Перельман) for not playing tic-tac-toe with the maggots; I hope he can afford his grand gestures. Maybe I can find a picture of him:


Coxeter's friend Escher; some of their collaboration; and Escher's wife Jetta:


Down.

jerkin' boat

Up, Down, Thread Ahead: Bob Dylan Modern Times Lyrics, Thread Back: 10,000, approximately.

YouTube Link, this seems to be a more dependable access to the video, and even this is 'not available' from time to time, so it goes ...

Bass: Tony Garnier, Guitar: John Jackson, Pedal Steel,Dobro: Bucky Baxter, Drums: Winston Watson, Hammond Organ: Brendan O'Brien

Dignity		Dignidade
Fat man lookin' in a blade of steel Thin man lookin' at his last meal Hollow man lookin' in a cotton field For dignity		Homem gordo olhando numa lâmina do aço Homem magro olhando sua última refeição Homem oco olhando em algodoal Para a dignidade
Wise man lookin' in a blade of grass Young man lookin' in the shadows that pass Poor man lookin' through painted glass For dignity		Homem sábio olhando em uma lâmina da grama Homem novo olhando nas sombras que passam Homem pobre olhando através do vidro pintado Para a dignidade
Somebody got murdered on New Year's Eve Someone said that dignity was the first to leave I went into the city, into the town Into the land of the midnight sun		Alguém foi assassinado no Reveillon Alguém disse que dignidade era o primeiro a sair Eu entrei na cidade, entrei na aldeia Entrei na terra do sol da meia-noite
Searchin' high, searchin' low Searchin' everywhere I know Askin' the cops wherever I go Have you seen dignity?		Procurando em cima, procurando para baixo Procurando em toda parte que eu conheço Pedindo os polícias tudo lugare onde ando Você viu a dignidade?
Blind man breakin' out of a trance Puts both of his hands in the pockets of chance Hopin' to find one circumstance Of dignity		Homem cego fugindo fora de um trance Põe ambas suas mãos nos bolsos da possibilidade Esperando encontrar só uma circunstância Da dignidade
I went to the wedding of Marylou She said 'I don't want nobody see me talkin' to you' She could get killed if she told me what she knew About dignity		Eu fui ao casamento de Marylou Ela disse, 'eu não quero que ninguém me visse falando para você' Poderia ser matada se me dissesse o que soube Sobre a dignidade
I went down where the vultures feed I would've gone deeper but there wasn't any need I heard the tongues of angels and the tongues of men And there wasn't any difference to me		Eu andei abaixo onde os vultures alimentam Eu iria mais profundo, mas não havia nenhuma necessidade Ouviu as lingas dos anjos e as lingas dos homens Não era nenhuma diferença para mim
Chilly wind sharp as a razor blade House on fire, debts unpaid Gonna stand at the window, gonna ask the maid Have you seen dignity?		Vento frio como uma lâmina de razor Casa no fogo, débitos por pagar Indo ficar na janela, indo perguntar à doméstica Você viu a dignidade?
Drinkin' man listens to the voice he hears In a crowded room full of covered up mirrors Lookin' into the lost forgotten years For dignity		Cachaceiro escuta a voz que se ouve Em um quarto cheio dos espelhos cobertos Olhando para os anos esquecidos e perdidos Para a dignidade
I met Prince Phillip at the home of the blues Said he'd give me information if his name wasn't used He wanted money up front, he said he been abused By dignity		Encontrei o Príncipe Phillip na casa dos azuis Dito dar-me-ia a informação se seu nome não fosse usado Quis o dinheiro pra frente, dita que ele foi abusado Pela dignidade
Footprints runnin' cross the silver sand Steps goin' down into tattoo land I met the sons of darkness and the sons of light In the bordertowns of despair		Pegadas seguindo através de areia de prata Pisas baixando para a terra de tatuagem Eu encontrei-me com os filhos da escuridão e os filhos da luz Nas cidades na fronteira do desespero
Got no place to fade, got no coat I'm on the rollin' river in a jerkin' boat Tryin' to read a letter to me somebody wrote About dignity		Não tenho lugar desvanecem-se, não tenho casaco Eu estou no rio cheio em um barco sacudindo Tentando ler uma nota alguém escreveu para mim Sobre a dignidade
Sick man lookin' for the doctor's cure Lookin' at his hands for the lines that were And into every masterpiece of literature For dignity		Homem doente procurando a cura do médico Olhando em suas mãos para as linhas que eram E em cada obra-prima da literatura Para a dignidade
Englishman stranded in a blackheart wind Combin' his hair back, his future looks thin He bites the bullet and he looks within For dignity		Inglês encalhado no vento de coraçao preto Penteando seus cabelos para atras, seu futuro olha magro Morde a bala e olha dentro ele mesmo Para a dignidade
Someone showed me a picture, I just had to laugh Dignity never been photographed I went into the red, went into the black Went into the valley of dry bone dreams		Alguém mostrou-me uma fotografia, eu tinha que rir Dignidade nunca foi fotografado Eu entrei no vermelho, entrei no preto No vale de sonhos secos do osso
So many roads, so much at stake So many dead ends, and I'm at the edge of the lake Sometimes I wonder what it's gonna take To find dignity		Varias estradas, tanto na estaca Varios impasses, e eu estou na beira do lago Às vezes eu quero saber o que precisar Para encontrar a dignidade

Down.

Whirrled Ends

Next, Back, Thread Ahead: Mistaken Moral Muddlers, Thread Back: Make.



This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
Not with a bang but a whimper.

     (T.S. Eliot, The Hollow Men)



"I, like, cry, when I listen to it, it's so good."

     (Paris Hilton)


"I remember seeing her on the Grammys; I think I was on the show with her, I didn't meet her or anything but I said to myself, 'There's nothing about that girl I don't like.'" (Bob Dylan about Alicia Keys)



Tags: Eliot, Boobage, Dylan, Alicia Keys.

Correctitude

Next, Back.

Knee-Jerk (n): A presumtion that anything that offends somebody else is in its nature wrong, misplaced or in some other way incorrect; also see rash assumption (n)

Inigo Wilson: A Lefty Lexicon.
Orange suspends blogger over his 'Lefty Lexicon'.
Orange, Inigo Wilson and freedom of speech.

In the process I had a look at the rhetoric on the Palestinian side - the soft middle of what moves the devotees at CUPE and the UCC. Airtight. Hermetically sealed. So much of this struggle, which enacts itself upon the ground of lovely human flesh, is ideology making everything into solipsisms, the snake eating its tail. On both sides of course - symmetry.

I am still stuck on the quote I found in the Globe last week: "If Hezbollah laid down its arms, there would be no war. If Israel laid down its arms, there would be no Israel." I like things succinct as well as the next man.

This seemed reasonable to me, 8 Lessons taken from the Israel/Hezbollah war:
18/08/06, Paul Heinbecker, Talk is mightier than the tank, (Archive).

I heard Gregerson of the UCC on the radio today - apparently they are continuing to split the hairs of their anti-semitism at the Thunder Bay meeting. Is it possible for a Jew and an Arab to dance on the head of a pin?

Here is their latest United Church of Canada 'official' vege-pap, or soylent green as the case may be: 18/08/06, United Church Adopts a Pro-Peace Investment Strategy for the Middle East. Anyone not following the 'development' of this ludicrous excuse for a policy or tactic or whatever it is supposed to be, might now at least possibly mistake it for something - for what I am not sure. Elvis has left the building; and the United Church has (simultaneously) swept him under the rug.

Tags: Correctitude, Inigo Wilson.

Sarin - under control? yeah right

Next, Back.
Also see: Trojan.

Friday August 18 2006

Security Issues Surround Russian Nuclear Stockpile.

Wednesday August 16 2006

Check this out: Sarin Leak Found at Umatilla Depot, Original US Army Press Release.


Maps: Ranier & Portland, Hermiston & Umatilla, Umatilla.

Sarin is a nerve gas invented by the Nazis during WWII, the Wikipedia entry tells you everything except how long it takes; took some searching to find that it takes 'a few minutes' meaning I guess 'it depends', doesn't always kill ya but does a permanent neurological number anyway; and oh yeah, they use rabbits not canaries ...

Sort of the opposite of Alzheimers - it ramps up the production of neuro-transmitter acetylcholine and the whole nervous system overloads, something like that.

It's short so I'll just paste it in here:

Sarin Leak Found at Umatilla Depot

Workers at the Umatilla Chemical Depot in Oregon on Friday detected a sarin nerve agent vapor leak inside a storage structure used to contain munitions that have previously been found leaking, the U.S. Army Chemical Materials Agency said.

The structure used a passive filter system to prevent the escape of chemical vapor. Following the leak detection, the depot installed a powered filter.

Leaking weapons at Umatilla are placed in larger containers, and then moved to a “leaker” storage site that undergoes daily monitoring, according to an agency press release.


Just a thought but, what happens when the larger containers leak? How big do these containers get? And doesn't this all make the ultimate de-commissioning problematic?

Tags: Sarin, Oregon, Umatilla, Nerve Gas, WMD, Nuclear Weapons, Security.

Alexandra Morton

Next, Back.



A story this morning about gumption and salmon and sea lice (more than one variety I would say, Patrick Moore f'rinstance): 14/08/06, Mark Hume, Sea-lice researcher vindicated at last, (Archive).

There are 'sides' but little balance:
Raincoast Research Society / Lore Quest.
Canadian Aquaculture Industry Alliance (CAIA),
      Sea Lice Cartoon response (to me? mealy-mouthed mis-information).
Heiltsuk Nation,
      Ocean Falls Protest, 2002.
Forest Action Network (FAN), (fan the flames where possible?)
      Check out the Ocean Falls 'deconstruction'.
Pan Fish Canada aka Omega?.
Ocean Falls.

Confused as usual no doubt - but I thought shore-side (in tanks on land) farms dealt with the sea lice issue? Looks like the 'deconstruction' didn't quite stick eh?

Tags: Canada, British Columbia, Raincoast, Alexandra Morton, Salmon, Patrick Moore, Sea Lice, CAIA, Ocean Falls.

Western Movie

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Wednesday August 16 2006

Lo! and behold! the Globe finally posted it to their site: Nurturing doubt about climate change is big business, (Archive), and a few more letters have come in; James Schaefer & Kevin Key - my theory that the Muggles would prevail is entirely discredited, good for Canada again!

Monday August 14 2006

I was wrong! The Letters to the Editor are uniformly reasonable, good for Canada; G.A. Hamel, Jeannette Goguen, & Paul Thiessen - except mine of course which wasn't printed. I have popped them all in the Archive along with the original article.

So there is no need to explain my theory either.

Look here, I know I am a crack'd pot, a crank, nutbar, wingnut, dip stick, whatever ... but I don't get it ok? There have been 10,000 people and more pass by and not one Good Samaritan among them all has given me any clue. So I have been trying to stop, give it up, because the whole thing has become daemonic to me, enervating and horrible - something out of Carson McCullers or Kafka - misery such as I wish someone would put me out of, like the painted bird in Jerzy Kosiński's story. Ai Ai Ai!

When you've fallen on the highway
And you're lying in the rain,
And they ask you how you're doing
Of course you'll say you can't complain.
(Leonard Cohen & Sharon Robinson, Waiting For The Miracle)

Saturday August 12 2006

After weeks of poignant yearning to know who will finally wear the White Hat and who the Black Hat in the Israel/Hezbollah war; having sifted the ubiquitous Conspiracy Theories linking it all to the Great American Demon and/or the Anti Christ; and having suffered the feckless left-lib hand-wringers and whingers of The United Church of Canada (UCC), the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) et al.

Here (God is Great!) we have a REAL conspiracy, with REAL good guys and REAL bad guys, on a REAL issue that affects ALL the children of ALL the species on this planet Earth; for at least the next few generations - and many of those reading this as well.

Wow!

12/08/06, Charles Montgomery, Mr. Cool & friends, (Archive), Technorati Discussion.

Not too long ago it was the tobacco lobby indulging in this kind of high-finance-from-the-back-room kind of mis-information ... but, well, it really only affected smokers didn't it? Individual outcomes determined by individual choices; with a healthy (un-healthy?) cut to the government in taxes on sin.

Then it was the Asbestos Miners (well, not the 'miners' themselves y'unnerstan but the corporations) denying Asbestosis. They had to deny the whole existence of the disease itself - given the name you see ... a disease called 'Asbestosis' naturally leaves the casual reader thinking it is somehow connected with Asbestos.

A large picture on the front page of the Globe's Focus Section: a relaxed old gent sitting on a log in the forest in a straw hat, looking more-or-less into your eyes, and the equivocal headline, "While Al Gore circles the world raising the alarm of climate change, Victoria's Tim Ball tours Canada saying it's all bunk."

There can be a lot in a preposition, seems to me. Why didn't they say 'on climate change' instead of 'of climate change'?

The article you can read and judge for yourself. For my money it is well-researched, comprehensive, incontrovertible - also balanced and not hysterical. The Oil Barons want to confuse you with bafflegab in order that the government will not quickly establish effective policy around Global Warming and Climate Change.

A little surprising to me that the article has not been included on the Globe's website? Are they part of the conspiracy then? (Oh my.) But, let that one go. I am so betting on a flood of Letters to the Editor tomorrow, backing Tim Ball and his 'Friends of Science' - I have a theory about this, we'll see; I will publish them here even if I lose my bet.

Call me a throwback, I like to know what people look like, so I Googled around and came up with this:

The Bad Guys; (a-and not an Israeli in the bunch ... ):

(... more details to follow ...)

Tim Ball, spokesman for the Friends of Science:

Barry Cooper, bag man:

Frank Luntz, role model:

Ian Clark, scientist:

Sallie Baliunas, scientist:

Tad Murty, scientist:

Tim Patterson, scientist: Professor of Geology at Carleton University in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada; more at: Carleton.

Albert Jacobs, President of Friends of Science: No Photo available (not important enough I don't think).

Morten Paulsen, Adman with Fleishman-Hillard: No Photo available (on purpose I would hazard).

Rona Ambrose, (ex?) Minister of the Environment, token cowgirl (it's a western movie after all ...):

The Good Guys; the FCC (False Creek Coalition? Foreign Correspondents' Club? ... something like that): Chris Tenove, Alisa Smith, James MacKinnon, Charles Montgomery, Brian Payton and Deborah Campbell.

My guess is that they are simply communicating well with one another. Finding a bit of negentropy somehow or other, syntropy, synergy ... whatever. Hippie kids I bet ... just a guess, the CBC article above identified them as '30 somethings'.

I will just centre out two of them for now, the two that I actually know something about that is (there are more pictures on their sites): Deborah Campbell, Charles Montgomery.

Be well.

Tags: Canada, Global Warming, Climate Change, Charles Montgomery, Friends of Science, Tim Ball, Morten Paulsen, Fleishman Hillard.