I have subscribed to Advertising Age's daily email news for a couple of months now and I am impressed.

It offers a list of short paragraphs describing the subject of the latest news articles and you can click through, and pay for the full article.

Here's what was in the news yesterday:

METRO DAILIES COORDINATE NEWS COPY WITH ADS FOR NOKIA
IDEA OF THE WEEK: Media Owner Acts Like Media Agency to Tackle a Marketing Problem. A newspaper network’s simple insight for Nokia was that consumers are still unaware of the practical benefits of 3G technology. The outcome of the work was Nokia ads placed in key sections of the paper. The difference was that the phones had on their screens the exact editorial copy on the live newspaper pages. Message: Your cell phone can be your newspaper.

NBC AND COMCAST SEAL VOD DEAL
Subscribers Can Order “Law and Order” for 99 Cents. NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- NBC Universal has wrapped up its first agreement to supply broadcast network programming to Comcast’s video-on-demand platform starting in May. The deal, which follows a similar agreement between Comcast and CBS in December, will offer digital cable subscribers NBC shows such as “Law and Order” and “The Office” for 99 cents.

AMERICAN MEDIA ADDS TWO TO BOARD
CEO David Pecker Under Pressure to Improve Performance. NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- As American Media’s board of directors sits down to its fiscal-year-end meeting today, there are signs that David Pecker, chairman-CEO, is working under new pressure to produce good momentum -- and working under some new sets of eyes.

NICKELODEON AWARDS PUTS KIDS IN CONTROL
What Everyone Is Talking About Today NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Learning that if you can’t control 'em, let them control you, Nickelodeon will serve up the Kids Choice Awards anyway the tykes want to watch it. Nick will simulcast the April 1 event on its broadband channel, TurboNick, and let kids personalize the broadcast by choosing different camera angles, including a behind-the-scenes cam, a stage cam, an “orange carpet” cam and a crowd cam. For this, WaterCooler has four words: Is the Academy listening?

NEWS CLIPS THE BIGGEST DRAW IN ONLINE VIDEO
66% of Those Who Call Up Video Online Watch Ads. NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Although the number of consumers watching video online routinely is low, that number is growing, and those consumers are engaged with video advertising, according to a new study by the Online Publishers Association and Frank N. Magid Associates.

CLEAR CHANNEL'S JARVIS TAKES MEASURE OF OUTDOOR
Chief of Research to Spearhead Move Toward Better Measurement. NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- The former mom-and-pop industry known as outdoor is growing up thanks both to consolidation and advertisers’ demands for better measurement and accountability. Clear Channel's Tony Jarvis discusses the future.

HOW TO GET FOLKS UP ON THEIR FEET
PHOTO PAGE: Running, Skiing and Exercising. 'Fitness' and 'More' were out getting people moving, with an exercise challenge for agencies and an over-40 marathon. 'Architectural Digest,' meanwhile, brought in the dancers.

Every day there's at least one good news story. Yesterday was outstanding. Kids picking the camera angles? Newspaper text on your mobile phone? We live in interesting times indeed.

Don't Stand Beside Some Signs

Really funny post at Language Log about:

"...the Democrats deciding to start a new campaign of using the phrase "dangerous incompetence" when talking about President Bush:"

"The one-time amateur boxer [Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid] was eager to give the incompetence label "an edge," said a Reid aide, Jim Manley, and "dangerous" was the winning adverb... "

"Winning adverb? It's an adjective! What the hell is going on in a culture where someone can hold a job as either a Senate aide or a Globe columnist (we can't tell which from the above quote, because we don't know whether Nina Easton was quoting or paraphrasing) without knowing the basic lexical categories of grammar from one another..."

"Incidentally, the adverb is the word that Senator Debbie Stabenow put up beside her on a big red sign saying "DANGEROUSLY INCOMPETENT" during a speech in the Senate after the campaign was launched..."

"...They should hire me to lead them. "Listen," I'd say: "Number one, learn to distinguish adjectives from adverbs. Just get it right. Noun, verb, adjective, adverb, preposition... learn those for a start. Don't be like Jon Stewart. Don't make us look ignorant. And number two, if you're going to illustrate a speech by displaying a big sign saying ‘DANGEROUSLY INCOMPETENT’ or ‘DIMWITTED GOOFBALL’ or ‘INTERN GROPER’ or ‘MENDACIOUS PONTIFICATING OLD WINDBAG’ or anything, that's fine, but just don't get photographed beside it, OK?"

American Millionaires

There are 9 million millionaires in the States. According to this article at Slate, there are five different types:

"Thrillionaires - conspicuous consumers"

"Coolionaires - rich aesthetes"

"Realionaires - practical, unassuming, hate to spend money unnecessarily"

"Wellionaires - splurge to make sure they look good, feel healthy, and stay in good shape"

"Willionaires - used to be known as Old Money"

If and when I make my fortune, I'd like to think my midwest values would kick in and I'd become a 'realionaire' but if I look into my heart, there lurks a 'wellionaire', up for every kind of massage and new age therapy.

Links from Friends

People send me links and I really appreciate it. Here are a few I received yesterday:

The first electronic cinema in Great Britain is in a tiny village in Kent. The sound and picture quality are described as "superb" and the ambiance is very civilised. Thanks Nick.

Cilla and Lucy are playing the Blag Club tomorrow night - here's a crazy link from Cilla that has nothing to do with their beautiful, rock out type of music.

The BBC is running a book award and the prize is £30,000. When you think the total income from the license fee is about £3 billion, thirty grand is nothing, but it's another example of the BBC spending money in areas it doesn't have to - there are a fair number of book awards already, in the UK and then internationally that include UK authors in their shortlist.

Campaign Magazine is the trade magazine for the UK advertising industry. This week there's an article about "the BBC's first branding campaign in nine years". The endline is "This is what we do" but I don't see anything about book awards, or magazines, or educational software, or competing with commercial digital channels. I'm sure they haven't left those brand supporting activities out though. I'm sure they didn't spend typical television commercial production budgets of half a million dollars for each 30 second execution but it would be funny if they did so, being taxed so tv commercials can be made to tell us about the brand would be so surreal.

Thanks Rona for reminding me to pay my tv license. I haven't turned the tv on in about a week, but wouldn't it be annoying to click it on for a repeat of History of Britain and get a knock on the door from heavies with a court order to visit the local magistrates court, all to help pay for the nation's tv commercials.

The Devil Has Better Clothes

Great article in News Review yesterday by Jasper Gerard about poor dim Shabina Begum.

He claims she's attractive but the photo shows the face of a forty something, hard done by in some third world country.

The impression that she's been coerced is given:

"Interviewers are used to the odd minder guarding a star, but never an entourage as formidable as that surrounding this teenager. There by Shabina's side, as ever, is her elder brother and legal guardian Shuweb Rahman - a radical accused of "verging on the threatening" when he kicked off the dispute by demanding that Shabina be allowed to attend school in her pajamas, (oops sorry, make that) her favoured tent-like garment. Even my hardly racy request to sit next to Shabina at lunch so we can talk is greeted with glares."

"At times the only one not expressing opinions is poor Shabina, whose dreams of becoming a doctor have been hit by disappointing GCSE results following two years' sulk leave from school."

Oh sure, blame that, not her brain power.

"...is she free to lead a British life or do those around her restrict her in the guise of Islam?" Oh for heavens sake, might as well ask is Mohammed a suitable subject for a cartoon.

"...the law lords affirmed that no school is obligated to take a pupil on that pupil's terms. If Shabina could not abide by the rules, the onus was on her to find a more congenial school."

"...if it (the school in question) made an exception for Shabina, other girls might feel pressurised by their families or mullahs to wear a jilbab too."

Here's Shabina-oops-did-I-really-say-that's take on headscarves: "There are girls pressured to wear headscarves who don't want to."

This comment had me cheering: "If girls are subject to any unwelcome pressure to cover up, then far from giving in, perhaps schools should ban all religious clothing."

Great idea!

Jasper shows us just how kind and loving her brother is:

"...her brother quietly, patiently, lists all the compromises that he suggested to the school. One, it transpires, was that Shabina be taught in solitary confinement."

"So here is the authentic voice of the extremist: prepared for his bright, giggly sister who loves medicine and handbags to be shut away from life, just so she remains theologically pure."

I would like her brother and every man in Britain who succeeds in torturing a young girl like this to be charged with child abuse. Where did he apply for legal aid? Wonder how much I could get? Wonder if they could afford to have Cherie argue the case?

"I ask what she wants to be. "My dream would be a tv presenter." There you have the dilemma for British Asian youth: the veil of Islam versus the exposure of BBC1. Some radical young Muslims may consider the West the devil in disguise - but at heart even they, it seems, accept that it has the better clothes." Sunday Times News Review Section 26 March 2006

Clocks Spring Forward

My window is open. The air coming in is soft and cool not chillingly icy. The gray sky is milky not gun metal gray. The trees are spikey with finger sized offshoots, greeney brown trunks replace uniform black ones. The park has a few carpets of purple and white. Green daffodil stems nod and sway in time to the wind. The clocks are all changed. Spring will arrive soon.

Peace Activists are Bad Mannered

Just a hypothesis, but tons of evidence supports it.

Here in Britain we've got Kember, the freed hostage who hasn't got any courtesy in his soul, just another tacky bastard who thinks he has the right to put hundred of military guys at risk for his benighted beliefs. Andi's always writing about the Code Pink lot and there's some strange group who protests at military funerals. Three's a trend, ergo my hypothesis.

Heavens, I'm so happy today I can't work up a head of steam about this. So more later.

The Burka Blues

That 16 year old girl in Luton has lost her court case. She was trying to gain the right to go to her school wearing a burka or jihab or whatever ridiculous name people are calling it this week. I heard about it last night and my feeling was the same as when my horse passes the finish line first. Yes!

The article in today's Times covers the history of her case but leaves out some important information:

- her parents are dead - her mom died when she was very young
- she's living with her radical, Muslim and only slightly older brother, he's in charge of her and with this religion, you know what that means
- she was aged 12 when "she" decided to fight for the right
- she's being funded by....where did I read that the entire eyewateringly expensive court case is being paid for by a radical Muslim group?

Ah, here, it's this lot:

"Her supporters, incidentally, are Hizb ut-Tahrir, an organisation founded in 1985 by the giggling, publicity-crazed “Sheikh” Omar Bakri Mohammed, whose recent claim to fame has been to encourage young British Muslims to join Al-Qaeda and who has condoned suicide terrorist attacks. "

That's the group that Dippy-the-Guardian-journlist belonged to, you know, the journalist who wrote glowing articles about this gal and the dear little Yorkshire lads who decided to blow up a few tube trains in July. He was outed by a blogger and the Guardian fired him faster than you can say "complete re-design in August". By the way, if the Guardian re-design has been so successful, why is it replacing all those editors? Perhaps we'll never know.

Anyway, Hizbut spending money in the British courts beats the mystery money source paying suicidal murderer bombers like Tanwierd - you remember - the London 7/7 bomber who worked part time in a fish and chip shop in Leeds and left an estate of about a quarter of a million dollars.

There's tons of money sloshing around and it certainly seems some days like crime pays.

This Christopher Hitchens article explains beautifully why Sodhim never caved in the face of overwhelming pressure:

"Saddam believed until the end that the French and Russian governments would save him. He also knew what we - at the time - did not: The oil-for-food system had turned into a self-sustaining racket that cemented his support in French and Russian circles."

and:

"What did the president get instead? The threat of unilateral veto from Paris, Moscow and Beijing. Private assurances to Saddam Hussein from members of the U.N. Security Council. Pharisaic fatuities from the United Nations' secretary-general, who had never had a single problem wheeling and dealing with Baghdad."

"The refusal to reappoint Rolf Ekeus - the only serious man in the U.N. inspectorate - to the job of invigilation. A tirade of opprobrium, accusing Bush of everything from an oil grab to a vendetta on behalf of his father to a secret subordination to a Jewish cabal."

"Platforms set up in major cities so that crowds could be harangued by hardened supporters of Milosevic and Saddam, some of them paid out of the oil-for-food bordello."

'Oil-for-food bordello' - I like that imagery and I'm glad that Hitchens is back on form, killing me softly with his intellect rather than the tone of the last few months, a bit too rantey for such a cool guy.

Cilla and Lucy in Notting Hill

Thank You Driver are playing the Blag Club again, on Wednesday 29th March. The last time they played there, they went on about ten. It's a great setting for their style of new celtic-ey jazzy folk music and the sound system is excellent.

Sharia Law Means Christians Must be Executed

There's an article on Yahoo news, got the link from LGF:

"KABUL, Afghanistan - An Afghan man is being prosecuted in a Kabul court and could be sentenced to death on a charge of converting from Islam to Christianity, a crime under this country's Islamic laws, a judge said Sunday. "

"The trial is believed to be the first of its kind in Afghanistan and highlights a struggle between religious conservatives and reformists over what shape Islam should take here four years after the ouster of the Islamic fundamentalist Taliban regime."

"The defendant, 41-yer-old Abdul Rahman, was arrested last month after his family accused him of becoming a Christian, Judge Ansarullah Mawlavezada told The Associated Press in an interview. "

""He would have been forgiven if he changed back. But he said he was a Christian and would always remain one," Wasi told AP. "We are Muslims and becoming a Christian is against our laws. He must get the death penalty.""

Ah Sharia Law.

Here's a great opportunity for the anti-war crowd. It is absolutely unacceptable to supply troops to a country that would execute a human for their religious beliefs.

Whatever they're called; ISAF, NATO, UN, US, "Peace Keeping Forces" - the day he's convicted is the day we should leave.

I am absolutely serious.

Letters should be handwritten and posted to:

Prime Minister Tony Blair, 10 Downing Street, London SW1A 2AA

Rt Hon David Cameron MP, House of Commons, Westminster, London, SW1A 0AA

Your MP

Sir Malcom Leslie Rifkind MP, House of Commons, Westminster, London SW1A 0AA

An MOD minister or two:

Secretary of State for Defence Rt Hon Dr. John Reid MP

Minister of State for the Armed Forces Adam Ingram MP

MOD Ministerial Correspondence Unit
5th Floor, Zone A
Main Building
Whitehall, London
SW1A 2HB

Then send photocopies of those letters to:

Embassy of Afghanistan London
31 Princes Gate
London SW7 1QQ
Tel: 020 7589 8891
Fax: 020 7584 4801
email: info@afghanembassy.co.uk

Religion of peace, oh please. The only person who can change my mind is Dr. Sultan. Wonder what she recommends?

An Academic Question

"An academic question is one whose answer may be of interest but is of no practical use or importance" - hey this is not my definition, it's the first answer from a google search.

Twenty years ago a "social scientist" professor and his wife picked over 100 children from the UC Berkeley area. 95 of those children have been tracked and a Canadian newspaper is reporting the findings.

Lo and behold, the findings indicate that children who are "whiny" grow up to be conservative and the "confident" kids grow up to be liberal. Who'd of thought it? What a shocking surprise!

No, not that that's how the kids turned out, but that an unscientific survey conducted by a UC Berkeley professor should have discovered such a thing. Who could have predicted that?

See why I hate poorly constructed research with a passion? Gives all market researchers a bad name.

From the article:

"The kids' personalities were rated at the time by teachers and assistants who had known them for months. There's no reason to think political bias skewed the ratings — the investigators were not looking at political orientation back then. Even if they had been, it's unlikely that 3- and 4-year-olds would have had much idea about their political leanings."

Wow! A nursery school teacher who knows how to conduct rigorous personality tests on toddlers they've known for such a long time. I'd love to know why "whiny" was an acceptable assessment - to the nursery school teacher and to the hot shot professor. I'll have to read Hans Eysenck again, missed the "whiny" categorisation first skim through.

There's the missed opportunity, tracking those nursery school teachers to see how accurately they judged personalities then and what they're up to these days.

I love the idea that "there's no reason to think political bias skewed the ratings" - what, none at all? If the investigators were not "looking" for political orientation (of toddlers, remember) why are they doing so now? And what were the parents' political orientations? And what was the birth order of the children? And what was their social class? And on and on, just raises so many question doesn't it.

These kids are now 23? 24? Who said "when you're young, if you aren't a liberal you have no heart and when you're old if you aren't conservative you have no brain" - was it Winston? It's the kind of thing he would have said.

Summing up - 95 kids from one neighbourhood, whose personalities were judged by people who were nursery school teachers OR assistants (.....no I'm not going to type a mean comment here) were judged to be "whiny" or "confident" and more of the confident ones turned out to be liberal.

Bottom line? Purely academic ie. of interest but of no practical use or importance.

Free Speech Leads to Death Threats

For some reason, every article in the Sunday Times News Review section irritated me this week. Melvyn Bragg has an article on "Twelve Books that Changed the World" and it never caught fire, even though I agree with his list and his thinking - including Magna Carta and the William Willberforce speech on the abolition of slavery. Books DO cause explosions in the mind. Maybe it was the big photo of 1867 football players looking like prisoners in their striped gear that put me off.

Or maybe the article above it, about some blind British guy who lived with his internet sweetheart in America and is shocked, shocked that he would be accused of breaking her 14 month old baby's bones, so he left the country and had to be extradited. Isn't life just so unfair?

Or the fawning article about Kate Winslet, just a regular mom living on the beach in LA. I actually like Kate Winslet a lot. She doesn't understand American fish fingers but that's no reason to feel irritation.

Big photo of frizzy haired Anita Roddick above an article about her selling Body Shop to L'Oreal, like that's a bad thing. I haven't bought a Body Shop product in years. Their hair care is rubbish and I'm very particular about my skin care regime. The only good thing about Body Shop is the scents they use but L'occitane is just a block away and their scented products are heavenly.

Then an article by Andrew Sullivan blaming Bush and his administration for the Hurricane Katrina disaster. Jeez, this is such old misrepresentation. I thought we were over this and it had finally been acknowledged by even very stupid people that American States are run by elected officials like their governor, say, or mayor of the city. Let me make this easy for you - Bush doesn't run Louisiana, it's illegal. The article goes on to talk about how hard working and tired everyone in the administration is and even describes Donald Rumsfeld as incompetent. Old old old. Didn't we hear all this with Ronald Reagan. Wasn't Churchill supposed to be napping all the time. Slow news day clearly.

But hey, not quite, they've managed to squeeze in, on page 9, a tidy little article about the brave little women speaking out against the mean old forces of evil in the world. Good on you dears, here's a nice pat on the head.

But wait! This article doesn't suck.

True, it sets the scene by showing how fearful Dr. Sultan's husband is, after all his wife has been receiving death threats since speaking her mind on television. Speaking her mind? Pointing out the obvious more like, too bad she's in LA, some admissions staff at Yale could have done with hearing her message before accepting a male Taliban official onto the student body.

I love what she said:

"The clash we are witnessing around the world is not a clash of religions, or a clash of civilisations. It is a clash between civilisation and backwardness, between the civilised and the primitive, between barbarity and rationality. It is a clash between human rights on the one hand and the violation of these rights on the other, between those who treat women like beasts and those who treat them like human beings."

Typing that felt good. I like the beats too, the triads, the use of the word between to set the scale, the spectrum, here high, here low. Very simple to understand. Hey Andrew, hey Fukuyima (boy you have to be careful typing that!), check out this lady. What, it doesn't fit with your world view or agenda, sorry, sorry I mentioned it.

The Sunday Times calls her "controversial" and says some have denounced her as a "heretic" who deserves to die. Who ever thinks that doesn't believe in free speech for a start, I mean, that's easy to comprehend, right?

Well, maybe not. I'm constantly amazed a people who have swallowed what the biased media have fed them, just gobbled it up without a moment's reflection. But those people won't be reading my blog.

The way to win the propaganda war we've got on our hands here is to highlight, laud and magnify the brave, intelligent, passionate, revolutionary souls who take their life in their hands to try and change the course of the world.

Dr. Sultan says stupendously shocking things like:

"We have not seen a single Jew blow himself up in a German restaurant. We have not seen a single Jew destroy a church. We have not seen a single Jew protest by killing people."

"Only the Muslims defend their beliefs by burning down churches, killing people and destroying embassies. The Muslims must ask themselves what they can do for humankind, before they demand that humankind respect them."

Doesn't she rock!

After she witnessed the murder of her university teacher she experienced a turning point, "I began to question every single teaching."

From the article:

"Sultan has no intention of stopping her attacks on Islam even though she and her family in Syria have been threatened. Two of her brothers have been interrogated by the Syrian secret police."

Forget movies about Joe McCarthy and nefarious deeds of 50 years ago, here's a up to the minute movie idea that really does have the power to show us what can happen in our world when the forces of darkness run out of control.

But movie makers are a sensible lot. They see the restricted life of Ayaan Hirsi Ali who has spoken out against Islamic attitudes and practices like female circumcision and they note the horrific murder of her friend, film director Theo van Gogh and they stick with Cia conspiracy stories. Very wise, very safe, no death threats there.

The Book of Kells

On Saturday I had time to visit the Book of Kells exhibition. The story of this twelve hundred year old book is remarkable. It's so old experts can't be sure where it was made or why. The book very possibly started life in the monastery on the Scottish island of Iona. After one particularly brutal attack by "sea rovers", the survivors moved to the ninth century monastery at Kells in Ireland. The book was stolen in 1006. The golden cover was lost forever but the leaves were recovered and taken care of until the monastery was closed and the book became the property of the parish church of Kells. It was given to the library of Trinity College Dublin in 1661.

The chemical make up of the colours is unknown - "the secret of their mixture has been lost without trace. Some people have tried to copy these colours, but it has not been possible to imitate and reproduce the feel and the tone and the whole look of the twelve-hundred-year-old book."

Exploring the Book of Kells, George Otto Simms, 1988

The guy who wrote the guidebook quoted above was locked into a special outbuilding during the time he researched the details of the book. He would have been able to appreciate the richness of the colours and the excellent creative talent of the writers and illustrators and his love of the book comes out in the fond way he describes different aspects.

"In the Book of Kells there are no amusing remarks, but there are some very funny little pictures. We can be sure that the monks enjoyed a good laugh....Life for them was a life given to God, and the lively animals that they put into their pictures show us that they found great joy in God's 'creatures great and small'."

He very gently mentions one of the scandals of the Book of Kells - that the pages were all cut to one size "at one period in history", sometimes cutting right through an illustration on the edge of the original page. You can see this in the picture below - look at the top and right hand side - just sliced through the ancient illustration without a thought for the value and history being destroyed.

I've been told further details about this but it isn't my story to tell, anyway not today.

Quoting Mr. Justice Fulford

From Norm, first a quote from a BBC report and then his reaction:

"He added: "Terrorism is one of the undoubted evils of our age. "

"It profoundly affects countless numbers of innocent, law-abiding people both directly and indirectly.

"The toll in lost and shattered lives..."

"Steady on there. Isn't this a bit clear and straightforward? Surely, he should have introduced a 'but' somewhere? You know what, I can think of a few things his way of talking doesn't remind me of."

St. Patrick's Day in LA

I'm off to Dublin in a moment and realised it's still the 17th in Los Angeles. So Happy St. Patrick's Day to you all out there.

Puligny-Montrachet

1995 was a very good year. That was the year I lived on the eighth floor of a block of flats on Marshall Street with a million dollar view of London from Centre Point to the Battersea Power Station. I could see the golden tips of Tower Bridge and the Crystal Palace mast blinked steadily all through the night.

It was also a really hot summer. We practically lived on the roof. I would carry an ice filled champagne bucket up the fire escape, for that first glass of the evening before visiting the pubs of west Soho. The ice lasted a nanosecond.

So last night, as the final icy winds of winter blasted down from the northeast, our host, "Terrifying But Just", found the perfect bottle for the lamb supper. He didn't fall for grabbing a taxi to go have frozen berries for dessert and his beautiful wife didn't hit me over the head when I made the suggestion, just laughed and said I could stay with the kids and they'd bring some back.

He read to us, in his rich and terrifying but just delivery, from an award winning book by Kes Gray and Nick Sharratt.

"Daisy...didn't want to eat her peas." He looked at us over the top of his glasses, a long focused look. Phew, thank goodness we WERE paying attention.

"I don't like peas."

Snippets come back to haunt "you can stay up past midnight", "I'll buy you a baby elephant, a rocket launcher and Africa", "98 chocolate factories". How Daisy didn't fall at the first I'll never know. We were too weak with laughter to get the full effect and I just know all day I'm going to burst out at the most inappropriate moments, like halfway up the escallator and reading the travel updates at the station.

Guilty as charged, laughing too much in a public place. Thank goodness for the freedom to laugh.

Barry at Enrevanche directs me to this great article at boxesandarrows, about web users' four modes when seeking information.

1. Known item

2. Exploratory information seeking

Those are the classic, obvious ones. These two newly defined modes resonate and inspire:

3. Don't know what you need to know

4. Re-finding

They apply to everything. "Don't know what you need to know" - still chuckling.

Cover Girl Professional Mascara

This is from FreePress (via NYT):

The Writers Guild of America, West, is making fun of the interweaving of sponsors’ wares into films and TV shows with a so-called viral video that is scheduled to appear this week on a union-sponsored Web site (productinvasion.com).

The video mocks Tyra Banks, the host of the popular reality series “America’s Next Top Model,” which features in its episodes the Cover Girl brand of cosmetics sold by the Procter & Gamble Company.

In the frenetic comic video, an actress portraying Ms. Banks in a mock episode of “America’s Next Top Commercial” relentlessly shills Procter products and even rents out space on her forehead to advertisers like Nike.

“We’re trying to get the attention of our employers, the companies that own and operate show business,” said Patric M. Verrone, president of the Writers Guild, West, referring to entertainment conglomerates like Walt Disney, Time Warner and Viacom. “But they’re managed so far to avoid us.”“We’re trying to make a mark by calling attention to some of the companies doing this branded entertainment by counterbranding their products,” Mr. Verrone said. Procter was chosen to be parodied, he added, because it is “America’s top integrator” of products into programming.


Doesn't this sound - offensive, sexist, the opposite of "comic" and, dare I say it, poorly written?

By the way. Procter & Gamble's Cover Girl Professional Mascara? Best. Mascara. Ever.

No Establishment, No Prohibition

Reading about "market research" findings sometimes frustrates me so much I have to zoom over to Mystery Pollster or some other marketing-ish blog to see what really good thinkers are writing. This caught my attention today:

From Language Log:

Civics lesson

Remember that survey about Americans' knowledge of the five members of the Simpsons family vs. their knowledge of the "five freedoms" guaranteed by the First Amendment? ("Counting Freedoms, Simpsons and Percentages"; "Freedom of Speech: More Famous than Bart Simpson".)

Carl Bialik, the WSJ's "Numbers Guy", picked up the problem with the survey question in his column today:

The survey boiled [the First Amendment] down to five freedoms: freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of the press, freedom of assembly and freedom to petition for redress of grievances."

But as the blog Language Log pointed out, "The wording of the First Amendment only mention two 'freedoms' as such (speech and press), plus two 'rights' (assembly and petition); and religion gets mentioned twice (no establishment of it, no prohibition of it)," but the survey only counted it as one freedom."

Carl also picked up on the way the survey numbers were spun:

What's more, the details of the survey (which was conducted for the museum by market-research firm Synovate) aren't quite as dramatic as the headline.

Yes, hardly anyone knew all five of the freedoms, at least as the survey defined them. But 69% of respondents got freedom of speech, arguably one of the more important provisions of the First Amendment. (By comparison, the most familiar Simpson family member, Bart, was named by 61% of those surveyed.)

The Final Countdown

Here is a blog post that sums up the mood of the moment:

"Today is Monday the 13th. My lucky day, huh?"

"I suffered a loss this weekend. I’m not going to get into the details — have you noticed how this blog has become less and less personal lately? I know at least some of you have; I’ve been getting mail about it. I got an e-mail about it just last night from a reader named Sarah. I’m sorry, Sarah. There’s nothing I can do about it except apologize. This blog used to be my sanctuary, a place where I could be perfectly honest. But now too many people read it. Not too many in the absolute sense, as my readership has plummeted to levels so low they can only be detected with expensive equipment bought with tax-dollar-wasting National Science Foundation grants; but rather in the sense that too many people I know are reading it. There are too many little lies that need to be maintained — that I’m doing okay, that everything is fine, that I’m not teetering on the brink of a breakdown every single minute of the day. I can’t maintain the illusion with them and be honest with you when all too many of you are also among them."

I thought that was funny, in a teeth gritted, despairing kind of way.

It was written on Monday, the ten year anniversary of the massacre of 16 six year olds at play in the gym at a school in Dunblane, Scotland. I remember that day and the days after, the sick horror I felt that anyone could be driven so crazy by everything, including our awful winter weather, break into a gym and shoot little kids dead as they ran screaming from them.

That was before I knew anything about hijacking planes or wearing bombs in crowded places. The fact that one has so little empathy for innocent humans that whatever is bugging you that day, well, you're going to hit back a million times more hurtfully is a part of human nature - because humans undertake these acts.

Just because it's incomprehensible to me doesn't mean it isn't something to think about and figure out how to address. Why does the media ignore genocide like Darfur, taking place even as we speak. My theory - news has become visual now and there's no compelling footage from Darfur. Here's a chance for some brave cameraman to make his name, but he'd have to be a bit crazy too, good chance of ending up dead and unfeted.

YaleNailGate

Remember the letter by the Yale alumnus saying she'd helped students who were trying to get into Yale? Evidently that doesn't have any value to the university.

Also, her great good humour at enlisting those who oppose the choice of a Taliban official as a student - by sending the president red plastic press on nails has been categoried by a Yale alumnus as a "terrorist tactic". What, as opposed to the actual ripping off of fingernails or the chopping off of fingers with nail polish on them.

Edited highlights from an interesting article:

"Mr. Surovov, a Yale alumnus who has worked in its development office for three years and is on the board of the Yale Club of New Haven, wrote Mr. Taylor and Ms. Bookstaber at their private email addresses with the subject heading: "Y [sic] do you hate Yale." Here is his email in its entirety: "What is wrong with you? Are you retarded? This is the most disgraceful alumni article that I have ever read in my life. You failed to mention that you've never contributed to the Yale Alumni Fund in your life. But to suggest that others follow your negative example is disgusting." "

"Intrigued that someone had looked up his wife's giving record, David Bookstaber, a Yale computer science graduate, used Columbia's publicly accessible IT account database to trace the anonymous email. The trail led straight to Mr. Surovov's Yale office. On Thursday Mr. Taylor phoned Mr. Suvarov, who told him he was angry because the furor over the Taliban official was hurting fund raising and could lower Yale's rankings in the next U.S. News & World Report college survey. He also accused Mr. Taylor and Ms. Bookstaber of "terrorist tactics," which when challenged he amended to "terror tactics." "

Well, he can't be that stupid if he thinks Yale's Taliban student is going to effect the university's ranking and fund raising. But maybe they can sell on the plastic nails...Or rethink admissions...or get a sense of humour?

Chocolate Heaven

Less than 60 seconds from my home is a Pierre Marcolini shop,
















Patisserie Valerie



and Maison Blanc









Less than five minutes?

The Meaning of Life

Well these days, the point of life is to eat really high quality chocolate.

A friend called me the other day and described every bite of some chocolate concoction at "The Chocolate Bar" at Harrods.

We're very well served in Kensington with a Leonidas in the tube arcade, a brand new "Hotel Chocolat" down the high street, Patisserie Valerie with the 3 foot chocolate eggs in the window and my favourite chocolate shop, in Lancer's Square - I don't know the name of it but it's something like Alfred Mercano - I'll take a photo and put it up later this afternoon.

The chocolate there is stupendous, 95% cocoa (just slight exaggeration), £10 for 100 grams (only a bit more exaggeration) and worth every penny.

Here's a fun article about chocolate from the Times today.

See! I don't just rant and rave! Have a great weekend.

UK LifeLeague Acting Like Terrorists

www.UKLifeLeague.com has published the photograph, name and home address of a nurse who has been given an award by the NHS for her legally supplied services in the sexual health area including helping women obtain legal abortions.

UK LifeLeague does NOT publish their business address, nor does it publish any of its officers' names, photographs, jobs, nor home addresses. That's just not fair.

The most recent address available for UK LifeLeague is a serviced office address that was closed for business over two years ago.

Since they are not a trustworthy, registered, professional organisation I must conclude that UK LifeLeague is a front for terrorism and as such I will be contacting the terrorism hotline - 0800789321.

I will also be sending a cheque to the lady they are targeting as she will need all the security help she can get to protect her from terrorists like UK LifeLeague.

I Want my MTV

From Cynopsis.com:

"mtvU has collaborated with MSN and Boston University on a riches-to-rags comedy pilot, Roller Palace, created and produced over 15 months entirely by BU Film and Television Department students. It premiered on March 9 at Arclight Cinemas in Los Angeles, and will debut on-air and online March 20. Also, BU Sophomore and mtvU development deal recipient Andrew Karlsruher covered the entire production process for the mtvU reality series, Breaking the Sitcom. Episodes of the series are airing now on mtvU and mtvU Über, at mtvU.com."

Also:

Showtime Networks Inc. and the Smithsonian Institution have created Smithsonian Networks. Smithsonian On Demand, the venture's first programming service, will offer branded, original content from the Smithsonian. The network will develop, launch, and operate Smithsonian-branded television programming, including original docs and event coverage for distribution to multi-channel video distributors and new media platforms.

And:

ABC's Him and Us about a British rocker and his manager, has signed Kim Cattrall as the manager, and Anthony Stewart Hall as a gay rock star. The project is exec produced by Sir Elton John.

They probably mean Anthony Steward Head of dear departed Buffy fame. What an idea, what a cast!

I don't watch tv here in England and have deliberately not signed up for digital television. But if I lived in the States I'd be the Queen of Tivo-ing.

Psychology Refreshes the Parts

Everywhere I look, intelligent, conservative commentators are writing about the attitudes of the left in psychological terms. My brain has been quite fuzzy this week, from illness and the drugs to combat it, so I haven't been able to sustain active attention in the long, esoteric articles that keep popping up. It's much better when it's put like this (at ShrinkWrapped):

"In Part I of Narcissism in the Real World, I pointed out the Narcissistic pathology on display from Hollywood, the MSM, the left-wing of our political spectrum and the more malignant aspects of Narcissism among the Islamists."

"I raised a question about our elites:"

"At such a dangerous time, when we face implacable enemies who wish to destroy us and our freedoms, why do so many bright people continue to do things that place our nation and our friends at great risk for what seems to be the most minimal, narrow and partisan of advantages?"

"As luck would have it, current events continue to supply me with evidence to support and elucidate my position. Here are some points for reflection:"

"1) Narcissists are extremely sensitive to criticism and experience disagreement as criticism.

2) As a result, the Narcissist is unable to tolerate having their beliefs questioned and reacts to such criticism with disdain and anger.

3) Furthermore, criticism of a Narcissist evokes feelings of humiliation and humiliation always evokes compensatory rage.

4) Rage can be externalized and expressed when circumstances allow.

5) When rage cannot be externalized it turns inward. One of Freud's earliest insights, which still contains a significant amount of explanatory power, is that rage turned inward leads to depression."

"...To a Narcissist, all opposing opinions are sh*t. Thus, if their favored group is not in charge, the country is a cesspool. People like this have regressed to treating everything on only two dimensions."


There are two ways to criticise; badly and terribly. However, some of the kindest, most intelligent people in my life have made the decision to judge and critique what I've done - usually because I've asked them first! But the other leading comment is "would you like to know what I think?" I've learned to grit my teeth, gird my loins and say as warmly as I can "oh yes, please DO, tell me EVERYTHING you're thinking." Phew, I've learned a lot. It can be uncomfortable. It's nearly always been helpful.

I don't perceive the same openness to criticism among my dear if lefty friends - and yes, they know about my blog.

Lefties don't enjoy thinking about and discussing all the possibilities, options, characters in play, strategies, tactics, competitive frame, budget constraints, timescale, why, everything that makes account planning so much fun to do. They're in a kind of "war, huh, what is it good for, absolutely nothing" mindset which seems so, so, suburban I want to say.

According to John Cleese and Robin Skinner in 'Life and How to Survive it" the point of getting older is to work at identifying and addressing our individual psychological problems so that we become mentally healthier and happier.

I'll leave you with this happy thought:

Robin Skinner: ...perhaps one big difference in very healthy people is that they can be more comfortable with their 'madness' than the rest of us. p.29

This sounds exciting!

Wow.

"The orbiting Cassini spacecraft has spotted what appear to be water geysers on one of Saturn's icy moons, raising the tantalizing possibility that the celestial object harbors life."

"The surprising images from the moon Enceladus represent some of the most direct and dramatic evidence yet of liquid water beyond the Earth. Previous claims have been mostly circumstantial, based on scientists' analysis of rocks and other indirect data."

"Excited by the discovery, some scientists said Enceladus should be added to the short list of places within the solar system most likely to have extraterrestrial life."

(Thank you Rocket Surgeon)

Shelter from the Storm

Digging in some school grounds in north London has uncovered an old WW2 air raid shelter.

The south side of the Carnegie Library in Hammersmith still has the painted white arrow indicating the direction of their 65 year old shelter.

Earlier this week, I came up the escalator at St. Paul's and realised how deep it was. So safe from bombs raining down but not if the device is carried by a human. Then you want to be topside.

When my dad would park the car, he'd turn off the engine and say "let's dismount and fight on foot".

Ignore the cacophony. Onwards, into the battle.

Press On Nails to Yale University

This got me laughing and I have to share it with you. The "Ivy League" is a big deal in America. The older I get the more I realise this.

Now I read that top students don't get accepted but this religiously intolerant misogynist has got a spot:

"Since the New York Times and Wall Street Journal broke the news about the admission of Taliban official Sayeed Rahmatullah Hashemi to a special student program at Yale, we've received numerous emails from outraged Yale Alumni. One email stood out from the rest "I won't give Yale one red cent this year, but maybe I will give them a red fingernail instead!" "

"She was referring to the Taliban's policy of pulling the fingernails off of Afghani women who dared to wear fingernail polish. Some of these women even had their thumbs sliced off as punishment. To date, Mr. Rahmatullah has not apologized or taken responsibility for his support of this brutal regime, though he told the Times he wished he had been "a little bit softer" in his advocacy. "

Just a little softer...see why I laughed?

If you want to, you can mail some plastic press ons to that lot at Yale to let them know how smart you think they are, almost as smart as Larry, ex of Harvard.

"Send them to Yale's Office of Development, along with a polite (or not-so-polite) letter explaining what you think of their decision to admit Rahmatullah:

Yale UniversityOffice of DevelopmentP.O. Box 2038New Haven, CT 06521-2038

What's more, you can also send a nice red fake nail or ten to Yale's President, Richard Levin, at:

President Richard C. LevinWoodbridge HallYale UniversityNew Haven Connecticut 06520 "

Michelle Malkin has posted a letter, here are edited highlights:

"Dear Mr. Levin,

My name is Debbie Bookstaber (Yale `00 BA/MA). I've volunteered as an ASC Interviewer every year since graduation.

Over the years, I've seen so many qualified students denied admission to Yale. While I was saddened to see these heartbroken students rejected, I understood that Yale just didn't have enough spots for all the amazing valedictorians with excellent SATs, impressive extracurriculars and an admirable history of community service......

.....Apparently when you combine a sub-par 4th grade education, a B+ college average in a special program, and a job history as a spokesperson for a regime that hates America, destroys priceless Buddhas, oppresses women, stones homosexuals, and enforces brutal sharia law in violation of UN Human Rights agreements, you have the magic formula for admission to Yale.

Next time I get a phone call from a high school senior in tears over Yale's rejection, I'll tell them to visit a local museum and blow up some sacred Buddhas, stone a homosexual or threaten to beat his/her mother to death if she refuses to wear a burka.

Thank you very much for helping me understand Yale Admissions.

Yours sincerely,Debbie Bookstaber (Yale `00)"

Come on, it's funny.

What's the problem?

At 15 I took Driver Ed. On my sixteenth birthday I passed my driving test and was supplied with a Michigan driving license, then and there. It felt great. I thought then and I think now, I'm perfectly happy to follow the rules if it means I get the freedom to drive around.

Once I took an old passport to the airport - they let me fly home anyway. Officials called my dad who was waiting at the airport, ready to prove he was himself and I was me.

No one has ever explained to me why ID cards are a bad idea. I'm me and I'm perfectly happy to prove it. It's always seemed illogical to me that you don't need to carry a driver's license while driving in England. So there's an accident and the other guy's at fault and he tells the truth? What are those statistics?

Now I read the new rules for travellers to the US - you must supply details of where you will be staying on your first night in the States or you won't be allowed to fly. Who doesn't know where they're staying the first night? Even bad guys know that information, right?

"The request for first night’s accommodation details is part of the Advanced Passenger Information (API) required by US Authorities for all travellers entering the country. API also obliges passengers to give passport information, including passport number, country of issue, expiry date, given names, last name, gender, date of birth and nationality."

There are a host of Brits that are passionate about ID cards, saying they take away their freedom. This in a country that has tracker vans checking out if you have a license for your tv.

ID cards are like theatre tickets. It's all very well to say you bought front row seats, but let's see the ticket that proves it.

Oscar Mayhem

Inspired by an email from L, here are some very silly Oscar blog posts:

I keep a close watch on this clock of mine. I feel my eyelids closing all the time. I keep the volume down, that suits me fine. Because it's late, please let me whine.

Oscar nominations you didn't see:

Flightplan of the Penguins - Penguins design a double decker airplane to fly them to the Antarctic coast in search of food, but panic ensues as their young become trapped in the refrigerator in the first class galley bar.

War of the Penguins: Terrifying tale of Antarctic Penguins guiding massive icebergs into the world's major cities, causing widespread death and destruction.

A live blogger writes:

They're doing some sort of noir retrospective. Which is the one where Richard Widmark pushes the old woman in the wheelchair down a flight of stairs? I need to rent that one. Nothing like a good laugh.

Ann Althouse:

8:15. A nice "Daily Show" style piece with fake ads for actresses is followed by a flatfooted intro for the documentary awards. An unfortunate juxtaposition. Another Woman in Black: Charlize Theron. (All the women are in beige or black. Did some neutrality order go out?) What will win for feature documentary? Surely, it must be the penguins. Yes, it is. The accepters bring stuffed penguins up and one guy whistles "thank you in Penguin." Another guy makes some comment about tuxedos, "penguin suits." At least, they thought of ideas.

Daniel Frank/Captain Spaulding:

So Jon Stewart and the Daily Show gang are writing his monologue and Bruce Villanch and his folk are writing the celebrity banter. Yeah, that's not going to clash.

Defamer:

6:22pm: Charlize, almost on cue, shows up to announce documentary feature in what one of our party operatives refers to as a "Project Runway" dress. Are they kidding us? Santino would never put a bow that staggeringly huge on a frock.
Oh, and the March of the Penguins crew wins, making them look a little less ridiculous for bringing three-foot stuffed penguins to the ceremony. Cocky? Sure. But they won, bitches, so deal with it.

The Captain:

8:24 - Wow, March of the Penguins beat Enron and Murderball. That surprised me.

Two Hundred year old poem

William Wordsworth is the poet for March (Many thanks L):

COMPOSED A FEW MILES ABOVE TINTERN ABBEY, ON REVISITING THE BANKS OF THE WYE DURING A TOUR. JULY 13, 1798

These beauteous forms, 22
Through a long absence, have not been to me
As is a landscape to a blind man's eye:
But oft, in lonely rooms, and 'mid the din
Of towns and cities, I have owed to them
In hours of weariness, sensations sweet,
Felt in the blood, and felt along the heart;
And passing even into my purer mind,
With tranquil restoration:--feelings too
Of unremembered pleasure: such, perhaps,
As have no slight or trivial influence
On that best portion of a good man's life,
His little, nameless, unremembered, acts
Of kindness and of love. 35

Know Nothing Party School

How do you decide what college to go to? I went to the one down the road from my parents. It was extremely well regarded then, and is nigh on impossible to get into now but I didn't appreciate it because it was the easy, close, default choice.

We had a rivalry with Ohio State. Only because of their sports teams you understand. Now, years later, I read about the wit and wisdom being visited on those poor kids at Ohio State and I realise how very true the words of the old song are...

From Norm, a link to a myspace entry about Curt Wannegut's chat at that sad college:

"We have people in this country who are richer than whole countries," he says. "They run everything."We have no Democratic Party. It's financed by the same millionaires and billionaires as the Republicans."

Wow! Maybe the kids who are buying the rest of his rhetoric will believe this too and will stay out of politics and not vote. They should just slink off to another wild party with like minded types and disregard any silly ideas like "government by the people for the people".

Notes during Parkinson

Kevin Spacey on first. I've never thought he was cute or charismatic, his delivery tonight isn't bad but Parkinson isn't the foil he would wish for "and then I'm going to take over your show".

The timing was off, it wasn't funny.

Prudential sponsors the show? How does this build confidence in the brand? I suppose Parkinson is a strong brand name, so is the Prudential.

Christina Aguilera is singing with some old continentaley guy. Her hair is great, very WW2 movie star but she looks tinier than Madonna and that's amazing given that everyone looks bigger on tv.

Wow, her voice is is rich and beautiful. He's not singing with her and she keeps looking at him, trying to follow him. Amore, hmmm, Italian?

Tony Blair comes down the few stairs.

Jeez Parkinson mentions he used to be in a band.

Tony Blair is admitting he didn't have pop "talent", admits he doesn't have modern technology skills, has a very British tie, stripes to the right.

Parkinson keeps patting his hand, Kevin Spacey acts surprised when Parky mentions a good review for Blair's Mark Anthony.

Tony Blair: "no reason to go into politics if you don't want to be in the public eye".

About Bill Clinton: He's the best politician as a politician...a very good guy.

Spacey does a GREAT impression of Bill's voice.

Blair has lots of funny stories:

Tells a Clinton story about three shirts, running the gamut from ghastly to unbelievably hideous. I put on ghastly Clinton put on hideous...Clinton points out "people may just think you chose that".

Parkinson asks him about university - I had the usual interests you'd expect.

"It's a long time since anyone used the word socialist about me."

"My dad was very interested in politics, he was a conservative man, he was fostered, he went into the military...went in a communist, come out a conservative."

"He only voted Labour after I became prime minister. He was a self made person."

I was ten or eleven my father had a serious stroke he was going to be a conservative candidate, he had a stroke and had to learn to speak again.

He never recovered completely. When something like that happens, suddenly this moment of complete instability comes into your life, you start to reflect, you think life's not that easy.

We don't live in number ten. You close the flat door, we still talk about the things you'd expect.

First meeting with your father in law like?

He comes into the house, says 'mind if I light a joint', I hadn't ever had a proper chat with him, I said no incidently.

commercial break...

It came upon me very suddenly, John Smith died, people speculate, in 24 hours you have to make up your mind, the scariest thing is you step into a different league of being well known.

Waking up, you know you're going to go for it and you know your life is going to change.

Suddenly it's completely different.

P: you made Labour electable.

T: People liked me then.

You go into the cabinet room..." well, prime minister what do you want to do then?" The euphoria drains away pretty quickly.

...there have been some really difficult decisions...the job is a privledge and it's voluntary.

It's a decision making job...the problem with decision making is there are two points of view.

It is a responsibility.

...sacking friends?

"When you live in the public eye the mistakes you make...are very visible."

P: "You've been called a liar and war monger, what is your feeling...when you read causalties?"

"It's more difficult for the people at the front line, that decision....has to be lived with."

"If you have faith...if you believe in God, you do your ...some decisions have been vv difficult...not just a mater of policy but life and death...try to do the right thing according to your conscience.

P: You struggle with your own conscience about it?

You do what you think is the right thing

If you do the job you've got to be prepared to take the decisions.

P: impossible jobs....media...no time for reflection

B: "The big change is modern politics is, it's 24/7 . It's the way it is.

Living with the media is tough, not going to change...like sharing an apartment with someone who's somewhat deranged.

How do you get on with George Bush?

Spacey acts weird, wheels his chair stage right.

B: I happen to think...I find him extremely straightforward, he's easy and straightforward to deal with.

T: (looks over at Spacey) No comment, that's fine.

Spacey: "It's a very interesting time to be out of the United States."

Heavens did Kevin Spacey just say something intelligent???

They talk about his heart problems. Ends gently.

Two hundred year old joke

From Dr. Sanity:

BEST COUNCIL POSTS:

First Place

Our George Done With Mirrors

"...here's one of the many stories Lincoln famously told to entertain his fellow lawyers on the long nights riding the circuit on the Illinois frontier:"

"One of the leaders of the American Revolution -- I forget now who it was, Ethan Allen, perhaps -- visited England after the war. His host entertained him comfortably, but was the sort of fellow who constantly disparaged America and Americans generally (no, it didn't start with Bush), and never could get over the fact we had beaten them in the war. "

"To amuse himself and to twit his American guest, the host hung a print of George Washington on the wall of his outhouse. It had been there for a few days, and the host knew the American must have seen it, but he had said nothing. "

"Finally overcome by curiosity, the host asked his guest what he thought of the picture of Washington."

" "It is most appropriately hung," the American replied. "Nothing ever made the British shit like the sight of George Washington." "

See The Oil Fields at First Light

"Hate something, change something", song lyrics on my mind...

Don't read this blogger's expose of one aspect of Sodhim's reign because it might break your heart.

From Michael J. Totten's post about the genocide museum in "Suleimaniya...the most liberal city in Iraqi Kurdistan."

"The entrance to the genocide museum is in the back of the building. To get there from the front you have to walk past one of the rape rooms. Women’s underwear and contraceptives were found in that room when the prison was liberated by the Peshmerga."

"The hardest thing to see was the cell used to hold children before they were murdered. My translator Alan read some of the messages carved into the wall."

“I was ten years old. But they changed my age to 18 for execution.”

"Dear Mom and Dad. I am going to be executed by the Baath. I will not see you again.”

"10,725 people were killed in this one building alone. All died during torture. Formal execution actually took place in Abu Ghraib."

Bloggers like Michael J. Totten and Michael Yon write timely stories the antique media will not. There's more heart in one little sentence of theirs, than all the pages of the biased, unprofitable, antique media. I don't want to cry on a beautiful Saturday morning, but my choice of reading material blows that desire out of the water.

Donations support their work. Not politically motivated Trusts. Not brutalising, sexualised advertising. Not agenda driven editors. Just tips from readers, that's all.

Favourite Lyrics

"Music channel MTV is holding a poll on the nation's favourite lyrics. Top songwriters have chosen a list of 100 lyrics, from which the winner must be chosen. Currently heading the poll is the following couplet from the Arctic Monkeys' I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor: "Oh there ain't no love, no Montagues and Capulets/ We're just banging tunes and DJ sets...". Are the Sheffield band's lyrics really better than those by artists such as The Beatles, Bob Dylan and Elvis Costello? Read the report and the leading article from The Times."

Ten they missed:

"I got the power" Snap
"But everything he lacks well he makes up in denial" Offspring
"You've got a lure I can't deny but you've had your chance so say goodbye" Postal Service
"Red red wine, stay close to me" UB40
"I'm free, free falling" Tom Petty
"In your eyes I see the doorway to a thousand churches" Peter Gabriel
"I'd be safe and warm if I was in LA" Mamas and Papas
"Caught up in circles confusion is nothing new" Cyndi Lauper
"Oh my God I can't believe it I've never been this far away from home" Kaiser Chiefs
"Everywhere you go you always take the weather with you" Crowded House

Swirling

Blue flashes at me
Darling one
The snow swirls round us
Tube then sun
Had them in Paris
Held hands in Rome
Toured the whole wide world
Glad I'm home

Horse Buying Tips

Here's a guy who's a "bloodstock consultant". Does he sound like someone you'd want parking near your home?

Edited highlights:

"Louise Hamilton faced John Leat in the civil court yesterday."

"Mrs Hamilton is a pensioner and works as a volunteer at Mind, a charity shop in Richmond."

"Mr Leat, 58, now runs his own business, John Leat Consultancy, operating as a bloodstock consultant. The business is registered at the house in Ascot. "

"He has been before the British courts before, in 1998, when his PA claimed that she had been unfairly dismissed for being pregnant. The matter came before a tribunal and was settled out of court. "

"The dispute began on August 11, 2004, when Mrs Hamilton was returning to her home, a flat above a dental surgery in Richmond, southwest London."

"She found her front door blocked by a silver Mercedes belonging to Mr Leat, at that time chairman of Corvus Capital. Her reaction, to write a note for the driver, would land her in Kingston County Court 32 months later."

"She told District Judge Sandip Sethi that she had managed to squeeze past the £70,000 car. She had written a note asking the driver not to park against her front door. "

"David Lyons, an in-house lawyer at Corvus Capital, told the court that Mr Leat had permission to park where he had from the dentist. "

"“Not right up against my front door,” Mrs Hamilton said."

"The court was told that Mr Leat had had an estimate of £882.34 for the repair job, but had had the work done for £1,314.59 at another garage. He was claiming the higher amount."

""The judge said that he could see “no g