Was reading the news online just now and it was one of those moments when life starts to feel less real and much more like a movie. The news is on in the background and the Euro situation is dragging on. It’s quite worrying and complex. Saw a couple of links about the treatment of protestors at Occupy Oakland – the gassing of protestors and police hiding their identity. Then the BBC has this piece explaining that the “onset of wrinkles, muscle wasting and cataracts has been delayed and even eliminated in mice.” This is starting to feel less like life and more like the start of a movie. I’m just hoping it ends well!
Little Weapon – Lupe Fiasco
This song is amazing.
How about that for food for thought?
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Gender, war and urgh.
This isn’t a real post as brain is pretty much mush and words are beyond me. But was just sent this.
Definitely one of the weirder videos I’ve seen in a long time, but thought provoking. More thoughts to follow when brain is less mush.
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Manners
Was listening to the Today programme on Radio 4 this morning (part of efforts to better myself… so far not working too well!) and there was a discussion about a new report from the Young Foundation on manners. (You can listen again here.) It was all quite interesting and the gist was that the nation is getting more polite.
I don’t really have a view on whether we’re getting more or less polite, having only this life with which to compare things. Customer service is, for the most part, certainly much worse here than in the US. But even in London people are mostly nice – the trick is breaking through that veneer.
Manners interesting because you take them for granted unless they are lacking. I’m not going to get myself in trouble here by talking about other people’s manners. Instead, a wonderful Maya Angelou quote that seems quite appropriate:
“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”
Good thought to start the week.
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How to train you dragons…
On Friday night, we watched ‘How to train your dragon’, which is amazing. Such a wonderful and lovely film. I may have cried, but I cry at most films, especially those that are about friendship and sacrifice. This got me revisiting an old wondering about the sorts of morals society offers up to little people.
Today I saw this awesome screenshot from some Fox coverage of President Clinton:
I don’t know how to respond to that, so will just say technically that’s correct, but that it comes with a whole heap of crazy on the side. Anyhoo.
Thinking about climate change, in the UK the concept isn’t particularly new or (hopefully) crazy. We’ve had David Attenborough being an absolute legend for years and years, can claim James Lovelock as one of our own, and I sort of feel our school syllabi gave/give us a decent grounding in it all. Climate change makes sense. I wonder if it makes sense because our science syllabus covers the environment in a way that makes it clear that pumping chemicals into a balanced system will unbalance it. Whatever the reason, I’m glad that people in the UK seem a little less likely to go off on one about climate change being a myth.
Linking back to the wonderful HTTYD. Films like HTTYD, Wall-E, Up and Rango are aimed at kids and have some pretty strong moral undercurrents running through them. The morality of these films (and of Harry Potter, while we’re on the topic) is quite, quite lovely – do your best, be true to yourself, do what is right and be a good friend. It’s also great to have outsiders as the hero, as it seems so many people self-identify as an outsider at some point in their life.
The other wonderful undercurrent in these films is climate change and causality. Wall-E’s world was post-apocalyptic and that little guy soldiered on. Rango’s desert is a result of human’s creating a fountain-filled gambling mecca in a desert. Up taught us about environmentalism and the wonders of protecting endangered species, while HTTYD showed that everything has a place and we need to understand and respect that. Delicate balance, holistic living… It’s all there. So a generation of children will, hopefully, grow up with strong (nerdy!) role models that demonstrate that good guys don’t always come last and climate change and environmentalism are good.
Obviously, a film in itself is not going to instil these values in a child, but we can hope. Maybe in a generation, a President won’t get jeered at for pointing out a sad truth.
Some gratuitous photos of these awesome films. If you haven’t seen them, highly recommend!
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3 Terrorist Groups in Africa Pose Threat to U.S., General Ham Says – NYTimes.com
This article came up in multiple conversations, so figured this was a sign that it’s worth sharing.
General Ham made clear that the three militant organizations — the Shabab in Somalia, Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb across the Sahel region of northern Africa and Boko Haram in northern Nigeria — had not yet shown the capability to mount significant attacks outside their homelands, though the Shabab bombed and killed dozens of people in Uganda during the World Cup last year.
via 3 Terrorist Groups in Africa Pose Threat to U.S., General Ham Says – NYTimes.com.
“Each of those three independently presents a significant threat not only in the nations in which they primarily operate, but regionally — and I think they present a threat to the United States,” General Ham said.
Defense Department officials confirmed later on Wednesday that a large car bomb detonated in August by Boko Haram militants bore signature elements of the improvised explosives used by the Qaeda offshoot in the Sahel; those forensics are leading analysts to suggest that the group had shared its tactics and techniques with the Nigerian terrorist organization.
…General Ham also expressed concerns that the current upheaval in Libya might allow extremist groups to make inroads there, and he warned that missiles, explosives and even poisonous chemicals held by the Qaddafi government might fall into terrorists’ hands.
“The presence of extremist organizations in Libya, and expanding their influence, is a concern not only of the U.S. but certainly of the regional states, as well,” he said.
Three types of Libyan government weapons appeared to be on the loose amid the upheaval: shoulder-launched antiaircraft missiles, military ordnance that could be converted into improvised roadside bombs and the precursor components of chemical weapons.
Libya was subject to a program to dismantle its chemical weapons stockpiles, General Ham said, but that program was not completed before fighting broke out this year.
“Some of those materials remain,” he said. “It is not weaponized — it is not easily weaponized.”
I always find the link between different terrorist groups fascinating. Can’t help but wonder how the IRA/FARC/PLO links will be updated for the 21st century and what implications that will have for the rest of us.
And while reminiscing on links of yore, seem pertinent to mention Gaddafi and the IRA.
BBC News – UK firm denies ‘cyber-spy’ deal with Egypt
Also this:
A UK firm offered to supply "cyber-spy" software used by Egypt to target activists, the BBC has learned.
Documents found in the headquarters of the country’s security service suggest it was used for a five-month trial period at the end of last year.
Hampshire-based Gamma International UK denies actually supplying the program, which infects computers with a virus that bugs online voice calls and email.
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BBC News – Japan defence firm Mitsubishi Heavy in cyber attack
Japan’s top weapons maker has confirmed it was the victim of a cyber attack reportedly targeting data on missiles, submarines and nuclear power plants.
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) said viruses were found on more than 80 of its servers and computers last month.
…MHI confirmed that 45 of its servers and 38 computers were infected by at least eight viruses.
The viruses targeted a shipyard in Nagasaki, where destroyers are built, and a facility in Kobe that manufactures submarines and parts for nuclear power stations, public broadcaster NHK reported.
A plant in Nagoya, where the company designs and builds guidance and propulsion systems for rockets and missiles, was also reportedly compromised.
via BBC News – Japan defence firm Mitsubishi Heavy in cyber attack.
Hmmmm.
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Marry the Night
Lady Gaga has always been an impressive person. There isn’t really another term for such dedication to her art. I love how her entire life seems to be a profound performance art piece.
I read and very much enjoyed this month’s interview with her in Vanity Fair. If you are interested in Lady Gaga, definitely worth picking this one up. It was the mention at the end of the video for ‘Marry the Night’ that made me go look it up. The article talks about the making of the video and how Gaga recreated ‘the worst day of my life’. Apparently she wants people to interpret the video for themselves, so behold. (Watch in high definition if your bandwidth will allow!)
Now going against Gaga’s wishes and talking about it… When I was watching, I was completely captivated. When I was done, I thought it would be like a normal video that you stop watching and move on with your day. But it stayed with me and I felt like a friend had just told me she’d been raped.
It’s so sad that this is not as rare as it deserves to be. People get sexually assaulted and raped every day, the world over. Living in a developed, democratic nation is no protection against some scumbag. Our societies don’t seem to be ready to address rape properly (more on that later!), and so we live in a strange twilight zone where we know it happens and we all know people that have been violated in this way, yet we sort of turn a blind eye. Because it is such a personal event and such a personal trauma, we don’t discuss in plain sight.
Just going to throw it out there. The only one to blame is the rapist.
A much more mild visual representation of this would be to go around punching people in the back of the head. In order to avoid getting smacked back, you would have to think about who you were going to punch. Smaller people, drunk people, those that look vulnerable or like they wouldn’t fight back or complain. By being in that position, are any of those people asking to be punched in the back of the head? No. You’re just an asshole walking around punching people. I don’t understand how this is conceptually different and why blame is often put on the victim.
But back to Lady Gaga. In the video she takes a very private trauma and says ‘this happened and it didn’t break me. I am here and I am stronger. The darkness does not win. You write your own path.’
Regardless of gender, age, race, religion or any other factor you choose to name, that is a powerful message.