The Other Side of Everything

National Identity And Public Ritual

Dean — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 01:20:22 PDT

3. National Identity And Public Ritual Nations are defined and maintained by their public rituals. On July 3rd 2008, I proposed that the world’s wealthiest nation, the United States of America, initiate a public holiday to be held on July 4th to lift itself out of the gloom of their financially-collapsed country. Despite the fact that [...]

Carry On Swearing

Dean — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 02:11:07 PDT

2. Carry On Swearing. Freaking, freakin’, frak, frakkin’, feck, feckin’ - all these emasculated, Bowdlerised words mean but one thing: the craven cowardice and hypocrisy of the user. Fuck is a good, honest word. It has lasted well over a thousand years, and it is rich with usages and subtlety. English is an excellent language, with its [...]

The Use of U

Dean — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 00:40:35 PDT

1. The Use of U. The English language has become the second most spoken in the world because of its flexibility. It absorbs and accomodates, it does not exclude. Nonetheless, efficiencies could be made in spelling, especially where confusions arise. For example the use of “U”. In the UK we spell “neighbour” and in the [...]

The Post-Jackson Age

Dean — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 10:19:37 PDT

The untimely and sudden end of Michael Jackson has sent a shockwave around the planet. In the Amazon, indians are wondering what the hell is this disturbance in the force. I wonder what percentage of humanity were impacted by this news? Thus we enter the Post Jackson Age, June 26th, 2009. Michael Jackson’s time of death was [...]

What is Art Anyway?

Dean — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 16:08:47 PDT

Yesterday My Brain Popped

Dean — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 03:05:43 PDT

Stress has a peculiar way of manifesting in the Whitbread household. No, that is wrong. It actually has several ways of manifesting, depending on the severity and the longevity. I like words ending in “ity” for some reason, there is comfort in my conformity. So I’ve been over-working, that much is certain, to the point of [...]

links for 2009-06-05

Delicious Links — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 19:03:54 PDT

Barack Obama in Cairo: the speech no other president could make | Jonathan Freedland | Comment is free | The Guardian Comment: "..the President's heavy and obvious reliance on the teleprompter, does undermine the heartfelt sentiment of the speech somewhat. Once again an American President demands that the Palestinians renounce violence and presents it as a [...]

Forgiveness

Dean — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 02:20:46 PDT

“How did I come to be doing this?” “What was that all about?” - I regularly ask myself these obvious questions, especially after a period of continuing along a path which seems to be completely pointless. How can I possibly have believed that this was a good idea? Me, Mr Intelligent, possessed of such insight, [...]

links for 2009-06-01

Delicious Links — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 19:02:28 PDT

BBC - Today Beautiful images. (tags: photography beautiful clouds geography weather)

links for 2009-05-30

Delicious Links — Sat, 30 May 2009 19:02:05 PDT

How the Web and the Weblog have changed Writing The pre-1990 commercial publishing world supported two lengths of manuscript: the five-page magazine article, serving as filler among the ads the book, with a minimum of 200 pages Suppose that an idea merited 20 pages, no more and no less? A handful of long-copy magazines, such as the old New [...]

links for 2009-05-27

Delicious Links — Wed, 27 May 2009 19:03:12 PDT

Israelis get four times more water than Palestinians, says World Bank report | World news | guardian.co.uk The settlements built on Palestinian land with Palestinian stone often contain properties boasting US-style gleaming swimming pools, while over the barbed-wire, local Palestinians go thirsty and their subsistence crops wither. Less than 10% of the sewage produced by settlements [...]

Dear BBC, I Don’t Trust You With My Content

Dean — Wed, 27 May 2009 03:13:18 PDT

The BBC website promoted “Have Your Say” the other day - “make the news!” - in its push for more user-provided content. Having previously contributed via Seesmic and other means to their online offering, even appearing on TV once or twice, I thought it appropriate to explain to them why I would no longer be [...]

links for 2009-05-25

Delicious Links — Mon, 25 May 2009 19:32:37 PDT

Palfest Video Corner Video of what happened when the Israeli authorities tried to shut down the Palestinian Literary Festival. (tags: Palestine Israel oppression)

links for 2009-05-24

Delicious Links — Sun, 24 May 2009 19:02:21 PDT

Armed Israeli police close theatre on first night of Palestinian festival | World news | guardian.co.uk The Palestinian National Theatre is a great place, completely independent, as their spokesman say. (tags: Palestine Israel oppression theatre) A climate of loathing towards all MPs is bad for democracy I read Andrew Rawnsley and often learn from him, but in particular enjoy [...]

links for 2009-05-22

Delicious Links — Fri, 22 May 2009 19:32:14 PDT

BBC NEWS | World | Middle East | Israel admits Tube advert map 'mistake' Mistake. (tags: Israel occupation)