calling elvis

In the beginning

via Gangs of the Caribbean – Photo albums from sail-e.com.

Town Hall USA

via mattbors.com

Over the last few years, we have all witnessed the decline of the music business, highlighted by finger-pointing and blame directed against record companies, artists, internet file sharing and any other theories for which a case could be made. We’ve read and heard about the “good old days” and how things used to be. People remember when music existed as an art that motivated social movements. Artists and their music flourished in back alleys, taverns and barns until, in some cases, a popular groundswell propelled it far and wide. These days, that possibility no longer seems to exist. After 35 years as an artist in the recording business, I feel somehow compelled, not inspired, to stand up for our fellow artists and tell that side of the story as I perceive it. Had the industry not been decimated by a lack of vision caused by corporate bean counters obsessed with the bottom line, musicians would have been able to stick with creating music rather than trying to market it as well.

via http://www.truthdig.com/

Short of opening a Radio Shack in an Amish town, Dubai is the world’s worst business idea, and there isn’t even any oil. Imagine proposing to build Vegas in a place where sex and drugs and rock and roll are an anathema. This is effectively the proposition that created Dubai – it was a stupid idea before the crash, and now it is dangerous.

Dubai threatens to become an instant ruin, an emblematic hybrid of the worst of both the West and the Middle-East and a dangerous totem for those who would mistakenly interpret this as the de facto product of a secular driven culture.

The opening shot of this clip shows 200 skyscrapers that were built in the last 5 years. It looks like Manhattan except that it isn’t the place that made Mingus or Van Allen or Kerouac or Wolfe or Warhol or Reed or Bernstein or any one of the 1001 other cultural icons from Bob Dylan to Dylan Thomas that form the core spirit of what is needed, in the absence of extreme toleration of vice, to infuse such edifices with purpose and create a self-sustaining culture that will prevent them crumbling into the empty desert that surrounds them.

via Goodbye Dubai | Smashing Telly – A hand picked TV channel.

Fundamentally, we need to ask what is the greater threat to human welfare: the possibility that humane efforts to address population growth might be abused, or our ongoing failure to act to prevent hundreds of millions, even billions, dying as a result of global ecological collapse?

via BBC NEWS | Science & Environment | Population: The elephant in the room.

There are some people – at the top of the economic pyrimid – who benifit greatly by being able to sell their products to huge populations. We wont hear the Gates foundation proposing population control for instance. Of course these same people can afford to puchase large swathes of real estate for their own use.

Stop voting for people you want to have a beer with. Stop voting for folksy. Stop voting for people who remind you of your neighbor. Stop voting for the ideologically intransigent, the staggeringly ignorant, and the blazingly incompetent.

Vote for someone smarter than you. Vote for someone who inspires you. Vote for someone who has not only traveled the world but who has also shown a deep understanding and compassion for it. The stakes are real and they’re terrifyingly high. This election matters. It matters. It really matters. Let me say that one more time. This. Really. Matters.

Michael Seitzman: Sarah Palin Naked

Until recently, the concept of private life was basic to civilisation. Its value could be measured by the thoroughness with which totalitarian states and religions always did their best to stamp it out. But now we have to face the possibility that the latest stage of civilisation might also be trying to stamp it out.

Clive James – Someone’s watching you

In view of your failure to elect a competent President and thus to govern yourselves, we hereby give notice of the revocation of your independence, effective immediately.

Her Sovereign Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II, will resume monarchical duties over all states, commonwealths and other territories (except Kansas, which she does not fancy), as from Monday next

John Cleese’s “Letter to America” « Things Are Looking Up…

Benazir Bhutto was a courageous, secular and liberal woman. But sadness at the demise of this courageous fighter should not mask the fact that as a pro-Western feudal leader who did little for the poor, she was as much a central part of Pakistan’s problems as the solution to them.

Of course nothing could be further from the truth. There is nothing less approachable than naked french girls on a Martinique beach, attired in little more than red nail polish. But Americans at the time were not accustomed to being around real live naked girls unless they were about to get laid. My boss promptly checked into the hotel and spent the next few days fruitlessly strutting his stuff.

French television and billboard advertising will often use female breasts in a variety of formats, right in front of the poor impressionable kids during prime time television. No-one bats an eyelid, or pays much attention for that matter, including the kids.

Benazir Bhutto

I remember watching the BBC’s Newsnight a few years ago when Benazir Bhutto, the rather pretty Muslim ex prime minister of Pakistan was being interviewed about some serious political and religious matters. I forget what they were. During a long – perhaps 20 minute debate, her head scarf was slowly slipping backwards off her head. Was she permitted to appear in public without a head scarf? I didn’t know. Nor did she realize that her scarf was slipping off. The tension was incredible, was it going to slip off? A few times it was tugged back into position, but finally her head and hair were uncovered.

It was very sexy show. I can understand that some might find this level of titillation unacceptable, but had she appeared without her head scarf, I wouldn’t have given it a second thought, and might have paid attention to the arguments she was doubtless expressing with great skill.

Please design and build me a house. I am not quite sure of what I need, so you should use your discretion. My house should have somewhere between two and forty-five bedrooms. Just make sure the plans are such that the bedrooms can be easily added or deleted. When you bring the blueprints to me, I will make the final decision of what I want. Also, bring me the cost breakdown for each configuration so that I can arbitrarily pick one.

Keep in mind that the house I ultimately choose must cost less than the one I am currently living in. Make sure, however, that you correct all the deficiencies that exist in my current house (the floor of my kitchen vibrates when I walk across it, and the walls don’t have nearly enough insulation in them).

Hello Media Brisbane Website Design Blog | Queensland

My Favorite from the 70′s – The Sex Beatles.

The Dilbert Blog: Funny Band Names

Fundamentalist Christian right "para church" ministries with apocalyptic theological views have penetrated the United States military in a pattern, we’ll shortly be demonstrating, that goes from the Pentagon on down to the base level, in which evangelical organizations, under the Campus Crusade for Christ, teach Biblical literalism and "Rapture" theology. These ministries have been invited onto US military basic training facilities to run "religious education" programs and evangelize recruits.

Daily Kos: Pervasive Pattern Of Fundamentalist Influence In Military

I continue to see news people wishing upon stars for some salvation from the change bearing down on them: fairy godmothers who will swoop in from government or foundations or rich families to provide magic money that lets them continue to do business as they have. Consider this Columbia Journalism Review piece wishing for government support of news and this New York Times report setting up the Poynter-Institute-owned St. Petersburg Times as an ideal.

The first from Salon:

the U.S. State Department denounced Ahmadinejad as himself little more than a terrorist. Critics have also cited his statements about the Holocaust or his hopes that the Israeli state will collapse. He has been depicted as a Hitler figure intent on killing Israeli Jews, even though he is not commander in chief of the Iranian armed forces, has never invaded any other country, denies he is an anti-Semite, has never called for any Israeli civilians to be killed, and allows Iran’s 20,000 Jews to have representation in Parliament.

Iran’s Ahmadinejad, public enemy No. 1? | Salon.com

The second from Dilbert Blog:

Ahmadinejad also called the holocaust a "myth." Fuck him! A myth is something a society uses to frame their understanding of their world, and act accordingly. It’s not as if the world created a whole new country because of holocaust guilt and gives it a free pass no matter what it does. That’s Iranian crazy talk. Ahmadinejad can blow me.

A Feeling I’m Being Had

Here, however (for what it is worth) is the definitive verdict of thermodynamics: water is not a fuel. It never has been one, and it never will be one. Water does not burn. Water is already burnt — it is spent fuel. It is exhaust.

news @ nature.com – Burning water and other myths – We will never stem the idea that water can act as a fuel, says Philip Ball.

Last nights Newsnight on BBC2 painted a disturbing picture of life in Robert Mugabe’s Zimbabwe – check the link above for an outline and link to the video.

What is even more disturbing to me – with cholera epidemic just around the corner, people starving, and a life expectancy in the middle thirties for most people – is the continued complicity of the South African government and all that this implies – they are not about to condemn a brutal dictator because of the colour of his skin.

Its hard to imagine that conditions are any better for most people than during apartheid regimes of the past. The new rulers of southern Africa don’t seem to have read George Orwell’s Animal Farm – they seem to relish the prospect of grabbing power for themselves and screwing the people into the earth. There is going to be no revolution while people are busy starving. Meanwhile as the rulers in South Africa look over their shoulders in paradoxical envy, South Africa itself is flooded with poor Zimbabweans surviving as best they can in gangs that rob loot and rape.

Someone once suggested to me, that if the rest of the world threw up a fence around Africa – no one outside of Africa would give a damn. Apart from some resources – its hard to argue with this viewpoint. Is Africa going to be a mess forever? Is it all the fault of the colonial past – if so why isn’t East Asia in the same mess?

Further contemplation of the map reveals a “Zone Touristic” along the eastern beaches of Djerba. Not a good sign, but having decided on a whim that Tunisia sounded like an exotic destination for a family vacation, logistics demanded that we locate near the sea. I found an excellent looking “residence” outside of the zone touristic but within walking distance of the sea – so i booked a week and we flew down “en familie”.

See the Map

The best hope i have for Djerba, is that they find oil on the island and some aggressive nation, near far or local, decides to invade, and in the process levels the “Zone Touristic”.

The idea i believe is to fly down tourists by the bucket load, then pack them on the baking beach while providing an “all inclusive” holiday. Each hotel had its own 100 meters of beach front, patrolled by security in case an inhabitant of a nearby “all inclusive” should decide to partake of a finer vintage of inclusivity. Security was tight, but we had been given rights to one of the nearby hotels facilities by our “residence”. Even so, without the tell tale bead bracelet, whistles were blown in our direction any time we strayed outside the 3 meters of wet sand or wandered towards a pool.

I have as much desire to spend my day next to 100′s of oiled up tourists, as i have to spend my days riding the London Underground. So leaving this beach was not a problem. If you want to find the most expensive hotel in the zone, and spend a few days within its confines – i do believe you could have an enjoyable weekend – assuming it is the middle of winter in the northern hemisphere and you have serious vitamin D deficiency. But its not my gig.

The zone touristic stretches along the sea front for 10′s of kilometres. Some hotels were smart and exotic and no development was over 2 stories high. But outside of the actual hotels are vacant lots – best way i can describe them – filled with rubble and garbage. It seems like some older building projects (or perhaps an ancient civilisation) has been bulldozed to the side to make way for the latest development, then left to fester in any open space available. On one side of the coast road are the “all inclusive” hotels, inter-spaced with vacant lots of rubble and garbage, on the other side of the road are cheap Disney World type fast food restaurants selling limp chips and flyblown salad Tunisian (with the inevitable topping of canned tuna), crappy boutiques filled with belly dancer Halloween costumes and hookahs and all the tat that the misguided locals seem to think tourists would be delighted to accumulate.

As you move inland things improve, the buildings thin out and some evidence of palms and olive groves can be found. There are smaller vacant lots of rubble and garbage and some smart looking villas among the sandy roads. Everything is separated by empty lots or half buildings and rubble. I don’t know if Djerba went through a boom period and things have now slowed down, or perhaps they only build at night or in winter, but i never saw any evidence of serious construction, no sign of workers toiling in the 36 degree heat – and who can blame them, but how did all these half finished buildings get there.

Given my lack of enthusiasm for the “Zone Touristic”, I am happy to report that our rooms at “Residence Amphora Menzel” were excellent – half a mile back from the chaos of the main road and the ZONE. An imaginatively decorated 2 storied 2 bedroom 2 bathroom 3 balcony “residence” with a kitchenette. Cooled by 3 air con units and surrounding a courtyard festooned with cushions and carpets. Merek the owner and our guide, gave a resoundingly warm welcome, catered to our every whim, gave excellent advise as to what to see and avoid, provided a hire car delivered to the door, and was general good guy and friend. A worldly doctor in Paris he developed these 6 residences in 2001 which he then furnished with taste. He paid relentless attention to detail, and was available at all hours. Merek chatted and fed us mint tea on the carpets in the courtyard and he quickly spotted my lack of enthusiasm for all inclusive beach bumming and suggested a two day drive into the interior in search of authenticity and oasis.

Our drive across the island at 7:30 in the morning, painted the island in a more favourable light than our excursions of the previous day in our hire car. Things get better towards the centre and south of Djerba, more olive groves, but all set in a flat uninteresting landscape. And any time you get close to tourist spots of the slightest interest, the bartering with the insistent locals gets tiresome. You expect to be pestered in the north African Souc’s, you have to develop your skills with humour and patients, and don’t let the first guy to come along latch onto you or you are stuck with him for the duration. “Hey remember me from the hotel” was a common introductory phrase.

We caught the ferry to the mainland and found ourselves on the continent of Africa, drove north along the chaotic main road to Tunis and at Gabes, turned left towards Kebili and Tozeur. Driving through the towns is always interesting, scooters and pedestrians cross the road without a look in any directions- right into your path. After a while i wondered if it was not a ploy to be hit by a hire car and extort money.

This was a harsh land, a trickle of water the only reason for any town to develop, and as we headed west it got hotter. Excursions in the middle of day went only a few feet from our air-conditioned tourist mobile. As the day progressed people were harder to spot, anybody with any sense was in the shade somewhere. Then we went through Kebili and a series of “Palmiers” and oasis and found ourselves on a salt desert with only gleaming crystals for miles in either direction. Car failure here would have been interesting, if not life threatening. When we stopped on the edge of the salt desert the temperature must have been well over 40 degrees in blasting baking wind. Having a pee felt like doing the place a favour.

Crossing the “Chott el Jerid” successfully we saw a line of palms rising slowly from the gleam, floating like a mirage above the heat, and turned south towards Tozeur, following the dusty villages who support the few palm oasis on the edge of the salt pan.

Tozeur is another tourist destination, and horror of horrors, has a “Zone Touristic”, with all the appeal of all the “Zone Touristic” that we had so far encountered. Air conditioned Gaudy hotels with Alibaba codpieces, speckled with dust blown fast food monstrosities. But the “Palmier” here is a big deal, dates farmed from homes behind elaborate gates with irrigation systems plumbed into the fabric of the soil. We had hoped to find a meal on the edge of the oasis and enjoy a light lunch, but after driving through the palm groves for long enough, we finally happened upon the “Little Prince”. What a dump, designed it appeared to accommodate coach loads of tourists in a semi air-conditioned light less dungeon.

Is the notion of what tourists actually might want, so far removed from the Tunisian mind that they plonk them in the first space they can air condition. How difficult would it be to create an elevated and shady retreat overlooking the palms of the oasis. Make it out of palm trunks and leaves, surely easier than the brick and cement buildings that were always evident in their half completeness.

Stocked up on cokes and headed north to Tamerza!

And then it got interesting again crossing the near desert, with a line of mountains visible in the distance and “beware of the camels crossing” signs next to the road. On the left we thought we could see signs of water, but it became apparent that these were actually heat mirages.

At the foothills we followed a series of oasis up to Tamerza and checked into the “Tamerza Palace”. Overlooking the ruined old town of Tamerza that had been washed away when it rained for a half an hour back in 1969, it was a truly spectacular location. Perched on the side of the hill; a four star hotel with cool swimming pool, comfortable rooms and good food. We freshened up, then took an early evening walk in the palms oasis before heading over to Mides for the sunset. We found a delightfully sad old guide who claimed to be one of the original inhabitants before the old town of Mides had also washed away. He missed the old days he said and showed us the ruins where he was born and brought up. Now they had to build brick buildings, the palm groves couldn’t support the village, and things just weren’t the same. 2 dinar for a bottle of cold water seemed reasonable.

I leaned out dangerously over the precipice and took a shaky shot over the canyon made famous by star wars movies, our guide stood next to me like a mountain goat while my family wailed at my stupidity – i had all the passports and money.

We were one of only 4 parties dinning at the Tamerza Palace that night – real bear and wine with the meal. A location not to be missed, and my North African skills were improving – we managed to haggle the price of our suite down by 100 Dinar.

The next day we drove back through Douz and Matmata. In Douz we found hundreds of camels sitting beside the sand dunes of the Sahara, all saddled up and waiting, it appeared, for coach loads of tourists to take an hour excursion into the desert. In Matmata we found the troglodyte dwelling holes of former the inhabitants – another tourist trap. Between the two towns we actually ran across a line of camels crossing the road. The “camel crossing” road signs were not a tourist ruse.

Between Matmata and Metameur we had the most beautiful and authentic drive of return journey. The town of Toujane appeared unspoilt, real Tunisians sat outside the houses keeping cool. We had finally found a Town that had not been driven to gaudiness by the relentless march of the Tour operators.

When we finally returned to the 36 degree heat of Djerba and the Amphora Menzel, it felt cool, chilly even – and it felt good to be out of the rain.

AfriGadget (via Treehugger)

The SCORE multi-function stove, fridge and electricity generator

An all-in-one cooker, energy generator and fridge could soon be improving quality of life in developing countries, thanks to an international project launched this week.

Solar Power in Madagascar

A small company in Madagascar is working to get electricity to rural areas of the island. This video shows them taking the solar panels around in a van to show people how it works and educate the children on solar power. It’s an interesting video, especially near the end where Bill hooks up his computer to the internet through a satellite connection at night – all powered by the solar panel’s stored energy.

$100 Bicycle Motor Gets 50 km per Liter

This is a motorized bicycle, made in Kisumu, Kenya and purchased in Kakemega. They hold about 2 liters of petrol and can get theoretically around 50 km a liter. They cost around 7,000 Kenyan shillings. To start the bicycle you start pedaling manually, then you flip a switch on the left handle that starts the engine. Then you have a normal motorcycle throttle control on the right side.

Few people have been as consistently right about the middle east and the consequences of western policies in the region than Scott Ritter. When he told us that there were no weapons of mass destruction in the Iraq he was ridiculed by the masters of war. As a former marine, intelligence officer, and weapons inspector- he was in a position to know.

I have always been a bit sceptical about the notion that the invasion of Iraq had opened the door to insurgent terrorism, and that was the war being currently fought by the UK and US. The concise history, delivered by Ritter in this article, puts the Muslim schism in perspective, and answers the question of what 20,000 extra troops are going to achieve in Baghdad.

With bellicose sabre rattling with Iran ongoing – Have a look at Ritter’s record on The US War with Iran has Already Begun (2005) – and plenty more around the Web

1. Do you lose time from your work due to sending more troops to Iraq?
2. Is sending more troops to Iraq making your home life unhappy?
3. Do you send more troops to Iraq because you are shy with other people?
4. Is sending more troops to Iraq affecting your reputation?
5. Have you ever felt remorse after sending more troops to Iraq?
6. Have you gotten into financial difficulties as a result of sending more troops to Iraq?
7. Do you turn to lower companions and an inferior environment when sending more troops to Iraq?
8. Does your sending more troops to Iraq make you careless of your family’s (country’s) welfare?
9. Has your ambition decreased since sending more troops to Iraq?
10. Do you crave sending more troops to Iraq at a definite time daily?
11. Do you want to send more troops to Iraq the next morning?
12. Does sending more troops to Iraq cause you to have difficulty in sleeping?
13. Has your efficiency decreased since sending more troops to Iraq?
14. Is sending more troops to Iraq jeopardizing your job or business?
15. Do you send more troops to Iraq to escape from worries or trouble?
16. Do you send more troops to Iraq alone?
17. Have you ever had a complete loss of memory as a result of sending more troops to Iraq?
18. Has your physician ever treated you for sending more troops to Iraq?
19. Do you send more troops to Iraq to build up your self-confidence?
20. Have you ever been to a hospital or institution on account of sending more troops to Iraq?

If you have answered YES to any one of the questions there is a definite warning that you may be Addict.
If you have answered YES to any two, the chances are that you are an Addict.
If you have answered YES to three or more, you are definitely an Addict.

The above Test Questions are used by John Hopkins University Hospital, Baltimore, Md. In deciding whether or not a patient is alcoholic. (“Drink” has been substituted with “send more troops to Iraq” -substitute what you like – air – food – sex – rock an roll – and find out your addictions).

So our junkie President wants 20,000 more of something to inject into his veins, 20,000 more to save his high, his dream, his party. I say we don’t give it to him, but it probably won’t matter. His wealthy friends will more than likely sneak contraband to him in the bathroom and help him to straighten his tie and tamp down his hair, but he’s just another fucking junkie with fake friends who are using him to keep their wallets fat. Poor Bush: all of his friends feel sorry for him. They will try to cheer him up with 20,000 more toys to play with, but he’ll burn those up in time. Like any good junkie, he eventually burns everyone he touches

Everybody reads the BBC News – right? No point then in linking to its greatest Correspondents around the world blogging about their best and worst meals.

The Western media love to portray Africa as a backward, famine-plagued caricature, but the world’s second most populous continent has more to offer than tragedy.

READ THE WHOLE ITEM

Source: The Africa You Need to Know
Originally published on Wed, 29 Nov 2006 12:47:00 GMT