Reconstructing the ‘Death of Osama bin Laden’

Posted on by Duncan Toms

You didn’t believe the military/governement about WMDs, so why believe them now?

All of the available evidence strongly suggests that Bin Laden died many years ago. Nevertheless, the war-mongers and ‘reality creators’ in the US of A and elsewhere decided that he was just too damn perfect as an terrorist mastermind think baddie in James Bond to let him or us off the hook so easily. So, they used his image and attributed the 9/11 attacks and a host of other ‘terrorist’ crimes since then to him without any evidence. But the fact that he was, in reality, quite dead, was an issue that the backroom boys in the Pentagon and the CIA were always going to have to face one day. And in case you’re wondering, the idea of allowing him to simply fade from public awareness was a non-starter, not due to any considerations of honor or justice, but rather because of the massive ‘political capital’ that his capture or killing would provide.So at some stage in the recent past, a plot was hatched in the bowels of the Pentagon and CIA HQ to stage the death of Bin Laden. Word has it that the real codename for this operation was either ‘die another day’ or ‘you only live twice’. but don’t quote me on that.Joking aside, we will probably never know the full details, but using the available data, past and present, we can build up a picture of the most likely circumstances surrounding the ‘death of Bin Laden’.Only very few people with high-level Pentagon and CIA security clearances would have been aware of the full facts of the plan. As far as people like Obama and his team and the Navy SEALs who would actually carry out the mission were concerned, the real Osama really had been found in a ‘compound’ in Pakistan.This particular compound was in fact a Pakistani intelligence/CIA safe house containing former Islamic militants and families who had been captured and ‘turned’ by the ISI and the CIA and who were being used as informers.

via Reconstructing the ‘Death of Osama bin Laden’ | JoeQuinn.net.

Did Osama win the war on terror?

Posted on by Duncan Toms

Did Osama bin Laden win? No. Did he succeed? Well, America is still standing, and he isn’t. So why, when I called Daveed Gartenstein-Ross, a counterterrorism expert who specializes in al-Qaeda, did he tell me that “bin Laden has been enormously successful”? There’s no caliphate. There’s no sweeping sharia law. Didn’t we win this one in a clean knockout?

Apparently not. Bin Laden, according to Gartenstein-Ross, had a strategy that we never bothered to understand, and thus that we never bothered to defend against. What he really wanted to do — and, more to the point, what he thought he could do — was bankrupt the United States of America. After all, he’d done the bankrupt-a-superpower thing before. And though it didn’t quite work out this time, it worked a lot better than most of us, in this exultant moment, are willing to admit.

Bin Laden’s transition from scion of a wealthy family to terrorist mastermind came in the 1980s, when the Soviet Union was trying to conquer Afghanistan. Bin Laden was part of the resistance, and the resistance was successful — not only in repelling the Soviet invasion, but in contributing to the communist super-state’s collapse a few years later. “We, alongside the mujaheddin, bled Russia for 10 years, until it went bankrupt,” he later explained.

The campaign taught bin Laden a lot. For one thing, superpowers fall because their economies crumble, not because they’re beaten on the battlefield. For another, superpowers are so allergic to losing that they’ll bankrupt themselves trying to conquer a mass of rocks and sand. This was bin Laden’s plan for the United States, too.

via Bin Laden’s war against the U.S. economy – Ezra Klein – The Washington Post.

Full length version of Beastie Boys – Fight For Your Right (Revisited)

Posted on by Duncan Toms

Full length version of Beastie Boys – Fight For Your Right (Revisited)

This may be the craziest half hour I’ve spent on the u toobe. Mild anarchy! A-list cameos! Dodgy acting! Will Ferrell playing cowbell! Spraying! (of more than one kind).

“They can’t even untie a f__ing dance mat”

Scrap book: Azores Surf Trip

Posted on by Duncan Toms

October 2006 found Derek, Francisco and I far into the Atlantic in the Azores. The conditions weren’t the easiest. The main beach on the north coast had huge rollers preventing us from paddling out:

So we sought shelter, finding a secret spot along the coast. Probably not a secret, just a half-hour hike down the cliff (and a killer post-surf climb back up). Derek made the most of the seclusion:

Overall I found it a strange island, often misted up, and away from the towns very rustic. On one tour we ran into these fellows:

Lyric of the Day: In the waiting line – Zero 7

Posted on by Duncan Toms

Do you believe
In what you see?
Motionless wheel
Nothing is real.

Wait in line
‘Till your time
Ticking clock
Everyone stop

Everyone’s saying different things to me
Different things to me
Everyone’s saying different things to me
Different things to me

Do you believe
In what you see
There doesn’t seem to be anybody else who agrees with me

Do you believe
In what you see
Motionless wheel
Nothing is real
Wasting my time
In the waiting line
Do you believe in
What you see

Nine to five
Living lies
Every day
Stealing time
Everyone’s taking everything they can
Everything they can
Everyone’s taking everything they can
Everything they can

Do you believe
In what you feel
It doesn’t seem to be anybody else who agrees with me

Do you believe
In what you see
Motionless wheel
Nothing is real
Wasting my time
In the waiting line
Do you believe
In what you see

And I’ll shout and I’ll scream
But I’d rather not have seen
And I’ll hide away for another day

Do you believe
In what you see
Motionless wheel
Nothing is real
Wasting my time
In the waiting line
Do you believe
In what you see

Everyone’s saying different things to me
Different things to me
Different things to me
Different things to me
Different things to me
Everyone’s taking everything they can
Everything they can

The Peacock and the Chickens

Posted on by Duncan Toms

Here’s a video I made of the mating and courtship ritual and display of the Brockwood peacock. He spends a lot of time with the hens. Unfortunately they are not peahens but chicken hens, so they are not very interested, despite his best efforts. And his best efforts really are spectacular, with his huge feather display, the shaking and the lunging. He’s almost as impressive viewed from the back. This palaver carries on for more than twenty minutes at a time. Some peahens came over a few weeks ago from a farm half a mile away but they didn’t stick around. Maybe he got lucky that time…

Here’s how it’s supposed to go:

Desiderata – 1927 Poem

Posted on by Duncan Toms

The advice: “Wear sunscreen”, seemed very suitable for today. I thought it was from a Baz Luhrmann record. Turns out he did the video and some of the music, while Lee Perry, a voice actor read an essay published in the Chicago Tribune: “Advice, like youth, probably just wasted on the young”, written by Mary Schmich. They tagged “Ladies and gentlemen of the class of ’99” to the beginning so it sounded like a college lecture.

Reading about this, I came upon a poem called Desiderata by Max Ehrmann:

Go placidly amid the noise and haste,
and remember what peace there may be in silence.

As far as possible without surrender
be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly;
and listen to others,
even the dull and the ignorant;
they too have their story.
Avoid loud and aggressive persons,
they are vexations to the spirit.

If you compare yourself with others,
you may become vain or bitter;
for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.

Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.
Keep interested in your own career, however humble;
it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.
Exercise caution in your business affairs;
for the world is full of trickery.
But let this not blind you to what virtue there is;
many persons strive for high ideals;
and everywhere life is full of heroism.

Be yourself.
Especially, do not feign affection.
Neither be cynical about love;
for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment
it is as perennial as the grass.

Take kindly the counsel of the years,
gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.
But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.
Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.

Beyond a wholesome discipline,
be gentle with yourself.
You are a child of the universe,
no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you,
no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

Therefore be at peace with God,
whatever you conceive Him to be,
and whatever your labors and aspirations,
in the noisy confusion of life keep peace with your soul.

With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams,
it is still a beautiful world.
Be cheerful.
Strive to be happy.

Alton Archers Beginners Course

Posted on by Duncan Toms

This morning was the first of three sessions on the archery beginners course. We had a hot and sunny morning for it, at the recreation ground in Four Marks. After registration there was a brief introduction, to about 25 of us, explaining safety and equipment. Then we got shooting. We had already tried our bows (correct pull weight and length) on Tuesday evening, so we could get straight into it. Each of the four targets had groups of 6, with two instructors. First we shot without sights then after a break and a further presentation, with sights. It took me two rounds without the sight before I was hitting golds. Then the same with the sights, two rounds of adjustments to find my aim then hitting golds and one complete miss. Miss the target and the arrow embeds itself in the turf. They use metal detectors to find them sometimes. The three hours went by quickly. The tuition was good, with today being about stance and technique rather than accuracy. Of course most of us were more concerned with how near the gold we got. The youngest on the course must have been about 8, the oldest in their sixties. And the treasurer, sat on his portable seat, in his eighties. The part which fascinates me is that moment of letting go, which seems beyond thinking and even time, just an inward ‘now’. More next Saturday.

In the field with the ewes and lambs

Posted on by Duncan Toms

I’m in the field with the sheep; ewes and lambs. Each mother has two babies, a week or two old I’m guessing. My arrival is met with stares, curious from the lambs and glaring from the mums. I sit under a tree, the presence of a human something to be kept an eye on, but only for a few seconds before the chomping continues. After a few minutes a little panic kicks in and the young who aren’t with their mum bleat and bleat. And run when the bleating is answered.

We are all in the shade on this hot April morning. The adults are breathing quite hard under their thick wool.

Later, the shepherd arrives on a quad bike. I nod and hold up my camera to give him a reason why I’m here. He nods back as he rides past. The scene is disturbed. The mothers all stand up and the lambs draw near and butt the udders for comforting milk. Later, when the shepherd has moved to another field the milk is denied, instead stepping forward to wean the young onto grass.

After a while, all is calm again. The ewes lie down and the lambs continue their hesitant exploration. Some of them dig a little, scratching the dry soil, smelling things. Some climb on fallen branches, others just loll about or snooze. But it’s the skittish jumps I delight in, that energy firing into their legs, skipping them into the air and leaping them about. On a hot day there’s not too much of that, or maybe they are not quite the right age.

Each lamb has a number sprayed on its back, matching that of the ewe. Each has a tight band around its tail about half way down. One day the end will drop off. One day the males will be slaughtered. One day some of the females will become the concerned mothers.

It’s sad bad news about the fish

Posted on by Duncan Toms

More than 40 species of marine fish currently found in the Mediterranean could disappear in the next few years. According to a study for the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species™ on the status of marine fish in the Mediterranean Sea, almost half of the species of sharks and rays (cartilaginous fish) and at least 12 species of bony fish are threatened with extinction due to overfishing, marine habitat degradation and pollution.

Commercial species like Bluefin Tuna (Thunnus thynnus), Dusky Grouper (Epinephelus marginatus), Sea Bass (Dicentrarchus labrax) or Hake (Merluccius merluccius) are considered threatened or Near Threatened with extinction at the regional level mainly due to overfishing.

“The Mediterranean and Eastern Atlantic population of the Atlantic Bluefin Tuna (Thunnus thynnus) is of particular concern. There has been an estimated 50% decline in this species’ reproduction potential over the past 40 years due to intensive overfishing,” says Kent Carpenter, IUCN Global Marine Species Assessment Coordinator. “The lack of compliance with current quotas combined with widespread underreporting of the catch may have undermined conservation efforts for this species in the Mediterranean.”

The use of fishing gear, such as fishing lines, gill or trawling nets, and the illegal use of driftnets means that hundreds of marine animals with no commercial value are captured, threatening populations of many species of sharks, rays and other fish, as well as other marine animals including dolphins, whales, turtles and birds.

“The use of trawling nets is one of the main problems for conservation and sustainability of many marine species,” says Maria del Mar Otero, IUCN-Med Marine Programme Officer. “Because it is not a selective technique, it captures not only the target fish but also a high number of other species while also destroying the sea bottom, where many fish live, reproduce and feed.”

via IUCN – Home.

Woodland Glade Secret Meeting

Posted on by Duncan Toms

Deep in the Ancient Forest, a spring ritual is taking place. These magic beings commune without words

The Magic Beings Commune Without Words

The White Bunny fills the basket with ideas

Where they are blended to perfection

The Content of the Basket Pot Remains A Mystery To All But One Bunny

Let the silent chanting commence!

Let The Silent Chanting Commence

Teddy enters into a trance

It's All Too Much For Teddy

The order of the universe – and beyond! – is restored

The Order Of The Universe, And Beyond, Is Restored, Thanks To The Magic Circle

A joyous gnome levitates to bring you this photo

Pink for boys, blue for girls

Posted on by Duncan Toms

Boys and girls used to wear white dresses (yes, even the boys) until age six or seven when they got their first hair cut. Then…

The march toward gender-specific clothes was neither linear nor rapid. Pink and blue arrived, along with other pastels, as colors for babies in the mid-19th century, yet the two colors were not promoted as gender signifiers until just before World War I—and even then, it took time for popular culture to sort things out.

For example, a Ladies’ Home Journal article in June 1918 said, “The generally accepted rule is pink for the boys, and blue for the girls. The reason is that pink, being a more decided and stronger color, is more suitable for the boy, while blue, which is more delicate and dainty, is prettier for the girl.” Other sources said blue was flattering for blonds, pink for brunettes; or blue was for blue-eyed babies, pink for brown-eyed babies, according to Paoletti.

In 1927, Time magazine printed a chart showing sex-appropriate colors for girls and boys according to leading U.S. stores. In Boston, Filene’s told parents to dress boys in pink. So did Best Co. in New York City, Halle’s in Cleveland and Marshall Field in Chicago.

Today’s color dictate wasn’t established until the 1940s, as a result of Americans’ preferences as interpreted by manufacturers and retailers. “It could have gone the other way,” Paoletti says.

So the baby boomers were raised in gender-specific clothing. Boys dressed like their fathers, girls like their mothers. Girls had to wear dresses to school, though unadorned styles and tomboy play clothes were acceptable.

via When Did Girls Start Wearing Pink? | Arts & Culture | Smithsonian Magazine.