Random Notes From the Southern Hemisphere: May 2009

Pic of the Day 28 May, 2009

During all these years of going to out to see live music

I never imagined myself showing up for a high-tech

production of some morning kids show.

In fact, the same day I bought tickets for this show I

also bought tickets for a Jane's Addiction show in July.

But here I was with mum and Isobel dressed as her favourite

Yo Gabba Gabba character DJ Lance Rock who, coincidentally, we met on Brunswick Street 3

weeks ago and who turns out to be a really nice guy in person.

There's Isobel her first ever concert in the same hall

that we've been to see the Strokes, Kings of Leon, Belle

& Sebastian and Wilco...the historic Palais Theatre

in St Kilda.

Cooookie!

No Torture Needed -- Cookies Did the Job

Fascinating piece coming in tomorrow's TIME magazine. Reporter Bobby Ghosh writes, “The most successful interrogation of an al-Qaeda operative by U.S. officials required no sleep deprivation, no slapping or ‘walling’ and no waterboarding. All it took to soften up Abu Jandal, who had been closer to Osama bin Laden than any other terrorist ever captured, was a handful of sugar-free cookies.”

Former interrogator/member of the FBI Ali Soufan, who testified to Congress last month, tells TIME: “He was a diabetic ... We had showed him respect, and we had done this nice thing for him .... So he started talking to us instead of giving us lectures.” Ghosh points out, “Defenders of the Bush program, most notably Cheney, say the use of waterboarding produced actionable intelligence that helped the U.S. disrupt terrorist plots. But the experiences of officials like Soufan suggest that the utility of torture is limited at best and counterproductive at worst.”

Pic of the Day 26 May, 2009

Pic of the Day 25 May, 2009

Pic of the Day 24 May, 2009

Pic of the Day 23 May, 2009

Pic of the Day 2 May, 2009

Good O!

Javier sez, "A teenager asks Yahoo! Questions whether maintaining a lending library in his school locker is illegal (as opposed of merely in contravention of school regulations). A school friend asked to borrow off him The Catcher in the Rye, one of the books in the banned list, and one thing led to another..."

This happened a lot and my locker got to overflowing with the banned books, so I decided to put the unoccupied locker next to me to a good use. I now have 62 books in that locker, about half of what was on the list. I took care only to bring the books with literary quality. Some of these books are:
The Perks of Being a Wallflower
His Dark Materials trilogy
Sabriel
The Canterbury Tales
Candide
The Divine Comedy
Paradise Lost
The Godfather
Mort
Interview with the Vampire
The Hunger Games
The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court
Animal Farm
The Witches
Shade's Children
The Evolution of Man
the Holy Qu'ran
... and lots more.
Anyway, I now operate a little mini-library that no one has access to but myself. Practically a real library, because I keep an inventory log and give people due dates and everything. I would be in so much trouble if I got caught, but I think it's the right thing to do because before I started, almost no kid at school but myself took an active interest in reading! Now not only are all the kids reading the banned books, but go out of their way to read anything they can get their hands on. So I'm doing a good thing, right? Oh, and since you're probably wondering "Why can't you just go to a local library and check out the books?" most of the kids are too chicken or their parents won't let them but the books. I think that people should have open minds. Most of the books were banned because they contained information that opposed Catholicism. I limit my 'library' to only the sophmores, juniors and seniors just in case so you can't say I'm exposing young people to materiel they're not mature enough for. But is what I'm doing wrong because parents and teachers don't know about it and might not like it, or is it a good thing because I am starting appreciation of the classics and truly good novels (Not just fad novels like Twilight) in my generation?

Pic of the Day 20 May, 2009

The artist at work...

In her new Yo Gabba Gabba hat

that mum is making for her.

Pic of the Day 19 May, 2009

Pic of the Day 18 May, 2009

(CNN) — So what did former President Bush think about President Obama and former Vice President Dick Cheney's dueling speeches on national security policies Thursday?

He didn't watch them.

A source close to Bush said the former president was traveling at the time, enroute to New Mexico where he is the keynote speaker Thursday night at a fund raising dinner for a scholarship program for students at Artesia High School.