“In the 1920s O G S Crawford invented aerial archaeology, one of many services this eccentric Marxist misanthrope performed for the study of antiquity.”
- Jonathan Meades: Link

Bloody Old Britain: O G S Crawford and the Archaeology of Modern Life

By Kitty Hauser

Granta Books, 286pp

Amazon: Link

“Future archaeologists will perhaps excavate the ruined factories of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries when the radiation effects of Atom bombs have died away.”
- O. G. S. Crawford, from Archaeology in the Field (1953)

O. G. S. Crawford @ Wikipedia: Link.

~ Karl Jones

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Rome: It’s beautiful and it’s not. Kinda like everything else in life.

“La prossima fermata è Roma Termini.”

I moved to Italy to live at the end of September last year. I lived in Brescia (a medium-sized city in Northern Italy) until March 1, when I moved to Siena.

(I am once again back in Brescia, but that’s a story I’m going to save for another day.)

I picked up some vocabulary during those first five months in Italy, but it wasn’t until I started attending an Italian class for immigrants in Siena that I really started learning the language.

Now, finally!, I understand much of what is being said either to me or around me. The language no longer sounds foreign or like pretty sounds flowing forth from people’s mouths. Although I’m more motivated to learn the language–because it finally seems like an achievable goal to converse fluently–the glossy veneer of the nonsensical musical sounds has dulled. I don’t know, there’s something about understanding when somebody complains about the weather (or conversely, the ease in which I can complain about it) that makes any language sound less romantic.

Shiny glossy veneers are so overrated. Don’t you think? I mean, a veneer is just a thin expensive sheet of wood (or metal) with layers upon layers of unusually toxic clear varnish. If it wasn’t for the common cheap material beneath (like pine or regular mild steel), the veneer would have nothing to attach itself to.

And I’ve always preferred the look of a dull, used or aged finish anyway…and now that I’ve exhausted my analogy I’m finished with this post.

But one more thing before I go to bed on this hot summer night: it is nice to know that you can simply listen to the conductor to know when your next stop is and not have the nervous wondering of whether you’ve missed it or have yet to arrive.

Arrivederci a dopo.

~Janelle Renée

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Natural Touch is a Non Governmental Organisation based in Calabar the Eastern part of Nigeria.The inspiration come from a point of observation of handicapped people and Children roaming the streets of some citites in Nigeria mostly in Calabar begging for alms.
Most of them at the end of the day retired to uncompleted buildings to pass the night,It was a very gory site when a reported case of ritual dehumanising killing of two of such people in a street close to my residence.These two were killed and some part of them remove for rituals activities or some other things not quite known to us.

So touched by such inhuman treament to people because of their inability to defend themselves or provide proper accomodation for themselves,and even a source of livelihood was traumatic,hence,my decision to get the NGO (NATURAL TOUCH) started,with the aim to provide food and shelter for the hanicapped.Make sure there is a future for them and security of life for them.

Upon our inception,we had limited our intention to mostly the young ones and average aged.Although we could not provide accomodation for them but we  provide the basic needs which is food for them atleast once a day.

It is our aim to increase the feeding arrangement to twice a day and also build a home for them.It is our aim to accomodate at least 2000-5000 handicapped people of difiers ages in the home,and Animals too.
With support from other Organisations/Individauls that are touched just as we are.We will establish a school or a handicraft centre for them to study and become independent of their own in future.
Suffice to say here that most of them roam the street with torn cloths and look unkept,We also provide clothing where necessary and affordable to them.
Based on our inability to sustain the financial burden,we are looking forward to Groups or Individuals with similar passion as we have towards uplifting the living standard of these hadicapped and also thinking of ensuring their future.

We are planning of building a home for them in Calabar to accomodate the handicapped and also recruit personnels to take care of their cooking and tranining.
We look forward to support  from passionate groups and individuals.
Thanks,
Dennis

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Technology for human needs:

• The Outquisition
• Engineers Without Borders
• MIT International Design Summit
• Free/Open Appropriate Technology
• Transition Towns
• Technology for Humanity

(...)
Read the rest of Technology for Humanity (735 words)

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Kitaro is an inspired musician, he plays for spirit. Here he is live, playing his song Dance of Sarasvati; album Mandala (released 1994, Nominated for Grammy Award).

Sarasvati (pronounced as sə.rəs.ʋə.ti) is the Hindu goddess of knowledge, music and the arts and the consort of Brahma. Sarasvati literally translated means: the knowledge of self or the essential part of self. sara = the essential part, knowledge, energy, motion, strength or power; sva = one’s own (self); ti = for, after. One says or sings the Sarasvati Mantra for higher knowledge and wisdom, and to come to the understanding of true, essential self. Kitaro sings, ‘Om namo Sarasvati’.

I first heard of Kitaro in 1989 when I lived in Kauai, Hawaii. Bought every album I could find I loved his music so much. Enjoy Kitaro and Dance of Sarasvati!

~Bonnee Klein Gilligan

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“Bees are dying everywhere but in cities …. The bees are speaking to us.”
- Olivier Darne

There are more than 300 known colonies in the French capital, up from about 250 five years ago, according to the National Beekeepers’ Association. Hives have appeared on the roof of the Opéra Garnier, on balconies and in parks.

Bees are thriving in cities because “flowers and plants are changed constantly and there aren’t pesticides,” said Moncelli, who co-owns the hotel with her husband, Pascal.

The success of a three-year-old French program to encourage beekeeping in cities, the largest such project in the world, is sparking hope of a revival among their country cousins. Global agriculture, valued at € 153 billion, or $214 billion, relies on pollination by bees, according to the French National Institute of Agricultural Research, or INRA.

As in the United States and in Britain, where bee colonies are dying, about 300,000 to 400,000 French hives have disappeared every year between 1995 and 2007, victims of pesticides, pollution and disease.

- International Herald Tribune: Link.

Via Technocrat.net.

~ Karl Jones

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Which is the best band ever?????????

The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) have set us on a common course to push back poverty, inequality, hunger and illness. The world has pledged to reduce by half the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation. Entering the International Decade for Action, Water for Life, 2005–2015, this report looks at the challenge of meeting the MDG target for drinking water and sanitation. Achieving the MDG drinking water and sanitation target poses two major challenges: a rapid pace of urbanization, which requires a major effort even to keep up the current coverage levels; a huge backlog of rural people unserved with basic sanitation and safe drinking water, which calls for an intensive mobilization of resources to reduce the vast coverage gap between urban and rural populations.

Let’s make unavailability of clean water for all history

Wonder by Alex Grey is innocent, sweet and profound. 

Alex is an incredible visionary artist who draws the world of energy, spirit and unfoldment.  Wonder is a portrait of Grey’s daughter Zena gazing at the moon. 16" x 20" acrylic on paper done in 1996. Many of his beautiful works can be seen in the galleries at alexgrey.com.   Spectacular!

~Bonnee Klein Gilligan

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Secretary of the Northern Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Elder Saidu Dogo has advocated death sentence for corrupt leaders as the only way to checkmate corruption in the country.
Dogo also said that if the family of such leaders are found to have benefited from the act, they should be sent to jail for 15 years as well as have their property confiscated.The scribe who said this in an exclusive interview with Saturday Champion on the 48th Independence anniversary of Nigeria, regretted that ethnicity, bad leadership and corruption have impeded national progress.

He charged Nigeria to emulate China by taking a hard stand on corruption, adding that China is making progress today because any official caught in corruption in that country would face execution.

He said: "Take China for instance, it is making progress because they have checkmated corruption. If any official is found to be corrupt in China, first and foremost, he would be executed. "If his family benefited from it they will be sent to jail for 15 years, every property they owned, will be confiscated, that is their policy. In fact, I am advocating that we enact such laws in Nigeria…"
Dogo who explained that Ghana is better off today because of the revolution embarked upon by its former president, Jerry Rawlings, maintained that if Nigeria adopts the Chinese anti-graft law "no woman and her children will sit down and allow her husband to send her and her children to prison one day."

Asked how implementable such law could be, the scribed stressed that majority of Nigerians are good and law abiding, stressing that the system will be sanitized if only the few corrupt leaders are removed and the right people put in place instead.

JOHN SHIKLAM, Kaduna

During the visit of Mr. Ban Ki-Moon to the Expo Zaragoza on 01 September 2008 he commended the Government of Spain “for hosting this magnificent international exposition on “’Water and Sustainable Development’”. He also emphasised UN-Water’s role in strengthening the coherence of efforts to implement the global water and sanitation agenda, and encouraged attendees to visit the UN-Water pavilion at the Expo. Mr. Ban emphasised the work left to do and the challenges impeding progress to meet the Millennium Development Goals on water and sanitation.

~a poem by Bonnee Klein Gilligan

Yes dear friend we all get hurt

   and others they can stir up dirt.

In love or out it matters not

   for human love is not what’s sot.

We look here and we look there

   and try to find love everywhere.

But what we find is half at best

   and breaks our hearts, perhaps the rest.

It’s not the love we’re seeking friend

   it’s half at best and in the end

We remember what we’ve lost

   at such a great emotional cost.

It’s God’s love, not the human kind

   that fills us with a gift Divine.

And when two in this space of love

   find each other, they find the Dove

This is the gift, these are the plans

   this is what our God demands.

To love like God, with heart and Soul

   and open up… let go control.

Connect with body, soul and mind

   into a place of Love not blind.

but wholly seeing, holy knowing

   this is the seed that God is sowing.

To love each other like God loves us

   and this my friend takes perfect Trust.

It takes letting go ways of thinking

   that hem us in and keep us sinking.

And letting go of future and past

   for these are false and do not last.

Now is all we have to love in

   so open gentle heart… begin.

Love opens us to possibilities

   and tears down all of our hostilities.

It heals all wounds, and mends all harm

   so let go the past, let go alarm.

Open up to life and love

   and live again, fly like the dove.

Open to God’s Divine Plan

   live in Love and hand in hand

Heart to heart and soul to soul

   watch the Divine gifts unfold.

Beautiful is life with of love

   it is the magic of the Dove.

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This week I’ve been talking to people and reading a lot about the condition of the economy. But from the most gut wrenching levels… the effect financial mis-management has had on the people and the world at large.

Did you know there are increasing numbers of people who are jobless and homeless too? Some people are living in their cars or in tents. I lived in a tent and a car for 3 years so I know what it’s like, but mine was by choice, not necessity a very different thing.

The foreclosure rates are soaring in the USA. 102,000 in August alone. Year-to-date, 1,450,000 US homeowners (19.6 of every 1,000 households) faced pre-foreclosure. That is mind boggling.

Credit-card debt is on the brink of imploding and will be the next storm to hit. Innovest StrategicValue Advisors, a consulting firm, forecasts that banks will charge off $18.6 billion worth of credit card receivables in the first quarter of 2009 and $96 billion in 2009 — that would be 261% more than in 2007 and 131% higher than the level it expects by the end of 2008.

Makes one wonder why? Since 2004 the interest rates on credit cards have climbed from 4% to more then 24.99%. This is for those with good credit scores who maintain a balance and pay their bills on time. The credit lenders promoted card usage by upping available credit limits, issuing checks and offering 0% rates on some new cards. Some credit card companies even issued cards to those who had just filed bankruptcy. Would this be considered questionable credit lending practices? Some people abused the system, over spent and were irresponsible. But many, perhaps unwisely, used credit cards to supplement income; to buy food and pay bills, insurance premiums and medical expenses. Thinking they’d be able to payoff the balance at the current interest rate. But the rates kept getting higher and higher which can be devastating financially. 

As well subprime and prime mortgages were written with questionable financing. I have a disabled friend that refinanced his home in 2007. Said he couldn’t afford the principle and interest payments, so opted for interest only for 5 years. Another woman I know purchased a home 3 years ago and her payments ($4,600/mo.) are more then 75% of her income. Why would any responsible lender do this? Why didn’t they deny the loans? Have we put our trust in a faulty system?

Even if the lending practices were responsible life circumstances can change. Another woman I met over coffee last week said she lost her primary income source and is doing everything she can to keep her home. She has it up for sale, but the slow markets keep her house poor. What little income she’s able to generate goes to the house payment. She applied for food stamps but was ridiculed and investigated because she owned a home. She opted instead to visit the local food bank to survive. Do we sometimes judge others to harshly? Or come to sweeping conclusions which are erroneous?

These 3 good, honest people are on the brink of financial collapse. If anything else is added to their plates they may all end up homeless. And these are only a few of folks I know. Imagine what it must be like nationwide or perhaps worldwide?

And we’ve got the opposite end of the spectrum. WAMU’s CEO Alan Fishman worked 3 weeks, now is headed out the door with $19 million in his pocket. There are too many other stories like that I won’t write about. I’m certainly not against people getting bonuses, but when the CEO gets $19 million and the stock holders get zip… that’s convoluted.

When there is so much disparity, one may ask, ‘What’s wrong with this picture’?

Global Financial Crisis?

U.S. turmoil churns up an ill wind worldwide (1 October 2008) Park Yung-Chul, a Korea University economist, who also has taught at Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology says of the USA, "On finance, you’re becoming a second-class economy. How could you do so badly managing your economy and managing international affairs? And now you’ve created this global financial crisis for which everyone is going to suffer!"

Put Climate Change Solutions on hold?

In Australia there is talk about a 60% or even 90% reduction  in green- house emissions by 2050. News.com.au (30 Sept 2008) Rudd’s expert wants tougher carbon goals. Top climate change adviser Ross Garnaut has warmed to the idea of a deep cut to greenhouse emissions - but he thinks it probably won’t happen. The Business lobby group, Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI) said tackling climate change must be approached cautiously because of global financial instability.

Let’s rethink this…

Global financial instability is a reality. Global warming is also a reality.

Green ecology…

Massive change is needed in the world financial markets for survival of the global economy. Just like massive change is needed in the current pollution of the environment for survival of life. While the financial world is being restructured it is an excellent opportunity to consider greener ways of doing business, living life, interacting with each other and our environment.

This is Green ecology -  the interrelation of people, the environment and the economy. It considers the big picture.

Green finance…

Green finance specifically considers money and how it is managed. The creation and distribution of money with consideration given to how it impacts not only the economy but society as a whole, the earth, and all life. How we can wisely manage money to benefit all… not just a few.

With wise restructuring of money also comes the wise use of resources and the impact on society and the environment. Green finance as I see it is a holistic approach. It is no longer possible to live on our small planet without rethinking… implementing and living in harmony with consideration given for all life.

Green consciousness…

Green consciousness considers our interactions with one another. It addresses the issues of our peaceful co-existence and the creation of a worldwide balanced, equal, loving, supportive, helpful environment.

The way things have been done in the past no longer work. Rethinking, devising a plan and implementing changes on all fronts is necessary for our survival financially, economically, socially and environmentally. The alternative… we have economic chaos, social disorder and an inhabitable planet. 

It is a critical time. An exciting time. It’s not too late to turn this mess around if we all jump on board and come from a place of  compassion and love for all life. It’s time for action…

~Bonnee Klein Gilligan

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A beautiful inspired Native Spirit video with a message of Love and Oneness. Music:  Northern Cree Round Dance - produced by Quiet Buck Productions. A similar message was given to Hottidownunda (Stephanie) who wrote a song called YHWH the Spirit. Awe filled!

~Bonnee Klein Gilligan

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“World leaders and philanthropists have pledged nearly $3bn (£1.6bn) to fight malaria at a summit in New York.”

The meeting, at the UN, is looking at ways of meeting the Millennium Development Goals — targets on reducing global poverty by the year 2015.

Donors hope the money will be enough to eradicate malaria by that time.

Malaria still kills more than a million people each year, according to the World Health Organization.

- BBC News, 26 September 2008: Link.

See also:

• Roll Back Malaria
• Global Malaria Programme @ WHO
• Malaria @ CDC

~ Karl Jones

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