It’s officially bah! humbug time in my flat.

(Thanks Faye!)

I’m really not sure what prompted Blair to do this, but maybe John Howard will think apologising is cool now and say ‘sorry‘.
“Prime Minister Tony Blair has voiced his “deep sorrow” over Britain’s role in the slave trade on Monday – a trade that helped Britain become one of the world’s greatest powers in the 17th and 18th centuries.”
Until I went to Waterford, Ireland, recently I had no idea Cromwell made Irish Catholics into slaves so it’s interesting to see it mentioned here:
“The slaves included not only Africans but men arrested after a Royalist uprising in the West Country in 1655, and Irish Catholics captured by Oliver Cromwell.” BBC

And just because. From the Captain Dolphin comics.

Is feminism a dirty word?
I’ve quoted lots of the article below because it sums up some of the thinking I’ve been doing recently. Between discussions of the normalisation of cosmetic surgery on shows like Extreme Makeover, female chauvinist pigs and the right of women to wear the veil, where do I stand? And what about the role of first world feminists in the cause of women’s rights in developing countries, or under religious fundamentalism, Christian, Islamic or otherwise? I’m still working it out.
I miss the luxury of an arts degree that allows time for reading and theorising but there’s no point waiting for the Germaine Greers, Marilyn Frenchs or Gloria Steinems, let alone the Judith Butlers, Julia Kristeva or Luce Irigarays – it’s up to our generation to acknowledge and deal with these issues.
“It’s anachronistic; no woman I know would unapologetically describe herself as a feminist. If the concept and importance of gender equality as an issue has crossed her mind, then there is only one acceptable way of communicating this: “I’m not a feminist, but…” for this read, “please don’t think I’m a lesbian/man hater /being difficult…” In short, feminism is a dirty word, and only by denying it are we happy to use it in our vocabulary.
..
So why are we afraid to be seen as feminists? Because it is a now euphemism for being awkward, for pointing out difficult, uncomfortable things people don’t want to hear.
…
This is where the battles remain – in the everyday way life is lived. To be a feminist now means challenging those around us, our family, friends and colleagues, to be aware of their behaviour. This is a notion that seems exhausting and intimidating. The risk of being ostracised for our beliefs feels all too real.
…
Empowerment shouldn’t mean getting paid for being ogled. Empowerment should mean the liberation of men and women alike from false value systems.”

“The Natural History Museum in London is to repatriate the remains of 17 Tasmanian Aboriginal people to the Australian Government.” 24 Hour Museum

Scary stuff:
“Hiring a car can now mean leaving a fingerprint. And check-out staff are scanning the customers as well as the shopping. Biometrics are entering every day life.” BBC

Sir Elton John says: “…the reality is that organised religion doesn’t seem to work. It turns people into hateful lemmings and it’s not really compassionate” (BBC) just in time for Wired to report a sighting of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. Coincidence? You decide.

Check out record of the day, a great selection of clips of random new music.
Otoh, they do site launching Crazy Frog/Axel F in the UK as a ‘success story’.

Poor old Melbourne. The water situation is so dire they’re thinking about letting some of the exotic trees in parks die.

There’s something hypnotic about these open web cameras viewed en masse.