Again dodo expedition on Mauritius

This is a Dutch video on the dodo expedition.

Translated from Astrid Kromhout, writing on the Dutch-Mauritian dodo expedition blog, on Mauritius:

Sixth dodo expedition examines how the dodo used to move

August 11, 2011

On August 8, 2011 the sixth Dodo Expedition started in Mauritius.

Up to and including 19 August, expedition leader Kenneth Rijsdijk, a physical geographer at the University of Amsterdam, will work with a multidisciplinary team at investigating interesting aspects of this unique ecosystem. New this year is the reconstruction of the musculoskeletal system of the dodo and biochemical analysis of the bones from which we learn more about the diet of the dodo. Follow the adventures of the dodo team closely on this blog. …

In the mud of the excavation pit there are clearly many bones

The expedition has not yet started, and already a dodo bone found in the pit: a thigh bone! It shows again that there is a wealth of fossils and other data to be found in the Mare aux Songes.

Ile aux Aigrettes (Mauritius) – A conservation success story: here.

Cameron’s Internet crackdown dangerous for Egyptian democrats

This video is called Online reaction to the Hosni Mubarak trial in Cairo.

From blogger Zeinobia in Egypt:

Thursday, August 11, 2011

This is not good for us Mr. Cameron

British PM David Cameron told the House of Commons yesterday Thursday the following :

“Free flow of information can be used for good. But it can also be used for ill. So we are working with the police, the intelligence services and industry to look at whether it would be right to stop people communicating via these websites and services when we know they are plotting violence, disorder and criminality”.

In other words the social media networks can [be] blocked in [the] UK to stop violence and disorder like for instance BBM and twitter not to mention Facebook.

More in Wired.

Now this is alarming on many levels because this is Britain , this is Europe where there are no boundaries for freedom of expression as far as it has been promoted for years.

This will definitely be used by the Mubarak defense team in the telecommunication blackout case especially now SCAF is firing back and defended Field Marshal Tantawy by leaking that he was against the decision of telecommunications blackout. The leak claims that he told former minister Tarek Kamel of telecommunications that he should ask the one who ordered him to cut the telecommunications if he wanted it back when the later asked him what to do!!

Already the Mubaraks’ supporters and bastards are defending their false idol and daddy’s decision to block the internet and to unleash their hate on twitter and Facebook saying that if UK will think about this extreme to protect their society’s stability. “Their main platform currently , twitter for the revolutionaries while Facebook is for the felol”

Forget about Egypt , think about other countries that can be harmed, now Bashar El Assad and other dictators will boldly block and even shut down the internet to protect the society and its so-called stability. “Too many crimes are made by the government for the sake of their own stability not their society’s real stability”.

I do understand when a country faces a real danger like for instance war or real terrorism , that there will be measures concerning the media, telecommunication and social media for sure but not in local protests and riots for God sake !

If looters used BBM and twitter to know the places they can attack , twitter and BBM were also used by thousands of British citizens to clean their community next day for God sake !!

Dear Mr. Cameron , you can block the whole internet in your country for weeks and even months but you can’t run away from our society’s economic and social problems. You are shooting the messenger.

…

The British Ambassador in Cairo made a video message to the Egyptians to tell them that it is safe to come to London.

After several days of destructive riots throughout the UK, British Prime Minister David Cameron is practically tripping over himself in his eagerness to sacrifice liberty for security: here.

How David Cameron changed his tune on social media: here.

London Rioters Vs. Stock Market Traders: Who’s More Destructive? Here.

“Why are the Tories having dinner tonight with the son of a Syrian ‘war criminal’?” asks Andy McSmith: here.

Revolutions, Anarchy & Austerity: Why London Won’t Be the Last City to Burn: here.

Say goodbye to the days of anonymity on the Internet: here.

The Bureau Recommends a Bloomberg report on Western technology used by the Syrian government to monitor its citizens: here.

US railway blocked phones to quash protest. California transit provider interrupted wireless mobile service to hamper protesters angry over police shooting: here.

Egypt’s junta said on Thursday that it planned to lift the country’s draconian emergency law before parliamentary elections scheduled for later this year: here.

British 1970s-80s rebellion and music

By Tony Karon:

Babylon’s Burning (Again!): Top 10 British Riot Songs of the Early ’80s

Tuesday, August 9, 2011 at 11:25 pm

London’s streets have burned before, and not only during the Great Fire of 1666 or the Luftwaffe’s 1940 “Blitz“. The late 1970s saw England’s economy mired in recession, mass unemployment leaving youth alienated, angry and without hope. The streets burned with a continuous series of clashes between angry young people and authorities, playing out conflicts over racism and class inequality that lasted well in the mid-1980s. The drama and violence of those clashes also proved to be a cauldron of creativity, producing some of Britain’s most memorable music of the same era. Herewith, a personal playlist. (Post your own in the comments section):

The Sex Pistols

‘God Save the Queen’

If anything, the raw outrage and nihilism of the Sex Pistols anticipated the explosion of violence in the years that followed their 1977 debut album Never Mind the Bollocks. While they had little direct political inclination, their iconic “God Save the Queen” smashed a taboo against being rude about Britain’s national symbol, in order to trash the country’s delusions of grandeur and warn that their generation saw “no future in England’s dreaming”.

The Clash:

London’s Burning/White Riot

Unlike the Sex Pistols’ nihilism, the Clash saw themselves as revolutionary political activists, channeling the energy of punk into a fusion with reggae to mirror the unity of black and white British youth against the challenge of the fascist National Front. The Clash were the driving force behind the Rock Against Racism movement (slogan: Nazis are No Fun!) that gave the nascent punk and post-punk movements an unambiguous progressive politics, turning the streets against the poisonous racism of the National Front. The clip, above, is from the inaugural Rock Against Racism concert (with Sham 69′s Jimmy Pursey doing guest vocals), in what might be an anthem for the past week, “London’s Burning.” It’s followed by “White Riot”, a song inspired by the group having been present at the 1978 Notting Hill Gate festival that turned into a clash between police and black youth. The song’s message was unapologetically inflammatory: “All the power’s in the hands of the people rich enough to buy it; while we walk the streets, too chicken to even try it” — black kids weren’t afraid to throw a brick when under attack by the cops; it was time for white kids to follow suit.

Linton Kwesi Johnson

‘Fite Dem Back‘

If there was a chronicler of the black British youth rebellion of the 70s and ’80s, it was Linton Kwesi Johnson, a Jamaican-born dub-reggae poet who brought both the wit and the militancy of a Malcolm X to an uncompromising message that resonated with the streets: Black people would not be intimidated by the National Front’s menacing marches and threats of violence; if the fascists wanted war on the streets, LKJ and his peers were ready to dish out some righteous licks and “fite dem back”.

Johnny Osbourne

’13 Dead and Nothing Said’

In early 1981, tensions ran high in Britain with Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher enforcing a harsh austerity program, and communities of color under attack from racist mobs and complaining of indifference (and worse) by police. A fire at a party in the south London neighborhood of New Cross killed 13 young black people in what many in the community believed was a racist arson attack. In the face of perceived police indifference, the New Cross Massacre as it became known sparked a massive protest movement. And some stirring songs, my favorite among them Johnny Osbourne’s “13 Dead and Nothing Said.”

The Ruts

‘Jah War‘

The message of everyone from LKJ to the Clash was taken up by others, including the Ruts, an all-white punk band that incorporated a reggae sound, nowhere more effectively than on “Jah War”, a searing commentary on police violence against black communities in London’s Southall area in 1979.

Sham 69

‘If the Kids Are United’

A street punk band with a street punk sound, Sham 69 was also present at the creation of Rock Against Racism and one of its first headline acts. Every movement needs its anthems, and “If the Kids Are United” was just the ticket.

The Beat

Stand Down Margaret

One of the more delightful by products of the cross-cultural fusion that occurred on the streets in the fight against Thatcherite austerity and National Front racism was the revival of ska in its amped up British form, personified by large ensemble bands such as the Beat and the Specials. Indeed, the Beat even incorporated Afropop guitar licks in their sweet poppy adaptation of Prince Buster’s rude reggae classic “Whine and Grind” into a polite if cheeky request to Margaret Thatcher to “stand down please!”

The Specials

‘It Doesn’t Make it Alright’

Those at the forefront of the scene that connected music with the politics of the streets were intimately aware of the constant danger of violence, and of the volatile situation just outside (or sometimes inside) the clubs at which they were playing. Probably the most heartfelt and beautiful anti-violence song of the era was the Specials plea for unity and against violence in “It Doesn’t Make it Alright.”

The Jam

‘That’s Entertainment‘

The Jam’s Paul Weller was musically perhaps the most gifted performer of that era, although he was barely 17 when Rock Against Racism began and his Mod-inspired band was on tour with the Clash. A fallout with the Clash may have alienated the band from the more overtly political scene initially, but the Jam went on to produce some of the most beautiful and poetic songs about growing up in Thatcher’s Britain and the politics of austerity — none more so than “That’s Entertainment”.

Elvis Costello

What’s So Funny (About Peace, Love and Understanding)?

Elvis Costello is arguably the finest song-writer in a generation, and his work is far too sophisticated to be pigeonholed in any narrow categories — indeed, it has traversed the spectrum. But he came of age in the same late ’70s cauldron as the Clash, and he took his pioneering New Wave sound onstage at one of the earliest Rock Against Racism concerts, leaving no doubt about his willingness to take sides — and to lend his own side a measure of humor and irony as a variation on the anger of some of his peers.

London riots: BBC apologises for accusing Darcus Howe – Telegraph: here.

Billy Bragg: Time for the voiceless to use music again: here.

A police officer was caught on CCTV allegedly kicking and beating a black teenager just hours after his colleague was recorded apparently racially abusing another young black man arrested during last summer’s London riots: here.

Related articles

• The Beatles and Sex Pistols top the world’s priciest vinyl list (itv.com)
• Punk and Utopian Heresies (texthistory.wordpress.com)
• The roots of punk: Sex pistol’s John Lydon speaking in London (yrancken.wordpress.com)
• Music from the UK – Adam and the Ants (xworldmusic.wordpress.com)
• The Sex Pistols Live: The Longhorn, Dallas, Tx (USA): 10.01.1978 (milkandcookies.com)

Homophobia in German rifle association

Translated from Dutch NOS TV:

Controversy around German gay shooter

Added: Wednesday, August 10, 2011, 10:35

A shooting champion from Münster has been banned from the main shooting championship in Germany because of his homosexuality. That festival will be in mid-September. The man qualified for the national championship this weekend with his victory in the Münsterland regional championship.

After this victory, the 44-year-old Dirk Winter did not choose a shooter queen as the rules prescribe, but he chose his partner with whom he has been together for 15 years.

The shooters organixzation BHDS therefore considered that the man was in breach of the Christian values ​​of the guild. Pure discrimination, is the opinion of the German Association of Homosexuals.

See also, in German, here. And here. And here.

Roman Catholic Church pressure plays a role in this homophobic issue. Apparently, they prefer priests abusing children to Dirk Winter’s consensual relationship between adults.

UPDATE: here.

On Sunday the 14th of August thousands of people marched in Dublin in opposition of the continued denial of marriage rights for same-sex couples in Ireland: here.

USA: Another attack on LGBT women of color in DC was met with indifference from the police: here.

German army recruits child soldiers

This video, about the early 20th century, is called German Militarism.

By Francisca Vier in Germany:

German army commences recruitment in schools

9 August 2011

In line with the plans to create a full time professional army in Germany, military conscription came to an end on July 1, 2011. This has immediately created a huge problem for the Bundeswehr (federal armed forces).

Only 433 men and women had enrolled by April 1 this year, although 2,000 recruits are needed every quarter year. According to the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper, only 4,000 of 160,000 potential recruits responded to letters enquiring whether they were interested in joining the army—even though such replies would in no way have amounted of a commitment.

The Bundeswehr and defence ministry are responding to this lack of military personnel with a steady militarisation of society. They have initiated an extensive advertising campaign to boost the recruitment of young people, working hand-in-hand with radio, television, the press and other online media, as well as increasing their presence at trade fairs and public festivals.

The Militarisation Information Agency draws attention on its homepage to the “significantly increased expenditure” in this area. The federal defence ministry has developed a comprehensive “package of measures to make service in the armed forces appear more attractive.”

The long-standing practice of organising promotional events with official representatives from the sphere of the school education has also been expanded. The education and culture ministries of eight federal states have recently concluded the appropriate cooperation agreements with the Bundeswehr. The “youth relations officer” in the classroom, “discussing” security and human rights issues with juvenile pupils, is increasingly becoming part of the curriculum.

As acknowledged a few weeks ago, the army has been organising and conducting secret seminars for young people, providing the funding and determining the content, but without officially revealing itself as the actual sponsor.

According to Frankfurter Rundschau, the target audiences consist of the so-called “opinion leaders”: “student representatives, student newspaper editors, web editors of school home pages, as well as youth representatives in companies, scouting organisations, sports clubs, political parties, charity groups and churches”—all of whom are seen by the army as “multipliers.” It is supposed that they will pass on the acquired knowledge to others, and thus spread the message throughout the population.

The official organiser of these seminars is the Berlin firm, Young Leaders Ltd., whose website is full of appeals in a trendy business English, without featuring or mentioning the Bundeswehr even in a rudimentary way. The site thus informs: “We offer a forum to the decision makers of tomorrow and the opportunity to make contact with firms, institutions, scientists, journalists and politicians. The opportunity to exchange views and to build a substantiated opinion”.

The press and information department of the defence ministry has since confirmed not only that it finances the seminars of Young Leaders Ltd., but it also determines their subject matter. Apparently, however, the seminar participants are not informed about this. The Frankfurter Rundschau claims that about twelve seminars and four “large youth press conferences” are held annually.

The seminars cover broad-ranging topics and last up to three days. They begin with fairly general social issues about “economics, ethics and the media.” In this context, matters concerning security, foreign policy and the Bundeswehr are then brought into the discussion. In addition to themes such as human dignity, abortion and euthanasia, the issue of Islam is discussed. According to the first-hand experience of one participant, the Bundeswehr itself then takes the stage and “informs us about how safely we live in Germany, and what dangers we can expect to encounter nowadays in the 21st century.”

Remembering the contents of the defence ministry’s 20-page “Defence Policy Guidelines,” in which the invocation of global threat is accompanied by ideas about the “need for national self-assertion,” one realises the seminar discussions are obviously aimed at legitimising the new German defence policy, and especially the current and potential military deployments of the Bundeswehr. The seminars are therefore designed to be very creative in their appeal to young people. Participants produce their own news broadcasts in the form of radio and television spots.

That the army’s responsibility for these seminars was not accidental—as claimed by Stefan Paris, head of the defence ministry’s press and information office—but a deliberately and elaborately kept secret, can be inferred from the Bundeswehr’s own records. Quoting from these, the Berliner Zeitung reported that this practice was aimed at winning over the “participants who were sceptical of the military”. To avoid deterring this kind of youngster, the army was quite willing to employ such highly dubious practices.

It is true that the Bundeswehr operates more openly in the schools. However, similar methods are practised by the full-time officers involved in youth relations and specially trained to conduct “information sessions.” …

Like the US army, the Bundeswehr is deliberately exploiting the precarious social situation of young people. According to the Frankfurter Rundschau, many young people come to the army, discouraged by their experience on the labour market and bleak prospects of ever finding a job. This is also evident in eastern Germany, where many regions have been devastated by high unemployment and poverty. The Bundeswehr becomes a “sought-after employer” for young people deprived of any prospect for pursuing a livelihood.

The decision by the German Constitutional Court to allow the Army to carry out domestic military operations marks a turning point in the history of the Federal Republic: here.

USA: Child Labor Rules Stalled At White House As Farm Accidents Continue: here.

Obama: Still Letting Child Soldiers Be Soldiers: here.

Obama Backs Military Aid to Countries That Use Child Soldiers. Jim Lobe, AlterNet: “For the second year in a row, U.S. President Barack Obama has waived a Congressionally-mandated ban on military aid for four countries that use child soldiers”: here.

British Defence Secretary Philip Hammond has called on the German government to play a more active role in Western military adventures abroad: here.

Related articles

• Syria: German Army soon part of War of Aggression – Syria: German Bundeswehr gives Islamists and terrorists covering fire. (syrianews.cc)
• German government promotes militarism (dearkitty1.wordpress.com)
• Army outraged by ‘rape’ music video (thelocal.de)
• Germany: The Accidental Empire? (donotmentionthewar.wordpress.com)
• Bundeswehr may monitor Turkish-Syrian border (stratrisks.com)
• Germany Arms the Middle East (nationalinterest.org)
• The Beginning of the End for the Bundeswehr in Afghanistan (Financial Times Deutschland, Germany) (themoderatevoice.com)

Hummingbird hawkmoth video

This video from the Netherlands is called Hummingbird Hawkmoth searching nectar. See also here.

Japanese kimono exhibition

7 August 2011.

From the I am Expat site in the Netherlands:

Kawaii Kimono

Exhibitions / Leiden
02 June – 14 August, 10am – 5pm (Tue-Sun)
A:
Sieboldhuis, Rapenburg 19, 2311 GE
Leiden

The unique collection of children’s kimonos of Kazuko Nakano consists of beautiful creations from 16th-20th century. With this exhibition a look into the life of wealthy Japanese families and their love for children is granted.

Clothing is an important part of Japanese social life. Since the 16th century special kimonos were designed for children from prosperous families. These silk or cotton kimonos are decorated with turtles, pine trees, bamboos and cranes, symbolising a long and happy life. Girls’ kimonos often show additional symbols for a good marriage and fertility, while boys’ kimonos are usually decorated with symbols for bravery, wealth and success. The clothes show how much luck and love the mother and family wanted to bestow on their child.

From the Sieboldhuis site:

The exhibition is extended with two weeks and will last until August 28, 2011.

This exhibition has been in Paris earlier. And in Basel in Switzerland.

In Leiden, there was a video show at the exhibition. It was not about children’s kimonos, but about how an adult woman should officially put on a kimono. I counted at least nine times that a tie or sash was tied. Very easy to make mistakes in this, and it takes a long time.

These two videos were shown at the Sieboldhuis.

Presumably, mainly aristocratic ladies with maidservants helping them with dressing used to do this every day in earlier times in Japan. And maybe upmarket geishas.

Today, kimonos are not worn as often in Japan as in earlier times.

Wheatears back on Terschelling

This is a wheatear video.

Translated from Staatsbosbeheer in the Netherlands:

Wheatear back in Terschelling heathland after many years

Saturday, August 6, 2011

In the Landerumer Heide nature reserve on Terschelling, this spring four wheatear couples have nested. This is the first time in years.

Twenty years ago, a hundred couples lived in the Terschelling heath. Because the heath became too bushy, wheatears did not feel at home anymore.

The wheatear is a songbird sized between a sparrow and blackbird. The birds live in open sandy areas.

For some time now, the heath is being grazed by horses and goats. They ensure that the heathland remains open.

The sand which is present in many places attracts rabbits which in turn provide suitable breeding places for wheatears. As the birds nest in abandoned rabbit burrows.

The drifting sand is also of direct relevance to the birds. They eat insects which live on the roots of the young European beachgrass, which grows on drifting sand.

February 2012. Every year, the northern wheatear songbird, weighing on average no more than two tablespoons of salt, flies from the Arctic region of the Western Hemisphere all the way to sub-Saharan Africa and back, according to a new study including a researcher at the University of Guelph: here.

What Happens To Young Birds Once They’ve Left Their Nest? Here.

More Norwegian xenophobes’ murder plans

This video from Norway says about itself:

Police brutality and racism in Norway

Eugene Obiora (1958-2006) was killed by policemen in Trondheim on September 7th 2006. All of the officers are still working for the police.

Translated from Dutch news site nu.nl:

“Norwegian politicians wanted to kill government officials’

Last Updated: August 5, 2011 10:32

OSLO – The Norwegian police has started an investigation of recorded conversations in which two senior local party members of the Norwegian party Demokraterne say that they want to kill members of the Norwegian government.

Norwegian media reported this on Friday.

”It would be nice to force them down on their knees, put a Glock pistol in their necks and to shoot them then,”said one politician in the recording to which broadcaster TV2 has access.

“The Christmas dinner of the government is the perfect time to block all exits with petrol bombs”, the other politician is said to have replied.

Apologies

Meanwhile, one of the politicians involved has apologized and has said it was ”empty words”.

The recordings were made ​​after a meeting with the theme Stop the Islamization of Norway.

Apparently, Norwegian racists think that Anders Breivik has not murdered enough supporters (mostly children) of the Norwegian Social Democrat government yet.

The names of those two politician wannabe killers of (Center) Leftists are Håvar Krane and Kaspar Birkeland.

This xenophobic “Democrat” party arose from a split in the Rightist “Progress” party (the party in which mass murderer Anders Breivik has been an active member). The name is not an allusion to real democratic intentions, which they don’t have, but to the racist party in neighbouring Sweden, the “Swedish Democrats“.

From (conservative) United States blog Little Green Footballs:

Breivik’s political idol ‘Fjordman’ emerges from anonymity

I am Fjordman, says Peder Jensen

Terrorism • Aug 5, 2011 at 1:56 am PDT

I can’t vouch for the reliability of VG as I know nothing about it other than what’s written in its Wikipedia entry.

I find the idea that Fjordman/Jensen was shocked at being cited as an influence by Breivik a bit difficult to believe. Note that beyond saying the doesn’t want to be associated with Breivik and his “horrible actions”, at no point in the interview does he express any sympathy for the victims (he seems primarily concerned about himself), nor does he indicate that he feels the least bit penitent. Granted, this may not be the full transcript of the interview, but his writings and the company he’s kept all these years speak pretty loudly.

Support for Breivik among Italian xenophobic politicians: here.

Letter from a teenage survivor of Breivik’s massacre:

Dear Anders Behring Breivik,

A lot of the friends I met at Utoya are dead and you are the perpetrator. You are the man who, by coincidence, didn’t kill me. I was lucky.

You might think that you have won. You might think that you have ruined something for the Labour Party and for people around the world who stand for a multicultural society by killing my friends and fellow party members.

Know that you have failed.

Breivik was no lone wolf – now we must act: here.

Anders Behring Breivik’s horrific massacre of scores of young social democrats in Norway stands as an appalling alarm of the filth that is being dredged up from the dark underbelly of European society as it spasms from one crisis to another: here.

Breivik’s Greek connection

This video from Australia says about itself:

Greek Australian Neo Nazi hooligan Michael Dimou of Melbourne Victoria brandishes BASEBALL BAT behind a racist banner with members of the Neo-Nazi hooligan crew HFC Hellas Fan Club which says it is the Australian chapter of openly racist Greek Nazi party brown shirts Galazia Stratia (Blue Army).

4 August 2011.

From Keep Talking Greece blog:

Massacre in Norway: A Greek connection?

Greek police investigates a possible “Greek connection” with Anders Behring Breivik, the Norwegian bane and perpetrator of the double terrorist attack in Oslo and the isle of Utoya on July 22, 2011. A far-right extremist who took the lives of 76 people.

According to Greek media, more than 800 blogs and forums of Greek far-right extremists are under surveillance by the Cyber Crime Units of the Greek police EL.AS. Breivik had stated in a ‘manifesto” that some Greek citizen was co-founder of his Order of the Knights Templar founded in 2002 in London.

Greek police investigates blogs and websites with highly racist content and extreme right-wing ideology. According to Proto Thema, the police has even recruited hackers for the ‘discrete’ surveillance of the websites and forums.

So far there has been no data transfer with Greek names from the side of Norwegian authorities – or better said, no details of the Greek-Norwegian authorities cooperation on the issue have been made known to the public.

Prominent among the Greek xenophobic extreme Right: the violent “Golden Dawn” party, founded by an ex-soldier and supporter of the 1967-1974 Greek colonels’ dictatorship who admires Adolf Hitler. And the fundamentalist Christian xenophobes of the LAOS party.

Anders Breivik, the Norwegian nationalist who killed 76 people in a mass shooting and bomb attack last month, sent his manifesto to seven Dutch email addresses, the public prosecution department said on Wednesday: here.

Greek Internet censorship against anti-cuts protests: here.

Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou rejected calls for early elections today, claiming that he was “honouring to the fullest the mandate given us by Greek citizens” by pursuing savage welfare and wage cuts and planning a fire-sale of public assets: here.