Public Service Announcement (5)
2 hours ago
Sunday 11 November 2012
La Haine (1995)
Info
Takes me back to a great night about 8 or 9 years ago watching Asian Dub Foundation soundtrack this film on a beautiful summer evening, which was also my birthday, at the Myer Music Bowl here in Melbourne.
Lost to History: Missing War Records Complicate Benefit Claims by Iraq, Afghanistan Veterans
DeLara had searing memories of his combat experiences. A friend bled to death before his eyes. He saw an insurgent shoot his commander in the head. And, most hauntingly, he recalled firing at an Iraqi boy who had attacked his convoy.
The Army said it could find no field records documenting any of these incidents.
DeLara appealed, fighting for five years before a judge accepted the testimony of an officer in his unit. By then he had divorced, was briefly homeless and had sought solace in drugs and alcohol.
DeLara's case is part of a much larger problem that has plagued the U.S. military since the 1990 Gulf War: a failure to create and maintain the types of field records that have documented American conflicts since the Revolutionary War.
A joint investigation by ProPublica and The Seattle Times has found that the recordkeeping breakdown was especially acute in the early years of the Iraq war, when insurgents deployed improvised bombs with devastating effects on U.S. soldiers. The military has also lost or destroyed records from Afghanistan, according to officials and previously undisclosed documents.
The loss of field records — after-action write-ups, intelligence reports and other day-to-day accounts from the war zones — has far-reaching implications. It has complicated efforts by soldiers like DeLara to claim benefits. And it makes it harder for military strategists to learn the lessons from Iraq and Afghanistan, two of the nation's most protracted wars.
Military officers and historians say field records provide the granular details that, when woven together, tell larger stories hidden from participants in the day-to-day confusion of combat.
The Army says it has taken steps to improve handling of records — including better training and more emphasis from top commanders. But officials familiar with the problem said the missing material may never be retrieved.
"I can't even start to describe the dimensions of the problem," said Conrad C. Crane, director of the U.S. Army's Military History Institute. "I fear we're never really going to know clearly what happened in Iraq and Afghanistan because we don't have the records..."
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Don't Get Me Started - Stewart Lee: What's So Wrong About Blasphemy?
Stewart Lee talks about blasphemy and how religions deal with criticism.
Talking to various commentators, including Liberty director Shami
Chakrabarti, journalist Polly Toynbee and writer Alan Moore.
The 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month
In Memory of
2766529, 6th Bn., Black Watch (Royal Highlanders)
who died age 20
on 24 April 1944
Son of Robert Arthur and Catherine Haddock,
of Orrell, Bootle, Lancashire.
Remembered with honour
CASSINO WAR CEMETERY
[REPOST]
George Entwistle resigns as director general of the BBC
In the light of the fact that the director-general is also the editor-in-chief and ultimately responsible for all content; and in the light of the unacceptable journalistic standards of the Newsnight film broadcast on Friday 2nd November, I have decided that the honourable thing to do is to step down from the post of director-general.
When appointed to the role, with 23 years' experience as a producer and leader at the BBC, I was confident the trustees had chosen the best candidate for the post, and the right person to tackle the challenges and opportunities ahead. However, the wholly exceptional events of the past few weeks have led me to conclude that the BBC should appoint a new leader.
To have been the director-general of the BBC even for a short period, and in the most challenging of circumstances, has been a great honour.John Humphrey's interview with George Entwhistle
While there is understandable public concern over a number of issues well covered in the media – which I'm confident will be addressed by the review process – we must not lose sight of the fact that the BBC is full of people of the greatest talent and the highest integrity. That's what will continue to make it the finest broadcaster in the world."
(Full transcript)
Music's 15 Worst TV Cameos Ever
Back in the early '90s, punk pioneer Iggy Pop appeared on a few episodes of Nickelodeon's cult classic series, "The Adventures of Pete & Pete." In the cheesy cameo, the veteran rocker played Michelle Trachtenberg's father, the aptly-named "Pop," who jumped on stage at the school dance to sing his daughter a song. Oddly enough, Iggy's cameo wasn't the only one in that episode of "Pete & Pete" -- the band that had been playing before he jumped on stage was led by a Luscious Jackson member.
For the rest of the 'Music's 15 Worst TV Cameos Ever'
see HERE
Damo Suzuki Meets 23 Skidoo (London Tonight 11/11)
This unique collaboaration is supported by Three Trapped Tigers. Bonding over the idea of dragging elements of IDM into the format of a live band - replacing computers with humans, rendering a backing track redundant and adding a humanized dimension to a robotic genre.
Part of the London Jazz Festival in association with BBC Radio 3
Venue:
Village Underground
54 Holywell Lane
EC2A 3PQ
London, UK
Line-up:
Damo Suzuki
23 Skidoo
Three Trapped Tigers
Damo Suzuki Meets 23 Skidoo
Tickets
http://www.songkick.com/concerts/13673609-damo-suzuki-at-village-underground
Unfortunately Fritz is still out of action and Sam is in Australia. Long time associate Jim Whelan will be on guitar. I really wish I could be there!
Saturday 10 November 2012
♪♫ Paul Kelly - New Found Year
Being a big fan of the artist Lucy Dyson I asked Nick from the One
Louder office to put together a clip for New Found Year based on her
collages. A play on the idea of the calendar pin up girl. To explore
more of Lucy's work go to http://www.lucydyson.com
Thanks, Nick! PK
'New Found Year' is from Paul Kelly's 2012 album 'Spring And Fall'.
iTunes Australia: https://itunes.apple.com/au/album/spring-and-fall/id565833431
iTunes USA: https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/spring-and-fall/id571173976
iTunes UK: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/spring-and-fall/id576234740
Physical: http://www.paulkellystore.com.au/store/
Thanks, Nick! PK
'New Found Year' is from Paul Kelly's 2012 album 'Spring And Fall'.
iTunes Australia: https://itunes.apple.com/au/album/spring-and-fall/id565833431
iTunes USA: https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/spring-and-fall/id571173976
iTunes UK: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/spring-and-fall/id576234740
Physical: http://www.paulkellystore.com.au/store/
Friday 9 November 2012
EFA welcomes the Australian government's back down on mandatory internet filtering
The internet is built on open standards, and EFA strongly believes that maintaining its open nature is critical to ensuring that it continues to be a powerful platform for disseminating information, connecting communities, increasing transparency, driving innovation and enabling global commerce. EFA fully understands that such an open network also creates a number of serious challenges for government, particularly in relation to law enforcement and security.
Top-down, one-size-fits-all approaches to dealing with these challenges, such as the government's now-abandoned mandatory internet filter, are not appropriate, nor likely to be effective in terms of outcomes or value for money. More nuanced policy approaches that employ proportionate technical responses, combined with empowering individuals, particularly through education, are in most cases likely to be much more successful.
We are therefore pleased that the government appears to now finally accept that its mandatory internet filter policy was such a top-down approach that was unworkable and posed a serious threat to free speech in Australia.
While the government's new plan, for having ISPs block child abuse sites based on an Interpol-maintained list does amount to a form of internet filtering, it is currently of a very limited nature and involves a degree of transparency and accountability in relation to the list of blocked sites.
We continue to believe that filtering based on block lists is a relatively ineffective approach with a number of potential problems, however, this new policy appears to be a workable approach to addressing one aspect of the problem of harmful content.
We encourage policy-makers to undertake meaningful engagement with civil society groups early on in the policy formulation process to ensure that such poorly-designed policies are avoided in future.
@'EFA'
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