Yemen passes emergency laws to quell protests

The Middle East's Marie Antoinettes

Acheron - September Tape Fire (medley)

Radiation Sickness and Poisoning: Guidelines for Homeopathic Prevention and Treatment

To mark World Water Day, on March 22nd Solidarités International and its agency BDDP Unlimited will roll out a campaign to build awareness of the scourge of undrinkable water.
Today, it is estimated that 3.6 million people, including 1.5 million children under the age of 5, die every year of diseases borne by unhealthy water, making it the world’s leading cause of death.
Yet the public isn’t aware of it and political leaders do not demonstrate the drive it takes to end the terrible deaths. The campaign calls on journalists to spread awareness of this scourge and appeal to readers to sign a petition that will be personally handed to the French president during the 6th World Water Forum in March 2012.
To evoke the silent and invisible threat of unhealthy water, BDDP Unlimited opted for a minimalist approach that is both visually appealing and surprising, using water and ink exclusively. The spot shows the power of ink to reveal the invisible.
The spot, created by BDDP Unlimited, produced by Hush and directed by Clément Beauvais, a young director, illustrator, musician and photographer. His multiple talents and mastery of various techniques enabled him to both create the drawings and direct the spot.
The campaign will be seen from mid-March on TV, in cinemas, on the Internet and in print. A dedicated web site, votregouttedeau.org, will gather signatures for the petition.
Via

A prick to play...

(Thanx Andrew!)

How To Lose Your Self Respect in 4 Easy Steps

Sun Ra: ‘Mr. Honecker, Tear Down This Wall’

I have some odd interests. Two are the Sun Ra Arkestra (the legendary jazz commune/band) and East Germany (the former country). I was reminded that these two interests once intersected by the Ra blog Adventure-Equation last weekend. In trying to sort out the band’s (often label-less) records and tapes that were sold at its shows, the blog mentioned a 1986 performance that was “also broadcast, unedited, on East German TV in 1988, as two 45-minute shows.” That merry band of space pranksters? Broadcast to the East Germans before the Berlin Wall opened? Hilarious! (This clip may be from the same East German concert, to judge from the banner at the back of the stage.)
I imagine a portly East Berlin bachelor getting home from his shift on the S-Bahn, turning on his Robotron Radeberg Combi-Vision RF3301 television set to the Sun Ra concert and saying, “What can this possibly portend?” I’m not implying that Sun Ra and the Arkestra were responsible for the fall of Communism and the opening of the Berlin Wall, but the timing is curious.