Aug

10

Hunger Makes Me Mad

I noticed many years ago, when wandering through London with a few friends, that I was getting more and more grumpy. First I did not know why, but then realized that I was just getting very hungry and just needed food.

The situation was easily remedied, we had some lunch and I was my usual happy self again.

Notice the same now with my son, he also can get very grumpy when hungry (or tired for that matter).

But today something reached my mailbox that makes me angry on a totally different level. I did my due diligence on the story to make sure it’s not an urban legend and I found it to be true by all the sources I looked at. But you do your own investigation.

So, here is the brutal shocker…

Pulitzer Prize 1994

This picture was taken by Kevin Carter 1994 during the Sudan famine. It won him the Pulitzer Prize. It depics a starving child during the Sudan famine crawling to the United Nations food camp located a kilometer away. The vulture is waiting patiently - as vultures do - for the child to die so that it can have a meal. No mercy here - it’s what nature does, right?

This picture shocked the whole world. It is not known what happened to the child, including the photographer Kevin Carter who left the place as soon as the photograph was taken. As the story goes three months later he commited suicide due to depression.

When we did not want to finish our food as children we often heard our parents lament that there are children in the world dieing of hunger but it never really sank in - after that picture it finally has!

But now back to the anger I feel about this hunger - it’s because the cost of a few days of the Iraq war, invested in a little bit more constructive way, could probably handle problems like this on the whole planet easily.

Imagine, there is still a debate if the US should withdraw from Iraq!

Posted by Merlin Silk - August 10th, 2007

Aug

10

Stephen Eley Ordered Me to Have Fun

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Escape Pod Science Fiction Podcast … and I did - again!

Let me explain. Stephen Eley is the mastermind behind a podcast called Escape Pod. Weekly he offers science fiction stories as a podcast and I hardly ever miss one of the stories, although I sometimes lag several podcasts behind the current story. The reason being that it’s a podcast, right?

I usually fire up my iTunes once in a while (when I run out of stories on my smart-phone), and download new content onto said smart-phone.

One more element then has to come into play for me to be able to actually listen to the podcast - I have to be in the car going somewhere. Today was such a day, and a good one. Ninety minutes drive back from the mountains, late, the son sleeping in the back so that I could plug in those ear phones and work on my mp3s on my phone.

I got nearly two shows done, Escape Pod 115 -Conversations With and About My Electric Toothbrush all finished and Escape Pod 116 two thirds done.

The story “Conversation With and About My Electric Toothbrush” was really surprising and enjoyable. The title gives away most of what this story is about and I will tell no more about the funny twist because I want you to go check it out yourself.

OK, the epilogue of that show also announces that bloggers like me can get prizes that Steve gives away to those who blog about Escape Pod, but this is really not the reason for this blog - even though it might have been the straw that broke the camels back.

Looking at the Escape Pod website again also reminds me that I really should donate to the site - it would be only just for all the enjoyment I get out of it, but maybe I can do even better by advertising on his site for one of my commercial sites.

One reason for the generally above quality of the stories presented is that the author is actually paid for his story. Obviously this created a cloud of much better stories than those submitted by authors who just want to be published, not caring if they will be compensated for their effort. I actually submitted a story once and it was fortunately rejected, creating the incentive to work on my writing.

Posted by Merlin Silk - August 10th, 2007

Aug

9

Daisy Air Rifles Since 1886

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Daisy Air Rifle Poster

I got this in an email - forgot from whom, but thanks anyways - and I just had to share it.

I can imagine that this statements “Daisy Air Rifles: Keeping Kids Off Your Lawn Since 1886!” is one of those little things that will forever change the way you look at a specific subject - in this case for me the “Since xxxx!”

Another mind altering was that Nike Slogan - Just Do It! which is still effecting me immensely.

Posted by Merlin Silk - August 9th, 2007

Aug

8

Translation from Portuguese Please

Filed under Fun Stuff, Video | 2 Comments

At least I believe that the following is a Brazilian advertisement and is spoken in Portuguese.

Take a look (and you may enjoy even if you don’t understand the works) …

So, for all of you readers who have mastered that language - hi mx - what does it say there at the end?

Posted by Merlin Silk - August 8th, 2007

Aug

2

A New War for George W. Bush

Filed under Fun Stuff, Politics | 3 Comments

The world is in shock about the collapse of the bridge over the Mississippi River in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

But the people of the world shall not fear, our US government agencies are coming to take revenge.

Here is what the La Rochelle Times report:

Bridge collapse minneapolis George w bush’s war on gravity

MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA

President Bush announced early Thursday that the United States would prevail in the newly launched “War on Gravity,” which the President intends to fight “anywhere and everywhere gravity may hide.” In response to the tragic collapse of the Interstate 35W bridge in Minneapolis Wednesday evening, government agencies reacted quickly to formulate a response that would counteract gravity’s latest attacks against the vulnerable homeland.

“My administration and me intend to do anything I can to stop these evil acts of downward aggression,” the President said during his announcement at the White House. “I’ve been talking with my advisors, and we think we have a pretty good idea where these gravity-based forces might be hiding. The American people need to know I’m going to do everything in my power to stop these evil forces before they act again.”

La Rochelle Times is coming to us from France and I think it’s great that more and more people around the world developing the ability to make fun of us here in the US.

Reminds me of the one Harry Potter film in which the teacher instructs his students to overcome their biggest fear - by ridiculing it, seeing the fearsome teacher suddenly appearing in a night gown, the spider’s leg becoming wobble and by just calling out ‘Ridiculous!’

Read the full article Bush: ‘We’re at war with gravity’

O yes, just to put things in perspective, the World Clock at Poodwaddle.com reports that just today we had 713 death caused by ‘nutritional deficiencies and 576 death caused by falls.

I wonder when GWB will start his war against falls - but then again once he wins the one against gravity he will have an easy game in this one.

Posted by Merlin Silk - August 2nd, 2007