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January 31, 2006
Bad governance and wars causing more African hunger than drought
It is particularly striking that the FAO highlights political problems such as civil strife, refugee movements and returnees in 15 of the 27 countries it declares in need of urgent assistance. By comparison drought is only cited in 12 out of 27 countries.
The implication is clear - Africa's years of wars, coups and civil strife are responsible for more hunger than the natural problems that befall it.
BBC NEWS | Africa | Africa's hunger - a systemic crisis
Posted by thdyck at January 31, 2006 | Comments (0)
January 24, 2006
How to Do What You Love
Unproductive pleasures pall eventually. After a while you get tired of lying on the beach. If you want to stay happy, you have to do something.
Posted by thdyck at January 24, 2006 | Comments (0)
January 13, 2006
College of Arms, London, U.K.
In 1555 the heralds were presented with the site of the present College of Arms, on which then stood a mediaeval house called Derby Place. This was the Heralds' College until 1666.
There are records of the heralds carrying out certain alterations to Derby Place over the years, but little of its appearance is now known except that it formed three sides of a quadrangle and was entered by a gate with a portcullis on the west side of the site. On the south range, where Queen Victoria Street now is, stood a large hall at the western end.
In 1666 the old Heralds' College was swept away by the Great Fire. The College records were saved and taken to the Palace of Westminster where a temporary office was opened. It was probably a shortage of funds for rebuilding that delayed the planning of a new Heralds College until 1670. It was then that Francis Sandford, Rouge Dragon Pursuivant, and Morris Emmett, the King's bricklayer, seem to have proposed the new design which was then followed. The cost of rebuilding was met in stages and the new College was erected slowly and in parts. The heralds contributed considerably out of their own pockets but they also sought subscriptions among the nobility whose names and pedigrees were entered in a series of lavish volumes known as the Benefactors Books which still survive at the College.
Posted by thdyck at January 13, 2006 | Comments (0)
January 5, 2006
The world's oldest Koran in old Tashkent
Visiting dignitaries from the Muslim world often turn up to see the Othman Koran in the depths of old Tashkent, so it is odd that it is still kept in such an out of the way location.
But the authoritarian Uzbek government has inherited a Soviet-era distrust of Islam, and still views much of its own Islamic history with suspicion.
The mufti's official religious establishment is closely watched and takes care not to attract too much attention to itself.
As a result, its greatest treasure, the world's oldest Koran, continues to sit quietly in the medieval quarter of old Tashkent.
BBC NEWS | Asia-Pacific | Tashkent's hidden Islamic relic
Posted by thdyck at January 5, 2006 | Comments (0)
January 2, 2006
Need unbundled 911 service from Bell
I am in this situation: I would like self-powered, highly available 911 service and use VoIP for the rest of my phone services. We were in a situation at home recently where our cable Internet connection failed for about 2.5 hours during a period where we needed to call 911. As a result, I am switching to Bell local phone service, through at a higher cost and with less features than I was getting from Vonage.
A solution to this problem is simple. It is to require the ILECs to sell emergency-only local telephone services at a price low enough to allow local telephone services over parallel networks (FTTH, DSL, DOCSIS) to gain market share.
Posted by thdyck at January 2, 2006 | Comments (1)