That'll teach him to hurt a poor little mousey that way!
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That'll teach him to hurt a poor little mousey that way!
how dare he throw the mouse into the fire. how would he like to be picked up by a great big guy and thrown into a blazing fire. I think he is a jerk. i am not glad about his house but it does seem rather just considering how it suffered before it died.
With apologies to Rabbie Burns......
To A Man, on the occassion of burning down his house in January 2006.
Big, stompin', greetin', murd'rous beastie
Oh whit panic's in thy breastie
Ah laf tae see ye sat there cursin'
wi' tears a rollin
It is me that cud dae wi nursin'
Flames put oot
Twas yer ain belief in Mans dominion
That broke natures solemn union
An justifies ma glorius revenge
that makes yer heart twinge
At the loss o' yer ain dear hoose
Instead o jist a stupid moose
I dinna doubt yer wife wis feart o' me
Sae whit? she saw naw hide nor hair o me
Some respite frae the world, a fair request
Instead thrown to a bonfire nest
An never miss'd
Thy huge big house, is noo in ruins
Its whitewashed wa's the fires strewin'
An no time now tae build a new yin
of stone n clay
An swift approaches noo yer wifie
Wi her bitin tongue
Thou saw me scurryin quickly past
wi wifie comin up the gairden path
An' straight intae the burnin' leaves
Ye thought tae throw me
Till straight back tae the hoose ah ran
Wi flames a lickin'
That wee pile o brick an' mortar
cost thee mauny a weel earnt nickel
Noo its gaun fir aw' yer trooble
Nae hoose or hame
Tae shield ye fae yer wife
Or mither in law
But Man thou art no thy-lane
In proving foresight may be vain
The best laid schemes of men an' mice
Aft gang agley
An leave us naught but grief an' pain
For promised joy
But yer still good, dinnae ye see?
house rebuilt by the insurance company
But och, I feel the flames still burn
Aroun' ma back
Burnin doon yer hoose wis a jist return
I laugh an' cheer
Hey that was great, Kilted. It all reminds me of the Talking Heads song:
Burning Down The House by The Talking Heads
Watch out you might get what you're after
Cool baby strange but not a stranger
I'm an ordinary guy
Burning down the house
Hold tight wait 'til the party's over
Hold tight we're in for nasty weather
There has got to be a way
Burning down the house
Here's your ticket pack your bag; time for jumpin' overboard
Transportation is here
Close enough but not too far, baby you know where you are
Fightin' fire with fire
All wet hey you might need a raincoat
Shakedown thieves walking in broad daylight
Three hundred sixty five degrees
Burning down the house
It was once upon a place sometimes I listen to myself
Gonna come in first place
People on their way to work say baby what did you expect
Gonna burst into flame
Go ahead
My house S'out of the ordinary
That's right Don't want to hurt nobody
Some things sure can sweep me off my feet
Burning down the house
No visible means of support and you have not seen nothing yet
Everything's stuck together
I don't know what you expect staring into the TV set
Fighting fire with fire
Burning down the house
Burning down the house
Burning down the house
There are now some 8m people of Ashkenazi origin around the world
Almost half of Europe's Jews are descended from just four women who lived 1,000 years ago, a study says. Scientists studied the mitochondrial DNA - passed from mother to daughter - of 11,000 women of Ashkenazi Jewish origin living in 67 countries.
The Ashkenazis moved from the Mid-East to Italy and then to Eastern Europe, where their population exploded in the 13th Century, the scientists say.
One of the authors said the study shows the importance of Jewish mothers.
"This I could tell you even without the paper," Dr Doron Behar of the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology told Reuters news agency.
Genetic signature
The four women are thought to have lived in the Middle East about 1,000 years ago but they may not have lived anywhere near each other, according to the study published in the American Journal of Human Genetics.
However, they bequeathed genetic signatures to their descendents, which do not appear in non-Jews and are rare in Jews not of Ashkenazi origin.
The Ashkenazis are thought to have travelled from the Middle East to Italy in the first or second Centuries.
In Central and Eastern Europe, many spoke Yiddish - a form of German, mixed with Hebrew.
Ashkenazi comes from an old Hebrew word for Germany.
By the outbreak of World War II, there were some nine million, some two-thirds of whom were killed by the Nazis.
There are now some eight million people of Ashkenazi origin living around the world, the researchers say.
Some 3.5m, or 40%, of them are descended from the four women, they say.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4611592.stm
That's pretty cool. I absolutely love anthropology. A couple of years ago I watched a documentary which attempted to discover the common ancestor of all modern people. By using genetic code and inherited physical characteristics, rather than traditionally accepted paths of migration, they discovered that after leaving Africa, people migrated first up into central Asia, and then split off from there, some moving west to Europe and others east to China. They found a man in southern Kazakhstan, or perhaps Kyrgyzstan, but somewhere around there, who they believed to carry the most ancient surviving bloodline from that time (the split), and they told him, and he cried. :D It was pretty awesome.
Bangladeshi authorities have ordered mobile phone operators to stop offering free calls after midnight, to protect the morals of young people.
A telecommunications regulator said it had received scores of complaints from parents that children were using the service to form romantic attachments.
They said children were losing sleep and some indulged in "vulgar talk".
Many people are conservative in Bangladesh, where arranged marriages are the norm and dating is discouraged.
Driving change
In a letter sent to all five of Bangladesh's networks, the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission said the "free calls after midnight" offers were being abused by the young.
A senior official at the regulator told the BBC they had received scores of complaints from parents.
The rapid expansion of mobile phone use is driving social and economic change in Bangladesh.
By the end of last year, Grameen was signing up one million new customers every 40 days.
But many Bangladeshis are conservative, particularly when it comes to matters of the heart.
The country's biggest mobile phone operator, Grameen Phone, says it will meet its competitors to try to come up with a joint response.
The phone companies say they are surprised by the order, which the regulator says must be obeyed immediately.
One spokesman has been quoted as saying that if the authorities wish to stop young people meeting each other, by the same logic, fast food restaurants and universities should be shut down, too.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/4614640.stm
Hmm. The concept of phone sex corrupting children. Sounds kind of like the arguments for book-burning.
Yes, I agree! Children should be encouraged to take part in such activities... Earlier the better! (Brave New World style, even classes at schoosl!) On second thought, maybe the parents who are against such modern ideas should be sent courses and encouraged to do it themselves! That is sure to stop 'em objecting!Quote:
Originally Posted by RobinHood3000
:lol: I have a better idea. How about the parents decide what is acceptable behavior for their children, and impose it at a household level, instead of trying to make the corporations responsible for how they raise (or don't raise) their kids? This seems like something that could be easily solved by a "no cell phone after midnight" rule.
Yes!!!!
'Empty your pockets and hand in all your personal belongings at the stroke of midnight, before you proceed to your bedroom!'
*visualises high-tech, sensitive detectors at bedroom doors!
Hmm... Maybe children should be taught morse code... or how to train pigeons (or maybe penguins??) to carry their letters in the absence of high tech devices!
I agree with emily. "No cell phones after midnight rule" is definitely less absurd than a "no cell phones after midnight law" (no facetiousness).
Feeling kinda sarcastic today, aren't we, Scher?
You know how when they show movies on television, they often dub less-offensive words over the really naughty words? They ought to have that technology installed on kids' cell phones, so when they try to talk dirty, it would automatically be converted to a more wholesome topic. But the kids would persist anyway and you'd have these great conversations.......
"Baby, you make me so HUNGRY!"
"Really?"
"God yes! You know, I'd really like to EAT PIE with you."
"Oh baby, I want to EAT PIE with you, too!"
"Have you ever EATEN PIE before?"
"No, but I want you to be the first guy I EAT PIE with."
"Maybe I could sneak out and we could EAT PIE tonight."
"Do you have any FRUIT TOPPING?"
"What?"
"FRUIT TOPPING. I won't EAT PIE with you unless you put on FRUIT TOPPING."
"Umm, I guess I could stop at the 7-11 on the way over."
"Actually, I just thought of something. We can't EAT PIE tonight."
"Why not?"
"It's not a good time for me. It's that time of the month."
"What do you mean?"
"Do I have to spell it out?" I'm on A DIET."
"Oh."
And then the girl would call her girl friend, and they would have a conversation in which they would speculate about the size of the guy's FORK.
:lol:
Oh, my god, Basil.
Speak for yourself, young Robin! For me, it is just another day in Paradise! Or was that a royal 'we'?Quote:
Originally Posted by RobinHood3000
:p
:DQuote:
Originally Posted by Basil
I think girls are more concerned about boys' 'table manners' than size of their cutlery, though!
More proof that one must be careful about whom one invites to dinner.
Scientists claim to have solved the murder mystery of the baby that holds the key to all of humanity's ancestry. For decades, scientists have argued over what killed the 2m-year-old Taung Child, found in 1924: the first ape-man fossil to be discovered in Africa.
Some researchers had believed the child was killed by leopards.
Professor Lee Berger challenged this, suggesting that the Taung child was attacked from above by a bird.
But until now, Professor Berger - an American palaeontologist working at South Africa's University of the Witwatersrand - was unable to find definitive proof for his hypothesis.
Scientists had missed the evidence right in front of their eyes, even though the Taung child (thought to belong to the humanlike species Australopithecus africanus) is believed to be the most photographed and observed fossil in history.
Window into the past
The injuries on the Taung child's skull mimic those on the skull of a baboon killed by an eagle.
Professor Berger explained how birds such as eagles kill their prey and eat the brain, which is the most nutritious part of the animal.
"They first kill the young child or a primate by jamming their talons - up to 14cm in length - though the back of the brain and that kills the animal instantly," he said.
"They make sure the animal is dead, then they go down, disembowel it, rip it apart. Take out the eyes, very delicately with their talons, reach in, following the optic nerve with their beak, after eating the eye of course, and go in."
Professor Berger describes his finding as "an extraordinary window into our past" that tells of how our ancestors lived millions of years ago.
"We now know that it's not the furry things with claws that we had to be afraid of, we were driven by other stresses. We were being driven by attacks from the sky.
"Can you imagine what it must have been like back then? Not only were we afraid of cats, and leopards - you had to watch for aerial attacks from these ferocious predators preying on your young."
Professor Berger's findings are to be published in a scientific journal next month.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/4609222.stm
The owner of a Corvette sports car stolen when it was brand new in 1969 is to be reunited with the vehicle after it was finally found, 37 years later. Alan Poster's prized possession went missing in New York, but was found 3,000 miles away in California, just as it was about to be shipped to Sweden.
"We can call this a miracle," Mr Poster told the New York Times.
The car had just been sold to a Swede, who was not aware of the car's past, for $10,000 (£5,700).
However, because Mr Poster had not insured the car, he was not compensated when it was stolen and is entitled to it back.
The Corvette Mako Shark, which was originally painted blue with matching upholstery, is now silver with a red interior.
It has had a new engine, but is missing some vital parts and does not run, a spokesman for the homeland security department said.
Mr Poster, who is now 63, said it was "probably the only car I've ever really loved".
Needle in a haystack
He said said he bought the car as a wild indulgence after his divorce, when he was a guitar salesman living in Queens, New York.
"That car and my new life started together," he said.
He went on to move to California, and so, unbeknown to him, did the car.
"Up until this moment, I thought it was chopped up and shipped away," Mr Poster said after learning it had been found. "It's in great shape, I understand."
The car was found during a customs check as it was being loaded onto a ship to be taken to Sweden.
New York police spent a month sifting through about 10,000 archived stolen car reports to find the original owner.
"It was the equivalent of finding a needle in a haystack," said Detective William Heiser of the New York Police Department.
The car, which Mr Poster bought for $6,000, is now a classic which could fetch up to $60,000.
"It's not getting away from me again," Mr Poster told The New York Post.
"They're going to have to kill me to get this car."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4620914.stm
I worry that we'll hear about the same guy in a week, saying that he's been murdered.
A leading Spanish museum has admitted it has lost a massive steel sculpture which weighs 38 tonnes. The Reina Sofia Museum in Madrid bought the huge Richard Serra sculpture in the 1980s at a cost of more than $200,000.
The museum says that in 1990 it put the sculpture in a warehouse belonging to a company that specialises in storing large-scale artwork.
But when it sought to put the sculpture back on display a few months ago, no-one knew where to find it.
The police are now investigating its disappearance.
The museum, one of Madrid's largest, commissioned the sculpture by American artist Mr Serra in 1986 and acquired it a year later.
The company that was supposed to be holding the sculpture - comprising of four steel slabs - was dissolved in 1998, daily newspaper ABC has reported.
The piece's disappearance only came to light when the museum's director Ana Martinez de Aguilar decided to put it on display again.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4626502.stm
Well, gee, how did THAT happen??
:lol: Well, they're four steel slabs in a warehouse. If I found them, I don't think "$200k work of art" is the first thing that would occur to me. It's probably helping to hold up some scaffolding elsewhere in the city.
Hehe, somebody's walking along the street and looks at the scaffolding and says, "Well, I don't like the symmetry, but the profile is intriguing when viewed from this angle..."
An Indian man is being refused entry to his house - because his family say he is a spirit come back to haunt them.
Raju Raghuvanshi was greeted with cries of "ghost" and neighbours locking doors when he returned from a short spell in jail to his village in Madhya Pradesh.
He had fallen ill in prison and was taken to hospital. Relatives heard he had died and performed his last rites.
Now, unable to convince them he is alive and well, he is staying nearby and has asked the police for help.
Mr Raghuvanshi told the BBC his cousins had denied him entry to his house in the village of Katra, in Mandla district about 300km (200 miles) from state capital Bhopal, despite his protests.
They even dismissed his pleas that he could not be a spirit because his feet were properly attached to his body and not turned backwards, a characteristic which locals ascribe to ghosts.
The 45-year-old said his cousins insisted they had performed his last rites as required and so he should not come back to haunt them.
Exaggerated rumour
Mr Raghuvanshi, who is unmarried with no living parents or brothers, has had to move to the nearby village of Bamni while he struggles to convince his cousins to let him come home.
Mr Raghuvanshi has turned to the police for help has now filed a case for defamation against his family.
His lawyer, Maonhar Soni, said the refusal of relatives to accept that his client is alive could also be because of Mr Raghuvanshi's property and the few acres of land that he owns.
The rumour that he had died and been cremated started when he fell ill and was transferred from prison to a hospital in another town for treatment, police chief NV Vayangankar said.
Ganeshi, the wife one of Mr Raghuvanshi's cousins, said that when they heard of his death they had informed the village elders, who had told them to carry out the rituals immediately.
"Later on he turned up and we were surprised to see him," she said.
Rural India remains deeply traditional and many believe that a dead man's spirit will not rest until the last rites are performed.
In this case, the last rites have happened and it is not clear what proof the villagers need to accept that Mr Raghuvanshi is alive.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/4624444.stm
Now that could be inconvenient...
An Australian couple who picked up an odd-looking fatty lump from a quiet beach are in line for a cash windfall. Leon Wright and his wife took home a 14.75kg lump of ambergris, found in the innards of sperm whales and used in perfumes after it has been vomited up.
Sought after because of its rarity, ambergris can float on the ocean for years before washing ashore.
Worth up to $20 a gram, Mr Wright's find on a South Australian beach could net his family US$295,000 (£165,300).
At first, Mr Wright and his wife Loralee left the strange lump on the beach where it was found.
However, two weeks later the couple returned to Streaky Bay and found it still lying there.
Floating gold
AMBERGRIS FACTS
Found in warm water oceans around the world
Bile secreted by sperm whales as a digestion aid
Solidifies and floats on water, sometimes for years
Used in perfumes, medicines, flavourings
Banned in US under endangered species legislation
Curious, Mrs Wright persuaded her husband to take it home. Internet investigations failed to resolve the mysterious matter of the lump's identity, so the couple turned to local marine ecologist Ken Jury for help.
"I immediately decided it was ambergris - it couldn't be anything else," Mr Jury told Australia's ABC radio.
Mythologised for thousands of years, ambergris has been referred to as "floating gold" by scientists and scavengers who long for a windfall amid the surf.
Expelled from the abdomen of the giant sperm whale, often while hundreds of kilometres away from land, ambergris is a natural excrement thought to be used by the whale as a digestion aid.
The hard beaks of giant squid, a main source of food for the whale, have often been found inside lumps of ambergris.
Initially, ambergris is a soft, foul-smelling waste matter that floats on the ocean.
But years of exposure to the sun and the salt water of the ocean transform the waste into a smooth, exotic lump of compact rock that boasts a waxy feel and a sweet, alluring smell.
"It's quite remarkable when you think about it, because when the whale throws this out, it's discarded material that they can't digest," Mr Jury explained.
"[But] after 10 years, it's considered clean and all you're getting then is the wonderful musky, very sweet perfume, which I've got to say is ultra smooth - it's unbelievable."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asi...ic/4642722.stm
Some people have all the luck, eh?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/h...578/html/1.stm
The world's smallest known fish can measure as little as 7.9mm
Researchers have found the smallest known fish on record in the peat swamps of the Indonesian island of Sumatra.
Individuals of the Paedocypris genus can be just 7.9mm long at maturity, scientists write in a journal published by the UK's Royal Society.
But they warn long-term prospects for the fish are poor, because of rapid destruction of Indonesian peat swamps.
The fish have to survive in extreme habitats - pools of acid water in a tropical forest swamp.
Food is scarce but the Paedocypris - smaller than other fish by a few tenths of a millimetre - can sustain their small bodies grazing on plankton near the bottom of the water.
Human threat
To keep their size down, the fish have abandoned many of the attributes of adulthood - a characteristic hinted at in their name.
Their brain, for example, lacks bony protection and the females have room to carry just a few eggs.
The males have a little clasp underneath that might help them fertilize eggs individually.
Being so small, the fish can live through even extreme drought, by seeking refuge in the last puddles of the swamp; but they are now threatened by humans.
Widespread forest destruction, drainage of the peat swamps for palm oil plantations and persistent fires are destroying their habitat.
Science may have discovered Paedocypris just in time - but many of their miniature relatives may already have been wiped out.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4645708.stm
Well, it is old news, by now, but we couldn't find any recent information on it.
By the way, they voted "yes".
Quote:
Call to Condemn Communist Crimes Upsets Party Faithful
By Patrick Goodenough
CNSNews.com International Editor
December 16, 2005
(CNSNews.com) - To the dismay of many of world's surviving communist parties, a leading European political human rights watchdog will next month consider a proposal calling for the crimes of communism to be condemned internationally and investigated more thoroughly.
The proposal's supporters argue that communism has never been internationally repudiated to the same degree as Nazism was after World War II, and they warn that unless this happens, communism may see a revival in some areas.
At a meeting in Paris Wednesday, a political affairs committee of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) agreed a draft resolution should be put before the assembly's next plenary session, in Strasbourg next month.
The resolution "strongly condemns the massive human rights violations committed by the totalitarian communist regimes and expresses sympathy, understanding and recognition to the victims of crimes."
It also calls on communist or post-communist political parties in Council of Europe member states -- if they have not already done so -- "to reassess the history of communism and their own past, clearly distance themselves from the crimes committed by totalitarian communist regimes and condemn them without any ambiguity."
PACE is a body of European lawmakers representing the 46 member states of the Council of Europe, a grouping formed in the aftermath of World War II and responsible for the European Convention on Human Rights and European Court of Human Rights.
Much larger than the European Union, the Council of Europe's members include not only the formerly communist Warsaw Pact states of Eastern Europe, but also constituent parts of the former Soviet Union, including Russia, Ukraine, the Baltic states, Moldova, Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan.
The resolution text was prepared by Swedish lawmaker Goran Lindblad, who argues that because all former communist countries in Europe -- except Belarus -- are members of the Council of Europe, the grouping is an appropriate forum for the debate.
This was also the right time to have it, he said, pointing to the 15th anniversary of the disintegration of communism in Europe.
"Whereas another totalitarian regime of the 20th century, namely nazism, has been investigated, internationally condemned and the perpetrators have been brought to trial, similar crimes committed in the name of communism have neither been investigated nor received any international condemnation," he said in an explanatory memo.
Lindblad said this could be partly attributed to a reluctance to upset surviving communist regimes.
China, North Korea, Cuba, Vietnam and Laos fall into that category.
"The wish to maintain good relations with some of them may prevent certain politicians from dealing with this difficult subject," he said.
Lindblad gave several reasons for believing there was an urgent need for public debate on the crimes of communism and their condemnation at an international level.
"It seems that a sort of nostalgia for communism is still alive in some countries. That creates the danger of communists taking over power in one country or another."
It was important that all crimes be condemned, without exception. "This is particularly important for young generations who have no personal experience of communist rules."
Another reason, he said, was the fact that communist regimes still exist and "the crimes committed in the name of communist ideology continue to take place."
"International condemnation will give more credibility and arguments to the internal opposition within these countries and may contribute to some positive developments," he added.
Estimates of the number of victims of communist regimes during the 20th century vary, but are generally placed at more than 100 million. A rough breakdown includes China (38-72 million), Soviet Union (20-62 million), Cambodia (2-2.3 million), North Korea (2 million), Africa (1.7 million), Afghanistan (1.5 million), Vietnam (1 million), Eastern Europe (1 million) and Latin America (150,000).
Communists unhappy
Wednesday's decision to forward the resolution to PACE's plenary session - it's on the draft agenda for Jan. 25 - came despite opposition from Russia's representative.
"We do not intend to justify crimes of totalitarian regimes, but will not support the current version of the resolution," Russia's RIA Novosti news agency quoted senior Russian lawmaker Konstantin Kosachev as saying.
An earlier attempt to have the resolution considered at a previous PACE session was unsuccessful, in part because of opposition from communist parties.
At a meeting in Athens last month, more than 70 communist parties from around the world, including the Communist Party of the U.S.A., backed a measure demanding that the PACE stop what they called "political provocation.
"Primitive anti-communism is unacceptable for sober-minded people," it said.
In a speech delivered at the meeting, a Portuguese Communist Party delegate called the PACE resolution "fascistic."
Several individual parties have also written to PACE chairman, Dutch lawmaker Rene van der Linden, to complain.
Equating communism with the "misanthropic, racist, violent and criminal ideology of fascism has nothing to do with the historical reality," said Yrjo Hakanen, chairman of the Communist Party of Finland in one letter.
The move was "aimed to serve the political interests of the right," he charged.
Liana Kanelli, a lawmaker and member of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) worried in her letter that the resolution would provoke "witch hunting" in 21st century Europe.
Revival?
The Athens meeting was hosted by the KKE, and saw some participants predict a revival in the fortunes of communism.
Australian delegate Rob Gowland wrote in this week's edition of the Communist Party of Australia's publication, Guardian, that there were "open calls" to create a new Communist International.
"Notable was the complete absence of the 'doom and gloom' of the early 90s," he reported, adding that "one was most conscious of a prevalent confidence and optimism, a confidence in the correctness and viability of socialism."
One of the resolutions agreed upon at the conference was for a campaign to highlight "the contemporary relevance of socialism," to coincide with the 90th anniversary of the Russian revolution, in 2007.
In an essay published last September, the KKE attributed what it called a "systematic stepping up of reactionary assaults" to anxiety that communism was making a comeback.
"Europe's reactionary forces are worried," it said in an article published in the party journal, Rizospastis. "About 15 years ago all the talk was about the death of communism and the end of history."
oy...
Coretta Scott King, first known as the wife of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., then as his widow, then as an avid proselytizer for his vision of racial peace and non-violent social change died Monday night, according to Andrew Young, the former United Nations ambassador who is an old friend of the King family. She was 78 and had been in failing health for years following a stroke...
more here:
Kenya's government is outraged by an offer of food aid from a New Zealand dog food manufacturer to help the 4m people hit by drought. But Christine Drummond told the BBC she could assure Kenyans that the nutritional supplement she was offering was "definitely not dog food".
It is "a high-powered food full of nutrients. It tastes yummy," she said.
The minister co-ordinating the relief effort, John Munyes, told the AFP news agency the offer was in "bad taste".
Kenyan government spokesman Alfred Mutua told Kenya's Daily Nation newspaper that any food aid must be up to standard.
"Kenyan children are not in such shortage of food to resort to eating dog food," he said.
'Loving country'
The founder of the company which makes Mighty Mix dog biscuits says her freeze-dried Raw Dry Nourish is "like having a big meal in a teaspoon".
"I have been formulating it for special people like in Kenya, the people who need it the most to keep strong," Ms Drummond told the BBC's Focus on Africa programme.
She was originally quoted in the Daily Nation as saying she wanted to send dog biscuits but when she heard how many people needed food aid, decided to send the powder.
But she said that this was a misunderstanding and her only desire had been to help malnourished children in Kenya.
She said she was also sending 42 tons of maize.
"I am offering a natural food supplement... I am donating this food out of the goodness of my heart and to try and show that New Zealand is a loving country," Ms Drummond said.
She said she sprinkles the powdered supplement on her porridge every morning.
Kenya's Director of Medical Services Dr James Nyikal said: "There is no way that the ministry can allow dog food mixture to be brought in for human consumption."
Kenya has declared a national disaster because of the food shortages, which follow poor rains across the north.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/4664884.stm
Would it be inappropriate for me to cite the "Beggars can't be choosers" proverb at this point?
More depressing news from my hometown
'DOZENS' UNDER 12 ON HEROIN
By Ron Moore
AS many as 80 youngsters under the age of 12 may be hooked on heroin in one city it emerged yesterday.
Education bosses, police and council chiefs held talks after an 11-year-old girl collapsed in school after smoking the drug.
Last night she was still in hospital being treated for withdrawal symptoms.
She will not be released until medical staff and social services are sure she will not fall victim again.
Glasgow city council said: "The health and well-being of the girl is our priority."
First Minister Jack McConnell described the situation as "horrendous."
SNP Justice spokesman Stewart Stevenson said:
"She is far from alone. There are several dozen heroin addicts of primary age in the Glasgow area.
"I understand there are probably as many as 50."
But a study of pre-teens in the city in 2003 showed four per cent of the 2,000 asked had tried drugs."
The girl, who lives with her mum, bought £10 wraps of heroin and smoked it for two months.
link
Very much so.Quote:
Originally Posted by RobinHood3000
That's what I was afraid of.
Would it be too idealistic for me to say that it appears to be pride and misperception shutting out potential aid to the hungry?
Jeez Rob, I dont know if I'd call it idealistic in any way....but I would call it damned insensitive. They are people, not animals. For this company to turn around and offer them food designed for dogs is incredibly wrong, It gives the impression that they consider themselves above the suffering.Quote:
Originally Posted by RobinHood3000
I'll give you an analogy, suppose a company offered to replace the homes of the people who were caught up in the hurricanes last year with straw huts. Should those people accept that, smile, and say thank you?
Anyway, I'm going to stop ranting now before I start going on about politics.
If you are unable to get any food and starving, maybe you wouldn't mind eating dog food or even scraping the bottom of the rubbish bins; however, how would you feel if someone said 'Hey, since you are already starving, why don't you have some of my dog's food?' (while he is enjoying a hotdog meanwhile)?Quote:
Originally Posted by RobinHood3000
This is not about hunger but the moral stand the NZ company takes.
After 14 years as the world's most expensive city, Tokyo has been knocked off its top spot - by Oslo. The dubious honour to the Norwegian capital was awarded by the Economist Intelligence Unit, which compared the cost of living in 130 cities.
Fellow Nordic city, Reykjavik, in Iceland, jumped to third place, and Japan's second city, Osaka, was fourth.
And the cheapest place to spend hard earned cash? Tehran - which was the most expensive city 14 years ago.
EU effect
Apart from the Japanese entries all of the top 10 on the survey were in Europe.
The EIU said the result "highlights a much wider increase in the relative cost of living across Europe".
10 MOST EXPENSIVE CITIES
1st - Oslo, Norway
2nd - Tokyo, Japan
3rd - Reykjavik, Iceland
= 4th - Osaka, Japan
= 4th Paris, France
6th - Copenhagen, Denmark
7th - London, UK
8th - Zurich, Switzerland
9th - Geneva, Switzerland
10th - Helsinki, Finland
"The displacement of Tokyo comes as little surprise. A gradually weakening yen has been compounded by years of low inflation and deflation in the Japanese economy," the EIU said.
"Norway has seen strong economic growth following a recovery in 2004, enjoying high consumer confidence, rampant investment and still-low interest rates," it added.
Eastern Europe has seen price hikes too, especially in countries given entry to the EU or undertaking accession talks.
The cost of living jumped more than 5% in Istanbul (48th place), Prague (58th place), Warsaw (63rd place), Kiev (82nd place), Bucharest (95th place) and Belgrade (107th place) .
Cheapest spots
The cost of goods and services in the 130 cities was compared in US dollar terms, so the results partly reflect the currency's long-term underperformance, the report said.
The highest placed US city was New York, ranked at number 27.
In South America the biggest rises were in Brazil where Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo jumped 22 places to the joint 87th spot thanks to an economic revival in the region.
While Tokyo and Osaka are among the most expensive cities in the world, the cheapest region as a whole is Asia, home to five of the seven lowest-priced cities.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/4669400.stm
Perhaps I misunderstood, but I was under the impression that the food was not made for dogs but was human-appropriate food that came from someone affiliated with a dog-food manufacturer. Did I misread?