Esbjorn Svensson Dead

Esbjorn Svensson News Report

Esbjorn Svensson in full flow

What a loss! I loved this guy’s music. The trio’s albums have regularly appeared in the right hand column ==> and the album, ‘Strange Place For Snow’ is a true classic.

A Strange Place For Snow

A couple of years ago we had the pleasure of going to see the band live and it really was one of the most memorable gigs I’ve been to. They were very experimental (putting the double bass through delay and wah wah pedals etc!) but remarkably, managed to pull it off.

They’ve just released a new album, ‘Live In Hamburg’ – go buy it!

Official Site

Andy

Another Cracker

Catherine confessed to another cracker yesterday. Apparently her first thought when reading the following headline was….

Pilot Booze Ban Hailed A Success

‘Mmmmm I didn’t think pilots were allowed to drink and fly a plane’

Genius

Andy

Milngavie Olympics 2020

Stuff China and London’s efforts, at last I’ve found an Olympic bid that I can get fully behind, it’s Milngavie 2020!!!

This guy is definitely onto something….

Milngavie

Andy

DAR To Stand Alone

What you up to on the 21st April?

Andy

Straight & Narrow

For a number of years now, my going out in public has been dependent on GHD hair straighteners. However, I was always a bit uncomfortable with their advertising campaigns (which incidentally, they didn’t start producing until after I had bought a pair!)

Their main slogan ‘A new religion for hair‘ didn’t really bother me, it was more the fact that the sultry models ‘prayed’ for things like being able to steal someone’s boyfriend or make other girls insanely jealous as a result of their gorgeous hair. And their other slogans ‘Thy will be done‘ and ‘The gospel according to GHD‘ were certainly a bit off.

Well, I was just on the BBC website and it turns out that at least 23 other people out there also had a problem with the adverts, and actually bothered to do something about it. As a result - the ads have been banned! You can read the story here.

Catherine

Mike Huckabee For President!

I nicked this from Shanana’s blog, but I had to - it’s genius! If there are any Americans reading this blog, please vote for Huckabee! This is worth your vote:

Andy

Japanese-American Internment

US Govt Propaganda Video

‘How could such a tragedy have occurred in a democratic society that prides itself on individual rights and freedoms?… I have brooded about this whole episode on and off for the past three decades…’ Milton S Eisenhower

I’ve been reading about the Japanese American Internment over the last few days, it’s pretty crazy stuff. In summary,

‘After the December 7, 1941 Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066. This act based on ethnicity permitted the military to bypass the constitutional safeguards of American citizens in the name of national defense. The order excluded persons of Japanese ancestry then living on the West Coast from residing and working in certain locations. This traumatic uprootment culminated in the mass evacuation and incarceration of most Japanese Americans, most of whom were U.S. citizens or legal permanent resident aliens. They were detained for up to 4 years, without due process of law or any factual basis. They were forced to live in bleak, remote camps behind barbed wire and under the surveillance of armed guards. Japanese American internment raised questions about the rights of American citizens as embodied in the first ten amendments to the Constitution.’

What I can’t get over is that I’d never heard of it until this week, yet it is a huge deal, impacting the Western World’s (and especially America’s) view on it’s own citizens. Here are a few links if you fancy reading more…

link one
link two
link three

Andy

Time on your Hands?

Alex Salmond’s dad

Got a spare 31 minutes and two seconds? Put it to good use…..

Alex Salmond’s keynote speech

Andy

Disturbing News Reports

Time magazine on Christianity’s Image Problem

Reuters reports on “Christian Zionism”

Christian Today on attacks on Christians in Nigeria

Andy

A National Conversation

Well, despite my husband’s fears I have not run off with Alex Slamond as a result of last night’s book festival event. I didn’t ask him for a cuddle and I didn’t even get him to sign a copy of his white paper (because it cost £10 to buy!) Despite all these failures on my part it was still an excellent evening.

We arrived at the Highland Spiegeltent with 20 minutes to spare and there was already a significant queue forming. I read on the internet today that there were 200 people in attendance. It didn’t seem like that many folk were there at the time but then again we were in the 2nd row and it would have been rude to turn round and start counting those behind us.

Iain Macwhirter from The Herald was hosting the evening and once he had got things started with a bit of banter between himself and Alex it was not long before he opened the floor to questions. The first person chosen asked why everyone in attendance had had to pay to hear our First Minister speak. Alex assured us that he was not getting a cut, although if he had thought about it he would have tried to arrange one!

Some time was spent discussing Scottish culture and in particular broadcasting. He picked up on the opinion of some that a Scottish channel would be ‘wall to wall River City’ and questioned why that is all we are famous for when there are excellent Scottish creators working throughout the world. Does their talent only develop in the departure lounge of the airport? No! It’s just there isn’t really anywhere for them to use it here at the moment.

Of course, independence and the future of Scotland were discussed too. One girl - the last to have the chance to say anything - informed us that in the recent election she and her friend had voted SNP for the first time. Neither were yet convinced that they actually wanted independence, all they wanted was the chance to discuss it and in the end, have their say about it. She wanted to know what the other parties were afraid of and why they were determined not to let this happen. This was a key point that Alex Salmond majored on. Are we, the Scottish people, not capable of deciding our future for ourselves?

If you want to read the white paper (for free!) and join the conversation there is a link below:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/topics/a-national-conversation

Catherine