Japan's unhealthy obsession with whales

Thanks for that "grey squirrels for lunch" link, Barry. It reminded me of the "Japan and whales" story I heard on BBC World the other day.

[BBC: March 17th, 2006]

Schoolchildren in the western coastal district of Wakayama are now being offered an unusual addition to their lunch menus. Whale.
[...]
The Wakayama education board is supplying whale meat to around 280 schools, to try to promote awareness of the region's whaling traditions.
[...]
For all of Japan's success in winning support from other countries for its campaign to ease the restrictions on whaling - especially smaller countries which receive Japanese aid - the Japanese people are losing interest.
[...]
The official line is that whaling is an integral part of Japanese culture, a practice dating back hundreds of years.

That isn't quite true. A few coastal communities, like Wakayama, have been hunting whales for centuries, traditionally with hand-held harpoons.

But the rest of Japan only became familiar with eating whale during the 20th Century, as modern ships with harpoon-guns became available.

This is just pure madness. First the Japanese government pisses everyone off by hunting those whales for "scientific research" - what exactly are they studying so hard? Then at the same time this meat is going to the restaurants. If this is not insane enough, apparently there is too much meat for the restaurants. But instead of cutting down on supply, the government is taking steps to increase the demand, while at the same time increasing supply even further.

.. and all this in the name of nationalism and tradititions, which do not really exist?

WTF?!?

British plan to feed their children squirrel

Two UK Lords have outlined plans to put grey squirrel on the school-meals menu. They explain in the attached BBC article how dastardly american grey squirrels now outnumber native UK reds by twelve or so to one.

Quick Reads: indulge me for a second.... :)

hey all

am really excited about my work and the project i've been working on so thought i'd tell you guys -my friends here are really sick and tired of me talking about it so i need to find a new audience!!! :)

I am excited because:

1. the project is huge and i get to do exciting things like attend the glitzy launch (which was on the 2nd March). Other attendees included Sir Bill Morris, Terry Pratchett (he's really small?!) oh and this prime minister bloke called Anthony Blair was there too -this Anthony Blair chap claimed in his speech that the most important book in his life was a biography of Trotsky but i didn't believe him-

2. i achieved a lifetime ambition in that i appeared on the 'Match of the Day' programme on BBC1 (i was interviewed about the Quick Reads project cos the Premier League produced a Quick Reads book called The Team, which is about football) admittedly when i was a little kid i wanted to appear on MotD playing football and not talking about it!! :)

so apart from having the man-flu i'm really chipper at the moment, hope you guys are the same,

-barry

oh and if yr interested in finding outmore about the project you can do so here: www.quickreads.org.uk

Eta declares permanent ceasefire

[BBC: March 22, 2006]

The Basque separatist group Eta has declared a permanent ceasefire.

Eta is blamed for killing more than 800 people in its four-decade fight for independence for the Basque region of northern Spain and south-west France.

In a statement released to Basque media, the group said its objective now was "to start a new democratic process in the Basque country".

I was wondering how quickly they will make that decision. In the good ol' days of decolonisation and cold war "one man's freedom fighter is another man's terrorist" seemed to make sense. Everything has changed after 9/11. Nowadays people tend to ignore the "freedom fighter" bit.

If one method does not work, you try a different one. That's what politics is all about, pursuit of goals. You weigh your cons and pros and use the method which would give you the needed results.

Delusion in Belarus

[BBC: March 21, 2006]

Belarus' main opposition leader has urged his supporters to keep up daily protests against the election result, calling for a major rally on Saturday.
[...]
Ambassadors from 11 EU countries went to the square earlier to show support.
[...]
In a small-scale echo of Ukraine's "Orange Revolution", protesters have put up 17 tents in the square. They have put candles and food on plastic sheets and have been playing music from loudspeakers.

They said they would continue their protest in sub-zero temperatures until a new election was called

There is so much wrong with this I don't even know where to start. Did anyone really expect this one to be fair elections? Of course not. But I don't understand why the opposition is asking for new elections. New elections held under the same conditions would give pretty much the same result. The main complaint that people have about this, is that the opposition did not get enough media coverage of their campaign. They should have been out there protesting when they were not given enough media coverage during the election campaign.

If they suspect that there has been tampering with the ballots, then they should demand a recount. Since Lukashenko would never agree to EU or OSCE observers to do this, they could use Russia. In any case asking for a new election makes no sense whatsoever. As for the few hundred people freezing their butts off in some central square expecting to be thrown in jail at any moment, while the riot police is sitting smugly in their vans, drinking coffee and smoking cigarettes, that's just pathetic. What do they think they will achieve?

BBC thinks that the West can put pressure on Lukashenko. That's a great idea, to put pressure on someone you need to have influence over them, in other words to give them something they don't have, or to take away something that they do have. Lukashenko would not easily accept anything from the west, because he is suspicious of the western motives. As for taking something away from Belarus, only one country can do something about that and that's Russia. Russia, however, is quite happy with Lukashenko. As long as it's happy, Lukashenko will remain in power.

What were those ambassadors doing on that square? This is the bit which shocked me the most. A country just had its elections, some people are dissatisfied with the result, that's fine. But why would other countries support them? If there has been an election fraud, then it should be documented, and then acted upon in due course. Showing up at that square is just further proof for Lukashenko that the West does not want him in power and is ready to do anything to remove him.

I remember the protests in US after George W was elected for the first time. Imagine if we had a dozen of ambassadors there among the crowds, supporting calls for a new election. US would be more than justified in throwing those diplomats out of the country. I hope that's exactly what Lukashenko does.

Flu

Damn, I can't remember the last time I had a flu this bad. It seems like half of Helsinki has it. It's guaranteed to knock you out for about a week. Well, I am getting better, finally!!

R.I.P. Chef

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/03/20/south_park_repeat/

Why We're All Jesus' Children

[Slate.com: March 15, 2006]

Say you go back 120 generations, to about the year 1000 B.C. According to the results presented in our Nature paper, your ancestors then included everyone in the world who has descendants living today. And if you compared a list of your ancestors with a list of anyone else's ancestors, the names on the two lists would be identical.

Yes, we are one big happy family.

US launches biggest Iraq air assault since 2003

[Guardian: March 17, 2006]

The US military said yesterday it had launched the biggest air assault on Iraq since its invasion in 2003, with American and Iraqi troops targeting insurgents near Samarra, the city that has come to symbolise the threat of civil war. A military statement said more than 50 aircraft and 1,500 US and Iraqi troops using more than 200 vehicles had been deployed in an offensive intended to clear a "suspected insurgent operating area" north-east of the city.

What was it they are trying to achieve again? It seems like a PR campaign to show that the new Iraqi army is actually capable of something. So you select these 4 villages where "Unknown gunmen" hang out and then you "find" all those weapons.

testing if other members can create threads

yes they can:)

Hello World

Just a place for me to post links to stories that I read.