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Latest Ceramics
Posted Jun 20, 2004
Off on my hols tomorrow to the West of wet Ireland. Meanwhile
I just posted a bunch of recent stuff at : http://public.fotki.com/Chaiwallah/ceramics/ceramics/, working towards an Irish Crafts Council Exhibition in the Autumn.
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Latest reply: Jun 20, 2004
Bloomsday Joke
Posted Jun 16, 2004
16th June is celebrated in Dublin as Bloomsday, the day on which is set the entire action of James Joyce's great novel ( much praised, seldom read...), "Ulysses." This year is the 100th anniversary of that original, fictional epic day. Why "Bloomsday?" Because Leopold Bloom is the main character along with Stephen Daedalus ( Joyce's alter ego.) On Bloomsday in Dublin lots of people dress up in Edwardian dress and re-enact bits from the novel. There are TV documentaries and all that sort of thing dedicated to the book, and to Joyce's memory, and to his wife, Nora Barnacle, whom he met in Dublin on 16th June 1904.
Anyway, here's the ( rather cynical ) joke:
Why is Bloomsday like any Sunday in Ireland?
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.Because thousands of people who've never read the book get together to celebrate a piece of fiction!!!
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Latest reply: Jun 16, 2004
Bluebells
Posted Jun 11, 2004
Just posted on my fotki page a couple of photos of the most amazing bluebells I've ever seen, an endless carpet in the woods at my cousin's farm in Surrey, taken in May. If you like that sort of thing, here's the link:
http://public.fotki.com/Chaiwallah/bluebells/
Cheers,
Chaiwallah
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Latest reply: Jun 11, 2004
Venus Speck
Posted Jun 8, 2004
Well, I've just come back from a long early-morning walk along the seafront here in Dublin. A bunch of people out with impressively large telescopic gear. But the sky, though bright, has been very hazy, with occasional clear spells. I tried the business, as recommended, with a piece of dark card, pin-holed, but the projected image was too small and faint to detect any even tinier shadow that might be Venus.
After walk, came home, got my UV filter sunglasses, put two layers of dark slide film celluloid over the pinhole in the card, looked through, and....bingo, there, low right in the tiny visible disc of the sun was an even tinier black dot, Venus in silhouette. Ta Daaaaa.
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Latest reply: Jun 8, 2004
Dr.Jiang Yanyong "Disappeared."
Posted Jun 4, 2004
The oppression connected with Tiananmen Square continues in China right now. In the lead up to the 15th anniversary of the 1989 massacre, the Chinese authorities have "disappeared" many known dissidents who might have protested. The Chinese authorities still classify as "counter-revolutionary turmoil" the peaceful protests, in which over a million people in Beijing alone called simply for an end to government corruption, and to consider political reform.
Today's news is that the Chinese authorities have "disappeared" Dr. Jiang Yanyong, who famously went public with the information on China's SARS epidemic, much to the annoyance of the people in Beijing who were orchestrating the cover-up. More recently Dr. Jiang went on record in China to ask the government to reconsider their verdict on the Tiananmen events of 1989.
The following letter is from Dr.Jiang's family, published in America today.
The Disappearance of Dr. Jiang Yanyong
Statement from Jiang Rui
Thursday, June 03, 2004 10:30am Beijing Time
We, the children of Dr. Jiang Yanyong, would like to appeal to the Chinese
government to investigate the disappearance of our parents in Beijing. We
would like to call the attention of the general public to the whereabouts
of Dr. Jiang Yanyong and his wife Hua Zhongwei.
Our parents left their apartment together at around 10 AM on the morning of
June 1st for matters that should have lasted no more than two hours.
Forty-eight hours have gone by, yet they have not returned home. Neighbors
have confirmed that the two have not returned.
While we do not want to speculate as to what happened to our parents, we
believe the authorities of Beijing 301 Military Hospital (where our father,
72, is a semi-retired surgeon) is deliberately withholding information from
us, for the following reasons:
1) Our parents left their apartment by way of transportation provided by
the hospital authorities.
2) Our family's inquiries to the hospital authorities about our
parent's whereabouts have been met with dubious answers. For example, "They
are safe,"and in an apparent warning about not releasing information to the
public regarding their disappearance, we were told, "You should not go
beyond the authority to whom you report."
The hospital authorities have so far refused to provide any specific
information regarding the whereabouts of our parents.
Jiang, Rui
Salinas, California
(831) 455-2056
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Latest reply: Jun 4, 2004
chaiwallah
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