“In the 1920s O G S Crawford invented aerial archaeology, one of many services this eccentric Marxist misanthrope performed for the study of antiquity.”
- Jonathan Meades: Link

Bloody Old Britain: O G S Crawford and the Archaeology of Modern Life

By Kitty Hauser

Granta Books, 286pp

Amazon: Link

“Future archaeologists will perhaps excavate the ruined factories of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries when the radiation effects of Atom bombs have died away.”
- O. G. S. Crawford, from Archaeology in the Field (1953)

O. G. S. Crawford @ Wikipedia: Link.

~ Karl Jones

ShareThis

---

© karl_g_jones for Babel, 03:38 PM. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags:

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

Rome: It’s beautiful and it’s not. Kinda like everything else in life.

“La prossima fermata è Roma Termini.”

I moved to Italy to live at the end of September last year. I lived in Brescia (a medium-sized city in Northern Italy) until March 1, when I moved to Siena.

(I am once again back in Brescia, but that’s a story I’m going to save for another day.)

I picked up some vocabulary during those first five months in Italy, but it wasn’t until I started attending an Italian class for immigrants in Siena that I really started learning the language.

Now, finally!, I understand much of what is being said either to me or around me. The language no longer sounds foreign or like pretty sounds flowing forth from people’s mouths. Although I’m more motivated to learn the language–because it finally seems like an achievable goal to converse fluently–the glossy veneer of the nonsensical musical sounds has dulled. I don’t know, there’s something about understanding when somebody complains about the weather (or conversely, the ease in which I can complain about it) that makes any language sound less romantic.

Shiny glossy veneers are so overrated. Don’t you think? I mean, a veneer is just a thin expensive sheet of wood (or metal) with layers upon layers of unusually toxic clear varnish. If it wasn’t for the common cheap material beneath (like pine or regular mild steel), the veneer would have nothing to attach itself to.

And I’ve always preferred the look of a dull, used or aged finish anyway…and now that I’ve exhausted my analogy I’m finished with this post.

But one more thing before I go to bed on this hot summer night: it is nice to know that you can simply listen to the conductor to know when your next stop is and not have the nervous wondering of whether you’ve missed it or have yet to arrive.

Arrivederci a dopo.

~Janelle Renée

ShareThis

---

© Janelle_Renee for Babel, 02:46 PM. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags:

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

Natural Touch is a Non Governmental Organisation based in Calabar the Eastern part of Nigeria.The inspiration come from a point of observation of handicapped people and Children roaming the streets of some citites in Nigeria mostly in Calabar begging for alms.
Most of them at the end of the day retired to uncompleted buildings to pass the night,It was a very gory site when a reported case of ritual dehumanising killing of two of such people in a street close to my residence.These two were killed and some part of them remove for rituals activities or some other things not quite known to us.

So touched by such inhuman treament to people because of their inability to defend themselves or provide proper accomodation for themselves,and even a source of livelihood was traumatic,hence,my decision to get the NGO (NATURAL TOUCH) started,with the aim to provide food and shelter for the hanicapped.Make sure there is a future for them and security of life for them.

Upon our inception,we had limited our intention to mostly the young ones and average aged.Although we could not provide accomodation for them but we  provide the basic needs which is food for them atleast once a day.

It is our aim to increase the feeding arrangement to twice a day and also build a home for them.It is our aim to accomodate at least 2000-5000 handicapped people of difiers ages in the home,and Animals too.
With support from other Organisations/Individauls that are touched just as we are.We will establish a school or a handicraft centre for them to study and become independent of their own in future.
Suffice to say here that most of them roam the street with torn cloths and look unkept,We also provide clothing where necessary and affordable to them.
Based on our inability to sustain the financial burden,we are looking forward to Groups or Individuals with similar passion as we have towards uplifting the living standard of these hadicapped and also thinking of ensuring their future.

We are planning of building a home for them in Calabar to accomodate the handicapped and also recruit personnels to take care of their cooking and tranining.
We look forward to support  from passionate groups and individuals.
Thanks,
Dennis

ShareThis

---

© Naturaltouch for Babel, 02:38 AM. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags:

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

Technology for human needs:

• The Outquisition
• Engineers Without Borders
• MIT International Design Summit
• Free/Open Appropriate Technology
• Transition Towns
• Technology for Humanity

(...)
Read the rest of Technology for Humanity (735 words)

---

© karl_g_jones for Babel, 02:50 PM. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags:

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

How time Flies,
In less than 7 days, I shall be celebrating my One Year Anniversary on TIG.
Precisely, October 16th, 2007, when I joined this great network.
However, many things have transpired and lots of experiences gained.
The resources shared on this website has been helpful and the inspiration from fellow TIG members has been amazingly insightful! Suffice to say, that the Save-A-Soul Initiative (http://projects.takingitglobal.org/S-A-S) was initiated as a result of the inspiration I got from TIG members. Much love! And, thus far, we’ve broadened our horizon and hope to reach out to more disadvantaged youths in the nearest future.

Vote of Thanks.
If on the 16th of October were my birth date, I bet you, I would have celebrated it, because of the values that I've added to my life. Celebrating a year on TIG isn't bad either, because I've been blessed with lovely friends, lotta ideas, Networking opportunities, etc.

I have to do this today, because, I'm afraid I might not be available online to do this next week! I shall be attending a Leadership Training Workshop from the 13th - 17th, October, 2008. Hence, Permit me to use this opportunity to say a very BIG THANK YOU to you who is reading this, and to everyone on TIG. THANK YOU. You guys have made my One Year memorable. I hope to learn more and be positively impacted on. Hey! Not forgetting my adorable friends, whose lives have been a challenge and an inspiration to me. . .Shi-a-ra Mi-So and FeatherRyde. Thanks for your many inputs on my page. Those comments make a whole lots of sense to me, especially this one: Keep up all your good work,as usual very inspiring,true,& most helpful,even at times it may seem,is anyone really taking note of all the work & effort I am doing?-Yes,many are,Believe me.” Shi-a-ra-Mi-So.


Much Love.

Happy anniversary to me. . . . .lol.

Cheers!

Kudos to y'all

"Estimados amigos,

O motivo pelo qual escrevemos hoje é o de apresentar a campanha internacional 'Combate à Monsanto', conduzida pela sociedade civil e ONGs contra a empresa de biotecnologia Monsanto. É com orgulho que lhes apresentamos o projeto para lutar contra as práticas intoleráveis da multinacional em terras da América Latina.

Nossos objetivos são difundir uma informação completa a todos os cidadãos sobre a verdadeira face da Monsanto. Queremos também fomentar campanhas públicas para denunciar as violações aos direitos humanos e ao meio ambiente por parte da dita empresa.

Pode-se integrar a rede para compartilhar informações sobre qualquer assunto acerca da conduta cínica da Monsanto. Nossa página web internacional, http://www.combat-monsanto.org/, lhes dará a oportunidade de promover a organização e as campanhas. Também queremos munir os cidadãos e ajudá-los a envolver-se nas organizações locais da coalizão.

Aliste-se ao 'Combate à Monsanto' e registre-se em:

http://www.combat-monsanto.es/

http://www.combat-monsanto.co.uk/

http://www.combat-monsanto.org/

Que o mundo da Monsanto nunca seja o nosso."

Fonte: http://ces.fgvsp.br/index.cfm?fuseaction=noticia&IDnoticia=131112&IDidioma=1

Hoy se entregó el Premio Nobel de Literatura a Jean Marie Gustave Le Clézio, novelista francés... No tengo ni idea de quién es, pero les dejo el vínculo de la Wiki.

Chao.

...its the fun that i can inform and be inform. That i can teach and learn at the same time on a platform that is free...that is why i blog. Maybe soon, i will start blogging for revenue generation, just maybe !!!

Kitaro is an inspired musician, he plays for spirit. Here he is live, playing his song Dance of Sarasvati; album Mandala (released 1994, Nominated for Grammy Award).

Sarasvati (pronounced as sə.rəs.ʋə.ti) is the Hindu goddess of knowledge, music and the arts and the consort of Brahma. Sarasvati literally translated means: the knowledge of self or the essential part of self. sara = the essential part, knowledge, energy, motion, strength or power; sva = one’s own (self); ti = for, after. One says or sings the Sarasvati Mantra for higher knowledge and wisdom, and to come to the understanding of true, essential self. Kitaro sings, ‘Om namo Sarasvati’.

I first heard of Kitaro in 1989 when I lived in Kauai, Hawaii. Bought every album I could find I loved his music so much. Enjoy Kitaro and Dance of Sarasvati!

~Bonnee Klein Gilligan

---

© Bonnee for Babel: The multilingual, multicultural online journal and community of arts and ideas, 2008. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags:

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

“Bees are dying everywhere but in cities …. The bees are speaking to us.”
- Olivier Darne

There are more than 300 known colonies in the French capital, up from about 250 five years ago, according to the National Beekeepers’ Association. Hives have appeared on the roof of the Opéra Garnier, on balconies and in parks.

Bees are thriving in cities because “flowers and plants are changed constantly and there aren’t pesticides,” said Moncelli, who co-owns the hotel with her husband, Pascal.

The success of a three-year-old French program to encourage beekeeping in cities, the largest such project in the world, is sparking hope of a revival among their country cousins. Global agriculture, valued at € 153 billion, or $214 billion, relies on pollination by bees, according to the French National Institute of Agricultural Research, or INRA.

As in the United States and in Britain, where bee colonies are dying, about 300,000 to 400,000 French hives have disappeared every year between 1995 and 2007, victims of pesticides, pollution and disease.

- International Herald Tribune: Link.

Via Technocrat.net.

~ Karl Jones

---

© karl_g_jones for Babel: The multilingual, multicultural online journal and community of arts and ideas, 2008. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags:

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

Les responsables de la direction de l’Education populaire ont lancé ce mercredi, un appel à la population gabonaise analphabète, l’invitant à s’inscrire dans les centres d’alphabétisation quasi désertés du pays.

« Nous déplorons le fait que nos programmes ne touchent pas en grande partie la population analphabète. Car les concernés ne s’inscrivent pas en masse au sein de nos centres respectifs. Mais grande est notre surprise lorsqu’on fait les statistiques, on retrouve un taux d’analphabètes au dessus de nos attentes », a confié la directrice de l’Eéducation populaire, Geneviève Assangono Olui.

En effet, « même si le taux d'analphabétisme est relativement bas pour la région, puisqu’on compte seulement 27% d’analphabètes chez les plus de 15 ans (dont 34% de femmes), ces taux dissimulent cependant de fortes disparités entre les provinces et les milieux urbains. Ainsi globalement, on relève 21% d'analphabètes en zone urbaine contre 49% en zone rurale et 15% dans la population urbaine de la province de l'Estuaire contre 60% dans la Ngounié », a-t- elle expliqué.

Ainsi elle a ajouté que « l’objectif est d’éliminer le taux d’alphabétisation au Gabon. En plus, nous avons un programme de réinsertion avec l’enseignement ménager. En effet, après la phase d’alphabétisation, les apprenants sont soumis à l’apprentissage d’un métier qui leur permettra d’intégrer objectivement la société ».

C’est pourquoi, conclu-t-elle, « nous lançons un appel particulier à toute la population gabonaise analphabète à s’inscrire massivement au sein des centres d’alphabétisation. Car dans chaque province, le gouvernement gabonais a construit un centre en vue de permettre la réinsertion des analphabètes.

Le Campus numérique francophone de Libreville (CNFL), implantation locale de l’Agence Universitaire de la Francophonie (AUF), située au sein de l’Université Omar Bongo (UOB) a rénové son matériel informatique pour coller à l’exigence de l’évolution des technologie de l’information et de la communication (TIC).

Selon le directeur du CNFL, Antoine Perrier-Cornet, « cette rénovation, vient à point nommé pour s’arrimer aux prochaines activités qui doivent être mises en place notamment, l’organisation de deux ateliers de formation à destination des informaticiens des universités et des écoles supérieures du Gabon ».

Par ailleurs, il a expliqué que « le matériel des années antérieures étant désuet et ne répondant plus aux exigences novatrices des TIC, il fallait donc qu’on rénove le matériel en installant les Pentiums 4 avec écran plasma dotés d’une connexion Internet haut débit. Car on procédera dans les prochains jours à un programme de formation à la bureautique et TIC à destination du personnel administratif et technique de l'Université Omar Bongo ».

Rappelons que le CNFL est une implantation locale de l’Agence Universitaire de la Francophonie Inaugurée en mars 2003, offrant une plate-forme technologique spécialisée dans l’ingénierie pédagogique et dédiée à la production et à la diffusion des savoirs et des informations à travers les TICE.