John Wills Lloyd

Yep, I’ve been pretty quiet here. We moved last week. It was brutal. Then, we had to wait a week to get telephone and Internet service.

US President George W. Bush will deliver the featured address at Monticello’s annual naturalization ceremony 4 July 2008. Because there probably isn’t sufficient space for a helicopter to land at Montecello, Mr. Bush will almost certainly have to arrive in a vehicle from one of two directions on Virginia highway 53, the road that passes by the entrance. It will make a splendid opportunity for people to line the road and greet Mr. Bush, perhaps in ways such as those shown here.

Mark Fiore’s character Knuckles has a take on the US Supreme Court decision about habeas corpus for non-US citizens who have been detained after being encountered by US forces during military or para-military action in other countries. Although I understand that there is difference between soldiers captured during military operations and ordinary citizens of other countries, I wonder how citizens of the US would respond if commandos from other countries came to the US and took people away to a far-away place and put them on trial after extracting confessions.

Over at Podblack Cat, Kylie Sturgess has a fun post about assessing weather. Mostly, one needs to see the photo, so I’ll just provide the link to her entry without further comment.

Paul Tergat, the fabulous runner, was born on 17 June 1969 in Riwo, Baringo District (KEN). Although I admire his accomplishments in distance running, I’m wishing him a happy birthday more for his humanitarian accomplishments. Mr. Tergat has served as a UN Goodwill Ambassador against hunger and is active in efforts to end the use of landmines. Learn more about Mr. Tergat’s participation in the Word Food Programme, support for banning landmines (image), and about his racing achievements.

According to a report by Professor Philip Howard and the World Information Access Project, bloggers in some parts of the world who publish posts critical of government activities have been arrested in record numbers this past year. People are getting busted for (a) using blogs to organize or cover social protest, (b) violating cultural norms, (c) posting comments about public policy, (d) exposing corruption or human rights violations, and (e) for other reasons (or no given reason).

As one might guess, the bulk of the arrests are in countries with fewer liberties than in the US: Burma, China, Egypt, Fiji, Hong Kong, India, Iran, Kuwait, Malaysia, Pakistan, Philippines, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Thailand, and Tunisia. That chilly idea makes me happy for those of us who have free speech. However, not all of the arrests are in such places. The report identifies one as occurring in Canada and two as occurring in the USA. The two in the USA were in the category of “other or no reason given”; I have to wonder what cases those are. Does anyone know?

Here is the lead from the University of Washington press release:

Continue reading ‘Busted bloggers’

Because I have dozens of extras, I was searching for info on recycling t-shirts. I remember that Miz MooMoo Mizou made a quilt of many of her shirts and displayed it at the Dead Runners Society World Conference II, but I’m not about to do that. However, for those who might want to do so, I see that Jane Perrone has a link for making a quilt among her good suggestions about recycling t-shirts. Ms. Perrone refers to a UK charity that’s collecting t-shirts, and I’m glad to see that something’s being done by Oxfam and a store in GB. Also, Amber Seber has “10 Great Ways to Recycle Your Old T-Shirts.” Meanwhile, I really like the business the Re-Stitch folks are conducting. Hip-hip for Cool Tshirts Org in the UK for it’s recommendations about recycling. Hooray for Common Threads Garment Recycling by Patagonia. In my wandersings, I found that Eko Noiz has a nifty t-shirt with the slogan “Recycle or Die” on it…but that’s getting another shirt, not riding myself of shirts. Sigh.

This is probably my somethingteenth link to Mark Fiore’s cartoons. In this one, he’s explaining how oil’s become a diety. It’s pretty funny…sigh, O.K. Sad.