text:
Monday, July 31, 2006
The oil slick reaches Beirut.
Beirut dispatch
Once upon a time in the south of
In 1996 during "Operation Grapes of Wrath" (remember the name Grapes) hundreds of Lebanese citizens were killed when Israeli artillery fire hit a UN camp where they were sheltering. In 2006, precisely this morning, the same thing happened once again. I wonder is there any relation between the red wine miracle at that wedding thousands of years ago and this mass killing in more recent times named after grapes? If the red wine at that wedding was made by a miracle from God, then is this blood from the murdered children and women now a curse from the Devil? Has the Devil been jealous of this happy village from long ago and got his revenge by turning it into a village of sorrow?
As a reaction to the brutal murder of the citizens in Qana today, thousands of people gathered in rage around the UN building in downtown Beirut, which is located next to the "Banks street" in the centre where I drive every day to work. The scenes on TV showed their anger and their frustration at seeing the UN hopeless, unable to find a way to bring about a ceasefire, a way to find some peace for this country.
I look back in time, and for many years now,
There is a part of Lebanese society who believed this war might clip Hizballah's wings that have lately been growing so strong. But then again they also wondered, what if Hizballah comes out winning? There is fear the Shiites may then run the country, or that
And talking of ruining the country; in addition to the billions of dollars worth of damage done to Lebanon's infrastructure, the killing of more than 600 Lebanese so far, the displacement of hundred thousands of citizens from their homes, the blockading of the country by blocking the airport and harbours, there is now the pollution of Lebanese 80 kms of coastline from Saida in the south to Chiqqa in the north.
Sadly, around 15 000 tons of oil have spilled into the Mediterranean after the bombing of fuel depots south of
On Saturday, Hassan Nassrallah showed up once again on TV. His voice was trembling a little. The last couple of times he has appeared he only spoke of Islam. As a reaction, particularly Christian Lebanese felt threatened and insulted by his ignoring them as part of this nation. This time, somewhat surprisingly, he addressed himself specifically to the Christian community calling them as important as Muslims in the country and talking of Jesus Christ. He also thanked Christians and Sunnis and Druzes for opening their homes and their schools to the Shiites refugees from the south. He assured viewers that Hizballah's victory will be a victory for all the country and not only for the Shiites and he asked all Lebanese religions to support him and be united in this war. By his words, he was attempting to placate the fears of those Lebanese who fear a new Shiite dominated-Lebanon, assuring them that this would not happen. He said that Hizballah needed the other religions' blessings in order to go on with the fighting.
He also addressed himself to his soldiers in a beautiful and respectful way. I must say here, despite the many Lebanese blame him for this war and want Hizballah disarmed, virtually all agree how strong this person is as a charismatic leader – defying Israeli pressure. Also in his speech he agreed with the government's proposals to reach a ceasefire. Central to these would be the redrawing of Lebanese territory, which means the Shebaa Farms issue; also deploying the Lebanese army across the whole country;
Yet despite these positive developments Hizballah is not ready to unilaterally stop fighting and so
Marion A.J. Beirut, 30 July 2006.
Thursday, July 27, 2006
Armegeddon Days (Are Here Again)
Anyway, I digress. Mike sent me the rather natty photo at the top, mainly I think because a) I'd asked him to and b) so he doesn't lose out to Marion who has become in a week first a journalist, and now a photo journalist. It's of the "International Christian Embassy Jerusalem" (ICEJ) down the road from him in Jerusalem. I know someone at Turku University who has literally written a book on Christian Zionism and their apocalyptic worldviews and saw her make an excellent presentation on Jerusalem's role in all this. They struck me as utter nutters; completely mad. But when they start influencing the US Congress you have to take them seriously. Anyway Mike says the ICEJ always seems empty except for the gardeners, but they are easy to find on the internet. He pointed me towards this document where they attempt to explain why they aren't as crazy as everyone thinks they are. This is at least honest, but after a skim read I can't say I'm convinced. Purely by chance linked on another blog I came across this collections of postings from a Rapture Ready website collected by Harper's Magazine. Mike had said in his email of ICEJ: "I believe [they] support Israel as a way to advance Armageddon. Sometimes I think they know something we don't." The people quoted on the Harpers website definitely think so!
BTW, the final verse of Armegeddon Days goes like this:
If the real Jesus Christ were to stand up today
He'd be gunned down cold by the C.I.A.
Oh, the lights that now burn brightest
Behind stained glass
Will cast the darkest shadows
Upon the human heart
But God didn't build himself that throne
God doesn't live in Israel or Rome
God doesn't belong to the Yankee dollar
God doesn't plant the bombs for Hezbollah
God doesn't even go to church
And God won't send us down to Allah to burn
God will remind us what we already know
That the human race is about to reap what it's sow
Wednesday, July 26, 2006
Monday in Beirut
Monday 24 July
Since the start of the Hizballah-Israeli war we have been getting used to a new routine: waking up in the morning without the need to look at the watch since there was nothing awaiting us in the day; Watching TV and listening to the radio, following up the latest news of bombs falling and casualties growing in number in both Lebanon and Israel; hearing the Israeli planes above our heads. It's strange how one's way of living can change so radically, so quickly.
This morning, that new routine in my life was broken. I was going to work! Naturally our office has been closed since the start of the war, but it will be open a few hours a day from today. If the situation will be too dangerous, then the office will close its doors once again. I knew no work was awaiting me since the whole country has been paralyzed but I was looking forward to see my colleagues, getting out of home, and most importantly I was curious to see the heart of Beirut.
I went through the newspaper with zero advertisements in it. I guess that is also a new routine in our daily lives. I used to enjoy reading the ads in the papers each morning. Instead, now, all I could see were announcements of the closing down of bank branches in dangerous regions… Announcements for shopping malls' early closing hours due to the situation…. Announcements of the new telephone numbers of insurance companies that moved their offices from Beirut to safer areas.
I was expecting to see at least hotel's advertisements especially with the huge Lebanese flow of displaced refugees, yet did not find any. Maybe all the hotels were already full by now with the refugees who can afford to pay?
The main highway that connects the north to Beirut there was little traffic. On my way, I passed the Canadian Embassy and outside a long queue of people was waiting. Logically they were not Canadians, since they were evacuated sometime ago, but rather Lebanese trying to get visas in order to leave the country.
As I reached downtown Beirut there were army soldiers spread every few hundred meters just inspecting the roads. I continued my drive and the downtown that used to be the living heart of Beirut until two weeks ago now seemed like a ghost town.
From the "Bank Street" (a street with only banks on it!), I took the highway that went straight to the airport and the south. On this road, I had to cross the "Cola Bridge" (please don't ask why its called that – I'm not sure!). This is a major bridge that many Lebanese feared would be added to lengthy list of bomb-out bridges in the country. Luckily it was still undamaged. The few cars crossing this bridge accelerated hard. I did the same, everyone fearing they could be bombed at any second.
After crossing the bridge, I took the exit toward my office. I wished I had the strength to continue my way on the highway and drive to the airport and continue to Saida's city – surely at some point I would be stopped at a roadblock - but my courage did not quite match my curiosity.
On the way to my office lies the Egyptian embassy. I had to stop the car and wait for the crowds and their luggage blocking the road to clear the way. They were Egyptians waiting outside the embassy for the buses to be transported outside of Lebanon. What a scene!
The joy of seeing my office desk again and greeting all my colleagues was immense. It felt like ages since I last have been in the office. Each one of us had a story to tell in this war. I used to call our office "THE UNITED COLORS OF RELIGIONS". It was a funny title that really fitted us perfectly. We were Lebanese Maronite Christians, Orthodox Christian, Sunni Muslim, Shiite Muslims, Druze, Armenian Christians etc… I personally liked this mixture of cultures and religions.
I was eager to hear all of their points of views concerning this war. The Shiites were a bit reserved as we discussed the subject. They were very upset about what is happening to Lebanon; commenting on the casualties, the sad flow of refugees and they certainly want peace more than anything. Yet they did not comment when we all started speaking about Hassan Nassrallah. The Sunnis and Christians were of same opinion: Hizballah dragged the country into a war that could have been avoided. So naturally they blamed Hizballah totally. Our Druze colleagues who follow Walid Jumblat, the MP and leader of Druze community and an ally to Hariri, naturally were of the same opinion as the Sunnis and Christians.
There was one Palestinian colleague among us who responded in rage when I asked them everyone whether they would mind having peace with Israel. Hatred towards Israel runs in his veins, even though he lived all his life in Lebanon and has never been to Palestine.
The Sunnis' and Christians' answer was: if peace with Israel will guarantee us safety and long lasting peace then why not. As for the Shiites reaction, they replied that Israel was never to be trusted and if there would be peace, it will start putting its hands on our economy, our industry. I did not understand their point of view. Mind you, my Shiite colleagues are open and not conservative in comparison to the pro-Hizballah people living in Dahiyeh or in the south of the country.
In the flow of the conversation, we all agreed on one point: since we got into this mess, we were ready to bare it to the end despite the consequences but on one condition – that it would be the last time! We could not handle another war, another fleeing of refugees, another insecure period, another economic crisis, more people killed. We all have had enough despite our differences. The one word we could all agree on: Peace! But the question was how when there are so many conflicting forces in our tiny country?
During the four hours we stayed at the office, the phone only rang four times. They were no calls from clients, but rather calls from the girlfriends of the Sri Lankan janitor of our offices. He seems to be something of Don Juan and all his girlfriends kept on calling worried about him! It was the time when we all forgot this war for a few minutes and had a good laugh.
Time passed by quickly at work as we organized our database, filed documents and did backups of our computer files. Around noon I left the office and chose to pass by the Sanayeh public garden that now contains hundreds of refugees. There was terrible traffic on that street, at the main gate there were two army jeeps with soldiers inside and were standing next to the garden's fences. I could not stop nor was I able to take any pictures, but from my car window I could see many women wearing chadors walking in the garden. Children were playing among the trees. Next to the garden was a help center. There were young people taking out packs of breads and cheese from there, carrying them to the garden's refugees.
In central Beirut the rubbish bins were empty and the roads had been cleaned but during my drive I passed by other places where there were huge piles of uncollected trash in the middle of un-cleaned streets. When I got home, there was a report on TV concerning this issue. The Lebanese cleaning company Sukleen was suffering from a shortage of janitors. 70% of its employees were foreigners: Syrians, Indians, Bangladeshis, Egyptians. The remaining percentage were Lebanese but many had fled to safer areas. The constant bombing of the Dahiyeh area and the south has kept Sukleen from accomplishing its tasks there. Meanwhile and until it gets back its original employees, Sukleen was recruiting new employees – mainly Palestinians and some Lebanese in order to solve its shortage. Therefore it offered each rubbish truck driver 35$/day and for each bin man collecting the trash $25/day.
On TV CondoleezaRice's presence in the Middle East was the leading the news. There is nothing on TV these days except news, national patriotic songs, 24 hours journalists' coverage of different areas in the country and programmes where Christians and Sunni MPs debate live with Hizballah's parliamentarians and exchange their views on the situation. Movies, series and other programmes broadcasted in normal times have been stopped. Each TV station has come up with a slogan which it displayed on its screen 24hours/day. Slogans differed according to each station: "JULY WAR 2006"; "SURVIVORS" with fist over a Lebanese map; and "WAR ON LEBANON" being some of the examples.
Finally, I would like to comment on Mike's reports from Jerusalem. How the Israeli people are dealing with this war is something we do not see on or TV news. I hope both nations agree on one thing: let this war be the last one! We both have had enough and what we should aim for are security and peace for our children.
Marion A.J.
One Finn killed by Israeli strike on UN post
The UN was criticised earlier during this crisis for turning away civilian refugees from their camps and bases in Southern Lebanon. The UN's justification for this is they did not want to risk another incident leading to mass civilian deaths such as happended at Qana in south Lebanon in 1996 during "Operation Grapes of Wrath". A UN base that was sheltering hundreds of Lebanese civilians was hit by artillery fire that resulted in 106 deaths and more than that injured, including UN forces. Hezbollah had been firing rockets from areas close to the camp. The return fire hit the camp and not the Hezbollah fighters. The debate over Qana continues to rumble on (see the Wiki talk page as an example, both semantics and facts are disputed) but whatever happened - the attack yesterday shows that the UN made the right decision in this crisis.
Update: The Finnish reaction from the President and Foreign Minister (who was in Rome representing the EU at the Lebanon crisis meeting) can be read in English here and here.
Tuesday, July 25, 2006
Thoughts from Jerusalem
I get Sky, CNN, FOX and BBC World on cable, which just about spans the English speaking spectrum. One of the differences between Israeli TV news and international TV news is that, perhaps not surprisingly, Israeli TV concentrates more on its domestic horror stories. This consists mainly of people looking at holes in the ground and talking on their mobile phones. We also see the victims' bloodstains and clothing, but that it is a bit more familiar from six years of suicide bombings. Then we also see vague pictures of the IDF in action: I suspect more censored than on international news.
We also get many talking heads analysing what has and will happen. Talking a lot is an Israeli curse and blessing. It relates to Israel's 'PR problem' with the rest of the world. Politicians tend to rush to the worlds' cameras to express views in broken and incoherent English. This time at least the spokespeople speak good English, but this is not as helpful as it might have been 50 years ago since many international leaders now speak good English. There is a Hebrew word 'Hasbara'. It translates equally as PR, propaganda, and explanation. Which perhaps explains why Israeli spokespeople talk too much.
Anyway, the point is that the destruction of South Lebanon and South Beirut is not seen much on Israeli TV. It's all available of course: most Israeli are competent in English, French, Arabic or Russian and have the same international TV and internet news sources as I do. Whatever, there is the beginning of a peace movement with a biggish demonstration in Tel Aviv. Not many demos in Haifa or Kiryat Shmonah though.
I have to deal with what I see happening in Lebanon. So I thought I'd try and disentangle some background. What follows may not be true: it's just some thoughts. It's also not intended to be a justification either, but may serve as a partial explanation of Israel's reasoning.
First, Israel believes (with good reason, if you listen to Nasrallah and Iran) it could be wiped off the map. This they call its existential threat, which is nothing to do with Camus and Sartre. I can't think of another country (except perhaps North Korea) which feels the same. Certainly no democracies. There are frightening parallels. There are in Israel some 6 million Jews representing about 40% of world Jewry: the same numbers as for Eastern Europe in 1940. You hear the same sentiments amongst the European chattering class: 'those Israelis (read Jews) are so unpleasant and aggressive, they deserve to be taken down a peg'. A difference, of course, is that this is being said now by left wingers not right wingers. Israel sees the leader of a neighbouring country saying that Jews are sub-human, that their country should be removed from the map.
Second, Israelis don't see the same Lebanon that the rest of the world sees. It's not a cosmopolitan country where Arab and French culture meet on the beach and in the mountains. Israelis see a country that joined in the attempt by the united Arab armies to destroy the fledgling state of Israel in 1948. Unlike Egypt and Jordan there's been no peace treaty. As I understand it, Israel and Lebanon are still in a state of war from 48. Israel's occupation from 1982 to 2000 didn't exactly bring the two countries together.
Third is the Jenin story. So some background to bring you up to speed. On March 27th 2002 there was a suicide bomber in Netanya at the Park Hotel (a couple of kilometres from my house on the Mediterranean coast, a hotel I've been to functions in). Many of those there, mostly old age pensioners celebrating the Passover festival (freedom from Egypt), died. As a result the IDF moved back into areas of the West Bank they had left under the Oslo Agreement. One place was Jenin, famous as a centre of terrorists (or militants if you are the BBC). The IDF focused on part of the Jenin refugee camp, which they closed off and entered with troops. Then the media craziness started, with accusations of Israeli atrocities. Nasser al-Kidwa, the Palestinian representative to the United Nations, said on CNN: 'there's almost a massacre now taking place in Jenin. Helicopter gun ships are throwing missiles at one square kilometre packed with almost 15,000 people in a refugee camp. This is a war crime, clear war crime, witnessed by the whole world, preventing ambulances, preventing people from being buried.' This false claim was hysterically was taken up by the world media and in the UN (the same UN representative. I think, who's headlining the BBC saying same sort of things in the Lebanon as I write). In the event the death toll was 56 Palestinians, the majority of them combatants, and 23 Israeli soldiers. Time did an extensive report on the battle and it can be read here.
So what does this story mean for the current conflict? I think two things. Firstly; Israelis now discount the stories they hear. In fact, the more hysterical the stories are the more they are discounted. They say, how do you equate accusations of deliberate mass slaughter of Lebanese with the official toll of (I think) nearly 400, half (by some estimates) Hezbollah combatants. If the Israeli Air Force wants just to kill, is it so incompetent that it keeps missing all those lines of refugee vehicles that the TV crews can find? If the entire infrastructure has been destroyed, how come the non-Shiite areas still appear to have essentials like the internet and Nasrallah can appear on TV? If there wasn't always this automatic knee jerk hostile world reaction, Israeli might be more questioning about what is happening. Secondly; through Israeli eyes, they tried to avoid harming Palestinians civilians by sending in ground troops. And as a result they not only lost 23 of their 'boys', but were vilified by the rest of the world. The conclusion then drawn was 'Why didn't the IDF just destroy this part of Jenin from the air and save the soldiers' lives?' And no-one in authority could really argue against this logic. So increasingly military strategy is to attack remotely. We see this clearly at the moment.
Fifth is that Israelis cannot handle a basic conundrum of Middle Eastern culture. Put simply, if you go forward you invite justifiable revenge attacks. If you retreat you invite attacks to take advantage of your weakness, This seems to be a no win situation. And the Lebanon situation is a classic example: since Israel left Lebanon and withdrew to the international boundary, Hezbollah has thrived. So, goes the current interpretation, you move back in, beat the sh*t out of your enemy, and then withdraw again. This shows you are strong, but allows you leave safely. Its one solution to the conundrum, I suppose. I suspect that we'll see more of this variation of disengagement in the future.
Last, and this is my private nightmare, concerns the FOX news cliché that Iran and Syria are using Hezbollah for a proxy war. One take is that Israel may be using the Lebanon as a proxy war on Syria and Iran. Are we sending a message to Syria that if you use unconventional weapons, such as poison gas, Damascus will look like South Beirut? Are we sending a message to Iran that if you continue with your nuclear weapons program that we can ruin your country like we did to Lebanon?
Monday, July 24, 2006
Jerusalem dispatch
Marion has been in central Beirut today and says the army and police are everywhere. She'll try and get us a report tomorrow. The report below is from Mike in Jerusalem. I got it yesterday, so again apologies for the delay in posting it. He's looking at people displaced within Israel, and public opinion on the fighting:
"This Shabat we had as Friday meal guests a refugee family from Haifa (see map): a dentist, a lawyer, and their two very cute young boys. They're staying in the Jerusalem apartment of friends of ours who have left to the US for the summer. The kids are going crazy, their summer camp has closed down. They wanted to return, but on Friday there was a hail of rockets on Haifa. So they will wait a day or two. I see now that the rocket attack is continuing, so I assume they won't be going back soon.
My wife's cousins remain in Haifa, one of whom doesn't even bother to go to the shelter when the sirens go: she doesn't like it down there. My daughter has a friend who's nine months pregnant and lives in a (large) tent near the border: she's staying to look after her goats.
You may know that Israeli cities have public bomb shelters and that apartments have security rooms (stronger rooms, with gas proof windows and doors). Our guests reported that their building doesn't have a safe room, and the nearest shelter is 3 minutes drive away. This was one of the reasons they left. Most of the shelters have been used for years for other purposes: one near us is the centre of the national boxing club. When I visited a client last week in Tel Aviv they were looking forward to an alert, since the shelter below their office is used as a nightclub and so is well stocked with beer and vodka.
There are maybe 2 million Israelis within range and hence threatened by the rockets. Many are leaving, but I cannot find out how many. In some towns maybe half have left: in others very few. My guests said that families with children are more likely to leave. There are lots of offers of accommodation and of help. The Jerusalem Biblical Zoo is giving free admission to refugees.
My wife asked why we don't see pictures of our internal refugees on TV? I pointed out that pictures of families packing their suitcases and kids into their SUVs, driving down the highway and checking into hotels would be rather mundane on camera. The most excitement is that the kids are taking over and playing soccer in the lobbies.
Actually I was being rather simplistic, there is a problem. Many are not leaving by choice, but others have less choice. I suspect that the poorer people are staying because they can't just roll down south and check into hotels. Others are worried about their property. Our guests say there is a rash of burglaries in Haifa, and the police probably don't know about many others since there is no-one around to report them. Another problem is pets: people are taking trips back to feed them.
Most of Israel's Arabs live in the north. Many Arab kids are being evacuated to summer camps in the south it seems. But it also seems there are the usual irritable debates between leaders of the Arab sector (as they call it) and the Israeli authorities. Maybe they have been neglected? Maybe the authorities assumed Hezbullah would not aim for these villages: if so, they were very wrong. Two kids killed in Arab Nazareth and 14 injured in the mainly Druze village of Masjal Krum. Maybe the Arabs didn't prepare properly? I don't know.
We also will be having an overnight guest on Tuesday from Safed. She's the daughter of a friend from Australia who was working as an assistant at a religious youth hostel which has closed down. The director of the hostel sent us an email telling us about rockets landing in their backyard. Safed is a beautiful town on a hill a few miles south of the border, and has been badly hit. This is very sad: it's a special town, split between a deeply religious ultra orthodox community who are mentally in the 18th century, and an artistic community on the other side of town. It's not a threat to Lebanon: there probably isn't even a policeman in town.
The opinion polls say that 82% support the current military response. Everyone I've talked to agrees, but unhappily: "not back into Lebanon again, not another generation of our boys sucked in". As I said before, there doesn't seem to be belligerent attitude. No dramatic rallies, no hysterical weeping in front of TV camera, no proliferation of Israeli flags.
I'm wondering who the 18% are? Maybe some think the response is not strong enough. My daughter's boyfriend, a 'Russian' (meaning those families that immigrated from Russia over the last 20 years) tells me that Arabs are universally hated amongst the Russian community. There are also still peaceniks. In Israel the concept of a legal conscientious objector does not exist, but some people refused to serve in the territories on moral grounds. Now, as reservists, they have to decide whether to be sent to the territories (bad) to replace combat troops who can then go to the north (good). The Israeli Arabs are distressed by the killing and destruction they see on Al Jazeera. Some are related to inhabitants of south Lebanon. So many of them may be in the 18%.
I assume that 82% is the peak. Look at how Bush's ratings have dropped as the body bags came back from Iraq. But we'll see: everyone agrees that this is yet another existential threat to Israel.
The latest Superman movie arrived last week. Unfortunately its slogan was 'on 20th July, look up in the sky'. If you're in the north, you won't be looking for superheroes."
Sunday, July 23, 2006
"We're jammin', we're jammin', we're jammin', we're jammin'
We're jammin' the tactical communications frequencies used by the Hezbollah guerillas..."
-----tumbleweed blows past-----
So does that win today's "worst joke on the internet" competition?
Lebanon dispatch
Saturday 22 July 2006
In the two previous reports I was so much taken with the political side of the Israeli-Hizballah war, that maybe now I should take the time to write about more 'human' issues and introduce myself a bit to my readers.
I am 31 years old, and come from a Christian Maronite background. I live on the periphery of Beirut, in a calm Christian area on a hill called Bsalim. From my balcony, I can see downtown Beirut(the pic is taken looking SE, with the airport in southern Beirut clearly visible - Toby.) the sea and the main highway that connects the north of the country to Beirut. Usually on a typical summer night or day, this highway has nonstop traffic. But since the beginning of this war, only a few cars are passing. For the last ten days the sounds of Israeli planes above our heads and the sounds of bombs exploding have been our daily routine. Luckily there has been no bombs on the area where I live yet. That has not been the case for thousands of others Lebanese who have not left their shelters so far. However, people living in my area are frightened that Israeli planes will target the power station just few hundred meters above my home. Some years ago this station was targeted and heavily bombed by Israel. I shall never forget the sound of that bomb and the sky's colour turning from the black of night to the extreme red of the flames. Back then all the windows in our neighborhood were blown out, not to mention the terror it left us in.
This time, and with every sound of an Israeli plane above our heads, we pray they wont hit the power station. And luckily so far we have been spared. This means we still have electricity but not for 24 hours a day. This is in order to save fuel because the Israeli naval blockade is stopping any oil from arriving by sea. Sooner or later if this war will go on, the power stations will run out of fuel and we will be out of electricity.
Yesterday it was a bit quiet, not many Israeli jets above, so I took the opportunity to go to the supermarket. Naturally with the start of every war there is an immense rush by people to stock up on water and food supplies. On the news, I saw Israeli people rushing to get food supplies. The situation is no different in Lebanon. I went to the supermarket in my town and was surprised to see the huge amounts of people there. I tried to make my way down the aisles. Some shelves were still fully loaded with food and products. I stopped at the milk/yogurt aisle and was shocked to see the shelves almost empty. I knew that the big factory which produces milk and yogurt products under the brand name of "Candia/Liban Lait" located in the Bekaa Valley was bombed by Israel last week and therefore has stopped producing. Naturally I expected this brand to be out of stock in the shelves, but what I did not expect was the almost complete absence of any other milk brands on the shelves. I continued my round and was also astonished that all kinds of pasta, canned food and bottled water had sold out. Bread was still available in big quantities. When I reached the cashier, I witnessed a quarrel between a woman and the manager of the supermarket. She insisted on taking three bottles of milk. And he was trying to explain to her calmly she could not take three, but rather just one in order that to keep the other two for people who might also need milk. Finally the woman surrendered. I looked around me and was also surprised to see many Shiite women, wearing their distinctive chadors, who were with their families shopping for food. I have been in this town for all my life and have never seen a Muslim person here. I overheard them talk to each other and it turned out that they were indeed refugees from the south, finding shelter in the school in my town.
I left the supermarket having my share of surprises for one visit. The drive back from the grocery shop was not too surprising; fruits and vegetables were still all available although the prices have gone up. For example lemons that used to be 70 cents per kilogram are no $3.25. Quite shocking!
In the streets people's faces seemed tired, not physically but rather mentally, from this situation. I stopped at two schools in the neighbourhood. They were both housing refugees from the south, yet not full. I have heard that schools in the heart of Beirut are more full. The site I saw was children playing on the playgrounds, women drinking coffee outside or boiling food on small fire ovens, others placing their laundry on ropes that they had managed to hang from one side of a wall to the other, men having the radio on and discussing the situation. Other cities have also opened their schools and churches for these refugees.
People's views on this humanitarian crisis differ: the majority is offering help despite the difference in their political views and religion from the refugees. But they just try to avoid talking politics with them in order not to start any confrontations. Others who see flows of refugees in their cities prefer to refrain from helping and claim they will not help the people who dragged their country to destruction, people who still shout of the glory of Hizballah and who are going through this war with pride.
On the other hand, with the sudden flow of refugees and this mixture of religions together in one environment may cause a problem. Refugees who mostly are conservative Shiites are now living among more liberal Christian people who drink alcohol and wear the type of clothing a Shiia never would. Lebanon is one country but the communities are very different from each other. Hopefully this won't result in clashes at some point.
The Government for its side, along with the help from the municipalities and the Red Cross in the regions, has opened operation bases with call numbers in order to receive calls from people in need. Yet sadly this is unlikely to help the people most in need where the huge amounts of destruction done to infrastructure like bridges and roads means that medicine, first aid and food supplies are not reacning some villages in the south. On our local TV, every day there are desperate pleas from specific villages that call for food/medicine. The hospitals in Beirut, and surrounding Beirut and in Christian areas, are not filled to capacity with injured. The major problem falls on hospitals in the south and in the Bekaa Valley where the major crises are: for example the hospital of Marj Aayoun reached the point were it was not capable of accepting more injured and desperately needs more medical supplies.
In a neutral local radio station "Loubnan Al Horr" (translated: "Free Lebanon"), there is a live programme every morning and I cannot help but shiver listening to people calling looking for their family members whom they have not heard from in unreachable villages on the border such as Rmeich and Ayta Al Chaab.
Monday, if the situation seems safe, our office will open for at least few hours. It will be my first visit to in the heart of Beirut since this war started. I will see what is happening in different areas. Expect a report from me at the beginning of next week, Inshallah (with god's will).
Marion A.J.
Saturday, July 22, 2006
Rasta reinforcements for Israel's northern flank
Is that the craziest haircut in modern warfare or what? How d'ya get a helmet on that?
Update: Mike in Jerusalem notes that Ziggy Marley is in Israel currently for some concerts. Perhaps he's signed up to help out? If you click on this link for a picture of Ziggy you've got to admit the resemblence is freaky - just swap that guitar for an M16. We may have a world exclusive on our hands.
IDPs - Lebanon
"latest statistics, number of refugees in the public places only (and I mean by that gardens, schools, convents etc...) have reached 974436 refugees spread as follows: 39421 in Beirut, 40768 in Mount Lebanon, 1659 in the North and 2968 in the Bekaa."
Additionally, we should consider the numbers of IDPs not included in these figures because they are staying with friends or family elsewhere in Lebanon. Then there are the large numbers who left the country in the first days of the war - many going to Syria. Finally, amongst the well publicised tens of thousands of "foreigners" who have left the country with the assistance of their governments - many are dual nationality; Lebanese-Canadians or Lebanese-British etc. Lebanon's population is not that large, a bit less than 4 million, so these figure represent a significant proportion of the population.
Friday, July 21, 2006
From our Jerusalem Correspondent
"If I'm to write for a blog, I'm thinking it should start personal. So I'm setting off with you on a walk through my
I'm outside our apartment building. Still not finished after seven years, our landlord seems to be waiting for the Second Intifada to finish to access his pool of cheap Arab labour from the
I live in Old Kartamon. It's an upmarket area: old Arab houses mixed with uglier new Israeli apartment buildings. The new buildings are at least faced with local stone, a harmonious city regulation set up by the British at the beginning of the mandate. No Arabs here of course: they all left or were expelled (depends on your version of history) in 48.
We continue down the road. It's a bright sunny day, hot with a light breeze. The light is beautiful, the air clean. It's Friday, first day of the weekend, and people are preparing for Shabat, which starts at sunset.. I pass the childrens' park, with a rock I sometimes boulder* on - to the amazement of kids and parents: what's that old overweight guy doing?
Now I'm down the hill and I see a small round tower on the corner. I know it's called a pillbox since I'm British. It was a checkpoint back in the days of the Mandate. Now it's in the
Now we're crossing the disused railway. This was built in the 19th century by a French company under a franchise from the Turks. After being rebuilt recently, it ends not near the old city as it used to but at the new shopping mall further out of town. I'm passing a watermelon stand: the proprietor and a boy are playing backgammon. I'd expect them to be Arabs but they look European: I can't tell. Now we are entering Talpiot, where Jews and Arabs meet for mutually beneficial activities like buying food and getting cars fixed.
We've arrived at our destination. We have nine for dinner tonight, so I intend to buy the ceremonial breads for the Shabat meals. This bakery sells delicious western breads and cakes, and fantastic middle eastern breads and pastries. Hertzl is happy to wait outside: he's a fan of their products too.
I'm taking a different route back, via Emek Refaim, the "
There's probably more English spoken here than Hebrew. Many modern Orthodox Americans and British live or are visiting here. I buy an English language newspaper, although I think I'm already surfeited with war news.
Hey, that's unexpected! A girl stiltwalker, with long clown's pants. She's advertising a craft and food market next Tuesday. Hertzl freaks out, the girl smiles from 20 feet above me.
This area is called the German Colony, after the German Templars who settled here at the beginning of the century in the time of the Turks. The Templars were a messianic Christian group, but then made the mistake of supporting the Nazis during the rule of the British. The British expelled them and their houses, made of massive blocks of stone and with German inscriptions, are now highly sort after by Israeli yuppies. Now I'm passing the Templar cemetery: closed as usual but once it was opened and I was able to talk to the American tidying the graves.
We turn left towards home. I stop to read a blue sign outside what used to be my daughter's school. Now it's a school for disabled kids. The sign says that the Palmah, one of the Jewish underground groups in the 1940s, camped there. The city council has been placing a lot of these historical signs recently: but their history only seems to cover the War of Independence.
Next is the International Christian Embassy: set up because most countries refuse to move their embassies from Tel Aviv, arguing (rather irrationally in my view) that
Nearing home I pass the Greek Consulate. It reminds me that the Greek Orthodox church is the largest landowner in
At home I'm drinking a glass of water and considering watching Cable TV. BBC, FOX, CNN, Sky, or Israeli news? Or Eurosport to watch the Tour de France? I surf to Sky. Rockets hailing down on
I superimpose the pictures of the rockets and of
Mike S. 21 July 2006.
*Bouldering for anyone interested is a sub-sport of rockclimbing, where the climber climbs on small cliffs or rocks no higher than she or he is happy to jump off from. Hence no ropes are needed. It is generally seen as training for 'real' rockclimbing, although many "boulderers" hotly dispute this. For some reason it has become a tradition for hard-core boulderers to take their shirts off but still wear a wolly hat. If Mike follows this fashion, it would account for the funny looks.
From our Beirut Correspondent
Friday 21 July 2006:
The Israeli war on Lebanon is now in the beginning of its second week and so far the casualties have reached 310 and are still growing. In the South there were confrontations between Israeli soldiers and Hizballah with Israeli incursions into Lebanon. There are reports of heavy fighting in the village of Maroun El Rass and a number of Israeli soldiers have been killed. Hizballah's own TV station, Al Manar, has shown weapons and other military equipment they claim was captured from Israel in the fighting. Last night I watched the interview with Hassan Nassrallah on Al Jazeera. He promised that nothing in the universe will make Hizballah release the kidnapped Israeli soldiers except for an exchange of prisoners with Israel. In addition he promised more surprises for Israel. What grabbed my attention was the comment from the reporter who conducted the interview. He recounted that he was taken blindfolded to where the interview took place and when he entered the room he saw Hassan Nassrallah sitting calmly and watching TV. He surely is taking this war in a very calm way whilst I am frightened all the time! And it seems now clear this war may take a long time.
So far, among other places in the country, Israel is still targeting an area in Beirut called Dahiyeh Jnouniyeh (the photo above is of Dahiyeh - Toby.) populated almost solely by Shiite Muslims. Naturally Hassan Nassrallah's home is located there along with Hizballah's operation base called Morabaa Amni (if I can translate it literally to English it means "the Secured Square"). This part of Dahiyeh has always been guarded by Hizballah soldiers with arms. Now not only have major parts of Dahiyeh Jnoubieh been destroyed, but also the "Secured Square" has been continuously bombed turning it to ashes.
For the last few days the evacuation of foreigners from Lebanon has not stopped. Some leaving from Beirut harbour and Jounieh to Cyprus. Others by road through Damascus. Others such as the American Embassy are evacuating some Americans in its helicopters from the embassy to Cyprus. And still the International Airport is closed. Lots of Lebanese who left for work trips or for holidays or honeymoon, are now stuck abroad with no way to enter the country until further notice. Are we Lebanese doomed to be deprived from being in our own country? What is going on? One day to another, we wake find ourselves still in a nightmare that does not seem to end.
Where is the Arab world and the international community? The USA and Britain? They support Israel totally and they still claim it is defending itself with its non-stop insane bombardment. Their main concern is Hizballah's disarming, even if it would be at the price of the whole country. The Arab World? They gathered in a summit last week but got to nowhere beyond asking for a ceasefire. Egypt and Jordan, and especially Saudi Arabia, have directly blamed Hizballah for putting the whole country in this situation due to its "adventurism". I personally welcome all those countries' brave reaction, though so far this has not succeeded in the stopping the war, neither Hizballah or Israel have listened.
Years ago I used to view Hizballah as a group that sacrificed so many lives for the purpose of freeing their country at a time when the Lebanese army was not able to deploy in the south and confront the Israeli occupation. Hassan Nasrallah's own son was killed a few years ago in an Israeli bombing. Yet even though Hizballah were very conservative Muslim group, they were very well organized and seemed concerned only about the south's safety and security and fight against Israel. So many years ago it played its role in the south of Lebanon, but lately when there was the discussion of merging with the Lebanese National Army and it then deploying in the south, why did Hizballah refuse? If Hassan Nassrallah really was interested in the good of his country he should have accepted. Why can Lebanon not be a normal country where only the national army is holding guns?
That is why I started questioning Hizballah's patriotism and now, after its kidnapping action that had been planned at the beginning of this year, I have lost all respect towards for them, and indeed blame them for what is happening. It surely was not expecting Israel to beg politely for their kidnapped soldiers to be released and nothing more? It must have known how Israel would respond and therefore I blame totally Hizballah for what is happening to us. As I wrote in the previous report I am convinced now that it works for Iran and Syria. What a pity! Really! But who is paying the whole price? The nation…
On Wednesday a Christian area called Achrafieh, next to Beirut's downtown – which is usually filled with restaurants, nightclubs, offices and apartment buildings – was bombed by Israel (see last paragraph - Toby.). We all freaked out – why this bombing? It turned out that two trucks for water pumping, parked on Abdel Wahab El Engliseh street, were targeted by an Israeli plane thinking they were arms for Hizballah. Luckily for Israel, the bombs which hit those trucks small and they only destroyed the vehicles and nothing else. Previously Israel had, by dropping leaflets, threatened to hit any trucks out on the streets. It fears that they are moving weapons for Hizballah. As a result, people seeing trucks parked next to their homes are calling the police to get the truck drivers to remove their vehicles for the safety of the neighborhoods.
The head of Trucks Owners Association of Lebanon, Chafic Al Kassis, stated in the local Al Balad newspaper on Thursday 20 July that there are 16,500 trucks in Lebanon distributed all across the country. So far 400 have been hit by Israeli air raids. Is Israel going to bomb the remaining 16100 trucks? If so, how will food and water supplies be transported to villages in need? Sadly, truck drivers will have to put their lives on the line and just pray to God during their journeys.
Fouad Sanioura our prime minister called on the World yesterday to help disarm Hizballah. But the question is how? Hizballah is fighting its war, and in return Israel is continuing to bombard Lebanon. And we stand there in between… watching our country bleed to death and waiting for a miracle or some magic to happen…
Marion A.J. Beirut, 21 July 2006
Open Democracy on Lebanon
There are a number of good articles on OpenDemocracy.net today about Lebanon - here's a quick synopsis.
Paul Rogers, Prof. of Peace Studies at Bradford and OD's regular security analyst, argues that Israel had essentially no other choice to do what they have done because of the limits of their current strategic worldview. He argues that whilst in the short-term this might work, it can't work in the longer term because of two factors: 1) firstly the tactics necessary only further radicalise others against Israel meaning that, at best, more trouble is just pushed further into future; and 2) because of the increasing availability of hi-tech weapons from the Chinese and Russian arms markets will limit how successful these military responses are anyway. The heavy damage done to Israeli warship by anti-shipping missile plus the targetting of Haifa are indicative of this. So ultimately he argues that Israel will realise that a political solution is only way to gain security. I was quite pleased to read this as this as essentially it's what I have been arguing in various discussion as well. Indeed it looks kind of obvious from where I'm sitting. But of course no one has been trying to kill me with Katushas for the last week and a half.
Fred Halliday, Prof. at LSE, pulls no punches on Hezbollah when reflecting on two days he spent with them in 2004. It's a very interesting and slightly sad personal article - particularly listing a number of fellow leftwing intellectuals and writers, both Middle Eastern and Western, murdered by various Lebanese factions or other foreign governments all connected to the blood letting of the Lebanese Civil War. The article deserves to be read in full but here are some choice snippets from his interview with Sheikh Naim Qassem, deputy leader of Hezbollah:
"On the matter of political relations with Iran, the sheikh was absolutely clear. Hizbollah regards the Iranian spiritual leader, in this case Khamenei, as its ultimate authority; all major political decisions regard Hizbollah are referred to – when not actually taken in – Iran."
"[T]here was no margin of doubt in the sheikh's view that Israel was an illegitimate state and that it should be abolished. This position was bolstered, as evident in his book, by the deployment of quotes from the Qu'ran denouncing Jews and calling for a struggle against them. I put it to the sheikh that this use of the Islamic tradition, in a context of modern political conflict, was racist, a point he evidently did not accept."
Finally, after two lefties, arch righty Prof. Roger Scruton of Oxford pertinently writes about how Hezbollah damages the idea of Lebanon as a sovereign state. He includes some interesting information on the Lebanese national army that I had not come across elsewhere:
"75% of the Lebanese army is Shi'a. This preponderance is owed less to confessional bias (though that exists) than to the fact that young, unemployed Shi'a from rural districts are by far the easiest recruits – a demographic trend not foreseen when the confessional state was set up. Not surprisingly, the Lebanese army, confronted with the task of disarming Hizbollah, refused to enter into conflict with its co-religionists, and has relinquished the southern border to this heavily armed, and insanely belligerent Islamist faction." He also notes that the current Minister of Defence, a post always traditionally reserved for a representative of the Greek Orthodox community, is now also a Shi'a.
Thursday, July 20, 2006
Ethiopia in Somalia
The Ethiopians are supporting the interim government against the Islamic Courts Militias who now control all of Mogadishu and large swathes of Somalia beyond the capital. The Economist described most Somalis as "loathing" Ethiopia so it does not bode well for stability - particularly because some of the senior activist in the Islamic Court Militias began their activism in secessionist groups within the Somali populated area of Ethiopia - known as Ogaden. This explains Ethiopia's support for the secular provisional government (that actually governs very little and currently meets in an abandoned warehouse) and its antipathy to the Islamists who it sees as a danger to its internal stability if Ethiopian ethnic-Somali Muslims become radicalised.
Wednesday, July 19, 2006
More Hezbollah
Wedenesday nights Hezbollah links follow.
I've been really quite suprised by how little people in both Finland and the UK who I've talked about this with know about Hezbollah. What Hezbollah is sets the context for Israel's actions and also explains the limited potential-next steps that the rest of the Lebanese government can take. It also is the reality-check for those who say flippantly that an international peacekeeping force is the answer; it may well be but it would not be an easy mission.
So here is some more good background stuff. On "Fresh Air" (you can listen via realplayer from the linked page), from National Public Radio in the U.S., today Vali Nasr was interviewed about Hezbollah and the rise in power of Shia Islam (Hezbollah being a Shia group) centred around Iran's desire to be recognised as a regional superpower. Nasr is a Professor at the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School. It's a good interview stuffed full of facts that connect what seems like disparate events. They also interview Jeffrey Goldberg who wrote an award winning two part article on Hezbollah for the New Yorker magazine in 2002. You can read it here (part I) and here (part II).
From our own correspondent
God once sat with one of his angels and told him of how he had created a beautiful country with high snowy mountains, a long coastline with a beautiful sea, and wonderful weather with four moderate seasons. He called this country
I was born in
At the beginning of this summer the Ministry of Tourism promised a prosperous
The major issues were as follows:
· The disarming of Hizballah and the deployment of the Lebanese army in the south.
· "Mazaraa Chabaa" (the "Shebaa Farms") that Hizballah, along with various Syrian-sympathetic groups, claim to be Lebanese territory still occupied by
· The disarming of Palestinian groups from the refugee camps in
· The debate over the presidency since the current President is a puppet of
· And last but not least, the continuing investigation into the assassination of the Rafik Hariri, our ex-prime minister.
All these issues were discussed many times around the table. The president of Hizballah Mr Hassan Nasrallah was present in all the discussions. Yet and sadly, not one issue was solved. There are so many parties still in power that still work in favour of
The question was and still is: why did Hizballah kidnap the Israeli soldiers at a time when the country was about to gain a lot of profit from its tourism? Why did Hizballah take that move and decide on its own the fate of a whole country? Why did Hizballah want to free one imprisoned man in
We are not sure what is the true reason behind Hizballah's action. What we do know and is that this crisis has not knocked
I come from a Christian background, yet I do not differentiate between a Muslim or a Christian. True, I was brought up in a closed Christian environment during the war times, but where I work, my colleagues come from different religions. And I learnt to open myself to them and vice versa. Yet, despite all of
And the problem remains: what is the role of the Lebanese government and the president? The president is a puppet of
What will happen to my country? I don't know. No one knows. All we do is pray for the war to stop and Hizballah to surrender their arms to the Lebanese Army. Until then, I am out of work since the whole country is closed. I sit in front of the TV, watch each minute of breaking news of a bomb hitting somewhere, whilst listening to the sounds of the Israeli planes in the sky above and hope they wont hit us. So far we have electricity, water, food, gas, internet etc… but surely that is not the case for many others places in the country since the beginning of the Israeli war on
Hopefully we'll hear more from M. over the next few days as long as electricity and telephone connections remain functioning in her part of Beirut.
Tuesday, July 18, 2006
Lebanon crisis: extra-credit reading
A particular problem are the nice people at the American Resource Centre at Helsinki University. Every month they send out an email with a link to webpage that list abstracts of various articles in news magazines and academic journals that may be of interest. You tick a little box on the page next those that interest you and two days later an envelope full of perfect copies appear. It's research for the terminally lazy, and of course encourages you tick the boxes of things that aren't vital to your work, but interesting nonetheless. Then after someone has so painstakingly xeroxed them and posted them to you, of course you have moral obligation to read them and hence the "to read" pile just gets higher.
Anyway - somewhere amongst the piles of paper and dustballs I found the following: Lebanon: Finding a Path from Deadlock to Democracy By Julia Choucair published by the Carnegie Endowment; and "The Hizballah Training Camps of Lebanon" by Dr. Magnus Ranstorp of St. Andrews University and the Swedish National Defence College. It's a chapter from a book The Making of A Terrorist. I've read and heard so many opinions about Hezbollah (or Hizballah if you prefer - probably dependent on your Arabic accent!) over the last week its good to read some good old fashioned, in-depth academic analysis on the group. Not that there is anything dull about the subject, but you know what I mean.
I will reflect more on Ranstorp piece later, but crucially he charts the centrality of Iran to Hezbollah, whilst noting that the relationship is not a vertical one - it is one of partnership rather than master and servant. And secondly he explains the long history of Hezbollah's war with Israel, not only carried out in the Israeli-occupied Southern Lebanon through the 1980s and 90s but also through many probes and attacks within Israel itself using variously Palestinian groups as proxies or sympathisers with Western passports. None of this will be big news to Middle East politics train-spotters, but it is all there in one handy package.
Choucair's paper is an excellent primer on, or reminder of, the complexity of Lebanese confessional politics, and in particular she explains Hezbollah's popularity amongst the Shi'a of Lebanon. Essentially they are seriously under-represented within the political system where parliamentary seats are basically carved up amongst the many religious groups on the basis of the last national census, which was taken in 1932! A trade-off has never been made, so they keep 'their' private army until they get a better position politically within Lebanon. How the current crisis will change this remains to be seen.
Visitors from far off lands!
Some might have noticed that I added a "ClustrMap" to the side bar of this blog - where visitors are mapped according to their IP address (click on the little map to get a full size one). I don't understand too much about how the internet works but I believe that the IP address doesn't always mean that the visitor is in that exact geographical location, but nevertheless the map is good fun and it's very cool to see that people in Spain, Greece, Canada and the from around the US amongst others appear to have visited. Welcome all and leave a comment to agree or disagree if you wish, or just to say hi.


text:
When it comes to suburbs with hot prospects for investors, regional NSW offers plenty of opportunities.
It can be easy to think that Sydney is where all the action is for residential property investors but those who cast their net beyond the metropolitan area can be well rewarded.
Wollongong – worth a look
Australians love the water, and to the south of Sydney, the Wollongong market offers a number of pluses including pristine beaches and affordable property prices.
Demand for rental accommodation is aided by the University of Wollongong, and investors are enjoying rental yields that are in the order of 5.0%. In many suburbs prices remain low though a recent report by valuers Herron Todd White, found that demand has driven prices higher in the past two to three years particularly in the lower price brackets.
The Hunter continues to boom
To Sydney's north, Newcastle also offers great beaches along with good transport links and a healthy local economy. However the big capital growth story is more likely to be found in Newcastle's satellite suburbs. The ongoing growth of Newcastle airport and the RAAF base at Willamtown for instance, has provided a boost to Medowie values. In fact, most Hunter Valley suburbs within commuting distance of the region's minefields particularly at Singleton and Muswellbrook, are experiencing low vacancy rates and strong rent returns. Capital growth will be further supported with the completion of the Hunter Expressway in late 2013.
Go for gold
On the western side of the Great Diving Range, the expansion of the Cadia Valley gold and copper mine has seen the Orange property market earmarked for future growth. Further west, Gunnedah is already seeing steep climbs in rents and property values in response to increased mining activity.
The coast road picks up
If you've travelled along the Pacific Highway through the north coast recently it's impossible to miss the sheer scale of road works taking place. The Highway upgrade is attracting workers to the region and this is adding to demand for rental properties along the coast especially around the Coffs Harbour area.
…and the downside
It is worth noting that investing in any regional town can involve higher risks than metropolitan areas. This is especially the case if the local economy relies heavily on one dominant industry – something that can apply to resource rich locations.
When you're ready to invest, your Aussie Broker makes it easy to select the right loan for your needs.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
The VPC-30 voltage and continuity tester features a built-in shaker that provides the same functionality and feel as older analog solenoid testers with the benefit of input protection to CAT IV 600V/CAT III 1,000V, according to the company. Super-bright bi-color LEDs indicate safe and dangerous voltages (greater than 55VDC or 30VAC). Additional features include an auto-hold feature, auto on and off, non-contact voltage detection and GFCI test feature, and a detachable test lead.
For more information, visit www.amprobe.com.
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text:
Crow is protector of the wood. He has lived there ever since the Crow tribe of travellers were brutally moved on from the farmstead nearby by ruthless developer, Tucker. Now Tucker wants the wood too and will stop at nothing to raze it to the ground. Crow must defend it with his life. The battle begins, but Tucker doesn't realise that he must contend with a man who has the power of nature behind him. Before the day is done, he and his men will learn the real meaning of terror in this original supernatural thriller.
Welsh director: Wyndham Price
Shot in Wales
Date: April-June 2017
Running time: 137 minutes
If you are a Welsh exhibitor you may be eligible to submit a proposal for support as this film is covered by our Made In Wales strategy.
Film Hub Wales aims to bring more films, to more people, in more places. We are one of eight Film Hubs around the UK formed in 2013 as part of the ground-breaking initiative BFI Film Audience Network (FAN).
Supported by
Copyright © Film Hub Wales 2014.


text:
Sligo Town's Lady Erin Quarter has got a certain quirkiness I can't place my finger on. When I wander past I get a sense this corner of the town has remained the same for quite a spell and it's still under it.
Good craic for nuts
Yes we've been quiet but the past few months – quiet but busy. We've had a baby girl and packed up to shift ourselves (again) from Australia back to the west coast of Ireland. Oh, and we're releasing a new collection of work…
Warpmats – New site for hand-made surfmats
The website for Warpmats is now live – Warpmats make beautiful, hand-made surfmats.
Market Stall at The Hive Market
Crikey, it's like this is becoming a habit – stoked! This Sunday from 10 'till 3 I'll have a stall setup at The Hive Market in Bellerive, Hobart.
Bulk Mart 3, Hobart
Great fun popping up the Organic Devolution market stall for Bulk Mart 3 over the weekend in Hobart.
Market Stall this Saturday in Hobart
This Saturday from 1-7pm I'll be throwing down some good things on a table at Bulk Mart 3 in Hobart city. It's been a while since I've done markets and I miss it. Lots of colour and the wonderful wares of weird and wiley makers, good tunes and good story-talkin' with all sorts of heads.
2017 Irish Surf Festival, Sligo, Ireland
Since 2013 Ireland has celebrated surfing at its annual Surf Festival, Shore Shots. Each year the Festival has improved on the last creating an experience that offers a rare opportunity to immerse yourself in the strange, evolving social and cultural seascape that is Surfing.
The Inertia behind surf mats
Thanks to Dylan Heyden from the Inertia for scooping Fionn's new edit. Stoked to see surf matting blips on mainstream radars… great exposure for two legends – my custom surf mat maker, Matt Fedden.
The suggestion that surf mats were a "bi-product of the shortboard revolution" is a little left-field.
There is no now
There's little point hanging on when you're going this fast.
Hibernia, 2015. Custom surf mat build (Mc-21) by Matt Fedden.
Hello Online Shop!
Well folks, it's finally happened – the Organic Devolution Online Shop is now live! A hard graft over the past few months, hyper compressed in the last two weeks to get things revamped here in the OD blog and integrated with the new Shop. Huge thanks to my sibling web-guru, Heidipj, for her stellar work on getting it all together and giving this salty bearded doodler the motivation needed to finally getting this thing together.
What's in store? Read More
Sligo Design Week
Now only a week away Sligo Design Week (kudos to Denise Rushe, the darling from Starling, et al. for the hard yards put in behind it) has come to fruit with an exciting mix of exhibitions, talks, happenings and workshops. I was approached a little while back to see if I'd be keen to host a linocut printing workshop.
Was I keen? I was frothing!
Hiatus or just a sleep-in?
I'm surprised I've neglected the blog for so long. The blog but also the site in general. To all those folks I've spoken to over the past two (crikey, and a half? Three?) months, enthusiastically directing them there to keep an eye on the new work that has been coming along, studio action… I offer some apologies and a brief round-up.
And this little piggy…
It seems almost overwhelming trying to get things organised for the next month. We're relocating out west to Sligo for another year. There, bombshell (for some) dropped. The shift is happening next weekend – from rolling tarmac to rolling fields. A cottage out on the raggedy peninsula in north County Sligo where, from the backyard, the magnificence of Dartry mountains loom up in the east and to the west the wild Atlantic yawns away in it's glorious topaz vastness.
Matt Fedden Surf Mats website goes live
Fair enough, I don't know that much about surf mats. I've only been riding them since last September which is bugger-all really. After riding various stand-up boards (ones without paddles mind you) for a few decades this shift to riding mats almost exclusively has had me rattled.
Four days in the Kingdom
I was most happy to acquiesce to her request. It sounded good, it made my insides thrum low. A five-hour haul down and across to that gnarled paw of Ireland's southwest where the twisted, arthritic fingers of counties Cork and Kerry claw out from the coastline into the Atlantic… I put the fins in just in case.
Crowd evasion
Arriving late last month my new pool toy, a 4th Gear Flyer Standard hand-made by Paul Gross (delightfully described as a "surf raft" on the postal declaration form), finally found some worthy walls to curl up to.
2013 NCMCRS Marine Conservation Film Series
2014 NCMCRS Marine Conservation Film Series
62nd Annual Meeting of the British Phycological Society
"Seaweed you say? I'd love to help!"
This year the British Phycological Society's 62nd Annual Meeting is being held where I spend my time when I'm not illustrating, the Ryan Institute at the National University of Ireland, Galway (Ireland). Me, well I'll be getting three shades of nerdy with the best of them for the two and a half days of talks on ecology, applied phycology and harmful algal blooms. Oh… and the fight is on for front row seats to Dr. Chuck Amsler's plenary lecture, "Chemical mediation of Antarctic macroalgal-herbivore interactions."
I jumped at the opportunity to get something fresh and salty out that would advertise the event – hopefully something a little different from the clip-art and word-processor promotional stuff that comes out at the last-minute, usually accompanied by, "Ahh sure, it's really not that important, just whip something up."
The BPS committee had only a short timeframe in which a main promotional poster, and another directing the conference attendees around campus to the venue, was to be organised. They were delighted with what I turned out in the nick of time. Budget? Forget it – seaweed research is my delight and so was this opportunity.
Shore Shots Irish Surf Film Festival
Shore Shots Irish Surf Film Festival
The Lighthouse Cinema, Smithfield, Dublin, Ireland
On the road to Dublin this weekend for the 2014 Shore Shots Irish Surf Film Festival. So much goodness to get in front of. For the short film competition, which should be breath-taking on the big-screen, I've thrown in a framed limited edition, lino-cut print for one of the winners. Given the heaving that the Atlantic coasts have had over the past year the footage captured and put together in these film will be epic.
Frothing to see the still frames from the eight hardy photogs in their exhibts too. Staring into these eerily still, silent fragments from amidst such maelstroms of chaos can be unsettling. My brain fizzes with the thought of the rider immortalised in the moment, the others out there watching the spectacle unfurl in front of them, the others whose innards liquefy as they watch the rider disappear out of view… but the folks behind the lens? I'm looking forward to catching up with all of these headers. McLeod has been getting some good traction this year. Talented and proper gentleman – stoked to have had a few sliders of my own snapped by him.
Pity the folks putting the fest together couldn't afford the beans to get Wayne Lynch over to give Uncharted Waters his thumb. Nonetheless, this is one doco that I'd walk across the country to watch it huge. Unquestionably a pivotal figure in Australia's surfing heritage. Properly plugged in, still is. Take a breath, watch the trailer and book yer tickets. Get a brief heads-up at EOS then go do some homework. A lot to absorb on different levels and help re-evaluate our contemporary connections to surfing and the marine environment.
See you amongst the heads.
Self-saucing inspiration from the Offset
It was my sister that affirmed my presence would be necessary at this year's Offset conference, Dublin's premiere annual creative event for print and design. Some insight she has. With the last year being wholly immersed in purely marine science focused conferences and workshops, this event has been a welcome salmon swung hard into the back of the head.
I'm home fidgety, most uncomfortable, my arse and back aches and I'm baffled as to what the hell I've been doing in the evenings and weekends that has kept me from pumping out contorted reimaginings of the weirdness that is my current full-time work as print-ready artwork…
Personally, the cage-rattling inspiration has flocculated from the likes of:
Some of the stand-outs for this head, for sure, but additionally the threads of many others up-front and about the venue have been big ticklers. Unnaturally so but most welcome. Perhaps foolishly a commitment has been made to take on a commission for the production three works for print to be served up with a month. The brief is to draw the work into play using a three spot colour restriction for the work, the challenge as a nod to the fabulous work from Nobrow Press; find their books in all their deliciously fresh flesh and smell them, stroke them.
The challenge is thrown down. I know where I have to go to pull it up from and it's going to get muddy…
Diamonds in the rough
A working week like pulled taffy… focus and functionality progressively drawn out, twisted and distorted. The colours and shapes, though still there, now some filamentous vagueness. Only there at that Friday evening terminus can one attempt to gather the unspooled self and make a pile from which, possibilities for the following days can be considered. Outside the atmosphere is seething… the wind inciting unrest.
At this point, some of us smile knowingly at the simplicity of what would seem the most appropriate, even rational, response. Rebirth yourself into the weekend at full speed to meet a berzerking sea, itself thrashing with disconsolate fury into the faces of some sullen West-coast headlands.
The car's thermometer bottomed out finally at -0.5 degrees. Amidst another squall, walloping gusts makes us shudder sideways again over the median strip. No need to start so early but there's little solace; the dour weather has brooded the gloom of the past dark hours onward into the mid-morning. On first inspection, the tide seems to be shirking its responsibilities and the swell plays coy, reclusive 'till tickled deep down where it wants before stirring.
But eventually it comes and we disrobe.
Despite the low-digit degrees making the sleety rain prick like pins, the appropriate accoutrements are wrestled on with fetishistic zeal of the masochist. The wind whips savagely at our boards, shrieking its threats to tear them from our clawed fingers and obliterate them down the long boulder-strewn point. Falling finally, bodily exhausted into the sea, the foam presses hard at the chest and the ordeal of paddling out into the gale begins for the first of many, many repetitions.
Sixty-something kilometer-an-hour, and then some, winds lift sheets of foam spray on any shift of chop foolish enough to rear too tall from the sea's surface. Another squall shrieks in and with it, bitter beads of hail blast at the only skin exposed – full facial dermal abrasion. Little respite is possible for without the incessant stroking back into the wraith-like lee of the headland, one would be lost out into the bay and beyond.
And yet we were the wealthiest creatures alive for our wages were paid in diamonds…
What's on the inside…
The wind drops and there may be just enough, from the right direction, at the right tide for… going hunting. Choosing to pass on the en-mass patronage of those days of thunder in favour of a search for silence and small sliders. The incredible diversity of the coastline out here is highly conducive to such pursuits.
While Herculean monsters heave-ho on the outer banks, the deep pulses probe further in vibrating headlands as they swing inward, bending and distorting as they shuck out scything embayments, warping about a myriad of little islets before laughing out loud over bewildered bombies and quiet sand or pebbled strands of the inner reaches whose experience is oft limited to burbling tidal chuckles or wind-blown sniggers.
A single fin and that way-back swing that only a big log provides is the only sensible way to slide these things. Strange occasions are these to find waves pushing in this deep but here is true solace. With a tiny window for opportunism, the search is frantic and furtive but it's hard to appear discreet tipping along with racks stacked with nine-plus planks and foreign car reg.
We're scrambling about the tatty roads out there 'somewhere' (I'm often lost and gleeful of it) with, at best, scraps of doodles on maps for guidance but mostly tickling hunches. The car swerves again back onto the pot-holed and frosty black top after drifting from the distractions of the wildly gesticulating passenger to yet another spurt of foam from behind a crumbling stone wall or salt-buckled hedge of blackberry and furze.
Sure it cold, sure we drove two hours and more to get there and then some and sure it's dark soon after 4pm. It sure was empty though and You can be sure I'm heading for the boonies again just as soon as I get the chance.
Point taken
"Annual leave doesn't roll-over so you'd better take it."
Yes boss. This the inevitable mid-winter gluttony – get what you can, when you can. Fun size with a good period and no wind. Leave at dark and get back at dark. Now, at this stage of the evening I'm in bits; involuntarily twitching from the bends and buckles composited after several hours of attrition in the Atlantic.
One lone ranger had this to themselves. Waist-high and ruler-edged the whole way through; 100m? So much serenity…
Shallow, square and empty. Despite this however, 15 or so others were happy enough to hustle and thrash about for shifty peaks only 50-or-so metres away without giving it a sideways glance.
The inevitable. Any suggestions as to the nearest rhinoplasty specialist on the West coast?
The choicest of chunks saved for last. Sums up the above really. Visions of the molars on this beast will devour me in my nightmares for weeks to come. I am always more than happy to volunteer my meat whenever it awakes hungry and disgruntled.


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You know, I will be the first to say that Stargate Atlantis isn't the best television show out there... it has plenty of flaws, but they are lovable flaws and it's fun and, when the writers remember that, it is hard to beat. It's like all good comfort food... simple, easy to swallow, and it just makes you feel good. It may not be fillet mignon in a port wine reduction, but sometimes you can't beat a cheese burger with all the fixings. I don't think Sci Fi gave SGA all the chances it deserved and I don't feel the producers gave it a chance, period. To hear the writers and producers talk about it in comparison to SG1, it was obvious they felt SGA wasn't up to par when in reality the character dynamics are better than what we'd seen on SG1 in over five years. Over the run of SG1, the characters seemed to grow apart, whereas on SGA they just grow closer. The last three seasons have just gotten better and better... the writing, character development, team interaction, hell the acting itself has improved. Add to that the improved ratings and awards (won and nominated) and you would think TPTB would realize they had a solid show on their hands, especially in the sci fi genre. Instead they decide to cancel it and make a few movies and play with their new toy Stargate Universe... not to mention ruin my entire fucking week right before the episode I've been waiting to see for months.
I'm frustrated, disappointed, and, yes, pissed. I started out as an SG1 fan and, admittedly, didn't really care for SGA when it first came on. But then I saw The Defiant One during a minimarathon during the midseason hiatus and John and Rodney hooked me and I've never looked back. SG1 lost its glimmer a few years ago when RDA started limiting his appearances. I love Ben Browder and Claudia Black but even they couldn't save the show, especially when they started the whole Ori storyline. Mobius was the perfect ending point for SG1 and they kept going. Maybe they're worried SGA will start that slow death, as well, but to me, it hasn't even reached its peak yet. And what frustrates me most is that of all the things SGA did to make me happy, the best was that it inspired me to write. I have to admit that it scares me a little bit to think that part of my life might come to an end with the series because no other show in the past five years has inspired me to write and I'm not seeing anything promising on the horizon. As much as I'll miss my team love and John and Rodney snark and the fun I have on Friday nights with them, it's getting hit by a story idea that eats me up until I start typing that I think I'll miss most of all. And the worst part is that I can't see any really good reason why.
|pebbles: Drop a pebble


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William Clark's slave played a significant role in the Corps of Discovery. He tells of the expedition's preparations to cross the Rocky Mountains and their meeting with the Shoshone Indians.
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by: Nicole Upchurch
"A song about the bittersweet of being a young mother or just a nice gardening song (so I've heard). A good friend and gardener told me it is recommended to grow wild sorrel and strawberries near each other – a fact I had not known before writing this lyric. I originally wrote and recorded this song with my brothers on our album, Weeds in the Wall. Eventually – due to its obvious association with food – Wild Sorrel became part of the play All Recipes Are Home by Sean Lewis, and ultimately a part of the album."
~ Nicole Upchurch
Wild sorrel and strawberry
Wild sorrel and strawberry
My first garden, that I ever grew
Was in a little patch of dirt
By the playhouse in the yard
And the windows were broken
Letting in the morning dew
As I readied my sprouts for the sun
Desert garden
Wild sorrel and strawberry
Bearing signs of a love outlasting
A mother's youth
And my heart broke open
Letting in the morning dew
As I readied myself for my son
Wild sorrel and strawberry
Wild sorrel and strawberry
My first garden . . .


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Valentine's Day and Braces
February 11th, 2014
from the America Association of Orthodontists
MYTH: Orthodontists are appropriate only for the most challenging and complex orthodontic cases.
FACT: Orthodontists recognize the difference between a simple case and a complex one. And, when a case is challenging, they are trained to know what to do.
MYTH: My family dentist says he can straighten my teeth.
FACT: An orthodontist has 2-3 years of specialized training beyond dental school and is a specialist in straightening teeth and ensuring proper form and function. A dentist may see a handful of cases a year amid drilling and filling. An orthodontist only practices orthodontics and treats hundreds of patients.
MYTH: Braces are for kids.
FACT: 1 in 5 orthodontic patients is an adult.
MYTH: Orthodontists charge more than general dentists for orthodontic treatment.
FACT: It's not the same work. The value in seeing an orthodontist for treatment is that the orthodontist is an expert, highly experienced and understands form, function and a wonderful smile.
MYTH: Braces are painful and take two years or more for the desired result.
FACT: After the adjustment period, like breaking in a new pair of shoes, braces are comfortable. Some may be worn for months, not years.


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You guys, I am SO excited to share that I am a finalist in Cotton's Road To The Runway contest! Grand Prize includes a trip to Florida to attend Cotton's 24 hour runway show, and I am beyond thrilled to be in the running. Finalists are split up into regions (myself being in the northeast), and compete only against other finalists in their region.
If you don't mind, head on over and vote (hopefully for me, pretty please?). There is some stiff competition, and some pretty fierce style I am up against. But if I can make it past round one, I am one step closer to the grand prize!
Thanks, my friends! I don't really like soliciting you all for votes, but I could really use your help! I will love you forever :).


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Kathy brought me a stack of shirts to make this great Tshirt quilt that commemorates her college years.
I know it is pretty early to think about Christmas but a tshirt quilt is a great gift for that special someone in your life. Plus, it is only $14/shirt. You can read more about the price and sizes here.
Can you see the shirt pockets on some of the tshirts? I kept the pockets all functional which I think it such a fun touch.
Kathy especially wanted the big sleeve on her Washington and Lee sweatshirt to remain open. Wouldn't that be a good spot to tuck in the TV remote while snuggling up on the couch with this quilt?
I know Kathy will love how her college memories are all now neatly contained in this sentimental quilt!
Have you thought about getting a t-shirt quilt made for a special someone for Christmas? Contact me for more info.


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What If?
Friday, January 27, 2017
Some of my deepest thoughts come to me when I am on a run. I don't run far, just 2 miles or so, but it's during those 20-25 minutes that God and I somehow meet up together, as I breathe in and out and focus on putting one foot in front of the other.
These words have been fumbling around in my brain for the last 3 weeks or so. This week I pushed myself to go on more runs to try to work out the thoughts that kept filling my mind and I finally got some answers.
Andrew and I will be going on 6 years of marriage in April. It's has been a wonderful journey for us. One that I wouldn't trade because I know that God has purposed it all. My marriage has forced me through several hard heart issues that needed resolve and now that I am finally on the other side of it all, I can look back in awe at God's faithfulness.
You see, 2016 was our hardest year. In the dead heat of the summer, I participated in a Bible study at our church and I sat in a small room with about 15 other people as they prayed for me. This group didn't even know why they were praying but they prayed. One after another, people who I barely knew spoke words from God that penetrated my heart so deeply.
One in particular prayed, "What I am about to pray and say may not seem encouraging, but I feel as though God wants you to know that He knows you are in chaos right now. He wants you to sit and wait and that the chaos will not be forever, but it is going to continue for a little while longer. He is restoring and rebuilding the walls."
That women was right, it wasn't the most encouraging, but it was the answer to a prayer I had prayed a few days earlier in a grocery store parking lot. "Lord, how much longer. I don't know that I can keep trusting you without borders. I need to hear you."
Fast forward to now, January of 2017. The chaos has passed and the prayers uttered in that small room have come to fruition and I can see God's handiwork. God has rebuilt the walls of my heart and the foundation of my marriage and there is a strength and understanding surrounding my life that was never there before the way it is now.
Yet, still, I have sat on my living room couch as of late having fearful thoughts of what is to come next as Andrew and I consider future plans.
Lord, what if we can't have children?
What if we can?!
What if I am not able to balance life with children?
What if I miss my moments of just Andrew and I?
What if life gets hard again, right when I finally found myself and who I am without all the chaos in my brain?
What if we have a girl? What if we have a boy?!
These fears and thoughts are so real to me. To some these may seem so silly... but these are my current "what if's" in my current season of life. But as I ran today, I heard a louder "WHAT IF" resounding in my head.
...What if you remember all that God has done. It may have been hard in the past, but you see the fruit, the benefit, the strength and knowledge you now have and it is good. All of the ocean tears and mountain weight I have felt has all turned to gold. So what if you give all your What If's to God and trust Him. What if you finally stop worrying about all the possibilities that could go wrong or right and just trust that God has His fingerprints all over your life and everything that He does ends up good in the end.
So instead of "what if" it will be... "What now, Lord?" What do you have in store for this next season of life. A season that I may grow and glorify your name through it all.
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Dr. Margaret Dalziel & W. Wu, June 2012A study presented at ASAC 2012 (Administrative Sciences Association of Canada) and the DRUID (Danish Research Institute for Industrial Dynamics) 2012 summer conference. Read More >>
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Peer-reviewed articles
Armitage DW, Jones SE. (2019). How sample heterogeneity can obscure the signal of microbial interactions. ISME Journal. PDF. Blog post.
Milton K, Armitage DW, Sousa WP. (2019). Successional loss of two key food tree species best explains decline in group size of Panamanian howler monkeys. Biotropica 51: 600-614. PDF
Armitage DW, Jones SE. (2019). Negative frequency-dependent growth underlies the stable coexistence of two cosmopolitan aquatic plants. Ecology 100: e2657 PDF & Appendix
Monson TA, Armitage DW, Hlusko LJ. (2018). Using machine learning to classify extant apes and interpret the dental morphology of the chimpanzee-human last common ancestor. PaleoBios 35: 1-20. PDF
Armitage DW. (2017). Linking the development and functioning of a carnivorous pitcher plant's microbial digestive community. ISME Journal 11: 2439–2451. PDF & Appendix
Thompson LR, et al., Gilbert JA, and Knight R, and EMP Consortium (including Armitage DW). (2017). A communal catalogue reveals Earth's multiscale microbial diversity. Nature 551: 457-463. Open access link
Armitage DW. (2016). Bacteria facilitate prey capture by the pitcher plant Darlingtonia californica. Biology Letters. 12: 20160577 PDF & News Coverage (2)
Armitage DW. (2016). Time-variant species pools shape competitive dynamics and diversity-ecosystem function relationships. Proceedings of the Royal Society B 283: 20161437 PDF
Armitage DW. (2016). The cobra's tongue: rethinking the function of the "fishtail" appendage on Darlingtonia californica. American Journal of Botany 103: 780-785. PDF
Armitage DW. (2015). Experimental evidence for a time-integrated effect of productivity on diversity. Ecology Letters 18: 1216–1225. PDF
Doll HM, Armitage DW, Daly RA, Emerson JB, Goltsman DSA, Yelton A, Kerekes J, Firestone MK, Potts MD. (2013) Utilizing novel diversity estimators to quantify multiple dimensions of microbial biodiversity across domains . BMC Microbiology 3:293. Open access link
Armitage DW, Gallagher KG, Youngblut ND, Buckley DH, Zinder SH. (2012) Millimeter-scale patterns of phylogenetic and trait diversity in a salt marsh microbial mat. Frontiers in Microbiology 3:293. Open access link
Armitage DW, Ober HK. (2012) The effects of prescribed fire on bat communities in the longleaf pine-sandhills ecosystem. Journal of Mammalogy 93:102-114. PDF
Armitage DW, Ober HK. (2010) A comparison of supervised learning algorithms in the classification of bat echolocation calls. Ecological Informatics 5:465-473. PDF
Callis KL, Christ LR, Resasco J, Armitage DW, Ash JD, Caughlin TT, Clemmensen SF, Copeland SM, Fullman TJ, Lynch RL, Olson C, Pruner RA, Vieira-Neto EHM, West-Singh R, and Bruna EM. (2009) Improving Wikipedia: educational opportunity and professional responsibitlity. Trends in Ecol. & Evol. 24:177-178. PDF
Coming Soon
Bertolet BL, West WE, Armitage DW, Jones SE. Methanogen community assembly varies predictably across a pH gradient in temperate lakes. (In revision)
Armitage DW, Jones SE. Coexistence barriers confine the poleward range of a globally-distributed aquatic plant. (Draft available on request)
Armitage DW. (2016). Microbes in time: incorporating bacteria into ecosystem development theory. Ph.D dissertation, University of California Berkeley.
Armitage DW. (2010). The effects of prescribed fire on bat activity in the longleaf pine sandhills ecosystem. Master's thesis, University of Florida.


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08 March 2017
Toyota has hinted at its solution for the future of urban transport with the I-Trill concept EV, unveiled yesterday at the Geneva Motor Show.
This smart tilting, three-seat, three-wheel vehicle with super car-style butterfly doors blends the best attributes of a small city car and a maxi scooter.
Powered by electric motors, it boasts a range in excess of 124 miles and is controlled by a games console-style control pad with a futuristic heads up display.
Toyota has patented the active lean system that it says will make this and its future urban EVs more agile and efficient.
The Japanese company says the concept is designed with 30-50 year old metropolitan females in mind, who often travel on their own with children.
It would certainly be an impressive way to do the school run, should a production vehicle similar to the I-Trill ever make it to market.


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Arts and Crafts Gift ideas
Hi everyone. Welcome back to my Arts and Crafts blog. I hope everyone is doing well, and is really excited about how fast Christmas is approaching. If you're anything like the rest of my family then you'll have bought all the Christmas presents already and will have had the turkey ordered for the past 3 months. And if you're anything like me then you'll be busy last minute shopping and running around like you're the headless turkey. To try and help my last minute shoppers I wanted to share some great last minute Christmas gifts for your little ones that will keep them busy and out of your hair for those necessary hours on Christmas Day.
Arts and Crafts gift ideas.
Beading kits.
I bought my daughter a bead crafting kit online for her birthday last month. I'd been looking around for ages and found some great deals for here; http://www.australia.for-sale.com/bead-craft-kits There are so many different types of beading kits. You can buy ones where you actually design and create the individual beads. Ones where you create bracelets and necklaces, which is the one I got my daughter. As well as ones where you create images and pictures using small plastic beads, for example these great ones by Hama which you can place side by side to create any picture you want and then just iron on the top and the beads will fused together. Great for boys and girls alike, and can keep them being imaginative and busy creating away for hours.
One of my fondest memories from my Childhood Christmases would be the year me and my sister where bought a Spirograph geometry drawing set. Being a rather strange child my favourite subjects had always been, and actually still are, art and maths. Spirograph consists of a couple of large plastic rings, with teeth along the inside. Then you have a larger number of small sized circles with teeth on the outside. You then use a pen to spin the smaller circle inside the larger ring using the teeth and a pattern emerges.
Any child interested in drawing and creating images will love this, as well as those mini mathematicians who like to see maths in action.
Polymer or Modelling clay.
Another great gift choice for a child who loves designing and creating things.
If you've ever had to pull our child away from the crafts table when there's been Play D'oh out then Clay might be the next step up for your child. They can go from creating a temporary object to creating a permanent object, without losing any of their creativity along the way. One of the best things about a clay product is that at the end your child will have created something for themselves that they might be able to use everyday. Perfect Kit for your kids to create their fave characters after your Ghibli Marathon.
Look out for the kinds which you bake in the oven or leave out for a long time to harden. Whilst this initially might seem like an extra hassle it will mean that your child can play with the clay for a longer period of time without it hardening on them too quickly and becoming unusable.
Loom Bands.
Not only that crazy fad from 6/7 years ago. Loom bands are just as popular than ever and great for children who weren't too involved in the fad first time around. There are so many different things you can create with Loom Bands, from the obvious keyring charms and bracelets. All the way to murals, dresses and miniature figurines. Although I'm sure you could make the last one life sized if you have the large budget to cover the cost!
Sewing Kits.
I love sewing. It's one of my favourite pasttimes and I've recently been fantasizing about how I can expand on my hobby to become something a bit more than jsut leisurely. (I'm thinking of going to a sewing and fashion course at my local College) My love for sewing has rubbed off on both of my children. They love helping me out on my simpler projects, and have created little items of their own. However one of the best ways I got them interested in sewing was through various different sewing kits. With my youngest this was through different kits where you could create your own cuddly toy or mini creature. And for my eldest it was through a pillow making and designing kit, which allowed far more freedom. No matter what level your kids are at, or how old they are you are guaranteed to find a kit to suit them.
I hope this has helped any last minute gift buyers. Make sure to check out my latest post on Blue Man Group. Bye!