text:
/Xam sidereal narratives and Gideon Retief von Wielligh's 'Boesman Stories'
posted: 5069 days ago, on Wednesday, 2006 Jul 12 at 01:10
tags: astronomy, ethnoastronomy, Milky Way.
/Xam sidereal narratives and Gideon Retief von Wielligh's 'Boesman Stories'
W P Koorts, A. Slotegraaf
Presented at the 2005 African Astronomical History Symposium, Cape Town.
Abstract: The primary source of /Xam sidereal narratives are the well-known works by Bleek and Lloyd. We present two new /Xam accounts, explaining the origin of the Sun and the origin of the Evening Star, as collected and retold in Afrikaans by G R von Wielligh in Boesman-Stories, Part 1. We also give an English translation of those parts of the book containing astronomical references.
The investigation we're reporting on here began with a comment made to us by Pieter W Grobbelaar, professor of Afrikaans cultural history and folklore. He pointed out that the southern African ethnoastronomical bibliographies deposited at the SAAO do not list G R von Wielligh. His Boesman-Stories (in four parts) appeared 1919-1921 and recounts narratives collected from /Xam informants by the author c.1880-1883 in the Calvinia-Bushmanland area. Part 1, subtitled "Mythology and Legends", is of particular interest here, because it contains a good deal of astronomical references.
Why, we wondered, had his work gone unnoticed? We speculated that since it was in Afrikaans, it was less accessible to the primarily English-speaking scholars. We resolved to translate those sections containing astronomical information and make these available to a wider audience. Before presenting highlights from von Wielligh's collection, including two new /Xam astromyths, we first take a closer look at this extraordinary man and his work.
Gideon Retief von Wielligh was born on April 1, 1859 in the Paarl district of the Western Cape. His first encounter with "the wild Bushmen" was at age 11:
" at that time we undertook a [trade] journey with our father through parts of Namaqualand, Bushmanland and the Hantam. During the evenings, and also during the day, many of these chaps would join us around the campfire and talk. There were still many of them that lived solely from hunting in the wilds. For a small reward they were willing to tell the little master stories, which we absorbed with mouths agape." (Von Wielligh 1921:i)
Upon his return home, he went to school at Paarl Gimnasium, and within five years he had qualified as a land surveyor. From 1876 to 1878 he undertook surveys in the Karoo, and met several /Xam shepherds, but it wasn't for another two years before he began to seriously study their stories. From 1880 until 1883 a surveyor's office was established in Calvinia, south of the Hantam mountains,
" the surveying of land brought us back again to Bushmanland and the Agter-Hantam, which afforded many opportunities for taking notes." (Von Wielligh 1921:i)
This was perhaps the last contact he was to have with the /Xam, as in August 1884, aged 25, he was appointed Land-Surveyor General of Transvaal (a position he held until June 1895). On official business in 1903, his life took an unexpected twist when an accident left him almost totally blind.
"He went to Delgoabay [present-day Maputo Bay, Mozambique] to fetch the astronomical equipment of the Transvaal government. At this event during a carnival, lime was thrown into his eyes. Medical treatment improved his condition so that he 'now has recovered in his right eye a quarter normal vision. He reads with strong spectacles and a double magnifying glass his nose almost against the paper, and even then he sees only five or six letters at a time.' " (Langenhoven 1922)
It is remarkable that after this debilitating accident he went on to write at least 16 books and numerous magazine articles. From the material he had collected amongst the /Xam, he eventually published Boesman-Stories in four volumes. Fittingly, his final book, published in 1930 (two years before his death) was called Staan jou man (stand your ground).
Since Von Wielligh's name wasn't mentioned in the available ethnoastronomy bibliographies to our disposal, we started this study with a general literature search and found that he was, as mentioned above, a prolific author of primarily Afrikaans fiction. It also soon became clear that his work was controversial.
It seems that he was regarded, amongst some influential academics of Afrikaans literature of his day, as a second-rate author, and his work was vilified by them. In his defence, C J Langenhoven, himself no literary slouch, wrote a strongly-worded article in his widely-read column in the daily newspaper Die Burger :
"Some authors, myself included, who are of lesser merit, have been honoured with membership to the South African Academy. There are others, who deserve it less who have received honorary Doctorates of Literature. Had these distinctions not, recently, become as ridiculously cheap as political and military titles I would have advised our Universities to honour themselves by issuing honorary degrees to Von Wielligh.
"But Von Wielligh's honour is greater than any academic merit that may be awarded to him, greater than what any academic authority can take away from him. He has the honour that he worked in the darkest twilight to bring the light of day nearer to his people." (Langenhoven 1922)
More recently, van Vuuren (1995) has echoed Langenhoven's sentiments. With specific reference to Boesman-Stories, she writes that his work:
" demands to be reincorporated in what we consider to be the corpus of South African literature. The 'recovery' of the /Xam tales has important implications for a new understanding not only of our literary history, but also of South African history-writing." (van Vuuren 1995:25)
[ 1 ] In chronological order these are: Bennun, N. (2004) The broken string: the last words of an extinct people.; Hollmann, J. C. (2004) Customs and beliefs of the /Xam bushmen.; Krog, Antjie (2004) The stars say 'tsau'.; Kowen, D. (2003) Nyama and the eland.; Skotnes, P. (2002) A story is the wind: representing time and space in San narratives.; Szalay, M (2002) Der Mond als Schuh.; McNamee, G. (2001) (ed) The girl who made stars and other Bushman stories.; Fourie, C. (2001) Splinters uit die vuur.; James, A. (2001) The first Bushman's path: stories, songs and testimonies of the /Xam of the northern Cape.; Winberg, M. (2001) My eland's heart: a collection of stories and art.; Lewis-Williams, J. D. (2000) Stories that float from afar: ancestral folklore of the San of southern Africa.; Skotnes, P. (1999) Heaven's things: a story of the /Xam.; Lewis, I. M. (1997) Why ostriches don't fly and other tales from the African bush.; Deacon, J. & Dowson, T. A. (1996) (eds) Voices from the past: /Xam Bushmen and the Bleek and Lloyd collection.
It is heartening that since van Vuuren's article, at least fourteen substantial publications, academic and literary, have appeared on San folklore [1]. These include Bennun's The broken string (2004), Hollmann's Customs and beliefs of the /Xam bushmen (2004), Krog's The stars say 'tsau' (2004), James' The first Bushman's path (2001) and Lewis-Williams' Stories that float from afar (2000). In addition, Voices from the past, edited by Deacon & Dowson (1996), contains papers presented at the Bleek & Lloyd Conference held in Cape Town in 1991. Yet, Von Wielligh is rarely mentioned, and is at best included in a bibliography.
James, in discussing the manner in which the /Xam tales have been presented over the years, illustrates the tension between the formal scholarly approach, and the more-interpreted literary style adopted by others:
"An alternative method of delivering those narrations to the general reader is to provide accessible and persuasive literary versions of the translation texts as products that are at the same time aesthetically instrumental and responsibly mediatorial of the texts from which they draw their life. In the twentieth century, two South African writers, Markowitz and Watson have taken up this method and Von Wielligh has published literary 'Boesman' stories based largely on /Xam sources." (James 2001:20)
Guenther appraises the amount of original folklore material available to the San student, concluding it is quite small. He painted a rather bleak picture:
"The need for fresh data on Bushman and Khoikhoi oral traditions is the more pressing because so much of what is available in the field of early and fairly recent published Khoisan folklore is stale and of dubious scholarly merit Most of the texts are actually re-writes, with or without acknowledgement, of what others had written previously. these recycled works could ultimately be traced back to only a handful of solid field collections, prime of them the published and accessible works by W H I Bleek and Lucy Lloyd." (Guenther 1989:13)
Hewitt in reviewing Bleek (1875) and Lloyd (1889) says:
"much prominence was given to collected materials which related to the Sun, the Moon and the stars, and it is indeed true that their informants had much to say concerning celestial bodies. However, the actual number of narratives collected as opposed to beliefs and superstitions is extremely small indeed. at the very most, only nine distinct stories, out of the total collection of over a hundred, were concerned with celestial phenomena." (Hewitt 1986:91)
It is beyond us to decide where Von Wielligh's work should be rated along the academic and literary dimensions. However, it contains much astronomical lore that has been ignored:
"Probably the relative inaccessibility of [von Wielligh's] publications because of the medium of Afrikaans, plays a greater role here than one might expect. In the formulation by Biesele, an American, this is evident, as she says 'However, the tales are in Afrikaans '. (It would be an interesting exercise to translate the four parts into English, publish a new edition, and see how it is received in this extremely fast-expanding and competitive field of 'bushmanstudies'.)" (Van Vuuren 1995:28-29)
To this end, careful English translations of chapters and selected paragraphs from Boesman-Stories, which made any mention of astronomical phenomena, were made (Appendix 1).
Wilhelm Bleek and Lucy Lloyd interviewed a small group of /Xam in Cape Town between 1870 and 1884. The Bleek and Lloyd manuscripts, totalling almost 12 000 notebook pages, "provides a glimpse into the life-styles, language and beliefs of some of the survivors of a population that at one time inhabited the whole of southern Africa." (Deacon & Dowson 1996:1)
At about the same time (1880 1883) von Wielligh was collecting his material in Bushmanland (see Figure 1) Years later, von Wielligh would note this correlation; in a postscript to the foreword of Boesman-Stories, Part 2, he wrote:
"When I had almost finished writing this Part, I came upon dr W H I Bleek's Specimens of Bushman Folklore Reading through Bushmen Folklore I was struck by the strong resemblance between the stories he and I present.
Because how is it possible that a primitive people could have distributed their folktales over so wide an area and preserved it so well? At closer inspection is appears that dr Bleek and I collected our material at about the same time and in the same area." (von Wielligh 1920:iv)
In Boesman-Stories Part 1 he mentions some of the locations: "Katkop, Limoenkop and at Klipfontein, next to the Hantam River (district Calvinia)", and "the farm Zovoorbij, next to the Hantam River, district Calvinia." These places are indicated on the map above.
In order to compare the narratives a subject index (Table 1) was compiled of: Bleek, W.H.I. (1875) Second Report Concerning Bushman Researches, Lloyd, L. C. (1889) Short Account of further Bushman Material collected, Bleek, W.H.I. & Lloyd, L.C. (1911) Specimens of Bushman folklore, and Von Wielligh, G. R. (1921) Boesman-Stories. Deel 1: Mitologie en legendes.
Table 1. Subject index of astronomical themes in /Xam lore collected by Bleek, Lloyd and von Wielligh
|Bleek 1875
page (par.)
|Lloyd 1889
|Bleek & Lloyd 1911
|von Wielligh 1921
|Sun: moral order
|92-, 104, 105
|Sun: worshipped/honoured
|iii, 92, 187-
|Sun: origin, armpit
|Sun: origin, head
|87-93, 151, 171, 173
|dawn: morning star, heart of Dawn
|dusk: evening star, large eye of Dusk
|Moon: cold
|Moon: cause new life/rebirth/healing
|5, 6, 7, 8
|118, 146, 189
|Moon: death of, and rebirth
|98, 99
|Moon: emissions from
|98-, 103, 118
|Moon: hunting
|Moon: opposed by the Sun
|98, 189
|Moon: origin of death of humans
|99, 100
|Moon: origin, as a feather
|Moon: origin, as a man, cut by Sun
|Moon: origin, as a shoe
|97-99, 103
|Moon: phases mentioned/implied
|6, 7, 80
|98, 116, 146, 188
|Moon: spirits
|stars: noise/talk/sing
|10, 11, 34
|183, 190
|stars: description of
|115, 190
|stars: origin, as coals from a fire
|103-, 115
|stars: origin, from roots/food
|stars: origin, were once people
|stars: worshipped/honoured
|iii, 187-
|Milky Way: described
|Milky Way: Heavenly Road
|105, 115
|Milky Way: origin, wood-ash
|103, 104, 115
|43, 79
An examination of the index reveals the strong resemblance von Wielligh remarked on. For example, the accounts of the origin of the Moon, stars and Milky Way are similar.
However, von Wielligh recorded a unique tale of the origin of the Sun. Introducing the account, he remarked: "This Story is told in different ways: what follows is as recounted by the best storyteller." (von Wielligh 1921:87).
Briefly, Dancer, the Fire-Man, or the Fire-Maker, was once a man and of the ancient race. Light shone from his head, and it was he who put fire in stones, in the wood and in the clouds. Hunters would follow him to see where the game was, but sometimes he was lazy and wouldn't cooperate. Out of frustration the hunters killed him as he stood near a river. He fell into the water and his light was snuffed out. They hacked off his head and placed it on the river bank, but the light didn't return. Later, when it had begun to dry out, a woman saw the head and sent her children to throw it up into the sky, and so it became the Sun. The decapitated body is still searching for it's head, but has withered and became the crab, scuttling about at the water's edge. And the head searches incessantly for his body in the mornings he starts searching at the mountains in the east, climbing into the sky until he comes to the mountains at the western side.
The Sun, it is said, also has two sons, Dawn and Dusk. They help him with his daily tasks, bringing him breakfast or supper, helping him out of or into bed, and so on. Dawn, the elder son, spurns the advances of a maiden (since he is happily married). The maiden's spiteful father, Wolf, murders him and skins him, but at the first incision, Dawn's sparkling heart flies out and goes up into the sky, to become the morning star. Dawn and his wife, their child, and their children's children were:
"turned into Stars; and those Stars still follow behind their parents and are now the brightest Stars in the heavens [Dawn] came to fetch his wife, children and grandchildren, to live with him at the sunrise side of the sky. Though the big bright Morning Star, we must understand, is the Heart of the Dawn." (Von Wielligh 1921:159)
The motif of the morning star being the heart of Dawn is perhaps one of the most familiar astromyths from the Bleek & Lloyd collection, in part because the "Dawns-Heart Star" has, somewhat mysteriously, been identified as the planet Jupiter.
Von Wielligh then presents a second narrative, explaining the origin of the evening star, remarking: "This Story we heard once, on the farm Zovoorbij, next to the Hantam River, district Calvinia. One evening in 1881 there was a Bushman dance party, when one of the old guys showed his talent for story telling."
The Sun's younger son, Dusk, had big eyes so that he could see to perform his daily tasks that began at sunset and lasted until dark. Wolf's daughter , the jilted lover who was rejected by Dawn in the previous story, now latches on to Dusk, who is also happily married. His wife becomes grief-stricken, turning into the Owl, when their child is stolen by Wolf's daughter. Dusk seeks revenge and finds her at Wolf's house, but Wolf calms him with the news that his wife and child are waiting for him at a nearby cliff.
"The two walked together, and when they stood on the edge of the precipice, Wolf pushed Dusk down the cliff. Dusk fell to the bottom. One of his bright eyes burst there, but the other flew up into the sky and became the large shiny Evening Star." (Von Wielligh 1921:167)
To this day, the Owl cries out at night, lamenting for her child, while Wolf each evening still tumbles Dusk down behind the western ridges.
These two accounts the Sun is the Head of Dancer, and the Evening Star is the eye of Dusk do not appear in any of the standard texts we consulted and thus expand the collection of known /Xam astro-narratives. By making the English translation of von Wielligh's Boesman-Stories, where they contain astronomical themes, readily available, we hope that others may find even more material useful for their work.
Source: Von Wielligh, G. R. (1921) Boesman-Stories. Deel 1: Mitologie en legendes. De Nationale Pers: Cape Town. (First edition in 1919)
In his opening comments to chapter 24, "The Animals ask for Food and Water", Von Wielligh notes:
[page 179] Some of the Spirit Tales of the Bushman are quite nicely set out; yet for children, who would listen all too keenly, parents don't find these as effective as ordinary stories; so we thought it best to suppress such stories, and where they do pop up, to make as little acquantaince with them as possible; yet this type of story is intimately connected to Bushman theology. The spiritual elements of these stories are suppressed read on without concern
[ page i ] "A few words before"
[ page iii ] As far as we can make out from the stories, there is amongst the Bushmen no definite, worked-out system of religion. It can be no different, because amongst them there is no recognized priestly caste. Each individual has his own understanding of the power of good and bad spirits. They believe that a dim light used to exist before the Sun came. The ancient race, or ancestors, could change themselves as they pleased. The Sun, Moon and Stars, together with the Mantis (a type of grasshopper), are honoured. The existence of figmentary Animals (Spirits) are acknowledged and honoured.
[ page 3 ] "No. 1 How Bushmen tell stories"
[ page 5 ] 'In those days the white people didn't live in this country yet. To tell you the truth, I don't know if there were white people yet; because today's Bushmen, their parents' parents' parents weren't there. The Sun, Moon and the Stars only came in those days. Now you must understand: it's not about the things of yesterday and the day before yesterday that I'm going to tell you; I'm talking about the dark days '
Here one of us interrupt him: 'But [outa], when did the Sun, the Moon and the Stars then come?'
Swiftly, the answer was there: 'Wait now, little master, I will soon enough tell you everything. Wait until I get there. You must take into account that I don't have as many tongues as teeth so as to tell everything at once you must give me time.'
[page 11 ] "No. 2 Night and Darkness and their three Daughters"
Remarks: From this Story it appears that the Bushmen were completely convinced that everything was born out of the Darkness: it was evening first and then morning. The [outa] who told us this Story always using the Bushman words 'Ga and 'Gagen in stead of Night and Darkness. And the Mantis he'd called 'Kaggen in Bushman.
In the olden days there was just twilight just like on a dark stormy day. It was cold, and the Sun, Moon and Stars didn't yet shine. Old 'Ga (Night) and his old wife 'Gagen (Darkness) lived in a stony cave. They had no sons, but only three daughters.
[ page 77 ] The large Watersnake carries a beautiful shiny gemstone on her head. At a great distance, the gleam of this gemstone can be seen, and it shimmers with exceptional light rays that far exceeds the light of the Moon; because it can clearly be seen at noon on the brightest sunshiny day.
[ page 87 ] Remarks: This Story is told in different ways: what follows is as recounted by the best storyteller.
Dancer is the Fire Man, or the Fire Maker. Once he used to walk about as a human, from his head light and heat radiated. He is the one who put fire in stones, in the wood and in the clouds. Where he walks or goes, there is always light and heat; that is why he always had a large following around him. The hunters in his vicinity could see where the Game was, and those in search of veld foods could find it easily by the light of Dancer's head.
But sometimes Dancer is lazy to walk and just calmly goes and sits. If the hunters beg him to just walk further, so that they can see the Game, then he sits and mocks them, asking them why they don't go and make their own light. He also had a habit of taking the shot Game from the hunters.
This angered the hunters; because the women are dissatisfied if their husbands come home without food, and when they have nothing to give their hungry children, crying for food; so the women suggested to their husbands [page 88] they should kill Dancer and then carry his head around on a long stick, so that the people can see.
One hunter, agreeing with the women's talk, said: 'Good, let's shoot Dancer with poisoned arrows so his head can be carried around on a long stick, so that we can get warmth and light.'
A second hunter remarked: 'Yes, this may be fine, but who of us has eyes tough enough to endure that light, and whose hands are tough enough to cut off that hot head? Speak up, let me hear!'
A third asked: 'And where do we get a stick that won't burn from the heat?'
The fourth one remarked: 'Good grief, you're bad at making plans! I'll tell you what we must do: We wait until Dancer walks through the water something he does often then we get at him with the poisoned arrows; when he falls in the water, then his light and heat are gone.'
To this a fifth replies and says: 'You think that you're very clever, but actually you're very stupid. Tell me, how does it help us if Dancer's light and warmth are extinguished? Then we're back to sitting in the same old darkness and cold.'
Then everyone called out together: 'That's nothing! That's nothing! Then for once he's gone from us, to not bother us further and mock us.'
Lion, Tiger, Wolf, Jackal, Cat and others intimated they want nothing to do with the murder; because they can see well enough in the dark. They were also people of the ancient race.
[page 91] But the other speakers stick to their plan: they watch Dancer, and just as he walked through the water, they all shot simultaneously; the arrows hit him, he fell forward into the water, and out goes the light and gone is the heat.
They run up, quickly cut off Dancer's head underwater, and then drag his body out and put his head down on the embankment, to see what happens to it.
But Dancer's head and body wouldn't die: the head's eyes look about and turn from side to side, and the body stood up and walked about headless.
The head can see and talk, but can't bestir itself, while the body can walk about, but can't see, hear, smell or talk. The head calls to the body, but the body doesn't hear; the body in turn searches for the head, but can't find it; so instead of walking closer to the head, he goes further and further away.
The murderers of Dancer then walked away.
But a woman [Afrikaans: meid] sent her children to throw the head of Dancer into the sky, so that light and warmth would come. She warned her children to be careful that the body, which was walking about, doesn't get hold of them, or it will murder them.
The children then cautiously walked there. The head was beginning to dry and give light, and it was so hot when the children touched it that they abruptly threw it up into the sky.
When the mothers saw this, they called out: 'Wind, Wind, come and take the head high up into the blue sky that we can have light [page 92] and warmth!' Then a strong whirlwind came up and carried the head up to above the clouds and left it there.
The head of Dancer, Fire Man, then became the Sun.
Then all the people cheered, now that there was light and warmth over the entire Earth. Now they had enough light and didn't have to freeze from the cold. They call out: 'Oh Sun, stay there and give us light and heat all day! For that, well will thank and praise you all day. Great is the Sun, that can see all the people simultaneously. Who now does mischief, who now steals, who now murders, will be seen. And the Sun will incinerate him with his heat, so that the crook will not dwell amongst us anymore.'
The head of Fire Man is satisfied to stay up there in the sky; but he still does search incessantly for his body. In the mornings he starts searching at the mountains in the east. He climbs searching higher and higher in the sky, and when he's climbed high enough, he descends still searching downward, downward, downward until he comes to the mountains at the western side, and then dives, so he can search there in the deep waters of the Ocean.
He rummages through all the places on land and under water to look for his body, but he doesn't find it, because the body has been emaciated and become so stunted that is has now assumed the form of a Crab. And now the body walks, all the while without a head, up and down, next to the water's edge to search for the head.
[page 93] When the Sun goes away, he ensures that the Earth is pitch, pitch black; because in those days there wasn't yet Moon or Stars to shine at night.
So it was that the people in those days did no mischief. Because in the day it is lit, then everyone sees well; so the mischievous had no chance. At night, on the other hand, it is pitch-dark, then nobody can see to go about causing mischief thus one would just stay where you are. During the day the people hunted and went searching for food; at night they went to sleep and rested; and there was no vagrancy in the dark.
Even the wild creatures have to stay home at night and look for their food during the day. This was a time of peace and contentment over the entire Earth.
[page 97] "No 13. The Moon is the Shoe of the Mantis"
Remark: Also this story is told in many ways, but we concern ourselves only with the best storytellers, who include more or less everything in this tale. Here we are told that it is because of the Rabbit that Death came into the world before that time, the perished or murdered always rose up and lived again.
The Mantis made for himself a pair of neat shoes, with which he was very pleased. Yet, one of the shoes the right one was hard and it pinched him painfully on his right foot; so he said to his daughter, the Hammer-head (bird) to go and put the shoe in the water to soften.
About this the large Watersnake was very upset, because the Mantis dared to put his dirty shoe next to the water. The Watersnake made the water very cold overnight, so that the entire dam was iced over rock-solid the next morning. The shoe was set within a piece of ice.
That morning, the Mantis sent his daughter, the Hammer-head, to fetch the shoe. She brought it with the large piece of shiny ice attached. He got so annoyed about it that he threw the shoe away up into the sky.
The Hammer-head, who knew the Wind Bird well, called out: 'Wind Bird, Wind Bird, take the shoe up, up, up in the sky, that we may have light at night also!'
[page 98] Then a whirlwind came up which brought the shoe up into the sky, and left it there.
The shoe with the piece of ice then became the Moon.
The Moon with the shiny piece of ice attached began to shine at night. The people of the ancient race then saw the Moon for the first time. They covered their faces with their hands and praised and honoured the Moon. From then on they had light at night and didn't have to wander about in the dark. They could go and hunt Porcupines and ambush Game at the waters and see to shoot them.
This did not suit the Sun; because he wanted to shine alone in the sky. He picked a quarrel with the Moon. The Sun is hot; because he is the head of Dancer, the Fire Man. The Moon is cold; because he is the hardened Waters. So the Sun tries to radiate lots of heat to melt the Moon's ice. The ice melts, melts, melts until only the sole of the shoe of the Mantis remains.
Then all the people cried, now that the Moon is dead. The large Watersnake, who tends the waters of the fountains, heard the crying and caused a fountain in the Moon to continually make water in the shoe, so that the water can become ice.
The water in the shoe grows continually until the entire shoe was again filled with water; the water becomes ice, and the Moon again shines with full force.
The Sun again spits his hot arrows upon the Moon, so that the Moon becomes smaller and smaller. The melted [page 99] ice then became the night-dew, or moon-water, and the pieces of ice became light snow and the frost that falls at night.
When the Bushman see the New Moon again, they again covered their eyes with both hands and call out: 'Oh Moon, we thought you were totally dead; but now we see that you are returned to us alive. Now we know that the Sun will never slay you. You will die, but will always come alive again. Make us just like you, so that when we grow old, we again become young and don't die.'
The Moon replies: 'You will grow old and always become young again. Thus you will never die. You will, when you are old, just sleep, and from that sleep you will soon arise, youthful. You will hunt again, you will eat and drink again, your women and children will be with you again; because they too will not die.'
So the people of that time never died.
But how, then, did Death come about?
One evening while the Moon was shining pleasantly, he heard a young man crying inconsolably. He asked the young man why he was crying bitterly and sorrowfully.
The young man answered: 'My mother is dead, and I will never see her again.'
With deep empathy the Moon said: 'Be comforted, my boy. Your mother will return to you, alive. She is just sleeping for a while, but isn't dead.'
The boy argued and replied: 'My mother is really dead, the Wind has left her nostrils, and the Fire is gone [page 100] from her body, so she does not breathe anymore and she is stiff and cold.'
The Moon comforted him again and said: 'Look at me; each month I die and soon come to life again, and so it will go with all the people: they will just sleep a while and awake again.'
But the boy then really started to argue with the Moon which made the Moon angry. He struck the boy with his fist a blow on his upper lip so that the lip split in two, and so the young man changed on the spot into a Hare, that, bent, jumps about at night and in the moonlight over the fields [Afrikaans: kweekplate, lit. 'cultivating plains'].
The the Moon said: 'Because of you I will curse all the people. Henceforth they will die and never return alive. But if they do not argue with me, and not, as you did, make me out as a liar, then I will again one day take pity on all the people and make them rise from their graves.'
So Death came into the world by a Hare's argumentativeness.
[page 103] "No 14. The Stars are Coals and Ash"
Remark: In this story we are told where the stars come from, and how Evil on Earth spread.
The Moon arose out of the right shoe of the Mantis,'Kaggen. The Mantis made a second shoe in its stead. Though, the Moon didn't like it at all that 'Kaggen tramped his buddies, the shoes, when he walked. So the Moon let moonwater fall, that the shoes may constantly be wet, so that 'Kagen can't put them on.
The Mantis then called his other daughter, who later became the Owl, and he told her to place the wet shoes next to the Fire to dry.
The Sun wasn't overjoyed about this, that 'Kaggen dared put his dirty shoes next to the Fire. So he made the Fire flame up fiercely, so that the shoes would burn. When the Mantis sent for his shoes, they were burnt, and he scolded the Owl severely.
The Owl was annoyed and she took the coals and threw them up in the air and called out: 'Come on, coals, become Stars that we may have light at night while the Moon and Sun sleep!' And to the glowing Ash she said: 'Come on, Ash, become the Milky Way to help the Stars give light. Come give light, that the people may see at night and don't need to sit at home.'
[page 104] Then a big whirlwind arose again and took the coals and ash far above the clouds: the glittering coals then became the twinkling Stars, and the glowing ash became the Milky Way, that stands like an illuminated arch over the Earth. Then there was enough light to walk about at night.
When the Sun rose the next day behind the mountains, he saw the Owl sitting and he asked her: 'Who threw the sky full of coals and ash?'
The Owl answered: 'Me; because at night its so dark that nobody could see to walk about.'
The Sun replied: 'Do you know that you've done a great evil? Now people will walk around at night to do evil. I made the nights so dark that people couldn't see their hands before their eyes, and so they had to stay at home and sleep the day is surely long enough for hunting and walking around, for talking, and for having fun; but now you will see that the door has been opened for doing wicked things. I will try hard to get the Moon out of the sky, so that there is no moon-shine. In the day, I will brush the Stars away infront of me. But what about you, my sister? Henceforth you will have to fly about at night by starlight; because should I see you in the day, I will burn you to ashes, just like I did with the shoes. Everyone who sees you, will mock you because of that stupid deed. Now then, get out of my sight and go haunt the night! And you will see that the Stars give you pitifully little light just enough for the evil-doers to make mischief. The Stars are too distant to give you warmth; thus you will sit at night and shiver and shake.'
[page 105] The Owl then flew away to go and hide herself; because while flying about during the day, she is mocked.
And now she sits and ponders over what she did if it was right or wrong. As she sits, she calls out 'Ho, hoa,' which in the Bushman language means 'lift up, lifted up'. So she is asking herself if she did wrong by throwing or lifting up the coals and ash into the sky.
The Sun blinded the Owl by day; so from that day on she never saw her brother, the Sun, again. She now takes delight in the Stars and Milky Way, or Heavenly Road, that she has made.
So it came to pass, just as the Sun predicted; henceforth the Lion, Tiger, Wolf, Jackal and Porcupine again went about at night to murder and rob. Henceforth the mischief-makers multiplied; because they now had sufficient light to see at night, while others can't recognise them from afar.
[page 109] "No 15. The Hammerhead Bird and the Frogs"
Remark: This Story gives us something about the superstitions of Bushmen and tells how the Hammerhead Bird can see everything in images on the water. It also gives us the origins of Flowers and Frogs that grow and live in the water.
[The Hammerhead Bird] is on good terms with the Waters, that show to her views of everything that happens and still will happen. All that the Hammerhead has to do it just to look in the Waters and then she sees everything therein. During the day the Sun, Sky, Trees, Animals and everything roundabout, reflects in it. Colour for colour is visible in it. During the night we can see the Moon, Stars, Milky Way and all the other stuff in it
[page 115] "No 16. The Owl and the Mice"
Remark: In this Story we find further tales of Bushman superstitions and also of Resurrection.
The Owl is also a Bird of great significance. Just like the Hammerhead Bird he can see all the little things that happen and will still happen. The difference is just this: the Hammerhead sees things happening in the day in the Waters, and the Owl sees things at night in the Moon and Stars. The Owl is after all the Bird that made the Stars and the Heavenly Road, by throwing coals and ash up into the sky. Now those Stars and Milky Way tell her everything that will happen. Each person has his own Star. When a star shines particularly brightly, or flashes past, or gets a tail, then the Owl already knows exactly whose Star it is, and where he must go and deliver the tiding or message. Us humans also look at the Stars. And what do we understand of it? But the Owl understands all. She notices if the Star blinks, becomes red, white or blue, if the Star has a tail, or cometary tail [Afrikaans: roei], and then in which direction the Star shoots, and in which direction the Star's tail point.
[page 116] The stars also speak to her through messages sent via the Fire Flies. To this all the Owl pays attention. Therefore those who are clever and ingenious listen to the Owl; because she does not lie: she always tells the truth. The Moon also tells many things to the Owl; because the Moon can see far across the world. The Owl understands the Moon well: she looks at what direction the Moon's horns are turned. The Spirits ride across the sky in the hollow bowl; but as the hollow fills, the [page 117] Spirits leave, and when it is Full Moon then there is no place for them anymore its disembarkment time.
Now, the Owl isn't as secretive as she appears. She comes to tell this to us; but we must just listen carefully.
[The story of the origin of Mice tells of two people who were torn to tatters by Lion, without spilling blood, or eating a piece of the meat]
[page 118] In the night the moon-water fell on the pieces of meat, life came into it, and each piece became a Mouse.
[page 145] "No 20. The Bullying Ways of the Tortoise"
Remark: In this Story we are certainly dealing with an Evil Spirit, who takes pleasure in torturing people.
[Two men have their hands bitten by the Tortoise so badly that all the flesh is stripped off, leaving just sinew and bone.]
[page 146] 'When they got home, the Moon was still young. In the mornings, after getting up, they take some of the [page 147] dew, which is the water of the Moon, and wash their hands with it. And as the Moon grows, so too grows the flesh over their exposed sinews and bones. When the Moon was full, their hands were perfectly healthy and just like before.'
[page 151] "No 21. The Morning Star is the Heart of the Dawn"
Remarks: This Story we heard at Katkop, Limoenkop and at Klipfontein, next to the Hantam River (district Calvinia), and from these it is compiled. To the Bushman, Wolf is a clever man, and here is told why he has an emaciated hindleg; also why the Lynx has tufts of hair at the tips of his ears and only eats meat.
The Sun used to be one of the ancient race, and in the light of his shiny face would walk about, hunt and have fun. But the other ancient ones got angry at him and then murdered him, and their children threw the Sun's brilliant head into the sky, from where it's been shining every day.
The oldest son of the old man was very fond of his father, and became the messenger of his father and performed various tasks for the old man. The name of the son was Dawn. [Afrikaans: Daeraad = red dawn].
His first task early in the morning was to dowse the lights of the Stars, and then to hang out the blue sky, behind which the Stars are hidden. Then the Sun gets out of his bed, and the son's work for the day is done. He then goes to hunt, dig for food or chat.
When his old father, the Sun, was done with his daily task, and fatigued, goes and sits in the evening in the west on the mountain ridges, [page 152] then the second son, named Dusk, comes over to his father, the Sun, to put him in bed. Then Dusk also is free to do what he wants. But never did Dawn and Dusk though they were brothers like each other; so they went to live far from each other.
One day, after getting up early and taking food and water to the bed of his old father, the Sun (as is his habit), Dawn went walking and saw a pretty young girl of the ancient race. Wolf's daughter was also there. Dawn wanted to get married to the pretty young girl; but Wolf's daughter was infatuated with the handsome Dawn; she became jealous.
[Dawn's wife is tricked by Wolf's daughter into eating ant-eggs magicked by the addition of sweat. This transforms her into a wild Lioness. The spell is eventually broken, although she is now the Lynx.]
[page 159] She could now again look after her own child; and that daughter had children, and the children also had children. Everyone was turned into Stars; and those Stars still follow behind their parents and are now the brightest Stars in the heavens.
When Wolf's daughter returned home, she spoke of all the harm they did to her, also that Dawn wanted to kill her with the spear. Wolf's blood boiled with spite. On the spot he decided to kill Dawn.
He walked at night to where Dawn was sleeping, and tackled him. He murdered him and started to skin him. But just as he cut open the body, the sparkling Heart flew out and went up into the sky, and from then on was the Morning Star.
It was then that he came to fetch his wife, children and grandchildren, to live with him at the sunrise side of the sky. Though the big bright Morning Star, we must understand, is the Heart of the Dawn.
[page 161] "No 22. The Evening Star is the Eye of the Dusk"
Remarks: This Story we heard once, on the farm Zovoorbij, next to teh Hantam River, district Calvinia. One evening in 1881 there was a Busman dance party, when one of the old guys [Afrikaans: outas] showed his talent for story telling.
The two sons of the Sun, Dawn and Dusk, haven't gotten along since their youth. As children they always argued and wouldn't sleep together. Dawn's work was from daybreak to sunrise, and his eyes weren't very good thus he usually went to sleep early. If he was to stay up into the night, then a large fire was needed, to make light for him.
But Dusk had two big eyes, that in the dark shone like two flames. His work began at sunset and lasted until dark; then he gallivants at night, or goes hunting or looking for food. Since he didn't like his brother, Dawn, one bit, his first task was to put his father, the Sun, to bed, and then to give food and water to his exhausted father. Then he goes to pull down the blue sky, which Dawn hangs out in the morning, so that the Stars can again have the opportunity to twinkle and shine in the heavens.
[page 164] One morning, as Dusk was returning homeward from the hunt, and Dawn was preparing to make light thus just at the beginning of daybreak the two brothers met up and right away began to argue. They tussled and punched. Dawn grabbed sand and dust and though he wanted to throw it into the big eyes of Dusk, it was a miss. Then Dawn called out: 'This sand and dust will become mosquitos and midges, to bite you in the evening and at night.' Dusk, not to be outdone, grabbed water, to throw into the narrow eyes of Dawn this too was miss. So he called out: 'It will become Dew, to wet your path in the morning!'
Because Dawn didn't have such good eyes, everyone who goes about in the morning twilight also can't see so well, while, on the other hand, Dusk had large eyes; thus everyone can see better at night than in the grey pre-day.
[The tale continues with Wolf's daughter, shunned by Dawn, who now falls for the other brother. But Dusk is already married and has a child. So Wolf's daughter poisons their food and steals the child. Dusk's wife is griefstricken and turns into an owl, mourning in the night for her lost child. Wolf's daughter, returning the child to Dusk, gets married to him. But Hammerhead Bird reveals the mischief to Dusk, who in his anger decides to kill his new wife. He arrives at Wolf's house (where the daughter is hiding) but Wolf calms him, telling him that his wife and child are waiting for him at a nearby cliff.]
[page 167] The two walked together, and when they stood on the edge of the precipice, Wolf pushed Dusk down the cliff. Dusk fell to the bottom. One of his bright eyes burst there, but the other flew up into the sky and became the large shiny Evening Star.
The child mourned and mourned over his parents and was not satisfied to be with Wolf's daughter. He wasted away until he became a Porcupine, who comes out when it becomes evening twilight and is sure to be home in the rock crevice before daybreak. Owl still sits and laments for her child, while Wolf each evening still tumbles Dusk down behind the western ridges.
[page 183] Yet at that time, there was no water. This the large Snake had promised to take care of. Thus the Animals asked the large Snake why he was delaying making water.
Straight away he crept under the ground and make the underground waters that stand or bubble out of springs.
The grass and trees next to the springs grew lush and rank; but the plants on the mountains and plains wither, wilt and dry up. Then those plants cried and begged the Stars and Moon to please pour some of their water over the trees, creepers and grass at night.
But the Moon and Stars replied that they had just enough water for their own use and none to spare.
Which made the plants that grow on the mountains and plains cry. The plants at the water sources also cried over the lot of their brothers and sisters. This mourning was too much for the Moon and Stars, who also started crying along with the thirsty; and their tears fall at night in drops on the leaves of the plants, so that in the morning they are wet with dew.
The situation now is: the Animals have enough drinking water at the springs, made by the large Watersnake; the plants that grow at the springs also have ample water, but the mountains and plains are dry and barren. Added to this: the Sun's rays are warm and thirsty, and the wind is dry and also thirsty; thus the sun's rays and the wind lap up the dew-tears early in the morning.
[page 187] "No. 25. Bushman prayers"
Remarks: The Bushmen are thoroughly aware that higher Powers have been placed over Man and Beast. Where these Powers are to be found is not so well established. But the Sun, the Moon, the Stars and imaginary Spirits or Animals, in their view, possess such power. That is why the Bushmen turn, for help and guidance, to those heavenly spheres or creations of their own thoughts.
[page 187] The winter nights are cold and long. As a faithful father the Bushman must provide meat for his wife and children and, during the scarcity of Game, has to be up early morning to go and hunt; the woman and her children sometimes go, unprotected, looking for veld-food like fruit, roots and edible bulbs. That's why they are pleased when the Sun comes out to warm them, so that their daily burdens will not become too heavy.
When the Sun comes out after a bitterly cold and hungry night, then the father or mother turns their faces, hands infront of the eyes, towards the rising Sun; and sometimes they tell their [page 188] children to do it also. Then he or she calls out: 'O Sun, I am so glad to see you perfectly returned again, arising to take on your work, without tiring. Make me just as strong as you that, when hunting Game, I don't tire, get hungry or thirsty. '
Then they briskly go hunting. If the Sun becomes too hot during the day, then the beg for relief and coolness.
If the Sun goes down, and a cold and hungry night lies ahead, then they again turn their faces, with hands before their eyes, to the disappearing Sun and beg: 'Again a day is past, and we are still hungry
When it becomes New Moon, then the Bushmen repeatedly look to the spot where they expect the young Moon. And [page 189] when one sees the re-newed Moon the Moon that was dead and became alive again and one points out the sliver of [Afrikaans: strepie, dim. of streep, 'a line'] Moon, then they again look at the place he is pointing. And when they see the Moon, then they close their eyes with their hands and call out: 'Its New Moon! Again New Moon! Take my old face away from me. Give me your new face. Take my face away, which isn't so joyful and is always sad, and give me your happy and joyful face, that dies and comes to life again, that diminshes and laughs again.
When it's Full Moon, then prayers of the same nature are recited but added to it is: 'The Sun shoots quickly with his arrows. He hits with his arrows, shooting off piece by piece of the Full Moon. But be courageous! You are immortal!'
The stars also earn the religious attentions of the Bushmen specially the Planets and the big shiny Stars. In the summer there is a type of Grasshopper-Bug that screeches 'Tsau, tsau!' at night; yet the [page 190] don't want to hear of it that it's a big Bug that is going 'Tsau, tsau!', and say that it is the Stars. They claim that the Stars curse the bright eyes of Lions, Tigers, Wolves, Jackals, Cats and Springboks, because they also shine in the dark. Thus they say that it's the Stars that call 'Tsau, tsau!' on summer nights they curse those who have bright eyes.
If a big bright Star makes its appearance at night above the mountain ridges, then in great reverance it is called out: 'Take my heart, which has shortcomings. Give me your heart, which beats with abundance. Because I don't believe you can have shortcomings. Everything up there with you is rolling and shiny in abundance '
In this way each of their honoured Beings are taken in turn. Each is addressed to their nature.
[page 191] To the imaginary Watersnake they call out: 'Your breast gurgles, because it is full of water. The Stars love you therefore the gemstone gleams on your head.
nothing more to see. please move along.


text:
Why not just close Gitmo now and let the detainees go? "Too complicated," say Obama and Obama's torturers (they're his torturers now!).
Archive for the 'Guantanamo' Category
Cartoon for February 9, 2009February 9, 2009
THIS WEEK'S SYNDICATED COLUMN: Will Obama Wuss Out on Gitmo?November 12, 2008
Prez-Elect May Ratify Bush's Torture Trials
The accused terrorist appeared before the military tribunal, charged with conspiracy in a plot against national security. Because state secrets were involved and because harsh interrogation techniques were used to extract information, the defendant was deprived of a look at the evidence. Also denied were the defendant's traditional right to a lawyer, to face accusers, even to see the judges–they wore hoods.
No, this wasn't at Gitmo. This "court" met in the military dictatorship of Peru. And the defendant wasn't an Afghan or Arab turned over to U.S. troops by a warlord out for the $10,000 bounty. She was Lori Berenson, a 31-year-old American citizen accused of aiding the Túpac Amaru Revolutionary Movement, members of whom she befriended.
The Washington Post and New York Times condemned Berenson's 1996 trial, calling the tribunal and the brutal circumstances of her detention a mockery of justice. In the U.S., most American liberals agreed.
Now President-Elect Barack Obama–a self-identified liberal Democrat who campaigned as a champion of human rights–wants to use the same kind of kangaroo court to try victims of the notorious Guantánamo torture camp.
Obama's advisers confirm that the incoming president wants to close Gitmo. It's long overdue. But they deny that they've made a final decision about what to do with the detainees. (There's no word about the secret prisons, Navy prison ships or CIA black sites where thousands of Muslim men kidnapped by the U.S. have been "disappeared.") However, there's troubling evidence that Obama is reneging on his promise to do the right thing by the long-suffering detainees.
Insiders say that Obama is leaning toward the creation of "national security courts"–secret military tribunals where detainees would be tried without basic due process rights. They wouldn't get the right to review evidence against them, cross-examine prosecution witnesses, or—obviously, at this point–a speedy trial. Moreover, Obama hasn't ruled out subjecting future detainees to "preventive detention"–i.e., holding them without charges, like Bush.
"The legal team advising Mr. Obama on Guantánamo believes that prosecuting the 'high value' terror suspects such as [Khalid Sheikh] Mohammed–a group of about 30–will require the creation of a court designed to handle highly sensitive intelligence material, a cross between a military tribunal and a federal court," reports The Times of London.
"What a national security court is designed for is to hide the use of torture and allow the consideration of evidence that is not reliable," says J. Wells Dixon of the Center for Constitutional Rights, which represents some of the detainees.
Of the 255 prisoners, about 60 have been cleared for release but remain at the base because their home countries, including China, view them as political enemies and might execute them. Of the remaining 195, the Pentagon admits that there's no evidence whatsoever against 135. Obama's team doesn't know what to do about these 195 misérables.
That leaves 80 men, including the 30 "stars" like KSM, the alleged 9/11 mastermind. "If Obama wanted to move as swiftly as possible to close Guantánamo," reports Time magazine, "the strongest step he could take as president would be to simply shutter the camp by executive order and transfer all of the detainees to prison sites inside the U.S. At that point, in theory, the detainees would face four possible fates: being charged with offenses that could be tried in federal courts; court-marshaled according to the Uniform Code of Military Justice; turned over to the governments of their native countries; or simply released."
Courts-marshal of the detainees, who were dumped in Gitmo's supposed legal limbo specifically in order to deny them POW status and Geneva Conventions rights, would be bizarre. As discussed above, many can't go home. Moreover most, if not all, of the high-profile detainees were tortured–a fact that would almost certainly destroy any chance of obtaining a conviction in a fair trial.
You can't hold a fair trial after holding a suspect for years while depriving them of access to a lawyer, family visits, or the ability to prepare for trial. The Founding Fathers understood this fact, which is why they ratified the Sixth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. "In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial," reads the Sixth. A secret "national security court" held six years after "arrest" doesn't come anywhere close to satisfying this requirement.
Municipalities' interpretation of the Sixth Amendment varies. In New York City, cops have to bring you before a judge for arraignment within 24 hours of your arrest, or let you go. Other places allow a few days. Six years? Not even in Texas.
There's only one valid legal and moral option for rectifying the human rights nightmare at Guantánamo. On January 20, President Obama should fly to Gitmo, address its inmates and personally apologize to each one for the abuses and indignities they have suffered, and which have brought shame and contempt upon the United States.
The detainees should be set free. They should be paid enough money that they should never want for anything again, then offered the right to fly home or, if they prefer, anywhere in the U.S. Finally, Obama should walk out the camp's main entrance to Palma Point, where he should sign over control of the base to Cuban President Raoul Castro.
THIS WEEK'S COLUMN: President Obama—Shut Down This Camp!October 23, 2008
Next President Should Shut Gitmo on January 20
* Camp has become its own raison d'être
* Hundreds locked in legal limbo
* Jerking around detainees and their families
* Gesture would resonate around the globe
François Mitterand brought civilization to France. One of his first acts as president was to end the death penalty. A guy named Philippe Maurice had his date with the guillotine cancelled.
Amazing but true: the country that gave the world "The Rights of Man" was still lopping off heads in 1981.
Fortunately, things change. Other countries followed France's lead. Today, just a quarter century later, fewer than a quarter of the world's nations still carry out capital punishment. Nations that do can't get into the European Union.
Our next president–probably Barack Obama–has a similar opportunity to create a transformative moment toward a fully civilized United States. I'm not talking about abolishing executions, though that is long overdue. President Obama (or McCain) should close Guantánamo.
Not after appointing a commission to look into it. Not after finding a nation willing to take the detainees. Like Mitterand, he should do it immediately.
After years of denial, Bush Administration officials now admit that hundreds of men and children–as young as 13!–have been tortured and otherwise abused at Gitmo. Inmates were penned up in dog cages, denied exercise, and waterboarded.
One guard vehemently denied urinating on a prisoner's Koran. His defense? "The guard had left his observation area post and went outside to urinate," according to a Defense Department report. "He urinated near an air vent and the wind blew his urine through the vent into the [prisoner's cell]." You see, he wasn't trying to pee on the Koran. He was trying to pee on the prisoner. His urine stream had inadvertently splashed off the man onto the book.
Not surprisingly, a lot of the inmates–who'd been sold to U.S. troops by Afghan warlords, locked up for years without being accused of anything, denied access to an attorney or their families, denied most of all of hope–freaked out. Some hung themselves. Others went on hunger strike. The military's response? Suicide, they said, was a diabolically clever act of "asymmetrical warfare." They strapped the hunger strikers into special chairs, pried open their jaws and jammed feeding tubes down their throats so roughly that they vomited blood.
Most of this kind of fun, the government claims, no longer happens at Club Gitmo. But there's no way to verify that. Reporters and human rights groups are denied access to the facility and its misérables. Wherever there's a secret, there's something to hide. Like the detainees, Guantánamo should be presumed guilty until it is proven innocent.
Life at Guantánamo has entered a weird second phase. Originally dedicated to the forceful extraction of information about impending terrorist attacks, prisoner interrogations now torture inmates in order to obtain information on activities within the camp itself. "The primary focus is the safety of the detainees as well as the detainee guard force, and that's why we have this intelligence activity," said the camp's commander, Navy Rear Admiral David Thomas in August. In other words, the circumstances of the prisoners' incarceration necessitate further incarceration.
Kafka would have loved it. We keep them in Gitmo, not to keep us safe, but to keep Gitmo itself safe.
As anyone who has spent time behind bars will attest, uncertainty is worse than abuse. Bruises heal; urine dries. Not knowing whether you will ever again be free to walk down a street, sit in a café or hug your children is constant torment. You deaden your emotions in order to survive, wondering whether you'll ever be able to get them back.
Perhaps the most sinister aspect of America's premier gulag, however, is its use and abuse of military and civilian courts to jerk around inmates and their families. The quasi-judicial system set up to process the detainees is itself a paragon of psychological torture characterized by sadistic glee and aggressive indifference.
There is, of course, the case of the Uyghurs, Muslims who live in China's far west Xinjiang province, which is part of Central Asia. I was one of the first American commentators to champion their cause. Guantánamo's Uyghurs are members of the East Turkestan Independence Movement (ETIM), encouraged by U.S.-financed Radio Free Asia to rise up against Chinese occupation. They obtained weapons training at camps in neighboring Afghanistan. After 9/11, however, China threatened to use its U.N. security council veto to stop the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan unless the Bush Administration threw its pet Uyghurs under the bus.
The U.S. promptly reversed its policy, not only declaring ETIM an officially-designated "terrorist organization," but agreeing to dispatch its leaders to Guantánamo. Bush even invited officers from China's Ministry of State Security to interrogate the Uyghurs at Gitmo, softening them up with torture before the Chinese arrived.
The Uyghur prisoners cooperated with interrogators. The Pentagon concluded they weren't anti-American. "[The Uyghurs] were transferred to Guantánamo more than six years ago and were cleared for release in 2004," according to Newsweek.
Proven innocent, the U.S. has kept them at Gitmo for the last four years. They can't go back to China. Why? "The U.S. government credibly feared they would be tortured." Well, they would know.
Except for Albania, which agreed to take five Uyghurs in 2006, other countries don't want to validate Guantánamo by accepting those released through its illegal military tribunal system. "The Bush Administration has conceded that none of the Uyghurs is an enemy combatant," reports Newsweek. A federal judge ruled that 17 Uyghur detainees be freed from Gitmo and brought to the United States. And that should have been that.
But when it comes to Gitmo, that is never that.
Government lawyers persuaded an appeals court to stay the ruling, arguing that the 17 Uyghurs are dangerous. Get this–they're dangerous to America because, the Justice Department argues in court documents, the Uyghurs "were detained for six years by the country [the U.S.] to which the district court has ordered them brought." They may not have hated America before–but they might now.
This week the Pentagon decided not to pursue charges against five other Gitmo prisoners. Apparently government prosecutors were afraid that the trials–even those conducted by the military's kangaroo courts–would publicize how people are treated at America's Devil's Island. "They have been cornered into doing this to avoid admitting torture," said Claire Algar, executive director of the legal group Reprieve.
So the lucky five go free, right? Wrong. "There are no plans to free any of the men, and the military said it could reinstate charges later," writes the Associated Press.
Bush, it came out recently, "never considered proposals" to close Gitmo. Both Obama and McCain say they want to shut it down, but neither has said when. Their reticence stems from the mentality expressed by a Bush Administration official: "The new president will gnash his teeth and beat his head against the wall when he realizes how complicated it is to close Guantánamo."
There is nothing complicated about it. Gitmo is useless. It's evil. It–and the secret detentions at Bagram, Abu Ghraib and elsewhere–have destroyed America's reputation far too long.
August 6, 2008
Restoring Human Rights Must Be Next Prez's Top Priority
Both major presidential candidates have promised to roll back the Bush Administration's torture archipelago. Both say they'll close Guantánamo, abolish legalized torture, and respect the Geneva Conventions on the treatment of prisoners of war. Obama also pledges to eliminate "extraordinary rendition," in which the CIA kidnaps people and flies them to other countries to be tortured, and says he will investigate Bush Administration officials for possible prosecution for war crimes.
If followed by other meaningful changes in behavior–withdrawing from Afghanistan and Iraq and foreswearing preemptive warfare–restoring the rule of law and respecting the rights of "enemy combatants" can start America's long, slow climb back to moral parity in the community of nations. But there are worrisome signs that Barack Obama and John McCain's commitment to moral renewal is less than rock-solid.
McCain, who claimed to have been tortured as a POW in North Vietnam, says a lot of the right things. "We do not torture people," he said in a 2007 Republican debate. "It's not about the terrorists; it's about us. It's about what kind of country we are." He used his Vietnam experience against fellow Republicans, bullying Congress into passing a law banning torture against detainees held by the military.
Bush signed McCain's bill in late 2005, saying it "is to make it clear to the world that this government does not torture and that we adhere to the international convention of torture, whether it be here at home or abroad."
Days later, however, Bush issued a secret "signing statement" declaring that he would ignore the Detainee Treatment Act. NYU law professor David Golove, an expert on executive power, said: "The signing statement is saying 'I will only comply with this law when I want to, and if something arises in the war on terrorism where I think it's important to torture or engage in cruel, inhuman, and degrading conduct, I have the authority to do so and nothing in this law is going to stop me."
McCain, who says as president he would veto a bill rather than issue a signing statement negating its contents, was no doubt angry about Bush's perfidy. But, fearful of alienating Bush and the GOP leadership as he geared up for his '08 presidential campaign, he remained silent.
In February of this year, McCain backtracked still further from his anti-torture position, voting against legislation that would have blocked the CIA from subjecting inmates in its secret prisons to waterboarding, hooding, putting duct tape across their eyes, stripping them naked, rape, beatings, burning, subjecting them to hypothermia, mock executions, and other "harsh interrogation techniques."
"The CIA should have the ability to use additional techniques," he argued. He refused to explain why the CIA ought to be allowed to torture while the DOD should adhere to international standards of civilized behavior.
The U.S. continues to torture.
Unlike McCain, Obama remains a critic of officially sanctioned torture. "We'll reject torture–without exception or equivocation," Obama says. He would also end "the practice of shipping away prisoners in the dead of night to be tortured in far-off countries, of detaining thousands without charge or trial, of maintaining a network of secret prisons to jail people beyond the reach of the law."
The trouble is, Obama isn't laying the groundwork for stopping torture or closing Guantánamo or other U.S. gulags in his stump speeches. He talks a lot about energy policy, healthcare, jobs and the economy–and withdrawing troops from Iraq so they join the war against Afghanistan instead. If he becomes president, people will expect him to do those things. Without a sustained focus on human rights issues, however, any moves he makes will seem to come out of the blue–and face stronger pushback from Republicans anxious to bash him as weak on national security.
Why doesn't Obama emphasize Bush's war crimes? Maybe he's trying to play the Great Uniter, or maybe he knows that many Americans don't give a rat's ass about the pain inflicted against people they'll never meet in places they've never heard of. Who knows? All we know for sure is that, day after day, Obama fails to talk about what is arguably the worst crime of the corrupt Bush Administration.
Of course, renouncing torture isn't enough. Those who authorized it must be held to account. However, it doesn't seem likely that they will.
Asked in April whether he would prosecute Bush Administration officials for authorizing torture, Obama delivered his now-familiar duck-and-cover: say the right thing, then weasel out of it. "If crimes have been committed, they should be investigated," he said.
But not for at least four years: "I would not want my first term consumed by what was perceived on the part of the Republicans as a partisan witch hunt, because I think we've got too many problems to solve."
Memo to Barack: This isn't about prosecuting Republicans. It's about prosecuting torturers.
"Prosecution of any officials, if it were to occur, would probably not occur during Obama's first term," Slate reports, citing Obama campaign insiders. "Instead, we may well see a Congressionally empowered commission that would seek testimony from witnesses in search of the truth about what occurred. Though some witnesses might be offered immunity in exchange for testimony, the question of whether anybody would be prosecuted would be deferred to a later date–meaning Obama's second term, if such is forthcoming."
First would come a South African-style "Truth and Reconciliation Commission," where the truth would come out. But the torturers would get off scot-free.
"The commission would focus strictly on detention, torture and extraordinary rendition, or the practice of spiriting detainees to a third country for abusive interrogations. The panel would focus strictly on these abuses, leaving out any other allegedly illegal activities during the Bush Administration, such as domestic spying," says Slate. Second–well, there might not be a second. Even if there is, shortsighted Americans' appetite for justice and accountability will probably have been diluted by the time 2013 rolls around.
Mainline media liberals, in conjunction with Obama supporters, are even going so far as to suggest that Bush issue his torturers with a blanket pardon in exchange for their testimony at Obama's toothless commission.
Regardless of who wins in November, we will get a president who's better on torture and other human rights issues than George W. Bush. At least their words sound nice. But real change and moral redemption will only begin if we–Democrats, Republicans and everyone else–demand the next president stands by his pretty promises.
Until they start taking taking torture, Gitmo and human rights seriously, neither Obama nor McCain should be able to appear in public without facing questions and heckling about these issues.
January 11, 2008
Cartoon for January 12
The CIA tortures, but as was the case for Nixon ordering goons to break into Democratic HQ, torture isn't the problem–it's all about the cover-up. In this case, the Justice Department is after the CIA, not for torture, but for destroying tapes of torture. America is weird.
Click on the cartoon to make it bigger.

subset: commoncrawl


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Hartsburg Prepares for Flood
HARTSBURG - Hartsburg will have a town meeting to discuss flood preparations Tuesday night at 7p.m. The town has already unloaded six truck loads of sand and has 25,000 empty sandbags ready to be packed at moment's notice.
Randy Jaeger, Fire Chief for the Southern Boone County Fire Protection District, said the town has had a plan of action and has been on "standby" since 2007. Jaeger said the town has a designated command center that can be mobilized within 15 minutes.
But that is little assurance to Jeanette Crawford, who owns a bed and breakfast in town. She said she remembers the flood of '93 clearly.
She said that year the water reached up to her lamp post, which is about six feet high. And even though the Fire Department said it's not expecting any water problems until next week, Crawford said it's already begun to affect her business.
Crawford, said people are calling in regularly asking if there is already flooding, and she had somebody call in yesterday, and cancel his MKT trail trip.
John Campbell, operations branch manager at SEMA, said at this point there's no way of predicting the severity of the flood. It depends on the amount of rainfall that Missouri and other northern states will get.
Hartsburg will develop a more concrete plan of action at Tuesday night's meeting.


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Listing courtesy of Windermere Real Estate Co.. Selling Office: Windermere Real Estate Midtown.
Majestic Sound and mountain views from this waterfront condo. This condo boasts an open living room with fireplace, dining area and slider to large sun filled deck. Two spacious bedrooms & full baths. Condo encompasses the entire floor of this 4 unit building. Fabulous Beach Drive location, close to Alki Beach, restaurants, & shopping. Exterior needs TLC but the condo unit is move-in ready. Don't miss out on the chance to take in the greatest sunsets in Seattle. No rental cap. Investor Special!


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A ribbed top with raw edges, a rounded neck and mid-length sleeves. And yaas, it's in a classic white shade and has a super-soft and stretchy feel. Let's step up those basics, shall we! In a size S the chest width is 84 cm and the length is 55 cm. The model is 176 cm and is wearing a size S.
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Polyester 65%, Viscose 35%
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$ 15.00 - $25.00 / Age All Ages
Additional Info:
Doors: 7 p.m. || Show: 8 p.m. || All Ages
$15: Advance GA || $18: Day of Show GA
$25: GA Balcony Seating || $2 Minor Fee at the Door
::: Jeff Austin Band :::
Mandolinist Jeff Austin is unstoppable. He is celebrated for his fleet fingers and penchant for improvisation on stage, but those qualities also speak volumes about how he chooses to live. Austin has cultivated his natural musical abilities and allowed himself to be driven by his boldest instincts. In this way, he has been able to build positive, exciting momentum around his lifes greatest passion.In 1998, while working at a bar called the Verve in Nederland, Colorado, Austin met Adam Aijala and Ben Kaufmann, with whom he and Dave Johnston would form the Yonder Mountain String Band.My time with Yonder has taught me what is possible, Austin says. It has shown me that if you work hard at it and you believe in it and theres a part of you thats meant to do it, it will happen. Its clichd, but its true.It is with this history at his back that Jeff Austin will step out into the spotlight as a solo act. My ideal sound is between Phish, My Morning Jacket, and Zac Brown Band. Austin plans to continue songwriting for his solo project but might be weaving in a bit of mainstream, in the style of his John Scott Sherrill/Shawn Camp co-write Fiddlin Around, featured on Dierks Bentleys 2010 bluegrass album Up on the Ridge. I love writing a three-minute song with a hook that would grab a five-hundred-pound marlin as much as I like writing something that goes, okay, after the bridge, its going to open up and just go wide.Indeed, wide is what Jeff Austin is all about. He wants new and different, complex and interesting. He wants everything the music world has to offer, and hes willing to work hard to get it.


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Proposed Rule Means Airlines Would Have To Be More Forthcoming With Fee Disclosures
Purchasing plane tickets can be a painstaking task. First, you comb through options to see what fits your schedule, then you search high and low for a price that meets your travel budget. But upon arriving at the airport you're faced with fee after fee and pretty soon, that travel budget goes out the window. Those days might be over, however, now that the U.S. Transportation Department has proposed a new rule that would require airlines to directly disclose basic service fees.
The newly proposed rule aims to make it easier for travelers to determine the true cost of a ticket, Reuters reports.
Under the proposed rule, U.S. airlines would be required to spell out the costs for extra charges, such as fees for checked bags, carry-on bags and advanced seat assignments, at all points of sale. Additionally, online sites that allow flight searches, such as Kayak, would also be required to provide more detailed information on ticket costs.
"Knowledge is power, and our latest proposal helps ensure consumers have clear and accurate information when choosing among air transportation options," Anthony Foxx, U.S. Transportation Secretary, says in a Transportation Department news release. "The proposal we're offering today will strengthen the consumer protections we have previously enacted and raise the bar for airlines and ticket agents when it comes to treating travelers fairly."
The proposed rule would also expand the number of carriers required to report information to the Department about on-time performance, oversales, and mishandled baggage rates. Currently, only carriers who account for at least 1% of domestic passenger revenue must provide reports. The new requirement would move the threshold to carriers that account for at least 0.5% of passenger revenue, which would include Spirit Airlines.
Data collected through the reports will be publicly available in the Air Travel Consumer Report.
The new rule also includes the following proposals:
- Require large travel agents to adopt minimum customer service standards such as responding promptly to customer complaints and providing an option to hold a reservation at the quoted fare without payment, or to cancel without penalty, for 24 hours if the reservation is made one week or more prior to a flight's departure date;
- Require carriers and ticket agents to disclose any code-share arrangements on initial itinerary displays on their websites;
- Prohibit unfair and deceptive practices such as preferentially ranking flights of certain carriers above others without disclosing the bias in any presentation of carrier schedules, fares, rules, or availability.
Wednesday's proposal builds upon rules created by the Department in 2009 and 2011. Those rules raised the penalties for long tarmac delays and required airlines to announce full fares, including taxes, in advertised ticket prices.
According to the Transportation Department, the previous rules have created a better, more fair treatment of airline passengers.
However, the airline industry and Congress recently began pushing the ironically named Transparent Airfares Act that would essentially allow airlines to advertise only a fraction of the price consumers actually pay.
The department will collect public comments on the proposed rule for the next 90 days.
U.S. government seeks greater disclosure of airline fees [Reuters]
U.S. Department of Transportation Proposes Additional Consumer Protections for Air Travelers [United States Department of Transportation]
Want more consumer news? Visit our parent organization, Consumer Reports, for the latest on scams, recalls, and other consumer issues.


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When Audrey Casella arrives for an unplanned stay at the grand Hotel Ruby, she's grateful for the detour. Just months after their mother's death, Audrey and her brother, Daniel, are on their way to live with their grandmother, dumped on the doorstep of a DNA-matched stranger because their father is drowning in his grief.
Audrey and her family only plan to stay the night, but life in the Ruby can be intoxicating, extending their stay as it provides endless distractions—including handsome guest Elias Lange, who sends Audrey's pulse racing. However, the hotel proves to be as strange as it is beautiful. Nightly fancy affairs in the ballroom are invitation only, and Audrey seems to be the one guest who doesn't have an invite. Instead, she joins the hotel staff on the rooftop, catching whispers about the hotel's dark past.
The more Audrey learns about the new people she's met, the more her curiosity grows. She's torn in different directions—the pull of her past with its overwhelming loss, the promise of a future that holds little joy, and an in-between life in a place that is so much more than it seems…
Welcome to the Ruby.
Suzanne Young is the New York Times bestselling author of The Program series. Originally from Utica, New York, Suzanne moved to Arizona to pursue her dream of not freezing to death. She is a novelist and an English teacher, but not always in that order. Suzanne is the author of The Program, The Treatment, The Remedy, The Epidemic, A Need So Beautiful, and Hotel Ruby. You can visit her online at Suzanne-Young.Blogspot.com.
This was one creepy thriller with twists and turns around every hotel corner. It really reminded me of the twilight zone (tower of terror) and that movie 1408. Haunting have been popping up everywhere in our day and age and this one will knock your socks off!
The only thing I didnt like was the ending. But it worked for this book. The MC got what she wanted and that is what counts. This one starts out with our MC Audrey Casella driving with her older brother and her dad. After the death of her mom her dad can't stand to look at them. So he is taking them to their grams. Well on the way they take a detour at this hotel and that is where the story really gets going.
With a haunting mystery story and the newest book boyfriend this one should not be missed. Elias Swoon!
Go Into This One Knowing
no cliffhanger, teens dealing with death
"All opinions are 100% honest and my own."
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Disclaimer: Thanks to Goodreads and Amazon for the book cover, about the book, and author information. If you can not see the link above you will need to turn off your spam blocker. Buying via these above links allows my site to get a % of the sale at no cost to you. This money gets used to buy items for giveaways.


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Vpuzzler.com offers content selling with 2 types of licences:
√ Royalty Free
√ Editorial
Royalty Free (RF) – licences have very few restrictions. This type of media can be used in one project multiple times by the same customer without additional fees. The media buyer is allowed to use the content commercially in almost every type of project.
Editorial (or "Non-Commercial") – use for a newsworthy subject or event. Such content is not suitable for advertising. It has to be used in the proper context directly connected to the content.
When selling video, image or audio in the Royalty Free model:
While filming or taking pictures of property and objects that don't belong to you, sign a Property Release agreement with the owner.
Property Release
You'll find website regulations here:
Creator's licence agreement:
Creators agreement
Buyer's licence agreement:
Buyers agreement


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Main Content
About the Talk
April 9, 2010 6:55 AM
Reston, VAReston, VA
Ever wonder how it all works? How Matz sat down with nothing but a C compiler and an editor and ended up with Ruby? How the JRuby guys are making the JVM livable again? In this talk, Russ Olsen will take you on a quick tour of the Ruby 1.9 C implementation as well as the Java behind JRuby. During this talk Russ will demo how to use both gdb and Eclipse to watch the gears and cogs spinning as your Ruby program runs.
Links: Website


text: 1-2-3 File Convert: 1. Convert PDF to Word 2. Convert Word Docs to PDFs 3. Convert and Edit images. 1-2-3 File convert is a PDF to Word, Word to PDF, and graphic converter rolled into one document converter. 1 You can convert PDFs to editable MS. Word documents with the PDF converter's step-by-step wizard interface, which leads you through the conversion process. 2 You can make PDF files with the PDF making function of this document conversion tool. 3 You can batch convert images, and also, the image editing function of this file converter provides versatile image editing features like rotate, crop, flip and resize tools. Some more highlights of text to PDF conversion - - Set font size and style and change the color of text. The text to PDF feature supports 40 font styles. - Change page orientation and select page size from 8 different sizes, set height and width of page, and adjust line spacing. - Specify no. of columns. - Full screen option available to view the PDF document in full screen mode. - Set title, subject, and author of the PDF document. - Allows compression and compresses resulting PDF file. Highlights of PDF to Word Conversion - No re-formatting required - all original text, layout, tables and images are replicated exactly and PDF documents are converted into editable Microsoft Word documents. - Convert PDF documents into Microsoft Word (.doc or .rtf) formats. - Supports partial conversion. Convert the whole PDF file or specify a page range for conversion. - matches text color, font size, and font style with Microsoft Word. - Identifies and separates logos and banners within the Microsoft document- keeps document images safe. Highlights of Image Conversion: - Batch Convert images in many supported graphic formats. - All popular graphic formats like JPEG, GIF, PNG, AVS, TIFF, and BMP are supported. - Edit and resize Images. - Apply special effects to your digital images.


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Category Archives: Hiring Tips
Success in Hiring
Successful companies depend on the quality of the people they hire. If the only people you can attract and hire are mediocre, it doesn't matter how great your [..]
The impression your hiring process creates
If your company is known for being a great place for this type of candidate and employee, then you will be able to attract great people. If it [..]
Happy with Your Recruiting Results?
The results from the various methods of recruiting a new person for your company have actually remained pretty stable over the last few years. 75 to 80% of [..]
Hiring Tip #50: Who owns the culture?
Company culture depends on every one. Every person in the company is a "brand ambassador" and all the candidates who comes in contact with each will take away [..]
Hiring Tip #49: Clarity
Having clarity in the job offer to begin with can prevent all manner of problems, from "fall-off" when that perfect candidate has to come back over and over [..]
Temp, FTE or "Permanent"?
Think very carefully about what sort of contract you want to offer. Do you do temp to perm? Probationary period? Short-term contract? or Full Time Employee/"permanent" position? We [..]
Cultural generation
What is your company generational culture? Are you interviewing Millennials differently than Boomers? Gen X? What is your company culture and how does it mesh with each demographic? [..]
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Hiring Tip #42: What is "Fit"?
How do you determine "fit"? Most people are disqualified because of it. But "fit" takes time and effort on both sides. Are you expecting miracles? Have you allowed [..]
Hiring Tip #41: Your job, their goals
Do you know what the candidate's (and each employee's) goals are? Will this job further their goals? Or are you interviewing for a job that they really don't [..]


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The Russian Customer came to visit Beston factory in 2015. Our sales staff received this customer warmly,and she was led to visit the whole production workshop. During the visit, the sales staff also introduced various types of amusement rides to her in detail.
Read moreThe Customer From Russia Came to Visit Beston Factory


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New Arrival Women's Clothing
Within the case of procuring, just remember to compose an inventory earlier than leaving that can assist you benefit from your time. This is wanted to be able to give consideration to what it is good to purchase and provide assist to steer clear of objects that may very well be a waste of money and closet space.
A spokesperson for the Detroit Police Department couldn't verify the status of the woman's mental health to The Neutral but stated she had been taken to a catastrophe centre throughout the hospital for analysis. Go ahead and donate your outdated clothes to an excellent trigger should you can't find a use for them. You could save time in choosing outfits, as well as assist out the much less lucky who can't afford new clothes.
A pleasant purse is a superb accent to your outfit, nonetheless make sure that it matches totally …


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Nearest Town: Roussillon (7 km)
Nearest Airport: Marseille (85 km)
Ground Floor
Kitchen - with direct access to an outdoor dining terrace.
Living Room - comfortable living area with exposed beams, stone fireplace and direct access onto the outdoor terrace.
Dining Room - With large dining table and direct access onto the outdoor terrace.
Office - With A/C and TV
Bedroom 1 - 1 Large Double Bed, with ensuite bathroom including Toilet, Bath Without Shower. With A/C. Can be accessed independently
Bedroom 2 - 2 Single Beds, with ensuite bathroom including Toilet, Shower Enclosure. Can be accessed independently
1st Floor
Bedroom 3 - 1 Large Double Bed, with ensuite bathroom including Toilet, Shower Enclosure. With A/C and balcony
Bedroom 4 - 1 Large Double Bed, with ensuite bathroom including Shower Enclosure.
Bedroom 5 - 2 Single Beds. Sharing bathroom 5
Bedroom 6 - 1 Large Double Bed. With A/C. Sharing bathroom 5
Bathroom 5 - Full - Bath Without Shower
Bathroom 6 - Seperate WC - Toilet
Bathroom 7 - Seperate WC - Toilet
Nearest Town: Roussillon (7 km)
Nearest Airport: Marseille (85 km)
|Start Date
|End Date
|Weekly Rate
|30 May 2020
|03 July 2020
|Saturday - Saturday
|On Request
|04 July 2020
|28 August 2020
|Saturday - Saturday
|29 August 2020
|25 September 2020
|On Request
|26 September 2020
|20 December 2020
|On Request
Mas de Gordes, GordesAir Con
Bedrooms 6
Bathrooms 5
Sleeps 12
€9760 / week
6 bedroom Villa - Provence
Spacious and perfectly positioned property in the village of Gordes with beautiful views over the Luberon valley. This lovely stone house is surrounded by lovely sweeping gardens and offers several outdoor living and dining areas where guests can relax and entertain. This is the perfect holiday home for larger groups or families wanting the peace and quiet and yet the convenience of being able to walk into the centre of one of the Luberon's most popular villages.
Mas de Gordes is a 6 bedroomed stone built property, wonderfully positioned just 5 minutes walk from the village of Gordes and benefiting from lovely views over the Luberon valley. The interiors and furnishings are traditional and in keeping with the house, offering comfort and elegance with three of the six bedrooms being air conditioned. The light and spacious living room features a large stone fireplace and gives direct access to the outside terrace which is shaded by a large vine and the large fully equipped kitchen opens directly onto a covered outdoor dining terrace with its own outdoor kitchen facilities. The substantial garden surrounding the property is laid mainly to lawn and ... planted with olive and cypress trees, and the good sized swimming pool is fitted with an automatic cover, offering added security for guests travelling with young children.Show more


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By now, many of you are familiar with my trials and tribulations while trying to perform Migration Assistant over WiFi on the MacBook Air. After waiting for five hours for Migration Assistant to calculate how long it might take (with both computers using 802.11n and on an 802.11n network), I gave up. If it took that long to calculate, how long could it possibly take to transfer all that data?
Since the review went up, a lot of you have e-mailed me asking whether the same would apply to reinstalling the OS over WiFi. After all, if you don't buy the $99 external SuperDrive to go along with the Air, you need to do everything using the Air's Remote Disc capabilities on another computer. I was scared to find out, but I spent my day yesterday doing exactly that for you guys.
I'll cut to the chase. The upside? It actually worked! (Yay!) The downside? It was kinda slow, which was to be expected. But it was not quite as slow as we expected, so we are optimistic about giving Migration Assistant another try. Maybe.
As I wrote in the review, in order to boot from a Remote Disc, first you must install the Remote Disc software on the host computer and reboot. Then, you must open Applications/Utilities/Remote Install OS X on the host computer and reboot the Air while holding down the Option key. From there, you are presented with your hard drive and a drop-down to select a wireless network. Select yours, enter the password, and wait. The Air will then (hopefully) display the OS X install disc on the host computer with an arrow underneath it. Click the arrow, and you have begun your remote install journey.
(It should be noted that the host machine doesn't necessarily need to be on WiFi, but it must at least be on the same network as the Air. It could be connected via Ethernet if you want, which may actually help the process go a little quicker too. Update: In fact, we have one commenter who did exactly that and got better times than us.)
It takes a while for the computers to sync up and figure out what's going on—it is going over WiFi, after all. For me, it took about 40 minutes for the Air to boot off the disc remotely and calculate the amount of time it would take to wipe my drive and install a clean version of Leopard. Of course, the time that the Air displays to you doesn't actually mean anything—mine projected about seven hours, but halfway through the install, it still said four hours remained.
In the end, however, the install took about five and half hours from start to finish, with a quick swap of install discs toward the end. I was pleasantly surprised—it may not have been the quickest install of OS X I'd ever performed, but at five and a half hours, it was shorter than I expected. After swapping out the second install disc, it only took another hour or so; you could realistically set this thing to go overnight if you want to, and just finish up the last hour in the morning.
So there you have it! Remote install was a success, if not a little bit pokey. Now, we don't recommend trying this over 802.11a/b/g, folks—it could get really messy.