stog's cave

Xmas Appeal

2011-12-09T06:38:00.001-08:00

http://www.fibsboard.com/announcements/2011-xmas-appeal

inside job

2011-12-09T05:32:00.000-08:00

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0183l0t/Storyville_20112012_Inside_Job/

just seen the excellent "inside job" award winning documentary (see link above), and found this interview with the film maker.... lucid

Charlie Rose Interviews Charles Ferguson on his documentary 'Inside Job'

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vS0hj4kiqsA#

the documentary eloquently describes a financial system, so inherently corrupt that the only possible restitution for example, for some stricken workers'pension schemes laid bare by these criminals, is by civil action. No public prosecutions seem to be taking place, and the very system which has created this fraud, which has affected so many people worldwide, and the poorest as usual hit the hardest, is still very much in place, and you and I are paying for it..

What is our one demand?

A Message From Occupied Wall Street (Day Five)
Published 2011-09-22 07:51:42 UTC by OccupyWallSt
at OccupyWallStreet.org

This is the fifth communiqué from the 99 percent. We are occupying Wall Street.

On September 21st, 2011, Troy Davis, an innocent man, was murdered by the state of Georgia. Troy Davis was one of the 99 percent.

Ending capital punishment is our one demand.

On September 21st, 2011, four of our members were arrested on baseless charges.

Ending police intimidation is our one demand.

On September 21st, 2011, the richest 400 Americans owned more than half of the country’s population.

Ending wealth inequality is our one demand.

On September 21st, 2011, we determined that Yahoo lied about occupywallst.org being in spam filters.

Ending corporate censorship is our one demand.

On September 21st, 2011, roughly eighty percent of Americans thought the country was on the wrong track.

Ending the modern gilded age is our one demand.

On September 21st, 2011, roughly 15% of Americans approved of the job Congress was doing.

Ending political corruption is our one demand.

On September 21st, 2011, roughly one sixth of Americans did not have work.

Ending joblessness is our one demand.

On September 21st, 2011, roughly one sixth of America lived in poverty.

Ending poverty is our one demand.

On September 21st, 2011, roughly fifty million Americans were without health insurance.

Ending health-profiteering is our one demand.

On September 21st, 2011, America had military bases in around one hundred and thirty out of one hundred and sixty-five countries.

Ending American imperialism is our one demand.

On September 21st, 2011, America was at war with the world.

Ending war is our one demand.

On September 21st, 2011, we stood in solidarity with Madrid, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Madison, Toronto, London, Athens, Sydney, Stuttgart, Tokyo, Milan, Amsterdam, Algiers, Tel Aviv, Portland and Chicago. Soon we will stand with Phoenix, Montreal, Cleveland and Atlanta. We’re still here. We are growing. We intend to stay until we see movements toward real change in our country and the world.

You have fought all the wars. You have worked for all the bosses. You have wandered over all the countries. Have you harvested the fruits of your labors, the price of your victories? Does the past comfort you? Does the present smile on you? Does the future promise you anything? Have you found a piece of land where you can live like a human being and die like a human being? On these questions, on this argument, and on this theme, the struggle for existence, the people will speak. Join us.

We speak as one. All of our decisions, from our choice to march on Wall Street to our decision to continue occupying Liberty Square, were decided through a consensus based process by the group, for the group.

END OF 9/22/2011 DOCUMENT

*****************************************

BEGINNING OF NEWEST DOCUMENT, AGREED TO ON 9/29/2011

NYC General Assembly
The Official Website of the GA at #OccupyWallStreet

Declaration of the Occupation of New York City
Posted on September 30, 2011 by NYCGA
This document was accepted by the NYC General Assembly on september 29, 2011

As we gather together in solidarity to express a feeling of mass injustice, we must not lose sight of what brought us together. We write so that all people who feel wronged by the corporate forces of the world can know that we are your allies.

As one people, united, we acknowledge the reality: that the future of the human race requires the cooperation of its members; that our system must protect our rights, and upon corruption of that system, it is up to the individuals to protect their own rights, and those of their neighbors; that a democratic government derives its just power from the people, but corporations do not seek consent to extract wealth from the people and the Earth; and that no true democracy is attainable when the process is determined by economic power. We come to you at a time when corporations, which place profit over people, self-interest over justice, and oppression over equality, run our governments. We have peaceably assembled here, as is our right, to let these facts be known.

They have taken our houses through an illegal foreclosure process, despite not having the original mortgage.
They have taken bailouts from taxpayers with impunity, and continue to give Executives exorbitant bonuses.
They have perpetuated inequality and discrimination in the workplace based on age, the color of one’s skin, sex, gender identity and sexual orientation.
They have poisoned the food supply through negligence, and undermined the farming system through monopolization.
They have profited off of the torture, confinement, and cruel treatment of countless animals, and actively hide these practices.
They have continuously sought to strip employees of the right to negotiate for better pay and safer working conditions.
They have held students hostage with tens of thousands of dollars of debt on education, which is itself a human right.
They have consistently outsourced labor and used that outsourcing as leverage to cut workers’ healthcare and pay.
They have influenced the courts to achieve the same rights as people, with none of the culpability or responsibility.
They have spent millions of dollars on legal teams that look for ways to get them out of contracts in regards to health insurance.
They have sold our privacy as a commodity.
They have used the military and police force to prevent freedom of the press. They have deliberately declined to recall faulty products endangering lives in pursuit of profit.
They determine economic policy, despite the catastrophic failures their policies have produced and continue to produce.
They have donated large sums of money to politicians, who are responsible for regulating them.
They continue to block alternate forms of energy to keep us dependent on oil.
They continue to block generic forms of medicine that could save people’s lives or provide relief in order to protect investments that have already turned a substantial profit.
They have purposely covered up oil spills, accidents, faulty bookkeeping, and inactive ingredients in pursuit of profit.
They purposefully keep people misinformed and fearful through their control of the media.
They have accepted private contracts to murder prisoners even when presented with serious doubts about their guilt.
They have perpetuated colonialism at home and abroad. They have participated in the torture and murder of innocent civilians overseas.
They continue to create weapons of mass destruction in order to receive government contracts. *

To the people of the world,

We, the New York City General Assembly occupying Wall Street in Liberty Square, urge you to assert your power.

Exercise your right to peaceably assemble; occupy public space; create a process to address the problems we face, and generate solutions accessible to everyone.

To all communities that take action and form groups in the spirit of direct democracy, we offer support, documentation, and all of the resources at our disposal.

Join us and make your voices heard!

*These grievances are not all-inclusive.

END OF 9/29/2011 DOCUMENT

Local knowledge is vital

2011-11-23T17:08:00.000-08:00

Coastguard changes ePetition

There is an on line petition. https://submissions.epetitions.direc...petitions/4403
This petition is still open (closing date is 07/08/2012) and needs 100,000 signatures to try to force a debate in Parliament.
__

Stop the closure of MCA Coastguard Stations

Responsible department: Department for Transport

The government has decided that a number of major UK coastguard stations should be closed arguing that fewer stations can cope with the workload. This fails to take account of the vital local knowledge of coastguard station staff who can direct emergency services directly and quickly to incidents where lives are at stake. More remote stations (often hundreds of miles away from the scene of an emergency) do not have this knowledge. In order to prevent unnecessary and avoidable loss of life the government must keep all coastguard stations operational.

Matthew's Switch

2011-11-21T12:50:00.000-08:00

A simple customisable program that may allow parents, teachers and helpers to introduce and practice simple switch choices and evaluate whether a disabled child could eventually make use of one of the more advanced and expensive systems

Matthew is a 9 year old disabled lad with profound difficulties; he can't operate a mouse without help, and up till now, has not been able to successfully utilise the myriad of input devices available.

He currently uses an Italk 4 hardware switch at school and home, and his twin brother and I have designed a software version which we hope to run on a ipad for him to try.

We have just uploaded Desktop versions for Mac & Windows for you all to try; let us know what you think

http://www.soul-trade.com/switch/

below is a screenshot of the Edit mode where pics and sounds can be edited

the largest government class-action settlement in American history, with more than 300,000 beneficiaries.

2011-10-31T16:35:00.000-07:00

Elouise Cobell, whose Blackfeet name was Yellow Bird Woman and who has died aged 65, sued the United States government for billions of dollars plundered from American Indian lands – and won.

14 years; 3,600 court filings; 220 days of trial; 80 published court decisions and 10 appeals, Elouise Cobell's campaign ended in victory in 2009.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/politics-obituaries/8834956/Elouise-Cobell.html

2011-10-31T16:17:00.000-07:00

A Sister’s Eulogy for Steve Jobs

What it's Really Like Working with Steve Jobs

2011-10-07T01:38:00.000-07:00

Some cybercriminals created a Facebook page called "R.I.P. Steve Jobs", and innocent people have been joining by the thousands. In just a few hours it had more than 90,000 fans. Criminals published a link using the popular shortener service bit.ly, where they said that Apple will be giving away 50 iPads.
Of course all the stuff is a scam, and once you click to that URL (which ended with "restinpeace-steve-jobs") you were redirected to a place where you are offered a number of gifts, such as iPads, Sony Bravia TVs. For that they ask for your information, such as Full Name, Address, Phone Number, e-mail address, etc.
Facebook has closed the page and bit.ly has done the same with their link. There are some really interesting statistics. Out of those > 90,000 fans, 25,669 clicked in the link provided by the criminals! (from Rick Ford -Macintouch)

"When I was 17 I read a quote that went something like "If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you'll most certainly be right."

from Steve's superb stanford address...click the apple above to watch it, or read a transcript here

2011-09-30T08:50:00.000-07:00

Bad Faith Radio plays --Series Two has begun
series 1 can be heard from within above link...http://www.peterjukes.com/

also wierd tales make excellent listening

2011-09-13T09:50:00.000-07:00

Shall I compare thee to a Summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And Summer's lease hath all too short a date:
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And oft' is his gold complexion dimm'd;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance or nature's changing course untrimm'd:
But thy eternal Summer shall not fade
Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest;
Nor shall Death brag thou wanderest in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou growest:

So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

readings

Recovery

2011-05-12T09:17:00.000-07:00

Recovery...The Slow Road from Ewan Dyer on Vimeo.

A short film about nature and it's place in modern society. Producer/Director/Editor - Ewan Dyer, Poet -Gary Boswell, Composer -Audioscores (www.audioscores.com), Shot with Sony EX3, Canon 7D & (Time lapse) Nikon D80. Shot at Consall Gardens in Staffordshire...

Sundae

2011-03-05T02:25:00.000-08:00

Sundae from Ewan Dyer on Vimeo.

A short film about a school boy who goes to do work experience with his dysfunctional uncle and starts to discover what sort of person his uncle really is. A Ewan Dyer Film Ewandyer@Hotmail.com

www.whyweprotest.net

2011-01-17T09:09:00.000-08:00

http://www.whyweprotest.net/en/

2010-12-06T10:05:00.000-08:00

Mark Twain wrote a long letter to a friend, and then at the end, apologized for its length, saying he didn't have enough time to write a short letter.

Decision Analysis for Success - a course for students?

2010-12-06T09:55:00.000-08:00

superb article BACKGAMMON: DECISION ANALYSIS FOR SUCCESS by Harvey Gillis reproduced here without permission from US Backgammon Federation Website for archival & educational purposes

Harvey Gillis (photo by Pat Gibson)

Harvey Gillis

© 2010 Harvey Gillis
The drama was unfolding. The choices were complex and I was sure that the result of making a mistake could be deadly. Attacking was risky; but so was doing nothing. A setback at this point could spell defeat for the entire campaign. The volatility of the situation made the decision even more difficult. Perhaps I could stall, buying myself some time or deferring a frontal assault by the enemy? Without a precise model, the choice was unclear; but I had to act. I would just have to rely upon strategic principles and my limited experience to make the decision.
A reader may think that I am describing the war room of a major military conflict, a final showdown of two business competitors, an incredibly important investment decision, the pursuit of a dangerous criminal, or even a medical team’s handling of a malignant tumor. Not so. This was an ordinary encounter between two backgammon players! Backgammon is a seductive game that is easy to learn but enormously difficult to master — even after decades of study and practice. Stripped of prejudice, backgammon is a sophisticated decision theory application taking place within a stochastic (probabilistic) environment – not, in this respect, unlike life, war, business, forensics, or the stock market. Like these related analytical pursuits, it requires – and develops — strategy, oversight and sagacity.
For these reasons alone, backgammon should be taught in high school and college. It surpasses many other skill-based games in preparing young adults for the puzzles they will confront in their personal and professional lives when forced to make decisions under conditions of incomplete information and uncertainty. In addition it forms character, teaching the youthful mind how to deal with adversity and accident, taking those negatives in stride and even turning them to one’s advantage.
Backgammon teaches a skill set that is essential to success for virtually anything that a person will encounter in their career, investments or personal life. It frames a methodology for selecting between precarious decisions. Its virtues are:
1) Backgammon teaches probabilistic decision making under stress.
2) It builds character, confidence and self-esteem.
3) It teaches the student how to deal with uncertainty and bad luck.
4) It rewards situational analysis and the building of alternative scenario outcomes.
5) It teaches the important lesson that strategy is more important than tactics, guesses, emotion or instinct.
6) It encourages the student to understand his adversaries.
7) It teaches you to distinguish between mortality and survivable morbidity.
8) It rewards “what if” analysis.
9) It rewards preparation. “The harder you work, the luckier you get.”
10) Backgammon emphasizes the “war over the battle.”
11) It teaches analytical concepts and probabilities.
12) Backgammon rewards flexibility
13) It teaches the rewards of taking calculated risks. “To take no risk is the greatest risk of all.”
14) It is exciting. Like life, a backgammon game can take unpredictable twists and turns.
Given this impressive array of benefits, you should want your children introduced to backgammon at the earliest age possible. At minimum, we should all advocate the formation of backgammon clubs at high schools and universities, as Joe Russell, a past World Champion, has done at UCLA. And backgammon would be a great accredited course on decision analysis for business students. Working with Phil Simborg, head of the Backgammon Learning Center, Professor Don Berecz has followed this path at Georgia Southern University, introducing backgammon as an accredited course for all freshmen. Projects like these are just what the Education Committee of the U.S. Backgammon Federation is pursuing. I hope I have convinced you to support that effort in any way you can. Now, I have a backgammon match to play with a good friend. I am going to play for the most important reason: it’s fun!

visit www.Fibsboard.com (run by stog) for Backgammon info & how to play online for free on FIBS (First Internet Backgammon Centre)

Transform

2010-12-06T09:39:00.000-08:00

There is a growing recognition around the world that the prohibition of drugs is a counterproductive failure. However, a major barrier to drug law reform has been a widespread fear of the unknown, just what could a post-prohibition regime look like?

It is vital that the public engage in the debate over the future of UK and international drug policy.

Transform leaflet here

Transform has published a ground breaking new guide 'After the War on Drugs - Tools for the Debate. It provides policy makers with the language and analysis to engage in the drug law reform debate with confidence and clarity.

http://www.tdpf.org.uk

Homeless

2010-12-06T09:31:00.000-08:00

see also ShelterBox which is an international disaster relief charity that delivers emergency shelter, warmth and dignity to people affected by disaster worldwide

wikileaks

2010-12-03T13:45:00.000-08:00

WikiLeaks is a non-profit media organization dedicated to bringing important news and information to the public. They provide an innovative, secure and anonymous way for independent sources around the world to leak information to their journalists. They publish material of ethical, political and historical significance while keeping the identity of their sources anonymous, thus providing a universal way for the revealing of suppressed and censored injustices.

WikiLeaks relies on its supporters in order to stay strong. Please keep them at the forefront of anti-censorship

wikileaks Q & A here.....http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/blog/2010/dec/03/julian-assange-wikileaks

their site is here 88.80.13.160
http://213.251.145.96/

2010-11-29T04:47:00.000-08:00

Upon a time... from Ewan Dyer on Vimeo.

Word Salad

2010-04-17T04:16:00.000-07:00

Read the text below out loud, going as fast as you can.

I cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulacitly mkae out waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid! Aoccdrnig to a rsceeeacrhr at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but olny the wrod as a whlohe. It mkaes up waht the ohetr lerttees are. In the smae way, the huamn mnid mkeas up mnaegnig form the fgemratns of ifmaonitron it cllocets, and tihs tehn becmoes its peceporitn of tutrh. We mkae up in our haeds waht we see and prevecie, our mnaegnig of tnighs. And tehn we dnot uesdnatnrd why ohetr ppoele do not prevecie tnighs the smae way we do.
Aimd goirnwg edinevce taht smoe of the tinsiet maraleits eevr ergeinened psoe petillontay big emovinertnel, hlateh and setafy rskis, menomutm is bindiulg in Cesgrons, in emovinertnel crelcis and in the irtundsy isetlf to beef up faredel orvishegt of the new maraleits, wchih are arealdy sowhnig up in deznos of cemunosr podcurts.

Think About
*
What struck you most while you were doing this exercise?
*
What does it suggest regarding the internal human thought process?

www.callipygia600.com

more here

the words of Severine Suzuki, 12 yr old daughter of a famous environmentalist professor, making a speech in front of the United Nations

2010-01-15T13:26:00.000-08:00

Brave 12 year old lass in front of the United Nations. Please take 5 minutes to listen

Art Adorns our Prison Walls

2009-03-24T07:06:00.000-07:00

stog add random image for cave " Art Adorns our Prison Walls"
click image for more,,,,,,,,
stog add some links
stog back here in 6 months - almighty beings and sobriety willing
byeeeeeee

stog's cave

2009-01-17T03:23:00.003-08:00

hello welcome stog's blog