Fairly Serious Late Night/Early Morning Thoughts

This is important enough that I'm going to mention it again. Read the latest National Geographic (the one with the Zebras on the cover, September 2003). Read the main article. My initial report on this was linked to by Modulator, and I'm glad he linked, but everyone should read this article. The photographer for the story, Jodi Cobb said: "I became obsessed with publishing this story because without an awareness the problem will just get worse." I blogged about the issue to help with awareness, because the mere fact that we know this is happening will help a little. Spread the word. This is important. On the "From the Editor" page, Editor Bill Allen says, "You may cry. You may be sickened. You may be riveted, unable to stop reading." that was me "Or you may decide you can't bear any more, and flip to the next article. As an editor, why would I decide to publish an article that makes people want to turn away, of that they may not want their children to see? Because until we began work on this story I had no idea there were 27 million slaves in the world -- all around us, largely invisible. I think you should know, and I think your children should know. Here's my promise: If you read the story that begins on page 2, you'll never look at the world the same way again."

On page 19, there is a personal testament. It starts out: "My name is Salma. I was born a slave in Mauritania in 1956. My parents were slaves, and their parents were slaves..." The bit that really got me, though, was this: "The first time I was paid for work I had done, I cried. I had never seen a person paid for her work before in my life. It was a very good surprise." Go. Find this issue, even if it's in the local library. Read it. I don't know if I'll harp on this again, but this is terribly important. I think of slavery as one of the most vile crimes, and yet it's happening all over, even here in Washington state (as was pointed out in the article). We need to know about it, even if that's all we do.

On to some other thoughts...

People are understandably angry about the Bush Administration's orders to the EPA to lie to New Yorkers, and this is a particularly good write up of that anger. via Mark Evanier And here's another angry write-up with more naughty words in it, too. this one via Modulator

The BBC is going to put its radio and television archives on-line. And, get this, FREE to everyone. The service, called the BBC Creative Archive, would be available to anyone on the internet. Of interest are the comments made by the BBC spokescritter: "I believe that we are about to move into a second phase of the digital revolution, a phase which will be more about public than private value; about free, not pay services; about inclusivity, not exclusion. In particular, it will be about how public money can be combined with new digital technologies to transform everyone's lives." Very interesting.

Sean Collins has some some thoughts on eating disorders that are worth reading. Good luck to your wife, Sean.

An interesting bit of historical revision that I read about several days ago, but didn't comment on. Billmon has it covered. It is minor, but then, minor things can lead to *ahem* "major" things.

As long as we're talking about Big Brother, here's a scary one from Arthur Silber.

Brooke Biggs has a trial on her pacifism. While I admire her attempt at pacifist thinking, I find myself more than mildly relieved at the turn of events that brought her crisis of conscience on.

This post is a must-read from Riverbend in Iraq. It's about the job situation in Iraq, and how it hit Riverbend personally, and how it's hitting women in particular. Her blog is on the must-read list, if you want to understand how Iraqis are feeling right now.

Yet another microsoft virus showing up in people's mailboxes. Though I find myself thinking the unworthy thought that anyone stupid enough to apply a "patch" sent to them blind via e-mail might be getting what they deserve.

Someone has found a real-life model for Umbridge from the latest Harry Potter novel. Eeeuuuuwwww.