ninme

Radio Netherlands - Sustainable Zeppelins?

Airships or Zeppelins are a sustainable form of aviation. At least according to Senator Wolfgang von Zeppelin, grandson of the famous German airship pioneer Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin.

It’s somehow comforting that there are still von-Anythings left in the world, much less von Zeppelins.

“At present it is not [...]

Categories: Science and Nature

(title referencing this cuteness classic.)

Telegraph - Mobula Ray pictures reveal spectacular leaps

They’re 12 feet wide!

Categories: Science and Nature

WaPo - On Iraq, a State of Denial. By Charles Krauthammer

Al-Qaeda in Iraq is in disarray, the Sunni insurgency in decline, the Shiite militias quiescent, the capital city reviving. Are we now to reverse course and abandon all this because parliament cannot ratify the reconciliation already occurring on the ground?

But if the politicians [...]

Categories: Politics

Times Online - Labor Party wins Australian election

Australia’s long-serving conservative government not only lost yesterday’s Australian election but its leader, John Howard, became only the second Prime Minister in Australia’s history to lose his seat in Parliament.

Unbelievable.

Update:

The NYT (link to LGF, cuz I ain’t linkin’ to the NYT):

Mr. Howard’s defeat, after [...]

Categories: Politics

It’s six a.m. in Sydney.

gulp

Funfacts:

Long innings at the top — John Howard is the second longest-serving Prime Minister in Australia. The longest-serving was Robert Menzies, right, who held office twice for a total of 18 years — During his ten years in power, Mr Howard has outlasted [...]

Categories: Politics

(Awful title, isn’t it? But it was the first the that popped into my head sort-of rhyming with Lady.)

NY Sun - Collapse of Rail, Subway Strike Is a First Success for Sarkozy

Yesterday, the strike of rail and subway workers that has crippled France for nine days was clearly crumbling, as workers began returning [...]

Categories: People and Current Events

Daily Mail - Meet the women who won’t have babies - because they’re not eco friendly

At the age of 27 this young woman at the height of her reproductive years was sterilised to “protect the planet”.

And thank god she did.

Categories: Science and Nature

They should have published this yesterday. Ah well, it makes sense in the official (American) launch of the holiday season:

The Times - Bits of dancing rubber. Delicious! The Japanese really know how to eat, unlike our feeble and often solitary attempts, by Ben Macintyre

The Japanese know how to eat, and how to relate to [...]

Categories: Food

It seems to be spreading.

The Times - The dollar’s in decline. Great news! Critics think it’s in a crisis, but in reality America is in decent health, by Gerard Baker

If you’re still sceptical, ask yourself this: is it probable that the shift in the relative value of the dollar and the euro represents a [...]

Categories: Geography and Foreign Affairs

There’s a link off of this article called The growth of ‘adventure cruising’. God tell me about it. At any rate, you would think there might be some experiences you wouldn’t want to evoke on your leisure cruise to the South Pole:

Times Online - Cruise ship strikes iceberg in Antarctic, sparking international rescue mission

[...]

Categories: Geography and Foreign Affairs

Was gigantic. I’ll never eat again. I think I’ll have another roll dipped in cream sauce in a moment.

Meanwhile, the Aussie elections loom. I expect all of my readers to go out and do their mandatory duty on Saturday. I don’t imagine that seppuku is very agreeable on a full stomach.

I’ll never understand the [...]

Categories: People and Current Events

Typical:

BBC - Pitt leaves State of Play movie

Actor Brad Pitt has pulled out of political thriller State of Play because of script concerns, according to the Hollywood Reporter. Universal confirmed the actor had left but it remained “committed to this project”, the trade paper reported. Pitt was [...]

Categories: Entertainment

Typically, I’d be naming my firstborn, but I’ve already done Camilla.

The Times - Why we all need to commit My attitude to marriage is changing. My middle-class reluctance to judge others is fading, by Camilla Cavendish

My friend Ann and her girlfriend are having IVF in New York. My friend Hatty is “basting” every month [...]

Categories: People and Current Events

The Times - Where has Bush got with jaw-jaw? American foreign policy has been nothing like as interventionist as its critics like to think, by Tim Montgomerie

Critics of George W. Bush’s Middle East policy are hoping for a change in direction once America’s 43rd President has left the White House. The foreign offices of [...]

Categories: War and Peace

Interesting choice for “City Center Manager” for a city dating back to Roman times, a gem of medieval cloister architecture, and holding the world’s greatest university.

Telegraph - I’m dreaming of an austerity Christmas. By Rowan Pelling

It’s not just the lobotomy-inducing Christmas jingles and tawdry drunks in Santa hats, but the fact that this [...]

Categories: Business & Media