:: Monday, January 28, 2008 ::

Anti-Fascist Monument


Anti-Fascist Monument, originally uploaded by alister.

The other side of the memorial.


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Berlin


History, originally uploaded by alister.

This monument is to a communist group who blew up an anti-USSR exhibition put on by the nazi's. In the DDR era the memorial was also in 'friendship with the people of the USSR'. This part has now been covered by an explanation of the memorial and kind of turning it into another memorial of the state of Berlin in 1981. The Germans seem to have a snappy word for this. A very long word.


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:: Wednesday, January 16, 2008 ::

Knowledge needs neither fathers nor priests

This story is like something straight from His Dark Materials.

The Pope has cancelled a visit to a Roman university because of protests about his views on Galileo.

"Pope Benedict was in charge of Roman Catholic doctrine in 1990 when, as Cardinal Ratzinger, he commented on the 17th-Century Galileo trial.

In the speech, he quoted Austrian-born philosopher Paul Feyerabend as saying the Church's verdict against Galileo had been "rational and just".

Galileo's inquisitors maintained the scriptures indicated the Earth was stationary.

Galileo, a devout Catholic, was forced to renounce his findings publicly.

Fifteen years ago Pope John Paul II officially conceded that in fact the Earth was not stationary."


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:: Thursday, January 10, 2008 ::

Back to the Old Town

Those dogged campaigners to save Edinburgh's old town from the developers have started a new blog to counter the propaganda of their big business opponents.

Get your passports ready for a visit to the Independent Republic of the Canongate.

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:: Tuesday, January 08, 2008 ::

Ouch




Mad mental tattoo based on the Superman:Red Son comic which sees the young kid from krypton arrive in Stalin's Soviet Union.


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:: Monday, January 07, 2008 ::

Ogres for Obama and Goblins for Giuliani

The current US Presidential primaries are fascinating to the political nerd. This is because of the very open nature of the contest on both the Republican and Democrat sides not to mention the byzantine selection contest. The prospect of the first female or black President makes the selection fascinating for what it can tell us about the current state of US politics.

But whilst the selection of a black or female candidate would be a great social change, it is unlikely to make much difference politically. In policy terms there is not much radical about the agenda of either Clinton or Obama. As Gary Younge points out about Obama in the Guardian "He has the role of an inadequate and ineffective balm on the long-running sore that is race in America. His victory would symbolise a great deal and change very little."

Of course, here on Perspective we like to keep track of how things are shaping up for the politicos on the virtual worlds.

Second Life is popular of course. There is a John Edwards area in Second Life and both Clinton and Obama have been out and about drumming up support. Obama has made good use of social networking tools which is interesting, with SL being just one of those.

But the prize has to go to Republican Ron Paul whose supporters hosted a march in World of Warcraft. As wowinsider reported "On New Year's day supporters of Republican presidential hopeful Ron Paul gathered on the Whisperwind (US) realm in World of Warcraft to march across Azeroth and show their support for their candidate of choice. The rally started outside Ironforge with approximately 240 players (with 400 members in their RP Revolution guild) and traveled to Stormwind, Westfall, Booty Bay, Ratchet, and finally Orgrimmar."


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:: Thursday, January 03, 2008 ::

Restless Natives Return

Big Country
Live Glasgow ABC
December 30th 2007

Big Country Live in Glasgow

Last gig of the year was Big Country in Glasgow. An apt gig in many ways as the best gig of 2007 for me was BC predecessors The Skids in Dunfermline. The band have reunited with no new members, but with bassist Tony Butler taking over the vocals of the late Stuart Adamson. He has a very different voice and there is no getting away from that. However in a live context it worked fine and a good night was had. The highlights included one of their best and least known tracks, Restless Natives, from the film soundtrack and the crowd singalong to Chance. Not a dry eye in the house.



Tony Butler

Happy New Year all!

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