normblog

Crying for the BBC

She's shedding a tear for Yasser Arafat. Who is? Barbara Plett is. And who is Barbara Plett? She's the BBC's correspondent on the West Bank. Where is she shedding her tear? Why, on the BBC website:

Yet when the helicopter carrying the frail old man rose above his ruined compound, I started to cry... without warning.

She explains her 'sudden surge of emotion'. The explanation includes this:

Despite his obvious failings - his use of corruption, his ambivalence towards violence, his autocratic way of ruling - no one could accuse him of cowardice.

Despite all that, so touching that she should cry.

More election predictions

> Here's one from Ben Weasel:

Regardless of who wins, the other side will spend the next four years bitching about it and demonizing the opposition. The insanity we've all been subjected to since 2000 will rise to a new level and whoever's sitting in the White House will rue the day he decided to run for public office. If Kerry wins, he will be attacked viciously by the right every day he is in office. If he's unlucky enough to be on camera during a terrorist attack, the wacko bloggers will have their stopwatches out to time how long it takes for him to jump into action; Fox News will have to decide whether to broadcast his State of the Union addresses with superimposed devil horns on his head or cloven hooves below his ankles. Every decision he makes - especially on foreign policy - will be questioned, ridiculed and offered as evidence that he's an America-hating poof. If Bush wins... well, if Bush wins, there will be riots in the streets by next summer; the new left will make the hippies look like paragons of sanity and rationality. In either case I expect American politics to get a lot nastier over the next four years and I'm not looking forward to having to deal with the fall-out.

> And here's one concerning Hillary Clinton, should Kerry win:

The crowd stomped and cheered as Hillary Clinton arrived on stage. "Go Hillary 2008," a woman yelled. There were a few startled giggles at this off-message cry, for this was a John Kerry for President rally. For Hillary to stand next time, the Massachusetts senator would have to lose now; it was officially unthinkable for Democrats.

In the audience at a community college in the battleground state of Pennsylvania last week were hundreds of Hillary fans who were making do with Kerry.

"Early on I wanted her to run but I've really grown to like this guy," said Phyllis Shaken, 61, a psychologist. "I can't say I like him the way I like Hillary and Bill, but I admire the way he has withstood the pressure."

Hillary Clinton has been watching this election intently. Should Kerry win on Tuesday, her own presidential aspirations are toast. Barring some catastrophe, Kerry will go on to seek re-election in four years' time.

normblog poll report

Only two days to go, and here are the results of the normblog pundit poll. I had 40 entries in all, 33 of which predicted George Bush to win, and 7 John Kerry to win. As I did when I issued the final call, I give below the average predictions for each of the two groups, and then the overall average prediction:

Bush-predictor average: Bush to win by a margin of 3.0% of the popular vote, with a majority of 50 electoral college votes.

Kerry-predictor average: Kerry to win by a margin of 2.0% of the popular vote, with a majority of 28 electoral college votes.

Overall average prediction: Bush to win by a margin of 2.2% of the popular vote, with a majority of 36 electoral college votes.

Thanks for all entries - including from the proprietors of the following sites:

Black Triangle; Blimpish; Chase me ladies; DavidP; God Save The Queen; Jonathan Lockhart's Notebook; 1972; The non-bloggish blog; Peak Talk; Public Interest; Pundit Drome; Reasons to be Impossible; The Shadow of the Olive Tree; Shot by both sides; The Sporadic Chronicle; A Step at a Time; Stephen Pollard; Ubersportingpundit; The Virtual Stoa; Who Knew?.

Watch this space.

Zimbabwe's re-orientation camps

Jane Flanagan reports from Bulawayo:

Members of Zimbabwe's police force, once the most respected and efficient in southern Africa, have been ordered to attend brutal "reorientation" camps to be fed anti-white propaganda in the run-up to next year's elections.

In a tactic akin to those used by hardline Communist regimes, police officers face "reprogramming" at the hands of Robert Mugabe's feared Central Intelligence Organisation.
.....
The camps, which have been established to help to ensure victory for Mr Mugabe in parliamentary elections scheduled for next March, are similar to those used in the late 1990s to brainwash the youth militia. The gangs, known as the Green Bombers, were responsible for murder, rape and torture of opposition campaigners and supporters.

Big Bang

Interesting review here of Big Bang by Simon Singh:

The latest energy census suggests that everything which shines, and everything which is studied by scientists on Earth, is an almost irrelevant perturbation of reality. Matter like that of which we are constituted makes up a small percentage of the mass-energy of the universe. There is roughly 10 times as much dark stuff, of unknown nature but which is matter (it responds to and generates gravity), as there is stuff we can identify ("see").

Recently, amid much publicity, astrophysicists have discovered that there is roughly three times more of some other stuff, which is not matter, but which has pressure (it pushes, gravity pulls). This "dark energy" took control of the future of the universe around the time the sun and Earth were formed, and started accelerating the cosmic expansion. The universe today is expanding faster and faster, leading to a future that remains to be understood, but which may well be very lonely indeed. Exciting times.

It makes perfect sense to me. This makes even more:

The great physicist Richard Feynman expressed the methodology of science beautifully: "It doesn't matter how beautiful your guess is or how smart you are or what your name is. If [your idea] disagrees with experience, it's wrong. That's all there is to it."

Dead rich 2

Jackie Mason:

I have enough money to last me the rest of my life. Unless I buy something.

Nuclear shout

The Iranian parliament reaffirms the obviously peaceful intent of its nuclear plans:

To cries of "Death to America" and "God is Greatest" Iran's hardline-dominated parliament passed a bill on Sunday obliging the government to continue efforts to develop a civilian nuclear energy program.

No sixes - it's dangerous

You want an issue you can really get your teeth into? Forget the the usual lot. Consider this:

Australian batsmen have been banned from hitting balls for six by local councils because of fears that their boundary-clearing shots might injure passers-by and prompt compensation claims.

To the fury of cricketers in the state of Victoria, a batsman who hits a six will receive a warning from the umpire and no runs will be added to his score. The umpire will then dock five runs from a batsman's score for any subsequent six.

"It doesn't make sense. I'm totally devastated by the council's decision," said Glenn Sanguinetti, the captain of the Second XI at Canterbury Cricket Club.

It just isn't cricket, is it? But, on the other hand:

More than 100 Eastern Cricket Associations, including clubs in Melbourne, have been affected by the ban. It was brought in after complaints from people living near grounds about stray balls causing damage or injury. One couple in Canterbury lodged a complaint when a ball almost hit their baby as they wheeled it past the grounds in a pram.

It seems Madeleine Bunting may be right after all. People are walking in fear - of flying cricket balls. But instead of being afraid they could take the initiative and protect themselves:

Henry Gregory, one of the club's bowlers, said that neighbours should wear helmets or stay at home. He said: "During one game, the ball simply landed in some woman's front yard and she was straight out of the door and moaning. We're not yobs purposely trying to annoy the neighbours. Some of the complaints really do stem from a bunch of moaning minnies...

Ian Chappell, the renowned Australian cricketer, and one of the country's most successful Test captains, said that at first glance the rule appeared like a "classic case of government meddling". He added: "Why can't people take responsibility and actually watch out for flying cricket balls as they wander past a ground?" Chappell said, however, that the former Australian left-hander, Neil Harvey, would probably have approved of the ruling. "On the 1948 tour of England, Harvey got his team-mate Sam Loxton to ask his captain Don Bradman if he had any advice on his batting," Chapell said. "The word came back, 'Tell Harvey to keep the ball on the ground and then he won't get caught.'"

The Poor Claires

Read about the rule of silence:

The nuns are silent except for 40-60 minutes during daily recreation time.
.....
The order of Saint Claire, or the Poor Claires, was founded in 1212 by Claire of Assisi, the first female follower of Francis of Assisi. Both rejected society and wealth to live in poverty and prayer.

You'd be listening to polkas

John Patterson talks to Billy Bob Thornton:

Is the south a sort of Shadow America, I ask, a parallel universe?

"Yeah. I think it's the soul of the country. I used to do a one-man show and the first thing I'd say was, 'Y'all probably think I grew up screwing my sister. But all the time you're putting us down, remember this: Look around and you see how many presidents were from the south, how many authors we studied in school are from the south, and if you want your heart operated on, you better go to Houston. And you wouldn't have any modern music if it wasn't for the southern half of the United States. So next time you're out there bumpin' your asses together on the dancefloor, remember that if it wasn't for the south you'd be listening to polkas and classical music.'"