26 August 2002

Delicious and refreshing comment (I think so, anyway), fom Instapundit (again) on the McAfrika burger question, humourlessly reported by The Guardian. 7:06:50 PM    comment []

The Times on the summit. Courtesy of Instapundit, who can obviously afford to pay 40 pounds to review their content on the web.  I can't, or won't, just yet - I've been a registered user for years, and I can get into all kinds of news sites for free, so why should I?  Just like, I don't go to the CNN web site any more, because they want me to pay for video feeds (I actually tried to subscribe, both through CNN and Real Networks, and failed, and I didn't get any joy from tech support on either side, so fuck them, I get totally free, high quality video from the BBC, courtesy of the British taxpayer).  Anyway, I miss The Times and Sunday Times, and fork out real money (serious real money, 4.50 Euros for the Sunday Times, with all its supplements, in Greece, and a day late) to buy the print edition most weeks. Except when someone (who is presumably a subscriber) gives me a link (a deeplink, I think it's called), and I can coat-tail through.  Yay! So, what do we learn from The Times today?  Growing tension between Britain and the US, and Cabinet Minister Margaret Becket getting a little petulant about it.  More pessimism all round.  Read it yourself. Ooh, and don't miss the leading article, a clarion call to the conservative, capitalist agenda, and a rousing castigation of political correctness: If proof were needed that dictatorship exacerbates environmental damage, wastes human talents and entrenches poverty, delegates to this summit need look no farther than Zimbabwe next door, where the obsessions of an African tyrant have damaged urban livelihoods and agricultural productivity alike. In this African breadbasket, six million now face food shortages as needless as they are acute. Yet at this summit, Robert Mugabe’s courteous reception is assured. Until sustainable development, in all its environmental and economic dimensions, is recognised as an essentially political challenge, conferences like this, and the recent one in Monterrey, will be exercises in hypocrisy that invite rising derision. Further: It is dictatorship, not freewheeling capitalism, that has landed the world with its greatest man-made environmental disasters. No wonder they used to call the paper The Thunderer (is that right? Someone correct me - anyone out there?). Glenn Reynolds (aka Instapundit) also has a link to a New York Times opinion piece by the Sceptical Environmentalist, Bjorn Lomborg.  Food for thought, and once again, directly opposed to the global consensus or conventional wisdom.  I'd like to comment on it, but that is the subject of another, complex post.  Stay tuned! 6:30:49 PM    comment []

A couple of lady bloggers (I hesitate to say "babebloggers"), Shelley Powers (aka BurningBird or BurningZilla) and Dorothea (Caveat Lector(zilla?)) have started using the tagline "An unnatural manifestation of androgynous weblogging" on their weblogs, stemming from a fast and furious debate about sexism with the oblivious Doc Searlls, who has been travelling, attending conferences, and seeking out wireless connections, and is probably unaware of the storm he started.  Well then, how about this potential tagline, carelessly clipped from a New York Times piece about the basest instincts of the Web? "the febrile fantasies of adolescent boys and middle-aged men?" I don't think I will use it personally, since I am alternately one or the other of those male stereotypes, and in both roles,  prone to febrile fantasies, so I must declare a conflict of interest.  But I offer it to the weblogging community nonetheless. 5:25:24 PM    comment []

Good morning from Tsilivi, Zakynthos.  I've just logged on, and up on my screen, courtesy of the BBC, I have Thabo Mbeki droning on in his inimitable fashion, opening the World Earth Summit, or the Jo'burg Junket, as I have christened it.  The BBC's lead article sets the scene for the week, including a video report from Hilary Andersson, one of my favourite reporters, with whom I had the pleasure of sharing a R&R break at the High Rustenberg Hydro in Stellenbosch, back in February.  And Rageh Omaar has an interview with another of my favourite ladies, fellow-Capetonian Cheryl Carolus, currently "deployed"  as head of SA Tourism. Checking in with the Daily Summit weblog (which must be a mammoth undertaking), I see they very sensibly post highlights of last week's coverage in their first Monday morning post (thank you, guys). They quote a marvellously cynical piece from Moneyweb (actually, a savage hatchet job on Greenpace) - I suppose it is very easy to be cynical, and I am probably guilty of that too, I must try and focus on the positive, because God knows, we all need to do something to ensure the future of the world.  Let's wait and see what comes of the discussions, and what action is taken following the summit. Daily Summit also has an interview with Dr Jane Goodall, who is a genuine hero(ine).  She expresses similar misgivings as I and many others have regarding the Summit: "It's horrifying to think of the waste the summit will cause," she says. "All these delegates having huge and fancy meals while so many people all around are starving. It just doesn't make sense. But I have to be here. Kofi Annan put me on his panel advising on sustainable development. So I can't avoid being here."   11:52:21 AM    comment []

We're everywhere (2) I came across some South African webloggers a couple of days ago.  First a pointer to a formidable set of interviews with a Capetonian called Mike Golby - very wordy, so I'm going to have to download and read offline.  Same applies to his weblog.  He, in turn, pointed me to Alka Larkan, Nithia Govender, and Farrago.  Some more blogs to try and keep up with! 1:32:47 AM    comment []

Burning Bird (aka Shelley Powers) draws my attention to the fact that there is another weblog devoted to the Earth Summit.  Must go take a look. 1:09:18 AM    comment []