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Tin Hau Temple

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Noodle shop

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Monday, cloud patrol

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Metal worker

Caspar Babypants: Free Like a Bird

For the weekend, a guilty pleasure.

Cheep, cheep!

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Shop

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Wall

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Windbreak

Dark Spring

The New Yorker magazine's latest cover; timely and apposite, it's by Christoph Niemann.

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Early morning coastal fog

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Restaurant

Deolinda: Parva que sou!

For the weekend, a guilty pleasure.

How dumb am I? Portuguese fado for contemporary times. . .


English subtitles included
Update: click on arrow to right of '360p' then click on 'cc'

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Jade merchant

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Street cleaning crew

A Time-Lapse Map of Every Nuclear Explosion Since 1945

by Isao Hashimoto
(Things start slowly, but, unfortunately, soon speed up)

Thanks, Lincoln!

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Window

Japan earthquake 2011: online donations

So much damage. So much destruction. So much loss. So much grief. So many tears.

Donate to Hong Kong Red Cross: Japan earthquake 2011

Elsewhere: google crisis response

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Sunday

Benga & Coki: Night

For the weekend, a guilty pleasure.

Some South London dubstep/grime . . .



Thanks to smogsblog.wordpress.com for pointing out the earlier and now deleted weekend post was a duplicate! D'uh!

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Roof

Ezra Pound: Selected Poems and Translations (1908-69)

In A Station Of The Metro

The apparition of these faces in the crowd;
Petals on a wet, black bough.

Ezra Pound, writing in the devil’s metres: NewStatesman

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Thank you for shopping

Women hold up half the sky

International Women's Day (8 March 2011). . .

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Village square

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Sunday

John Cleese, Ronnie Barker, Ronnie Corbett: Class

For the weekend, a guilty pleasure.

Tales from the motherland. . .

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Dai pai dong

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Bricks

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Doorway

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Satellite dish

Suze Rotolo: RIP

Tomorrow Is A Long Time

There’s beauty in the silver, singin’ river
There’s beauty in the sunrise in the sky
But none of these and nothing else can touch the beauty
That I remember in my true love’s eyes
Yes, and only if my own true love was waitin’
Yes, and if I could hear her heart a-softly poundin’
Only if she was lyin’ by me
Then I’d lie in my bed once again

For reasons unknown to mister bijou this gorgeous love song, although written in 1962 and recorded in 1963, didn't make it onto to Dylan's second album, the awesome and groundbreaking The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan. We would have to wait nine years to hear it on the equally awesome double album Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits, Vol. 2.

So it goes.

Dylan's lover, muse, teacher and girl-on-the-cover Suze Rotolo died 24 February 2011: Suze Rotolo/Rolling Stone

Also, Suze Rotolo (1943-2011): village voice

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Sunday, village square

A Guy Called Gerald: Voodoo Ray

For the weekend, a guilty pleasure.

Time for some foot-tappin' acid house. . .

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Noodle shop

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Dai pai dong

W. H. Auden: Epitaph on a Tyrant

Perfection, of a kind, was what he was after,
And the poetry he invented was easy to understand;
He knew human folly like the back of his hand,
And was greatly interested in armies and fleets;
When he laughed, respectable senators burst with laughter,
And when he cried the little children died in the streets.

W. H. Auden
21 February 1907 - 29 September 1973

Bertrand Russell: Message to the Future

For the weekend, a guilty pleasure.

Bertrand Russell interviewed in 1959 on the BBC programme Face to Face:



Bertrand Russell: wiki

Russell's In Praise of Idleness

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Back street

Bob Dylan: Hong Kong tour dates

According to boblinks:

4/3/11		Taipei, Taiwan - Taipei Arena	details
4/6/11		Beijing, China - Workers Gymnasium	details
4/8/11		Shanghai, China - Grand Stage	details
4/10/11		Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam - RMIT University	details
4/12/11		Hong Kong - Star Hall, Kowloon Bay	details
4/12/11		Hong Kong - Star Hall, Kowloon Bay	details
4/15/11		Singapore - Timbre Rock & Roots Festival	details
4/17/11		Fremantle, Australia - West Coast Blues 'n' Roots	details
4/19/11		Adelaide, AustraliaAdelaide Entertainment Centre	details
4/20/11		Melbourne, AustraliaRod Laver Arena	details
4/23/11		Wollongong, AustraliaWIN Entertainment Centre	details
4/25/11		Byron Bay, Australia - Byron Bay Bluesfest	details
4/26/11		Byron Bay, Australia - Byron Bay Bluesfest	details
4/27/11		Sydney, AustraliaSydney Entertainment Centre	details
4/30/11		Auckland, New ZealandVector Arena	details

(dates are American style: month/day/year)

Oh, the Hong Kong dates are unconfirmed and represent shows that are under consideration by management. They may or may not happen.

The six emotions of revolution. . .

. . . are fear, humiliation, anger, dignity, exhilaration, pride.

They're not the same folks they were three weeks ago. They've tasted freedom; they've tasted power; they've re-invented themselves; they've become human in the full sense of the word.

3quarksdaily

St. Valentine's Day

Robert Indiana

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Sunday

Sout al Horeya (the sound of freedom) -- Hany Adel, Amir Eid, Hawary, and Sherif Mostafa

For the weekend, a guilty pleasure.

Uninstalling dictator . . . 100% complete ███████████

I went down and I said I am not coming back, and I wrote on every street wall that I am not coming back.
All barriers have been broken down, our weapon was our dream, and the future is crystal clear to us, we have been waiting for a long time, we are still searching for our place, we keep searching for a place we belong too, in every corner in our country.
The sound of freedom is calling, in every street corner in our country, the sound of freedom is calling.
We will re-write history, if you are one of us, join us and don't stop us from fulfilling our dream.
The sound of freedom is calling.

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Chinese New Year street lighting

Egypt: El Mahalla el Kubra

Egypt uprising has its roots in a mill town: Los Angeles Times

April 6 Youth Movement (حركة شباب 6 أبريل‎) : wikipedia

Statement of the April 6 Movement on 6 February 2011: jadaliyya

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Monday afternoon

Contacted by Canon Care today . . . they have to get hold of a 'spare part' for the (still within warranty) Powershot G11. That, they say, may take two to three weeks, after which the 'repair process' should take three to five days. So that's mid-March. . .

Until then, a somewhat unfocused result produced by the old G7 . . . grhhh.

Interview with a pro-democracy activist at Tahrir Square, Cairo

This interview is from several days ago but I think it is still worth watching.



I want to marry her.

Her name is Mona Seif and I will be keeping an eye out for her in the days, weeks and months to come.

Why?

Mubarak's agents of state security have not been abolished, they continue to arrest, beat, and "disappear" anyone they care to.

She is sure to be on their list.

Many have already been "disappeared", including Google executive and online activist Wael Ghonim. Here he is being snatched from a demo by plain-clothes thugs: youtube

He hasn't been seen or heard of since.

Radio Citizen feat Bajka: The Hop

For the weekend, a guilty please.

Be ready to fly on the street . . .

Egypt: day of departure

Egypt's organized opposition groups (click on image to enlarge). Update: "It's worth pointing out that a lot of the younger Egyptians regard these parties as irrelevant and are more attracted towards non-party activism or movements like Kifaya ("Enough")."

As I write it is just after 1pm in Cairo and today, Friday, is the "day of departure".

Tahrir (Liberation) Square is very full. The army is searching all who enter the square to try and weed out any armed pro-Mubarak thugs.

Al Jazerra live stream: here

If that stream is too 'choppy', go to Al Jazeera's youtube channel and scroll down that page.

Elsewhere, Guardian live blog for continual updates

To all, stay safe

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Chinese New Year (3-5 February 2011)

Year of the Rabbit

To everyone . . . Kung Hei Fat Choi!

(and stay safe)

Egypt: when and when not to tweet

This is a follow-up to the previous post.

Worth noting that in the weeks prior to the commencement of street demonstrations beginning on 25 January 2011 in Cairo and other Egyptian cities, people were requested NOT to use facebook or twitter for organizing. Both networks were being monitored by the state security services, organizations which had a long history of defending the state and not the people.

Things have changed. These days, the security services are too busy shredding, burning and burying documents: economist

Egypt: speak2tweet

Some engineers from Google, Twitter and a company called SayNow have now set up a service where people in Egypt can phone in to one of three voicemail numbers and the message will be converted to a tweet and posted: googleblog

Elsewhere, live stream Al Jazeera English

Photos: Women of the Egyptian Revolution

Photo compilation by Leil-Zahra Mortada: democratic underground

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Monday afternoon

Oh, by the way, for anyone who is interested . . . the absence of photos for the last two weeks has been due to:

(a) the unremitting cold weather and (b) the current camera (Canon G11) is with Canon's Customer Care Service [sob].

They say I'll have the camera back by 12 February [double sob].

Still, old habits, as they say, die hard. While the the old Canon G7 camera's ability to focus is now somewhat iffy, the urge to open and close the shutter persists!

Al Jazeera: Egypt

Been watching events in Egypt since Friday, thanks to Al Jazeera English's live stream. The news organization has crews in Egypt's capital Cairo as well as the cities of Alexandria and Suez.

Al Jazeera English has been superb: news, reported by bilingual journalists, and commented on by analysts who know what they're talking about.

Al Jazeera English live stream

Elsewhere, the role of Egypt's ultra football fans in the Egyptian revolt: War in Context

Translation of Egyptian pamphlet issued by activists just prior to the onset of the street demonstrations: nation

About an hour ago, the Al Jazeera office in Cairo was visited by plain-clothes 'security' officers who told Al Jazeera to take down their camera on the balcony and stop broadcasting. Al Jazeera has taken down their camera there, but they continue to broadcast images live from other parts of Cairo. . . reporters on the ground are, however, no longer being identified by name: Al Jazeera live blog

Again, Al Jazeera live stream

Adam Curtis: The Century of the Self

For the weekend, a guilty pleasure.

From Adam Curtis's documentary. This excerpt focuses on Edward Bernays . . . the man who realized other people's desires can be manipulated . . .

In praise of coffee

For the longest time, I used to drink "instant" all through the day. Then I stopped.

Why? Partly because one of Hong Kong's big supermarket chain stores on a little island in the South China Sea starting selling Melitta Italian Gourmet Medium-Strong Roast.

That, coupled with the fact I stumbled on a knock-off of an Italian expresso maker in one of the local hardware stores here on the island. Amazing.

Now I kickstart the day with a cup or two and then that's it, finito for the day!

Best way to make an expresso: Bialetti

Fifteen things worth knowing about coffee: oatmeal

Bob Dylan Arrived In New York City 50 Years Ago Today

Talkin' New York: village voice

Bob Dylan, side one, track two: Talkin' New York

Nat King Cole: Let's Face the Music and Dance

For the weekend, a guilty pleasure.

And, oh, what a pleasure . . . Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers . .

Weather report

Posts are liable to be episodic for the next ten days or so, in part due to the continuing cold spell.

To paraphrase one line from a song by blues man Buddy Guy, this weather don't suit my clothes.

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Brush strokes

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Dai pai dong

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Street corner

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Sunset

Brian Eno: Just Another Day

For the weekend, a guilty pleasure.

The video clip is a very cool 'time lapse' forest . . .

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Noon

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Doorway

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Fishing trawlers

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The third god (But who is he? What's he holding in his right hand. Why?)

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Two Chinese gods (but which two?)

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Tree line

Adele: Rolling in the Deep

For the weekend, a guilty pleasure.

A contemporary British 'dark bluesy gospel disco tune' . . .

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Noon

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Restaurant fish tank

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A 'slow' ferry

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11°C

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12°C