SNight

https://22tracks.com/par/deephouse/70663

Religion

Far be it from me to tell politicians (and military bureaucracies) how to do their jobs. But there are human limits not to cross, and I fear that in the case of the Syrian Arab Republic, we may be crossing them.

Ten thousand bombs have been dropped on ISI so far. They are living in tunnels - kilometers of them - under what used to be cities. We reproach them being cavalier towads women, but let's admit things are pretty extreme, and there is no Prom night.

That country needs to be rebuilt from the ground up; we should be thinking about ways to make that happen.

                                                                         * * *

Voltaire wanted to see parallels between the Hindu concept of Brahman - the universal consciousness which ensures that prayer is efficient - and the Hebrew (and Islamic) person of Abraham. Such questions take us back beyond research, and relies on to intuition. We'll probably never know, but I cannot help but feel that someone 'did coffee' even if it is not in the historical record. We are often tempted to blame religion for many ills, but that need not be. Religion is also a positive thing, and bringing the Hindu tradition (which is not centralised) into the equation might ease tensions.

                                                                          * * *

http://www.lefigaro.fr/economie/le-scan-eco/dessous-chiffres/2015/11/19/29006-20151119ARTFIG00006-petrole-taxes-donations-trafics-d-humains-comment-daech-se-finance.php

TGiving

Bought a rapid yeast, and tried my hand at the following dessert for TGiving:

The outcome:

Tastes more like a cookie than a cake, but who's complaining. It's fine with vanilla ice cream and frozen raspberries. And it will go swimmingly in a morning cereal bowl!!

 

 

HAPPY THANKSGIVING, AMERICA!

Changing Colors

 

Felt like changing things this morning. One can change the color of one's CHROME page with an extension, which keeps the color choice on the browser.Yes!

 

 

 

 Once installed, one merely needs to choose from the proposed palette:

 

 

 A bit strong!

 

 This is okay, but the window border needs to go, and that is on Windows settings:

 

Go to Control Panel, and type in color scheme. Then, 'change window border'. You can change color intensity for just that shade:

Et voilà, winter colors:

 

Funny Thing

Monday morning here, at doxa. To kick off the week: jokes on Belgians. For those who didn't know, yes,  it is a genre.And there are assuredly Belgian jokes about the French. Why even Belgians find jokes about themselves amusing and ask for them from stand-up comics (...Don't get me started!)

http://www.blablagues.net/blagues-belges.html

And while we're there, found the website Cracked, which currently has a piece from someone who has read through the entire Dabiq opus:

http://www.cracked.com/blog/isis-wants-us-to-invade-7-facts-revealed-by-their-magazine/

Inneresting!

PsychoA

source: le Monde
Soren Seelow, in an interview with psychoanalyst Fethi Benslama
translation: doxa-louise

...

Historical traumas have long waves of propagation

especially so when an ideology feeds the masses. They are

transmitted from one generation to the other so that certain

individuals become the inheritors of infamy, be they aware of

the facts or not. The year 1924 sees the end of the last Islamic

Empire, 624 years old, the abolition of the Caliphate, that is to say the

principle of theologicla-political sovereignty for Islam, and the foundation

of the first secular government in Turkey. The Ottoman territory is parcelled and

occupied by colonial powers, Muslims go from masters to servants in their

own house. It is the collapse of a 1400 year old era, the end to the illusion of unity

and power. Thus begins a melancholy murmur on the dissolution of an

Islam which no longer exists.


The symptom of this historical fracture is the beginnings, in 1928, of the

Muslimsm Brotherhood, which is the transformation as an organization of

what one could designate the theory of 'the wounded Islamic ideal' which needs to

be avenged. Islamism promises the return of the caliphate by a defeat of States.

This reaction is multi-faceted: literal, puritanical, science-worshiping, political or

war-mongering. It carries a memory of the trauma and projects it to the

bad news dailies of suffering populations, military expeditions from the West and Civil

Wars.

...

http://www.lemonde.fr/societe/article/2015/11/12/pour-les-desesperes-l-islamisme-radical-est-un-produit-excitant_4808430_3224.html

Attack-a-Day

Feeling overwhelmed today, by the attack-a-day turn things seem
to be taking. Good to stay clear about what is going on. I am
not so sure one should one should keep Islam out of it. It seems
the ultimate battle between good and evil (Dabiq) creates many enemies:
the apostate (Shia Muslims), hypocrites(Al Qaeda) and Crusaders (the
degenerate and/or oppressive West).

A note of sanity here: a team from l'Uqam is offering a guidebook on how to
help prevent extremism in one's community, in French and English:

http://trev.uqam.ca/

                                 

Tea flavoured

Made a cake with green tea yesterday. It isn't that dramatic green that shows up on certain pastries because I couldn't find Matcha, green tea powder. I just emptied two green tea bags into the cake.

This cake has quality ingredients; it is made with actual butter, real vanilla, walnuts.
At first, I found the taste a bit disconcerting; yep, that's tea mixed in with a fine vanilla
cake. It is better the next day, and is quite good if one pours fruit salad and juice on it.

Paris Love

The Middle East is like that: the sky is blue, impertinently so, and there is sunshine
everyday. Indeed all days are the same, there is no real weather to speak of, no spleen,
no mood, no surprise. Perhaps this is an element in the making of a warrior
susceptible to accepting suicide missions, no one is in seasonal depression.

Comments on the Internet nailed it: those dudes are on the wrong drugs, bro.
Nowhere to go but heaven.

And then after a few days in a terrorist-possible place, one starts to think
differently. One doesn't stay anywhere very long. A day at the beach, na.
Sitting at a terrace, why?. 'You go to the event, friend' thinking, at least one
of us will survive. I remember concluding it would be nice to return to grey
old Paris-in-the-winter. Because it was a safe haven.

                                                  *  *  *
What has Paris become? It always feels a little insulting to read the ideas of people
from other large cities.

Paris has kept the look of a 19th Century city, a homogeneous look. Very impressive
with large boulevards but at a price. The city is transforming into a showplace no one
would actually live in with a family to feed and a dog.

The demographics of the victims of the Bataclan were witnesses to this. It is Right
Bank Paris, with people from the arts, television, law, publicity. Not really a student
affair, but 20s, 30s and even some white hairs,  alcohol on sale at the back. 'Creatives'
are a new work category, people who make culture work. This is who was at the
Bataclan, creatives, arguably relaxing from the week, but also working still, in a way.
Watching a mature group from California have fun with music.

                                            *  *  *
Political commentators in Paris often express fear the The Front National is
becoming politically strong, and that Marine Le Pen might be the next President
of the Republic. They bemoan that the French are becoming like the Front National.
Actually, it is the contrary that is happening; the Front National is becoming like
 everyone else. Sharing a city with terrorism does that; everybody's number is up.
C'est comme ça!

Derrida

I'm never ashamed of Philosophy, that awesome quest for truth.

Below, Jacques Derrida(1930-2004), the French philosopher known for 'deconstruction'. He was the son of Sephardic Jewish parents (Spanish judaism, as opposed to Ashkenazi judaism, which is German).

His work is very large, and considered close to incomprehensible in certain Anglo-Saxon circles.

To my mind, deconstruction is the technological cogito, clearing the mind of how technology situates and determines us. Why bring this up? The internet group Anonymous just declared war on ISIS, essentially saying that ISIS should be deprived of access to the Net which is being used against us. Just a reminder, when we are seeking deprivation of access, that access itself is not neutral, that the game is already engaged.

Indeed - and here I presume - one could do a Derrida analysis of just how human consciousness within ISIS is taking forms of expession it would not otherwise, perhaps being forced to identify itself with a cinematic Islam!?

Debate

source: MSN Switzerland

RFI, Mulriel Delcroix

translation: doxa-louise


For the United Kingdom, the Possibility of Air Strikes on Syria is raised again
The Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the Paris attacks, carried out according to the organization as reprisal for strikes on Syria. For tge moment, the United Kingdom participates in bombarments against them in Irak, but not in Syria. Because the Parliament voted against an intervention in 2013. Current events are bringing back the debate on such possible strikes.

...

Parisian

Il faut comprendre son époque...let's make sense of our times. The rock concert was of my time, not that of this generation, a celebration of innocence. Things have changed quit a bit since then.

The most obvious and mind-bending change is the explosion of population everywhere, including the Middle East. Run-away demographics in a society ruled by tradition is dangerous. For everyone.
Yes, great strides in medecine and hygiene have made a longer life and larger families possible. Unfortunately we neglected to export the capacity to adapt socially to that.

What was progressive and life enhancing a long time ago is not necessarily now.

# I AM A PARISIAN

Medecine

source: le Monde

author: Paul Bankimoun

translation: doxa-louise

At Lariboisière Hospital, "it was war medecine"

Professor Rémy Nizard is an orthopedic surgeon at Lariboisière Hospital. He was
responsible for the patients from the November 13 attacks.

Which patients were sent to Lariboisière Hospital?

All of our teams were on duty yesterday, because our hospital center is situated
smack in the zone which received most attacks.

We saw many who were present at the Bataclan at the time of the attacks: twenty
at Lariboisière, some thirty at Saint-Louis, which is situated across from the Le
petit Cambodge restaurant, also, the object of an attack. There were, notably,
people who came in on their own with upper limb injuries.

What kinds of injuries did you see?

The people we saw presented injuries of variable seriousness. Some were very severely
hurt: they had received a bullet in the head or neck, or with a splintering of the eye
socket which might mean loss of the eye.

We saw many fractures to the leg, the thighbone, the ankle, the humerus. One man
had received a bullet that went through his knee before fracturing the tibia. These are
injuries due to high energy projectiles. To this we must add major neurological legions
which might well have fonctional consequences.

How did you deal with this influx of the seriously wounded?

It was war medecine. I was a surgery intern at the time of the Attacks on the rue de
Rennes in Paris (1986). This reminded me of what I had seen then. The difference
being that now we are better equipped.

The care teams were wonderful, doctors and nurses. This might look like nothing but
we needed, for example, personnel to strerilize the boxes of surgical instruments,
without which it would have been impossible to treat the next set of patients. This is
essential. Personnel came back to pitch in, including many who had quit to
work in  private practice.

doxa-science

*  *  *

source:Sceptical Science

But wait a minute: we are in an era of population growth, so human CO2 just joins the line-up waiting to be recycled. And we eat animals, who eat a lot of plants. And they breathe too...

Shout-Out for Climate

The concensus on CO2 driven climate change does have the great virtue of calming the most virulent environmentalists - and why deprive ourselves, here - but is it really altogether wise to rely on this 'story' to base government policies for the next century.

The first climate change analysis was done to benefit the nuclear industry in England, under Margaret Thatcher. And has grown from there.  As the below Arte documentary explores, there are other findings that might be of equal interest.

The key to harmonization of these different findings has to be time scale: short term fluctuations -which even-out or lead to behaviours, whatever is the case - seen within long-term trends. And one should not be afraid to do isolate analysis: the oceans might heat more as a function of  cosmic mechanisms, land masses from behavioural changes. How do we know? Perso, I would measure change with respect to outside temperature for oceans (that -18°C) and look to human activity for land masses. And refine from there.

Because seen from an observer perspective, that Paris conference looks awfully fragile, something of a loss opportunity before it even begins. We need adult behaviour from everybody, here.

RegExp (W3Schools)

Search a string for "Crazy!", and display the position of the match: Let's get Crazy!

KeystoneXL

 

What is at stake is Phase4, a second route to the refineries on the Gulf of Mexico for Alberta.



The major environmental concern is the effect on the aquifer which lies below the juncture point. It furnishes water to 30% of the US population, and is already fragile from overuse. The con argument is that over the 50 years of life of this pipeline, one could expect a certain number of spills, and wonder if they can be stopped and cleaned up in an orderly fashion.

Environmental Impact Assessment has one flaw as a procedure: it pits industry against environmentalists in an adversarial procedure. One can fear VW syndrome from industry,where they are tempted to cheat to just get on with it. In truth, a pipeline is meant to be less disruptive than over ground transport. Industry is a stakeholder in environmentalprotection. Engineers are smart people and could see this as an opportunity to innovate.

Both Canada and the US would be moving oil on this pipeline. The leave it in the groundargument is unanswerable, and it is true that the market price for oil is low. But it is low because of abundant supply...

True, Alberta oil is doing ugly things to the landscape. As an industry, the measures forsafety and security for its workers are excellent.

A Canadian firm is the protagonist here; not sure how it ended up not having American partners.

LegacyR

Temperature is falling and I'm okay with it. Just made a legacy recipe for date nut bread; the one where the dates are soaked in boiling water, and its brown sugar because margarine hadn't even been invented. Below:

http://www.joyofbaking.com/breakfast/DateWalnutBread.html

PhotoFun

In the age of digital photography, there is no real original photo but only luminance data. Most cameras will present an optimized jpeg as the photo, but that is a convenience.

Photobooth Jpeg:

Greyscale ie all the shades of luminance available:

Straightened, cropped, and adjusted. The available luminance is always the same, but greyscale with filters in various combinations will bring out different aspects:

The controls on PhotoBooth:

Mortality

Internet News (Le Monde) reported yesterday the rather astounding results of a recent study in the U.S.: White adults are doing less well than their Black counterparts: they have a lowered life expectancy. Why? Noteworthy, this is true of less educated whites at fifty, those with no post-secondary education that an earlier generation would have called working class. In effect, these workers are ravaged by drugs, alcohol and sciatica (overwork).

The presenting article seems to think we are dealing with the effects of stress due to competition, but I would tend to see it differently. To my mind, they are exhausted consumers, consumers of everything: yes, drugs, alcohol, but also of work and leisure. The movie critic Pauline Kael called it years ago: employment has become our last area of heroism, it is a priviledge we compete to enter. And in current times, chilling with Netflix has become something of an achievement as well, so that working and not working, playing and not playing, have become equally exhausting.

Am I advocating regression? In a way; there are stages to aging, ways to let go of youth. Without hurtling oneself forward...

http://www.lemonde.fr/ameriques/article/2015/11/03/hausse-inedite-du-taux-de-mortalite-au-sein-de-la-population-blanche-americaine-la-moins-eduquee_4801740_3222.html