tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1141707904735688626.post8874232960459558128..comments2023-05-21T15:20:58.352+01:00Comments on The Untrusted: 07/01/10Montana Wildhackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11409705185204787671noreply@blogger.comBlogger111125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1141707904735688626.post-76499276081102593212010-01-08T01:03:18.380+00:002010-01-08T01:03:18.380+00:00I hear ya Monatana.
Another economical way to go ...I hear ya Monatana. <br />Another economical way to go would be to get those microwavable beanie bags and hot water bottles (old fashioned but most efficient); my pet peeves being cold toes and cold bed to get into.Mchicahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15641096808067270973noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1141707904735688626.post-29401037077546511172010-01-08T00:54:05.007+00:002010-01-08T00:54:05.007+00:00Hi Montana
Hope you are snug with sprog. My break...Hi Montana<br /><br />Hope you are snug with sprog. My breakfast duty with the bigger one starts in four hours. So i should probably turn in soon.medvehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07982421185865375366noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1141707904735688626.post-23647835156954273822010-01-08T00:44:40.974+00:002010-01-08T00:44:40.974+00:00G'night, Hank and hi Mchica! It is cold. The...G'night, Hank and hi Mchica! It is cold. The furnace doesn't keep up with it, either, so layers are vital, even indoors. Could crank up the thermostat, but then I'd have to pay for it. And so would my grandchildren. :-)Montana Wildhackhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11409705185204787671noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1141707904735688626.post-61935352759032305212010-01-08T00:28:36.691+00:002010-01-08T00:28:36.691+00:00We'll pick this up again some other time, sche...We'll pick this up again some other time, scherf. <br /><br />Hope you've got plenty of essential supplies in, Montana!<br /><br />Off to bed, nite all xHankScorpiohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13220200282805558779noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1141707904735688626.post-44527764650669027912010-01-08T00:27:53.324+00:002010-01-08T00:27:53.324+00:00Hi everybody!
Montana that sound like crazy cold! ...Hi everybody!<br />Montana that sound like crazy cold! Be warm be safe.<br />Seems like I will be clocking in when the majority are asleep, just like CiF.Mchicahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15641096808067270973noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1141707904735688626.post-8099001419201779712010-01-08T00:18:38.129+00:002010-01-08T00:18:38.129+00:00Scherf - interesting, but it's still also rare...Scherf - interesting, but it's still also rare or uncommon in South Asian and East Asian countries with Muslim majorities. So it is an African Muslim issue rather than a Muslim issue per se, isn't it?<br /><br />Which was the point BB was making, I think.<br /><br />Not sure why I'm pursuing this argument tbh, scherf. <br /><br />My own view is that ideologies, religions and cultures tend to be crosscutting (ie watering each other down) in "successful" societies. The alternative is to have "reinforcing" patterns, societies like Northern Ireland or the former Yugoslavia, where religion, tradition and politics unite to create "failed states".HankScorpiohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13220200282805558779noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1141707904735688626.post-7077008446719618882010-01-08T00:02:41.260+00:002010-01-08T00:02:41.260+00:00My Dearest Untrustees
First of all, i must say th...My Dearest Untrustees<br /><br />First of all, i must say that your aggregate knowledge of Dutch is probably sufficient to launch a Dutch language newspaper or blog for all i care, more erudite than the British newspaper (not the Nigerian one) named after "a small un-regarded<br />yellow star somewhere at the unfashionable end of the<br />western spiral arm of the galaxy". I am very pleased. <br /><br />Forgive me for my absence, as i went out to the "pub" to think about FGM after one of my children had set off to the land of dreams. He had had to have a tetanus booster jab today, the poor one, and so i took him out of school and to his doctor, a very kind, understanding, and knowledgeable woman. He's got tomorrow off school as well. My son didn't want to have this jab, but he was coerced into it. I think that it is probably wise to have the shot, but my son would certainly rather have taken his chances without. He submitted to it "voluntarily", but i think it was still coercion.<br /><br />Please do not think that i am in any way comparing FGM with what happened to my son today, god forbid. I am thinking about coerced interventions on children that's all.<br /><br />I went out because we have the wrong kind of snow, at least from the point of view of being snowed in. We do have spots of under-cooled rain which freezes as soon as it hits anything, but it isn't too serious. I am rooting for those coping with large amounts and brrrr low temps.medvehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07982421185865375366noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1141707904735688626.post-48859105806686901332010-01-07T23:47:53.974+00:002010-01-07T23:47:53.974+00:00Ah -- have the tv news on and our district has alr...Ah -- have the tv news on and our district has already cancelled for tomorrow -- it's on the crawl.Montana Wildhackhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11409705185204787671noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1141707904735688626.post-45986050407226763112010-01-07T23:44:54.229+00:002010-01-07T23:44:54.229+00:00-15° isn't all that rare. We get a cold snap ...-15° isn't all that rare. We get a cold snap like this at least once per winter. Usually we can expect to be in single-digit sub-zero (Celsius) temperatures from late November/early December through to mid-March. Getting above 0° during that time is unusual. Double-digit negative temperatures are usually limited to brief spells only between Dec-Feb.<br /><br />It's the howling winds that we've got right now that make the temperatures dangerous -- they intensify the cold and mean that you can get frostbite on exposed flesh within about a minute.<br /><br />And, of course, it makes trying to clear away the snow futile. Ten minutes later, it will all be back. Visibility on rural roads will be nearly non-existent. <br /><br />Whether or not school is cancelled tomorrow, there is no way that my son & I will be there, as I'm sure the snow won't be cleared away from in front of our door & the car wouldn't start without a jump start.Montana Wildhackhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11409705185204787671noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1141707904735688626.post-35764015613280444862010-01-07T23:42:51.996+00:002010-01-07T23:42:51.996+00:0039p is the cheapest price on there, MW. Think I mi...39p is the cheapest price on there, MW. Think I might go for it and relive my pre-cynical youth. Just need to find a copy of that book where the rabbits lobby successfully to block the plans for a bypass...HankScorpiohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13220200282805558779noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1141707904735688626.post-2339438625941988992010-01-07T23:31:41.301+00:002010-01-07T23:31:41.301+00:00Hank -- £3.80 from amazon.co.uk. Everyone should ...Hank -- <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Phantom-Tollbooth-Essential-Modern-Classics/dp/0007263481/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1262906793&sr=8-1" rel="nofollow">£3.80 from amazon.co.uk</a>. Everyone should own a copy.Montana Wildhackhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11409705185204787671noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1141707904735688626.post-4649375345636383052010-01-07T23:30:01.758+00:002010-01-07T23:30:01.758+00:00We do care, Montana. I'm guessing most of us i...We do care, Montana. I'm guessing most of us identify a bit more given that we are having a really unusually bad spell of weather ("waever" - that's a really bad spell of weather) here in the motherland ourselves, and are having to learn how to drive, to walk, to make hot beefy Bovril from melted snow and ice...<br /><br />Is it unusually cold for Iowa as well, or just a typical January? And have you got another day off school tomorrow? (-;HankScorpiohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13220200282805558779noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1141707904735688626.post-15260673761169935672010-01-07T23:25:14.904+00:002010-01-07T23:25:14.904+00:00Scherf - as I said above, I'm speaking from a ...Scherf - as I said above, I'm speaking from a position of ignorance and am happy to be enlightened. If FGM isn't widely practiced in the ME or in South Asian strongholds of the fundamentalist Islamists, why is it practiced widely in Africa and, more to the point (your point), Muslim societies in Africa?<br /><br />Maybe it's the case that Africa generally has always suffered from a macho culture, and that the local strain of Islamism has sought popularity by appealing to this dominant culture? Which would imply that Islamism is not monolithic but flexible, pragmatic and cynical. Which would explain its durability and success, no?<br /><br />Is FGM unknown/uncommon in predominantly Christian/notIslamic countries in Africa?HankScorpiohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13220200282805558779noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1141707904735688626.post-66680081380735747812010-01-07T23:18:58.623+00:002010-01-07T23:18:58.623+00:00Not that any of you care, but there is so much sno...Not that any of you care, but there is so much snow piled up outside my front door right now that the sprog & I are, quite literally, trapped inside our flat. The wind is still howling and we're supposed to get more snow tonight. It's currently -15°C, but the wind chill factor makes it feel like -31°.Montana Wildhackhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11409705185204787671noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1141707904735688626.post-10814913203765611352010-01-07T23:12:04.145+00:002010-01-07T23:12:04.145+00:00I'm looking out the window at 8" of snow ...I'm looking out the window at 8" of snow and wondering why it was I agreed to go into London tomorrow to do a case.<br /><br />I must be bloody bonkers. But as it will mean getting up at the crack of sparrow fart, if only to clear the snow off the car, I better get to bed now. Meh.<br /><br />Night night all xxBeautifulBurnouthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02904723758901189624noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1141707904735688626.post-49286898272828737792010-01-07T23:07:57.386+00:002010-01-07T23:07:57.386+00:00"As ever, very little ever came of it."
..."As ever, very little ever came of it."<br /><br />You're far too self-deprecating, PeterJ.<br /><br />Hi Montana - is The Phantom Tollbooth still in print? I remember reading it in junior school. Left it on the coach when we had a school trip to London Zoo in my rush to feed egg sandwiches and Wagon Wheels to the chimps, so I never found out how it ended for Milo(?).HankScorpiohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13220200282805558779noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1141707904735688626.post-55568872709343352002010-01-07T23:00:32.452+00:002010-01-07T23:00:32.452+00:00"...then it is also, if not primarily, a reli..."...then it is also, if not primarily, a religious issue. To pretend otherwise is foolish."<br /><br />I haven't read the thread, and know nothing of the facts, but that's never stopped me expressing an opinion, so, here goes:<br /><br />BB has said that the practice of FGM is widespread in certain African countries, whether predominantly Christian or Muslim. More so than in societies which are otherwise dominated by Islamic fundies, such as Af/Pak. I don't know whether that's true but I'll accept her take on it.<br /><br />That being so, it seems to me that the practice is predominantly cultural and geographically centred, ie in Africa. Given that the practice is prevalent in both Christian and Muslim societies in Africa, it seems self-evidently true to say that it is an African issue, which I understand to be BB's view, ie as opposed to being another stick with which to beat Islam.<br /><br />I can't be arsed to read the thread itself, scherf, but if BB was trying to steer the argument away from the usual Islamaphobic bilge that passes for comment these days over there, I'm with her all the way.<br /><br />I'm not a fan of cultural relativism. I think that certain values are universal. One of which is objective reality, ie the truth.HankScorpiohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13220200282805558779noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1141707904735688626.post-80148259135146946152010-01-07T22:58:30.927+00:002010-01-07T22:58:30.927+00:00I have no idea who Monkey's latest incarnation...I have no idea who Monkey's latest incarnation is, unless he calls people after sex toys...BeautifulBurnouthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02904723758901189624noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1141707904735688626.post-13853121454406120562010-01-07T22:55:47.326+00:002010-01-07T22:55:47.326+00:00Gosh, I was just reminded for some reason that I w...Gosh, I was just reminded for some reason that I was picked up in an Eindhoven bar, in November 1978, by a lovely girl from 's Hertogenbosch... She had a VW beetle. Err... Marti Nejts, yes, that was her name.<br /><br />Had her address for years and years. As ever, very little ever came of it.PeterJhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16395768714207313299noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1141707904735688626.post-91095072670551033582010-01-07T22:51:46.944+00:002010-01-07T22:51:46.944+00:00Monkeyfish: I have been enjoying the comments of ...<b>Monkeyfish</b>: I have been enjoying the comments of what I believe is your current Cif incarnation immensely and I shall be very disappointed if he is banned.<br /><br /><b>Hank</b>: I saw Mazza's piece just after they'd put it up and nearly put an 'alert' to it here.<br /><br />Only Dutch words I remember: achterluik and sneetjes.Montana Wildhackhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11409705185204787671noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1141707904735688626.post-43449021973690506112010-01-07T22:45:59.316+00:002010-01-07T22:45:59.316+00:00Fair dos, scherf. I condemn it unreservedly too, ...Fair dos, scherf. I condemn it unreservedly too, as I said in another one of my posts on there. I was just trying to deflect the usual anti-islamist suspects on the thread.BeautifulBurnouthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02904723758901189624noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1141707904735688626.post-12527329302560302912010-01-07T22:41:42.073+00:002010-01-07T22:41:42.073+00:00Thanks BB, but dissidentjunk's explanation is ...Thanks BB, but dissidentjunk's explanation is irrelevant to the situation today. Is FGM cultural, geographical or religious? Or all three? It doesn't really matter. I have little time for sensitivity and relativism on this issue. And to ignore the religious aspect of the practise (whether Muslim or Christian) for fear of offending is nonsensical. When imams support the practise and justify it by quoting certain hadiths, then it is <b>also</b>, if not primarily, a religious issue. To pretend otherwise is foolish. btw, I think princesschipchops made some very good comments on the FGM thread.<br /><br />Some figures from Sudan:<br /><br /><i>Muslim women are more likely to support circumcision than are non-Muslim women. For example, 73% of Muslim women in Haj-Yousif favor continuing the practice, compared with 8% of Christian women. The same pattern appears in Shendi (57% vs. 18%) and Juba (31% vs. 1%).</i><br /><br /><a href="http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/journals/2707101.html" rel="nofollow"> Female Circumcision in Sudan: Future Prospects and Strategies for Eradication</a>xxxxhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12466706566688272356noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1141707904735688626.post-78449819526972240232010-01-07T22:16:34.614+00:002010-01-07T22:16:34.614+00:00I'm sure I've visited Utrecht. Twice or t...I'm sure I've visited Utrecht. Twice or three times... :o) I worded that badly didn't I! :o)<br /><br />I will take a look at Mazza's thread. <br /><br />And yes, didn't we do well in the cricket considering it looked like we weren't trying very hard at all! :o)BeautifulBurnouthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02904723758901189624noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1141707904735688626.post-57849353907666553742010-01-07T22:13:42.994+00:002010-01-07T22:13:42.994+00:00You're not sure you've been to Utrecht, BB...You're not sure you've been to Utrecht, BB? I've been to Amsterdam twice, apparently, so I know what you mean.<br /><br />Incidentally, the most important blog on Cif today was hidden away in the Sports section but it's by Mazza and is a cracking little diatribe about using the Olympics as a pretext for further encroachments on our freedoms...<br /><br /><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/blog/2010/jan/07/lord-moynihan-olympic-policing-2012" rel="nofollow">shockingstuff</a><br /><br />On a brighter note, any Saffers on board tonight?<br />(-;HankScorpiohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13220200282805558779noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1141707904735688626.post-22488480112165426572010-01-07T22:06:18.328+00:002010-01-07T22:06:18.328+00:00Good one Hank. :o)
I love Holland. Utrecht is on...Good one Hank. :o)<br /><br />I love Holland. Utrecht is one of the most beautiful towns I think I have ever visited.BeautifulBurnouthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02904723758901189624noreply@blogger.com