Some previews on Sam Sallon’s YouTube.

Even more awesomely, you can get the album here.

Global BBC Poll Shows Obama Preferred Candidate

A BBC World Service opinion poll has found sharply higher overseas approval ratings for US President Barack Obama than Republican challenger Mitt Romney.

An average of 50% favoured Mr Obama, with 9% for Mr Romney, in the survey of 21,797 people in 21 countries.

Full Article

Tonight and tomorrow are the Day of Atonement, or Yom Kippur, when Jews, including many who are not religious, set aside all other business to fast and seek forgiveness from one another and from God. One of the most beautiful and sombre prayers in the service, that will be recited communally a number of times at the end of a list of transgressions and pleas for mercy, is Avinu Malkeinu, a request for grace and kindness.

Even as a secular Jew, atoning and making upstanding commitments as part of the community is a humbling tradition too worthy to pass up. This haunting melody, usually sung en-masse, brings back years of soul-searching and inspires me to get serious for a minute.

blogs.telegraph.co.uk

From Saturday’s Daily Telegraph

Was Anders Breivik an internet troll? I’m sorry if that seems a flippant question to ask about a man who killed dozens of Norwegian teenagers, but you can’t read his 1,500-page “manifesto” without being struck by how thoroughly he trawled the web. Whatever the explanation for his murderous actions, this was definitely a brain warped by the blogosphere.

For readers unfamiliar with blogs, I should explain what I mean by “troll”. The word can be used to describe two types of commenters who write underneath published posts. There are simple-minded folk with jokey nicknames who fling insults at each other for hours at a stretch, amusing no one but themselves. My own blog is infested with them. Honestly, I sometimes wish they would crawl away and die. Then there are the pyjama-clad pseudonymous obsessives whose fingers are calloused from rattling out the truth about the “EUSSR”, BBC bias, Big Pharma, Zionists, Islam etc.

These trolls aren’t confined to the far Left or the far Right: some of the most noxious internet bores turn out to be Liberal Democrats. It’s true that, on the whole, their views tend to be controversial, but the essence of their trolling is their rhetorical style: in particular, an insistence that they know the truth about everything. All they really have in common – apart from an aversion to deodorant – is hysterical omniscience.

Speaking as someone who hates the way the mainstream media suck up to radical Muslims, I find it frustrating that websites devoted to monitoring Islamism are dominated by trolls and writers who play up to them. I don’t trust a word that the BBC tells me about “the religion of peace” – but equally, I can’t trust either the articles or the comments on the Gates of Vienna or Jihad Watch websites…

Contd.

If Thompson’s implication is that certain blogs and media are so poisoning discussion of serious issues that it is hard to know where to turn for rel

timeandaplace.wordpress.com

Thanks for visiting and giving feedback last time! I have been experimenting with aperture and other settings and still don’t have the procedure down pat - I have tried to select shots that are interesting rather than necessarily the sharpest but that doesn’t mean I’m not taking advice. :D

timeandaplace.wordpress.com

I am (very) slowly learning the basics of photography and have created a blog to share my best efforts. Just last night I started to understand aperture and ISO so I know there is plenty of room for improvement. atm there is one post covering the last couple of weeks - please feel free to offer opinions and tips!

thisislondon.co.uk

The linked article has some details but this is from me:

One of the loveliest people I know, a cousin on my father’s side, Philip Sallon has a reputation for being a flamboyant socialite. He has for years thrown parties for the rich and famous and been pivotal in London’s gay scene, but what people miss is all the while he has raised vast sums for charity, every Christmas he has joined the Shelter volunteers feeding the homeless, he visits people in hospital and cheers them with his immense warmth, and any time he goes out, despite being recognised and stopped repeatedly, he himself stops to comfort rough sleepers and anyone who is having a hard time. Some might see him as a bitching old queen, a debauched influence of the 80s gay punk scene, and he delights in that image, but I know him as a gutte neshama who will go far out of his way to help strangers. I am so sad to have learned that on Saturday night - whether due to a grudge or plain old queer-bashing - Philip endured horrible violence and had his skull cracked while out in Soho. He is recovering but in a daze and remembers nothing of what happened. Hopefully the truth will emerge and the perpetrator brought to justice. This is to let everyone know and please keep him in your thoughts and to wish Philip a r’fuah shleimah, a speedy recovery.
x

From today’s big EPL fixture, Manchester United vs Manchester City.

google.com can bring in the Brotherhood%22

Egypt Can Bring In The Brotherhood
Ed Husain

Please respect FT.com’s ts&cs and copyright policy which allow you to: share links; copy content for personal use; & redistribute limited extracts. Email ftsales.support@ft.com to buy additional rights or use this link to reference the article - ft.com

Egypt is ablaze. Hundreds of thousands protested in Cairo’s Tahrir Square on Tuesday, but for fear of an Islamist regime the US now risks being remembered as a democracy that abandons democrats. After generations in opposition, the Muslim Brotherhood now wants to play a part in Egypt’s future, giving a rare chance to strike a deal for their compromises and democratic involvement.

To this day we are paying the price for ignoring ordinary Iranians and siding with the Shah in 1979. Then, secular democrats triggered a revolution only to be brushed aside by fundamentalists. Today, ordinary Egyptians lead demonstrations but the Brotherhood waits in the background; an indispensable force in national life.

…

ft.com
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