Hi, my name is Galen and I’m an addict. A web-addict.
Several recent surveys and related research is leading to more and more psychologists being trained to identify and treat what has become known as Internet addiction or web abuse.
It has even been suggested that web abuse be added to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders within the American Journal of psychiatry.
SYNOPSIS:
Internet addiction has been labeled as a compulsive disorder with cybersex and cyberporn addiction being the most common forms. Like most addictions these have an impact on an individual’s social and personal life.
The disorder has been further sub-catergorised into addiction to online gaming, compulsive surfing, and eBay addiction. However, it has been noted that these only become a problem when they interfere with normal living and cause severe stress on family, friends, loved ones, and one's work performance.
Internet addiction appears to be having real effects on people, and one blogger has pointed out how websites have been ironically set up to provide information for sufferers, as well as info for attorneys and psychologists.
SYMPTOMS:
According to netaddiction.com:
"Internet addicts struggle to control their behaviors, and experience despair over their constant failure to do so. Their loss of self-esteem grows, fueling the need to escape even further into their addictive behaviors. A sense of powerlessness pervades the lives of addicts"
According to the Daily Telegraph web-addicts suffer from 4 symptoms:
Related symptoms may be cravings (for better software, faster machines etc.), withdrawal (which may cause irritability, tremors and anxiety), a loss of sense of time, and negative social repercussions (such as neglecting real-life relationships). Some patients even report suffering nervous breakdowns when they can’t go online.
STATISTICS:
Although research into Internet addiction is sketchy (and usually concerns a group of white Americans) a few countries have conducted in-depth surveys. Below is a summary of the more recent findings:
RESEARCH PROBLEMS:
It has been noted that around 70-80% of the subjects referred to in such research is comprised mostly of white Americans, however, the idea of Internet addiction does seem to be spreading around the globe like a 21st century plague.
Yet there is much dispute over whether or not such a condition is in fact unique. One psychiatrist has suggested that the Internet is merely another form of escapism for those with other problems:
"What most people online who think they are addicted are probably suffering from is the desire to not want to deal with other problems in their lives. Those problems may be a mental disorder (depression, anxiety, etc.), a serious health problem or disability, or a relationship problem. It is no different than turning on the TV so you won't have to talk to your spouse, or going "out with the boys" for a few drinks so you don't have to spend time at home. Nothing is different except the modality" - John M. Grohol
TREATMENT:
Despite this, several doctors around the world are recommending various treatment options for those who believe they are web addicts. Dr Kimberley Young, who maintains www.netaddiction.com suggests that like an eating disorder, the key to beating Internet addiction is to develop a healthy pattern of consumption.
"Treatment for Internet addiction focuses on moderation and controlled use of the Internet, much in the way those suffering from eating disorders must relearn healthy eating patterns"
– Dr Kimberley Young
Dr Grohol, on the other hand, believes that Internet addition is simply a behavioral problem. He suggests that "it's the behavior, and behaviors are easily treatable by traditional cognitive-behavior techniques in psychotherapy".
I leave you with a snippet from Wired Magazine, which took a similar skeptical stance towards the idea that the Internet is dangerously addictive: (what do you think?)
…it's so much easier to date an avatar. Sound familiar? Your friend the World Wide Web may be a monkey on your back. Or not. Just ask yourself this: If Google were a drug, would I smoke it?
Links:
Wired Magazine: Internet Addiction articles
News article: Internet addiction is a ‘clinical disorder’
Thank you for your wonderful company and hospitality.
The Nicholas Rey Foundation is a registered Trust and Non-Profit Organization that provides for the rehabilitation and/or after care for any person injured as the result of a horse related incident who has incurred unaffordable high medical expenses.
The NRF is solely reliant upon the generous support of Corporate Sponsors who are given the opportunity of promoting a “brand or service” to the professional and recreational sectors of horse riding, polo playing, racing, show jumping and the breeding industry in SA.
Individuals, who are interested in caring for the future well being of horse riders involved in activity related accidents, also play a vital role in generating and donating funds for the NRF to utilise appropriately. Your help will be much appreciated.The NRF was constituted as a Trust and registered with the Master of the High Court, Pietermaritzburg during August 2005. Registration No ITI399/2005.
We are also waiting with “abated breath the predictions of the Vodacom July handicap from the panel of last night”……(tongue-in-cheek)……
Founder and CEO Ricky Smit, President Tanya van Graan. Patron-in-Chief Dennis East – website www.nickreyfund.co.za
Honorary members & Patrons:
Cherise Baigio /Spokesperson Gauteng/ Patricia Lewis, Devin O’Malley, Tony Chilvers, Tracy Lyle, Ben Kruger, Emmanuel Castis. William Bondesio, Doug Anderson, Anthony Delpech
We salute you for the wonderful support and hard work you lend to this noble course.
The Trust was also registered as a Non Profit Organization under registration no 053-376NPO during February 2007.
When I was growing up as a child the dream place to go was Disneyland. People dressed like Goofy, candy floss, and a few amusement park type rides seemed to cut it as the height of entertainment. But that was back then…
The youth of today will soon be nagging their parents to take them to a Wannado City – an indoor role-playing theme park. The first of its kind, Wannado occupies 140 000 square-feet of South Florida’s largest mall and sees more than 26 million visitors a year.
It has been said that Wannado has redefined child entertainment by simulating a dream world where children are encouraged to take on and experience one or several adult professions. It features 60 Real-play venues and over 120 career possibilities – ranging from archaeologists, doctors, attorneys and TV hosts to fashion models, pizza makers, DJs and clowns.
The venues and professions are designed to allow kids to live out their dreams while simultaneously empowering them to become decision-makers and learn responsibility. It is the ultimate childhood experience which has been framed around the difficult question of: “What do you wanna do when you grow up?”
"At Wannado City, kids can do what they wanna do"
The chief creative officer of Wannado City – Luis Javier Laresgoiti, came up with the idea while watching his daughter "play executive" on his business phone. Wannado is now a fully capitalised venture backed by multinational entertainment corporation CIE (Corporación Interamericana de Entretenimiento), and is led by an experienced team of entertainment executives from corporations such as Paramount Parks, Nickelodeon, Time Warner and Disney.
Such corporate backing brings me back to the reality that will live in a vicious, expanding capitalist society. When my peers and I were younger we only had to start worrying about what jobs we might do in our latter high school years. A Wannado City, on the other hand, almost seems like a cleverly fun way of instilling a capitalist ideology into the naive minds of children, with the hidden slogan of: "Get them while they're young!"
The project is aimed at the 2-14 year-old set, and will cost you or your child within that age range $30 (roughly R210) to get in. Kids aged over 15 are charged half-price, and those under 2 get in for free.
Wannado City caters for schools, corporate organisations, and even faith-based groups; and if you have a birthday party coming up, book now – they cater for those too.
Additional Wannado City locations are currently being developed throughout the United States; I just wonder whether South Africa will have anything remotely similar by the time I have kids. Otherwise they’re just going to have to aspire to be a journalist like their dad. Sorry kids!
For more info see:
Expansion Plans for Wannado City
Attending a Jobs Fair for the first time
Dear diary
As you can see, my mom has changed my profile….again! She changes it as she changes the colour of her hair…..mmm, now I am ‘stepping on dangerous territory’….bless her, just trying to ‘rinse that grey right out of her hair’…as the ad goes!
I never gave you any feed back about my “state-of-the-art cage” yet. Well, I am doing just fine! My parents call me the “branch manager” of this home because after 3 weeks, I am roaming around on the top like a ‘veteran’ but somehow, I am not keen to enter the bottom of the cage. According to the old folks, it is quite ‘snazzy’ in there……but I will bide my time. The top of the cage is nice and flat with two ladders and my stainless steel bowls. It took me a while to get use to them bowls but mom says it is more hygienic. I suppose she knows what she is talking about.
Well, yesterday was not a good day for me at all! Dad at work and the old lady roaming the streets and off to this place they call the House and Garden show. Seems to me she rather enjoyed herself…….all I got when she got home is my veggies, a little bit of attention and she planted herself in her “happy room” and uploaded the whole night! Must admit, I feel a little guilty cause I nipped her a lot when she came home. Even her sis got a few nips and I am starting to love her as well but, this spoilt brat just wants to teach them a lesson – “do not leave me alone for so long”!
To get back to the old lady, yeah, she very much kept to herself once she started uploading and almost missed out on watching the final of the Euro soccer……unfortunately for her, Germany lost out to Spain…..but that is how it goes in your world, the best will always win!
Ciao from a brrrr cold Durbs and I wish each and everyone a peaceful, happy and stress free week!I am looking forward to today……..knowing that I will demand the attention I want and I know that I will get it. I have a new way of drawing attention……I “moan” in the most horrendous way and the folks come running! It sounds awful, but hey, it works for me.
Dear diary
I am so excited I do not know where to start! All this hype around me, what with motherdearest painting and all, I am thrilled to bits that she is taking it very very easy, which means I am getting her undivided attention!
As you can see with all them photies flying around, the old lady and her sister have been really busy. Between you and me, I think my dad is also heaving a sigh ………everything in this house hold is ‘coming together’ at last!
The two sisters still has to ‘tackle the happy room’, the ceiling of the passage and thank goodness they only need to do two patches in the main bedroom. As you well know, African Grey parrots do not take lightly to the odour of paint! I had a few sneezes…..but nothing to worry about.
I am currently sitting on the old lady’s shoulder and just sending up a ‘birdie prayer’ that she is not going on the run again, but no luck! There is so much happening in Durbs at the moment……I eaves dropped and heard she is going to some House and Garden show……the beach festival is on…….the July handicap is coming up…….it never seems to stop! What about me? I am just getting relaxed to receive some attention from the old lady but no, I have to take the ‘back seat’ again! Oh, well, I suppose she also has a life!
Ciao from a luvely warm day in Durbs………..motherdearest will keep me informed about what and what not!I should stop complaining because my fellow mates in Mitchells Park are out in the open, cold and wet! I thank my lucky stars!
The recent merger of YouTube with Google Video has resulted in a frustrating bug for all online video fans. YouTube videos embedded in other websites or blogs, and often the ones on YouTube.com, are displaying the polite message: “We’re sorry, this video is no longer available.”
This has caused somewhat of a conspiracy among bloggers, who are digging away to find answers and possible solutions to the problem.
One blogger has suggested that unplayable YouTube videos embedded elsewhere force viewers to go to YouTube’s website - increasing their traffic and ad impressions. It’s obvious that increased traffic leads to increased ad impressions and therefore monetising prospects, yet I suspect that this is not the case.
It appears to be a simple bug issue and the problem can be resolved by deactivating Google Web Accelerator.
PROUDLY SOUTH AFRICAN
I have been producing online videos on a weekly basis for the past few months. I have been uploading these on both YouTube and MyVideo (which is basically the South African version of YouTube). I also embed these videos into my blog but always use the MyVideo code when doing so. This is purely to keep my blog local and support the South African underdog, yet my experience of using both channels has revealed a few pros and cons for each service.
First off your videos are likely to get far more views on MyVideo, especially if you’re producing South African videos. There are far fewer videos to compete with for viewership and the site was designed for proudly South African videos.
Statistically I’ve found that the same videos on my MyVideo channel generally get about 3 times more views than they do on YouTube, unless (it seems) your video is about an international celebrity or degrading to South Africa. In the latter case my mock video on the Eskom crisis has had over 1000 more views on YouTube than it has on MyVideo.
Two great features of YouTube, on the other hand, are annotations and YouTube insight – the latter made possible since Google took YouTube under its wing. This allows you to see exactly from where and how people came to view your video. More importantly it allows one to gain insight as to where your video has been embedded on other external sites.
One downside of YouTube, however, is that they are very strict about copywrite. I once used a song as a bedding track for one of my videos, and thanks to Google’s help, YouTube picked up the file name of the song saved within the avi file and traced it as belonging to UMG. An automated email I received stated that they would not pull the video yet could place adverts on the page where the video is hosted. Needless to say I now have an over-sized advert for the new iphone accompanying this video (subject to change).
(This was not picked up by MyVideo.co.za).
I have recently been contacted by someone who works for MyVideo.co.za after reporting a bug issue (another bonus of the smaller video site is the greater customer care)! He has asked me for any suggestions with regards to improving the site. Since online video is fast becoming my career and life ambition, I sent him a mini essay with an apology note attached.
He is looking into some of my ideas (video statistics being a major one) and is hoping to have them implemented soon. I’ll keep all those interested posted on whatever upgrades we can expect. In the meantime please add any suggestions you might have below, and upload your videos to MyVideo.co.za. Local can be lekker!
Dear diary
Eureka! My mom is on a roll again! She is happy, which means I am happy and most of all......dad is 'delighted'!
For a change the old lady took my advise, became assertive and all her problems with the youngsters in the "corporate world" are three quarter's solved!
Rather interesting, she followed up her claim for the damaged hob that has been outstanding since May, from whom she has never up to date received any 'receipt of acknowledgement'......and once she got a call from her and they told her......the "dockets are missing"......as we so often hear from some 'stations.....re hi-jackings', well, you did not want to hear how "asertive" the old lady was! Half an hour later, she received a phone call, the "monies minus the access will be deposited into the banking account within 48 hours (after she threw her "toys out the cot")!
The banking consultant was 'swapped around'.......the competent youngster was allocated back to the old lady. Now it is only a matter of the bookkeepr and the Broker........and mom and her sis is still going strong with them renovations in between all the other frustrations.....but she is ALL GOOD!
I think dad is rather proud of her for standing up for herself! I know I am, because in my diary session over the weekend, I advised her to do just that!
I, on the other hand are currently "in exile".....re the fumes of the paint.....but bless them, I get a peek and some nice goodies from time to time!
I am signing off.............mom has things to do, people to see and no places to go!
Ciao, cannot wait to see the final result and share it with you..........have to (give away one lovely idea from the 2 sisters........the passage wall has a "winter grass" on instead of all that "clinical white" and every 26cm there is a 2 cm wite vertical stripe on......mother dearest and her stripes.........but this is very subtle and very stunning.............Jason, you are going to love it!
See you around!
The other day I wrote a hand-written letter and found that my hand-writing looked like barbed wire. I realised that it had been a good while since I had used any hand-writing skills due to my increasing reliance on typing everything. It seems obvious to me that the archaic technology of hand-writing is being slowly killed by digital technologies, creating what has been called the paper-digital divide. Yet just when the patriotic hand-writers thought things couldn’t get worse, society unleashed something called “digital paper” or iPaper.
With the use of a digital pen iPaper allows hand-written notes, or sketches, to be digitally captured and stored. The ‘ink’ absorbs light transmitted from the digital pen, which contains a receiver that interprets the pattern of light reflected from the paper. This is creating new possibilities for publishing new forms of interactive based documents without having to worry about your pen running out of ink!
What seems more intriguing is that iPaper allows users to develop a wide range of interactive paper-based interfaces and applications without having to do any programming. Furthermore, active areas on the paper can be linked to and from a wide range of physical and digital media including web pages, images, video, flash animations, databases and RFID tags as well as application programs.
Some of the more interesting and useful applications that have been developed thus far include:
• A presentation tool suitably called PaperPoint. This is taking PowerPoint presentations to a new level by allowing one to control the presentation via a paper-based user interface.
• In Edinburgh they’ve created a tourist information system which provides users with information on venues and events at the Edinburgh festivals. Tourists are also able to enter and share reviews on the spot.
• In Zurich they’ve created a city map which provides digital information on restaurants, cinemas, shopping facilities and so on.
• And one that is not just for tourists, but which also applies to digital journalists, is the “paper-based travel diary” – allowing one to integrate hand-written notes with pictures taken from a digital camera.
So for those of us who are still great appreciators of the art of hand-writing there's still hope for maintaining our craft whilst keeping abreast of the latest in digital technologies.
Links:
Digital Paper Portal
Video: Digital Paper demonstration
Global Information Systems Group
If I hear another plea to reinstate the death penalty, I'll kill someone! It can't happen. Fullstop. The Constitution that protects all of us also protects them. Them? Yes, those who in the past were executed because it was a quick solution to a murky problem of punishing with a final act of Man as God. We got it wrong most of the time.
I wrote this on 17 March last year, but I still want to share it with you, as so much of it is still relevant now.
I remember how often during John Vorster's 1970s regime, the Bryntirion dinnertable talk would touch on who had been hanged that morning at Pretoria's prison. How the neck had cracked and the rope had squeaked.
And then we'd lift our crystal glasses and toast the future of our country, after praying to God to remain on our side.
When I am President, I will certainly not attempt to bring back a death penalty. I know crime is the primary issue among all parts of our society.
The rich get robbed; the poor get poorer. Travelling around and living in the cities of South Africa becomes a daily round of Russian roulette.
As people now sigh: It's not if it happens to you, but when! Daily I am made aware how broadly we are spreading this word 'criminal'. There are thousands of people in jail awaiting trial who did not kill, rape, assault or rob. They took a tin of food off the shelf. Those people should not languish in prison and come out hardened criminals.
They should be fed and then work off their debt.
But what about murder? My son De Kock showed me an old film called 'Escape From New York' last year. I hated it and left after awhile. It was set in the future with Manhattan turned into a penal colony run by the inmates. I felt De Kock was insinuating my collaboration with the Robben Island policy during apartheid. But what a good idea! Prisoners
are always bleating for their rights to vote. I agree.
In my South Africa all murderers will be sent to the same prison which they will run, enjoying all the rights they once enjoyed and forfeitedin our civilized land. Let them rule themselves, and if they want to
execute each other? Foeitog. That's got nothing to do with us.
We messed up our chance to re-use Robben Island. But Madagascar needs foreign investment. Let them build us a maximum secuirity jail among thesnakes and crocodiles and we will send them cash and convicts!
A 2010 L'UGHAWE SOLUTION
It nearly drove me crazy trying to get to OR Tambo Airport last week.
Everyone seemed to be on their way to Australia. No, they were going to Cape Town for that Cycle Tour. I so admire middle-aged ( and not so mature ) people for carrying their awkward bikes all the way into a
blistering South-easter gale to create a perfect situation for that fatal heart attack as they cycle up and down the steep slopes of Table Mountain and the Twelve Apostles in order to prove - what?
Anyway, sitting in a hour-long traffic jam to park in the Parkade, I suddenly came upon the solution to the 2010 log-jam round the buildingof stadiums. OR Tambo is a mess as they try to join the three parts together to make a whole. Now there's just a hole! Cape Town Airport is a dusty chaotic building site and Durban is .. well, Durban is Durban.
Imagine if we extended the building operations at our international airports and actually completed perfect soccer stadiums in time for 2010? Then the fans could fly in from the rest of the world, get off their planes, find their seats, watch the match, board their planes and fly away. And live to tell the tale!
SKATTEBOL
It's been a week of horrors. White people have killed white children. This is nothing to celebrate. But robber-baron Arthur Brown and his group accountant Graham Maddock who are behind bars this week for Fidentia's failure to account for more than R200 million belonging to needy clients, have exposed an important fact. So thank you, seuns for
showing us that wealthy white people are also thieves and crooks, who steal from the poor and desperate without so much as a shrug. It should not just be the 'others' in our rainbow line-up who are always under
suspicion.
FURBALL
It's a tie! The Department of Justice - who single-handedly holds the most pressing issues of crime, fraud, trial etc and did not spend up to R600 million of their annual budget. If anything proves that justice is in the wrong hands, this certainly does. Then there's the South African Air Force who, after spending R13 billion on a flock of brand-new
fighter jets, has to ground them as useless, because there is no battle to be fought from the sky. And last but not least, gesture politics from Minister Jeff Radebe, now wearing the beetroot-soaked mantle inherited
from Manto, the Angel of Death.
Jeff has just announced that by 2011 one million Aids sufferers will be on ARV's! Too late skattie, te laat!
In which country in the civilized world does the bad live so close and happily with the good? And in our case, help the good to make money and so also become bad? As far as I can remember, Dr Wouter Basson was just one of the many brilliant young scientists who tried to find the solution to problems that had paralysed our Pretoria-based civilised world during the 1970s and 80s. It was all about the need to get rid of what we then called die gemors, 'the rubbish'.
I wrote this on 10 March last year, but I still want to share it with you, as so much of it is still relevant now.
Today they are referred to as 'the people'. I'm still in the dark about the things they say 'Dr Death' did. Ja-nee, bad things happened during apartheid. There is no doubt about it now. So how come we didn't know about those crimes against humanity? We were all educated, decent, Christian, civilized people who loved Mozart, Irma Stern (even though she was a Jew) and Langenhoven. What went wrong? How could we have ignored the fact that our cousins and sons were involved in a genocide that removed the next generation of leadership?
I get goosebumps when I think where would we have been today if Nelson Mandela had come out of jail angry? How would you have felt? In jail for 27 years for what you believed in? Away from your children? Your wife goes mad? Nelson Mandela could so easily have come out of jail and spoken like Robert Mugabe. He could have said: 'To hell with democracy! Take the farms! Kill the whites.' And hundreds of whites and some coloureds could have died and no one on the news or CNN would have looked in our direction. In the eyes of the world we racists deserved to be punished after what we did to 'the rubbish'.
But Nelson Mandela didn't say those things. None of them punished us. Let us not forget that, even though we no longer have those compassionate politicians who could come out of horror and give us hope. We now have a normal breed of greedy, ambitious, cold-blooded, career-professionals who are in it for what they can get out of it. That's sometimes called democracy. We're suffering from it in an acute form and only care will help us cure ourselves. That means, decide what you want and who will protect it for you. And if you don't find anyone, do it yourself.
In a healthy democracy, the people should lead and the government can follow.
WHICH QUEEN IS THE QUEEN?
I have her profile on all the stamps that come from the United Kingdom. I call her the Queen of England. My grandchildren say it's Helen Mirren! I explained to them that she was just acting the part of the Queen. Acting isn't real. The Queen did not accept the Oscar for her performance.
'No,' said La Toya-Ossewania, 'it was Helen Mirren, who is the Queen.'
It just shows how confused people are. What is real? What is pretence? We watched an Arnold Schwarzenegger film the other night.
I said: 'There goes the Governor of California.'
My grandchildren were irritated.
'No, Gogo, he's just an actor.'
'But he's been voted into that job for the second time,' I said, 'and he can't even act!'
They didn't know what to think.
'Is Thabo Mbeki an actor?' Nelson-Ignatius asked, after we saw a brief glimpse of our President in Sierra Leone. I just smiled and changed the subject.
Elizabeth 11 is now more popular than ever, maybe thanks to Helen Mirren. I met the Royals when they visited South Africa a few years ago. We were all together at Gallagher Estate sitting at tables. The Queen got up to make a speech. Everyone slowly turned round and watched her on the big television screen. There she looked like the Queen. On the stage behind the microphone she looked like a small tannie who never looked up once from her notes. So which one is real?
I do still hold a small grudge against the British Royal Family. When their Empire ruled the world and us, they took all our diamonds back to London and put them into the crown of the Monarch. Every time I see Queen Elizabeth wear her State Crown, I recognise all our diamonds. Sies, the woman's wearing stolen goods. Whenever Madiba goes to London, I always remind his to ask the Queen to give back our diamonds.
'No, Evita,' he replies, 'our diamonds are safer on her head than in our Parliament!'
HAIRBALL
A former wife of a legendary former president who had a birthday last weekend after losing her jewelry to an in-house robber, forgot to acknowledge the Minister of Foreign Affairs in her opening speech – and then compensated by supporting that comrade as a future president? Please Winnie, take a pill and calm down. Nkosozana Dhlamini-Zuma already flies from Pretoria to Harare via Paris. Do we need another terminal travel addict as President?
SKATTEBALL
Tony Leon is like a grandson to me. He is leaving his job as leader of the Opposition. Who will fill his shoes? Helen Zille dare not even leave her mayoral office in Cape Town in case the ANC change the locks. The other pretenders to the throne are all old NP cadres who pretend to act to the left while they think to the right. At last a ray of sunshine breaks through the white clouds of succession. Joe Seremane has indicated his willingness to stand as Il Duce Noir of the DA. I'd rather liewe Joe joined me in my quest for the Presidency, but if he wants to lead a bunch of old Voortrekkers back to their Bloedrivier, good luck Joe.
Dear diary
Well, what do you know? Two diary sessions in one week……mmm, someone is ‘up and about’! That can only be “mother dearest”. I know, cause she has been getting up so early every morning with this ‘project’ of hers, painting the flat etc. plus going to bed in the early hours of the morning as well. Between breaks she is ‘indulging’ in her emails and looking at some websites.
This brings me to this interesting website she has been referred to by an Author by the name of Bridget McNulty. My mom has been a follower of her blog. She referred to a topic about ‘good news’ and therefore she has recommended the website www.sagoodnews.co.za – not all news in South Africa is bad. My mom finds this website very ‘uplifting’, because I noticed the change in her ‘attitude’- much more happier, dancing around the flat, turning up the music and just being a complete different person. (Between you and me, I trust it has nothing to do about the contents of the paint)!
Here I am going on and on about my mom but “bless her”, I will give up my space so she can “let it all out” maybe that will do her good! My mom has a few ‘pet hates’, and I am sure so have a lot of you in your ‘adult world’ (as long as this pet, Barney, will always be loved) – at the same time, I am convinced you can relate to some of them, I have just experienced in your ‘adult world’ you are inclined to just accept it! My mom cannot accept “incompetence” in the Corporate World.
She worked ‘on all cylinders’ full time for a period of 30 years and once the children left the ‘nest’, she made the choice of becoming a ‘homemaker’. As she says “I have paid my school fees”! Nowadays, I noticed she gets hot under the collar if she does not get any response from people……..and lately it is rather a handful of people. For a few weeks she experienced the following: No response from her Broker, her Bank Consultant, their Bookkeeper’s Assistant, their Letting Agent re a claim for a broken Hob and the list goes on! My mom is not ‘pushy or demanding’ and she puts everything in writing! That way she has ‘back up’ in everything she does. Plus she has this major task with her ‘project’ of renovations.
Have you ever had the experience about small things that get you ‘down’! When she purchases a tin of coffee, cereal, horlicks, or for that matter anything that need to be opened and you cannot see inside, it normally is half full! She even purchased a tin of pears, which only had 1 pear in! We will not name the Brands, out of politeness! What is it with a commodity like a plain object like a toilet roll? The way they manufacture it, oh my, oh my, it seems they want you to spend a life time on the “throne” only to tear half of it ending on the floor……..but no, “they’ll show us…..you are going to work towards this roll, in order to start using it”!
Telephone etiquette! I always hear my mom speaking on the phone, because I have picked up the “dialling tone” and before she starts speaking, I would utter “hello”, and she has such a polite way of addressing people. When she is on the receiving end, I can hear how her voice start ‘faltering’, because the person on the other end is either so ‘rude’ or ‘interrupt’ her so much, she has difficulty in explaining herself. Mom, my advice to you as your beloved Barney – African Grey, become more assertive and stand up for yourself! Look up the word in the Oxford Dictionary that says “no more” and implement it! There you go, don’t you feel better, even though not one of the above has been solved yet!
Well guys, as far as I am concerned, I am still a happy chap in spite of all the ‘buzzing’ around the flat! My mom ‘shields’ me from the fumes of the paint and I get a lot of attention from them coming into my bedroom and spending quality time with me.
Ciao from a more bearable sunny Durbs and by this coming Friday this project will be in place……..or so the old lady promised. She is just waiting eagerly for the yearly ‘sardine run’…………….watch this space!
Dear diary
Where do I start? This session is not really about me…….no, I have to take ‘back seat’ at the moment, which does not really ‘gel’ with me cause my mommy is really on the go! She is such a busy bee…….doing her yearly “touch up” in the flat. Luckily she realises that African Grey’s do not take lightly to the smell of paint, but bless her, she is keeping me at a distance. Which of course I am not too happy about, that means, no attention!
While she and her sister (yeah guys, they call it “girl power”), are busy in the lounge with that scraping and sanding of the walls, I am making my own noise in the main bedroom to draw their attention. I picked up a new whistle……Jesus Christ Superstar….mmm, my mom says she believes in her “younger days” it was a play that was banned, but unfortunately my mom likes the ‘catchy tune’ even though she does not know the words and yours truly has picked up the whistle!
Well, as I said, today’s session is not about me more about the activities around me! Could not help ‘eaves dropping’ when the old folks had a sort of ‘debate’ about them ‘touch ups’. As you well know, men do not really like ‘touch ups’…..they like to get home to a neat place. Dad told mom he hopes this “project” of hers will not “grow arms and legs”….mom of course pacified dad and says the “girls” will be finished in one week.
Let me elaborate a bit about my mom’s sister! Can she work that sandblaster! Oh my, I challenge any guy to compete with her and she is so fast…….mom will upload a nice photie of her doing the hard work! Well, wish me luck and we trust that “girl power” will speed up the process so that I can get back to normal!
Just to let you know, I am taking “birdie steps” in that state-of-the-art that the old folks got me! At least I am getting “spoon fed” from the old lady……….one good way of keeping her attention! I will eventually get their one “bird step” at a time!
Ciao, from a wet and brrrrrrrrr cold Durbs and unfortunately for me, I do not sleep inside my cage, which means, the old folks trust I am warm enough! I am all good!
by Evan Long
e-mail: evanlong ATSYMBOL xmail PERIOD net
website: http://www.xmail.net/evanlong/
This is a picture of two dead boys in a high school library. The picture, like all pictures, has a thousand words behind it, many of which have not yet been spoken. There are other pictures related to this one as well, pictures too numerous to fit in this space of other individuals injured by the boys in the first, individuals injured emotionally and physically, and some even fatally so. The people of the world were told many, many times that the boys shown in the first picture acted alone in harming the other individuals. The purpose of this article is to clarify the perceptions of the people of the world regarding the events of the April 20, 1999 attack on Columbine High School.
"He told me that there was another shooter on the roof when he was laying outdoors. He could see a man on the roof with a gun." -Columbine attack family member Donna Taylor on a statement by her son, Mark, who was shot at Columbine High School on April 20th
Officially, the attack began at 11:20 and ended at 12:08. Officially, fifteen were killed, including the two attackers. Officially, they used a total of 99 bombs and fired 329 rounds. And officially, no one but Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold participated in, assisted with, or had any specific foreknowledge about the attack.
Almost every detail of the Sheriff's Official Line on the Columbine shooting, a. k. a. "Sheriff's Office Final Report on the Columbine High School Shootings," can be called into question by a study of the court-ordered releases of government documents related to it. Perhaps the most salient is that of the numerous witnesses reporting three to ten black-clad shooters inside the halls of the school, many were able to identify at least some of them by name as trench coat students other than Harris and Klebold or to describe them distinctly as having been neither of the two.
According to these witnesses, the violence at the school was perpetrated by a variety of attackers who can be grouped into roughly a dozen profiles, including:
·Eric Harris
A second-tier member of the trench coat group, Harris was allegedly found dead and photographed in the CHS library. He was raised at Plattsburg Air Force Base in New York, was seeing a psychiatrist and taking SSRI antidepressants. Police knew of death threats he'd published on his web site but did not investigate further.
·Dylan Klebold
Klebold was said to have been "tied at the hip" with Harris and was widely reported to have been "goofy-looking" and socially awkward, yet had a female companion and at least half a dozen friends. Like Harris, he began to wear a trench coat in his sophomore year at the school.
·Chris Morris
Morris was the reported leader of the trench coat group in the 1998-99 school year. According to one, he was a "mean kid" who talked with regularity about constructing explosives. He was brought before a special CHS panel for pulling knives on students and was reportedly spotted in the north hall of the school with a handgun during the attack.
·Robert Perry
Like Harris and Klebold, Perry was reportedly a member of the trench coat B-team who left CHS in January 1999 but spent a significant amount of the school day on the campus anyway. He was similar in appearance to Klebold but with notably bad acne and was reportedly witnessed on the west side of the school where the shooting is alleged to have begun.
·"The Chiseled Face Shooter"
This attacker was spotted by several students in the science hall of the building with a shotgun. According to one girl, he was muscular with a "chiseled face." She even produced a sketch of this attacker, who was reported to have appeared to have been in his 30's.
·"The Camo Pants Shooter"
Named by name in one interview, this attacker wore camouflage pants and a trench coat. He was seen first bringing a heavy-looking duffel bag into the school and then wielding a shotgun.
·"The Splatterpunks"
All three of these individuals wore camouflage pants that afternoon in Clement Park, where they had gathered to watch the carnage and where, according to a bystander, they verbally displayed foreknowledge of the attack and a moral alignment with the attackers. They were "detained" but released by law enforcement that day.
·"The Blue Jeaned Bomber"
A pudgy male was reportedly seen by many witnesses wearing a white tee and blue jeans on the west side of the school, tossing a bomb onto the roof from a group of three attackers.
·"The Round Faced Shooter"
A shooter in a black trench coat on the west side of the school was reportedly described as having been 5' 9" or 5' 10" in height with a "very round face" and having been "neither Harris nor Klebold."
·"The Short Shooter"
A shooter, 5' 6" in height with ear-length hair, was reportedly spotted running through the Columbine cafeteria in a black jacket firing a weapon.
·"The Baggy Pants Shooter"
An attacker was reportedly also spotted in the cafeteria wearing a red or orange shirt and black baggy pants. According to statements attributed to one witness, this attacker spoke German.
·"Joe"
Several witnesses reportedly overheard an attacker yell, "Joe, where are you?" At least one gunman was reportedly described as a class of '98 student, and a Joe Stair, reportedly at CHS that morning, was one of the most prominent Trench Coat Mafia members of the previous year at Columbine.
·"The Rooftop Gunman"
Witnesses noted a gunman on the roof, a location to which neither Harris nor Klebold officially traveled.
·"The Weaver Park Gunman"
CHS is surrounded by an elementary school, a public library, and public parks including Weaver Park, where two male witnesses noted an attacker crouched with a shotgun on their way off of the campus.
In all, statements from some hundred individuals would be referenced either directly or secondhand in the documents indicating the presence of additional gunmen.
"They said do not talk about anything to anyone. [...] Because they will come after you; the snipers will come after you." -Columbine attack family member Donna Taylor on the government officials who visited her son, Mark, in the hospital after the shooting
The interviews which constitute the sources of those profiles generally took place between April and August 1999, when almost everyone at Columbine High School plus additional individuals were interviewed by police and FBI. The curious thing about the interview portion of the "investigation," however, was that between approximately September and November 1999, a peculiar phase was established which might be referred to as the "Autumn Sweeps." The distinguishing feature of this round was that they tended to serve no other purpose than to take aside the witnesses who had indicated a likelihood of shooters other than Harris and Klebold and to attempt to coerce them into endorsing the official narrative. To illustrate:
"On 10-8-99 Columbine High School student Mindy Pollock was re-interviewed at the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office South Sub-Station. [...] The purpose for the interview was to clarify Pollock's perceptions during the April 20th shootings at Columbine High School [...]. [...] The interview was concluded with Pollock understanding that the person she had identified as [redacted] was, in fact, Dylan Klebold. There were no additional concerns [...]."
"On 10-12-99 Columbine High School student Nathan Anema was re-interviewed at the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office South Sub-Station. [...] The purpose of the re-interview was to clarify Anema's observations during the April 20th shootings at Columbine High School [...]. In that interview Anema identified [redacted] as possibly being the person he saw throw a pipe bomb during the shootings at Columbine High School on 4-20-99. [...] The interview was concluded with no additional concerns [...]."
"On 10-12-99 Columbine High School student Leiha Murphy was re-interviewed [...]." [...] The purpose of the re-interview was to clarify Murphy's observations during the April 20th shootings at Columbine High School [...]. In that interview, Murphy stated she was certain that she saw [redacted] wearing a trench coat and standing near the sidewalk [...] when the shooting started. [...] The interview was concluded with Murphy and her mother understanding and feeling comfortable with my explanation."
A behind-the-scenes look at this scenario may be found in the news articles of independent journalist John Quinn, who wrote in 1999that "Columbine witness Chris Wisher told to [him] repeatedly that other gunmen were DEFINITELY involved; and law enforcement ["]investigators["] are coercing witnesses into making their stories conform to the two "lone" gunmen theory."
While even Wisher is reflected in his Autumn Sweeps interview as chalking up his observations of additional gunmen to a vivid imagination, not all of the witnesses are recorded as having recanted, and the summaries of the interviews with those who reportedly refused to accept the official line betray the particularly persistent tactics used against them to stamp their stories out. To illustrate:
"I asked Ashley if she believes she could have made a mistake on her identification of [redacted] and she told me that she did not believe she made a misidentification. [...] After Ashley finished, she handed the time line back to me and said with the information you're providing me, it looks like I made a mistake, but she told me in her mind, she still believed that [redacted] was still the individual that she saw in Columbine High School with Eric Harris.
[...] At this time, I again asked Ashley if she made a mistake in her identification of [redacted]. Again, Ashley told me that it is possible, but she still believed that [redacted] was the other gunman she saw at school that day.”
"Monte stated that she was 100% sure she saw [redacted], a person known to her [...]. I advised Monte that according to other witness statements, [redacted] was at home between 8:00 am and 12:00 pm on 04-20-99. Monte explained due to those witnesses being a family member and neighbor, those individuals could have lied [...]." "Prior to the conclusion of this interview, I advised Monte that there were several witnesses out on the southwest corner of the school at the same time she was and had different recollections of what took place and who was there. I asked Monte if she could explain the differences in the stories of the several other witnesses. Monte stated that she had no explanation for the other witness observations and reiterated that she knew [redacted] prior to the incident and that's who she saw standing over the two injured students."
"Jennifer looked at the photos and again I asked her if these are the two individuals that she saw at the high school. Jennifer positively identified Dylan Klebold, but stated the other subject she saw was not Eric Harris. She told me that the party she saw was approximately 25 to 30 years old, had a thick muscular neck and muscular build and that Eric Harris was too scrawny to be the party she observed. I again reiterated with Jennifer that the still photos are of Eric Harris and it is the same description that she is giving us. [...] It was apparent to this ["]investigator["] that Nancy and Jennifer were questioning the credibility of the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office."
"[W]hen she went to school that day [4/20/99], there was [...] three Trench Coat Mafia guys and it looked like they had guns in the trunks of their cars but she thought they were doing role playing in the school so she didn't think anything of it." -Columbine attack family member Donna Taylor on a female Columbine student who visited her son, Mark, in the hospital
In the years prior to the attack, the CHS trench coaters were doing enough LARPing, or live action role playing, at the school that when the shooting broke out, some of the witnesses reportedly thought it was just another mock attack or a quote, "paintball incident". Also, the senior class had reportedly been playing a running game of "Annihilation" involving a "Secret Santa"-type list of players who had to be "killed" by other players. According to reports, the game was being played by two hundred members of the student body and one of the rules of the game was that it could not be played on school grounds or at school functions.
Some of the attack-themed videos which Harris and Klebold created, such as the relatively well known "Hitmen for Hire", were admittedly created for school, while others, which allegedly describe their motivation for the attack, have not yet been released. By the time of Harris' and Klebold's arrest for breaking into an unattended van and stealing electronics equipment, one of the head school disciplinarians acknowledged that, in his opinion, Harris was "on the edge of (losing) control", and many of the lesser known Trench Coat Mafia members had been brought up on drug or weapon complaints.
A series of conferences between the staff of Columbine High and lawyers hired by the school district after the attack put a damper on what would and would not be revealed about the school's knowledge of and possible hand in planning the attack but could some or more of Harris' and Klebold's alleged confession tapes, which are reportedly funny, have been not actually created in reference to the shooting, but to an imaginary plan partially encouraged or even scripted by members of the faculty in order to seal Harris and Klebold in a lie?
"If there's any way in this [******] up universe we can come back as ghosts, we'll haunt the life of any one who blames anyone besides me and [Dylan Klebold]". -Columbine attack patsy Eric Harris
If the Columbine attack was an event pulled off with direct adult assistance, most of the sociological analysis of its causes would be fundamentally flawed, much more concrete blame than "it's society's fault" remains to be laid, and many of actually those responsible would have been found among the school staff, law enforcement and other authorities involved. Assuming these principles to be accurate, one might ask, how aware were Eric and Dylan of the trap being set for them and if you had been in either of their places, would you have been able to sense it, yourself? This is the kind of question we must consider if we are to survive and thwart this oncoming age of chaos, however long it lasts, why accurately determining whom to trust is important and exposing and circumventing those who serve the system is vital. If there are ten thousand of the system servants against the billions of the rest of us, it's an easy match even with all of their technology and toys. If we refuse to stand up for one another and act out when necessary, however, then it's not ten thousand against six billion but ten thousand against one six billion times over. That's an easy match as well and that's what they're counting on.
Dear Diary
Happy Fathers day dad! This bird has been with you 2 years and 2 months and I have enjoyed every day of my life! The one person that is not on my x-mass list this year is mother-dearest. The old lady is definitely not in my good books. She thought she did me a favour on Friday, the 13th to get me a new cage! Between me and you, it is more for her ‘convenience’ re the ‘clean up process’. Must admit this to you it is “state of the art”…..in your world it would be called a ‘Rolls Royce’…..mmm, firstly, I do not take lightly to new things with all them stainless steel bowls and all! This would be my 3rd cage since my arrival…..does not mean to sound ‘ungrateful’ and also I took to the second one like a duck to water but this ‘fancy one’ is a dark wrought iron colour and I am sorry to say this to my mom, it is going to take a long time to get used to it! Shame, she also got me some new toys which I do appreciate but it is too much ‘in my face’ with all this new stuff!
Plus, we have a ‘visitor’ with us. That is another reason why I am so ‘traumatised’. She is cooing and ahhhing over this white bird…….called a cockatiel……….wander how long this ‘visitor’ is staying. Plus I eaves dropped and heard the old lady say “what a sweet little bird”! I will show her what is “sweet”!
Well, dad, us boys will have to stand up to the girls…….have a wonderful fathers day and do not work too hard. Thanx for all my nice apples, veggies, cashew nuts and the list goes on! I try to show you how I appreciate you…….maybe I should show a bit more!
Ciao and all our love to our dearest dad……Barney, Blue Peter and Cheeky bek!
