A Rain of Frogs

Ninety-three years after the fact, a team of divers discover that the Lusitania – the fastest liner in the North Atlantic – was indeed carrying American-made munitions to aide the British war effort.

For those who don’t know, the sinking of the Lusitania is considered the event which brought the United States of America into World War One on the side of the British, an act that tipped the war in favour of the Allies.

Germans have all along insisted that the Lusitania was being used as a weapons ship, and sunk it. The sinking of what the British then called a passenger ship helped fire anti-German sentiment at home and left the Americans little choice but to openly declare their support for the Allies.

Winston Churchill, who was first Lord of the Admiralty and has long been suspected of knowing more about the circumstances of the attack than he let on in public, wrote in a confidential letter shortly before the sinking that some German submarine attacks were to be welcomed.

He is quoted as having said said: ‘It is most important to attract neutral shipping to our shores, in the hope especially of embroiling the U.S. with Germany. For our part we want the traffic – the more the better and if some of it gets into trouble, better still.’

I wish the iPhone did a better job in the pitch black, but I had to take this picture regardless of the poor quality of the image. It was on a sign not too far from our house.

A very Halal Christmas to all!

Check out this very interesting little book by Irwin Schiff. It’s called How an Economy Grows and Why it Doesn’t.

There’s definitely a bias being expressed, but it’s still probably something most everyone should read given the current economic climate.

A pretty striking piece of art while pottering around the net.

American Beauty by artist Henrich Kimerling.

Tools: 3D Studio Max and ZBrush.

Found at Raph.com.

We are not merely consumers. We are people. Those who seek entertainment or news on the Internet are readers, not users. People who vote are more than mere voters.

When we are called consumers, users, voters, we are stripped us of our individuality, of the very things that make us human. We becomes what was intended: a homogeneous, bovine mass of nonentities that do only what they’re called. Consume. Use. Vote.

Oppressive Doublespeak be damned, let us take our language back. We are people, and it’s time for us to be thinkers.