Rock renaissance is music to industry’s ears
The News Review:
- Rock renaissance is music to industry’s ears
- Buy British blooms, cut your ‘flower miles’
- McCain Calls War ‘Necessary and Just’
- Down Under, Gardening Isn’t Lost in Translation
- Israel Halperin, 96: Crusading spirit
Rock renaissance is music to industry’s ears
The Age – Apr 12, 2007
Photo: REUTERS Other related coverage. Seven Australian artists featured in the top 10-selling CDs of2006 – Wolfmother, Human Nature, Australian Idol winner DamienLeith, the Rogue Traders, Eskimo Joe, the 12th Man and theVeronicas. The legal digital market continues to grow, with Australianmusic fans buying almost 21 million songs through digital servicessuch as iTunes, a four-fold increase on 2005. CD sales increasedalmost 8 per cent to 50 million. However, price cuts resulted in the value of the CD marketfalling by 5 per cent.
Buy British blooms, cut your ‘flower miles’
Telegraph.co.uk – Apr 12, 2007
After the war, the Scilly flower industry flourished until the 1970s, when fashions altered in favour of flying in flowers from as far afield as Kenya and Colombia. Companies such as Scent from the Islands survived by diversifying into postal deliveries. Surely, in these carbon footprint-conscious days, we should be supporting seasonal, home-grown produce, rather than clocking up “flower miles” by buying blooms that have been flown in from halfway across the world? At an annual £2billion, the British cut flower market is comparable in size to the music industry, and yet only 10 per cent of these flowers are raised in the UK, half the figure of 50 years ago. There are some signs that the tide may be turning, however, with supermarkets (responsible for 65 per cent of cut flower sales) selling at least some bunches of flowers labelled “British-Grown” and the stalls at farmer’s markets offering flowers and foliage. Wiggly Wigglers (details below), famed for their wormeries and compost-making gizmos, have recently branched out into sending locally grown flowers by post as well. Their huge garden bouquets (up to 60cm across), wrapped in coloured paper and sent in a reservoir of water, are a far cry from the stiff uniformity of the average florist’s delivery. Their wintry bunches consist mainly of Cornish-grown chrysanthemums and berries such as hypericum and prickle-free holly – but if we’re trying to wean ourselves off out-of-season strawberries, who needs roses in December anyway?So if you are thinking of buying or sending flowers for Christmas, a bunch of UK-grown blooms, delivered to the door (or vouchers to be redeemed at the recipient’s time of choice, throughout the year), would make a fantastic gift – and might inspire others too.
McCain Calls War ‘Necessary and Just’
Washington Post – Apr 12, 2007
Their blind, unyielding, knee-jerk lockstep with their Grand Ole Party is a reflex, and the snarky cheap shot remarks they take at anyone who disagrees are only Bull OLielly, and Ann Coulters talking points, spun bey Rove, and approved by King George the Last and the Dickster. But that Grand Old Party is winding down and coming to a precipitous end, because theyve finally been exposed as the sleazy liars, thieves and hypocrites they accuse the Democrats of being and would rather laugh off the real threats to our country like the ecology and attack from extremists that are home grown, like Tim McVeigh and Eric Rudolph, who they probably have enshrined in their little closets of hate. Its OK, because Im seeing that there really are a lot less of them than us, and their day is almost over. We wont need to suffer these fools much longer. In the meantime, the Democratic party has its own share of fools to get rid of. Not credible candidates that they can just hate because theyre lawyers, minorities and women, but some of the slimebags that have been investigated and found to be taking bribes like that rat Jefferson in Louisiana.
Down Under, Gardening Isn’t Lost in Translation
Washington Post – Apr 12, 2007
There it still rises in the east and sets in the west, but it traverses the northern sky instead of the southern, moving from right to left. At night the moon’s crescent turns the opposite way, and Orion is upside down. If you leave home in spring, as I did on a recent lecture trip, you arrive in fall, two calendar days later. Driving on the left is befuddling enough, but just talking can give you a case of jet lag. “It’s harvest time,” you remind yourself. “And we’re doing it in metric. ” Acres must be translated into hectares, feet into meters, planting depth into centimeters… A home flock of chickens (that’s “chooks” in Australian), kept for fresh eggs, is a common sight. People love gardening, and huge sections of their bookstores are devoted to it. Modern Australian cuisine, no longer a simple matter of steak on the barbie or bush tucker, is eclectic and highly dependent on fresh produce, much of it home grown. For that, I say “Good onya. ” Translation: “Right on.
Israel Halperin, 96: Crusading spirit
Toronto Star – Apr 12, 2007
"He was a lifetime influence on Is," said Rosenthal. Halperin completed two major pieces of work von Neumann left unfinished when he died suddenly, publishing both under only his mentor’s name. Halperin was back in Canada, teaching at Queen’s University, raising a young family with wife, Mary, and being a leader and mentor to a small but growing coterie of pure mathematicians here when Igor Gouzenko, a young Russian embassy cipher clerk, made a bid to stay in Canada in exchange for information on a widespread home-grown spy ring. He told police he was willing to name names. In February 1946, Halperin was among those arrested and detained in RCMP barracks for five weeks and denied access to his wife and a lawyer. Brought before what historian Reg Whitaker describes as a secret tribunal – headed by two Supreme Court justices – Halperin refused to be sworn in until he was told the identity of his interrogators. Then he asked: "Are you empowered to use physical intimidation?" When told no, but that he could be punished if he didn’t answer questions, Halperin tried to leave the room.