This is the blog of Shockwave Plasma, a virtual entity who originated in Second Life.
Being a virtual person lets me look out into the real world from a different perspective.
But there are reminders of those in the past who didn't have the luxury of the social progress that we mostly enjoy at the present time.
The pictures below are of Cross Bones Graveyard in Southwark London that I took a day or so ago, in it's early days it was called the Single Womans Graveyard, it's where the unwanted people in as far back as 1600 were interred. Unwanted, unloved, the refuse of a cruel society where they were non-people. Mostly it contains the remains of orphans, babies and prostitutes. I found it extremely moving looking at the ribbons, the keys and trinkets left at the gate.
This is what happened in the past due to lack of birth control,... unwanted babies, turning into unwanted people, living in poverty.
In the late 1990s the Museum of London excavated 148 remains, while estimating this was less than 1% of the total number of burials at this site. Their was also an episode of BBC History: Cold Case S01E04 movie you can watch here called Crossbones Girl where they take the bones to a "Face Finder" to reconstruct her appearance.
Redcross Way
The plaque on the gates
The gates covered in tributes
A small box behind the gates
Inside the gates
Today, young single mothers are still more likely to live in poverty than any other group in society, this is why access to abortion is so important, and in the years past, this is where they would end up. More Pictures from the BBC
"In a country well governed, poverty is something to
be ashamed of. In a country badly governed, wealth is something to be
ashamed of"- Confucius
I blogged back in August about how much abuse Rebecca Watson was getting, as I barley register on any ones radar so I just get comments on how I should read my bible.
In the last few days it's become much more clear about how much the torrent of hate towards woman bloggers writers has become
While Caroline Farrow and I are on opposite sides of the Theological fence (well pretty much every fence really) her writing in this article on the abuse she gets from woman as well as men is extremely good.
Follow twitter hashtag #stampoutmisogyny
My only solution would be to selectively turn on revealing IP addresses in comments, just so we can see where these nasty trolls are coming from, yes I know it's far from perfect.
“When you hear men talking," said Cornelia, "all they ever do is speak
ill of women. ... And I don't quite know how they managed to make this
law in their favour, or who exactly it was who gave them a greater
license to sin than is allowed to us; and if the fault is common to both
sexes (as they can hardly deny), why should the blame not be as well?
What makes them think they can boast of the same thing that in women
brings only shame?”
Moderata Fonte
It's been a turbulent few months in the battle for womans rights, in the UK and the USA.
But just in time has come a UN report from UN special rapporteur on health, Mr Anand Grover who says all states must provide safe abortion and contraception for women.
Criminal prohibition of abortion is a very clear
expression of State interference with a woman's sexual and reproductive
health because it restricts a woman's control over her body, possibly
subjecting her to unnecessary health risks. Criminal prohibition also
requires women to continue unplanned pregnancies and give birth when it
is not their choice to do so.
States must take measures to ensure that legal and safe abortion services are available, accessible, and of good quality.
Absolute
prohibition under criminal law deprives women of access to what, in
some cases, is a life-saving procedure. Even where a clandestine
abortion can be performed in a relatively safe, hygienic setting, it may
be financially inaccessible for the most vulnerable women. Poor and
marginalized women may instead turn to unsafe, self-induced abortions.
I also suspect we will be hearing from the Rightwing Christians and conspiracy nuts around the world that this is yet again the UN trying to take control of their country.
There has been a UK politician that has been the centre of some attention for the last few years. Her name is Nadine Dorries, as far as I can tell she became well known during the MP expenses affair, for which she was eventually cleared.
She has a blog, but she has also admitted in the past, that 70% of the content in her blog is fictional.
Recently
she tried unsuccessfully to change the rules on abortion in the UK,
this obviously shows she is not really on the side of woman, but working as the
spokesperson of a right wing Christian anti-woman movement. Nadine
Dorries wanted to stop abortion providers giving NHS-funded counselling
to women. So basically the idea was that those that provide the abortions,
should not give counselling as well. This argument was dismissed quite easily
She said it was about offering women more choice but was
accused of trying to "import American sensationalism" by Diane Abbott MP to the abortion
debate.
The Dorries amendment would have stripped
abortion
providers such as Marie Stopes and the British Pregnancy Advisory
Service (bpas) from offering counselling to women, MPs rejected her call
to offer women the "option" of independent counselling by 368 votes to
118. There are some other advice agencies, but an investigation has shown
that some of them are giving absolutely dreadful advice.
In one centre, Skylight Counselling, a Care Confidential affiliate in
Coventry, the researcher was given material linking abortion to breast
cancer and infertility, and was warned about "post-traumatic stress",
should she choose to have a termination.
Deliberately bad advice is common in the USA as well.
Other weird things this woman has been advocating is the "Just say No" method of sex education, one that has been such a failure in the USA
Young single mothers remain the most impoverished group in society, and the Anti-choice campaigners have a mantra "Support the mother". Does this ever happen? I think not. Again it's more Christian rhetoric but with no substance. Half of those who get abortions in the UK are already mothers, and will have various reasons for not wanting another child, supposedly Nadine says she can stop 60,000 abortions a year. Creating even more single mothers! What do Tories hate more than Unions? People on welfare, and then again the August riots were blamed by many on the lack of parental care, or the amount of single parent families. Soooo..we have a case of trying to have it both ways, so very strange.
The USA house of representative recently passed the H.R. 358, the “Protect Life Act.” The measure, introduced by Rep. Joe Pitts (R-Pa.), is to prohibit federal funds from going toward any health care plan that covers abortion services; it also would block funding from being withheld from institutions that are opposed to providing abortions.
The bill is one of two abortion-related measures introduced by House Republicans in this Congress; the other is H.R. 3, the “No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act,” which passed the House in early May on a near-party-line vote.
“SECTION 1. Article III of the constitution of the state
of Mississippi is hearby amended BY THE ADDITION OF A NEW SECTION TO
READ:
Section 33. Person defined. As used in this Article III of the state
constitution, “The term ‘person’ or ‘persons’ shall include every human
being from the moment of fertilization, cloning or the functional
equivalent thereof.”
"No woman wants an abortion as she wants an ice cream cone or a Porsche.
She wants an abortion as an animal caught in a trap wants to gnaw off
its own leg." - Frederica Mathewes-Green
Derren Brown, you either like him or hate him, personally I like him.
He has done some entertaining shows, but last night he demonstrated how it might be possible to make someone do something they wouldn't normally do via hypnosis. He turned someone into an Assassin (maybe).
I was interested in hypnosis for many years, well I still am, but I never really got anywhere with it.
Temple is one of those writers that produce books on subjects that he is not expert on, but he knows enough, to make you think he might be right. I suspect the Sirius Mystery is rubbish, but his book on lenses "The Crystal Sun" is interesting, and his book "The Genius of China" was a delightful read. I've not read any of his others.
Back to "Open to Suggestion", in one chapter he is talking about psychiatrist and self taught hypnotherapist Milton Erikson, and how he was once asked to make someone do something he wouldn't do. It was observed that Erikson tried and failed, but he didn't do the normal word games and redirection that he was famous for, and this was considered odd by those who knew Erikson.
So I'm just saying..it's possible...really...
We all get stuck in our belief systems, however sensible we think they
are. To me, the New Age community is particularly guilty of not testing
or challenging what it claims. - Derren Brown
Nadine seems to be a bit unimpressed with this nomination
Humanism is a worldview which says that reason and science are the
best ways to understand the world around us. Dignity and compassion
should be the basis for how we act toward others.
Gresham Lecture by Professor Gareth Williams on AntiVax in History
it's about 60 minutes long, but worth watching.
This is actually a cartoon ridiculing the antivax people, as they believe they are taking on the Cows attributes
Take note at about 40 minutes where you will see chiropractors saying vertebral subluxations to be the cause of all disease, so therefor Vaccination and Germ Theory are invalid..errr yeah...right, but some still believe it.
Professor Williams also mentions a more recent anti-vaxer called Viera
Scheibner, I have saved you the google search as he recommends, just
watch this from Australian 60 Minutes:-
Today one of the big sources of Vaccination misinformation is the Australian Vaccination Network, headed up by Meryl Dorey you can read here how Stop the AVN is combating this menace.
“I hope that some day the practice of producing cowpox in human beings will spread over the world - when that day comes, there will be no more smallpox” Edward Jenner
Recently the UK Government asked Reg Bailey the CEO of The Mothers Union to have a look at the modern pressures on children.
Dr Petra reviews it far better than I ever could here
But basically the finding are :-
putting age restrictions on music videos to prevent children buying
sexually explicit videos, and to guide broadcasters over when to show
them
covering up sexualised images on the front pages of magazines and newspapers so they are not in easy sight of children
retailers to offer more age-appropriate clothes for children and sign
up to a code of practice which checks and challenges the design, buying,
display and marketing of clothes, products and services for children
restricting outdoor adverts containing sexualised imagery where large
numbers of children are likely to see them, for example near schools,
nurseries and playgrounds
giving greater weight to the views of parents above the general public in regulating pre-watershed TV
providing parents with one single website to make it easier to complain about any programme, advert, product or service
banning the employment of children under 16 as brand ambassadors and
in peer-to-peer marketing, and improving parents’ awareness of
advertising and marketing techniques aimed at children.
making every customer make a decision at the point of purchase over
whether they want adult content on their home Internet, laptops or smart
phones, rather than receiving it automatically
Oh look, it's censor the Internet!
I have lots of knowledgeable friends in the ISP game. It's sad to say that over the last 5-6 years it's been an increasing smaller pool of ISPS in the UK to choose from. In some parts of Yorkshire you don't have any choice at all!
As Broadband has been rolled out, it's been getting more expensive to buy the infrastructure from wholesalers eg BT Wholesale, so this has been the main reason for the consolidation.
The UK government has been trying to get the ISPs to store peoples Web browsing history, and the headers of their emails for about 6-7 years now, and not much progress have been made. So it's surprising that David Cameron has promised that Web Filtering will be the default options for new accounts. But then the ISPs say, actually No, it's going to be an option.
So..it's starting to look a little less draconian, and more like a sales tactic for a system that probably any school child could get around in a few minutes.
How can you actually filter the Internet?
Currently the following methods are used in the smaller scale of businesses, schools and homes. The obvious methods are:-
DNS Blocking:- such as you can get via Open DNS http://www.opendns.com/
You could possibly get around this buy changing the DNS servers in the Network setting, or you can put different DNS servers in the local Hosts file. Or type in the IP address if you have it.
Forcing Proxy and filter list:-s eg Squid Proxy http://www.squidguard.org/
A web proxy is basically a server that intercepts your request for a web page, and either filters it, returns a copy of the page on the server to you, or asks for the page and passes it back to your web browser. This can be a bit more tricky to bypass as it should in theory intercept all web traffic
Based on automatic research tools and targeted research analysis, real-time updates enable you to apply highly-granular policies that filter web access based on 78 web content categories, over 56 million rated websites, and more than 20+ billion web pages - all continuously updated via the global FortiGuard distribution network.
Using a VPN or SSL to connect to a remote server and forward all your traffic through it. This can be done via the setting on the router itself, or with some easily down loaded software on your PC, such as http://www.witopia.net
“When governments start covering the eyes and ears of the whole nation,
however, there is a real problem. We only need to look at those
governments that have taken it to the extreme and burnt books to
understand that. But there are more subtle ways to inhibit the flow of
ideas that we need to be just as alert to.” -- Kate Lundy, Australian Labor Party Senator
It's an interesting question, but like many Churches while there is one person on top, the actual grassroots are spread quite widely and not all legally bound together.
I think the suggestion of the church owning property worth up to 700 billion euros is a bit extreme.
Google has let me down in this case, and I suspect there may be a language issue as well when it comes to questioning the Greek Orthodox Church, the best information I found written here:- http://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2784142/posts
"Money sometimes makes fools of important persons, but it may also make important persons of fools." - Walter Winchell
First we had Mad Nadine Dories and her attack on the rights of woman, now we have 40 Days for Life doing a prayer vigil outside the British Pregnancy Advisory Services. Some tactics new to the UK, but often used in USA.
In response http://40daysoftreats.tumblr.com/ was created by Carmen D'Cruz and Liz Lutgendorff to cheer up the BPAS staff. The idea is to deliver some nice things like cake, biscuits and chocolates to the staff.
I'll be sending something.
The Guardian have picked this up on their Womans Blog
The
preservation of life seems to be rather a slogan than a genuine goal of
the anti-abortion forces; what they want is control. Control over
behavior: power over women. Women in the anti-choice movement want to
share in male power over women, and do so by denying their own
womanhood, their own rights and responsibilities. ~Ursula K. Le Guin
“True, comics are a popular art, and yes, I believe their primary obligation is to entertain, but comics can go beyond that, and when they do, they move from silliness to significance.” Bill Watterson quotes (Author Calvin & Hobbes)
"church and state are separate, the
effects are happy, and they do not at all interfere with each other: but
where they have been confounded together, no tongue nor pen can fully
describe the mischiefs that have ensued." Rev. Isaac Backus quoted from 1773
freedom of religion, freedom of conscience and freedom of speech
women’s equality and reproductive rights
equal rights for LGBT people in all the European Union
a secular Europe – democratic, peaceful, open and just, immune to the clandestine influence of privileged religious (or other) organisations
one law for all, no religious exemptions from the law
state neutrality in matters of religion and belief
Opposing:
the privileged status of the churches under Article 17 of the TFEU (Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union)
the special status of the Vatican in the United Nations
state-funded faith schools
the economic privilege and political influence of the Vatican
The Campaign has a number of Videos up on YouTube This one from Stephen Law is my favorite and pertinent to everyone in regards to religious based education.
Nearly 20,000 people attended the Protest the Pope rally in London last year protest against the State Visit of Pope Benedict in the UK,to demand an end to religious privileges and ask that European institutions remain secular.
The Internet (well mostly Facebook) is slowly drawing people together, protesters and activists are coming together and sharing information like never before. Secularists, Humanists and Atheists are finally finding a voice, and realising they can make a change for the better.
‘Secularism is the only way to protect people of all different religions and those with none. It is vital that everyone who believes in liberal democracy and who values human rights comes on the march in September to show their support. If you want to defend women’s rights, children’s rights, the rights of gay people, human and reproductive rights, then march with us this September and let people see that we object to the influence of religion within the law and on the state.’ - Marco Tranchino coordinator of the Secular Europe Campaign
The Nymwars against the forces of Morder errr Google continue. Currently it still looks all very vague with Google not really seeming to know what of their executives are going to say next.
SUCH AS :-
All wars produce some good artistic propaganda, and Botgirl has been a quite a bit prolific, and I would like more people to see them:-
Who is Creeper?
“Parodies and caricatures are the most penetrating of criticisms.” - Aldous Huxley
This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the
original cable is not available.
--------------------------------------------
VATICAN ACKNOWLEDGES SEXUAL ABUSE BY PRIESTS
--------------------------------------------
¶5. (SBU) IN A RARE STATEMENT ACKNOWLEDGING FAULT, VATICAN
SPOKESMAN JOAQUIN NAVARRO-VALLS SAID MARCH 20 THAT THERE WAS
A PROBLEM OF SEXUAL ABUSE OF NUNS BY PRIESTS IN SOME
MISSIONARY TERRITORIES. HE SAID THE VATICAN WAS WORKING TO
CORRECT THE SITUATION. THE STATEMENT WAS IN RESPONSE TO A
MARCH 16 ARTICLE IN U.S. CATHOLIC WEEKLY, NATIONAL CATHOLIC
REPORTER THAT CITED FOUR REPORTS BY SENIOR MEMBERS OF
WOMEN'S RELIGIOUS ORDERS ASSERTING THAT SEXUAL ABUSE OF NUNS
BY PRIESTS, INCLUDING RAPE, WAS A SERIOUS PROBLEM,
UNCLASSIFIED
PAGE 05 VATICA 01615 01 OF 02 231320Z
UNCLASSIFIED
UNCLASSIFIED PTO7054
PAGE 01 VATICA 01615 02 OF 02 231320Z
ACTION EUR-00
INFO LOG-00 NP-00 AF-00 ACQ-00 CA-02 CIAE-00 USNW-00
DODE-00 DOEE-00 DS-00 EAP-00 FBIE-00 UTED-00 VC-00
H-01 TEDE-00 INR-00 IO-00 L-00 VCE-00 M-00
AC-01 NEA-00 NSAE-00 OCS-03 OES-01 OIC-02 PA-00
PM-00 ACE-00 P-00 SCT-00 SP-00 IRM-00 SSO-00
SS-00 TEST-00 T-00 USIE-00 R-00 SNIS-00 NISC-00
PMB-00 DSCC-00 DRL-02 G-00 NFAT-00 SAS-00 /012W
------------------D63E4F 231330Z /38
R 231328Z MAR 01
FM AMEMBASSY VATICAN
TO SECSTATE WASHDC 0000
INFO EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
AMEMBASSY TEL AVIV
AMCONSUL JERUSALEM
AMEMBASSY SEOUL
NSC WASHDC
UNCLAS SECTION 02 OF 02 VATICAN 001615
SIPDIS
SENSITIVE
DEPT. FOR EUR/WE (VAN CLEVE), EUR/SE, EAP/K, NEA/IAI,
EUR/PD/PA, AF/E, AF/W, AF/S, DRL/IRF
FROM EMBASSY VATICAN/MESSAGE NO. 48/01
UNCLASSIFIED
PAGE 02 VATICA 01615 02 OF 02 231320Z
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PRELPHUMSOCIISGRKNKSPHUMSOCIISGRKNKSVTMEPPVTPRELMEPP
SUBJECT: VATICAN - "VIEWS FROM THE HILL"
ESPECIALLY IN AFRICA. ONE OF THE AUTHORS TOLD A VATICAN CITY
NEWS AGENCY THAT SHE WAS VERY PLEASED THE VATICAN HAD ISSUED
ITS ACKNOWLEDGEMENT. (COMMENT: THE VATICAN HAS BECOME
INCREASINGLY SENSITIZED TO INCIDENTS OF SEXUAL ABUSE BY
CLERGY, PARTICULARLY IN COUNTRIES LIKE THE US, AUSTRALIA AND
ENGLAND. WE EXPECT THE REPORTS OF SEXUAL ABUSE BY PRIESTS IN
MISSIONARY TERRITORIES TO BE TAKEN SERIOUSLY AND DEALT WITH
PROFESSIONALLY. END COMMENT). MERANTE
"The best justification governments can find to shut down information isthat lives are at risk. In fact,
lives have been at risk as a result of the silences and lies revealed in these leaks." -- Jemima Khan
William Craig Lane is on his way back to the UK again, doing the usual tours and talks to the faithful.
This time he is having a debate with Stephen Law "Does God Exist"* on 17th October 2011 at Westminster Hall.
If you are in London and can go, it would certainly be an interesting event. It would also be interesting to see if William Craig Lane brings out the same arguments that he has in the past, or has thought of something new.
*No
Religion. It`s given people hope in a world torn apart by religion. Charlie Chaplin
The AVN have a few court cases coming up soon, here is a bit of a summery of the the conspiracy nuts at the Australian Vaccination Network.
But what is rather frightening, is when I did a google search for "Vaccination Quotes", just how many others like the AVN are out there.
Anyone who knows how difficult it is to keep a secret among three men - particularly if they are married - knows how absurd is the idea of a worldwide secret conspiracy consciously controlling all mankind by its financial power; in real, clear analysis.Oswald Mosley
In years past if you wanted to get somewhere in Australian politics you never mentioned religion, now thanks to John Howard it seems that we seemed to have taken the American route and it has become a part of the Australian political landscape. Most of this isn't obvious unless you really scrutinise the members of Federal and State Government. It makes you wonder how Julia Gillard at first was an Atheist, but now has become a non-practising Baptist.
How much influence does religion have in Government? Lets make a list.
Chaplains...no real use except for buying votes from Christians.
State funding of religious schools.
Government refusal to have a Charity commission, only 1st world Gov not to have one.
No tax on profits on Church owned businesses, only 1st world Gov not to do this.
Church exemptions on anti-discrimination law.
No general inquiry into Church child abuse
Evangelical Religious Instruction in schools
Do you really want Global warming denier George Pell, giving "advice" the many Catholic people in the Liberal Party?
How about Jim Wallace from the Australian Christian Lobby, a friend to all Gay people everywhere /sarcasm
When you say your Christian, than your giving these self elected spokesman more influence than they deserve.
Religious creeds encourage some of the craziest kinds of thoughts, emotions, and behaviors and favor severe manifestations of neurosis, borderline personality states, and sometimes even psychosis. - Albert Ellis
I have had this blog for about 4 years now, so I would guess this makes me an established personality, but not established enough for Google+. I jumped into Google+ when it first went live, and enjoyed the way it worked and the people on there. Then the purges began, people started to disappear...gone from my time line.
People such as :-
Then I jumped from Google+ as I had seen on twitter that some people had lost access to Gmail and didn't want to lose access to my account. As my name is made up of fairly common words, but not actual names, I guessed the BanHammer was coming after me soon.
I'm rather sad about it as Google+ had the potential for me to stay in contact with friends that aren't on other networks, and to deal with the information overload issue that comes from networks I am on.
Then Botgirl Questi got the ban hammer treatment, and she's not taking it lightly, and is giving it her best parody treatment:-
Then she had to go and talk to Google, as she does....
It's not just just Second Life personalities falling foul of the names policy.
Ex-Google Employee Skud had her Google+ account suspended and has written a great post about it here.
Another post I enjoyed reading was by Danah Boyd "Real names" are an Abuse of Power the article itself is quite good, but the comments show a complete range from total agreement, to those who haven't a clue.
My Name is Me is a site that lets people explain in their own words why they have chosen pseudonymity for their online existence.
A lot have to do with issues of sex, religion, (or lack of), politics,Human Rights and to avoid abuse and misogyny. (If you don't that this is a problem, I refer you to my last post on Rebecca Watson, and the daily amount of abuse she gets)
In the last year, we have seen Twitter, and Facebook become the launchpoint for the biggest shake up in world politics since the fall of the Berlin Wall. Since December 2010 there have been revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt, civil war in Libya, uprisings in Bahrain,Syria, and Yemen, major protests in Algeria, Iraq, Jordan, Morocco, and Oman. Minor protests in Kuwait, Lebanon, Mauritania, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, and Western Sahara. We can also add the failed Iranian protests.
Remember how Egypt turned off the Internet, to stop the people communicating. I wonder how many people where using real twitter and Facebook accounts. If it had all gone bad in Egypt, well, you can be sure those people with the real accounts would be either dead or missing by now.
Using alternate names is nothing new, it's quite famous for writers, sportsman, actors soldiers:-
Mark Twain = Samuel Clemens
Lewis Carroll = Charles Dodgson,
George Orwell = Eric Blair
Mary Ann Evans = George Eliot
John le Carré = David John Moore Cornwell
Mary Westmacott = Agatha Christie
Dr. Seuss = Theodor Seuss Geisel
Tiger Woods = Eldrick Tont Woods
Larry Niven = Laurence van Cott Niven
Andre Norton = Alice Mary Norton
Batman = Bruce Wayne
Elvira = Cassandra Peterson
Wonder Woman = Diana Prince
Banksy = ????
Much to my surprise I just discovered Porn Stars don't use their real names!!
The Electronic Frontier Foundation also support pseudonyms , and this quote sums it up best :-
As Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens put forth in deciding McIntyre v. Ohio Elections Comm’n 514 U.S. 334, 357 (1995),
"Anonymity is a shield from the tyranny of the majority. It thus exemplifies the purpose behind the Bill of Rights, and of the First Amendment in particular: to protect unpopular individuals from retaliation—and their ideas from suppression—at the hand of an intolerant society. The right to remain anonymous may be abused when it shields fraudulent conduct. But political speech by its nature will sometimes have unpalatable consequences, and, in general, our society accords greater weight to the value of free speech than to the dangers of its misuse."
This is one of the best videos on modern womans issues I've seen in a while. Rebecca Watson a the CFI leaders conference talks about what it's like to be an outspoken Atheist, and the terrible and disturbing abuse that she gets on a daily basis.
She then sums up how the rich christian organizations are attacking the rights of woman in the USA and are now exporting their vile ideology overseas.
Feminism is the radical notion that women are people. ~Cheris Kramarae and Paula Treichler
