Life, medicine and stuff

Interview with Erin Doland of Unclutterer at the Happiness Project.  Half way through, she suddenly reveals how she has a severe from of Epidermolysis bullosa dystrophica (lit. your skin blisters, falls off and leaves you with scars).  Makes her motto of Carpe Vitam rather more poignant.

I admit, I need lots of praise ("gold stars") to maintain enthusiasm for jobs.  But I'm probably not that great at giving it.  The Happiness Project advises: be specific – don't just say "Well done!  That's great!" acknowledge who did it – don't just say "that was good" be as effusive as the act deserves –…

Irena Sendler was a social worker in Warsaw who had access to the Jewish Ghetto.  She smuggled out and fostered 2500 children, recording their real names but burying the lists in her garden, so that eventually they could be reunited with their parents.  She was tortured by the Gestapo and had both legs broken. 

As Iain Macwhirter rightly pointed out in the Sunday Herald – why is there no discussion about internet porn?  We seem to be resigned to its existence, at the same time as we are totally ignorant about what effect such ready access to a wide spectrum of pornography will have on our children and our…

Grief is like open-heart surgery without the anaesthetic. Catherine Lucas

The beginner's mind/the child's mind is a classic Eastern idea. It recognizes the value of just seeing things as they really are. It is not about being simplistic or ignorant, it is about approaching life and its challenges with curiosity and enthusiasm. "It is the mind that is innocent of preconceptions and expectations, judgments and…

At current rates (one removal every 26min) backlog of asylum cases will take 14 yrs to clear, at 11 000 GBP per case. Prior to 2002 asylum seeker could seek work after 6/12.  Destitution as tool?  Section 4 shelter is supposed to help refused asyllum seekers with shelter & food vouchers but must sign up…

Court martial case for death in custody of Baha Mousa, 26yr old Iraqi hotel receptionist.  Handcuffed, hooded, interrogated for 36hrs, died of suffocation.  93 separate injuries.  3yr investigation, cost 20 million GBP.   1 soldier admitted inhumane treatment, all were acquitted of all other charges.

Guernica was Basque town full of refugees, bombed by Nazis.  Few buildings left standing, 250 dead – one of the first instances of terror bombing, directed at civilians. Reporting was severely restricted, and it was denied that foreign planes had been used (as Germany had supposedly been neutral).  But the report by George Steer fed…

Guernica was Basque town full of refugees, bombed by Nazis.  Few buildings left standing, 250 dead – one of the first instances of terror bombing, directed at civilians. Reporting was severely restricted, and it was denied that foreign planes had been used (as Germany had supposedly been neutral).  But the report by George Steer fed…