Palestine

I'm concerned about current developments in Israel/Palestine.

Clashes around the Temple Mount and other tensions within East Jerusalem are causing some to ask whether there will be a third Intifada.

I really hope not.

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Seven Things I Like About Tumblr

1. It looks cool

Uploaded images are sharp. Videos are centred and of a good size and quality.

There are a range of attractive designs for personalising your blog.

2. It works well for macro and micro-blogging

It can be used like Twitter as a status updater but the range of things you can do on the site encourages a much more varied set of posts.

Which leads seamlessly to point three.

3. There is a lot you can do with it

• Text posts, like this one
• Uploading photos
• Embedding videos from just about any site you’ll ever use
• Simple links
• Uploading audio files
• Chat facility

The result is a varied and visually pleasing blog with good content, easily generated.

4. It’s not full of rubbish

No sheep or growing flowers. The absence of tacky applications is a plus.

5. You can upload in any way you like

• On the site itself
• By email
• Through Shareaholic or any other online sharing tool
• By a “bookmark this” link in your browser
• By phone - including to a dedicated direct land line

6. It links easily into other media

It’s easy to import and export into Facebook and Twitter (by default or selectively) as well as importing up to five RSS feeds.

The limit on these feeds stops the site becoming another Friend Feed. The feel of Tumblr (to me at least) is that it sits part way between a traditional blog and a social bookmarking site. How much of an individual’s content will be original work and how much will be imported from elsewhere is a matter of personal choice.

7. It has the option to queue posts

Sometimes you get a burst of creativity and want to produce a lot of content. Tumblr lets you queue your posts to upload at a specified date or at regular intervals set by you. This is very convenient and can keep your blog fresh (even if you’re not).

By the way, you can see what I mean by all of the above by visiting my Tumblr blog here.

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BBC NEWS | UK | Teen alcohol crackdown 'success'

BBC NEWS | UK | Teen alcohol crackdown 'success'

The trouble with this "successful" campaign to crackdown on teens drinking alcohol is that it was carried out by agents of the state.

When parents, in large numbers, step back from their role of teaching, instructing, disciplining and, at times, restraining their children, and when they allow the state to take on that role, then we are all in big trouble.

When that happens, the state is no longer even a Big Brother but a Pushy Parent.

This is bad news for parents, for children and for society as a whole, whose freedoms become even more eroded by an all-embracing governmental bureaucracy.

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People Power Closes Kingsnorth

Plans to build a new coal-fired power station in Kent have been put on hold for three years by energy company E.on.

Oxfam, who formed part of a wide coalition opposed to the development of the site, claim that the new power station at Kingsnorth would have emitted six million tonnes of CO2 per year - the equivalent of the combined emissions of 25 developing countries - and would have contributed to global warming. Climate change disproportionately affects the poorest members of the world's poorest countries.

85, 000 messages opposing the Kingsnorth initiative were sent by those concerned about the plans.

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On Obama's Nobel Peace Prize

To be honest, I was very surprised at the announcement that President Obama has been awarded the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize.

While I am pleased at Obama's multilateral approach and his commitment to strengthening international institutions - all in sharp contrast to the narrow nationalism of the Bush era - I agree with Paul Reynolds at the BBC who describes the unexpected award as "more of an encouragement for intentions than a reward for achievements."

The trouble is that the prize has not generally been awarded for intentions but for measurable accomplishments in promoting and achieving lasting peace in specific situations.

Consider 1998's Peace Prize Laureates, David Trimble and John Hume, for instance. They were at the heart of a painstaking process that brought a thirty-year civil war to a close in Northern Ireland, the fruit of this peace being felt every day by millions of people. Mandela and DeClerk in 1993 are at least as striking examples of peace achievers.

Changing the tone of America's international relations and beginning talks on nuclear disarmament - good though these moves are - hardly seem to be in the same league.

I hope this does not represent a devaluing of the currency of the Nobel Prizes. Even worse, I hope it doesn't mean that we've become so accustomed to permanent warfare that we've forgotten what peace actually feels like.

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Consumerism

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