Hen Fight

Me thinks me know why Johann is a bit miffed:

But this is Steyn's way with evidence: the extremely atypical is presented as universal, and the urban myth is presented as damning fact.

Someone else has nicked his schtick.

Happens to me all the time....

Dear readers, we are cannon fodder in the food wars being fought by rival PR men, marketing groups and supermarket chains. And the icing on the cake is a whole lot of dubious "research" by scientists published in an arcane publication, probably funded by - you've guessed it - the people who grow, sell or package food.

Remember when low-fat spreads were just brilliant for lowering your blood pressure and warding off heart disease? I know that secretly you thought; "How come no one in Sardinia is offering me Flora when I sit in a gorgeous fish café in Porto Cervo"

Yo, are these those eco-jobs I keep hearin' 'bout?

Child labor, no safety standards, handling hazardous material, picking through garbage, cholera .... sounds t-ight:

But for a growing number of environmental campaigners Dharavi is becoming the green lung stopping Mumbai choking to death on its own waste.

All along Apna St hundreds of barefoot street children, human recycling machines, scurry back and forward, hauling bundles of waste - plastic, cardboard or glass - retrieved from Mumbai's vast municipal dumps. From every alley comes the sounds of hammering, drilling and soldering. In every shack, dark figures sit waist-deep in piles of car batteries, computer parts, fluorescent lights, ballpoint pens, plastic bags, paper and cardboard boxes and wire hangers, sorting each item for recycling.

Workshops reveal everything from aluminium smelters recycling drink cans to perspiring bare-chested men stirring huge vats of waste soap retrieved from rubbish tips and local hotels. Walking through Dharavi, home to an estimated 15,000 single-room factories, it becomes difficult to conceive of anything that is not made or recycled here.

Sign me up boy .......

Yet survival in a slum rarely means adhering to the law. Barely 10 per cent of the commercial activity here is legal. Most of the workshops are constructed illegally on government land, power is routinely stolen and commercial licences are rarely sought. There is just one lavatory for every 1,500 residents, not a single public hospital, and only a dozen municipal schools. Throughout the slum filthy chicken and mutton stalls dispose bloody viscera into open drains thick with untreated human and industrial waste - cholera, typhoid and malaria are common. Taps run dry most of the time and tankers bring in potable water once in a fortnight.

Notttt

On the pull

a ShOuT oUt To ThOsE aNd ThEm In ThE a-M-s-T-e-R-d-I-z-A-m As ThE kInG aNd CoUrT wIlL bE iN dA hIzOuSe ThIs WiZeEkEnD. yUp, SpLiZiFiN aNd BlIzUnTiN aNd HiZoRiN. cOuRtEsY oF tHaT eZ-jEt.

I gIzOt YoUr CaRbOn FoOtPrInT hIzAnGiN. sTrIzAiGhT oUtTa StAnStEd.

You know what time it iz.......

Although a cheat.............













the man is also a chav ............












Old-school:

Former football star Diego Maradona is being investigated for possible financial irregularities in Argentina, reports say.

It is not the first time Diego Maradona's finances have come under the scrutiny of the authorities.

In June 2006, he was prosecuted in Italy for tax evasion and had two Rolex watches confiscated.

Cut a brother some slack.

St. Tiggywinkles

Just when I think I am getting my knowledge on about this whole environmental tip I end up with a spanner in the backside.

This I am cool with:

The behaviour of Britain's wildlife is raising alarm about the seriousness of climate change as animals' breeding patterns are thrown into confusion. The second mildest winter on record has resulted in mammals, reptiles, birds and insects emerging from shelter far too early.

Fine with this too, global warming is the (not so stone cold) killa:

The visible impact on Britain's wildlife has manifested itself in the form of earlier than normal breeding, egg-laying, nesting and flowering of plants and trees, observed in British wildlife for more than 15 years and now linked to global warming in a whole series of scientific studies. They have sparked huge new interest in the discipline of phenology ­ the timing of natural events.

Then I get a lorry full of this shovelled down my gullet:

They are getting caught out by cold snaps or wet weather and the young of many species are dying. Baby hedgehogs, baby squirrels, even baby grass snakes are being found in distress in many places.

...

A typical inhabitant is Bushy, as he has been named by staff, a 10-day-old grey squirrel, still blind and about four inches long. He is being bottle fed and even needs human help to make his bladder work, a job normally done by his mother, from whom he was separated when their nest was disturbed by tree cutters.

"He really should not be here. He was born two or three weeks before he should have been,'' says Les Stocker, the founder of Tiggywinkles. " This is the busiest year we have had for these kind of animals being brought in,'' he added. "The animals are becoming active and mating earlier than normal, but you can still get sudden cold snaps to which they are vulnerable."

Cold weather can either kill young animals or prompt them into hibernation, from which they do not awake because they lack sufficient fat reserves.

Which is it out there? Warming, cooling, everything? These swampies seem to be pimpin' all sides. Usually a sign that somebody is getting paid, hard. A possible insight into my interest in the subject, yo-yo?

A decree from the King, any animals out there needin' some extra fat reserves should swing by the crib of my boy Caspah, his mum and sis got mad fat to spare.

Crunk'd

Thatz what I'm talking about:


N-ice

Yo Caspah!

I was going to give a loud shout to my boy Caspah when I saw the tabs were a bit overheated about some politico-governmento types being caught out both here and abrizoad:

Police in the cash-for-honours inquiry are examining details of meetings attended by Lord Levy, Labour's chief fundraiser, at which the question of political honours may have been discussed, the Guardian has learned.

Detectives are investigating whether Lord Levy later suggested to colleagues that they should not draw attention to his involvement in the discussions because of the fevered atmosphere surrounding the inquiry.

And:

George Bush suffered a fresh setback yesterday when a top White House aide, Lewis "Scooter" Libby, was found guilty of perjury in relation to events leading up to the invasion of Iraq.

Yo Caspah, what page is the 'dog bites man' story at? Politico-governmentos don't tell the truth and are turned out, stop the presses.

Son of the preacher-man

Another harpie sets out to rid the world of bLiNg:

"I think that Jesus would be disappointed in our ignoring the plight of those around us who are suffering and our focus on our own selfish short-term needs," John Edwards told the site. "I think he would be appalled, actually."

Edwards has often cited religion as a part of his politics, frequently linking his efforts to fight poverty as a matter of morality.

Especially the religous art of faith healing. As demonstrated circa 2004, tight:

This is John Edwards on Monday at a rally in Newton, Iowa: "If we do the work that we can do in this country, the work that we will do when John Kerry is president, people like Christopher Reeve are going to walk, get up out of that wheelchair and walk again."

Sing that song preacher-man.

Nature Balances Itself

Needless to say, I may start paying attention to this climate change beef:

Brothel owners in Bulgaria are blaming global warming for staff shortages.

They claim their best girls are working in ski resorts because a lack of snow has forced tourists to seek other pleasures.

Petra Nestorova, who runs an escort agency in Sofia, said: "We have hired students, but they are temps and nothing like our elite girls."

Maybe it is time to start paying attention to what is going on outside the estate. Not really, No Pasaran with the save and the travel book update:

Switzerland entered a treaty with the European Union to import workers, seeking more bankers, managers, and academics. What it got was an influx of prostitutes.

The number of people offering sex for money has risen by a third in Zurich and 80% in Geneva since Switzerland opened its borders to workers from the 15 E.U. member states at the start of 2004, police estimate.

Some lawmakers predict prostitution will grow even more after the government last year removed work restrictions for residents from 10 newer E.U. countries, as well.

I need a break from Majorca anyway.