Dear Kitty. Some blog

For a few days, there will be no or fewer blogging here.

Don’t worry, all will be back to normal soon.

Fortunately, my Blogsome blog is back now; it was, unfortunately, not working yesterday.

In that blog, some time ago, I mentioned that there is much Leftist criticism of the United States Obama administration for not breaking enough with the previous George W. Bush administration. This, however, did not prevent US extreme Right university authorities from banning the student organization of Obama’s Democratic Party.

And now, it turns out that in “the land of the free”, not just Obama’s party may face bans; but his books as well.

From World War 4 Report blog in the USA, quoting Associated Press:

Supermax prison: Obama’s books objectionable

The federal government’s most secure prison has determined that two books written by President Barack Obama contain material “potentially detrimental to national security” and rejected an inmate’s request to read them. …

Last year, [prisoner] Abu Ali requested two books written by Obama: Dreams from My Father and The Audacity of Hope.

But prison officials, citing guidance from the FBI, determined that passages in both books contain information that could damage national security. A prison spokeswoman referred questions to the FBI, where a spokeswoman was looking into the matter Thursday evening.

This week, there will be fewer or even no messages on this blog.

Don’t worry, after that this blog will be its usual self again.

For instance with “translate Google“, pages of this blog can be translated from English into other languages.

According to my GoStats statistics, so far, in this year 2009, there have been Google translations (not counting other translations) from pages of Dear Kitty. Some blog, into these languages: Slovenian, Czech, Slovak, Swedish, Romanian, Dutch, Latvian, Arabic, Italian, Hungarian, Croatian, Bulgarian, French, Danish, Vietnamese, Ukrainian, Chinese, Turkish, Spanish, Indonesian.

Plankton & Krill

From the Australian Antarctic division:

Tiny swimmers stir oceans

Monday, 06 April 2009

Turbulence in the ocean, caused by the wind, tides and currents, plays an important role in regulating the global ocean circulation and the movement of gases and nutrients between the surface and deeper waters. Now new research suggests that organisms as small as krill can contribute to this turbulence.

According to Science magazine, scientists have hypothesised that schools of krill, which migrate up through the water column at night to feed, generate large turbulence patches, potentially increasing the nutrient exchange across the stratified (layered – with warmer water at the surface) ocean. This means that krill could be fertilising the surface waters, boosting the production of phytoplankton.

It’s not hard to imagine that large organisms, such as whales or big fish, could produce such ‘biologically generated turbulence‘ or ‘biomixing’ at a local scale. Indeed, scientists speculate that the removal of whales and stocks of big fish over the past 200 years could have removed enough biomixing to affect climate (through, for example, a change in the exchange of carbon dioxide between the atmosphere and the ocean). But the idea that krill could generate enough turbulence to efficiently mix ocean waters is controversial.

Research by the Australian Antarctic Division’s krill biologist, Dr So Kawaguchi, and his collaborators at the Georgia Institute of Technology in the United States, is lending weight to the hypothesis that biomixing by krill does occur.

A marine effect, somewhat similar to the butterfly effect, usually based on a tropical rainforest example. If small krill can influence the big oceans, then, maybe, watch out what this small blog might yet do ….

Krill prefer sex in the dark: here.

Krill ’superswarm’ formation investigated: here.

There will be less, sometimes maybe even no, blogging here for some three weeks.

However, expect our regular blogging schedule to start again here at about 25 February.

So, stay tuned!

This video from the USA says about itself:

BLOGUMENTARY playfully explores the many ways blogs are influencing our media, our politics, and our relationships. Personal political writing is the foundation of our democracy, but mass media has reduced us to passive consumers instead of active citizens. Blogs return us to our roots and reengage us in democracy. Shot in candid first-person style by director Chuck Olsen.

Recently, British daily The Morning Star decided to make all of its content freely available on the Internet.

A plus for bloggers. However, with this plus came a minus: as the old Morning Star articles all got new URL’s then. So, the Morning Star links on this site which I had made before 1 January 2009 did not work any more.

However, I have managed to repair all of this. So, all (I hope) old Morning Star links at this site are working again.

Of course, other Internet URL’s sometimes also change.

I always try to update my old blogs, so that links keep working etc.

This is a video about blogging.

Where did Dear Kitty visits come from in the past year 2008?

According to my GoStats counter, they were from

United States 780230 49.5%
United Kingdom 189059 12.0%
Canada 95294 6.0%
Netherlands 57427 3.6%
Germany 38337 2.4%
Australia 32741 2.1%
India 25956 1.6%
France 23514 1.5%
Italy 18260 1.2%
Brazil 17100 1.1%
Spain 15692 1.0%
Belgium 15244 1.0%
Sweden 13288 0.8%
Ireland 11483 0.7%
Denmark 11325 0.7%
Mexico 10097 0.6%
Turkey 9466 0.6%
Norway 9397 0.6%
Poland 9207 0.6%
Romania 8394 0.5%
Switzerland 7798 0.5%
Finland 7178 0.5%
Hungary 6975 0.4%
South Africa 6551 0.4%
Portugal 6464 0.4%
Philippines 6336 0.4%
New Zealand 5600 0.4%
Greece 5292 0.3%
Indonesia 5278 0.3%
Thailand 4980 0.3%
Saudi Arabia 4743 0.3%
Singapore 4577 0.3%
Argentina 4576 0.3%
Czech Republic 4412 0.3%
Europe 4381 0.3%
United Arab Emirates 4334 0.3%
Austria 3985 0.3%
Slovakia 3962 0.3%
Bulgaria 3880 0.2%
Malaysia 3776 0.2%
Pakistan 3638 0.2%
Colombia 3415 0.2%
Israel 3363 0.2%
Egypt 3260 0.2%
Croatia 3030 0.2%
Japan 2900 0.2%
Chile 2891 0.2%
Korea, Republic of 2881 0.2%
Iran, Islamic Republic of 2806 0.2%
Slovenia 2339 0.1%
Russian Federation 2196 0.1%
Lithuania 1929 0.1%
Peru 1884 0.1%
Hong Kong 1854 0.1%
Vietnam 1848 0.1%
Venezuela 1781 0.1%
Estonia 1674 0.1%
Puerto Rico 1556 0.1%
Taiwan, Province of China 1534 0.1%
Latvia 1360 0.1%
Malta 1316 0.1%
Kuwait 1162 0.1%
Morocco 1150 0.1%
Iceland 1019 0.1%
Lebanon 997 0.1%
Sri Lanka 980 0.1%
Bangladesh 953 0.1%
Ukraine 946 0.1%
Qatar 880 0.1%
Macedonia 818 0.1%
Ecuador 765 0.0%
Algeria 758 0.0%
Cyprus 717 0.0%
Costa Rica 708 0.0%
Serbia 693 0.0%
Jordan 691 0.0%
Jamaica 690 0.0%
Bahrain 650 0.0%
Trinidad and Tobago 581 0.0%
Bosnia and Herzegovina 572 0.0%
Dominican Republic 550 0.0%
Luxembourg 540 0.0%
Panama 521 0.0%
Georgia 510 0.0%
Guatemala 482 0.0%
Uruguay 439 0.0%
Tunisia 403 0.0%
Anonymous Proxy 351 0.0%
El Salvador 349 0.0%
Syrian Arab Republic 348 0.0%
Mauritius 330 0.0%
Maldives 329 0.0%
Albania 317 0.0%
Honduras 286 0.0%
Satellite Provider 277 0.0%
Oman 254 0.0%
Bolivia 244 0.0%
Moldova, Republic of 234 0.0%
Nigeria 231 0.0%
Kenya 224 0.0%
Palestinian Territory, Occupied 206 0.0%
Myanmar 204 0.0%
Nepal 201 0.0%
Afghanistan 192 0.0%
Mongolia 187 0.0%
Bahamas 186 0.0%
Libyan Arab Jamahiriya 176 0.0%
Iraq 164 0.0%
Netherlands Antilles 161 0.0%
Bermuda 155 0.0%
Barbados 151 0.0%
Guam 146 0.0%
Sudan 145 0.0%
Yemen 140 0.0%
Brunei Darussalam 129 0.0%
Nicaragua 124 0.0%
Cambodia 122 0.0%
Tanzania, United Republic of 122 0.0%
China 120 0.0%
Paraguay 117 0.0%
Asia/Pacific Region 117 0.0%
Azerbaijan 114 0.0%
Cayman Islands 112 0.0%
Armenia 109 0.0%
Virgin Islands, U.S. 102 0.0%
Belarus 101 0.0%
Ghana 97 0.0%
Kazakhstan 93 0.0%
Fiji [see also here] 92 0.0%
Uganda 86 0.0%
Senegal 82 0.0%
Reunion 82 0.0%
Belize 80 0.0%
Cote D’Ivoire 80 0.0%
Gibraltar 77 0.0%
Ethiopia 70 0.0%
Guadeloupe 67 0.0%
Namibia 66 0.0%
Faroe Islands 63 0.0%
Macau 61 0.0%
Grenada [see also here] 61 0.0%
Guyana 60 0.0%
Aruba 59 0.0%
Saint Kitts and Nevis 58 0.0%
Botswana 58 0.0%
Antigua and Barbuda 53 0.0%
Saint Lucia 50 0.0%
Monaco 50 0.0%
Lao People’s Democratic Republic 49 0.0%
Suriname 49 0.0%
Martinique 48 0.0%
Dominica 48 0.0%
Mozambique 46 0.0%
Somalia 44 0.0%
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 42 0.0%
Papua New Guinea 36 0.0%
Uzbekistan 31 0.0%
Angola 27 0.0%
Madagascar 26 0.0%
Zimbabwe 26 0.0%
Montenegro 25 0.0%

Andorra 25 0.0%
French Polynesia 24 0.0%
Northern Mariana Islands 24 0.0%
Cuba 24 0.0%
Seychelles 23 0.0%
French Guiana 23 0.0%
New Caledonia [see also here] 22 0.0%
Kyrgyzstan 21 0.0%
Greenland 20 0.0%
Virgin Islands, British 20 0.0%
Haiti 18 0.0%
Mali 16 0.0%
Cameroon 16 0.0%
Rwanda 15 0.0%
Niger 15 0.0%
Liechtenstein 14 0.0%
Zambia 14 0.0%
Burkina Faso 14 0.0%
Mauritania 12 0.0%
Djibouti 12 0.0%
Malawi 11 0.0%
Benin 11 0.0%
Tonga 11 0.0%
Turks and Caicos Islands 11 0.0%
Anguilla 9 0.0%
American Samoa 8 0.0%
Eritrea 7 0.0%
Swaziland 7 0.0%
Bhutan 7 0.0%
Togo 7 0.0%
Cook Islands 7 0.0%
Cape Verde 7 0.0%
Solomon Islands 6 0.0%
Congo, The Democratic Republic of the 6 0.0%
Lesotho 6 0.0%
Micronesia, Federated States of 6 0.0%
Gambia 5 0.0%
Holy See (Vatican City State) 5 0.0%
San Marino 5 0.0%
Tajikistan 4 0.0%
Sierra Leone 3 0.0%
Equatorial Guinea 3 0.0%
Kiribati 3 0.0%
Congo 3 0.0%
Gabon 3 0.0%
Vanuatu 2 0.0%
Liberia 2 0.0%
Falkland Islands (Malvinas) 2 0.0%
Marshall Islands 2 0.0%
Guinea-Bissau 1 0.0%
Saint Pierre and Miquelon 1 0.0%
Burundi 1 0.0%
Samoa 1 0.0%
Norfolk Island 1 0.0%
Montserrat 1 0.0%
Mayotte 1 0.0%

For a comparison, where do visitors to Links International (Australia) come from? Here.

This video from the USA says about itself:

Visit http://www.afsc.org/cost to tell Congress how you want your tax dollars spent. The Iraq war has taken the lives of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis and thousands of U.S. military personnel. It is also costing $720 Million dollars each day - dollars that could be spent in much more constructive ways. It is time to DEFUND the war and RE-FUND human needs in the U.S. and Iraq. Get more details about our Cost of War campaign and sign our petition at http://www.afsc.org/cost.

On the far Right fringe of politics in the USA, there is something called the National Review.

It has a history of support for keeping racial segregation, for whitewashing anti-Semitism, and, “of course” for George W. Bush’s policies, including the Iraq war. They even expelled the son of the founder of their magazine, Christopher Buckley, when they thought he was not enough of a conformist sort of conservative.

Recently, once again, all the pro Iraq war propaganda was punctured by an Iraqi journalist throwing his shoes at George W. Bush. That journalist at the moment is in a torture jail in the Green Zone in Baghdad. He needs all the help possible from anti torture public opinion everywhere. Even from anti torture conservatives.

According to the New York Times, this Wednesday a criminal prosecution may start against the journalist. Every day in prison may turn out to be a deathly day for any prisoner in Iraq.

One National Review employee is called Mark Hemingway. Probably not in the slightest way related to Ernest Hemingway, judging from his writing. Mark Hemingway tries to defend the Iraq war, even now that the shoes thown at George W. Bush have shown what the pro war propaganda is worth. Remember the Bushist predictions of flowers which would be thrown at George W. Bush and his armed representatives? And now, this reality. In the Green Zone of all places, where all “disloyalty” is supposed to never make it through all the endless body searches and other checks.

The Iraq war which killed over a million people, mainly civilians. The Iraq war, of which a Republican employed by the US Bush administration itself, has reported officially that there has been basically no reconstruction after 2003. The Iraq war which made over four million Iraqis refugees according to United Nations figures. The Iraq war which set back Iraqi women’s rights terribly. The Iraq war which set back Iraqi gay rights terribly (the National Review will not mind as they hate gay rights and women’s rights). The Iraq war which brought more torture of more prisoners to Iraq than even under Saddam Hussein. The Iraq war based on lies about so called WMD in Iraq. The Iraq war based on lies of Iraq having anything to do with 9/11. The Iraq war which killed over 4,200 United States soldiers, mutilated many more, and still counting.

Mark Hemingway tries to defend this war. I will spare the readers of this blog from quoting his whole longish failure in doing that. I’ll limit myself to this paragraph:

A not atypical liberal blogger, Dear Kitty, responded, “It is a pity there was no Iraqi woman journalist with Manolo Blahniks at Bush’s news conference,” referring to absurdly expensive, hazardously sharp-angled women’s shoes preferred on Sex and the City. Perhaps Ms. Kitty wishes harm to the president, but it’s safe to say if Iraqi journalists end up wearing $400 shoes and spending all their free time kvetching about their lady troubles at hot clubs in downtown Baghdad, W.’s legacy is secure.

Yeah, “if Iraqi journalists” … maybe the most gigantic IF in world history

Mr Hemingway “forgot” the rest of my quote, immediately after the one sentence which he did quote. My complete paragraph is:

It is a pity there was no Iraqi woman journalist with Manolo Blahniks at Bush´s news conference. Extremely implausible, as women´s rights have become much worse in Iraq after Bush invaded in 2003. And that most women cannot afford non cholera drinking water and/or electricity, let alone Manolo Blahniks.

Mr Hemingway, it seems, still has to get his first lessons in understanding humour, hyperbole, and sarcasm. Humour, even while writing about the slaughterhouse which the Bush administration made in Iraq. Oh yeah, and even if that one and lonely Manolo Blahnik wearing Iraqi woman journalist would a) exist in reality b) have been admitted to the Bush press conference, then that one woman would not prove anything about Iraqi women being supposedly comfortable and about shoes being supposedly 100% of their lives. As even owning Manolo Blahniks, or a good car like Mary Awanis did, do not prevent Iraqi women from being killed by Bush’s paramilitary mercenaries in Baghdad.

Unfortunately, I have no time for free lessons in humour for conservatives who lack it. So I will just post the video trailer of the Sex and the City film here.

Me, a “A not atypical liberal blogger”? I never try to be “a not atypical” anything. I am an individual. I write what I think. Contrary to paid employees of the National Review, who cannot ever forget that they have to toe the line of pro Bush, pro Iraq war, whatever the reality. As young Mr Christopher Buckley has found out when he was sacked.

The National Review side in the USA have lost the November elections. They should get over it. Apparently, they have trouble doing so. So, they say: let’s take out the disaster of Bush’s Iraq war on bloggers and on a fictional TV series about women. You don’t want to do that, employee? Then, you will get the Christopher Buckley treatment.

How great that the only person at this blog able to sack me is me. And I don’t have any intentions to do that soon.

British comedian Mark Steel on the shoe-throwing: here.

This video from the USA says about itself:

http://foxattacks.com/bloggers [Rupert Murdoch’s] FOX has declared war on the blogosphere and it’s time to fight back!

This week, there will be fewer or no new blog entries here.

Normal blogging will resume about 27 October.

See you all then!