Mike Brearley is an acknowledged master of psychology in sport. Here he expounds on how to be a good umpire, it is a lesson on how to behave generally, I think.

"Rise up against your oppressor", George Bush told the Kurds in 1991, then pissed off out of it, leaving them to their fate. Not without a little help from U.S and British warplanes, they have established a sort of mini state in Northern Iraq. It seems to work well, with a free press and open opposition. But now the younger Bush is coming a calling. There goes the neighborhood. (NY Times link, reg required)

The School of the Americas. This piece of journalism has won an award from Amnesty International. It is a fine piece. How come all the worlds bad guys were once clients of the U.S?

This online music station is worth exploring before the whole streaming thing goes tits up

The Sacred Text Archive is awesome and important.You will find information on just about any religion or belief system you can think of.

Images of the Vietnam war, taken by the other side.

Bleeding Nora, it's all a bit serious today. Thanks to Ragamuffin for this Ice Cream Sundae collecting car crash type diversion, at which I am not very good.