I recently came across the blog of a long time muse of mine, Labi Siffre. I was once in a second-hand shop in Manchester and the cover of his 1972 album, “Crying, Laughing, Loving, Lying” called out to me to buy it…

I had never heard of him, and the record was a little scratched, but I took it home and haven’t stopped listening to it since. I even hooked up the record player to the computer so I could make mp3s. Some time later, I saw him perform a sublime set of music and poetry - on race, religion, politics and people.

When I came across his blog, Into The Light, I saw a stream of poetry… This one really caught my attention:

as 123 as ABC

“life has no meaning without God” say many
but life has no meaning
full stop. period.

life is the muse, the inspiration
equalled only by existence
and these wonders inspire us
FIRE us to meaning

to not realize that is
profoundly
odd

and the customary way
to flee
responsibility

Fifteen years ago, twelve-year old Severn Suzuki scraped together enough money to travel from Canada to the Rio Summit. She gave this speech to the delegates - a bone-chilling reminder of their responsibility.

It seems more relevant today than ever.

(on YouTube)

The European Union is seeking again to ban the swastika symbol. There has been a flurry of debate about the vastly different meanings the symbol has to different cultures.

This has centred on the feelings of the German nation, European Jews and Hindus.

From YNet News (via Anarchaia):

Germany plans to use its presidency of the EU to launch an initiative which could lead to common laws across the bloc making it a crime to deny genocide and display Nazi symbols.

“The swastika has been around for 5,000 years as a symbol of peace. This is exactly the opposite of how it was used by Hitler,” said Ramesh Kallidai of the Hindu Forum of Britain.

“It is almost like saying that the Klu Klux Klan used burning crosses to terrorize black men, so therefore let us ban the cross. How does that sound to you?”

Links

• BBC article
• Reclaim the Swastika reader comments
• Rainmountain posts to Flickr
• Positive Swastikas Flickr Group

At the recent SLDevU conference in London, I understood the vision behind the online virtual world, Second Life, to a much deeper level: a platform for the 3D Internet - a richer, more compelling and more collaborative space for information and communication than our current, flat-screen Web.

Created by visionary programmers and inhabited by curious explorers, soul seekers, revellers, entrepreneurs and a frenzy of big-bucks brands, I wonder if we could turn this new Frontierland into something greater than our First Life?… Read more…

A time for goodwill, for giving, for sharing… Or a time for consuming, for devouring, for spending…

As Christmas hype reaches its zenith, millions of last-minute shoppers stock-up on their obligatory must-gives. I wonder how much money is spent each year on unwanted gifts. Still, you’ve got to give something and it is good for the economy…

An Idea for Next Christmas
There’s no need to buy new, expensive gifts when the world is already full of perfectly good but unwanted possessions. And because so many of us have things that we no longer need, why not organise a local community bring-and-share for Christmas presents?…

People would bring good quality items to give away, and they’d take home gifts from others. Perhaps there’d be a small fee for each present, which gets donated to charity.

Would you want to take part?