tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-219731272009-09-23T04:02:30.641+01:00"Orthodoxy is not thinking. Orthodoxy is not needing to think" - George OrwellThe Big Thinkernoreply@blogger.comBlogger205125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21973127.post-1160575074155224352006-10-11T14:45:00.000+01:002007-02-14T10:43:42.730Z

According to a study led by Gilbert Burnham of Johns Hopkins University, there have been approximately 655,000 casualties in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003:Methods Between May and July 2006 a national cluster survey was conducted in Iraq to assess deaths occurring during the period from January 1, 2002, through the time of survey in 2006. Information on deaths from 1,849

The Big Thinkernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21973127.post-1159653057880263932006-09-30T22:48:00.000+01:002006-09-30T22:57:20.336+01:00

Via Mitchieville:from Maps of War.

The Big Thinkernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21973127.post-1156967696818035642006-08-30T20:48:00.000+01:002006-08-30T20:57:26.616+01:00

Naguib Mahfouz, Egypt's greatest writer and the first Arab Nobel laureate, died today, aged 94.Here's an obituary from the Guardian.

The Big Thinkernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21973127.post-1154529548038829542006-08-02T15:33:00.000+01:002006-08-02T15:43:23.646+01:00

Click to enlarge

The Big Thinkernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21973127.post-1154332130768810702006-07-31T08:38:00.000+01:002006-07-31T08:55:57.253+01:00

Thousands gathered in London's Trafalgar Square yesterday to protest against Israel's attacks on Lebanon. The photographs below were taken by me. More photos of the demo can be found here.

The Big Thinkernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21973127.post-1153926752246147612006-07-26T16:10:00.000+01:002006-07-26T16:12:32.263+01:00

Here's a full, translated transcript of Al Jazeera's interview with Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrullah.

The Big Thinkernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21973127.post-1153913749516348242006-07-26T12:17:00.000+01:002006-07-28T16:33:04.603+01:00

Israel's bombing of Lebanon enters its third week, with the most intense bombing yet taking place on Tuesday.The effect of Israel's air strikes on Lebanon is utterly devastating and is in violation of humanitarian law. 13 Lebanese were killed early this morning; most of Lebanon's cities have been attacked by Israeli war planes; entire villages in southern Lebanon have been 'flattened'; the

The Big Thinkernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21973127.post-1153911896048473422006-07-26T11:37:00.000+01:002006-07-26T13:02:32.273+01:00

The Evening Standard ran this dispicable front page last week.In an attempt to justify the civilian casualties it has inflicted, Israel claimed that it believed Hizbullah was using Lebanese children as sandbags. It doesn't surprise me that the Standard jumped on Israel's statement, but can intelligent people actually be fooled by this nonsense?The Standard's front page is but one example of

The Big Thinkernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21973127.post-1153388268459992572006-07-20T10:23:00.000+01:002006-07-20T10:38:48.020+01:00

WARNING: EXTREMELY GRAPHIC IMAGES BELOWIsrael continues to pound Lebanon and kill innocent civilians.

The Big Thinkernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21973127.post-1152700154775479602006-07-12T11:29:00.000+01:002006-07-12T11:30:47.306+01:00

Syd Barret, founder and lead singer of the legendary Pink Floyd, has died at the age of 60 of diabetes-related complications.

The Big Thinkernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21973127.post-1152695755111937722006-07-12T10:14:00.000+01:002006-07-12T10:18:01.563+01:00

Regular readers of this blog (if there are any!) will notice that I haven't posted anything for about 2 weeks.I've been preoccupied with other things recently, but normal services will resume soon!

The Big Thinkernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21973127.post-1151489763891372272006-06-28T10:57:00.000+01:002006-06-28T13:11:05.726+01:00

The Kapuas mud snake, Enhydris gyii, was recently discovered in the forests of Borneo. It is the first new snake species to be discovered in over 5 years. The snake is venemous, measures half a metre in length and is capable of changing colour.Scientists at Rice University have produced a film clip of carbon nanotubes, using standard optical microscopes and video cameras. The nanotubes in the

The Big Thinkernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21973127.post-1151065439971788062006-06-23T12:29:00.000+01:002006-06-23T13:28:46.833+01:00

These beads, discovered by archaeologists and dated to 100,000 years ago, are the oldest known examples of jewellery. The ancient ornaments were found at Oued Djebbana and Skhul, in what are now Algeria and Israel, respectively. They are made from the shells of Nassarius gibbosulus, a marine gastropod, and are perforated, so it seems that they were hung around the neck or wrist. The Algerian site

The Big Thinkernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21973127.post-1150549774875000122006-06-17T13:36:00.000+01:002006-06-17T14:09:35.000+01:00

(Nature)The millipede Illacme plenipes is the leggiest animal in the world - an adult of this ancient species can have up to 750 legs.There are 10,000 known species of millipede; this particular one is extremely rare, and has only been seen once before, over 80 years ago in California.The scanning electron micrographs above show the complex internal structure of I. plenipes. The fine hairs

The Big Thinkernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21973127.post-1150467386553517962006-06-16T15:05:00.000+01:002006-06-16T15:24:03.410+01:00

According to Seed Magazine, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency will be spending $15 million next year on the "Unique Signiture Detection Project," the aim of which is to be able to identify terrorists from scents secreted in bodily fluids. The project is based on the idea, for which there is little evidence, that the Major Histocompatability Complex (MHC) genes of the immune system

The Big Thinkernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21973127.post-1150121520154099632006-06-12T14:21:00.000+01:002006-06-12T17:16:28.106+01:00

Let's face it: what the U.S. and British governments refer to as 'intelligence' is actually nothing of the kind. The information obtained by the so-called intelligence agencies is often inaccurate or completely wrong, and there have been tragic consequences as a result, such as the killing of Jean Charles de Menesez two years ago and, more recently, the fumbled 'terror raid' in Forest Gate.

The Big Thinkernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21973127.post-1149835311270866812006-06-09T07:35:00.000+01:002006-06-09T07:41:51.300+01:00

"Arguably, over the last several years, no single person on this planet has had the blood of more innocent men, women and children on his hands that Zarqawi."U.S. Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. The names of two people who certainly do have more blood on their hands than Zarqawi immediately spring to mind: Donald Rumsfeld and George W. Bush.

The Big Thinkernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21973127.post-1149774198277229602006-06-08T13:34:00.001+01:002006-06-08T14:47:24.966+01:00

Below is a translation of a letter written by Ayman Nour, smuggled out of prison by his wife (from The Arabist). Nour is the founder of the Egyptian political opposition party Ghad. He was charged with forging signatures to register his party, which was formed in October 2004. The U.S. pressed the Egyptian government into delaying his trial until last year's presidential election, in which Nour

The Big Thinkernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21973127.post-1149756711637870722006-06-08T09:28:00.000+01:002006-06-08T09:53:43.653+01:00

This photogroah of a plume of volcanic ash spewing out of the Cleveland volcano in Alaska was taken by Jeffrey N. Williams, a flight engineer on the International Space Station.The volcano, located on Chuginadak Island, erupted on 23rd May. The ash plume visible in the photo is moving west-southwest from the volcano's summit and may have been as high as 6,000m (20,00ft.) above sea level,

The Big Thinkernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21973127.post-1149676794839552702006-06-07T10:45:00.000+01:002006-06-07T11:43:36.800+01:00

Despite its rhetoric about spreading freedom and democracy throughout the world, the United States remains the biggest threat to peace. Former UN chief weapons inspector Hans Blix, one of the few people whose integrity remained intact throughout the Iraq war debacle, has said that the U.S. must abandon its 'war on terror' to stop the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMDs). In a

The Big Thinkernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21973127.post-1149615789245906442006-06-06T18:41:00.000+01:002006-06-06T18:43:09.256+01:00

Hexakosioihexekontahexaphobia - fear of the number 666. So, the Antichrist has not appeared. But the day is not over yet...

The Big Thinkernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21973127.post-1149499838029915842006-06-05T10:04:00.000+01:002006-06-05T10:39:04.776+01:00

(Slate)Last weekend marked the 15th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre, in which a protest for democratic reform by intellectuals, students and activists was violently suppressed by the Chinese government. Earlier this year, Google launched its Chinese search engine,

The Big Thinkernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21973127.post-1149421566930632382006-06-04T12:24:00.000+01:002006-06-05T09:27:55.553+01:00

Let anyone with understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is thenumber of a person. Its number is six hundred and sixty-six.(Revelation 13: 18)The remake of the 1976 film The Omen, in which an American ambassador, played by Gregory Peck, discovers that his son is the Antichrist, is released tomorrow (06.06.06). The age-old superstition about the number 666 originates in the Book of

The Big Thinkernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21973127.post-1149250474507853892006-06-02T13:12:00.000+01:002006-06-02T13:19:37.883+01:00

The Large Hadron Collider (LHC, pictured, left) is a new particle accelerator which physicists believe may detect dark matter.The LHC has been installed in an underground tunnel, measuring 27km round, at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) in Geneva, and is due to be switched on next year. The LHC is the most powerful particle accelerator to date. When switched on, it will

The Big Thinkernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21973127.post-1149240374858448882006-06-02T10:18:00.000+01:002006-06-02T10:26:14.870+01:00

The BBC yesterday aired footage containing evidence that U.S. troops deliberately killed Iraqi civilians, within days of news of the Haditha massacre and its attemtped cover-up by the perpetrators. The U.S. military has now stated that it plans to teach its troops ethics.

The Big Thinkernoreply@blogger.com0