Post script

I was going to take this blog down but changed my mind. It will stay up for the moment but is on permanent hiatus.

Leave a comment or email me morrigan dot reborn at gmail dot com if you want to find me at my new blog.

Bye

The end

After 442 posts, I am declaring this blog done.

I will probably start a new one after NaNo but I'm closing this chapter. If you want to know my new home, drop me a comment or a mail.

I will leave this post up for a week or so

Cheers
SD

Watch this now

I'm taking a break from writing to post this



Chilling, isn't it

NaNoWriMo time

I'm taking part in this year's NaNoWriMo so I won't be blogging very much or perhaps at all.

Happy November All.

Folk songs of protest

I just came across this group - The Messenger Band. They are a Cambodian folk group. Each member is a former factory worker. As it says on the Womyn's Agenda for Change website, singing is a safer way of advocating for change, especially in a climate that represses protest and where journalists self-censor.

Check out these videos. They are subtitled in English. Listen to the words of young Cambodian women singing about the issues that effect them.

Suffering from Privatisation



Life and land



All their lyrics are available in English here.

A question

If a company hires an expert to do a specific job, why reject all their suggestions? I don't see the sense but maybe it's logical in bizarro world.

You hire an expert on kittens, for example. You pay a lot of money for their expertise. They provide a sensible plan on the care and maintenance of kittens. They work at it for months. You've shelled out thousands of dollars and then you decide you know best. You reject all of the expert's suggestions.

Personally, I don't get it.

Mine action in Cambodia

As part of the continuing advocacy campaign for the Convention on Cluster Munitions, a Ban Bus is travelling around Cambodia to collect signatures for the People’s Treaty to Ban Cluster Munitions and also to raise awareness about the efforts that are underway to ban these indiscriminate weapons. After visiting cluster munitions-affected communities, rehabilitation centers, and deminers in Kampong Cham and Kratie, the Ban Bus will spend a day in Phnom Penh.

Please stop by the Wat Phnom Arts Centre between 10:30 and 12:00 on Thursday 30 October to sign the People’s Treaty and help raise awareness about these weapons which cause unacceptable harm to civilians.

Learn more here

YouTube fun

It's Tuesday. Have some Doctor Who.



I love this song.

Cultural crimes?

There's plenty of tough talk but the bullets have stopped at least for now. Cambodia claims that Thailand damaged Preah Vihear intentionally.

Cambodia has lodged a complaint with the United Nations accusing Thai troops of damaging the ancient Preah Vihear temple during a border shootout earlier this month, an official said yesterday. Phay Siphan, spokesman for Cambodia's Council of Ministers, said a staircase and a sculpture at the ruins were damaged by rocket fire.

A complaint was filed with the UN cultural body Unesco a few days after the firefight erupted on Oct 15 near Preah Vihear, a World Heritage Site at the centre of the long-running territorial dispute.

''Preah Vihear temple was intentionally damaged by Thai troops, because we found the remnants of grenades ... near the temple and there were no Cambodian soldiers stationed nearby,'' Phay Siphan said.

''The Preah Vihear authority has sent pictures of the damage to Unesco.''

The Foreign Ministry on Wednesday denied Thai soldiers had damaged the 11th-century Khmer temple.

Intent? That's difficult to prove. If true it is a crime against humanity. Sounds more like sabre-rattling to me though.

ETA Thailand has its own version

A staircase and a sculpture of the mythical Naga creature were hit by rocket fire at the 11th-century Khmer ruins, he said.

However, Thai ambassador to Paris Thana Duangrat reported to the ministry that there was no record of a Cambodian complaint submitted to Unesco.

"We have evidence proving Cambodia fired the rockets from Preah Vihear Temple at Thai troops," said foreign ministry spokesperson Tharit Charungvat.

The ministry has checked the facts with the Second Army Area, which confirmed that on 15 Oct, Thai soldiers, fired upon by Cambodian troops in the vicinity of Pha Mor I Daeng, used only rifles in their defence, he said.

I wonder how long the truth will take.

Blackout

City wide blackout.

It's really hot here without fans.