Beautiful rubbish

Bolt
Originally uploaded by tamaranth

One of the photos from yesterday's 'found colour' photography on Snettisham Beach.

On the BBC website today, UK beach litter reaches new high". The article makes some good points, but I'm really not convinced that the majority of the litter on beaches is dropped by visitors to that beach.

Plastic floats, and it's seldom biodegradable. That blue rubber glove, for instance, could have been in the water for months: it could have come from a yacht or a fishing boat, or a maintenance worker on a wind turbine. It could have been bagged and binned by a conscientious householder, and blown off the top of landfill. It could be the last survivor of a consignment of blue rubber gloves, bound for warmer climes but washed overboard in a storm ... All these explanations are somewhat more likely than the idea that it was carelessly dropped by a lone, beach-loving washer-up.

G20 death

scene-by-scene analysis of the video showing Ian Tomlinson being attacked.

What's struck me in several photographs and videos is the expressions on the faces of individual policemen: anger, contempt, rage. It's as though they're classing the protestors -- and by extension the public -- as The Enemy. Yes, some of the protestors were looking for a fight, and some individuals may well have been there just to stir up trouble: the majority weren't. (Though I've been on the wrong end of excessive policing (Welling, 1993) and remember how easy it is to join in with the 'us vs. them' mob mentality.)

I am deeply uncomfortable with the idea that a peaceful demonstration is something to be avoided because of the risk of violence -- from police as well as demonstrators.

2009/26: The Quiet War -- Paul McAuley

The Quiet War -- Paul McAuley

Newt asked all sorts of questions about life on Earth. ... What did the air taste like? Were there places with no oxygen? Did rain hurt? Was it true that weather changed the way you thought? What was it like to sleep under the stars with no roof overhead?
"I tried that once," Newt said. "Inside a plastic bubble I inflated outside the ship. It bugged the hell out of me, frankly."
"I guess it helps to have a horizon," Macy said. (p. 180)

( non-spoilery review )