Monthly Archives: April 2009

“Get out of here, you whores”.

Posted on April 15, 2009 by Barbara Dillon Hillas

Brave Afghan women demonstrate against draconian law, the New York Times reports. About 300 Afghan women, facing an angry throng three times larger than their own, walked the streets of the capital on Wednesday to demand that Parliament repeal a … Continue reading →

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Aerial combat over Lake Tapps.

Posted on April 8, 2009 by Barbara Dillon Hillas

A pictorial allegory. Click on pics to enlarge. The fellow sitting on the tailgate of his pickup truck never realized the show he was missing. (620 mm effective Focal Length) The little duck watches as the Eagle speeds straight at … Continue reading →

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The Vicar of Baghdad.

Posted on April 7, 2009 by Barbara Dillon Hillas

Canon Andrew White has been working in Iraq, which he considers to be the most dangerous place in the world for Christians. The Christians of Iraq are some of the oldest and long standing Christians in the world. Here among … Continue reading →

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The Wounded Warrior Project.

Posted on April 7, 2009 by Barbara Dillon Hillas

“No we can’t come home ’til the last shot’s fired.” The mission of the Wounded Warrior Project is to honor and empower wounded warriors.

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Understanding the Russian mafia.

Posted on April 6, 2009 by Barbara Dillon Hillas

I just finished reading Imperium, by Polish journalist Ryszard Kapuscinski, who will eternally live through his lyrical observations. A good friend gave me the book as a farewell gift when I left Poland last June.  Having lived in the Soviet … Continue reading →

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Rest in Peace – Maria ze Zdziechowskich Sapiezyna

Posted on April 5, 2009 by Barbara Dillon Hillas

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Pullman porters and their importance in African-American history.

Posted on April 5, 2009 by Barbara Dillon Hillas

Here’s a fascinating piece of history from the New York Times: It was a former Pullman porter, E.D. Nixon, who selected Rosa Parks as the sympathetic figure for the Montgomery bus boycott, and recruited a young minister named Martin Luther … Continue reading →

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Using social media for emergencies.

Posted on April 5, 2009 by Barbara Dillon Hillas

From Amanda Ripley: Nice piece in Nature about the way regular people use Facebook, Twitter, Flickr and whatever works to communicate within seconds of a disaster. Regular people are faster than the media, faster than the first responders. Thanks to … Continue reading →

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New Afghan law codifies oppression of women and regulates conjugal sex…

Posted on April 4, 2009 by Barbara Dillon Hillas

goes back to the drawing board?…  “[President] Karzai said he ordered the Justice Ministry to review the law, and if anything in it contravenes the country’s constitution or Shariah law, “measures will be taken.””

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Binghamton massacre.

Posted on April 4, 2009 by Barbara Dillon Hillas

What jars me is the notion that all the hostages were helpless in the face of a monster.  Prof. Glenn Reynolds made a good point a year ago: In fact, some mass shootings have been stopped by armed citizens. Though … Continue reading →

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New Afghan law codifies oppression of women and regulates conjugal sex…

Posted on April 4, 2009 by Barbara Dillon Hillas

It seems to me that it was not too long ago that Western countries had laws that exempted marital rape. From Spiegel Online: Article 132, for example, mandates that “the wife is bound to give a positive response to the … Continue reading →

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The Great Escape: fact vs. fiction.

Posted on April 2, 2009 by Barbara Dillon Hillas

This heading “‘Great Escape’ POWs remember comrades…and boo ‘silly’ Steve McQueen. summarizes it all. I can understand the frustration of the survivors of the horrific event to realize that most people would only recall what happened 65 years ago through … Continue reading →

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