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Deep Pencil - the musings of Morgan Bell

 
If a tree falls in the woods and nobody is there to hear it did it really make a sound? If i post a blog and nobody reads it was there really any point? You have entered the random thinking space of Morgan Bell . . . These are my musings . . . things about my life written off the top of my head . . . written in an informal disjointed style almost completely devoid of punctuation, this is where i flesh out writing ideas, discuss my life, and generally be self indulgent . . . it is also the bargain bin for articles which do not fit in with the film or arts themes of my other blogs . . . so have a wander around my mind, have a laugh, have a think, be nice, and humour me!

Get Involved in the Tweet Bomb!

November 5th 2009 17:02
Atlanta, Los Angeles, and New York, 12 noon Thursday 5th Nov 09, local time, CNN studios, there is going to be a protest for the Public Option in healthcare.

CNN Atlanta
190 Marietta St, NW
Atlanta, GA 30303

CNN Los Angeles
6430 W Sunset Blvd Ste 300
Los Angeles, CA 90028

CNN New York
10 Columbus Circle
New York, NY 10019

If you are not local to one of those areas, but want to help spread the word, get involved with the Tweet Bomb.

4am Friday 6th Nov, Syd/Melb time (second Tweet 7am)
9am Thursday 5th Nov, USA Pacific time (second Tweet 12 noon)
12 noon Thursday 5th Nov, USA Eastern time (second Tweet 3pm)




Send a Tweet to @cnnbrk at 12 Noon Eastern/9am PST on Thursday 5th Nov 09 saying:

@cnnbrk We want the public option! Look at the polls! Tell your audience what the American people want. #cnnprotest

You can also send a Tweet to Rick Sanchez at 12 Noon Pacific/3pm EST on Thursday 5th Nov 09 saying:

@ricksanchezcnn We want the public option! Look at the polls! Tell your audience what the American people want. #cnnprotest


These are all the percentage of Americans who said they wanted the Public Option:

61% (CNN/ORC 10/18/09)

77% (SurveyUSA 8/20/09)

65% (NY Times/CBS News 9/25/09)

55% (Washington Post/ABC News 9/12/09)

61% (Quinnipiac 10/08/09)

55% (Time 7/29/09)

72% (NY Times/CBS News 6/20/09)

56% (Washington Post/ABC News 10/20/09)

59% (Kaiser Family Foundation 8/20/2009)


If you dont have Twitter you can email feedback@cnn.com or call CNN to express your support.

CNN NY- (212) 275-7800 (@12pm EST/9am PST)
CNN ATL- (404) 827-2600 (@12pm EST/9am PST)
CNN LA- (323) 993-5000 (@12pm PST/3pm EST)


Lets help our American brothers and sisters get health care that doesnt discriminate, health care that is affordable and accessable . . . the health care every human being deserves.

Hit the Tweet Bomb at recommended times, or Tweet about it all day!

Smash the myth that the public option is "unpopular" with the American people.


tweetbomb










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350: a global movement

October 27th 2009 00:08
350 parts per million is what many scientists, climate experts, and progressive national governments are now saying is the safe upper limit for CO2 in our atmosphere.

We are already above the safe zone at our current 390ppm.

For all of human history until about 200 years ago, our atmosphere contained 275 parts per million of carbon dioxide.

Every year since 1992, the United Nations hosts a two-week long conference for world leaders to meet and discuss what to do to about the global threat of climate change.

In December of 2009, this meeting will be in Copenhagen, Denmark. There, delegates, non-governmental organizations, and businesses from every nation will meet to finalize a new global climate change agreement.

Just over a year old, 350 is a relatively new target being discussed in the scientific community, compared to 450ppm or 2 degrees Celsius that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change supports.

At the last UN climate negotiations in Poland at the end of 2008, the 350 target began to attract more endorsers as new scientific reports and evidence of early impacts made it clear that we are already above the safe level for CO2.

For more information see 350.org







The global day of action was 24th October, 2009. Photos were taken all over the world to raise awareness.

Antarctica 350.org


Saida, Lebanon 350.org


South Africa 350.org


Cairo, Egypt 350.org


Sydney, Australia 350.org


Maldives 350.org


Chennai, India 350.org


Ghana 350.org


Wales 350.org



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Liskula Cohen, a former Vogue cover girl and supermodel, has won a landmark court battle to reveal the identity of an anonymous blogger who called her a "skank".

Cohen sued Google in January, forcing the company to reveal the person responsible for writing a blog called Skanks in NYC, which was hosted by Google's Blogger service.

This week Judge Joan Madden ruled that Cohen was entitled to sue the blogger for defamation and, in an unprecedented move, forced Google to provide the blogger's name.

Judge Madden rejected the claims by the blogger's lawyer that the comments were mere opinion or "trash talk", and that only factual assertions could be considered libellous.

"The thrust of the blog is that the petitioner is a sexually promiscuous woman," Judge Madden wrote in her judgment, noting that the comments were run alongside photos of Cohen in suggestive poses.

The anonymous blogger declared Cohen first-place in the 'Skankiest in NYC' awards, and wrote: "How old is this skank? 40 something? She's a psychotic, lying, whoring, still going to clubs at her age, skank."

Cohen is a Canadian. She is based in New York, and has modelled for Giorgio Armani and Versace. She hasappeared on the cover of the Australian edition of Vogue.

Liskula Cohen
Liskula Cohen


Some of the main points about this case are that Cohen is a real person and a high profile person who uses her name and reputation as part of how she markets herself. The anonymous blogger used Cohen's full name, occupation, and photos of her alongside disparaging allegations. The allegations were not absurd or satirical, they were presented as fact, and the kind of assertions that could be reasonably mistaken for fact.

Should bloggers be worried?

Only if you don't know the difference between critical commentary and defamation. If you want to criticise the words or actions of a celebrity you should have no problems. If you want to spread baseless rumours about their sex lives and present it as fact, be warned, it may be considered character assassination.

Celebrities are real people too. And they probably have more money than you.

Blog wisely.

See full story HERE.






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Famous Atheists

July 11th 2009 23:21
I just found the most interesting site called Celebrity Atheists. The site contains lists of famous Atheists, Materialists, Agnostics, and Skeptics. Click on any name and it takes you to a page of quotes where the celebrity confirmed their lack of religious beliefs.

I created a short-list of some of the famous Atheists:

Douglas Adams
Gene Roddenberry
Joss Whedon
Isaac Asimov
Robert Heinlein
Terry Pretchett
Noam Chomsky
Salman Rushdie
Bertrand Russell
Woody Allen
Ingmar Bergman
John Carpenter
Mike Nichols
David Cronenberg
Larry Flint
Lance Armstrong
Richard Branson
Warren Buffett
Bill Gates
Gore Vidal
Berkeley Breathed
H.P. Lovecraft
Friedrich Nietzsche
George Carlin
Barry Manilow
Billy Joel
Brian Eno
Eddie Vedder
Henry Rollins
Sir Ian McKellen
John Malkovich
Eddie Izzard
Bruce Lee
Ricky Gervais
Harvey Fierstein
Billy Connolly
Marlon Brando
Jack Nicholson
Richard E. Grant
Bob Geldof
Hugh Laurie
Gabriel Byrne
Paul Bettany
Alan Cumming
Richard Dawkins
Daniel Dennett
Christopher Hitchens
Sam Harris

AND THE LADIES:

Ani DiFranco
Ayn Rand
Gloria Steinam
Pamela Sargent
Eugenie Scott
Jodie Foster
Janeane Garofalo
Katharine Hepburn
Angelina Jolie
Sarah Polley
Bjork
Germaine Greer
Diane Keaton
Kathy Griffin
Rachel Griffiths
Margot Kidder

Janeane Gaofalo
"Proud to be an atheist, Janeane Garofalo."





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Little Big Cats

June 24th 2009 19:17
It must be breeding time for the Big Cats.

Spring has sprung in Europe in recent months and German zoos have acquired some new itty bitty residents. Check out these recent photos of the newest additions to the cub club.


Larisa and Sipura, baby panthers, Tierpark Zoo, Germany


Date: June 9
Photo credit: Getty Images / Sean Gallup

Newborn baby panthers Larisa and Sipura stare at photographers during a media presentation of the cubs at the Tierpark zoo, in Berlin, Germany. The two panthers are twins and were born on April 26.


Atiero, Jumanes and Valdivia, baby Jaguar cubs, Tierpark Zoo, Germany (Berlin)


Date: May 19
Photo credit: AP / Gero Breloer

Triplet Jaguar cubs, seen, at the Tierpark Zoo, in Berlin. The three cubs were born on April 16 and named Atiero, Jumanes and Valdivia.


German Dachshund dog Bessi mothers baby tiger cub, Stroehen zoo, Germany


Date: May 20
Photo credit: AP / Fabian BImmer

German Dachshund "Bessi", right, acts as guardian to a five-days-old yet nameless tiger cub at a zoo in Stroehen, northern Germany. The tiger cub was abandoned by its parents and is now being fostered by Bessie who belongs to the zoo owner's.


For more amazing animal pics from the zoos of the world CLICKHERE


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A national opinion poll in the USA completed in April 2009 by Quinnipiac University has shown that 2/3 of American Catholics support gay adoption.

gay adoption

[ Click here to read more ]
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Chk Chk Boom

May 26th 2009 18:34
Oh how I miss Kings Cross.

Seeing the Clare Werbeloff interview after the Kings Cross shooting brought all those fond memories back . . . memories of how absolutely munted people get in that unique nightlife locality


[ Click here to read more ]
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Its crazy Pastor time of the month again here at Deep Pencil.

This time we have Evangelist Pastor Tony Alamo and the claim that "consent is puberty


[ Click here to read more ]
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They say . . .

April 27th 2009 09:27
How will you spend your government stimulus money?

The top predictions are that people will spend it on gambling, alcohol, cigarettes, and illegal drugs. But are we forgetting how much will be spent on tattoos, hot chicks, and overseas trips


[ Click here to read more ]
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Buddhists vs Hindus? Or has the Sri Lankan Civil War mutated into Christians vs The "Uncivilized"?

Warning: the following sources may be considered activist websites.
[ Click here to read more ]
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In 2006, anti-atheists across the internet began jumping with joy, proclaiming that their arch nemisis, Richard Dawkins, had penned a letter to Scotland's Sunday Herald entitled "Eugenics May Not Be Bad".

This letter has since been discredited by Richard Dawkins himself. Dawkins stated on his website that he did not write any such letter, and suggested an imposter had used his name and cropped a few paragraphs out of an Afterword he wrote for John Brockman's book "Dangerous Idea".
[ Click here to read more ]
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A crazy Pastor has come out of the woodwork to claim that Victoria is being ravaged by bushfire (181 dead, 80 missing, 7000 homeless) because god disapproves of the abortion bill which was recently passed.

Pastor Danny Nalliah told the Sydney Morning Herald that he had a dream that god would remove his protection from the state of Victoria as a punishment for decriminalising abortion


[ Click here to read more ]
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Our Multi-Cultural AFL

January 23rd 2009 05:57
January 26th is Australia Day. A day for stubbies and thongs and blowflies. A day for BBQs and cricket and the beach and lying under the sprinkler. Perhaps most importantly a day off work, is there anything more cherished to an Australian than a long weekend?

As you sit in front of your pedestal fan glugging on your beer this Australia Day long-weekend, you may spend a minute or two contemplating how things have changed from this time last year, last decade, or even last century


[ Click here to read more ]
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Gender Confusion Aids Bank Robbery

December 9th 2008 09:40
"It appeared to be a guy dressed as a lady, ... He was dressed in black, with a black dress, black stockings, a blonde wig and he had facial hair."

unnamed witness of todays robbery
[ Click here to read more ]
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