The Human Rights Watch had some very interesting comments to make concerning Russia in the section devoted to the country in its January 2008 World Report. “As parliamentary and presidential elections in late 2007 and early 2008 approached, the administration headed by President Vladimir Putin cracked down on civil society and freedom of assembly. Reconstruction in Chechnya did not mask grave human rights abuses including torture, abductions, and unlawful detentions. International criticism of Russia’s human rights record remains muted, with the European Union failing to challenge Russia on its human rights record in a consistent and sustained manner”.
The economy under Putin made some serious gains, increasing by an average of 7% each year. By 2007, Russia was the 7th largest economy in the world in purchasing power. By 2007, Russia’s GDP had exceeded that of the Russian SFSR in 1990 which meant the country had finally overcome the consequences of the 1998 financial crisis and the recession which preceded it. Time to buy some led torches!
R.E.M.'s recent release 'Collapse Into Now' is definitely one of my top albums of 2011, and I'm really pleased to see that other music critics and appreciators agree.
I've always enjoyed listening to R.E.M., sometimes in short bursts or with sporadic intervals, but they are one of those staple music acts that you will always go back to, no matter how much your music taste diversifies, or how much you over play 'Everybody Hurts' after a bad break up.
I've always got a stash of their music, even just a greatest hits compilation for when you're in that R.E.M. mood, I even have a stash on my r4 card for my DS, but 'Collapse Into Now' has now become my go-to-album for that R.E.M fix. But I now feel especially emotional listening to it because it will be their last ever album!
Ralph Waldo Emerson (25th May 1803 – 27th April 1882) was an American poet, lecturer, and essayists who headed the Transcendentalist movement that occurred in the mid-nineteenth century. Recognized as a critic of the countervailing pressures of society and as a champion of individualism, Emerson’s thought was disseminated in dozens of essays and over 1,500 public lectures which he gave across the USA. Emerson first voiced his philosophy of Transcendentalism in his essay ‘Nature’ in 1836. His speech in 1937, entitled The American Scholar, was considered by Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr to be America’s “Intellectual Declaration of Independence”.
Emerson’s first two collections of essays, ‘Essays: First Series’ and ‘Essays: Second Series’ were published in 1841 and 1844 and represent the core of his thinking. The decade between the mid 1830’s to the mid 1840’s was Emerson’s most fertile period in which his thought really came to fruition. Emerson developed certain ideas such as freedom, the relationship between the soul and the surrounding world, the ability for humans to realize almost anything, and individuality. Why not use your IwantOneOfThose discount codes to buy some of his essays and have a good read?
Football results used to be the highlight of my life. If you had asked me five years ago any statistic about any club in any of the major divisions in Europe, i would have been able to reel off unlimited numbers of facts. From top scorers to worst goalkeepers, and from fastest runner, to biggest fouler. I knew them all. I could tell you any result from any game of the season, along with who scored, and in what minute, naturally. The football results were published on Saturday and Sunday afternoon after the weekend games, and in the evenings after midweek games. They were the bane of my existence!
However, about five years ago now, my obsession with foot statistics got replaced by something that most people have no memory for. My knew subject of choice was lottery results UK which are much smaller, but much more flexible in how they can be used. Indeed i can recite any lottery number from any draw in order of which they were drawn over the past 5 years. However, now i’ve found the website linked above, I think i may have ben wasting my time!
Dave Grohl has got to be one of the coolest guys in the world. He drummed for Nirvana and then started up the Foo Fighters by himself and it has gone from strength to strength in the past 17 years to become one of the biggest rock bands in the world.
They're one of my favourite bands, I have all their albums, live albums and all sorts on my iPod, laptop and even my carte r4 for when I'm on the go. I'm also lucky enough to be able to say that I've met Dave in the flesh too, and he was just as friendly and down to earth as he seems.
I saw a biography of him called 'This is a Call: The Life and Times of Dave Grohl' by Paul Brannigan but I didn't buy it, I don't really like reading biographies, I'd prefer to wait and see if and when Dave writes his own autobiography in his own words. The cover of this book had a massive quote reading: "Someone called and said Kurt died. I just f*****g lost it." which is obviously designed to entice people to buy the book, I was certainly intrigued by it.
Photo: HarperCollins