"Six Maasai warriors will run the London Marathon tomorrow to raise money for a well in their village. Isaya, 24, is their chief. This is a diary of his week in London, the first time he has left Tanzania."

Britain: less homophobic than you might think, according to YouGov survey. "80% would not mind if a relative was gay".

Where do I sign up?

"You live in the big here. Wherever you live, your tiny spot is deeply intertwined within a larger place, imbedded fractal-like into a whole system called a watershed, which is itself integrated with other watersheds into a tightly interdependent biome."

"A Treatise Of Daunses Wherin It Is Shewed, That They Are As It Were Accessories And Dependants (Or Thynges Annexed) To Whoredome, (1581)"

Henry Porter and Tony Blair in email conversation on the erosion of civil liberties.

American University traditions are really strange. All we ever did was get drunk, take drugs and go out to the dancing. No paper diapers required.

A wealth of interesting links, despite tedious and dim commentary from some members. (Er, I mean this post in particular.)

Leon on Britney: "Rather than tackle the very real questions involved when dealing with the transformative effects of teenagers’ own sexual identities, the culture we have finds it easier to sell them a plastic, denatured image of it..."

On the "boundless textual promiscuity" of the web.

In which our heroine undergoes temporary race reassignment, a la Black Like Me

Various Utopian visions collected

Sheesh. Why this isn't a bigger story, I don't know.

Games: The Cultural Elaboration of Play (nb. permalink to this post is broken)

"Atheism and minority faiths such as Baha'i and Zoroastrianism should be taught alongside Christianity in schools, the first national guidelines on religious education say." I should think so too.

Procurement agency says open source is “a viable desktop alternative for the majority of government users” and “can generate significant savings”. Cool.

"A preparatory school in Lancashire has become the first in Britain to allow parents to watch their children's progress from the comfort of their homes or offices." Creepy.

An interesting update on the Indymedia seizure - it may well have been illegal under UK law.

Uh-oh, I'm one of these wankers.

The music of famous American blues singers reaches back through the South to the culture of West Africa. Via, strangely enough, Popbitch.

October Surprise time! Of course, there need not be an actual attack if this news spreads widely enough to turn cowardly custard Yanks over to voting Bush. Then he can provoke Iran into pre-emptive action, etc. etc.

Photographs of the items carried by homeless people, in a bid to sidestep 'victim photography'.

Lengthy, informative account at Cryptome

Not when it comes to cyclists, they're not.