 | | | | | |  | |  |  | |  | |  | | InkBlot Complex | The Published Works of Cultural Critic
Clara Rose Thornton |
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Barack Obama © Stephen Ferry
From BBC News, December 21, 2008:
"Earlier, UK Defence Secretary John Hutton described Saturday's vote as "a minor hiccup", but said he was confident a deal would be reached."
Essentially, the Iraqi parliament had rejected a bill allowing the 6,000 British and other non-US troops currently in Iraq to stay past December 31, 2008, the date of a UN mandate legally giving these troops permission to be in their country. And the UK Defense Minister called that sovereign nation's governing body and the decisions it makes, "a minor hiccup..."
Here I will be posting wacky videos, quotations, photos and fragments of thought--in addition to the daily BBC News feed--that may get a few ideas popping around the brain. I figure that they could either be a good way to get editors' and cultural writers' creative minds churning, or at least be a nice diversion from the office for a while. Either way, it can't be too bad, right?
BBC News - Home
 The latest stories from the Home section of the BBC News web site.
2 - Homs suffers 'heaviest' shelling
3 - Redknapp cleared of tax evasion
4 - Rare Mars meteorite for science
5 - Coogan reaches hacking settlement
6 - Government defeat over NHS bill
7 - Women bishop concessions rejected
8 - MSPs pass £30bn Scottish budget
9 - Police hold 213 in raids on gangs
10 - UK denies militarising Falklands
11 - Guido Fawkes 'made lawyers chase'
12 - RBS boss: I considered resigning
13 - Fire destroys TV chef's kitchens
14 - America and Asia 'will join up'
15 - VIDEO: Fake rhino attempts zoo escape
16 - A380 wing crack checks extended
17 - Nokia to carry out 4,000 job cuts
18 - Nudge theory trials 'are working'
19 - Livingstone in 'gay Tories' row
20 - Gene therapy 'gave me sight back'
21 - Bug found in more hospital taps
22 - Cable stands by fair access chief
23 - University-led PGCE under threat
24 - Regional cybercrime hubs launched
25 - Apple seeks revised patent rules
26 - Threshold broken for tiny lasers
27 - Russians claim Antarctic success
28 - Three Gatsby stage plays planned
29 - Taylor art auction fetches £14m
30 - Did Dickens really save poor children and clean up the slums?
31 - When did the middle finger become offensive?
32 - AUDIO: Ex-FA chief: 'They couldn't reconcile'
33 - Reaction to Capello's resignation
34 - Capello's reign as England boss
35 - Elderly man dies after dog attack
36 - Mum saw shot girl, 5, 'collapse'
37 - Devastation of choke death family
38 - Train row 'Big man' not charged
39 - Halifax jobs in doubt in Belfast
40 - Minister targets drink promotions
41 - Terror bomb plot was 'amateurish'
42 - Oil plant blast staff questioned
43 - Cafe in Somalia hit by car bomb
44 - Mali 0-1 Ivory Coast
45 - Maldives president 'forced out'
46 - Rumours over top China policeman
47 - Greek parties 'to finalise deal'
48 - Court backs liberal's vote ban
49 - Brazil police strike talks fail
50 - Argentina to take Falklands to UN
51 - Egypt PM dismisses US aid threat
52 - Palestinian hunger striker fears
53 - Santorum hails campaign momentum
54 - Canada 'can use torture material'
55 - Day in pictures: 8 February 2012
56 - In pictures: Maldives 'coup' inflames tensions
57 - In pictures: Snowy Sunday
58 - Super Bowl photos
59 - Day in pictures: 7 February 2012
60 - Day in pictures: 6 February 2012
61 - In pictures: Making charcoal from Liberian rubber trees
62 - Week in pictures: 28 January-3 February
63 - VIDEO: House of Commons
64 - VIDEO: Europe's extreme cold snap explained
65 - VIDEO: 'I carried Mars rock in hand luggage'
66 - VIDEO: Michelle Obama's sack race triumph
67 - VIDEO: Nepal national park breeds crocs
68 - VIDEO: Fire destroys TV chef's kitchens
69 - VIDEO: Fry: Judges don't get Twitter
70 - VIDEO: Airbus cracks 'minor safety issue'
71 - The rise and fall of lap dancing
72 - Taking the 'glamour' out of gang crime
73 - 7 questions on skydiving and parachuting
74 - Why do people dress up their pets?
75 - Cameron takes Swedish lesson in wooing women
76 - Can autocrats' wives rein in their husbands?
77 - Surge in anti-China sentiment in Hong Kong
Fabio Capello resigns as England manager, the Football Association confirms.
Syrian opposition groups say the city of Homs has come under the heaviest shelling in days, despite the president's pledge to engage in dialogue.
Harry Redknapp says his "nightmare" is over after being cleared of tax evasion along with Milan Mandaric.
A Martian meteorite, an incredibly rare object, is given to the Natural History Museum, London, to help unravel the secrets of the Red Planet.
Comedian Steve Coogan and ex-footballer Paul Gascoigne are among the latest people to have settled their claims for damages over News of the World phone hacking.
The government loses the first of a series of votes in the House of Lords on its controversial plans to overhaul the NHS in England.
Anglicans opposed to the ordination of women bishops are refused concessions they said would secure their place in the Church of England.
MSPs have approved the Scottish government's £30bn budget in a Holyrood vote which saw 70 members backing it and 52 members rejecting it.
More than 200 people are arrested during raids across London by the Metropolitan Police's new dedicated unit tackling gang crime.
Downing Street denies claims by Argentina that it is "militarising the South Atlantic", in a dispute about the Falkland Islands.
The man behind political website Guido Fawkes tells how he posted material using hosting sites around the world to avoid legal action.
Royal Bank of Scotland chief executive Stephen Hester tells the BBC he briefly considered resigning during the uproar over his bonus.
A fire badly damages the cookery school kitchens at TV chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's River Cottage in Axminster.
Researchers say most of the world's continents will merge somewhere over the Pacific "ring of fire" in 50-200 million years.
A zoo in Tokyo has been simulating animal escapes in order to practice their emergency drills.
Checks are ordered on all Airbus A380 superjumbos after cracks were found in wing components, extending an earlier safety ruling covering 20 planes.
Finnish mobile phone maker Nokia announced the details of 4,000 job losses on Wednesday at plants in Hungary, Mexico and Finland.
Initial trials suggest millions of pounds could be saved by using "nudge" theories to encourage people to pay taxes and fines, UK officials say.
Conservative MPs call for Labour's candidate for London mayor, Ken Livingstone, to apologise for saying their party is "riddled" with homosexuals.
Three US citizens who lost their sight in childhood have reported a dramatic improvement in vision after having gene therapy in both eyes.
Pseudomonas is detected in water outlets in the neonatal units at three more hospitals in Northern Ireland.
Business Secretary Vince Cable is in a political stand off after his nomination for the university access chief was turned down by MPs.
University-based training courses for secondary school teachers are facing an uncertain future, after hundreds were identified as "potentially unviable".
Three new regional police hubs for investigating cybercrime are launched across England.
A letter from Apple's legal team reveals that the firm wants Europe to revise rules covering patents that are essential to industry standards.
Researchers build efficient lasers just 100 billionths of a metre across that may be used to make faster computer chips in the future.
Russian scientists are reporting success in their quest to drill into Lake Vostok, a huge body of liquid water buried under the Antarctic ice.
Three different stage versions of the American classic novel The Great Gatsby are set to take place later this year, it is announced.
Three paintings from Elizabeth Taylor's personal art collection are sold for almost £14 million at an auction in London.
From Oliver Twist to A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens highlighted poverty and squalor. But did he really help change things?
A US television network has apologised after a pop star showed her middle finger during the Super Bowl halftime show. When did the gesture become offensive?
Fabio Capello has resigned as England manager, the Football Association has confirmed.
Reaction to the resignation of England manager Fabio Capello.
The highs and lows of Fabio Capello's career as England manager.
An 83-year-old man died from injuries sustained when a pit-bull type dog escaped from a neighbour's garden in London, it emerges.
The mother of a girl who was shot in a London shop saw the five-year-old collapse "as though her legs were going to give up on her", a court hears.
The parents of a "wonderful" five-year-old boy who choked to death in Aberdeenshire speak of their devastation.
Scottish authorities decide not to prosecute a passenger who removed an alleged fare dodger from a train.
There are fears over possible job losses at the Halifax in Belfast as part of a restructuring programme.
The social development minister says he will move to ban some cheap drink promotions in Northern Ireland.
An extremist plot to bomb the London Stock Exchange was "amateurish" and unlikely to succeed, a court hears.
Police confirm two people have been questioned over potential manslaughter offences following last year's oil refinery blast at Pembroke, which killed four people.
At least 10 people are killed and more than 20 injured when a car bomb planted by Islamist militants explodes near a cafe in Somalia's capital.
Ivory Coast beat Mali 1-0 in Libreville to reach Sunday's Nations Cup final, where they will face Zambia.
Former Maldives President Mohamed Nasheed says he was forced to resign at gunpoint in a coup, a charge the country's new leader denies.
A top Chinese policeman in charge of a major crackdown on organised crime goes on leave, amid rumours of an investigation and a bid for asylum.
Greek PM Lucas Papademos is meeting coalition parties in an attempt to seal an austerity deal to secure a new EU/IMF bailout.
The Russian Supreme Court backs a decision that disqualifies liberal candidate Grigory Yavlinsky from running for the presidency on 4 March.
Talks to end a police strike in the Brazilian state of Bahia break down, as troops blockade the state assembly occupied by striking officers.
Argentina will make a formal complaint to the UN about British "militarisation" around the disputed Falkland Islands, says President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner.
Egypt's prime minister says it will not be persuaded by the potential loss of US aid to end a probe into foreign-funded non-governmental organisations.
Doctors say a Palestinian prisoner who has been on hunger strike for 54 days while being detained without trial by Israel is in a critical condition.
Republican presidential hopeful Rick Santorum pledges to push for victory in March's Super Tuesday votes, after a hat-trick of wins on Tuesday night.
Canada ordered its intelligence agency to use information that may have been extracted through torture if public safety is at risk, it emerges.
24 hours of news photos: 8 February 2012
Protests lead to the resignation of President
Much of UK with several inches of snow
New York Giants beat New England Patriots
24 hours of news photos: 7 February 2012
24 hours of news photos: 6 February 2012
Making make use of old rubber trees in Liberia
News photos from around the world: 28 January-3 February
Labour leader Ed Miliband has urged David Cameron to drop plans to overhaul the NHS, branding the government's flagship Health and Social Care Bill a "complete disaster".
The BBC's Lucy Hockings and weather presenter Helen Willetts look at why Europe is experiencing such unusually cold weather.
The Natural History Museum in London has acquired its largest Martian meteorite, which could hold new clues to life on Mars.
Michelle Obama has been showing off her fitness prowess in a series of chat show appearances in the US.
A breeding centre in Nepal's Chitwan National Park is preparing endangered Gharial crocodiles for release back into the wild.
The cookery school kitchens at TV chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's River Cottage headquarters in Devon have been severely damaged by fire.
Stephen Fry has said that judges need to understand social media better in terms of the law.
Aviation analyst Chris Yates told BBC News that possible cracks on Airbus A380 planes are a minor safety issue.
The rise and fall of the lap dancing club
Police aim to banish the glamour of criminal crews
Test yourself on the history of aerial adventure
Why do people dress up their pets?
Cameron seeks Nordic tips on wooing women (voters)
Can wives rein in autocrats?
Why anti-mainland sentiment is simmering in Hong Kong
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"Every word born of an inner necessity--writing must never be anything else." ~ Karol Jackowski
© Clara Rose Thornton and InkBlot Complex, 2008-2009.
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