Hi Don,
Yes, it has all been a bit surreal. Thailand has had nearly 20
military coups, and there appears to be general acceptance of them as
a means to "give power back to the people" after a megalomaniac
leader has assumed too much power, and all the trappings that go with
that power, including extrajudicial killings in the thousands and
blatant theft. Fortunately this one was not nearly as violent as
previous ones (1992), but there has no doubt been a lot covered up -
extended periods of automatic gunfire heard overnight left
unexplained, for example. Now the country is being run by a military
that is claiming to represent the monarchy in protecting the people
and the monarch. The constitution that was written and debated and
was considered progressive and liberating has been ditched, the
leader's main cronies have been locked up, a new prime minister is
being installed, and all sorts of people are being ordered to report
to the army headquarters for further orders. I am sure many others in
XMCA are familiar with these situations. In fact, a rather
insensitive colleague who has spent time in Sth. America claimed that
this coup was not a real one, and went on to tell me what it was
lacking. I have no answers, but democracy seems to be an ill fit in
many Asian contexts which I am familiar with.
Phil
On 21/09/2006, at 8:18 AM, Cunningham, Donald James wrote:
> WOW! Thanks Phil, what a great resource.
>
> This is by no means as rare but I really found them to be very
> interesting:
>
> http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200609/150-tech
>
> I have the full length articles if any of you are interested.
>
> PS: these must be interesting times in Thailand. Anything you can
> share?
>
>
> Don Cunningham
> Indiana University
> -----Original Message-----
> From: xmca-bounces@weber.ucsd.edu [mailto:xmca-bounces@weber.ucsd.edu]
> On Behalf Of Phil Chappell
> Sent: Wednesday, September 20, 2006 8:47 PM
> To: xmca@weber.ucsd.edu
> Subject: [xmca] Online archive
>
> Legends online
>
> IT WAS a celebrated experiment demonstrating the electrical nature of
> lightning. And it's just gone electronic.
>
> Benjamin Franklin's 1752 paper describing how he conducted lightning
> with a kite is one of hundreds of landmark scientific papers now
> available to the public in an electronic archive compiled by the
> Royal Society in London. The papers date back 340 years to the first
> scientific journal, Philosophical Transactions, published in 1665.
> Among them is Edmund Halley's description in 1705 of the comet named
> after him; Isaac Newton's invention of the reflecting telescope; the
> first paper published by Stephen Hawking and details of the DNA
> double helix published in 1954 by James Watson and Francis Crick.
>
> Free for two months from 14 September, the archive includes reports
> of the discovery of penicillin and proposals for blood transfusions
> penned in 1665 by Robert Boyle, to see "whether a fierce dog stocked
> with the blood of a cowardly dog may become more tame". The archive
> is at www.pubs.royalsoc.ac.uk/archive.
>
>
>
> Announced in
>
> The New Scientist
> Volume 191, Issue 2569 , 16 September 2006, Page
> 4_______________________________________________
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