Holocaust engulfs Gaza according to Palestinian poet

A Palestinian poet novelist and activist, Susan Abdulhawa, living in Cairo, who's just returned from two weeks in Gaza described what has happened there is a holocaust. She was reluctant to use that word and did not use it lightly but she says that "it is absolutely that".

“What I witnessed personally in Rafah and some of the middle areas is incomprehensible, and I will call it a holocaust — and I don’t use that word lightly. But it is absolutely that.”

Gaza mass destruction is like a holocaust as per the definition of the word.  Image: Wikipedia.

Definition of 'holocaust'

So what is the definition of the word "holocaust"? Here it is: "destruction or slaughter on a mass scale, especially caused by fire or nuclear war", according to a Google search.

Destruction of buildings and infrastructure

It can't be denied that Israel has destroyed large parts of Gaza and I'm talking about the buildings including homes, hospitals and other administrative buildings and of course roads and other infrastructure. The pictures confirm that there has been mass destruction.

Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Damage_in_Gaza_Strip_during_the_October_2023_-_28.jpg#/media/File:Damage_in_Gaza_Strip_during_the_October_2023_-_28.jpg

Destruction of innocent people

The information from the Palestinian authorities tell us that about 30,000 people have died in Gaza as a result of the Israeli bombardments. Nearly all of these are innocent men women and children. 

Obviously some of them are Hamas terrorists, the target of Israel's invasion and bombardment of the Gaza Strip but I would suggest that the terrorists are a tiny proportion of the overall number of Gazans guilt in this war.

Conclusion

It is difficult to avoid coming to the same conclusion as this poet and novelist. You make up your own mind but to me it does look like a holocaust and if that is true it is shatteringly ironic that the Israelis are causing holocaust when in the history of the Jewish race they were, as the world knows, the victims of the ultimate holocaust, the Holocaust, perpetrated by Nazi Germany and its collaborators during World War II between 1941 and 1945 when 6 million Jews were systematically murdered.

Obviously nothing can match that horror but even if we can discuss the possibility that what is going on in Gaza has some resemblance to a holocaust it is very sad and shocking bearing in mind this history.

Animals of Gaza

And I want to briefly mention the animals of Gaza. The news media talk about the innocent women and children being killed in their homes but we must remember the animals, the domestic animals killed with their owners or if they survived, left starving on the streets. 

They have nowhere to go, no one to look after them, no one cares except the odd and very fine individual who is engaged in animal rescue. Yes, there are still people in Gaza engaged in animal rescue despite the most horrific conditions.

There are still some veterinarians operating in Gaza as I understand it but I'm sure their medications are running out or have run out. I feel for the animals terribly. It is depressing to think about them. They are entirely innocent as are the children.

Domestic animals live in the human world. When the human world is destroyed by humans in the most violent of ways, domestic animals are either violently killed or they slowly die. Humankind should be ashamed of itself. Thoroughly ashamed.

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P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins.

Overzealous furore over Princess of Wales's botched photo-edited picture

The picture by the Prince of Wales for Mother's Day which was photo-edited by his wife the Princess of Wales has hit the headlines in the wrong way. Firstly, there was a lot of hypocritical - as far as I am concerned - criticism of the photograph by picture agencies. They pulled the picture once they understood that it had been photo edited.

Within 12 hours of being notified of the botched photo editing (which they should have spotted in the first place) they issued a kill notice advising editors and librarians to delete the image because it had been "manipulated".

Yes, it has been manipulated in a bad and amateurish way by the Princess of Wales who was just experimenting (but shouldn't have been) but the basic substance of the image, the content, has not been changed in any fundamental way at all. It is still a charming photograph of her family. It's a good picture.

Note: I cannot publish the photograph here because it is copyright protected. The copyright is owned by the Princess of Wales and I guess her husband because he took the photograph. I'm afraid you will have to refer to the picture from a different source if you're reading this article.

Catherine, the Princess of Wales. See credit at base of page.

Photo-editing is the norm nowadays

All she was doing was tidying up bits and pieces and trying to to make the picture look 'cleaner' and more organised. This happens all the time. These photo agencies receive pictures from hundreds of thousands of photographers who have assiduously and with great expertise photo edited their images to make them look cleaner and aesthetically beautiful.

It's all part and parcel of modern day photography. You always clean up the images by removing little defects in the background like a bird in the sky or a electrical socket on a wall; that kind of thing. Kate, the Princess of Wales, went too far and she wasn't skilled enough to do it for a picture that was destined to be published worldwide.

Mistake - apology

She should have experimented more at home and become more proficient before she issued a photograph for worldwide publication.

That's a mistake and she apologised today. In a statement she said "Like many other amateur photographers, I do occasionally experiment with editing. I wanted to express my apologies for any confusion the family photograph we shared yesterday caused. I hope everyone celebrating had a very happy Mother's Day. C".

Pulled

Some big news agencies pulled the photograph. Some claim that it did not meet their photo standards. Fair enough. But the public doesn't mind. It is still a good photograph.

Reissue the original photograph

Why couldn't the news agencies have asked the Princess for the original, unedited version of the photograph and used that instead? If the news agencies had been more assiduous they would have spotted the problem initially, telephoned the Princess's staff and asked for the original instead.

Or perhaps they could have patched up the photo editing themselves. It is entirely possible to re-photo edit a botched photo edited photograph to make it more acceptable. There were ways around this but I would argue that the photo agencies are complicit in some way in this mistake.

Overzealous criticism - crazy response

And in The Times today we have a massive overreaction by overzealous journalists to this image from across the world. With some newspapers saying that they can't trust the Royal family any more which I think is absurd.

For example, American newspapers suggested that the episode may have inflicted lasting reputational damage. Ridiculous. This is simply an example of poorly done photo editing by an amateur photographer. That is all it comes down to. No attempt to manipulate the public or fundamentally change the image.

It appears that many newspapers have reported on this botched photo edited image but always it seems to me in an overly zealous manner. For example, in Italy, the newspaper La Repubblica said: "This is one of the biggest and most embarrassing controversies in the recent history of the Royal family." Ridiculous again.

Six areas of photo-editing

Apparently there are six poorly completed photo edited sections in the photograph which The Times have highlighted. But that newspaper's analysis is that these basic errors "should have been spotted by the Palace". I agree that. The picture should have been more accurately assessed by somebody at the Palace but once again I would lay the blame partly at the photo agencies for not assessing the picture themselves accurately.

They have the staff and the expertise to assess the images that they receive. Why weren't they more careful? A lot of the blame needs to fall upon them in my opinion.

And the Princess should not be so heavily criticised like this. I am not a royalist. I don't actually like the Royal family. But I also don't like unfair behaviour and criticism in this case of an amateur photographer who tried her hand at minor photo editing at the wrong time and in the wrong way. That's all.

Image credit: By Ian Jones - Buckingham Palace reception, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=131607684

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P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins.

Differences in brain gray matter thickness between women and men due to inequality

A study published in May 2023 makes what I think is a remarkable finding but perhaps it isn't remarkable. Perhaps it is predictable. The study came to the conclusion that where there is gender inequality between men and women and specifically where women are treated unequally and granted lesser human rights and freedoms, they can have thinner brain cortices than men. This only happens in a country where there is gender inequality.

Image: MikeB under license.

Cortices

Note: you might just want to read the first paragraph of this section and then skip through to the next section. It's here to explain what part of the brain is affected by gender inequality as stated by this study.

For the sake of clarity: The cortices, or cerebral cortices, are the outermost layer of the brain, often referred to as the "gray matter." They are highly folded and convoluted to increase the surface area within the limited space of the skull. The cerebral cortex plays a crucial role in many complex cognitive functions, such as perception, attention, memory, language, decision-making, and motor control.

The cerebral cortex is divided into two hemispheres, the left and right, which are connected by a bundle of nerve fibers called the corpus callosum. Each hemisphere is further divided into four lobes: the frontal lobe, parietal lobe, temporal lobe, and occipital lobe.

The frontal lobe is involved in executive functions, decision-making, planning, and motor control. It also plays a role in personality and higher-order cognitive processes.

The parietal lobe is responsible for processing sensory information, including touch, temperature, pain, and spatial awareness. It plays a role in spatial perception, attention, and object manipulation.

The temporal lobe is involved in auditory processing, language comprehension, memory formation, and the interpretation of sensory input.

The occipital lobe is primarily responsible for visual processing and interpreting visual stimuli from the eyes.

Each of these lobes contains specialized regions known as cortical areas or regions that are responsible for specific functions. These areas often work together in complex networks to support various cognitive processes. The precise functions and interactions of different cortical areas are still an active area of research in neuroscience.

Mental Health

The study also found that gender inequality is linked to worse mental health and academic achievement in women. The latter is going to be linked to the above i.e. the thinner grey matter (cortices).

The study looked at a dataset of almost 8000 MRI scans from healthy adults living in 29 different countries. They came to the conclusion that "gender inequality is associated with differences between the brains of men and women: cortical thickness of the right hemisphere, especially in limbic regions such as the right caudal anterior cingulate and right medial orbitofrontal, as well as the left lateral occipital, present thinner cortices in women compared to men only in gender-unequal countries."

It is very technical but the way I understand it is that the grey matter of the brain is smaller, thinner; there is less of it, and it could be argued  - as one news media outlets says - that the brain shrinks.

Stress (and under-exercised?)

My thought about this for what it is worth is that if a brain is not exercised because it has not have the opportunity to be exercised because a woman is kept in a subservient role, it will possibly shrink and be smaller than that of a man's brain. It's about exercising the brain as one exercises muscles and the entire body. The scientist, however came to a different conclusion name is that stress is the cause of brain shrinkage (see below).

Gender-unequal countries

The study was based at Oxford University. Countries where there is the greatest inequality are, for example, India, Turkey and Brazil. The study concluded that the thickness of the grey matter of the right hemisphere of women's brains was between 3-5% thinner than men's in these countries.

Gender-equal countries

In countries where there is minimal inequality such as the Scandinavian countries, Sweden and Finland, there is no significant difference between the sexes in terms of grey matter thickness.

In the UK there is a slight difference which is surprising. They found that there is a 0.5% thinning in the right hemisphere of the brains of women which has been attributed to gender inequality in the UK.

Stress is the cause

The researchers think that the difference is due to the effect of "chronic stress in women's brains in gender-unequal environments. Stress affects neurons' connections. This "we would then see as thinning of the gray matter cortex in MRI studies".

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P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins.

It doesn't matter if a cat is black or white, as long as it catches mice

"It doesn't matter if a cat is black or white, as long as it catches mice". This is a Chinese saying (proverb) in which the person saying it isn't concerned about the person making decisions and their behaviour or skin colour or background et cetera but what decisions they make and whether they are pragmatic and workable or not. 

In traditional Chinese (as per Google Translate): 不管黑貓白貓，抓到老鼠就行.

The colour of the cat represents the different parties and people with different opinions. But these are less important than achieving the objective in anyway possible.

It's a phrase which advocates pragmatism. And pragmatism means making things work no matter how, without being overly concerned with how you do it, how you achieve it or even being overly concerned with ethics and morality. Sometimes even criminality might be thrown away in order to meet the objective, pragmatically, which is desired.

Zimbabwe

The reason why I have picked up on that saying is because apparently, in Zimbabwe, the colour of the cat matters! This appears to mean that the person or the group or the party making the decisions matters more than it should and it is probably getting in the way of achieving a result.

House of Cards

I am currently watching the Netflix series House of Cards which is about the politics surrounding the president of the United States. And if the depiction is true, there's a lot of pragmatism in those politics. You get the job done no matter how you achieve it. In the series there's even murder. In fact, the president murders two people! That is the ultimate form of pragmatism.

Below is what my artificial intelligence assistant, Mr Poe, says about the proverb

The proverb "It doesn't matter if a cat is black or white, as long as it catches mice" is a saying that originated in China and was popularized by Deng Xiaoping, a Chinese politician. It is often used to convey the idea that the outcome or result is more important than the specific method or means used to achieve it.

In its original context, this proverb was used to emphasize the importance of practical results over ideological purity. Deng Xiaoping used this saying to advocate for economic reforms in China, suggesting that it didn't matter whether those reforms were in line with strict communist ideology as long as they yielded positive economic outcomes.

By using the metaphor of a cat catching mice, the proverb implies that the primary concern should be the effectiveness of the action rather than the superficial characteristics or appearance. The colour of the cat (black or white) represents the different approaches or ideologies, while the act of catching mice symbolizes achieving the desired goal.

In a broader sense, this proverb can be interpreted to mean that it is more important to focus on the practical aspects and results of a task or action rather than getting caught up in theoretical debates or superficial distinctions. It encourages people to prioritize effectiveness and pragmatism over rigid adherence to specific ideologies or methods.

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I did not know what Mr Poe would say so my words come from my mind and I've not copied from this AI program's answer.

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P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins.

UK primary school teacher sacked for tapping the hand of a child!

NEWS AND COMMENT/OPINION: This is a story from the UK which concerns me deeply. It's not about cats I'm afraid but about the human condition and the way society and culture have shifted dramatically in the UK and I suspect other countries but perhaps less so than in Great Britain. It affects society generally and is relevant indirectly to cat caregiving.

In an act of what I would call - or looks like - extreme woke behaviour, a teacher in charge of child safety at a primary school in Hackney, East London accused the head teacher of assaulting her three-year-old son because she tapped him on his hand to get his attention.

I think you would agree that that is extraordinary. And to some people - particularly old people like myself - it seems absurd. When I was a youngster, we were routinely caned which by today standards would be probably be grievous bodily harm, a serious crime with up to 10 years imprisonment on conviction!

But to tap a boy on the hand to get their attention and to characterise that as an assault which ultimately led to the sacking of the head teacher is really going far too far.

The head teacher's name is Shelly-Ann Malabver-Goulbourne and the teacher who accused her of an assault (and I'm talking here of a criminal assault) is Samantha Bhagwandas.

Bhagwandas saw the incident and accused the head teacher of hurting her son. She filed a complaint which led to a police enquiry and the head teacher was suspended.

The police found that the head teacher's actions were "reasonable chastisement" but despite that reasonable assessment, Malabver-Goulbourne was sacked.

Extraordinary again! That was clearly wrong which has been confirmed by an employment tribunal which assessed the sacking on an application by Malabver-Goulbourne who sought compensation.

The court upheld the head teacher's claim and the judge noted that the school's code of conduct did not prohibit all physical contact between pupils and teachers and that there was sufficient evidence to support the view that the head was simply trying to prevent injury to a child and addressing his behaviour.

What happened was the child picked up a hand sanitiser bottle and had injected some hand sanitiser onto the floor. Previously, it is reported (The Times) he had got hand sanitiser in his eyes. His mother was concerned and as she spoke to him he turned away so she tapped him on the hand to gain his attention. Malabver-Goulbourne behaviour was entirely appropriate within the context of the history of this matter.

The court couldn't find any judgement than what they made and the teacher who accused her and reported her was really out on a limb and acting in a highly unreasonable and overly sensitive and overly-woke way in my considered view.

The story is indicative of the general mood in the UK which is why think it's important to write about it. It's a story too which must put the fear of God into many primary school teachers as to what they can do in the classroom. How can they be free to teach in a comfortable and confident way if they can't even tap the hand of a child before being accused of a criminal assault!?

I would hope that the government read this case and provide some clear, firm guidance to primary schools as to what is and what isn't allowable by way of contact between teachers and children. 

They must be allowed to touch children and sometimes handle them with a little bit of firmness but with respect in order to maintain discipline and a productive learning environment for all. 

This should not be characterised as a crime which is beyond belief.

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P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins.