DaithaiC

DaithaiC : "An anonymous policeman blogger who has targeted the force and Government ministers was unmasked today after the High Court ruled against keeping his identity secret. Refusing a temporary injunction to prevent a newspaper from identifying the serving detective constable - who goes by the name of Night Jack - Justice Eady said that "blogging is essentially a public rather than a private activity"."

DaithaiC : "Kos is one of the most popular islands of the Dodecanese. Geographically speaking it is very close the Asia Minor and therefore a significant commercial and cultural center. At a comparatively early period Jews are mentioned among the population of Kos; and under Alexander the Great and the Egyptian Ptolemies (from 336 B.C.) the town developed into one of the great Jewish centres in the Ægean."

DaithaiC : "Much has already been said in the 20 years since the Chinese government’s heavy crackdown on a series of student-led demonstrations in and around the area of the Tiananmen Square in Beijing. June 4, 1989 was the day when tanks rolled into Tiananmen Square crushing bodies underneath them, and the military fired at the protesters made up mostly of unarmed students and workers. Until now, 20 years after, the death toll remains a mystery. The Chinese Red Cross initially reported that 2,600 died, but retracted allegedly under pressure from the government. Some journalists estimated that the number could be as high as 7,000. The official tally, however, concluded that less than 300 died and 7,000 were injured."

DaithaiC : "Kos, with its volcanic soil and plentiful water has always been a fertile island, providing a replenishing point for Roman galleys from Alexandria and Syria and giving its name to the Cos lettuce. Today there is still extensive market gardening, farming and viniculture on the island. Visitors to Kos often comment on the beautiful array of flowers that meet them along every street and pathway as they make their way around the island. Many of these plants are cultivated by the locals, but many grow untouched by human hand and can be seen through the summer months."

DaithaiC : "In a telling commentary on the pace of change in the modern world this year they will be celebrating the 70th anniversary of trans-Atlantic air travel in Foynes, Co. Limerick, Ireland. Ireland has a special place in this history as the “next parish” to America. In the late 1930s and early 1940s, Foynes served as the hub for the latest mode of air travel - flying boat - between the US and Europe. Every flying boat leaving or arriving in Europe came through Foynes, and by 1940, Foynes Airport was being visited by the glitterati of the day: Ernest Hemingway, Humphrey Bogart, Eleanor Roosevelt, Douglas Fairbanks, Sr. "

DaithaiC : "The military junta in Myanmar (Burma) wants to throw Aung San Suu Kyi in jail for 5 years. Act now so we can flood General Than Shwe's office with letters: "

DaithaiC : "Sarah Siddons, the oldest working main line electric locomotive in Britain will make special trips between Harrow-on-the-Hill, via Rickmansworth to Amersham on Sunday 17 May as part of the Rickmansworth Festival. Engine no. 12, Sarah Siddons, was built in 1922 and is the last operational Metropolitan Railway electric locomotive; the only surviving working engine out of 20 built by Metropolitan Vickers and named after people associated with the area served by the Metropolitan Railway. The engines had a top speed of 65 miles per hour."

DaithaiC : "In a hot climate the idea of a secluded garden with water at its centre was a haven from the heat and noise and in fact the word so redolent with meaning and symbolism in our culture, “Paradise” comes from the Persian for a water garden. From the time of the Achaemenid dynasty the idea of an earthly paradise spread through Persian literature and example to other cultures, both the Hellenistic gardens of the Seleucids and the Ptolemies in Alexandria. The Avestan word pairidaêza-, Old Persian *paridaida-, Median *paridaiza- (walled-around, i.e., a walled garden), was transliterated into Greek paradeisoi, then rendered into the Latin paradisus, and from there entered into European languages, e.g., French paradis, German Paradies, and English paradise. The word entered Semitic languages as well: Akkadian pardesu, Hebrew pardes, and Arabic firdaws."

DaithaiC : "Having written recently about the gardens at the Manor House Bledlow it was pleasant on this Bank Holiday weekend to head back to Bledlow to see the gardens for the first time in a number of years. Bledlow’s main residence is Bledlow Manor, the family home of Lord Carrington who opens its wonderful grounds and sculpture garden for charity. Opposite the manor is a wonderful old Church and beside it the Lyde Garden which is a sunken aquatic garden fed by 14 springs. Lord Carrington generously maintains this lovely enclave and keeps it open to the public at his own expense."