Calvin

Download and donate to Haiti

Download "Flume" for free here.



Download the album and donate to Haiti earthquake victims here.

This week's no.1 top-of-anti-psychiatry songs :)

From the album Songs From The Locked Ward

Rosensfole. An ancient Norwegian folk song

A collaboration between the Jan Garbarek Group and Agnes Buen Garnås, one of Norway's best renowned folk singers.

apples and elderberries

In Scandinavian and English mythology elders give protection from evil, so they mustn't be cut down without asking for the spirit of the tree, the Elder Mother's, forgiveness first, or she will take revenge.

I always ask for forgiveness. Not only elder trees. Nature isn't a resource. It's there in its own right.

Wolof - anyone??

Sunday morning with Youssou N'Dour and a request: anyone out there who can translate what Youssou N'Dour sings in this vid?



BTW: "How come I gotta wake up early to go to work," is something I also often ask myself, me too...

Good news about Ray

MindFreedom International News - 6 August 2009
Win Human Rights in Mental Health
http://www.mindfreedom.org/ray - please forward

    Ray Sandford Campaign Victory: New Psychiatrist is Official

Ray Sandford just phoned MindFreedom with some very good news.

As you may know, Ray is a 55-year-old Minnesota resident who has
received more than 40 involuntary electroshocks (also known as
"electroconvulsive therapy" or ECT).

Adding to his horror, Ray received these court-ordered procedures
against his wishes -- and even against his family's wishes -- on an
OUTPATIENT basis. That is, Ray would be woken up early in his group
home, and escorted to a hospital for his forced shock over and over
and over again.

Ray asked for help from MindFreedom, which kicked off a Ray campaign
activating people internationally.

Today, Ray said because of his campaign his new psychiatrist -- who
opposes forced electroshock -- has been officially approved by the
mental health system.

Ray already has a new attorney, who is moving toward changing Ray's
guardianship.

Meanwhile, because of the campaign the Minnesota state legislature has
scheduled a hearing this Monday, 10 August, on the subject of
electroshock of committed Minnesota residents.

For more info about campaign news, see the Ray Gateway at:

http://www.mindfreedom.org/ray

At the start of this Saturday's MindFreedom Mad Pride Free Live Web
Radio show -- which is on the topic of humane alternatives to this
kind of abuse -- you can also hear news updates about the Ray
Campaign, see:

http://www.mindfreedom.org/radio

poppies - and a thought

The most marvellous monstrosity ever. Not the poppies. Humanity.

Filly power

I promised Susan a post about Rachel Alexandra, who won the Kentucky Oaks by 20 1/4 lengths, and was the first filly to win the Preakness Stakes since 1924, if she won the Belmont Stakes too. Well now, although Susan let me know that Rachel Alexandra won't run at Belmont Park at all, I thought I'd do a post about the filly's amazing performance in the Kentucky Oaks and the Preakness anyway. Here she is, winning the Oaks in a fashion that almost reminds of the Belmont Stakes 1973:



The European in me likes both the journalist's pink and the stable pony's rider's classic English get-up in a western saddle... - No offence intended. Just having a little fun here ;)

Well, and here she beats the boys, the Kentucky Derby winner Mine That Bird included, in the Preakness:



That's filly power!

spring - and something about the Frederiksborg horse

Extensive areas of forest in Northern Sealand are surrounded by dry-stone walls, like the one in the picture below. They were established for about a thousand years ago, when the Danish kings started to breed horses on the basis of imported Spanish horses. The walls were built to keep the farmers' less noble, free-range horses out of the fenced areas, and thus from covering the royal mares, not to keep the royal horses inside the fenced areas. The breed of the Danish kings later became famous as the Frederiksborg horse, the world's oldest, documented horse breed.



Bent Branderup on Frederiksborg stallion Zarif Lykkesager (picture stolen here - and actually taken in our indoor riding arena)

all ears

foals

Inisheer (Induc) with his mom Inosta (Caprimond - Consul, Trakehner)


Lord Tennyson (Mago) with his mom Lorna Doone (Tshainik - Sif, Thoroughbred)



Lord Tennyson on his own

Lorna Doone with her mom Fantasia Ligré (Sif - Forethought, Thoroughbred)

Marco with - yes, it's a goat. But it's not his mom!!!

cats

This is for Gianna, with belated congrats on her second blogiversary.


Lucky

Benedict

Kiri (...and the hairy, off-white thing in the foreground is Spiff, the westie)

Awesome comment on "Take These Broken Wings"

A good year ago, I had a rather unpleasant discussion with Kirsten Sefland (she's out in public, so I'm sure, she won't mind), a mental health consumer and a fierce advocate for ect and the psychiatric "treatment" of life problems in general.

I started out with just asking Kirsten Sefland to, please, show me whatever scientific evidence in support of her views there was, while at the same time I sent her a bunch of links to relevant studies and scientific articles, that were in support of my views. I never got as much as one single link back. What I got back were somewhat emotionally loaded, personal attacks - several, yes, and, no, I'm no angel, me neither; although I, by and large, kept my cool during the e-mail correspondence, I did let go of it to a certain extent when I wrote the piece I link to... - one of them accusing me to be "one of these people because of whom young doctors chose not to become psychiatrists". I wish it were true, but I guess, it's a bit too great an honour to assume my rants and ramblings could have such an impact.

Well, someone whose work actually has such an impact, is Daniel Mackler, as this comment at Gianna's blog shows. You both go, Daniel and Bonnie!!!

still listening

Less known song - I just fell for. Unfortunately it ends a little sudden.

Sinéad O'Connor - still listening

Blog awards - and Happy Holidays!

I hadn't really given it a serious thought before, had just noticed somewhat mixed emotions in passing. The thought that it might happen one day had crossed my mind a couple of times, but I'd passed it off just as quickly as it had popped up. So, I was badly prepared. My fault. I should have thought this through, and made an announcement in advance.

Well, as some of my readers probably have noticed, it happened the other day: Mark at psych survivor 2.0 gave me an award.

I'm happy, I'm grateful, really! But I also have these mixed emotions, that make it impossible for me, to accept the award. My mixed emotions have nothing, absolutely nothing to do with anyone out there in the blogosphere personally.

Partly, they have to do with the concept of receiving an award for doing something, that actually might be called rather egoistic. - The question is: Why do I blog and for whose sake? The answer is: Because I need to understand - the world and myself - so, consequently, I do blog for my own sake. Primarily.

If my understanding of the world and myself can be of any value to others, that's great. But the truth is, the more of a dialogue - here or anywhere else - the more I understand. I would have to give an award to virtually everyone I do communicate with, have communicated with in the past, and will communicate with at some point in the future, disregarded whether there's agreement or not. And, frankly, do we need to award each other for something as basic to humanity as communication? Other than by respecting the other and being compassionate?

The other part of my mixed emotions is of a more "profane" nature: There's just too much "chain-", sometimes even "pyramid-", about many blog awards. "Chain-" and especially "pyramid-" stuff ranks under "noise" in my universe. I don't like noise.

Now you can call me a spoilsport, a fusspot, holier-than-thou, ungrateful, whatever. But know, that I don't judge anyone who accepts these awards. It's totally fine with me, if you accept them. I would have loved to give you one. It just doesn't feel right to me to accept one myself. My pain-in-the-behind-intuition, yeah.

Thanks to you Mark, again, for considering my blog!

And now to something far more cheerful (although not half as hilarious as this):

Non-Denominational Holiday Record

My favourite pizza base

...that isn't really a pizza but a pie base, although I use it for "pizza".

Ingredients:

500g flour (Italian wheat flour, "tipo 00" is best)
1 sachet of dried yeast
1 teaspoon sugar (cane sugar)
100g butter
2 eggs
180ml lukewarm water
1 teaspoon salt (Himalaya or sea salt)

Sieve the flour into a bowl and mix it with the dried yeast and sugar. Add butter, eggs, salt and water, start bringing in the flour-yeast-sugar-mix with a fork, finish working the rest of the flour-mix in with your hands and knead until you have a smooth dough.

Cover the bowl with a damp cloth, and leave to rise in a warm place for at least 15 minutes. Knead again, then spread the dough on a baking sheet covered with baking paper, or divide the dough up into three to four portions if you want to use a pie tin (about 9.5 inches ∅). Place the toppings of your choice on the dough, and cook for 25 to 30 minutes at 220∘C/ 430∘F.

Topping suggestions:

1. Tomatoes, red pepper, corn, mushrooms, artichoke hearts, tuna, olives, garlic, and cheese

2. Tomatoes, red pepper, spinach, salmon, lemon or garlic pepper, and cheese

As far as they are available, I use organic ingredients. It's healthier for you and the environment, and it tastes better!


A slice of the spinach-salmon-variant, cooked in a pie tin.

Diversabled

Yah, I know. I haven't been posting anything here for almost a week now. Not even a music-vid. And it's not that I don't know what to write about. The list of possible subjects is long, and it gets longer and longer for every day, that I don't get a thing done about it. Well, at least I do get done a lot about it at my Danish blog, and that's one of the reasons why this one is left a bit unexploited, for now. The other reason is that I promised myself, not to engage in the production of any major piece for this blog, before I haven't made a certain phone call. A phone call, yep. A frigging phone call, I've tried to make for the past, uhm, how many months?... The thing is, I loathe having to make phone calls to people I don't know, and I especially loathe having to make phone calls to authorities. And this is a phone call to an authority. That I will have to make in order to get a translation finished, that would/should/could have been finished, yeah, months ago... "Disabled"??? Did anyone say "disabled"? I'll show you "disabled"!

Well, in the meantime, here are some pictures of Bibi and her son Sasha.

For Sylvia

Supertramp - The Logical Song

Belated Friday-intermezzo

Sting - Brand New Day