Two recommended documents

Two recommended documents, both dated this month, from the Oxford Research Group:

1. Klug, T., Visions of the Endgame: A strategy to bring the Israeli-Palestinian conflict swiftly to an end, in Briefing papers, 2009, London: The Fabian Society. (35pp)
   Abstract: This paper argues that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is on the verge of becoming irresolvable but that President Obama’s first term offers a final opportunity to settle it. Published as Obama meets with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu in Washington, long term Middle East observer Tony Klug outlines a three step strategy based on clear goals and effective enforcement to bring this most calamitous of conflicts to a swift and fair end.

2. Sloboda, J., The Need to Acquire Accurate Casualty Records in NATO Operations, in Briefing papers, 2009, London: Oxford Research Group. (4pp)
   Abstract: It is extremely easy to discover the current death toll for NATO military personnel in Afghanistan since 2001; several official and unofficial sources exist. In contrast, it is virtually impossible to get a clear and uncontested account of Afghan civilian deaths. There is no agreed total and there are no comprehensive or systematic rolls of the dead. What we have instead is a chaotic jumble of incomplete, contradictory and contested data. No organisation has undertaken sustained and consistent data gathering and presentation, and so there is no agreed authoritative record, nor any widely respected body able to authenticate future claims to such authority.
   Given NATO's stated aim of protecting civilian lives, serious and objective monitoring of civilian deaths, conducted openly and transparently in all NATO-involved conflicts, is a indispensable component of accounting to the citizens of NATO member countries and the countries in which NATO intervenes.
   This paper is based on a presentation to the NATO Shadow Conference "Strategies, Options and Solutions for NATO Reform: Towards a New Strategic Concept in 2010" organised by BASIC, ISIS Europe, NATO Watch and Bertelsmann Stiftung on 31 March 2009 in Brussels.

Both downloadable as PDFs from here.

Lost in a good boo

I have a weakness for silly comedy; and it doesn't come much sillier than BBC Radio 4's Cabin Pressure. Set in the tiny world of a one plane charter airline, one of its running themes is the silly (that word again) games played by the aircrew to pass the time.

In the final episode of the current series (and here I come to the point of this post), their silly game was called "Books which sound more interesting with the final letter knocked off". So, for example, scattered through the half hour we were offered:

• John Steinbeck, Of mice and me
• Jerome K Jerome, Three men in a boa
• Thomas Hardy, Far from the madding crow
• Anthony Powell, A dance to the music of Tim
• Dan Brown, The da Vinci cod

You get the idea...

Knowing that I have a number of book lovers with excellent senses of humour among my visitors, I thought I would invite them ... you ... to play the game.

To set the ball rolling, here (with deleted letter in square brackets) are three contributions of my own:

• Margaret Atwood, Life before Ma [n]
• William Faulkner, The sound and the fur [y]

...and, perhaps less convincing...

• Anita Diament, The red ten [t]

Any takers?

Bibliography posts

Posts tagged as "Biblio" are bare bibliographic records which, for one reason or another, I know may be of interest to someone relating to me or my work through this blog.

To avoid cluttering the current view of the blog, they are all artificially dated 1970-01-01.

While there are only a few of them, scrolling through them after clicking the Biblio tag is an option. As the number increases, it will be more efficient to search for key words (author, title) instead.

Earth science : human impacts (references)

References cited in Earth science: human impacts , Scientific Computing World, February 2009.

1. IGOS Geohazards theme report: for the monitoring of our environment from space and from earth 2004. 2008; Available from: http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0014/001405/140532eo.pdf.

2. Pacific Disasters Centre. Available from: http://www.pdc.org.

3. Dawson, A. and I. Stewart, Tsunami geoscience. Progress in Physical Geography, 2007. 31(6): p. 575-590.

4. Trimble, S.W., The use of historical data and artifacts in geomorphology. Progress in Physical Geography, 2008. 32(1): p. 3-29.

5. De Francesco, C.G. and G.S. Hassan, Dominance of reworked fossil shells in modern estuarine environments: Implications for paleoenvironmental reconstructions based on biological remains. PALAIOS, 2008. 23(1): p. 14-23.

6. Colombaroli, D., et al., Fire--vegetation interactions during the Mesolithic--Neolithic transition at Lago dell'Accesa, Tuscany, Italy. The Holocene, 2008. 18(5): p. 679-692.

7. Wooster, M., Coming in BSSA: Remote sensing: sensors and systems. Seismological Research Letters, 2008. 79(3): p. 480-481.

8. Herring, D.D. TERRA The EOS Flagship. 2005; Available from: http://terra.nasa.gov/.

9. D.E.I.f.S. Projects 2008-2009. [cited 2009 2009/01/02]; Available from: http://www.deisa.eu/science/deci/projects2008-2009.

10. SDTS Home Page. 2007 [cited 2008 2009/01/03]; Spatial Data Transfer Standard information page]. Available from: http://mcmcweb.er.usgs.gov/sdts/.

11. Schorlemmer, D. and J. Woessner, Probability of Detecting an Earthquake. Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, 2008. 98(5): p. 2103-2117.

12. Iervolino, I. and C.A. Cornell, Probability of Occurrence of Velocity Pulses in Near-Source Ground Motions. Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, 2008. 98(5): p. 2262-2277.

13. Suresh, G., S. Jain, and S.N. Bhattacharya, Lithosphere of Indus Block in the Northwest Indian Subcontinent through Genetic Algorithm Inversion of Surface-Wave Dispersion. Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, 2008. 98(4): p. 1750-1755.

14. Zahradnik, J., J. Jansky, and V. Plicka, Detailed Waveform Inversion for Moment Tensors of M~4 Events: Examples from the Corinth Gulf, Greece. Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, 2008. 98(6): p. 2756-2771.

15. Lawrence, Z., et al., Induced Dynamic Nonlinear Ground Response at Garner Valley, California. Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, 2008. 98(3): p. 1412-1428.

16. Lin, G., P.M. Shearer, and E. Hauksson, A Search for Temporal Variations in Station Terms in Southern California from 1984 to 2002. Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, 2008. 98(5): p. 2118-2132.

17. Zeiler, C. and A.A. Velasco, Developing Local to Near-Regional Explosion and Earthquake Discriminants. Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, 2009. 99(1): p. 24-35.

18. Doocy, S., D. Johnson, and C. Robinson, Cash Grants in Humanitarian Assistance: A Nongovernmental Organization Experience in Aceh, Indonesia, Following the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami. Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness, 2008. 2(2): p. 95-103.

19. George, B.P., Local community's support for post-tsunami recovery efforts in an agrarian village and a tourist destination: a comparative analysis. Community Dev. J., 2008. 43(4): p. 444-458.

20. van der Tol, A., et al., Impact of local circumstances on outcome of renal casualties in major disasters. Nephrol. Dial. Transplant., 2008: p. gfn557.

21. Borja, S.E. and J.L. Callahan, Recovery Following Hurricane Rita: A Pilot Study of Preexisting and Modifiable Aspects of Positive Change. Traumatology, 2008. 14(2): p. 12-19.

22. Ashkenazi, I., [Predictable surprise--the 2008 Sichuan earthquake]. Harefuah, 2008. 147(7): p. 578-86, 664.

23. Hallegatte, S., An adaptive regional input-output model and its application to the assessment of the economic cost of Katrina. Risk Anal, 2008. 28(3): p. 779-99.

24. DiMaggio, C., S. Galea, and D. Abramson, Analyzing Postdisaster Surveillance Data: The Effect of the Statistical Method. Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness, 2008. 2(2): p. 119-126.

25. Jain, S. and C.R. McLean, Components of an Incident Management Simulation and Gaming Framework and Related Developments. SIMULATION, 2008. 84(1): p. 3-25.

26. Hajar, L., C. Khater, and R. Cheddadi, Vegetation changes during the late Pleistocene and Holocene in Lebanon: a pollen record from the Bekaa Valley. The Holocene, 2008. 18(7): p. 1089-1099.

27. Barber, K., P. Langdon, and A. Blundell, Dating the Glen Garry tephra: a widespread late-Holocene marker horizon in the peatlands of northern Britain. The Holocene, 2008. 18(1): p. 31-43.

28. Baeteman, C., Radiocarbon-dated sediment sequences from the Belgian coastal plain: testing the hypothesis of fluctuating or smooth late-Holocene relative sea-level rise. The Holocene, 2008. 18(8): p. 1219-1228.

29. Mitchell, N.C. and J.M. Huthnance, Oceanographic Currents and the Convexity of the Uppermost Continental Slope. Journal of Sedimentary Research, 2008. 78(1): p. 29-44.

30. Cronin, V.S., et al., The Seismo-Lineament Analysis Method (SLAM): A Reconnaissance Tool to Help Find Seismogenic Faults. Environmental and Engineering Geoscience, 2008. 14(3): p. 199-219.

31. Natural disasters and vulnerabilities atlas. Available from: http://www.pdc.org/atlas/html/atlas-init.jsp.

O'Brien: The third policeman

Flann O'Brien, The third policeman.  1967: London, MacGibbon & Kee (hbk)

Most recently (at time of writing, Monday 4 May 2009) 2007, London: Harper Perennial. [978]0007247172 (pbk.) 

Thompson: On growth and form

D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson, D.A.W., On growth and form. [With illustrations.]. 1917: pp. xv. 793. University Press: Cambridge. 8º

Multivolume version 1942 and various subsequent dates

Abridged version edited by John Tyler Bonner, 1966 and various subsequent dates

Most recent edition at time of writing: 1992, ISBN [978]0521437769

Clarke: Johathan Strange and Mr Norrell

Susannah Clarke, Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell. 2004, London: Bloomsbury. 0747570558 (hbk), 0747574111 (pbk).

Fforde: Thursday Next

Jasper Fforde, the "Thursday Next" sequence of novels:

• The Eyre affair. 2001, London: New English Library.

• Lost in a good book. 2002, London: Hodder & Stoughton.

• The well of lost plots. 2003, London: Hodder & Stoughton.

• Something rotten. 2004, London: Hodder & Stoughton.

Snow: Strangers and brothers

C P Snow, the "Strangers and Brothers" sequence of novels (in narrative order):

• Time of Hope. 1949, London: Faber & Faber
• Strangers and Brothers . 1940, London: Faber & Faber.
  [later re-titled George Passant]
• The Conscience of the Rich. 1958, London: Macmillan
• The Light and the Dark. 1947, London: Faber & Faber
• The Masters. 1951, London: Macmillan
• The New Men. 1954, London: Macmillan
• Homecomings . 1956, London: Macmillan
• The Affair. 1960, London: Macmillan
• Corridors of Power. 1964, London: Macmillan
• The Sleep of Reason. 1968, London: Macmillan
• Last Things. 1970, London: Macmillan

Wells: Men in the moon

H G Wells, The First Men in the Moon. 1901, London: G. Newnes.

Also many subsequent editions, including 2005, London: Penguin. 0141441089 (pbk.)

Compton: Katherine Mortenhoe

D G Compton, The continuous Katherine Mortenhoe. A novel. 1974, London: Gollancz. 0575018283

Also published as Death watch and The unsleeping eye.

Chevalier: Burning Bright

Tracy Chevalier, Burning bright. 2007, London: HarperCollins. [978]0007178353 (hbk.)

Tracy Chevalier, Burning bright. 2008, London: HarperCollins. [978]0007178360 (pbk)

Lem: Star Diaries

Stanislaw Lem. The star diaries. 1976, New York, Seabury Press. 0816492832. (Polish: Dzienniki gwiazdowe.)

Lem: Pirx

Stanislaw Lem. Tales of Pirx the pilot. 1st ed. 1979, New York, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. 0151879788. (Polish: Opowiesci o pilocie Pirxie.)

Kershaw: Quantitative & dynamic plant ecology

Kershaw, Kenneth A,
Quantitative and dynamic plant ecology.
1964, London: Arnold.

Second edition 1975. 0713124164

Third edition with John Henry H Looney 1985. 0713129085

Lem: HMV

Stanislaw Lem. His master's voice. 1983, San Diego, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. 0151403600. (Polish: Glos pana.)

Lem: Fiasco

Stanislaw Lem. Fiasco. 1st ed. 1987, San Diego, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. 0151306400. (Polish: Fiasko.)

Lem: Bathtub

Stanislaw Lem. Memoirs found in a bathtub. 1973, New York,, Seabury Press. 0816491283. (Polish: Pamietnik znaleziony w wannie)