A fascinating op-ed on the effects of execution on attorneys and the family of the executed by Sylvia Clute. It includes this paragraph:

For the families of the executed, the period of bereavement begins before the death. The trauma includes shopping for a casket for a loved one who is going to be murdered - before it happens. The exact date and time of their death is known. If a stay of execution is granted at the last minute, there is joy over the victory that is often followed by the execution that was merely delayed. Then there is the death certificate that describes the cause of death as homicide. We ambiguously identify the perpetrator of this murder as "the state." Who killed their son, daughter, brother or father for "the state"?

From the moderator of the Bob Dylan Fan Site, ExpectingRain.com:

The attack at Utøya was an attack on Norway's future. This island has been the site of yearly political summer camps for socialist youth from all over the country for decades. Half of our Prime Ministers since WWII got part of their political schooling there.

Among the kids that were killed or survived the attack many were and are likely to become future leaders of our country. What they went through yesterday will be a backdrop to the rest of their lives and political careers. This experience will color politics in Norway for decades to come.

Had the perpetrator turned out to be a foreign fundamentalist group, the risk of a wave of hate would have been even greater.

It is now important that we find a way to react that can preserve our principles of democracy, openness and freedom, and refuse to let this turn us on the road to becoming a police state. All signs indicate that we will be able to build on our strengths and continue developing our democracy, humanism and multiculturalism.

Thank you for your condolences, they are appreciated.

There's a whole long discussion here about why this is happening, but it seems to have something to do with how the iPhone camera works without having much relation to the frequency of the string vibrations.  Still, it is cool.

It's 235 years since the 13 colonies declared independence from the England of George III and the East India Company. I think it's time we got over it.

Instead, let's make a Declaration of Interdependence of, for and by the peoples of the world - all of them. Let's recognize human connectedness and declare ourselves a single human race, beyond national borders, religious and ethnic divisions, and all the other mental barriers we put in place to separate ourselves one from another.

Today let's sing a song for Interdependence!