Smokin' Mirrors

Remembering Marla A tribute to Marla Ruzicka (1976-2005) Marla Ruzicka was tragically killed in a car bomb explosion in Iraq on April 16 2005, along with her co-worker and friend Faiz Ali Salim. One year on, we take a look at what CIVIC, the organisation she founded, still has to say about the innocent victims of war, and how they choose to remember Marla. ________________________ I confess that a year ago, when I heard of the tragic death of a woman I had never heard of before that night, I cried. Marla Ruzicka, a young Californian woman, was killed by a car bomb in Baghdad on April 16 2005, along with her friend and co-worker Faiz Ali Salim. She had travelled extensively to both Afghanistan and Iraq, her main mission to try to get aid to civilians who have been harmed by the US wars in both countries. In an online journal entry on June 25 2004, she had this, almost prophetically, to say: “Back in Baghdad and happy. A good friend of mine, advised me to keep my movements minimal in t

Tokyo to New York in six hours? Sonic Boom by Willhemina Wahlin "Yes, only rich people can afford to take a Concorde," states concorde-jet.com. There's no doubting the Concorde had its fans, but like all good things, it too came to an end, the curtains closing on the elite's day-tripping flight service on October 24, 2003. In its wake is an industry in post 9/11 turmoil, where it's more common for an airline to go bust than boom. Despite this, a consortium of researchers from the United States, Europe and Japan are exploring new ways of bringing supersonic flight back and better than ever. In October 2005, on a rocket range in the middle of the South Australian desert, far from the glitterati and bubbly-quaffing elite travelers of the Concorde, Japan's Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) tested a fuselage design for a new supersonic jet -- and it was a huge success. Dubbed the 'Son-of-Concorde, the test of the very practically named 'Scaled Experiment

Red Blood & Blue Jeans : a day in the life of deadly Mexican fashion by Willhemina Wahlin There’s a strange tale unfolding south of the border in Pueblo, Mexico – a tale of corruption, abduction and plots of assassination. Far from being the inspiration of the next big Hollywood flop, this tale is for real, and for those involved, it’s deadly. More Pic: Diego Carranza/Dreamtime This story was originally published in Cheers Magazine on Saturday 25th April, 2006. http://www.thecheers.org