ItoBlog

Naked Point

Work that bum!

What a great track by Mylo. Makes you feel like working out doesn't it? You can almost see Richard Simmons stretch to the beat.

Come on people, work that bum! One...and two...and one...and two....Yeah!

The divine world is eternal...

Just read a frightening article in the New Republic  that provides interesting insights on Iran's Ahmadinejad's rise to power, the man himself and his core political base made up of suicidal fanatics.

Here's an article that helps put certain things into perspective when discussing or reading about the current nuclea crisis with Iran. It becomes clear after reading this piece that we're not just dealing with an opportunistic president playing the easy "we against the US" card to help steer attention away from Iran's growing socio-economic problems. We're dealing with a true illuminé propelled to power by a paramilitary force that revels in self-sacrifice and the coming of the 12th imam.

Little did we know back then what treat we were in for when Ahmadinjad was elected...We just thought he was a loony politician who wanted to force men to grow beards...

Can somebody do something?

Back to blogging...

I am back!!! Hello again!!! Hmmm...the room sounds a little empty. Hello? Anyone here? Well, i think my one month hiatus killed the already small reader base I had....

Some of you may have noticed that this blog has been wholly inactive in recent weeks. I did try to make myself write at least once a week but alas, a continuous roller coaster ride at work, no ideas, no time to read much and no motivation to do anything when coming home at night can be held accountable for this long silence.

Anyway, a big hat tip to my good friend Eric, who convinced me an hour ago to go back to blogging. By the way, Eric's got a great blog and particularly remarkable one considering he works like a dog during the day (i should know, he's also my colleague), parties hard during the weekend and still finds time to blog daily. How do you do it Eric? Have a peak at his blog here. Tell him what you think, he's still tinkering with it...

Ok. So there. I'm blogging again so jot down random thoughts but mostly keep a little diary of what  i read, watch, hear, see and eat.  

Aller hop, c'est parti!

Muslim Idolatry

                    

Irshad Manji in the Times Higher Educational Supplement:

Muslims have little integrity demanding respect for our faith if we don't show it for others. When have we demonstrated against Saudi Arabia's refusal to allow Christians and Jews to step on the soil of Mecca? They may come for rare business trips, but nothing more. As long as Rome welcomes non-Christians and Jerusalem embraces non-Jews, we Muslims have more to protest against than cartoons.

None of this is to dismiss the need to take my religion seriously. Hell, Muslims even take seriously the need to be serious: Islam has a teaching against "excessive laughter". I'm not joking. But does this mean that we should cry "blasphemy" over less-than-flattering depictions of the Prophet Muhammad? God, no.

For one thing, the Koran notes that there will always be non-believers and that it's for Allah, not Muslims, to deal with them. It also says there is "no compulsion in religion" - which suggests that no one should be forced to treat Islamic norms as sacred.

Fine, many Muslims will retort, but we are talking about the Prophet Muhammad - Allah's final and therefore perfect messenger. However, Islamic tradition holds that the Prophet was a human who made mistakes. This is how we know about the so-called Satanic Verses, idolatrous passages that he retracted from the Koran, blaming a trick played on him by Satan.

When Muslims put the Prophet on a pedestal, we engage in idolatry of our own. The point of monotheism is to worship one God, not one of God's emissaries. Which is why humility requires people of faith to mock themselves - and each other - every once in a while.

Cartoon frenzy (cont'd)

Jeff Weintraub poses a good question:

Islamist groups in Europe and the Middle East, as well as the government of Iran, have decided to respond to the Danish cartoons by publishing offensive cartoons about the Holocaust. Even when people have criticized these actions, they have tended to pass over one element about them that should strike us as peculiar. When these Islamists are offended by Danish cartoons, they don't respond by publishing anti-Danish, anti-Christian, or anti-western cartoons. They respond by publishing anti-semitic cartoons. Why is that, I wonder?

Quite puzzling indeed. Does someone have a good answer?

Mattafix me

Very busy week. Wanted to blog a few things and then, as it happens every time, my mind wanders elsewhere just when i am about to write a new entry.

Basically worked almost non-stop this week but still had time to buy some amazing CDs. The first one is the eponymous debut album by Pauline Croze, a french singer with a very seductive voice that blends pop, bossa, blues and a little bit of funk. This is one of her tracks that i've been humming all week long.

Another big discovery this week (courtesy of Yasmine) is electro-soul-caribbean-hip hop duo Mattafix. These guys are amazing, great beats, amazing voice, groovy riffs. Portsihead meets Moby meets Shaggy meets Black Eyed Peas. Here's a great track:

In all this cartoon frenzy...

FON lands a BIG deal

Some of you may have been wondering what i've been doing since i came back from Spain. I usually don't go into any details of my personal life but this time, the news is too big to ignore. The company I work for, FON, a WiFi startup that enables you to share your WiFi and connect to other access points for free or to sell bandwidth that you don't use), just landed a HUGE deal with two internet mammoths, Google and Skype. FON, brainchild of Martin Varsavsky, born only 3 months old (no kidding) was received with some skepticism and absolutely NO ONE (except hard core believers including myself) thought FON would be approached by these major league guys in the span of 90 days. Proof that the power of a great idea can go very very far.

As you know, i'm not exactly a techie and I have a social sciences background but what i really like about FON is how, on the one hand it is the classic start-up and on the other, how it truly has a lot potential in connecting people in developing countries. The social dimension of FON is best explained by blog Guru and social entrepreneur Ethan Zuckerman, in his inimitable style:

In Africa, bandwidth isn’t cheap. Entire universities run on less bandwidth than I have coming into my house on a DSL line. Being altruistic and leaving your wireless access point open in Africa is pretty much a guarantee that you’re going to end up with other users abusing the limited bandwidth you have. It’s important that African users have the opportunity to share their bandwith in a way that allows for “bandwidth shaping” - sharing some bandwidth with other users and retaining the rest for your own needs - and billing, so other users can share the cost with you. FON’s current software isn’t optimized for this situation yet, but it’s close, and FON is engaged with the issues in a serious and sustained way. I predict that FON is something I’ll be able to enthusastically pitch to African friends in the very near future.

Most of my African friends are entrepreneurs, either on a micro- or macro- scale. They’ll understand the idea of buying access to a scarce resource (a broadband net connection) and selling access to that for an affordable price faster than most Americans and Europeans will. I suspect FON will make a great deal of sense in many developing nations.

Neighbours

75% of Hamas voters oppose destruction of Israel

A very interesting statistic appeared today in the Jerusalem Post:

Three-quarters of Palestinians that voted for the Hamas say they are opposed to calls for the destruction of Israel, according to a poll published on Tuesday.

The Palestinian Authority's Al-Hayat Al-Jadeeda daily survey stated that 84% of Palestinians support a peace deal with Israel.

More than 75% of the peace-deal supporters voted for Hamas.

The survey was based on responses from 863 Palestinians from the Gaza Strip and West Bank.

The skeptics should really wonder how much room for maneouvre Hamas will effectivey have.

Keeping an eye on the Iranian blogosphere

A very interesting article on BBC News today describing the mounting criticism of Ahmadinejad in the Iranian blogosphere. Something we often forget is how relatively unregulated blogs are compared to other media in Iran. As this article suggests, most blogs in fact seem to blame Ahmadinejad, and NOT the US, Israel and Europe for taking Iran to the brink of war. Some entries below:

'It smells of war' - Rah-e Man (My Way), 18 January
"Why is it that our planes crash, our buildings collapse at the slightest tremor, our cars burst into flames, we don't have even a half-standard football stadium in the entire country, but when it comes to nuclear energy, it's a national issue?!... Anyway, it smells of war. God help us. Our people have suffered a lot over these past 100 years." http://www.rah-e-man.com/

 

'Deflecting public opinion' - Daftar-e bi Mokhatab  (Notebook without a Reader), 17 January
"Mr Ahmadinejad didn't mention in any of his campaign slogans that, if he became president, he intended to remove Israel from the map...

I also don't recall him promising that he'd take the nuclear file to the point of having international sanctions imposed on the country, having the file referred to the Security Council, sacrificing the country's economic interests and war...
   
What has brought the government to this point today is that it's realised that it's not capable of fulfilling even 55% of its campaign slogans... so it wants to deflect domestic public opinion by creating constant international crises in order to pretend that it's foreigners who are preventing the government from fulfilling its promises."http://hanif.ir/

 

 

'Congratulations Mr President!' - After Rain, 16 January

"Greetings Mr President! I wanted to congratulate you. God willing, you're on a roll, taking our dear country towards ruin... I won't allow the flames of war, ruin, famine and wretchedness to be lit in my country. I don't want to be shamed any further before the world. I don't want war! I don't want nuclear energy. This oil is more than enough for me." http://after-rain.persianblog.com/

 

Read the full article here: BBC NEWS | Middle East | Iranian blogs debate nuclear row.

Wireless Networking in the Developing World

A new, free, and very, very interesting book delivers a complete HOW-TO for assembling and maintaining wireless networks in rural towns in developing countries.

From the authors:

The project

The massive popularity of wireless networking has caused equipment costs to continually plummet, while equipment capabilities continue to increase.  By applying this technology in areas that are badly in need of critical communications infrastructure, more people can be brought online than ever before, in less time, for very little cost.  We hope to not only convince you that this is possible, but also show how we have made such networks work, and to give you the information and tools you need to start a network project in your local community.

The book

This book was created by a team of individuals who each, in their own field, are actively participating in the ever-expanding Internet by pushing its reach farther than ever before.  Over a period of a few months, we have produced a complete book that documents our efforts to build wireless networks in the developing world.

We hope that you find these materials and this website useful. Please feel free to contribute your own experiences on the wiki and mailing list, and help make the next edition even better.

You can download the book in PDF form as a single file (2.0 MB), or in chapters.

Glimmer of hope

More on optimism in Afghanistan and Iraq, this time from Amir Taheri writing in asharq alawsat. The article is about a poll showing more hopeful attitudes in the Middle East than in Europe and America:

The latest argument for a reassessment of the situation in post-liberation Iraq comes from the WEF's latest "Voice of the People" poll, conducted by Gallup last November and December in 60 countries across the globe...
.....
The... reason for the good figures from the Middle East is the optimism that the pollsters found in two countries: Afghanistan and Iraq.

The WEF report asserts, "In both these countries, respondents were even more optimistic about future prospects. In Afghanistan, three-quarters (77%) think the next generation will live in a safer world, while in Iraq this view is held by six in every ten (61%) interviewed."
.....
To prove that the toppling of Saddam was wrong the politically correct crowd has prayed hard for Iraq to become "another Vietnam" or, fa[i]ling that, at least "a quagmire", or failing even that, a stage for ["]Yankee Go Home" demonstrations.

None of that has happened. Instead, the Iraqis have been forming political parties, writing a constitution, setting up an independent judiciary, learning about pluralist politics, creating privately owned newspapers and TV and radio stations, and holding elections - all that while the most vicious terrorists in recent history have been throwing at them whatever they could.

Via Norm

Only by understanding

Last year, Khaled Mahammed, a palestinian lawyer, opened what is possibly the first and only Arab-run institute for Holocaust research and teaching.

L]ack of knowledge, he says,... prompts illogical statements, such as "what the Germans did to the Jews is what they (Jews) are doing to the Palestinians."

"Whoever knows what happened during the time of Nazi Germany understands that sentence is ridiculous, but it stems from a lack of basic information," he says.

Here's a new report from the BBC about his efforts and some of the difficulties he faces.

The week's best and worst

Alright. I give up. There's no way i'll be able to write on this blog on a daily basis. I really wish i could but i just lack the discipline (laugh)... For all of you who aren't bloggers, all those blogs you read that are updated daily, the person behind it is either a full-time blogger and/or lives off her/his blog, or, this person is glued to her/his computer and is a talented multi-tasker.

In anycase, for now, i'm going to go for the simple "one-theme-a-week formula".

The theme this week is FILM.

The high point of my week was seeing (finally) Ang Lee's latest masterpiece, Brokeback Mountain. Absolutely amazing. Some extraordinary acting, breathtaking photography and an incredibly gripping story. A definite must-see.Heath Ledger is stunning (i never really liked him before) but this time, he steals the movie right away with the tight-lipped-low-talking-tortured-soul cowboy rancher he plays. Bottom line:  A must-see. You will weep.

Now THE total flop of the week is Lord of War with Nicolas Cage. I won't even waste too much digital ink on this one. The film is pretentious and is agonisingly lame. The acting is atrocious (the actors are good, it's the director that's smoked too many doobies) and the soundtrack is appaling. Pompous hollywood crap. End of story.

Did the Chinese beat Columbus to it?

The brave seamen whose great voyages of exploration opened up the world are iconic figures in European history. Columbus found the New World in 1492; Dias discovered the Cape of Good Hope in 1488; and Magellan set off to circumnavigate the world in 1519. However, there is one difficulty with this confident assertion of European mastery: it may not be true.

It seems more likely that the world and all its continents were discovered by a Chinese admiral named Zheng He, whose fleets roamed the oceans between 1405 and 1435.

Next week, in Beijing and London, fresh and dramatic evidence is to be revealed to bolster Zheng He's case. It is a copy, made in 1763, of a map (above), dated 1418, which contains notes that substantially match the descriptions in the book.

Read the rest.

 

Hasidic reggae hip-hop superstar

Many of you must have already heard of Matisyahu Miller (aka Matthew Miller), the hasidic reggae sensation (yup, you read right) that everyone's been talking about here in Paris since his mind-blowing show in December. Now, for those who've never heard of him, here's the story of a regular kid from brooklyn who loved music, loved getting stoned, then decided to be a Phish groupie, followed their tours and discovered God when camping in Colorado. He began delving in Judaic studies, turned to his passion, reggae and beat-boxing, melded reggae beats with yeshiva-inspired lyrics and produced this :

(or download the mp3 here )

To blog or not to blog

First of all a very Happy New Year to all of you who still check up on my blog once in a while. What can i say? I've failed in my blog endeavour. The way things are going, i  very wel see myselfl press on the disconnect button sometime soon. At the same time, one of my new year resolutions was precisely to persevere more in my undertakings...hmmm....unplugging from the blogosphere would not be great way to kick off the year.

Mais bon... For now, the blog is still up, and I will spend a few hours revamping it, refreshing categories etc.. (i have been doing things other than work these past weeks, mind you...).