By Xeni Jardin at 9:26 pm Monday, Dec 29
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Hossein Derakshan, a native of Tehran who now resides in Canada, posted this today on his
English-language blog -- "When people have different needs than the state." Snip:
Nothing could ever show the real sense of diconnectivity and distrust between Iranian people and the Islamic regime, and its deeply dysfunctionality better than a devastating quake. Everywhere you go and every blog you read, there is talk about the political implications of such tragedy going on.
People inside and outside Iran are desperately trying to gather donations, but they don't want to give the money to the government. They'd rather give the aids directly to the International organizations or trusted NGOs and persons in Iran whom they are sure have nothing to do with the regime and its institutions. For instance, Shirin Ebadi, the Nobel laureate has stepped in and announced measures to directly gather people's aids. This amount of distrust and disconnectedness has never been see before.
However, the reason is pretty clear: When a government can run the whole country only by the oil and gas income, it doesn't have to answer its people's needs; it only thinks about its own needs. (In 2004, Iran will have $16 billion revenue from oil export, while it only depends on approximately 18% of citizen's taxes.)
Link
By Xeni Jardin at 8:06 pm Monday, Dec 29
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My country grows stranger by the day. The elderly Italian lady who lives next door to me annotates her almanac to keep track of which moon phases bode best for planting, thinning, or harvesting fresh back yard arugula. Suspicious ways? She's definitely attempting to maximize the likelihood of operational success through careful planning. If the taste of the fresh, shared greens she drops off on my doorstep in brown paper bags are any proof -- it's working.
The FBI is warning police nationwide to be alert for people carrying almanacs, cautioning that the popular reference books covering everything from abbreviations to weather trends could be used for terrorist planning. In a bulletin sent Christmas Eve to about 18,000 police organizations, the FBI said terrorists may use almanacs "to assist with target selection and pre-operational planning." It urged officers to watch during searches, traffic stops and other investigations for anyone carrying almanacs, especially if the books are annotated in suspicious ways. "The practice of researching potential targets is consistent with known methods of al-Qaida and other terrorist organizations that seek to maximize the likelihood of operational success through careful planning," the FBI wrote.
Link (Thanks, David!)
By Xeni Jardin at 9:40 am Monday, Dec 29
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Sorry I missed this when we were assembling lists of hot geek gadget gift ideas last week for NPR. L@@@K! Excellent buyer! A+++++! Would do business again!
Aircraft carrier (deommissioned ) for sale.
Vehicle Description: This maybe the first ever aircraft carrier (decommissioned 2001) available for auction at EBAY !
But the auction was delisted not long ago due to accusation wrongly made by a suspicious customer. We showed evidence that this vessel is DECOMMISSIONED and therefore not Ordanance. We are shipbroker and not arms dealer. We shipbrokers do not have the ownership of the vessels we sell, as none of the shipbrokers does, just as your real estate broker cannot ask you to transfer the title of your house to him before he start selling propery for you.
Current bid: US $6,000,000.00.
Link (via Geeknews)
By Xeni Jardin at 9:21 am Monday, Dec 29
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Click this cropped sneak peek (or
here) for full-size image. Here's a fresh piece from Canadian illustrator and cartoonist
Graham Roumieu, who is
a very sick a very talented man.
By Xeni Jardin at 9:15 am Monday, Dec 29
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BoingBoing reader
Michael Reeve says:
I'm sure I'm not the only person to recommend this page for inclusion - concerning Wikipedia's appeal for funding. OK, at the time of writing, they've already reached their target, but a little more certainly won't hurt.
Link
By Xeni Jardin at 9:12 am Monday, Dec 29
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So, what exactly does one call a cash prize for weblogs? Bling-blog? Digital arttfest
Ars Electronica recently announced that the 2004 competition will include the new category "Digital Communities," awarding cash prizes to projects of great sociopolitical relevance.
Howard Rheingold posts more details on his blog, including a snip from instructions on how to apply. Thanks to all who have suggested BoingBoing as an entrant, but since co-editor Cory is a judge this will not be possible.
Prix Ars Electronica, the foremost international prize for computer-based art, offers an open platform for the encounter with leading-edge trends in art, technology, and society. Over the last 17 years, more than 24,800 works from 87 countries have been submitted for Prix Ars Electronica consideration. With a total prize money of 130,000 Euro this year, and no participation fee, it is the highest endowed and most reknown competition in this field worldwide.
The new category "Digital Communities" - to be awarded for the first time in 2004 - encompasses the wide-ranging social consequences of the Internet as well as the latest developments in the domain of mobile communications and wireless networks. "Digital Communities" will spotlight bold and inspired innovations impacting human coexistence, bridging the digital divide regarding gender as well as geography, or creating outstanding social software and enhancing accessibility of technological-social infrastructure.
Link
By Xeni Jardin at 9:07 am Monday, Dec 29
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BoingBoing reader
Caines says:
Walt Disney has revised its online privacy policy to allow the sharing of user information to third parties, the company confirmed on Tuesday. New registrants who accept Disney's privacy policy during registration also accept all marketing options by default. They have to manually turn them off later if they want to opt out. A Disney representative said the changes were made to help customer service operate more effectively between its offline and online businesses.
Link
By Xeni Jardin at 9:05 am Monday, Dec 29
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BoingBoing reader
Clive says:
Patent #6,649,848 is for "Vehicle with on-board dieters' weight progress indentifying and control system and method". In plain english, that means it's a car that weighs you when you sit in it -- and yells at you if you're getting fat. There's also a story in the New York Times about it today.
Link
By Xeni Jardin at 8:06 am Monday, Dec 29
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Leave it to me to botch the geographic details of
recent posts about Santarchy sightings in Antarctica. Look, I live in LA. Anything south of Wilshire is a remote southern terrain, as far as I'm concerned.
Nevertheless, Oren Leaffer, a member of the National Science Foundation's United Stated Antarctic Program who is evidently stationed near the South Pole, writes:
"I just saw your boingboing posts on the Santas in Mactown, well that's not even part of Antartica (it's on Ross Island). Here at the south pole we had the anti-santa [left], who liked to point out that while Santa brings you coal if you're naughty, here a lump of coal would be a good thing. Happy newyear and whatnot."
