Insurgent TV channel turns into Iraq’s newest cult hit

Insurgent TV channel turns into Iraqs nvclass=
An American soldier slumps in the turret of his tank, felled by the infamous Baghdad sniper. A Humvee is vapourised by a roadside bomb. Rockets launch from a pick-up truck to shouts of “Allah u Akhbar [God is great]“.

Back in the studio a TV anchorman, dressed in fatigues, urges viewers to rise up and fight the invaders. “We will not surrender. Either death or victory,” he vows, while warning US forces and their “Iranian” friends in Iraqs government that they face a shameful defeat.

This is al-Zawraa TV, a 24-hour satellite station that lionises Iraqs insurgency to the drumbeat of Saddam-era martial music. It is a crude and dizzying mix of images and videos harvested from jihadi websites – and a cult hit. There are grainy loops of car bombs and mortar attacks interspersed with images of prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib and bloodied children. “Mujahideen” are seen training. Clips of Michael Moores film, Fahrenheit 9/11 are thrown in for good measure.

About to leave earth on out sotfware ship

Control Room,
originally uploaded by Chris Hoare.

Captain Kirk, please sing again Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds!

This week we are about to start getting pressure from the press and everybody.

Alfonsina Storni – Wikipedia, la enciclopedia libre

Pudiera ser que todo lo que en verso he sentido
no fuera más que aquello que nunca pudo ser,
no fuera más que algo vedado y reprimido
de familia en familia, de mujer en mujer.

Dicen que en los solares de mi gente, medido
estaba todo aquello que se debía hacer…
Dicen que silenciosas las mujeres han sido
de mi casa materna… Ah, bien pudiera ser…

A veces en mi madre apuntaron antojos
de liberarse, pero, se le subió a los ojos
una honda amargura, y en la sombra lloró.

Y todo esto mordiente, vencido, mutilado,
todo esto que se hallaba en su alma encerrado,
pienso que sin quererlo lo he libertado yo.
—Alfonsina Storni, Bien pudiera ser

Más info: Alfonsina Storni – Wikipedia, la enciclopedia libre

why Eumetis?

Of the rest every one, after he had anointed and washed himself, the servants introduced into a particular room, purposely fitted and prepared for the men; they were guided thither through a porch, in which Anacharsis sat, and there was a certain young lady with him arranging his hair.

This lady stepping forward to welcome Thales, he saluted her most courteously, and smiling said: Madam, make the stranger fair and pleasant, so that, being (as he is) the mildest man in the world, he may not be fearful and hideous for us to look on.

When I was curious to enquire who this lady was whom Thales thus complimented, he said, Do you not yet know the wise and famous Eumetis? — for so her father calls her, though others call her after her father’s name Cleobulina.

Doubtless, saith Niloxenus, they call her by this name to commend her judgment and wit, and her reach into the more abstruse and recondite part of learning; for I have myself in Egypt seen and read some problems first started and discussed by her. Not so, saith Thales, for she plays with these as men do with cockal-bones, and encounters boldly all she meets, without study or premeditation; she is a person of an admirable understanding, of a politic capacious mind, of a very obliging conversation, and one that by her rhetoric”>rhetoric and the sweetness of her temper prevails upon her father to govern his subjects with the greatest mildness in the world.

How popular she is appears, saith Niloxenus, plainly to any that observes her pleasant innocent garb. But pray, continues he, wherefore is it that she shows such tenderness and affection to Anacharsis? Because, replied Thales, he is a temperate and learned man, who fully and freely makes known to her those mysterious ways of dieting and physicing the sick which are now in use among the Scythians; and I doubt not she now coaxes and courts the old gentleman at the rate you see, taking this opportunity to discourse with him and learn something of him.

Plutarch, The Morals, vol. 2 ToC: The Online Library of Liberty
Plutarch was active in politics and traveled to Rome several times as a public servant. In Rome, he was a popular philosopher and public figure and traveled in circles that included the emperors Trajan and Hadrian. Plutarch is known to have written 227 works of various sorts. Of these, Parallel Lives, a collection of biographies about Greek and Roman figures, and Morals, a collection of works on ethical, political, religious, and literary topics.

A tale of corporate atrocity, by Dave Winer.

I had lunch with Marc Canter yesterday, and he told me about a conversation he had with Tim O’Reilly and Cory Doctorow, where they told him they knew I had nothing to do with RSS. I asked how they said they knew. They had apparently asked some people at Netscape and they said they didn’t work with me. As if that was how RSS came to be the powerhouse it is today. It isn’t. Eventually Tim came around, and gave me credit for making RSS happen. Thanks.

The process whereby RSS came to be so powerful was one of building out both ends of the technology, supply and demand, and putting some currency on the network, and hoping it boots up. In the case of RSS as a transport for blog posts and news articles, it did, and the two pieces were Radio UserLand’s blogging tool, Radio UserLand’s aggregator, and a few early blogs, including Scripting News (the currency). It also worked in a similar manner, eventually, for podcasting.

Today I received a link to a patent granted to Microsoft, where they claim to have invented all this stuff. Presumably they’re eventually going to charge us to use it. This should be denounced by everyone who has contributed anything to the success of RSS.

Scripting News: 12/21/2006

gohan

Located in Zaragoza, Spain, this itinerating media center is supporting local creative groups interested in launching social art/technology projects with high technical profile. Our goal will be the creation of contents using copyleft licensing. Therefore, even the creation of the center’s current biennal activities program is open and available at sourceforge.

The program will be developed during January 2007 and will include activities about social dissemination of the use of technology, artistic interventions in the city, concerts, theoretical seminars, and a research project in the field of collective artistic production.

open hardware workshop on February 20th-24th [more] at gohan

Barrapunto | ¡Feliz Año!

Asi es como recibe el nuevo año la gente de Barrapunto: pensando en los que estan en otros lados.

A ver si para la proxima hay un pequeño script que te lee el tiempo local y te prepara un mensaje, no?

Ha entrado un año nuevo en la zona CET (GMT 1). Esperamos que venga cargado de todo lo mejor para todas las personas que nos leeis, y también para las que no. Divertíos mucho esta noche si vais a salir, y cuidado con el alcohol si conducís. Felicidades adelantadas a quienes estáis en Canarias o en América, y atrasadas para quienes estáis en zonas horarias más al este.

Barrapunto | ¡Feliz Año!

How To Ask Questions The Smart Way

How To Ask Questions The Smart Way by Eric Raymond

“We realize that there are many people who just want to use the software we write, and who have no interest in learning technical details. For most people, a computer is merely a tool, a means to an end; they have more important things to do and lives to live. We acknowledge that, and don’t expect everyone to take an interest in the technical matters that fascinate us. Nevertheless, our style of answering questions is tuned for people who do take such an interest and are willing to be active participants in problem-solving. That’s not going to change. Nor should it; if it did, we would become less effective at the things we do best.

We’re (largely) volunteers. We take time out of busy lives to answer questions, and at times we’re overwhelmed with them. So we filter ruthlessly. In particular, we throw away questions from people who appear to be losers in order to spend our question-answering time more efficiently, on winners.

If you find this attitude obnoxious, condescending, or arrogant, check your assumptions. We’re not asking you to genuflect to us — in fact, most of us would love nothing more than to deal with you as an equal and welcome you into our culture, if you put in the effort required to make that possible. But it’s simply not efficient for us to try to help people who are not willing to help themselves. It’s OK to be ignorant; it’s not OK to play stupid.”

we feel fine

Y asi es como se pasan las fiestas, mira….

Scrapeando sentimientos de gente. Mas info pronto.


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. ' `posturl` VARCHAR(40) NULL, '
. ' `lat` VARCHAR(18) NULL, '
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. ' `born` YEAR(4) NULL, '
. ' `takenon` TIMESTAMP(10) ON UPDATE CURRENT_TIMESTAMP NOT NULL DEFAULT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP'
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. ' ENGINE = myisam'
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. ' COMMENT = \'wefeelfine.org\';';