I was going to be doing something else today, but then I got hit with two different things from a gazillion different angles all at once, both far more urgent than what I was going to go on ranting about.
Now, we've already covered the Lord's Resistance Army here back in October. (With bonus Rush-Limbaugh-being-stupid chaser, as if you didn't have enough of that lately. I know I haven't.) We've already run 48 minutes of things that will make you question what Lord would allow such things.
What seems to be going viral, though- Taylor Swift joining in on her Twitter feed certainly helps matters, seeing as she has 11.5 million followers- is a profile of the leader of the LRA, Joseph Kony. The half-hour video is called 'KONY 2012', and so as to do my bit, I link to the video here.
The other video comes via Lisa and Laura Ling, viewable here. What Lisa and Laura wish to bring to your attention is the plight of 30 North Korean defectors who have been caught by China and face repatriation to North Korea. Being caught and repatriated generally means death for not only you, but your family as well. These 30 are in particular risk, as they're the first to be caught since Kim Jong Un took over.
Lisa and Laura are asking people to place whatever pressure on China that they can, in an attempt to essentially embarrass China into letting the 30 defectors go- and given that China could send them back at any moment, you need to be quick about lending a hand. There is of course a petition, along with a hashtag, #savemyfriend. Do with them what you will, and if you have more to add to the effort, by all means feel free.
In both cases, with Kony and the defectors, the objective is to get the word spread far and wide and quick like bunny. Go. Move.
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
Adventures In Wishful Thinking
Turkish Airlines has opened a commercial route from Istanbul to Mogadishu, with a stopover in Khartoum, Sudan. This is the first commercial flight from outside eastern Africa in 20 years.
According to Somalia's foreign minister, Abdullahi Haji, "It will also make it easier for the Somali diaspora to come home. It will bring us closer together."
I'm trying to figure out a way in which this ends well, but so far they all rely on blind luck.
According to Somalia's foreign minister, Abdullahi Haji, "It will also make it easier for the Somali diaspora to come home. It will bring us closer together."
I'm trying to figure out a way in which this ends well, but so far they all rely on blind luck.
Monday, March 5, 2012
Yes, Yes, Very Tragic, But What About The Soccer?
This is pretty much how this soccer book has forced me to think on occasion.
See, when you get deep enough into a book about the history and culture of soccer, inevitably, you are going to run into the history and culture of the world in general. It doesn't seem like it would, here in America, because it's just sports after all. The thing is, though, sports are as important as people deem them to be. And in much of the world, it's important enough that religion and race and class tensions and international tension and national pride and even the presence or absence of democracy get dragged into things.
In recent days, you can add the massacre in Homs, Syria to that list.
Massacre is really all you can call what's been going on in Homs over the past month. Unless you wish to call it 'genocide', which I'm noticing is a term increasingly used. Every day, more and more graphic images of Homs being shelled by the forces of Bashar al-Assad indiscriminately, concentrated on the neighborhood of Baba Amr, come out. More accounts of residents fleeing to the nearby Lebanese border, if they even can leave their house without risking sniper attacks or function in a state of pure, utter terror, knowing that if you don't leave eventually, someone will sooner or later kick the door down and shoot you where you stand. The fact that these accounts from residents still inside and refugees inside no longer are virtually all that exists as accounts now, given that the professional journalists have been run out of town for fear of being specifically targeted themselves. The Red Cross being refused entry to town, and at least one hospital that is in use being converted into a scene of torture. The endgame possibility of Homs being torn down to the ground and wiped off the map entirely.
And most distressingly, the growing feeling that it's become too late to stop, that by the inaction of the rest of the world, Homs has turned into the next Rwanda or Srebenica, where the world looked on, remarked about how tragic it all was, and then sat back and ultimately did nothing while innocent people were slaughtered like animals by the thousands. Any action taken, if any was taken at all, was only taken after the damage had been done.
Soccer, of course, is very, very low on the priority list. I don't even want to think about it at a time and place like this. But I have a book on soccer to write, it has a section on Syria, and as it happens, the Syrian club I had earlier chosen to profile, Al-Karamah (as I'm trying to do at least one per country), just so happens to be based in Homs. So as dirty as it makes me feel, in order to do this book properly, at some point I have to set the massacre aside and focus, on some level, on how this affects the club and soccer in Syria in general.
As it happens, Syria's top-tier league has not one, but two teams from Homs: Al-Karamah and Al-Wathda; both share a stadium, Khaled bin Walid Stadium, on Homs' west side. While I don't know for sure, it's very possible that the stadium is being used right now as either a prison or an execution site, as is, at least according to some tweets out of the area, the case with another stadium in Homs, al-Basil Stadium, south of Khaled bin Walid. This was also the use to which other stadiums in Syria were applied earlier in Syria's civil war.
Which makes what I'm seeing on FIFA.com a little strange.
Here's where we need to shift to thinking soccer. Unfortunately.
The way Syria's top-tier league has been working this season is this: the 16 teams in the league are split into two groups of eight. Those groups play amongst each other in a round-robin. After that, the top four teams in each group are placed in a second-round 'Champions Group' and play each other in a second round-robin for honors. The bottom four per group are placed in a 'Relegation Group' and play each other to remain in the top tier.
Homs' two clubs were placed in separate first-round groups, and both breezed into the Champions Group. Al-Wathba won their group, while Al-Karamah (shown on FIFA's league table as Al Karama) finished second in theirs. Both can be thought of as title contenders.
The first round took place during calendar year 2011. Calendar year 2012 shifted things to the second round. The other 14 teams have gone on as normal; in fact, there were games just yesterday. However, the two Homs teams have not played any second-round games. Their matches are listed as 'postponed'.
You'd expect that the Homs teams couldn't play. I'd be shocked if they did. But the thing is, I'm shocked that the other 14 teams are going on without them. It's not as if the rest of Syria is free of violence. And, again, other stadiums have been, or are currently being, used as prisons and execution sites. Presumably that would include the stadiums used by the other 14 clubs in the league. So how is this league still going on? How has this season not been cancelled? Seasons have been cancelled before all over the planet in times of war. The Syrian league was put on hold in April last year, during this same conflict, and ultimately cancelled. In fact, the cancellation is why this season has 16 teams instead of 14; they didn't get a chance to relegate anyone last season.
I'm not exactly expecting anyone to look seriously into it, given that there are a thousand things more important. But it does seem weird that something that would stop everyone a year ago wouldn't stop anyone but the Homs teams now.
That is, assuming that when it's all said and done, there will still be a Homs in which to play.
See, when you get deep enough into a book about the history and culture of soccer, inevitably, you are going to run into the history and culture of the world in general. It doesn't seem like it would, here in America, because it's just sports after all. The thing is, though, sports are as important as people deem them to be. And in much of the world, it's important enough that religion and race and class tensions and international tension and national pride and even the presence or absence of democracy get dragged into things.
In recent days, you can add the massacre in Homs, Syria to that list.
Massacre is really all you can call what's been going on in Homs over the past month. Unless you wish to call it 'genocide', which I'm noticing is a term increasingly used. Every day, more and more graphic images of Homs being shelled by the forces of Bashar al-Assad indiscriminately, concentrated on the neighborhood of Baba Amr, come out. More accounts of residents fleeing to the nearby Lebanese border, if they even can leave their house without risking sniper attacks or function in a state of pure, utter terror, knowing that if you don't leave eventually, someone will sooner or later kick the door down and shoot you where you stand. The fact that these accounts from residents still inside and refugees inside no longer are virtually all that exists as accounts now, given that the professional journalists have been run out of town for fear of being specifically targeted themselves. The Red Cross being refused entry to town, and at least one hospital that is in use being converted into a scene of torture. The endgame possibility of Homs being torn down to the ground and wiped off the map entirely.
And most distressingly, the growing feeling that it's become too late to stop, that by the inaction of the rest of the world, Homs has turned into the next Rwanda or Srebenica, where the world looked on, remarked about how tragic it all was, and then sat back and ultimately did nothing while innocent people were slaughtered like animals by the thousands. Any action taken, if any was taken at all, was only taken after the damage had been done.
Soccer, of course, is very, very low on the priority list. I don't even want to think about it at a time and place like this. But I have a book on soccer to write, it has a section on Syria, and as it happens, the Syrian club I had earlier chosen to profile, Al-Karamah (as I'm trying to do at least one per country), just so happens to be based in Homs. So as dirty as it makes me feel, in order to do this book properly, at some point I have to set the massacre aside and focus, on some level, on how this affects the club and soccer in Syria in general.
As it happens, Syria's top-tier league has not one, but two teams from Homs: Al-Karamah and Al-Wathda; both share a stadium, Khaled bin Walid Stadium, on Homs' west side. While I don't know for sure, it's very possible that the stadium is being used right now as either a prison or an execution site, as is, at least according to some tweets out of the area, the case with another stadium in Homs, al-Basil Stadium, south of Khaled bin Walid. This was also the use to which other stadiums in Syria were applied earlier in Syria's civil war.
Which makes what I'm seeing on FIFA.com a little strange.
Here's where we need to shift to thinking soccer. Unfortunately.
The way Syria's top-tier league has been working this season is this: the 16 teams in the league are split into two groups of eight. Those groups play amongst each other in a round-robin. After that, the top four teams in each group are placed in a second-round 'Champions Group' and play each other in a second round-robin for honors. The bottom four per group are placed in a 'Relegation Group' and play each other to remain in the top tier.
Homs' two clubs were placed in separate first-round groups, and both breezed into the Champions Group. Al-Wathba won their group, while Al-Karamah (shown on FIFA's league table as Al Karama) finished second in theirs. Both can be thought of as title contenders.
The first round took place during calendar year 2011. Calendar year 2012 shifted things to the second round. The other 14 teams have gone on as normal; in fact, there were games just yesterday. However, the two Homs teams have not played any second-round games. Their matches are listed as 'postponed'.
You'd expect that the Homs teams couldn't play. I'd be shocked if they did. But the thing is, I'm shocked that the other 14 teams are going on without them. It's not as if the rest of Syria is free of violence. And, again, other stadiums have been, or are currently being, used as prisons and execution sites. Presumably that would include the stadiums used by the other 14 clubs in the league. So how is this league still going on? How has this season not been cancelled? Seasons have been cancelled before all over the planet in times of war. The Syrian league was put on hold in April last year, during this same conflict, and ultimately cancelled. In fact, the cancellation is why this season has 16 teams instead of 14; they didn't get a chance to relegate anyone last season.
I'm not exactly expecting anyone to look seriously into it, given that there are a thousand things more important. But it does seem weird that something that would stop everyone a year ago wouldn't stop anyone but the Homs teams now.
That is, assuming that when it's all said and done, there will still be a Homs in which to play.
Sunday, March 4, 2012
Don't Tell Me Your Food's Cold
And after you're done fighting for freedom of speech in Morocco, why not head to Spain and eat off of an active volcano?
Coming off Treehugger, who themselves got it from Oddity Central, a site I'm definitely going to have to look further into, we're today told about El Diablo Restaurant on Lanzarote, part of the Canary Islands, sitting due west of Morocco, towards the border with Western Sahara.
A dormant volcano doesn't mean a dead volcano. The classification of volcanoes into active, dormant and extinct is actually a bit messy, scientifically speaking, though generally if a volcano has erupted in the last 10,000 years, it's considered active, and you're not extinct until you've lost your lava supply.
El Diablo Restaurant sits in Timanfaya National Park, where the Wikipedia page notes eruptions between 1730-36, meaning we're well within the boundaries of being an active volcano (though Treehugger labels it dormant). There are no eruptions thought to be coming in the near future or else nobody would have built a restaurant there.
Okay, well, maybe an artist would. Namely, artist/architect Cesar Manrique, who started the restaurant in 1970, four years before the park was established. What he did was, he took a spot where volcanic heat seeps up from the ground- it gets to 400 degrees Celsius (752 degrees Fahrenheit) 6 meters underground- and then he built a grill right on top of it, and then built a restaurant around the grill. The photos supplied indicate you can walk right up to the grill and have a look for yourself.
Manrique picked a good spot. Right next door is the Islote de Hilario, a geyser which has the most underground heat in the park. Park attendants pour water in the hole to provoke it for the tourists.
Presumably, your wine has not been down that hole prior to serving. Hopefully.
Coming off Treehugger, who themselves got it from Oddity Central, a site I'm definitely going to have to look further into, we're today told about El Diablo Restaurant on Lanzarote, part of the Canary Islands, sitting due west of Morocco, towards the border with Western Sahara.
A dormant volcano doesn't mean a dead volcano. The classification of volcanoes into active, dormant and extinct is actually a bit messy, scientifically speaking, though generally if a volcano has erupted in the last 10,000 years, it's considered active, and you're not extinct until you've lost your lava supply.
El Diablo Restaurant sits in Timanfaya National Park, where the Wikipedia page notes eruptions between 1730-36, meaning we're well within the boundaries of being an active volcano (though Treehugger labels it dormant). There are no eruptions thought to be coming in the near future or else nobody would have built a restaurant there.
Okay, well, maybe an artist would. Namely, artist/architect Cesar Manrique, who started the restaurant in 1970, four years before the park was established. What he did was, he took a spot where volcanic heat seeps up from the ground- it gets to 400 degrees Celsius (752 degrees Fahrenheit) 6 meters underground- and then he built a grill right on top of it, and then built a restaurant around the grill. The photos supplied indicate you can walk right up to the grill and have a look for yourself.
Manrique picked a good spot. Right next door is the Islote de Hilario, a geyser which has the most underground heat in the park. Park attendants pour water in the hole to provoke it for the tourists.
Presumably, your wine has not been down that hole prior to serving. Hopefully.
Saturday, March 3, 2012
Of All The Sex Shops In All The World...
Leave it to the Internet to not only have an article like "Morocco opens its first sex shop", but to draw enough interest from someone to want to investigate further.
On its face, it looks like just one more random little stupid piece. Hey. A sex shop. Sure don't have enough of those around. But there are two things to note. First, it's in Morocco, an Islamic nation, and Islamic nations are famously conservative. Sex shops in conservative nations aren't really much of a thing (sex products are sold in Morocco, but according to an Al Arabiya link further down, they are commonly sold under the disguise of being "cosmetics"), and so the opening of one could be taken as a sign that the country is, at least in one semi-subtle way, lurching in the direction of liberalism. It's kind of like measuring the economy through underwear sales or blacked-out football games or immigration.
The second thing: it turns out that when people went to see this sex shop- for normal reasons, of course- they couldn't find it. An address was provided, but when someone went to check it out, it turned out to be in a working-class neighborhood that would never allow such a thing, and the address itself was that of a family's house; the family within didn't know what the hell was going on. And now questions are being asked; suspicions are that it may be part of a plot by left-leaning activists, namely the February 20 Movement, spawned last year as part of the Arab Spring, to embarrass the new Prime Minister, Abdelilah Benkirane.
One question, of course, is what are you doing investigating a sex shop. Among some other recent freedom-related happenings in Morocco, to underscore the point:
*A man in the city of Nador was sentenced yesterday to six months in jail for flying an Israeli flag over his house.
*Another man, from Taza, was given three years in February for a YouTube video insulting King Mohammed VI.
*A week before that, another man was hauled into court for insulting the king on Facebook.
*An edition of a Spanish paper, El Pais, was banned last month because it, too, had a cartoon criticizing the king. Among other recent censorings listed in that link.
*A group handing out leaflets urging the boycott of elections in November were, according to Human Rights Watch, arrested and held for trial for "distribution of written material that does not bear the name and address of the printer." The Moroccan government denies arrests have taken place.
In an effort to stem the tide of the Arab Spring, Morocco instituted some level of reform, and among those reforms was that the king would no longer be considered under the nation's constitution to be 'sacred'. As you can see, if there's a difference between then and now, the February 20 Movement fails to see it. The trick is, those reforms came through vague, pliable language, language that on the surface appeared to increase freedom of speech, but in practice offered no such thing. For instance, not only was the king considered 'sacred' in the old constitution, he was also considered 'inviolable', meaning you can't criticize him. He is no longer sacred, but he remains inviolable. Samia Errazzouki of Jadaliyya takes you here through the gory details.
Given this, the presence or absence of a sex shop doesn't really stand out much. But given that the February 20 Movement lost some steam due to the reforms, or at least perceived reforms, they may be looking to re-force an issue or two.
On its face, it looks like just one more random little stupid piece. Hey. A sex shop. Sure don't have enough of those around. But there are two things to note. First, it's in Morocco, an Islamic nation, and Islamic nations are famously conservative. Sex shops in conservative nations aren't really much of a thing (sex products are sold in Morocco, but according to an Al Arabiya link further down, they are commonly sold under the disguise of being "cosmetics"), and so the opening of one could be taken as a sign that the country is, at least in one semi-subtle way, lurching in the direction of liberalism. It's kind of like measuring the economy through underwear sales or blacked-out football games or immigration.
The second thing: it turns out that when people went to see this sex shop- for normal reasons, of course- they couldn't find it. An address was provided, but when someone went to check it out, it turned out to be in a working-class neighborhood that would never allow such a thing, and the address itself was that of a family's house; the family within didn't know what the hell was going on. And now questions are being asked; suspicions are that it may be part of a plot by left-leaning activists, namely the February 20 Movement, spawned last year as part of the Arab Spring, to embarrass the new Prime Minister, Abdelilah Benkirane.
One question, of course, is what are you doing investigating a sex shop. Among some other recent freedom-related happenings in Morocco, to underscore the point:
*A man in the city of Nador was sentenced yesterday to six months in jail for flying an Israeli flag over his house.
*Another man, from Taza, was given three years in February for a YouTube video insulting King Mohammed VI.
*A week before that, another man was hauled into court for insulting the king on Facebook.
*An edition of a Spanish paper, El Pais, was banned last month because it, too, had a cartoon criticizing the king. Among other recent censorings listed in that link.
*A group handing out leaflets urging the boycott of elections in November were, according to Human Rights Watch, arrested and held for trial for "distribution of written material that does not bear the name and address of the printer." The Moroccan government denies arrests have taken place.
In an effort to stem the tide of the Arab Spring, Morocco instituted some level of reform, and among those reforms was that the king would no longer be considered under the nation's constitution to be 'sacred'. As you can see, if there's a difference between then and now, the February 20 Movement fails to see it. The trick is, those reforms came through vague, pliable language, language that on the surface appeared to increase freedom of speech, but in practice offered no such thing. For instance, not only was the king considered 'sacred' in the old constitution, he was also considered 'inviolable', meaning you can't criticize him. He is no longer sacred, but he remains inviolable. Samia Errazzouki of Jadaliyya takes you here through the gory details.
Given this, the presence or absence of a sex shop doesn't really stand out much. But given that the February 20 Movement lost some steam due to the reforms, or at least perceived reforms, they may be looking to re-force an issue or two.
Friday, March 2, 2012
ShusthuUtpUp
Today's example of why Japan is different than us comes to us via Kazutaka Kurihara of the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, and Koji Tsukada of Ochanomizu University. Their project is officially called SpeechJammer, but it's promptly gotten a more widespread name: the 'Shut Up Gun'.
What you have is a directional speaker and a microphone, along with come computer parts. You point the Shut Up Gun at someone, and it will play their own voice back to them using delayed auditory feedback- you'll hear what you're saying about .2 seconds after you've said it. You know back when you were a kid and you and your sibling did the 'Stop repeating everything I say' game? That's basically what's going on here, in gun form. It'll do that until you decide to stop talking.
Unless you make a meaningless prolonged sound like 'aaaaaaarrrrrrgggh'. Then it doesn't work.
PC Mag also noted another well-known method of getting people to shut up: at awards shows, when they play off people whose acceptance speeches are starting to drag on. PC Mag did not note my favorite playing-off, that of the Ig Nobel Prizes.
The Ig Nobels utilize a little girl, who is called 'Miss Sweetie Poo'. When an acceptance speech starts to get lengthy, Miss Sweetie Poo walks right up to them and starts to repeat the phrase "Please stop. I'm bored." She will do this until the speaker stops boring her. In addition to working, it has the effect of being consistently hilarious.
But of course, you can't carry a Miss Sweetie Poo around all day. Or at least really really shouldn't.
What you have is a directional speaker and a microphone, along with come computer parts. You point the Shut Up Gun at someone, and it will play their own voice back to them using delayed auditory feedback- you'll hear what you're saying about .2 seconds after you've said it. You know back when you were a kid and you and your sibling did the 'Stop repeating everything I say' game? That's basically what's going on here, in gun form. It'll do that until you decide to stop talking.
Unless you make a meaningless prolonged sound like 'aaaaaaarrrrrrgggh'. Then it doesn't work.
PC Mag also noted another well-known method of getting people to shut up: at awards shows, when they play off people whose acceptance speeches are starting to drag on. PC Mag did not note my favorite playing-off, that of the Ig Nobel Prizes.
The Ig Nobels utilize a little girl, who is called 'Miss Sweetie Poo'. When an acceptance speech starts to get lengthy, Miss Sweetie Poo walks right up to them and starts to repeat the phrase "Please stop. I'm bored." She will do this until the speaker stops boring her. In addition to working, it has the effect of being consistently hilarious.
But of course, you can't carry a Miss Sweetie Poo around all day. Or at least really really shouldn't.
Thursday, March 1, 2012
The Craziest Candidate In America
I don't care what you've seen. I don't care what you've heard. I don't care how much insanity has been spewed this election season.
When you've got a straight-up Holocaust denier declaring his candidacy for Congress, the Holocaust denier, by simple virtue of the fact that he is a Holocaust denier, is crazier than every single one of them. His name is Arthur Jones, he's an insurance salesman from Lyons, Illinois, and he's running in Dan Lipinski's district.
I bet Lyons' customers are just thrilled to find out more about who's been selling them insurance.
Lyons is running as a Republican; however, to their credit, the GOP has tried to keep him off their end of the ticket. Not even they're that nuts. However, Lyons somehow, frighteningly, found 1,000 people willing to sign his candidacy petition, and we do not disqualify candidates for office in this country based on their views alone, so he's on the ballot whether anyone likes it or not. He's thus going to be in the Republican primary, against the GOP's actual candidates, Jim Falvey and Richard Grabowski.
This is not the first time Jones has been in the public eye. In 1976, he ran for mayor of Milwaukee, and got predictably pasted in the primary by Henry Maier by a percentage margin of 93-7. In 1993, he appeared on the Jerry Springer Show alongside Milwaukee alderman Michael McGee. McGee punched Jones in the face. This will be Jones' ninth run for office and his seventh run for the seat in Illinois' third district; his record is, thankfully, 0-8. However, in his five previous attempts, he's garnered an increasing amount of the vote each time- 2.64% in 1992, 10.34% in 1996, 12.39% in 1998, 29.38% in 2006, and 33.15% in 2008.
Illinois, your primary is March 20. We in Wisconsin apologize for giving you this guy. Could you please clean up this mess we left you? Again?
When you've got a straight-up Holocaust denier declaring his candidacy for Congress, the Holocaust denier, by simple virtue of the fact that he is a Holocaust denier, is crazier than every single one of them. His name is Arthur Jones, he's an insurance salesman from Lyons, Illinois, and he's running in Dan Lipinski's district.
I bet Lyons' customers are just thrilled to find out more about who's been selling them insurance.
Lyons is running as a Republican; however, to their credit, the GOP has tried to keep him off their end of the ticket. Not even they're that nuts. However, Lyons somehow, frighteningly, found 1,000 people willing to sign his candidacy petition, and we do not disqualify candidates for office in this country based on their views alone, so he's on the ballot whether anyone likes it or not. He's thus going to be in the Republican primary, against the GOP's actual candidates, Jim Falvey and Richard Grabowski.
This is not the first time Jones has been in the public eye. In 1976, he ran for mayor of Milwaukee, and got predictably pasted in the primary by Henry Maier by a percentage margin of 93-7. In 1993, he appeared on the Jerry Springer Show alongside Milwaukee alderman Michael McGee. McGee punched Jones in the face. This will be Jones' ninth run for office and his seventh run for the seat in Illinois' third district; his record is, thankfully, 0-8. However, in his five previous attempts, he's garnered an increasing amount of the vote each time- 2.64% in 1992, 10.34% in 1996, 12.39% in 1998, 29.38% in 2006, and 33.15% in 2008.
Illinois, your primary is March 20. We in Wisconsin apologize for giving you this guy. Could you please clean up this mess we left you? Again?
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