Ali Abdulemam, a blogger in Bahrain and contributor to Global Voices, was arrested this weekend by Bahraini authorities on charges that he spread "false news" on BahrainOnline.org, a top pro-democracy online media outlet in Bahrain.
I drove south last weekend to a predominantly Indian suburb of Los Angeles to catch Peepli Live (Wikipedia) at a movie theater that plays only films from India.
Its was terrific, a poignant and LOL-filled commentary on the state of Indian news media, and the injustice and tragedy that rural communities face. Unsurprisingly, the soundtrack was full of great tunes. My favorite was the song embeded above, "Chola Maati Ke Ram," performed live here by Nageen Tanvir at a launch event for the film.
The lyrics of this song are about human mortality. Loosely and imperfectly: Time spares no one... death spares no one... our bodies are clay robes that will eventually disintegrate, so it is best to dedicate our lives to honoring Lord Ram, and all that is eternal.
Incidentally: Today, Kamla Bhatt will be interviewing the Indo-fusion rock band Indian Ocean, who performed several songs in the Peepli Live Soundtrack, at 12.30 pm PST on Stanford radio station KZSU. Listen online here.
David Kuria runs EcoTact Limited, an organization with a groundbreaking approach to a difficult issue. In many poor parts of Africa, basic sanitation is nonexistent, and open sewers drain untreated waste directly into the water supply, causing 80% of the disease.
Kuria quotes Gandhi: "Sanitation is more important than independence," adding, "We want to do a social transformation, where people don't think this is a toilet, where they think a toilet is a dirty place. So for us to change that community and social mentality of a toilet, then we want to put in more activities in the toilet. Then they start interacting with the facility not as a toilet, but more of a community convenient point."
Amenities include a small kiosk with snacks and personal items for sale. Kenyan comedian Makhoha Keya even worked up an act to make learning about basic sanitation entertaining. Ecotact provides safe drinking water at no cost, and the toilet usage fee is about five cents a day, usually recouped through fewer doctor visits and lost days of work.
Wikileaks has just published what it identifies as a CIA "Red Cell" report from February 2, 2010. The single, three-page document—much smaller than previous, highly-publicized leaks from Wikileaks— discusses the potential foreign policy consequences of perceptions that the United States "exports terrorism."
[The document] looks at what will happen if it is internationally understood that the United States is an exporter of terrorism; 'Contrary to common belief, the American export of terrorism or terrorists is not a recent phenomenon, nor has it been associated only with Islamic radicals or people of Middle Eastern, African or South Asian ethnic origin. This dynamic belies the American belief that our free, open and integrated multicultural society lessens the allure of radicalism and terrorism for US citizens.' The report looks at a number cases of US exported terrorism, including attacks by US based or financed Jewish, Muslim and Irish-nationalism terrorists. It concludes that foreign perceptions of the US as an "Exporter of Terrorism" together with US double standards in international law, may lead to noncooperation in renditions (including the arrest of CIA officers) and the decision to not share terrorism related intelligence with the United States.
[I]f not for the controversial transparency organization WikiLeaks, we might never have known that the CIA can occasionally bore policymakers to tears with its time-wasting obviousness.
And Kevin Poulsen of the Wired blog Threat Levelis even more blunt: "WikiLeaks publishes SECRET//NOFORN memo by CIA. But real message is UNCLASS//FUCKYOU."
Via the BB Submitterator, Boing Boing reader Marilyn Terrell of National Geographic points us to a just-published feature article by Robert Draper (with an amazing accompanying photo-essay), and explains:
Roughly 90% of the flora & fauna of Madagascar is found nowhere else on Earth. lllegal logging of the island's endangered rosewood trees has escalated dramatically due to the collapse of the government in March, 2009—and "the insatiable appetite of Chinese timber procurers, who imported more than 200 million dollars' worth of rosewood from the country's northeastern forests in a few months." Now forests are "unpoliced and filled with organized gangs, a free-for-all of deforestation."
I was in Guatemala last week, and passed briefly through the town of la Antigua, where I spotted this little scene at the back door of a restaurant kitchen (photo link). Nothing fancy; an iPhone snapshot. I think the birdies would like you to believe that they are just one of the melons.
The restaurant/chocolateria/pasteleria, Sabe Rico, is superb and I enthusiastically recommend it. Vegetarian-friendly. They have a beautiful, sprawling, verdant terrace in the rear with little tables and canopies where you can sit and enjoy your meal (or a tisane from herbs grown in that garden, or some local coffee, or a truffle from cacao beans farmed a few miles away). It's like eating cake in the garden of Eden: fig and cherimoya trees, fragrant herbs and flowers, and a white rabbit frolicking around in the grass. Here are some snapshots.
If you go, order the chocolate cake for dessert, and tell proprietor Juan Carlos that Xeni from Boing Boing sent you.
In the photograph above, 6-month old Jennifer, an albino girl, plays with beads outside her home in Tanzania. This African country has the world's largest proportion of albinos, but discrimination and violence against this population run high: in the past 20 months, 57 people with albinism have been hunted and their bodies butchered for parts used in ceremonies.
More at this National Geographic online feature, which includes video: Albino Murders. A related documentary will air Tuesday night on the National Geographic channel, at 10pm.
J. Alex Halderman writes, "About four months ago, Ed Felten blogged about a research paper in which Hari Prasad, Rop Gonggrijp, and I detailed serious security flaws in India's electronic voting machines. Indian election authorities have repeatedly claimed that the machines are "tamperproof," but we demonstrated important vulnerabilities by studying a machine provided by an anonymous source. The story took a disturbing turn a little over 24 hours ago, when my coauthor Hari Prasad was arrested by Indian authorities demanding to know the identity of that source." More here. — Xeni • Comments: 2
Guestblogger Liz Ohanesian is a Los Angeles-based journalist who covers music, manga, art and more for LA Weekly.
A few days ago, Japanator posted this fun tribute to K-On!!, where a group of musicians recreate the opening and closing theme of the anime with household items. It looks like the video stems from Nico Nico Douga.
K-On!! is the second season popular anime about a group of high school girls who form a band (the first season is known as K-On!). The show has been getting a good amount of buzz in within the U.S. anime fandom for a while now and, at this year's Otakon, Bandai announced that it would be releasing an English dub of the first season.
Ali Abdulemam, a blogger in Bahrain and contributor to Global Voices, was arrested this weekend by Bahraini authorities on charges that he spread "false news" on BahrainOnline.org, a top pro-democracy online media outlet in Bahrain. 
A bill introduced in Canada's House of Commons would give US Department of Homeland Security officials "
Photo © Bruno Broomfield, courtesy National Geographic
Check out 