The Pirate Bay, the worlds largest BitTorrent tracker and a top 100 website, is in the process of selling itself to a software company. Maybe the constant legal battles have caused the founders to throw in the towel, or maybe it is the fact that they will end up going to jail shortly due to a major legal loss, but this sale comes as a major surprise.
One thing The Pirate Bay has consistently preached was independence. With the purchase by Global Gaming Factory X, and the implementation of a “new business model”, it seems that all The Pirate Bay once stood for is long since gone. Before you know it, The Pirate Bay will be synonymous with Napster as they fade into Internet history.
Remember that North Korean Ship the U.S. was tracking?
Sometime within the last two weeks the U.S. started tracking a North Korean ship suspected of carry weapons banned by the U.N. anti-proliferation resolution. I feel this was a sign to North Korea that the U.S. wasn’t going to sit around as they continued to flaunt laws in the face of the U.N, as well as a test to see just how committed China was to dealing with North Korea.
Well, the Kang Nam – the ship the U.S. was tracking – has turned around, leaving the world questioning where is the ship going and what is the next step in the game of Maritime chess. The shit has been at sea for nearly two weeks at this point, eventually it will need to refuel. When that time comes where will it find safe harbor and will the U.S. find a way to board it at that time?
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says political overthrow has failed
Since the massive and bloody riots at Baharestan Square, very little news has come out of Iran regarding the uprising. From what I can tell – reading the Twitter, Facebook and blog posts of those in in Iran – the revolution has all but come to an end.
“The enemies were not able to reach their objectives for the soft overthrow of the system,” he said, according to the semiofficial Iranian Labor News Agency, or ILNA. “The enemy is pursuing the objective of undermining the nation’s capabilities after the 85% turnout at the polls.”
And so, life goes on… sad from my perspective. Not because of a specific outcome but because the people of Iran have, apparently, been robbed of their ability to determine their future.
From the initial news publications I’ve read it appears this coup may be due to constitutional changes Mr. Manuel Zelaya was attempting to make in order to keep in power longer than his one-term limit. As there is (well, as of this writing) no acting president in office, congressional leader Roberto Micheletti was taking over the position until Mr. Zelaya’s official term comes to an end. What I have been unable to determine, however; is who was behind the coup and how is started. Even though the congressional leader is from the same party as the ousted President, all signs in the press seem to point to his behind the action.
The rest of the Americas appear to be reacting negatively to the action. The U.S., Venezuelan and Ecuadorean presidents all issued statements – from threats of military action to restore Zelaya to office (Hugo Chavez) to strong disapproval related to the ignoring of the democratic process (Barack Obama) – it is apparent this action is causing concern.
All this being said, I again ask the question what is the motivation for this coup. If Roberto Micheletti is behind the action, as it appears to be, it would be foolish for him to believe the would will accept him as the leader of Honduras. He skirted the democratic process. He would also be highly aware that Mr. Zelaya is on good terms with the leftists Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez (who, ironically failed at a coup attempt during the early 90’s). So what is his goal?
Good chess players often think out many moves – if not play entire games in their head – before a game is played out. While I’m not saying Roberto Micheletti is a master chess player, I hope that he has some goal – some plan – in place in anticipation of events to come. If not, it can turn out very poorly for himself and the 7.5M people who live in Honduras could become victims to his actions.
But according to this video, it looks like Roberto Micheletti may not be the next president:
After reaching out to a friend of mine for more info, it sounds likePresident Manuel Zelaya broke the law and wanted to modify the constitution his own way, by his own rules, imitating Hugo Chavez in Venezuela, in hopes of being able to say within office for one term. What happened after this point is still up in the air.
I’m not a fan of tennis, hell, I don’t even remember the fundamentals of the game any longer BUT I am a fan of a good underdog story.
Melanie Oudin, a 17 year old tennis player, just finished her biggest match at Wimbledon by beating Jelena Jankovic. So, what does that mean? Well, Melanie Oudin was ranked 124th in the world… Jelena Jankovic was 6th seated. Basically, Melanie wasn’t expected to rollover and die as Jelena Jankovic continued her push toward the finals.
What I find most impressive about the situation was the quote Melanie gave after her performance.
“I was just thinking that she was any other player,” Oudin said, “and this was any other match, and I was at any other tournament — not like on the biggest stage at Wimbledon. I think I handled it really well.”
It’s no big deal, it’s just another day and another match. That is the mentality to have. Helena Jankovic, however; wasn’t as down to earth about the situation:
“From what I have seen, she can play if you let her play,” said Serbian Jankovic.
“But she cannot hurt you with anything. She doesn’t have any weapons, from what I’ve seen.
“She’s a consistent and quite solid player. She doesn’t make so many mistakes. But she doesn’t do anything either, so it’s like she’s depending kind of on you.”
By that very logic, Jelena, either you let her win or YOU really sucked when playing her.
While I’m sure Melanie is excited about the event, and we may never hear of her again after today – I don’t know, remember, I don’t follow tennis – the humility she showed and story surrounding the whole situation is enjoyable to watch.
I know nothing about the climate-change bill that just passed the house this past Friday. Life in general kept my focus on other events, so I have absolutely no working knowledge – what it hopes to accomplish, what taxes may be included or how the bill may impact the “everyday” person – all I know this this: the manner in which the bill was passed is akin to strong arming an unwilling participant into taking some action they oppose.
But didn’t the bill narrowly pass, 219 to 212, so how can that be “strong arming”?
While the political process has always included last second maneuvers or grandstanding aimed at obtaining a desired outcome, say a large amount of pork barrel spending included countless pages of seemingly mundane text, the climate change legislation that just passed takes this to a new level. At roughly 3AM Energy and Commerce Chairman Henry Waxman tacked on another 300 pages of to a bill that was already 1,200 pages in length. Thankfully Minority leader John Boehner exposed exactly what was taking place and the amendment was dropped.
It’s obvious politicians only read the bullet points to said bills, they don’t pay attention to what every single detail. With the volume of law that is being pushed these days, I can understand where that would be the case, however; adding 300 pages of unread, un-vetted, text to an already monster bill is not only political strong arming, it’s disingenuous and is in no way helping the general public in the United States as such acts remove the ability for people to contact their representatives in order to voice their feelings.
There was a time when politicians actually worked for the best of the nation. The special interest groups and big business did not have the control we are currently witnessing. But that was supposed to change. Recently, promises were also made by politicians that bills would be viewable for 5 days in an attempt to create a new era of openness within the government, a level of transparency and accountability that would usher in a new era of government, and provide constituents the understanding of what is taking place.
Obviously, on a majority, that is not the case any longer.
As with most thing these days, this isn’t about Republican or Democrats, no, this is about power. It’s about checks and balances. It’s about the blatant disregard of the wishes of the many for the special interests of the few. In the end, this isn’t about the Energy Bill, this is about how politics are practiced in the United States. We will continue to witness politicians taking advantage of the system in order to move their agenda forward and as the balance of power between the two political parties swings in favor of one over the other, the questionable activities will only become more extreme leaving the American public at the whim of those in power.
With the video of Neda becoming a major focus of the Iranian protests it seemed as if a lot of people – myself included – forgot to ask the question “What about the others in the video?”
No, they did not suffer in the same as Neda. The world did not watch the life drain from their eyes, but they were all impacted one way or another. That sad, what about the others in the video? How has life changed for them?
I’ve been unable to find specific information regarding her music teacher but I did find this bit about Dr. Arash Hejazi, the man who came to her aid.
Hejazi, 38, said he fled from Iran when the video footage sped around the world on websites because he feared his own life might be in danger as he could be seen with Soltan.
Before trying to leave, he said he emailed a friend in Britain to say he hoped to join his family in the university city of Oxford where he was studying: “If something happens to me, please take care of (my wife and son).”
A man who went to Iran on business had to leave the country for fear of his life. Will he ever be able to travel back without feeling as if he is a target? Who knows? Will the memories of the event ever leave him? No.
Bottom line: while Dr. Hejazi didn’t lose his life, some small part of him died that day as well – he gets to live with that event haunting him emotionally or physically for the rest of his life.
With the situation in Iran changing in a matter of seconds it’s hard for the press to confirm stories coming to the surface. Keeping that in mind the Guardian couldn’t verify that this is truly the case, but if it is… we are talking about truly adding insult to injury.
Iranian officials have kicked Neda Agha Soltan’s family out of their home in Tehran. Yes, I kid you not. Officials kicked them out after the pictures of Neda showed the world what was really going on in the country and Neda became the symbol of the potential revolution.
How worried were the police about drawing attention to the situation – so much so they forbid the family to display any signs of mourning. No funeral. No black banner. No ceremony of any type.
Amid scenes of grief in the Soltan household with her father and mother screaming, neighbours not only from their building but from others in the area streamed out to protest at her death. But the police moved in quickly to quell any public displays of grief. They arrived as soon as they found out that a friend of Soltan had come to the family flat.
In accordance with Persian tradition, the family had put up a mourning announcement and attached a black banner to the building.
But the police took them down, refusing to allow the family to show any signs of mourning. The next day they were ordered to move out. Since then, neighbours have received suspicious calls warning them not to discuss her death with anyone and not to make any protest.
All I know is this… This is the proverbial powder keg. The stories I hear coming out of Iran are more and more aggressive, more disturbing. From the lethal force utilized on protesters to the treatment of the families of the dead, this is all really starting to build to a breaking point. Either something major happens in the direction of the protesters very soon or the government crushes their will and the events are never spoken about again in public. I just fear the government will crush – no erase – the protesters from the pages of history.
After a quiet day of protests yesterday, it appears the situation has heated up once again in Iran – Specifically in Baharestan Square. Check out the live blogging notes, pictures and video:
>The streets, squares and around BAHARESTAN (Approx. South-eastern of Tehran) is swarming with military forces, civilian forces, the security motorists
>Political prisoners and jurnalists were taken to critical condition in 209 Evin, washington times’s jurnalist was arrest!
>The military plain clothes have entered the crowd with high speed on bikes, they are beating people with cable and batons, almost everyone in the crowd is injured, there is blood everywhere!
>In Baharestan we saw militia with axe choping people like meat – blood everywhere – like butcher
>All shops and Passages are closed at Baharestan SQ, Gunshot being heard from Jomhori St
If any of this is true, the situation on the ground is unimaginable. It would also explain why Iran has been pushing the media out of the country – so the government could do whatever it wishes without the world watching. Also check out Tehran Bureau for updates.
UPDATE #1: Here is a transcript of an eyewitness account of Baharestan Square. Remember, the situation is fluid – most is unconfirmed – but it’s apparent something of note is going on.
UPDATE #2: Apparently the Iranian prosecutor of the Islamic Revolutionary Court, Saeed Motazavi, is now in charge of the crack down on protesters. He was also the man who oversaw the arrest and trial of Roxana Saberi, the American-Iranian journalist sentenced to eight years for spying.
UPDATE #3: Andrew Sullivan has a few quotes about the situation in the Square, also points out that far right candidate Mohsen Rezaie is no longer contesting the vote due to “political, social and security”.
Thomas Claburn, over at InformationWeek, pointed out that Google just endorsed Heath Data Rights, a collection of principles focused on data portability, privacy and consumer protection. As the Google Health tool has been available for some time, it is good to see Google make such an endorsement, but Claburn hits squarely on the problem of Electronic Medical Records:
Having just completed my annual physical on Monday, I took the opportunity to inquire about whether my medical records were available in electronic form. My physician’s assistant smiled and shook her head. The doctor, she said, doesn’t believe in electronic records. And it would be expensive to convert from paper, she added.
Small providers have a hard time seeing the value in switching to EMRs. There is no government mandate (law) that I am aware of that dictates providers must have EMRs available to patients, and there is no perceived cost savings in having this option, meaning the small provider has no impetus to make the switch. While it appears large hospitals are making the move, the independent service provider isn’t jumping on the wagon.
Claburn goes on to say:
Frankly, given frequency of data breaches over the past few years, paper seems like the safest place for medical information at the moment.
And that is, I feel, exactly why the consumer isn’t moving in the direction either.
Data security is a huge issue. The thought of medical records being vulnerable to attack from a hacker or having a medical issue follow you for the rest of your life, permanently attached to your file, are large concerns for a number of people. Fact of the matter, people want to control their information and EMRs do not offer that flexibility.
So, a lack of consumer demand drives the lack of support on the independent service provider. While Google appears to be advocating for anyone with EMRs, it will be a long and lonely road until Electronic Medical Records are adopted nationally with any amount of consistency.
