Hermano Juancito

I promised in the podcast that I'd post a link to this right after I posted the podcast, but then I had to run to work so didn't get to it until now, many hours later. I should have actually posted it days ago, but I didn't. Such is life.

This link is to the blog of John Donaghy, a cousin of Brandy's. (Technically he is a "first cousin once removed" for those who like getting those things straight.) From his blog's profile: "I am a lay volunteer with the Catholic diocese of Santa Rosa de Copán, Honduras. I help in the rural parish of Dulce Nombre de María and serve as associate director of Caritas of the diocese."

He has been blogging recently about the situation there in Honduras.

The link to the blog: HermanoJuancito.

The beginning of a recent post:

Golpe de estado – day three
(John Donaghy, Hermano Juancito, 30 Jun 2009)

For a few minutes the quiet of the streets of Santa Rosa was broken by the shouts of people marching in support of the ousted president, Mel Zelaya. There were over 200 on foot followed by at least twenty cars with at least 100 people. They had blocked the highway near Santa Rosa since early this morning, joining with roadblocks in other parts of Honduras of people against the coup.

The mainstream press, mostly owned by the economic elite, largely downplayed these protests and claimed that they were controlled and guided by Venezuelans and Nicaraguans. However the well attended rallies in support of the coup in San Pedro Sula and the capital city of Tegucigalpa were well covered here.

...

I also sent the link to Andrew Sullivan last night, and he of course linked it before I did myself. Sullivan did get one thing wrong though (even though I mentioned it in my email to him), he is blogging from Honduras, but he is an American expat, not a Honduran.

	Abulsme - Wed, 1 Jul 2009, 02:04:41 UTC - News
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Curmudgeon's Corner: Freaking Huge

Sam and Ivan talk about:

• Iran
• Honduras
• Dead Celebrities
• Johnny Carson
• Governor Sanford
• Red Line Crash
• Big Bills

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Note: For those using the "View in iTunes" link, it often takes iTunes quite a few hours to show a new episode after the episode is posted here. So if you are looking for the podcast very soon after I post this, use one of the other methods to find the new episode. For those who are subscribed, your Podcast software should pick up the new episode next time it checks for new episodes on its own, or you can always force a refresh. For those using the XML feed directly, the new episode is now there.

	Abulsme - Tue, 30 Jun 2009, 17:31:37 UTC - CC
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Somalia Crossroads

An article by my father in this month's In These Times magazine...

The Somalia Crossroads
(William Minter and Daniel Volman, In These Times, 29 Jun 2009)

In October 2008, Human Rights Watch rated Somalia the most ignored tragedy in the world. Almost 1.5 million Somalis are internally displaced, and an additional half million are refugees. Two decades of instability, including a U.S.-backed intervention by Ethiopian troops in December 2006, have failed to put Somalia on the map.

...

It took the drama of high seas piracy to bring Somalia back into the media spotlight. The hijacking of a Saudi supertanker in November was followed by the capture and sensational rescue of U.S. merchant ship Captain Richard Phillips in April.

...

After Navy sharpshooters rescued Captain Phillips, killing three pirates in the action, the media clamor abated. Once again, the debate on Somalia retreated to inside-the-beltway obscurity. (You can view the spike in public attention by searching for “Somalia” on Google Trends at www.google.com/trends.)

But for Somalis, the crisis continues. So does the danger that Washington may be tempted into military intervention that would be damaging for Somalis, for U.S. relations with Africa and for U.S. security. That risk exists, despite commendable caution thus far by Obama administration policymakers, who are aware of the potential for military actions to backfire.

...

	Abulsme - Tue, 30 Jun 2009, 16:14:43 UTC -
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She Be Sunk, Cap'n

While I was asleep the news broke that the folks who run The Pirate Bay have seemingly finally caved and are selling. (This is everywhere now, but I first saw the news at TorrentFreak.) In the Pirate Bay's confirmation of the news they do some weak justifications and some talk about how things will move forward, but in the end the news is the same. I don't think anyone would seriously believe that being owned by a public company won't fundamentally change most if not all of the things that made the site interesting. (Most prominently or course being a blatant disregard for the law... OK, not quite, they always claimed what they were doing was perfectly legal in Sweden, and they just disregarded laws elsewhere... but still, that was the flavor of things.)

Of course as usual with such things, in the end it will have little or no effect on actual internet piracy, it will just move it around. But it is somewhat more disappointing in this case, as the way in which these folks had been completely defiant and mocking of the entertainment industry was just... entertaining. And they couched everything in terms of higher principals which they were defending. In the end though, I guess years of legal battles and a few big losses on that front can wear you down.

Oh well.

(Oh, and if this deal actually goes through, I'm guessing the buyers will soon find their purchase useless and without much value... either they will fundamentally change and lose most users and the value of the brand, or they will try not to and get crushed by legal pressure that a small scrappy private outfit with a "mission" could tolerate but a public company never could. The press release from the company seems to indicate the first possibility rather than the second.)

	Abulsme - Tue, 30 Jun 2009, 13:21:17 UTC - Tech
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Hold Up, Wait

	Abulsme - Sun, 28 Jun 2009, 04:44:55 UTC - Photo
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DVD: Jerry Maguire

This week it was time for another movie from my own Netflix queue. And this time it was Jerry Maguire. This is a movie I had once started to watch back in 1997, but had not finished. When we started to watch it this time, I didn't really remember even a single minute of it, so I must not have gotten very far at all.

Anyway, it was cute. I liked it. It seems it got nominated for a bunch of award, and I'm not sure if it actually was good enough to deserve that, but it was a fun little movie, with some cute moments, as well as the handful of famous lines from it. I had fun. And Brandy and Amy enjoyed it and laughed a decent bit too. And of course you had the nice emotional happy ending thing.

I'm trying to think of more to say about this, but there really isn't a huge amount that comes to mind. Nice little romantic comedy crossed with a little bit (but not annoying amount) of sports. Cute kid. Worth renting.

	Abulsme - Sat, 27 Jun 2009, 21:05:38 UTC - DVD
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DVD: From Here to Eternity

This last weekend was time for another movie from my own Netflix Queue. And specifically, it was once again time for me to resume my climb through AFI's 100 Years 100 Movies list which I have slowly been working myself through since the list was released in 1998. I had previously watched #100 up to #53. It was now time for #52, which was this movie.

For those who don't know, it is about a bunch of soldiers in Hawaii in the run up to Pearl Harbor. I must admit though, it didn't do all that much for me. I know it won lots of awards and such, but... I just never really connected with any of the people. They seemed to just be walking through things. And making decisions I couldn't quite understand. Well, sometimes. I got why the main character didn't want to box any more, and how he would just to just take the various indignities pushed on to him. But at the very end why he would take a short cut rather than the direct route? And why he would just run when confronted? Dunno. Mystery to me.

Anyway, I guess there were some interesting bits. And some funny moments. And it was fun to note things like "Hey, there's the guy from Airwolf!". (Knowing of course that given his long career, the fact that I remember Ernest Borgnine most for Airwolf is kind of a shame, but, well, that's how it is.

Overall though I'd probably pass on this. It was OK, but not memorable.

	Abulsme - Tue, 23 Jun 2009, 15:49:02 UTC - DVD
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Curmudgeon's Corner: News of Thunder

Sam and Ivan talk about:

• Storms and Power
• Nortel
• Steve Jobs
• Healthcare
• Media Coverage
• Events in Iran

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Note: For those using the "View in iTunes" link, it often takes iTunes quite a few hours to show a new episode after the episode is posted here. So if you are looking for the podcast very soon after I post this, use one of the other methods to find the new episode. For those who are subscribed, your Podcast software should pick up the new episode next time it checks for new episodes on its own, or you can always force a refresh. For those using the XML feed directly, the new episode is now there.

	Abulsme - Mon, 22 Jun 2009, 16:41:05 UTC - CC
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Slower Day

So last night I decided to actually sleep, and ended up having a nice long sleep in contrast to the one hour the night before. Since getting up in addition to normal morning routine things (Eggo's... yum!) I've spent time catching up on what all has happened in Iran since I went to sleep. Bottom line, a less eventful day than yesterday. There have been reports of some protests today, but mainly they stayed peaceful it seems. Is it petering out and winding down? Is this done? Or are people just taking a breath to prepare for more in the coming days? Who knows. We'll see how it plays out.

In the meantime, two Iran related items...

niacINsight posts this correspondance from someone in Iran describing their personal experience on Saturday:

A Day in the Life
(niacINsight, 21 Jun 2009)

...

Then at Towhid Square the scene changes drastically. The streets to Azadi are blocked. But this time, people don’t change their path. They fight for it. There’s a shower of stones. Tear gas. Fire. People jam the sidewalks. The battle scene is huge. We cannot see the limits but it extends to nearby street. My student is keener to go forward than I am. Her mother could persuade her to stay home for two days, but now allows her to go out on the most dangerous day. The people shout, ‘Down with the dictator’. The anti-riot police are also throwing stones. People don’t run back anymore. I grab a broken brick and throw. I’m amazed. I never thought I’d do it. I should practice. It was a very bad shot. I grab another one, the size of a pomegranate and keep it with me, hiding it behind my back. My feeling is a mixture of a university teacher and a hooligan.

...

Read the whole thing. As usual with these types of things, it is just a slice, not a way to understand the whole situation. But stories like this give a different human sort of view into what is going on.

Second, while I was driving around town yesterday, I was listening to the most recent episode of Dan Carlin's podcast Common Sense titled "The Persian Rapprochement". It was recorded BEFORE the events in Iran over the last week, but for the first part of this episode Dan talks a lot about Iran and the possibilities for change in Iran, and the potential American approaches to Iran. It was a good discussion, and in many ways as he was speaking, I thought how nicely some of what was being said foreshadowed and gave at least some insight into what is going on today. It is worth taking a little time and listening to it.

Anyway, I'm still tracking the various sources I've been tracking over the past few days in order to pay attention to what is happening in Iran. But it is already near midnight there, and I am just doing things a little more slowly than yesterday, and spending a bit more time doing other things. But I'm still watching. We'll see how things play out.

	Abulsme - Sun, 21 Jun 2009, 19:09:01 UTC - News
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A Thought on the Actual Election Results

It seems like the evidence is pretty strong (although not beyond any doubt) that the election results were tampered with to inflate the Ahmadinejad totals. It is however nowhere near as clear that Ahmadinejad didn't actually win. It may well be that even if the results hadn't been cooked, he would have still won, just by a much narrower margin. Or maybe he lost. My expectation at this point is that this is actually now a completely unknowable question. The relevant evidence that would be needed to decide such a thing is probably long gone.

At this point the events in Iran have moved beyond the just this particular election and the results thereof. Who will actually be Iran's President over the next few years... and who will be in charge in a broader sense, will be determined by many things... but who got the most votes last week is no longer one of those things.

	Abulsme - Sun, 21 Jun 2009, 08:47:57 UTC - News
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