I write two posts on The Golden Compass, opening this Friday, and I get a total of two, count’em two, comments. Henery Hawk writes one post at Word Of Mouth and starts a comment deluge that’s 42 responses long in a about 32 hours and still going. Now that’s community. Henery and I disagree on the movie, but that’s cool.
I’m constantly tossing interesting websites into what I call my blogpile. Some of them find their way here in the form of regular posts, but more often than not they languish and get buried deeper in the pile. The end result is that I have to go back and do a bit of shoveling. Today’s item is How to Improve Your Concentration.
The Usual Suspect: A fierce and angry, soul-snatching claw wraps around my ankle and jerks at my sleeping bag. I look over my shoulder with perma-sealed sleep eyes and my headphones fall halfway off of my head. “Wake up, CO needs one vehicle crew to be ready to roll in 20 minutes.” I look at the clock on my computer. The math doesn’t add up…,
I could never bring myself to forward all the email jokes, cartoons and other Internet comedy that land in my inbox. But then I started posting the ones my dad sends me. Judging from my comments and emails, my dad has become one of my greatest blogging assets. So for your morning blog wow I present: From My Dad.
Part of being a good citizen of the blogosphere is visiting, reading and, most importantly, taking the time to leave a comment on other’s blogs. It’s all about the conversation. In the interest of setting an example I’ve decided to link to those blog posts that have compelled me to leave a comment.
0938 “Don”t get discouraged when you are starting something…”
0627 Christopher Ickens on Chanuka
The message from New Delhi to Yangon has puzzled political observers of the conflict between the government and liberation forces in Nagaland, the western state of Myanmar. The Democratic Indian government wants a cease fire so that its Look East policy, which focuses on trade, will have a chance to work.
From Calcutta’s The Telegraph:
Nagaland has turned conventional counter-insurgency policy on its head by requesting Delhi to prevail upon Myanmar to declare a ceasefire with the Khaplang faction of the NSCN instead of trying to flush out the militant group.
Articulating his government”s stand on the sidelines of the Hornbill Festival in Kohima last evening, chief minister Neiphiu Rio cited “economic” reasons for recommending the opposite of what any state government would be expected to do.
Rio said India must pressure Myanmar to make peace with Naga people living across the border so that they can participate in the economic activities envisaged under Delhi”s Look East policy. “Peace in the Naga areas of Myanmar is essential to develop trade with Myanmar through Nagaland.”
He made the request to external affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee and intends to speak to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, too. It is the first time any state government has suggested that a neighbouring country be asked to go easy on a militant outfit that has been operating from there.
The move is unusual because India sees the conflict as unusual.
Rio said unlike other northeastern militant groups that were using Myanmarese soil to wage war on India with the junta”s “overt or covert support”, the Khaplang group was engaged in a “political conflict” with that country. “India should take the initiative in making the military junta in Myanmar recognise the Naga issue as a political problem.”
My question would be, is it political because its economic?
My name is Jeff Hess and I’m a biblioholic. I own hundreds of books. Not valuable books, mostly Science Fiction paperbacks and text books, tomes rescued by the bag from library book sales. A few years ago, in the interest of not burying myself, I began reading more books from the library and taking notes. My electronic chapbook was born.
This is a passage I copied from Rational Mysticism: Dispatches from the border between science and spirituality by John Horgan.
“For some of us, mysticism represents not salvation but that from which we need to be saved.” p. 173
Today, as I go about my tasks, I’ll think about Selections from One-Hundred-One Time Management Goals:
26. Set deadlines for each vital task.
30. Memorize the five questions for prioritizing and use them to negotiate interruptions and accomodate the priorities of others.
34. Say no when a request is not vital.
35. Do a job right-right.
39. Keep a writing pad and pencil at hand. If anything worthwhile comes out of your notes, record it in your datebook organizer.
Revolutions sometimes demand a martyr and regimes create martyrs at their own peril. The military governors of Myanmar appear prepared to take that risk. The news out of Myanmar today is not good. U Gambira, head of the All-Burma Monks Alliance and leader of the September demonstration, is in custody and facing the death penalty.
From Scoop:
If convicted and executed, 27 year-old U Gambira would be the first monk to be put to death in Burma since the British colonial rulers hanged a monk who lead a rebellion 70 years ago.
U Gambira was instrumental in getting tens of thousands of monks onto the streets in peaceful protests during September. The anti-regime demonstrations, which began over the peoples’ agitation against the fuel price hike in mid-August, came to an abrupt end after a brutal crackdown by the junta.
By the end of September the monks’ leader went in hiding, and in an attempt to force U Gambira out into the open the generals resorted to hostage taking by arresting several members of his family. This tactic worked and during November the peaceful protest leader was captured.
Since U Gambira’s arrest his exact whereabouts remain unconfirmed officially. However reliable reports indicate that he is being kept in Cell Block 1 at Insein Prison in Rangoon. Cell Block 1 is notorious as the junta’s main interrogation centre for political prisoners.
Just prior to his arrest U Gambira asked for following statement to be released:
“To Buddhists all over the world and activists and supporters of Burmese movement, please help to liberate the Burmese people from this disastrous and wicked system. To the many people of the world who are sympathetic to the suffering of the Burmese people, please help us to be free from this evil system. Good people in Burma are being killed or imprisoned, tortured, and then sent to forced labour camps. I sincerely ask the international community to do something to stop these atrocities. My chances of survival are very slim now. But I have not given up hope, and will try my best.”
Monks in Viet Nam turned to self-immolation as a protest against the corrupt government of President Ngo Dinh Diem. The monks of Myanmar have chosen a peaceful path, but death may just as surely follow them.
While I expect a show trial and for the dictators to magnanimously commute U. Gambira’s sentence to life in prison, his wish must not be forgotten: Good people in Burma are being killed or imprisoned, tortured, and then sent to forced labour camps. I sincerely ask the international community to do something to stop these atrocities.
What have you done?
I’m constantly tossing interesting websites into what I call my blogpile. Some of them find their way here in the form of regular posts, but more often than not they languish and get buried deeper in the pile. The end result is that I have to go back and do a bit of shoveling. Today’s item is 10+ Things to Do with Dry-Erase Markers.
The audacity of a go-it-alone Kucinich is that he can take courageous stands because there is no potential of his losing anything. Since he registers in the low single digits in national polls, he can afford to go where no others will tread. Dennis plays the hero role skillfully. Roldo Bartimole
SANDBOX DUTY OFFICER David Stanford: Longtime readers of The Sandbox will remember COPING, a post by world champion logroller J.R. Salzman, written from Walter Reed Army Medical Center shortly after he was wounded in Iraq, and his wife Josie’s subsequent post about PTSD. Here’s “Coming Home”, a recent ESPN profile which provides a…
But the choice need not be pandering or bullying — trying to please everyone or refusing to consider contrary opinion. The leadership we’ll need from the next president will require something different: a clear vision and a capacity to make his or her case to the public as strongly as possible, but then to listen carefully to what the public and its representatives say in response.
In other words, the next president must be bold but also be willing to modify if facts and conditions change. Be clear about where he or she wants to lead America, but reconsider if the public will not follow. Come down hard on adversaries but not mistake disagreement for ruthless opposition.
In short, he or she will have to enter into a dialogue with America — educating the public, but being willing to be educated in return. That”s the only way to preserve and build trust in leadership. Robert Reich
I could never bring myself to forward all the email jokes, cartoons and other Internet comedy that land in my inbox. But then I started posting the ones my dad sends me. Judging from my comments and emails, my dad has become one of my greatest blogging assets. So for your morning blog chuckle I present: From My Dad.
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