Wikipedia on the Basij, the Iranian youth paramilitary force and youtube sensation.
I've been thinking about these videos in the context of the 10th anniversary of the Tianamen Square Massacre. Would more pictures of Tianamen Square, getting out faster, have made any difference to the army? Or is the analogy between the situations so tenuous as to be useless?
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(2)
10:47:56 AM,
Tuesday 16 June 2009
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Yesterday Zing Pizza in Porter Square was handing out free samples. They were very good. This is here to remind me to go there sometime.
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10:16:58 AM,
Tuesday 16 June 2009
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The utterly bizarre Reihan Salam, My favorite republican and a terrific writer, has a new policy blog. Unfortunately, he seems to be trying to be dignified. I doubt he can keep it up for any length of time.
To get a sense of his usual style, here he is on:
Black Vulcans
Why bloggers are so irritating
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12:10:03 AM,
Tuesday 16 June 2009
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A helpful bit of historical context of which I was unaware: the White Revolution. I was thinking that the trouble with revolutions is that it's hard to tell what they are for, only what they are against. But what they are against can be quite informative as well. I find it reassuring that the essential nature of Khomeini and his revolution was somewhat evident beforehand.
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04:11:26 PM,
Monday 15 June 2009
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Photos from Iran.
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02:34:38 PM,
Monday 15 June 2009
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The list of attempted revolutions in my lifetime isn't as grim as I had expected. Not cheerful by any means, though.
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01:44:38 PM,
Monday 15 June 2009
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I have a new game at work: eat a random Lean Pocket without paying any attention to the box, and then try to work out what it's supposed to be. I'm not very good at it. If you have no expectations of what they're going to taste like, they're quite good, if all rather similar.
I wonder what the frozen food industry could produce if it freed itself entirely from the artificial restraint of having to preserve a superficial resemblence to a traditional food.
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12:52:55 PM,
Monday 15 June 2009
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I do not regret seeing Up in 3D. It very nearly always worked and did not make me feel ill, and was sometimes quite beautiful. I approve of it almost entirely. The same cannot be said of the previews, particularly the preview for cloudy with a chance of meatballs.
I don't know what to make of the fact that the bird in Up bears a strong resemblence to the Roald Dahl's Roly-Poly Bird. Or the complete and utter lack of nostrils. I'm not quite ready to go as far as Mark Kleiman, but it was one of the better pixar movies, and by far the most Miyazaki of them.
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(3)
05:13:41 PM,
Sunday 14 June 2009
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1: the reason there have been no bollywood movies aroud lately is because Bollywood went on strike.
2: the first big post-strike movie will be New York about 9/11. From the trailer, I have no evidence of singing CIA interrogators, but I wouldn't rule it out either. I don't think I need to see it.
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11:28:42 AM,
Saturday 13 June 2009
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hmm
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11:25:47 AM,
Saturday 13 June 2009
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entry editing seems to have become fussy.
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11:22:16 AM,
Saturday 13 June 2009
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Someone lost his temper in a meeting this afternoon, in a rather ignoble, sullen way, snapping at people further down the org chart because he was upset with those higher up on it. I'd never really thought about what a handicap a short temper would be in the office environment, but even more so now with telecommuting and the telephone. I can't imagine anyone on that conference call will ever think well of him again.
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04:02:49 PM,
Friday 12 June 2009
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site & script courtesy of Moss
