Collective Soul -- Shine

This song randomly came on my MP3 player today -- three times. Coincidence? In any case, I can't get it out of my head, so I'm going to bed. (You can download the song here.)

Shine -- Collective Soul

Give me a word
Give me a sign
Show me where to look
Tell what will I find (will I find)
Lay me on the ground
Fly me in the sky
Show me where to look
Tell me what will I find (will I find)

Oh, heaven let your light shine down (x4)

Love is in the water
Love is in the air
Show me where to go
Tell me will love be there (love be there)
Teach me how to speak
Teach me how to share
Teach me where to go
Tell me will love be there (love be there)

Oh, heaven let your light shine down (x4)

I'm going to let it shine (x2)
Heaven's little light gonna shine on me
Yea yea heaven's little light gonna shine on me
Its gonna shine, shine on me
Its gonna shine, come on in shine

Artifacts from the Future

When the latest issue of Wired arrives, I usually look at the cover, then turn to the last page, where the magazine's Found: Artifacts from the future feature can be found. This month's ritual was no exception, and what I found was a little amusing, although I'm not sure many would find it so.

The feature, by Joanna Pearlstein, depicts a snapshot of a bookshelf, with some books on it -- the covers or spines, are visible so you can read the titles, which are:

• The Joy of Interface
• Trendspotting for Fun and Profit -- Malcolm Gladwell
• The End of History: This Time for Sure -- Francis Fukuyama
• GTDism Reader: The Last Testament of the Prophet David Allen
• Coping with Post-Singularity Depression -- Ray Kurzweil, Jr.
• The Way to Program Poker: Training Your Celebrity Poker-Bot to Beat Other Celebrity Poker-Bots -- Jennifer Tilly
• The Homo Sapiens Superior Diet: Why Post Humans Don't Get Fat -- Greg Graffin
• Our Hive Mind, Ourself
• The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Cyborgs -- Coveybot 6000
• What to Expect When You're Expecting a Clone -- Heidi Murkoff & Sandee Hathaway
• The Home Depot Do-It-Yourself Guide to 3-D Printing and Nano-Fabrication
• Talking to Your Kids About Mitochondrial De-Aging -- John Sperling
• Dianetics Revisited -- Katie Holmes
• Look Young Forever -- Mary-Kate Olsen & Ashley Olsen
• The Easy Way to Stop Playing World of Warcraft: A 12-Step Guide -- Joichi Ito
• Grilling Vat-Bred Meats the Bobby Flay Way!
• A Short History of Blogging (And Why It Flamed Out) -- Nick Denton
• Whole Mars Catalog
• 2- and 3-Brane Quantum Geometry for Dummies -- Michio Kaku

How Freedom is Won

Freedom House has released a report on how democracies form from formerly undemocratic regimes [PDF] around the world -- and their findings are surprising. While new democracies do form in a variety of ways, Freedom House found that the sustaining of those new democracies depends heavily on how the change was brought about -- and how quickly improvements in freedom are made after the previous regime has been toppled. The surprise in all of this is that successful change and sustaining depends a lot on way the change was brought about. In their studies, using data from the past 30-years on regime changes around the world, Freedom House found that success comes from nonviolence.

Freedom House narrowed their study to 67 countries that were previously governed by closed, authoritarian or tyrannical governments -- of the 192 countries in the world. They found that of these countries that experienced a regime change, people power in the form of nonviolent civic resistance -- via boycotts, mass protests, blockades, strikes and civil disobedience -- were more or less successful, and resisted the slip back into undemocratic regimes. The findings are summarized as follows:

• First, "people power" movements matter, because nonviolent civic forces are a major source of pressure for decisive change in most transitions.
• Second, there is comparatively little positive effect for freedom in "top-down" transitions that were launched and led by elites.
• Third, the presence of strong and cohesive nonviolent civic coalitions is the most important of the factors examined in contributing to freedom.
• Fourth, the data suggests that the prospects for freedom are significantly enhanced when the opposition does not itself use violence.

What this all suggests is the need for more assistance from established democracies in aiding, training and encouraging nonviolent civic opposition to existing nondemocratic regimes. As Freedom House points out, it's much cheaper to support civic movements than mounting military adventures on foreign soil. With data showing that peaceful civic led regime changes are far more successful; results in far greater freedoms; and have staying power, you might wonder why in the world military expeditions continue to be the choice of the power democracies. Freedom House points out that,

The world is moving toward greater respect for political rights and civil liberties. Authoritarian rule, political despotism, rampant state criminality and corruption, and the systematic abuse of minorities are under challenge. Yet while there had been momentum in favor of freedom, further such progress is far from guaranteed. If the globe's growing community of democracies does not fully understand and respond intelligently with specific initiatives that reinforce and promote change through the strategic use of nonviolent civic action, authoritarian rule will persist in many settings.

So why does the world's most powerful democracy prefer a violent end to bring about democracy? That is after all, the given reason for the US misadventures in Iraq -- it's not oil. Could it be that to understand the US behaviour, one only needs to reflect back on one sentence above: Authoritarian rule, political despotism, rampant state criminality and corruption, and the systematic abuse of minorities are under challenge. Post 9/11, the US has been slowly adopting the practices of the very regimes they seek to destroy. Does one need to become tyrannical to fight tyranny?

The Caged Virgin

Cox & Forkum has an excellent piece on Ayaan Hirsi Ali, the Somali-born refugee in the Netherlands. Hirsi Ali skipped out of Somalia to escape from an arranged marriage and Islamic persecution. She made a life in the Netherlands, rising to become a prominent politician. Her new life however, was short lived, as she admitted to lying about her name and age on her asylum application. Now she's fighting to stay in the Netherlands.

So she lied. Who wouldn't in those circumstances to gain haven? I would tell them whatever they wanted to hear. The truth behind the story, as Cox & Forkum points out, is that Hirsi Ali has become an embarrassment to the Netherlands. She's a vocal opponent of the treatment of women in Islamic societies. So much so, that to safeguard her life, the Dutch have taken on some risks. In this case, the Dutch would prefer that their words speak louder than their actions. While they're fully supportive of women across the world having freedom, they're not so supportive when the fight comes to their door.

The last candle will not be doused by evil -- it will be doused by the good, seeing evil, and doing nothing about it.

Saudi Textbooks

Saudi Arabia, that bastion of tolerance -- religious and otherwise -- has been out promoting their edited school texts for the past couple of years. Post 9/11, the Saudis have been accused by many, for building a culture of hate of others who do not follow the state sponsored Wahhabi doctrine of Islam -- let alone non-Muslims. Since a number of the 9/11 murderers, and their el capitaine, all hail from Saudi Arabia, some post 9/11 spin was needed in a hurry. So, Saudi Arabia went about rewriting their school textbooks, and have since had the traveling sales show spinning the virtues of tolerance imbued their enlightened texts. The Washington Post got their hands on some of the rewritten texts, and provides some excerpts on their site.

As translated by the Washington Post, the virtuous are taught the following:

• A Muslim, even if he lives far away, is your brother in religion. Someone who opposes God, even if he is your brother by family tie, is your enemy in religion.
• As cited in Ibn Abbas: The apes are Jews, the people of the Sabbath; while the swine are the Christians, the infidels of the communion of Jesus.
• Muslims will triumph because they are right. He who is right is always victorious, even if most people are against him.
• It is part of God's wisdom that the struggle between the Muslim and the Jews should continue until the hour [of judgment].
• Jihad in the path of God -- which consists of battling against unbelief, oppression, injustice, and those who perpetrate it -- is the summit of Islam. This religion arose through jihad and through jihad was its banner raised high. It is one of the noblest acts, which brings one closer to God, and one of the most magnificent acts of obedience to God.

Related reading:

• Saudi Arabia's Education System: Curriculum, Spreading Saudi Education to the World and the Official Saudi Position on Education Policy
• Report Finds Hatred of West, Non-Muslims Pervasive in Official Saudi School Books
• The West, Christians and Jews in Saudi Arabian Schoolbooks [PDF] -- a comprehensive report from the Center for Monitoring the Impact of Peace

Stephen Bantu Biko

This morning, as I was driving my youngest to her volunteer session, Peter Gabriel's Biko came randomly through the MP3 player. My daughter had not heard of Biko before this mini-introduction. As I listened to the song, I couldn't help but feel a bit choked up.

Stephen Biko (1946-1977), grew up in an apartheid South Africa. He became political while attending medical school -- his eyes opening to the injustices of South Africa's apartheid regime -- and like Mandela, the more famous anti-apartheid fighter, Biko also advocated a non-violent struggle, both men subscribing somewhat to the philosophy Gandhi, a South African of sorts. As Biko became more political, he attracted more attention from the apartheid regime, culminating in his person being banned in 1973. The ban allowed him to only speak to one person at a time, limited him on where he could speak and forbid him from being quoted or mentioned. Despite this ban, Biko's influence grew and in large part, was responsible for the Soweto riots in 1976.

A year after the riots, Biko was arrested at a police roadblock in Port Elizabeth, on terrorism charges. He was held under arrest and subjected to repeated beatings -- it was business as usual in police room 619. A month after his arrest, he was loaded in the back of a police car -- handcuffed, shackled and naked on the floor -- and was sent to a hospital in Pretoria, 1,200 km and 12 hours away. He was dead on arrival. Autopsy showed that he had massive head injuries, including five major lesions to the brain; a scalp wound; an inner cut on the lip; and abrasions and bruising around the ribs.

At first his death was dismissed -- cause: hunger strike. Later, the story was changed to involve a scuffle with police. To date, the five policemen that had Biko under custody and were accused of his murder, have not been found guilty. There was either no evidence, no witnesses, or too much time had passed for a prosecution. Biko wasn't the first to die under police custody -- he wasn't the last either.

Stephen Biko was just younger than me when his death started. It took one month for it to be completed. I was wondering this morning if Biko knew what was in store for him when he was arrested on August 18, 1977. He had encounters with the law before -- but did he suspect something different this time? Did the police that arrested him, knew they were going to end up murdering him? For fighting against evil such as apartheid, is there really such a thing as a non-violent struggle? As his life was being taken from him, I wonder if Biko reflected on that? I wouldn't consider him weak if he did -- if he did feel anger, if he did want revenge for what was being done to him and to his people. He paid the ultimate price for his beliefs that month. For his life, he gave his people and his country a chance at a new life. It took decades before his dream would be realized. Too bad he was not alive to see his South Africa given a chance.

Related links:

• Cry Freedom -- a Richard Attenborough film of the Steve Biko story, starring Denzel Washington.
• Watch the Peter Gabriel music video, Biko.
• 5th Steve Biko Lecture [PDF] -- by Nelson Mandela
• 4th Steve Biko Lecture [PDF] -- Ngugi wa Thiong'o, Distinguished Professor of English and Comparative Literature, University of California
• Cry Freedom film analysis [PDF]
• Steve Biko and Black Consciousness -- journal article by Donald Woods

Elephants Dream

Elephants Dream is a fantastic little tale, told in 3D CG animation from the Orange Project and the Blender Foundation. The details of the plot, characters, setting, etc., while interesting, is not as interesting as the project itself. Elephants Dream is an open source project developed by a small group of artists and animators from around the world. The project used open source software, and released their short film via BitTorrent, using a Creative Commons license. What's more cool than that?

You can play the teaser trailer above or download the entire movie online.

Kian and Remee

Faternal twins, born of Kylie Hodgson, 19, and Remi Horder, 17, came out black and white -- mixed race. Both Hodgson and Horder came from mix parents, and it's speculated that a sperm containing genes coding for white skin colour fused with a similarly coded egg; while a sperm containing genes coding for black skin colour fused with a similarly coded egg. Chances of this happening is apparently a million to one ... or something like that.

A couple of things I have to wonder about however ... what was with the sperm? Were they being racist? This is the new century. Interracial coupling is OK. Second: 19 and 17 years old? Kian and Remee are cute. Hopefully they will have a healthy environment to grow up in.

Who wants more sex?

Google Trends has some interesting statistics on who's searching for sex around the world. Surprisingly, it's not the US ... or anyplace else you'd associate with having a liberal outlook to sex. I suppose you just can't deny the people. They want it. [This was found via reddit.]

YouTube's Woes

As YouTube grows, it's gaining more and more attention -- how it's dealing with that attention has been interesting. Like the proverbial tree in the wind, YouTube is allowing itself to bend whichever way the wind blows -- what they fail to understand, is that bending will be their ultimate undoing. YouTube seems to cave to any pressure, except that of their users. They're sacrificing the goodwill of their users to address the moral, political or corporate will of those that complain to them.

Case in point -- recently, there was an uproar over a South Park episode that featured some dispicable acts and Jesus Christ, but not Mohammed. They were trying to make some point I'm sure, but that's beside the point here. Fox News then covered the story, which I posted about here. Under pressure from Comedy Central however, the Fox News video that was posted on YouTube was removed because it was deemed inappropriate. Fox News didn't complain about their content being posted on YouTube -- Comedy Central did, and YouTube killed it. It's not the first time YouTube has done this, and most likely won't be the last, as they continue their abuse of their users. They recently for instance, removed the Stephen Colbert @ the White House Correspondents Dinner clip.

Related reading:

• YouTube: Way Beyond Home Videos -- a BusinessWeek article about YouTube's rise.
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  Source: BusinessWeek

Avian Flu

Front page of yesterday's Metro daily was an alarming headline: Prepare for bird flu: experts. At a police services board conference this past weekend, the Toronto Police presented their preparation plans for the avian flu pandemic hitting Toronto. The Toronto Police predicts that many will die in the first 24-48 hours after the pandemic goes into full swing -- with the end result of 7,000 - 20,000 dying in Ontario. About 2.3 million people will need medical attention, and 18,000 to 65,000 will need to be hospitalized. The Toronto Police outlined plans to guard hospitals from the chaos that will hit the streets when people start seeking hospital attention in droves. They also suggest that people plan on being self-sufficient for at least 72-hours -- ie. stay indoors.

Whether the avian flu will actually reach Toronto in such numbers is another story. Disasters do occur however, regardless of how much we may wish them not to happen. Down playing the risk is itself risky -- just look at what happened in New Orleans. Planning for a pandemic like the avian flu doesn't take much. Stock up on some food and non-perishables that are ready to eat -- assume that you may have to go without electricity and running water for days. Think of how we got along just fine without electricity a few years ago -- and remember, there are many in the world who do just fine without it. Make sure you have some medical and emergency supplies -- off the counter medical supplies and at least a week's worth of any prescriptions, and the essentials for around the home. All this should cost under $100. For those who work and telecommuting is an option, make sure your gear works so that you can work from home if necessary. There may be no need to panic, but if uncertainty hits, you may just want to take the boss up on the option to work from home. There, you're as prepared as you're going to be.

If a disaster does strike, the last thing you should remember is, Don't Panic! There will be enough of that going around. Everything will not be under full control of anybody, and we will probably all have to rely on each other to weather the storm. Easier said than done, I know.

Related reading:

• Toronto Pandemic Influenza Plan [PDF] -- published by the Toronto Public Health office, it represents the City's plan to deal with an influenza pandemic.
• Pandemic Flu Planning Checklist for Individuals and Families [PDF] -- a checklist from the US Department of Health & Human Services.
• Pandemic flu: important information for you and your family [PDF] -- an information pamphlet produced by the UK Department of Health.
• WHO checklist for influenza pandemic preparedness planning [PDF] -- World Health Organization planning information for member countries.
• Pandemic Influenza Preparedness and Response Plan [PDF] -- Canada's plan to deal with a pandemic.
• The Global Economic and Financial Impact of an Avian Flu Pandemic [PDF] -- a publication from IMF.

Update: May 10, 2006.

• The Mutant Chickens Are Coming! -- Slate's take on the latest made-for-TV disaster movie from ABC, that paints a bleak future with the avian flu.
• A video produced by the New Zealand health department on healthy practices in an influenza pandemic setting can be foudn here. It's all common sense ... I think.

Disease Mongering

Where are all the ailments coming from? A day doesn't go by that a medical journal doesn't seem publish some new finding about a disease whose symptoms sound just like the aches and pains you've been feeling -- and surprisingly, they already have some new concoction, or an old one newly targeted, to help your worries. It's a wonder we're no all dead already, what with everything we should be suffering from. There are now cures for childhood.

Remember when you were a kid? Were you the extra quiet shy one? Well, you were probably suffering from the social disease of shyness -- or social anxiety disorder -- or selective mutism. Not to worry, there are drugs to modify your behaviour, and make you normal. They go by the names such as Prozac, Paxil, Celexa, Zoloft or Luvox. Until these drugs were invented, who knew you weren't just shy, but had a disease? If you were the rambunctious kid, then you probably had attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and there are a host of other drugs that could have helped you. Combined with years in therapy, you could have turned out normal. Instead ... wait, did you say you did turn out normal? Well, the miracles never end, do they?

Forgive my sarcasm there -- yes, there are those for whom a chronic case of shyness or hyperactivity could be cause for concern -- and probably therapy, both psychological and therapeutic would be called for -- but more and more, the diagnosis is being conferred on those reporting just a problem and to younger and younger children. The problem starts with all of us. Every little discomfort seems to require a quick fix. You have an upset stomach? Take a drug. Feeling down? Take a drug. The medical establishment is only too eager to comply -- doctors, supported by research by pharmaceutical companies, are only too quick to help ease every little discomfort. In fact, drug companies have been on the marketing warpath of late -- selling us drugs for problems we don't even know we have. We are becoming a society addicted to the quick fix drug -- and the pushers are our doctors backed by big pharma.

This will all change only when we start changing our behaviours. We've reached a point where youth and old age are considered diseases. We've gone mad. No wonder serious illnesses don't have cures. There's no money to be made from the few people who suffer from real diseases. There's lots to be made from the rest of us however, who are suffering with life.

Related reading:

• Hey, You Don't Look So Good -- the BusinessWeek article that prompted this little diatribe.
• Disease Mongering [PDF] -- a collection of articles from the Public Library of Science: Medicine journal.
• Disease Mongering -- article from the Center for Media and Democracy.
• Selling sickness: the pharmaceutical industry and disease mongering [PDF] -- journal article from BMJ.

Anger

Anger: a strong feeling of displeasure or hostility according to the dictionary. For a long time, I didn't think that I was an angry person -- someone who got steamed up pretty easily. Some reflection however has allowed me to conclude that I do get easily riled. I've always thought that getting angry wasn't a bad thing -- after all, anger is just an emotion that we're equipped with. It has served us well, and has gotten us so far. I've always thought that what you do with anger could lead to regrets -- so while anger can lead to bad things, it isn't by itself, bad. It can lead to good things in fact. Many people get stirred into action to do the right thing after getting angry at an injustice for instance.

So anger isn't bad ... right? Well, consider the following ...

Anger tends to be a downward spiral. The more you practice getting angry, the better you will be at it, and the more you will like use it. Those around you will learn of your anger, and will build up defenses -- either leading to them getting angry as well; tuning you out; or giving in to your anger. Think of the people who make up your social circle, and think of how they react to your anger. Is that a good way to relate?

Anger probably was good for us when we were faced with constant fight or flight situations in our evolutionary past. Today however, we live in societies within a more or less civilized world. Anger puts your body on red alert. This is OK when your body needs to react quickly. Adrenaline floods your body; your heart beat increases as blood stretches your circulatory system to the max in order deliver oxygen to your muscles; and I'm sure certain parts of the brain just gets turned off so you are ready for the fight. Imagine being like this on a regular basis. Studies have correlated people with hostile personalities with an increased risk of heart attacks. Similarly, there are a host of other conditions that a hostile personality can exacerbate -- leading to, yes, you knew it was coming, death (if someone doesn't get to you first that is). It doesn't matter if you act out your anger or suppress it -- your body knows when you're angry, and your physiology is being impacted to it.

So much for what I always believed -- what you do or don't do with anger matters still -- but regardless -- if you have a chronic anger problem, you're screwed either way. (You're going to have to check with an expert to know what chronic means.) As with the physiological, there are also other impacts of anger -- namely your relationships. Regardless of whether you're openly hostile to others; you suppress it; or you target yourself with your anger; it hurts your relationships. The more your relationships are hurt, the less happy you will be and the more you will feel as if things are out of your control. Life, work, love -- you name it -- it's all about relationships. Anger -- hostility -- it hurts all of them. A chronic anger problem then can accomplish only one thing in the extreme end -- death without friends.

So what to do? Gaining some awareness can't be too bad -- regardless of whether your problem is a chronic one or not. It's one of the topics I'm currently exploring. If you think you have a chronic problem, you may want to get some help.

Related reading:

• Anger -- the Wikipedia entry.
• Controlling Anger -- Before It Controls You -- an entry at the American Psychological Association.
• Anger and Aggression -- a chapter from Psychological Self-Help.