[Another exciting development in addition to Glasnost and Switzerland to determine if your carrier is blocking or throttling certain types of traffic. Although no one disagrees that carriers have the right to manage their network, it should be done on a non-discriminatory and transparent basis both in terms of the sources of the traffic, application AND class of user. Blocking P2P traffic obviously is in the self interest of many carriers who distribute video outside of their IP network and deliberately throttling traffic asymmetrically between low speed versus high speed subscribers should not be used a technique to push lower speed subscribers to purchase higher speed services—BSA]
Posted by Vint Cerf, Chief Internet Evangelist, and Stephen Stuart, Principal Engineer
When an Internet application doesn't work as expected or your connection seems flaky, how can you tell whether there is a problem caused by your broadband ISP, the application, your PC, or something else? It can be difficult for experts, let alone average Internet users, to address this sort of question today.
Last year we asked a small group of academics about ways to advance network research and provide users with tools to test their broadband connections. Today Google, the New America Foundation's Open Technology Institute, the PlanetLab Consortium, and academic researchers are taking the wraps off of Measurement Lab (M-Lab), an open platform that researchers can use to deploy Internet measurement tools.
Researchers are already developing tools that allow users to, among other things, measure the speed of their connection, run diagnostics, and attempt to discern if their ISP is blocking or throttling particular applications. These tools generate and send some data back-and-forth between the user's computer and a server elsewhere on the Internet. Unfortunately, researchers lack widely-distributed servers with ample connectivity. This poses a barrier to the accuracy and scalability of these tools. Researchers also have trouble sharing data with one another.
M-Lab aims to address these problems. Over the course of early 2009, Google will provide researchers with 36 servers in 12 locations in the U.S. and Europe. All data collected via M-Lab will be made publicly available for other researchers to build on. M-Lab is intended to be a truly community-based effort, and we welcome the support of other companies, institutions, researchers, and users that want to provide servers, tools, or other resources that can help the platform flourish.
Today, M-Lab is at the beginning of its development. To start, three tools running on servers near Google's headquarters are available to help users attempt to diagnose common problems that might impair their broadband speed, as well as determine whether BitTorrent is being blocked or throttled by their ISPs. These tools were created by the individual researchers who helped found M-Lab. By running these tools, users will get information about their connection and provide researchers with valuable aggregate data. Like M-Lab itself these tools are still in development, and they will only support a limited number of simultaneous users at this initial stage.
At Google, we care deeply about sustaining the Internet as an open platform for consumer choice and innovation. No matter your views on net neutrality and ISP network management practices, everyone can agree that Internet users deserve to be well-informed about what they're getting when they sign up for broadband, and good data is the bedrock of sound policy. Transparency has always been crucial to the success of the Internet, and, by advancing network research in this area, M-Lab aims to help sustain a healthy, innovative Internet.
You can learn more at the M-Lab website. If you're a researcher who'd like to deploy a tool, or a company or institution that is interested in providing technical resources, we invite you to get involved.
--
Posted By Google Public Policy Blog to Google Public Policy Blog at 1/28/2009 03:32:00 P
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Ireland: Copyright Filtering Case Settles out of Court
Over the last few years, the European music industry has tried to establish a secondary liability for ISPs whose customers share copyrighted material. The aim was to pressure ISPs into setting up filtering technology a.k.a. "censorware". What looked like a first quick success was the case in Belgium, where the music industry association (SABAM) demanded that ISP Scarlet (Tiscali) installs a filtering technology that would detect and block copyrighted material. The injunction from June 2007 in fact established exactly that obligation. After this initial success, the music industry moved on to Ireland in 2008 and sued its largest ISP, Eircom. EMI, Sony, Warner and Universal sought an injunction from the Dublin High Court which would have required Eircom to establish the same filtering system.
But in late 2008, the Belgian case turned out different than expected. ISP Scarlet convincingly demonstrated to the court that the technology suggested by SABAM as well as in Ireland (Audible Magic) - did not work and that the music industry even had deceived the court by falsely claiming it had already been used elsewhere. Therefore, the trial court in Belgium lifted the injunction against Scarlet. An interesting problem for the music industry in Ireland, right?
Now, just two weeks into the proceedings of the Irish case, the law suit has settled out of court, as the London Internet Exchange reports:
In essence, this means: Automatic filtering does not work, suing customers does not work (this was the reason the music industry tried to use the ISPs in the first place), and the only hope the content industry has left is the "three-strikes" policy currently under heavy discussion in the EU Telecom Package. I guess the latter will also be dead by the summer, considering the significant uproar and opposition these proposals sparked last year, and having the upcoming elections to the European Parliament in mind.
(via Monica Horten from Iptegrity, who provides the best coverage of the Telecom Package and related issues anyway)
Update: TJ McIntyre from Dublin has more details and analysis.
But in late 2008, the Belgian case turned out different than expected. ISP Scarlet convincingly demonstrated to the court that the technology suggested by SABAM as well as in Ireland (Audible Magic) - did not work and that the music industry even had deceived the court by falsely claiming it had already been used elsewhere. Therefore, the trial court in Belgium lifted the injunction against Scarlet. An interesting problem for the music industry in Ireland, right?
Now, just two weeks into the proceedings of the Irish case, the law suit has settled out of court, as the London Internet Exchange reports:
The parties have agreed that the music industry will hire (or continue to hire) Dtecnet, a investigation company that identifies copyright infringers by participating in P2P file-sharing networks. Eircom will then operate a three-strikes policy, the details of which is yet to be agreed.The reason for the settlement is obvious: They wanted to avoid a precedent.Given the damage that would be caused by a filtering imposition, and despite ISPs’ understandable reluctance to adopt three-strikes policies, this can be seen as a significant victory for the ISP industry. However it does leave us without the court judgement (and legal precedent) that we all looked forward to with such interest.
As an aside, the case settled at the conclusion of the Plaintiff’s (EMI’s) case, before the Defense (Eircom) introduced their own witnesses.
In essence, this means: Automatic filtering does not work, suing customers does not work (this was the reason the music industry tried to use the ISPs in the first place), and the only hope the content industry has left is the "three-strikes" policy currently under heavy discussion in the EU Telecom Package. I guess the latter will also be dead by the summer, considering the significant uproar and opposition these proposals sparked last year, and having the upcoming elections to the European Parliament in mind.
(via Monica Horten from Iptegrity, who provides the best coverage of the Telecom Package and related issues anyway)
Update: TJ McIntyre from Dublin has more details and analysis.
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Privacy in Germany 2008: A new fundamental right, a privacy mass movement, and the usual surveillance suspects
This is an article I wrote together with Annika Kremer from the German Working Group on Data Retention for today's EDRi-Gram. This issue has a special focus on privacy developments all across Europe, because today is international data protection day. Some links on further details can be found in the original version.
The year of 2008 can be marked as the year where privacy moved high on the public agenda in Germany. On 1st of January, the law on data retention went into effect, which made Germany drop from number one to seven in the country ranking published by Privacy International. At the same day, a constitutional challenge was submitted at the supreme court. The German working group on data retention and its allies managed to have more than 34,000 people participate in this case - the largest constitutional complaint ever seen in German history. The paperwork had to be brought to the constitutional court in huge moving boxes, which also offered a nice photo opportunity for everyone wanting to demonstrate how many people oppose data retention.
The year of 2008 can be marked as the year where privacy moved high on the public agenda in Germany. On 1st of January, the law on data retention went into effect, which made Germany drop from number one to seven in the country ranking published by Privacy International. At the same day, a constitutional challenge was submitted at the supreme court. The German working group on data retention and its allies managed to have more than 34,000 people participate in this case - the largest constitutional complaint ever seen in German history. The paperwork had to be brought to the constitutional court in huge moving boxes, which also offered a nice photo opportunity for everyone wanting to demonstrate how many people oppose data retention.
In February we saw the constitutional court decision on secret online searches of peoples' hard drives (the "federal trojan"). The court limited the use of this tool for cases where there are "factual indications of a concrete danger" in a specific case for the life, body and freedom of persons or for the foundations of the state or the existence of humans, government agencies may use these measures after approval by a judge. The decision was widely considered a landmark ruling, because it also constituted a new "basic right to the confidentiality and integrity of information-technological systems" as part of the general personality rights in the German constitution.
In March, the Chaos Computer Club published the fingerprint of the federal minister for the interior, Wolfgang Schäuble. This sparked high public attention and made frontpage news, and proved that biometric athentication as introduced in the German passport and identity card is not safe at all. Inspired by the recent successes, the growing number of privacy activists held a de-central action day in May. Different kinds of activities, like demonstrations, flash mobs, information booths, privacy parties, workshops, and cultural activities took place in all over Germany.
Over the summer, some of the biggest German companies helped in raising public awareness of the risks of large data collections. Almost every week, there were reports on a big supermarket chain spying on its employees, on cd-roms with tens of thousands of customer data sets from call centers - including bank account numbers - being sold on the grey market, on the largest German telecommunications provider using retained traffic data for spying on its supervisory board and on high-ranking union members, on an airline using its booking system to spy on critical journalists, on two large universities accidentially making all student data available online, or on a big mobile phone provider "losing" 17 million customer data sets.
The Federal Government, under building public pressure, introduced some small changes for the federal data protection law, but at the same time continued its push for more surveillance measures in the hands of the federal criminal agency (Bundeskriminalamt, BKA). These included the secret online searches the constitutional court had just cut down to very exceptional circumstances a few months earlier. The German public discussed these moves very critically, especially since journalists are exempted from special protections that are given to priests, criminal defense lawyers, and doctors.
Because of the public concern and debate about privacy risks, the call to another mass street protest was even more successful than ever before. The "Freedom not Fear"action day on 11th October was the biggest privacy event of the year. In Berlin, between 50,000 and 70,000 persons protested peacefully against data retention and other forms of "surveillance mania", making it the biggest privacy demonstration in German history. Privacy activists in many cities all over the world participated with very diverse and creative kinds of activities and turned this day into the first international action day "Freedom not Fear".
The anti-surveillance protests finally kicked off some serious discussion within the Social Democratic Party in a number of the German länder (states). This resulted in a loss of the majority for the law on the federal criminal agency (BKA) in the second chamber (Bundesrat) in the first vote. It only was passed weeks later, after some changes were introduced, and with heavy pressure from leading federal Social Democrats. The new law is still seen as unconstitutional by many legal and privacy experts and in January 2009 a case was submitted to the constitutional court.
Privacy activists in the fall of 2008 also campaigned against the retention on flight passenger name records, forcing Brigitte Zypries, the German minister of justice, to freeze her plans on the matter until after the federal elections in the fall of 2009. More recently, the working group on data retention attacked the "voluntary data retention" proposed in the EU telecom package, as well as the renewed data exchange agreements between the EU and the USA.
Financial Crisis - an Opportunity for Business Model Innovation?
Innovating during an economic downturn might seem counter intuitive at first sight. However, it is precisely the right moment to do so, as long as you already prepared your company for survival during this extremely severe crisis.
This Monday European and US companies announced a brutal 76'000 job cuts in one single day (cf FT article Gloom deepens as 76,000 jobs go in a day). To focus on business model innovation when you just fired a part of your workforce to bring your company through the crisis might seem very strange. Yet, it is the right moment to do so for a number of reasons.
Business model innovation is difficult to achieve because it affects so many parts of an organization and because it needs the buy-in of so many different people. In addition, it requires the right organizational structures and a sense of urgency to make it happen. All these conditions are, unfortunately, easier to achieve during an economic downturn.
In an economic crisis complacency is gone and everybody feels a sense of urgency to act. People resist change much less when the survival of their company and ultimately their jobs are at stake. We all know how fiercely most people resist change in good times. So when the most urgent issues, such as cash management, are taken care of, a company's management should turn to innovation. This is the best opportunity they will get to position their company for the future of business model innovation.
So what is to be done? A good place to start with is building the right organizational structures that allow for business model innovation. With this I don't simply mean a "traditional" restructuring and shifting of people, but deep structural change. An organization that systematically wants to address business model innovation has the following characteristics:
- its board explicitly gives the management the mandate to continuously examine business model innovation;
- it extensively works with multidisciplinary teams across "departments" and across hierarchies;
- it has mechanisms that allow innovative business model ideas to be evaluated by peers during a first phase, rather than "just by managers";
- it involves the customer in the process of business model innovation
- it maintains a portfolio of innovative business models that may even cannibalize the existing business model.
- it has the right physical space in place to allow multidisciplinary business model project teams to flourish. In other words, it has project/war rooms dedicated to a project during it's entire duration and with lots of whiteboards and walls to post visuals.
Voilà, some "unbaked" thoughts on using the economic downturn as an opportunity to position an organization for the future of business model innovation.
If you have any thoughts to add, please don't hesitate. The forum is yours...
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
EU Proposal puts Confidential Communications Data at Risk
Here is an international press release I was involved in creating. The negotiations at EU level are humming already, there is a trilogue about this on Thursday. We in Germany also greatly appreciate this help, because there is a similar draft bill underway on the fast-track in the German parliament right now.
Press release by La Quadrature du Net, European Digital Rights (EDRi), Working Group on Data Retention (AK Vorrat), and Netzpolitik.org, 2009-01-28:
Press release by La Quadrature du Net, European Digital Rights (EDRi), Working Group on Data Retention (AK Vorrat), and Netzpolitik.org, 2009-01-28:
EU proposal puts confidential communications data at risk
Civil liberties groups La Quadrature du Net, European Digital Rights (EDRi), AK Vorrat, and Netzpolitik.org are urging the European Parliament to heed advice given by the European Data Protection Supervisor Peter Hustinx and scrap plans dubbed "voluntary data retention".
"A proposal currently discussed in the European Parliament as part of the 'telecom package' would allow providers to collect a potentially unlimited amount of sensitive, confidential communications data including our telephone and e-mail contacts, the geographic position of our mobile phones and the websites we visit on the Internet", warns Patrick Breyer of German privacy watchdog AK Vorrat. "Apart from the creation of vast data pools that could go far beyond what is being collected under the directive on data retention, the proposal would also permit the passing on of traffic data to other companies for 'security purposes'. We must not let a potentially unlimited amount of confidential data be exposed to risks of disclosure or abuse in this way."
"This proposal is lobbied for under the guise of 'security', but what it really means is that users and citizens would have no expectation of privacy on the Internet anymore," adds Ralf Bendrath from EDRi. "This is a clear breach of the European tradition of considering privacy a fundamental human right."
In a paper published earlier this month, European Data Protection Supervisor Peter Hustinx joined the critics, warning the proposal would constitute a "risk of abuse" and "may be interpreted as enabling the collection and processing of traffic data for security purposes for an unspecified period of time." Hustinx reached "the conclusion that the best outcome would be for the proposed Article 6.6(a) to be deleted altogether" - a view firmly shared by La Quadrature du Net, EDRi, netzpolitik.org and AK Vorrat.
"A few months before the elections, citizens will have the opportunity to see if the Members of European Parliament are willing to protect their privacy", declares Jérémie Zimmermann, co-founder of the citizen's initiative La Quadrature du Net. "Every citizen should inform their MEPs and ask them to massively reject this article 6 (6a) of the ePrivacy directive. Other crucial issues about content and network neutrality are at stake as well. We must remind MEPs that they were elected to protect Europeans' fundamental rights and freedom rather than abolishing them in favour of particular interests."
In a letter of September last year, 11 German civil liberties, journalists, lawyers and consumer protection organisations "urgently" asked the Commission, the Council and Parliament to scrap the proposed article 6 (6a) and "maintain the successful regulation of traffic data" which they say has "proven to constitute the best guarantee for our safety in information society."
Background paper by Working Group on Data Retention
About us:
La Quadrature du Net (Squaring the Net) is a France-based citizen group informing about legislative projects menacing civil liberties as well as economic and social development in the digital age. It became well known in the summer of 2008 for putting the spotlight on draft provisions in the EU telecom package that would allow a private, unaccountable regime for cutting citizens off the internet for alleged copyright infringements. Home page: http://www.laquadrature.net
EDRi is an association of 29 privacy and civil rights organisations from 18 different countries in Europe, who have joined forces to defend civil rights in the information society. Among other activites, EDRi is well known for its bi-weekly EDRi-Gram newsletter with world-wide readership. Home page: http://www.edri.org
The Working Group on Data Retention (AK Vorrat) is a German association of civil rights and privacy activists and Internet users. Among other activities, it organized the biggest privacy protest in German history in October 2008 with more than 50,000 participants. Home page: http://www.vorratsdatenspeicherung.de
Netzpolitik.org is the most-linked political blog in German and a political plattform for digital rights. It has received several national and international awards. Home page: http://www.netzpolitik.org
What "the web" knows about him, online reporter finds out
Robert L. Mitchell from Computerworld did a fascinating research tour on what he could find about himself in all these databases. He started with ones that are available publicly or for a small fee. He then spent some money on data brokers and paid sources. Here is what he got:
But with all the information on how local governments fail to protect court records or housing documents they put online, how Acxiom and other data brokers have much more than they would tell you, or how much "the internet" knows about you, it's a bit sad that Mitchell only gives his readers "12 tips for managing your information footprint".
This is a political problem, and it has to be dealt with politically, not individually.
Source: Government recordsMitchell has a very good point when he concludes that authentication with several factors does not really help if it is only based on "what you know", and he even did some social engineering based on his own data he found, e.g. with his bank. The other interesting thing he discovered, not to my surprise: Much of the data was wrong, outdated, or wrongly combined with other persons with the same name.
Information discovered: Full legal name, address, Social Security number, spouse's name and Social Security number, price paid for home, mortgage documents, signature
Source: Free people searches
Information discovered: Employer name, job title, age, month and date of birth, phone numbers, wife's name and age, historical addresses and phone numbers, personal e-mail address, identifying photographs, employment history
Source: Search engines
Information discovered: Age, phone numbers, Computerworld affiliation, Computerworld stories, blog posts, identifying photos, social network and nonprofit affiliations, editorial award
Source: Image search
Information discovered: Computerworld publicity photos, Flickr photos
Source: Social network search engines
Information discovered: Computerworld stories, blog posts, social network friends and co-workers
Source: Paid searches
Information discovered: Address history to 1985; real estate purchase dates, assessed values and mortgagors; 2004 property tax bill; nonprofit affiliations; Flickr account details; published stories; parents' names, address, phone number and first five digits of Social Security numbers; current and past neighbors' names, addresses, phone numbers, dates of birth and first six digits of Social Security numbers
But with all the information on how local governments fail to protect court records or housing documents they put online, how Acxiom and other data brokers have much more than they would tell you, or how much "the internet" knows about you, it's a bit sad that Mitchell only gives his readers "12 tips for managing your information footprint".
This is a political problem, and it has to be dealt with politically, not individually.
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Monday, January 26, 2009
The Perfect New Owner
Niotillfem's always impeccable Sandra is rocking a Tell Me a Story dress at Stockholm Streetstyle!
She wears it much better than I ever could. And it makes me happy.
She wears it much better than I ever could. And it makes me happy.
Sarko: Moi, je (encore)
Jean-Marie Le Ray vient de publier une petite étude sur le je omniprésent dans le discours de Nicolas Sarkozy, et plus particulièrement dans le discours de Périgueux (12/10/2006), qui a été en quelque sorte l'acte de lancement de sa campagne. Le billet de Jean-Marie et les commentaires qu'il a suscités soulèvent de nombreuses questions difficiles, bien connues des chercheurs en lexicométrie (par exemple, comment filtrer les mot-outils : articles, prépositions et autres). Il faudrait plusieurs billets pour y répondre, et comme vous l'avez compris par mon taux de publication proche de zéro ces derniers temps, je suis quelque peu débordé...
Mais je ne résiste pas à apporter quelques précisions sur l'objet central du billet de Jean-Marie, à savoir cette omniprésence du je. Que l'on soit pro ou anti-Sarkozy, la perception d'un discours personnel est sans doute assez évidente. Les uns diront "discours volontaire", les autres "discours égotiste et narcissique". Je ne rentrerai pas dans ce débat, et me contenterai de quelques remarques méthodologiques.
Que nous apprennent les statistiques ? J'avais commencé à effleurer le sujet dans une série de billets :
Je vous invite à les relire, mais comme ils sont un peu longs et que j'imagine qu'il y a parmi vous des gens pressés, je vous en donne un résumé. Contrairement à ce qu'on pourrait attendre, Nicolas Sarkozy n'utilise pas je, moi, me etc. plus que Ségolène Royal. Mieux, si l'on prend tous les présidents de la Ve République, on note un accroissement de la présence du je au fil des années, avec un sommet pour François Mitterand, champion absolu du discours personnel (ce n'est pas de Gaulle, contrairement à ce qu'on pourrait imaginer). La courbe redescend ensuite, et on voit que Nicolas Sarkozy utilise moins je, en moyenne, que Jacques Chirac. Je remets le graphique ici par commodité (il y a aussi plus de détails dans un excellent livre ;-)
Nicolas Sarkozy utilise je environ 17 fois pour 1000 mots, François Miterrand 24 fois (et encore plus à la fin de son septennat). Il y a donc de la marge. D'où vient alors l'impression d'égotisme qui se dégage de son discours ? Je faisais l'hypothèse, dans les billets en question, que les pronoms forment un écosystème, et qu'on les perçoit les uns par rapport aux autres. Nicolas Sarkozy n'utilise peut-être pas plus je que d'autres, mais sa marque est de ne parler que très peu de nous ou vous, contrairement à Ségolène Royal par exemple. L'autre élément qui contribue aussi à mon sens à cette perception de discours personnel, est l'association des mots je + veux, beaucoup plus fréquente chez lui que chez les autres ("je veux être le Président de la France qui...").
Pour en revenir au discours analysé par Jean-Marie, ce fameux discours de Périgueux, le je est le 11e mot le plus fréquent (il faudrait pour être tout à fait précis ajouter les 8 occurrences de j', mais cela ne change rien au fond). Mais cela ne représente malgré tout que 16 mots sur 1000, donc une fréquence plutôt modérée si on le compare à ceux de Ségolène Royal ou aux présidents de la Ve. On notera au passage la présence du mot veux (et donc de la fameuse association dont je parlais à l'instant).
J'en retiens une belle illustration de ce qu'ont toujours répété mes maîtres en la matière, Charles Muller, Etienne Brunet et autres : les chiffres en eux-mêmes ne nous disent rien. La lexicométrie ne prend son sens que par la comparaison (de textes, d'auteurs, de genres, etc.).
En tout cas, merci Jean-Marie d'avoir ravivé ce débat !
Mais je ne résiste pas à apporter quelques précisions sur l'objet central du billet de Jean-Marie, à savoir cette omniprésence du je. Que l'on soit pro ou anti-Sarkozy, la perception d'un discours personnel est sans doute assez évidente. Les uns diront "discours volontaire", les autres "discours égotiste et narcissique". Je ne rentrerai pas dans ce débat, et me contenterai de quelques remarques méthodologiques.
Que nous apprennent les statistiques ? J'avais commencé à effleurer le sujet dans une série de billets :
Je vous invite à les relire, mais comme ils sont un peu longs et que j'imagine qu'il y a parmi vous des gens pressés, je vous en donne un résumé. Contrairement à ce qu'on pourrait attendre, Nicolas Sarkozy n'utilise pas je, moi, me etc. plus que Ségolène Royal. Mieux, si l'on prend tous les présidents de la Ve République, on note un accroissement de la présence du je au fil des années, avec un sommet pour François Mitterand, champion absolu du discours personnel (ce n'est pas de Gaulle, contrairement à ce qu'on pourrait imaginer). La courbe redescend ensuite, et on voit que Nicolas Sarkozy utilise moins je, en moyenne, que Jacques Chirac. Je remets le graphique ici par commodité (il y a aussi plus de détails dans un excellent livre ;-)
Pour en revenir au discours analysé par Jean-Marie, ce fameux discours de Périgueux, le je est le 11e mot le plus fréquent (il faudrait pour être tout à fait précis ajouter les 8 occurrences de j', mais cela ne change rien au fond). Mais cela ne représente malgré tout que 16 mots sur 1000, donc une fréquence plutôt modérée si on le compare à ceux de Ségolène Royal ou aux présidents de la Ve. On notera au passage la présence du mot veux (et donc de la fameuse association dont je parlais à l'instant).
| Freq | Mot |
| 402 | de |
| 395 | la |
| 229 | l |
| 210 | est |
| 206 | les |
| 199 | à |
| 186 | le |
| 185 | et |
| 170 | que |
| 157 | qui |
| 129 | je |
| 125 | des |
| 120 | d |
| 115 | pas |
| 94 | pour |
| 93 | c |
| 87 | ne |
| 87 | une |
| 83 | en |
| 76 | république |
| 70 | elle |
| 68 | un |
| 67 | dans |
| 66 | n |
| 64 | il |
| 63 | qu |
| 56 | veux |
| 54 | par |
| 53 | france |
| 53 | on |
J'en retiens une belle illustration de ce qu'ont toujours répété mes maîtres en la matière, Charles Muller, Etienne Brunet et autres : les chiffres en eux-mêmes ne nous disent rien. La lexicométrie ne prend son sens que par la comparaison (de textes, d'auteurs, de genres, etc.).
En tout cas, merci Jean-Marie d'avoir ravivé ce débat !
PS
J'en profite pour vous signaler quelques jolis travaux sur Obama, que j'ai mis dans mon flux Delicious, mais n'ai malheureusement pas eu le temps de commenter :Sunday, January 25, 2009
The Secret To Fast Learning
Can you remember the comic series of the Star Wily Coyote and Road Runner?
"Fast" back into the picture of the Roadrunner zoom past obstacles by Wily Coyote.
May speed, you can arrive at your destination, but on the road, you've been in a position to take note of what you all have missed May accelerated in the fast lane? As in the leadership, the zoom is not fast enough, the opportunity to see and enjoy the view. The same can be said about learning.
Many of what you can be acquired through reading. The various activities to get in a comfortable position and to read a book of your choice, it opens a new world for you. The playback can be in the minds of many people.
The more one reads, the more aware. In the hope to read more books, try some browsing. It is estimated that speed, the more cover.
The fast track reading May also the reproduction of records and concepts with the word method. The fast track reading, you can rely on multiple pages with the same record. However, a limitation of this method of learning is that you tend to hold back only a small part of the basic idea. There is a danger that important information is missing in the book.
There is a solution for it. Few people are rarely on this technology to learn quickly. This is based on the principle that the mind thinks in pictures.
Learning is accelerated when you "see" the idea that you play or a book. LED "Live photos of ideas and thoughts of the writer makes reading and unforgettable experience. If you do not see the read, you learn nothing. Almost reading unnecessary.
This technique is the display. Fast ad is for learning. Reading is an indicator such as the construction of a puzzle where the pieces together to see the entire picture. The whole thing, not just "in", but "live" in front of you. All of these cases in the realm of the mind.
Just about the applications you can browse for the image of the object. But, like a fog, picture often quickly evaporates into the air. Quick to read, often without the video images, but very rarely taught impressed.
Impressions during the last information changes over time. According to the information easy to forget for new ones. Impressions to change, and they are constantly in mind.
To learn to be efficient if it is short breaks in order to be able to see and reflect. The learning is not efficient, how fast can you read a book. It is important to understand how effectively the ideas of the writer.
Visual sustainable supply of photos. Follow the ideas and how it enables the people of the existence. Go for impressions and ideas that give you the tools to better the individual.
"Fast" back into the picture of the Roadrunner zoom past obstacles by Wily Coyote.
May speed, you can arrive at your destination, but on the road, you've been in a position to take note of what you all have missed May accelerated in the fast lane? As in the leadership, the zoom is not fast enough, the opportunity to see and enjoy the view. The same can be said about learning.
Many of what you can be acquired through reading. The various activities to get in a comfortable position and to read a book of your choice, it opens a new world for you. The playback can be in the minds of many people.
The more one reads, the more aware. In the hope to read more books, try some browsing. It is estimated that speed, the more cover.
The fast track reading May also the reproduction of records and concepts with the word method. The fast track reading, you can rely on multiple pages with the same record. However, a limitation of this method of learning is that you tend to hold back only a small part of the basic idea. There is a danger that important information is missing in the book.
There is a solution for it. Few people are rarely on this technology to learn quickly. This is based on the principle that the mind thinks in pictures.
Learning is accelerated when you "see" the idea that you play or a book. LED "Live photos of ideas and thoughts of the writer makes reading and unforgettable experience. If you do not see the read, you learn nothing. Almost reading unnecessary.
This technique is the display. Fast ad is for learning. Reading is an indicator such as the construction of a puzzle where the pieces together to see the entire picture. The whole thing, not just "in", but "live" in front of you. All of these cases in the realm of the mind.
Just about the applications you can browse for the image of the object. But, like a fog, picture often quickly evaporates into the air. Quick to read, often without the video images, but very rarely taught impressed.
Impressions during the last information changes over time. According to the information easy to forget for new ones. Impressions to change, and they are constantly in mind.
To learn to be efficient if it is short breaks in order to be able to see and reflect. The learning is not efficient, how fast can you read a book. It is important to understand how effectively the ideas of the writer.
Visual sustainable supply of photos. Follow the ideas and how it enables the people of the existence. Go for impressions and ideas that give you the tools to better the individual.
Friday, January 23, 2009
Butterfly Marketing Manuscript Review
First, I wish to inform you that Butterfly Marketing is not just an internet marketing course, as you saw in the past. Butterfly Marketing is more profitable line of high quality business itself.
Mike Filsaime launched on January 31st and BM sold 1,500 copies in the first days! I decided to buy his Butterfly Marketing package and I am very satisfied with the quality of product and Mike possibilities opened for me. I am able to put up on Web sites that routinely use the butterfly marketing concept and become profitable almost immediately. The possibilities are amazing. I can honestly say that, thanks to Mike Filsaime all I can really quite my day job and just focus on internet marketing profits.
Butterfly Marketing by Mike Filsaime is the most comprehensive of the money he will have made your online business efforts productive phase. I think those who are not on the race with Mike Filsaime and simply never lose it.
Imagine creating super profitable web sites on the fly every day! You learn how to develop your own product and how to sell. You have Mike's 100% support and guidance.
How about the launch of your own money viral Web site that spreads over the Internet as a madman?
How to build your own e-mail opt-in list to promote your products. The butterfly marketing will give you the tools and knowledge to do it successfully.
Butterfly Marketing by Mike Filsaime is the only internet marketing you need to start making money online. The premiums that Mike gives after you buy, it is surprising. I feel that I am much more than $ 997. The award is for all small scripts of this software and support.
You should soon! Because Mike will increase the price of Butterfly Marketing to over $ 1400!
Visit Butterfly Marketing Website
Mike Filsaime launched on January 31st and BM sold 1,500 copies in the first days! I decided to buy his Butterfly Marketing package and I am very satisfied with the quality of product and Mike possibilities opened for me. I am able to put up on Web sites that routinely use the butterfly marketing concept and become profitable almost immediately. The possibilities are amazing. I can honestly say that, thanks to Mike Filsaime all I can really quite my day job and just focus on internet marketing profits.
Butterfly Marketing by Mike Filsaime is the most comprehensive of the money he will have made your online business efforts productive phase. I think those who are not on the race with Mike Filsaime and simply never lose it.
Imagine creating super profitable web sites on the fly every day! You learn how to develop your own product and how to sell. You have Mike's 100% support and guidance.
How about the launch of your own money viral Web site that spreads over the Internet as a madman?
How to build your own e-mail opt-in list to promote your products. The butterfly marketing will give you the tools and knowledge to do it successfully.
Butterfly Marketing by Mike Filsaime is the only internet marketing you need to start making money online. The premiums that Mike gives after you buy, it is surprising. I feel that I am much more than $ 997. The award is for all small scripts of this software and support.
You should soon! Because Mike will increase the price of Butterfly Marketing to over $ 1400!
Visit Butterfly Marketing Website
Thursday, January 22, 2009
perfect weather to fly
I've been meaning to draw this view for so long. Well, ever since I saw that there was an Everyday Matters challenge called 'draw the view from a window of your house'. It seems an appropriate time to finally get around to it. Before the reassuring view of Jo and Nick's house is no longer part of my everyday life.Everyday Matters #18, the view from my window. See the rest of my Everyday Matters set HERE.
Simple AIML Editor
Adeena Mignogna has written a new AIML editor, simply called, "Simple AIML Editor". Adeena said she got a little frustrated with the choices out there to manage her AIML
file content, so she wrote a new AIML editor.
The SAE is the latest development in the evolution of spreadsheet-style AIML editors like GaitoBotEditor and the Ai-Dealer AIML Spreadsheet editor. The SAE has simplified the interface and reduced the number of operations to a few, common botmaster tasks.
One of the challenges in managing AIML is that, although the AIML is in XML format, the data is a hybrid of highly structured, row-oriented fields (file name, pattern, that, topic, pattern, template) combined with hierarchical XML data in the template. The large amount of row-oriented data makes it hard to edit AIML with off-the-shelf XML editors. The spreadsheet seems to be the best metaphor to manage the large number of AIML categories found in convincing A.I. bots. Then other tools, at minimun a text editor, such as provided by the SAE, are required to edit the AIML template-side responses.
The SAE also allows the botmaster to load an XML schema to check for valid AIML. The editor supports file character encodings utf-8 and iso-8859-1. The editor also includes a "comment manager" to help the botmaster store comments and copyright statements at the head of each AIML file.
The editor is a C# application written for Windows. The program has been tested on both Windows XP and Vista machines and it seems to run fine on both of them.
Adeena would appreciate any feedback on the application and would definitely like to know if anyone experiences any problems with it.
The Simple AIML Editor can be found here:
http://riotsw.com/sae.html
Build Your Own Software Empire In Just Minutes!
I'm sure you should have heard all the talk about viral marketing and the wonders it can possibly do for your online business. And I have a special gift for you today which will take viral marketing to the next level.
I'm going to hand you the chance to grab over a DOZEN cash-producing and top-notch software that you can rebrand with your own website and affiliate links.
It used to cost $27/month for access, but today...
You get it for F-R-E-E!
>> http://www.imbuzzsoftware.com/?afid=8935
With the "IM Buzz Software" membership, you receive one rebrandable software every month in which you can rebrand with your own banners and text links to promote the products of your choice.
In other words, even if you know nuts about programming, you can well have your own software business up and running in mere minutes!
Here's just a small fraction of what you'll be able to do with your own *viral software*:
==> Rebrand over a dozen different software titles filled with YOUR own banners and text links
==> Profit by selling the software at full market value and earn the full amount.
==> Give the rebranded software, loaded with your website links, away for free as a lead generator and watch your list EXPLODE.
==> Present yourself as a valuable resource to new website visitors and past customers/readers. (and make them your raving fans!)
==> Collect hefty commissions & sales daily when others click on your banners & text links inside the software and purchases.
==> Experience a surge in traffic once your software makes it's way across the Internet...
and users of the software see your websites prominently displayed.
And much much more!
You really need to check this out for yourself to see how powerful it is:
http://www.imbuzzsoftware.com/?afid=8935
This awesome "IM Buzz Software" membership used to be available only for paid members.
But for a limited time now, you can sign up to gain instant *NO-COST* access to its members area and start making your own cash-producing viral software in just a few minutes.
This is honestly one revolutionary site which redefines viral marketing and transcends it
to a whole new level. So be sure not to be left out while everyone else takes advantage of this incredible never-to-be-repeated opportunity.
http://www.imbuzzsoftware.com/?afid=8935
To your success,
Babay
http://babayblog.blogspot.com
P.S. Remember, slots are highly limited and they are fast getting snapped up. So don't hate yourself for missing out!
Check it out now:
http://www.imbuzzsoftware.com/?afid=8935
I'm going to hand you the chance to grab over a DOZEN cash-producing and top-notch software that you can rebrand with your own website and affiliate links.
It used to cost $27/month for access, but today...
You get it for F-R-E-E!
>> http://www.imbuzzsoftware.com/?afid=8935
With the "IM Buzz Software" membership, you receive one rebrandable software every month in which you can rebrand with your own banners and text links to promote the products of your choice.
In other words, even if you know nuts about programming, you can well have your own software business up and running in mere minutes!
Here's just a small fraction of what you'll be able to do with your own *viral software*:
==> Rebrand over a dozen different software titles filled with YOUR own banners and text links
==> Profit by selling the software at full market value and earn the full amount.
==> Give the rebranded software, loaded with your website links, away for free as a lead generator and watch your list EXPLODE.
==> Present yourself as a valuable resource to new website visitors and past customers/readers. (and make them your raving fans!)
==> Collect hefty commissions & sales daily when others click on your banners & text links inside the software and purchases.
==> Experience a surge in traffic once your software makes it's way across the Internet...
and users of the software see your websites prominently displayed.
And much much more!
You really need to check this out for yourself to see how powerful it is:
http://www.imbuzzsoftware.com/?afid=8935
This awesome "IM Buzz Software" membership used to be available only for paid members.
But for a limited time now, you can sign up to gain instant *NO-COST* access to its members area and start making your own cash-producing viral software in just a few minutes.
This is honestly one revolutionary site which redefines viral marketing and transcends it
to a whole new level. So be sure not to be left out while everyone else takes advantage of this incredible never-to-be-repeated opportunity.
http://www.imbuzzsoftware.com/?afid=8935
To your success,
Babay
http://babayblog.blogspot.com
P.S. Remember, slots are highly limited and they are fast getting snapped up. So don't hate yourself for missing out!
Check it out now:
http://www.imbuzzsoftware.com/?afid=8935
Make Money From Your Links
Dear Friends,
I recently joined a really cool site that you'll be interested in. You take the links that you post on the web and change them into links that can earn you cash! You can post links anywhere, social networks, blogs, emails that you forward etc.
For example, you post a link on Myspace about a car video on YouTube, you use a LinkPayer link instead to display advertisements to the person that clicks on the link when they leave your Myspace, then it sends them to YouTube.
There's a referral program that pays 3 levels deep so you get a share of what friends earn.
Btw: They are currently putting $5.00 into your account just for joining!
Here's the bannder, including my referral so that I get paid! ;-)
Thank's
I recently joined a really cool site that you'll be interested in. You take the links that you post on the web and change them into links that can earn you cash! You can post links anywhere, social networks, blogs, emails that you forward etc.
For example, you post a link on Myspace about a car video on YouTube, you use a LinkPayer link instead to display advertisements to the person that clicks on the link when they leave your Myspace, then it sends them to YouTube.
There's a referral program that pays 3 levels deep so you get a share of what friends earn.
Btw: They are currently putting $5.00 into your account just for joining!
Here's the bannder, including my referral so that I get paid! ;-)
Thank's
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Great Lengths #2
Hi all,
With my album "Great Lengths" on its way, we've organised two Album Launch parties, with the help of a few good friends.. On 8 february we'll be guests at FWD>> @ Plastic People, London. Then a few days later, on february 11th, we'll be touching down in Berlin @ Arena Club! I can promise you all line-ups are huge and the sets will be out of the ordinary - two nights of real exciting music!! Hope to see you there. Many thanks for all help: all the dj's, FWD>> family, Arena, ST Holdings, Carhartt and Surefire Agency.
With my album "Great Lengths" on its way, we've organised two Album Launch parties, with the help of a few good friends.. On 8 february we'll be guests at FWD>> @ Plastic People, London. Then a few days later, on february 11th, we'll be touching down in Berlin @ Arena Club! I can promise you all line-ups are huge and the sets will be out of the ordinary - two nights of real exciting music!! Hope to see you there. Many thanks for all help: all the dj's, FWD>> family, Arena, ST Holdings, Carhartt and Surefire Agency.
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Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Free Adwords Spy Tool
Hey, I just downloaded a really cool tool that I'm using to spy on my Adwords competition, and come up with more keywords I can use for my campaigns. It's really slick. It installs right into your web browser and I can't even tell it's running when my browser's open.
I can see what anyone's Adwords keywords are with this addon. Anyway, I thought you'd be interested in downloading since it's free.
You can get it here:
I can see what anyone's Adwords keywords are with this addon. Anyway, I thought you'd be interested in downloading since it's free.
You can get it here:
Bye...bye Bush-Cheney. Welcome Obama-Biden
Washington - Former U.S. President George W Bush must finally say goodbye to a place that is 8 years old to be in the White House office.As seen in the direct broadcast CNN, Wednesday (21/1/2009), Bush and his wife removed directly by the leadership of a new duet Barack Obama and Joe Biden along with his wife, respectively.
Bush along with his wife delivered directly to the door entrance terparkir a helicopter near the White House. Before entering the helicopter and the base they live.
According to the plan Bush will go directly to a military base outside Washington. From there, Bush will fly directly on the right to his land in Texas.
Previously in the same location, former Vice President Dick Cheney also removed the Vice President Joe Biden. By using the wheelchair, Cheney Limo enter the car that will take them back home.
Meanwhile, millions of the masses who gathered to witness the historic inauguration Obama has begun to leave the National Mall. Obama at this time will attend the luncheon as the first U.S. president.
Bye...bye Bush-Cheney. Welcome Obama-Biden.
Building Affiliate Marketing Websites The Easy Way
There are myths in affiliate marketing, which attract many people to believe they are true. The first is that they think that running a business online is easy and, secondly, they think that we can make a fortune through online marketing in an instant. Probably not even 10% of those in the affiliate marketing became rich overnight. May there be fortunately successes in a short time after the establishment of an affiliate program, but not a majority of them can say with confidence, they only have a chance. Any person who is successful in this business would say he worked hard to get where he is now. Success in affiliate marketing takes time and hard work, but it's worth it.
If you plan to start an affiliate program, one of the things you have to consider is having your own website, and not just a simple website but a professional search. How to build a site for affiliate marketing? What are the steps to build one? First, you must have already decided on the theme or niche of your website. It would be better if you already have an idea what products or services to promote, as this will help in planning the design and layout of your web pages. The next step is to choose a domain name and get it hosted. The domain name is a name used for the address label on your website on the Internet. In deciding what domain name, consider the type of products that you approve and the theme of your site. Having the right keywords in your domain name does not give you more likely to attract more visitors to your website. Also, choose a top-level domain or extension, such as. Com, because it is more popular. In selecting your web host, consider the security of servers and time guarantees.
Now you can start creating your web pages. Do not be discouraged if you know a little in this field. There are page generation tools to rapidly launch sites available online, you just have to look. Many sources of online information can help you build a site for affiliate marketing, even if you might need time to study and learn the whole process. This is one reason why your site or the products you are going to promote must match your interests. Building your marketing website for the first time would be much more fun if you know very well the theme of your site. If you do not have time to make your own website, you can use templates or purchase readily available websites. The latter, however, is a more expensive option.
Establish a subsidiary on your own website would be cheaper and more interesting. In the process of building your site, you May also increase your knowledge in information technology and the use of computers, software and the Internet. As you yourself in these areas, you increase your advantage over other traders affiliates. It helps a lot, but if you already know the basis for development of web pages, such as programming languages and graphics software, because you can make your site more the company seeks more convenient to use or easier to navigate. In addition, if you are knowledgeable and skilled in this area, you can now focus more on the page content rather than design.
The key to attracting visitors to your website is to have high quality content, so the next thing you need to pay attention to marketing in the construction of your website is as follows. There May, several other factors that contribute to the success of your site marketing affiliation, but a good content tops the list. It is precisely the reason why users choose to enter your site. They want information and so when they do not find it, they would certainly go elsewhere. Write interesting articles related to your subject, which often make your site. If you have already looked for affiliate programs to complement your site, add links to the sites of companies and other very good sites for information. Links contribute to how you will be listed in major search engines as well. Also, create pages for the products you endorse, but do not promote products by setting up Hyped ads. Keep your readers interested by injecting lots of relevant and useful. This would allow them to click on the link to the business site and buy the product. Remember that good content, no frequent visitors, no sales and ultimately, no commission.
Make your site simple, but not without a touch of class to make it more of a business rather than a website website. It would be pleasing to the eyes and more interesting to go. To help with the design, you can see some examples of online stores to get an idea on how you can make your site better. Make sure you do not place too many banner ads since these could distract some site users, and thus, instead of clicking your ad, it might leave your site and look for other interesting sites. After all, banner ads are not the only ways to advertise your products. Now that your site is complete, submit its URL to major search engines to increase your traffic.
The growth of where you started. Learn more about using keywords for search engine optimization and apply them in your content. Update your site regularly or add new web pages. Be sure to inform your prospects about the latest updates to your site. You can use newsletters to that effect. The Internet provides a vast source of information on anything to use. Continue to train you on how to improve your website and soon you will be successful in affiliate marketing.
If you plan to start an affiliate program, one of the things you have to consider is having your own website, and not just a simple website but a professional search. How to build a site for affiliate marketing? What are the steps to build one? First, you must have already decided on the theme or niche of your website. It would be better if you already have an idea what products or services to promote, as this will help in planning the design and layout of your web pages. The next step is to choose a domain name and get it hosted. The domain name is a name used for the address label on your website on the Internet. In deciding what domain name, consider the type of products that you approve and the theme of your site. Having the right keywords in your domain name does not give you more likely to attract more visitors to your website. Also, choose a top-level domain or extension, such as. Com, because it is more popular. In selecting your web host, consider the security of servers and time guarantees.
Now you can start creating your web pages. Do not be discouraged if you know a little in this field. There are page generation tools to rapidly launch sites available online, you just have to look. Many sources of online information can help you build a site for affiliate marketing, even if you might need time to study and learn the whole process. This is one reason why your site or the products you are going to promote must match your interests. Building your marketing website for the first time would be much more fun if you know very well the theme of your site. If you do not have time to make your own website, you can use templates or purchase readily available websites. The latter, however, is a more expensive option.
Establish a subsidiary on your own website would be cheaper and more interesting. In the process of building your site, you May also increase your knowledge in information technology and the use of computers, software and the Internet. As you yourself in these areas, you increase your advantage over other traders affiliates. It helps a lot, but if you already know the basis for development of web pages, such as programming languages and graphics software, because you can make your site more the company seeks more convenient to use or easier to navigate. In addition, if you are knowledgeable and skilled in this area, you can now focus more on the page content rather than design.
The key to attracting visitors to your website is to have high quality content, so the next thing you need to pay attention to marketing in the construction of your website is as follows. There May, several other factors that contribute to the success of your site marketing affiliation, but a good content tops the list. It is precisely the reason why users choose to enter your site. They want information and so when they do not find it, they would certainly go elsewhere. Write interesting articles related to your subject, which often make your site. If you have already looked for affiliate programs to complement your site, add links to the sites of companies and other very good sites for information. Links contribute to how you will be listed in major search engines as well. Also, create pages for the products you endorse, but do not promote products by setting up Hyped ads. Keep your readers interested by injecting lots of relevant and useful. This would allow them to click on the link to the business site and buy the product. Remember that good content, no frequent visitors, no sales and ultimately, no commission.
Make your site simple, but not without a touch of class to make it more of a business rather than a website website. It would be pleasing to the eyes and more interesting to go. To help with the design, you can see some examples of online stores to get an idea on how you can make your site better. Make sure you do not place too many banner ads since these could distract some site users, and thus, instead of clicking your ad, it might leave your site and look for other interesting sites. After all, banner ads are not the only ways to advertise your products. Now that your site is complete, submit its URL to major search engines to increase your traffic.
The growth of where you started. Learn more about using keywords for search engine optimization and apply them in your content. Update your site regularly or add new web pages. Be sure to inform your prospects about the latest updates to your site. You can use newsletters to that effect. The Internet provides a vast source of information on anything to use. Continue to train you on how to improve your website and soon you will be successful in affiliate marketing.
This week I've been mostly..
..Taking pictures and having my pictures taken.
At the moment I have this real fancy-ass camera lent from my school and I'm pretty sure I'm going to accidentally smash it in the upcoming days.
Maybe I'll be able to snap a decent outfit shot before that happens.
P.S.
My favourite dress has been re-listed to our Etsy, because a certain someone didn't pay for it. ..Not to mention the problems I've had with the Finnish postal company lately!
I'm beginning to think that this whole store thing wasn't such a great idea after all.
click HERE to shop
At the moment I have this real fancy-ass camera lent from my school and I'm pretty sure I'm going to accidentally smash it in the upcoming days.
Maybe I'll be able to snap a decent outfit shot before that happens.
P.S.
My favourite dress has been re-listed to our Etsy, because a certain someone didn't pay for it. ..Not to mention the problems I've had with the Finnish postal company lately!
I'm beginning to think that this whole store thing wasn't such a great idea after all.
click HERE to shop
Art Education in Orissa and B.K.Art College
Art education has been a non-state affair in Orissa. While the richness of the cultural resources has attracted many artists and scholars from all over the globe to enrich their knowledge, least has been ever thought for its development by the government. In spite of all the snags the resources have inspired several intellectuals to build on it a strong foundation that could be able to carry the legacy forward.
Bibhuti Kanungo College of Art & Crafts has been a significant chapter in contemporary orissan art. Established in 1984, the BKCAC opened up new avenues for the artists to experiment and stretch their limits without being victimised by politics. The founder members of the college have responsibly delivered an environment with human ambience where artistic freedom could find an appropriate expression. The comprehensive effort of the teachers and students in the provided space, dreamt of a new world that deals with innovation and realisation. The integrated conviction has brought the BKCAC through these twenty five years; from a rented house at Kalpana Square to its own premise at Khandagiri in Bhubaneswar, from small rooms to spacious studios, from deputed teachers to permanent faculties, from town exhibitions to international exposure. In these years there have been ups and downs but the nuance and vibe of the associates has remained intact.To mark this , all the students passed from BKCAC has formed an organization AlumniBKCAC, and it will work towards upliftment and promotion of college and orissan art.
Bibhuti Kanungo College of Art & Crafts has been a significant chapter in contemporary orissan art. Established in 1984, the BKCAC opened up new avenues for the artists to experiment and stretch their limits without being victimised by politics. The founder members of the college have responsibly delivered an environment with human ambience where artistic freedom could find an appropriate expression. The comprehensive effort of the teachers and students in the provided space, dreamt of a new world that deals with innovation and realisation. The integrated conviction has brought the BKCAC through these twenty five years; from a rented house at Kalpana Square to its own premise at Khandagiri in Bhubaneswar, from small rooms to spacious studios, from deputed teachers to permanent faculties, from town exhibitions to international exposure. In these years there have been ups and downs but the nuance and vibe of the associates has remained intact.To mark this , all the students passed from BKCAC has formed an organization AlumniBKCAC, and it will work towards upliftment and promotion of college and orissan art.
AlumniBKCAC
City Office : Plot-132 1st Floor,Forest park, Bhubaneswar-751009
Campus Office : B.K.College of Art and Crafts,Tapovana,Khandagiri
Bhubaneswar-751030 Web : http://www.alumnibkcac.org/
Ashok Art Gallery is proud to be a part of this Silver Jubilee Celebration
The Ashok Art Gallery is internationally known for one of its most important holdings: more than 2000 major works by the world's most significant Artists.Over the past years, as Ashok Art Gallery has become a major centre for contemporary visual art, the Gallery has built a strong collection of contemporary work of different artists.
Last year we became a sponsor of the STANDUP-SPEAKOUT Artshow, Organized by Art Of Living Foundation and United Nations.Organized an International Contenmporary Art Exhibition including artists from USA, The Nederlands, Pakistan and India.We have also participated at Art Expo India 2008 Mumbai and India Art Summit 2008 New Delhi.
Last year we became a sponsor of the STANDUP-SPEAKOUT Artshow, Organized by Art Of Living Foundation and United Nations.Organized an International Contenmporary Art Exhibition including artists from USA, The Nederlands, Pakistan and India.We have also participated at Art Expo India 2008 Mumbai and India Art Summit 2008 New Delhi.
Monday, January 19, 2009
How To Create More Good Luck For Yourself In 2009?
I mentioned in my previous article that this is a double Earth year.2009 is the Earth Ox year, and Ox also represents Earth. This article is specially written for 3 groups of people. Firstly, those born in Earth months.
People born in Earth months already have plenty of Earth in their 8 characters. They don't need more Earth. More Earth will only cause their luck cycle to be down.
There are 2 people in my family born in Earth months. Not only that, their chart is dominated by Earth. They are my grandmother and my eldest aunt. I am quite concerned about them, especially in terms of health. Though this article is also for them, both of them don't use the internet. I will have to advise them verbally.
The Earth months are as follows:
Dragon Month:5th April to 5th May
Sheep Month:7th July to 7th August
Dog Month:8th October to 7th November
Ox Month:6th January to 3rd February
The next group of people are those born in Autumn(8th August to 7th October). This group of people are not affected as much as those born in Earth months, but they still need to improve their luck cycle.
As I mentioned before, Autumn people have a lot of Metal in their 8 characters. Metal is unfavorable to them. Since this is a double Earth year, it will produce more Metal, which is unfavorable.
The last group of people are the Winter born people(8th November to 5th January). Among the 3 groups, you are the least affected. Your luck cycle will be quite average this year, as Earth weakens Fire, which is your favorable element.
Before you can improve your luck cycle, you need to know which element is needed. Whatever information I share with you here is only 80% accurate, as I don't have your exact date of birth. But basing on month, I can tell you which are likely your favorable elements.
For those born in Earth months, you need to increase the effect of Wood in 2009.Wood destroys Earth. By using Wood, you can improve your luck cycle in 2009.This especially applies to Fire people born in Earth months. If you are born in Autumn or Winter, you will need both Fire and Wood.
Fire first because Autumn and Winter are consider the cold seasons. Wood is used to strengthen the Fire and keep it going. For Autumn people, you need Fire because Fire helps to weaken Metal.
This especially applies if you are an Earth or Fire person born in Autumn. For Autumn people, Wood alone also works, as Metal destroys Wood, Wood will help to weaken the strong Metal.
For the Winter people, Fire is the most important element as you need to "anti-freeze". With only Wood, there is not much effect. You need to have Fire first, then Wood.
In conclusion, Wood and Fire are required for improving your luck cycle this year. Next, I will list out what are the 16 things you can do on a daily basis to increase the effect of Wood and Fire in your life...
1.Using Green. This can mean wearing more Green clothes, wearing anything Green or using anything Green. (Increases Wood)
2.Spending more time at book shops or libraries. Reading more newspapers or magazines. Spending more time writing on paper. Paper represents the Wood element. (Increases Wood)
3.Spending more time shopping for clothes, wearing more than 1 layer of clothes. As mentioned earlier, Green is Wood. Wearing more Green will increase the effect more. If you are in the army,2009 will be quite good for you. (Increases Wood)
4.Go for morning walks at the park, especially from 5am to 7am.5am to 7am is the Rabbit hour. It is the hour with the most Wood throughout the whole day. During your morning walk, go and touch the biggest tree you can find. (Increases Wood)
5.Travel East or face East. East is the direction of Wood. (Increases Wood)
6.Hang around or spend more time with people born in Spring (4th February to 4th April). These people have lots of Wood in their 8 characters. They can help you reduce the effect of Earth. (Increases Wood)
7.Eating more vegetables, especially leafy green ones. Better if you go vegetarian. (Increases Wood)
8.Keeping a Rabbit or Cat as a pet. In Chinese Astrology, the Rabbit and Tiger represents Wood. Since Tigers and cats are from the same family, cats also represent Wood. By keeping these 2 types of animals as pets, you can increase Wood. If you don't want the hassle of keeping pets, you can also have figures or soft toys of these 2 types of animals. (Increases Wood)
9.Using Red, Orange or Purple. This means wearing clothes of these colors and using anything with these colors. (Increases Fire)
10.Go sun tanning, spending more time at your computer, spending more time at lighting shops or electrical appliance shops. (Increases Fire)
11.Spending more time talking on your cell phone. The effect of Fire is stronger when using your cell phone as compared to your home or office phone. (Increases Fire)
12.Eat more hot and spicy or BBQ food. Better still if you barbecue the food yourself. Cooking is also a Fire activity. Even by spending more time in the kitchen is also considered increasing Fire in your life. (Increases Fire)
13.Spend more time with people born in Summer (6th May to 6th July). These people have too much Fire. They'll love to have someone (usually Winter people) to come along and help them balance their Fire. (Increases Fire)
14.Keeping your bathroom lights (your bedroom's bathroom) on throughout the night. This increases Fire and reduces Water. (Increases Fire)
15.Travel South or face South. South is the direction of Fire. (Increases Fire)
16.Spend more time driving, especially if you have a Red car. Cars represent Fire. The longer you stay in your car, the stronger the effect of Fire. (Increases Fire)
I hope you will benefit from these 16 tips. Next article, I will share with you basing on your Chinese horoscope, what 2009 has in store for you. Stay tuned!
Do you want Create Your Luck with self...? Klik Here to find out more..
People born in Earth months already have plenty of Earth in their 8 characters. They don't need more Earth. More Earth will only cause their luck cycle to be down.
There are 2 people in my family born in Earth months. Not only that, their chart is dominated by Earth. They are my grandmother and my eldest aunt. I am quite concerned about them, especially in terms of health. Though this article is also for them, both of them don't use the internet. I will have to advise them verbally.
The Earth months are as follows:
Dragon Month:5th April to 5th May
Sheep Month:7th July to 7th August
Dog Month:8th October to 7th November
Ox Month:6th January to 3rd February
The next group of people are those born in Autumn(8th August to 7th October). This group of people are not affected as much as those born in Earth months, but they still need to improve their luck cycle.
As I mentioned before, Autumn people have a lot of Metal in their 8 characters. Metal is unfavorable to them. Since this is a double Earth year, it will produce more Metal, which is unfavorable.
The last group of people are the Winter born people(8th November to 5th January). Among the 3 groups, you are the least affected. Your luck cycle will be quite average this year, as Earth weakens Fire, which is your favorable element.
Before you can improve your luck cycle, you need to know which element is needed. Whatever information I share with you here is only 80% accurate, as I don't have your exact date of birth. But basing on month, I can tell you which are likely your favorable elements.
For those born in Earth months, you need to increase the effect of Wood in 2009.Wood destroys Earth. By using Wood, you can improve your luck cycle in 2009.This especially applies to Fire people born in Earth months. If you are born in Autumn or Winter, you will need both Fire and Wood.
Fire first because Autumn and Winter are consider the cold seasons. Wood is used to strengthen the Fire and keep it going. For Autumn people, you need Fire because Fire helps to weaken Metal.
This especially applies if you are an Earth or Fire person born in Autumn. For Autumn people, Wood alone also works, as Metal destroys Wood, Wood will help to weaken the strong Metal.
For the Winter people, Fire is the most important element as you need to "anti-freeze". With only Wood, there is not much effect. You need to have Fire first, then Wood.
In conclusion, Wood and Fire are required for improving your luck cycle this year. Next, I will list out what are the 16 things you can do on a daily basis to increase the effect of Wood and Fire in your life...
1.Using Green. This can mean wearing more Green clothes, wearing anything Green or using anything Green. (Increases Wood)
2.Spending more time at book shops or libraries. Reading more newspapers or magazines. Spending more time writing on paper. Paper represents the Wood element. (Increases Wood)
3.Spending more time shopping for clothes, wearing more than 1 layer of clothes. As mentioned earlier, Green is Wood. Wearing more Green will increase the effect more. If you are in the army,2009 will be quite good for you. (Increases Wood)
4.Go for morning walks at the park, especially from 5am to 7am.5am to 7am is the Rabbit hour. It is the hour with the most Wood throughout the whole day. During your morning walk, go and touch the biggest tree you can find. (Increases Wood)
5.Travel East or face East. East is the direction of Wood. (Increases Wood)
6.Hang around or spend more time with people born in Spring (4th February to 4th April). These people have lots of Wood in their 8 characters. They can help you reduce the effect of Earth. (Increases Wood)
7.Eating more vegetables, especially leafy green ones. Better if you go vegetarian. (Increases Wood)
8.Keeping a Rabbit or Cat as a pet. In Chinese Astrology, the Rabbit and Tiger represents Wood. Since Tigers and cats are from the same family, cats also represent Wood. By keeping these 2 types of animals as pets, you can increase Wood. If you don't want the hassle of keeping pets, you can also have figures or soft toys of these 2 types of animals. (Increases Wood)
9.Using Red, Orange or Purple. This means wearing clothes of these colors and using anything with these colors. (Increases Fire)
10.Go sun tanning, spending more time at your computer, spending more time at lighting shops or electrical appliance shops. (Increases Fire)
11.Spending more time talking on your cell phone. The effect of Fire is stronger when using your cell phone as compared to your home or office phone. (Increases Fire)
12.Eat more hot and spicy or BBQ food. Better still if you barbecue the food yourself. Cooking is also a Fire activity. Even by spending more time in the kitchen is also considered increasing Fire in your life. (Increases Fire)
13.Spend more time with people born in Summer (6th May to 6th July). These people have too much Fire. They'll love to have someone (usually Winter people) to come along and help them balance their Fire. (Increases Fire)
14.Keeping your bathroom lights (your bedroom's bathroom) on throughout the night. This increases Fire and reduces Water. (Increases Fire)
15.Travel South or face South. South is the direction of Fire. (Increases Fire)
16.Spend more time driving, especially if you have a Red car. Cars represent Fire. The longer you stay in your car, the stronger the effect of Fire. (Increases Fire)
I hope you will benefit from these 16 tips. Next article, I will share with you basing on your Chinese horoscope, what 2009 has in store for you. Stay tuned!
Do you want Create Your Luck with self...? Klik Here to find out more..
Sunday, January 18, 2009
tell me why
The leaning tower of cat bowls. How can a cat have so many possessions? Twelve cat bowls. Twelve. Seriously.
Obama's Global Agenda
"Mr. Obama plans to use his presidential power to get the Democratic-majority Senate to ratify a series of treaties that would take us a long way toward global rule over our money, our laws, our military, our courts, our customs, our trade, and even our use of energy. Here are the treaties he says he wants."Full Story
Sexual Mastery Audio Course
Learn The Secret To Giving Her EARTH SHATTERING ORGASMS... Unlock Any Woman's Wild Side... Last Longer With TOTAL Control... Create Intense And Lasting Sexual Attraction... And Transform Yourself Into The Sexually POWERFUL And CONFIDENT Man That She ...see details
How To Repair LCD Monitor Self
Troubleshooting and repairing LCD Monitor can be an extremely confusing thing if you don't have someone to guide you through the whole process. That's why I know you're going to be delighted after you found this website, because there's finally a sure and guarantee way to learn the secrets of LCD Monitor repair.
Do you know that understanding of how each sections in LCD Monitor work is the key of success in LCD Monitor troubleshooting? Yes, if you ignore this facts, then chances for you to successfully repaired a LCD Monitor will be very slim.
This E-book is written for those who already have some experience in electronic repair and for seasoned electronic repairers too. I have spent countless hours testing, repairing and analyzing LCD Monitors and found out many secrets that you cannot get elsewhere!
Do you know that understanding of how each sections in LCD Monitor work is the key of success in LCD Monitor troubleshooting? Yes, if you ignore this facts, then chances for you to successfully repaired a LCD Monitor will be very slim.
This E-book is written for those who already have some experience in electronic repair and for seasoned electronic repairers too. I have spent countless hours testing, repairing and analyzing LCD Monitors and found out many secrets that you cannot get elsewhere!
Saturday, January 17, 2009
Wallstreet Journal: "Obama's New World Order" and "North American Currency"
Unbelievable.... "The New World Order is upon us, full of hope, promise and a fair amount of fear.....
Given the magnitude, breadth and pace of the global financial epidemic, however, we must explore each side of the twisted ride.
Years ago, the Federal Reserve wrote a "solution paper" regarding the need to combat zero-bound interest rates. The concern was the flight of capital from the U.S. and an option discussed was a two-tiered currency, one for U.S citizens and one for foreigners.
Canadian economist Herbert Grubel first introduced a potential manifestation of this concept in 1999. The North American Currency -- called the "Amero" in select circles -- would effectively comingle the Canadian dollar, U.S. dollar and Mexican peso.
On its face, while difficult to imagine, it makes intuitive sense. The ability to combine Canadian natural resources, American ingenuity and cheap Mexican labor would allow North America to compete better on a global stage."
Full Story
Business Model Designer From Sticky Note To Screen Interaction
Last Friday I was part of the committee for a Masters Thesis defense on business model design at the HEC Business School in Lausanne, Switzerland. Boris Fritscher, whom I previously mentioned on this blog, defended his thesis "Business Model Designer From Sticky Note To Screen Interaction". For his dissertation Boris developed a web-based business model design tool under the guidance of Professor Yves Pigneur, my co-author for an upcoming book on business model innovation.
Boris did an outstanding job combining business relevance with software development. You can check out his presentation and thesis below or on his website. You can also look into a non-interactive demo of his business model design tool. It allows capturing, storing and designing business models (read about it in the dissertation). Boris is not yet opening up the tool to the public, though many readers of my blog have already asked me for access. If we show him how much we want/need this tool he will hopefully change his mind and allow some testers access to an alpha/beta version. Isn't it, Boris ;-) So post a comment to this blog if you think this is relevant!
Have a look at Boris' thesis. It is really interesting and I believe it points us to the future of business model innovation: one where paper based brainstorming is combined and complemented with the advantages of computer aided business model design.
And here the slides Boris presented during his thesis defense:
Friday, January 16, 2009
Sometimes Bad Luck Is Good Luck
Today my beloved patent brogues (the ones I wear all the time) basically fall into pieces when I ran frantically to the bus I was about to miss.
When I got home I browsed lazily through a couple of web boutiqes to see if I could find something remotely similar.
As I did, I stumbled accross these:
They're by Opening Ceremony and reduced from €264.88 to €78.85.
I really didn't have to think twice!
And the best part is that those seriously good quality shoes are bound to last longer than the cheap Topshop ones I broke.
When I got home I browsed lazily through a couple of web boutiqes to see if I could find something remotely similar.
As I did, I stumbled accross these:
They're by Opening Ceremony and reduced from €264.88 to €78.85.
I really didn't have to think twice!
And the best part is that those seriously good quality shoes are bound to last longer than the cheap Topshop ones I broke.
Obama’s Energy Czar: Socialist Agent For World Government
Barack Obama’s “climate czar” Carol Browner has been exposed as being a member of Socialist International, a highly influential group headed by a Bilderberg Group luminary that calls for the implementation of global government, despite Socialist International’s attempts to seemingly “memory-hole” information about Browner on their website.
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to understand that Obama and his cabinet are preparing to exploit fearmongering about global warming to push new measures of taxation, regulation and internationalism. Obama himself has vigorously promoted the revival of a bill that would slash carbon emissions by 80 per cent, a move that would inflict a new Great Depression, cost millions of jobs, and sink America to near third world status. Full Story
Obama: Surrender to World Government?
"The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) is described by Wikipedia as "an international convention setting out the civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights of your children."
It is hard to read even that soft description as anything but an attempt of a world authority to enter your home and side with your children when the youngsters don't like your rules. This has some frightening overtones, and calls to mind the Hitler and Stalin societies where kids were encouraged to rat on their parents. While there is no hint here of any threat to send supposedly errant parents off to concentration camps or worse (as happened under Nazi and Communist societies), it does set up an adversarial relationship between parent and child, something in which no government — national or international — has any business, absent, of course, any proof of harm."
Full Story
Thursday, January 15, 2009
'Creeping Nationalization of Banking': Governments to Control Everything
Bloomberg: “The government wants to take control, dictate lending policies, dictate banks’ views of their assets, and generally interfere with what are private companies,” the U.K. Shareholders Association said in a statement, describing Brown’s plan as “creeping nationalization.” The lobby group represents individual investors. Full Story
Yahoo Finance: WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The incoming Obama administration is considering setting up a government-run bank to acquire bad assets clogging the financial system, a person familiar with the Obama team's thinking said on Saturday.
The U.S. Federal Reserve, Treasury and Federal Deposit Insurance Corp have been in talks about ways to ease a banking crisis that is once again deepening -- and a government-run "aggregator bank" is among the options.
Full Story
Alpha-Farewell To George Bush
"Back in 2004 I summed up George Bush’s first term in my Alpha Politics. So it seems only appropriate to do the same for the Bush-Cheney second term:
A is for Jack Abramoff who’s big in pay-to-play.
B’s for greedy bankers who have fleeced the USA.
C is for Rep. Craig who isn’t gay, except in bed.
D is for democracy which Dubya hasn’t spread. ..."
The rest of my Alpha-Political Farewell to Bush and Cheney is here.
A is for Jack Abramoff who’s big in pay-to-play.
B’s for greedy bankers who have fleeced the USA.
C is for Rep. Craig who isn’t gay, except in bed.
D is for democracy which Dubya hasn’t spread. ..."
The rest of my Alpha-Political Farewell to Bush and Cheney is here.
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Program O
Elizabeth Perreau, creator Shakespearebot, has written a new AIML interpreter. In keeping with the tradition of naming AIML interpreters with letters of the alphabet (Program B, Program C, Program D etc.) Elizabeth has chosen to name hers Program O (the letter O, pronounced "Oh"). Like the no longer actively supported Program E, Program O is based on PHP and MySQL. You can check out Program O at http://www.program-o.com.
Program E has some well known bugs, and without active support, it can be frustrating to try to make modifications to its source code. Elizabeth says, "I just got to the stage where if I wanted to get into AIML more I had to re-write alot of it for my needs." Program O is written to make it easy to add new AIML tags and extensions. Elizabeth has already implemented the custom Pandorabots tags <eval> and <learn> for client-based bot training.
Program O is set for release on March 1, 2009. Meanwhile you can help Elizabeth debug the code by visiting the site and chatting with her bot.
The Wages of Mubarak's "Realism"
Like many others, I’ve been watching in disbelief as the Egyptian government enables the Israeli destruction of Gaza. This time, Hosni Mubarak and his foreign policy muwazafeen have entirely thrown in their lot with Israel and the U.S., blaming Hamas, admitting that they can’t lift a finger without Israeli permission, and hoping that Israel will get the job done this time and extinguish Hamas once and for all. But as obscene and repugnant as his current stance is, Mubarak’s behaviour is of a piece with his foreign policy posture since he succeeded Sadat. That posture is based on a simple formula: “realism”, which translates into equating his interests with those of Israel and the United States, in exchange for scraps of economic rent; and revamped authoritarianism, which translates into repressing anyone who dares to challenge his realism and imagine alternatives. (Landing in Saudi Arabia, 13 January)In the early years of his tenure, Mubarak didn’t stray from the substance of Sadat’s policies but did steer clear of his predecessor’s flamboyance and increasingly unhinged demeanour. He tried to appear firm with the Israelis, recalling Egypt’s ambassador in Tel Aviv after the Sabra and Shatila massacre and holding out for international arbitration of the Taba demarcation, which bore fruit and Taba was returned to Egypt in 1988. As is well known, Mubarak worked to roll back Egypt’s isolation after its separate peace with Israel, and in 1989, Egypt was readmitted to the Arab League and became part of something called The Arab Cooperation Council along with Yemen, Iraq and Jordan. But Mubarak was always a loyal follower of the Americans, contributing troops to the first Gulf War and allowing US warships unconditional access to the Suez in the 2003 war. At the same time that he was reintegrating Egypt into the Arab fold, Mubarak was also preaching the American gospel of cautious normalisation with Israel to other Arab rulers and forging coalitions with domestic capitalists eager to enrich themselves through ties to the Israeli economy.
The difference between then and now is one of style and not substance. If Mubarak today has no compunction about openly aligning his interests with Israel’s, this isn’t a sharp break from the 1980s so much as a shift in impression management. Before, Mubarak was just as cooperative with Israel as he is today, he simply invested more energy in rhetoric to hide this fact.
Today, he’s lost interest in keeping up appearances, and seems perfectly comfortable being a tinpot autocrat with nothing more on his mind than keeping his patrons happy and his population cowed. A series of developments starting around 2000 have driven Mubarak to this point. Three events in particular are relevant: Hizballah driving Israel out of southern Lebanon; Bashar al-Assad inheriting power in Syria; and the outbreak of the second Intifada.The regional rise of Hizballah (and later Hamas) and the breakdown of Israeli-Palestinian negotiations cast doubt as never before on the supposed futility of standing up to Israel. Refusing to challenge Israel is part and parcel of the so-called moderate worldview embraced by Arab governments, including Fatah, who are willing to make all the concessions on Israel and America’s terms. By contrast, Hizballah’s routing of Israeli forces buoyed the positions of the two Islamist organisations and most of Arab public opinion. This stance is premised on treating Israel as an interlocutor, not an invincible power, and demanding that it make real concessions of its own. For Mubarak, Abdallah in Jordan, the Sauds, and Mohamed VI of Morocco, the Hizballah victory and the outbreak of the second intifada were very bad news, exposing these incumbents’ political dependency and crediting the alternatives promoted by their political rivals.
The reason why Bashar al-Assad’s assumption of power is significant is that it came at a time when the question of succession preoccupied the Mubaraks (Hosni and wife). They became intrigued by the Syrian innovation of republican power inheritance and soon began to apply it at home. As Mubarak (and wife) became more engrossed in engineering the handover of power to the son and preparing the domestic political arena for the transfer, he became less and less able to package his foreign policy as protecting Egypt’s national interests or serving as a credible counterweight to Israel. This is because Gamal Mubarak’s domestic rise went hand in hand with economic and political rapprochement with Israel. Cronies of the Mubarak family signed 15-year deals to sell Egyptian natural gas to Israel, and inked QIZ protocols allowing free access to U.S. markets contingent on Israeli input into the exports. On the foreign policy front, the story of Gamal Mubarak is the story of how the Egyptian government ceased to promote a broadly defined Egyptian national interest and worked to promote a narrowly defined ruling class interest organically bound up with Israeli interests.
Observe Mubarak’s behavior during subsequent regional developments: Sharon’s 2002 reoccupation of the West Bank; the United States’ 2003 invasion of Iraq; Israel’s 2004 incursion into Rafah; the January 2006 Palestinian elections and subsequent Israeli-American attempts to bring down the Hamas government and foment a Palestinian civil war; the summer 2006 Israeli bombardment of Lebanon; Hamas’ 2007 seizure of power in Gaza to pre-empt a Fatah coup; and Israel’s November 4 attack on Gaza. On each of these occasions, Mubarak took no independent initiative to assert Egypt’s role, remaining resolutely within the acceptable parameters set by the U.S. and Israel. Sure, he recalled the Egyptian ambassador to Tel Aviv in 2000 and emitted feeble gestures of opposition to the Iraq war in 2003, but with the approval of his patrons, who fully understand the necessity of these noises for domestic consumption. Mubarak also ventriloquised the U.S. and Israel, painting Hamas and Hizballah as irrational and reflexively violent surrogates of Iran, seeking to sow destruction in the region. He stepped aside and bunkered himself in Sharm al-Sheikh as other powers like Saudi Arabia (and now Turkey) stepped in to become credible regional mediators.
To be fair, Mubarak did sometimes take initiatives, such as when he makes sure that his police forces beat, arrest, and harass those citizens who dare express outrage at his behavior. (Protest in Cairo, 2 January)
I’ve heard a lot of people say that Mubarak should make a bold move now, like halt the sale of Egyptian natural gas to Israel or open the Rafah crossing to recoup his legitimacy, gain popular support, mend his self-respect, restore Egypt’s regional clout, or what have you. But why on earth should we expect Mr Mubarak to have a conversion experience late in life and do something absolutely out of character? He’s never believed in domestic popular legitimacy, that’s why he hates Hamas so much. And he fundamentally does not believe in contradicting U.S. or Israeli actions, ever, even if this means that hundreds of unarmed Palestinians die in batches every few months because Israel decides to punish them for electing Hamas and not Fatah. Free and fair elections are a very dangerous thing, you see. They bring to power the wrong kind of people, the kind who think they have a choice. (Protest in Amman, 13 January)*AP Photos
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