Today as the nearby church tower sounded 5 PM, a small flash mob appeared on Dam Square to protest the €1,000 per year Muslim headscarf tax proposed this week by Geert Wilders, the leader of the Nethlerands' Freedom Party (which slowly but surely, given each subsequent initiative by Wilders,
June 16, 2009; cyberspace @ 00.15
Although I have once used a picture of a live TV event, this is the first screen grab I've used. Since coming home last night from the campfire, I have been following the news coming out of Iran.
And I think 70% of my time went to following Iranian twitters giving eye witness accounts of events and relaying accounts from other trusted sources or passing along information and requests for certain kinds of help.
And all the while they are playing a game of cat and mouse with the authorities on multiple levels of control. There’s the technological battlefield where Iranian twitters are requesting help from hackers to attack government sites and networks and for others to continuously arrange all kinds of technical work arounds to beat the government cyber-roadblocks being put up and constantly moved around the Iranian part of the Internet.
And there is the very physical and real game of cat and mouse this person may be playing with the security services. Yet he or she keeps sending messages even while on the move, often announcing they must go off line to arrange new phones and new Internet connections.
The rest of my time, the remaining 30% went to a broad number of ‘mainstream media’ outlets on TV and Internet. But I think 100% of the new or valuable information has come from Twitter and not from the mainstream media.
The twits (each entry on Twitter) are pure human drama happening more or less in real time. Limited to 140 characters they pack a content rich punch. Some are hopeful and optimistic and others are dark, full of angst and quite frankly scary to read.
What you read is happening to that one person along with those in his or her network. They have seen or run from police brutality. They have marched for Mousavi. They have been chanting on rooftops with tens of thousands of others. They or ones they know have been arrested, brutalized and intimidated by the various authorities and security services.
And in short bursts of high-energy storytelling you can follow what’s really going on there in a way never before possible. Via Twitter. It is quite amazing.
March 24, 2009; Home @ 16.45
His pants are smokin'! This guy is really in the hot seat today, getting an incredible grilling from some representatives as he testifies before the House Financial Services Committee. I was home today a little bit sick (nothing major, just an uncomfortable head cold) so I watched some of the testimony. By the way, if you want to know how your Congress works (or doesn't - depending on your point of view), watch some important committee hearings. It's great to see which congresspersons use most of their time giving vapid self-serving speeches and which actually ask sharp and insightful questions.
