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Cryptography, steganography, movies, cyberculture, travel, games, and too many other hobbies to list! |
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The Iraq 55: Personality Identification Playing Cards |
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Topic: Current Events |
5:41 pm EDT, Apr 14, 2003 |
Pictures of the 55 cards on the Department of Defense website. Interestingly, some of the cards only have names, and don't have pictures. I'm also surprised that they didn't include the Arabic script of the names on the cards, as that would have been an easy tool for the soldiers to use when talking to helpful people on the street: Show them the cards and ask people if any of the names were familiar. I'm sure that there are plenty of Iraqis who are more than eager to help find many of the people in that deck! Lastly, I was extremely surprised that our beloved Iraqi (Mis)Information Minister, Sahaf, isn't in the deck. I would have put his card at a high trade value, up there with Mark McGuire and Ozzie Smith or something. ;) The Iraq 55: Personality Identification Playing Cards |
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Iraq 'Most Wanted' Posters |
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Topic: Current Events |
2:21 pm EDT, Apr 14, 2003 |
A U.K. company, "Box MX" is evidently selling decks of the "most wanted" cards, as well as wall posters with the pictures. I have no idea if they're legitimate or not, but their website is here: Iraq 'Most Wanted' Posters |
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Topic: Current Events |
2:08 pm EDT, Apr 14, 2003 |
] IRAQI TOP 55 ] ] Name--Position ] ] 1. Saddam Hussein--President of Iraq/CINC of Military ] 2. Qusay Hussein--SSO, SRG & RGFC Commander ] 3. Uday Hussein--Saddam Fedayeen Commander ] 4. Abid Hamid Mahmud Al Tikriti--Presidential Secretary (WMD Release Authority) ] 5. Al Hasan Majid--Pres. Advisor, Fmr South Reg Cmdr ] 6. Izzat Ibrahim al Duri--Vice Chair of the RCC, North Reg Cmdr ] 7. Hani Abd Latif Tilfa al Tikriti--SSO Director ] 8. Kamal Mustafa Abdallah Sultan Tikriti--RG Secretary ] 9. Barzan Abd Ghafur Sulayman al Tikriti--SRG Commander ] 10. Muzahim Sa'b Hassan al Tikriti--Air Defense Force Commander This is a straight text list of the 55 people on the "Most Wanted" deck of cards that are being issued in Iraq. I've been trying to find a URL to meme with the actual pictures of the cards, but every mirror site that I've checked seems to be either slashdotted, or is linking to the DoD site (which is evidently being slashdotted). If you'd like to try that URL yourself, try here: http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Apr2003/pipc10042003.html Also, if anyone sees any place that's selling these cards, please meme it? I'd really like to get my hands on a deck. I'm positive it would spice up any Magic or Yu-Gi-Oh tournament. ;) 55 'Most Wanted' in Iraq |
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Safe house or bachelor pad? Troops discover home of one of Saddam's hideaways |
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Topic: Miscellaneous |
11:51 pm EDT, Apr 13, 2003 |
] The doors of the town house opened to reveal a playboy's ] fantasy straight from the 1960s: mirrored bedroom, lamps ] shaped like women, air-brushed paintings of a topless ] blonde woman and a mustached hero battling a crocodile. ] ] On the wall and in the bedroom were photos of Saddam ] Hussein and one of his mistresses. Military officials ] suspect they found one of the paranoid Iraqi leader's ] many safe houses. ] ] "This must have been Saddam's love shack," said Sgt. ] Spencer Willardson of Logan, Utah. Shagadelic! Safe house or bachelor pad? Troops discover home of one of Saddam's hideaways |
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Topic: Games |
11:50 pm EDT, Apr 13, 2003 |
Quoted: In this activity youll be asked a series of 17 questions about God and religion. In each case, apart from Question 1, you need to answer True or False. The aim of the activity is not to judge whether these answers are correct or not. Our battleground is that of rational consistency. This means to get across without taking any hits, youll need to answer in a way which is rationally consistent. What this means is you need to avoid choosing answers which contradict each other. If you answer in a way which is rationally consistent but which has strange or unpalatable implications, youll be forced to bite a bullet. Battleground God |
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MEMRI: Saudi Conspiracy Theorist Umayma Jalahma |
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Topic: Current Events |
3:22 pm EDT, Apr 13, 2003 |
] On April 9, 2003, Dr. Umayma Jalahma briefed the Arab ] League's "Center for Coordination and Follow-Up" and ] claimed that the U.S. war in Iraq was timed to coincide ] with the Jewish holiday Purim. Dr. Jalahma, a professor ] of Islamic Studies at Saudi Arabia's King Faysal ] University, made headlines last year when she claimed ] that Jews use human blood to make pastries for the Purim ] holiday. In an article published in the Saudi daily ] Al-Riyadh on March 12, 2002, Dr. Jalahma wrote about "the ] Jewish holiday of Purim... for this holiday, the Jewish ] people must obtain human blood so that their clerics can ] prepare the holiday pastries... that affords the Jewish ] vampires great delight as they carefully monitor every ] detail of the blood-shedding with pleasure... After this ] barbaric display, the Jews take the spilled blood, in the ] bottle set in the bottom [of the needle-studded barrel], ] and the Jewish cleric makes his coreligionists completely ] happy on their holiday when he serves them the pastries ] in which human blood is mixed." Wheee, this one gets the record for the weirdest Arab "Jewish Conspiracy" accusation I've heard. Some of the other weird ones can also be read here: http://www.frontpagemag.com/articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=3170 Oh, and as a followup on Dr. Jalahma: ] Following MEMRI's release [in 2002] of a translation of this ] article, Vice President Dick Cheney, National Security ] Advisor Condoleezza Rice, and White House Press Secretary ] Ari Fleischer, criticized the Saudi government and press. ] Subsequently, Dr. Jalahma was prevented from writing for ] Al-Riyadh, but began writing for Al-Watan, another Saudi ] daily. Maybe Arnett should go over there too? MEMRI: Saudi Conspiracy Theorist Umayma Jalahma |
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Al Jazeera - Top Shia cleric told to leave by armed group |
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Topic: Current Events |
1:49 pm EDT, Apr 13, 2003 |
] A violent power struggle has broken out among the ] Shi'i leadership in Iraq, centred around the holy ] city of Najaf. ] ] In the latest instance, armed radical groups have ] surrounded the house of Iraq's top Shi'i Muslim cleric ] Ayotollah Ali Sistani in the holy city of Najaf, giving ] him 48 hours to leave the country. ] ] "Armed thugs and hooligans have had the house of ] Ayatollah Sistani under siege since Saturday. They have ] told him to either leave Iraq in 48 hours or they would ] attack," a senior cleric, Kuwait-based Ayatollah ] Abulqasim Dibaji said. . . . ] "This is the biggest catastrophe. Total terror reigns in ] Najaf," said Dibaji. "Najaf is a main centre of learning, ] like Oxford in England. It has more than 1,000 years of ] history." ] ] Dibaji said the house was surrounded by members of ] Jimaat-e-Sadr-Thani, a splinter group led by Moqtada Sadr, ] the 22-year-old son of a late spiritual leader in Iraq. ] ] "Moqtada wants to take total control of the holy sites in ] Iraq," Dibaji said. Senior Shi'i leaders have blamed ] Jimaat-e-Sadr-Thani for orchestrating Thursday's killing ] of Khoei, who was assassinated at the Imam Ali shrine just ] days after returning from exile in London to help Iraq make ] the transition to democracy. I have been looking hard for some sort of visual chart that shows the relationships between the various Shi'ite groups and Ayatollahs and clerics, but haven't had any luck. If anyone else spots one, please meme it? Al Jazeera - Top Shia cleric told to leave by armed group |
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ArabNews: Who's Next? No One and Everyone |
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Topic: Current Events |
6:18 pm EDT, Apr 11, 2003 |
] There will be no new target because Iraq was a unique ] case. Although most regional regimes have varying records ] of brutality, Saddam Hussein's regime was the only ] regime that tried to wipe a member state of the United ] Nations off the map. It was also the only regime since ] World War I to use chemical weapons not only against ] adversaries in a war but also against its own people. ] ] The key reason why Saddam's regime was unique, however, ] lies elsewhere. ] ] His was a regime that could not develop any mechanism for ] change. He could play in only two registers: absolute ] defiance or full capitulation. Interesting editorial in Arab News by Amir Taheri. ArabNews: Who's Next? No One and Everyone |
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Memestreams and 'Fair Use' Guidelines |
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Topic: MemeStreams |
3:07 pm EDT, Apr 11, 2003 |
Here's an interesting resource on the "Four-Pronged Fair Use Test". Evidently there's no clear "this is fair use" vs. "this is plagiarism" litmus test, but instead there are four factors that are taken into consideration, with sort of a sliding scale on each of the four factors. This webpage is good reading, but for a real quick and dirty summary, the four factors are: (1) What is the character of the use? (commercial, commentary/criticism, educational, nonprofit, etc.) (2) What is the nature of the work to be used? (factual article, fictional story, or a combination, with using somebody's factual reporting more likely to be considered fair use, whereas copying someone's fictional story to be more likely to be considered plagiarism) (3) How much of the work will be used? (all of it, or just parts) (4) What effect would this use have on the market for the original or for permissions if the use were widespread? (is quoting something going to mean that whoever wrote it makes less money or loses control of their own work?) So, in terms of Memestreams (and I have to preface this with IANAL: I Am Not A Lawyer): Mostly good things to do: - Quote a small amount of text rather than an entire article - Quote factual articles - Add your own commentary or thoughts on what you quote - Always link back or attribute the source Sometimes bad things to do: - Quoting large amounts of a webpage - Quoting someone's original fictional story - Quoting from inside a "subscription only" site - Saying words are yours, when instead they're copy/pasted from somewhere else - Posting just a copy/paste, without any kind of added original commentary And again, none of the above items are an instant "good" or "bad" determination. They're just recommended guidelines, that are probably worth mentioning in a Memestreams help file somewhere. :) My $0.02, Elonka :) Memestreams and 'Fair Use' Guidelines |
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