HELP IRAN QUAKE VICTIMS Little drops of water can make an ocean. So please donate something for the victims. Here are the recommended links for donations: Mailing address to send your checks is: Mercy Corps Iran Earthquake Dept. W PO Box 2669 Portland, OR 97208-266 Please mark your checks with �Iran Earthquake� so the funds are directed towards this effort. For further updates on this please visit Iranian Tru...

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BLOG ROUNDUP # Worldchanging blog posts links and stories of some interesting sites as usual: * CLIWOC - Database of the world's ocean climate * Personal Pollution index * Earthquakes, culture & design # Tim Blair compiles the best of quotes of 2003 # Hoder talks about "When people have different needs than state" and comes up with this thought provoking point: When a government can run the whole country only by the oil and gas income, it doesn't have to answer its people's needs; it only thinks about its own needs. # Jivha hosts an...

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BANGLADESH EXTENDS HER HELPING HAND TO IRAN FOR QUAKE VICTIMS The prime minister of Bangladesh Khaleda Zia has ordered to send medicines and supplies worth $1 million to Iran for the Bam Earth Quake victims. A medical team consisting of Doctors and nurses will also be sent. Reports the Daily St...

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DEATH OF BANGLADESHI PEACEKEEPERS When the Thursday's plane crash in the West African country of Benin came to Bangladesh nobody had the slightest idea that 15 Bangladeshi army officers on UN peacekeeping missions in Sierra Leone and Liberia were among the 119 people killed. They were returning home on leave after six months of duty. They were aboard the Boeing 727 towards Beirut. From there, they were to fly to Dhaka via Dubai. Read The Daily Star for the names and pictures of the deceased. They were supposed to take one UN chartered flight...

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ON THE LIGHTER SIDE

Top-ten good things about being an average Bangladeshi according to me:10. I can easily poke my nose in other's affairs.9. My popular pastime in Dhaka is eating out with friends or family (as there are only a few other places to go for amusement or a stroll).8. I can watch Hindi movie and listen to Indian music all the day and still call others India'r Dalal (India's agent)7. I can be critic about Bengali TV Channels and their programs and watch HBO, ESPN and Hindi channels all the time.6. I can pee wherever I like.5. I can cheer for my national...

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IRANI DANCER DETAINED Iran's best known female dancer Farzaneh Kaboli and 24 of her students have been detained on charges of dancing in public - for an all-female audience. Although there are no written laws against dancing, Iran's hard-line clerics have banned the activity, which they consider a promotion of moral corruption. The program had been authorized by the cultural ministry. Read more here. That shows why the clerics are treated as fundamentalists. Performing folk dance of Iran to an all-female audience is a moral corruption? I wonder...

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WE WANT ENLIGHTENED PEOPLE

The title above is the motto of Bishwa Sahitya Kendro (world literature center), a pioneer institution of Bangladesh. It is a benevolent trust, which was set up by Abdullah Abu Sayeed, a professor and a TV anchor almost 25 years ago. The BSK since it's beginning has come up with programs to increase the habit of reading among the people, where only 10% read seriously. Newspaper readers are not considered serious readers as they only collect political and other insignificant news.Among the programs there is the national edification program. Under...

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UPDATE ON IRAN QUAKE Sunnetwork says Iranian officials have put the death toll at more than 20,000 in yesterday's 6.7 earth quake in the city of Bam. For extensive news and links goto Iraniantruth and Iranmania. If you are planning to donate to the victims , Pedram says you can do that through Mercy Corps. He also links to somephotos of the Bam city here. May god give the strength to the families of the dead and wounded to overcome this lo...

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CONTACT LOSTBBC reports: The Mars Odyssey spacecraft failed to pick up a signal from the Beagle probe when it flew over the landing site on Christmas morning. Although some predicts that the beagle has crashed and burned, people are still hopeful:"The show isn't over by any means," says head of space research George Fraser. "We just have to be patient and wait to see how things unfold." And the good news is the European Space Agency's (Esa) Mars Express appears to have gone into orbit around Mars without a hitch. It will undertake another mission...

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QUOTE OF THE DAY

Expose yourself to your deepest fear; after that, fear has no power, and the fear of freedom shrinks and vanishes. You are free.Jim Morrison- Singer - 1943-1...

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X-MAS IN BANGLADESH

To start with, it is a holiday in Bangladesh. It has been in Bengal for 225 years ever since the British East India Company started to rule the region. Whereas X-Mas (December 25th) was declared a federal Holiday in America on June 26, 1870. There is a small Christian population here. There is roughly one Christian in every 324 Bangladeshis. However the Christian community is well bonded and are widely known as an amiable community.There is a comprehensive article by Jerome D'Costa about Christianity in Bangladesh Some excerpts:Arab traders and...

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Bollywood movies online via kazaa! Worldchanging blog reports: 35 different Bangalore-based movie producers have worked out an arrangement with IndiaFM.com and Sharman Networks to make Bollywood movies available via the Kazaa file-sharing network. Audiences can download the films for a small fee to watch on their computers; the movie files self-destruct after the viewing is completed. The goal is to make the movies more accessible for international audiences, while still generating income for the filmmakers. An excellent idea it seems. Bollywood,...

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FEAR & RESPECT

People say respect must be earned. But many of us try to gain respect of others by imposing fear or threatening others. This all starts when we think that we are superior to others and fail to respect them. I believe that to earn respect you must respect others first. When interacting with persons of apparent inequality we should give them respect. Otherwise a relationship of domination and submission would occur based on fear and the world will remain divided in many worlds (1st world, 3rd world etc). For example, there is a lot to learn from...

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RAKTAKARABI: REVOLUTION OF PERSONAL SPIRIT AGAINST THE SYSTEM

Recently I watched the play "Raktakarabi" (The red oleander) written by Rabindranath Tagore & performed by the theater group "Nagarik". It is a symbolical play aimed at the vices of capitalism and totalitarianism and rekindling the personal spirit. However the poet terms the play realistic and says:There was a time when, in the human world, most of our important dealings with our fellow-beings were personal dealings, and the professional element in society was never hugely disproportionate to the normal constitution of its life. ...Today...

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The Many Ways of Being Modern Michael Elliott, the columnist of time magazine criticizes the American way of thinking that "they have defined the modern world, for better and worse". He cites one example of Western Crete: "it has become modern, but it hasn't become American". he argues: Over the next few years, Iraq will similarly define modernity in its own terms and at its own pace. Its constitution would have a special place for Islam in national life quite contrary to US way of separation of church and state. The claim for the global...

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TIME PERSON OF THE YEAR 2003 This year the award goes to the troops of the United States of America. I guess the leading contender was Mr. George W. Bush, but he was already named in 2000 for being elected in a most controversial fashion and his father was named in 1990. But I have a question here. The troops usually carry out the orders. They have their own thoughts but they cannot assert their wills. So what is this award for? A condolence...

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CAN BUSH BE BEAT? Take part in the MSNBC poll and find out the results. (via ATRIO...

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GIFT CHOICES - FOR EFFECTIVE USE OF YOUR MONEY The Worldchanging blog (a group blog) is on a mission to propagate the worldchanging ideas, events etc. and I believe that many people would participate in their efforts. Be sure to check this site regularly. Alan AtKisson's latest idea is a solution to your holiday giving problem. He writes: Once a year, if you live in the Christmas-celebrating parts of the world, you may agonize over the problem of presents. What do I give that's meaningful? Reasonable? Even sustainable? This recommendation is...

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BOMB JAMMER The assassination attempt on Pakistan president Mr. Pervez Musharraf was foiled because of an electronic gadget (reports The Globe & Mail). General Musharraf's motorcade was equipped with a bomb jammer, a device that is becoming increasingly common in the arsenal of gadgets used to protect VIPs around the world from a new generation of attacks. The device blocked signals within a 200-meter radius around the President's limousine last Sunday as he traveled over a bridge rigged with five bombs meant to kill him. Only after the...

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VICTORY DAY: 16th of December

On this day in 1971 out of the crucible of blood and sacrifice, Bangladesh was born. This day is celebrated with glory and joy supplementary to the Independence Day, which is the 26th March. Actually Independence Day marks the declaration of our Independence and start of a bloody and glorious War of Liberation against the occupied forces of Pakistan. The govt. of Independent Bangladesh was formed in April 1971. On Victory Day, nine month later the...

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QUOTES OF THE DAY

Victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory however long and hard the road may be; for without victory there is no survival. - Winston Churchill- 1874-1965, British Statesman, Prime Minister The supreme excellence is not to win a hundred victories in a hundred battles. The supreme excellence is to subdue the armies of your enemies without even having to fight them. - Lao-Tzu - BC 600-?, Chinese Philosopher, Founder of Taoism, Author of the ''Tao Te Ching'' Beware of rashness, but with energy, and sleepless vigilance, go forward...

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The Concert for Bangladesh

The US government was against the Bangladesh's liberation war in 1971. They were allies of Pakistan and even sent the 7th fleet to intimidate India for not interfering with the events.But it was the peace loving people of US who created the forum "Americans for Bangladesh" and arranged a poetry recital program on 20th November 1971 in Saint George Church, New York. Among the poets who performed were Allen Ginsberg, Peter Orlovski, Ed Sanders etc....

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The history of Independence of Bangladesh

I am not a historian. But I am trying to summarize here the history of Bangladesh's Independence for those who would like to have an idea about it. In 1947 Indian subcontinent got its independence from British rule and were divided into Pakistan & India. The division was on the notion of two-nation theory, Hindu & Muslim. Some say that the British invoked the Hindu Muslim riots, some say the shrewd politicians, but these grim incidents led people nodding to this partitions and thought if the Hindu's and Muslims had a separate country, there...

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In remembrance: December 14, 1971

This is the day of martyred intellectuals, who were brutally killed by the Pakistani occupation army and their cohorts. Sensing their imminent defeat in the Bangladesh's liberation war, the Pakistani occupation forces and their local collaborators --Rajakar, Al-Badr and Al-Sham--kidnapped leading Bangalee intellectuals and professionals on December 14, 1971 and killed them only two days before victory at the end of a nine-month long War of Liberation. Renowned academics, doctors, engineers, journalists, teachers and other eminent personalities...

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SADDAM CAPTURED ALIVENow it is confirmed that the man captured with $750,000 in cash, two AK 47 machine guns and pistol is really Saddam Hussain. He was found in Al-Dawr, a village 15 miles from his hometown of Tikrit. He was lurking in a bricked-in wall six-feet under the basement of a small house on the property. Quite amazing!There has been loads of reactions from all over the world and media has been flooded with them.Nz. Bear compiles some of the weblog reactions here.Some more anti-war blogger reactions here.Buzzmachine compiles some Iraqi...

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CONFOUNDING CONSUMPTION Laura is critic about excess consumtion in Christmas time in her recent post. But I guess the notion of always wanting more is so innate in us that we don't require a convincing event or festivity to consume beyond our ability. Richa has written an article in the Daily Star Magazine describing how getting ready for children school can create a competition of consumption among the mothers, who accompanies them. An interesting slice of life of the riches in Bangladesh....

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MUGABE MUSINGS Robert Mugabe, the Zimbabwe's President has attacked global inequality at a United Nations conference on internet technology in the Swiss city of Geneva. Reports BBC. However he said one good thing: There is no point in providing poor people with computers unless they were also given electricity and a phone network to run them. But then he said the bad thing: Digital technology is being used by some to dominate the globe. He could not give any convincing reason for his clai...

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QUOTE OF THE DAY

One who performs his duty without association, with the modes of material nature, without false ego, with great determination and enthusiasm, and without wavering in success or failure is said to be a worker in the mode of goodness.Chapter 18: Text 26 - Bhagavad G...

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MONEY MATTERS IN AN UNEQUAL WORLD

Alan Atkisson wrote a piece in the Worldchanging blog about a book "The memory Bank" by Keith Hart, which describes an interesting view of the future of money & virtual capitalism.In Hart's view: Humanity is caught between the institutions of agrarian civilization and a machine revolution whose implications we barely understand. In consequence, the world is becomingly rapidly more unequal as we grow closer together. Inequality of rich and poor results in the followings:- Inequality undermines democracy.- Inequality makes us feel bad. Human...

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QUOTE OF THE DAY Man is a tool-using animal. Without tools he is nothing, with tools he is all. Thomas Carlyle - 1795-1881, Scottish Philosopher, Author...

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SOME USEFUL TOOLS

The Internet is a good source for useful tools. Apart from the multifaceted search engines and web portals, some individuals tools are available online and these can be really a great helper in times of need. I am listing some of the links I found to be very useful:* Wordnet: A lexical database for the English language whose design is inspired by current psycholinguistic theories of human lexical memory. English nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs are organized into synonym sets, each representing one underlying lexical concept. Different relations...

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ROAD FROM EAST PAKISTAN TO BANGLADESH

December is a special month for the Bangladeshis as in this month in 1971 they have fought the West Pakistanis and were freed and relieved from their atrocities and dominance. The liberation war of Bangladesh is a valiant scar in Bangladeshis as almost every family was affected. The official number of casualties in the genocide (I think the second largest after WWII) by the Pakistan Army in the name of controlling the rebels is 3 million (too hard to validate this though) and numerous rapes and destruction of assets (even burning entire villages).Recently...

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TACKLING AIDS THREAT

Bangladesh is less prone to AIDS because of the conservative social system. Sex before marriage is considered a taboo, not only in Muslim communities, but also among Hindu, Christian and Buddhists. So far Bangladesh has only 363 registered AIDS patients and most of them carried the virus from abroad. However in a study released in January 2002 by the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS found there were 13,000 people with HIV out of a population of 130 million. So there is a growing concern among the government and the NGOs to propagate the...

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TERROR ALERT PROVEN A HOAX

Bolivia has released 16 Bangladeshis less than a day after they were arrested on suspicion of links to terrorism and Al-Qaeda following a tip of French police. Reports The Daily Star.Nine of the Bangladeshis were in transit to Buenos Aires, and the other seven were seeking residency in the Andean nation. They were suspected for planning to hijack a plane to attack an American target in Argentina.From the picture of the Bangladeshis I saw in the local newspapers, they did not look like religious fanatics and more like young people going abroad for...

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ASIA WEBLOG AWARDS 2003

The hottest meme in blogsphere is the weblog awards. Now Asia has its first ever weblog awards hosted in the flyingchair blog. The categories will be added until Wednesday, 10 December and voting upto December 28th. I am immensely surprised that no Bangladesh, Iran, Iraq or Pakistan categories or nominations are there. I have already written a mail seeking Bangladesh, Iran, Iraq & Pakistan Categories and a few nominations as well. Lets hope they...

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WHAT'S HOT IN BLOGOSPHERE Carnival of the vanities #63 is up at "Begging To Differ" blog. This carnival is full of interesting posts. In The Weblog Awards 2003 hosted by "Wizbang! blog", nominations have been staggering and in many categories nominations are closed. Polls are likely to begin on Friday. Don't miss to vote for you favorite blogs. I am glad that Jivha & Buzzmachine are nominated. Surely I would be happy to vote for my favorite blogs. Blogshares is closed down for an indefinite period. Seyed Razavi's popular playsite was suffering...

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TEST YOUR DIGITAL IQ I scored 1...

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Might vs. Right We often quote the phrase "Might is right". Towards understanding of the term "right" I came across an article of Max Stirner. He believes: Right can be bestowed only by a spirit, be it the spirit of nature or that of the species, of mankind, the Spirit of God or that of His Holiness or His Highness, etc." I do not demand any right, therefore I need not recognize any either. What I can get by force I get by force, and what I do not get by force I have no right to, nor do I give myself airs, or consolation, with my imprescriptible...

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THE NEW HOTMAIL MSN's HOTMAIL (originally SABBIR BHATIA's) has become a bit nicer and easier. That's what I have found out today as I have a hotmail account like many millions of people around the world. ITNews Australia reports: Microsoft has launched the newest version of its web-based Hotmail email service, the most-frequently used email service on the planet. A streamlined interface makes it easier to organize, read, and send email, with new precedence given to email received from people in contacts list. And some amazing facts: "Today...

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SAFE CROSS BORDER TRADING The abbreviation of SAFE is South Asian Federation of Exchanges and it has initiated the move for a cross border listing of companies. (reports Pakistanlink) The countries of South Asian region including Bangladesh has taken initiative to commence regional cross border trading facilities among the regional bourses. The above initiative will be successfully done when the regional watch dog bodies Securities and Exchange Commission will permit and give permission to do cross border trading. As a first step the SAFE think...

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TOP TEN INTERNET FADS According to an article in Kuro5hin blog: A fad, for purposes of this article, is an idea or technology which is briefly popular, but can't outlast its own novelty value. Once people get over the newness of it all, there isn't really anything special left. It lists the top ten internet fads of recent time. They include: 9. Flash Mobs 8. VoIP 4. WAP 2. Anything sold online (eg. ebay) Go read the dicussions for and against the list he...

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MICHAEL JACKSON'S TRUE FACE Some say that Michael has become a rich white woman from a poor black boy. If he hadn't undergone any plastic surgery, today he would look like this. Hat tip: Metafilt...

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