Cairene's Nilometer

Bookmarks 01/28/2012

Cairene — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 07:31:17 +0000

‫كاذبون – Kazeboon – Revolution Records‬‎ – YouTube

tags: revolution youtube music hiphop arabic kazeboon military noscaf scaf jan25 jan25two
‫كاذبون – Kazeboon – Revolution Records‬‎ – YouTube

tags: revolution youtube music hiphop arabic kazeboon military noscaf scaf jan25 jan25two
NASA GISS: Research News: NASA Finds 2011 Ninth Warmest Year on Record

tags: environment climate climatechange ghg energy science
- The average temperature around the globe in 2011 was 0.92°F (0.51°C) warmer than the mid-20th century baseline.
- The first 11 years of the 21st century experienced notably higher temperatures compared to the middle and late 20th century, Hansen said. The only year from the 20th century in the top 10 warmest years on record is 1998.
Fossil fuel subsidies and global warming: We could cut the climate change problem in half simply by abolishing inefficient fossil fuel subsidies. – Slate Magazine

tags: energy energy-policy environment subsidies climatechange oil coal renewable poverty development politics economy economics
- Fatih Birol, chief economist of the International Energy Agency is telling you exactly that. In data released this month as part of the IEA’s latest World Energy Outlook report, he shows that in 2010 the world spent $409 billion on subsidizing the production and consumption of fossil fuels, dwarfing the word’s $66 billion or so of subsidies for renewable energy
- - I dont know about that. In an economy based on energy, there is a justice, empowerment, positive discrimination aspect to things. While it makes no sense to subsidize energy for steel or cement, it DOES make sense to subsidize heating and cooking fuel. or fuel used in (private/informal) public transport. The vast majority of such subsidy is of the nonsensical crony capitalist sort. But to say none make sense, is to fall into a typical hole of the privileged arm-chair intellectual.
- In no case do these subsidies make sense.
- f roughly half of what needs to be done can be achieved simply by eliminating economic distortions—economic distortions that would be unwise even if there were no concern about pollution—then the whole framework of a trade-off between prosperity and sustainability is largely misguided.
- At the end of the day, pure laissez faire can never meet the world’s environmental challenges. If you want to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, you need to cap them and then you need to reduce the cap. But a surprisingly large step toward that target can occur by simply allowing the market to do its work by removing the subsidies that encourage lavish and inefficient consumption of fossil fuels.

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Bookmarks 01/27/2012

Cairene — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 07:31:22 +0000

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Bookmarks 01/23/2012

Cairene — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 07:31:42 +0000

Campaign slams IMF for ‘illegitimate’ negotiations with Egypt
- The Popular Campaign to Drop Egypt’s Debt held a conference Saturday to demand that the government leave the decision to accept the loan up to the incoming parliament
- “The IMF was involved over the past two decades in drawing and implementing the economic and financial policies of Egypt, which led to low living standards, high poverty rates, and deterioration of public services and human resources and human development,” Amr Adly, a political economist and a founding member of the campaign, said in a statement.
- Labeling the loan as “odious,” the group stressed that “the current government does not represent the Egyptian people … and the donors realize that the current government is not a legitimate one.”
Nature lovers plan celebratory march for protected areas and ecotourism on 25 January | Al-Masry Al-Youm: Today’s News from Egypt

tags: egypt politics jan25 jan25two protest activism revolution environment conservation
‫حصرياً : مشاهد جديدة تدين قتلة الثوار في محمد محمود‬‎ – YouTube

tags: egypt police military violence mohamedmahmoud nov19 nov20 kazeboon noscaf scaf
الديب يفجر مفاجأته: مبارك لايزال رئيس البلاد.. وتأجيل المحاكمة يوماً | المصري اليوم، أخبار اليوم من مصر

tags: egypt politics mubarak law bullshit counterrevolution revolution jan25 corruption courts
- وأضاف الديب: «بناء عليه فإن إجراءات المحاكمة كلها باطلة، حيث إن محاكمة رئيس الجمهورية تكون أمام محكمة خاصة نص عليها دستور 1971، مكونة من 12 عضوا، بينهم 6 من أعضاء مجلس الشعب، و6 من أقدم المستشارين بمحكمتي الاستئناف والنقض، وتنعقد جلساتها في دار القضاء العالي، ويباشر الاتهام أمام المحكمة النائب العام، وإن محاكم الجنايات غير مختصة ولائيا بمحاكمة رئيس الجمهورية»
- وبرر «الديب» قوله بأن «مبارك» «تم انتخابه فى عام 2005 رئيسا للجمهورية لمدة 6 سنوات، وهذه المدة انتهت فى 18 سبتمبر من العام الماضي، وطبقا للمادة 78 من الدستور فهو لايزال رئيسا للجمهورية، لأنها تنص على أنه إذا انتهت مدة رئيس الجمهورية دون اختيار الرئيس الجديد استمر الرئيس السابق فى مباشرة مهامه، وحتى اليوم لم ينتخب رئيس للجمهورية»
Drugs Index | Fouda Pharmacy

searechable index of medicines in egypt by active ingredient and price

tags: egypt medicince drugs reference resource database

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Bookmarks 01/22/2012

Cairene — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 07:31:56 +0000

‫الجيش المصري يستطيع اسقاط دولة اسرائيل في 3 ساعات‬‎ – YouTube

tags: egypt military israel funny lol
Land Carvings Attest to Amazon’s Lost World – NYTimes.com

tags: amazon history colonialism indigenous
- The deforestation that has stripped the Amazon since the 1970s has also exposed a long-hidden secret lurking underneath thick rain forest: flawlessly designed geometric shapes spanning hundreds of yards in diameter.
- For some scholars of human history in Amazonia, the geoglyphs in the Brazilian state of Acre and other archaeological sites suggest that the forests of the western Amazon, previously considered uninhabitable for sophisticated societies partly because of the quality of their soils, may not have been as “Edenic” as some environmentalists contend.
- Still, the geoglyphs, located at a crossroads between Andean and Amazonian cultures, remain an enigma.
Egyptian citizen journalism ‘Mosireen’ tops YouTube – Media – Egypt – Ahram Online

tags: mosireen movie video egypt activism discourse kazeboon youtube
A year later Egypt activists seek more revolution – NZ Herald

tags: Egypt activism military politics jan25 revolution counterrevolution video discourse tahrir media independent

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Bookmarks 01/21/2012

Cairene — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 07:31:07 +0000

The New Student Activism – NYTimes.com

tags: occupy occupywallstreet ows university youth activism protests student
- Mirroring the broader movement, students have taken aim at widening income disparities and the cozy symbiosis between Washington and Wall Street. But the college occupiers have also embraced a panoply of causes, localizing and personalizing their protests in a way that has lent an immediacy and urgency to their outcries.
- Ms. Ward said communitywide Occupy meetings were being held indoors, and expects the core people to remain involved for the long haul. But she also expects attendance to wane. “We have a generation that believes instant gratification is the only form of gratification,” Ms. Ward said. “This is something that’s going to take a long time.”
انتخابات مجلس الثورة 2012

tags: egypt politics parliament elections graphic
Decade of discontent: The road to Egypt’s revolution – Politics – Egypt – Ahram Online

crappy article about the history leading up to Jan25

tags: egypt jan25 history activism protests intifada politics kifaya labour judges
PIPA/SOPA Victory – End to Damn the Torpedoes – What Happens Now UPDATED | Public Knowledge

tags: media copyright unitedstates SOPA public knowledge intellectual-property activism politics humanrights
A Jewish American high school student wins MLK Jr. writing award for this brave essay: | Norman G. Finkelstein

tags: unitedstates israel jew zionism MLK humanrights race racism
- I can obviously never know what it must have been like to be an African-American in the 1950s. I do feel, however, as though I know exactly what it must have been like to be white during that time, to live under an aura of moral invincibility, to hold unchallengeable beliefs, and to contrive illusions of superiority to avoid having to face simple everyday truths. That illusion was nice while it lasted, but I decided to pass it up. I have never been happier.
Florida Republicans Introduce Bill That Would Keep Privatization A Secret From The People | Addicting Info

tags: florida republicans privatization government corporate neoliberal
- Florida Republicans
- ey have introduced SB 2036 and SB 2038 to do just that. The measures would allow the state government to privatize prisons in secret and would also allow the government to secretly outsource the work of other state agencies
- The measures also give agencies the option of not reporting the privatization of a program until after it has already been done.
Anonymous goes nuclear; everybody loses? | Molly Rants – CNET News

tags: SOPA congress politics internet ICT law unitedstates corporate
Who in Congress Supports SOPA and PIPA/PROTECT-IP? | SOPA Opera | ProPublica

tags: SOPA congress politics internet ICT law unitedstates coporate
In Detroit, a Fresh Wave of Hope – NYTimes.com

tags: detroit unitedstates development industry
New IMF loan would be ‘odious’ and illegitimate, says Egypt debt amnesty group – Economy – Business – Ahram Online

tags: egypt imf debt economy activism

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Dream gone bad – a year after #Jan25

Cairene — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 19:00:12 +0000

I posted this video (English subtitled version) on facebook (with a snarky comment about banning the use of requiem for a dream soundtrack music), and I think twitter. But as we close in on #Jan25, I feel the need to say a little more about it.

When I was in Cairo over Christmas break, I felt this pervasive sense of a dream gone dark . Compared to the summer, when, despite all the reasons for concern, there was still a vitality and a sense of hope, there seemed to be a pervasive exhaustion, or burn out. Sure, that was a big part of it. The resisters-of-change were the same as they were on Jan24, Jan29, Feb3, Feb11 and ever since. They’re the common factor, and so they dont really enter my calculations. But I guess I felt that the 11-month conscious and intentional campaign by the powers that be (#SCAF, #felool) to co-opt the revolution; to undermine revolutionaries; to re-foster identity politics; to create a culture of fear and hate; to divert our attentions; to stall and obfuscate; to hold us economically hostage; to sow confusion had taken its toll on everyone else, revolutionaries and the silent majority included. The effects seemed visible everywhere with everyone I talked to. While I think we have lost the moment, and will have to buckle down for the long-haul (5-7 year) effort, perhaps the upcoming anniversary and the @3askarKazeboon, @NoMilTrials and other initiatives can come together to create a second chance. We shall see; history is impossible to predict.

In any case, I think this video illustrates the revolutionaries’ nightmare perfectly. It captures the confusion, the indignation, the sense of betrayal, the bewilderment at the cynicism that seems to make absolutely no sense to them, that dreamy, through-the-looking-glass sense that everything is not what it should be, that logic has been suspended. Perhaps it is indeed one of the most appropriate uses of the requiem for a dream soundtrack.

Bookmarks 01/20/2012

Cairene — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 07:31:51 +0000

The Bark Side: 2012 Volkswagen Game Day Commercial Teaser – YouTube

tags: starwars movies youtube funny dogs video ScienceFiction
Carter: Tantawi in denial over “girl in the blue bra” – Blog – The Arabist

tags: egypt. military scaf noscaf violence JimmyCarter politics bullshit
- The generals either lied to their teeth, or more probably and more worryingly, actually believe the crap they spew. The real question is, who is feeding them that line?
AFED

tags: environment green uae energy economy development sustainability policy

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Bookmarks 01/19/2012

Cairene — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 07:31:01 +0000

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Bookmarks 01/18/2012

Cairene — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 07:31:06 +0000

‫بلدنا: لا تراجع عن إقامة محطة الضبعة النووية‬‎ – YouTube

gov’t insists it will go ahead.
ahaly want their land back

tags: egypt nuclear energy land politics energy-policy policy electricity
Urban planner David Sims explodes myths on Cairo’s dysfunction | Al-Masry Al-Youm: Today’s News from Egypt

tags: egypt cairo urban development design transport housing slums elite
- Despite our griping, Sims argues that Cairo actually functions quite well. Like any massive urban center, the city has problems, but they are far less debilitating than those of other equivalent global metropolises.
- The irony of Cairo is that its relative functionality is not the result of enlightened government intervention. In fact, for the past half century, the most heavily-inhabited parts of Cairo — as opposed to the virtually empty desert developments — have developed almost entirely independent of government plans. Sims describes this as “order without design.”
- he 11 million inhabitants of Cairo’s ‘ashwa’it have benefitted from virtually no government investments, whereas the 800,000 largely elite suburban inhabitants out in the desert have seen countless millions poured into their communities.
- t a time like this, the city can turn away from the discredited state-led social engineering that promoted the failed desert cities, and instead embrace a people-oriented approach that invests in real, inhabited communities.
- a people-oriented approach needs to improve the existing reality, rather than impose impractical imaginary solutions.
Bedouin leaders threaten armed rebellion against Egyptian government – CNN.com

tags: egypt politics bedouin sinai government military justice weapons security
Syria: beyond the wall of fear, a state in slow-motion collapse | World news | The Guardian

tags: syria basharalAssad government violence revolution protests politics economy military
Andrew Sullivan: How Obama’s Long Game Will Outsmart His Critics – The Daily Beast

tags: obama politics unitedstates international economy health government law
- What liberals have never understood about Obama is that he practices a show-don’t-tell, long-game form of domestic politics.
- I realized that to understand Obama, you have to take the long view. Because he does.
- “To see what is in front of one’s nose needs a constant struggle,” George Orwell once wrote. What I see in front of my nose is a president whose character, record, and promise remain as grotesquely underappreciated now as they were absurdly hyped in 2008.
EWEA Blog » Inaccurate report disregards facts of wind energy

tags: energy electricity wind sustainability emissions GHG pollution alternative renewable
Egypt demands environmental human rights | Al-Masry Al-Youm: Today’s News from Egypt

tags: egypt environment activism politics protests humanrights
- what is needed now, according to Mohamed Nagi, executive director of the Habi Center for Environmental Rights, is to take things to the next level by passing binding legislation regarding environmental human rights.
  
  “As we discuss rewriting our constitution,” Nagi says, “we need to make sure there are articles in the new constitution clearly stipulating the need to guarantee and protect environmental rights.” This, he adds, is essential for enforcing Egypt’s environmental laws, which have not been properly implemented, and also strengthen the role of civil society on the ground.
The ‘new look’ of Cairo train station | Al-Masry Al-Youm: Today’s News from Egypt

tags: egypt development architecture urban design history transport
- As a result, the original neo-Mamluk style has effectively been replaced with a style that is ostensibly pharaonic but which actually seems closer to that of Las Vegas casinos or Abu Dhabi glass malls.
‫اغنية عسكر كاذبون .كلمات وأداء ياسر سالم‬‎ – YouTube

tags: egypt military music video youtube noscaf scaf jan25
Rally for the Future of Tech

tags: internet technology ict corporate censorship unitedstates congress law bullshit

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Bookmarks 01/17/2012

Cairene — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 07:30:58 +0000

NYC’s deadly deal with Israeli apartheid | SocialistWorker.org

tags: unitedstates israel NYC apartheid military industry corporate zionism zionist
- A few days before Christmas last year, Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced plans for a $2 billion research campus to be constructed in partnership with Cornell University, Technion and the City of New York.
- With rare exceptions like WBAI’s Law and Disorder and the website Mondoweiss, the media neglected to mention Technion’s extensive military and political connections to apartheid Israel.
- Shir Hever, an Israeli researcher, explains that Technion “has all but enlisted itself in the [Israeli] military.”
- under the guise of research, this deal would cement a lucrative bond between the financial capital of the U.S. empire and Israel’s military-industrial complex.
WikiLeaks: More Evidence of Monsanto’s Bullying and Influence-Buying

tags: wikileaks monsanto corruption corporate government unitedstates europe
Egypt’s revolution has been misread | Khalid Abdalla | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk

tags: egypt revolution counterrevolution politics parliament protests justice poverty social
Egypt asked IMF for $3.2 bln in support: minister

tags: egypt imf military credit debt finance economy economics
‫هالة سرحان تعرض فيديو رهيييييب مش هاتصدق راكبي الجمال يوم موقعة الجمل كانوا في حماية مين؟؟؟؟!!!!!‬‎ – YouTube

video footage of the cavalry riding in from maspero on #feb2. also the moment of attack including the man on top of the museum who signaled the attack.

tags: egypt counterrevolution revolution jan25 feb2 violence military scaf noscaf police ndp mubarak video
Solar grid parity 101-and why you should care | Grist

tags: electricity energy solar grid energy-policy unitedstates alternative economics

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.