Read a little. Learn a lot. • Tightly-written news, views and stuff • Follow us on TwitterBe a Facebook FanTumble us!

15 Jun 2009 22:31

tags

Tech, World: Twitter listens to its customers when it comes to Iran

  • Twitter planned a necessary upgrade for today at a somewhat strange hour (9:45 p.m. Pacific time). source
  • However, Twitter has become essential as a way for people in Iran to communicate with the outside world. source
  • People complained (loudly) about the downtime, so Twitter changed the time. Good for them! source

15 Jun 2009 18:01

tags

World: Check out these big and bold Iran photos and the stories they tell

Some of these photos are a couple days old, but The Boston Globe’s “Big Picture” makes them fresh again. source

15 Jun 2009 10:52

tags

World: Well, that’s good to know: Iran’s booting out foreign media

  • They’re looking to stop the flow of information. Al Jazeera English reports that foreign news crews are getting limited access from the Iranian government. Says their Tehran-based reporter Teymoor Nabili, “Day-by-day our ability to access any information has been slowly whittled away.” They’re not alone, either. A Spanish news crew was booted from the country, and opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi’s newspaper Kalameh Sabz was blocked from publication over the printing of a caricature which apparently was an insult to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Freedom of the press is important. These guys are on the front lines fighting for it. source

15 Jun 2009 04:28

tags

World: Here’s another video to give you an idea of the violence in Iran

  • See the peaceful crowd? Now, see the motorcycles bum-rushing the crowd? See the violence? This is not what happens in a normal election.source

15 Jun 2009 03:38

tags

Tech, World: On Twitter and want to support Iran protests? Go #Green4Iran

Go Green
  • Many who support Mir Hussein Moussavi on Twitter today are going green in support of the candidate. J A Esselink, a.k.a. @Uncucumbered, has been putting in big time work to convince others to join her at a rate of hundreds an hour. Much credit to grassroots efforts. (Oh yeah, in other Twitter/Iran news, this is a great unfiltered way to read what’s happening in the country.)source

15 Jun 2009 03:09

tags

World: Iran sez Moussavi can’t protest. Protesters: We’ll do it without him!

  • Mir Hussein Moussavi has been barred from protesting today. Moussavi applied to lead a nationwide march to protest the presidential election results – which had Mahmoud Ahmadinejad winning with 62% of the vote – and was denied by Iran’s Interior Ministry, which declared the march illegal. However, his supporters, via the use of social networking, have indicated that they plan to protest anyway. Good for them. source

15 Jun 2009 00:31

tags

Politics, World: Iran’s election crisis has made at least some things clear

  • Mr. Ahmadinejad’s victory has the merit of clarifying the situation within the Islamic Republic. The choice is now between a repressive regime based on a bizarre and obscurantist ideology and the prospect of real change and democratization. There is no halfway house.
  • Conservative commentator Amir Taheri • In a column for the Wall Street Journal, where he points out how Iran’s election has made the line between democracy and sorta-democracy clear. In other words, sorta-democracy doesn’t exist. Taheri ends his column by saying, regarding Ahmadinejad and his hard-line approach to victory, “hubris may turn out to be his undoing.” Hopefully it isn’t ours. • source
 

14 Jun 2009 18:51

tags

Tech, World: Why did #cnnfail trend last night? Because CNN buried Iran.

  • While Twitter, Flickr, YouTube and other social media sites are both a source of unfiltered information and a venue for public discussion, we still look to CNN, the BBC and their ilk to add context and meaning to this flood of data. And when they fail us, we demand more of them.
  • Mashable blogger Pete Cashmore • Reading the lay of the land for social networking – CNN played back their coverage of Iran and Twitter, which has championed CNN in the past (unless you’re Ashton Kutcher), turned their backs on them. Just because everyone can post news doesn’t mean we don’t want that news edited. Which is why CNN is (and heck, we are) useful as resources. Keep that in mind kids. • source

14 Jun 2009 12:07

tags

U.S., World: Joe Biden: We’re still figuring out this Iran election ourselves

  • We don’t have all the details. It sure looks like the way they’re suppressing speech, the way they’re suppressing crowds, the way in which people are being treated, that there’s some real doubt about that.
  • Vice President Joe Biden • Speaking on “Meet the Press” about what’s happening in Iran. He says that the White House is taking a wait-and-see approach to the election. • source

14 Jun 2009 10:51

tags

World: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is a cold, callous leader

  • Some believed they would win, and then they got angry. It has no legal credibility. It is like the passions after a football match. It is not important from my point of view.
  • Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad • Describing the massive protests that took place after he won the election in Iran on Friday – with many believing that the results were rigged. Here’s our question: What kind of leader, knowing he faces a number of people angry about his victory, says something like this? • source