tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38855569851663932852024-02-08T03:43:21.440-08:00Media SignsMasood Mortazavihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08360285774352781059noreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3885556985166393285.post-58895132518737819242011-11-15T08:14:00.001-08:002011-11-15T08:20:40.373-08:00Farnaz Fasihi vs. Chris HedgesChris Hedges, a professional war correspondent and international reporter of repute, gets kicked out of the New York Times for opposing the Iraq war. <br /><br />In the meantime, Farnaz Fassihi, a public and virulent opponent of the Islamic Republic of Iran, continues with her politically-motivated and poorly-"reported" news articles on Iran for the Wall Street Journa, all filled with inaccuracies and nonsensical claims. She was a far better war correspondent, perhaps. <br /><br />Is there any wonder?Masood Mortazavihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08360285774352781059noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3885556985166393285.post-80633905438970175722011-06-02T07:55:00.000-07:002011-06-02T07:56:47.437-07:00Transferring postsI had started transferring posts from my Sun Microsystems blog some time ago but the task became gigantic because there was no good tool to map my blog entries and categories into my various blogger blogs. I myself don't have time to compose such a tool. If you run into one, please let me know.Masood Mortazavihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08360285774352781059noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3885556985166393285.post-29750622780937998792009-05-08T23:28:00.001-07:002009-05-08T23:28:35.556-07:00Media as Theater (or Theatre, depending on which side of Atlantic we're on)<b><br />I originally wrote this entry on September 28, 2004, and published it on blogs.sun.com.<br /></b><br /><p><br /><table cellspacing=10><br /><tr><br /><td><br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kierkegaard" target="_blank"><br /><img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/8/89/Kierkegaard.jpg/200px-Kierkegaard.jpg" width=50><br /></a><br /></td><br /><td><br /><p><br />The script of any <a href="http://www.oldglobe.org/" target="_blank">play</a> predetermines for the large part (or at least constrains to a significant degree) the appropriate moves, phrases, tones of voice, the words used and certainly the selected scenes from the reality whose unfolding it takes to play. <br /></td><br /></tr><br /></table><br /><p><br />I've already written briefly about the <a href="http://blogs.sun.com/roller/page/MortazaviBlog/20040924#boom_or_bust">uncritical</a> aspects of the Journalistic approach to digesting of the facts and about Lawrence Lessig' view of the state of <a href="<br />http://blogs.sun.com/roller/page/MortazaviBlog/20040922#the_taboo_against_political_discourse<br />">political discourse</a> in the U.S. Now, <a href="http://www.lessig.org/blog/archives/002175.shtml" target="_blank">Lessig</a> is writing on his weblog about another aspect of "Journalism". I'd like to call this aspect of Journalism "the media theater". In other words, knowing <i>the role</i> it is supposed to play, media simply plays the role it is <i>supposed</i> to play. <a href="http://blogs.sun.com/roller/page/MortazaviBlog/20040805#musings_on_mass_culture">Mass media</a> attempts to become theater, and yet, it will remain less than theater because at least theatric drama (in its classical sense) has a coherent story, a thread, that goes through its scenes and holds everything together. The role of the mass media (as <a href="<br />http://ist-socrates.berkeley.edu/~hdreyfus/">Hubert Dreyfus</a> extends <a href="http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/kierkegaard/">Soren Kierkegaard</a>'s ideas) is to level us. (I've written more on Hubert Dreyfus <a href="http://blogs.sun.com/roller/search/MortazaviBlog?q=Dreyfus">elsewhere</a>.)<br /><br /><br /><p><br />Masood Mortazavihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08360285774352781059noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3885556985166393285.post-20261361335499788192009-05-08T23:19:00.003-07:002009-05-08T23:19:53.144-07:00Trying a "Mobile" Weblog<b><br />I originally wrote this entry on September 27, 2004, and published it on blogs.sun.com.<br /></b><p><br />On my first day of owning a <a href="http://blogs.sun.com/roller/page/MortazaviBlog/20040927#danger_gets_dangerous">Sidekick II</a> device, I've been able to start and manage a <a href="http://hiplog.com/hiplog/read/4/2962/" target="_blank">mobile weblog</a> in less than 3 minutes, with great ease and directly from the mobile device itself. The device design and service integration are strikingly smooth. Many <a href="http://blogs.sun.com/roller/page/MortazaviBlog/20040915#only_the_resourceful_survive" target="_blank">efficiencies</a> are included.<br /><p><br /><br /><br />Masood Mortazavihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08360285774352781059noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3885556985166393285.post-88668547604364781202009-05-08T23:19:00.001-07:002009-05-08T23:19:24.924-07:00Danger Gets Dangerous<b><br />I originally wrote this entry on September 27, 2004, and published it on blogs.sun.com.<br /></b><br /><p><br /><br /><table cellspacing="10"0><br /><tr><br /><td><br /><br /><img src="http://blogs.sun.com/roller/resources/MortazaviBlog/gilgamesh.jpg"><br /><br /></td><br /><td><br /><br /><p><br />I'd been waiting for more than a couple of years to get <a href="http://www.danger.com/" target="_blank">Danger</a>'s Sidekick. <br /><p><br />No, this is certainly not like <a href="http://www.pantheon.org/articles/e/enkidu.html" target="_blank">Enkidu</a>, the sidekick to <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/2982891.stm" target="_blank">Gilgamesh</a>, that primordial <a href="http://www.pantheon.org/" target="_blank">myth</a>-model of heroism, from <a href="http://www.angelfire.com/nt/Gilgamesh/history.html" target="_blank">Mesopotamia</a>, <a href="http://www.reuters.com/newsSearchResultsHome.jhtml?query=Iraq&qtype=a&x=0&y=0" target="_blank">a land we now know better as Iraq</a>. <br /><p><br />Nevertheless, every hero needs a sidekick, even if it is to be a cyber-sidekick. <br /><p><br />Gilgamesh had <a href="http://www.pantheon.org/articles/e/enkidu.html" target="_blank">Enkidu</a>, and I got my <a href="http://www.danger.com/consumers_hiptop2.php" target="_blank">Sidekick</a> at the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palo_Alto,_California">Palo Alto</a> <a href="http://www.t-mobile.com/" target="_blank">T-Mobile</a> outlet on University Avenue this Sunday. If I'm satisfied (and I get 14 days to decide), I will then have to see about <a href="http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/consumerfacts/numbport.html" target="_blank">number portability</a>. I'm told it now takes a very short time to install. I will write about this more in a couple of days.<br /><br /></td><br /></tr><br /></table><br /><br /><p><br />My criteria for the purchase of a sidekick had been a color screen and tri-band radio capabilities. <a href="http://www.danger.com/press_release.php?item=040912">Sidekick II</a> meets both. Not only that, I now have IMAP/SSL accounts I can set up. I haven't had time to set up an IMAP account yet but I had enough time to take a picture of Roberto Chinnici. He visited me (or was it a visit to my Sidekick II) just a few moments ago. More about Roberto later.<br /><p>Masood Mortazavihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08360285774352781059noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3885556985166393285.post-35223981808424682712009-05-08T23:18:00.001-07:002009-05-08T23:18:40.674-07:00Should I go or should I not . . .<b><br />I originally wrote this entry on September 26, 2004, and published it on blogs.sun.com.<br /></b><br /><p><br />I was supposed to attend (as vice chair and participant) the <a href="http://www.openmobilealliance.org/index.html">Open Mobile Alliance</a> - <a href="http://www.openmobilealliance.org/tech/wg_committees/mws.html">Mobile Web Services</a> working group meeting in Orlando early next week but <a href="http://b.www.orlandoweather.com/hurricanes/3738848/detail.html">Hurricane Jeanne</a> has closed the airport until Monday afternoon, and going through 15 hours of travel and airports (not including the delays) while ending up with the opportunity to attend (possibly) less than one day of a meeting is not <a href="http://blogs.sun.com/roller/page/MortazaviBlog/20040915#only_the_resourceful_survive">my idea of resourcefulness</a>. So, I think I'm going to have to cancel this trip. This will incur Sun some cost but the savings in time, energy and individual productivity outweigh the losses. So, Sunday morning when I wake up, my first move will be to put a cancellation order in motion. Missing the meeting will unfortunately mean that I will also miss what promises to be a great presentation on <a href="http://java.sun.com/developer/technicalArticles/WebServices/fastWS/">Fast Web Services</a> by Paul Sandoz. (He seems to have gotten to Orlando, from France, just before the airport closure.)<br /><p><br />Some have expressed curiosity regarding how the OMA board could have allowed the meeting to be arranged during a hurricane-prone season in Orlando? Can <a href="http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/wdw/index">Mickey Mouse</a> really produce such an irresistible pull for our European OMA colleagues? I doubt it very much.<br /><p>Masood Mortazavihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08360285774352781059noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3885556985166393285.post-51800894521691190822009-05-08T23:17:00.001-07:002009-05-08T23:17:36.244-07:00Boom or Bust<b><br />I originally wrote this entry on September 24, 2004, and published it on blogs.sun.com.<br /></b><br /><p><br />Journalists are a curious bunch when it comes to booms and busts. Their whole careers move with booms and busts. When there is a boom, they are among the boomers, and when a bust, among the busters. <br /><br /><p><br />Of course, we have those rare occasions when a journalist actually stands out. I'm thinking of <a href="http://www.io.com/gibbonsb/mencken/">H.L. Mencken</a> or Ambrose Bierce (yes, Ambrose Bierce of <a href="http://www.thedevilsdictionary.com/"><i>The Devil's Dictionary</i></a> although many know him by Carlos Fuentes' <i>The Old Gringo</i>). In these cases, the journalist seems to be filling a space where the priests have vacated in certain societies. A place that demands its inhabitant to speak a truth that is actually experienced.<br /><p><br />Well, where did I learn all that stuff . . . Let's see, I remember a certain curiosity for the kinked view of things and a certain teacher. I bought my first copy of <a href="http://www.thedevilsdictionary.com/">The Devil's Dictionary</a> when I lived in Berkeley back in the summer of 1980 although I had trouble grasping large sections making references to politicians in Washington. It all seemed a bit unreal. Later on things changed and became more apparent. Then, there was a certain teacher who introduced me to Mencken and his role in instituting a particular culture among some American journalists who continue to revere him: <a href="http://journalism.berkeley.edu/faculty/leonard/">Tom Leonard</a> is not only a great professor of the history of journalism, he is also a great guy. He was gentle, patient and good to <i>all</i> students who took his graduate courses in history of American journalism. In his class, no question was unworthy of exploration. He probably doesn't quite remember me any more. After all, I sat in his graduate seminar some 15 years ago. I was that strange fellow at the <a href="http://journalism.berkeley.edu/">J-School</a> who also had completed a recent Ph.D. in a branch of scientific computing and was working in the physics department to put himself through the journalism program. Given the blogs and the web, it is easy to do this sort of thing today with no eyebrows raised, but back then people were very conservative and thought of me as some sort of a case gone wild.<br /> <br /><p><br /> Masood Mortazavihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08360285774352781059noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3885556985166393285.post-43228586007096891582009-05-08T23:15:00.001-07:002009-05-08T23:15:05.190-07:00Another Start-up Idea! (or An Idea Whose Time Has Come! . . . . and Gone?)<b><br />I originally wrote this entry on September 23, 2004, and published it on blogs.sun.com.<br /></b><br /><p><br />I guess since there have been many start-ups in the Silicon Valley (and elsewhere) brought to the rank of credible companies by ex-Sun employees, I need to provide my own creative contribution to this frenzy in some small way. Otherwise, I may not be worth even half a true-blooded Sun guy.<br /><p><br />I'd given away one start-up idea earlier on this weblog, and here's another, and there may be more in the future. <br /><p><br />Over the last four years, I have been lucky enough to see, first hand and behind the scenes, a great trend in the telecommunications market to move applications of all sorts to the <a href="http://community.java.net/java-enterprise/" target="_blank">J2EE</a> platform. In fact, I have been involved in a couple of R&D projects with a focus on evolving some of our partners' service platforms to the J2EE environment. This has all been very, very exciting work and some of it has been published in JavaOne presentations. (So, I'm not giving away any trade secrets.) In fact, some of this work fed requirements that led to the advent of the <a href="http://www.jcp.org/en/jsr/detail?id=112" target="_blank">J2EE Connector Architecture 1.5</a>. (Ram Jeyaraman, the lead for that JSR is a superb engineer. We've worked together for some time, beginning with our implementation of GIOP 1.2 in RMI-IIOP, also involving Mr. <a href="http://www.bol.ucla.edu/~eea1/">Anderson</a>.) Now, the concept of [ connectors | telecom protocol stacks ] is congruent (remember your Abstract Algebra and Category Theory?) to [ <a href="http://today.java.net/pub/au/195" target="_blank">JDBC</a> drivers | Databases ]. The point I'm trying to make is that just like <a href="http://www.bea.com/framework.jsp?CNT=homepage_main.jsp&FP=/content" target="_blank">some corporations</a> started out of Sun as database connectivity companies and then realized they needed to grow in adjacent areas in order to become significant weights in the software world, other start-ups can grow as telecom protocol connectivity companies and grow into significant weights in the telecom services software world. This is particularly important because high-value services involving the web, enterprise, mobility, multi-media, identity and telecommunications are on the roll. I've been so <a href="http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?book=Dictionary&va=gungho&x=0&y=0" target="_blank">gungho</a> about this idea that I've even suggested (in a moment of madness, I wonder?!) to some people here that if Sun incubated a startup to do this for a live-or-die period of two years, I'll be willing to risk joining it ! ! ! However, this was several months ago . . . time is running out . . . but I don't think the idea is quite yet <a href="http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?book=Dictionary&va=passe&x=0&y=0" target="_blank">passe</a>.<br /><p><br />It'll also be cool to have some <a href="http://www.jcp.org/en/home/index" target="_blank">JSR</a>s to standardize the connector APIs above the protocol adapters. (In fact, there is an engineer in Sun/IEC who may help me do this sometime soon.) Having a standardized API will create a true market in these connectors. Yes, I'm not a big risk-taker right now, and it's fun working with the people at Sun, but if you're one, you don't have to let people know where you heard the idea first. Just go ahead and do it! It'll be good for everyone else in the market. Finally, I think it'll be great to stage an open source project that actually accomplishes what I'm saying here. However, in that case, given the telecom market's penchant for standardized components, the JSR route becomes even more necessary for commercial success.<br /><p><br /> Masood Mortazavihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08360285774352781059noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3885556985166393285.post-21927334996767382802009-05-08T23:05:00.001-07:002009-05-08T23:05:44.673-07:00Another Start-up Idea! (or An Idea Whose Time Has Come! . . . . and Gone?)<b><br />I originally wrote this entry on September 23, 2004, and published it on blogs.sun.com.<br /></b><br /><p><br />I guess since there have been many start-ups in the Silicon Valley (and elsewhere) brought to the rank of credible companies by ex-Sun employees, I need to provide my own creative contribution to this frenzy in some small way. Otherwise, I may not be worth even half a true-blooded Sun guy.<br /><p><br />I'd given away one start-up idea earlier on this weblog, and here's another, and there may be more in the future. <br /><p><br />Over the last four years, I have been lucky enough to see, first hand and behind the scenes, a great trend in the telecommunications market to move applications of all sorts to the <a href="http://community.java.net/java-enterprise/" target="_blank">J2EE</a> platform. In fact, I have been involved in a couple of R&D projects with a focus on evolving some of our partners' service platforms to the J2EE environment. This has all been very, very exciting work and some of it has been published in JavaOne presentations. (So, I'm not giving away any trade secrets.) In fact, some of this work fed requirements that led to the advent of the <a href="http://www.jcp.org/en/jsr/detail?id=112" target="_blank">J2EE Connector Architecture 1.5</a>. (Ram Jeyaraman, the lead for that JSR is a superb engineer. We've worked together for some time, beginning with our implementation of GIOP 1.2 in RMI-IIOP, also involving Mr. <a href="http://www.bol.ucla.edu/~eea1/">Anderson</a>.) Now, the concept of [ connectors | telecom protocol stacks ] is congruent (remember your Abstract Algebra and Category Theory?) to [ <a href="http://today.java.net/pub/au/195" target="_blank">JDBC</a> drivers | Databases ]. The point I'm trying to make is that just like <a href="http://www.bea.com/framework.jsp?CNT=homepage_main.jsp&FP=/content" target="_blank">some corporations</a> started out of Sun as database connectivity companies and then realized they needed to grow in adjacent areas in order to become significant weights in the software world, other start-ups can grow as telecom protocol connectivity companies and grow into significant weights in the telecom services software world. This is particularly important because high-value services involving the web, enterprise, mobility, multi-media, identity and telecommunications are on the roll. I've been so <a href="http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?book=Dictionary&va=gungho&x=0&y=0" target="_blank">gungho</a> about this idea that I've even suggested (in a moment of madness, I wonder?!) to some people here that if Sun incubated a startup to do this for a live-or-die period of two years, I'll be willing to risk joining it ! ! ! However, this was several months ago . . . time is running out . . . but I don't think the idea is quite yet <a href="http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?book=Dictionary&va=passe&x=0&y=0" target="_blank">passe</a>.<br /><p><br />It'll also be cool to have some <a href="http://www.jcp.org/en/home/index" target="_blank">JSR</a>s to standardize the connector APIs above the protocol adapters. (In fact, there is an engineer in Sun/IEC who may help me do this sometime soon.) Having a standardized API will create a true market in these connectors. Yes, I'm not a big risk-taker right now, and it's fun working with the people at Sun, but if you're one, you don't have to let people know where you heard the idea first. Just go ahead and do it! It'll be good for everyone else in the market. Finally, I think it'll be great to stage an open source project that actually accomplishes what I'm saying here. However, in that case, given the telecom market's penchant for standardized components, the JSR route becomes even more necessary for commercial success.<br /><p><br /> Masood Mortazavihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08360285774352781059noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3885556985166393285.post-91129169411677484482009-05-08T22:53:00.001-07:002009-05-08T22:53:10.951-07:00Global System for Mobile Communications<b><br />I originally wrote this entry on September 22, 2004, and published it on blogs.sun.com.<br /></b><br /><p><br />Global System for Mobile Communications (<a href="http://www.gsmworld.com/index.shtml">GSM</a>) is the grandfather of most 3G mobile network environments.<br /><p><br />GSM's success was not so much dependent on the architectural definnitions that it put together for public land mobile networks (PLMNs). The main reason for its success has been the standard interfaces it defined which made roaming across operators easy. For a description of the interfaces, architecture and system design, I highly recommend Gunnar Heine's excellent book <a href="http://www.artechhouse.com/Default.asp?Frame=Book.asp&Book=0-89006-471-7"><i>GSM Networks: Protocols, Terminology, and Implementation</i></a>. This highly readable book (how often can you say that about a telecommunications protocols book?) was originally written in German: <i>GSM--Signalisierung verstehen und praktisch anwenden</i>.<br /><p><br />Not only easier roaming was achieved by GSM . . . It also made mergers (such as the recent one between AT&T Wireless and Cingular) easier.<br /><p><br />This morning, it looks like Cingular has finally integrated the AT&T Wireless home registries. My carrier was AT&T Wireless. I had spotty reception in certain locations which apparently were owned by Cingular but were not being shared generously before the merger. After the merger, I first noticed an improvement in signals on my phone due to better cell coverage, but a number of new problems with direct dialing of my own landline number when mobile in my own area code. When in the newly available Cingular cells, I had to dial full long-distance number of my home. This had something to do with the slow integration of home and visitor registries. Now, that the integration seems complete, this new problem has also disappread.<br /><p><br />More cells, better reception . . . make me a happier user.<br /><p><br />Masood Mortazavihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08360285774352781059noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3885556985166393285.post-28620903225398802282009-05-08T00:29:00.001-07:002009-05-08T00:29:48.161-07:00My Favorite TV Programming<b>I originally wrote this entry on September 19, 2004 and published it on blogs.sun.com.</b><br /><br /><p><br /><br />My favorite English-language TV programming comes to me via <a href="http://tv.reuters.com/?fr_chl=45e2f250ce3e13521d66602b4f056e986f701e1b">Reuters.com</a>. <br /><br /><p><br />It brings me large quantities of "raw" video clips, which often include the original language. <br /><br /><p><br />The "raw" video clips give a much better sense of the context of the news. <br /><br /><p><br />The Reuters TV channels can be followed through their <a href="http://www.reuters.com/newsrss.jhtml">RSS feed</a>.<br /><p>Masood Mortazavihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08360285774352781059noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3885556985166393285.post-60562534414186073322009-03-22T13:27:00.001-07:002009-03-22T13:27:38.655-07:00Balkanization or a Welcome Diversity<b><br />I originally wrote this entry on August 17, 2004 and published it on blogs.sun.com.<br /></b><br /><br /><p><br /><table cellspacing="10"><br /><tr><br /><td><br /><img src="http://blogs.sun.com/roller/resources/MortazaviBlog/Door_Masuleh_1.JPG" width="250" alt="Door in Masuleh, Ghilan Province, Iran"><br /></td><br /><br /><td><br /><br /><p><br />When <a href="http://www.lessig.org/blog/archives/002093.shtml">Tim Wu writes about the Balkanization of the Internet</a> on <a href="http://www.lessig.org/blog/">Lessig Blog</a>, he is really trying to get to the effects of diversity of cultures and languages on the production and consumption of Internet content. <br /><br /><p><br />While he only scratches the surface of this phenomenon, he does bring something important to his readers' attention. However, characterization the phenomena as Balkanization produces a rather unfair assessment. The volume of comments on his post demonstrate that many others have thought (or have thoughts) about the problem. A dialog still needs to occur regarding the issue.<br /><br /><p><br />In my view, this is not a case of Balkanization. Instead, it is a case of diversity mixed with new global opportunities for exchange and dialog among civilizations.<br /><br /></td><br /></tr><br /></table><br /><br /><p><br />Tim does mention a few cases where governments, regulations or technology work together or separately to break the available online content into islands of discourse. This is a natural evolution, and the only way these islands can be connected is by multi-lingual people. Multi-lingualists will be the people who will distill and make available across linguistic islands material from one culture to the next. Hence, the expected rise in the social value of multi-lingualism. There's a caveat here, aptly revealed by the late British philosopher, <a href="http://pedagogie.ac-toulouse.fr/philosophie/phpes/williams.htm">Barnard Williams</i></a>, in his <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0521286913/wwwlink-software-21/202-9166587-3680665"><i>Moral Luck</i></a>: Only those who can truly see another culture as a <i>genuine</i> alternative have the best capacity to provide a valid critique of the other. (For more on the philosophical concept of moral luck, see <a href="http://www.iep.utm.edu/m/moralluc.htm">here</a>.)<br /><br /><p><br />In general, we're living in a world where diversity is on the rise.<br /><br /><p><br />Speaking for myself, for example, I was very suprised about the extent to which <a href="http://blogs.sun.com/roller/page/MortazaviBlog/20040808#ranking_of_persian_weblogs">Persian Weblogs</a> have taken off. Here, i.e. with Weblogs, the expressive power of a culture comes to its assistance. The electronic realization of some cultures, in which masses are consumer rather than participant producers of cultural expression and content, will be at a disadvantage.<br /><br /><p><br />On the positive side, all cultures are expressive and all languages have high human value. Cultural and linguistic diversity is to be cherished and nurtured, as one nurtures a garden full of beautiful flowers.<br /><br /><p><br /><table cellspacing="10"><br /><tr><br /><td><br /><img src="http://blogs.sun.com/roller/resources/MortazaviBlog/Baghe_Fin_Cieling_Design.JPG<br />" width="500" alt="Cieling in Bageh Fin, Kashan, Isfahan Province, Iran"> <br /></td><br /><br /><td><br /><p><br />What Internet offers to the smaller, more endangered cultures and linguistic communities is a means for them to preserve and propagate themselves. It also gives other rising cultures an ability to find new ways of connecting. <br /></td><br /></tr><br /></table><br /><br /><p><br />Then, there are cultures that go well beyond linguistic and national borders. For them, the Internet provides a bonanza of expressive power. For example, a Shiite Islam website, <a href="http://al-shia.com/index.php3">Ahlulbayt Global Information Center</a>, carries the writings of its <a href="http://al-shia.com/html/eng/p.php?p=Miscellaneous&url=Ulama">scholars</a>, including Ayatullah Sistani. It carries independent versions (at various levels of completion) in several languages including <a href="http://al-shia.com/html/ara/index.htm">Arabic</a>, <a href="http://al-shia.com/html/kur/index_ara.htm">Kurdish</a> (arabic lettering), <a href="http://al-shia.com/html/kur/">Kurdish</a> (turkish/latin lettering), <a href="http://al-shia.com/html/fre/">French</a>, <a href="http://al-shia.com/html/urd/">Urdu</a>, <a href="http://al-shia.com/html/eng/">English</a>, <a href="http://al-shia.com/html/far/">Persian</a>, <a href="http://al-shia.com/html/bul/">Bulgarian</a>, <a href="http://al-shia.com/html/ger/">German</a>, <a href="http://al-shia.com/html/azr/">Azeri</a> Turkish (in Cyrillic lettering), <a href="http://al-shia.com/html/chi/">Chinese</a>, <a href="http://al-shia.com/html/bos/">Bosnian</a>, <a href="http://al-shia.com/html/ru/">Russian</a>, <a href="http://al-shia.com/html/ita/">Italian</a>, <a href="http://al-shia.com/html/spa/">Spanish</a>, <a href="http://al-shia.com/html/hau/">Hausa</a> (I'd never heard of this language before), <a href="http://al-shia.com/html/id/">Indonisian</a>, <a href="http://al-shia.com/html/ful/">Fulani</a>, <a href="http://al-shia.com/html/bur/">Burmese</a>, <a href="http://al-shia.com/html/swa/">Swahili</a>, <a href="http://al-shia.com/html/ben/">Bangali</a>, <a href="http://al-shia.com/html/ben/">Hindi</a> and <a href="http://al-shia.com/html/thi/">Thai</a> (I might have got this last one wrong). The same website, provides <a href="http://quran.al-shia.com/<br />">translations of Al-Quran in these same languages</a>.<br /><br /><p><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> Masood Mortazavihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08360285774352781059noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3885556985166393285.post-32505999669207020742009-03-22T13:10:00.001-07:002009-03-22T13:10:20.851-07:00Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998<b><br />I originally wrote this entry on August 10, 2004 and published it on blogs.sun.com.<br /></b><br /><p><br />There's a nice, compact 18-page <a href="http://www.copyright.gov/legislation/dmca.pdf">document</a> published by the <a href="http://www.copyright.gov/">U.S. Copyright Office</a> that summarizes the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) of 1998. <br /><br /><p><br />On <a href="http://www.lessig.org/blog">Lessig Blog</a>, guest writer Congressman Rick Boucher <a href="http://www.lessig.org/blog/archives/002084.shtml">writes</a> how <a href="http://www.house.gov/boucher/docs/dmcrasec.htm">DMCA</a> went too far in restricting fair use in the digital era. He summarizes consumer-rights and scientific research exemptions to DMCA he and Congressman John Doolittle of California have introduced.<br /><p>Masood Mortazavihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08360285774352781059noreply@blogger.com0