"The chief of Palestinian militant group Hamas said his organization is prepared to cooperate with the U.S. in promoting a peaceful resolution to the Arab-Israeli conflict if the White House can secure an Israeli settlement freeze and a lifting of the economic and military blockade of the Gaza Strip."

Becoming an ayatollah (literary "Sign of Allah") requires three cycles (halaqat) of scholarly training. The seminary student aims to reach the "age of responsibility," (qabl bulughi sin at-taklif), an intellectual-moral stage after which he is qualified to be an independent judge. Such a state of scholarly adulthood implies the ability to form opinion (rayi) on both spiritual and practical matters. There is no formal hierarchy among Shiite clerics, so graduate "degrees" come in the form of a letter, signed and stamped, acknowledging the mujtahid's permission (ijaza) to practice scholarly judgment (ijtihad). The letter affirms his maturity and integrity as a recognized scholar.

All this takes a minimum of 15 to 20 years, with each of the three cycles lasting nearly seven years. The first phase, the introduction (al-muqaddimat,) includes a study of rhetoric and logic. The second cycle, known as the externals (as-Sutuh), involves the study of major scholarly texts on Shiite jurisprudence and theology. The third stage of final discussion (dars al-Kharij) usually requires attending public lectures conducted under the supervision of a high-ranking scholar. The talks focus on specific themes within the vast array of theological discourses. It is at this final stage when the intellectual maturity of a student is recognized by his peers and instructor. During the weekly sessions, usually three to four hours a week, an outstanding student will be noticed for his scholarly abilities and declared a mujtahid.

Apparently, Sadr is somewhere at this final cycle of studies, attending tutorials (rather than lectures) under a high-ranking cleric, most likely an Arabic-speaking grand ayatollah with close-ties to Tehran.

The status of mujtahid, however, does not automatically entitle a Shiite scholar to become an ayatollah. First, the student will take on the post-graduate status of hujjatul-Islam, or defender of Islam. The boundary that separates a mid-ranking hujjatul-Islam from the higher-ranking ayatollah is usually a thin one, and changing circumstances or political situations can permit a junior mujtahid to rise in the ranks. In the early 1960s, for example, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini was detained for his political activities by the shah, so Grand-Ayatollah Hossein Borujerdi, a traditional conservative cleric, granted Khomeini ayatollah status as a way to speed up his release. After the death of Khomeini in 1989, hujjatul-Islam Ali Khamenei succeeded his mentor and immediately became an ayatollah with the approval of a number of high-ranking clerics in Qom. (Foreign Policy)

Labels: interviews

Labels: interviews

"THE question of Hosni Mubarak?s succession is once again cropping up with increasing regularity as whispers of the president?s ill-health spread. It was widely rumoured that, shocked by the death of his favourite grandson from illness in May, Mr Mubarak had a mild stroke. He was not seen in public for a week. When he reappeared, he looked frailer. When Barack Obama came to Cairo a fortnight later to deliver his momentous speech to the Muslim world, Egypt?s 81-year-old president failed to turn up. More recently, however, he has made an effort to appear at carefully orchestrated public outings. This week he was hobnobbing with President Nicolas Sarkozy in Paris."

"The Great Recession, which rolled over our financial lives like one of P.J. Keating's giant pavers, is most likely over. Home sales, while still far below the levels of a year ago, have risen for three straight months?a first since 2004. The stock market has rallied 44 percent since March, thanks to renewed optimism and improving earnings from big companies like Goldman Sachs and Apple. In June, seven of the 10 indicators in the Conference Board Leading Economic Index pointed upward, including manufacturing hours worked and unemployment claims. Macroeconomic Advisers, the St. Louis?based consulting firm, says the economy is expanding at a 2.5 percent annual rate in the current quarter. Economic activity "will increase slightly over the remainder of 2009," Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke told Congress." (Newsweek)

In most kinds of slug, the penis is about half the length of its body. ("Is that a Kalashnikov in your pocket or are you just glad to see me?") It's not clear why such anatomical grandeur might be important for survival: Slug experts discount the idea that the oversize penis functions like a peacock tail, as a display of virility?they point out that the chemical signaling and seduction occurs before the magisterial organs even come into view. In any event, the chosen mate isn't likely to be impressed, since most slugs possess both male and female sexual organs. During a single coupling, slugs can mate reciprocally?with each partner inseminating and being inseminated?or one can serve as the recipient.

"Iceland has formally applied to join the European Union, a week after the parliament in Reykjavik voted in favour of accession to the 27-nation bloc.
The Icelandic Foreign Minister, Ossur Skarphedinsson, submitted the request to his Swedish counterpart, Carl Bildt, during a ceremony in Stockholm.

Sweden currently holds the EU's rotating six-month presidency.

The bid must now be approved by the EU, after which Iceland's people will be asked to vote on it in a referendum.

"This is the day when I have the historic duty to hand in formally the Icelandic application to the European Union," Mr Skarphedinsson said at the ceremony in the Swedish foreign ministry on Thursday." (BBC)

"Perhaps only in the sometimes hazy world of medical marijuana could higher taxes be considered good news.

But sure enough, supporters of medical marijuana were pleasantly pleased Wednesday after Oakland voters overwhelmingly approved a huge tax increase ? 15 times the former rate ? on sales at the city?s handful of permitted medical marijuana dispensaries.

Believed to be the first of its kind, Measure F received nearly 80 percent of the vote, a landslide that pot professionals hailed as a significant step in the legitimization of the cannabis industry.

?It?s one more victory in a big war,? said Richard Lee, president of Oaksterdam University, a downtown storefront where the aroma of marijuana pervades the sidewalk. ?It?s a lot better than being arrested and thrown in jail.?"

"IN NOVEMBER 1999, the United Nations Security Council authorized sending peacekeepers to the Democratic Republic of Congo. Since then, despite the growth of the UN force to more than 18,000 personnel, at a cost of more than $1 billion a year, violence and turmoil have killed millions more Congolese. Of course, some things haven?t helped, like the Pakistani peacekeepers who rearmed, in return for gold, the militia they were supposed to be disarming; or the Indian troops who reportedly traded arms for ivory from the rebels and bought dope from them in the bargain; or the contingent of UN troops who failed to stop a massacre of 150 people taking place less than a mile away. Even before that tragedy last December, Congolese had rioted outside one UN compound over the mission?s ineffectiveness, and the Spanish general newly appointed to command the UN force had resigned in a huff over weak political support and feeble military resources. And so it goes with all but the most routine UN peacekeeping missions, which are effective only to the extent that their host combatants allow."

"The nation's wealth gap is widening amid an uproar about lofty pay packages in the financial world.

Executives and other highly compensated employees now receive more than one-third of all pay in the U.S., according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of Social Security Administration data -- without counting billions of dollars more in pay that remains off federal radar screens that measure wages and salaries."

"E' il 4 novembre, sono passate due settimane. Obama sta per essere eletto alla Casa Bianca, Berlusconi e Patrizia sono nel "lettone di Putin".

SB: questo [libro?...] l'ho disegnato io
PD: l'hai fatto molto bene
SB: l'altra volta ce l'avevi?

PD: S�
SB: C'eri gi� l'altra volta?
PD: S�
SB: ma tu pensa... e questa? prendi
PD: no questa no
SB: � la pi� bella
PD: � bellissima questa

SB: prenditi questa la regali a qualcuno
PD: no
SB: no, sarebbe uno spreco

PD: anche questa l'hai disegnata tu?
SB: questa � una mia idea ma non l'ho disegnata io. ma guarda che roba...com'� fatta. questo � un mio amico che me l'ha fatta. che mi fa tutte le cose...io mi faccio una doccia anch'io... e poi, poi mi aspetti nel lettone se finisci prima tu?


PD: quale lettone.. quello di putin?
SB: quello di Putin
PD: ah che carino..quello con le tende

canzone 1 'Gente magnifica gente' - Sal da Vinci - dal musical 'Scugnizzi'
canzone 2 'Zoccole zoccole' - Sal da Vinci - dal musical 'Scugnizzi'"

Labels: tube

"The Marriott and Ritz-Carlton, which are located next door to each other, were reputed to have tight security, in part because of the previous hotel attack six years ago. Metal detectors were stationed at the entrances, while at the Marriott vehicles were not allowed to pull up to the lobby. On occasion, security guards opened the luggage of entering guests. But the terrorists were able to somehow evade the security measures by smuggling in bomb materials. On Saturday, a police spokesman said that one bag carrying the July 17 bomb materials had set off a metal detector but that security guards let it through after the owner said it was just a laptop computer. Spotty enforcement, it appears, is just as common as stringent checks at Jakarta hotels. Just hours after the Friday morning bombings, for instance, another luxury hotel in Jakarta performed a cursory check of an approaching taxi, not even bothering to use a metal-detector wand or mirror to check the underside of the car. A bomb-sniffing dog was on-site but was snoozing beside the security checkpoint."

Labels: aiesec, Career, Job Hunting, Life Direction, Networking, Success

"The American attention span for foreign crises is notoriously short. In the two weeks since Iran?s disputed election and the ensuing protests and violence, Michael Jackson died, Sarah Palin resigned, and news from Iran slipped below the fold and into the inside pages of most daily newspapers.

In this case, however, American editors and readers are not solely to blame. The Iranian authorities had an interest in making this story disappear, and they have done a very effective job. They expelled all foreign reporters, imprisoned most active local ones (according to Reporters Without Borders, forty-one Iranian journalists have been imprisoned since June 12th), and let local stringers for foreign media organizations know that their options included prison, silence, and exile. The inner circles of the opposition candidates, and the independent analysts and civil-society leaders who aggregate and interpret information for the press, are also in prison, or, at the very least, unable to communicate freely by e-mail or phone. Very few unofficial sources of information remain accessible?mainly anonymous, frightened informants on the ground."

"A National Health Service leaflet is advising school pupils that they have a ?right? to an enjoyable sex life and that regular intercourse can be good for their cardiovascular health.

The advice appears in guidance circulated to parents, teachers and youth workers, and is intended to update sex education by telling pupils about the benefits of sexual pleasure. For too long, say its authors, experts have concentrated on the need for ?safe sex? and loving relationships while ignoring the main reason that many people have sex, that is, for enjoyment.

The document, called Pleasure, has been drawn up by NHS Sheffield, although it is also being circulated outside the city.

Alongside the slogan ?an orgasm a day keeps the doctor away?, it says: ?Health promotion experts advocate five portions of fruit and veg a day and 30 minutes? physical activity three times a week. What about sex or masturbation twice a week??"

(TimesOnline)

"
Analysts predict the bank earned a profit of more than $2 billion in the March-June period, because of its trading prowess across world markets.
....

Whether Goldman can keep this up is anyone?s guess. With so much riding on trading, the risk is that the bank might make a misstep in the markets, or that today?s moneymaking trades will simply vanish. The second half of 2009 looks tougher, many analysts say.

Goldman is not the only bank that appears to be returning to health. JPMorgan Chase is also emerging as one of the strongest players in this new era of American finance. JPMorgan and several other big banks are expected to report strong second-quarter profits as well this week, again in large part based on robust trading results."

(NY Times)

"
Sure, foreclosure ultimately costs the bank more money than a modification would. But foreclosures these days take a long time ? as much as 18 months in some states. And all that time the banks can keep the loans on their books at inflated values. Daniel Alpert, the managing partner of Westwood Capital, calls this practice ?extend and pretend.? In fact, he said, he has been hearing that banks aren?t even willing to conduct so-called short sales anymore. Those are sales where the borrower asks the bank to sell the house for whatever it can get, and the bank in turn lets the borrower walk away from the loss that results from the sale.

?Banks are saying no because they don?t want to take the loss,? said Mr. Alpert. ?They would rather foreclose. That is just wrong.?

And the laggards? Starting next month, the government plans to begin publishing data showing which servicers are doing well and which are doing poorly, thus trying to shame them into doing the right thing. And, of course, there is that July 28 meeting, in which all these points will be made, I suspect, rather forcefully.

Apparently, the only incentive left is a good swift kick in the rear."

Labels: Organizational Theory

"Last week, Egypt's Ministry of Endowments, the government division responsible for the administration of mosques, distributed the informational booklet to mosques across the country in what appears to be one of the first serious government responses to a problem that has become impossible to ignore. While Egypt's sexual harassment epidemic has earned the country a reputation as one of the worst harassment locations in the Middle East, the government has gained notoriety among bloggers and human-rights groups for denying the very existence of a problem. Then in 2008, the Egyptian Center for Women's Rights, a Cairo-based NGO, released the first extensive report on the issue. Out of 1,010 Egyptian women surveyed, some 83% said they had experienced sexual harassment. Nearly half reported being subject to harassment on a daily basis, with abuses ranging from lewd comments to violent molestation."

"Security forces began clashing with protesters shortly after they began massing in the streets of Tehran on Thursday evening, as an initially festive demonstration quickly turned grim, witnesses said."

Tear gas was fired into Lelah Park, they said, and a woman whose coat was covered in blood ran from Revolution Square, one of the main gathering spots during the initial weeks of protests over the June 12 election. She said that police officers were beating protesters.

It was the first protest in 11 days, and was called to commemorate the 10th anniversary of violent confrontations at Tehran University when protesting students were beaten and jailed. Iranian authorities had announced earlier that the demonstration was illegal and would be met with a ?crushing response.?

"Add to that the challenges of a part of the world that regularly explodes ? physically. By dint of bad geographic luck, Indonesia sits on one of the most earthquake-prone, volcanic, hostile bits of the Earth that any human community happens to occupy. During the transition to democracy a string of natural disasters occurred ? starting with the Indian Ocean tsunami, but continuing on to a second tsunami, two major earthquakes, and a volcanic eruption. More than one hundred and seventy thousand Indonesians died in the December, 2004 tsunami, only two months after the country had placed its first freely elected President, the same Yudhoyono apparently re-elected yesterday, into office. The rash of terrorist bombings occurred during the transition from a dictatorship. So did 9/11 ? and with it the huge crash in international business and travel, which were important to Indonesia?s financial health. Then came Sudden Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) and the Avian Flu. A drought began, killing the crops. Planes crashed with alarming frequency. Ferry boats sank with hundreds lost at sea. For years it seemed like the country simply would not catch a break. Every reasonable thing the Indonesians did led to another unspeakable tragedy. The country felt cursed. Imagine Katrina, plus 9/11, plus Mexican flu, plus the financial crisis, at the same time, in the America of 1780 or the Russia of 1989.

Countries have succumbed with less urging. But today few expect Indonesia to ever return to dictatorship. And, this all happened very quickly ? in less than ten years. By comparison, ten years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, Russia was backsliding. Four years after a peace treaty, the Congo still isn?t peaceful. Ukraine struggled with a fragile democracy. Iraq is a disaster. Afghanistan?s 2010 elections are very much a question mark, and Pakistan?s government may or may not be in charge."

"Amateur Video,Text From Source (France24 Observers) : It all started after an incident in a toy factory on 26 June in Shaoguan, Guangdong province.

The authorities decided to send young Uighur labourers to work in factories in the centre of the country. They said it was to raise our living standards. But for the Uighurs, the policy is perceived as a kind of forced migration, a cultural genocide. Especially since, at the beginning, they were only recruiting young unmarried women.

Nearly 800 Uighurs were working in this toy factory in Shaoguan. One evening, the Hans came to beat them up . There were a lot of rumours about the reason for the tensions between the two communities.

People say, for example, though it?s not confirmed, that a Han raped a Uighur girl. But what is certain is that the Hans don?t appreciate the Uighurs taking their jobs. We see the way in which the Uighurs were beaten up on the video.

According to the authorities, two people were killed that evening, but we think there were more than that.

The Uighurs of Xinjiang didn?t react at first. They were waiting for the authorities to punish those responsible. But when they realised that nothing had been done, they organized a demonstration in Urumqi [the regional capital of Xinjiang]. According to the witness accounts that I?ve heard, the demo was peaceful. The Uighurs had even brought out red Chinese flags to show that it wasn?t a demo in favour of independence.

I am not surprised to see that the official Chinese media have only showed images of Han victims. It?s always like that; we saw the same thing during the riots in Tibet.

They control the information. Since this morning, for example, the telephone lines have been cut off, I can no longer get hold of anyone in my family. They also blocked the Internet and closed Uighur sites, for example Xjtsnews, which is actually the official site of the region""

Claude Lelouch's Rendezvous... from Dat on Vimeo.

" The Chinese state news agency reported Monday that at least 140 people were killed and 816 injured when rioters clashed with the police in a regional capital in western China after days of rising tensions between Muslim Uighurs and Han Chinese.

The casualty toll, if confirmed, would make this the deadliest outbreak of violence in China in many years.

The rioting broke out Sunday afternoon in a large market area of Urumqi, the capital of the vast, restive desert region of Xinjiang, and lasted for several hours before riot police officers and paramilitary or military troops locked down the Uighur quarter of the city, according to witnesses and photographs of the riot.
"

"In May 2006, Credit Suisse issued the developers of this new all-season ski-and-golf resort in Idaho $250 million in loans and credit. With the money, the property?s owners began to construct an elaborate European-style village that was to include luxury restaurants and condominiums; in the foothills of the mountains, hundreds of properties were erected, including private chalets, cottages, town homes and large estates. Sales began to slow, however, during the credit crunch. Last March, Tamarack closed, and the resort?s 200 workers were laid off. Foreclosed chalets sit in the foothills, and the European-style village now lies dormant and only half-finished."

"A woman stabbed to death in a Dresden courtroom was three months pregnant, reported German newspaper Bild on Friday. "

• It's full of weird random people.
• A weekend in a town called "Santa Claus" drinking all day in a trailer park with friends.
• The fact that you can get delicious Thai for 6 bucks, all you can eat Indian for 8, and some yummy Tacos for 1 a piece all in one block.
• 4 AM greasy meals at diners after a night out.
• Traveling with some indie bands friends of mine to small towns playing in front of 30 people.
• Summer campings
  
• Strong volunteering spirit. There are unlimited amounts of volunteering activities throughout the year from staffing a soup kitchen or painting school.
  
• Spring and Summer free volleyballs on the beaches of Lake Michigan.
• Shakespeare on the park.
• Chris Rock and Jon Stewart
• Bruce Springsteen on the road and Bon Jovi in packed bar.
  
• Free concerts and free movies in the Summer.
  
• All those underground dancing clubs.
• Partying at AIESEC houses and passing out on the floor.
• Chicago Council of Foreign Relations seminars
• Drum Circles in Central Park / Rhythm in Chicago
  
• Austin, Boston, Chicago, New York, Madison
• Jazz and Blues in some nasty shack in Chicago
• You can take out 30 books at any time in Chicago and New York City public library.
• Presidential Campaign.
• 1st Amendement
  
• Excellent house parties
• Pulled Ribs
• Superbowl
• Seattle's Best Coffee (before Starbucks killed it)
  
• Fried Chicken in 107th Street.
• It costs you only 200 dollars to register for a company and be legal.
• Gazillion of young people starting their own businesses.
  
• White Sox
  
• Tamales in Queens
• Chicago and New York Gay Parade
• Chicago Marathons
  
• MOMA and The Art Institute of Chicago
• Comedy Clubs
• Off Off Broadway
• Kazillions of arts and weird movies and documentaries
  
• Net Flix
• Fedex/UPS
• Farmers market in the summer.
• Irish Bars
  

Labels: brain canvas

"11:51 am: Conservative cleric turns on Khamenei ? Haddi Ghaffari, a former minister under Ayatollah Khomeni, gave a speech Monday directly addressing the Supreme Leader and criticizing him for his behavior since the election and for his support of Ahmadinejad. Ghaffari played a major role in the creation of Hezbollah ? he is no reformist by any stretch of the imagination ? and his frontal assault on Khamenei would have been extremely taboo prior to the election.

?Khamenei, your recent actions and behavior has brought shame to us clerics. Our image in the streets and bazaars has been tarnished as everyone is placing us in the same category as Ahmadinejad.?

?Khamenei, you are wrong, your actions are wrong. I believe in the velayat e fagih more than you.?

?I?m not preaching these messages so that I could be associated with the West. I loathe the West and will fight to the last drop of my blood before I or my land succumbs to the West. On the contrary, I?m preaching these messages on the count that the respect for our profession is gone.?

?Young people are not praying anymore, whose fault is that? It is your fault Mr. Khamenei, it?s your fault for placing us in the same line as that lunatic Ahmadinejad.?

?Ahmadinejad is nobody, you should congregate with us instead of him.?"