Michael Wolraich's picture

    Tweets from the Edge: an Iranian twitters as Tehran burns

    Follow the tragic experiences of an Iranian student on twitter as the protests in Tehran unfold: http://twitter.com/change_for_iran. I'll display the latest tweets on the right panel of this page. Here are some samples of recent tweets in chronological order:

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    Michael Wolraich's picture

    The Heretic's Bible - Genesis 12: Abram pimps his wife

    When Abram turned 75, God told him to move out of his father’s house.

    Commentary: I have to agree with God on this one.

    To encourage him, God promised: “I will make you into a great nation. I will bless you and make you great. You shall become a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and he who curses you, I will curse. All the families of the earth will be blessed through you.”

    Commentary: I think that God had a little man-crush on Abram.

    Deadman's picture

    The Iran riots ... pictures

    I have no clue as to the veracity of these photos, but if they're real, they are very disturbing.

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/arasmus/

    Beware, some of the images are very graphic.

    For all of our efforts trying to 'promote democracy' in the Middle East (mostly by destroying Iraq and then trying to rebuild it), this may end up being the real catalyst. And you could at least make the argument that Obama's speech to Muslims - just words, as Genghis has mentioned - helped in some way.

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    Larry Jankens's picture

    Handy Guide to Iranian Political System.

    Being the President is cool and all, but how about Supreme Leader?  Way tighter.

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    Larry Jankens's picture

    Diving Boards and Dinosaurs

    Apparently, diving boards may be as common as a live dinosaur. Pool companies refuse to install them because they are afraid of liability claims should they fail and Homeowner insurers don’t want to insure homes with diving boards for the same reason. Because businesses are so afraid to get sued the younger generation of kids are deprived of the joy of a well executed cannon ball or the satisfaction of a diving into the pool like a seal getting after fish.

    Michael Wolraich's picture

    The Heretic's Bible - Genesis 11: God is an asshole

    The descendents of Nimrod, the mighty trapper before God, settled in the valley of Shinar. Once they were settled, they decided that it would be fun to build a really tall tower that reached the sky, so that’s what they did.

    Then God came around to check out their tower, and he apparently wasn’t too pleased because he said,

    “They are a single people, all having one language, and this is the first thing they do! Now nothing they plan to do will be unattainable for them! Come, let us descend and confuse their speech, so that one person will not understand another's speech.”

    Michael Wolraich's picture

    The Heretic's Bible - Genesis 10: Of ites and ims

    This is another boring chapter. It’s just a list Noah’s kids and grandkids and great grandkids who founded seventy nations between them, including a bunch of “ites”  (Canaanites, Jebusites, Amorites, Girgashites, Hivites, Overbites, Arkites, Sinites, Arvadites, Uptites, and Chamathites) and a few “ims” (Ludim, Anamim, Wetdrim, Lehabhim, Naftuchim, Pathrusim, Casluchim, Caphtorim, and Shavincrim). I didn’t count seventy, but that’s what the Great Rabbi says, and he is one wise counter.

    There is one line, however, that makes the whole chapter worth reading:

    acanuck's picture

    Iran: all tree, no forest

    For those of us who, like Mir Hosein Mousavi, are wondering what happened to our projected landslide green revolution, Josh Marshall links to an interesting Guardian article: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/jun/13/iranian-election

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