A Still More Glorious Dawn

Well it has been some time since I have lasted pulled out my metaphorical pen and pad and exposed myself to you, my modest audience.  And by modest, I am trying to put the fact my audience consists of an amount of people no more than the maximum I could count on my digits (that’s fingers, toes, and thumbs) in a positive light.  It’s not working so well.

But, I digress, which so happens to be the point of this post.  It is a digression from the norm matter and style my entries follow.  For you die-hard Arugula Eater fans, do not fear, I plan on reverting back with another of my quality musings some time this week.  However, I would like to draw the crowd’s attention to a more pressing matter that has appeared:

What is this you ask? This might be the single finest use of auto-tune known to man. It also is one of the most inspiring videos I have seen in a long time. Yes, friends, that was me being sincere.

Before you are paralyzed and in shock that this writer has sensitive emotions, let me elaborate.  Sadly, Carl Sagan was before my time, but I do vaguely remember some of his videos. They were riveting.  His spirit, however, is timeless.  It is the same as the desire of those who quest for truth absolute and the willingness to go to any lengths explore it fully; he emanates the fundamental energy that has driven humankind to the point it is.  As flawed as we are, it has been a marvelous 25,000 years and a glorious past century. And there will be still more glorious dawns to come as he tells us.

What does his message fundamentally mean to us, motes of dust on this blessed rock?  It means that despite the need for cynicism and criticism, optimism for us as a species should be kept.  We have made mistakes but that should not stop us from learning from and fixing them.  Let us then move forward then at this crux between progress and penitence, and fulfill our duty to understand these cosmos we so humbly inhabit 

Thanks to John Boswell and ColorpulseMusic.com for arranging that.  And naturally thank you Carl Sagan and Stephen Hawking, for your voices and your progress.

Cringely vs. Competition vs. Common Sense

So, it’s been a while since I have posted. I was kind of shaken up by everything in Iran, and since things are still volatile and the Huffington Post was doing an excellent job covering, I am going to discuss tonight a less serious issue.  The issue of idiot technology journalists and how they are drinking the Apple Kool-Aid like none other still.

First, let’s look at why I am pissed off, besides the iPhone 3GS commercials (Oh look Ma, the new fangled iTelephoney has got some cut and glue feature and you can record them moving pictures! Dang, Pa lets waste another $200 on features that have existed for almost a decade!). New York Times got the bonehead idea of getting Robert X. Cringely to write an Op-Ed piece about how Google and Microsoft’s new endeavors into each of the opposing fields apparently is bad for consumers. Read it in full here: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/13/opinion/13cringely.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=bing%20v%20chrome&st=cse.

It starts off by saying that the idea behind ChromeOS and Bing is synonymous with MAD theory in the Cold War.  As he puts it, “It’s just noise — a form of mutually assured destruction intended to keep each company in check.” Because Microsoft and Google can so easily kill each other by pressing a big red button.  While I agree it is obvious that they want to frighten each other, suggesting that they can spontaneously do the internet/computer equivalent of thermonuclear warfare is utterly ridiculous.  Oversimplify more please.

Oh wait, I really shouldn’t have asked that because the following paragraph is so pathetic:

“Microsoft makes most of its money from two products, Microsoft Windows and Microsoft Office. Nearly everything else it makes loses money, sometimes deliberately. Google makes most of its money from selling Internet ads next to search results. Nearly everything else it does loses money, too.”

I am going to have to guess he stopped following Google in 1999 and probably Microsoft in 1994, because that is about the last time when his statements are even relevant. 

Everything else Microsoft makes loses money? You are telling me it loses money on the Xbox 360, Microsoft Game Studios, and Xbox LIVE, the most successful online gaming subscription in history?  You think it loses money on Microsoft Visual Studio .NET, the industry standard for programming IDEs, and MSDN, which is probably the largest commercial programming peer group?  

And all Google does is Search and AdSense?  Have you watched a TV News program in the last three years?  They all use Google Earth for their zoom-in to location of correspondent thingy, and I am going to bet that it is the commercial subscription.  Oh and you know they bought YouTube for only a paltry $1.65 billion.  But, the world’s largest video website couldn’t possibly have profit involved. Did I mention they control the very website I am posting on right now?

Not to mention, you know, Gmail.  Combined Yahoo!/Live Mail (partially owned by OS-only maker Microsoft) they control the vast majority of the personal email market. And Yahoo!/Live Messenger have the honor of being the number one IM client in the world.  But who would make money off of that?

The funny thing is, this article’s premise just gets sadder and sadder.  Apparently Google’s biggest fear is “one day … the Google search engine suddenly doesn’t work on any Windows computers … an act of deliberate sabotage on Microsoft’s part and blatantly illegal … and take days, weeks or months to reverse the effect”. This is really funny. It’s funnier than moon landing conspiracy theorists who don’t understand the basic physics on the moon.

There are two “realistic” scenarios Cringely could be talking about here:

1. Denial of Service Attack against Google by Microsoft (Technically is possible and practical when you ignore legality)
2. Windows is hardwired to ban Google (About as practical as my school district’s attempt to ban Google for a week, cute idea though)

In the first scenario is something that has been done before, like what apparently North Korea staged against the US and South Korea earlier this month.  So yes, it can be done, except not against Google. Don’t get me wrong, aside from the CIA, Microsoft is probably the only other institution that could possibly bring down Google with a DDOS attack. But it still is not likely. And it would not be hard to remedy.  Hours at most.  Oh and that it is a federal crime.  And there is no way Microsoft would be able to claim innocence, the proof would be in the IPs.

The second idea really doesn’t even merit a rebuttal. Any teenager (like me in high school) who comes from a dictatorship (so like Iran, China, and my high school’s school district) can avoid a Google ban. Whether from going to Google.ca or going to some proxy, it’s really easy. Oh and the AdSense revenue would keep coming in from non-Google sites.

I know what you are thinking, “But wait our arugula-eating blogger! What about the situation where Microsoft is in Google’s base, pwning their noobs, and setting them up a bomb?!” Yeah well, when we become an Engrish video game, I’ll get back to you.

By the way, if you thought my red button reference was a joke, “So Google Chrome and Chrome OS and Android are all intended to keep Microsoft on the defensive and less likely to push its own Big Red Button.” Cringely is a genius obviously.  And he proves it by blowing out Apple fan-boy rhetoric:

“And don’t forget Apple, which with the iPod and iPhone has shown an ability to revolutionize markets other companies saw as mature. Microsoft and Google have yet to do something like that.”

As I told my friend an hour earlier, the last thing that Apple has ever done is revolutionize markets or technology.  Quick list of The Fruit’s innovations with Steve Jobs commentary provided by me:

1. iPod – “Oh there is this cool thing called the Creative Zen, but I don’t like the button placement. Let’s put them in a circle so it looks more like one of those phones where you spin the numbers!”
2. iPhone – “Hey let’s not introduce features on introductory phones like Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS), Voice Recognition, and Video Recording until the 3rd generation! Oh and we might as well toss in this crazy new idea called Cut and Paste.  It seems to be all the rage!”
3. Mac OSX –“So I was using FreeBSD, but the theme is ugly. Otherwise its a pretty cool OS. But the programmers left all the source code out for the public to use and change as they wish! Haha, suckers!”
4. Apple II – “Hey Woz, want to just steal Xerox’s OS and steal Orwell’s plot from 1984 for our ad campaign?”
5. One button mice – I can’t possibly fathom what imbecilic idea decided that the upgrade to two buttons was a bad idea. In fact, the only revolutionary thing about this was the fact Apple was refusing to steal other people’s new ideas and claim them as their own.

Meanwhile, the Big Two, which apparently don’t have the balls of Steve “I’m too afraid to let third parties make hardware” Jobs, have apparently not revolutionized the field in years.  He further claims this prevents the consumers from any real progress. 

Let me rebut this with a single word: False.  Thanks to the Google vs Microsoft war we will hopefully soon have quality cloud office software for free. If Google had not put out Google Docs, Microsoft definitely would not have planned to put out the most likely superior Online Office for free.  Instead we would have gotten a $99 fee, sort of like iLife from the leaders of consumer progress.  We have gotten quality map software that integrates with cellphones for free.  Google backing up Firefox caused most users to finally get an upgrade for the security hole ridden crap called IE6 with tabbed browsing in IE7 and security in IE8.  This forced Chrome to start adding significant features with Web Apps and now we finally have the world’s first major HTML 5 browser with Firefox 3.5. 

Cringley makes a note in his article about how Microsoft and Google stifle innovation within their own company.  I suggest he go and check Google Labs and follow Microsoft’s PRs, because they have done far from that.  And most importantly he should realize that with services like Google Code and MSDN have created thousands if not millions of developers for a multitude of platforms, something that the likes of Apple and other gimick heavy companies can never hope to do.

Microsoft is by no means angelic in business or morality and Google should probably heed its “Don’t Be Evil” motto more religiously.  However, only an idiot would believe that their competition has not aided us with new products and services for the mainstream.  Let’s not forget that we all probably go to Google on our Windows PC and I cannot forget I am using Microsoft-owned Windows Live Writer to write a Google-owned Blogger post.  And if some idiot tech writer, who mind you claimed to have a fake PhD and professorship from Stanford, wants to write otherwise, let him feel the flames of truth. 

Live Blog Post, 9:00: Election Updates pt. 4

And it looks like its winding down.
18,302,924 Ahmadinijad
570,174 Rezaee
248,431 Karroubi
8,929,232 Mousavi

Ahmadinijad very well might be about to break the 50% margin if he hasn't already. In one hour it will basically be completely safe to say from a statistical basis who has won. Mousavi apparently has begun to complain about the way precincts were reported. As if the Guardian Council will care.

Live Blog Post, 8:00: Election Updates pt. 4

New numbers:
16,974,382 Ahmadinijad
8,124,690 Mousavi
508,796 Rezaee
228,431 Karroubi

CNN has called it for Ahmadinijad. But really, they are calling it as a landslide? Honestly, even a schoolchild can see that the precinct reporting so far is biased. I still am not officially calling it for Ahmadinijad, but I won't lie, the prospects are grim for Mousavi.

Live Blog Post, 7:00: Iranian Demographics and Updates, pt. 2

However, what I described in my previous post amounts to 33% of the populace. And the vast majority of Iran's 51% Persians don't live in the provinces. They live in cities.

Crude breakdown again, list of cities:

• Tehran, Metro: 14,000,000-18,000,000 This is one of the most disputed statistics probably in the population of a major world city, I have seen official numbers go up to 21 million for Tehran Metro, but I would say the 14 mil mark is probably more accurate.
  
• Tehran needs to be broken up into two major precincts however, North Tehran and South Tehran. North along with most of Central, East, and West Tehran is primarily populated by the liberal to the the moderates. Typical Reformist rank and file and strong Mousavi
• South Tehran is a poor district however, filled with parents whose children died in the Iran-Iraq war and has been bribed by Ahmadinijad also. Strongly religious and anti-West, the hardliners have controlled this area since the Revolution. This is the face of Iran the US has seen most often.
  
• Tehran probably will boil down to 67% Mousavi, 33% Ahmadinijad assuming no fraud
• Isfahan, Metro: 3,430,353. Another divided city, Isfahan is the home to religious pragmatists. Conservatives in values, they are more driven by practicality and thus strongly backed Ahmadinijad's original campaign 4 years ago. Now that support has diminished with the lack of legitimate results for the economy.
• Isfahan is also a North/South division except the inverse of Tehran. Early polling put the two candidates neck and neck so honestly 50%-50% is the fairest projection.
• Mashad, Metro: 2,868,350. The site of a major Shi'a pilgrimage site Mashad is actually surprising not a hardliner stronghold. 65%-35% in favor of Mousavi.
• Tabriz, Metro: 1,597,319. The provincial capital of East Azerbaijan, this is reformist territory naturally. Also, I recommend their rugs. High quality stuff. 70%-30% in favor of Mousavi.
• Shiraz: 1,204,882. A short drive from the 2500 year old capital, Persepolis, Shiraz has tended to be an intellectual town. As for their politics, its not clear cut like with Isfahan. It is fair to say however that Ahmadinijad does not have a majority for sure. 60%-40% in favor of Mousavi.
• Karaj: 1,377,450. This city is practically Tehran Metro. I mean its closer than Tehran's airport and you can take a subway line to it from the center of Tehran. Guess what I am guessing this will be: 70%-30% Mousavi.
• Qom: 951,918. This city is more important for its history and its purpose than for population. It is the one city in Iran that is a total Ahmadinijad shoo-in. It contains the largest religious seminaries (yes, thats multiple) in Iran and was the favorite town of Khomeini. 80%-20% Ahmadinijad. And I am probably being too nice to Mousavi with that result.
• The other cities will probably lean towards Mousavi. ~55% support overall in the cities.

You use this as data at your own risk. Its mostly crude guesses because Iran lacks a lot of hard numbers.

Most recent numbers:
15,913,256 Ahmadinijad, 7,526,117 Mousavi, 470,549 Rezaee, 212,855 Karroubi
Official new turnout: ~37 Million (80%) Edit: ~38 Million
Insiders in Mousavi's campaign are saying that precinct reporting is being manipulated to make Ahmadinijad appear much higher than he is and that non of the pro-Mousavi precincts have reported.

Live Blog Post, 5:45: Iranian Demographics and Updates, pt. 1

Now up to this point, it appears that the majority of the votes are provincial votes. The provinces in Iran refers mainly to the countryside and rural areas (yes cities are obviously in provinces too, but thats what we call our favorite villagers). Reformists rarely gain inroads here and while it is hard for me to actually find numbers to back up most of the following, understand that demographics in Iran is basically guestimation for election results.

Some key facts about Iran (Primarily from the CIA world fact book):

• Iran is arguably the most highly diverse country in its region. Non-Arab, it is commonly viewed as Persian. However, this is not truly fair either. Only 51% of Iran is Persian (Persian/Median descent). The rest is composed of 24% Azeris (same ethnicity as the Azeri turks in Azerbaijan), 8% Gilaki and Mazandaranis (our lovely Caspian tribes that give us our summer cabins), 7% Kurds (same people in Turkey, Syria, Iraq, relatively less oppression one could say), 3% Arabs (south by Iraq mainly), 2% Balouch, 2% Lurs, 2% Turkmen, and 1% other.
• Religion wise, its pretty not diverse. 90% Shi'a Muslim, 8% Sunni Muslim (the southeast and Kurdistan), 2% Non-Muslim (Notably, Zoroastrian, Jew, Christian, and Baha'i although Baha'i is illegal)
• 67% of the population is urbanized

So now for a very crude break down of the provincial votes:

• Ahmadinijad completely dominates this portion of the country, with bribes and oil money gifts keeping villagers loyal to them
• Insulting as this may sound, the villagers never have been much for critically looking at the benefits they got from the Islamic republic. Instead they were praised under Khomeini's time as the model for the future of Iran. Ahmadinijad with his populism and religious values basically locked down these regions.
• Ethnicity wise, Ahmadinijad controls the Persian villagers and probably most of the Arabs, Balouchi, and Lurs (the southern portion of the provinces)
  
• Mousavi has support most likely with the Kurds, Azeris, Mazandaranis, Gilekis and some elements of the Persian villagers hurt worst by terrible inflation. His leads however are not nearly as high here and support is only for economic reasons
  
• Winner of the provinces therefore falls to Ahmadinijad, which was the majority of the votes announced in my previous post.

New election data:

• Ahmadinijad (Hard-liner, incumbent): 14,011,664/66.19%
• Mousavi (Reformist, primary challenger): 6,575,844/31.06%
• Rezaee (Hard-liner): 397,177/1.88%
• Karroubi (Reformist): 185,578/0.88%
  
  Total counted votes: Disputed. (I can't find a single figure that seems to be accurate on the total number so we are just going to have to wait it out for now)
  

Live Blog Post, 5:30: Green Revolution 2009 (Iran's Election)

So, I haven't posted much in a while, because I have yet to find anything worth posting after that first humorous rant. However this time, the subject matter as you probably have surmised is much more serious. Iran's elections ended approximately 3 hours ago, and there is still no real decisive result as far as I am concerned unless the idiotic projections that are being stated now magically become final results. Because Iran's elections are possibly the most important elections this year for US foreign policy over the next half-decade and because of my own Iranian descent the next few posts will be a summary of the election results and important details to know.

What we know as of now:

• Official reports have announced Iran's incumbent, Mahmoud Ahmadinijad as victor with a ridiculous 15 million to 5 million margin of the 47.3% total votes. (http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2009/06/2009612195749149733.html)
• Both Ahmadinijad and Mir-Hossein Mousavi have declared victory around midnight in Tehran time, with Mousavi originally boasting 65% of the vote. (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8098305.stm)
  
• Mousavi has since brought up allegations of election fraud, saying his pollwatchers were banned from entering certain polling places, crowds were turned away in North Tehran, paper ran out for the ballots, etc. (BBC World Service Radio)
  
• There was an estimated 70-80% turnout (32 million I am being told), the largest turnout ever in Iranian history (Various sources)
• The IRNA (Iranian News Agency) has insisted on already calling the election for Ahmadinijad, even when only 35% of the polls were counted.

Now what I intend to do is to break down Iranian politics piece by piece as the polls update and see if there is any hope left for the reformist factions. Oh, and in the interest of transparency, in case it wasn't already obvious, I am a proud supporter of the reformists and Mir-Hossein Mousavi.

EDIT: Oh and I thank a good friend for keeping me up to date for stats. Crazy election following buddy.

Arugula

“Eruca sativa (syn. E. vesicaria subsp. sativa (Miller) Thell., Brassica eruca L.), also known as rocket or arugula, is an edible plant.” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arugula) Verbatim from none other than trusty Wikipedia.  Now that the obvious has been taken care of, most of you are probably wondering, “What the hell is wrong with this guy? Is he some crazy organic chef or does he just have a fetish for his healthy greens?”  Perfectly reasonable questions.  I would probably make the same wise-crack smart-ass remarks myself, if I were not me.

Fortunately, I am me so I can let you in on the secret.  Let me preface that, however, by congratulating those who already do know what edible leaves have to do with anything.  And let me warn anyone who was seriously thinking, “Arugula?! Is this guy some sort of socialist? Real Americans eat iceberg lettuce!” to please leave this blog and never return.  You’ll be happy for taking me up on that advise, and we all will be happy when you shut Rush Limbaugh off your car radio and stop blasting it to all the vehicles around you.  For those of you only sarcastically challenging my patriotism, I tip my imaginary hat to you.

Indeed, I based the name of this post and blog on a vegetable that has turned into an insult comparable to being called communist in the 1950s.  I suppose we can also add to the blog’s name: latte sipping (true), sushi dining (true), Volvo driving (true for my dad, oddly enough I drive an Oldsmobile), gay loving (well, if by loving we mean I want them to get equal rights as human beings then true), atheist (…actually pantheist, but what’s the difference with believing in a universal deity and not believing in any supernatural power?).  Oh and as to being an arugula-eater, that’s false. I actually get romaine, but I despise iceberg lettuce.  Seriously, where is the flavor in that stuff?

However, I digress.  (If you are any kind of grammar/organization nazi, you probably will hate my sentence variety for my transitions)  The point is now you probably have figured out most of my political affiliations and views, so that is no longer a question of debate amongst my near non-existent readers.  Since you are here, you might as well sit back and buckle up for this ride.  I don’t want to get a ticket because you are some sort of loser who thinks he or she is too badass for safety devices.  We’ll see where this blog goes.  But now you know about arugula at least.