Beyond The Fringe

From Al Jazeera’s Creative Commons Repository.

As promised, here’s the responses I received to questions posed to Israel’s Consulate in New York, represented by Consul @DavidSaranga in a governmental world first public press conference on Twitter today.

One of the aims appeared to be pushing a slick vidcast ad about life under Hamas bombing in Sderot complete with petition – perhaps in the interests of global citizen’s democracy and balance, the Israelis will turn the power back on in Gaza so its hapless populace can prepare a glossy vid of their own.

Though one couldn’t say real twittering rapport was achieved, the flood of questions from round the planet kept the Consul’s fingers hopping! Twitter is probably not the best medium to conduct open press conferences that are likely to attract large numbers of participants – still, I gained a few interesting followers and was pleased some of my questions were answered, albeit with nothing particularly unpredictable – where information delivered was questionable, I took the trouble to reply with correct links where applicable.

JIN:

@IsraelConsulate what is your understanding of the word “apartheid“? [link]

IC:

@Jinjirrie: There are no Israelis are living in Gaza so there is no segregation. the only solution is a 2 state solution #askisrael [link]

JIN:

@israelconsulate gaza effectively occupied by israel , yet without rights enjoyed by israelis … justification? #askisrael [link]

JIN:

@israelconsulate why not aim for a wonderful 1 state solution? sooner or later demographic facts will make this inevitable surely #askisrael [link]

JIN:

@IsraelConsulate why did Israel break the ceasefire with Hamas with incursions in November? http://is.gd/e7c0 #AskIsrael [link]

IC:

@Jinjirrie: Hamas decided to break the CF: http://tinyurl.com/3v4gkl #askisrael [link]

JIN:

@israelconsulate better source for cf here http://is.gd/dTEH – hamas offered to renew truce, on very reasonable terms – comment? #askisrael [link]

JIN:

@IsraelConsulate why is Israel attacking a civilian mercy ship? #AskIsrael #gaza http://is.gd/e8n6 [link]

IC:

@jinjirrie During CF 3 ships were let in. Due to escalation, we have decided to keep the ships out of harms way 4 their safety.#askisrael [link]

JIN:

@israelconsulate how is ramming an aid ships & firing round it keeping ‘them out of harm’s way’? #askisrael [link]

SETH:

@israelconsulate Ur reply to @jinjirrie disingenuous.Aid ship blocked 4 its own safety? Imagine they know risks http://is.gd/eds8 #askisrael [link]

IC is now spinning the story on its site, saying the Dignity rammed an Israeli vessel. Those on the boat however say the Dignity was in fact rammed – three times.

The captain of the Dignity told Penhaul he received no warning. Only after the collision did the Israelis come on the radio to say they struck the boat because they believed it was involved in terrorist activities.

The captain and crew said their vessel was struck intentionally, Penhaul said, but Palmor called those allegations “absurd.”

“There is no intention on the part of the Israeli navy to ram anybody,” Palmor said.

“I would call it ramming. Let’s just call it as it is,” McKinney said after the boat docked in Lebanon. “Our boat was rammed three times, twice in the front and one on the side”

“Our mission was a peaceful mission to deliver medical supplies and our mission was thwarted by the Israelis — the aggressiveness of the Israeli military,” she said.

The incident occurred in international waters about 90 miles off Gaza.

Followup questions I asked pursuant to replies received by others:

IC:

@anotherpundit Isr. only targets mil. installations. Unfortunate damage 2 civ. targets occurs. Hamas purposely puts civ. at risk. #AskIsrael [link]

JIN:

@israelconsulate why does israel bomb civilian police stations & universities if it ‘only targets military installations?’ #askisrael [link]

IC:

@realprince IL is pro ceasefire, but due 2 R exp. these R used 2 strengthen Hamas. we’d rther negotiate than fight. #AskIsrael [link]

JIN:

@IsraelConsulate ‘rather negotiate than fight?’ why a different tune from you to israeli politicians http://is.gd/ediV #askisrael [link]

IC:

@jranck crossings r open. 2day 33 trucks of aid & 5 ambulances. Among them r: UNRAW, MSF, ICRC & WFP. In the last 6 mnts: 17,000 @askisrael [link]

JIN:

@IsraelConsulate UN says 600 lorry loads of food & medicine needed daily & israel allows in 33 .. discrepancy??? #askisrael [link]

IC:

@xylem we believe talking is the best way, but we’ll talk only to factions that accept our right to live. a right Hamas denies #AskIsrael\ [link]

JIN:

@israelconsulate http://is.gd/edAy hamas conditns for accptig israel were clear & reasonable esp. ending the illegal occupation #askisrael [link]

And lastly, my remaining unanswered questions, which I hope will be addressed at a later date:

JIN:

@IsraelConsulate when did the psyop warning phone calls to gazans start after the initial Cast Lead surprise? #askisrael [link]

JIN:

@IsraelConsulate how long before abbas stops being a suitable ‘partner for peace’ like all the others before? #askisrael [link]

JIN:

@IsraelConsulate 5000 palestinians koed by israel & 14 israelis koed by rockets in 7 yrs – when will the illegal occupation end? #askisrael [link]

A man who takes away another man’s freedom is a prisoner of hatred, he is locked behind the bars of prejudice and narrow-mindedness. I am not truly free if I am taking away someone else’s freedom, just as surely as I am not free when my freedom is taken from me. The oppressed and the oppressor alike are robbed of their humanity – Nelson Mandela

I’m admiring my new haughtily petulant, verging on malevolent, inscrutable cat avatar by divine Australian cartoonist, FirstDogOnTheMoon (@firstdogonmoon), conjured up from a photo of my companion Voldemorte, a siamese cross black cat.

FirstDog inhabits the First Blog On The Moon, an inspired compendium of cheerful animal observations, biting(sic) political satire, cartoons and comics. His artwork can be found regularly elsewhere on Australia’s premier online news and commentary site, Crikey.com.au – don’t miss the hilarious FirstDogOnTheMoon Christmas Spectacular! And now, his precocious animalia has overrun the twitterverse.

Interlopers should note my delicious black cat avatar should not be copied or used elsewhere at the risk of deep doo doo – it belongs to the artist and is for *my* use.

Again thanks, FirstDog – your work is treasured!

Somebody think of the children takes the cake with a list of the 20 worst censorship outrages in Australia in 2008.

Huffington Post’s 10 Best Youtube clips Someone pointed out there might be a problem – wonder which one?

Scott Bridges at New Matilda looks at Oz Political Wingnuts and Tragics for 2008.

On Freedom to Differ, Peter Black sports two lists – Best of TV and Best of the Web and he’s in line for a well-deserved 2008 Weblog Award – good luck! In mock pique, Stilgherrian, whom we’ve nominated for a Shorty Award for #irony, has objected to his elevation on Freedom to Differ.

All the best for 2009 folks, it’s going to be a great year!

I’m grateful for time spent away from my computers and so far have resisted acquiring a net-capable phone device to complete my transmogrification into a 24/7 netizen. I’ll be the last kid on the block with an iPhone – yet today I won an Invisible Shield for an iPhone 3G at Tech Wired Australia.

The Invisible Shield can protect your iPhone 3G and its valuable contents from a range of disasters though perhaps not from intrusion by certain over-zealous members of the constabulary.

In honour of the New Year and recent initiation of consultations coordinated by Father Frank Brennan for (or not) of an Australian Charter / Bill of Rights, I’m putting the amazing Invisible Shield prize up for grabs again.

Though some, including Brennan, are sceptical about the value of such a Bill / Charter, this Australian thinks there would be tangible benefits provided by the invisible shield created from the explicit adoption of the rights expressed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Australia is the last country standing of all democracies in not having formal human rights protections.

I propose the next winner of the iPhone 3G Invisible Shield shall be chosen from convincing, uniquely ‘Australian’ flavoured submissions for the first clause to a potential antipodean Charter / Bill of Rights to be posted in the comments below. The use of wit, irony and satire as well as a fair command of Australian vernacular may assist. No serious argument will be entered into as the judges’ decision will be final.

Other Terms: You must be in Australia to enter.
Competition closes 9/01/09 11:59PM

In order to return this Fringe blog to its customary topics, we’ve set up another blog where we’ll write on Blogshares issues.

To kick things off, we’ve delivered some hints on how to succeed with the new maths, and set up a mission seeking out the best dead blogs for recognition and preservation. So far, there have been some absolute corkers, from lyric poetry to humorous verse, exceptionally beautiful photoblogs to memoirs of a soldier killed in Iraq.

Don’t miss them!

The latest changes to our fav online game, BlogShares, down today with a database crash, thus far have proved quite dreary. Last year after several months our corporation, The Untouchables, once the underdog scorned by the smug in-crowd, reached and held the top position in corporate holdings consistently. Interestingly, before the current changes, certain players in other corps had accumulated sufficient knitting blogs to form a cartel. Prior knowledge? probably – with admin and various game ‘councils’ also being players with old time close playing buddies, the game inevitably fits Mussolini’s classic corporate fascism definition. Once the new maths commenced and the limit on links counted on blogs was removed, the game immediately favoured old time players who had already interlinked with their buddies – so their personal otherwise mainly worthless blogs hit the Top 100 quickly along with an oozing stream of ghastly repetitive knitting blogs. Since, link farms set up by avid B$ players have proliferated – we counted 7 interlinked blogs owned by one linkfarm enthusiast desperado.

Our corp is a new one, with little interlinking between its players on their blogs, yet our fighting team spirit and coordination has kept us up still in the top four regardless.

Linkfarming for game gain is very unappealing – aside from encouraging artificial link schemes per se, links looped amongst already privileged players have the net effect of feeding the wealth of the game back to those same self-congratulatory buffoons. The overall impact is to reduce players to clicking robots, reindexing blogs manually to shore up pathetic monopolies or to attack other players whilst seeking out unowned sources of treasure which die as quickly as they rise.

After the initial boom led by the old time player and knitting linkfarm circle jerk, came the crunch and current downturn. Blog behaviour has also been affected by the changes … a declining blog becomes a sick elephant, virtually impossible to elevate without a massive indexing of supporting links and a flurry of hypes. A rising blog rises slowly too. One pleasant effect is that there are more valuable blogs to ‘play’ with, though very quickly one tires of cycling endlessly to eke the last remaining shred of worth from a dog knitting stock.

So far, not good … with more changes to come, perhaps the game might improve. Otherwise, there’s always the funny Hobowars or more financially profitable Wall Street Survivor in which to spend one’s idle moments.

Roll up, roll up and sign here folks. We have described BlogShares in the past as the most engaging, challenging game on the planet. Let’s help it become more so by eliminating elitism and reinstating BlogShares celebrities and wizard players PnP and AXA, who have fallen foul of the wiles and guile of a hostile corp.

SIGN HERE!

For more pertinent background information, visit BlogShares’ premier corporation at The Untouchables Blog.

Our Blogshares team, The Untouchables, have triumphed!

From our leader, MNO:

“The Untouchables had a really big weekend. But today was the best of all when the interest came out, UT was #1 in shareholdings! Congratulations to the entire team and to those who worked so very hard at this milestone achievement.”

After countering a severe war and developing a streamlined unique team approach to play, our corporation has bested all comers whilst injecting fun and renewed vigour into the Blogshares game itself.

Good work folks!

As AliG would say “Keep it real”.

RESPECTR.

A ceasefire agreement is finally reached with UT adversaries – with positive understanding and the possibility of useful cooperation in the development of future frameworks for corp wars.

Phew! we can settle back into a more relaxed frame and concentrate on some of the more rewarding aspects of the Blogshares game – in particular, the accumulation of ideas and bonds, and the enjoyable vying over lucrative monster blogs

Beyond the Fringe oddly gains a G rating from the latest prurulent meme fad oozing through the blogoswamp. Hear that, all you nauseatingly prim rightards and other-people’s-privates-fondling religious weirdos?

Check out your site’s supposed rating here.

As for us, we’ll just have to try harder.

Wondering whether an anonymous author is likely to be male or female? Here’s an ingenious tool – Gender Genie – developed to sort the rams from the ewes.

I tried it out on several Fringe posts and infallibly, the test determined my correct feminine authorship.

So we’ve been busy. Working. Building. Dealing with immense toothache – why is it the pain stops after one makes the dreaded appointment? Blogging out at Blogshares (which is partially work-related as we survey the machinations and constructions of the blogiverse in all its manifestations). We must have checked out a couple of thousand or more twaddly, whining, dorky blogs now to help clean the rather useful Blogshares index of rotting blog corpses. At this point we’ve collected a truckload of literary and stockmarket blogs.

As the Aussie stock market enters its usual tax loss doldrums, we desultorily survey the real market for some superduper bargains. APG, with BHP now holding an interest, has fallen as the profit-taking traders maul the share price. We are waiting to feast with the other remoras near what we suspect may be the bottom. Our banquet on EVZ a couple of days ago was most satisfactory as was our BPO gulp at 4.6c. EVZ actually breached our projected bottom at 55c yet we are happy with our haul. We now have our beady eyes fixed on BLR and SNU, our little U beauties, for some more accumulation opportunities.

We’re cashed up for the TRF Ironclad float, though with the drop in TRF’s sp, we might do better picking up some more TRF rather than waiting for the Ironclad floaties. Another attractive possibilities is LRL – trading below 60c at the moment.

For some idle fun and relaxation, here’s an amazing site, Flickrvision where one can watch the depressingly plebby drones of the internet upload their mostly ghastly photos to Flickr in real time.

Between gloats at the fulfillment of our U share predictions as the bourse heads skyward and shaking our heads in wonder at TRF’s stellar gains, we are indulging in trading of a more light-hearted nature at Blogshares. We now have a kitty of several billion and a couple of hundred Artifacts ready for employment at our convenience.

Our strategy has been pretty straightforward.

(1) Buy up our own blog of course and some cheapies. Then resell after the price goes up after one has bought. Slow but sure. Collect new blogs which are current and which are likely to appreciate better. Introduce some new blogs which we know are current and growing in industries we have our eye on for nefarious schemes later on Report dead blogs for added rewards.

(2) Gain a pile of chips through completion of Missions and answering simple questions for 5 chips a throw, then gamble them on Chances to win lots of B$, old blog shares, ideas, chips, premium memberships and raffle tickets.

(3) Buy as many Ideas as one can afford in order to build useful Artifacts which can be essential later on to perpetrate hostile takeovers.

Wonder if Beck will notice we own his blog. Chortle! The Iron Lady is ready, poised for action.

On another, somewhat related note, it seems a past Hotcopperite is facing charges of insider trading involving information he gave on the forum a couple of years back.

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) alleges Mr Woodland traded securities in Kanowna Consolidated Gold Mines, now known as Andean Resources Ltd, on five occasions between November 28 and December 5, 2003.

ASIC alleges he had insider knowledge of the company’s acquisition of the Cerro Negro gold mining project in Argentina before it was made public on December 10, 2003.

After the acquisition was announced to the Australian Stock Exchange, the company’s shares closed at 9.1 cents, up 2.5 cents from when it requested a trading halt on December 8, because of concerns information had been leaked about the deal.

ASIC also alleges Mr Woodland passed his inside knowledge onto people he met through the internet-based financial services chat site, Hotcopper.

Fascinating stuff – we wonder how many more wheeler dealers push their goo and tripe amongst the crew – from our observations there are plenty of such allegations.

Crackers take note – another fine Wordpress update to the latest version 2.1.3 has been accomplished toot sweet … along with a Mandigo theme update as well. Annoyingly, the theme update took ten times as long due to the extensive modifications we’ve done, but all is more or less back to normal.