Egypt at the Brink - the birth of a new order ?

• Al Jazeera-English live stream here . Al Jazeera is translated as "the Island" (aka, "The Arabian Peninsula." More on Al Jazeera here
• Is President Hosni Mubarak in fact planning to step down? here 
• U.K. Guardian: Egypt state TV issues a flash denying that Mubarak will resign here 
• An unnamed source claims -- "not a coup, a consensus."
• Egypt's army torture protestors -- an unusual turn as it is usually  Egyptian State security that detains and tortures here 

"The military has claimed to be neutral, merely keeping anti-Mubarak protesters and loyalists apart. But human rights campaigners say this is clearly no longer the case, accusing the army of involvement in both disappearances and torture – abuses Egyptians have for years associated with the notorious state security intelligence (SSI) but not the army.



"The Guardian has spoken to detainees who say they have suffered extensive beatings and other abuses at the hands of the military in what appears to be an organised campaign of intimidation. Human rights groups have documented the use of electric shocks on some of those held by the army.


"Egyptian human rights groups say families are desperately searching for missing relatives who have disappeared into army custody. Some of the detainees have been held inside the renowned Museum of Egyptian Antiquities on the edge of Tahrir Square. Those released have given graphic accounts of physical abuse by soldiers who accused them of acting for foreign powers, including Hamas and Israel."

• 28 hours in the dark heart of the State security detention/torture apparatus here 
• Hosni, the "Justin Timberlake of Egypt" makes a pro-Mubarak speech before the protestors and is booed, attacked and reduced to tears here 
• "The US and its allies need to realize that the Egypt they have been dealing with is a figment of its imagination" as the uprising has revealed the "real Egypt" here

Clearly, the birth of a new order, hopefully not a case of "beware of what you wish for?" Whether this will represent an improvement remains to be seen. The protestors have unleashed the forces of change and, arguably, democracy. But whether the state institutions and military uphold the changes in a productive, democratic and --for the Egyptian people -- progressive manner remains to be seen.

Jules Gabriel Verne - February 8, 1828 – March 24, 1905

Celebrating the 183rd anniversary of the birth of the author Jules Verne on February 8, Google has posted a wonderful, interactive logo that is fun to operate here (2/8/11 only).

Jules Gabriel Verne (February 8, 1828 – March 24, 1905) was a French author from Brittany who pioneered the science-fiction genre. He is best known for novels such as Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea (1870), A Journey to the Center of the Earth (1864), and Around the World in Eighty Days (1873). Verne wrote about space, air, and underwater travel before air travel and practical submarines were invented, and before practical means of space travel had been devised. He is the third most translated individual author in the world, according to Index Translationum. Some of his books have been made into films. Verne, along with Hugo Gernsback and H. G. Wells, is often popularly referred to as the "Father of Science Fiction".

He struggled early on, despite the visionary and adventurous themes of his work. Verne's situation improved when he met Pierre-Jules Hetzel, one of the most important French publishers of the 19th century, who also published Victor Hugo, Georges Sand, and Erckmann-Chatrian, among others. They formed an excellent writer-publisher team until Hetzel's death. Hetzel helped improve Verne's writings, which until then had been repeatedly rejected by other publishers. Hetzel read a draft of Verne's story about the balloon exploration of Africa, which had been rejected by other publishers for being "too scientific". With Hetzel's help, Verne rewrote the story, which was published in 1863 in book form as Cinq semaines en balloon (Five Weeks in a Balloon). Acting on Hetzel's advice, Verne added comical accents to his novels, changed sad endings into happy ones, and toned down various political messages.

Interestingly, his publisherHetzel substantially influenced the writings of Verne, who was so happy to finally find a willing publisher that he agreed to almost all changes that Hetzel suggested. Hetzel rejected at least one novel, (Paris in the 20th Century), and asked Verne to significantly change his other drafts. One of the most important changes Hetzel enforced on Verne was the adoption of optimism in his novels. Verne was in fact not an enthusiast of technological and human progress, as can be seen in his works created before he met Hetzel and after Hetzel's death. Hetzel's demand for optimistic texts proved correct. For example, Mysterious Island originally ended with the survivors returning to mainland forever nostalgic about the island. Hetzel decided that the heroes should live happily, so in the revised draft, they use their fortunes to build a replica of the island. Many translations are like this. Also, in order not to offend France's then-ally, Russia, the origin and past of the famous Captain Nemo were changed from those of a Polish refugee avenging the partitions of Poland and the death of his family in the January Uprising repressions to those of an Indian prince fighting the British Empire after the Sikh War.

More on Verne here

Read works by Jules Verne at Project Gutenberg here

Steampunk as an outgrowth of Jules Verne and the Victorian era here

American Dreams and Dreamers

A very nice article by Richard S. Chang, that is kind of a variation on an old Cowboy theme of a Man and His Horse. Massimiliano Nanni, one of the owners of Saraghina, a pizzeria-ristorante in Bed Stuy, tools around in a 1965 Econoline pickup. 

“All my life, I dreamed about such a truck,” he said. “My wife said, ‘O.K., you can buy it.’ You know, the wife makes all the decisions.”

A warm and amusing article about American dreams and dreamers, Brooklyn business, the working life, and oh, yes, our quintessential American relationship with the automobile.

Article here

CODA: From Pages Read to Minutes Spent

A few months back I wrote about missing a Gary Shteyngart reading which morphed into a discussion of   e-books, author readings and book signings. Publishing Perspectives includes an interesting article about how e-books have changed the nature of the reading experience through the evolution of a key milestone: pages read have now been overtaken by the measure of minutes spent reading.

Todd Sattersten offers the following observations: "Amazon launched Kindle Singles last week. These original works of 10,000 to 30,000 words are designed to fill the space between an essay and book. At the same time, TED, the popular conference organization, launched TED Books as a publishing imprint using the Singles program. Director Chris Anderson stated what he sees as the problem: “Busy people can be daunted at the prospect of having to read a 300- or 400-page book.” Amazon VP Russ Grandinetti suggesting a more elegant reason for this experimental evolution: “Our goal with Singles is to allow compelling ideas to be expressed at their natural length.”


"What Amazon and TED clearly believe is that e-books are going to remove the fear publishers have of needing to deliver specific minimum page count. The variety of screen dimensions across an ever growing number of reading devices and the ability for readers to adjust font size in this new e-world makes the page infinitely variable in size and measuring page count pointless. Each electronic “container” now dictates the form the book will take, much like pouring same amount of water into a champagne flute and saucepan create very different results. So what do we use instead?


"I wonder if the daunting “400 page problem” that Anderson suggests leads us to a better solution. Maybe minutes and seconds is the best measure of book length in the digital world. Music and movies, which migrated to digital formats years ago, consistently provide the duration of the piece and there are already signs of this standard being associated with the written word."

In the earlier piece, DITHOB ruminated on what will become of book signings as an integral part of author readings. Let's take this thought further -- Will digital formats make page counts irrelevant?  Is the best way to quantify reading is through a unit of time ? Will Printed Matter remain a luxury item, like vinyl records?  In our increasingly anti-leisure society, what is the future of "books" as opposed to "literature" and "writing" ? Clearly publishing as a business/industry is making this critical, evolutionary leap. But what will it mean, if "the medium is the message," to readers ?

Full article by Todd Sattersten  here

Bastardi! (i.e., Meteorologist Joe Bastardi) Predicts Next 3 of 5 Winters WIll Be Even Colder

AccuWeather.Com reports that "This winter is on track to become the coldest for the nation as a whole since the 1980s or possibly even the late 1910s. According to AccuWeather.com Chief Long Range Forecaster Joe Bastardi, three or four out of the next five winters could be just as cold, if not colder. He is worried that next winter, for example, will be colder than this one."

"Bastardi adds that with the U.S. in the middle of one of its worst recessions in its history and the price of oil in question, he is extremely concerned about the prospect for more persistent cold weather in the coming years putting increased financial hardship on Americans."

"Cold is a lot worse than warm," Bastardi said, "and that's why your energy bill goes up during the winter time: because of the fact that it takes a lot to heat a house."

"While there are many different factors that are playing into Bastardi's forecast, one of the primary drivers is La Niña and the trends that have been observed in winters that follow the onset of a La Niña."

Details here

Winter Wonderland, continued -- Clear Your Snow and Ice -- or Else

It was a total ice skate into the office today. There was no safe footing, everything covered with a shiny glaze. I scraped a quarter inch of thick ice off of the van so that My Better Half could make it to her school (which is primarily auto accessible). I actually had to hold onto the van's roof rack with one hand, scraping with the other, so that I didn't slide down the driveway or into a bank of ice and snow. Somehow she made it to her school only to report low student attendance. Our two high school daughters made it to Murrow (2 falls) and into Manhattan (Millennium HS, no slippage, although she was going to Carnegie Hall to read a poem in a special international student program today; haven't heard from her).

The Daily News reports that it is put up or shut up time, vis a vis, this Winter's Bounty. Sidewalks need to be shoveled, with ice and snow cleared, or the City will issue a summons. Details here In some cases, the ice is on a continual state of flux, freezing and melting, freezing and melting, so that the sidewalk has a perpectual glaze. But some folks haven't bothered to clean anything since the December storm-- that includes street corners, walkable paths, fire hydrants, etc.--and while the city can be annoying with its rules and regs at times, you have to admit, in this respect, they are right, and the careless property owners are wrong. Things are tough enough out there. Folks need to shovel, and not just a "groove" in the snow. Please clear a walkable path and keep it clear. Thank you!

Here is something to listen to while contemplating the above

Alpine Chalet...on Waldorf Court

SOTU+1: What President Obama's Address Accomplished

Mark Halperin on what President Obama accomplished -- and accomplished in a Big Way -- with last night's State of the Union address:



Link here for more from Time's Mark Halperin

SOTU + 1: Dr. Doom on the Bitter Pill of What Lies Ahead

The reductions proposed in President Obama's State of the Union last night are just "Spare Change" according to economist Dr. Nouriel Roubini.  But more actions will be needed to seriously tackle the deficit, Roubini said at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
The government will have to work on reform on entitlement programs like Social Security and "also eventually raise taxes for both the rich and the middle class," he said.

Until that happens, the Chinese will have to continue to buy US Treasurys, because "there is not alternative for them" and if they stopped their currency would appreciate sharply and hurt their exports and growth, Roubini said.

"Whether the Chinese like it or not, for the time being they will have to fund the United States, he added.

More here from CNBC

Sputnik Moment or Our Civil Rights Moment?

Early reports indicate President Obama will refer to the current crisis as our Sputnik moment,harkening back to the time where the nascent US space program was overwhelmed by the USSR.However, perhaps the current crisis resonates more with the civil rights movement, challenging the attack dogs and firehoses of the right wing media and politcal establishment. It offers a critical chance to join together to fight for social welfare as a civil right to all Americans, to offer jobs, health services, opportunity and education for the many over the capital gains for the few; peace and security over international military action; creativity, vision and technological and manufacturing development at home instead of an economy based on speculation and complex financial instruments. America needs to turn this urgent page.

Now, with commitment and alacrity, before it is too late.

Frozen pipes and colder noses: The Winter of 2011

What's a body to do except shiver and moan. The cold, and the reaction to it, gets painful after awhile. Some pipes in walls exposed to the wind and extreme cold have frozen. Hoping for a slight thaw tomorrow...Are we remembering a colder winter this year and forgetting winters of the past? Is it really as unusually bad as my bones tell me it is?

Stephen Foster's classic of 'Love and Theft,':

Massas in De Cold, Cold Ground

Down in de cornfieldH

Hear dat mournful sound:

All de dark-eyes am a-weeping,

Massa's in de cold, cold ground.

or remembering, much more pertinently to this New Year where we struggle for hope but seem able to continue to wonder, trying to fight despair, only about the future, Gil Scott-Heron's anthem/ode from the 70s -

"And now its winter/
Winter in America...
and all the healers been done killed or sent away,
..But the people know..
Save your souls from Winter in America."

Given the economic and political polarization of American institutions and society,  the political metaphors are not lost, it seems, when compared with this brutal winter of 2011.

Remembering Edgar Allan Poe, January 19, 1809 - October 7, 1849

Edgar Poe

January 19, 1809(1809-01-19)

Boston, Massachusetts, USA

Died October 7, 1849(1849-10-07) (aged 40)

Baltimore, Maryland, USA

Edgar Allan Poe (January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849) was an American writer, poet, editor and literary critic, considered part of the American Romantic Movement. Best known for his tales of mystery and the macabre, Poe was one of the earliest American practitioners of the short story and is considered the inventor of the detective-fiction genre. He is further credited with contributing to the emerging genre of science fiction. He was the first well-known American writer to try to earn a living through writing alone, resulting in a financially difficult life and career.

More on the author here

"The mysterious annual visitor to Poe's grave a no-show for the second year in a row. Details here  Sometime in the 1940s, it seems, an anonymous man began the annual tribute at Poe's grave. It was first referenced in print in 1949 by The Evening Sun of Baltimore."

"Those who have glimpsed the "Poe toaster" always saw him dressed in black, wearing a white scarf with a wide-brimmed hat. Jerome has kept watch over the vigil since 1978, watching from inside the Presbyterian church while Poe fans peered through the locked gates of the cemetery . Telltale hearts beat with anticipation during a rainy, midnight dreary and beyond, hoping the mysterious visitor to Edgar Allan Poe's grave would return after a one-year absence.


Four impostors came and went. The real one never showed. Around 5 a.m., the dozen Poe fans who were left began to wonder if the eerie ritual is indeed nevermore, so they walked to Poe's tombstone and performed their own tribute by leaving roses and drinking a cognac toast.

A fascinating tradition that ran for some 60 years and was never fully explained appears to have ended. An unknown person who left three roses and a half-empty bottle of cognac at Poe's grave on the anniversary of the writer's birth failed to appear Wednesday, the second straight year he's disappointed those who stake out the downtown Westminster Hall and Burying Ground.


I think we can safely say it's not car trouble, and he's not sick," said Jeff Jerome, curator of the Poe House and Museum. "This doesn't look good."


"It would be an ending befitting of the legacy of Poe, the American literary master of the macabre who was known for haunting poems such as "The Raven" and grisly short stories including "The Tell-Tale Heart," ''The Fall of the House of Usher" and "The Pit and the Pendulum." He is also credited with writing the first modern detective story, "The Murders in the Rue Morgue." He died in 1849 in Baltimore at age 40 after collapsing in a tavern."

Poe's time in NYC seemed largely spent in Mnahattan near Publishers Row downtown  and eventually at a cottage in the Bronx , now a NYC historical landmark. Although one can imagine that Poe met with Whitman in lower Manhattan, I could not find any direct links to Brooklyn. Although his mother-in-law, Maria Clemm, stayed with a "poetess who had obligations to Poe" according to Kenneth Silverman, a wonderful writer and specialist in American Romantism I studied with at NYU, while Poe headed on the road to Baltimore, and then later returned to Brooklyn after the death of her daughter. Virginia Clemm Poe, and Poe's death (which she learned about later), there was no clear indication of his residence in the Borough of Kings.


El Dorado by Edgar Allan Poe




Gaily bedight,
A gallant night
In sunshine and in shadow,
Had journeyed long,
Singing a song,
In search of El Dorado.

But he grew old --
This knight so bold --
And -- o'er his heart a shadow
Fell as he found
No spot of ground
That looked like El Dorado.

And, as his strength
Failed him at length,
He met a pilgrim shadow --
"Shadow," said he,
"Where can it be --
This land of El Dorado?"

"Over the Mountains
Of the Moon,
Down the Valley of the Shadow,
Ride, boldly ride,"
The shade replied --
"If you seek for El Dorado."

Donovan performing El Dorado here

A Cask of Amontillado by Edgar Allan Poe here

The Train Back to Brooklyn on Dr. Martin Luther King Day

The young woman, leaning against the door of the Q train as it crossed the Manhattan Bridge back to Brooklyn, pulled her phone out of her bag. She noted the last caller and dialed back.

"What!?!" she shrieked. "When did he....." She crumpled against the door, sobbing into the phone. A youngish Muslim guy, well groomed but wearing a jacket too light for this blustery day, turned to her and expressed concern and care, gesturing with one hand, holding Islamic texts in the other. She acknowledged his concern and turned away, sobbing softly the rest of the way back to Brooklyn.

Nearby, an elderly gentleman tenderly held and watched his sleeping wife, as the train rumbled past the Parkside Avenue. A mother with her two very young charges alternately soothed and corrected them in warm West Indian tones.

It had been a long morning in the city, and My Better Half, tired and hanging on, trying to adjust to the lilting cadence of the subway car as it reached Beverley Road, read through a copy of The Onion. The young woman sniffled softly, her back to the car. The Muslim guy and I exchanged glances, sort of a soft breath blown from puffed cheeks with raised eyebrows. Sort of a "hoo-boy," but with the simultaneous sympathy, respectful intimacies,  and the funny distances that living in NewYork City creates.

Suddenly, a guy playing a guitarron mexicano  appeared, a huge instrument,  typical for a mariachi group, a bit stunning for the subway, and he played a plaintive song in Spanish. The young woman sobbed as the music, the singer,  and his song, whatever its subject, connected with her loss.

She bolted from the train at Cortelyou Road. The West Indian lady and her kids got up, and My Better Half and I dropped into a couple of seats for a couple of stops until we reached Home.

Haiti: One Year Later

Incredible that it was just one year ago that Haiti was rocked by a horrendous earthquake that toppled the country, destroying infrastructure and the economy, and driving nearly a million people from their homes into temporary housing - tents and shanties. Today, a March in NYC will remember that tragedy and call for aid for the Haitian people.

Billions in international aid were promised that have never completely materialized ($1.15B out of $5.3B promised.) Where's the money asks The Nation ?

Haitians 'long for change after a year in hell.' Article here

A slew of prominent New York City leaders, including Rev. Al Sharpton and Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly, will speak at Marching for Change, a solidarity march commemorating the one-year anniversary of the earthquake that devastated Haiti on January 12, 2010. Facebook and other sites indicate that the Marrch for Change is stil la go.  The march will feature two rallies, one in Times Square and the other at the United Nations. Speakers include:

Times Square: City Councilmembers Matthieu Eugene and Jumaane Williams; Brooklyn Deputy Borough President Yvonne Graham; National Action Network Executive Director Tamika Mallory; Housing Works Pres. and CEO Charles King

United Nations: Rev. Al Sharpton; Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly; City Councilmember Ydanis Rodriguez; Rev. Jacques Andre DeGraff; Diaspora Community Services Executive Director Carine Jocelyn

The Marching for Change route will take marchers past the Haitian consulate at 39th and Madison. Marchers will demand that Haitian and world leaders address the unacceptably slow pace of earthquake recovery by committing to four specific actions:

1) Remove the Rubble: More than 50% of the original 19 million cubic meters of rubble remains uncleared. President Clinton has called the situation "totally unacceptable."

2) Provide Safe and Secure Shelter: One million Haitians are internally displaced. More than 1,000 camps dot the country, potential incubators for cholera, sexual violence and the spread of HIV.

3) Provide Clean Water and Sanitation: 40% percent of camps lack access to water. 30% do not have toilets. Water-borne cholera has claimed more than 3,000 lives.

4) Provide Jobs: Post-quake, unemployment quadrupled in areas of Port-au-Prince and its outskirts. The estimated Haiti unemployment rate is 80 percent.

MARCH DETAILS:
2 PM: Kick-off Call to Action rally in Times Square (42nd St. and 7th Ave.)
2:30 PM: March to the Haitian Consulate at 39th St. and Madison Ave.
4 PM (approximate): Rally at the United Nations’ Dag Hammarskjold Plaza at 47th St. and 1st Ave.

Carine Jocelyn, Executive Director of Diaspora Community Services: "Next year we don't want the issue to be that one million people are still living under tents. This is unacceptable to the global community and must be a priority of funding and action." DCS helps Haitian immigrants in New York obtain health care and other services and operates a community health center in Port-au-Prince.

Charles King, President and CEO of Housing Works: “We will use this march to come together, show our support and solidarity with Haiti and demand action!” Since the earthquake, Housing Works has opened two medical clinics in Haiti.

PARTICIPATING ORGANIZATIONS: Bailey House; CAMBA; Caribbean American Chamber of Commerce; Catholic Charities; CHE; Diaspora Community Services; Dwa Fanm; HAFALI; Haiti Cultural Exchange; Haiti Solidarity Network NE; Haitian Centers Council; Housing Works; JCRC; Lambi Fund; MADRE; National Action Network; NHAHA; New York Immigrant Coalition; People's Organization for Progress

You Tube trailer here

NY1 news clip on the Gallery photo exhibit at the Umbrage Editions Gallery exhibition called "Tent Life: Haiti" displays 22 of photographer Wyatt Gallery's photographs. He visited the country twice over the course of 2010.

More on the book, which portrays the struggle and hopes of the Haitian people in photos by Wyatt Gallery and an essay by Edwidge Danticat here

From Snowmageddon to Snowbigdeal

The cruel alarm went off at 5 AM as usual, and it took another 15 minutes or so before 1010 WINS' Lee Harris announced, "drum roll please!" that NYC public schools were opened. An email from a sanit pro that I know who had just come off of a 12 hour shift offered hope that "the streets are clear and you should have no trouble getting to work."  I got ready for the day and headed out to the driveway to dig out the van for My Better Half who is a special education teacher in Far Bushwick and has no other viable options to get to work. In a typically Herculean effort for a 56 year old mandarin of Italian-American peasant stock, I cleaned off the car, dug it out, and shoveled out our 30 foot driveway so that she could get to the street. A thank you kiss and a half a cup of coffee later I was trudging up East 17th street to the Q train at Newkirk Plaza which was happily waiting for me at the station.

Trains were light. Traffic was light. Basically, I guess, because the snow was light. Brooklyn Heights, as usual, is remarkably clear, although none of the coffee cart guys or newspaper hawkers were out there. I don't know what role the Mayor played in all of this. However, indications that he was in Bermuda over Christmas rang as always of the venial sin of cover up. It wasn't so much that he was away, as he didn't want anyone to know about it.  Then, as the NY Observer reported, it appears he flew home in the storm to appear at the press conference the next day. Now DITHOB understands -- esta clara -- the poor Mayor went to all of that effort to get back to NYC and NO ONE APPRECIATED IT. No wonder he was so testy and pissed at the press conference. Whether the last blizzard was a perfect storm of a lot of snow, coming on the heels of a holiday, plus miscues by some folks in the Administration (face it, Mike, you just can't get good help these days), even if combined with budget cuts and labor issues,  it was a mess.

Some folks were stressed over not knowing until the early morning hours today whether school was opened or not. One extremely hard working and underpaid parochial school teacher I know was doing the hoochie coochie from last evening. But just as there are people pointing fingers in this economic climate at public sector employees, pensions, job security, etc., instead of organizing and fighting for similar demands of their private sector masters, I wonder why (or whether) parochial and private school families who pay a substantial amount of money to send their kids to non-public schools,  so easily and readily accept the closings of their kids' schools. I am sure there are many parochial (if not private) school families who will lose a day's pay because they had to stay home with their kid. The idea of public and private sector employment needs to change, and be replaced by a new consensus and different demands to counteract the clearly failed "business-management centric model," which, like Paul Krugman suggested, is like a zombie political economy, that has failed, but continues to rise from the dead.  None of us are Mike Bloomberg. We are all, regardless of our relative salaries, working stiffs of one sort or another. Maybe not today, but some day, there will be a renewed call for workers rights and a new social security in the private sector. It is an issue currently hidden in the collective unconscious, although obscured by the American dream of material happiness, celebrity, sports, music business or lotto success, reality TV, and the belief that criticizing business is un-American. But it is an issue that will resurface as advanced capitalism which is based on finance and complex stock market and corporate legerdemain and not on production/ employment marches on. As people get deeper into the hole, it is a new reality that will surface, as people demand a new model which hasn't been clearly elucidated yet. But I guess that is a discussion for another time.

For today, though, lucky for the Bloomberg administration and the citizens who struggle under the day-to-day reality of the working life, the "Weather Emergency" was a piece of cake.