Category: General

Norwegian and Danish embassy in Syria on fire

Earlier today the Danish embassy (Swedish embassy is in the same building) was set on fire in Syria ( Damascus ) after cartoons featuring the Prophet Mohammad was printed. Recently the Norwegian embassy (about six kilometer away) was set on fire as well.

The cartoons were originally printed in a Norwegian Christian conservative magazine by the name of "Magazinet". Earlier this week a video of the editor of the said magazine being assassinated started spreading on the Internet.

One of the cartoons show the Prophet Mohammad with a turban resembling a bomb, have caused uproar across the Muslim world. While most would react by sending a letter to the editor, it has broken into an international situation. This reaction provoke me to print one of the images in question.

I disagree with what you say, but I'll defend to the death your right to say it.
- Voltaire

mohammad turban bomb

Update: 18:24
The Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs ask Norwegians to leave Syria.

Update: 23:37
The Norwegian embassy flag was burned, the embassy plundered, and the Norwegian ministry of Foreign Affairs consider breaking diplomatic relations with Syria.
the norwegian embassy flag
(Photo provided by Reuters)

Update: 5th Februrary 21:06

Update: 6th February 10:35

Weekend with the family

I took the liberty to spend an extended weekend with the family, so here I am. I drove up to my home town yesterday and will be returning sunday. Part of the reason was that I had to fix the network as well as migrate to the new server, all of which is fixed now and leave me to having a relaxing weekend.

March of the Penguins

Each winter, alone in the pitiless ice deserts of Antarctica, deep in the most inhospitable terrain on Earth, a truly remarkable journey takes place as it has done for millennia. Emperor penguins in their thousands abandon the deep blue security of their ocean home and clamber onto the frozen ice to begin their long journey into a region so bleak, so extreme, it supports no other wildlife at this time of year. In single file, the penguins march blinded by blizzards, buffeted by gale force winds. Guided by instinct, by the otherworldly radiance of the Southern Cross, they head unerringly for their traditional breeding ground where--after a ritual courtship of intricate dances and delicate maneuvering, accompanied by a cacophony of ecstatic song--they will pair off into monogamous couples and mate. The females remain long enough only to lay a single egg. Once this is accomplished, exhausted by weeks without nourishment, they begin their return journey across the ice-field to the fish-filled seas. The male emperors are left behind to guard and hatch the precious eggs, which they cradle at all times on top of their feet. After two long months during which the males eat nothing, the eggs begin to hatch. Once they have emerged into their ghostly white new world, the chicks can not survive for long on their fathers' limited food reserves. If their mothers are late returning from the ocean with food, the newly-hatched young will die. Once the families are reunited, the roles reverse, the mothers remaining with their new young while their mates head, exhausted and starved, for the sea, and food. While the adults fish, the chicks face the ever-present threat of attack by prowling giant petrels. As the weather grows warmer and the ice floes finally begin to crack and melt, the adults will repeat their arduous journey countless times, marching many hundreds of miles over some of the most treacherous territory on Earth, until the chicks are ready to take their first faltering dive into the deep blue waters of the Antarctic.

I must say The March of the Penguins is a very entertaining and humorous movie. I have no count on how many times during the movie I laughted.

As a precation I mention that I am a GNU/Linux user and think of Tux (the Linux penguin) when watching a penguin.