Showing posts with label internet. Show all posts
Showing posts with label internet. Show all posts

Sunday, December 23, 2012

an ironic "Guardian Christmas screensaver" by Ai Weiwei


Ai Weiwei's ironic homage to Chinese "door god prints" to be used as a screensaver.  Like the "door god prints," that are traditionally hung on doors in China to ward off evil, this "Guardian Christmas screensaver," put on your computer, is supposed to "ward off the evil river crabs" ( "river crabs" is internet slang created by Chinese netizens in reference to Internet censorship or the other censorship of China. In Chinese Mandarin, the word "River crab" (河蟹), which originally means Chinese mitten crab, sounds similar to "Harmonious/Harmonize/Harmonization" (Chinese: 和谐) in the word "Harmonious society" (和谐社会), Chinese leader Hu Jintao's signature ideology).

Also pictured are the "Grass Mud Horses" or Cǎonímǎ (草泥马), is a Chinese Internet meme widely used as a form of symbolic defiance of the widespread Internet censorship in China. It is a play on the Mandarin language words Cǎonímǎ (肏你妈) (I actually can't tell you what that means in English or it sets off the censorship blockers here in Kuwait! but if you click on the links it is easy to see), and is one of the so-called 10 mythical creatures created in a hoax article on Baidu Baike in early 2009 whose names form obscene puns. It has become an Internet chat forum cult phenomenon in China and has garnered world-wide press attention, with videos, cartoons and merchandise of the animal (which is said to resemble the alpaca), having appeared.

Tuesday, December 18, 2012

TIME's Person of the Year, from 1927 to 2011 (and 2012?)

We will soon find out TIME's 2012 Person of the Year! (click here)

TIME's Person of the Year, from 1927 to 2011
Very enlightening to look back and see who they have picked for every year all the way back to 1927 (click here)

Sunday, April 8, 2012

China Said to Detain Returning Tibetan Pilgrims


Bodh Gaya during the Kalachakra Teachings 2012
By EDWARD WONG (NYT)
The detainees are being interrogated and ordered to denounce the Dalai Lama, according to groups who have conducted interviews with family members.

Saturday, March 3, 2012

AWESOME!: The Scale of the Universe 2

AWESOME (literally)!

htwins.net
Zoom from the edge of the universe to the quantum foam of spacetime and learn about everything in between.

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Facebook censors Ai Weiwei nude protest pictures!


www.huffingtonpost.com
I posted Ai Weiwei's images on Facebook. I was sent a warning, so I censored the photos using Facebook logos. Tuesday morning my account was disabled without notice or further details...

Saturday, November 19, 2011

a woman posts a nude photo of herself on her blog, and Egypt goes nuts!

I've been wanting to post something on this for a few days now but have been hesitant since most of the facebook posts that I have seen contained a copy of the offending image (and I do not want to get in any kind of trouble - given where I currently live and work!)  ...then Nicholas Kristof comes to the rescue:


So a woman posts a nude photo of herself on her blog, and Egypt goes nuts:http://nyti.ms/vOPw6F . It's so sad, because there are plenty of things that Egyptians should be going nuts about, not least the way the military council is arresting and torturing people to stay in power. Earlier this year, from Cairo I wrote about how the army was arresting female democracy activists and subjecting them to forcible "virginity exams" as a way to humiliate them:http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/27/opinion/27kristof.html . Now, that's a great reason for a conservative country to be outraged, but most Egyptians shrugged and said that the young women were probably hussies anyway. The issue died. I wish we could accept that what's really horrific and offensive isn't a woman who chooses not to wear clothes but rather a woman who is forced to wear a veil or burka. Your thoughts?

www.nytimes.com
Aliaa Magda Elmahdy had to expect outrage from conservative Muslims when she posted nude photographs of herself online. But liberals have been critical, too.

Friday, November 18, 2011

"We Need to Ai Weiwei": The Ai Weiwei Question on Chinese Social Media

As with the Wenzhou train collision last year, Chinese netizens are using images to circumvent censorship and show their support of Ai Weiwei.
This one shows Ai being whipped, with different types of punishments. The one the guard is holding says “tax evasion”. Others include stirring up trouble and causing a revolution.

hyperallergic.com
What has the response to Ai Weiwei’s tax case been like in China? Netizens are using images to circumvent censorship and show support.

Saturday, November 5, 2011

Chinese Citizens send Ai Weiwei over a million RMB in half a day!

The charges against Ai Weiwei are so obvious false, Chinese citizens send him over a million RMB online in half a day in protest against the powers that be...


www.huffingtonpost.com
Not since Spartacus has there been such a widespread act of generosity for an activist and leader. On November 1, the Chinese government declared that dissident artist and activist Ai Weiwei owed $2.4 million dollars in unpaid taxes, and had to pay it back within the next 2 weeks.


shanghaiist.com
On Tuesday, dissident-artist Ai Weiwei (艾未未) who was freed not too long ago from an 81-day detention, was slapped with a RMB15 million fine for tax evasion, a princely sum he has been given 15 days to cough up. The very next day, his mother Ai Ying (高瑛) and brother Ai Dan (艾丹) announced that they we...


Friday, November 4, 2011

Chinese netizens help Ai Weiwei pay taxes


Chinese netizens help Ai Weiwei pay taxes
Financial Times 
  • By Kathrin Hille and Jamil Anderlini in Beijing Thousands of Chinese have donated money online to help Ai Weiwei pay a $2.4m tax bill, in a rare fundraising ...
  • Friday, April 22, 2011

    petition for Ai Weiwei's release targeted by cyber attacks from China

    crude sculpture of the Grass Mud Horse in Ai Weiwei’s hand
    The Change.org petition demanding the release of Chinese artist Ai Weiwei has nearly 100,000 signatures.  
    Here's how we know it's really gotten Beijing’s attention: For the past four days, the Change.org website has been repeatedly targeted by cyber attacks coming from China that aim to bring our site down, which would keep people from signing the petition.