Non-embedded report Chris Allbritton reports from Kurdistan, currently in the Turkish portion (Diyarbakir, pics), but hoping to report from the Iraqi Kurd area soon. This kind of reporting is pretty thrilling. Knowing what actual Kurds think, in situations that seem much more open to us as readers. Because the authors are at least (or when at their best) something about themselves and their motivations so we have some idea who to trust and not. I still don't know a hill of beans about Chris, but he looks like he's already showing he'll be someone to follow as we get deeper (like it or not) in this part of our world. I'm not reading (or hearing) the kind of straight arrow analysis you get in an exchange like this as Chris asks his local friend Emre where he thought things were going in the long term,

"I asked him if the Turks were justified in worrying about its own Kurds attempting to break off and dash for independence if the Iraqi Kurds over the border attained their own country.

“Let me answer your question with a question,” he said. “In America, there are, what, 50 states? Does the black man want his own nation? Does the brown man?”

I said no.

“And why is that?”

J. spoke up. “Because they don’t have to. They are happy being Americans.”

Emre said that was his point. “If I can speak my own language, learn Kurdish in school, listen to Kurdish music and have the same democratic rights as the people in the west [of Turkey], why would I need my own country? We want the same economic development as in the west, too, we want to be as rich as they are. If we had all this, why would Turkey’s Kurds need their own country?

“But if we can’t have that,” he warned. “Yes, I want my own country. Yes, I will want a military to protect myself.”

Keep it coming and we'll see what we think...
3:01:16 PM    comment []  Google It!  

Anyway, I've got an afternoon at the office to put in, let's make the most of it. Here are some biddeo clips if you care to take in something totally hip and fun.
2:01:26 PM    comment []  Google It!  

I've got to have a webcam for the new portable. Have the opportunity to easily capture events as they arise. Live in video and audio. And totally mobile. I hadn't even thought of the videoconferencing aspect of having a webcam. The first discovery was a long list of Firewire Webcams which I stumbled upon when this info on Webcams and Quicktime (another good Google search...and...an idea) brought up something else to consider (QT).

And one other thing...my webcam really needs to be my portable video/audio device also. That digital video player I've been talking about somewhere here.

We'll see what my vendor of switcherness can do to help in the webcam for powerbook g4 department. Woa. Not much. Not anything. More later...
7:12:02 AM    comment []  Google It!