Given the somber mood of the last few posts and that we should still be enjoying this year's Holiday Season I thought we could all enjoy a laugh, even if at the expense some of our fellow citizens... :-)

Iran's best known female dancer Farzaneh Kaboli, performs rhythmical movements during a drama festival in this photo taken in February 2003, in Tehran, Iran. Kaboli, and 24 of her students were detained Wednesday, 24 December 2003 on charges of dancing in public for an all female audience, her husband said Thursday. Kaboli was performing her second night of a planned two-week programme at Tehran's prestigious Vahdat Hall when the police detained her and her students. She has not been charged yet. Her students have been released. (Photo: AP/Str)

Has any government called for Kaboli's immediate release? I wonder if this year's Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, Shirin Ibadi, is doing anything about this unconscionable and disgraceful act of oppression and repression.

Anyone interested in providing aid to the earthquake victims in Bam, Iran may do so through The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
or The National Iranian American Council.

Additional guidance: Iran earthquake: How to help.

UPDATE: Online Giving Boosts Efforts in Devastated Iran.

What no cries of «Insha' Allah» and «Allah-hu Akbar»?
What, no resignation to the will o' god nor praises to his greatness?

Ordinary mortals are indeed responsible for
most tragedies of this nature. Thousands upon thousands have no business
living in mud buildings much less in earthquake-prone areas. Iran has
suffered similar devastation repeatedly and nobody does anything! Not even
justice is served as building codes go unenforced, IF they are even developped.
About 17,000 died and around 44,000 were injured in Turkey four years ago, as if
it hadn't been known that the tragedy would take place just as it is known
that ISTANBUL is right on the same fault and will probably be devastated by
a coming earthquake in our very lifetime (devastating earthquakes have been
occurring almost like clockwork every thirty years along this particular
fault and government and the private sector continue to build and to
disregard code). (Photos: Reuters)

So here we have another 30,000 dead, piles of bodies in the streets,
overflowing cemeteries, bitterly cold nights, rain, aftershocks, confusion
and even some looting...

UPDATE (30 DEC 03): It's worse than ever imagined.
The Beeb reports that the Iran quake toll could hit 50,000.

The first photograph shows IKONOS satellite image of Iran's ancient
Silk Road city of Bam, taken from 423 miles in space 27 December 2003, just
one day after the earthquake that killed at least 30,000 people struck
there. Whole blocks of homes that had collapsed onto their square lots may
be discerned in the satellite imagery. 70 percent of Bam's mostly mud-brick
buildings were flattened as people slept. Some smaller roads appear to be
cluttered with debris and cars. A fortress is seen in the NE section of the
image. (Photo: REUTERS/Space Imaging)

A "jewel of antiquity" has been lost in Iran.

Live at NPR: Cellist Matt Haimovitz
A Renowned Classical Musician Hits the Rock Circuit

Crowds favour his version of The Star-Spangled Banner, which he calls \"Anthem,\" done in the style of Jimi Hendrix's legendary electric-guitar rendition at Woodstock in 1969. My opinion differs, but go ahead, have a listen. There's more here...
Truth from Above is brilliant.

Cheers!

By the way, you can see here my prized and scarce New York: Farrar Straus Giroux, 1996, First edition, Octavo of Jostein Gaarder's The Christmas Mystery.

Even grownups enjoy a bedtime story every now and then, especially one that combines, as does this one, first published in Norway in 1992, the sophistication of a novel with the whimsy of a fairy tale. Gaarder, the Norwegian former professor of philosophy who brought us The Solitaire Mystery (1996) and the bestselling Sophie's World (1995), is up to his usual tricks here, serving up a metaphysical brainteaser that unfolds into a warm but not preachy meditation on \"god\" and the christian doctrines. Set in an unnamed town in present-day Norway, it tells the story of Joachim, a young boy who finds a faded, handmade Advent calendar in a bookstore on the eve of December first, and begs his father to let him take it home. The next morning, when he opens the calendar's first door, Joachim discovers not just the expected picture but also a tightly folded piece of paper, the first installment of the fantastic tale of a little girl's journey through time and space to be present at the Nativity. Soon the girl's story is making unexpected intrusions into Joachim's own life, and he races to solve the mystery of the calendar before Christmas Eve.
--Publishers Weekly, 23 September 1996

RIGHT NOW! - Listening out for Beagle 2:

The 76m Lovell Telescope at the Jodrell Bank Observatory is ready to try and
find Beagle 2 on Christmas evening. At 22:40 GMT Beagle 2 will begin to
transmit an on/off sequence each minute - like very slow Morse Code - and
about nearly 9 minutes later the signals should reach Earth. The transmitter
power, at 5 watts, is little more than that of a mobile phone, but the team
at Jodrell Bank have installed a very sensitive receiver to pick up the Beagle 2 frequency.

The Beeb explains Why There Is Hope For Beagle 2.

Here's an update (30 DEC 03): Mars Orbiter Repositioned to Find Beagle 2.

02 January 04: Spirit to land on Mars Saturday.

«Why do the nations so furiously rage together, and why do the people imagine a vain thing; The kings of the earth rise up, and the rulers take counsel together...»

Pax hominibus bonæ voluntatis!