...more recent posts
sad world
Pakistan's dancing girls flee Taliban
Dean Nelson, Mingora, Pakistan
January 13, 2009
PAKISTAN'S celebrated dancing girls are fleeing in fear of their lives as Taliban militants increase their strength in the North-West Frontier Province.
The bullet-riddled body dumped in the centre of Mingora's Green Square sent two clear messages to people in the Swat Valley's largest town: "un-Islamic vices" will no longer be tolerated, and the Taliban are effectively in control.
The woman, known only as Shabana, was found slumped on the ground, strewn with banknotes, CDs of her dance performances and photographs.
Local Taliban commander Maulana Shah Dauran broadcast a warning on one of the group's radio stations: his men had killed her and if any other girls were found performing in the city's Banr Bazaar they would be killed "one by one".
The last of the bazaar's dancing girls, many of whom had trained under Shabana's wing and lived in her house, were seen loading their belongings on to trucks and fleeing to the relative safety of Karachi and Lahore at the weekend.
The banishment marks a key turning point in the battle for the Swat Valley between Taliban militants and Pakistan's army. It followed recent orders to close girls' schools, shut shops selling music and films and stop barbers shaving beards.
The dancing girls' performances had been one of the city's last "vices".
More than 1000 girls have fled, though some who remained said Shabana had paid the price for defying the Taliban's mullahs and that she had ignored warnings to stop the performances and the training of young dancers.
I saw MB and Jim on TV!
20' bush shoe throw
the inauguration opening celebration is being broadcasted on HBO (HD) for free for non-subscribers.heres the schedule. im hoping jamie fox comes out in his Wanda character.
i guess i was distracted by the plane in the hudson miracle and missed that patrick mcgoohan died. secret agent and the prisoner. master of cold war era tv (sur)realism.
i highly recomand the nick cave show!!
http://www.jackshainman.com/dynamic/artist.asp?ArtistID=23
air force rules of engagement for blogging
Wow.
deadlicious
french comix shit and more via easydreamer (PCL links dump) links column via things magazine links column
saddest thing I read lately:
"Sometimes we tell jokes to lighten the mood although we don't laugh at the jokes."
Closing out the Holiday Season on Epiphany with
The Twelve Birds of Christmas – Brooklyn Edition
(OK, a couple of them are bugs, but let’s not quibble.)
Merlin Falcon at Owl’s Head Park
Scarlet Tanager at Owl’s Head 11/9/08 (very late)
Rusty Blackbird in Prospect Park (40% decline over the last 20 years)
Olive-sided Flycatcher at Calvert Vaux Park
Eyed Elator! Calvert Vaux Park
Monarch sex at Calvert Vaux Park
Horned Lark blending in with gravel at Calvert Vaux Park
American Golden-plover at Calvert Vaux Park
Eastern Bluebirds at Owl’s Head Park
Winter plumage Sanderling at Dyker Beach on Gravesend Bay
Why does Wilson’s Warbler insist on showing me its rear? Owl’s Head Park
And the first good bird of 2009 (well, it’s early.) Can you pick it out among 700 gulls?
Look closer, middle back, bigger than Ring-billed, smaller than Herring, darker than either, but not quite as dark as Great Black-backed…
Maybe from this angle…
Yes it’s a Lesser Black-backed Gull on the Lake in Prospect Park; a good rarity in the City (of course there are plenty in Buck’s County PA, but in bird watching everything is context.)
bush shoe throw gifs
Do earthquake swarms precede caldera eruptions? We don't know. But hopefully not, since there has been a recent swarm of earthquakes in Yellowstone.
We found this game in a closet at the bighouse.
We brought it down here. Dave was good at it.
Music industry to abandon mass law suits.
im positive that factoid means "a small easily digestible fact."
