Sandboarding in the old days

It’s funny how things from your past can suddenly come back to remind you how much fun they were.

I was chatting on Twitter the other day with a young guy who lives in my old home town. He made a comment about me surfing, I replied that I didn’t surf but used to sandboard, and he replied “What’s that?” He’d never heard of it.

I Googled it to find that it’s now a moderately popular sport in some places — desert areas or places where there are large sand dunes. Check out Sandboard Magazine or Planet Sandboard. Basically, you ride a board like a snowboard down the biggest, steepest sand dune you find. The modern boards are large, about the size of a snowboard, complete with snowboard-like bindings.

My cousin Roger, who’s four years older than me, got us into it. He’s always been a keen surfie, and he and his friends used to sandboard when the surf was small. Very few people did it, and we had to make our own boards. The boards in those days were smaller than the modern ones. We made them out of the hardest wood we could find — normally a plank about 1 inch (2.5cm) thick, and the length and width of a typical skateboard. We would shape them so they were still flat on the top, but rounded at the bottom edges so the edge was quite sharp. Then we would get sanding with paper until they were as smooth as we could get them — like glass, if we could (that’s why they had to be made of hardwood). Then we would paint the top and sprinkle sand in the paint so we had some grip.

Before we rode the board, we would wax the bottom. We used to use old candles, or we would steal blocks of the wax Mum used to seal the tops of jars of preserves or jam. Then you just got on at the top of the biggest sand dune you could find, push off and try to stay upright until you got to the bottom. Sometimes we managed it, but the rides were short and really fast. A 45 to 60 degree slope was about ideal.

There were a lot fewer injuries than skateboarding (sand’s a lot softer than tarseal or concrete), although I did once get a pinched nerve next to my spine after landing heavily with straight legs. It took two trips to the osteopath to fix that, after many months of intermittent pain. (Actually, when we were much younger we lived on a farm, and one time Roger visited he made boards for us to ride down the dry grass slopes on the farm. I broke my little finger doing that. I must remind him how he’s been responsible for those injuries the next time I need a favour from him.)

It was heaps of fun, and the only thing that stopped us was that there were only a few really good dunes at our beach and we eventually got bored with them. You probably can’t do it there these days as the erosion has got bad and the best dune slopes are fenced off — probably because of the damage started by us when we were kids.

Iran protest updates – what Aavez has been up to

Recently, the Avaaz community rapidly responded to the election crisis in Iran with an opinion poll to gauge the views of ordinary Iranians, a petition to world leaders to withhold recognition of the new President until the crackdown on protests ceased, and a fundraiser to support technology that would allow Iranians to freely access the internet.

The rapidly deteriorating security situation has made it difficult to conduct the poll (final word on that coming this week), but the technology fundraiser has raised over a hundred thousand dollars to support the best tools for Iranians to access the internet and communicate freely. The situation in Iran remains uncertain, and Avaaz will continue to both support freedom of expression and oppose those who would exploit this crisis to justify military action against Iran.

Female ‘sing-songwriters’ I’m listening to at the moment

I’ve been listening to a bunch of different women singers/musicians lately, two of whom I’ve been impressed with for some time, and one who is brand new to me.

Firstly, there’s Ruth Theodore, an English folkie with a bit of a gypsy/jazz flavour to her music. She has a good range to her voice and is one hell of a guitarist, often playing a fast finger picking style. This song, ‘CO2’ off the album Worm Food, gives a good idea of her style.

Another really nice song is Grounded, although it’s a bit dificult to hear her over the background talking in this club! Nice guitar playing, though.

Actually, she reminds me a bit of Marian Arts — a New Zealand singer/songwriter/guitarist, who broke through in the 1970s as a member of the Red Hot Peppers, a jazz/folk combo that also featured her husband Robbie Laven, a terrific multi-instumentalist. They were moderately popular for about 4–5 years in NZ and Australia, the group broke up and Marian and Robbie went to Europe (Robbie’s homeland of the Netherlands), where they refined their style into a very European jazz/folk style. Robbie’s amazing playing get better, but the real change was in Marian’s singing, which took on more jazz stylings as she started playing with the sounds her voice could make. A former workmate of mine, Kevin Ikin (an excellent folk guitarist in his own right), had one of their albums from the 1980s The Lost Angel, which really turned me onto this style of music. I suspect it’s virtually impossible to get (I haven’t been able to find it anywhere on the net), but a specialist folk music supplier might be able to find a second-hand copy somewhere in the world.

Another woman I’ve been listening to for a while is Alina Simone, a Ukraine-born, USA-raised singer. She’s a more intense performer than Ruth Theodore — there’s more of the Ani DiFranco style in there. This song, ‘Night Swimming’ off the album Placelessness, is a good example of her style.

There’s not a lot of fun in her music. Her latest release, Everyone is Crying Out to Me, Beware, is a cover album featuring the music of Russian cult icon, Yanka Dyagileva, a Siberian punk-folk singer who died in 1991. This isn’t one of the songs from it (even though it’s in Russian).

The third, and latest singer I’ve discovered, is Jenny Owen Youngs, another American. She has a bit more folk/country sound, and she uses some of the types of instuments Ruth Theodore uses in her music — woodwind and string instruments as backing. She’s definitely more fun (generally) than Alina Simone. I downloaded her second release Batten the Hatches from emusic.com a couple of weeks ago and have been giving it a fair thrashing. This song, ‘Fuck Was I’, seems to be one of the better known songs from it.

She’s just released a new album, Transmitter Failure, which I haven’t heard yet, but hope to get in the next couple of days. This song ‘Clean Break’ is on it.

NZ Parliament passes motion in support of peaceful protest and re-examination of election result in Iran

This afternoon, the New Zealand Parliament unanimously passed the following motion from Green MP, Keith Locke:

That this House expresses its support for all Iranian citizens who strive for a free and democratic society; asks the Iranian government not to use force against peaceful demonstrators; calls for an end to government restrictions on the media; and supports an impartial examination of the recent Iranian election result in the light of widespread concerns.

Keith Locke has a media statement on the Green Party’s website. Good work, and about time.

Chatham House investigation into election results in Iran shows fraud almost certain

Chatham House and the Institute of Iranian Studies at the Unviersity of St Andrews have just published a Preliminary Analysis of the Voting Figures in Iran’s 2009 Presidential Election, which supports the claims of election fraud in Iran.

The report says:

Working from the province by province breakdowns of the 2009 and 2005 results, released by the Iranian Ministry of Interior on the Farsi pages of their website shortly after the election, and from the 2006 census as published by the official Statistical Centre of Iran, the following observations about the official data and the debates surrounding it can be made.

• In two conservative provinces, Mazandaran and Yazd, a turnout of more than 100% was recorded. [Four other regions show a turnout of more than 90%.]
• If Ahmadinejad’s victory was primarily caused by the increase in voter turnout, one would expect the data to show that the provinces where there was the greatest ‘swing’ in support towards Ahmadinejad would also be the provinces with the greatest increase in voter turnout. This is not the case.
• In a third of all provinces, the official results would require that Ahmadinejad took not only all former conservative voters, all former centrist voters, and all new voters, but also up to 44% of former reformist voters, despite a decade of conflict between these two groups.
• In 2005, as in 2001 and 1997, conservative candidates, and Ahmadinejad in particular, were markedly unpopular in rural areas. That the countryside always votes conservative is a myth. The claim that this year Ahmadinejad swept the board in more rural provinces flies in the face of these trends.

These results are not significantly affected by the statement of the Guardian Council that some voters may have voted outside their home district, thus causing the irregularities highlighted by the defeated Mohsen Rezai. Whilst it is possible for large numbers of voters to cast their ballots outside their home district (one of 366), the proportion of people who would have cast their votes outside their home province is much smaller, as the 30 provinces are too large for effective commuting across borders. In Yazd, for example, where turnout was above 100% at provincial level, there are no significant population centres near provincial boundaries.

The total turnout for these elections was 84 per cent, up from 60 percent and 63 per cent in the 2005 presidential elections, and 68 per cent in the 2001 presidential elections. The highest turnout since 1980 was 79 per cent in 1981, but in the past 10 years it has sat at 60–70 per cent. Now, I don’t know whether there is something special about the Iranian electorate, but I have worked in a couple of elections here in New Zealand, and from that experience and research we did of overseas trends that a jump of more than 20 per cent is virtually unheard of in a country with a well-functioning democracy and generally high turnout, which seems to be the case in Iran. Changes in turnout are normally in the single figures, and normally less than five per cent.

The report highlights some serious anomalies, and strongly supports the claims of the reformist groups.

How did this get past the subs?

This one cracked me up today. In a story in the New Zealand Herald, EU blames ‘Mr Bland’ for its lacklustre performance, reporter Catherine Field profiled the President, Jose Manuel Barroso. The story contained this howler…

The President of the European Commission is dismissed by some as a bland pragmatist and by others as an invertebrate opportunist — and his choice is a telling reflection of the state of European politics today.

Hmm, I suppose a political opportunist could succeed without a backbone.

Something we can do to help our Iranian friends

The situation in Iran is very bad. At the end of last week, it looked like the support for Mousavi might have been strong enough to get rid of Ahmadinejad, but it seems that the election might have been rigged. Our media reported seven people killed and more injured yesterday at a demonstrations. Avaaz.org is trying to mobilise help.

Iran is on a knife-edge, with millions of voters taking to the streets in outrage as evidence mounts that the government may have massively rigged and stolen Thursday’s election. The regime has cracked down brutally on the protesters and is imposing a blackout on Iranian society — shutting down domestic and international media, the internet and even text-messaging.

The voice of Iranians may have been silenced at the polling booth, now the regime is attempting to silence them everywhere else. Facing beatings and gunfire, the opposition is organising mass demonstrations and a general strike. We can’t afford to let the regime dismiss the voice of the people — the truth must be heard.

Avaaz is urgently organising a rigorous “exit poll” of Iranian voters and a media effort to publicise it — working with an international polling firm to do a telephone survey of Iranian citizens to ask how they voted. We urgently need 10,000 Avaaz members to pitch in a small amount each to raise $119,000 in the next 24 hours and give Iranians a powerful new way to be heard — follow this link to view video from the streets of Tehran and support this exit poll to find out the truth:

https://secure.avaaz.org/en/iran_vote_truth/

Public polling in Iran is heavily restricted, and no-one else is mobilizing fast enough to fund an international exit poll. It’s urgent that we pitch in. A telephone poll won’t be 100% accurate, but the difference between opposition and government claims is massive — a rigorous poll can show which claim is remotely near the truth.

Unlike Western organizations, Avaaz’s global network has a strong membership in Iran and across the Middle East. Backed by a respected polling firm, our effort will be harder to dismiss by Iranian conservatives. We’ll send the poll results to the media and help our members in Iran to rapidly and virally spread the news despite the regime’s blackout.

Messages have been flooding in from our Iranian members — from Fariba: “20.000.000 people have lost their votes for peace and human rights. The government wants to use this votes for every thing but PEACE. Avaaz is a Persian word too and means voice — hear our ‘avaaz’”. From Mahmoud: “The government has stolen the vote the people. The people in the street are beaten badly by the police. Now now now do not lose the time”. Stand with Iranians now and help their voices be heard:

https://secure.avaaz.org/en/iran_vote_truth/

This election matters to us all. Iran is a major regional power, and the international community is seeking diplomatic engagement that holds a key to peace in the Middle East. But hawks and extremists on all sides want war instead: a conservative coup in Iran could destroy all our hopes.

The conservative Guardian Council, headed by a key Ahmadinejad ally, is reviewing the vote over the next 9 days — our poll can be ready before they give their verdict, to counter any further rigging and the violent purge that could follow.

There is a real possibility that democracy will prevail. Ultimate power in Iran lies with Ayatollah Khamenei, who may have backed the rigging — but he is hired and fired by the Assembly of Experts, chaired by ex-President Rafsanjani who has condemned vote-fixing. If Rafsanjani and allies can get enough votes on the Assembly this week, they can press to re-open the results, even to remove Khamenei from power. A scientific opinion poll could be a powerful piece of evidence.

In the next 72 hours, the Iranian people will try once again to be heard. Let’s help make sure their voices are not silenced — follow this link to see their courage and donate now to help fund the exit poll:

https://secure.avaaz.org/en/iran_vote_truth/

There are some good media sources: CNN Iran election special, Al Jazeera http://www.aljazeera.net/ or Al Jazeera English version, BBC Middle East page, The Guardian and The Times Online. Robert Fisk has an interesting account of a confrontation between pro- and anti-government demonstrations. It seems the Iranian special forces police kept the peace between the two groups, and the demonstrators had more to fear from the Basiji, who Fisk described as “Islamic Republic’s thug-like militia”.

There also a good post at http://mashable.com/2009/06/14/new-media-iran/ on how to use social media to track events.

Did you know?

It looks like this is going viral. I saw it at a presentation we organised a couple of weeks ago, and a friend has just sent it to me on Facebook. I’m dubious about some of the statistics and as far as the predictions for more than 10 years out go, who knows? The point is, things are changing fast. Countries such as India and China are developing their technological capabilites very quickly. Their current economic power is huge, and their potential is massive. Combined with increasing technological advances, we’re all in for a wild ride. Hang on tight!

Opera more popular than iPhone

Just spotted this online. Congratulations Opera! :yes:

Norway’s Opera Software has overtaken Apple’s iPhone browser as the world’s most popular mobile browser, web analytics firm StatCounter said.

Of all internet pages that were downloaded to mobile devices globally in May, 24.6 per cent were downloaded through Opera’s browser and 22.3 per cent via iPhone, StatCounter said.

The top spot has see-sawed this year.

“Opera began the year in the No 1 slot but iPhone overtook it in February,” Aodhan Cullen, chief executive of StatCounter, said in a statement. “It will be fascinating to watch how this battle plays out over the year.”

Opera sells its browser to many cellphone makers and operators, and consumers can directly download it for free, while the Apple browser’s ranking reflects only iPhone users surfing the internet.

Nokia, the world’s top cellphone maker, retained third place in mobile browsers with 17.9 per cent of the market, StatCounter said.

StatCounter said its research data is based on four billion pages loaded per month.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/technology/gadgets/2469337/Opera-more-popular-than-iPhone

Jamendo – great online source of free (and almost-free) music

One of my favourite websites — Jamendo — was voted one of Cnet’s 2009 Webware 100 winners. Apparently, this is a big deal, and isn’t bad when you consider it is on the same list as iTunes, last.fm and Amazon MP3. The Luxembourg-based site has only been in operation since 2005 and is basically a music sharing site. It hosts more than 20,000 albums, many of which hold a Creative Commons license that lets users download tracks for free.

I hadn’t been on it for a few weeks — I’ve been getting enough new music from Emusic.com, which I was very disappointed to see wasn’t on the list of winners :down: — so I went to have a look to see what was new. There’s an interesting variety of music, with heaps of artists you wouldn’t normally hear of in a music market dominated by the USA and UK (as New Zealand is). Lots of music from Europe and Latin America. So, anyway, one of the first albums I came across was entripao by entripao, from Argentina. A good selection of slightly electronic, melodic rock. Check out their music…

But the real find was when I replied to a friend request (yes, just like My Opera) from Kris of the French group Borea. She’s the bass player, and she and her partner Fred, with drummer Nico, make up a fine pop group. A number of songs off their album Single Ride are on Jamendo.

If you like it, you can buy it from their site for 4€. Not a bad price, really.