text:
- Mohammedridha Alaskari
- Mesopotamia
- Iraq
Security Advisor, Nabors Industries
This conversation is closed.
Why does the security situation in Iraq remain as it is?
We need to focus on the real issues facing the Iraqi Security forces / departments to establish a good security conditions country-wide.
Mar 25 2013: I wish that I could write a more hopeful message but, it saddens me to realize that this world will never have any true peace till all men come out of their singular thought process and accept that we are all the same. Not one better than the other. No one worse than the other. Unfortunately, our egocentric nature is flawed. It causes more harm than good.
When the day comes that we realize and accept this, togheter we will achieve great things. A new Paradigm will be born. The question of security will not exist because, together we will stand!! ..... yes, that is why we fall. We stand divided.
Mar 25 2013: Vincenzo,
True, together we stand.. we need the unity
edward long
Mar 21 2013: Like the children's game of King of the Mountain when the summit is unoccupied, or vulnerable, there is great activity by all players to kick. scratch, and bite their way to the top. To hold the top spot it is necessary to demonstrate to the challengers that they are fighting a losing battle. Several forces in Iraq believe they can take the summit. They must be identified and "educated".
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Mar 21 2013: edward,
I cannot agree with your assessment.
Too much like George Bush's Homeland Security and Privacy Act combined.
Add Obama drones and stir.
edward long
Mar 21 2013: Who, or what, exactly is the "we" mentioned in the question? I assume it is not the Iraqi people, but some occupying force. Also, to me, the fact that you disagree is much less important than specifically why you disagree. In the western movies whenever a new sheriff comes to town he has to show all the bad guys who is in-charge. If he doesn't, the bad guys will continue business as usual. I'm guessing George W. was the new sheriff and he was replaced by Barack Hussein. It looks like the bad guys, aka Wild Donkeys, are still not convinced that their run of the town is over.
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Mar 21 2013: occupation forces planted more hatred among the Iraqis and create a new generation of terrorists supplied with the latest technology 'as a result of non-deliberate decisions' that's led to exterminate the Iraqi people by those groups..
Frank Barry
Mar 21 2013: edward,
- +1
I have tried to draw Mohammedridha out a bit. Trying to get him to identify
certain things like you have asked. "The "We" in the question.".
He may come forward and supply a bit more. But, I think he might be afraid
to open pandora's box. He just might get bit by the bad guys. I hope I am wrong.
I followed the Blackwater exploits, The killings of 17 Iraqi's at a traffic stop.
The white-wash. The corporate name change to Xe, then being sold to USTC,
those private mercenary hiring and training camps located in North Carolina
and in San Diego County, California. USTC is not related to the United States
government. But ex-US Attorney General, John Ashcroft, did join their Board
of Directors in Dec 2010. He was out of office then.
This is research from the USTC internet Web Site. I've seen a copy of their
employment application used to recruit private contractor trainees.
Today they claim to train Police SWAT teams in weapons and tactics.
I'm guessing George W. and Barack Hussein decided to leave Iraq to the Iraqi's.
At about the end of 2008, when Wall Street and the major Banks were raping
our treasury and the lure of riches were too much to resist.
As I write this I am reading Mohammedridha's comment wherein he states that
occupation forces planted hatred among Iraqis. Hatred that created terrorists,
supplied with the latest technology in weapons that's enabled them to exterminate
the Iraqi people. I think he is right.
The net result. edward, I mostly agree with you now.Mar 21 2013: RE: "I have tried to draw. . . " Once again the old addage, "Ain't nothin' simple!" proves true. Thanks for all the details which have led-up to today in Iraq. I have the same feeling that this conversation may be under scrutiny as we speak. W. made some friends and some enemies when he snatched Sadaam Hussein out of his hole in the ground , gave him a fair trial, and hung him. I guess those faithful Sadaam supporters are on the side of anti-US militants. I'm sure the next dictator is just waiting for that last US warrior to go home and collect his unemployment. You know how the Forest Service learned to let some of the forest fires burn? The White House should consider letting some of the world's many conflicts burn themselves out. I vote for Isolationism!
Mar 22 2013: edward,
Isolationism worked well before FDR and Churchill got together.
FDR ran on a platform that he would not get us into a European War.
Then he proceeded to do exactly that.
Like North Korea said last week; "Preemptive War upon the US shores".
It was in response for what our government has been doing these last
63 years. "Non-stop Preemptive Wars upon other nation shores."
Problem is that these are Secret Preemptive Wars. Fully started before
the rest of the United States and even maybe Congress are informed.
Technologies used are for example; Drones that require bases to be
constructed within War Zones.
I found out last week that we not only have been secretly training the
rebels in Syria, but in at least 3 other interior African nations, all while
constructing 2 new Drone bases. That is going on right this minute.
Back home in the good ole' USofA we uninformed citizen voters are
fed propaganda to keep us voting for and happy with our leaders.
We of the starry-eyed clan just keep re-electing them.
What fools we voters be...
Since 1945 taxpayers have supported 147 Military bases located
inside as many nations world-wide. We pay Trillions of Dollars to
lease lands and safe passage on and over nations throughout the
world so we can support our Military troops, sailors, and airmen.
Since 1945 we taxpayers have supported 57 to 60 Armed Conflicts.
And God only knows how many others we never found out about.
Every one was started with a lie. Every single one.
There is a rule in selling... One Lie, All Lie.
edward long
Mar 22 2013: I trust your facts are confirmed. Thank you for sharing them. We are about to vacate Iraq and that must play a part in the problem cited in the OP. Things are not getting better because, since Harry Truman, the POTUS has not been dedicated to the idea of Victory at all costs. America has never lost a "war" because she was not powerful enough to win it. We lose because we no longer unleash our massive military might to disable and conmmand our enemies as quickly as possible. Iraq would be better today if the POTUS had kicked ass and taken names from the get-go. Maybe we will try Isolationism since being the world's peacekeeper is not working out for us. Global economy and One-World doctrines be damned. Let each nation build its own economy.
- +1
Frank Barry
Mar 23 2013: edward,
- +1
Since 1945 -- US Presidents ignored Congress when deciding to make WAR.
US President's use questionable constitutional executive authority to initiate WAR.
US President's ask Congress to appropriate monies to pay for WAR after the fact.
Appropriations that pay for (Non-stop) "Preemptive Wars upon other nation shores."
Media propaganda then and now, that label America as "the world's peacekeeper", is a lie.
Americans have no realistic idea of the (Secret) WARS created by US President's lies.
The WMD reason for George W. Bush's WAR against Iraq was later exposed, as a lie.
Colin Powell's integrity, folded like a cheap suit, when he tried to sell to the United Nations,
the WMD lie.
American voters have become co-conspirators with the US Presidents they elect and re-elect.
As you can see, I hate WARS, and those idiots that start them.
Mar 23 2013: If I'm not mistaken, Shia - Sunni feud started before U.S. even existed. U.S. policy does not help, but it does not seem to be the cause of the violence.
Despite the popular American belief, America is not the center of the world. Many countries have problems not caused by U.S. policies.
Mar 24 2013: Thank you Arkady,
You're right, and you've won the HITS THE NAIL ON THE HEAD award.
Thank you.
Arkady, We have a few problems developing today, here in America.
US foreign policies effect Americans.
Policies soon become dictates. with threats of WAR should some country
not change it's policies.
Americans are daily fed a diet of Media garbage suggesting we should
be ready to slay the monsters lurking beyond our borders.
After 6 decades of such garbage, you would think Americans would have
had enough. Not so.
The voters continue to back the hawks of WAR.
Everything in America's open and transparent government is a SECRET.
Get out your calculators -- Homeland Security has in the last 18 months
ordered Billions of bullets and 2600 new armored vehicles.
"Surprise" the Social Security Administration bought 1.5 Million bullets themselves.
More guns and ammo than we could have used in 10 years of fighting WARS in Iraq.
Where on earth do they plan to use these weapons? The Mexican border?
I apologize if my information is wrong. A check with the Congressional Record
might clear it up. There are a couple Senators upset with these purchases.
There is gossip that Homeland Security's Janet Napolitano will be running for
President in 2016. Will these purchases help her to get elected?
Mar 24 2013: Frank,
The data on buying bullets is without sources or context. Where did you get the data that Social Security Administration is buying bullets? I'm not sure what to make out of this statement without reading more.
Although you hate wars, what you say is not far from what you criticize: "Americans are daily fed a diet of Media garbage suggesting we should
be ready to slay the monsters lurking beyond our borders." You seem to suggest that the monsters are inside our borders. But the message is, essentially, the same. I have a far more sensational news for you: "The Phantom of the Opera is here, inside your mind".Mar 22 2013: In your blog, you say "The increase [in violence] is attributed to the resurgence of al Qaeda in Iraq (AQI). According to estimates by Iraqi officials, AQI's membership has increased from 700 in 2011 to 2,500 today."
This is a correlation, not a causality. Why do people join AQI? That's the question. Apparently, they resort to violence to resolve some issues. You say it yourself, "we need to focus on the real issues". What are the issues in your opinion?
I have a coworker from Iraq. After talking to him, it seems to me that the religious differences between Sunni and Shia are at the center of the internal conflict as they are in Syria. There are also tensions between Arabs and Kurds. It seems to me that instead of focusing on issues, people focus on religious and ethnic differences and falsely blame each other for the issues. Blaming violence on Al Qaeda is just finding another culprit.
Focus on similarities, not the differences and attack the problems, not each other.Mar 22 2013: Perhaps the people have just got to change. Change takes time. It takes direction. Change comes from within. It comes from those seeing examples from around them. Set some good examples. Let them see the good examples. Don't let people lie to them about the good examples. Lies abound... let the truth set them free.
Ken brown
Mar 22 2013: What about gathering the chiefs, they must see this current time for Iraq helps no one? Not even a holy man can budge a people who have lost confidence in them? Iraq is Iraq and belongs to Iraq and it's tribes, democracy or whatever form of government takes place must have an element of the tribes input? the med is an area of very old cultures and sometimes it takes old cultures a long time to change or incorporate a new way of doing things for themselves.
- +1
Obviously i have limited information of Iraq's current issues but the old men who are not religious or who leave it up to other more loud mouthed men are usually the wise ones? Hot blood can turn each man against his neighbor. Reach into the blood lines, find the old ones.
Mar 22 2013: Below article may help you out to give you a small picture so u can figure out how it is look like now in Iraq.
if possible please to tell me if this article was helpful..
Mar 22 2013: It seems obvious that the Shia dominate, so if your not Shia, you won't get much, that's just the way governments are.
Is the Ayatollah Shia?
Mar 23 2013: Jim,
Shiites are the overwhelming majority in Iraq .. No doubt they control the bulk of the government
The Ayatollah for Both, I mean the are religious leaders for Sunni & Shiite as well.
Ken brown
Mar 22 2013: Mohammedridha.
- +1
Who's bombing who? Maybe Iraq needs to expel all foreigners for a small time to work out what it wants. The foreign states will comply or be backed into a position that would affect their profile.
Edit = Microsoft, bloody buggers, trick you into changing over to a supposedly better system of email and skype and now i don't get any comment alerts from this site.....typical, just like elections. Yes, thanks, it did help.Mar 23 2013: Even those in power do not have justice. Yes, they get their way, but they do great harm to each nation. Iraq has the second largest oil reserves in the world. People the world over can easily be corrupted.
How can anything we say or do make a difference, unless justice were worth more than money?
Actually justice is worth a lot more, but most that want to lead do so for money, along with those they make promises to, to get them into those positions. However, once that's done, the entire population becomes corrupted in a vast amount of ways. When that is done, real intelligence suffers throughout the entire culture, because without justice and the truth, there is only a tiny amount of real learning, compared to what it should be.
That leads to a sickness throughout the entire population.
If you want to be a leader, you will have to get your people to tax themselves, get them to agree to accepting more and more gov control over themselves, help to dumb down school children so they offer no intelligent threat to expose the fully corrupt gov and corporations, as the media directs the concert, demonizes whomever and whatever.
Fully corrupt people control and they always will, because they will do whatever it takes, even to murder and dumbing down most all children.Mar 23 2013: Then all i can say is that maybe Jim is right, maybe an Ayatollah might curb the violence but they from my stand point are an Iranian tradition?. Right now brother is set against brother and there is the added stress of not knowing if your wife or kids could get caught up in a bombing, this should make men angry, that stress is not natural.Mar 22 2013: Mohammedridha Alaskari, this is interesting.
I want to switch the direction of this conversation as most us are really stupid about this subject.
What would you propose?
What do you think of Rory Stewart? (this guy is awesome)
Can you tell me about the viewpoint of the Iraqi people on the street?
I must say seeing voters brave the dangers to pursue their liberty was awesome and made me misty eyed, but that may be more conjecture than reality?
It seems like the answer should come from the bottom up?
And that it basically boils down to communication?
And that people never have higher communication than when they are trading at the market place? How can Iraq trade with the world?
My neighbor is Iraqi and a doctor as are all of his 5 brothers. Once his brothers were visiting and asked if they could take a picture of my house that was tented for termites at the time. They wanted to show people back home how big the tents were in America. 8^)
What does Iraq want? What do the Iraqi people want?
Mar 22 2013: I will check it out!
Mar 23 2013: SighMar 23 2013: Excellent speech..
This is incredible facts!
Mar 23 2013: Why?
What do you suggest?
What does Iraq want?
Mar 23 2013: - Because his speech is logical
- I would suggest to reassess our current situation & suggest better solutions..
- More peace, more love for each other, respect for others views though opinions different & MORE EDUCATIONMar 23 2013: Thank you, sigh retracted.
No matter how you figure it this is a extremely difficult and dangerous endeavor, as if you did not know this...
I think the answer is to emulate other successes in history.
Rule number one, this has to be from the bottom up. Al Qaeda is from the bottom up?
In this country before the revolution there was much talk about what the country should become. This was done through the Federalist Papers and the Anti Federalist Papers. This eventually evolved into the Constitution.
You cannot create a future through force it has to be through Communication and Education this has to be from the bottom up. People have very high communication when they are in the market place. Ideologies simmer down when people trade.
If you want some more ideas email me.Mar 23 2013: One other thought on this. In order for there to be learning you have to evaluate or weigh 2 things. Here in the U.S. it is looked down upon as it is perceived to be a form of prejudice. In your country it is looked down upon because the only acceptable answer is the Quran. In both cases learning does not occur because there is no evaluation or weighing of the information. Again this is because there is an irreducible minimum of 2 in order to compare and learn.
If there is only one thing there is only indoctrination (which is also a problem in the U.S.) by authoritarian teachers.
I would suggest the below secular book as a comparison to cultural beliefs. It has been well received in other parts of the world and has actually changed cultural beliefs for the better. It is cheap and available in Arabic
Mar 23 2013: Many thanks for this website, I think this is good one, but unfortunately this will be useful for English speakers readers only, I hope the webmaster add Arabic language as well so Arab can read it!Mar 23 2013: When the web page opens click on the language button and select Arabic.
Also this page may be of some interest
Also this white paper on how to fight the corruption you mentioned earlier:
http://www.brianpinkowski.com/BrianPinkowski/Home_files/New-Tools-For-Fighting-Corruption-in-Organizations-WP1Fin.pdfMar 24 2013: Mohammedridha
I scanned the white paper, it contains the answer to what you are looking for.
I alluded to this earlier, you have an organizational problem.
Any organization has to define it's purpose and what it produces, it then has to make it's policy known and that the employees get corrected on this policy. If the policy does not exist the worker is FORCED to make his own policy. Which of course leads to corruption or at the very least decay of the government.
You may think this only applies to Iraq, it does not as this is the VERY problem we have in the U.S.. The country is decaying from a lack of policy being being used. Starting with the VERY fundamental point of what is the main product that a government is supposed to produce.
The reason for the sucess of this country in the past was having the policy known and used and what the main product of the government is. This policy is called the Constitution. So you see how important having policy and getting it used is?
This white paper is EXACTLY what you are looking for. Do you understand this?
Mar 24 2013: Pat,
This awesome. I may need to read the last clause one more time, It may change the way I'm thinking ..
Many thanks Pat.Mar 24 2013: Good luck brother.
Write back and let us know how it is going.Mar 21 2013: As a "westerner" I feel a certain amount of blame can be placed on our shoulders for much of the problems faced in the middle east. I believe that the current situation in Iraq will continue for a long time mainly because most of the extremism is perpetrated by people who do not have a real agenda and so with no real purpose they understand what they want is unattainable. However the individuals who control the extremists do have an agenda and it is always about power it is in our very nature.
Once one extremist leader feels he has achieved his goal a different group will emerge trying to take power it will just go on perpetually until one group gets enough power to crush any opposition this is what we had with Saddam.
There is in my own opinion only one cure for this and it is education education followed by some more education. I am well travelled and I have experienced many cultures and frankly I consider myself worldly wise and race colour or creed have no meaning to me but I very much understand how easy it is to think otherwise.
How we can make i difference in Iraq and other countries with similar problems is maybe a little extreme but if i had the choice i would implement a severe criminal code for all crimes that are similar to western ideals but i would make punishments more severe in themselves.
I would then throw money into a moderate education system to allow the future generations to question themselves and there own beliefs. I would not for one minute suggest you educate in a fashion to say this is wrong you will go to hell for this etc etc only educate children so they have the strength to form there own opinions and beliefs.
Only the 2nd generation will be strong enough in its conviction to make change if you take a look at all moderate governments its taken them centuries to get to these positions but in today's society we have Facebook and expect immediate change when reality just doesn't work that way.
Mar 21 2013: Charles,
I agree with most of your solutions..
I guess that the moderate education very important for this generation.
Mar 21 2013: I reread my post and felt i should make it clearer regarding education.
the current system is beyond economical repair so its bust but the future is the key teach them how to think and reason give them the stability to grow and they shall change the nation of yours for the better.
I do not think currently that my homelands policy on education is any good in fact i think it is as broken as your current leadership so please don't look to us for help in this!
But it tires me out when meeting everyday joe who has the stupidest misconceptions and stereotypes that are not from there own personal experience but claptrap they have been spoon fed by media, religion or government. People need to stop and realize they don't tell lies for no reason there is always a motive. I always like to think humans have an absolute need to have a common enemy if it is based on sexuality, gender or religion it does not matter to the masters only that they are not under the spotlight and can follow there own agenda without scrutiny.
So leave the government to do as they please let the masses ignore them for the time being eventually they will die from old age and you can hope the next generation can make the difference from the ground up.
Jim Ryan
Mar 21 2013: Mohammedridha, what would you suggest? From what little I understand of your people, Saddam, as bad as he was, is probably the best that can be expected. Do you not call yourselves, "Gods holy warriors"?
- +1
Mar 21 2013: I would suggest to have qualified men to establish technocrats government so we will have most of the things in place.
We need to forget about the religion, sectarianism when we build our government. make everybody comfortable with what the government achieves
Mar 21 2013: Can you point to one government that is not corrupt?
Mar 21 2013: I cannot, but we can replace the current government with new one depending on technocrats system.Mar 21 2013: Your question is the answer.
Somewhere I read government defined as force. And that is what you need especially around people who are kamikazes.
Mar 21 2013: That's what we need at this stage but, the problem with this government itself. I mean part of this government are supporting kamikazes & terrorist to achieve their goals against other parties in the government itself.
Mar 22 2013: That is a problem here in the U.S. as well. Aim for improvement, forget perfection.Mar 24 2013: anger, rage, fear, a population of people who were segregated for so long now living as one nation ...how do you address this? how to you promote tolerances of another's beliefs? how to do teach compromise? what words or actions can be used to teach unity? I don't know, time, perseverance? How I wish I had a crystal ball to peer into with answers for truly, my heart bleeds for the people of your nation. I continue to pray for all souls
Mar 24 2013: Mary,
I guess by teaching ourselves to love the other inspite of their colour, ethnic, place of birth, we need to look to each other as a human as a partner in this country agree with others to live in peace.. this is only speech but we cannot implement it in the real world scenario.
Thanks Mary
Mar 24 2013: I know Mr. Alaskari and I must apologize.It is so easy to sit where I am typing this and create "a speech" about tolerance...blah,blah,blah.My heart is in the right place But you're right, sadly not real world.
I do know one thing for sure, keep on trying, again and again. there is an answer out there. I respect and admire your commitment
thank you for your response.
Mar 24 2013: Mary,
No need to apologize please..
Believe me there's a lot of Iraqis still trying to implemebt whta you said but they are not matching a half of those whom exposing the violence or equal a half of them at least. Eventhough they will be treated badly. But some of us never give up and keep trying :)Mar 24 2013: Ken,
I recommend you to watch BBC & Alhurra Iraq. As I see, Aljazeera & most of Arab media are working against Iraq.Mar 24 2013: Arkady,
Like most people, "just not interested" fits.
At least you have the knowledge now to add to whatever your future brings.
A warning usually keeps one alert.
Good Luck.Mar 24 2013: Mohammedridha,
Who are these extremists that you mention? What kind of people are they? What do they want? Why do they believe that violence is the way to get what they want? You said, there are extremists on both sides, Sunni and Shia. What side does AQI take?
Mar 24 2013: Arkady,
here are the most active extremist groups in Iraq:
1- AQI (alqaeda in Iraq).
2- Baathists
3- AII (aljash aleslami in Iraq)
4- (PKK) Kurdistan Workers Party
5- AAH (asaed ahl alhaq)
6- Alyaoum Almawood Brigade
There's a lot of them but the groups show above conducting the most effective attacks in Iraq, by the way Muslims don't considering them as a part of Islam.
- They are radical people.
- They want to oust anyone who does not agree with them and not be subjected to them.
- I guess they believe in violence because they have brains been washed by the extremist leaders.
I would like to explain something important: EXTREMIST GROUPS ARE NOT FROM SUNNI OR SHIITE SIDE. THEY HAVE DIFFERENT BELIEFS THAN SHIITE OR SUNNI. AS I SEE, EXTREMIST ARE TARGETING ALL IRAQIS AS A ONE TARGET.
Mar 24 2013: This seems like an extremely tough situation. My philosophy is to stay away from violence altogether. But I admire people like Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King.
I find that Westerners are very misinformed about Middle East. I'm not sure if you can get a good advice or solution from the Western culture.
I wish you the best in your pursuit.
Mar 24 2013: Arkady,
The reason of posting this question in English is to get advice by westerns because most of their countries used to have kind of same issue in my country long time back, and now most of the western countries they live in peace & sustainability.
I believe Arab failed to make arab world much better, you can see what we earned from ARAB SPRING !!
More bloody Arab nation..
So sorry to say so, but it is the truth my friend..Mar 24 2013: Look back at history. After the United States declared their independence in 1776, there was a war with Great Britain, there were decades of slave trading and driving out Indians from their land, there was a Civil war that ended in 1865 (89 years after Independence), women got to vote in 1920, apartheid ended in 1964, and gay rights just start to be debated. French history is not much "more civilized".
When Mahatma Gandhi was asked, "what do you think of Western civilization?", he answered: "I think, it's a good idea." I don't think Arabs are lacking anything. It just takes time.
Mar 25 2013: Arkady,
Its been a long time, Arab still remain in same stage, this is my point of view, I might be wrong, or right..
I also agree with what Mahatma said; Western civilization is good idea!Mar 24 2013: Arkady,
You may be right. I may have a figment of my imagination working overtime.
I bet you nickles to donuts that you will not research the facts.
Not that you won't find anything. Just that you won't do the work.
But, you might prove me wrong. I doubt it.
Sleep on...
Mar 24 2013: The facts that you mention are not something I worry about. If you believe, I should, I might be interested to learn if you provide the references. But you are right, I don't feel like researching these topics on my own just to prove you wrong. I don't see value in proving people wrong.Mar 23 2013: Walter,
I think you meant: because they are human without a force to impose the law enforcement on them?Mar 23 2013: Because their human.Mar 23 2013: I'm not talking about perfection, all what we looking forward is to get the some more of our rights..
Mar 23 2013: You need to specify whose rights you are talking about. I believe, that's everyone's goal. And that's what everyone is fighting for.Mar 23 2013: Arkady,
I disagree with your point of view about Sunni - Shiite feud..
We never had this before invasion, I was born in 1986 i never seen the violence between Sunni & Shiite before 2004, this violence was created due to the incorrect policy of the occupation forces in Iraq.
Mar 23 2013: It's because it was suppressed by the Saddam regime. I grew up in the Soviet Union. "Friendship between peoples" was the official motto. But the moment Moscow released its grip on power, there was violence in Azerbaijan, Baltic republics seceded implementing strict nationalistic policies to drive Russians out of their countries, and Ukraine politically split into 2 parts - one pro-Russian, one pro-Western. Note, there was no U.S. intervention whatsoever.
It is not sufficient to witness less than 30 years of history to make the conclusion that you make. I'm not familiar with the history of Islam and Iraq, but I'm sure that a look into few centuries back in history of the region will explain a lot. Hitler did not invent antisemitism. It existed in Europe for centuries before Hitler and goes back to Roman empire.
By the way, try to do some soul-searching. What group do you belong to ethnically and religiously? How do you view people from other groups? Who, do you think, al Qaeda is? It can be your neighbor - a person just like you. I'm not blaming you for the violence - I'm saying that the attitudes that cause the violence start within our own heart.
Mar 23 2013: Arkady,
it was good preview and good information for me but I already know more of it..
to answer your questions no need for some soul-searching; ethnically I'm from the south of Iraq but I would rather not to answer second question with the details you want, I would say I just believe in God, I divide people as follow: people love the life & people hate it. And I'm from the first group..
I don't think alqaeda will be my neighbor because they will kill me for sure..
as you said, "attitudes that cause the violence start within our own heart" so what you think about alqaeda's attitude?
Mar 24 2013: Re: "I divide people as follow: people love the life & people hate it. And I'm from the first group."
There. I think, you named it. I believe, such mental division of people into "good" and "evil" categories is the source of violence. Of course, you are on the "good" side. That's what everyone thinks :-) Why do you think al Qaeda will kill you for sure? Is it because THEY THINK that you would kill them for sure? What's the solution? I think, both you and al Qaeda need to stop thinking this way to stop the violence. And this is the tough part. You might say, "I can stop thinking that way, but how do I make sure THEY stop thinking that way" or, maybe, you are sure that they will NOT stop thinking this way. I don't have an answer for you, but this is how I see the problem.
Here is an interesting article http://moses.creighton.edu/JRS/2006/2006-7.pdf. I myself believe in God. I had a debate on an atheist forum arguing against atheists who claimed that religion causes violence. They sent me a link to this article. However, the article does not show correlation between homicide rates and religion. What it does show is a strong correlation between "dualistic" world view and homicide rates. "Dualistic world view" means dividing people into "good" and "evil" as I mentioned above. I think it's this mentality, not religion that's causing a problem. For example, in the Soviet Union that was officially atheistic, propaganda divided people by ideologies. Millions of people were declared "enemies of the people" and exterminated in camps, and the world was on the edge of a nuclear disaster for decades. Nazis viewed Jews as evil, etc.
There is no simple answer to your question, but I think, we must search the answer within ourselves.Mar 24 2013: I realize that my suggestions are idealistic. Hate is irrational. It's often impossible to make other people change their mind about each other.
What you suggested earlier sounds like a good idea: "More peace, more love for each other, respect for others views though opinions different & MORE EDUCATION "


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Instructor: Robert Zailo
Start Date: Wednesday, 4/22/2015
Days: Wednesday
Time: 8:00-9:00 a.m.
Number of Classes: 6
Ages: Adult
Location: Magnolia Recreation Center, North Hall
Fee: $42

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- Deck Drive Belt - 0.312" Topwidth
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|FringeNYC 2014 Program Guide
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Kaiser Permanente and the Golden State Warriors have teamed up to educate Bay Area youth on the importance of healthy eating and active living. The program highlights activities around recess, basketball and healthy food options and pinpoints key issues relevant to combating childhood obesity. Youth and parents can also visit the Get Fit interactive website to view exercises, receive health and active tips, and share healthy recipes.
The Warriors Get Fit Page will provide you with the knowledge and tools to get started in your commitment to healthy eating and exercise! Be sure to check back often for new recipes, health tips, articles, photos, Get Fit Time Out recaps and more!
Healthy Picks
Enjoy the excitement of Warriors basketball at ORACLE Arena and eat healthy at the same time!
The Warriors and Kaiser Permanente have teamed up to provide Warriors fans with a healthy alternative meal choice at ORACLE Arena. Fans can purchase a Kaiser Permanente Healthy Picks Meal behind either section 127 or in the 880 Club. Only the freshest ingredients are included to help keep fans healthy and fit. So make sure to stop by the stand behind section 127 or the Market Fresh stand in the 880 Club at the next Warriors home game and get your Healthy Picks meal!
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Mar 26, 2008
NXT-G 2.0 : Datalogging
One of the highlights was a quick demonstration of NXT-G 2.0, which will include a specific datalogging section. No screenshots are available as the graphical interface is still under development, but they are looking at a January 2009 release date.
It looks great and has two levels to it that I could make out. The first level requires no blocks whatsoever, rather it opens a dialog box asking what sensors you have connected to each port and for how long you wish to sample. This suits a handheld logging experiment as you cannot move motors or perform other actions while logging. The second level introduces a 'datalogging' block which does the same thing, and include it with all your regular blocks in your program so you could drive a robot around, collect some data, move to another spot and collect some more data etc.
If you are connected to your computer when taking data (bluetooth or USB)
NXT-G 2.0 will show a realtime graph of the data being collected. One of the nifty features they showed was the 'predict' mode, whereby teachers could pose a question about what shape a data set would look like, students could then 'predict' what the data would look like by using a pencil tool to draw it out, and then run the experiment over the predicted data to see how closely they matched. All data will be exportable in text file format for analysis with other programs (excel etc)
The other big change that was presented was 'exportable' myblocks. This means that if you are using myblocks, you just save your file as normal, email it to whoever you want, and the program will run without needing to send the individual myblocks as well.
NXT-G 2.0 is being released by LEGO Education, not LEGO Retail, so it may be a little more difficult to find. They will be including 4 projects with the software, the most impressive being a probe dipper that can raise/lower a probe into a beaker and also rotate between beakers.
Overall it looks great and I can't wait to get my hands on it.
Damien Kee
18 comments:
- Andy said...
Hey, it isn't April 1st yet :P
But is there any other "major upgrades" than the datalogging function? Ofcourse their maybe fixing some bugs and other small things like they did from NXT-G 1.0to 1.1. But to be honest, if there won't be any other major upgrades in it I most likely won't buy it. But I'm sure alot of schools would appreciate the function though :)
- Mar 27, 2008, 12:46:00 AM
- Brian Davis said...
To be honest, Andy, we're not all in on this "next step" for NXT-G - it's being done largely through LEGO Education, while the original MUP/MDP/MCP is associated with LEGO Retail. But knowing the requests from the education community, and the fact that it's being branded "2.0", I suspect there will be a few more additions to the product.
Brian Davis
- Mar 27, 2008, 1:12:00 AM
Ah I was wondering how long it would take to incorporate this. My LEGO Ed representative has been giving me the hard sell for ROBOLab solely based on it's ability to do data logging and graphing within the program. Since I'm more interested in the scientific applications and making it easy for elementary age kids to do data logging, I look forward to this upgrade.
- Mar 27, 2008, 6:19:00 AM
- AlexD said...
I think a clarification is needed. One can of course data log under NXT-G even now - there are files, timers, etc. What is difficult is to a) sample quickly and b) sample uniformly. But even Robolab's specialized dataloging structure cannot sample faster than about 300Hz, so it's not just a software issue. A benefit is that Robolab has a built-in workdesk where many analyses may be run. Apart from that - save to a file on the NXT, download the file to your desktop and do whatever you like with it, nobody is stopping you.
- Mar 27, 2008, 7:22:00 AM
- Damien Kee said...
Andy, like Brian says, not everyone will be interested in this, and the decision for it only to be offered by LEGO Ed shows that this is where they see the market for it.
Brian and I have both done some fun datalogging without the upgrade, do a search on datalogging in the posts.
It certainly does now bring it up to par with RoboLab. Now all they need is pre-emptive multitasking :)
- Mar 27, 2008, 7:24:00 AM
- Chris Bracken said...
I was in Sydney for the same LEGO Engineering Education conference with Melissa Pickering - a very enjoyable day of all things NXT. A highlight was the presentation of NXT-G 2.0. I have been a big fan of Robolab over the years but have always baulked at the opportunity to use the datalogging with my Science/Physics classes. This was mainly due the excellent hardware and software that PASCO produce (and the schools I have been at have invested in). I can see this now changing. What struck me was how easy it will be to sample (for teachers and students)the how easy the software is to use. The exciting thing will be that it will give students much better access to datalogging which by and large has been in the teacher demonstration domain. Very exciting. I will be interested to see more details on things like sampling rates, it also had a nice linear fit function - I mean't to ask if it had polynomial fit curves as well. Having said that exporting to Excel was very easy which opens up a raft of analysis anyway.
- Mar 27, 2008, 7:50:00 PM
- Joshua Heinzl said...
The main problem: maximum sampling rate will be 10Hz. RoboLab is still the way to go.
I don't recall there being any other improvements, but I could pull out my notes and check.
- Mar 27, 2008, 9:24:00 PM
What is the RoboLab sampling rate?
Why is 10Hz a problem?
Please do check your notes.
- Mar 27, 2008, 10:43:00 PM
- Andy said...
Damian and Brian, thats true, after I read the post once more I started to think, maybe this is something for me afterall because of the "datalogging block" mentioned. And what would have made me certain on buying it is if they made a block that displays a graph (maybe even several kinds of graphs) from the values in a txt file, or real time. That would have been awsome, but unlikely I think.. But it should be possible to make..
-Andy with his crazy ideas :P
- Mar 27, 2008, 11:47:00 PM
- Brian Davis said...
As to the sampling rate, Robolab is going to be faster than NXT-G... but keep in mind on the NXT, sampling rates faster than about 300 Hz doesn't gain you anything, because the sensors can't change their values (or report those changes) faster than that. If NXT-G 2.0 can "only" reach 10 Hz, that's plenty for a lot of things, and Robolab only gets you about a factor of ten over that (& for some sensors, it's far worse - the US sensor will not update that fast, for instance). Under NXT-G v1.1 I regularly log data at 100 Hz, so it's again fairly close to Robolab in that regard... if v2.0 is limited to 10 Hz (does anyone truly know?), it may be that it can be set to generate either an average, or a max/min, or something similar... in other words, the NXT-G v2.0 10 Hz limit may be on "massaged" data, because the block is doing some time-averaging or other binning of data. Yep, I far prefer original raw data as well... but clearly that's not the goal of v2.0, because v1.1 already does that, and does it well. I suspect what v2.0 addresses is the ease of logging and displaying that data... and for that, a custom block with a lower sampling rate but a higher amount of "in line" processing might be exactly what you want.
As to why high sampling rates are desired, think about measuring the accelerations on something as it hits the ground during a fall. If you only record the acceleration every 1 second (a 1 Hz rate), the imapct accelerations may very well occur during a time when the program is not "watching" or recording the sensor - so it's not a very good representation of the event. On the other hand, high sampling rates often are much "noisier" than low samples (properly done), and require more post-processing & interpretation.
Andy, as far as a "graphing block", sure, that's doable - even adding the ability to scroll the graph back and forth and rescale it should be possible under v1.1. But I'm not sure I see the need, when I generally have a perfectly good computer sitting a short distance away. Right tools for the right job sort of thing.
Brian "still long winded" Davis
- Mar 28, 2008, 12:50:00 AM
- Joshua Heinzl said...
Yes, Brian - it's 10Hz. I talked with Toren at the RoboLab symposium - it's confirmed. I can't comment on the difference in speeds between 1.1 and 2.0 because I don't know much about NXT-G, but I did talk with the LEGO rep straight from Denmark.
Brian said just about everything - for things like acceleration you need much better than 10Hz. Toren and I agree, NXT-G is still no match for RoboLab in terms of processing power and datalogging speed.
- Mar 28, 2008, 6:21:00 AM
- Damien Kee said...
When I was speaking to Flemming, he wouldn't give me a definite on sampling rate. He said it would definitely by at least 10Hz but *most likely* be around 100Hz. He wouldn't commit to a number as he said the firmware guys were still working on it.
- Mar 28, 2008, 6:50:00 AM
- Chris Bracken said...
Great posts guys - very interesting stuff. I totally agree with acceleration, but there are other experiments/demonstrations in class I have done where sampling rate was important (eg. diffraction of light, impulse/momentum etc and you guys can probably think of many more!)
PASCO now uses datalogging that samples at 250,000 Hz (which is much more than I can image you would never need). They do point out that "When sampling at rates less than 100 samples per second, circuit noise can be visible on a data graph. The 750 Interface, however, provides 8X oversampling to reduce noise and provide smoother data curves.". If Flemming is right in what he said to Damien (ie. they are considering 100Hz), then I hope the firmware guys are logging our discussion!
- Mar 28, 2008, 8:31:00 AM
- Brian Davis said...
Josh - I'm not sure you understood my points. First, you can reach 100 Hz sampling under NXT-G, but you may not be able to do it in a special "add in" - let's face it, if you want speed, you want a low-level implementation, not something that's hiding or adding things for "ease of use". Second, you may be able to look like you are reading a sensor ever 1 ms, or better... but if the sensor only updates every 3 ms (like all the RCX-class sensors) or every 10+ ms (such as the US sensor), reading it faster has absolutely no purpose (I may be a speed reader, but if I can only turn the page once every hour reading the book is going to be limited by that, not how fast I can read).
Yes, Robolab is faster - but that doesn't always give you what you need. And if you want raw speed, skip it and jump to something like RobotC. There are different solutions out there for different folks & different applications.
Yes, PASCO has loggers that sample much higher than the NXT... so does Vernier, National Instrument, and lots of other datalogging companies. Just repeat to yourself something a wise man once told me about the NXT... it's a toy. Remember that. An amazing, powerful, flexible, educational, and imaginative toy... put it's a *toy*. If you need datalogging at 1000 Hz, this is not the platform. But if you want rough, low-frequency datalogging with some amazingly simple, yet useful sensors... then this is a very, VERY useful toy. Under NXT-G, Robolab, NXC, Java, pbLua or RobotC (the last two, to my knowledge, much faster than the previous offerings, if what you really need is speed).
Brian Davis
- Mar 28, 2008, 12:35:00 PM
- Joshua Heinzl said...
I understand what you mean about implementing datalogging at a lower level. Point is you could already do that, so the new datalogging implementation isn't as important, especially with the reduced speed.
Can NXT-G log at 100Hz without using LabView Toolkit? (because almost anything in labview toolkit can be done directly in robolab, with labview)
We should test how fast RoboLab and NXT-G (and possibly other languages) can sample compared to how fast the sensor actually updates.
- Mar 28, 2008, 9:06:00 PM
- Joshua Heinzl said...
Were you at the LEGO Engineering Symposium in January? If anyone recalls, I asked the question about frequency of datalogging directly.
- Mar 28, 2008, 9:08:00 PM
- Brian Davis said...
My point was that while the 10 Hz rate might seem slow, that's not a limitation of NXT-G - only of the "wrapper" imposed by a nice front end for kids by a custom datalogging environment. If you want faster, it's there. And a great place to take kids to "NeXT".
> Can NXT-G log at 100 Hz without the Toolkit?
Well, I just tested it. The program took me 20 seconds to write, and about that long to download. It can log the light sensor, timestamped, every 10 ms. That's 100 Hz. The program is just four blocks in a Loop, and a 10-year-old can easily program it (in fact, my 11-year-old just did this, for a science fair project, on his own). It's not hard. In fact, slowing it down "correctly" (so you don't have the problem of undersampling data) is a more signigficant problem... perhaps exactly why the NXT-G v2.0 Educational release has a custom system, so kids don't *have* to deal with that.
As far as wanting truly fast datalogging, both pbLua and RobotC end up smashing everything else I've seen... but they are still, in the end, limited by the sensor update rates and FLASH writing rates (although the second you can get around by not using FLASH, or using it in very efficient and specific ways).
Brian Davis
- Mar 29, 2008, 1:38:00 AM
- Damien Kee said...
Sorry I couldn't make it to the Symposium (long flight from Oz) but I did ask the same question at the Australian conference last week. perhaps they have improved the code since then and are more confident with the higher sample rate.
Brian is right with the whole 'wrapper' issue, essentially they are prettying up the GUI so that you don't have to think about the individual blocks. I think benefits a lot of teachers as so many I talk to struggle with learning a new piece of technology.
Yes I know it is easy for those of us experienced to put together blocks, but I think LEGO Ed is aiming towards those teachers who don't have the support and are not sure where to look for it.
Teachers todays are already loaded down with way too many things to teach, combined with their ever increasing administrative workload, that they find it difficult to find the time to 'play' with these new concepts.
- Mar 29, 2008, 9:02:00 AM


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Jul 14, 2009
Jim's Dell Laptop Debacle - Final Words
* Total cost of Next Day Service fee: $168.00
* Total time to repair Laptop: June 10 to June 22 - 7 business days, not counting day it died and day it was repaired
* Total billable hours lost: 11 (really 22 but I was able to use my Backup PC for some of my work)
* Value of work lost: $1100.00 (two small editing assignments lost, too - estimated around $200-300 each)
Last week, Dell offered me a 17% discount on my next purchase - for a $400 netbook, that comes to around $68.00 - $100 less than the cost of the Next Day Service (I politely declined the offer.)
So, here's my Final Words on the matter:
1. I will no longer be a Dell customer - no more laptops, desktops, printers... nothing.
2. I would encourage this blog's readers to seriously consider the trouble I had in getting my laptop serviced on time when considering their own purchase.
3. The small print in Dell's Next Day Service agreement, in a nutshell, says that Dell will attempt to fix your computer the Next Business Day but if they don't, tough luck.
4. Dell has lost one customer - me - and, with an average of 45,000 unique visitors to this blog each month, I'm guessing they've lost a few more. And it only cost the company $168.00 - what a deal!
I've been a Dell user since 1997 and am somewhat surprised that this issue has gone this far. I'll conclude by saying that while I've enjoyed my Dell laptop, I welcome my readers' suggestions on where to go for my next laptop.
Bye Bye, Dell.
15 comments:
- Eric D. Burdo said...
The private school where I teach is going with laptops this year. We are seriously considering Lenovo, based on their track record, and the fact that they have a large repair presence here, due to the fact that the State uses Lenovo exclusively.
So... you could always give Lenovo a try...
- Jul 14, 2009, 9:33:00 AM
- Michael said...
My sister recently had a terrible run in with Dell Customer Service. They refused to give her the product key (or even a receipt for) the Microsoft Office she purchased a year ago. When she tried to continue pursuing the issue with them they labeled her a "disgruntled customer", refused to help her further and were very rude to her. I was a loyal Dell customer until this issue came up so I feel your pain. BTW Microsoft Service came through with a product key despite Dell's refusal to even give her a receipt for the program so it at least ended well!
- Jul 14, 2009, 1:17:00 PM
- Michael Kloss said...
I'm on a Mac for 5 Years now and well I am very happy with it. Right, they are also not perfect but the maximum wait time that I couldn't work with my mac was 1 day.
- Jul 14, 2009, 4:55:00 PM
- T said...
- Jul 14, 2009, 6:22:00 PM
- NXTDude said...
Jim, three words...Get...A....Mac, they'll never let you down. =) --NXTDude
- Jul 14, 2009, 10:19:00 PM
- tom said...
HP has some great machines and great deals. I recently bought an HP G60t series with a 16" screen. At the time, the HP's were the only machines I could configure under $1k with a decent (256 Mb) graphics card.
- Jul 14, 2009, 11:54:00 PM
- Damien Kee said...
I'm in the middle of reading "What Would Google Do" by Jeff Jarvis. In it he talks about how in 2008, Dell turned around an atrocious customer service record by reading and responding to blog postings. Looks like they might have reverted back to their old ways.
- Jul 15, 2009, 8:51:00 AM
- Cesar de Camargo Barscevicius said...
Get a MAC!
I'm a happy apple costumer for 4 years now.
They are probably one of the best things I've discovered in my entire life.
Apple, think different.
- Jul 16, 2009, 2:00:00 AM
- HT154 said...
Get a MAC
If you do, you can still install Windows on it for software like BricxCC, while still receiving superior customer support
- Jul 16, 2009, 3:03:00 AM
- Nathan said...
If I ever manage to save up enough money at one time to purchase a laptop, I'll make sure not to buy a Dell.
People seem to be very happy with Mac. My dad has an HP, which I use often, and he hasn't had many problems with it.
- Jul 16, 2009, 6:47:00 AM
- Marc-A Bazergui said...
Hi Jim, Sorry about your adventure with Dell. i switch to a mac book pro in Dec 08 after an overdose of blue screens of death on a brand new XPS420 ,,, which i ended up returning for a full refund after a week. Then i got a ThinkPad T500 with Docking station but it was also giving me BSOD using LEGO LDD and NXT-G on Vista so i returned it and wondered NOW WHAT !! then for fun i thought maybe it is time i got a MAC!!! I got a MBP. OK they cost DOUBLE but today i can confirm it was worth every penny. After 28y of using Windows i must say MAC OS Leopard rules! Meanwhile if you prefer to stick to PC, know that you can get amazing prices on LENOVO Idea/Thinkpad via the EPP program (Friend of employee price program). Even tho IBM sold to LENOVO the PC division, we still have access to the Lenovo EPP program. So keep in mind you've got a friend at IBM :D
bazmati / bazmarc
- Jul 16, 2009, 3:15:00 PM
- L Giskard V0.1 said...
Dell lost me as a customer a long time ago for the same stuff. I tried Compaq for my next purchase, but they weren't too much better. I've had REALLY good experiences with Apple's service, and am working on an iBook G4 now - The only Robot related problem I've found is that RobotC is not compiled for it...
- Jul 16, 2009, 10:54:00 PM
- thinkingbricks.com said...
THANK YOU for publicly airing this grievance (imagine those having the same issue but can only suffer silently). i don't recommend dell (by default) anymore, i used to b/c nobody could beat dell on pricing...
question - did dell HARD SELL you "Next Day Service" or did you seek it on your own? or did dell cold call you to add this?
great that you've included BILLABLE hours, others have posted that it isn't relevant - but it IS! dell hard sells "Next Day Service" noting the cost of parts AND emphasizes that you'll save on HOURLY labor costs and suffer the MINIMUM amount of DOWN TIME!
many have suggested getting a cheap pc or switching to mac, i understand that its not that easy - as you've noted, the problem is the SOFTWARE. i too make sure that i'm LEGAL with all my software. i spend most of my time in mac os x and windows xp under emulation, but i still have many old (ancient) boxes running various os's b/c i paid for the software, if the software is still relevant, and the os that it runs best on still works on that ancient box, then both the software AND the hardware still has value.
i've NEVER heard anyone receive true "Next Day Service" from dell; tech support asks the end user to "try some things", assuring them that all the following repairs are simple and that they're confident that they can walk the user trough it, eg, open the computer and reseat memory/ cards, or install components that dell ships to them. only after all these options are exhausted, then the user MAY get "Next DAY Service", weeks, or months later!
please blame any future poor book reviews on dell!
- Jul 17, 2009, 9:40:00 AM
- BlueToothKiwi said...
Jim - I am sorry to hear about your experience.
I ordered a brand new Dell desktop (with the new i7 processor and the top of the range video card). I would have loved to have got the 17% discount as it would have made a HUGE difference to what I paid! But I guess their offer is probably not transferrable!
Regarding My Dell - it worked fine out of the box with the OEM version of 64 bit Vista.
However, I had minor problems upgrading to the latest build of Windows 7 Beta. But Dell have been wonderful - giving me drivers and Bios to get it working (although they had no obligations to support beta OS). The customer service for NZ is run from Malaysia. And the service I got (follow up / emails / phone calls) have been fantastic.
Regarding how you lost some work - Dell also give you free service called Data Safe online which allows you to back up all your stuff. It is pretty good - as I can do that from anywhere with a broadband connection.
Yesterday they rang up and told me because I ordered it last month, they will give me a free upgrade to Windows 7 Ultimate (64 bit) when it is released in October.
To me that is service.
It is amazing how two people can have such a VAST difference in user experience from the same company. May be the Support centre for Asia Pacific is better run?
- Jul 17, 2009, 10:35:00 AM
- Fay Rhodes said...
In our household, we have MAC (since it was first sold), Lenovo and HP. Our experience with all of them has been mixed.
MAC is good if you have something easy to fix. It's awful if there is a model defect---like a design that overheats. They keep the machine for weeks (on three different occasions) and then tell you that it "meets specs"---which was ridiculous, because it sounded like a jet engine when it got warm. Even a relative who is a certified Apple tech got the same runaround.
Lenovo dates your warranty from the manufacture date, which penalizes you if you buy from someone other than the manufacturer. But they honored their in-home repair service---which was nice, since we live WAY out in the country. I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be so happy with it if it was Vista. (It's XP.)
The Vista HP had constant blue screens of death, and is now being used with Linux.
I love and hate them all. :)
- Jul 18, 2009, 3:59:00 AM


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A dysfunctional family is torn apart in a moment of violence and anger in this thriller from director Ferzan Ozpetek. Antonio (Valerio Mastandrea) is a burly and short-tempered man who works as a bodyguard for Elio Fioravanti (Valerio Binasco), a high-ranking politician. Antonio is officially married to Emma (Isabella Ferrari), but she's left him and has gone to live with her mother Adriana (Stefania Sandrelli), taking their kids Valentina (Nicole Murgia) and Kevin (Gabriele Paolino) with her. Antonio is determined to win Emma back, and when Kevin is invited to a birthday party thrown for Elio's daughter by the politician's young trophy wife Maja (Nicole Grimaudo), he hopes it will give him a chance to reconnect with his family. However, at the party Emma makes it clear that she has no interest in getting back together with Antonio and wants him to stop following her. Antonio flies into a rage, attacks Emma, then storms off with Valentina and Kevin in tow. Once Emma collects herself, she realizes she must act quickly if she wants her children back, and with the help of Mara (Monica Guerritore) they comb the city in search of Antonio. Un Giorno Perfetto (aka A Perfect Day) was an official selection at the 2008 Venice Film Festival.~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
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Cast: Valerio Mastandrea, Isabella Ferrari, Federico Costantini, Nicole Grimaudo, Valerio Binasco
Produced by:
Directed by: Ferzan Ozpetek
Written by: Sandro Petraglia, Melania Gaia Mazzucco
Running time: 1hr 45min


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By Nupur Acharya and Dhanya Ann Thoppil
India's finance minister Palaniappan Chidambaram plans to boost investment by both state-run and private sector companies so as to revive growth in the world's fourth largest major economy.
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Virtual Worlds Interest Group
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Public Posts from ALA Connect
- Virtual Worlds Interest Group Meeting
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- ACRL-VWIG August Meeting - 2014-08-07
- Virtual Worlds Interest Group
- Discussion in Second Life of Part 1, Draft ACRL Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education
- "Blended Information Behaviour in Second Life": FREE Program & Meetings
- Invitation to FREE Minecraft & Digital Citizenship Program, Sun. 7/28, 12-1pm SLT
- ACRL Virtual World Interest Group Final Report
- Virtual Worlds Interest Group/ALA Virtual Communities and Libraries Member Initiative Group Joint Meeting (ACRL)
- ACRL VWIG Agenda 2013 Chicago
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