View of the Week: The Story of One Brave Soul & The Fight For Freedom

At the dawn of a new week, I wanted to begin by sharing these thoughts I released to my Facebook Page on the plight of this young, brave 32 Year Old Activist who just celebrated her 32nd Birthday behind bars--the letter translated by the folks @ http://www.tavanna.org is chilling:

Post by Mike Pouraryan.

On India: Notations As India Votes....

As India has begun to vote, one of the leading moral lights of our time has spoken on the true state of India today.    As Arundhati Roy spoke, I could not help but think about and remember about the continued World-Wide discrepancy that continues to exist.    She begins with Mukesh Ambani's 27-Story Skyscraper in Mumbai:

She was ever so right as she noted how the Indian Army has been deployed against the people ever since Independence as it now begins to gear up to go into the heart of India.   She has been one of the courageous few who has spoken for the less fortunate in India today.    It is also quite striking on the true nature of who is tipped to be the Prime Minister of India, Mr. Modi who presided over the horrific attacks on the Muslims.  Even today, there has not been an accounting of those horrific times.   As she spoke of the true nature of Modi, it sent shivers through my spine.

 What is also striking is the comparison with the United States was also quite striking especially as the US Supreme Court just came out with its' latest decision  essentially equating money as speech.   It is quite a telling thought:    

Democracy no longer means what it was meant to. It has been taken back into the workshop. Each of its institutions has been hollowed out, and it has been returned to us as a vehicle for the free market, of the corporations. For the corporations, by the corporations. 

Also released to http://www.outsiderviews.com 04/2014

As A New Week Dawns: A Thought 4 the Week

April 15 is tax day in the United States.  As many of us in the United States are scrambling to wind things, it is high time to remember how challenging times and disappointments are always part and parcel of life.    Whether it is Contracts being cancelled, calls not returned ,job applications being rejected or taxes owed--it is how one deals with the challenges that would in the end determine the "how".      This really hit home as I had the good fortune to recently visit the Getty Museum and The Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Center on how lives have evolved ever so.    It shows how far we have come, what we should value and embrace and not continue to be discouraged at the temporary setbacks or roadblocks which will occur.

What  Jonathan Lockwood Huie yet again shared in his daily "thoughts" was ever so timely to underscore this.   It is a good lesson to be remembered and learnt by us all as we navigate through the daily minefields that is life--as long as we remember to do it with a smile and not allow the World to ever change our smile not withstanding the onslaught of challenges:

No one can find inner peace except by working,

not in a self-centered way, but for the whole human family.

- Peace Pilgrim

We can never obtain peace in the outer world

until we make peace with ourselves.

- Dalai Lama

God's voice is still and quiet and easily buried under an avalanche of clamor.

- Charles Stanley 

The simplification of life is one of the steps to inner peace.

A persistent simplification will create an inner and outer well-being

that places harmony in one's life.

- Peace Pilgrim

Lord, make me an instrument of thy peace.

- St. Francis of Assisi 

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View of the Week: On the Latest Scare On the Web// Hearbleed :-(

The internet is truly the "Wild Wild West".    This was proven as one of the most critical  events that has befallen us.    The Sydney Morning Herald's Ben Grubb noted this in his online April 10, 2014 column:

The Heartbleed flaw is a bug that was found in some of the latest versions of an open source cryptography library used by millions of websites globally, called OpenSSL. Many websites use OpenSSL when implementing that golden "lock" and "https" in the URL of a web browser. When people see these in a browser, they tend to feel a website is safe as they know their data is supposedly being encrypted between them and the website.
But the flaw that was discovered by Google security engineer Neel Mehta and by staff at a security firm called Codenomicon showed this was not always the case. They found a bug in the code of OpenSSL that allowed a malicious person to extract from a website's server 64 kilobytes of its internal memory at any one time.

  This is bad. Really, really bad. 

If this data was extracted enough times, the researchers found that an attacker would have been able to steal usernames, passwords and financial information – basically any piece of information being pushed through a server's memory. They also found that a server's private key – the key only it is supposed to have and what it uses to encrypt communications – was able to be extracted by a malicious person. With this key, an attacker can impersonate a website and sit in the middle of a victim's internet connection and a "secured" website to access encrypted data and decrypt it. 

The need to be ever so vigilant has never been clearer.   The latest I received was from the folks @ Bitcasa underscoring the depth of the problem:

[B]On April 7th, a Security Advisory was issued by the OpenSSL project notifying the public of a serious vulnerability in the encryption software used by a majority of websites on the Internet. At Bitcasa, we pride ourselves on security and take it very seriously.


We want you to know that your account and our service is completely safe. Nevertheless, to ensure your account is protected from this vulnerability, we have logged you out of all your devices, with the exception of the desktop app, and you will need to log back in.


In an effort to ensure there is no additional risk, we strongly encourage you to change your password and update your security questions.


If you have any questions or concerns, please email security@bitcasa.com.


Also, please reference our Security Update to understand how we’ve kept your account safe. For additional information regarding this vulnerability, please visit: http://heartbleed.com/


- The Bitcasa Team[/B]

The basic message is clear :  Be careful and Be ever so vigilant.

On the "Virtual Run" : Will We Listen?

It has been a worrisome few weeks around the World as we contend with the challenges in Ukraine and see what is at hand in Syria.    This is as the IPCC (UN Intergovermental Panel on Climate Change) issued its' latest report.    Although I almost fell out of my chair in laughter at the notion that we as humans have become the "new polar bear", it is not far from reality becuase the continued changes in our climate is absolutely scary.    Iran has just reported that 57 Dams have only 40% water capacity which may result in the Capital, Tehran, being faced with Water Rationing.

I could not help but wonder whether we would ever listen to this admonition:

 Treat the earth well.

It was not given to you by your parents,

it was loaned to you by your children.

We do not inherit the Earth from our Ancestors,

we borrow it from our Children.

- Native American traditional

A "V-Thought" 2 get the New Week Going :-)

I have been "on the Social Grid" today working away as I continue to ever so fascinated with an ever changing world as one "Ordinary Face" thinking about our world.   .    I was very pleased to read up on the release of 4 Iranian Border Guards who were kidnapped by Baluch Separatists after an intervention by the Elders of Baluchestan.   The 5th Border Guard's fate continues to remain unsolved.  This was as I saw the disappointing and disheartening news about the continued detention of a 32-Year Old Iranian Activist that celebrated her birthday in captivity.

As we begin a new week, it is not the easiest thing to be hopeful as struggles are all around us around the World.  Yet, a sense of hope and faith has to drive us--I see no choice about it.    As a new work week begins, I saw this while on "Facebook" and it brought  a sense of joy about how anything is possible and to paraphrase Dr. Wayne Dyer: Change the way you look at things and what you and how you like at things will change.

As the great Diane Nyad always notes: Onward...

Post by Nisandeh Neta.

On Being a "Class Act" : Brief Thoughts 4 the Week-End

One of the challenges that one has with life is to assess the art of the possible.   The idea of being a "CLASS ACT" is tough.   I was amazed by this article by Harvey McKay that actually reflected upon this by working on transforming oneself.    I have noted the actual link here as a reference for the future.    The advise is simple--yet so profound.

One of the other leading lights of our time is also of fascination to me constantly and consistently--Bruce Lee.   One of my students recently noted how he was such an inspiration and it prompted me to revisit some of his thoughts.   I tracked down these thoughts below which underscores the need to have faith in oneself, never get upset and truly rise up from setbacks and calamities.   It is truly possible if one truly commits to it: 

• A goal is not always meant to be reached, it often serves simply as something to aim at.      
• A quick temper will make a fool of you soon enough.   
• Always be yourself, express yourself, have faith in yourself; do not go out and look for a successful personality and duplicate it. 
• Defeat is not defeat unless accepted as a reality-in your own mind. 
• I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times. 
• If there is a God, he is within. You don't ask God to give you things, you depend on God for your inner theme. 
• If you always put limit on everything you do, physical or anything else. It will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them. 

It requires one to have the courage to conquer fear and overcome it and rise above it all.