Back in May last year, the governing body of Iran had the seven leaders of the Baha’i community in Iran thrown into prison with no explanation.  There is a long history of the Iranian leaders persecuting the Baha’i’s, and this is one of the more recent attempts by the Islamic Republic to wipe out the Baha’i Faith from within Iran.

Recently these authorities brought up some charges against these seven.  Accusing them of espionage, a crime punishable by death in Iran.  Various governmental institutions from around the world have spoken out on the issue and now too have the top UK comedians, who wrote this open letter which has appeared in the Times.

I’ll also post a copy:

Sir, We are deeply concerned at the continuing imprisonment for more than eight months of seven leaders of the Baha’i community in Iran. No formal evidence has been brought against them.

They have not been given access to their legal counsel, the Nobel laureate Shirin Ebadi. She has had no access to their files and has suffered threats and intimidation since taking on their case.

Spurious charges now look likely to be filed against these Baha’is in the Revolutionary Court. “Espionage for Israel, insulting religious sanctities and propaganda against the Islamic republic” are their alleged crimes.

In reality, their only “crime”, which the current regime finds intolerable, is that they hold a religious belief that is different from the majority.

As artists who strive to uplift the human spirit and enrich society through our work, we register our solidarity with all those in Iran who are being persecuted for promoting the best development of society — be it through the arts and media, the promotion of education, social and economic development, or adherence to moral principles.

Further, we join with the governments, human rights organisations and people of goodwill throughout the world who have so far raised their voices calling for a fair trial, if not the complete release of the Baha’i leaders in Iran.

David Baddiel
Bill Bailey
Morwenna Banks
Sanjeev Bhasker
Jo Brand
Russell Brand
Rob Brydon
Jimmy Carr
Jack Dee
Omid Djalili
Sean Lock
Lee Mack
Alexei Sayle
Meera Syal
Mark Thomas

Filed under: Baha'i by kiamo
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I’m going to give her a blanket to cover herself up with.  In the final scene she will also have hair, and be sitting in a doorway.

Filed under: Art, uni by kiamo
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It’s been a bit too long since I posted some updates on my FMP.  Over the last week I’ve been familiarizing myself with zbrush again.  It’s an incredible program, and my meager piece of art doesn’t do it justice.

Here she is anyway, the character for my scene.

Filed under: Art, uni by kiamo
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I really love my aunts art work.  I just stare into it silently, lost in the wonderful colours.  I cant really explain it.  I just connect to it.

For the last bunch of years she has been into knitting and crocheting clothes.  She also collects and dyes the wools herself.  She even makes the dye herself!  Such awesomeness!

Filed under: Art by kiamo
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Recently an article appeared on lifehack titled “how to be impossible to turn down” which offers some valuable tips on getting somewhere in whatever your field is.

Learning how to ask well, how to apply well, and how to persuade someone to give you a chance is a critical feature of being successful in any field.

As a final year student in university, with the current state of the world and with fast increasing unemployment.  It seemed an invaluable article to read and share with you all.

In it it talks about being aware of what is unique about yourself, what is of value that you have to offer a prospective employer, and the importance of having confidence in yourself.

Filed under: life musings by kiamo
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There’s been an interesting chain note thing spreading through facebook, where you write 25 random things about yourself and tag 25 people. If you get tagged your supposed to write one too. Usually I hate chain stuff, but this one seemed quite positive so after being tagged a bunch of times I gave in.

The following is mine:

Ok, fine! I succumb! I’ve read too many “25 random things about me” notes from people that bring me much happiness in my life. The collective effort behind this strangely positive chain mail thing has finally inspired me to sit down and think about writing my own, despite my rebelious feelings towards chainmail type things.

Here goes…

1) The collapse of the world is something that greatly excites me. It’s the only way we are going to get closer to a truly united world. It’s also completely inevitable so I say bring it on and get it over with.

2) I love dancing freely to awesome music, but am really sick of the whole “clubbing scene”. It’s vile, revolting, debasing, and sickening. sometimes I feel old and sad, but really I just want to enjoy myself in happier environments.

3) I profoundly embrace the Baha’i concept of life after death, and can whole heartedly and honestly say that death is a messenger of joy, and I eagerly await my turn. Although until that day, I intend on living life to the fullest.

4) I cannot tolerate injustice. I will not stand for it.

5) No matter who it is, or how long its been, when I see people again, I always feel just as comfortable and close as I did when we last parted. As a result, I’m terrible at staying in contact with… well.. everyone! I don’t feel I need to… and goodbyes aren’t a big deal, or a deal at all.

6) My only fear is myself, and what I’m capable of when faced directly with unjust and inhumane treatment from one human to another.

7) I love this quotation and it resonates deeply within me: “Know thou that the Kingdom is the real world, and this nether place is only its shadow stretching out. A shadow hath no life of its own; its existence is only a fantasy and nothing more; it is but images reflected in water, and seeming as pictures to the eye. ” – Abdu’l-Baha

8 ) I struggle to remain emotionally engaged in the world. This means I can easily get distracted with things and forget about whats really important to me.

9) Music is something that helps me get through life, yet, somehow, I can forget this, and neglect to put some on. Actually, Like right now…

10) I appreciate technology and it can excite me, but it holds no real value to me. The things that are most important to me cant be taken away.

11) I have many dreams in life, among which is to say prayers on the south pole. A dream I accept will most likely never be realized in this material realm. (aside for getting there and hiking deep into Antarctica, the worlds poles fluctuate on a radius of a few hundred miles, so once getting into the vicinity, I would have to wonder around looking for it)

12) Monkeys are really really cool. I would love to befriend one.

13) I have a great interest in most things, however lack the discipline to pursue a deeper understanding/greater skill in them.

14) Interaction with people is key to my happiness.

15) Honesty is massively important to me. “Truthfulness is the foundation of all human virtues” – Abdu’l-Baha

16) I love climbing high, and being at the mercy of the elements. It’s a tremendous release.

17) My heart is warmed by the awesomeness of all my friends

18) My heart is warmed by the awesomeness of all my friends (repeated intentionally!)

19) I see heroes in everyone.

20) I will accept truth whether I like that truth or not. Ignorance is NOT bliss!

21) I don’t look after myself very well. Thanks to everyone who has cared for me throughout my life. There are many of you! You are all my hero’s!

22) “Regard man as a mine rich in gems of inestimable value…” – Baha’u'llah. Isn’t that really exciting?!!!

23) I go blank sometimes… like now.

24) I’m not afraid of danger. Infact I love it! It reminds me I’m alive.

25) I have faith in the goodness of people.

Filed under: life musings by kiamo
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The Hidden Words are a collection of short utterances, in which Baha’u'llah (the author) has taken the essence  of past dispensations and “clothed it in the garment of brevity” as He says.

Earlier this afternoon I came across this site.  Where Nathan & Nabil Huening have put some of the Hidden Words in a musical form, and offered it up for anyone to listen and download.  Of course we are free to donate towards this service.

Filed under: Baha'i, music by kiamo
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I don’t watch TV, but if I did I might have noticed this BBC series earlier.  Around the world in 80 faiths is a documentary following Pete Owen-Jones as he journeys around the world exploring the great diversity of beliefs and rituals.

Over the last handful of years the Baha’i Faith has been mentioned more and more on TV, and here Pete includes it in his documentary too.

Filed under: Baha'i by kiamo
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Rowshan are a music duo consisting of cousins Na’im Cortazzi and Payam Beint, their music is pretty chilled out and uplifting.  Na’im’s a friend that lives really close, he came over tonight and we where talking about Rowshan’s online presence. (mainly for last.fm)  I helped him get Rowshans first 2 albums up and available for people to listen to.

You can have a listen here

Celestial Soul is my favourite album of the two (album art shown to the right).  It came out in late 2008 and is really strong.

Filed under: music by kiamo
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Seriously… their products are free, theres no advertising, they employ and pay around 150 people full time, and they spend massive amounts in bandwidth costs. (firefox 3.0 was downloaded over 1million times during the first 24hours after its release)

How on earth do they afford it all?!

This is a question that often occurred to me, so I set about looking for answers…

Turns out Mozilla have a partnership with Google.  For shipping firefox with the default search choice as google, google shell out an undisclosed sum per search from that bar in the top right.

“We are very fortunate in that the search feature in Firefox is both appreciated by our users and generates revenue in the tens of millions of dollars,” Wrote Mitchell Baker (head of the Mozilla foundation)  in a blog post from 2006.

Trawling the web looking for info didn’t reveal anything particularly recent, infact, any figures at all, where to be found in various blog posts and articles from 2006.  Including  this post from Christopher Blizzard, another notable member of Mozilla.

“There have been a couple of articles written about the amount of money that the Mozilla Foundation has raised through various means. This entry says “72 million” and has been repeated over on digg.com. I won’t comment on the dollar amount except to say that it’s not correct, though not off by an order of magnitude.”

Google and Mozilla have recently renewed their deal which now lasts until September 2011.  Given the growing popularity of Mozilla products (namely firefox) it seems like a fairly safe assumption that the 72 million (ish) from 2006 will have risen considerably.

Filed under: geek by kiamo
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