HOPE now replaces a long history of denial in America. In 1945 on a bitter cold night on the way back to college, I stopped at a restaurant in Pennsylvania for a cup of hot chocolate only to be told that I could buy it – but had to drink it outside!

Born in 1927, I have long lived in a country where the color of my skin has denied me many important things: such as being valedictorian for my class, instead being named salutatorian; because of racism, in WWII in 1947 I was denied the opportunity to be a commissioned officer in the U.S. Army; and in 1952, I “hit the ceiling” on where a ‘black’ man could go in civil service.

You can only imagine how very grateful I am to have lived to see this new dawning in history, where my grandchildren and great grand children have new opportunities. All things are possible with God. Barack Obama was God’s choice!

This 2008 U.S. Presidential campaign and election-its results and related matters-is from an historical perspective, most meaningful and extraordinary. (Is this the 8th wonder of the world?) Most definitely, this November 4, 2008 marvel is an unquestionable blessing to our entire planet. God is truly blessing America!

As President-elect Barack Obama says, this is “much more than a matter of blue states or red states….this is a matter of the United States of America. This is a defining moment, which even goes beyond ‘change’. This victory is not the change; it is the chance to make that change…” Obama concludes (in his acceptance speech): “If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible, who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time, who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer.” The registration and total voter “turn-out” in this campaign and election reflect many concerns about a broad range of matters, especially the economy, health, war, and our current standing in the world. These wide-ranging concerns have been expressed by a broad and inclusive number of the American public: African-Americans, Whites, Hispanic, Democrats, Republicans, Independents, young, old etc.

Obama and his staff have conducted a very thoughtful, masterful-virtually “flawless” campaign. He has honestly, brilliantly and realistically addressed the fears, anxieties, aspirations, dreams and hopes of every person and segment of our nation. His reaching out to include especially those who have been excluded from the American Dream takes me personally back to some very touching concerns expressed by Michael Harrington years ago in a gripping portrayal of our country in a very disturbing book entitled “The Other America”.

Let us all now- each and every one of us- together be glad and most thankful for a most extraordinary sequence and convergence of circumstances and events which (as one ponders deeply) appears to have led to and resulted in this phenomenal national and international moment of history which is over, above and beyond that which is expected, normal and natural. There is more to this than meets the eye! “God moves in a mysterious way His wonders to perform.” Pastor Junius W. Bervine, author of the acclaimed “Healing Ministry of Jesus”.

Conventions come in two primary flavors. Professional and fan run. Professional conventions should have actors who have appeared in genre television and films ready to sign autographs and have their photos taken with fans. Some of these conventions include the costs of autographs and photo sessions in the cost of admission others operate in more of an a la carte fashion.

Often genre conventions have previews of new shows and films, and usually an extensive dealer’s room where you can buy anything from jewelry, ornaments, t-shirts and action figures to full scale replicas and costumes…and more. While there are a number of professional promoters the best known and run are Chiller Theatre Expo, Creation Entertainment, Fed Con ( Germany ), Starland and Vulcon. Do expect things to be as advertised and run on time. Do not expect warm and fuzzy.

Warm and fuzzy is more the field of fan run conventions. Fans who get together to run conventions have a great deal of enthusiasm, but usually are run with a volunteer staff and can be a bit “bumpy” with organization of the activities. What you can expect? A movie room, anime room, gaming room, art show, dealer’s room, and various special interest group rooms and tables. It is a rare con that doesn’t have a dance and a masquerade. Many fan run conventions also have guests ranging from actors, authors, cartoonists, illustrators, scientists etc. You may also find workshops for writing, acting, art, costuming, make-up and special effects. It all varies from convention to convention and year to year. Older fan run conventions such as Aggie Con, Balticon, Bay Con, CONvergence, Dragon Con, ICON, Shore Leave, United Fan Con, Toronto Trek to name a few.

The following sections may help you in selecting the kind of convention you would enjoy the most. Don’t be afraid to try other sorts once you’ve sampled those that are in your comfort zone. Exploration can be fun:

• LITERARY CONVENTIONS

Love to read speculative fiction? Do you have an interest in attending workshops on writing and publishing? Would you like to mingle with like-minded fans and meet professionals in the field such as authors, editors, illustrators and publishers? Then a literary convention would be the place you might enjoy most. Conventions such as World Science Fiction Convention (which is where the Hugo awards are announced), the World Fantasy Convention, World Horror Convention, Balticon, Philcon, Lunacon, Boskone, Readercon, Wiscon and Capclave are all reader friendly and while you may find the occasional filking group, men in kilts, swords and women in medieval garb I doubt that you’ll see many people dressed like the attendees of the convention seen in the movie Galaxy Quest. OK maybe one or two but they are a tiny minority.

• MEDIA CONVENTIONS

Media conventions are very much about television and film. Science Fiction & Fantasy or Horror & Paranormal guests abound. You may meet and hear behind the scenes stories of actors and illustrators, SFX experts and make-up artists and a host of media professionals. Many of the attendees may be wearing costumes. Depending on whether you are going to a “pro” con or a fan run con the rest will vary greatly. Parties are expected and encouraged. At a pro convention this will take the form of a banquet with the guests at a fee and/or a dance or cocktail party all for various prices. Fan run convention also may have a price attached to a banquet or “private” gathering with a particular celebrity or celebrities but they will also have fee free dances, masquerades, art shows, filking, sword demonstrations etc. Toronto Trek, Celebration, BotCon, Dragon Con , Comic-Con ( both Dragon Con and Comicon will appear under many categories)

• GAMING CONVENTIONS

Gamers come in all shapes, sizes, ages, colors and ethnic backgrounds but they all have something in common. A love of games. Role playing, live, pen and paper, MMOG as well as video gamers and board gamers all have a lot of interactive fun at gaming conventions. You can meet game designers, try out new games that have yet to hit the general market, and play in tournaments for glory and prizes. Once an almost male-only pursuit, gaming now has a growing number of female enthusiasts Gaming has become so pervasive that it is now nearly socially acceptable to the mainstream public. Nearly.

There are giant conventions like GENCON and ORIGINS, where it is so crowded you may have trouble negotiating the exhibition halls due to the crowds. The upside is the great diversity and FREEBIES as there are so many gaming companies competing for your attention. Then there are the more intimate play intensive ones like Archon, CastleCon, Dragonflight Dreikonigsnacht (Twelfth Night), Festival of Dreams, HexaCon, KublaCon, MACE, MarsCon, Marmalade Dog, ShaunCon, Strategicon, The Once and Future Con, and many many more.

Keep in mind that many conventions other than pure gaming conventions have gaming tracks. If you like to game but want to do more than only game during the weekend you might look into some of the other cons with a strong gaming element.

• ANIME CONVENTIONS

For the older generation anime seems so foreign, even unreachable. It shouldn’t be. Yes, anime and its siblings manga and ahem *cough* hentai are of Japanese origin but the striking visual styles and beauty, the characters and stories connect with westerners as well as audiences in the east. Because they are animations they can either be sub-titled or dubbed in the language of the country where it is being broadcast. In anime the stars are the illustrators, authors, and voice actors. At conventions you will find many of these sorts of guests as well as companies promoting their projects. You will also find some of the most imaginative of costumes created and worn by fans. At larger conventions you may find multiple rooms running films day and night. At smaller ones perhaps just one room will be devoted to showing their favorites. There are often panels discussing aspects of cosplay, fan fiction, video games, favorite voice actors, anime series or movies. As in literary conventions there are often workshops. These workshops are mostly how to draw manga, make computer animation, or how to become a voice actor. The dealers room will be filled with DVDs , software, graphic novel manga, art books, apparel, toys and exotic ( for us ) foods.

While the U.S. and Canada have the largest SF conventions in the world the largest Anime conventions are Lucca Comics & Games in Lucca Italy ( 85,000 ) , Japan Expo in Paris France ( 83,000 ) Salon del Manga in Barcelona Spain ( 63,000 ) and Romics in Rome Italy ( 50,000 ). The big guys in North America are Anime Expo Los Angeles California (41,000), Otakon Baltimore Maryland (23,000) and A-Kon Dallas Texas (14,500). Hey, size isn’t everything and some of the smallest might be the way to start if you have never been to a con before!!

• HORROR CONVENTIONS

What a perfect place to let it all hang out (dating myself but who cares). Horror conventions revel in going over the top. Long live Elvira, Freddy Krueger, Jason, Dracula, Zacherley, Even the names of these conventions and expos are meant to be graphic illustrations of what you will find there. Chiller Theatre, Fangoria, Fright Night Film and Fantasy Fest, HorrorFind, HorrorHound Weekend, Spooky Empire. Nothing to subtle here. No sparing of the gore. It’s like the rollercoaster of genre conventions. If you have a strong stomach and a dark sense of humor you will have tons of fun. The dealer’s room, art show, video rooms all are in sync with the horror theme. Guests that reach back decades up to the present. Once again there is a chance to meet actors, artists and authors for autographs, photo shoots, and anecdotes. Attendees go wild with costumes and you can do so too even without a ton of money or a pile of cash. Try out your best monsterish clothes and make-up or come asa victim…or not. Costumes aren’t required, they are just fun. There is usually a monster mash even if that isn’t the name given. Some horror conventions invite guests that more about nostalgia than horror. Chiller Con is a good example of this. Some of their guests are Micky Dolenz from the Monkees, Ernest Borgnine , Lindsay Wagner, Brigitte Nielson, Katey Sagal (Married with Children), Stephen Baldwin, Daniel Baldwin, Barry Bostwick, Erin Murphy (Tabitha of Bewitched), Avery Brooks, Armin Shimmerman, Robert Picardo, Geri Reischel (Jan from The Brady Bunch), Susan Olsen (Cindy from The Brady Bunch),Joe Pantoliano,Richard Kiel (“Jaws” Moonraker), Lou Ferrigno, William B Davies (X-Files-Cancer Man), Stella Stevens, Frank Stallone, Ron Bumblefoot ( Guns N Roses ) and a host of others.

• COMIC CONVENTION

When you think of a comic book convention you will probably think of a sea of old comic books, toys, Star Wars stuff, Star Trek stuff, action figures, collectible card games and magazines for sale and you would be right but that is only a part and an increasingly small part of the experience. You will find illustrators, authors, publishers and very often interesting workshops and panels that deal with every aspect of the industry past, present and future. There are the costume contingents that always show up at the larger conventions and some are so good that you could almost believe you were seeing superheroes and villains walk out of the pages and off the screen to meet you and be photographed. Some cons such as Dragon Con and Comic-Con began solely as comic conventions but grew to tremendous size, scope and diversity that they have transcended the genre that gave rise to them. Even those such as HEROES which remains focused on comics manages to have a number of other aspects and should be able to keep the whole family amused for the weekend. Comic conventions often have a lot of pop culture and nostalgia guests. So if you would like to see people like Creature, Parthenon and Fat Mama from Who wants to be a Superhero or maybe even Stan Lee himself, you might get your chance. How about James & Oliver Phelps who played the Weasley Twins in the Harry Potter movies ? Or perhaps Sean Astin or Billy Boyd and even Elijah Wood . From Heroes Hayden Paniterre and Masi Oka, or Ice-T…yes I said Ice-T AND his swimsuit-model wife Coco.

For a walk down memory lane there is Erik Estrada, Betsy Palmer, Soupy Sales, Richard Hatch, John Saxon, Adam West and Burt Ward ( Batman and Robin) , Julie Newmar, Peter Mayhew, Eddie Byrnes (77 Sunset Strip), Erin Gray (Buck Rodgers), Gary Coleman, Lou Ferrigno and on and on. Some are from your childhood others are from your parents childhoods. I can tell you that when I unexpectedly got to meet the very ladylike and gracious Betsy Palmer it was a thrill.

The bottom line is conventions are places where adults can go and play and slough off the average workday week . [June Williams]

But in a sign that conservatives fear their attacks might inadvertently
strengthen a possible opposition candidate in Iran’s own presidential vote in
June, their criticism has quickly shifted to early support for Ahmadinejad’s
re-election.

The potential opponent is former President Mohammad Khatami, the moderate whom
Ahmadinejad bested in the last elections, in 2005. Khatami has not yet announced
his candidacy, but is under pressure from his political allies to run.

On Friday, Obama offered a public reaction to the letter in his first
post-election news conference, saying that he would review it and respond
appropriately. But he also said that Iranian “support for terrorist
organizations has to ease” and that its suspected development of nuclear weapons
was not acceptable.

On Saturday, opposition politicians offered praise for Ahmadinejad’s outreach.
The letter “presented a humane, reasonable and peace-seeking image of Iran,”
according to the daily newspaper Etemaad.

But other newspapers, as well as conservative members of Parliament, criticized
Ahmadinejad.

The hard-line Jomhuri Islami newspaper, in an editorial, said that initiating
contact with the United States was among the responsibilities of Ayatollah Ali
Khamenei, the supreme religious leader, not of Ahmadinejad. Relations broke off
in 1979, after the Islamic Revolution in February and the takeover of the U.S.
Embassy in Tehran by hard-line students in November.

The speaker of Parliament, Ali Larijani, referred to Obama’s noncommittal
response and said the United States “was not moving in the right direction” for
improving relations.

Ahmad Tavakoli, a conservative member of Parliament, released a public letter
saying Ahmadinejad’s unilateral efforts had been met with “arrogant responses”
and did not serve the country’s dignity.

But by Sunday, the criticism had evaporated, and some conservative politicians
had started to praise the letter.

Another conservative member of Parliament, Mehdi Koochakzadeh, said Sunday night
that Ahmadinejad’s letter was “for the expedience of the regime and with the
approval of the supreme leader,” according to the Alef Web site, which is run by
Tavakoli.

In addition, an editorial in the daily Kayhan, a leading conservative newspaper,
said that Ahmadinejad was the “most qualified candidate” for the presidential
race despite the criticisms of him. It argued that his achievements were more
significant than his failures.

Ahmadinejad is popular in smaller towns and villages, where he has distributed
financial aid. In contrast, Khatami would be expected to draw support from large
cities.

One analyst suggested that the conservatives were trying to get the opposition
to choose a different candidate.

“Maybe the conservatives are signaling to reformers that if they go after Mr.
Khatami, they would get unified behind Ahmadinejad despite their differences
with him,” said Badr-al-sadat Mofidi, the deputy editor of the opposition
Kargozaaran daily. “The unity among conservatives can change if the reformers do
not nominate Mr. Khatami.”

In what appeared to be another signal of easing pressures on Ahmadinejad,
several members of Parliament have indicated that they would vote for his
nominee to fill the post of interior minister. Parliament fired Interior
Minister Ali Kordan last week for lying about an honorary doctorate he said he
had received from Oxford University.

The nominee, Sadeq Mahsouli, is a close ally of Ahmadinejad. But the previous
Parliament – which was more closely aligned with the president – rejected
Mahsouli’s candidacy for the post of oil minister after doubts were raised about
the source of his vast fortune.

Mahsouli is a former commander of the Revolutionary Guards, which have used
their vast power in Iran to control parts of its economy.

Ahmadinejad is suffering politically from the damage to the Iranian economy
caused by high inflation and a sharp drop in oil prices. Sixty economists warned
in a public letter to the president that his hostile attitude to the rest of the
world was causing lost trade and investment for the country, newspapers reported
Saturday.

The letter criticized the government for spending too much of the oil revenues,
and for policies that the economists said had deprived the country of foreign
investment.

It said that the UN Security Council sanctions over Iran’s refusal to suspend
sensitive uranium enrichment activities had cost the country billions of
dollars.

Let us take a journey that will begin long before even the intellectual conception of Internet Explorer, that will glance at its long defeated rivals, examine the current browsers available and will end with a prediction of what the future of browsing will offer us – and which browser(s) will still be around to offer it.

People often think that Internet Explorer has been the dominant web browser since the golden age of the internet began. Well for a very long time now it has indeed been the most popular browser and at times been almost totally unrivalled. This was mainly a result of it being packaged free with Microsoft Windows, in what some would later call a brutal monopolisation attempt by Microsoft. The last few years however have heralded the arrival of new, possibly superior browsers. Mozilla’s Firefox has been particularly successful at chipping away at Explorers market dominance. So where did it all begin, and why were Microsoft ever allowed to have a hundred percent market dominance?

Origins

The truth is they never did have total dominance, but at times they have come very close. Microsoft actually entered the Browser Battle quite late on. Infact a man named Neil Larson is credited to be one of the originators of internet browsers, when in 1977 he created a program – The TRS-80 – that allowed browsing between “sites” via hypertext jumps. This was a DOS program and the basis of much to come. Slowly other browsers powered by DOS and inspired by the TRS 80 were developed. Unfortunately they were often constricted by the limitations of the still fairly young internet itself.

In 1988, Peter Scott and Earle Fogel created a simple, fast browser called Hytelnet, which by 1990 offered users instant logon and access to the online catalogues of over five thousand libraries around the world – an exhilarating taste of what the internet, and web browsers, would soon be able to offer.

In 1989 the original World Wide Web was born. Using a NeXTcube computer, Tim Berners-Lee created a web browser that would change how people used the internet forever. He called his browser the WorldWideWeb(http://www., which is still likely to sound familiar to internet users today. It was a windowed browser capable of displaying simple style sheet, capable of editing sites and able to download and open any file type supported by the NeXTcube.

In 1993 the first popular graphical browser was released. Its name was Mosaic and it was created by Marc Andreessen and Eric Bina. Mosaic could be run on both Unix, and very importantly, on the highly popular Microsoft Windows operating system (incidentally it could also be used on Amiga and Apple computers). It was the first browser on Windows that could display graphics/pictures on a page where there was also textual content. It is often cited as being responsible for triggering the internet boom due to it making the internet bearable for the masses. (It should be noted that the web browser Cello was the first browser to be used on Windows – but it was non graphical and made very little impact compared to Mosaic).

The Browser Wars – Netscape Navigator versus Internet Explorer

Mosaic’s decline began almost as soon as Netscape Navigator was released (1994). Netscape Navigator was a browser created by Marc Andreessen, one of the men behind Mosaic and co-founder of Netscape Communications Corporation. Netscape was unrivalled in terms of features and usability at the time. For example, one major change from previous browsers was that it allowed surfers to see parts of a website before the whole site was downloaded. This meant that people did not have to wait for minutes simply to see if the site they were loading was the actual one the were after, whilst also allowing them to read information on the site as the rest of it downloaded. By 1996 Netscape had almost 90% market dominance, as shown below.

Market Share Comparisons of Netscape Navigator and Internet Explorer from 1996 to 1998

………………..Netscape…….IE
October 1998……….64%………32.2%
April 1998…………70%………22.7%
October 1997……….59.67%……15.13%
April 1997…………81.13%……12.13%
October 1996……….80.45%……12.18%
April 1996…………89.36%…….3.76%

In these two years Netscape clearly dominated the internet browser market, but a new browser named Internet Explorer was quickly gaining ground on it.

Microsoft released their own browser (ironically based on the earlier Mosaic browser which was created by one of the men now running Netscape), clearly worried about Netscape’s dominance. It was not so much the worry that it would have a 100% market share of internet browsers on their Windows operating system, but more the worry that browsers would soon be capable of running all types programs on them. That would mean foregoing the need for an actual operating system, or at the most only a very basic one would be needed. This in turn would mean Netscape would soon be able to dictate terms to Microsoft, and Microsoft were not going to let that happen easily. Thus in August 1995, Internet Explorer was released.

By 1999 Internet explorer had captured an 89.03% market share, whilst Netscape was down to 10.47%. How could Internet Explorer make this much ground in just two years? Well this was down to two things really. The first, and by far the most important was that Microsoft bundled Internet Explorer in with every new copy of Windows, and as Windows was used by about 90% of the computer using population it clearly gave them a huge advantage. Internet Explorer had one other ace it held over Netscape – it was much better. Netscape Navigator was stagnant and had been for some time. The only new features it ever seemed to introduce were often perceived by the public as beneficial for Netscape’s parent company rather than Netscape’s user base. (i.e., features that would help it monopolise the market). Explorer, on the other hand, was given much attention by Microsoft. Regular updates and excellent usability plus a hundred million dollar investment would prove too much for Netscape Explorer.

2000 – 2005

These years were fairly quiet in the Battle of the Browsers. It seemed as if Internet Explorer had won the war and that nobody could even hope to compete with it. In 2002/2003 it had attained about 95% of the market share – about the time of IE 5/6. With over 1000 people working on it and millions of dollars being poured in, few people had the resources to compete. Then again, who wanted to compete? It was clearly a volatile market, and besides that everybody was content with Internet Explorer. Or were they? Some people saw faults with IE – security issues, incompatibility issues or simply bad programming. Not only that, it was being shoved down peoples throats. There was almost no competition to keep it in line or to turn to as an alternative. Something had to change. The only people with the ability and the power to compete with Microsoft took matters into their own hands.

Netscape was now supported by AOL. A few years prior, just after they had lost the Browser Wars to Microsoft, they had released the coding for Netscape into the public domain. This meant anybody could develop their own browser using the Netscape skeleton. And people did. Epiphany, Galeon and Camino, amongst others, were born out of Netscape’s ashes. However the two most popular newcomers were called Mozilla and Firefox.

Mozilla was originally an open sourced project aimed to improve the Netscape browser. Eventually it was released as Netscape Navigator 7 and then 8. Later it was released as Mozilla 1.0.

Mozilla was almost an early version on another open source browser, Firefox. With it being an open source the public were able to contribute to it – adding in what features it needed, the programming it required and the support it deserved. The problems people saw in Internet Explorer were being fixed by members of the open sourced browser community via Firefox. For instance, the many security issues IE 6 had were almost entirely fixed in the very first release of Firefox. Microsoft had another fight on their hands.

2005 – Present

Firefox was the browser that grew and grew in these years. Every year capturing an even larger market share percentage than before. More user friendly than most of its rivals along with high security levels and arguably more intelligent programming helped its popularity. With such a large programming community behind it, updates have always been regular and add on programs/features are often released. It prides itself on being the peoples browser. It currently has a 28.38% market share.

Apple computers have had their own browser since the mid 1990′s – Safari – complete with its own problems, such as (until recently) the inability to run Java scripts. However most Apple users seemed happy with it and a version capable of running on Windows has been released. It has had no major competitor on Apple Macs, and as such has largely been out of the Browser Wars. It currently holds a 2.54% market share and is slowly increasing.

Internet Explorer’s market share has dropped from over 90% to around 75%, and is falling. It will be interesting to see what Microsoft will attempt to regain such a high market share.

Opera currently holds 1.07%.

Mozilla itself only has a 0.6% market share these days.

The Future of Web Browsing

Web browsers come and go. It is the nature of technology (if such a term can be used), to supplant inferior software in very short periods of time. It is almost impossible for a single company to stay ahead of the competition for long. Microsoft have the advantage of being able to release IE with any Windows using PC. That covers over 90% of the market. They also have the advantage of unprecedented resources. They can compete how they wish for as long as they wish. So there is no counting IE out of the future of web browsing.

Safari is in a similar position, being easily the most popular Mac web browser. Its long term survival is dependant upon Apple and the sale of their computers.

These are the only two browsers that are almost guaranteed another five years of life, at least. Firefox may seem like another candidate, but the public is fickle, and one bad release, or if it seriously lags behind the new Internet Explorer 8 for long, could easily see its popularity quickly descend into virtual oblivion.

However, it seems likely community driven browsers, such as Mozilla and Firefox, will be the only types of browser capable of competing with the wealthy internet arm of Microsoft in the near future.

As for web browsing itself, will it change any time soon? Well it already has for some online communities. For example, if you want to buy clothes you could try entering an online ‘world’ creating an online virtual You to go from ‘shop to shop’ with, looking at products and trying/buying what you see. Some ‘worlds’ allow you to recreate yourself accurately including weight and height and then try on things apparel such as jeans to give you an idea of how you would look in that particular item.

Will ‘worlds’ like this destroy normal web browsers such as IE ? – It seems unlikely. Traditional web browsers provide such freedom and ease of access that it is hard to see any other alternative taking over. However they are part of the new, ‘thinking out of the box’ wave of alternatives that some people will find attractive, and really who knows what the future will bring.

The more news that comes out about the Bali Bombing the less I am inclined to believe the official story, it simple doesn’t add up. They are playing the usual game of repeating the same inaccurate shyt endlessly until everyone simply accepts it as fact. They honestly think we’re all idiots who they can dismiss as “kooks”!

A lawyer representing Imam Samudra, who is being detained by police for his alleged role in planning the Oct. 12 Legian bombings, has expressed skepticism over their client’s ability to assemble the explosives, saying the police should have the suspect re-enact his role in the events leading up to the powerful bombing.

The lawyer also alleged that Imam Samudra and the other suspects had been manipulated by a “third party”, which wanted to force the nation to accept its own political agenda regarding the existence of terrorist networks and the discrediting of Islam in Indonesia.

“Our concern particularly lies in the fact that the suspects have confessed to acquiring materials and assembling the explosives. But these are materials that would be used for a conventional bomb while media reports and experts have described the bomb that exploded in front of the Sari Club in Kuta as a high-tech device of great power,” Achmad Mihdan of the Muslim Lawyers’ Team (TPM) told The Jakarta Post here on Tuesday.

According to Achmad, the only way to reassure himself and his colleagues, the public and law enforcers themselves would be for the police to have the suspect re-enact his role in the bombing.

Imam Samudra, whose real name is Abdul Azis, has admitted to planning the bombing of Paddy’s and the Sari Club in Kuta, as well as assembling the bombs.

“We remain skeptical that the explosives our client claimed he assembled could have produced a blast as powerful as one resulting from a bomb made from RDX, for example,” Mihdan said.

Mihdan, accompanied by four other TPM lawyers — Qadhar Faisal, Made Rachman Marasabessy, Nasrun Kalianda and Andi Windu — was speaking after their arrival here on Tuesday. The lawyers also paid a visit on Insp. Gen. I Made Mangku Pastika, who heads the police team investigating the Bali blasts.

“There is also a possibility that the bomb in Kuta was made of two separate types of explosives, conventional and hi-tech ones. The suspects are supposed to take responsibility for the conventional one while the hi-tech was, somehow, implanted by those who manipulated our clients. And our clients might know nothing about this manipulation. The police should also take this possibility into consideration,” he said.

“There is an eyewitness who saw something fall from the sky right before the explosion,” he added. [by Joe Vialls]

Full story…

Bali Micro Nuke – Cops Claim Exploding Detergent!

At first I was instantly gratified, as I’m sure many have been before me. A lot of web sites that I went to all told me the same… my quest was over…it was Anzu of Babylon, a.k.a Zu, c.1st Millennium B.C. From “Ninurta vs. Anzu” or “The Myth of Anzu“. I read the descriptions, and with the exception of a few minor variations, it was this: Body and head of a lion, wings of an eagle (I didn’t realize they had eagles in Babylon), razor sharp talons, the beak of a bird with teeth, and an armor-plated breast. It to me was a bit of a let down. I don’t know about you, but to me Anzu sounds more like a griffin than a dragon. As I’m sure you will agree from the Babylonian depiction to the right. I also noticed a lot of copy and paste activity between a lot of the sites. So I decided to take a closer look, and actually read the original story as translated from the Babylonian clay tablets. At no time is Anzu referred to as a dragon. In other Babylonian text it is actual referred to as the Anzu Bird. In Sumerian text of the 3rd Millennium BC, Anzu was known as, the Zu-bird, a mythological creature which at times wrought mischief. From – Gilgamesh, Enkidu and the nether world – (Sumerian) : “In its branches, the Anzu bird settled its young.” So, as far as the Babylonians and I are concerned, not only is Anzu not the first dragon, but not a dragon at all, and deserves no further mention. I did feel I was on the right trail though,

So I pushed on into deeper study of Babylonian text.

My Reading and the views in other web sites brought me to an older “Dragon” in Babylonian and Assyrian text, Tiamat, creator of the gods and earth. c.2nd Millennium B.C. From the “Enuma Elish” or “The Seven Tablets of Creation”. The fact that Tiamat was a dragon is not clear. In fact she has about as many detractors as she does supporters. She is often described as a Serpent type Water Dragon. Except for that fact that she was said to have given birth to dragons, along with a host of other creatures;

“She set up vipers and dragons, and the monster Lahamu,
And hurricanes, and raging hounds, and scorpion-men,
And mighty tempests, and fish-men, and rams;
They bore cruel weapons, without fear of the fight.
Her commands were mighty, none could resist them;
After this fashion, huge of stature, she made eleven [kinds of] monsters.”

the descriptive evidence in the tale leaves one wondering to the fact of her being a dragon. She is in fact called a woman in the text, and mention is made of her lips. The following are all the pieces of description contained in the text of the Enuma Elish for Tiamat:

First: (Tablet 1)

unto Tiamut, the glistening one

Next: (Tablet 2)

Tiamat, who is a woman, is armed and attacketh thee.
.. rejoice and be glad;
The neck of Tiamat shalt thou swiftly trample under foot.
.. rejoice and be glad;

Next: (Tablet 4)

But Tiamat… , she turned not her neck,
With lips that failed not she uttered rebellious words:

Next: (Tablet 4)

Tiamat opened her mouth to its full extent,

Next: (Tablet 4)

He seized the spear and burst her belly,

Next: (Tablet 4)

And the lord stood upon Tiamat’s hinder parts

Tiamat a dragon? I leave that to you. I myself do not find enough evidence in the old text to support the fact, but likewise I do not find enough to dismiss her. But, as for being the first dragon, that I can dismiss. (For those of you who enjoy Creation Myths though, her story is the first Creation Myth in recorded history!)

I was scratching my head. Here I was deep in the world that the Greeks called Mesopotamia, home of the Babylonians and Assyrian, the birth place of civilization, and writing, but where was my dragon! That’s when I smacked myself in the head. The region may have been the birth place of writing, but it wasn’t the Babylonians or the Assyrian that were the parents, they were but meir students…of the Sumerians! Mesopotamia, was originally Sumeria for over two thousand years! So I head for Sumeria!

And that’s where I found it! The First Dragon written of, and the first dragon slayer story, and in the first written language Cuneiform!

KUR

Sumeria 3rd Millennium B.C.

“Since the dragon-slaying theme was an important motif in the Sumerian mythology of the third millennium B. C., it is not unreasonable to assume that many a thread in the texture of the Greek and early Christian dragon tales winds back to Sumerian sources.”

Samuel Noah Kramer, Sumerian Mythology, 1944

“Samuel Noah Kramer spent most of his life studying this literature, by piecing together clay tablets in far-flung museums.”

Sumerian Mythology, 1944, revised 1961

We find mention of Kur in three myths from the 4th – 3rd Millennium B.C., (more than a millennium before Tiamat!), In the introductory prologue to the epic tale “Gilgamesh, Enkidu, and the Nether World,”( written on eight tablets – seven excavated in Nippur and one in Ur), Where Enki, the water-god, fights Kur after he learns that The goddess Ereshkigal was carried off violently into the nether world, by Kur. Enki fought Kur from a boat, and Kur fought back savagely with stones of all sizes, and attacked Enki’s boat with the primeval waters which it controlled. Unfortunately for us, the author of this tale is so anxious to proceed with the Gilgamesh tale that he doesn’t finish the dragon part, and leaves us hanging. It is certain that Enki wins though because he is in the rest of the poem, Kur is not.

See anything familiar; Damsel in distress, knight comes to the rescue and slays the dragon.

The second version of the slaying-of-the-dragon myth can be found in “The Feats and Exploits of Ninurta.” (49 tablets) A significant version, due to the fact that it is evident that it was utilized by the Semitic redactors in the creation of the Babylonian Creation Myth featuring Tiamat.

In this version, Ninurta, the warrior-god, is the hero of the story. His personified weapon, Sharur, kisses up to him in a drawn out speech extolling the heroic qualities and deeds of Ninurta to convince him to go after Kur, and attach and destroy him. What Sharur has against Kur is not written in the text that is available. Ninurta leaves to do as asked, but finds himself lacking and “flees like a bird”. Sharur though, won’t let it go and speaks, reassuring and encouraging Ninurta with his words. “Ninurta now attacks Kur fiercely with all the weapons at his command, and Kur is completely destroyed.”

Things fall apart after that. The primeval waters of the nether world which Kur had been in control of rise to the surface so violently that no fresh water can reach the fields and gardens. The gods of the land in charge of irrigation and cultivation, are desperate. The Tigris does not flood as usual, and the river water is unfit for use.

“Famine was severe, nothing was produced,
The small rivers were not cleaned, the dirt was not carried off,
On the steadfast fields no water was sprinkled, there was no digging of ditches,
In all the lands there were no crops, only weeds grew.
Thereupon the lord sets his lofty mind,
Ninurta, the son of Enlil, brings great things into being.”

Ninurta then piled up stones over the dead body of Kur, and kept piling them until he had a great wall in front of the land. The wall blocked and held back the raging primeval waters (mighty waters) stopping the waters of the lower regions (nether world) from rising to the surface of the earth. Ninurta gathered up the waters that had already flooded the land and lead them into the Tigris. Which can now over flow and water the fields.

“What had been scattered, he gathered,
What by Kur had been dissipated,He guided and hurled into the Tigris,
The high waters it pours over the farmland.”

The third version of the slaying-of-the-dragon myth can be found in “Inanna and Ebih.” A one hundred and ninety line poem. (12 tablets)

The dragon-slayer in this version of the story is a goddess, Inanna, curiously known as both the goddess of love and also as the goddess of battle and strife, (She must have been married), and is also referred to in many Sumerian hymns as “The Destroyer of Kur.” Kur, is also referred to as The ‘mountain,’ in the Poem. Did I mention that Kur was also the first fire breathing dragon?

It, the poem, begins with a long passage that extolls the virtues of Inanna. It is followed by a long speech by Inanna to An (the leading deity of the Sumerian pantheon.) (by the third millennium. B. C. though, Enlil, the air-god, had already taken Ans place. Placing this in the forth millennium B.C.) The meaning of her speech is sometimes hard to understand, her attitude is clear though; Either Kur, who appears unaware of, or perhaps is oblivious to, her power, glorifies her virtues, and becomes submissive, she will do violence to the monster. This is part of her threat:

“The long spear I shall hurl upon it,
The throw-stick, the weapon, I shall direct against it,
At its neighboring forests I shall strike up fire,
At its . . . I shall set up the bronze ax,
All its waters like Gibil (the fire-god) the purifier I shall dry up,
Like the mountain Aratta, I shall remove its dread,
Like a city cursed by An, it will not be restored,
Like (a city) on which Enlil frowns, it shall not rise up.”

An responds by giving her a detailed account of all of Kurs mischief that he has wrought against the gods:

“Against the standing place of the gods it has directed its terror,
In the sitting place of the Anunnaki it has led forth fearfulness,
Its dreadful fear it has hurled upon the land,
The ‘mountain,’ its dreadful rays of fire it has directed against all the lands.”

An continues with a description of Kurs power and wealth, and warns Inanna against attacking it. But Inanna doesn’t listen to Ans discouraging speech. Filled with anger and wrath she opens the “house of battle” she leads her weapons and aids and attacks and destroys Kur. She then stations herself upon Kur, and utters a paean of self-glorification.

So there you have it, the first dragon in recorded history, given to us by the sumerians.

From the book Sumerian Mythology:

“The Sumerians were a non-Semitic, non-Indo-European people who lived in southern Babylonia from 4000-3000 B.C.E. They invented cuneiform writing, and their spiritual beliefs influenced all successive Near Eastern religions, including Judaism, Christianity and Islam.”

In closing let me say that the Sumerians gave us writing, they gave us culture, but most of all they gave us dragons. We should give them a moment of silence. [James Crowe]

Reference Material:
Ninurta vs. Anzu, c.1st Millennium B.C., author; unknown
Gilgamesh, Enkidu and the nether world, c.3rd Millennium B.C., author; unknown
“Enuma Elish” or “The Seven Tablets of Creation, c.2nd Millennium B.C., author; unkown
Sumerian Mythology, 1944, 1961, by; Samuel Noah Kramer