Veil as Choice

It was difficult as a teenager to balance the modesty that Islam encourages with the latest fashion trends. I paraded in dresses and short sleeves throughout high school, much to the chagrin of my mother who was disappointed but never told me how to dress. As I grew older, I started reading feminist literature and chatting with like-minded female friends. I found that being a feminist was often equated with being free of the "restrictions" of religion. "Covering up" in particular was taken as de facto proof of oppression, which I knew to be a untrue based on my personal experience with modestly-dressed Muslim women who were outspoken, opinionated, and politically and socially liberal.

I believe the way Islam has been defined in certain contexts has oppressed women, and I disagree with anyone ever being forced to veil. But it isn’t the religious basis for covering up that matters most, it’s a woman’s right to choose whether to cover up because of religion. Religion is her personal domain and she should be able to navigate that realm on her own terms.

from Salon (http://www.salon.com/news/religion/index.html?story=/mwt/broadsheet/2010/04/30/veiling_women_choice)

EZ Takes - Movie Downloads you can watch anywhere

I just read a Boingboing.net post about this movie download service. The company keeps its inventory focused on harder-to-find movies, and maintains a DRM-free catalogue. According to the owner:

 'Now when you buy a title from us, you almost always get: a tiny MP4 that plays on most smart phones; a high-quality MP4 that plays on any iPad, iPhone or video-enabled iPod; a downloadable DVD (for some titles) that you can burn and play on DVD players; and you can stream your purchase immediately, even while other versions download (broadband connection permitting). As an added benefit, iPhone and Android users can login to our mobile site (http://m.eztakes.com) to get their purchases streamed to their mobile phones (no download required). We also let our customers re-download, even if it's far into the future. So, I think it's safe to say that we've bent over backwards to give consumers reasons to buy. The "scarce value" we provide is our service, which lets our customers easily enjoy their content when, where and how they want. ' [from boingboing post http://www.boingboing.net/2010/04/30/eztakes-5000-strong.html]

EZ Takes

comments on BoingBoing.net post

"To be fair, I should add that this is the first smart phone I've ever had, after years of using whatever Nokia crap-101 was bundled with the cheapest plan, and as far as I'm concerned all smart phones seem like elven magic wrought from unicorn tears.' [emphasis added]  from: http://www.boingboing.net/2010/04/27/why-i-wont-buy-an-ip.html

my sentiments exactly.  My smart phone has changed my life.

Facebook changes

The increasing permeation of Facebook into my online activities made me quit the app. I'll send out new invites to this blog.