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You could probably guess that I love the Firefox web browser, right? I'm also naturally a big fan of the addons you can get to extend its power. I'm always hunting for my favorites each time I upgrade someone's computer, so I finally made one master list linking to the addons website for easier downloading: Firefox Addons
It sounds like the Burmese government has simply cut off their net connections. From Boingboing:
CNN is reporting that Myanmar has cut Internet access and also reports "Unconfirmed reports of bodies in the streets, protesters shot." and "New video appears to show point blank shooting of protester in Yangon."
As a clarification, and no surprise here: officials in the military regime controlling Burma (Myanmar) still have internet access, regular folks do not.
BB reader Dave Hecht adds
The NYT's Lede blog has pretty extensive coverage of Burmese military junta's shutdown of public internet and other communications channels. We must be living in the future if to stop a revolution, the government needs to shutdown the Internet. The Times page has links to blogs, some of which are still up, some which are ominously blacked out. Link.
Anybody got some Pringles cans handy?
Carrot: "The World Bank has promised to contribute a record $3.5bn (£1.7bn) to help the world's poorest countries. The figure is double what the agency initially said it would give ..."
Carrot: "[Zoellick , World Bank President] also reduced the charges on loans to emerging countries, such as China, for the first time in nine years."
String: Head-scratching: "The dramatic step is part of the World Bank's strategy to increase its business with 79 nations classified as middle income, including India, Brazil, Russia and South Africa and get them to help with poverty-fighting efforts."
Stick: "Mr Zoellick warned that if the Group of Eight industrialised nations stuck to their promise made in 2005 to cancel the debts of the world's poorest countries, a shortfall was likely to emerge in the World Bank's aid pot."
...and the hand holding the stick: "He urged developed countries to increase their donations so as to help impoverished economies invest in their infrastructure and become sustainable, and not leave them to rely on money from countries that do not have their best interests at heart. "
Read: Pay the Bank or the commiesterrorists win!
Remember, Zoellick is new to his WB job, having served as the US Trade Rep for the thus-far failed Doha round, and then as Deputy Secretary of State to dubya. To quote from an Oxfam article regarding his stint as USTR:
Another area of trade policy in which the Bush administration exercises global leadership, superbly captured by the Zoellick manifesto, can be summarised in a single word, `hypocrisy'. Like the British colonialists that attracted the ire of the Boston tea party fraternity, the United States is a good old-fashioned mercantilist power, combining protectionism at home with a commitment to free trade overseas.
The BBC has a story on the Burmese Monks and their cyberskills:
The internet has also become a virtual space for political groups who could not openly express their shared views in public.Ko Htike met his network of citizen journalists in an internet forum which was rapidly disbanded after initial contact had been made.
Such forums are also used as a space to alert bloggers whenever new content - stills or video - arrives.
"We normally use internet chat rooms, like Yahoo Messenger," Ko Htike said. "If they find it difficult, they call me. They don't say anything, they just give links or a code, they don't mention anything about it."
I'll be in India for most of the rest of September...
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