Life in Black

Blablabla. I want a room, somewhere in the world, to put all my books and my pictures. A room with a mattress on the floor and bookshelves. Even if I am never there.19 July 2011: Amina Usman, 18 years old, in Zamzam IDP camp, North Darfur. Amina sells charcoal everyday in El Fasher. [Click on the picture to enlarge it].

Contemplating

10 July 2011: A habitant of Sehjana village, North Darfur, during a meeting with UNAMID, UNHCR and other NGOs, to discuss the possible return of about 800 internally displaced persons (IDPs) from Kabkabya to Kutum. The rainy season has started and the reason and condition of their possible return still raise many questions. [Click on the picture to enlarge it].

Saturday Morning Thoughts

I have been a bit more geek lately and spent more time playing with my computer at night. I don't know if it worths sharing it but I'll let you judge:The movie industry has put in place restrictions to make sure you can not easily read in Europe a DVD bought in the US (and vice-versa). They mostly want to make sure they don't kill movie theaters by allowing customer to buy abroad movies that haven't been presented yet. Therefore, they introduced the notion of zone. The world is separated in height zones and you can only change zone five times before having your dvd player locked to the last zone used. It makes sense if you live in Europe but if you're traveling a lot or live in a country without movie theater but with people from all other the world, it's a bit problematic. For Macbook Pro users, the solution is quite easy. You just need to check if your DVD drive is zone free (RPC-1). If not, then just update your DVD firmware. Finally, use Region X to reset the zone counter. If you don't want to do it, you can either stop watching DVD, buy one laptop per zone or be a bad guy and only watch pirate movies (divx). But don't hold me responsible for anything.05 July 2011: A Darfurian internally displaced person (IDP) gives water to her cattle at Zamzam water point, North Darfur, Sudan. [Click on the picture to enlarge it].Finally, I have been testing the new google+ social network. Most of my friends and acquaintance are still not registered so it's difficult to have a final opinion but I particularly like the way the privacy settings are defined. The notion of circle is not different with the notion of limited profile on Facebook but is way more intuitive and you don't need a PhD from Facebook University to understand all the options (or simply to find them). Wait and see ...

In a Geek World

Tonight, I'm buying music on iTune using my iPod touch connected to an anonymous network (TOR, a second-generation onion routing) through a protected wifi connection shared by my Macbook Pro and its 3G modem. Yeah... I am a bit geek sometime.05 July 2011: Darfurian workers preparing cole bags in Zamzam internally displaced person (IDP) camp, North Darfur. [Click on the picture to enlarge it].Speaking about geek, I strongly recommend Dropbox and Chrome. If you have or work on more than one computer, Dropox will allow you to share your files automatically . And as they are kept both online and locally, you won't have problems working if you don't have an internet access. Regarding Chrome, it provides the same functionalities than any browser like Safari, Firefox or IE but allow you to automatically synchronized your bookmark, saved passwords and other auto-fill. Again, if you work with more than one computer... it's really neat.

Invasion or The Return of "Le Perv"

Today, the first miniscule blue helmet invaded Sudan. We still do know how many they are and their intentions but it should be fun :-)

03 July 2011: A miniscule blue helmet protects the United Nations - African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) camp in El Fasher, North Darfur.

Meanwhile, it is funny to observe that, although the case is not even closed, half of the French population thinks that Dominique Strauss-Kahn (DSK) should resume his political career. Or that many French politicians consider he will play an important role in the battle of the presidential elections of 2012.

I respect the influent economist he is, but I am not sure I would like to have him representing my country. A socialist paying five million dollars guarantee deposit, 50,000 dollars a month for his house, crucified in the international press and with a strong reputation of womanizer (in addition to an accusation of rape)? Not exactly what I would call a positive image for the country.

In the U.S., a few pictures in underwear cost former congressman Anthony Weiner his seat. In France, even an alleged rape and heavy past do not seem to be not enough to stop a politician's career ...