A short history of self-immolation

In some ways recent events in Tunisia began in Saigon, Vietnam, on June 16th 1962 – when a Buddhist monk by the name of Thich Quang Duc immolated himself in protest at religious persecution.

Months later, in the USA, an American citizen set himself on fire outside the office of Robert McNamara, while on 8th September 1968 a Polish lawyer and former soldier burned himself in protest against the WARSAW Pact intervention in Czechoslovakia in August 1968.

According to OBSERVATIONS OF A LOST SOUL, between January 15-18th, at least 10 people have immolated themselves, the vast majority Algerian and Egyptian.

CHEZ CHIARA writes of the recent spat between the UAE and Canada’s decision to not allow Emirates Airlines to increase destinations flights to Canada. “The inflexibility” of Canada has led the UAE to evict Canadian forces from their base in UAE, “Camp Mirage”, with one month’s notice. The post links to an opinion piece discussing the diplomatic spat in more detail.

The UGLY DUCKLING posts a video asking ‘Why can’t people walk straight?’

A great photo-essay from KRIKORIAN on ‘eyes’ – the ‘windows to the soul’.

HAIKU FROM LEBANON gets a little mystical, and drops the following verse:

Ephemeral reflections on a raindrop
Are ad infinitum worlds
And eternal universes

Back in 2007 these two rappers had a context to see which could sell the most in one week. GUYMEETSWORLD writes of how it worked out well for both, even if Kayne subsequently turned out to be a ‘complete douche bag’ after ‘insulting Taylor Swift’ and ‘taking pictures of his dong’.

Classic Maya on current events in Lebanon – the title say’s it all.