Grand Poobag

New music! I found a band yesterday - O.K., so I didn't find it myself, but I discovered it through my new French professor. However, I don't trust her, so I do still take full credit. Here's Dionysus, with Song for a Jedi.


If you like them, I also suggest the song, Coccinelle. Just love their unusual music videos, and I can actually understand what they're saying! Must be learning something at this university...

Another international terrorist of pudgy proportions and twitchy tendencies: Leila. Leighla. I'll go with Leila. Her name at first was Noodles, but Ms. Fattykins (that's the last name I gave her) took offense. Thus, Leila was born out of nowhere. Now, it's double the poop, double the terror, and half of what was in my bank account. Pictures tonight? tomorrow? You know what? "We'll do it when we're ready."


Speaking of explosives, the Lower Chindwin area of central Burma contains several explosive craters, along with many vents, domes and nearby cones.

Fortunately, these craters have had no recent activity.

Before the surgery

Saying farewell to Burma, or Myanmar, there is one item of architecture that must not be forgotten -- the Insein Prison. This facility, operated under the military junta, was once notorious for its inhumane management, poor sanitation and unconstitutional detainment of individuals, among them, Aung San Suu Kyi. On March 17, 1951, Insein central was launched as a model jail and eventually opened later in 1871.

From the Correctional Department, on Insein central prison:

Whenever persons under 19 years of age are not committed to a Senior Training School will be committed to a jail. In the case of young offenders under 19 years of age, sentenced to imprisonment for two years and above, nominal rolls of such young offenders shall be forwarded to the Director-General. Young offenders, who have been convicted for a period of less than two years but not less than three months, and who have been classified as habituals, should be transferred to the Insein Central Prison. Young offenders, who have been convicted for a period of less than two years, but not less than three months and who have been classified as casuals, should be transferred to the Meikhtila Prison. Meikhtila Prison is a "B" grade prison which has minimum security. The young inmates who do not fulfil any of the conditions in above mentioned shall be kept in the prison to serve out their sentence and shall be kept altogether separate from adult inmates.

Now, I'm not completely sure of the credibility of this, but I found a personal account of a former prisoner of Insein, provided by a human rights group in 1993. Check out Saw Winston Htoo's description of the conditions of Insein prison.

BBC also provided a short feature on Inside Burma's Insein jail. Check it out, it's an interesting, and unsettling, description of the facility, including the gallows and the suspected location of Aung San Suu Kyi when she was imprisoned.

Today, Insein prison is apparently still up and running, though the media hasn't made it easier for the facility to conduct business as usual. Remember the comedian arrested for remarks against the ruling junta? Here's the November 2008 article on the trials of Zarganar and sports journalist Zaw Thet Htwe: Insein Prison Trials

There's Burma in a nutshell. A poorly-constructed, half-eaten one that's been shit out by the world's ugliest squirrel. A sad, larely-ignored country - but also a country of great culture and certainly worth a visit - definitely near the top of my list for places to go. Take that, New York Times.