Good god….am I surprised though? Ahh…..no…

The 5,440-meter Suramadu Bridge linking East Java to the arid island of Madura, which was kicked off with much fanfare by the president on Wednesday last week, is now missing 42 maintenance lamps, as well as some assorted nuts and bolts.

The missing lamps were reported by the project’s contractor, said AG Ismail, the head of the National Roadways Operational Agency V.

“In their report, the Chinese contractor said that 42 lamps have disappeared from inside their steel gearboxes,” Ismail said, adding that the items appeared to have been stolen during heavy traffic on Saturday and Sunday.

The missing lamps were not used to provide lighting for traffic on the bridge, but were maintenance lights fixed inside steelboxes on the underside of the structure, he said, adding that the lack of light may hamper maintenance work.

The contractor also reported that hardware had been stolen from railings on the bridge, and signs of cutting were found on some of the cables supporting the bridge’s main span.

[From Newly Opened East Java Bridge Gets Pilfered For Scrap Metal And Used Parts - The Jakarta Globe]

Anon on Salon….

Finally, and this may be the most important piece of news, I personally heard “Marq bar Khamanei” (death or down with Supreme Leader Ali Khamanei) said quickly and once last night. Someone in the neighborhood reported that it was said more than once. If true, and I don’t know if it is, this marks a significant turning point. Up until now the chants had been “Marq bar dictator,” with dictator meaning Ahmadinejad. To chant against the supreme leader is an incredible taboo. In 1979, everyone wanted the shah to fall, but no one believed that it was thinkable. Then, for some reason, it became so. The movement reached a moment of viability. While this did not guarantee the revolution’s success, it was a necessary condition for events to move forward. Has the same happened now in Iran?

The 1979 Revolution, once in motion, took months to play out, but inside of it no one knew what was exactly happening. They didn’t know long it would take, or whether there would be a successful conclusion. The same applies to the situation now.

[From The street protests mount | Salon]

Old Jogja this week.

I’ve been to Central Java maybe 20 times, but this was the first time I’ve been as a tourist. More at my Facebook

The Dark side of paradise….

Although no official statistics are available, data suggest 80,000 to 100,000 women and children are victims of sexual exploitation or trafficking for such purposes each year, with many sent to Malaysia and the Middle East, or locally to Jakarta and Kalimantan.

[From Trafficking Drives Thousands of Girls Into Prostitution - The Jakarta Globe]

You see them everywhere in Bali, and a street near our old house had several houses. The girls live in hovels across the road. The most common visitors seem to be Police who can be seen taking envelopes at night, or driving out (and you can be sure law enforcement was not what they were there for).

The girls, you often see them in unhappily walking the streets between their hovels and the house, or getting into vans for delivery to a hotel or party somewhere, all look so sad and hopeless. Most are very young. It tears at you…….

Limited to full price ticket buyers to Take Me Back..as long as stocks hold out, a double Box CD, of club classics.

After record labels and the album, then next victim of the digital age:

“Now, records can be made in a bedroom. With an Apple Mac, two good microphones and a few other bits and pieces, you can be more powerful than Abbey Road was 20 years ago,” he said

[From The day the music died for studios - Times Online]

Terril Jones had only shown the photograph to friends.

While working as a reporter in Beijing during the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, he shot many photographs and recorded several hours of video. It wasn’t until weeks afterwards, when he had returned to Japan, that he discovered the magnitude of what he had captured — an iconic moment in history from an entirely unique angle.

His version of the tank man has never been published until now.

[From Behind the Scenes: A New Angle on History - Lens Blog - NYTimes.com]