movement

You Didn’t Know They Were Fighting: The Karen National Liberation Army in Myanmar

This news story from 2006 alerted me to a war I didn’t know anybody was fighting: the liberation of Karen State from Myanmar. The KNLA (Karen National Liberation Army) and KNU (Karen National Union) have been fighting for independence since the British left Burma (Myanmar) in 1948. What do you get a 51-year old rebel movement for its birthday? Here are their demands:

  • For us, surrender is out of the question.
  • We shall retain our arms.
  • The recognition of the Karen State must be complete.
  • We shall decide our own political destiny.

Walking Desk

I used to have a stand-up desk at work. Then that got replaced by a pair of standup workstations above a more normal desk. Then I moved offices and switched roles from sysadmin to programmer and got the most normal desk ever. Then, in January 2005, I heard an NPR story about Dr. Jim Levine’s […] » about 200 words