Weight-loss & Wikkileaks

In an attempt to find sunshine, holistic fitness, natural weight-loss and stress relief the Dark Mistress found herself waking up in Thailand today. Leaving the iPhone was hard, leaving the laptop impossible, the only hope for this hopelessly addicted screenager, is that the Bamboo Huts of Ko Samui don’t have broadband…

Why Thailand…? An irony for a country so obsessed with good food is the existence of a fasting retreat industry in beautiful locations throughout the country. Having achieved little weight-loss progress despite fun runs and triatholons over the past few months, the idea of a fasting yoga retreat seemed tempting… just get away from it all, go somewhere out-of-routine, and make it happen.

Talk of Wikkileaks protests in Sydney seems distant, yet the subject of Wikkileaks is hot in a lot of places right now. It’s clear some people are comfortable with the need of governments to tell them odd lie, and others are not. Here in Thailand, Kavi Chongkittavorn of The Nation asks why Wikkileaks is taking on the big democracies – surely they could do a thing or two with local dictatorships? Chongkittavorn surmises that dictatorships run internet regimes that stifle criticism, and they are not the target of Wikkileaks activities, so we should prepare for internet freedom becoming more difficult in the Western World.

Here is a confession – despite Wikkileaks being momentous in media, the Dark Mistress has never looked at it, she instead relies on old media to tell her what is going on. Old media, in fact, has always reported on stories that started as humble leaks. They now turn to Wikkileaks for much of their leaked material, so has anything changed? Other than the lack of a layer of analysis offered by old media, the publication of leaked material by Wikkileaks is no different than what old media has always done. The condemnation of the site, and apparent smear campaign against its founder just seems a little too extreme as a response. At present it looks like the whole thing could boil down to a simple breech of copyright with public interest attached.

The wash-up from the Wikkileaks case simply can’t be used by governments of any persuasion to restrict internet freedom. Users of the internet need to watch this case and ensure that natural freedoms are protected on the on or offline world.

Progress Update
Weight-loss Status Update: 72 kilos and counting down to fast day… (just pass me the chilli mean-time)
Fitness Status Update: Too hot to run, does laps in a resort pool count? What if you’re swimming up to the in-pool bar?
Stress Relief Status Update: Sanuk.

Yours,

The Dark Mistress

The Balance Blog – A reflection on virtual life versus embodied life; ostensibly finding sunshine, holistic fitness, natural weight-loss and stress relief for an obsessed workaholic screen addict, with the occasional dig at the World Wide Web.