This movie has haunted me for years, well, technically, for decades.

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Jason Burke in The Guardian:

Salman Rushdie has launched a scathing attack on the Indian government for failing to protect free speech after organisers of Asia’s biggest literary festival were forced to cancel a video-linked appearance by the British author when owners of the venue in the north-west Indian city of Jaipur decided it would be unsafe.

However, in an interview with the local NDTV network, the 64-year-old author reserved his harshest words for the “Muslim groups that were so unscrupulous, and whose idea of free speech is that they are the only ones entitled to it”.

“[If] Anyone else, who they disagree with, wishes to open his mouth, they will try and stop that mouth,” Rushdie said.

“That’s what we call tyranny. It’s much worse than censorship because it comes with the threat of violence.”

The interview followed the last-minute cancellation of Rushdie’s speech to thousands waiting at the Diggi Palace, a heritage hotel in the centre of Jaipur.

British writer and historian William Dalrymple, one of the festival’s directors, said the decision had been taken by the owners of the venue.

“The police commissioner told us there would be violence in the venue and a riot outside where thousands were gathering if we continued,” Dalrymple said.

More here.

See the whole video here.

Happy Birthday Muhammad Ali! Dave Zirin over at the LA Times [h/t: Farooq Ahmed] (also see Abbas's post on ali from a few years ago):

Muhammad Ali turned 70 on Tuesday, and the three-time heavyweight champion who doubled as the most famous draft resistor in U.S. history remains larger than life in the American mind, despite being ravaged by Parkinson's disease. Two years ago, on a visit to Louisville, Ky., I was reminded why.

In a cab on the way to the Muhammad Ali Center downtown, I saw that my driver had a Vietnam Veterans of America patch on display by his license. I asked him about his experience in Southeast Asia, and he started talking a mile a minute about his time “in country,” how his “happiest days” were being a sniper in Vietnam. He even said: “You might not know this, being from Washington, D.C., but the most dangerous animal to hunt is man.” He then described the task in detail. He wanted to make sure I left his cab fully aware of his pride, patriotism and unwavering belief in the duty of going to war when country called.

I didn't engage the driver in a debate about Vietnam or U.S. imperialism, but given my reason for being in Louisville, I couldn't resist one question. I asked: “What do you think about Muhammad Ali? He opposed the war in Vietnam. He called it an illegal war aimed at increasing oppression throughout the globe.

“Now you're in a city where there is a Muhammad Ali Street and you're taking me to the Muhammad Ali Center. Does that bother you?”

Without skipping a beat, my cabdriver said, “Well, you have to love Ali.”

H/t Jyotsna Uppal:

This is not the first time you have heard this, but I defy you to listen to (or read, below) the whole thing and remain unmoved by it. This post is dedicated to my sister Azra and my niece Sheherzad. Now watch, or read, or do both:

And here is the text of the speech:

I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.

Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.

But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languishing in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. So we have come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.

In a sense we have come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked “insufficient funds.” But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. So we have come to cash this check — a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice. We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quick sands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children.

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James Fallows in The Atlantic:

1) The “Crab Into Kick” Crosswind landing technique: A few weeks ago I posted a video of a dramatic landing by a Lufthansa plane, in Canada, as it coped with gale-force crosswinds. It was a useful demonstration of the classic “crab into kick” technique of landing in a crosswind. The airplane approaches the runway at a “crabbed” angle, to offset the wind — then at practically the last instant before touchdown the pilot uses the rudder to “kick” the plane into alignment with the runway, so when the wheels make contact they are pointed straight ahead. That post also had a lot of links to how-to discussions of landing techniques.

Here is a fascinating demonstration of how various pilots apply the technique, during tough crosswinds last week in Dusseldorf, Germany. As you watch the sequence of planes coming in, you're looking to see how close each touchdown point is to the runway's center line, and whether the plane has been “kicked” so that it points straight ahead.

The landings shown here range from very precise, to “good enough.” The results are a combination of the pilots' handling of the approach and the control characteristics of the various airplanes. Also, you get to see some crosswind takeoffs. At time 1:15 you'll note a plane “going around” — breaking off an approach so it can circle around for another landing attempt — because the pilot didn't like the way things were set up.

More here.

Mike Springer in Open Culture:

Last month we brought you some little-known soap commercials by Ingmar Bergman. Today we present a series of lyrical television advertisements made by the great Italian filmmaker Federico Fellini during the final decade of his life.

In 1984, when he was 64 years old, Fellini agreed to make a miniature film featuring Campari, the famous Italian apéritif. The result, Oh, che bel paesaggio! (“Oh, what a beautiful landscape!”), shown above, features a man and a woman seated across from one another on a long-distance train. The man (played by Victor Poletti) smiles, but the woman (Silvia Dionisio) averts her eyes, staring sullenly out the window and picking up a remote control to switch the scenery. She grows increasingly exasperated as a sequence of desert and medieval landscapes pass by. Still smiling, the man takes the remote control, clicks it, and the beautiful Campo di Miracoli (“Field of Miracles”) of Pisa appears in the window, embellished by a towering bottle of Campari.