I came across a post at BoingBoing the other day on a new free email encryption program called Freenigma. It's a free plug-in for Firefox that currently works with Gmail, Yahoo, and MSN/Hotmail. It looks pretty user friendly - once installed, it adds a "Freenigma encrypt" button to the compose screen of your email. You simply click the encrypt button to encrypt your message before you send it. The person receiving the message must also have a freenigma account in order to un-encrypt the message, because your freenigma password works as the key to the encryption. Once you sign up and install Freenigma, you can send invitations to your contacts so they can also install and use freenigma. It only works with Firefox 1.5 at the moment - but that's the best browser to be using anyway. The person receiving the encrypted messages will have to be using Firefox and Freenigma, but they can be using any of the three compatible email clients - Gmail, Yahoo, or MSN/Hotmail.   more »

I've been a bit absent from this blog recently, as I'm sure my devoted readers have noticed. My apologies for that, I've been pre-occupied with other projects that will soon woo you into forgiving my inattention. In an effort to make amends, I give you a Friday post of random entertaining and educational tidbits.

First, a joke:

"An American, an Englishman, and a Burmese meet and boast.
The American said, 'We, the Americans, have climbed Everest with no legs.'
The English said, 'That's easy, man. We the English have crossed the Pacific without arms, twice!'
Then, the Burmese said; 'Your efforts are nothing. Our country has been governed without a brain for 18 years."

The joke is credited to Zargana, AKA Thura, was a trained dental surgeon who came to prominence in the 1980's for poking fun at the then Burma Socialist Programme Party junta. The comedian has been jailed twice for his social and political activism, first as a political dissident in 1988, then again in 1990. He was freed in 1994 on condition that he no longer practiced as a comedian. [As received in my email]

Second, a link:

Mizzima TV

Third, another, somewhat old but still interesting article link:

The confession of a jail warder of Burma’s Tharawaddy Jail

Finally, a link to a blog about a film and the filmmakers working within Karen State and on the Thai border area:

Refugees Within