Today's edition of Boing Boing tv is a new installment of our ongoing "BBtv WORLD" series, in which we bring you first-person glimpses of life, culture, and human expression from around the planet.

Today, I visit the honeycombed, limestone caves at Drak Yerpa, an ancient religious and historic site near Lhasa, Tibet.

Tibetan Buddhists consider Drak Yerpa (pronounced sort of like “tra-YER-ba”) with its more than eighty meditation caves and temples, to be the “life tree” of Lhasa. In 1959, the Chinese military demolished most of the temples here. Signs of that destruction are etched into walls pockmarked with bullet holes. The few artifacts that saved from that destruction have been hidden for half a century, only recently reemerging for worshippers.

Songsten Gampo, the founder of the Tibetan empire, is believed to have meditated in the very cave we’re walking through in this footage -- way back in the 7th century. A hundred years later, the dark assassin-monk Lhalungpa Pelgi Dorje hid here after killing Tibet’s non-Buddhist king with a bow and arrow (he shot the guy in the eye, then he sped off on a horse covered in black soot). The assassin's black hat was enshrined in a cave here until 1959, when the communist army came in to ransack the site. And Padmasambhava, the holy figure considered “the second Buddha” meditated and practiced tantric yoga with his yogini consort here. She is Yeshe Tsogyal, and devotees refer to her as "the bliss queen."

The pilgrims who walk praying through these ruins are ethnic Tibetans: citydwellers, tribal nomads, traditional monks and nuns. They come to worship at shrines of historical figures and deities, and they pay homage with donations that help cover upkeep of the shrines and to feed the monks who tend to them.

Traditional religious practice is evident here, but ethnic Tibetans and human rights advocates argue that true religious freedom does not exist in Tibet. Displaying a picture of the Dalai Lama, for instance, is a crime that brings harsh penalties. Tibetans who revere him as a spiritual leader don't hear news of him on state-run media, unless it's portraying him as a sort of terrorist.

When we went to these shrines at Drak Yerpa and others throughout Tibet, we were clearly foreigners, and had just come from the part of India where the Dalai Lama lives in exile. Monks would often pull us aside into quieter corners and ask in hushed voice, "Dalai Lama, have you seen him?," motioning to their eyes, asking for word. -- XJ

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Related episodes of Boing Boing tv:
* BBtv WORLD (Tibet): Inside Lhasa
* Vlog (Xeni): Tibet report - monks forced to participate in staged videos.
* Vlog (Xeni): Tibet's uprising and the internet
* Beijing: interview with pro-Tibet videobloggers in hiding, in China.

Last week, eight American citizens were detained in Beijing for participating in pro-Tibetan sovereignty protests near the site of the 2008 Olympics, with Students for a Free Tibet. Two videobloggers who documented those protest and guerrilla art installations evaded detention, and spoke to Boing Boing TV on Friday Beijing time about why they were there, what they witnessed, and why it mattered.

Jay Dedman and Ryanne Hodson of Ryanishungry.com spoke to us over Skype from a hostel in Beijing. One of the actions they documented in photo and video was the hanging of an "LED throwies" light banner, below, which read "FREE TIBET." We agreed to hold this Boing Boing tv episode until after we received word that they'd safely left the country. They have returned home, so I am posting the piece today.

Correction: Yesterday, we posted news that 6 Americans who'd been detained were now released and on their way to Los Angeles. Turns out that in fact, a total of 8 were detained -- the last two, from a later protest, a photograph of which is posted below (Thanks, NF and Students for a Free Tibet).

Previously on Boing Boing blog:
* UPDATE: US citizens detained in Beijing over Tibet protests are released, returning home.
* Beijing and Tibet: GRL's James Powderly, Brian of "Alive in Baghdad, 4 other US citizens receive 10-day jail sentence
* Beijing update: New detentions, 6 US protesters missing, Tibetan protesters in Tibet reportedly shot dead.
* Beijing: "Alive in Baghdad" videoblogger among US citizens detained in pro-Tibet protests
* Beijing: Five US activists detained after lighting up "Free Tibet" LED Throwies banner near Olympics site
* GRL's James Powderly detained in Beijing for planning pro-Tibet "L.A.S.E.R. Stencil" art protest

Related episodes of Boing Boing tv:
* BBtv WORLD (Tibet): Inside Lhasa
* Vlog (Xeni): Tibet report - monks forced to participate in staged videos.
* Vlog (Xeni): Tibet's uprising and the internet

Today's episode of Boing Boing tv is a new installment of our "BBtv World" series, in which we bring you first-person accounts of life around the world. In this episode, I travel to Lhasa during an annual Tibetan Buddhist festival.

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The first thing that hits you when you arrive in Lhasa is just how close to the heavens you are. Literally. The average elevation in Tibet is 16,000 feet. The fact that this place is known as the “Roof of the World" makes sense as your newcomer lungs and blood struggle to adjust to the altitude.

Beijing says Tibet is historically part of China, not a sovereign nation. China’s army invaded Tibet in 1950. Years of bloody conflict followed. In 1959, Tibet’s traditional spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, fled into exile in India. China has governed over Tibet since then.

During the fourth lunar month in the Tibetan calendar, ethnic Tibetans celebrate the annual festival of Saga Dawa. Tibetan Buddhists believe that on the full moon in this month, in various years of his life, the Buddha was born, achieved enlightenment, and died.

A large armed police presence surrounded the festival during the year I shot the footage you'll see in this episode. When we asked one pilgrim why, she said “Because when too many Tibetans gather in one place, they are afraid we’ll rise up.”

In 2008, Saga Dawa fell on the heels of a violent government crackdown on pro-independence protesters throughout Tibet, during the run-up to the Olympics. Thousands of armed troops filled Lhasa and outlying towns, and large numbers of "suspects" were rounded up and jailed. Widespread reports of human rights abuses filtered out, despite a virtual communications blackout. This year’s Saga Dawa festival also fell near the anniversary of the Tiananmen democracy protests, and authorities cited fears that this would inspire more protest in Tibet.

While first-person accounts were hard to come by, there were many reports of ethnic Tibetans being blocked from the traditional pilgimage route around Lhasa in the name of state security.

Previously on Boing Boing tv:

* Vlog (Xeni): Tibet report - monks forced to participate in staged videos.
* Vlog (Xeni): Tibet's uprising and the internet

Previously on Boing Boing blog:

* Hacking the Himalayas (Xeni Tech / NPR)
* Tradition vs. Change in 'Lhasa Vegas'

In episode 2 of our new BBtv WORLD series, Xeni reports in from a K'iche Maya village in the Guatemalan highlands, and we step inside a traditional Mayan steam bath, or "tuj."

This pueblo began as a settlement camp for "environmental refugees" -- people who became displaced after mudslides and floods caused by Hurricane Mitch made their ancestral village unsafe. Survivors packed what belongings they could on their backs and walked miles to a bare patch of cold, windy mountaintop nicknamed "Alaska" for its extreme microclimate.

Nearly ten years after the disaster and the subsequent loss of their homes, these people are still struggling for survival. Their traditions are a source of strength, and today we experience one of them -- a small brick hut filled with hot volcanic rocks, steam, and herb branches gathered from nearby mountains.

WATCH THIS EPISODE ON BOINGBOING.NET. (Or, download MP4 here)

Previously on BBtv WORLD:

• Episode 1: El Molinero (Guatemala)

(image: Xeni Jardin)

On behalf of all my Boing Boing and Boing Boing tv colleagues, I'm excited and proud to announce the debut of a new series within our daily video program: BBtv World. This ongoing series will feature first-person glimpses of life around the world, told through the lenses and voices of Boing Boing editors, guest collaborators -- and through the people in these places, their own stories, their own way. When we can, we want to place the camera directly in the hands -- literally -- of the people whose lives, cultures, and lands we're visiting.

We're kicking this off with an episode I shot during a recent visit in a K'iche Maya village in the highlands of Guatemala, where I go a few times a year to work on sustainable development projects with an international project managed with local indigenous leaders.

"El Molinero," the title of this debut piece, refers to the corn mill where young girls go every day to grind soaked, hulled corn ("nixtamal") into soft dough for tortillas or tamales (in K'iche, "k'osh").

The old machine -- hacked together by local craftsman from various components -- is extremely loud, spews smelly fuel exhaust, and like many aspects of daily life and work here, is dangerous.

The K'iche girls you see in this episode helped me shoot some of what you see. In future episodes, they'll tell their stories themselves, and we'll visit other places -- Tibet, Africa, Mexico, China, India, and Japan, to name a few of the destinations planned.

WATCH THIS VIDEO ON BOINGBOING.NET.

In today's episode of Boing Boing tv, Cory Doctorow checks in from his ongoing book tour for "Little Brother," and reads a passage from this latest novel. We also learn all about the contents of his hotel minibar, and a cool steampunk watch he received which shoots cockroaches accross the room.

Previously on Boing Boing tv:
* Cory Doctorow: Show us your "Little Brother" HOWTO videos, and "Dumpster-Diving Philosopher."

Part two of Boing Boing tv's interviews with Kevin Kelly:

Years before he helped launch Wired Magazine in 1993 (hey, happy 15th birthday, Wired!), Kevin Kelly took an amazing journey. He rode his bicycle across the US in 1979, and produced an ink sketch and a haiku in a sketchbook for each day of the three month, 5,000 mile trip. Those sketches and poems were scanned and published as "Bicycle Haiku." (link to purchase on Lulu). Kelly explains:

A typical scene would be like the day I passed through Francisco, Indiana. On a page full of cow faces staring up at me, the haiku goes: "Collective silence/Like I walked into the wrong room/Every horned head turned." (...) I scanned the 151 images in the original book (which is the same size as this one) and printed this at a books-on-demand printer in 2001.

Previously, in part 1 of our interview, Kelly spoke about his love of the camera, during his "nomadic photojournalist" phase in Asia. Today we hear why he gave up that camera, on this very personal quest.

Related: A 1997 episode of the radio program This American Life features a longer audio piece in which Kevin shares more of the spiritual underpinnings of "Bicycle Haiku." It's a beautiful story: Link.

Today on Boing Boing tv, Cory Doctorow invites you to create and share HOWTO videos based on an ongoing series of Instructables posts that draw from his latest book, Little Brother.

Here's how Andrew “bunnie” Huang, author of Hacking the Xbox, describes the book:

[A] scarily realistic adventure about how homeland security technology could be abused to wrongfully imprison innocent Americans. A teenage hacker-turned-hero pits himself against the government to fight for his basic freedoms. This book is action-packed with tales of courage, technology, and demonstrations of digital disobedience as the technophile’s civil protest.

Here's how to submit your Little Brother HOWTO video to Boing Boing tv:

(1) Shoot it!
(2) Upload it to YouTube or another video hosting site!
(3) Tell us where to find it! Submit the url here.
(4) Selected videos will be featured on BBtv!

Also in today's episode (which, by the way, is Cory's BBtv debut): Legendary dumpster-diver Darren Atkinson was the subject of Cory's first-ever WIRED magazine feature in 1994. Cory returns to the trash-heap for BBtv with the "modern industrialist philosopher of garbage," who also performs in multiple WHO cover bands.

In related news, here's a Little Brother library/school donation project update, and if you're in Chicago, come on out to one of the Little Brother events taking place in your area over the next two days!

In this BBtv vlog episode, Xeni speaks with Tibetan human rights worker Lhakpa Kyizom about reported abuses against so-called "wired monks" in Tibet, by PRC military and police. Using cellphones, these monks photographed people who had been killed or injured during nonviolent, pro-Tibetan sovereignty protests that took place in March. The monks then disseminated these images to supporters outside Tibet, using connected computers and mobile devices.

After the images spread worldwide, and their origin became known to authorities in the tightly-controlled, tense, post-protest environment in Tibet, Kyizom says, military forces invaded the monastery, confiscated all communications tools, and detained nearly 600 monks in political retaliation.

Kyizom works as a radio producer for Tibet Connection, and is a trainer with the Active Nonviolence Education Center in the Northern Indian town of Dharamshala, also home to the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan government in exile.

A partial transcript of Kyizom's account after the jump, and links to reports on further protests, mass detentions, and new pressure on Tibetans to denounce the Dalai Lama as the crackdown intensifies.

Update: Nathan Freitas says, "The unfortunate aftermath of the incidents your video covered...."

Two monks commit suicide in Amdo Ngaba
According to confirm information received by the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD), two monks committed suicide in Amdo Ngaba (Ch: Aba) as a direct result of relentless oppression by the Chinese security forces after the series of peaceful protests.

Update 2: Chinese military police killed 8 Tibetans today, after shooting on hundreds of Tibetan monks and villagers in a monastery:

Witnesses said the clash – in which dozens were wounded – erupted late last night after a government inspection team entered a monastery in the Chinese province of Sichuan trying to confiscate pictures of the Dalai Lama.

Officials searched the room of every monk in the Donggu monastery, a sprawling 15th century edifice in Ganzi, southwestern Sichuan, confiscating all mobile phones as well as the pictures.

When the inspectors tore up the photographs and threw them on the floor, a 74-year-old monk, identified as Cicheng Danzeng, tried to stop an act seen as a desecration by Tibetans who revere the Dalai Lama as their god king

Link (thanks Oxblood)

Today on Boing Boing tv, a conversation with Ethan Zuckerman, co-founder of Global Voices, about videoblogging culture in the North African nation of Tunisia.

Despite intense restrictions on freedom of speech there, and extreme risks for critics of the political status quo, bloggers there are finding innovative uses for video online, as a method of cultural commentary and activism. Using tools like Tor and SipPhone to ensure anonymity, they have proven themselves to be several steps ahead of their US counterparts -- as evidenced by a story Zuckerman shares about an Apple ad remix.

Sites and organizations referenced in or related to this BBtv episode include:

* advocacy.globalvoicesonline.org
* Reporters Without Borders
* Committee for the Protection of Journalists
* Amnesty International.

Related previous Boing Boing posts:

Tunisia jails, reportedly tortures popular blogger and online journo

Liveblogging WSIS in Tunisia, continued.

Liveblogging WSIS in Tunisia, continued.

Report: Journalists, others at WSIS attacked by authorities

BoB award noms for world "freedom of expression" blogs

Today on Boing Boing tv, a vlog from Mark about Socialbomb, a real-world tech game that explores social circles and ways to measure interpersonal reputation.

The current version is designed to accommodate 30 players. Each player is awarded points for being near players with higher reputations, and penalized for being near players with lower reputations. Bonuses and penalties are applied according to overall social promiscuity and status. The player with the worst reputation score is the 'Socialbomb.' Their score will have the most negative impact on a social circle.

Shot on location at the O'Reilly Emerging Technology Conference.

Tibetans and their supporters around the world held vigils this week in support of the ongoing uprising in Tibet, as Chinese military and police jailed protesters inside Tibet, and reports of injuries and deaths continue.

Today on Boing Boing tv: Xeni visited one such vigil in front of the LA Federal building, organized by Southern California Tibetans, including Namgyal Kyulo of the Tibetan Association of Southern California, and Tseten Phanucharas, of the Los Angeles Friends of Tibet.

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Some of the vigil participants reported they were unable to connect with family and friends at home in Tibet, to check on their well-being, because of blocked telecommunications. Others (an exiled grandmother and her 11-year-old son, alike) spoke of being "glued to YouTube," straining to watch blurry phonecam videos of the demonstrations and violence.

China's government is not allowing reporters or human rights observers inside Tibet, and human rights advocates are concerned that grave violations are taking place.

(Image: some of the hundreds of ethnic Tibetans identified as protest participants and turned in to Chinese police in Tibet. The detainees were presented before state-run television cameras before being transported to prison / XZTV, Tibet).

"The Chinese government must immediately allow independent media access to all areas of Tibet," said the Tibetan Association's Kyulo. "We continue to hear eyewitness reports of house to house searches and arbitrary arrests in Lhasa and growing numbers of killings in Amdo, Kham, and other areas."

China blocked YouTube and Google News, and Boing Boing tv viewers inside China tell us that Boing Boing is also blocked (perhaps due to keyword filtering for words like "Dalai Lama," or "Tibet.") Google appears to be complying with China's net-censors by censoring the version of Google News that is available inside China.

"Without the internet, we would have no information at all about what's going on inside of Tibet," said Tseten Phanucharas. "nor would this global movement in solidarity with the Tibetan people exist."

Also present at the rally was Gyalthan Gyatso, part of a team of cyclists doing a "Peace Ride for Human Rights in Tibet" beginning March 29th in San Francisco.

(Image: some iphone snapshots during the BBtv shoot / Xeni Jardin)

Previously on Boing Boing:

Tibet: nearly 1,000 jailed in Lhasa, Dalai Lama offers to resign

Xeni on G4's AOTS re: Tibet and China's 'net blackout

Tibet: China blocks YouTube, protests spread, bloggers react

Tibet: more deaths, injuries in Lhasa as crackdown grows

Tibetan protests in Lhasa turn violent as Chinese forces crack down

China sends in troops to quell monks' peaceful protests

Police attack peacefully protesting monks in Tibet

Protest inside Tibet captured on tourists' cameras

Hacking the Himalayas: Xeni's stories and trek-blog from Tibet and India

Boing Boing tv: Miss Tibet/Eames Elephants

Google, China, and genocide: web censorship and Tibet

The Los Angeles vigil continues on Friday, March 21, from 5-7pm, at the Los Angeles Federal Building, 11000 Wilshire Blvd.

Boing Boing Gadgets editor Joel Johnson says,

We finally had a chance to put the Krups Heineken BeerTender through a battery of rigorous tests, such as "Will it allow beer to escape its nozzle?" and "Hey, the beer is gone." If you perused the unboxing spread I put up last week you can probably guess my eventual purchasing advice, but let's just say that $300 is a lot of money for a tiny refrigerator that can only serve Heineken.

Also, we didn't labor it in the video, but the little sensor that shows you how much beer is left in the proprietary DraftKeg? You know, one of the only things that the BeerTender adds over a regular refrigerator? Totally did not work on ours.

Link to post on BB-Gadgets, with discussion thread.

In 2005, Mark Klein, a former AT&T technician, brought to public attention documents which showed that the National Security Agency had obtained copies of Internet traffic flowing through an AT&T facility in San Francisco and through several other AT&T locations across the country.

This led to public outcry over the US government's warrantless wiretapping program, and a lawsuit against AT&T by the Electronic Frontier Foundation .

At the 2008 EFF Pioneer Awards ceremony during the O'Reilly ETech conference, the EFF honored Klein's whistleblowing efforts. In this interview at the awards ceremony, Klein and EFF Legal Director Cindy Cohn speak with us about efforts to persuade lawmakers not to grant legal immunity to telecoms that may have broken the law while helping the government in anti-terrorism efforts.

On March 6, 2008, another whistleblower came forward with similar claims. Computer security consultant Babak Pasdar said he'd discovered a mysterious "Quantico Circuit" while working for an unnamed major wireless carrier.

He believes this circuit gives the U.S. government direct, high-speed access to customers' voice and data transmissions.

For more information: EFF.org.

Update: Wired's Threat Level blog posted about this BBtv episode just now, and reminds us...

And just to toot our own horn, although Wired wasn't the first to write about the Klein documents, we did acquire them while they were under court seal (from a party not subject to the gag order) and publish them for geeks of the world to analyze. (Explanation here.)