Im Big in Boston

As so often mentioned, Radio Open Source is an excellent podcast, not mention a regular radio show on NPR in Boston. I not only listen, but I throw in my 2 cents in the comments and recommend guests when possible. In the past few months, some of the staff have gotten in touch to ask me certain questions and pick my brain on some topics. As you can imagine, I love contributing to their show.

Well last night I stepped up and helped them get most of their guests as the topic was related Tolerance, Radicalism, and the Netherlands. I also sent a big email talking about my own reflections on the country’s general attitude in relation to terrorism, extremism, and all those nice things.

I stayed up extra late listening to the show live, and it was very exciting to hear my own name in the credits. Made me want to call my mom and say “listen to this!”. As a bonus, it is also fun to see my email is featured on their site. I guess I should say welcome if you’ve come here from there. This is my blog, wipe your feet, browse around, try to play nice in the comments.

Lastly, thanks to everyone at ROS (Robin, Greta, and former intern Henry), for all the work you do and for involving me.

JetLAgged

Hit me today while watching the Cobert Report.. Jetlag with a Vengence. Where am I.. who am I.. what year is it. Must.. go .. to .. sleep.

Ive noticed Soda everywhere. Everyones drinking soda. Terrible Terrible High-Fructose Corn Syrup and Phosphate whats-it-called and all the tooth decay and the pestisides… why do these soda companies do this to people? And why do people volunteer to ingest this crap?

The Soda wars continue in India. The US needs some Soda wars of its own. Starting with the childen.. keep soda out of the hands of children.

Don’t Wake Me, Amsterdam is Sleeping

“Again last night I had that strange dream, where everything was exactly as it seemed. Concerns about the world getting warmer, people thought that they were just being rewarded. For treating others as theyd like to be treated, for obeying stop signs and curing diseases. For mailing letters with the address of the sender, now we can swim any day in november.” (Postal Service)

I think about that song alot while cruising down the canals or playing a late night of ultimate during this Amsterdam indian summer. Seems like every year this happens. The fall barely exists and we have summer in september and then switch instantly into winter at some point. It would seem that global warming, at times like this, makes this famously bad weather city, into a tropical paradise. That is, of course, as long as you ignore that the water levels are rising and they’ve announced the big dijk that keeps the ocean out, up north, has to be re-enforced and heightened. And of course they’ll do it in a grand way with all the latest whistles and bells as only the Dutch can do… but at some point you have to wonder how long this country can hold its breath against the heating of the earth that threatens to flood it all.

Yet another reason why I live here now. Situations like this, you can’t wait til later, cause there may not be a later. Next time someone asks, how long will you stay in the Netherlands, maybe I can be annoyingly clever and answer “Til global warming swallows it up.” (then I’ll finally move to Berlin)

One classic moment that pretty much represents my life over here came last night, and I thought to share it in this post. I’m cruising towards home after an evening of sailing tamisevans around town, and I receive an sms from the MacDocMan. I call him and he says “Why don’t you come join me for a drink at So-and-So bar.” And I say, “OK, I’ll park the boat and run over there.” To which he replies “Ok, Ill put your name in the book cause its members only.” And I look at my sandles and dirty sleeveless frisbee shirt and I tell him “Wait, I’ll never get in that place. They have a guest list and Im coming in dressed like a beach bum.” He immediately shouts back, “PLEASE, you can wear whatever you want, this is a total leftist club that doesn’t give a shit.” -click.

And indeed, it was.

A Brief BBC Appearance de Moi

Not that I think you should have to hear MORE “me” than you already hear/read/see. But since I still hope to please my mom and make her and dad extra proud, I would just like to announce that I was one of the call-in guests on the BBC worldservice program “World Have Your Say” .. which can be a little crazy as anytime the world has its say… someone inevitably talks over someone. *

I’d like to say it was no big deal and I played it cool, but I was pacing around my room half angry, half nervous, hoping I wouldn’t suddenly contract tourette’s sydrome. (sorry if you’ve got it… ) When my turn came I was determined to leave no spaces in my speech for someone to interrupt. It worked well for about 45 seconds, then – oddly enough – my last words got stepped on by one of the panelists complimenting my statement. Go figure.

Then I think an Israeli guy mistakenly accused me of spreading misinformation. Which would be exciting but I wasn’t the guy he meant to accuse. Ah well.

READ The TEXT, and from there you can hear the recording (I’m around minute 18.30).-

Lastly tonight, and actually something I mentioned on the programme, I’ve been reading up about the history and present situation of the UN peacekeeping operation UNIFIL in southern Lebanon. I had not realized that these 2,000 troops have been there, along the blue line, since the late 70’s. Troops from France, Ireland, Norway, Ghana, India, Nepal, Italy (and more) are part of the mission. The mission, by the way, was to ensure that Israel fully withdrew from the region and enable Lebanon to regain control of the territory. Neither really ever TRUELY occurred. The saddest part, reading all this, is that all the parties involved have repeatedly disrespected the peacekeepers by crossing the line or firing at each other over that line. (over 200 killed) I have to say, I’m not that surprised that Hezbollah disrespects the authority of the UN – they’re not known for embracing international law or peace. But it’s a bit odd that Israel, a signatory of the UN charter, has disrespected, overtaken, and even shot in the direction of this UN mandated peacekeeping force.

In conclusion, and what I didn’t get to finish saying on the BBC, is that this mission must be seriously re-enforced with troops from all continents… especially North America and Europe, to ensure that they are taken seriously, and that neither side dare to cross a well trained, well equipped, and very high profile mission. (see Kosovo, Bosnia, and to a lesser extent – East Timor, for references)

(*Special thanks to Matt for suggesting me for the programme!)

Dilip in Mumbai

I meant to post this last night, so I’m just going to stick last nights date on here. As most of my attention has been focused on Lebanon over the past 3 days, I had originally meant to talk about what took place in Mumbai. But instead of telling you the obvious stuff, like how sad it was that so many people died… I would rather direct you to an article. But this isn’t the typical blogger lazy-link-to-an-article post, the article I recommend is from a blogger who has appeared on my podcast and you can find in my blogroll: “Death Ends Fun”.
Although it might sound a little odd, I have to say the descriptions put forth my Dilip regarding his first hand observations of the aftermath on those trains, as people struggled to help each other and to save whomever they could, it was oddly beautiful. I’m sure it wasn’t his intention and few people would ever call such an occasion beautiful, but the underlying spirit of his words really captured this very caring and determined energy of the people of Mumbai.

So I recommend you read the article, and I leave you with one good selection from it:

The lot of us, dripping water on the hospital’s
spotless floors, stride up to the blood bank. There’s
time to get their names: Binaifer the woman, Shoukat
the driver, Tabrez, Maaz, Anil and Nawaz. We have,
ladies and gentlemen, sound the trumpets, a Hindu, a
Christian, four Muslims, a Parsee and an agnostic
(me). All here to give blood for faceless fellow
humans. (Not my blood, after all, because I donated
just two months ago.) It really shouldn’t, but this
touches me somewhere deep, something fierce.

bm138 CocaCola and Human Rights Violations Worldwide

To call it a soda company would be an understatement. There is no corner of the world where the name isn’t known, and in the last decade, communities in places like Kerela, India, have shed new light on the business practices of the cocacola company. They site cases of human rights violations and environmental terrorism. Cocacola, meanwhile, says its quite the opposite.. so who’s opinion do the facts support?

Background Briefing from Australian Public Radio, Episode on Water in India

Common Dreams Article on Dasani Water
CorpWatch on CokeIndia, Uzbekistan