Sometimes these days come along filled with interesting personalities and people generally doing nice things for me. I made lunch for a lovely Finnish friend, rode to Haarlem with two colleagues from Uni, and then got a ride back to A’dam with two board members from our foundation. (Mpowering People) Incedentally, today I stepped down as a board member, it was a lovely run, but I wasn’t doing much. So now I’m just a volunteer.
I was discussing terrorism and safety with my Finnish friend today, and we came to a simple yet- not said often enough, point: At the end of the day, no matter how tight they think security is, if someone wants to do something violent, they can. Meaning you cannot garuntee safety. I know this is obvious, but too often I listen to government officials and citizens who seem to honestly believe in pointless drills, and excessive yet useless vigilence. Now in Amsterdam they ring a city wide siren every first monday of the month – part of a safety drill. You’re supposed to go indoors and this-in turn- prepares us for an emergency. Not only is this rediculous, it’s pathetic that some leaders actually believe in such practices.
Listening to my favorite radio show Off The Wall on WUSB Stoneybrook, my friend Emmanuel said it best, speaking about all the tightened security and fuss about railroad. “Bombing trains is not new. You could have always bombed trains… 10, 20 even 50 years ago. Bombing trains wasn’t invented in Madrid.” Paranoia… illogical paranoia.. I see alot of it.
Today I discovered the Angry Arab News Service…. a great blog by an very passionate and informed human. Also, I learned that Chuch D, one of the founders of Public Enemy has a show afternoons on Air America. I want to check that out.
Oh, today is the anniversary of the death of Picasso… 1977; therefore I just wanted to show my respect.
Today’s Music: J.J. Johnson – The Brass Orchestra