bicyclemark

Don’t Praise the Kids

Arrived some hours ago from Brussels, after a very enjoyable weekend exploring neighborhoods I hadn’t gone to in years with my cousin and meeting up with my buddy Tim.

At some point the topic of child care came up, probably because of my imaginary children that you know, I’m always talking about and concerned about how I’m not raising them since they don’t exist.

But a great subject of discussion became praising, not praising, and over-praising one’s children. Though it was a theoretical discussion in our case, we each spoke a bit about how best to do it or not do it. Makes me remember alot of kids I knew that were praised for every little nothing that they did… and wonder where they are today.. did all that praise properly prepare them for life.. especially when things don’t go right even though others once told you about how great you are? I really wonder. Then again, if you were almost never praised, maybe you’re constantly unhappy with your actions; miserable in effect.

All this is the topic on a HIGHLY RECOMMENDED episode of On Point last week. Whether you have kids or not, I recommend listening. There are even some reasonable tips about what to do if AT THIS VERY MOMENT you realize you’ve been praising your kid too much… what to do now?

In closing I’d like to say to myself: “dam you did a good thing going to brussels this weekend, BUT, you should work on cleaning your room and fix your sleeping pattern.”

Unexpected Brussels Encounters

As you can read below, I chose to blog from my mobile that I was on my way to Brussels. I very self-absorbed thing to do, admittedly.. then again so is blogging so ha.

But talk about practical; just as I’m crossing the NL-BE invisible border, Tim calls and says — I just read that you’re on the train to Brussels.. well Im about to get on the train from Berlin.. TO BRUSSELS. Et voila.. here I sit at some kind of tech conference for open source people.. Tim sits to my right chatting away about the Chaos Communications Camp to inquiring minds this summer.

My point is. Voila the power of blogging and new tech/communication devices. It may be quite simple and very first-world centric, but it is a great thing when you can write something and minutes later on one side of the world your mom knows where you are and on the other, a friend realizes he’s going to be in the same city as you for the weekend.

Or maybe you find none of this special. FINE. I give you a photo instead.

Oh air travel

Captain’s mobile blog: Here i sit @ gate for ams to ewr flight. Thanks to trusty TvBGone ive turned off annoying tvs throughout airport. Yay. Airport security is 75 percent useless, i like telling different lies to each authority figure. Ok, time 2 go

Dinner and WW1 Mines

You know its a good dinner conversation when we break into European History thru revolutions and wars. Shouldn’t be much of a surprise since in our spare time we also look up who the last King of the Austro-Hungarian empire was.

But this evening Krizu alerted me to something I actually had no clue about and am quite shocked to learn: They are de-mining Belgium from World War 1! I repeat.. WWI (1914 to 1918), there are still mines scattered about certain parts of Belgium that were put there around 90 years ago!?

This isn’t just a matter of fascinating tidbits of knowledge, this about a terrible war, so long ago, still able to claim victims. Apparently the Belgian army has a whole specific unit dedicated to finding these last land-mines. Obviously I now want to meet these guys, they must have amazing stories.

Beyond this I didn’t realize, and she pointed out, that only a few hours south, down there in Belgium, there are still plenty of old trenches and craters in the earth leftover from WWI. Why am I surprised? I guess I expected everything, beyond the occasional memorial or museum, to be cleaned up, renovated, built upon… in effect.. erased.

This gets me to thinking of other wars, including the current occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan. What about the landmines? (several nations, including the US, refuse to stop using them) Or even the craters. How many generations later will still see these scars and live with the risk of potentially blowing up because of a landmine left behind, for another war that allegedly will end all war (or terror).

bmtv39 Life Stories of my Grandparents (Part 1)

Click To Play

When I spoke in Berlin last December, lots of people asked “why do you put personal things mixed with your podcasts and blog entries.” What I tried to answer then, is that everything here is personal to me.. these are issues, ideas, and people that I care about and which make me who I am.

The following is Part 1 of a few vlog entries featuring my grandparents; just a little sample of them describing what life was like for them as farmers in Portugal. I’ve subtitled the key points, Portuguese speakers will notice some extras.

Frustration for Baghdad, Hope for NOLA

Planning a trip next month to the United States, and it goes without saying how good it will be to see the family and the friends.

But whenever I think about it, a second feeling comes to mind, frustration. To have to go back to a country responsible for so much bullshit in the world. And while I know there are good people, other bad countries in the world, and even some signs of hope in the US, it is always there in my mind when I think about going there.

Clearly I just watched the latest entry from Alive in Baghdad. I think everyone should watch it. Maybe twice. And think about it.. what is this for? What good does this do anyone. And most importantly, who benefits from all this pain and destruction.. cause we should never forget who benefits from all this horror. Now more than ever, we have enough evidence to determine that participating in this occupation of iraq is not only mistake.. its a crime against humanity, paid for by every American’s tax dollars.

On the other hand I’ve also just watched something inspiring, from NEw Orleans. It is the type of grassroots initiative from creative and passionate people, that reminds me of that segment of Americans that I’ve always identified with and that I’m very inspired by. Watch this entry from Sustainable Route and see what a group of intelligent and determined people are doing to bring NOLA back. (maybe I should visit them)