Author Archives: bicyclemark

The Daily

Thanks to the wonders of filesharing, I watch my Daily Show every evening over dinner. Well, I watch last night’s episode, but that doesn’t make it any less of a hilarious show. But what really fascinates me about this program is its popularity and its message.

When I was a college student in New Jersey, seemed like everyone stopped everything at 11pm to watch their Daily. And I’ve also been told that it’s more widely watched then most other news programs. But that’s not the cool part, what I find really cool, is that the Daily Show is very OVERTLY ciritical of the Bush administration and the hypocracy of both parties in congress. I somehow figured by doing that they would be branded as traitors and boycotted — but wonder of wonders — they are thriving! It’s a beautiful thing. One of those things someone like me can respond to non-Americans when they ask — Whats going on with the people in the US? I can say — well, on the bright side, they LOVE the Daily Show. Just like I do.

AudioComm #44 – Breaking News: Live from an Eviction

AudioCommunique #44(mp3)

28min+, 64kbps, 13Mb+

I was at a party and people were talking about how the Afrika Squat was being raided and evicted. As a self-proclaimed friend to all squatters and believer in that once thriving Amsterdam movement, I grabbed my covert earphone-microphones and head over to report about it. In this podcast I speak to neighbors, artists, and police.

There’s a good 2 minutes where I speak in Dutch with the cops, I didn’t bother translating its fairly explanatory, the cop accused me of being a spy for the squatters, and then I asked if there had been any confrontation. (to which he said basically no) I may submit this to Netherlands Indymedia as well.

Photos in chronological order are available here.

To find out more about squats worldwide go to squat.net.

PT Gone Wild

As much as I consider myself an informed brother , with all the whistles and bells coming out of my beloved powerbook, I admit to you dear readers — I haven’t been reading Portuguese news. It’s a bit shameful because, besides being a citizen, I used to follow events very closely, just like I used to go back there like 3 times a year. But times have changed, money has been tight, and those dam newspapers took a while to get RSS, which is an automatic turn off for the nerd in me.

So when I finally flipped open my favorite portuguese newspaper this week, I was shocked to find the whole place has gone wild this summer. And it all begins with record breaking, burst-into-flames temperatures around 100 degrees (30+ Celcius), and the accompanying forest fires that have become tradition. Add to that, the father of the Portuguese communist party, who fought so hard and was imprisoned by the dictatorship, died this week.

But it isn’t all bad news. This year in general has had a few bright spots for my homeland. And Im not talking about that dam European Championship either. First, despite his extreme mediocrity, they selected the former prime minister as the president of the EU commission, which in retrospect could explain all the failures lately. Then, I just heard, another former prime minister (a more intellegent one) took over the job of High Commissioner for Refugees at the United Nations. May not seem like much to you, but that’s a very important body in a world that creates more refugees every year. Not to mention for a little country like Portugal.

What better time to announce my travel plans: as per tradition – July 25th to August 10th I shall be in Portugal. Anyone want to meet in Lisbon? I know where there’s good WIFI and tons of soundseeing to be done.

Important, Tools

My readership varies in terms of tech savvyness. Some of you are computer junkies. Some of you aren’t. Some of you have blue-tooth and wi-fi devices coming out the ying-yang, while others have the misfortune of having to dial-in for internet access. And keeping this in mind, I occasionally try to introduce you to essential internet tools that will improve your life. Well here come two that you probably know about, but I simply must mention them for the many who still don’t use them.

The first one will one day be common knowledge, like your messenger program or your email, you’ll have a RSS reader, also called a newsreader. Specifically I strongly recommend that you use bloglines.com. Such tools are free and in this case, web based so you can access them from any computer connected to the net.

The reason it will change your life, is that you won’t have to surf to individual websites anymore. No more typing in theonion.com or my address to see the latest stuff, it will come directly into your reader when its ready, and you can read it when YOU are ready. Personally I read over 5 newspapers from different corners of the world, per day, using RSS feeds in my bloglines. I also get my blogs, TV listings, bittorent updates, weather reports, and read new comments using it. And like I said, in the future, EVERYONE will use RSS, but til this point, people have been to scared. Don’t be scared — start using it!

The other tool that has saved me piles of money, and improved my life by connecting me with loved ones around the world, not to mention new friends: SKYPE! Yes, this word should be common knowledge to you. Its a free messaging program that works primarily through voice. Thats right… like a telephone without the telephone and say goodbye to the bills! I talk to my momma all the time now and i suspect we miss each other a little less this way. Download it, start using it, don’t underestimate its usefulness for your life. I also just read a more academic and in-depth post related to what skype can do.

So there you have it.. go forth.. try them. Maybe, just maybe, you’ll thank me.

I miss Labor

You there reading this post – you work don’t you? I mean, maybe you’ve got a job and a boss and that sort of thing? I wonder if you’re in a union? I doubt it. Seems like no one is in a union these days. I am sort of a member/ex-member of the UnitedAutoWorkers Local 1981. That’s right, I’m in the National Writers Union, because freedom of speech on the factory floor is just as important as freedom of speech in publishing. Or something like that.

I’ve been thinking about this as a read about a group of unions in the US who’ve decided to make their own conglomerate, outside of that friggin elephant the AFL-CIO. I hate the AFL-CIO most of the time, they have leadership who have grown fat and complacent. They’re surely in bed with politicians and parties, instead of with their people – the workers. So for me, and workers in general, this is an interesting sign. I mean, when was the last time there was a real alternative to the AFL? 1950’s or around there?

Oh speaking of which, I just checked, and amazingly, my most admired Union from the olden days of REAL action, the IWW, still exists and has a shiney new website. 1905 to 2005.. thats a long time. I wonder if there’s going to be a resugrency? maybe I should renew my writers union membership now. Maybe they’ll give me a tshirt.