bicyclemark

Potent Choco-Mousse

This just in, apparently Sunday is Easter, or the day of Rabbit worship, as I like to call it. The day I renew my vow never again to eat our furry friend, and also not to hide any eggs of any animals. Also a quick reminder…rabbits do not lay eggs, last time I checked. I promise I’ve witnessed many a rabbit birth in a small town in Portugal where most summers were spent. – I digress, Easter does mean something to me… days off! Yes.. up til 3 (check the time stamp on this one) and waking at 11 or so… hooray for holidays. Oh yeah.. and its Passover.. so thats nice as well. It also means time to spend with important folks in my life, for that reason, Sunday it’ll be an ex-pat Easter-Feaster. Everyone’s bringing something of course, I’m supplying my personal super-potent choco-moooooooooose. (it must be written that way) Someday I’ll share my recipe… I believe in open-source cooking.

I have been following the Condoleeza Rice testimony before the 9/11 panel but I have to say I really don’t care for the whole thing. Why is it thatonly 3 years later they’re doing this? An investigation with any real merit should be immediately following the crime. The excuse of national security is just a red herring to let government officials conceal secrets that would destroy them. Not to mention the panel has no teeth and is made up of individuals who are excessively complimenting and admiring the very people they should be investigating. They need less politeness and more interrogation. The Christian Science Monitor has an interesting peace on how Americans are watching this thing.

I did manage to catch Chuck D on Air America today.. not bad. There is hope for this radio network! He even hosts a music show on Saturday evenings, I’m definately going to look into that.

Today’s Music: Death Cab for Cutie – Transatlanticism

Nothing new about a bomb

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

War… huh.. What is it?

The wonderful spring rains have come to Amsterdam, and I’m quite glad about it. I start to miss the rain when it gets all sunny for 7 days in a row. Especially in a city built on water…. everywhere you look.. water. Sunny days are so over-valued, and rainy days are completely taken for granted… I believe. But not by this internaut. Bring on those spring showers… I got rain gear!

I was thinking about military today, and what a horid invention it is. I mean the entire concept. I need to go check out Costa Rica where there’s no military, I hear eco-tourism is booming over there. (yeah yeah.. I know.. no military but poor country… spare me) If any force on this earth is going to destroy us all… it’s going to be military and their insane objectives and use of resources. I mean… why bother training people to fight wars.. you’re obviously going to use those people eventually. If you put me in charge of a country with a military, I would train them in medicine and emergency assistance for natural disasters and humanitarian crises that required food more than guns. But nevermind my nice world, back to the conflict-loving planet.

Where does all this anger come from you might ask? I was just reading up on the US Army’s 90 billion modernization plan… you know.. to make “modern” war. Doesn’t it sound fun? Killing in the fast lane. A few articles later I came across the Army’s plan to promote “smart-mines.” Yet another government oxymoron, like military-intellegence; smart-mine. There is nothing smart about a device that explodes when something touches it. It sounds alot like terrorism, come to think of it. Add to that, there’s nothing smart about an administration that refuses to sign an international treaty to ban landmines. Once again.. all these things brought to you by US War machine. Let’s not forget the European and South Asian nations that produce tons of death weapons as well, especially French companies. They love keeping in the shadows while pedling weapons to children. Can you tell I’m a bit up-in-arms over arms tonight?

This will calm me down… a Robot that can conduct an orchestra!

To replace those self-rightious, demanding, and in my experience-evil yet brilliant conductors out there. Classical is about to make a huge comeback!

Today’s Music: Elliott Smith-OX

Blue and Politics

Yesterday a new friend and I had a great practice session at University. She’s an aspiring, and I testify – talented, jazz singer and me, well.. I’m the seasoned pseudo-pro amateur french horn player, obessed with Ska, Jazz and Rock with horns. It was a great session, and reminded me that I need to really catch up on standards – especially all things Cole Porter. All-in-all.. a nice way to spend an afternoon in Amsterdamage.

The big order of business today… to talk about Air America. Have you heard about it? Have you listened? It’s the new national radio network in the US which views itself as “liberal.” Of course it is also supposed to be from the “left”, but I refute that – liberal is not left, even if the United States political scene tries to say so. I digress, the point is that it’s out there, 24 hours a day, even over the internet. Therefore as both a lefty (handed and minded) and a radio-file, I’ve tuned in all week. Generally speaking, I don’t like it very much. I do like that it exists, because there definately needs to be more diversity on the dial.. especially in terms of politics. They even hit with 1 out of 5 Bush jokes, fairly funny.

However, in my general review, Air America is using the same tactics as horrid right-wing talk shows do. Name calling, whining, acting like they are the voice of reason. What’s lacking is a sense of modesty and thoroughness. Al Franken is thus far my favorite of the bunch, but even he can bore me at times. The rest are generally poor in quality, and the evening lady doesn’t listen to callers – constantly cutting them off. Oh well.. Air America, I’m glad it’s out there, tune in and see what you think. But really, the best radio for in-depth reporting, left-leaning politics, and minority views is from Pacifica, stations like WBAI.

Today it’s off to the Amnesty International Film Festival, right here in Amsterdam. Wooo-haaaa.

Today’s Music: Maria Callas – Vive

When did it go Friday?

It’s probably best to stop talking about the visitation records that are being broken on this site. Two days ago yet another new record of 32 was set, mostly thanks to new visitors from Denmark! Welcome Denmark! I know I’ve got some great friends up there, maybe I’ve made some more.

I’ve put off writing about the Hubble Space Telescope for the last month, but it’s most certainly on my mind. I’ve heard it described as the single most important scientific instrument ever – and perhaps rightfully so. The hubble has allowed the people of earth to look far beyond this solar system, and discovered other galaxies, as well as answers regarding the orgins of our own galaxy. It has been doing so for fourteen years, and this past January an American NASA official decided not to conduct its scheduled maintenance, via a shuttle mission. This as a result of all the shuttle flight hysteria since the Discovery crash. Without the maintenance, the hubble won’t be fit to last more than a few more years…. effectively blinding us from the universe, and holding us back from making further discoveries. I find this to be insane. Therefore I support the movement to save the Hubble and carry out the maintenance.

I’ve found the time to really enjoy this spring weather here in Amsterdam. You can tell it’s spring not only by the weather, but by scenes such as this:

Which I’ve managed to ride around and photograph. This season also brings back the tradition of barbecues on roof-tops and in gardens, and long hours spent drinking something cold in the sun. It’s a bit of the lazy life for Amsterdamers when the sun decides to show up.

Today’s Music: Ani DiFranco – Up Up Up Up

Another Night of Horn

I’d like to say thank you to all you internauts out there, my blog set a new record for visitors yesterday… 26 in one day. Yes I know it’s a modest number, but I’m a modest guy, if you can ignore the narcissism of all this. My England visitors are increasing, and I suspect that my participation on livejournal has led a few people to wander over. If that’s your case, welcome!

I listen to alot of radio during the course of the day. Over breakfast and lunch, I’m tuned to the BBC Worldservice, in the late morning, if I can, I’m tuned to Dutch public radio. In the afternoon I tune into RFI – French Radio International, and I rarely miss Democracy Now, Off the Hook, and tons of other shows on WBAI-NYC. Late night I lose out on alot of sleep cause I’m still listening to my boys Ron and Fez in DC on WJFK. I even do what I can to contribute to the show with instant messages. Today it was the BBC that really had my attention, their program: Europe Today, did a special on Talinn, Estonia, and how the city (as well as the country) is changing with its entry into the European Union only one month away (May 1st!). In this segment they chose to focus on all the mobile phone companies that moved their factories there, reason: NO TAXES. Apprently they get huge tax breaks. Which reminds me of the type of strategy Portugal has to attract foreign investment. I’m an opponent of such deals. Those companies should contribute to the community.. not just come in cause its cheap… hire some people… fire some people.. and get out. I’d call this the dark side of joining the EU.

On a lighter note, I wish I was this guy:

It took him more then ten years to build his very own monorail system in his yard! How cool is that? Not very cool says you? OH I disagree… I’d ride in circles.. happily.

Today’s Music: Vinicious Cantuaria – Sol na Cara