bm159 Hungarian Political Lies

You may have seen images of angry citizens clashing with police on the streets of Budapest recently. But did you hear the real story of what happened and why the Hungarian electorate rose up? And what will happen from here, how will people, in the long run, feel towards a goverment that admitedly lied to them? A familiar theme in Eastern Europe and North America, Henrik of the blog Hungarian Accent helps explain was has happened and what can be learned from this.

Heres a Guardian article for further illustration

bmtv22 Agony of De Feet


As the season winds down, here’s one last ultimate frisbee vlog. Our team lost.. alot. But hey.. sometimes you eat the bar.. and well… Camera work by Lenny… Im number 34 on the field, obviously.

New and Noteworthy Vlog

It is Saturday and my schedule has surprisingly opened up. Which means lots of watching videoblogs and seeking new vlogs to watch. And instead of discussing some other crazy idea in my head or occurance in the world, I’d like to instead refer you all to something wonderful.

Many vlogging colleagues here in Europe and abroad, have surely thought about the great world of possibility that comes with personal media and self publishing through the internet and with the power of something as simple as a digital camera. We’ve considered how instrumental seeing and hearing first hand from someone in another country tell about how they see things and explain their culture in their own way. And beyond that, how important this can be to encourage open-ness, communication, and understanding, versus the very narrow and often sensational story we get from the corporate mass media.

Now unfortunately we don’t see, at present, as many vlogs building on this theme coming from the developing world or even the non-west world. Sure there are a few, but they are often drowned out by those that focus on fluff… in the form of tech, or entertainment news, etc.

Well today I finally watched a vlog that does exactly what I am interested in. This Iranian American Life gives a combination of personal snippets, general fun, and an exploration of culture.. all of which relate to a girl named Paris’s personal experience. The entry that really won me over can be seen on her personal vlog. But also deserving of you eyes and ears are the vlogs she posts on ThisIranianAmericanLife.

Go Paris GO!

bm158 Orgins of Asbury Park

Obviously Ive become obsessed with this Jersey shore forgotten city. The truth is there is a very important story there with lessons for the whole world regarding development, religion, and community. In this program I begin to tell the story of how it all started. This was my last recording during my recent visit to New Jersey and note that Im driving as I’m explaining things which makes it harder dammit.

Read a version of the history on the net
The book Im learning from is 4th of July, Asbury Park by: Daniel J. Wolff

 

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.

The Evidence Mounts Against Electronic Voting

In getting back to some of my favorite Amsterdam habits, last night around 2am I decided to turn on the television and see if anything interesting was on. Dutch public television tends to re-run the days programs, so I always check there first for news or investigative reports of any kind. While usually they involve a police officer writing a ticket for a parking violation or some other lame infraction, I was very excited to see a report on voting machines.

You may recall a few months ago, when my podcast was focused on the Dutch movement Wij vertrouwen Stemcomputers Niet (we don’t trust voting computers). I went over to Rop Gonggrijp’s interesting house and he explained the trouble with voting machines, especially the very prominant Dutch machine maker Nedap.

Sure enough, last night one of the star witnesses of the program was none other then Rop! During the segment, they got their hands on one of the machines, and in a matter of minutes, had managed to open it without a key and using very un-sophisticated methods, change the configuration so that all votes no matter what button your press, go to one party.

The camera crew also went to one of the storage places where these machines are kept, and found little to no security watching over the machines. When they tried to speak to the minister in charge of these things, he was away on vacation. When they showed the program to a pair of parliamentarians, they were both shocked and had new questions for the practice of using electronic voting in the Netherlands.


All in all, it was exciting to see this investigation, and I very much felt a part of it. Such a shocking example in such a supposedly model democracy, should send shockwaves around the world, and further bury these voting machine companies that are trying to make big money in exchange for throwing away fair and secure elections.