This Man Has a Name… His Name is Henry Paulson

I went with an obscure movie/reality post title today, but I’m going to talk about neither the new treasury secretary of the US nor the film.

I’m also not going to talk about the Iranian president’s interview with Der Spiegel that D-Rock just pointed out to me. Not yet.. I’ve something special planned for it in my podcast in the coming days.

Instead, today I have to turn my attention to Indonesia. Several days have now passed since the 6.5 earthquake and the death toll of over 5,000 continues to rise. And to further complicate things a volcano is now spilling lava within the earthquake’s area. Of course, as of this morning, 27 countries had already offerred help in the form of people/stuff/money. But it is such a difficult part of the world, not only because of what seems like a large amount of natural disasters, year after year, but because despite its wealth in natural resources and the fact that the clothes on your back are probably made there – it is still the under-developed world, where the average person has little in the way of emergency measures and options and the government certainly doesn’t seem to make it priority number one that their nation be equipped to handle various levels of natural disaster emergencies.

For the willing and able, I refer you to the Java Earthquake Relief Wiki, where you may find some role you can play as a citizen of the same planet. And to best keep up to speed via blogs, use the WorldWideHelpTeam.

bm132 Summer of Yeast 2006, Madge Weinstein and the MacDocMan Take on Circumcision

A break from my usual style of podcast. Madge Weinstein passed through Amsterdam yesterday, before eating her way to Hungary, she and I went to visit the famed Dutch vlogger and pro-foreskin crusader, the MacDocMan. I should note that he didn’t know he was being recorded initially, but I thought the conversation was interesting and fun and hopefully he agrees because otherwise I’m sure he can afford a lawyer and I certainly can’t. If you’re fragile and you can’t stand talk about genitals, this show is not for you… wimp.

Useful Links:

MacDocMan’s Vlog on Male Circumcision
Madge Weinstein Yeasts Across Europe
Is the Stock Market on the Verge of Collapse?

 

Buried in Children Data

It’s Saturday night so nobody is reading this. Except you thousand+ subscribers, you’ll be reading this back at the office on monday.. hope the weekend was fun.

Madge Weinstein is talking to me from some expensive on-plane internet access. Which sounds fancy but actually the plane is not in the air. Actually according to Madge, the plane is “broken.” The saga continues.

I started researching the topic of children and the state of children’s lives around the world, for a podcast. I have a tendency to look at charts and seek percentages and figures that shed light on some undeniable fact. Then I start to consider my excessive focus on stats and numbers, there’s always more to a story than just that.

Unicef has it’s Millennium Development Goals. And apparently, from what I witness through both their vlog and podcast, they’re well on the way towards achieving things like, access to safe drinking water, school for boys and girls, proper nutrition/vitamins, etc. Yet other goals seem unreachable in the current global context, especially those involving keeping children out of conflict zones. I saw a figure recently somewhere – again with the numbers – it read “number of UN soldiers on the ground in Darfur: None.”

Whether its Darfur or any other corner of the world, where children suffer, die, and are born everyday into terrible situations, it’s mindblowing how relatively little is being done. While the UN is constantly criticized for different problems and alleged uselessness according to some, bodies within the UN, such as UNICEF, WFP, and the UNHCR have people who have dedicated their lives to DIRECT ACTION. To feeding the hungry. To healing the sick. To helping find solutions to important problems, which the world has the knowledge and capability to fix – if it wants to. They don’t make political speeches, complete with empty promises about money, security, personel, and supplies. They don’t just write a blog post, or compose a song, or forward an E-petition – they put themselves on the line… their physical self.

And while I admire those who speak up in the face of tremendous odds. While I cheer for the independent, activist voice. My greatest respect goes to those in the field… because they make the sacrifice that I have not.

Open Source Anniversary

As I write these words, the internet’s most beloved Lesbian and former manager of the Grrl Band Goddess Riot Juice is flying over the atlantic on route to Amsterdam. She’s no doubt scrunched into a coach seat, cursing the polyester clad stewardesses, and complaining about the small portions of food. As soon as she lands, she’ll no doubt buy a bag or 20 of stroopwafels and make her way over to my neighborhood. It feels like the night before a big holiday…especially since we’ll have a houseguest and we’ve tried to fill the fridge.

If you’ve never listened to Madge, I don’t know what more to say to you. Some might say it’s an acquired taste, not for the easily offended or those who get caught up on certain words that embarress or challenge the average media language you’re used to hearing. Unless of course you listen to satellite radio or podcasting, then you know better than to get hung up on words.

But I digress, I feel like I’m selling what doesn’t need to be sold. I’m excited to see my friend and run around the city we both love.

Lastly today I got a mass email from Chris Lydon at Radio Open Source, which in the last year put out 200 shows. They’ve added audio comment options to their blog and I fully intend to use that option from now on. Maybe I’ll add one here someday too. Happy Birthday to Open Source, one of the biggest inspirations to me in the podosphere.

**Update — Not sure what the weather is doing in New York, but the flight has been delayed. So the fun begins on Sunday.

There was this French Teacher

Cold Thursday nights in late-May Amsterdam are a goodtime for watching the LOST season finale and taking a stroll down memory lane.

Back when I worked for the Dharma Initiative….. ha, just kidding; the internet does not need more TV blog posts. I’ll start again.

Back in 2001, right around the time the WTC towers fell, I was enrolled as a happy night student at New York City’s Alliance Française. This is the French cultural center and language school that you can find in most major cities all over the world, funded by the French government, I do believe. I was there to make use of my favorite language, after my time in southern france and all my new francophone friends in Lisbon, I needed something to give me a place to have conversations and improve my weak spots. The alliance seemed like the perfect place and of course I hoped to meet some great people there or a nice girl… either is always a welcome thing.

So as the rubble was sorted through, the country was going anthrax crazy, and the government prepared to bomb Afghanistan, I was making the commute to class and sitting for a few hours each week chit chatting away and enjoying the vibe. But time passed quickly. Most of the other classmates, especially the nice girls, didn’t seem preoccupied with hanging out with me, which I grew to accept.

Instead however, I did make friends with someone else in the class: the teacher. Gilles was from Paris, if I remember correctly. He was a calm and hip dude in his early 30’s (i think) who seemed to be caught in between loving new york, but being sick of the US. I’d hang a little longer after class and sometimes we would chat. I remember he liked my plan to move to Portugal… he was a big supporter of it, and expressed that he intended to move back to France or Europe at some point.

Thats pretty much how it went. Semester ended. I moved to Portugal. Gilles kept in touch… infrequent emails saying hello. Still in New York. Still plotting his exit. And well, you know how it goes… time passes..

And then today I got an email: A familiar name announces a new book; a novel. He probably doesn’t remember that I’m on his mass email list. Still, seeing the name in my email brought back good memories. My time as a night student, working on my french, while the city wrapped itself in American flags, and the government bombed a country to dust.

bm131 Tapping, Trolling, and Data Collecting in the EU

Over the past few weeks, the focus and criticism on the Bush administrations Wire Tapping Practices has been widespread and intense. First and foremost for being illegal, but also for its ineffectiveness, its intrusiveness, and more. Meanwhile in the EU, it is quite difficult to find any recent information on the data retention law passed last December. What did this law involve? Who is effected? And what about the reactions and responses to this legislation? Listen in as I give it a go.

Useful Links:

CNet covered it
The old petition against it
IHT’s article