Surprises While in Belgium

I guess I’m a small time internet celebrity. Maybe not. But in my daily life, it sure feels like it. things happen, people get in touch, do things for me, connect with me…. its a crazy feeling. Kind of like a walking on air, I can do anything type of feeling. Which is amazing cause I don’t even know how Im going to afford health insurance this year, nevermind fighting the forces of evil in the world.

But nevermind that. I’m in Brussels doing a post-christmas visit, which means I’ve acquired some lovely and practical gifts, and I get to run around discussing important issues in French most of the day. – Mais di donc! – So instead of writing any further, I shall present to you a series of links that have somehow instersected with my offline and online life:

Ditta called from somewhere in the amazon. Apparently they’ve chopped down most of the trees and they have internet cafes equipped with skype.

Gil of BeligumFM sent word that he was coming to Amsterdam for the day, both through his podcast and email, turns out we switched locations at the wrong time.

Emmanuel from 2600, who barely knows I exist but I love and help support his radio show, was actually in amsterdam for a night on his way back from the Kaos Communication Conference. unfortunately I heard that podcast just as his plane was arriving back at JFK.

BlondeButBright arrived in Amsterdam tonight. After many a month back in Mini-Soda. To say that I’ve missed alot her would be an understatement.

this is all very cosmic…

Preparing for a Coal Show

I’m presently preparing for my next program about the coal industry in the US and the world over the past 50 years. Maybe 50 is too much… at least the last 15. The minute I heard about this mine accident I immediately started to think about the push by the Bush administration and associated senators, to encourage the building of more coal plants and focus more on using coal. “Clean Coal Technology” was the oxymoron the megamoron president would keep repeating. Over and over. And of course, he got his way.

>I’ve been looking over the numbers, and worldwide, especially in China and the US, coal is growing and growing. Seems so strange to look at the year – 2006 – and then look at the fact that modern nations still use coal, despite the extreme air pollution, the mercury that contaminates most everything in the area of a plant, and the extremely dangerous conditions that miners work in. Is this the modern answer for a modern world? Seems more like the good ol’ boys trying to make good’ol money the good’ol way.

The usual channels that claim to bring you news are filled with sob stories, sound bites, and sad faces. Have they bothered to start asking real questions about what’s going on with coal? How is the coal industry effecting these communities? Is the focus on new coal plants and more coal a sustainable and healthy one for a country… hell… for a planet? As much as Im also concerned for other countries, especially China which is the biggest coal producer ever, I look extra critically at the US, cause as an American, I know the country is capable of much better; more creative, innovative, and forward thinking ideas. Not this old fashioned and dangerous obsession with filling our lungs and our lives with black soot in persuit of the mighty dollar.

More on my next podcast, which will come to you from Brussels… Im hitching a ride in 4 hours.

bicyclemark93: Chilean Elections and Social inSecurity

FIXED – I’m joined from Chilé by Brad from Willing Warrior.com, one of the most dynamic new videobloggers out there. We discuss the upcoming elections and their significance for the country, the region, and hey – the world.
I also break down the good and the bad of the private social security system there with help from lots of academics, journalists, and economists.

AudioCommunique #93(mp3)
41min+, 80kbps, 24Mb+

In the discussion I refer to:

Elections, Round 2
Bachelet vs. Piñera, the clash of two social movements
The income gap and free trade
The effects of the private pension system on the Chilean economy
The model for other nations?
The unsustainable debt of the system

Music and Sound:

Victor Jara – Te Recuerdo Amanda
Salvador Allende – Ultimo Discurso
Isabel Allende – from an audio archive CD I found in the US
Tiro de Gracia – El Juego Verdadero
Omara Portuondo – A Salvador Allende en Su Combate por la Vita
Antony and the Johnsons – Spiralling

Wikipedia in my crosshairs

Now they’ve gone too far. Wikipedia deleted the entry about me as well as my blog and podcast. I’m extremely disappointed. This time it’s personal. I recently wrote to wikipedia and asked to speak with a rep for one of my future programs; to discuss the work and future of the resource. But now this happens, I’m very angry.

If you go to wikipedia and look up my full name, you find nothing. Unless you search hard, then you find a editing comment that includes the words “vanity post”. Vanity post? Fuck you wikipedia. YES, I started the post about myself, my work, and my life. Why the hell should that be a violation of any policy? The idea behind my actions was to document the things I’ve done and am doing. Same goes for my online publishing work. I wanted to have it all in writing, archived in what I’ve long thought was a great resource. And they delete me? Fuck you wikipedia. I do not understand where your project is going, and increasingly, I find the management tactics are terrible, intrusive, and unreasonable. If you were really open source, this would have never happened.

Wikipedia beware, you and temp agencies are now my two arch-enemies

UPDATE (an hour later) As Andrew D referred to in the comments, they actually frown upon editors writing pages about themselves. Read the policy. I read it and I understand the text but I still think its crap and Im still disappointed that my podcast was also removed. Feel free to click here and go to WIkipedia and describe my blog and podcast to those jerks.

NEXT DAY UPDATE: Some of ye kind readers created entries for both me and podjournalism! thank you. Oddly enough, they have both been tagged by wikipedia idiots for potential deletion! The war continues.

Nostalgic for Old Europe

I always feel like I missed the bus when it comes to living in the era that best fits me. Old professors used to talk about taking over various school buildings in New Jersey and I used to think – man I wish I’d lived in that time. I read about the spanish civil war and hemmingway, and even though Im a pacifist, I thought to myself – man, I wished I lived during that time. I read about Big Bill Haywood when he helped found the IWW and teach workers from all over the world about their collective power and rights, and I thought to myself — Man I wish I lived in that time.

The same feelings haunts me in Europa as I look at the dismantling of those grand ol social systems. For my entire brief adult life they’ve been privatizing, cutting, selling off, converting, or reversing. I hate most of the words, especially when they refer to this great health system, or rail system, or social security. Of course, I never lived during those days, so I live off the second hand stories, and whether they’re accurate or not, I get starry-eyed and daydream of what it would be like to live in old Europe when social services were operating at full speed with the full support if their countries.

And so tonight I sit staring at kiesbeter.nl, a site that helps me to choose which health insurance plan is most in line with my needs and FINANCIAL situation. That’s right, national health in the netherlands is not so national anymore. A dear friend and wise frisbee throwing woman assured me it was better this way, because there are more and different options for people. I trust her judgement, but I keep wondering about the old days and the old system. Was it not world class and great that everyone was covered collectively? Am I missing something? Does anyone else have a bad feeling about all this?

I’m sure somebody will comment about how it was too expensive and inefficient. I suppose those who share that opinion are in the majority now, and I’m just some daydreamer, romanticizing a system I never got to properly take part in. And when Im sick and under-insured and lacking social security, I’ll be sure to cough on everyone, turn to a life of old-person crime, and tell stories no one will believe about how social services used to be nationally run.

Movie Going Recovery

Happy 2006 dear readers! While I shold be recovering tonight from last night’s partying, the truth is, I’m recovering from seeing one of the worst movies I’ve ever seen. It was so terrible I won’t use its title and I’ll stop talking about it after this next sentence. My only wish is that I could one day meet Peter Jackson and skowl at him for making this piece of shit Ape movie, when he could have taken all those millions and built a hospital – ANYWHERE – its not like the world doesn’t need a new one.

Speaking of world health crises, though I’m sure it’s a downer to start off the year this way, there are to many downers to ignore on this here blog; so to kick off the year, note that the French government is surprised to discover that 30 years of nuclear testing in French polynesia, the area is contaminated to the teeth. 600 new cancer cases per year, 250 deaths, and all this after the gov. did a whole compaign way back when insisting nuclear testing is fun for the whole polynesian family.

Time for some charges of crimes against humanity against some old rich white guys rotting away in the French parliament. Lets go… drag their old bones up here and let’s have the truth about this cover up.