Web bugs and Backup Governments

Apparently, around the same time I was enjoying the company of some lovely Swiss visitors, my blog went down. I’ve heard rumors of blogger being plagued by bugs.. but now I’ve properly backed it up. I’ve added a few good blogs to my blog links just to your left.. by all means.. check them out.

Well it’s official, the Greek elections are over, and the Conservative Party, aka New Democratic party, have won. Years of domination by the socialist party have ended, to no great surprise – it’s a trend in Europe. Lets see now… Portugal, Italy, Spain, Netherlands, Belgium, France, Austria, Denmark.. all conservative parties in power, elected in the last few years. Mind you, we’re talking European Conservative, which in American terms would be considered liberal… the spectrum is a bit different. Now I know what you’re thinking – and no, the Olympics will go on as scheduled. You’ll still get to watch Ballroom Dancing, Skeet Shooting, and Kayaking direct from Athens… if they ever finish the construction. I’ve never been there, but it was not rated very highly in terms of the World’s Livable City Survey But Amsterdam came in tenth place! Just below Syndey and Frankfurt. For all the Canadians out there, Vancouver came in second place, and Calgary (home of Miss B.) was declared best in terms of health and sanitation. Click on that link, find out if your city is livable. If it isn’t, in the name of humanity, MOVE AWAY!

I’m finally polishing off this Hunter S. Thompson book Kingdom of Fear, what started as a smooth read filled with Drugs, Guns, Sex and Politics – in that order, has now become difficult to finish. Next up will be a re-read of Freud’s Civilization and It’s Discontents. Fun aren’t I? Otherwise there’s always the Utne Reader Book Club.

Today’s Music: Bill Frisell – Gone Just Like a Train

Melt peanutbutter for instant joy.

By now you may have heard that my curtural outing for this Friday has been cancelled. Which is probably best, mentally I wasn’t prepared to watch women use bananas in unorthodox ways.

Announcement time: I am a KazaaLite user! YES! I share music from my personal computer! I share with anyone, anywhere in the world with a decent connection. While record companies might like to call it stealing, I believe record companies are the original thieves, who are finally being rendered useless, after years of stealing money from artists. I say this on the heels of a recent decision in an Australian court, allowing authorities to search the offices of Sharman corporation.. better known as Kazaa. While I don’t use kazaa because it’s full of spyware, I respect their right to do what they do… connecting people, allowing them to share with each other. I think this decision is horrible, and I hope it’s succesfully apealed. A similar case has been going on in the Netherlands, but similar recent cases have ruled in favor of file sharing, and I have faith in my country of residence – they’ll tell the record companies to blow it out their ass!

The Reagan miniseries finally ended today… I have no further need for a television. I grew to love that dam show. I enjoyed the Olie North scandal and Reagan telling his own staff he didn’t remember them! Oh.. and it was disturbingly interesting to watch his staff start killing themselves one-by-one as Iran-Contra unraveled. Maybe now I’ll finally have time to properly book a Thalys (Train) to Paris! Oui.. je vais ? P?ris!

Today’s Music: Death Cab for Cutie – The Photo Album

1 thru 20 in Arabic!

No feed back from Canadians from my last entry… I guess they’re shy. That’s fine. We still love our Canadian friends on this blog. Matter of fact, one just emailed me. We’re going to see a very typical Amsterdam show this Friday. (nudge nudge-wink wink) I’ve never been to the “low-class theater” (we’ll call it) the entire 17 months I’ve lived here. So this will be a very cultural experience.

Yesterday I witnessed, via radio, one of the most shocking scandals in quite some time. I listened to Haitian President Aristide on the phone with members of the US congress, calling from the CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC. Why? According to him – HE WAS KIDNAPPED! By who, you ask? The US MARINES. The man was distraught. He had said he wouldn’t resign in the face of armed rebels wanting to kill him. But yesterday morning he was taken in the middle of the night, escorted by personel from the American embassy, not allowed to speak to anyone, and flown to locations unknown, only to land more than 8 hours later in the CAR. Why am I up in arms? Because good president or not, he was democractically elected! And the people seeking to remove him were military trained in other countries; notorious murderers and leaders in the drug trade. These people have the support of Washington! This once again makes me ashamed of what is allegedly “my government.” Then again… I was already ashamed.

Slightly brighter news is that I’ve started watching this miniseries that caused an uproar in the states earlier this year, “The Reagans.” This show is hilarious! I laugh and then I cry. I laugh because this man actually controlled the future of the world in his hands for 8 years! I cry because this man controlled the future of the world in his hands for 8 years. I cry more. Especially anytime he talks about nuclear weapons like they’re a gift from the gods. But man do I love when he says “Don’t cry mommy” or when he himself is all lost and forgetting things. Its insane to see how superstitious, naive, and just completely out to lunch both he and Nancy were. Talk about the emperor having no clothes…

Today’s Music: Thrice – Artist in the Ambulance (a bit loud)

Law n Order SVU Makes Sunday Night

I’m both super-curious and super thankful for the Canadians that visit this here blog. I know so many Canadians, and Canada has always played a unique role in my past, that i really can’t guess who it is, but I’m glad all the same. Recently a friend doing her PHD here in Amsterdam said to me she was going to do her work at McGill University in Montreal. I didn’t realize you could do things like that while PHD-ing. That serves as reason #35, why I want to be a PHD student. Where would I go if it were my three months? Not sure.. maybe Toronto, Seattle, or hey NYC! That would be funny… and also quite possible.

I phoned up a friend earlier this evening, she just finished her degree here – pyschology. I chose to call rather than SMS considering the occasion, but i got only voicemail, so I left the usual “me” style gibberish. I immediately got an SMS response…. from somewhere in KENYA! The message read something like thanks! Im in Kenya and Ive seen horrible things. Tomorrow I go to Ethiopia I was blown away. I forgot that GSM technology is available all over Europe and Africa… and I believe Asia. Only the “America”continents work on the, whats it called system, CDMA. So I can text my friend in East Africa all I like! I bet my good buddy Jorge would have something to say about that.. he taught me most of what I know about life and mobile phone technology.

So President Aristide of Haiti has left the building. Rebels and friends rejoice. But there’s really nothing to rejoice about. People were starving and suffering. So along come the Rebels to kill and torture those who they say were starving them. Now they will take over and after a bit more murder and suffering, they’ll make peace. How could that possibly last? You have an entire nation that has always known violence and desperation… what good has/will democracy brought them?

I’ve watched the Hurricane on DVD about a dozen times in the last month… I can’t get enough. “I served my time in a house of justice and yet there is no justuce for me.” Denzel… the man is my king.

Today’s Music: Zebda – Utopie D’occase (French Hip-Hop)

Shout out to the London/NYC photoblog guy Who emailed me thanking me for some comments I left. The site/blog contains some excellent photography and has gotten alot of recognition in the blog world. Yes, there is a blog world, and it’s huge. This blog o mine is just a rest stop along the way, and I should add, an increasingly popular rest stop. I get amazed at some of the visitors.. wierdest one I noticed lately was from General Dynamics, the company that makes weapons of mass destruction for the American military. Isn’t that odd – someone at that company stumbled upon my blog? Probably to see what another peacenik is up to.

Speaking of death, US government has announced they’re going to continue using landmines… “smart” landmines. Which reminds me of other oxymorons like “Military Intellegence” and “Jumbo Shrimp.” Once again, an embarassment to the country and humanity. No rational human being would support such barberous tools of death, and almost every nation has agreed to ban landmines. But hey.. those people in the White House see the world through some very special glasses.. where everyone is the enemy and war can fix everything.

Standing in some posh bar tonight, I kept thinking about how overrated live human socializing is, at least that type. If I had a choice, I think I’d enjoy internet chatting, myspacing or emailing in place of downing drinks while talking to strangers who I feel completely uninterested in. And of course, its Amsterdam and Friday night, so everyone in England has paddled accross the channel and joined every Dutch person to meet up and provide yet another boost to the alcohol industry… at this one bar in the Pipe! (south Amsterdam) When compared to internet communication… I think the net wins.. you learn more about people.. you can even be more creative sometimes… unlike a pub where you either chat about nothing or attempt to entertain, on the net I could recommend a visit to my friend Tony Clifton, for example.

All this just to say i was bored at some bar tonight.

Today’s Music: Norah Jones – Feels Like Home

Snow Soup

I was very pleased to see new contributors/readers leaving comments in recent posts. Even if that meant I was proved quite wrong on some of my points, especially that students on the metro thing. Those Nadar and gay marriage questions have been discussion topics between me and friends for the past week. I love a good discussion. But I digress.

My big dream.. actually not so big.. is to apply at the Music Conservatory here in Amsterdam. Stay with me here, most of you might know that I’m a very dedicated and able French Hornist. While Id like to be modest, I must say I’m good.. dam good. So why not make a new and unexpected career move and focus on music again. Otherwise it’s just me playing for my roomates and neighbors, oh.. and the occasional open mic/salsa club where I sit in and play. I’m not sure it qualifies as a dream because Its quite attainable in the near future. Still.. Im a social scholar, and I’ve only begun down that road.

Here’s a topic I’m interested in, and I’m trying to get people to talk about here in the ‘dam. The new Mel Gibson film “Passion of Christ.” Let me first put some facts out there: I’m not religious. I don’t go around saying Im atheist because I find that label annoying.. I prefer non-theist as Edward Abbey once said. I just don’t have any need or involvement as far as myself and religion. On the same hand, I’m not against other people having a religion.. althought I do despise all the evil that has been done on this earth in the name of religion. That being said… I want to see this film and I think I’ll be pleased with it. Pretty much the same way I would love to see a movie about Mohammed or David or Confucious.. I’m interested in history and culture.. and yes even FICTION, so this movie interests me. On a very simple level, Im psyched that the film is in Aramaic and Latin.. I want to listen to how they depict the languages. On the down side churches are going nuts over this film…. and they’ll try to use it to recruit new “believers” which to me is manipulative. It’s art… film is art… unfortunately it’s also used as propaganda by some. Nonetheless, Passion of Christ interests me… and Richard Goldstein breaks it down quite nicely in this week’s Voice. OH and Roman uniforms are always good for a laugh.

Today’s Music: Ceclia Cruz – Regalo del Alma (Salsa)