Tag Archives: UK

Hello Wifi

Part of Amsterdam life, especially extremely modest income Amsterdam life, means moving from apartment to apartment. This offers a chance to experience the various neighborhoods and different quality apartments. It also acts as a great way to not be a pack-rat. Everything must be thrown out. I once had the finest archive of the French – Courrier International EVER. But I had to move, so it went to recycling. I’ve learned to cram everything into digital format and copy on CD’s that fit in either slim-cases or envelopes. You must be impressed by now. I digress, tuesday I move from Oude Schans to 1ste Helmerstraat… back to the Oud West, where I was once the quickest draw. Whatever happens, I shall miss my current apartment a great deal.. the garden.. the canal view.. the busy-busy kitchen and my roomates. Alas – this is Amsterdam life, for now.

Thinking about what I brought up in my last post, the importance and possibilities of RSS, Doc Searls points out a very nerdy but worth-reading theorizing about email and rss. He breaks email into three sections: spam/marketing, commercial, and private. He puts them into layers and shows how marketing is supposed to be the outside layer, and it invades the other two layers using awful spam. Anyway you’re better off reading it than listening to me. The bigger point was that RSS offers something that fixes the spam problem, you request the specific updates from a clearly-identified source. Such as this blog 🙂 So he wonders, as I now do, if RSS might not be an answer to the horror that is spam in email.

I also recently spoke about the East Timor oil situation. But as the Independent (UK) recently reported on, there are still huge amounts of refugees that have been unable or unwilling to return to their country. Talk about a UN/international community unfinished mission. Now they will start a mission in Sudan and the DR-Congo mission appears to need re-enforcement. OH and let’s not forget Haiti which is getting some fresh peacekeepers ASAP. All this with some of the most modest funding imaginable, GULP.

OH.. more news on this as it develops, I’m going Wi-Fi as of this week. Combination ADSL trouble and wanting to catch the Wi-Fi fever. I’ll be sitting in front of rich people’s houses and hip cool caf?s using their wireless network. Yeeehaw. I just hope I don’t spill hot choco on my laptop.

Today’s Music: Blink 182 – Miss you (stuck on it for some reason)

Lighter Air

The worldwind tour has ended! Yesterday morning I arrived back in A’dam safe and sound. The flight over, usually a glum affair, turned out to be a really fun one thanks to a lovely person from Scotland. Somehow the white wine just kept flowing, there are no rules up there in the sky… they just keep giving to shut you up. Again I’d like to praise the KLM self-service check-in system. Not only did it take 5 minutes to check in, there are no lines because people seem to fear the freedom of it all. They much prefer to stand in long queues and get angry like the good old days. As always I had to practically go through security in my underwear – I STILL HATE AIRLINE SECURITY! I know I’m the minority, but I don’t believe the humiliation is worth the alleged “safety.”

Flying of course means, besides constant refreshments and boxed food, FREE NEWSPAPERS. As I thumbed through the International Herald Tribune a noticed this article about a Gallup-Europe poll which found that:

-Most Americans believe their country is doing more than the European Union to tackle the world’s problems.

-Only 20 percent of Americans correctly said that the 25 nation EU (over 450 million people) has a larger population then the US (290 mil).

– Democrats have a better view of the EU than republicans.

– Most Americans responded that they believed the US government was doing more in the world than the EU to fight poverty and protect the environment.

Although they are quite worthless, this poll caught my eye, especially since I know the EU spends more on foreign aid and environmental protection that the US. But hey, if you don’t receive a quality education, how will you learn that. (the internet?) For more linking pleasure you might want to read past surveys such as this one about the crap image of the US in the world.

Since I mentioned Scotland earlier, and I’m also interested in the proliferation of “Canadian Studies Programs” worldwide, Across the Pond points out that the University of Edinburgh offers such a program. Oooh… Canada.

Today’s Music: Bill Frisell – Intercontinentals

The Large Apple

A full day in Manhattan provides so much blogging material. At the same time, there’s too much to tell about. Overall, I’d say NYC is NYC… busy as always.. bussling with people walking their mobile phones and talking on their dogs.

My day consisted of lunch with a lovely former student from the international school (U of Amsterdam). I then noticed the street signs saying “United Nations Way” and I thought – “Yes, I’m up for a visit.” So I wandered over to the UN, which is such an accessible place – it’s great. I browsed the UN bookstore, giftshop (lame I know!), and the art exhibits in the mainhall. I chose not to pay the 10$ for the guided tour that I went on only a few years ago. After that I made it down to the Village in hopes of visiting my old boss at the Voice.

But like any legendary investigative journalist, he was down the shore for the day. So I sat with the interns and bored them with my own stories from my time there. I also snapped a shot of my most favorite room at the Voice, the meeting room. (didn’t manage to get the f?ssball talbe in the pic)

After a mini-dinner with a good buddy who studied with me in Amsterdam, I hopped on the lovely new Bombardier-furnished NJ Transit midtown-direct train home.

Tomorrow will commence my anticipated visit to DC. And speaking of the capital of all things US government, I was reading the Guardian and noticed that the Washingtonienne had published an article, all about her being fired by a senator for having blogged about her sexual exploits. Wonkette is always a solid source for updates related. All in all, it’s complete crap that she got fired, and if you really want to know how little your congresspeople give a shit, read her article on what happens to the mail and phonecalls they receive. Now more than ever, we need to “impeach congress”! (my favorite bumper sticker)

Today’s Music: Jets to Brazil – Orange Rhyming..

Countdown to Visitation

Two posts in a row this weekend, in defiance of my every-other-day policy:

Early Saturday, I started my morning as I always do, listening to the BBC Worldservice. I heard the program “The Big Question” which was doing a special on Weblogs and the internet. It didn’t say anything new about blogging, but it provided an excellent overview of the blog world and culture. If you feel like giving it a listen, you can do so here. (it’s is so great that the BBC archives everything on the net.)

Jeff Jarvis and his Buzzmachine, one of the blog-gods I’ve never mentioned(mostly cause I find the designation of blog gods utterly boring; but man, every blogger knows him, and I’m a nobody), shared a good survey about bloggers. Reading it, I discovered I fit into few of the top categories because I’m too young, too poor, and I don’t spend enough on books, music, and causes.

Tony Pierce + Busblog gave some especially touching advice for children today. Not that he advises kid touching, no. But man, he offers some lessons to live by. I’d like to trackback to him, but it appears he has pulled that option, and I think Haloscan is down. Lazy bastards. (I mean, I love you!)

Today’s Music: Morrissey – You are the Quarry (yes again!)

Waffle’s Anyone?

Quite exhausted after a nice birthday party for a wonderful friend in Utrecht last night. It was nice to get to speak with so many Portuguese and Brazilian folk. Plus during the day, I did make it over to Port Industry Day. There, I boarded a military ship and took photos of ships, including a Green Peace flagship. I love ports, and I found the event to be generally quaint. Photos to follow on Tuesday.

I’m about to skip off to Brussels for an overnight visit with my family there.It is always nice to get over to Belgium, especially because there are always so many cultural events taking place. I shall try and catch the tail end of the Brussels Jazz Marathon. Who knows, I meant even run into Belgian Waffle, who doesn’t seem to get sleep anymore.

While I’m out, I’m pretty sure this issue is going to get big: the videos that were taken of Guantanamo prisoner abuses. I think it’s a crime against humanity, what went on there, therefore I say let the videos get around… then let’s put these bums on trial.

Today’s Music: Fernando Lameirinhas – Alegria do Triste

Sonia meet Donald

Call me naive, but I was very excited by the Congress Party’s victory in the Indian elections. Their coalition with left parties shocked the Indian political world, who thought the success of the economy would carry the nationalists to re-election. Boy were they wrong. They forgot about the power of the vote that poor people are very good at exercising in India. So, let’s give a warm welcome to the future PM of a nation of 1 billion people, Indira Ghandi’s daughter-in-law, Sonia Ghandi!

Onto other subjects that warrant discussion. The guy with no head, I refuse to use his name because I haven’t used any other dead soldier’s names, so why start now – just because he gets more press then others? What I did find particularly interesting is that this guy’s story has more holes then swiss cheese. Not only has the authenticity of the video been questioned, but the reasons he was even there seem to have been fabricated. Was he just looking for work? Was he CIA? Was he a spy of any type? We’ll probably never know.

Lastly, and I know I shouldn’t waste my time, but – Donald Rumsfeld. During his “surprise visit” to Baghdad (some surprise, considering it’s his biggest embrassment), he said the following:

“I’ve stopped reading newspapers. You’ve got to keep your sanity somehow. I’m a survivor.” Is this man for real? He stopped reading newspapers? I wonder if he reads anything. Does he have time to when he’s not covering up war crimes?

Today’s Music: Azure Ray-Burn&Shiver