Peace is Not the Absence of War

The NY Times editorial on 12/24/06 nailed it when, after stating the obvious that you can't declare war on a tactic (such as terrorism), they summarized why George W. and his cronies don't get it. It's not a "state of war" - it's the new face of peace, with eruptions in different parts of the world, over specific local concerns. This has been the state of the world 'at peace' for at least the last 20 - 25 years. People are fighting for ideas, and you can't win a guerrila war by throwing arms and armies at the guerrilas.

It's also nice, while on the subject of George W. and cronies, to thank them for 'inventing' the concept of 'global terrorism'. Where was George when Carlos and the Red Brigade where working their magic in Europe ? Hmm... was that when he was a managing a baseball team, or what he in a stupor duing those years ? Or maybe, he hadn't yet learned how Team Bush could make a buck or two from terrorism.

It's also about time the British took some responsibility for the whole situation in the "Middle East". Starting with their colonial empire, through their reign between the two World Wars, the British have shown colonialism at its worst (is there a 'best of colonialsim' ?). Put up a puppet government, don't be suprised at what happens...

About the Photo on This Blog

It was taken in a snall town in Freisland (a northern province in the Neterlands) in 1998, while I was on a skating (in-line skates) tour of the Netherlands. I was sitting on a bridge over a canal eating lunch, turned around and saw these houses, and shot it. I think it's a great shot, and totally captured the look of the towns we skated through. It's practically impossible, I think, to take a bad picture of scenery in the Netherlands, especially in the farming areas in the north.

I took the skating tour with "Zephyr Tours" http://www.zephyradventures.com/ in 1998, which was the company's first year. At the time, it specialized in in-line skating tours; it has branched into walking tours and in-line skate camps.

This picture, and others, are posted on iStockPhotos. http://www.istockphotos.com

Movie Recommendation - It Could Happen Near You

I finally got around to seeing this film that was released in 1992, and highly recommend it. It's one of those films that stay with you for days afterwards, and make you want to check out the director's and writer's other work.

(The story -- It's a mockumentary - the story is a film crew on a shoestring budget following a mass murderer around as he does his daily business. They become entangled with his crimes and murders as they encourage him to commit murders outside his patterm after as they take money from him to finance the film. As all of the ads promise, it's funny at first, but loses the humor when crew starts to become part of the crimes, but it's like watching a train wreck in slow motion - you're still fascinated and want to find out what happens next.)

In the film, the lines between the film crew and their subject are blurrred. In reality, the film was made by three film school students in Begium as part of a school project. They used their family and friends in the cast and halted temporarily while they collected funds, etc.

The main member of the film crew (Remy) was played by Remy Belvaux (also the director and writer) . If you see it on DVD, be sure to watch the "conversations" with the director "extra". Remy was the most interesting of the three writers/ directors, but unfortunately he never made another film. He went into advertizing in France, and his work won several awards, but he committed suicide in September 2006.

Winter Solstice Today in North America

Time to dance naked around the May pole ! Even though it's officially the first day of winter, I think of it as the end of the dark and cold - the hours (minutes ?) of sunlight between sunrise and sunset increase, so summer is almost here !
This makes a great winter holiday, and everyone can choose their favorite pagan ritual (May pole, trek to Stonehenge with the remaining Druids, walk in the woods, bon fire, etc.).
Next great holiday: the Vernal Equimox (March 31).

Christmas Gifts - 2007

I was OK with the whole Christmas thing - gifts, songs, food, etc., until I read this week's Sunday New York Times. I don't know which part of the paper was more depressing: ads for $900 shirts or news articles that just prove the world is in a terrible state and conditions are getting more unequal all the time.
So, my suggestions for gifts for this year are donations to

• Doctors without Borders (http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/) Or - http://www.msf.org/ (site is in English)
• Water Aid (http://www.wateraid.org.uk/ )
• Right to Play (http://www.righttoplay.com/site/PageServer )

On-Line Radio

.. is the best way to get fresh music since flipping channels to pick up late-night foreign FM broadcasts. One of my current favorites is Sergio on KALX (Berkeley). http://kalx.berkeley.edu/ (90.7FM) Wed. 6-9pm (PST) via the station's live stream. Hard to describe --a "great mix of intelligent dance music in all formats" ? (He also has a web site where you can sample some of his mixes -- http://www.sergioaudio.com/ ).

The other live stream that I never miss is WXPN (Philadelphia)'s Friday Night Funk (5pm EST), which plays a very under-appreciated chunk of jazz, and is perfect for getting out of work mode and starting the weekend. Recent stuff, plus old Sly & FS, Parliament, Staples Singers, James Brown, Curtis Mayfield, etc. http://www.xpn.org/listen.php

Hauki to the Samsung Q1

All apps, any place
Not a replacement PC
Critics don't get it.

That sums it up: if you've been waiting for a small unit that gives you all of the utilities (MS Office, Internet access, etc.) that you need when even your laptop is too big, then one of the tablet PC's is perfect. I bought my Samsung Q1 to take to conferences, so I could take notes and be connected via free wireless while out of the office. It's been perfect for that, and when I travel, I carry it with me all the time to get directions, events, etc.
The main drawback for all-day use in conferences and planes is that the battery life is about 2.5 hours; but you can buy a battery pack at http://www.batterygeek.net that gives about 10 hours on a single charge.
The "case" for the Q1 is not very useful - I bought a Bodyglove padded CD case, removed the CD sleves, and the Q1, with cables, etc. fits inside the heavily padded case with a strap, and doesn't scream "there's a PC in here - steal me".
The MS Table PC software is built on the MS XP o/s, with additional utilities, including handwriting capabilites - in a notes application and in MS Word (very useful for meetings and conferences). The PDA-like screen 'typing' is very very slow, but there's an optional compact keyboard that is well worth the price.
The reviews of the Q1 and other "UltraMobilePC"s and "TabletPC"s claim that they'll never replace full-size notebooks, but I think they're missing the point. These UMPCs don't replace the notebook, they have the portability and very small size and light weight that we expect, but never get, from notebooks. I wouldn't take my notebook all the places that I take my Q1. I think the critics "just don't get it".

Tech Fun: MashUps on Programmable Web

http://www.programmableweb.com

A site dedicated to mash-ups: a sortable inventory of mashups (overwhelmingly related to mapping applications), blogs, 'how-to-', reference material, documentation on APIs (around 200, including all of the common ones (e.g., Google*, Flickr, and Amazon*), as well as some that are probably very useful, if less commonly used in free mashups, such as Skype, SalesForce, and PayPal. My favorite part of the site is the matrix in which you can find mashups that use a particular component or just browse. (Mouse-over the matrix cell to see all components used and the purpose.)

Greed, Graft, & Corruption: Business as Usual in Philadelphia

The unofficial motto of the City of Philadelphia (PA) is "Greed, Graft, and Corruption". (Do not confuse this with the Republican motto of "I got mine; you get yours").

Today's example in a long list of self-serving officials that operate at the expense of citizens and public institutions:

Why are the members of the budget review commission for the SDoP using chauffered cars (at school district expense) when their mission is to cut costs in a city where classes lack basic materials, including textbooks ? Even stranger: why does the Philadelphia newspaper report this fact as a line item in an article, and never follow up with an investigation ?

The solution ? Maybe one day the city will stop appointing the same old greedy cronies and start populating institutions with adults who have a sense of civic and financial responsibility. Until then, the mayor and city council can stop blabbing about Philadelphia being a "World Class City".