bad eurohabit

55% of Belgians buy mineral water and never drink tap water, a European habit that leads to many wasted resources. Not to mention thirsty and puzzled foreigners and expats. I really don't understand how this preference for mineral water arose. I dislike the taste myself.

Then again, in America we buy tons of bottled water (although water is free and falls from the sky -- even better than growing on trees) and then complain about the price of gas, which per gallon is cheaper than the price of bottled water.

wonderful automation

I searched facebook for "Compline" and came up with a fake individual with no network named "Christ Church Compline." Next to it were the standard options: "Send Message," "View Friends," "Add to Friends," and "Poke Christ!"

Furthermore, if you click on the latter option, you will get a screen displaying the following:

Poke Christ?
You are about to poke Christ Church Compline (no network) .

Christ will be informed of this the next time they log in.

Also, if you poke Christ, they will be able to see your profile for one week.

To control which parts of your profile are displayed when you contact someone through a poke, message or friend request, click here.

Click further, and the ultimate result:

You have poked Christ Church Compline.

I await a response from above for my sacrilege.

Meanwhile, if you hit the Back button, you get Christ has not received your last poke yet.
They'll get it the next time they log in. Go back home or return to the previous page.

artastic

Art is being sold, held, and resold at a profit. "Does this mean that art is moving so fast on the market that it may never be enjoyed on a wall and just held as an investment to flip later? Rendell doesn't miss a beat: 'Well yes. But at least it's in very good condition.'"

But what would Pierre Bordieu say about this?

Josh Wolf: Jailed Journalist

Josh Wolf: Jailed Journalist

Josh Wolf, freelance journalist and independent videographer, is currently in “coercive custody” at the Federal Detention Facility in Dublin, California. He has never been charged with any crime. Wolf was incarcerated for contempt earlier this year after refusing to provide a Federal Grand jury with unedited video of a 2005 G-8 protest in San Francisco. His incarceration is virtually unprecedented for a journalist refusing to give information to a Grand Jury. It is widely believed he will likely become the longest held journalist in U.S. history.

Having covered protests for several years as part of the San Francisco press corps, Wolf has gained unprecedented access to much of the Bay Area’s activist community. Access denied to other journalists. Attorneys have raised concerns that demand for the tape is part of a fishing expedition by police seeking to identify political dissidents and protesters. Wolf has repeatedly stated under oath that his video does not contain footage of the crimes being investigated by the Grand Jury. To make his case, Wolf has offered to let the judge review his tape.

Wolf, 24, is the recipient of the 2006 Society of Professional Journalists award for Journalist of the Year. Advocates from Reporters Without Borders, Committee to Protect Journalists and numerous others have all spoken out in his defense.

What Others Have Said About this Case

"When journalists like Josh Wolf are put in jail, journalism and the public’s right to know suffer. An independent press needs a Federal shield law to protect journalists like Josh." --Judith Miller, Journalist

“He [Wolf] may not have the clout or journalism credentials of some of the other government targets, but Josh Wolf is no less entitled to First Amendment protection. Each day he remains incarcerated represents another small dent in this nation’s basic freedoms.” –San Francisco Chronicle Editorial 8/06

"The Wolf case has absolutely no bearing on national security, the argument used in other tussles between federal courts and journalists who refused to name their sources or surrender their files. Confirmed contempt of court orders against Wolf would mean that the independence of the press - which is based among other things on the right to professional secrecy – is more than ever in danger in the United States. Keeping Josh Wolf in jail would be tantamount to denying the role that the media is supposed to play in a democracy, one of questioning and criticizing. Congress must quickly debate and approve a federal shield law that would uphold the right of journalists to protect the confidentiality of their sources." –Reporters Without Borders

[read on]

turkeys receive presidential pardon

Heaven only knows what turkeys did to merit annual condemnation in the first place, but old Bush seems to have done something right for the first time by granting a full presidential pardon to the National Thanksgiving Turkey, Flyer, and its buddy, Fryer. The only concern now is whether the turkeys themselves might have chosen an early demise over a life of being jeered and gawked at by children in Disneyland.

thanksgiving makes me sad

Maybe you don't really want to know why.

The most common reactions to my decision to be vegetarian are "Don't you miss meat? I cannot live without it!" and "Why?" My primary reason is that it cuts my environmental footprint drastically. Page 7 of this admittedly propagandic PETA postcard gives some of the statistics that lead my conscience to eschew meat: Livestock meant for our plates consume vast amounts of grain that could have provided much less expensive food for the hungry; more than half of the water used in the US goes to livestock intended for people's plates; raising animals uses a third of American energy resources; and the meat industry creates more water pollution than all other industries combined, to name a few.

Our society has developed remarkable systems to hide the environmental consequences of all we do from our daily lives. Only if garbage pickup stopped would we realize how much waste we create; only if animals were raised and slaughtered in the city would we be widely aware of their mistreatment; only if the pollution emitted by power plants was blown into our own homes would we realize how horrible it is to waste energy. Our world is modern, efficient, clean, civilized, and... deceptive.

americanizing european education

"The world is indifferent to tradition and past reputations, unforgiving of frailty and ignorant of custom or practice," [Andreas Schleicher, head of the OECD education directorate] said. "Success will go to those individuals and countries which are swift to adapt, slow to complain, and open to change."

A pretty bleak snapshot of the world.

I worry that a point is being missed. America may boast the largest number of prestigious universities today, but I suspect that your average affordable European university is better than your average affordable American university. Competence is distributed differently. Much like degree prestige and even income in the US--the proportions are outrageous.

I'll be the first to admit how much Yale has done for me. But without a diversity of systems in the world, how will we ever be able to pinpoint a reason when one of those systems fails?

I woke up this morning for unknown reasons thinking of the young friends I've lost along the way to tragic accidents and health conditions. Even after a brush with my own mortality, I still find it difficult to comprehend the deaths of people my age. Take a look at the firefighters who defied the latest California firestorm.

expatica headlines

Sixty days of summer rain, and now that I've left, Belgium may well be set for the hottest fall ever. Life is so unjust.

It's difficult for me to see Europe's need to combat obesity. I never noticed how many grossly obese people walked the streets of the US until I came back from a year in Europe!

Go Belgian housewives!

edumacated city

San Francisco is the second most educated city in the country, following Seattle. I've never been to Seattle, sadly. I'm really overdue for my first visit.

Getting closer to dark matter with Hubble.

The Hollywood film industry creates more pollution than the aerospace manufacturing, apparel, hotels and semiconductor manufacturing sectors. Only petroleum manufacturing belched more emissions.

Now for the first time, I feel really good about not watching movies.

poppy

I've grown up in California, I've lived in Belgium and cycled through its fields, I've spent a day in Ieper playing a concert and wandering the museum and standing beneath the Menin Gate to witness a special Last Post, and I've still hardly seen a single Flanders poppy, that beautiful, tragic symbol that bears no such meaning in California as it does to the Belgians and the English.

First of all, I have to admit both delight and surprise that the American public has voted the Democrats back into office. After 1.5 presidential terms to evidence a dismal track record in voting decisions, I wasn't really expecting much change. And same-sex marriage has been banned in some states. Disgusting. Also funny, and possibly effective, but very dismaying was the Arizona measure to award $1 million to a randomly selected voter in each general election. Do we really have to resort to paying the American people to think about what's good for them?!

We have a funny government. In the Senate, every state has equal representation, and CNN writer Justin Gest points out that "Wyoming -- a state with more cattle than voters -- receives as much of a say as California -- a state with an economy the size of France."

The less serious news is too amazing to summarize when I can quote verbatim:

Producer of dozens of educational films for students dies at 90
11/08/06 08:40 PM, EST
Sid Davis, who produced more than 180 educational films warning youngsters of the dangers of drugs, drinking and running with scissors, has died. He was 90.
FULL STORY

Do that many kids really run around with scissors? Maybe we should let natural selection take its course a little earlier on than 90.

How about this for all of us spice-addicts? Maybe the next time I'm in Belgium missing spicy food, I can just bring a tarantula along for a quick fix.

Tarantulas and chillis share pain target
11/08/06 03:34 PM, EST
Tarantulas and chilli peppers may not appear to have anything in common but an encounter with either the spider or the plant can be a painful experience.

news bites

"Ouch, K-Fed: "There was relatively little taunting Wednesday night from a Chicago crowd that appeared to contain a few genuine fans, though at least one man was led out by security after hoisting a large, cardboard sign insulting Federline's manhood."

I think the man should've been given free tickets to more upcoming bad shows.

Another reason Caltech is one of the more bizarre places in the world (not to imply that this is bad).

Satellite images of Earth from above, one reason to wish one was in DC. Sure, there's Google Maps. But can your computer screen really beat the Smithsonian?

Trains in the US continue to be pathetic. (Not really news, I suppose.

So it is the Dutch who most often evade Belgian speeding fines. No surprise. But doesn't that mean we can ignore our parking tickets in the Netherlands? I know someone on their Wanted List. :)