Saffron Revolution?

The latest census gives interesting information about the immigrant population of the US, and it does not distinguish between citizens and illegal immigrants. To nobody's surprise, "California led the nation in immigrants, at 27 percent of the state's population, and in people who spoke a foreign language at home, at 43 percent." 43% even surprises me, although I suppose my being in the other 57% might not have given me a very good perspective.

Speaking of illegal immigrants, here's another sad story, made even more grimace-worthy by the fact that federal prosecutors offered him a deal: He could take $10,000 of the original cash seized ($59,000 he'd made from 11 years of dishwashing to buy land and build a house for his mother and sisters in Guatemala), plus $9,000 in donations (only a fraction of what's been donated) from legions of sympathetic supporters as long as he didn't talk publicly and left the country immediately.

The news that beats all for me, however, is the dramatic political unrest and violent suppression of protest in Burma. The first article I read about isolated pockets of protest earlier this month dismissed the events as feeble. This seemed strange to me; protesters putting themselves on the line probably wouldn't do so if an underground movement hadn't already formed that would eventually build on what they were doing. Otherwise why protest at this point in history? Shore up your resources for real results.

Well, it has turned into something major. Wikipedia in its new role as current events mirror offers some highlights in choppy prose: "As of 22 September 2007, the Buddhist monks have withdrawn spiritual services from all military personnel in a symbolic move that is seen as very powerful in such a deeply religious country as Myanmar.... On September 24, 20,000 monks and nuns led 30,000 people in a protest march from the golden Shwedagon Pagoda in Yangon, past the offices of the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) party... On Saturday, monks marched to greet Aung San Suu Kyi, who is under house arrest. On Sunday, about 150 nuns joined the marchers. By this time, the marchers' numbers had swelled to 100,000 protesters."

Now the government has cut public internet access, making outside perceptions of what might be going on even darker. Protesters, students, journalists shot at close range, bodies piled in the streets... When will someone, anyone, overthrow the junta and bring a successful end to the so-called Saffron Revolution? And where did it get that name?

And who in the world has been vandalizing the Wikipedia article on Myanmar?

Real estate more profitable than sex?

The landscape of Amsterdam is about to change. About a third of Amsterdam's red-lit windows for prostitutes will disappear from the city center as one of the main brothel owners is set to sell his empire to a real estate company for about 25 million euros ($35 million). A funny quote if ever I read one: "Mayor Job Cohen said he had no plans to rid Amsterdam of prostitution but the concentration of sex in the city center was too high."

So my issues with fashion-deprived men could have been solved if Ashton Kutcher had just appeared a bit earlier on the scene. Now I know to pick my date like my handbag. But what if I have incurably bad taste in handbags?

solar-powered cruises

Sydney got it first, and San Francisco's awaiting its order for a new ferry to Alcatraz. Aussie Robert Dane's invention, however, goes beyond revolutionizing cargo, cruises, and luxury yachts. According to him, "for the cost of one conventional battleship, you can have 8,000 of these drones patrolling the seas." Why it's making news today long after its debut at the Sydney Olympics, I don't know. I suppose our ears are perked for the word "green."

Think practicing is repetitive? Be glad you're not the woman in a Chinese toy inspection facility whose job is to stick a plastic spoon in a baby doll's mouth 10,000 times to test for unsafe wear and tear.

the 40th summer of love

50,000 gathered in GG Park to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the summer of love. Too bad I missed both the original and the commemoration. It sounds like there was a great crowd. "San Francisco police said the gathering proceeded harmoniously, with no major incidents reported. 'Just nothing but love,' police Sgt. Mark Im said."

Steeplechasing as a sport? Sounds like what I do, although it's not even remotely like what I do.

In the vein of great architects like van der Rohe and Le Corbusier, Michael Graves is putting out his own distinctive furnishings -- such as inexpensive clothes drying racks available exclusively at Target. His logo looks just like his buildings. I don't like his buildings, but I'm pleased with my new drying rack and tie/belt hanger. No more undershirts hanging from every extrusion in my room. And no more wasting energy and quarters on the dryer. But now I have to figure out when in the washing cycle to manually pour in the fabric softener...

happy 25th!

Happy 25th birthday to the CD, which is only one year my elder but outnumbers me by about 200 billion.

Cappadocia -- another reason to visit Turkey. After the apparent vegetarian friendliness of its cuisine, as I discovered in Dorset.

Anyone for wine tasting in Oklahoma or South Dakota? The number of wineries in the US has more than doubled since 2000.

Looks, I'm in the news!

Chicken or the egg?

For all my concern about minimizing my environmental footprint, I know I could be doing better by minimizing the energy my computer eats up. Perhaps Climate Savers Computing will have some food for thought. Even Amtrak's summer magazine was devoted to green lifestyles, and got me thinking about sustainable consumption of fish, something else I've been trying to ignore. America is getting better on some fronts each time I return...

Except perhaps in the case of Apple. Of all companies.

Despite the heinous exchange rate of 2 bucks to the pound, I did luck out in buying my Belgian chocolate before major price hikes. Quelle disastre!

In Cali, a house made of straw will spare you air conditioning in the summer and heating in the winter, allow you to have European deep-set windows and doors, and it won't kill you during the Big One.

white light/black rain

Having just come from Germany, a country still severely haunted by the memory and guilt of its atrocities, I am embarrassed to realize how much more in denial America is about its own atrocities. Looking back at my history classes, I can hardly remember spending any time on the destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It's not censorship, but some national urge not to dwell on what we did. And perhaps the lack of an emotional reaction to White Light/Black Rain: The Destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the Sundance shows that we're not prepared to deal with the emotional consequences of it -- we believe that we're above guilt.

The navigator of the plane that dropped the bomb on Hiroshima responded to the film, "The story about the survivors of this has been told many, many times. It doesn't change. And this is just another story about survivors. I don't think there will be much reaction to it at all." But according to the filmmaker, survivors have hardly been heard from at all. And many refuse to share their stories with the public.

"Okazaki also found a plaque where the Nagasaki bomb detonated that said everyone within a one kilometer area was killed instantly -- except an 8-year-old girl who had fallen asleep in a bomb shelter." He tracked her down, but she refused to talk. Can you imagine waking up when you were 8 and emerging to find that your entire world was in ruins? I can understand not wanting to dwell on it. But the American people need to hear these stories. We're not above guilt, yet we feel none.

Cute and vaguely novel, but otherwise, what's the point of recording to your iPod?

Front yard lawns? I want one!

Speaking of mics, here's one for the real creeps.

Why buy what falls from the sky?

One of the most logical campaigns I've heard of recently is Think Outside the Bottle, a nonprofit that challenges us to examine why we waste vast amounts of money and resources when much of the world still lacks access even to clean water. "Just three corporations – Coke, Pepsi and Nestlé – make up over half of the US bottled water market. These corporations are privatizing our water, bottling it and selling it back to us at prices hundreds, even thousands of times what tap water costs. They have turned a shared common resource into a $100 billion global market." To my surprise, culinary might is also helping to forge a path: "Alice Waters of Chez Panisse, in Berkeley, California, has helped lead the way by serving tap water instead of bottled water."

Jeff Caso, a former Nestlé Senior Vice-President for Marketing, Sales and Communications, summarized it best: "We sell water so we have to be clever.”

Try these creative ways to reuse newspaper. I think I need to give the shoe odor absorbing trick a try.

executive orders

Exactly how far can our government go to protect our so-called international security? Bring your attention to sections 1(a)(3), 1(b), 2(b), and 5... apparently it's okay now that "any conspiracy formed to violate any of the prohibitions set forth in this order is prohibited."

Germans Hack At Forest of Signs Distracting Drivers

Germany's vast excess of traffic signs: The funniest news I've read in ages.