My retirement account’s value has swung more than 6 percentage points in the last two weeks. I’m on the positive side now (by almost 4%) but wow. One of my housemates swore that he was going into all bonds because of the volatility… I’m sticking to this for the long term, I view this latest up and down as akin to a roller coaster ride…
Isaac
I read a children’s story in class the other day, and I’m thinking that I understand the screwed up world view many here have. It’s a lovely story of a guy that wants a nice big house made of wood. He decides that he’ll go into the forrest and cut down some trees. He finds the blade to his axe, but he doesn’t have a handle. He goes to the forrest and talks to the trees. Now this is an important part of the story, the trees are sentient. The man explains that he needs a small piece of wood in order to make a handle for his axe. The trees agree to give him the wood as long as he goes away and doesn’t come back. He makes his axe handle and heads right back to the forrest. The trees are surprised and they ask him why he came back, he had agreed to go somewhere else. He explains that he really wants the house and where else was he going to get the wood? He proceeds to cut down all of the trees and the trees express regret that they helped him at all. The man builds his house and enjoys it…
What the hell kind of story is that to tell to kids? It’s OK to lie and to kill in order to get what you want as long as you have the weapon… Actually, this explains a lot, I wonder how many other stories are like this? I understand that many fairy tales have horrific and gruesome story lines, but there is a difference. In the fairy tales, the monster is always seen as evil and as such we expect them to be bad and to do bad things. In many stories, there is some sort of downside to being evil. This particular story involves a “normal” guy and there are no negative consequences to breaking his word or even of murder. Pretty scary…
Isaac
Turns out that if any books are sent to Yemen through the regular mail, the official censor must look at it to see if it will be allowed in the country. From what I can tell, there is only one censor for English, so it could take quite a while until it gets through. Interestingly enough, if the books come via FedEx or DHL, they bypass this step. I wonder who they had to pay to get this kind of treatment? Anyway, quite a difference from the US…
Isaac
Well, the internet at the school is not working as well as I had hoped. Right now I’m the only person on it and it’s working pretty well. I’m currently making some headway with my Battlestar Galactica episode. The problem is that if I (or anyone else) tries to download a file, the whole thing slows to a crawl. I estimate that this connection is equivalent to a fifth or 6th of the cable modem at home, but this costs the equivalent of $200 a month! Yikes, glad I’m not the one paying for that! I might try to get over to Luchiano’s house again. It’s nice to hang out, plus I won’t slow anyone down with my downloads….
Isaac
For no particular reason, my top 25 most played songs on my computer…
Lori Meyers by NOFX
Gloria by U2
Begin the Begin by REM
Mama, You Benn On My Mind by Bob Dylan
Around the World by Daft Punk
I don’t care about you by Black Velvet Flag
Do Ya by ELO(!)
The Brews by NOFX
Spread Your Wings by Queen
Grey Cell Green by Ned’s Atomic Dustbin
Jackie Chan by the Dollyrots
Helpless by Sugar
I Can’t Get Started by Ella Fitzgerald
Fade into You by Mazzy Star
Only a Pawn in Their Game by Bob Dylan
El Quinto-De Beethoven by The Cesta All Stars
Red-eyed and Blue by Wilco
How to Fight Loneliness by Wilco
The Milkman of Human Kindness by Billy Bragg
Rave on by Buddy Holly
Panic (Smiths cover) by Peter Yorn
Black Math by the White Stripes
5:15 by Chris Isaak
Don’t Go Back to Rockville by REM
Hong Kong Mambo by Tito Puente
Not a bad list if I say so myself… The ELO thing surprised me. I know that I listen to it a fair amount, but I had no idea it was that high in my list. Give me a break, its a catchy song! There is a huge spread on the number of times songs have been played. “Lori Meyers” has been played 27 times (!) while “Hong Kong Mambo” has been played 10 times.I estimate that I have close to 400 songs out of 10519 that have not been played at all. Most of the time I leave my play list on random but I do usually start to surf around my collection at night playing a type of free association game. It’s safe to say that all of the songs on my top 25 have been mostly picked by me as opposed to them coming up at random. The most highly played random song is “Tulsa County” by Son Volt. I can’t even remember what that song sounds like off the top of my head… I’ve found myself listening to some groups more than I have before recently. Wilco is getting much more playing time. I’ve always “liked” them, but I never could get through an entire album. Nowadays I’m really digging their first album (Being there?) and Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. I’m also listening to more Pavement and Stereolab. Maybe Arabic is changing how I listen to music? Feel free to post your frequently played lists, I’d be interested to see what you guys are listening to!
Isaac
I was eating at the Arabia Felix today and there were a couple of women next to me having a high power NGO talk. It was all about implementation of transnational directives of donor’s wishes, etc… One of the many feral cats came by her table and started to meow loudly. So she started to feed it. I never do this, feral animals are unpredictable and the last thing I want to do is to attract them. Anyway, the other cats catch onto this and come over to get some handouts. A fight breaks out amongst the cats (3 or 4 of them at this point) and the woman is rather distressed. She keeps telling them to “Stop it! Stop it!” Of course the biggest cat beats up the others and gets to eat. Her response? “He shouldn’t have done that..here kitty kitty kitty..” She didn’t seem to appreciate the irony, she went right back to discussing how to present the latest ideas to the donor…
Isaac
I’ve booked my flight to Beijing! I’ll be there from the 10th of May until the 19th. My mother and Rick will be there for the first 3 or 4 days and I’ll have the rest on my own. I’ve been told that English is not widely spoken there, so it should be an interesting time. And all the (authentic) Chinese food I can eat!!! Gotta go down to the Chinese embassy and get a visa…
Isaac
I forgot to put the statistics about Female Genital Mutilation in Yemen in my last blog post. Now I’m sure that the Yemen Times wouldn’t know a random sample if it bit them, but even if they overestimated by 75% to 100%, the numbers are still scary. The Yemen times claims that country 35% of women have had FGM done to them. In certain areas of the country, the percentage goes up to 90%. It’s a real problem, and far more prevalent than I thought. Bleah…
Isaac
Picked up my glasses the other day. The “doctor” nailed the prescription and both sets of glasses are great. I went a week without them and I had almost forgotten what it was like to see clearly. It all came back when I put them on BAM! Much clearer, and much easier studying. A great investment. I’m even digging having sunglasses. I’ve never worn them regularly before, but I do like seeing thing sharper, and these lenses are supposed to block all UV light as well. The only hassle is bringing and changing both pairs when I go from outside to inside. I’ll figure out a system eventually I suppose…
Isaac
I recently read an article in the Yemen Observer and I was appalled. It’s a little gruesome, but I encourage you to read the rest of it