Quality of Life Index
posted June 14, 2008
Suck it Vancouver! Monocle magazine just published its Quality of Life Index and guess what Vancouver, you're #8. And Tyler Brule (FT.com / "A league table of liveable cities") is being way too generous. I can't believe you beat out Melbourne and Fukuoka but I sleep better at night knowing that Tokyo is #3, crushing your culturally vapid postcarded faux-city... oh no, I live in Vancouver.
GOING STEADY 銀河鉄道の夜 (Night on the Galactic Railroad) - live
The book is dead, long live the book!
posted June 2, 2008
Just the other night I was having a "lively discussion" with an unemployed film student (film is what movies used to be made on) who insisted that novels simply couldn't be translated into any kind of digital form, that they were no longer novels the moment they leaped to screens and screens could never replace paper in our hands. Not only that, but any form of digital novel would inevitably bring about a fall in literacy, the film student without a hint of irony. I tried to reassure her that I had no intention of replacing books, which will always have a place in our world. The invention of paper didn't wipe out the art of stone engraving, which is still very useful in cemeteries. Perhaps paper books can someday have their own special place in graveyards, too. >> "A thriller in 10 chapters - The Observer's literary critic, Robert McCrum, reflects on 10 years of book evolution and literature's impending iPod moment."
But electronic media has a bit further to go before it overtakes soggy old analog media. In the UK, book sales for 2007 totaled up to around 5 billion dollars, with video game sales coming in at only 3 billion or so, although that was a jump of 26% over 2006. According to the June cover story in Prospect Magazine, games software will be the largest entertainment retail market in the UK by 2011. Bigger than books and far more lucrative than movies. Anyone remember radio? >> Prospect >> "Rage against the machines by Tom Chatfield"
Don't worry, books will still look the same, just like in the image above, only they'll be on your iPod, so they'll be easier to read.
It's like Los Angeles doesn't even exist.
posted May 30, 2008
The Wired Science section covers a recent report from the Brookings Institute that studied the carbon footprints of the 100 largest metropolitan areas in America, making it clear that big city living is cleaner than medium-sized city living. Lexington, Kentucky won the award for the largest carbon footprint per capita. >> Wired >> http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2008/05/cities-carbon-f.html
$850 / 1br - Lovely well furnished 1bedroom Apartment
posted May 26, 2008
I live in Vancouver and am looking for an apartment to rent, which is very difficult. Last Friday, I went to see an apartment and accidentally ended up on the wrong side of the street. Luckily, there was a crowd of about ten people waiting outside the building across the street, so I knew where I was supposed to be. By the time I had filled-out my application, 40 people were standing in the lobby sweating and swearing. I didn't get the place.
I've been responding to ads on Craigslist without much luck (not those kinds of ads) but thankfully, today I received an email from the good Reverend S Thomas, who is renting a lovely one-bedroom apartment and, if I'm reading his email correctly, wants me to live in his place for free!
Thanks for your email and it is my gladness to hearing from you.I am Rev S Thomas the owner of the apartment you are making enquiry of which is located in 610 Granville St,Downtown,V6C 3T3
Actually I reside formerly in that apartment with my wife and our only daugther before and presently we have relocated back to UK but currently right now in Africa on a missionary trip but i will like you to communicate directly with my wife for more discussion.Thou the monthly rent is $850 becauase it well furnished which include utilities like ,hydro,washer and security.Pleases i want you to note that we are not actually keen about monetary part of this rent,so i will like to solicit for your absolute maintenance of this apartment and so that we will be glad to see it neat when we come for a check up because either myself or my wife will be doing that once in a while.I also want you to let me have trust in you.
So here is my wife contact ( ssarathomass@yahoo.com ) and she will attends to you better.
Thanks and God Bless
Rev S Thomas.
Not finding a place to live in Vancouver makes me miss all of the other places I've lived. And I have a relatively loose interpretation of what it means to live somewhere. I often feel I've lived in a place if I've eaten there and slept there. Some of the best places I've lived in, I only stayed at for a couple of nights, or sometimes only one night a month, like at the Asahi Plaza Capsule Hotel in Osaka. It's a capsule hotel but it feels like MY capsule hotel.
Temporary housing is an unusual concept but not entirely unique to humans. Many land turtles hibernate out the winter with rabbits and groundhogs. Like turtles, I enjoy having other people around. In Korea I lived beside a dog farm. They woke me up and put me to bed each night. At the apartment I had in Zamalek, Cairo, for a month, there were two enormous horse tapestries covering up stains on the walls.
The horses were a bit much and the hot water stopped working for a week or two but it was above a 24hr Metro Supermarket, which was incredibly convenient. With living arrangements, I prefer overwhelmingly crowded urban neon crush, like Cairo and Osaka, or entirely remote and removed, like Pedruxella Gran, Basata, or Taketomi.
Pedruxella Gran, in the bottom left corner of this picture, is an olive plantation high up on a hill across from Puig Tomir, the tallest mountain on the island of Mallorca. It's quiet place to hike and look after stupid sheep. Sheep are truly unintelligent animals.
I only lived in Basata for a couple of days but they were soft days of playing chess, eating fresh bread after snorkeling in the Red Sea, then listening to the muezzin let the sun set behind the Sinai.
Meet the "halfies"
posted May 22, 2008
When examining Egypt from a cultural perspective, if we forget Nubia, or the Jews, the Roman fortresses, the transition to Islam, the visit from Alexander the Great, the sexy Cleopatra and Marc Antony, the Turkish Mamluks, the Coptic Christians, Napolean's armies, the British colonialists, the socialist years... if we forget all of that, Egypt has long been a nation of ethnic, religious and cultural homogenity. However with the entirely modern invention of globalisation, some people now grow up experiencing more than one culture, even speaking more than one language and living in more than one country. Ethar El-Katatney, a reporter for Egypt Today, calls these folks "halfies" and she wants you to know, they're having an identity crisis. >> Egypt Today >> Identity Crisis 101
I have a problem with the term "halfies", mostly because it suggests a very poor grasp of mathematics. If you grow up in two different countries, speak two different languages, maybe grow up practicing one religion in a country where another is more popular, how does that make you a half? Wouldn't one culture + one culture = two cultures? People who grow up with the benefit of more than one culture should be called doubles.
"Doubles" is a much better name because doubles are also delicious fried chickpea snacks from Trinidad. I've never eaten anything delicious called a "halfie".
Reading material for Wednesday:
posted May 20, 2008
If we find life on Mars that could mean life happens easily. And if life happens easily, it's definitely happened on planets outside the solar system. So why haven't we heard from ET yet? Because every society wipes itself out before it can reach a significantly advanced stage. In this article from Technology Review, Neil Bostrom explains why we'd better hope humanity is exceptionally unique. >> Where Are They? Why I hope the search for extraterrestrial life finds nothing.
Study finds that losers on the Internets, also losers in real life. >> Time >> How Second Life Affects Real Life
Isiah Otieno was a Kenyan student studying in Cranbrook, BC, until he was struck and killed by a falling helicopter. Look up. >> Globe & Mail >> Death shatters family of Kenyan student studying in Cranbrook
This Week in Pixels
posted May 16, 2008
This week's installment is heavy on foreign languages and Tom Waits rambling about acronyms. First up, we go searching for Haruki Murakami 村上春樹:
And then in anticipation of the wild, wild long weekend coming up, an old Wong Kar Wai trailer for the movie "Fallen Angels":
A new stop-motion, outdoor animation called "Muto" by the artist Blu (http://www.blublu.org/) went up on the Internets today:
We'll finish off with Tom Waits and the greatest press conference ever:
Polar bears feel threatened, start reading "Clash of Civilizations".
posted May 14, 2008
The US Department of the Interior today placed the polar bear on the the list of threatened species, although the Secretary of the Interior, Dirk Kempthorne, says it would be "wholly inappropriate" to link the protection of the polar bear with a reduction in green house gases because the listing "will not stop any sea ice from melting". Which, is actually true. The Arctic is already screwed, and therefore, so is the polar bear. The Department of the Interior projects that by 2050, the polar bear population will shrink to 1/3 of its current size as a result of habitat loss. >Chicago Sun-Times>> Polar bear declared threatened species
- male polar bear in Wapusk National Park, Manitoba - photo by Ansgar Walk
As the Arctic ice cover disappears, polar bears are turning inland in search of food, causing problems in Canada's national parks, which have long had a no-gun policy, now being reevaluated in light of the rapid increase in polar bear sightings in the parks. As the ice pack disappears, more polar bears will be forced to search for food in populated areas, resulting in more bears getting shot, and then no more bears, problem solved. I mean, it's their fault for being polar bears. They should have tried being equator bears. >>Canoe.ca>>Parks Canada debates allowing guns in national parks with polar bear populations
China, let's invading Burma! or
Ban Ki Moon is an emo kid!
posted May 12, 2008
This morning I was going to write about how China should be the one to invade Burma because they have the money and they have the most to gain from Burma's military junta remaining in power. But this morning when I woke up, China was all shook up and had a disaster of its own to take care of.
Also this morning, the Globe and Mail reported that upwards of 200,000 people are expected to die as a result of Cyclone Nargis and the failure of Burma's junta to allow aid workers unfettered access to the Irrawaddy Delta region. UNICEF says that at one refugee camp, there are 35,000 people using (standing in line for?) 5 latrines. France's attempt to use the UN's Responsibility to Protect clause is being blocked by Indonesia and China. A Red Cross ship carrying supplies sank in Burma over the weekend, dumping it's cargo. People have no water and are drinking out of ponds with bodies floating in them. The situation is dire...if only there was the leader of some international organization that could step in to build consensus among the different parties, apply serious pressure to the military junta in Burma, and get that aid into Burma before more people die... if only... wait, there is such a leader and wait, he even heads an international organization charged with the welfare of the planet and its people. Hooray for Ban Ki Moon, who today announced that he's "immensely frustrated" by the situation in Burma. Now he'll send a tersely worded letter to the military junta and all will be resolved! Hooray for immense frustration. With an emotion that most people only use when they can't find a parking space downtown, you've resolved this crisis, Mr. Ban. Perhaps you could write us a poem about your feelings.
Poor Burma.
From the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent's Flickr account.
Sovereignty sucks.
posted May 9, 2008
The French Foreign Minister, Bernard Kouchner, is lobbying to have the UN invoke its "Responsibility to Protect", to ignore Myanmar's sovereignty and take aid directly into the Irrawaddy Delta region devastated by Cyclone Nargis. The "Responsibility to Protect" is relatively new, and opponents to its use in this case say it's intended for genocide, ethnic cleansing and conflict, which they say, the situation in Myanmar doesn't involve. I would dispute that. By not allowing in aid and the experts needed to distribute it properly, the junta in Myanmar is willfully creating a situation that will result in tens of thousands of preventable deaths. The "Responsibility to Protect" is intended precisely for situations like this, when a government knowingly allows the murder or preventable deaths of citizens within its borders.
My frustration with Myanmar's military junta is best expressed with the following video, "Stress" by Justice. Stay until the end to see what happens to people who just watch.
Before the cyclone attacked / After the cyclone attacked
This Nasa satellite photo shows Burma's Irrawaddy Delta before and after Cyclone Nargis caused a tidal surge to flood the region, Burma's most populated and fertile:
Did you want the salted rice or the rice with salt on it?
posted May 7, 2008
That details about the cyclone devastation in Burma are only slowly leaking out is very revealing about how completely what little infrastructure there was in the Irrawaddy Delta has been completely wiped out. But we can rebuild infrastructure (assuming the military junta there lets aid into the country to do that). What can't be undone quickly or easily is the salinization of the rice paddies by the tidal surge. Not only will it be impossible to grow rice in many parts of the formerly fertile Irrawaddy Delta this year, the rice harvest will be limited for a couple of years. That's a bad thing.
Speaking of rice. Last week we had a party and somebody brought this enormous bowl of rice. Nobody ate any of it. There was also a large tub of potatoes.
All of the rice ended up in the garburator. So did the potatoes. Ah, our culture of waste.
Lincoln and CNN want you to know gas is AWESOME
posted May 3, 2008
In a feat of astounding journalistic insight, CNNMoney writer, Peter Valdes-Dapena, explains in an article titled, "Gas engines: Here to stay", why he loves combustion engines so much. In fact, after reading the article, I'd say that what Peter would most like to do in this world is spend all day in bed with a combustion engine, smothering it in his own hydrocarbons.
Combustion engines? But gas is expensive right now, you say. Ethanol = starvation, you cry. Why don't we at least use hybrid engines, you ask. Well, our intrepid reporter Peter explains that "Gas/electric hybrid technology is a major step in boosting efficiency, but it's complex and expensive."
It's complex and expensive. Great use of adjectives, Peter. Go collect your Pulitzer.
But lets cut Peter some slack. He's not a reporter, he just fluffs up press releases to run alongside ads for the Lincoln MKX sport utility vehicle:
That's right, this wonderful article extolling the virtues of gasoline is brought to us by an SUV that gets an incredible 16 miles/gallon in the city. I'd tell you how much it gets on the highway but why would you buy a Lincoln if you were going to drive it on the highway?
To put that all in perspective, the 2008 Toyota Prius hybrid, which is too complex for Peter Valdes-Dapena to comprehend, is expected to get a slick 94 miles/gallon.
Thinking about how complex the future will be made me miss the good ole days when old was spelled ole and we rode horses everywhere. Horses were very simple vehicles: Horse eats grain, horse moves, horse shits. So easy. I don't know why I ever switched to combustion engines. They're so complex! I can't even fathom driving a hybrid. That's like way to futuristic. I'd totally go back to riding a horse if only I could afford grain to feed it.
GOING STEADY 童貞ソーヤング
Exitnotebook has been on a long spring break that involved no traveling. But now the summer beings. And let's begin the summer - one that's sure to be filled with more war, scandals, rice crises, climate disasters and economic crashes than we could possibly imagine - with a song!
One man, an idea, in Bangladesh, without a plan.
posted Apr. 11, 2008
Shawn was in grad school down in Notre Dame, saving up money to buy an Xbox 360 when he decided that was ridiculous, he should buy a Wii because it's cheaper and more fun. No! He ditched grad school and went to Bangladesh, where he is experimenting with the impact individuals can have on alleviating poverty. Shawn calls his experiment, "The Uncultured Project", which hints at one aspect I love so much about what he's doing: he didn't sit around waiting for the "right" charity or spend all of his time planning or make excuses about how he's going to make lots of money now and donate more in the future. He just grabbed his computer, a camera and hopped on a plane to Bangladesh to see how he could make a difference.
Young shop keeper in Bangladesh, from the Uncultured.com.
It's fascinating to see how Shawn's ideas about fighting poverty develop as he actually spends time actively trying to help people get out of poverty. You can follow along as his project develops through his YouTube channel, his Flickr account, and at his website: uncultured.com It's also possible to donate to Shawn's experiment in action and he'll make videos about how the money is spent (and he promises not to spend it on meals for himself).
