Firefox 3.5 definitely feels faster
“The recent figure I just
got was over 92% of all soy grown in the Amazon is for
animal consumption, not human.”
Let’s see if the wordpress ping.fm plugin is working properly at guaka.org
Hopefully no one noticed my blog has moved to another server. After almost two years of excellent (and free) service on Callum’s server it’s now at hetzner.de, a company offering excellent value for money and that is running on green power. I’ve been using hetzner for a lot of sites that I’ve worked on in the past 6 months and right now I’m considering giving up my Slicehost for a new offer by Hetzner.
While Erga and I were planning to leave the war crazed country where the instigators of the massacres in Gaza are hailed by very large parts of the population I found out that Chen, a friend of mine from my time at the Conservatory in the Hague was living in Haifa. So we made a slight detour. We first visited Erga’s 90 year old grandmother who lives in Netanya to drop off some stuff. Very warm and cozy.
The next day we tried to hitch to Haifa, but it turned out the worst hitchhiking experience in Israel so far. There is no good spot to hitch on the on-ramp onto the highway 2 north so we tried road number 4, where we only managed to get 2 shorter rides. Finally we took a bus into Haifa. It was great to see Chen again. She took us on a little tour on the mountain after a remarkable event. At some point we heard the neighbours shouting “fire, fire”.
I first grabbed my shoes, Chen and Erga ran over there directly, to find a panicking old woman and her Philippino household aide. My first reaction was: where can I find a bucket? I couldn’t find anything, and the rest of the bunch was too busy leaving the house. The old woman was worried about not being dresses properly. My next reflex was: blankets. I found a pile of blankets and chose the one that felt most like cotton and went into the bedroom which was mostly very smoky with a relatively big fire in the corner. I first tried it out on the burning electric plug, which worked really well and then on to the two fire spots. Pushing the blanket onto the heart of the fire worked really well and I’m glad I couldn’t find a bucket.
Chen had called the firebrigades and when they arrived they turned off the electricity (this you should do first, in any fire).
Of course I’m hypocrite to call for a boycott while being in Israel. But it’s the least I can do. Today I went to the market in Ramallah. With Casper, a Danish guy who is living in Malmo. We took bus 18 from close to Damascus Gate in Al Quds (as it’s called in Arabic). When we got to the checkpoint we heard several shots. There was a demonstration going on next to the security wall and two Israeli soldiers were firing at them. It didn’t look like people were seriously wounded, though not a pleasant sight.
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In Ramallah the atmosphere was not cheerful. TVs were showing the news, rain was falling down. We had 2 falafels, walked around at the market. Unfortunately I only met one of the guys I had met last time I visited Ramallah – and he was a little bit more annoying than the others. At the juice bar we had orange, banana, ginger, date smoothie – no milk (because I also mostly boycott animal products).
adding picture any moment
Meanwhile on CouchSurfing the war in the Peace in the Middle East group is full on, someone started a thread called Why I’m fully supporting military operation in Gaza, to which Ram responded:
I think the logic of your statement depends on certain assumptions which form the very basis of our [Israeli] narrative:
1. its “us” against “them”.
2. we’re not responsible for their situation.
3. The “other side” can not be a partner. (+they want to kill us).
4. so long as an enemy is an enemy, he must be fought. it’s the only way.
5. we’re the good guys.
6. We’ve exhausted all other possibilities.
7. It is more dangerous not to act, then to go out to war.
8. We have no alternatives.
So yeah, apparently that’s actually what most Israelis think here. Fortunately I’m now in an apartment with an antizionist Israeli, a European and 4 cats.
What really appalls me, is the joyous reactions this “war” is received with in Israel, and the overwhelming support it gets. According to channel 10 tonight, 83% of the people support this war, though only 15% actually believe it will help. 63% support the war, but do not believe it will help stop the shelling. So what are they supporting? I think nothing but vindictiveness.
I believe vindictiveness is a very bad motivation for life. It has been blinding the Palestinians for years, and it is blinding us too. so here we go again, another round of “you hit me first, so you deserve to die”. Guess what? It doesn’t matter who says it.
The amount of bulldozers, tanks, army police combined with the joy of the perpetuators (”I will play music and celebrate what the Israeli air force is doing.“) lead me to support the call for boycotts and sanctions for Palestine:
I know it’s hypocrite (and at least I’m aware of that) and I can’t join just yet. But, there are some pretty easy ways to boycott Israeli products: simply don’t buy anything of which the bar code starts with 729.
It always makes me happy to hear from Joe. He wrote something new: How mobile phones can replace a broken economy: The Mobile Manifesto:
When we talk about trouble with the economy, we’ve been overlooking an astounding opportunity. Something new is possible for the first time in thousands of years. If you care about the planet, if you care about your kids, if you care about other people, this is something to pay attention to.
While we continue to argue about capitalism and socialism, for the first time a third option is really possible. We can build a more sophisticated, dynamic, distributed approach to organizing labor and resources than has ever been attempted before.
It’s bold and sensible. It has made sense for the past couple of years, when it became clear to me that the deeper ideas behind the sharing of free software and free information are applicable to the real world, the real economy. It was no wonder I met Joe 2 years ago at the CouchSurfing Collective in New Zealand; it was amazing experience to work with him. His analysis of modern life is razor sharp and combined with his desire for change we could start seeing “actual people, in vicinity to one another, thinking about each others’ needs, and helping each other, in person and on the ground“.
Unlike existing networks based on short messaging (twitter, broadtexter, brightkite, etc), Groundcrew focuses on finding and coordinating like-minded strangers rather than friends. Groups form based on common beliefs, needs, and interests. Broad groups exist for those interested in good deeds, adventures, exchanges, and more.
Another differentiating factor is that Groundcrew aggregates information about members’ immediate availability for action, together with agents’ passions and dreams. This is opposed to other services (twitter, facebook) which work more generally with status updates and feeds.
Through Hitchwiki.org I found wikicostofliving.org. From the Main Page: “Wiki Cost of Living is the world´s most up-to-date international price comparison index thanks to people like you. You can edit any page right now.” So cool, I created an account, made an edit. Then I posted a request to put the wiki under a free license. Then my request was deleted and I was blocked from editing the wiki – forever. Weird huh? I guess it’s a clear message: The Secret to Traveling Big on a Tiny Budget can be found elsewhere.
Meanwhile, 4 hours driving from here hell broke loose.
In order to be able to be online a bit more I wanted to acquire a wireless router. Erga and I went to (believe it or not) a computer store called bug.co.il and bought an Edimax. Came “home” – the parents of a friend of Erga’s are traveling in South America. Connected the router. Couldn’t connect through wifi. Tried changing many settings – it takes 30 seconds for every setting. No wifi. Worked on other stuff. Tried changing many settings. No wifi. So I just went back to the store in the hope that they could give me another one. The 2 employees couldn’t even check if it worked or not, or if another machine would function. The girl told me to go home and call the hotline they have for cases like this and then I would be able to get it replaced or refunded if they agree. The guy who was busy selling a laptop was able to come up with a slightly better version: they will call themselves tomorrow morning and then they will call us with the outcome. Lesson learned: Next time I buy anything I want to see it working in the store, even if it’s just part of the functionality.
In recent years I didn’t make an effort, but I used to boycott Israeli products. No Tivall fake meat, no products with bar codes that start with 729. (These days I actually don’t buy Tivall because they put egg in their food.) I did this because I didn’t want to support the economy of a country that is actively oppressing and practicing apartheid. Now I can see that both Jews and Arabs are hit by a boycott, but I once I leave this country I will be more aware. For now, I console with learning a lot here. Not all is black and white. Most people in the army seem to merely be hanging around, kept silly for 2 to 3 years. Dressing up in a uniform to enjoy free bus rides – most “soldiers” of the Israeli army are not killing Palestinians at all. Some are put in confinement for breaking silly laws. The first weeks it’s a bit discomforting to see these kids walking around with automatic machine guns, but as anything, you get used to it. I will never forget the sight of this friendly drunk guy with a gun on his back in a supermarket in Jerusalem.
Buses in Jerusalem are terrible. Bus stops only show which lines are going there, no time schedule, no route information. And then the routes seem to be changing as well, without any form of notice, from one day to the next. Fortunately it’s very well possible to hitchhike inside the city. 5 stars to hitchhiking in Israel. Even now that it’s a bit colder, it just feels like summer in Amsterdam – except for the almost non-existent rain. Even at night you can be sure to arrive anywhere you want. Just don’t follow Israelis in their strategies. Somehow hitchhikers here seem to have a problem with using signs or showing a thumb. Signs in English are perfectly fine and so is creativity with your spots. People are keen to pick up European looking foreigners and that brings me to the best part: I’ve met a lot of friendly people here and I’m happy here.
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