New Zealand @ MindSay

1. My best girl, Elena, is moving home from DC this weekend. Her parents are ill, which is horrible news, but, selfishly, I am thrilled that she will be home soon. Yay!

 

2. Baseball season is here. I am hugely happy about that, except for one thing. My brothers are lazy and pathetic and so I don't get to play fantasy baseball this year. Long story and I'm still too bitter to talk about it.

 

3. I have been house sitting all this week. Living alone is nice. Animals....nope.

 

4. Libraries in the metro area offer free passes to various community museums. It is a great program and one that certainly doesn't get the publicity it deserves. One of the participating musuems is the Minnesota Zoo. It is far and away the most popular pass (kicks the Russian Museums ass!) and the past couple summers, zoo passes have become nearly black market commodities. They are first come, first serve and last summer, I actually witnessed a fight over who was there first and should get the pass. In response to the overwhelming popularity and the problems it was creating, the zoo announced last fall that the passes would no longer be available in the summer. May - September, the zoo would not accept any free passes. Economically, this was a smart move on their part, because summer is when people go to the zoo, so they'll make lots more money. Last week we just heard the pull date for the passes and then, today, I hear that they won't be pulling them after all.

 

Evidently, in response to this economic crisis that we're in, the Minnesota Zoo has decided to continue to allow the free passes throughout the summer so people will be able to afford those simple pleasures. I thought this was an incredible gesture by the zoo, especially since it will actually cost them money. I say kudos to the zoo.

 

5. It is April. Weather-wise, that should mean the start of spring. It is chilly and on the verge of snowing (so they say)....in actuality, it is bright and sunny today, though colder than it should be.

 

6. I saw my first robin this morning, means spring to me.

 

7. At a library in New Zealand, someone came into the library with very large teddy bears and left them. The bears, that is. They just left them in the library, scattered throughout in various poses. Kind of like a prank or something, but no one has laid claim to the plan. I thought it was funny and reminiscent of our own animal prank.

 

8. And finally, I was reading an email this morning from a librarian and he said, "get yourself a cuppa coffee" and I realized it was not the first time I have heard the word "cuppa". Apparently, it is actually a word, but only because of sheer laziness. It is British (the librarian using it is NOT) and is a word derived from altering "a cup of tea". I mean, come on! We're so lazy now that making the "f" sound is too much work? Say it with me: "a cup of tea" "a cuppa tea" they have the exact same number of syllables--the only difference is the dropped "f" sound in the lazy form. It is absurd that this needs to be a word. I am bugged. Annoyed. Irritated. Chafed. Vexed. Galled. You name it. The sheer language laziness of this needing to be a word and actually being accepted as such is appalling....end of rant.

 

Do you think that is enough stuff? Hope you enjoyed today's "one fell swoop" posting.

 

Happy Friday!

 

20 days.

    I never thought of myself as particularly attractive, smart, or socially advanced -- certainly not rich. It was odd, then, to meet two men possessing everything that I lacked. Though modest, they had everything in their hands. The Lexus, a couple of grand to blow, nice shoes, stories of traveling the world. I had the choice of keeping up with them while questioning my own abilities or staying behind.

    There's no gap between poverty and excess, no medium between dim and blindingly bright. At least not here. Now more than ever I can't find a place in this world. I'm beginning to question if I ever will.

   

    "Why are you wearing a hospital bracelet, mate?"
    "I got into a fight. Didn't win."

Moko is well known locally for playing with swimmers in the bay Moko the dolphin

A dolphin has come to the rescue of two whales which had become stranded on a beach in New Zealand.

Conservation officer Malcolm Smith told the BBC that he and a group of other people had tried in vain for an hour and a half to get the whales to sea.

The pygmy sperm whales had repeatedly beached, and both they and the humans were tired and set to give up, he said.

But then the dolphin appeared, communicated with the whales, and led them to safety.

The bottlenose dolphin, called Moko by local residents, is well known for playing with swimmers off Mahia beach on the east coast of the North Island.

Mr Smith said he gave the dolphin a pat to say thank you

Mr Smith said that just when his team was flagging, the dolphin showed up and made straight for them.

"I don't speak whale and I don't speak dolphin," Mr Smith told the BBC, "but there was obviously something that went on because the two whales changed their attitude from being quite distressed to following the dolphin quite willingly and directly along the beach and straight out to sea."

He added: "The dolphin did what we had failed to do. It was all over in a matter of minutes."

Back at play

Mr Smith said he felt fortunate to have witnessed the extraordinary event, and was delighted for the whales, as in the past he has had to put down animals which have become beached.

He said that the whales have not been seen since, but that the dolphin had returned to its usual practice of playing with swimmers in the bay.

SOURCE:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7291501.stm

Sometime within the next 2-3 years, I will be moving, permanently, to New Zealand.

I researched luggage allowances, etc, to see how much I could take with me, and it seems my hands are tied. All I'm taking with me are 4 pairs of jeans, some long-sleeved shirts, a few t-shirts, a few pairs of shorts, 2 pairs of shoes, a couple sleeveless shirts for pajamas and working out and stuff, maybe 2 or 3 books (I'm sure I won't be able to find them easily over there), all the friken lotion and body soap I have that I've never used (maybe 5ish pounds worth), a few files I should take with me in case I need proof of education, employment, US citizenship, etc, a crayon box with pens and pencils, a few cds and burned movies stuck in 2 cd cases, a jacket or two, personal items (underwear, bras, socks, toothbrush and toothpaste, wallet, bathing suit, etc), and the stuffed animal my fiance gave me for Christmas last year.

I'm really not taking any more than I need, because luggage has its limits. But things are expensive there (for example, a basic cheap bra is $50, and jeans are around $80+), so it's be nice to not have to buy stuff I already have.. ya know?

44 pounds... that's my suit case and jeans.. what about everything else? I'm really only taking what I need, except the books, crayon box, and body soap/lotions. If I have to, I can cut those, but that'd suck to have them but never use them. I only have a little brother, so he's never going to use them. I'm really only worried about the body soap, so I wouldn't have to buy bar soap (because it's a little pricey there).

Any ideas?
How much would it cost to have a few boxes shipped overseas? I'd only need 2 small boxes at the most. I really only need to take 3-4 suitcases (because jeans and shoes take up so much space and weight so much). It'd suck to have to pay for the services of a few boxes of jeans and shirts.. right?

You might recall my mentioning on 23 November the Jerusalem Post’s report on the new Human Rights Watch report accusing Palestinians of war crimes for protecting individual houses with ‘human shields’.  Then, on 29 November, Norman Finkelstein (reprinted immediately on CounterPunch) came out against the report and called for letters to HRW demanding a retraction.  This morning there was a press release from the International Solidarity Movement citing the relevant sections of the Geneva Conventions and establishing quite convincingly that HRW’s accusation was completely groundless, in their own terms.  Finkelstein’s page provides links for those who want to write to Kenneth Roth and Sarah Whitson, which I encourage you to do.  There are also letters from other readers on that page. 

 

Now, Jonathan Cook has also made an impressive contribution to the discussion of the issue, which you should read in full.  Among his observations,

 

Women volunteering to surround a mosque become the equivalent of the notorious incident in January 2003 when 21-year-old Samer Sharif was handcuffed to the hood of an army Jeep and driven towards stone-throwing youngsters in Nablus as Israeli soldiers fired their guns from behind his head.

 

A few days ago I wrote that Gaza residents traumatized by projectiles falling on their homes didn’t have the option of fleeing because ‘of course departure is not an option for them’.  A correspondent has written casting doubt on this assertion, ‘From what I've read, it seems that Israel is perfectly willing to let Palestinians leave for other countries.  If that is true, that means departure is an option’.  On reflection, I wrote, ‘I have heard that, too.  In fact I think foundations exist, possibly run out of Yisrael Beitenu, that will pay their way and even give them a little grant.  But I'm not real sure how it works and frankly, I can't imagine anyone in Gaza being able to avail themselves of such an opportunity, as there are no Israeli officials there to entertain an application and the borders are closed.’  If you can shed any light in the issue, please let me know and I’ll post an update.

 

Hot on the heels of their recent military intervention in Tonga to protect the monarchy from prodemocracy ‘rioters’, in the interests of stability and democracy, Ha’aretz reports that New Zealand has now humiliated itself again by withdrawing a warrant for the arrest of Moshe Ya’alon for war crimes.

 

The warrant names Ya'alon for ordering an Israel Air Force attack on the home of senior Hamas official Salah Shehada in the Gaza Strip in 2002. Shahada, the founder of Hamas' military wing, and one of his aides were killed in the attack along with 13 civilians. 

This morning’s mail also brought an interesting ‘cogitation’ from MediaLens’s David Edwards, where he discusses some of the mechanisms that the educational system deploys in turning us into compliant ‘responsible’ members of society, regardless of considerations of what I think he would call ‘compassion’, and I would call ‘solidarity’.  Among the specific ploys that teacher John Taylor Gatto mentions in his book Dumbing Us Down,

 

The point is that a child who accepts the label ‘not very bright’ will, in his or her own mind, deem risible the notion that he or she might seek to understand the world, much less to challenge the assumptions accepted by the society by which he or she has been labelled. For a ’failure’ who has been successfully undermined in this way, to reject the labelling system itself will seem like the most obvious and wretched sour grapes. How can this one individual be right against a whole world of opinion? And from where can we gain the confidence that has been stripped away from us by the very system we are presuming to challenge?

 

On the other hand, the ‘bright’ child will feel a sense of affirmation and belonging that will make him or her disinclined to challenge the fundamental legitimacy and wisdom of the source of his or her own self-esteem. These are the ’winners’ who populate our public [i.e. private] schools, Oxbridge universities and corporate media offices.

 

Edwards also points out that ‘a lot of ’dim’ children are too ’bright’, or at least too true to themselves, to tolerate the trivia imposed on them as ’education’. To be indifferent to what is of minimal human significance is not a sign of stupidity.’

 

When I was a kid, maybe 6 or 7 years old, my grandmother took me to see a western and after some gripping scene I discovered to my horror that M&Ms actually do melt in your hand.  This was a seminal event in my life, to which I attribute my low tolerance for bullshit.  My mother recently reminded me of it out of the blue, so I’m pretty sure it’s not just my fevered imagination.  Nevertheless, I did well in school until I dropped out in grade 10 - a decision I have never had cause to regret.  I wish I’d been allowed to do it earlier.  One of the many advantages was that they never got around to teaching me to hate Shakespeare.

 

I’m going to post this before it gets too long, but I’m currently writing something about Jimmy Carter’s speech broadcast Thursday, Democracy Now!, and the DN interview with Rashid Khalidi and Ali Abunimah.  I may post it later today.