Happy New Year 2007

May your new year better than last year.

If you are George Bush's dog, you will also do PR

'Wag the Dog': A White House Holiday Priority

21 Dec 2006 @ 12:41 | Permalink | Comments

The White House spends time and money on producing a film featuring Barney the Scotty.

Barney Bush the Scotty is soft-spoken, well-behaved and cute. He is the star in a professional short film shot by the White House. President Bush also makes a cameo appearance. Is it worth the time and energy of the leader of the free world and the White House staffers?

In the film (Windows Media,
Real Player, Quicktime), the White House is a warm, fuzzy, inviting holiday fantasy and not the cold ice castle of ruthless realpolitik that has led to wars and deaths. The film, a P.R. product, speaks nothing of war, poverty, unemployment or climate change.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and his black lab Koni.

No other executive branch in the world spends as much time using the First Pets as public relations tools. Russia's Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin is often seen with his black lab Koni, but his public affairs office does not cast her in holiday films. But unlike the choreographed appearances of Barney, Koni appears to roam free around Kremlin, eating treats from the press corps.

Global Pulse

(Dangerous roads)

Saddam Hussein executed.

This is how Genghis Khan handled Iraq. It is fascinating and actually more nuanced and complex than the popular imagination of slash and burn.

thrifty Norwegians - 200 billion oil fund

"Norway is the third largest exporter of oil after Saudi Arabia and Russia. The country, so far, has been socking most of its oil revenue into savings. But some argue it's time to live for today. Stephen Beard reports." (Public Radio)

In between Xmas and New Year's

...is someone's birthday. Happy belated birthday, Wonderwoman!

Where is Al Gore when you really need him?

Screw global warming - the banana is doomed, and I'm freaking out...

"The senator is a global man for the age of globalization, and his story is now familiar. A Kansas mother, a Kenyan father, an Indonesian stepfather, and years growing up in the disparate places of Hawaii and Indonesia marked him for distinction the moment he walked through the doors of the United States Senate, and provided him with a unique prism through which to view the glory and the folly of American politics." (NY Times Books Review)

It's funny that the press in the US is so amazed about a Senator that have been living in more than one countries :)

And here in this community of nomads, people will yawn on his 2 countries record.

Must See TV - AlJazeera coverage by Daily Show

Finally snow in Prague...

I wonder what snow it is... ? :o)

Eskimo dictionary:
Aiugavirnirq - very hard, compressed and frozen snow
Apijaq - snow covered by bad weather
Apigiannagaut - the first snowfall of Autumn
Apimajuq - snow-covered
Apisimajuq - snow-covered but not snowed-in
Apujjaq - snowed-in
Aput - snow
Aputiqarniq - snowfall on the ground
Aqillutaq - new snow
Auviq - snow block
Katakaqtanaq - hardcrust snow that gives way underfoot
Kavisilaq - snow roughened by snow or frost
Kiniqtaq - compact, damp snow
Mannguq - melting snow
Masak - wet, falling snow
Matsaaq - half-melted snow
Mauja - soft, deep snow footsteps sink into
Natiruvaaq - drifting snow
Pirsirlug - blowing snow
Pukajaak - sugary snow
Putak - crystalline snow that breaks into grains
Qaggitaq - snow ditch to trap caribou
Qaliriiktaq - snow layer of poor quality for an igloo
Qaniktaq - new snow on ground
Qannialaaq - light, falling snow
Qiasuqqaq - thawed snow that re-froze with an icy surface
Qimugjuk - snow drift
Qiqumaaq - snow with a frozen surface after a spring thaw
Qirsuqaktuq - crusted snow
Qukaarnartuq - light snow
Sitilluqaq - hard snow

"It's tough for me to realize that this is the majority American population's training from birth, and that this is what I'm up against to save the world. Dad asked me (he's seen The Inconvenient Truth and he's moved by it) if I think it's possible that we'll be able to save the world. I told him, we have to." (melt)

Nigeria Pipe Blast Kills over 500

Luanda, Dec 26 (PL)
The explosion of a fuel pipeline in Nigeria's largest city, Lagos, burned to death more than 500 people on Tuesday, radio station reports revealed in this capital. Eyewitnesses said that a ruptured gasoline pipeline burst into flames in the district of Abule Agba on Tuesday after thieves punctured the pipeline overnight. More

blogging software ??

Hi Guys,

Does anyone know of any software or method through which i can get all the new posts of my favourite blogs as an email in my inbox or at one place where i can read them as email??

Thanks for the help guys and Happy holidays.

James Brown died

Merry Christmas Folks

Acholi - Mot ki Yomcwing Botwo Me Mwaka Manyen

Adhola - Wafayo Chamo Mbaga & Bothi Oro Manyeni

Aeka- Keremisi jai be

Afrikaans - Geseende Kerfees en 'n gelukkige
nuwe jaar

Ahtna - C'ehwggelnen Dzaenhng Bag-ong Tuig kamayo, mga lumon

(more)

1991 Christmas Dissolution of USSR

Tomorrow will mark the 15th year of the dissolution of USSR.

Another reason why Cairo rocks

At 2am on Sunday morning in Cairo airport, there are 17 open, unsecured wireless internet connections available.



The Chaos of Cairo 1, monopolistic airport internet spivs 0. Any other airports in the world with free wireless?

TGIF

"

A store that sells new husbands has just opened in New York City, where a woman may go to choose a husband. Among the instructions at the entrance is a description of how the store operates: "You may visit this store ONLY ONCE! There are six floors and the value of the products increases as the shopper ascends the flights. The shopper may choose any item from a particular floor, or may choose to go up to the next floor, but you cannot go back down except to exit the building!"

So, a woman goes to the store to find a husband. On the first floor the sign reads: "These men Have Jobs". The second floor sign reads: "These men Have Jobs and Love Kids". The third floor sign reads: "These men Have Jobs, Love Kids, and are Extremely Good Looking."

"Wow," she thinks, but feels compelled to keep going.

At the fourth floor the sign reads: "These men Have Jobs, Love Kids, are Drop-dead Good Looking and Help With Housework."

"Oh, mercy me!" she exclaims, "I can hardly stand it!"

Still, she goes to the fifth floor and the sign reads: "These men Have Jobs, Love Kids, are Drop-dead Gorgeous, Help with Housework, and Have a Strong Romantic Streak." She is so tempted to stay, but she goes to the sixth floor and the sign reads: "You are visitor 31,456,012 to this floor. There are no men on this floor. This floor exists solely as proof that women are impossible to please. Thank you for shopping at the Husband Store."

To avoid gender bias charges, the store's owner opens a New Wives store just across the street. It too has six floors. The first floor has wives that love sex. The second floor has wives that love sex and have money. The third through sixth floors have never been visited." (The Daily Dish)

Just a quick reminder

Synchronised global orgasm for peace TODAY
Do not forget :)
More info back here

The end of an era

The greatest entertainer cricket's ever seen and easily 1 among the 2 greatest cricket players of all time. You can watch this clip on Youtube - wickets number 1, 100, 200, 300, 400, 500 and 600. And of course, tune your TV sets on Boxing Day for number 700. Cricinfo has a fitting story here.

You Legend. You Beauty. Cricket will never be the same again. Ever.

Shane Warne - take a bow.

I need help buying an .ie domain

for a discretionary domain name. If you are an Irish citizen and can help, please contact me at dody at nomadlife dot org.

Students revolt against Iranian president

I'm not for a second thinking that this is actually a big deal -and I am sure that this happens all the time but is rarely reported. But, there is a tiny glimmer of hope that one day something like this will lead to some sort of change (preferably peaceful!)

I guess this topic will be in the news more and more because of Iran's local elections.

new monkeys !!

"Scientists have discovered at least 52 new species of animals and plants on the southeast Asian island of Borneo since 2005, including a catfish with protruding teeth and suction cups on its belly to help it stick to rocks, WWF International said Tuesday.

"The more we look the more we find," said Stuart Chapman, WWF International coordinator for the study of the "Heart of Borneo," a 85,000-square-mile rain forest in the center of the island where several of the new species were found. "These discoveries reaffirm Borneo's position as one of the most important centers of biodiversity in the world." (AP)

Top 10 worst i-pod accessories.

End of Poverty - Once Again

"For more than 30 years, I?ve been reading, writing and teaching about the ethical issue posed by the juxtaposition, on our planet, of great abundance and life-threatening poverty. Yet it was not until, in preparing this article, I calculated how much America?s Top 10 percent of income earners actually make that I fully understood how easy it would be for the world?s rich to eliminate, or virtually eliminate, global poverty. (It has actually become much easier over the last 30 years, as the rich have grown significantly richer.) I found the result astonishing. I double-checked the figures and asked a research assistant to check them as well. But they were right. Measured against our capacity, the Millennium Development Goals are indecently, shockingly modest. If we fail to achieve them ? as on present indications we well might ? we have no excuses. The target we should be setting for ourselves is not halving the proportion of people living in extreme poverty, and without enough to eat, but ensuring that no one, or virtually no one, needs to live in such degrading conditions. That is a worthy goal, and it is well within our reach. " (NY Times - What should a billionaire Give and what should you?)

A burger you won't find at Mickey D's

"The $110 hamburger offered by the Four Seasons is made of Kobe beef with foie gras, Portobello mushrooms and Korean pears -- served with french fries, of course." -Reuters

This burger is offered in Jakarta, of all places, and is almost triple the average monthly salary in the country.

I wish my bank account could support my culinary desires....

Last Dance with Mary Jane

MixMaster will appreciate this video.

Time's Person of the Year - You

You were named Time magazine "Person of the Year" today for the explosive growth and influence of user-generated internet content such as blogs, video-file sharing site YouTube and social network MySpace.

"For seizing the reins of the global media, for founding and framing the new digital democracy, for working for nothing and beating the pros at their own game, Time's Person of the Year for 2006 is you," the magazine's Lev Grossman wrote.

The magazine has put a mirror on the cover of its "Person of the Year" issue, released on Monday, "because it literally reflects the idea that you, not us, are transforming the information age", Editor Richard Stengel said in a statement.

[click here for more]

Christmas traditions ?!

As I was just helping my mum bake some xmas cookies I was wondering if other countries have similar traditions to ours in the Czech Republic.

Most of the families bake several types of xmas cookies before xmas day and then children (and me) go sneak to the balcony where cookies are kept and steal few here and there as they are so yummy and waiting for xmas is simply too hard.

Furthermore, the most important day is the 24th, Christmas Eve, when all things happen. Families get together, have Christmas dinner which consists of fried carp in bread crumbs and potatoe salad. Later when the bell rings all gather around Christmas tree, they might sing some carols and unpack the xmas gifts.

25th and 26th are holidays but those days are pretty much regular days for Czechs. Through out the xmas season there are lots of fairy tales and xmas movies on TV to boost the mood and all are awaiting the night of New Years.

"Happy Birthday (Grunt)
Happy Birthday (Grunt)
Death, destruction and despair,
People dying everywhere

Happy Birthday (Grunt)
Happy Birthday (Grunt)
May the candles on your cake,
Burn like cities in your wake

Happy Birthday (Grunt)
Happy Birthday (Grunt)
Now that you're the age you are,
Your demise cannot be far

Happy Birthday (Grunt)
Happy Birthday (Grunt)
Make the women wail and weep,
Slay them all but spare the sheep

Happy Birthday (Grunt)
Happy Birthday (Grunt)
"
(Mongolian Birthday Dirge)

Being 26 is not a happy occasion. Evertything sags.

How to cool a softdrink real fast

"That would be about 20-25 minutes in a freezer. If you put it in a bucket of ice, that would halve that time. If you put water in that ice, it'd be cold (+- 5c) enough to drink in about 4-6 minutes, if you put salt in that water, you'd reduce the chill time to just over 2 minutes. Agitating the can in the water, rolling it around, reduces the chill time even more. The fastest possible way is to grab a CO2 fire extinguisher and unload that sucker on the can" (make)

I bet this will be useful for southern hemisphere countries right now.

Diabetes? We hardly knew ye

"In a discovery that has stunned even those behind it, scientists at a Toronto hospital say they have proof the body's nervous system helps trigger diabetes, opening the door to a potential near-cure of the disease that affects millions of Canadians.

Diabetic mice became healthy virtually overnight after researchers injected a substance to counteract the effect of malfunctioning pain neurons in the pancreas." (Canada)

The 6th Annual Year in Ideas

"In September, Bangkok witnessed the opening of the Suvarnabhumi Airport, which when finally completed will include virtually all the components of a major metropolis: shopping malls, office buildings, hotels, hospitals, an international business center, conference and exhibition spaces, warehouses and even a residential community. Traditionally, of course, airports have served cities, but in the past few years airports have started to become cities unto themselves, giving rise to a new urban form: the aerotropolis." (NY Times - 2006 in ideas)

No Pain?

"In Thursday's issue of the journal Nature, scientists who found the defect describe six related children who have never felt physical pain because of the very rare disorder. The children come from three families with roots in northern Pakistan.

Their experience illustrates that pain is an important warning of injury, disease or danger that signals people to save themselves from further injury. Life without that signal, the report shows, is dangerous.

Because the children felt no pain from biting themselves, for example, all six had injuries to their lips, some requiring later plastic surgery. Two had lost one-third of their tongues." (AP)

Their inability to feel pain generates some horrific injuries. So sometimes, pain does mean gain.

Evolutionary Super Lions

"Thus, the island has become a unique, ecological experiment. In order to exist without the customary spectrum of weaker African prey like zebra, giraffe and impala, the Duba lions have had to develop distinct strategies in order to trap the single available food source.

They have adapted to this challenge by hunting during the day under the baking African sun, swimming through deep rivers in the hunt for buffalo. This water-based training programme combined with a diet of protein-rich buffalo meat has led to the development of huge muscles, and these super-cats now dwarf other lions.

The island lions also use highly advanced psychology in their quest for food, predicting the course of the buffaloes' daily trek by anticipating their need for water ? then lying in wait at the precise spot along the river where the herd will eventually stop for refreshment." (Daily Mail)

becoming...

Check out the trailer from "The number 23" , the latest Jim Carey movie, directed by Joel Schumacher.

Carey had few attempts to distance himself from comedy, such as "Man on the Moon" or "Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind" . This time though, it looks like he finally decided to take the extra step...

Anyway, better later then never...I think he's a brilliant dude who'll be doing some fabulous acting in the next years.

neurobiologists

what do you call those brief slight localized involuntary benign muscle spasms that we all have from time to time?

Tofu is evil

"Soy is feminizing, and commonly leads to a decrease in the size of the penis, sexual confusion and homosexuality. That's why most of the medical (not socio-spiritual) blame for today's rise in homosexuality must fall upon the rise in soy formula and other soy products. (Most babies are bottle-fed during some part of their infancy, and one-fourth of them are getting soy milk!) Homosexuals often argue that their homosexuality is inborn because "I can't remember a time when I wasn't homosexual." No, homosexuality is always deviant. But now many of them can truthfully say that they can't remember a time when excess estrogen wasn't influencing them." (Crackpot)

This is fuckin' hillarious.

New Year plans...

Few ppl along with me are in Madrid (Spain) over New Years - some wild partying lined up.

Dates: 29 Dec - 2nd Jan

Anyone who will be around in that part of the world during that time? Do let me know - will be good to meet up new / old faces :).

On another note - Any must do's / interesting places to see in Madrid - pl let me know, will be helpful!

flatulence forces plane to land

since we're all about the travel

"It is considered polite to light a match after passing gas. Not while on a plane. " - Yahoo News

Another gem from Spike Jonze

Spike Jonze has been one of my favourite directors and all round creative geniuses for a long time now. He directed three of my all time favourite music video clips - Sabotage by the Beastie Boys, Weapon of Choice by Fatboy Slim and Drop by Pharcyde (click the links to watch them).

He was also behind two of the best movies I have ever seen, the amazing Being John Malkovich and its kind-of-meta-sequel, Adaptation. Both are works of indisputable genius.

Recently, GAP in the US asked him to produce a commercial for them. He came back with something they probably didn't expect, and after some unimpressed focus groups, the ad never made it to the screens. But thanks to the miracle of the internet, we can watch it in all its glory. Check it out, and try to imagine the look on the GAP Marketing execs faces when they saw their hugely expensive advert from the creative wonderboy for the first time.....

Help, please I need a big favor

Hey you guys.
I need a really big favor, I need some sort of software (or technique or something) that allows some sort of text prediction (spanish) on a really easy and comprehensive way, that needs as little control as possible.

My uncle had an accident last week, he hurt his column and injured his medula. right now he is on an intentensive care unit in the hospital. He can't feel anything from his neck down. He is completely conscious, he wants to communicate, but he can't just talk because he has a tube down his throat (breather) that doesn't allow him. And he can't move his head cause he is restrained for he might increase his injury if he does. He can move his lips a little but because of the tube on his mouth you cant really read his lips, we've tried that. He can listen and see.

So if any of you can help my family and me figure a way so we can communicate with him we would really appreciate it.

Right now we are trying with charts with the most common words he 'might' use, so we can work with him on a YES or NO fashion, i'm experimenting a software called DASHER, which does some kind of prediction based on common words and common combinations of those words, which it picks up from training texts.

He has been really depressed because he can communicate (so says the phsicologyst), and he really tries to tell us something. his condition is really critical, so whatever we can understand now is really important for him, his wife, his two daughters, all his family and friends... we just dont know how long he could be with us ...

THANK YOU VERY MUCH!


Juan Enrique Osorio Gutiérrez (koki)
AIESEC Manizales, Colombia

my email:
jeosoriogutierrez@gmail.com
jeosoriogutierrez2@msn.com

blog
koki.nomadlife.org

Saddest. Picture. Ever....

Yesterday I saw a kitten get run over in Cairo traffic, and as we all looked out of the back window of the taxi in horrow, we saw the poor little thing trying to drag herself off the road without the help of her two broken back legs. But that story has nothing on this:

Pinochet's Death

Chile's Gen Pinochet dies at 91

It will be interesting to see how Chile handles this as he still has many supporters.

Cell phone localization

With our privacy being attacked daily due to the internet or air travel requirements, here's yet another 'cool invention'. Cell phone localization. It's been around for quite a while - restricted only for use by police or secret services, but never as a freely available service to general public.

Now with a series of new telecommunication laws passed recently in several countries in latin america, even this restriction is a past.


Yes, that means - if you want to find out where e.g. your friends are at this very moment, the answer is just two clicks away:

SAT-PHONE Localization system

All you need to do is to enter a cell phone number in the international format: +XXX YYY ZZZZZZ.

I don't know about you, but I think this is quite scary. What do you think about it ?

help o biologists!

does anybody know the scientific name of this animal?

Cultural Differences ? :)

(Newsweek)

AIESEC Lahore, Pakistan LCP elections live!

Hey Nomadlife!

Check out AIESEC Lahore's blog to see the live elections of their next LCP!!!
It is going on right now!

"It's better than IC Live" - Khamba, MC AIESEC India

Hot Priests

This post is dedicated to our female nomads - although posting this makes me look gay.

On newsstands in Rome, a calendar of hot Roman catholic priestst.

Support Contact

If you have any problem with nomadlife, contact me at

Email : dody at nomadlife dot org / empirebuilder@gmail.com
MSN : dody_g@hotmail.com
Skype : dodygunawinata

If you have an ftp cannot login error, don't panic. Just contact me. nomadlife.org ftp account expires every 2 years so all you need to do is simply contact me and I'll enable your ftp account for another 2 years. Sometimes I reply in 24 hours - but if you don't hear me after 3 days, please remind me again. Sometimes I lost your email or got too busy at work.

If you want to remove your blog, you can do it two ways.

1. Simply use a normal FTP software (ask google) and connect using your ftp account. Simply delete everything once you are in.

2. Contact me and I'll disable/delete your blog for you.

"On Aug. 27, 1979, two parallel lines of 11 men formed on a field of dry dirt in Sanandaj, Iran. One group wore blindfolds. The other held rifles. The command came in Farsi to fire: "Atesh!" Behind the soldier farthest to the right, a 12th man also shot, his Nikon camera and Kodak film preserving in black and white a mass execution.

Within hours, the photo ran across six columns in Ettela'at, the oldest newspaper in Iran. Within days, it appeared on front pages around the world. Within weeks, the new Iranian government annexed the offending paper. Within months, the photo won the Pulitzer Prize." (WSJ)

The future of the phone

An interesting article in the Economist considers some of the social and technological changes of the future...

One of the greatest (cricket) test matches ever played...Bow down to the champions!

Its only this cricket team in the world who can manage such a feat!

Trailing England's first innings total of 551 for 6 wickets (declared) , and at the end of day 4 - England being 59 - 1, everyone thought (and I mean everyone) this game is heading towards a lame draw. But Ricky Ponting, the captain of the Australian cricket team and his men had something else planned for the English team.

Day 5 morning dawns - and with a little over 3 overs to spare - you check the score card and it says Aussies pull off a dramatic victory!

I was shocked to see this - and read the scorelines, and I was completely blown away. England bowled out for 129 and then Michael Hussey (this guy frikkin never gets out) and Ricky Ponting - who has been electrifying with the bat this series, breeze away for an unbelievable victory!

Congratulations to the best cricketing team I have seen for a long time. The Indian cricket team needs to learn a lot on how to nail it when it comes to such situations - if they want to have a fair chance in the upcoming world cup!

more respect ?

"But the effect is not making men into raving beasts. On the contrary: The onslaught of porn is responsible for deadening male libido in relation to real women, and leading men to see fewer and fewer women as "porn-worthy." Far from having to fend off porn-crazed young men, young women are worrying that as mere flesh and blood, they can scarcely get, let alone hold, their attention" (New York Magazine)

Mama Nomad

Hey all,

In what may be a nomadlife first (??), I wanted to call attention to one of the community's newest bloggers: my mother.

By way of background, she was a strong supporter of Aiesec while I was in the LC and MC levels. She spoke at several of our meetings, cooked holiday meals for trainees and even helped with one of the MC marketing campaigns. Although she was never an official member of Aiesec, she has taken many of the principles to heart.

And now she's putting those principles in action.

In the last year, she has quit her job (of more than 30 years), sold her house and most of her possessions and is preparing to travel Europe for the next four months with one of her childhood friends. They have no real plans, other than starting and ending the trip in Milan (where her friend lives). And this is only her third trip outside of the U.S!

I could go on and on about how proud of her I am for taking such a bold, exciting step in her life...but I'll let her do the talking. You can follow along here.

Jim

Don't go to the water

"Australia?s first recorded shark attack was in 1791. As of August 2006, there had been a total of 668 attacks in Australian waters, 191 of them fatal, according to the Australian Shark Attack File at Sydney?s Taronga Zoo." (msnbc)

Funky country abbreviations

Where would Ianca, MA be?