Madness

Save the dolphins in Anguilla

Since I used to live in Anguilla, I’m still subscribed to an email news list that gives me updates of what’s going on around the island. I seriously just wanted to cry over the weekend after I read the latest email and saw what the Dolphin Discovery in Anguilla (aka Dolphin Fantaseas) was doing to their dolphins.  A local man is so concerned that he put together a page full of pictures and says:

The Dolphin Discovery facility at Meads Bay is closed down. It appears to have been abandoned by the previous management. There seems to be only a handyman present on the site during the day. He tries valiantly and without management guidance to keep up with basic maintenance. The dolphins are left to swim in their own waste. The water has become badly polluted. It is now in what must be a dangerous state for the health of the dolphins and anyone else, for that matter, venturing into the water.

Yes there are more atrocious things going on in the world than these little guys getting abused, but this is something that could easily be fixed. Unfortunately, it’s the tourists that are driving the market for a dolphin encounter in Anguilla and the local government doesn’t seem to be doing anything because it’s such a draw for tourists.  I would love to swim with dolphins too, but I’d feel to guilty.

Other than posting to message boards, writing to travel magazines, newspapers, and Peta, (and creating as many keyword links to Don Mitchell’s site) there doesn’t seem much else that can be done from where I am. Unless someone knows a celebrity that would talk about it – because no one listens to anyone else these days.

Fun

We live in a magical age

Brendon and I talked with his grandmother (aka Nanny)  in Australia via video Skype a couple weeks ago.  It was the first time he talked to her face to face in about 24 years.  After seeing Brendon and talking to him for a bit she said, “We live in a magical age.” And you know  – she’s right.

His aunt surprised us with the call and after getting the web cam and Skype to cooperate it was like the Jetsons video calls. As a kid I thought that would be the coolest thing ever and laughed at Jane wearing her fake face when she answered calls in the morning. Needless to say I kinda wanted one of those when they called.

What seemed improbable as a kid starts coming true the older we get. Today another thing happened. Whenever my sisters and I were being complete grumps when we were little, my mom had this little mantra she would say to us: “I don’t want to be happy. I want to be sad.” She always told us it was from her favorite cartoon from when she was little.  We never saw this mysterious cartoon -  I never thought we’d ever see it, and it was lost to history.

Fast forward 25 years.

Boing Boing featured a cartoon today that sounded like it just might have that line it in. And it does! The cartoon is on YouTube and is called “The Sunshine Makers“. I immediately emailed it to my mom and sisters. It’s a funny, sweet, and silly part of my childhood that suddenly makes a little more sense.

That little discovery might not seem as magical as talking to someone on the other side of the world, but to me it’s on par.

Travel

Paris souvenirs

Things to remember about Paris, in no particular order.

  • Itinerary
  • Photos
  • View of the Eiffel Tower from the apartment at 1am when only the sparkling lights are on
  • Police concert
  • American sandwiches at the Police concert – two hot dogs on a baguette topped with French fries and special sauce (dead-on name, just never have seen it before)
  • Sainte Chapelle
  • Getting lost in the Louvre
  • Dinner at Alain Ducasse
  • Seeing fashion shows, parties, and photo shoots
  • Nuit Blanche – Choir and organ concert at Notre Dame
  • Watching France vs New Zealand rugby match on the big screen at Place de Hotel de Ville with thousands of other people – and France won
  • Chocolate chaud at Angelina’s
  • Tea and macaroons at Laduree
  • Tea at Mariage Freres
  • Chocolate
  • Fauchon cafe
  • Following Amelie’s footsteps in Montmartre
  • Shopping in the 8ème
  • Sunday morning wake-up call
  • Finding a painting of Brendon
  • Wandering the city
  • Schedule – wake at 9, breakfast, explore, lunch, explore, tea, explore, go home, have dinner, sleep
Travel

In the city of blinding light

Well after months of planning we got to Paris. Everything was going perfectly until we tried to find the apartment. The was no number 52 on Quai to Grenelle. In fact, there was no even numbers on the street. Of course all the worse things started flooding through my head at this point, filling my ears with something that sounded like Doctor Who’s tardis taking off, and pulling me down to the ground and my head between my knees. Well it was probably more like I had forgot to breathe, hadn’t slept, nor ate any proper food in the past 24 hours. This is when Mom’s fainting advice with box breathing and putting your head between your knees came in very handy. (Women tend to faint in the heat in my family) So after about 2 minutes of me with doing my best impression of a dog licking its balls on a bench near the La Seine, I felt somewhat normal. And Brendon went to see if it was the next building over.

Now my impression of a dog must have been quiet convincing, since a cute little salt and pepper terrier came over to say hello. And he quickly wanted to claim me as his own…by peeing on my suitcase. But it must have brought me good luck – Brendon came back and said he found the apartment. Number 57, not 52 — they look similar, right?

After finally getting into the apartment we took a nap. (I know, I know…you’re not supposed to do that. And that’s why I’m up at 5am.)

The rest of the day we walked around our neighborhood, found the local bakeries, went walking along La Seine to the Eiffel, dodged the ‘did you lose your ring’ and ‘do you speak English” scammers, happend on the Diana make-shift memorial, ate at a local cafe, went grocery shopping, watched a bad/funny French variety show, and went to bed.
But the apartment is lovely, and the view spectacular: overlooking the Seine, and 3/4 of the Eiffel Tower, top-to-bottom, along with the lovely light show every hour from dusk to 2am. But at 5-in-the-morning, the tower is dark now, and the city is surprising quiet.

Off to make breakfast. Pictures to come on Flickr.

Uncategorized

Break in the Honeybee Murder Mystery


IMG_3081

Originally uploaded by Ashley Richards

Looks like they might have found what’s killing off the bees. I blogged about this before

It’s a virus that’s never been seen in the U.S., but has been seen in Israel. So I guess it’s another thing to blame on global warming and our appetite for foods that aren’t in season. Ship in foods that have the virus and with make the environment nice an cosy for them to multiply…and you’ve got yourself dead bees…well that’s if the theory holds true. They still have to do more testing…

I hope they cure it. I’ll miss my honey and 1/3 of my food that depends on them.

Uncategorized

Proof men are shallow and women are destined to be poor?

I’m not quite sure what to make of this new book: Why Beautiful People Have More Daughters: From Dating, Shopping, and Praying to Going to War and Becoming a Billionaire– Two Evolutionary Psychologists Explain Why We Do What We Do.

From the review in the New York Post I read it seems that the book Essentially says that men are shallow and pervy up until they have kids and then they’re lazy bastards. And women on the other hand are wired not to be as ambitious as men because they’ve evolved to care about other things, according to the book. It seems western-centric and gender-biased – like the guy never left the 1950s. There are soooo many holes – I can’t decide to laugh or yell at him.

Uncategorized

Germ-a-phobe doctor

So I went to the optometrist today and made the mistake of trying to be chatty with him. After shaking my hand, he asked how I was doing. I took that as a conversation opener (silly me), and I said I had a bit of a cold. He looked at me as if I said I had the plague. He then went on to say he wouldn’t treat me. (I told his assistant I had a cold too, and she said nothing.) So, I asked why. And he said he didn’t want to have to get close to me. Hmm… a doctor who doesn’t want to get close to anyone that might have germs – that’s everyone. I then asked him if he had a mask I could wear and his answer surprised me. He doesn’t wear masks because he has allergies and wouldn’t be able to breathe. How the hell do you go through school and treat the public without ever wearing a mask or getting close to people that have germs. Then he threw in that colds could change your vision. But sadly, that wasn’t his first concern.

Honestly, the last time I was sick, worse than this little cold mind you, the doctor had to look into my mouth and there was no need to wear a mask. So he doesn’t carry masks in his office – what if someone came in with something oozing from their eye and he had to cut something – wouldn’t wear one then I suppose? Real sanitary.
Since I just sat there out of stubborness, he caved and gave me a shortened eye exam so that I could get glasses and contacts. He made an effort not to touch me. I could have gone to any chain glasses store and gotten the same exam for less. So I licked his pen when he was out of the office.

No, I didn’t. But I should have.  I’m sure the poor assistant had to go through and disinfect everything for him after I left.

He also couldn’t believe that I wouldn’t get disposable lenses out of environmental concerns. He claimed they’re healthier, but there’s no conclusive evidence of that out there. There is proof of higher profit margin though.

Uncategorized

Happy May Day!

Summer’s finally here. Yes Summer, not Spring. May in the old Celtic tradition marks the beginning of summer and summer solstice is midsummer. You can get the whole explanation here. Remember the maypole with the dancing and ribbons – comes from this day. In Scotland, they still hold bonfires to celebrate. It’s when faeries come out to play, everything turns green, flowers come back and generally everyone gets happy again. I think we should bring back celebrating that. Holidays with fire, costumes and fun are more enduring.
Instead, the Bush government had to try to ruin yet another perfectly good day. May 1’s become International Worker’s Day for “pinkos” and “commies,” so Bushy signed some bill making it  “Loyalty Day”.  They couldn’t let it go. I seriously don’t see it becoming anything special. Flag Day has become a non-day. Next year maybe they’ll have mass pledge of allegance rallies leading up to the election. But it’ll get smaller and smaller each time and then our children will ask, what the big was all about.

Business, Tech

Google Gmail Bug Routes Emails to Wrong Address

Looks like Google has a dirty little secret. Gmail emails have been routed incorrectly to the wrong recipients. I’ve been receiving emails for a woman whose email address is similar to mine, minus a period between the first and second half of the username. So I thought people were accidentally adding the period – turns out that’s not the case.

I got another email for her today from a website and thought that there’s no way she’s giving people the wrong email address across the board. Checked the headers, and yes indeed the emails are going to the wrong account.

I went into Gmail Help and filled out their contact form. So far all I’ll gotten is an automated response. So I checked out the Gmail discussion boards, and, wouldn’t you know, there are over a thousand entries about people getting wrong emails. This bug looks to have been a known issue for quite some time, so why hasn’t Google done anything about it? Or even better why haven’t they at least notified users with similar email addresses that there is a possibility that their emails are being routed incorrectly?

I couldn’t imagine what would happen if someone out there had personal information in an email that would then make it possible for someone to steal the other person’s identity if they accidentally received the email. I’m not talking about social security numbers, but more like the answers to standard security questions or little things that can help you inpersonate someone. This bug allows for some wicked social engineering to occur.

Sharing information is in Google’s DNA, so when they go into a space where they need to keep information private can they do it? Can they make sure that if there is a breach in security they are equipped to take the necessary steps to rectify the situation? So far I haven’t seen it. And now they have a product where they hold on to my credit card number, Google Checkout. Hmmm…after this mix up, I don’t trust them with it.

Update – 29 February 2008

I logged into my Gmail account today and saw a little tiny link next to the address in “To” field with the username without the dot. The new Gmail help center faq now says that the email is routed correctly and that there is no other account using my username without the dot. So I wonder what happened with the other person’s account. Did they try to create the account and never realized it wasn’t actually created? And why didn’t Google ever send me an email with this information after I had requested account support? Hmmm…not very good with customer service when it’s not related to advertising it seems.  Or maybe it’s just that Gmail is undersupported.