Enigmatic Worthlessness

The Politics of Shouting

2011-03-28T17:44:00.001-04:00

Say it loud

At Concordia University the motto used to be "a real education for a real world", or something like that. Well, student politics are real, and they are definitely ready for the 'real' world of corruption and oligarchy.

"We are a bunch of idiots, vote for us"!

Today the candidates of Action slate gathered for a flash mob, showing once again how overwhelmingly numerous they actually are. For an hour they roamed the university campus, singing, shouting, and making all sort of wild noises. Welcome to politics, where what matters is visibility, not ideas.

"Uuugh"

"A real education for a real world"... And those idiots are going to handle over $2 million.

Go wander on Demotix for photo sales.

Amir Khadir defends of the right to boycott Israeli products at UQAM

2011-03-25T23:17:00.000-04:00

Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions: the right to say no to the Israeli occupation:
Amir Khadir gave a speech in defense of CJPME's (Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle-East) campaign to boycott Israeli products at UQAM. And I became a member of Quebec Solidaire.

For Sales: Demotix

Patric Moore gives a speech for the Fraser Institute

2011-03-22T16:56:00.005-04:00

Patric Moore giving his speech.

Today Patrick Moore gave a speech at the Omni Hotel for the Fraser Institute. Patric Moore was one of the founder of Greenpeace, but ever since he left the environmental activist group in 1986 he has been crusading against them, and what he calls 'pop-environmentalism'.

Moore discussed a few points from his new book Confessions of a Greenpeace Dropout: The Making of a Sensible Environmentalist:

Signing books.

"go for hydro-electric as much as possible": here it's already more problematic. Moore says: "there is nothing wrong with lakes, and there are plenty of valleys on this planet. We like them because they are beautiful." He claims that artificially made lake that result from flooding entire valleys are new ecosystems where life strives. But what the flooded vegetation that rot, thus creating toxic chemicals that prevent any life to exist for years?
Go for nuclear energy. "Japanese crisis is a crisis, not a catastrophe". Really??? I heard today in the news that Tokyo's water was contaminated, and that's not a catastrophe?
"It's stupid to try to stop fossil fuel at the source as long as there demand." True, maybe, but it doesn't mean that we have to stop the fight against the oil production cartel since it's them who lobby against the development of renewable energy.
"There is nothing bad about GMO seeds!" What??? What about all the reports from Monsento that actually show that internal organs get severed because of modified corn, which is why it is forbidden in the European Union? Patrick Moore keeps praising "Golden Rice", and hope that soon, thanks to pollination all the rice in the world will be genetically modified "which is a good thing, for Golden Rice is more nutritious." But what about uncertainty, and long term repercussions that we have no idea about?
"There is no need to panic about climate change because even if it is true, there is still no need to panic". Well, I thought it had been widely accepted that carbon dioxide emissions are causing a rise of temperature and ocean acidification. And if that wasn't enough, what about all the respiratory problem that result form car exhaust?
Finally, his last point was that "no whale or dolphin should be killed anywhere around the world"...

In other words, just someone else who likes to hear himself talking. While Patrick was signing some books, a mining industrial came to him to congratulate on his courage, and told him that "the world needs more people like you." "It's very rewarding" answered dear Patrick.

But that's what it was: a room full of industrialists who congratulate themselves on how much they pollute while resisting environmentalist movements. I had never been in contact of such people. It was a blast...

Pictures available on Demotix as usual.

Protest against police brutality turns violent in Montreal

2011-03-15T23:22:00.000-04:00

Police arresting a protester

Today a few hundreds of protester gathered at Place des Arts in Montreal to demonstrate against police brutality, following the tradition of the 15th of March. As they were gathering, the organizers asked for people to remain calm and avoid clashes that traditionally accompany anti-police brutality protest. They also asked for Jean-Loup Lapointe to be put under court for killing Fredy Villanueva.

Police charging...

As soon as they started to walk, though, some kids pulled up black scarfs to cover their faces and started chanting "Fuck the Police", and "Let's break everything". Soon enough indeed clashes broke out, and riot police answered with force making no difference between thugs, people passing by, or photographers for that sake. A few of us received some blows by the police. I saw an old lady being pushed on the ground.

The whole purpose of the demonstration went for nothing as clashes and arrest went on. Yet the worse is that thugs were doing all they could to start the fighting with police, who were doing what they could to prevent actual fighting. Once it had started, though, there was nothing stopping them, until all protesters had to disperse.

Pictures are available for sale on Demotix as usual.

2011 Student union campaign kickoff at Concordia University

2011-03-15T12:04:00.000-04:00

Action slate animals shout rally slogan

Last night at 23h45 the chief electoral officers allowed student union election candidates to start their campaign by sticking posters on all the billboards at Concordia University.

Every years this is a show of student running around, painting their faces as warriors, and stepping on each other to the point of almost being violent. As I was taking pictures I saw a girl who was standing aside with her poster in her hands. "These guys really scare the shit out of me" she confessed as others were almost fighting to get to put their posters on the billboards.

Slate Action, Your Concordia and Yes CJLO fight to cover the allocated billboards with posters

This campaigning method is often criticized as being undemocratic as it's up to the stronger to cover with posters the allocated billboards, leaving little room for others. This is specially true as some slates organize themselves as if they were waging a war. Third slates have almost no chance to be advertised for the elections.

Concordia University's student union politics is widely known to be plagued with corruption. A few years ago some CSU allegedly stole around half a million dollars! It easier to understand why there is so much corruption in student politics when knowing that the amount of the CSU's annual budget reaches between 1 and 2 million dollars!

5 days for the Homeless campaign kickstarts at Concordia University JSMB

2011-03-14T12:32:00.003-04:00

Concordia students launch the 2011 "5 days for the homeless" campaign during which they will sleep in the street and fund-raise money for NGO Dans La Rue.

Concordia students brace themselves for their first night in the street as the 2011 "5 days for the homeless" campaign kick-starts. Between March 13th to 18th, students from Concordia University JMSB, HEC Montreal, and ESG UQAM will sleep in the street and fund-raise money, which will be given back the NGO DansLaRue.org that supports youth at risk.

On Tuesday night guest sleepers will join the ranks of students, including Mahesh Sharma (JMSB teacher), Elisabeth Morey (Concordia Dean of Students), and Christine Long (CTV Montreal).

Since last night 18h they already fund-raised 500$, but they are expecting much more within these 5 days.

For more information, visit their web page: 5 Days for the Homeless.

For photo sales, visit my Demotix page.

Tuition Hike, where are the Concordia students?

2011-03-14T10:59:00.001-04:00

Union leaders

On Saturday thousands of students and teachers marched together to denounce Jean Charest's government's plan to reduce public spending by cutting funds allocated to education and health sector. The hike is expected to be of 500$ or more per year, which is a lot considering that it has already risen by 500$ since I started my degree 4 years ago.

Crowd gathered on McGill College St.

What's maybe more troubling is that almost no students from Concordia were to be seen, which just adds itself nicely to the apathetic week that started with the International Women's Day. The day before I noticed that the Political Science Student Association of Concordia had absolutely no mention of the march whatsoever. Who's gonna care about it if the Poli-sci students don't?

SPVM cops ready to play with guns

Finally, it is worth remembering that 10 protesters in their 20s were arrested on charge of 'conspiracy'. This could be a good joke if it wasn't a real government arresting real people. Conspiracy? What the fuck! What's next? Is Jean Charest going to close facebook like Mubarak, Hu Jintao, Ahmadinejab, or even Qaddafi?

So what's left between apathetic Concordia students and angry government? I hope UQAM and other francophone students keep going for those who are too lazy to raise a finger.

The pictures are available on my Demotix page.

What's left of Women's Day? Rape Culture.

2011-03-10T10:23:00.000-05:00

Snapshot from AlterNet

So much for International Women's Day. I wrote yesterday about my disappointment after Montrealers' failure to celebrate the 2011 IWD, and I realized that some people might think that here, in our cozy 'Western' world we are pretty 'civilized'. So the problems that women are having in Mexico, Congo, Egypt, must come mostly from the lack of development.

So today I wandered on AlterNet and ended up on this article "11-year-old girl hirrifically gang-raped; New York Times article blames the victim". Follow the link to read this interesting article, taken from this blog.

To summarize, a kid has been raped, and the New York Times journalist talks more about the rapers than the victim, mentioning their background, trying to understand what could have led them to act this way. The writer then quotes witnessess saying that the girl was wearing make-up; so then it's her fault.

I was used to hear this kind of argument in Egypt, where the societal norm is that if a woman is harassed it's because she is dressing provocatively (although stats are that veiled women get as much harassment as non-veiled women). Well we see that the same old justification is being used in North America as well, confirming the fact that we all live in the same patriarchal society. Who is to be feared? Islamists or Americans?

What's left of Women's Day?

2011-03-09T20:49:00.006-05:00

We are today the 9th of March 2011. Yesterday was the 8th of March 2011, or International Women's day. It has now been over a century of International Women's days; over a century of activism marked by that symbolic day, the 8th of March. Women have of course always fought for their rights, but we like to say that feminism is something of the twentieth century.

We also like to say that women's conditions have dramatically improved in that same century, that women are now equal to men, and that men are even abused in Canada or in some Scandinavian countries (stories of myk mann = a man who goes against the traditional male role).

The reason for me to write this post is that I was yesterday supposed to go shoot a march in support of Palestinian Women and in relation with the international women's day. I arrived there, and left immediately, for there was almost no one. It's international women's day and no one cares in Montreal. Tonight I came back from work, checked the Al Jazeera English website, and ended up on this story: "In Juarez, women just disappear". The issue is that in Juarez, a border city plagued by drug gangs, women often disappear because they are used by gangs to 'train' new recruits. They kidnap a young girl (like Alejandra Garcia Andrade), rape her, and after days of agony leave the dead body in a gutter.

Kifeya

Then I browsed a bit more on Al Jazeera, and found this other article: "The New Egypt: Leaving women behind". The story is about Egyptian women who feel left beside after the revolution that saw Egypt get rid of Mubarak. Kifeya! (enough!)

But the problem is that these two examples are only two examples. There are thousands of other examples, untold stories. In the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), hundreds of women are raped every months by rebel groups, by government troops, and even by UN troops sometimes; all of this resulting from centuries of colonization and destruction.

In Japan, dozens of women are raped every years by US troops in Okinawa. Dozens of female US troops are raped every years by their own colleagues male US troops.

In other words there are countless examples of gendercides that keep occuring all around the world; sometimes much closer to home than most would think. Yet, on International Women Day, in Montreal, no one cared.

George Clooney the new South Sudanese Ambassador

2010-10-16T14:00:00.004-04:00

Sudan: One country or two? - RIZ KHAN - Al Jazeera English

I used to think highly of Al Jazeera but now I feel all shaken... Why would they ever consider bringing George Clooney to a talk show to explain the matter with South Sudan and the upcoming referendum? Has Mr Clooney recently became South Sudanese? And has he on top of this been appointed by... someone to the job of South Sudan Ambassador?

It really annoys me to see these western pop-stars taking leading role when Africa is concerned! Next we'll have Wyclef Jean president of Haiti!

Government of Canada investing in community action to preserve local habitat and species at risk in Quebec

2010-10-16T12:09:00.003-04:00

ENVIRONMENT CANADA | GOVERNMENT OF CANADA INVESTING IN COMMUNITY ACTION TO PRESERVE LOCAL HABITAT AND SPECIES AT RISK IN QUEBEC

Linking communities with federal government. Bravo!

Obamaland...

2010-10-09T14:57:00.001-04:00

	Clare and the Reasons - Obama Over The Rainbow .mp3

	Found at bee mp3 search engine

First, click on "PLAY" to read this post.

A couple of weeks ago I went to Obamaland, the land where people need instruction to be able to cross the street, but also the land where luckily you can chew some BlueQ Obama Gum while goin' shipping with the BlueQ Mighty Michelle Shopper.

Then.

Battlestar Galactica

2010-09-30T09:26:00.002-04:00

Newly discovered planet 'habitable' -
Al Jazeera English

And there we go! Once we'll be done fucking up our dear pachamama we can just hop on a shuttle and colonize Gliese 581 g!

For that we will be able to use Israeli intelligence, for they are expert in illegal colonization/settlements...

That would be nice wouldn't it?

Squares of Autumn

2010-09-28T23:45:00.002-04:00

Squares of Autumn
Originally uploaded by L'Arlesien

And now Fall is kickin'in. School, work, rainy days, yellow leaves, orange leaves, red leaves, falling leaves, and leaves-less trees.

Seasons keep coming and going, and I still hear comments such as "well in 50 years or something maybe people will react more strongly to global warming because it may become more real..." This was from the mouth of a soon graduating political science student. Amazing.

Sheep on da street!

2010-09-18T10:32:00.008-04:00

Wowowiwow! Well it has been a while since I had a single thought (which is strong within me) for the Enigmatic Worthlessness!

But an international (article on Al Jazeera) event that reveals both human stupidity and a regime's own stupidity has forced me to come out of the closet, so to say, and post this.

(reuters)

Chinese citizens are on the street in front of the Japanese embassy in Beijing because they feel angered by... they themselves have no idea what.

Or rather they think they know. They think they feel angered because the Japanese are keeping

Zhan Qixiong, the chinese trawler captain, in custody. How is that surprising?

Quick summary of the situation. Some days ago a chinese trawler was sailing around the Diaoyu/Sentoku disputed Islands. The Chinese boat was approached by Japanese coast guard, and as an answer the chinese boat hit the Japanese ones. The Japanese coastguards thus arrested the Chinese crew and brought them back to Japan. Then, of course, the Chinese were crying out loud saying that the Japanese are insane.

What is scary is that people are not understanding that this is all just a political game over a couple of islands, and most of all that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is willingly fueling popular resentment over the Japanese in order to gain momentum and legitimacy.

However, although the use of nationalism feelings is easy and handy for the CCP in time of social unrest, it is a dangerous thing to play with. We saw it in Urumqi last year.

Where it's all hapenning

2009-07-02T22:54:00.002-04:00

Since the 11th of June I am traveling in China, the country where blogging is impossible if you use Blogger, Wordpress or other big names in the field. But I have my own domain name, so I am able to keep a travel blog updated quite often! However this present blog, Enigmatic Worthlessness, is highly suffering from the Great Firewall...
So until I reach Hong Kong in the end of august I won't able to post anything. I could use a proxy, like right now, but I prefer to write scandalous things about China once I'm out...

In the meantime, my journey can be followed at http://www.silkroadtraveller.com/blog/

More on Trafigura, and how it goes under-reported in the media...

2009-06-01T17:10:00.006-04:00

Trafigura, or how can people be that evil toward their own kind. After looking for some time I found more material to read on Trafigura and it's shameful action in Ivory Cost about 3 years ago.

In a previous post I related the great documentary produced by Al Jazeera, but I just found out that BBC had also produced another report, which is just as good.
Or I should rather say 'devastating' instead of 'great', as the topic is absolutely horrible. It is even hard to conceive that such evilness can be so easily done to men. Well I guess we tend to forget rather too rapidly the many examples that spot our history, from Hitler to Rwanda and Cambodia and Armenia and Guantanamo and Darfour and Palestine and Northen Uganda and ... The list goes on.

Coming back to Trafigura, I was quite glad to see that Al Jazeera wasn't the sole media to report this case.

But this was before discovering this article from The Guardian in which we learn that Trafigura is doing it's best to shut down any report made on them. Apparently they are trying to sue BBC for showing this documentary which is supposedly alleging false claims about Trafigura's abuses.
In the same time there is a huge PR campaign going on to make the company look better, while many journalists are being threatened not to write about the scandal.

But here and there some stories are being published. Of interest is one from the Financial Time on the question of the US Alien Tort Claims Act of 1789 which allows anyone to sue any company in the world against alleged human rights crimes in a US court - or at least it is being interpreted that way.
Apparently it is becoming more and more common to see huge multinational corporations being held accountable for their abuses of the international laws' loopholes. It has notably been used in the case of the Ogoni people in Nigeria against the Royal Dutch Shell Company, and the trial is taking place right as I speak.

(photos: NYTimes)

Praising the Large Hearted Boy

2009-05-28T08:23:00.005-04:00

I just found this MP3 blog. Although it doesn't have much to do with Enigmatic Worthlessness I still wanted to mention it because the guy has a great musical taste. Browse the page and look for the yearly best of lists and you'll find great music - that you can download for free and legally!

Congratulation, largehearted boy...

When The Pirate Bay Goes Politicalistic...

2009-05-27T12:03:00.006-04:00

When The Pirate Bay - the biggest and best torrent website - goes political I applaud! This is the image that appears when going on The Pirate Bay, and it is great. It's a kind of remake of the First World War British and American propaganda posters urging the masses to enroll in the Army and go to the Front...

May us European all vote between the 4th and 7th of June 2009! Viva la democracia! So for all of those who claim that the EU is an autocratic administrative supra-state big thingy, stop complaining and vote then!

Jalla jalla!

The Enigmatic Worthlessness of Justice?

2009-05-22T02:53:00.002-04:00

I just found out about a new case of justice's worthlessness... This is a documentary from Al Jazeera on the case of Trafigura, the world's third largest oil trading company. According to Wikipedia - I'm not [yet] an academic - Trafigura last year had a turnover of US$73bn, or more than the double of Côte d'Ivoire's GDP last year (US$34bn), which gives an indication on what we are talking about.

The documentary is about the trial case between the people in Abidjan and Trafigura in which the oil trading company dumped toxic wastes next to villages all around Abidjan, resulting in sicknesses and deaths.

Apparently Martyn Day, the British lawyer defending the Côte d'Ivoire people, is fairly confident on the outcome of the trail that's gonna take place in October 2009. Yet I liked very much what he pointed out:

"But what I think has not worked quite well is the strong desire within Abidjan to see trafiquers itself in the dock in which it would have to defend the charges about what it did."

Yet I hope people in Abidjan win and finally get some proper compensations to deal with their legacy of sicknesses from Trafigura... And thant you Al Jazeera and Juliana Ruhfus for this documentary.

This is Enigmatic Worthlessness!

2009-05-21T06:27:00.004-04:00

Yes, this is enigmatic worthlessness at a high degree. But ain't worthlessness so good? Today, my father, my brother and myself went to meet "the guys": a troop of semi-retired people who go have a cup of coffee almost each morning and discuss literature sessions, theater projects and the Cannes Festival. Very nice. I hope I when I retire - if it happens and that I'm still alive, and also if the global warming hasn't become too warm, or the pig flu too pandemic or mutated to horse flu - I can also be a cool hanging around guy talking about my last piece of genius writing or my last travel to Uzbekistan or whatever... Yes.

After the Pope: Obama

2009-05-20T03:23:00.002-04:00

After the Pope voiced the Vatican's support for a Palestinian State, the Obama administration finally assumed the stance that the US ought to have taken many years ago. In this interview from Al Jazeera the US secretary of state, Hilary Clinton, is confirming what have been said between Obama and Netanyahu. That is that the US is

"committed to a two-state solution ... And therefore nothing should be done to undermine the potential resolution of the peace effort that could prevent such a two-state solution from taking hold"

And this is really a good thing. But now the questions on future borders remain highly uncertain. The Al Jazeera journalist asked Hilary if the borders from 1967 would be used but the questions remained unanswered. And as she said, the Obama administration is only pushing for a halt on further Jewish settlements project on Palestinian land, but what about all the existing ones that makes the West Bank look like a piece of Swiss cheese: full of holes!

Even if a Palestinian state is created, I still don't understand how it is gonna work since the territory agreed upon will consist of scattered pieces of Palestinian land between which Israeli check points will exist... A big masquerade.

Jala Jala, Pope Calls for Palestinian Homeland

2009-05-13T05:12:00.006-04:00

Today I heard the voice of the benevolent Pope for the first time in his address to Palestinian's right for a sovereign land. It was an absolutely wonderful experience.

Still I was happy to hear that this Pope of ours is calling for reconciliation in the Middle East, although it's not like his voice will change anything. But the more it is talked about the better.

But then as Sabrina and I were reading different news websites we realized something quite striking.

Among the biggest US news broadcaster only CNN had a story on the Pope's call for Palestinian Homeland! But one would have to look hard to find it, and the story is just about a call for reconciliation but nothing is said about any Palestinian State... FoxNews has absolutely nothing of course, and neither do the Washington Post.

Even worse, in FoxNews the only covered subject is about the Pope's link with Hitler Youth Camps and Israeli's irritation. While I also doubt the Pope absolute benevolence (just look at his face on this AP picture on the left...), his speech should have been reported because it still is a call for hope. The Pope' s Hope.

But while we all know about the substantial quality of FoxNews' news, I was even more surprised to see that the New York Times' only story was about "Christians in Mideast Loosing Numbers and Influence"! Weewow! So the NYTimes just ignores a call for a Palestinian State from one of the most conservative person in the world and instead fuels the American's fear of global Muslim domination... This is incredible.

There is nothing either on the various Canadian press I checked on, that is theStar.com, Globe and Mail, and La Presse (in Quebec).

On the other hand all European media I checked had their main story on the Pope's call for a Palestinian State. The Guardian, BBC, Le Monde, El Pais, and of course on Al Jazeera (maybe the best media I know).

This says a lot about the state of mind that prevails in North America, and it maybe also explains why the "road for peace" in the Middle East is full of scattered obstacles when the main actor, the USA, is apparently more concerned on the loosing numbers of Christians in Middle East...

(photos: the Guardian and AP)

The First Step

2009-05-09T05:40:00.002-04:00

That’s it, things are getting started; I finally got out of Montreal, took my first couple of planes and in the end arrived in Oslo, Norway. While this is maybe not as exciting as travelling along the Silk Road, it is still something in itself. This is my second experience with Norway and I am just as amazed as the first time about people speaking Norwegian everywhere. It may not sound that peculiar to hear people speaking Norwegian in Norway but it is still quite something; maybe it’s because the only Norwegian people I know live in Canada and speak English all the time (unlike French who often refuse to speak anything else than French all around the world…). Or maybe it is because of my exceptional ability to be eternally amazed at… things.

But still, Norway brings me one step closer to Xinjiang, and the steps are starting to follow each other faster and faster. I still haven’t finished my website, and time is running fast! I also have to do quite a lot of research on the history of the places where I’ll be going to, and there are a lot of them! And I need to improve my photography skill; but it’s all under way. I am actually editing on Dreamweaver right now, in the café lounge of Oslo’s hospital while Sabrina is visiting her grandfather. And if I need a break I can contemplate the big Norwegian flag on the entrance of the building… Ja, vi elsker dette landet!

(picture: just behind Sabrina's father's house... the forest is never too far in Oslo!)

Garage Sale

2009-05-03T17:59:00.007-04:00

Che Martin and Wonder Julie at the garage sale on Saturday.

Flying pigs, saucisson and flu

2009-04-28T22:16:00.012-04:00

Bless you.

Yes it is certainly not the time to sneeze in public! The swine flu is swining, and the world is going crazy...

But is it really? When watching the different major media broadcasters the last couple of days, I have been fairly surprised at the discrepancies between the different views on the flu. Pandemic, not pandemic, a mere spring flu? Where is the fine line?

I have looked at the big guys like Financial Times or BBC or even Bloomberg, and after feeling a bit scared of this pandemikeria I actually understood that things weren't that bad in fact. The WHO is trying to prevent countries to close their borders and impose travel restrictions, for it would be no help anyways.

But the Nile ain't just a river, as one would say! I was looking at this editorial from the Asia Times by Chan Akya, and his view is quite interesting. I was actually wondering about the same thing just before reading his article, that is the link between the current economic crisis and flying pigs. As the markets struggle to go on, government and most of the major news agencies have produced a rainfall of good looking new in the past couple of months,with slogans such as "the worst is over" and such. But as I was writing in a previous post, the worst ain't over! And a pandemic certainly wouldn't make things easier.

Is that why the WHO headmaster, Mr Fukuda, repeatedly said that there was no risk of pandemikeria? How can there be no risk when now 7 countries around the world have confirmed cases, and out of over 2000 people infected in Mexico 150 have died. That's a pretty bad rate! Yesterday (2th of April) on Al Jazeera, however, the interview of the head of the medical research council based in London clearly stated that

"it is clearly serious because we are dealing here with a flu virus that has picked up some of the genetic material from pig flu viruses but it is embedded in essence of human virus that can spread rapidly from man to man and that sets up all the potential for a pandemic."

A bigger picture of the flying infected pigs...
But who knows? Maybe a good pandemic is what we need to realize that something must be done. I had hopes that with the economic crisis there would be a change in the wind, but no such change happened. There are indeed signs that in a few remote corners of the financial world some are trying to bring a fairer world, but "cold warriors" from Washington and their bastions of neo-liberals are fighting hard. And they are strong.
So as I said, maybe the good pandemic could actually bring the world in such a bad shape that a new order could emerge from it? Lets dream...

A glimpse of hope for the IMF?

2009-04-26T12:08:00.006-04:00

The International Monetary Found, what a great thing. Some rightly wondered if its sole purpose was really to assert the North's supremacy on the South, nothing more. It might be true but it also might not. Let's not let our vision be troubled by the dark cloud of world conspiracy theories.

At least the recent developments of the economic crisis and etc are suggesting some sparkles of hope for change!

The last G20 meeting in London ended with big promises of renewed funds to the IMF and the World Bank of a total of $500 billions. This money is then supposed to be "given" to countries all around the world to help them struggle in these tough economic times.
Well, we'll see about that.

But in the meantime the major contributors are quite reticent to hand in the billions of dollars. Apparently, the Obama is trying to get the Congress to pledge $100 billions, the EU has promised another $100 billions, China $40 billions, and etc... But it still falls short of over $200 billions. Countries like Brazil, India, Saudi Arabia and other are thus being asked a contribution.

And while this is not entirely unseemly, what is new is that these new donors are expecting something back! Brazil, among others, have already voiced its demand for reforms on the weighting voting system of the IMF. Many [most] have been unhappy with the IMF for a long time, but never the South have had a proper bargaining tool. I guess we will soon see what comes out of the IMF and the World Bank's early spring meeting on Monday in Washington...

A parliamentarian day in Ottawa...

2009-04-25T12:49:00.003-04:00

Yes, that was something. A wonderful parliamentarian experience with Aurelia, Thomas, and Sabrina of course.

Rough path...

2009-04-23T15:04:00.003-04:00

It seems indeed a rough path when looking at the DJ index of the past months... But it also seems that we have already gone through the worst. And yet The Economist was saying today that the road ahead is long and dark. Indeed most numbers apparently suggest that the worst is over only in the sense that the path down to recession has slowed down. But it's still going down.

I liked these simple numbers, that quietly calm down the optimists:

Between 1929 and 1932, the Dow Jones Industrial Average soared by more than 20% four times, only to fall back below its previous lows. Today’s crisis has seen five separate rallies in which share prices rose more than 10% only to subside again.

Well well, we'll see. In the meantime we shall bury our head in the ground as ostriches wisely do. Because although the global economy might get a brighter look by the end of this year, for what matters to the actual people (we, the people) unemployment is still rising, big times. GM just announced that it might close it's factories for 9 weeks this summer, while it has until June to decide what part of the production will be shut down for real so GM can get a new bailout for its healthy half. It won't be fun for American workers this summer.

Jesus Sucks at Le Cagibi

2009-04-21T16:08:00.005-04:00

On Sunday Sabrina and I went to her favorite cafe, Le Cagibi, to have some kind of lunch and study...

So I brought my laptop, and of course I connected myself to the wireless, and this is what I found.
Click on the image to get it bigger and you'll see the network called "jesus sucks"...

Pretty funny. It always makes me happy to see some kind of rebellion against any dogma....

Pain au Chocolat.

2009-04-20T09:48:00.003-04:00

Breakfast plate, pain au chocolat, good coffee, everything. And the Obliterated Pigeon. Last week Sabrina dragged me to the Ceramic Cafe to make a plate, but I was terribly hangover. Here is the result.

Oh Kim!

2009-04-18T09:23:00.003-04:00

From The Economist.

A Great Little Woman!

2009-04-16T18:52:00.004-04:00

What a great little woman. Shirin Ebadi, 2003 Nobel Peace Prize, spoke at the Montreal Millennium Summit, and I was relieved to finally hear something concrete from someone. As all speakers recalled long and large their own stories, she was the first and only one to actually have an idea of a solution.

Shirin Ebadi took the opportunity to have as audience the vice-Secretary of the United Nation (and me of course) to make the following proposal: to bring in front of the General Assembly a resolution (and pass it) that would limit development aid only to countries that have a educational and healthcare budget at least equal to their military expanditures. And this is a good point: why give money to country that spend it in army stuff, while they could cut the military budget and pour more money in health and education instead. Costa Rica manage quite well without military...

A good point.

2009-04-16T17:57:00.006-04:00

I assisted today the Montreal Millennium Summit. First I was appalled by the [ridiculous] performance of Quebecois singer Ima, the pompous speech given by Canada's Governor General Michaelle Jean, which was further followed by the Quebec Education Minister Michelle Courchesne's own. But then I finally heard some really interesting facts. Indeed as the Vice Secretary General of the United Nation Asha-Rose Migiro was recalling, it seems ridiculous that in times of economic crisis countries from the OECD use the lame excuse that they are too short of money to continue giving aid to poorer countries. And as we speak the amount of given aid is plummeting dramatically.

But then at the recent G20 meeting in London over one trillion dollars was suddenly found, overnight. And the annual amount of total aid given to developing countries barely goes over 100 billion dollars! And they say there ain't no money? Hum... In the last 8 months, over 3 trillions US$ was injected in the biggest banks owned by the richest people on earth, and another 3 trillions US$ was also spend in army stuff in 2008... And there ain't no money for developing countries?

Because it's actually there that the lack of money will be most felt, of course. How about the millions people's life depending on aid? As Mia was saying, if people in darfur don't start receiving food again soon maybe one millions people might die!

And finally Salil Shetty, the director of the UN millennium development goal, the great Canada, which sponsored the goal of 0.7% of countries' income to be given as development aid as early as 1969 only gives 0.32% in 2009! We are going backward instead of forward! Let the rich go richer and the poor be bamboozled!

Follow the Wind!

2009-04-14T17:22:00.003-04:00

There we go. Sometimes priorities are priorities, and what must be done must be done.
That said, I just wanted to inform that Enigmatic Worthlessness will from now on be entirely dedicated to what the title embraces: enigmatic worthlessness. Indeed no more fuss with travel stories and pictures everywhere. Travel stories will be posted on The Ubiquitous Traveller, while picturesque pictures will be displayed on Picturesque Reality. This is of course does not include The SilkRoadTraveller.com which is my project under development where travel information, as well as a photography section on Central Asia will soon be available.

Priorities are priorities!

2+2 = 4?

2009-04-07T22:09:00.011-04:00

"Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two makes four. If that is granted, all else follow." (Orwell, 1949).

In Orwell's 1984 Big Brother has become so big that two plus two makes four is not granted anymore; and Winston, the protagonist, when writing the above quote in his diary thinks he's being a lunatic, as the whole world surrounding him seems to believe the contrary.

Compare and contrast. This seems quite far from the world in which Fyodor Dostoyevsky was writing Notes from Underground, in which his underground man is shouting out and loud that two and two makes five is just as nice as two and two makes four. It seems that the road has been long since the rationality brought by the booming industrial revolution was perceived as a threat to human condition. In this time it was the underground man who was the lunatic when being irrational.

The critics of rationality went unheard by the mainstream ideology prevailing throughout most of the 18th and 19th century. Industrialization went on, international trade boomed, and standards of living increased dramatically when a wave of romanticism and illusory peace finally flooded the beginning of the 20th century. Yet as Norman Angell's Great Illusion became the Great Disillusion with the outbreak of the First World War, as in the east a bloody civil war ended up with the victory of the Red Army, and as further time of uncertainty came with the Great Depression George Orwell wrote 1984 in which two plus two makes four seemed inattainable.

And now where are we? In the past twenty years everyone witnessed and acknowledged an increase in the phenomenum of globalization. In the 80s the world catched up with the rate of globalization that prevailed on the eve of the First World War - and with the rate of rationalization - but since then numbers have sky rocketed any previous figures. Thomas Friedman, the famous collumnist of the New York Times, described globalization as embracing the rationalization process, hence we can now safely assume that two plus two makes four.

But is that a good thing? Has the wheel turned enough so that Dostoyevsky's wanderings are once again relevant? Michael Veseth wrote an answer to Thomas Friedman in his book Globaloney. Quote: "The more globalization proceeds, the more we have and the less it means to us. Existential questions inevitably arise." (Veseth, 2005, p.141). Indeed as globalization proceeds people loose identity and their reaction can be violent sometimes, as the rise of fundamentalism often denotes.

So where will that lead us once we recover from the actual economic crisis? Who knows? The wheel will probably turn again. I will finish this post with a quote from captain Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the Carribean 3: "It's not the world that's smaller, there's just less stuff in it".

A long year around the world.

2009-03-17T10:21:00.008-04:00

Good news! The Concordia International office just announced to Sabrina and me that we were accepted for the study exchange program next year. And what is great is that we can go together! But we were accepted only for half a year in Cairo, so they gave us some options to consider, and in the end we decided to go to Hong Kong first and Cairo second. Hong Kong then! Who would have known?

So next year is going to be a long year around the world. It will start in May in Norway, where I will visit my step family and the vikings, then I will drop by France to visit my own family, and then I will go to China in the beginning of June. There I will travel around the Kashgar region on the silk road for a good 2 months. That should give me plenty of time to discover the area [relatively] in depth. I now daydream about Kashgar and its surroundings, the mighty Pamir mountains, the Himalayas, the desert, the half buried 1000 years old fortresses where the caravans on the silk road would take refuge for the night, and the wild camels! And the Chinese government allowing I might get a glimpse at the Tibetan region of Qinghai, and maybe even Xiahe, which was closed last year.

And when I'll be tired of moving around I'll go to Hong Kong for a couple of months. Then it'll be Christmas time and the 6 weeks vacations that comes with it, thus traveling again. And then the American University of Cairo for a semester, and finally back to Montreal July 2010... In short it is going to be similar to my first sabbatical year - 2005-2006 - when I traveled for a year in Latin America and New Zealand.

Mexico!

2009-03-07T16:43:00.011-05:00

O Mexico! My love for the Caribe has just reached new heights. In every aspects the contrast with winter frozen Montreal is obvious, enormous and tremendous. The 19th of February I finally got out of this country and flew to Cancun, the spring break paradise for American teenagers. After few rhetoric problems with Veronica Holmes, the Continental Airways customer service witch, Kristina, Sabrina and me finally managed to get to the promised land with [only] one day late. We then had to find a car to rent, which took us some more hours, and off we went to meet Thomas in Merida!

Merida was astonishingly beautiful. The small streets, the single storey houses with their pastel colors, the backyards, the Volkswagen Beattles, the Carnaval, the warm weather, the smily faces; it was the perfect accumulation of goodness! Life is just good there. And for us it was the perfect vacation we wanted. Our hostel -La Casa del Tio Dach- was gorgeous, the owner really kind and helpful. The vacation was starting fairly well, let aside Sabrina's magic eye and the Continental Airways situation.

We then moved to Tulum and Punta Allen to find a beach with white sand, turquoise Caribbean water, Cabanas and coconuts. To fit with the "couple's vacation" typical image we tried to catch the sunrise [almost] every morning and stroll on the beach in the daybreak's soft light. It was the perfect vacation like grown up usually picture it.

And then we entered the second stage of this vacation when we met my step familly in Playa del Carmen. With them we went to Chichen Itza in an enormous Chevrolet Suburban, FBI like car in which we eight people all easily fitted. To finalyze our perfect spring break we got a touch of luxury as we stayed at the hotel next to the ruins. And then after a last day at the beach snorkelling and swimming with turtles, baracudas and sting rays we finally made our way back home, and the 1st of March we were all sadly back to Montreal, its snow and its grey weather.
Why am I not living in Mexico?

Discovering Yakub Beg's "Kingdom of the Six Cities"

2009-02-15T22:12:00.003-05:00

The adventurer Yakub Beg ended up founding his own short lived Kingdom of Kashgaria in 1867, liberating the country from the Chinese Qing Empire and reestablishing Islam in the region. Kashgar became the capital of his new Kingdom and Robert Shawn, a British adventurer, visited him in 1968, and I will do the same.

Not that expect to find Yakub Beg still wandering around Kashgar; but I hope to make my own discovery of my own Kashgar and its fantastic history. Halfway between the Tibetan plateau and the heart of Central Asia, Kashgar has historically been a mix of civilizations where Islam and Buddhism met in its own way, almost always under the Chinese governance. What is there left? I hope many treasures... though maybe not what people usually understand by this word.

So be it; Kashgar I am coming,

2009-01-25T19:58:00.009-05:00

So be it! CST game me my money, so I can go play at being reporter for National Geographic this summer in Kashgar, China... Though my plans for traveling with a motorcycle seems to fluster away, as I found out that it is forbidden to own any vehicle in China (unless living there or being Chinese, which I am not). So I won't ride. But I can still travel! And my wishes came true, I got the money, I got the time, I got everything I could wish for, so it's just to do it!
Now the harder will be to stay focused on my studies until the damn semester finishes! And then what? A stopover in Norway to visit Sabrina's family, and then China. I will have 2 months or so, enough time to find interesting travel stories to write about I guess!

A hunt for discrepancies

2009-01-17T21:41:00.005-05:00

What I wanna do? Am I really going to be journalist? Me? Am I any good at it? Let send this letter to the gods, who are probably playing pétanque if I guess right. Is that what I really dream of? Maybe. I think so, a least. It would be really cool. Really cool. So let's make a move for it, let's go wholeheartedly, without concerns, full time, and at once. But what should I do first? Maybe look on Wikipedia on “how do I become an awesome journalist?”. I should give it a try. Right now.
Ok, maybe not then. First thing I saw was “bad news: media companies around the world are cutting the number of foreign correspondents”. Ok, so it won't be easy.
But what the heck! What is there to loose, except a dream? Well I believe in the Alchemist's story, even though many would say I'm stupid. “If you set yourself a goal and make your best to achieve it, life's gonna help you...” Doesn't it sound familiar? It's nice to hear. It gives hope. It gives me hope. And that's the only thing I need, hope, and will.
If I get money from CST I'll go to China this summer and write about my travel. 要是CST送给我前，很多前，我就回到中国去录性和些报上。 So if CST gives me money should I consider it a kick in the ass from Life? I'll put my faith in that for now, and we'll see. Hopefully I won't have to wait for too long...

Milk'n Melamine: Unpalatable truths in China's food safety

2009-01-14T16:41:00.004-05:00

I found this article from Asia Time Online where the author Kent Ewing report some news from the New Zealand Herald, which are quite interesting in the light of the recent trial of Tian Wenhua, the ex-boss of Sanlu (one of the company found guilty of adding melanine to the milk).

Indeed last month (I think...) Tian Wenhua was jugded on a big show case trial and reportedly pleaded guilty to the "charges of producing and selling fake products and endangering public safety and could be sentenced to death". However, a spokeperson from the New Zealand branch (Fonterra) of the milk company reported that Tian Wenhua never said anything the like.

Now who's saying the truth? Along Tian Wenhua, 3 other top executives were also charged and 17 other random people. In total the China Daily report that over 40 000 people are being investigated... Who said big show? Maybe the Fonterra's spokeperson just tried a public relation move in order to save the Kiwi branch's face. Yet this whole situation is peculiarly similar to what Julia Strauss describe; the public accusation and mass denunciation sessions where random people were found guilty of the horrible crime of being a "rightist opportunist", and the accused were blamed of everyone's problem...

But 60 years have passed since the "golden age" of the CCP, as Julia Strauss wrote, and technology now allow people to comunicate and exchange their ideas. The CCP has to play carefully with its public media apparatus on the one hand, and discrete arrests on the other hand. As Kent Ewing reported, last month some of the victim's families tried to reach Beijing to voice their discontent, but they were quietly arrested on the way... The big shows from the CCP aren't finished yet!

New Year's Eve song...

2009-01-02T14:13:00.004-05:00

Yes, it was beautiful, poetic, epic and terrific. All of this. This is even beyond words, beyond comments.

Sacred truth

2008-12-25T18:38:00.005-05:00

Almighty church! On Christmas eve we went to the church for the midnight celebration... My first time in such a thing, with maybe 2000 people crowded to hear the blessing from the priest and his message "god is close to you on this holy day, and he says 'I love you'", and hear the message from the church, "love!". Aah what a beautiful momentum, and then he started handing over some pieces of Jesus' body for people to eat, what a lovely thing isn't it?

But how come so many people go there? How come the Church has been so powerful for over 2000 years? How come people all accepted to follow blindly this madness? Even more peculiar, why this need of suffering, perpetual suffering? What's wrong with being happy and experiencing pleasant things? The Martyrs... what a madness! They were all mad like Mr Savage in Huxley's Brave New World! Who was this genius who manage to turn Jesus' love message in hate and fear and hell? Why so much fear? Fear of the after life, fear of the unknown, fear of eternity! It's always about fear. I really can't understand how it could have been possible. 2000 years. And it ain't finished yet! Far from that. Mad Christians are all over the Americas and Africa, Muslims a bit everywhere...

And that's what I have for lunch today. No wonder why people go religious...

Political Chrismass Tree

2008-12-22T20:32:00.006-05:00

It's chrismass! Maybe some hadn't realized, but yes it is really chrismass! People are shopping like mad, trying to end the recession maybe, or just trying to forget about it and about all other nasty things happening nowadays, such as the melting terrific artic and everything...
So I added my own touch. My sister and my mum are here with me in Montreal, and it's the first time in four years that we spend chrismass together, so I thought a chrismass tree would be quite suitable. And so we had to decorate it, and I thought that a Tibet flag and a horse from Costa Rica were absolutely unavoidable. And they were, good god!
So here we are, ready to be chrismass all the way!

hurra!

A Heap of Pictures

2008-12-11T11:48:00.002-05:00

That's it! IT is decided, approved, motion passed, forward, everywhere, massive, and cool. Since I got my D70 I am of course taking pictures, too much pictures, at least too much to put them here among this Enigmatic Worthlessness. Thus I decided to create another blog, Picturesque Reality, where I can display the result of me having fun with my camera.
So may the obliteration of all sense go on, and let worthlessness be enigmatic, and might makes right, and party in the garden of heaven.

Furthermore, today is a new day for me, for the Hyatt Hotel Montréal choose to employ me as barback, which is great because I desperately need money to buy a tripod, a winter trip to mexico, my carbon offset, my trip to China next summer, and another carbon offset, and so on. Hence I am happy. But first of all I need a bowtie!

Satan Gave me a Taco

2008-12-04T12:40:00.004-05:00

Taco Art is not enough recognized around the world I believe; therefore, Today I say, or rather I shall say, that, by all means, and notwithstanding the above, but in any cases, yes we can, yes we can, yes we can promote the Taco comunity. Beck already wrote a song "Satan gave me a Taco". So I am not going to write a song, but I witness witnessess all under heaven, and everywhere, and I shall take action upon my word, delicious word from the mind, but for god's sake, don'T call me a taco! Taco be it.
And here it comes, wraped in its infinite virtue, in a shallow morning, outstreched by dusk, the mighty dusk, and here it goes.

Sutton? Who cares...

2008-12-01T22:47:00.003-05:00

Arrêt.

Oh putain de con y gèle!

People are crazy, or is, whether you like it or not. But as one is hunting the moose, the bears dance tropical carioca and spurs oceans of light and snow, all of this mixed by mixed feeling of undecisive kindness and moose hunters and irrational enlightened rationality. But where are we? I am nowhere to be seen, not that I can see neither, but frack! I don't care. But the guy was nice.

Finger Better

2008-11-29T05:45:00.008-05:00

Finally things are better; at least for me... My friend just lost his small finger, thingee. The end of the night was so abrupt that I had to look on to Grey's anatomy to get some knowledge about the subject...

Struggle of the infinite Wisdom

2008-11-28T00:06:00.002-05:00

The Scrible Tree.
Clockwise Geometry.

I finally got the Nikon D70 from my father!!! Amazing, great, picturesque, unimaginable, incroyable, and above all : cool!
I really missed shooting during this month without my good old SLR, and now that I have a digital one... it is just great. How can people live without camera...

So last week end Sabrina and me joined my father and his girlfriend to a small trip to Sutton to my uncle's house, which is really beautiful by the way. So I could try out my new gift in sunny outdoor conditions, on a sunny Sunday, in sunny Sutton. I shall upload my pictures when my computer will decide to be a bit faster, because I feel some hints of unwillingness from its part right now, I have to say.

May the leaf be the cathedral.

Stuck in Fall

2008-11-10T17:41:00.004-05:00

Yes I moved again, fully conscious of the spronklishmint that could follow. But it is nice. There is picture of the view from the living room, with the Mont Royal in the background, and the night stretching its dirty arms toward us all. And my camera is in reparation so I am deprived of one of my favorite sport: taking pictures. So I stole Sabrina's new D80 to picturyks the sky when I came back from class (boring by the way). And fall goes on, as winter gets closer by the day, and that's it, because voilà.
But at least Obama won.

Chinese Funeral Ceremony

2008-10-20T09:55:00.004-04:00

Yesterday I found this small video that I had taken during my bicycle trip in Shanxi province, China. So I put it here because I think the music is very cool, even though it was a very sad moment for others. It's also interesting to see the different habits for funeral ceremony.
For example the previous night night fireworks had been blowing up everywhere in the town, right in the middle of the streets... So I first thought that it was for a party of something the like, but no. It was the friend and brothers of the former who were making noise so everyone would be aware of what had happened. Yet it seems that people take death differently in the Chinese countryside, since poor working condition (specially with coal handling) make it happen quite more often that what we are used to.

Yellow Bicycle!

2008-10-19T16:07:00.007-04:00

Yesterday I went mad again. My tire exploded while I was going through McGill University, and I then had to spend my whole Friday night at the Concordia Uni bike coop to get the stuff fixed. So as I was saying (or more accurately writing) I went mad at the damn bike and almost went to a bike shop ready to spend 500$ on a new 2 wheels machine. But then I though that 5and 00$ might be a lot of money, so I bought paint instead, along with a new hippo bell and handlebar band. And I painted. And now my bike is the most beautiful thing in the world, after my girlfriend and I, of course. And my new apartment to which I'm moving the 1st of November.
Yeah, that's how fascinating is my life nowadays. School work and yellow colour. Amazingly fascinating would be more appropriate as a matter of fact. Or factual matter, which combined with anti-matter and robust hippos can be very nice.
Cshniliaksnoopounsk.

Yes I painted the balcony floor. But it''s ok, because my bicycle is so beautiful anyways...

Fall is Falling into the wise wisdom of darkness...

2008-10-10T21:25:00.009-04:00

Last week end my girlfriend and I went on a bicycle stroll qround Montréal, trying to fight a bit the depression of mid-terms and nasty autumn. So we followed the bike paths of Le Plateau, equiped with our respective camera, ready to take pictures of everything pretending to be photographs. But I saw quite a lot of people doing the same so at least we are not the only one. Then I realized that every films is kind of blurred, and the pictures have a strange grain on them... sad, terrible, and agnostic.

Indeed, we biked! Beyond dead leaves and crooked sidewalks, we biked. What an amazing experience! The way pedals go round and round will always fascinate me. Yet for the conservative mind who may soon loose an election, things don't go that round! Ha.

So, appart my metaphoric experiences, I also took useless pictures. Above is the Boulangerie Mr Pinchot, where the masses gather on dirty evenings of afternoons. The kind suddenness of things rencently over-spured me in such a fashion that I nearly lost my senses, but in fact no. The Bell of the Lilliput is ringing, and we all know what it means.

ciao.

The Laurier/St Laurent firemen station !!!

Back to Beijing! In dreams only...

2008-09-13T22:04:00.004-04:00

Factory 798 in Beijing. A huge, enormous and gigantic complex of old factories not in use anymore were artists have settled themselves. Cafes, art galleries, relax ambiance... A very nice and interesting place. Instead, I am now sitting in my kitchen, it is raining outside, grey, so autumnish... And I have tons of homework to do... What a depressing thought.

But I have to say it is also nice to be back. For instance I am still coughing from the pollution in Beijing, that can easily be observed by the greyness of my pictures... On the one bellow, right behind the workers, it is already possible to observe the ambient midst, even if this was maybe 15 meters away from me when I took the picture. Indeed these pictures are from end of June 2008, when the pollution had reached its peak right before all cars and factories were turned off for the Olympics.

Lunch break for the workers who arr renovating Sanlitum street, end of June 2008. A month later it was crowded with drunk tourists all nights of the week...

Be careful the safe!

7:00 a.m in a Hutong, the dumplings are smoking outside every little restaurants...

Dazhalan street where our hostel was. The pollution was not as bad as in the picture with the workers.

Factory 798.

People always have birds in cages everywhere...

Wall painting in factory 798.

Welcome to Fall

2008-09-13T21:35:00.004-04:00

So it is now Fall. I am done with travelling for a while... at least untill chrismass. Semester all started from the starting blocks, and there is a lot to do. But after 4 months being here and there, it's good to be back home. Last night Sabrina and me went to a school funded party with free beer at the key. Pretty nice. I never got drunk for that cheap.

Also since Sabrina bought herself a new digital SLR, big and expenseive, I decided to use my own camera and finish the film that was on since Beijing... So I went out with my bike and pretended to be a photograph for a while. I felt good.

What else? Today I went to get my pictures and so I saw some pictures of Beijing... Makes me want to go back! I thus feel good about taking a 6 credits course of Chinese right now, even if I'm already late. I definitely want to go back as soon as possible and travel again in this Empire now that I can speak some Chinese... It's such a different experience! And there is so much to learn from these people, since they are so different! Anyways, our little dinner at Chinatown yesterday was nice enough.

Maisonneuve street, looking toward downtown.

Loyola's main building, were we had our pizza lunch without pizza...

Some mad statue, sun bathing tranquillo..

A La Playa

2008-08-04T22:52:00.003-04:00

Yesterday Tristan, Carlotta and me went to the beach. But we set up our mind quite late, so we had to take the night train... going from Beijing at 12 p.m and arriving in Shanhaiguan at 3:30 a.m... So it was slightly tiring, but we managed. Arriving at Shanhaiguan we decided to rest a bit in a gloomy restaurant... but after having a fight with a fat rat to go to the toilet we took of to the beach. And to our surprise there was lots of people in the water, even in the middle of the night, who where fishing crabs. So we watched the sun rise over the Great Wall, which has its foot in the water. And we spend the whole day at the beach, swimming and evensuntanning.

Yet as the day rose we realized that the mist wasn't mist but pollution, for we couldn't further that 200m. At least the factories were out of sight... But the water was reasonably clean, and it was extremely nice to get out of Beijing and swim...
However on the way back we forgot to ask how long was the train ride, and it took 6 hours instead of 3 because the damn train was stopping in every train station possible, and it also took a rather long detour by Tianjin. So we got back in Beijing at 11h30p.m, or 24h after hours after going to the beach, without sleeping. Tiring, but nice.

The nice beach... in the background a gigantic harbor building is hidden by the haze, as well as a couple of factory pipes..

People fishing crabs at 4 a.m.

Sunrise on the beach...

On the way back: people playing strange game where they stick toilet paper to their face when they lose, and Tristan sleeping on the comfy hard sits...

Let's get high

2008-07-25T00:12:00.003-04:00

Today I went to the hospital for a bad cough probably due to sweet pollution and ice cold air conditioned in our classroom. And I got an incredible amount of drugs both traditional Chinese and western style. The red stuff is Dragon's Blood, and all the other I have no idea, but it's all good. Very Nice! Must be fun to study Chinese medicine...

Beijing...

2008-07-20T23:26:00.004-04:00

The Forbidden City Entrance...

This week end I went sight seeing (again) some Beijing places, in order to get out of BLCU for a stroll... So Tristan and I went to some Hutong and to the Tian'anmen square. Wowowewaw. We got lots of Chinese taking picture of us, of course, and a good bath in the crowds hanging around.

Some military trying to walk with the army pace, but they usually aren't so successful...

Washing the Tian'anmen square by hand...

Some nice communist train driving by Wudakou, the happening street near by our university.

Yeah. An amazing day. This morning I went for an excursion in the Hospital next to the campus, for my shoulder hurts beyond crazy cranes. Interesting. First you have to pay 2 kuai (30 cents of dollar..) to get a small piece of paper (after having fought fiercely in the queue) with which you can go see the doctor. Then the waiting line is in the doctor office, so everyone is coughing and spitting and sneezing and avian flu in the small office while the doctor was examining me... And then he gave me a prescription for some pain killer and dragon blood capsules. I'm looking forward for the dragon blood ones... I'm sure that that's exactly what I need... some good'old dragon blood. Yeah. I like China.

Zee Duck...

2008-07-16T10:46:00.003-04:00

Zee Duck... Eh oui. Yesterday night I went to the Quebecois Dinner Peking Duck and guess what? I had some Peking duck. During this interesting evening a guy nicely tried hard to make me understand that Quebecois people are in fact more French than French people. That was fascinating. And long. Luckily the subject of conversation changed after a while. Sorry to exist...

Else it was funny to see all these black sedan Audi cars parked in front of this 7 floors roast duck restaurant... Meaning that half the customers were officials being invited to eat in exchange of nice favours. That's the way it works in here... It's hard to be an official: eating and drinking all the way from noon to the end of the night! I would become sick of ducks. What a kind of a life, he? Yeah, I like.

Anything else interesting? I'm spending 3 to 4 hours every afternoon working on my 4 hours morning class, and it's going fast. Faster that a express train with burning wheels and rapid raw raptors or RRR. That the stuff. But I think this week end it's going to be party time, if the night clubs aren't closed... Indeed some rumors circulate saying that all clubs in Beijing are to close down during the Olympics, and bars close earlier....................................................
We'll see I guess.

University life in Beijing

2008-07-12T05:47:00.004-04:00

Beijing...

Since my recent adventure I have settled down in my University room, at BLCU (Beijing Language and Culture University). Very nice, small and air cond. equiped room. And so I started to live the university life in Beijing... It is quite pleasant I have to say. I now play tennis every second day, the weather is hot, food is cheap, beer is cheap, and there is lot of nice people in the huge campus. At night everyone is out playing basketball, running, playing badminton or tennis or doing whatever kind of sport, or having beers in one of the numerous cafe on campus. It's a very nice atmosphere. I already met some nice fellow and have a language partner to practice my Chinese with. Everything is great. And I think I will improve a lot my level in Chinese through these 6 weeks coming...
Today I went to the Great Wall for the second time, but this time the sky was pollution-clear... something quite exceptional in here!!! So I was very lucky to be actually able to see the damn Wall. It was nice. These past days I also explored the bustling neighborhood around the University. I went on a pilgrimage to Carrefour, the French giant supermarket, and I brought back some Nutella and baguette... very important for breakfast.
And that's it. I haven't really started the courses yet, so Monday I'll see what's going on here... yeah.

The damn Great Wall...
My roommate being illegal on top of one of the towers...

he he... Also being illegal on the non-restored piece of Wall...

Travelling Diary... Day Four & Five.

2008-07-06T03:49:00.003-04:00

I am finally back to Beijing, with my bike. There was some complication, once again, but it ended all right. When I asked if it was all right to bring the bike in the bus the people at the bus station started a debate in Chinese in front of my face. After 5 min and still no answer I decided to go and put the bike in the trunk myself, without waiting for their consentment. They didn't stop me, so it was all right. The driver still tried to take some money from me, of course. But I got to Beijing without having to throw away my bike as I thought. Still nice. Tomorrow I'll go to my room at the university and start the formalities before starting classes. So now I'm just reading Harry Potter because Sabrina forced me to buy it and read it. What a life.

Travelling Diary... Day Three.

2008-07-04T07:22:00.005-04:00

Still in Wutai shan. This morning I really had a hard time to get out of bed because I so tired it's just amazing. And my arse hurts just too much. I will never understand the guys who do the Tour de France... Mad. After breakfast I just went bad to bed to read my Paolo Coelho's Devil and Miss Prim. Later on I went on a stroll to visit some of the numerous temples around the town (which by the way is being relocated 30miles souther by the Chinese government, in order to have just the temples left, a couple of hotels, and nice trees and grass, to attract more tourists... They just decided to raze the whole town to the ground and tell the people that from now on they would live 30 miles away!!!).

And then I met a living Buddha from inner Mongolia who spoke English (he had graduated with a major in English before turning Buddhist). A very nice fellow with whom I visited more temples and had a long discussion in his room at his monastery. He explained me something very interesting about why the Chinese are so rude and disrespectful toward each others. His theory was they all learned to hate each other during the cultural revolution, with all the denunciation meetings that were taking place. They all lost the concept of respect. (Sabrina noticed it notably in queue lines where people walk on top of each other...) That could explain the rudeness. He told me that Taiwanese and Hong Kong people are very different on this domain.

He also told me that he gets his teachings directly from his master who is in India with the Dalai Lama through telepathy, and that the reason for which Tibetan and Mongolian lamas appear to be rich (he had a laptop in his room, one of the only computer in town...) is that masters give teachings in exchange of donations, because donations create a bound. So he in turn make big donations to his master and the receives his teaching back. So he'll go to India to meet his master when he'll have accumulated enough riches to offer, which apparently is a lot. I also had a cup of Mongolian tea (like the Tibetan one, without the yak yak yak). In the end he offered me a bracelet with his benediction. Very nice guy. My first encounter with a living Buddha.

Tomorrow I decided to head to Beijing by bus, and dump the bike. More that 200km in 2 days killed me. And anyway it's not that fun since it's only big roads with lots of trucks that vomit their black exhaust smoke straight into my lungs, which hurts by now. Maybe the cold air from the downhill after the pass didn't help, but still. These trucks! And when I was hooked on them going uphill I of course had to breathe through the exhaust pipe... And I'm so tired!

And I haven't seen a foreigner in 3 days, since the night in Datong where I met the Spanish guy going to Kashkar... which usually I like, but here it means that everyone constantly point their finger at me, take pictures of me, try to make me come to their restaurant 60 times a day, and when I finally accept the invitation 3 times a day (I still have to eat) I get surrounded by all the neighbors who came to observe the foreigner eating. Lots of old people just stare at me without blinking, as if looking at some alien creature, with their mouth open. (of course they don't meet so often some french guys biking around...) When I start writing in my diary it's even worse, for they don't do diaries, so they actually come on top of me to look at what I'm writing, even though they don't understand anything of course. Aah, China. What a love - hate relationship. So tomorrow night I should be in Beijing, and I'll put some movies on this blog.

Zaitian.

Wutai Shan from the mountain

Big stuppa...

Nice shop...

Workers busy at razing a whole neighborhood in Wutai Shan, so the place becomes more attractiveto tourists...

Travelling Diary... Day Two.

2008-07-04T06:33:00.009-04:00

Wutai Shan !!! I finally got there, after so many ambitious kilometers... 130 in total, from YingXian... and 2 passes on top of it, the second one being at least 2000m hight above the sea, if not more! I don't know how I did it. Of course my truck-catching technique was extremely usefull, either I would never have been able to reach Wutai Shan. Even in 10 days. As soon as the road starts being very slightly up hill, just a couple of degrees - one would not even feel it walking - it becomes a hell with the bike. It seems to weight 3 tonns... really. When the road becomes steeper, trucks have to slow down also, and then I can catch them, but wen it's not steep enough it's just me and the bike.

Arriving in a small village...

In the village...

Leaving Yingxian I went through a couple of small villages, which was very nice. Not so much trucks, and flat roads. But soon enough it started to climb, but quite fast I managed to catch a truck so I didn't have such a hard time. Then it was flat for some km (too much), and then it went down. Paradise. Then I reached Shahe after 80km, and I had my lunch. Not too bad until then, thanks to the trucks and the downhill. When I told the truck drivers at the diner that I was going to Wutai Shan they laughed at my face! I asked if it was far, so they told me it was 50km away, but I would have to climb the damn pass. One of them was just amazed by the hairs on my legs. But I thought: I'll just have to catch trucks! So I went on. Except that for 20km the road was just a bit uphill... and it was in a valley, and the sun was stronger than I ever thought it could be. I was really dying when I saw a truck coming quite slowly... so I accelerated in order to take the lift, but I wasn't fast enough. I nearly puked after the effort. But I was another truck coming!!! And this one I didn't miss, even though it nearly tore off my shoulder. But I was on. And there was very few of these trucks on this road, of course. So I stayed hooked on the truck all the way up, even though it was very long (close to 1hour...) and my arms very hurting a lot. But I reached the pass, and then I went down once again. Fantastic, magnific, ecstasy, wowee, everything. Cool. I could have prayed if I was religious, for you never know about Chinese brakes... but they held on. (either I would not be writing this beautiful thing here). So I reached the most Buddhist sacred place in Asia (or it was for a long time, now I don't know) at 6:30pm, after 8 hours on zee bike. Then a woman ripped me off by making me pay 8 yuan for a bowl of rice. Nice. And I went to sleep exhausted, once again.

Finally, reaching the pass!!! Both my arms were giving up..

The truck drivers who pulled me, now checking the brakes before going down. You never know with Chinese trucks...

The road and the valley, with Wutai Shan in the bottom. I'm ready to go down!

Picture stop.

Travelling Diary... Day One.

2008-07-02T08:40:00.011-04:00

The shadow of communism is still strong in the country side...

The itinerary is doomed! Yesterday, when I finally arrived at the bus station with my bicycle, it took me half an hour to understand that I couldn't bring the damn bike to Shacheng... So I went to Datong instead, which is in the north of Shanxi province. Then, a couple of meters after getting down of the bus and on the bike, I broke the damn chain (so an average of 90 minutes using the bike after taking it from the store...). So I had to walk the the hotel on the other side of the damn city. At lrast this morning I got the stuff repaired for 1 yuan... Chinese know the trick. And then I biked.

First I had to make my way between trucks and factories, and a couple of coal power plants. Slightly dusty. Then, 3 hours and 45km later, I realized my hands were shaking. Of course, I had forgotten to eat since the day before, before taking the damn bus. So I ate. Eggs and tomato tasting fish. Nice. At that point I was exhausted as a bat, dusty like a desert rat, and already sunburn like a toad. Damn. Then I thought: what the f#$k am I doing here? Bike trips are hell. But after a long break, I got back on the bike (the chain is still in one piece) and continued. But I had not seen that there was a mini pass to go throught... So I started to climb, and after 500 meters I was already on the point of giving up. Tada! Then, unespectedly as a unicorn having a shower in downtown Montreal, a truck tried to pass me, but couldn't, because it was going at maybe 10 or 15km/h... So I let it pass and grabbed the back... and I climbed the whole damn pass thanks to this truck! My arm was starting to shake long before the top but I managed, and it was so cool to not have to paddle! And then it when down, for some km, and it was fantastic.

But then I saw that there was still 50km left, at least, before reaching Yinxian, where one of the oldest wooden building on earth stands: a 68m high damn pagoda. Impressive hein? Bon.

And I got totally exhausted (second time in one day), so I managed to get a lift for some km in the back of a truck machine, with the damn bike. So I still did close to 100km in a day, and that's way beyond my capacity, as I just realised. My arse hurts more that a wooden pagoda, and my legs... So now I go to sleep. Tomorrow I'll try to reach Wutai Shan.

ciao.

Something quite funny: facebook has been closed down by the Chinese government, but I now have access to my blog! And people are blowing up fireworks in the middle of the street right in front of the internet cafe.

Being in the mini truck with my bike...

Into the Wild

2008-07-01T02:03:00.003-04:00

Today is a profund mix of anthology, expectancy, sorrow, and everything. Sabrina went back to Oslo this morning (sadness), and I'm now preparing to go into the wild (wowee). I just bought a bike for 300 RMB, and I will now try to get this bike into a bus to Shacheng and hopefully the bus driver will accept this exceptional luggage... And tonight the aim is a little village called Jimingyi, where it is supposed to be very nice.

The Itinerary:

July 01st (today) : From Shacheng to Jimingyi. Easy.
02 : From Jimingyi to Xiheying (another small village) = around 100km...
03 : From Xiheying to Hunyuan (same smallness...) = another 100km...

04 : From Hunyuan to Wutai Shan mountain range, where sacred mountain and temple
overdoze is a risk... But the region is supposed to be very nice.
05 : Exploration of the surrealist surrounding. Spirituality, youth, carnaval, all of this...
06 : On the way to Datong...
07 : From Datong to Beijing, starght to Beijing Culture and Language Unuiversity.........
July 10 : School starts!!! And it will go on for 6 weeks of intense chinese... So I'll be a perfect
Chinese...

Voila. My legs are my propellers, and China is mine!

Émerveillé et désilutionné...

2008-06-23T19:21:00.007-04:00

Voilà longtemps que je n'ai pas écrit... Nous sommes finalement de retour pour une 2ème fois à Lijiang, haut lieu touristique de Chine. Près de 3 semaines se sont écoulées depuis mon dernier post, à Chengdu. Nous sommes allés à Zhongdian, renomé Shangri La après le fameux livre "The Lost Horizon" de James Hilton, il y a seulement quelques années - une tentative du régime de promouvoir le site aux millions de touristes chinois... Nous avons donc forcément rendu visite aà límmense monastére tibétain, mais les hordes sauvages de touristes gâchaient légèrement l'atmosphère spirituelle. On sést alors rabatu vers les nombreux petits villages tibétains parsemés dans la vallée de Shangri La, à quelques kilomètres au dessus du niveau de la mer. Nous avons eu l'agréable surprise d'y rencontrer les habitants, toujours souriants et contents de nous voir, ce qui change des Chinois en général. Et cette impression ne fit que se confirmer alors qu'on progressait vers le nord du Yunnan, toujours plus près de la frontière du Tibet interdit et mystique, vers Deqin.

Depuis Deqin nous avons rejoint le parc regional de Meili XueShan, où on a fait 3 jours de trek dans les montagnes. Le premier jour nous avons du franchir un col à 3800m d'altitude, soit 1500m de dénivelé, puis redescendre de presque 1000m à nouveau. Épuisant, mais magnifique. Arrivé au col le ciel s'est soudain dégagé pour nous offrir la superbe vue de la montagne Meili XueShan (où montagne enneigée) qui culmine à près de 7000m d'altitude, et qui reste vierge à ce jour. Le deuxième jour nous avons gambadé sous la pluis glacante, et le troisième jour nous sommes rentré par un itinéraire bis, peu emprunté et dont il était recommendé de prendre un guide. Sabrina a pas du tout apprécié le fait que la plus grande partie du sentier faisait 20 à 30 centimètre de large, avec d'un côté un cannal d'irrigation le long de la montagne, et de l'autre un gouffre de quelques centaines de mètres avec le torrent en contre-bas. Mais c'étais magnifique encore une fois.

Enfin nous avons pris la route du lac Lugu Hu, plus précisément le village Lige, où supposément on aurait du se retrouvé seul avec les Mosuo, dernier peuple matriarchal au monde, et peut être quelques routards chinois paummés. Seuleument depuis la dernière édition de nôtre pitoyable guide Lonely Planet, une bonnes centaines d'hotels et auberges de jeunesse ont fleuries, probablement suite aux prêts massif alloués par le gouvernement avec la promesse du flot de touristes s'ensuivant... Seulement la calme atmosphère est détruite et les touristes ne sont jamais venus, et si l'on ajoute le fait que la moitié des hotels sont encore en construction on obtient l'ambience bizarre qui rêgnait à Lige, au peu un village fantôme avec des locaux prets à tout pour vous vendre quoi que ce soit... Pas très agréable... Nous avons donc racourcit notre sejour là-bas, et nous voilà donc de retour à Lijiang.

Ah la Chine...

2008-06-06T01:24:00.007-04:00

Bon j'ai maintenant decide d'ecrire en francais, meme si les accents se font rares par ici. Nous sommes donc depuis hier soir a Chengdu, 4eme ville de Chine avec 13 millions d'habitants. Il me semble que des mois se sont ecoules depuis que nous avons quittes Beijing, il n'y a de cela qu'une semaine. Nous avons d'abords rejoind Xi'an, ancienne capitale de plusieur dynasties successives. Un enorme mur entoure toujours la vieille ville, qui compte quand meme 3 millions d'habitants... Pas mal! La premiere activite touristique fut l'ascenssion de la montagne Hua Shan, lieu de haute spiritualite Taoiste. Et on n'a pas ete decu. Au coeur de notre douleureuse ascenssion, un pretre Taoiste nous a ratrape et s'est mit a jouer de sa flute en bambou, le son se repercutant dans la montagne. Magnifique. Et quand il a vu que j'essayais de le prendre en photo, il a recommence a jouer pour nous! Voila la video. (le son est tres faible, mais bon...).

Apres 8km, dont 4km d'escalier, certain etant pratiquement a la verticale, nous sommes finalement arrive au sommet, a 2100m d'altitude... Puis le lendemain matin nous avons essaye de voir le lever du soleil, mais on a ete submerge de Chinois fous qui poussaient des hurlements sauvages et qui ont acclame l'apparition du tant recherche soleil...

Finalement la redescente s'est revelee presque aussi eprouvante que la montee, et nous sommes enfin rentre a Xi'an. Puis nous avons visite le musee d'exposition de l'armee terracotta qui s'est revele plutot recevant. Puis nous avons pris le train pour Lanzhou. De la le plan etait de rejoindre Xiahe, sauf que on s'est rendu compte au terminal de bus que la ville est fermee aux touristes, car c'est un monatere tibetain important. Tous nos plan ce sont donc averes obsolete, vu que de nombreuses autres villes sont fermees aux touristes. Apres dure reflexion (ce qui peu etre plus dur qu'il ne parait quand on est coince dans une ville moche de 8 millions d'habitants, ultra polluee, pauvre et sale......) nous avons decide de changer radicalement de plan de route. Un inconditionel pourrait dire "fuck the itinerary" (darjeeling limited). J'ai donc reussi a nous acheter 2 tiquets de train pour Chengdu, capitale du Sichuan, dans le but de rejoindre Lijiang dans le Yunnan. Alors apres 12h de train, on s'est tape un autre 30h pour rejoindre Chengdu. En effet j'aurai du me mefier de prix tres/trop bon marche, car c'etait un train local qui s'est arrete a toutes les petites gares locales existantes... Et comme si c'etait pas assez, le staff impressionant du train (environ 30 personnes, si c'est pas plus!) a arrete le train pour 2h environs pour que le chauffeur puisse manger et faire sa sieste!!!! Du jamais vu. Et comme si c'etait pas assez la temperature moyene dans le train etait de 30/35 degres, dans air conditionne bien sur... Au total on a passe une cinquentainne d'heure a rien faire, de Xi'an a Chengdu... Enfin bon, c'est ca le voyage... Demain soir nous partirons pour le Yunnan et on verra bien...

China

2008-05-30T23:45:00.001-04:00

It is now my 5th day in China with Sabrina. We just arrived this morning in Xi'an, our second destination. Beijing was hugelly massively impressive. It's just enormous. There are dozens of cranes in the city, as new sky scrapers are poping out every day. I am really amazed by the pace at which Beijing is going on. VW Passat is the must car, and indeed there are thousands of them on the jammed streets of the capital. Audi and Mercedes are also incredibely numerous. This city smells money being massively transfered between busy hands... But some do not manage to follow. Some rickshaw guys still wander around, but they seem lost in the middle of the 10+ lanes avenues, packed with thousands of cars and city buses...
Yesterday we took the bus to the Summer Palace, a couple of kilometers away from the central Forbidden City. The ride was at least 2 hours long, due to the incredible 24h traffic jams that characterize Beijing. The high rise appartment building are everywhere; for kilometers and kilometers they can be seen, as long as the smaug allow the sight. Beijing is huge.
Yet I already love China. People are great, and very helpfull. The first night I wasn't able to order food, for the language barrier is really a problem. But I'm already getting better. I even asked for soy sauce the other day to put in my rice. Also there is so many Chinese tourists that foreign ones aren't perceived as rats invading the country, as I felt in Latin America. I'm looking forward to be able to discuss in Chinese so I can talk with the people... Maybe get to visit some people living in one of the few Hutong left in Beijing (the traditional districts with houses with courtiards)... I think the comming 3 months are gonna be great.

3 km from downtown Xi'an...

The nice view from the plane, over Beijing.

Forbidden City...

And the view from the summer palace.

On my way...

2008-05-26T03:16:00.000-04:00

That's it, finally the day has come, I'm going to China. As one would say "nothing taste better than dumplings"... Yes, it's gonna be my strangest 3 months I guess. And hopefully I'll speak fluantly chinese in the end... but in the meantime... Anyways, my backpack is nearly ready and there is barelly 20h of travelling separating me from China. My heart's starting to beat faster while I write. I realised the other day that I haven't travelled for that long since my sabbatical year in 2005/2006. And I never experienced such a cultural choc as the one I'm going to have... but that's the beauty of the thing, isn't it? Yeah.

Baguette and rosé, accompagné de saussisson.

2008-05-07T12:00:00.001-04:00

Et voilà. Like every other year since I left France 3 years ago, I'm now back in Provence for the summer. Yes. This time it started with a flight with Air France, in which I got my small baguette with my meal. I like. However, I had asked for a vegetarian meal, trying to be inovative with my flying condition... but the three ridiculous piece of dried tofu were not even funny. Does vegetarian mean not hungry for Air France thinkers? The baguette was nice though.

Later on I enjoyed myself with a 4€10 cafe in the Place St Germain-des-Près in Paris. Delightfull.

The best was the 1€ glass of water in Nîmes, for it was sunday. The water from Nîmes is known for its therapeutical virtue. I will take the occasion to celebrate my birthday next week end. Voilà. What a beauty.

Spring is showing its nose tip!

2008-04-14T16:46:00.000-04:00

That's it. Spring is finally here after these long months of snow, cold and depression...
I just wish I didn't have any exams. Anyways, I'm still happy. Soon it will all be finished, and soon enough I will be in China trying to speak Chinese with real Chinese people. I guess it's going to be fairly interesting. Or even peculiar.

2008-04-09T14:55:00.001-04:00

Oh remise quand tu me tiens!

Neither Do I.

2008-03-18T22:35:00.000-04:00

A new stage

2008-03-11T16:01:00.000-04:00

Today my enigmatic worthlessness has reached a new stage which is tremendously terrific. The question itself about stages is quite amazing, I have to admit, but there is more...
Indeed what people call "proof of efficiency" may loose it sense and blur its very own meaning, for the inefficiency itself can be slightly stunningly efficient when it reaches such a stage. And such an occurrence of efficient inefficiency today proved that I was always right, always. It is in a way similar to the famous explosion over the forest of Tunguska, where black holes, comets, antimatter and stony asteroid met each other. Yes.

As many of you people...

2008-02-17T19:57:00.000-05:00

... I do many worthless stuff, this blog being the living proof. It it as useless as a sympathetic crow in a business world.