South Africa Pics!

Finally, Pics of South Africa. The car was actually at Heathrow Airport :D wish I could have won it...

St. Kitts photos

Various pictures from St. Kitts and Nevis, circa October 2007.

Photos (finally) Sweden

Finally putting up pics from Sweden, St. Kitts and South Africa. This first set is from Sweden, and includes pictures of the Vasa, me and Kaie, Old Town Stockholm, and the Nobel Palace/Museum.

Update

I've moved, and I'm liking it...

Things are ok otherwise.

I went to South Africa, and will be posting up pics as soon as I get a chance to.

that's pretty much it for now...

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Now playing: William Ackerman - Processional
via FoxyTunes

Legalizing drugs!

We often have the knee-jerk reaction to the illegality of drugs in: “Of course drugs should be illegal! They cause so much damage and ill health, they aren’t good for the body, the bad effects of illegal drugs are well known and the government is protecting people from these effects.”

So why doesn’t the government outlaw tobacco and alcohol? Why doesn’t the government regulate the abundance of fast food and junk food which also cause illness and death? Alcohol and tobacco are the number 1 and 2 related causes of death in the USA, and the dangers of a bad diet are well known to everyone of us here. In contrast, 0.9 % of the working-age population uses cocaine, while 10% of the working-age population uses ganja in Jamaica. If the usage is so low, why is the drug-related crime so high?

Illegal drugs are illegal because many years ago, those in power in the higher classes decided that any substance that could be used by the lower status to achieve a narcotic effect must be outlawed and controlled “for their own good.” In doing so however, they created a black market effect which is obvious today, and which has led to the equality:

DRUGS = MONEY = POWER
At one recent seminar of Swiss bankers, it was estimated that the global take from illicit activities had reached over $1 trillion annually, the vast majority of which comes from drug dealing. In Mexico, the country's gross domestic product was $280 billion last year, while estimates of drug money flowing through the country range from $70 billion to $200 billion annually. Presidents there are now turning to the drug cartels to ensure financing of their traditional, and unofficial, multimillion-dollar retirement accounts. In Jamaica, corruption has become a more visible issue. What would you guess is the most likely source of these corruption funds?
With so much money available in drugs, how can someone resist the lure? For the love of money, people will swallow drugs and risk years in prison or death from ruptured bags. For the love of money, people will strap on drugs to their body and risk humiliation and years in prison. For the love of money, young black men will take up illegal guns and defend their turf to sell their product. For the love of money, young black men will kill each other and anyone who gets in their way of making that money. For the love of money, those in power will ignore this reality and keep this truth under wraps: the illegal nature of these drugs is what makes the crime related to these drugs so prevalent.

Ignored in all this love of money is the love of the product that causes so much suffering among the disenfranchised and poor in society. If there were no demand for illegal drugs, there would be no drug traffic. I ask you however; how can you cut the demand for drugs?

You can’t. If you want to go out tonight and get drunk, or get high, or hook up with a prostitute, or do whatever vice you wanted, there isn’t a soul in this room who can stop you or remove that desire from you. Even if we were to beg and plead with you to try and persuade you to not do it, the final decision would be yours and not ours. If we were by some miracle able to remove all coke or prostitutes or whatever your vice may be, odds are that you would just find another vice to fill whatever hole or need you that you think that vice can fill. It is society’s duty to help our fellow man to find purpose and meaning in life, and we will not do that by making these substances illegal. By doing so, we simply reduce him to a common criminal, when he is really a soul crying out for help. We need to guide him a greater purpose instead of attempting to remove the purpose that he currently has.

I am not preaching the virtues of ganja, or the medicinal properties of cocaine. I’m not promoting the obvious truth that people can put whatever they want with their bodies, nor am I saying that the government should not have control over these substances. I say that with more legal control over these currently illegal drugs, much of the power that goes with that money will revert from the hands of criminals into the hands of the authorities. We can either leave the money from drugs in the hands of unscrupulous criminals who then corrupt the government, or we can put that money directly into the hands of the government by legalizing the drugs. Which is the lesser evil?

Election time!

At long last, the elections have been called for August 27. A whiles away, but the date is set, and i'm ready to cast my vote.

The ads have been on the radio for a while now. I have to admit that the JLP ads are way much better than the PNP ads. I hope that keeps up :D

No, I am not dead. Though at times, I feel I'd get more rest that way...

a whole lot goes on, but can't talk much about it now. Hope everyone is doing well!

West Indies Cricket players!!

Y'all suck. You suck so bad. You suck like a Hoover vacuum cleaner. I actively root against y'all now. I hope Bangladesh creams your party asses next match.

BSG season finale...

...just about blew my frakkin' mind...

Day...all days beginning to run together!

I think the entire group is beginning to get burnout from the intense pace of the program. The plus side is that things will be slowing down a bit today, we have only morning lectures and the rest of the day is for project work. Tommorrow seems to be a bit easier as well.

Stockholm is a nice enough city, a bit smaller than I expected but very modern. And Cold. There is a lot more to do here, but as time and funds aren't on my side, I haven't done much besides walk around Old Town with my friend Kaie, and do a bit of shopping.

Oh yeah, i got to meet Kaie and her boyfriend Robert. After talking to her online for a good while, it was really nice to meet a fellow SDA who could help me with church and everything. She is a great person, and I'm glad we are friends, hahahaha.

More photos of Stockholm, including Old Town, me and Kaie, pics of Stockholm City Hall, etc. etc.

Day 13

Stockholm tommorrow! That sez it all, I'm ready to see the big city and meet friends I haven't seen ever. It should be loads of fun! Plus work, of course.

Speaking of which, here are some photos of me doing my thing. All professional and stuff, hahaha.

Day 12 (i think)

it's late at night, so you'll have to interpolate the day's happenings from these statements. They are in order of time (from morning to evening).

Ice skating, near leg-breaking.

Long lectures, not too too interesting.

Decent lunch, disgusting avocados.

Group exercise, missing trams.

Chinese food and Isolation Years in Concert, very good group! Kinda like Tom Petty in their sound.

Disappointment in trying to watch latest episode of Lost, because it's all junked up with some password foolishness. I'll have to re-download it and watch it tommorrow.

Growing anticiption of Stockholm visit.

Phone call from Alecia in Paris, much enjoyed :)

Shout out to Debbie in Tampa (not Orlando)!

Bed.

Photos forthcoming again.

interlude.

i just realized that this past weekend is my one-year anniversary of working at the WRA (and here I am in Sweden thanks to them). I wouldn't have gotten that working at that job in the USA, that's for sure.

so, yay! Tnanks be to God :)

Day 5;

Today was a very interesting day at the lectures. The executive director of S.E.I. gave a lecture that informed us about no-tillage crops and how plowing actually DECREASES land yield in tropical regions...he also told us about the use of urine as fertilizers and the separation of urine and fecal matter to use as composts.

After you've stopped grossing out, you should check it out. It actually looks quite feasible, and I see great potential in what he was talking about (among other things)...

I managed to find a place to practice, though I'll only get to go there 4 times while I'm here. Better than none, i suppose.

This hotel doesn't have a laundromat, and it costs an arm and a leg to ship out stuff! I guess I'll have to go down to the wire before I send my stuffs to get washed.

Other than that, just another slow day in Norrkoping. Check out some photos down below...the first is the view outside my old room (I switched rooms today because I had no good internet access in that old room). The second is me on the first day of lectures...the third photo is our main lecture room and some of my fellow participants, the fourth is the welcome dinner last night at the hotel, and the final is me at the welcome dinner letting my inner Viking loose :D

Day 3:

Much easier than day 2, in that we actually got more breaks and got to leave earlier. I need to leave earlier in the mornings to get the tram though, we got in about 5 minutes late and our supervisor was PISSED! Well, not like yelling at us, but you could tell she was upset. It wasn't our fault though...not really :) I guess Swedes really take punctuality seriously. I won't mess up next time.

Today after class, I went browsing/shopping. Lots of stuff here in town, but it's all kinda pricey. All i got thus far was a hat and a keychain light. I was looking at cell phones and iPods, but I'll get the Pod from the USA and the cellphone from the net at the right time.

Not much else happened today. I took some pics, will post 'em soon.

Day 2:

Man, these people aim to get their money's worth out of US...not that i'm complaining. Today was the first day of the course, and we were all at SMHI from 8:30 am to 6 pm. Lecture upon lecture, with lunch and social interludes...They were pretty educational though. It was mostly introductions to climate change and various issues like health, investigating models of parameters, etc.

I think I'm the youngest person on the course, and the only one from an English-speaking country. It's a very diverse crowd, with about 22 countries represented. The entire setup is very professional, and I am impressed.

I'm also TIRED. Tommorrow after classes, I'll go check out the shopping in town if it's not too cold. Tonight, I sleep and vegetate.

more later

Day 1: Welcome to Norrkoping!

I'm here!

And it's COLD!

Right now, i'm in my room at the Scandic Hotel in Norrkoping, Sweden. I flew in at 12 noon and came straight here with one fellow course participant from the Phillipines. I haven't met anyone else yet, and I think a good number of people haven't reached yet...I'm sure I'll meet more tommorrow.

Travelling down here was a long haul. The trip to Newark was uneventful, except that I saw an old classmate from 5th form on the plane. I had a long wait before the flight to Copenhagen took off, and that was a long trip. My legs still ache from it. Scandanavian Air is a good airline though, I likede how they have individual TVs in the headets.

Denmark was an interesting stay. Too bad the image I'll take from it is a really disgusting toilet. You don't expect to see that in a First-world airport toilet.

Right now i am jet-lagged, but I can't go sleep until nightfall. I'll write more tommorrow, along with pics.

off to Sweden

I'll be heading to Sweden early tommorrow morning for a course on Climate change. This means that I'll be blogging more often, even if it kills me:)

Check this out as well...

Love of money, the root of all evil

http://www.getipm.com/personal/cancer-racket.htm

http://www.ralphmoss.com/

I don't think that chemotherapy is the way to go. If you have to roll the dice, better to roll it towards the natural, not towards that which kills you in order to save you...

I have some thoughts on the power of "science" as practiced by today's scientists. They'll be forthcoming.

Don't mess with fruitcake.

It will kick your ass everytime.

To the Tuna lady

don't throw down no gauntlets to me, I'll pick 'em up :D

Rachmaninoff's Prelude in B-flat Major

baaaaad piece of piano-work in this tune.

this is what I want, what I really really want

I need some generous soul to purchase me one of these babies right here :) and I mean the black one. Any takers? hehehehe