July 2003 Archives

About 30 seconds ago, a large, ugly, red centipede came streaming in from the bathoom as I sat on my bed.

The kittens started following it, but I gathered them up, locked them in the bathroom and Mortein'ed the shit out of it.

Mortein is a bug killer. It's a heavy neurotoxin. As soon as you spray it, the bug starts quivering maniacally. It's very satisfying. I guess I'll never make much of Buddhist.

It's amazing how frightening it is to see one of these prehistoric monsters in your living room. It's not that they can kill you--they can give a nasty, incredibly painful bite. They are just fucking awful, slithering forth with all the legs moving and the mandibles waiting to bite anything that gets in its path. Gives me the Heebie-Jeebies.

3 volunteers in my group have been bitten so far. That's 25% in less than 9 months. I aim to keep on the side of the "not yet bitten".

The original song was written and sung by an Algerian performer named Cheb Khlaed, the King of Rai - a blend of rock n' roll and traditional North African music. Khaled's voice is hypnotic. He has the ability to transport you to another space and time.

"Aischa" is such a beautiful song. If you don't know it you should try to find it online somewhere for a listen. You can download the mp3 from this Arabic music site I found.

I first heard "Aischa" back when I was lucky enough to be dating a belly dancer. She used the song in her repertoire. Even today I can’t hear the song on the radio (even though it’s not Khaled’s version) without thinking her twirling on the carpet at El Morocco in her gorgeous silvery white costume. It's a great image in my mind.

The lyrics are in French and Arabic. The insert has a the translation in English for those sad monoglots like myself.

Peace Corps Plans Return to St. Kitts

BASSETERRE, St. Kitts (AP) - The U.S. Peace Corps is resuming service in St. Kitts before the end of the year following a five-year interruption, officials said Thursday.

Three Peace Corps officials traveled to the twin-island Caribbean federation to discuss new education, health, computer and business development projects.

On Wednesday, discussion with government officials focused on where volunteers could be placed to help St. Kitts and Nevis the most, said Peace Corps official Andrew Tonks.

Peace Corps volunteers had served in the country from 1964 until 1998, when the agency left because an arts education program had ended there.

More than 70 volunteers are currently serving in the eastern Caribbean countries of Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, Carriacou, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, according to the agency's Web site.

Since 1961, more than 170,000 volunteers have served in the Washington, D.C.-based Peace Corps, working in fields including education, health, the environment and agriculture.

St. Kitts is a former British colony with 38,000 residents, which has overcome five hurricanes in six years, a major flood, and low world prices for its banana crop.

The Coconut Blog, a blog dedicated to "News, Notes, and Dispatches From Wherever Coconuts Grow" (Samoa falls into this category in a big way), has written up American Idle. How very cool. It would be nice if this, and a few other mentions here and there, drive some traffic to my site.

You can find the story at The Coconut Blog here

This is so cool I hardly know where to begin.

(Hey folks, these guys are for real, with some significant film credits to their name (see at bottom for details) and they're working on a documentary film about the craigslist community - it'll be good to tell the everday story of craigslist, and should be fun. thanks! /Craig)

Greetings from Zealot Pictures.

We’re making a movie about craigslist -- or rather, we're making a movie out of craigslist.

We’re going to take one day, Monday, August 4th, 2003, and make a documentary based on the CL postings from that day. Not just the "Best-Of" or the "Success Stories", but a real, down-to-earth look at the fastest-growing grassroots cyber-community in the city that started it: San Francisco. Personal ads, job listings, missed connections, homemade helicopter sales, transgender counseling - everything that moves through the flow of the city's consciousness within a single 24 hour period. There is no script and no agenda other than what the community itself creates on that day, and postings will be followed up to their logical conclusions-- days, weeks or perhaps months afterwards. Stories within stories, worlds within worlds, unforeseen connections and unpredictable encounters across all strata of society-- it all comes together in "24 Hours on Craigslist."

Here’s how it’ll work:

On Monday, August 4th, a box will appear as you make your post. If you would like to participate in the film in any way - going on a date you met on CL, giving an interview about that great job you found, selling your blender, renting your apartment, or even anonymously - just click the box and your posting will be sent to us. We’ll then contact you and set up a time for our film crews to come and meet with you (and perhaps whoever responds to you as well). Don’t be shy, we want to get a bit of everything that happens on craigslist - and we do mean everything.

"One day. One City. One website. No limits."

This email comes from a recently COS'ed volunteer from Samoa. Shawn was working at "second chance" school in Savai'i teaching basic compuers skills in an environment can only be described as "primitive".

Shawn applied for an extension and was denied. Now here he is working hard to get more and better PCs for the school.

It's really interesting to me that at time when the Bush Administration seems hell bent on increasing volunteer numbers that PCVs should be denied extentions.

Personally, I think that if you can make it through two years of service then if you want to continue, you should have every right to. If there was some kind of problem that would keep the Peace Corps from wanting you in country, they should dealt with it long before the end of service.

Hello all,

This e-mail is all business and no faitala (sorry).

Anyway, I'm hoping to start up a little project here in Hawaii but I need help from all of you. I have computers that need to be taken to Samoa. Let me explain.

I went to an RPCV gathering the other night. There was like 40 people there. Many of the people I talked to work for big companies like hospitals or government departments. A big topic of conversation was on how the RPCV group can do some service projects.

So I was thinking that with all these RPCVs in so many companies, that's a ton of contacts for finding old computers that companies are going to get rid of. Old computers would be VERY valuable in the computer lab of my old school (the Marist Center for Special Learning) in Savaii.

So I sent a mass e-mail to all the RPCVs in Hawaii asking them to check out their workplace and see if there are any surplus computers that just taking up space. If so, then just tell me and I;ll come pick them up. I've gotten a big response and currently have 5 computers with the possibility of many more.

So the next problem is the eternal problem of shipping. It's all well and good to get all these computers but then how the hell to I get them to Samoa. Well, Hawaii is a really popular place for current PC Samoa volunteers to visit. PCs come here for vacation or when they are transiting to go home.

So, what if everytime a PC Samoa volunteer comes through Hawaii, they agree to take with them some computer equipment back to Samoa. Considering volunteers don't have much stuff anyway, they should have a considerable amount of excess allowable backage weight that can be used to take computers back to Samoa.

SO here is what I'm asking from all the volunteers (and even staff). If anyone plans to either visit Hawaii or is transiting through Hawaii to Samoa, could you please be so kind as to lug some extra stuff on the retun leg. If you let me know when you are coming, I can meet you at the airport (or go out for a few drinks). I can then give you the computer stuff (all boxed up) to take back to Samoa where Vic can pick it up and bring it to the school.

What do you think?

So this method is inherently limted in its scope. Volunteers can only take so much computer equipment in excess baggage. But with a steady stream of volunteers I think we can get a fair number of computers over there. Who knows, maybe with some funding for shipping we can expand to include other schools.

Thanks for reading this and let me know if you are flying through Hawaii and are willing to take stuff back....and if you just want to faitala and catch up, defintely e-mail me.

MARISSA MIKA
This an interesting story I found on the Daily California written by Marissa Mika who is about to embark on a Peace Corps adventure in Africa.

I really love the part about the nightmare of the medical evaluation process. It brings up such fond memories of my 16 months of Peace Corps application hell

Welcome to the club, Marissa.

It's a good read. Check it out.

This weekend I made Blue Cheese Pizza.

Twice.

One of the local Italian restaurants, Giordana's, makes a blue cheese pizza which is fantastic, which is how I got the idea. It's not something I ever would have thought of myself. But the blue cheese is so tangy. It really is an incredble taste on the pallette.

When I found a small wedge of blue cheese at Lucky Foodtown for 4 tala 80 on Friday, I had to snap it up.

The sauce was fat free pizza sauce from Trader Joe's that my brother sent to me. I used mozzerella, blue and another cheese from New Zealand called "Tasty". The toppings were fresh basil, cilantro and scallions.

The pizza went down really good with McWilliams Cabernet Shiraz from South Australia. (The Finlandia cranberry is just a candle holder).

I'm definately going to have to make this one again.

He wasn't at the top of his game. He was sick. He crashed several times. He had tremendous cyclists breathing down his neck all the way to Paris. Yet Lance Armstrong pervailed to win the Tour. Again.

He joins only four other riders - Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault and Miguel Indurain - as champions who have won the Tour five times. Only he and Indurain have managed 5 consecutive wins.

It's a truly incredible feat for the a man once stricken down with cancer.

How do you measure greatness? Lance Armstrong is good yard stick.

Links:

New York Times
Velo News
BBC Sport

On Friday night I was walking by the National Cathedral along Beach Road with a few friends. It was raining. We we on our way to dinner at one of the local hotels. Instead we ducked into the cathedral where the National Youth Choir of Great Britain was performing.

Tickets were going for 50 tala (about 18 USD), but I knew someone at the door and we got in for 10.

The National Youth Choir (105 members strong) is well regarded, generally acknowledged to be one of the finest choirs of any kind in the world. This is blessing for the western-culture starved island of Samoa. This is the choir's first trip to Samoa on a world tour that also includes New Zealand, Australia, and Singapore.

The choir’s repertoire is vast, containing masterpieces from the past for massed voices and contemporary music from around the world including songs from Africa, from the Pacific rim and from all parts of Europe, as well as gospel and popular arrangements.

I couldn't get into the the first half of the performance. I was hungry and uncomfortable in the wooden pews of the cathedral. Then during the intermission, we stuffed our faces with egg and tuna salad sandwiches, mini meat pies and ginger mufffins. I felt great.

The second half of the concert was amazing. There were three pieces that I really enjoyed. The first was an arrangement of Billy Joel's "And so it goes". The second was something called "The Seagull" by Irishman John Hearne. For this song, the female members of the choir spread themselves around the perimeter of the church. The song was this man's impression of the flight of a seagull. Each woman sang a slightly different part of this rolling, mystical arrangement. It was haunting and gave me goose bumps. The last song I liked was a Zulu song called "Hamba Lulu" which was just pure fun.

It was a great night in Apia.

Last night, well for the last several nights really, I could easily make out Mars hanging about 10 o'clock in the northern sky. It's one of the brightest lights in the sky and it's bright orange, just like you'd expect it to be. Amazing.

For someone who grew up on Edgar Rice Burroughs' John Carter of Mars stories, this is really exciting. I have always been fascinated by Mars. I even have a Nat'l Geographic map of the planet hanging above my bed.

The viewing is only going to get better and better, according the obsevratory websites. The Red Planet is becoming well placed for observation and will be at its closest to the Earth for nearly 60,000 years in August. August 28th appears to be the best night for seeing Mars as a "full disc" in the sky. Not that matters for me, looking at it with my naked eye.

There is one telescope amongst the volunteers in Samoa, but it's rummored to be busted, out of alignment or something that renders it unusable. C'est la vie.

There's some really good information about viewing Mars on the Arkansas Sky Observatory website. The NASA site also is choc full of info, pics, etc.

Father of fire-knife dance dies
By Terry Tavita
24 July 2003

The man credited as the father of the fire knife dance, ailao afi, has passed away peacefully in Hawai’i.

American Samoa paramount chief Olo Letuli, 84, was a close friend of the Head of State, His Highness Susuga Malietoa Tanumafili II.

A former Senator and a successful businessman, Olo, as he is commonly known, arguably was the first to add fire to the traditional Samoan ailao(knife dance).

As the story goes, Olo, in his days as a young entertainer, did this at a performance in Hawai’i in 1946 because he was bored with his routine.

The ailao, a fierce traditional dance that involves the constant twirling of the adze-like weapon, nifo oti, was a pre-war ritual to psyche up warriors.

There's a great story in the New York Times that I came across via my fellow PCV Kris Rush's website

The story, written by a former Peace Corps volunteer Avi Spiegel who served in Morocco, suggests that the Peace Corps is both too hasty in pulling volunteers from dangerous situations in places like Jordan and Uzbekistan, for example, and not fast enough in placing in the field in places where they can be a of maximum assistance such as Iraq and Liberia.

I definately echo Mr. Spiegel's concerns. While no one wants to see volunteers coming home in body bags, it's really a shame that in places like Iraq and Somalia, all the locals ever see of America is a guy in desert cammos with a high powered machine gun.

I suggested in an email home back in April (see "more" below) that I would love to serve in Iraq. It's the exactly the type of situation where the Peace Corps can be effective by aggressively meeting the needs of people at the grass roots level. I'm sure I can do a hell of lot more good, not to mention interesting, work there than I can sitting on my tuchus in Samoa.

I have a pretty good idea of what my kittens are thinking, but how cool would it be to know for sure?

Now if only they could come up with a gagdet that could translate human speech into meows. Then we'd really have something. How do you say, "don't piss on my mattress again or I'm going to feed you to the dogs" in meow?

Japanese toymaker offers cat-language interpreter
TOKYO (AFP) - Takara Co. of Japan will launch a device that translates cats' meows into human speech in November after the smash-hit dog-language electronic interpreter Bowlingual, a spokeswoman said.

The nation's number two toymaker aims to sell 300,000 units of the hand-held gadget by March 2004.

"We do not have an immediate plan to sell (the product) overseas but this could be a possibility," said the spokeswoman.

Shares in Takara soared 42 yen or 5.68 percent to end the morning at 781 yen on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, in contrast to the key Nikkei-225 average, which slipped 0.9 percent to 9,663.07 points.

Meowlingual shows "translations" of cat language on its liquid crystal display when held close to the animals, the spokeswoman said.

The device will be priced at 8,800 yen (75 dollars), less than the 14,800 yen dog owners pay for Bowlingual.

Bowlingual has sold 300,000 units in the six months to March 2003 since its launch last September, and would have sold more had supply kept pace with demand.

The 120-dollar gadget ventured overseas to South Korea in late May and is set to make its US debut in August.

I love this story, for the obvious reasons.

This Cat Burglar Is Really a Cat SIMI VALLEY, Calif. - A cat burglar's booty is being hoarded in a Ventura County home.

A marauding feline named Midnight — now dubbed Klepto Cat — has been sneaking off in the dark to raid neighbors' homes, garages, sheds and patios, bringing home shoes, hats, shirts, socks and even a wrapped Christmas present.

It's stressful for pet owners Richard and Sue Boyd.

"We get so embarrassed by this," Sue Boyd said. "We wake up in the morning and go out and there's stuff under the truck. The cat leaves things all over. We don't want these things."

"He's a klepto cat," her husband said.

Each day, Midnight's owners leave a bag with the purloined goods hanging from their mailbox so neighbors can reclaim missing items.

It is unclear why Midnight prefers wearables.

Gary Sampson, an Indianapolis-based veterinarian who specializes in cat behavior, said the 13-year-old cat is probably drawn to body odors.

"He's obviously a hunter," Sampson said. "He's doing this at night. This is when they can get prey. It's just an extension of that."

Police Sgt. Paul Fitzpatrick said there isn't anything the police could do about Midnight's crimes, except refer the complaint to animal control.

I can only wonder what stuff my cats would come home with if they started stealing from my neighbors.

The other day, I was taking a shower, and out my window I could hear faint dsitress meows. I quickly toweled off and found that my male kitten Makelani had gotten up on the roof of the car port.

Now, if it was Filemu, the female, I wouldn't have been worried a bit. She's incredibly dexterous. Mak, on the other hand, is a notorious clutz. It's hard to believe they came out of the same womb.

Mak is up there crying and rubbing himself against the sheet metal roof as if I'm going to come up there and play with him. I knew he could get down, but it required some coaxing. Eventually he used a banana tree as a bridge and made his way down to terra firma.

I know, it's not a very interesting story, but I needed an excuse to post this picture. I love the eyes.

My cousin Lisa just sent me this book and it flew through it. It's sort of a historical, financial, thriller of a murder mystery set in 18th century London with a Jewish subplot, if you can believe that.

One of the most interesting aspects of this book is that the main character and his family are all from Portugal, therefore Sephardic Jews. In the story, it's the Sephardic Jewry who are ascendendant while the Tudesco Jews, or Askenazhim, are the downtrodden emigrees from Eastern Europe.

It's interesting how things have turned around. These days, generally speaking the Askenazi jews pretty much run everything (in Israel, I mean), while the Sephardim are marginalized.

Here's the blurb from author David Liss's website:

Benjamin Weaver is an outsider in eighteenth-century London: A Jew among Christians; a ruffian among aristocrats; a retired pugilist who, hired by London’s gentry, travels through the criminal underworld in pursuit of debtors and thieves.

In A Conspiracy of Paper, Weaver becomes entangled with a crime of the most personal sort, involving the mysterious death of his estranged father, a notorious stock-jobber. To find the answers he seeks, Weaver must contend with a garrulous prostitute who knows too much about his past, estranged relatives who remind him of his alienation from the Jewish faith, and a cabal of powerful men in the world of British finance who have disguised their business dealings with an intricate web of deception and violence.

Relying on brains and brawn, Weaver uncovers the beginnings of a strange new economic order based on stock speculation – a way of life that poses great risks for investors, but real dangers for Weaver and his family.

There's a copy of US magazine floating around the Peace Corps office here in Samoa. While I was waiting to get on a computer, I flipped through it's pages and came across this brilliant piece of journalism:

Whitney's Wacky Israel Visit "It's home, it's home!", proclaimed, Whitney Houston, 39, about Israel on her first trip to the Holy Land. During her six-day visit, she, husband Bobby Brown, 34, and daughter Bobbi Kristina, 10, stayed with the Black Hebrews, a sect of 2,000 vegan polygamists.

Call me crazy, but the real wacky story isn't Whitney et al visiting Israel, it's that there are fucking 2,000 vegan polygamists in the Holy Land.

Is it me?

Peace Corps Program to Reopen in Jordan
WASHINGTON, D.C., July 22, 2003 – Peace Corps Director Gaddi H. Vasquez announced today that Peace Corps volunteers would return to Jordan as early as January 2004. The program was suspended in November 2002 due to security concerns in the Middle East. The situation has recently been reassessed and determined safe for the return of Peace Corps volunteers.

Director Vasquez went to Jordan in December 2002 to meet with and thank His Majesty King Abdullah II for his support of the Peace Corps and his continued dedication to the work of volunteers in Jordan.

“We are extremely excited about returning volunteers to Jordan. The Jordanian government is extremely supportive of the Peace Corps, and they have been instrumental in the timeliness of Peace Corps’ return to their country, “ stated Director Vasquez.

Peace Corps began service in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan in 1997. Since then, 216 volunteers have worked in the areas of community development initiatives, micro-enterprise development for women, environmental management and awareness, and teaching English as a foreign language. Volunteers in Jordan also participate in special education programs that support hearing and visually impaired students.

Since 1961, more than 168,000 volunteers have served in the Peace Corps, working in such diverse fields as education, health and HIV/AIDS education, information technology, business development, the environment, and agriculture. Peace Corps volunteers must be U.S. citizens and at least 18 years of age. Peace Corps service is a two-year commitment.

Lance Armstrong still maintains the lead in the Tour de France, but only a scant 15 seconds ahead of close rival Jan Ullrich, who, I think, is the only other rider in this year's field to have won the Tour previously.

It's incredible how close this is. Think about this. They've gone about 1500 miles and are only separated by a quarter of a minute. In a 100m sprint, a spread of that same ratio wouldn't even be thousands of a second.

If you're wondering, the closest finish ever in the TdF was back in 1989, won by American Greg LeMond, the only other Yank besides Armstrong to win the Tour.

LeMond trailed frenchman Laurent Fignon by 50 seconds overall going into the final time trial in Paris. No one gave him much chance of clawing back that time in just 24.5 kilometers but the new triathlon-style handlebars were a distinct advantage as he beat Fignon by 58 seconds. After 3,285 kilometers of racing a mere eight seconds separated the two men overall. It doesn't get any more dramatic than that.

Hiopefully this year will be more of the same. Too bad I can't watch it.

I rented "The Recuit" over the weekend and was completely underwhelmed. Colin Farrell's performance was really weak. It might as well have been Freddie Prinze, Jr. The music was horrible. And the story did nothing to engage me. It's all the more disappointing because this storyline of intrigue around CIA recruits has so much potential.

This all brings to mind something that I've been thinking about for years which is why movies get re-made. It seems that Hollywood has a passion for remaking movies that were good. Movies lke "Pshyco" and "Cape Fear" are good examples. This makes no sense to me at all.

What I think is that movies like "The Recuit", which sucked in the original version, should be remade. Start from scratch, fine tune the script, rework the score and turn it into a movie worth watching again and again.

Can you think of any movies that should be remade?

I probably shouldn't be able to make Thai Chicken Pizza while I'm in the Peace Corps, but I can, so what the fuck. I found the recipe online. All the ingredients are available here in Samoa. Some things, like chili oil, were quite expensive. Rice vinegar costs 20 tala for a little bottle, so I went without it.

The dough in the recipe came out really soft and after letting it sit for an hour or so, it had almost tripled in size. Maybe I overdid it with the yeast. I don't have small measuring spoons, so I have to eyeball it for tea and tablespoons.

Then when I put it in the oven, the dough kept expanding and expanding until it went from a thin crust to a deep dish, but no matter. It was really the toppings that made this pizza.

Here's the recipe. It's a bit of a chore, but when you little or nothing else to do and very few obligations, it's easy to find the time. You won't believe how good this pizza is.

It seems Chief Justice Patu Tiavaasu’e Falefatu has a full docket these days. There was a major drug bust at the Fagali'i airport. A 12-year old girl was nabbed with 9 bags of ganja attached to her person.

The airport where this happened is right around the corner from my house. I ride past it almost every day on my bike on my way to town.

It's just a simple airstrip surrounded by coconut palms and banana trees. There are pigs and chickens running around all over the place. It's hard to beleive that such nefarious activity (international drug smuggling) is taking place in such a bucolic setting.

This item appeared in the Samoa Observer recently:

Man charged with carnal knowledge By Mathew Lemisio 15 July 2003

A man appeared in the Supreme Court yesterday on a charge of carnal knowledge. Court documents identified the victim in this case as the accused’s sister-in-law.

Police sources also noted that there would be more people probably brought before the court on similar charges involving the same girl.

The victim in this case is a minor under the age of 14.

The accused had been remanded on bail to receive legal aid before reappearing before Chief Justice Patu Tiavaasu’e Falefatu on Monday, July 28th for mention.

This is a really horrible story, probably all too common here. The only unique aspect of it is that the man was actually caught.

On the other hand, I wish someone would charge me with carnal knowledge. That sounds like fun. (minus the fourteen year old sister-in-law part).

The email below was forwared to me by a good friend of mine who went to Yale where he met no shortage of whackos, oddballs and misfits masquerading as America's finest young intellectuals and scholars.

I can't decide whether this email is sad or frightening. Whatever it is, it's seriously funny.

There's definately a padded room somewhere on the eastern seaboard reserved for this guy.

"They had but one last remaining night together, so they embraced each other as tightly as that two-flavor entwined string cheese that is orange and yellowish-white, the orange probably being a bland Cheddar and the white ... Mozzarella, although it could possibly be Provolone or just plain American, as it really doesn't taste distinctly dissimilar from the orange, yet they would have you believe it does by coloring it differently."

This was the winning entry in this year's Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest, a parody honoring the writer of the worst beginning to an imaginary novel.

The writer was Mariann Simms of Wetumpka, Alabama.

23 year-old Zachary Merrill serving in the West African country of Mali was found dead earlier in the week near his village.

At the moment, the cause of death even remains a mystery and it is not known, at least according to the Peace Corps website and other media outlets, whether this was an accident, if there was any foul play involved or if Zachary might have died of natural causes, though that seems very unlikely considering his age and the intense medical screening that the Peace Corps enforces.

There is an investigation underway by the Peace Corps along with the U.S. embassy in Mali and police. This investigation is probably not made any easier by the fact that Zachary's village was 8 hours from the capital and has no electricity or running water.

It's always disturbing when you hear news of a Peace Corps volunteer death. Of course there are dangers living abroad in such a high profile position in the community as a PCV, but the Peace Corps does a decent job of preparing for almost every aspect of the safety & security of its volunteers.

No one should panic or anything or even spend a spare second worrying about my safety. It's not as if death is a common end for PCVs. I don't feel endangered, nor do I think most volunteers around the world do. In fact, I feel safer here in Samoa that I have in many places in the States.

It's just that in such a small community of volunteers, this death is a highly visible reminder of the dangers that lurk out there just beyond our perception.

My thoughts go out to the Merill family and the volunteers of Mali.

Yes, Samoa actually beat the USA 52-45. Ok, so it was in Netball, a sport you probably didn't even know existed.

Even if you were aware of Netball, it's unlikely that you knew that the 11th Netball World Championships are currently underway in Jamaica. The international Netball governing body, IFNA, doesn't even seem to know. At least they can't be bothered to update their website for the most important event on their calender, which should tell you something about the margins in which this sport exists.

It's further doubtful that you knew that the USA was fielding a team. I didn't know about it myself until I heard the story on the radio this morning about Samoa defeating the USA. Funnily enough the announcer was treating the result as some big upset, probably unaware that all 11 people in the States who know about Netball are currenlly in Jamaica.

After dispatching the USA, Samoa is moving on to face the powerhouse "Silver Ferns" of New Zealand in the quarters. That should probably be the last we hear of Team Samoa from Jamaica.

I just came from seeing "The Whale Rider" and I can't stop thinking about it. The movie gave me chills.

If you haven't seen it, I don't want to give away the plot, so I'll only say that this isn't "Free Willy". This film is a monument to Maori culture. The story illuminates the origin of the Moari people without glamorizing aboriginies and deals with some of the more difficult issues facing indigenous people without dehumanizing them.

"Whale Rider" is filled with rich characters, great warmth and humor in unsuspected moments. The acting, the writing, the photography are all first rate.

Most notable is Keisha Castle-Hughes. Her performance of the title role was so perfect it's hard not to believe that screenplay wasn't written for her. She was simply adorable.

The San Francisco Chronicle gave it a C+ proving once again that it isn't worth the paper it's printed on. Do yourself a favor: Find out where it's playing in your neighborhood and go see it. And if you're even somewhat emotional, bring some tissues with you.

I wish someone would make a movie like this about Samoan culture.

The French penchant for protest has reached new heights. Crazy supporters of radical farmer Jose Bove ran into the road and blocked Tour de France cyclists near Pourrieres. Armstrong was caught behind the pickets.

Certainly this is not the first time the TdF has been the venue for a protest, but I don't think the stakes have ever been higher. And I don't think there's any doubt that Armstrong was a target here (on Bastille Day, of all days).

The tensions between the French and the Americans have never been higher and the fact that Armstrong has won their great national sporting event four years running has to rankle not a few of them.

Armstrong still has the lead and the protest only cost him a few seconds, but if something happens like this again and it costs Lance the lead or worse yet, the race, there will be an international incident.

I'd love to think that these moves that the Lakers are making or are rumored to be making are going to work. But I doubt it highly.

If nothing else, Karl Malone, deserves a championship. I've been a huge fan since his days at Louisiana Tech, duking it out in the NCAA backwaters of the long since disolved Southland conference against the likes of Joe Dumars at McNeese St.

If Malone is going to win, he might as well do it with the Lakers.

I stole this amusing picture from Satan's Luau. I hope I don't go to hell for it.

Would you buy Sars Cola? I don't think so. I wouldn't. But "Double Sars" cola on sale at Lyn Netzler's store in Moto'otua.

It's some kind or sarsaparilla, I think, but it hardly sounds refreshing about now, does it?

I came home this morning, turned on my computer and all I got was a little flashing cursor in the top left corner. No BIOS, no operating system, no nothing.

There a very few things as disturbing as a non-working computer. It's not my sole source of entertainment, but pretty damn close. Music, movies, writing, photography. Plus I need to feed my insatiable Freecell addiction.

I didn't have a startup or a boot disk in my house, so I'm going to try to download one right now in the Peace Corps office. If I can't get the computer up and running again I might have nervous breakdown.

Blogging is about to get a mainline of adrenalin when AOL launches its "AOL Journals", a blogging too for the masses.

If it doesn't already seem as if everyone who has an (in)coherent thought and access to the Internet is online publishing their memoirs, now all the blue-haired contract bridge playing AOL weenies who couldn't navigate their way to blog*spot will be in there jamming up the Internet with their ramblings.

Why should I care? Good question. I don't really know, but for some reason it bothers me.

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AH-AH-AH-Bullshit!!!!

Here's an update on my Freecell addiction:

I've only managed 464 games since the 16th of June. That's about 18.56 games a day, roughly.

Despite my best efforts, I haven't been able to crack 88%. I've been struggling to keep it at that level. I had to win the last 19 in a row just to back from the 87% doldrums.

I think I need to win something like 400 games in a row to get up to 89%. That's fairly unlikely. In fact it would take a fucking miracle to get there.

In the recently released human development index , part of the Human Development Report for 2003 released yearly by the UNDP, Samoa is number 73 out of 173, middle of the pack.

Acccording to the site, the index "measures a country's achievement in terms of life expectancy, educational attainment and adjusted real income". The whole report is something like 7 megabytes which is too much for me download tonight, but I'm going to try to plow through it at the office tomorrow.

It's really interesting to look through the list. Norway and other Scandanavians top it, with the Africans languishing at the bottom. There are only a few "Peace Corps" countries ahead of Samoa, a reasonably well-developed place with 100% literacy. Those that I know of are Panama and Bulgaria. There's probably a few others. Down at the bottom of the list are a score of African countries, many of which host PCVs. It's a difficutl life, but I'm sure it's very rewarding. In some ways I envy them.

Something very perpexling is happening in this country. Maybe someone out there can it explain it to me.

I just went and bought a block of edam cheese at one of the local markets. It was $9.95 for a 500g chunk. You can buy a 250g block for $5.25. This makes sense to me. Buy more, pay slightly less. However, if you want to buy the 1kg block, you're gonna pay $22.35. Huh?

What exactly are you paying for here? It must be the convenience of having your cheese in one simple container rather than having to juggle 2 unwieldly 500g blocks.

I was a lit major at university. I did take a few economics classes but we either didn't cover the economy of cheese or I fell asleep in class that day.

However, this is not isolated to just cheese in Samoa. You find odd pricing policies in markets all over the country for various products from mosquito coils to peanut butter.

You have to be savvy in this land of comparison shopping.

Last night, a friend of mine rented a DVD and brought it over to my house. This movie was the Korean action flick, Shiri. Shiri was one of the worst movies I have ever seen. It should be called Shit-ri.

Suppossedly, this movie was a huge box-office smash in Seoul. It's the highest gossing film in the history of the country, breaking records set by Titanic. At 5 million bucks, Shiri was also the most costly film in Korean history. Most of this money was spend on fake blood and guns rented from some outfit in Hollywood.

Perhaps the problem was that was the subtitles were lacking and made it difficult to follow the plot. Somehow I doubt that. It was just a piece of Hong Kong inspred wholesale violence piece of tripe that was popular in Korea because it dealt with the reunification of the peninsula in a modern, somewhat hip way.

One of the few pleasures of the film from comes from the name of the lead actor: Han Sukyu.

Because of this exclusive arrangement, SamoaTel can pretty much charge whatever they want for service. Local ISPs like Samoa.ws and iPasifika have little choice but to charge rates that price most of the people in the country out of the market.

The real insidious part is not the online connection fees, it's the a "per megabyte" charges that can add up incredibly fast for someone like me who is used to having DSL and not paying much attention to quantity of downloads, only quality.

At this rate, Samoa is going to have an impossible time reaching its goals for universal connectivity.

If you had any doubt about the strength and power of Samoans, you only have to look over to Fiji where the 2003 South Pacific Games are taking place.

Powerlifter George Leafiifano has set a WORLD RECORD in the bench press hoisting an incredible 293kg. For those of you out there who are not metric freindly, that's 644.6 pounds. Insane!

The previous world record was held by some Russian at a mere 292.5kg.

"This is the happiest day of my life...this is the greatest acheivement of my career", said the exuberant Leafiifano.

Malo Galue, George!

It's not easy to follow the American political scene from the middle of the Pacific. So I come to rely on the web and gathering bits and pieces of information wherever it can be had (thanks, Ursula), which is almost no place other than the web. That's how I came across to the SelectSmart.com 2004 Presidential Candidate Selector.

Selectsmart.com sez: "the candidates' positions have been determined first by the candidate's actions, then their public votes, followed by their public statements, and whenever possible, special interest group rankings of the candidate have been factored in."

Ok.

Accornding to this online "survey", my political beliefs are most closely aligned with Dennis Kucinich, some Congressman from Ohio. That is, if you're inclined to take the results of polls like seriously, which I'm not. That I'm 82% aligned with Reverend Al Sharpton is almost as frightening as the fact that Democrats ate not likely to put up much of challenge to our current administration. Not that I like the Dems all that much.

Here are my results:

This is not a joke. This email was sent out by our Commander in Chief, W.

On July 4, 1776, our Founders adopted the Declaration of Independence, creating a great Nation and establishing a hopeful vision of liberty and equality that endure today. This Independence Day, we express gratitude for our many blessings and we celebrate the ideals of freedom and opportunity that Nation holds dear.

America’s strength and prosperity are testaments to the enduring power of our founding ideals, among them, that all men are created equal, and that liberty is God’s gift to humanity, the birthright of every individual. The American creed remains powerful today because it represents the universal hope of all mankind.

On the Fourth of July, we are grateful for the blessings that freedom represents and for the opportunities it affords. We are thankful for the love of our family and friends and for our rights to think, speak, and worship freely. We are also humbled in remembering the many courageous men and women who have served and sacrificed throughout our history to preserve, protect, and expand these liberties. In liberating oppressed peoples and demonstrating honor and bravery in battle, the members of our Armed Forces reflect the best of our Nation.

We also recognize the challenges America now face. We are winning the war against enemies of freedom, yet more work remains. We will prevail in this noble mission. Liberty has the power to turn hatred into hope.

America is a force for good in the world, and the compassionate spirit of America remains a living faith. Drawing on the courage of our Founding Fathers and the resolve of our citizens, we willingly embrace the challenges before us.

Laura joins me in sending our best wishes for a safe and joyous Independence Day. May God bless you, and may God continue to bless America

GEORGE W. BUSH

It's July again so it's time for one of the world's greatest sporting events, the Tour de France.

I've been watching the Tour for years. I'm wierd about it. I'm one of these people who'd like nothing better than to pull up a chair, grab a bottle of wine and some cheese, and watch 5 hours of men riding through the French countryside in colorful shirts. I'm very jealous of the European coverage. Of course, this year, I won't see any of it. I'll just have to deal with following it online.

Last year I watched the TDF on OLN (Outdoor Life Network). The coverage was decent. The usual stuff with Phil Liggett and Paul Sherwin, but every day the program ws distilled down to an hour or so. It wasn't enough for me. I'm greedy for the Tour.

One of these days, I'm going to travel to France and follow the riders around the country or at least be there, on the road, as the peloton whizzes by. Maybe on the heights of Alpe-d' Huez. It's one of my dream vacations.

There's a really interesting looking class being taught at the University of Toronto called A Cultural History of the Tour de France. It's too bad they are not offering it online. There are tons of good links on the website for the class.

Time to wrap this up. Good Luck, Lance!. I'll be watching you from Samoa.

I'm starting to become addicted to making my own pizza. It's so fun and so damn good.

Tonight I made two little "cheeseburger" pizzas. The toppings were hamburger sauteed in garlic and a little balsamic vinegar with some white cheddar cheese sprinkled on top.

The crust was a little thicker than I wanted because I greased the pan with olive oil and I couldn't pound down the pizza without it sliding right back to place and into form because of the oil. I just lowered the oven temp a little and increased the cooking time and it worked out fine.

My friend Van received a package from home yesterday and amongst the various things inside was a the DVD of Amelie. We rushed back to her place to watch it.

I hadn't seen it since it was out in the theaters in the States. I caught it in a little art house theater around the corner from my girlfriend's place in Lafayette, CA.

There's so much that I love about this film, but I'll just share a few things with you.

The special effects are not ground breaking, but are really clever, things like Amelie melting after Nico comes to the 2 Windmills cafe. The one I really adore is when the 4 pictures of the same guy, the ones that Amelie wrote a note on and gave to Nico, start talking. This is both an incredible piece of film making and a bit of genius acting with the same actor doing four strands of seemless, simulataneous dialogue.

I love the artwork of the artist Michael Sowa that decorates the Amelie's bedroom perfectly embodies the light-hearted, playful spirit of the film. It's so rare to find this ideal inter-medium match. Do a search on the web for Michael Sowa. You won't be disappointed.

Then there's the great videos that Amelie sends to her housebound friend, Raymond Dufayel. They are so fanciful. I love the one with the horse jumping out in front of the Tour de France riders. It's might be the least interesting of all the clips, but it's timely with the Tour getting underway this weekend.

Of course, I'm fond (and envious) of the world trekking gnome. Wouldn't I be, though?

Probably the best thing about Amelie is that the film is so deep, so rich, so well made, that everytime you watch it, you can find something new and wonderful.

1) Go to Google
2) Type in "weapons of mass destruction"
3) Hit the "I'm Feeling Lucky" button
4) Read results of search

If you don't laugh at this you're either a Republican or you have no sense of humor or both.

UPDATE: The "i'm feeling lucky" search has changed. If you want to see the page, go here:

http://www.coxar.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/

Fifteen new Peace Corps volunteers from the United States of America are in Samoa and undergoing an 11-week training course – on Samoan culture, language and living.

Ten have been posted with families in the rural areas, living as sons and daughters of the families and experiencing everyday village life.

The volunteers will then be posted to the jobs they will do to help national development in Samoa during their two-year assignments.

Stacy Plemmons, Country Director for the Peace Corps, said the new group will be officially sworn in 27 August and assigned to their new posts.

Their postings will be decided by the Ministry of Women, Community and Social Development and the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Forestry and Meteorology.

According to the Peace Corps website: When John F. Kennedy became American president in 1961, he issued a call to service to Americans with these words: “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.” He manifested this vision by establishing the Peace Corps to promote world peace and friendship.

Since 1961, more than 168,000 Americans have joined the Peace Corps, serving in 136 nations. They work in areas as diverse as bringing clean water to communities, teaching children, helping start new small businesses, and stopping the spread of AIDS.

The website says: Volunteers work with teachers and parents to improve the quality of, and access to, education for children. They work with communities to protect the local environment and to create economic opportunities. They work on basic projects to keep families healthy and to help them grow more food. Their larger purpose, however, is to work with people in developing countries to help them take charge of their own futures.

And one is back to help the training

Kelleah Parsley is the new Technical Training Coordinator for the new volunteers after serving as a Peace Corps here herself 1999-2002.

As a Peace Corps, she was assigned to teach at Maluafou College.

Ms Parsley returned to the United States to start her Masters Degree in International Training However, she said she couldn’t resist the opportunity to return to Samoa as a Peace Corps trainer.

She said she is excited to be back as part of Peace Corps in Samoa.

The part of the Samoan culture that interests her is how the elders are respected and are always placed first, which she says is not found in the American culture.

She is excited for her new trainees and the experience they will enjoy. She says she has also warned them about the local dogs: Some are friendly and some are mean.

(from the Samoa Observer)
Fifteen new Peace Corps volunteers from the United States of America are in Samoa and undergoing an 11-week training course – on Samoan culture, language and living.

Ten have been posted with families in the rural areas, living as sons and daughters of the families and experiencing everyday village life.

The volunteers will then be posted to the jobs they will do to help national development in Samoa during their two-year assignments.

Rowing Upstream
Snapshots of Pioneers of the Information Age in Africa

I came across a link to this book about ICT in Africa when surfing other blogs. The entire book seems to be online. It's got some really amazing pictures and is loaded with information about the past, present and future of Information Technology on the Dark Continent.

Check it out.

Samoa, apparently guitly (along with 31 other nations) of supporting the International Criminal Court while not being of importance to US national security, has been cut off from military aid.

How much military aid Samoa receives from the US is unclear, however considering there's no standing army in this country and only one modest patrol boat, it can't be a hell of a lot.

That said, this country survives on handouts, so whatever meagre amount it is that the US is going to withhold, will be damaging to some extent.

Another warship on the way back from service in the gulf has hit up Samoa for a little R&R. Can't really blame them, can you?

Unlike the other recently arrived frigate from Canada, this boat, the F730 Floreal has huge guns on its foredeck and there's no doubt what the thing was built for.

The French could probably take over this country with this rinky dinky boat. I'm sure they have thought of it. They'd probably like nothing more than to excercise their congenital urge to nuke every island in the South Pacific.

When people take antibiotics, good bacteria are often killed along with the disease-causing ones. This leaves yeast, such as Candida which is not affected by antibiotics, to grow unrestrained, proliferating and overrunning the intestinal tract. The consequence is a yeast overgrowth or infection. Such infections can last for years causing a wide variety of symptoms ranging from headaches to digestive problems. Often people have systemic Candida infections without even knowing it. This is why antifungal medications or probiotics should be taken whenever antibiotics are used. A probiotic supports the growth of friendly bacteria but not the disease-causing kind. Tropical Traditions recommends Primal Defense for probiotic supplementation.

One of the good things about lauric acid, which makes up about 50% of the fatty acid composition of coconut oil, is that it kills lipid-coated bacteria but does not appear to harm the friendly intestinal bacteria.1 The MCFA (medium chain fatty acids) also have antifungal properties so not only will they kill disease-causing bacteria and leave good bacteria alone, they will also kill Candida and other fungi in the intestinal tract, further supporting a healthy intestinal environment.

Why am I writing about this, you might be asking yourself. You doubt I'm sincerely delivering an island remedy for my female friends, and you'd be right. I'm writing this because this is the latest "message" I've received from a new scourge of pop-up ads from "Save!" that have somehow infected my machine. I don't know where they came from or how to get rid of them. Fucking parasites.

Because there are so many repeat visits from freighters making a circuit of the the Pacific, it's nice for me when a ship I've never seen before arrives in the harbor. Kyowa Hibiscus, part of the Greater Bali Hai shipping line, is one of the boats on a loop, but I've never seen it before. According to their website, it comes to Apia every month or so.

The harbor is looking great these days. There are ten yachts at anchor, including some fairly large vessels and a cool looking trimeran. One of these days I'm going to hop aboard one of these boats and sail away from this rock.