techno.blog("Dion")

It is very surreal to watch the ancient ceremony involved in picking a new Pope. This is the first time that I have witnessed something like this, and it sure is an experience.

It is the closest spectacle that I have seen, that mirrors a true rebirth. Caterpillar to butterfly. Counselor to Emperor ;)

I wish him well, and I hope that he moves a little more to the center from his positions as a cardinal. He has a HUGE role to play, and I really hope we can move on from anti gay rhetoric. I pray for that.

As I get ready for a trip to London, I was listening to a nice bloke on NPR talking about the shift from the “American Dream” to the “European Dream”.

He defined the American version as he wild west, out for yourself, about the individual.

The european dream contrasts this with interdependence, being seperate but together. Mr. Covey has talked about this a long time in his 7 (now 8) Habits. In europe there is more thought of the environment, and social rights.

Now, this is all very black and white. There is a lot of room to aim for the european dream in America, and you can do vice versa.

I would love more of us here in the US to think a little differently. I am excited to hear about more and more communities that are modelled on real community, rather than having a big garage that you drive into, to hide for the night. Self-sufficient communities are very cool, and they are growing.

In many ways there is a chance to do the interdependent thing better than the europeans. For as much as they get together, they argue. They argue a lot. Remember how many years these nations were fighting each other :)

I don’t see as many fights between Wisconsin and Minnesota, compared to France and Germany :)

I thought this must have been an article on April 1st when a friend sent me the link: Wisconsin considers legalizing cat hunting.

Feline lovers holding pictures of cats, clutching stuffed animals and wearing whiskers faced-off against hundreds of hunters at meetings around Wisconsin to voice their opinion on whether to legalize cat hunting.

Residents in 72 counties were asked whether free-roaming cats — including any domestic cat that isn’t under the owner’s direct control or any cat without a collar — should be listed as an unprotected species. If listed as so, the cats could be hunted.

The proposal was one of several dozen included in a spring vote on hunting and fishing issues held by the Wisconsin Conservation Congress. The results, only advisory, get forwarded to the state Natural Resources Board.

Considering how people feel about animals that are designated as ‘pets’ vs. other animals, I would be amazed if this got through.

I was on a conference call to the UK today, and everyone was laughing at the instructions.

[insert stuck up english womans voice]: “Please enter your authorization code and then hit the square key”

What the hell is the square key? Everyone worked out that she meant the pound sign. I know that I never called that sign the ‘pound’ sign, as it is of course reserved for our currency. I used to call it the ‘hash’ mark (not what they call it in Holland ;).

I don’t think I EVER heard a brit call it the square key!

Also, the conf call system was one that asks for your name, so it can play the part of the masters of service and claim:

“Dion has entered the conference”

One of the guys hit buttons, and indeed that worked just fine:

“BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP has entered the conference”

I have flights to Boston for a No Fluff Just Stuff this weekend.

Then, the weekend after, I am flying to London for the weekend (friends wedding).

I just finished a great book, and was thinking about what I would be doing on the plane. Then suddenly I got up, and went out to buy a Sony PSP. I am a FIFA fan, but since I have so many of those, I went for the World Soccer game. I also grabbed Wipeout, which seems really fun.

Now I am ready for the painfully boring flight to London and back :)

At the Willows Lodge hotel they have a nice feature, that I remember from a friends house back in the UK.

The shower has a digital readout showing you the water temperature. So,

What’s your shower number?

How much nicer is this than the pain of playing the ‘new shower game’. This game involved you trying to work out how to get the right temperature, and making sure that temp is stable.

I know that this sometimes happens, but I wish more shows were repeated in the wee hours, just to please my TiVo. It is frustrating when several shows that I want to record overlap (and I don’t have DirecTiVo with multiple tuners).

If the network put on the new show at 4am, then TiVo could be a good boy and grab it for me. Then I wouldn’t miss the show! This has probably stopped me from getting into new shows that I miss for old favorites.

Maybe the networks don’t care as they also know we skip commercials? :)

Since it is Oscar night, I will mention that I saw The Motorcycle Diaries with family.

What can I say? THIS is a quality movie. How the hell can “The Aviator” be up in the running for awards, when there are top class movies like this.

How rare is it to be taken on a ride, one without insane heroics, but just a journey with a couple of interesting people.

I loved the Spanish in this movie. It is always interesting to watch a subtitled movie, and note that after a few minutes you totally forget about it.

Here’s to Che.

You often see funny names for things when you travel. You know, items like having a car called ‘Nova’ in a spanish company, food called ‘Schit’, and the like.

Well, this was the name of a juice bar at Stansted airport in the UK. It was owned by a hispanic family… so maybe a translation? :)

Torture, American Style is a horrific story. That a citizen can be taken away, and their family have no idea, puts much more ‘fear’ into me, than anything else.

I remember hearing about Maher Arar, and his dreadful story on the radio. It had me fuming then, and it has the same effect reading about it again now.

What a disgrace.