Archive for the ‘politics’ Category
May You Live in Interesting Times (in Thailand)
So things have a way of working out – for ill or naught – and often in ways we don’t anticipate. And I suppose life would be rather dull and boring if it were otherwise. With that in mind, I’m headed to Thailand to work – a country I’ve never been to, but always wanted to see. Now I’m going to get a good seven months or so of it, perhaps longer – if things work out that way.
So what happened to remaining in Viet Nam for a time? Well, long story short: when I started applying for jobs, I noticed that there were a lot more jobs listed in Thailand – this has to do with the time of year, more than anything else — so I dashed off a few resumes to places that had decent reputations. An agency that places native English speakers in Thai public schools was the first to get back to me; it is with this agency that I eventually accepted a position (and no, I don’t know where yet; the school year doesn’t start until mid May, and the agency is still parsing its schools and available teachers and whatnot).
Of course, after I accepted the position I got a couple of offers for part-time work in Viet Nam, including an opportunity that almost caused me to recant my acceptance of the Thai job. But I figured a) I have always wanted to go to Thailand; b) I had given them my word and vice versa (and knowing that I would want to go there someday anyway, if I stayed in Viet Nam, it might not be good to leave a flaky impression with this agency); c) I had already arranged to do some volunteer teaching at a non-profit in northeast Thailand; and finally, d) breaking my word twice just seems like bad ju-ju, or karma as it were, these being primarily Buddhist lands.
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Of Winston Smith and the Ministry of Google
Among the geek mainstream, if not the geek congnoscenti, it seems, if I may speak generally, (and it’s my blog, so I shall) Microsoft equals "bad." Google equals "good." Yahoo? It probably equal’s "meh." I’m putting these terms in quotes, as I believe in this case, they are all relative terms.
Why? Google is a ginormous, for-profit, public corporation, and as such, it’s primary goal is to make money for its shareholders. Ditto Microsoft. So why is Google "cool" while other corporate entities are not, even labeled by some as "evil?" Particularly when it looks more and more like the Google technical hegemony is the one we should be worrying about.
Disclosure: I admit, Google has become one of my favorite punching bags, if for no other reason than I just tend to be suspicious of something that everyone else loves to the point of near lunacy. It is the default setting for the the relevant DIP switch in my brain.
Of Two Minds
It’s the mother of all ambivalence.
On the one hand, I readily admit, it’s really cool that we elected someone who is not an old white guy, or even a young white guy, to be president. Not that I have an innate problem with white guys, being one myself. But given all the racism that still pervades my country today, both overt and otherwise, I never would have thought I’d live to see this day, and I’m proud of my country that it proved me wrong. Seriously, up until Tuesday night, I really didn’t think it was possible, and I really am happy that it happened in my lifetime.
I think Tom Toles, the editorial cartoonist for the Washington Post, put it best, simply and eloquently:
It’s a Small World and it Smells Bad
So, I hopped in the car to drive to the polling place — not that I think my vote really means anything, to be cynically honest, since I didn’t vote for either mainstream presidential candidate, but there were some local and state issues I felt I should vote on. Plus I didn’t want to give up my right to bitch for the next four years or until I establish permanent residence elsewhere (hopefully the latter will occur soonest).
So anyway, I get in the car, turn on the ignition, and what comes blaring out of the CD deck? The song Vision Thing, by Sisters of Mercy. A purely unintentional but nevertheless ironic coincidence. “Things are gonna change; I can feel it.”
And yes, for the record I voted my conscience, which is a shade of green this year. Yes, I voted Green. Run, Cynthia, run. Aside from everything else that is wrong with these two and this election, above all else I still can’t believe that whichever wins the presidency, America will have voted in a president that voted in the Senate to abridge our civil rights, putting their stamp of approval on a system of domestic spying with no checks or balances. And they both supported the bailout, too … damn, I’ll be glad when my people come back for me and take me back to my home planet.
Democracy In-action
Sitting here in the coffee shop on Halloween cleaning out my work e-mail inbox – I have real work to do, but I’ve barely been staying ahead of the dreaded Outlook “Your Inbox Has Reached Its Limit!” notices the past two weeks, and finally decided to take drastic action.
Anyway, this dude comes in as part of the local Trick or Vote campaign. All the tables in Sitwells, he goes up, talks to the cute Asian women sitting behind me, and don’t bother to canvass anyone else in the place. Nice, dude – it never occurred to me that this would be a good way to meet girls. You’ve got a free pass to walk up to all manner of women under the get-out-the-vote excuse.
But some get-out-the-voters are truly dedicated; my friend Io – whom you may spy in the photo feed to your right – came in later, and canvassed the whole place, including me. I shocked her by declaring my decision to vote green. And she had a lobster on her head. Those two facts are unrelated, by the way.