4 January 2008

FROM MY DAD…

0800 by Jeff Hess

I could never bring myself to forward all the email jokes, cartoons and other Internet comedy that land in my inbox. But then I started posting the ones my dad sends me. Judging from my comments and emails, my dad has become one of my greatest blogging assets. So for your morning blog chuckle I present: From My Dad.

20 WAYS TO MAINTAIN A HEALTHY LEVEL OF INSANITY…

11. Insist that your drive-through order is “To go.”

12. Sing along at the opera.

13. Go to a poetry recital and ask why the poems don’t rhyme.

14. Put mosquito netting around your work area and play tropical sounds all day.

15. Five days in advance, tell your friends you can’t attend their party because you’re not in the mood.

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4 January 2008

MY COMMENTS…

0628 by Jeff Hess

Part of being a good citizen of the blogosphere is visiting, reading and, most importantly, taking the time to leave a comment on other’s blogs. It’s all about the conversation. In the interest of setting an example I’ve decided to link to those blog posts that have compelled me to leave a comment.

0626 A Gentle Spirit

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4 January 2008

GOOD AFTERNOON MYANMAR…

0430 by Jeff Hess

When the British first colonized Myanmar, they made principle contact with a people who called themselves Burmese. To make the situation easy on themselves, the British declared their new land to be Burma and relegated all the minority peoples to a kind of second-class status as British subjects in that country.

But the minorities never accepted the concept of assimilation into Burma and retained their identities. And they continue to fight for their independence, which annoys the hell out of the military dictators of Burma Myanmar.

From The Associated Press:

Myanmar’s army has moved reinforcements into ethnic minority areas for the probable renewal of an offensive whose past human rights violations have been far greater than those against urban protesters that riveted world attention last fall, aid and rebel groups say.

The groups provide continuing reports of killings of civilians, rapes, forced labor, burning of crops and mass relocations as Myanmar troops attempt to wipe out die-hard guerrillas of the Karen National Union and other ethnic rebel forces.

While urban tensions may have eased since the crackdown on September’s pro-democracy demonstrations in Yangon, “nothing has changed” regarding the conflict in the east of the country also known as Burma, says Htoo Kli, who helps Karen refugees along the Thai-Myanmar border.

Do the generals really think journalists to be so domesticated that they won’t leave an urban center?

The Thailand Burma Border Consortium, the key aid agency along the frontier for more than two decades, says that in 2007 another 76,000 Karen were forced to flee their homes and at least 167 villages were destroyed.

Corroborated by high-resolution commercial satellite imagery, more the 3,000 villages have been laid waste to by the army in recent years while those displaced in eastern Myanmar number at least half a million, the agency says.

“People around the world were horrified when they saw soldiers beating some people in Yangon, but far worse happens in the countryside every day, hidden from the world,” said the consortium’s Executive Director, Jack Dunford.

The Karen say they are bracing for another onslaught early in the year, noting that supplies are now being sent to front-line government bases along roads being repaired after the monsoon rains.

How many times do we have to stand up and declare Never again! before we stop this shit?

Posted in Free Burma, Myanmar | No Comments »

4 January 2008

FROM MY CHAPBOOK…

0400 by Jeff Hess

My name is Jeff Hess and I’m a biblioholic. I own hundreds of books. Not valuable books, mostly Science Fiction paperbacks and text books, tomes rescued by the bag from library book sales. A few years ago, in the interest of not burying myself, I began reading more books from the library and taking notes. My electronic chapbook was born.

This is a passage I copied from Perfume of the Desert: Inspirations From Sufi Wisdom by Andrew Harvey and Eryk Hanut.

Why get caught in empty formalities?

I sing the glory of my love.
I sing of what I have seen myself.
The one who reaches the rank of Lover
Is the Lord”s true worshipper.

– Kabir p. 77

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4 January 2008

DON’T FORGET BURMA NO. 53…

0230 by Jeff Hess

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4 January 2008

TIME POWER TODAY…

0001 by Jeff Hess

Today, as I go about my tasks, I’ll think about: You actually have two options when your performance pulls away from a unifying principle. One is to continue the inappropriate action and suffer. The other is to define the unifying principle clearly – getting as sharp a picture as possible of what it means, and what its implications are – and then systematically to bring your performance into line. p. 29-30

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3 January 2008

GOOD MORNING MYANMAR…

2030 by Jeff Hess

I looked around this morning to see if I could find when Richard Shannon’s one-woman play The Lady Of Burma might be touring the United States but couldn’t find any mention. The Irish, however will be enjoying the piece as it plays in Dublin, Sligo, Lisburn and Glasnevin this spring, according to The Press Association.

The play first appeared as a fundraiser for Burma Campaign UK at the Old Vic Theatre in November 2006 and had a run during the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in September of last year.

Kate Thomas, theatre critic for The Independent, wrote of the opening:

There is silence. A light shines on the crumpled form of Aung San Suu Kyi. To her left is the blood-red flag of Burma’s National League for Democracy; to her right, a simple bamboo hut. Still silence.

Such is the life of Burma’s Aung San Suu Kyi, portrayed by Liana Mau Tan Gould in this special performance of The Lady of Burma at the Old Vic. Democratically elected as the leader of Burma in 1990, Aung San Suu Kyi has never been allowed to govern her country. Under arrest in her own home, she isn’t allowed to see her friends or her family; all visitors are banned. Her phone line is cut and her post is intercepted. She has nothing in her life but this simple bamboo hut – and her cause.

The director, Richard Shannon, could have let the silence linger. It would have served as a powerful reminder of the 11 years Suu Kyi has spent alone.

But that would not have made for such an entertaining evening. When Gould eventually rises, and begins a one-woman interpretation of Suu Kyi’s life, the crowd – and it is a crowd, not an audience; the support for the cause is palpable – breaks into applause.

I’m going to try to get a hold of the script. I wonder if Cleveland Public Theatre or Dobama Theatre would attempt a production?

Posted in Free Burma, Myanmar | No Comments »

3 January 2008

ENGINEERING IS SO MUCH FUN…!

1641 by Jeff Hess


Read and watch more

Posted in Maths, Science & Technology, Video | No Comments »

3 January 2008

MUCKING OUT THE BLOGPILE…

1400 by Jeff Hess

I’m constantly tossing interesting websites into what I call my blogpile. Some of them find their way here in the form of regular posts, but more often than not they languish and get buried deeper in the pile. The end result is that I have to go back and do a bit of shoveling. Today’s item is The new households of Cleveland’s Mount Pleasant.

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3 January 2008

GOOD NIGHT MYANMAR…

1230 by Jeff Hess

Posted in Free Burma, Myanmar, Video | No Comments »

3 January 2008

FROM THE SANDBOX…

1200 by Jeff Hess

Eric Coulson: Interesting stats in Stars and Stripes recently. According to US Army Human Resources Command there are 515,000 Active Duty Soldiers: 200,000 have one combat tour. 70,000 have two combat tours. 15,000 have three or more tours. 59.5% of enlisted personnel have deployed. 62% of officers have deployed. 40.6% of the Active Duty Army has…

Posted in The Sandbox | No Comments »

3 January 2008

FROM MY DAD…

0800 by Jeff Hess

I could never bring myself to forward all the email jokes, cartoons and other Internet comedy that land in my inbox. But then I started posting the ones my dad sends me. Judging from my comments and emails, my dad has become one of my greatest blogging assets. So for your morning blog chuckle I present: From My Dad.

20 WAYS TO MAINTAIN A HEALTHY LEVEL OF INSANITY…

6. In the memo field of all your checks, write “for sensuous massage”

7. Finish All Your sentences with “In accordance with the prophecy.”

8. Don t use any punctuation

9. As often as possible, skip rather than walk.

10. Order a diet water whenever you go out to eat with a serious face.

Posted in From My Dad, Humor | No Comments »

3 January 2008

“BUY WHEN THERE’S BLOOD IN THE STREET…”

0750 by Jeff Hess

That the advice from John D. Rockefeller that Ohio mortgage broker Rob Minton would like you to consider. To Minton the sub-prime mortgage tragedy that is wrecking lives and, yes, leaving blood in the streets of Cleveland, is a terrific business opportunity. Turning a profit on that blood is whale-shit-low Capitalism at its worst. It makes me sick.

Minton’s used this week’s Free Times (January 2-8, page 11) to spread this twisted gospel. By accident or evil intent, the newspaper placed Minton’s advertisement (mislabeled an advertorial) next to Brian McFadden’s Big Fat Whale, which this week offers the sage Iowan advice: Rub corn on it.

Shit be gone indeed.

Posted in Cleveland, Dump Dimora & Heave Hagan, Social Justice & Advocacy | No Comments »

3 January 2008

GOOD AFTERNOON MYANMAR…

0430 by Jeff Hess

I’m not sure why this story on how the sanctions are working in Myanmar disappeared from The Bangkok Post website, but for now it’s available as a cached file on Google. What the story focuses on is that while the sanctions do hurt those at the bottom of the economic heap, they’re so far down already that it hardly matters.

The country has been under a patchwork of sanctions for years, but the latest measures have blocked access to US financial institutions and made it more difficult to export Burma’s highly desired teak and precious stones.

The US sanctions have targeted specific companies and business leaders, notably the flamboyant tycoon Tay Za, who is close to the top military leadership.

Tay Za has bitterly complained that the sanctions have crippled his Air Bagan airline, and warned that he would be forced to pass along his own economic pain to his employees.

Other business leaders have echoed that sentiment. Some say that they are struggling to stay in business only to support their employees, and that the current situation could soon become unsustainable.

”These sanctions pose problems for us. If the government suffers, we, businessmen have to suffer. If we suffer, the workers have to suffer,” said one top business leader in Rangoon, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The original protests were sparked by the economic hardships facing Burma’s impoverished population, after an overnight hike in fuel prices on Aug 15 left many unable to afford even a bus ride to work.

How much of a hike would the United States need to sustain before Americans would march in the streets?

Posted in Free Burma, Myanmar | No Comments »

3 January 2008

FROM MY CHAPBOOK…

0400 by Jeff Hess

My name is Jeff Hess and I’m a biblioholic. I own hundreds of books. Not valuable books, mostly Science Fiction paperbacks and text books, tomes rescued by the bag from library book sales. A few years ago, in the interest of not burying myself, I began reading more books from the library and taking notes. My electronic chapbook was born.

This is a passage I copied from Perfume of the Desert: Inspirations From Sufi Wisdom by Andrew Harvey and Eryk Hanut.

Four Things To Know

Hatim al-Asamm said, “I have chosen four things to know and discarded all other kinds of knowledge.

“The first is this: I know that my daily bread is apportioned to me and will neither be increased or decreased, so I have stopped trying to add to it.

“Secondly, I know I owe to God a debt which no one else can pay for me, so I am busy about paying it.”

“Thirdly, I know that there is someone pursuing me – Death – whom I cannot escape from, so I have prepared myself to meet him.

“Fourth, I know that God is observing me, so I am ashamed to do what I should not.”

– Attar

p. 50

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3 January 2008

DON’T FORGET BURMA NO. 52…

0230 by Jeff Hess

Posted in Free Burma, Myanmar | No Comments »

3 January 2008

TIME POWER: TODAY…

0001 by Jeff Hess

Today, as I go about my tasks, I’ll think about: Rationalization provides us with a way of justifying our inappropriate actions. p. 29

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2 January 2008

GOOD MORNING MYANMAR…

2030 by Jeff Hess

[Note: I have fallen woefully behind in my Myanmar postings over the holidays. Regular readers should note that I am backfilling posts for Good Morning Myanmar, Good Afternoon Myanmar, Goodnight Myanmar and Don’t Forget Burma to 23 December. If you can find the time, I encourage you to surf backward to catch up. JH]

Operating under the theory that if you can’t eliminate a perceived vice, tax the hell out of it, the military dictators of Myanmar exploded the annual license fee for a television satellite dish nearly 16,000 percent. Clearly they’re not interested in raising revenues, just shutting down another route for outside information.

From The Canadian Press:

Myanmar’s military junta rang in the New Year on Wednesday by dramatically raising the annual fee for TV satellite dishes in an apparent move to limit access to the foreign news channels that beamed in global criticism of its recent crackdown on pro-democracy protests.

The license fee has rocketed from US$5 to $800 – an unaffordable sum to most people in Myanmar. It is equivalent to about three times the annual salary of a public school teacher.

The new fee was imposed without warning and discovered by residents who went to renew their licenses Wednesday.

Most middle class homes and shops use satellite dishes to tune into foreign sports events, soap operas and to circumvent the junta’s tightly controlled state media.

“The government is trying to shut our ears and eyes,” said Thant Zin, a 57-year-old civil servant. “The military regime does not want us to know the truth about our country.”

Tyrants around the globe are watching Myanmar closely to see if it is indeed possible to isolate a people from the world in the 21st century.

I don’t think it is. I think that people will find ways to read, listen and watch the information they need.

What do you think?

Posted in Free Burma, Myanmar | 1 Comment »

2 January 2008

MUCKING OUT THE BLOGPILE…

1400 by Jeff Hess

I’m constantly tossing interesting websites into what I call my blogpile. Some of them find their way here in the form of regular posts, but more often than not they languish and get buried deeper in the pile. The end result is that I have to go back and do a bit of shoveling. Today’s item is Barbershop: What’s the Buzz?.

Posted in Blogpile | No Comments »

2 January 2008

GOOD NIGHT MYANMAR…

1230 by Jeff Hess

Posted in Free Burma, Myanmar, Video | No Comments »

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