YakimaGulagLiteraryGazett

Ivan The Terrible Minister of Technology sent me a net book which arrived today. It is a really adorable machine! I am up at the Senior Center to use it and it is soooo cute! it
s an Eee PC. It's very light weight, and I love it!
It runs on Linux and I am getting used to that and the WAY smaller key-boad. This is a real blessing!

http://abcnews.go.com/Business/IndustryInfo/story?id=2320839&page=1&CMP=OTC-RSSFeeds0312

Americans are still going overseas for health care, real health care that they can't get here in the States for varying reasons, usually financial reasons.


SRAMOTA!

I spent most of the morning watching the funeral. I am going to miss Teddy! He is a great loss to my country. A lot of people here in the Gulag don't get it.

I heard from the book store guy that I was the only person who even mentioned it. :(.

Then again there's a lot of urki mixed in with our zeks.

information about bees and CCD from Time Magazine seems to bear out my own theories.

http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1918282,00.html

I consider Senator Kennedy's records on Ireland and Bosnia-Hercegovina both to be mixed at best. He voted 'No' on lifting the arms embargo on BiH, and that was a misguided vote to say the least, and frankly I felt he was too wishy-washy on Irish issues. That said, he was mostly positive if you are American.
He voted for Title Nine, which was good for women in athletics, in fact women didn't have sports at the college level to speak of before Title Nine. Sports are good mentally and physically for both men and women.

Ted Kennedy also did a LOT for disabled people, both legislatively and personally. He touched a lot of lives in a positive way. The good he did will live long after him.

Where Ted Kennedy will be most missed is in the matter of the health care debate though. He was early on a proponent of a single payer system. He ended up being pushed out of that position for the usual reasons (the pernicious effects of the insurance lobby...)
But at least he was solidly for it a long time.

Ted Kennedy will be sorely missed. His like will never pass this way again.

NPR's series, P.O.V. is usually well worth watching, and last night's in particular was, it was called 'This Way Up' and was a documentary about the effects of the Wall in Jerusalem on the residents of a small Christian (Maronite Catholic I would guess from what the sisters were wearing...) and the workers there and of course the families of the patients. It was sometimes like a Top Lista Nadrealista skit gone Horribly Wrong at points and at other times I wanted to cry. A LOT of Americans don't realize there are Christian Arabs in Palestine, and that what Israel does has an effect on them too. Especially American Christians don't get it about Arab Christians. I know, I used to be one of those people who didn't know.

The workers have a very difficult time getting to work, the families of the residents have problems getting to and from their loved ones. They have to get authorizations to cross through the wall, and this means comforts they could bring their loved ones are hard to bring, their visits are less frequent. One young man's marriage decision, or rather the decision of his intended's family about the marriage hung upon authorizations and whether his future bride could keep Israeli citizenship since they'd be living on the West Bank.

Then there is the wall itself, a monstrosity! Walls don't work. The Berlin Wall didn't work and the Ultimate Wall of All Time, the Great Wall of China, massive as it was, failed.

Some of the elderly people shown reminded me of my neighbors in Sarajevo. The one shop left in the area of Our Lady of Sorrows also reminded me of the little shops near my place in Sarajevo.

The atmosphere of Jerusalem is indeed quite similar, if more grim from what I could see.

Then there was the show called 'Short List'. Short list is very short films hosted by a man who makes me think of Spider Jerusalem of 'Transmetropolitan' fame. The host has one rose colored lens and one clear lens.

They had a terribly funny animation that gave me some much needed laughter.

And night before last, I got to finally see some of the 'Axis of Evil Tour' and the 'Watch List Commedy Tour'.

These are Arab, and Muslim American stand up comedians, male and female who really were good. Again much needed laughs!

I went into Cheshire and was told I could retrieve those of my books that did not sell, so I feel sad, because I know this means the end is near for this nice book store. I actually was in tears walking away, but grateful for how much of my once HUGE personal library did sell.

oh here's Ralphikins! :)

Which reminds me the latest 'New Yorker' has a pretty cool article, 'Travels in Siberia', or some such, plus the cover picture, 'The Hamptons' amused me a good deal.

Spent most of yesterday hanging with a friend and her Giant Land Tortoise Ralph who is a female actually. She got named before she got sexed.

I filmed her a little, which was fun.

Ramzan began in the U.S. today so for those doing it, my best wishes!

Most of the upgrades are actually pretty good, I wish the downtown library would steamline the reservation system so it'd work like up at Summitview, and be a little more helpful with those of us who have learning curve problems. Helpful signs are all very well, but they need to be BIG ENOUGH TO READ!

Pretty soon I hope to be blogging in a more frequent manner, a net book is being airdropped into the Yakima Gulag for me, thanks Ivan the Terrible! :)This means this blog will be more frequent and there will be more news links again soon!

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/21/20090817/thl-woman-in-labour-refused-ambulance-d831572.html

O.K. You People in the U.K.... Don't DO that! It is Most Unhelpful in the Health Care debate here in the States! :(

Someone Really and Truely Dropped The Ball there!

what I'm hoping can be a regular feature again, linx dumps for news. I don't like to do it with friends computers because of some of the places I go....

http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/national_world/stories/2009/08/15/ap_obama_0815.ART_ART_08-15-09_A3_02EPD11.html?sid=101

If people abroad had ANY IDEA how nasty the health care debate is getting here in the States, they would challenge our basic civilized nature as a nation!

For Shame! Americans deserve a SINGLE PAYER plan like in BiH or Croatia or Serbia! Why don't we have it? Because people start getting accused of being Socialist or Communist. Never mind that the HUNDREDS of insurance companies have helped bitch up our health care system something aweful!

comments from a source I don't know much about, and haven't evaluated for like rightness or anything.


http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/node/45177

And to think I was drinking some of this stuff for next to nothing!

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/foodanddrinknews/6028894/Croatian-wine-why-it-is-worth-paying-over-the-odds.html

top price I ever paid for Croatian or Bosnian wine was 7KM! I had some nice stuff pretty cheap in Dubrovnik too!

Some positive news from the Balkans!

htthttp://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/14/AR2009081402520.html

and DUH Marko Pilic aka Marco Polo, totally from Korcula, stop saying he was Venitian already! :)

and some thoughts from Relief Web on BiH

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/14/AR2009081402520.html

this site has some interesting thoughts, and other worthwhile links to read, but this post *a grownups only NSFW link!*


for example this interesting news, it's sad really.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/14/AR2009081402520.html

or this story. I like how Novinite has updated their site, some links are tough to access though, and I don't know why.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/14/AR2009081402520.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/14/AR2009081402520.html

The weather is now a lot cooler than the triple digit heat. Last Saturday, there were fighter jets that overflew the Gulag and gave us some fantastic aerobatics! Haven't seen such a show since they stopped haveing the Air Fair! Serioiusly it was great.

Trouble is I can only upload that stuff by e-mail since all I had with me was the camera phone. The FINE PRINT which should have damned well been bigger said 'not compatable with computer' meaning the data cable wasn't going to work. Why do they do that to people? It's still better than the one I had with Virgin, but easy uploading of pix would be a plus.

So would bigger print about what the device WON'T do. It's not a bad enough thing to want my money back, it's in the catagory of mild annoyances.


Entertainment in the Yakima Gulag:

Wayan Chapman played in Franklin Park last night. He's at Red Lion at Johny's on Fridays and it sounds like a show I need to take in.

He and his keyboard guy have really been around! What were such great musicians sent to our Gulag for? No what did they ever do to anyone?

That's what some nut-job yelled from their car at me the other day.

Which brings me to stuff I didn't miss about America, people yelling at one from cars comes pretty close to the top of the list. Why do various idiots out there think that's o.k.?

People don't do it in England, they sort of do it in Ireland but not from cars and NO ONE YELLS STUFF AT WOMEN THEY DON'T KNOW IN BiH, NEVER! at least it never happened to me or got witnessed by me in a whole year in Sarajevo.

I just yelled a friendly, smiling, 'Majka Vam jebi' at him! :)

I miss good pre-paid cell phone service too. Here pre-paid is terrible and it's going to be awhile before I can even consider a contract plan.

I will say that at least Tracfone lets you have some nicer phones now, it's part of why I switched. the double minutes are meaningless before the $30 price range but I like my new camera phone that has radio and a really frustrating game of Tetris to play while I wait for busses.

Tracfone also doesn't ask for a bunch of personal info, unlike Virgin prepaid which wants a lot of the same info a contract plan wants! eeeek!

There's a movie I have't heard of, sorry I was living in a cave, it's called 'School of Rock' and it's based on a School of Rock in Seattle. Anyway the West Coast School of Rock All-Stars performed last night in Frankin Park, if they are coming your way, DO catch them, take your kids too, it's good to expose children to the classics! I'd have pictures but my camera phone is mis-behaving. Who ever is cursing me stop it NOW, I'll sick my minions on you! No Really I will!

This is what is left of my poor late departed laptop



On the up-side my data is o.k.

There was a police chase that went on campus on Tuesday, the police were in a black car and pursuing a subject who took his bike through an aarea where people aren't supposed to drive, by Sundquist Hall actually, I had to jump onto the grass, and some girl screeched as she was REALLY startled.

At least I saw them coming because I was headed the direction they came from.

Also there was a gang shooting not at all far from where I lived before, both the old house and where I used to room, it was on Queen and McLaren. I am so glad my daughter doesn't live there anymore. I'm sure my former housemates didn't like that much either! I hope they can get that place in the country they were always on about!

We got just a tiny bit of rain here, and I sure welcomed it, because it was shopping day for me and I didn't need to take a bus to go carry my stuff home! :) No one where I live drives, I pretty much either call a friend or keep my list short, but I needed a few big things today.

I really love overcast weather after all that heat!

The fans the manager got are great big box fans and they are really nice, I put mine on my desk and turned it on. Works really well hvala Bog!

Anyway, it makes my survival a lot likelier. :)

I was watching Dog Whisperer and messing with a game of Tetris. Man that is a TOUGH game even at the lower levels. Stuff won't do what I want it to, and it kicks my dupa but good! The library is going to be closed between quarters again, so hopefully I will be able to use the computer at a friend's place or make it to the public library from time to time. Medjuvrijeme as hot as it's been expect delays...

Watched the Weather Channel and they had film of the flooding and also of some fires started by lightening in Vancouver Washington. I lived there at one point and saw familiar places going up in smoke and was plain weirded out by it. I remember how wet it was there and the dead possum I thought was a VERY big rat. I also in fact killed a good sized rat there, by defenistration actually.

Was also weirded out to hear that there's been an outbreak of plague in China.

I have lived in two plague endemic areas in my life, Marin county and in New Mexico. So I kind of keep an eye on plague news. Well off to keep cool. Cuvaj se dear readers!

I can't do a very good Marylin Monroe ipmpression, I'm not even sure I spelled her name correctly to be honest. I had a sleepless night followed by a very early morning. Anyway, the airconditioner at home is razjebao, as in permanantly razjebao. My computer is in pieces.

An apology would be nice! The cause of death was a virus. I don't know when it got in, or how. Anyway to those of you out there who do viruses, I really want you dead. I can't get a new computer or even a used one for a LONG time to come. I hope you ar really really happy in the General Population of say a Peruvian or Bangladeshi prison. neka Sivi Dom bude svoj dom!

Watched 'Locked Up Abroad' last night, and I am here to say that that episode about a young woman who almost got the death penalty in Bangladesh for drgu smuggling was compelling. Congressman Richarson got her out of there, and she gave full credit to him! She's since gone on to serve America by working for NASA. Bangladesh instituted those penalties because of some outside pressures back in the '70s and '80s anyway.

I'm not a fan of harsh drugs laws. I don't like drugs, I don't do them myself, but I think that jail or prison isn't the ultimate cure. I don't know what you do, apparently even tobacco which is legal has a point where the taxes lead to a black market. Tobacco is a LOT more addictive tham say marijuana, but it doesn't come in for that kind of attention.

Anyway, with the airconditioner gone for good where I live, the manager got box fans for each person. I will be using mine thank God the weather isn't so hot now!

I should mention all my data from my computer was saved, the computer is in pieces in the computer equivalent of a body-bag. It simply fell apart as the hard-drive was being removed and the poor guy who was trying to fix it was afraid I'd be enraged. I however have taken bigger blows lately and I just said 'Well at leat the data's o.k.' thanks for doing what you could!'

But somehow I feel like I should be wearing black!

Yakima Valley Regional Library!

It's hot, it's so hot it's overwhelmed the air conditioning at home. FEd up with the costs and my inferior cell phone Virgin I went and got a new Tracfone because they have double minutes for the life of that phone, I'm just going to get $20 this month because that's what I can do. The difference on minutes right now is a wash, BUT the phone has Blue Tooth, it has a radio feature, it has longer battery life, and it has a camera. So features wise it's nicer.

Watched Ali G. In Da House last night. That was a lot of fun,
I've become quite a fan of G-4, they advertise themselves as 'Spike for Nerds' !!! They have shows like Web Soup, Attak Of The Show, and the amazingly hilarious Japanese games that go too far, with people jumping and climbing on stuff, then there's Duty Free T.V. with the 'International Sexy Ladies Show' which is somewhat sick but entertaining.
Spike has '1000 Ways to Die' and both stations have a lot of random carnage, as opposed to the natural carnage on NatGeo. I found another channel that is all about guns, any kind of guns and they show actual NRA shooting classes. That was interesting because certain people I know probably need these classes! :)
Ali G In Da House was funny, I'm still laughing about some of it and
I needed a good laugh as hot as it's been here.I especially liked the bit where Ali G meets Borat! That was cute!

It's supposed to go to 108 today! I think it might have made it. I went out with my bottle of ice, and have been lucky getting all the right busses so far. Some Saturdays I manage to not do that.

Anyway, I didn't buy minutes for the new phone because I would have run short I need to go home, roll up some pennies and then it will be o.k.

Then I need to call various people and let them know the new number. I have now three cell phones, and two of them are getting donated to the Women's Shelter.