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Indonesians go home for the end of Ramadhan, Christmas and for whatever other religion's family-get-together-holidays.

It just so happens I too find myself at home in Ireland during the end of Ramadhan.


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I got stuck under a big old tree in a heavy sun shower today.

The silvery rain splashed and spluttered down.

The street empty, the sun shining.

Ireland has some of the prettiest rain around.


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Happy Leberan!

FACEBOOK!!!!!!!!!!

Southpark predicted all this sh%^ exactly!

Turns out that when you deactivate your Facebook account, all your Facebook friends think you're deleting them individually, causing a lot of tut tutting among those I don't see often.

Argh!!! Facebook!!!! You won this time! Grr.

Gangs of Indonesia

By far my favourite blog at the moment.

Karate Kid

Best movie of 2010 so far?

Laskar Pelangi

Just saw Laskar Pelangi (a movie about a school in Sumatra).

Unimpressed all in all. I still haven't seen a really good Indonesian movie.

Data

Peas in a Pod

Here's a story.

Imagine one of those Bird's Eye frozen pea adverts and how they only pick the ripest peas and freeze 'em straight after.

But instead of pea pickers think of those 72 poor old souls found in a mass grave in Mexico. Then instead of a happy family salivating over their dinner, think of Paris Hilton being arrested by the police for possessing coke.

You can play the same little game in your head when it comes to marijuana , any mexican border town and anywhere around the East Village in New York - chock full of those well meaning kids smoking pot.

Makes me sick!

This is why...

...I call myself a feminist.

Maybe another term would fit better, at the moment 'feminist' will do.

Booked!

Just booked my flights to Indonesia this year for Nov 21 - Dec 6.

As I was booking 'em Seurieus came on my iTunes. Haven't listened to 'em too much. A bit Aerosmithy.

Man, it's a good feeling having my flights booked. I feel all warm inside : ) or is that just my stomach gurgling at the prospect of some dodgy street food : )

Physics Envy

An article about how financiers look up to physicists.

Ignorance

Religious persecution in Indonesia and the US makes me mad. I love both countries, but there's an awful lot of racists in both also!

The minorities must be gutsy people.

VJ Day

On Friday I mentioned to my pal that my granddad fought in Burma during the war. We were arguing about the necessity of war at about 2AM Friday night.

My point was that although he lived in London he probably didn't have to join the British army (he was Irish). On a personal level he must have felt it was necessary (he wasn't a gung-ho type - one of his ongoing themes was how crazy career soldiers were).

Coincidentally it's VJ day today.

I grew up on stories about his time in Burma and India. It's a pity that I can't remember any of them now. My dad once had an idea that he would record them, but I suppose that never went anywhere.

It's hard to say, but maybe those stories had some effect on me in my formative years that still live on with me today.

Far Right Nationalist Parties...

... attending an international symposium of far right political parties.

Something feels incongruous about this.

California

I got back from California last Sunday. Have just posted up some pictures on my Flickr account - if anyone's interested!

Printer

Set up my printer today. The big problem was that the software on the CD couldn't see the printer over the network while installing.

Solution (as in most hardware installation problems) download the drivers directly from the manufacturer's website.

Advantages to this are: you get the latest drivers, things tend to just work(TM) and you get no crapware installed (your printer works and that's that!).

[If you have a problem getting the your Mac to see the Canon MP560 printer - go to the Canon website and download the drivers!]

Congo 50 Years On

Fascinating portraits and stories

A Dismal Science?

The current state of economics, well summed up.

Gay Google

Google is paying people in long term homosexual relationships more to compensate them for not being able to avail of tax breaks which married couples receive.

I just spotted an interesting comment on the story.

A guy in CA was collecting signatures for a bill to really protect the value and sanctity of marriage. He was trying to ban divorce.

Strangely, not many of these people were willing to sign.

Brazil, Russia, India, China and...

...Indonesia!

Just heard the CEO of Nissan declaring that Indonesia will buy a lot of Nissans in the future. It's one of the biggest growth markets apparently.

Fingers the supposed good times last this time!

MLK Soccer

My friend teaches at a school around the corner, it's a tough school by all accounts.

On the eve of USA vs Ghana, this is her school's soccer team's story.