Posts
namtok thi lo su
3.10.2009
thailand's largest waterfall; world's sixth largest.
mountain sunrise
pictures of the sunrise in the mountains of tak near umphang. note the mist (or as our tour guide preferred, snow) - it was cold. okay, it wasn't that cold, but still. incidentally, our tour guide randomly showed up in my english class some months later. yay, good for him!
ummmm....??
3.01.2009
below is a conversation had in gmail with one of my students. so i can't tell if my student was totally hitting on me or if this is just an exercise in uncomfortable english. either way, it's super forward for burmese culture.
1:00 PM student: ok!
if so we can meet on my private acc:
waiting 4 me
ok
1:01 PM me: okay, i have to go now. have a good rest of the weekend!
student: jenn jennn jennnn...............i miss the events with u
1:02 PM bye!!
c u
me: bye!
student: ok
and then later when i was not online:7:23 PM student: hi.nice to meet u
7:24 PM thank u for inviting me
do u know my name
?
7:29 PM i hope u will b a good friend for me & i don't wan't u to b a teacher now.i only want to b a friend for u
7:30 PM ok?
bye
7:31 PM s this is the 1st chatting message it shouldn't b too long.
his tot pilot success!
saturday marked the first his (health information systems) tot's (trainers of the trainers) workshop. (see sufficiently nondescript picture from the training on the right.) decoded this is part of a program that trains high level data staff at the different public health organizations on the border so that they, in turn, can train other staff. the hope is that this will create a sustainable solution for staff development at the different organizations while also to encouraging collaboration across the different groups. we submitted it to apha as an abstract, so maybe it'll get presented at the next conference in november (which would be a good opportunity to spread awareness about burma and to connect with potential donors.)
on a less technical note, the trainers did such a great job! it was a really big deal for them to be the teachers since teaching is held in such high esteem in burmese culture and they were super nervous about it. i was also really pleased because they implemented quite a few ideas from the teaching training i did a few days before.
this is funny:
how to build an h-bomb
"Making and owning an H-bomb is the kind of challenge
real Americans seek. Who wants to be a passive victim
of nuclear war when, with a little effort, you can be
an active participant? Bomb shelters are for losers.
Who wants to huddle together underground eating canned
Spam? Winners want to push the button themselves.
Making your own H-bomb is a big step in nuclear
assertiveness training -- it's called Taking Charge.
We're sure you'll enjoy the risks and the heady thrill
of playing nuclear chicken."
the best part is this:
"First transform the gas into a liquid by subjecting it
to pressure. You can use a bicycle pump for this. Then
make a simple home centrifuge. Fill a standard-size
bucket one-quarter full of liquid uranium hexafluoride.
Attach a six-foot rope to the bucket handle. Now swing
the rope (and attached bucket) around your head as fast
as possible. Keep this up for about 45 minutes. Slow
down gradually, and very gently put the bucket on the
floor. The U-235, which is lighter, will have risen to
the top, where it can be skimmed off like cream. Repeat
this step until you have the required 10 pounds of
uranium. (Safety note: Don't put all your enriched
uranium hexafluoride in one bucket. Use at least two or
three buckets and keep them in separate corners of the
room. This will prevent the premature build-up of a
critical mass.)"
this, not so funny:
my unwitting role in acts of terror
"Our 1979 satire was not subtle. Yet Mohamed's life was destroyed, it seems, for having read it."
www.ilovemountains.org
a letter to presidents obama from bo webb:
Dear Mr. President,
As I write this letter, I brace myself for another round of nerve-wracking explosives being detonated above my home in the mountains of West Virginia. Outside my door, pulverized rock dust, laden with diesel fuel and ammonium nitrate explosives hovers in the air, along with the residual of heavy metals that once lay dormant underground.
The mountain above me, once a thriving forest, has been blasted into a pile of rock and mud rubble. Two years ago, it was covered with rich black topsoil and abounded with hardwood trees, rhododendrons, ferns and flowers. The understory thrived with herbs such as ginseng, black cohosh, yellow root and many other medicinal plants. Black bears, deer, wild turkey, hawks, owls and thousands of [other] birds lived here. The mountain contained sparkling streams teeming with aquatic life and fish.
Now it is all gone. It is all dead. I live at the bottom of a mountain-top-removal coal-mining operation in the Peachtree community.
Mr. President Obama, I am writing you because we have simply run out of options.keep reading at: http://www.alternet.org/story/127877/american_citizens_in_appalachia_are_living_in_a_state_of_terror/
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