whaaaaat?!

Or is it quoi?

I am on a rant.  I am giving notice so you can skip this post- there aren't any rainbows or puppies below.

I have read some heated statements from members of the French media about how unfair it is to show images of Dominique Strauss-Kahn in handcuffs.  Apparently french law bans publishing pictures of acused people in handcuffs.

Meanwhile French newspapers have published the name of the alleged victim while protesting DSK's humiliating treatment of being pictured in cuffs.  At least two newspapers have also published the name of the woman's teenage daughter, purportedly because it was necessary to prove that the charges are from an actual person and it isn't a conspiracy theory.  Really?  Really?

This must also have been the reason why one newspaper included the alleged victim's picture and a statement that she had "big boobs and beautiful buttocks."  I'm not including any links to the newspapers because I have this thing about victimization.

Missing Hun

Staring at my ring

and wondering 

what the other half is doing. 

Dang, 

I am never gonna get over 

missing him. :(

things that go bump



My coworker H passed the last of her exams recently and has earned the distinction of being a registered architect in Hong Kong.  This means more here than in other countries where having a license is not the sole determinant of one's worth.  She is now able to be treated as an adult in our firm and has risen from support staff to staff who can dump all of her work on support staff. Her all nighters are now a thing of the past; she is now a high priestess who can sacrifice others to the alter of our profession.
Along with her professional accreditation she receives a bump in her salary. It will be a very small bump indeed because we all know that architects live and breathe the craft and we don't require vulgar things such as money. Anyway we all know that in this profession the only way to succeed, other than being born stinking rich, is to form your own firm and find others who are indoctrinated through their university curricula to nobly work long hours for little pay so that you can profit. Did you know that the typical 30 year old male architect's salary, when adjusted for inflation, is the same as it was 30 years ago? The sad fact is that we can't afford the homes that we design.
Anyway, back to H. The company announced the good news and she was obliged delighted to treat us to a celebratory meal. The company seniors welcomed her to the professional ranks and the underlings and support staff expressed their genuine happiness at her success. And no one paid any notice to the fact that the meal probably cost more than her salary bump. We don't bother with vulgar things like that.

In other news, did you know that certain establishments have been known to stuff a prosthetic bump into a duck so that is becomes a goose? 

read today

from Kate Harding regarding the media's response to Strauss-Kahn's seduction problem (it's just how the French say hello and puritanical Americans don't understand that)

"...now is a really good time for a refresher course in the difference between consensual sex and assault. Consensual sex involves all parties agreeing that this promises to be fun, so we should go ahead. Sometimes it is not as fun as hoped, but oh well. Assault involves one party feeling entitled to take liberties with another party's body, in the absence of consent.

...whether Strauss-Kahn is "the great seducer," for instance, has very little to do with whether he might also be "the great rapist," because rape is not actually seduction gone pear-shaped. It's a whole different thing!"

Nang mandiri si General...

Ito ang larawan ng isang Pinoy na General:

atapang a tao,
a pitik mo a paa
hindi atakbo,
abasa mo a paa
bilis pakarga...

Nakuha pang ngumiti ng loko.

Hindi na nahiya sa kasama nyang kano.

San ka naman nakakita ng heneral

na ubod ng gago?

Onli in da pilipins...




*Ang larawang idinikit ay kinulimbat mula sa facebook.com.   Ang sinumang nagmamayari ng naturang larawan ay mananatiling may-ari nito. Busisiin ang Patakaran para sa karagdagang impormasyon.

HSBS- Nothing for Something

I strongly dislike HSBC.  Strongly.

I regularly transfer money to the US to pay my student loans.  I have been trying for two years to do so online but it is an exercise in futility.  I signed up for online banking only to find that I had to keep submitting signed paperwork allowing me to do things online such as international transfers, except I have never been able to do anything online after supplying the aforementioned paperwork.  For several months I was having trouble with my security device.  The security code was not working with the log in.  When I brought this up with the bank I was issued a new device.  What the bank representatives didn't tell me was that they locked me out of my account so I had to bring my device back to the bank to regain the privilege of accessing my money.

Then I got home to discover that I needed to reset my password after being told that I had to wait three business days.  Then I had to bring in a signed piece of paper indicating that I had to reset my password.  I was told to wait for three more business days.  After three days I am still being told to reset my password.  And bring more paperwork to the bank.  I have been unable to access my account since March.

In the meantime I decided that my blood pressure was not high enough so I went ahead and applied for a credit card.  I was told to provide my employment contract.  I pointed out to the bank representative that the contract was on record since I had brought it in to open the account.  They still wanted another copy before they would process my application.  Two weeks later I received a letter informing me that I had to bring a recent contract.  Not about to sign a new contract for the sole purpose of applying for a credit card, I went back to the bank to see what we could work out.  The representative noticed that my paycheck was electronically deposited with HSBC so surely this would prove my employment?

Nope.  I had to bring in a chopped letter from my office.  For all that, my credit limit is equivalent to one month's salary, which is automatically paid from my savings account, which contains well over my credit limit.  Oh yeah, and I tried to buy some tickets online with my credit card and was declined.  I have to bring in more paperwork to get HSBC's permission to shop online.  Holy sh*t HSBC sucks.  I would have less hassle if I kept my money in a pile underneath my mattress.

Harvesting Justice in the Dominican Republic, part 3

Baby cacao trees are cultivated in a CONACADO nursery, the first step toward the production of fair-trade chocolate.
Credit: Rosina Pohlmann

This is the third and final blog entry by Rosina Pohlmann, who traveled for New World Outlook magazine last week on an UMCOR tour of the CONACADO cacao cooperative, an association of small-farm producers who grow a portion of the cacao beans that make the Equal Exchange chocolate line. Rosie has posted blog entries for the past week about what she saw and heard, and in July, her article on the tour will appear in New World Outlook.

Our stay in San Francisco in the Dominican Republic was brief but rich. There was a somber atmosphere to the place when we arrived, due to recent violence, but thanks to the careful planning of our hosts, we were able to avoid any danger. My prayers remain with those who were affected.

It’s good to know, however, that in the midst of trouble, there is positivity, too. Plants are being nurtured to grow into strong, fruitful trees; people are being given the opportunity to build better lives for themselves; and organic, fair-trade chocolate is being produced! This was apparent at the new chocolate factory that CONACADO acquired just five years ago, where many of its cacao beans are taken to be processed after they have been fermented and dried. There we breathed in the rich smell of chocolate and saw firsthand how the beans are cleaned, heated, ground, pressed, and separated into butter and powder.

Afterwards, we took a quick tour of CONACADO Bloque 9, located in San Francisco. The setup there is very similar to the plant in Yamasa, including a new credit union open to the community. We then hopped over to a nursery where baby cacao trees are cultivated. It’s not as easy as it may seem: each tree needs to be pruned and grafted with the branch of an existing tree. The process was demonstrated for us in Yamasa as well, but here we were given the opportunity to try it ourselves, and thereby learned just how much care and skill it requires. Let’s just say that those of us who tried needed a little bit of help from the experts!

San Francisco was the last stop on our tour. I am now back home in New York City, and in addition to feeling very grateful for the chance to see what I saw and meet the people I met, I feel reflective—especially as a consumer of chocolate. Every step of the cocoa-production process is hard, hard work, and many of those who do that work still live in conditions that, although adequate, would be unacceptable to most of us. They’re improving with every school built, business financed, and roof repaired through fair-trade premiums. These improvements need to continue—which makes fair trade and the support of fair trade absolutely necessary. It’s startling to learn that entire communities, thousands of families and thousands of lives, depend on something that takes just a few minutes to consume—something that, to us, is just a few moments of delight for our taste buds. With this much at stake, I can’t afford to be blasé about my choices as a consumer. Not anymore.