Category Archives: International
Take Care by Michael D. Higgins
The President of Ireland is a poet of some acclaim. He published this today on the official Facebook page of his office. Pretty sure this is a first for me, linking to Facebook, but I thought it was worth sharing under the current circumstances.
Patriarch of Pandemics
I just read this article on Demystifying Science about the 1918 influenza pandemic. It’s an interesting perspective given the current situation with COVID-19.
NPR Throughline – The Forgotten War
I just listened to the recent NPR Throughline podcast called The Forgotten War (S1:E03).
It’s an excellent summary of North Korea’s geopolitical history and how it relates to today’s news. I don’t think there’s anything that I would call new (if you’re interested in the topic), but it’s an excellent introduction that presents a reasonably serious overview of the topic without being heavy handed or simply propaganda.
I’m going to listen to the other podcasts this week, but so far I’m impressed at their choices of topics and this first episode (for me, third episode overall).
Frontline: Policing the Police
I just finished watching this excellent Frontline doc by Jelani Cobb called Policing the Police. I think it’s one of the most interesting and even handed overview of race and policing in the United States that I’ve ever seen. It’s got a very strong thesis, but I think it provides a very evenhanded view of the situation from all sides.
Cobb goes on the streets in Newark with the police and with activists and you get to see through the camera what the situation looks like for many parties.
It’s one of the best episodes of Frontline I’ve seen in a while and definitely worth watching. Best of all it’s not geofenced in Canada!
NHK World On Demand Sumo
Starting with this month’s tournament in Nagoya there is now an English language official web broadcast courtesy of NHK. This seems to be an experiment, so I’m hoping that they decide it’s successful. The quality of the programme is fantastic and as much as I’d like to see a bit more of the ring entering ceremonies and so on, I’m pretty impressed nonetheless.
You can check it out here, and if you’re a sumo fan who speaks English I really encourage you to!
Also, if you’re interested in more coverage, I suggest you to check out Jason’s All-Sumo channel on YouTube. He’s got great coverage of the domestic broadcasts in Japan and is just doing it because he loves the sport not to mention he seems like a nice guy!
Couple Things…
Thus far the visit to NY for AES has been way busier than I expected, which is nice in a way since I always find business trips a bit weird when I have too much free time. They’re sort of like a break but you’re on the clock so you don’t ever really relax and away from all your normal break time activities.
The panels for AES basically go from 09:00-18:00 or so non-stop, so by the time I’m done it’s been a long day and it’s too dark this time of year to take a lot of photos with the gear I brought for the trip.
But I had a very curious experience, I decided to grab some take out for dinner on my way back to the hotel since I skipped lunch. When I went to pay, the sweet young woman at the counter apologized quite profusely to me because she didn’t have any singles for change. I thought she was going to give me a fist full of quarters, but instead she handed me four of these mythical Sacagawea coins that Americans seem to loathe so much! I almost felt the need to explain to her why $1 coins are better than bills and that it was no problem, but I decided it wasn’t the time or place in the end.
Coming from the land of the Loonie it was one of those weird little cultural reminders that even though the US is almost Canada in many ways, it’s also strangely different.
Then I walked out of the store and the bag my food was in broke and landed on the sidewalk. But that’s a different story and far less entertaining…
Margot Wallström is Heroic for Speaking the Truth
I came across this article tonight on Reddit. It’s worth a read, I was unaware of the story.
It’s a long headline but it certainly doesn’t bury the lede. I only wish that Canada’s Foreign Minister was of Margot Wallström’s calibre.
Putin and the Truth
In light of the latest news from the Vladimir Putin, I thought I’d share this little article I came across a few days ago. It’s an interesting read discussing some of the psychology of the current Russian regime.
Without Sky: How a dystopian short story was Russia’s model for war
Writeup on the Dangers of a Nuclear Meltdown in Japan
I just came across a long writeup regarding the probability of a serious nuclear catastrophe in Japan that might be worth a read. In my opinion we’re spending a lot of “news” cycles speculating about a situation which poses a small risk instead of focusing on the actual tragedy that has already happened.
If you want to make a donation via the Canadian Red Cross follow this link.