Most Amazing Story of 2006

This story is like reading a script from a new Michael Mann film. The craziest thing is that it's not based on a true story, but it is actually a true story.

Maybe you heard about that Ferrari Enzo that crashed in the Malibu hills early in 2006 but no one could identify who was driving the car? Then the story disappeared. Maybe you heard about the Gizmondo? How it failed and then disappeared?

Well here is the story that connects the two with more twists and turns than a Destiney's Child's Music Video:

http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/14.10/gizmondo.html

~ J-Dub

J-Dub is a Godfather

Callie and Shrenut

Callie gives her brother a kiss.

J-Dub and his godson, little Couper

Wood you like something to drink?

A staff member was under the weather the other day. The signs of sickness were clearly evident on her face. It looked like she had worked three days straight without sleeping. But knowing how much the staff sleeps throughout the day, this was hardly the case. Probably a stomach flu.

So how do Cambodians relieve sickness? Honest to truthiness, by drinking boiled wood water. That is, pieces wood, bark, and root are boiled in water and then strained leaving the remaining hot liquid ready to drink.

I only noticed this because with each sip of the drink she was holding, Kai-O would squinch her face contorting every muscle so that there was no question that it tasted terrible. So I smelled it. It smelled like wood. I didn't drink it because it smelled like wood and I don't drink wood.

Through translation, I learned that it is customary for Cambodians to drink boiled water in wood to feel better. All I can say is, "Wow."

~ J-Dub

The ReMan Control

Although Apple is usually not cool, it did do the lyrics thing right

(see below)

Sick iPod Plug-in

I had a thought of innovative genius last night. The kind of idea that seperates people with ideas from people who don't have ideas. It's a new plugin for your iPod. I don't know if it exists but would love to know if it does.

Just imagine listening to your favorite song on your iPod, but getting to that place in the song where you can't decipher the lyrics. What did he/she/they just say? No problem, let me check right on my iPod.

It could be simple as downloading a free iLyrics plug-in for your iPod which could be installed in iTunes. This program would add a cruital element to song play: it would allow the user to click the middle button on the click wheel to the lyrics page, and in Karaoke-like fashion, produce the song's lyrics while the song was playing.

Example playing any Radiohead song:

- Click once: ability to raise and lower volume of song
- Click twice: ability to scroll through song
- Click thrice: Cover art
- Click four times: ability to rate song
- Click five times: ability to read the lyrics of the song while the song is playing

Lyrics are abound on the internet. Why aren't they on your iPod?

~ J-Dub

Solitude in Siam

Since late October, Bangkok has been without its beloved J-Dubb. Thus Bear has been left to his own devices. Without his right-hand wing-man, Bear has gone out of his way to develop a second-tier of top guns to take on the ever thumping Bangkok night scene.

And thus the second and third members of what we shall call the Trio of Trouble arrived (the name still needs a little work). Ethan and Hesse became the go-to guys for grabbing some late night grub after work or getting totally shit-faced on a Saturday night. Banded together by our love for beer, impeccable ability of picking up girls, and our stunningly white skin - we quickly became great friends. Great friends who were irresistable to the ladies. Like catnip to kittens... it wasn't even fair.

Now this may seem like a simple task - making friends with cool western dudes because you share a common background in a foreign land, but you'd be a fool to think this... a dirty, dirty fool. You see, there are not many younger western guys here, and even fewer who aren't a little nutty and into the seedier side of what a white guy can find in this part of the world. Furthermore, one would be hard-pressed to find a group of any such strapping lads as we three. So luck was on our sides, each and every weekend.

But alas, from three we are two, and soon to be one. Sir Ethan returned to the States after losing the race against the clock to secure a non-tourist visa. And Hesse will quit his job here to return to his studies next week. So where does this leave Bear, you ask? In a strange state of solitude.

You see, Bangkok is a massive sprawling metropolis of over 12 million people, hustling and bustling at all hours of the day and night. Yet, somehow it is totally possible to feel like you are in a bubble, floating through but not really existing in this forest of concrete, steel and glass. Nothing helps to alienate someone more than not having a good grasp on the spoken language, and having no understanding at all of the written one. And as we've covered in the past, the cultural differences are vast, beyond vast. It is easy for Bear to pass several days without leaving his home and office or speaking to anyone except over the telephone for work. Thus Siam has become surreal - so many people yet so few familiar faces. Time to seek out the new peeps...

At long last...
~Bear

Oh Sweet Mekong, What Makes You so Sweet?

Young kids paddling as they make their morning
trip up a tributary leading to the Kong Lo Caves in Laos.

Pictures are here!

A month down the Mekong River starting in China and passing through Burma, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and finishing in the Mekong Delta in Vietnam.

What a trip. Check it:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/87831193@N00/sets/72157594411802977/

Book Recommendation

Mark Steyn's "America Alone"

Christmas in Cambodia

Bear, J-Dub, and the Jaw will be re-united in Cambodia for Christmas. It is roughly 90 degrees, humid as hell, and feels nothing like the holidays.

The folks, friends, and family are all back home. There are no green and red tassel hanging on the street lights. For that matter, there are only 29 street lights in all of Cambodia.

95% of Cambodia is Buddhist so finding Midnight Mass will be a struggle (but maybe possible?).

Finding a Christmas Tree will be equally difficult.

We're still having a Christmas Party. Screw it.

A Feel Good Day

Last Monday was one of those feel good days. I was checking on some of my scholars who were teaching young poor students at one of our free language schools. When I came in, the kids at class all started smiling, and on queue they stood up and said good afternoon. The teacher had an equally big smile on his face as he wasn't expecting to see me.

To see all the students diligently writing in their notebooks made me smile. It's was contagious. All these students were there because they want a better future and realize that education is key. I felt honored and touched to be able to help.

After the class I went with the scholar to pay for his year at university. (Money from a donor, not out of my own pocket.) The rector at the university said since he was chosen for the scholarship, he has seen a tremendous improvement in his attitude, studies, and dreams for the future. It was a great moment.

TV in Cambodia

The Good:

- Fashion TV - 24 hours of runway models sporting basically nothing. Midnight Hot is not about the weather. Check out the website: www.ftv.com
- It's stolen from Thailand which means the service provider doesn't pay royalties and it's $5 per month plus an extra $1 for every additional TV.
- The Random Movie Station - Some guy in Phnom Penh controls a DVD player and plays movies at random all day. Sometimes when he gets too drunk or falls asleep, the screen will just say, "Sony DVD Player - Please Insert Disc." Also doubles as a pre-screening channel for movies that haven't been released in theaters.
- HBO

The Bad:

- MTV Asia - Better than MTV in the States because it actually plays music, but terrible because it's all sad love songs in Chinese and Thai.
- No Comedy Central
- No PBS