The Adventures of Accordion Guy in the 21st Century

From TIME magazine’s article, Stop Catastrophizing Relief Efforts in the Philippines:

When television crews race large cargo ships with airplanes and helicopters, the cameras will always win. Journalists will report on the gap between supply and demand. They will show the faces of people in need of Western largesse. They will turn isolated incidents of foraging and removal of goods from a truck or warehouse into a report on rampant looting.

Here is where the reports go very wrong. According to a friend who has worked in Haiti and the Philippines:

“What happens when media talk up security issues is that aid agencies get worried about security of distributions, so they hold off until they have adequate security support. The velocity of distribution is dramatically slowed down. Scaremongering undermines the relief effort.”

This dynamic happened in Haiti, and it’s happening here.

…

The people of the Philippines are at risk of a multitude of disasters every year: earthquakes, tsunami, cyclones, floods, landslides and volcanic eruptions. The whole nation — government ministries, private-sector companies, the diaspora and civil-society organizations — has learned a great deal about how to respond to a typhoon.

…

What is different with Supertyphoon Haiyan (called Yolanda in the Philippines) is the unexpected level of storm surge and flooding, combined with sustained winds that exceeded 196 m.p.h. (315 km/h) with gusts far higher. The government is struggling to reach communities hit by one of the strongest storms ever to make landfall. Like the families I met in Staten Island after Superstorm Sandy, it seems that the water came in so fast that there was not time to flee, and the surge swelled well beyond what any city could survive. Six Filipino broadcasters risked their lives to keep Aksyon Radyo Tacloban DYVL running in Tacloban so that their listeners would know what was happening with the storm. Water filled the radio station in 10 seconds. Only one of their bodies has been found.

When journalists focus on looting and slow aid delivery, they miss the point. Information is aid. Their reports are part of weaving the fabric of a global Filipino community back together after a typhoon tore through their hometowns. By showing communities coming together, journalists can amplify the dynamics that save lives.

Be sure to read the whole article.

Want to help? One good organization to give to is the Philippine Red Cross.

Thanks to “Dr. D” for the link!

EnoughToEat.com is a site that does only one thing: mash up Miley Cyrus’ “Wrecking Ball” and Rob Ford’s now-classic facial expression in a single mesmerizing anitmation. Go there now.

(On the off chance you don’t get the “enough to eat” reference, see this article.)

Looks like I’m not the only one posing with cute lil’ animals…

My reaction:

Thanks to Lauren O’Neill/Nizzle for the photo!

Posted simply because I find this photo amusing.

I’m not here to attend a conference, nor am I here for a vacation. I’m here to hang out with a lovely young lady and get some work done during the day while she attends her conference, and then step out with her at night. This has left my schedule rather flexible, and since I refuse to pay $15/day just to use the hotel’s gym, I’ve been getting some of my exercise by wandering down Las Vegas Boulevard.

There’s something not quite rightabout the Strip on an off-season Tuesday at 9:00 a.m.. It’s got a quiet, almost eerie vibe that reminds me of the post-clean-up hush in one’s living room on Sunday morning after a big party took place there the night before, with a guest still passed out on the couch. It’s a Vegas I’ve never seen before, and it made for some great picture-taking.

Rule number one of eating in Vegas on the cheap: the hotel restaurants are expensive. Unless you’re at a conference that’s providing breakfast and lunch, it’s better by far to get some fresh air and exercise and hit one of the restaurants outside.

One of my go-to stops has been Panda Express, which has a couple of branches along Las Vegas Boulevard, including one across the street from Mandalay Bay, where I’m staying. If you replace the rice or noodles with mixed veggies and pick the “Wok Smart” items, you can get a pretty healthy high-protein, lower-carb meal and a bottomless small drink for just over 9 bucks, which in this town is a steal.

Better still, Panda Express are taking donations at their cash register for relief efforts for Super Typhoon Haiyan / Yolanda, and will match people’s donations dollar-for-dollar.

Here’s the meat of their press release:

ROSEMEAD, Calif. – Panda Restaurant Group Inc. (PRG), parent company of Panda Express, America’s favorite Chinese restaurant, today announced it will collect donations in each of its 1,650 Panda Express, Panda Inn and Hibachi-San locations to assist victims of Typhoon Haiyan, which recently devastated the Philippines.

Panda also will match 100 percent of in-store and corporate donations collected between Wednesday, November 13 and Wednesday, December 4. The funds will be distributed to the American Red Cross and the Tzu Chi Foundation, an international non-profit humanitarian organization, to support their direct efforts to help victims of the typhoon.

“The tragedy of Typhoon Haiyan has left us heavyhearted,” said Peggy Cheng, co-chairman of PRG. “The Panda family is standing with our guests and corporate partners to do what we can to help our global community when unimaginable disasters occur. Our thoughts and prayers continue to be with the victims and their families.”

Thanks, Panda Express! You’ll have my continued business.

…is how much we pay Rob Ford to do his job. Or not do it:

His 2012 salary was $167,770, not including $1,169.22 of taxable benefits. He’s making nearly 170 grand for a job that a former staffer says he showed up for at 11 a.m. and left at 3 or 4 p.m..

You can look it up in the Ontario government’s “sunshine list”, which lists the salaries of all public employees who make more than “a hundred large”. And yes, Rob Ford is a public employee: he works for us. And it’s time we fired him.