Oct. 24th, 2007 in Kathmandu

Well, I have been watching CNN on my TV here in Kathmandu; almost exclusively the Santa Ana Wind fires in S. California. This time, the scale of the nightmare is what makes the difference, just like with the hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico. The fires are so strong and move so fast there is little to be done but get out of the way. Of course, nobody is going to ever say that this is a beginning, a hint of things to come, but you sort of know it anyway. I remember watching fires caused by the Santa Ana winds sometime around 1996 and at that time the fires were easily kept under control - 11 years later, the story is quite a bit different. Other than this, life is moving along here in Kathmandu. I now think I am going to go away for Dec.-Jan.-Feb. and then come back and stay until July and get the Residence Visa then. I think I am going to have to do most of it myself, so I am going to give myself plenty of time. When the push comes to shove, I am usually on my own. The weather - actually the weather has been quite nice with it alnternating between cold and warm. The cold is a cold, damp penetrating kind of cold; and the warm is a mellow warm but not very strong. When the sun comes out, it is very strong. The Himalayas were in view last week for 1 afternoon. They are impressive but rarely seen here in Kathmandu. So, I guess I might go somewhere to get a better view. Then, what do I think of the coming year before the election in the USA? I don't have a clue what I think will go on; but I do have a vague feeling that it could be "the year of living dangerously".

These are my thoughts for today.

Moving On: Oct. 16, 2007

Well, the cold rain is back today, just like in the last blog, but I am really moving forward in the decision making arena. Al Gore and the IPCC are Nobel Laureates together and Al Gore has said that we are ALMOST in crisis mode re climate change. This means that things have to be done right now or stage 1` will be in place. What do I think? I have noticed that not a single Republican has praised Al on his being a Nobel Laureate. If they think this is just political, they had better get ready for the morning that they wake up with only half a bank account, for example. As for me, I think now if I get the Residency Visa, I will just stick it out for the cold weather, and maybe just go for 1 month to pick up my things in India. I only have to go to Varanasi and McLeodGanj. I have all kinds of warm clothes and a sleeping bag; my back-up copy for the digital photos all on CD; lots of books. So, I will have everything in one place and can continue fixing up a place. When he (Al Gore) announced that he considers the crisis to be
immanent, I changed my time frame for here in Kathmandu. I will stay here for 2 years and see what happens. First, it was a 5 year time span collapsed down to 2. I had a short visit with Cyndy Williams from McLeodGanj and was very surprised at some of her attitudes about things. She is a Dentist and lives in San Francisco, but she said she does not think the science behind An Inconvenient Truth is very good and really weakens the argument; I said that the argument has now been backed up by a majority of climate scientists to validate his point of view. Actually, I think the original hypothesis came from Goddard, and Al Gore made it readable for the rest of the world. In spite of all of this, I think our chances are less than 50% for winning. We have a good chance, but have no idea what will happen.

These are my thoughts for today.

Dec-Jan-Feb: What to do?

Well, I am still not decided what to do for Dec-Jan-Feb, 2007 when it is so cold here in Kathmandu. Now, for the past week it has been hot and sunny; what a change from the cold steady rain that came before the hot. None of people that I talk to seem to have much of an opinion on the weather and there is very little in the newspapers. So, ever since I decided to get some education on Global Warming here in Kathmandu, I have been able to do nothing. In addition, the Internet with video sound is almost non-existant here. This is not so good either because the videos are the best way to show something or to talk about an issue and everybody knows that if you video/sound is not working very well, then the security of the system ain't so good either. Nobody is coming to the rescue of Kathmandu either. So, here we sit waiting in all of this ignorance.

It seems like Hillary Clinton is going to be the Democratic choice, which I fully support. Her videos can't ve viewed here in Kathmandu, so I figure it must be pretty bad. Is it so bad that I should consider going to where it is good? How to find where it is good? if it is not good here in Thamel. Does this poor Internet security have any kind of a larger picture? If Al Gore is the Nobel Peace Prize laureate, then it will really be shitty not to be able to get any good internet. All of this remains to be seen. If he is the Laureate, does this mean he cannot be a part of the next Democratic administration? I sure hope he is or he shares it with somebody; this will give a lot of good support to Global Warming/Climate Change. I was talking to friend and we decided that if India, China and the USA do not reduce CO2 emissions in the very near future, we are in for a real rough ride. Three bad boys.

So, these are some of my thoughts for today.