Goodbye John and Rudy

Goodbye John Edwards and Rudy Giuliani - I'll miss you both - but for very different reasons...

I'll miss Rudy playing in the Republican Presidential race because, IMHO, he was the absolute worst of the bunch, and consequently I would have loved to have seen him get the nomination. I reckon any of the Democratic nominees could have beaten him soundly with their hands tied behind their back.

I suppose it's a good thing to see that the American people (or more accurately, the Republicans who've bothered to vote in the Primaries) weren't fooled by Rudy's "all 911, all the time - I was such a hero pleasevoteforme" schtick.

So I guess I'm rooting for Mitt now - seeing as I have a seriously low opinion of him too...

And now to John Edwards - who became my favourite of the Democratic candidates once I acknowledged that the very wonderful Al Gore wouldn't be throwing his hat into the ring. Ah, John, we'll miss you. You spoke truth to power - which is why those in power in the MSM did their damnedest to ignore you and pretend that you didn't exist.

Your representation of ordinary working people, and your way of standing up to corporate America and against lobbyists of all kinds impressed me greatly. I think you would have made a great President. I wish the media had given you a fair opportunity to express your views.

So now I'm supporting Obama. I think he's a magnificent orator, and a very charismatic man. His message of hope is inspiring many voters in America, especially the young. I don't believe that he can govern on hope alone - and I don't think he has a snowball's chance in hell of working with the opposition - they'll do everything they can to make that impossible - but if hope and the possibility of change is what people need right now, then he's certainly the man to give it to them.

I heartily approve of his stance against the War on Iraq - which he has held since the very beginning - although I'd like to see him promising to withdraw the troops immediately he takes office. I'm concerned about the amount of money he's taking from Big Pharma and the Medical Insurance industry - because that's going to need to be repaid, one way or another...

But in every way I can think of, I prefer him over Hillary Clinton - by about a million miles. Progressives can't stand her, and seeing as in American terms I'd be considered somewhat left of yer average progressive, I'm of the same mind.

The problem with Hillary is that she's far too divisive. People hate Hillary, and whether or not that's justified, that's the way it is. Between 40 and 45% of voters say they would never vote for Hillary, which is a bit of a worry, to say the least. I imagine that if she wins the nomination, Republicans (and maybe quite a few independents) will come out in their droves just to vote against her. She voted for the war and refuses to apologise for that vote, and for me that's unforgivable.

So here we are, with both races narrowing towards a two-person photo-finish. It'll be interesting to see what happens on Super Duper Tuesday. There's no way I'd even try to predict it for the Dems, although I'm pretty sure McCain will get it for the Repubs (as long as he doesn't keel over before then).

I'm crossing my fingers very tightly that Obama will prevail, and that (just to please me) he'll invite John Edwards to stand beside him as VP.

Obama/Edwards 2008 - now that'll do nicely...

Technorati tags: John Edwards, Rudy Giuliani, Barack Obama, Al Gore, Hillary Clinton, Mitt Romney, John McCain, American presidential primaries, Super Duper Tuesday, nomination, Democratic, Republican, Democrat, Repub, American politics, WebWeaver's World, webweaver.

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My first Batucada gig!

Ever since I started learning to play the caixa with Batucada, I've been looking forward to performing with the group. Summer is absolutely full of Batucada gigs - including leading the Wellington Sevens parade next Thursday, and a gig at the Sevens itself next Saturday, and I was really hoping I would be good enough to be in the band before summer was over (and secretly aiming towards being ready in time for the Sevens). It seems as though my wish may be about to come true.

The Batucada directors and organisers have pulled out all the stops to enable the newbies to play at least some of the summer shows, and they've even said we can perform in our own white clothes until we get a chance to buy the official Batucada uniform.

So tomorrow Mike and I are heading up the coast to the Toots and Grooves Ska festival at Tatum Park, and I'm going to be playing! EEEEEEEEEEE! Or is that ohmygod!?

I'm a learner-by-doing kind of a person, and I figure that, for me, the way to get ready to perform with the group is actually to perform with the group. We did our 5 beginners' classes last year, and I stuck around for rehearsal after each one. For the final two, the newbies were invited to take part in the rehearsal, which was awesome. I think we had one more rehearsal before Christmas, and we've had one since New Year.

I think I've got the hang of all the rhythms we've played thus far - well, sort of, anyway. I still feel quite unsure about the changes and bridges - I don't think I've even heard all of them, let alone played them, but that's cool - I'll figure it out as I go along. The other caixa players are really good, and very easy to follow, so if by chance I get lost, I'll be able to watch them and get back into the groove.

The first time I was allowed to take part in the proper rehearsal, we played a bunch of stuff I'd not played before, and went through some bridges and changes that were new to me. I really enjoyed the challenge of keeping up with the experienced players, at full speed, and working out what was going on at the same time as playing it!

I think my Many Hands experience was really useful, actually. When I was playing at Full Moon drum circle, or just jamming with the band, the rhythms we played were all completely improvised. You listened with one ear to what was being played around you, and with the other ear to what you were playing, and you made sure that they matched in some way. It means I'm very quick at picking up a new rhythm, which I think will certainly be useful tomorrow!

I have no idea if we're playing on a stage tomorrow, or in a parade-type environment (I don't think so), or in a less formal environment, and I don't know if we get a chance to do a rehearsal before we play, either. I don't know how the director tells us what to play and when to do a change-up in a performance. I don't know if we'll have a set list of pieces so that we know what to expect. I haven't actually seen Batucada perform since I joined the group, so I haven't had a chance to observe how they do things, from the new perspective of someone who's going to be playing in the band.

I think I'm going to be experiencing quite a learning curve tomorrow afternoon! What fun!

I ordered my new caixa from Brazil-via-Germany yesterday, so hopefully it won't take too many days to arrive. I also picked up my new earplugs, which have been made especially to fit my (teeny little) ears. Hopefully they'll dampen down the volume while still allowing me to hear what I'm playing. It wasn't easy playing with cheap earplugs, because as well as blocking out much of the rest of the group, they also blocked out virtually all the sound coming from my own drum... and it ain't easy to tell whether you're in time if you can't actually hear yourself...

I had my first private lesson with Bill Brown on Tuesday - I want to improve my drumming technique, especially the traditional grip - and it was really helpful. I realise I was holding my sticks far too tightly, and that it's all about bounce and THE THUMB. I haven't got it well enough yet to do the bounce and the thumb at speed, but I'm getting there. I'm supposed to practice an hour a day. Crikey!

Today I went looking for white pants to wear at gigs until I get my official Batucada uniform, and I found a pair that are so nice, I think I may actually want to wear them in RL, instead of wearing them once or twice at shows and then never wearing them again. Hooray! It's all coming together!

And the best thing is... assuming I do OK tomorrow, I think I'll be able to take part in the Sevens parade, and maybe even the Sevens gig itself!

WOOHOO! Wish me luck!

Technorati tags: Batucada, Wellington Batucada, Toots and Grooves, ska festival, Tatum Park, performance, Brazil, Brazilian samba, drums, drumming, caixa, Wellington Sevens, Sevens, Rugby Sevens, parade, WebWeaver's World, webweaver.

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The Gathering on the radio again!

Radio New Zealand are re-broadcasting their documentary The Gatherers, which first hit the airwaves back in December. I know from the web stats that heaps of people listened in and got inspired to visit The Gathering Archives website and blog, but just in case you missed it the first time around, or want to hear it again, here’s the info…

The Gatherers
Friday 25 January at 7.30pm
National Radio 101FM
or listen live online at www.radionz.co.nz

You can also grab the podcast from the Radio New Zealand website at radionz.co.nz/popular/music/talk - search on “G”.

Yaay!

Oh - I'm in it, btw...

And here's a bit more info about it from The Gathering Archives blog, which I wrote when it was first broadcast.

Technorati tags: The Gathering, The Gathering Archives, New Zealand, dance party, radio, Radio New Zealand, The Gatherers, broadcast, National Radio, WebWeaver's World, webweaver.

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Farewell Sir Ed

Sir Edmund Hillary.
July 20, 1919 - January 11, 2008.

To laugh often and much;
to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children;
to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends;
to appreciate beauty, to find the best in others;
to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition;
to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived.
This is to have succeeded.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

From the website of the Himalayan Trust UK:

On May 29th 1953 in the British Expedition led by John Hunt, Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Sherpa became the first men to set foot on the summit of Mount Everest. In the years that followed, Sir Edmund returned repeatedly to Nepal, and to his friends the Sherpas.

The Sherpas are some of the most friendly, generous and tough people on earth, but their lot is a hard one, living at high altitude, without most resources that we take for granted in the west.

Inspired by his admiration and respect for these people Sir Edmund created The Himalayan Trust in 1960. Since creation the work of the Trust has been based on a few simple but profound principles

The principles of the Himalayan Trust:

• provide basic infrastructure needs that the Sherpas really want (education, health, forests, monastery repairs and response to natural disasters)


• the Sherpas themselves to eagerly contribute time and effort to the projects- this "self help" confirming the importance and relevance of the work


• the Trust to rely on voluntary workers and virtually eliminate overheads


• the donations to be transfered direct to the projects in Nepal; no money paid to middlemen or agents.

The results of his extraordinary efforts have been both moving and immensely beneficial, and resulted in the creation of many schools, hospitals, health centres and new forests.

Achievements of the Himalayan Trust

• Two hospitals and thirteen health clinics have been built.


• Over 30 schools have been built.


• Over 100 students receive grants annually from the Trust for further and higher education. A programme of women’s Literacy Classes is evolving into Adult Education.


• For Sherpas, improvements in life expectancy have been achieved through programmes to control tuberculosis, smallpox and other life-threatening infectious diseases. Stillbirth and infant mortality has been reduced.


• Almost 100,000 young trees are nurtured each year and more than 1 million have been planted in 25 protected sites.


• Several Sherpas have gained degrees following training in forestry and in national park management in New Zealand and Canada.


• A three-year Primary Teacher Training project in Solu Khumbu attracted 200 teachers and is seen by HM Govt. of Nepal as a model for other rural areas. This has been so successful that it has been extended for another three years.


• A three-year Secondary Teacher Training project is being grant aided by the The Community Fund with the grant matched by the UK Himalayan Trust.


• A pre-University Campus has been established in Solu district and attracts a high proportion of young women.


• The re-building of Thyangboche Monastery after a fire was helped mainly by the Himalayan Trust.


• The building of a new monastery at Salleri was achieved by the Trust matching money raised by local people, mainly by those who now live and work in Kathmandu.


• Isolated communities are helped to re-build washed away bridges and tracks; drinking water systems have been constructed.


• HM Government has been encouraged to create National Parks and has been advised on their management.


• Sherpas trained with support from the Trust are wardens of Nepal's National Parks.


• Above all, the Sherpas are being helped to overcome some of the harshness of their environment and to work for a better future, whilst retaining their independence.

Useful links

• American Himalayan Foundation
• Donate to the Himalayan Trust
• Editorial: A lifetime of ceaseless achievement
• Himalayan Trust
• Sir Edmund Hillary - Guardian obituary
• Sir Edmund Hillary - NZ Herald articles
• Sir Edmund Hillary - Wikipedia
• The Himalayan Trust - Germany
• The Himalayan Trust UK
• The Sir Edmund Hillary Foundation
• 'We knocked the bastard off' - portrait of Sir Ed

Technorati tags: Sir Ed, Sir Edmund Hillary, death, life, Nepal, sherpas, Sherpa Tenzing Norgay, Everest, obituary, funeral, achievements, Himalayan Trust, Himalayan Trust UK, American Himalayan Foundation, Sir Edmund Hillary Foundation, Himalayan Trust - Germany, We knocked the bastard off, WebWeaver's World, webweaver.

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Fearing the worst, hoping for the best

Sometime in December I noticed that Winnie (my little back and white cat) had developed dark spots on the iris of her left eye. I did a bit of googling on "cat health black specks iris" and didn't find any worrying info, so I didn't take her to the vet. Last week I decided to do a bit more googling, this time using the search word "spots" instead of "specks" in my search phrases. What a difference a single word makes!

All of a sudden my screen was filed with the words "pre-cancer", "melanoma", "malignant", and "cancer". Shit shit shit.

I took her to the vet straight away, but because it's a fairly rare occurrence, he wasn't really confident about doing a diagnosis. He booked Winnie in to see the eye specialist who, luckily enough, was visiting my vet clinic the following day.

By the time we saw him I was pretty sure what he would tell me. I'd spent time researching iris melanomas in cats, and looking at dozens of photos of cats' eyes, many of which resembled what I was seeing in Winnie's eye. I was right.

Winnie has pre-cancer in her left eye, caused by pigmented cells called melanocytes that have overgrown. The eye specialist used a slit-lamp biomicroscope to look at her eye to see if the lesions were flat (pre-cancer) or raised (cancer). At the moment they are flat, which is good, but if they change in shape or size, or start to affect the pupil, it may mean they have become cancerous.

75% of eye cancers in cats are malignant, so if the spots do become cancerous, the best option would be to remove Winnie's eye to stop the cancer spreading.

Deep breath.

OK - I guess that's not too bad. I mean, it is bad - it's awful - but if it became a question of having her eye removed or seeing her die of cancer, of course I'd choose the former option.

I was just about coming to terms with that possibility when another, much worse scenario occurred to me. What if she develops cancer in both of her eyes? Then I'd have a blind cat, and she wouldn't know why!

Oh God Oh God Oh God.

Winnie is my favourite cat. I know you're not supposed to have favourites, but I do, so there we go. She's my baby. She's family. I love her SO much, it hurts like hell just to have to think about this stuff.

I have to take photos of both her eyes, and the eye specialist will review them over time, to make sure that the spots aren't growing or changing. He told me they do this on a 6-monthly basis, but to me that doesn't seem often enough. What's worrying me is that I think I'm pretty observant, and the spots in her eye seemed to me to appear overnight. By that I mean I noticed them one day and I hadn't ever noticed them before. I looked at older photos of her and she definitely didn't have them a couple of years ago.

Sadly I hadn't taken any pictures of her for a while, so I can't pinpoint when the spots started to appear. Now I'm photographing her every day, trying to get a decent close-up shot of each eye. It isn't easy. Like any cat worth her salt, Winnie is an expert at avoiding whatever it is you want her to do (or want to do to her!). She turns her head away every time I approach her with the camera, or looks down, or shuts her eyes, or simply gets up and wanders off somewhere else. It's so frustrating!

As I'm the only person she allows to get anywhere near her, I can't ask anyone else to hold her while I take pictures, either. So I'm just going to have to persevere and get those photos - and keep on taking them, and monitoring them, and praying to the Great Beagle or the Giant Pumpkin or St Frances or something.


I was watching her in the garden the other day. She's so fascinated by everything. She's constantly looking at stuff, and sniffing around, and exploring, and checking out the world around her. I can't imagine how she'd manage if she had no eyes. What if she went on the road by mistake? Or wandered to the edge of my garden and fell down the steep cliff onto the road below? Or what if Teddy Cat next door decided to beat her up? She'd have no defenses!

She'd have to become an indoor cat, and I don't think that would make her very happy. Maybe I could take her out into the garden on a cat lead when I was around, and let her explore safely that way...

I know it's not exactly productive to let my mind race away into the worst "what if" scenarios like this. I try not to - it upsets me far too much, and as the outcome is not something I can control, I don't think it's a particularly good thing to dwell on it right now.

I suppose thinking through the possibilities might allow me to make some attempt to "prepare" myself for the worst. Except I don't think there's any way I can prepare myself for this. My cats are my best friends. They are the ones who live with me and share my life every day. I know that non-pet people probably think that's a little over the top, and a wee bit sad, but those of you with beloved pets will understand completely.

My cats are my fur children. I'm not going to have "real" children, but those of us who lack the maternal gene still have masses of love and affection to give. Many of us choose to give that love to our pets, and those pets become as important to us as any person. To think about the possibility of illness, pain or death in relation to my cats is as hard to do as if they were people. And what makes it somehow worse is of course that I can't explain any of this to Winnie. She will never understand what's happening to her.

Winnie and I are spending lots of quality time together. She sleeps on my bed every night, and unlike Bailey who generally goes off to his own bed at some point, she's still asleep on (or even in) my bed every morning. Quite often when I'm having my morning shower she'll come into the bathroom and wait for me to finish before demanding to be picked up for a good long cuddle.

She thinks I'm another cat, and rubs her face enthusiastically against mine in greeting. She curls up next to me on the sofa if I'm watching TV, or jumps up onto my lap if I'm working on my computer. If she wants attention, or wants to play with me, or wants her tummy rubbed, she isn't shy about letting me know.

And right now, whatever Winnie wants, Winnie gets. I don't know how much longer we've got together, and I want to make every moment count. I want to savour every second I have with her, and I want to show her just how much I love her.

So for now, I'm fearing the worst, and hoping for the best. Sometimes cats with iris pre-cancers can continue for years and years without their condition deteriorating in any way, and without the pre-cancer becoming cancer. I'm praying that this will be the case with Winnie.

Iris Melanoma in Cats

Technorati tags: cat, health, pre-cancer, cancer, eye, iris, melanoma, melanocyte, slit-lamp biomicroscope, opthalmologist, benign, malignant, enucleation, metastasis, spots, WebWeaver's World, webweaver.

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Moving away from commercialism at Christmas - and into ethical gift-giving

Sandra and Sean were the first to give me a Christmas present from Oxfam Unwrapped, a few years ago. They gave me 10 chickens, on a card that said something like:

10 chickens have been given on your behalf to a family in the developing world that really needs them. Happy Christmas!

It made me cry. It was the perfect present. I have enough stuff. I don't need anything. And for a greeny liberal hippie like myself, giving a gift to someone who doesn't have much, and whose life can be improved by that gift, is absolutely the best thing ever.


I think Oxfam Unwrapped is a genius idea. I see other charities like Tear Fund have picked up on it now, and that's great. Oxfam's always been one of my favourite NGOs, because it's not affiliated with any religious group or faith, and because it helps people in need all over the world, regardless of who they are, their ethnicity, religious beliefs or whatever.

Oxfam International works in the developing world in very sensible ways - providing useful, practical solutions on a small scale, working alongside and in harmony with local people, and listening to their specific needs before thinking about solutions. Oxfam doesn't "throw money at the needy" - they work to empower people, and to give them the help they need to help themselves. They also advocate and lobby Governments and international institutions such as the IMF and World Bank on behalf of the world's poor.

Hence the Oxfam Unwrapped website is full of practical gifs - like a goat or a baby buffalo, 3 ducks or 25 trees, safe water for 25 people, school books for the whole class or Fairtrade Certification for a whole plantation.

I've been buying Oxfam Unwrapped gifts for my nearest and dearest for a couple of years now.

Last year I bought a goat for my older niece and nephew, and a goat care kit for my younger niece. My sister told me it was one of the best presents they received - because I'd told them the story of how I'd taken care of a goat when I lived at the Ahu Ahu commune on the Wanganui River, and it had been one of their favourite WebWeaver stories.

My goat-gift encouraged them to use their imagination, and make up more stories, and talk about me and my goat - and my sister said it was such a relief not to get yet another "thing" for the kids to play with, get bored with, and discard.

Another cool thing about Oxfam is that they do an event called Oxfam Trailwalker to raise money. Four people, one goal: 100km in 36 hours to help overcome poverty and injustice. Teams enter, raise funds to do the walk, and the money raised goes to Oxfam. A team from Shift Auckland is entering, and if you buy stuff from Oxfam Unwrapped via their team page then they get more funds added to their total. Kewl!

Shift's been getting ethical with their gift-giving this year too. We support the Worldwide Fund for Nature New Zealand (WWF-NZ), and this year we built them a new website and CMS for a tiny fraction of what it would normally cost.

We decided that this Christmas we would give each of our clients a Hector's dolphin - or rather, we would send them a Hector's dolphin adoption kit from WWF-NZ. We sent them out on Thursday, and soon the emails started coming in from clients - they loved the idea - and are all now busy thinking up a name for "their" dolphin.

Brian, Rene and Dom put together a Flash animation for the Shift homepage which continues the Hector's dolphin Chrismas theme - I think it's absolutely wonderful. Check it out!



Happy Christmas, Eid al-adha, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Yule, and Winter/Summer solstice to you. I hope I've given you some ideas on how to move away from the commercialism of Christmas, and into ethical gift-giving. You know it makes sense!

Technorati tags: Christmas, gifts, gift-giving, presents, ethical, commercialism, charities, Oxfam, Oxfam Unwrapped, WWF-NZ, World Wide Fund for Nature New Zealand, Hector's dolphin, adopt a Hector's dolphin, Shift, clients, Christmas gift ideas, gift for one who has everything, ethical gifts, non-commercial Christmas, Eid al-adha, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Yule, Winter solstice, Summer solstice, WebWeaver's World, webweaver.

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Woah! That was a BIG one!

Crikey!

This evening's earthquake was definitely the biggest one I've felt in my 14 years of living in EnZed.

I was at work by myself, finishing off some work on a website, when I felt a massive JOLT, and then a rolling, shaking sensation that must have gone on for at least a minute before tailing off. It was weird - I couldn't tell whether it had finally stopped and it was only me shaking, or if it was still going on - I felt all disorientated like you do when you get off a boat and the ground feels like it's still moving.

Sounds like it was pretty serious in Gisborne - masses of damage to stuff in people's homes, a few roofs caved in, power out for a while, holes in the road... scary stuff.

They reckon it was 6.8 on the Richter scale, with the epicentre out at sea about 50km south-east of Gisborne, and was only about 40km deep (that's pretty shallow as earthquakes go). You can fill in a report at the GeoNet website if you felt it.

The world media's onto it already - here are a few of the reports:

• Bloomberg - New Zealand Quake of 6.8 Is North Island's Biggest in 20 Years


• CNN - New Zealand rocked by huge quake


• Stuff - Major damage reports after quake rocks NZ


• The Guardian - Damage but no deaths as earthquake hits New Zealand


• The Telegraph - New Zealand roads ripped up by earthquake

I love how CNN gets all over-dramatic. It wasn't that huge, guys! It sounds as though (thankfully) no-one died or was seriously injured - mostly just a whole lot of stuff falling off shelves and some very shaken-up people on the East coast. And no tsunami! Yaay!

We're still waiting for The Big One. Touch wood it never happens...

Technorati tags: New Zealand, earthquake, Gisborne, December 20, damage, Richter scale, GeoNet, Wellington, WebWeaver's World, webweaver.

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Think before you hit "send"

Oh, Margaret McHugh... I wonder whether your bad temper has finally destroyed your catering business...

I guess pretty much everyone everywhere must have seen Margaret's extremely tetchy email conversation with Hayley from Ray White Real Estate in Auckland. It went viral pretty much instantly - and was across the other side of the world by the end of the first day. By the end of day 2 it was in the papers and on the telly... Now everyone knows about Margaret's appalling customer service - and all because of the price of a chocolate-dipped strawberry...

Here's the full set of emails if you're the only person in NZ who hasn't received them yet...

But there's more! Seems that wasn't the only time Margaret's lost her cool in an email... this time with a hint of racism - and I've also read a couple of comments on the Herald's Blonde at the Bar blog: Clear Communication that indicate she's been known to lose her rag on the phone too.

It's interesting - I'm guessing she's pretty busy at this time of year (or at least, she was), and a couple of her comments make me think she harbours a major amount of resentment towards people she believes aren't working as hard as she is. Here's part of one email to Hayley:

Not having the fortitude to call by telephone tells me your incrusted in your sit down loads of spare time job.

And here's part of her diatribe against Lai Tong from Trust Investments Management Limited:

Please don’t use Gourmet Food Store again we are not used to part timers who have to much time on their hands, have no understanding, good manners and common sense in dealing with a complaint there and then.

(My italics, Margaret's horrible spelling, punctuation and grammar).

She also obviously hates using email, and seems to wish customers would communicate by phone:

I personally don't have the time or inclination to sit on the computer all day playing email ping pong. Please confirm your order by 9am this morning some 7 hrs before the function begins TELEPHONE XXXXXXX

and

If you wish to discuss this further I am on the numbers below please don’t send an email it is so time consuming and impersonal.

...in which case it's a bit stoopid for her to have a website and to put her email address on it, isn't it?

It seems as though she really doesn't understand that when you're booking catering (or anything else for that matter) for the boss, you have to have everything in writing to ensure that both parties know what's happening and when, and so that you have something to refer to if things go pear-shaped.

And finally she seems to fall back on the "I'm telling on you" trick of the schoolyard when things get really out of hand:

I will hopefully be calling your boss before Christmas re our not listing our property with Ray Whites I am sure they will be interested and could give you more to do.

and

Does your boss know you are wasting their time emailing petty nonsense.

Niiiice!

Poor old Margaret! But really, there's not much sympathy heading in her direction, as pretty much everyone seems to agree that she's brought this on herself - and that it's ALWAYS a good idea to take a deep breath, count to 10 (or 100) and think about the consequences of your actions before you go ahead and hit the "send" button.

But my favourite comment on the whole silly affair comes from Ryan at Spare Room, who said:

1997 called - They want their website back.

Heh. Heh heh heh.

Technorati tags: Margaret McHugh, viral email, catering, Gourmet Food Store, chocolate strawberry, customer service, email, Hayley Johnstone, Ray White, Lai Tong, Spare Room, human behaviour, New Zealand, WebWeaver's World, webweaver.

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Practising the traditional grip

A few months ago I did something I've been meaning to do for ages - I applied to join Wellington's samba percussion group, Batucada.

I first saw Batucada performing at the Petone Fair a few years ago. Giles and I had been wandering along the street catching a performance here and a performance there, when we came across a stage filled to bursting with about 50 percussionists who were playing with such joy, and such syncopated rhythms, we just had to stop. And then we just had to dance. We absolutely couldn't keep still to the sound of Brazilian samba! It was fantastic!

I plucked up the courage to ask one of the performers whether they were accepting new members, and how one could join, but then I never got around to doing anything about it. Every so often I'd see them performing in a carnival, or a festival, or a parade, and each time I'd think "Oh I would LOVE to be in that band!" And then I wouldn't do anything about it. Again.

A few months ago they were leading a march/parade which passed by our balcony at Shift, and I decided "Right! I'm finally gonna do something about joining." So I emailed them, and they replied with info about their upcoming beginner's class...

We've been doing the class for 4 weeks now - tomorrow is our last class. We learn for a couple of hours each Sunday, before the bateria members themselves come in for rehearsal. I've been sticking around for the real rehearsal, too, because I'm loving it so much. You'll find me standing near the back, off to one side, keeping time with my drumsticks playing in mid-air, wishing I could grab a caixa and play with the band for real.

I got my wish last week, because there were a few people missing at rehearsal - they'd had a full-on weekend playing at the Wellington Phoenix football league game on Friday, and then again at the Phoenix game against LA Galaxy (with David Beckham) on Saturday. I was sitting on the stage with a couple of the other beginners, and one of the directors pointed to us and mouthed "come and join in!" So we did. WOOHOO!

God it was fun. The group was learning a new piece, so the director was moving around all the different instruments, showing the players their new rhythms, while everyone else continued playing the basic beat. When I was in Many Hands, years ago, we did a great deal of improvisation (especially at Drum Circle), as well as developing and performing specific pieces. I got pretty good at picking up a new rhythm very quickly - generally after hearing the pattern only once or maybe twice - and it was great to see I've not lost that skill.

It's so loud - being in an enclosed space with about 50 other percussionists - that everyone wears earplugs to protect their ears. Hence much mouthing of instructions, and lip-reading. And hand signals. That's how the director tells the band when a change is coming up, and what the change is going to be. He whistles madly on his whistle, too, both to get everyone's attention, and also sometimes to demonstrate the "bridge" between rhythms, before we play it.

I loved the challenge of learning the new patterns at speed and then playing them alongside the "proper" members of Batucada. I was concentrating SO hard... trying to work out how the bridge worked (which of course everyone in the band already knew), while playing it, was especially fun. I only found myself doing an accidental "solo" once, which I thought was pretty good going. Tee hee!

The instrument I'm drawn to is called the caixa (pronounced "kysha"), and it's the samba equivalent of the snare drum in marching bands. Batucada has two types of caixa on show - the not-so-authentic type, which is worn in front of your tummy and attached to your body by a waist strap; and the more-authentic type, which is worn more to the side with the head at an angle, and is attached to you by means of a diagonal strap over the opposite shoulder and across your chest.

The caixa is played using a pair of drumsticks, and its rolling, accented rhythms underpin the sound of the whole band. I guess you could say that the huge bass drums - the surdo - keep the time, and the caixa keep the groove. I like being an "underpinner' - that's where I felt most comfortable in my conga-playing days with Many Hands. I liked to be the "rock", holding it all together while the boys went off on their rhythmical adventures, and providing a strong place and a consistent rhythm to which they could return.

I find it interesting that I'm drawn to a stick drum, rather than the more familiar hand drum and conga equivalent, the timba. I think it's partly because learning to play with sticks is MUCH more of a challenge than just learning new rhythms on an instrument I already know how to play - and I'm all about the challenge. Plus I just love the sound of the caixa, and I love where it "sits" within the overall samba sound.

At last week's rehearsal, when the director was directing the caixa crew and watching how we were going with the new patterns, he noticed my completely out-of-control left hand. He made some comment like "twist your wrist!", to which I mouthed back "I know! It's hopeless!"

I've been having some major trouble getting my left hand to do what it's supposed to. With the caixa, you have to play using what drummers the world over know as the "traditional grip". And it's hard to do!

Kit drummers are able to choose between the "matched" grip - where you hold each stick with your hand over the stick, palm facing down - and the "traditional grip", where you do the downwards-facing grip with your right hand (or left if you're left-handed), and you flip the stick over in your other hand, so that your palm is facing upwards, fingers curled around the stick. The movement for the traditional grip is all sideways wrist-twisting, whereas for the matched grip it's more up-and-down-wrist twisting. It's not a particularly natural movement, especially when your other hand is doing something completely different.

You find jazz drummers especially using the traditional grip. And caixa players, and anyone else who plays a drum at an angle. This is because (try it out if you like!), using a matched grip on a drum which is slung at an angle at your side is NOT comfortable. Your elbow sticks up in the air and feels very awkward, and wouldn't be sustainable during a long march. This is why the original snare drummers in marching bands (who were generally marching at the head of a platoon setting off to war) developed the traditional grip. And how it got its name. Marching off to war with a jolly old band at the front being somewhat traditional...

So... watching me try to drum using the traditional grip has been somewhat like watching a hideously uncoordinated person trying to do - well, anything that required co-ordination, really. Not pretty. I knew I was hitting the skin at the right moment with my left stick, but you wouldn't really know it to look at me. As the rhythms got faster, you would see the small amount of wrist-twist I had managed to achieve getting less and less pronounced until eventually my arm would just be banging up and down with no twist in sight, like a five-year-old with her first drum (or upturned cooking pot and obligatory wooden spoon). Bleagh! Not cool.

I decided to get a new pair of sticks (Nancy, my caixa mentor, said the old ones I was using were too heavy), pull out my old practise pad (which I have hardly ever used) and - gasp! - practise. w00t! Breakthrough! The realisation that if one wants to get good at something, one has to practise. Haha!

I'd found my thumb getting very numb by the end of rehearsal last week, and I figured I must be holding the stick wrong and pressing on a nerve or something. I spent a while googling "traditional grip", and soon realised that YouTube was where I needed to be. Reading instructions on how to hold the drumstick properly, and how to move it in the right way, was not getting me anywhere.

I found this GREAT little lesson on YouTube by a guy called Derrick Pope, which was just brilliant, and helped me so much.



I sat on the sofa with the laptop in front of me, and the practise pad in front of that, and I watched and watched, and tried and tried, and learned and learned. What a great teacher!

It's all about muscle memory, really. Once you've got the proper grip sorted out, and you've started to to get the hang of the wrist-twist, you've just got to keep doing it over and over again. I started taking the sticks to work and practising in my lunch hour, or when I was reading something online, or trying to figure something out (as opposed to actually using the keyboard). I got my sticks out on the bus and started practising the wrist-twist there, too. I decided not to worry that my fellow passengers would think I was a bit of a nutter. "Hey!" I thought to myself in a self-justification kind of a way, "I'm learning how to be a samba player - I need to practise - even if I am on the bus!" Heh.

I'm getting much better, even after only a few days. I had a breakthrough moment on the bus the other day, when I realised that I'd reached a point where the thought of the beat had been translated simultaneously into the flick of the wrist and the sound of the beat. Aha! Brilliant!

I'm really looking forward to our beginner's session tomorrow. We'll see whether I can carry my improved technique onto the real drums, with the real rhythms. I know it's going to take a while to get proficient at this, but I really really want to get good at it. I want to be good enough to be in the band!

And to get there I know I have to keep on practising the traditional grip. I'll let you know how it goes!

Technorati tags: Batucada, Wellington, samba, drumming, caixa, traditional grip, drumming technique, drum, practise, practising, practicing, Brazil, Wellington Phoenix, David Beckham, Derrick Pope, YouTube, WebWeaver's World, webweaver.

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Where did I go?

OK - I have not done this before. This being posting-while-a-bit-drunk. Ah fuck it, why not?

So I'm sitting here at work after Friday-night-drinks-after-work - everyone else is long gone - I think I'm on my fifth beer - I've actually lost count - but I know it's way more than I'm used to. I've figured out how to get my iTunes onto the office stereo (thanks, Chris for making me the DJ tonight!) and I'm listening to my favourite songs REALLY LOUD - just for me.

Funny how the soundtrack of your life takes you back to moments in your life that are now long gone.

And I'm thinking... where did I go?

Where did that dynamic, adventurous me go? Why isn't she here any more? What am I doing with my life? Where am I heading? And what's it all for?

See - you can tell I've had a few too many to drink - these thoughts only invade one's consciousness when one is slightly worse for wear.

I remember as a teenager replying in the affirmative to every invite - out of fear that I'd miss out on something if I didn't say "yes". These days I've said "no" so many times they don't ask me any more. Or else they're all too busy having babies they don't have time to ask me any more. *sigh*.

I went over to my "meet-someone-on-the-internet-cos-you're-such-a-loser- you-can't-meet-people-in-RL" website this evening - which I haven't visited in ages - and found myself messaging people without really caring whether or not they messaged me back. Interesting... maybe that's a good thing.

I know there's something missing from my life, and I'm guessing it's a PERSON - but I'm so un-used to sharing my life with anyone, that I'm really not sure if I remember how to do it any more.

Most of the time I am easily able to push any and all of those feelings down, and I'm able to forget they even exist, but sometimes, just sometimes, like today, they come bubbling up to the surface again, and I'm not entirely sure how to deal with them. Writing them out of my system is as good a way as any, I suppose.

I remember when I had boyfriends. I remember when I interacted with people on a closer than "colleague" or "friend" level. I think I remember what it was like to be hugged. I think I remember. I dream about it sometimes. I miss it. Thinking about being hugged brings the tears to the surface now. God I miss that physical contact with another human being - a human being who wants to hold me because they like me enough to want to be close.

Drinking too much is NOT a good thing. It makes me maudlin. It makes me cry.

I don't know what else to say. Shall I be alone for ever now?

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Go Aussie, Go!

So the Howard era in Australian politics is finally over - after eleven and a half long years. Hooray!

Australians can now look forward to a swift ratification of the Kyoto Treaty (at last!!!), the beginning of withdrawal of Australian troops from Iraq (about time too!), a return to fairer contract and working conditions for workers, and hopefully a review of the nation's attitude towards and treatment of its indigenous people.

w00t! The ABC has a bloody AWESOME website covering the election. Check it out!

What a great result! Congratulations Kevin Rudd! I hope you do everything you have promised - and more.

It's VERY interesting to note how strong the Green vote was across the country. In many seats, the preferential voting system (where voters number the candidates on the ballot paper in the order of their preference) has seen the Green vote helping the Labour candidate to cross the line ahead of the Liberal - even, in some cases, where the Liberal received a higher number of primary votes.

The system isn't perfect - the small National party won 10 seats across the country with only 5.5% of the vote, compared with the Greens who won no seats and yet received 7.8% of votes nationwide - and won more primary votes than National! How does that work? Can someone who knows more abut Aussie politics than I do please explain that to me?

But still - it's very good to see Labour defeat the Liberals at last - and even better to see the Green vote increase - reaching the heady heights of 13.3% in ACT and 13.5% in Tasmania.

It will be interesting to see what happens with the proposed (and deeply unpopular) pulp mill in Tasmania. The 5 Labour victories out of 5 seats in that state were most definitely helped by the transfer of the substantial Green vote - particularly in Bass where without those votes, the Liberal candidate would have won, and in Franklin and Braddon, where Labour and Liberal were running neck and neck. Time will tell whether Labour will repay the favour by doing what the Greens (and many of the voters) want them to do - prevent the pulp mill from going ahead.

Oh - and if John Howard does lose his own seat of Bennelong - which as I write this seems entirely possible - after 33 years as the representative of that constituency - he will be only the second Prime Minister in Australian history to suffer such an ignominious loss.

I know that the War on Iraq has been far less important to the Australian voters than it will be in the US next year - domestic issues have taken centre stage in the Oz election - but I can't help thinking back to those pictures of Bush and Howard at APEC in Sydney and smiling to myself a little. The company you keep will always come back to bite you in the bum someday.




Technorati tags: Australian election, Australian politics, Kevin Rudd, John Howard, Labour, Liberals, Greens, labour victory, pulp mill, Tasmania, votes, voters, Bennelong, preferential voting, 2007 Australian Federal election, WebWeaver's World, webweaver.

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Drowning in a sea of spam

Since Thursday afternoon I have received around 3,000 pieces of spam in my inbox. Some computer-savvy little bastard has appropriated my email address (with random names before the @) and placed it in the "from" line of their millions of spam emails, instead of their own address.

The spam I'm now getting is the thousands of bounced emails coming to me from the recipients of the original spam who have spam filters (auto-responders) on their servers. And there appears to be nothing I can do about it.

I called ihug on Thursday evening when it first started, and the help desk guy initially went into a mad panic, told me to switch off my computer straight away, change my password, blah blah blah, "...because someone's hacked into your computer and is using it to send spam emails!" "Oh really? Does that happen often with macs then?" I asked. After he'd calmed down a bit he went to ask his supervisor what he should do to help fix the problem, came back and told me he'd stop the spam, and concluded our phone call.

The next morning there were over 1000 pieces of spam in my inbox. Hmmmm. Maybe he didn't fix it after all...

I called ihug again. The help desk guy couldn't find a record of me having called the previous evening (which means the first guy didn't bother to log the call), and we spent the next 30 minutes on the phone trying to figure out what he could do.

The first thing he did was go into my inbox and trash ALL my mail - without asking me first. As I had been checking my email on my browser at work that day, rather than downloading it to my computer at home, this meant I lost a bunch of legitimate email I hadn't downloaded the previous day, plus anything that had come in overnight that I hadn't even had a chance to check for and sort out from all the spam. Great. If you emailed me yesterday and I haven't replied, that'll be why.

His next suggestion was to change my email address. Er yeah, that's a brilliant idea! NOT! My email address is derived from my primary domain name, I've been using it for 12 years and it's how every person I know in the world contacts me. Not going to change it, Mr ihug man!

After half an hour of him trying to figure out what to do, he came to the conclusion that ihug can't do anything about it, because I have the "catch-all" setting activated on my account (by choice). Any email sent to anyone@mydomainname.co.nz is accepted by my inbox. I do this because I'm on a bunch of mailing lists, group emails etc, which tend to get filtered out if my actual name doesn't appear first on the "to" list - or if the "to" list has been compiled under a different title by the sender.

Seems to me that ihug needs to get their act together here. I can change the "catch-all" setting online via my account login at ihug's website. I can reject or redirect emails coming to aparticularname@mydomainname.co.nz. Why can't I also enter a range of subject lines that I want to reject? Most of the bounced emails I'm getting have similar subject lines - like "Delivery Failure", "[SUSPECTED SPAM] failure notice", "Returned mail: see transcript for details" etc - why can't I choose to reject these? At least in the short term while I'm being subjected to spam avalanches like this one?

It would cut down on the volume of spam I'm having to wade through, and I don't mind missing the odd legitimate failure notice along the way. It's certainly better than having to continually empty my Junk mail folder at home. And it would definitely be way better than having to delete a thousand emails one by one off ihug's fancy new javascripty browser-based email interface because it's too damned slow to be able to handle the sheer volume of email I'm trying to get rid of.

I suppose the other thing I want to rant about (while I'm at it!) is the selfishness of the way many companies' spam filters (auto-responders) have been set up. By bouncing the email to me instead of checking and deleting it themselves, they are not only creating YET MORE spam that clogs up the "tubes", but they are also passing on the responsibility to me to check and delete their bounced email instead of doing it themselves. Here's SpamCop's take on it.

Bloody hell. Hopefully the avalanche will slow down and stop over the next few days (it's happened to me before and that's usually the pattern). In the meantime I think I'll call ihug every day just to see if I can persuade them to add more functionality to the way we can filter our email inboxes.

And while I'm at it, I think I might mention the fact that, from a usability point of view the "please give us feedback on your helpdesk experience" form on their website absolutely SUCKS. The form field where you make your comments is literally only 3 lines deep and about 200px wide. It's ridiculous! I guess they made it that small to put people off writing too much. I wrote an essay anyway :)

Technorati tags: spam, ihug, auto-responder, junk email, email, inbox, email address, stolen my email address, WebWeaver's World, webweaver.

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What I think about the New Zealand "terror raids"

I wrote this post on the Public Address blog the other day, and because it pretty much sums up what I feel about the new TSA legislation, the raids themselves, the likelihood that we have "terra" here in little old NZ, - and pretty much everything else to do with this contentious issue, I thought I'd add it to my blog, too.

The thing that's really niggling at me (amongst all the other things that I'm concerned about with this case...) is the whole "we had to use the TSA in order to get a warrant to bug/video/listen in to people's private conversations - because otherwise we wouldn't have been allowed to do that" from the police.

Now I'm not entirely sure whether that's an assumption that people have made about the police's reasoning behind using the TSA, or if that's a paraphrase of a direct quote from the police - but if it's the latter, then that really worries me.

Because what that's saying is "we wanted to get evidence about a bunch of people in a way that the laws of New Zealand don't normally allow (bugging etc). The only way we could do it is by invoking a very very serious law (the TSA), that deals with a very very serious crime (terrorism)."

As we all know, the Solicitor-General felt there was not enough evidence to meet the high threshold required to authorise prosecutions under the Act, which means that whatever evidence the police obtained during their year-long bugging operation wasn't sufficient to show that the Urewera 17 (and their mates) were actual, you know, terrorists.

So we have a number of people (who knows how many) whose private conversations have been listened into for a year by police. Nothing any of them has said is sufficient for them to be charged under the TSA. Their right to privacy has been breached, some of them have been remanded in custody for a month, and those 17 individuals will most likely never be able to travel overseas without tremendous hassle if at all.

I'm veering away from my point here - let me pull myself back to it...

My point is... it feels to me as though the TSA has been used to justify a fishing expedition in which our individual right to not have the police listen into our private conversations has been breached.

It's all back to front - to me, it seems wrong that the police were able to invoke the TSA in order to get evidence that they hoped would convict people under the TSA. Seems to me, you shouldn't be able to use the TSA to bug people unless you already HAVE a bunch of evidence which VERY strongly points in that direction anyway.

Otherwise you're using a law that may not actually apply to your suspects in order to gather evidence in a way you normally wouldn't be allowed to do in New Zealand.

And that, to me, is wrong, wrong, wrong.

I'm in the same camp as Stephen Judd with the monkeys flying out of one's butt thing. (heh) If the price we as a nation have to pay to "protect" ourselves against the (IMO) teeny weeny threat of "terrorism" in this country, is a gradual and insidious loss of our rights to privacy, our civil liberties and our freedoms to express ourselves and engage in legitimate protest, then I for one think that's way too high a price to pay. (See USofA as a perfect example of where I do not want to end up...)

My first post (this one) is on p10 of the blog comments.

Technorati tags: Public Address, terror raids, Urewera 17, terrorism, civil liberties, right to privacy, Terrorism Supression Act, TSA, Tame Iti, protest, Tuhoi, Maori, Solicitor-General, police, New Zealand politics, American politics, 9/11, war on terror, WebWeaver's World, webweaver.

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The Gathering documentary

My poor old blog - I've been neglecting you so badly recently! I do have a good reason, however - I've been working like a mad thing doing a final big push to get The Gathering archives website and blog ready to go online.

I've got the blog up and running - it went live a week ago - and it's been a lot of fun getting it working. It runs on Wordpress (the on-my-own-server version), and it's been quite educational teaching myself how to adapt existing templates and redesign them to look how I want them. I'm still working on adding more widgets - but I'm happy for that to be an ongoing process, in the same way as I work on WebWeaver's World.

The most popular post on the blog so far is, of course, the one about The Gathering documentary 97/98 - which I spent most of the long weekend putting up on Google video. It's had a couple of hundred views so far, which is great - hopefully there will be many more to come. Every time I go to check it out on Google I end up leaving it running in the background - as a kind of soundtrack to whatever I'm doing. I love it! I pretty much know it by heart now...

Here's what I wrote to accompany the video on Google:

The Gathering was New Zealand's biggest and best outdoor dance party, which was held every New Year for six years between 1996 and 2001. This is the first Gathering documentary and was made about the 97/98 event, which was held at the magical Canaan Downs site on top of Takaka Hill near Nelson.

The documentary includes behind-the-scenes views of the setup and running of the party; the wild and crazy days and nights of the party itself; interviews with the crew, and you - the party animals; and interviews with "grown-ups" like the Mayor of Tasman District and the local police.

We hope you enjoy it and that it brings back some awesome rave memories. Check out the new Gathering archives website at http://www.thegathering.co.nz for more Gathering-related goodness! And be nice humans :)

On the blog I've written a bit about the story of how we came to make The Gathering documentary - and I've also linked to the large-screen version of the video on Google video.

If you were at The Gathering and want to re-live some happy memories - go check it out!

Technorati tags: The Gathering, The Gathering documentary, documentary, 1997/98, 97/98, outdoor, dance party, rave, New Zealand, Takaka Hill, Golden Bay, Nelson Bays, Canaan Downs, dance, music, doco, YouTube, Google video, WebWeaver's World, webweaver.

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Run Al, run - you co-winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, you!

I'll probably blog a little bit about Shift's VERY wonderful annual hui over the next day or so, but I just had to do a blog about this first....

THE NOBEL PEACE PRIZE FOR 2007

The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided that the Nobel Peace Prize for 2007 is to be shared, in two equal parts, between the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and Albert Arnold (Al) Gore Jr. for their efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change, and to lay the foundations for the measures that are needed to counteract such change.

Indications of changes in the earth's future climate must be treated with the utmost seriousness, and with the precautionary principle uppermost in our minds. Extensive climate changes may alter and threaten the living conditions of much of mankind. They may induce large-scale migration and lead to greater competition for the earth's resources. Such changes will place particularly heavy burdens on the world's most vulnerable countries. There may be increased danger of violent conflicts and wars, within and between states.

Through the scientific reports it has issued over the past two decades, the IPCC has created an ever-broader informed consensus about the connection between human activities and global warming. Thousands of scientists and officials from over one hundred countries have collaborated to achieve greater certainty as to the scale of the warming. Whereas in the 1980s global warming seemed to be merely an interesting hypothesis, the 1990s produced firmer evidence in its support. In the last few years, the connections have become even clearer and the consequences still more apparent.

Al Gore has for a long time been one of the world's leading environmentalist politicians. He became aware at an early stage of the climatic challenges the world is facing. His strong commitment, reflected in political activity, lectures, films and books, has strengthened the struggle against climate change. He is probably the single individual who has done most to create greater worldwide understanding of the measures that need to be adopted.

By awarding the Nobel Peace Prize for 2007 to the IPCC and Al Gore, the Norwegian Nobel Committee is seeking to contribute to a sharper focus on the processes and decisions that appear to be necessary to protect the world's future climate, and thereby to reduce the threat to the security of mankind. Action is necessary now, before climate change moves beyond man's control.

Oslo, 12 October 2007

Woohoo! Well done Al Gore! Congratulations to the IPCC! When I studied climate change at University a mere *cough*25yearsago*cough*, I didn't think it would take this long for the world at large to start waking up to the damage we're causing to the planet (and ultimately to life on earth), but better late than never, I guess.

Now come on Al - stop keeping us all in suspense and announce you're running for President already! I know it's a shitty job and no-one in their right mind would really want to do it - not to mention the dirty tricks and vitriol you have to face on the way there - but you won it once and you can win it again...

Please accept that the most effective way you can continue to affect change in international attitudes and behaviour as regards climate change is by being the leader of the most powerful (and most polluting/consuming/greedy/wasteful) nation on earth.

Planet earth needs you, Al! Please run for President!


Al Gore on Saturday Night Live in 2006. Awesome.


Graph showing actual Arctic sea ice loss compared to IPCC models - it's MUCH worse than even the most pessimistic predictions...

Technorati tags: Al Gore, Nobel Peace Prize, Norwegian Nobel Committee, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, IPCC, climate change, global warming, joint winners, win, Al for president, run for president, environmentalism, Arctic sea ice, American politics, Saturday Night Live, YouTube, WebWeaver's World, webweaver.

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