Most days in Bermuda I run about an hour.
It’s easy to get motivated with this kind of climate and scenery.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
Social Media – Good or Bad?
When the internet — and then social media — got popular I was convinced it would make the world better.
Better informed.
The poor and powerless would have a voice. A blog. A podcast.
Seems I was wrong.
Social media was supposed to be the ultimate free speech platform, a place where the world would come together to swap information and share opinions. It would be the battleground of ideas. …
Twitter has become a playground for bots and trolls. Facebook is filled with misinformation, a place where foreign governments can set up groups to spread fake news. …
At the same time, users have retreated into their own bubbles. …
Social Media has had its Day
Visit Taiwan
I’ve always wanted to travel and hike Taiwan.
Click PLAY or watch well edited travel highlights on YouTube.
Visit Bolivia
One place I’d really like to visit again is Bolivia.
Sadly, the political situation is again a big mess.
President Evo Morales fled the country after trying to steal an election. The caretaker President Jeanine Anez has turned out to be a problem.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
CYCLING Alberta, Montana, Idaho, BC summer 2020
If all goes well, I’m planning to start June 12th from Banff alongside some real cyclists.
The Tour Divide is an annual mountain biking ride traversing the length of the Rocky Mountains, from Canada to the Mexican border.
Following the 2,745-mile (4,418 km) Great Divide Mountain Bike Route, it is an ultra-distance cycling ride that is an extreme test of endurance, self-reliance and mental toughness.
The ride format is strictly self-supported, and it is not a stage race – the clock runs continuously from the start until riders cross the finish line, usually more than two weeks later.
The ride has a very low profile, and is entirely amateur. There are no entry fees, no sponsorship, and no prizes. …
I’ll not be racing but will follow the same route down into Montana.
There I plan to hike the Chinese Wall.
Then divert to the Trail of the Coeur d’Alenes
I’ll circle back to Calgary … somehow.
This is less a plan than a dream at this point. 😀
I Am Malala with Christina Lamb
If you want to know more about life in Pakistan I recommend this autobiography of a teenager.
If you want to know more about the plight of girls and women in extremist Muslim nations, this is the book. Malala is a symbol. She was awarded the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize.
I hadn’t recalled that the Taliban assassin shot Malala and hit both girls sitting either side of her as well. All three survived.
Christina Lamb is an excellent writer, expert in this region. She too was nearly killed by the Taliban, on Benazir Bhutto’s bus when it was blown up in October 2007.
I Am Malala: The Story of the Girl Who Stood Up for Education and was Shot by the Taliban (2013) is an autobiographical book by Malala Yousafzai, co-written with Christina Lamb …
The book details the early life of Yousafzai, her father’s ownership of schools and activism, the rise and fall of the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan in Swat Valley and the assassination attempt made against Yousafzai, when she was aged 15, following her activism for female education.
It has received a positive critical reception and won awards, though it has been banned in many schools in Pakistan. …
Swat Valley has been an important tourist destination in the past. And may be again in future. Malala is a Pashtun, the majority of whom follow Sunni Islam.
The leader of the Swat Taliban in Malala’s day was Maulana Fazlullah. He was killed by American drone strike in 2018.
Today Malala is a student at Oxford studying Philosophy, Politics and Economics.
She and her father run the Malala Fund, an organization dedicated to every girl’s right to 12 years of free, safe, quality education. That’s an important cause for me too.
I’m proud to say Malala has honorary Canadian citizenship.
confronting American Gerrymandering
Is any nation worse than the USA for gerrymandering?
Gerrymandering establishes an unfair political advantage for a particular party or group by manipulating district boundaries.
A secretive, high-tech gerrymandering initiative launched 10 years ago threatens to undermine our democracy.
This film, Slay the Dragon, follows everyday people as they fight to make their votes matter.
We must fight, as citizens and voters, to end gerrymandering and save democracy.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
