Three Inns

Boys lost in Amsterdam

Amsterdam is a wonderful town to explore on foot. The city’s layout virtually guarantees tourists get lost — largely due to the old town’s semi-concentric pattern of canals that will have you lose your bearings in no-time.

The trick is to picture downtown as one half of a bicycle wheel, with Central Station in the center. From there, the streets forms the wheel’s spokes, and the canals connect them all.

What’s wonderful about ‘getting lost’ is that you visit places off the beaten track. You get to find shops, coffee houses, eateries preferred by locals, and so on…

Isn’t it strange that we often don’t know how the most common items in our lives are actually made?

I have always been fascinated by film shorts that show manufacturing processes — anything from the printing of newspapers to the filling of bottles, and then preferably the older movies.

As a child I played with marbles, and I still do so whenever I get the chance.

OK, I can imagine that this guy feels cheated — in more ways than one. But I don’t think he is going to win this case.

I guess one’s policy regarding any gift is to give it freely, with no strings attached. Else, if you do want to hold some strings, have an attorney draw up some official papers. That would not have been nice either…

A man who donated his kidney to his wife eight years ago now wants it back after she cheated on him and filed for divorce.

Richard Batista from Long Island in New York, US, says he wants the organ back or $1.5m (£2.1m).

The surgeon gave his wife Dawnell the kidney in 2001 after two previous failed transplants.
[...]

Arthur Caplan from the University of Pennsylvania’s Centre for Bioethics said the likelihood of Dr Batista getting either his kidney or the money was “somewhere between impossible and completely impossible”.

Medical ethicist Robert Veatch from Georgetown University said it was illegal for an organ to be exchanged for anything of value.

Organ donation is a gift which means you cannot legally get it back, he explained.
[...]
- Source: Sky News, Jan. 8, 2009

Dawnell Batista viewed the kidney as a new lease on life, too. She returned to school to earn a master’s degree in nursing, and took up karate, her husband said.

After an injury suffered while trying to earn her black belt, she began physical therapy - which evolved into an affair with her therapist, Batista said.

“It put a hole in my heart that still exists,” Batista said of his wife’s disloyalty. “To this day, I’m a man of pride. To be betrayed that way, humiliated - I can’t even began to say.”

Dawnell Batista was not at her home Wednesday. Her lawyer did not return a call for comment.

Batista said the ongoing ugliness began on day one of their divorce.

“She slapped me with divorce papers when I was in surgery trying to save another person’s life,” he fumed.
[...]

Batista insisted his cash-for-kidney claim was a direct result of his wife’s behavior. He said he hasn’t seen his three daughters - ages 14, 11 and 8 - in months.

“This is my last resort,” Batista said. “I didn’t want to be in the public eye.”

Despite the animosity, Batista insisted he would donate the kidney all over again to his hopefully soon-to-be-ex. He fondly recalls a visit to her room on the day after surgery.

“There was no greater feeling on this planet,” he said. “As God is my witness, I felt as if I could put my arm around Jesus Christ. I was walking on a cloud.”
- Source: Long Island doctor Richard Batista to estranged wife: Give me my kidney back or $1.5M, Daily News, Jan. 8, 2009

Music hath charms to soothe the beast - or unleash it.

Music is integral to identity in culture and society, from our most primitive expressions to the iPod.

We will explore cross-cultural music trends and examine how music affects learning and creativity, contributes to economy, and connects performer and audience .
- Source: Chautauqua Institution

A lecture by Robert Greenberg:

HOUSTON — With less than a week to go before the scheduled execution of a man who contends his murder trial was tainted by a love affair between the judge and the prosecutor, a state judge on Thursday ordered a hearing into the accusation and the Texas attorney general called for a review of the fairness of the trial.

The judge’s order and the attorney general’s request are the latest twists in a complicated legal drama that has prompted criticism from prosecutors, judges and experts on legal ethics across the nation. They argue that if the love affair occurred, the condemned man did not receive a fair trial.
- As Texas Execution Nears, Hearing Is Set on a Claim That Judge and Prosecutor Had Affair, The New York Times, Sep. 5, 2008

The government should not kill people anyway. It is a barbaric form of punishment. If it would work as a deterrent to violent crime — as pro-killing proponents claim, Texas should be needing fewer prisons instead of more and more.

Photographer Kevin Connolly takes pictures from an unusual perspective…

1 year ago I was asked by a little boy in Christchurch, New Zealand if I had been eaten by a shark.

2 months ago I was asked by an elderly woman in Sighisoara, Romania if I had lost my legs in a car accident.

6 weeks ago I was asked by a bar patron in Helena, Montana if I still wore my dog tags from Iraq.

Everyone tries to create a story in their heads to explain the things that baffle them. For the same reason we want to know how a magic trick works, or how mystery novel ends, we want to know how someone different, strange, or disfigured came to be as they are. Everyone does it. It’s natural. It’s curiosity.

But before any of us can ponder or speculate - we react. We stare. Whether it is a glance or a neck twisting ogle, we look at that which does not seem to fit in our day to day lives. It is that one instant of unabashed curiosity - more reflex than conscious action - that makes us who we are and has been one of my goals to capture over the past year.

It is after this instant that we try to hazard a guess as to why such an anomalous person exists.

His site, with galleries, news, his bio and more, is The Rolling Exhibition

In cubicles across the country, lunchtime has become the new prime time, as workers click aside their spreadsheets to watch videos on YouTube, news highlights on CNN.com or other Web offerings.

The trend — part of a broader phenomenon known as video snacking — is turning into a growth business for news and media companies, which are feeding the lunch crowd more fresh content.

In some offices, workers coordinate their midday Web-watching schedules, the better to shout out punch lines to one another across rows of desks. Some people gravitate to sites where they can reliably find Webcasts of a certain length — say, a three-minute political wrap-up — to minimize both their mouse clicks and the sandwich crumbs that wind up in the keyboard.

“Go take a walk around your office at lunchtime, said Alan Wurtzel, head of research for NBC. “Out of 20 people, I’m going to guarantee that 5 are going to be on some sort of site that is not work-related.”

The midday spike in Web traffic is not a new phenomenon, but media companies have started responding in a meaningful way over the last year. They are creating new shows, timing the posts to coincide with hunger pangs. And they are rejiggering the way they sell advertising online, recognizing that noontime programs can command a premium.
- Source: New York Times, Jan. 5, 2007

On January 20, 2009, war criminal George Bush is leaving the White House.

We hope he will either be committed to a mental hospital or be sent to the Netherlands to be tried by the International Criminal Court.

Let’s count down the days:

Most of us know that stone blunts scissors, scissors cut paper and paper covers stone.

What is less well-known, however, is how to win the popular playground game.

Now stalwart players have come up with a strategy: Start with scissors.

Research shows that stone is the most popular of the three possible moves in the game of quickfire hand gestures.

If your opponent expects you to pick stone, they will choose paper to outwit you.

Therefore, by going with scissors, you will win, because scissors beat paper.
- Source: Daily Mail, Dec. 19, 2007