Playing for Peace: Israel/Palestine

[updated: 7-30-2006]
ESPN the Magazine on Playing for Peace:

With violence escalating on several fronts in the Mideast, many are wondering what, if anything, can ever stop the madness consuming a region that, for many Jews, Muslims and Christians, is one of the holiest places on Earth.

Wars, diplomacy and mediation have failed to bring peace to the region. The cloud of failed accords hover over the area.

Not everyone has given up hope. A handful of brave and visionary people think the answer may lie, believe it or not, in basketball, specifically a nascent program called Playing for Peace.

Before the most recent hostilities began, ESPN.com sent Chad Ford, a professor of international conflict resolution at Brigham Young University-Hawaii and an ESPN basketball writer, to Israel on May 1-9 to check out PFP in action. What he saw was complicated, risky … and hopeful.

Playing for Peace Player Blogs:

July 26 -- Recently Brent Barry of the San Antonio Spurs and Mike Dunleavy of the Golden State Warriors traveled to Belfast, Ireland to take part in a clinic which brought together Catholic and Protestant children from the Short Strand and Dee Street Community Centres for an afternoon of basketball instruction at Queens University Physical Education Centre.

Playing for Peace's Building Bridges basketball camp 2005:



more info from the Playing for Peace website...

Playing for Peace has four main objectives:

• Bridge social divides
• Develop future leaders
• Educate children to lead healthy, constructive lives
• Build community involvement to ensure long-term sustainability

Since June of 2005, Playing for Peace has used the game of basketball to foster mutual respect and tolerance between Jewish and Arab youth in Israel and the West Bank. The participants are taught by a cadre of committed coaches, both local and from the United States, who have the knowledge, training, and tools necessary to address the difficult issues brought on by the conflict.

Playing for Peace's program in the Middle East involves two main components. First, it provides opportunities for meaningful interaction between Israeli and Palestinian children through joint basketball and social activities which take place on a regular basis. Secondly, the program works with the Palestinian Ministry of Youth Sport to develop the basketball infrastructure in the West Bank.

Immigration's Costs -- And Benefits

Two economists consider the costs and benefits of illegal immigration and weigh policy fixes.

read more | digg story

video: classic Steve Carell on The Daily Show

Steve Carell talks to a nutritionist (and eats a couple of scoops of Crisco)

World's 2nd Richest Man Give Away Fortune: To Bill Gate's Foundation

Warren Buffett: The world's second richest man - who's now worth $44 billion - will start giving away 85% of his wealth in July - most of it to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

click on to page two for an excellent interview with Buffet

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clean technology could cut in 1/2 world energy consumption

World energy consumption could be cut by half if clean technology applied: IEA
"Accelerating energy efficiency improvements alone can reduce the worlds energy demand in 2050 by an amount equivalent to almost half of today's global energy consumption, said the report."

areas to invest in:
"The mix of technologies the IEA advocated included improved energy efficiency, carbon dioxide capture and storage, renewables and -- where acceptable -- nuclear energy" ... "[A] key technology is the capture and storage of CO2 emitted from power-generation or industrial processes. The IEA study pointed out that the early demonstration of carbon dioxide capture and storage (CCS) in full-scale power plants should be a high priority."

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Greenland's Ice Sheet Is Slip-Sliding Away

The massive glaciers are deteriorating twice as fast as they were five years ago. If the ice thaws entirely, sea level would rise 21 feet.

net neutrality

The Senate will debate network neutrality next week. Why You Should Care About Network Neutrality: The future of the Internet depends on it! (slate.com)

POINTS OF VIEW (wsj.com)
"The Internet as we know it is facing a serious threat. Today the Internet is an information highway where anybody -- no matter how large or small, how traditional or unconventional -- has equal access. But the phone and cable monopolies, who control almost all Internet access, want the power to choose who gets access to high-speed lanes and whose content gets seen first and fastest." -- Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt

"We and the cable companies have made an investment, and for a Google or Yahoo or Vonage or anybody to expect to use these pipes free is nuts." --AT&T Chief Executive Edward Whitacre

"This is a vigorously competitive marketplace that is working to benefit consumers. There is no need for new laws and regulations." --David L. Cohen, a Comcast executive vice president

video: Banlieue 13 & David Belle doing stunts encore

here's the US trailer for Banlieue 13 (aka District B13 for US/Canada release)

of course that's D. Belle doing the stunts in this INCREDIBLE chase scene.

video: parkour & David Belle again

David Belle highlight video...


D. Belle and friends "play" in waves

Even D. Belle can fall. I just wish this video would show him getting back up and doing it again.

Now this is what I'm talking about. Parkour and hip-hop music, in a short leaping-onto-a-tree video.

professionally shot parkour aka freerunning video (with Diam's rapping)...

global warming's early signs [salon.com]

Salon.com has an excellent series of article on climate change Early Signs: Reports from a Warming Planet

Twilight of an ancient knowledge

For centuries, New Zealand's Maoris have used intimate observation of nature to harvest eels and predict the weather. That marvelous legacy is endangered by climate change.

By Durrell Dawson [2006-05-05]

The woes of Kilimanjaro

The fabled glaciers on Tanzania's majestic mountain will soon be gone. Its forests are disappearing, too. For local farmers, this could mean disaster. For the rest of us, it's another unbearable loss on an overheating planet.

By Kate Cheney Davidson [2006-04-28]

Before the flood

Global warming is threatening Bangladesh's coast. But the area's tens of millions of residents don't want to move.

By Emilie Raguso and Sandhya Somashekhar [2006-04-21]

The vanishing of a tropical nation

Rising seas are swamping the 33-island republic of Kiribati. Where will its 100,000 inhabitants go when their country becomes uninhabitable?

By Aaron Selverston [2006-04-14]

The heat on Ecuador

Global warming is vanquishing ancient glaciers throughout South America, killing crops and threatening the water source for millions.

By Felicia Mello [2006-04-07]

When the water runs out

Ecuador's crops, its power grid and the drinking water for its largest city are all threatened by climate change.

By Pauline Bartolone [2006-04-07]

Tuvalu is drowning

The island nation is slowly being inundated as the ocean rises, and some citizens are fleeing. How will the world handle a flood of "climate refugees"?

By Alexandra Berzon [2006-03-31]

The disappearing sardines

As Lake Tanganyika in Africa grows warmer, its massive schools of silvery fish get smaller. And nearby villagers say goodbye to their way of life.

By Jori Lewis [2006-03-24]

The bears of Churchill

In the "Polar Bear Capital of the World," vanishing ice is threatening to wipe out the polar bears -- and the town's livelihood. But Churchill's inhabitants say they'll survive.

By Jon Mooallem [2006-03-17]

Early Signs: Reports from a Warming Planet

TomatoMeter 93% An Inconvenient Truth

over 90% of reviews praise An Inconvenient Truth.

"Brings a feeling of history: Virtually everyone who sees this movie will be galvanized to do something about global warming -- and everyone should see this movie." Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle

"What could have been mired in political rhetoric or techno-speak is instead illuminating, fascinating and sometimes frightening." Claudia Puig, USA Today

As unsettling as it can be, it is also intellectually exhilarating, and, like any good piece of pedagogy, whets the appetite for further study. This is not everything you need to know about global warming: that's the point. But it is a good place to start, and to continue, a process of education that could hardly be more urgent. "An Inconvenient Truth" is a necessary film. A.O. Scott, New York Times

trailer for An Inconvenient Truth

Roger Ebert has given An Inconvenient Truth a Four-star review writing in the Chicago Sun-Times:

“The director, Davis Guggenheim, uses words, images and Gore’s concise litany of facts to build a film that is fascinating and relentless. In 39 years, I have never written these words in a movie review, but here they are: You owe it to yourself to see this film. If you do not, and you have grandchildren, you should explain to them why you decided not to.”

http://www.climatecrisis.net

video: more parkour & handstands

this makes me want practice some handstands

video: Gnarls Barkley

Ali G introduces Gnarls Barkley singing Crazy at the MTV Movie Awards

video: Ronaldinho's highlights

in time for the world cup (with music by Fort Minor aka Mike Shinoda)...

video: le parkour -- David Belle

interview with the creator of le parkour, David Belle

video: The Evolution of Dance

Nelly & Gnarls

Nelly Furtado's cover of Gnarls Barkley's song "Crazy" (download the mp3 here) is excellent. The whole album St. Elsewhere by Gnarls Barkley is crazy good too.

google adds online spreadsheets

you can sign up for it here. Google Spreadsheets

After the recent additions of Google Notebook & Google Calendar, Google is pushing to help move all the functions of the desktop (Word, Outlook, Excel) to their own online google servers, plus they will be more collaborative it seems.

reading list

An Inconvenient Truth by Al Gore







The Great War for Civilisation: The Conquest of the Middle East by Robert Fisk







Real Money by Jim Cramer