tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1990338437877873686.post8439902112043270422..comments2024-03-28T11:30:46.101-04:00Comments on Murder is Everywhere: The dreaded gymOvidia Yuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05749549092493567689noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1990338437877873686.post-35435939864629473892010-01-16T17:33:40.955-05:002010-01-16T17:33:40.955-05:00Yrsa, I have seen you in person, and I feel compel...Yrsa, I have seen you in person, and I feel compelled to tell readers not similarly blessed that you are in much better shape than one would be led to believe from your horror of gyms and, on the evidence of your fiction, vigorous massage as well.<br />================ <br /> Detectives Beyond Borders<br />"Because Murder Is More Fun Away From Home"<br /> <a href="http://www.detectivesbeyondborders.blogspot.com/" rel="nofollow">http://detectivesbeyondborders.blogspot.com/</a>Peter Rozovskyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09977933481463759162noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1990338437877873686.post-50187878320133145412010-01-14T16:46:17.649-05:002010-01-14T16:46:17.649-05:00To Tim: is it not sad how bad people tend to take ...To Tim: is it not sad how bad people tend to take charge in depressed countries? Everything about the situation in Haiti at the moment is horrible, horrible, horrible.<br /><br />To Beth: I am still smiling at the image of your daugthers in anguish in case you toppled over at the gym. Regarding Haiti and this idiot Pat Robinson I am disgusted, why do the media seek out these kind of Bozos? If they were left alone their evil words would simply bounce off the walls of their own homes and be stripped of all their potency for hurt.<br /><br />To Susie: we have our share of smoking fanatics but to a much lesser degree than in the US. The smoking rate is pretty high here for todays standards but a lot lower than it used to be. I must say though in America's defense that you can smoke in restraunts in Virginia - a great experience nowadays.<br /><br />To Leighton: It is exactly the cruelty of the catastrophy hitting a place so socially fragile and impoverished that makes this so awful. Everything becomes so much harder and the likelihood of the situation becoming even more unbearable is so much higher than if a better off area with a developed infrastructure was involved. Not to say that this is would have been horrific anywhere. We are constantly reminded how unjust life is and one should really begin each day by thanking life's lottery for dealing one out the golden ticket (being born in a deveoped country). I am under no illusion that I would have worked or shined my way out of poverty or hunger had I been born as an untouchable in India for example. Your tears are shared.<br /><br />To Jaquie: Icelanders are pretty good at getting organised quickly, probably because we are not completely cramped by beurocracy. We are very proud of our team here as well.Yrsa Sigurdardottirhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05889410114439001207noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1990338437877873686.post-65676818370060511422010-01-14T13:42:14.640-05:002010-01-14T13:42:14.640-05:00Yrsa
I was pleased to see that an Icelandic Searc...Yrsa<br /><br />I was pleased to see that an Icelandic Search and Rescue team was one of the first to arrive in Haiti. That's something to be proud of.<br /><br />In re: Leighton's comment. I had heard that about the vegetation in Haiti as opposed to that in the DR. Wouldn't it be lovely if this terrible tragedy could bring about something wonderful for this imporvrished (sp?) nation. That's my way of thinking that the spirits of all the people who have died will live on. We in the US have a lot to thank the people of Haiti for. They were (I think) the 2nd nation in this hemisphere to proclaim independence and when the French left they decided to sell us some land here, known as the Louisiana Purchase. We got a great deal and we have those brave Haitians to thank for turning the French away from this area. Interesting info about the UN security force being Brazilian. Didn't know that. Just see men with UN helmets.<br />So Leighton, go ahead and have a cry. I think you have a lot of company.<br /><br />JacquieAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1990338437877873686.post-55052319412215339952010-01-14T13:12:40.506-05:002010-01-14T13:12:40.506-05:00The Brazilian ambassador to Haiti, and his wife, a...The Brazilian ambassador to Haiti, and his wife, are good friends of ours. They came through the earthquake unscathed, but the same can not be said for a number of other Brazilians currently stationed on the island. (The UN peacekeeping force is Brazilian and under the command of a Brazilian general. One of the men who died in the collapse of a building was just one day short of being shipped home.)<br /> Here's a story to illustrate just how poor Haiti was BEFORE the disaster:<br /> Our friend, the ambassador, used to helicopter back and forth quite frequently, between Santo Domingo, on the Dominican side of the island, and Port au Prince, the Haitian capital.<br /> He told me that the border was clearly demarcated by the break in the rainforest, thick jungle on the Dominican side, only bare earth on the Haitian side. The Haitians had, long since, cut down all of their trees for firewood and to make charcoal. He said, further, that Haiti is one of the fewe places in the Carribean where you seldom hear a bird sing. They no longer have a habitat.<br />No fuel. Little potable water. A lack of food.<br />And now this. It makes me want to cry.Leighton Gagehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09788807904434180290noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1990338437877873686.post-68594279702520341402010-01-14T10:50:13.712-05:002010-01-14T10:50:13.712-05:00Hi Yrsa,
Along with your warm heart and entertain...Hi Yrsa,<br /><br />Along with your warm heart and entertaining stories, I love how freely you talk about the pleasures of smoking a cigarette.<br /><br />I don't know how people in Iceland feel about smokers but Americans find it appalling. I feel like I'm the only person that still smokes.<br /><br />SusieAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1990338437877873686.post-33658625109323815822010-01-13T21:50:15.950-05:002010-01-13T21:50:15.950-05:00Yrsa - My daughters have never suggested that we e...Yrsa - My daughters have never suggested that we exercise together. I think they would be horrified at the idea of being responsible for me when I fell over the first time I tried standing on one leg. <br /><br />The younger of the two is a mystery to me. She never gains weight. I do, all too easily. My sister and I never got the habit of exercise growing up. Physical activity was fine for my brothers but my mother felt the "girls" could get all the exercise we needed doing housework. She was born in 1921 so she grew up in the Depression. No one had to work at being thin; carrying some weight meant there was food on the table.<br /><br />Exercise today requires gym memberships and expensive shoes so that we can get rid of weight we should not have gained in the first place. The pictures coming out of Haiti are like a slap. They run the gamut from unsettling to sickening. Haiti has a per capita income of less than $600.00 American. 1 in 8 children will die before they reach the age of 5, primarily from diseases caused by impure water. They are, in essence, murdered by the corrupt government Tim mentioned. And yesterday, so many who beat the odds and survived into childhood were taken.<br /><br />I spend a lot of time talking back to the TV or the computer screen. Spokesmen for Pat Robinson are working really hard to re-frame some comments he made on the 700 Club today. Dr. Robinson offered a history lesson. In 1791, the leader of a slave rebellion made a pact with the devil to ensure that the slaves would be victorious over the French. According to Robinson, it is this pact that has led "scholars and religious figures" to believe that the country is cursed. <br /><br />Cursing is what I have been doing to Dr. Robinson.<br /><br />I saw a picture of a man standing outside of what may have been his home. He held his hands as if he was carrying a special cake but he was holding the body of his dead infant. He has haunted me all day. I wish he'd haunt Dr. Robinson.<br /><br />Bethbethhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17405199782450351160noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1990338437877873686.post-16371473369457326782010-01-13T19:03:37.204-05:002010-01-13T19:03:37.204-05:00Yrsa -- I join you in your anguish over the terrif...Yrsa -- I join you in your anguish over the terrific losses in Haiti, an island I've visited several times. It's just tragedy piled on tragedy -- grinding poverty, terrible governments, hurricanes last year, and now this.<br /><br />When CNN announced last night that the president of Haiti was alive despite the collapse of the presidential palace, I had a brief moment of hope that he'd been in the assembly building when it collapsed and that the entire corrupt government had been wiped out. Maybe then there could have been a new start. But it was not to be.<br /><br />Just terrible, terrible.<br /><br />And I hate the gym, too.Timothy Hallinanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00551263887774445511noreply@blogger.com