Monday, August 01, 2005

Talking Points

---Blogdai has heard your pleas and is calling a temporary moratorium on all ambassador bashing. Thank you and stop clapping please.

----Unbelievably dead-on article in this week's New York Times book review. Titled: "Bad News," the article highlights the decreasing credibility of the mainstream media as well as those of us in the Blogosphere. Phrases like "..limited consumer interest in the truth," and "The blogoshpere has more checks and balances than the conventional media; only they are different" are just a few of the revelations in this powerhouse article.

-----Can't make up my mind today. There is a palpable realization that the King is wasting his chance to make some real changes, but I can't decide if this is a cold, calculated maneuver towards autocracy or the same bumbling ineffective governance that typifies Nepal politics. Can't see why the King would string everyone along if he were just going to permanently take-over. This only gives the pundits of the world more fuel for resistance.

------Missing Texas trekker appears to have been lost on the Jiri/Lukla trail. It's a slippery slog in many places--with or without a monsoon--so this guy could have fallen anywhere. That section from Bupsa to Puiyan is constantly washed-out and is held together by log splices in the trail. I'd look there first.

-------Our field people have the latest on trekking conditions in all the major regions. We'll post the details soon. It would probably be useful to find out where the Maoists extort the most from tourists. Any readers with special info, share it in the comments, if you will.

--------This is my new, non-cynical tone. I plan on being politically correct and inoffensive from here on out......NOT!

-=blogdai

18 Comments:

At 5:32 PM, August 01, 2005, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I know that trail and you are right about the Pujan segment.

The reports I read say this person wandered east from base camp and away from gorak shep. I don't see how this is possible since the trail follows a line from base camp through Lobuche directly down the valley created by the Khumbu glacier.

What I'm saying is that is is almost impossible to wander off to the east and get lost unless you really make an effort.

Chris

 
At 10:25 PM, August 01, 2005, Anonymous Anonymous said...

can girija and mahdav wander down the same trail and make an effort... see this is a politically correct dig at politicians

 
At 7:04 AM, August 02, 2005, Blogger blogdai said...

If the trail leads to money, then I am sure they can work something out.

-=blogdai

 
At 11:20 AM, August 02, 2005, Anonymous Anonymous said...

What happened to my earlier post?

 
At 3:07 PM, August 02, 2005, Blogger blogdai said...

On this thread? Post again. We haven't removed anything here or anywhere in a while so maybe it was just a technical issue. Please try again.

-=blogdai

 
At 3:18 PM, August 02, 2005, Blogger blogdai said...

The Aruba issue speaks directly to the New York Times article "Bad News" featured this past Sunday.

Grisly sex crimes involving teens drive the media and their perception of public demand and, hence the extra hellicopters I'd assume.

If Brad Pitt were lost in the Himalayas, I'm sure it would be a different story.

-=blogdai

 
At 7:05 AM, August 04, 2005, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Ambassadors or politicos, who cares who is being bashed? Keep it up. The picture of the ambassador with the bug coming out of his head is cheeky and funny!

 
At 7:04 PM, August 06, 2005, Anonymous Anonymous said...

A bit Monty-Python-esque, don't you think?

 
At 5:12 AM, August 12, 2005, Anonymous Anonymous said...

death of a blog...
epitaph for this website.
if we all come back after one year and visit it we will find that nothing would have changed in Nepal. ..
the King would still be ruling.. the maoists would still be going beserk in the coutryside. the big three interfering countries would still be swilling out double talk... the common man on the street would still be waiting for peace. the parties would still be hiding behind students. and putlisadak will still have enough terracotta bricks on it to organise the french open...
sorry blogdai but i have decided that its been the same since 2001 and idont see anything changing...so see ya on this website next year...ya ya ya paras might grow a beard ..and may take up scuba diving in phewa ..but then who cares

 
At 7:08 AM, August 12, 2005, Blogger blogdai said...

Hmmm, perhaps if blogdai took up the gun you would be happy?

Incessant party protests and daily maoist atrocities are also monotonous to a degree, but that is Nepal. Should we shut down Nepal because nothing new and exciting is happening?

Maybe more gossip would better accommodate your attention span...Come to think of it, let's see what Brad and Angelina are thinking about Nepal. Did you hear that Brittany's new baby will be named Girija? Will Beck's ever visit Lumbini?

Let's think about this blog for a second. Where was Nepal's access to debate and discussion during the Panchayat era? Where were the open world-forums even during the 1990's? Nowhere. Open global discussions did not exist; to the extent that their relevant info was plucked and used by politicians and main-stream media pundits.

Blogs like this one are read by us bloggers and those in the halls of power. Blogdai has been quoted on numerous occasions, and the ideas presented here and on other blogs help uncover some of the misconceptions and downright falsehoods printed about Nepal.

There is much happening in Nepal. Take the time to understand the delicate balance of history and politics at play here and you will not be so easily bored.

-=blogdai

 
At 10:22 AM, August 12, 2005, Anonymous Anonymous said...

hear hear..well besides waking you up from your slumber the point was that i feel that you need to take on a new viewpoint. the days of feb 1st its shock and awe and the king as the messiah coming to save the common man are over.of course the whole war on maoist terror has gotten bogged down. even todays nepali time editorial reflects the frustration of the common man -on the road to nowhere.
once plan A fails G is going back to his plan b which is buy time..
check out these links to see how the blame game is starting.. petty squabling.http://www.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=52642

http://indianexpress.com/full_story.php?content_id=76117

http://www.deccanherald.com/deccanherald/july292004/f6.asp
why the maoists will love the way the army is getting into panic mode. maybe blogdai would need to take up a gun as the maoists creep up to the edge of the valley. and while we are at it lets buy paras a fiddle

 
At 5:10 PM, August 12, 2005, Blogger blogdai said...

Agreed.

Looks like no matter who is in charge, incompetance reigns supreme.

I'm beginning to think that Nepal has no idea about how a functioning democracy works. A wise man once said that democracy is the art of compromise (no, not George Will). All we see is the same Indian model of jockying for position and cashing in at all costs.

Stay tuned, a few things are brewing.

-=blogdai

 
At 7:45 PM, August 12, 2005, Blogger blogdai said...

Sniff, Sniff,

Blogdai smells some old shennanigans afoot. Someone is posting "penny stock" information and other spam here.

Also, we are getting an old, dismissive and familiar tone from some of our anonymous posters.

Could we be heralding the return of the spoiled Desi/Lankan brats? After a couple of spirited debates early this year, we started getting links to Sri-Lankan porn sites, so this new pattern is as familiar as it is disengenious.

Blogdai has monitoring and delete capabilities so why bother? Save your sour-grapes for someone else.

-=blogdai

 
At 1:10 PM, August 14, 2005, Blogger blogdai said...

Would love to check it out, where is it?

-=blogdai

 
At 1:16 PM, August 15, 2005, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hey Blogdai,

Hope all's well.

I'm getting bored with the whole democracy at all costs movement. Once people have learned the notion of civic duty than maybe we can move on but at the moment I find it all to be a rather cynical exercise.

BTW I think blogger logs all the IP addresses of posters so maybe you can use that information to narrow down the origin of these offensive posts.

I would imagine our old sparring partner Mork'nMindy has an ISP based in Sri Lanka.

In any case, I'd probably leave it alone. No one seems to read their stuff and there's probably a good reason for that.

naagboy

 
At 3:04 PM, August 15, 2005, Blogger blogdai said...

Right, good idea.

I haven't checked up on our friends in Columbo but am very close to holding that guys feet to the fire over those "secret" reports that came out of Nepal that only he seemed to get.

More on that in the next few months.

-=blogdai

 
At 10:43 AM, August 20, 2005, Anonymous Anonymous said...

ya but the catch is that ISP number you see no longer means much...as i am sitting in one continent and my server is showing my ISP from another continent.. very basic thing any sysman would do when setting up his firewall.

 
At 12:13 PM, August 20, 2005, Blogger blogdai said...

What to do then? Is identification even possible?

 

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