They’re free

All Venezuela, Colombia and a big part of the world followed closely the process of freeing two prominent hostages –former congresswomen Clara Rojas and Consuelo González– from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC, after their initials in Spanish), today at an of course indisclosed location in the Colombian jungle. It was like watching people come back to life, which in a way is true: the two women had been kidnapped for more than six years. As I write this post, the two are flying to Caracas to meet with their family.

 

One year that comes…

And so it comes again. The end of a year. Ol’ Mother Earth is completing yet another trip around the Sun. It’s something that’s been happening literally since the dawn of time for our planet, and yet we throw a party like it might never happen again. Call me cynical, but why?

 

Religion por siempre

Please be warned: it doesn’t get any more personal an opinion than this. If I do offend anyone, please forgive me.

Two of the greastest Firefox extensions I’ve discovered in recent months have been the StumbleUpon toolbar (to randomly find interesting new websites) and the Clipmarks button (to save the best parts of webpages instead of the whole thing). Thanks to them, I discovered this: 9 QuestionsFrom A Christian About Christianity. (Please take a time to read them before you continue.) (Thanks. ) And it certainly stirred up a recent controversy! I received 33 comments for the clip on Clipmarks, and the discussion certainly got heated at a point. It’s natural; religion will always bring out the passion in people, both devout and atheists.

 

“Rwanda? Not a clue.”

Call me old-fashioned. Call me an idealist. Call what you will, as Bob Seger put it. But I’m genuinely worried about a sad situation that I know has been going on for quite some time. It’s the absolute lack for culture that has gripped the average Joe on the street. Everyone is so obsessed with getting ahead further faster that nobody is taking the time to widen their general knowledge. It’s the demise of the general from the necessary.

 

The end of an era: Akira Yoshizawa, 1911-2005

When the average Joe on the street hears “origami”, it’s more than likely he’ll conjure up the image of a paper boat or paper plane, maybe a cootie catcher if he’s in the right age range, or a jumping frog or flapping bird if he’s a not-so-average Joe. If he’s part of that growing majority who know that origami is so much more than playground games, he or she might probably think of rabbits, buffaloes, dragons, cranes, dollar bill models, and names like Lang, Montroll, Montoya, Voyer, Joisel, Albertino, Kamiya, Fuse and Kasahara.

 

But no one –I mean NO ONE– that has anything to do with origami –and no one in the world who has any sensibility for arts or human beings– cannot think of the centuries-old craft without associating it with one name: Akira Yoshizawa.