Good Baja Drugs

(Note: I wrote this just after I returned from Mexico last week. We got some epic surf, too. That's why I'm including the picures ... tho it does have anything to do with this story. Click here to read the story at the Santa Barbara Independent's website.)

Good Baja Drugs
By Jesse Aizenstat

Sinking my weight onto the rotisserie entry at a medical clinic in Baja, Mexico last week, I noticed the doctor sitting right in the front. Right in his chair. “Can I help you?” he asked. “Sure,” I muttered, in a foul gibberish. I already knew I had strep throat.

Twenty minutes later, after a thorough check up—with blood pressure, weight, and all the standard temperature gizmos I will never understand—the doctor wrote me a prescription for Ciprofloxacino, or Cipro, an anti-biotic prescribed in the US. I paid him $20 for the visit. Normally it was $15, but this was Sunday.

The pharmacy was on the street corner. I handed the pharmacist the prescription, enjoyed watching her seven-year-old son prance around the place in his new ranchero boots and belt, and waited to see what kind of twisted drugs she’d return with. Sure enough, two orders of Ciprofloxacino, and an order of Paracetamol, or Tylenol. The pharmacist apologized that it’d cost $10 for them all. It must have sounded a bit steep?

In the end, the whole thing costs just over a half hour and thirty American dollars. No insurance, no hassles, no waiting in line. Good Baja Drugs are out there—but only for those willing to get them.

The US financial crisis was "avoidable"? Then WTF did it happen!?

Casbahites,

One area of the national debate that fell victim to the Cold War is ................................ are you ready? ........................... The Marxist critique of capitalism.

To summarize: It contains the seeds of its own destruction. Or, "The Capitalists will sell us the rope with which we will hang them." (Tho that one was V. I. Lenin ... and a little besides the point. But you get the idea.)

And just to be clear, in the tittle, when I use "WTF," I mean "why the fuck," not "what the fuck." Just wanted everyone to be clear on that one, given the beastish nature of the thing.

Best,
The Col.

The January 25th Revolution

Dear Jeffery Goldberg posted the following Time Magazine analysis a few days ago on his blog. And yes, it was on this whole "January 25th" revolution happening across the Arab World. (If you've been on Twitter, the hashtag "#jan25" is being used to mark everything street protest from Yemen, to Egypt, to Tunisia ... thus, I'm deeming the thing the January 25th Revolution, or attempt of one, at least.) Goldberg quotes from Time:

Two factors make Egypt different from Tunisia. First, Tunisia's government spent generously on education, helping to establish the country's middle class above many of its regional counterparts. The frustration of an educated but unemployed population was key to Tunisia's revolt. (It was also key to the vast post-election crisis that overwhelmed Iran's streets two years ago.) Egypt has allowed spending on education to decay over the decades — some analysts attributing that to a conscious calculation on Mubarak's part.

In Egypt, teacher salaries are so low that it's common for students to pay for private tutorials (often from the same teachers), and social critics have lamented that poor education has deprived generations of the skills needed to think critically — and to dissent. "The 80 million people have no power, no knowledge, and they are not organized," one of Egypt's most outspoken social critics, feminist writer Nawal el-Saadawi, remarked last year. "Change the education. Work on the mind of the people. There is no mind here."

The other factor is the Army. In Tunisia, at a critical turning point, the Army took the side of the protesters in the street: it refused to fire on demonstrators. In Egypt, however, the military stands with Mubarak. The Interior Ministry, which runs the police, stands with Mubarak. Mubarak knows better than to falter on security, Egyptians say. "The government here is stronger than it was in Tunisia — that's why people are scared," says one Cairene citizen. "The jails are for people who protest these days. No one demands their rights anymore."

Well ... that was written a few days ago; look at this now: Friday in Egypt.




OK, crazy video, eh? I was thinking: So what if Egyptian Government controls the military, etc, but what can they do if they are clearly overwhelmed by street protesters? Yeah, exactly.

But that hasn't fully happened yet. No regime change and/or revolution yet. And as Goldberg reminds us on his blog today:

1) It's not yet a revolution. It might become one, but one of the reasons I haven't blogged much about this (apart from the snow-related loss of power) is that I have no idea which way this is going to go. I don't believe the Mubarak regime is going to give up power as easily as the Tunisians, for what it's worth. Although that can change very quickly.

And I agree. There is no January 25th Revolution... just an attempt at one.

The Ballad of As-Salibi

One of the main characters in my book, Surfing the Middle East, is a "WASPy Texan" named As-Salibi. (That's Arabic for The Crusader.)

Anyway ... That Texan appears a few times in this CNN video on The Palestine Papers. Enjoy.

The way of American life is rigged

Yes ... was that a question? (Or was that?) I'm not quite sure. But if you think the way of American life is rigged--that is to say that Horatio Alger is dead--then check out this video trailer of INSIDE JOB.

I saw this at the Santa Barbara Film Festival and really enjoyed it. What a reality check.

Android & the App Industry

Shifting gears from Arab autocratic revolutions, the Android platform will really figure things out when they start "in-App billing." Yes ... they will.

But no worry on any of that ... for now. Just look at the industry I'm talking about. From Paid Content:

Still, apps are at an all-time high, with 2011’s revenues representing growth of more than 190 percent on 2010’s revenues of $5.2 billion, and growth of over 1,000 percent between 2010 and 2014.

Gartner says that 17.1 billion downloads for 2011 works out to a growth rate of 117 percent compared to 8.2 billion downloads in 2010. Collectively, we will have downloaded an astounding 185 billion apps by 2014, taking the launch of the first app store—Apple’s—in July 2008 as where the analsyts started counting.

Just for fun, my buddy--who lives in China--tells me that he saw a rip off tablet called the "iPed" the other day on sale for $100. He also says that the thing runs Android. Very cool. Though the components inside of the thing, he says, are a constant mystery - mostly surplus stuff, I would guess.

Also, I thought this was cool:

Arabs and Social Media

What happened in Tunisia a few weeks ago: Some kid couldn't get a job because of his corrupt government's stalled economy; then he was hassled for selling fruit (without a permit); then he committed suicide - from the despair of it all. That was the tipping point. The point of revolution.

President Ben Ali of Tunisia is now in exile. He is no longer the President. The Arabs of Tunisia seem to want him as far from Their Country as humanly possible. (And in some circles, Saudi Arabia is about as far as a leader can be from their people ... a good sign for the people of Tunisia.)

Question: How did the Tunisian people do it?

Answer: social media.

Yes ... This was a revolution held on Twitter and other social media websites, bypassing the conventional journalistic channels that were already doomed by the oppressive Ben Ali government.

And... Now... the same thing is happening in Egypt (the social media & street organizing, at least). Here is just one Tweet I picked off from my Surfing the Middle East Twitter account, #SurftheME:

@HuffingtonPost Tear Gas, Electric Shocks, Beaten Hard and Shooting Protesters in #Egypt! Is it much 2 ask 4 our freedom! Help!#jan25 #cairo

So there it is. Social Frickin' Media! It can be Tunisia Powerful. But but can it be Arab Middle East Powerful? Egyptian Powerful? We shall wait; we shall see.


Update: It is now reported that Egypt blocked Twitter. Let's also add Sulia.com to this wave of Arab monarch-threatening social media.

Mr. Josh Wood

A dear friend of Surfing the Middle East, Josh Wood, has written a nice article for Esquire Magazine. Mr. Josh also wrote one of the early articles for Surfing the Middle East, that can be viewed right ............. here.

Anyway, Mr. Josh's new piece in Esquire can be found on the racks. But I also recommend downloading the cool PDF file:

http://woodenbeirut.files.wordpress.com/2011/01/esq14_p86-93-south-lebanon.pdf

Congrats Josh. Anything to support the endeavors of the journalist is of my interest.