Things Learned on My Brief Trip to NYC
Monday, January 14th, 2008
* met a Canadian who worked for OSHA, who helps ensure & train workers on safety surrounding tires of huge machines like that pictured above (and bigger)
* he’s been visiting & working in and around the north pole for the past 20 years — the climate change, he says, is simply undeniable. The only controversy surrounding that issue now is the extent to which it is caused by humans vs. the natural cycles of the planet.
* NYC cab drivers can make roughly $1,000 per week (take home, I believe) - but that’s working 12 hour days, 7 days a week
* That comes to roughly $12 per hour. Not bad, but an 84 hour work week!?! How can spoiled Americans compete?!? (they don’t)
* Spoke to another Pakistani cabbie who believed Osama bin Laden is dead
* He said the players in the West created a major problem by funding the mujahadeen (indeed)
* Once the war with the Soviets was over, they simply looked for their next target. Combined with Islamic fundamentalism, you get some pretty nasty stuff.
* Kashmir is like the Jerusalem of central Asia — Pakistan, India & even China, claim ownership over parts of the territory
