Comments by Lrac Rendiew

Comment #93346 by Lrac Rendiew on December 2, 2007 at 7:19 pm

Yes you can import any kind of digital file into a wave editor like Soundforge or Cool Edit Pro, Adobe Audition (basically the same), Cubase, Sonar, Audacity, Wavelab, Nuendo, Pro Tools etc.... And you can then save it to whatever filetype you like, .wav .mp3 .ogg etc. I used an eBook by Nietsche recently as a rythmical element, threw it in Ableton Live, it somehow made more sense that way...
(I'm just showing off with the namedropping here if anybody noticed)

2. Frequently Asked Questions about the Ayaan Hirsi Ali Security Trust

Comment #90375 by lrac rendiew on November 24, 2007 at 11:54 pm

For some reason my answer didn't get posted.....
I will have to formulate it again... but not now. I can only say that partly I agree with adonais's critique. I'll just have to come back on it later.. It was quite a long answer and now I'm just too tired.

3. Frequently Asked Questions about the Ayaan Hirsi Ali Security Trust

Comment #90202 by Lrac Rendiew on November 23, 2007 at 1:16 pm

The fact that the Dutch aren't so sympathetic to Ayaan Hirshi Ali's case is the fact that she lied about quite a lot of things in her past. Her story about her life in Somalia and Kenia, forced marriage, the names she used to get a status as refugee, a lot of it is very dodgy to say the least. There is a documentary about this by a Dutch TV-Station that you can see here: http://zembla.vara.nl/Dossier_Politiek.1969.0.html?&tx_ttnews[backPid]=1968&tx_ttnews[tt_news=1646&cHash=f986e7f8ae# or http://player.omroep.nl/?aflID=2870437.
It is in Dutch so that will be problematic to a lot of you, I haven't researched if there is a subtitled version somewhere.
I'm not saying that the messeage she is spreading isn't sincere or that people should stop listening to what she has to say on the subject or should not donate to Sam Harris' fund. It is however clear she used some very dubious tactics to get into the Netherlands and thus into politics. The question if Rita Verdonk should have called her out the way she did and forced her to give back her passport is another matter. Ali wanted to leave the Netherlands herself and because of her actions in the past, which she tried to hide and lied about, the public opinion has turned a bit sour and there is something to be said for the decision that the government shouldn't have to pay for her security in another country. Again, that doesn't mean she should be unprotected and if Harris' initiative can help her and people are willing to donate, all the better. It's just that all sides should be known and Ayaan's past actions are something to be considered no matter how good her messeage is.