Busy, Busy, Busy.

Conditions: Hot and sunny.

In amongst the general chaos of work this week, it occurs to me that, even though it's obvious, I should point out that while the Virginia Tech shooting is a tragedy, it is easily trumped by the tragedies happening in Iraq every single day. So while the news networks continue to investigate the lone gunman, and memorials are conducted over the victims, and we await the inevitable magazine articles, tv interviews and feature documentaries on the subject, let's keep a little perspective. Is this a tragedy because a lot of people died, or is it a tragedy because it happened in a part of the world that "it's not meant to"?

"In the worst of the bombings Wednesday, a car packed with explosives exploded at an intersection in the Sadriya neighborhood that serves as a hub for buses traveling to the Shiite district of Sadr City. The blast killed at least 140 people and wounded 150; incinerated scores of vehicles, including several minibuses full of passengers; and charred nearby shops, witnesses and the police said.

Mr. Maliki said in a statement late Wednesday that he had ordered the arrest of an Iraqi Army officer who had security oversight in the Sadriya neighborhood. As rescuers thronged the site, a sniper opened fire on the crowd, killing at least one person and wounding two others."

Posing no threat

The American military, in all their glorious and far-reaching wisdom, wish to expand their (flawed) missile shield so as to protect themselves from the Iranians. In order to do this, they have to set up missile sites in Poland. In order to do that they have to convince NATO that the shield poses no threat to them, and in order to do that, they have to calm Russia.

Russia's permanent representative to NATO said Thursday U.S. plans to deploy missile defense elements in Central Europe will change the strategic balance of forces in Europe.

"Of course, Russia believes this is a change in the strategic balance of forces in our common region," Konstantin Totsky told journalists in Brussels.
[...]

He said he hoped American experts would prove to Russia the necessity of deploying missile defense elements in Europe.

Apparently, the Americans are going to prove that a missile system placed in Eurpoe could pose no concieveable harm to a European nation. And how are they going to do that, you ask?

Lt. Gen. Henry Obering, head of the U.S. Missile Defense Agency, said Tuesday that in order to ease Kremlin's concerns, Washington was ready to allow Russian experts to inspect the likely missile site in Poland to show that it posed no threat to Moscow.

Oh, an inspection! Yes, because viewing the missiles in their launch tubes should prove once and for all that said missiles can't hit anything the computers don't tell them to hit. And malfunctions aside, these things are programmed to do what they do, so ipso facto the programs could be changed in the blink of a transistor. Frankly if I was Russia I'd have a vodka or two, and not trust the Americans either.

Link



Robot carnage

Hey, what would it have looked like if the Nazis had sent a giant mechanical man to attack the Americans during WW2? Don't bother firing up your imagination circuits, Marco Spitoni has made a short CG movie that brings the awesomeness. Link here

Peace out, bitches.