Technology gettin' on my nerves

Conditions: Overcast.


Hypocritin'.

In a show of, I don't know, solidarity with the Bush administration perhaps, Former Attorney General John Ashcroft, in a poorly-received address at the University of Colorado, admitted that he was willing to undergo water-boarding in order to demonstrate that it wasn't actually torture.

During the speech, Ashcroft caused an uproar when he declared Guantanamo Bay was a “good place” for detainees. In addition, he defended the torture tactic of waterboarding:

Ashcroft also responded to questions from the audience. The first question came from a woman who asked if Ashcroft would be willing to be subjected to waterboarding.

“The things that I can survive, if it were necessary to do them to me, I would do,” he said.

Ashcroft apparently believes that torture should be allowed as long as it doesn’t kill him.

- thinkprogress.org

Indeed, and that is the entire hypocritical point. Because Ashcroft knows, in that deep dark place that used to house his heart, that were he to be actually waterboarded it would be short-lasting, in a safe environment, for demonstration purposes only, and with a medical team standing by. Therefore basically it is to actual torture what sitting in a class learning about physics is to falling off a building. What an asshole.



They Just Don't Get It.

As usual, U.S forces killed a bunch of road workers in Afghanistan on Wednesday, and promptly shifted the blame elsewhere. The "it's not our fault, it's was just bad intelligence" line of defence, as if bad intel is the same as foggy weather, or a sudden attack of stupidity.

The workers, who had been contracted by the US military to build a road in the mountainous province, were sleeping in their tents when they were killed, according to Sayed Noorullah Jalili, director of the road construction company Amerifa.

"All of our poor workers have been killed," Jalili said. "I don't think the Americans were targeting our people. I'm sure it's the enemy of the Afghans who gave the Americans this wrong information."

The company has asked the US military to investigate the information that led to the air strike, Jalili said.

- The Guardian

Firstly, it should be anyone else investigating this rather than the US military, for blindingly obvious reasons. Secondly, and more importantly, why in hell are the US still conducting these kinds of operations? How are they supposed to be fighting wars by flying around and dropping bombs randomly? Who does that really help? Certainly not anyone on the ground, good or bad guy. I bet it's great for the bombmakers, though. And the plane builders. Maybe they're the ones who sent in the tip?



Cameron Weeps.

It has been the dream of military commanders for ever to have mechanical soldiers that can be sent to do all the hard work, like killing and dying. It's been the nightmare of any rational person that such a thing could happen one day. Well, those insane geniuses at DARPA may be getting closer, based on statements released recently by the military.

"The enhanced mobility and load carrying capability provided by the MEPAC" -- that's short for "Marine Exoskeletal Performance Augmentation Capability" -- will eventually "allow Marines to individually carry more ballistic protection and heavy weaponry," the memo says.

The first uses of exoskeleton (in about 10 years, according to the document) would be in logistics units, to "complement smaller forklifts [and] overhead cranes." As the suits became more capable, Marines might wear 'em to lug heavy crew-served weapons around.

"Still later, the MEPAC could evolve into an objective capability that stands alone as a computationally-self-aware machine, a fully sensing and interactive endoskeletal entity that has outgrown its practical need for unmitigated Marine contact, and can act constructively on its own."

- blog.wired.com

I've no doubt such a system is technically feasible, that is not the issue. The issue is simply and clearly the danger of having weapons that can be wielded without any danger to those that wield them. And the more disconnected we are from the weapons we use (or are used in our name), the more truly dangerous they become. Gee, it's almost as if there's been a movie or two about this...



20 Year Max Anniversary.



Yes, this is very surreal. 20 years ago someone or something broke into WTTW channel 11 in Chicago, and broadcast a disjointed and very disturbing monologue, disguised as infamous 80's TV character Max Headroom for a couple of minutes. To this day they have never been caught.

Who was this prankster, and what was he trying to accomplish?

Good question. No one knows who he was or what the point of the broadcasts were (it was actually the second of the evening, with the first being a shorter clip of the same video broadcast during the evening news on a different channel). It's not like there was a message really, either. The ramblings are pretty tough to make out, and when you do they don't make a whole lot of sense.

That's not to say that it was brushed off as not that big a deal; the FCC actually launched an investigation trying to figure out just who this Max Headroom character was to no avail.

- Gizmodo.com

Click the link to watch the video clip, and read about how it probably was done. And then salute whomever it was that did that. Whoa.



Cellphones Make You Crazy!

Cellphones drive everyone crazy, and this week a New York judge snapped when he couldn't find out who's cellphone had gone off in his courtroom. So he dealt out a swift serving of The Law to everyone in the courthouse.

He began by ordering the doors of the court locked, and set the officers to searching for the phone.

When that failed to find the offending item he ordered each of the defendants present in the room up to his bench and in turn asked them if they knew whose phone it was. "When each in turn said they had no idea, he sent each in turn to jail. All 46 of them.

When a defendant protested the judge's actions were not fair to those who didn't possess the phone, Mr Restaino replied: "I know it isn't."

Court transcripts show that when another told him "This ain't right", the judge shot back: "You're right, it ain't right. Ain't right at all."

The judge's actions caused pandemonium. Extra officers had to be drafted into the court to control the crowd, and booking officers at the city jail were at full stretch. "We were playing Twister in here," one said at the time.

Fourteen of the defendants who could not post bail were shackled in irons and sent to the county jail.

- The Guardian

Now, yes this is pretty bad, but in his defense, cellphones are terrible, terrible things.



From The Lighter Side (Figuratively).

Quick question: What happens when you're engine testing a brand new giant-ass plane and you don't properly secure the wheels?

airbus-a340-meets-wall-airbus-loses

Art Corner: With Lego.



Kinda makes that spaceship you built when you were 10 look like crap, huh?

http://bestpicsaround.com/pic-440-Lego-Brick-Art



Film Review: Lions For Lambs.

Over the last 7 years, Liberal America has basically been shoved to one side, Dr Jekyll-like, by Conservative America's Mr Hyde as it rants and raves and casts a net of destruction across the middle east in fear-fueled retaliation for the attacks on 9/11. Now here we stand, 7 years, uncounted numbers of innocent dead, and god knows how many billions of dollars down the shitter, and Dr Jekyll is perhaps maybe starting to wake out of it's shock-induced coma. Lions for Lambs is a somber, serious, yet fleeting look at the war, and how America looks at itself in the mirror in the morning.

Director Robert Redford has basically tried to wrap a quick sermon about how important it is for kids today to get good grades and become good citizens up with a couple of quick pieces about how horrible and wasteful war is, and how horrible the political situation in America today is. To the latter he uses Tom Cruise as a creepy Republican senator, desperately trying to interest veteran reporter Meryl Streep in the latest All New military offensive plan for Afghanistan. This gradually, guardedly and carefully turns into a conversation about how badly the war has been fought so far, and how unlikely it is that this latest 'new policy' will work, no matter how much the conservatives need it to. Not to mention the role the media have willfully played in helping the government sell it's policies of fear and violence since 9/11.

To the second point we have two college buddies, now Army Rangers, facing pointless death on a mountain in Afghanistan as part of this bold new strategy while, back home, Redford (playing a college professor) talks about exactly how dangerous our disinterest and apathy is. His audience is basically us, in the form of a jaded and demotivated, yet brilliant, student who sees how shitty everything is, and so is losing any hope that he can change it, with the subsequent falling attendance and grades.

So, what is this movie? Essentially, it's Robert Redford telling the Kids Of America to stop watching the news and start understanding the news. And to those who are particularly offended by the actions of their elected leaders, run for office yourself. You know, after you get an education and everything. It's a brave and even worthy message, but the wrapper it's in comes across a little cheesily and somewhat forced. I watched this film in a completely empty theater, and it's not hard to see why. It's not just talky, it's preachy. And if you're paying enough attention to want to see this film, then you already know everything it's trying to tell you anyway. Yes, the war on terror is one of the biggest swindles this planet has ever seen. Yes, politics in America are at perhaps their lowest point in a good long while. Yes, anyone with half a brain can see how corrupt and decaying everything is, with little hope of improvement in the short term. But going and watching a movie about these things is not exactly entertaining. Perhaps it should have been a play instead. Three pointless deaths out of Five.


Peace out.

Grumpitude.

Conditions: Hot. Stiflingly So.


Examining Afghanistan.

Are the soldiers in Afghanistan actually helping the situation there? It's a simple question, one that any leader should ask of his troops, or people ask of their leaders.

The road between the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad and the Pakistani border is one of the busiest in the country, congested with gaily painted trucks, battered taxis, buses packed to the rafters and Afghans riding bikes. One morning in early March, a suicide bomber plowed a Toyota packed with explosives into the middle of a U.S. convoy patrolling that road, killing himself and injuring a Marine. That was bad enough, but what may be the key to Afghanistan's future was what happened next.

As pedestrians scattered in the resulting confusion and chaos, other Marines opened fire as their convoy sped away, shooting at vehicles and pedestrians over the course of some 10 miles, according to the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission. They left at least 12 civilians dead in their wake and injured dozens more. "They opened fire on everybody," one wounded bystander told a reporter, "the ones inside the vehicles and the ones on foot." A court of inquiry is scheduled to convene next month at Camp Lejeune, N.C., to determine whether the Marines acted improperly. Investigations by the U.S. military and the Afghan human rights commission have already concluded that the American convoy was not fired upon after the suicide attack. The incident near Jalalabad is part of a disturbing larger pattern in Afghanistan. Last year was the worst year for civilian casualties since the fall of the country's cruel Taliban regime, and 2007 is shaping up to be even worse. The most alarming point: As of July, more civilians had died as a result of NATO, U.S. and Afghan government firepower than had died due to the Taliban.

- Truthout.org

It seems to me that the guiding principle of doctors, the hippocratic oath of 'first do no harm', should also apply to armies. It's a safe, somewhat golden rule, one of common sense. And yet time and again we see armed conflict getting out of control, espeically in the middle east, and civilians suffering disproportinally for it. Think of this: If you lived in Afghanistan, and the Western soldiers killed more civilians than the Taliban or Al Queda did, who would you more frightened of?



Head's in the Sand.

It's been clear for a good long while now that a great many people in Iraq have been killed. The question is how many, exactly. On average, American's think the number is around 10,000. The media, and the Iraq Body Count website, put it at around 70,000. But a serious and scientific study by Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health over a year ago, estimated the number at around 600,000. By now the number could well be over a million. That's quite a lot. This study, and therefore this number, has been essentially ignored in America. Why?

These estimates do not include those who have died because of public health problems created by the war, including breakdowns in sewerage systems and electricity, shortages of medicines, etc.

Amazingly, some journalists and editors - and of course some politicians - dismiss such measurements because they are based on random sampling of the population rather than a complete count of the dead. While it would be wrong to blame anyone for their lack of education, this disregard for scientific methods and results is inexcusable. As one observer succinctly put it: if you don't believe in random sampling, the next time your doctor orders a blood test, tell him that he needs to take all of it.

The methods used in the estimates of Iraqi deaths are the same as those used to estimate the deaths in Darfur, which are widely accepted in the media. They are also consistent with the large numbers of refugees from the violence (estimated at more than four million). There is no reason to disbelieve them, or to accept tallies such as that the Iraq Body Count (73,305 - 84,222), which include only a small proportion of those killed, as an estimate of the overall death toll.

Of course, acknowledging the holocaust in Iraq might change the debate over the war. While Iraqi lives do not count for much in US politics, recognizing that a mass slaughter of this magnitude is taking place could lead to more questions about how this horrible situation came to be. Right now a convenient myth dominates the discussion: the fall of Saddam Hussein simply unleashed a civil war that was waiting to happen, and the violence is all due to Iraqis' inherent hatred of each other.

In fact, there is considerable evidence that the occupation itself - including the strategy of the occupying forces - has played a large role in escalating the violence to holocaust proportions. It is in the nature of such an occupation, where the vast majority of the people are opposed to the occupation and according to polls believe it is right to try and kill the occupiers, to pit one ethnic group against another. This was clear when Shiite troops were sent into Sunni Fallujah in 2004; it is obvious in the nature of the death-squad government, where officials from the highest levels of the Interior Ministry to the lowest ranking police officers - all trained and supported by the US military - have carried out a violent, sectarian mission of "ethnic cleansing." (The largest proportion of the killings in Iraq are from gunfire and executions, not from car bombs). It has become even more obvious in recent months as the United States is now arming both sides of the civil war, including Sunni militias in Anbar province as well as the Shiite government militias.

- Truthout.org

I can't help but think that there would be a much greater push to end the war in Iraq if the people realised just how many had been killed for it. It's not about the American soldiers, I'm sure everyone knows how many of those have been killed, it's about the true victims of this war, and the disconnect between that and the people who essentially voted for this was in 2004..



Chessboxing.

Apparently, there's a group of people out there who like playing chess, like boxing, and have decided to put the two together, sort of as an ultimate competition between the two. The players box for a few minutes, then play chess for a few minutes, and so on until we have a winner, in either arena. It must be hell on the gloves.

Youtube Video: Chessboxing




I think instead of creating something great out of two things, they've really just ruined two things by mashing them together. Who cares to watch a chess match after seeing two guys fight for a few minutes, and who cares to see guys fight after getting involved in a chess match? Some of the priciples may be the same, but there's too much dilution for my taste.




Is it Christmas yet?

Again I see the Xmas decorations being put up in malls and so forth. Again I feel the anger of resistance rise within me. So I ask the question: Is It Christmas Yet?



Procrastination Flow Chart.

Here's an easy way to figure out if you really have to do anything. Confused? Just follow the boxes. http://projectsidewalk.com/flowchart/



Film Review: Mr Brooks.

Curiously, it seems that the point of this film is to try and make you feel bad for a serial killer. Oh, sure, Mr Brooks has got problems. His daughter's pregnant and has dropped out of college, and might possibly have inherited the crazy from him. A smart detective, played by Demi Moore, is trying to track him down. And he's being blackmailed by some punk kid (Dane Cook) who filmed him killing his latest victims and instead of going to the cops wants Brooks to teach him the trade. And he's desperately trying to kick his addiction to killing, even (amusingly) attending AA meetings. But still and all, and at the end of the day, he's a serial killer!

See, it's not like Kevin Costner plays Brooks as a raving, demented psycho. All in all he's a very reasonable and correct businessman, husband and father. Indeed, the actual darker side of his mind is embodied by William Hurt, who plays the invisible 'dark side' of Brooks, constantly trying to talk him into another spree. The interactions between the two parts of the same mind are quite good. Furthermore, the plot itself is quite smart, winding together the three story lines (blackmailer, daughter and investigating cop) with the proper twists and turns of a good thriller.

But ultimately, this film tries to make us empathize with Mr Brooks. And you really only see that when you're walking back to your car. And it makes you stop in your tracks, keys in hand, and wonder at the simple chutzpah required to make a film where the character you're meant to feel bad for is the serial killer. Is this a reflection of the lax moral standards we as a civilization show on a daily basis? In the news, on TV, in our own homes? Are our moral choices and those of our leaders being reflected back at us by our popular culture, and if so, then are we truly damned as the immoralities begin reinforcing one another and the slide steepens until it is inescapable? Or is it just a flawed movie? Four thumbprints out of Five.



End Transmission.

Moving Over The Waters.

Conditions: Overcast, Cool, Annoying.


Iraq IS Getting Better(?)

Holy crap, could the rumours be true?

All in all, violence in Iraq has dropped precipitously since late summer. With Al Qaeda declared dead, former Sunni resistance fighters wearing American-supplied uniforms, and the Mahdi Army lying low, killings in Iraq are way down. The security situation in Iraq is far better than it's been at any time since 2005. Many American antiwar critics, who are invested in the notion that no good news can come out of Iraq and who (secretly or openly) revel in the Bush administration's Iraqi failures, are reluctant to admit that things are getting better.

Perhaps they worry that, if the situation in Iraq improves, the prospect of Democratic gains at the polls next November will diminish. Perhaps they've convinced themselves that Iraq's ethnic and sectarian divide is so enormous that partition is the only solution, and that Iraq doesn't deserve to be a country anyway. Perhaps their distaste for President Bush (which I share) is so all-consuming that they fear any improvement in the situation will be credited to the President - something they can't tolerate.

- Truthout.org

And this is an important point. Iraq improving in some ways validates President Bush's steadfast determination to keep troops in the country until it can fend for itself. So if that policy starts to come true, it reflects well upon President Bush's decision to stick to his guns. But know this, while Bush may well have done the right thing in staying in Iraq, no matter how peaceful the country becomes it will never, EVER, diminish the simple fact that he authorised an illegal, immoral and unnecessary war that cost the lives of around half a million innocent people. Anything that he ever does now or in the future will never diminish that one simple damning fact. May he forever writhe under the weight of guilt the truth assigns to him.





Baghdad On The Map.

This caught my eye, Google maps accumulate orbital photography of various cities onto their website knowledge base, and here's the map of part of Baghdad.



(I doubt that's just a fender bender.) Let's take a visit.




Promoting War Upstairs.

Since the dawn of Reagan, war hawks in the U.S have dreamt of that final frontier of warfare: space. Instead of transporting men and weapons across the globe in order to shoot them at the enemy, wouldn't it be cooler to just hang the weapons (and men) over the heads of everyone, like the sword of Damocles, and at the push of a button drop them all down almost instantly. Well, that time is rapidly approaching with the latest program announced from the pentagon

The new program, dubbed Falcon, for "Force Application and Launch from CONUS," centers on a small-launch-vehicle concept of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. The agency describes Falcon as a "a reusable Hypersonic Cruise Vehicle (HCV) capable of delivering 12,000 pounds of payload at a distance of 9,000 nautical miles from [the continental United States] in less than two hours."

Hypersonic speed is far greater than the speed of sound. The reusable vehicle being contemplated would "provide the country with significant capability to conduct responsive missions with quick turn-around sortie rates while providing aircraft-like operability and mission-recall capability," according to DARPA.

The vehicle would be launched into space on a rocket, fly on its own to a target, deliver its payload and return to Earth. In the short term, a small launch rocket is being developed as part of Falcon. It eventually would be able to boost the hypersonic vehicle into space. But in the interim, it will be used to launch small satellites within 48 hours' notice at a cost of less than $5 million a shot.

Conferees added $100 million above the Bush administration's request for nearly $200 million to accelerate "space situational awareness." That is code for protecting U.S. satellites in space and being able to attack the enemy's satellites.

"Enhancing these capabilities is critical, particularly following the Chinese anti-satellite-weapons demonstration last January," the conferees wrote in their report. They were referring to a Jan. 11 incident in which a Chinese guided missile destroyed an aging weather satellite in orbit.

- WashingtonPost.com

You know, in the best possible light, some future utopia could have wars being fought out in orbit between automated satellite killers, leaving us humans well out of it down here on Earth. They wouldn't actually need to kill anyone to win. A man can dream.




Ho Ho Ho ...ly Crap.

Lo, it is November, and therefore the whole Xmas madness fever thing is being broken out left and right. Sigh. From the lighter side, an Australian recruitment firm has told potential Santas not to say "Ho Ho Ho".

Two Santa trainees from Westaff, which supplies hundreds of men in red suits to Australian shopping centres, have quit over the politically correct new greeting, the Daily Telegraph reports.

Trainees were told the traditional phrase could scare children and be taken as derogatory to women.

"We ask our Santas to try techniques such as lowering their tone of voice and using 'ha ha ha' to encourage the children to come forward and meet Santa," Westaff's national Santa co-ordinator Sari Hegarty told the paper.

- Ninemsn.com.au

Ha-Ha-Ha!




Mars Gets A Little Closer.

Are you ready for something awesome?





- Really big, high-resolution topographical images from Mars, both very alien and hauntingly beautiful. And no burning cars. ...Any more.

- danharlow.com




Long Term Forecast For The Solar System.

So, beyond the whole oil-running-out and global-warming-killing-us-all malarkey, what lays in the significant future for Earth, and the solar system in general. This animated slideshow gives you a rundown on the highlights. (spoiler: it's kind of a downer ending.)



YTMD Slideshow





Film Review: Death Proof.

It's impossible to talk about Death Proof without first talking about Grindhouse, so here we go. Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez are very good friends, and have worked together before on a range of projects. They decided to each make a shortish themed B-movie and then join them together for a double feature treat they called Grindhouse. Rodriguez's contribution was a crazy zombie apocalypse movie called Planet Terror, Tarantino's was Death Proof. Unfortunately, the double feature did not perform well at the box office, and so they were split up into two separate films.

Death Proof had extra material put into it to pad the running time out to two hours, and it shows. The film doesn't really have much of a plot, or rather, the plot that is there is diluted by a large amount of gossipy dialog scenes between the characters. However, it certainly does set the characters up very solidly before the mayhem starts, ensuring that the audience cares a little more for a character they know, rather than a cypher they don't know.

Kurt Russell though is the star of the show. He's a charming psycho killer with a muscle car, out for kicks. He's effortlessly able to be both ice cool and dangerously quirky at the same time, winking at the camera and even able to get us to feel a little sorry for him. And once things start rolling, it all becomes very exciting very quickly. Stunt women Zoë Bell also stars as one of the lead characters, so when it's time for the death defying stunts they can get the camera right in close so you can clearly see it's Bell herself hanging grimly to the hood of a car as it's being knocked around at high speed by Russell. It's a very impressive and very, very exciting sequence, and worth the amount of character time at the start of the film. Three and a Half references out of Five.




End Transmission.

Taking The Overview.

Conditions: Sunny, warm.


Still No Evidence Iran Is EEEEVIL.

In a move sure to outrage the white house, experts still cannot find any evidence that Iran is pursuing a nuclear weapons program. Gossip? Sure. Hearsay? Absolutely. Wishful thinking? Totally. And while that may yet well be enough for Bush II to get the ball rolling, so far the facts frustratingly have yet to stack up.

Even his own administration appears divided about the immediacy of the threat. While Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney speak of an Iranian weapons program as a fact, Bush's point man on Iran, Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns, has attempted to ratchet down the rhetoric.

"Iran is seeking a nuclear capability ... that some people fear might lead to a nuclear-weapons capability," Burns said in an interview Oct. 25 on PBS.

"I don't think that anyone right today thinks they're working on a bomb," said another U.S. official, who requested anonymity because of the issue's sensitivity. Outside experts say the operative words are "right today." They say Iran may have been actively seeking to create a nuclear-weapons capacity in the past and still could break out of its current uranium-enrichment program and start a weapons program. They too lack definitive proof, but cite a great deal of circumstantial evidence. Bush's rhetoric seems hyperbolic compared with the measured statements by his senior aides and outside experts.

mcclatchydc.com

Since it's been proven that lack of evidence is no barrier to the U.S military invading a country, I would advise Iran to make very effort to make things even more obvious. Remove the walls and roofs from every power station, for starters. They're only going to get blown off anyway.



Escape To ...Somewhere Else.

You know, sometimes when the news can get a bit too much, one's thoughts can turn naturally to space, where another planet may very well be drifting along, full of leafy trees and cool lakes, just waiting for a certain species to come along and set up camp.

Here on Earth, Cameron and his team are part of a new wave of astronomers who are scouring the galaxy for glimpses of unknown worlds and, in recent years, their success has been astounding. While our own solar system lost a planet last year, thanks to the unceremonious demotion of Pluto from planet to "dwarf planet", Cameron and his peers have found more than 250 new worlds, in solar systems far, far away. With almost every week that goes by, new discoveries are made. This evening, in fact, planet hunters in America are to declare a major coup with the announcement from Nasa of a newly discovered solar system that has striking similarities to our own.

- The Guardian

I think it's important to note that nothing about these new 'planets' is known, apart from their existence, so I wouldn't go packing your stuff just yet. I wonder if all this new attention to new planets is just a reaction to all the stuff happening on our own ball of rock. Oh sure, I'd like to care about the middle east, or the arctic ice, or the air quality, but there's a wobble in star 5211543beta that demands my every waking moment, dammit!



Better In Iraq?

After so many years, and so many deaths, could the situation in Iraq actually be starting to improve?

The U.S. military says violence has been reduced because of a new strategy of building outposts in neighborhoods and protecting civilians.

The strategy was backed by an increase of 30,000 U.S. troops in Iraq this year.

The military says car bombs, sectarian killings, roadside bombs and other acts of violence are declining.

"We own the terrain," Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch, who commands a division south of the capital, said in a recent interview. Al-Qaeda "doesn't have the sanctuary anymore," he said.

U.S. troops encountered heavy fighting when they first established combat outposts and challenged insurgents in parts of Baghdad and elsewhere.

U.S. combat deaths spiked in April and May before declining in recent months.

"We're not giving that ground back until we have a sustained security presence," Lynch said. "That's just going to take some time."

- USAToday.com

There's two possible situations going on here. Either the terrorists really are starting to be driven out of Baghdad, or they are changing their tactics/regrouping for a different approach, restocking their bullet and bomb caches. And while I fervently hope that the U.S military has finally forced peace upon the civilians of Baghdad, I'm not yet prepared to cut them any slack. Now they are saying the right things, but they've been doing the wrong things for years.



Worse In Afghanistan.

So then how goes things in little old Afghanistan? Unlike Iraq, the forces trying to stem terrorism in Afghanistan are actually somewhat multinational. Unfortunately, with the Taliban reforming and bombings becoming more frequent, it's not making any difference.

There are some 50,000 European and North American troops in Afghanistan, most of them American but including 7,700 British backed up mainly by Canadian and Dutch soldiers. France has committed no troops for combat. Nor has Germany, whose soldiers are in the hitherto more stable and peaceful north.

Timo Noetzel, visiting fellow at Chatham House, describes his country's attitude in the latest issue of the thinktank's magazine the World Today. "The political debate," he writes, "focuses on two issues: the potential German involvement in combat, and criticism of the American conduct of operations. The complaint is that actions of the US forces are fuelling the insurgency, with collateral damage and mounting civilian casualties eroding community support."

Afghanistan, according to Gordon Brown, is the front line in the fight against international terrorism. Des Browne, the defence secretary, describes the fight against the Taliban as a "noble cause". Yet six years after US bombs drove the Taliban out, all the evidence is that, with support from across the border in Pakistan, it is regrouping and the insurgency is intensifying.

Insurgent and terrorist attacks are 20% higher this year than in the whole of 2006, according to the UN. There were more than 100 suicide attacks in the first eight months of this year compared to 123 last year and just 17 in 2005. More and more of the country is classified as being too risky for UN agencies and NGOs such as Oxfam to operate in.

- The Guardian

And of course the more dangerous it gets, the more likely forces are to revert to bombing shit from above, which leads to even more collateral damage and civilian deaths, which lead to more resentment and outrage, which leads to more terror attacks, which lead to more danger for the troops, which lead to more bombing from above, which....



Respecting The Customer.

Recently I, or more accurately, my car, received a puncture. Now, back in the old days this would be quite a chore, but I must say, this turned out to be an absolute treat. Not only did I not have to pay to have the puncture repaired, but the tyre technicians practically fawned over my car, even giving it a clean and taking a photo before summoning me from the comfortable waiting room. So this is what respect feels like? MMmmm, feels good. Why can't phone companies act like this?



Steampunk Artist.

If you look to your desktop today, you'll find bland, flat, uninteresting items of everyday life. Your phone, your keyboard, your monitor, all made out of flat dull smooth plastic panels. How boring. What happened to craftsmanship? Or character? Meet a guy who's the enemy of modern design.



LCD screen:




Keyboard:



http://steampunkworkshop.com/






What A Pretty Wrapper.



The earth can be a very beautiful place ...when seen from orbit. Let's take the tour.





Film Review: Resident Evil 3: Apocalypse

Ahhh, zombie movies. So many metaphors, so much mindless drooling. Zombie movies can display everything that’s good, and cheesily bad in films. Done well, zombies can be both scary, and a good metaphor for modern life. They can also simply be a mindless army of cannon fodder for the heroes to fight through. In contrast to pretty much everyone else, I actually enjoyed the first Resident Evil film. It took itself so seriously (which is the key to making crazy concepts work), and built this very creepy atmosphere via the music, the setting and even the acting. I thought it was quite well done. The sequel seemed to throw all that out in favour of cheap thrills, and now we have the third, apocalypse.

So named because the infamous zombie virus apocalypse has occurred, and the world has quickly become a desert planet, with a few pockets of survivors hiding out here and there. We join a team of them traveling in search of fuel and water, but they are not the point of the film. That would be Alice, our amnesiac hero who has been mutated into something very dangerous. She is hunted by the evil corporation that was behind it all and runs into the plucky band of survivors, who all eventually decide to head north to find peace in Alaska.

The film is only 90 minutes long, so there’s no time to waste. Quick introductions, then it’s on with the zombie fighting, which leads quickly up to a big finale in an underground laboratory. The film seems most interested in killing off the remaining few remembered characters one after the other, and really just seems to stand as a vehicle for Milla Jovovich kicking ass and looking cool. And while that’s fine, such as it is, it’s just unfortunate that the care they seemed to put into the first film is replaced now with quick and easy action beats. All the nuance and seriousness is long gone. Two crows out of Five.




Film Review: Fracture.

Thriller films rely heavily on two important things to work properly: character and plot. If they can’t portray some interesting characters being wrapped up in a really good plot, then they’ve fallen short. In terms of character, Fracture has done well. Anthony Hopkins portrays an evil tycoon who implements a plan to kill his wife and get away with it. He’s opposed by a hotshot D.A played by Ryan Gosling, who gets caught up in Hopkins’ game, and has to try and figure out how to stop him getting away with murder.

Hopkins and Gosling do really great work here, both of them fully inhabit their characters, an eccentric, intelligent and very cagey murderer with seemingly all the answers versus a young ace prosecutor who's focusing on his career more than the case he's trying. The problem lies in the plot. Specifically, the big ending. For every thriller has to have a big ending, a twist, a reveal, something that turns it all around. Unfortunately here, I don’t think it makes sense. See, the plot hinges on Hopkins switching guns with the cheating cop, so that the murder weapon cannot be found. That’s quite good. The issue is with Gosling in the end somehow tracing the bullet that killed the wife back to Hopkins’ own gun. That doesn’t make any sense.

I’ve done a bit of googling, and it seems there really isn’t an answer. Somehow the murder weapon, that belongs to the cop, and cannot be proven to be used by Hopkins at any point, is enough to get him in the end. It’s very frustrating when this kind of thing happens. You want it to make sense, because you enjoyed the film, it’s very well made. But no matter how much you try to piece it together, it just doesn’t add up. One gets the impression the filmmakers made themselves such a brilliant knot, they were unable to figure a way out to untangle it. Shame. Three bullets out of Five.




Film Review: The Assassination Of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford.

The old west has always been a beautiful setting for a film, and here director Andrew Dominik has captured each sunset, each mountain range and tree line with such grace that you could be looking at a painting. It feels real, too, with houses and people having that rough grimy lived-in look. But the setting is just the icing on the cake, the characters are the main course.

Despite featuring Jesse James and being set in the wild west, this is not a 'western'. Not at all. In fact, it's not even really about Jesse James. - The film starts up only a short while before James meets his end. In fact, it's about the kid who brings that end, Robert Ford (brilliantly played by Casey Affleck). A kid who meets his hero, and ultimately destroys him.

When you think of Jesse James, you think of a young hellion, charging around on a horse. You'd think Brad Pitt would be perfect for this, but the focus of the story is actually on the last few months of his life, when he was dealing with various injuries, trying to deal with middle age, and becoming totally paranoid that one of his friends is about to double cross him. Happily, that paranoia and weariness is portrayed by Brad Pitt so well that you're not even sure he's acting. Jesse is an enigma, and Pitt manages to make the the creaking legend idea work wonderfully well, with the help of the occasional narrator. And Pitt's matched nuance for nuance with Affleck's Ford, a kid who's always idolized James, and finds the legend in person to not be as great as he should have been, which then affects who he thinks he is. This is a film of shattered idols and harshness. It's raw in actions and yet cultured in their portrayal. This is a tragedy, complete with a king, a court and an usurper. And like any great tragedy, everyone falls in the end. This isn't really a standard movie with 'plot' and action beats and witty dialog. It's not a film for seasons or anticipation or excitement. What it is, is a carefully crafted world that you fall into and are immersed by for a couple of hours, before being released back to reality. Like a train passing through a forest at night, this is a haunting film. Four and a half lanterns out of Five.




End transmission.