Clearly, Kerry did much better. I was surprised at how honestly bad Bush was. As soon as it was over, the media machine pumped up Bush’s performance. Unsurprising.
Society
06
Sep 04
Belle nuit
It’s a beautiful night tonight, Open your windows!
- China will send troops to Haiti: “”It’s been a big year for China,” says one official opposed to the deployment. “They put a man in space, won gold medals at the Olympics, and now they are going to put troops in the Western Hemisphere for the first time.”
The official says China’s first military presence near U.S. shores would boost Beijing’s long-term strategy to “supplant U.S. influence” in the region. “China is pursuing a maritime strategy in the Caribbean to gain access and control over port facilities, free trade zone infrastructure, fisheries, oil and minerals, and off-shore banking platforms,”
For example, a Chinese company whose leader is close to Beijing’s communist rulers operates major port facilities at both ends of the Panama Canal.
“They will assert political influence [through Chinese companies],” the official says. “That is where this is headed.”
Administration officials say the decision to permit the Chinese to join the U.N. force in Haiti was made quietly, without a full debate among defense, foreign policy and national security agencies. “ - Report: Civil war most likely outcome in Iraq
- Violence May Force Iraq to Bypass Hotspots in Election
- A Guide To Firefox Extensions Awesome list
24
Aug 04
Average is beautiful
- The Face of Tomorrow. Via Take one hundred people and create a composite face from their faces. The result makes me think that the ideal of human beauty is not particular but average. The composites are all good looking, so take one hundred people strip the unique characteristics or oddities and you have a good-looking person. Strange.
- Boring game? Outsource it. A sure sign of cultural decadence
- The democratization of advertising revenue. Google lets Blogger users in on a piece of the ad game.
- Analog meets digital. A typewriter (yes!) that collects the input you use while typing into a buffer then sends as an email. Via.
- NYT on Team America.
16
Aug 04
Question of the day
If there was a book that disclosed all the existential secrets of the universe, would you read it? Would you read it if you knew that the information enclosed within could potentially drive you insane? Which is stronger, your desire for self-preservation or wanting… to know.
16
Aug 04
Odds and ends
- Brain diseases treble in 20 years, says new report: Deaths from brain diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and motor neurone disease have soared in the past two decades, a study has found. Researchers are blaming the increase on higher levels of pesticides, industrial chemicals, car exhaust and other pollutants.
- Tecumseh’s curse
15
Aug 04
Bin Ladin’s Former ‘Bodyguard’ Interviewed on Al-Qa’ida Strategies
Bin Ladin’s Former ‘Bodyguard’ Interviewed on Al-Qa’ida Strategies via Cryptome.org:
(Abu-Jandal) Most of my answers were on Al-Qa’ida ideology and structure and why it deals in this way. The answers were to the point. They used to put forth rather strange questions. One question said: As far as we are concerned, 80 percent of what you said is true, but does Al-Qa’ida have chemical plants and nuclear weapons? I recall that my answer to them was that Usama Bin Ladin has a weapon that is far superior to all the US weapons. What is this weapon, the asked? I told them: “Among the believers are men, who have been true to their covenant to God: of them some have completed their vow (to the extreme), and some (still) wait: But they have never changed (their determination) in the least.” (Koranic verse) The US arsenal is full of weapons, but it does not have the men. …
14
Aug 04
Imam Ali and Jesus Christ
Like many of you I’ve been watching the Iraq and Najaf coverage with interest. It is challenging to try to read between the lines about what is happening. You have to sift through so many news reports to distill a semblance of what is actually going on, and you have to do a significant amount of research to achieve the most rudimentary amount of context. It seems like media coverage is impossible to obtain from a disinterested and contextual point of view. Anyway, whenever you see the Shiia marching with their portraits of Sadr you may have also noticed the presence of depictions of Imam Ali, the fourth Caliph of Islam, who the Shiia regard as the true successor of Muhammad. Ali was betrayed and killed much like another famous religious figure. See the image below for a visual comparison of popular depictions of Ali (left) and Jesus Christ (right).
29
Jul 04
Untitled
- How to Remove Internet Explorer via BB
- RFID Hack Could Allow Retail Fraud: “As a proof of concept, Grunwald also added a “cookie” function to RFDump that allows a store to track the number of times a shopper enters or picks up an item. An audience member pointed out that that had serious implications for personal privacy. “You are exactly correct,” Grunwald said. “It is a very scary thing.”
- Guerrilla Drive-in Theatres. Awesome.