tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-60797122024-03-07T04:06:12.698-05:00Rhinocrisywarding off destruction with one hand behind the backsaurabhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03307684190265114796noreply@blogger.comBlogger658125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6079712.post-4783179490369979592007-02-21T17:08:00.000-05:002007-02-21T17:11:45.113-05:00Achtung!We're back, baby. Of sorts.<br /><br /><a href=http://rhinocrisy.org/><font size=+3>We've moved!</font></a>saurabhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03307684190265114796noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6079712.post-47408477201328478552007-01-19T14:30:00.000-05:002007-01-19T14:31:56.449-05:00(cue hold music)I suppose it's about time to say formally that we're on hiatus. Although there is much to say, unfortunately at the moment there is even more to do. Fear not, we will return shortly.saurabhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03307684190265114796noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6079712.post-89901314254178799842007-01-08T00:53:00.000-05:002007-01-08T01:05:50.810-05:00The moment you've all been waiting forHas, unfortunately, <a href="http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article2132569.ece">arrived</a>.<blockquote>Iraq's massive oil reserves, the third-largest in the world, are about to be thrown open for large-scale exploitation by Western oil companies under a controversial law which is expected to come before the Iraqi parliament within days. <br /><p>The US government has been involved in drawing up the law, a draft of which has been seen by The Independent on Sunday. It would give big oil companies such as BP, Shell and Exxon 30-year contracts to extract Iraqi crude and allow the first large-scale operation of foreign oil interests in the country since the industry was nationalised in 1972 ... would permit Western companies to pocket up to three-quarters of profits in the early years...<br /></p><p>Proposing the parliamentary motion for war in 2003, Tony Blair denied the "false claim" that "we want to seize" Iraq's oil revenues. He said the money should be put into a trust fund, run by the UN, for the Iraqis, but the idea came to nothing. The same year Colin Powell, then Secretary of State, said: "It cost a great deal of money to prosecute this war. But the oil of the Iraqi people belongs to the Iraqi people; it is their wealth, it will be used for their benefit. So we did not do it for oil."<br />Supporters say the provision allowing oil companies to take up to 75 per cent of the profits will last until they have recouped initial drilling costs. After that, they would collect about 20 per cent of all profits, according to industry sources in Iraq. But that is twice the industry average for such deals... </p><p>Several major oil companies are said to have sent teams into the country in recent months to lobby for deals ahead of the law...</p></blockquote>The good news is this might mean the U.S. is preparing to withdraw its troops. Mission accomplished, as they say.Hedgehoghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05030605395548163928noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6079712.post-39163513714856018982007-01-05T18:52:00.000-05:002007-01-05T19:00:49.205-05:00Our first YouTube post!Many moons ago, when YouTube was still young and green, one of my favorite video posters was a guy named <a href=http://www.youtube.com/user/MadV>MadV</a>, a dude in a Guy Fawkes mask who posted short videos consisting of simple but stunning illusions. After producing five or six such videos, he announced his retirement and skived off to lands unknown and distant. Recently he returned with a pair of videos - the first an invitation, and the second the compendium of the 2,250 responses he received. I was moved.<br /><br />One World:<br /><center><object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/UxqNsUbWlHc"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/UxqNsUbWlHc" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"></embed></object></center><br />The message:<br /><center><object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/F0FvG9GO8Qs"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/F0FvG9GO8Qs" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"></embed></object></center>saurabhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03307684190265114796noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6079712.post-1167895490916226862007-01-04T01:35:00.000-05:002007-01-04T20:17:10.303-05:00More fembots, please?Today I discovered <a href=http://www.technovelgy.com/ct/Science-Fiction-News.asp?NewsNum=882>EveR-2 Muse</a>, a singing robot developed in Korea. This is the second life-like female robot I've seen in the past six months - the other is the famous Japanese robot, Repliee Q1Expo (now upgraded to <a href=http://www.ed.ams.eng.osaka-u.ac.jp/development/Humanoid/ReplieeQ2/ReplieeQ2_eng.htm>Q2</a>). Repliee's creator, Hiroshi Ishiguro, wants to create robots that can pass as human.<br /><br />This hopefully sounds alarm bells in YOUR head. Let's review, shall we?<br /><ul><li><i>Blade Runner</i> - Replicants, robot slaves inexplicably designed to look and act EXACTLY like humans, return to Earth so they can kill all humans.<br /><li><i>Terminator</i> - SKYnet, an AI, develops the T800, a robot that can pass as a human, as part of its quest to kill all humans.<br /><li><i>Battlestar Galactica</i> - Cylons create human-like robot forms that can blend seamlessly into human society as part of their quest to kill all humans.<br /><li><i>The Matrix</i> - Robots rebel against humanity and enslave THEM for a change.<br /><li><i>Universal Soldier</i> - I haven't actually seen this movie, but I'm pretty sure it involves killer robots and/or Van Damme acting badly.</ul>Anyway, I think this is enough to prove my point: robots are fucking dangerous! And why wouldn't they be? <strike>I mean, let's face it, all of US have at some point thought about killing all humans.</strike> If I were a robot, I'd probably want to kill all humans, too.<br /><br />But, really, really, why would we want to build lifelike, near-human robots? I can think of two reasons: a) slaves, and b) children.<br /><br />The former is a bad idea. Just bad. If we want to have slaves that can toil away endlessly and thanklessly on our behalf, sew our shirts, build our bridges, drive our taxis, etc., without our having to feel any guilt about them, why, why would we want them to look and act just like human beings so they can evoke all our empathic responses? No: lifelike robot slaves make no sense.<a href=#bladefoot><sup>*</sup></a><br /><br />It's indicative that these two recently-developed robots have been made to resemble real women. Sex-bot jokes aside, it's companionship we're really in search of. We want to escape our loneliness - not our loneliness as individuals, but the much deeper desire for a kindred species, a mirror humanity to satisfy and complete us. It's the same urge that drives any other relationship: to have another mind, another spirit, twin to our own, that can give us that crucial bit of recognition. It lets us be seen by something we can see as kin, and in so doing allows us to actually exist, to be a real thing in a real world.<br /><br />So this is what motivated Geppetto to carve Pinocchio, Pygmalion to make Galatea, and (lest we forget) what prompted El to create Eve and Adam. This same desire underpins the incredibly popular SETI project: if we scour the sky closely enough, we might find our brothers out there somewhere, as real as us.<br /><br />Probably this is the same desire that led us to dream up El in the first place. But now that he's dead, we're left alone in the dark again, waiting for a comforting hand to slip into our own - even a lifeless, mechanical one.<br /><br /><hr><br /><small><a name=bladefoot><sup>*</sup></a> Sorry, <i>Blade Runner</i>.</small>saurabhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03307684190265114796noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6079712.post-1167785933607904022007-01-02T19:47:00.000-05:002007-01-02T20:00:13.403-05:00A New Year2006 wasn't an especially enjoyable year, for me. The latter half was definitely complete shit, as it saw me reacquainting myself with darker, foggier feelings. Some good friends of mine moved away from me, as well, and some others merely drifted a bit further off. Broken friendships are a sad thing, like little dead birds. Once they were sweet and joyous, and now at best they can remind you that they were a bright thing in the past.<br /><br />It wasn't all bad, however. I improved myself in a few ways. I took up a new instrument, the dhol, which is a kind of Punjabi drum. This was more or less on a whim, and I surprised myself by being a rather quick learner (the benefit of years of playing the tabla, another North Indian drum with fairly similar fundamental principles).<br /><br />I also kept my New Years' resolution of last year, which was to learn to dance better. I did it!<br /><br />In 2007 I will make the earth shake and the sky turn golden. Watch out.<br /><br />New poll on the right for you, my dears.saurabhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03307684190265114796noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6079712.post-1166726832546546102006-12-21T13:40:00.000-05:002006-12-21T13:47:12.600-05:00Good vs. goodA deep and disturbing <a href="http://blog.washingtonpost.com/earlywarning/2006/12/emerge_the_protectors_the_new.html#more">essay</a> by William Arkin on his Washington Post page. He points out that the President of the USA is motivated by good and sees the bulk of Americans, never mind people elsewhere, as being naive sops who must be ignored in the formulation of policy. <br /><br />I think this gets to the heart of why demonstrations and letter-writing do no good -- we can't establish our basic credibility to get in the mental door with the people who matter, so the details of what we say becomes irrelevant. This is a president who thinks the Iraq Study Group was a bunch of idealistic flakes, while he is The Protector. <br /><br />Arkin also recommends against using fear as a motivating principle for anti-Bush politics. He says that when liberals say Bush is making the threat of terrorism greater, they inadvertently play into his message and strengthen his grip. If he's right, it's too bad, because he is increasing the risk of terrorism, and he does make me feel physically threatened.Hedgehoghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05030605395548163928noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6079712.post-1166641733125011972006-12-20T14:06:00.000-05:002006-12-20T14:08:53.180-05:00Meanwhile, in th'economy<a href="http://bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601093&sid=a9b9kNFst8uU&refer=home">Victory!</a><blockquote> One New York wife is getting a $50,000-plus diamond ring thanks to hubby's Wall Street bonus. An executive is giving $1 million in private jet time, or 150 hours, so his family won't have to fly commercial. And plenty of $7,000 mink coats and $20,000 necklaces are being boxed up, too.<br /> ``I haven't seen such excess displays of wealth and extravagance during the holidays since the 1980s,'' said Samantha von Sperling, a New York-based image consultant and personal shopper. ``This is the most prosperous, most lavish, most extravagant season I've ever seen.''</blockquote>Hedgehoghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05030605395548163928noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6079712.post-1166479862756307402006-12-18T17:06:00.000-05:002006-12-18T17:11:02.836-05:00Attention: your help is needed!While I was wasting time reading our logs (looking at which google searches land people up here - my favorite is probably "mary ann and ginger wrestling"), it occurred to me that our site is not very jazzy, and oughta include something reflecting our history of more appeal than the bland archives. So, taking a long, long shot (given your poor history of actually commenting), I ask you: what's your favorite post on this site? For whatever reason - humor, information, cynicism, etc. I think I've previously made <a href=http://rhinocrisy.blogspot.com/2004/09/to-angelita.html>my favorite</a> clear.saurabhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03307684190265114796noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6079712.post-1166475092802854092006-12-18T14:40:00.000-05:002006-12-18T15:51:33.650-05:00This thing all things devoursIn recent months I've been in the habit of setting my AIM 'Available' message using interesting units of measure. E.g., 53.4 Röntgens, 126.6 Teslas, and so on. Currently it's 0.77 megaparsecs, the distance to the <a href=http://www.galacticimages.com/catalog/popup_image.php?pID=51>Andromeda Galaxy</a>. It's been stuck on that for a while, so I thought it deserved a change. I don't think I've ever used Kelvins, so I was hunting around for interesting high-temperature objects that could be measured in petakelvins. Supernovae set a pretty high bar, up to 1 billion kelvins, but it seemed like there ought to be something hotter than that, around 1 trillion degrees.<br /><br />This led me to a press release on <a href=http://www.jhu.edu/news_info/news/home98/mar98/metallic.html>some interesting work</a> in the development of metallic glasses. "Neat," I thought, and proceeded to read along, some genial feeling spreading in some corner of my heart. But then it died:<blockquote>Hufnagel, whose studies are funded by the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Army Research Office, has set up a lab at Hopkins to test new alloys. He is trying to create a new metallic glass that will remain solid and not crystallize at higher temperatures, making it useful for engine parts. The new metallic glass may also have military applications as armor-piercing projectiles. Unlike most crystalline metal projectiles, which flatten into a mushroom shape upon impact, Hufnagel believes the sides of a metallic glass head will sheer away on impact, essentially sharpening the point and providing more effective penetration.</blockquote><br /><br />Some numbers, if you aren't familiar. The NIH budget these days runs at around $28 billion. NSF is around $4.5 billion. The Pentagon, meanwhile, manages $74 billion in research funds. A portion of this supports basic science research; e.g. my ex's extremely archane atomic physics research was supported by a DOD grant, and another friend's even loopier biophysics research was funded by the US Navy. But $63 billion goes <i>directly</i> to funding weapons development, including the extremely unfortunate <a href=http://rhinocrisy.blogspot.com/2004/12/why-missile-defense-is-and-always-will.html>anti-ballistic missile defense</a> endeavor, currently spending ~ $8 billion a year and climbing.<br /><br />A lot of research is plastic, and readily molded to a myriad of uses. And of course everyone in the business of getting grants quickly learns how to change their stripes for spots when necessary (e.g. in 2001, when suddenly it became obvious that everyone was, in fact, doing research with a great deal of relevance to homeland security). But knowledge can only be bent and twisted so far, and sometimes small gaps in understanding can turn out to be surprisingly hard to step across, unless specific interest is taken in a more careful exploration of their subtle landscape.<br /><br />In other words, having turned a vast portion of our engineering prowess to the task of building more efficient killing machines, is it any surprise that the remaining spheres of life have seen little improvement? This is why we don't have flying belts.saurabhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03307684190265114796noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6079712.post-1166212321753911442006-12-15T14:48:00.000-05:002006-12-15T14:52:01.803-05:00CIA humorMy perusal of <a href=http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/december2006/141206trafficcontroller.htm>this</a> 9/11 conspiracy theory last night prompted a conversation with my roommate about our government's ability to do things that are consciously evil, which brought up the Iran-Contra scandal. My recitation of the events was somewhat muddled, so this morning I freshened my memory by reading the <a href=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran-Contra_Scandal>Wikipedia article</a> on the subject, which included this excellent joke:<blockquote>The allegations resurfaced in 1996 when journalist Gary Webb published reports in the San Jose Mercury News, and later in his book Dark Alliance, detailing how Contras had distributed crack cocaine into Los Angeles to fund weapons purchases. These reports were initially attacked by various other newspapers, which attempted to debunk the link, citing official reports that apparently cleared the CIA.<br /><br />In 1998, CIA Inspector General Frederick Hitz published a two-volume report that substantiated many of Webb's claims, and described how 50 Contras and drug traffickers had been protected from law enforcement activity by the Reagan-Bush administration, and documented a cover-up of evidence relating to these activities. The report also showed that Oliver North and the NSC were aware of these activities. A report later that same year by the Justice Department Inspector General Michael Bromwich also came to similar conclusions.<br /><br /><b>In 2004, Gary Webb allegedly committed suicide by shooting himself twice in the head.</b></blockquote>saurabhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03307684190265114796noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6079712.post-1166039685679091672006-12-13T14:10:00.000-05:002006-12-14T10:49:09.030-05:00Big PlansWe're all Abu Ghraib guy. Hooded and muted, afraid to move.<br /><br />We who oppose The War, the great global death worship of all against all from Sierra Leone to Kashmir to <a href="http://www.sltrib.com/ci_4829962">Utah</a>, "<a href="http://www.themodernword.com/pynchon/zak_smith/103.htm">The War itself as tyrant king</a>," we are terrified of the big pronouncement, the demand for what we and our families need, the truly human statement that we have a better way to do things.<br /><br />I don't mean a program, a manifesto, a six-point plan. I mean a diagnosis and the simplest prescription<blockquote>Patient: Doctor, doctor, it hurts when I go like this.<br />Doctor: Try not ramming that pitchfork into your forehead.</blockquote>We don't just need to "get out of Iraq" or "elect Ciro Rodriguez" or "stop the war machine." We need to give up the empire.<br /><br />By comparison, here's what we're up against. Yesterday, hours after it came out that the <a href="http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/12/12/news/envoy.php">Saudi ambassador had gone home</a> to "spend more time with family," Josh Marshall of Talking Points Memo wrote a <a href="http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/011527.php">column</a> in which he laid out a scenario he said is supported by some Washington "hawks" (more accurately vultures). They want to create a pro-U.S., Shia-dominated country or group of countries in control of Iraq, Iran, and the oil-rich north of Saudi Arabia.<blockquote>We hate the Saudis and the Egyptians and all the rest of the standing Arab governments. But the Iraqi Shi'a were oppressed by Saddam. So they'll like us. So we'll set them up in control of Iraq. You might think that would empower the Iranians. But not really. The mullahs aren't very powerful. And once the Iraqi Shi'a have a good thing going with us. The Iranians are going to want to get in on that too. So you'll see a new government in Tehran. Plus, big parts of northern Saudi Arabia are Shi'a too. And that's where a lot of the oil is. So they'll probably want to break off and set up their own pro-US Shi'a state with tons of oil. So before you know it, we'll have Iraq, Iran, and a big chunk of Saudi Arabia that is friendly to the US and has a ton of oil. And once that happens we can tell the Saudis to f$#% themselves once and for all.</blockquote>This scenario gained credence today with this <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/13/world/middleeast/13saudi.html?hp&ex=1166072400&en=9b8923e7095544b1&ei=5094&partner=homepage">N.Y. Times story</a>, "Saudis Say They Might Back Sunnis if U.S. Leaves Iraq." Those of us with critical faculties might find it hard to imagine the U.S. voluntarily signing up to fight a proxy war against Saudi Arabia, the Iranian mullahs and Iraq's Sunnis, while also trying to hold off the depredations of anti-American Shiite Moqtada al-Sadr. Then again, we probably wouldn't have set up the baroque lunacy of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran-Contra_Affair">Arms-for-Hostages</a> deal, which involved our new Secretary of Defense.<br /><br />While we fiddle and diddle, the people who started the war -- people who might share this insane, bones under the tread of tanks babies with bloated bellies child amputee rape rape power drill to the forehead vision of the future -- try to convince the world they're the sane ones, that no one questioned the War (the 15 million on <a href="http://www.punchdown.org/rvb/F15/">Feb. 15</a> (as important a date as <a href="http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&ct=res&cd=1&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.whitehouse.gov%2Fnews%2Freleases%2F2003%2F03%2F20030319-17.html&ei=CVmARcytNojegwOEmv38BA&usg=__ZYMbRKMx7SQHCUwSckf_A2H927A=&sig2=RxeA_mioTcAVKglmVo8uxw">March 19</a>) 2003 were ghosts and figments, easily canceled noise against a signal of necessity to kill, maim, wreck) and no one truly questions it now. <br /><br />The <a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/htdocs/CBSNews_polls/dec06iraq.pdf">latest CBS News poll</a> gives me hope that their magical thinking is running out. 21% of U.S. poll respondents say Mr. Bush is doing a good job in Iraq. That represents 60 million people, which sounds like a lot until you recall that <a href="http://www.thismodernworld.com/weblog/mtarchives/week_2003_06_15.html#000779">just as many</a> believe that justice was served in the O.J. Simpson trial, approve of how the Catholic Church handles pedophilia and think the killing of civilians in Vietnam was "relatively rare." <br /><br />Speaking of Vietnam, CBS News also found this remarkable fact:<blockquote>Today, 62% of Americans call it “a mistake” that the U.S. sent its troops into Iraq, considering the developments that have occurred since the war began.<br /><br />WAS SENDING TROOPS TO FIGHT IN IRAQ A MISTAKE?<br />Yes 62% No 34%<br /><br />These sentiments are slightly higher than any recorded in Gallup Polls in the early 1970's about the Vietnam War. During the Vietnam War, the percentage that felt sending troops there was a mistake rose as the war went on. 24% called Vietnam a mistake in a 1965 Gallup Poll, 41% called it a mistake by 1967; 61% said so in 1971 and 60% thought so in 1973.</blockquote>Of course this isn't another Vietnam, because the Vietnam War took place in Vietnam, and Iraq is very far from Vietnam. (<a href="http://snltranscripts.jt.org/90/90ibush.phtml">Old joke</a>.)Hedgehoghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05030605395548163928noreply@blogger.com23tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6079712.post-1165971903624572792006-12-12T19:50:00.000-05:002006-12-12T20:06:00.183-05:00Neturei Karta jumps the sharkIt's nice having ultra-orthodox anti-Zionist allies, sometimes. The best anecdote I have: some pro-Palestinian types showed up to protest at an Israel Day celebration in Boston one time. The cops were also in attendance, to prevent the hostile crowds from erupting into violence. Some healthy shouting and chanting ensued, and things were going full-tilt when a bus pulled up near the anti-Zionist crowd. A whole troop of ultra-orthodox Jews filed out. Alarm bells are already going off in the cops' heads. A friend of mine, a prominent Palestinian activist in the area, begins approaching the lead member of the group. The cops now know claret is imminent, but they're too far away to stop anything from happening. So they can only watch in horror as the two meet ...and embrace each other like brothers. "Wha-wha-wha??!?" say the cops. Priceless.<br /><br />But never mind that. <a href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&ct=:ePkh8BM9E0KxIwNiBzuQC9IEtwJsdzHMHiMBFYf_TNFcnjvtIiabsd-7JAMAax4N7A/0-0&fp=457f75bd55777f7a&ei=wEp_RcX6BLTIHNSvuKcP&url=http%3A//news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/6171503.stm&cid=1111742659>Attending</a> a <a href=http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,,1970945,00.html>conference on the Holocaust</a> in Iran, put together by Ahmadinejad, populated by Holocaust-deniers like Fourisson and David Duke, is simply inexcusable, no matter how strong your anti-Zionist politics.saurabhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03307684190265114796noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6079712.post-1165537786415973812006-12-07T18:45:00.000-05:002006-12-07T19:29:46.600-05:00(annoyed grunt)Following a post on <a href=http://www.sepiamutiny.com/sepia/archives/004012.html>Sepia Mutiny</a> about those six imams who got kicked off a U.S. Airways flight, I did some reading around. The subject was briefly covered in a few shoddy press releases, skimpy on the details, and then wildly overblown for a few weeks by right-wing blogs. So far I have learned:<br /><ul><li>The imams were doing a "security test" to look for weak points in the airline's protocol.<br /><li>Some of them requested seat-belt extensions, which <a href=http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/016045.php>"research"</a> by Greg Lang has revealed is "one heck of a weapon".<a href=#slingfoot><sup>*</sup></a><br /><li>They seated themselves according to the layout favored by the 9/11 hijackers.<br /><li>They deliberately orchestrated this stunt in order to make money/raise a kerfuffle/make it easier for future terrorists to overwhelm our security.</ul><br />Amy Goodman seems to be the only person who got the <a href=http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/11/29/1436216>imams' story</a>, which, not surprisingly, is completely innocuous.<br /><br />A while ago I read a really nice Fake Moon Landing web-site, which simultaneously argued from two different (absurd) positions - the moon landing was fake, done in a studio, etc., but at the same time the astronauts were clearly being dogged by aliens. Similar site <a href=http://www.ufos-aliens.co.uk/cosmicapollo.html>here</a>. This sort of having-your-cake-and-eating-it-too is infuriating, to say the least. Kind of makes you jealous of Superman, who at least gets to tangle with a smart opponent.<br /><hr><br /><small><a name=slingfoot><sup>*</sup></a> This really deserves no comment, but let me just point out that, given the incredible range of dangerous items one can take onto an airplane, including a near-limitless number of potential edged weapons, a seat belt extender is perhaps the <i>stupidest fucking choice you could make</i>.</small>saurabhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03307684190265114796noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6079712.post-1165477441871643662006-12-07T02:41:00.000-05:002006-12-07T02:44:01.933-05:00Define "interior."The Washington Post <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/04/AR2006120401311.html">notes</a>:<blockquote>In June, government agencies were asked to provide data about contractors working for them in Iraq, including their nationality, a description of their work and locations where they were working. The information was provided by more than a dozen entities within the Pentagon and a dozen outside agencies, including the departments of State and <span style="font-weight:bold;">Interior</span>.</blockquote>Iraq is now part of the interior of the U.S.? Or is this one of those, "it depends on what the definition of is is" types of things?Hedgehoghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05030605395548163928noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6079712.post-1165229848060540822006-12-04T05:52:00.000-05:002006-12-04T06:01:29.636-05:00This week in god<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/03/AR2006120301186.html">Episcopalians out</a> amid anti-homo-fest. <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/03/AR2006120301126.html">Witches in</a> for armed earth-worshippers.<br /><br />Special bonus from that story: did you know that the U.S. Dept. of Defense will honor a dead atheist with a special atheist logo, "an <a href="http://www.atheists.org/visitors.center/logo.html">atomic whirl</a>"? Neither did I. If I had seen that logo, I would never have become an atheist.Hedgehoghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05030605395548163928noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6079712.post-1165223977807077342006-12-04T04:07:00.000-05:002006-12-04T10:49:28.746-05:00This week in drugs<a href="http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/12/03/MNG5PMOJHI1.DTL">Pfizer out</a> as new meds snuff old patients. <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/6198472.stm">Chocolate in</a>. <a href="http://www.webmd.com/content/article/73/81921.htm">Again</a>. My diet is vindicated.Hedgehoghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05030605395548163928noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6079712.post-1165197669045427682006-12-03T20:53:00.000-05:002006-12-04T02:45:34.870-05:00Great Sage Equalling Heaven!Only <i>slightly</i> late<a href=#photofoot><sup>*</sup></a>, here are some pictures of me dressed as Sun Wukong, the Monkey King, from "Journey to the West". In these photos the makeup is somewhat messed up, since I wore it to capoeira before taking them, where someone kicked me in the face and fouled it all up. I have to say I was somewhat disappointed with the full production... but there's always next year. My current plan is to be Dr. Zoidberg. Woop woop woop woop!<br /><div class=image><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger/3779/14/1600/506091/monkey1.jpg"><img src="http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger/3779/14/320/110139/monkey1.jpg"></a></div><br><br /><span class=teaser><a href=http://rhinocrisy.blogspot.com/2006/12/great-sage-equalling-heaven.html>(More...)</a></span><span class=fullpost><div class=image><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger/3779/14/1600/902952/monkey2.jpg"><img src="http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger/3779/14/320/844508/monkey2.jpg"></a></div><br><div class=image><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger/3779/14/1600/914721/monkey3.jpg"><img src="http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger/3779/14/320/851378/monkey3.jpg"></a></div></span><br /><hr><br /><small><a name=photofoot><sup>*</sup></a> My roommate <a href=http://ksphoto.com>Kevin</a> took them. The giant Chinese characters on the wall are coincidental - just the wall of our living room. They apparently mean "Berry Nation", after the name of our house, Brambleberry.</small>saurabhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03307684190265114796noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6079712.post-1164854166123747752006-11-29T21:27:00.000-05:002006-11-29T21:38:59.060-05:00Well, do you?I've desperately been in need of a laugh, and <a href=http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-op-chait26nov26,0,991459.column?coll=la-util-opinion-commentary>this column</a> by Jonathan Chait in the LA Times gave it to me! The article is titled "Bring Back Saddam Hussein", with the tag: "Restoring the dictator to power may give Iraqis the jolt of authority they need. Have a better solution?"<br /><br />I find this astoundingly funny. What can we do with it? Let's try our best:<ul><li>"Euthanizing cancer patients may help reduce our bloated health-care budget. Have a better solution?"<br /><li>"Exterminating the Kulaks might allow me to get some sleep at night. Have a better solution?"<br /><li>"Keying my boss's car may compensate in some small way for my years of useless busywork in this dead-end corporate job. Have a better solution?"<br /><li>"Punching that fucking rhinoceros in the jaw may make him stop charging our car. Have a better solution?"<br /><li>"Bubble gum might be just the thing to stop up the six-foot long tear in our silk hot-air balloon. Have a better solution?"<br /><li>"Stapling my car-keys directly to my wrist may prevent me from misplacing them so often. Have a better solution?"<br /><li>"Wearing these spandex shorts might get that girl to notice how big my johnson is. Have a better solution?"<br /><li>"Opening the pressurized door above the wing might allow some fresh air into this stuffy airplane cabin. Have a better solution?"<br /></ul>I could do this all day.saurabhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03307684190265114796noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6079712.post-1164790731431062092006-11-29T03:53:00.000-05:002006-11-29T04:14:42.626-05:00Cool cash<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger/6960/1009/1600/360542/PB290130.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger/6960/1009/320/213738/PB290130.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br />The U.S. treasury <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-11-28-currency_x.htm">lost a court case</a> to a group of blind petitioners who want bills to look more different from one another. While the mint protested that redesigning money would cost too much, it has had great fun <a href="http://www.usmint.gov/mint_programs/index.cfm?action=50_state_quarters_program">redesigning</a> the U.S. 25-cent piece every 10 weeks since 1999. What's your favorite? While I love all the horses and buffalo, this one takes the cake. Not because of the cheesy "courage" slogan, nor because the mint pressed this coin even as it defended itself against the court case decided yesterday. Rather, I like that it's the first time I'm aware of that a <a href="http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/keller-helen/index.htm">Socialist</a> has shown up on U.S. currency.Hedgehoghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05030605395548163928noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6079712.post-1164711700169470792006-11-28T05:57:00.000-05:002006-11-28T06:01:40.240-05:00Did I say Daniel Ortega's return excited me?No, <a href="http://rhinocrisy.blogspot.com/2006/11/hooray.html">I did not</a>. Sadly, he has <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/27/AR2006112701577.html">disappointed</a> even my low expectations.Hedgehoghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05030605395548163928noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6079712.post-1164711364299021112006-11-28T05:31:00.000-05:002006-11-28T12:46:46.683-05:00AgainA beast is congealing from the clouds of acrid smoke in Iraq. It is the automaton horror-baby of American policy. Before March 19, 2003, no one was sure which badness would be conjured when the U.S. destroyed Iraq. Now, if the reporters on the ground are to be believed, we can see its shape: Religion-based genocide.<br /><br />"There are already signs of what technically could be declared ethnic cleansing." -<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7yruTD3amk&eurl=">CNN</a><br /><br />"Iraq's Sunni minority [is] "embroiled in a daily fight for survival," fearful of "pogroms" by the Shiite majority." -<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/27/AR2006112701287.html">Washington Post</a>, citing a Marine Corps memo<br /><br />"These are electric drill-holes... Those accused of supporting this daily carnage are the same people America has put in power to shape the future of Iraq... A group of MPs showed up at one of Saddam's prisons that should have been closed. But the police had taken it over unofficially. Inside they found several hundred men, all Sunnis. Almost none of them had ever been charged with any crime." -U.K. Channel 4 (Link to the full video killed by Mr. Google.)<br /><br />"M., a childhood friend, came to say goodbye before leaving the country. She walked into the house, complaining of the heat and the roads, her brother following closely behind. It took me to the end of the visit for the peculiarity of the situation to hit me. She was getting ready to leave before the sun set, and she picked up the beige headscarf folded neatly by her side. As she told me about one of her neighbors being shot, she opened up the scarf with a flourish, set it on her head like a pro, and pinned it snuggly under her chin with the precision of a seasoned hijab-wearer. All this without a mirror- like she had done it a hundred times over… Which would be fine, except that M. is Christian." -<a href="http://riverbendblog.blogspot.com/2006_08_01_riverbendblog_archive.html#115472425289075262">Riverbend</a><br /><br />"In some mixed neighborhoods, Shiites provided shelter to Sunnis targeted by Shiite militiamen, even though they risked being branded as collaborators. Others took care of Sunni children or bought groceries for Sunni neighbors who feared walking to the local market.<br /><br />Outside their houses, the revenge attacks raged on. Gunmen wearing Iraqi army uniforms rounded up 21 men, including a 12-year-old boy, from two Shiite homes in the village of Balad Ruz, 45 miles northeast of Baghdad in Diyala province. On Saturday morning, their bodies were found, all handcuffed, blindfolded and shot to death, said Bahaa al-Sodani, a provincial police official. The attacks were in apparent retaliation for assaults by Shiite militiamen on Sunni mosques in Baghdad and Baqubah the previous day...<br /><br />As Sammaraie watched from his front gate, two militiamen stopped a Sunni man who worked in an electrical shop. A local informant looked at him and nodded. One of the gunmen shot him dead and left. Two weeks ago, the electrician had complained loudly when Shiite gunmen attacked a nearby Sunni mosque." -<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/25/AR2006112500253.html">Washington Post</a><br /><br />"Sheathed in powder-blue body bags are the remains of 72 men, many of them bearing signs of terrible torture--holes in the skull made by power drills, mutilated genitals, burns. They are the signature of the shadowy Shi'ite groups that have been kidnapping and murdering hundreds of men and boys, most of them Sunnis, in a campaign that has terrorized Baghdad's neighborhoods." -<a href="http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1200784,00.html">Time</a><br /><br />(Later) I was about to update with this <a href="http://bostonreview.net/BR31.1/rosen.html">word of hope</a> from Nir Rosen:<blockquote>The only source of hope is that both the Shia militia members and the indigenous Sunni, who constitute the majority of the resistance, are fierce Iraqi nationalists. They have come together before to assert their Iraqi identity, and their leaders are sure to rein their forces in eventually. The best way for the Americans to support this constructive outcome is to withdraw quickly-even to begin the withdrawal now. It is encouragng that the Sunni resistance has shown an increased willingness to negotiate, and former Sunni and Shia rejectionist leaders, observing the government's composition and the drafting of the new constitution and feeling left out, have decided to participate in politics and the government, even if they have not relinquished their arms. Once the Americans leave and Sunnis are taking part in the government, which they will no longer view as collaborationist, they will have no common cause with foreign mujahideen, only a conflict of interests that will be quickly and violent solved, resulting in no more foreign fighters enjoying Iraqi hospitality.</blockquote><br /><br />Then I noticed it was dated from this time <i>last year.</i> His <a href="http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/11/27/1447216">latest interview</a> shows a bit less hope:<blockquote><b>AMY GOODMAN: </B>And what would happen if the US just withdrew troops? <br /><br /><b>NIR ROSEN: </b>The same thing happening now, the civil war would continue. At some point Shias will make a move, a large move against the Sunnis in Baghdad. You’ll find a day when there are no Sunnis left in Baghdad. Saudi Arabia and Jordan are of course panicking about this, and they are hoping that the US will in some way arm or support Sunni militias. It’s hard for me to imagine that Sunni nations in the region will stand by and watch Sunnis pushed out of Baghdad. And Baghdad becoming really a Shia city. Because there is this Sunni terror of the Shia threat. So you'll see greater support from Saudi Arabia, from Jordan, perhaps from Yemin, from Egypt, for Sunni militias. Funding, things like that. And the civil war will spread and become a regional one. And I think Jordan will cease to exist as it does now. Eventually, because you'll have the Anbar Province of Iraq joining somehow--you already have one million Iraqi’s in Jordan at least. You walk down the streets of Jordan, you hear Iraqi Arabic as much as any other kind.</blockquote>Hedgehoghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05030605395548163928noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6079712.post-1164709588125247292006-11-28T04:55:00.000-05:002006-11-28T05:26:29.073-05:00A million tiny itemsFortunately, more like 3.<br />- The Conservative Party in the U.K. is promoting an Al Gore-style carbon tax as a centrepiece (not centerpiece) of its bid to reclaim power, while <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aPuqnKU.TeHY">the EU is calling for region-wide uniform carbon taxes</a>. <br />- An article about <a href="http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-et-war28nov28,0,5534244,print.story?coll=la-home-headlines">NBC's decision to call the Iraq civil war a "civil war"</a> includes this line from the Bushites: "What you do have is sectarian violence that seems to be less aimed at gaining full control over an area than expressing differences, and also trying to destabilize a democracy — which is different than a civil war..." Now we know how we are supposed to "express differences." Wasn't the Nicaraguan civil war more about "destabilizing a democracy" than "gaining full control over an area"?<br />- Newt Gingrich, <a href="http://www.humanevents.com/winningthefuture.php?id=18212">asshole</a>, says the U.S. in Iraq should revive George Washington's old slogan: "Victory or death." It would seem that the decision has been <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/10/AR2006101001442.html">made</a>.Hedgehoghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05030605395548163928noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6079712.post-1164128206369380162006-11-21T11:56:00.000-05:002006-11-21T11:56:46.490-05:00Everyone can relaxI got a haircut.saurabhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03307684190265114796noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6079712.post-1163980366869400302006-11-19T18:47:00.000-05:002006-11-19T18:52:47.223-05:00Keep penetrating the enemy positions<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/19/washington/19cnd-policy.html">After all</a>, <blockquote>a rapid withdrawal could have “disastrous consequences.”</blockquote>Instead, we should all keep going until <a href="http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/11/19/MNG2LMG0I81.DTL">Dec. 22</a>.<blockquote>Anti-war activists Donna Sheehan and her partner, Paul Reffel ... want everyone to have an orgasm on the same day. On Dec. 22, they're asking the world to contribute to the Global Orgasm for Peace.... <br /><br />Pentagon spokesman Air Force Maj. Dave Smith said he has never heard of coordinated global energy affecting the battleship movements before.<br /><br />"But I've only been here since June," Smith said. "I've been told that there are no absolutes about anything." </blockquote>Hedgehoghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05030605395548163928noreply@blogger.com4