Worms of death

Have you ever read a Nicolas D. Kristof column? Usually (at least for me), it's pretty depressing stuff: genocide, hunger, suffering. And the one I last read, 'Torture By Worms' is right up there.
But however much other people's pain makes you cringe, or however much it doesn't, you cannot escape the fact that what he writes isn't some stuff out of a Stephen King novel. Sadly, it does actually happen to be reality.
Well, that particular column describes what must be one of the most horrible things I can imagine. Guinea worms, parasites that find their way inside you, before finding their way out again, are probably something you wouldn't want to find within a hundred miles of you. In fact, the sight of this torturous affliction moved Jimmy Carter to tears according to Kristof.
Even more sadly, something which I use and sometimes ignore on a daily or hourly basis, clean water, is what one needs to have in order to avoid the disease (the worm is spread in contaminated water according to Wikipedia).
I just like to say that I don't think anyone should have to go through that. Ever.

War!...again?

In recent days, it appears that the US and Iran are edging ever closer to war. At least, that's what it said in the New York Times. Or at least what I thought it said. Or at least, something of the sort was mentioned. Whatever.
Well, here's a pot shot - I say they won't. Not inside of 6 months from today. Why?
How on earth can this administration wage one more war? It is pretty rare for an elected government to wage two wars at the same time and not be ousted in elections (and no, I don't think they count as the same war on terror). A third would be tough even for someone with 85% ratings, let alone for a President who has less than 50%.
And fighting a war against a country as large as Iran and as influential in the region is probably not a good idea. The only way that someone could justify it, as was mentioned somewhere in the Times, is if the White House says that the Iranians are already fighting against them in Iraq, so it wouldn't be much of a difference. Boy, if America falls for that, I don't think an apology from 50% of Americans would suffice, as was the case in 2004.
Anyways, jumping on this anti-War band wagon feels good. But then again, why should I care about what happens? I see people dying on TV, US mothers wanting sons back, but that's it. You don't have to listen to what I say, but I guess I'd like to say it.

Obituary

17 month old, tragic circumstances

It is with great sorrow that I must inform the general public of the demise of my hard disk. At 74GB, or 80GB as he proudly displayed on himself, his melodious hum was a true joy to his user, the occasional whir not withstanding.
He was my rock, the base of a complex system, the accumulator of all my carefully compiled packets of information. I took care to avoid tampering in his affairs, his delicate nature was always of great concern. Whatever others might say, I believe he never, never managed to hold more than 25 gigs of data.
In his last few days, it was felt that he needed to undergo major surgery, adding one more primary partition to his virtually untouched self. He sought freedom from the complexities and burden of Microsoft and detoxify himself with Ubuntu, a Linux based remedy. Unfortunately, complications arose after the operation, performed by an inexperienced surgeon, ending in tragedy.
Ashes to ashes, dust to dust, silicon to sand. Amen.

Guess who's back?

Hey folks, I'm ... still ... breathing.
I've had a few things to sort out, but here we go. The dark days of winter are soon to be gone as our sun rises ever higher in the blue sky.
Meanwhile, enjoy a few classic pictures of snow I took. Apologies for the lack of people.

Dude with Bush T-shirt stopped from boarding

What is the world coming to these days? What happened to the libertarians of old, those who cry out and risk their lives to safeguard the freedoms of others?
We are in great need of young, energetic people who fight for freedom of expression in an age that is becoming evermore controlling. An age where a guy wearing an item of clothing to express his views on the current occupant of the Oval Office is restricted from boarding an airplane.
It gets better folks - the airline stated the reason for this restriction as a measure against offending other passengers on the plane. Is their anyone in this planet, apart from his mother, who would feel offended by a mockery of Dubya? If their is, well, what on earth do they feel on those rare incidents in which he choses to make a fool of himself?

Deja vu - I've already seen it!

Okay, perhaps the pun was a tad, say, crappy. I'm trying, alright? Anyways, the flic: not bad.
I've got to admit that I wanted to see it ever since I watched the rather dramatic and somewhat audacious trailer - I mean, having the opening sequence repeat itself? Pure genius!
Wandering back to point, I found Deja Vu to be deliciously full of suspense and action.
The plot of the movie centres around a terrorist attack in New Orleans. Denzel Washington as Agent Doug Carlin from the ATF (Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives?) becomes involved in the police investigation and joins a rather special team who attempt to catch and (trying to induce suspense here!) stop the twisted psychopath who carries out attack.
And here we come to the dodgy bits. The plot is perhaps overly complicated, not really aided by the rather bizarre science. Yes, I do get the gist of Einstein's general theory of relativity (not really mentioned by the brainiacs in front of the screen) but sometimes the movie tilts towards the utterly weird. One notable scene comes to mind, where Washington drives down the bridge looking at nearby traffic with one eye, and traffic from 4 days, 6 hours ago in the other.
On the whole, a brilliant piece of screenplay, very exciting, very fast and reaches out to the humanity of the audience at times with a setting that is relevant to today's world.
(PS - apologies for the (lack of) accents you frogs!)

The real Ocean's Eleven

These guys were amazing - they tried to rob a casino buy using tiny cameras, microphones and a computer in a van parked outside the building.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/london/6263795.stm

A platter of desert shrimp?

Check out this interesting delicacy in West Africa.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/spl/hi/picture_gallery/07/africa_desert_shrimps/html/1.stm

IT IS HERE!

The Apple iPhone - $500-$800 - is here at last. Can they still call it an iPhone though?




(I found these pics on Wired at http://blog.wired.com/wiredphotos16/2007/01/the_iphones_int.html
who got them courtesy Apple)

How much Google really hates Microsoft

Enhance XP if you don't want Vista

I just spent a few minutes checking out a few bookmarked sites I hadn't seen in a while, and went on to Metacafe, and found an interesting video. If you think Vista is currently overpriced and/or can't be bothered to rush for an update, you might as well as update your XP system to compete with the new ones.
Check out this link for help:

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/powertoys/xppowertoys.mspx

And here's the video (the link above goes here btw):

Four Desktops In One! - video powered by Metacafe

Those who chose to forget history are doomed to repeat it

I don't think that Bush is like Nixon, even if he wiretaps citizens and has (or rather, HAD) a carbon copy of Dick's administration, but hey, what the hell?

Political campaigning 40 years ago

Have things changed? And if so, for better or for worse?

New Year

Well, it's that time of year again. 2006 - come and gone, and right now, I have 10 minutes left. Instead of looking back or predicting events, I'd just like to make a few personal comments.
I've had a tumultuous year - ups and downs, and so on. The latter half has brought me so much more than the first. To be honest, I ain't a confident person at heart. I don't think I was born with that self-assured zest. I get depressed most of the time, if I care to listen to that voice, or rather, feel that ocean of misery that wells deep in the corridors of my mind. Yet I have managed to beat it, I have listened to reason, and I am lucky to have good family and friends to help. I have a challenge coming up now, and that voice just tells me that I can't do it, that I won't be able to. But what I say is f*** that. I can take this on. I am sure that I do have the maturity to go for the big one. And that's my resolution for this year: to see that I keep trying, and to make sure that no matter what situation I got myself in, I won't be blue.
This is me back after a full 40 minutes of fireworks in the neighbourhood - none of them mine - and I'd just like to say, coming after a period of so many wrongs, I want you all to have a year that is fantabulously successful and full of all the fun you could possibly get.

Death of a tyrant

Well, it finally happened. Saddam Hussein al-Tikriti has been hanged on the charge of crimes against humanity.
A despot who ruled for decades, his death will probably the last noteworthy of 2006, coming on the morning of Saturday, 30 December. The last few hours were confusing for the world, his location seeming to alternate between Iraqi and American custody.
By law, his death had to come within 30 days of an unsuccessful appeal. However, it seems to me to be a bit rushed - perhaps a desperate US attempt to salvage a result by the end of this year.
Whether or not his death will change Iraq is yet to be seen, but it probably won't: the conflict now is about far more than him. Whether or not his execution was justified is also up to debate - but whatever the argument, he still had to be punished for what he did.

Pictures

Paris

Oui, je suis en Paris en ce moment and it isn't as great as I thought it would be. Yes you get to see the wondeful Champs Elysées with the Arc de Triomphe at the end and the landmark Tour d'Eiffel shimmering in golden ecstacy in the frosty night. But, mon dieu, the traffic is astounding - Manhattan is far better, trust me! It's pretty dangerous too, especially in the little free-for-all at the Arc de Triomphe, where you can never be certain when someone's gonna cut across you. And the people - well, I can say I've met nicer folks. They're not too bad actually. I guess their lives are pretty hectic - you can see that in the métro. I've taken loads of pics already, will post some when I get back.

Hope

It doesn't matter if you fail trying to do something, it doesn't matter if you struggle doing it. But TRY. When one gives up, we let our spirit, mind and body rot, and then we are truly losing.
What the f. I'm neck deep in shit and I don't know what the hell I'm saying. Nice to dish out soundbites like this without paying head to them. Jeez, I'm just pissed at everyone, and what I would like most is to just scream everything out.

TIME's Person of the Year: You!

Congratulations! You've won an award that places you in the same league as JFK, Bill Gates, Bono and Hitler. Yes, you! Well done y'all - you've finally made it big time.
I can just imagine it now - Americans in shorts traversing Europe in shorts and a t-shirt that says: "Time Person of the Year 2006". Seems a bit cheesy - then again, I guess having the Fuhrer on the front cover might have been as well. At least it wasn't as distasteful, desperate and demeaning as the 2004 winner: George W Bush.

The Polonium Affair

What a great can of worms we've got on our hands. An ex-KGB man dies in London, the Russian government is implicated and it seems the Italian PM was investigated for links with Soviet Intelligence by an associate of the dead man. And all around this, polonium 210, an obscure yet dangerous isotope of an element discovered by the Curies.
The stuff emits alpha radiation (i.e. a helium-4 nucleus) - not too dangerous outside the body, as it has only a range of a few cm and is almost completely blocked by a sheet of paper. If it's taken in though, it's a different matter: alpha radiation, with a charge of +2, ionises (removes electrons from atoms) strongly, altering body chemistry. According to that bastion of knowledge, Wikipedia, half a gram of polonium -210 can release enough energy in its decay to raise its temperature over 750 K ( subtract 273 for T in degrees C). 1g of it can produce 140W of power.
Even better - well, not if its inside you - Po-210 has a half-life of around 138 days. I guess that means that if you inhale 2g of it, you'll end up with 1g of it still in you after more than 3 months. And half a gram, you'll remember, is pretty powerful.
In any case, despite being a truly horrific case of brutality and inhumanity, it seems to be a classic thriller played out in real life; science and politics mixed up in just the right amounts. I guess we're gripped by it for the same reason that we watch CSI.