Random Fate

Court is in session...

...and the Commissar is conducting his 28th show trial, with a diverse set of offenders meriting closer examination.

Before you get too irate over that annoying person, remember this...

Nobody realizes that some people expend tremendous energy merely to be normal.
   -Albert Camus

I have to do that sometimes...

Because it's a very good one...

...you should go read Jennifer's quote for the weekend.

Supercomputing for the masses?

Even discounting the marketing hype and recognizing the multithreading being implemented by both AMD and Intel in their latest, highest performing microprocessors, a new architecture in development by IBM, Toshiba, and Sony may be the next wave in adding "thinking power" to everything. From EE Times:

The eagerly anticipated Cell processor from IBM, Toshiba and Sony leverages a multicore 64-bit Power architecture with an embedded streaming processor, high-speed I/O, SRAM and dynamic multiplier in an effort, the partners hope, to revolutionize distributed computing architectures.

Although the technical aspects of the design, which has been in the works for nearly four years, are tightly held, details are emerging in excerpts from papers to be released today for the 2005 International Solid-State Circuits Conference, as well as in patent filings.

The highly integrated Cell device has been billed as a beefy engine for Sony's Playstation 3, due to be demonstrated in May. But the architecture also addresses many other applications, including set-top boxes and mobile communications. Workstations fitted with the Cell architecture — a $2 billion endeavor — are already in the hands of game developers.

Five ISSCC papers from members of the 400-strong Cell processor team (see related story, "Best Development Teams," page 64) open peepholes onto a highly modular and hierarchical first-generation device implemented in 90-nanometer silicon-on-insulator (SOI) technology.

At root, the Cell architecture rests on two concepts: the "apulet," a bundle comprising a data object and the code necessary to perform an action upon it; and the "processing element," a hierarchical bundle of control and streaming processor resources that can execute any apulet at any time.

The apulets appear to be completely portable among the processing elements in a system, so that tasks can be doled out dynamically by assigning a waiting apulet to an available processing element. Scalability can be achieved by adding processing elements.

These ideas are not easily achieved. According to data from Paul Zimmons, a PhD graduate in computer science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, they require a highly intelligent way of dividing memory into protected regions called "bricks," careful attention to memory bandwidth and local storage, and massive bandwidth between processing elements — even those lying on separate chips.

At the top level, the architecture appears to be a pool of "cells," or clusters of perhaps four identical processing elements. All of the cells in a system — or for that matter, a network of systems — are apparently peers. According to one of the ISSCC papers on the Cell design, a single chip implements a single processing element. The initial chips are being built in 90nm SOI technology, with 65nm devices reportedly sampling.

There are more technical details in the rest of the article at EE Times, and both BBC News and CNNMoney have articles, but neither go into the same detail as the EE Times, and I believe the CNNMoney article gets some of the details wrong.

I'm not sure I see how this is significantly different from the standard parallel processing that has been the rage in supercomputing in the past few years, other than in this case the data to be processed and the code to process it appear to be grouped together into packets. Regardless, the parallel aspect of this architecture should allow even faster processing for higher resolution graphics and other processing intensive applications such as game-physics (Sony apparently plans this technology for use in their next generation PlayStation), control systems for car engines, active feedback applications (for example, using microphones to "hear" music and then compensate for inadequate speakers and room configuration to deliver perfect surround sound), more detailed medical imaging with instant analysis and comparison with historical data, and many other applications that do not immediately spring to my tired mind.

Incidentally, the research I do is directed towards the 45nm and beyond technology (for a company that is none of the those listed here), which is the follow-up to the 65nm technology mentioned above.

An idea to consider

Josh Marshall at Talking Points Memo has an interesting proposal to increase transparency in our government while also harnessing the power of citizen review. Even if you oppose Marshall's political views, his suggestion regarding public availability for review of bills before Congress is worth considering by people of all political persuasions. I hope to comment more on this later; for now, I have to go to work.

Support our military, but never unquestioningly

Poppy at Patridiot Watch is somewhat annoyed at remarks made by some National Guard officers in reference to the recent incident involving machine gun fire from an aircraft hitting an elementary school in New Jersey.

Statments like "Think back in your memory to Sept. 11, when all the air traffic was grounded and the only sound you heard was our F-16s flying over New Jersey," while factually true do nothing to address concerns expressed by parents, such as "Because we're at war now, I'm very sensitive to all the military's burdens. We all want to be safe and secure. But we're also concerned about our children. I'm afraid something's going to go wrong. We really need to know where those bullets are going." While the remarks by the officers are not unreasonable and the reaction at Patridiot Watch is fueled more by heated outrage than calm analysis, invoking the spectre of 9/11 when a SNAFU occurs in relation to the military is NOT good public relations with your neighbors, especially when bullets from your aircraft lodged in some desks of their children at their elementary school, even if children were not present at the time...

This is a very sensitive situation, and I would expect the National Guard to ensure it is handled appropriately. Statements by officers along the lines of those reported are not helpful, and in fact end up giving the military an air of arrogance epitomized by the statement "Let 'em alone; they're over there putting their lives on the line for us. That guy (the pilot) probably feels so bad about this. He's probably going to get sent overseas and he might not even come back. As long as no one got hurt, this whole thing should just be forgotten." What if a child had been hurt, or even more nightmarish, killed? We cannot prevent it from reoccurring if we "just forget about it" and do not investigate the incident thoroughly. Expecting unquestioning support for the military, especially in a situation like this which did NOT occur in a combat zone, is not healthy in democracy. Insistence on a "pass" because of 9/11 is not only in very bad taste, but is the first step on the road to the military thinking they are better than the citizenry they are charged to protect.

Screw-ups happen. That is a fact of life that reasonable people understand and in almost any other similar situation where stray fire hit a different structure the reaction would be far more muted, but people are rarely reasonable when it comes to perceived threats to their children. This should be acknowledged and handled appropriately, definitely not "just be forgotten."

---

An additional article on this story based upon reporting by the Associated Press can be found at ABC News.

A poisonous atmosphere hurts everyone

A man of some influence shares my belief that the atmosphere created by hateful speech can be deadly:

The Archbishop of Canterbury has called for church traditionalists opposed to homosexuality to stop using inflammatory words about gay people.

Dr Rowan Williams, in a letter to the world's Anglican churches, said harsh language can lead to murder.

---

His letter to them reportedly says: "Any words that could make it easier for someone to attack or abuse a homosexual person are words of which we must repent."

I do not believe in defining some crimes as "hate crimes" because murder is murder, regardless of motive, and defining "hate crimes" makes killing some people more heinous than others, which is a bad precedent. I do believe that in polite society we should try to remember that our fellow citizens are human, even if we don't agree with their beliefs. Name-calling and general dehumanizing of opponents does nothing but reduce the credibility of those increasing the poisonous nature of the political environment. Let's try for better, even if in the past it was worse.

Another case of questioning who watches the watchmen

A potential risk when trying to form institutions in a culture that does not yet have a tradition of the rule of abstract law over that of more readily visible and concrete influences such as personalities or proclamations made by religious leaders driven more by the appeal of secular power rather than divine inspiration is that forces formed to enforce the law usually end up breaking the law. From BBC News:

The Palestinian Authority has said it is disbanding a small security unit in Gaza accused of human rights abuses.

A senior official said the 70 members of the Department of Protection and Security, known as the "Death Squad", would be re-assigned to other units.

The unit was formed more than a year ago in response to attacks by opposition factions against the Palestinian Authority.

Critics say some of the unit's members turned into criminals.

They allegedly confiscated land, smuggled weapons and intimidated the public.

---

Rashid Abu Shbak, head of Palestinian preventive security, said the unit had become "a source of accusation and doubts".

"We are facing a new phase and we must say farewell to chaos and to all those who cause it in the Palestinian street," he said. "We must clear the air of past mistakes of the previous era."

Mr Shbak, who is an official in the Fatah movement, also said Fatah would merge its armed militias, including the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, a militant group responsible for suicide bombings and other attacks on Israelis.

He said there had to be a centralised leadership which was responsible for their actions.

Correspondents say the disbanding of the unit follows calls for a shake-up of competing security forces and anti-corruption reforms as lawlessness rages in the West Bank and Gaza.

This is a legacy left by Yassir Arafat, one of competing armed factions, all of which were sanctioned as "official" by the Palestinian Authority, and all of which were maintained by Arafat as a method of keeping power by having multiple factions to play off each other so none became powerful enough to challenge his authority. Instead of building institutions where the respect is held for the system of government, the laws, and the offices of that government more than the office-holders, Arafat instead built a system that was dedicated to maintaining his own power.

The United States needs to be very careful that a similar system to that left behind by Arafat is not formed in Iraq. In the end, loyalty to the system over that of the people who hold office within that system is the only way to maintain a truly democratic government that can last.

If you're looking for a good example of poetic justice...

...then go read the story Sam tells at The Brier Patch.

Maybe it might be better described as being hoist by one's own petard.

Something to think about while I try to weave together some thoughts

Everyone is entitled to be stupid, but some abuse the privilege.
   -Unknown

Democracy substitutes election by the incompetent many for appointment by the corrupt few.
   -George Bernard Shaw

I never did give them hell. I just told the truth, and they thought it was hell.
   -Harry S Truman

Whiskey's for drinking. Water's for fighting over.
   -Mark Twain

Disparate threads of thought are not necessarily unrelated

I've been trying to pull together several seemingly unrelated threads of thoughts out of inchoate contemplation and weave them together into a tapestry showing how these radically different ideas and events form a coherent picture, a picture that can warn and guide us.

It hasn't been easy...

I see relationships between quantum mechanics, the pre-election video released by Osama bin Laden, the apparent divide between the Red States and the Blue States, the reaction in blogworld to the retirement of Dan Rather, the controversy over the Marine shooting an apparently surrendered man in Iraq and the reporting of the incident, other aspects of the ongoing fighting in Iraq, the opposition of France to almost every US foreign policy, the election in Ukraine and the consequent increased visibility of the attempt by Vladimir Putin at establishing a Russian version of the Monroe Doctrine, and several other threads in the tangled skein of the world.

Hopefully, I can get this pulled together before the beginning of next week, which is going to be a very busy at work for me.

Before making accusations of deliberate ill-intent...

...it would be wise to keep this principle in mind:

Do not attribute to malice what can be explained by incompetence.
   -Hanlon's Razor

Here is a good example from the recent election at Wired News:

Florida elections officials were lax in their oversight of the company that created a flawed database of felons and dead voters, but there was no intent to disenfranchise anyone, an internal audit of the project found.

The audit by the Department of State's inspector general, released Monday, concerned the state's now-canceled contract with the consulting firm Accenture, which was paid $2.3 million to create the database.

The list, primarily intended to help local elections officials purge voter rolls of convicted felons without voting rights and people who had died since the last election, matched a list of registered voters with other lists of deaths and criminal records sent in by other state agencies.

Secretary of State Glenda Hood's office abandoned the project earlier this year after acknowledging that 2,500 ex-felons were on the list even though their voting rights had been restored and that, due to a technical glitch, Hispanics were largely absent from the list. Hispanics often vote Republican in Florida, and some critics questioned whether there was intent to purge some felons, but not others.

While finding that the database was unable to match felons and deaths with some registered voters of Hispanic origin, auditors said that "there was no evidence to substantiate that the division intended for such disparities to occur."

The main flaw in the project was that incomplete data were used, Department of State Inspector General Kirby Mole found.

Hood said she agreed with the inspector general's findings and that her office would take them into account as it created a new voter registration database now required by federal law.

"There was nothing intentional, everyone was trying very hard," Hood said. "There were just some management controls that were not in place. That is not going to be the case in the future."

The creation of the new database will also be contracted out to a private vendor, but Hood said additional checks will be put in place.

This is not to say that election fraud did not occur, but I'd be willing to bet real money that over 50% of the instances of disenfranchisement were due to poor training, incompetence, and outright stupidity. It is just as important for us to correct those issues as it is to ensure that there are as few as possible deliberate attempts to rig elections through fraud and systematic disenfranchisement.

A "thank you" is in order

Indigo (of Indigo Insights) was kind enough to nominate Random Fate for the Best Overall Blog category in the Wizbang-sponsored Weblog Awards. It would shock me (a very rare event, I assure you) if I won, but thank you for the nomination, Indigo!!!

Yet more from the "picture is worth a thousand words" file...

From one of the weirder comic strips which has an admittedly twisted sense of humor itself, a perspective on French humor:

This is really starting to hurt my pocketbook

Ouch!

The euro surged to a new high against the U.S. dollar for the fourth straight day Friday, although the greenback rose off its low point.

The euro hit an all-time high of $1.3329 in Asian trading on comments, later retracted, that China was cutting back on its accumulation of dollar assets.

I'm paid in dollars, and I spend in euros here in France.

When I moved here, it was roughly $1.15 for a euro. So, I've basically had a not-insignificant pay cut...

Another one from the "picture is worth a thousand words" file

I'll be interested to see if this trend continues.

Something to remember when discussing tax policy

Not much else to say...

Meanwhile, in blogworld...

Even though it's a holiday weekend in the US, The Commissar continues his show trial purges...

Men can be remarkably simple creatures

I read weblogs written by people of all veiwpoints, and there are two that I expected would always be like matter and antimatter to each other. However, in an odd bit of coincidental timing, both have posted on the one thing in the universe that David and Rob do agree on, despite being on opposite sides of the political spectrum. As Rob so eloquently puts it, "Costa Rican wimmen are BEAUTIFUL."

That may be the one thing that saves the human race, because no matter what the differences between men are, they always agree about beautiful women...

I like working in R&D

We may may soon have displays that can fold or roll up. Think about what this can do to the form-factors of PalmPilots and other handheld electronics that are limited by the compromise between small size for portability and the desire for a large display. From Silicon Strategies (a login might be required, I tried to find a link that would circumvent it):

As part of its $825,000 contract with L-3, Universal Display is developing a full-color, active-matrix FOLED (flexible organic light-emitting diode) display prototype on metal. The metal substrate can lead to a rugged, retractable display. Mahon, the firm's vice president of Technology Commercialization, said the industry growing around the technology has been struggling with different substrate approaches, including plastic, glass, and metal. All seem to be useful for different applications.

FOLED is based on the established OLED technology, which can be merged with flexible substrates. The result is a display that's thinner and lighter than today's liquid-crystal displays. The FOLED products consume less power than LEDs and eventually should be much cheaper. The underlying OLED technology is based on the development of small-molecule OLEDs being built on flexible substrates to form FOLEDs.

"FOLEDs are less breakable," said Mahon. "That's one reason we'll be seeing them in cell phones. And the displays will look better and be clearer."

She expects televisions using OLED technology to begin hitting commercial markets by 2006. The TV technology uses Universal Display's phosphorescent (PHOLED) approach, which has an additional advantage of using less power--a particular benefit for large TV screens, which have been gaining in popularity in recent years.

Further out, Mahon sees even broader applications: automobiles could be coated with FOLED active matrix technology; which would allow drivers to easily change the color of their cars, if they wish. The technology would have obvious camouflage benefits for military usage. For instance, in discussing the use of FOLED for the Air Force, Universal Display stated: "Integrated with a polysilicon, thin-film transistor backplane and thin-film encapsulation technologies, the active matrix FOLED display will be designed to offer high information content and video-rate performance.

The changing color of the car bit sounds like something out of a James Bond movie. You can't get much cooler than that!!!

Thanksgiving

Today is Thanksgiving in the United States. Here in France it is just another day.

For some, it is a day of warm memories and joy to be with loved ones. A day of relaxation, a day to watch football games, a day to enjoy the bounty that is not truly appreciated for the gift it is, even on a holiday dedicated to giving thanks.

For others, it is just another day.

The banality of our bounty causes us to seek meaningless contests played out on a perfectly manicured, level field shielded from the elements by a huge dome; we mesmerize ourselves in a feeble attempt to overcome the lethargy of surfeit, to somehow satisfy the fundamental drive towards the hunt and struggle for survival imposed on our rational minds by animal instinct.

Elsewhere in the world, it is just another day, and in more places than we realize the day that dawns is another day of struggle for survival, a struggle for food, a struggle for shelter, a struggle to hide from others who seek to kill them, a struggle played out on a rugged field that is tilted towards death with no instant-replay review. Just another day.

The sudden shiver from the cool that accompanies a sunset on a perfect late-summer day warns of the approach of winter. The images we turn away from, the images that flicker past on the news stations as we surf the channels for more artificial stimulation, the nightmare visions made real of starvation, of cruelty, of inhumanity, of murder and blood and death, what do they warn of?

Today is Thanksgiving in the United States. In the rest of the world, it is just another day.

Our obligation

Why am I always so concerned about the degradation of politics to mindless, hate-filled name-calling? Because I fear that our nation will stop attracting people such as this man:

Sgt. Rafael Peralta built a reputation as a man who always put his Marines' interests ahead of his own.

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Peralta, 25, as platoon scout, wasn't even assigned to the assault team that entered the insurgent safe house in northern Fallujah, Marines said. Despite an assignment that would have allowed him to avoid such dangerous duty, he regularly asked squad leaders if he could join their assault teams, they said.

One of the first Marines to enter the house, Peralta was wounded in the face by rifle fire from a room near the entry door, said Lance Cpl. Adam Morrison, 20, of Tacoma, who was in the house when Peralta was first wounded.

Moments later, an insurgent rolled a fragmentation grenade into the area where a wounded Peralta and the other Marines were seeking cover.

As Morrison and another Marine scrambled to escape the blast, pounding against a locked door, Peralta grabbed the grenade and cradled it into his body, Morrison said. While one Marine was badly wounded by shrapnel from the blast, the Marines said they believe more lives would have been lost if not for Peralta's selfless act.

"He saved half my fire team," said Cpl. Brannon Dyer, 27, of Blairsville, Ga.

The Marines said such a sacrifice would be perfectly in character for Peralta, a Mexico native who lived in San Diego and gained U.S. citizenship after joining the Marines.

Sergeant Peralta was not born in the United States, but he chose to join the Marines and defend the United States. We should be proud that we have people such as him in our armed forces, and we should make damned sure that we never ask them to make such sacrifices in vain.

Our nation attracts people like Sergeant Peralta not only for our economic prosperity and freedoms, but also because despite our persistent problems with racism we still have a society that shows the most respect for those of different backgrounds. If we allow ourselves to degenerate into thinking that anyone who doesn't agree with us should be met with hatred, we will have lost one of the most important things that makes our nation both unique and great, and one of the things that makes our nation worthy of the sacrifices made by people such as Sergeant Rafael Peralta.

We enjoy the benefits of our freedoms due to the sacrifices of others made long ago. Our obligation not only to them but also to those who sacrifice themselves now is to make sure we keep the United States a nation to be held up as an example of freedom and respect for humanity that is all too rare in this world.

---

Thanks to Captain's Quarters for the link.

It's very late for me...

...but I feel an insistent urge to make a comment on something that has struck me in the wee hours of the morning.

Radical right-wingers seem to have a remarkably casual attitude towards the deaths of those whom they perceive to be their enemies.

The message I get is this:

Beware of becoming someone that the radical right-wing perceives as an enemy, for then you are less than human to them.

Many have pointed out the hypocrisy of the radical left-wing in both suppression of ideas that are not in alignment with their world-view, and the actions of what can arguably be called left-wingers in perpetrating violence in the form of gunshots into Republican campaign offices and other heinous and unacceptable acts directed against the right-wing. These actions are without any doubt or argument completely and utterly wrong; however, they do not make it any more acceptable for the right wing to tar all of those to the left of their position as someone whose death is not only unmourned but also to be encouraged.

This not only does not help either the return of some level of civility and acknowledgment of the common goals of our citizenry of working towards the common good of our nation, but it also is extremely destructive towards international relations with allies that we will almost certainly one day need to help us in preserving our civilization.

It has been said many times no man is an island. It should be remembered that no nation is an island, either, not even the United States, even with our incredible gifts of natural and human resources, for nothing is infinite, and in the end hubris always ends in a fall, with endless examples for those willing to take the time to look.

A quick post on "bread and circuses"

Joe Gandelman, of The Moderate Voice, has rightly been expressing concern over the violence shown at recent sports events, notably a brawl at an NBA game. Joe suggests penalties "so SEVERE that players...and fans...think twice. Otherwise the violent trend will escalate and you'll need to check your insurance before attending sports events."

As someone who is interested in history as a hobby, this brings to mind the circuses that were staged by the Roman government to distract the mobs of Rome from what was going on in the larger world around them. No, I am not suggesting that the current administration is encouraging any kind of "bread and circuses" tactic to distract the people from external issues, I just find several curious parallels between what has occurred in both the United States and the world at large in the past few years (since the fall of the Soviet Union) and the early years of the Roman Empire after Julius Caesar had eliminated the closest major threat to the Romans on the European continent. Every analogy breaks down if over-used, and the one comparing the United States to the Roman Empire is so tired that it not only is worn at the edges but the pages are yellow and the very words themselves are nearly worn away. It is still worth reviewing history, however, because it is important to learn from mistakes of the past for otherwise, how can we ever move beyond those mistakes?

Another analogy that comes to mind that is far more troubling to me is the fate of the British Empire in the years after World War I, notably the expenditure of resources in World War II that ended up being a primary cause of the decline of that nation. In the decades from 1900 to 1940 the United Kingdom enjoyed a preeminence that is comparable to that of the United States today, but the strains of fighting against Germany twice in those decades ended up sapping the resources of the seemingly limitless empire upon which the sun never set to the point where an upstart power that was equally divided between rural and industrial strengths could displace them. Will the combined drains of the Cold War and the new War on Terror result in a similar fate for the United States, with China or some other rising power displacing our current preeminence?

It is something to both think about and to try to prevent.

There is so much to write about...

...and so little time.

I have a huge meeting next week, where I have just discovered that my colleagues from the US will not be attending. So, I'm trying to figure out how to portray that my company is still committed to the huge investment they have made in this location for more than just manufacturing, despite the fact that they have chosen to not send people over for this important meeting.

I can't say more because of various confidentiality and other restrictions.

Yikes...

I'm having to tap dance on a moment's notice.

So much for writing for my weblog here...

An interesting parallel...

...that was brought to my attention by Boudicca (if I recall correctly) in an email.

The Bush family now has on the national stage at least the same number of players with similar influence as the Kennedys in the mid to latter parts of the Cold War.

Intriguing... with no Chappaquiddick to prevent the younger brother from pursing the nation's highest office, and thankfully no assassins cutting short lives, either.

I feel that family "traditions" of holding high office are very bad for our democracy, regardless of the party of the family, but that's just me. Perhaps you should think about it for a while and decide for yourself.

UPDATE: Oops... It wasn't Boudicca, so whoever pointed it out to me, let me know so I can give you credit!!!!

After perusing the log files...

...I made a very unpleasant discovery. I don't want to mitigate contributions or lessen the gratitude I feel towards those who posted in my absence, but sadly the increase in visits was partially due to comment spam that gave my site a high ranking for "be*stiality" and other untoward acts best left undescribed.

Sigh...

Pithy thoughts that align with my world-view

In real life, unlike in Shakespeare, the sweetness of the rose depends upon the name it bears. Things are not only what they are. They are, in very important respects, what they seem to be.
   -Hubert H. Humphrey

Morality, like art, means drawing a line someplace.
   -Oscar Wilde

The most important scientific revolutions all include, as their only common feature, the dethronement of human arrogance from one pedestal after another of previous convictions about our centrality in the cosmos.
   -Stephen Jay Gould

What I aim for here

The skill of writing is to create a context in which other people can think.
   -Edwin Schlossberg

Random quotes

May God defend me from my friends, I can defend myself from my enimies.
   -Voltaire

Both madmen and geniuses see something that no one else does. The difference, of course, is whether or not it's actually there.
   -Michael Wikoff

Maybe a woman would be more admired for her mind if it would bounce gently as she walks.
   -Anonymous

As I said, I'm back

Thanks to all the guest posters for keeping things going here while I was gone. I really do appreciate their help. Please visit them at their sites:

Boudicca

Jennifer

Joe

Key

Pennywit

Perhaps I should leave more often, because I had MORE visitors than usual in the last week...

I'm back...

...and I have something I want you to think about:

The US Fighting "Insurgents" In Iraq:

No one ever said it would be pretty or easy. And for good reason.

Look When You Cook....

...and wait before you eat. What you cooked could be a relgious icon and be worth money on Ebay.

Will Someone Please Tell Me...

...what the heck is happening to American sports????? (Leave your comments in the comment box)

UN Chief Faces Staff No Confidence Vote

These aren't happy times for UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan: staffers have given a thumbs down on senior management.

There is no way this looks good for Annan's longevity in that post:

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan faced a political crisis yesterday when U.N. employees delivered a stunning no-confidence vote against senior management.

Tensions, simmering inside U.N. headquarters for months, exploded into a full-scale revolt when the U.N. staff union, for the first time in the organization's 60-year history, passed a resolution officially rebuking senior management.

Any time in any organization that you get a precedent-setting rebellion against a leader it means there are major problems for that leader -- or that leader may quickly become an unleader. More:

The vote was held in the wake of a series of scandals that have shaken the international organization to its core.

"The senior management no longer displays the level of integrity expected of all employees or the organization," said a draft of the resolution.

The staff uprising comes at a time when Annan and his cronies are already entangled in the Iraq oil-for-food scandal.

And coming from a union that initially welcomed the appointment of the career diplomat Annan to the top U.N. post, it is considered a huge embarrassment.

"I think Annan is on the way out," said U.N. critic Nile Gardiner, a former aide to ex-British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.

It certainly sounds that way. If you add the various UN scandals to Annan clearly not being a bud of the Bush administration it's a recipe for a rocky -- or totally short-circuited -- career...

Hold Off On Buying Your Ticket To Outer Space

PREFACE: Greetings! This is Joe Gandelman, aka The Moderate Voice. Jack's blog is one of my FAVORITES and even though I am running around (I was in about four states in the past 9 days) I told him I'd do a bit of Guest Blogging (I am also Guest Blogging on another blog this weekend). Anyway, since Random Fate is a truly independent blog, I said I'd do what I can...and hopefully won't send his readers running for barf bags.

DO YOU WANT TO TRAVEL IN OUTER SPACE? There has been a lot of publicity about a private company offering rides into outerspace. But if you're saving your money (the costs are a bit steep) you might want to wait...due to this...

I'm Scared

So, I'm a highly opinioned, off the cuff right-winger who has been given the keys to a patiently moderate, incredibly thoughtful blog.

What was Jack thinking?

So, I could take this opportunity to rehash my stump speech, but no, not today. I have had my cough syrup, and I am feeling friendly. So, today, why not follow the example of our nation's leaders and have ourselves a little mud puddle orgy?

In keeping with this thought, I must take this opportunity to plug my precious polite liberal, who is new on the scene and seeks intelligent debate with liberals and conservatives alike.

He is awesome (for a liberal), has some well-thought points (for a liberal), and is clearly as intelligent as they (liberals) come. So please, go say hello. I am proud of my blog-baby, recessive genes and all.

And, oh yeah, Jack, I outed you hon. You're the daddy. Now, go visit your kid!

(In all seriousness Jack, I named you as blogfaddah because, like you, he's damn good, and deserves a buttload of traffic, as well as worthy commenters.)

Keeping Quiet

I've been MIA, so to make it up, here are two quotes rather than one:

This one I'd like to use on a few people in particular:

"You ain't learnin' nothin' when you're talkin'."

-Lyndon B. Johnson

And one that anyone in the corporate world can appreciate:

"The most valuable of all talents is that of never using two words when one will do."

-Thomas Jefferson

New Medical Frontiers

'Tis I, Boudicca again... posting while Jack is still out and about in Paris.

The Cleveland Clinic has been approved to perform the first face transplant, should it present itself at the proper time. It was bandied about with 10 months of ethical, psychological issues and medical debate, finally being announced in Mid-October, when I first read of it. The CC said it may not happen in our life or it may happen sooner than anyone expects. This will not be an impulsive decision on anyone’s part, to embark on such a surgery.

I have been giving this great thought. If I were a burn victim or had suffered some horrible disfigurement I know I could not be the one to say, “Yes, please, I want this”. I am not being flippant. You see, I am not a risk taker. There are different types of people in this world and I need stability and assurance. I know this about me. I hated something as simple as dating; I like being in a stable relationship with a stable man. Dating was risky. When space travel was being explored, I would not have signed up. I don’t enjoy flying, let alone letting a team of scientists hurl me into space. So I know that I am not the type of person that would step up to the plate of a new surgery, something as truly invasive as the first face transplant.

At first blush it seems odd, does it not? I read that they intend to keep the muscle structure intact so as to keep the original face appearance of the patient...the patient will not look like the donor. But so much runs through my mind… There is only a 50% chance of success. What happens if the body ‘rejects’ the new face? What is underneath? Surely there is some contingency plan. Is the patient even more disfigured after a facial rejection? And how is the face prepared? It sounds as if all tissue is removed down to the muscle. For tissue to stay alive, does it not need blood flow? I can’t comprehend how they’ll get past that hurtle.

Will the new transplant be able to heal itself if scratched? Will it bruise? Will it age? I would think there would be no facial hair, no eyebrows and eyelashes and if for a man, no beard. I imagine plastic surgeons can make it the ‘right’ fit as plastic surgery has come such a long long way. But would that not be odd to have a 50 year old man with a 20 year old face? Or vice versa? Will the skin burn? Will it be more sensitive to the sun? And can it break out in rashes? Will it freckle?

And trust me, these are just a few of my questions. I find the entire possibility absolutely amazing and I am continually surprised and excited by the new paths I see medicine take, but I am the type that must be a bystander and I am in awe of those who can throw caution to the wind and be a great explorer of new frontiers.

The More Things Change...

...the more they stay the same.

"The man who reads nothing at all is better educated than the man who reads nothing but newspapers."

-Thomas Jefferson

Professions

"It has been said that politics is the second oldest profession. I have learned that it bears a striking resemblance to the first."

-Ronald Reagan

Letting Bush Govern

President Bush's new attorney general-designate is a man who once called the Geneva Conventions "quaint" as he argued for a new paradigm in the war on terror -- a paradigm that, apparently, includes stress and duress of prisoners taken in this new war. His apparent secretary of state-designate, some liberals allege, once failed to adequately warn the president that Osama bin Laden was planning something big in the latter months of 2001.

Should these people be allowed to take office? Yes.

For a couple reasons, actually. First, the analyses I cited above are incredibly partisan analyses that focus on only a small segment of the work these individuals have conducted during their tenure in President Bush's White House. While those are important, memorable issues, they nonetheless constitute partisan, subjective analyses. Ask your average conservative blogger about the designates for these two posts, and that blogger will sing their praises. So what's the truth? Are these two candidates incompetent, or are they the next great hopes?

The truth is probably somewhere between the two extremes.

But there's another, more important reason for democrats to allow these two candidates to take the Cabinet Posts to which they are appointed: Both are appointed by President Bush.

In the election just past, more than 59 million peopel signaled that, for whatever reason, they want President Bush to keep doing what he's been doing. For better or for worse, that is the choice of the American people, expressed through the ballot box, to be confirmed in the electoral college. And if the American people choose a government, then that government must be allowed to function as its leader desires.

Yes, it may fail spectacularly. If it does, the American people will let the president know of their dissatisfaction with his performance via the midterm elections in 2006. But until then, Democrats should tread lightly in the confirmation battles and realize that Bush's actions, for better or for worse, are sanctioned by the American electorate.

Doing the Best We Can

"One thing is sure. We have to do something. We have to do the best we know how at the moment. If it doesn't turn out right, we can modify it as we go along."

-Franklin Delano Roosevelt

There are some apologists running around America, saying they're sorry to the rest of the world that GWB was re-elected. I'm not one of them. I didn't vote for him, but I'm not sorry he was re-elected, either.

We were rudely awakened to the threat of terrorism a little over three years ago, and we're doing the best we can to fight it. There's disagreement on what the "best thing" is, but that's what democracy is about.

Diving in Head First

Ack! I told Jack when he asked me if I would be interested in guest blogging that he might actually LOSE readers, not maintain! Big shoes he has. I think I have performance anxiety.

I’m Boudicca (my readers call me Bou) of Boudicca’s Voice. I know what Jack likes about my blog, but it would not fit well here. My blog is a catharsis in how I deal with my life with my three sons, my life…what sometimes seems to me as a working example of Chaos Theory. My blog is not so cerebral as Jack’s, but for this week… I will try!

I have told Jack that I liked his post on Arafat. I’m a moderate like Jack, and I find myself while listening to or reading the MSM, trying to figure out how they came to their conclusions on various news items. Everything has a spin and for me, it is a challenge in trying to ‘unspin’ it and come up with the truth.

I must say, however, I was completely surprised by the MSM’s take on Arafat. Here is a man I grew up KNOWING was a terrorist. When he FINALLY took ill and appeared to be on his death bed, my first thought was, “Thank God. I hope Castro is next.” I never assume that everyone is like minded. Having children will show you immediately how early independent thought does occur; rearing its sometimes ugly head. (Sometimes for just an instant, a quick breath or the blink of an eye during the daily struggles in my life with my boys, I wish that I actually gave birth to lemmings… my being the lead lemming… but then I become sane again and realize I should cherish their independent thought even though it makes me want to strangle them at times.) Anyway, I KNOW we are all different… how we look, how we think, how we VIEW things… OUR individual realities are so varying hence we have different perspectives giving way to differing opinions. I am wholly aware of this.

Yet… when Arafat finally bit the dust, I just assumed that EVERYONE would be like minded to me, other than those in the Middle East. I was stunned, utterly stunned, when I realized he was being viewed as a hero… OVER HERE! HERE! IN MY COUNTRY!

I’m shaking my head and wondering in what cave these people have been dwelling. Are the collective memories of these people truly that short? They must be for I cannot find their perspectives. I cannot find the reality that the MSM is living in that they would see Arafat as anything other than what he was… a terrorist, a murderer, a very bad man.

Arafat… good riddance. If I never hear his name again, it will be too soon.

Checking In

Jennifer here...just making sure things work and saying hello. So, hello, Jack's readers.

One thing Jack apparently likes about me is my use of quotes, so I'll throw one out there:

"It is a great advantage to a President and a major source of safety to the country, for him to know that he is not a great man."

-Calvin Coolidge

Yeah, I think Jack'll like that one.

Gone for a while

I'm leaving for Paris for meetings tomorrow; hopefully, I'll have time to see some sights. I don't know if I'll have either the time or the internet connection to post, so I've asked a few fellow bloggers to post in my absence. I'll leave them to introduce themselves since some of them are very busy and may not have time to post while I'm gone.

I chose carefully, so you should have some interesting reading while I'm gone, perhaps more interesting than when I'm here!

Bloody Hell...

...my favorite place to eat in Austin has burned down (it happened in late October, but I'm just now hearing about it).

Damn... I hate it when this happens.

Sometimes, things just stop

Have you ever had something inside that you really wanted to get out, but it was stuck somehow?

No, I'm not talking about constipation...

I'm working on a post, and I really want it written and posted before I leave for Paris tomorrow, but I cannot seem to put it to text.

This is really irritating...

As the world churns

Certain books, movies, and other works are timeless while still being so much a part of their time that they are outstanding in providing a good "feel" for the era in which they were created.

I'm watching To Live and Die in LA on DVD now. The movie is so much a part of the 80s it's almost painful, but it also is a good movie, despite at times resembling a long Wang Chung video. Tell your children to watch this movie (when they're old enough) to understand the era of Reagan and the last days of the Cold War, before computers and the internet became commonplace, before cell phones, before technology made so many things so easy. Sadly, it opens with an assassination attempt on Reagan (whose voice is heard in the film making a speech) by an Islamic terrorist with dynamite strapped to him.

Unfortunately, some things haven't changed in 20 years.

Murphy's Law strikes again!

I get linked to (in one of his infamous maps, finally, of all things!!) by the Commissar, and all I have at the top of my page is a missive about intimidating people into being too afraid to comment...

In the now immortal words of Howard Dean: Yeaaaarrrghhh!!!

This about sums up Blogworld

My sources are unreliable, but their information is fascinating.
   -Ashleigh Brilliant

A question for my readers (the few who aren't looking for my beef stroganoff recipe...)

It was suggested to me by someone who commented here so frequently that I suggested she start her own blog that my posts might make my readers "afraid to comment for fear of sounding dumb."

I don't mean to intimidate anyone, I just write. Do I actually make people hesitant to comment because they don't want to sound dumb?

A photo from Greenwich

Here's a photo I took of the Cutty Sark for my father.





Sadly, the ship is deteriorating, and they are having to take donations to try to modify the supports in the dry dock to prevent the hull from getting distorted.

More maps

But not electoral ones, not this time. The Commissar has dug up an old map of the Empire of the Blogs. The city of Randomberg is in the center, just north of the incredibly powerful Munu Confederation (also know as Munuvia).

In the center...

Hah!!!

Well, it made me smirk!!!

---

By the way, I'm not a bloodsucker, I'm only as corrupt as the market will bear...

If you jump to conclusions, you might get contusions

The folks over at Captain's Quarters may be reading a little too much into the refusal of some stations to air Saving Private Ryan because of concerns over the recent heavy hand of the FCC in enforcing the "public decency" regulations. To wit, Whiskey at Captain's Quarters wrote, "This is nothing more than network backlash at the Red Staters." This seems a wee bit extreme, especially given that it is decision of some affiliates and not the network to not air the program. I think it is more correct to say "This is nothing more than overcautious lawyers whispering in the ears of local station executives who have no intestinal fortitude to take any kind of risks."

Of course, if all you can see is red, it affects how you interpret everything, doesn't it? Through the red haze all acts that don't exactly align with the agenda appear as a conspiracy to "get back at the Red Staters."

Given that the FCC has been about a subtle as a baseball bat to the face regarding enforcement of the "public decency" regulations, I cannot believe that no one expected this kind of refusal to do anything that might be interpreted as infringing upon those regulations. If you clamp down hard on Janet Jackson's exposed nipple you have to expect SOME kind of reaction. (sorry, I couldn't resist writing it that way...) Overreactions to stupid acts have unforeseen consequences, even for those who are trying to "protect the public interest." These are businessmen, they don't give a damn if you're in a "red state" or a "blue state," they care only that your money is the right color, which is neither red nor blue but green. They are not going to do anything that risks their bottom line and gives them red ink where their stockholders don't want to see it. Perhaps instead of assuming everything is an attack aimed at the "Red Staters" it would be better to see whether the regulations and how they are being enforced make sense.

UPDATE: I've just discovered some Sinclair Broadcast Group affiliate stations also refused to air Saving Private Ryan, stating the same concerns regarding FCC enforcement. Given the "street-cred" that the Sinclair Broadcasting Group gained among the right-wing by airing of an arguably anti-Kerry "newscast" in the days before the recent election, I think this puts paid to any conspiracy theories that the left-wing is out to get some kind of revenge over the "Red Staters." The Moderate Voice has a good commentary on how the FCC is not making the confusing situation regarding enforcement of the "public decency" regulations any more clear, as well as providing the link regarding the Sinclair Broadcast Group affiliates.

On another note: It's odd. While I expect a lot of gnashing of teeth and overwrought reaction from the left-wing since their man lost, I am finding on the right-wing an amazing amount of whining about grand left-wing conspiracies to oppress the noble Red Staters, despite the fact that the Red State man won. This odd behavior is alternated with metaphorical stomping on the heads of the "moonbats," showing remarkably poor grace in victory and making them look just as crazy as the most extreme left-wingers. Grow up, boys and girls, you're in charge now. Start behaving responsibly and stop acting like some kind of oppressed minority group.

If this is how the right-wing behaves in victory, what would have occurred had Kerry won?

The Western European tradition of realpolitik

Juliette (aka Baldilocks) draws a parallel between the approach taken towards the Barbary Pirates in the early days of the United States and the current confrontation with Islamist terrorists. I encourage you to read her entire post. Her point is made in this way:

The back and forth continued to the year 1815, when the young US Navy’s victories over the pirates forced an end to the capture and enslavement of American ship-borne crews and the tribute payments. (Recall that the US fought a second war with England in the intervening time period; multi-tasking at its finest.)

European nations continued annual payments until the 1830s.

She then links to a quotation (you know how I love quotes) by George Santayana, "Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it...."

Needless to say, given I have a habit of referring to historical parallels, I certainly won't dispute her making her point in this way. I will use what she said as a springboard for a few other thoughts. What I would like to add is that Europe has a tradition stretching back to the Dark Ages of using money to avoid using military force if it's more convenient to do so. In other words, the United States makes stands on principle with the means being as important as the ends relatively frequently while Western European nations tend to take a realpolitik approach (using the second definition found at dictionary.com of politics based on practical rather than moral or ideological considerations) that focuses on the ends rather than the means. An argument could be made that during the Cold War the United States took a more "European" approach in supporting dictators if they opposed the Soviet Union, a policy that was stated very concisely by Harry S. Truman in a different context when he said, "They may be sons-of-bitches, but they're our sons-of-bitches."

From a short-term perspective, the European approach does not seem to be very effective, given the recent problems in Holland along with the Madrid bombings. The larger danger is that the most recent videotape from Osama bin Laden shows he is trying to reposition himself as a "statesman" in the Arafat-mold. With the departure of Arafat from the world stage, bin Laden may now try to fill the vacuum of a "spokesman for those without a nation." One of the primary tasks of US diplomacy in the next years should be to ensure that Western European governments do not take the realpolitik approach and accept bin Laden as the "new Arafat." Arafat made the transition from terrorist to statesman (in the eyes of many governments, even if not that of the current US administration), and there is a real risk that bin Laden may make the same transition in the eyes of the world outside of the United States.

I wasn't planning on posting again today...

..but my reading brought up a question in my mind that I'd like to see some answers to that are from other people.

Some Democrats, notably Josh Marshall of Talking Points Memo, have interpreted a statement from current Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist as an intent to change the cloture rules that have reigned in the US Senate for over two centuries. The statement was, "I'm very confident that now we've gone from 51 seats to 55 seats, we will be able to overturn what has become customary filibuster of judicial nominees."

I don't subscribe to Marshall's interpretation of that statement as an intent to eliminate the filibuster from the Senate, but more as a prediction that the filibusters will be much harder to maintain with only five votes needed to attain cloture. It does bring the following question to my mind, though:

For those of you who fully supported George W. Bush in the recent election, do you also support a change in the rules of the Senate that have been used for about two centuries to enable the entire Bush agenda to easily pass through the Senate? In other words, even though the rules of the Senate have enabled the minority to voice their opinion through the filibuster, does the nominally "conservative" voter (who in theory opposes change, by the classic definition of the word "conservative") favor a radical change in the rules of the upper house of Congress to satisfy the short-term agenda of a recently re-elected President?

The ALARA principle

In my training on radiation safety, I was introduced to the ALARA principle. The ALARA principal, when boiled down to its most basic statement, is that radiation exposure should be reduced to As Low As Reasonably Achievable (hence ALARA). Notice the word REASONABLY in there.

OK, most folks (hopefully) will never have to deal with high levels of exposure to radiation. Why in the world am I writing about this?

I think we should apply this principle to our anti-terrorism efforts. We will never be safe from all attempts at terrorism. This bears repeating, so I'll repeat it.

We will NEVER be COMPLETELY safe from ALL attempts at terrorism.

A reaction of fear is UNREASONABLE. There are over 260 MILLION people in the United States. We have lost perhaps 4,000 to terrorism in the last one hundred years.

We lose more people to automobile accidents every year...

We lose more people to the effects of obesity every year...

We lose more people to the effects of alcohol consumption every year...

We lose more people to the effects of tobacco use every year...

Am I saying we should be complacent?

NO

I am saying we should keep our perspective. We should try to reduce the risk of terrorist attacks to As Low As REASONABLY Achievable. The rest is left as an exercise for the reader, as they say in my textbooks.

As always, THINK...

There are lies, damn lies...

...and statistics.

Do the statistics posted here on certain undesirable activity really mean anything?

Nope...

Are statistics like this used by both the right-wing and the left-wing to prove they are better than their opponents?

Yep...

Do those statistics really mean anything?

Nope...

And no, I'm not trying to denigrate or support the point of view of the person who posted the statistics, nor am I trying to say that he is wrong for posting them.

What AM I saying?

Here it is:

Why don't we move beyond showing how our opponents are wrong and instead try to show how what we believe is correct, or at the least, how what we believe is the path towards maximum freedom with minimum interference and the best reasonably achievable security?

Thanks to In Search of Utopia for the link.

I have tomorrow off as a holiday

Why do I have tomorrow off, you might ask. Tomorrow is Armistice Day here in France, known as Veteran's Day in the United States. This is the day that the slaughter of World War I finally ceased after over four years of idiotic attacks ordered by generals who had no idea what they were asking of troops, attacks made by those troops without the benefit of any body armor against fixed machine gun positions and entrenched opposition. This date was chosen by Congress to honor our veterans because it was the day that that World War I ended.

This is a national holiday in France, where most people have the day off.

This is a national holiday in the United States, called Veteran's Day to honor those who have served our nation in our Armed Forces, where most people (except those who work for banks or the government) have to work.

Isn't there something wrong with this picture?

If you agree, write your Congressman and Senator. Today.

Not meaning to say anything bad about LeeAnn...

...because I'm not. She lives a very, shall we say, interesting life.

This overheard conversation is just wrong, on so many levels.

My brain hurts...

(a gold star to whoever can give me the reference to the above remark, and what the correct response is...)

Copyright law...

...an incredibly dull topic on the face of it, but as someone who has been directly involved for decades in the creation of different kinds of Intellectual Property (known as IP among the cognoscenti... or geeks as I call them) from the book I published back in 1986 to the patents I've filed over the last 15 years, I've had a deep interest in the topic. This seemingly colorless area of law actually made the headlines briefly with the spectacular rise and fall of Napster and online trading of MP3 music files. Wired News had an article posted today on a group that is trying to educate college students on copyright law, and how it is being abused by corporations.

I've been concerned about how copyright law has been extended and expanded in the last decade, if only for the fact that it is now far longer before works enter the public domain, if ever. I think this is bad for the culture as a whole, because works of merit may not be distributed (music not re-released, books not reprinted, ect.) because there is not enough money in it for the copyright holder, but they won't allow the work to move to the public domain where it can be distributed freely by anyone with no violation of the law. That is the fast-track to obscurity. The Induce Act is particularly concerning because it inhibits the sale of technology that might allow a copyright protection to be circumvented by making the manufacturer of the device used to circumvent the copyright protection liable for the circumvention. In other words, it would create a situation where the manufacturers of VCRs, photocopiers, and even cameras would be liable for any act of copyright violation by a user of their product. To me, this begins to intrude upon both free speech and the simple ability to do what you want as long as your act is not illegal, in other words it destroys the libertarian (small "L") ideal that was used to guide the writing of the Constitution. If we extend liability to the point where it is not really possible to sell something because it is possible to perform an illegal act with it, the possible extensions of that mindset are staggering.

So, in the end, copyright law isn't quite as dull in it's implications, is it?

A brief complaint

The %$#@^&*+=&*%$#@ exchange rates are killing me!!!!

We've reached $1.30 per euro!!!

I'm paid in dollars.

I'm spending in euros.

This really sucks.

harumph!!!!

...

OK, I'm finished complaining for now...

Just because it was labeled the "endless campaign"...

...doesn't mean it hasn't ended.

I agree with Jennifer, it's time to address problems rather than to continue harping on an election that is OVER.

I've noticed the idea of being a "gracious winner" involves stomping on the heads of those who lost, and the idea of being a "gracious loser" is to condemn as stupid the people who voted for the victor.

Sad... and "unhelpful", to borrow a word from the Commissar.

Grow up, people, we have work to do.

---

NOTE: This is not aimed at anyone on my blogroll. I would either email or link directly.

More on "moral values"

PoliBlog has an analysis of the "moral values" poll results that comes to similar conclusions to my commentary posted yesterday.

An interesting thought

I've been reading a book of "what if" scenarios written by historians of how world history may have changed if certain key events had happened differently (Alexander the Great getting killed during his first battle with Darius III and the Persians, Varus not losing his legions in Germany, the battle of Poitiers, aka The Battle of Tours, as a victory for the Muslims instead of the Christian French, and so on). A very interesting point was made in discussing the legacy of the Mongol Empire and their worldwide invasions in the 12th and 13th centuries in that the cultures which were successfully overcome by the Mongols developed a marked xenophobia. The list includes Russian, Chinese, and Persian/Arab Islamic cultures as being affected in this way. It was noted that the Caliphate was never truly resurrected (despite the aspirations of the Ottoman Empire, living on the remains of the Byzantine Empire, that was erected on the foundation of the eastern part of the old Roman Empire) after it was destroyed by the Mongols, denying Islam the central, unifying voice that Christianity had with the Popes until the Protestant Reformation. It was argued in this book that if the Mongols had succeeded in their invasion of Europe rather than having it postponed and ultimately fail by a death of the Khan at a key moment, Christianity would have lost the Pope and the unifying voice of the Papacy as well.

Xenophobia induced in cultures due to successful invasions from a strange, foreign enemy that was never understood and did not remain long enough to put a true stamp on the culture beyond heavy taxation and tribute. Interesting. I'll be thinking about this one a while. If this assertion stands up under closer examination, then we can attribute at least part of the origin of the Islamic nihilistic fascism (as embodied by al-Qaida) we are now confronting to the actions of the Mongols six centuries ago. Another empire, the Soviet Empire, is also partially and more proximately responsible because of the invasion of Afghanistan in the 1980s, where the xenophobic Russians in control of the Soviet Empire showed the Islamists that their xenophobic paranoia was justified, at least in their own eyes. So the Mongol invasions possibly had a two-fold influence reaching over half a millennium.

The echos of history last longer than we realize.

Scary...

They're repeating in French the statement made by the Palestinian delegation that visited Arafat today, and I can understand what they are saying.

Okaaaaaaaaay...

I guess I have learned some French along the way.

Being monolingual my entire life until now (except for speaking Geek, but that's different), it feels really weird to understand another language.

The spinning is beginning

Palestinian Authority spokesman are talking the official line that the cause of Arafat's ill health is "undiagnosed"; however, they are very ready to point out that he has "lived in very hard conditions, especially the last few years, under siege in a room with very little oxygen." (part of a telephone interview on CNN International, I will post a link and correct the quotes when I find the online transcript)

This is the first strike in an attempt to blame the Israelis for Arafat's ultimate death, and the first stage in turning him into a "martyr for the cause."

Too bad it will probably work... at least among the Palestinians and other Arabs who are already primed to believe it.

As I wrote before, the actual legacy of Arafat will be one of failure, but in the near-term it will be portrayed as a success by the very institutions he ruled with a dead, iron hand.

D'OH! I really, really, really should learn to say "no", even in French...

I've agreed to teach a course at a local university starting in January. I haven't taught anything formally in about 15 years.

I won't be getting any extra pay for this.

I probably won't be getting any extra anything for this.

What the Hell was I thinking?

Jennifer found a great one!

I really, really, really like the quote Jennifer posted today. Go read it.

The last map I'll post for the 2004 election (I promise)

I found several things intriguing about this map (click for a larger image):

This map appears to be a scan from The New York Times. I got to it through a link chain I can't reassemble, so I can't give proper credit for it.


First, in general (not exclusively, I know...), outside of Texas, the major population centers tended to vote for Kerry.

Second, there were several population centers in California, a state regarded as solidly Democratic, that voted for Bush.

Third, that most major population centers in Ohio, the state that could arguably be called the state that decided the victor this election cycle, voted for Kerry, despite the state as a whole going for Bush.

Fourth, that the parts of Texas that voted for Kerry were Austin (no surprise to me, I lived there before I moved to France, Austin is "special", even for Texas...) and what is referred to as "The Valley", near the Rio Grande, which has a large Hispanic population. El Paso also went for Kerry, again a location with a large Hispanic population.

Fifth, in Arizona, Phoenix voted for Bush and Tucson voted for Kerry. Again, no big surprise for me. I lived in Phoenix during my graduate school career and noticed the marked difference between Tucson and Phoenix. Oddly enough, Sedona, the home of the 1987 "Harmonic Convergence" and of New Age crystal-worshiping moonbats, voted Bush, but Flagstaff, the home of rugged cowboys, voted Kerry.

Seventh, if you examine the Delta region of the Mississippi (eastern Arkansas, western Tennessee, and western Mississippi), with the exception of Vicksburg the area is solidly Kerry, despite being very rural, given the conventional wisdom that "rural America" now prefers Republicans in general and George W. Bush in particular. Having grown up in Memphis, Tennessee and traveling extensively through the Delta region, I find this curious, because I never thought of this region as anything but conservative in the old meaning of the word of "resisting change".

There are other curious and interesting observations, but seven is enough for this weblog. The rest are left as an exercise for the reader...

Are all "innovations" good ones?

I'm not sure if we should thank this man or curse him...

His innovation is nice to look at in many circumstances, but damned inconvenient sometimes if I'm clumsy and can't undo it one-handed.

LeeAnn strikes again

And it hits the gut of every man... Ouch...

In more ways than one.

Moral values determined the election? Whose?

It's been making the rounds in both the mainstream media and on weblogs how many polls show that people voted based upon their "moral values" and how this is indicative of some fundamental shift in attitudes.

Let's take a step back for a moment, shall we?

If asked "Do you consider the moral values of the President important" or "Did you vote based upon what you felt are the moral values of the candidates" I can guarantee you that not only fundamentalist Christians or radical right-wingers will answer in the affirmative, but almost ANY thinking person will answer "yes", left-wing, right-wing, centrist, even nutjobs and moonbats, neither of whom spend too much time thinking.

Well, duh!!!!

I would answer "yes" to either of those questions, and my answer would have meant something completely different than a "yes" answer from anyone else, even someone who shares many of what I consider to be my moral values. Unless the question defined what the "moral values" were, all that question really meant was "do you want the person in charge to share your views on the world?".

Well, duh!!!!

Of course people will answer "yes".

As was made clear in the run up to election day, and even more so in the polls ON election day, polls need careful analysis, and are often misleading if not completely wrong. It is very muddy and lazy thinking to say there is some fundamental shift in the United States based upon this polling result. Many of the people I have communicated with who said they voted for Bush made it clear they are in general NOT happy with many of his domestic policies. To me, the most radical change we are now observing is that for the first time since the 1950s, foreign policy dominated the thoughts of most of the electorate rather than "it's the economy, stupid." This is a mixed blessing, because foreign policy will become even more important as the global economy becomes more developed and more interconnected, but the downside is that most Americans have no idea how people in other parts of the United States think, much less some ferriner who don't speak English like a civilized person should (yes, I'm exaggerating here, but not by much from what I read on many weblogs).

The United States is unique in the world in many ways, and unfortunately this affects how people in the United States think about the rest of the world. The old Native American saying applies, do not judge a man until you walk a mile in his moccasins. The citizens of the United States live in the land of milk and honey described in the Old Testament of the Christian Holy Bible, but they do not realize their great good fortune. Ninety percent of the population of the planet does not live in that luxury, and a significant fraction live in conditions that most citizens of the United States would equate with "Hellish". With this fundamental difference, I fear that the understanding necessary for those who are currently both powerful and wealthy (which is pretty much everyone in the United States, why do you think so many people from other countries want to come to the US???) to be able to relate to the rest of the world will be lacking, and this will result in an even bigger chasm between the US and the rest of the world than the one that has developed in the past three years.

This chasm is important, and the wider it grows, the grimmer the future of the United States becomes. Contrary to what many think, the United States needs the rest of the world. For a simple but remarkably effective proof, go to Wal-Mart and try to buy $100 worth of goods that you actually need, and buy only things made 100% in the United States. There is more than just trade, but this is the most obvious way in which we are now truly dependent upon the rest of the world for what we regard as necessities.

Back to "moral values" though. It is built into the Constitution of the United States that moral values as embodied in religion should not be imposed by government. There are remarkably few things that are universally regarded as non-religious moral values. Even the death penalty for heinous crimes is not a universal moral value. Whose morals do we pick? In what is the most religious "liberal democracy" on Earth, and could reasonably be labeled a Christian nation, there are more Christian denominations than there are political parties or even brands of ketchup (to take a page from the recent boycotts of some folks not wanting to even indirectly support one who doesn't share their political views). In this environment, what does the phrase "moral values" really mean?

A nickname is coined...

...and a suggestion is made.

Pennywit, a self-described liberal, has written an open letter to Michael Moore, whom he titles the Carnival Barker of the Apocalypse. The letter gives good insight on what one person who leans left thinks what Mr. Moore should do (and no, it doesn't involve sharp corners and body orifices, but it isn't praise either...). Recommended reading for the day.

More thoughts from others since I'm too tired to think

In science, 'fact' can only mean 'confirmed to such a degree that it would be perverse to withhold provisional assent.' I suppose that apples might start to rise tomorrow, but the possibility does not merit equal time in physics classrooms.
   -Stephen Jay Gould

The trouble with fighting for human freedom is that one spends most of one's time defending scoundrels. For it is against scoundrels that oppressive laws are first aimed, and oppression must be stopped at the beginning if it is to be stopped at all.
   -H. L. Mencken

Freedom is not worth having if it does not include the freedom to make mistakes.
   -Mahatma Gandhi

The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.
   -H. L. Mencken

The Churches must learn humility as well as teach it.
   -George Bernard Shaw

It is not worth an intelligent man's time to be in the majority. By definition, there are already enough people to do that.
   -G. H. Hardy

People who know the least always argue the most.
   -Unknown

I think we ought always to entertain our opinions with some measure of doubt. I shouldn't wish people dogmatically to believe any philosophy, not even mine.
   -Bertrand Russell

This world is a comedy for those who think and a tragedy for those who feel.
   -Horace Walpole

Humility must always be the portion of any man who receives acclaim earned in the blood of his followers and the sacrifices of his friends.
   -Dwight David Eisenhower

When I say I believe in a square deal I do not mean ... to give every man the best hand. If the cards do not come to any man, or if they do come, and he has not got the power to play them, that is his affair. All I mean is that there shall be no crookedness in the dealing.
   -Theodore Roosevelt

Anybody can become angry, that is easy; but to be angry with the right person, and to the right degree, and at the right time, and for the right purpose, and in the right way, that is not within everybody's power and is not easy.
   -Aristotle

Beware the fury of a patient man.
   -John Dryden

Since I'm brain-dead on a Sunday, I'll turn to others for some pithy thoughts

In democracy its your vote that counts. In feudalism its your count that votes.
   -Mogens Jallberg

Too many have dispensed with generosity in order to practice charity.
   -Albert Camus

To be one's self, and unafraid whether right or wrong, is more admirable than the easy cowardice of surrender to conformity.
   -Irving Wallace

To acquire knowledge, one must study; but to acquire wisdom, one must observe.
   -Marilyn vos Savant

Once harm has been done, even a fool understands it.
   -Homer

Happiness depends upon ourselves.
   -Aristotle

The Democrats are the party that says government will make you smarter, taller, richer, and remove the crabgrass on your lawn. The Republicans are the party that says government doesn't work and then they get elected and prove it.
   -P.J. O'Rourke

The only normal people are the ones you don't know very well.
   -Joe Ancis

Those who don't like thinking should at least rearrange their prejudices from time to time.
   -Luther Burbank

---

And a reminder for us...

He who fights monsters should look into it that he himself does not become a monster. When you gaze long into the Abyss, the Abyss also gazes into you.
   -Friedrich Neitzsche

Since I've been watching my DVDs of the TV series...

...here is how I score on the "Which Monty Python & the Holy Grail character are you?" quiz:

You are King Arthur of the Britons! You let no-one
stand in your way, you are brave and strong!
Keep searching, you'll find the grail yet!


Which Monty Python & the Holy Grail Character are you REALLY?
brought to you by Quizilla

Link from Stevie (and somewhere else, but I can't find where...).

Blog and email weirdness

I'm still only getting about half or less of the trackback pings sent to Random Fate, and now I'm getting emails to all of my email accounts (I have 8, not counting work or webmail accounts... sad, isn't it???) that have taken hours or days to arrive.

I guess the speed of light ain't what it used to be...

Time to increase the fun-factor in blogging again

Many blogs are taking themselves far, far too seriously. I want to see more silly quiz results, more silly questions answered, and more non-sequitur posts coming out of nowhere.

Lighten up, folks, and take Eric's and LeeAnn's lead. The real world is dark enough as it is without a continual apocalypse in blogworld.

Strange comments

I've been getting comments that are just "hello" or some variation of that with an invalid email and URL. Since the URL is invalid, it's not the typical comment spam. Does anyone know what the purpose behind these comments are?

Yet another reason why the Internet is so great

You have just got to go here and check out the different sections... believe me... I laughed out loud...

Thanks to Rob at Gut Rumbles for the link (like he really needs a trackback from my little blog, but it is the polite thing to do...)

Pavlov has rung his bell...

...so it's time for the twelfth Carnival of the Recipes! No entry from me this time, but as is noted, it's just in time to start thinking about Thanksgiving!

Go to Beth at She Who Will Be Obeyed for links to all the Carnival postings, and while you're there be sure to thank her for doing all the work to get her great idea started.

Hello? Terrorism isn't the ONLY threat out there

Question: Aside from the economic concerns relating to unfair trade, a biased regulatory regime, and a lack of respect for intellectual propery protection, do we really want to be giving China access to technology needed to make state of the art computer chips?

From Silicon Strategies:

Late last month, Chinese silicon foundry provider SMIC disclosed that it has signed a deal to develop 90-nm process technologies with Texas Instruments Inc. SMIC (Shanghai) hopes to have 90-nm "pilot production" by the first quarter of 2005 (see Oct. 28 story).

The deal would signal the further erosion of a post Cold War-era pact -- known as the Wassenaar Arrangement -- set up to limit the dissemination of technology that could have potential military use.

Tools capable of processing 0.25-micron wafers had been the perceived limit under U.S. controls, but a number of chip-making startups, joint ventures, and major semiconductor manufacturers in China have announced plans for 0.18-micron and below processes.

Barrett expressed concern about U.S. export control policies in relation to SMIC's efforts to deploy 90-nm technology in China. "You have to say, 'What the hell is going on?' Barrett said. "[SMIC's efforts] blatantly goes against U.S. regulations."

In an interview with Silicon Strategies after the press event, the Intel executive cried foul about the unfair business practices in China. "If I wanted to build a 90-nm, 300-mm fab in China, the U.S. government would say, 'Absolutely not.' "

There appears to be a double standard in China. China's own chip makers can set up fabs with 90-nm technology. And U.S. chip-equipment makers have a rough time competing in China, due to unwieldy and outdated laws.

"U.S. export controls and regulations do not help U.S. companies compete in China relative to our competition," he said. "I don't like fighting with one hand tied behind my back."

As I asked above, putting aside purely economic concerns, is essentially giving the last large Communist government on the planet access to advanced integrated circuit manufacturing technology really a good idea? I realize that they are actually allowing privately owned companies to form and flourish, but fundamentally, it is still a Communist nation and a strategic competitor to the United States.

I have an opinion, and my opinion is: This is a very, very, very Bad Idea.

What do you think, and why?

Is it a drug or not?

It will be interesting to see how this plays out in terms of regulation:

A Swiss company has developed a smoke-free cigarette for no-smoking restaurants, bars - and even aeroplanes.

The smoke and tobacco-free NicStic consists of a heating element and a changeable filter that contains nicotine.

It