Today the whites are that bit whiter, the sounds that bit sharper, lights brighter. So bright they’re burning my eyes, leaving colour, shape, in their wake, but no definition.
I’m not sure I’m really enjoying this headache – perhaps it could stop now? I’m quite aware that I’m lucky I don’t suffer them too often, and that normally they’re only a few minutes long when they do come. Today has been different, and I’m hoping there isn’t more where that came from.
“You are in a maze of twisty countries all alike”
8088 Corruption – 30fps, on 4.77MHz processor. Just proving it can be done, now why do we have minimum requirements a hundred times that to run the operating system?
“I squash dead fish between my toes, Try not to step on any bones, I turn around and I go home” (erm, maybe thats not working…how about XBox found abandoned on beach?)
You either love Chomsky or hate him, theres very little middle ground.
This book is a collection of interviews with him over the last couple of years, covering many topics mainly around Americas empire and how they view the rest of the world. He gives the impression of someone who has a lot of information at his fingertips, though how much of what he sees is conspiracy theory he generates himself and how much comes from real facts is something difficult to get from this kind of book.
A couple of times he describes America, or some of the States, as “Failed states”, which is a term the Americans have taken to using to help justify their interference in places like Afghanistan (though I think it fairer to describe the part of the region the Taliban control as a failed state – which is one of the reasons there is such difficulty with negotiations there…if it were to be recognised as a full-fledged state things would be very different).
His world-view is self consistent, if a little on the paranoid side of things. More interesting is the clarity of his thinking and talking. Being a linguist his words are concise and very precise, while making little demand on the reader to interpret what he means. This makes it an easy read, at least if you’re interested in the subject matter.
Love him or hate him I reckon this is a worthwhile read – it will reinforce your opinion one way or another, and give you better knowlege of the subject.
A fabulous evening out, as ever Otway is full of treats and really not the most together of stage performers…but thats why we love him. We got to hear hits from his 20 year chart career, the 7th most popular lyric in 2000 years (beating U2 and the Manic Street Preachers), Blockbuster taken to another level of distortion, Bachman Turner Overdrive overturned and “I will survive” in the style of Bob Dylan. Why weren’t you there to share the madness?
John Otways World Tour visits Cambridge tomorrow night (sat).
Who is going?
…tracing the money behind global terrorism.
By Loretta Napoleoni
This book starts out with a collect-a-set of bits that beginings of books have…Forward, Introduction, Preface, Acknowlegements and Prologue.
It then launches into a whirlwind tour of the American view of the terrorist map (the IRA are conspicuous by their absence – I presume because they now feel too uncomfortable for an American audience). There are lots of strands of information, most of which don’t seem to meet up in any coherent way. They paint an overall picture “Can you see what it is yet?”
It would be easy for someone reading this book to dismiss its contents as the work of a conspiracy theory nut. That may be, but she is at least reasonably well informed.
Of course I’m target audience, largely disgruntled with society and how it works, looking to find some validation of the conspiracy theories I hear.
For instance, there is a detailed description of the “Afghan Pipeline” for delivering American arms to the Mujahideen to fight the anti-Soviet Jihad. This term is now used to describe the oil pipeline across the country. The pipeline that was negotiated by the Bush family as part of their UNOCAL oil business. Odd how those talks seemed to fall apart in July 2001. Now, if I was cynical I’d attempt to link that to the apparent demolition of the WTC and the associated death of John ONeill.
Like I say, plenty of fuel. But either you’re convinced by the conspiracies or you aren’t – if not this book will just make you angry at wasting your time reading it. Otherwise its a lot of good solid information around which to hang your favorites.
“Thank you for calling 1-800-SUICIDE” Press 2
I was out walking for my lunch yesterday, a quick wander down to the local garage. The nearest to my office is around 20 minutes walk away, which kills your lunch hour quite nicely. Its a boring walk, consisting of two straight roads at right angles to each other, both with hedges or houses down both sides.
Just as I’m heading back toward the office a black cab pulls up and asks directions to my office. I’m not totally surprised by this, what I am surprised about is that he offered me a lift to show him where the office was, and what the reading on the meter was when I got in…£277, that must have been an important delivery.
In other news things are hectic without really showing any kind of progress – I’ve forgotten how to sleep and there hardly seems time for it anyway.
Anyone up for gaming afternoon tomorrow? My house, midday.
Driving without a safety net – a quick look at how far we’ve come in car safety design in the last 15 years. To my way of thinking this is some good reasons for not getting the latest greatest cars money can buy, you end up losing contact with the road, how to really control a car under pressure.