THANK GOD (WHICHEVER ABRAHAMIC GOD YOU PREFER) HE'S ALIVE. I refer, of course, to Iraqi Information Minister Mohammad Said Sahaf, who apparently is trying to negotiate his surrender with uninterested occupation forces. Rumors circulated that Said killed himself in the opening days of the overrun of Baghdad, even as his fame peaked. He even got a mention in Get Your War On.

- posted by thegusdad @ 4/29/2003 05:16:00 PM

 
SPEAKING OF THINGS GEEK, this little factoid is my delight of the day: the Windows key! I finally switched to WinXP here at the office, and was bemoaning the lack of the desktop toolbar button that minimizes all windows. Lo and behold, it turns out that the Windows key has actual functionality! Windows + D toggles between all windows minimized and all maximized.
- posted by thegusdad @ 4/29/2003 02:57:00 PM

 
STARTLING SELF-REVELATION. I was running through for a friend all the things I'm looking forward to in the next month and a half:
May 2 -- X-Men 2
May 15 -- Matrix Reloaded, both film and video game (the game contains material not present in the films necessary to a full understanding of the Matrix universe)
June 15 -- Deus Ex 2
June 21 -- Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Then zowie! it struck me -- I'm a geek! Next thing you know, I'll be keeping a blog!
- posted by thegusdad @ 4/29/2003 12:54:00 PM

 
I'M OUT OF BLOGGING FORM. So, some random thoughts, to show myself I can still do this:

I finally watched Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels last night. Guy Ritchie's first commercial success, with a performance by Sting that obviously was mostly left on the cutting room floor. I thought "how did Sting end up in this?" Then, the executive producer's credit: Trudie Styler, Sting's wife and tantric sex partner. I get it now.

I've been playing State of Emergency for the xBox lately. In SoE (by Rockstar Games, the same people who brought you the Grand Theft Auto series. including Vice City), you play a looter in a riot. This is the closest thing to wilding on the market--blow up cop cars, assault civilians, lob grenades into mall stores for big points. Cathartic. You play, have a blast, and disapprove of your own gaming iniquity. Then you play again, until you hae to remind yourself to blink and you sit back rubbing your wrists and thumbs.

Paul Boutin thinks that Apple's foray into digital music is the breakthrough--the model from here out is that songs cost a buck forever, rather than an album full mostly of forgettable songs costing fifteen. I would suggest to Paul that the better headline for this breakthrough would not be a comparison to 10-10-220.


- posted by thegusdad @ 4/29/2003 12:55:00 AM

 
OK, I'M BACK. Arcata Police Log: A solid wall of needless, noxious nimrod imbroglios.
- posted by thegusdad @ 4/23/2003 09:47:00 AM

 
Well, it's been a good six days since Matt's had an angry little thought, so I'll jump in.

Grrrrrr!
-E
- posted by Eric @ 4/16/2003 02:00:00 PM

 
VICTORY IN THE WAR IS NOT VICTORY IN THE ARGUMENT ABOUT THE WAR.
- posted by thegusdad @ 4/10/2003 11:39:00 AM

 
SOMETIMES WARS ARE TOO EASY. The Guardian has this scary quote:

"John R Bolton, the US under secretary of state for arms control and international security, warned countries that it has accused of pursuing weapons of mass destruction, including Iran, Syria and North Korea, to 'draw the appropriate lesson from Iraq'."

Want some elaboration? Here's Howard Kurtz in the National Review;

"I am not anxious to overturn any more governments in the Middle East than we absolutely have to. It may be that the invasion of Iraq will set off a chain reaction that forces us to sponsor more regime change in the Middle East, but I would far prefer for things to evolve slowly."

Steven Landsburg, in his Slate economics column, suggests that overconfidence causes war, and virtually every other unhappiness in modern life, because every chosen path tends toward the mean rather than the outlier of optimal success. It's a little loosely argued, but worth reading.
- posted by thegusdad @ 4/09/2003 12:56:00 PM

 
NEW TERM: THE "FUV." Gregg Easterbrook -- who writes Tuesday Morning Quarterback, link at left, during football season -- is a hell of a journalist. He makes a strong case that American SUV-loving culture should be declared a federal disaster area in this piece. Typical Easterbrook: nice structure, historical perspective, and bon mots galore: "Every time an SUV or light pickup leaves the showroom in the United States, fanatics smile in the Persian Gulf." Note that his essay is couched as a "review" of Keith Bradsher's book High and Mighty: SUVs--The World's Most Dangerous Vehicles and How They Got That Way. You can buy it here.
- posted by thegusdad @ 4/08/2003 10:08:00 AM