Incredibly Sad

Without getting into the politics, this news strikes me as simply incredibly sad:

The bodies of more than 85 executed men have surfaced across Baghdad in the past two days, in Sunni and Shiite neighborhoods, providing graphic proof, yet again, of sectarian mayhem. Many bodies bore marks of torture — badly beaten faces, gagged mouths and rope burns around the neck — though it remains unclear who is responsible.

The article reports fear that the killings are by “police commandoes” but that is unknown:

The widespread suspicion is that many executions are the handiwork of death squads backed by the Shiite-controlled Interior Ministry. On the other side are well-organized Sunni insurgents, quite skilled at killing, too. One result is a slow strangling of whatever had remained of normal life: shops are closing earlier, people are hunkering down and politicians are feeling squeezed. Iraqis elected a new Parliament in December, but until now, political leaders have been wrangling over the composition of a new government.

You feel it is banal even to make any observation at all. Maybe it is my age but I think of a view of a bridge at the beginning of the Balkan War with people trapped among gun fire. I think of sitting in the school bus in junior high listening to the end of the Vietnam war or, later, revelations of Cambodia. It flows over you day ater day until you notice enough to thank God it is not here and then it flows over you again.

Hello Computer

Which is worse during bachelor week? Talking to the cats or the computer. At
least the computer does not run away when it sees you. But being cats they make
you do things through the power of staring…like making you think it is Friday
and making you want to post stories in bullet format.

  • Update: this
    story on NCPR     on the difference between Iraq and Afghanistan from the point
    of view of a US solder was very interesting.

  • As a public service announcement, this Thursdsay’s rocking out with brothers
    at the Queen concert in Toronto will likely pre-empt Friday chat-fest. It is an
    odd thing going to Queen in a way as for years I entirely rejected the band but,
    in 1986 when working in Holland in a wholesale cut flower packing auction house,
    I heard a top 100 of all time and #1 was Bohemian Rhapsody. This was
    pre-Wayne’s World but it was my first experience of the post-punk
    restoration of Freddy and the lads to classic rock status. Question: ought I buy
    a lighter for waving at certain moments? I know I have to buy ear plugs. I like
    the music but I sure don’t like the racket.

  • You know, Ian is a daily read but – even after years – the other worldliness
    of his experience sometimes strikes me. Today he recounts the dramatic passing
    of an ’80s game show host.

  • I think Hans is going to win the NCAA pool even though there is a whole day
    to get the picks in. Why? I am simple stunned at anyone actually taking the time
    to think about these pool questions. Ooops. I just realized I forgot the cricket
    bonus points. Maybe 25 points for a short compare and contrast essay on the
    relative impact of cricket on the West Indies and Gerry McNamara on Syracuse.
    While Deadspin has an incredible amount of detail on the NCAA first round, I don’t think you will
    find a cheat sheet on that particular question.

  • There is something goofy about PM Steven Harper that I am starting to like.
    True, he is sort of pudgy and mid-40-ish like me but there is that smile of a
    ten year old with a new box full of Hot Wheels cars that seems to be without
    pretense. I think his trip
    to Afghanistan     was a very good idea and while it is not the sort of thing
    that is going to sway my vote on this one point I am much more with him than
    Jack!, though I do admire the moustacheoed one for sticking to unpopular stances
    against
    the flow     when an easier path is available.

  • The Commonwealth
    Games     are starting soon. Who knew? I still hold the hope of taking off as a
    lawn bowler in about ten years to take Gold for Canada in 2030, singing the
    national anthem teary eyed in natty white slacks.

Well there you go.
The cats are staring at me so I now have to make some changes to my bank
accounts. I must. Then, I am off to buy new larger cat carriers. Cat treats,
too. I obey.

Time to Sell?

As usual, the Flea has exposed my real intentions in writing here day after day after pathetic day – the dream of undeserved riches. Well, apparently that dream is no longer a waste of time as the NYT reports that pickings are slim but wallets are fat in the bubbly economic world of web buy-outs:

Media companies are still hungry. Is there much left for them to consume that they’ll find satisfying? NBC Universal’s $600 million acquisition of iVillage, an early Internet company catering to women, highlights the continuing interest by media companies in adding new Web sites to reach and connect with consumers, hobbyists, parents, investors, car buyers, Scrabble players and virtually every other niche audience.

Scrabble players? Investors?!? Phft!!! How obvious. How structured. Doesn’t the world of mega finance know that the real wealth of the web is to be found in the drifty and derivative? Like the products of GX40 MegaCo International.

Now, how to pitch the deal? Maybe a merger or two will have to start the ball rolling. If the Flea joined forces with A Good Beer Blog you might have a new blog called Toast of the Flea in which the beer and other beverage tastes of really skinny often hypercephalic celebrities are shared. I’ll have to work on this.  But it’s looking gold.

Alternative Reality

When I think of all the promises that information technology has made but not followed through on, this is the sort of futurificationing that most alarms me:

The divide that separates people from their online lives will utterly disappear. Instead of leaving behind all those net-based friends and activities when you walk out of your front door, you will be able to take them with you. The buddies you have on instant message networks, friends and family on e-mail, your eBay auctions, your avatars in online games, the TV shows you have stored on disk, your digital pictures, your blog – everything will be just a click away.

It could also kick off entirely new ways of living, working and playing. For instance, restaurant reviews could be geographically tagged so as soon as you approach a cafe or coffee shop, the views of recent diners could scroll up on your handheld gadget. Alternative reality games could also become popular. These use actors in real world locations to play out the ultimate interactive experience.

The promise of the review-laden world has been with us for well over a decade, before the internet when personal computing as being updated by CD-rom mailouts. Yet it is still a shock to find more than three reviews of anything on a site like expedia when you are looking for, say, hotel information. How does the human, disinterested in helping strangers by writing opinions provided for free, populate the world of content in this new world. That human won’t. There would need to be a model of exchange of idea to trigger an increase of participation beyond folks like me with foolish dreams of $2,000 a month from Google ads. But no one will pay me a nickle for my thoughts now – will anyone pay everyone for any of theirs?

But beyond that – why the brave new world of staring at a wrist watch screen wherever you go? What is so wrong with the people physically near you that you would want to exchange them for digial strangers? Again, for geeks of which I am of “C” grade, the transition is already in place. Is it that real is not play? It should be. Is it that real is not play that you rarely have the option of clearly winning? The digital world allows each Rob and Victor to know victories and even robberies that would never be possible in reality. It is any different than striving to be the guy who got the most points in the arcade? What kind of backbone would a society have if that actually became the pervasive goal?

Japan Freaks Out

I couldn’t think of anything else to say about this news from that bastion of democracy somewhere below your toes:

Most foreigners visiting Japan would be photographed and fingerprinted under controversial legislation approved Tuesday by the country’s cabinet. Children under 16, diplomats and permanent residents — such as ethnic Koreans born in Japan — would be exempt from the requirements. The government wants the bill voted into law during the current session of parliament, which ends on June 18. If the law is adopted, advance lists of passengers and crew members would also be required for all airplanes and ships arriving in Japan.

Yumpin’ Yimminy! Strike another country off my list of places to visit. I say we make each Japanese traveller do tongue twisters upon landing in Canada. Or jumping jacks. It will be of about as much use and will be more entertaining.

Google To Control Everything

When does this stuff get to be a concern?

Web giant Google is planning a massive online storage facility to encompass all users’ files, it is reported. The plans were allegedly revealed accidentally after a blogger spotted notes in a slideshow presentation wrongly published on Google’s site…

“We deleted the slide notes because they were not intended for publication,” Google spokeswoman Lynn Fox said. “We are constantly working on new ways to enhance our products and services for users, but have nothing to announce at this time.”

Would we not be concerned if it was China or the CIA or General Motors or even Coors Beer? Why is Google less a threat? It’s the funny name in the friendly primary colours, isn’t it.

#20 – Is He Or Isn’t He?

[ toast crunch.]

Him: [mumbles as paper snaps]…who the hell is this guy?…

Her: [from next room] Whaaat?

Him: NOTHING! [mumbles again] Hamas now sorta ok, he meets with Clinton, he turns on the Ethics Commissioner…even if the guy is a hack, why bother rising to the bait?

Oh, my God. Look at this in MacLeans. Look who wrote it!

Because surely what people have discovered about me by now is that I think a few steps ahead. Not to say that I made the decisions before I got here. But I certainly knew what the parameter of the options were… It doesn’t mean that everything you do has to be popular. But everything you are doing has to be serving the public interest. And you’ll have to, in due course, justify it to the population. I’ve been attacked so much in the past few years it doesn’t really matter to me. I always ask myself what will the public’s reaction be to such-and-such a decision or such-and-such a move by the time we get to the next election, when the public actually makes a judgment. So the temporary reaction of a columnist or whatever today doesn’t really mean anything. You have to ask yourself, “How is this going to look to the public in due course?”

“…or whatever”?!?! Like Parliament? I can’t wait to get back into the House and see this guy sweating. Usually it takes two years for an opposition to start tossing around the word arrogant…this guy’s ripe for the tomato toss from day one.

So much like whatshisname…Parizeau…another economist who doesn’t think Canada is a real country…HAH!

Her: [from next room] Whaaat?

Him: NOTHING! [ toast crunch, tea slurp.]