Christmas cheer continues

Saturday, December 27, 2003

As I'm sure many of you know, there is such as thing as a “military family” where both parents are employed by the military, and it's not all that uncommon. Many of these families of course have children, sometimes young children. The Gauthier family for example has three children — a two year old, and 7-month-old twins. The father is already in Iraq (since last April) and isn't coming back any time soon. The mother has been ordered to leave in March — either go to military prison for desertion, or put your kids in foster care and serve your country they tell her (more)… Seriously, how screwed up is it that now they're taking away the children of the troops?

And what a background it's up against. Iraq is still a mess (more). Christmas saw eight US soldiers (or more) killed in Iraq, and if the ratios stay constant, that would include 160 or so casualties from injuries as well (more), not that you'll hear much about those casualties from the media (more). Then of course there's al-Qaeda's latest dire “warning” (more) to the infidels:


"[The Americans] should prepare their coffins, hospitals and graves. The coming days will be full of surprises and great events which will make them a historic example."

You know, if they had any sense, here's what their message would read. Covering it with psycho rhetoric isn't helping convince people they're not simple religious nuts… They are not explaining their case clearly to Joe Normal:


"Let us be clear. American forces are occupying our land, destroying our way of life, and stealing our property. If all US military are not out of [insert country here] and all US oil drilling does not cease in [insert country here] within 3 months we will be forced to retaliate. American citizens will feel the same pain that [insert country here] citizens feel because of the US actions."

All this stuff about Allah isn't helping anyone “get it”. It's preaching to the choir!

Anyway, the US of course canceled a bunch of Air France flights a few days ago, and is now seeking the 13 missing passengers, all on “terrorist watch lists” and some with pilot's training (more). The US says that they do not believe they have stopped all of the attacks — after all, their invasion of Afghanistan and then Iraq has provided al-Qaeda with a massive army and popular support. The “back breaking” attacks on the US are expected to happen by the end of January.

So until then, be very very afraid, and always vote for Bush.

Comments (0)

Want a new project car?

Friday, December 26, 2003

If anyone is interested an aqaintance of mine is selling his Laser 917 for $500 (yes, five hundred dollars). The kit is located in Marietta, GA (15 minutes north of Atlanta). I should emphasize that it is a kit and contains the body, doors, bumpers, windshields, dash, seats, upholstery, and assorted parts… not the chassis though!

Anyway, if you're interested drop me a line and I'll put you in touch. It's really easy to work on and I have a full set of manuals for them that I'd be glad to make a copy of. Parts are easy to get and you can either put it on a VW chassis or on a custom tube chassis if you're so inclined.

(Update: this car is now sold)

Comments (0)

I can't remember their names but I fake them all the time…

Friday, December 26, 2003



Tattoo collectors in the NYC area interested in getting tattooed by Katzen while she's there (until January 13th) should drop her a line either via her page or via Bowery Tattoo.

I'm continuing to slowly build up the encyclopedia project with more new entries as well as revisions of the older ones. I'd say we're at about the 25% mark, when it comes to English anyway. I did a bit more work on the crosslinking analysis (still infantile), and I also put up a really basic stats page which includes links that let you browse with different entry types hilited. That said, until the population of the database is higher this is of trivial interest only.

I've also made it so all bad searches get logged. The purpose of this is to allow me and the other writers to be able get an idea of what people are looking for, and perhaps to identify some of the more common misspellings as well.

While I'm promoting various projects, drummers and musicians in NYC should check out Keith's page (more)… I mention this in a rather self-serving way, because I'm hoping to bribe him to do some work on the movie soundtrack. Perhaps you can help?

Comments (0)

Advice for succeeding in 2053.

Friday, December 26, 2003

The news is not a nice thing. “Deaths mount on both sides on Christmas Day in Iraq“ screams the Independent, Reuters reports on more US troops dying (more), and even FOX News's usually pro-war headline reads, “Sad Holidays for U.S. War Widows“. Coupled with the Pope dedicating Christmas Mass to decrying this mass murder (more) and continued escalating terror alerts making one seriously question whether US security has decreased over the past two years (more), things just aren't looking too good.

Or are they?

You might think from reading the news entries that I post that I'm a cynic, that I think the apocalypse is right around the corner. Not true at all! I think this is an awesome time to be alive; the 21st century is going to be very exciting, for two core reasons:

1. Nuclear Fusion and other “Free” Power

Admittedly the US is doing its damndest to block the progress of fusion reactors (more, more) as well as smaller power generation platforms (ie. home power generation), but ultimately reducing the cost of power to close to zero is going to change the world. Think about it — if you have unlimited electricity, you can generate unlimited hydrogen fuel. You can grow an unlimited amount of food in your basement using automated hydroponics. You can manufacture anything. You can recycle anything. And so on.

Power is the key to everything — when power is free, everything is free… And that moves us to a leisure-based society, finally, after a hundred and fifty years of science fiction promising it to us.

Of course… it also gives us unlimited power to kill.

2. Cheap Space Travel

Rutan is well on his way to proving that we can get into space for minimal cost using readily accessible technology. Couple that with unlimited electricity, and we have laid the foundation for humans finally fully colonizing space and the rest of our solar system, and one day more. I think it's very reasonable to assume that we'll see civilian human settlements this century on other worlds.

So… Maybe you're asking yourself: How can I prosper in this new world? How can I be a success? I believe there are four things you can do, but you should do them now to prepare yourself for the world of the future… coming in ten years?

A. Obtain and protect real estate

When items don't have value any more, and income becomes roughly equalized across all people, only real estate has physical value… when coupled with the ability to control that real estate. I believe we may face a series of “microwars” as wealthy land owners seek to control their assets. The question I suppose is how much respect do the lower and middle classes have for the inherited “finders-keepers” attidude of the current wealthy landholders?

My advice is that you get your hands on good (scenic, isolated, whatever you want) land and be able to defend it. This has to be done soon, and should be done in exotic locales in my opinion. As the ability to travel rises, “normal people” will realize that there's nothing stopping them from buying that house in the Carribbean… And it's really a matter of first come, first serve, and once we hit the threshhold, the game basically ends, short of bartering for other properties.

But… with unlimited power, what's stopping us from settling the ocean?

B. Develop artistic skills

At least inside a 50-year window, it's unlikely that robots will dramatically surpass humans in the artistic sense — I'm talking about writers, musicians, poets, and so on… If items lose value, then “ideas” and the entertainment that comes from them takes that value. The human desire for wealth is like energy — you can't destroy the lust, you can just shift it from one concept to another.

C. Develop scientific/academic skills

You can become a part of progress… So maybe that academic degree that's valueless now, that leaves the bearer as a bitter guy that insults those without degrees as a coping mechanism, will actually find itself in demand in the future?

D. Prostitution and other services

When items and electricity become inexpensive to the point of being free, one thing always grows in value and perhaps even becomes the new currency: people. As we move to a permissive leisure society, those adept at — or adept at controlling — prostition and other carnal service industries that can't be effectively done by machines will be in high demand. We are already seeing this shift happen with the “personalization” of online pornography a la Suicide Girls and other “journal-based” porn — you're not just buying sex — you're buying intimacy (temporary — or permanent — ownership of someone else's soul, rather than temporary possession of their genitals).

Along the lines of the last one, don't be surprised if (pseudo-voluntary) slavery re-emerges as an acceptable concept in the 21st or 22nd centry.

Comments (0)

Five HOs… best bang for your buck

Wednesday, December 24, 2003

“Christmas sale” over at BMEshop. For the next 48 hours, if you enter “HO-HO-HO-HO-HO” as a coupon at checkout, you'll get 15% knocked off your order. Maybe it'll help balance out all the stupid Christmas virus emails floating around this week.

I wanted to real briefly mention two news stories. First, in “Dispatches from Iraq” this week is the story of a 16-year old Iraqi student's interaction with US soldiers trying to stem the pro-Saddam movement in Iraq by beating up children.


[The US soldiers] were looking for boys who had been at a pro-Saddam demonstration the day before. "It's against the law," explained Lt. Col. Leopoldo Quintas.

"It's subversive," added his public affairs officer.

Ibrahim and several other detained boys were put in the back of a truck. The truck broke down and had to be towed by a tank. "We were laughing," he said, all tough and unconcerned, wearing his bandaged wrist like a trophy and using a single crutch to support the leg he said was kicked and beaten with a stick. "We knew we hadn't done anything. One of the Americans said in Arabic, 'Incheb!' Shut up!" Ibrahim was full of himself, laughing at the Americans to their faces, getting beaten for his defiance, and then asking for more. "The more I laughed, the more he hit me. It shows what kind of a weak man he was to hit a boy," he sneered.

"They had no right, no right to come!" Mr. Hamza, the Arabic teacher, was indignant. "Is this American democracy?"

Anyway, the story is interesting, not just because of the commentary on the forced application of “democracy” (because democracy is having a neo-con dictatorship, not power-to-the-people or voting after all), but because of the commentary on how similar youth is all over the world.

The other story I wanted to mention was “Uncle Sam Wants You, Eh?” about US military recruiters sneaking across the Canadian border to try and trick impoverished Inuit and other First Nations citizens to join the US army (since under a 1794 treaty they were granted dual status). I know, you're saying to yourself right now, “at least it's better than the draft!”



“Blessed are those who are solitary and superior, for you will find the kingdom; for since you came from it you shall return to it.”

Comments (0)