bucketFountain

Talk about exotic destinations for your holidays. My friend Paul has just left Iraq after spending a few days there, including a soiree to Baghdad. He had to do a bit of fast talking to get across the border, but found people to be friendly and helpful on the whole. “Only when I saw 2 Apaches fly over me this afternoon did it start to hit home exactly where I am!!” Crazy kiwi….

To announce that there must be no criticism of the president, or that we are to stand by the president, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public. – Theodore Roosevelt

Saddam captured – the promise of ‘justice’ being served to this tyrant may cause many not to consider the double standards and hypocrisy represented by this action.

I heard on the news a surprised British interviewer saying that Saddam’s trial might be held in Iraq. Why was he surprised? Saddam did nothing to Britain or the US until they attacked him. His trial should be an Iraqi affair – the Iraqi people have suffered more than the Iranians or Kuwatis, and certainly more than the US and the UK. In the mean time when will Cheney / Rumsfeld / Kissinger et al be tried for their crimes?

We all know the atrocities that Saddam committed against the Kurds, but why is there so little condemnation of Turkish raids against the same people?

There are too few ‘good-guys’ in this saga – it’s not a simple matter of one side being ‘right’. I hope that more people realise this and can condemn the crimes of anyone, regardless of what side they’re on.

Less than a week until I hit the snow. Tash organised a seven day snowboarding sojourn to Chamonix where I will learn afresh the true meaning of pain. I have not been boarding for nearly three years, and I’ve gained about 10 kilos in that time. This weekend was mostly spent buying new gear – goggles, gloves, thick toasty socks, and a kick-arse West Beach jacket. Yee-hah!

Someone in the Harrods marketing department has committed something of a branding sin. In the sports section they have a shoe area that is called ‘The Sweatshop’. However, the only sign of a sweat-shop I could see was the end-product.

The other day I installed Mandrake Linux 9.1 and all things internet worked fine. So I get to thinking that I’ll go one better and give myself an upgrade to the recently released 9.2. 9.2 is definitely slicker than 9.1, but for the life of me I have yet to get my adsl modem, a Speedtouch 330, to connect to the internet. I needed to download the microcode (mgmt.o) with 9.1 to get it to work, but that was the only drama. I assumed that it would be the same in 9.2. I have found a few pages about the issue but as yet none have worked.

When I get it working I will post an answer here incase anyone else has the same issues.

Update I found this that I will try tomorrow – looking hopeful.

Reading: Gore Vidal’s ‘Inventing a Nation’. It’s about some of the founding fathers of the US, and their original vision/reservations for the future of the Union. I find Mr Vidal’s style so enjoyable to read that it is hard to put down.

I’ve been wondering if you can run linux on a Sony Ericsson T610 (my latest toy). Volker reports that someone got it running on a digi-cam. And he said that it’s useless????

…or I think his nose might have started growing. He was on Jay Leno’s show claiming to have climbed the Welliewood icon that is the bucket fountain, and, dig this, pissed in it. Bastard. However, I think he might be telling porkies. I’d be surprised if he’d have been able to climb the fountain with three mates and then piss into it. It’s possible but highly unlikley. I’ll forgive him this time.