Notes and Jottings

libeskind

Some nice work here - but you’d expect that! It’s not quite the New York Spike…

U.S. Officials Say U.N. Future At Stake in Vote (washingtonpost.com)

If the UN agrees to the proposed Resolution just because they would be “divided” otherwise - well it seems to me that voting for the resolution is tantamount to saying that the UN is a lapdog for US decisions. There needs to be a real decision by the world that this is the right thing to do; very few administrations other than the US one currently hold that view.

PerversionTracker: Apparently Useless Software

The highly trained PerversionTracker staff locates the very worst of Mac software. We search the web for 15 minutes a day - so you don’t have to!

Great stuff!

“Only the mediocre are always at their best.”

The Political Compass

Take the quiz and see if you’re left-wing, right-wing, … What do these phrases mean anyway?

The Real But Unspoken Reasons For The Iraq War

Last post on this topic for a while! I promise. Firstly, this information comes from a left-wing source, and one or two figures are unverified. But besides that, an interesting proposal that the reason for going to war is to hold up the price of the dollar currency. And Iraq’s location here? 11% of the world’s oil reserves, as well as a decision in 2000 to trade their oil in the euro currency instead of the dollar.

ajc.com | Opinion | Bush’s real goal in Iraq

Why do I feel so much more cynical about world affairs these days? Just following some of the recent history of the US (Vietnam, East Timor, Chile) in a programme last night would have some part to play. As are the analyses of reasons for the policies currently being enacted by the US Administration. Where will it end? I fear that a US-led world will be no more peaceful or fair than any other, and contains within it worrying possibilities for the growth of discontent and anger against the US. But do the US care about that?

Irish Times Article - Cabinet to support US even without UN input

What is our government doing? I know that the US is important for our economy, but supporting the US position at any cost is not right. And in this case, it appears that the justification for supporting the US would occur regardless of the quality of the justification for supporting the position. Bah.

Not that I’m saying whether or not the US position is justified (though I think the main problem in the world is NOT terrorists, but the propagation of fear and mistrust).

Thanks to Michael for the link.

Salon.com Technology | Outsourcing rejection

Eughhhh…

By the time I got off the phone I wanted to douse myself with bleach and burn the headset. I went to the supervisor’s desk and explained that I’d just spent 20 minutes talking to a convicted child rapist. They said I could take a 15-minute break.

I made a return to Pier 39 last night - it’s actually remarkably close to Market St. when walking along Embarcadero. Admittedly it took me over 30 minutes to get there, but I was in an enthusiastic photographer mood at the time. And for all that, I did get at least two really nice photos, not just “I was there” photos.
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