Notes and Jottings

It was only a week. But in the meantime, a huge earthquake hit Dam in Iran, a humanitarian catastrophe which may have caused the deaths of up to 30,000 people. Shop workers in the Czech Republic demanded that stores stop playing Christmas tunes, or start paying for emotional trauma. The British probe _Beagle 2_ went missing after landing on Mars. The dollar slipped further against the euro. Five men from Limerick were convicted for life, for their parts in the killing of Kieran Keane in January. Bob Monkhouse died, aged 75. Tony Blair is again under fire for his part in supporting the US-led invasion of Iraq. SCO said they were sending DMCA messages to companies over Linux usage, and were going to audit their own customers (not much computer news over the week).

Did I miss anything important?

Well well, last night before Andorra. I hear it hasn’t snowed for about three weeks, which isn’t good. On a better note, light snow is forecast for tomorrow/Monday, so fingers crossed!

Only my ski boots are packed so far, that being because they never really got unpacked. Never fear, plenty of time to go. Onward ho, where’s that iron?

Oh, if you feel like asking me for anything from Andorra, ask away, and I may even bring it back! I’m not likely to read my email so send me an SMS. Or ring, I’ll answer if I’m not skiing (ding dong) merrily on high.

Have a great Christmas, everybody!

Ding Dong! merrily on high
In heav’n the bells are ringing
Ding, dong! verily the sky
Is riv’n with angel singing
Gloria, Hosanna in excelsis

E’en so here below, below
Let steeple bells be swungen
And i-o, i-o, i-o
By priest and people be sungen
Gloria, Hosanna in excelsis

Pray ye dutifully prime
Your matin chime, ye ringers
May ye beautifully rime
Your evetime song, ye singers
Gloria, Hosanna in excelsis

“This”:http://www.livejournal.com/users/xlaire/11173.html even beats strawberry Milka chocolate! Claire better bring me back some when she gets back from Nihon
What does it say on the front? “richigo miruku”. Something to do with milk, don’t ask me what else. Rich in milk? Milk chocolate?

Aaah where’s my “Japanese input module”:http://im-ja.sourceforge.net/? Oh, haven’t installed it at home yet.

Via the “Irish Independent”:http://www.unison.ie/irish_independent/. Saudi Arabia has banned the importation of teddy bears and female dolls, giving traders a three-month deadline to dispose of them. Interior Minister Prince Nayef ordered the ban, which was relayed around the country. No reason has been given. The ban singled out stuffed-animal toys and dolls of brides. It made no mention of male dolls and it’s not clear if these were banned as well. The order also prohibits the importation of crucifixes and models of Buddha.

“RELAX NG”:http://www.relaxng.org/ is now an “ISO standard”:http://relaxng.org/pipermail/relaxng-user/2003-December/000199.html. Mmmm the “compact schema”:http://www.relaxng.org/compact-tutorial-20030326.html is *very* friendly. And “nXML mode”:http://www.xmlhack.com/read.php?item=2061 in Emacs seriously makes me feel like taking both RNG and Emacs seriously, and start to *use* them in day-to-day work. After all, who actually understands the W3C XML Schema well enough to feel comfortable using it?

“A serious and disturbing look”:http://www.newyorker.com/printable/?fact/031124fa_fact1 at the current situation in Iraq. This is not an easy read, but it’s an in-depth and enlightening read. I haven’t read it all yet, work to do

Warning - “_Stormed Fortress_”:http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0007101120/ref=sr_aps_books_1_2/202-5083029-6902201 spoilers ahead.

Well we were offered a choice, and we voted for “wild speculation”:http://www.paravia.com/discus/messages/927/1407.html?1070362375#POST20159. Ask, and Janny (sometimes) provides. Certainly Janny is one of those authors who very obviously takes care of her fans and gives them what they need (and sometimes also what they want, where it does not spoil the story).

Wow, the excerpt is quite wonderful, and really does show that I was right in thinking that _Peril’s Gate_ marked a fundamental change in the direction the story was taking. It opens a number of avenues to explore (which should be explored mainly in the chat forum on Janny’s site/Trystane’s site). Click the above link for further discussion

From “Tim Bray”:http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/When/200x/2003/11/21/OnGeneva, here’s “an article about the Draft Geneva Accord”:http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/01/opinion/01BEIL.html?ex=1385701200&en=edf86a553471fcc6&ei=5007 in the New York Times. Tim has published a “cleaned up version of the Accords”:http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/When/200x/2003/11/21/GenevaAccord to help with its dissemination.

This draft accord is an attempt to finish what was started in peace negotiations back in January 2001. These negotiations were suspended due to large differences between the groups’ positions. Then after Ariel Sharon took power in 2001, a group of civilians from both sides of the conflict attempted to take up the positions in the negotiations and work through them. The main parties in this were Yossi Bellin (former Israeli justice minister) and Yasir Abed Rabbo (former ministor of information for the Palestinian Authority).

The current Israeli government, as well as Hamas and Islamic Jihad, have condemned the draft accord. Well, at least we have agreement there in some way…

Without give and take, nothing will improve in the situation in the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, and this document is the first major effort at putting a shape on a possible path to peace.