2003.04.30
Talk about deconstructing a text! Trigger Happy lets you wrestle with philisophical implications of literature, space invaders style.
News of the Moment
Funny, I can't find much on news.google.com about the "10,000 Iraqi Soldiers Killed" figure NPR was mentioning...a lot more than were killed in the last Gulf War, even though the over all forces on both sides were about half. That's...a lot. And who knows how many of them were forced to fight, and how many of them were fighting to defend their homeland, not the regime itself. Worth it over all? I dunno. (Though Peterman seems to be right when he mentioned the idea floating around that Iraq was partially happening to let us 'gracefully' depart Saudi Arabia without seeming to lose too much face to the extremists who have demanded that.) One thing I do think I know, it sounds like it's too bad our "we're soldiers, not policemen" troops don't have more "less lethal" weapons for dealing with crowds in Iraq. This can't be look good even to Iraqis who support us, even if the crowd was hiding some people with guns. Update: Gowen points out that all of these numbers are suspect. It's really going to be hard to know what the numbers actually were with the two wars.
Quote of the Moment
"Destiny. My destiny! Droll thing life is--that mysterious arrangement of merciless logic for a futile purpose. The most you can hope from it is some knowledge of yourself--that comes too late--a crop of unextinguishable regrets. I have wrestled with death. It is the most unexciting contest you can imagine. It takes place in an impalpable greyness, with nothing underfoot, with nothing around, without spectators, without clamour, without glory, without defeat, in a sickly atmosphere of a tepid scepticism, without much belief in your own right, and still less in that of your adversary. If such is the form of ultimate wisdom, then life is a greater riddle than some of us think it to be."
Found Poetry of the Moment
"I would rather be SLAUGHTERED for BEEF than forbidden to bid on your ITEMS!"I always thought E-bay feedback was kind of odd, with people gushing praise and loading up on "+" signs after the letter "A" like there was no tomorrow, even for rather mundane and unremarkable transactions. But this guy seems to have turned it into a bit of a Dada- (or Kibo-)esque artistic form. Frankly, I think it would be funnier with few more "A+!"s. (Via BoingBoing.net)