In the wild, mouse at the ready, hunting down links
The Daily Show guest Howard Zinn:
If young people going to school knew the history of American expansion first on the continent and then in the world … if they knew the history of lies and the history of massacres that took place alongside this expansion, nobody would go to a recruiting station to sign up for any war. Nobody.
Howard Zinn: Professor, historian, writer, t-shirt subject.
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– Tuesday, January 11, 2005
Imagine you own a time-travelling DeLorean. Imagine you’ve travelled back to 1905 and you’re having a conversation with people from that time period. They’re naturally curious about the 21st century and they listen eagerly to your descriptions of what life is like in the year 2005.
Now imagine the looks on their faces when you explain to them that after a hard day’s work, the people of 2005 pay good money in order to spend their leisure time pretending to do manual labour.
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– Friday, January 7, 2005
George W. Bush on US aid for the tsunami victims:
We’re working with the United Nations and with governments around the world to coordinate the comprehensive international response.
Jon Stewart:
“Wha-… ? Did you just … Did he just say he’s working with the United Nations and governments around the world? Tsunami make him kuh-razee.
Value-added services
Colin Powell has described US aid as “American values in action.”
While I applaud US generosity, it should be pointed out those values aren’t just American values.
Those Malaysian prisoners who are donating what little they earn from prison labour, they have those values.
That homeless man in the UK who gave everything he had, he has those values.
Those Canadian Buddishists who are selling their temple with proceeds going to the Red Cross, they have those values.
Those Bam quake survivors who want to help the tsunami victims, they have those values.
For God’s sake
Meanwhile, religious leaders worldwide have been scrambling to rationalise the disaster to the faithful. I was particularly disturbed to see an American rabbi claiming innocent lives were lost because the governments of the tsunami-hit countries allegedly rejected American values. He cited the lack of early warning systems and in a roundabout manner attributes it to “the peculiar fatalism toward death found in so many other cultures.”
I’m sorry but I’m going to have to throw that back in his face: was the US government guilty of rejecting American values when it failed to heed early warnings prior to September 11, 2001? Western Civilization isn’t alone in recognising the importance of human life and to suggest otherwise (even obliquely) is, to borrow a phrase from the rabbi himself, taking “self-indulgence to new heights of obnoxiousness.”
I suppose we should thank Simon Winchester for reminding us religious figures have been known to sow and exploit fear, uncertainty and doubt to affect political change in the aftermath of disasters.
More quotes:
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– Wednesday, January 5, 2005
I was delighted to learn Mayu Gamou, recently seen as the villainous and supremely hot Succubus in Dekaranger, will be a recurring character in the new Kamen Rider series, Kamen Rider Hibiki. She’s very easy on the eyes and will be a welcome distraction from the various design oddities that permeate the series.
Aside from being a stunning beauty, the 22-year-old model/actress is quite athletic as well. Her profile lists sword-fighting as one of her skills and she recently trained for the 42.195 km Honolulu marathon which she completed in 5 hours, 43 minutes and 56 seconds.
(By sheer coincidence, it takes me 5 hours, 43 minutes and 56 seconds to go from Banting all the way to Kuala Lumpur and back. By bus.)
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– Monday, January 3, 2005
This is quite possibly the dumbest game mechanic I’ve heard of:
Final Fantasy II uses a different system of character advancement, so instead of collecting experience points toward a new level, your characters will have their stats augmented depending on their actions in battle. For example, a character that gets hit repeatedly by foes will have his or her maximum hit points go up …
If this rule was applied to real life, kids would become muscle-bound he-men as a direct result of being beaten up regularly in the school playground.
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– Monday, January 3, 2005
