Roger Morris is a guest on AAR today – this is his “Call to Conscience” piece referenced on the AAR/O’Franken Factor blog. Their link points to Salon.com, this one points to Commondreams.org. The Diplomat who quit over Nixon’s Invasion of Cambodia asks Americans on the front lines of Foreign Service to resign from the “Worst Regime by far in the History of the Republic.” Interesting reading. As it happens I booked someone (tentatively) to go to Phnom Penh via Saigon today. Actually, via Ho Chi Minh City, but the airport code is still SGN. Oh, and there’s an audio link…
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Man, it’s always something. Moveable Type’s acting all wonky and pear-shaped.
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We were out the other night at one the local “Japanese steakhouse” restaurants. The kind where they grill the ingredients in front of you and make little choo-choo noises with smoking volcanoes made out of stacked onion slices. The party seated next to me included several women and one kid who I’d estimate was all of 16 – a very young 16 – and he was drinking a large beer with a sake cup plopped down inside it. As was his mother, or date, or whatever her relationship was to him. The waitress never blinked an eye or asked for…
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From the excellent resourceFireflyMovie.com – News comes a set report from Joss Whedon: Today was (as I think you know) the first day of filming of Serenity. Which is pretty big for me (it felt weird to START with Mal’s death, but scheduling isn’t my area). It was a blast. Sean said it was like school was back in session after summer vacation, which I have decided to take as a compliment. Gina did a happy dance (and there are few happier sights than Gina doing a happy dance). We’re still flying. And the best part is, that’s not even…
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Why is it that some cigar smokers walk around with an unlit stogey in their mouths? Why do they do it in elevators and non-smoking buildings? It’s pretension, I tell ya. I rode up in the elevator just now with a guy who bore a slight resemblance to Jeffrey Tambor. He fiddled with and mouthed his tube of tobacco leaves in a disturbingly Freudian display. Why? He deigned to speak to me as we rode by mentioning that he’d pressed an extra floor button in error. Thanks. Whatever. He got off at his floor and immediately stuck the stogey back…
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Followup on a previous story/post: BBC NEWS | Africa>The only free hospital in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, has reopened, five weeks after it shut following threats to a doctor who removed a woman’s womb. An Islamic Sharia court brokered an agreement between the clan and the hospital, and fined the doctor $2000 for not consulting the family first. Would they have given permission to operate? I don’t know. I’ve been reading Nine Parts of Desire, and given what I’ve learned so far, it’s likely the family would have written off the woman as expendable if she was no longer capable…
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Someone I know might be interested in this little gadget – it’s called a HeadBlade. As Seen at BoingBoing.
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A catering college in the northern Algerian city of Tizi Ouzou has cooked the world’s largest couscous. The traditional north African dish was made from 2,600 kilos (5,732 lb) of dry semolina, meat from 100 sheep and 1.5 tonnes of vegetables. We love, love LOVE couscous around here. We don’t make it from scratch or anything, it’s very easily made using the Near East brand – takes 5 minutes once the small amount of water comes to a boil. And it can be jazzed up very easily – here’s a recipe for Apricot Ginger Couscous that we’ll try soon. However,…
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I’ll listen later to :NPR’scoverage of Reagan’s passing. I’m shedding no tears, mind. At the time of his election, I was toying with the idea of moving to Canada, just on general principle. It’s sad for his immediate family, of course. And, besides… I always thought the onset of his illness was late in his first term, and everyone around him was covering it up. Remember, this is the president that brought us Iran-Contra, the highest number of ethics violations by members of his administration in history, and a lot of very dirty “most favored corporation” deals. Oh, and he’s…
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Steve just stopped by with a present for David: a totally cool and retro Namco game controller for the TV. Pac Man, Dig Dug, Galaxians, Rally-X and Bosconians. Complete with cheesy graphics and wacky sounds, too. We’re not about to run out and drop a lot of ducats on an expensive game system, we’re perfectly happy being Luddites on this. They’re stupid good fun. And I just realized something: “Retro” is probably related to “retarded.” Well done me. Also, we’ve decided to head off to see the new “Harry Potter” movie. I continue to get hits for the “homing hippogriffs”…