04/07/25 Links, novel progress #36
04/07/11 Current events, links, novel progress #35
04/07/04 Current events, links, novel progress #34
04/07/25 Links, novel progress #36
04/07/11 Current events, links, novel progress #35
04/07/04 Current events, links, novel progress #34
My apologies for the lack of webloggage last week, I've been busy. Here's an extra-large helping of links to make it up to you.
News from Iraq. The daily attack, Saddam before the court, kidnapped soldiers, every new report covers up the previous one. The scandal about the torture prison Abu Ghraib, ah yes, there was something there. REPORT has remained on the topic and in the course of this has come upon a quite incredible suspicion. In Abu Ghraib and elsewhere, children and young people were being taken into custody and maltreated.
Report Mainz: the fall from grace in Iraq, reports on maltreated children in the torture prison
(Via This Modern World)
(Via Metafilter)
How do we nurture the healing side of religion over the killing side? How do we protect the soul of democracy against bad theology in service of an imperial state?
Sojourners: democracy in the balance (why Bill Moyers thinks our democracy is in peril)
(Via Metafilter)
Not really recent anymore, but still relevant. The European Court of Justice has annulled a decision by EU finance ministers to suspend action against Germany and France over budget deficits. Giving its verdict on a case brought by the European Commission, the court said the ministers' decision was not compatible with EU law.
BBC: court overturns finance ministers
These unexpected little treats charmed me on my first visit to India in January 2003. I was struck that such creativity and whimsy would be applied to the dull, if necessary, task of solid waste management.
Pretty witty: the trash cans of India
Sporkopolis: the trash cans of India (with less text and more photos)
(Via Memepool)
When I first embarked on my quest for the lost nude "posture photos," I
could not decide whether to think of the phenomenon as a scandal or as an extreme example of academic folly -- of what happens when well-intentioned institutions allow their reverence for the reigning conjectures of scientific orthodoxy to persuade them to do things that seem silly or scandalous in retrospect. And now that I've found them, I'm still not sure whether outrage
or laughter is the more appropriate reaction.
Collegiate: ivy league nude photos
(Via Metafilter)
Computer networks across the University lie wide open to hackers, due to serious failings in IT security provision. An investigation by The Oxford Student has learnt that CCTV cameras, email passwords and MSN Messenger conversations can be compromised with ease by members of the University with only a modicum of technical knowledge, jeapardising the privacy and safety of students and dons alike.
Oxford Student: university IT network wide open to hackers
BBC: Oxford hackers face punishment
Guardian: Oxford students in trouble over IT exposé
(Via Slashdot)
One new episode in the past two weeks, 683 new words, 55,958 words total.
Introduction
Introduction and start of part 3
After the war (83)
Trustees of bankrupt network provider KPNQwest have accused its main owner Qwest of using the joint venture as a source of "revenue opportunities" to prop up its own results and shares, legal filings showed on Wednesday. In documents from a lawsuit against Qwest Communications and three former executives, the trustees say the Netherlands-based company played a starring role in an elaborate plan to boost revenue through network capacity swaps that in the end left KPNQwest broke and at creditors' mercy. The 125-page lawsuit filed in a U.S. District Court in New Jersey seeks as much as $3 billion in damages and provides one of the most complete pictures of the sudden collapse of KPNQwest, which had carried a large part of Europe's Internet traffic before its May 2002 bankruptcy.
Reuters: Qwest accused of using European JV to boost results
Computer business review: Qwest faces 3bn dollar action over KPNQwest bankruptcy
Netkwesties: 'massale fraude bij KPNQwest'
Klezmer in Germany is a strange place. It's very popular music, played primarily by non-Jews in a country that killed virtually all of its Jews in the middle of the last century.
Klezmershack: non-Jews, Klezmer, and anti-semitism in Germany
Scenes from the underground.
Four foot eight
B-films, black Americans in early Hollywood, and more.
Modern times
The sixties aren't dead.
Eroplay
Fading ads are metaphors for survival.
Frank Jump
One new episode in the past week, 696 new words, 55,275 words total. Also, I did edits and rewrites on episodes 1 through 6.
Introduction
Introduction and start of part 3
After the war (82)
The next thing up: the European constitution.
The constitution brings together for the first time the many treaties and agreements on which the EU is based. It defines the powers of the EU, stating where it can and act and where the member states retain their right of veto. It also defines the role of the EU institutions. A good introduction to what the constitution says and what it means.
BBC: what the EU constitution says
Another look at the constitution and what it all means.
BBC: EU myths and realities
Now that the EU constitution has been agreed, it needs to be signed then ratified within two years by all 25 member states. A number of countries have said they will hold referendums - which may or may not be binding - others have yet to make a final decision.
BBC: EU constitution - next steps
A site dedicated to pinhole photography, kallitype prints, Etretat and to everyone who believes that photography may be a kind of philosophy.
La porte d'Aval - kallitype prints and pinhole photography
Stanislavsky, the great Russian director, had realized, in observing actors - that some of them were better than others at seeming like they were having real experiences on stage. (This goes back to Hamlet's advice to the players. "What's Hecuba to him or he to Hecuba, That he should weep for her?" Hamlet here is pondering the essential mystery of acting. It is a complete fiction - and yet - actors since theatre has began have been crying real tears on stage, etc. One of the best definitions for acting I have ever heard is: "to come to life truthfully under imaginary circumstances". I think "truthfully" may be the key there.) Stanislavsky wanted to come up with a "system" that would help perhaps lesser actors to achieve what others did naturally, or with greater ease.
Sheila A-Stray: obsession central - Cary Grant
(Via Metafilter)
Every one of Stalin's houses had its own private cinema, and in his last years, the cinema became not only his favourite entertainment but also a source of political inspiration. It was one of the venues from which he ruled the Soviet Empire: this was cinematocracy - rule by cinema.
Telegraph: why Stalin loved Tarzan and wanted John Wayne shot
The designer edition of Star Wars, lunch box haiku, and much more.
Justinspace.com
Starting spammer S. Pammer had sent spam for almost exactly five months; his last run was already some time ago. In a rather agreeable conversation in the middle of the night, S. Pammer relayed his side of the story. The conversation covers nearly all aspects of his spamming activities: his motivation, how the spam was sent and his web site hosted, the quality of his address files and his actual profits.
Rejo: confession for two - a spammer spills it all
(Via Slashdot)
One new episode in the past week, 691 new words, 54,579 words total.
Introduction
Introduction and start of part 3
After the war (81)
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