State of the Union, 2003

I have not been to Jerusalem,
but Shirley talks about the bombs.
I have no god, but have seen the children praying
for it to stop. They pray to different gods.
The news is all old news again, repeated
like a bad habit, cheap tobacco, the social lie.


The children have seen so much death
that death means nothing to them now.
They wait in line for bread.
They wait in line for water.
Their eyes are black moons reflecting emptiness.
We've seen them a thousand times.


Soon, the president will speak.
He will have something to say about bombs
and freedom and our way of life.
I will turn the TV off. I always do.
Because I can't bear to look
at the monuments in his eyes.


Sam Hamill

Posted by GeeTee at January 31, 2003 10:25 AM | TrackBack 0

'100 Poets Against The War' is perhaps the fastest-assembled world anthology ever - one week from Todd Swift's call for entries till the ebook was uploaded on nthposition. All the contributors have donated their poems, so download the .pdf file, share it, host it on your own site, print it and make it into a book of poetry.

Posted by GeeTee at January 31, 2003 10:21 AM | TrackBack 0

A week ago Sam Hamill sent an open letter -- printed below -- to a few friends. Word has spread like wildfire from mailbox to mailbox, and to date almost 3,000 poets have submitted poems or personal statements to register their opposition to the Bush administration's headlong plunge toward war in Iraq. In doing so, they have honored a long and rich tradition of thoughtful and moral opposition by poets and other artists to senseless and murderous policies, including those of our own government.

Posted by GeeTee at January 31, 2003 10:17 AM | TrackBack 0

Deep Blue, Deep Junior and their sort are human creations. The real victors, if Mr Kasparov loses again, will not be machines, but the humans who designed and built them. Since machines are -- so far, at least -- unable to design and build improved versions of themselves, there is no need to worry about the world being taken over by chess-mad robots.

...and this is why I love the Economist.

Posted by GeeTee at January 31, 2003 10:15 AM | TrackBack 0

A successful idiotarian campaign was the assault on "Big Tobacco." The lawsuits against the tobacco companies were reported as a victory for Communal Sharing and a defeat for Authoritarian Ranking. However, from a Market Pricing perspective, this is not so clear. It may be more accurate to say that smokers are people who made choices rather than victims of tobacco companies; and the winners of the lawsuits were the individual attorneys who collected huge fees, not the community as a whole.

Posted by GeeTee at January 31, 2003 09:47 AM | TrackBack 0

I can’t do this anymore. I can’t, I just can’t. No more midnight builds. No more 3AM debugging and then slip down the hall and into bed. No more laptop. No more wireless Internet access. I used to go to an office and do my work and if I had to work late, I stayed late, but when I went home I was done. I didn’t sit on the couch at 11:15 PM watching Futurama and check my webmail and get the news that the latest build failed and spend a frantic hour fixing it and rereleasing at 12:15 AM. I used to have a home life; now I have a home office. I used to come home from work and bitch about it for twenty minutes and get it out of my system and have the rest of the night for myself. I used to punch a clock. I didn’t make anything, I didn’t produce anything, I didn’t write anything, I just punched a clock and when I was done I was done and I went home or out or somewhere else, anywhere else, because it was after work and that’s what you did after work. Now there is no after work, there is no before work, there is no work day, no office, no clock. There is only one long continuous 24-hour day that is always work, always office, and I never punch in and I never punch out. I know the economy sucks and the market sucks and the computer field sucks and lots of people have no jobs, and you know what? You can have mine. I can’t do this anymore.

Posted by GeeTee at January 31, 2003 08:53 AM | TrackBack 0

So why are doctors forgoing this safe, legal, profitable venture? Because the same technology that has made abortion safer, easier, and quicker, has also dramatically changed the relationship between the physician and the fetus.

Posted by GeeTee at January 31, 2003 08:51 AM | TrackBack 0

``While Mrs. Bush respects the right of all Americans to express their opinions, she, too, has opinions and believes it would be inappropriate to turn a literary event into a political forum.'' Noelia Rodriguez, spokeswoman for first lady Laura Bush, said Wednesday.

Posted by GeeTee at January 31, 2003 08:49 AM | TrackBack 0

The author reports more than five thousand domains that consist of minor variations on the addresses of well-known web sites, reflecting typographical errors often made by Internet users manually typing these addresses into their web browsers. Although the majority of these domain names do not suggest the presence of sexually-explicit content, and although many are variations on domain names frequently used by children, more than 89% offer extensive sexually-explicit content. In addition, these domains are presented in a way that temporarily disables a browser's Back and Exit commands, preventing users from exiting easily. Most or all of the domains are registered to an individual previously enjoined by the FTC from operating such domains, and these domains remain operational subsequent to an injunction ordering their suspension.

Posted by GeeTee at January 31, 2003 08:46 AM | TrackBack 0

The game lets users tweak dozens of variables, from land use zoning, and tax codes to air and water quality, transportation, and health care spending, then calculates what Vancouver will look like in 2040 based on those choices. Using a process they call backcasting, the game lets the player go back and change their choices over and over until they reach a future they want. Once they settle on a scenario they like, QUEST records the model and passes it on to government officials.

Posted by GeeTee at January 31, 2003 08:18 AM | TrackBack 0

This webpage celebrates the wonderful engrish subtitles featured in an asian bootleg DVD of Lord of The Rings - The Two Towers. What you see is exactly what appears on the TV screen. The first half of the movie has the most screengrabs, as there is more action than talking later on, and the subtitle writers eventually started getting the name of the characters right.

Posted by GeeTee at January 31, 2003 04:08 AM | TrackBack 0