The famous moon mews of firesign watch principle age.

Recent media:

"E = MC² - The Famous Equation" - An excellent slice of the history of physics, drawn right up through Albert Einstein's life and the arms race of World War II. I give it a thumbs up.

"Alien Voices: The First Men In The Moon" - An agile, well-produced radio dramatization of H.G. Wells' whimsical space-faring tale. The voices of Leanord Nimoy and William Shatner provide the perfect whimsical touch. I give it two snaps up in a circle.

"Agatha Christie: Murder In The Mews" - Her famous French detective solves a tricky locked-room case. A brief, easily digestable work -- mechanically sound, though lacking in prose. I give it a shrug and a wavy hand.

"Firesign Theatre's Bride of Firesign" - Extremely dense, post-modern radio drama/comedy, starring 'Nick Danger: Third Eye'. I've got to revisit this, I could barely catch half of the detail. I give it a foot up.

"Terry Pratchett: Night Watch" - In his very long series of 'Discworld' novels, Pratchett has defied the trend, by making each successive novel better than the last. This is arguably the best one I've read (and yes, I've read them all). It's central theme is political revolution, and the way it boils down for the common man. There are some very good ideas in this book. I give it five thumbs up.

"The Dilbert Principle" "The Joy of Work" "Dogbert's Management Handbook" - These are essentially a patchwork of Scott Adams' comic strips, woven together. However, one thing you should definitely not miss, is the second half of "The Joy of Work", where Adams outlines his own ideas for making the workplace more efficient. His ideas are not what you might guess -- and they strike me as very, very good ideas. Thumbs up.

"Diamond Age" - People who thought 'Snow Crash' was clever, obviously haven't read Neal Stephenson's more recent 'Diamond Age'. He has, in my opinion, a tendency to try and knit the fabric of computerization together with the occult, in ways that seem calculated to inspire a 'wow' factor at the expense of believability, and even the cohesiveness of his plot. But I found ample reason to forgive him of this. I give this book two solid thumbs up.

Back to the hack.

YAIWR (yet another anti-war rant)

The Colorado Channel 9 news is calling their coverage of the 'war' with Iraq "Operation Iraqi Freedom". They even put a special banner for it on their website. Some young graphic artist got paid ten bucks an hour to make that banner. What was he/she thinking at the time, I wonder?

There are young boys and girls who grew up in Colorado, who joined the military and are now camped out in the desert blasting people apart. I wonder what they think of it all?

No, seriously, I'd really like to know, down on the personal level, what these kids think of it. What it means to them, as a job, as a task they do. Do they think of their parents, back home? When they look through the scope of their rifle at the manic face of some desert rat, do they say, "This one's for you, Mom?" just when they squeeze out the round?

If they're going to do that, if they're going to put themselves in immediate danger, they deserve to do it for a real reason. Not for this. Not for a handful of blurry COMSATs, some jingoism, and the pompous despot of a shattered desert country. If they're going to come home with any chance of feeling good about themselves, they need real reasons to go.

The massive economic machine of the military is clamoring for a reason to exist. They can't catch terrorists with their big, clumsy, obsolete hands so they're finding other ways to justify themselves.

Pardon my language, but this just does not make any fucking sense. No more than the invasion, and subsequent abandonment, of Afghanistan did. If we spent one hundredth of the money we spent heaving bombs into rocky hillsides, on rebuilding New York, we'd have our twin towers back right now.

I'm ashamed that my federal tax dollars are paying for this. I'm paying for this. Hell, if I didn't pay for this, I'd be jailed for tax evasion. I feel like there is blood on my hands.

You can't trade dead people for live ones. I want all my brothers-in-law back home and safe.