Bob Morris @ Apr 12th 2004 17:50 - Category: Unfiled ;
Winning their hearts and minds: the saga continues
Naomi Klein is being interviewed on KPFK as I write this, she was just at a mosque in Fallujah and saw several Korans that had deliberately been blown to pieces by American troops at close range.
Bob Morris @ Apr 12th 2004 00:05 - Category: Unfiled ;
The stealth return of the military draft
Curious about what Ralph Nader said about the Pentagon quietly recruiting members for draft boards, I did some digging. Looks like Ralph is quite correct.
The Guardian, Nov 5, 2003
The Pentagon has begun recruiting for local draft boards, dredging up painful memories of Vietnam era conscription at a time of deepening misgiving about America’s occupation of Iraq.
The Memory Hole, Nov 23, 2004
On 23 Sept 2003, the Defense Department Website called “Defend America” posted a notice for people to join local draft boards.
Salon.com, Nov 3, 2003
The Pentagon is quietly moving to fill draft board vacancies nationwide.
And most illuminating of all:
Bush drives to fill draft and appeal board positions
“In an odd move right before election year President Bush has made a push to fill all board positions in the selective service; a move that has left many officials and certainly all draft eligible males a little tense.”
However Kerry is right there with Bush. From Kerry’s website:
He will also increase the size of the Army by 40,000 active duty troops on a temporary basis.
Can’t imagine how he could do that except by the draft, can you?
Bob Morris @ Apr 12th 2004 00:03 - Category: Unfiled ;
Iraq. We may just be in Act One
Violence rampages in Iraq amid frequently-broken truce.
Crew dies as copter downed.
GIs lose status as super-warriors in Iraq.
And the biggie: Sunni and Shia guerrillas unite against US.
From Baghdad Burning
“They say around 600 Iraqis were killed in Falloojeh- 120 children and 200 women… it’s an atrocity and horribly sad. They have let one or two convoys in and the rest were sent back. The refugees from the area are flowing into Baghdad and it’s horrible to see them.
Women and children with tear-stained faces, mostly in black, carrying bundles of clothes and bottles of water. The mosques are gathering food and clothes for them… one of the storage areas for the refugee stuff was hit by an American tank today in A’adhamiya and the scene is chaotic… scattered food, medication, bandages, blankets, etc.
The south is a bit calmer because of the ‘Arba’een’ of the Imam Hussein which will last for a couple of days… no one knows what will happen after that.”
Bob Morris @ Apr 12th 2004 00:00 - Category: Unfiled ;
The Viridian Aromatizer Contest!
As a member of the Viridian Curia and webmaster of the Viridian Repository, I bring you glad tidings of the latest Viridian contest - the Aromatizer Contest!
The goal is to create cool uses for a real life “computer and cellphone peripheral that emits smells”
“This aroma-spreading gizmo can range from the scale and weight of, say, a stack of two aspirins, up to about the size of a CD player. It can therefore be plugged into computers, laptops, cellphones, PDAs, car cigarette lighters, etc etc.
Its purpose is spritz gaseous substances. Not just aromas, scents and perfumes, but also visible smoke, pepper spray, ozone, fine particles of soot; just about any gaseous material. The amount dispersed can range from a few micrograms to a few grams, over time.
The device can emit its aromas on command: quickly, slowly, intermittently, or steadily.”
Thus, the contest “is looking for inventive applications and niche products for <this> infant technology.”
Viridian is a design movement about global warming. A design movement to make people aware of global warming, and then, by designing cool, Green items, to convince them to want to end global warming. Preferably before the oceans rise… Viridian Design is the mother site. We are led by the Pope-Emperor (AKA sf author Bruce Sterling.)
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