Monday, January 20, 2003

No one writes to the tyrants. Despots: Saddam Hussein could join a long line of dictators who have sought a new life in exile. Sarah Left looks at how some of the world's most notorious despots have spent their retirements. [Guardian Unlimited] It turns out Idi Amin is still alive and kicking in Saudi Arabia. I thought he was dead. Huh. Learn something new every day, I guess.
12:39:47 PM p e r m a l i n k trackback [] say something []

The Blind Watchmaker ain't so blind after all.. The "Blind Watchmaker" ain't so blind after all. An article in this week's Journal of Theoretical Biology claims that simple chemistry makes the evolution of complex organisms with nervous systems inevitable. Is random Darwinism being replaced by a more sophisticated notion of "directed evolution"? Could this confirm the "intelligent design" theory of Creation? This may have profound consequences for our understanding of how life has come to be on this planet (and others). [MetaFilter] Uh, could this confirm "intelligent design"? Nope. The only thing that could confirm "ID" would be God coming down and dropping some tablets on our heads. "ID" is Creationism with a less obvious name. "Random Darwinism" is not null and void simply because there might be a predictable outcome. In fact, isn't that the whole premise of Darwinism? That all kinds of attempts will be made to evolve in all kinds of different directions, but only some, the "fittest," will prosper?

12:35:08 PM p e r m a l i n k trackback [] say something []

A great quote from Teresa Heinz, John Kerry's wife: ``I was sickened by that,'' she said, noting Cleland was a war hero who lost three limbs fighting in the Vietnam War. ``Does he have to lose a fourth limb to be patriotic?''
9:24:50 AM p e r m a l i n k trackback [] say something []

US 'sure' of Turkish support [BBC World] Of course, the US government is also 'sure' that al Qaeda is working with Saddam Hussein. At this point, I just take whatever administration officials say and assume that the opposite is true - their pattern of bullshitting and lying has gotten that consistent.
9:19:41 AM p e r m a l i n k trackback [] say something []

Ok, Radio's being a bitch. It hasn't upstreamed anything since Saturday - TCP/IP error code 10054 and whatnot. I'm going to try quitting/restarting, and then kicking the thing a few times. My network connection has seemed pretty crappy in general, lately, so I think there might be a connection. EDIT: Ok, it seems to be working now.
8:02:31 AM p e r m a l i n k trackback [] say something []

I'm about to do something that'll make me fell, well, bad. Not real bad, more dumb than bad. I just now clicked the confirmation button on an order of a CD from Amazon. Amazon UK, that is. The new Alabama 3 (aka A3 in the US) album, Power In The Blood, doesn't seem to have a US distributor - which is a little odd, since they're only the band that does the theme for the most popular cable drama of all time (The Sopranos, silly!) but hey, American record labels have an astonishing history of stupidity. I love these guys. Exile On Coldharbour Lane is fun evil techno with some of the silliest yet high-quality music I've heard in a long time (especially "Mao Tse Tung" and "U Don't Dance 2 Tekno Anymore," a country rave-up on the subject of, well, techno..). Their second album, La Peste, isn't near as funny, but even darker instead, with the only version of "Hotel California" the world has ever needed. So of course they don't have a US deal. I had to do this before with the new Primal Scream album, though, of course, it proceeded to get a US distributor a couple months later. But I'm impatient. I want my techno-from-guys-who-really-love-the-Rolling-Stones (best possible description for a genre built around Primal Scream and Alabama 3) NOW!

7:41:29 AM p e r m a l i n k trackback [] say something []