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Tuesday, January 20, 2004

Israeli jets hit Lebanon targets   The setup here is so obvious, why are no commentators saying it? Sharon has provoked this conflict deliberately. The two Israeli soldiers in the armored bulldozer, one who died in Monday’s attack, were sent across the border to draw fire. Read between the lines: On Monday an Israeli soldier died and another was injured when a rocket hit their armoured bulldozer. A UN official backed Hezbollah claims that the vehicle crossed into Lebanon, a charge Israel had at first denied. The BBC's David Chazan in Jerusalem says the situation threatens to inflame tension between Israel and Syria, whom Israel says was behind the attack on the soldiers. The US Secretary of State, Colin Powell, condemned the Hezbollah attack, and warned Syria not to destabilise the region. Syria? Oh yeah, that country bubbling under the Hot 100 axis of evil with a bullet. The place where all the weapons of mass destruction disappeared to just before mission to Mars (because it just sounds good, by way of the Moon) suddenly became an urgent national priority, yeah, I remember Syria.   Israel attacked Syria for no apparent reason whatsoever in December. That put them in the crosshairs on the map. Quick! – Who is Syria’s leader?  (Cheat available here) I wonder if Bashar al-Asad could be promoted to becoming the new Hitler in the Middle East, now that there’s an opening. We can dream, can’t we? Hmmm…Syria is a Ba’thist secular dynasty. Sounds familiar for some reason. That’s good enough reason to bomb them in my book. Bomb first; get the details later. Hmmm…Sunni Muslims, 74% of population - no problem for now! They will certainly welcome democracy.   Meanwhile, just to the south, lies a country indisputably owning WMDs that is definitely “destabilizing” the region with bulldozers, land grabs, fences, and violations of UN resolutions – but they’re helping us win the war on terrorism, so they’re on our side. I’m so happy to be on their side, even though conventional wisdom in the region says, “as soon as you choose sides, you become an incredible raving moron.” If you’re already one, what’s to lose? We must believe our leaders because they have intelligence not available to mere taxpaying mortals. They know some really spooky shit that would frighten you to the point of paralysis if you even suspected it. Trust them. 9:06:57 PM    comment []

Believe it or not, and I won’t until I recreate it, the image on the right was derived from the one on the left. Information theory says that when data is filtered, some data is always lost - so the image at right is an optical illusion.   The subject, by the way, is some of the broth ingredients from last Friday. I split out the RGB channels in the original in an attempt to bring out more green in the parsley (not shown here), sharpened and brightened the red and green channels, but blurred and darkened the blue for some reason. I re-combined the color channels and did some other things I forget. When I got done, the doctored image was a little blurry and filled with bluish streaks. After using a plug-in’s “multiply” feature to create a new composite, the image at right came out. Notice the focus and shading on the garlic, bith of which were absent in the original. Pretty amazing, next time I’ll record the steps… 6:39:01 PM    comment []

I’ve seen these waffle irons that beep when it’s time to rotate the waffle so it comes out purty on both sides. I don’t eat many waffles, but I love kitchen toys. When they come out with one that rotates automatically, I’ll probably buy it anyway.     4:48:06 PM    comment []

Read the opening paragraph of John Kerry’s Iowa Caucus victory speech aloud and slowly for maximum effect: SENATOR JOHN KERRY. Thank you, Iowa. Well, Iowa, I love you. I love you. Last night, the New England Patriots won. Tonight, this New Englander won and you've sent me on the way to the Super Bowl. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you, Iowa, for making me the Comeback Kerry. Openings of political speeches are usually silly because they are a moment shared with an enthusiastic audience. The crowd is cheering and the candidate is responding. On paper, without the audience, they usually make no sense whatsoever, which is why they are the best part. Kerry, who had to cancel appearances because he lost his voice on the morning before the caucuses, made one statement later on that was probably unintentionally ironic:   In the months and years ahead, I pledge that I will be fighting for you and for all Americans across this country, whose voices are being stolen by powerful interests.   Kerry’s somewhat surprising victory is a major setback for the Beltway slime manufacturers who thought they had created the perfect memes, “gaffe” and “unelectable,” but they can only be applied on the Dean candidate. Now, for a week at least, they’ll have to go back to the think tanks so their chemists can synthesize some new ones that bond with the surface of the Kerry candidate. 6:09:56 AM    comment []