I guess I’m suppose to wish everyone a happy new year. But under the circumstances I think it’ll be a damn tough start to 2005 now that the death toll estimates is up to 6 figures. I guess that makes it difficult for 2005 to be any worse.
I recently saw a BBC documentary I recommend everyone to see if you get the chance – “The Power of Nightmares”. A documentary about how governments have stopped promosing the utopian society and replaced it with the promise that the future won’t be worse than yesterday. It’s about the philisophies about using nightmares and the “good vs evil” mentality that certain people are very keen to push on us. And it tells both sides of the stories, as well as how the Al Quada organisation didn’t really excist until the american justice system created it themselves and then just went with it. It takes up alot of stuff most of us have no idea about. Just see it. If you can.
This latest “wrath of the Earth”-disaster was quite something, wasn’t it? And after seeing some videos of it the spontaneous thought is that it wasn’t a huge wave alá “Deep Impact” that did it. But if there is one positive thing about this tragedy it is that the internet is for once regarded as something positive. The media that are so quick to mention that bombmakers had downloaded stuff from the internet or whatever are equally quick to point out the positives in a tragedy like this. From blogging to using it as a small messaging system just to say “I’m ok!”.
And one day we’ll learn not to build major cities so close to the water. Even if it’s from a practical standpoint a good idea, things like this as well as the doomsday prophecy of global warming should have some kinda of impact on where we chose to build cities. But the mistakes have already been made I guess, good luck trying to move them…
Hope everyone had a great christmas, if you even celebrate it? Mine was pretty ok. Don’t know why it was only “pretty ok”, but it was. Probably my fault. But we finally ordered those F1 tickets for my 30th birthday! We’re going to Silverstone on July 10th which is one month after I turn 30, but this way Amy and her Paul will make it which makes all the difference!
Btw, pictures are up from the christmas weekend at my folks place.
The last episode of Friends was on swedish TV last week… talk about the end of an era. 10 years that show’s been going, it’s had it ups and downs but it was quite sad to see it end. Although it’s gonna be in reruns forever and I’ve seen every episode so many times I can pretty much recall any scene in my head. And one of these day’s I’m gonna fill that part of my head with something useful…
Also saw “Ocean’s 12” the other day. Man that was a disappointment. I liked the first one. Liked the sting and ensemble cast, but this one was not even close. So chalk up another one in the “reasons sequels shouldn’t eve be done” right there with Scream 3 and Naked Gun 3…
Last friday was the annual christmas party at work. And they are usually pretty wild. I dunno, what do you think? Before you go all judgemental on me, check what’s in front of me. 3 beerglasses and 2 shotglasses and that’s just what could fit in the frame. Yeah, pretty wild and another blackjack success story. And as usual woke up on saturday saying “I’ll never drink again” ’cause lets face it, I’m not 20 anymore…
According to the swedish consumption authority (or whatever) it was decided that this years Christmas present was one of those slim TV:s you hang on the wall. Cool, right? … just how much are people spending on Christmas presents these days? I’ve been told that I sometimes spend more than I should on Christmas gifts, but I would never even think about buying something for $3.000, no matter how much I loved that person! That just doesn’t make sense! Sounds like they were a bit scared over the GNP…
And speaking of terrible Christmas gifts, you’ve heard that Britney released her “Greatest hits” album recently, just in time for Christmas shopping. Did I just get the entire point wrong, or I thought “Greatest hits” was something a has-been artist put together when they needed more money? Not a 23 (or however old she is now) yeard old with a careet that’s still going strong did?
Have you heard about this new internet phenomenon called “blogging”? It’s when opinionated people start a diary somewhere to express their opinions about everything from movies to politics on a semi-daily basis and… oh wait, I’ve been doing that for 5 years so yeah, I can see how that’s a new phenomenon! … Went to the insurance company to file a claim about my mishaps behind the wheel. Let’s see if that guy that changed lane without looking will live up to his mistake or if he and his wife will cook up some bogus story of what “really” happened.
This is just my luck! As I was driving in to work this morning I noticed the temperature of the engine was going a big high and right when I parked it the needle reached the red area. Not good. “not another trip to the mechanics!” was my firt thought. So I filled it up with some coolant and as I started driving home I watched it closely. And the good news was it was just that simple, refill the coolant. The bad news is I was watching the needle too closely and bumped into the guy in front of me – and he had one of thos hooks on so now I got a big nice dent in the front, and I mean big. Maybe big enough for me to fail the inspection I got coming out next week – that is just my luck! And no damage to the other guy’s car…
I’m getting that retro feeling now! Maybe it’s the onset of the christmas spirit or something, I dunno. Anyway, a while back we had the “thanx for a job well done!” party at the state department to wrap up this project of travelling all around the world. And one funny thing they had done was to get pictures from everyone and assembled them into one long slideshow that just kept on going and going. It was really fun to see since I “only” did 1/6 of the trips. And then there were some pics of me that I hadn’t seen before. But going through the entire thing I just get this “damn that was some good times!”. Problem is I can’t say that without hearing Ricki and everyone else going “and you thought it was a bad idea!?” in the back of my head…
So anyway, here are some new additions to my digital gallery:
The Swedish Embassy in Sofia.
Me and Annika in downtown Buenos Aires.
Me, (little bit of Ellinor) and Annika planning the weekend activities.
House warming party for one of the guys in Buenos Aires.
Dinner at the ambassadors residense in Congo.
This is how happy I was when it was time to go home from Congo.
A common sight indeed. In Copenhagen this time.
Guess what VH1 did last night? They had Live/Band Aid specials! What are the odds 🙂 But here’s a thought about that song and the lyrics – “let them know it’s christmas time”. The song was about poor Africa and the starving children down there right? So I’ve been to africa – thrice – but as far as I know this is true for most african countries as well… THEY’RE MUSLIMS! Isn’t that like a slap in the face? I’m pretty sure they didn’t care that much but somehow it just doesn’t fit…
You know I’m a little bit undecided about remakes and covers of movies and songs. Some are good, few even better than the original but most aren’t even good. And here are two examples we could very well do without : an american version of “Taxi” and a new version of Band Aid’s christmas song from the 80’s! The american version of Taxi I can understand and it’s more of a comedy than the original. But I bet 99% of americans haven’t even seen the original I guess they won’t even know what they missed. And about a new version of Band Aid’s christmas song… that’s just bad all around. If Robbie really cared he would donate a few millions. And if Coldplay cared about the survival of anyone the wouldn’t do music that makes you wanna slit your wrist. Still, as sir Bob Geldoff (founder of the original, in case you don’t remember!) said – “it’s a great Christmas present! It’s cheap and noone who gets it can express their disappointment”…
Reason 9 : Going with the old saying “the degree of civilization in a society can be judged by entering its prisons” (Feodor Dostoyevsky), the american propaganda machine said over and over again how terribly the iraqi government treated their prisoners. Regular executions, torture and so on. Maybe so, but now we also know how the americans treat the prisoners in Iraq. And I loved that memo that, if you read between the lines, said it was ok to bend the “quaint” rules set in the Geneva convention!
I might as well finish the top 10 today…
Reason 10 : “After all, this is the guy that once tried to kill my dad”. Yeah, Bush Jr. actually used that line as a reason why going in there and taking him down was a good idea, because Saddam had once tried to kill Bush Sr. As far as I know, that never happened. Maybe Saddam once wrote or said “I wish he was dead”, but as far as I know he never actually tried to kill him. Not after all the favors Bush Sr. did to Saddam in the 80’s as Reagan’s vice president! What did happen however is that Bush sent in a bunch of special forces to kill Saddam’s two sons, which they did! And not only that, they took credit for it aswell! “tried to kill my dad” versus “killing two sons”…
Did you see the MTV European Music Awards yesterday? I almost missed it since we have Battlefield matches on thursdays but my sis called me and screamed “switch to mtv!” and when I did I saw the huge crowd of people on Fori Imperiali that they had closed off (again!) and the stage that looked really, REALLY tiny in front of a very well lit Colosseum! It felt funny cause … well… I was literally right there! 🙂
Reason 8 : Iraq played it’s part in 9/11 by supporting Al Quada and the hi jackers. Well that’s been proven over and over again that that was never the case, but it sure worked on those patrotical americans didn’t it? Actually Saudi Arabia and USA itself had a lot more to do with that than Iraq – Saudi Arabia because alot of the hijackers were from Saudi Arabia, the flew to the US from Saudi Arabia and Usama Bin Laddens money comes from his filthly rich family in Saudi Arabia. And the hijackers got their pilot training in… USA, the same country that taught Bin Ladden how to fight great evil powers in the first place. Excellent job!
First day of snow for this winter, but as opposed to last year (and the one before that) most people were prepared. I changed my tires last night so I was prepared too 🙂 Wanna see the most useless web thing ever? Click here and relive your childhood!
Reason 7 : Iraq has close ties to Al Quada and is a training ground for terrorist. No they weren’t but they are NOW! And Bush himself said a while back that there are no evidence to support that statement about Al Quada so let’s just give up on that. Speaking of training grounds for terrorist, the american militia… hmmmm….
Now I’ve fallen into that boring routine of getting up, going to work, doing some work (and sometimes NOT doing any work), getting home, watching some TV, playing some games and going to bed. It could be alot worse I guess but still, I don’t like getting too much into routines like this. Got any suggestions how to change it?…
Reason 6 : The Iraqi government was corrupt us as hell and Saddam appointed relatives in his government. Well that’s certainly true. But then again, in USA we’ve got the Bush clan with father former president Bush and brother Jeb the governor of Florida, so the family ties are all there. As far as corruption goes, we’ve all seen Fahrenheit 9/11 with all the Haliburton stuff as well as the Carlyle group making millions on the War on Terror and dad Bush just happens to be a member of the bord. And then ofcourse Cheney’s wife, Lynne, who’s a member of the board of directors at Lockheed-Martin who’s also making millions since they are in the war business. It seems all top players there have some connection to either oil companies or companies that profit from the war. GREATLY.
Reason 3 : Iraq has fought a war with two countries. They fought a war in the 80s with Iran, a war that may or may not constitute self defense. A war that USA, under the leadership of Ronald Reagan, supported. His vice president btw was Bush Senior, and the guy they sent over to do the dealings with Saddam was Donald Rumsfeld. Guess we should be thankful he’s the one in charge of destroying that country. Then they invaded the dictatorship of Kuwait. More oil for them, but the USA wouldn’t have it and knocked them back. And now USA have invaded Afghanistan, a war that may or may not constitute self defense after 9/11. And then they invaded Iraq. And dare I say “more oil for them”? So to summon up : Iraq invaded 2 countries, USA invaded 2 countries – FOR NOW.
Reason 4 : Saddam and the Iraqi government are constantly defying the UN and pushing it as far as they can, but without breaking any clear set rules. They’d go along with a UN resolution, like the inspectors, for a while, then stop. And that’d go on for a while, but did they break any resolutions? Meanwhile we got the US who are constantly defying the UN. Every time there is a resolution up for condemning Israel when doing something with their military against the civilian palestinian population, like rolling in their tanks saying “we occupy this place now, you – move!”, the US is very quick to put in their veto. Not to mention that they defied the UN by invading Iraq in the first place. And also breaking the Kyoto agreement because they felt that the pursuit of a clean environment was too expensive for them. So yeah, Iraq was bad at following the UN, but the Bush administration just doesn’t care about the world opinion or UN.
Reason 5 : Saddam is a dictotor that need to be replaced by an government elected by the people. This reason has replaced all talks about WMD’s so I guess it’s gotta be important. But like the WMD’s argument, doesn’t really work considering… was Bush elected by the people? Nope! More people voted for Gore and then we had the Florida screwup. The american election system of having electorates instead of actually letting the people decide let that happen. But what would you expect from a system that dates back to the Roman empire. And if you’d look up the definition of “dictator” it’ll say “An absolute ruler”. Which Bush seems to be when he can’t only invade a soverieng nation at his own will, lie about and not be held responsible for it but actually might be reelected! And btw, how’s that “government elected by the people” going in Iraq? Got any elections coming up anytime soon?
Reason 2 : Iraq has proven it’s willing to use WMD’s, on it’s own people no less! Indeed they did, but USA is the only country in the world that’s ever used The Bomb for any reason other than scientific and that was against two civilian targets. Kinda hard to forget. And when Iraq did gas their “own people”, it was on the kurds up north and as I understand it, they don’t really consider the kurds iraqi citizens? They’re kinda of low on the social scale down there so I’m sure they didn’t really consider them “own people”. Not that it makes it any less horrible from our point of view. But USA also kill their own citizens systematically. Only they do it in the name of “justice”. During Bush’s time as governor, a position that would allow him to pardon people on death row, more people were executed in Texas than in any other state. And as president he also has the power to pardon people and even to abolish death penalty completly. But what tha hell, it’s only criminals and murderers so it’s not really “their own people” either is it? Just check with Amnesty how many people have been found innocent after they’ve been sentenced to death, or even worse – executed. As long as that figure is greater than 0 I’m afraid to set foot on their soil knowing I could be framed for a murder and executed for it (even though that’s unlikely since they would have trouble executing a foreign citizen quietly).
On a happier note – gotta love Agassi’s comments.
Do you remember Powell’s “Top 10 Reasons Why Invading Iraq is a Good Idea” speech he did at the UN Security Council two years ago or something? Wouldn’t it be totally cool of someone with enough balls and power at the UN to do a “Top 10 Reasons Why Invading USA is a Good Idea”? ‘Cause when going through it all 2 years after the fact it’s still bothers me. I’m gonna start my own little top 10 list now. But now that the entire war is done (more or less), the only valid reason they had was that Saddam was a bad guy. And really, how many countries in the world would sign up on a “Bush is a bad guy”-list? Enough to invade them I’m sure! I think it’s time for someone to step in, before the election, and give those americans a wake up call because it looks like it is gonna be close. And 4 more years with that guy and I’ll have no more respect for them. He was appointed once, never elected that we can blame on a clerical error or something lame, but if he’s actually elected… oh, dude….
Reason 1 : Iraq has WMD’s. Now we all know they didn’t. They had them 10 years ago but the only thing they found, according to Bush’s “State of the Union” speech quoting the Kay report, was “WMD related program activities” which is so vague that it may include chemistry lessons in grade school! Btw, Kay resigned just after Bush gave that speech because that’s not at all what it said. Now, the USA has the biggest WMD arsenal in the world and as Bush himself said in a speech on August 5th – “[Our enemies] never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we.”. Aside from it coming out totally wrong, it still says that USA still continues to develop WMD’s. And as soon as any other country in the world, like the current North Korea thing, try they are shut down by USA who seems to think they are the only country in the world who should have them.
Interesting day I had today. Rewind a week when I went over my budget for Christmas and come to the frightening conclusion I HAVE NO budget for Christmas! For some reason I can’t phantom I have no savings or anything and my finances are down the drain. But fortunately I have a very supportive family so I’ll make it somehow. Reminds me of the 111th Rule of Aquisition – “Treat people in your debt like family…exploit them.”. ANYWAY, I joked that my car breaking down would be like the worst thing that could happen. And on saturday it started making noises. Nothing big, just… inconvinient. But today when I was driving home it got worse and by the time I got home I drove it right into the shop. Again! Probably the rear brakes. So by now I was pretty upset over the bad timing, but what can you do. So I get home and realise that they changed my rear brakes two years ago so there should be some warranty on that job. Then I spend about 3 hours going through old papers and drawers full of old “should save just in case”-things. And this is when the day turned around from annoying to a great nostalgic event. Going through old stuff and finding things like our airline tickets from our trip to Greece, old photos and even our high school photoalbums! Damn that was fun! I didn’t find what I was looking for ofcourse, but hey, I’m a computer engineer not a filing clerk! (I actually found my old engineering diploma!)
Go and see “Control Room”. Now please. It’s a documentary showing the difficult task the media and the liaison officers had during the war in Iraq. It mostly focuses on Al Jazeera who were showing the other side of the war and being hated by Rumsfeld and at the same time hearing the iraqi information minister call them “the american propaganda machine”. Surprisingly, the liaison officer in CentCom (Rushing) liked them alot and they showed alot of their conversations and alot of interviews showing what a difficult time this guy had trying to be objective in that bloody mess. Really powerful stuff. Go see it! It’s not really an anti-america or anti-Bush movie. Just a documentary showing propoganda up close.