Additional, but related diversions undermine sleep plans...

Experimenting with XFileGet to capture some of the RealAudio streaming news that will be coming down the pipe in the next few days. ASFRecorder is another one heard-of for Windows Media capture. Part of me wants to capture what goes down in this New reality starting any hour now.

Wanted (and still do) aerial photos of Baghdad, but did find some Iraq maps including a Main Map that's very detailed...Iraq is big. And long. I also want one a level higher than this, showing all the surrounding countries and what the ground our troups will be walking, driving, flying, dying, on looks like. Where are the troups coming from? Where are they headed? I'm sure the major news folks will have plenty of graphics to help understand what is happening. And there's a Baghdad map that may come in handy, although it would good to have one more detailed, with neighborhood names...I'm sure the reporting, if it goes down to street fighting, will include these kind of reference points.

So I'll add some Iraq War Links to the side-bar for easy access. Looking for more bloggers in Baghdad and surrounding countries.

God help us. God help our children. God help our military representatives to make keen decisions, think of others, and return home safely. And no mistakes. Please.
11:14:14 PM    comment []  Google It!  

Had to read behind this one of several jolting headlines on the NYTimes home page before heading down for a few winks. Looks like our President does not want to wait any further to announce to the world what we've all be watching happen for the last 6 months. Ain't any real surprise at this point, but it is no less troubling for my mind. I feel at this point I must be accountable for my thoughts and feeling at this time. To explain to the next generation what we were thinking when we let this happen. When this happened. When. At this moment in history.

"Mr. Bush's two main speechwriters accompanied him on Air Force One today and were reported to be drafting an address to the nation that Mr. Bush could deliver as soon as Monday night.

A senior administration official, briefing reporters here as the leaders ate and left the air base, said, "Win, lose or withdraw, the diplomatic process ends tomorrow."

And the Chief Weapon's Inspector's quote today will not endear Mr. Blix to the U.S. at all, especially at a time when Britain and Spain are trying to hang in there with us. His statement looks awfully like an attempt by Blix to divide. Who know's what his (or most anyones) motivations are these days in any given moment.

"In response to today's events in the Azores, Mr. Blix said: "I find the message from there slightly divided. On the one hand President Bush seems to be talking mainly about how to liberate Iraq and make sure they have no weapons left there, while Blair and Aznar on the other hand are giving more weight to having a last chance to unite the world and give Saddam an ultimatum." He spoke in an interview with SVT2 Swedish public service television, The Associated Press reported.

And does it really matter who goes in there to do this? You bet it does. Most heavily to people like you and I about to be pounced on by us and probably lots of other opportunists and revengists and militarists and ... wow. sos.

"...officials at the [Iraqi Information] ministry acknowledged that tensions were rising rapidly. After one ill-tempered exchange with a reporter, one official apologized, saying Iraqis in government jobs were becoming more nervous with every passing day.

"You are under pressure? It is nothing compared with us," he said. "We are the ones who are going to be attacked. It is our families, our jobs and our lives that are threatened."

God help us. God help our children.
2:05:18 AM    comment []  Google It!  

"Today, I'm in the Northern Iraqi city of Halabjah, where they're commemorating the 15th anniversary of poison gas attacks by Saddam Hussein that killed a reported 5,000 Kurds in this region. Hussein had been fighting an eight-year war with the Iranians, and suspected that the people of this city were supporting the Iranians at that time...

And the buzz about his blog seems to have taken him by surprise, which seems to be the normal reaction when people see how quick things get around in the weblog world.

"This experience has really made me rethink my rather orthodox views of reaching folks via mass media. Blogging is an incredible tool, with amazing potential. The feedback readers are posting motivates me to provide as much as I can for all of these folks hungry for first-hand info."

And good move with the local Iraq time on his blog (12:07 Monday, up and reporting I'd assume) Another way we are right there. It will be interesting to see how Kevin's and Chris's blogs will evolve in comparison. Big Media (CNN) vs. Personal Media. Hopefully the blog is the equalizing factor, not the access or connections or other advantages that Kevin may have. Maybe he has some feedback on that? Contact initiated.

I'm adding Kevin's Feed to My News Subscriptions (along with the Latest and Recent Posts lists added to the right-nav bar. I wonder if he's a Jazz fan? Carrying any Jazz with him as a diversion? As a barter?
1:15:16 AM    comment []  Google It!  

"We quickly adjusted and headed out the door as the rain came down. Lunch at Schlotsky's in Grossmont Center (a tab bit pricey) and a quick-hit CostCo run (minimizing impulse buys requiring one of those flat-bed carts). Pretty much filled-in a couple of those hours we would have been spent chasing errant infield-to-first-base tosses and tieing shoes."

I've been wanting to start some sort of writing project with the kids and parents of the Little League. It just seems like a lot of stories are being made every day and folks need a place to easily write them and share them. That's kind of this place I have here at http://TNJT.com. But it's got to be easy for people to get to the writing tools. And a message board should be among the easiest...you'd think.

Using the SCLL Message Boards for this may be a non-starter due to a clueless policy requiring an account to SIMPLY READ anything just one level lower than the SCLL website Message Board home page. And Anything is Everything in this case. Everyone should be able to freely and anonymously read what's written. Unless it's some security or privacy thing I don't get...I read the Privacy Policy but it didn't sound like 'home address' was something they needed for MY privacy's sake.

Writing is about reading. Reading is about writing.

The effects of this account-required thing manifest in several ways. You cannot link to an individual post or board message list and expect everyone to see it. If you don't have an account or you didn't leave it in log-in mode, you're going to have to log in. That's dumb. It's not 'World Read'. It's not the easiest thing in the world to just read it. Should be. Search engine's can't read it. Should be able to. I can see needing an account to be able to post, but going down ain't pretty either. These folks don't need our home addresses, do they?

I'll let the parents decide if they want to get an account for them and/or their kids, but I do hope we can find a way to capture the stories we are all living each day and share them with others.

VO

P.S. That 'Writing is about reading. Reading is about writing.' line above spilled out with a bunch of other things I'll leave in the P.S.S. below.

P.S.S. I write to have people read it. Not many read, but the one(s) who do know something about me others don't. They don't get that by writing. They get that by reading.

P.S.S.S. I just got a jolt of reality in my world of trying to write and share writing, when I brought up the NYTimes home page (to check out registration reqs) to these headlines: Bush and 2 Allies Seem Ready for War, Leaders Declare That Diplomatic Effort at U.N. Ends on Monday, A Long, Winding Road to a Diplomatic Dead End. I've been meaning to write something about this point in time in my mind. And I realize I better write it before all Hell breaks loose. I thought about The Book of Revelations today. Woa.
12:21:33 AM    comment []  Google It!