20 January 2002

Bits Some cross polination going on in Radio blog land just now, over the big time humanitarian disaster going down in Africa, as half a million people from Goma flee the exploding volcano. Doc Searls points to a new discovery (at least for me), the Bits weblog: "600,000+ refugees in an instant - get it? - you ever seen 600,00 people at once on the move in your lifetime? try to imagine the scale of it -- it means homeless, displaced, starving, cholera, fear, panic, chaos-stricken people who have (had) dreams and life and loved-ones like the rest of us -- now they have bubkis and a polluted methane rich lake about to explode that they have to drink from, and looters stealing what few possessions they may have left" Wow, this guy is not short on opinions, but they're incisively expressed, and hell, some of them even coincide with my own. I subscribed (repeat after me: Radio is a wonderful thing). 12:19:30 AM

Lord of the Rings If you've read the books, and therefore are proof to spoilers about the film, then you just have to read Lord of the Rings - The abridged script:                      VIGGO MORTENSEN Elijah, are you all right?  You must survive!  You are the only one who can carry the ring!  All others would be tempted to wear it for personal gain!                       ELIJAH WOOD Didn't I just put it on to save my own ass?                        THE KING Yes, but then you got stabbed anyway.  See, if any of us were corrupted by the ring, we'd be intelligent enough to use it for our own advantage. Hobbits, on the other hand, are bumbling morons. Frankly I'm more concerned with you dropping it or losing it than I am with the thought that you might use it for power. 12:18:18 AM