Universal Rule

Book Reviews

Monday, March 31, 2003

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U.S. Soldiers Asked To Pray For Bush: "The soldiers are the ones who need our prayers -- not the man who single-handedly placed them all in danger. This is just plain weird." [On Lisa Rein's Radar]

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Iraqi Military Tactics - An Atrocity or Necessity? "Where do you stand on Iraq's unconventional tactics of war? American leaders and citizens have expressed outrage and anger over Iraq's use of war tactics involving deception, incognito, and suicide. Their tactics have evolved and adapted to the dynamic American war plan - shifting from pretending to surrender as a means to engage American and British troops, all the way to now committing suicide attacks against stationary troops." [kuro5hin.org]

How to oppose the US hegemony? -- Comment()
I have been thinking of way how to demonstrate against the US war in Iraq. I'm not for Saddam, that is for sure, but I'm also against the war in Iraq. I didn't come up with really good actions, but here is a start on demonstrating:

Boycott those US companies which profit the most from the killing and suffering in Iraq: This is not easy, because the American companies seem to be everywhere. Think about computers: IBM, Microsoft, Sun, Apple. Which ones to boycott? For example, Macs are used in the war, but on the other hand Apple released a press release titled Bush Demands Recount In Gore's Board Election when Al Gore was elected to the board of directors. Was this a gesture against the war?
Call USA the evil empire or the politically correct killing machine in all contexts: This is also difficult, for example when writing a scientific paper. And even if the actions of the Unites States are problematic, there are also good things about USA. Although I don't remember any at the moment.
Write to the media and local politicians: This seems to be a good tactic, but writing sensible things about the war is difficult when your emotions are on the surface. On the other hand, angry writing is sometimes the best writing.
Put an anti-war logo on your web pages: This could help to visualize the protest. A good choice seemed at first the Piss off the planet graphic at the Onion, but perhaps this formulation is not precise enough.
Support the Iraq casualties through Red Cross or United Nations: This seems to be a sensible choice. However, I hope the aid through these organizations is not interpreted as aid given by the occupying forces.

Digital camera, finally? -- Comment()
I'm once again seriously considering a digital camera. My old 35mm SLR and my new APS zoom have become a bit awkward, when I mostly view my photos on the iBook.

The Canon PowerShot S400 (Digital IXUS 400) seems a competent choice. The resolution is 4.0 megapixels, and the camera has a 3x optical zoom. According to reviews, the photo quality is excellent. And the usability and features are not bad either. Most of all: the camera is small and light enough to be taken everywhere. But I'll check the alternatives before buying.

Changing the style of blogging -- Comment()
I plan to cut down on the number of postings here, to keep the benefits of blogging in balance with the effort. Perhaps it is easiest to just set an upper limit on the number of postings for each day. In addition, I'll cut down the number of blogs I'm reading (currently 158 blogs). Perhaps one hundred blogs could be a nice collection.

Blogging has given me new contacts, new ideas, and helped formulating my thoughts. But I think I have reached the payoff level: any extra effort in blogging diminishes the benefits.