War Rages, But Life Goes On
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Trollslayer wrote: When terrorists stop your life, they have won. Isn't it sad though that it takes a threat on the opportunities and features of life before you start caring enough to do your best, to go that extra mile? Most days Londoners are apathetic or quite anti the trains and tube. As soon as a foreigner tries to take it away from them, they rally around it. I remember the first time I went to London. I thought the Underground was the coolest thing ever. I road those rails like I wanted to become a tube train driver. I wished we had one down here in the Cape. Yet a friend who has lived in London for just a year now regularly bitches about it. "The tube was 5 minutes late today! Godamn rubbish service!" and all sorts. I know we should not base things on the conditions in other countries, but it is amazing how we can switch poles on a topic when the situation changes.
Paul Watson
Bluegrass
Cape Town, South AfricaMacbeth muttered: I am in blood / Stepped in so far, that should I wade no more, / Returning were as tedious as go o'er DavidW wrote: You are totally mad. Nice.
Familiarity breeds contempt. Habits promote unconscious behavior. No, I'm not trying to be cute. Once the shine and newness of something, that "in love" aspect of our relationship with anything as we go through the process of discovering what our relationship to that something is---once that wears off we start to see the rust spots and start complaining about it. And habits by their very definition are unconscious patterns of behaviour. So, even the habits we develop in wartime to promote our survival (dodging from street corner to street corner to get to the cafe, as you said) result in a certain unconsciousness that prevents us from saying "this is insane and must stop." It becomes a habit and we think nothing more of it, even an extreme survival behaviour. As I said recently, humans will adapt themselves into oblivion. Marc Help! I'm an AI running around in someone's f*cked up universe simulator.
Sensitivity and ethnic diversity means celebrating difference, not hiding from it. - Christian Graus
Every line of code is a liability - Taka Muraoka
Microsoft deliberately adds arbitrary layers of complexity to make it difficult to deliver Windows features on non-Windows platforms--Microsoft's "Halloween files" -
You cancel your road trip because of the war?
Paul Watson
Bluegrass
Cape Town, South AfricaMacbeth muttered: I am in blood / Stepped in so far, that should I wade no more, / Returning were as tedious as go o'er DavidW wrote: You are totally mad. Nice.
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You cancel your road trip because of the war?
Paul Watson
Bluegrass
Cape Town, South AfricaMacbeth muttered: I am in blood / Stepped in so far, that should I wade no more, / Returning were as tedious as go o'er DavidW wrote: You are totally mad. Nice.
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Familiarity breeds contempt. Habits promote unconscious behavior. No, I'm not trying to be cute. Once the shine and newness of something, that "in love" aspect of our relationship with anything as we go through the process of discovering what our relationship to that something is---once that wears off we start to see the rust spots and start complaining about it. And habits by their very definition are unconscious patterns of behaviour. So, even the habits we develop in wartime to promote our survival (dodging from street corner to street corner to get to the cafe, as you said) result in a certain unconsciousness that prevents us from saying "this is insane and must stop." It becomes a habit and we think nothing more of it, even an extreme survival behaviour. As I said recently, humans will adapt themselves into oblivion. Marc Help! I'm an AI running around in someone's f*cked up universe simulator.
Sensitivity and ethnic diversity means celebrating difference, not hiding from it. - Christian Graus
Every line of code is a liability - Taka Muraoka
Microsoft deliberately adds arbitrary layers of complexity to make it difficult to deliver Windows features on non-Windows platforms--Microsoft's "Halloween files"All very true and well said Marc. And I was not trying to offend or belittle things in reply to your other post. I realise it affects us all. But I think of the soldiers, pilots, gunners, planners, targets and by standers and how they are affected. Then I look around at my safe little world and it is hard to marry the two as being on the same planet. I could reach Iraq within 10 hours if I wanted to. All of that, just 10 hours away. Hell, I could drive 10 minutes from where I am now into the heart of gang warfare, where you do duck from corner to corner or risk being caught by a stray or not so stray bullet. I am not saying we should all be ducking corner to corner at all. Hell no, we must go on with our lives, keep the world ticking, humanity progressing. It simply amazes me, the divisions we form, how we can put this over here and that over there and never the twain shall meet.
Paul Watson
Bluegrass
Cape Town, South AfricaMacbeth muttered: I am in blood / Stepped in so far, that should I wade no more, / Returning were as tedious as go o'er DavidW wrote: You are totally mad. Nice.
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You see what I mean though Lauren? You say you feel you are in the middle of it, in a weird way, but you are still off on your adventure. By all means go. I am not saying you should stop, cancel life, wear black and hug strangers. Just merely pointing out that we bleat on about the poor Iraqis, but life goes on for us with very little real change. Remember the bombs in Slaapstad a few years back? Sure, we were a bit more careful what restaurants we chose to eat at. But we did not stop going out. Amazing stuff.
Paul Watson
Bluegrass
Cape Town, South AfricaMacbeth muttered: I am in blood / Stepped in so far, that should I wade no more, / Returning were as tedious as go o'er DavidW wrote: You are totally mad. Nice.
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You see what I mean though Lauren? You say you feel you are in the middle of it, in a weird way, but you are still off on your adventure. By all means go. I am not saying you should stop, cancel life, wear black and hug strangers. Just merely pointing out that we bleat on about the poor Iraqis, but life goes on for us with very little real change. Remember the bombs in Slaapstad a few years back? Sure, we were a bit more careful what restaurants we chose to eat at. But we did not stop going out. Amazing stuff.
Paul Watson
Bluegrass
Cape Town, South AfricaMacbeth muttered: I am in blood / Stepped in so far, that should I wade no more, / Returning were as tedious as go o'er DavidW wrote: You are totally mad. Nice.
totally i know what u mean but its a valid concern to worry about the civilians caught in the middle of a war between 2 governments but what is the option? saddam has to go ... period. if we change our way of lives because of the bad guys we lose ... the whole point of this war (and i happen to kind of believe this) is to allow us to carry on with our normal lives and on that basis i support it the 9/11 thing was beyond the pale and the reaction to it had also to be beyond the pale ... it isnt about terrorism as we have known it before ... its about guerilla warfare now like i said ... please god its over soon and please god the modern day hitler gets dead soon
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All very true and well said Marc. And I was not trying to offend or belittle things in reply to your other post. I realise it affects us all. But I think of the soldiers, pilots, gunners, planners, targets and by standers and how they are affected. Then I look around at my safe little world and it is hard to marry the two as being on the same planet. I could reach Iraq within 10 hours if I wanted to. All of that, just 10 hours away. Hell, I could drive 10 minutes from where I am now into the heart of gang warfare, where you do duck from corner to corner or risk being caught by a stray or not so stray bullet. I am not saying we should all be ducking corner to corner at all. Hell no, we must go on with our lives, keep the world ticking, humanity progressing. It simply amazes me, the divisions we form, how we can put this over here and that over there and never the twain shall meet.
Paul Watson
Bluegrass
Cape Town, South AfricaMacbeth muttered: I am in blood / Stepped in so far, that should I wade no more, / Returning were as tedious as go o'er DavidW wrote: You are totally mad. Nice.
No offense taken (well, at least not for very long!) It simply amazes me, the divisions we form, how we can put this over here and that over there and never the twain shall meet. Another trait of the human mind. It's ability to compartmentalize. And once nicely analyzed, we go through life with our merry little assumptions and think we know everything. Ooops. I'm being too poetic again. I can't even begin the fathom what it must like to be a soldier, or a pilot, or an Iraqi. Or for that matter, Chinese, Korean, Russian, etc. I am so damn lucky to be born in this country and have the quality of life I do. Hell, I could drive 10 minutes from where I am now into the heart of gang warfare, It's a two hour drive for me to go see the NY skyline. I was in NYC a couple weeks ago visiting the Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art (incredible), and my brain is literally incapable of thinking about that "event". I can't even imagine what people think and feel and live through in the wars our world has fought since the beginning of time. Hell no, we must go on with our lives, keep the world ticking, humanity progressing. God help us. For we know not what we do. Marc Help! I'm an AI running around in someone's f*cked up universe simulator.
Sensitivity and ethnic diversity means celebrating difference, not hiding from it. - Christian Graus
Every line of code is a liability - Taka Muraoka
Microsoft deliberately adds arbitrary layers of complexity to make it difficult to deliver Windows features on non-Windows platforms--Microsoft's "Halloween files" -
No no no. Don't worry about if I think you hate America. There are plenty of reasons to. There will be a new bubble tensions in the area. That I have no doubt. Tim Smith I'm going to patent thought. I have yet to see any prior art.
The effects of the new US foreign policy will be seen in future years. From a logical perspective, it seems like a pre-emptive strike policy leaves it as the only option for security. Every sovereign nation, democratic or otherwise, have to live with it now. When Israel goes routinely into Palestine, atleast till now US administrations did not support it openly - and UN made resolutions condemning it. I am not arguing whether Israel is doing the right thing or not for their security; but the world bodies made it a point that they did not legalize it, even though they did not pursue Israel. But, now UN will not condemn a pre-emptive strike because any such resolution will not get past the security council. This legalizes pre-emptive strikes as a legitimate tool for security. North Korea will be justified in attacking South or Japan, citing a pre-emptive strike clause. China can attack Taiwan. India and Pakistan can attack each other. It legitimizes Russian action in Chechnya. It legitimizes Israel action in Palestine. There is no reason why any country should honour any disarmament treaties in this environment. Iran and North Korea will proceed to make nuclear weapons and will be prepared to use them in case of an attack against them. There is no motivation for them to not stockpile weapons. Al-Qaeda, IMO, is more sane than most people give it credit for. They are good at guerilla warfare, and have been doing it all their lives. The attack on US were spaced 8 years between 1993 and 2001. This makes the situation rather gloomy - there is no proof whether anything that were done by the US administration has any effect on the overall security of the US. Overall, the administration has exposed the US citizens to more danger by creating more legitimate options for aggression. Disclaimer: All these are my opinions; and are a figment of my imagination. :-) My article on a reference-counted smart pointer that supports polymorphic objects and raw pointers
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The effects of the new US foreign policy will be seen in future years. From a logical perspective, it seems like a pre-emptive strike policy leaves it as the only option for security. Every sovereign nation, democratic or otherwise, have to live with it now. When Israel goes routinely into Palestine, atleast till now US administrations did not support it openly - and UN made resolutions condemning it. I am not arguing whether Israel is doing the right thing or not for their security; but the world bodies made it a point that they did not legalize it, even though they did not pursue Israel. But, now UN will not condemn a pre-emptive strike because any such resolution will not get past the security council. This legalizes pre-emptive strikes as a legitimate tool for security. North Korea will be justified in attacking South or Japan, citing a pre-emptive strike clause. China can attack Taiwan. India and Pakistan can attack each other. It legitimizes Russian action in Chechnya. It legitimizes Israel action in Palestine. There is no reason why any country should honour any disarmament treaties in this environment. Iran and North Korea will proceed to make nuclear weapons and will be prepared to use them in case of an attack against them. There is no motivation for them to not stockpile weapons. Al-Qaeda, IMO, is more sane than most people give it credit for. They are good at guerilla warfare, and have been doing it all their lives. The attack on US were spaced 8 years between 1993 and 2001. This makes the situation rather gloomy - there is no proof whether anything that were done by the US administration has any effect on the overall security of the US. Overall, the administration has exposed the US citizens to more danger by creating more legitimate options for aggression. Disclaimer: All these are my opinions; and are a figment of my imagination. :-) My article on a reference-counted smart pointer that supports polymorphic objects and raw pointers
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Isn't it amazing just how little the war really affects our daily life? Sitting in our westernised countries, watching from afar. I still visited GameSpot today, got irritated with VB.NET as usual, had clients calling and faxing through sign-offs. We visited some new office premises, had a breakfast meeting with some old boys, interviewed a couple of chapies for a new position. Sure we chat about the war. We read about the war. We play at arm chair generals and do some desktop politics. Still ate lunch today (pie, coke and a danish.) Took a photograph of a newspaper seller holding up the Argus with "IT'S WAR" on the front-page, he had a huge smile on his face and was giving me the thumbs up with his other hand while the Big Issue vendor tried to get my attention by dancing a jig. The soccer mom drove past in her X5 taking the kids to ballet and piano practice. Even more to the point was: A newspaper that Bluegrass is helping out with was being launched today, I had some photos published in it and was quite keen to find out what was going on. Turns out that the established South African paper already in London literally hijacked the launch. They broke into the distributors warehouse and replaced most of the new newspapers with theirs. We know the guy who runs the other paper and he is a typical upper crust, old boy, what, what type. He was rather miffed at hearing about us upstarts coming along and trying to ruin his pet project (he is big time rich, does not need to lift a finger for the rest of his life, the newspaper is his pet project.) So there he sat, Iraqis about to die, Americans and Brits about to charge into the unknown. Markets unsure, many deals waiting the outcome, every paper covered in the war and he decides to hijack an upstart newspaper... I just found that extremely odd. It's like the younger son hijacking his brothers wedding by announcing he is gay. It is bizarre. You sit for awhile trying to wrap your mind around the thought processes of that person and you just can't. We are so removed from the troubles of life. We are not dying of AIDs, we have three solid meals a day, we aren't slaves in a blood-diamond mine, we don't live on the street, we aren't about to be bombed. The closest we get is CNN.com, the local paper, the radio and some posts on CP. Then we go back to living our lives. Amazing stuff.
I think after living in SA it's a lot less odd to me than it would be otherwise. We carry on with our daily lives there while so many people get hurt right under our noses, and the risk extends to us as well. People here often ask how the fact that it's a beautiful place can compensate for the crime rate. The answer is it probably doesn't, it's just that the crime rate crept up on us slowly enough that we didn't go into shock. Sort of like the boiling frog - apparently (I've never tried it, I like frogs) if you place a frog in a pan of boiling water it will jump straight out again. But if you place a frog in a pan of cool water and bring it to the boil slowly, the frog won't notice the change and will eventually boil to death. This war has been creeping up on us for over half a year now. The propoganda machine has done it's job. Terribly sad. I'm sorry to hear about the newspaper - any chance of recovering the lost copies and get your shots distributed?
I may try to delete my CP cookies. But its almost like tossing the keys of the appartment into the river. - Andreas Saurwein
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I think after living in SA it's a lot less odd to me than it would be otherwise. We carry on with our daily lives there while so many people get hurt right under our noses, and the risk extends to us as well. People here often ask how the fact that it's a beautiful place can compensate for the crime rate. The answer is it probably doesn't, it's just that the crime rate crept up on us slowly enough that we didn't go into shock. Sort of like the boiling frog - apparently (I've never tried it, I like frogs) if you place a frog in a pan of boiling water it will jump straight out again. But if you place a frog in a pan of cool water and bring it to the boil slowly, the frog won't notice the change and will eventually boil to death. This war has been creeping up on us for over half a year now. The propoganda machine has done it's job. Terribly sad. I'm sorry to hear about the newspaper - any chance of recovering the lost copies and get your shots distributed?
I may try to delete my CP cookies. But its almost like tossing the keys of the appartment into the river. - Andreas Saurwein
Megan Forbes wrote: I'm sorry to hear about the newspaper - any chance of recovering the lost copies and get your shots distributed? Yeah I am sure they will just distribute again. :)
Paul Watson
Bluegrass
Cape Town, South AfricaMacbeth muttered: I am in blood / Stepped in so far, that should I wade no more, / Returning were as tedious as go o'er DavidW wrote: You are totally mad. Nice.
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From a logical perspective... I am still waiting for that part of the message. Tim Smith I'm going to patent thought. I have yet to see any prior art.
If Iraq is found not to have chem/bio weapons, why will any other country disarm peacefully ever, putting themselves at risk? If Saddam indeed destroyed these weapons, he will be regretting it now. My article on a reference-counted smart pointer that supports polymorphic objects and raw pointers
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If Iraq is found not to have chem/bio weapons, why will any other country disarm peacefully ever, putting themselves at risk? If Saddam indeed destroyed these weapons, he will be regretting it now. My article on a reference-counted smart pointer that supports polymorphic objects and raw pointers
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I meant, peace is so fragile - US and UK broke it. That`s it. Or is it that the US maintained some peace by making sure Saddam Hussein was contained (i.e., no-fly zones in northern and southern Iraq)? I wonder if the Kurds in the north have appreciated not having to worry as much about Saddam's military for the past few years. Reality is a many-sided coin. Sean Winstead
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Isn't it amazing just how little the war really affects our daily life? Sitting in our westernised countries, watching from afar. I still visited GameSpot today, got irritated with VB.NET as usual, had clients calling and faxing through sign-offs. We visited some new office premises, had a breakfast meeting with some old boys, interviewed a couple of chapies for a new position. Sure we chat about the war. We read about the war. We play at arm chair generals and do some desktop politics. Still ate lunch today (pie, coke and a danish.) Took a photograph of a newspaper seller holding up the Argus with "IT'S WAR" on the front-page, he had a huge smile on his face and was giving me the thumbs up with his other hand while the Big Issue vendor tried to get my attention by dancing a jig. The soccer mom drove past in her X5 taking the kids to ballet and piano practice. Even more to the point was: A newspaper that Bluegrass is helping out with was being launched today, I had some photos published in it and was quite keen to find out what was going on. Turns out that the established South African paper already in London literally hijacked the launch. They broke into the distributors warehouse and replaced most of the new newspapers with theirs. We know the guy who runs the other paper and he is a typical upper crust, old boy, what, what type. He was rather miffed at hearing about us upstarts coming along and trying to ruin his pet project (he is big time rich, does not need to lift a finger for the rest of his life, the newspaper is his pet project.) So there he sat, Iraqis about to die, Americans and Brits about to charge into the unknown. Markets unsure, many deals waiting the outcome, every paper covered in the war and he decides to hijack an upstart newspaper... I just found that extremely odd. It's like the younger son hijacking his brothers wedding by announcing he is gay. It is bizarre. You sit for awhile trying to wrap your mind around the thought processes of that person and you just can't. We are so removed from the troubles of life. We are not dying of AIDs, we have three solid meals a day, we aren't slaves in a blood-diamond mine, we don't live on the street, we aren't about to be bombed. The closest we get is CNN.com, the local paper, the radio and some posts on CP. Then we go back to living our lives. Amazing stuff.
You're way off, Paul!! I mean I lost out on at least 60 minutes of sleep last night watching Foxnews/CNN. Uncomfortably dozing on the couch. (my neck is a bit stiff this morning) Oh the misery of it all! And this morning I'm dealing with a very slow internet connection, also. I can't keep up with the war that way!! So no! My life is far from / a bit different well, I suppose it's the same as always. But it does weigh on my mind some. **end sarcasm** You know the truth is, I'm saddened by the events occurring and my thoughts go out to the Iraqi citizens, I'm concerned about how this will change the global landscape, I'm excited by the storyline of getting the bad guy, I'm awed at the strength of my military, I'm hopeful for peace and the promise of prosperity beyond the elite in the middle east. But it's all just thinking. My daily life would be no different if I was ignorant of the war. the fact that I have a possibility to be mostly ignorant of the war shows that I am by and large untouched by it all. I feel I should be depressed by that, but I'm quite thankful. BW "We get general information and specific information, but none of the specific information talks about time, place or methods or means..." - Tom Ridge - US Secretary of Homeland Security
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Sean Winstead wrote: Or is it that the US maintained some peace wow, isn't it convenient to maintain world peace and protect your oil assets in one go. And don't forget boosting that supreme Amarican moral, increasing the value of the Dollar etc. This Bush must be really clever...
This Bush must be really clever... I personally think it would have been more clever to let loose the fetters on Saddam. This would allow the countries in the Middle East or Europe to deal with him, if they would or could. Sure, maybe thousands more would die than if we took care of him, but at least it would give people a chance to look at the situation differently. Sean Winstead
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You're way off, Paul!! I mean I lost out on at least 60 minutes of sleep last night watching Foxnews/CNN. Uncomfortably dozing on the couch. (my neck is a bit stiff this morning) Oh the misery of it all! And this morning I'm dealing with a very slow internet connection, also. I can't keep up with the war that way!! So no! My life is far from / a bit different well, I suppose it's the same as always. But it does weigh on my mind some. **end sarcasm** You know the truth is, I'm saddened by the events occurring and my thoughts go out to the Iraqi citizens, I'm concerned about how this will change the global landscape, I'm excited by the storyline of getting the bad guy, I'm awed at the strength of my military, I'm hopeful for peace and the promise of prosperity beyond the elite in the middle east. But it's all just thinking. My daily life would be no different if I was ignorant of the war. the fact that I have a possibility to be mostly ignorant of the war shows that I am by and large untouched by it all. I feel I should be depressed by that, but I'm quite thankful. BW "We get general information and specific information, but none of the specific information talks about time, place or methods or means..." - Tom Ridge - US Secretary of Homeland Security
brianwelsch wrote: the fact that I have a possibility to be mostly ignorant of the war shows that I am by and large untouched by it all. Good way of putting across what I mean. Thanks. brianwelsch wrote: And this morning I'm dealing with a very slow internet connection Odd. Internet is running normal speed here.
Paul Watson
Bluegrass
Cape Town, South AfricaMacbeth muttered: I am in blood / Stepped in so far, that should I wade no more, / Returning were as tedious as go o'er DavidW wrote: You are totally mad. Nice.
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brianwelsch wrote: the fact that I have a possibility to be mostly ignorant of the war shows that I am by and large untouched by it all. Good way of putting across what I mean. Thanks. brianwelsch wrote: And this morning I'm dealing with a very slow internet connection Odd. Internet is running normal speed here.
Paul Watson
Bluegrass
Cape Town, South AfricaMacbeth muttered: I am in blood / Stepped in so far, that should I wade no more, / Returning were as tedious as go o'er DavidW wrote: You are totally mad. Nice.
Paul Watson wrote: Internet is running normal speed here. Actually, its mostly news sites that are slow for me. Just didn't realize it at first. :-O BW "We get general information and specific information, but none of the specific information talks about time, place or methods or means..." - Tom Ridge - US Secretary of Homeland Security
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Sean Winstead wrote: Or is it that the US maintained some peace wow, isn't it convenient to maintain world peace and protect your oil assets in one go. And don't forget boosting that supreme Amarican moral, increasing the value of the Dollar etc. This Bush must be really clever...
Cois wrote: and protect your oil assets in one go Which oil assets? AFAIK, the US has no oil assets in Iraq. Gary Kirkham A working Program is one that has only unobserved bugs I thought I wanted a career, turns out I just wanted paychecks
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Isn't it amazing just how little the war really affects our daily life? Sitting in our westernised countries, watching from afar. I still visited GameSpot today, got irritated with VB.NET as usual, had clients calling and faxing through sign-offs. We visited some new office premises, had a breakfast meeting with some old boys, interviewed a couple of chapies for a new position. Sure we chat about the war. We read about the war. We play at arm chair generals and do some desktop politics. Still ate lunch today (pie, coke and a danish.) Took a photograph of a newspaper seller holding up the Argus with "IT'S WAR" on the front-page, he had a huge smile on his face and was giving me the thumbs up with his other hand while the Big Issue vendor tried to get my attention by dancing a jig. The soccer mom drove past in her X5 taking the kids to ballet and piano practice. Even more to the point was: A newspaper that Bluegrass is helping out with was being launched today, I had some photos published in it and was quite keen to find out what was going on. Turns out that the established South African paper already in London literally hijacked the launch. They broke into the distributors warehouse and replaced most of the new newspapers with theirs. We know the guy who runs the other paper and he is a typical upper crust, old boy, what, what type. He was rather miffed at hearing about us upstarts coming along and trying to ruin his pet project (he is big time rich, does not need to lift a finger for the rest of his life, the newspaper is his pet project.) So there he sat, Iraqis about to die, Americans and Brits about to charge into the unknown. Markets unsure, many deals waiting the outcome, every paper covered in the war and he decides to hijack an upstart newspaper... I just found that extremely odd. It's like the younger son hijacking his brothers wedding by announcing he is gay. It is bizarre. You sit for awhile trying to wrap your mind around the thought processes of that person and you just can't. We are so removed from the troubles of life. We are not dying of AIDs, we have three solid meals a day, we aren't slaves in a blood-diamond mine, we don't live on the street, we aren't about to be bombed. The closest we get is CNN.com, the local paper, the radio and some posts on CP. Then we go back to living our lives. Amazing stuff.
Paul Watson wrote: Isn't it amazing just how little the war really affects our daily life? I guess you don't carry your gas mask with you...