BBC News story.

Yay! Now I won't have to feel guilty when I walk into a cinema and pay to see a Pixar film!

I know the split was about money rather than ideological issues but I'm glad Pixar is going down another route. I can't stand Disney. In fact, I detest them. Some of the shit they pull is unbelieveable.

Stuff like this is so surreal you couldn't make it up if you tried:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3437455.stm.

Seriously, when was the last time you got caught in a whale shower?

BBC News Online is reporting that Nintendo (and Namco) are bringing back Pac-Man , the arcade classic, but with a novel twist. Called Pac-Man Vs, the new game pits one player playing Pac-Man on a GameBoy Advance against up to three other players playing the Ghosts (Inky, Pinky, Blinky and Clyde) on a GameCube. The best bit is the price: the game is being given away for free with Namco's upcoming GameCube releases, including R: Racing Evolution, and I-Ninja!

I've just submitted this to the Games section. Let's see how long it takes to get published.

Front page, The Independent, 20 January, 2004.
Original article: http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/story.jsp?story=482947.
(Don't forget to remove the space that the Slashdot has added in "story.jsp" to break up long character strings if you're forwarding the URL onwards.)

George Bush and the real state of the Union

Today the President gives his annual address. As the election battle begins, how does his first term add up?

232: Number of American combat deaths in Iraq between May 2003 and January 2004

501: Number of American servicemen to die in Iraq from the beginning of the war - so far

0: Number of American combat deaths in Germany after the Nazi surrender to the Allies in May 1945

0: Number of coffins of dead soldiers returning home from Iraq that the Bush administration has allowed to be photographed

0: Number of funerals or memorials that President Bush has attended for soldiers killed in Iraq

100: Number of fund-raisers attended by Bush or Vice-President Dick Cheney in 2003

13: Number of meetings between Bush and Tony Blair since he became President

10 million: Estimated number of people worldwide who took to the streets in opposition to the invasion of Iraq, setting an all-time record for simultaneous protest

2: Number of nations that Bush has attacked and taken over since coming into the White House

9.2: Average number of American soldiers wounded in Iraq each day since the invasion in March last year

1.6: Average number of American soldiers killed in Iraq per day since hostilities began

16,000: Approximate number of Iraqis killed since the start of war

10,000: Approximate number of Iraqi civilians killed since the beginning of the conflict

$100 billion: Estimated cost of the war in Iraq to American citizens by the end of 2003

$13 billion: Amount other countries have committed towards rebuilding Iraq (much of it in loans) as of 24 October

36%: Increase in the number of desertions from the US army since 1999

92%: Percentage of Iraq's urban areas that had access to drinkable water a year ago

60%: Percentage of Iraq's urban areas that have access to drinkable water today

32%: Percentage of the bombs dropped on Iraq this year that were not precision-guided

1983: The year in which Donald Rumsfeld gave Saddam Hussein a pair of golden spurs

45%: Percentage of Americans who believed in early March 2003 that Saddam Hussein was involved in the 11 September attacks on the US

$127 billion: Amount of US budget surplus in the year that Bush became President in 2001

$374 billion: Amount of US budget deficit in the fiscal year for 2003

1st: This year's deficit is on course to be the biggest in United States history

$1.58 billion: Average amount by which the US national debt increases each day

$23,920: Amount of each US citizen's share of the national debt as of 19 January 2004

1st: The record for the most bankruptcies filed in a single year (1.57 million) was set in 2002

10: Number of solo press conferences that Bush has held since beginning his term. His father had managed 61 at this point in his administration, and Bill Clinton 33

1st: Rank of the US worldwide in terms of greenhouse gas emissions per capita

$113 million: Total sum raised by the Bush-Cheney 2000 campaign, setting a record in American electoral history

$130 million: Amount raised for Bush's re-election campaign so far

$200m: Amount that the Bush-Cheney campaign is expected to raise in 2004

$40m: Amount that Howard Dean, the top fund-raiser among the nine Democratic presidential hopefuls, amassed in 2003

28: Number of days holiday that Bush took last August, the second longest holiday of any president in US history (Recordholder: Richard Nixon)

13: Number of vacation days the average American worker receives each year

3: Number of children convicted of capital offences executed in the US in 2002. America is only country openly to acknowledge executing children

1st: As Governor of Texas, George Bush executed more prisoners (152) than any governor in modern US history

2.4 million: Number of Americans who have lost their jobs during the three years of the Bush administration

221,000: Number of jobs per month created since Bush's tax cuts took effect. He promised the measure would add 306,000

1,000: Number of new jobs created in the entire country in December. Analysts had expected a gain of 130,000

1st: This administration is on its way to becoming the first since 1929 (Herbert Hoover) to preside over an overall loss of jobs during its complete term in office

9 million: Number of US workers unemployed in September 2003

80%: Percentage of the Iraqi workforce now unemployed

55%: Percentage of the Iraqi workforce unemployed before the war

43.6 million: Number of Americans without health insurance in 2002

130: Number of countries (out of total of 191 recognised by the United Nations) with an American military presence

40%: Percentage of the world's military spending for which the US is responsible

$10.9 million: Average wealth of the members of Bush's original 16-person cabinet

88%: Percentage of American citizens who will save less than $100 on their 2006 federal taxes as a result of 2003 cut in capital gains and dividends taxes

$42,000: Average savings members of Bush's cabinet are expected to enjoy this year as a result in the cuts in capital gains and dividends taxes

$42,228: Median household income in the US in 2001

$116,000: Amount Vice-President Cheney is expected to save each year in taxes

44%: Percentage of Americans who believe the President's economic growth plan will mostly benefit the wealthy

700: Number of people from around the world the US has incarcerated in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba

1st: George W Bush became the first American president to ignore the Geneva Conventions by refusing to allow inspectors access to US-held prisoners of war

+6%: Percentage change since 2001 in the number of US families in poverty

1951: Last year in which a quarterly rise in US military spending was greater than the one the previous spring

54%: Percentage of US citizens who believe Bush was legitimately elected to his post

1st: First president to execute a federal prisoner in the past 40 years. Executions are typically ordered by separate states and not at federal level

9: Number of members of Bush's defence policy board who also sit on the corporate board of, or advise, at least one defence contractor

35: Number of countries to which US has suspended military assistance after they failed to sign agreements giving Americans immunity from prosecution before the International Criminal Court

$300 million: Amount cut from the federal programme that provides subsidies to poor families so they can heat their homes

$1 billion: Amount of new US military aid promised Israel in April 2003 to offset the "burdens" of the US war on Iraq

58 million: Number of acres of public lands Bush has opened to road building, logging and drilling

200: Number of public-health and environmental laws Bush has attempted to downgrade or weaken

29,000: Number of American troops - which is close to the total of a whole army division - to have either been killed, wounded, injured or become so ill as to require evacuation from Iraq, according to the Pentagon

90%: Percentage of American citizens who said they approved of the way George Bush was handling his job as president when asked on 26 September, 2001

53%: Percentage of American citizens who approved of the way Bush was handling his job as president when asked on 16 January, 2004

"Ladies and gentlemen, we got him.

Saddam Hussein was captured Saturday 13 December at about 2030 local, in a cellar in the town of al-Dawr which is about 15 kilometres south of Tikrit.

Before Dr Pachachi, who is the acting president of the governing council, and Lieutenant General Sanchez [the top US military commander in Iraq] speak, I want to say a few words to the people of Iraq.

This is a great day in Iraq's history. For decades, hundreds of thousands of you suffered at the hands of this cruel man. For decades, Saddam Hussein divided you citizens against each other. For decades, he threatened an attack on your neighbours. Those days are over forever.

Now it is time to look to the future, to your future of hope, to a future of reconciliation. Iraq's future, your future, has never been more full of hope. The tyrant is a prisoner. The economy is moving forward. You have before you the prospect of a sovereign government in a few months.

With the arrest of Saddam Hussein, there is a new opportunity for the members of the former regime to end their bitter opposition. Let them now come forward in a spirit of reconciliation and hope, lay down their arms, and join you, their fellow citizens, in the task of building the new Iraq.

Now is the time for all Iraqis - Arabs and Kurds, Sunnis, Shia, Christian and Turkmen - to build a prosperous, democratic Iraq, at peace with itself and with its neighbours."

US administrator Paul Bremer's opening statement during the press conference announcing the capture of Saddam Hussein.

Well, I'm glad that Saddam Hussein is no longer at large, but am I the only one who's a little bit disappointed that, in a news conference in which Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez (the US commander of coalition ground forces in Iraq), talked about "closure", there was no mention of weapons of mass destruction?

Sorry, but weren't WMDs what this invasion was supposedly about? Or has that all been forgotten?

You'd have to be blind not to notice that I'm against the War in Iraq and the foreign policy of the current George W. Bush administration in general.

It seems there's not a week that goes by that I don't find myself being compelled to counter some hawkish argument or another about kicking Arab butt, Franco-German cowardice or just plain old-fashioned xenophobia on the part of some of the less tolerant members of the Slashdot community. I'm amazed at some of the things people say here, the intolerance they display and the raw hatred that often accompanies it.

Equally as often, I'm amazed at the arrogance and stupidity of politicans. Arrogance at what they can think they can get away with ("Iraq has WMDs and is an immediate terrorist threat!"), and stupidity for failing to recognise the true consequences of their actions ("Mission accomplished!").

Just as stupid are some of the things that come out of the mouths of the military commanders on the ground, especially when it comes to explaining FUBAR mistakes that cost civilian lives.

Take this gem from the US military spokesman Major Christopher West, yesterday. Major West isn't a stranger to public speaking, after all he's a military spokesman, one of the Army's PR corps. So, when commenting on a A-10 bombing raid in Afghanistan that the US Army concedes cost the lives of nine innocent children this weekend, I was stunned that the Major had this to say:

"[Coalition forces] will make every effort to assist the families of these innocent casualties and determine the cause of the civilian deaths... At the time we initiated the attack, we did not know there were children nearby. Until we get the investigation results, we can't say what exactly happened."

Gee Chris, I think I can determine the cause of the civilian deaths. I can tell you exactly what happened. They were killed by the bombs dropped by the A-10. You've admitted as much. So what is there to determine? Why can't you say exactly what happened? And just how much assistance do you think your investigation will really provide the grieving families? Don't you think you've assisted them enough already?

(If you want to read more about that story, read on here and here.)

George Orwell's classic 1984 introduced the concept of "newspeak", of replacing one language with another, artificially shaped one that helped the state control how the masses thought. Few people will readily concede that that portion of Orwell's dystopia has come to pass; after all, we're still speaking the same language we did 50-odd years ago, right? Wrong.

When we start referring to the open and shut killing (deliberate or otherwise, that's what we're talking about) of nine innocent children as some major mystery that needs to be "determined" and "investigated", as if we're talking about trying to track down a parcel that went missing in the mail, then we've reached Orwell's nightmare scenario. Newspeak isn't just an abstract concept anymore, it's reality.

To be honest, we entered this particular nightmare sometime ago. Be honest, when was the last time you heard a politician or a soldier refer to "a bombing raid that killed innocent bystanders"?

Unless you lived through World War II, the answer is probably never, because we don't have "bombing raids" anymore, we have "surgical strikes". We don't "kill innocent bystanders", we "inflict some collateral damage". Heck, we don't even have "bombs" anymore, we just have "precision-guided munitions".

Surgical. Collateral. Sound so innocent don't they? So much nicer sounding and so much cleaner than that old-fashioned language. Doubleplusgood, as any goodthinker would say.

We've sanitised war, death and destruction (or, to give them their proper names, "conflict", "casualty" and "property damage"), so much so that we've forgotten that war is horrific, something to be avoided if at all possible, and certainly not something to be entered into lightly. How else can you explain a world where the most tragic events are served up as we eat dinner, ironically sandwiched between the latest episodes of Joe Millionaire and re-runs of Friends?

A recent JE by blinder got me thinking about food in films and, more specifically, the perfect meal for a given movie.

For example, Close Encounters Of The Third Kind has a key scene where Roy Neary, the lead character played by Richard Dreyfuss, constructs a model of Devil's Tower from mashed potato. Hence, the perfect meal to accompany the viewing of Close Encounters is mashed potato.

Similarly, Pulp Fiction is best enjoyed with a fast food burger (preferably a Big Kahuna burger, although I've yet to see one) and Sprite or perhaps blueberry pancakes, in homage to either Jules or Fabienne. (Granted, there are other foods associated with other characters, such as pop tarts with Butch, bacon with Vincent, milkshake with Mia Wallace and coffee with "The Wolf", but Jules' and Fabienne's choices are the ones that stand out in my mind.)

And of course, Anthony Hokpins chilling delivery of Hannibal Lector's classic line means that the perfect dinner for Silence Of The Lambs afficionados would be sweetbreads (preferably liver) with fava beans and a nice Chianti...

Lastly, who hasn't wandered into a McDonalds looking for a quick fix and thought of the pivotal scene in Falling Down when Michael Douglas's character D-Fens loses it when he's told that breakfast is off the menu? Surely the watching this movie should be accompanied by one of Ronald's Big Breakfasts?

There has to be a 1,001 of these out there. So what are your favourite movie/meal connections? Give us your best film and food combos. Make it fast though, because all this talking is making me hungry. I'll check out your serving suggestions as soon as I get back from the fridge...

It seems that, because I've been vocal in my criticism (shared by half of the US and most of the world too) of US foreign policy and the US welfare system, I've been accused of spouting "myopic anti-US rhetoric".

Of course, I don't see it that way. From my point of view I'm simply responding to what I read and providing an honest opinion that reflects my honest views. True, those views do question the policies of the current US administration but isn't that what millions of Americans do every day? And isn't the freedom to do that what America was built upon?

If I question why something is done or talk about how it could be done better is that wrong? Don't Congressmen and Senators do that on the Hill?

Of course, I'm a little too close to the subject to be totally objective, so I'm asking you, Slashdot Nation to answer the question for me: Am I anti-American? Or am I just a cynic?

Here are links to some of my recent postings that would seem relevant. If you have the time (and the inclination), please read them and the parent posts too and then come back with your objective opinions. I'd like to know just how I'm coming across here.

Sorry, didn't you say "lies, damned lies..."?
Thursday October 30, @05:23PM

A few more questions for you to ask them...
Thursday October 30, @02:05AM

Uh, when did the US become a third world country?
Thursday October 30, @12:56AM

Re:what freedom do u guys actually have?
Wednesday October 29, @02:01PM

Out of sight...
Tuesday October 28, @05:46AM

Accuracy is great but...
Monday October 20, @10:23PM

And what about when it's your turn?
Thursday September 18, @01:09PM

Re:It's a joke
Thursday September 18, @09:03AM

(I'd link to more but I don't have a Slashdot subscription, so I can't see a full list of all my posts. I've linked to all those that I could find that were relevant though. If you can find more, perhaps because you're a subscriber and can see all my posts, then please provide links to them.)

Alternatively, feel free to just shoot from the hilt. Preferably opinions and not lead.

There's a Big Hurt in Chicago right now. And I'm not talking about Frank Thomas.

I stayed up late to watch game 7 of the Cubs vs Marlins NLCS last night (UK time is five hours ahead of US EST, so that first pitch was after 1.00am in the morning for me), and I have to admit that I fell asleep before the very end. But not before I saw a piece of piece of history (if you get my meaning).

It's funny what we remember and what we forget. I can remember my first real haircut, when I was about two, but I can't remember my first day at school. I can remember watching the news the day that John Lennon died, that the Mary Rose breathed air again after lying at the bottom of the sea for centuries, that Challenger exploded, that the Berlin Wall fell and that Nelson Mandela was finally freed, but I can't remember my first day at work. I don't think that there's a Cubs fan alive that will forget the last two days.

Pain and pleasure seem to burn images and memories into our brains. I'm sure that the reasons why are Darwinian, that it's all about survival of the fittest, etc, but that's no consolation for Cubs fans who'll remember the last 48 hours as long as they live. To them, those memories will be pain for pain's sake. Nothing more, nothing less.

Heck, I feel for Cubs and their fans even more because they weren't just eliminated from the playoffs, they lost the NLCS after leading it 3-1 and needing just one win to get back to the World Series. The World Series. So near but yet so far.

By the time I woke up this morning, at 6.15am, the game had ended. I often stay up late on a Sunday and Wednesday to watch a live game of baseball and I often fall asleep on the sofa sometime between the first pitch and the final one, so that scenario's happened countless times. But when I awoke something unexpected happened. Usually, after falling asleep like that during a game, one of the first things that I do is go upstairs and refresh the ESPN.com scoreboard to find out who won and who lost. Today though, the moment I regained consciousness, perhaps even before I was fully awake, I heard the result on the news. Freaky.

How did the Cubs lose? Why? I'm sure those questions are being asked and answered by Cubs fans and baseball enthusiasts the world over. Some will blame Steve Bartman, an ordinary but misguided fan, who became (in)famous in the 8th inning of game 6. Others will look at the way that the Cubs were blanked in game 5 by a pitcher with less than 20 career wins (albeit one that's got a great future ahead of him). Or how, ultimately, the Cubs overreliance on their greatest strengths, Mark Prior and Kerry Wood, became their greatest undoing.

How do I explain it? Well, laying it all on Bartman is an easy out (which, frankly, is something the Cubs could have done with a few more times the last couple of days - easy outs, I mean). One thing's for sure though: while they're singing the blues in Chicago, they're enjoying the sunshine in Florida today.

Oh yeah, and overnight "Do the Bartman" has taken on a whole new meaning in Illinois. We're not talking about a cartoon kid that lives in Springfield and his silly dance, we're talking about a living, breathing human being that lives in Chicago and his life. The Cubs' World Series dream might be dead until next year but that's no reason for wanting Bartman dead too. Cubs fans, the key phrase here is "until next year".

I'll end on a poetic note. For some stupid reason, when I heard the news that the Cubs had lost, I thought of a song that I couldn't have heard for over 15 years. Sung by a soap opera star, it hit number 1 in the UK singles charts for three weeks in 1986. A one hit wonder, loved by millions, hated by millions more, it's a love ballad entitled Every Loser Wins and it goes like this:

We nearly made it
We nearly found the perfect combination
The road was right, we must have read the signs wrong
And now it's all gone

But if we'd made it
Could we be sure that it was for the better
Who could say we would have stayed together
Nothing is certain, in a changing world

Every loser wins, once the dream begins
In time we'll see, fate holds the key
And every loser knows, the light eternal shows
Will shine on you, and all those who knew
We nearly made it

Suddenly we seemed to stop and lose our way
But did it really matter anyway
For that was yesterday
And we must live for now

Because every loser wins, once the dream begins
In time we'll see, fate holds the key
And every loser knows, the light eternal shows
Will shine on you, and all those who knew
We nearly made it

Stand up and count me
I know you're on my side
Shine down on me
And those who believe
That we can make it.

For me, that song, which just popped into my head out of nowhere, summed everything up perfectly. And I'm not even a Cubs fan.

Bah. I have a love-hate relationship with blogs. I love them because they give a voice to the common man, allowing him to air his opinions and vent his spleen. I hate them because, all too often, the common man has no common sense, and his opinions are best left unheard and his spleen best left unvented.

So why the hell have I decided to start writing journal entries? Is my voice any more important than anyone else's? Of course not. But, sometimes, if you can't beat them, then it's damn hard to resist the temptation to join them...

Maybe posting JEs will give me a chance to release pent up anger and frustration. My girlfriend * goes to yoda and pilates classes, I post JEs. Seems like what the hunter-gatherer types are doing in the 21st century.

I don't think my JEs will be too personal - heck, I've given out too much personal information over the last few days in comments appended to other people's JEs and, besides, I don't think my GF would like it too much - so expect rants and raves about sports, politics, culture and the human race in general.

OK, as Bugs would say, that's all folks.

(* I prefer the term partner, but online that seems so ambiguous and it seems to drive the homophobes into a frenzy - but that's another story, isn't it?)