I first heard this from the curmudgeon at Technocrat and were the site still in existence I would post it there.

http://www.ecogeek.org/content/view/2638/74/

It's a great idea.

Well this morning I an interesting experience Slashdot. Some right wing extremist took offense to some comment I made... which odd because I have not made any politically charged comments recently. Anyway he made me his "foe" and then down modded a handfull of my comments from weeks ago. I don't get this much and right now I have a lot of mod points... so I was tempted to reciprocate. So I looked at some of his comments:

"Who needs gas for a car when you're getting your very own Skittles-shitting unicorn?"

"It kinda surprises me that any Dim would've ever been in favor of offshore drilling...they seem to have a phobia about it."

"The only "change" you're going to get from Obummer is what's left in your wallet when he's done raping it."

On Ermächtigungsgesetz: "I wouldn't be at all surprised if Dear Leader was given an opportunity by his pals in Congress to sign one into law."

Wow, That's some pretty crazy commentary. Just writing in this journal has convinced me to just ignore this twat. Digging around old comments and moderating them is not particularly useful to improve the single to noise ratio of the conversation.

The collection of climate scientists running the blog Real Climate have posted an amusing and interesting review of 2008, in the form of awards for a number of categories.

So Bruce pulled the plug on Technocrat.Net last night. It's a real shame but I can't say I blame him... actually I agree with him. I'm morbidly curious as to the comment that broke the camel's back but I guess we'll never know.

So best of luck to Bruce and his ongoing project.

Earlier this week remembrance of Kristallnacht was observed here in Austria. Overnight just under 100 Jews were murdered and about 30,000 were arrested and deported to concentration camps. Coincidently (perhaps) a talk given by Samantha Power at Ted 2008 about Genocide and the life and death of Sergio Vieira de Mello called "Shaking Hands with the Devil". This reminded me of book with a similar title: "Shake Hands with the Devil: The Failure of Humanity in Rwanda" by the Canadian Senator, Lieutenant-General Roméo Antonius Dallaire.

The culmination of these thoughts has me reaching a few conclusions: The common Western mythology of the solemn pledge of "Never Again" is an impossibility and the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide a farce. The vast body of humanity absolutely does not care about Genocidal events in places even modestly distant from their homes; involving people who they do not share a common heritage or language or skin colour or even religious or political ideology. More over, a substantial portion of humanity holds the capacity to revel in incitement of and to participate in the execution of genocide.

I read the political news of several countries: Austria, United States, United Kingdom, and Zimbabwe and I am routinely amazed at the language which is commonly used in the political arena. It's as if the absence of violence creates a pressure which must eventually be relieved. I have many friends in the US and the UK and to a man they have a confidence, in the fact that the social unrest or military action which creates the possibility of genocide can not happen to them or by them or their proxies, which is absolute.

I can't decide which I find more alarming the people who agitate for it or the people who do not believe such things are even remotely possible.