Recently reported in the Globe and Mail is the response by George W. Bush to "unauthorized" release of pictures of Saddam Hussein in his knickers:
"I don't think a photo inspires murderers. I think they're inspired by an ideology that is so barbaric and backwards that it's hard for many in the Western world to comprehend how they think."
If comprehension within the West of radical Islamists is so lacking then it stands to reason that there would be a similar lack of understanding travelling in the other direction and in fact we in the West likely appear barbaric and backwards to those fighting Americans in the Middle-east.
It strikes me that there is likely a lack of imagination on the part of the Bush administration when it comes to dealing with many of the myriad problems faced by the U.S. abroad. If they are unable to comprehend the backward, barbaric thinking if Islamic radicals then there is likely no solution to the impasse. America will fight on in a misguided attemp to impose order on a chaotic world.
It would be nice if all the nasties in the world could be hauled together in one place and kept an eye on. Australia was settled by the British essentially as a penal colony. The criminal element seems still to be alive and well in the land down under, as is made apparent by that country's participation in the war on Iraq. So, start repopulating the land with all the bad-asses from around the globe. With a little luck the kangaroos will kick some decency into them.
Saturday, May 21, 2005
Monday, May 16, 2005
Monday, May 09, 2005
backup plan
Images.
I spent part of the afternoon backing up images. Folder after folder burned to cd. An hour or so of my time was taken in the process.
I've been lucky so far with the computer. Although it may behave oddly by times I have never lost data to it. An article I read today in Photolife magazine (a fine Canadian publication) mentions two types of computer owners, those who have lost data and those who eventually will lose data. I would prefer to have something to recover.
Software for organizing my images would be handy. This comes to mind as I filter through folders to see what to burn with what. I can't keep track of all my images. Windows explorer has little to offer in the way of helping me organize my images. There must be something available for cataloguing, archiving and backing up my images. There must be an easier way to manage my files. It would be nice to know next time I do a backup what files haven't been touched since the last backup. Why back up everything, everytime?
In OS X for macintosh computers folders can be colour coded. I used to colour code my copy at school. Red labels were works in progress, badly needing work; green labels were works ready for submission; if the label had no colour, the folder contents usually weren't of pressing need. I wish I could do the same with windows, even if only to keep track of age and relevance.
We have an extra hard drive to use. I keep mentioning starting over with the computer. Reformat the hard drive, or switch to the 80 gig drive, or use both, reload windows with the update, reload our software and reload our data. The idea in the end would be to have a system set up that works and an extra external hard drive to do our backing up on. As it stands now, we can't get the computer to recognize that the external hard drive is hooked up. I have the same problem with my camera, the computer doesn't see it. Starting from scratch, though a drastic measure, seems the appropriate step to take.
Burning CDs is an economical way to backup information, but it isn't particularly sensitive to the environment, considering the CDs will eventually get tossed. And there is the process of burning CDs which is slow, tedious work. Having a hard drive to copy to makes a load of sense. Once a week.
It might even make sense to eventually get a seperate internal hard drive to keep my images on.
I spent part of the afternoon backing up images. Folder after folder burned to cd. An hour or so of my time was taken in the process.
I've been lucky so far with the computer. Although it may behave oddly by times I have never lost data to it. An article I read today in Photolife magazine (a fine Canadian publication) mentions two types of computer owners, those who have lost data and those who eventually will lose data. I would prefer to have something to recover.
Software for organizing my images would be handy. This comes to mind as I filter through folders to see what to burn with what. I can't keep track of all my images. Windows explorer has little to offer in the way of helping me organize my images. There must be something available for cataloguing, archiving and backing up my images. There must be an easier way to manage my files. It would be nice to know next time I do a backup what files haven't been touched since the last backup. Why back up everything, everytime?
In OS X for macintosh computers folders can be colour coded. I used to colour code my copy at school. Red labels were works in progress, badly needing work; green labels were works ready for submission; if the label had no colour, the folder contents usually weren't of pressing need. I wish I could do the same with windows, even if only to keep track of age and relevance.
We have an extra hard drive to use. I keep mentioning starting over with the computer. Reformat the hard drive, or switch to the 80 gig drive, or use both, reload windows with the update, reload our software and reload our data. The idea in the end would be to have a system set up that works and an extra external hard drive to do our backing up on. As it stands now, we can't get the computer to recognize that the external hard drive is hooked up. I have the same problem with my camera, the computer doesn't see it. Starting from scratch, though a drastic measure, seems the appropriate step to take.
Burning CDs is an economical way to backup information, but it isn't particularly sensitive to the environment, considering the CDs will eventually get tossed. And there is the process of burning CDs which is slow, tedious work. Having a hard drive to copy to makes a load of sense. Once a week.
It might even make sense to eventually get a seperate internal hard drive to keep my images on.
Saturday, May 07, 2005
Ouch
It's been too long. The title and the sentiment have likely appeared sometime in the past in my writings here or at little bits of me. Perhaps in a written journal, somewhere there are words to this effect.
I feel reluctance to write. I don't want to write. I want to write.
It is the effort required to do the latter, well, that gives rise to the former. The idea in the middle is a rationalization meant to buttress my reluctance to take action. I do want to write, practice makes perfect, but I am lazy.
Making a marble mosaic mesh. I spent part of the afternoon and all of this evening slicing 30 centimetre by 30 centimetre Bianco Carrara marble tiles into three-cm-wide strips. Ash-white stone cut with smudged charcoal viens, the marble yielded nicely, for the most part, to the spinning of the blade.
It took about 10 tiles to get my rhythm going, to get a feel for the saw's vibrations and sounds. The whining of the cutting-wheel deepens as the blade slows from being pulled too quickly through the marble. Some pieces cut like butter and others bite back at the stone, threatening to yank it from my hands. The trick is to recognize the sound it makes just before it jams up in mid-cut.
The repetitive motion is tiring and my left hand was sore by the time I had reduced 5 square metres into strips. There are another 2.5 sq. m to be cut, but they will have to wait for another day.
The 30 cm strips will then be cut down to six cm bricks and meshed together with a black marble in a basketweave mosaic. The meshing process brings the tediousness of the task to a whole new level, but in the end, somewhere in the city, someone will have a remarkable bathroom floor.
I feel reluctance to write. I don't want to write. I want to write.
It is the effort required to do the latter, well, that gives rise to the former. The idea in the middle is a rationalization meant to buttress my reluctance to take action. I do want to write, practice makes perfect, but I am lazy.
Making a marble mosaic mesh. I spent part of the afternoon and all of this evening slicing 30 centimetre by 30 centimetre Bianco Carrara marble tiles into three-cm-wide strips. Ash-white stone cut with smudged charcoal viens, the marble yielded nicely, for the most part, to the spinning of the blade.
It took about 10 tiles to get my rhythm going, to get a feel for the saw's vibrations and sounds. The whining of the cutting-wheel deepens as the blade slows from being pulled too quickly through the marble. Some pieces cut like butter and others bite back at the stone, threatening to yank it from my hands. The trick is to recognize the sound it makes just before it jams up in mid-cut.
The repetitive motion is tiring and my left hand was sore by the time I had reduced 5 square metres into strips. There are another 2.5 sq. m to be cut, but they will have to wait for another day.
The 30 cm strips will then be cut down to six cm bricks and meshed together with a black marble in a basketweave mosaic. The meshing process brings the tediousness of the task to a whole new level, but in the end, somewhere in the city, someone will have a remarkable bathroom floor.
Thursday, May 05, 2005
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