May 09, 2008
For your edification
London in colour (hat tip to Agent Bedhead).
Also: Eye of Sauron spotted.
Beastie Boys: No Sleep Till Brooklyn
Still conferencing today. Will anthropology continue to surprise me? Will I ever get ten minutes to myself? Is a monastic life of Trappist silence still a viable alternative? Now is the time at the Flea when we dance.
Parva sub ingenti
New excavation forces archaeologists to ask: Is Stonehenge Roman? Good question. I fail to see why the Romans should be the exception.
May 08, 2008
The Middle East Imperative
Enforce the law. A country that will not defend itself deserves what it gets. If it means war, let it be now. Excellent use of bold and block caps. This is all red meat. As head of the American defense and response complex at Colorado Springs, Brigadier General Jimmy L. Cash, USAF (Retired), was "at one time the man with his finger on the nuclear trigger". Here, he explains the importance of completing the mission in Iraq.
Let me try and put this conflict in proper perspective.
Understand, the current battle we are engaged in is much bigger than just Iraq. What happens in the next year will affect this country and how our kids and grandkids live throughout their lifetime, and beyond.
Radical Islam has been attacking the West since the seventh century.
Such is the world we have made, the blindingly obvious reads like a revelation. Now I am off to an anthropology conference. The last time I attended such a beast I found it to be one apology for the forces of reaction after another; this was not how I remembered anthropology as an undergraduate. But then the discipline has changed, the world has changed and so have I.
Update: Ok, a slight caveat. There is some very interesting, non-civilization denying work going on in Canadian anthropology. And if that is possible then I have to concede anything is possible.
The Souls of Cylons
Ron Moore is interviewed on the theology of Battlestar Galactica. Flea-readers may be relieved to learn Moore does not think of the Cylons as "stalking horses for fundamentalist Christianity." Better yet, a Hollywood producer manages to acknowledge the existence of al Qaeda.
ReGandalf
Sir Ian McKellen confirms Gandalf's return in 'The Hobbit'.
The Birthday Massacre: Video Kid
Now is the time at the Flea when we dance.
May 07, 2008
Shiny
Westminster Abbey's 13th century gemstone Cosmati pavement is undergoing restoration. It must be profoundly satisfying work, one of the few occupations I can think of where I could be quite convinced I was not wasting the time granted to me.
Another unseen history: Scapa Flow in three dimensions (via the Armored Facilities Manager).
Also shiny: A Steampunk All-in-One PC (via the Raging Kraut).
Ghost of a flea: Literacy
Now is the time at the Flea when we dance.
How to get goth hair
Raven Tombstone and Speedball Sophie - the latter possessing a striking resemblance to an ex of the Flea - explain how to achieve this look (nsfw language, humour in poor taste). Watch this for timely and accurate pointers on accruing Ankh Points.
Related: How to lose Youtube subscribers. Warning: cloves. So, is everyone agreed a woman with a mighty burp is good to be/find?
May 06, 2008
View Along Pike Street from the Corner of Second Avenue, ca 1909
"1909," he said. "I've lived here all my life. Was born in a house on Denny. I'm going to be 100 years old next month. 100 years."
A legitimate look
I had a belated look at the surprisingly good Project Runway Canada.* I add the sneering "surprisingly" by way of confession and apology, there was much to think about that equaled the first season of the original and was in some ways more coherent than the British Project Catwalk. Toronto being the big fish in a far smaller pond than south of the border, the show's cast of characters lack the immediate name recognition of a Michael Kors** - the reason I first tuned in to Project Runway Season 1. Our Canadianity was more than made up for, however, by series host and icon Iman, our reply to Heidi Klum.
Full force fanboy warning for this Flea-edit of a gothic runway manifestation; Iman tells them what for in the ultimate goth-or-not-goth. "Goth," she explains, "is a legitimate look." And quite right too.
A question of academic interest to many Flea-readers, perhaps. But consider this: Iman's nebulous foreign accent calls to mind my favourite hards as nails Minbari ambassador. Triumphant and terrifying.
* The official website of Project Runway Canada for Flea-readers untroubled by series spoilers. If I had had advance warning of a Project Runway Canada, I would have imagined a Canada Council (i.e. taxpayer) funded identity-fest in which participation - as opposed to competition - was awarded on the basis of encouraging under-represented voices in Canadian fashion while the structure of the show would serve to deconstruct hegemonic femininities. Standing instead on the same ground of ruthless dedication to beauty as its Manhattan counterpart, the Toronto edition runs counter to Canada's establishment ethos. A welcome and desperately needed tonic, in other words.
** Speaking of whom, Project Runway's impending move to Lifetime means Season 6 is to feature Tim Gunn and Heidi Klum but not necessarily Michael Kors - who should hold out for more money - or recently ex of Elle editor Nina Garcia.
Schiller mit Isgaard: Ein schöner Tag
Now is the time at the Flea when we dance.
Hard, harder, hardest
All of the above links nsfw/nsfchrc. That last one via Will.
May 05, 2008
A serious loss
Recently declassified documents show a now quaint concern for tea shortages in the event of nuclear attack.
"The tea position would be very serious with a loss of 75 percent of stocks and substantial delays in imports and with no system of rationing it would be wrong to consider that even one ounce (28 grams) per head per week could be ensured," it said. "No satisfactory solution has yet been found."
Not to worry, the documents have become entirely redundant in an England that is no longer England. Let us fear instead for the human rights of Barbary pirates and celebrate an anticipated disruption in the distribution of tobacco, American television and all that is haram and khamr.
CSOR
xJTF2x posts a video showing Canadian Special Operations Regiment (CSOR) training set to "Fever Dream" by Tyler Bates. Awesome. This was posted about a year ago, I gather there had been discussion of renaming Joint Task Force Two (JTF 2) the 1st Special Service Regiment and CSOR the 2nd Special Service Regiment. YouTube comment hilarity ensues.
i dont think they are renaming anything,
just new units, JTF2, Canadian Special Operations Regiment and Marine Commando Unit
NuclearCrisis
The offer idea was on the table to rename JTF2, its not exactly a new unit either.
hoezay
Wrong. I think he was reffering to that and i would say JTF2 is a pretty new unit. 1993 is not far given the circumstances. Then again i guess you would have have to be 16 to figure that it is far off. No offense.
NuclearCrisis
14 years is'nt exactly new no.
hoezay
I would consider it to be. How old are you?
NuclearCrisis
16 years
hoezay
Then i win.
Duft Punk: A New Video
Remember: It is about the art. Now is the time at the Flea when we dance (arguably nsfw).*
* Definitely nsfw: The prurient, linked for non-art purposes drunk college girls version.
Stubborn things
The average global increases in so called "greenhouse gas" emissions 1997 - 2004 has been 18%. The average decrease in greenhouse emissions amongst signatories to Kyoto is... let's see here... you are saying it is a 21% increase? But that is impossible. They signed an agreement.
Not like that stupid George Bush. If only there was a world leader when it comes to greenhouse gas emissions; a role-model who could show the way.
May 04, 2008
We must now somehow survive
Curious for an explanation of the terms Weatherman and Weather Underground - it is a Bob Dylan reference, apparently - I came across The Weather Underground (2002). If you can spare the time on a rainy Sunday afternoon, it is an education. Anyone who thinks Obama is easier to beat than Clinton should think twice. You may be right but, take it from a concerned neighbour, the rest of the world cannot afford to take the chance he wins. Google Video hosts The Weather Underground for your consideration.
I think I may have figured out what the Obamas mean by a "community organizer". Check out the segment starting at 17:23 of the documentary. By 1969, Weathermen had decided working class youth outside the colleges would be "more revolutionary" than college students. This is, of course, obviously wrong - working class youth are too busy working to be parlour room revolutionaries - but such was their thinking. So off went Bill Ayers to organize the youth of Detroit. But there is more! At minute 25 we are treated to a walking tour of the Gold Coast riot by a baseball bat toting Ayers. It takes a special kind of posturing, fascist moron to think this makes him look - what - tough? One is struck by the unifying ideas advanced by pantomime Marxists screaming in rage against wealthy, white privilege: crippling self-importance and crippling self-hatred. Only the crippling self-esteem ideology of the 1980s was lacking to create the world of post-civilization we must now somehow survive.
In minute 37 a brief aside is made to Charles Manson and the Manson Family. Neither the film makers, nor the grotesque, tenured revolutionaries this excrescence of a documentary celebrates, seem to understand there is no difference in substance, and precious little difference in overt ideology, between the Weathermen and the Manson Family. Both groups present an unedifying spectacle of self-indulgent revolutionary morons fixated on race. Two minutes later the film features the voice over of a former Weatherman talking about having being possessed by hate, possessed of a conviction there were no innocent Americans - "no white ones", anyway. Over and over again we hear the Weatherman ideological talking point of "bringing the war home". To roost, perhaps.
This is wellspring of Obama's ideology. The very best we can hope for is his associations have been ones of venal expedience. Otherwise, he believes this evil nonsense.
May 03, 2008
Improvement in Rusafa
Writing for The Long War Journal, Bill Ardolino reports on the Sons of Iraq, a Shia Awakening and Iraqis who have begun to "despise" the Mahdi Army in Baghdad's Rusafa district.
“Right now because of the fighting Sadr City, people have started to despise [the Mahdi Army] because of the situation they created,” said “Rammie,” an Army interpreter raised and living in Rusafa. “People have started to know the truth of [the Mahdi Army] as kidnappers, killers, car-jackers and agents of the Iranian government. But the recent fighting against the [Iraqi security forces] means they are also against the government. They are not trying to just fight the invasion forces as they claim, but they fight whoever interferes with their mafia activity.”
Read the whole thing. And take special note of Ardolino's photographs of nighttime Rusafa. Just... epic.
And then there were ten
Good news for ChiCom war planners as their landing craft production milestones now have a firm delivery window. As news goes for Taiwan real estate; not so much.
May 02, 2008
Pussycat laughs at the warnings
London appears to have a new mayor. Ace comments.
How much of a f*cking *sshole do you have to be to deliver Londonistan to the fucking Tories?
Update: London's verdict on Boris; loser-cruiser edition. Ken Livingstone gives me the creeps too. Because of the fascism.
Use it or lose it
The world also needs more lerts.
I have a mortgage, too, and other debts. I was probably fired from my last job for blogging, and going on TV, questioning multi-culti orthodoxy. I doubt it helped that when company time and resources were devoted to a widely hyped, one-sided propaganda display about "global warming," I wondered aloud whether or not I could get Rogers' support for a slide show about Bigfoot.
I. Don't. Care.
Damn right.
You see much, Eomer son of Eomund. Too much.
Mark Steyn comments on the latest demands of the Canadian Islamic Congress conference.
As I always say, I can't speak for Maclean's, but, were I the publisher, I'd say: Go ahead, make my day. You'll order us to print the turgid drivel ordered up by Mr Joseph, and we'll say no. What then? You get the RCMP to kick Maclean's doors down. At that point, even the Dominion's somnolent media might wake up to the kind of Canada Elmo and his enablers are constructing. I wonder if Jack Layton, apparently auditioning for chief eunuch of the new caliphate, even read the dossier of Maclean's systemic Islamophobia before giving Elmo the tongue bath.
Agreed. Though it is also possible Jack Layton agrees with a Canada where freedom is limited to whatever these "human rights" tribunals allow. Layton's sniveling, shameful endorsement of clerical fascism is most probably also strategic. There is a long list of interests still under the impression they can ride this tiger: They are wrong. There is a widespread and totally unacknowledged racism on "the left" preventing them from seeing the danger for what it is, from taking seriously the notion the men in the quaint hats mean exactly they say and will enforce their evil law at their first opportunity. They are going to get us all killed.
Related: Olivia Chow complains women are still subject to imprisonment and rape in Afghanistan. Her solution: "mediation". Better this, she suggests, than to continue our "losing war" and putting Canadians "in harm's way". This despite the utter failure of her approach in Iran, in Darfur, in Tibet, in East Timor and on and on and on from the 1930s until today; the utter failure of her supposed concern to save a single woman from eternal submission and degradation.
Tell you what, Olivia, nothing is stopping you from mediating with the Taliban. If you are right, you will save Afghan women from bondage and free Canada's troops from a task for which the Canadian "left" will never thank them. Of course, if I am right, you will be taken hostage and beheaded unless Canadian forces and our allies can save you from the consequences of your own catastrophic stupidity. Not to worry. You have no intention of putting your words to the test.
Update: To highlight a comment to Yoni Goldstein writing for the National Post.
Let. Them. Rest. In. Peace.
Agent Bedhead on the continuing persecution of Theresa Duncan and Jeremy Blake.
Theresa, bless, was a bit loony; she was an artist, a Truther and lived in Venice Beach and Manhattan, Obama's base in other words. I do not know enough to have an informed opinion about her suspicions of the cult after the Beck album cover/acting imbroglio; let alone a Tom Cruise connection, if any, to events. But even a paranoid person has every reason to question the motives of Scientology. There is no reason - ever - to grant the cult any benefit of the doubt.
As for the rest, including and especially NBC, Gina Gionfriddo and Richard Sweren, the motive is obvious: Greed. At least some Scientologists honestly believe they are saving the world. I cannot say the same for Law and Order.
Thomas Dolby: She Blinded Me With Science
Obvious Tiffany Shepperd tie in. Now is the time at the Flea when we dance.
Related: Fox News reportage on Bikinigate.
Touchable
Red China builds Bond villain nuclear submarine superbase; caricatures self.
Related: We Blast Truk, Jap Fortress, 1944/03/30.
May 01, 2008
So not cool
I thought I could not get any angrier this week. Turns out I was wrong. Law and Order has violated the memory of Theresa Duncan and slandered Jeremy Blake as a murderer.
But there was a twist - the writer character was murdered instead of committing suicide and the cult harassing her had a leader that isn't publishing books from the gave. Crazy. Plus on TV - the cult was totally innocent - it was the insane paranoia and hatred AT the cult that lead the husband to murder his wife and throw himself off a building to try and give the cult bad publicity. And it was that same paranoia and hatred that made him confess instead of accepting an impending mistrial.
I imagine NBC has good lawyers. That will not be enough for them in Hell. Time to write a second letter today. And forward it to every NBC sponsor I can find starting with Nissan.
Operation Clambake has details.
LAW & ORDER
BOGEYMAN
04-30-2008 10:00PM
THE DEATH OF A NOVELIST LEADS THE DETECTIVES TO SUSPECT SOME INVOLVEMNT FROM A CONTROVERSIAL CULT BUT PROSECUTING THIS CASE PROVES TO BE A CHALLENGE
A novelist is found dead in her car, which appears to be a suicide at first inspection, but Detectives Cyrus Lupo (Jeremy Sisto) and Kevin Bernard (Anthony Anderson) have reason to believe a cult known as “Systemotics” is involved. The victim’s husband, Bradley Cameron (guest star Daniel London) explains to the detectives that he and his wife were paranoid that members of the cult had been trailing them recently. However, Bradley comes under suspicion as the detectives begin to chip away at his alibi. When the case goes to trial, ADA Michael Cutter (Linus Roache) has trouble prosecuting his case when several members of the jury fear for their own safety. Sam Waterston, Epatha Merkerson, and Alana De La Garza also star.
Show Cast: S. Epatha Merkerson, Jesse L. Martin, Sam Waterston, Alana De La Garza, Jeremy Sisto, Linus Roache
Heads up to Anonymous. The story lets "Systemotics" off the hook. Or rather, the story - written by Gina Gionfriddo, writer and Law and Order Producer and Richard Sweren, writer and Law and Order co-Executive Producer - lets "Systemotics" off the hook and blames the victims.
An open letter to Olivia Chow regarding the Ontario Human Rights Commission against Maclean’s Magazine
Olivia Chow, MP Trinity-Spadina
chowo@parl.gc.ca
Dear Ms. Chow,
I am a resident of the Annex area of Toronto and am a constituent of Trinity-Spadina, the federal riding you represent in Parliament. I decided to vote for you in the last election in part because you had so ably represented my neighbourhood in Toronto city council and in part because I could not support any alternative candidate.
I am writing with regard to a letter written by NDP party leader, the Rt Hon Jack Layton addressed to Muneeza Sheikh regarding a complaint to the Ontario Human Rights Commission against Maclean's Magazine, one of a number of related spurious, abusive complaints currently before a number of Canada's human rights commissions.
The full text of letter may be found here:
http://dustmybroom.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3623&Itemid=1
I find Mr. Layton's characterization of Maclean's Magazine as a purveyor of intolerance and hate speech to be utterly without merit. I hope Maclean's is successful in mounting its legal defense and that one day Mr. Layton will come to understand how deeply offensive many Canadians find his support for principles diametrically opposed to freedom of religion and expression. These especially include his de facto support for the views of Mohamed Elmasry, the man whose name appears on all three complaints against Maclean's Magazine and who is on record in support of the murder of Israelis.
I cannot fully express how deeply I regret having voted for you - and by extension your party - in the last federal election. It is a mistake I will never make again. Please remove me from your constituency mailing list. I will be working to support the candidate best placed to unseat you in the next federal election.
Nicholas Packwood
cc Jack Layton, MP Toronto-Danforth
Layton.J@parl.gc.ca
What You Should Know About Biological Warfare (1952)
"Biological warfare? What do they expect me to do about it. It's not my headache."
You're wrong! You better found out the facts about biological warfare.
Verdict: More relevant than ever.
Bleiburg feat. Gin Devo: Control Your Fear
Now is the time at the Flea when we dance.
Français par le sang versé
Discovery documentary, Warriors of the French Foreign Legion is available on-line thanks to Google. The piece is repetitive and has little to say about the early days of the Legion but is, nonetheless, inherently fascinating due to the subject matter. Part Sardaukar, part extended psychotherapy, there is an undeniable attraction to the idea of dropping everything - including your name - and taking up a life of asskickery.
Day & Night
The Day&Night watch by Romain Jerome does everything except tell the time. And by "everything" I mean it tells you whether it is day or night.
With no display for the hours, minutes or seconds the Day&Night offers a new way of measuring time, splitting the universe of time into two fundamentally opposing sections: day versus night. ... An avant-garde approach, that is different and even disturbing.
Yours for only $300k. Or rather, it would be only $300k but they are sold out, a fact I find considerably more disturbing than the watch itself (via Luxist).
April 30, 2008
California
My most recent traffic stats - I had been ignoring them for a year or so - indicate the Flea receives twenty times more traffic from the United States than it does from Canada, the UK and Australia combined. So, thanks to my American cousins.
On a related note: It is time for me to move to Los Angeles. Suggestions, guidance and advice would be most welcome. I do not have a green card so am after teaching, research, communications, writing or administrative work in a position which would allow me to apply for the appropriate visa. Or better yet, anything in sound design... The notion is to make a living while placing myself closer to the film industry; I have soundtrack music to sell.
Also, I have decided life should include palm trees.
Related: Theresa Duncan.
My cologne is called Santa Ana after the powerful winds that bring desert heat and faraway smell into the city.
It smells like: Celluloid and sand, coyote fur and car exhaust, contrail cloud and chlorine, bitter orange and stage blood and one bushel of ghostly, shivery night-blooming jasmine flowers like blown kisses from the phantoms of the ten thousand screen beauties who still haunt our hills every full moon because they think it's a stage light.
Also, BLDGBLOG.
The city, ironically, is emotionally authentic.
It says: no one loves you; you're the least important person in the room; get over it.
What matters is what you do there.
And, of course.
Here I stand, I can do no other
Kathy Shaidle attends a press conference, wins an evil eye staring contest ("Heh. Made 'er blink.") and cites Martin Luther. That has be, what, three signs of the Apocalypse? Money quote:
Snark warning: May be illegal to think, write, read or link this material in Canada ("the ancient Ojibwa word for 'kick me' "). Shaidle concludes her thoughts with an observation on living in this Magical Land of Upside Down. Agreed.
Update: WebElf comments on the "Russian Roulette @ The Royal York" at Free Mark Steyn:
As if we were pretending to be in a lefty commitee, but were really in the midst of Schindler’s List, except the precious things we were being asked to beg and negotiate over weren’t human beings, but freedoms, democracy, and the reputation of Mark Steyn and Ken Whyte, amongst other things. A semi-polite hostage crisis, if you will.
Lefty committee meets Stalinist show trial is exactly right; and we are sliding ever more quickly into Schindler's List territory. This pantomime of justice reminds me of every "dispute resolution" process I was ever witness to in over fifteen years in academia. Your guilt is predetermined by your relationship to tawdry, evil apartheid politics of identity and - if you are resourceful, well connected and have your own hand in identity poker - how much it would cost a department to be rid of you. I am not surprised by anything Canada's "human rights" commissions have done, only that the rot has crept out of the university system and into the "real world".
This high handed nonsense works on easily cowed academics, already keeping their heads low for fear of their grades, their tenure applications or a sit in by the campus Black Shirts. But these tactics will not work on free men and women, unashamed of themselves, proud of their history and willing to fight tooth and claw for the rights granted to them by God and the strong arm of their ancestors.
Lifeboat ethics, Part II
A second lifeboat will serve us better.
HMS Endurance, Sir Ernest Shackleton and his Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition left Plymouth en route to the Antarctic via Buenos Aires and South Georgia on 8 August, 1914. All proceeded according to plan until the ship was caught in the ice of the Weddell Sea, 17 January, 1915. By February 24, Shackleton and his expedition realized they would be settling in for the winter.
Come spring the shifting ice shattered Endurance' hull and come October 27 the order to abandon ship. Shackleton's expedition camped on the ice for two months, hoping it would drift toward land. By 17 March, 1916 the ice had drifted to within sixty miles of Paulet Island but refuge remained cut off by treacherous ice. On April 9 even the precarious shelter of their ice floe was shattered as it broke in two. Shackleton and his men entered their lifeboats and made a sea crossing of seven days to Elephant Island, 580 miles south of the Falkland Islands and 550 miles southeast of Cape Horn. A very long way from shipping routes, a long way from anywhere; the closest navigable outpost of civilization a whaling station on South Georgia across 800 miles of open ocean.
Which brings us to our second lifeboat, the James Caird.
The waters that Shackleton had to cross in his boat of 6.85 metres (22.5 ft) are among the most treacherous in the world. Weather reports confirm that gale-force winds of 60 kilometres per hour (37 mph) to 70 kilometres per hour (43 mph) are present in the Drake Passage between South America and Antarctica on an average of 200 days per year; they cause ocean swells of 6 metres (20 ft), and Frank Worsley later commented on the poor weather conditions which complicated the task. Celestial navigation readings were only possible at four times during the 800-mile (1,300 km) journey. He also noted that waves of 16 metres (52 ft) were not uncommon. Of one hair-raising moment of the journey, Shackleton wrote:
"At midnight I was at the tiller and suddenly noticed a line of clear sky between the south and south-west. I called to the other men that the sky was clearing, and then a moment later I realised that what I had seen was not a rift in the clouds but the white crest of an enormous wave. During twenty-six years' experience of the ocean in all its moods I had not encountered a wave so gigantic. It was a mighty upheaval of the ocean, a thing quite apart from the big white-capped seas that had been our tireless enemies for many days. I shouted, "For God's sake, hold on! It's got us!" Then came a moment of suspense that seemed drawn out into hours. White surged the foam of the breaking sea around us. We felt our boat lifted and flung forward like a cork in breaking surf. We were in a seething chaos of tortured water; but somehow the boat lived through it, half-full of water, sagging to the dead weight and shuddering under the blow. We baled with the energy of men fighting for life, flinging the water over the sides with every receptacle that came to our hands, and after ten minutes of uncertainty we felt the boat renew her life beneath us."
Shackleton and the crew of the James Caird left Elephant Island, 24 April, 1916, sighting South Georgia two weeks later on May 8, finally hazarding a landing on May 10. Shackleton then lead two men on a thirty-six hour hike across the spine of the island - no man had ever made it further inland than half a mile - to reach the whaling station, and a tiny outpost of civilization, at Stromness. It would take three attempts, and the intercession of the Chilean government, before Shackleton rescued his men - all of his men - from Elephant Island on August 30, more than two years out from Plymouth, England, home and beauty. It is almost impossible to imagine the fortitude of these men, their skill, or the sheer bravura of the time they made. This was not only a staggering feat of strength and endurance, it was a testament to their age.
There is still great bravery in the world, still much to aspire to. But I cannot see anything of that post-Edwardian daring in our world, fashioned as it was in the trenches of the War To End All Wars. I have a great fear for what lies ahead of us. If the conflagration comes and our remaining strength should fail then many, many of us will be killed. The ones who survive will only do so through having chosen submission. Our books will be burned, our freedoms thrown with them on to the pyre. Our priceless, irreplaceable treasures of history, philosophy and art plundered and destroyed; at first through wanton violence and soon thereafter by neglect. Any truth remaining then claimed as a prize of war, as the "science" of the conquerors when it will be no more than barbarous, and sterile, translation.
If the worst comes, the one and only advantage we shall have lies in the inability of an illiterate foe to manage his pogrom beyond the first generation. Beyond that his society can only revert to its only established polity: peasantry, ignorance and the casual brutality of all against all for dominion. Think of the wreck of Afghanistan and Lebanon. This is a machine for making deserts, utterly lacking even the post-apocalyptic grandeur of Mad Max. We have to start thinking about the near future as it if was dystopian science fiction. We need to start thinking about what we can save; what we may keep hidden, keep safe.
In such a world any organized resistance will be sought out and destroyed. We must face the fact there will be collaborators and that, in time, our children and grandchildren may be indoctrinated against us. Some alive and known to us now will surprise us with their treachery but in all too many cases the traitors will be no surprise at all. Many of us will have chosen not to be alive to see that day. If some spark of civilization is to endure, we must imagine a leaderless resistance, a rhizomatic resistance; something closer to Anonymous than the Maquis of wartime France, there will be no friendly power across the Channel, no airdrops of arms, no broadcasts from Bush House.
In comments to Lifeboat ethics, Part I, Andrea Harris pointed out a flaw in environmentalist talk of the Earth as a lifeboat:
She is right, of course. Our world is a lifeboat only in so far as we have hope for a savior, quite literally an alien concept to the secularists who proposed the metaphor. But I believe we must think of ourselves aboard a lifeboat, nonetheless, and think of ourselves attempting a dangerous passage in hope of rescue. The safe harbour I suggest lies somewhere in the future, in a time of a second Renaissance, a second Enlightenment. I do not know the way there but can only propose we set course by dead reckoning, guided by a star of conscience where no light may be seen through arafel, "the cloud darkness at the end of the universe".
We must think of ourselves as a second - and secret - James Caird Society, each captain our own life boat and set out into the open ocean. There is a great uncertainty that lies before us, and all that stands between us and the storm our wits and a mustard seed.
The James Caird has found a permanent harbour at Dulwich College.
Orbital: The Box
Now is the time at the Flea when we dance.
sparth : construct
One the most important resources in learning to use my Wacom Intuos tablet lies in studying the work of accomplished artists. Take Sparth, for example. Just stunning. Breathtaking. For example, the best representation of the God Emperor I have seen.
Though I should confess this work is so good it leaves me jealous and angry. It is that miraculous translucence I have yet to figure out how to replicate...
Related: Concept artist Daniel Dociu.
Your MySpace page
I started to log in to MySpace this morning and was greeted half way through the process with a new "search your webmail contacts list for matching MySpace friends" feature. My main MySpace presence is linked in the sidebar here so no problems as this feature applies to me. But I think the new feature, while fun and interesting, is also a totally unreasonable violation of an expectation of privacy; if not, presumably, of the MySpace terms of use. I am now imagining there are a lot of people out there about to wake up in to a new world this morning, people who set up a MySpace page under an assumed name - for whatever reason - with the thought their webmail address would never connect them to it publicly. They are about to discover otherwise.
This includes at least one blogosphere celebrity; people can work that one out for themselves. Also fascinating were MySpace pages by two ex-girlfriends of the Flea. On the plus side I found a MySpace page I set up several years ago, never used, subsequently forgot and as of this morning deleted; about a dozen people on my Gmail contacts appear to have done the same, minus the "deleted" step.
April 29, 2008
Falling Down
"Watch the pretty lady sing the scary song, over and over again"
The Scarlett Johansson video, for some reason featuring Salman Rushdie. Remember when "the left" used to defend freedom of speech against death threats, fascism and Dark Ages theocratic misogyny? Now we have banned hate speech we do not need to worry about that sort of thing anymore, of course.*
But still, good times. Good times (hat tip to Agent Bedhead).
* When you outlaw hate speech only outlaws will have speech. Something like that.
Update: WWTDD comments:
Lifeboat ethics, Part I
Ecologist Garrett Hardin suggested a metaphor of "lifeboats ethics" in the mid-1970s, one of many fathers for today's neo-Nazi "environmentalism". Somebody must starve - must never be born - for the good of Gaia. And somehow that somebody is never an undergraduate student at a top drawer university, never an ecologist. Somehow it is always brown people, people living in far away countries about whom we know little who are meant to sacrifice. Closer to home, somehow it is always the poor who are expected to do without for the common good.
There is only so much jet fuel, and only so many carbon credits, to go around.
I have two more specific lifeboats in mind. Case studies drawn from brutal human experience rather than science fiction of ecological speculation. The first lifeboat scenario is the long boat of the William Brown, a ship lost to the ice of the north Atlantic in 1841. This is depressing, dispiriting stuff.
And this they did. His orders being to throw passengers into the Atlantic so as to prevent the vessel from being swamped; fourteen men in all and none of them from the ship's crew. Holmes, the sailor charged with physically throwing passengers to their deaths, had an enterprising attorney. He claimed his client had acted in "self defense". I am not certain whether to laugh or cry that even in a clear-headed Victorian morality could not see reason: Holmes served all of fifteen months in prison and a twenty dollar fine for manslaughter. It is one thing to understand in the abstract that people are despicable, quite another to be presented with the evidence.
Tomorrow: Another life boat.
See also: The wreck of the Medusa.
Related: These days a lifeboat joke is arguably grounds for a human rights complaint. It comes down to whether pigs use two-sided fax machine paper.
Anna Netrebko: Dvorak - Song To The Moon
Now is the time at the Flea when we dance.
Ministry of Nice
Xinhua has news of the Olympic torch making its way without incident to Pyongyang, capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. The "storm of claps" is the best touch.
The torch relay in Pyongyang, the 18th leg of its global tour, completed at around 15:00 local time as the last torch bearer kindled the cauldron in Kim Il Sung Stadium. Chong Song Ok, entitled "Marathon Queen" by the DPR Korean media, ran up to the cauldron standing before the Kim Il Sung Stadium from the Arch of Triumph. When she kindled the Olympic cauldron with the flame, the spectators burst out a storm of claps.
Well isn't that special. Nothing here that might bring Koreans into "hatred" or "contempt" either by overt statement or by omission, nothing here that even a Canadian "human rights" commission could find objectionable. The people of Canada may turn to their Olympic coverage - and the advertising of its Canadian sponsors - secure in the knowledge wise heads in Ottawa are protecting them from hearing, seeing or saying anything nasty about anyone.
Unless it is Israel, the United States or Mark Steyn, obviously.
April 28, 2008
After 9/11 they said irony was dead...
... and they were right!
"Freedom is the right to tell people what they do not want to hear."
- George Orwell
Update: A reminder of something Theodore Dalrymple observed.
Call it a cultural surrender
The blindingly obvious deserves to be repeated. At least until it is no longer legal to do so. Writing for City Journal, Bruce Bawer discusses creeping sharia.
Ten years ago it would have been unthinkable to imagine the re-introduction of blasphemy law in Canadian life, let alone blasphemy against a religion only a small minority of people in this country believe. Exemptions from equal conduct before the law, special access to public facilities and the media, and the imposition upon Canadian women of Dark Ages sumptuary laws. What next? Shall we resurrect slavery on the grounds it is sanctioned by the Koran? How long before the Toronto Star, the CBC or the Prime Minister's Office of Canada's "conservative" government find an excuse for a Canadian Barbary enclave?
Would that I were joking. We have seen time and again this past century how liberal polities can cede their freedoms to ludicrous, fascist nonsense practically overnight. Not only the obvious case of Germany and Hitler's Enabling Act - many of whose provisions may already find their direct analogy in Canadian law - but Spain, Lebanon, Iran, the descent into anarchy of Yugoslavia, and on and on.
The first victims of our surrender to sharia are, of course, Muslims; specifically those Muslims who came to the West to escape sharia. And especially those Muslims with the misfortune to have been born women; women who might reasonably have imagined feminists, progressives and human rights commissions would strenuously object to teenage girls strangled in the suburbs of Toronto for "shaming" their male relatives. Instead, the excuses. The transparent racism in abandoning these victims to their fate - throwing them on a pyre of our own self-loathing - should go without saying. But it too should be repeated for as long as it is still legal to do so.
First they came for the street kids
"Speaking the truth in times of universal deceit is a revolutionary act."
- George Orwell
Kevin Steel publishes a guest post by noted journalist, Bill Dunphy. Dunphy is writing in reply to Steel's post, "Stirring it up again", a salient reminder the Canadian government has a track record of using agent provocateurs to discredit marginal political movements, including - but by no means limited to - the white supremacist Heritage Front. Dunphy was an investigative reporter for The Toronto Sun when he exposed Grant Bristow, Heritage Front head of security, right hand man to HF leader Wolfgang Droege and paid agent of the Canadian security services (via Jay Currie).
Both articles offer an illuminating primer for some of today's sturm und drang about "human rights" commissions, maximum disruption and the old fashioned authoritarianism that underlies Canada's peace, order and good government. Two linked assertions stand out for me. First, Dunphy's contention that while "the media exaggarated the danger of HF and misdirected the public, the reality is that there was real danger inside that movement." Agreed. Second, much deserved kudos for Anti-Racist Action.*
He is exactly right, though I would point out ARA had access to excellent advice in the out-organizing department. That ragamuffin band of homeless street kids and anarchists was very dear to me. Me and mine having been assaulted by HF members, I am not convinced the media exaggerated the the danger of the Heritage Front.
I was living in Ottawa in May of 1993 when the fight was taken to the HF on Parliament Hill and elsewhere. My clearest memory of the time is not of George Burdi** and the rest. It is of the general public standing by as teenage girls were set upon by thugs. But then Ottawa was and remains a respectable town and if your hair was pink and blue the sentiment was you had it coming.
That is how it always starts. “First they came for the street kids, but I was not a street kid…”
* Which is not to excuse everything the ARA got up to or, presumably, still gets up to. I used to know a bit too much about everything they got up to and am now delighted to say I no longer do.
** I gather Burdi has reformed. Good for him. As you can see from the linked YouTube video, his former comrades in stupid are not pleased.
Memphis Belle
Memphis Belle: A Story of a Flying Fortress (1944). One of the most astonishing things I have seen on the intertubes. At 19:20 a speech beginning "The Hun is expecting us.": The narrator explains the context of the mission with a moral clarity that is absent in our time.
The dramatic 16 mm color film of actual battles was made by cinematographer First Lieutenant Harold J. Tannenbaum. The film was directed by Major William Wyler, narrated by Eugene Kern, and had scenes at its Bassingbourn base photographed by Hollywood cinematographer Captain William H. Clothier. It was made under the auspices of the First Motion Picture Unit, a branch of the United States Army Air Forces (to which future US President Ronald Reagan also belonged). The film actually depicted the next to last mission of the crew on May 15, 1943, and was made as a morale-building inspiration for the Home Front by showing the everyday courage of the men who manned these planes.
Wikipedia offers details of the documentary while the aircraft itself is currently undergoing restoration.
Emilie Simon: Desert
Now is the time at the Flea when we dance.
Reminder: Fleur de Saison.
The building of London Heathrow Airport
Crown Film Unit presents "London Airport" (1949), specifically the building of. It was in April of 1944 that history came to the fields of Heathrow. The past was obliterated, along with the empire of Japan.
April 27, 2008
Back to work
The Provincial Legislature is to meet today to enact back-to-work legislation regarding the TTC strike. An interesting note on our government and constitution on why the Legislature is only back in session as of 1:30 this afternoon...
Getting the Legislature back involved tricky protocol issues. Government House Leader Michael Bryant's office prepared an order in council to facilitate the session. After McGuinty and Education Minister Kathleen Wynne, the chair of cabinet, signed the one-page order, an official had to drive it to the Scarborough home of Lieutenant Governor David Onley for his signature.
Ironically, traffic gridlock slightly delayed the reconvening of the Legislature. By law, there must be 24 hours' notice to recall the House and gridlock from Queen's Park to Scarborough meant the earliest it could meet was 1:30 p.m. today.
Related: From an update to yesterday's National Post coverage of the TTC strike.
If the NDP doesn't OK the legislation, there will have to be debate on the bill, which could delay the return of the TTC.
For up to five days should the NDP have sided with the strike. I suppose that decision depended on whether Ontario's ersatz socialist party wanted to elect MPPs from Toronto ever again. Given that Howard Hampton still will not say whether he thought it was reasonable for the unions to break their word, strike with an hour's notice on a Friday night and strand over a million people downtown, I would say their chances are not looking good even if they should bring themselves to do the right thing this afternoon.
Unions are meant to help "working people", not establish a closed shop aristocracy of the proletariat. It is the working poor who are hurt by this strike, not the bosses at the TTC. A shift worker on minimum wage may easily spend more getting to and from a job s/he cannot afford to lose than s/he will make working their eight or twelve hours; a shift which could be the difference between buying groceries and not buying groceries. These are the people TTC drivers abandoned at midnight, so concerned at being "insulted" by the public last weekend. So much for solidarity.
Related: On the side of the angels.
More persuasive than precedent, however, was probably the compelling fact of where scarce NDP bread is buttered. The party holds only 10 seats. Four are in Toronto.
And the subway runs through all of them.
The same might be said for surprisingly moderate, reasonable Toronto Star coverage of the strike. Management must have decided not to incur the expense of replacing every blue newspaper box in the city.
Update: In case anyone still harbours sympathy for these TTC bastards.
Dan McBride, a 28-year-old salesman, said he's moving to Nanaimo, B.C., and he's a day late. He was at Eglinton and Yonge at midnight.
"They kicked everyone off the f***** train. It was really horrible and they were rude to everyone." He paid the fare than heard the announcement. "I said, 'buddy, can I get my $2.75 back?' He had a shit-eating grin and he said, all I can give you is a transfer." McBride took a $25 cab to The Beach to meet his sister. He was interviewed outside the Castro's Lounge.
Update: Correct.
...
Local 113 has blown its relationship with the most pro-labour Commission and Council they could hope to have across the bargaining table. From here on, who can trust their signature on a contract?
Excellent comments at the Steve Munro post. One from Subway Operator deserves particular attention. Also, from a bus operator.
Another operator points out that drivers will take 100% of the blame. At least one driver believes the vote was rigged. Something to keep in mind while considering the etiquette of your next bus trip.
Blood pressure warning on these comments from a former TTC maintenance worker. And I agree with this sentiment entirely.
Every time I get off the bus (assuming its not so busy that I’d hold up everyone) I make my way to the front and tell the driver to have a nice day. I defend them, I support them when talking with others, I look up to them; and what is the response? The response is that because I’m part of the dirty public, that I’m a bad person. That because some members of the public might choose to disrespect a driver, that ALL members are therefore the same. I question why I bother to be so supportive if this is how I get looked at.
Update: First, second and third readings of Bill 66 out of the way and the TTC is back to work. There is a lot here about how the drivers should be "treated with dignity" tomorrow morning, Premier Dalton McGuinty saying:
I cannot speak for the rest of Toronto. But I plan to treat TTC workers with exactly the same courtesy and goodwill they have shown to me.
April 26, 2008
Essential service
The TTC* went on strike at midnight last night leaving over one million Friday night revelers stranded downtown. The Flea, having been laid low by a hospital cold, was at home watching Harry Potter and so missed events. BlogTO has the best coverage and comments; some incidents of vandalism are reported.
Pithy:
Also:
"The reports from our members of increases in threats and abuse from passengers last weekend, after we gave our original 48-hours' notice, has left us no choice but to withdraw our services immediately. We have a legal responsibility to protect the safety of our members and so does the TTC."
If he thinks it was bad last weekend, just wait until they go back to work. They just made it 10 times worse for themselves.
My thoughts exactly. The unions have intentionally stranded without warning and thereby endangered a million people. Spare a thought too for what police officers had to contend with last night. I had been arguing the unions' corner up to and beyond the 4pm negotiation deadline of last Sunday and have this week congratulated two drivers and a maintenance worker on their settlement.
The unions have lost my good will. I now have only a few words to add. These are: "Essential service", "Fire them all" and "Private transit". Not to forget, "Fuck you, ATU 113".
Amalgamated Transit Union, Local 113
812 Wilson Avenue
Downsview, Ontario
M3K 1E5
Phone: (416) 398-5113
Out of Town: 1-800-245-9929
Fax: (416) 398-4978
Email: atu113@wemovetoronto.ca
At least it's not OC Transpo.
* Take The Car.
Update: I had wondered at reports of a spontaneous demonstration outside TTC HQ last night.
Timely: The T&C Transit Strike Survival Guide. My current option will have to factor in my competitive jerk tendencies. Fortunately, I have access to a shower, locked parking and an excellent bike that looks like a beater.
Update: The strike may well be legal, but is it moral? No, it is not.
WMD
Weapons of Medieval Destruction!
(via The Castle)
April 25, 2008
There and Back Again
Once he is done filming Hellboy 2, Guillermo del Toro is to direct The Hobbit (via Slublog). Excellent news.
