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Diary of a B+ Grade Polymath ([personal profile] tcpip) wrote2004-03-02 10:23 am

War crimes, Open Sauce, The Box Meme, Fabians and Adelaide beckons...

What he said...

"I couldn't justify on its own a military invasion of Iraq to change the regime."

"Its possession of chemical and biological weapons and its pursuit of a nuclear capability poses a real and unacceptable threat to the stability and security of our world,"

"The Australian Government knows that Iraq has chemical and biological weapons and that Iraq wants to develop nuclear weapons."

"We believe that so far from our action in Iraq increasing the terrorist threat it will, by stopping the spread of chemical and biological weapons, make it less likely that a devastating terrorist attack will be carried out against Australia."

"We did not distort that intelligence, I did not manipulate."

That's why we need a Royal Commission...

Eight articles in The Age today.



http://www.theage.com.au/text/articles/2004/03/01/1078117364883.html
PM's Iraq claims 'not supported'

http://www.theage.com.au/text/articles/2004/03/01/1078117364061.html
Hard to explain ONA changing advice

http://www.theage.com.au/text/articles/2004/03/01/1078117364090.html
Advice not 'sexed up', but ignored: Beazley

http://www.theage.com.au/text/articles/2004/03/01/1078117364064.html
Doubt cast on Howard's reasons for Iraq war

http://www.theage.com.au/text/articles/2004/03/01/1078117364084.html
Report backs Age revelations

http://www.theage.com.au/text/articles/2004/03/01/1078117364093.html
Tough questions remain unanswered

http://www.theage.com.au/text/articles/2004/03/01/1078117364087.html
Weaknesses to be found from the start to the end

http://www.theage.com.au/text/articles/2004/03/01/1078117361592.html
Why we now need a full inquiry



One of my favourite hobbies - and occassional profession - is cooking. I've had great fortune recently in my op-shop searches on this matter. Recent discoveries include that classic invention The Swift Whip (good enough to be on display at the Wellington Museum), a Moulinette and a 16 volume Time-Life Recipes of the World. Needless to say, I've been making full use of said items.

I am considering combining the current project that I have with the language translation programme with Peter and Cromwell with a cooking programme. A google-like interface, plug a few keywords (e.g., "French" "Chicken" "Onion" "Garlic") and it will return a stack of recipes for you.

I even have a name for the programme. "Open Sauce". ;-)

Whilst on-topic with the translation programme, although I have found plenty of academic papers on problems relating to the subject, do you think I can find any source code? Fourty years research on the topic and the best I can find is a failed English-Russian programme that translated "The spirit is willing, but the body is weak" to "The vodka is strong, but the meat is rotten".

Memeage...

From usekh, via lederhosen..


So, say you were meeting a new person--blind date, new friend, who knows. And you wanted them to have some idea of what kind of person you are, and who you are. But you can't actually tell them in so many words. Instead, you have to give them a box, with a dozen things in it for them to look at/read/listen to/taste/whatever. What would you put in the box? And a copy of your journal or a link to your LJ would be the same thing as just telling them directly, yourself, so that's not allowed.



1. Two birth certicates, same place, same date, different names. One without a surname.
2. A copy of Francios Truffaut's 400 Blows
3. A copy of Sandanista! by The Clash
4. A copy of Rolemaster Companion VI
5. A copy of Neon-Komputadador
6. A copy of my PhD, A Social Theory of the Internet
7. A copy of The Beacon, magazine of the Melbourne Unitarian Church.
8. A black beret.
7. A bicycle.
9. A passport.
10. A parrot (named 'Poly').
11. A spirit-level (it's also a metaphor).
12. Some shit and a stick to stir it with.


Slowlight reveals on why going to ANU may not be such a good thing.

Whilst searching for historical standards for measurement (for my thesis) I discovered this little link on collective nouns for animals.

Interesting event coming up: The Australian Fabian Society Autumn Lectures
'And the Truth Shall Set You Free: Public and Community Television and Radio and the Public Interest'.


Mondays 22 and 29 March and 5 April. 6pm for 6:30pm to 8:30pm, at the Assembly Hall, 156 Collins Street, Melbourne (Next to Georges). Speakers ABC Chairman Donald McDonald, ABC historian Ken Inglis, media studies teacher and 'Age' columnist Catharine Lumby, Film, Television and Radio School Director Malcolm Long; Swinburne Institute Research Fellow Jock Given; 3RRR station manager Kath Letch, ALP Communications and Community Relationships Shadow Minister Lindsay Tanner, MHR (ALP Shadow Minister for Communications), outspoken cultural affairs commentator Tony Moore and writer Guy Rundle. Chaired by Phillip Adams, June Factor and Terry Laidler. 'Early Bird' Advance Saver Booking Season Ticket $40, or $25 concession for Australian Fabian Society and Friends of the ABC members, community radio subscribers, students and Health Card holders. Door Price season tickets $45 or $30 concession, single entry admissions $15, or $10 concession.


Off to Adelaide next week, for a week. My ol chum Paula has a role in a play and I need the week to finish editing my thesis. Wow. It's like, almost done.

Now what do I do?

[identity profile] splodgenoodles.livejournal.com 2004-03-01 05:49 pm (UTC)(link)
Thankyou for the link to collective nouns.

They left out crows.

Apparently, it is a murder of crows.




BTW, my own take on this is that if Howard says okay to a further commission, it's only because he knows he can work it to his advantage somehow....

I guess it's a side issue, but I know that we sent over a huge proportion of our armed forces in order to be (I think) about 1% or less of the total force. I'm curious as to what proportion of our armed forces went to Iraq, when compared to the US and UK. Er, I probably should go and look it up. Pardon me.

Good luck with the last week of thesisising.

[identity profile] tcpip.livejournal.com 2004-03-01 07:39 pm (UTC)(link)
No, they had crows there...

Crows A murder, horde

I seem to recall a conversion on aus.culture.gothic for a collective noun for goths. I think "gloom" was the best.

After the findings of the parliamentary committee, I doubt whether Howard will support a Royal Commission - unless there's sufficient public pressure for one and it is worse for him politically not to hold one.

This could become quite an election issue. As it is doing so in the US and as it is doing so (internally for Labour) in the UK.

Personally, I don't think invading Iraq was justified even if the regime did have weapons of mass destruction.

[identity profile] splodgenoodles.livejournal.com 2004-03-01 09:56 pm (UTC)(link)
No, they had crows there...

Crows A murder, horde


Whoops, sorry. A momentary vague out.
thorfinn: <user name="seedy_girl"> and <user name="thorfinn"> (Default)

[personal profile] thorfinn 2004-03-01 10:36 pm (UTC)(link)
I always preferred a pretension of goths...

[identity profile] tcpip.livejournal.com 2004-03-01 10:43 pm (UTC)(link)
Depends on the gawths of course.... A gaggle is appropriate in some cases..

[identity profile] tcpip.livejournal.com 2004-03-01 10:53 pm (UTC)(link)

I stand corrected. Thorfy is right in all respects.

http://www.usefulreference.com/l/li/list_of_collective_nouns_for_people.html

[identity profile] splodgenoodles.livejournal.com 2004-03-03 02:18 am (UTC)(link)

Personally, I don't think invading Iraq was justified even if the regime did have weapons of mass destruction.

I was one of the deluded fools who was frightened *just enough* by the WMD argument not to wholeheartedly oppose the war, even where I could see things that made me suspicious, like an apparent willingness to claim Al Quaeda and Saddam Hussein were in cahoots when it really didn't look like that to me...(not to mention the fact that personally, I would have thought N.Korea was far less stable and more likely to go crazy).

The fact that I think they were aiming to do this to me and millions like me, and that they succeeded, is really pissing me off.

I would love to know the real reason for the war.

Given what is happening in Iraq now, do you think the invading forces should remain?

[identity profile] tcpip.livejournal.com 2004-03-03 09:37 pm (UTC)(link)

Real reason?

It's hard to ignore this:

http://www.crikey.com.au/business/2003/01/31-oilandiraq.html

(No, this one is not satire...)

I think the UN should take over the US led coalition.. If the US wants to hang around, fine. But under the command of the blue berets.

[identity profile] splodgenoodles.livejournal.com 2004-03-04 04:10 am (UTC)(link)
makes sense... the reason for the war, and the UN.

[identity profile] lederhosen.livejournal.com 2004-03-01 08:41 pm (UTC)(link)
I don't have numbers handy, but my understanding is that the US commitment to Iraq is actually quite large even by the standards of their armed forces. It's large enough that they're having manpower problems - try Googling for "stop-loss" - and has seriously undermined their capability to fight in another theatre. Some services, especially medical care for veterans, have been stretched enough that they're showing serious cracks.