Month: May 2004

Blair jumps the gun on Iraqi veto

Tony Blair jumped the gun yesterday when he unequivocally promised that the new government in Baghdad will be able to exercise a veto over controversial US-led military operations after the handover of sovereignty on June 30.

The prime minister, trying to address widespread scepticism in the Arab world and Europe that the transfer of power will be genuine, said: “Let me make it 100% clear, after June 30 there will be the full transfer of sovereignty to the Iraqi government.

“If there is a political decision as to whether you go into a place like Falluja in a particular way, that has to be done with the consent of the Iraqi government and the final political control remains with the Iraqi government.”

Mr Blair’s words go significantly further than the stance of Washington. The US secretary of state, Colin Powell, spelled out the US position, stressing that if they disagreed with the new Iraqi authorities on certain operations, “US forces remain under US command and will do what is necessary to protect themselves.”

It was left to Downing Street officials to insist that the remarks applied to British forces, though not necessarily to US troops.

[Source: The Guardian]

So, in the end of the day, the Iraqis will have full sovereignty, they just shouldn’t interfere with what’s going on in the country.

Blog Re-design

So, what do you know, in a month from now, this blog will be 1 year old.
Time flies by so quickly when you’re doing something you enjoy.

And well, for that occasion, I’m thinking of launching a new design for the blog.

I’ve been thinking about this for a while and have occasionally played around with some concepts in my free time, but I still don’t have anything ready yet.

I’m currently influenced by a number of other cool blog designs, even though I think what I will eventually do won’t look like any of them 😛

Anyway, as readers of the blog, I would appreciate any feedback you have on the current design, what you find most interesting, what direction you think I should take the blog, the colours, the ideas and any other types of suggestions.

My main goal is to make the blog look cooler and nicer, make it more usable, give it more life and make it more comfy for myself and you readers.

New Iraqi Government Taking Shape

Iraq’s new government is starting to take shape, with U.S. officials leaking names of a prime minister and president, but it’s still unclear what power, if any, they would have over the country with a vast U.S. army hanging around.

Five weeks before the interim government is due to take over from the U.S. occupation authority on June 30, U.S. officials are hinting that the prime minister will be Hussain Shahristani, a nuclear scientist who paid for his defiance of Saddam Hussein with torture and years of imprisonment in Abu Ghraib and exile.

The US thinks that it has to be a Shi’ite. It also has to be someone who is not seen to be beholden to any particular faction or party and yet not be so much of a technocrat that he has no standing with the parties.
And Shahristani fits that profile.

As for the president, expectations are pointing at Adnan Pachachi, a Sunni who was foreign minister in the 1960s.

Vice presidential choices are expected to be Ibrahim Jaafari, a medical doctor who is spokesman of the Dawa Party, and Kurdish leader Jalal Talabani.

Anyway, it’s still up to Lakhdar Ibrahimi to make the final decision and choose who will be taking what role.

Maybe this new government will actually be better than the current useless governing council, but I still don’t think they’ll be able to do much. I expect the US will still be controlling everything and telling them what to do.
Still, I hope they’ll try to get some good things done for the people of Iraq.

[More: Reuters]

Things You Should Never Say in a Job Interview

This is a list of things you shouldn’t say at job interviews:

1. “What does your company do?”
2. “My salary requirements are very flexible.”
3. “It would be hella cool to get jiggy with this job.”
4. “Bill Gates himself offered me a $100,000 bonus.”
5. “In five years, I see myself on a boat in the Caribbean.”
6. “Sorry, I don’t know how to do that.”
7. “You see, I just went through a painful divorce. . . .”
8. “What can your company do for me?”
9. “I left my last job because my boss was a real jerk.”

Damn! Where were these when I needed them?! lol

For an explanation of each point, read the full article on MSN.

Homer’s “Iliad” now in messenger speak

Homer’s ancient Greek poem “The Iliad,” the basis for Hollywood blockbuster “Troy” has been compressed for a new generation too lazy to see the film let alone read the 24-book epic that runs to over 15,000 lines.

The first five books of the centuries-old tale, set in the final year of the Trojan War — which began when Trojan Paris snatched Helen (the face that launched a thousand ships) from Greece — are now available in the language people use when sending instant messages, Microsoft said on Monday.

Book Two is reduced to just 24 words of ‘messenger speak’, losing some of the lyricism of the original. “Agamemnon hd a dream: Troy not defended. Ordered attack! But Trojans knew they were coming n were prepared. Achilles sat sulking in his tent.”

The translation, designed to publicize Microsoft’s messenger product, is not written in Homer’s dactylic hexameters but it does use ’emoticons’ — little faces or images — to emphasize intense moments.

[Source: Reuters]

Good one guys. Now maybe those msn messenger chat addicts can squeeze in some literature in between their long useless chats.
No offense to chat addicts, I once was one, and I know the joys of chatting.
Check out the post about my vampire days. I used to spend all night long chatting on mIRC.

John Kerry Google-Bombed Waffles

So, after it happened to George W. Bush a while back, it’s the turn for Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry to be Google-bombed.

An effort by some conservative bloggers has pushed the candidate’s campaign website to the top of the result list when the word “waffles” is typed into Google.

But Kerry’s campaign is smarter than Bush’s and they’re trying to capitalize on the prank.

The campaign has purchased Google AdWords, sponsored links that come up beside results when certain words are searched. The short links also refer to Kerry’s website, but suggest users “read about President Bush’s Waffles.”

Google-bombing has fast become a popular prank on the Web. Bloggers have found they can manipulate search results by hyperlinking unsavory labels to individual pages. The trick also works on Yahoo, Lycos and AltaVista.

I think this is really cool and interesting. And if the prank gets to the stage where it works, it actually shows how many people think that way and should send a clear signal to whoever the prank is targeted at.

Movies I’ve Seen Recently

People who have known this blog ever since it’s beginnings might have realized that I write a lot less about movies than I used to.

That’s basically because I see less movies now than I used to last year.
Last year, we were addicted to movies, we’d watch 2 to 3 movies a day, and believe me, I’m not overdoing it.

Anyway, ever since we bought a receiver and have access to satellite channels, we’ve been renting less movies and watching more shows and news.

But still being a cinema fanatic, I have to watch a minimum number of movies every week 😛

Among the movies that I saw lately, that are worth mentioning, are the following:

– Something’s Gotta Give: This is a really nice movie. Jack Nicholson as always is great and his sense of humour is so cool. Diane Keaton rocks and is amazing.
It’s a nice love story with a good dose of comedy in it. I really enjoyed it.

– Mona Lise Smile: This is a nice movie, but then again it has Julia Roberts in it. How could it be otherwise?
It’s a nice story, set in the 50s, about women in society and how they should not see their roles just as homewives taking care of their husbands, but should try to go on with their lives and their careers.

– Duplex: This is a really fun comedy. Ben Stiller and Drew Barrymore did a great job on this.
It’s so funny and really reminds me of us and our upstairs neighbours, lol.
It’s a Danny Devito movie, so thumbs up to him.

– The Core: Well, I heard a lot of bad remarks about this movie before seeing it, but I actually didn’t find it that bad.
It’s not the best sci fi movie and it defies a lot of scientific laws, I agree. But it’s a good enough movie. Who cares if it’s scientifically correct or not, it’s fiction.
Of course what they did is impossible but well who cares.
It’s the same genre as Armageddon and Deep Impact. Impossible, unreal, and simply fiction.

I’ll just stop here for now…

I was at the DVD store yesterday and there are a bunch of new movies I haven’t seen yet. God, do I have a lot of catching up to do. I love it 😉

Bush administration lightbulb joke

How many members of the Bush Administration are needed to replace a lightbulb?

The Answer is SEVEN:

  1. one to deny that a lightbulb needs to be replaced
  2. one to attack and question the patriotism of anyone who has questions about the lightbulb,
  3. one to blame the previous administration for the need of a new lightbulb,
  4. one to arrange the invasion of a country rumored to have a secret stockpile of lightbulbs,
  5. one to get together with Vice President Cheney and figure out how to pay Halliburton Industries one million dollars for a lightbulb,
  6. one to arrange a photo-op session showing Bush changing the lightbulb while dressed in a flight suit and wrapped in an American flag,
  7. and finally one to explain to Bush the difference between screwing a lightbulb and screwing the country.

Hilarious, lol…

[Via eclecticism]

Rumsfeld bans camera phones

Mobile phones fitted with digital cameras have been banned in US army installations in Iraq on orders from Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, The Business newspaper reported today.

Quoting a Pentagon source, the paper said the US Defence Department believes that some of the damning photos of US soldiers abusing Iraqis at Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad were taken with camera phones.

“Digital cameras, camcorders and cellphones with cameras have been prohibited in military compounds in Iraq,” it said, adding that a “total ban throughout the US military” is in the works.

Disturbing new photos of Iraqi prisoner abuse, which the US government had reportedly tried to keep hidden, were published on Friday in the Washington Post newspaper.

The photos emerged along with details of testimony from inmates at Abu Ghraib who said they were sexually molested by female soldiers, beaten, sodomised and forced to eat food from toilets.

[Source: SMH]

If you can’t (or don’t want to) stop the people abusing prisoners, you can always stop the people taking the pictures!

Fahrenheit 9/11 wins Palme d’Or

U.S. filmmaker Michael Moore’s “Fahrenheit 9/11,” a scathing indictment of White House actions after the September 11 attacks, won the top prize Saturday at the Cannes Film Festival.

With Moore’s customary blend of humor and horror, “Fahrenheit 9/11” accuses the Bush camp of stealing the 2000 election, overlooking terrorism warnings before September 11 and fanning fears of more attacks to secure Americans’ support for the Iraq war.

Michael Moore said :

“I can’t begin to express my appreciation and my gratitude to the jury, the Festival, to Gilles Jacob, Thierry Fr