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Salam Pax The adventure of an Iraqi blogger continues. He's now been signed to write a biweekly column for a British newspaper . Salam Pax became famous worldwide in the weeks leading up to the American invasion of Iraq, as he detailed daily life of Baghdad. His blog is a personal view of life in Iraq, and more importantly, of the Iraqi people and to some extent, of Arabs in general. While he didn't like, support or cared for the Iraqi regime, he also he didn't care much for the American bombs that liberated his country. A quote from his site: ---------- "the West won the world not by the superiority of its ideas or values or religion but rather by its superiority in applying organized violence. Westerners often forget this fact, non-Westerners never do." ---------- Samuel P. Huntington

BlogTalk Check out this European Conference on Weblogs. The conference focuses on personal and business use of weblogs. If you're interested in how media is changing, the decentralizing of media, the dissemination of information, and how all of this affects society, then you're probably going to want to check out the site. There are lots of presentations online (either PowerPoint or Acrobat) for those of us who just can't make it to Vienna.

Daddy Day Care Took my wife and the youngest to see this. It was part of the Mother's Day present for my wife. I actually laugh. The movie wasn't really made for kids. The humour was silly, and fun, and kids may get some of the jokes, but it was primarily for the adults. Eddie Murphy still has it, though I don't get why he's abandoned his earlier comedy style for the more wholesome (OK ... with a few poo-poo jokes thrown in) family entertainment.

X-Men 2 Took my older daughter to see this. Two good reasons to see this movie: 1) Colossus makes a brief appearance, and 2) Wolverine gets some action. No, not that kind of action. He actually gets a little crazy, like the Wolverine we know in the comics. The movie also sets up the ending for X3 ... hopefully. We see Phoenix moving rapidly underwater. I can't wait to see what the special effects will be like. As for the story - it was OK. It wasn't all there. Lots of time was spent around the Mutant Registration Act, and the discrimination message ... wait, I can't believe I forgot ... third reason to see the movie: Nightcrawler. The opening sequence with him moving through the Whitehouse ... wow!

Matrix: Reloaded Saw this with the guys recently. I read the reviews, most of them being bad, and saying that it doesn't compare with the first movie, and can even hold its own with X2. I disagree. I think what most of the whiners are complaining about was in the first movie. The first movie just happened to be so new in it's style and effects that it made a great impression. Reloaded just continues the story, and if the story was what impressed you the first time around, then you'll be pleased with the latest entry. The movie ends with a surprising 'to be continued' - it leaves lots of questions unanswered, and I doubt that those questions will see enlightenment when Revolutions gets released. The questions around faith and choice, causality ... wow! Enough to leave you thinking for quite some time! I enjoyed the movie, and have to see it in the theatres at least 2 more times.

Gorilla Art Been to the art gallery lately? You may not have seen this art, but you have most likely seen art like this with a lot of deep significance mumbo-jumbo BS attached to the piece. Well, here's a couple of artists that appear to be just as pretentious. Koko and Michael - who happen to be gorillas (but don't tell them that). You can purchase some of their choice creations online as well.

A Glow in the Dark what? You have a credit card handy? Then you have to get this one. A glow in the dark toilet seat. If you frequent the bathroom too many times in the middle of the night, and find out in the morning that what you thought was the toilet really wasn't, you need this. Never miss again!

While Canada Slept, Andrew Cohen The second speaker at tonight's UofT Bookstore Series , was Andrew Cohen. He was a much better speaker than Peter Scowen, and his book was about Canada. It was an interesting history lesson, given from the perspective of Canada's foreign affairs policy since the early part of the last century. Andrew Cohen took aim at our slow declining interest in the well-being of the world. Perspective was given from our atrophied miltary, cheap foreign aid policy and negligence of our once strong diplomatic corp. Check out a review of the book from the Ottawa Citizen .

Rouge Nation, Peter Scowen I attended the UofT Bookstore Series tonight featuring Peter Scowen talking about his new book, "Rogue Nation: The America the Rest of the World Knows." As you could probably guess from the title of the book, this was a depressing talk. Depressing because you are aware of how the rest of the world views America, and can't help but agree with them. While I don't agree with his every assertion of America's past crimes against the world, I do agree with his concluding argument. America has moved to marginalize the world. It has lost interest in the world institutions. It has lost interest in world opinion. It has lost interest in diplomacy. Check out the Globe and Mail review of the book (negative), as well as Porkies Propaganda ('good sense before common sense') for like minded thoughts.

Undersea Cables to Undersea Observatories Back in the late 80s, early 90s, the telecom industry went on an undersea fibre binge. Cables were laid under the Atlantic and Pacifc to carry voice and data traffic between the various continents. Thanks to the glut in the telecom market, and advancements in the technology, these cables are targeted to be retired early. However, they might find use in bringing to life undersea observatories that will keep tabs on ocean floor seismic activity.

Speech Recognition After decades of trying, and countless products hitting the market, but not quite hitting the mark, the speech recognition problem seems to be on the brink of embracing a solution. And just in time too. The internet is becoming multimedia rich, and text searches are only one way of obtaining information. Businesses mean while, are also moving to implement VOIP solutions, that will make it possible for voice data to be stored off the PBX. Think of the possibilities when you can not only search text databases for information, but your query could also tap into stored voice dialogue. And just when you thought you were hitting information overload.

How the War was Won Check out this insightful article from the latest Wired magazine. The technology side of the 2nd Gulf War. Just how it really was won. You'll shake your head in disbelief when you read about the importance of Microsoft Chat to keep the troops in contact with Central Command.

Star Wars Kid We've all done it. Done something private, that would turn us red if made public. It's one thing for a situation like this to hit an adult, but when it hits a kid ... well, some assholes still go out and make fun of the individual. This situation for example. A 15-year old has a mock lightsaber battle with an invisible foe using a broomstick. Other kids at school finds the recording and upload it to the net to make fun of the kid. And they succeed. It's been downloaded millions of times. A remix was made that includes special effects, sound and background music. It doesn't help that the poor kid is overweight. Apparently, others on the net tore the kid apart, made fun of him etc. Two webloggers have stepped into the fray on the kid's side however. They're raising money to buy him some presents that will hopefully compensate for the ridicule he's suffered. Why? They see in the 15-year old themselves. We were all there once. I c...

Core Here's one out of SciFi and comic books. This guy is serious though. David Stevenson of the CalTech proposes to blast a rift through the Earth's crust of several hundred metres in length and depth, and about 30 centimetres wide - probably using a nuclear device. He would then send probes down the fissure to study the Earth's core. I'm not sure about you, but isn't invasive experimentation a thing of the past? And should we really be cutting up lab-rat-Earth to see how it works? This is akin to a flea deciding a really good idea would be to make a great gash into a dog to study how it works. Sound or not, I'm not for this.

Cost of Safety Since 9/11, the US has moved to implement the Patriot Act that gives law enforcement agencies great secret power to detain, spy and lock up Americans without having to charge them on anything. Read this Time Magazine article on how ordinary citizens are being impacted, and how there's nothing they can do about it.

The Matrix Reloaded I haven't seen the new movie yet. But I've been reading about it. Check out articles from: Time Magazine - including spoilers, so your call how much you want to read. Wired Magazine - a great article on 'how did they do that?' Fan Site - too much information, and assorted crap to keep you going, including online forums to discuss to your heart's content. The Animatrix - download the latest anime short from the site. The DVD will be out in July I think. Village Voice - another review. This one tries to be a little deep and intellectual.

May 15, 2003 - World Ends That's according to the Panawave Laboratory, a Japanese doomsday cult. According to the cult's leader, EM waves will bombard the Japanese archipelago and the gravitational balance of the Andromeda nebula and other nebulas will be altered. Then the world ends. Read more of this bizzare group at Blogcritics.org .

Big Brother? Yes, there really is a Big Brother, and he looks out for Uncle Sam. Read the Wired.Online article about the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court - a secret government court made up of seven judges that decides whether to grant the FBI eavesdropping permission. Last year they granded a whopping 1,228 eavesdropping orders. Since the organization's inception in 1978, they've never turned down an FBI request. The FISA never has to reveal the details of the evidence brought before them, the files are sealed and not even those facing convitions against them are allowed to see what evidence was brought against them at the FISA. Scary? Well, considering the the FISA orders go beyond a common wiretapping order, to include physical searches of property, yes. Considering the number of orders increased last year by 30% .. yes, damn scary.

BlueIce Check out what this guy did with a Mac G4. Wow!

Math the language of the Cosmos? The basis of SETI is that ET can actually comprehend math the way we do, or at least, be able to recognize Math for what it it. Math has always been thought of as the universal language. It has been popularized in movies such as Contact and Close Encounters of the Third Kind . But is that assumption really true? Sundar Sarukkai , a physicist and philosopher of the National Institute of Advanced Studies in India, begs to differ. He contends that Math as we know is a human construct. Read the article on Space.com.

Where is Raed? Read a blog from Iraq - at least, all evidence points to the author being in Iraq. I just got this from Wired Online (read the article) . The blog provides first hand account of what has been happening in Iraq.

Patenting SARS Another one from the BBC News Online. Believe it or not, there is a race on to patent the genome for the virus that causes SARS. The British Columbia Cancer Society, which was the first one to unravel the virus' genome is racing to get patent rights for the virus, not to make millions off of it or prevent others from using it, but for the opposite. Increasingly, scientists are patenting genomes in order to prevent companies from staking such a claim and then preventing researchers from studies and developing vaccines. Scientists regard the unraveling of genome as a process of discovery and not an invention, therefore not patentable - but the patent offices of many countries, especially the US has managed to screw the world over.

Mercury's Transit Recently Mercury made a visibile transit across the Sun. An event that's a little insignificant in our modern world, but nonetheless, fascinating. Read this account on the BBC News Online.

Furthermore Here's a neat section of offbeat news clips from Wired Online. Just the kind of stuff to send around the office and make sure your peers are doing absolutely no work! What kind of stuff makes it there? Well, how about Jean Chretien watching playoff hockey rather than a political debate cause he thought the debate was boring. Or how about the story of the 'nude flight" and the "masturbate-a-thon?" Yes, sometimes serious news isn't needed.

Flight Risk This is original - well sort of. It's fiction, not real. Flight Risk is a blog by a very creative person, writing a first person story about being a rich heiress, Isabella, that's on the run from her family to escape an arranged marriage. It's also strange enough to just turn out to be real. I got wind of it from Wired Online . It's so detailed and compelling in a soap opera type of way, that it's gaining quite a following. I can see this becoming a novel some day, or maybe even a movie. Check it out - interesting. Makes me think of the creative possibilities of this medium.

Digital Biology Digital Biology, by Peter J. Bentley: (I'm lazy, so here's the sales pitch from his website.) Imagine a future world where computers can create universes - digital environments made from binary ones and zeros. Imagine that within these universes there exist biological forms that reproduce, grow and think. Imagine plant-like forms, ant colonies, immune systems and brains, all adapting, evolving and getting better at solving problems. Imagine if our computers became greenhouses for a new kind of nature. Just think what digital biology could do for us. Perhaps it could evolve new designs for us, think up ways to detect fraud using digital neurons, or solve scheduling problems with ants. Perhaps it could detect hackers with immune systems or create music from the patterns of growth of digital seashells. Perhaps it would allow our computers to become creative and inventive. You can also listen to an interview of Peter Bentley from the BBC at his site.

Fire and Ice: The United States, Canada and the Myth of Inevitability Michael Adams, head of the polling firm Environics has released his new book. It looks at the changing values of Canadians and Americans, and while it has been said our cultures are converging - or, Canadians are becoming more American, the polls result show the opposite. We're diverging. While Canada is probably on par with the other industrial nations of the world, the US is moving more towards a position of isolation, and in my opinion, paranoia. Case in point: George W. and his many global snafus. He's quite representative of the average American, and it's scary where they're heading as a nation. If all this stuff interests you, you can catch Michael Adams speaking at the UofT Bookstore Series on May 20th.

Happy Kipper Free games, free comics and free cartoons. The site collects them from around the net. Check out the warnings though. Some stuff here might be offensive, others strange, others just hilarious! Click, and the page that actually houses your merriment will pop up and take you for the ride. Enjoy!

Warren Ellis' Blog More weirdness than you can shake a stick at. Warren Ellis is a comic writer. I like some of his stuff. Some have even made it to the movies. He's weird, horrible, frightening, and will get a hold of your curiosity and take it for an unsettling ride.

Something Awful Here's a site with too much time on its hands. And will waste some of yours too if you let it. Gone on though ... give it a little try. See what talented people with no job can do with Photoshop. There are reviews for games, movies, etc. People at this site are just plain weird. I can't believe the amount of time they put into such discourse.

Asteroid Mister Rogers Mister Rogers has new found fame. He's just got an asteroid named after him. The International Astronomical Union has renamed Asteroid 26858 to Misterrogers. Mister Rogers passed away on Feb. 27, at the age of 74.

Six Technologies That Will Change the World From Business 2.0 - an interesting article on 6 Technologies that are currently being worked on that will change the world ... should the technological hurdles be overcome. God's Ink Jet : Basically a device that builds human organs and tissues from scratch. Basically, ink-jet printers that squirt out 'bio ink' of cells, growth factors, and a degradable gel that forms the 3D frame for the living tissue to grow on. Need a heart replacement? Print it! The other technologies: 2) Robots You Can Relate To; 3) The Plane That Does Hong Kong and Back in a Day; 4) All-Day Portable Power; 5) Electronic Paper; 6) A Swarm of Sensors.