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ESA appears to be joining forces with Russia to develop the replacement the Russian Soyuz capsule . Soyuz has been serving the Russians, and recently the world, since 1966, and is expected to continue ferrying cosmonauts into space well into 2014, when it is replaced by the Kliper spacecraft . Kliper is being designed to ferry cosmonauts only, and heavy cargo lifting will remain the fare of rockets. Russia is looking to have Kliper in test flights by 2011, and ready for service in 2012. Right now however, they're looking for partners to fund the project. The Europeans, who do not have the capability to send passengers into space, are looking to partially own that capability with the Russian partnership. With the grounding of the shuttle fleet, and the US recent announcement to abandon the aircraft concept for space vehicles, it looks like it is left up to private industry and the Russians to inspire future space explorers. Let's face it, a spaceplane is lot more cool l...

Japanese scientists have made the first recordings of a live giant squid . The giant squid, about 8 metres long, was found 900 metres below the North Pacific Ocean -- feeding at depths where no light penetrates. Previously, scientists have only gotten close to giant squids when they were snagged by ocean trawlers or washed ashore dead. Little is known about the creatures previous to this encounter. From these, the latest observations, it is suspected that giant squids are actually active predators, capable of rapid and powerful movement. The recordings taken would have been a great hit with Jules Verne .

The Wall Street Journal is running an article on the cat and mouse game being played by the Chinese government, in their desperate attempts to maintain control over political discussions and news -- and the extent that the Chinese populace is going to have such discussions. China continues to impose new rules on controlling the discourse of their citizens -- from requiring ISPs and online services to monitor and report on their users, to installing cameras in Internet cafes and having bloggers register themselves in order to continue blogging activities. But that's not stopping the Chinese bent on talking online. They're avoiding government censorship using good old fashion bribery; using servers hosted outside of China; and speaking in code or using image files to distribute conversations. Try as they might, the world has become a smaller place, and China is smack in the middle of it; people need to be free, and they will find a way.

ESA has begun studying a potential mission to send two spacecrafts to intercept a Near-Earth Object , impacting it, to change its orbit. The mission, dubbed Don Quijote , is a study mission to test technology and processes of preventing a natural disaster of an asteroid colliding with the Earth and killing us all. The current scenario being planned for the study mission, has two spacecrafts on separate interplanetary trajectories to the target asteroid. The first spacecraft, named Sancho , will arrive months early to orbit the asteroid and study it before and after the impact. The second spacecraft, named Hidalgo [ title for a Spanish nobleman or knight ], will be the impact craft sent to deflect the asteroid.

Two magazines had articles announcing the impending arrival of Web 2.0 this month: Discover , and BusinessWeek . Web 2.0 refers to the web that yesterday's web is evolving to -- it hasn't quite gotten there yet, but already, we're seeing the signs of what is to come. Web 2.0 will be marked by the transition from a web that feeds consumption, to one that fosters participation. Gone will be the passive surfing for content -- the evolution will bring "sharing, socializing, collaborating, and, most of all, creating." Even the realm of online games, which yesterday harboured some interaction, will be revolutionized. New web services are popping up that will retire the passive web. The services allow web surfers to customize web sites -- tailoring content to be delivered and consumed; easier sharing of content created personally -- from blogs of every media, to rich media content; and the fostering of online communities, where content and ideas can be shared -- an...

I just finished watching the 1986 production of From Beyond -- based on an H.P. Lovecraft story [PDF]. The movie was surprisingly not bad for being an 80s horror flick. I expected a good deal of cheese to be smeared all over the production, and while there was some -- which had me wincing at times -- it was quite watchable. The effects were typical of the 80s horror movies. Monsters were rubbery and weren't cream-of-the-crop animatronics; the computers came out of the early 80s mainframe environment; there was an overuse and misuse of electricity to magically make things happen; and the gore -- well, the gore won't scare the pants off you, but there is a good deal of slim, dripping everywhere and a bit of fake blood. To top it all off, there was the obligatory throbbing skull, due to the pleasure centre of the brain being overly simulated by a machine a crazy scientist invented. And when the throbbing gets too much for the head to hold, protuberances emerge. What else ...

This is a bit of a public service announcement. Commencing this week, for the next four weeks, the Perimeter Institute is sponsoring EinsteinFest -- a celebration of the 100th anniversary of the "miracle year" -- the year Einstein published his ground breaking work in relativity and changed the world. EinsteinFest features public lectures, exhibitions, performances, and a whole bunch of other events. Most of the events are free -- and probably because of that, most of the more interesting lectures are already sold out. Nevertheless, if you have time, check it out -- you may rub shoulders with some real-life geniuses. If you can't make it to the Perimeter Institute, you can catch some of their public lectures online . They have archived their lectures and seminars, and they are available. [ Linda -- thanks for picking up the brochure when you were out there. ]

South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut -- This is one hilarious movie -- but boy is it rude. It's rude beyond the point of being offensive. The movie takes the good taste filter off and amuses with humour that simulate the juvenile in us. Every now and again though, that little kid in us needs to be amused -- and this movie will certainly do that. If you're offended by the movie, it's because the adult in you is watching. The Brothers Grimm -- This was an OK fantasy movie, moving at a good pace, with the appropriate level of action and humour. The special effects were well done -- and so was the cinematography. If you missed it in the theatre, you didn't miss much however. You can catch it on DVD. The Aristocrats -- This is a movie about a joke. One joke. That's it. The delivery however -- now that was something else. The delivery was sick, sick, sick. This is an in-joke for comedians that have been numbed by jokes for us regular folk. The only thi...

I've seen this movie only once before -- on TV -- when I was young, and I thought I knew everything, so I didn't really paid much attention to it. So watching it today was really seeing the movie for the first time, all over again. This is a classic. A great film. A Stanley Kubrick film. An excellent comedy -- and commentary -- on the cold war era the movie was made in. It satirizes the fears and the absurdity of achieving peace through mutually assured destruction . For those who were not around during the cold war, and are simply unaware, this movie is the cream of your education. In the movie, an American airbase general goes bananas, and directs his fleet of bombers to strike at their targets in the USSR. Once the order is given, there is no way to stop them -- the bombers went out of radio contact. The general wants to rid the world of the communist infestation -- their undermining and brainwashing of free countries everywhere. The general has some interesting t...

I attended Beyond Einstein: The Dark Side of the Universe tonight -- lecture 1 of 4, of the University of Toronto's Cosmic Frontiers series that celebrates 100 years of Astronomy at UofT. Tonight's speaker was Professor Rocky Kolb of Fermilab and the University of Chicago. The abstract of his lecture is as follows: The discoveries of Albert Einstein rank among humanity's greatest achievements. His theory predicts the emergence of the universe from a big bang and the possibility that space itself has a "weight." Recent observations seem to confirm these amazing predictions. Yet, his theory cannot answer two profound questions: what is the dark matter holding together our galaxy? what is the dark energy pulling apart our universe? The talk will discuss how connecting the inner space of the quantum and the outer space of the cosmos may complete Einstein's legacy and unlock new mysteries of the universe that await us "Beyond Einstein." The le...

I saw Stripes last night. It's been years -- over a decade I'm sure -- since I last saw it. The movie is a classic -- and will probably appeal to you if you were there when it first came out -- or if adolescent, frat-boy, silly humour, appeals to you. Made in 1981, Stripes is directed by Ivan Reitman, and stars who's who of comedy talent: Bill Murray, Harold Ramis, John Candy, John Larroquette and Judge Reinhold. There are other faces in the movie that will be recognized as well -- and for many of them, this was their debut movie. It's a great watch for nostalgic reasons -- seeing the actors, somewhat raw, before they honed their acting skills -- and for the memory lane trip that will make you want to watch the Revenge of the Nerds and National Lampoon movies -- as well as Ghostbusters, Caddyshack, and all the other classics. In Stripes, Murray and Ramis takes on the US Army. The two are a couple of losers -- lazy -- with no direction in life, jumping from job t...

BrooklynKat over at Just to the Left , has posted a little story about the hottest doll for girls in the Muslim world. Instead of girls in the Middle East having to contend with "the anorexic blond-bimbo Barbie" -- they now have Fulla -- as anorexic as Barbie, but, with "Muslim values." Translation: Fulla knows her place in a man's world; in a Muslim world. She comes complete with a black abaya, head scarf and prayer mat -- and if she steps out of line, or catches the eye of a boy, she will be severely beaten, tortured and killed for dishonouring her doll line. Fulla is a Muslim doll for the ages.

BusinessWeek's latest features a cover article on the latest of the high profile exits from Microsoft . The competitive landscape for the best and brightest has always been a tough one for the technology industry. Microsoft has always played well in this field, trouncing its competition in acquiring the best minds. Lately however, it has dawned on Microsoft that it is no longer one of those nimble upstarts. It had become an entrenched giant, with serious turf to protect. This change in Microsoft has resulted in a company that critics claim, is bureaucratic and stodgy, lacking spirit, and stifling creativity and innovation. There has always been Microsoft critics -- but now those critics are coming from inside the hallowed halls at Redmond -- and Microsoft is having a near impossible task quieting the noise. Many of the critics blame Steve Ballmer for the latest woes -- but stop short of blaming Bill Gates. Ballmer in response, appears to be in denial. Makes you wonder wha...

The end of Technorati is near ... Google's Blog Search is here!

Scarecrow is one hell of a stupid movie. The premise is an OK one for a slasher flick -- a typical tale of an underdog, someone different from the rest of the pack, who's picked on and ridiculed by his peers -- until he's had enough. In this case, it's a a high school kid, who lives with his mother in a trailer trash existence. His mom hops from one guy to another, and one day, one of them is pissed off, and chokes the little scarecrow to death -- in a corn field -- under a scarecrow. Magic happens and the high schooler's soul is transferred to the Scarecrow, who then goes about seeking revenge with sickles and corn with a decapitating effect. The premise was OK -- but the execution sucked. The acting was brutal. The dialogue was brutal -- even when the movie was making fun of itself. The whole inbred, southern trailer trash effect was never exploited -- although the movie does exploit. I highly recommend this movie is you plan on getting stoned watching it --...

On April 12, 1980, Terry Fox started his cross Canada marathon of hope by a dip of his leg in the waters of the Atlantic Ocean at St. John's, Newfoundland. His plan was to do the same in the Pacific Ocean, at Vancouver, British Columbia. 143 days and 5,373 km later, he was forced to abandon his journey in Thunder Bay, Ontario, when the cancer reached his lung. He died on June 28, 1981, at the age of 22 -- a month shy of his 23rd birthday. In a short period of time, Terry Fox transcended the limitations of himself, inspired a nation and remains a constant reminder to the rest of us of what we can be, if we just try.

Simon Wiesenthal died today in his home in Vienna, Austria. He was 96-years-old. Wiesenthal barely survived the horrors of concentration camps in Nazi Germany during WWII -- and after the war, dedicated his life to tracking down and persecuting Nazis. After the Nuremberg Trails, when the world lost the will to persecute Nazis that escaped Allied forces, Wiesenthal persisted. When some countries were harbouring and employing Nazis, Wiesenthal remained undeterred -- vocal. He found justice for those who never had any -- he did so that the world would never forget the atrocities that were committed by the Nazis. Today, the world lost a hero . May he find peace -- for his part in the fight is now over.

Back in July, Baseline Magazine published a checklist for evaluating the importance of a firm's CIO , to her company. The checklist is based on the US DoD's Directive 5144.1 [PDF], which was issued in May. The directive details the accountability of the DoD's CIO -- basically elevating the DoD's CIO to an executive level within the DOD, charged with authority to make real decisions. It basically moved IT from an order taker, responding to the whims of the other divisions within the DoD, to a contributor to the overall success of the DoD. Baseline condensed the DoD's directive into a nice Excel spreadsheet that asks 24 questions to quantitatively rank a firm's CIO. Granted the answers to the questions are pretty subjective -- and if you already have problems with IT's stature within your organization, you undoubtedly already know about them -- the spreadsheet does serve to point to some areas where you, as an IT dweeb, could contribute to raising IT...

Check out Fractal Spin -- they hope to bring the computer geek out of you. They are a jeweller of sorts. They take old computer parts -- chips, cables, etc. -- and turn them into jewellery. How cool is that?! OK ... that's what I thought too. But, how unique is that?! You got it. It's quite unique.

The New Scientist [PDF] reported back in June, a story of two computer scientists at Carnegie Mellon University, working on a project to "teleport" a person across the internet. The "teleportation" isn't real -- what they are working on is to physically recreate appearance of an object, complete with motion that is being captured of the original object. They envision being able to have virtual meetings with people over great distances using these physical representations of people who are not physically at the same location. Think of it as video conferencing taken to another level. Instead of your face on screen, your entire body will be created, on the fly, mimicking you as you move and talk. They would employ self-assembling smart-nano-particles for the replica. There are many real world applications for such a system beyond the mundane video conferencing. Think of dangerous work; telemedicine; or even warfare. However, I think the application that wo...

Just finished watching the Daily Show with Jon Stewart : Evolution Schmevolution series from last week. The "special report" from the Daily Show sought arbitrate the debate between evolution and intelligent design in America. Of course, it was done in typical Daily Show fashion. "Why are we here? And how did we get here? Not here necessarily, but HERE! For most of human history the answer took the form of what were called creation myths -- traditional stories explaining our origins. They tended to follow a basic template. Typically a deity, either animalistic, anthropomorphic, or bearded, engages in some mystical, wonderous process, that eventually produces the misshapen progenitors of the human race -- an thus becomes man. These myths comforted man, by allowing him to laugh at other cultures creation myths. For instance, the Aztecs say we were dug out of the earth by a giant pig. Everyone knows we sprouted from the heavenly ear of corn." The "speci...

Lemora - A Child's Tale of the Supernatural is a low budget, b-flick that was made in 1975. For its time, it was pushing some boundaries -- then again, so were a whole lot of films from the 1970s. Lemora has the feel of a weird-out giallo , or a b-grade cheese from Europe -- either way, it succeeds in bringing back the 1970s. The movie is supposedly a horror, but by today's standards, it's not the least bit scary. It's actually more of an adult fairy tale. It certainly shares a lot of themes with fairy tales. Children coming of age -- in this case, the teenage Lila Lee, played by Cheryl Smith -- who begins to get noticed by males, and while she appears not to notice, she does; monsters of the vampiric and ghoulish sort -- and monsters in the form of the lust of men -- even men of the church -- a fact that probably contributed to the Catholic Film Board seeking to ban the film for quite some time; a dark forest, where evil lurks, and where young Lila Lee finds her...

Researchers from the University of Chicago have found new evidence that the human brain is continuing to evolve -- and has undergone substantial changes in the last 60,000 years. They have studied just two genes involved in determining the size of the brain, and have found that new versions of those genes have been spreading because they enhance brain functions. Controversy surrounds the findings because the researchers also note that the new genes are more common in certain populations -- although it has been highlighted that the genes do not necessarily confer any enhanced cognitive abilities. I expect that many will want such research findings to be buried because it could be misinterpreted -- or misused. This censoring of science however, simply highlights the ignorance surrounding the research. First -- intelligence is a result of more than just genetics -- and having the necessary genes doesn't necessarily mean an individual or a population can claim smarts over another...

It stars the Rock, is based on a video game, and is most likely lacking any kind of a story. What is it? Doom -- based on the first person shooter from id Software . It's one of those "check-your-brain-at-the-door" movies -- and yes, I think I'll have to go see it. It hits the theatres on Oct. 21.

... or you know you're going to have a really shitty day when ... 1) You wake up ... several times between 4 and 7AM. 2) In the kitchen, you find that the water filter that you had carefully filled the night before is empty, and there is no water in the kettle. There is now wait time for the all important coffee. 3) You open the freezer for some waffles, and find that someone has already beaten you there. They've helped themselves to two waffles, but left the box and bag open, so the rest of the waffles can turn into frozen shit for whoever comes afterwards. 4) Also in the freezer, you find a sign of the pizza pocket box. It is empty, open and still in the freezer. Kinda like life lately: just a shell, empty of it's contents and cold. 5) You come to your computer and find that someone's already beaten you there, because your glass of juice is lying across your keyboard. You think about all of this and you realize, this is all your damn fault anyway. 1) You wo...

I saw the Resurrected the other night. It's based on H.P. Lovecraft's The Strange Case of Charles Dexter Ward -- a story that I haven't read. It is a horror movie, although you won't find the usual trappings of a horror flick. Not a whole lot of action or gore -- and not too many frightening scenes. It's more of a detective story, and moves with a slow, steady pace. The acting wasn't anything special -- neither was the filming or effects -- what little there was of effects -- in fact, some of the effects were cheesy. The plot: a husband, Charles Dexter Ward, starts neglecting his wife, Claire, spending way too much time in his homemade lab running some strange experiments way into the night -- in fact, the experiments seem to be taking over his life. Claire stays with him instead of running away from home. When she yells at him and demands he finds a new place to run his "experiments" -- he moves his lab out of the house to an old, spooky and...

A murder and an autopsy . Find out what it takes to kill an iPod Nano, and then what's inside as the murderers peek under its skin. All for you, so that you don't have to do the same to satisfy your curiosity.

BusinessWeek's latest issue runs a what-if scenario on potential disasters for Americans, and produces a dire warning on the outcomes unless risk mitigation efforts are stepped up. The New Orleans disaster hasn't played out the worse economic scenario for the nation -- although the human impact is quite the opposite. I guess that's to be expected, since the worse hit has been the poor. The relationship between governments has certainly taken a beating -- so much so, that Bush admitted responsibility for the slow response -- which is something a leader is supposed to do, although I question his motives. What is the lesson to be learned from the disaster? America -- and by extension, just about every other country in the world -- needs to plan for disasters. There are enough dire warnings of impending doom, yet we keep ignoring them. Not just the government, but the public, who hold governments accountable for their actions. Communication and operational silos need ...

From the Socialist Worker Online , comes the experiences of two San Francisco EMS workers who were attending a conference in New Orleans when Katrina descended. The experiences tell sad stories -- stories where intelligence and logic never held sway, and mass confusion ruled the day -- but there are also stories of ordinary people, who, in a time of crisis, reached out with just a little effort -- but effort that was a godsend to those suffering.

The Transporter 2 -- a wholesome family movie -- uplifting, with truisms for our times. Kids do your homework -- it's way better for your future than playing with guns and hanging out in gangs. Never, ever, point a gun at a stranger. For one thing, they may have a bigger gun. The other, much worse, is that they may not have a gun, but you're still in for some good ass-whupping. In life, there are rules -- for a reason. Break 'em at your peril -- especially if they're somebody else's rules. If you make promises -- keep 'em -- especially to kids. Never covet another man's wife -- no matter how much of a dick he is -- and especially if she's your boss. The whole work/sex thing just won't work. Getting a good driver's education is a worthy investment. You never know when you'll have to outrun misguided cops & bad guys; fly off buildings; dislodge bombs attached to the undercarriage; and impress half-naked, twisted, psycho-chicks, ...

There is nothing sick about Erwin Haya -- or his art. OneSickIndividual is a place for his art -- and hopefully, a place where people can buy his crap or solicit him -- maybe find out why he's "one sick individual." Check out his site -- his talent. I likey-likey, and wish I was as good as him. He also has a blog , where you can bug the hell out of him.

CIO magazine's latest has an interesting article on being loosely coupled -- technology and processes that is. Loosely coupled processes have arrived with the maturity of technology; the realization that legacy systems have to co-exist with new systems; and the need for organizations to rapidly change, adapt and integrate -- both internally and externally. This need for flexibility has given rise a slew of technologies and related processes -- mostly under the service-oriented architecture banner -- to integrate disparate systems and processes using standardized interfaces. So what? Loosely coupled is just another way of explaining SOA. The point the article makes however, is that integrating technology is only the first step -- and it's not where most benefits will arise. Loosely coupled technology will bring flexibility, and its interchangeable nature will drive innovation. More importantly, the loosely coupled philosophy can be extended to business processes -- whic...

I indulged in the sequel to 1981's animated cult SciFi movie, Heavy Metal . I saw Heavy Metal many, many years ago -- the early 1990s I think. I remember the movie as being confusing -- but that didn't matter. Heavy Metal, like the sequential art magazine that inspired it, was very much adult, with a good dose of bloody violence, nudity and sexuality. Definitely not the Disney fare. The animation of the original was quite fluid, and the tunes -- well, the tunes were heavy metal. This production, believe it or not, was Canadian. (I just found out.) Heavy Metal: F.A.K.K. 2 is the second animated movie in the series. The animation is nothing special, although it does combine hand-drawn cells with computer animation. Like the first movie, it also features a hard music score. This time around, the movie is based on the comic Melting Pot, by Kevin Eastman , Simon Bisley (one of my favourite artists) and Eric Talbot -- and stars an animated, and scantily clad Julie Stra...

The BBC has made its archive of shows available online under the terms of a "creative archive license." Unfortunately, it's only for British citizens. If you're British, you can download, remix and publish to your heart's content. If you're not British, you can do the same, as long as they don't catch you.

I saw Saint Sinner , a Clive Barker movie, last night as well. It was a made-for-TV movie -- an original production of the SciFi channel -- and being so, it doesn't compare to the usual fare to be expected from Barker. It had potential, but the dialogue just killed it. The acting, directing and creature effects weren't too bad -- and the story is definitely Barker's. I think Saint Sinner was invented for Marvel comics some years ago, and this movie sort of evolved from it -- not sure if the premise came from any of Barker's short stories however. Regardless, the premise is one, that with better treatment, could have become a hit. The story: in 1815, two succubi are released from their imprisonment by a monk, Tomas Alcala, on the 21st century -- yes, we have time travel here. The monk, who screwed up by releasing the succubi, is then charged by god to travel forward in time to stop the succubi, Munkar and Nakir -- proving that god can be vengeful to those who scr...

Decadent Evil is such a crappy movie. I watched this last night as I didn't want to have to think about the story. The opposite occurred. I kept thinking about what a crappy story it was, with crappy lines, read by crappy actors -- all shot on an extremely low budget, in just a week. It was a vampire movie that looked as if it used pasta sauce for blood. Everything about this movie was crappy, except the end -- which was a relief. Don't get me wrong -- I like cheese, but this was just bad cheese. The actors, with the exception of two, were just bad. They couldn't act. The plot -- although I'm not sure you can call it that -- follows the vampire Morella, and her coven of two other others: Sugar and Spyce. Sugar and Spyce are strippers at night, who sometimes lure customers back to their mansion for their master (not sure why she's not referred to as mistress), Morella, to drink their blood, and their soul. Morella needs to drink 10,000 souls apparently t...

Just under a year ago, the National Geographic published an article on the future demise of New Orleans from a hurricane. "It was a broiling August afternoon in New Orleans, Louisiana, the Big Easy, the City That Care Forgot. Those who ventured outside moved as if they were swimming in tupelo honey. Those inside paid silent homage to the man who invented air-conditioning as they watched TV "storm teams" warn of a hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico. Nothing surprising there: Hurricanes in August are as much a part of life in this town as hangovers on Ash Wednesday. But the next day the storm gathered steam and drew a bead on the city. As the whirling maelstrom approached the coast, more than a million people evacuated to higher ground. Some 200,000 remained, however—the car-less, the homeless, the aged and infirm, and those die-hard New Orleanians who look for any excuse to throw a party. The storm hit Breton Sound with the fury of a nuclear warhead, pushing a deadly s...

So, you want to know about Kenya ... Good place to start with general information about Kenya is the CIA World Factbook. The United Nations also maintains good information on different countries. Check out their publications especially for a wealth of information. If that doesn't give you enough, you can always just search the UN main site to find too much information. For the latest on Kenya from the media, a good place to search is Google's news service. You can also get a wealth of information from allAfrica.com's Kenyan portal . Kenyan newspapers with an online presence includes: The Standard , Coastweek , Daily Nation , and Kenya Daily . And the final word on media is NewsWealth's index on Kenyan media . Another way of getting the latest information on Kenya is to see what has percolated through to the blogosphere. Technorati is the best place to get the latest buzz from bloggers . If you still need more general information on Kenya, check out Columbi...

Like most weekly magazines out there, BusinessWeek's latest features a cover article on the aftermath of Katrina's crash landing on New Orleans. Like the human toll on the city, the economic impact was also underestimated initially. Now we know that the damage is to more than just residential and business properties, but will extend across the US economy due to the damage of the power and shipping infrastructure. The Gulf represents 17% of the US refining capacity and one-quarter of its daily crude output -- and most of it was hit by Katrina. To get oil production back up, the electrical grid needs to be repaired to power the refineries -- and large number of electrical stations were knocked out. The first priority for electricity will be emergency use -- hospitals, refugee centres, etc. The drop in energy output will ripple across the US economy, increasing prices on just about everything -- if products can be manufactured to meet demand that is. To make matters worse,...

For this little guy, this is probably all a cool adventure. Let's hope he and his mom are taken care of. Photograph courtesy of AP.

The Martian Anthropologist is carrying a story that brings the human cost of inaction in the wake of Katrina's visit to New Orleans. A mother trapped in a nursing home dies, while her son, promising relief will come soon, is helpless to do anything to prevent her death. It's a heart-wrenching story that is an example of the kind of despair that has descend in New Orleans. There will be more unless things speed up.

Just reading CIO magazine again ... this time, the article entitled Rules of the Road for Turnaround CIOs . Nothing much new in the article -- of course, it's easier said than done, and the devil is always in the details (and that's three times now that I've used that phrase today). So the rules ... or, the six step program to deprogramming an ineffective IT Shop and teaching it new tricks: Deliver quick wins: it has to be done in 6 months, because that's when the honeymoon is over. One CIO interviewed comments that every three months a project needs to have a meaningful deliverable. Without such results, the way the IT Shop is viewed by their clients won't change. Filter the noise: there will be many things to do first, with many suggestions and priorities. A CIO needs to focus on the priorities that are important to running the business -- any other focus, and there may not be a business there when the IT Shop opens its eyes. Align IT: the organization nee...

There is enough doom and gloom about New Orleans. With all the bad news polluting the media, one can really get depressed. I've already waxed about the hell New Orleans has descended to -- but there is hope. Where there is people, there is humanity, and A Small Victory has decided to chronicle a little bit of good news coming out of New Orleans. Sometimes it takes the worse situations to remind us that we're all in this together, and only by lending a helping hand can we manage. Kudos to A Small Victory .

Lord Vishnu's Love Handles , by Will Clarke -- one weird and fucked up story. I picked up the book because the title peaked my interest -- me being a wayward Hindu and all. The words under the book title, and the sales pitch on the inside cover flap were what sold me however. The book is subtitled, A Spy Novel (Sort Of) . Clarke has a sense of humour -- a very twisted sense of humour. The book chronicles the mid-life crisis-adventures of one, Travis Anderson -- a suburbanite with a good suburban life, beautiful wife, young son, clubs, fake friends and fake parties. Travis has a comfy life that has been afforded by his entry into the web business at the right time. Travis started the web business with a college friend because his psychic visions told him it was the right thing to do. His psychic abilities also gives him the upper hand at the online game, Psychic Cow , which he plays on a regular basis. Problem is Travis' visions are also driving him mad. He keeps dream...

Finally saw Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story! -- a Family Guy movie. TV's not a regular thing for me, so I haven't seen too many Family Guy episodes. What I have seen has been funny, in an offensive sort of way. It's definitely not sitcom for the Brady Bunch crowd -- and takes the Simpsons to another level. The Stewie Griffin movie tops the television show, being more offensive, and probably funnier than the television episodes -- which I would know if I had seen more of the TV show. The movie happens to be three episodes strung together to make a movie -- the episodes having never been aired -- with some new material added at the beginning and the end. If you're a fan of the show, and would like some new material to hold you over until the new shows are aired, Stewie's advertures will certainly fit the bill.

So here's a story that will make you stand up and go WTF?! Jabbor Gibson is 18-years-old, and stuck in New Orleans after the flood. He finds an abandoned school bus, jumps in, loads it with strangers -- about 100 passengers. He drives for 7 hours, all the way to Houston Astrodome, beating the official rescue buses there. American hero, or what?! Now read the news as it is reported by the media. Gibson's act is repeatedly referred to as using a "stolen" bus -- in fact, the article says that "the 18-year-old who ensured their [the passengers] safety could find himself in a world of trouble for stealing the school bus." Instead of emphasizing what a great thing the young man did, the article repeatedly refers to him as a thief, and points out that "sixty legally chartered buses were expected to arrive in Houston throughout the night." Yes -- "legally chartered buses." So, a question to the world out there -- if this kid was a white...

The BBC has taken a rather progressive position in response to online piracy of their shows. They're going to give them away, online -- for free. A few schemes have been concocted to make their shows online. One scheme will have certain shows simultaneously broadcasted online, as well as over the air. Another will make shows available online for download and viewing via a BBC specific media player, for up to 7 days after the show has been aired. The unthinkable is also being explored -- the BBC will make some shows available online before they're even aired. The BBC, while it is a Corporation, is also a public broadcaster, so it might find it easier to make its shows available online, since the British people already own the shows. If the BBC can prove however that there is a revenue stream to be tapped from their online adventures, others will surely follow.

I saw Crash over a month ago, and I've been thinking about it more and more, as recent allegations have surfaced -- suggesting that the late response to helping New Orleans, is a result of race discrimination . Crash is a movie for America -- it is a movie for the world -- it is required viewing for all of us today. It is a movie for a world where cultures are colliding as the world shrinks. The fears, biases, prejudices, and sometimes, dark hatred, are polluting our thinking, our neighbourhoods, our relationships. Crash examines this all. The movie doesn't try to paint a grim picture -- it tries to paint reality, and the results are grim. Our prejudices are so human, and while we keep them in check most of the time, they break the surface when we're stressed. That is what's happening in New Orleans, and America, right now. Crash is set in LA, and spans 36 hours in the lives of some very diverse characters. The city district attorney and his wife; a Persian co...