My mom wanted to get an early start in Big Springs, Nebraska.  I've never been much of an early riser, and even in 1984 I was tough to wake up.  My mom was able to get me up and at 'em, and back to the eatery by the hotel where we had supper.  I'm pretty sure I had some kind of cereal there, and my mind tells me it was either Special K or Rice Krispies.  I'm not sure what my mom ate, but I'm guessing it consisted mostly of a cigarette and black coffee.  I don't remember much of what she ate on the trip at all, and that probably isn't too surprising.  What kids make a note of what their parents eat?  I was so very tired, and I didn't want to be up and at 'em at 5:30 AM.  My mom was eager to get going, and she told me I could sleep in the truck as we drove East.  So, I arranged the seat-belt in such a way that I could get some sleep.  I must have slept most of the morning, but it wasn't a restful sleep.  What seemed like every few seconds, a semi truck shot past us.  My mom isn't exactly a slow driver, but she's no lead-foot either.  For a few hours, I would sleep and occasionally open my eyes to watch a truck fly by, and usually gone before I could see what it was carrying or what was written on the side.  It was on that drive that I think I most wanted to be a truck driver.  They seemed to be moving so much faster than we were, and they had someplace to go that may have been totally new to them.  This drive was nothing new to me, as the rest of the way was already road I knew.  My wife hates the fact I'm always looking for new ways to go places, or that sometimes I want to take a bit of a scenic route.  She's all about getting from point to point quickly, where I like to see things I've never seen before on the drive.  That might be the topic for another blog another day.

I gave up trying to sleep around 9 AM or so, and not too long after that we rolled into North Platte.  I double checked the map, and told my mom what road we needed to get on to head North to South Dakota.  The drive North was a lot more scenic than the previous several hours on the Interstate.  I remember quite a few more trees popping up, and some twists in the road.  My mom's mood had changed slightly as well.  Rather than being worn down and pensive, she seemed happier and more focused on the destination.  Once we crossed into South Dakota, my navigation had its first challenge.

We drove North to Interstate 90, and then we had to drive Eastward again.  My mom was suddenly annoyed with me, as she thought we were much closer to Pierre than I had let on.  I insisted this is exactly the way my brother had taken us, and that Pierre wasn't that close to Nebraska (the town is practically in the middle of the state).  This back and forth went on for a few miles, until we hit the Pierre exit.  She thought that Pierre was going to be right off the exit, but we still had 30 miles of driving before then.  She was mad at me, but I insisted on pleading my case.  Eventually, she dropped it and said something to the effect of "well I just misunderstood you" or something like that.  30 miles of grassland and a few hills later, we pulled into Pierre, South Dakota once again, and I talked her into stopping at the Red Owl Superstore.

The Red Owl Superstore is one of my favorite places of all time to go to.  Some of my first memories of wide aisles of toys, Charles Schulz books on the shelf, and elevator rides were at the Red Owl Superstore in Pierre.  It seemed to have everything that Stavig's in Sisseton didn't, and it had an elevator, which gave me that big city feeling.  Every trip to Pierre when my brother lived there wound up at the Red Owl Superstore at some point.  I still have my die-cast Millennium Falcon that my parents bought me, along with a few Peanuts books.  The store is still there, but since Red Owl faded away it has become a store called Dakotamart.  I've been there a few times, and it's mostly the same.  It doesn't seem as impressive or magical anymore, but it still demands I go to it every time I'm in Pierre.

Anyway, back in September of 1984 I was in the Red Owl superstore, and I was looking for a new Star Wars figure.  I was all about Star Wars action figures then, but I should have seen the end of that hobby coming fast.  Jedi had been out for a year, and it wasn't the same since most of the bad guys were dead, and the rebels had won.  I didn't find any Star Wars figures, but I found something better.  Something I didn't know I wanted, but I knew I wanted it when i saw it.  There, on the shelf, were Optimus Prime and Megatron.  I'd seen a few commercials for this new Transformers line here and there, but I'd never seen them in a store, and they looked so freakin' cool it hurt.  I wanted both, but I couldn't have both.  It turned out that at twenty dollars a robot, my mom didn't have the resources to buy me either.  I was usually a pro at twisting my mom's arm into buying me toys, but she just didn't have the money.  I remember going back and looking at her, but her tired face kept telling me no, even though I knew deep down she wanted to say yes.  I wonder if she was thinking about the past month of uprooting ourselves only to try to replant ourselves back in Veblen after giving up on New Mexico.  Maybe I'm just assigning what I'd like to think she was thinking at the time.  I think a more realistic thought in her mind was "hurry up, I want to go home."  So, Optimus Prime and Megatron would have to wait to come home with me.  I'll never know what became of the two in Pierre, but I found mine in Wahpeton, North Dakota and Sisseton, South Dakota.  My mom was willing to buy me an action figure, since she had about five dollars to spare.  There were no Star Wars figures in stock, but there was one action figure of equal size left.  All alone, on the shelf by my mom, was Cobra Commander from the G.I. Joe line, in all his original chrome dome glory.  Anyone who knows me knows that while a big Transformer fan, I'm more a G.I. Joe fan.  I started my G.I. Joe collection about a year or so later, thanks to WGN showing "The Revenge of Cobra" and my luck in finding a Zartan figure.  I decided that I'd rather go home with nothing if I couldn't get Optimus or Megatron, so Cobra Commander didn't find a home that day.  I eventually found several Cobra Commanders for my collection, but no original ones until I got a lucky bid in on eBay about six years ago.

Looking back now, it is a bit odd that on my way back home, I had a chance to prematurely embrace the two toy and cartoon lines that I would be a fan of to this day, and that my enjoyment in making up stories for them would allow me to eventually make up stories for role playing games, which led me to making some of my best friends, which led me to come out of my shell more, which led me to take chances...which in a way led me to meeting my wife.  Maybe that's taking it a bit too far, but for the sake of making that trip to the Red Owl Superstore overly important, I'll say it isn't.

The drive from Pierre to Veblen was a total blur.  My mom and I were ready to put an end to this month long experiment.  I wanted to get back to my friends in school, and I'm sure my mom wanted to get back to her boyfriend (and soon my step-dad).  Our house was being looked after by a dear old friend, and I was already dealing with the fact I'd never see my cat again.  We took her out to a farm because she couldn't go with us, and she'd ran off sometime between us leaving and my mom deciding to come back.  Part of me wondered if anything in Veblen had changed, but nothing in Veblen ever changed back then.  We rolled into our old driveway, keyed into our old house, and decided to unpack the next day.  Just like that, we were back and like we had never left.  It was almost more like a vacation than a move, but it was no vacation.  It was an experience I'll never forget, but one I didn't think about much for a long time.

Now that I've recounted the journey to and from Farmington, New Mexico, there's the matter of what to do with this blog.  I'll work on that for the epilogue, as I hope to do one more blog about going back to school, and how things did change in the following weeks, months and years.  Plus, I'm hoping to find time to reread everything I've posted in the last few months, and figure out how to bring this story to a proper close.

Mac Vs Pc

Hi,

Since I'm still on the right side of my twenties, I need not hide the fact that I'm going to be 24 in two weeks time. October 21, 1984 was the happy day I was born on. There was widespread unrest, killings and violence soon after I was born. Not because of the birth of the great me, but because former PM Indira Gandhi got killed around that time, as a result of communal violence.

My birthday also heralds the arrival of Diwali. As a toddler, my mother used to tell me the whole city of Chennai was celebrating my birthday with fireworks and sweets. The sweet fiction lasted till I was five years old; by then I had figured out it was Diwali people were celebrating, not my birthday. Still I always got terrible excited...Being a Christian kid was no deterrent to celebrating Diwali and bursting fire crackers. For the neighbourhood ragamuffin gang of kids - thats me and my friends, the order of the day was bursting crackers and bingeing on sweets. We also got to sample all the goodies, prepared by our mommas and aunties (we would of course have to reciprocate the gesture with cakes and biriyani during Christmas, just like our Muslim neighbours were expected to invite us over for dinner during the end of Ramzan).

For me Diwali, Christmas, Ramzan or Pongal celebrations were always pan-Indian and brought out the best of secular India. My family's faith in no way affected our whole-hearted celebration of these festivals.

And October is also the month of many holidays - Gandhi Jayanthi (the day that turns every Indian a teetotaller), Ayoodha Pooja, Vijaya Dasami and Diwali. Only once, Diwali fell on my birthday and I could not get decked up in ribbons & lacey dresses and show off at school. Wearing your birthday dress to school was an important event in the life of a school kid. Since you had to wear the school uniform the whole year round, wearing your colourful birthday dress made you the star of the day. Also most schools sing "Happy birthday" during the Assembly session after morning prayers. Many a times, I was the only one in the school celebrating my birthday on that day, so the whole school would sing "Happy Birthday to Rachel Chitra.." instead of "Happy Birthday dear children..." Gave a kid quite a high!

En el año 1948 George Orwell finalizó su novela 1984. Hoy, 60 años más tarde, este es el plano de situación de la casa que Orwell habitó en Londres. El Big Brother mucho abarca y mucho aprieta. Visto en BoingBoing.

Algunas interesantes cuestiones sobre los "beneficios" de la videovigilancia: Stop Big Brother State (vídeo subtitulado en castellano).

Ver lo que tenemos delante de nuestras narices requiere una lucha constante.

George Orwell

Visualise a graph of boom and bust, let's call (a) the boom period, i.e. the length of time between the last bust and the current bust. And let's call (b) the amplitude of the boom.

If that time is longer, the economy is going to fall a lot harder. Multiply that by the fact that, after a certain amount of boom-time, Stupid Banker People's memories start fading, and they can no longer remember the bust, therefore throwing caution to the wind and increasing the risk of their investments - thus making the boom (b) far greater. When the boom is greater, and the boom period is greater, the resultant combination can cause exponential consequences. I say "exponential", but it's not true is it? The global economy will mend.

It's really obvious if you think about it that way. Bottoms ALWAYS fall out of things. Obviously I have a PhD in hindsight - like everyone else in the world - which is why I feel okay about framing it like this.

I'm not sure why everyone wants an explanation.

Scarily ignorant prole on the street interviewed by BBC News 24 #1: "why should we pick up the bill for those banker people, they got themselves into the mess, why should OUR money bail them out? it's got nothing to do with us."

Scarily ignorant prole on the street interviewed by BBC News 24 #2: "I think it's a disgrace, this money should go to the national health service, or something that really needs it".

Scarily disingenuous bastard of an opposition political leader interviewed by BBC News 24 #1: "the current Prime Minister is responsible, this will be known as the "Brown Bust Era"" (true story).

How depressing.

One thing in common though: nobody wants to blame themselves.

I personally find it strangely reassuring that the economy has taken an enormous battering, and major corporations are dropping like flies. I do genuinely hope any readers don't misunderstand my point here: I've no desire to see anyone suffer, be they disgustingly rich or pathetically poor, or the punters in between. Nor do I take pleasure in seeing fine upstanding historic financial institutions going under - I find it sad. Nor do I take pleasure in capitalism itself failing, per se.

The reason I find it reassuring is that, well, humanity is so greedy and destitute that I'm surprised we haven't yet seen much worse. I'm thinking Gotham City here: widespread corruption and the rule of crime. Or an Orwellian state.

It's just that it brings me back to what I know, what I learnt at primary school, the lessons of those GCSE readings of Lord of the Flies, the words of responsible adults who taught sensible things to me when I was young, generic sayings such as "it never pays to be greedy". It's so, so comforting.

I'm sure this is all no good to those who have to go into work for 20 hours per day, or who have no work to go into, or whose small enterprise - their lifelong dream - has had to declare bankruptcy because their bank was Icelandic. Or whose American fixed rate mortgage is up for renewal. Or whose job is on the line because a decision they made 5 years ago has come back to haunt them.

I'm sure it's no good to them what I am saying, some glib remarkster on the internet spouting righteous pap.

Honestly, I'm not like that. I'm not a righteous judgemental type. But frankly, you'll all burn in hell.

(Joke)

Seriously though, it should be good to you.

Why? Because you watch Big Brother, the television show, without shuddering. You should be shuddering at the echoes of what is implied by that book. You shouldn't find Big Brother a funny television programme to watch. That's like wearing a poppy on November 11 and finding the whole thing a bit quaint.

And you shouldn't go along with the media and laugh at the heroics of David Davis when he puts his job on the line for fundamental human freedoms.

I agree, it made no difference. But what the hell is the world coming to, when we simply refuse to accept a politician is doing a job because he believes in it? We whinge about how we are increasingly disaffected by politics, because politicians keep lying to us, yet when one stands up for something he truly believes in and makes an exceptionally eloquent case for his cause, we laugh him down?

I sit in my little room sometimes wondering if people have lost their minds. Are you SERIOUS you don't mind living in a surveillance state? Are you SERIOUS you wouldn't mind being locked up for 42 days without knowing why, how, what, who? Where your family is, what they are thinking? What you'll do when you get out, if you get out, will you ever be able to work again? What happened to your job?

Of course not - because it doesn't affect you. Because you didn't do anything wrong and it wouldn't happen. Of course.

Just like it didn't affect you that our financial markets weren't regulated heavily enough.

It will.

And sadly there are people the anti-terror laws already affect. And it can wreck innocent lives.

The frustrating thing for me is that there is a lesson to be learnt in everything, but people don't want to learn it. (Cue further righteous-sounding pap, I'm sorry, it's what I think.) If the sudden unprecedented collapse of the global economy with no apparent warning can't teach you something about allowing government to go unchecked - that is, government who have much more power over us than corporations - then what can?

This is a big rant against the British People. You are all a bunch of blinkered idiots. I'd use far more colourful language, but children might read this. (Another true story.)

This little diatribe started off as a rant against American people, it went something like this:

"Wow. There seems to have galvanised an enormous amount of hatred for Sen. Barack Obama within the last week. It's incredible how gullible people* can be with a little negative political marketing."

* I had to stop myself saying "The Americans", because sadly it's true of the stupid Brits as well.

Naomi Wolf
AlterNet
Thursday, October 9, 2008

Background: the First Brigade of the Third Infantry Division, three to four thousand soldiers, has been deployed in the United States as of October 1. Their stated mission is the form of crowd control they practiced in Iraq, subduing “unruly individuals,” and the management of a national emergency. I am in Seattle and heard from the brother of one of the soldiers that they are engaged in exercises now. Amy Goodman reported that an Army spokesperson confirmed that they will have access to lethal and non lethal crowd control technologies and tanks.

George Bush struck down Posse Comitatus, thus making it legal for military to patrol the U.S. He has also legally established that in the “War on Terror,” the U.S. is at war around the globe and thus the whole world is a battlefield. Thus the U.S. is also a battlefield.

He also led change to the 1807 Insurrection Act to give him far broader powers in the event of a loosely defined “insurrection” or many other “conditions” he has the power to identify. The Constitution allows the suspension of habeas corpus — habeas corpus prevents us from being seized by the state and held without trial — in the event of an “insurrection.” With his own army force now, his power to call a group of protesters or angry voters “insurgents” staging an “insurrection” is strengthened.

U.S. Rep. Brad Sherman of California said to Congress, captured on C-Span and viewable on YouTube, that individual members of the House were threatened with martial law within a week if they did not pass the bailout bill:

“The only way they can pass this bill is by creating and sustaining a panic atmosphere. … Many of us were told in private conversations that if we voted against this bill on Monday that the sky would fall, the market would drop two or three thousand points the first day and a couple of thousand on the second day, and a few members were even told that there would be martial law in America if we voted no.”

If this is true and Rep. Sherman is not delusional, I ask you to consider that if they are willing to threaten martial law now, it is foolish to assume they will never use that threat again. It is also foolish to trust in an orderly election process to resolve this threat. And why deploy the First Brigade? One thing the deployment accomplishes is to put teeth into such a threat.

I interviewed Vietnam veteran, retired U.S. Air Force Colonel and patriot David Antoon for clarification:

“If the President directed the First Brigade to arrest Congress, what could stop him?”

“Nothing. Their only recourse is to cut off funding. The Congress would be at the mercy of military leaders to go to them and ask them not to obey illegal orders.”

“But these orders are now legal?’”

“Correct.”

“If the President directs the First Brigade to arrest a bunch of voters, what would stop him?”

“Nothing. It would end up in courts but the action would have been taken.”

“If the President directs the First Brigade to kill civilians, what would stop him?”

“Nothing.”

“What would prevent him from sending the First Brigade to arrest the editor of the Washington Post?”

“Nothing. He could do what he did in Iraq — send a tank down a street in Washington and fire a shell into the Washington Post as they did into Al Jazeera, and claim they were firing at something else.”

“What happens to members of the First Brigade who refuse to take up arms against U.S. citizens?”

“They’d probably be treated as deserters as in Iraq: arrested, detained and facing five years in prison. In Iraq a study by Ann Wright shows that deserters — reservists who refused to go back to Iraq — got longer sentences than war criminals.”

“Does Congress have any military of their own?”

“No. Congress has no direct control of any military units. The Governors have the National Guard but they report to the President in an emergency that he declares.”

“Who can arrest the President?”

“The Attorney General can arrest the President after he leaves or after impeachment.”

[Note: Prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi has asserted it is possible for District Attorneys around the country to charge President Bush with murder if they represent districts where one or more military members who have been killed in Iraq formerly resided.]

“Given the danger do you advocate impeachment?”

“Yes. President Bush struck down Posse Comitatus — which has prevented, with a penalty of two years in prison, U.S. leaders since after the Civil War from sending military forces into our streets — with a ’signing statement.’ He should be impeached immediately in a bipartisan process to prevent the use of military forces and mercenary forces against U.S. citizens”

“Should Americans call on senior leaders in the Military to break publicly with this action and call on their own men and women to disobey these orders?”

“Every senior military officer’s loyalty should ultimately be to the Constitution. Every officer should publicly break with any illegal order, even from the President.”

“But if these are now legal. If they say, ‘Don’t obey the Commander in Chief,’ what happens to the military?”

“Perhaps they would be arrested and prosecuted as those who refuse to participate in the current illegal war. That’s what would be considered a coup.”

“But it’s a coup already.”

“Yes.”

A Dice, desenvolvedora da famosa série Battlefield, apresentou melhor ao mundo na recente edição da E3, nos Estados Unidos, o que claramente pretende ser uma revolução no modo de encarar os jogos em primeira pessoa: Mirror's Edge, que chega para PC, PS3 e Xbox 360, com produção da EA, agora em Novembro, na plataforma Unreal Engine 3, que garante qualidade visual.

Apesar da premissa oferecida pelo jogo, que é ação em primeira pessoa não focada em armas de fogo, não ser totalmente inovadora ( já que outros títulos de peso como Elder Scrools IV: Oblivion e Breakdown oferecerem uma jogabilidade em primeira pessoa não completamente apoiada em armas de fogo, que incapacitam a definição FPS [First Person Shooting]) a Dice recentemente revelou informações que levam a crer que o jogo pode sim se tornar um clássico instantâneo em um momento que jogos originais estão fazendo falta. Entenda a seguir.

Os produtores queriam fazer o que eles chamavam de "Le Parkour em primeira pessoa". Para os mais desinformados, a atividade, inventada na frança por David Belle, consiste em chegar de um ponto a outro de maneira mais rápida e eficaz, transpondo todo tipo de obstáculos.

Na pele de Faith (que emportuguês significa Fé) uma “cocota” oriental de curvas sinuosas, look pós-moderno e integrante de uma organização chamada “Runners” (em alusão ao free runing, que também é sinônimo de Le Parkour) você literalmente corre contra o tempo e adversidades do cenário. Isso envolve também tomar decisões contra inimigos armados até os dentes, dos quais você pode simplesmente correr ou encarar de frente. Tudo isso acontecem em uma cidade dominada por um controle autoritário que monitora a tudo e todos, em troca de uma “cidade perfeita” para seus habitantes.

Faith corre justamente para enfrentar esse controle, circular informações de forma clandestina e paralelamente desvendar o mistério que envolve a acusação de sua irmã por um assassinato que ela alega não ter cometido. Rhianna Pratchet, que escreveu o enredo do jogo, afirmou que sua intenção era presentear os jogadores com "uma realidade em que as pessoas abriram mão de sua liberdade em troca de boas condições de vida". Se você já leu O admirável mundo novo, de Aldous Huxley, você se sentirá em casa, mas a proposta de mais de 70 anos, adaptada a um jogo, parece tentadora. Em contextos semelhantes como os do filme matrix Matrix e do livro 1984, de George Orwell, o desenrolar da história e seu desfecho não costumam ser felizes, o que sugere um possível final aberto e/ou trágico também para o jogo. Espero não ter dado spoilers.

Se não bastasse a história e ambientação do enredo o jogo promete fazer bonito na jogabilidade, dando ao jogador um campo de visão menos "claustrofóbico" em relação aos FPS convencionais, enfatizando a jogabilidade na corrida, saltos e desarmamentos, ao invés do combate, como costuma acontecer. Vendo as screenshots do jogo é possível notar alguns contadores de tempo e velocidade, que indicam que o jogo pretende ter um ritmo bem intenso. O produtor sênior do título, Owen O'Brien, disse que uma das inspirações da equipe foi o filme Corra Lola Corra, em que a protagonista passa a maior parte do tempo correndo contra o tempo.

O jogo ainda saiu da Games Convention, recentemente ocorrida em Leipzig, na Alemanha, com o prêmio de promessa mais original para o Xbox 360.

Se essa correria toda vai animar os jogadores, só saberemos no mês que vem.

Discuta esse artigo no Fórum Omega Geek

From TheNewspaper.com:

The UK Commission for Integrated Transport last year proposed a nationwide blanket of speed cameras as a means of fighting global warming. After a series of trials, the Home Office is now set to make this a reality by approving early next year the SPECS3 "distance over time speed measuring device" that will make it impossible to drive on any primary road in Britain without being tracked and subjected to an instant fine for exceeding the posted speed limit.

With Arizona being the first to deploy a network of fixed and mobile cameras throughout the state, don't be surprised to see the cameras enhanced to measure speed over distance.

Let's bring this down to a simple form for everyone to understand. The media is like the town crier to a small town. He's supposed to announce major news in the town. Let's say there is a feud between Family Albertson and Family Bickerson. The town crier secretly sides with Family Bickerson and tells everyone about the faults and blunders of the Albertson family, while the Bickerson family is robbing banks and causing choas. Shouldn't the people be informed that they are being robbed?

The media has proven itself to be a very dangerous weapon on the levels of 1984 manipulation and deciet. Obviously, there will always be bias within the media, but when it acts as a massive force to stifle important information for the American public, when it is basically campaigning for Barack Obama, when it is doing everything it can to obliterate John McCain, it goes to show that the American people aren't being informed, and a democratic country that isn't informed is a weak democracy.

I'm done for the day. More of this later.

Allá por 1980 se editaba una revista de cómic independiente llamada "1984" en honor a a la obra de mismo

título de G.Orwell;Ambas analizaban el 'futuro' desde una vista pesimista de la humanidad( Al parecer no se

equivocaban demasiado) esta revista madrileña lo hacía con la colaboracion de Alfonso Font en una serie de

historietas agrupadas ( La Caza,Lluvia,La Gran Empresa,Tanatos vuelve a casa,Stock...), en lo que se tituló

"Cuentos de un futuro imperfecto";Todo comenzaba con la visita de un emisario de otro planeta que por orden

de la "Comisión Intergaláctica" nos mostraría una seria de retazos de nuestro postapocalíptico futuro con la

intención de que tomáramos conciencia de la acción humana y pudieramos corregir nuestro rumbo,aunque

parece que no nos hizo mucho efecto.

Una lectura a mi parecer muy interesante, ya no solo por la temática si no que llevándolo al nivel artístico la

calidad de Font a la hora de narrar es encomiable,su maestría en la línea y tinta... una obra digan de ver.

(Por 6€ en Ebay! xD)

I let them sit for awhile. Reassuring myself that the longer I wait, the more my "luck" will build up. I know that's bogus, but that doesn't stop me from doing it.

So...should I scratch them or not? Yes or no? I'm thinking about waiting till I find a coin that has the year 1984. What are my chances of that? How long am I going to have to wait?

Why 1984? For starters, it is my birth year...the year of the Rat...which is this current year...2008. In the beginning of the year, I thought to myself.

1) I can't believe Ferry Corsten is performing on New Years 2008 @ Together As One. My favorite DJ in the whole freaking world...starting my year off right. Someone up there loves me!

2) I can't believe that it's finally the year of the Rat.

3) I'm going to have the best luck this year.

4) I can't believe I'm starting my career doing something I really like.

I thought this was my lucky year damnit! WOW.

Couple months goes by, and my luck slowly started to fall apart. I nearly ripped the bumper off my car. I was driving around without registration because I needed to get it smogged. I decided to quit my job because I was going through a nervous breakdown. I met someone that wasn't who I thought they were. We are entering another Depression. Wow...what a year.

But you know what? This year is about the end, and the bad luck will go away. Only 2 more months! I'm looking forward to this New Year.

Yup, these scratchers are going to wait...till I find that lucky coin. So if I want to scratch them anytime soon, I better keep a eye open for it.

Life...is a gamble.

That's right folks, brace yourselves. For millions of satellite owners, Channel 73 on your dial is now officially the OBAMA Channel, all Obama, all the time:

I can't speak for all progressive Democrats, but I find the idea of Chinese style state-run television a little bit frightening. Advertising is one thing, but having your own cable television channel sort of pushes it, Mr. Obama. The idea of a President, let alone a Presidential candidate, having his own channel for propaganda use is a little too Soviet, too 1984 for me, in addition to being in plain poor taste.

But Barack Hussein Obama seems to have no problem picking up where Saddam Hussein and Chairman Mao left off, all but using the OBAMA Channel to hypnotize voters into worshipping him as Supreme Leader:

Scary.

Unfortunately for HRH Obama the Great, this comes at a time when videos of the emerging Obama Youth Army, in which innocent children and teenagers are forced into singing paens to their Leader Obama...

...or forced into marching and chanting cadences in His name...

...calling Obama "Alpha, Omega," which is Greek for 'Beginning, End' and usually reserved as a reference to a little rabbi from Nazareth named Jesus Christ:

Whether you find this sort of Obama worship sacriligeous or disturbing (or both), it is clear that the indoctrination of kids for idol worship is undemocratic and anti-American. I don't want my kids lulled into communist-style complacency by singing songs about 'happiness' and 'freedom' when in fact the result of brainwashing in 'apathy' and 'slavery.' All that's missing is the Obama salute!

Perhaps Obama's official campaign photo should show him with a crown of thorns? I mean, really, the OBAMA Channel? Could he be any more presumptuous and arrogant?

The folks over at the Hillary Clinton Forum are alternately flabbergasted and flat-out frightened by the OBAMA Channel and Obama youth:

Well, wouldn't Hilter and Goebbels be proud! BO's got his own TV station even before he has control of the government! - monoroid

Scary! - ginamc

One of the creepiest things I have ever seen. - CChick

Barack TV? Next, they'll build a temple for him ... oh wait they already did that in Denver. - PP

The children being brainwashed and acting like Hitler Youth only with Obama's name...And now his own TV station? If I didn't know better I would think I was living in Nazi Germany or Communist Russia. I never thought we would see this kind of thing happening in our own country. - Avalon

More than a little disturbing. - NBM

Obama T.V. + Student Indoctrination = Totalitarian State. Orwellian... What's next? Swear your allegiance to Obama, if not you will flunk your class? - gmc

This guy is an ARROGANT, NARCISSISTIC POWER-MONGER ...egomaniacal. - Gina

Everything is about increasing his access to power and control. - freethinking

ALMOST MAKES ME HAVE A PANICK ATTACK - Charlie Brown

Barf... - JustMy.02

I have a feeling that if elected Obama will put William Ayers in charge of Homeland Security. He can say he has experience because he knows his way around the Pentagon. - skylight

Freaky!! - Laura

Each day new and more sickening, frightening information...Kids behave like they're in the Moonie Cult. News Casters' legs are tingling. Glad this will be over soon. - southern k

I'm so schocked I don't know what to say - okbiograd

NORTH KOREA uses the same technique - children sing to their dear leader. - wchick

What will be next? Plans for Whitehouse construction adding a dome and spire like the Kremlin? Or a draft constitutional amendment set for siging on Jan 9th renaming our coutry to the USSA? We should all be very very afraid - Tague

I find the blatant comparison with Jesus most unsettling of all -- and not because I'm a Christian, because I'm not... Obama has overstepped himself again. - Tom

I am officially scared. What the heck is going on this country?!? - Ray of Hope

Scary, scary, scary!!! Obama's is the Alpha and Omega alright...he's going to be the beginning of a socialist police state...and the end of America as we know it today! - Seattle Dem

kinda reminds me of what happend in germany during ww2 . to the german kids . - boogieman

An Obama channel? That's just creepy. - NileQT

WHAT IS GOING ON with all these child indoctrinations?! Why are they always centralized around praising OBAMA by name - pledging allegiance to a leader rather than a country is beyond creepy! The American public will find this highly disturbing...you can't argue that this is not sick. - writer

Maybe we'll get lucky and God will zap Obama with a bolt of lightening for the "Alpha and Omega" bit. - MK

George Orwell's vision of 1984 comes one step closer to reality. - HumbleDave

Yikes! Let's hope the OBAMA Channel and the Obama camps and youth training will not turn American kids into unthinking zombies. Let's hope Obama has the good sense to make this television channel go the way of his Presidential seal: into the 'do not pass go' file of campaign tactics. There's enough terrifying stuff on cable already (anybody ever catch a glimpse of the new season of reality freak show The Janice Dickinson Modeling Agency on Oxygen Network? *shudder*)

Meanwhile, let's hope the McCain campaign realizes that Obama is not the second coming of Jimmy Carter, or of Paris Hilton, as they have argued. He is not just an inexperienced celebrity politician, but also something much more sinister. McCain should be telling the American people that Obama seems to be positioning himself as the second coming of Jim Jones, David Koresh, or if he is elected, something far far scarier!

Monday was not so exciting. I did get to sleep in, which was nice. I woke up on my own time and got dressed on my own time. Then, noting that the only food I had was a jar of mustard and some butter, decided that it was high time I made a major grocery run. I went to ASDA, because even though it takes a beastly long time, the prices are better if you have to get a lot of stuff, and I did. I spent like 30 pounds on food, so hopefully it will last for a little while anyway. Ok, really it was only 25 because I bought a DVD, but I really wanted to watch Harry Potter. So I came back, unpacked all the groceries, made some lunch and settled down and read Goodbye to Berlin which was the basis for the play I Am A Camera which was the basis for the hit film Cabaret. I actually really enjoyed it. I also worked on one of my midterms off and on. More off than on really, though.

Tuesday, which of course I always dread, didn't turn out as badly as I had expected. I think a lot of that had to do with the fact that I arrived to my first class, The Bloomsbury Era, and our tutor Mary announced that we were going for a walk. Since the Bloomsbury Group was famously described as "a circle of triangles living in squares" she wanted to take us to some of the squares where they lived. All of the squares are within about a 10 minute walk of the IES centre. How cool is that?

Anyway we started out and went over to see the old offices of Faber and Faber where T.S. Eliot worked for many years. Then it was over to the Senate House Library where such greats as George Orwell, Dylan Thomas, Graham Greene and Evelyn Waugh worked writing propoganda for the British Government during the War. The building looks horribly facist and awful. Supposedly Hitler liked it so much that he made sure it wasn't bombed as he wanted it for his headquarters when he took over London. The building was the model for the Ministry of Truth in Orwell's 1984, a novel that I love.  From there we went to Gower Street to see the home of Lady Ottoline Morrell, who was a great literary hostess of the age. We also saw the house where the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (you know William Morris, Dante Gabriel Rosetti and their cronies) was founded as well as the site where Darwin once lived. In an ironic twist of fate it is now directly across from a major Catholic something or other, I've forgotten exactly what. We passed RADA (Royal Academy of Dramatic Art) which counts among its alumni, patrons, or members many of the biggest names in British theatre and cinema. We then went to see the mummified body of Jeremy Bentham, the great utlitiarian, at University College. That bit was creepy.

Finally we got to some of the Bloomsbury Group. We saw houses where Virgnia and Leonard Woolf, Vanessa Bell, Lytton Strachey, and John Maynard Keynes, among others lived. I also finally got to see a blue plaque for Charles Dickens! I've been looking for ages. Mary also gave us a lot of information so we could go on a Dickens walk by ourselves, which I am absolutely going to do when I get a chance.

The other two classes Tuesday weren't so bad. Lit into Film was blah, but that was because I did not care for the book or movie that we watched this week. I found both a bit rediculous. Oh well. It is over now.

Today was most excellent. We went to the British Library, which is HUGE. As a bibliophile, I am naturally drawn to libraries, and this one did not dissappoint. It is a hideous modern building, Prince Charles famously declared that it was like a "secret police building", but I'll forgive its ugliness because of the treasures inside. It contains some 186 miles, not feet, not metres, but miles, of shelves. The nucleus of the library is the King's Library, which is the 65,000 volume library collected by the mad King George III (best known to Americans as the king we rebelled against during the Revolutionary War) and donated to the nation by his son, George IV. It is neat, but personally it can't hold a candle to the Sir John Ritblat Gallery, which houses a permanent gallery of the Treasures of the British Library. When they say treasures, they mean treasures, I don't know how many millions of pounds the collection in that room is worth, but it is surely up there.

I was absolutely in heaven. On the risk of sounding slightly blasphemous, it was the holy of holies for an English major. I was so excited to be in that room that I was jittery. There was so much awesome in that room that I don't even have the words to describe it. The sheer number of incredible artifacts in that room is mind blowing. Here is just a quick list of the things that I was most impressed with, and it is by no means comprehensive:

• a First Folio of Shakespeare's works
• the handwritten manuscript of Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre, opened to the page with "Reader, I married him" on it
• the manuscript of Thomas Hardy's Tess of the d'Urbervilles
• handwritten pages of Jane Austen's Persuasion
• Jane Austen's writing desk and spectacles
• the Beowulf manuscript
• Thomas More's last letter to Henry VIII in 1535 shortly before he was executed declaring to Henry that "I am your trew bedeman and have ever bene and will be till I dye."
• diaries or notebooks from Leonardo DaVinci, Issac Newton, and Galileo
• a letter written by Charles Darwin
• an edition of Aesop's Fables dated 26 March 1484
• a Gutenberg Bible
• a copy of Dante's Divine Comedy circa 1444-58
• the Moutier-Grandvae Bible dating from the 2nd quarter of the 9th century
• the Lindisfarne Gospels from between 696-721
• the York Psalter from the 3rd quarter of the 13th century
• a copy of the Magna Carter from 1215 when it was signed as well as a later one from 1225
• a map of Britain circa 1250
• a handwritten page of The Booke of Sir Thomas More that is widely accepted to be written by none other than William Shakespeare
• a 1616 copy of Marlowe's Doctor Faustus
• a 1557 copy of Tottel's Miscellany
• a 1633 copy of John Donne's poems
• the original handwritten lyrics to the great Beatle's songs I Want to Hold Your Hand, Help, Yesterday, Ticket to Ride, and A Hard Day's Night
• Mozarts marriage contract
• Beethovens tuning fork
• Handwritten scores by Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven and Schubert
• the Codex Sinaiticus, which is the earliest complete manuscript of the New Testament dating from the 4th Century.

It was awesome. Truly a magnificent sight to behold. I loved it. I think that it was my favourite thing of all the things I've done. More than the castles, more than the crown jewels, more than the atmosphere of being here. I was just in awe in that room. It was magnificent.

Then our tutor Julie, who is a most wonderful British woman with perhaps the best Greek last name ever, Charalambides (if I ever actually write a novel, I will use that surname for some character in it) took us on a walk to see more literary sites. We did a lot of repeat from my Bloomsbury class walk, but there were a few exciting additions. We saw a house where W.B. Yeats lived. We also saw the church, St George the Martyr, where Ted Hughes married Sylvia Plath. Another really cool thing that we saw was the Great Ormond Street Hospital, connected to the literary world because Sir James Barrie, author of Peter Pan granted the hospital all the royalties from Peter Pan. He did it while he was alive and his will confirmed it. When the copyright expired 50 years after Barrie's death Parliament made an exception and extended it in perpituity so that they will always continue to recieve royalties from it. I think it is rather wonderful that the boy who wouldn'g grow up is directly responsible for helping children who might not be able to grow up live to see adulthood.

So all in all, it has been a great past couple of days. Tomorrow is theatre night, and we are seeing Ivanov. I am really excited because it stars Kenneth Branagh. I'm pumped! I'll be sure to let you know how it is!

In den USA sind am 1. Oktober neue Richtlinien für die Bundespolizei FBI in Kraft getreten. Vor dem Hintergrund der derzeit alles bestimmenden globalen Finanzkrise sind diese angeblich dem »Kampf gegen den Terror« dienenden Regeln in der Öffentlichkeit weitgehend unbeachtet geblieben. Lediglich einige Bürgerrechtsorganisationen wie die »American Civil Liberties Union« (ACLU) haben mit Protestaktionen auf die eindeutig rassistische und polizeistaatliche Ausrichtung der Richtlinien hingewiesen. Nach Einschätzung der Organisation setzen diese die Schwelle für den Beginn einer Ermittlung erheblich herab. Künftig reiche schon der ethnische Hintergrund einer Person aus, um eine Untersuchung einzuleiten. Auch der Vorsitzende des Justizausschusses im Senat, der Demokrat Patrick Leahy, erklärte, FBI-Beamte dürften Verdächtige nun ohne Anzeichen für Gesetzesverstöße und ohne eine Genehmigung ihrer Vorgesetzten beobachten.

Dennoch haben US-Justizminister Michael Mukasey und FBI-Chef Robert Mueller letztes Wochenende versucht, das neue Regelwerk der Öffentlichkeit als harmlos vorzustellen. Vor dem Justizausschuß des US-Kongresses lobten sie es in den höchsten Tönen, weil es die US-Behörden in die Lage versetze, sich bei der Informationsbeschaffung zum Schutz vor Anschlägen an »einheitlichere, eindeutigere und einfachere« Vorschriften zu halten. Allerdings weigert sich die Bush-Administration hartnäckig, den genauen Wortlaut der Richtlinien vorzulegen. Zugleich versuchten FBI-Juristen bei einem Auftritt vor dem Kongreß den Eindruck zu vermitteln, man habe darin bereits den Bedenken von Bürgerrechtsorganisationen wie ACLU Rechnung getragen.

ACLU wies die Darstellung der FBI-Juristen zurück und verurteilte die neuen Befugnisse in einer Erklärung als »erschreckend« und als »Gefahr für die Privatsphäre unschuldiger Amerikaner«. Künftig kann »arabisches« Aussehen« schon ausreichen, ins Visier der Ermittler zu geraten.

As I continue reading George Orwell's 1984, I observe more startling revelations.

WAR IS PEACE
FREEDOM IS SLAVERY
IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH

The above mantra is scattered thoughout the book and the statements are the "three slogans of the Party." Let's break it down, shall we?

War is Peace: The only way to achieve peace is through war. Which seems to be the consensus of most world leaders.

Freedom is Slavery: Look no further than the Patriot Act, and the belief that in order to be "safe and free" we must give up our fundamental rights as outlined in the Constitution and become slaves to the government. A pretty socialistic view.

Ignorance is Strength: The ignorance of the public is strength to the government. The less the people know what is going on, the more the government can do to further gain control. Through mass distractions in entertainment (televised Rock, Paper, Scissors?) and disinformation in the mainstream media, the public is kept unaware of what is happening. It eventually reaches the point where society is completely ignorant of the past and present with no hope of a future.

Also in the book, protaganist Winston Smith was employed in the Minsitry of Truth. His job was to re-write newspaper articles to make them relevant to the current time. If someone was "vaporized", all previous information of them was erased, making it to where they don't exist. All knowledge of the past, before the Revoloution, was forgotten and rewritten by the Party.

We have a system similar to that in the world today. As the saying goes, "History is written by the winners." Our schools and government continue to perpetuate the lie the Christopher Colombus discovered America. History textbooks are filled with half-truths and misinformation.

The world of 1984 is a totallitarian socialist regime. "Ingsoc," which is referenced many times, means English socialism in Newspeak. Are we heading toward Amsoc?

Fremskridt nr. 38

02. november 1984

Årgang 12

Over 130 milliarder kroner er det, staten i 1985 skal udstede i nye statsobligationer og statsgældsbeviser. Hvis vel at mærke finanslovsforslagets tal holder.

Deres samlede udgiftssum overstiger indtægterne (skatterne) med 123.102.036.200 kroner. Det beløb skal altså hjemskaffes ved lån. Og da statspapirerne sælges til underkurs, fremkommer beløbet på mere end 130.000.000.000 kroner.

Før eller senere skal de penge betales af Danmarks 5 millioner indbyggere. Hvis de - for at spare renten - indbetaltes med det samme, blev det over 26.000 pr. næse. Eller mere end 104.000 kroner for en familie med to børn. Nogle af de 5 millioner danske kan ikke betale en klink eller smyger sig uden om.

Drejer hanen om

Forsigtigt regnet vil vor gennemsnitsfamilie derfor skulle bløde 150.000 kr. Og det er bare for at dække 1985-underskuddet. Der er et sådant rod i statens finanser, at der også kommer et kæmpetal i 1986, 1987 og alle andre år, indtil vi får afgørende Z-indflydelse på landets styre, eller kreditorerne synes, at nu er det blevet for galt og drejer hanen om for den respirator, hvori firkløverpartierne har anbragt det danske samfund.

Fisk ånder med gæller.

Schlüter ånder med gæld.

Det sidste er værre end det første.

Mogens Glistrup

Fremskridt nr. 41

23. november 1984

Årgang 12

Regeringen (V, C, CD og KrF, red.) savler uafladeligt i sangvinsk superoptimisme. Og folk vil så grumme gerne undgå ubehageligheder. Derfor klynger de sig med arme og ben til Schlüteristernes ordmagi-fadder-sladder og overhører eventuelle eftersætninger om, at alt endnu ikke er lykkedes.

Med de sidste 25 års ministre har aldrig haft samfundsøkonomisk konsekvent bagage i deres tornystre.

Deres kyniske holdning er: Efter os syndfloden. Derfor fortsætte de dødskursen med 5 millioner danskere som lallende snorke-passagerer.

Ved udmålingen af gammelpartiernes samlede synderegister rækker det ikke - som man så ofte gør - blot at kigge på igangværende års underskud. Disse underskud - såvel i forhold til udlandet som på statsregnskabet - og de deraf følgende gældsstiftelser skal lægges ovenpå finanslovspartiernes udskejelser i de foregående år og på, hvad der er lagt op til af negative tal i de kommende år.

Ved at sætte præcise tal på sit program dokumentere Fremskridtspartiet som landets eneste hæderlige parti, hvordan underskuddene kan fjernes: Jordbunden købmandsskab må meget langt afløse eftergivenhed overfor de mange organisationer med fingrene nede i statskassen.

Vcqm´erne søndagsprædiker med smukke ord om udlandsunderskuddet er væk i 1988 og statsunderskuddet i 1990. Dette er spekulation i troende naivister ud over den grovhed, man møder i de forkætrede nyreligiøse sekter. Når ministrenes småforanstaltninger sammenholdes med de multimilliardgældsætninger, der skal stoppes, opdager man, at firkløveret rammer meget, meget langt fra plet.

Palle Simonsen (C) med følge forlader sig trygt på, at næsten ingen vælgere har finanslov og betalingsbalanceanalyser som deres foretrukne hobbylæsning, og at avisernes skriverkarle ikke afslører løgnagtigheden.

The PKK is fighting for a Kurdish homeland in south-eastern Turkey. Since 1984, when the fighting began, some 40 000 people have been killed.

Turkey has responded to the PKK attacks with two days of bombings aimed at hitting Kurdish rebel bases. The PPK bases in northern Iraq and south-east Turkey were bombed by Turkish air force bombers.

The PKK says it has sustained no casualties as a result of the Turkish attacks, despite there being numerous targets in the bombings. It is believed that several thousand PKK rebels are based in northern Iraq – a staging post for attacks on military targets inside Turkey.

The clashes have been the heaviest between the two forces since early this year.

The PKK is considered a terrorist organisation by the United States and the European Union.

BELOW: A report dealing with the PKK attacks in Turkey