Ooh, look how great the US is.

BBC News: Bush seeks approval from rest of world

Speeches reveal the true nature of the speechgiver, hidden in crevices between lines and in the silence between paragraphs. This isn't, as Bush claims, just peace "for its own sake". This whole thing smacks of the US desperately wanting approval and admiration for what they've done. The words between read "Look how great we are, aren't we?" in the same way a child yearns for parental approval.

Maybe this opens up new ways of "dealing" with the US, and new approaches towards its attitude, and "our" attitude. If we continue to treat them with arrogant disregard and antagonisation, then the administration will become even worse. Icy stand-offs simply lead to the US getting its own way more and more, in a spiralling clash of stiff-upper-lips that can only lead in destruction.

Instead, someone needs to sit down with the whole nation, and say "yes, you've achieved big things. We're produ of you. But you have so much more to learn..." Perhaps a future without constant US intervention is only achievable if we come to feel more pity than anger for them.

Perhaps :)

Vegan ethics

Science never actually resolves anything, and for any one study saying one thing, there's always another somewhere else saying the opposite. But it's interesting to see "veganism" and "unethical" in the same sentence. Everything is "ethical" or "unethical" these days. Maybe it's no longer a useful benchmark to determine what we should do... ;)

Sheep to the slaughter

Looks like it's open season on shoppers. Hnnng.

Just a geek

Not enough people read Wil Wheaton, IMHO. Especially when he's kicking out some delightful writing.

Magpies and Building Blocks

Exmosis: The Deconstruction of the Internet

Hair is your aerials, man.

North Korea Declares War on Long Hair: "long hair hampers brain activity by taking oxygen away from nerves in the head"