Cindy!! Ze ziet er in het voorfilmpje niet zo goed uit. En ze gaat zingen van Onderweg, van een zekere groep met de naam Abel, die ik ook al niet ken.

Ahem. Het liedje vind ik gewoon niet goed. Misschien zingt ze het wel goed, maar het is gewoon een slecht liedje vind ik. Ze heeft wel een spannend topje aan, in alle betekenissen van het woord. Leve Cindy!

Chris begint eraan. Hij zingt Papa van Stef Bos. Dat ik noch van haar noch van pluimen ken. Tiens, zijn vader stond vroeger ook als zanger op podia.

Tiens, ’t is niet zo goed. Vind ik toch. En dat Justin Timberlake-maniertje begint me echt wel tegen te steken.

Mja. Mja. Niet overtuigd. Eens kijken naar de jury. Jan Leyers geloofde het niet helemaal, en ik ben het er mee eens: hij zingt beter in tengels dan in tvlaams.

Idool 2003! Go Cindy! Deze week een nederlandstalig nummer. Cindy ziet er goed uit, en Brahim heeft een klak op. Ha!

Hmmmmm Sandra is hier aan het insinueren dat er iets zou aan het groeien zijn tussen Cindy en Chris.

Microsoft OneNote. Hm. The jury’s still out. Ik zie er het nut niet meteen helemaal van in op niet-Tablet PC’s voor het ogenblik, en ik ben een beetje nerveus over het feit dat er geen save-knop op zit.

Het ding hierboven is zo’n tekening die ik zeker al twintig keer heb gedaan tijdens vergaderingen om uit te leggen wat de default page structure van Perseus/Medusa doet, en ik zou dat in die OneNote alleen maar goed kunnen doen met ofwel een trackpad, ofwel direkt een TabletPC.

Bah, stom. Ik heb vandaag ontdenkt dat de belastingen mij geld hebben terugbetaald, en ik mag mij geen TabletPC kopen, we moeten het allemaal in de verbowingen steken.

Huhu: I used to have an open mind but my brains kept falling out.

Straks krijgen we ook nog zoiets te zien van ons Cindy op Idool 2003:

Meet Lashundra Cobbins. The 22-year-old Memphis woman is better known as “Trenyce,” one of the nine remaining “American Idol” finalists. And, in the proud tradition of reality TV, the unemployed singer has a rap sheet. Cobbins was busted in October 1999 on a felony theft charge, for which she was placed the following year in a pre-trial diversion program by a Shelby County Criminal Court judge (one of those, “keep your nose clean and we’ll expunge the records” deals).

But is it the real George Bush?

You just have to love good satire.

Yesterday President George Bush made his first public appearance since the start of the war, speaking to service personnel at the MacDill airforce base in Tampa in an obvious bid to reassure Americans and boost the morale of the armed forces. But how do we know this is the real George Bush?

Yes, how indeed. Read it all.

[Secular Blasphemy]

File under “Yeah, Right”:

British military interrogators claim captured Iraqi soldiers have told them that al-Qaeda terrorists are fighting on the side of Saddam Hussein’s forces against allied troops near Basra.

At least a dozen members of Osama bin Laden’s network are in the town of Az Zubayr where they are coordinating grenade and gun attacks on coalition positions, according to the Iraqi prisoners of war.

It was believed that last night (Thursday) British forces were preparing a military strike on the base where the al-Qaeda unit was understood to be holed up.

A senior British military source inside Iraq said: “The information we have received from PoWs today is that an al-Qaeda cell may be operating in Az Zubayr. There are possibly around a dozen of them and that is obviously a matter of concern to us.” [SMH]

The Chairman Smiles. Propagandaposters van de Sovjetunie, Cuba en China. Magisch.

David Ingram received notification that his winning bid of $24.50 had been canceled, along with this message: “At the present time, we do not ship to, or accept bids from, Canada, Mexico, France, Germany or any other country that does not support the United States in our efforts to rid the world of Saddam Hussein. If you are not with us, you are against us.” [Wired]

A WARMONGER EXPLAINS WAR TO A PEACENIK
By Anonymous

PeaceNik: Why did you say we are we invading Iraq?

WarMonger: We are invading Iraq because it is in violation of security council resolution 1441. A country cannot be allowed to violate security council resolutions.

PN: But I thought many of our allies, including Israel, were in violation of more security council resolutions than Iraq.

WM: It’s not just about UN resolutions. The main point is that Iraq could have weapons of mass destruction, and the first sign of a smoking gun could well be a mushroom cloud over NY.

PN: Mushroom cloud? But I thought the weapons inspectors said Iraq had no nuclear weapons.

WM: Yes, but biological and chemical weapons are the issue.

PN: But I thought Iraq did not have any long range missiles for attacking us or our allies with such weapons.

WM: The risk is not Iraq directly attacking us, but rather terrorists networks that Iraq could sell the weapons to.

PN: But coundn’t virtually any country sell chemical or biological materials? We sold quite a bit to Iraq in the eighties ourselves, didn’t we?

WM: That’s ancient history. Look, Saddam Hussein is an evil man that has an undeniable track record of repressing his own people since the early eighties. He gasses his enemies. Everyone agrees that he is a power-hungry lunatic murderer.

PN: We sold chemical and biological materials to a power-hungry lunatic murderer?

WM: The issue is not what we sold, but rather what Saddam did. He is the one that launched a pre-emptive first strike on Kuwait.

PN: A pre-emptive first strike does sound bad. But didn’t our ambassador to Iraq, April Gillespie, know about and green-light the invasion of Kuwait?

WM: Let’s deal with the present, shall we? As of today, Iraq could sell its biological and chemical weapons to Al Quaida. Osama BinLaden himself released an audio tape calling on Iraqis to suicide-attack us, proving a partnership between the two.

PN: Osama Bin Laden? Wasn’t the point of invading Afghanistan to kill him?

WM: Actually, it’s not 100% certain that it’s really Osama Bin Laden on the tapes. But the lesson from the tape is the same: there could easily be a partnership between al-Qaida and Saddam Hussein unless we act.

PN: Is this the same audio tape where Osama Bin Laden labels Saddam a secular infidel?

WM: You’re missing the point by just focusing on the tape. Powell presented a strong case against Iraq.

PN: He did?

WM: Yes, he showed satellite pictures of an Al Quaeda poison factory in Iraq.

PN: But didn’t that turn out to be a harmless shack in the part of Iraq controlled by the Kurdish opposition?

WM: And a British intelligence report…

PN: Didn’t that turn out to be copied from an out-of-date graduate student paper?

WM: And reports of mobile weapons labs…

PN: Weren’t those just artistic renderings?

WM: And reports of Iraqis scuttling and hiding evidence from inspectors…

PN: Wasn’t that evidence contradicted by the chief weapons inspector, Hans Blix?

WM: Yes, but there is plenty of other hard evidence that cannot be revealed because it would compromise our security.

PN: So there is no publicly available evidence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq?

WM: The inspectors are not detectives, it’s not their JOB to find evidence. You’re missing the point.

PN: So what is the point?

WM: The main point is that we are invading Iraq because resolution 1441 threatened “severe consequences.” If we do not act, the security council will become an irrelevant debating society.

PN: So the main point is to uphold the rulings of the security council?

WM: Absolutely. …unless it rules against us.

PN: And what if it does rule against us?

WM: In that case, we must lead a coalition of the willing to invade Iraq.

PN: Coalition of the willing? Who’s that?

WM: Britain, Turkey, Bulgaria, Spain, and Italy, for starters.

PN: I thought Turkey refused to help us unless we gave them tens of billions of dollars.

WM: Nevertheless, they may now be willing.

PN: I thought public opinion in all those countries was against war.

WM: Current public opinion is irrelevant. The majority expresses its will by electing leaders to make decisions.

PN: So it’s the decisions of leaders elected by the majority that is important?

WM: Yes.

PN: But George Bush wasn’t elected by voters. He was selected by the U.S. Supreme C…-

WM: I mean, we must support the decisions of our leaders, however they were elected, because they are acting in our best interest. This is about being a patriot. That’s the bottom line.

PN: So if we do not support the decisions of the president, we are not patriotic?

WM: I never said that.

PN: So what are you saying? Why are we invading Iraq?

WM: As I said, because there is a chance that they have weapons of mass destruction that threaten us and our allies.

PN: But the inspectors have not been able to find any such weapons.

WM: Iraq is obviously hiding them.

PN: You know this? How?

WM: Because we know they had the weapons ten years ago, and they are still unaccounted for.

PN: The weapons we sold them, you mean?

WM: Precisely.

PN: But I thought those biological and chemical weapons would degrade to an unusable state over ten years.

WM: But there is a chance that some have not degraded.

PN: So as long as there is even a small chance that such weapons exist, we must invade?

WM: Exactly.

PN: But North Korea actually has large amounts of usable chemical, biological, AND nuclear weapons, AND long range missiles that can reach the west coast AND it has expelled nuclear weapons inspectors, AND threatened to turn America into a sea of fire.

WM: That’s a diplomatic issue.

PN: So why are we invading Iraq instead of using diplomacy?

WM: Aren’t you listening? We are invading Iraq because we cannot allow the inspections to drag on indefinitely. Iraq has been delaying, deceiving, and denying for over ten years, and inspections cost us tens of millions.

PN: But I thought war would cost us tens of billions.

WM: Yes, but this is not about money. This is about security.

PN: But wouldn’t a pre-emptive war against Iraq ignite radical Muslim sentiments against us, and decrease our security?

WM: Possibly, but we must not allow the terrorists to change the way we live. Once we do that, the terrorists have already won.

PN: So what is the purpose of the Department of Homeland Security, color-coded terror alerts, and the Patriot Act? Don’t these change the way we live?

WM: I thought you had questions about Iraq.

PN: I do. Why are we invading Iraq?

WM: For the last time, we are invading Iraq because the world has called on Saddam Hussein to disarm, and he has failed to do so. He must now face the consequences.

PN: So, likewise, if the world called on us to do something, such as find a peaceful solution, we would have an obligation to listen?

WM: By “world”, I meant the United Nations.

PN: So, we have an obligation to listen to the United Nations?

WM: By “United Nations” I meant the Security Council.

PN: So, we have an obligation to listen to the Security Council?

WM: I meant the majority of the Security Council.

PN: So, we have an obligation to listen to the majority of the Security Council?

WM: Well… there could be an unreasonable veto.

PN: In which case?

WM: In which case, we have an obligation to ignore the veto.

PN: And if the majority of the Security Council does not support us at all?

WM: Then we have an obligation to ignore the Security Council.

PN: That makes no sense.

WM: If you love Iraq so much, you should move there. Or maybe France, with all the other cheese-eating surrender monkeys. It’s time to boycott their wine and cheese, no doubt about that.

PN: I give up!

The Baldwin Oscurity Clock

Twee definiërende momenten in het leven:

• het moment dat je beseft dat ouders (en bij uitbreiding, alle mensen in een positie van authoriteit) ook maar hun best doen en niet alle antwoorden hebben
   


• het moment dat alles wat je zou kunnen doen overgevloeid is in alles wat je niet gedaan hebt

carver weekend. Major new Gadget arriving at the castle today. I get to test drive it the whole weekend. Feast your eyes on the dutch-made Carver. [Adam Curry: Adam Curry’s Weblog]

Die Adam Curry, jaja. Zo rijk als de zee diep is, getrouwd met kindje, de halve wereld afgereisd, maar is hij wel gelukkig? Ja? Allez dan.

Vanmorgen weer helemaal in orde: twintig minuten staan wachten op de bus om dan te horen dat er vandaag geen bussen rijden. Te voet met Zelie doorstappen naar de tram, om te zien dat er helemaal geen openbaar vervoer rijdt. De hele stad door met dat kind tot aan haar school, en dan weer de hele stad door (letterlijk: van aan de Kortrijksesteenweg tot over de Dampoort), al snelwandelend.

Ik was al met al maar een half uur te laat op het werk: normaal gezien ben ik een uur op stap ’s morgens, nu was het anderhalf uur.