January 12, 2005 – 12:02 pm
I am adding a new feature to my blog: a linkblog. The main page now features a blue box, where I’ll add interesting links I stumble upon which don’t warrant extended commentary. This will keep the main part of my blog free of clutter. I’ll be limiting posts in my main blog to posts where I have something meaningful to say.
The linkblog is named “Excursions,” which is what will go in that area — excursions to places around the web. Excursions has its own syndication feeds (RSS/Atom) so if you like what you find there you can subscribe to the individual feed. Also, Excursions has its own site complete with entry pages and archives. Feel free to browse around it. At some point I’ll probably enable comments and trackbacks for Excursions enties, but for now I’m just going to post the links.
Feel free to let me know what you think of Excursions. Enjoy!
January 11, 2005 – 8:20 am
Welcome to the new home of Abstract Musings.
This is the reason my posting has been light recently. I imported my Blogger archives into my Movable Type database, so all of my entries would be available here as well as at my old Blogspot site. That took some time as the import wasn’t perfect and I had to clean up most of the old entries by hand. Mostly, that involved fixing all the internal links to other entries within my blog itself. I am leaving my Blogspot site up so that all the links to pages on that site don’t break.
Also, I had to convert my Blogger template to a set of Movable Type templates. It took me me some time to learn how to use MT’s template tags and create all the separate templates.
I will also enable comments and trackbacks on new entries starting with this one. Comments will require either a TypeKey login, or a name and email. Also, comments posted with just a name and email will be subject to moderation.
If you notice anything amiss, please drop me a line — a link for my email address is in the navigation bar to the right — or leave a comment in this post.
Now, that the new site is up I plan to get back to posting more frequently. Thanks for your patientience. Hope you enjoy the new site.
January 5, 2005 – 9:39 am
Mark Steyn doesn’t seem surprised that the U.N. is taking credit for the American and Australian relief efforts.
I didn’t catch the interview, but I’m assuming that the Oil-for-Fraud programme and the Child-Sex-for-Food programme notwithstanding, Miss Short managed to utter that last sentence with a straight face. But, if you’re a homeless Sri Lankan, what matters is not who has the moral authority, but who has the water tankers and medical helicopters. President Bush didn’t even bother mentioning the UN in his statement. Kofi Annan, by contrast, has decided that the Aussie-American “coalition of the willing” is, in fact, a UN operation. “The core group will support the UN effort,” he said. “That group will be in support of the efforts that the UN is leading.”
So American personnel in American planes and American ships will deliver American food and American medicine and implement an American relief plan, but it’s still a “UN-led effort”. That seems to be enough for Kofi. His “moral authority” is intact, and Guardian columnists and Telegraph readers can still bash the Yanks for their stinginess. Everybody’s happy.
January 4, 2005 – 1:44 pm
At least, this is one answer to the rash of laser targeting incidents involving aircraft that have occurred lately.
NEWARK, N.J. (AP) - A man who initially claimed his daughter aimed a laser at a helicopter was charged after he told federal agents that he pointed the light beam at two aircraft, authorities said Tuesday.
David Banach of Parsippany faces charges of interfering with the operator of a mass transportation vehicle and making false statements to the FBI. He is scheduled to appear in U.S. District Court on Tuesday afternoon.
The aircraft were targeted by the lasers near Teterboro Airport.
On Wednesday night, a pilot preparing to land a chartered jet with 13 people aboard reported seeing three green laser beams about 11 miles from the airport. On Friday, a helicopter carrying Port Authority detectives was hit by a beam as they surveyed the area in an attempt to pinpoint the origin of the original beams.
No motive was given — so based purely on speculation — I’ll chalk these incidents up to simple mischief. I’m guessing that the other events were copycats, or that he is simply a copycat himself.
UPDATE: Here’s a Reuters article, but still no word on why he did it.
January 3, 2005 – 11:49 pm
Here are some details on the relief efforts of the American military.
So far, U.S. military personnel have delivered 430,000 pounds of supplies to the region.
Military officials discounted criticism of a slow U.S. start to relief efforts, saying they started moving help to the region as soon as they were called on to act.
Fourteen cargo planes were taking food, supplies and equipment to supply hubs in Thailand, Sri Lanka and Indonesia, according to the U.S. military’s Pacific Command Web site, www.pacom.mil.
January 3, 2005 – 11:31 pm
President Bush today called on his father — former president George Bush — and former President Bill Clinton to undertake a nationwide fundraising effort on behalf of the victims of the Indonesian earthquake and tsunami. Betsy Newmark wonders if anybody else noticed who was left out of “the Ex-President Charity effort for the tsunami victims.”
I can’t say I noticed that omission, but Reuters did.
“The devastation in the region defies comprehension,” President Bush said in Washington, eight days after an earthquake drove huge waves across the Indian Ocean, killing 145,000 from Thailand to Somalia and leaving millions homeless, hungry or threatened by deadly diseases.
“I ask every American to contribute as they are able to do so,” said Bush, in a joint appeal with former presidents George Bush, his father, and Bill Clinton.
The scale of the disaster prompted Bush to put together the rare coalition of ex-presidents to mount the nationwide fund-raising drive.
Jimmy Carter, an ex-president with a long history in humanitarian efforts, and who was critical of Bush in last year’s presidential campaign, was not invited to participate.
January 3, 2005 – 11:00 pm
Sandra Bullock has donated $1 million to the American Red Cross for the tsunami relief efforts. Plus, she’s done this before; she gave another million dollars to the American Red Cross after September 11. (From memeorandum)
“At this critical time, I am grateful to Sandra Bullock for, once again, demonstrating her leadership, compassion and belief in our global humanitarian mission,” says Marsha Evans, president and CEO of the American Red Cross. “Sandra continues to enable our lifesaving work and is a model for personal generosity.”
In 2001, the actress donated $1 million to the Red Cross in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
I wonder if any other Hollywood celebrities will step up and match her generous gift?
January 3, 2005 – 11:26 am
Slate looks at how Ukraine celebrated the New Year. And then contrasts that celebration with the New Year in Moscow.
Dancing in Independence Square last night, my friends and I made a date to celebrate next New Year’s in Minsk, the capital of Belarus. When it turned out that the four young people with whom we were jumping around a leafless tree, holding hands and passing around a bottle of champagne, were also from Russia, one of my friends said: “It’s going to happen for us, too! In a couple of years!” The young people—they must have been college students—hesitated for a second, probably because this is not the sort of thing one would presume to say to strangers in Moscow, and then shouted, “Hooray!”
Back in Moscow, there was also a street party in Red Square. This morning I found out that only people with a Moscow registration stamp in their passports were allowed to enter the square. This means that not only visitors but even people living and working in Moscow but who are registered to live in other Russian cities could not take part in the celebration. That made me even happier that I had spent the holiday in Kiev, where the overwhelming sense was one of openness. Last night, I danced with Russian college students, very young Ukrainians, pretty old Ukrainians, a homeless Ukrainian man, and lots of other people I couldn’t identify. Some of them had dyed their hair orange, the color of the Ukrainian revolution. The music, of course, was not the important part, but in addition to the revolutionary rap, the undisputed hit of the night was “D.I.S.C.O.,” performed by a duo that may in fact have been N-Trance itself. We sang, “She is oh-ohhh-orange!”
