Episode 6: Return of the Journal

Saw Fantastic Four last night....mixed reviews...I didn't think, so it worked. I mean, it was good in the sense of it was a fun movie to watch, but not like it was terribly high quality on any higher levels. Worth seeing once, though, definitly. Though the science elements.... yeah, that was just painful. And then finished that off with 10 packs of sugar. Woot.

• 100 People Who Are Screwing Up America (and Al Franken is #37) by Bernard Goldberg (305 pages) Now, I bought this yesterday and just jumped into it. Goldberg was someone that first came to my attention when I read Bias, which he wrote based on how the media has a bias as he experienced while working on CBS with the infamous Dan Rather. It came out back before the whole "Memogate" thing went down.
  This time, though, he went just at what is messing up America. Or rather, who. In all, he had a list of 100 people he chose to put at fault. Now some of them were there for things they specifically have done, others were symbolic of whole groups of people that are being detrimental. There were a few common themes though. The first was personal responsibility, which meant those that perpetutate a victim mentality, like extreme feminists and trial lawyers, who create an atmosphere where people aren't taking responsibility for their own problems. Second, people that are working to destroy standards and consideration. Basicly all those people that are putting filth on the air and not willing to count it as filth...yeah, they can say it, doesn't mean they should. Tied with this are the number of people that are condescending about their viewpoints....which managed to net maybe half of Hollywood, who consider them experts on stuff because they're famous. And finally, hypocracy, on oh so many levels. Of course, there's a few other people on there for more unique reasons.
  It was something that I really couldn't put down, since I just HAD to know who'd be #1, and all the positions in between. It had an air of thrill about it, actually. Which made it all the more enjoyable. Definitly worth the read. Read Bias too.

Now then, on to the rest of the day's preperations, as I've got a job interview and a couple hours of work tomorrow, then I leave for comic-con for a week.

Some group has struck in London now. Things like this just make me hope more and more that we can get a unified front against terrorism, with the number one cost being stopping all this.
What amazes me is how groups try attacks like this when all is ever does is unify a people. After Pearl Harbor, a japanese admiral said they had awoken a sleeping giant or dragon (yeah, i forgot it exactly). On 9/11, Islamic fundamentalists awoke the U.S. again. Now, it looks like the same has happened in London. One of the news stories had an interview that showed this attitude:

Computer technician Matt Carter, 25, said he was struck by how the attacks had united Londoners.
"It's amazing how people have stuck together. I've seen total strangers hugging each other and people coming out into the street with free cups of tea," he said.
"We can't let the terrorists defeat us. We've got to show them they will never win."

Terrorism isn't the ideology of those who are already winning, its the ideology of those in danger of losing. Outnumbered and outgunned, this is all thats left. Whats more, attacks like this one are indiscriminant attacks against a way of life, not a party or political figure, and that is the real key to understanding the warped mentality of those that would do this. Ken Livingstone, mayor of London, had an amazing speech that he'd given as a responce that not only talks about how London was able to respond to this as well as it has, but also about the mentality of terrorists and why they will lose:

I want to say one thing specifically to the world today. This was not a terrorist attack against the mighty and the powerful. It was not aimed at Presidents or Prime Ministers. It was aimed at ordinary, working-class Londoners, black and white, Muslim and Christian, Hindu and Jew, young and old. It was an indiscriminate attempt to slaughter, irrespective of any considerations for age, for class, for religion, or whatever.
That isn’t an ideology, it isn’t even a perverted faith - it is just an indiscriminate attempt at mass murder and we know what the objective is. They seek to divide Londoners. They seek to turn Londoners against each other. I said yesterday to the International Olympic Committee, that the city of London is the greatest in the world, because everybody lives side by side in harmony. Londoners will not be divided by this cowardly attack. They will stand together in solidarity alongside those who have been injured and those who have been bereaved and that is why I’m proud to be the mayor of that city.

While it is possible this is the IRA or some other group that isn't an islamic fundamentalist group, if it is the latter, then they have to realise that you can't attack freedom like this. A free society may have its rifts, but like a family that may fight amungst themselves, they unify against an outside element. If they attack London or New York for being a free place, they didn't attack just London and New York. They attacked Paris, Tokyo, Sydney, Los Angeles, Seoul, Berlin, Rome, and every other city, large or small, that makes up one of the now many free nations of the world. An attack against freedom is an attack against all of us. And when you attack one of us just for being free, then you have to answer to all free nations and peoples. And now, you have a lot more to answer for.

Well, its been busy of late. The 4th of July turned out to be awesome one, as I showed up at Matt and Val's with 80 hot dogs...got to love cheap prices at Vons. We went up to the roof of Val's family's house to watch fireworks and that was the coolest 4th of july thing ever. I mean, its one thing to just be watching a fireworks show or two, but its another thing altogether to be surrounded by fireworks. We even had fireworks being launched from just at the intersection below the house. It was so utterly cool. Also watched Shaun of the Dead, and I can't believe I hadn't seen this yet. I also didn't realise that it had Black Books people in it. That is just a sign of quality.
Also spent the day working down at Paul's Garden, which is in horrible condition because the school is horrible and has neglected it yet again. We're more or less scrapping the garden area and just putting something up at the front of the school they'll have to take care of. Got to do what you've got to do, but its a sad state of things.

Theres a good essay that I read called Why Nerds are Unpopular and it did a good job of it. I mean, not being popular was really unfun, but he is right.... learning won out over being popular. It was really insightful and I really wish that I'd read it several years ago than now. And it totally points out that schools aren't just useless, they are detrimental to most students. They so are.
Also, just finished a book i've been working on:

• The World is Flat by Thomas L. Friedman (469 pages) Thomas Friedman has an amazing way of showing different views of the world, and he totally made me look at globalisation far differently from how I had been looking at it. Friedman sorts through all the forces that are rapidly shrinking the world and are quite radically changing how countries interact and business is done. I don't think I ever really thought about just how much the world is changing thanks to things like the internet, but this really emphaised it. Also, he makes some exceptional points about outsourcing, and how business adapts to changes, and what the ultimate consequences are. He really turns globalisation into a process that is resource-based, not country or class based. Plus, I never really thought of how this really is a race to the top, not the bottom. It makes the whole process seem much more positive.
  Finally, as I've always found him able to do, it still provides a very thorough perspective of the Arab world, and where the problems lie with that region of the world, and the difficulties that that culture will have to overcome. Its a bit of a long read, but it puts a really interesting spin about a lot of things. Sort of book that really can change how you view the world, and global interaction.