Month: March 2003

War Blogs

.

CNN Correspondent Kevin Sites has started a blog, posting from what will likely soon be a war zone.
. . . . .
Where Is Raed? appears to be a blog written by an Iraqi from Baghdad. There’s not much information on the writer (which is probably smart, considering his views on Iraq’s current regime), but it’s a fascinating read of life in the crosshairs.
An excerpt:

A BBC reporter walking thru the Mutanabi Friday book market (again) ends his report with: “It looks like Iraqis are putting on an air of normality.”
Look, what are you supposed to do then? Run around in the streets wailing? War is at the door eeeeeeeeeeeee! Besides, this “normality” doesn’t go very deep. Almost everything is more expensive than it was a couple of months ago, people are digging wells in their gardens, on the radio yesterday after playing a million songs from the time of the war with Iran (these are like cartoon theme songs for people my age, we know them all by heart) they read out instructions on how to make a trench and prepare for war, that is after president saddam advised Iraqis to make these trenches in their gardens.

. . . . .
UPDATE: A note to those of you arriving here via a Google search for “war blogs” — for a more complete list of war-related links, visit the main page of mikemedia.

Smoking Girls

.

cigargirls.jpg
This image was on a flyer at the local Japan Railways ticket office. It looks like it’s advertising a gallery exhibit sponsored by JR. Here’s the website. The exhibit is the one called “Kokuren Shonen (UN Boy).”

Look Elsewhere For Good Snowboarding Pics

.

I recently wrote about how Google gives blogs high ranking in search results.
Currently, about 40-50 visitors a day are reaching my site via search results for “snowboarding pics.” They’re landing on this page, which is ranked second on Google for the above search phrase.
As much as I appreciate new readers, I feel a bit like they’re getting a raw deal when they come to my site looking for snowboarding photos. Anyone who is doing a Google search is probably looking for more of these kinds of photo, rather than the tame offerings I currently have posted.
I’d say this points to a problem with the way Google is currently providing results. My snowboarding pics entry doesn’t deserve to be ranked so high.

Switch To A Better World

.

Making the rounds these days is a recommendation to dump AAA and switch to A Better World for your roadside assistance insurance.
A Better World promises:

We are the only roadside assistance and travel club that strives to balance your transportation needs with your desire to protect the environment. We advocate on behalf of the consumer and the environment by donating an amount equal to 1% of annual revenues toward environmental clean-up efforts and by providing unique eco-friendly travel alternatives.

Hana Anticipation

.1 Comment

hanachuhi.jpg
Spring is just around the corner, and that means the cherry blossoms will soon be spreading across Japan like a pink tide. Starting from the southernmost tip of the country, the progression of blossoms will move steadily northward, followed with rapt attention by the media and a population ready for the annual cherry-blossom viewing parties (a chance to have fun and get drunk outside after the cold, winter season).
Like the ever-lengthening creep of the Christmas season (soon to begin right after Labor Day weekend in America), marketers in Japan appear to be starting the sakura season early.
Suntory has introduced a special flavor to its Super Chi-Hi line of alcoholic drinks called Hana, the Japanese word for flower. Flavored with cherry blossoms (I’m guessing artificial cherry flavor) and lemon, it’s packaged in the lovely pink cans you see above.
fakehana.jpg
Although the cherry blossoms won’t “arrive” here in Nagano for at least another month, the eager folks at the Midori department store just couldn’t wait that long. Earlier this week, they planted two trees in front of the store which were meticulously grafted with plastic cherry blossoms. They looked a little out of place in the falling snow the other day.

Getting Ready For The Show

.

If there was ever any doubt that America will go to war with Iraq regardless of what happens at the United Nations, the fact that the stage for this drama has literally been sent to the Gulf should erase those doubts.
USA Today reports that the Pentagon has shipped a $250,000 briefing stage to Qatar. Via FedEx. With a shipping cost of $47,000.
As the stage’s Hollywood designer, George Allison, rightly points out, that’s chump change for the U.S. military. But read his quote, and tell me you don’t want to see this man strapped to a bomb a la Dr. Strangelove.
Lights, cameras, get ready for war
USATODAY.com

Allison, interviewed while overseeing set construction last week, said the cost of the briefing stage is justified.
“It’s much cheaper than one bomb, and it can do a lot more. It is the face of the military,” he said. “What’s important is not what they’re standing in front of, the set, but the ability to communicate with members of the press.”

There’s no business like show business, that’s for sure.

Recall President Bartlet?

.

Should celebrities speak their minds? Of course, even though many of them end up sounding as intelligent as a cube of butter, and use the wrong forums in which to express their views.
Then there are those like Martin Sheen who have a long and distinguished record of passionate and thoughful activism. It’s no surprise really that he’s now getting pressure to keep his mouth shut.
The New McCarthyism
Sunday Herald

Looking Abroad For News

.

It’s really no surprise that many Americans are using the Internet to find a diversity and depth of news that’s often lacking in the domestic media.
US public turns to Europe for news
journalism.co.uk

The American public is apparently turning away from the mostly US-centric American media in search of unbiased reporting and other points of views. Much of the US media’s reaction to France and Germany’s intransigence on the Iraqi war issue has verged on the xenophobic, even in the so-called ‘respectable’ press. Some reporting has verged on the hysterical — one US news web site, NewsMax.com, recently captioned a photograph of young German anti-war protesters as “Hitler’s children.”
Mr Dennis [of the Guardian] said: “American visitors are telling us they are unable to find the breadth of opinion we have on our web site anywhere else because we report across the political spectrum rather than from just one perspective.”

This article, however, tends to overstate the matter a bit — the large majority of Americans are still passively glued to Fox News, CNN and the like. Those who are searching out the BBC and other international news organizations online would tend to be more active and critical thinkers — a distinct minority of the American population, to be sure. And the assumption that hysterical, xenophobic news coverage in only found in America is just silly.
But the fact remains that it’s much easier these days to actively expose oneself to a wide range of news and viewpoints. If one so chooses. The benefits of this will only come if those who are so informed turn around and work to spread that knowledge to the more passive citizens in society. A more communal and grass-roots spread of news and information is needed to counter the increasingly shallow and corrupt business of mainstream media.