Random burblings since 1999
I’ve received several of these emails over the past few days, all have the same subject line:
“Please open the Microsoft word document attachment to read this offer in Japanese”
Now granted I am slightly fascinated by the culture of Japan and the Far East but, come on. If you want to infect my system with a nasty virus you are gonna have to work a LOT harder than that.
Quick recap of Sunday.
Picked Louise up at 3.15am. Asleep by 4am. Up at 10am. Louise out all day doing ‘wedding stuff’ with Susan.
So I spent all day alternating between flicking through magazines, reading a book by this lady, watching Michael “winning CAN be boring” Schumacher in Japan (although if truth be told I had to check that he won the race as I gave up with about 10 laps to go), and watching a light drizzle outside.
All of which only made me want to have ANOTHER cup of dark milky coffee and a lightly warmed pancake drizzled with honey.
Productivity 0 Sofa Day 1
And continuing on a football theme, and whilst I hadn’t followed it during the week, curiosity got the better of me and we watched The Match tonight. Anyone else think Ally McCoist deserves a Scotland recall?
Warning: this post will NOT induce a cheery happy persona.
So, Bush has made his address and assured people that “as Germany and Japan can attest, we are liberators”. Nice touch there.
Then you read that the U.S. is Planting WMDs in Iraq, and that gets you wondering.
Then you are sent a link, from an increduluous friend, to the Project for the New American Century which contains some cherry-picked articles offering the viewpoint that (and I may be paraphrasing here) President Bush is a demi-god and we are all very lucky he is here.
THEN you wonder why people keep asking you if you are planning to have children. Into THIS world? I think not.
(I was going to add a lot more to this, but it’s very much a list that, once started, would never really end… although that is maybe the point…)
Well the phrase, that I’ve heard oft mentioned, but not ‘oft’ enough to become a cliche was “Only in America” (coupled with a raising motion of the eyebrows). Typically this was a response to another news story about stupid people who happen to come from America (no I’m not saying Americans are stupid, but you do have your fair share! 😉
I think the phrase, and it’s surrounding intention, needs to change to “Only in Japan” (I would say Asia but it’s too non-specific). From those boobie scarves, to the ‘naked’ skirts we can now add Golden turds.
Those wacky Japanese
Is it a cultural thing? Is it endemic of globalisation (Americanisation)?
I’m not sure but there is something odd about the latest trends coming out of Japan. First we had breast scarves, and now see-thru skirts (but not really).
Odd indeed.
Clash of Globalizations
Bear with me, I don’t comment on political situations often but I’ve been meaning to note down something about this for a while now…
Under a backdrop of a war no-one outside the government seems to want, I’ve been trying to look at the bigger picture. One article that has helped me get to grips with the entire notion of ‘globalism’ and it’s effects, and one I’ve returned to a couple of times was written by Stanley Hoffman: Clash of Globalizations.
Ultimately the discussions will continue, but seems to flex around the following questions:
1. Does a nation protecting an ?open society? (US, Great Britain, France, Germany, Japan, etc.) have ethical obligations to undemocratic, closed societies and people outside its borders that should constrain foreign policy?
2. Should the modern nation state be thought as an egoistic atom in global relations, ultimately unbound by international law (the ?realist? position), or as a world citizen, cooperating with other nations in a transnational system and abiding by common codes (the ?idealist? position)?
The inclusion and exclusion of ‘states’ from those questions, and their answers remains the issues. We cannot engage Al-Qaeda in discussion, so what options do we have?
And, at present, how does this really relate to the situation in Iraq? Mr.Blair issued a statement today stating that Britain could fall under attack from Al-Qaeda at any time, and we could spend billions and not stop or even accurately anticipate when and where those attacks would be, so if we must, then we will go to war with Iraq.
I have yet to see accurate links between Iraq and Al-Qaeda. If you know someone who has them, please ask them to pass them on.