Archive for May, 2004
May 31st, 2004 by Eshin
Bad things don’t happen to those who pray. Or so you believe. I guess I must have drawn the short straw these past few days. I got home on Friday night to most of my applications failing on my primary computer. My ‘net applications seemed to be the ones affected most of all. My firewall software seemed also to be hit badly refusing to start up at all after a restart.
Anyway, after running AV software and hoping the problem was fixed, I had problems connecting to the web. I think that my computers been hit by some worm or something or another. That or somethings gone and played around with my IP settings on the sly.
My problem was further compounded by the fact that apparently I’ve failed to pay my service provider bill. So I spent the better part of yesterday trying to chase the network problems I was experiencing. Or that I thought I was experiencing when in fact I was disconnected. Great, just another big bill added on to the list bills I already have outstanding.
Still trying to track down the bugger that’s causing my main computer to fuck up but for now I have two other comps that are working at least. But it’s not something I need right now. It’s hard enough not feeling down when you are running out of money, jobless, forced to a place you want to stay, without your main tool of communication and functioning is disabled. I really need a cigarette because otherwise I’ll go kill someone.
I’ll resist.
And to top it all off, I hardly ever log into ICQ but this time I did. And joy of joys, Louisa is online. Getting a grip on my sanity is effortless when the sun is shining but I guess it’s a test of character and strength if I can stand by my principles when there doesn’t seem to be doing anything but raining crap all around.
Right enough whining. Time to get back involved in that bastard upstream of my life.
May 28th, 2004 by Eshin
For those of you stuck in the office on this scorcher of a day on Friday, here’s something to while away your time at the expense of your employers. Courtesy of Crazzzzy.
May 28th, 2004 by Eshin
The NTSCMP runs an analogy between the Nuremburg Trials where senior Nazi officials were tried and forced to face their victims, and the recent Iraqi prisoner abuse, where a few scapegoats were tried and quickly sentenced.
While a little overboard considering that the Nazis actually planned and implemented a system by which Europe would be entirely free of any Jewish presence whatsoever, it’s worth noting the similarities.
The Germans had also gone through a period of trauma starting with defeat in WW1 and topped off by the Depression in the beginning of the 30’s. They needed someone to give them strong leadership and someone willing to put the Germans first before everyone elses interests. Likewise, they did take to the idea of having a scapegoat to point the blame to.
The US equally suffered a traumatic event in the form of 911. It is the largest act of terrorism on US soil and for them it was all rather traumatic. There are a helluva lot of Americans eager for someone to put America first, the rest of the world second. And the scapegoat was a big seller too (WMD anyone?).
It is doubtful that the US would ever implement a programme like the Nazis did to the Jews. But I suspect that today’s mood is similar to that of pre-war Germany. The blind eye that many Germans had when it came to rounding up Jews into the ghettos, smashing their shops and raping their women in the streets for the interests of the greater (German) good.
Likewise, for those who bemoan the treatment of Iraqi prisoners at the hands of the Germans, will you too push for the right people to be answerable and not be just placated with a token trial of a few privates? I doubt as much since, in most cases, there’s usually a lot of noise but never a real fight. As Walter Kronkite once said when he was covering the Nuremburg trials, “I want to know what my government is doing in my name.”.
May 28th, 2004 by Eshin
Just who the hell does America think they are? Heard on the radio was some comment about how a US Whitehouse spokesperson had complained that US officials were not given access to some Chinese dissidents, specifically in regards to the upcoming Tiananmen Square anniversary.
While I’m sympathetic to the sacrifice and loss of life that happened during that incident, I’m stunned by the US’ arrogance. Explain to me what business it is of the US’s to get involved in this? This coming from a nation that refuses to grant any rights to existing detainees in Guantanamo Bay. Would the US allow Chinese officials in to talk with them? Would they have allowed Russian representatives to enter during the height of the Cold War to investigate civil rights abuses on Black Americans?
The fight for human rights and universal suffrage in China is admirable but I seriously hope that those pro-democracy Chinese don’t happily sells themselves out to the US.
What I find funny is why China doesn’t take a page out of the US’s book? Open up your dirty laundry to the world and let the public criticize it in the world media. After a month, people don’t usually give a shit anymore and you can go on about your business of surpression. If that idiot Bush can do it, so can you.
May 28th, 2004 by Eshin
What’s funny here are the coppers. The police in HK seem to be a nice mixed bag of lightweights and heavy hitters. Some you’d laugh at if you didn’t know they were cops, especially the ones that raid the karaokes and the bars for underaged drinkers, illegal immigrants, and general nasty fun-loving people. And there are some that you’d quite happily just walk across the street to avoid.
The hardnuts are the ones that wear berets and with the now defunct military green uniform, looked more like paramilitaries than the bastions of law and order. They clung onto the tough boy uniforms much longer than their colleagues but eventually, it seems, they’ve finally been forced to don the pansy lightweight blue shirts. I remarked once to a plain clothes cop that was raiding Bling that the new uniform looks too rent-a-coppy and that it looks more in place gracing the shoulders of Thailand’s (sex) tourist police (i.e. nice to smile at, but what’s he really going to do about anything?).
The other psychos cops are the motorbike cops. They must have been fed a steady diet of the 80’s TV show CHIPS (California Highway Interstate Patrol/Police Service) and the Bad Lieutenant or something. They tart themselves up to such a degree that you wonder whether they are auditioning for the Village People or something. But woe to those who would dare to trangress on the roads of HK in front of these pretty boy nutters.
I’ve seen these dudes stop trucks and minibuses for minor offenses. I’ve seen them shout down a poor old couple for making the mistake of thinking they could clear the yellow boxes on a crossing (honest mistake and all they did was cross one line). And just recently I saw one cop ride all the way round in a big loop, just to pull a Merc out of the queue for the parking lot at Pacific Place.
Anyway, I wouldn’t want to mess with them since I reckon they’re just like how I imagine Southern US State troopers to be like. The question is why don’t they go and solve some real crimes? Oh right…because then their older brothers get a little antsy about it.
