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One of the entertaining blogs of the recent past is Shrillblog, which catalogs the conversion of public figures to the “Order of the Shrill” with particular homage to the canon of H.P. Lovecraft.

It seems to join the Order of the Shrill, one must go from…

[...]sneering at those of us unfortunates who spent our nights psychotically ululating shrill screeds of Bush hatred at the dead, uncaring stars, having been driven into shrill unholy madness[...]

…to participating in the nocturnal psychotic ululation…

Aaaiii! Ph’nglui Mglw’nafh W—– R’lyeh Wagn’nagl Fhtagn! Aaaiii!!!

Exhibit A:

And it was only a year ago last May 7 that Richard Cohen was boldly comparing George W. Bush to Andrew Jackson and saying “Everyone likes a winner, and Bush is a winner. I supported the war and I like the outcome. I think there’s a chance that Iraq will be democratized, that this will affect the entire Middle East (Syria is already behaving better) and that no matter what, it was good to get rid of the monstrous Saddam Hussein and free the Iraqi people.”

But now? Now, on October 28, Richard Cohen writes:

I do not write the headlines for my columns. Someone else does. But if I were to write the headline for this one, it would be “Impeach George Bush.”… Not since the Spanish-American War has the United States gone off to war so casually, so half-cocked and so ineptly. The sinking of the Maine, the casus belli for that dustup, has been replaced by missing weapons of mass destruction, and the Hearst and Pulitzer presses are now talk radio and Fox News Channel. Everything has changed. Nothing has changed. Still, though, we mourn the dead, look away from the wounded and maimed, and wonder what it was all about. We embarked, truly and regrettably, on a crusade.

Yet from Bush comes not a bleep of regret, not to mention apology. It is all “steady as she goes” — although we have lost our bearings and we no longer know our destination. (Don’t tell me it’s a democratic Middle East.) If the man were commanding a ship, he would be relieved of command. If he were the CEO of some big company, the board would offer him a golden parachute — and force him to jump. But in government, it’s the people who make those decisions. We get our chance on Tuesday.

Yes, it is true. RICHARD COHEN IS SHRILL NOW!!! It took him a long time to get here–a long time to join the reality-based community. But welcome.

Matthew Yglesias notes, wryly, that the Post refused to headline Cohen’s column as Cohen wished ‘Impeach Bush’.” Instead, the headline is “Hold Bush Accountable.”

The headline should, of course, be: “Aaaiii! Ph’nglui Mglw’nafh Richard Cohen R’lyeh Wagn’nagl Fhtagn! Aaaiii!!!”

Read the whole thing. Sure it’s a one joke satire, but it’s an impressive catalog.

It’s coming through a hole in the air,
from those nights in Tiananmen Square.
It’s coming from the feel
that this ain’t exactly real,
or it’s real, but it ain’t exactly there.
From the wars against disorder,
from the sirens night and day,
from the fires of the homeless,
from the ashes of the gay:
Democracy is coming to the U.S.A.
It’s coming through a crack in the wall;
on a visionary flood of alcohol;
from the staggering account
of the Sermon on the Mount
which I don’t pretend to understand at all.
It’s coming from the silence
on the dock of the bay,
from the brave, the bold, the battered
heart of Chevrolet:
Democracy is coming to the U.S.A.

It’s coming from the sorrow in the street,
the holy places where the races meet;
from the homicidal bitchin’
that goes down in every kitchen
to determine who will serve and who will eat.
From the wells of disappointment
where the women kneel to pray
for the grace of God in the desert here
and the desert far away:
Democracy is coming to the U.S.A.

Sail on, sail on
O mighty Ship of State!
To the Shores of Need
Past the Reefs of Greed
Through the Squalls of Hate
Sail on, sail on, sail on, sail on.

It’s coming to America first,
the cradle of the best and of the worst.
It’s here they got the range
and the machinery for change
and it’s here they got the spiritual thirst.
It’s here the family’s broken
and it’s here the lonely say
that the heart has got to open
in a fundamental way:
Democracy is coming to the U.S.A.

It’s coming from the women and the men.
O baby, we’ll be making love again.
We’ll be going down so deep
the river’s going to weep,
and the mountain’s going to shout Amen!
It’s coming like the tidal flood
beneath the lunar sway,
imperial, mysterious,
in amorous array:
Democracy is coming to the U.S.A.

Sail on, sail on …

I’m sentimental, if you know what I mean
I love the country but I can’t stand the scene.
And I’m neither left or right
I’m just staying home tonight,
getting lost in that hopeless little screen.
But I’m stubborn as those garbage bags
that Time cannot decay,
I’m junk but I’m still holding up
this little wild bouquet:
Democracy is coming to the U.S.A.

Thank you Leonard Cohen

Every political blog has hot and cold running commentary on the failure of US forces to secure 380 tons of high explosive in Iraq after the invasion (and evidence of a cover-up), but I feel that linkpimpin’ Phil Carter’s analysis of how to sustain an insurgency is worthwhile.

The insurgency triad: men explosives ideology.

Think of the Iraqi insurgency as a fire. A fire requires three things — combustible material, oxygen, and a spark — known as the triad. An insurgency also requires three things — men, warfighting materiel, and a spark, provided by ideology.

The revelations that 380 tons of high explosives (HMX, RDX and PETN) were left unsecured after the invasion is certainly in the hands of insurgents and that the size of the insurgency is around the same size as a US infantry division is sobering, if not depressing. That leaves only the ideology portion of the triad unquantified.

Imagine being a citizen, soldier, police recruit… hell, anyone in or around Iraq knowing that potentially 760,000 Locherbie-sized bombs are at large and readily deployed.

What can be done now? Nothing — it’s far too late to stuff this cat back in the bag. We now need to recognize the extent of the threat we face in Iraq. The Pentagon revised its estimate last week of the insurgency’s strength — it now includes 12,000 individuals around the country, or roughly the strength of one U.S. light infantry division. As this report makes clear, the insurgency has access to a great deal of warfighting materiel, and it continues to use this stuff against us in ambushes and IED attacks. We need to gird ourselves for a long fight, and we need to prepare the Iraqis for a long fight, because this fight ain’t going to end for a long time, no matter what happens next week in the U.S. election.

Apropos of John Quiggin: Time management tips

I attended an Australian-US cultural difference awareness training recently. The instructor called people who worked best on multiple tasks at once “polychronic” and people who worked best organizing their time starting and finishing one task at a time “monochronic.” I’m sure these are misnomers, but I have heard some people complain about being most effective when focussed on a single task, and others that argue that they are most effective when they are allowed a task load that lets them shift context and keep working on another task while they let a task in progress to “rest” to enable them to get out of the trenches and take a fresh approach when they pick up the task again.

Using the terms above my time management is best described as “chronic.” I think I work best on a small number of tasks. I try to limit myself to doing 1 or 2 things at once if can. I’d feel better about sharing my time management tips if I thought I were good at it, but here are the mechanics of my time management anyway.

1. Remembering things: My memory sucks. This is part of the reason Google Desktop is so valuable to me. I write things down in meetings and I’ve programmed myself to automatically transcribe action items to my todo list when I sit down at my desk, or when I remember to … oh hell, Catch 22.

2. Todo list: I maintain a text file called todo.txt which is synced with my PDA. It is a list of one-line tasks with the format:

S|M|L A|W: Date Entered - Task Description

[S]mall [M]edium [L]arge - no strict definition.
Future [A]ction | [W]orking on it - not perfect abbreviations, but a short form of whether it's something that I need to do, or if it's something I'm doing.

I’ve tried using Outlook tasks, but it just doesn’t work for me. It just isn’t easy enough. Text is easy, fast, malleable and simple to back up and transport.

3. Donedid list: When I’ve completed a task from todo, I cut the line and insert it onto the top of another file called donedid.txt so I can remember what I’ve finished. If it’s a task that didn’t get done because it wasn’t needed I note that in parenthesis after the task description.

4. Get on with it: The best way to finish something is to start it. Just do it. Don’t stop thinking about tomorrow. The longest journey starts with a footstep. Because time won’t give me time and time makes lovers feel like they’ve got something real… Recite your favourite aphorism and go.

Time to gush about a Slashdot Q&A with Neal Stephenson

The first time was a year or two after SNOW CRASH came out. I was doing a reading/signing at White Dwarf Books in Vancouver. Gibson stopped by to say hello and extended his hand as if to shake. But I remembered something Bruce Sterling had told me. For, at the time, Sterling and I had formed a pact to fight Gibson. Gibson had been regrown in a vat from scraps of DNA after Sterling had crashed an LNG tanker into Gibson’s Stealth pleasure barge in the Straits of Juan de Fuca. During the regeneration process, telescoping Carbonite stilettos had been incorporated into Gibson’s arms. Remembering this in the nick of time, I grabbed the signing table and flipped it up between us
[...]
The blast caused a seismic rupture that split off a sizable part of Canada and created what we now know as Vancouver Island. This was the last fight between me and Gibson. For both of us, by studying certain ancient prophecies, had independently arrived at the same conclusion, namely that Sterling’s professed interest in industrial design was a mere cover for work in superweapons. Gibson and I formed a pact to fight Sterling.

Just yesterday I rediscover that William Gibson is blogging and Bruce Sterling‘s blog is always worth a read.

November 16th release for Half-Life 2.

Do you have a friend or relative who make a valuable addition to the Black Mesa team? Immediate openings are available in the areas of “Materials Handling” and “Low Clearance Security.” Please contact Black Mesa personnel for further information. If you have an associate with a background in the areas of “Theoretical Physics,” “Biotechnology,” or other high-tech disciplines, please contact our civilian recruitment division. The Black Mesa Research Facility is an equal-opportunity employer. A reminder to all Black Mesa personnel: Regular radiation and biohazard screenings are a requirement of continued employment in the Black Mesa Research Facility. Missing a scheduled urinalysis or radiation check-up is grounds for immediate termination. If you feel you have been exposed to radioactive or other hazardous materials in the course of your duties, contact your radiation safety officer immediately. Work safe, work smart. Your future depends on it. Now arriving at Sector C Test Labs and Control Facilities. Please stand back from the automated door and wait for the security officer to verify your identity. Before exiting the train, be sure to check your area for personal belongings. Thank you, and have a very safe, and productive day.

From IMDB‘s HL1 entry, of all places. It also credits the voice of the HEV Suit…

It seems Google Desktop Search was launched today.

What does it do?

You might remember me spruiking Lookout; an Outlook plugin that Microsoft acquired for adding fast and convenient search to Outlook… so that it was a little *cough* more *cough* Google-like.

To help initiate the Google-ization of the desktop Google have published Google Desktop Search. Desktop Search seems to do everything Lookout does… and it also indexes your browser history¹, your Office documents, your AOL IM chat logs², text files… what’s more when you search on Google, matches from your local files turn up at the top of the result list along with Internet results.

I’m still indexing as I write this, but even with a partial index I’ve been able to find a competitive analysis document I was struggling to find yesterday afternoon.

It was just last week that I was talking to Alastair about how Google might be angling towards desktop monopolization by building an entire operating system-like infrastructure that runs above, and with minimal coupling to, common operating systems. Google’s vision must be to become the complete portal of most users’ Internetcomputer experience. Could it come to pass that the future of desktop operating systems is simply the ability to talk HTTP, render HTML, cache data, run the bytecode interpreter du jour and establish user credentials with Google?

My other piece of incisive analysis is that the Google Desktop Search logo is a clear indication that the folks at Google are running out of ways to mess with the Google logo ;)

It’s much, much too early to say, but there’s a hint of a hegemony-breaking about this little Google landing party.

¹I’m an unreconstructed IE fanboi… err… tolerator. YMMV.
²They did AOL IM first?!

Today went like this: I woke up. I played with the kids for a bit. I had a shower. I got dressed. I walked out to the dining room to get some juice and noticed that both of my beloved children were staring at me from the dining table. Their heads tracked my movements in silence. They dared not breathe. Their mouths were open. Their forgotten milk-sodden spoons of cereal were dripping into their laps (ok, that isn’t unique to this morning).

I was wearing a suit and tie.

It’s been a long time since Mr 2 and Mr 4 had been in my besuited presence. The last time I recall wearing a suit was when Mr 2 was baptised. It’s understandable he’s forgotten it. He slept through most of the ceremony, and only woke up when his godparents were being enthusiastically entreated to renounce Satan by a nice man in a colourful gown. “…and what’s this oil and water doing on my forehead? Did I fall asleep in the pantry again?”

But I digress.

Both children looked like their father was dressed up as the entertainment for some kind of office theme party. It was like the true identity of Superman had been revealed to them. I explained to them I was skipping out of the office to attend a funeral which meant I had to wear a suit. Blank looks. I’m pretty sure there’s a “Chris, what’s a funeral?” question filed away in a four year old’s mind for use as a future going-to-sleep delaying tactic.

Craned necks and silent mouths followed me as I sidled to the front door.

Explaining to work colleagues that a suit doesn’t mean I was attending a job interview (ha ha) was a day-long experience.

“Job interview or a funeral?”
“Funeral actually.”
“Oh. Sorry about that.”

It was a nice funeral. Auntie Jean was an Australian born Chinese who passed away at age 90. Lots of good thoughts, good people, and the ceremony ended with the song “Wish me luck as you wave me goodbye” which was the wicked humour I remember her for.

Our corporate Vice President is in town. During a speech at an all-hands meeting the local director’s eyes arrive at my bag of fruit and the words in his speech turn mid-sentence from warming words of vice presidentially soothing corporate comfort to “Chris! What on Earth are you wearing?”

“Wish me luck as you wave me goodbye!”

Thanks Auntie Jean. You would have enjoyed my day.

Appendix A: Flak Magazine: Wearing a Suit to Work, 01-03-03

Appendix B

Yahoo doesn’t have a good record of getting the right picture for the story.

Yahoo! News – Rumsfeld Visits Baghdad as Blasts Kill Up to 18

Ok, story about Iraq. Afghanistan were having an election… so lets put in a picture of the guy who won the Australian election.

** Update: Yahoo have corrected the photo link :) **

Via TerraNova and slashdot Forbes.com: Ordinary Hero???

Some interesting figures on how much MMOG vendors have spent on development and support of their games.

The estimate of 480,000 lines of code for City of Heroes is interesting too. I calculate that the average source file size is 650 lines, which would seem to be too large for my liking. I wonder if they’re counting test, blank or comment lines in their LOC count? ;)

It seems that CoH and Eve Online both have daily scheduled downtime for all servers. I wonder if this is a method of achieving fewer unscheduled downtimes by decreasing scheduled availability, or is it an unintended constraint?

Heroes is one of the fastest-growing online games ever, the online world’s equivalent of such out-of-nowhere hits as Harry Potter in books and The Blair Witch Project in film. Lewis, who reaped $17 million selling a graphics-chip company a few years ago, figures Cryptic will be profitable by early 2005. “We’re 30% over my wildest dreams,” he says.

Cryptic thereby defies a troubling trend: Internet games, first ballyhooed as the next big thing, have struggled. Electronic Arts dropped perhaps $30 million (EA won’t confirm it) building, marketing and supporting Sims Online, but it drew at most 80,000 users, and the fad has faded. Users said Sims, with no monsters and no fighting, was a bore. LucasArts and Sony released Star Wars Galaxies last year, only to get slapped with a Worst Game of the Year award from Computer Gaming World, upset that the game had no spaceships and made it all but impossible to become a Jedi. (Sony says both problems have been fixed.)

But when an online game hits, the riches pour in. Sony’s EverQuest is the bestselling multiplayer game in the U.S.; it has 400,000 subscribers after five years. Most pay $50 to start and $13 a month to play, and many clock hundreds of hours playing with other players around the world, communicating via instant messaging, e-mail or Internet voice connections. Sony figures it could earn up to $500 million in profits in eight years on EverQuest, which cost $30 million to build and $14 million a year to update.

Lewis and his staff beat the odds by melding comic books, classical mythology and modern production techniques, and by fighting a few demons of their own on the way. Lewis spent $2.5 million of his own money, plus loans of $4.5 million from his distributor, the U.S. arm of South Korea game company NCsoft, to create City of Heroes. NCsoft is spending another $18 million a year to market and operate the game and provide customer support.

In the 18 months before the Heroes debut, Cryptic’s staff of 35 made the art and story come alive in 480,000 lines of code. The code is separated into 740 computer instruction files that handle everything from dressing up a character in an almost infinite selection of outfits (a total 10 to the 27th power, in fact) to flying through the city, as well as 25,000 graphics files. At peak hours 30,000 automated villains roam each of ten versions of the city. All the possibilities are managed by 600 2-gigahertz chips (from AMD) in ten servers. They can manage four teraflops, equivalent to the world’s biggest supercomputer.

The pizza is eaten. The red wine is open, and nearly done. The kids are so tired they’ve stopped trying to kill each other.

Welcome to Australia’s tomorrow.

I wonder what Peter Costello’s policies are?