A year to make up

Tonight, Neil and I are doing something to celebrate. Neither of us are sure what activity is going to define our celebration — a good movie (I read Hellboy is now out on DVD), a big spread for dinner (I’m leaning towards another all-you-can-eat or Little Chilli), a night out… something.

On Monday morning, I start my new job, the first real job I’ve had since moving to Xiamen. I sent in a CV, went for an interview, a position was proffered, and I accepted. Then I went home and jumped up and down a lot.

It’s not The Economist or like anything I’ve ever done, there is no obsessive keeping up with the news and regional issues as with my previous job (which also provided great fodder for this website), but I think there will be a lot of writing and talking, challenges, unglamorous trudging around, and travel. I know there will be days when I’ll be pissed off, effing and blinding at everything that moves. The hours will be long, but I’ll be doing something with visible results.

I’ll need to start throwing good parties.

Thrilled doesn’t cover it. Ecstatic doesn’t cover it. I’ve been given a chance to get involved in something that some others would deem as pretty bloody cool, and although it’s not an industry I ever thought I’d join (in any way, shape, or form), I think I’m up to it.

No words can really describe how fucking great I feel.

Reviewing the reviewers

I envy those who can, and do, spend the time to write smart, witty things on the Internet.

Serving country in armed forces: good.
Not fighting in war you oppose: also good.
Fighting in war you oppose: complex.
Serving country in armed forces and then fighting to end war you oppose: doubleplus good.
Not fighting in war you support: deeply hypocritical.
Not fighting in war you support and then blaming black people for not letting you serve (known to ethicists as “the DeLay conundrum”): hypocrisy so deep it cannot be plumbed by known moral instruments.
Having “other priorities” during war you support: vacuous.
Enlisting in National Guard: good.
Using one’s father’s connections to jump the line waiting to enlist in National Guard, in order to avoid service in Vietnam: bad, but widely practiced and considered merely venial in some cultures.
Using one’s father’s connections etc. and then not fulfilling obligations to National Guard after all: unambiguously bad.
Using one’s father’s connections etc., not fulfilling obligations etc., then serving as commander-in-chief, waging war under false pretenses, and extending reservists’ terms of service in war while cutting veterans’ benefits: kind of like being on Tom DeLay’s moral level, only worse.

I envy them, but then their existence means I don’t feel like I have to try, and then fail, at being smart and witty.

Here’s one High Value Target

‘Most wanted’al Qaeda bomber held in Pakistan:

Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, a Tanzanian national is wanted for synchronised bombings that killed more than 200 people at US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998.

…

Ghailani was among seven people about whom the United States said in May it was seeking information amid fears of a possible attack in the near future.

Remember The New Republic’s story about alleged US government pressure to deliver High Value Targets during the Democratic National Convention? Here’s their update:

[Editor's Note: This afternoon, Pakistan's interior minister, Faisal Saleh Hayyat, announced that Pakistani forces had captured Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, a Tanzanian Al Qaeda operative wanted in connection with the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. The timing of this announcement should be of particular interest to readers of The New Republic. Earlier this month, John B. Judis, Spencer Ackerman, and Massoud Ansari broke the story of how the Bush administration was pressuring Pakistani officials to apprehend high-value targets (HVTs) in time for the November elections--and in particular, to coincide with the Democratic National Convention. Although the capture took place in central Pakistan "a few days back," the announcement came just hours before John Kerry will give his acceptance speech in Boston.]

The story claimed the US government wanted any announcements of arrests to be made during the first three days of the convention (26-28 July). John Kerry made his speech on 29 July — obviously, this allegation of the US government trying to pressure other governments for domestic political purposes is a complete fabrication.

Coincidence or not, the timing sure is incredibly convenient.

Update: You know, I was only kidding about the difference in dates proving the non-political value the timing of this capture has. Some people clearly aren’t.

Yo, what gives? It’s the 29th of July today, right? We wanted the ISI to turn UBL over on the first three days of the convention–not the last–the better to get the full news cycle…what happened?

The domestic adventures of moving (part 2)

You’d think that all we needed to do on our first night in our new apartment was to unpack as much as possible, and settle into a well-deserved night’s sleep. Well, you’d think wrong.

I’ll remind all that it’s summer, and a Xiamen summer isn’t balmy. If it’s a clear day, it’s boiling hot. If it’s overcast, it’s hot and extremely humid. Air conditioning is a must for all spoiled foreigners in the city. Needless to say, the real estate agent, H (who, by the way, has earned his commission, no question), informed us that he couldn’t get a hold of the person who is in possession of the air conditioner remote controls.

“Just suffer tonight with the fan and I’ll get you the remotes tomorrow,” he said.

We do have a fan, so I figured it we could deal and not be too warm and uncomfortable.

There were a few more small items we needed to move, and we required a food fix, so off we went to accomplish those missions.

Home we came, laden with three laptops and assorted electrical items, sweaty and ready to have a shower in our new apartment, when we realised that the main breaker had tripped. And we couldn’t turn it back on. We weren’t in darkness, we had power, just an inability to use anything that required plugging into a socket, which included our water heater and fan. One of the guards came up and found that the breaker in the bathroom was causing the trip, so our fan came back on, but hot water was unavailable (and we could also hear water from the heater leaking inside the walls, which certainly made me feel safer).

Did I mention that I’d picked up a chest cold that weekend?

The next morning was known as weary. H despatched a plumber and air conditioner service man, both of whom had an opinion on our breaker / electricity problem. The plumber’s electrician friend arrived and also gave his opinion. Tools were bared, switches were flicked, breakers were turned off and on in an attempt to troubleshoot the issue.

Every time one of them claimed to have isolated the offending circuit (socket?), they would disconnect it and turn everything back on. The main breaker would trip all over again. Back to the drawing board. This went on all afternoon, until the air conditioner service man gave up and went home. The plumber and electrician bypassed the main breaker (they’d decided the main breaker was faulty), said they’d come back with a new one the next day, and went home.

Hell, at least we had air conditioning that night.

To cut the long story short, the main breaker was not faulty (cue and repeat the entire afternoon of fix and trip, fix and trip), water is still leaking inside the bathroom walls, one air conditioner is not working, and the flat is not so clean. All in good time, and a good time will be had at the flatwarming and things will need to be cleaned again.

Something else I can agree with. I think

fruit fliesBoffins find secret to attracting women:

Research published in the journal Nature suggests some men might be born seducers and others born blunderers – just like fruit flies.

It explains why some blokes I know are — as Neil terms — top shaggers. Since they’ve never tried their l33t fruit fly skillz on me, I have no idea if it’s true.

Finally!

Why athletes get injured (to be published in the New Scientist on July 31):

A new mathematical model of the body shows that these athletes rely on a fixed combination of movements that they cannot easily modify. The discovery might help in spotting injury-prone athletes early on.

The study was on cricket bowlers, but it may help to explain why I’m so prone to injury (aside from being clumsy).

Dave Pell’s campaign news with all the carbs

Electablog is just about my favourite site covering the Democratic National Convention. I’ve been a fan since I signed up for his NextDraft newsletter (ages ago).

He’s worth reading every day.

No word on an appearance in Hustler

Holy shit. Terry sent along a link (“Some troll posted this in a forum and I thought you might get a laugh out of it.”) extolling the virtues of Asian teenagers with breasts so huge no surgeon could seriously manage to claim any as their handiwork (no nudity, but I don’t think it’s safe for work).

These girls were big, much bigger than I expected even in my wildest dreams! They confirmed that during their late childhood in the jungle, priests were called to rub certain tinctures on their body — and especially on their chests. Nobody told them why they were receiving this treatment, but soon afterwards, their breasts started to grow, very fast and very big.

They look really, really… off-balance.

(And yes, I’m well aware that this is possibly / probably a hoax. But geez.)

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