July 30, 2007
I found this really well-written story on Time’s website. It’s an extraordinary piece of narrative non-fiction that really helps the reader feel like what it’s like to be in Iraq. Maybe it’s the fact that I’m reading this at 4:30 in the morning and I can’t sleep, but it’s really affecting me deeply.
A quick paragraph:
To many Americans, the Jan. 20 murder of four U.S. soldiers on a deserted road in southern Iraq might sound similar to countless other tragedies in a bloody, brutal war. There was a firefight, which killed another American; a brazen abduction; then a frantic chase leading to a heartless end. And yet from the start, the deaths of the five Americans were also shrouded in mystery. The attack took place in Karbala, a Shi’ite holy city of roughly 1 million people that had been one of the safest in Iraq for U.S. troops. It happened in plain sight of Iraqi police the Americans had been assigned to train. The killers wore U.S.-style uniforms, suggesting a catastrophic lapse of security –or the possibility that the enemy operation had actually been an inside job.
It’s really worth reading. It gives you a good understanding of this event, and thereby, a better understanding of what it’s really like there. It makes me insanely distrustful of all the politicians who talk non-stop about this war. It makes me furious at the administration for starting this war. It’s chilling to imagine these soldiers over there working with the Iraqi security forces when they suspect them for killing their own. I admire the soldiers very much for this, and I admire the power of journalism to tell this story. Details, consider yourself dropped. Time, you’re on the team.
July 29, 2007
So I found this really cool article:
New DaVinci Theory:
“Now Slavisa Pesci, an information technologist and amateur scholar, says superimposing the “Last Supper” with its mirror-image throws up another picture containing a figure who looks like a Templar knight and another holding a small baby.”
Pretty interesting stuff. I decided to investigate by creating the image described in the article, since they don’t provide a visual of their own. Here’s what I came up with:
This image was created by flipping the Last Supper and setting it at 62% opacity, and then centering it so that Jesus is in the center of both images.
The Templar Knight on the left is immediately striking. When you look at how he was created (i.e., the two figures that combine to make him), the figures seem like odd artistic choices without thinking they were made to create this knight.
The baby is pretty unmistakable, as well. While there is a chalice in the center under Jesus, a chalice seems to be the easiest optical illusion to create. What do I think? It seems odd that DaVinci would be thinking about transparency in his image. Also, the new characters fit so neatly into the established Templar/Magdalane lore that it casts doubt about their accuracy.
Still pretty awesome, though. I’d love to see the original lecture on it.
July 6, 2007
Take that! Who else has a floppy fin but yo own namesake. Burrrrn! Burrrrrn!
June 6, 2007
After doing research to find some more committees for 2012, I learned that London actually won the bid for the Olympics. My hatred for the Olympics is well documented, but the idea that this is the official logo for world sport is fitting, as the games themselves are a joke. Truly a dark day for humanity. When the Maya predicted the world ending in 2012, this must be what they were talking about.
In other news, I found this awesome Paris 2012 logo.
June 6, 2007
Read me
It doesn’t have that jovial, childish feel of the Olympics. It is a bit harsh to the eyes. The logo doesn’t even have the colors of the rings. Pink and yellow? I read somewhere that the logo was removed because of fears of epileptic seizures…haha.
