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Iran’s nuclear aspirations
Wanting to have nuclear weapons is a perfectly rational aspiration for the leaders of the Iranian regime — for two reasons. The first is that they saw what happened to Iraq (which didn’t have nukes) — and what hasn’t happened to North Korea (which does). The second is that they have a hostile country in the region which surreptitiously obtained nuclear weapons many years ago — Israel.
I’ve always been baffled by the way Israel’s nukes are NEVER talked about in polite conversation. The Israelis always refuse to discuss them in public, and there the matter ends. Imagine the hoo-hah if the Iranians took that approach. It’s as if the Israeli nuclear capability isn’t an issue. But it clearly is for the Arab world, and for Iran (which, remember, was bombed by Israel some decades ago, with the aim of disabling Iranian nuclear capability). So it was refreshing to see this article by David Hirst which doesn’t just mention the unmentionable, but actually ponders it at some length.
For all I know, there may be good reasons for Israel to have nuclear weapons. (There are some countries in the region which deny the right of Israel to exist.) There may be rational reasons for the West to be less worried about Israeli nukes than they would be about Iranian ones. (Israel is a democracy, for example, whereas Iran is not.) But these are all reasons to talk about the Israeli weapons, not to pretend that they don’t exist.
Dual-booting est arrive!
The only surprise is how long it took. Apple has announced a software utility that will allow owners of the new Intel-powered Macs to install Windows XP and choose which operating system to use at boot-up time. This add-on will be built into the next release of OS X.
Big deal. It’s a bit like digging your garden with a teaspoon: it can be done; but why would anyone want to do it?
Poetry for Windows users
Salon challenged its readers to translate Windows error messages into Haikus. Winners here. My favourite is this entry by Peter Rothman:
Windows NT crashed.
I am the Blue Screen of Death.
No one hears your screams.
Thanks to Spencer Goodman for the link.
Funny titles
Hmmm… There’s a book called Writing with Power written by someone named Peter Elbow. Why is this funny? Only because we have a saying in Ireland: “More power to your elbow”, which is a vague exhortation to people about to embark on a worthy but futile task.
The funniest title I’ve come on recently though is Yoga for people who can’t bothered to do it by Geoff Dyer.
He said WHAT???
There’s an amusing site called Overheard in New York: The Voice of the City, which publishes verbal exchanges overheard in the city. Here’s one:
Hobo: You have a quarter for a cup of coffee?
Suit: Excuse me, can’t you see I’m on the phone?
Hobo: I don’t have time for games!–42nd & 7th
John McGahern: the Rattlebag interview
RTE — the national Irish radio station — has a wonderful extended interview with John McGahern, broadcast on the day Memoir was published. (Needs RealAudio player.)
The Condi Rice-Jack Straw lovefest
Delicious Martin Rowson cartoon in the Guardian. I love the punchline: “Coming soon! Weekend breaks for two in TEHRAN!”
Thanks to Pete for the link.
Monotonically increasing time
How about this (from an aside on Good Morning Silicon Valley)?
As I write, it’s Tuesday April 4, 19:55 GMT. In a few hours, at two minutes and three seconds after 1:00 in the morning, the time and date will be 01:02:03 04/05/06. Well, it will be if you use US date format. Just thought you’d like to know.
DeLay quits
From this morning’s New York Times…
WASHINGTON, April 3 — Representative Tom DeLay, the relentless Texan who helped lead House Republicans to power but became ensnared in a corruption scandal, has decided to leave Congress, House officials said Monday night.
Mr. DeLay, who abandoned his efforts to hold onto his position as majority leader earlier this year after the indictment of the lobbyist Jack Abramoff, a former ally, was seeking re-election as vindication. But he told selected colleagues that, facing the possibility of defeat, he had decided not to try to hold on to his House seat.
“He just decided that the numbers and the whole political climate were against him and that it was time to step aside,” said one Congressional official with knowledge of Mr. DeLay’s plans. The official did not want to be identified because Mr. DeLay’s formal announcement was scheduled for Tuesday in Houston.
On Monday night, Richard Cullen, DeLay’s defense lawyer, said that his client had been pondering a withdrawal from the race for some time and that “it had nothing to do with any criminal investigation.”
“The decision had absolutely nothing to do with the investigation,” Mr. Cullen said.
Of course.