Skeptic

The Italian journalist/hostage now seems to believe that the US troops attacked her deliberately. I think that presupposes levels of operational intelligence and communication that have not been demonstrated elsewhere in the Iraq war zone....

It's a version of Occam's Razor -- no need to whip up a conspiracy if the facts can be explained by basic fuck-ups.

Birdswarm

Bohemian Waxwings, a hundred or so, descending on the dried and frozen fruit on an ornamental tree in front of our house. Shades of A. Hitchcock....

Privacy on the internet?

Since the latest meme seems to be the LJ version of dittoheads, I'll solemnly affirm, nay swear by the Holy Q'ran and the beard of the Prophet, blessed be he, that I don't use whatever that damned service does....

But I remain bemused by the thought that I might post something, _anything_, on the internet that I wanted to keep hidden. Even with no-archive on newsgroups, or locked posts here, if it goes off this computer and into cyberspace, I know I can't kill it, no matter how hard I try. Somewhere, somehow, someone will be able to find it and use it against me in a court of law. If I fuck up, the result will remain out there for all to see.

But no, that doesn't make me think twice before hitting *send*. If you're reading this, you probably already know that....