Recently South Korea’s been pursuing a so-called “sunshine policy” of being extra, extra nice to North Korea—its insane border buddy captained by Kim Jong Il—in the hope of not being blown up.
Well, according to Reuters, the sun’s setting.
North and South Korean troops exchanged gunfire across their heavily fortified border for the first time in about a year, a military official said on Tuesday, with the incident coming as once warming ties turn chilly.
In other news, Israel’s looking for a W-A-R.
The Israeli cabinet has agreed to widen the country’s ground offensive against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon. The decision, made at a closed door session, received unanimous approval, a senior political source said. (BBC News)
As both a resident of this world and as a 22-year-old easily drafted male citizen of America—the mack daddy of reckless countries—this is all making me a tad nervous.
I’ve put up photos from last summer’s trip to Denmark and my Saturday trip to UCSC. I got lazy and didn’t finish titling the West Denmark photos; may be I’ll finish those up sometime later.
Look, he even looks like he has a tiny ray-gun! and a… tail.
I’ve been really lazy lately. I mean, it can’t be normal to be this lazy. You know how whales, through tremendous physical exertion and focused drive, breach the ocean and majestically leap into the air? I’m feeling the exact opposite of that.
Slouching in my comfy chair, irreparably fusing my spinal discs together, I’ve had a lot of time to ponder my laziness. Could laziness be genetic? Could I have been the unlucky recipient of the dormant goodfornuthin gene? Or could it have something to do with my upbringing? Really, how the heck would a parent instill a sense of wanting to do stuff into his kid? Did Picasso’s parents kick him in the ass to paint? Did Einstein’s parents tell him to stop dicking around and get going on that General Theory of Relativity already?
I hope I’m going through one of those romanticized periods of laziness, like you might read in a biography of someone famous enough to have a biography. It’s that part during the guy’s clueless early years where, completely burnt out after turning 22 while studying pointless things, he vegetates for one or three years until everything snaps together and he goes on to invent celery or whatever. That sounds a lot better than the alternative scenario of sinking into a lifetime of underachievement and Budweiser.
As things are going this summer, 2006 will probably be the hottest year in a century (beating out 2005, 1998, 2002, 2003 and 2004.) Uh oh, looks like we are, how do you say… ze fucked.
The strange thing about people is that they usually need to be screwed over in order to believe that they can be screwed over, even in the face of dire warnings that yes, a screwing is eminent. It’s the ol’ “won’t buy a fire extinguisher until after the house has burned down” deal. Thanks Gore, but it’s hard to beat human nature.
Looks like it’s time to buy some desert future beach-front property.
Israel determined to be the biggest dick in the Middle East
Israel is the most self-destructive, mindlessly militant country I’ve ever seen. According to the International Herald Tribune (emphasis mine):
Israel, for fuck’s sake, what the hell do you think you’re doing?! Look, sit your ass down, I’m going to make this quick:
Israel’s leaders are obviously feeling invincible thanks to their long-dominant military and U.S.-led support. The problem is, no nation is an island—no nation can ignore its neighbors growing anger and resentment. If Israel’s leaders were smart, they’d start cultivating a sense of rational, fair, level-headed behavior in their neighbors instead of handing out more reasons for hatred. Israel needs to make the Middle Eastern world see Hezbollah as the aggressor and the ones trashing a fragile peace. Truly, Israel needs to keep diplomacy alive as an option in the eyes of Israel’s world-be enemies.
That is how a “permanent,” “sustainable” solution can be created. By contrast, hiding behind Condoleezza Rice’s rhetoric and attempting to utterly destroy Hezbollah simply ensures that Israel and Middle East will suffer even more greatly in the future.
(photo: BBC News)