Diplomacy?!

Having downloaded and viewed the "Diplomacy" Shockwave animation that so many seem to be raving about, I must admit I cannot share in the general enthusiasm.

Sure, the piece is technically well done (at least in terms of composition, pacing, sound, and so on) but I am... offended, I guess, by the "plot" of the story.

And I'm not sure exactly why. The story is puerile, but considering my past history, that's rarely been something that really bothers me. I suspect I'm bothered because the tactic adopted by the "peaceniks" in the animation is nearly identical to the efforts employed by the Soviet Union (and its allies) during the Cold War to undermine and weaken the will of the United States (the Paris peace talks come to mind, here).

That said, I have to ask: "So what?" If the events in the animation could be made to come to pass (as far-fetched as they are), would the outcome bother me? I think so.

I think part of my discomfort is the "St. Valentine's Day" ending. In the kind of world I want to live in, my side doesn't summarily shoot enemies who have thrown down their weapons.

Come to think of it, I think another component to the discomfort is the childish nature of the piece. The itch that this animation scratches isn't worth arousing.

Cheers...

Seen humor...

I thought I would note here some humor that appears to be making the rounds in Russia (from a post in avva's journal, and comments to it):

It is the year 2032, and a father and his son walk the streets of lower Manhattan. Approaching the site where the WTC used to be in the end of the 20th century, the father sighs and comments, "to think that right here used to be the Twin Towers..."

The son, not understanding, asks his father: "What are the Twin Towers?"

The father smiles and looks at the son, and explains, "The Twin Towers were two huge buildings that used to be here until 2001, when the Arabs destroyed them."

The son looks up to his father, and asks, "And what are the Arabs?"

* * *Saddam Hussein had a dream and called President George W. Bush to tell him about it. "I had a dream about the United States. I could see the whole country and over every building and home was a banner," said Saddam.

"What was on the banners?" asked Bush.

"LONG LIVE SADDAM HUSSEIN!!" answered the Iraqi President.

"I am so glad that you called," said President Bush, "because I, too, had a dream. In my dream, I saw Baghdad and it was more beautiful than ever, totally rebuilt, and over every building and home was a big, beautiful banner."

"What did the banners say?" asked Saddam.

"I don't know," answered Bush, "I can't read Hebrew."

* * *It's 2000, at an international conference. In the middle of a session, the representative of the nonaligned nations rises and says, "Excuse me, gentlemen, but I must leave you for a while. It is time for me to get in line to receive sausage."

The capitalist representative frowns and asks, "What's a line?"

The socialist representative frowns and asks, "What's sausage?"

With the exception of adding just a touch to the translation of the third story above (the frowns), I've set them forth as I found them.

The third story was offered as evidence that there is, after all, nothing new under the sun, and I can only agree. When I first heard it, the participants were a Russian, an American and a member of an ethnic group you wanted to characterize as being arrogant. In the setup, a passerby asks, "Excuse me, where is the line for sausage?", prompting the American to ask, "What's a line?", the Russian to ask, "What's sausage?", and the third participant to ask, "What's 'Excuse me'?"

Rim shot.

As far as the first story is concerned, I think it would sound much better if, instead of implying the disappearance of Arabs, it implied the disappearance of terrorists, but then I think the "bite" goes out of the humor (what do you think?). Perhaps it would still sound good if it implied the disappearance of the Talibs?

With regard to the second story, the ending has a nice bite, but I don't understand the setup at all. In such stories, the resolution not only tweaks the "losing" side but is also supposed to turn what seemed to have been a victory into a defeat. (But hey, I didn't write it.)

Enough of this... there's work to be done!

Cheers...

Inspiring news...

Except I don't know, exactly, what feeling it is that the news inspires.

Tonight's MCC schedule (technically, Saturday's schedule) is normal. Whew!

Tomorrow's schedule (which starts at 12:01 am on Sunday) is a doozie. It starts at (nominally) 12:01 am and goes to 10:15 am, and then starts again at 6:15 pm and continues until 5:30 am on Monday.

Argh! That's 22 hours of work over just under 30 hours. My copious spare time must allow for commuting (about an hour all told), pre-sleep and post-sleep (call it an hour overall), and that leaves... about 6 hours to examine the interior lining of my eyeballs.

Hmph. Seems hardly worthwhile to go home.

In any event, there will apparently be some EVA procedures at our desks tonight for me and Mark to take home and study in preparation for Sunday's work. Mark and I will be doing simultaneous interpretation of the play-by-play of that EVA, so it ought to be One Interesting Time, made slightly easier knowing what the heck is supposed to happen.

I love my job. I do!

Cheers...