Random Thoughts 12/11/06

• Do you need something to keep you busy? Try Origami! Crease pattern Origami (in which the paper has pre-drawn lines on which to fold) is increasing in popularity and, as sculpting goes, it's a lot less messy than a potter's wheel. They'll have to add a 25th hour of the day before I have time to learn but, until then, check out websites like Robert J. Lang's Origami and be impressed!
• Blogger is finally wrapping up the beta development stage. I'm hoping that as they finish up I'll have more opportunity to redecorate – I've wanted to change the design for awhile but I've been reluctant to do it the hard way if it's not necessary.
  
• I heard today that 80% of a glass of water is snowmelt. Beautiful, pristine snowfall on a mountain top melted and flowed into a river which eventually led to your tap water. I've also heard that the last drink in a can of soda is mostly backwash. Let's see if you can finish that can of Diet Coke now.
• Is there any form of anti-Semitism worse than denying the Holocaust, as endorsed by Iran's government in a conference there this week? It's one thing to be ignorant of history, it's another thing to be actively ignoring the evidence. My grandfather was among the millions of witnesses in Europe in 1945 who saw the evidence of these atrocities. Hours of film and countless photographs exist as well as the testimony of involved parties from both sides. What more can you possibly need? I guess it just goes to show you that if someone doesn't want to believe, nothing will convince them.
• Thank you Kofi Annan, as you retire as Secretary General of the UN. Thanks for doing nothing about the death of millions of Africans in the Sudan and Rwanda and Liberia. Thanks for letting Saddam Hussein, Kim Jong Il, and every other thug get away with whatever they want. Thanks for the oil-for-food scandal, the largest corruption scandal in the history of the world. Thanks for making UN peacekeepers the most irrelevant soldiers in the world. And finally thanks for blaming it all on the United States before you retire. Kofi Annan, what a guy.