Peter’s Blog

There’s a fantastic article in the latest Escapist called “Fighting with Monsters”, about the portrayal of journalism in the game Beyond Good and Evil

(Say his name with some real pop to the B)

The Collected Controversies of William F. Buckley

My friend Qalandar has gone back to Pakistan and has been working for democracy. Below is the introduction to his editorial for the next issue of Naked Punch. I hope you enjoy it.

A renowned poem of Faiz Ahmed Faiz was brought to my attention last night. Sitting for dinner in a restaurant in Lahore the one-man entertainment with his key-board and mike walked up to my table and kindly asked if I had a request. ‘Yes, A ghazal…of Faiz’, I replied. Happy to be playing something other then the latest Bollywood film song he returned to his keyboard and began to sing:

That which was ours, my love,
Don’t ask me for that love again

The poem of Faiz goes on:

but there were other sorrows, comforts other than love.
The rich had cast their spell on history:
Dark centuries had been embroidered on brocades and silks.
Bitter threads began to unravel before me
As I went into alleys and in open markets
Saw bodies plastered with ash, bathed in blood.
I saw them sold and bought, again and again.
This too deserves attention. I can’t help but look back
When I return from those alleys – what should one do?
And you still are so ravishing – what should I do?
There are other sorrows in this world,
Comforts other than love.
Don’t ask me, my love, for that love again.

And here is the actual document: Oppressions Other Than Love (DOC, 152 kb)

Man, this is a harrowing story about a company in Afghanistan. Apparently the second part will run next Sunday.

Guantánamo, the image and the reality - International Herald Tribune

But in popular culture, the debate about Guantánamo is largely over, as suggested by a look at a growing number of novels, nonfiction books, movies, plays and other forms of expression.

“Whether it’s America’s Devil’s Island or not, that’s how people are going to keep thinking about it,” said Dan Fesperman, a former Baltimore Sun reporter who set his 2006 mystery novel “The Prisoner of Guantánamo” at the base.

Note: This is based on the European January 19-25 edition.

p.14 I was surprised to read:

“It [America] has much to learn from Europe. Best of all, set a carbon tax, which is less susceptible to capture by business lobbies than a cap-and-trade system.”

Perhaps I’m mistaken, but I thought The Economist preferred a cap-and-trade system. But, as they point out, the European system has been largely ineffective and is easier to game than a simple tax. Unfortunately for both them and the US, it’ll probably be a cold day in hell before an aggressive carbon tax gets real headway in Congress. Given that cap-in-trade was invented in the US, it has another thing in its favor.

p.23 I like the line, “ If Napoleon’s armies marched on their stomachs, American ones march on bandwidth.”

p.24 Wow:

“A single Global Hawk unmanned surveillance aircraft flying over Afghanistan can eat up several times more satellite bandwidth than was used for the whole of the 1991 war against Iraq.”

The whole war!

p.41 Did I miss something? Apparently Obama’s admitted to doing cocaine. Bill Clinton, W, and now Obama (and I’m sure most of his fellow Presidential candidates): everyone’s ‘experimented’. It just goes to show that my friend smoking a joint while in Amsterdam and didn’t want their photo taken because of potential problems in the future has nothing to fear.

p. 71 According to research by Steven Levitt and Sudhir Venkatesh, “Prostitutes [in Chicago] are more likely to have sex with a police officer than to be arrested by one.”

p.78 A mystery indeed:

“Who knew that … the rarely seen $2 bill still accounts for 1% of all American notes printed? (Where do they all go?)”

“It’s in Iceland” answers The Economist. =)

Is morality innate? Is there a biological basis for it? Is it universal? The NY Times Magazine has a very interesting piece called“The Moral Instinct” covering these questions.

There’s a great assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of Monocle at The Magazineer. Highly recommended.

The New York Times has a nice photoshoot mixing together many of the actors and actresses and characters from many films by the Cohen brothers.