US powerless to halt Iraq net images – or is it?

When I told Chloe that we’d been friends a lot longer than I had thought, she did start purring.

But then, she’s always liked me.

KUOW is among the NPR stations pushing for changes

“A host, when news is breaking, actually needs to be able to interact live with a reporter on the scene and do live interviews with analysts as a story is unfolding,” said Jeff Hansen, program director for KUOW (94.9) in Seattle, and an independent coordinator for news-focused radio stations that carry NPR programs. “We owe a lot to Bob Edwards for setting exactly the right tone for the first 25 years. But I think there is probably wide agreement in the public radio system that it is time for an evolutionary change.”

The P-I runs an NYT article. As Tom notes, now’s the time to let KUOW know what you think.

‘Walking zombies’ threaten subways – New York Newsday. It’s a deal of trouble keeping them off the tracks.

Walking dead have a lot to tell the living – Cleveland Plain Dealer. Gems of wisdom such as ‘ooouargh’ come to mind.

Recording industry web site downed, possibly by zombies – USA TODAY [via BoingBoing]. If the RIAA is downed by the walking dead, is it self-inflicted?

Zombies push Jesus from top of North American box office – The New Zealand Herald (See also Zombies drive Jesus from Box Office at MTV). No word on how badly the fall may have hurt Our Lord.

Plight of the living dead – The Scotsman. Won’t someone think of the zombies?

Zombie debt collectors dig up your old mistakes – MSN Money. Glad to see we’re finding a way to put the poor buggers to good use.

Zombie behaviors integral to human consciousness – ScienceBlog.com. Yes, dear. Of course, dear. Mmm-hmm.

UPDATE: Now that’s fresh: Company says some frozen lobsters live again – Maine Today [AP]. Missed this the first time through. I did see it on Monday, but forgot when assembling the headlines. [PF via Off the Kuff]

And finally, the always forward thinking LA Times proffers Lifestyles of the Undead at the subscription-only Calendar Live.

There are more headlines like this showing up every minute. I believe a mutant brain-eating virus may be spreading among the nation’s headline writers.

I don’t know about you, but I’m boarding up the house.

TRAPPED BY UNDEAD, NEED HELP – “This is not a joke. We are alone and constantly battling for our lives.” At blogspot. A few days ago, they were wondering why there is an apparent news blackout. I’d say the blackout must be over. [seen on MeFi a few days ago]

“It’s obvious that there was some kind of chemical explosion that might have led to the catastrophe that Roy and I are now a part of. Mr. Quincy tells me that these documents were drafted in response to the reports of, what at the time, seemed like mass canabilistic attacks in these areas.”

I wonder, are these zombies somehow adipocerean?

Luckily, here’s a helpful documentary from the sixties both on how to respond, and how not to. Practice gun safety, kids! [via BoingBoing again]

Correspondent number 2 weighed in last night. Here’s what Blake Carter has to say:

Ni hao Mike–

I suspect you’ve heard more about the craziness than I have. My boss likes the KMT because he says its’ policies are economically more stable. Foreigners and musicians all like the DPP (President Chen’s party) because he’s big on Taiwan as Taiwan. My teacher friends with scooters are all annoyed with the traffic jams caused by the protests. With only a 0.2% victory for Chen, of course the KMT wants a re-count which according to yesterday’s newspapers they’re going to get. My Chinese teacher says don’t go out at night because it may be dangerous, but she’s thirty, still lives with her parents, and hangs out at net cafes playing video games.

As far as a fake shooting no one can say yet though there are some pretty strange circumstances, eg despite the fact you can’t scratch your ass without someone taking a photograph, supposedly the only relevant pictures of the parade the police have come up with are 28 lanes from each other so they can only narrow down the shooting to a kilometer-long area (Chen didn’t notice he’d been shot till blood came through his jacket and Lu, the vice-president, only said she felt a sharp pain in her knee and thought she’d been hit with a firecracker).

There’s the bell for class; if I hear anything good outside of what the papers and TV say I’ll let you know.

Got to go,
Blake

Blake’s lived in Korea, China, and now Taiwan for (I think) more of the last ten years than he’s lived in the U. S. He played concertina in the earliest version of the BKB. He has a bright red suit, dark black dyed hair, and an interesting sense of humor.

Taiwan’s Leader Wins Election; Tally Is Disputed [NYT]

TAIPEI, Taiwan, March 20 — President Chen Shui-bian of Taiwan was declared to have won a second term by a razor-thin margin on Saturday, but the opposition Nationalist Party called for the election to be annulled and suggested that the president might have staged an 11th-hour assassination attempt to get votes.

I’ve dispatched emails to my Taipei correspondents and received the first response last night. Joe Zagorski, who has lived in Taiwan since the last U. S. presidential election and speaks Chinese fluently, reports the following:

Ai ya!

What a crazy deal!

I have one friend, a KMT supporter (educated and intelligent, I can’t figure out what she sees in the KMT,) she was very bummed out about it, didn’t really say much except she thought the election should definetely be postponed. So, she evidently felt it would be a big boost for the incumbent to get shot in the gut.

I have another close friend, a radio announcer who is an enthusiastic supporter of Chen Shui Bian and the greens (not to be mistaken with the Green Party a la Nader) and she was nothing short of outraged, immediately suspected Beijing was behind it, and she is convinced the shit is gonna hit the fan now.

Me… I guess I’m not expecting the worst. I would say that it is very very serious to have the president of the country shot the day before elections… on the other hand, opinions of the people I meet vary from ‘convinced it’s China,’ all the way to ‘it’s a play to get a sympathy vote and he had himself shot.’

I am reserving judgement until they find out who done it. Actually, I have a sixth sense about this, I’m pretty sure it was Lee Harvey Oswald…

The KMT are the Nationalists, and the Greens Joe refers to are the Democratic Progressives, the party of the victorious incumbent.

The reasons that the idea the assassination attempt might be faked are straightforward: the wounded candidates were so slightly hurt that they were back in public less than eight hours after the shooting and the hospital where the candidates were taken is said to be under the control of close political allies of the wounded candidates.

The NYT story goes on to note that Mr. Chen, the victorious incumbent, has made election-eve claims of assassination attempts in the past. The second page of the online story includes a detailed accounting of the numerous odd circumstances surrounding the shooting.

Mild-Mannered Literary Guys Transform Into Comics Writers [NYT]. The article highlights the appearance of literary writers as comics writers, framing it as a trend. Mmmm. I’d say it more reflects a broader openness to brand-based experimentation in the Houses of the Supes, which is not to say that the work produced isn’t valid artistic experimentation. The brands that open the door in this instance are the writers’ names. Think of Chabon as Kiss for the oughts. You know, for the kids. It’s aimed at the same audience that bought the Kiss comics in the seventies now that you all have English degrees and mortgages.

My take sells this whole thing a bit short, though. Marvel has shown a willingness to open their characters to respected creators that are far from as well known as Chabon such as James Sturm and Pete Bagge. Unfortunately, I haven’t ever seen any of these guys’ material for the bigs because I rarely hit a comics shop and when I do I’m usually flat broke or there chasing a specific indie title.

LLANTO POR IGNACIO SANCHEZ MEJIAS, a setting in French, Spanish, and English, with images.

By Frederico Garcia Lorca – Images by August Puig

(from different sources, an extract in English. From “3., Cuerpo Presente.” Full original Spanish text here. this English translation appears to have been made by a native Spanish speaker and is very literal gramatically while containing an occasional English misspelling, such as ‘looses’ for ‘loses’ in stanza 3 for ‘pierda,’ which I noted and changed.

A more graceful translation might seek to take the Spanish ‘stones,’ ‘piedras’ and ‘loses,’ ‘pierdas,’ and make the English words chime accordingly.

In English the best-known example of this metonymy that occurs off the top of my head is Bob Dylan’s well-known chorus, which is left as an excercise for the reader. )

Yo quiero ver aquí los hombres de voz dura.
Los que doman caballos y dominan los ríos;
los hombres que les suena el esqueleto y cantan
con una boca llena de sol y pedernales.

Aquí quiero yo verlos. Delante de la piedra.
Delante de este cuerpo con las riendas quebradas.
Yo quiero que me enseñen dónde está la salida
para este capitán atado por la muerte.

Yo quiero que me enseñen un llanto como un río
que tenga dulces nieblas y profundas orillas,
para llevar el cuerpo de Ignacio y que se pierda
sin escuchar el doble resuello de los toros.

Que se pierda en la plaza redonda de la luna
que finge cuando niña doliente res inmóvil;
que se pierda en la noche sin canto de los peces
y en la maleza blanca del humo congelado.

—

(Here I want to see those men of hard voice.
Those that break horses and dominate rivers;
those men of sonorous skeleton who sing
with a mouth full of sun and flint.

Here I want to see them. Before the stone.
Before this body with broken reins.
I want to know from them the way out
for this captain stripped down by death.

I want them to show me a lament like a river
which will have sweet mists and deep shores,
to take the body of Ignacio where it loses itself
without hearing the double planting of the bulls.

Loses itself in the round bull ring of the moon
which feigns in its youth a sad quiet bull,
loses itself in the night without song of fishes
and in the white thicket of frozen smoke.)

Alternative translation, from here:

Here I want to see those men of hard voice.
Those that break horses and dominate rivers;
those men whose skeletons vibrate and who sing
with mouths full of sun and flint.

Here I want to see them. Before this stone.
Before this body with broken reins.
I want them to show me a way out
for this captain constrained by death.

I want them to show me a lament like a river
with sweet mists and steep banks,
to bear the body of Ignacio and let him disappear
without hearing the double snorting of the bulls.

Let him disappear in the round bullring of the moon
which feigns in its youth a mournful quiet bull;
let him disappear in the night without the song of fishes
and in the white thicket of frozen smoke.

—

Following Attacks, Spain’s Governing Party Is Beaten [NYT]

—

I first learned of the fragility of democracy to military assault from internal or external sources as a result of my kindergarten year, 1969, spent in Santiago, Chile. Later in my life I lived briefly, while still a child, in Guadalajara, Mexico. Both of my parents are bilingual in Spanish and English, and my godfather was born in Saltillo, near Mexico City. My wife was born in California of Cuban parents. It is my opinion that the Spanish-speaking peoples of the world are today the most acquainted of all linguistic groups with both the promise (whether broken or upheld) and the price of democracy. They bear the scars of these struggles. Their suffering and their opinions command my sympathy, respect, and love. The people and democracy of Spain have been much on my mind the past few days. I toast their electoral practice.

Salam gives us the skinny on the Iraqi Shia festivals.

Later, after the explosions and mortars, the ever-elusive Raed weighs in, worried.

NASA to announce ‘significant’ finding – tomorrow.

Hm, could it have to do with the recent rock-drilling thing they were doing?