Comedy and Tragedy

This Apple Switch Ad parody is really quite funny (be warned, it's 48 mb long and it contains some obscenities). I must say that, in all my time working with MacIntoshes, I've been nothing but happy with my experience. I don't dismiss this man's story, but I guess it shows that one's experience with a computer is as unique as the user himself. Thanks to Mike for the link!

And speaking of funny things, we were listening to CBC Radio and they were talking about some of the results of the Canada Winter Games. One of the events was "Pre-Novice Freestyle Ice Dancing". To which Erin turned to me and said:

ERIN: Pre-Novice?
ME: Yeah, that's when they find this twelve-year-old girl, minding her own business on the street, and they sneak up on her and carry her away in a sack.
ERIN: (laughs) and someone shouts (loud, announcer's voice) "You are Ontario's entry in Pre-Novice Freestyle Ice Dancing!"
ME: Yeah, and they slap some skates on her, and then shove her on the ice. Hmm... How would they apply some incentive for ice dancing?
ERIN: (loud, announcer's voice) "And also on the ice, a tiger that hasn't been fed for three whole days!
ME: Could be worse. Could be Pre-Novice Ski Jumping.


Moving from comedy to tragedy, my earlier rosy assessment of Turkey's decision not to allow the United States to deploy troops ahead of an invasion of Iraq has taken a bit of a hit from this article on Back to Iraq.com.

The article speculates that the motives behind some of Turkey's leaders might have been more suspect, forcing the United States to invade Iraq entirely from the south, allowing Turkey to send in troops through the north, without U.S. or U.N. sanction or, more importantly, without U.S. or U.N. control.

As conspiracy theories go, this one's quite compelling. The Turks get to quash Iraqi Kurdistan's nationalist ambitions, gain the oil fields in Northern Iraq, make a show of being on the side of the U.S. in terms of attacking Saddam while also making a show to Europe of breaking the U.S. occupation of Iraq.

This presents an alarming scenario of the U.S. government, after the fall of Saddam Hussein: should they intervene in Iraqi Kurdistan and try to take the northern oilfields, engaging Turkey, a NATO ally, on Iraqi soil? Or should they stand down and accept what amounts to a tainted victory? If I were in the U.S. shoes, I'd be incensed, but what choice would I have but to back down and let Turkey keep its gains?

The Kurdish government is bracing for a possible Turkish attack, and certainly Iran has got to be watching this with interest.

I may have egg on my face over my earlier article, but if so, it's rather disheartening egg. Nothing hurts more than to grab at one small ray of optimism, only to have it shown as a sign that one's original dire predictions might be correct. The United States is still walking into a hornet's nest, and it isn't Saddam's bunker.

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