aPe Computers

I really don’t feel the need to say much. Just watch their space-elevator-world-shattering-apocalypse banner for a while and “Feel the Quality” while enjoying those fantastic rounded corners.

Its enough to make me want to pull out my old Anthropology text book!

1. Ground Truth This movie looks like the true sequel to Farenheit 9/11. It tells the stories of young men and women in the armed forces from enlistment through deployment and death, injury or homecoming. You may think you’ve heard these stories before, but the professionalism and polish of the trailer suggest a movie uniquely powerful and moving. The release date of September 15th is timed for maximum impact. Spread the word.

2. Fast Food Nation You’ve heard of the book, now watch the movie. The fictional premise of the film allows us an insider’s view of the fast food industry that Michael Moore could never give us. It looks funny, disturbing, insightful and incriminating. Just what McDonalds needs. Move over Supersize Me.

3. Science of Sleep I loved Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and this film, by the same director, looks even more creative, playful, surreal and wacky. The trailer combines stop animation and live action to capture a world where dreams and reality merge. Looks like one of those visually compelling enough I might even want to watch it in the theatre.

4. Accepted At first glance this looks like just another teen movie. Highly improbably story, but with a moral that looks straight out of The Teenage Liberation Handbook: middle class suburban kids teach themselves. Oh and it has Lewis Black from the Daily Show. Of course, it could be a complete flop as well.

Oh and Tenacious D in the Pick of Destiny looks like another hilarious Jack Black movie. But once you’ve watched the trailer you’ve probably already seen all the funniest moments.

A minute or two after I sat down, a train pulled into the station. As it blew by us and then pulled to a stop, he frantically scrawled six five digit number in red ink across a single page of his notebook. 57801, 57301… Though he had been staring straight ahead the entire time, he had somehow managed to read the numbers of each of the six carriages in front of us as they had whizzed by. I realized I was in the presence of a tube spotter and a very good one at that.

As the tube train pulled away from the platform, the man leaned back in visible satisfaction and took a swig from his soda. He was having a great time. As we sat waiting for the next train he began quietly, gruffly humming to himself in an unself-concious. It wasn’t an unpleasant sound, but enough to clearly signal that he was not aware of the social conventions or norms of the space. He vaguely flipped through his notebook and I saw six carriage numbers scrawed broadly across each page. There must have been at least 40 full pages. As he absent mindedly caressed the pages, I began to recognise patterns that were familiar to me from working with autistic clients.

Soon the next train could be heard, roaring down the tunnel. I watched my new friend lean forward in anticipation, his pen poised above his notebook as the air rushed out of the tunnel ahead of the train. And then it was upon us and past us. Again as it went passed he fixed his stare straight ahead for one second before his hand jumped across the page scrawling six more long red numbers. It was my train, so I got on and left him there, sitting happily on the bench by the platform.

Our guide for our trip today was Colin, Charletta’s colleague at Bridge Builders. He’s a local and enjoyed tearing along the local roads which he was quick to point out are distinctively Roman with their determination to go straight over any obstacle rather than around them as most other local roads do. We mused about the way this fit with the Roman ethos in general. I pointed out that roads in the American midwest also have this tendancy.

Along the same lines we speculated a bit about the impetous for building the wall. As Jonny explained, Hadrian claimed that the wall was to keep out Scottish barbarians. But that might not have been its only purpose. Colin pointed out that the wall was also probably a handy way to keep farmers from heading north to escape Roman taxation. Furthermore, upon reading many of the helpful plaques installed by English Heritage sites, we discovered that everyone passing through the gates in the wall were required to pay a poll or tax.

Does this sound familiar? Powerful imperial leader uses fear of violent attacks against citizens to justify clampdown on local citizens and building a really long wall?

From logistics to turning a blind eye: Europe’s role in terror abductions

The big front story today was a very disturbing report from the Council of Europe, laying bare the U.S. use of torture through CIA led extraordinary rendition scheme in Europe, which has apparently been carried out with “the intentional or grossly negligent collusion of the European partners”.

From the article:

“His report highlights the movement of 18 suspects, all of which used European facilities or airspace, which are part of a series of “rendition circuits” which he likens to a “spider’s web spun across the globe”. He warns that the US, believing that “neither conventional judicial instruments nor those established under the framework of the laws of war could effectively counter the new forms of international terrorism” has decided to “develop new legal concepts” that have left hundreds of terrorist suspects deprived of their liberty, outside US territory but under US control and denied any access to their fundamental legal rights.”

CIA Ties With Ex-Nazis Shown

In the “Past Shame” category, comes this lovely piece once again reminding Americans that morality and ethics have never been a factor in CIA policy. The basic story is that the CIA knew where Adolf Eichmann was two years before the Israelis found him. Suprisingly, a number of papers have taken the current story about ignoring Eichman to talk about the broader history of the CIA collaborating with ex-Nazis.

From the article:

“The CIA based its decisions about using former SS men or unreconstructed Nazis solely on operational considerations. . . . Hiring these tainted individuals brought little other than operational problems and moral confusion to our government’s intelligence community,” he added.

Protests paralyse Chile’s education system

In the “Inspring Nonviolent Resistance” category, more than a million students have participated in protests for “free use of public transport, lower fees for college entrance exams and a voice in government policy”. A voice in public policy - how radical is that? This one is especially interesting because of the recent election of Michelle Bachelet. Kudos to the students for not sitting around leaving it to politicians, even left-leaning ones. Their tactics also seem quite cutting edge.

From the Article:

“Using the internet and cell phones, the students have rewritten the rules of dissent with their ability instantly to organise marches and make collective decisions. The organisers are very young, with an average age of 16, and their support goes all the way down to 11-year-olds, who organise forums and debate the right to a free education, turning their break into a civics lesson.”

Sarkozy forced to review plans to deport children of illegal immigrants

This is actually an update on a story from June 4, French defy state child snatchers which described a massive resistance campaign against efforts to deport immigrant children as part of a plan by Nicolas Sarkozy to win support from the extreme right wing.

From the June 4 article:

“All over France this week similar scenes will be repeated as a national network of volunteers mobilises. According to Jean-Michel Delabre, an activist with Education sans Frontières (ESF), the battle is about more than just the future of several thousand youngsters. ‘This is a fight for the soul of France and for the sort of society we want to live in,’ he told The Observer. ‘Do we want our country to be tolerant and multicultural? Or xenophobic and closed?’

One of the toughest battles is being fought in the western port of Brest where, for months, a six-year-old Dagestani girl called Sakimat Amiralieva has been hidden from the authorities by a network of concerned local mothers. ‘In an emergency, hiding the child is the only way of stopping [the expulsion procedure],’ said David Rajjou, the immigration lawyer representing the girl, explaining the drastic tactics. ‘If a mother is separated from her child, neither can be expelled.’”