Ugh, the big chief has spoken / The end of the world as we know it? / Laptop really…

Ugh, the big chief has spoken

Bush spoke, but not the truth. At least, Juan Cole says so. But what does he know? Or does he? Is it OK for a president to lie? To speak pure propaganda? Whateve. It is very scary. Read Cole's analysis and decide for yourself.

The end of the world as we know it?

Now, it is really getting serious. The likelyhood, that we have already passed the point of no return of global warming is quite large. The polar icesheets are melting away fast. This could raise the sealevel by several meters, which would, e.g flood much of, well, many cities and countries. See this A HREF="http://tomdispatch.com/index.mhtml?pid=27240">article (at the end of it). The article also makes a good point that may 1% of the money so far wasted in vain in Iraq would have been enough to prepare USA for the possible global pandemic. But, of course, fighting flu is not so profitable as fighting, well, aliens.

Laptop really lost

My bad luck is getting worse. I did not hear from Apple today. So, I cycled again to Cambridge Side Mall to ask whether they knew anything new about the whereabouts of my laptop. Indeed, they did. It turned out, that Apple had used FedEx to ship my laptop to my home. Well, that is quite OK. What is not OK at all is that, according to the info Apple has, FedEx has delivered the laptop at my front door (yes, up the stairs on Beacon Street) at 1.32 pm on the 30th of September - a week ago. I came back home at 1am on the 1st of October and did not find my laptop. Quite a surprise, one would think. What is more surprising is the fact that Apple sent laptop with explicit requirement for recipient signature. But FedEx now claims to have had a waiver for having the signature. So, it really seems that they have really delivered the laptop on the stairs. How f***ed up can a business behave? Well, if there is anything good in the situation, it is that I will most likely get a new laptop. I just hope getting the new laptop does not take too long - nothing like the 6+ months it took to get the new bicycle when Air France destroyed the old one.
I just cannot understand why I have all this bad luck? Did I remember to tell, that my refridgerator broke down. Yes, the landlord will get me a new one, soon as he says. I just wonder what happens next! This is getting a bit scary... (or then not, just rare occasion happening at the same time, it is possible)
Anyway, it seems that I have to write my thesis here in the Athena-cluster after all. I just have to get used to the idea of working here.

Daily crono

A recruiter (or head hunter) woke me up today. I asked her to call back in one hour. She did not. Should I care? Most likely she was not seriously wanting to talk to me - she would have called if she were. I cycled to MIT, had lunch with Kumar, attended the System architecture class (Steve Imrich lectured, and well, on civil architecture), then the Urban Transport planning class (F.P. Salvucci told the story of Boston transport since 1950s. Very interesting. Afterwards, I discussed with Giorgia on the next assignment, etc. Whatever. Interesting day. Not an totally ordinary one.

Alun perin julkaistu kuukausikoosteessa "Blogs October 2005".