120-style

Still haven't had a chance to report on the latest 120's reunion, which happened this past weekend. After changing our minds about who's driving whom and how about a million times, Pisit, Hakeem, and I met in Providence. We called Daisk to ask the question that comes up every time we meet - are the places we're going to fancy enough to necessitate us bringing something other than sneakers? Dasik replied that no, we're not going anywhere special - "as long as you guys aren't wearing Nike Air Maxes". I look down - sure enough, Nike's all around - except for me, of course. So, off we go for another trip to pick up shoes.

This was the first of many detours that we took on the way down to NYC, but we finally made it to Edgewater past 10PM. First item on our agenda was to meet up with Sunny in Hoboken, which we've accomplished - even if at that point Sunny was quite a few beers ahead of us.

Next morning, I woke up at 9 and attempted to get the troops ready - and failed miserably. As soon as I'd persuade one person to get up, another one would find an excuse to nap some more. As a result, we only got going at 1PM, giving us just enough time to swing by Chinatown, check out Wall Street, and get some niiice sushi at Tomoe Sushi. To wrap things up, we went to a spot called "Fat Baby", which provided plenty of beer but, regrettably, no obese toddlers.

quick tally

All right, I'm trying not to babble too much about South Ossetia, but two weeks in, I still have a bitter taste in my mouth. Let’s go over the list of “interested parties” to figure out where we are:

South Ossetia
Hundreds lost their lives during the Georgian bombardment, as South Ossetia suffered the highest toll in civilian casualties – even if the US media actively tried to sweep that fact under the carpet. From the sounds of it, the prospects of future re-integration of the area back into Georgia appear dim at best - not that Georgia has done much for South Ossetia lately, prior to going in with the guns blazing. Speaking about guns: a simple fact escapes most observers. Since 1992-1994, South Ossetia effectively became a de-militarized zone, with heavy armor and most munitions banned. Georgian claim that they were responding to a provocation from the separatists is a little like saying that Israel can justifiably nuke the Gaza Strip if an IDF soldier gets hit with a stone thrown over the wall.

Georgia
War is no picnic, and it sounds like ordinary Georgians got their share - particularly from the "paramilitary units" that poured in across the border. The area is a lot like Iraq - many ethnic tribes live close together within borders drawn by external powers. People are mostly poor, and mostly armed. Remove the centralized control, and the sh#t hits the fan.

Saakashvili
Between his claims of ethnic cleansing and an imminent attack on Tbilisi, it's amazing how the man has not been impeached yet. Oh wait, at least he didn't claim that South Ossetia had WMDs...

McCain
Way to expose yourself as a total douchebag. "We are all Georgians"? What?? When Serbia got busy in Kosovo, we did not become Serbians - far from it. "In the 21st century nations don't invade other nations..." Uhhh! After hearing that, I wanted to clean out my ears. With kerosene. Set ablaze.

US
Yikes. Let's ignore, for a moment, the fact that the US has been exposed as having no geopolitical leverage whatsoever. Unfortunately, what's also becoming clear is that the "We'll Fight For Democracy Anywhere There's Oil" doctrine is beginning to backfire. The signing of the missile defense treaty with Poland, while completely glossed over by US media, has all the trademarks of a little incident in Cuba a few dozen years back. Well, for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction - already, Syria is reaching out to Russia to buff up its missile defenses.

Russia
Technically, the only winner here - but, then again, the military success was never in doubt. The army did lose some planes and soldiers, which it will undoubtedly use as an excuse to spend more on weapon modernization. Action/reaction, again. Did Russia piss off/scare its neighbors? Sure, that was the idea. Watch Ukraine rumble and then quiet down after a quick suggestion from Medvedev: "Want to be next?"

day to day

World events nonwithstanding, Susan and I are managing to have a good time - even if she's working almost every night and most of the weekends. On Tuesday, I took a day off so that we could wander around Harvard Sq. This time around, we strayed off the beaten path, and took a walk down Brattle Street, past humongous houses left over from the pre-Revolution times.

On Monday, I strayed off the beaten path in a different direction, and went to the Medieval Manor with Dave, Jared, and Monica. This place put on a dinner show that was light on medieval-ness and heavy on sexual innuendo, with plentiful beer and food that we had to eat without utensils. Needless to say, I loved it.

misinformation? or worse?

I continue to be amazed at the coverage of the Georgian conflict in the US. There's still almost no mention of the initial barrage of South Ossetia by the Georgian forces that killed by far the most civilians. Just the other day, I was reading an account of Georgians fleeing, with eight people stuffed in a Lada, and some trying to get away on a tractor. Scary and sad - if only I didn't read the same exact account much earlier in a Russian story that described the flight of the Ossetians after the Georgian slaughter.

The only person to get the situation right? John Stewart, who masterfully outlined the hypocrisy of the American position:

go U-S-A!

You know, I'm really enjoying watching the Olympics (then again, maybe it's the new TV that makes even fencing look interesting). The US/China basketball game was fantastic – fairly physical and fast-paced, with the US clearly dominating. What I liked about it was the conduct of American players at the end of the game: no taunting or excessive celebration, just a few friendly handshakes, and a friendly wave to the crowd.

I'm even glad that Susan woke me up to watch the 4x100m freestyle relay. The French were talking all kinds of trash beforehand, and during the last leg their swimmer was ahead by a whole lot. Suddenly, the US swimmer, Jason Lezak surged ahead – yet both Susan and I thought it was too late. Somehow, he managed to touch the wall first, beating the frogmen AND setting the new world record. Unbelievable.

shots fired - now, what do we report?

It's always fun to watch the news "break", as the new agencies don't always know how to spin them at first. After all, by definition, "news" are very much new. After the initial floundering, news companies fall in line – by investigating the reports fully, or (as I suspect) by plagiarizing the majority view.

This morning, fighting escalated in South Ossetia, a province of Georgia that has been virtually independent for over ten years. This region has seen much conflict in the past, but recently things have been quiet – so I can bet that none of the news agencies have any reporters on the ground there. So, we can gather the following facts from the secondary sources:

• fragile peace was being maintained by a peacekeeping force that included a significant number of Russian soldiers


• fighting renewed between Georgian forces and the separatists, with some civilian casualties


• peacekeeping force incurred a number of casualties as well

Off the record, Georgians have a long record of being total assholes, but we’ll leave that out for the sake of objectivity. So, based on this information, how do we spin this story?

CNN: Georgia 'under attack' as Russian tanks roll in (a few hours later, the headline changes to a slightly more neutral Georgia says country is under attack by Russia)

AP: Georgia says Russian aircraft bombed its air bases (great strategy – cite your sources, avoid expressing opinions)

ABC News: Face-Off: Russian Troops Move Into Georgia

Fox: Georgia Says Russian Craft Bombed Its Air Bases followed by a surprisingly unbiased explanation:
Georgia's president says country's under attack by Russian tanks and warplanes after Georgia launched major offensive to retake province of South Ossetia

BBC: Russian tanks enter South Ossetia

What's the Russian take on this?

ITAR-TASS: More than 10 peacekeepers die in events in Tskhinvali

RIA: Georgia claims control over most of South Ossetia in major attack

Pravda.ru (admittedly, a more sensationalist outlet): Georgian military executing wounded Russian peacekeepers

What really happened? Kinda like with the Gulf of Tonkin, it might take years for the truth to come out.

smash-smash

During my senior year at Tufts, all five of my housemates spent quite a lot of time playing "Smash Brothers" (or, one could say, very little time doing anything else). One of them ended up graduating late, and while nobody can attribute that directly to his gaming habits, we all know that Gordon caked hard.

I, however, spent all year resisting the temptation, which was easy to do from the sidelines: the game looks like a cartoon with tiny characters smashing each other. So, instead of playing, I tried to spend my time productively, doing things like meeting Susan and applying to grad schools.

Years later, the game is out for the Wii – and my friend Chris ended up buying it for us.

A few weeks in, I’m happy to report that I’m capable of stopping – although the game sure is addicting. One of the reasons I can put down the controller is that I’m absolutely terrible at it. Once in a while, Susan and I connect to play Chris and Anne online, and the result is dismal. Our characters spend most of their time being punted back and forth between explosions, kicks, and other animated maladies. We’d like to get better, but we know we’re outmatched – just as the boys in my suite, Chris and Anne spend countless hours every day playing that damn game...

hdeeee

When I found myself having to wear glasses in order to play the Wii, it became painfully clear that our tiny old TV had to go.

Now, many of my friends would spend months learning about LCD and plasma technologies, contrast ratios, and refresh rates. Me, not so much. I saw a good deal online and bought the TV same day. Yesterday, the beast arrived in a box big enough to hold an aircraft carrier. Here it is, a 52” chunk of HD goodness with a sexy name of Philips 52PFL7422D/37:

When I first turned it on, Susan, who was standing in the opposite corner of the living room, yelled that it was burning her retinas. Excellent. That’s exactly the response I wanted. I want neighbors’ kids to be irradiated. I want to get an LCD tan. I want astronauts to detect changes in Earth’s magnetic field.

For the record, the environmentally-sensitive side of me has been temporarily placed into a corner – but, I keep telling myself that the TV is Energy Star-compliant. Good enough.