Bats In My Belfry

Test of Windows Live Writer.

And above is a pidger.

CVK Service

I really detest hackers. I especially detest hackers who promote Islamic terrorism. Recently we were hit by some twit who managed to exploit a hole in Mambo and nerfed our Web servers leaving their “we did it and here’s a Hezb Allah flag whilst we’re at it” message. I’m not going to say much more about it aside from expressing my disdain. Way to garner attention to your “cause”, you idiots. I’m sure that all the people you discommoded with your efforts are really going to feel sympathetic to your cause now.

Right.

Well on the plus side, weather is ever-so-much nicer. Seems to have stabilised out to highs in the 70s and lows in the 50s which is a vast, vast improvement. Nice to not be melting all the time. Fair bit of rain for awhile but that seems to have let up for now.

Did my usual “OMG YARN!” thing and ended up with some uh…well, peculiar stuff. Some white eyelash yarn which is becoming a yeti, no wait…a scarf. I wanted to give that type of yarn a go and it was nowhere near as difficult to work with as I thought it might be. Now mind you, I don’t care for this particular “look” but it’s all a learning experience. The other stuff is bulky acrylic which is going to end up being some sort of afghan probably for the new patio furniture that SK took a mind to buy earlier this week (surprised me!).

We now have two canopied swings and a lounge chair along with two tables. Have only managed to get one of the swings together (got delayed by the damnable hackers) but the other one shouldn’t sit boxed much longer. It will be nice to sit outside in comfort and pseudo-privacy (bite me, “Bertha”) and read or surf or just enjoy not being indoors. I expect the neighbors will likely think I’m a bit nutty with browsing the Web and knitting/crocheting but they’ll get over it.

Pictures will follow as soon as I get off my lazy butt and get them up to Flickr!

Have discovered some rather nice “easy reading” (the kind I’ve found I really should do when reading at night instead of thrillers or the like which tend to keep me up all hours). Pretty much anything by M.C. Beaton (Agatha Raisin or Hamish Macbeth series) are delightfully light, mindless reading. Also just finished “A Royal Duty” by Paul Burrell which was interesting. Not sure why I decided to buy that, it was on a whim. Interesting book but I got the feeling that he was just a wee bit obsessed with Diana. Then again, I suppose it’s understandable. Now, though, I feel like I should read Morton’s book(s) as a contrast.

From Time

From Little Green Footballs:

A little explanation of the Abdel Qader business card. This fellow is the focal point of an ongoing discussion on the ‘Net about propaganda. It would appear that he has a tendency to show up where there are dead civilians in Lebanon. Often, in numerous poses, with the same body (a wee child) whilst his clothing changes in between each shot (again, holding the same wee child). This has created one hell of an uproar in the Blogosphere and even has gotten commentary from the mainstream media (defensive).

Now whether or not this fellow is engaged in blatant propaganda (and my gut tells me he is) I find it despicable the lack of respect for the dead. Their own dead. Paraded about for photographers. I suppose I could be taken to task for being “squeamish”. No, that’s not it. Yes, it is awful to see war dead and especially children but I am quite aware of what war entails (which makes me wonder what so many others who are so horrified were expecting?) and I am mad as hell about this use of their own dead as propaganda. It seems so terribly cheap, so callous and so obviously used to incite.

But perhaps they are smart for it seems to be having the desired effect which is to outrage many. I still cannot figure out why “many” needed the graphical display to understand that war is awful and that people die in a war, not always the combatants either.

From an article in The Guardian Unlimited:

“But, in another sign of international division, Philippe Douste-Blazy, France’s foreign minister, praised Iran as “a great country, a great people, and a great civilisation which is respected and which plays a stabilising role in the region”.”

I hardly know what to say to that one. “stabilising force in the region”? As usual in so many of these things, I’m sure that there are a great many decent people in Iran just like in any other country but I cannot buy into, at all, anything remotely “stabilising” about the behaviour of the government there nor the beliefs and behaviours of certain religious communities within and whose influence is felt from without.
Too, whilst I’m sure that not all of the French would agree with their foreign minister, I have to wonder how many do. This is a trend that I find most disturbing.

Terrorism, no matter what guise it dons, is still terrorism. Whether it be practised against external governments or peoples or internally it is still a behaviour that is destructive and, worse yet, terribly difficult to contend with with respect to achieving stability or peace. Terrorists have a penchant for the “all or nothing” position. “Our way or the highway” type thinking. Couple that with the methods of terrorism (sneak attacks, suicide attacks etc.) and it’s a recipe for disaster.

As we are learning.

I think we fail when we try to see everything in black and white and by “we” I think we’re all guilty of that to one degree or another. To fail to understand the mindset held by many terrorists is to perpetuate these events. What is the solution? I have no idea.

And that’s the really, really scary bit. I don’t know that anyone does.