Newsish stuffs0rz

A change in weather icons at the BBC has many upset.

Many said the new format was confusing and some complained that by trying the show the curve of the earth's surface, the BBC had made it difficult to see what was going on in Scotland and northern England.

Others complained that the BBC had turned England's green and pleasant land a muddy shade of brown.

Some, however, like it:

"Brilliant! I love them. Well done the BBC," wrote Mark Riley from London.

"Who cares about Scotland?," he added. "It is always raining there anyway."

The popularity of a video spoof made by British soldiers in Iraq caused defense ministry computers in London to crash last Friday due to overwhelming demand for the download.

The soldiers' four-minute video take of the 1971 hit "Is This The Way To Amarillo" had officers laughing out loud back at London headquarters as they e-mailed copies to each other.

"The video is really good," a military spokesman said on Tuesday.

Ewwwwww. I've seen these carp:

A total of 162 carp have died due to carp herpes in moats located on the outside of the Imperial Palace in central Tokyo, the Environment Ministry announced Monday.

So, Kakiuchi will resign! Maybe!

Speaking at a Diet committee, Kakiuchi said he will announce his resignation at an appropriate time, but said he cannot tell when at this point.

Seriously, I imagine the guy has been under a lot of pressure...also, the first commenter's opinion concerning PR tactics seems sound.

A flower delivery van plowed into a souvenir shop in Kyoto, killing the owner of the shop and severely injuring two Norwegian tourists, a father and son.

"I have a chronic disease and took medicine this morning," the driver told police. "I have no recollection around the time of the accident."

That's some strong medicine. I'm just wondering if this is the same shopping street Sean and I visited on our honeymoon. The name doesn't sound familiar, but we were just kind of wandering around, so you never know.

Ampontan at JAPUNDIT has posted a translation of an article concerning Takeshima, a disputed island in the Sea of Japan, written by Dr. Masao Shimojo of the Takushoku University Institute for International Development. Here's Ampontan's introduction, and here's the translated article. (Coincidentally, JAPUNDIT is looking for contributors. I've been thinking about whether or not I would qualify to write for them. I don't live in Japan, and I don't speak Japanese, so those are two huge strikes against me. Still, I think and read about Japan every day. I suppose if I ever find a topic I want to write about in-depth, I'll consider submitting it to them.)

George Lucas said a few things at Cannes that have people riled up, including my brother AJ. The article claims that Lucas was very careful not to state anything directly, but sheesh.

Lucas said he patterned his story after historical transformations from freedom to fascism, never figuring when he started his prequel trilogy in the late 1990s that current events might parallel his space fantasy.

"As you go through history, I didn't think it was going to get quite this close. So it's just one of those recurring things," Lucas said at a Cannes news conference. "I hope this doesn't come true in our country.

"Maybe the film will waken people to the situation," Lucas joked.

Isn't it kind of simplistic (not to mention Mulder-esque) to assume that all democracies fail, cyclically, due to one guy pulling strings? I mean, I'm not the most well-informed individual, but even I see how silly that is. The fact of the matter is, there are way too many factors to consider to be able to pin down "blame" on any one person, or even any one group of individuals. Imagining that one person or group is behind everything sure is a neat and tidy way to "deal" with the problems we face in the world today, because from there all we have to do to fix everything is to root out the "evil".

Too bad about reality, eh?

Rather than searching for scapegoats, we could be constructively working together to solve our problems as best we can. I have no problem with criticizing people or groups for their actions (e.g. Newsweek's little fuck up), but focusing on that, and on constructing elaborate conspiracy theories, just distracts from the real matters at hand.

That's it for now.