[Population: One] <A HREF="http://popone.innocence.com/ar

Some polling tidbits from Iraq, via Juan Cole — 94% of Baghdad residents think Baghdad is more dangerous now than it was before the invasion. 29% of Baghdad residents have a favorable view of the US; 55% have a favorable view of France.

On the other hand, countrywide, 33% of those polled think they’re better off now than they were before the invasion, but 67% think they’ll be better off in five years. Which actually strikes me as fairly accurate. Mind you, they could be thinking “as soon as the Americans leave,” which bodes poorly for our long-term ability to work with Middle Eastern countries.

Aqila al-Hashimi died. Old news, but as long as I’m on the subject of Iraq…

Also, we’re calling up more troops. We’re not getting any help from India and while we still want Turkey to send troops, Iraqi leaders are not thrilled about the idea.

Syria’s willing to help, though.

[Population: One] <A HREF="http://popone.innocence.com/ar

Despite it being an LiveJournal thing, I find myself saying why not? Thusly:

Your meme, should you choose to accept it, is to rank the following bands in order, from COULDN‘T LIVE WITHOUT to COULDN‘T CARE LESS. To add value to this process, you must also add one band to the list, and remove one band from the list, before passing the meme on (including these instructions).

David Bowie
Bob Mould
REM
Suzanne Vega
The Beatles
The Pixies
Nirvana
Queen
Duran Duran
Jethro Tull
Oasis
Fleetwood Mac

[Population: One] <A HREF="http://popone.innocence.com/ar

Let’s get ready to Mashup! (And remember, there’s an new game meme announcement list — get your gaming memes piping hot.)

Today we’re going to take another SF classic and subject it to our evil whims. Your target du jour is Star Trek, and we’re not talking any of that revisionist stuff. No Enterprise, no Next Generation, no Deep Space Nine. We’re doing Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Scotty, and the five year journey. Or the movies, cause hey, everyone loves Ricardo.

The core characters of Star Trek were officers in charge of an exploration mission. They were often caught between duty and humanity; I wouldn’t give Star Trek the same props I give Horatio Hornblower, but Roddenberry knew what drove his conflicts. I think there are some interesting possibilities for mashing.

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