This Week (17-Jan-2005)

Posted on Friday, January 21, 2005 8:01 PM

This week.. well, should call it this month.. How about those guys at ESA/JPL with their probe landing on Titan, one of Saturn's moons? I was really in suspense when the probe was ready to be launched, wondering if it'd be successful taking away the dreadful taste in the mouth ESA got from their Mars expedition. First pictures have already been beamed over to our Big Blue Marble and it's strangely exciting! Why, dunno.. The pix look like a cheap shot of some desert over in well, any place with a desert, but still it's great, trust me!

What else? Well... So, they US government stopped their search for weapons of mass destraction.. I enjoyed reading BBC News' forum where people can give their reaction to this news. My personal reaction? Hmm.. are there any right reasons to go to war? A very unpleasant regime has been taken care of in a very clumsy and unintelligent manner. One side tells us that without the intervention we'd be letting thousands of people suffer under Saddam's regime and that Iraq would pose other possibly terrorist threats for the rest of the world. Could be, but intervening under possibly false pretences, acquiring control of a major oil supply, at quite a staggering body count and still letting thousands of people suffer and letting Iraq pose a possibly terrorist threat.. Uhm.. So I don't mind Saddam being toppled, I don't mind the Iraqi people having their first free election (free, at what cost?) but I really do mind people telling me that we should be grateful for the war. Who put or kept Saddam in charge? The West. How's Afghanistan doing, by the way?

What else? Well.. A 68-year old woman gives birth to a baby girl and over here they discovered a new method of stretching the life span of a particular type of worm that has a very high similarity with our own human DNA. So we can get almost twice as old and still bear children at twice the conventional age (well, the women, not the men, so there's no “we“ in this part of the sentence.. uhm.. losing focus). My point? Dunno, sure makes family reunions a bit different: you can be older than your greatgrandma's daughter, also your grandma's sister, your mum's grandma..

What else? Well.. In Holland we have a very, very sad and incredibly difficult and silly shituation. A woman alledgedly killed a guy who tried to steal her purse. Another setting: a guy of Moroccan descent tried to snatch a woman's purse from her car and tried to get away on a scooter. The woman tried went after him in her car and hit the guy, resulting in his death. Another setting: womans tries to defend her rights and accidentally kills thug who has a police record for lots of other crimes committed in the past.
Whatever the setting, people are struggling with a few things. The guys friends and family are openly expressing their sorrow over the death of their loved one. The woman's been held in custody for manslaughter. The whole country's in turmoil coz there are different views and feelings from different groups and individuals about the role assignment: who's the victim and who's the villain? People are offended by the fact that the guy's being remembered as a victim and the woman's being charged while defending herself and turned into a 'bad guy'.
In my opinon two crimes happened: a guy snatched a woman's purse and a woman took matters in her own hands and in doing so accidentally killed the robber. Are they comparable? Nope. Are they both regrettable? Absolutely. But the worst crime being perpetrated is the incredible loss of perspective that's been shown in handling and discussing this tragedy.

What else? Well.. They say that power can make someone more desireable, but ever since Condoleezza Rice arrived on the scene, that saying's been put on hold.. Now it's cheap to make relatively anonymous comments about someone's looks behind their backs, but when it comes to Dr Rice, I have now problem being as cheap as a two-bit skank working the docks on a payday afternoon. She performed exceptionally well at her first Senate hearing, explaining to the world which countries were the new Dangers to Democracy. And whatever anybody thinks, this lady's here to stay; people are already setting things up for her to become the first black female president in 2008 which would be an incredible double-whammy (so maybe I should be a bit more respectful, shouldn't I?). She just scares the living shit out of me and I don't find that attractive in any way whatsoever.