] Father Raphael of Saint Joseph Kalinowski, was born at Vilna,
] 1st September 1835, and at baptism received the name Joseph.
] Under the teaching of his father Andrew, at the Institute for
] Nobles at Vilna, he progressed so well that he received the
] maximum distinction in his studies. He then went for two years
] (1851-1852) to the school of Agriculture at Hory-Horky. During
] the years 1853-1857, he continued his studies at the Academy of
] Military Engineering at St Petersburg, obtaining his degree in
] Engineering, and the rank of Lieutenant. Immediately afterwards
] he was named Lecturer in Mathematics at the same Academy. In
] 1859, he took part in the designing of the Kursk-Kiev-Odessa
] railway.
  . . .
] In the Consistory of 26th November 1990, Pope John Paul
] together with the Cardinals, decided to canonize Blessed Raphael
] Kalinowski.

I'm currently attending a massive family reunion in Florida, with relatives attending from multiple continents.

We've got the family tree traced back about a thousand years, and I'm learning about all kinds of interesting little stories here and there. For example, one of my great-great-great-uncles (my great-great-grandfather's brother) was evidently sainted a few years ago by Pope John Paul II.

For those that like tracing such things, here's the family chain: My father's mother's mother's father's brother. Stanley Dunin - Sophie Werner - Zofia Kalinowska - Gabriel Kalinowski - Saint Raphael.

Odd feeling, being related to a Saint!

- Elonka

Vatican: Saint Raphael Kalinowski

] The first Supervising Surgeon of the Marine Hospital
] Service was appointed in 1871. This position became
] Supervising Surgeon General in 1873 and Surgeon General
] in 1902. The Marine Hospital System was the precursor of
] the U.S. Public Health Service. Fourteen men and two
] women have served in the office. Biographical
] information about each Surgeon General can be viewed by
] selecting the respective picture or text below.

I was surfing the web looking for information on Joycelyn Elders (Surgeon General from 1993-1994), and found this interesting page with dates, pictures, and bios of all the people who have held the office since 1871.

Previous Surgeons General

] "It is sad and pathetic that the eyes of the entire world
] are upon the Palestinian and Iraqi elections that will be
] held under the lances of foreign occupation, while the
] peoples of the 'independent, free, and sovereign' Arab
] countries have no way of expressing their will. It is sad
] and pathetic that certain countries today are treating
] the Iraqis with the cheapest kind of political hypocrisy,
] even though no one heard any particular Arab protest
] during the time of the regime of the mass graves [i.e.
] during Saddam's rule].

Some interesting (and encouraging) Arab viewpoints here.

Arab Columnists: Arab Countries are Hypocritical on Iraq

] "Finding Neverland," a fictionalized
] account of the creation of children's classic "Peter
] Pan," was named best film of 2004 by The National Board
] of Review on Wednesday in the first major award of the
] Oscar season.

I saw "Finding Neverland" a few days ago, and *loved* it. The acting, writing, and effects all combined for a very satisfying emotional experience, full of wonder and human drama. My only beef about the movie is that they took some liberties with the actual timeline, similar to how "Braveheart" is a good movie even though they moved the actual dates and people around for dramatic effect. That complaint aside though, I give "Finding Neverland" an enthusiastic thumbs up, and look forward to seeing how the other contenders line up for the Oscars on February 27th.

Movies: Preview of Oscar Season

This is a transcript of a September 2004 interview with Stanley Hilton.

] Bob Dole's former chief of staff, political
] scientist, a lawyer, he went to school with Rumsfeld and others,
] he wrote his thesis about how to turn America into a dictatorship
] using a fake Pearl Harbor attack. He's suing the U.S. government
] for carrying out 9/11. He has hundreds of the victims' families
] signing onto it - it's a $7 billion lawsuit.
 . . .
] SH: Yeah, we are suing Bush, Condoleezza Rice, Cheney, Rumsfeld,
] Mueller, etc. for complicity in personally not only allowing 9/11
] to happen but in ordering it. The hijackers we retained and we
] had a witness who is married to one of them. The hijackers were
] U.S. undercover agents. They were double agents, paid by the FBI
] and the CIA to spy on Arab groups in this country. They were
] controlled. Their landlord was an FBI informant in San Diego and
] other places. And this was a direct, covert operation ordered,
] personally ordered by George W. Bush. Personally ordered. We have
] incriminating evidence, documents as well as witnesses, to this
] effect. It's not just incompetence - in spite of the fact that he
] is incompetent. The fact is he personally ordered this, knew
] about it. He, at one point, there were rehearsals of this. The
] reason why he appeared to be uninterested and nonchalant on
] September 11th - when those videos showed that Andrew Card
] whispered in his ear the [garbled] words about this he listened
] to kids reading the pet goat story, is that he thought this was
] another rehearsal. These people had dress-rehearsed this many
] times. He had seen simulated videos of this.

I'm interested in this story, not because I give any credibility whatsoever to the "Bush ordered 9/11 to happen" theory, but because I'm curious why an attorney with Hilton's background would be saying this kind of stuff. I haven't found any substantial debunking sites on the web, so I figured that either (a) he's completely lost it; or (b) he's doing some lawyerly thing where he's trying to present the views of his clients, even though his clients are clearly out of touch with reality.

Several conspiracy sites around the web have pounced on Hilton's lawsuit, but I haven't seen any "real" discussion about it from any reputable sites (if anybody knows of one, I'd be interested in seeing it). In any case, I'm looking forward to learning more about what Hilton's real goals are, or if the entire lawsuit is simply a hoax using Hilton's name.

A bit more info here:
http://www.oilempire.us/hilton.html

Interview with Stanley Hilton

] [Iraqi PM Allawi's cousin] Ghazi Allawi, 75, who had been taken hostage on November
] 10, was released yesterday in Baghdad. He had been
] captured with his wife and their pregnant daughter-in-law
] from their house in the capital.
]
] The following day, a previously unknown Islamist group
] claimed responsibility and threatened to behead them
] within 48 hours unless Mr Allawi halted a major offensive
] on the rebel enclave of Fallujah and released all
] prisoners held in Iraq.
]
] The two women were released on November 15.

This was a story I had been following. I was told (incorrectly) by someone yesterday that Allawi's relatives had been killed.

I still grieve for the other hostages who were taken and murdered, but I am always glad to hear of any that are released.

Allawi's relatives freed

Rattle writes:
A quick, entertaining piece. What M.C. Escher would do with flash.

I agree, this is Fun with Flash. A never-ending story zoom effect through a fantasy world.

The Zoom Quilt: A collaborative art project

] The broadcast last week of footage showing a US marine
] shooting an injured Iraqi fighter in Falluja caused an
] international outcry. Yesterday the cameraman, Kevin
] Sites, published on his website this open letter to the
] marines with whom he had been embedded.

I'm linking the Guardian site, because I wanted a persistent link to this letter. For the current location, check: http://www.kevinsites.net

Open Letter from Kevin Sites to the Marines

] My significant other works for Electronic Arts, and I'm what
] you might call a disgruntled spouse.
]
] Our adventures with Electronic Arts began less than a year ago.
] I remember that they asked him in one of the interviews: "how do
] you feel about working long hours?" When asked for specifics
] about what "working long hours" meant, the interviewers coughed
] and glossed on to the next question.
]
] Now we know why.

This is an excellent essay about the human side of the game industry. Personally, I work in one of the few remaining small independent companies, but I know lots of people working for (or who have worked for) the larger corporations, and from what I've heard, this is a pretty accurate representation of the kind of stuff they talk about.

It's worth keeping in mind that there are other factors that *aren't* mentioned in this essay. But for a spouse's view, yes, I'd say it's right on the money. It's representative, it's articulate, and it's worth reading and thinking about.

EA: The Human Story

Decius, thanks for finding this.

Anyone else that's closely following the debate about Alberto Gonzales' appointment as Attorney General, where this early 2002 memo is being cited as something that raises questions about him, I encourage you to read the memo for yourself.

I'd been especially interested in reports that Gonzales had referred to the Geneva PoW protocols as "quaint" and "obsolete". Having read the memo itself now, I think that the context in which those words were used made sense:

"...As you [President Bush] have said, the war against terrorism is a new kind of war. It is not the traditional clash between nations adhering to the laws of war that formed the backdrop for [the Geneva protocols]. The nature of the new war places a high premium on other factors, such as the ability to quickly obtain information from captured terrorists and their sponsors in order to avoid further atrocities against American civilians, and the need to try terrorists for war crimes such as wantonly killing civilians. In my [Gonzales'] judgment, this new paradigm renders obsolete Geneva's strict limitations on questioning of enemy prisoners and renders quaint some of its provisions requiring that captured enemy be afforded such things as commissary privileges, scrip (i.e., advances of monthly pay), athletic uniforms, and scientific instruments."

I'm continuing to read about Gonzales and haven't made up my own mind about him yet, but so far he seems to be a relatively moderate choice, with critics and supporters on both sides of the political spectrum. Granted, this memo shows that he disagreed with Colin Powell's office on a particular matter, but the memo also does a pretty good job of laying out both the pro's and con's of a potential decision, along with a reasonably well thought through recommendation on which course of action to take.

Gonzales Memo