] Biggs, who played Dr. Stephen Franklin on the 1994-98
] series and in three subsequent TV movies, died Saturday,
] his Website said. He was 44.
]
] In a message posted to a Babylon 5 newsgroup Saturday,
] show creator J. Michael Straczynski said paramedics who
] treated Biggs suggested the cause of death was "either an
] aneurysm or a massive stroke."
]
] "What seems to have happened, happened quickly,"
] Straczynski wrote. "He woke up, got up out of bed...and
] went down."

I was very sad to get this news. I knew Biggs from conventions where we'd both been speakers. We weren't close or anything, but we'd sit together on the same dais, and share a nodding recognition. His death surprises me -- he was in great shape, very together, seemingly very centered and focused. He looked like the kind of guy who would look exactly the same 50 years from now. His death at such a young age shocks and saddens me. :/

Carpe diem.

Babylon 5 Star Dies

Jeremy wrote:
] Elonka wrote:
] ] ] The United States' invasion of Iraq was not a great idea.
] ] ] Its only virtue was that it was the best available idea
] ] ] among a series of even worse ideas.
] ]
] ] This is pretty much how I feel about it.
] ] There was a problem in Iraq ...
]
] There are lots of places with "problems" that need "fixed,"
] but we aren't the world's handyman. We simply don't have all
] the right tools. No one does.

Sure, there are plenty of things wrong in the world (the major problems in Africa come to mind immediately), and it doesn't mean that we have to go around fixing all of them.

Iraq, on the other hand, *was* our problem. We still had planes routinely flying there (and remember that Iraq was shooting at us over the no-fly-zones on a routine basis). Attacks on Western targets were being planned from inside Iraq, and it was clear that the infrastructure for further attacks was being built there as well.

It's my belief that if we would have ignored Iraq, the problems would have gotten worse, and more innocents would have died, both inside and outside Iraq. Eventually the problems would have gotten bad enough that the world might have decided to take action, and the end result would have been the same -- either a military invasion of Iraq to depose Saddam, or a military reaction when Saddam once again attacked some other country. He'd already attacked multiple neighboring countries, including Iran, Israel, and of course Kuwait... It was just a matter of time before he tried again. He *was* developing WMDs. There was an active Ricin program up until the day we invaded. Nuclear scientists had clear instructions to hide key parts, along with the associated documentation. Missiles were being built that were in obvious violation of U.N. guidelines. Multiple clear indicators existed, that Saddam was just waiting until he could launch another attack.

War is messy, war is ugly, and the loss of life is heartbreaking. But it's my firm belief that if we would have waited, there would have been *more* loss of life than there was when we acted as we did. It was a better choice, even if still an unpleasant one.

RE: Iraq

] The United States' invasion of Iraq was not a great idea.
] Its only virtue was that it was the best available idea
] among a series of even worse ideas.

This is pretty much how I feel about it. There was a problem in Iraq, and it was regularly spilling over to other countries. All other methods of dealing with the situation had been tried (covert action, encouraging revolt, using U.N. sanctions, etc.), without success. Saddam was going to have to be dealt with eventually, and the longer we waited, the worse the problem was getting. We *might* have been able to time the war better, or do a better job of getting international support, but overall, I think the invasion was probably timed about the best it could be, considering issues of will, resources, weather, and so forth. Which still didn't mean it was a *good* time to invade, but was probably the best available option among a series of even worse options.

Strategic Forecasting decides to offer an opinion...

] From the Indus Valley to Bedford County, 4000 years of
] untranslatable messages.

In tracking the blog sites that have been picking up the link to my "Famous unsolved codes and ciphers" page (thousands of links continue to stream in), I've been coming across many interesting site layouts. This is one of them: The page includes links to various sites, the number of hours since the link was posted, a brief comment by the site owner, and a screenshot of the site being linked. I found the page visually interesting.

Hot Links

Amusing op-ed piece from the New York Times. It takes the spin (as I read it) that so many anti-war folks have staked their reputation on there being no WMD in Iraq, that they're deliberately downplaying the gallon of Sarin that was detonated a few days ago.

] You never saw such a rush to dismiss this as not news. U.N.
] weapons inspectors whose reputations rest on denial of Saddam's
] W.M.D. pooh-poohed the report.
 . . .
] In this rush to misjudgment, we can see an example of the "Four
] Noes" that have become the defeatists' platform.
] The first "no" is no stockpiles of W.M.D., used to justify the
] war, were found. With the qualifier "so far" left out, the
] absence of evidence is taken to be evidence of absence.

Heh.

Sarin? What Sarin?

] The following sites are the most contagious information
] currently spreading in the weblog community.
 . . .
] [#60] Elonka's List of Famous Unsolved Codes and Ciphers

I was checking my weblogs, and saw that my average hits/day jumped from 60/day to over 2000/day on my "Famous Unsolved Codes" page... Many of the links are coming from bbspot and metafilter. I'm not sure what started the meme today, but my guess is that I landed on bbspot as one of their "daily links", and it took off from there.

Whee!

Update: The "site tracker" link on Blogdex is:
http://blogdex.net/track.asp?id=9554290

Elonka's 'Unsolved Codes' page has high contagion factor in blogosphere

] Tests on an artillery shell that blew up in Iraq on
] Saturday confirm that it did contain an estimated three
] or four liters of the deadly nerve agent sarin
 . . .
] Another shell filled with mustard gas, possibly also part of an
] improvised explosive device (IED) was discovered on May 2,
] Defense Dept. officials said.

That's nearly a gallon of sarin. A single drop is enough to kill. Looks like the only reason there wasn't a high death toll is because the chemicals inside the shell didn't mix properly.

So, where did this sarin come from? Where was it made, *when* was it made, and where has it been stored? And, most importantly, is this just the tip of the iceberg? Are these just a couple stray shells left around for years, or is there more? And if so, where?

Tests Confirm Sarin in Iraqi Artillery Shell

I walked into the movie with very low expectations, since I'd read such mixed reviews. But I walked out thinking, "Wow!" I truly enjoyed the movie, and thought it did a wonderful job on many levels -- pacing, sets, costumes, casting, acting, etc. I especially loved Peter O'Toole's part -- the scene with his heartfelt plea to Brad Pitt brought tears to my eyes.

And the romantic scenes (like Brad Pitt and his princess / slave girl) worked for me as well. I found the whole thing excellent storytelling. Now as for how much of it was *accurate*, I don't know yet. But as an analogy, "Braveheart" was still a great movie, even though it took huge liberties with historical accuracy. So I put "Troy" in the same category. It's a wonderful epic tale, and I recommend it.

Review - Troy

] An old man, a boy and a donkey were going to town. The
] boy rode on the donkey and the old man walked. As they
] went along they passed some people who remarked it was a
] shame the old man was walking and the boy was riding.
] The man and boy thought maybe the critics were right, so
] they changed positions. Later, they passed some people
] that remarked, "What a shame, he makes that little boy
] walk." They then decided they both would walk! Soon
] they passed some more people who thought they were stupid
] to walk when they had a decent donkey to ride. So, they
] both rode the donkey. Now they passed some people that
] shamed them by saying how awful to put such a load on a
] poor donkey. The boy and man said they were probably
] right, so they decided to carry the donkey. As they
] crossed the bridge, they lost their grip on the donkey
] and he fell into the river and drowned.
]
] The moral of the story? If you try to please everyone,
] you might as well kiss your ass good-bye.

Truth. :)

Words of Wisdom

] BEIJING (AP) -- China has shut down more than 8,600
] Internet cafes since February, many of them for illegally
] admitting juveniles, the official Xinhua News Agency
] reported Thursday.
]
] "Any such place allowing juveniles to enter or allowing
] unhealthy information to spread through the Internet will
] face rigid, severe penalty," Xinhua said.
]
] China also bans Internet cafes within 220 yards of
] schools because of its fears that children could become
] exposed to pornography or hooked on online video games.

China shuts more than 8,600 Net cafes for letting in minors