I suspect the conflict between France and Libya qualifies as irony. Libya’s agreed to pay compensation to the families of those killed in the Lockerbie bombings, but France is threatening to veto the Security Council resolution lifting UN sanctions against Libya. If anyone was under the impression that France acts on purely noble motives, we can perhaps lay that to rest. France is holding out for more money. On the other hand, one’s forced to wonder why the tactics used with Libya are so unacceptable when it comes to Iraq. ...

In a small and no doubt transient victory for civil rights, Judge Brinkema granted Moussaoui access to Khalid Shaikh Mohammed’s testimony. Moussaoui is on trial for his role in the 9/11 terrorist attack, and he claims Mohammed can testify that he wasn’t involved. The government is expected to appeal on the grounds that, says CNN, “no court can order the executive branch to produce an enemy combatant detained on foreign soil and that doing so would disrupt the war on terrorism.” ...

Sorry about the missed week last week; Gen Con killed me. I was gonna take a suggestion from Eric McErlain this week, but it’s a little too close to the last one in theme, so I think I’m gonna save it for a little while. Also, I put together a Monday Mashup page for your delight and amusement. What else… oh, yeah, I need to come up with something this week. OK, let’s pick some low-hanging fruit. Your inspiration this week is The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. Go.

Today’s Monday Mashup inspiration is the classic Huckleberry Finn. It is perhaps the definitive American novel of juvenile delinquency, beating out Catcher in the Rye by a nose. (I added “American” above so no smarty-pants would say anything about Lord of the Flies. Hah.) Huck, the quintessential youth, and Jim, the quintessential outsider, float down a river on a raft. They are not in control of their travels to any large degree, and they are willing to accept what comes as a gift from the gods. Adventures, in many ways, happen to them. Sounds like the average adventuring party to me. Mashers, have at it!

The DoD just published its annual report on the state of China’s military (original) (PDF). It’s fascinating reading. The issue of Taiwanese independence continues to be of paramount importance to China and drives much of their military effort. This, in combination with their concern over a remilitarized Japan (which is very understandable (original)), throws interesting light on the Korean Peninsula semi-crisis. It’s clearly important to take China into account when considering Japan’s response to North Korean saber-rattling. ...

This morning, Warren Ellis said: It’s Wednesday. I want to see the world, please. Send me a photo from your futurephone or webcam. Send it to dadatag@aol.com, which is an email address I have created for the purpose (dadatag = easy to key in on a phone). I will show what I receive here. (This will even work for Sprint PCS phones.) Show me something. And people are. Start here (original), and work forwards. Pictures of the world. Sparse prose, tying it together. ...

985 posts, 265,000 page views, 100,000 visits, and 5 gigabytes of data transferred. Not exactly ground-breaking, but certainly more than I expected when I got this puppy underway. Happy first birthday to Population: One! Thanks to everyone who links and especially to everyone who reads. I write all this for myself, but I won’t pretend it’s not ego-gratifying to have readers. Party hats are available at the door.

Yeah, it’s quick-link morning. But Kodi’s investigation of the relative evil of Arnold Schwarzenegger versus the villains he’s fought in his movies is really good. Arius might have been in favor of some limited separation of powers in the government of lovely Latin American Country, perhaps a parliament he could dissolve at will or something, but nothing on the order of the limitations applied to the office of Governor of California. ...

Cory Doctorow’s written a short story, “Truncat”, set in the same world as Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom. It’s on Salon so you’ll need to wander through their day pass thing. But hey, it’s a good day for it. You get Kaufman agreeing with me on Pedro (original), a nifty article on Bollywood, and some Al Franken miscellanea. Where was I? Ah, yeah; it’s not a bad story. It’s more transfictionalist stuff, which is all good, but there’s still a tendency to neglect the characters in service of the cool technological concept. Campbell would love Doctorow, which is not a bad thing. Worth reading.

In the fine tradition of Deb’s big list of historical links, here’s another quick link to another fairly comprehensive link collection. It’s everything you wanted to know about underground tunnels (original), more or less. There’s even a Mormon Church subcategory. Thanks to Chris T. for the heads up. Today is a very special day, by the by, for reasons which will become apparent tomorrow.