I think any pen and paper RPG designer could warn these folks (original) about the perils of their idea. But it’d be more fun to watch them cope with finding out themselves. “Hey, let me tell you about my character!”

I got a spam today entitled “bryant, Housing market may be cooling - Rates Tick Up”. Inside there was a lengthy screed regarding Prime Minister Howard Wilson and the CIA. Some investigation on the Web revealed that it’s an excerpt from Chapter 15 of the Unauthorized Biography of George Bush (original), by Webster G. Tarpley & Anton Chaitkin. This appears to have some connection to David Icke. There is no visible connection at all to the housing market. ...

I got sick and tired of reading people talking about this cool Steven Erikson guy, so I drifted on over to Chapters.ca and picked up the first three books of his Malazan Empire series. It’s scheduled to be a 10 book series when all is said and done, with each book standing alone to a certain degree. When I got the first three, I found myself with about 2,800 pages of fiction sitting in front of me, which was a bit offputting. Stubborn, I tucked into the first one. Three chapters in and I was totally hooked. ...

Joshua Marshall has a nice little piece (original) on unilateralism, multilateralism, anti-Americanism, and the UN today. I’m going to offer a couple more points: Tacitus quite accurately pointed out to me that there was a vein of anti-Americanism even directly after 9/11; it’s not as if everyone in the world was our friends. On thinking about that a little more, though, I’m not sure it’s a distinctive statement. One could as easily point out that there’s always been a vein of anti-French sentiment in the world, and a vein of anti-British sentiment, and a vein of anti-British sentiment. It goes with the territory. Humans have a xenophobic streak. Bush should still be held accountable for fanning the spark of anti-Americanism into a roaring flame. ...

Man, I was in a frustrated mood yesterday. Sorry about that. Lemme see if I can wean myself off politics for a bit with a contemplative bit on a TV show that strikes some interesting political chords. Last year, Salon told us in no uncertain terms that The Shield (original) was a right-wing love fest. Yeah, sure, Murdoch media empire, conservative arm of the media — sounded plausible. Still, a little while ago, the first season was released on DVD. The price was low, so I took a chance on it. ...

New week, new Game WISH (original). The question today: How do you prioritize gaming in your life to make sure it happens on an ongoing basis? Are there circumstances or scheduling issues that make it more or less likely for you to participate in a gaming session or a campaign? How do you work around these issues, or can you? I don’t really have that many commitments outside gaming — I tend to like to live a relatively unencumbered life. Even taking dating into account, I can swing a couple of biweekly games fairly easily. On the other hand, weekly games are a bit much of a commitment for me, which is the flip side of that attitude. ...

CNN picked up the bogus drone story. Do these people not read? Blix said he found RPVs. I’m slightly boggled. Must not give into frustration! Must be strong!

Clare Short, who is Tony Blair’s international development secretary, will resign if England invades Iraq without a second UN resolution. Bush needs Blair. Blair needs the UN. How clear does it need to get?

A lot of people wanted that memo (original) about the US spying on other UN members to be a hoax. Just something the Observer made up. Today, the Observer came [ever so close](http://web.archive.org/web/20080517120442/http://web.archive.org/web/20080517120442/http://www.observer.co.uk/iraq/story/0,12239,910648,00.html (original) “The Observer | Special reports | GCHQ arrest over Observer spying report”) (original) to reporting that their source was arrested for violating the Official Secrets Act. (Via Electrolite.) Fortunately, nobody really cares about this stuff. Right? (original)

Here’s that London Times article I mentioned yesterday. It reveals that Blix mentions Iraqi drones in his written report, and accuses him of trying to cover this up by failing to mention them in his oral report. Only problem is, he did mention them in his oral report. “Inspectors are also engaged in examining Iraq’s programme for Remotely Piloted Vehicles (RPVs). A number of sites have been inspected with data being collected to assess the range and other capabilities of the various models found. Inspections are continuing in this area.” ...