This post is mostly about this, but also about this. For what it’s worth, I don’t find Gary Haubold’s comments very compelling. Let’s break it down. He presents no evidence that “If (2) did not exist… then odds are WE WOULDN’T ACTUALLY HAVE TO DO ANYTHING…” Unless you count all caps as evidence; I don’t. He doesn’t state his premises. Which is a shame, because one of them (whether he realizes it or not) is that there’s no reason for Saddam’s inner circle /not/ to defect if they know Saddam is going to lose power. ...

These [remixes](http://web.archive.org/web/20140605075002/http://web.archive.org/web/20140605075002/http://www.idlewords.com/biological.html (original) “Ready.gov - Be Informed - Killer Germs - Visual Guide”) (original) of the new government warning labels cracked me up harder than anything I’ve seen or done all week. New-clear’s knocking but no-body’s home! (Via regis.)

Now available, speaking of Warren Ellis: a sneak preview (original) of his upcoming hardcover graphic novel, Orbiter. It’s about a space shuttle disaster; it was written prior to the Columbia. There will be a paperback edition later.

If I still lived in San Francisco, I would go to Potlatch 12 this weekend. It looks distinctly like Readercon, an East Coast literary SF convention that started up after I left Boston. It seems to have good guests, there’s going to be a writer’s workship, it benefits Clarion West, and they make a good attempt to put panel notes online (original). Which is just so cool; I’ve always thought it’s a shame that SF cons don’t tend to preserve their panels. Wiser heads may realize that this is in fact a blessing.

Phew. I finally hit the Warren Ellis run on Excalibur. After all the really bad stuff, it was a total breath of fresh air. Ellis’ work on Excalibur is not of the quality of Stormwatch or Planetary, but it is very good superhero work. Despite his current distaste for writing ongoing superhero books, I think it’s an excellent form for him. Working within someone else’s continuity must be a pain in the ass, but the challenge seems to bring out his ingenuity. ...

What really amuses me about this review (warning: 100K GIF file) is how astoundingly accurate it is. I mean, yeah: In general, the concept and imagination involved is stunning. However, much more work, refinement, and especially regulation and simplification is necessary before the game is managable. The scope is just too grand, while the referee is expected to do too much in relation to the players. That’s the original three booklets in a nutshell.

So where do we go from here? Terrorism is a real problem, and one that will only get more dangerous. I’ve argued that terrorism is well within the capabilities of the individual, with or without backing from rogue states. I don’t think removing Hussein will make us appreciably safer. Even if stopping rogue states is the best way to combat terrorism, we’re literally months away from seeing North Korea get more than enough nukes, and Pakistan is one coup away from being very unfriendly. As has been accurately observed, the problem of regime change in a rogue state with nukes is a far cry from the problem of regime change in a rogue state without nukes. ...

Recently, the Observer reported on US plans to punish Germany by pulling out US troops. This would hit Germany’s economy fairly hard. Glenn Reynolds covered this in one post. Two days later, Chirac threatened Romania and Bulgaria for their pro-US stances. Reynolds covered this, and covered this, and covered this, and covered this, and covered this, and there are another four or five references which I won’t link. Atrios, who’s more or less Glenn’s counterpart on the left, hit the Rumsfeld issue once and hasn’t commented on Chirac’s threats. No points for ignoring Chirac, but points for relative consistency. ...

So here’s what happened. About a month ago, I picked up the four phonebooks of Essential X-Men on a whim. For those unfamiliar, phonebooks are cheap black and white reprints of old comic books. It’s one of the few ways we see long runs of classic comics kept in print. These were the first umpteen issues of Chris Claremont’s run on X-Men, including the Phoenix Saga, and they are darned good. I’d never read ‘em before. The energy of the writing is very engaging, and the plotting is solid and fairly complex. This is the X-Men before they got weighed down with too much continuity. Fun. ...

Possibly I don’t want to be a writer all. Apparently there are [pitfalls](http://web.archive.org/web/20121020144701/http://web.archive.org/web/20121020144701/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A57528-2003Feb11.html (original) “Below the Beltway (washingtonpost.com)”) (original). Sadly, I find myself tempted to actually buy the book under discussion. Fortunately, there’s no purchase information provided.