Another installment of my periodic Observations on the News:
You Can’t Make This Up: Mary-Kate Hawking Happy Meals. CNN is reporting that our favorite barely-legals have been hired to promote “Freedom Fries” in France, shilling for Mickey D’s. This comes on the heels of Mary-Kate’s release from a hospital for treatment of an eating disorder. No, folks, I don’t make this up.
What Did Does Bush Know? Not much, it seems. CNN is reporting that a U.S. intelligence forecast painted a pessimistic picture for the future of Iraq, predicting the best case for Iraq was “tenuous stability” and the worst case was civil war. Of course, the Bush administration is insisting that it knew that ahead of time, and it wasn’t a surprise. Funny, I seem to recall them saying that the toppling of the Iraqi government would make things better for the people of Iraq and the people of the US, and bring stability to the region. But, I guess if the instability wasn’t a surprise, they mean it is in the best interest of the US to have civil war in Iraq. But, then again, we went into Iraq because Hussein had WMD. But wait, according to Reuters, a draft report by the top U.S. weapons inspector in Iraq concludes no stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction were found, but there was evidence Saddam Hussein intended to resurrect weapons programs. Why that is more of a risk than North Korea, which we know has such programs, is beyond me. [As an aside, why is it Iraqi, Israeli, but Iranian, Saudi Arabian, Egyptian, and sometimes -ish (British)]
Like your Hotel Room? Buy One. The Los Angeles Times (registration required) is reporting that one can now by pre-fab hotel decor, for those travelers for whom home is defined by a rock-hard bed, an alarm clock, a writing desk, and a love-seat, with generic artwork on the wall. Seriously, evidently, hotels have started selling their furniture. Guess anything can be a profit center. Although they aren’t selling them, the Sondheim song “Everyone Needs A Maid” comes to mind.
You Will Be Assimilated. We’re all aware of Microsoft of Borg, and those in the gaming community know Hasborg. We now have Symantec of Borg in the Computer Security community, as the Los Angeles Times (registration required) Symantec will be acquiring @Stake Digitial Security (those who attended ACSAC know @Stake well from its former employee, Dan Geer). This is part of Symantec’s quest to acquire all Computer Security products.
You may now return to work.