Thursday, July 13, 2006

life on the road

I've been down here in Davis, California, working on a new computer project with an intense team, since Tuesday. Today is the last day - heading back to PDX tonight.

We've accomplished a lot, and I have a pretty good idea of the remaining questions to be resolved today. I ought to, since I was up from 3 to 5 this morning mulling over database issues and formulating questions. Pretty compulsive.

Watched the Bush-Merkel news conference live on CNN. What a contrast between the eloquent (at least according to the english translator), businesslike responses of Merkel, versus Bush's repeated folksy references to the upcoming pig dinner.

Then, I went back to sleep for an hour, before getting up, packing up, and heading off to the breakfast buffet. Back at the room, CNN has now digested that long press conference into today's sound bites, and they managed to capture the 35 seconds when Bush didn't look like a shambling idiot.

The escalating violence in Israel-Gaza-Beirut is rapidly crossing some kind of threshold, and I sense that this story is far from over. Hard to imagine tempers cooling, now that Lebanon has been bombed. I suppose there must be some sort of brilliant strategic reaoning behind Israel's acts, but, at the moment, it appears to be hot-headed recklessness. Stay tuned.

1 comment:

enter info said...

If more media, comedy shows, whatever would show the extra stupid tidbits of Bush-talking, it would have an affect on the country. My Parents, perfect example of middle america. ...Dad out in BFE S. Oregon, he's never seen these but sometimes he cruises through the Daily Show and gets a shock. "Are these real??" It's an eye-opener, & having an effect. It's the first time he's seen them. Mom of course, she doesn't even look at anything besides Faux News, so even if she catches a glimpse of the tidbit on TV, it doesn't compute and slides right through her brain.