Archive for July, 2003

I’ve just been told about a mod to the popular Unreal Tournament 2003 first-person shooter that simulates escape attempts from the burning World Trade Center towers on 9/11. It’s called 9/11 Survivor. Apparently you play the part of a worker trapped in the twin towers at the time of the attacks. Here are some of the “features” from the original design plan.

• Can escape because user is at low level
• Rushing through dark stairwells with cellphone == escape
• If firemen are encountered, user is saved
• Floor in flames – can’t escape
• Ceiling collapses
• Have to choose between being engulfed by flames or jumping from window
• Cement/building dust/smoke make it difficult to breathe; no facemask causes life to deplete, so find facemask

I didn’t think shooters could reach a lower low, but human ingenuity has proven me wrong again. Thanks for the tip, KTLA.

12:57 25 Jul 2003

I’m in the process of moving Murdoc Online to Blog*Spot. Soon I’ll be finished with MSN Groups forever. You can check out the new site here. I’m still working on getting all the formatting fixed, and there are no pictures for the time being. I’m considering getting my own web site and using MoveableType, but am intrigued by the upcoming TypePad, which is a combined host/software solution powered by what sounds like a “MoveableType Lite.” We’ll see.

22:34 24 Jul 2003

Yesterday I posted a piece about the Jessica Lynch homecoming under the subject “NO BIAS HERE“. I said it was “venom” and “bitter.” I didn’t post the name of the writer (although I did consider slandering her).

Today a letter appeared in The Charleston Daily Mail from Deanna Wren, under who’s byline the Reuters story ran. This is an excerpt from her letter:

This is from a story that Reuters news service ran this week with my byline:

“Jessica Lynch, the wounded Army private whose ordeal in Iraq was hyped into a media fiction of U.S. heroism, was set for an emotional homecoming on Tuesday . . . Media critics say the TV cameras will not show the return of an injured soldier so much as a reality-TV drama co-produced by U.S. government propaganda and credulous reporters.”

Got problems with that?

I do, especially since I didn’t write it.

She claims that only a few lines at the end of the story are hers. Maybe she’s just covering her donkey after a flood of negative reaction, but I’m inclined to believe her. So not only are the lead paragraphs of the story a load of bantha poodoo, but whoever wrote those paragraphs is too big of a coward to own up to them.

12:42 24 Jul 2003

ScrappleFace.com has moved to the top of my list of satire news sites. Today’s headlines include:

Gov. Davis: ‘Finally, a Job I Know How to Do!’
Uday’s Suicide May Violate International Law
Bill Clinton Declares California Residency
Gunfire After Davis Recall Report ‘Not Celebratory’

10:18 24 Jul 2003

Here’s the current front page headline graphic on MSNBC.com:

Three soldiers in the 101st Airborne were killed today in an attack by Iraqi irregulars. Soldiers from the 101st let the attack on the house were Qusay and Uday were killed. But does that make this a “revenge attack”? Granted, MSNBC has a question mark on the headline, but why is every little event in Iraq blown so far out of proportion and played like it’s all a big soap opera or pulp fiction serial? It’s a war, isn’t it? Don’t soldiers attack each other in wars? Why try to read all sorts of melodrama into every event?

Maybe it’s just me.

15:05 23 Jul

According to this FoxNews.com story, #11 on the most-wanted Iraqi list has been captured. That’s the Queen of Hearts for those of you keeping score at home. Barzan Abd Al-Ghafur, listed as the Commander of the Special Republican Guard (basically the Iraqi SS) was detained today. No other details at this point. Interestingly (or not) he’s the first “face” card taken that doesn’t have a face on the card. There are two other face cards without photos.

I had posted recently that we only had six of 16 face cards, but suddenly we’re over halfway there. I guess we’ll see how this gets spun, as well. I’m guessing something along the lines of “Since many bad things happening means the President is an idiot, several good things happening must mean that it’s all a fabrication.” Must be, right?

13:04 23 Jul 2003

Earlier I quoted an MSNBC.com story:

TWO AMERICAN SOLDIERS were killed in ambushes in Iraq on Wednesday, dashing any U.S. hopes that the killing of Saddam’s sons, Odai and Qusai, would snuff out a guerrilla insurgency against occupying forces.

Just now I read a Scrappleface story:

Now that Saddam Hussein’s sons are dead, a panel of journalists has revised the official Iraq Quagmire Index. According to the new benchmark, all violence against Coalition troops should cease immediately, since Uday and Qusay Hussein are gone.

Is that funny? Sad? I’m not really sure.

12:35 23 Jul 2003

According to an Energy Daily report, workers at Los Alamos National Laboratory have been contaminated with radioactive material at least 21 times in recent months, DefenseTech says. That’s bad. But here’s the solution: Instead of investigating and correcting the situation, the “personal commitment” of Lab director Pete Nanos “to the implementation of comprehensive corrective actions” is good enough.

I work for an automotive supplier, and let me tell you that if even the slightest problem crops up with parts going to one of the car manufacturers, a whole round of root cause investigations, problem solving, and written corrective action reports is kicked off with an expected final resolution that will make the problem IMPOSSIBLE in the future. And holding individuals personally responsible, whether for the problem or for the solution, is not allowed. The PROCESS needs to fixed, not the people. If that’s what happens for a rearview mirror, wouldn’t you expect NUCLEAR MATERIAL would get even more scrutiny? Or is it just me?

I googled (yes, I think “google” has become a verb) and this is the first 8D page I looked at. And DefenseTech has the best Los Alamos coverage out there.

12:24 23 Jul 2003

Reuters covered the Jessica Lynch homecoming:

PALESTINE, W.Va. (Reuters) – Jessica Lynch, the wounded Army private whose ordeal in Iraq was hyped into a media fiction of U.S. heroism, was set for an emotional homecoming on Tuesday in a rural West Virginia community bristling with flags, yellow ribbons and TV news trucks.

But when the 20-year-old supply clerk arrives by Blackhawk helicopter to the embrace of family and friends, media critics say the TV cameras will not show the return of an injured soldier so much as a reality-TV drama co-produced by U.S. government propaganda and credulous reporters.

“It no longer matters in America whether something is true or false. The population has been conditioned to accept anything: sentimental stories, lies, atomic bomb threats,” said John MacArthur, the publisher of Harper’s magazine.

Now, I’ve been critical of both the government and the media for their sensationalizing the Jessica Lynch story, but this is pure venom. It sounds to me like someone who’s tired of being wrong all the time. Just plain bitter, if you ask me.

08:49 23 Jul 2003

To be honest, I wasn’t really buying the reports yesterday afternoon that said we got both of Saddam’s sons. In the same hideout, even. But I guess I’ll go along with it for now, as all the official sources seem quite confident that they are indeed dead. But just remember how many times we killed Chemical Ali.

Although a potentially huge amount of information was lost when the two were killed rather than taken alive, in the long run I think it’s for the best that they won’t end up in a prison cell or before some jury or tribunal. I’m sure the fact that they went down fighting will inspire some Ba’th loyalists, but most of those types are already convinced, anyway. Besides, the biggest mistake you can make when you take down a king is to let any sons escape. Step #9 in Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey is “Antonement With The Father,” often acheived by a son getting revenge for his fallen father. The last thing we needed was Uday or Qusay prancing around talking to clouds like Simba in “The Lion King.” That was the end of Hakuna Matada for him, and he ended up running the show before it was all over. Not to mention that would make us the hyenas.

I’m curious to see what the first “Bush and Rumsfeld blew it again” spins on this big event are going to be. There’s, of course, the obvious “It’s not really them”, but I don’t think that would hold water with the (voting) public. And, given these characters’ backgrounds, I don’t really see anyone believing that Iraq would be better off with them still alive. There was this on MSNBC.com this morning, though:

TWO AMERICAN SOLDIERS were killed in ambushes in Iraq on Wednesday, dashing any U.S. hopes that the killing of Saddam’s sons, Odai and Qusai, would snuff out a guerrilla insurgency against occupying forces…The two deaths brought to 155 the number of American soldiers killed since the war began March 20, surpassing by eight the death toll in the 1991 Gulf War.

Who had hopes that killing them would “snuff out” insurgency? Did anyone? Anywhere? No real mention that this is a HUGE blow to organized insurgency, just a notation that all of the Saddam loyalists haven’t prostrated themselves before us yet. Get real.

And is it me, or does the constant comparing of the death toll to that in 1991 seem to have a certain smugness about it? Am I imagining it? I can’t really say, but I sure get a weird feeling that a lot of people are actually gloating over the fact that more have been killed than were killed in 1991. Maybe they should get a “death-o-meter” graphic, or something. Of course, at this rate it’s going to take DECADES (or more) to reach many of the dire predictions of American casualties. If only the plan had been better…