'But I am not a geologist, as you know.'

Asked if the US was adequately protected with tsunami early warning systems for residents of the West Coast, Alaska and Hawaii, Bush said he was asking government agencies to look into such things.

'I think that our location in the world is such that we may be less vulnerable than other parts,' Bush said.

'But I am not a geologist, as you know.'

:(

As usual, the US is hardly jumping into the fray; a particular shrub has made his first comment on the disaster today, several days later after the event. Well, at least he's spoken on the phone to "the leaders of India, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Indonesia". That'll do a lot of good... :(

Asian Rap Song...

Quite perversely, I find this amusing...

BBC NEWS | Technology | Online games play with politics: "The Political Machine"

So, if you weren't happy with how the recent US election went, see if you can do better with some of these political games. "The Political Machine" lets you run your own campaign down to having to deal with the media.

High Flight

I love this poem, the imagery it invokes is just amazing.

High Flight

Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I've climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds - and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of - wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov'ring there
I've chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air.
Up, up the long delirious, burning blue,
I've topped the windswept heights with easy grace
Where never lark, or even eagle flew -
And, while with silent lifting mind I've trod
The high untresspassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand and touched the face of God.

Pilot Officer Gillespie Magee
No 412 squadron, RCAF
Killed 11 December 1941

Xmas Eve

So in preparation for trip to Montreal, I thought I'd set up a blog (and actually keep it updated this time!). Tee and Devrim hooked me in to nomadlife, so I seem to have become some sort of adopted AIESEC random! Nonetheless, I spent most of the day trying to work out how these blogs worked, and how to upload photos. Yes, yes, I know I was an IS major as well, don't rub it in :)

For those of you who don't know (or can't remember), I'm heading away to Montreal for 3 months on a research grant to CIRANO, which is an interuniversity research centre over the road from McGill. I'm off on New Year's Eve, and land in Montreal 4pm the same day - so it's going to be a really long flight. I'm told that Montreal is really really cold right now. Mazzy was saying how it hit -40 degrees several days ago. -40!!! Oh dear.

Oh well, even if I thought it bad, you should check out this picture-story about trying to retrieve a car that drove off the side of a wharf: bad day.