Assassins! (of Various Stripes)

Mossad working in Iran? Perhaps. The Times (UK) picked up on an article that says the Mossad assassinated a leading Iranian nuclear scientist.

A PRIZE-WINNING Iranian nuclear scientist has died in mysterious circumstances, according to Radio Farda, which is funded by the US State Department and broadcasts to Iran.

An intelligence source suggested that Ardeshire Hassanpour, 44, a nuclear physicist, had been assassinated by Mossad, the Israeli security service.

[…]

According to Radio Farda, Iranian reports of Hassanpour’s death emerged on January 21 after a delay of six days, giving the cause as “gas poisoning”. The Iranian reports did not say how or where Hassanpour was poisoned but his death was said to have been announced at a conference on nuclear safety.

[…]

Hassanpour won Iran’s leading military research prize in 2004 and was awarded top prize at the Kharazmi international science festival in Iran last year.

Gosh. I wonder if it’s true? If so…that’s too bad. I’m appalled.

/sarcasm

Lileks celebrated ten years (!!) of Bleats this past Friday. Ten, count ‘em: ten. I am SO impressed.

I was living at 5226 Girard Avenue South, writing on an underwhelming Performa with a 630 X 480 screen; no iTunes, rudimentary video-in, no TiVo, no broadband. The site was hosted on AOL. Yet we were happy. Why, we didn’t know we were poor. The main index page had a link to the Gallery of Regrettable Food, which was about 30 pages long with tiny grainy graphics. I didn’t have a scanner – I imported graphics by shooting them with a video camera and using a rudimentary screen-capture card to get the image into Photoshop. Of course, back then we called it “Rotogravure Shop,” and we wore onions on our belts as was the custom in those times. If you’d told me that I’d get a book out of the Gallery in four years, I would have been delighted. In 1997 I had come to believe my career had stalled for good, after all. I started the Bleat because “web diaries” were all the rage, and the website - begun a year earlier – had become my primary means of filling my empty hours.

I had a lot of empty hours.

I knew he’d been around that long, but never really thought about it. Ten years is a long danged time to maintain a daily blog, let alone one that continues to be as interesting as his.

And, just in case you missed it: James eviscerates, and I mean frickin’ eviscerates, our friend Arkin at the WaPo. Here. Just a quick sample (re: Arkin’s “Those Hoover's and Nixon's will use these kids in uniform as their soldiers.”):

This is the most singularly incomprehensible passage I have read from a mainstream media journalist in my entire life. And I’ve written a few that might win second place. I don’t know where to begin. Hoover’s?

Hoover’s? I write for a second-tier regional daily, and if I woke tomorrow to find I’d posted that paragraph on a company blog I would open my veins in a warm bath.

[…]

You have your orders from the Post’s muller-in-chief: commence pondering. Oh, and we’d be talking about something different if we had a draft, which we don’t, but somehow this all applies anyway. Did I mention Abu Ghraib? I did. Okay. Fine.

Fricken’ Hoover. Hate that guy. Don’t you?

I know I said I hoped Iowahawk’s screed on Arkin would be the last word on/about that twit. But. Do NOT miss this one!

But, back to the ten years thing…1997: it was the best of times (SN3 was born), it was the worst of times (TSMP began plotting her departure). And so it goes…

Up for another quiz thingie? By way of blog-buddy Kris, I give you:

Your Taste in Music:

80's Alternative: Highest Influence 90's Alternative: High Influence Classic Rock: High Influence Progressive Rock: High Influence 80's Pop: Medium Influence

How's Your Taste in Music?

As I said over at Kris’ place: “Hmmm. Missing from the list, and big, BIG, faves: The Stones, Van Morrison, Lyle Lovett, Joni Mitchell, Warren Zevon, The Band, Bowie, Costello... I could go on (and on!), but I won't.” Actually, I will. There’s no classical (I’d list a few composers) on the list, no jazz artists (that I recognized, anyway), and danged few country artists. So..take it with a grain of salt. A BIG grain.

The Captain is good today.

Super Bowl commercials generate a lot of foolish analysis, perhaps as much foolishness as contained in the advertisements. This year provided plenty of that in several varieties, reflecting the efforts of ad agencies to make the biggest impression in their greatest competitive event. However, none of it comes close to matching the idiocy of the analysis provided by the New York Times, whose ad analyst blamed the war in Iraq for making commercials more violent: (Extensive excerpt from the linked NYT article)

[…]

Oh, for Pete's sake. Did any of the commercials feature IEDs or suicide bombers? How does a face slap equate to the battle against religious fanatics in Baghdad? How do two hitchikers holding beer, an axe, and a chainsaw evoke the street-by-street battles in Anbar?

The answer is that they don't.

And you know what I’m gonna say next: Read the whole thing.

My take on the whole Bowl experience:

The game, as a football game: C+. The game, as a Super Bowl: A-. The first half was highly entertaining, the second half, not so much. I couldn’t care less who won.

The ads: D+, C- (take your pick). More MadAv dreck. My fave: The Bud Light “hitchhikers” ad. “But he’s got a chainsaw!!” sez the guy in the backseat, fondling his axe. Other than that: Feh.

The half-time show: A-frickin’-PLUS! Best Super Bowl half-time show I’ve ever seen. Really. Prince just wow’ed me. And the producers’ grades are off the charts, as in A+++, simply because (a) they pulled it off in the (Purple) rain, and (b) no one got electrocuted.
Bravo! (for the half-time show, which should be obvious, nu?)

Just sayin', ya know. I never have been big on the Super Bowl.

Today’s Pic: So, all y’all like those baby pics, eh? That makes it easy on me, coz I have a ton of ‘em. SN3 on the couch in the family room, Rochester, NY. September, 1998.