China literally begged the international community to let them host the Olympics.  But now they're pissed that the coming out party is exposing warts and all.  The Communist Party is learning the hard way that we are long, long past the day when image can be constructed through media manipulation.  We are who we are and it's good to see someone at the IOC growing the tiniest bit of spine:

BEIJING — The president of the International Olympic Committee, Jacques Rogge, offered a rare rebuke to the Chinese government on Thursday, calling on authorities to respect its “moral engagement” to improve human rights and to provide the media with greater access to the country ahead of the Beijing games.

Well, more simpering than rebuff I grant, but given the IOC's fairly untenable position at this point, I suppose it is more than we could expect.  Well, with their usual Napoleon-Complex, China hit back and hit back hard:

The Chinese government immediately rejected Mr. Rogge’s remarks, saying they amounted to an unwelcome meddling in the country’s domestic affairs. “I believe I.O.C. officials support the Beijing Olympics and adherence to the Olympic charter of not bringing in any irrelevant political factors,” Jiang Yu, a Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, told reporters.

A far cry from China's conciliatory tone and far-reaching promises during the bidding process.  The Chinese Party leaders may be wearing nicer suits these  days, but they're the same oppressive, murderous thugs they've always been.   Well documented and brutal human rights violations do not qualify as a "domestic affair" in the modern age.  Rank Censorship is not an "irrelevant political factor".  Not even close.

Personally, I'm not a huge fan of the Olympics.  I find the entire affair overly-commercialized and often trite.  But I have tremendous respect for the athletes who worked hard to get there, as for the spirit of global unity that forms the Olympic ideal.  I'm also not ignorant of the tremendous boost this event gives China in both monetary intake and global stature.  As such, the IOC has a responsibility, nay - a moral imperative - to wield their influence in such a way as to ensure the event is not permanently marred by an oppressive regime.  But instead, we walk on eggshells so as not to offend the would-be dictatorship:

“China will close itself off from the rest of the world, which, don’t forget, it has done for some 2,000 years,” [Rogge] said in an interview broadcast Wednesday in his native Belgium.

This entire argument is specious.  China today has nothing to do with China of yester-millenium.  Without Soviet power to back them up, the Party depends upon international commerce to maintain its grasp on power.  They aren't going anywhere.  Besides, isn't anyone else tired of having to tiptoe around their fragile ego and idle threats? 

Happy Poisson d'Avril to all you merry pranksters! Check out the Museum of Hoax's Top 100 April Fool's Day pranks of all time. My favorite:

#7: Alabama Changes the Value of Pi

The April 1998 issue of the New Mexicans for Science and Reason newsletter contained an article claiming that the Alabama state legislature had voted to change the value of the mathematical constant pi from 3.14159 to the 'Biblical value' of 3.0. Before long the article had made its way onto the internet, and then it rapidly made its way around the world, forwarded by people in their email. It only became apparent how far the article had spread when the Alabama legislature began receiving hundreds of calls from people protesting the legislation. The original article, which was intended as a parody of legislative attempts to circumscribe the teaching of evolution, was written by a physicist named Mark Boslough.

The Buddha demands world peace NOW, damnit!

Trying to balance a looming dissertation, incessant rent payments, and taking care of my newborn - with at best two hours of consecutive sleep - has given me cause to realize that THF is unsustainable in its current incarnation. However, fret not dear readers as I have big plans for the 'future of hindsight'. You may notice some technical difficulties with the site over the next few weeks as I am rolling out the backend framework for the coming changes, but hopefully I will be able to pull back the veil sometime in March. In the meantime, feel free to go coo all over my lil' Matilda!

No, I have not been assassinated by radical fashion police, just too busy to blog, think or, often enough, eat over the past weeks.  But my partner and I are elated - though sleepily so - to announce the birth of our daughter, Matilda Rose, at 8:28 PM on Tuesday, January 1st, 2008.  Weighing in at 7.7 pounds and 20.5 inches, she has dad's hair (though to my extreme jealousy, she has more of it) and mom's pretty face and is perfect in every possible way.  The little one has been an absolute dream baby and is wonderfully content to eat, sleep, poop, cuddle and coo all the live-long day.  And just because all parents say it, doesn't mean she actually isn't the most precious little angel ever born!

For any of you who still bother to pop in once in a while even without the benefit of new posting, I've set up a public photo album on the web.  You can see pictures of my little gurlie by visiting http://www.zooomr.com/photos/daverth/sets/

And, while posting may be light for the time being, rest assured I have been working on a project that will make the wait between posts (a torture akin to waterboarding, I know) all the more worthwhile!

Although a federal judge has ordered the White House to backup their emails in compliance with the Federal Records Act, what assurances do we have that the job is getting done?  According to one source, the answer is very little.

Having now been forced to maintain adequate controls on electronic records preservation, the White House has tasked the Office of the Administration with the job alongside all assurances to the Judiciary and the American people that they have been "...taking steps to maintain and preserve backup tapes for the official e-mail system."

Putting aside the annoyances that it takes a federal judge to get the Executive Branch to comply with even the most minor oversight, archiving electronic records of such importance requires, to say the least, a well-managed system.  With literally millions of emails moving through White House servers, it is not enough to simply hit the 'archive' button on your email client but rather requires an intricate system of both digital and tape storage as well as solid geographical disbursement in order to minimize the risk of loss.  That is why these projects are normally outsourced to qualified professional third parties whose primary business is backup.

I have a trustworthy source in the company providing tech support to the Office of the Administration and he is far from impressed:

Like the article mentioned, they?re called the executive office of the president.  These guys are contractors and you can tell they're new to the job.  Everyone we deal with there are a bunch of morons.  They have no clue how to administer the unix box that networker (their backup software) is installed on or how to manage their backup media (tapes) or any aspect of what you need to know in order to ensure proper backups.  Needless to say they're a bit of a running joke around the office.

Is it really so wrong to expect those running the government to be among the best and brightest of their generation?

Yup.  Heading someplace warm with an oceanview. I'll post when I can.  Mostly I'll just think about posting.  Either way, I hope to come back a whole lot less informed! 

Bon courage à tous ...

With each passing day, conventional wisdom is predicting a long road ahead for republican presidential hopefuls.  After a months-long and expensive primary race, there seems to be no clear frontrunner and the stakes are growing.  Can anyone think of a good reason to opt out of a prominent televised debate?

Key Republican leaders are encouraging the party's presidential candidates to rethink their decision to skip presidential debates focusing on issues important to minorities, fearing a backlash that could further erode the party's standing with black and Latino voters.

The leading contenders for the Republican nomination have indicated they will not attend the "All American Presidential Forum" organized by black talk show host Tavis Smiley, scheduled for Sept. 27 at Morgan State University in Baltimore and airing on PBS. Former New York mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, former senator Fred D. Thompson (Tenn.) and Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) all cited scheduling conflicts in forgoing the debate. The top Democratic contenders attended a similar event in June at Howard University.

I'd like to know what prior engagements are so important that they would throw away the chance to get their message out there.  I'd also like to know why such conflicts seem to arise in tandem with minority forums.  But that's rhetorical - we all know that after six years of ignoring people of color, the GOP has all but abandoned any hope of recapturing their vote.  I guess Guliani, McCain, Thompson and the rest of the peanut gallery would rather not get caught on camera sputtering for creative platitudes.

Aye, it be that time o' year again, when the merry winds of September 19 cover the seas and fer a day o' the year I can understand ye.  So avast ye scurvy dogs an' a merry International Talk like a Pirate Day t' all.  I hereby order ye t'freak out yer boss at least once today.

Now let's get aft t' work - we got some politicians linin' up t' walk th' plank!