Well, it has been a very strange year, indeed.

According to Human Rights Watch, an international NGO (non-governmental organization) dedicated toward the preservation and monitoring of human rights and human rights abuses (respectively), during the air war by US and "coalition forces" (Mar. 19 through Apr. 09, specifically), over 29,000 (29,199, to be precise) bombs were dropped on Iraq, out of which 31% were not "precision-guided" warheads. The heavily concentrated bombing campaign on Baghdad and other major cities in Iraq earlier this year has led to the deaths of approximately 3,000 Iraqi civilians, according to HRW and Associated Press estimates. However, according to this, the count much higher.

You can read the report ("Off Target: The Conduct of the War and Civilian Casualties in Iraq") here. There is a downloadable version of the publication in PDF format (16 MB).

I just got back from seeing The Last Samurai. It is a magnificent film, and can be summed up in that it portrays the struggle between the ancient and the modern for the soul of Japan.

I saw The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King last night, and all I can say is that it is a glorious, overwhelmingly epic conclusion to one of the greatest motion picture trilogies of cinematic history. Director Peter Jackson ought to be awarded generously for his magnificent work, which may not be paralleled for many, many years to come.

Well, I have had my iPod for about a year now (I got it last Christmas), and so I guess that I have six more months until I have to get a new battery (because after 18 months, the battery apparently dies). Of course, if you do not know what I am talking about, go to this website now.

"iPOD'S UNREPLACEABLE BATTERY LASTS ONLY 18 MONTHS."

P.S.: According to an article about this in the Washington Post, Apple, because of this issue (see the site above), has now announced that it will sell replacement batteries for $99.

I just got the news that Libya has reportedly dismantled its weapons of mass destruction. No doubt great news, because Libya has one of the most repressive government regimes in the world (according to Amnesty Int'l) and has supported terrorism in the past. But if we really want to make the world a lot safer, we ought to be looking at a country which has the most chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons* in the world (the United States); why don't we dismantle our WMD?

*Of course, we don't refer to them as weapons: we call the former two "agents," as in chemical agents and biological agents; as for our nukes, we wouldn't dare call them "weapons," but rather "deterrents."

I think that it would be a really good time to put Stanley Kubrick's masterpiece, "Dr. Strangelove: Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb" (1964) back in theaters. Such a funny movie, and all the more relevant than ever.

I just watched Bush's address on Saddam's capture. You know, it's funny, you can basically construct anything Bush might say out of the following words:

FREEDOM
TERRORISTS
LIBERTY
IRAQIS
DEMOCRACY
LIBERATION
FEAR
INSURGENCY
VICTORY

According to this, France and Germany, the two major opponents of the war in Iraq, were the first to hail the capture of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. Anything to say from the people who poured French wine down the gutter?

Well, as you all now know, we have finally succeeded in capturing Saddam Hussein. I guess that this means that we will get out of Iraq soon. Bush is expected to address the nation about the capture at noon today, which is in around a little over two hours from now.

Well, the Dow Jones Industrial has hit 10,000 for the first time in 18 months; so I guess it looks like the economy is finally back on track. Now all Bush needs to worry about in 2004 is, you know, those wars we're still fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq.

There is now an impending crisis with Taiwan, as well as with North Korea (25 days and counting) and Iran (57 days and counting), which has a timeline, too, which says 105 days and counting. (www.globalsecurity.org)