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Celebrate.... well, celebrate celebrating
If in Prague remember to invade Tulip Cafe (Opatovicka 3, P1) this Sunday afternoon and celebrate.... well, celebrate celebrating.
· Shrimp on the BBQ Party!!! [ courtesy of ScottyMac ]

Literary parodies
Jasper Rees writes at considerable length on "the literary send-up" in the Sunday Telegraph, in The Czeech of it. Later this year comes The Sellamillion, which will bravely parody The Silmarillion,
· the one book by Tolkien no one has actually read. [link first seen at Good Booking website: We will make reading sexy for the first time, we'll turn books into fashion accessories ]
· See Also Samuel Johnson Prize
· See Also Toussaint's Making Love
· See Also Spying on Search Strategies
· See Also The Anarchist in the Library

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Here malice, rapine, accident conspire,
And now a rabble rages, now a fire;
Their ambush here relentless ruffians lay,
And here the fell attorney prowls for prey;
Here falling houses thunder on your head,
And here a female atheist talks you dead.
Misquoted Samuel Johnson, "Sydney"

How Do We Sort Out Violence For Entertainment And Violence For Horror?
Rarely has the dissonance between the news and popular entertainment been so striking. One can react only with horror as Iraq descends into a chaotic bloodbath, Israel continues to be engulfed in a sickening cycle of revenge upon revenge and terrorism spreads to other countries. Some ABC-TV stations refused to carry Ted Koppel reading the names of killed American soldiers on Friday's "Nightline." Yet week after week we're offered supposedly cathartic stories of devastated families and bloodthirsty vengeance to consume.
· 53 Former Diplomats Attack Bush
[link first seen at It Looks as if Game is up for Americans in Iraq...]
· See Also Big Frankenstein to boost numbers and keep spies alert around the clock: ASIO's staffing levels are set to dwarf those of the Cold War
· See Also Rules of the Caucus Race in ''Alice in Wonderland'' apply: everybody has won, and all must have prizes
· See Also Human creativity is the ultimate source of economic growth. And to fully tap and harness that creativity we must be tolerant, diverse, and inclusive

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Latest Blogjam7 is in the air and dominated by soulful observations...

I move my head imperceptibly, because of his moustache which brushes against my nostrils with a scent of vanilla and honeyed tobacco. Oh!...suddenly my mouth, in spite of itself, lets itself be opened, opens of itself as irresistibly as a ripe plum splits in the sun. And once again there is born that exacting pain that spreads from my lips, all down my flanks as far as my knees, that swelling as of a wound that wants to open once more and overflow—the voluptuous pleasure that I had forgotten.
Colette, La Vagabonde

Enjoying the rest of my 15 minutes of the unexpected state of affairs
As Edmund Gosse told a fellow writer whom Max had just caricatured: "I feel it my duty to tell you that something has happened to you that sooner or later happens to us almost all. Max has got you. We don't like it and you won't like it, but you must pretend you do. You can console yourself at any rate with the thought that it will give uncommon pleasure to your friends."
· Retrieving the shape of man [ courtesy of Amazing Catroon Zone]
· See Also How_many_Google_machines
· See Also Self Publishing Hits The Big Time
· See Also OK, you wrote a book, but how many times can you stand to write your name? The Evolution Of Silly Book Marketing Techniques

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Moon river
Wider than a mile
I'm crossing you in style
Some day...
Old dream maker
You heart breaker
Wherever you're going
I'm going your way...
Two drifters
Off to see the world
There's such a lot of world
To see...
We're after the same rainbow's end
Waiting around the bend
My Huckleberry friend
Moon River and me...
The band is playing "Moon River" in James Cumes' latest, not published yet, short story entitled: The Young Bug

Chinese Whisper: al- Qaeda & Drug Dragons
Only now are Western intelligence agencies becoming aware of the links that CSIS has with drugs, money laundering and the support it provides for terrorists. We are talking of billions of dollars."
· Aussie stocks help fund al- Qaeda [Link Poached from RoadToSurfdom.com]
· See Also Colombian drugs cash ring broken

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A fast spreading nightmare called Sasser hit thousands of PCs within the last few days...
To see beyond their own little world and get a sense of what's really going on, journalists and readers need to get out of their pajamas!

Battlefield of Dreams
Few Americans would want to trade places with the people of Iraq," wrote the economist, Daniel Mitchell. "But come tax time next April, they may begin to wonder who's better off." Even when he wrote that, the insurgency in Iraq was visibly boiling over; by "tax time" last month, the situation was truly desperate.
· T Time [ via NYTimes.com ]
· See Also Instinct for bureaucratic self-protection: Cat's got his tongue about Abu Ghraib? [ via JohnQuiggin.com ]
· See Also Say hello to Media Matters, the new website headed up by former conservative journalist David Brock
· See Also The Next Velvet Revolution Will Not Be Blogged

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Down below the lowest drawer,
where only bugs and dust should be,
on that unfinished wooden floor,
is where I woke my dear Lillie, Lilly
Shimonolog

The best advertising is word-of-mouth
The smartest words ever said about advertising were coined decades ago by Bill Bernbach, founder of DDB: The best advertising is word-of-mouth. Damn straight. The best way to generate word-of-mouth is not to hire a great ad agency, but something much harder: to have a remarkable product (i.e. a product “worthy of remark”, quod erat demonstrandum).
· Remarkable Product [link first seen at Google ]
· See Also Google, getting rich
· See Also 4 Hot Ads: Cutting-edge practices as of today: 1) Social networking; Local search. Google and Overture; 3) Ads on blogs
· See Also Online Advertising Trends: How to Become As Rich As Jozef Imrich :)

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Big profits slip under the radar
High-tech military inventions funded by taxpayers are reaping millions of dollars - for private companies.
The common practice of Defence personnel, both civil and military, jumping directly out of the Department of Defence and taking up employment with civil contractors immediately on resignation should be stopped.
· I have no mandate in terms of cold, hard dollar returns
· See Also EU celebrates historic moment: European Union becomes 10 countries larger
· See Also The World Economic Forum Weblog

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My only comment on evaluating intelligence and being able to sort the wheat from the chaff is that it requires an unbiased and open mind. When you have either a political or ideological bias there is a great temptation to ignore contrary facts and information as a matter of deliberate policy or because you subconsciously give them little credence.
That seems to be the deep corruption and failing within Australian, British and particularly US intelligence

I find myself fooled at times
Sometimes the urge to scream out is overwhelming. When I step outside into the dark, the world around me closes in. I look from the edge of the pad back to my cell, staring at the horizon...
· AK 47 Fire [ courtesy of CampLancer]
· See Also Watching Niagara: Stupid Leaders, Useless Spies, Angry World
· See Also So why didn’t they make sure that soldiers knew the basic idea behind the Geneva Convention and respected a prisoner's human rights?

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Brits vs. Yanks: Who does journalism right?
I think a sense of passion and immediacy is missing from some of [investigative] reporting these days; the kind of maverick, skeptical intensity brought to journalism by reporters such as The New Yorker's Seymour Hersh, for example. I also sense that there are not enough people like that in daily journalism today: reporters who dig, and dig fast, and whom authorities know, for sure, will challenge them or their accounts.
Americans are from Mars, Europeans are from Venus
· There aren't enough people like Hersh in journalism today
[ via Columbia Journalism Review ]
· Writing your own obit can be therapeutic, inspiring
· See Also "Attack" review: "This is a book by, about and for insiders" (Newsday)

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Green lights are ahead at the publishing intersection for Chris Masters' unauthorised biography of Alan Jones

Australian Love Letters: No wonder it's the book even the French are talking about
It all started on Monday night when the ABC's Media Watch revealed a leaked fan letter from the chairman of the Australian Broadcasting Authority, Professor David Flint, to broadcaster Alan Jones. Even Jones admitted it might have tainted the public's perception of him. But rival broadcaster John Laws went further, telling listeners of his nationally syndicated programme that Jones had told him at a dinner party that Jones had gone to Kirribilli House, and instructed John Howard to re-appoint David Flint or he would not have the support of Alan Jones in the next election. Mr Jones denied the allegation, and so did the Prime Minister. While John Laws continued to repeat his allegation, the slanging match might have died a natural death, were it not for Veteran Affairs Minister Danna Vale.
· Jonestown: Stay brave and true [Link Poached from Keeping up with Jana Wendtses]
· See Also Resign or be sacked,Carr tells Flint 'Biased' ABA boss must go
· See Also Spiral of Silence: The Twilight of the Elites
· See Also France: Where The Press are a Pack of Poodles

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Web sites shine a light on some of the biggest secrets in the publishing industry, allowing ordinary authors to penetrate the mysteries of book marketing...

Small booksellers get big picture
New technology to help small booksellers compete with the "big guys." One of the firm's first and most satisfied customers is Karl Pohrt, owner of the Shaman Drum bookstore in downtown Ann Arbor, who calls the technology nothing short of revolutionary.
· Retailing [link first seen at Boom time for Dragon books ]
· See Also Is not Google Linking Dangerously: Blogjamming & Sex

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There is nothing about this story that doesn't make my memories of my days in the Czechoslovak Army alive...

Iron Curtains Ordered for Military in torture scandal
I'm not one who puts the UK press on a pedestal - I've lived enough to know that it too occasionally has an on-again off-again relationship with the truth. But, it is pretty sad that we have to turn to the Guardian to learn a key detail about the prison torture story. A military report into the Abu Ghraib case - parts of which were made available to the Guardian - makes it clear that private contractors were supervising interrogations in the prison, which was notorious for torture and executions under Saddam Hussein.
· Keep doing things that can only reinforce the perception around the world that America is a big bully [ via Atrios: acusados de obrigar iraquianos a simular actos sexuais e a fazer pirâmides humanas]
· See Also Photos show jail abuse by US troops
· See Also ...if proven, the Brittish perpetrators are not fit to wear the Queen's uniform and they have besmirched the Army's good name and conduct
· See Also Triumph turns to tragedy: More Agents Track MEdia Dragon Than Bin Laden
· See Also Listing of those killed in Iraq is now on the American ABC website

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The past decade has been one of the most eventful in American political history, from the Republican takeover of Congress to the presidential impeachment, the resignation of two speakers of the House, the deadlocked presidential election, the 2001 terrorist attacks, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and more... (Insert another shameless plug for Technorati here!)

Why Books Are the Hot Medium
Former government officials have committed their recollections to books at least since 1934, when a former White House usher, Irwin Hood Hoover, published the memoir "Forty-Two Years in the White House"... But seldom, if ever, have as many volumes thick with inside details of an administration appeared as fast as they have during the presidency of George W. Bush.
· Memoirs [link first seen at NYTimes.com]
· See Also Insert another shameless plug for Cold Medium: I may not know what writting is but I know what I survived...
· See Also A man, a man's man, a manly man
· See Also The Jesus Factor in Amerikan Politics
· See Also Pledge to give power to the people takes centre stage
· See Also Machiavelli's philosophy: It is notoriously vile and his name has become an adjective for evil and two-faced-ness.

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The worst kept secret in the dot com business is finally in the open. Search engine Google has filed papers with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for an initial public offering of shares. The company says it hopes to raise $2.7 billion... Defying Wall St. Tradition

Google offering: Feeling lucky?
Free Monitor for Google
http://www.cleverstat.com/google-monitor-query.htm is a way for you to track the ranking of a certain site (or even a page) on the Google index.
· http://www.cleverstat.com/google-monitor-query.htm
· See Also Google stands out: Quirky IPO has dual-class shares, lofty ideals
· See Also John Battelle's great analysis of the Google SEC filing
· See Also Creating and publishing weblogs (Wikipedia)
· See Also Information Literacy Weblog

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All hail Dungeons & Dragons, which has turned 30:
Its great being part of an underground world which baffles 90% of people you talk to about it... There is something in D&D that strikes a chord in many people; the call of adventure

Dungeons are alive and kicking
The event which occurred on August 21, 1915, when an entire battalion was gone in the presence of other people, had been an official secret for over fifty years. Only in 1967 the documents containing the testimonies of twenty witnesses to this incident, which happened in the Southern Europe near Dardanelles, were made public
· Mass disappearances of people are among the mysteries in the world history which are most hard to explain
· See Also Flying through the holes