Little Red Blog

For want of sleep, the news of "Habemus Papam", and other more mundane tasks that we all must on occasion fulfill, the News and Notes were delayed. Here is a short bit of what I hope will be just a first for today.

Habemus Papam! Pope Benedict XVI is the new pope of the Holy Roman Catholic Church. Congratulations to the faithful and, of course, to Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger for his selection. Being a theologian, and 78 years old, it strikes me that his role is one of caretaker and reinforcement of the doctrines of the late John Paul II. May he be a benefit and blessing to all the world.

Today we note that it has been 10 years since the bombing of the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City. 168 lives were lost on that morning. The bombing had a significant impact on me. On that I hope to share more later today.

While working on the new site, I'm constantly reminded of the vast number of potential hot spots around the world. Whether it be the dispute between China and Japan, North Korea's nuclear play, Iran's ethnic clashes or nuclear ambitions, the Sunni attacks on the Shi'a of Iraq or the many, many, more that I could list, I am left feeling a bit like John Adams must have when he wrote "[w]e have not men fit for the times. We are deficient in genius, education, travel, fortune - everything." Yet, as I've noted many times, I am bound in optimism and much of it is due to the many who while visibly offering words (including through blogs), behind the scenes go about the necessary actions to fortify and defend our land.

Back later.

UPDATE: The Watcher's Council has an opening for those so inclined to apply. Its a good thing and the worst that can happen is you'll be rejected, humiliated and laughed out of the blogosphere. Go ahead, apply.

To help feed my appetite for books I've signed up to do reviews for Mind & Media. Some of you are aware of the service Stacy offers, as that's how I was directed to her, but for those who aren't I'll post more in the near future (including her logo) and then when the first book arrives I'll begin the review process.

Yesterday I mentioned how I was using del.icio.us and how pleased I was with it. Well, it was down for a while today, which in conjunction with the need to have more frequent updates led me to an nifty bit of code called MySQLicious. It mirrors the del.icio.us links in your local MySQL database, and then via PHP, Perl or whatever you like, and you can query as often as you like, no throttling from del.icio.us. Of course, the updating of the mirror should still be moderated, so that you don't abuse the service.

John Bolton's vote was delayed. There is no good news in this save the clarity it provides on the character (and lack) of the Senate.

North Korea shuts down a reactor, most likely to permit further weapons development, and still - still - South Korea opposes sanctions on the North. The last 7, or more, years of South Korean leadership (reflective of the culture today) has been more pro-DPRK than it has been supportive of the U.S. As with Germany and Japan, lessons learned can either be forgotten, played for all their worth, or simple become a part of your character. You know which is which.