So Aaron has good reasons for not posting on <a href="http://www.blackholemedia.com/aaron/log/">his Blackholemedia log</a>, but they're under wraps for now.

I watched about 15 minutes of American Idol while I ate dessert after dinner today.  What a waste of my time.  Now I remember why I don't watch network TV.  And why I'm not going to own a TV when I get my own pad.

Bhutan:  Featured on Slashdot today, I feel like I have to post a link to PBS's "<a href="http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/stories/bhutan/index.html">Bhutan - The Last Place</a> because I spent a good fifteen minutes reading <a href="http://journalism.berkeley.edu/faculty/schell/">Orville Schell's</a> article, <a href="http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/stories/bhutan/gnh.html">Gross National Happiness</a>.  What a refreshing idea.  I was chatting with Kartik on Thursday about where the "edge of the world" is today, and the best we could come up with is Iran.  I'm surprised I didn't think of Bhutan.

The New York Times is always good for a little cultured humor.  From today's <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2002/08/08/technology/circuits/08STAT.html?8cir&amp;pagewanted=print">A Screen That Cuts the Cord</a> about a cordless LCD monitor from Philips:

<quote>Similarly, you can summon a little on-screen keyboard that suffices for scratching in Web addresses. But that's much too awkward a system for writing any document longer than, say, "The Enron Book of Ethics."</quote>

I've been linked to from the <a href="http://www.chinaweblog.com/">China Weblog</a> that I mentioned a couple of days ago.  Now I feel obligated to write semi-intelligent commentary on China articles.  Also, I'll go about restructuring the sidebar on the left to include reciprocal links.

For example a week ago I mentioned <a href="http://www.angola.org/news/NewsDetail.cfm?NID=9413">China's grant to Angola</a> to rebuild their railway system.  <a href="http://www.stratfor.com/">Statfor</a>, a premier world intelligence news service, has an article on "<a href="http://www.stratfor.com/standard/analysis_view.php?ID=205640">China's 21st Century Africa Policy Evolving</a>" which I can't read because it's a subscription-only article.  Doh!  That reminds me of my job interview at Borders, where my interviewer told me his dream job would be to get paid to read the news.  Is anybody willing to give me a grant to subscribe to Statfor, and the South China Morning Post for good measure?

<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2002/08/09/international/asia/09KORE.html?pagewanted=print">North Korea Adding a Pinch of Capitalism to Its Economy</a>.  Not because I'm a chauvinist supporter of capitalism but because it portends a brighter future, I'm very happy for the people of North Korea.

What do you do when you find that you care about things like <a href="http://www.laweekly.com/ink/02/36/features-ehrenreich.php">the hobo lifestyle</a> and <a href="http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=37603&amp;cid=4031635">voluntary consumerist withdrawal</a> very deeply?  I imagine it would take either some serious lifestyle changes (eg unplugging your TV; going back to your 15 year-old, Flash-incapable Mac; buying organic; riding a bicycle) or physically removing yourself from the exploitative environment (as in, moving to China or Bhutan).  Am I ready to do that?  Does it conflict a hearty interest in international diplomacy?