I would expect Pedram to be talking about this movie but he hasn’t gotten around to it. The Fog of War is a very interesting look from the inside at how governments operate. The preview is very touching and I hope the movie can live up to it. The reviews are all positive, hopefully everyone can go watch this movie. It seems more and more relevant every day.
Here is an excellent interview with Errol Morris the director.

From the free encyclopedia:
“Fog of war” is the name given to the lack of knowledge that occurs during a war. Most importantly it refers to each side’s uncertainty about the enemy’s capabilities and plans, but it also includes the chaos that can occur in one’s own forces, for instance when a unit misinterprets its orders, or takes a wrong turn and becomes lost.

Much of the modern military’s technological efforts, under the rubric of command and control, seek to reduce the fog of war, although the 2003 invasion of Iraq demonstrated that even the most advanced technology does not eliminate it; the coalition military conducted the entire operation as if the Iraqi use of WMD could happen at any moment, although later it was found that no such weapons were available to military units.

In video games, (particularly real time strategy games) it usually specifically means the ability of enemy units to pass through unoccupied or unexplored sections of the map without being seen, and may be available as a switchable option.

The term is usually ascribed to the Prussian military analyst Karl von Clausewitz, who wrote: “The great uncertainty of all data in war is a peculiar difficulty, because all action must, to a certain extent, be planned in a mere twilight, which in addition not unfrequently � like the effect of a fog or moonshine � gives to things exaggerated dimensions and unnatural appearance.”

To some blogs that I have been reading on a regular basis, Kaveh who’s smarter than me, Reza who uses bigger words on his blog than I do. And someone who writes interesting things but whose name I don’t know.

Sometimes you just have to share, this is old but still it makes me hungry. These pictures really make me happy that I am a kababist remember you too can convert. And now about that beautiful kabab footage.

So I had to plan the evening out and my planning involved printing out the top 10 Sushi and the top 10 Spanish restaurants in the city. I was hoping for dinner at La Tasca with flamenco dancers. Of course they don’t show up till 8 and it’s 5 so what to do till then ? Well we were going to watch Pieces of April at 7 so that ruled out the dancers. Deciding to randomly walk around the theater and find something we stumbled onto the Tacih Grill and if the food and the atmosphere weren’t great I ended sitting next to Kevin O’Malley who was busy drawing comics for the waiters. The Red Snapper fillet was 2 actual whole fillets and more than enough. Reasonably priced food, great company and good waiters.
On top of that Pieces of April was a great thanksgiving movie. Real characters, deeply touching subject and well done humor. It’s movies like this that make me regret paying to see the Matrix. I’d write a longer review but heck here’s more reviews than you could shake a stick at.

So yesterday we had a pot luck lunch at work in honor of thanksgiving. Our company bought two turkies and a ham. The range of food that people brought was astounding. Pot sticker, noodles, chinese eggs, beryani, stir fried rice, mashed potatos, cooked honied yams, jalapenio poppers (courtesy of yours truely via safeway), salads, pasta salads, sauteed shrimps, …. that’s not even counting the pies or the trouffles that one guys gf made. I was going to write a review of each dish but that would have taken pages let’s just say the home made pot stickers rocked.
Now I don’t have anything against big lunches but that took out our entire company for the day, no one got anything done after that. We were all too full. But I might make the big lunch a once a week thing at work from now on, missing luch or quick sandwiches just don’t cut it anymore.

The world was new, the sky blue. So many new smells so many new feelings. Walking around, mom was near. Lunch was just served, the grass was green.
The strange creature came by again a bit of fear but mom was not worried. Why worry ? the strange creature is pushing towards another area. Where is mom ? fear and panic.
no
what is it doing ?
can’t move.
What’s happening
horrible pain, eye rolling up
ground rushing up.
can’t walk.
why are legs shaking.
Something is missing, something is gone. What is it ….

Calf castration is so cruel.

Stopped by in the middle of the desert, trucks rolling by. No moon, no clouds just a sea of stars as far as the eye could see. A warm wind passes by reminding me of you. I sat on the hood of the car and thought of you, where are you, what are you thinking of ? were we looking at the same sky ? the same stars ? Were you thinking of me ? Do you ever wonder what might have been ?
Another truck passes by, another night is passing. Another chance missed, another fork crossed.
I hope you are happy.

So I saw a posting about The God of Small Things over at Kaveh’s blog. I was all excited thinking that he was referring to the Terry Prachette book Small Gods. Just slightly different books…. I shall continue the search for my sophmoric humor now. Oh and I am back from Texas without being shot at.

Then you see this and all you can think of is next time someone wants to tell me how smart their kid is I can point them to this video and shut them up.

So on Thursday I’ll be driving from San Jose, CA to Austin, TX which should be a very fun road trip. I haven’t done a road trip in years and just driving through Texas should be fun. Unless I accidently get shot or something. I’ll plan on taking some pics and hopefully posting them when I get back.