Processy!
Currently Listening To: Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad from the album "Play" by Moby
I just finished a 6(!) hour repair cycle on Genevieves boot disk using DiskWarrior. It had previously given a diagnosis of %39 disorder on the HD and it was starting to show with lagging write speeds and iTunes skippage (gasp!). The last graph diagnosis given gave a >1% disorder margin and a very very near perfect gradient. Hopefully putting an end to slow copies and iTunes skipping whenever Bittorrent is writing loads of bits to disk.
My alterior motive of course being that Panther is due to arrive tomorrow and I want to have a perfect install. Smooth like silk and whatnot :D
However in order to facilitate this fixing I had to use a variety of techniques. See the problem with DiskWarrior is that despite (or more likely because) being so immensely powerful it cant fix either a) A disk its installed on or b) The boot disk.
Given that Genevieve still only has one HD (another is on the buy list) I had to find a way of not only having DiskWarrior on a seperate disk but also having a Startup disk alternate to Genevieves main disk which meant I couldnt use my one CD drive for both tasks (Beyond fashioning a highly dubious MacOS install disk/DiskWarrior hybrid). Once again it was Kevin the iPod to the rescue. Easily fitting DiskWarrior onto his sizeable hard disk.
So I used an old OS9 install disk and Kevin and fixed the one hardrive on my main mac. Its Smooth :)
Ozzy Ozzy Ozzy
I was watching BBC News 24 (on one of the rare occaisions where I manage to avoid vomiting at their appaling standards) and saw Hu Jintao the Chinese head honcho addressing both houses of the Australian legislature. Previously President George W Bush had addressed the same chamber and recieved some heckling from Green Party Officials but Hu's entire speech wentby completely uninterrupted.
After the hecklers had spoken Mr. Bush said with a smile 'I love free speech'.
Hu in that situation in China would have signed an invoice to be sent round to the speaker's family for the bullet about to be discharged from the barrel of an AK47 pointed at the protesters neck. It's only a shame it wasnt a sports stadium, China's venue of choice for public executions.
For heaven's sake! You heckle Mr. Bush and give free airtime to the leader of an opressive human rights abusing facistic dictatorship? Now dont get me wrong Im not a Bush fan bar his policies re: Iraq but come on people! Hu was waffling on about the brilliance (and in some respects the dominance) of his country. Dude, when theres only one party you can't talk in the legislative hall of a democracy about having national support. It's called Despotism mate.
Worst of all his topic was the 'repatriation' of Taiwan. He made claims that it was not only in the best interests of the Taiwanese people to join Greater China but also had the sheer audacity to assert that it was also their desire, indeed insinuating he acted on their behalf! Don't know about you Hu but last time I watched the election results in Taiwan I saw something entirely different.
Ask the people of Hong Kong whether they, of whom 95% either descended from or are people who ran away from the evil opressive regime wanted to be 'reunified with the glorious motherland' and you have a rather unpleasant answer.
Consider instead that the people for whom you purport to speak are the descendants of the countrymen you fought and killed in your bloody revolution and you get some idea of how idiotic and presumptious such rhetoric is.
Just because China is a growing economic power it is not intellectually prudent to overlook what the regime in the country stands for. This isnt just what 'industrial revolution' experiencing nations do as has been sometimes claimed, look at Japan or South Korea. I don't see the massacre of thousands, religious persecution, torture or public executions for thought crimes amongst their growth into economically sound nations.
I was however pleased that there was complaint in the house that the PRC's human rights record was stricken from the agenda of conversation. Nonetheless millions of people mobilize to march against 'US Imperialism' but the last time I saw anyone demonstrate against China was in Hong Kong after Tiananmen Square.
I was also lucky enough to catch by complete serendipity, a HardTalk featuring none other than the right hon. Sir Christopher Patten, a man for whom I have no end of respect. Nice interview but sadly entirely on his role as European Commisioner for external affairs and nothing on the Tory party's leadership crisis. Id like to see him throw his hat into the ring (at last! A Conservative I respect!)
Also in the news was George Galloway who was expelled from the Labour Party. Damn right too. I can respect people who went against the war on Iraq (providing they did so employing some degree of intelligent rationalization which was rare amongst many anti war supporters) but when they unabashedly sycophantically praise Saddam Hussein and incite other Arab nations to attack British Troops on Arabic TV you have to draw the line. Mr. Galloways unique brand of firey ignorance and mastery of two dimensional war rhetoric will be missed.. Wait what am I saying?! As part of the Labour rank and file I was ashamed to have him amongst our elected MP's and rejoice at his timely booting! Good Riddance!
Later
John
Posted by John Swaine at October 24, 2003 03:30 AM