[NON-BLOG] Things to do this afternoon

1. Check about possibility of buying a laptop battery for my 1997 Compaq laptop through the Queen's University computer store.

2. Make some much overdue livejournal posts.

3. Drop off various postcards and cards at post office.

4. Drop off dress jacket and suit at drycleaners.

5. Photocopy and read materials for Milton and empire course.

6. Buy a lamp to illuminate over-dark dorm room.

7. Attend tarot card reading at 5 o'clock.

8. Review English 844 essay with an eye on reworking it for resubmission.

9. Kill Bill.

Yep. Well, I'm off.

[BRIEF NOTE] The War on Terror in Macedonia

From CNN:

"Macedonia admits staging raid, killing innocents"
Saturday, May 1, 2004 Posted: 0014 GMT (0814 HKT)

SKOPJE, Macedonia (AP) -- Macedonian police gunned down seven innocent immigrants, then claimed they were terrorists, in a killing staged to show they were participating in the U.S.-led campaign against terrorism, authorities said Friday.

Police spokeswoman Mirjana Konteska told reporters that six people, including three former police commanders, two special police officers and a businessman, have been charged by police with murder.

If convicted, they could be sentenced from 10 years to life in prison.

"That was an act of a sick mind," Konteska said after a two-year investigation. "They ... ordered the brutal murder of the seven Pakistani men."

She described a meticulous plan to promote Macedonia as a player in the fight against global terrorism that involved smuggling the Pakistanis into Macedonia from Bulgaria, housing them, and then coldly gunning them down.

The killings, she added, were part of an attempt to "present themselves as participants in the war against terrorism and demonstrate Macedonia's commitment to the war on terror."

Since breaking away from Yugoslavia in 1991, Macedonia has been eager to win U.S. political and economic support in its search for acceptance into the Western camp of nations.

One can't underrate official Macedonia's enthusiasm for the War on Terror. I wonder just how much of the Albanian crisis of 2002 was manipulated by these same bastards.

[NON BLOG] Notable Recent Purchases

• On Friday, at the S&R Department Store on Princess Street in Kingston, one sleeping bag, red in colour with a Canadian flag on the front. I didn't have a sleeping bag with me, I needed one for camping, and it looked both usable and inexpensive. It was both.


• On Monday, at the Indigo on Bay and Bloor in downtown Toronto, Patrick Moore's Venus, Patrick Moore on Mars, and John Barnes' The Merchants of Souls. I bought the Patrick Moore books since I'm an astronomy fan. I bought The Merchants of Souls--very nice book, BTW--because I'm a Barnes fan. A Million Open Doors was one of the first science fiction books I'd bought outside of Star Trek genre novels, and its series is a fantastic examination of first contact between cultures with all of the accompanying tensions.


• At This Ain't The Rosedale Library, Michel Houellebecq's The Elementary Particles. I'd read this book already, taking it out from the PEI library system, but I wanted to read it again. The passionnate bleakness of The Elementary Particles recommends the book to me.
  
• At Grey Region Comics on Yonge Street, Path of Tears: The Star Viking Sourcebook for the Traveller: The New Era setting. The New Era constituted the terminus of the popular Traveller RPG setting, as what began as an attempt by a relatively well-meaning sector duke to assassinate the imperial family of the Third Imperium quickly escalated into a devastating multisided civil war complete with two alien invasions and the eventual deployment of a vociferously anti-organic intelligence brand of AI as a weapon of mass destruction. In many cases, empires are more interesting after they've fallen. Path of Tears explores the Reformation Coalition, an ambitious confederation of planets emerging in an overlooked corner of the Third Imperium, and the neighbouring worlds which will be subjected to the RC's attempts at rebuilding. I like it.


• At the HMV Superstore, Electronic's self-titled debut album. I'd been interested in the project on the basis of the reputation of its principals (Johnny Marr and Bernard Sumner?), so when I saw it on sale I had to pick it up.
  
• On Wednesday, in Kingston, at the Novel Idea bookstore on Princess Street, Élisabeth Vonarburg's novel Dreams of the Sea. Her Reluctant Voyagers was another of the first science fiction books I'd bought. Her dreamlike writing style (at least in English, as I've not read her in the original French)interests me though I'm not sure how much of a fan of it I am.


• At the Indigo on Princess Street, Julie Doiron's CD désormais. I was familiar with her reputation as singer for Eric's Trip, wanted to listen to some new Francophone music, wanted to boost a Maritimer's creative career, and noticed it was on sale (total price barely 16 dollars). Review to come shortly.


• For twenty dollars, as I was walking up Princess Street from Indigo, three pens which can light up in the dark and two personal organizers (paper format) from an enthusiastic young salesman. Anyone want any?


• At the Shamand Decorating Centre, one large rectangular sheet of fabric and a placemat. Although my room has considerably more room on average, it has less room to store boxes. I placed one box on top of a large suitcase, covered the two items with the sheet of fabric, placed the placemat on top of the fabric, and got a serviceable table.