Who are you MIT visitors? Mike, comment s'il vous plait and let me know when you're going to be in town.

Quiet and sick in head and stomach, the seat of emotion is the gall bladder? To be the young and mechanic or the young and ecstatic with a foot in each camp; we tattoo Greek prayers on our bodies and chart the rise and fall of empires as digital readout. More on making dead music in dying languages later, more on building the new Germany with dialogue as war and war as gauche, more more more sometime. I always write that and it's never true. Damnit man, did you get your book? Sometimes I *do* follow through.
*
The Duhks are amazing on record and even more phenomenal live. Buy their CD and keep them touring; I need a fix again, soon.

US President George W Bush has made a televised address announcing the start of war against Iraq.
This is the text of his speech:

"My fellow citizens, at this hour American and coalition forces are in the early stages of military operations to disarm Iraq, to free its people and to defend the world from grave danger.

"On my orders, coalition forces have begun striking selected targets of military importance to undermine Saddam Hussein's ability to wage war.

"These are opening stages of what will be a broad and concerted campaign.

"More than 35 countries are giving crucial support, from the use of naval and air bases, to help with intelligence and logistics, to the deployment of combat units.

"Every nation in this coalition has chosen to bear the duty and share the honour of serving in our common defence.

"To all of the men and women of the United States armed forces now in the Middle East, the peace of a troubled world and the hopes of an oppressed people now depend on you.

"That trust is well placed.

'Final atrocity'

"The enemies you confront will come to know your skill and bravery. The people you liberate will witness the honourable and decent spirit of the American military.

"In this conflict, America faces an enemy who has no regard for conventions of war or rules of morality. Saddam Hussein has placed Iraqi troops and equipment in civilian areas, attempting to use innocent men, women and children as shields for his own military; a final atrocity against his people.

"I want Americans and all the world to know that coalition forces will make every effort to spare innocent civilians from harm.

A campaign on the harsh terrain of a nation as large as California could be longer and more difficult than some predict. And helping Iraqis achieve a united, stable and free country will require our sustained commitment.

"We come to Iraq with respect for its citizens, for their great civilization and for the religious faiths they practice. We have no ambition in Iraq, except to remove a threat and restore control of that country to its own people.

Prayers for safety

"I know that the families of our military are praying that all those who serve will return safely and soon.

"Millions of Americans are praying with you for the safety of your loved ones and for the protection of the innocent.

"For your sacrifice, you have the gratitude and respect of the American people and you can know that our forces will be coming home as soon as their work is done.

"Our nation enters this conflict reluctantly, yet our purpose is sure. The people of the United States and our friends and allies will not live at the mercy of an outlaw regime that threatens the peace with weapons of mass murder.

"We will meet that threat now with our Army, Air Force, Navy, Coast Guard and Marines, so that we do not have to meet it later with armies of firefighters and police and doctors on the streets of our cities.

"Now that conflict has come, the only way to limit its duration is to apply decisive force. And I assure you, this will not be a campaign of half measures and we will accept no outcome but victory.

"My fellow citizens, the dangers to our country and the world will be overcome. We will pass through this time of peril and carry on the work of peace. We will defend our freedom. We will bring freedom to others.

"And we will prevail.

"May God bless our country and all who defend her."

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One roommate is playing "It's all over now, Baby Blue" over the other roommate's NPR streaming audio; I'm being thoroughly undramatic with tea & kitties. The world will be here when I wake up tomorrow. Get some sleep & be well.

***

You must leave now, take what you need, you think will last.
But whatever you wish to keep, you better grab it fast.
Yonder stands your orphan with his gun,
Crying like a fire in the sun.
Look out the saints are comin' through
And it's all over now, Baby Blue.

The highway is for gamblers, better use your sense.
Take what you have gathered from coincidence.
The empty-handed painter from your streets
Is drawing crazy patterns on your sheets.
This sky, too, is folding under you
And it's all over now, Baby Blue.

All your seasick sailors, they are rowing home.
All your reindeer armies, are all going home.
The lover who just walked out your door
Has taken all his blankets from the floor.
The carpet, too, is moving under you
And it's all over now, Baby Blue.

Leave your stepping stones behind, something calls for you.
Forget the dead you've left, they will not follow you.
The vagabond who's rapping at your door
Is standing in the clothes that you once wore.
Strike another match, go start anew
And it's all over now, Baby Blue.

-Bob Dylan-

We're keeping tabs on terrorism in Florida.

Kick ass! Everybody loves depleted uranium.
(ces VRAIMENT fucker là.)

I'm going to go blind
and all this time I thought it was PMS.

Headache, side-ache, back-ache, pains in the chest, and wandering pains in various parts of the body, -- these are but a few of the painful ailments from which girls who are guilty of this sin suffer. Tenderness of the spine, which causes great solicitude on the part of parents and physicians, who fear that serious disease is threatening the life of a loved daughter, not infrequently originates in this way. Much of the hysteria which renders wretched the lives of thousands of young ladies and the fond friends who are obliged to care for and attend them, arises from sexual transgression of the kind of which we are speaking. The blanched cheeks, hollow, expressionless eyes, and rough, pimply skins of many school-girls, are due to this cause alone. We do not mean by this to intimate that every girl who has pimples upon her face is guilty of secret vice; but this sin is undoubtedly a very frequent cause of the unpleasant eruption which so often appears upon the foreheads of both sexes. It would be very unjust, however, to charge a person with the sin unless some further evidence than that of an eruption on the face was afforded.

And now I know why:

Sentimental Books. -- The majority of girls love to read, but, unfortunately, the kind of literature of which they are often fond is not of a character which will elevate, refine, or in any way benefit them. Story-books, romances, love tales, and religious novels constitute the chief part of the reading matter which American young ladies greedily devour. We have known young ladies still in their teens who had read whole libraries of the most exciting novels.

The taste for novel-reading is like that for liquor or opium. It is never satiated. It grows with gratification. A confirmed novel-reader is almost as difficult to reform as a confirmed inebriate or opium-eater. The influence upon the mind is most damaging and pernicious.

For him that stealeth a Book from this Library, let it change into a serpent in his hand and rend him. Let him be struck with Palsy, and all his Members blasted. Let him languish in Pain crying aloud for Mercy and let there be no sur-cease to his Agony till he sink in Dissolution. Let Bookworms gnaw his Entrails in token of the Worm that dieth not, and when at last he goeth to his final Punishment, let the flames of Hell consume him for ever and aye.

---Curse Against Book Stealers, Monastery of San Pedro, Barcelona

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He was looking for a poem for someone to make them feel better and got me instead. Sorry.