Sewers of Babel : kerinth

As if one's own experiences of this sort were not traumatic enough, now we can browse excerpts from the trysts (after eight years or four weeks) of random internetters. Although this may not be a representative sample of breakup communiques (being that one of the involved parties must be somewhat exhibitionist to submit the materials), it still gives an interesting look at the rhetoric of relationship strife. Here is an example:

Everything in this life is impermantent. Every particle arises and falls into and out of existance a billion times every moment. Nothing stays. And I'm going home. With all this changing happening I don't have time to always be second guessing myself. I realize now that you won't be considerate of my feelings nor do you understand my nature or my intentions, despite all of my efforts.

Not all the accounts are so expansive in their reasoning, or even in the essay or letter-format. AIM conversations can be just as chilly:

Tyler: i hope you know this is all your fault.
Marlene: I do know its my fault
Marlene: Im sorry 4 me ever wantin somethin that didnt go so well with u
Tyler: what are you trying to say? i couldnt give you what you wanted? do you even know what you want?
Marlene: I dont
Marlene: :-(
Marlene: Im a stupid piece of shit thats what i know
Tyler: im sorry to hear that.. i hope someday you'll realize what you want, and then probably realize that you could've had it
Marlene: Yea

Ugh. Although this seemed lighthearted or tongue-in-cheek when I first visited the link, there is serious guilt and vitriol brimming over each post. Plus each example is commentable, and thus moral authority can be transferred one netizen to the next. Happy schadenfreude or research. I'm going to shower after reading through ten of these... cold and malcontent.
[via Monkeyfilter]

Link goes to an article at lawandhelp.com clarifying some of the particulars from the McDonald's coffee lawsuit in 1994 with a multimillion dollar settlement. Since that time it has become an easy straw man to classify much legal action as rampant get-rich-quick schemes. I have heard it cited multiple times and it does seem somewhat ridiculous at face value, until you consider that the 81-year-old woman

... suffered very serious injuries - third degree burns on her groin, thighs and buttocks that required skin grafts and a seven-day hospital stay.

And there had apparently been 700+ cases like this one settled for smaller amounts and with less publicity.
Hopefully when the "McDonald's lawsuit" example is introduced to undermine the serious need for defense of personal freedoms, this information will make the debate less anecdotal and ... well ... longer. Drawing out the discussion will at least make it more complex (i.e. more realistic).

Representational power is a terrible thing to waste... From this vision of a technicolor fleet:

To this shelving of uncharted forms:

Perhaps it just fits more generally into our half-aware archetypal blur, the one without names or genealogies or particular costume.
[gallery via plep]

The above links to Seymour Hirsch's article in New Yorker magazine on Iran and the buzz of U.S. plans. Although this sort of preparation for conflict seems to be the norm for some of the U.S. intelligence agencies and military planners, the immediacy of the Iraq situation and the similar grounds for regime change seem to cast a foreboding light on what are described now only as contingency plans. I am not sure that Washington's ostensible focus on diplomatic solutions has much truthiness to it anymore, and we all know how little the international monitoring agencies mean when the jets warm up on the carriers and the humvees roar into gear. Alea jacta est.

Also of note is this amazing mixed metaphor from an unnamed European official describing intelligence about Iran's nuclear capabilities: “It was not a slam-dunk smoking gun.” If that doesn't put the lotion in the basket and jam it home, I'll make like a shepherd and get the flock out of here. At least I don't claim to be consistent... or have a nuclear arsenal at my disposal. Sic semper tyrannis! as some would say, however misguided.