Saturday, January 18, 2003

Memory and the Firebombing of Nazi Germany An extraordinary statement: The source of the psychic energy of German postwar society, [Sebald] explains, consisted "in the secret kept by all of the corpses walled up in the foundations of our state . . . a secret that bound the Germans together after the war -- and still binds them today -- more closely than any positive goal, such as the realization of democracy, ever could." Read more about W.G. Sebald's Air War and Literature ("Luftkrieg und Literatur") in this essay by Peter Schneider in today's New York Times. Extended excerpts from Sebald's book appeared in the Nov. 4 issue of the The New Yorker. Notable for its horrific, novelistic descriptions of the results of the firebombing, the essay asks the important question: "Whether a war crime is legitimate if it is a response to a fascist aggressor who first set the logic of war crimes in motion." By the way, the incendiary air warfare carried out over Germany has not been a secret in the United States. The Feb. 1945 firebombing of Dresden, in which over 100,000 people died, was the central event in Kurt Vonnegut's 1969 novel Slaughterhouse Five. The novel was made into an Academy-Award nominated movie in 1972. 7:06:16 PM     Unwise at Any Speed Check out Gregg Easterbrook's substantive, enthusiastic review of Keith Bradsher's High and Mighty: SUVs -- The World's Most Dangerous Vehicles and How They Got That Way, a scathing look about the U.S. regulatory favoritism that has put SUVs into a vehicle class all their own: both fuel inefficient and unsafe. Very sadly, today the fourth victim of yesterday's SUV crash in Connecticut died. Two other Yale students involved in the crash -- nine total were riding in the SUV -- remain in critical condition. This story in the Times updates the investigation; it will be interesting to learn if the vehicle rolled, as SUVs (with their high center of gravity) are prone to do. Here's a recent story from CBS about Arianna Huffington's anti-SUV TV spots. Meanwhile, Reuters has a piece of hopeful business news today, reporting that the Peak May Have Passed for Traditional SUVs. 5:48:20 PM     Software License Provision Ruled Violation of Free Speech Today the New York Times reports that shrinkwrap license policies have been dealt a blow on, essentially, First Amendment grounds. The attempt by Network Associates to prevent users of its products from publishing unflattering product reviews has been struck down by the New York State Supreme Court. Wouldn't it be grand if this decision leads to all-out war on the hideous and coercive provisions of software licenses? Microsoft's infamous ban on publishing the results of software benchmark tests is doubly outrageous given the company's market dominance, leaving consumers no choice but to consent to self-serving license terms. The lawsuit against California's Network Associates was filed by the New York Attorney General, Elliot Spitzer. Spitzer has become famous for prosecuting Wall Street's misdeeds during the tech bubble. Only 43, Spitzer bears watching as a Democratic candidate for higher office. He's already talked about as the next governor of New York. 3:54:34 PM     William Gibson's New Novel The New York Times prints a rave about Gibson's seventh, Pattern Recognition. Amazon's not shipping yet. What I'm really waiting for is Neal Stephenson's new one, not due until September. No popular novel of the last ten years wowed me like Cryptonomicon. Stephenson writes his books with Emacs, which should tell you something. 3:28:00 PM

© Copyright 2003 Tom Davey. Last update: 2/23/2003; 5:46:49 PM. This theme is based on the SoundWaves (blue) Manila theme.