The Fly Hates Spending Money
Hey folks! I'm a little more coherent today. Once I've gotten the news out of the way, I can explain what's going on.
There's an interesting article about the last living British officer to have served in Waziristan in the twentieth century. One of the things that really pisses me off about dirty hippies and the ignorant news media types is that they seem very eager to seize on every statement by anyone who says that there's "no military solution," or that the military "must use more than just force" to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, as if America and her allies have spent the last seven years carpet bombing villages and shooting everything that moves, and are now surprised that people are pissed off. If these folks would actually read the statements of men like this British
officer, or General Petraeus, or Secretary Kissinger, and read them in context, they might just realize that the solution to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq will come from a combination of soft and hard power displays - and that the military already realizes that and is implementing it. It's really frustrating to read, because the journalists who write these pieces are obviously both ignorant and biased - a dangerous combination. Aside from that, the article's very interesting, and worth checking out.
In a story that serves as further evidence that Iraq is a losing quagmire, the Iraqi government has signed a deal with Royal Dutch Shell that will assist the Iraqis in exploiting their vast mineral wealth. Oh, wait, did I say losing quagmire? I meant that we're succeeding there.
The BBC has an article entitled From Cold War to Consumer World that discusses the influence that the cold war had on various Soviet and Western consumer products. If you're into art, or have ever been to the Dallas Museum of Art, you should read the article, because you'll probably enjoy it.
An Australian pig held a woman hostage in her own home after she took it in and fed it. There's no indication whether this was Spiderpig or not.
Do you like beer? Are you German? Do you enjoy looking at pictures of attractive women, particularly if they're wearing fun costumes? I have no clue who this person is, but I was pointed to their blog post, and I'm passing it on: The Ladies of Oktoberfest in Munich!
So, some of you may or may not have wondered why I bailed on yesterday's post. Monday was a bit of a rough day for me. Not only did I find out that I wasn't even selected to interview for the second of two jobs that I was well qualified for, but I spent two hours getting the Locust Wind (my truck) serviced, only to find out that it required several hundred dollars in additional repair work. As you can well imagine, that took a rather large chunk out of both my discretionary and budgeted spending. I had hoped to take a trip back home in the next couple of months, and that's now looking like an impossibility. Fortunately, my bank account was a little bit more meaty than I thought, and I had already (essentially) budgeted for about a third to half of what I had to pay anyway. I'm going to have a look at things and figure out how much I need to tighten my belt in order to recoup those expenses over the next couple of months, but as you can probably imagine, I wasn't pleased to find that out. It helped a little bit that the young lady behind the counter who told me about it was pretty cute. If it had been the fat jerk that used to work there when I first arrived, I would have been summarily displeased - as it was, I was just mostly displeased, but still thankful that I have a good job, and good spending habits, and that I was able to pay the bill outright without any issues.
For the record, I'd like to specifically thank Father Time, Gus, and the always lovely Triathlon Goddess, all of whom made a point of checking up on me regarding yesterday's discouraged post. Thanks, folks - you don't know how much I value the three of you.
As you may have noticed from yesterday's Fly Report, I channeled this disappointed energy into finishing the Orkneyinga Saga. I read part of it at the dealership, and finished it up at Van Diemen's Station. If you like vikings, Norse history, or books about big fights between people who killed each other over nothing, I highly recommend it. If you're disinterested in any of the above, or you think history is boring, steer clear. The next book I read that's along those lines could be the Tain bo Cuailnge, but I'm honestly not sure. For the time being, though, I'm going to try and tackle the Army/Marine Corps Counterinsurgency Field Manual. One of the benefits of reading the COIN manual is that it's available online, so I can read it from pretty much anywhere.
They put that third video of "Mary Olsen" back up, so that's today's video. It's titled "First Impressions". I'll post the fourth (and latest) installment tomorrow - it's pretty good, too!
I had originally planned to hit the pool on Monday, but my day got dealt a swift kick in the junk, and I'd already gotten up and gotten ready super early in order to make it to the dealership on time in the first place. Last night, I had no excuse, so I did twenty-five minutes in the pool. Baby steps, baby steps.
Alright, folks, take it easy, and have a great day! Check back tomorrow for a few more news bits that I didn't have the motivation to work into today's post.
UPDATE: Wait, it's Wednesday already!?
There's an interesting article about the last living British officer to have served in Waziristan in the twentieth century. One of the things that really pisses me off about dirty hippies and the ignorant news media types is that they seem very eager to seize on every statement by anyone who says that there's "no military solution," or that the military "must use more than just force" to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, as if America and her allies have spent the last seven years carpet bombing villages and shooting everything that moves, and are now surprised that people are pissed off. If these folks would actually read the statements of men like this British
officer, or General Petraeus, or Secretary Kissinger, and read them in context, they might just realize that the solution to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq will come from a combination of soft and hard power displays - and that the military already realizes that and is implementing it. It's really frustrating to read, because the journalists who write these pieces are obviously both ignorant and biased - a dangerous combination. Aside from that, the article's very interesting, and worth checking out.
In a story that serves as further evidence that Iraq is a losing quagmire, the Iraqi government has signed a deal with Royal Dutch Shell that will assist the Iraqis in exploiting their vast mineral wealth. Oh, wait, did I say losing quagmire? I meant that we're succeeding there.
The BBC has an article entitled From Cold War to Consumer World that discusses the influence that the cold war had on various Soviet and Western consumer products. If you're into art, or have ever been to the Dallas Museum of Art, you should read the article, because you'll probably enjoy it.
An Australian pig held a woman hostage in her own home after she took it in and fed it. There's no indication whether this was Spiderpig or not.
Do you like beer? Are you German? Do you enjoy looking at pictures of attractive women, particularly if they're wearing fun costumes? I have no clue who this person is, but I was pointed to their blog post, and I'm passing it on: The Ladies of Oktoberfest in Munich!
So, some of you may or may not have wondered why I bailed on yesterday's post. Monday was a bit of a rough day for me. Not only did I find out that I wasn't even selected to interview for the second of two jobs that I was well qualified for, but I spent two hours getting the Locust Wind (my truck) serviced, only to find out that it required several hundred dollars in additional repair work. As you can well imagine, that took a rather large chunk out of both my discretionary and budgeted spending. I had hoped to take a trip back home in the next couple of months, and that's now looking like an impossibility. Fortunately, my bank account was a little bit more meaty than I thought, and I had already (essentially) budgeted for about a third to half of what I had to pay anyway. I'm going to have a look at things and figure out how much I need to tighten my belt in order to recoup those expenses over the next couple of months, but as you can probably imagine, I wasn't pleased to find that out. It helped a little bit that the young lady behind the counter who told me about it was pretty cute. If it had been the fat jerk that used to work there when I first arrived, I would have been summarily displeased - as it was, I was just mostly displeased, but still thankful that I have a good job, and good spending habits, and that I was able to pay the bill outright without any issues.
For the record, I'd like to specifically thank Father Time, Gus, and the always lovely Triathlon Goddess, all of whom made a point of checking up on me regarding yesterday's discouraged post. Thanks, folks - you don't know how much I value the three of you.
As you may have noticed from yesterday's Fly Report, I channeled this disappointed energy into finishing the Orkneyinga Saga. I read part of it at the dealership, and finished it up at Van Diemen's Station. If you like vikings, Norse history, or books about big fights between people who killed each other over nothing, I highly recommend it. If you're disinterested in any of the above, or you think history is boring, steer clear. The next book I read that's along those lines could be the Tain bo Cuailnge, but I'm honestly not sure. For the time being, though, I'm going to try and tackle the Army/Marine Corps Counterinsurgency Field Manual. One of the benefits of reading the COIN manual is that it's available online, so I can read it from pretty much anywhere.
They put that third video of "Mary Olsen" back up, so that's today's video. It's titled "First Impressions". I'll post the fourth (and latest) installment tomorrow - it's pretty good, too!
I had originally planned to hit the pool on Monday, but my day got dealt a swift kick in the junk, and I'd already gotten up and gotten ready super early in order to make it to the dealership on time in the first place. Last night, I had no excuse, so I did twenty-five minutes in the pool. Baby steps, baby steps.
Alright, folks, take it easy, and have a great day! Check back tomorrow for a few more news bits that I didn't have the motivation to work into today's post.
UPDATE: Wait, it's Wednesday already!?
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