Media Player Shoppin'
Wow, I slept horribly last night. It's a good thing I wrote this up before bed! Just a few quick stories for you today, with more on the way in the next couple of days.
You've probably noticed that oil prices have been falling sharply for the last month and a half. Well, Iran and Libya are calling an emergency OPEC meeting to discuss a production cut in order to stem further price reductions. They ostensibly claim that it has to do with global financial turmoil, apparently oblivious to the fact that the whole problem was set off by artificially inflated petroleum prices. Let's hope that oil prices keep falling.
Several stories out of Afghanistan. Michael Yon is still writing from there, and he has a new article up. The BBC hasa piece that's worth reading, and it regards the restive city of Swat, a battleground for the Pakistani army and the Taliban near the Afghan border. Due to chronic troop shortages (that can be blamed primarily on NATO countries that have instituted excessive cuts to their defense budgets), the ISAF coalition has relied excessively on air power, which is less precise than ground troops. This has led to dangerously excessive civilian casualties, which threaten to turn more and more of the civilian populace against the coalition. Because of this, the US Air Force is revising its tactics to cut down on these casualties. Finally, there's a video worth watching from the Guardian's John McHugh. It's yet another demonstration of the challenges our soldiers face in that country.
I've been listening to a couple of interesting documentaries from the BBC over the last few days. The first is a documentary on the Six Day War of 1967, in which an outnumbered by underestimated Israeli military managed to defeat all of its neighbors, taking control of the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, the Sinai Peninsula, East Jerusalem, and the Golan Heights. The other that I'm listening to, which is a bit more controversial but still interesting, is entitled Is al Qaeda Winning? I've started an article on that topic myself, so I'm curious to hear what the BBC has to say about the subject. My understanding is that the al Qaeda core is seriously sucking wind, their physical and financial movements have been strictly infringed, and their gambits in Iraq are quickly failing. However, they have some freedom of movement in northwestern Pakistan, and their franchises in North Africa are picking up some steam - not that North Africa is strategically useful, but it could be very problematic if they're able to reconstitute themselves there. Once the article is done, I'll post it, but in the mean time, check out these documentaries.
So, when I moved here, I bought a Sansa Connect mp3 player, to the tune of $250. Now, those readers who know me well know that I'm a scarcely tolerable cheapskate, so that kind of financial commitment was a big deal for yours truly. After several months, new regulations prevented me from taking it to work, and I've subsequently gotten almost no use out of it. I then purchased an Insignia Kix for about $40, and though it's been sufficient for my needs, I pretty much got what I paid for. Less than a year later, the thing has become very tough to load music onto, and today a gentle drop onto a hard floor busted smething, and now the thing will only play through one earphone. As a result, I had to go ahead and buy a new one. Unfortunately, the Insignia Kix is a discontinued model, so I had to really look to find another compliant player. I landed on the Sony Walkman E-Series 4GB Video MP3 Player. I'm not sure if, or how, I'll ever put any videos on it, but it should do what I need it to do. Tomorrow will be the big test. I've already had a few issues with it, so if they persist, I may have to get online and start digging to replace that stupid Insignia Kix piece of junk.
Tomorrow's Election Thursday, but today's video is the latest installment of NewsBusted.
Okay, so I want to get some stuff done before bed, so I'm going to go ahead and close this post up. Tune in tomorrow for Election Thursday, and a few extraneous stories as necessary. Have a fantastic day, folks!
You've probably noticed that oil prices have been falling sharply for the last month and a half. Well, Iran and Libya are calling an emergency OPEC meeting to discuss a production cut in order to stem further price reductions. They ostensibly claim that it has to do with global financial turmoil, apparently oblivious to the fact that the whole problem was set off by artificially inflated petroleum prices. Let's hope that oil prices keep falling.
Several stories out of Afghanistan. Michael Yon is still writing from there, and he has a new article up. The BBC hasa piece that's worth reading, and it regards the restive city of Swat, a battleground for the Pakistani army and the Taliban near the Afghan border. Due to chronic troop shortages (that can be blamed primarily on NATO countries that have instituted excessive cuts to their defense budgets), the ISAF coalition has relied excessively on air power, which is less precise than ground troops. This has led to dangerously excessive civilian casualties, which threaten to turn more and more of the civilian populace against the coalition. Because of this, the US Air Force is revising its tactics to cut down on these casualties. Finally, there's a video worth watching from the Guardian's John McHugh. It's yet another demonstration of the challenges our soldiers face in that country.
I've been listening to a couple of interesting documentaries from the BBC over the last few days. The first is a documentary on the Six Day War of 1967, in which an outnumbered by underestimated Israeli military managed to defeat all of its neighbors, taking control of the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, the Sinai Peninsula, East Jerusalem, and the Golan Heights. The other that I'm listening to, which is a bit more controversial but still interesting, is entitled Is al Qaeda Winning? I've started an article on that topic myself, so I'm curious to hear what the BBC has to say about the subject. My understanding is that the al Qaeda core is seriously sucking wind, their physical and financial movements have been strictly infringed, and their gambits in Iraq are quickly failing. However, they have some freedom of movement in northwestern Pakistan, and their franchises in North Africa are picking up some steam - not that North Africa is strategically useful, but it could be very problematic if they're able to reconstitute themselves there. Once the article is done, I'll post it, but in the mean time, check out these documentaries.
So, when I moved here, I bought a Sansa Connect mp3 player, to the tune of $250. Now, those readers who know me well know that I'm a scarcely tolerable cheapskate, so that kind of financial commitment was a big deal for yours truly. After several months, new regulations prevented me from taking it to work, and I've subsequently gotten almost no use out of it. I then purchased an Insignia Kix for about $40, and though it's been sufficient for my needs, I pretty much got what I paid for. Less than a year later, the thing has become very tough to load music onto, and today a gentle drop onto a hard floor busted smething, and now the thing will only play through one earphone. As a result, I had to go ahead and buy a new one. Unfortunately, the Insignia Kix is a discontinued model, so I had to really look to find another compliant player. I landed on the Sony Walkman E-Series 4GB Video MP3 Player. I'm not sure if, or how, I'll ever put any videos on it, but it should do what I need it to do. Tomorrow will be the big test. I've already had a few issues with it, so if they persist, I may have to get online and start digging to replace that stupid Insignia Kix piece of junk.
Tomorrow's Election Thursday, but today's video is the latest installment of NewsBusted.
Okay, so I want to get some stuff done before bed, so I'm going to go ahead and close this post up. Tune in tomorrow for Election Thursday, and a few extraneous stories as necessary. Have a fantastic day, folks!
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