The Genetic Legacy of the Phoenicians
Insecure Security
Happy Monday, folks. I hope everyone survived the weekend without incident. Mine was particularly eventful, in a good way. I hit a gun show on Saturday afternoon, and then that evening I was the Designated Man for three girls who wanted to go through a haunted house. That was hilarious - I got to be the one who went in first, with three twenty-something women clinging to my back. This, ladies and gentlemen, is why The Fly is awesome.
And now, the news.
Starting with something light, and reminiscent of a story from last year that I covered in a post from last year about a woman who did a strip tease for "shocked" students and a "horrified" teacher at a British school, a Hungarian school is being pressured to fire a teacher who stripped for her students. Seriously, how come none of this cool stuff ever happened when I was in high school? Or college?
A study cited in the London Times claims that moderate drinking while pregnant may actually be beneficial to the baby. Jokes about Mighty Mo aside, I have only two words: "Imagine that."
There are a couple of UPI articles that are worth checking out. One is a pretty well-written and detailed discussion of the Army's efforts to replace the M16 and the M4. I've done some research about this subject, and the article's concise and factual, so if you have any interest in military weapons, it's worth reading. They also have a decent article about al Qaeda's failure at Fourth Generation War. The author, William S. Lind, makes some interesting points, although I tend to think that he focuses a bit too heavily on Renaissance European history.
Iran claims that it's producing the next generation of Iranian jet fighter. In reality, the Saeqeh/Lightning fighters are modified F-5E Tiger II aircraft (Global Security, Wiki). I think the phrase that's circulating these days is "lipstick on a pig"?
There were several interesting stories out of Afghanistan at the end of last week. An American commander believes that we're winning in Afghanistan, but that it's a slow and fragile process. There seems to be a lot of truth to that, but given the amount of impact that national will seems to have these days on persistent military conflicts waged by Western countries, time may be on the enemy's side if things don't change. One thing that needs to change is British equipment, and a reserve SAS commander is so disgusted with this situation that he's resigned his post. Meanwhile, Slate columnist William Saletan has a piece on the political fallout from using drone aircraft against Taliban and al Qaeda targets inside Pakistan.
Two items in archaeology news. In the first, an archaeologist in Israel has discovered a three thousand year old text that dates back to around the time of King David. There's also a fascinating BBC article - I'm as shocked as you are - about the genetic legacy of the Phoenicians. Very interesting stuff.
And finally, in another Bond-related story, there are apparently Soviet nationalists in St. Petersburg who have lashed out at Bond girl Olga Kurylenko for helping a capitalist spy who's "the killer of hundreds of Soviet people and their allies." Sorry, comrades! It's just a movie series. If you read no other article in this post, and you need a laugh, I highly recommend this one. It's comedy gold.
Alright, folks, I have some other stuff to cover, but I'm going to leave it for tomorrow because it requires some actual research. In the mean time, enjoy your Monday - like you, I'm dreading tomorrow. I may seriously go to bed at six in the evening. Seriously. In the mean time, stay safe, work hard, and don't forget to find something to laugh about today - you know, other than moronic Soviet nationalists.
Happy Monday, folks. I hope everyone survived the weekend without incident. Mine was particularly eventful, in a good way. I hit a gun show on Saturday afternoon, and then that evening I was the Designated Man for three girls who wanted to go through a haunted house. That was hilarious - I got to be the one who went in first, with three twenty-something women clinging to my back. This, ladies and gentlemen, is why The Fly is awesome.
And now, the news.
Starting with something light, and reminiscent of a story from last year that I covered in a post from last year about a woman who did a strip tease for "shocked" students and a "horrified" teacher at a British school, a Hungarian school is being pressured to fire a teacher who stripped for her students. Seriously, how come none of this cool stuff ever happened when I was in high school? Or college?
A study cited in the London Times claims that moderate drinking while pregnant may actually be beneficial to the baby. Jokes about Mighty Mo aside, I have only two words: "Imagine that."
There are a couple of UPI articles that are worth checking out. One is a pretty well-written and detailed discussion of the Army's efforts to replace the M16 and the M4. I've done some research about this subject, and the article's concise and factual, so if you have any interest in military weapons, it's worth reading. They also have a decent article about al Qaeda's failure at Fourth Generation War. The author, William S. Lind, makes some interesting points, although I tend to think that he focuses a bit too heavily on Renaissance European history.
Iran claims that it's producing the next generation of Iranian jet fighter. In reality, the Saeqeh/Lightning fighters are modified F-5E Tiger II aircraft (Global Security, Wiki). I think the phrase that's circulating these days is "lipstick on a pig"?
There were several interesting stories out of Afghanistan at the end of last week. An American commander believes that we're winning in Afghanistan, but that it's a slow and fragile process. There seems to be a lot of truth to that, but given the amount of impact that national will seems to have these days on persistent military conflicts waged by Western countries, time may be on the enemy's side if things don't change. One thing that needs to change is British equipment, and a reserve SAS commander is so disgusted with this situation that he's resigned his post. Meanwhile, Slate columnist William Saletan has a piece on the political fallout from using drone aircraft against Taliban and al Qaeda targets inside Pakistan.
Two items in archaeology news. In the first, an archaeologist in Israel has discovered a three thousand year old text that dates back to around the time of King David. There's also a fascinating BBC article - I'm as shocked as you are - about the genetic legacy of the Phoenicians. Very interesting stuff.
And finally, in another Bond-related story, there are apparently Soviet nationalists in St. Petersburg who have lashed out at Bond girl Olga Kurylenko for helping a capitalist spy who's "the killer of hundreds of Soviet people and their allies." Sorry, comrades! It's just a movie series. If you read no other article in this post, and you need a laugh, I highly recommend this one. It's comedy gold.
Alright, folks, I have some other stuff to cover, but I'm going to leave it for tomorrow because it requires some actual research. In the mean time, enjoy your Monday - like you, I'm dreading tomorrow. I may seriously go to bed at six in the evening. Seriously. In the mean time, stay safe, work hard, and don't forget to find something to laugh about today - you know, other than moronic Soviet nationalists.
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