Opium versus Pomegranates
I'm going to switch things up a bit today by switching the news and general chicanery sections around, so I'll proceed with general chicanery first, and then post real world news. Sweet, huh?
On Sunday afternoon, I was watching Revenge of the Sith, even though its plot makes no sense and it's quite possibly Natalie Portman's most annoying role to date. Anyway, I realized that I'd never posted any cool YouTube lightsaber duels before, despite having posted about Japanese crowd control lightsabers, and a number of hilarious Star Wars parodies (the best one being Jimmy Fallon's video from the 2005 Mtv Movie Awards). In order to remedy that, here's the legendary Ryan vs. Dorkman video.
Last week, I received two packages that I'd been waiting for. The first was my birthday present from Mighty Mo: U2: The Ultimate Encyclopedia by Mark Chatterton. I know what some of you are thinking: "Hey, Fly, wasn't your birthday in July? That's like, half a year later!" Somehow, using methods unfamiliar to me, Mighty Mo is able to pull it off. Kudos to her. The second package was from Desert Rat Tim/"John T. Rourke", and it contained a number of noteworthy items. Here's a list.
my copy of Lone Survivor by Marcus Luttrell and Patrick Robinson (audiobook, not pictured, and apparently much cheaper now than what I paid for it then)
five rifle magazines
Blackhawk(!) rifle sling
two MRE Tabasco sauce bottles
one ketchup packet
one pink camouflage bandana (that I must now find a home for)
one whistle keychain
one lottery ticket scratcher keychain
one blank 5.56mm round
one rifle cleaning wire brush
one used velcro ACU name tape reading "Team America"
one set of ear plugs with case
one ear plug case
one brown glass jar
one used tube of sunscreen
one mostly-eaten package of fruit and nut mix
one emergency catheter
It's worth noting that I paid him for the first couple of things, and the rest of it was sort of... Uh... Bonus stuff? I swear, I have the best friends ever. Thanks, DRT/JTR and Mighty Mo!
Okay, now for the news.
First, the light stuff: they claim to have found the spot where Romulus was murdered. So, as Professor Augustus would always say, the next time you're in Rome...
There's some excellent news out of Afghanistan that actually shocks me: that guy who wrote that op-ed in the Guardian about how the Afghans ought to fight the heroin trade by growing pomegranates instead of opium? Well, apparently he was on to something because they're not only doing it, but it's working like gang busters - in Kandahar, of all places! Meanwhile, three Mauritanians have been jailed over ties to al Qaeda.
The Iranians have had a couple of ships hijacked by the Somali pirates(!), so the Iranian government has said that they may send their navy... To fight Somali pirates! Somalia is just one of many failed or failing states in Africa, and the BBC actually has a great article (for once) about why African nations continue to fail despite foreign aid, and despite the fact that most of them have everything they would need to succeed and thrive.
One of my concerns, both before and after the election, is that we've gotten ourselves into a situation where, for better or for worse, there are a lot of unqualified voters who are voting just for the sake of voting. FSM's Michael Sall has an excellent piece that does an excellent job of summing up my thoughts on the subject, although he doesn't quite come to the point of calling for the repeal of the Twenty-Fourth Amendment. In other domestic news, Governor Mitt Romney, someone I don't much care for, has written an awesome op-ed about the proposed auto industry bailout that I agree with wholeheartedly. Both of these, and that BBC article, are worth reading.
And that's it! Come back tomorrow for more excellence from The Fly, and have a great day.
On Sunday afternoon, I was watching Revenge of the Sith, even though its plot makes no sense and it's quite possibly Natalie Portman's most annoying role to date. Anyway, I realized that I'd never posted any cool YouTube lightsaber duels before, despite having posted about Japanese crowd control lightsabers, and a number of hilarious Star Wars parodies (the best one being Jimmy Fallon's video from the 2005 Mtv Movie Awards). In order to remedy that, here's the legendary Ryan vs. Dorkman video.
Last week, I received two packages that I'd been waiting for. The first was my birthday present from Mighty Mo: U2: The Ultimate Encyclopedia by Mark Chatterton. I know what some of you are thinking: "Hey, Fly, wasn't your birthday in July? That's like, half a year later!" Somehow, using methods unfamiliar to me, Mighty Mo is able to pull it off. Kudos to her. The second package was from Desert Rat Tim/"John T. Rourke", and it contained a number of noteworthy items. Here's a list.
It's worth noting that I paid him for the first couple of things, and the rest of it was sort of... Uh... Bonus stuff? I swear, I have the best friends ever. Thanks, DRT/JTR and Mighty Mo!
Okay, now for the news.
First, the light stuff: they claim to have found the spot where Romulus was murdered. So, as Professor Augustus would always say, the next time you're in Rome...
There's some excellent news out of Afghanistan that actually shocks me: that guy who wrote that op-ed in the Guardian about how the Afghans ought to fight the heroin trade by growing pomegranates instead of opium? Well, apparently he was on to something because they're not only doing it, but it's working like gang busters - in Kandahar, of all places! Meanwhile, three Mauritanians have been jailed over ties to al Qaeda.
The Iranians have had a couple of ships hijacked by the Somali pirates(!), so the Iranian government has said that they may send their navy... To fight Somali pirates! Somalia is just one of many failed or failing states in Africa, and the BBC actually has a great article (for once) about why African nations continue to fail despite foreign aid, and despite the fact that most of them have everything they would need to succeed and thrive.
One of my concerns, both before and after the election, is that we've gotten ourselves into a situation where, for better or for worse, there are a lot of unqualified voters who are voting just for the sake of voting. FSM's Michael Sall has an excellent piece that does an excellent job of summing up my thoughts on the subject, although he doesn't quite come to the point of calling for the repeal of the Twenty-Fourth Amendment. In other domestic news, Governor Mitt Romney, someone I don't much care for, has written an awesome op-ed about the proposed auto industry bailout that I agree with wholeheartedly. Both of these, and that BBC article, are worth reading.
And that's it! Come back tomorrow for more excellence from The Fly, and have a great day.
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