Shotgun Wednesday
What a difference a day can make. Today was productive, both personally and professionally. I seem to be in a pretty good mood whenever I accomplish a whole lot. The main drawback is that when I accomplish a lot, it frustrates me that I haven't accomplished more. Even so, I finally went grocery shopping, finally cleaned my kitchen, and now I'm going to write a normal blog post.
Now that the Mumbai terrorist attack is over, new information is coming out about the situation, before, during, and after. There are even reports that India was warned by American security officials about the possibility of a sea-borne attack in Mumbai. I also learned from the Michael Medved show that India's current government was elected on a promise of taking a moderate stance on terrorism - unfortunately, that moderate stance (similar to what the American left would have the United States do) has resulted in more than four thousand innocent deaths in regular attacks by Islamist terrorists. I don't intend to turn into a clearing house for information about the Mumbai attack, but one other article caught my eye. I mentioned yesterday that Saturday evening was spent with M@ and Mrs. Mike Nelson. One of the things that we discussed was the fact that "Indian commandos" doesn't exactly strike awe, or fear, into the hearts of mortal men. Well, there are indications that the Indian counter-terror troops may have shot hostages. It'll be interesting to watch as this whole thing unravels in the coming days and weeks.
Want to show solidarity with Georgia after Russia's Bogus Georgian Journey? Check this out. I may actually give the place a visit or a call - not only to show solidarity with a staunch American ally that got a raw deal back in August/September, but also because I'd love to try Georgian wine. Also from Wired, there's another in a series of interesting pieces about the US Air Force. From the outside looking in, the Air Force has been an interesting organization to observe over the course of the last year. When I was finishing up high school, I considered a career with the Army and the Marine Corps, before eventually making a valiant (though short-lived) attempt at a career as a Navy officer. I never seriously considered the Air Force. I've met a number of truly outstanding Air Force folks over the years, and the Air Force continues to do a lot of good work (most of it in support of ground forces); that having been said, I"m not the only person who tends to view the Air Force as an institution with a more critical eye. However, the Air Force has been allowed to run wild, with insufficient oversight, for years, and it's catching up with them. I may write something longer about it at some point, but for now, the blurb is worth reading, as are many of the posts in the "categories" listed above the text of the blurb.
The Libyans had a couple of interesting articles posted yesterday. As much as I whine about the liberal media (and rightly so), it's always interesting to see the difference between a (relatively) objective Western news source, and the Arab propaganda machines. The BBC version of this headline? Libyan Gaza aid ship turns back. The Libyan version? Sea and Air forces of Terrorists Zionist Army Organization intercept Libyan ship. Do I believe that the Libyan government, which has renounced terrorism, might have sent a ship that included dual-use materials among its "humanitarian aid"? Stranger things have happened. Do I believe that the Israelis were probably right in turning the ship away and maintaining the blockade? Yeah, I do. As legitimately excited as I am at Qaddhafi's Libya coming in from the cold, I'm not so deluded as to believe that Crazy Uncle Muammer isn't still a questionable character - particularly on a day when the LJBC brags about Qaddhafi receiving a phone call from Khaled Meshal, the political leader of Hamas.
As I've written this, I've been re-watching the first few episodes of Afterworld, a limited run scifi web series. I watched something on the order of half of it in '07 when it was still being released, and I've been meaning to watch it again from the beginning and find out what happens. Since the folks who run the YouTube channel have disabled embedding, I'll merely point to the website and the Wikipedia entry.
Want to see something cool? Have Quicktime installed on your machine? Check out Ascii Bush. Whether you like either President Bush (41 or 43) or not, it's cool.
Alright, even though I have other things to talk about, I need to keep moving. I'll pick up tomorrow where I'm leaving off today. Stay out of trouble, folks, and check back tomorrow.
Now that the Mumbai terrorist attack is over, new information is coming out about the situation, before, during, and after. There are even reports that India was warned by American security officials about the possibility of a sea-borne attack in Mumbai. I also learned from the Michael Medved show that India's current government was elected on a promise of taking a moderate stance on terrorism - unfortunately, that moderate stance (similar to what the American left would have the United States do) has resulted in more than four thousand innocent deaths in regular attacks by Islamist terrorists. I don't intend to turn into a clearing house for information about the Mumbai attack, but one other article caught my eye. I mentioned yesterday that Saturday evening was spent with M@ and Mrs. Mike Nelson. One of the things that we discussed was the fact that "Indian commandos" doesn't exactly strike awe, or fear, into the hearts of mortal men. Well, there are indications that the Indian counter-terror troops may have shot hostages. It'll be interesting to watch as this whole thing unravels in the coming days and weeks.
Want to show solidarity with Georgia after Russia's Bogus Georgian Journey? Check this out. I may actually give the place a visit or a call - not only to show solidarity with a staunch American ally that got a raw deal back in August/September, but also because I'd love to try Georgian wine. Also from Wired, there's another in a series of interesting pieces about the US Air Force. From the outside looking in, the Air Force has been an interesting organization to observe over the course of the last year. When I was finishing up high school, I considered a career with the Army and the Marine Corps, before eventually making a valiant (though short-lived) attempt at a career as a Navy officer. I never seriously considered the Air Force. I've met a number of truly outstanding Air Force folks over the years, and the Air Force continues to do a lot of good work (most of it in support of ground forces); that having been said, I"m not the only person who tends to view the Air Force as an institution with a more critical eye. However, the Air Force has been allowed to run wild, with insufficient oversight, for years, and it's catching up with them. I may write something longer about it at some point, but for now, the blurb is worth reading, as are many of the posts in the "categories" listed above the text of the blurb.
The Libyans had a couple of interesting articles posted yesterday. As much as I whine about the liberal media (and rightly so), it's always interesting to see the difference between a (relatively) objective Western news source, and the Arab propaganda machines. The BBC version of this headline? Libyan Gaza aid ship turns back. The Libyan version? Sea and Air forces of Terrorists Zionist Army Organization intercept Libyan ship. Do I believe that the Libyan government, which has renounced terrorism, might have sent a ship that included dual-use materials among its "humanitarian aid"? Stranger things have happened. Do I believe that the Israelis were probably right in turning the ship away and maintaining the blockade? Yeah, I do. As legitimately excited as I am at Qaddhafi's Libya coming in from the cold, I'm not so deluded as to believe that Crazy Uncle Muammer isn't still a questionable character - particularly on a day when the LJBC brags about Qaddhafi receiving a phone call from Khaled Meshal, the political leader of Hamas.
As I've written this, I've been re-watching the first few episodes of Afterworld, a limited run scifi web series. I watched something on the order of half of it in '07 when it was still being released, and I've been meaning to watch it again from the beginning and find out what happens. Since the folks who run the YouTube channel have disabled embedding, I'll merely point to the website and the Wikipedia entry.
Want to see something cool? Have Quicktime installed on your machine? Check out Ascii Bush. Whether you like either President Bush (41 or 43) or not, it's cool.
Alright, even though I have other things to talk about, I need to keep moving. I'll pick up tomorrow where I'm leaving off today. Stay out of trouble, folks, and check back tomorrow.
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