27 February 2009

AMF: Seawolf Substitutions

I mentioned yesterday that I'm going to be working, intermittently at least, on a project involving submarine model kits and the airplanes from a USS Enterprise aircraft carrier model kit. I'd been trying for the last few weeks to get some copies of an old Los Angeles class submarine kit, but since those don't seem to exist anymore, I settled for calling Hobbytown USA today and asking them to look up a 1:350 model of USS Seawolf. I don't like the design of the Seawolf as much as I liked the Los Angeles, but I may be able to make it work for my purposes.

I have to be honest, I'm having a hard time finding the motivation to write this post out. I think that I'm going to cop out and bullet point most of it.

  • State Department reps don't know their own areas of operations
  • National Review: 25 Conservative Movies (I would have included a few more, and replaced some of the ones they had listed - I may revisit this link at some point.)
  • From Michael Totten: Christopher Hitchens and the Battle of Beirut
  • We're the ones caught in the rat trap - Beware recycling/composting fanatics, and the unintended consequences of environmentalism.
  • From the BBC: 'Oldest English words' identified

    As many of you will know, I've been trying to get in shape for years now, and had originally thought that 2009 would be my year. I still have high hopes, but since I got back from vacation a few weeks ago, I've had a tough time getting my plans off the ground - mainly due to having to catch up on a number of things. I'm making progress, but it seems as if there are never enough hours in the day to get everything done that needs to be done. Why do I mention this? Because Chops/the Crypto King gave me a few interesting sites to check out: Couch to 5k, Podrunner Intervals, and the Twenty Pullups Challenge. I'll be checking them out, particularly the Couch to 5k one, to see if they can be adapted to help me in my goals.

    That's it for today, folks. This weekend will consist of writing, errands, and chores to try to get fully caught up so that I can dedicate my time to various other projects that either need to or ought to be pursued. Have a great weekend, and check back Monday.

    Oh, bollocks, today was supposed to be Stuff Fly Wants... Soon. I'll post it soon. Maybe this weekend, once I update a few things.
  • Fly Report: 27th February 2009

    Good morning. And now my body's weak, so just give me a reason.

    It's 4° Centigrade and cloudy in Kirkwall. In Cody, the forecast calls for a high of 34° Fahrenheit with snow flurries.

    A barrel of oil is trading at $44.87. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is at 7182.08. The exchange rate is $1.43 for £1, or £0.70 for $1.

    Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is beautiful. The picture at the Orkneyjar Photoblog is not new.

    Today's scripture reading is Deuteronomy 9. The Fly is currently reading the U.S. Army/Marine Corps Counterinsurgency Field Manual, FM 3-24/MCWP 3-33.5.

    Consecutive days without CCG: 129

    Spirit of the rising sun, lift me up.

    26 February 2009

    Catching Up

    Happy Thursday, folks. I have a few light items, and then I'll close things up for today. I've felt both swamped and tired lately, hence the sporadic posts. I'd love to say that it's over, but I have a number of things that I need to get accomplished over the next few weeks. We'll see how it all goes. I have a few different writing projects I'd like to work on, so I may do one blurb a day or so, and then combine them into a bigger article. Anyway, here's what I have for today.

    One of my favorite shows in high school and college, up until the departure of the original hosts, was The Man Show. One of my favorite segments was a recurring segment in which Jimmy Kimmel would impersonate NBA star Karl Malone in such a way as to suggest that Karl Malone had the IQ of a twelve year old. Recently, I found transcripts of these sketches. Awesome.

    I think I mentioned that I've been watching a lot of episodes of Battlestar Galactica lately, working on running through the entire run of the show as it gets ready to wind down. One of the more interesting stories from the four year filming history of BSG has been the two occasions during which an extremely expensive ship model has been semi-advertantly destroyed or damaged during impromptu filming sequences.

    Have you ever seen The Great Escape? Do you remember Steve McQueen's epic motorcycle jump? I saw it back in October thanks to the Butt Rubber and Olive Oil. If you've seen the flick, check the following re-enactment out.



    For the record, the Times doesn't give the embedding link to that - I figured it out for myself, because I'm so awesome.

    They just re-opened the Iraqi National Museum, and there are excellent pictorials from The Guardian, the BBC, and Fox News.

    So, I spent most of yesterday evening running errands, and one of those errands was going to a hobby store. Apparently they can't get a hold of the model kits I'm looking for ("USS Hampton" and "USS Dallas vs. Soviet Alfa", both by Dragon Models, both discontinued). I'm going to go in again at some point and see if they might be able to get something comparable, but I'm not optimistic at this point. That having been said, I did get two copies of the British submarine HMS Tireless, and I got a model of the USS Enterprise aircraft carrier for the tiny airplanes that it includes. The carrier kit is actually the exact same kit that I bought and assembled when I was in high school and planning a long and storied Navy career (that was brief and didn't result in a commission). I bought this one mainly for the planes. I assembled the "Hampton" and "Dallas" models (as USS Albany and USS Helena) when I was in college, and they would have been precisely what I was looking for. I may keep looking, but I have my doubts, so I may have to figure out an alternative. The whole project, which could take a couple of months to actually complete, was inspired by my recent trip home (during which time I saw the models I'd assembled nearly a decade ago), by watching all of those episodes of Galactica, and by the reader submission of the USS Tripoli at Starship modeler. I'll take pictures as the project develops... Well, if the project develops. It would sure be nice to get a couple of 1:350 Los Angeles class kits.

    Alright, folks, that's it for today. Tune in tomorrow for AMF, and I'll try to get some pictures from my recent trip home up on the blog this weekend. Have a great day!

    Fly Report: 26th February 2009

    Good morning. Don't you know you're gonna shock the monkey?

    It's 6° Centigrade and rainy in Kirkwall. In Cody, the forecast calls for a high of 40° Fahrenheit with light snow.

    A barrel of oil is trading at $42.85. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is at 7270.89. The exchange rate is $1.43 for £1, or £0.70 for $1.

    Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is cool. The picture at the Orkneyjar Photoblog is not new.

    Today's scripture reading is Deuteronomy 9. The Fly is currently reading the U.S. Army/Marine Corps Counterinsurgency Field Manual, FM 3-24/MCWP 3-33.5.

    Consecutive days without CCG: 128

    What we've lost we don't need... Always.

    25 February 2009

    Fly Report: 25th February 2009

    Good morning. I bless the rains down in Africa. Wait, what does that even mean?

    It's 7° Centigrade and rainy in Kirkwall. In Cody, the forecast calls for a high of 49° Fahrenheit with clouds.

    A barrel of oil is trading at $40.68. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is at 7350.94. The exchange rate is $1.44 for £1, or £0.69 for $1.

    Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is beautiful. The picture at the Orkneyjar Photoblog is not new.

    Today's scripture reading is Deuteronomy 9. The Fly is currently reading the U.S. Army/Marine Corps Counterinsurgency Field Manual, FM 3-24/MCWP 3-33.5.

    Consecutive days without CCG: 127

    Too much is not enough.

    24 February 2009

    Captain John, Scottish Comedian Part II

    Last week, I posted some dispatches from Captain John, my Scottish friend who is driving with his beloved wife through our beloved United States. As Captain John has travelled, he has sent me occasional dispatches. I received another this morning, so I figured I'd get caught up so that I can post that one by the end of the week. What follows is Captain John's first dispatch from America, my response, and his second dispatch.

    [The Fly],

    Hello from the US of A .. We're on our third hotel into our trip. We had a good couple of nights in LA, took in the Getty Centre, Hollywood and Santa Monica. We then set off up the coast for San Francisco, stopping at San Simeon where we had a wonderful half hour on the beach beside a colony of Elephant seals .. then on to Big Sur. The road was scarey anough, without the many rockfalls. Annie (being female, is a wimp), failed to see the funny side when I wiggled the wheel screaming "Oh, no .. the steerings gone!" ... I laughed like a drain though. Arrived in San Francisco last night by mistake. I make a mistake with the sat nav: we crossed the Bay Bridge and it took us two hours of traffic jam to get back out. We went back intentionally today and walked the town, rode on a cable car and generally "did" the place in seven hours. Tomorrow we're heading inland for the Yosemite national park before heading down to Route 66 at Barstow. We're driving the ugliest Ford I've ever seen (an "Edge") - I haven't come across a single other one since we arrived; I suspect Budget in LA were very glad to see it head off towards New York. It's been great fun so far, and we haven't driven into anything or been mugged yet. I'll attach a couple of pictures to prove we're here. We're on our way

    Captain John

    My response:

    Captain John,

    Good looking pictures, and despite getting lost (the very reason why I don't trust satnavs, beyond the Big Brother aspect!) it sounds as if the two of you are doing quite well. The road down from Yosemite to Barstow (are you taking 395?) is beautiful, you'll really enjoy it. I look forward to hearing of your continuing adventures as you inch your way closer to my digs!

    Yank

    And Captain John, Scottish Comedian, comes back with:

    Blimey .. I can see why you wanted a transfer out of Barstow (and I've only seen it in the dark. Just been nicked (as we say in the old country) by the local police for jaywalking. I expected to have my ankles kicked apart and told to "spread 'em" but they let me off with a telling off. When I waited at the lights a couple of minutes later, the same police car was stopped by the red and was head of the queue as I walked across. I gave them a jaunty wave and touched the side of my nose. They waved back in a "have a nice day" sort of a way. We'll have a quick look round tomorrow before heading off towards Williams and the GC. Yosemite didn't work out for us. We drove up the side of a hill to Groveland where it was snowing, so the passenger made me drive down again, lest we have to spend a week up there. So we took another hilly road over to Merced where we spent the night. She'd got it into her head that the road from Bakersfield to Barstow was mountainous, to the five hours of straight roads and no slopes came as a pleasant surprise to her. Big tail backs because of the lights at Four Corners (?) ... they really should think of a round- about there. I should have suggested that to my new police friends.

    Tomorrow, it's farewell California and hello Arizona. Route 66 - here we come.

    See you soon.

    Excellent. I'll post his latest message - which is priceless - by the end of the week. Have a great day, folks.

    Fly Report: 24th February 2009

    Good morning. It's a wonder I don't drink more.

    It's 9° Centigrade and rainy in Kirkwall. In Cody, the forecast calls for a high of 52° Fahrenheit with partial clouds.

    A barrel of oil is trading at $38.58. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is at 7114.78 - wait, really? The exchange rate is $1.45 for £1, or £0.69 for $1.

    Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is blank. The picture at the Orkneyjar Photoblog is not new.

    Today's scripture reading is Deuteronomy 9. The Fly is currently reading the U.S. Army/Marine Corps Counterinsurgency Field Manual, FM 3-24/MCWP 3-33.5.

    Consecutive days without CCG: 126

    We ate the food, we drank the wine, everybody having a good time... Except you, you were talking about the end of the world.

    23 February 2009

    Cold

    Hey, folks. I have some great stuff to share this week, but my church group kept me out of the house later than usual last night, and I spent the entire weekend working on an article for my parallel writing endeavour. I'll give you one taste of things to come: recent interesting test answers from Friar Dave.

    Friar Dave: can't really talk, in the midst of grading
    Friar Dave: but you'll be happy to hear that, apparently, "chastising" is one of the five pillars of Islam
    Friar Dave: so says one student
    The Fly: Sounds about right, yeah.
    Friar Dave: :)
    Friar Dave: yes, it could be taken that way.
    The Fly: I won't keep you, but I will post that one.
    Friar Dave: and also "pray towards the jihad" is also one.
    The Fly: LOL

    Few things delight me more than history students who don't have a damned clue what they're writing about. I remember one exam I took in which I answered a question on what American troops in the northwest frontier (Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, et cetera) entertained one another by telling "filthy pirate stories," and then I think I recited a dirty limerick.

    Stick around this week. There's gonna be some cool stuff. Until then, have a great day.

    Fly Report: 23rd February 2009

    Good morning. Stay close to me. Make me forget that I still need her so.

    It's 8° Centigrade and rainy in Kirkwall. In Cody, the forecast calls for a high of 50° Fahrenheit with afternoon rain.

    A barrel of oil is trading at $40.28. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is at 7365.67 - all hail The One. The exchange rate is $1.43 for £1, or £0.70 for $1.

    Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is cool. The picture at the Orkneyjar Photoblog is not new.

    Today's scripture reading is Deuteronomy 8. The Fly is currently reading the U.S. Army/Marine Corps Counterinsurgency Field Manual, FM 3-24/MCWP 3-33.5.

    Consecutive days without CCG: 125

    What you leave behind, you don't miss anyway.

    20 February 2009

    AMF: Social Butterfly

    As regular readers may have noticed, I haven't been blogging much this week. Reason? None, really. It's been pretty much equal parts boredom, fatigue, and distractions. I've been trying to accomplish some things this week, I've been going to bed early most evenings, and I've had almost no interest in blogging. Last night, for example, I shaved my head, watched several episodes of Battlestar Galactica (Water, Bastille Day, and Act of Contrition), and there may have been some more.

    You may have noticed that for the first time in four years, I've updated my picture. I may try to take an actual picture specifically for the purpose of the blog at some point, but that should do for now. Much different, I know - that old picture was taken on 19th September 2004, and the one that's up there now was taken in late January, a few weeks ago. It's been a long four and a half years.

    Following up on yesterday's detour post, Chops/Crypto King pointed me at this blog post, which pretty much reinforces what I'm already doing by trying to listen to Arabic music and podcasts, among other things. I didn't get any Arabic done last night. Hopefully this weekend will give me an opportunity, though it's looking unlikely.

    Speaking of this weekend, it's going to be chock full of stuff to do - I'm a little bit disgruntled, since I wanted to get some things done for me, but between hanging out with M@ (and possibly Mrs. Mike Nelson?) and seeing the Norfolk Admirals play two nights in a row, it ought to at least be entertaining. I also have an article due, and I think I have an idea for this week that will allow me to ramble semi-coherently without too much research and still make a good point.

    I've collected a lot of articles over the last couple of weeks, but I'm going to spare you most of them. I eventually decided that the remainder of my posts were getting to the point of obsolescence, so I deleted the collected links. They may come into play later on, but for the time being I'm going to consider myself caught up. So, I'm going to post a few bullet pointed links, and then a satellite image, and then I'm done for today.

  • UN: Most Human Traffickers Are Women (The Onion BONUS VIDEO: East Timor's First Female Dictator Hailed as Step Forward for Women)
  • Fresh start for lost file formats (BBC)
  • Video: Combat Outpost: Afghan Frontline
  • Even the Taliban Now Loves the iPhone
  • Lessons In Survival - An interesting article about how and why elite soldiers are able to survive and thrive under immense pressure.
  • G.I. Joe deployed in videogame for first time - Or maybe not, since the game they talk about in the article comes a full twenty-six years after the first G.I. Joe video games.

    Today's satellite image, which I may or may not have posted before, is an alleged military structure in northeast Mauritania. Whatever it is, it's cool looking from space, but it's sure seen better days.

    That's it for today, folks. Enjoy your weekend!
  • Fly Report: 20th February 2009

    Good morning. Pick up the receiver, I'll make you a believer.

    It's 6° Centigrade and rainy in Kirkwall. In Cody, the forecast calls for a high of 33° Fahrenheit with snow.

    A barrel of oil is trading at $39.69. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is at 7465.95. The exchange rate is $1.43 for £1, or £0.70 for $1.

    Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is cool. The picture at the Orkneyjar Photoblog is not new.

    Today's scripture reading is Deuteronomy 7. The Fly is currently reading the U.S. Army/Marine Corps Counterinsurgency Field Manual, FM 3-24/MCWP 3-33.5.

    Consecutive days without CCG: 122

    Don't try too hard to think, don't think at all.

    19 February 2009

    Thursday Detour

    Ahem.

    Fly Report: 19th February 2009

    Good morning. Remind me, how's pacifism working out for Tibet these days?

    It's 8° Centigrade and cloudy in Kirkwall. In Cody, the forecast calls for a high of 44° Fahrenheit with morning clouds and afternoon sunshine.

    A barrel of oil is trading at $36.56. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is at 7555.63. The exchange rate is $1.42 for £1, or £0.70 for $1.

    Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is very cool. The picture at the Orkneyjar Photoblog is not new.

    Today's scripture reading is Deuteronomy 6. The Fly is currently reading the U.S. Army/Marine Corps Counterinsurgency Field Manual, FM 3-24/MCWP 3-33.5.

    Consecutive days without CCG: 121

    A Roman candle, lightning, love...

    18 February 2009

    Captain John, Scottish Comedian Part I

    I promised something entertaining for today, and I'm going to deliver after two aborted posts on Monday and Tuesday.

    I've mentioned my love of Orkney on several occasions. Part of what made Orkney so wonderful was my truly outstanding hosts, Captain John and First Mate Annie. I met them in Florence, Italy, right around here, at a little ristorante. He gave me his card, I decided to go up and see Orkney while I was in the United Kingdom, and they played host and hostess (I didn't ask, they offered). It was amazing in and of itself, but their hospitality made it that much more wonderful.

    So, more than four years later, Captain John and First Mate Annie have embarked on a trip across the United States. I've exchanged several E-mails with Captain John, and his are hysterical, so I've decided to post them as I get them. Here are the highlights so far, starting off with his response to my notice that I'd mailed him a Garmin eTrex H, although I hadn't told him what it was. I requested that he let me know when the package arrived...

    I certainly will do. I'm intrigued. Anything you need from Blighty? Smoked haddock? "I Love Barak" sticker? We're banking on the dollar holding up against the pound. Please do what you can.

    Yours, from the land of the horizontal rain ...

    And my response:

    I'd treasure an "I Love Barak" sticker, as Ehud Barak is doing a yeoman's job of smiting those Hamas bastards - a far better job than Barack Obama is doing as president! I wonder how difficult it might be to bring me some Scapa whisky? Aside from that, I can't think of anything I need from the UK, other than an attractive and submissive wife, but I hear they're in shortage over there as well.

    Do you have any big goals of things you'd like to do once you get to my neck of the woods? Shoot an assault rifle or a handgun? Hear the sound of rednecks talking?

    Never to be outdone, this was Captain John's response.

    [Fly],

    Thanks so much for the GPS ... a brave consignment to place into the hands of the Royal Mail (it could have arrived as a bag of bits) and a kind thought. We'll use it gratefully. We're travelling with a TomTom sat nav (I would prefer to navigate by the sun and the stars, the warmth of the horse dung and a snapped twig in the forest, but Annie will not hear of it) but the GPS will be invaluable whenever we step out of the vehicle in city or reserve. Thanks a lot - I look forward to returning it to you in March. If I can snag a wife for you along the way, I hand her over as well ... I'll enjoy the auditioning even if I don't find a match for you.

    I'll do my best to bring some Scapa - I approve wholeheartedly of your choice. As for the offer of a redneck chorus, I fancy a trip to a battlefield, or civil war museum. Dull, I know, but I read a book about it once.

    We are lending our house to friends while we're away which means that every day is cleaning, dusting, tidying cupboards we haven't been for years. The house looks immaculate, and we're looking wrecked. I reckon we'll sleep for the first week in the states, and vacuum in our sleep. One week until departure - hey ho.

    Must go and polish something

    [Captain] John

    To which I replied:

    [Captain] John,

    Nonsense, the GPS is yours. What would I do with two of them? I don't suppose you'd be willing to walk outside for a couple of minutes and tell me the coordinates of the [house], would you? As exact as possible, please.

    I'll check around and see what the nearest Civil War site to me is. I know that the first battle between two ironclad warships happened in my area, but I'm not sure if there are any museums about to look at. I'll continue working on the redneck chorus. Maybe if we pay them a few quid, we can get them to overlook the fact that it's February/March and sing their classic hit, "We wish you a dang'old merry Christmas, y'all". As I'm sure I've mentioned, keep me appraised of when you're likely to arrive in case I need to take a couple of days off from work.

    I await the possibility of Scapa single malt and a coerced bride with bated breath. If you can't find a good Orkney girl, I'm willing to settle for a Pole, a Ukrainian, or a Dane.

    The Yank

    His reply, prior to boarding a plane for parts yet unseen?

    You have been a naughty boy - this is a new GPS!!!! Why didn't you send me your old one, and keep the new one? Anyhow: it's great. And at last I have a decent speedo[meter] for the Land Rover - albeit it one that's difficult to read while wrestling with the steering at 50 mph, up a bumpy track.

    Don't worry about finding any sites or attractions. We'll be quite content to see the area and enjoy the company.

    No Danes or Poles yet, but I have had one application from a Bulgarian weight lifter who used to be a man.

    Watch this space.

    Two days and counting.

    I have a few more of these at this point, but I'll save them for later. That's enough entertainment for you lot for one day. Check back in tomorrow.

    P.S. - New Chad Vader. Yay!



    Awesome.

    Fly Report: 18th February 2009

    Good morning. Happiness is having explained the concept of shortwave radio to a hot girl because she asked.

    It's 8° Centigrade and cloudy in Kirkwall. In Cody, the forecast calls for a high of 42° Fahrenheit with morning snow.

    A barrel of oil is trading at $36.64. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is at 7552.60. The exchange rate is $1.42 for £1, or £0.70 for $1.

    Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is cool. The picture at the Orkneyjar Photoblog is not new.

    Today's scripture reading is Deuteronomy 6. The Fly is currently reading the U.S. Army/Marine Corps Counterinsurgency Field Manual, FM 3-24/MCWP 3-33.5.

    Consecutive days without CCG: 120

    No one is guaranteed a tomorrow.

    17 February 2009

    No Post Tuesday

    No post today. I was beat last night, and I had to go to bed early so that I could drag myself out of bed early. So, here I am. I actually have something pretty funny planned for tomorrow, so check back.

    Today's going to be interesting.

    Fly Report: 17th February 2009

    Good morning. His name was Max Power? Really?

    It's 9° Centigrade and cloudy in Kirkwall. In Cody, the forecast calls for a high of 40° Fahrenheit with light snow.

    A barrel of oil is trading at $38.94. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is at 7850.41. The exchange rate is $1.43 for £1, or £0.70 for $1.

    Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is ultra lame, and once again unrelated to astronomy. The picture at the Orkneyjar Photoblog is not new.

    Today's scripture reading is Deuteronomy 6. The Fly is currently reading the U.S. Army/Marine Corps Counterinsurgency Field Manual, FM 3-24/MCWP 3-33.5.

    Consecutive days without CCG: 119

    For tonight, at last, I am coming home.

    16 February 2009

    Video Day

    It's Presidents' Day, but the Fly has to work. Solution? A bunch of videos.

    G.I. Joe - PSA 17

    Mary Olson - Episode #1, "Girl's Night Out"

    Mary Olson - Episode #2, "Dating Without Desperation"

    Mary Olson - Episode #3, "First Impressions"

    Mary Olson - Episode #4, "Diet & Exercise"


    Great success! Check in tomorrow.

    Fly Report: 16th February 2009

    Good morning. When asked for comment, the engineer confirmed that the total failure of every last building during the earthquake was caused by the use of the inferior building material known as "rock and roll" in the construction of the city's foundations.

    It's 10° Centigrade and cloudy with wind in Kirkwall. In Cody, the forecast calls for a high of 43° Fahrenheit with clouds.

    A barrel of oil is trading at $39.54. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is at 7850.41. The exchange rate is $1.44 for £1, or £0.69 for $1.

    Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is beautiful. The picture at the Orkneyjar Photoblog is not new.

    Today's scripture reading is Deuteronomy 5. The Fly is currently reading the U.S. Army/Marine Corps Counterinsurgency Field Manual, FM 3-24/MCWP 3-33.5.

    Consecutive days without CCG: 118

    Still lookin' for the face I had before the world was made.

    13 February 2009

    AMF: I Love the Internet

    My big sister, Mighty Mo, has a bona fide category on her blog entitled I hear the intarwebz, in which she showcases all of the hilarious crap that she finds on the Internet. (The one she has up at the moment, for example, is quite bizarre, but also quite hilarious.) So, in my latest "The Fly is Catching Up" themed post, I'm going to showcase a handful of cool things that I've found on the Internet recently, and I'll throw in a few of my all time favorite websites as well.

    Since I was in high school, I've been watching or listening to various bits by the comedy troupe Monty Python. I was initiated by watching Monty Python and the Holy Grail for my fifteenth birthday, and a couple of their other films followed thereafter. When I was in late high school or early college, I discovered my favorite bit: The Pope Vs. Michelangelo from Monty Python Live at Hollywood Bowl. I even performed that last one on the radio with a buddy, I liked it so much.

    So, where am I going with all of this? Well, in November of '08, the Pythons posted the following video on YouTube.



    The funny thing? It actually worked - to the tune of a twenty-three thousand percent increase in their DVD sales. For it's overwhelmingly excellent contributions to art and capitalism, I love the Internet.

    I'm not as thrilled with the Minority Report/Nineteen Eighty-Four-esque revelation that there are apparently advertising screens in public places that can watch you and adjust their content accordingly. That, my friends, is disturbing, creepy, and invasive.

    In 2005, after I'd graduated and while I was studying Arabic, I decided that I wanted to read Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. I'm not always great at picturing what it is that I'm reading, and I remember looking several times to try to find something that would allow me to envision Captain Nemo's submarine. A week or two ago, I found exactly what I'd been wishing for all those weeks that I was working on reading the book: an entire website dedicated to the design of the Nautilus, both inside and out. Some of the pictures are just stunning, so I highly recommend it, especially if you've read the book. It's one of the websites that helps me to keep falling in love with the Internet, over and over again.

    Thanks to the Wired.com Danger Room blog, I also found a new website called IMINT & Analysis, which appears to be an excellent open source intelligence (OSINT) blog. Assuming that they're not posting anything they're not supposed to be posting, these blogs are a great way to educate yourself and stay informed about what's going on in the world from a strategic defense perspective.

    As many of you know, I'm a kilting enthusiast. Wearing a kilt involves more than just the kilt itself: you also need things like kilt socks, a kilt pin, and a sporran. The sporran is the leather pouch that one wears with a kilt. I have one that I got in Edinburgh (right around here), but I've wanted a better one for a long time. A few years ago, when I was in Wyoming with my dad, I visited the shop of a guy who makes custom leather goods, whose business is called Wyoming Custom Leather. Having read a post about one guy's antique sporran when I was in college, I've wanted a really special sporran for quite a while. I E-Mailed the guy at Wyoming Custom Leather yesterday in hopes that he might be willing to turn one of my old animal hides into a custom leather sporran for me. I'm waiting to hear back from him, but hopefully I can get it done, and for a reasonable price. That would be absolutely sweet, and the ability to arrange it in part or completely online is one of the many reasons why I love the Internet.

    I've been trying to put together a list of my top ten favorite websites of all time for a while now, and I have a hard time narrowing it down. Here are some of the ones that have already made the cut. (That sporran one is one of them, so I won't list it again.)

  • Jawas Explained - The entire war on terrorism, boiled down to Star Wars terms for easy understanding.
  • History of Israel & "Palestine" - Another great site about the Middle East that explains the history of Israel and the territories that are somewhat inaccurately referred to as "Palestine"; not very PC, but very historically accurate, so read the site to see what I mean.
  • Aliens Cause Global Warming - A fantastic speech by Michael Crichton that covers the hysteria and junk science behind a number of controversial scientific/political issues.
  • Dispelling the CIA-Bin Laden Myth - The CIA did not finance Osama bin Laden, and this article by Richard Miniter explains what the situation actually was in Afghanistan and Pakistan during the 1980's.
  • King James the I and VI - A little bit tacky, but this is a fascinating website about the Scottish monarch who went on to rule Great Britain, and who commissioned the King James Version of the Bible.
  • Redneck Neighbor - One man chronicles the bizarre, tacky, destructive projects and behaviors of his redneck neighbor - if you've never seen this, you'll probably wet your pants laughing, it's that funny.

    That's it, folks! Have a great weekend, and check in Monday for a review of what is shaping up to be a fascinating weekend for yours truly.
  • Fly Report: 13th February 2009

    Good morning. Love stinks, yeah yeah.


    It's 3° Centigrade and cloudy in Kirkwall. In Cody, the forecast calls for a high of 34° Fahrenheit with partial clouds.

    A barrel of oil is trading at $37.88. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is at 7932.76. The exchange rate is $1.42 for £1, or £0.70 for $1.

    Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is offline. The picture at the Orkneyjar Photoblog is not new.

    Today's scripture reading is Deuteronomy 5. The Fly is currently reading the U.S. Army/Marine Corps Counterinsurgency Field Manual, FM 3-24/MCWP 3-33.5.

    Consecutive days without CCG: 115

    Still looking for the sound that's gonna drown out the world.

    12 February 2009

    Life Imitates Art

    First and foremost, I'd like to point out that I will be sending a note to the Blogger staff. One of the things that I've always loved about Blogger is that it will allow you to update posts without having to delete and repost them, thus preserving the order in which they were posted. They've apparently changed their setup so that if you update a post, it bumps it up to the top. I'm not sure if it would bump an old post from weeks or months ago to the top, as it appears that it only bumps it to the top of that particular day of posts, but I'm going to call bullshit on it. I edited the Arabic in the Fly Report last night, and woke up this morning to find that the Fly Report had been bumped up above the actual post from yesterday. I experimented with the actual post, and it bumped up to the top, too. I call shenanigans, so I'm sending them a note.

    Anyway, here are a few interesting stories that I've seen over the last few weeks, and in a couple of cases, articles that lambasted them months or years before they were written. Read on!

  • Italy's struggle to disband the army that never was - Apparently, the Italians had an entire division that only existed on paper (and at a huge, unoccupied base) that was meant to fool the Warsaw Pact folks, but now that the Cold War is over, they can't destroy all of the unit's old classified records because nobody exists with the proper credentials to declassify them.
  • Number of alien worlds quantified - The late, great Michael Crichton gave a great speech that I've cited a number of times called Aliens Cause Global Warming in which Crichton took a major bite out of the hide of anyone who claims that they can quantify the number of worlds with intelligent life on them.
  • Sanctions put on Mauritania junta - I always post articles about Mauritania, and this one's no different, but it's funny because a similar situation was envisioned - and parodied - in The Onion a few years back: Rebels Immediately Regret Seizing Power In Zambia. Hysterical.

    That's it for today, folks. Check in tomorrow for what will almost certainly be a fantastic Arbeit Macht Freitag post. Have a great day!
  • Fly Report: 12th February 2009

    Good morning. Should I stay or should I go now?

    It's 2° Centigrade and partly cloudy in Kirkwall. In Cody, the forecast calls for a high of 36° Fahrenheit with afternoon snow.

    A barrel of oil is trading at $38.53. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is at 7939.53. The exchange rate is $1.44 for £1, or £0.70 for $1.

    Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is cool. The picture at the Orkneyjar Photoblog is not new.

    Today's scripture reading is Deuteronomy 4. The Fly is currently reading the U.S. Army/Marine Corps Counterinsurgency Field Manual, FM 3-24/MCWP 3-33.5.

    Consecutive days without CCG: 114

    And if your way should falter along that stony path, it's just a moment, this time will pass.

    11 February 2009

    Still Catching Up

    Well, I was basically out of the news gathering business for about three weeks. Since I got back from vacation, I've been gathering news with a vengeance - which is to say, there have been a handful of articles over the last week or two that I wanted to post, but I didn't have the opportunity. So, what's the solution?

    The solution is this: themed posts. Over the next week or so, I will be writing a series of posts on a variety of focused topics. There will be one entitled "Life Imitates Art", another entitled "I Love the Internet" - basically, they're going to sound sort of like Fly of various Jeopardy categories. I do good work when I'm organizing things, so categorizing all of these hanging links is a good tactic for me.

    So, for today's post, rather than just post another "check back tomorrow" notice, I'm going to go through some of the extraneous links that are tough to classify. Expect some bullet points, and some actual writing from me. Will this be one of my best posts? Probably not, but hopefully most of you will find something interesting.

    First off, a bunch of stories about Libya and Crazy Uncle Muammar.

  • Gaddafi vows to push Africa unity
  • Note the contrast: the AP says "Dismay After al-Qaddafi Chosen to Head African Union", while Libyan media says "Electing the leader Algathafi the AU Chairman is a global event that exceeds the African continent's boundaries"
  • Gaddafi condemns Africa democracy

    That last one is interesting, because Qaddhafi's entire political philosophy is still based on the "Third Universal Theory" that he set out in The Green Book, which I've commented on previously. Well, there are a couple of interesting articles from the last several years that put the current state of Qaddhafi's "Third Universal Theory" in context.

  • Green Book Unavailable World Wide
  • In Libya, pages fade in once-touted Green Book

    That second one is the better of the two. The first article basically says that the Libyan government spends money every year to establish diplomatic hubs to teach the world about Qaddhafi's philosophy, but the hubs don't actually have any copies of his book, and some of the employees have never even heard of it.

    Bullet points.

  • U.N. Says Hamas Seized Aid Meant for Needy Civilians
  • Scavenger army goes to waste as crunch bites
  • Irish Politician Bans TV Ads About Global Warming

    If you're a U2 fan, do yourself a favor and check out this video from the Guardian, in which a reporter gets some inside footage of U2's recording session for their latest album in Fez, Morocco.

    Mrs. Mike Nelson pointed me to an interesting website today, which then pointed me to the front page of a newspaper in a town that I spent a few childhood vacations in. The newspaper's biggest headline read: Millican, what's left of it, is up for sale - again. Millican holds a sort of tongue-in-cheek classification as a "town", but it's really a collection of a few buildings, spread out across a few dozen acres in the middle of the desert of Central Oregon. It's not much to speak of, as you can see from this satellite image of the area. One of the only reasons why Millican is noteworthy, in fact, is that it's the landmark one looks for when turning off the highway to go to Pine Mountain Observatory, which you can see on this satellite image. I went to PMO twice when I was younger, once with my family when it was open, and once with a friend (it didn't turn out to be open that night, much to my chagrin, but we had my telescope so it was still fun). Both times, it was a fascinating experience, and if you ever find yourself in Central Oregon during a warm summer weekend, I'd highly recommend the experience. There's also an interesting travel diary entry from some guy who travels a lot. Bored at work? Check it out.

    Tomorrow, I'll have the first of my themed posts. Check in, and check it out. In the mean time, have a great Wednesday.
  • Fly Report: 11th February 2009

    Good morning. شريف‎ won't like it. Rock the قصبة, rock the قصبة.

    It's 0° Centigrade and rainy in Kirkwall. In Cody, the forecast calls for a high of 38° Fahrenheit with afternoon snow.

    A barrel of oil is trading at $40.01. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is at 7888.88. The exchange rate is $1.49 for £1, or £0.67 for $1.

    Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is most excellent. The picture at the Orkneyjar Photoblog is not new.

    Today's scripture reading is Deuteronomy 3. The Fly is currently reading the U.S. Army/Marine Corps Counterinsurgency Field Manual, FM 3-24/MCWP 3-33.5.

    Consecutive days without CCG: 113

    I'll give you everything you want, except the thing that you want.

    10 February 2009

    Reading Between the Lines on the A-Pak Border

    In lieu of a regular post, which will finally happen tomorrow, this is my latest submission for my parallel writing endeavour, which I finally finished last last evening.

    While the impending loss of the leased American air base in Kyrgyzstan is a substantial setback, it offers another opportunity to revisit the current state of affairs in Afghanistan. As American and NATO forces prepare to mirror the Iraq troop surge in the nation where the West's war against terrorism began, the current coalition logistical challenge may lead some to question whether the Afghan priority ought to be shifted elsewhere. Steadfast resolve in Afghanistan must remain a top global security priority, but the Kyrgyzstan conundrum brings another security dilemma, itself inexorably tied to Afghanistan, into stark clarity.

    The situation in Manas comes at a precarious time, following recent Taliban attacks on major coalition supply routes through Pakistan and the 2005 closure of the Karshi-Khanabad (K2) Air Base in Uzbekistan. The loss of the Kyrgyz base would be another major blow to coalition logistical requirements in the region. The closure of the Manas Air Base would further bottleneck the already expensive process of supplying military forces in Afghanistan. This development comes as the United States prepares to mirror the successful Iraq surge on the South Asian front. In order to understand the current situation in Afghanistan, its complexity, and its context in the strategic security effort, one must review not only recent Afghan history, but the current situation with a number of prominent regional players: Pakistan, Iran, and Russia, just to name the big ones.

    Since 2001, a number of pundits and historians have done a yeoman's job of painting the West, and particularly the United States, as the party responsible for turning Afghanistan into what it is today, and what it was during the horror years of the 1990's. The truth is that as recently as the 1970's, Afghanistan was a somewhat modern and moderate nation - imperfect, just as any other nation, but relatively stable. (An exceptional, if realistically fictional, account of Afghanistan during the 1970's can be read in Khaled Hosseini's 2003 novel The Kite Runner.) It was the Soviet Union that robbed Afghanistan of this prosperity. By introducing the radical Marxism that threw the country into civil war in the 1970's, invading and occupying the nation throughout the 1980's in an effort to sustain the communist government, and leaving a power vacuum in the nation they had destroyed by the time of their withdrawal in 1989, it was the Soviet Union that left Afghanistan a broken shell of its former self.

    America can rightfully be accused of some degree of negligence following the Soviet withdrawal for not helping Afghanistan to fill this vacuum for itself, although popular hindsight accounts such as Charlie Wilson's War appeal to a simplistically false notion that a few million dollars in infrastructure projects would have certainly prevented extremism from taking hold. A short memory of Soviet tyranny and a desire on the part of some to blame the United States for all of the world's ills have led some to deceive many into believing that the now-defunct Evil Empire deserves anything less than an overwhelming majority of the blame for what Afghanistan became during the 1990's. It was the vacuum that they created for themselves to fill in 1979, and that they subsequently vacated a decade later, that led to the Afghan Civil War of the 1990's and the ensuing rise of the Taliban. The degree to which America was negligent in Afghanistan after 1989 was comparatively negligible, particularly in light of the numerous additional military challenges preceding the fall of the Iron Curtain in 1991.

    This concept of a power vacuum is an important one to understand, because the purpose of Operation Enduring Freedom is to prevent the same power vacuum from reappearing in Afghanistan, and thus allowing for the creation of a brand new humanitarian and security disaster. While there are numerous objectives tied to Operation Enduring Freedom, the two most prominent are the military and political destruction of the Taliban (at least, as it currently stands), and the provision of security in order to facilitate the reestablishment of the Afghan government and economy. Military leaders and most of the troops on the ground understand this, and are directing the war accordingly, but few members of the general public in the West truly understand the situation. While the controversial Iraq War remained the source of headline fodder over the last several years, few paid attention as the war in Afghanistan ebbed and flowed. With the overwhelming focus in South Asia placed on Afghanistan, many pundits ignored or paid only passing attention to the equally dangerous void that has existed for years within bordering Pakistan.

    The Taliban's grip on Afghanistan grew out of this power vacuum. Despite having been ousted from power, al Qaeda and the Taliban were able to occupy an adjacent region with its own power vacuum: the unforgiving mountains and jungles of the Northwest Frontier Province, the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, and North and South Waziristan, all of them components of western Pakistan. This is one of the most difficult areas in the entire world to police, and Osama bin Laden was well aware of this fact when he relocated from Khartoum to Jalalabad in 1996. The border also arbitrarily divides ethnic Pashtun territory into components of two sovereign countries, a division that most Pashtuns ignore due in large part to the inability of either government to actually secure the border. Although al Qaeda operatives and leaders have been denied the freedom of movement that they enjoyed prior to 9/11, bin Laden and his deputy Ayman al Zawahiri have remained at large for the greater part of a decade. While 2008 was a difficult year for al Qaeda and their Taliban allies, al Qaeda leaders remain at large while the Taliban has been largely successful at reconstituting itself. This reconstitution results not only from the power vacuum in northwest Pakistan, but also from two sources of support: Iran, and opium crops.

    Numerous sources have tied the Taliban to Iranian benefactors. One of the first mentions of this relationship came in 2007 (AP, BBC, Reuters), and was followed in 2008 by news reports indicating that the Taliban was acquiring specialized rifles and anti-vehicle mines of Iranian manufacture (BBC). In a recent interview, Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morell indicated that the same explosively formed penetrators that Iran appeared to be supplying to the Jaish al Mahdi militia in Iraq may be turning up in Afghanistan. There have also been rumblings for a number of years, and from various sources, that Iran may maintain a relationship with al Qaeda, despite occasions during the last several years in which the two parties have found themselves in public relations slug fests with one another over one issue or another. Despite media pundits who claim that Shia Persians could never cooperate with Sunni Arabs, Iran has maintained support for Hamas for many years, and Sunni Arab Syria is Iran's closest ally - in short, an alliance with al Qaeda's Sunni leaders against a common enemy is well within the realm of possibility. The conflicted relationship between al Qaeda and Iran notwithstanding, even a rudimentary understanding of the Iranian state would seem to indicate that Iranian weapons finding their way into the hands of Taliban insurgents could only happen with at least the passive permission, and perhaps the active support, of the Iranian government. With even a moderate degree of Iranian support for the Taliban and al Qaeda, these groups have the potential to use such support from within their Pakistani sanctuary to continue their terrorist operations both within and beyond the borders of Afghanistan.

    In the same way that many misunderstood and oversimplified the justification given for the invasion of Iraq (which had more to do with terrorism than with the specific accusations about illicit weapons programs), many fail to see operations in Afghanistan as anything more than a retaliatory strike, followed by a lengthy peacekeeping operation. Not surprisingly, the truth is more complex than this. Prior to the commencement of Operation Enduring Freedom in late 2001, Afghanistan was one of the foremost terrorist sanctuaries in the world - a title which it essentially held openly and defiantly, as opposed to other terrorist sanctuaries and sponsors that deny their participation in and support for such activities. When Taliban governance of Afghanistan collapsed, so too did the sanctuary status and state terrorism sponsorship that Afghanistan had previously embodied. So severe was this blow to the Taliban that it was several years before the organization was once again able to pose a remotely credible threat to Afghanistan or the coalition.

    The American government and a handful of allies seem at present to have the resolve necessary to complete the mission in Afghanistan, a task that could yet take years or even decades to fully complete. The purpose of this mission, as stated previously, is to support the Afghan government and develop the Afghan army and national police service until they can successfully and legitimately operate on their own, without foreign support. By assisting with rebuilding, helping the Afghans to rebuild for themselves, and providing the security necessary for these rebuilding and development efforts to succeed, the coalition is attempting to accomplish the strategic mission of preventing Afghanistan from being overrun and becoming a sanctuary for anti-Western terrorism once again.

    Thus, the problem at hand is no longer only Afghanistan itself, but also these Pakistani safe havens from which the Taliban and al Qaeda are able to base their operations. Even if the mission to help the Afghan security forces secure the country is a complete and total success, and this security allows for Afghanistan to become respected as a regional power, a terrorist safe haven across the border in the ungovernable region of northwest Pakistan would not only threaten to destabilize Afghanistan itself, but its very existence would undermine the entire purpose of providing support to Afghanistan in the first place: to prevent its use as a terrorist safe haven. While a Pakistani sanctuary is not necessarily as useful for al Qaeda as Taliban-ruled Afghanistan was, there are advantages to operating from within an ungovernable area. The frequent Pakistani government protests at American drone air strikes in northwest Pakistan raise sovereignty issues that the American and NATO governments must deal with and consider before every mission; al Qaeda and the Taliban, on the other hand, make copious use of this advantage to both evade capture and stage attacks against Afghan government and civilian targets.

    The Taliban and al Qaeda used this advantage, both in Afghanistan and within Pakistani borders; and if pressure from NATO or the Pakistani military tapered off, there would be nothing to stop them from attacking Afghanistan again, or simply using the Pakistani sanctuaries to stage attacks against the West. In recent weeks, their targets have included both Pakistani government forces, and coalition supply lines. With this disruption to the flow of supplies into Afghanistan, directly preceding a troop surge, the scramble to determine an alternative route to replace supplies that would have otherwise travelled through Kyrgyzstan becomes easier to understand. So, what of the situation with Kyrgyzstan?

    There are indications that the idea to oust the American contingent from Manas came about not in the Kyrgyz capital Bishkek, but in Moscow. The day after Bishkek announced that it would evict American forces from Manas, the Russian government announced that a number of former Soviet states would be forming a cooperative military bloc, and Kyrgyzstan was one of the nations listed as participating. The next day, the Guardian reported that Kyrgyzstan was recovering from an apparent online attack against the Central Asian nation's technology infrastructure. Distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks are a tactic allegedly used by Russia, or with the passive support of the Russian government, during a political conflict with Estonia in 2007, and against Georgia during the 2008 South Ossetia War. For a quiet nation in Central Asia to fall victim to an attack similar to those allegedly used by its former imperial master, and to evict a tenant from a military facility supporting a conflict that the same imperial power has looked on unfavorably in the past, all in the same week, seems a bit too coincidental.

    For her part, Russia has pledged to allow the United States to transport non-lethal military and humanitarian cargo through Russian territory (BBC, CNN), leading one to question why the Russians would have wanted to pressure the Kyrgyz government into ousting the American garrison in the first place. Tajikistan, which actually borders Afghanistan (unlike Russia and Kyrgyzstan), has made a similar pledge to allow the US and NATO to use Tajikistan as an overland route for construction supplies, medicine, fuel, and water. Even with the availability of these two options, the supply line disruption caused by the loss of the Manas facility and the unreliability of the Pakistani overland routes is leading some pundits to suggest that the United States may be forced to reopen military ties with Uzbekistan, whose leader ordered the closure of the aforementioned K2 Air Base in 2005 after a dispute with the United States over human rights.

    Meanwhile, in Afghanistan proper, early 2009 is a mixed bag. The Taliban have made a long and profitable business out of forcing Afghan peasants to grow opium poppies for use in the illicit international drug trade, a strategy that has provided huge financial dividends to the insurgency in recent years. Last year saw many Afghan farmers, encouraged by the coalition, trading opium for more lucrative cash crops like wheat (Guardian, AP) and pomegranates (Guardian, AP). This trend appears to have continued into the new year. In theory, this will pay two dividends: not only will it increase the economic prosperity of the Afghan people, but it will also stifle the economic viability of the Taliban. Both of these developments would further the goals of the counterinsurgency effort in Afghanistan, but success in many other areas will be needed if the US, NATO, and the Afghan national security forces are to defeat the Taliban once and for all. And, as alluded to before, any solution will have to eliminate the viability of the Taliban in both Afghanistan and Pakistan.

    Unfortunately, every piece of good news from Afghanistan seems to be greeted with another piece of equally bad news. There are still reports that former Guantanamo inmates are joining the Taliban; and with support for extremism collapsing in Iraq, many insurgents are relocating to Afghanistan. Last year was the most violent year in Afghanistan since the 2001 invasion, and the Afghan people appear to be losing confidence in the coalition's ability and resolve to support them against the Taliban.

    With good leadership, sufficient resources, and steadfast resolve on the home front, coalition troops can and will win in Afghanistan, even if a victory requires leaders to make difficult decisions about how to shift supplies from a Kyrgyz hub to another strategic inlet. For the sake of the Afghans, the innocent among the Pakistanis, and the security of the West, this mission must be completed in its entirety - failure to do so would result not only in a security and humanitarian tragedy in South Asia, but in the undermining of more than eight years of critical efforts from the finest individuals and teams that America and her allies have to offer. To undermine their efforts and sacrifice would be a gross tragedy in and of itself.

    Fly Report: 10th February 2009

    Good morning. Drop your bombs between the minarets, down the Casbah way.

    It's 2° Centigrade and rainy in Kirkwall. In Cody, the forecast calls for a high of 41° Fahrenheit with partial clouds.

    A barrel of oil is trading at $41.88. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is at 8270.87. The exchange rate is $1.49 for £1, or £0.67 for $1.

    Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is most excellent. The picture at the Orkneyjar Photoblog is not new.

    Today's scripture reading is Deuteronomy 2. The Fly is currently reading the U.S. Army/Marine Corps Counterinsurgency Field Manual, FM 3-24/MCWP 3-33.5.

    Consecutive days without CCG: 112

    The end is not as far as the start.

    09 February 2009

    Chaotic

    I have a bunch of stuff that I intend to put in a blog post, but I didn't have a chance to write it this weekend because I spent most of the last two days working on an article for my parallel writing endeavour that's still not finished. Assuming that I'm able to finish it up this evening, I should be able to get it scraped together.

    In the mean time, I leave you with two links.

  • The Lonely Island's newest release, "I'm On A Boat" featuring T-Pain (explicit) (or clean, if you prefer)
  • best motivational poster ever

    That's it for today. Check in tomorrow.
  • Fly Report: 09th February 2009

    Good morning. When you gonna realize it was just that the time was wrong, Juliet?

    It's -1° Centigrade and partly cloudy in Kirkwall. In Cody, the forecast calls for a high of 46° Fahrenheit with clouds.

    A barrel of oil is trading at $41.95. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is at 8280.59. The exchange rate is $1.48 for £1, or £0.68 for $1.

    Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is lame. The picture at the Orkneyjar Photoblog is not new.

    Today's scripture reading is Deuteronomy 1. The Fly is currently reading the U.S. Army/Marine Corps Counterinsurgency Field Manual, FM 3-24/MCWP 3-33.5.

    Consecutive days without CCG: 111

    The truth is not the same without the lies he made up.

    07 February 2009

    Abomination

    What the... ?



    That's just a travesty.

    UPDATE: Disney World. Figures.

    06 February 2009

    AMF: Big Fat Liar

    Okay, I lied. I got back to VDS later than usual last night due to the number of hours I've had to shift around this week, and spent the first little bit cooking, then got tied into some other stuff that consumed my evening and sent me to bed late. Result: no real post for today. I'll have something for Monday, because there were a ton of stories yesterday. The biggest story is that I'm friggin' freezing in here, and I probably ought to just turn on the heat. Maybe I will. Have a great weekend, folks, and stay warm! Damn that global warming!

    Fly Report: 06th February 2009

    Good morning. This one goes out to the one I left behind.

    It's 2° Centigrade and rainy in Kirkwall. In Cody, the forecast calls for a high of 48° Fahrenheit with afternoon rain.

    A barrel of oil is trading at $42.37. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is at 8063.07. The exchange rate is $1.46 for £1, or £0.68 for $1.

    Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is cool. The picture at the Orkneyjar Photoblog is not new.

    Today's scripture reading is Deuteronomy 3. The Fly is currently reading the U.S. Army/Marine Corps Counterinsurgency Field Manual, FM 3-24/MCWP 3-33.5.

    Consecutive days without CCG: 108

    I feel like I'm slowly, slowly, slowly slipping under.

    05 February 2009

    More of the Fly's Ambitious Goals

    Hey folks. As I write this, I'm still watching Battlestar Galactica Season 4.0. I'm currently watching the sixth episode, Faith, which guest stars Deep Space 9 actress Nana Visitor. I'm enjoying it, but it's been since April that I watched new (to me) episodes. Once I finish (Tomorrow? This weekend?), I'd like to start again from the beginning. It will take weeks to watch it all again, but I'd like to actually take forty or fifty minutes per night and watch an episode, really sit down and watch it. With such big lag times, it's tough to really keep up with all of the nuance, and this show is so very nuanced. It's so detailed, and that's part of what makes it good, but it requires a lot of attention to all of that detail. I want to do the same thing with MI-5 now that I'll soon be getting series six on DVD.

    I have a number of other goals for the next couple of months. After a nap on the plane Sunday evening, I got particularly efficient at consolidating and generating some new plans for the next couple of months. Some of these items tie into my post from October, and some are new. There are a number of loose ends in my life that need to be tied up, that ought to have been tied up previously. Now that I've had two weeks to unwind and get myself back in order, it's time to redouble these efforts. So, some of my goals for February are as follows.

  • learn to backup files from my old computer using both a USB hard drive kit and an ethernet card
  • finish making Arabic flash cards that I've been meaning to make for months now
  • record all of the metrics from nearly three and a half years of the Fly Report into an Excel spreadsheet
  • record all of the metrics from nearly three years of refueling logs for my truck
  • set up a home weather station that I received for Christmas from the Sub-Matriarch
  • fully clean my flat (it's been a while and it could use some work)
  • order contact lenses and take care of a couple of other necessary expenditures
  • send my taxes to the accountant

    I also have a number of goals that will spill over into March and April.

  • settle a debt that's been nagging at me, and make a donation that's also been nagging me
  • finish designing my shipping container house
  • analyze and revise my personal budget
  • clean out several years of redundant/obsolete paperwork that's been carted to California and now to Virginia
  • review personal property for items to sell, donate, or destroy
  • design a new website
  • give a number of gifts that I've been meaning to give for a while now

    My guess is that some additional items will almost certainly be added to March and April. One of them may be taking the Blackwater Carbine Armorer course, but that will be dependent upon funds and timing. So, I basically have the next couple of months cut out for me. I hope to be caught up with errands resulting from my lengthy absence by the end of tomorrow, and solid on hours at work by the end of tomorrow as well, which will mean that starting on Monday, I can dive into this stuff full bore.

    I need to start accomplishing things. I accomplish some things, but I desperately want and need to accomplish more. I believe that I can.

    I have several more items to post, but I'm going to close this up for today. Check back in tomorrow for some wrap-up news stories that I've collected over the course of the week. Have a great Thursday, folks.
  • Fly Report: 05th February 2009

    Good morning. Saith Brooklyn: "I skipped [mass] and watched 300 instead. Jesus will understand!"

    It's 1° Centigrade and snowy in Kirkwall. In Cody, the forecast calls for a high of 50° Fahrenheit with partial clouds.

    A barrel of oil is trading at $41.58. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is at 7956.66. The exchange rate is $1.45 for £1, or £0.69 for $1.

    Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is beautiful. The picture at the Orkneyjar Photoblog is not new.

    Today's scripture reading is Deuteronomy 3. The Fly is currently reading the U.S. Army/Marine Corps Counterinsurgency Field Manual, FM 3-24/MCWP 3-33.5.

    Consecutive days without CCG: 107

    Through the light projected, he can see himself up close.

    Fatigue

    I'm getting sort of tired of opening beers and not drinking them. Not that I need the alcohol or something, but it's sort of a nice way to unwind, and it gets expensive to pour perfectly good and delicious beer down the sink.

    Bollocks.

    04 February 2009

    The Fly on Galactica

    Ladies and gentlemen, last night I was watching the first episodes of Battlestar Galactica Season 4.0. As a result, this will be a short post, and probably a bit scattered.

    Following up on yesterday's picture of the day, today's picture is Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez behaving at pretty much the same level of maturity that we've all come to expect from him. The little beret on the bird is just the icing on the cake, isn't it? Let's hope that 2009 continues a process of Chavez watching power slip slowly from his grasp.

    In a recent post, I alluded to an article describing President Bush's leadership, and why history will remember him more kindly than the media has. I posted two such articles at the time, and thanks to the Medved show (where I heard of the third article in the first place), I now have a link to share with you. The trifecta is as follows:

  • History Will Remember Bush Well by Marc A. Thiessen
  • Bush Was Right When It Mattered Most by Karl Rove
  • Bush's Achievements by Fred Barnes

    I recently saw an interesting, if somewhat troubling, article about the state of the CIA clandestine service. It's worth the read.

    I noted a number of purchases last month, and reported on their status. Nearly a month later, the only item that has yet to arrive is the Molon Labe patch. When I returned from [Hometown], I was thrilled to find my Pinups for Vets 2009 calendar with a wonderful message from Gina Elise. The interesting bit was a note in the far corner of the calendar's cover, requesting that I send in a picture of me with the calendar - probably aimed at uniformed personnel, but a bit dangerous when you consider that it is, in fact, a pinup calendar. There are a number of items that I'll probably be ordering by the end of the week, now that I'm done with my vacation. These include:

  • a used copy of No mercy's greatest hits album
  • Utilikilts Knee High Celtic Weave Socks - $10.00
  • Stikfas Alpha Male Legionnaire - $12.67 NEW
  • Sangean ANT-60 Short Wave Antenna - $17.95 NEW
  • Passport to World Band Radio, 2009 Edition by Lawrence Magne - $22.95 (Amazon price $15.61) NEW
  • Mars Attacks! - $9.98
  • MI-5 Volume 6 - $59.99

    I think that there might be a couple more items that I'm not thinking of right off the bat. There are also some items that I want to get for friends, although a few of those might wait for the time being. I'm pretty intent on not going nuts, but there are various items that I either want or need. Once I start making orders, I'll report it on here, because I know that it fascinates each and every one of you. Right? Right.

    Today's video is the most bizarre and randomly hilarious thing I've posted on here since Chad Vader's rendition of "Chocolate Rain": Telly Savalas' rendition of "You've Lost That Loving Feeling".



    That's it for today, folks. Check back tomorrow for more from yours truly.
  • Fly Report: 04th February 2009

    Good morning. For the life of me, I'm having a great deal of difficulty coming up with an appropriate adjective or noun to describe Kyle's mom. Maybe my friend Eric can help...

    It's 3° Centigrade and rainy/snowy in Kirkwall. In Cody, the forecast calls for a high of 52° Fahrenheit with partial clouds.

    A barrel of oil is trading at $41.80. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is at 8078.36. The exchange rate is $1.44 for £1, or £0.69 for $1.

    Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is cool. The picture at the Orkneyjar Photoblog is not new.

    Today's scripture reading is Deuteronomy 3. The Fly is currently reading the U.S. Army/Marine Corps Counterinsurgency Field Manual, FM 3-24/MCWP 3-33.5.

    Consecutive days without CCG: 106

    He turns his money into light to look for her.