military strategy for dummies

Posted on Saturday, 2007 November 03 by Anton

When they say “we’re fighting them in Iraq so that we don’t have to fight them at home,” what do they mean?

I’m imagining wannabe-terrorists throughout the Moslem world moaning, “I’d like to go to the Great Satan and blow shit up, but I can’t get past that cursed roadblock in Baghdad!” . . . but that’s just silly.

Is Iraq vital to terrorist logistics? Almost as silly, but maybe the War Party has got enough of the People convinced of it.

One other interpretation makes sense to me: that “our” forces are in Iraq to provide the terrorists with a more convenient and conspicuous target.

Posted in militaria, security theater | 4 Comments

still burning?

Posted on Friday, 2007 November 02 by Anton

Four years ago I posted a link to satellite images of the forest fires then burning in California. In the past month that post has attracted well over a thousand searches!

Posted in California | Leave a comment

they keep on talking funny

Posted on Tuesday, 2007 October 23 by Anton

The latest thing to puzzle me in med-speak is “benign yet appropriate”. When would it be inappropriate to appear healthy?

There apparently exists a surgical tool called a synovial elevator. Makes me think of a bioengineered building, with beams of bone.

Posted in medicine | Leave a comment

cross-pollination

Posted on Monday, 2007 October 15 by Anton

After watching a murder mystery involving a medium, I dreamt that Maurice Minnifield wanted to hire a medium for one of his promotional schemes.

At least it wasn’t vampires this time.

Posted in cinema | Leave a comment

pent-up demand

Posted on Tuesday, 2007 October 09 by Anton

It occurs to me that, assuming Cuban Communism does not long outlive Fidel, a lot of gringos are going to buy nostalgic cars there.

Posted in economics | Leave a comment

distinguishing traits

Posted on Sunday, 2007 October 07 by Anton

Watching Jericho, I wondered why Skeet Ulrich looks vaguely familiar; nothing in his previous credits rings a bell. Eventually I decided that his mouth sometimes looks like Johnny Depp‘s. That’s what I notice most about faces; how about you?

Posted in cinema, me!me!me! | Leave a comment

sacrifice

Posted on Monday, 2007 October 01 by Anton

Assuming that the next President is unlikely to be a Republican, it occurs to me that the Republican establishment could give Ron Paul the nomination in order to let him, and by extension the noninterventionist cause, take the blame for losing the election. But I’m not convinced that They are devious enough and organized enough to pull that off.

Posted in politics | Leave a comment