Open post for those with something to share, updated through the day. New, complete posts come in below this one. Note: If trackbacking, please acknowledge this post in your post. That's only polite.
You're advertising here, we should get an ad at your place...
Time to add a new caveat, because from email it's not clear to some folks (mind you, if you don't read this it won't matter...) Being an open post, people (collectively, the Denizens) other than I post in the H&I. They sign their work (most of the time) - keep that in mind when you want to flame someone in email please - if it doesn't say "The Armorer" or "John" then I didn't write it! And honestly - if you don't like something said or posted... leave a comment, and hash it out (within the context of The Rulez which are clearly posted on the comment form, I would add).
*******************************************************
The new commander of the Dutch military, General Peter van Uhm, was sworn in yesterday. Today, he lost his son in action.
A roadside bombing killed the son of the Netherlands' top military officer on Friday, a day after his father assumed command of the Dutch armed forces, officials said.Lt. Dennis van Uhm, 23, was one of two Dutch soldiers killed in the explosion 7 miles northwest of Camp Holland, the Dutch military base in Uruzgan province, spokesman Lt. Gen. Freek Meulman said.
My condolences to the family.
This is the sort of high-profile kill the Taliban have been looking for, and I discuss the effect this may have on Dutch morale, and the parallels that could be drawn with the Canadian experience over at The Torch. - Damian
************************************
Something funny. (Now, if only we could have this level of success in the war against beets.)
--ry
*************************************
Heh. Stupid Self-Inflicted Campaign Wounds, Republican edition? Over at the HuffPo, David Weiner broke a story on Cindy McCain's "Family Recipes lifted from Food Network by an intern? Ignore the politics of the source, look at the evidence, and ask yourself how long it would take how many monkeys to replicate those recipes in a purely random fashion... Heh. I was standing around yesterday talking with a mixed-politics group of 30-50 year old folk, and we all agreed - we're sick and tired of the campaigns already. And most of us aren't going to pay full attention to them until Sept/October, with a brief bit during the conventions. Except the blogger, of course, I have the monster to feed. -the Armorer
*********************************
Now, for something from the "this will make your head explode" school of thought:
We like to joke about the "very serious" traditional media. The truth is that while they claim exclusive lordship over integrity and professionalism -- not to mention a corner on the world's supply of pants made of smarty -- they're really a freak show with serious haircuts and suits. They're a wing of the Republican corporatist conspiracy against America. And the very serious moderators of last night's Democratic debate couldn't have been less serious if they had been wearing clown suits made of dildos while simultaneously tickling each other with monkeys.
From where I sit, that sentence makes no sense. But, as I've moved among the left side of the blogosphere at conferences and panel discussions and such, I have come to understand how they can say things like that, while we marvel their heads don't explode. Most of them think that *they* represent the "true center* of opinion in the eyes of the American public. Just as people on the Right who say things that should make heads explode do so from within the same strictures of their bubbled existence.
Heh. It's one reason that I try to make this place at least suitable for an overnight visit by people of the center-leftish persuasion. It doesn't protect me from my bubble (the narrow extent of which was revealed to me *by* my blogging and the other's that it brought me into contact with) but it does serve to keep my bubble expansible, and not, in fact, become a granite sphere with a hollow center. I do love Cesca's line about "pants of smarty" though! -the Armorer
*********************************
(Maybe Big Tribble mit Leggs won’t trample all over it this time.)
It’s Al’s birthday. So I give the gift of bacon.
--ry
**********************************
*A term of art from the artillery. Harassment and Interdiction Fires.
Back in the day, when you could just kill people and break things without a note from a lawyer, they were pre-planned, but to the enemy, random, fires at known gathering points, road junctions, Main Supply Routes, assembly areas, etc - to keep the bad guy nervous that the world around him might start exploding at any minute.
Not really relevant to today's operating environment, right? But, it *is*
The UAVs we fly over Afghanistan and Pakistan looking for targets of opportunity are a form of H&I fires, if you really want to parse it finely. We just have better sensors and fire control now.
I call the post that because it's random things posted by me and people I've given posting privileges to that particular topic. It's also an open trackback, so if (Don Surber uses it this way a lot) someone has a post they're proud of, but it really isn't either Castle kind of stuff, or topical to a particular post, I've basically given blanket permission to use that post for that purpose. Another term of art that might be appropriate is "Free Fire Zone".
6 Comments