H&I Fires* 30 April 2008

April 30, 2008 | | Comments (7)

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).

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Rusty over at My Pet Jawa skewers Stockholm Syndrome Poster Child Richard "Better a Hamas jailer than American!" Butler of CBS News- so I don't have to. CBS News in trouble and decline? I wonder if those dots connect.

Speaking of that - looking at the circulation declines of major organs of journalism, and the rapidly imploding CBS News operation, this bit of a conversation I had with a "Senior Government Official" yesterday comes to mind:

Well, you can tell 'em for me... it's a good thing the truth didn't get out about what you just said - or we'd have savaged them for being... idiots. We're not children. Oddly enough, neither is the bulk of the American public. But the major media and PA flacks treat us like we are. Which might be one reason the NYT and CBS are in such trouble, but blogs are doing fine. We don't treat our readers like idiots, either.

Moving on...

Jule Crittenden on Brits surprised to find that visiting America is not like visiting... Baghdad.

Iowahawk on Senator Obama's "Advice for the Lovelorn..." It's a hoot, click that link!

Dusty - this link's for you a bomb-dropping R/C A-10. H/t, Lex. -the Armorer

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Now if only we could find some bath-water to accompany them on the WAAAAAaaaayyyy Down. Alas, a new generation of acrophobics is born. If you ask me, they should stick to playing with Cobras - BOQ

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Local impact of gas prices. I live in a county that pumps oil, but often enough, the little horseheads aren't bobbing. They've been bobbing steadily now for months. Even bigger impact? My neighbor has a drill rig on the former dairy farm he just bought. Drilling for oil. -the Armorer

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Just for fun.
Costas Now yes that Bob Costas, has an interesting segment talking about the internet, sports and blogging.

During which time Buzz Bissinger goes on a rampage regarding bloggers, basically attacking a blogger who was on a panel with him on the show.

I would have responded, but my Sports Blogging Idol, Orson Swindle of Everyday Should Be Saturday (EDSBS) beat me to the punch with a great response.

Watch your 6 in your reading cubicle as strong language warnings apply, but still an excellent read and I think it applies to most bloggers out there period.

-BloodSpite
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Reporting on hunger in Afghanistan: who needs context when you have an agenda to push? Need I mention how disgusted I am? - Damian

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Having now found a video of the Costas/Bissinger/Leitch foofaraw that Bloodspite linked to - all I can say is - that segment is the video demo of why I have The Rulez. But I also understand that when you are as successful as Will is - moderating a blog with that kind of traffic can be a real bear. Keep that in mind, however, next time the Crushing Boot appears in the comments... I don't want to have my next panel discussion (which will be at the GI Film Festival in DC on 18 May) disrupted this way. -the Armorer

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*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".

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7 Comments

By fmr_grunt on April 30, 2008 10:51 AM
John - I hope you own the mineral rights to The Castle.
 
By John of Argghhh! on April 30, 2008 11:04 AM
We do. There have been two oil leases (neither actually drilled) on this property before we bought it. We hold all rights to the land.
 
By Fred on April 30, 2008 1:40 PM
I think a bunch of those A-10 models flying around jihadi land would spook 'em real good.
 
By Cannoneer No. 4 on April 30, 2008 6:55 PM
Interesting parallels between sports blogs and milblogs, John. Be prepared to counter action hero sock puppetry during your panel discussion. The Guild is desperate. Too many computer-literate ex-consumers of their "product" have seen the man behind the curtain. Not just sports but all reporting and punditry can be done over the Internet by anybody who wants to do it. Their hit counters tell them how well they are received. That's a meritocracy that doesn't care about Bissinger's Pulitzer. Old Media is dying off. I say kick 'em while they're down. But I can say that, because my real name is not Cannoneer No. 4.
   
By BloodSpite on May 1, 2008 9:02 AM
I may be odd, but I've always felt Sports blogging to be on the cutting edge of blogging. Of course many immediately say "Why?" The answer is basic numbers. 62 Million. Thats the total of all the voters who voted Republican in the last Presidential Election. 59 Million. Thats the total number who voted Democratic. Total of 121 Million and change. 97.5 Million. Thats the nuber of people who watched last years SuperBowl. The biggest difference lies in the fact that major elections happen every 4 years and we hear constantly how they want more people to actively vote in the smaller elections. Sporting events happen every year, the contestants (ie teams) rarely change, the players last 6 to 10 years on average and build a hollywoodesque fan base. Sports blogging has both sides of any political aspect, to meet in the middle to discuss things related to, nothing but sports. The end result is, because of the, whats a good word? Active? No thats not right either. But basically because the nature of the sports world is a constant eb and flow of stats, gambling, money, and action I think you end up with a wider readership. Things that happen slowly in the political or military relm, like the roundtable discussions that happen in the last year, are things that have been happening for a good bit in the sporting arena. Essentially I'm agreeing with Canoneer. If you want to see a herald of things to come, start watching the reactions of sports writers versus blogs, analyse sporting venues vs blogs and take a look at sports blogs to military blogs for example. From my perspective, having entered the college football blogging world the last 2 years, the parralels are eerily similar. And I think we may start seeing more and more folks like Buzz in our own realm of blogging in the near future. Which leads me to orson Swindle. He makes a very excellent point. They don't know who is behind the keyboard, and the stereotype that is placed on us thanks to MySpace, Geocities, Twitter, Facebook, etc makes it difficult for the more mainstream blogs like our own (I'm probably giving myself more credit than credit is due by lumping my puny blog with yours ;) ) to rise above the masses as being intellectual, and thought provoking. Hrmph. Looking at my comment I think I need to get more sleep. These late nights are making my brain hurt heh!
 
By John of Argghhh! on May 1, 2008 11:57 AM
Bloodspite - just like *any* brand, you have to establish it, and your bona-fides, and meet your audience expectations. People can draw what conclusions they like from that. I'm never going to be the NYT (nor, in truth, do I want to be). But I value my reputation, and work to preserve that. And one thing blogs have to come to grips with is the potty-mouth vitriol that shows up. Because it affects your brand, and you can't just go, like Will did, "Those are *commenters*, not me!" and expect that defense to stand up. You are identified with what you tolerate, like it or not.