February 27, 2010
The fourth, the fifth The minor fall, the major lift
Bret Easton Ellis has two people in mind to portary Theresa Duncan and Jeremy Blake in The Golden Suicides.
One of them is Angelina Jolie.
And that's about right.
EW reports that Jolie’s reps say the actress “passed on doing Gravity at Warner Bros.” Furthermore, the site says that it cannot confirm whether or not the film is even really set up at WB right now. Which is interesting. Dying to know more about this one, and hope that it can come together somewhere.
Meanwhile, Bret Easton Ellis said on Twitter (via The Playlist) “Keep looking at the script…Angelina and Franco for Theresa and Jeremy?…It doesn’t matter…I wrote it for them anyway…I just spaced…”
Unintended consequences
No matter the hand wringing and opprobrium of the legacy media - echoed by various pussified governments - the supposed Dubai hitfail not only resulted in a dead jihadi arms buyer, not only tightened all the right sphincters across the Middle East but has also turned out to be a recruiting bonanza for Mossad.
Because countless silenced millions witnessed, if only awry, an opportunity to hit back.
This is what psychologically healthy people want to do when they and they families have been targeted for rape and conquest by demon worshipping death cultists.
The Israeli spy agency Mossad may be the target of international reproach since it allegedly killed the Hamas leader Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in a Dubai hotel this month, but at home emerging details of the operation have generated Mossad mania.
More at the link. No job application forms, sadly.
Further: Given the thousands who saw it, I am a little disappointed not one of you had anything to say about my tribute to Kathy yesterday.
Extended definition: Yet more British Establishment anti-Semitism from the BBC.
If only.
Update: Assassination works; keep it up.
Slayer of Enemies
INS Arihant has departed on an extended high seas trial in anticipation of being inducted into the Indian Navy next year.
Godspeed.
Once inducted, ‘INS Arihant’ will be the third leg of the nuclear triad enabling India to have retaliatory second strike capability from the sea.
A second boomer is already under construction.
May your weapons be strong to drive away the attackers,
may your arms be powerful enough to check the foes,
let your army be glorious, not the evil-doer.
- Rig Veda 1-39:2
Around the inner solar system in 80 days
Franklin Chang-Diaz claims his Variable Specific Impulse Magnetoplasma Rocket (VASIMR) can dramatically shorten journey times to Mars.
Fortunately, I am certain the Chinese or the Indians will take him up on the idea.
It would send a shuttle hurtling towards the moon or Mars at ever-faster speeds up to an estimated
55 kilometres a second until the engines were reversed.
Dr Chang-Diaz, a veteran of seven shuttle missions, said the rapid acceleration could allow for trips of just 39 days instead of the anticipated round-trip voyage to Mars of three years, including a forced stay of 18 months.
I do not care who wins the "Olympic" gold medal in mens hockey tomorrow
That is all.
Deadmau5 feat. Rob Swire: Ghosts N Stuff
And live.
For anyone curious about the tail end of the live piece: The Reward is More Cheese.
February 26, 2010
My dream vacation
The "I was also a part of the Dubai Assassination Squad" Facebook group is the happening place to be on the intertubes.*
And from the "I was also a part of the Dubai Assassination Squad" Facebook group:
* It is just possible I may have made a minor alteration to the image accompanying this post.
Yet again, the harbinger
It is an honour to publish the following letter from Meir Weinstein, National Director of the Jewish Defence League of Canada to Hazel McCallion, Mayor of Mississauga, an outer borough of the metropolitan Toronto area. I realize that last bit is enough to make this sound like local news.
It isn't. The criminal foolishness of yet another elected official, this acquiescence to a second Holocaust (mirroring Canada's acquiescence to the first), is perhaps the single greatest threat both to the Jewish people and to the remainder of Western civilization for whom they have been our pathfinder, our teacher, our guide.
Her Worship Mayor Hazel McCallion
Office of the Mayor
City of Mississauga
300 City Centre Drive
Mississauga, Ontario L5B 3C1
Regarding your phone call to me tuesday evening, I would like to make it clear why we have chosen to protest the offices of Palestine House in Mississauga.
On SaturdayِApril 3rd , Palestine House will commemorate the 34th anniversary of Land Day, with Mr. Abdul Bari Atwan. Talking about Iran's nuclear capability on ANB Lebanese television on June 27, Abd Al-Bari Atwan, editor-in-chief of Al-Quds Al-Arabi newspaper, said, "If the Iranian missiles strike Israel, by Allah, I will go to Trafalgar Square and dance with delight."
As a Jew and a Canadian, I find this genocidal rhetoric offensive and dangerous. You referred to it as “foolish” and to just be ignored. I will never ignore those that preach genocide. A public figure with your stature and experience should know that this type of language incites hate and violence – and in today’s climate, should not be tolerated in any community. I must say, quite frankly, that I find your request for me to cancel the demonstration to be highly inappropriate.
Further, you told me that you are “intimately involved” with Palestine House – I’m not certain what “intimate involvement” means but I would suggest that you should use your influence to have this organization cancel their speaker and render a public apology.
Our protest will be organized and above all, peaceful.
Respectfully,
Meir Weinstein,
National Director Jewish Defence League of Canada
Why is the existence of Israel so wrong, and the existence of Canada so indisputable
Dave Gordon argues we boycott Israel and demonize Jews we also resist medical progess.
Which is most certainly true but also entirely beside the point. The people of Israel owe me no intellectual or technological debt. I owe the people of Israel a duty of care as a free man beside other free men.
Which is why I am republishing this comment to the piece instead.
Another chapter in the long book they are writing to conquer us
"President Allen West" has a nice ring to it (via Gates of Vienna).
February 25, 2010
Nigel Farage for Prime Minister
I don't want to be rude.
He compared the former Belgian prime minister to a "low-grade bank clerk" and said he came from a "non-country".
Not even tangentially related but obviously part of the same problem: Iraqi yob who spat on WWII hero's medals escapes jail.
Abdullah spat at Mr House as he chatted to friends outside a pub after the Memorial Day service in Portsmouth, Hampshire last year. He then ran off.
When he was interviewed, Abdullah showed no remorse and told officers he had done ‘nothing wrong’ adding: ‘F*** him and f*** his medals.’
For this, £200 in compensation and court costs plus some community service.
I understand why Abdullah has contempt for our traditions, our country and our dead.
Worse yet, I also understand why the British justice system has contempt for our traditions, our country and our dead.
Department Of Jihad
...
"It's like they're bringing al-Qaida lawyers inside the Department of Justice," said Debra Burlingame, whose brother was the pilot of the plane driven by terrorists into the Pentagon
On the superior attributes of Canada’s financial system
Harry Koza explains the real difference(s) between American and Canadian banking systems (pdf); more to do with a rational calculation of interest (if you will forgive the pun) than an excuse for a "re-regulation" of the United States banking system (via Small Dead Animals).
I realize this does not sound like gripping stuff. It is, however, the only convincing explanation of the problem I have yet to read.
Kylie's bloomers
An auction of Doctor Who props featured items of a yet more specialist interest.
A waitress outfit, boots and bloomers she wore when she played the tenth doctor's glamorous assistant went for £3,120 including tax and commission. Tennant's pale blue shirt fetched £1,260.
Also: The ten most valuable comic books in the world.
Locker: Predator
Vagina-face or no vagina-face, the homoerotic subtext of the Predator franchise was always more of a supertext.
February 24, 2010
Griðníðing
A spell cast against Iceland's enemies by members of the Ásatrú Society at the start of the banking crisis has finally began to bear results.
The griðníðing against Gordon Brown, written in English, reads as follows:
In London town this lying clown
our land he drowns and shatters.
Gordon Brown is going down,
his good renown in tatters.
Never underestimate the power of an AB rhyming scheme.
Amanda Palmer: Look Mummy (No Hands)
And the original performed by Dillie Keen of Fascinating Aïda. A friend of friend.
February 23, 2010
If your opponent is of choleric temperment, seek to irritate him
Japan calm as treasured status slips away.
Pentagon paints grim picture of Taiwan air defense.
I hope that sells some F-16s.
Social engineering
Sure, Labour opposed the racism of the British public, valiantly opposing it with the last ten years of importing new Labour voters.
But when it is their jobs on the line, Labour MPs lose their nerve.
Related: The only real revolutionary movement in the UK at the moment. Not that I am in favour of revolutionary movements. Even now, the rule of law could save us from ourselves, if only Her Majesty's government cared to impose it.
To serve man
Lord Martin Rees, president of the Royal Society and astronomer to the Queen, says aliens may be staring us in the face, we but lack the appropriate nervous system to apprehend them.
He is quite right, of course (I have read Lovecraft). The views of Dr Frank Drake are a different matter. This tool will suggest we like a beacon of some kind next.
At present, the Earth is surrounded by a 50 light year-wide "shell" of radiation from analogue TV, radio and radar transmissions. But although the signals have spread far enough to reach many nearby star systems, they are rapidly vanishing in the wake of digital technology, according to Dr Drake.
That 50 light year-wide shell could get us all killed. Something for all life on this planet to consider for the 100,000 years or for however long it takes for those television and radio transmissions to clear the galaxy.
February 22, 2010
The only known method of de-escalation is victory
Worldwide alert levels explained (via Jay Currie).
Sadly, I believe they are confusing the England of today with the vicarious 1950s England I had the good fortune to be brought up with as a child of emmigrants.
Worse still, they are confusing today's Bloody Nuisance with the threat of the Spanish Armada. Today's threat has no comparison since the days of Arthur.
Minarets our bayonets
Generals are trying to block construction of a mosque with two 100ft minarets next to Sandhurst military academy. Unusually for a time of delicate sensitivities, the Army's objection is not made on aesthetic grounds or with reference to early A.M. calls to prayer.
They are worried about being shot by snipers, apparently.
'There is very real concern that if this thing gets built then soldiers could be put at risk. ... It is outrageous to even think that the officers of the future would have to watch their backs while they are still in training.'
Hermes 900, cont.
Much excitement as Israel announces it has drones capable of reaching Iran and the Astute Bloggers claim to be "first in the blogosphere" to post the news.
Of course, if you read the Flea regularly, you know SpaceWar had the news two months ago.
February 21, 2010
Some perspective
David Horovitz waffles on at some length in response to an excessive opprobrium in the wake of an apparent assassination by Mossad agents in Dubai.
He needn't have bothered. He makes his case in his first sentence.
Not only that. The world is made better by the dispepsia of Robert Fisk.
Also: In case the sight of that was not enough to make you sign up for a Mossad hit team on a volunteer basis, consider the following.
Related: Profile of an assassin.
American immigrants won't do - they're too much like Israelis. Assassins need to work quietly, not attracting too much attention. So sending an American oleh on a complicated mission in a high-pressure environment, with many, many cameras, just won't work. The Anglo-Israeli, however, is at once quiet, reserved, self-effacing and unobtrusive; while at the same time managing to be assertive, aggressive, and in-your-face.
Snoops
The Aérospatiale Gazelle has always been one of my favourite helicopters to look at. I am delighted to learn the machine has been repurposed from its overt military role to a second life listening in on the British public's telephone calls and conversations on the ground.
And having learned of this second life, it is no surprise at all to learn MI5 and anti-terrorist police are especially interested in the private conversations of Manchester.
Those operations are part of a search for Britons who fought with the Taliban in Afghanistan and who may have returned to plot attacks in the UK. The hope is to match voice prints of men with British accents picked up by RAF spy planes monitoring Taliban battlefield signals.
Sachertorte
The Sacher Torte is a legendary Viennese treasure.
The nanny state
From a couple years back but of ever greater relevance: Theodore Dalrymple appears on Buitenhof, a Dutch Sunday morning political interview show. A translation of the introduction:
Zombie Girl: Go Zombie
With a shout out to Agent Bedhead who knows Goth is not dead, but dreaming.
February 20, 2010
Sucks to be you, Vancouver Olympics
Canada has confirmed a case of leprosy aboard an Olympic security cruise ship.*
Leprosy, also known as Hansen's disease, is curable and is not considered highly contagious, said provincial health officer Dr. Perry Kendall.
Colour me reassured.
* Whatever an Olympic security cruise ship might be when it is at home.
Born of Hope
Born of Hope is a feature film inspired by Lord of the Rings telling the story of Arathorn and Gilraen, the parents of Aragorn. Considering its £25,000 budget the piece is a triumph (via the Armored Facilities Manager).
The reviewer has clearly never been to Birmingham.
Reprieve
The Dutch coalition cabinet has fallen meaning elections must be held within 83 days. May democracy triumph over despotic lawfare.
It’s astounding to an American on-looker that such a Damocles’ sword would be permitted to hang over anyone’s head.
Canadians, not so astounded.
Women's secret turn-ons revealed
The perfect man is a geek with facial stubble. Check and check.
I can't say I am a passionate supporter of a sports team. Good thing too. 91 per cent of women surveyed prefer a man with a few flaws to someone perfect.
A Nuclear Iran
Peter Robinson of the Hoover Institution interviews Robert Baer and Victor Davis Hanson for Uncommon Knowledge.
February 19, 2010
The absurd trial of Geert Wilders
Mark Steyn on Geert Wilders and what is really on trial in the Netherlands. Do click through.
To put it in Canadian terms, it’s like the Crown hauling Michael Ignatieff into court. Well, except for the bit about being the most popular politician in the country and ahead in the polls and whatnot. But imagine if Iggy was less tin-eared and inept and his numbers were terrific—and then the Ministry of Justice announced it had decided to prosecute him for his policy platform. That’s what’s happening in the Netherlands.
Pawn to Queen's Bishop Four
India and Israel are to negotiate a bilateral free trade pact.
“The two leaders also agreed to continue to place emphasis on ties in the application of science and technology, particularly in areas related to agriculture and water management,” an Indian official said.
Agriculture and water management sound like Frank Herbert metaphors. What we are talking about is Desert Power.
War by yet another means
CBN reports five Muslim soldiers were arrested just before Christmas on suspicion of trying to poison the food supply at Fort Jackson in South Carolina.
The Army has a more nuanced account of events, saying despite ongoing investigations over the past two months no credible information to support the allegations of food poisoning has been found.
That said, what they have been investigating also sounds alarming.
She said the investigation involved potentially threatening comments toward fellow soldiers.
On Thursday, an Army spokesman at the Pentagon said the investigation involved allegations that soldiers' food was being poisoned, but no credible information to support the allegations was found.
Related: Fox.
February 18, 2010
Strategic zimzum
Spengler makes the case for an Israeli strike against Iran and, in so doing, makes the case for Israel as a regional superpower.
Iran's perceived attempt to acquire nuclear weapons, though, is not Israel's problem as such; the problem is that Israel is the ally of a superpower that does not want to be a superpower, headed by a president with a profound emotional attachment to a nostalgic image of the Third World. If America were in fact acting like a superpower, the problem would not have arisen in the first place, for the United States would use its considerably greater resources to destroy Iran's nuclear program.
Here's to regional superpowers.
February 17, 2010
Magician's Assistant Kylie
Kylie Minogue poses as a magician's assistant as she advertises Tous handbags
...
Kylie recently revealed that she finds it strange that people are attracted to her.
The popstar, who posed in a bodice and stockings for Spanish Vogue, said: 'It's not something I think about, but it's welcome. When one feels really wanted, it's something so intimate.'
Culture v Reality
Andrew Klavan explains "culture" to conservatives, a group less likely to be familiar with the term in their day to day lives than those employed in the culture industry.
Now, the culture: in Oliver Stone’s film JFK—nominated for Best Picture Oscar in 1991—Kennedy is a peaceful lefty contemplating a withdrawal from Vietnam. He’s assassinated by a vast right-wing cabal that includes every single person in America except for Oliver Stone. Reality, culture. Can you spot the difference?
Those poor folks in Alabama
Solomonia had a personal brush with University of Alabama shooter, Amy Bishop.
I feel the same way even though I never met the woman. But then I expect so does anyone who has had to face a tenure-track hiring committee. Not all of us have the foresight to leave our side-arms at home for the experience.*
Slightly edited reminiscences at the link.
* I kid, I kid.
Update: Further adventures in self regard (link and quote via Halls of Macademia).
I'd give her a solid B+.
Surfacescapes Dungeons & Dragons experience
Via Ace, who proclaims it to be an Age of Miracles and Wonders.
The Vulture Ministers
Anonymous gets back on message and considers Scientology's Volunteer Ministers.
February 16, 2010
Friend and/or foe
In case anyone thinks France selling Mistral-class assault ships to Russia is no big deal, Russia's naval chief begs to disagree.
One region affected is the Baltic, where Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, NATO’s most vulnerable members, are still waiting to see concrete plans for the alliance to defend them in a crisis. The other is the Black Sea. The Mistrals could matter in any conflict over Crimea in Ukraine, where Russia is due to give up a naval base in 2017. Russia’s naval chief, Admiral Vladimir Vysotsky, says that with such ships Russia would have won the 2008 war against Georgia “in 40 minutes instead of 26 hours”.
Hyperbole? Perhaps. Salt to taste but the man has a point, if only in terms of Russian expectations and consequent Russian behaviour.
Related: The United States faces the loss of maritime supremacy in the South China Sea. And, I might add, the Pacific Ocean.
More bad news: The aircraft carrier USS Kitty Hawk will not be sold to the Indian Navy.
This puts to rest all reports of the decommissioned carrier being offered to India, which, at one stage, expressed interest in the vessel.
...
At 82,000 tonne Kitty Hawk is twice the size of aircraft carrier Admiral Gorshkov that the Indian Navy has bought from Russia and which is expected to be inducted in 2012 after undergoing an extensive refit. This apart, the keel of India's first indegenous carrier was laid at the Cochin Shipyard last year.
The vital matter of priorities
The death of Nodar Kumaritashvili has exposed the "moral vaccuum" at the heart of the Vancouver Olympics. For one thing, Kumaritashvili had just 26 practice runs.
Canadians gave themselves 200.
Because that's how we roll.
Certainly, it has been drawn vividly enough in the last 48 hours, when the belief of some here that as the hosts they have overwhelming rights to every advantage, seems hardly to have been touched by charges that the Georgian's death was a direct result of the Canadian policy of hogging practice rights.
Altered consciousness
Having lost the battle for global supremacy economically and militarily, the Left turned to the battle for hearts and minds. To Janet Daley, New Labour's immigration policy is only one example of the move.
The object of the exercise was still to produce, in the words of an old Left-wing protest song, a "new world" based on a "new man". But now the new man (sorry, "person") would be formed not by changes in the power of capital or the ownership of the means of production, but in cultural attitudes and behaviour. The revolution now had to be confined to what went on in people's heads: to their values, their assumptions and their reactions to each other.
Unintended consequences: Of appeasement, for example. Britain's underworld belongs to the Muslims.
"Why do they hate us?" the Elois ask. Life is much simpler as a Morlock.
Retardis
There is no propaganda in service of the Revolution, only grim self parody. In this case, childrens' entertainment masked as a political philsophy; quite the opposite of what they had intended.
The headline speaks for itself.
No coincidence: Sylvester McCoy was the worst Doctor in the history of the franchise.
A war against us
Colonel Allen West answers a Marine's question (via Five Feet of Fury).
February 14, 2010
Na'vi... Nazi, call it an honest mistake
At long last, here it is. The apotheosis of cultural Marxism.
Don't blame the Na'vi, mind you. They can hardly help it if another imaginary people tries to steal their brand identity.
Olympic Resistance Network
The usual suspects making life difficult for the rule of law make violent protests against the Vancouver Olympics a bit of a non-event.
There is the off chance their aims are less banal than their methods.
The ORN is an umbrella group for many causes surrounding the games, ranging from environmental to economic issues. The most prominent involve aboriginal activists who want to reclaim their property ("No Olympics on Stolen Ancient Land") and those angry over the amount of money spent on the Olympics as opposed to public housing ("Homes Not Games").
No. Just as banal as their methods.
A shame that. I too am opposed to the Olympics and might have enjoyed participating in a "resistance network". But seeing as we have spent a billion dollars on security alone, I expect I could come up with something much better to piss away the money on than converting real estate into stone age hunting grounds and building grass huts for people too lazy to pay rent (or build their own damned grass huts).
Exit question: What will it cost me for the broadcast rights to Vancouver cops beating down street protests?
Another thing: Not that I am a fan of Vancouver cops either.
Related: I have nothing against snow boarding though, admittedly, I have nothing for snow baording either. The ritualized, comformist performance of rebellion is a bit tired but even that is nothing peculiar for the average teenager. Or, for that matter, for what is left of civilization.
The Left is always wrong
The United States military has shot down a ballistic missile with a high-powered laser weapon mounted to a modified Boeing 747.
Video at the link. Watch it and pause for a moment to consider a scientific consensus that said Star Wars was impossible.
The minority that dare not speak its name
White British (i.e. the British) are the only part of the UK population to have declined in the last decade after a third of a million British left the country.
...
Australia continued to be the most popular destination for emigrants while Spain and America were also popular.
Cause and effect: Peter Hitchens on a related subject. But then they are all related subjects at the end of days.
February 13, 2010
Though I give the place too much credit
Their cover story blown, the owners of Minas Morgul must now account for the tourists trapped in an elevator for the better part of hour 124 floors up in the world's tallest building.
The 15 people inside were trapped for 45 frightening minutes until rescuers managed to pry open the doors. One of those trapped in the elevator said that the lights went off and the car began to fall before the brakes kicked in.
Because the elevator was apparently stuck between floors, workers had to drop a ladder into the shaft so those inside could crawl out.
Judging by the comments, Daily Mail readers view the plight of the Burj Dubai with some degree of ambivalence.
- john burgess, andover ny USA, 10/2/2010
How to destroy a soldier’s life
210 reasons for the collapse of the Western Empire
Watching the collapse of our latter day Western Empire, Victor Davis Hanson asks if we are all Romans now.
Entitlements and official corruption were for centuries subsidized by the profits accruing from global standardization and Romanization — brought about by the implementation and imposition of Roman law, order, and commerce throughout the Mediterranean. As long as the empire was cohesive, it brought in thousands yearly into its sphere of influence.
...
So such global uniformity created real wealth in newfound places faster than such bounty could corrupt the citizens in the old Italian core to the degree to bring down what was now a world system. In other words, the creation of entirely new cities like Leptis or the growth of Asian centers such as Ephesus, brought previously unproductive tribal folk into the Roman system at precisely the time old Romans were no longer doing the things that had once created their own vibrant culture that swept the Mediterranean — the ancient version of the Chinese youth working 10 hours in an Adidas factory while an American counterpart is still “finding himself.”
You can see where this is headed. Here is the trouble: America is already Byzantium to Britain's Rome; we are fast running out of imperial space left to collapse. What we need now is the equivalent of some Irish monasteries. Somewhere for the accumulated science and wisdom of the West to ride out the coming storm of the centuries while we pray through the dark for an Indian Renaissance.
The mills of justice grind slowly
But they grind much more quickly with a video camera and YouTube (via Five Feet of Fury).
“I videotaped the speeches that were given at the corner of Bloor Street and Avenue Road without any trouble,” Hill told the Jewish Tribune. “I then followed the marchers on their route to Dundas Square. According to Hill, “On Yonge Street, a stranger approached me from out of nowhere, behaved in an aggressive manner and spat in my face.”
Later at home, Hill discovered that she had captured most of the incident on videotape and it was then that she discovered the power of internet blogs. She uploaded her video to the internet and asked for help in identifying the man shown in the tape.
Gaza Freedom March, Yonge Street, Toronto, December 27, 2009: "Who is this man at Gaza Freedom March, Toronto?"
John Boone of Hamilton is scheduled to appear in court on March 15 to be charged in connection with the case.
Alexandra Burke: Broken Heels
After a break-out US hit, presumably. This might do it.
February 12, 2010
Alexander McQueen, R.I.P.
Terrible news at the loss of Alexander McQueen, a truly great designer, and worse yet for the implication something had gone terribly wrong in the man's life.
McQueen, the controversial creative genius who clothed the world's biggest stars, was found hanged at his £2million Mayfair apartment on the eve of his mother Joyce's funeral.
Above: Alexander McQueen MANET hat by Joel-Peter Witkin 2006.
Illustrative: Alexander McQueen Fall Winter 2009/10 Womenswear.
Posh totty
Leafy suburbs, £4,000-a-term schools and stockbroker fathers: The middle-class girls storming the Brits (hat tip to Jeff).
Here, we take a look at the crowd of nice girls who are set to shine this year.
February 11, 2010
The Nazification of Canadian universities
Two Jewish students at York University in Toronto were assaulted on Monday during a "pro-Israel program."
It is with no small irony one notes an anti-Hamas campaign is also the only real pro-Palestinian program at York University, if only "Palestinians" had the wit to appreciate the gesture.
Golden said that the debate that had sprung up between the Hasbara people and the anti-Israel individuals quickly escalated into an angry mob of around 50 students, who surrounded his group and chanted anti-Israel and anti-Semitic slurs. “Security has asked us, when we come across these types of things, to call them which we did, as well as videotape it so they can see the faces and hear the voices of the people that do it. A few students on the other side were upset that there were cameras in their faces, so they started yelling and screaming. As they were trying to push cameras out of the way, they actually hit two students.”
The Jewish Defence League of Canada has offered a $500 reward for information about the assailants.
Agni-V
India is set to test a new nuclear-capable missile with a 3,100-mile (5000-km) range within a year.
"Agni-V is out of the drawing board. We are aiming for a flight trial within a year," V.K. Saraswat, India's chief military scientist told reporters.
India successfully tested the Agni-III missile, which has a 3000-km range, at the weekend and is ready to bring it into the military.
Shaping operation
The SAS and US Navy SEALs have killed up to fifty Taliban commanders in the last two weeks in preparation for a "massive offensive."
Their objective was to destroy the Taliban command structure - and military sources labelled the daring raids "a great success".
A bridge for sale in Haiti
With the power of voodoo and the United Nations on their side, Haitians should have this whole earthquake thing sorted out presently.
To make use of that resource, the United Nations has reached out to the vast and influential network of about 60,000 voodoo priests in Haiti, Beauvoir said. And the priests, firmly entrenched in their displaced communities, are eager to lend a hand.
“Priests are considered to be leaders,’’ David Wimhurst, a UN spokesman here, said of the voodoo hierarchy. “And community leaders obviously have a role to play to help the humanitarian effort.’’
So there you have it: Voodoo priests are community organizers and, one speculates, vice versa. Just take care where you repeat the comparison. It is either empowering or racist depending on who says it.
A related thought: I had been wondering what might draw Scientology to Haiti in the wake of the quake. It is not as though the average Haitian can afford the Bridge to total freedom.
But there is one thing Haiti has that Scientology might want very much: Sovereignty.
Time is an illusion. Lunchtime doubly so.
Archaeologists reconsider the space-time continuum after finding a century-year-old Swiss watch in a Ming dynasty tomb sealed more than four centuries years ago.
The mysterious timepiece was encrusted in mud and rock and had stopped at 10:06 am.
Watches were not around at the time of the Ming Dynasty and Switzerland did not even exist as a country, an expert pointed out.
Thank goodness for experts.
If you want to get along, go along
Jonah Goldberg considers the Audi Super Bowl ad. Along the way he spots the perps behind the downfall of, amongst other things, empire, conservatism and centuries of struggle for civil liberty.
The difference is that MasterCard’s ads were earnest, creepy, diabetes-inducing treacle. Audi’s ad not only fails to invest the greens with moral authority, it concedes that the carbon cops are out of control and power-hungry (in a postscript scene, the Green Police pull over real cops for using Styrofoam cups). But, because resistance is futile when it comes to the eco-Borg, you might as well get the best car you can.
And invited to all the best parties.
February 10, 2010
War of the Poses Day III: Pose Another Day
Pin up fever sweeps the Canadian dextrosphere! I figure the least I can do is represent for Team Goth and send some traffic toward the incomparable Apneatic (not remotely safe for most workplaces, apparently, not having a membership myself it is a matter of pure conjecture).
An aside for the Flea's fundamentalist Muslim readership, potentially offended by the sight of a turned ankle:
You spins the wheel, you takes your chances.
Why the Army doesn't train on Xboxes
It isn't about the technology. Michael Peck investigates Microsoft's initial refusal to sell Xboxes to the United States Army for training purposes.
* Microsoft was afraid that the military would buy up lots of Xbox 360s, but would buy only one game for each of them, so MS wouldn’t make much money off of the games.
* A big military purchase could create a shortage of Xbox 360s.
* If the Xbox became an Army training device, it could taint its reputation. Microsoft was concerned that “do we want the Xbox 360 to be seen as having the flavor of a weapon? Do we want Mom and Dad knowing that their kid is buying the same game console as the military trains the SEALs and Rangers on?” Smith told me during an interview for Training & Simulation Journal.
Not surprising perhaps, the Army has cooled on Microsoft.
February 09, 2010
The right to evaluate risk for oneself
Mark Steyn has almost certainly violated (some new) English law by publishing the following (via Five Feet of Fury).
Silver lining: It turns out all you have to do to get kicked out of the EU is go bankrupt. Britain is closer to safe harbour than I had suspected.
That said, there are rocks at the harbour mouth; Greece is not the only European country with a political class so shy of responsibility they cede national sovereignty they do not own to a power they have imagined into being for this purpose.
At some point, I have to stop reporting news from England: White Cliffs of Dover to be sold to the French to help reduce Government's debt
The proposal for the port has prompted outrage.
"Outrage." I am certain that will have the blighters quaking in their boots.
February 08, 2010
Follow Me
The provocateur.
Kathy's salvo!
Update: The rules of engagement at Blazing Cat Fur.
Generalizing from experience
Test subjects were able to accurately identify candidates from the 2004 and 2006 U.S. Senate elections as either Democrats or Republicans based on black-and-white photos of their faces (hat tip to the Sister of the Flea).
The authors concluded that people possess "a general and imperfect" ability to infer political affiliation based on facial appearance, which is related to stereotypes about Democrat and Republican personalities.
Multi-national
Methinks he doth protest too much.
Elsewhere: France plans to sell as many as four Mistral assault ships to Russia.
Which may go some way toward explaining a change in Russian inclinations: Officials from the United States, France and Russia called Monday for stronger measures against Tehran.
London Sound Survey: Outside Charing Cross Station
Many more recordings from the London Sound Survey at http://www.soundsurvey.org.uk.
February 07, 2010
The male curiosity motive
Tasmin Egerton finds sex scenes "horrendous", apparently. But to report the fact is not my motive in drawing the story to your attention.
I have no clue who "Jim Hason, Ilford" might be but his comment - absurd as I think it might be - is more interesting than anything in the Daily Mail's reportage; a fact I am happy to generalize across the entire MSM presence on line and, perhaps, the salvation of their business model.
With this in mind, if anyone might suggest a straightforward comment system I might use to replace TypePad, please let me know. I am after some combination of simple registration, CAPTCHA and/or spam blocking in a system I can plug in to my creaking Moveable Type 3.2 set up. Something a bit more user friendly too, please. This might go some distance toward a proper conversation.
What would Byzantium do?
Edward Luttwak: If the west really wants to fix Afghanistan, it should learn from an ancient, brutal empire (via In Harmonium).
Sounds like a plan.
With Afghanistan, the west faces a simple strategic calculus: too costly to stay in, too risky to leave. A Byzantine response would be, first to withdraw the west’s scarce, expensive troops, and arm local proxies instead. This was the standard remedy for turbulent, worthless lands where no taxes could be collected, but which were to be denied to enemies: an improvement over the Romans’ fondness for battles of attrition and annihilation.
RTWT. Not that I am entirely convinced. All I am saying is give battles of attrition and annihilation a chance.
Ender's Gamers
StrategyPage suggests something I had long suspected: Video games make you smarter and faster. That said, I am open to the idea smarter and faster people are drawn to video games rather than simply made smarter and faster by them, a possibility I hope the Office of Naval Research took into account (the following lifted in its entirety from Quotulatiousness, with thanks).
The army noted the same thing, especially under combat conditions. For example, because so many troops had years of experience with video games, they took to CROWS (the remotely controlled machine-gun turret on many vehicles) quickly, and very effectively. The guys operating these systems grew up playing video games. They developed skills in operating systems (video games) very similar to the CROWS controls. This was important, because viewing the world around the vehicle via a vidcam is not as enlightening (although a lot safer) than having your head and chest exposed to the elements, and any firepower the enemy sends your way. But experienced video gamers are skilled at whipping that screen view around, and picking up any signs of danger. The army now has a CROWS trainer built into its America’s Army online game. Many NCOs believe that all that multitasking kids do with their computers (and other electronic gadgets) have made the combat troops more effective.
Canada, j'accuse!
Christopher Hitchens and I are of one mind on the following: The Olympics and other international competitions breed conflict and bring out the worst in human nature.
Well, especially the bloody Olympics. If it is a European Cup final conflict and the worst in human nature are more by way of a feature than a bug.
But I want these words tattooed on the foreheads of every Canadian Michael Moore fan.
February 06, 2010
Liquid can be heard when the crates are moved
Five pine cases of rare 101-year-old Mackinlay's Rare Old Whisky (and some brandy as well) have been discovered intact in the ice under Ernest Shackleton's Antarctic hut.
Gentlemen: We have an objective.
Distillers Whyte and Mackay, which supplied the whisky, hope the drink can then be analysed so they can replicate the original forgotten blend.
'This is a gift from the heavens for whisky lovers," said Richard Patterson, master blender at Whyte and Mackay. 'If the contents can be confirmed, safely extracted and analysed, the original blend may be able to be replicated. Given the original recipe no longer exists this may open a door into history.
Outlaw lampshades
Theodore Dalrymple has worked out how to save the planet.
As my friend was uttering these heretical words — I am sure he would be burned at the stake for them, if it were not for the carbon emissions thereof — he happened to be screwing one of those new, energy-saving (and now mandatory) light bulbs into a light fixture. These new bulbs always seem to me to cast a kind of yellowing gloom rather than light, the color approximately of the pages of bad-quality paper in old books, reminiscent — perhaps not coincidentally — of artificial illumination in the Eastern Europe of the good old days.
Then it came to me — the solution.
At the link!
The emotional deficiencies of the masses
Charles Krauthammer calls it "The great peasant revolt of 2010" (via Five Feet of Fury).
Men at work: Land down under
This has been going round and round in my head said I read about the lawsuit. Tag!
Related: Chunder.
February 05, 2010
Anna Paquin and crisps
Anna Paquin is marrying somebody who plays a vampire on tv. Gripping stuff. Thought I should bring it to your attention. Also, crisps.
Images: Marie Claire.
Lancing the boil
I will be curious to learn if it is still racist when a Labour cabinet minister says it.
Margaret Hodge warns British values of openness and tolerance are under threat because of an increasing sense of 'unfairness' over immigration. The Culture Minister is calling for a new points system - based on length of residence or national insurance contributions - to determine that only migrants who have made a fair contribution to society get the same rights as local families.
Mrs Hodge, who is facing a General Election challenge from BNP leader Nick Griffin, told the Daily Mail it was time to 'lance the boil' of growing discontent over the wave of economic migrants entering Britain. Labour strategists fear there are signs that the far-Right BNP will mount a 'serious challenge' in her Barking, East London seat.
Note here the problem as it is construed by the Establishment. To the Culture Minister, the points system is not meant to redress actual injustice but only the perception of injustice on the part of Britain's white working-/permanent under-class. Not only does this formula absolve the Establishment of its policies these last 40 years but so too the divine terror atrocities, child sexual mutilation and chattel ownership of women practised by the victims of white working class "racism".
Perhaps most grotesque of all is the spectre of the Establishment promising legislation it believes to be at best misguided, at worst racist, now at long last it comes time to appease the British people.
Operation Catapult
When The Daily Mail publishes this sort of twaddle, what hope is there for England?
Moments later, the Bretagne capsized. 'The water was black with oil that was smoking and bubbling, like a chip pan, and men were struggling and screaming in it. But I had to jump in. I fell into that oil and I let myself sink, sink, sink. I was so burned.'
Jaffre had joined the navy determined to fight the Nazis. But the shells that rained down on him that morning were not German ones. They were British, fired by men that Jaffre knew well.
'Only two weeks before, we'd been with the British in Gibraltar, out on the town,' he says, 'and then suddenly they're firing on us. It was unthinkable.' Jaffre's comrade Leon Le Roux remembers the same shock. 'Today we're allies, tomorrow we're enemies. The reasons for it? For that see Sir Winston Churchill.'
No. The reasons for that? The French Navy, preferring to side with Vichy and the Nazis than man it up and fight the war (though I realize to ask such a thing is to mock a French disability and in so doing risk bringing Vichy and the Nazis into hatred and contempt).
Well, they got to fight the Royal Navy instead and, at the time, that still meant only one thing.
Pajama Jeans
Hat tip to the Sister of the Flea.
February 04, 2010
This is what terrorist prisoners did to me
And why they should be tried at Guantanamo. Content warning (via Ace).
We were back at their cell. It's only me and those two guys. No supervisors. Just the three of us. Somehow, they slipped out of their handcuffs.
They sprayed me with some kind of hot sauce. I couldn't see. They pulled me into the cell and hit me — boom, boom. They hit me so much, I swear to God, like a hundred times.
I hit my radio. I thought help would come.
They wanted the keys for the other prisoners, but they couldn't find them. They were in my front pocket. I used to be big, 300 pounds, and I was laying on them. I gave them my car keys.
About halfway through, they used a comb — thick and long, about 10 inches, with a handle. They'd taken the teeth out and sharpened it like a knife.
They put it in my left eye. It went three inches into my brain.
The end of the RAF
Sir Jock Stirrup, who is not a P.G. Wodehouse character but Air Chief Marshal, said it was only "plausible" the Royal Air Force would still exist as a separate service from the Royal Navy in ten years time.
Sir Jock made his comments at the unveiling of the Government's Green Paper on military reform, which lays the groundwork for a full-scale strategic defence review after the General Election.
More bad news: Anyone care to guess what it will cost to process - let alone house, medicate and educate - the barbarian horde at Calais?
Not to worry, let's destroy the Royal Navy instead.
However, with a strategic defence review only months away, that will inevitably lead to cuts — particularly in the Navy and RAF — naval commanders believe that the cost implications for the Senior Service have not been fully grasped.
If you live in downtown Toronto, it would be difficult to find a soul who would not put "housing immigrants" ahead of "military procurement" in a list of spending priorities. The failure of the West is not a technological failure, not even an economic failure, it is a failure of reason.
The Open Road London (1927)
Stunning colour film of 1920s London.
It shows scenes of London Bridge, the Thames, the Tower of London, Greenwich Observatory, the London docks, Whitehall, the Cenotaph, Trafalgar Square, Hyde Park, Marble Arch, Petticoat Lane, the Oval, the Changing of the Guard, Rotten Row, and the Houses of Parliament.
The Cenotaph sequence from around 3:37 to 3:54 is very poignant. This was filmed only nine years after the end of the Great War. The women and looking at the wreaths would very likely be wives and mothers of the men killed, and the Second World War was, at that time, inconceivable.
February 03, 2010
Not your father's paganism
My only objection to the outdoor worship space for Pagans, Wiccans, Druids and other "Earth-centered believers" at the United States Air Force Academy is to have their views represented by self-described pagan, Tech. Sgt. Brandon Longcrier. Given the 15 to 20 cadets showing an interest in "Earth-centered beliefs" they should have managed a better spokes-entity than this.
Longcrier said he personally doesn't consider gods and goddesses to be actual beings but personifications of natural events that human ancestors wanted to put a face on.
"The goddess is symbolic of the Earth," Longcrier said. "Do I believe I'm worshipping this female entity living in the Earth or up in space somewhere? No. The symbolism is very important."
Not to worry, Longcrier; the Goddess believes in you.
Even so, give me a devotee of Shango or Huitzilopochtli over this Unitarian version of paganism any day. Next you will tell me they have replaced the mead with dealcoholized beer (only 60 calories and no salt!).
Marvels
Superimposed superheroes and villains in wartime by Indonesian artist and illustrator Agan Harahap.
Which, given some juxtapositions, sounds like bullshit.
February 02, 2010
The breeding ground of fundamentalism
Calling England "a cesspit" and "the breeding ground of fundamentalist Muslims,” Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka claims Umar Farouq Abdulmutallab was radicalized in London, not Nigeria (via Blazing Cat Fur).
“Remember, that country was the breeding ground for communism, too. Karl Marx did all his work in libraries there."
Having studied at the same desks at the old British Library, the comparison with Marx (and Lenin) had also come to me.
The following observation, of more immediate interest, had not.
"It all began when he assumed the power of life and death over the life of a writer. This was a watershed between doctrinaire aggression and physical aggression. There was an escalation. The assumption of power over life and death then passed to every single inconsequential Muslim in the world—as if someone had given them a new stature.
Unlike the Soviets
Professor of National Security Studies at the Naval War College, Nikolas K. Gvosdev claims the Soviets came closer than people think to victory in Afghanistan. I am not in a position to quibble with the facts of his case, let alone to assess how much of Soviet doctrine and tactics might usefully informed the West's current attempts to pacify the place.
But given our enshrinement of Sharia law into what I shall laughingly refer to as Afghanistan's constitution, I am forced to wonder if I have been on the wrong side all along.
Related: Taliban collaborators go unpunished in Helmand. The NYT puts a different spin on the piece...
“Our impression,” he added, “is the people are doing it because they are getting paid to do it.”
Tar and feathers
Danny Williams, Conservative Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador, is off to the United States for heart surgery.
Because health care in Canada is "free".
More: Ed Morrissey.
In this case, one of the governing elite that insists on imposing a single-payer system on the rest of the country has opted out of it when the going got tough.
And Small Dead Animals.
Treevenge
Treevenge
Uploaded by Shua_. - Full seasons and entire episodes online.
Via Jonah Goldberg.
February 01, 2010
An act of war, if you can keep it
DEBKAfile's Iranian sources report that the Basijj militia chiefs have a plan to seize the British embassy in Tehran. The key word in the previous sentence being DEBKA so salt to taste. It is charming, at least, to imagine the Iranians still imagine British prestige a target worth attacking.
Britain maintains two embassy compounds in Tehran - one downtown occupies a 100-yer old landmark building surrounded by a large garden and a wall; the other housing the embassy's nerve center and living quarters on a large site which the deposed shah presented to Her Majesty's Government as a gift.
Could this be the telling blow to global powers promised for February 11 (a Drudge Report link to the story may have overwhelmed PressTV)? And is the move related to American deployment of a missile shield for US "allies" in the Gulf? Syria calling up troops from its Fourth Reserve?
A change in China's attitude
The Washington Post belatedly notices mainland China could present a problem.
Lieberthal said another factor in China's new tone is a sense that after two centuries of exploitation by the West, China is resuming its role as one of the great nations of the world.
Yes, and after one year of what might be the weakest administration in American history. Though one might add freeing China from imperial Japan to the list of Western exploits (if not exploitation).
Order
I managed 9/10 on The Era Order Quiz; my New York Yankees history was not up to the task (via AoSHQ).