DONT BE A VENGEFUL GOD!

Just don't

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at 03:07 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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Todays lesson gentle readers is how to not comment coherently and politely.

I have a tremendous respect for any of those talented souls who are not only creative but the drive and discipline to actually produce these things.

You would never get that impression from what I typed in this post.

Behold my descent into asshattery.

No, I have no idea. Usually I have at least a BIT of tact and sense....

Anyway, here is an open letter to all the writers who have been hosed by their producers not paying them.....

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at 02:27 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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( I thought Danny Choo was too short to be a storm trooper)

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 Dave Kilcullin  recently gave a talk on counter insurgency at a seminar hosted  by the Small Wars Journal. It's quite interesting.

Dr. Kilcullin was a senior adviser to General Petraeus and is now working for the Secretary of State. The powerpoint for the talk is here, and it is a damned good one. Additionally, there is an hour long interview with Dr. Kilcullin by Charlie Rose here.
More on Dr. Kilcullin here.

The recent improvements we've seen in Iraq have been due in no small part to the efforts of Dr. Kilcullin.

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at 06:14 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Yes kids, Batman Jones.

All is explained here.

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at 05:46 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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That's the sound of me spewing ITOEN Green Tea in front of the cybercafe baristas....

 I read the article discussed in this post and thought at first it HAD to be a parody.  I read the article....and read it again....checked the URL. Nope it is a legit article....though "legit" may be too strong a word.

Come ON people....I mean LOOK AT THE FRICKING PHOTO!


(The actual caption reads: Though street crime is relatively low in Japan, quirky camouflage designs like this vending-machine dress are being offered to an increasingly anxious public to hide from would-be assailants.)

 Golly willakers! I THOUGHT there were a lot of vending machines over there....I guess I was just not noticing the little tennis shoe shod feets poking from under their cunning disguises.

DAMNIT!! I suck as a ninja!

In all seriousness, this is really kind of alarming.

Bill Keller....put down the crack pipe and move away from the paper.


Actually, when I was in Japan in August, the main thing that people were concerned about crime-wise was a rash of motorcycle thefts.....and children riding double on bikes. One night I missed the last train out of Shibuya, and just wandered the streets of Tokyo for 6 hours overnight. I never felt the need for an ersatz vending machine.
(Though to be honest, I never really gave it any thought)

HT: Chizumatic...who also points out this article that proves that a story can be dumb, bizzare and silly, yet still be actual journalism.

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at 05:26 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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I didn't SAVE the long unfinished post...I posted it...
All will be better soon....

more...

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at 01:49 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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IT'S A LIE!!!!

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at 09:00 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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art by RYU

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Over at Chizumatic is a long, thoughtful and rather brave disquisition on the pressing topic of otaku dream girls. Stephen points out the biggest of many hurdles there are to Otaku dating.....(incidentally, this very nebbish factor is one reason I tend not to like harem shows).

Meanwhile, in the UK a scientist has pointed out what might happen if we forlorn Otaku are allowed to breed, instead of being the evolutionary dead ends that so many of our predecessors were.

Truly frightening prospects, but I'm doing my bit to keep this dystopia at bay..

I'm watching Chobits.....

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at 08:48 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Eaglespeak has pictures of a recent engagement off the horn of Africa between a pirate skiff....and a US Destroyer.

_{(Note to Pirates...if the USN or USCG tell you to heave-to or be fired upon, the correct answer is "A")}

In a related story, via Wonderduck, the crew of the North Korean freighter that was recently siezed by Somali pirates has with some USN assistance, overpowered and captured or killed their captors according to this BBC report .

Korea was a Japanese posesssion for around 40 years, so this may have relevance to the pressing question of who would win.

Ninjas or Pirates

Discuss:

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at 08:13 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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One of the Brickmuppets crack team of science babes reports on this interesting design from India. Yes, Brickmuppeteers, it's a compact nuclear reactor that produces 100kw of energy from a 1m³ space!

Of course, it's heavy...being, you now, one cubic meter of heavy metal, but this could have applications for the shipping industry as well as remote power production in space or the third world. Such a device could run freshwater stills and provide distrbuted power supplies.

Note that a reactor is not a power source unless its fitted for radiothermal generation, (and then it's not really efficient). This device would have to be hooked up to a boiler to harness its energy. In fact it was designed in part with railroads in mind...the thing is small enough it could just sit in the firebox!

(OK "sit" does not convey the complexity o the connections involved)

IF they can make this thing as robust as one of NASA's rtg generators....this could fill a very useful little niche.

I WANT AN ATOMIC POWERED STANELY STEAMER!!!!

Ahem.....

More or less Stanley Steamer-free discussion here, at Kirk Sorensen's excellent thorium advocacy site, where one finds cool stuff like this all the damned time.

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Posted by: The Brickmuppet at 06:34 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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1

Glad to hear you can at least get upright.

I've got a friend over there who just finished his three years with JET. He got himself another job at a university translating application documents into English. I hope the collapse doesn't flood his office with cheap(er) immigrant labor .

Posted by: Will at Mon Oct 29 20:38:59 2007 (E3UGR)

2 I'm glad you are feeling better!

Posted by: Marina at Tue Oct 30 00:42:27 2007 (z3dTy)

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After several days of improvement I took a turn for the worst Friday.
I may actually need spinal surgery. I'll find out Monday or Tuesday. It took me an hour to put my shoes on last night and the pain is pretty much constant.

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at 09:13 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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 This has certainly been making the rounds but it does bear linking to.

Asshat reporter acts like pompous jerk.

Asshat reporter proudly blogs about his asshattery.

For possibly the only time in the entire history of the serious biddness that is the intwerweb (from as far back as when it was a series of straws) 196 commenters are in complete agreement on something.

Thank you asshat reporter.

You indirectly made me  LOL.

You are truly a legendary asshat.

Update: Docweasel, who preserved the legendary moment of internet unity, has relevant updates here and here. The reporter is taking pains to cover for his wire service (which shows professionalism) and does seem contrite. He seems like a pushy arrogant little cuss, but most reporters are. If they weren't there wouldn't be any Spider Jerusalem would there? Docweasel considers the issue closed.

Credit where its due, he’s not cutting and running, as he easily could, he’s come back to explain, apologize and take his licks. Ok, that chapter is done, its rude and useless to keep bashing the guy once he’s apologized.

 Fair enough. Additionally being IN Iraq and OUTSIDE the green zone puts him way ahead of a lot of reporters. So, loyal Brickmuppeteers, don't go harassing the guy on his new blog, that's tacky, stalky, and otherwise smells of Code Pinko behavior...just don't.

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at 06:20 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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 Don looks at Ghost Hound....

  Given the creators of Ghost Hound, I was afraid that the show might be pretentious, incoherent or incomprehensible. The first episode suggests a worse possiblity: it might be dull.

Oh dear....

Astro, on the other hand, seems to like it thus far and has other recomendations as well.

It certainly looks cool. I'll most likely give it a try.

Both Astro and Wonderduck seem to agree that Sketchbook is a worthy bit of quirkieness.

Ubu claims to have discovered the result of combining "win" and "awesome".

Tangentially related, Jason has mathematically reduced the series of the Fall 2007 season to their constituent components .  (There seems to be fair ammount of "lose" and "fail" in this list. )

No idea when/ if I'll see any of these. Right now, to the extent I'm watching anything, I'm watching.....Chobits....for the first time.

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at 05:36 PM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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Bumped to top

I started to link to this in the post below.... indeed it is what actually set me off...but it is too important to be buried in a linkfest.

It is also an example of the type of reportage that is far too rare.

Michael Yon reports on the HUGE dichotomy between what is reported and what is now happening in Iraq.

READ THE WHOLE THING

He is now offering his dispatches for free in a desperate attemtpt to get this story out. But he needs help.

This is where my readers come in, at least those among them who share the concern that the distorted picture most Americans have of the situation in Iraq has strategic (and disastrous) implications for this war, our national security, and the stability of one of the most volatile regions on the planet.

Those readers can first check to see if their local paper is a member of the NNA . Because only NNA members will be able to

” . . . print excerpts of Michael Yon’s dispatches, including up to two of his photographs from each dispatch. Online excerpts may use up to 8 paragraphs, use 1-3 photos, and then link back to the full dispatch on his site saying ‘To continue reading, click here.’”

If their local paper is a member of NNA, readers can contact the editor, urging their participation. [If Bob Owens’ experience is a reliable indicator, this might take several prompts.] By encouraging their local daily or weekly newspapers to reprint these dispatches in their print editions, more people without internet access can begin to see a more accurate reflection of the progress I have observed and chronicled in dispatches like “Achievements of the Heart,” “7 Rules: 1 Oath,” “The Hands of God,” and “Three Marks on the Horizon.” 

Yon is a freelancer who is travels between Iraq and Afganistan. He has reported on the war warts and all and was one of the first to point out missteps in the early days of the occupation. He also reports on the success being made and is doing some of the finest Journalism I've ever seen.

He has no suport other than his articles and donations. He's just given up on the former, so please consider supporting him with the latter.

More Here:

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at 10:31 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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Chizumatic links to this important development in super science.

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at 09:46 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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 "A"s in all exams taken...current grades in all for-credit classes... "A"

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at 09:08 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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Ed Morrisey comments on this piece by Craig Franklin, a Jena resident (and reporter) who sets straight some of the facts about the situation in Jena Louisiana that were missed or misreported by reporters who told a story of horrid racism, nosses hanging from trees, dreadful inequity and the railroading of a group of six innocents whoes only crime was to be the wrong color.

A complelling story that needed to be told except that the narrative was incorrect in almost every way.

Sayeth Mr. Franklin

There's just one problem: The media got most of the basics wrong. In fact, I have never before witnessed such a disgrace in professional journalism. Myths replaced facts, and journalists abdicated their solemn duty to investigate every claim because they were seduced by a powerfully appealing but false narrative of racial injustice. 

More here at NRO which makes a point that I'd heard a couple of times but been unable to pin down...ie that the poor oppresed thug in this case kept getting a pass because he was a star on the football team.

This is terrible. It's not just that these ingorant know-it-all BoBo's are slandering good people and fanning the embers of hatred. They are crying wolf and people who have heard about this and the Duke Rape Case might not be so ready to believe a similar tale when its real. This only leads to more hate, which will no doubt be profitable for the press.

There was a time when a story like that of Jayson Blair or Stephen Glass were shocking. Now it seems that they were just par for the course.

TNR, who got burned by glass has been caught trying to cover up a smear campaign on US troops, one that they wanted desperately to believe, but that had been typed by a disgruntled Army Specialist who fancied himself the next Hemmingway. OK so they got snookered, but if they'd fact checked it at all they would have never published it. Now we know that it was the New Republic and not the Army that was lying about their access to the vile little man. They could have cleared this up by a mea culpa but they let it fester and feed the malignant antimilitary bile that so consumes their readership.

It gets worse....

This long war is as much about perceptions as anything, and the press is always there to broadcast to the 4 winds 24/7 any scrap of dirt on the conduct of the war real or imagined. However, good news or even inspiring news....isn't news.

And here is more on the same topic.

Yes this is a stock wail on the media post...but this is an important thing.

Do click follow the above links, most of them are to sites that lean to the right to be sure,  but in many cases those stories would never see the light of day (beyond page 31 of the paper) otherwise. THAT is the problem.

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at 08:40 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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