July 03, 2013
Fingers are Crossed
As the Egyptian military promised, there has been a coup.
Wait...Those aren't cluster-bombs!
The Egyptian people seem to be taking the military takeover rather well. The Military does not seem to be rolling over the civilians with tanks and the Muslim Brotherhood seems to have lost resoundingly.
I expected far worse.
The military has suspended the constitution...which is usually an even bigger warning sign than a coup, but in this case the constitution had been recently imposed by Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood.
The military leadership has not established a Junta (yet) but has put the Chief Justice of their Supreme court in charge of a civilian panel that has been tasked with running the country and organizing new elections.
This is interesting:
So the Copts and the Muslims are working together with the secularists and the military to hold democratic elections after deposing a democratically elected government that turned out to be oppressive and fundamentalist Islamic .
There's a concise overview of how this came to be here.
This is not exactly Kemalist as there are religious leaders at the table, but it at least looks like the military is trying to avoid having to run things themselves, and is handing it over to civilian civic leaders which is very promising.
Zero Hedge has some interesting pictures of the protests that are not making it into most of the news here. They show extreme anger at Obama and the US Ambassador to Egypt for backing the Islamofascistic whackadoodle who just got deposed. This via Instapundit who points out that it's telling that the posters are anti-Obama and not anti-US.
This could still go to worms in a terrible and bloody way, but at this point this is about the least bad outcome one could reasonably expect.
UPDATE: Via Ace, comes video of the celebrations.
Wait...Those aren't cluster-bombs!
The Egyptian people seem to be taking the military takeover rather well. The Military does not seem to be rolling over the civilians with tanks and the Muslim Brotherhood seems to have lost resoundingly.
I expected far worse.
The military has suspended the constitution...which is usually an even bigger warning sign than a coup, but in this case the constitution had been recently imposed by Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood.
The military leadership has not established a Junta (yet) but has put the Chief Justice of their Supreme court in charge of a civilian panel that has been tasked with running the country and organizing new elections.
This is interesting:
A senior opposition figure says pro-reform leader Mohamed ElBaradei, the top Muslim cleric of Al-Azhar Mosque and the Coptic pope are meeting the army chief to discuss a political road map for Egypt
So the Copts and the Muslims are working together with the secularists and the military to hold democratic elections after deposing a democratically elected government that turned out to be oppressive and fundamentalist Islamic .
There's a concise overview of how this came to be here.
This is not exactly Kemalist as there are religious leaders at the table, but it at least looks like the military is trying to avoid having to run things themselves, and is handing it over to civilian civic leaders which is very promising.
Zero Hedge has some interesting pictures of the protests that are not making it into most of the news here. They show extreme anger at Obama and the US Ambassador to Egypt for backing the Islamofascistic whackadoodle who just got deposed. This via Instapundit who points out that it's telling that the posters are anti-Obama and not anti-US.
This could still go to worms in a terrible and bloody way, but at this point this is about the least bad outcome one could reasonably expect.
UPDATE: Via Ace, comes video of the celebrations.
Posted by: The Brickmuppet at
07:55 PM
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July 02, 2013
Fourteen THOUSAND!?
I...I don't know what to say about this. via
Let's go to the Brickmuppet's crack team of science babes for commentary.
The US experience with wind farms has left over 14,000 wind turbines abandoned and slowly decaying,
Let's go to the Brickmuppet's crack team of science babes for commentary.
I find myself in complete agreement.
Windmills are NOT the future. Build...more...nukes.
'Science Babe' is actually Misha, from Katawa Shoujo.
Windmills are NOT the future. Build...more...nukes.
'Science Babe' is actually Misha, from Katawa Shoujo.
Posted by: The Brickmuppet at
11:21 PM
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I Have A Question for any Continental Oceanic Antepodians We Might Have Amongst Our Readership
Does Sydney NEED rebuilding?
More here:
Perhaps instead of 'more expansive' 'less prudent' would be a more appropriate descriptor in that last sentence.
I've noted this tactic from China before, most notably in places like Columbo and their 'string of pearls' , but also in The Canal zone, Bahamas and San Diego.
I'm sure that none of those places will find they have listening devices, basic facilities for naval bases or changes in contract terms at any point in the future. No sirreee.
Full disclosure: That last paragraph is a combination of sarcasm, paranoia and vigilance in uncertain proportions.
More here:
At least 150 pre-fabricated skyscrapers from Central Station to Strathfield, conveyor belts shuttling building materials above Ultimo, train lines ripped up for new ones underground, and much of the steel and concrete shipped from China, with an army of international workers assembling it all for a pittance.
The novel project could have been Sydney's had the O'Farrell government been just a bit more expansive in its thinking.
Perhaps instead of 'more expansive' 'less prudent' would be a more appropriate descriptor in that last sentence.
I've noted this tactic from China before, most notably in places like Columbo and their 'string of pearls' , but also in The Canal zone, Bahamas and San Diego.
I'm sure that none of those places will find they have listening devices, basic facilities for naval bases or changes in contract terms at any point in the future. No sirreee.
Full disclosure: That last paragraph is a combination of sarcasm, paranoia and vigilance in uncertain proportions.
Posted by: The Brickmuppet at
09:00 PM
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July 01, 2013
What Passes for Excitement When One is Living the Walter Mitty Lifestyle
Saturday night I made the trek out to Virginia Beach where a friend and I went to Gus and George's, one of that cities few remaining old fashioned steakhouses. The purpose of this journey was to partake of their Romanian Steak...which defies mot attempts to adequately convey its awesomeness. In this our mission was successful and we delighted in our consumption of the marinated flesh of the cowbeast.
Unfortunately, as the night became morning, the brakes on my car began to feel progressively more and more ..."odd". I was able to brake...with effort...but something was wrong. I had brake fluid, it didn't feel like the master cylinder had gone, there was no grinding..so after dropping my friend off at his house and convincing him to watch Gargantia, I headed home...wherapon the brakes became basically useless, so I decided to head towards the repair shop.
At this point I should mention that the sound of a safety brake cable snapping when the lever is pulled up violently is that of a loud chirp and is accompanied by a loss of all resistance in the brake lever. In my limited experience it is also accompanied by profanity, evasive maneuvers and downshifting....which in an automatic involves unpleasant and expensive sounding noises.
Anyway, the car is still in the shop as I type this...which is why i could not find my normal set of keys at 03:30 this morning when I went to work and why I had so much trouble finding where I'd parked.
Now as I ponder the lessons learned today, I look with some satisfaction upon the front door key that now graces my spare set of car keys.
Despite my unforced errors I did get to work.
Saturday night I made the trek out to Virginia Beach where a friend and I went to Gus and George's, one of that cities few remaining old fashioned steakhouses. The purpose of this journey was to partake of their Romanian Steak...which defies mot attempts to adequately convey its awesomeness. In this our mission was successful and we delighted in our consumption of the marinated flesh of the cowbeast.
Unfortunately, as the night became morning, the brakes on my car began to feel progressively more and more ..."odd". I was able to brake...with effort...but something was wrong. I had brake fluid, it didn't feel like the master cylinder had gone, there was no grinding..so after dropping my friend off at his house and convincing him to watch Gargantia, I headed home...wherapon the brakes became basically useless, so I decided to head towards the repair shop.
At this point I should mention that the sound of a safety brake cable snapping when the lever is pulled up violently is that of a loud chirp and is accompanied by a loss of all resistance in the brake lever. In my limited experience it is also accompanied by profanity, evasive maneuvers and downshifting....which in an automatic involves unpleasant and expensive sounding noises.
Anyway, the car is still in the shop as I type this...which is why i could not find my normal set of keys at 03:30 this morning when I went to work and why I had so much trouble finding where I'd parked.
Now as I ponder the lessons learned today, I look with some satisfaction upon the front door key that now graces my spare set of car keys.
Despite my unforced errors I did get to work.
Posted by: The Brickmuppet at
02:15 PM
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Post contains 299 words, total size 2 kb.
That's...Different
Don has a post.
Heads are exploding.
Cause or effect?
You be the judge.
While we ponder that, I'll just leave this Miko Miko Dance selection here.
I don't think those two costumes are the regular Touhou skins. Given the detail they are really impressive
Heads are exploding.
Cause or effect?
You be the judge.
While we ponder that, I'll just leave this Miko Miko Dance selection here.
I don't think those two costumes are the regular Touhou skins. Given the detail they are really impressive
Posted by: The Brickmuppet at
10:25 AM
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