photo by Flickr user KristenKingTuesday, November 3, 2009
The Mud Times
photo by Flickr user KristenKingPosted by Bi-Coloured-Python-Rock-Snake at 6:59 PM 1 comments Links to this post
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Classic Moments in Soldiering: Being That Paratrooper
Crew Chief: So, have you guys had the aircraft briefing? You've all flown on a C-17 before?
Paratrooper: Yeah, we've all flown C-17's. Never landed in one, though.
Posted by Bi-Coloured-Python-Rock-Snake at 6:18 AM 1 comments Links to this post
Labels: army life, classic moments in soldiering
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Killing Time in Iraq
I'm not exactly complaining, since it's become a strange sort of vacation, just killing time around here, but we do still have a job to do, and at the end of the day I'd rather be doing it.
Posted by Bi-Coloured-Python-Rock-Snake at 9:17 AM 3 comments Links to this post
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Going On Leave!
Posted by Bi-Coloured-Python-Rock-Snake at 5:38 PM 3 comments Links to this post
Labels: army life, classic moments in soldiering
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Classic Moments in Soldiering: TA-50 Bomb
Since I came back from Georgia, my room's slowly been getting disorganized as I sort and pack things for the Iraq. Then today I needed some gear for the rifle range, and had to dig through all my packed crates to find it in a hurry. And now my room's a disaster that I don't even want to look at or think about. Just thought I'd share.
Posted by Bi-Coloured-Python-Rock-Snake at 5:21 PM 4 comments Links to this post
Labels: army life, classic moments in soldiering
Monday, July 6, 2009
Recipe Plug: Smitten Kitchen's Cherry Brown Butter Bars
Brown butter is amazing. You'll recognize it immediately as the aroma of baking shortbread or pie crust, but in dangerously concentrated form. Add fresh summer fruit, and the result is... well, you'll just have to make it yourself. It's assertive, though, so I don't think I'd go with anything less bold than cherries. Apples or pears would probably be overwhelmed. Currants and gooseberries would be delicious, and very Continental if you're into that.
Posted by Bi-Coloured-Python-Rock-Snake at 7:20 PM 0 comments Links to this post
Labels: cooking
Breadbasket of the World
That's not a claim most people would think to attach to a continent mostly known in the West for heart-rending images of malnutrition. But to anyone who's seen the way things grow in tropical African soil, and considering the amount of under-utilized farmland, it doesn't seem so far-fetched. The solution, according to the article, is a variant of the plaintive refrain I often heard from a Sudanese teacher of mine: "if only we had peace and good government, we would be a very rich nation". Ah, there's the rub.
Posted by Bi-Coloured-Python-Rock-Snake at 10:20 AM 0 comments Links to this post
Saturday, July 4, 2009
Happy Independence Day
My sister made the pancakes. Delicious.
UPDATE: I should give proper recipe credit: these were the 4-Grain Pancakes from the most recent Joy of Cooking, which I'm currently coveting.
Posted by Bi-Coloured-Python-Rock-Snake at 6:50 PM 3 comments Links to this post
Labels: americana
Thursday, July 2, 2009
On Texas
Posted by Bi-Coloured-Python-Rock-Snake at 10:07 AM 2 comments Links to this post
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Sunday, June 28, 2009
On Corruption
He furiously resented a World Bank effort that was going on at that time to combat public corruption, which the Bank saw as an impediment to economic development. The Turk maintained that in the Third World public corruption is more or less benign, since it consists of small amounts of graft broadly distributed throughout society all the way down to the level of traffic cops, whereas the U.S. style of corruption consists of huge amounts of money passed out to a very few people at the top of the government-business nexus. I had no good answer to him then, and I haven't thought of one since.I have to say, I had never, ever thought of it that way. And it's pretty strange, when you think about it, that Americans would be outraged at a traffic cop demanding a $20 bribe, but are relatively unruffled by millions of dollars in payola at the state and federal levels.
Posted by Bi-Coloured-Python-Rock-Snake at 11:17 PM 4 comments Links to this post
Labels: politics, third world america, what could possibly go wrong
On Congressional Incompetence
Pushing for a Read the Bill Amendment seems over the top at first, but then again, an entire branch of our government has more or less abdicated their responsibilities, so perhaps a constitutional amendment isn't overkill. It would certainly have some nice follow-on effects, since it would greatly increase the incentive for concision in legislation, and force legislators to spend more time actually considering legislation and less time at bare-knuckles politicking.
Posted by Bi-Coloured-Python-Rock-Snake at 10:39 PM 0 comments Links to this post
Labels: decline and fall, dretful scorn, politics
Gustatory Pornography

See what I mean?
Posted by Bi-Coloured-Python-Rock-Snake at 10:16 PM 4 comments Links to this post
Saturday, June 27, 2009
On Free-Range Kids
What are the statistics about crimes against children? What is the news that we're not hearing?I'm probably one of the few single young men reading Skenazy's blog, but I was a Free-Range Kid, and I'll likely have a couple myself someday. Beyond that, the child-safety hysteria is a microcosm of larger societal forces. It is fed by the same psychological quirk that cripples security planning and counterterrorism, namely that human beings are pretty terrible at internalizing probabilities, and particularly terrible at estimating probabilities of things that scare us. Really, Lenore Skenazy is the Bruce Schneier of child-rearing.
The crime rate today is equal to what it was back in 1970. In the '70s and '80s, crime was climbing. It peaked around 1993, and since then it's been going down.
If you were a child in the '70s or the '80s and were allowed to go visit your friend down the block, or ride your bike to the library, or play in the park without your parents accompanying you, your children are no less safe than you were.
But it feels so completely different, and we're told that it's completely different, and frankly, when I tell people that it's the same, nobody believes me. We're living in really safe times, and it's hard to believe.
[...]
Then there are products out there that will prevent [anything] from happening. Here is a helmet your child could wear when she starts to toddle, lest she fall over and split her head open and die, or suffer traumatic brain injury.
Kids have been toddling -- it's a whole stage we actually call toddlerhood -- ever since we started walking upright, which has been a pretty successful experiment for the human species. But now you're supposed to think that it's too dangerous for a kid to do without extra protection and without extra supervision and without this stupid thing you can buy.
There are kneepads that you're supposed to put on your kid because crawling is considered too dangerous for the knees, as if knees weren't built for crawling. That's why they're cute and dimpled and fat.
Everything that we do has a product that we can buy that's supposed to make our kids safer, as if they're born without the requisite accoutrements. Then there is something we can do as parents to be more careful, to be more protective. The assumption behind all of that is that if you are a good parent, you should be protecting your child from 100 percent of anything that could possibly go wrong, and if not, you will be blamed and Larry King will shake his finger at you.
Posted by Bi-Coloured-Python-Rock-Snake at 3:49 PM 6 comments Links to this post
Labels: americana, counterrorism, decline and fall
On Arab Media
Najm Wali: I believe that normalization [of relations with Israel] is a cultural necessity for us, and it is the answer to all those who talk about a clash of civilizations. It is a historical necessity for us Arabs in particular, because it will take us to a new stage – a stage that will transcend the eternal conflict with Israel, and in which we will form new relations with the world. The eternal conflict with Israel has brought us nothing but material losses and loss of human life, as well as a chronic sense of defeat. The common Arab citizen feels that he is being defeated by this tiny country, Israel, which numbers only six or seven million, while the Arab world numbers 300 million.I simply cannot imagine a scenario in which CNN or Fox News would give airtime to someone who would challenge America's fundamental image of itself the way this Najm Wali has challenged the Arabs. The willingness of the Arab media to give soapboxes to the most incredibly contrarian positions displays an admirable faith in the principle of free and open debate. I think we often overlook how significant this really is, particularly in the political context of the Arab world.
The way to deal with this feeling should be through normalization. As you said at the beginning of this show, this is what the Islamic countries understood, long before the Arabs. The historical ties of Turkey, Malaysia, and Indonesia with Israel have gone beyond mere normalization. Turkey, Syria's partner and the mediator in the indirect talks [with Israel], has a strategic, military alliance with Israel. But I'm sad to say that the notion that prevails in the public discourse is that normalization is a trap for us, a deception. This notion will lead us to more defeats and battles, and the loss of more human lives. Look at other Islamic states, like Indonesia and Turkey. Not only are these countries international powers, which are even accepted as mediators, but they are also economic powers. Like the "Asian Tigers," they did not involve themselves in a daily conflict with a small country. This question has constantly made me wonder, even as a little boy: Why is this tiny state able to defeat us, even though we are 300 million? The problem lies with us. We have to think for ourselves, and build...
Interviewer: So the solution to this problem is normalization with this country?
Najm Wali: In my opinion, normalization is the first solution, so we can devote ourselves to economic prosperity. Economy is the problem in the world today.
Interviewer: Egypt normalized its relations with Israel some 25 years ago or more.
Najm Wali: And indeed, it regained the Sinai.
Interviewer: What has Egypt achieved since the normalization?
Najm Wali: Let's ask a different question: How many casualties has Egypt suffered since normalization? Egypt has not suffered casualties like it did in the past. [...] What I am saying is that this nation has to coexist in peace.
Interviewer: The Islamic nation?
Najm Wali: Yes, and especially the Arab nation, which is part of the Islamic nation. I consider it a historical necessity. In addition, peaceful coexistence – let's put aside the issue of Zionism... The Jews are no foreigners here. They've lived in the region for many years, throughout Islamic history. Even in terms of race, ethnicity, and history – they are our cousins. They lived for many years in the Arab Peninsula, in Iraq, and everywhere. We have to benefit from their experience in building a state.
Posted by Bi-Coloured-Python-Rock-Snake at 1:04 PM 0 comments Links to this post
Labels: media, middle east
On Corporatism
Corporations are going to get your money. The question is, will they do it by offering you a useful service or a valuable good in return, or will they do it by getting their friends in Washington to force you to give it to them for nothing?When business and government collude, ordinary people lose. A laissez-faire policy is not based on some generalized affection for big business, rather the recognition that businesses that aren't threatened by the government have no reason to meddle in the government and no lust to control the government. If the government didn't have the power to bankrupt competing companies, funnel billions in tax revenue to favored industries, or force people to buy products they don't want, businessmen would have no interest in corrupting it.
Posted by Bi-Coloured-Python-Rock-Snake at 12:22 PM 5 comments Links to this post
Labels: economy
Friday, June 26, 2009
Transformers Gets Dretful Review
And the true genius of Transformers: ROTF is that [director Michael] Bay has put all of this excess of imagery and random ideas at the service of the most pandering movie genre there is: the summer movie. ROTF is like twenty summer movies, with unrelated storylines, smushed together into one crazy whole. You try in vain to understand how the pieces fit, you stare into the cracks between the narrative strands, until the cracks become chasms and the chasms become an abyss into which you stare until it looks deep into your own soul, and then you go insane.
Every single performance is so ridiculous that it looks down on "over the top" as if from a great height.
In a sense, it's the first war movie ever to convey a real sense of the fog of war, the confusion that comes with battle. Somewhere around hour nine, you will understand why friendly fire happens in wartime.I need to see this movie.
Posted by Bi-Coloured-Python-Rock-Snake at 4:25 PM 0 comments Links to this post
Labels: dretful scorn, movies
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
The Lives of Soccer Players
One of the things The Lives of Others does very well is illustrate how a dictatorial regime that prefers to stay in power through “soft” methods can use the threat of destroying people’s careers. Instead of being put on trial and executed, becoming a martyr for the cause, you can just be rendered unemployable in the field of your choice in a decision nobody has to publicly defend but everyone understands. You become, then, not an imprisoned hero, but perhaps just an apparently pathetic person—in the movie it’s a theater director who can’t direct—a cautionary tale rather than an inspirational example.This is not the martyrdom of Neda Agha-Soltan, the peaceful protester shot dead by the regime's thugs, but it is a sacrifice all the same. These players must have known full well there would be consequences, the ending of their careers possibly the mildest scenario imaginable. Whatever the result of this situation, its legacy will be a hundred thousand stories of courage. I hope someone tells them again, someday.
Posted by Bi-Coloured-Python-Rock-Snake at 2:16 PM 0 comments Links to this post
Labels: iran, iranelection09, movies
Saturday, June 20, 2009
Making Up for Lost Time
The Iranian government must understand that the world is watching. We mourn each and every innocent life that is lost. We call on the Iranian government to stop all violent and unjust actions against its own people. The universal rights to assembly and free speech must be respected, and the United States stands with all who seek to exercise those rights.Bravo, Sir. Keep 'em coming.
As I said in Cairo, suppressing ideas never succeeds in making them go away. The Iranian people will ultimately judge the actions of their own government. If the Iranian government seeks the respect of the international community, it must respect the dignity of its own people and govern through consent, not coercion.
Martin Luther King once said - "The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice." I believe that. The international community believes that. And right now, we are bearing witness to the Iranian peoples’ belief in that truth, and we will continue to bear witness.
Posted by Bi-Coloured-Python-Rock-Snake at 5:56 PM 0 comments Links to this post
Labels: iran, iranelection09, obama
Obama Speaks on Iran
What you're seeing in Iran are hundreds of thousands of people who believe their voices were not heard and who are peacefully protesting and - and seeking justice. And the world is watching. And we stand behind those who are seeking justice in a peaceful way. And, you know, already we've seen violence out there. I think I've said this throughout the week. I want to repeat it that we stand with those who would look to peaceful resolution of conflict, and we believe that the voices of people have to be heard, that that's a universal value that the American people stand for and this administration stands for.Was that so hard? Thank you, Mr President. (Notwithstanding the classic "as I've said before" Obamism flagging his change of position).
Posted by Bi-Coloured-Python-Rock-Snake at 3:00 PM 1 comments Links to this post
Labels: iran, iranelection09, obama