Fall Colors in Colts Neck '09

Lefty Whining? Truth to Power? Broad Generalization?

The Daily Beast's Lee Siegel argues that generals "can’t be trusted to assess a political situation in anything but the most aggressive military terms. And they are not averse to disobeying orders or even lying about the situation on the ground to achieve what they believe to be, with ironclad conviction, the only objectives worth striving for. Think MacArthur, Patton, Westmoreland."

It's compelling, but is this argument an accurate assessment of the modern day military leader?
in reference to: Generals Can't Be Trusted - Page 1 - The Daily Beast (view on Google Sidewiki)

Another Media Convergence story ...

... but this one actually seems more fact-based than the usual Cassandra-like screeds ...

in reference to: For The Future Of The Media Industry, Look In The App Store (view on Google Sidewiki)

A Fresh Look at Nuke Fears

From Foreign Policy: "We all know that terrorism comes from nonstate actors. So why is the nonproliferation world still focused on rogue countries instead?"

in reference to:- Nuclear Network Theory | Foreign Policy (view on Google Sidewiki)

Beyond Twitter

Companies that create applications for Twitter are diversifying, preparing for a day when they may no longer be needed.

in reference to: Twitter Developers Start To Sweat As Twitter Does Deal With Microsoft And Google - Business News - Portfolio.com (view on Google Sidewiki)

Afghanistan in the Light of Vietnam

Sobering overview of how Afghanistan is more a quagmire than Iraq could ever be ...
in reference to: America's Next Unwinnable War - Page 1 - The Daily Beast (view on Google Sidewiki)

Babel.com

The multipolar world is about to get more interesting (or confusing).

"It will allow nations and territories to apply for Internet extensions reflecting their name – and made up of characters from their national language. If the applications meet criteria that includes government and community support and a stability evaluation, the applicants will be approved to start accepting registrations."

in reference to: Al Jazeera English - Asia-Pacific - Web addresses go multilingual (view on Google Sidewiki)

From the "No, duh" file ...

From TPM: "In a shocking poll result, a new Pew survey finds that Fox News is viewed as being the most ideologically oriented of the big three cable news channels."

in reference to: Poll: Fox News Is Conservative! | TPM LiveWire (view on Google Sidewiki)

'Bout time someone said it ...

Pakistan's secret service have a lot to answer for in the next life. Hilary was right to call the Pakistani government out on this BS.

in reference to: BBC NEWS | South Asia | Clinton irked by al-Qaeda 'haven' (view on Google Sidewiki)

Justice: 1, Kook: 0

From TSG: "Judge rips "improper and unethical" conduct of lawyer Taitz"

By referring to her as a lawyer they give her far more credibility than she deserves.
in reference to: Judge Bounces "Birther" Lawsuit - October 29, 2009 (view on Google Sidewiki)

Poignant Piece

Al Jazeera English video does a good job in looking at how media interest in the return of America's war dead had dwindled while the body count rises.

in reference to: Al Jazeera English - Americas - Reports on US war deaths in decline (view on Google Sidewiki)

Cool!

This will make illegal downloading so much easier!
in reference to: Google changes to aid music searches - CNN.com (view on Google Sidewiki)

From the "I'll believe it when I see it file" ...

This game is getting old.

in reference to: Al Jazeera English - Middle East - Iran 'ready for nuclear agreement' (view on Google Sidewiki)

Fascinating ... but does it matter?

I know it does for historical and archaeological reasons, but it is kind of funny that the site of King Richard III's final battle is not where it's supposed to be ...

in reference to: BBC NEWS | UK | England | Leicestershire | New battle over Bosworth's site (view on Google Sidewiki)

Clever?

From the SF Chronicle: "Did Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's office use a coded veto message to send the f-bomb to Tom Ammiano, soon after the San Francisco assemblyman made news by telling the governor to "kiss my gay ass"?"

in reference to: Did Schwarzenegger drop 4-letter bomb in veto? (view on Google Sidewiki)

Kind of brilliant.

"Ten stories that appear in the papers again and again, but never seem to actually happen."

in reference to: Groundhog Day | Foreign Policy (view on Google Sidewiki)

When science trumps pretension ...

Jon Bonne's blog looks at a geologist's definition of "terroir" and such odd wine-tasting standbys as "mineral" and "earth".

in reference to: The Cellarist : Terroir: On rocky ground? (view on Google Sidewiki)

15 minutes and counting ...

Isn't this jerk's time in the sun about over? Shouldn't he and Stephen Glass and Ruth Shalit be in a hovel somewhere?

in reference to: Jayson Blair To Speak At Journalism Ethics Institute (view on Google Sidewiki)

Well intentioned ...

... but wildly naive.
in reference to: Peace on Facebook (view on Google Sidewiki)

Is that fear I hear in your voice ...?

"US Defence Secretary Robert Gates has called for a lasting dialogue with China's military after meeting a top Chinese general at the Pentagon."
in reference to: BBC NEWS | Asia-Pacific | US urges China military dialogue (view on Google Sidewiki)

Oh yeah? Well at least heroin's slimming ...

From the same people who on alternate weeks tell you how good/bad red wine is for you ...
in reference to: Scientists claim junk food is as addictive as heroin | Grist (view on Google Sidewiki)

Uh, it's a brewery ...

Anheuser-Busch has a "frat party" atmosphere? I'm shocked. Shocked, I tell you.

in reference to: Anheuser Is Sued for Alleged Discrimination - WSJ.com (view on Google Sidewiki)

Cringe-inducing call to worship

I looked around, but stray issues of Family Circus were nowhere to be found ...

Oh, so thaaaat's what Family Guy is about ...

Wow. It's like they didn't watch the show before they agreed to sponsor it.

Who says jokes about the deaf, the Holocaust and incest are not funny?
in reference to: Microsoft Pulls Out of Family Guy Special - Network World (view on Google Sidewiki)

Justice Scalia

This is a rather remarkable interview in that Scalia says he would have disagreed with Brown V. Board of Ed, the 1954 ruling that in many ways paved the way for the modern Civil Rights movement and the death of Jim Crow.
in reference to: Scalia: Some on court inventing rights | State News | eastvalleytribune.com (view on Google Sidewiki)

Can you blame him?

Afghanistan has beaten many empires, mostly because the imposition of outsiders upon a tribal indigenous people always leads to this kind of chaos.

Whether or not Hoh was seeking to embarrass the Obama Administration is not the point. The point is that someone took their eye off the ball for the last six years and we need to re-assess what the best course of action will be.

in reference to: U.S. Official Resigns in Protest of Afghanistan War Policy -- Politics Daily (view on Google Sidewiki)

Stephen Colbert Delivers the Smackdown

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
The Word - Don't Ask Don't Tell
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor Michael Moore

Dodgy productivity numbers?

I wonder, if you looked at time management numbers from a decade ago and saw how employees used their time, pre-Facebook/Twitter, would you really see that much of a difference? Maybe its socializing in general and not the medium of the socializing that's actually at issue here.

in reference to: Study: Facebook, Twitter use at work costs big bucks - Network World (view on Google Sidewiki)

Not the right question ...

Maybe Apple avoided creating a netbook in order to change the game with the iTablet/tapplet?
in reference to: Has Apple missed the netbook boat? - Network World (view on Google Sidewiki)

Loser alert

I don't know which is more sad, the fact that he did this, or his self-righteous defense/rationalization:

in reference to: Pic: My JHNGALT License Plate. The Only Way to Go Galt! « Josh Blackman's Blog (view on Google Sidewiki)

Aw, I kinda liked the whole "phone number for life" idea ...

Still, it makes sense that Google Voice will now let you use your current mobile number.
in reference to: Google relaxes single phone number requirement for Voice - Network World (view on Google Sidewiki)

Oh, that's anti-climactic ...

... and just plain stupid.
in reference to: BBC NEWS | Americas | Lost pilots 'were using laptops' (view on Google Sidewiki)

Truth or Misinformation?

Cool "fly on the wall" story that suggests NYT Exec Editor Bill Keller leaked the goods on Apple's fabled "iTablet/tapplet" ...
in reference to: Apple Tablet: Did The New York Times Spill the Beans? - Network World (view on Google Sidewiki)

Great review of "It Might Get Loud"

I loved this movie and think that music fans of all stripes should see it. Edge, White and Page are interesting in different ways, but you can just see that Led Zep's mastermind is light-years ahead of the two younger musicians.

in reference to: Big Hollywood » Blog Archive » ‘It Might Get Loud’: The Redemption of Jimmy Page (view on Google Sidewiki)

Facebook Faux Pas ...

I, too, have had Facebook suggest a dead person to me as a friend, as well as someone who I once went on a disastrous date. I do like the phrase "insensitivity of the algorithm", though, as both an explanation and possibly the name of a CD by an Emo band ...
in reference to: Facebook Redesign Sees Dead People - Buying Home Computer | Business Solution | Networking Home Computers - FOXNews.com (view on Google Sidewiki)

Ken Auletta's Top 10

Compelling stuff from one of the finest media writers around.
in reference to: Ken Auletta: 10 things Google has taught us - Oct. 26, 2009 (view on Google Sidewiki)

The Bible as Moral Guide ...

The Telegraph, the U.K.'s most trustworthy, Lefty news organization published this list of the Bible's Top 10 Worst passages recently. It's humorous in a gallows kind of way.

Who knew the Bible endorsed infanticide as an appropriate form of revenge?
in reference to: Top 10 worst Bible passages - Telegraph (view on Google Sidewiki)

James Cameron

I've been a huge fan of James Cameron movies most of my adult life, but I'm having mixed feelings about Avatar.

I just feel it's going to be pedantic and very peacenik, with a lot of finger-pointing and lecturing about the evils of colonialism, war, greed, etc., etc.

That said, this is a great profile of the director, as it's very "warts and all".
in reference to: James Cameron and “Avatar” : The New Yorker (view on Google Sidewiki)

Let it Bleed? I think not ...

Cool break-through that could save thousands of lives.
in reference to: BBC NEWS | Health | Antibody 'fixes internal bleeds' (view on Google Sidewiki)

Is it just me, or is this weird?

Wow, talk about "Nanny State", this is like Gran-Gran, or Na-Na State in its conception.
in reference to: BBC NEWS | UK | Education | Careers advice for 10-year-olds (view on Google Sidewiki)

It took him 35 years?

Really? It took director Paul Haggis 35 years to realize that he was a member of a homophobic cult that eschews modern medical practices in favor of the literary whims of a con-man/SF author?

Wow. Talk about a slow learner ...
in reference to: Paul Haggis Renounces Church of Scientology in Blistering Letter | Movieline (view on Google Sidewiki)

Will nature make a man of me yet ... ?

Get well soon, Mozzer!

in reference to: BBC NEWS | UK | England | Morrissey collapses during show (view on Google Sidewiki)

Compelling argument ...

But it's basically admitting that most of what's done on Wall Street is, well, commonly known as lying.
in reference to:

"Raj Rajaratnam"
- Learning to Love Insider Trading - WSJ.com (view on Google Sidewiki)