Category Archives: Uncategorized

Harsh

Them Brits take their football seriously:

Our research, which used the minimum leg-muscle mass T-rex required for movement, suggests that while not incredibly fast, this carnivore was certainly capable of running and would have little difficulty in chasing down footballer David Beckham, for instance," said Phil Manning, a paleontologist at the University of Manchester...

Look, I know he ditched y'all, in his quest for fame, fortune and foxy ladies, but suggesting, even obliquely, that he should be eaten by a T-Rex seems a little bitchy.

Bound to Die, in a Cadillac

I saw a commercial for some new Cadillac car this AM on the Weather Channel. Or, rather, while I was struggling to get ready for work after a late night out, I heard my favorite Lilys song, "Ginger", coming from the TV and wondered if I was only dreaming of owning a new Cadillac.

Even stranger than the sheer strangeness of associating an obscure song from an obscure EP from an obscure 90's alt-rock band with a Cadillac and putting that commercial on the Weather Channel, is the section of the song they chose to use. From a song that's more than five minutes long, they chose to use the first verse where the singer this rather opaque line: "When you leave it will be cold outside / swing from tree to tree you're bound to die" - and those last four words stand out in a break from the voice-over, and are the most prominent in the line anyway. So, the impression you get from the music is "Hey, great riff. Nice buildup. What is this song? Oooh, I hear lyrics. '[mumble mumble mumble Cadillac] you're bound to die [Cadillac]'". And then you're all like "WTF?"

'Fugees

Kung Fu Monkey writes:

The generally accepted number for displaced Iraqis is 4 million, with about 2 million mostly in Jordan and Syria, and 2 million kicking about internally. For the empathy-impaired imagine 40 million Americans on the run from their homes, 20 million making do as they can in the US and another 20 million fleeing to Canada, Mexico, and maybe Britain. (numbers for current US homeless bounce between .7 million and 3.5 million, depending on the squishiness of the definition).

For the empathy dead, let me simply point out that a couple million homeless refugee kids living in poverty with (right or wrong) vague memories of America destroying his country = lots and lots of radical fundamentalist recruiting fodder. The word for the decade will be "blowback", folks. Learn it. Love it.

Blowback. Yeah baby.

Public Opinion

General calls Iraq massacre 'trademark al Qaeda' - CNN.com

    Truck bombings that killed and wounded hundreds in northern Iraq were a "trademark al Qaeda event" designed to sway U.S. public opinion against the war, a U.S. general said Wednesday.

Wait. Isn't every bombing, anywhere, intended to sway the enemy's opinion of the war ? For that matter, isn't every gun, tank, missile and grenade intended to sway the enemy's opinion, whether by killing enough of them to persuade the rest to give up, or by simply threatening to kill them if they don't ?

It would be news if al Qaeda's bombs were intended to keep America interested in continuing the war - if they wanted us to stay forever. But, that isn't the case.

Nikon D100, 18-35mm

Remember what we told the Japanese in WWII, "we shoot you so you'll keep fighting."

What Terrorists Drive

NY Times reports [7 years ago]:

    Toyota's unease at being associated with the Taliban and Al Qaeda is evident. In its September statement, the company said, "Toyota does not have a sales or distribution channel in Afghanistan, and we do not export vehicles to that country."

    Somewhat less laconic was Wade Hoyt, Toyota's spokesman in New York, who put the best corporate spin on the situation this week. "It is not our proudest product placement," he said. "But it shows that the Taliban are looking for the same qualities as any truck buyer: durability and reliability."

Via the always fascinating ShimmyKat - who I think is a Siberian, just like Tricksey and Pepper.