This is how it’s done: This morning I learned that Pentagon officials have said that force levels in Iraq would not be cut “anytime soon,” apparently because of a “recent surge in violence” sweeping Iraq. But what struck me most about that news was votesomemore’s response in this thread claiming that, “There is ALWAYS a ‘recent surge in violence.’” That got me thinking. Is there always a “recent surge in violence” in Iraq? I Googled the phrase, and discovered that the answer to the question is, well, yes. There are a few notable periods where violence is not reported as …
Month: March 2006
Handy Latin
Wanna sound smart(er)? Check out these My World and Welcome… Funny Pages: Handy Latin Phrases: Sic faciunt omnes.Everyone is doing it. Courtesy of A Violently Executed Blog.
TIP!!
The other day, Lime was helping me look around the Korean online markets to see how prices for tank-topped water-coolers compare to offline prices. In my old place, in Jeonju, the water tank company let subscribers have the cooler for free if they bought a certain minimum number of bottles a month, and let me tell you, in a country where the taps don’t gush drinking water, a cooler is a wonderful convenience: it’s not only nice cold water on call, but also hot water on call, hot enough to make a cup of tea immediately, if you like. Well, …
On V
First off, a little occupatio, in which one starts blathering about the thing which he said he was not going to describe(*): I’m not talking about V the miniseries. V was immensely popular in Korea, so much so that only a couple of years ago, during a discussion over dinner with some old Korean friends, when the show came up, some of my tablemates were spouting out the names of major characters in the show, details I couldn’t for the life of me remember. Lime and I talked about the show recently and she said that it had a major …
‘Nother Modest Proposal
Over at Epiphany in C, there’s A Modest Proposal for the Military Industrial Complex posted by speed of Dave. The scary bit is that he’s hit the nail on the head in terms of the kinds of logic used to justify war abroad. Worth a read. Here’s a taste: To all of you who are in the business of blowing things up (people, buildings, etc), I want you to know that I understand that you need to make large sums of money in order to do so. Being that this is the case, and that I would hate to rob …