FLATEOTM, Sept 2003: John Le Carre Edition
Tinker
Tailor
Soldier
Spy
QOTM:
It is now known to science that there are many more dimensions than the classical four. Scientists say that these don’t normally impinge on the world because the extra dimensions are very small and curve in on themselves, and that since reality is fractal most of it is tucked inside itself. This means either that the universe is more full of wonders than we can hope to understand or, more probably, that scientists make things up as they go along.
– Terry Pratchett
Oh, and the book: Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Spies, the Military, and the Marines
After hearing of Army and Air Force personnel being arrested for espionage in the War on Terror, I have just one question for our leaders in charge:
Why do cases like this never happen in the U.S. Marine Corps?
A US Army Soldier meets an Iraqi Soldier…
A squad of Infantrymen drove up the highway between Basra and Baghdad. They came upon an Iraqi soldier badly injured and unconscious. Nearby on the opposite side of the road was an American soldier in a similar state, but he was alert. As first aid was given to both soldiers, they asked what had happened.
The American soldier responded, “I was heavily armed and moving north along the highway. Coming south was a heavily armed Iraqi soldier”.
“What happened then?” the medic asked.
“I told him Saddam Hussein was a miserable piece of $#!7, and then the Iraqi told me that Tom Daschle, Ted Kennedy, and Bill Clinton were miserable pieces of $#!7.
“We were shaking hands when the truck hit us.”
A history lesson with your morning OJ
Brendan Miniter over at Opinion Journal has an article today with a very unusual statement:
The tactics developed during the Civil War dominated war-fighting strategies through World War I.
Bull.
The tactics developed in the Civil War were mostly ignored in World War 1, those being flanking maneuvers, infrastructure utilization, and strategic warfare. Every one of these tactics was completely overlooked in World War 1 and didn’t see full manifestation until World War 2.
In WW1, trench warfare was the primary means of combat, whereas in WW2 it was tank & infantry maneuvers. In the Civil War you saw both flanking maneuvers and trench/seige warfare, but the real advances against the South were made with movement-based tactics.
In WW1, very little use was made of the nation’s infrastructure, such as railroads, to move troops and supplies. The method was pioneered by the South in the Civil War.
In WW1, practically no attacks were made against the belligerent’s ability to create the materiel of war. Two words for you: Sherman’s March. And three more: 8th Air Force.
WW1 took so long because the belligerent’s refused to adopt the lessons of American warfare and instead stuck with what they thought was “innovative”. At the beginning of the war it was thought that the bayonet was the most useful instrument an infantryman had for instilling fear in his enemy. A General named Pickett could have instructed otherwise. Our ability to change our tactics based on what works and what doesn’t, coupled with our love affair with new technology, makes us the most potent force on Earth.
Laptop Surgery 101
Remember when I disassembled my laptop last April? I finally got around last night to soldering the connector back on, and it turns out that the connector on the laptop was not the problem. After surgery I plugged it back in and the battery still didn’t charge.
Being the resourceful guy I am, I took apart the power supply cord at its connector and lo and behold, that was the problem. I fixed that, so now I have a laptop that works correctly, aside from a non-functioning cooling fan. Hopefully I can fix the fan tonight.
Pray that I don’t go into medicine.
You people need to learn to be observant
I left the photo contest go for a little while longer and no one
NO ONE
sent in a correct answer. That means one of two things, either:
A) no one reads this blog, or
B) the puzzle was too hard.
Of course, both possibilities could be true as well. Take a look again. Why is the word “Dexter”, which means “right-handed”, on her left arm?
No bookmark for you!
286 Flashbacks
I was, for some strange reason, remembering the first computer I ever used today, an old 286 with a megabyte of ram, 40 mb of hard drive, a 5.25″ floppy and a 10 in monitor. I used to play a handful of games on it, such as Castle Adventure and Sleuth. Whatever happened to those games? Someone archived them.
Share and enjoy your own flashbacks.
Of Bloggers and Telemarketers
First we had Dave Barry give out the telephone number of a telemarketer association, now we have Lileks (James) giving out the address (at the bottom of the page) and e-mail of another telemarketer. What is it with popular bloggers and telemarketers nowadays?
It is revenge.
Caring about women in uniform
This site is a must for anyone concerned with the exposure of women to combat and the unique problems entailed therein. I don’t normally sign online petitions, but this one is of particular concern to me.
God, Time, and Money
Man: What is a million years like to you?
God: Like one second.
Man: What is a million dollars like to you?
God: Like one penny.
Man: Can I have a penny?
God: Just a second.