Interesting concept that popped up at Small Wars Journal recently: "combatant with combat immunity" versus "combatant without combat immunity". It's a dissection of lawful vs unlawful combatant, in the context of the division between military action and law enforcement. A combatant with combat immunity--a lawful combatant--has legal immunity to charges of murder, assault, kidnapping, and a host of other crimes while acting in the capacity...
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So, I had a job doing some telephony work at a bank, today. I'm moving around from the phone room to the server room, and I'm humming a tune as I go because it's stuck in my head. After a few minutes, I realize I'm singing this song in the middle of a bank:
Nobody commented. I guess Social D must not be popular among...
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Nobody commented. I guess Social D must not be popular among...
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psyche:
I've done something similar to before. Just started dancing full-on "liquid" style to some rave music that was stuck in my head. Also in a bank. There was this giant circle of space around me, from people walking around me like I had the plague.
Sometimes you just need a calm and tranquil place to schiz out.
Sometimes you just need a calm and tranquil place to schiz out.
psyche:
LMAO!!! Oh, THAT'S what song you were singing! 
So, you know how awkward it can be when you say goodbye to someone, and go to leave, and it turns out you both need to go in the same direction? That's me and SG right now. STOP FOLLOWING ME SG
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idgas:
Go duck around a corner and run like mad. SG isn't too smart and will not find you. I on the other hand will miss seeing you on the boards. Good luck and keep safe.
psyche:
lol
You can run, but you can't hide.
We will come stalking you.
You can run, but you can't hide.
We will come stalking you.
Letting my account expire in a few days. It's becoming too easy to browse SG rather than work on actual projects. For instance, I'm making this post instead of writing up some invoices I need to send out...
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psyche:
Boy, I know what that's like. I'm always browsing SG in the middle of doing everything--school, work, homework, projects. I still get it all done, but it takes like 20x longer than it really should because of this site. I swear, it's so addicting!
We will miss you. I hope you don't take too long of a hiatus honey!
We will miss you. I hope you don't take too long of a hiatus honey!
chris_sick:
Foiled again, me.
There's a long-running hubbub about 'Twitter revolutions'. Some contend that this is a totally new thing and that social media has revolutionized revolution. Others contend that revolutioning was a going concern long before social media.
Both are correct. It's like this: how do you define an army? Today, we think of armies as a bunch of guys with guns and modern weapons. But there were...
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Both are correct. It's like this: how do you define an army? Today, we think of armies as a bunch of guys with guns and modern weapons. But there were...
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fellonearth:
Since I didn't make the edit time, here's the special gold star I tried to whip up after the fact. Oh well, thanks for playing you win x 1000.
Since I didn't make the edit time, here's the special gold star I tried to whip up after the fact. Oh well, thanks for playing you win x 1000.
necia:
I kind of think that revolution revolutionized Twitter, to be honest. "So, this is a thing, then! Like, a potentially useful, valuable thing, that could bring more to humanity than just an exponential multiplying machine of Bieber hashtags and lols!" 
(Well said, especially your last paragraph. Well said indeed.)
(Well said, especially your last paragraph. Well said indeed.)
So, my brother just moved out of my place. He moved up here just before Christmas, needing a place to crash while he got himself back together (long story). Super cool kid, way awesomer than me--I really like having him around. But man, it is really a relief to have him gone. I'd feel bad saying that except that I know he's just as relieved...
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raynne:
we all need our own space. I live with my boyfriend and I love him and we usually get along really well but I know we both enjoy an hour to ourselves now and then
Been jawing with some 4th-gen warfare enthusiasts and experts about the piracy in Somalia. It's frankly amazing to me how many of them view it as simple criminality, with no root causes worth addressing. For a bunch of guys whose hobby (and career, in several cases) revolves around the study of how small groups are breaking apart old power structures, you'd think they'd recognize the...
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chris_sick:
If you have a problem, if no one else can help, and if you can find them, maybe you can hire the Algerian-Team.
dholokov:
I count each day as another towards death, so that the entire year doesn't sneak up on me!
I was going to post this in the Egypt thread, but it's a bit off topic and maybe a bit too obvious for mass consumption:
The mistake (and it's one made by just about everyone, including me in the halcyon days of my youth) is to assume that the US and democracy are linked. This idea has been not only accepted without question by US...
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The mistake (and it's one made by just about everyone, including me in the halcyon days of my youth) is to assume that the US and democracy are linked. This idea has been not only accepted without question by US...
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idgas:
It's not cheeseburgers but jeans, soft toilet paper and other consumer goods but those only work for closed economies like for the former Eastern Block.
Islam has been a driving force behind governmental changes in the M.E. because the mosques are the only places where people can get together and communicate (relatively) freely. The Muslim Brotherhood is the classic example of a group rising through the Mosques. While the M.B. has renounced violence (circa mid-1960s) and become more secular - they were never fundamentalist as we see today - more radical members have left to create (Egypt's) Islamic Jihad who members went on to become leaders of al-Qaeda see al-Zawahiri....
I needed to get that ^^^ out I am avoiding the CE thread the "stupid level" is in the red zone.
Go have a veggie burger and tofu bacon and live longer.
Islam has been a driving force behind governmental changes in the M.E. because the mosques are the only places where people can get together and communicate (relatively) freely. The Muslim Brotherhood is the classic example of a group rising through the Mosques. While the M.B. has renounced violence (circa mid-1960s) and become more secular - they were never fundamentalist as we see today - more radical members have left to create (Egypt's) Islamic Jihad who members went on to become leaders of al-Qaeda see al-Zawahiri....
I needed to get that ^^^ out I am avoiding the CE thread the "stupid level" is in the red zone.
Go have a veggie burger and tofu bacon and live longer.
chris_sick:
Here's a fun piece form the Jerusalem Post. I didn't originally realize where it was from, so I couldn't figure out how this woman came around to the remarkable conclusion that the US would be better openly advocating for a despotic & tyrannical regime against a democratic uprising. I dunno when it was written, but she definitely seems behind the times thinking that there's a path for Mubarak to retain power. It seems to me like once the military refused to fire on the protesters, it was really just a matter of when/how power is going to transition as opposed to if.
But her characterization is interesting. My gut impulse is to chalk people like this off as extreme rightwing/anti-Muslim, & incapable of viewing any broadly supported Muslim movement as anything but extremist (& there's some value in that, once I looked at her other articles & saw her piece on the so-called Ground Zero Mosque). But I can't say. I don't know enough about Egypt, or the particular branch of the Muslim Brotherhood, or about the youth leading this movement to say if they're likely to wind up establishing an extremist Islamic theocracy or not. I know that-- at a very base & simplistic level-- the US can't afford to keep its middle eastern policy limited to the two extremely narrow goals of protecting oil interests/keeping gas cheap, & backing Israel, & that a lot of the late 20th & early 21st century political shifts we've seen are steeping in the cynical realpolitik of the Cold War. We can't possibly continue to back Mubarak against a popular uprising because to not do so would radically alter the status quo. The status quo is altered, & with the widespread nature of these protests it seems like both smart policy & the morally correct thing to do to back democratic reforms, & is likely the only way to stem the ever-increasing anti-Western feelings among these popular movements. Basically, how awesome would it be if we stopped being every one's least favorite abusive father figure & worked with/assisted these fledgling democracies that ever reason to be hostile to us, & finally live up to this-- as you point, rather foolish-- notion that the US is an advocate for democracy & naturally friendly with any people engaged in self-determination. I feel like we could avoid creating a lot more problems for ourselves if we transformed that idea from a marketing strategy to an actually guide for policy.
But I'm rambling, mostly thinking out loud, & probably just overstating conversations we've already had. What I really came here to say was:
Dude.
Eight year olds know where it's at.
But her characterization is interesting. My gut impulse is to chalk people like this off as extreme rightwing/anti-Muslim, & incapable of viewing any broadly supported Muslim movement as anything but extremist (& there's some value in that, once I looked at her other articles & saw her piece on the so-called Ground Zero Mosque). But I can't say. I don't know enough about Egypt, or the particular branch of the Muslim Brotherhood, or about the youth leading this movement to say if they're likely to wind up establishing an extremist Islamic theocracy or not. I know that-- at a very base & simplistic level-- the US can't afford to keep its middle eastern policy limited to the two extremely narrow goals of protecting oil interests/keeping gas cheap, & backing Israel, & that a lot of the late 20th & early 21st century political shifts we've seen are steeping in the cynical realpolitik of the Cold War. We can't possibly continue to back Mubarak against a popular uprising because to not do so would radically alter the status quo. The status quo is altered, & with the widespread nature of these protests it seems like both smart policy & the morally correct thing to do to back democratic reforms, & is likely the only way to stem the ever-increasing anti-Western feelings among these popular movements. Basically, how awesome would it be if we stopped being every one's least favorite abusive father figure & worked with/assisted these fledgling democracies that ever reason to be hostile to us, & finally live up to this-- as you point, rather foolish-- notion that the US is an advocate for democracy & naturally friendly with any people engaged in self-determination. I feel like we could avoid creating a lot more problems for ourselves if we transformed that idea from a marketing strategy to an actually guide for policy.
But I'm rambling, mostly thinking out loud, & probably just overstating conversations we've already had. What I really came here to say was:
Dude.
Eight year olds know where it's at.
Kids say the damndest things.
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kungfoo:
It isn't me. I haven't actually played WoW in some time now.
chris_sick:
Seriously: pull your head out of your ass and learn what the actual facts are, rather than what you think they are.
Don't hold your breath.
Also.
Between the two of us thinking about this stuff, we look smarter by the day, sometimes.
Uuuuugh. Been sneezing so frequently my face is starting to hurt. If I keep this up it's going to come off completely.
idgas:
Duct tape, duct tape
Greg Graffin has an interesting approach to performing shows with Bad Religion. Most frontmen, when they get up on stage, expend most of their energy just rocking out while they sing. Graffin definitely rocks the fuck out, but he also gestures conversationally a lot. Like, tapping the side of his head when he's singing lyrics about thinking, or waving his hands queryingly when the lyrics...
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idgas:
Beeb I'm sorry <best Alex Trebek voice>
In the mid 1980s an Irish woman was flying off to Israel to meet her Palestinian boyfriend's parents and he packed her bags and included a bit of plastique. El Al didn't like her answer and looked and the rest is history
In the mid 1980s an Irish woman was flying off to Israel to meet her Palestinian boyfriend's parents and he packed her bags and included a bit of plastique. El Al didn't like her answer and looked and the rest is history
"You kill 1 person, you go to prison for life. You kill 50 people, you get an insanity plea. You kill 5,000 people, and you win a medal of honor."