Sign of the times...

A lot of those-in-the-know just love the Long War Journal website. It does have some good article links about the US military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq. But they also have this stupid running list (updated continually) of Al-Qaeda, Taliban, and other Islamist paramilitary commanders that are killed, wounded or captured. And which is both morbid and idiotic to my mind. The constant lists of "senior commanders killed by a drone strike in Waziristan" is likely about some purported local big-frog-in-a-small-pond that the US has iced at the cost of millions of dollars and often with serious collateral damage resulting. And for all the boasting, bragging and strutting, is soon replaced in their hierarchy rather quickly by the next in line. Just as it is when a USMC or Army NCO or officer is killed, wounded or captured by them. And it's just poor form.

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"You know things have taken a weird turn when liberals start sounding like members of the American Legion" - C4SS (Kevin Carson)

When so-called "progressives" are defining the terms then any criticism of the state and its ruling class constitutes sedition. Well so be it then.

Things that keep you an immature punk instead of a grown man - Ch. 1 - The Art of Manliness

Video games: "Whereas men once fought as soldiers, they now pretend to be ones. Where men used to play baseball and football, they now control avatars who play for them. Where men used to play an instrument, they now press buttons on a plastic toy. Where we once created, we now consume."

It's Obama's war now - boing boing

Take a gander at this poster for a concert in NYC. The tide has turned. It's his war now after more than a year in office.

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Whatever happened to the anti-war movement?- The American Prospect online (Colin Asher)
"In September 2009, when Barack Obama announced he was debating the merits of increasing the United States' human commitment to an unpopular war, there were no riots. The police did not square off with masked protesters, fire tear gas into streets swarming with people, or herd malcontents into protest pens. The war's opponents were nowhere to be found." And that's too bad too.
Less expensive, lower-quality innovations abound in every economic sector—except medicine. - American Scientist online (David Kent)
"Indeed, if 'much cheaper, almost as good' products are attractive in other economic sectors because they permit the reallocation of saved resources to items of more value than the benefits sacrificed, why not in medical care as well?"

The ground-breaking cyberpunk TV series Max Headroom is finally coming out on DVD - io9

Protect your heart by regularly flossing your gums. - Everyday Health blog
The "Compton Cook-Out" Controversy in LA - LA Times
The best take yet on the Tilikum the Killer Orca incident - Scientific American
From the comments section: "How would YOU feel if you were kept in a small closet and forced to do tricks for food?" Mean, pissed and easily aggravated and that's just for starters.
"Good heavens! A young, athletic, good-looking alpha-male behaves promiscuously." - Seattle Post Intelligencer (Dr. Pepper Schwartz)-Comment #469352. Sheesh. I'd say that this is the norm rather than the outlier, IMO.
Apple is shocked to discover that it exploits it's poor foreign workforce. - Cnet
Yeah, right.
An interesting article on the paleo-lifestyle movement. - McClean's online

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Google now a major foreign policy actor - Bloggingheads.tv blog
Trouble in Raw Vegan Paradise? - Free The Animal blog
"At any rate, that post is pretty damning when you consider that it's the gurus themselves returning to animal products, combined with their admissions that a raw vegan approach requires great care and complex supplementation."
Will The iPad Change The Way We Consume Porn? - Fleshbot NSFW
Ex-USAF officer says failure to use airships to detect IEDs is criminally incompetent - Popular Science blog
Apple Doesn’t Own A Single iPad Related Domain Name - TechCrunch blog
Rumors suggest that the Obama administration won't fund NASA's lunar plans. - Delta-V blog
Orwell's Homage To Catalonia made into a serialized podcast - Another World Is Possible
The Mass Psychology of Misery by John Zerzan - The Anarchist Library
Finding a cheap, effective, and easy to use Food Dehydrator can be a challenge.