Michael Bates: September 2007 Archives
AP: Gingrich Says No to White House Bid
Good for him, good for the GOP, good for the country: He'll keep running his think-tank and generating ideas for others to use. (Via Kevin McCullough.)
AmericanHeritage.com / Blog: The Great (Board) Game
A short piece on one of my favorite games from high school. During the summer of 1980, a group of us would gather at someone's house for a game of Diplomacy on a Saturday afternoon and then head to Skelly Stadium to watch the Roughnecks play soccer that evening. The game involves making alliances and sometimes discarding them on the path to European domination in the opening years of the 20th century. Most games, Austria-Hungary was quickly dismembered by some coalition of neighboring powers.
"All the talk of 'Great Powers' over the last few days has reminded me of one of my favorite board games of all time: Avalon Hill's classic Diplomacy. It's kind of like Risk, but without the dice.... The range of possible actions and outcomes is restricted only by the creativity of the players involved. Because there is no element of totally random chance, as there is in Risk, you won't end up having the game dissolve into a series of ridiculous, strategy-free battles and utterly unlikely outcomes. You just might need to patch up a few friendships after a winner is declared."
MORE from Fredric Smoler: "[S]ince repeated betrayal was necessary, you learned to use evasive and ambiguous language, to which you could later point in self-exculpation. The game taught you, with great precision, what the phrase 'diplomatic language' means. People learned that they had to pin you down, and when they thought they had and later discovered that they hadn't, there was rueful admiration for your successful misdirection, rather than hatred for your deceitfulness."
And here is a library of Diplomacy opening gambits.
Another brilliant Iowahawk parody: "Fellow students, distinguished faculty, and honored guest; I'm Emily Peterson of the Enormous State University Student Union, and I would like to welcome all to another exciting and educational installment of ESU's Distinguished Guest Lecture Series. Today we are honored to present the remarks of His Excellency Gromulak, Overlord Chieftain of the R'Qqharbian Cess-Mutants." (Rated PG for a few vulgarities.)
Boundless: Info-Techno Sabbath: Unplugging the God of Information Technology
"Ask yourself when the last time you went an entire day without the tools of information technology. Most of us have an easier time fasting from food than from information. Yet such pauses are desperately needed for understanding and processing the information we receive. Reflection and rest is the only way that we can sift through the stockpiles of data to find kernels of wisdom."
(Via Evangelical Outpost.)
Hugh Hewitt: CA-4: Eric Egland for Congress
Time for Republicans to clean up our messes. Porkmeister John Doolittle, under investigation for corruption, needs to be sent packing. Patrick Ruffini says that Eric Egland, a counter-terrorism consultant and military intelligence officer, is the man for the job.
IBDeditorials.com: The Soros Threat To Democracy
How George Soros is using billions to manipulate court rulings and public opinion: "OSI also gave cash to other radicals who pressured the Transportation Security Administration to scrap a program called 'Secure Flight,' which matched flight passenger lists with terrorist names. It gave more cash to other left-wing lawyers who persuaded a Texas judge to block cell phone tracking of terrorists. (Via Clayton Cramer.)
Route 66 News: "Route 66" radio show coming to KMOX
The Spirit of 66 on the airwaves, every Saturday night: Hits from the '50s and '60s and vintage news clips on KMOX, 1120, St. Louis' 50,000-watt blowtorch. Nice to see what is normally a news-talk station deviate from the format and make good use of its clear-channel signal to deliver some unique programming to Mid-America.
The New Yorker: Dept. of Archeology: Fragmentary Knowledge
The discovery of an ancient geared device called the Antikythera Mechanism, found in a Greek shipwreck, and the century-long process of figuring out what it was built to do.
best of craigslist : Through being cool
An essay, by an American who grew up in Australia, about the difference between being a "friend" in the American sense and a "mate" in the Australian sense, about how one deals with being chosen last shapes the course of your life, about how childhood rejects evolve into avant-garde hipsters, and about the lie that "the only thing that stands between our current state and wholeness is a particular commodity." He ties it all together in thought-provoking ways. Must reading for parents of boys.
"The point is that every boy and every man needs to know his friends chose him. It's hard-wired into our brains. We need to know that we were worth picking, that we're valued for what we contribute to the people around us. We need it in our jobs, in our friendships, and in our relationships. Those boys and men who never get chosen, who never become the people anyone would want on their side, are damaged goods. They're not really cool, they're undeveloped."
(Via Pretty Numbers.)
Times Online: India Knight: That's no food allergy, just bad manners
"Millions of people have imaginary allergies and food intolerances, according to a survey last week. Many of them have diagnosed themselves online; one in 50 says they only noticed their 'problem' when a friend had similar symptoms; and 39% of people questioned think it is 'trendy' to claim a food allergy. Twelve million people claim to suffer from allergy or intolerance, of which less than a quarter are medically diagnosed."
A St. Louis native studying urban planning in New Orleans critiques St. Louis planner Rollin Stanley's presentation of lessons from St. Louis' recovery that New Orleans might be able to use.
An amazing story: An American soldier was impaled with a live rocket-propelled grenade. An incredibly brave medic team saved his life and theirs. (Via Ace of Spades HQ.)
Tulsa Now Forum - Getting people to move to Tulsa
What would make Tulsa a more attractive place for people to move? One set of suggestions includes developing higher ed, fix infrastructure, overhaul the Chamber and development along river tributaries (e.g., Elm or Crow Creek).
Another idea: "It would be nice to have an intact public realm in which Tulsa could easily display it's differing personalities. Boston Av. would be my candidate as Tulsa's great public street."
Django's Cadillac - "What Makes Bob Holler"
What a great name for a Western Swing band! This page on the band's website will automatically load a WMV file of the band's live performance of Cindy Walker's tribute to Bob Wills's trademark hollers. (Sadly, not everyone likes Bob's hollers.)
There's potential for a catchphrase based on this song, which could apply to "when a little sweetie pie in a mini-skirt twirls by and rolls those big blue eyes" or other situations where an especially attractive female manifests herself in an especially attractive manner. Usage example: "She was wearing a dress that'd make Bob holler." (Interjecting your own holler is optional, but encouraged.)
Rush Limbaugh: Blogger Nails Jack Murtha on Haditha
Jason Mattera of the Young America's Foundation confronted the Democratic congressional leader over his accusations that Marines "killed innocent civilians in cold blood" at Haditha.
www.GovernmentExecutive.com: The myth of the $600 hammer (12/7/98)
Old, but worth reading. It has to do with government accounting rules, not contractor rapacity. Via Clayton Cramer.
National Review Online: Senate to consider DC House member
"Tuesday, the Senate will consider legislation that would expand the House of Representatives by two seats, including one that would be permanently reserved for the District. This is an obvious violation of the Constitution, which says that members of the House of Representatives shall come from 'the several states.'" Retrocession of all but the core federal area of Washington to Maryland is the simplest constitutional way to give Washington residents the right to vote for a congressman. It worked for Alexandria and Arlington.
McCain: Out of the evangelical closet?
John McCain, long identified as an Episcopalian, says he's been an active member of a large Baptist Church in Phoenix for 15 years.
Hooah Wife and friends: Star Trek & Ron Paul
A picture is worth a thousand words, and here is Greta's thousand-word essay on why she can't see Ron Paul as the Barry Goldwater of the 21st Century.
Townhall.com: Robert D. Novak: Micromanager Hillary
The big story is the fourth item in Novak's weekly roundup: A Zogby poll shows Mass. Sen. John Kerry in a statistical dead heat with a potential Republican candidate named Jeff Beatty, a homeland security consultant and a veteran of the FBI, CIA, and Delta Force. Kerry 48, Beatty 41, within the 4.1% margin of error.
It sounds like a living museum of historic homes, but actually it's a planned community south of Anderson in east central Indiana, combining traditional neighborhood development with a more rural feel. "Simpler Times Village is unique because residents will be able to live, work and enjoy agriculture all in one place. You can open a bed and breakfast, own a simple vacation cabin or build a fine estate. You can have gardens and chickens in your backyard. You may hang up a pretty sign to say that you sell pottery from your home!" (Via Rod Dreher, who describes it as If Thomas Kinkade were a crunchy con new urbanist.)
Incompetech: Free Online Graph Paper / Grid Paper PDFs
A variety of sizes, grid widths, and line thicknesses. (Via Dustbury.)
OpinionJournal: A monument to the terror
"The Museum of the Soviet Occupation opened last year on May 26, 2006, on the top floor of the National Museum building on Rustaveli Avenue, Tbilisi's main boulevard. It has received surprisingly little attention except among countries that suffered a fate comparable to Georgia's, such as Poland and the Baltic states, countries that are now free enough from Moscow to undertake such a backward chronicle."
