Open Threads

Oliver asks:

Without using Google, can anyone tell me what the following numbers signify?

007 373 5963

I can outgeek you one better, Oliver, taking things back to the late 70’s and early 80’s, when I worked on a dummy terminal hooked up to a campuswide Pr1me mainframe. Here is your question:

“What do the terms Xyzzy, Plugh, and Plover come from and what do they mean?”

For bonus points, tell me what the maximum score of the game was, and if you really want to go all out, tell me what the Pirate said when he robbed you in the maze. How do you recover the items stolen by the Pirate?

If you can answer those, you are eligible for the nerd Hall of Fame.

Out-Geeking O-DubPost + Comments (15)

Take this with a grain of salt:

The first official Army history of the Iraq war reveals that American forces were plagued by a “morass” of supply shortages, radios that could not reach far-flung troops, disappointing psychological operations and virtually no reliable intelligence on how Saddam Hussein would defend Baghdad.

Logistics problems, which senior Army officials played down at the time, were much worse than have previously been reported. While the study serves mainly as a technical examination of how the Army performed and the problems it faced, it could also serve as a political document that could advance the Army’s interests within the Pentagon.

Tank engines sat on warehouse shelves in Kuwait with no truck drivers to take them north. Broken-down trucks were scavenged for usable parts. Artillery units cannibalized parts from captured Iraqi guns to keep their howitzers operating. Army medics foraged medical supplies from combat hospitals.

In most cases, soldiers improvised solutions to keep the offensive rolling. But the study found that the Third Infantry Division, the Army’s lead combat force, was within two weeks of being halted by a lack of spare parts, and Army logisticians had no effective distribution system.

No commander ever has enough resources to make them happy, and I would suggest that two weeks away from an operational pause in an advance is nothing from a historical perspective. Still, I can’t wait to read this.

War is Hell…Post + Comments (1)

It looks like papa’s got a a brand new bag. Again.:

James Brown was arrested today on a domestic violence charge after allegedly pushing his wife to the floor during an argument at the couple’s South Carolina home. The 70-year-old singer was nabbed by deputies with the Aiken County Sheriff’s Office who responded to a 911 call apparently placed by 33-year-old Tommie Rea Brown. The woman suffered “scratches and bruises to her right arm and hip” during the bedroom dispute, according to investigators. Brown, who has a well-known history of arrests and bizarre behavior, was booked into the local lockup, where the below mug shot was taken. Last July, Brown took out an ad in “Variety” to announce that he and his wife had made a “mutual show business decision” to “go their separate ways.” It is unclear whether that anticipated separation and/or divorce has occurred.

The mug shot is priceless.

Not Again, James…Post + Comments (4)

Finally- consensus opinion:

I think we’re all in agreeance that the world didn’t need a Limp Bizkit cover of the Who’s “Behind Blue Eyes.”

That’ll teach me to turn on the local rock station.

Atrios And I Agree on SomethingPost + Comments (9)

Damnit:

NASA’s Spirit rover stopped transmitting data from the surface of Mars for more than 24 hours, mission members said Thursday.
T
NASA last heard from Spirit early Wednesday. Since then, it has returned just random, meaningless data

This StinksPost + Comments (4)

Oliver watched a different SOTU address last night:

That speech last night said “Even though I am the commander in chief, I have to keep defending my positions and decisions from this group of Democrats. Maybe they have a point. Several, even. That raises the question: what the hell am I doing up here?”

I don;t know what Oliver is smoking on this one, but if anything, the speech was too strident, not too defensive. He called the Democrats out on every single issue.

What Speech Did Oliver See?Post + Comments (8)

The Calpundit analyzes the weak Democratic response to the SOTU address, and he has a few suggestions:

And what I feel like posting about is the crappy Democratic response to the SOTU. Why was it so crappy?

To be sure, part of it was the speakers themselves. And the speech itself wasn’t so hot either. Plus the decision to have both Pelosi and Daschle speak probably wasn’t very smart. But I think there’s an even bigger problem.

When the president speaks, he does it in a big room full of people. He’s addressing those people, they clap and cheer, and there’s a lot of natural energy surrounding the whole thing. This is what the response needs.

Now, back in my marketing days I used to enjoy talking to groups. I don’t know why, I just did. But practicing speeches was entirely different. I almost never did it, and when I did I was horrible: wooden, stuttery, and joyless. Much like tonight’s performance. But put me up on a stage with real people in front of me and I was fine.

I think that’s what the response needs. The Democrats should have rented a ballroom or something, invited a few hundred party stalwarts (at 500 bucks a pop!), and delivered a real speech to a real audience. Instead of a deathly quite soundstage and an unblinking camera, they could have used the energy of the room the way any good speaker does.

Unfortunately, Kevin is wrong on almost every account. I have some advice of my own, and this is for both parties. Stop giving the responses, period. Just stop it. They are pointless, and I have never seen either party give an effective response. All they do is serve to make the opposition party look puny and out of power, mainly because, as Kevin noted, the President will always have an insurmountable advantage with the pageantry of the spectacle.

How many of you remember the hideous responses the Republicans gave during the Clinton years? I remember Bob Dole’s hideously wooden attempt in 1996 (which served only as a prelude to how awful his campaign would be that year), I remember an equally awful performance by Trent Lott in 1999, and who could forget Jennifer Dunn’s hideously cringeworthy attempt in 1999. The only one I remember that even approached respectability was J.C. Watts in 1997.

The tradition of an opposition response started in the 1960’s, and I think it is time it ended. And, Democrats- if you do nothing else, please stop referring to Nancy Pelosi with the Stalinesque title of ‘Leader Pelosi.’ Jeebus- that made my skin crawl. I can’t imagine how it played in the VFW.

Advice to DemocratsPost + Comments (3)