America at War

Posted on by
Reply

By Lordkinbote at en.wikipedia [Public domain or Public domain], from Wikimedia CommonsWikipedia has a page showing all (or at least many) of America’s military engagements at home and abroad in two timelines, 1770 to 1900 and 1900 to present (h/t Juan Cole).

The first thing you might note is that we have gone to war a lot. Most of the 19th-century campaigns were against this or that Indian nation—manifest destiny stuff, mostly—but there are also lesser-known foreign engagements like the Philippine-American War (1898-1902), which resulted in more than 4,000 American deaths, mostly from disease, and as many as 1.5 million Filipino civilian deaths. We also seemed to like to do some occupying back in the day, including Nicaragua (1912-33), Haiti (1915-34), the Dominican Republic (i.e. the other half of the island with Haiti) (1916-24), and the Dominican Republic again (1965-66).

The timelines color-code each war or conflict to indicate whether the conflict is ongoing or whether the U.S. was the winner, loser, or neither. It identifies seven “ongoing” conflicts: Continue reading →

Share

A Couple of Thoughts to Get You Through Your Week as Realistically as Possible

Posted on by
Reply

"frog in a bad mood" by Alexander Maier (originally posted to Flickr as sad frog) [CC-BY-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia CommonsIt would appear, at least according to some researchers, that genius strikes and/or peaks in one’s late 30’s. I take this to mean two things:

  1. At 39 years old, now is my time to shine.
  2. It’s all downhill from here, but I might as well enjoy the ride.

Also, relying solely or primarily on positive thinking might make you less likely to succeed. (Put another way, it’s further evidence that “The Secret” doesn’t work.)

Happy Monday, all.

Photo credit: “frog in a bad mood” by Alexander Maier (originally posted to Flickr as sad frog) [CC-BY-2.0], via Wikimedia Commons.

Share

Monday Morning Cute: Miscellany

Posted on by
Reply

First, we have an elephant playing dead on a beach:

I hope that I am correctly interpreting this as cute.

Next up, the stoat:

It’s different from a ferret or weasel.

I may have posted these red pandas before, but they’re worth a repeat: Continue reading →

Share

Porn and Prejudice: Rule 34 Goes Zero-G

Posted on by
Reply

We have achieved yet another zenith in human scientific and technological achievement with Kate Upton’s zero-g photoshoot for Sports Illustrated.

With GIFs. Continue reading →

Share

If You’re Reading This, Then the Viking Apocalypse Probably Didn’t Happen

Posted on by
2

Emil Doepler [Public domain], via Wikimedia CommonsAccording to some aficionados of Norse mythology, today is predicted to be the day of Ragnarök, the epic final battle ‘twixt good and evil.

I’m scheduling this post for 6:00 p.m. Central Standard Time, Saturday, February 22, 2014. In Sweden right now, it’s already Sunday the 23rd. If Scandinavia is still a cold, dark place with mostly blonde people enjoying a high standard of living and eating lots of mackerel—as opposed to the scene of an Æsir vs. Jötnar battle royale—then we can probably all breathe easy. We have more to fear from coal slurry than the trickster god Loki.

Keep an eye out for giant serpents, though, just in case…

I mean, Harold Camping and all those people who misinterpreted the Mayans were wrong, but maybe third time’s a charm?

Photo credit: Emil Doepler [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons.

Share

When Are Orcs More Plausible than Women?

Posted on by
Reply

By anonymous (modified image: http://freywild.ch/i33/i33en.html) [Public domain], via Wikimedia CommonsThe short answer is “never,” but bear with me.

Some guy who goes by the name Vox Day on the internet has announced plans to create a medieval combat video game. The game will allow players to manage the combat of a variety of characters, including humans, elves, and dwarves. The game will also have goblins, orcs, and trolls, but I don’t know if those are playable characters or enemies. (I don’t play much of this style of game, so I don’t know exactly how it works.)

What the game will not have is female characters. At all. Because as far as Vox Day is concerned, women don’t fight in combat, and to claim otherwise would require him to “throw out historical verisimilitude.” (Also, he figures “whiny women” won’t be playing his game anyway.)

As David Futrelle (linked above), Ophelia Benson, Jason Thibeault, and PZ Myers have all pointed out, women have in fact served in combat throughout human history, including in the European Middle Ages (PDF file). I will describe another woman warrior below, but first, I have an observation about Vox Day’s game.

He will include goblins, trolls, orcs, elves, and dwarves in his game, but he considers women to be implausible.

Forget historical accuracy for a second. If you have difficulty even imagining a woman in a combat role alongside actual mythical characters, well, you may have issues.

By U.S. Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. Keith Brown [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Women in the military? That’s unpossible!

Now then, let me tell you a bit about Milunka Savić. Continue reading →

Share

The Rarest Gummi of Them All

Posted on by
Reply

Yes, the Gummi Venus de Milo is real, apparently.

Homer: Ooh, Gummi bears! Gummi calves’ heads! Gummi jaw breakers! (Sees a Gummi figure rotating on a red pillow in a glass case.)

Homer: (Lustily) Ohh…What’s that?

Man: That is the rarest Gummi of them all, the Gummi Venus de Milo, carved by Gummi artisans who work exclusively in the medium of Gummi.

Marge: Will you two stop saying “Gummi” so much?

Share

“You’re no longer the underdogs, it’s very important that you realize that.”

Posted on by
Reply

John Oliver rips into Silicon Valley douchebags, and it is glorious. Hopefully the video embeds below (WordPress can be weird about that):


Just one of many awesome quotes:

There are only winners here this evening. There are winners, and people who failed to win. So if you don’t win an award, you are not a loser; you are a failure. There is an important distinction there.

To quote Salon’s Andrew Leonard, “[Y]ou really need to watch the entire nine-minute video for maximum effect. And decide for yourself, is the laughter that greets Oliver’s bracing jabs the sound of people who are in on the joke?”

Share

Irony in Tennessee

Posted on by
Reply

By Richard Bartz (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Pictured: Volkswagen plant. Not pictured: Chattanooga.

Republicans worked overtime to meddle in the affairs of private industry in Tennessee, as workers at the Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga voted on whether or not to unionize. Volkswagen itself, i.e. the employer who would be directly affected by unionization, remained neutral on the issue throughout the process. Republican politicians felt no such compunction to keep government hands off of business, though. Amid threats to legislatively withhold future incentives for Volkswagen to invest further in Tennessee, and some ridiculous Civil War analogies, workers narrowly defeated the unionization plan.

This ought to be a victory for business, right? Volkswagen can now create even more jobs in the state, secure in the knowledge that their workers will never dare talk back to them, so everything should be coming up roses for Tennessee’s economy.

Well, no.

Republicans apparently mistook Volkswagen for an American company that ships jobs wherever wages are cheapest and workers are the most powerless, not a company that gives workers a strong voice in its affairs. That misunderstanding, whether deliberate or inadvertent, may cost the state, or maybe even the entire South, more investment by foreign auto makers.

Nice going, jackasses.

Photo credit: By Richard Bartz (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0], via Wikimedia Commons.

Share

This Week in WTF, February 21, 2014

Posted on by
Reply
Chinese restaurant owner Li Tsui has been forced to pull down two naked statues of Buddha that are used to advertise his restaurant with the implication that the food was so good even Buddha was coming down from heaven to try some of the dishes. According to Chinese legend Buddha was once so attracted by the smell of a dish of food that he climbed up a wall and then jumped down on the other side so he could try the food. Recreating the tale of the drawn statues Li claimed that his food was also so good that if Buddha was around him and also climb the wall to get to it. But the giant naked statues in the city of Jinan in east China’s Shandong province offended Buddhists who said using the image to advertise a restaurant was offensive. Li said: "I didn't intend to offend anyone and in fact there is a very popular dish that we also make here known as Fotiaoqiang, which is extremely popular in this part of the world and everybody eats it. The dish translates as "Buddha leaps off the wall". I simply meant to advertise that and as everybody knows the dish didn't think that would be a problem." Fotiaoqiang is made with the main ingredients of chicken and duck. But while it is served in many restaurants in the region taking it a stage further with a giant naked Buddha was for most people in the religion a step too far. After protests outside the restaurant to urge people not to go inside and local media coverage the restaurant backed down – and the two Buddha statues have been removed just two days after they were put in place.

What has been seen cannot be unseen. (© Central European News)

– Who are the ad wizards who came up with this thing? A Chinese restaurant—and by that, I mean a restaurant located in China—made a rather bold marketing decision that did not go over so well.

The food at this Chinese restaurant is so damn good it even tempted Buddha himself to scale the walls for a bite.

Well that’s apparently how two naked fat men came to be draped across a building this weekend in Jinan, east China’s Shandong province.

The sculptures appeared on Sunday but were “destroyed” that same night, reports China Daily.

Citing Xinhua News Agency, the channel says they were constructed to demonstrate just how mouth-watering the restaurant in question’s Fo-tiao-qiang dish is, which translates literally as “Buddha jumps over the wall”.

According to Qing Dynasty legend, the meaty dish is so tasty it enticed one monk to abandon his vegetarianism and literally leap over a wall to eat it. Another version described it as so delicious even Buddha would do the same.

But the stunt went down like a lead balloon for some devout Buddhists.

Yeah, one look at that picture on the right, which offers an idea of the size and, uh, nakedness of the sculptures, and I don’t feel like eating at all. Also, I can’t stop thinking that these guys look like enormous Mardi Gras king cake babies, which is a thought no one should ever, ever have.

– If you demand breadsticks, too, that’s socialism: I’ll just let Erik Loomis capture the absurdity of what Chevron did: Continue reading →

Share