Category Archives: Blogosphere

Of Swords and CIBs

Posted on July 10, 2019 | 8 comments

JD Allen, over at Mouth of the Brazos, joined the Marines because he wanted a sword. The officers carry them in dress uniform. He wound up enlisted, instead. And by the time his enlistment was up, the sword didn’t seem so important after all.

Me, I wanted to avoid the draft. When I couldn’t I enlisted for Army OCS under a college op program they had then. By the time I got my lieutenant’s bars it was obvious I was going to Viet Nam. In which case all I wanted was a CIB (Combat Infantryman’s Badge: an ancient Long Rifle surrounded by a wreath).

I got it alright. But by the time I did it didn’t seem so important after all.

8 Comments

Posted in Blogosphere, Viet Nam

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Arctic Pearl Harbor

Posted on July 9, 2019 | Comments Off on Arctic Pearl Harbor

Most of the Internet is not in the cloud but on fiber optic cable spanning the bottom of the oceans—including the arctic circle.

Where Wretchard the Cat says Russia may be working on mini-subs to cut or otherwise interfere with the cable in a digital Pearl Harbor.

Via PJMedia

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Posted in Blogosphere, Science/Engineering, War Without End

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Streamliner Memories

Posted on July 8, 2019 | 2 comments

Sigh. Just looking at the pics (or pix, if you prefer) brings back memories of our two thousand mile Amtrak excursion earlier this year. We only got a few canyons (in Colorado and New Mexico) and no mountains at all in Texas and Kansas) but we want to do it again next year. This time we’ll cut the distance to Colorado in half by going and coming back across West Texas.

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Posted in Amtrak, Barbara Ellen, Blogosphere, Trains

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Nationalism

Posted on July 5, 2019 | Comments Off on Nationalism

“Voters like the idea that the people who govern them are loyal to them. Nationalism is unpopular with elites because it involves such loyalty, and loyalty to one’s own people limits one’s options in ways that our governing class finds unacceptable. I don’t think supporting the governing class here is either principled or libertarian.” —law professor Glenn Reynolds, the Instapundit.

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Posted in Blogosphere, History

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Celebrate our Energy Independence

Posted on July 4, 2019 | Comments Off on Celebrate our Energy Independence

Texas leads the way, sez young Aggie engineer:

“The United States – not Saudi Arabia or Russia – is now the world’s largest crude oil producer. This was unthinkable a few years ago, when politicians bemoaned our dependence on foreign oil, without ever offering any solutions.

“In the new energy economy Texas leads the way and is almost certain to exceed 5 million barrels per day, or about 40% of the total American output.

“As if to underscore just how huge a player Texas now is, a company here recently inked a deal to export natural gas – to Saudi Arabia.”

Via PJMedia

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Posted in Blogosphere, Science/Engineering, Texana, Texas A&M

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A green wall

Posted on June 7, 2019 | Comments Off on A green wall

“…[H]ave army corps of engineers doze a mile wide strip on border. from the air, carpet seed cactus. really nasty cactus. really tight. a new green wall. [A]nd it flowers after winter rains.”—Waterman at Don Suber blog.

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Posted in Blogosphere, Obsessions

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Social Justice Judging

Posted on June 3, 2019 | Comments Off on Social Justice Judging

“‘Social justice’ is largely about judging people tribally, cartoonishly, and by different and contradictory standards, based on some supposed group identity, which apparently – and conveniently – overrides all else.”

It’s a damn bore. Unless you enjoy being called racist and oppressive.

Via Diogenes Middle Finger

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Posted in Blogosphere, Dimocrats, Racism of The Week

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