March 2007 Archives

Tomorrow I will depart for Warrior Transition Course. A four week course designed to train prior service people from other branches how to be soldiers. You might also call it Soldiering School. They'll teach us Army Customs and Courtesies, which I've already learned are somewhat different from the Navy. We'll get a refresher course on drill and ceremony. I like marching around the parade and I'm looking forward to learning at some Manual at Arms. When I went through Boot Camp we did not carry rifles. Weapons in Boot Camp was an on again, off again thing when I first joined the Navy. We get to play with a bunch of cool toys. M16A2, M249, AT-4, M203.

Should be fun. See you in six weeks unless I manage to find a cyber-cafe somewhere along the way. I'm not taking a computer though I may have my wife send it to me if I find that it would be useful and/or entertaining to have. I am taking my iPod and my cell phone. Hopefully, it's all about having the right attitude and it will be a lot of fun.

[posted with ecto]

Technorati Tags: military, psychology , sociology

"Babel" (Alejandro González Iñárritu)

My wife and I watched Babel on DVD last night. Both of us thought it was pretty slow, not very good.

Babel tells four stories that are, in varying degrees, interrelated. In my opinion, none of the four stories are very engaging. Much of the camera work was the handheld camcorder shots that are in vogue. I'll be happy when that particular fad falls from grace. They don't look any better when Hollywood does them.

The movie leads off with the Cate Blanchett's character, Susan, asking her husband played by Brad Pitt, "what are we doing here?" They are presumably vacationing in Morocco. The more rural areas of Morocco, from the look of it. I spent the rest of the movie wondering at the answer to Susan's question. Good actors did a reasonable job in delivering a mediocre script. Editing was on par with the writing.

Babel is, in my opinion, very similar to another movie, Mystery Train. Mystery Train is far more interesting. Not quite the star-studded cast but a much better story, told in a very interesting and surprising way.

Technorati Tags: movie, review

Senator Clinton has finally provided details about what she thinks the strategy in Iraq should be. It does not bode well for the Iraqi people and it ensures that US forces will be in Iraq for many years to come, albeit on a smaller scale.

Interestingly enough, Senator Clinton's plan is everything that Democrats have accused President Bush's plan of being. Self-serving, all about oil, detrimental to the region, etc.

aloha

Technorati Tags: iraq, military, politics

This article makes a very clear explanation of why the surge was necessary.

There is need for a political solution in Iraq. That does not preclude the need for security in Iraq. And from where we are today, US and coalition forces are the best choice to provide that security. I think John McCain was quite correct when he told the US Senate, "...you have no idea how much worse things could get..."

The primary concern in Congress is not the soldiers and their families. It is not the Iraqi people. The primary concern in Congress today is capitalization on American's frustration with the war in Iraq for political gain. While the United States military is trying to execute a war, the American Congress in campaigning for the next election.

aloha

From this article:

"Do you think it's fine that a CD plays in all CD players but that an iTunes song only plays in an iPod? I don't. Something has to change," EU Consumer Protection Commissioner Kuneva was quoted as saying in a preview of an interview to be published on Monday.

Why? Why does anything have to change? Don't like that song purchased on iTunes music store don't play on anything but an iPod? Don't buy either one. There are plenty of options. Yahoo Music and Rhapsody to name two. With either of these services you can load the music onto a variety of digital music players.

A lot of investment has gone into iTunes. Getting the music industry to agree to allow the sale of music in a digital format took a lot of effort. Apple invested the time and resources required to get the music publishers to agree. Apple now reaps the benefits of that effort. It isn't like the music industry doesn't want anyone else to sell digital music files. It is that no one else wants to invest the time, money and resources to develop a system that the music industry would agree to use. It would be much either if they could simply force Apple to let them use that which is iTunes.

More simply put, you worked hard, achieved success and now you should share that success with those of us who have done nothing. Why would I do that? Why should I do that?

Don't like that iTunes Store content doesn't play on whatever digital media player you chose to buy? Don't buy stuff from iTunes Store and get your friends to stop too.

aloha

Technorati Tags: DRM

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