Wednesday: something something four day week

This is not the appropriate place to park a train.

I was going to complain about the guy I heard today on NPR, but I decided that arguing with people on the radio is even more futile than arguing with people on the internet.  Suffice it to say that my main points were going to be:

1. The previous government of Afghanistan was the Taliban. They are bad people, and it is better that they not be running a country.
2. Economic sanctions are a perfectly valid form of influence.  "I refuse to do business with you because I object to your actions.  I will tell my friends to also refuse to do business with you, because I think you're bad."  They certainly have consequences for the common people in the country under sanction, but I think we've pointed out that an apparently dominant power can be toppled by the people (see: Libya, Tunisia, Egypt, etc.)
3. Certain countries that complain about our tactics aren't really objecting because of some high minded ideal of not wanting to hurt people.  These countries would prefer to not ever mention the fact that governments are constructs of the people, and are not to be determining the fate of those people.  If government X is forced down due to external pressure, then their government can be equally vulnerable.
4. Also: selling guns is very profitable.
5. The argument: "The United States often does bad things that hurt innocent people, and no one really gives a damn." isn't really an argument against all US action.  It's the United States. 

So maybe I just did complain in a roundabout way.  Whatever. I expect better from someone who is a director of international relations from some college institute.

Second point: I've been watching a Silent Hill Downpour Let's Play on youtube.  "What's a Let's Play?" you ask?  It's where somebody plays the game, records it, and adds commentary to the video.  "That sounds both boring and stupid.  At the same time. Borpid."  Possibly, but it lets me follow along with a video game series I might want to play, if I had the inclination to play video games, and the will to pay $Xe2 for a system/games/accessories to do so with.  In any case, after watching two people play this game (I gave up on the first after getting frustrated with his total lack of any video game talent), I only have this to say:

Seriously. Stop bitching about being lost. You have a damn map.

• The Reverent Tom Tate is not a fucktard.
• Isn't this just called jam? (I had this idea when there were no comments, so I had it first).
• I should play Drawsomething more.

Actual brain conversation: 

A: "I should play...what's that game called?" 

B: "The one where you draw?" 

A: "Yeah, you draw something for someone to guess." 

B: "Just call it 'that draw something game'."

C: "You're both idiots. The game is just called 'Drawsomething'."

So, yeah.

• Red panda: 0. Gravity: 1.
• That's choosing the Halloween theme well.
• I might have laughed about this before. I laughed again. That is a woefully short prison term, though.

Damn, I forgot the last few links.

• Economic distribution statistics.  Blah blah revolution blah blah heads-on-pikes.
• Is it just me? Am I the only one who sees links to instagram on twitter and think some combination of a) oh wow, I bet this picture has some stupid shitty filter applied to it; b) how is this better than just posting a picture directly on twitter? c) that picture isn't even of something interesting?  Turns out the hipsters are pissed off now, because it's not an iphone exclusive anymore.
• "Airport security personnel on Monday afternoon saw a man playing with the bat and tossing it in the air outside of the lobby near Baggage Claim B." WTF?