Friday, February 8, 2013

Friday: grumble

Of the five things I wanted to get done today, I was able to accomplish two and two halves.  Not three. Two things sorted out, two other things half sorted out, fifth thing...I forgot what that thing was, but I think I didn't do it at all.

Today's boring thing to talk about that I don't have a link to attach my commentary to: drones.  Am I the only one who realizes that there's an easy argument that is likely what the administration's going to claim?  First, you take the authorization of war from this resolution.  Second, you claim that the vaguely defined "terrorists" are effectively a stateless army, and therefore, the definition of a state needs to be expanded to include such entities.  Then, you conclude that this allows you to launch drone strikes against a target anywhere, not because you're at war with the country that "owns" the land, but rather with the stateless collective that is both the target of the authorized war and the squatters on that land.  There. Using drones is in this case a better strategy than other tactics, as countries would likely be unhappy if you showed up unexpectedly with an army, even if you're going to claim that you're not there to fight them.  The due process aspect of attacking US citizens is more troublesome, as it's hard to claim arbitrarily that you can shoot missiles at people.  The best I can see is to come up with the sophism that you're shooting at everyone else around the citizen, and it's unfortunate but they blew up too.  Not terribly convincing.

Anyway, what do we have in the magic image pile?
Mont St. Michel.
"Wait...if I open my eyes, am I going to fall down?"

  • Puppy!
  • Delicious!
  • Train!
  • This article largely sums up my thought: Wikileaks had a good idea, but put the biggest douchebag out front as their spokesman.
  • I spent time today writing a script to scrub a paper of comments before submission and copy figures into the preferred names.  Then I searched and discovered that someone else had already done that.  Oh well, I like mine better, as it supports plotone and plottwo, plus it confirms that it compiles correctly.


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