Jeff Jarvis adds some useful comments to the outing of Robert Byrd and Ted Stevens regarding Senate Bill S.2590:Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006 introduced by Mr. COBURN (for himself, Mr. OBAMA, Mr. CARPER, and Mr. MCCAIN).
“Military power can gain us time…but that is about it,”
Fascinating look at General John Abizaid, Chief of Centcom, by Greg Jaffe:
In the fall of 2002, the U.S. military set up a task force here on the Horn of Africa to kill any al Qaeda fighters seeking refuge in the region. The base was crawling with elite special-operations teams, and an unmanned Predator plane armed with Hellfire missiles sat ready on the runway.
Today, the base houses 1,800 troops whose mission is to build health clinics, wells and schools in areas where Islamic extremists are active. The idea is to ease some of the suffering that leaves the locals susceptible to the radicals’ message, thus bolstering local governments, which will run the new facilities and get credit for the improvements.
David Hackworth spoke well of Abizaid. Other sites worth checking out include Defense and the National Interest and Tom Barnett’s blog. Barnett posted a few words on Jaffe’s article (more). John Robb is also worth a visit. Centcom website and RSS feed.
Who Knew? Third Coast Surfing in Sheboygan
AP:
Sheboygan is the Capital of Freshwater Surfing because the county juts out 10 kilometres into Lake Michigan, meaning winds from most directions cause water to swell and form waves. It doesn’t hurt that the Williams brothers constantly hype their Malibu of the Midwest.
“Lake Michigan is an inland ocean, it can create waves in excess of 24 feet (7.3 metres), two and a half stories, several times a year,” said Larry Williams, pointing just down the 10-kilometre stretch of coastline. “North Point is now considered the Mount Everest of freshwater surfing. We had top California surfers come in here and they were backing off on a lot of waves.
“We get more waves than anybody else (on the Great Lakes), more quality waves, bigger waves, because where we’re sitting, from North Point to North Pier, about a mile, it’s really a deep bay and the waves sweep in.”
Surfer Movie Endless Summer II visited Sheboygan some years ago.
Sigur Ros Tour Blog
Sigur Ros Uk Site – some great photos.
Madison Rep New Subscriber Deal
The Madison Rep has a fabulous deal for new subscribers: 50% off 4 and 5 play packages. Check it out. Full disclosure: Artistic Director Rick Corley is a good friend.
For example, a 5 play package Isthmus Preview Series is $50/person (Wed night) or $63 (Thu night)!
Warner Second Life Interview
Mark Warner, an unannounced candidate for the presidency, is going to be interviewed in Second Life on Thursday at 3:30pm (eastern time, I think).
Warner is someone to watch. He’s also played the NASCAR card.
Oil Prices this Fall
“[R]umors inside the industry suggest that Iran is being forced to charter 20 huge oil tankers to hold 40 million barrels of its crude; apparently, Iran has run out of space to store all the oil it has pumped but not yet sold.”
Dependency Ratios
This relation between the number of people who aren’t of working age and the number of people who are is captured in the dependency ratio. In Ireland during the sixties, when contraception was illegal, there were ten people who were too old or too young to work for every fourteen people in a position to earn a paycheck. That meant that the country was spending a large percentage of its resources on caring for the young and the old. Last year, Ireland’s dependency ratio hit an all-time low: for every ten dependents, it had twenty-two people of working age. That change coincides precisely with the country’s extraordinary economic surge.
Kraft Foods (Oscar Meyer Parent) Spinoff?
Today’s meeting of Altria’s board may bring Kraft — which sells food carrying the Maxwell House, Nabisco and Oscar Mayer labels, among others — one step closer to its goal.
With the last major legal challenge over marketing practices by the tobacco industry having cleared two weeks ago, Altria’s 11-member board is likely to discuss the timing of a much-anticipated and imminent corporate overhaul. But Altria’s board is not expected to announce a Kraft spinoff after the meeting.
Wall Street analysts who follow Altria say they expect the company, which has been planning an overhaul since 2004, to take its time in making a final decision on the timing of what would be one of the largest tax-free corporate spinoffs.
Cordless VOIP Phone
While most VoIP phones require you to be connected to your PC via a USB cable our Cordless VoIP phone uses a wireless signal that allows you to roam your house or office while using Skype. You may use the phone for both PC-to-PC and PC-to-Phone calling.