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History Puzzle

An image is worth a thousand words, and I’ve just given you two.  What’s the relationship?

 

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Microsoft Should Donate PowerPoint to the Taliban

I don’t pretend to be a military strategist, but I’ve figured out how to win the war in Afghanistan.  OK, not on my own – The New York Times helped, with an article titled: We Have Met the Enemy and He Is PowerPoint:

Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, the leader of American and NATO forces in Afghanistan, was shown a PowerPoint slide in Kabul last summer that was meant to portray the complexity of American military strategy, but looked more like a bowl of spaghetti.

“When we understand that slide, we’ll have won the war,” General McChrystal dryly remarked, one of his advisers recalled, as the room erupted in laughter.

Another choice quote:

“It’s dangerous because it can create the illusion of understanding and the illusion of control,” General McMaster said in a telephone interview afterward. “Some problems in the world are not bullet-izable.”

Wait, since when do Army Generals not like bullets? 🙂   But there’s more:

Last year when a military Web site, Company Command, asked an Army platoon leader in Iraq, Lt. Sam Nuxoll, how he spent most of his time, he responded, “Making PowerPoint slides.” When pressed, he said he was serious.

Platoon commanders spending most of their time fiddling with Powerpoint?  And we wonder why …. (slapped my hand, scrapped the rest of my comment…)

So here’s my 3-step Military Strategy, bulletized (could fit one PPT slide!):

  • Ban PowerPoint from the US Military
  • Convince Microsoft to donate 10,000 copies of PowerPoint to the Taliban
  • Go get them while they are busy PPT-ing 🙂

(Note: the above does not constitute a pro-war stance- I’m just having fun…)

Update: an old post of mine comes to mind:Romulan Attack Because of Microsoft Office

(Cross-posted @ CloudAve)

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Forget the State of the Union: President has Jury Duty

With his family by his side, Barack Obama is s...

Image via Wikipedia

Fellow Americans, you just received the unexpected gift of a few free hours: don’t have to sit glued to your TV sets watching President Obama deliver his State of the Union address.  He’s got more important things to do: Jury Duty back at home, Chicago.

Or not … the Court relieved him of duty when notified by the White House that he’d be quite busy for the next few years.

Summoning a sitting President is not that unusual: former Presidents Reagan, Bush and Clinton were all summoned, but relieved of duty.  Which is all right. We’re electing Presidents to run the country. Everyone gets this – except one blogger at The US News and World Report, who happens to be a former White House speechwriter for President George H.W. Bush (surprise?): she thinks President Obama should serve. She speaks out of experience:

When I was a spokesman at the Department of Justice in the early 1990s, I was called for jury duty. Because I was promoting the attorney general’s pro-victim, anti-crime positions daily, I figured the judge would take one look at me and I’d be let off. No such thing. He asked if any potential jurors knew the prosecutor or the defense lawyer personally, and hearing no affirmative answers, started the trial. I couldn’t believe I was kept on the jury, but I have to say, it was an eye-opening experience. I learned a heck of a lot about our criminal justice system–good and bad–and I now think everyone should serve on a jury, whether they’re the president or not.

Sour grapes?  She was not let off, so the President shouldn’t either.  Gotta love her perspective thought, comparing the DOJ spokesman (shouldn’t it be spokesperson?) position to that of the President.  Lady, get a life!

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The Obama Administration Badly Needs Google

The Obama administration wants to reset US relations with Russia, and in a symbolic gesture Secretary of State Hillary Clinton presented her counterpart, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov with a huge RESET button when the met in Geneva.

Except the button did not really say reset: it said перегрузка (peregruzka), which, as Lavrov pointed out means overload.   Now, we don’t want to overload relations with Russia, do we?

Congratulations for the State Department translatorss for getting it right.   Here’s my bailout proposal for State: fire the translators, just use Google Translate:

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Bush Street Renamed Obama in San Francisco

(Photo Credit: *takeitez* on Flickr)

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O-Day

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A Fine Day in America

What a fine day in America:

smile_omgWe’re marching towards a socialist system… or at least a partially nationalized one.  After the financial sector now the Government will likely take a stake in Big 3 Auto.  Governments are not exactly known for running businesses well, let alone when they start with already ailing ones…

smile_baringteethIllinois Governor Rod Blagojevich was taken in Federal custody this morning, straight from his home, on corruption charges.  Allegedly he wanted to cash in on his right to appoint the replacement for Senator Obama, who as we know moves to the White House. A line from the FBI affidavit, based on court-approved wiretap on his phones: 

(the Senate seat ) "is a fucking valuable thing, you just don’t give it away for nothing."

There are juicier details here.   My first reaction was shock … I know about arrests of former politicians but has an active sitting Governor been arrested before? 

Apparently yes, and it gets better (actually worse):  MSNBC keeps track:

If Blago goes to prison, and former Gov. George Ryan isn’t commuted by President Bush, you’d have two Illinois governors in prison AT THE SAME TIME. What’s more, by our count, Blagojevich would become the FOURTH Illinois governor to go to prison (following Ryan, Otto Kerner, and Dan Walker).

Hm, Jeff Nolan beats MSNBC:

Gov Len Small, also of Illinois, was arrested while in office in 1921 for corruption.

This must be a good Illinois tradition…

What a fine day in America…

On a brighter note, Costco profits are up… must be all my purchases. smile_wink

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Live Election Results Here

I realize that only about 55% of my readers come from the United States, but the outcome of today’s US Presidential Elections will have a profound impact on the entire world.  I know many of you are watching the process with excitement, in fact a quick look here shows just how much people all around the world care, and that they are quite united. 

Well, they don’t have voting rights, so it will be up to my fellow American citizens to do the right thing and help us, help the world leave 8 years of darkness behind. Let’s watch the live results here:

I’m afraid I don’t have a fast-forward button, so it will be just a count-down for a while…

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Palin vs. McCain On Defense Cuts

No comment, this speaks for itself.

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McCain’s Bailout Plan for You: Marry a Beer Heiress

This is just hilarious – courtesy of The Onion:

McCain’s Economic Plan For Nation: ‘Everyone Marry A Beer Heiress’