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End of Year Wrap Up
Dec. 31st, 2009 11:24 amConsider this a laundry list of things on my mind at the year's end.
1) Much has been made about how anti-militaristic the plot is in the movie Avatar. I'm definitely not anti-military (I did serve in the military, after all) but I will say anytime somebody says "victory through shock and awe" they are cruisin' for a bruisin'. "Shock and awe" really means "our enemies are so weak-minded that they'll fold at the first attack." Sometimes this is true - usually it is not.
2) John Scalzi wrote a cogent review of Obama's first year, which I largely agree with. Scalzi also cites Andrew Sullivan's review. They are both worth reading in full. My only comment is that I agree with Sullivan and disagree with Scalzi on Obama's approach (so far) to the Republicans. Every time Obama makes a reasonable offer to the Republicans and they swat it away like cranky five-year-olds, the Republicans look more like, well, cranky five-year-olds. Cranky five-year-olds don't typically win elections. At some point Obama will probably have to get more partisan, but so far he's doing fine.
3) My Christmas present to me (subsidized by some Christmas green) was a new TV. The primary TV in my house was a 25 inch CRT (AKA "big heavy glass box") purchased in 1990. It will soon be replaced by a 40 inch LCD. After some research, I determined that all the major stores had roughly comparable prices on TVs. Sears proved to have cheaper delivery and a willingness to remove the old box, so they got my business.
I wish everybody a Happy New Year!
1) Much has been made about how anti-militaristic the plot is in the movie Avatar. I'm definitely not anti-military (I did serve in the military, after all) but I will say anytime somebody says "victory through shock and awe" they are cruisin' for a bruisin'. "Shock and awe" really means "our enemies are so weak-minded that they'll fold at the first attack." Sometimes this is true - usually it is not.
2) John Scalzi wrote a cogent review of Obama's first year, which I largely agree with. Scalzi also cites Andrew Sullivan's review. They are both worth reading in full. My only comment is that I agree with Sullivan and disagree with Scalzi on Obama's approach (so far) to the Republicans. Every time Obama makes a reasonable offer to the Republicans and they swat it away like cranky five-year-olds, the Republicans look more like, well, cranky five-year-olds. Cranky five-year-olds don't typically win elections. At some point Obama will probably have to get more partisan, but so far he's doing fine.
3) My Christmas present to me (subsidized by some Christmas green) was a new TV. The primary TV in my house was a 25 inch CRT (AKA "big heavy glass box") purchased in 1990. It will soon be replaced by a 40 inch LCD. After some research, I determined that all the major stores had roughly comparable prices on TVs. Sears proved to have cheaper delivery and a willingness to remove the old box, so they got my business.
I wish everybody a Happy New Year!
