meehawl

All the recent hoopla about some Brit trying to flog a surface-air missile ignores the fact that thanks to the sterling efforts of mostly US-based weapons manufacturers and trickle-down information economics, it’s possible to build your very own cruise missile for around $5,000. Okay, so the range is “only” around 160km, but you get 10Kg of payload to within 30m accuracy in less than 12 minutes. That’s pretty compelling economics and *far* more interesting to guerilla soldiers than the line-of-sight RPG or short-range parabolic mortar. Here’s the DIY Cruise Missile Blog, and the gory details. It’s all very reminiscent of Dad’s Nuke by Marc Laidlaw.

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This inside account of Iraqi resistance cells is startlingly similar to similar accounts by journalists of Northern Irish PIRA cells in the 1970s and 1980s. The PIRA originally used a broad hierarchical organization that was easily infiltrated. After it moved to a cell organization, the effectiveness of UK troops declined precipitously and they moved toa defensive, barracks posture. The Iraqi resistance, it seems, have learned from history and gone straight to a cell structure.

US intelligence is way behind understanding that what is emerging in Iraq is a centrally controlled movement, driven as much by nationalism as the mosque, a movement that has left Saddam and the Baath Party behind and already is getting foreign funds for its bid to drive out the US army … “First we watch the Americans to understand their movements. We know from the way they shoot in every direction that they are afraid … The people offer us hiding places when we are in danger. They support us with words and blessings and sometimes they hide our fighters in the boot of their cars to take them to safety.”

Earlier here.

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I noticed a cute little entry in this month’s Harper’s Index, which perhaps explains why Afghanistan is increasingly becoming hostile and ungovernable…

Ratio of UN peacekeepers to population in Kosovo… 40:1
Ratio of UN peacekeepers to population in Afghanistan… 5000:1

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This is fashion model Morgan Featherstone. She is blonde, seductive… and eight years old. With her long tresses, heroin-chic eye makeup and sexy stare, Morgan presents like any other magazine model, except on her birth certificate. The Brisbane schoolgirl works for her father’s adult modelling business, Women Model Agency, and is hot property among Asian businessmen, keen to use her “look” to advertise their products … Mr Featherstone is no stranger to controversy. In 2000, he was charged with extortion in Brisbane for allegedly secretly videotaping a young woman and her mother performing sex acts on him.

Earlier here.

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According to the OnionAV DVD commentary reviews, this line just about sums up John Boorman’s commentary on his magnificent, terrible Zardoz.

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Spent a good partion of the weekend finding and fixing things for Burning Man 2003. It’s amazing how much playa dust still remains from Burning Man 2001!

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Oh fortuna! Oh mores!

The ailing former President of Uganda Idi Amin Dada is seeking a kidney to keep him alive … [his] regime was one of the bloodiest in African history, with up to 400,000 deaths and disappearances.

I predict few donors and fewer fond farewells for His Excellency President for Life, Field Marshal Al Hadji Doctor Idi Amin, VC, DSO, MC, Lord of All the Beasts of the Earth and Fishes of the Sea, and Conqueror of the British Empire in Africa in General and Uganda in Particular.

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So according to a new genetic study, humans are more similar to rodents than to cats. And there’s definitely something funky going on with all the “junk” DNA coding that’s not incorporated into any known genes. Isn’t nature marvellous? I am reminded of Greg Bear’s Blood Music, one of the best early examples of the biological singularity fable.

Earlier here.

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So that’s it for the polar bears. A new study seems to confirm earlier theories that within a couple of generations the North Pole ice will completely melt during summer. Two things I see immediately stemming from this. Instead of a generally impassable icy border between the vast coastlines of Russia & Canada, there will be open sea. Expect much smuggling, immigration, and possible clashes. Canada is already looking into this.

Possible diversion of the Gulf Stream could devastate agricutlure in Ireland and Britain, which currently benefit greatly from the warming effects of the Gulf Stream during winter. Their latitude is about the same as Newfoundland, but today they are not so buggeringly cold in winter. This could change dramatically.

Earlier here.

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Previously, I mentioned how low-rent transsexual quacks were injecting people with industrial-grade silicone. This guy/girl found an even cheaper silicone source and injected hir clients with brake fluid. At least one person is dead.

Guadalupe Camerena is charged with aggravated assault and serious bodily injury. Though she looks like a woman, police say she’s a man who was trying to make other men look like women by injecting them with what they now believe was brake fluid.

Earlier here.

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