Random Thoughts 01/20/2006

Since I made the mistake of falling asleep at 9:00 pm, I'm now blogging at 3:00 am, as I've fulfilled my quota for sleep for the day/night and my biological schedule is now officially out of whack for the next twenty-four hours. C'est la vie.

Osama bin Laden supposedly released an audiotape within the last twenty-four hours, purporting any number of things. I'll not go into them, as they barely warrant much of a response. But one thing that is obvious about the message is that he's fully aware of what is going on within the United States and what people are saying about this war on Islamo-fascism. Last year, for example, he taunted Bush about his continued reading of 'My Pet Goat' even after being told by Chief-Of-Staff Andy Card that the World Trade Center had been hit on 9/11. I'm not sure what Bush would've or should've done in that moment, as he was essentially powerless at that moment to act in any meaningful way; nor was it clear at the time to his people that location that he was in at the time was secure, or that his path of movement was secure. But so it goes. Yet another ridiculous bone of contention from the barmy left, picked up and used by our mortal enemy bin Laden. Michael Moore followers must've taken great pride in themselves at that moment. (Note sarcastic tone.) Anyway, bin Laden claims he can and will hit the U.S. again at the time of his choosing. I don't believe him, and I think his operational ability to launch an attack has been sereverly compromised by any number of measures taken against him and his network, both domestically and internationally. More than that, I'm still wondering why Ayman al-Zawahiri can make videotapes of his speeches, but bin Laden now only makes audiotapes. I've previously posted that bin Laden is either seriously injured and/or disfigured or dead. I still hold to that theory.

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I've been a Macintosh person for most of my life, having learned to use one back when I was going to college. I don't think I'd be stretching it to say that having learned how to use a Mac enabled me to graduate from college, as I had a very paper-intensive major and concentration. (On any given week during my junior and senior year I had anywhere from three to five papers to write, some long-form, some short.) As a result, I've had an affinity for Macintoshes since that point in my life. (I'm currently writing this blog entry on a Mac.) That said, I'm not really sure the Mac is the most practical machine for uses such as blogging. For example, though this blog program is available in both Mac and PC formats, the Mac version doesn't let me italicize, bullet-point, or post links, whereas the PC version does. It's not the worst thing in the world, mind, but it does cramp one's style. A few years back I bought a Mac G4 (which I still currently use) specifically to run ProTools, a music recording software. The salesman at Sam Ash who sold it to me told me that the PC version of ProTools was substandard and that I'd be pulling my hair out in frustration if I went the PC route. (Which was a cheaper route, natch.) So I went the Mac route. I don't regret it, mind, but for things such as blogging, internet surfing, etc., it's just not as good. In all likelihood, I'll probably get a PC laptop and use the Mac strictly for recording.

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There was a story that I read about in Paul Fussell's 'Wartime-Understanding and Behavior of the Second World War' that I always found amusing involving General George S. Patton. Patton had a reputation as a "fighting general", and was nicknamed by the fawning American press "ol' blood and guts". He also had a reputation for being a martinet of the first order, and got himself into hot water at one point for slapping not one, but two GIs that had been infirmed at field hospitals in Sicily for combat fatigue. (One of the GIs that he slapped for, as he put it, "cowardice", had actually been involuntarily pulled off the line by his commanding officer not because he had lost his nerve, but because he'd been on the line for months and had become incontinent. He also had been previously wounded twice, and had received a Silver Star for bravery under fire.) Anyway, the story went like this:

General Patton pulls into a field hospital to "buck up" the wounded GIs. After talking to three or four wounded GIs, Patton comes to a fellow sitting in bed, minding his own business and reading a comic book. Patton bellows to the wounded man, "Soldier! Do you know who I am!?! You show proper respect and salute me!!!" The wounded man looks over his comic book, then says to Patton, "Hey, f*ck you, General. I'm in the Merchant Marine."

Too bad the story was apocryphal. But many GIs believed it to be true at the time. As the saying goes, never let the facts geet in the way of a good story.

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I haven't heard Howard Stern's new Sirius radio show, and frankly, I'm not that motivated or interested enough to make an effort to hear it. However, I have listened to David Lee Roth's show in the same time slot that Howard used to have on K-Rock (now re-branded as "Free Radio"), and I have to say...that I actually enjoy it. I've never been a fan of David Lee Roth, as I found him to be kind of clownish when he was in Van Halen. (I know there are alot of people who swear that VH went down the tubes when Roth left and Sammy Hagar took over, but I'm not one of them; I think there was some great music that came out of the "Van Hagar" era. But I digress.) I'm not sure he'll survive in his current slot, as Howard Stern is a tough act to follow. But I'm kind of rooting for Roth to succeed. Additionally, it is rather refreshing to listen to an enthusiastic, positive guy in the morning in the person of Roth than miserable, negative, and frequently cruel Stern. Sure, Stern was funny, but it was often at someone else's expense.


Consider me a nominal fan of Roth at this point. I might even forgive him for wearing pink spandex with furry boots when he was in VH. Here's to hoping for his success in this new endeavor of his.

I'm off to make a futile attempt at sleeping.