Michael Widlanski isn’t very impressed with PM Olmert, either:
As the combat has trailed off in Lebanon, it can now be said that whatever Israel
The Coming Wars
Caroline Glick has a depressing, and entirely plausible (and in fact likely) analysis of the inevitability of war in the Middle East, and Israel’s need to prepare for it now (which probably includes forming a new, competent government).
Just one disagreement. Israel will not have to go to war with Iran. Israel has been at war with Iran (and Syria) for years, only via proxie.
More On Fauxtography
From The Economist:
In an effort to reel in photography, camera-makers are making it more obvious when images have been altered.
One way of doing this is to use image-authentication systems to reveal if someone has tampered with a picture. These use computer programs to generate a code from the very data that comprise the image. As the picture is captured, the code is attached to it. When the image is viewed, software determines the code for the image and compares it with the attached code. If the image has been altered, the codes will not match, revealing the doctoring.
Another way favoured by manufacturers is to take a piece of data from the image and assign it a secret code. Once the image file is transferred to a computer, it is given the same code, which will change if it is edited. The codes will match if the image is authentic but will be inconsistent if tampering occurred.
Digital signatures, just as I suggested. But even that won’t be guaranteed:
…forgers have become adept at printing and rescanning images, thus creating a new original. In such cases, analysing how three-dimensional elements interact is key.
Yup. So we’ll also need the army of photographers, for independent views of the event in question, and an army of ever-more-sophisticated bloggers to keep the forgers honest (or at least catch them when they’re not).
Decisions, Decisions
I’m having guests over for baby back ribs tonight, and am looking at recipes on line. I hadn’t really perused them before, but there seem to be as many ways to do it as there are recipes. Some say cook on the grill, a few minutes on a side, some say on the grill for an hour and a half, some say braise in the oven first, some say dry rub, some say marinate, for a few hours or overnight.
It’s almost like it’s hard to do it wrong, but I’m going crazy trying to figure out which way to do it. On the Fourth, I slow cooked some in the oven for hours in a marinade, then grilled them, but the meat was falling off the bone, so while they tasted great, they were hard to handle on the grill. And those were back ribs, but not baby back. Any suggestions?
Getting Cocky
We’re already starting to see dire consequences of Israel’s disastrous war. Al Aqsa thinks that it now knows how to defeat Israel:
“Hizbullah proved what we have already known and felt here in a number of opportunities. The Israelis are lying when they paint their military as unbeatable. A few hundred Hizbullah fighters showed them what an army is, and how to conduct a battle.”
According to Abu Nasser, Nasrallah’s organization still hasn’t had its last word.
“From our acquaintance with them, there is no way they are going to disarm. The organization has strategic objectives and the current battle proves that if it will decide to initiate another battle
More COTS News
I shouldn’t have to tell regular readers this, but not all who come here are regular readers. Clark Lindsey has a blow-by-blow of the COTS announcement, an RpK press release, and other info.
He does this stuff, so I don’t have to.
[Update on Saturday morning]
Clark has another set of links, and an idiotic quote (are there any other kind?) from John Pike.
Creeped Out
Is it really true that a man offering a woman a seat on public transportation is creepy?
Then call me a neanderthal creep.
We Don’t Need No Stinkin’ God
Heather McDonald has been steadfastly arguing over at NRO that political conservativism doesn’t need to have a God, and that in arguing the success of Judeo-Christianity, many religious conservatives may be confusing cause and effect (I think there’s a powerful Anglosphere angle here…). While I’m not a conservative, I agree with everything in this post.
We Don’t Need No Stinkin’ God
Heather McDonald has been steadfastly arguing over at NRO that political conservativism doesn’t need to have a God, and that in arguing the success of Judeo-Christianity, many religious conservatives may be confusing cause and effect (I think there’s a powerful Anglosphere angle here…). While I’m not a conservative, I agree with everything in this post.
We Don’t Need No Stinkin’ God
Heather McDonald has been steadfastly arguing over at NRO that political conservativism doesn’t need to have a God, and that in arguing the success of Judeo-Christianity, many religious conservatives may be confusing cause and effect (I think there’s a powerful Anglosphere angle here…). While I’m not a conservative, I agree with everything in this post.