When I am not

gagging over the Meltdown in Mission Valley, I have been reading A Guide to the Battles of the American Revolution, by Theodore P. Savas And J. David Dameron. While I know the basics of the military history of the revolution -- Lexington and concord, Bunker Hill, Saratoga, Trenton and Yorktown were the biggies -- I have studied it very little in comparison to the ancient world and World War II, or even the Civil War, so my expertise in it is comparatively lacking. This book is part of my effort to rectify that.

And while I am only part way through the book, it is living up to and beyond my expectations, much moreso than Patriot Battles managed to live down to my expectations. (Note to Michael Stephenson: when you write a book ostensibly about the Revolutionary War, or as you sanctimoniously chose to call it, the "War of Independence," you need to write more about, you know, this "War of Independence" and less about Iraq.)

So far, Nathanael Greene and Benedict Arnold kick ass. Arnold never really stops kicking ass, even where there's no ass to kick, like at New London, after he switched sides. Of course, maybe he wouldn't have switched sides if not for the selfish and incompetent Horatio Gates.

Well

my Brownies did surprisingly well. Unbelievably well. But, my Chargers ... HOW THE $!@&# DO YOU LOSE TO THE $!@&# CHIEFS?!? BY 14!!! AT HOME!!! AFTER BLOWING A 10-POINT LEAD.

My Steelers lost, too. Not good. Someone needs to stop the Colts from the Super Bowl. Again. (Gag!) That was the one public good Bill Belichick had been able to perform. He failed last year, but we may have to depend on him again. The low-life.

Indianapolis stinks

OK, it is time we all faced up to one very unpleasant fact.

Indianapolis stinks.

No, I'm not talking about anything that has to do with local politics, though one might understandably think so. I mean literally.

Indianapolis stinks.

Ever since construction began on the Simon headquarters building at Washington and Capitol, the intersection has smelled like either raw sewage or a pig farm. Sometimes the stench has been overpowering. It continues to this day.

And is, in fact, expanding its area. The stench now reaches east along Washington to at least Meridian, and south on Illinois and Capitol to Maryland. It also goes north a bit on Capitol. At least. I have occasionally smelled it in other areas, including the 65 over Meridian Street.

I can find no explanation in terms of construction as to why downtown should consistently smell like raw sewage.

So what is the deal?

The Speech of the Speechless

Apparently, the September 6th attack has Syria, Iran and Russia in a state of near-panic. Why? According to Dr. Jack Wheeler, the Syrians purchased a very expensive and (allegedly) very state-o'-the-art air defense system from the Russians, as did Iran. Yet the Israeli air strike not only penetrated that system, the Syrians did not even know that their air defense had been neutralized:

Syria has gone on a profligate buying spree, spending vast sums on Russian systems, "considered the cutting edge in aircraft interception technology."

Syria now "possesses the most crowded antiaircraft system in the world," with "more than 200 antiaircraft batteries of different types," some of which are so new that they have been installed in Syria "before being introduced into Russian operation service."

[...]

And guess what happened with the Russian super-hyper-sophisticated cutting edge antiaircraft missile batteries when that penetration took place on September 6th.

Nothing.

El blanko. Silence. The systems didn't even light up, gave no indication whatever of any detection of enemy aircraft invading Syrian airspace, zip, zero, nada. The Israelis (with a little techie assistance from us) blinded the Russkie antiaircraft systems so completely the Syrians didn't even know they were blinded.

Now you see why the Syrians have been scared speechless. They thought they were protected - at enormous expense - only to discover they are defenseless. As in naked.

Thus the Great Iranian Freak-Out - for this means Iran is just as nakedly defenseless as Syria. I can tell you that there are a lot of folks in the Kirya (IDF headquarters in Tel Aviv) and the Pentagon right now who are really enjoying the mullahs' predicament. Let's face it: scaring the terror masters in Tehran out of their wits is fun.

Heh. Though, if Jack Kelly is to be believed, Israeli commandos took down the Syrian air defense. But even if they had the Syrians would have had an idea that their air defense had been compromised.

And what did the Israelis attack? Dr. Wheeler does not know, but he speculates:

So - what was attacked near Dayr az-Zawr? It's possible it was North Korean "nuclear material" recently shipped to Syria, i.e., stuff to make radioactively "dirty" warheads, but nothing to make a real nuke with as the Norks don't have real nukes [...]

Another possibility is it was to take out a stockpile of long-range Zilzal surface-to-surface missiles recently shipped from Iran for an attack on Israel.

A third is it was a hit on the stockpile of Saddam's chemical/bio weapons snuck out of Iraq and into Syria for safekeeping before the US invasion of April 2003.

That last possibility is particularly interesting.

Dr. Wheeler interprets the attack this way:

[M]ake no mistake: an all-out full regime take-out air assault upon Iran is coming if that hope doesn't materialize within the next 60 to 90 days. The Sept. 6 attack on Syria was the shot across Iran's bow.

Let's hope so. It would be a good thing.

(h/t: Wizbang)

Another blow

against outcome-based history:

Egyptian antiquities supremo Zahi Hawass insisted Tuesday that Tutankhamun was not black despite calls by US black activists to recognise the boy king's dark skin colour.

"Tutankhamun was not black, and the portrayal of ancient Egyptian civilisation as black has no element of truth to it," Hawass told reporters.

"Egyptians are not Arabs and are not Africans despite the fact that Egypt is in Africa," he said, quoted by the official MENA news agency.

Hawass said he was responding to several demonstrations in Philadelphia after a lecture he gave there on September 6 where he defended his theory.

Protestors also claimed images of King Tut were altered to show him with lighter skin at the "Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs" exhibit which leaves Philadelphia for London on September 30.

The exhibition sparked an uproar when it kicked off in Los Angeles in June 2005 when black activists demanded that a bust of the boy king be removed because the statue portrays him as white.

The face of the legendary pharaoh, who died around 3,300 years ago at the age of just 19, was reconstructed in 2005 through images collected through CAT scans of his mummy.

I have seen firsthand numerous attempts by black activists to appropriate Pharonic Egypt as a black-dominated civilization. For instance, at the Indiana University-Indianapolis law school, the black law students association posters always contained a "United Africa" flag and an image of Tutankhamen. I have also seen Tutankhamen's image used on T-shirts espousing black pride, and have gotten into arguments with black individuals over Pharonic Egypt. It can be humorous, at times, as some of those discussions included their claims that the famous Ptolemaic Egyptian Queen Cleopatra VII Philopator was black -- even though she was the product of eight generations of Macedonian Greek inbreeding in the Ptolemaic court, which wanted nothing to do with the Egyptian locals. That Pharonic Egypt and Ptolemaic Egypt are two completely different things -- Ptolemaic Egypt, while responsible for Alexandria, its great library and the famous Pharos lighthouse, did not produce nearly the accomplishments of Pharonic Egypt and its pyramids, tomb complexes and massive cities like Memphis and Thebes.

The case for a black African Pharonic Egypt has always been at best thin and generally non-existent. The idea was intended to become a source of black pride and a justification for teaching black history (normally against the wishes of the students and the parents) in the public schools. There appeared to be two prime foundations -- both of which are flawed -- for this strategy.

1. A relative lack of accomplishment by black African civilizations compared with those of Europe, the Middle East, East Asia and the Americas. This isn't exactly true, though. The extreme Upper Nile region in the Sudan and Ethiopia were home to two of sub-Saharan Africa's greatest civilizations, Kush and Axum (or Aksum). Much further south, you have ancient Zimbabwe. Yes, Zimbabwe was an ancient civilization with some pretty impressive and mysterious ruins. It also probably had a high er of standard of living than Robert Mugabe's charges do now. The activists by implication denigrated this history by trying to appropriate Pharonic Egypt, but they felt they had to because ...

2. While Kush, Axum and Zimbabwe were impressive, they contributed almost nothing to Western Civilization and could be written off historically by the West like the East Asian civilizations have been. They needed something in the lineage of Western Civilization -- the Middle East and Fertile Crescent, Egypt, Israel, Greece, Rome, Europe. Egypt was the only one they could reasonably justify taking, because there is evidence of a bi-racial society in Egypt, as Upper Egypt did have contacts with black sub-Saharan Africa and the civilizations of the Upper Nile region in the Sudan.

But their historical argument generally (and I would say deliberately) misrepresented archaeology to suit their ends. You look at motifs on the walls of the Egyptian ruins in sites like Giza and Thebes and you see faces with ambiguous features, but you also see wall paintings with skin colors very inconsistent with black Africans. They are instead consistent with dark-skinned Caucasians, the dominant population in North Africa. The Sahara proved to be a very strong barrier to contact between North Africa and sub-Saharan Africa, and their respective civilizations, while then did have contact, developed separately. Only Egypt had contacts with black sub-Saharan Africa that could in any way be deemed extensive, because of the "highway" that was the Nile. This evidence of contact and some intermingling of societies has been used to bootstrap the claim that Pharonic Egypt was black African. But the claim is simply not supported by evidence.

I suppose I'll be called a racist for this. I know Zahi Hawass will be.

Will we ever know

what happened in Syria on September 6th?

According to Jack Kelly, the Israeli commandos were not assigned to this mission to capture nuclear materials, but to take down Syrian air defense radars:

We don't know for sure what it was that Israel bombed because the people who do know are (mostly) keeping their mouths shut. But we can surmise it was something big, because it is uncharacteristic for these people to keep their mouths shut.

British and American newspapers have published stories, based on leaks from Israeli and American sources, indicating the target was nuclear material recently delivered to Syria by North Korea.

Israeli F-15s took out two targets, sources in the Pentagon told my friend Jack Wheeler, a conservative commentator. One contained nuclear weapons components shipped from North Korea; the other Zil Zal surface-to-surface missiles from Iran. Before the fighter-bombers attacked, Israeli commandos inserted by helicopter took out the radars for Syria's Russian-supplied air defense system.

That would explain the ineffectiveness of Syria's air defense, but it would not explain how Israel reportedly got its hands on the nuclear materials.

Meanwhile, In From the Cold speculates that the story about the July 23 accident involving a chemical warhead on a SCUD missile that allegedly killed dozens of Iranian engineers and at least 15 Syrian officers is "too good to be true." Unfortunately, he makes a pretty convincing case.

What seems to me to be Spook 86's most troubling statement is that there has been no evidence that such an explosion actually took place:

Where did the accident happen? Syria has a long history of testing chemical munitions (and conducting crew training at isolated ranges. At explosion at one of those ranges would be detected by overhead sensors, and imaged by commercial and intelligence satellites. So far, there's been no report of any overhead platform detecting blast craters, scorch marks, debris or other tell-tale signs of an explosion. Additionally, the interaction of chemical agents with the ground produces distinctive, colored marks which have not been detected in connection with the reported event.

And while Syria has a number of underground facilities (UGFs) supporting its missile force, an accident at one of those locations would also provide certain signals. To date, there has been no evidence of blast marks at any UGF entrances, and we've seen no other indications of an underground explosion, such as fire or decontamination crews outside the facility, or equipment pulled outside for salvage, repair or cleaning. There's also no sign of attempts to cover up such operations, through the erection of camouflage netting or other denial and deception (D&D) techniques.

This lack of physical evidence that could be traced by such methods as remote sensing can really put a damper on the party.

But he spends most of his post discussing how he cannot figure a chain of events that could have led to this statement becoming a reality:

[T]he joint Syrian-Iranian team was attempting to mount a chemical warhead on a Scud missile when the explosion occurred, spreading lethal chemical agents, including sarin nerve gas.

He makes a pretty convincing case there, too, that under normal circumstances -- with safety precautions in place with the technical capability and normal procedures -- it would have been very hard for this accident to take place.

If it was an accident. This is where I ask about the Israelis' possession of those nuclear materials.

If the Times report is correct, Israel got those materials somehow.

Could the reports have gotten garbled? Could the commandos have actually gotten the materials during a July 23 expedition? Could they have sabotaged the missile in question, causing the explosion? Could they have created an explosion that would wipe out a sizable portion of Iran's technical expertise as to chemical weapons? Could this facility have also contained information as to Syria's nuclear program, information that the Israelis could have recovered during the mission?

Could we be talking about two or more separate commando missions here?

Like I said before, we'll probably never know the truth.

Dark times are coming to Indianapolis

or at least darker times, as a result of a very subtle change that is sweeping the city.

You've seen one of these before :


Yes, it's the ubiquitous street light. They sort of just sit there during the day, but at night they illuminate our streets and sidewalks, usually these days with an orangish or pinkish light. You probably don't notice them, but I do. I've always had a fondness for them.

Here is a picture of another street light:


Notice anything different? Notice something on the first street light that is missing from the second?

Both lights consist of what is commonly called a "cobrahead" mounted on a standard, in this case a standard made of stainless steel. The cobrahead actually contains the bulb that emits the light.

Once the bulb in the cobrahead generates the light, the light usually passes through a hollow, glass half-sphere that is etched in such a way as to spread the light in all directions. I have no idea what that glass half-sphere is called, but its apparent purpose has led me to call it the "diffusion lobe." Without the lobe, the light would basically just go straight down from the cobrahead to the ground and illuminate a smaller area.

The street light in the first picture has a diffusion lobe. The light in the second does not.

Indianapolis now has a case of Mysteriously Morphing Street Lights. I have seen these popping up all over the city. More and more of them are appearing.

Pretty much all of the street light cobraheads in my subdivision were replaced around July 3. There was nothing wrong with the old street lights. They looked just like the lights in the first picture, except they gave off a white or blue light from mercury vapor bulbs. A few days later, without warning, they had new cobraheads and were emitting the orangish glow of high-pressure sodium bulbs. And they illuminated a smaller area.

Why does this matter? Well, it could be a good thing. I am a big fan of eliminating light pollution. One of the first things I noticed about Southern California -- that is, Los Angeles and San Diego, is their concern about light pollution. Almost all of Los Angeles street light are like the new ones in Indy. San Diego is switching to this model, unfortunately in my view, from this older model:


It's basically a standard with a paddle that uses low pressure sodium to emit a very yellow light. These very unusual street lights were the first thing I noticed about San Diego, so I have a soft spot for them.

Los Angeles and San Diego are very concerned about light pollution out of a desire to protect their nearby observatories, Mount Wilson and Mount Palomar, respectively. As much as they have a reputation for bright lights and glitz, they are actually very judicious in their use of illumination. You do have a night sky in Southern California. With the cobrahead minus the diffusion lobe, since the light does not illuminate as large an area, there a smaller area of light to reflect back up into the atmosphere to interfere with nighttime viewing, which is why the International Dark Sky Association supports these lights. As I normally do.

Generally, anything Southern California does, Indianapolis should do, except copy that whole fish taco thing. And I want my dark skies back. Stars and planets are fun. Less unnecessary street light can mean better quality of life. So this is a good thing, right? I tend to think so.

But ...

One has to ask two questions:

1. If your city is going bankrupt, is it really the best time to replace perfectly serviceable street lights?

2. If your city is suffering from the worst crime wave in its history, is it really the best time to replace your perfectly serviceable street lights with ones that provide less illumination?

If I recall correctly, the low pressure sodium yellow lights began to lose their appeal with a crime wave, which was attributed in part, rightly or wrongly, on the comparatively less light provided by the low pressure sodiums. Criminals ruin things for everybody. So the city and county started replacing them with the cobraheads without the lobes.

Just asking.

Well, this is cool

In a sign that my beloved freestyle dance music is not dead -- though you would have a tough time telling that in the music hell that is central Indiana -- freestyle veteran vixen Safire has her own MySpace page, and is still touring and making new music.

Obviously, if I want to see her perform, I'll have to go elsewhere. Unless you're country or a smelly white male high school drop out smoking weed, you'll probably get little airplay in central Indiana. The Track (107.9) tries -- they even had a concert with Taste of Honey, Peaches and Herb and the like -- but they've started putting in some harder stuff, which ruins the fun dance feel. We have no equivalent to KBIG in Los Angeles or WKTU in New York City, which I am convinced are the radio stations God listens to.

Somebody just shoot me

What a horrible weekend of NFL football. At least America's Other Team -- the Pittsburgh Steelers won. But the Cleveland Browns -- America's Team, Defenders of Western Civilization and All That Is Good About America; and America's Team -- the San Diego Chargers ... aieeeeeee!

I don't know which has me more enraged:

-- Just before the 2-minute warning with the Chargers ahead by 4, they have a 3rd and 3 at about their own 40. They need to keep the clock moving. The call is a throw to Vincent Jackson. I don't agree with the call, but it's a defensible one -- except Philip Rivers throws the ball into geosynchronous orbit. Punt. Green Bay touchdown. Game over.

-- The Browns allow the Raiders to convert a 3rd and 23. With a screen pass. Leading to the field goal that proved to be the difference.

This kind of day makes me wonder if we should just give up and turn this country back over to the Indians ... who, by the way, clinched the American League Central today. You wouldn't know it, though, because the media is obsessed with Yankees-Red Sox.

But they should be watching America's Team -- the Cleveland Indians. This team has that feeling about them.

More answers are coming

as to what happened on September 6th. According to the Times:

Israeli commandos seized nuclear material of North Korean origin during a daring raid on a secret military site in Syria before Israel bombed it this month, according to informed sources in Washington and Jerusalem.

The attack was launched with American approval on September 6 after Washington was shown evidence the material was nuclear related, the well-placed sources say.

They confirmed that samples taken from Syria for testing had been identified as North Korean. This raised fears that Syria might have joined North Korea and Iran in seeking to acquire nuclear weapons.

(via Instapundit).

Back Talk has some additional background and speculation as to what is going on inside Syria.

An outrage

But I'm not sure at whom to be outraged:

Ohio State must pay former men's basketball coach Jim O'Brien more than $2.4 million for his wrongful firing in 2004, an appeals court ordered Thursday.

The 10th District Court of Appeals also ruled that O'Brien should not receive an additional $1.3 million that he had said he was owed by the university.

In the majority ruling, Judges Donna Bowman and G. Gary Tyack affirmed a decision by the Ohio Court of Claims. Judge Judith L. French dissented.

University attorneys had argued that O'Brien committed a material breach of his contract and shouldn't receive any money.

The university has 45 days to appeal to the Ohio Supreme Court, which can elect not to hear the appeal.

O'Brien, the head coach of the Buckeyes from 1998-2004, was fired after revealing to then-Ohio State athletic director Andy Geiger that he had loaned a recruit $6,000.

O'Brien sued Ohio State for wrongly firing him and was awarded $2.2 million plus interest last August. Court of Claims Judge Joseph T. Clark ruled that Ohio State did not follow the conditions of the contract with the coach before dismissing him.

Ohio State said in a statement it was disappointed in the ruling and considering appealing to the Ohio Supreme Court.

If you think this decision is ridiculous on its face, that's because it is, but legally it appears to be correct.

The problem is that if Ohio State had followed the legally correct procedure, the NCAA would have lowered the hammer. The NCAA was "investigating" Jim O'Brien's violations in its typical slow, secretive, capricious, Star Chamber-sort of way, waiting to see what Ohio State would do before determining the punishment. In the meantime, Ohio State's basketball program was foundering on the rocks of uncertainty caused by the NCAA investigation.

Which itself came about because of the actions of Jim O'Brien, which, although they might not have been morally wrong, were definitely a violation of NCAA rules. You can argue that those rules are bizarre, unrealistic, self-serving and selectively-enforced, and I frequently do. For instance, I'm still trying to figure out why what Oklahoma did was so bad that it required forfeiting a whole season, but Barry Alvarez seemed to attract nary a sniffle from the NCAA after 1994.

In other words: follow the law and you get in trouble with the NCAA. Follow the NCAA and you get in trouble with the court. Ohio State chose the latter, which was probably better for its basketball program.

So, at whom should I be outraged:

Ohio State -- for not following the contract and not even (obviously) drafting it properly;

The Court -- for enforcing that contract in spite of O'Brien's obvious violations;

Jim O'Brien -- for violating NCAA rules that led Ohio State to terminate his contract; and/or

The NCAA -- for its ridiculous rules and byzantine investigative process that pushed Ohio State to terminate the contract in a legally questionable manner.

Another Lesson

from Bill the Conqueror.

King Edward II (St. Edward the Confessor) had maintained a Norman allegiance in his court and even turned to Norman support to help keep him on his throne.

Usually, when a ruler or ruling party has to turn to foreign support to stay in power, that source of support ends up running the country, sometimes even through invasion.

With the history of alleged Chinese support for the Clintons, including very large campaign donations funneled through Chinese in the US like Norman Hsu, we should be mindful of this lesson.

Bill the Conqueror

I just finished 1066: The Year of the Three Battles, by Frank McLynn. The book is structured s a biography of the three main players in the battle for the English throne in 1066: Harold Godwinson, Earl of Wessex and later King Harold II of England, also known as Harold the Saxon; Duke William II of Normandy, later King William I of England or, more popularly, William the Conqueror; and "the Other Guy," King Harald III Sigurdsson of Norway, who was later surnamed Harald Hardrada, which means "hard ruler" (I guess the Norwegians didn't like him too much) In any event, 1066 is an eminently readable book that I enjoyed thoroughly, and from which I learned a lot. For instance:

1. Norway, Sweden and Denmark actually used to be major world powers. I guess I kinda knew that -- the Vikings came from that region -- but England, France and the Holy Roman Empire (Germany) were actually scared of them. And they had reason to be: Norway, for instance, had about the same population as England. The last time any of these guys played a significant role on the world military stage was in the Thirty Years' War. Today they are shadows of their former selves in terms of military power, with their recent history being anything but glorious. Norway and Denmark fell to the Germans in World War II. Not necessarily any shame in that, but Denmark fell in less than a day. For its part, Sweden stayed officially "neutral" and continued selling iron ore -- to the Third Reich. But, hey, they were neutral, so that gives them the moral high ground, I guess.

2. The king of Anglo-Saxon-ruled England before Harold Godwinson was King Edward II, also known as St. Edward the Confessor. Except judging by his behavior, he wasn't really a saint and he didn't confess to anything or receive confessions from anyone. (Yes, yes, I know: if you were canonized after being killed, you were a "martyr," but if you died a natural death you were a "confessor." It just sounds silly.)

But some of the other aspects of the book I am having a hard time grasping. For instance:

1. Edward the Exile, the designated successor to Edward the Confessor, had to be escorted from Hungary to England by Harold Godwinson. Edward the Exile died en route (albeit probably in London) under mysterious circumstances. Harold had the means, motive and opportunity to murder Edward the Exile. William had only the means and motive to kill him. So, in McLynn's view, William must have murdered Edward the Exile.

2. Harold often killed or maimed his enemies. William often killed or maimed his enemies. Therefore, McLynn considers Harold "merciful" and William "cruel."

3. Harold did what he could to expand his wealth and his lands. William did what he could to expand his wealth and his lands. But only William was "greedy."

4. Edward the Confessor had allegedly offered the English succession to William in the past. Edward hated William. Edward the Confessor allegedly offered Hardold Godwinson the English succession on his deathbed. Edward hated the Godwinsons (albeit not Harold's brother Tostig) for making the Confessor a figurehead king. So, his offer to William must be Norman propaganda and the offer to Harold must be true.

5. Harald Hardrada invaded England in the north, near York, and Harold Godwinson met his forces at Stamford Bridge with a force of housecarls (personal bodyguard) armed with shields, spears and armor; and fyrd, basically a militia that included local nobility who were trained in warfare (select fyrd) and a general levy (general fyrd). Harald's troops, however, had left most of their weapons and armor behind, not expecting a fight from Harold's troops. Given Harald's history with the Varangian Guard, the Eastern Romans' mercenary, Nordic version of the Praetorian Guard (albeit larger in size and scope), this was an unfathomable mistake. Harold Godwinson used this amazing blunder to good effect and absolutely destroyed Harald Hardrada's forces. McLynn labels Harold Godwinson "unlucky" and William "lucky."

6. Harold had attempted to guard the Channel Coast against a Norman invasion, but left the spot he considered most likely for that invasion -- Hastings -- completely unguarded. He also insisted on fighting William as soon as possible, before he had all of his forces assembled, meaning he fought William with no better than half or maybe even a third of the manpower he could have had. And many of these troops were worn out after Harold had insisted on driving them hard in a forced march down from Stamford Bridge to Hastings. William fought and directed the Battle of Hastings in a competent if unimaginative manner, but one that indicates he had studied tactics of his time. So, in McLynn's view, Harold is a good, potentially great general, and William is at best an overrated one.

In other words, in McLynn's opinion, all inferences, both reasonable and unreasonable, are to be made in favor of Harold Godwinson and against William the Conqueror. I think I got it now.

(I wonder if anyone would have such a hostile view of William if he had instead insisted on being called "Bill the Conqueror." I mean, doesn't that just sound friendlier? Like "Al the Great?")

One thing McLynn does do very well is attack the myth that Harold was killed by an arrow shot to his eye. He uses the contemporaneous text histories of the Battle of Hastings to show that the alleged arrow shot was not reported early one, and appeared only later. There is a reference to it in the mysterious Bayeux Tapestry, which shows the events around the Battle of Hastings and ascension of William. Someone is shown with what appears to be an arrow in the eye, but the meaning of the picture, like so much else in the Bayeux Tapestry, is ambiguous. The figure is beneath the word "Harold," but many historians including McLynn believe the figure being mowed down by a horse, to the right of the one plucking out the arrow from his eye, is more likely Harold. However, McLynn believes the picture in question may be symbolic, as the evidence indicates that Harold was killed by a squad of four knights picked by William for the job.

All in all, an excellent read, even with the bit of bias for Harold. I highly recommend it.

Latest addition to my book rotation

Soldiers & Ghosts: A History of Battle in Classical Antiquity, by J.E. Lendon. I have been looking for a good,scholarly account of the techncial aspects of how the Greeks and Romans fought. Oddly, the best description I have seen of their fighting techniques is from Part I of John Drogo Montagu's book Battles of the Greek and Roman Worlds: A Chronological Compendium of 667 Battles to 31 BC, from the Historians of the Ancient World, which was never meant to give a detailed description, but only just enough to help give context to the battles described therein. Battles of the Greek and Roman Worlds, which was a Christmas present from my mother, remains one of my favorite books of all time. I still often put myself to sleep at night going over the battles again, even though I practically have the book memorized by now. In any even, I hope Soldiers & Ghosts can put meat on the bones Battles of the Greek and Roman Worlds so skillfully revealed.

So you think

the "poor, oppressed" Islamists only want us to leave them alone.

Think again.

As Captain Ed notes:

It's hard to say how seriously anyone should take this as a real contemporary threat to the US, but it does point out how seriously the enemies of the US take their mission. The radical jihadists do not want peaceful co-existence with an America who leaves the Middle East. It is not our foreign policy that drives them batty, but our existence as a free and self-governing nation.

Rick Moran adds:

Muslims have failed in Europe (not so much in the US) to assimilate the western values of tolerance and freedom of thought and resist joining the societies that they have chosen to live. Certainly a large part of the problem have been short sighted policies promulgated by the relatively homogeneous, Christian governments of Europe that segregate the newcomers and deny them many of the benefits of living in the west. But beyond the material, there is the very real and growing problem of Muslim resistance to the very idea that there are certain tenets of western society that all must believe in if it is to work.

The fanatics who wrote the plan to “take over” the US reveal tactics being used in Europe by Muslims to further isolate their communities, shielding them from the influence of western culture while seeking to impose their own beliefs on the majority. There is nothing subtle about this which makes it all the more incomprehensible that governments acquiesce to some of the demands of the “moderates.” If the goal is to avoid social unrest, all they are doing is putting off the inevitable. Eventually, the newcomers will demand more than any government will be able or willing to give. And at that point, the clash they could have avoided by resisting calls for codifying intolerance now will certainly come back to haunt them.

The tactics of “absorption, “cooperation, and using the “art of coalitions” in order to further isolate Muslims in Europe are familiar to anyone who has followed recent history in countries like Great Britain, France, Holland, and Denmark. Ironically, European Muslims build coalitions and garner cooperation not to assimilate but rather to further separate themselves from the societies where they live. They have little thought of “taking over” France or Great Britain (at the moment). But building a separate society, removed from the mainstream and governed by their own laws is almost certainly within their reach. And when the demographics favor them 50 years from now, it won’t be a matter of them “taking over” but instead simple “absorption” of the minority of original Europeans will be all that is necessary.

Such a scenario will not play out here in America. There would have to be a massive influx of Muslims for that to occur. The latest census shows around 3 million Muslims in the United States or about 1% of the population. Even with lax immigration, the idea that Muslims will be able to resist the pull of assimilation in any great numbers doesn’t make any sense. The US is too big, too diverse, for any one group to “grow” themselves to dominance.

I hope so, but remember the French said the Maginot Line was impregnable and the Ardennes were impassable. I'll put my trust in eternal vigilance and fighting them on every front.

What happened on September 6th?

While we were engaged with 9/11 and football season, something very big may have happened on the other side of the world.

On September 6, something happened. No one who can say so is quite sure what, and those who are sure what will not say so.

What we do know for sure is the Israeli Air Force launched an air attack on a site near Dayr az Zawr on the upper Euphrates in Syria, 50 miles from the Iraqi border. The attack, dubbed "Operation Orchard" apparently involved 2 to 7 aircraft, with one account listing two F15Is, four F-16s and an "electronic intelligence" aircraft, perhaps like an EA6B Prowler. The attack also involved Israeli commandos.

What they attacked is very much open to speculation. The "unofficial official" position appears to be that they attacked and destroyed a cache of Iranian weapons destined for Hezboallah. That's their story and they're sticking to it, but no one believes it, under what we lawyers call the totality of the circumstances:

1. The Israeli government is being very mum on the operation. Bret Stephens of the Wall Street Journal notes that if this was indeed an arms shipment to Hezboallah, there would be significant propaganda value to the Israeli government. In fact, after a 2002 incident in which Israeli marines seized an Iranian weapons shipment bound for Gaza, they immediately exploited its propaganda value. Yet here there is nothing.

2. Shortly after the raid, Israeli media (who operate under a type of military censorship regarding national security affairs -- would that we had that here) ran a front-page op-ed by John Bolton detailing the connection between Iran, Syria and North Korea on ballistic missile programs and commenting on the possibility of their collaboration on nuclear programs.

3. For their part, the Syrian are only admitting to an Israeli incursion into their airspace. Their air defenses were apparently completely and embarrassingly ineffective.

4. The attack came three days after the arrival in the Syrian port of Tartus of the freighter al-Hamed under mysterious circumstances. The al-Hamed is a North Korean vessel, yet it was flagged as South Korean for its (infrequent) visits to Syria. It was allegedly delivering a cargo of cement to Syria (leading to the question of who the hell ships cement overseas?), but was believed to be carrying nuclear materials. The ship's ownership is unclear at best. To boot, after offloading its cargo in Tartus and leaving, the al-Hamed disappeared.

5. The North Koreans denounced the "incursion" into Syrian airspace. Why would they do that?

6. The North Koreans are at a critical stage in their talks concerning their nuclear program. There has been speculation that they have been moving parts of their program overseas for safekeeping so North Korea can pass UN muster on its nuclear program to get economic sanctions lifted.

7. On August 14, Rim Kyong Man, the North Korean foreign trade minister, was in Syria to sign a protocol on “cooperation in trade and science and technology”. No details were released.

8. Syria possesses between 60 and 120 Scud-C missiles, which it has bought from North Korea over the past 15 years. Diplomats believe North Korean engineers have been working on extending their 300-mile range. It means they can be used in the deserts of northeastern Syria, the area of the Israeli strike.

9. The Israelis had apparently been watching the Dayr az Zawr complex, a purported agricultural research center for some time on the suspicion that it was being used to extract uranium from phosphates (which by itself is not suspicious), but recently they trained their spy satellites on the complex specifically, moving them from their normal monitoring area over Iran.

10. Israeli special forces were on this mission. Allegedly, they were there to paint the target for Israeli munitions, but Israel has GPS-guided munitions. Syria could counter GPS systems, but the electronic warfare aircraft could have been used to counter the Syrians' countermeasures. Inserting any troops so far into Syria undetected, particularly in the numbers some blogs are mentioning, would represent a considerable logistical achievement but also a grave risk, with something of a significant footprint. The presence of the Israeli commandos suggests there was more to this mission.

11. After the attack, an Israeli official had this quote:

“This was supposed to be a devastating Syrian surprise for Israel,” said an Israeli source. “We’ve known for a long time that Syria has deadly chemical warheads on its Scuds, but Israel can’t live with a nuclear warhead.”

The balance of the evidence under the totality of the circumstances suggests the Israelis destroyed or captured something connected to a nuclear program on September 6. The al-Hamed was believed to be carrying nuclear materials from North Korea, and its disappearance -- either an attempted coverup or in the best case scenario captured by the Israelis -- suggests sinister motives for its trip. The Israeli attack took place just afterwards. North Korea is ripping Israel for an incursion into Syria, not normally thought of in North Korea's sphere of interest. Israeli devoted a lot of time and effort into this operation, yet will admit nothing. The presence of the special forces suggests either a cleaning up operation, or perhaps an effort at capturing some of the materials for evaluation.

Oh, and in case you were wondering, there is potential Iranian involvement as well. US officials believe the materials were headed to Iran. And if you don't believe Iran and Syria can cooperate on such things, check out this Jerusalem Post story (via Instapundit) titled "Dozens died in Syrian-Iranian chemical weapons experiment."

Light posting for a bit

I'm battling a hideous cold, though that Chargers game last night could have made me sick by itself, but I was sick well before that ... and even my Brownies incredible victory couldn't stop it.

Where did that come from?

One of Ohio State's school songs is (yes!) a drinking song called "I Wanna Go Back to Ohio State." The last words to the song go, "We'll win the game or know the reason why."

Today, we won the game and I want to know the reason why anyway.

Ohio State 33 Washington 14. At Seattle.

Where on earth did that come from?

Normally when we go to Seattle, to borrow a phrase from ancient Sparta, we come back on our shields -- our bloody, broken, mangled shields. 1986 and 1994 come to mind.

By itself, this is almost unprecedented. But with our worst team since the 2002 National Championship Team, we go into Seattle and beat Washington?

Unbelievable.

Latest addition to my book rotation

Until Proven Innocent: Political Correctness and the Shameful Injustices of the Duke Lacrosse Rape Case, by Stuart Taylor and KC Johnson. As everyone knows, I am ruthlessly, virulently anti-crime -- at least against crime with actual victims -- which is where the "fascist" part of my political persuasion comes from. Consequently, I tend to be very supportive of prosecutors. Mike Nifong has caused me to devote more thought to due process safeguards for my ruthless anti-crime position.

He'd never expect it

Speaking of the Spanish Inquisition ...

Usama bin Laden has always been big on returning Spain -- or as he calls it, Andalusia -- to the dar al-Islam. But Spain is Catholic, thanks to the Spanish Inquisitoon, and shows no apparent intent to return to the "loving" embrace of Islam.

Wouldn't it be appropriate if bin Laden was caught and was turned over for trial to the Spanish Inquisition?

The Best Park in Baseball

Captain Ed explains why Dodger Stadium is the best park in all of baseball, and why watching a ball game there is so magical.

I have to agree with him, with considerable apologies to Yankee Stadium, which I have also found magical. Both stadiums are full of great fans who know a lot about the game. My only caveat is that I have not been to Dodger Stadium since Fox "modernized" the game experience there. I hope the focus of the stadium remains on the game, as it had been before Fox bought (and sold) the team, as it is at Yankee Stadium.

And, before you ask, my omission of Wrigley Field was intentional.

I've heard

of stealing many types of things. My car was stolen once, so I'm familiar with that. My house was burglarized, so I know about my things being stolen out of my home. Anyone familiar with Lake County and Marion County's Center Township has heard of public officials stealing money. Anyone growing up in Indianapolis when I did, and every Cleveland Browns fan on earth -- for both of which I qualify -- knows a lot about stealing football teams. I've even heard of stealing signals (this would be you, Bill Belichick) and stealing ballet companies (I'm talkin' 'bout you, San Jose).

But stealing a law school is a new one for me. Yet that appears to be what is happening at the Ave Maria School of Law. The school's founder, Domino's Pizza founder Thomas Monaghan, is starting his own town in Florida, in which he is planning to infuse and enforce what he believes are strict Catholic principles -- at least when it comes to sexuality. And he plans to take the law school with him. I guess dealing with sexuality is more important than stealing.

So much for the good people of Michigan who have hosted Ave Maria all these years. So much for their students and alumni. But who cares about these people when there is money to be made?

Because that's what this sounds like. A Florida housing development is all this is. He wants Ave Maria to be its purported raison d'etre. But all it is is really a payday. Well, we can only hope.

Because if he is really serious as to founding a town on strict Catholic principles -- law based on Catholic principles -- then it is truly unfortunate. In the past I've described certain political groups in Indiana and their rather prominent leaders as the "Christian Taliban," for their efforts at imposing their view of Christianity on others who do not share that view -- by force if necessary.

I never thought I'd have to use the phrase "Catholic Taliban." And I still may not have to, if only on a technicality. Most Taliban have some sort of police for the "Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice." Certainly the Afghan Taliban did. The Christian Taliban do, too, in a way.

But Catholics don't. Never have. We have the Inquisition. Notice I did not say "had," but "have." We still have it. It's just called something else, some legal-sounding name. I always thought it was kinda cool. When I was growing up going to worthless CCD classes and being fed leftist, pacifist crap, I always comforted myself with the knowledge that we went back to the Roman Empire, we had the Inquisition, particularly the Spanish Inquisition. It all seemed so cool, for no body could fight the Spanish Inquisition, because ...


Oh, like you didn't see that one coming. You know what I was going to say here. Do I really need to type it in? Let's just move on.

So I am a proud Catholic. Roman Catholic, though the Byzantine Catholics I guess are Roman Catholics in an Eastern sort of way. And I think the Catholic faith is wonderful and strengthens me. But the leadership of the Church has gone off its rocker in recent years. There is, in my mind, no reason whatsoever to oppose the death penalty, which the Church effectively opposes but technically does not. Opposition to the war in Iraq is another issue, where the Church says it supports necessary and just war but somehow can never find an instance where war is necessary or just. Illegal immigration? The Church supports it. And don't get me started on birth control or abortion.

Increasingly, it seems, the distinction between Church and State always recognized in the Catholic faith is becoming blurred. What Monaghan is trying to do is another step in that direction. A town under Catholic law, regardless of whether the people there are actually Catholic?

How is that different from the Taliban? Or the Inquisition?

If

the GOP nominates someone other than Rudy Giuliani as its presidential candidate, then it is truly too stupid too hold the White House. Only Rudy can defeat the Democrats in 2008. Definitely not Romney and probably not Thompson, either.

Unfortunately, once again, while the GOP may not deserve to hold the White House, we don't deserve the Democrats holding it.

Fake beard? Fake video?

I've been wondering if the new UBL video is faked. The whole fake beard thing bothers me. Rich Moran has more evidence of potential fakery in the video, including a pretty suspicious freeze frame.

As America's Team Turns

Developments today on efforts to keep two of America's Teams from continuing their catastrophic performance.

First, America's Team -- the Pittsburgh Pirates hired Frank Coonelly, currently Major League Baseball's chief labor counsel, to be their CEO. Is this a good thing? Many Pirates fans don't think so. Here's why:

Coonelly, 47, who began working for Major League Baseball in 1998, helps teams with salary arbitration cases and determines signing bonus slots for the amateur draft. He also is part of the negotiating team for collective bargaining agreements with the union and the umpires.

The perception in Pittsburgh is that Coonelly will not pay outside the slots for the MLB amateur draft, meaning he probably will not be drafting any clients of Scott Boras.

To which my response is, no one should be drafting clients of Scott Boras. Scott Boras is the second most evil person in baseball, behind Donald Fehr and actually ahead of Barry Bonds. The only people who have done more than Boras to destroy baseball is Fehr and Marvin Miller. They should probably all be executed for crimes against baseball.

Beyond that, though, it seems to me that you want someone who knows about how salaries work and how MLB rules work. Coonelly would seem to have extensive background in that area. I say give him a chance. Next step is hiring a GM to replace the bitterly disappointing Dave Littlefield.

Meanwhile, the Cleveland Browns -- America's Team, Defenders of Western Civilization and All That Is Good About America -- traded QB Charlie Frye for a new iPhone, or something like that. It's a good thing.

Now, don't get me wrong. I liked Charlie Frye. He's a nice guy, a competitor who gutted it out in a tough situation, grew up a Bernie Kosar fan. I feel horrible for him. But how can anyone read this account of his performance last Sunday and come up with any other conclusion than he simply had to go. Let's count the areas that, shall we say, need improvement:

Inability to read defenses -- at least two of his sacks were unfairly blamed on rookie LT Joe Thomas, who was facing three rushers each time.

Terrible decision-making -- his interception by Deshea Townsend was a throw into triple coverage.

Inaccurate throws -- he can never hit the receiver in stride, as his throws are often off target; on Sunday they were generally behind the receiver or too low.

Holding onto the ball too friggin' long -- four of his five sacks on Sunday were the result of his inability to either decide on a receiver or throw the ball away.

This is why I do not understand much of the criticism of getting rid of him. So we dumped him as a starter after Week 1. This sounds like a quick hook to you? It ain't. Try, like, Week 33. He has been doing this for three years now, and it isn't getting any better. If anything, it's getting worse. And his teammates appear to have lost faith in him.

Not that his temporary replacement, Derek Anderson, is much better. Anderson has a cannon for an arm, but his throws are inaccurate as well. His decision-making also leaves something to be desired. But he at least knows to avoid a sack.

This does move up the timing for Brady Quinn to start. Ideally, I'd like Quinn to sit out a year, like Carson Palmer did. But the quarterbacking in Cleveland is so bad right now, we may not have much choice. Quinn may give us our best chance to win, but I don't want to risk Tim Couching him. The signing of Ken Dorsey, who may not have an NFL arm, but is extremely smart and tough, should help immensely. He knows the offense and was tutoring Quinn in the preseason. Actually, I would prefer Dorsey to start over Anderson.

There is also criticism of Crennel and Savage for how they handled the quarterback situation. There is much to criticize, but getting rid of Frye today is not one of them. If we had kept Frye, people would be screaming to get rid of him, and rightfully so. Trading him at the very least corrects a mistake. It's like your damned if you do and damned if you don't.

Savage has assembled enough talent here to filed a decent team. To me, that means Crennel is an issue. His game preparation and adjustments are horrible. I think he needs to go, and I get the feeling the team has lost faith in him.

Time to bring in Bill Cowher. Or Marty Schottenheimer. The Browns are in too bad a shape to bring in a young coach. We need a veteran with name recognition and experience. Both Cowher and Schottenheimer would be great choices for the Browns.

It's September 11th

Do I actually need to say anything?

Well, yes, I do. This is for you, Islamists:



As Michelle Malkin explains, "The above phrase in Arabic is “lan astaslem.” It means 'I will not surrender/I will not submit.'"

I would also add the response of the 101st Airborne's General Anthony McAuliffe to the Germans' demand to surrender at Bastogne...

What he really said, not the cleaned up version for history.

I'll just say it now.

On behalf of all Cleveland Browns fans, RO MUST GO!!!

Come to think of it, so must Charlie Frye, Derek Anderson, etc. We need Bill Cowher, or even Marty Schottenheimer (so long as he doesn't try to hire his brother Kurt).

As an aside, how do you get four penalties on the same play? That by itself is an indictment of Romeo Crennel.

Another embarrassment for Ohio State

As if my Buckeyes 20-2 "thumping" of Akron wasn't embarrassing enough, we now have the Mother of All Speech Codes. As detailed by Wizbang:

Diversity is a cornerstone of community at The Ohio State University. The Office of University Housing defines the concept as an inclusive mixture of all the differences that make the individuals at The Ohio State University unique. Through exposure, critical thinking, appreciation and interactions within our residence halls and larger university communities our goal is to empower students, staff, faculty and friends. In this, we attempt to learn from the wide array of human similarities and differences in an increasingly diverse world.

Our goals are to:

Increase sensitivity to differences through exposure, dialogue, and personal reflection

Address thoughtlessness that may limit our efforts

Maintain a talented and qualified staff with a commitment and conviction toward diversity.

One of the most important components of your college education is learning to respect and appreciate the lifestyles, values, ideas, cultures, and backgrounds of others you encounter. The residence hall communities at The Ohio State University are rich in the diversity of the communities. As a student in our community, you are asked to be respectful of these differences:

Do not joke about differences related to race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender, ability, socioeconomic background, etc.

Do not use obscene words or gestures. Oftentimes these are unwelcome and offensive to students in your community.

Listen to other students living in your floor community. If a person indicates that a behavior or action is offensive, you should stop the behavior immediately.

Actively challenge the stereotypes you have of others. Use your time to consider the new experiences you are having at The Ohio State University, instead of relying upon the past evaluations you have had of others.

When in doubt about the impact of your words or actions, simply ask.

It is the responsibility of any student in the residence halls to report incidents of racial or other discrimination or harassment to residence hall staff.

(emphasis mine)

Ohio State had actually been a fairly conservative campus in the 1990s. Now the faculty is trying to squelch that.

And who gave them that opportunity? You guessed it -- Karen Holbrook. She may be gone -- albeit not gone enough -- but her replacement Gordon Gee has not been confirmed yet. Her people are still in place spouting this nonsense. He needs to put a stop to this speech code, which may be the most restrictive in the country.

The thing that made Ohio State my first choice in colleges -- aside from being raised as a Buckeye here in Indiana by two Ohio State grad parents -- was their best-in-the-world marching band. Seeing their Ramp Entrance, where they march onto the field for their pre-game show, is like watching an army set up for war. (Far more impressive than Script Ohio, in my opinion; it still gives me chills when I watch it in person.) I always wanted to be a part of it, and I was for five years. Still am, to an extent, as all OSU Marching Band alumni are.

But if this speech code had been in place when I was choosing a college, not even my parents and the band could have saved it with me. I would have instead been singing "Fight On USC," courtesy of the second-best marching band in the world.

This is completely unacceptable.

Quote of the Day

OPFOR has this pic of Japan's new “helicopter-carrying destroyer,” the Hyuga:


They follow the picture with the comment, "Destroyer my ass ..."

Hee hee. Welcome to the world, Hyuga. All the best to you and your crew.

It is nice to see those fearsome warship names from World War II, like Hyuga, Kongo, Kirishima, Hiei, Haruna, Chokai and Amagiri now on the side of the good guys.

And to China and North Korea, this is what you get when you decide to play bully.

FINALLY!!!

My Pittsburgh Pirates finally fired incompetent General Manager Dave Littlefield.

Simple truths

We of Cleveland descent have always known that Dennis Kucinich sucks.

Now, everyone else knows, too.

This guy is not only incompetent, but a traitor as well. Where is the Justice Department?

Norman, Norman Hsu

We found you.

This does not make sense. After Hsu skipped his hearing, most of us had guessed one of two things had happened:

1. He had fled or would flee the country, probably to China.

2. He had been or would soon be "silenced" by the Chinese.

Notice these scenarios are not mutually exclusive.

The circumstances of his capture make me wonder if Scenario 2 was in effect. He flees California, but heads inland, towards Chicago. He gets noticeably sick en route, to the point where Amtrak has to call the paramedics. Not attention he would necessarily want.

But the illness sounds too convenient. Was this an attempted assassination? If the Chinese government or the People's "Liberation" Army have strong financial ties to Hsu, they would not want that becoming generally known.

The direction of Hsu's flight, and the suspicious timing of his illness could mean Hsu was not fleeing prosecution, but assassination.

So, the immediate questions I have are:

1. What was Hsu's illness?

2. Why was he headed towards Chicago and not immediately out of the country?

Norman, Norman Hsu

where are you?

Times two.

This isn't exactly the first time something like this has happened, as anyone who has followed Lake County politics knows.

What is it with prosecutors and judges trusting defendants with money and international connections? "Hey, you're being charged with a crime that could get you years in prison. But we'll trust you. I mean, why would you want to flee? Sure, you have money and an easy way to skip the country, but that doesn't mean anything. Heck, we'd be profiling if we thought otherwise. No chance in the world you'll run away."

Jeezus.

Latest adition to my book rotation

Patriot Battles: How the War of Independence Was Fought, by Michael Stephenson. If the Amazon reviews are any indication, I am about to be sorely disappointed.

The Harvey Fierstein Foreign Policy

Dennis Prager (via Conservative Grapevine) as a column titled "Liberals' Desire To Be Loved Is Their Achilles' Heel."

To which the liberals say, "We just want to be loved. Is that so wrong?"

Dumbest Quote of the Day

ESPN's Mark May on Michigan's loss to Appalachian State:

Michigan came into its game overconfident and underprepared, and that comes down to coaching. It's up to Lloyd Carr to get these guys ready, and that didn't happen. If Lloyd thought his seat was warm from losing to Ohio State three straight years and in bowl games three straight years, right now, his seat is on fire. It's as hot as the bright side of the sun.

(Emphasis mine)

Wow. I've studied astronomy for a long time, but I didn't know the sun had a bright side and a dark side. I thought it was all bright. I mean, the sun kinda illuminates the solar system and provides heat.

Maybe that explains this whole "global warming" bit -- we had been on the dark side of the sun but now we're on its bright side.

If you're wondering why I'm not saying anything directly about Michigan's loss on Saturday, I have two responses:

1. Substitute "Ohio State" for "Michigan" in May's first sentence and you have us against Florida in the National Championship Game. We have no room to talk.

2. The minute I say ANYTHING that rips or pokes fun at Michigan for Saturday, we'll lose to Akron or Kent State.

That's the life of a Cleveland fan for you. We know what we say can jinx us at gametime. This rule does not go for all Ohio State fans, but since I'm a Cleveland fan, too, it applies to me.

Kido Butai reborn?

Japan has a new class of destroyers, the Hyuga, that can supposedly carry 11 helicopters. I say that again, 11 helicopters. This doesn't sound like a destroyer to me. And if you look at the images of what it is supposed to look like, it doesn't look like a destroyer, either. It looks like an aircraft carrier.

The name Hyuga was most recently used for an Ise-class battleship that fought in World War II. After Midway, though, in one of the more absurd experiments of World War II, both the Ise and Hyuga had their aft turrets were removed and replace with short flight decks. They thus became ridiculous-looking sort of hybrid battleship/aircraft carrier things, useless in both roles.

Strategypage speculates that a -- ahem! -- "similar conversion" from surface warfare ship to aircraft carrier will take place here. I wonder of any of the others in this new class will be named Ise.

(h/t: Instapundit)