good news

Got a friendy note from my professor, approving the subject for my final project.

The final project in this class (besides the exam) is a thesis propsal; one doesn't actually research and write the thesis (though I hope if the topic turns out well that I can use it later on); the main point is to do enough research to determine what the appropriate materials would be if one were to be actually writing the thesis, and to provide a justification for the subject and a preliminary analysis of it. So it ends up being, basicially, a literature survey and a 15-page paper.

The prof suggested (since this *is* a course in intel) that if people needed a topic suggestion, his default suggestion was the role of intelligence in a specific military campaign. I made the observation that Midway and Normandy had probably been done to death (Midway because of the role of signal intercepts and Normandy because of the Allied deception plan), but suggested a couple of other altenatives, my first choice being Gen. Allenby's campaign against the Turks in Palestine in 1917.

He liked it! He remarked that he thought that would prove a very interesting topic, and I should proceed with it.

I forsee a few weekends int he Library of Congress... if only I could get back into the NDU Library...

in other history geek news

I noticed when I was at the GMU library that someone published a biography of William Laud, Archbishop of Canterbury under Chalres I, in 1987.

The only reason I find this interesting is that the last time I engaged in a major writing project was 1986, when I did my undergraduate history thesis on... William Laud. I don't for a minute think that anyone saw my thesis and thought, "Oooh! A good topic for a book!" I've reread it in the past few years, or parts of it, and I'm not really very impressed with my writing.

But just the synchronicity of it amuses me.

I think this one may be broken :-)

You are a smoke grey cat. You're very peaceful and
comfortable to be around, and you like to spend
time in quiet places. Lay off on the lithium,
pal!


What color of cat are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

(Judging from the options, I think orange or tabby might have fitted me more. And we have, what, two tabby, one orange, and two black and white cats?)

*sigh*

LJMeme.com Crush Meme

Number of crushes on me so far: 0

LJ username:

And, yes, I rarely do memes, so you can tell it's a very slow day.

oops

from a PBS webpage on their program about T.E. Lawrence

Now a celebrated figure to the British public, after the success of Lowell Thomas' screenshow of footage filmed in the desert, Lawrence returns to England and continues to fight for an Arab homeland in Europe.

Small editing issue there. Though I love the mental image of the Bedou settling down in, say, the plains of Poland...

(no subject)

thanks to robbysmom for pointing this one out to me:

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Halliburton Co.and several top executives intentionally engaged in "serial accounting fraud" from 1998 to 2001, including when it was led by Vice President Dick Cheney, according to a new filing in a shareholder class-action lawsuit against the company.

The filing accuses Houston-based Halliburton, the world's No. 2 oilfield services company, of systematic accounting misdeeds far more wide-ranging than those charged in a recent civil lawsuit by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Cheney was not named as a defendant in either proceeding.

Halliburton agreed on Tuesday to pay $7.5 million to settle SEC charges that it misled investors by not disclosing an accounting change that boosted profit in 1998 and 1999.

more at http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=domesticNews&storyID=5899628

*SQUEAL*!

Dar Williams is going to be at the Birchmere on Thursday and Friday. I've *got* to go! Anyone else want to come?