tired, so tired...

Is it only Tuesday? I am exhausted. Physically, mentally, emotionally, just beat. Starting to actually get some exercise again means my muscles are a bit tired in the morning, and though the cold is *almost* gone, I still have a bit of a cough. Plus I've developed a rash inside one of my thighs, ugh.

I did have another wee ride this morning. A couple of miles again through the neighborhood, seeing some streets I'd not seen before. Baby steps, but I need to build back up to doing a decent ride every morning.

Had a nice game of Flames of War with my friend Frank last night. Good chap, lots of fun to game with. Ended up losing, but I know two good reasons why, mistakes that I'll try not to make again, and I gave him a good run for his money. Germans, especially tank companies, are strong but fragile because they are (relatively) small forces. His Soviets try their best to just swamp me with numbers--he got a bit overconfident last night and tried to take on a platoon of panzers with his strelkoviy (infantry), who got a bloody nose as a result.

Games to look forward to Friday night (WADBAG DBA night) and Saturday (Conscripts ASL meeting), and the chaps over tomorrow (hopefully).

Since sleep at my desk is not an option, I'm off for coffee.

(no subject)

So, Fidel Castro is stepping down. Interesting that in commenting on it, our president should say,

"Some will say let's promote stability. In the meantime, political prisoners will rot . . . This should be a transition to free and fair elections. And I mean free and fair. Not these elections that the Castro brothers rig."

That's just a heaping lump of irony for me to digest, coming from a man who repeatedly defends illegal acts and attacks on Americans' liberty on the grounds of "security" and whose brother was governor of the state whose electoral votes, apparently against the wishes of the voters, propelled him into office.

(no subject)

Of course, defeating terrorism is important, and no candidate will say otherwise. But the United States has a lot of work to do in the world. If we're thinking about the next two decades, not to mention the next 90 years, it's a mistake to see terrorism as a "transcendent challenge" that makes all our other interests secondary.

For conservatives, there is something peculiar about turning Islamic extremism into a mighty ideological force with the power to overrun the world. It's odd that so many take seriously Osama bin Laden's lunatic claims that he will build a new caliphate. (And, by the way, exactly what did the Iraq war contribute to the fight against terrorism?)

In his new book on neoconservatism, "They Knew They Were Right," Jacob Heilbrunn quotes Owen Harries, an early neoconservative whose realist bent has made him skeptical of the latest turn in the thinking of his erstwhile comrades. Harries argues that viewing terrorism as an ideological challenge akin to Nazism or Soviet communism is neither accurate nor prudent.

"I think it's to belittle the historical experiences of World War II," Harries says, "not to speak of the Cold War, to equate the terrorists of today and the damage they're capable of with the totalitarian regimes of the previous century." Underestimating our enemies is a mistake, but so, too, is endowing them with more power than they have.

EJ Dionne on McCain

I'm glad that someone is finally saying this.

really? I don't need protection?

I ran across this article on stuff small businesses really don't need and while most of it makes sense to me, the advice to avoid getting spam filters or anti-virus software seems just... stupid.