Working on a complete rewrite of one of the websites that I own here at the bar near the ocean here in St. Croix.
The site is powered by an off-the-sheld script called vRating – which is a quality piece of software.
I’m using Safari to do the webbased administration – and the damn thing keeps pausing with the little spinning wheel – it’s driving me fucking crazy.
I’m gonna get a drink.
When I was a student at The Indiana Academy for the last two years of high school, I was fortunate enough to be a student of Mark Watson – an extremely gifted instructor of History. My junior year he taught American History – my senior year he taught Government – or maybe it was the other way around, I don’t recall exactly – it was eleven years ago afterall.
But I do remember my senior year Mr. Watson handing out a cartoon from World War I that showed the grim reaper stretching his scythe across a field of two opposing armies at the Somme – we had some discussion about our feelings about that cartoon – and the word that I recall saying was “useless”.
Fast forward to just a few years ago, I scored tickets to an open rehearsal of theBoston Symphony of a War Requiem. There were two fabulous soloists, a choir, and of course – the outstanding Boston Symphony. The writer, a soldier later killed in the war, had seen the carnage at several of the battles of World War I… but still I knew little of that war. The piece was hauntingly moving… and still I knew little…
Move forward to the present – this afternoon, just after retreating from lunch at the oceanside bar here, I reached page 260 of The Guns of August and read of the first major clash in World War I between the French and German armies.
It would be known as the “Battle of the Frontier”. It was a fight that stretched over hundreds of miles involving more than seventy divisions on each side – more than 1.2 million troops on each side – fighting over one huge stretch of land across the Ardennes Forest. In the four day fight, more than 160,000 soldiers fell – killed or wounded – more than twice the size of the British Expeditionary Force that had just landed in France.
That’s more men killed or wounded in one battle than we have in the entire Middle East right now — all fallen in the span of four days.
And, from what I do remember about the Great War, this was only the beginning of what was to come.
No, it’s not done. it’s in progress.
Give me a few days and everything will be working properly again.
Yes, it uses CSS. That’s a first for me. Thanks to Mary for the late night help with the markup.
Much more to come. Comments in the usual location….
Someone is going to have to explain to me why fucking Safari keeps locking up on me in Movable Type.
Grr.
Today’s Washington Post has an absolutely fascinating story about how Guantanamo’s holding area for enemy combatants and others came to be – including how the strategy was developed.. it’s a very interesting read:
There was little debate over how to classify those suspected of fighting for al Qaeda. The terrorist group was not a country and had never been a party to the Geneva conventions. Moreover, al Qaeda members intentionally killed civilians. Suspected terrorists captured by U.S. forces, the lawyers agreed, should be classified as enemy combatants and not given legal status as prisoners of war.
The status of Taliban fighters was less clear. Some lawyers reasoned that Afghanistan had signed the Geneva conventions and that the Taliban was recognized by some nations as a legitimate government, though not by the United States. These lawyers thought the Taliban fighters should be granted prisoner-of-war status, entitling them to certain rights and protections.
Other lawyers disagreed, arguing that the Taliban fighters should also be classified as enemy combatants.
“They were basically a criminal gang,” said a former Justice Department lawyer who participated in the strategy sessions and requested anonymity because of the confidential nature of the deliberations. “They massacred civilians. They summarily executed prisoners. If people violate the core notion of the law, they shouldn’t receive prisoner-of-war status. It’s reserved for honorable warriors.”
More later on my thoughts about this, I’m still digesting, and snorkeling awaits me….
The following post is not about my boss – whom I love and respect dearly.
I hate bosses who lack the backbone and courage to deal with the real issue in front of them — you know – the big fucking white elephant in the middle of the room that no one wants to talk about – and instead goes out and makes an issue out of something that isn’t an issue and hurts someone who is just doing their job.
Punk ass bitches – you can rot in hell.
I feel much better now.
Sitting on the terrace overlooking the Atlantic here in St. Croix…
A full glass of Talisker on ice…
Nothing but the wind and the crashing waves filling my ears…
Heaven…