Octopodial Chrome

Arms & Armor are the best smithy I know of (even though they cannot spell armour…). One of the things I really respect is how every item is based on a real piece, and is meant to be used: no fantasy crap or weak steels there.

I want nearly every weapon in their catalogue; in fact, for the first time I have sat down and determined exactly how much it would cost to purchase every item I want (weapons only, no armour; with scabbards where appropriate; without shipping): $21,236. You know, if I sold my IBM stock and took a loan against a bit of my 401(k), I could swing that. It would be nice. Someday they will be mine, someday. For now, I must content myself with the High Gothic Mace or German Flail which will soon be mine (I’ve yet to make up my mind…).

Listening to Rod Stewart’s Some Guys Have All the Luck, I was struck by these lines:

How does it feel when the girl next to you
Says she loves you?
It seems so unfair when there’s love everywhere
But there’s none for me.

I hate Valentine’s Day, aka National Rub Singles’ Noses in It Day. The song poses a good question, though: what does it feel for a girl to say she loves one?

Bruce Bartlett explains why offshoring (what he calls outsourcing) is good for everyone in the long run. It’s a painful subject for many, as I know (indeed, it’s not beyond imagination that I might someday see my job taken to a foreign land), but in the long run it’s a good thing.

Deroy Murdock writes on the troubling subject of eco-imperialists—first-worlders who wish to keep third worlders in abject poverty. Through the actions of mostly white & wealthy folks, material improvements in the quality of life of mostly brown & badly-off folks are blocked: hydroelectric projects; pesticides; the necessary evils of modern civilisation.

There are approximately 1,000,000 malaria deaths in Africa every year, the equivalent of crashing seven full 747s every single day. Use of DDT could drop that number to nearly nothing, at the cost of possibly harming some birds. Which is more valuable: a bird or a boy? A gull or a girl?

My own opinion is that much of the environmental damage caused by modernisation is transitory. It’s the journey, not the destination. The modern world is probably better off environmentally than ever before, our water cleaner, our air purer, our continent more heavily forested than before. In the long run, the backward parts of the world will be better off, too, should they be given a chance. Yes, there’s a short-term cost. Yes, species will go extinct. But I’d quite gladly trade some birds & fish in return for billions of men.

Jim Geraghty details how Gen. Wesley Clark is no favourite in the Army. A choice quote:

Interviews with a wide variety of current and retired military officials reveal that Clark was disliked by only three groups: Those whom ranked above him in the chain of command whom he ignored, his peers at the same rank whom he lied to, and those serving beneath him whom he micromanaged. Other than that, everyone liked him.

Although it appears that he is well-and-truly finished as a candidate, it’s still worth bearing in mind.