Random Thoughts on Various Subjects

1. DROP WEAPONS

It is now coming to light that soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan keep "drop weapons" in their stash of gear. These weapons are for the purpose of turning an innocent civilian killed into an "enemy combatant" in a blatant CYA move to spare the soldier and his chain of command the messy business of an investigation and the inevitable bad PR killing innocents brings. Needless to say, this is atrocious.

2. WEINER'S WEINER



3. JOHN EDWARDS

Legally, word is they don't have a case. But prosecutors are basically going to make the case that John Edwards deserves jail time for being a piece of shit. He is a piece of shit, but I don't see how jail time serves anyone's interests. I think John Edwards would just like to disappear for awhile until he can become Eliot Spitzer's co-host on In the Arena.

4. OLD MEDIA

The RIAA wants to sue and jail anyone who shares music against their copyright interests. Newspapers want a federal subsidy to stay afloat. They are fighting the creative destruction tooth and claw. They just can't reinvent themselves.

New media is where it is at. You don't need the old boys anymore. Wikileaks is replacing the NYT. iTunes and cloud services are eliminating record companies. There are no gatekeepers. Freelance editors like Instapundit point us to what should be read. Facebook does the same thing. These are thrilling times for media. It is not so thrilling for the dinosaurs.

5. FLAK

I've taken some criticism from my libertarian friends over the notion that companies often do incredibly dumb shit. It is something I intend to explore further, but this recent Dilbert cartoon illustrates my point:



This is an absurd example, but it isn't as absurd as deciding to buy a new vehicle and idle it at a profitable facility while retaining a decrepit vehicle at an unprofitable facility demanding almost daily maintenance because it looks better on the reports. If you wonder if this last example is a true one, it is.

I don't see why being a free market guy should mean that I also can't be critical of the absurdities of the corporate world. Scott Adams also believes in free markets, but he does not hesitate to use Dilbert to highlight corporate absurdity. It makes a difference because I see those cartoons plastered in every office I visit.

6. BREAKING UP

Two weeks ago, I broke up with my girlfriend after a hard three year relationship. I've learned to dump the grief into a personal journal instead of the blog here. All I can say about it is that you get to a point where you have had enough of someone else.

The reasons for me being pessimistic about love and marriage are scientific and statistical. But they are also personal. The reason I went for three years with this woman was because I knew she was the last. I don't delude myself anymore with this bullshit.

My goal now is to avoid another relationship. I read where Ryan Reynolds expressed emotional fatigue over his divorce from Scarlett Johansson. He said that he never wanted to be married again. Reynolds is learning what I already know. It is one colossal wad of bullshit. Love is misery.

I am working on a piece called "Exit Strategy" that details how I think men should operate in this area. I am very good at pointing out the problems, but these problems also demand solutions. You can count on it being fairly misogynistic, so I will probably lose some of my female readers. But probably not. I find women absolutely love men that hate them.

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