Else what's a heaven for?

Counterinsurgency Warfare: Theory and Practice, David Galula: I balked at spending $71 for a 128 page book. Fortunately, TWH was happy to lend me her copy. It's very very good, with lots of information from someone who was in the field. Reading it, I believe the US was following everything he suggested in Iraq at least, so we should've won, right?

The Dragon Prince, Thích Nhất Hạnh: I'd been meaning to read one of his books, since everyone else in my family has, so a bunch of fairy tales from Vietnam sounded great. Except the fairy tales are made-up, they aren't actual Vietnamese folk tales or anything. They also don't seem to elucidate Buddhist principles very well. TRQ gave me permission not to finish it, when I was irritated halfway through, but I read the end and then accidentally read all the intermediate stories. oops.

McMafia, Misha Glenny: TWH's review made this sound so awesome, I asked if I could borrow it. The book is all about the ways that criminal underworld has penetrated the licit economy, largely due to the chaos after glasnost. I started it on two different occasions and ultimately decided I wasn't interested enough to read 400 pages of case studies, particularly with Glenny's politics shining through. I feel like it's one of those books where the first chapter and the last chapter contain as much as I need, so that's what I read: ultimately I'm glad I read one or two other chapters, but I'm okay with not having read the rest.

The Uncivil War: Irregular Warfare in the Upper South, 1861-1865, Robert R. Mackey: When TWH bought this book at the Manassas battlefield book store, I immediately asked to borrow it. So. Awesome. Mackey answered the question I've been wondering ever since 2007: why didn't the South go insurgent after Appomatox? Mackey distinguishes between 3 different kinds of unconventional warfare - guerrillas, partisans, and raiders - and devotes a chapter each to Confederate and Union actions in a particular area. Mackey claims most contemporaries and historians don't distinguish and thus get a hodgepodge when they study the matter. I don't have the background to judge his claims, but I enjoyed his approach. ( Read more... ) On a certain level, I feel like I can stop reading about the Civil War now.

Meditations on Violence, Rory Miller: This is one of the best books I've read this year. (I know there's a lot of that, sorry.) Ostensibly it's a comparison of martial arts training to things that actually work in a fight. I can't remember why TWH lent this to me, except that I used to ask her about self-defense, since I am an attractive young woman in the habit of going to remote places with strange men. Unfortunately, she also told me that as a 120lb female, even decades of martial arts are unlikely to help, bc there are no attackers smaller than I. Miller talks about what actually works in a fight, where/why they happen. It covers sociology, it covers psychology, it covers physiology. He's a Buddhist thinker who works as a prison guard, so he has a unique perspective. If I had to boil it down though, the book's two biggest lessons are that violence is about identity: people fight - and lose - bc it confirms (destroys) their self-image. As a result, the best defense, other than not being where criminals are, is to attack the threat's storyline. As a 14yo boy, I believe my takeaway that the best defense is to pick my nose and invite the threat to a prayer meeting with Lord Murphy. Well, if get out is not an option. I've told Jon he has to read it; I'm debating which of my friends & family I will press copies onto, bc the book is about self-awareness as much as it is about violence. I now want to read more about cognitive disrupts and self-identity.

It only took me a year to finish the books I still have of hers. I sure hope Julian never breaks up with me, bc I'll never get through that pile.

I thought Fri night's birthday party would be a Eurotrash extravaganza, ( but these are climbers ) I was a good girl and went home after 4 drinks and maybe I was home by midnight? Which is good bc I woke up at 4:30 and started packing for my day of climbing.

Only once have I ever been more creeped out in an urban environment than I was Sat morning at Port Authority: while waiting on line for a bus ticket, the guy behind me was smacking his lips, talking to himself, and saying derogatory things about women. With an enormous pack on, I couldn't hear exactly what he was doing - if he'd been touching my pack, I couldn't've felt it and I was quietly freaking out. And then the only thing open in the area was Au Bon Pain and I had an undercooked and overly fatty sausage, egg, and cheese sandwich. ugh.

My favorite guide evuh was in town for a few weeks, which is why I booked a trip even before I knew the weather forecast. It was pouring when we met at Rock & Snow, but as I said to SR, after Rainier, a little rain doesn't scare me. I told him my objective for the day was to learn something and gave him my list of weak areas. Climbing anchors are something you can review while standing under an overhang, so that's what we did. ( minutiae only of interest to me ) It really was tree shibari: fuckloads of girth hitches and most rope tops I know tie their rope the same way people store their cordelettes.

I was very, very pleased with what SR taught me bc while gear placements are an important part of leading - it's what keeps the leader from hitting the deck - anchors are even more important, bc it's what keeps the entire party safe. In all the books I've read, none seemed to lay out the system in a way that was, well, systematic.

Unfortunately, I hadn't realized that I made a classic Igor mistake when I hired SR: ( local guides are best ) All in all, I learned a lot and did a little climbing, so very much what I wanted.

I was wiped out and slept oddly deeply on the bus home. Came home and ordered a rotisserie chicken, which I ripped apart. There are wolves with better table manners than I showed.

Sun we had Mother's Day brunch at a French place she chose (bc Alain Ducasse is the owner) that rode the line between cheesy and good. They had a strolling accordianist and someone making balloon animals. The food was decent: I liked my mom's escargot and I liked the mixed plate of pate and duck. My lamb shank was much too heavy, so I left most of that, and enjoyed a few bites of the chocolate souffle. It's in my work neighborhood, so I suppose I'll go back with my-lunch-buddy-who-likes-French-food.

Ovo was great, as it should be as one of Cirque du Soleil's newest shows. ( Read more... ) I want a climbing wall like that!

My sister is supposed to sign a new lease for a new, fully-furnished apt any day now, so she needed us to help her move her Stickley dresser into the car. ( I'm what passes for strong in the Stine family )

I was reading this fascinating article when I noticed my upper teeth hurt. Googling teeth hurt flu told me it was a sinus infection, not the actual flu. Whew! When you can get the flu from reading about it, the terrorists have won.

Bailed on going to hear the creative director of Vogue and instead worked late so that if I was out today, my boss wouldn't be high and dry. I couldn't sleep Monday night either, so I took some Tylenol PM last night. Slept so smoothly and happily, it was ridiculous; if I slept like that every night, I'd love sleep.

The infection seems to have moved to the other side of my head overnight. It's funny - I'm so sensitive to the feeling of infection/inflammation, I knew even before I Googled that something was infected. and I feel like if I could just drink enough water, the badness would go away. I drank 2.5L yesterday, probably will exceed that today. I still don't understand what caused it though.

This was supposed to be a very social week, but between my Monday night date getting canceled, being sick last night, and tonight's date saying he wants to see me again when he can kiss me, well. Hope I feel better so I can go backstage with the dinos tmw. It kinda sucks being too sick to do anything, but not quite sick enough to stay home and read. Well, and not having a handy tv.

The problem with short story collections is they get repetitive. I picked up John Joseph Adams' apocalypse and zombie collections after hearing about them on the Baen boards. Wastelands was interesting - many different takes on how TEOTWAWKI would come about and Adams recognizes the fundamental appeal is believing one has the skills to make it in a primal world. Stephen King's story was... different. I was surprised to like Cory Doctorow and Octavia Butler's stories; I didn't like OSC's; and I completely didn't get Gene Wolfe's story. Lots of very odd stories, worth picking up if this sort of things appeals to you, terrible bedtime reading.

Adams' The Living Dead however was far too repetitive and I'm just not that into zombies. I read a third of it before I started just reading the ones by people I'd heard of or with interesting titles. I've never seen any zombie movies - they tend to scare me - so are there aliens in one of the defining movies of zombiedom? Anyhow, ( comments about individual stories ) My favorite was "The Third Dead Body" by Nina Kiriki Hoffman; if you ever do come across this book be sure to read that one and "The Skull-Faced Boy" by David Barr Kirtley; the others are more for zombie enthusiasts.

Has anyone read his vampire or "Federations" anthologies? While we're on the topic, has anyone read Fast Ships, Black Sails, which has a Naomi Novik pirate story? Webscriptions doesn't have the former and the library isn't buying the latter :(

I was so excited when I came across Murder by Magic, edited by Rosemary Edghill bc I love the Tudor fairy stories she co-wrote with Mercedes Lackey. Unfortunately, she didn't contribute a short story(!); the Mercedes Lackey story is about the chick with the parrot, which I bet is now part of the book about the chick with the parrot from the Elemental Masters series; and Roberta Gellis' story is more about prejudice than anything else. It's a mixed batch - I like the supernatural Emma Peel story and the fantasy version of Nick & Nora. Most interesting is that Susan R. Matthews contributed a story and it's not set in her Inquisitor universe - she's an entertaining writer even when she's not writing about sadistic genius-doctors.

But poor choices are not limited to fiction. I picked up The Secret Currency of Love bc Karen Karbo's V-day story for the NY Times struck a nerve. Unfortunately, for the anthology it looks like she asked a bunch of her friends to write a story about their relationship with love and money, the unfortunate part being that her contributors are all middle class women who became writers and despite their feminist roots, never dreamed they'd have to make a living. The last few romance novels I read were more realistic.

[Poll #1355292]

[Poll #1295943]

Q2 came from the pop network theory book I'm reading. The example was about an AIDS vaccination: if you have scarce resources, do you vaccinate people who are most likely to contract and spread it through promiscuous sex or do you give it to the "deserving".

My cheater answer to Q3 is see if there's a good suicide mission - didn't anyone see Resident Evil: Extinction? Which, incidentally, was the movie that made me appreciate just how hawt Ali Larter is. Especially when she has a gun! *drools* Although it was Clark Kent of all people who noted she was also in Legally Blond.

I made the poll viewable to me only, in case that increases someone's chance of responding completely. I have a few thoughts on the AW ban, but not enough time to write them up :(

What I want to know is, how after a day spent looking at boobies and rope, did I dream about crocodile-headed centaurs? Sat night, I dreamt about my family's preparations for a Posleen invasion. My uncle got a place on a ship that would be safer bc he has all sorts of practical skills and he gave me his +1 spot bc he decided his wife wouldn't be able to cope. I spent part of the night wondering how my parents were, given that where they live is isolated and my father isn't up to defending the homestead, and wondering if they were all gathered at my apt (bc it's larger than my siblings' places). When I woke up, I was told, "You're dreaming," and found my legs were being tied together, which made a helluva lot more sense than my dreams. I'm still disturbed though that this is the second time in two weeks that I've dreamed about the Posleen.

[Poll #968715]

Inspired by a story like this one, although I read it quite some time ago and in that version, they were going to offer Patrick Stewart Shatner's seat. Also inspired by the discussion of HH vs. Kirk from a few months back and for the love of Murphy, please do not discuss whether Kirk could seduce HH. He couldn't. The final question was NOT inspire by this week's events, but by this discussion.

This is what happens when Kate reads about smallpox epidemics and New Orleans too much.

[Poll #735198]

Assume for the purposes of the poll that if you have pets or children, they are in the quarantined area as well.

They were having flu shots on my floor but I skipped it. All my cow orkers thought I was crazy, but then they all have germvectorschildren. I've been thinking about what "preparedness" means in the context of avian flu, and was failing to come up with any good answers, when meep posted the following. It's as good an excuse as any, I suppose, to hit Costco and/or buy a case of my favorite Tasty Bites meals. I feel like it's incomplete though, in part bc it doesn't address infrastructure failures. For (a trivial) example, if I'm stuck in my apt and the Intarweb goes down, I will be cut off from the rest of the planet. That being said, I'm pretty sure with 500 units in my building, someone will figure out a way to get food deliveries, although I'd rather not depend on the kindness of neighbors.