Raithe

And the UK Government have made a statement that they had nothing to do with the death of Osama Bin Laden. They pointed out that it happened on a Bank Holiday Monday, and that no government official would take out a Bin on a Bank Holiday.

Trying to stir up enthusiasm for the day. Not sure why but I really had to force myself out of bed this morning and just seem to have that downer attitude. Pondering on the fine lines of what strikes as obsession.. Controlling how much your emotions show, fairly easy. Controlling how much you act on emotions, a touch easier. Controlling which emotions you feel and deal with.. frikkin impossible. Even when you know better. Of course, when moments of self-analysis and personal reflection turn into slightly juvenile, melodramatic metaphor.. you might consider that a sign of problems.

Although I did see the comment "Osama Dead. It's amazing what the Americans are capable of when they don't have the playstation network to distract them."

On the one hand, burying him at sea was a swift burial and removed the option of having his "grave site" turn into some form of memorial for other extremists, or place of vandalism for extremists from the other side. Technically it wasn't strictly legit according to firm muslim law (I mean, I know cruise liners aren't allowed to offer burials at sea to muslim passangers that croak on holiday). On the other hand.. Osama and his associates weren't exactly bothered by bodies that got pulverised in 9/11 and if they could be given proper christian / jewish / islamic burials. And those were all innocent civilians. So eh, it might not be "nice" but I'm not that bothered by him getting buried at sea.

Riiight. So the battlefield is the entire globe and the target can be anyone, as hit lists are only subject to Presidential review. Um, am I the only one seeing someting wrong with that? Hm, yes, I can see how Osama having claimed to be the mastermind behind the casual killing of several thousand people can be classed as "any common citizen of the world." My point is more that a known terrorist is a valid target for special operations forces. Sure, we want oversight on what makes someone a "known terrorist", but for someone of Osama's standing, was there much doubt that he was one?

The question then becomes, in a running "war on terror" where terrorists can and have struck in every zone possible, can you identify an area that isn't a combat zone? Or that there's some sort of peacetime occurence between terrorist groups and the nations they attack?

For the PC DEHR... Official System Specs PC Screenshots Edit: DEHR The Nixxes Connection

Now.. I might be a little off the wall here, but aren't Terrorists classed as "Enemy Combatants" not just civilians who might be breaking the odd law..? Most acts of terrorism class under War Crimes due to the haphazard infliction of civilian casualties... Now if you know the location of a person or persons involved in acts of terrorism, who are known to have killed mass amounts of civil population, and are highly likely to be involved in further acts of terrorism.. is it more moral or ethical to wait until they are actually in the process of killing more people before you can stop them.. or just to stop them before that happens? If it's okay for armed services to be sent into zones to take out opposing armed forces, to use snipers on the battlefield to take out opposing officers and such like.. there's that fine line of sending some form of special forces after terrorist persons/groups. State-Sanctioned Assassination would be in the lines of sending a trained agent after a politician, or a banker... But sending an armed force after a known terrorist falls under different rules of engagement. Heh, for the slightly random side of it.. one of the most mis-quoted things is from the ten commandments. Apparently it translates not as "thou shalt not kill" but rather "thou shalt not commit murder." A small distinction, but rather vital.

Got home from the dog training. Was told I have to stop sounding "armyish" and "regimental" and more "enthusiastic and fun" to really get the dogs paying attention. Found out my sister had swiped the korma I was planning on.. so decided to say to hell with it and picked up a clog-your-arteries-right-now SuperBurger from the local kebab joint. 3/4 pounds of unhealthy burger meat slathered with assorted sauces and with the sprinkling of salad and such amidst the buns. Possibly all food groups in one quick meal..

At some point I need to pick up Dead Money... but I just haven't sparked on the FO lately. Not that there's anything coming out immediately that is catching my attention game wise. I mean, I'm skipping the fuss of LA Noire since I don't have a console... curse them for ignoring the pc market these days.

I tried replaying BG a couple of months back.. well, probably closer to half a year back now. I kept doing it in short doses rather then being able to sit down and play large chunks... then I actually arrived in the City got interupted by real life so had to save and exit.. and just.. eh, I'm not sure. I just didn't have the excitement to get back to it.

Trying to teach the puppy that no he should not chase the cat and try to play with/eat him. And I'm going to accompany my sister to dog training classes tonight to see if I can pick up any better tricks for handling him when she disapears to work. One garage rear-door built and taking it's paint. Although having both primer and paint that requires 16 hours to dry really does make it a day-by-day progress. Of course this is the test build really. The front doors and frame have been slowly rotting away the past 20 years, so it looks like we'll be rebuilding them at some point in the near future. Sat down with some logic problems, worked away at that for the mental exercise.. but it's so much fun when having been successful with a batch, you then hit one that you read.. you understand the english behind it.. but your mind makes absolutely no connections for what it actually means...

Useful is perspective.. But the array is already built, so the costs are pretty much just the operating ones... And it was the only array dedicated to looking for non-terrestrial signals, all the other arrays do a little bit when they've got nothing better to do. Sure, that's the big question on whether there's life out there, but they do pick up funky new astrophysics doing it. Sometimes pure science can be worth it. I mean, we're talking a budget of about

Hm.. well to carry over something I saw elsewhere... We've just past through the joys of Easter... and well.. consider Matthew 27

It's not a discovery, but science based news.. Alien Telescope Array Mothballed Apparently SETI have lost the Alien Telescope Array in California. The only Array dedicated to the search for Extraterrestrial Life has been shut down due to US budget cuts. The bizzarre thing, is that their annual operating costs is basically equivalent to building a mile of highway. So you can really see how the US is saving money by slashing that budget...

Finished the Back to the Future adventure set over the bank holiday weekend (well, apart from Episode 5 which isn't out yet). Generally amusing, with some light brain work involved. Although I know they're episodic games they did feel a little short. And I'm remembering not to try to just do a "quick dabble" on Alpha Centauri when I've got a batch of things to do in a day..

It never feels a good start to the day when you wake up with a snootful of half-congealed blood. Still, it's the may bank holiday. Not that I really notice that... A little bit of logical problems to exercise my mind.. and I think I might give Back to the Future Episode 4 a try for some other adventure problem solving bout.

I just thought I'd have a quick dabble on Alpha Centauri while I had an hour or so free. Heh. I really should know better. 5 hours later and dinner is putting a pause in my Centauri accomplishments.

If you're going back a few centuries.. or a lot of centuries depending on the particular property... Plus they have a large amount of money that doesn't come from taxpayers. Or would you compare it to the robber-barons who built the railroads and big industrial complexes in america, making fortunes in ways that are now considered illegal, and have established families who are the "wealth" aristocracy and own big chunks of real estate.... Would you say they should lose access to their wealth and properties because of how their ancestors acquired it all? Times change, methods of building a fortune and future for the family have changed.

Because yes, the French government and attitude is something we really want to copy and spread around the world.. And we didn't shower them with wealth and castles. Kind of the reverse actually, the Royal Family gave huge chunks of real estate to the government for the public use some time back.

To be fair, Charles and his sons do have a lot of duties they deal with. So it's not all jetplanes and parties. Throw in the Queen as a general UK Ambassador type and the figurehead of state and spirit of the nation, and they do put in the effort. Say what you want about the majority of countries around the world, but state visits by the Queen and the immediate family can do a lot of good diplomacy for the country. Just because it isn't all in strict "official" form of diplomacy ...

Why would one watch such a thing. I mean Is the outcome in doubt.... The republican in me gets really pissed at such pointless extravagance, but I suppose it will more than pay for itself in tourist derived income. We've been doing it like this for 350 years. It's a celebration. The yanks (my pardon to those in the south) have July the 4th, and the inaugeration of a new President. Every country have their own version of things to spice up a bit of sense of a nation. We don't really throw celebrations for the Prime Minister, but we do serious Royal Weddings.

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