Oh, Alright?

That beat thou.

Nah Nah Nah! (Ft. Timbuktu) - Movits!

Map of US and UK Interventions since 1945

"The great rule of conduct for us in regard to foreign nations is in extending our commercial relations, to have with them as little political connection as possible. So far as we have already formed engagements, let them be fulfilled with perfect good faith. Here let us stop. Europe has a set of primary interests which to us have none; or a very remote relation. Hence she must be engaged in frequent controversies, the causes of which are essentially foreign to our concerns. Hence, therefore, it must be unwise in us to implicate ourselves by artificial ties in the ordinary vicissitudes of her politics, or the ordinary combinations and collisions of her friendships or enmities."  - George Washington's Farewell Address

The United States has had a real problem recently concerning foreign policy.  Namely, it's the fact that we've become an interventionist nation.  Ever since we realized the amount of economic and military power we held, which was revealed somewhat in 1918 and fully in 1945, we came under the impression that every world affair was our business.  That's due in large part to the Cold War concept of the Domino Theory.  This theory held that if one country were to be taken over by communists, the same would follow for it's neighbors.  It seems like a logical idea, right?

History would say otherwise.  After all of the United States' aid to the French fighting the Vietnamese and finally the deployment of US troops there in the Vietnam War, America eventually lost the will to fight and went home.  What happened as a result?  Vietnam became communist, got a grudge against America and that was pretty much it.  The Domino Theory didn't seem to hold.  In the end, what the United States did was to get involved in a war that was to originally protect French interests and to suppress a fledgling nation from throwing off the shackles of a colonial power.  Seems ironic, doesn't it?

You would think that after such a horrible, pointless waste of lives and resources in Vietnam, in support of a theory that didn't really seem to work, that we would learn.  We haven't, really.  Domino theory is a thing of the past but we still find excuses to invade countries pointlessly, Iraq being the biggest example.  On the horizon more potential interventions loom.

Tensions between Israel and the Muslim World are rising, people are calling for intervention in Syria, Ukraine is in the midst of a civil war, and to top it off, a more unstable, equally totalitarian regime has been produced in Iraq.  All of these conflicts are either being considered as potential points of US intervention, or are the result of US intervention.  So what's the lesson in all of this?

Don't get involved in the plight of other countries unless those countries are CERTAIN to attack us if we don't.

To do otherwise to intervene in a nation in the name of democracy or to prevent some uncertain threat to the US is akin to prosecuting a criminal before he has committed a crime, with no concrete evidence he was to commit it.  The US doesn't have to be a global peacekeeper either.  Preventing atrocities is the work of the UN, and while they may not have the best track record, at least every country involved gets a say there.

Need new clothes?

PREDICTABO!

Don't you wish those bozo's at Apple went all the way with their Braun inspired design?  Wish that they gave us a sleek, black toolbar instead of the boring translucent one we're stuck with?

I'm Back Bitches.

Here's a song for your butts.

This is a bit of an exception for me.  Generally my book choice is completely secular and sciencey, if it's not fiction.  But I chose differently this time and I'm happy for it.

If I needed to be religious, Buddhism would probably be the one I would go with, because in many ways it is more a philosophy than a religion, though their belief in Karma and an afterlife does deem it a theology.  They have some interesting insights and ideas though, ones that should not be ignored.

Call me foolish and silly, but I have always imagined death as a very long sleep.  The book of the dead, however, is not so sure.  It states that death is nothingness, which is a widely agreed upon belief and something I agree with.  But nothingness is not necessarily sleep.  In fact, it's nearly impossible to imagine what nothing is, so in likening it to sleep, people who have no belief in a particular afterlife or god are comforting themselves.  In reality, nothing is a terrifying unknown because we are and have always been creatures of the something.  This is just a single point the book brings up, and I must say it has changed my thinking about a few things.  

If you're a secular person, theological person, or really a person with any degree of curiosity, I would recommend this book, for the ideas and philosophy it has.  I think that belief in many ways is a tool, and the beliefs presented in this book are interesting tools indeed.

Genghis Khan

Genghis Khan

Old Gems - Esengo Ya Mokili from Francophonic (A Retrospective Vol 1.)

Weird Music Video - Prey & Predator by Efterklang

Weird Music Video - Frontier Psychiatrist by the Avalanches

Weird Music Video - We Got More by Eskmo

What do I even say for this one.

Weird Music Video - The Music Scene by Blockhead, of their album 'The Music Scene'

A subtle, steadily building techno piece, the music scene makes for some very good ambient music, or for a slow dance.  The slow beat almost reminds me of a drum at some sort of caveman celebration.  And the music video is insane.