Mortellan: He Hilarious!

Frequent Analytical Engine reader Mortellan started the Greyhawk-themed web comic W.o.G. about a year ago, and has been posting weekly updates ever since. When I say "Greyhawk comic" I really mean it, because some of the jokes are so laser focused on obscure setting trivia or even decade-old Internet discussions that they'll fly right past the casual reader.

I am not, insofar as Greyhawk is concerned, a casual reader, and I suspect many of you aren't either.

Enjoy.



The multi-page Christmas Special is a must-read.

AFFIRMATIVE!

This Wikipedia entry, and the preview clips mentioned at the bottom of it, make me happier than just about anything in years.

Jagshemash!

A holiday gift for all of you.

I'm on Vacation

I've been WAY too busy lately to post here, but not too busy to celebrate Christmas with my friends Kyle, Sean, and Danica (formerly known as "the new girl"). Sean even posted a picture from the festivities.

I miss my friends. Freelance work has been keeping me away from more than just this blog lately, and I am absolutely looking forward to a clear schedule in the new year.

In the meantime, here are a few Wikipedia entries that have distracted me lately:

The Great Disappointment
Serge Gainsbourg
(Gay) President James Buchanan
Vinland
Arrested Development
Daleks

That's a little window into my brainspace lately. Busy, busy, busy, but not too busy that I can't daydream about interesting shit.

I'm about a third of the way through the book 1491: New Revalastions of the Americas Before Columbus, by Charles C. Mann. A nice companion to Guns, Germs, and Steel, which I read about a year ago. I highly recommend both books.

Mystery Country 1: Nauru

As I read through the CIA Worldbook entries for the countries listed below, I was taken aback by how many of them were island assets of great empires (British, French, American) that somehow still managed to fly the flag of their colonial masters, usually for some geopolitical/military reason. Enter Nauru, depleted phosphate mining colony, failed money laundering facilitator, and stopover for fucked-up covert US intelligence operations:

Nauru is currently involved in an Australian lawsuit against the United States over a failed underground agreement. Allegedly, representatives of the United States offered billions of dollars worth of economic recovery to the island. In exchange, Nauru enacted legislation limiting the efficacy of overseas money laundering and tax evasion. Simultaneously, they established a Nauruan "stooge" embassy in China (actually functioning under United States control), assisting defecting North Korean scientists and officials across the border. This supposedly included Kyong Won-ha, the scientist allegedly responsible for much of Pyongyang's nuclear program. This initiative was termed "Operation Weasel." When news of this agreement surfaced after Nauru faithfully followed through with the necessary legislation and the preliminaries of the embassy (which rightfully drew suspicion from China as it was staffed entirely by westerners), the United States responded that the agents who made the deal with Nauru never had the authority to make such a contract, and Nauru has not yet received the promised aid. Nauru's case against the United States is still pending, but preliminary judgments favor the island nation over the superpower.

Operation Weasel, huh? I wounder who it could be named after?

[Nauruan former President Kinza] Clodumar claims [American Spy] Ray told him he had "a direct line to [US Vice-President] Dick Cheney". Both men also claim to be friends with North, a poster boy for the US Right since he ran the secret Iran-Contra deal to sell military hardware to Iran in exchange for the release of US hostages.

North is understood to have offered to help out on the Nauru issue. An unsigned letter written last year to a senior Nauruan minister talks of how "Oliver North would be able to interview you on Radio America and we could plan topics and arrange callers to phone in with positive comments."

Nauruan Finance Minister Remy Namaduk admits that North has invited him to speak on radio, while Clodumar says Smith and Ray told him they could get North to sign a copy of his new book if he wanted. [source]

Because I am a Giving Man

This woman is my favorite living American. (Click on "Watch Video")

UPDATE: Sorry about the bad link. The original (dark-sided) file host removed the movie last night. It really is worth checking out.

Countries I've Never Heard Of

Akrotiri
Andorra
Coromos
Dhekelia
Jan Mayen
Kiribati
Lesotho
Nauru
New Caledonia
Niue (formerly Savage Island)
Reunion
Spratly Islands
Svalbard
Tokelau
Tuvalu
Vanuatu

You'll be hearing more from me on these places.

Merry (War on) Christmas!

You'll probably get a kick out of this recent Christopher Hitchens appearance on MSNBC's Scarborough Country.

Courtesy of Crooks and Liars.

Bad Moon Rising

I'm one of those guys who believes in conspiracies. After you've started paying attention to current events and politics, you develop an ear for blips in the news cycle that seem to reflect a story behind the story. There are things that happen in the world--big things, that get almost no reportage at all. I'm not talking about space aliens or crop circles or any of that.

I'm talking about the self-proclaimed messiah who owns the Washington Times and UPI, who recently staged a coronation of himself as "Prince of Peace" in a US Senate building in the presence of US congressmen.

Headlines are Hard

As a person with a relationship with the company and as a former public relations professional, I'm really in no position to sink my teeth deep into this little bit of news, but I have to wonder if there is a better way of saying "we just fired 15 good people" than "Company Makes Staff Changes to Stay Adaptable to Changing Trends in Marketplace."

Jaysis.