There's uh, no Friday Five today. Something to do with the archives being unavailable due to bandwidth issues. Uh, OK. I wonder how one fakes Friday Five withdrawal syndrome.

Posted by: Country Pundit at 11:22 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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It appears from the referrer logs that someone was looking for information on the FX-1400 guided bomb developed by the Germans in World War II. A quick trip to Google shows that I'm #2 in the search engine for "FX-1400 guided bomb". Interesting. The first result sent me to a picture of the aftermath (just barely!) of an FX-1400 in use.

11 September 1943: CL 42 USS Savannah is struck off Salerno, Italy, by an FX-1400. A picture shot during the bomb's detonation is available here. Wow.

Posted by: Country Pundit at 02:00 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Kids, it's time to harness the power of the blog (as opposed to the Power of Grayskull or the power of the Autobot Matrix) to right a wrong done to Google.

Google-bomber extraordinaire Ken of Esoteric * Diatribe tipped me off to this campaign, which intends to reclaim certain Google search results. Those results have currently been appropriated by a group that seems to be (their website is unaccessible) less than reasonable on the question of Judaism. The way to combat this is very simple, and models itself after the various other Google bombs done primarily for political purposes.

First, visit the Anti-Defamation League page on the issue, for background. Then, read this, from Google.

The next thing to do is simple. Make a link like so, and tell your friends: Jew If you display the Friend of Israel logo, then this would be an action that is consistent with the aims of that earlier campaign.

Hope this works.

Posted by: Country Pundit at 12:41 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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In a prior post, I mentioned that I'd found Marni Soupcoff again. I dismissed The Iconoclast in the manner of Neville Chamberlain and Czechoslovakia, and so history repeats itself. Chamberlain was cast into war, and I get to eat some crow. The Iconoclast is a joint production of the father-daughter duo of Murray and Marni Soupcoff.

As Jeff Greenfield once said, "Oh waiter! One order of crow."

Ms. Soupcoff's columns for Tech Central Station are archived here.

Posted by: Country Pundit at 02:13 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Comrade Commissar, fresh from the Lubyanka where he's been ignoring corruption in the local soviets, has set his Dragunov's sights on the United Nations food for oil program in Iraq, and the resultant growing scandal(s) surrounding the administration thereof. The abuse of this program is an odious thing, and may go to explain why certain individuals and governments were less than enthusiastic about overthrowing the Baathist regime.

Correspondingly, please visit Friends of Saddam for further information on the despicable circumstances coming to light. I don't hate the UN as an idea, but I'm certainly disgusted with the goings on at this point.

UPDATE: I want to make clear that Friends of Saddam is not a tongue-in-cheek enterprise on the order of The Politburo Diktat. It is a straight news blog, and will serve as a resource for information on the issue.

Posted by: Country Pundit at 11:09 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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1 TCP, Thanks for the kind words. Very funny, wise guy. 'Friends of Saddam' will be straight reporting. "Just the facts, Ma'am." Any interest?

Posted by: The Commissar at April 20, 2004 11:34 AM (VpkLq)

2 Hey, glad to be of assistance. You've been a great help in creating traffic, and I appreciate your efforts. I may not have gotten the 'Joe Friday' focus of the new blog across in my posting, so I'll append that shortly. I appreciate the request, and I may take you up on it eventually. The problem is that I've got to slog through exams and preparation for the bar in the near future, so I'll probably be stretched for time just keeping this blog current. That's my stance at this point, and may change in the future. The basic problem is that I don't know a whole lot about the thing, and would have to dive deeply into lots of fact-intensive things to post intelligently.

Posted by: The Country Pundit at April 20, 2004 11:49 AM (QUo4+)

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Via Ipse Dixit comes this new meme:

1. Grab the nearest book.

2. Open the book to page 23.

3. Find the fifth sentence.

4. Post the text of the sentence in your journal along with these instructions.

The nearest book is New York Central Railroad by Brian Solomon with Mike Schafer in the "Railroad Color History" series. The fifth sentence of page 23 is, "Vanderbilt had the sense and resources to improve his property, which clearly set him apart from many of his contemporaries in the financial world."

In keeping with Dodd Harris' example, the context is a discussion of the effects of Cornelius ("The Commodore") Vanderbilt's creation and control of several New York State railroads under the banner of the New York Central & Hudson River Railroad. This particular 'road was created in 1869 by Vanderbilt's merger of the New York Central Railroad and the Hudson River Railroad, along with the lease of the New York & Harlem to the NYC&HRR.

Tip of the Wisconsin hat to Ipse Dixit, who got it from Long Story, Short Pier.

Posted by: Country Pundit at 04:09 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Those hard-working chaps at the Politburo Diktat have come up with a new product for the weekend, part of the continuing Communist plot to dominate the blogosphere. (As an aside, are there any Communist blogs? I've been absent the daily infusion of Marxist humor-posing-as-political-thought for the last several years.)

Comes now the War Bloggers' Yellow Pages, from uh, Soverizon. Or something.

Due to the Commissar's good graces, this blog has been included in the listings as one of the "Thinkers", and with some pretty lofty company:

Andrew Sullivan

Belmont Club

BuzzMachine

Captain's Quarters

Daniel Drezner

HobbsOnline

Hugh Hewitt

Insults Unpunished

Michael J. Totten

The Country Pundit

USS Clueless

You Big Mouth, You!

To be honest, I'm humbled and flattered. Much thanks to Comrade Commissar.

Posted by: Country Pundit at 06:42 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Recently, Jonah Goldberg or someone at the The Corner wrote a post noting that Canadians were starting to flock to the political blogosphere. Since I've got more than a passing interest in the Dominion, can anyone point me in the direction of some Canadian Alliance-influenced blogs?

Yes, I know Harper united the right, but I was distinctly uncomfortable with the whole "Progressive Conservative" platform, and so I'd rather read some stuff from one of the two chunks of Canada that I'd like to have in the United States. Hee hee.

Posted by: Country Pundit at 02:08 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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We are told in today's entry to pick one from the past and go for it. Thus, the first Friday Five:

1. Where were you born (city or state or just country)?

American by fate, Southern by birth, and Virginian by the grace of God.

2. What is your favorite number?

Uh, 42?

3. Vanilla or chocolate?

Vanilla.

4. What section of a bookstore would I find you in?

The transportation or history section, trying to decide what to buy.

5. What kind of mattress do you have on your bed? soft? firm? water?

Er, a softish firm one that's just right. The only problem with is that Nicole Kidman's not there right now. Ha! I kill me. Meanwhile, the adventures of Gordon Shumway continue...

Posted by: Country Pundit at 01:26 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Comrade Commissar has, under the aegis of the Politburo's diktat, released the latest component of the bloggerist manifesto. It's a simple seven-point plan for continued progress against the ancien régime of the big-name "professional" bloggers.

If those of us who blog in obscurity are ever to be prominent, then we must stop sending the vital capital of blogging (i.e. traffic) up to the people who get more traffic in one day than some blogs have had in their lifetimes. Allow me to suggest a corollary: When you find a story suggested by that fellow in Knoxville, go to another blogger, one of the little guys, and link to them instead. Tennessee's chief blogger doesn't need any additional traffic.

To the blogosphere barricade, comrades! Peace, land, and voluptuous former tennis stars named Anna to all participating comrades, eh.

Posted by: Country Pundit at 11:16 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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1. What do you do for a living?

I while away the hours in law school. Peh.

2. What do you like most about your job?

That I get to perhaps do some good in the world, which is one of the things that folks who sign up with Christ have to do.

3. What do you like least about your job?

It will be long hours with low pay and zero respect from the community. Good thing I'm an arrogant-in-my-own-way type that's largely immune to public opinion.

4. When you have a bad day at work it's usually because _____...

Because someone else screwed up, and I get blamed along with being told to fix it.

5. What other career(s) are you interested in?

High-level executive operations at a Class I railroad in the United States or something aboard a cruise liner; I'd kind of like to be involved with transportation somehow. Failing that, I'd like to be a historian or a writer in general. Makes sense, from the work done here at the blog.'

Posted by: Country Pundit at 08:39 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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