Archive for February, 2008

Japanese Show of the Week #6

Uproarious.

Wikipedia gems: Octagon Houses

’72 Dolphins Annual Hater Party

Haters…

GLENDALE, Arizona: With the 1972 Miami Dolphins’ legacy safe for at least another season, Don Shula took a moment to congratulate the New England Patriots on a "great season."

But not the greatest season. That distinction still belongs to Shula’s 17-0 Dolphins, who remain the NFL’s only undefeated team after the Giants shocked New England 17-14 in the Super Bowl.

"The Patriots had a great season, but it shows just how difficult it is to go undefeated," Shula said. "Our players and our fans feel that much more proud of our accomplishment."

The Giants were happy to do their part to protect the Dolphins’ place in history.

Giants guard Chris Snee had a message for the Dolphins. "Thanks for supporting us," he said. "Your record stands for another year, I guess."

By tradition, members of the ’72 Dolphins uncork champagne bottles every autumn when the NFL’s last remaining unbeaten goes down. This time, the party didn’t happen until Sunday night, when the Giants handed the New England Patriots their first loss a€" in their 19th game.

"Obviously, we’re proud to still be the only undefeated team in the history of the National Football League," former Dolphins running back Jim Kiick said in a statement. "We’re proud of it. Why shouldn’t we be?"

The ’72 Dolphins cast a long shadow over this Super Bowl. Kiick, Garo Yepremian, Larry Little and Mercury Morris gathered Friday for a media briefing. And in many local bars it was easy to find an argument over who would go down as the greater team a€" the Dolphins or this year’s Patriots.

That debate is moot now. The Patriots’ march on the Dolphins died in the desert.

"We never were against the New England Patriots," Kiick said. "We have our accomplishments.

"We’re not comparing ourselves to anyone else from other generations. We’re happy with our own accomplishments. The Patriots are a great football team. Unfortunately, they didn’t win this Super Bowl."

The Dolphins remained in the spotlight after the game, sharing the attention with the victorious Giants, their new favorite team.

"They played a fabulous game and I really thought they deserved to win," former Miami tight end Jim Mandich said. "I really feel the better team won." [LINK]

Wowsers… what a bunch of cornballs.

"Put em on the trucks"

Quote of the day

"Politics makes strange bedfellows"

The Collapse of Complex Societies

By contrast, Joseph Tainter argues in The Collapse of Complex Societies that such an event should be understood more specifically; he argues that societies respond to crises by adding complexity, and that complexity is subject to the law of diminishing returns.

Eventually, the marginal returns on added complexity turn negative, and since the society only knows how to add complexity in response to its problems, it starts to collapse under its own weight. via

New fo8: "Russian helicopters for sale"

Real Onionz: "Racial Politics: Chicago’s Raw Nerve"

LEAD: ON THE SOUTH SIDE OF CHICAGO, in the lobby of a former union hall, there hangs an old photograph. Striking stockyard workers, blacks and whites, are huddled together for solidarity, and perhaps for warmth, against the fierce winter wind that whips off Lake Michigan, an infamous gale known here as "The Hawk.

ON THE SOUTH SIDE OF CHICAGO, in the lobby of a former union hall, there hangs an old photograph. Striking stockyard workers, blacks and whites, are huddled together for solidarity, and perhaps for warmth, against the fierce winter wind that whips off Lake Michigan, an infamous gale known here as "The Hawk." Across the photograph is emblazoned the slogan, "Negro and White - Unite to Fight!"

A generation later, the winds of Chicago blow in another direction. A black man, named Eugene Sawyer, sits in the Mayor’s office. An Irishman, named Richard M. Daley, pledges to reform City Hall. The stockyards are long gone and the union hall has become a community center, where perhaps 1,000 black people, many of whom prefer to be called African-American, have gathered for a political rally on an overcast Saturday afternoon.

The featured speaker at the rally is a man nicknamed TNT, as much for the explosiveness of his oratory as for the initials of his name, Thomas N. Todd. And he will shout from the podium what many politicians here only whisper. more at

Acoustic Warfare

Definition: (DOD, NATO) Action involving the use of underwater acoustic energy to determine, exploit, reduce or prevent hostile use of the underwater acoustic spectrum and actions which retain friendly use of the underwater acoustic spectrum. There are three divisions within acoustic warfare:

1. acoustic warfare support measures. That aspect of acoustic warfare involving actions to search for, intercept, locate, record and analyze radiated acoustic energy in water for purpose of exploiting such radiations. The use of acoustic warfare support measures involves no intentional underwater acoustic emission and is generally not detectable by the enemy.

2. acoustic warfare countermeasures. That aspect of acoustic warfare involving actions taken to prevent or reduce an enemy’s effective use of the underwater acoustic spectrum. Acoustic warfare countermeasures involve intentional underwater acoustic emissions for deception and jamming.

3. acoustic warfare counter-countermeasures. That aspect of acoustic warfare involving actions taken to ensure friendly effective use of the underwater acoustic spectrum despite the enemy’s use of underwater acoustic warfare. Acoustic warfare counter-countermeasures involve anti-acoustic warfare support measures and anti-acoustic warfare countermeasures, and may not involve underwater acoustic emissions. at