ChrisR

For those who may not have caught it, here's a follow-up story of the pair. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQ4bmxcSNDU

Joe - Well stated. Your military citation of Omdurman is interesting. Just as The Light Brigade in Crimea and Pickett's Charge at Gettysburg proved the stupidity of massed charges against fixed artillery, Omdurman, with its 200:1 kill ratio, definitively demonstrated the pure idiocy of attacking the new wonder weapon, the machine gun. All three lessons were fully ignored in the trenches of the First World War. Similarly, Bomber Harris and Douhet had their city-buster theories refuted as World War II continued. And the Japanese high command refused to see futility even after Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and would have continued the war had the Emperor not intervened. Yet each of these situations shared one common factor absent from today's Middle East environment: unity of command. When there are dozens of disparate groups fighting, who can call for, offer, and accept the surrender of the other side? It's bad enough how fragmented the Islamic players are - dozens of little groups whose alliances flip flop on a daily basis. But lately the "outside players" have been shredded. At this point it's tough to figure whose side Turkey is on, the US and Russians are squabbling over who killed off one of the senior ISIS leaders, the Arab states are all claiming a piece of the action by flying a handful of missions a month... The comedy/tragedy goes on and on. And sadly, I see neither Cynus's Chinggis or your Egyptian reconstruction crew (or fill in any other such team) coming in to resolve things in any timely matter. There's a great deal in me that screams "We've done our damage here" and wash our hands of the place. The wonderfullest thing of all is knowing that American leadership and diplomacy is about to be placed in the hands of a guy whose diplomatic style was learned at the Don Rickles School of International Relations or a woman who doesn't know the difference between a classified document and an alphabet. Where's an asteroid when you really need one?

"Friends come in and out of our lives like busboys in a restaurant," we are told. And this story reminds us of the truth of that admonition. So many fascinating, complex and exciting characters, relationships and adventures all now only glimpsed in our rear view mirror. They will be sorely missed. But a big thank you to Chris for letting us share with them a few wonderful summer weeks on the beach.

What do you consider to be "the real problem" in this situation? You point out three divisions within Islam and they are as busy fighting one another as they are the rest of the world. For the most part the non-Muslim countries are working together (excepting differences for who's pro or anti Kurds and the Syrian situation). Or would you agree, as I've heard some commentators suggest, that much of the intra-Islamic conflict is a smokescreen to get as many Muslim refugees into Europe as possible? What's our problem in this?

Thanks to both the author and the poster for this excellent summary. It is an extraordinary short course in Islam which cuts to the core of its cultural and historical upbringing. It is not difficult to identify some parallels with other civilizations throughout history and to draw some less-than-happy conclusions therefrom. Just as the Christian era had a serious meltdown some 15 centuries in - the Thirty Years War fought among various Christian "sects" - it can be seen that Islam is having its own internal strife today. (Frighteningly it must be remembered that the technology available in the 15th century was far less sophisticated and deadly.) It would be interesting to review other regional cultures to see if Asia, Africa, and the pre-Columbian Americas have experienced similar socio-cultural timelines. But the timeline putting our societies in their teen-aged centuries is similar and, in the absence of adult supervision, every bit as proportionately devastating as the Sharks and the Jets.

...and sometimes fiction succeeds in being stranger than truth! A well-told tale with a twisted, demented, and wonderful conclusion A great treat indeed. Thanks for sharing it.

I'd forgotten that one! It's the first phrase a couple of us learned in Russian - roughly, "posTAHvit svYEHchoo ohBRATno" Thanks for the walk back through time!

Wilder was indeed an over-the-top comic, but never at the expense of his fellow actors. His genius was getting us to laugh at the crazy situations (and people in them) for the sheer fun of it all. We are fortunate that so much of his work will live for years to come. For what he gave us all, what more can I say but, "Vy thenk you, Doctor!"

See? With Hillary on one side and Mr. Farage on the other, Donnie is the perfect middle-of-the-road candidate after all. Democracy is saved.

Nigel - does the Brexit vote have any sort of timetable? We've heard that once Art. 50 is triggered there is a two-year stopwatch to "tidy things up" - but how long does government have to enact the Art 50? Could everybody just sit on it and do nothing? And once it's enacted, what happens if the UK and its European pals cannot resolve everything in the two years allotted? For the moment there seems a lot of doom and gloom over nothing.

And just to drive everybody even more crazy, the Second Edition of the Australian National Dictionary is purportedly out with some 6,000 new words and phrases to befuddle the once universal language! Of course it's reported in the New Zealand press. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/news/article.cfm?c_id=6&objectid=11699447

The world is run by those who show up. In one form or another, that unattributed quotation seems to explain the electoral process. So no matter what the issue, people who elect to not vote for ANY reason, or change their mind after the fact, lose the right to complain about the outcome. For Brexit it is best explained by John Oliver (https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=RDVEALC1z3QG8&v=d8NdQrGljHM) at about the 0:40 mark. Even if one did offer a second vote, would that overrule the first? Do we go best of 3? or 5? or a World Series best of 7? Ridiculous. The vote is the vote. One advantage of the US Presidential system, of course, is that we do have a do-over option. It happens 4 years after the initial vote when people have a better idea of just how good or bad their first shot at it really was. Even after the Confexit vote of 1861 we decided to repeal it 4 years later at Appomattox. Of course this year here, and perhaps for the UK and EU, it does sort of depend on whether we all can last that long.

I rather like Pravda's take on the race: Cruella de Vil vs Captain Klutz

This year's election seems more about who you DON'T want for president than who you DO. MSNBC is "rather pro-Clinton" but this morning mentions Trump 8 times in its headlines and Clinton only 4. In contrast, Foxnews, "somewhat pro-Trumpish", mentions Clinton more than Trump. So the only consistent thing about it seems to be that we don't want either one, and are preparing to have to live with the lesser of two evils.

Some intriguing sleuthing going on here. An interesting change of pace!

One of the reports I saw said that the 7-year-old was the youngest of the boys, the oldest being 15 and 17, none of whom had eaten in several days. What sort of "family" dynamics are involved when it's the youngest kid who goes out to do something?

No longer true. The older teaching you cite dates from the Code of Canon Law dated 1917. It was most recently changed in 1983, and today's Code of Canon Law, §1184, no longer lists suicide as a reason to forbid either a Catholic funeral or burial in a Catholic cemetery. Nor, for that matter, does it any longer proscribe cremation. Sadly, masturbation and homosexuality are still considered "intrinsically and seriously disordered acts" but give it time. Just as laws in the US have evolved, so they are evolving in the Church.

I rather doubt it. There is a lot unsaid in the articles out there. Danny was apparently failed at least once, changed schools at one point, was bullied, etc., but we see nothing about what his parents' involvement was. Why the school changes? What was happening at home? Where were the parents when he got into fights with Anthony and John, leading to x-rays for a broken pinky? John got in trouble, and Danny didn't, so where were Danny's parents? And John's? Did they help? What did Danny tell them? The teachers didn't help, but we don't know just what they knew. (i.e., his writing says "I told all the teachers nothing" but does that mean they DID nothing or he TOLD them nothing?) Did he tell Mrs. Goldrich or assume she should know? The male teacher Danny's sister mentions, if true, was likely in violation of student privacy laws and should lose his job at the very least. So no, I don't think it's going to be anything just swept under a rug. And if anybody here has the surefire answer to this national problem, there are plenty of folks who'd like to hear it. [Danny's full letter is at ]

It can't really be all that difficult. Texans long ago came up with a contraction for "She" and "It"!

Just curious, James. Where did you find the pepperoni joint?

I'm more forgiving if the word is used in conversation because it is not that uncommon in modern speech: "Let's be sure we keep it between us," said Billy as he made eye contact with his three friends. The implication is that Billy's eye contact established an individual agreement with EACH of his friends. If, however, the author tells us about it, it's definitely better to say, The three boys each nodded to Billy that the secret would be kept among the foursome.

Just finished the book "Merchants in the Temple" by Italian author Gianluigi Nuzzi. As many might expect, a bit of a sordid tale. Like any organization, the object is to "follow the money" and ignore the people ostensibly in power. Not quite as bad a story as could be expected, but you feel the need for a good hand washing by the end. Some of you may have seen the story of Nuzzi's Vatican trial in the news for releasing these "secret" files. He was found not guilty based on free press and the fact that he's Italian, not a subject of the Vatican. The monsignor who gave him the documents, however, was sentenced to 18 months in prison. Oddly enough, lacking a long-term prison, the Vatican has an arrangement for the prelate to spend his time in an Italian facility.

Actually it begs the question: whose feelings? The teacher's or the student's? Try: "When correcting a student, the teacher should take into consideration the student's feelings." Drop the pronouns and reduce the chance for error,

Those Chinese divers are AWESOME!

Those Chinese divers are AWESOME!