Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- Russ Roberts: The head of the snake - life in Israel during the Second Iran War.

- Nations have agency and sovereignty over their territories. And elections have consequences a reminder to those touting free cheese.

- House oversight Committee concludes Tim Walz administration knew about fraud but failed to act.

- Paramount Skydance debt downgraded to junk bond status by Fitch.

More Linky Links

More stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- LUCAS's coming out party. Keep thinking of the Bill Hicks bit about Desert Strom "Let's see what this can do."

- One buyer dominated Iran's oil exports.

- Admiral Brad Cooper's message to the soldiers and sailors of Operation Epic Fury.

- Trump moves to cut all trade with Spain. Actions have consequences. Not sure how to translate FAFO into Spanish.

Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- An oral history of WKRP's classic Turkey Drop episode.

- Is Adam Schiff's (D-CA) main residence actually in Maryland? One also has to wonder f these "leaks" against Schiff are coming from the camps of other Dems running for the Senate from California.

- Tucker Carlson Episode 40 - On Spain.

- Your tax dollars at work

Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- New sanctions on Iran's Supreme Leader's business interests should be heavy blow. As an aside maybe it should just be policy to have heavy sanctions on any country led by someone who calls themselves "Supreme Leader"

- Before Jordan Peterson had his book 12 Rules for Life - he listed 42 rules people should follow.

- I agree with Tom E. Curran that Gronk isn't coming back to the Patriots. At this point, as a fan, I don't even want him to. He retired on top and his body is getting healthy. Enjoy life Gronk - you've earned it!

- Interesting - Kepler's forgotten idea about "morphogenic fields" and symmetry may help explain spiral galaxies without the input of dark matter

- Heh Heh

- Mental Floss's list of the top 50 TV shows to binge watch. Is it strange that lately I've been thinking I should watch MORE TV? For month's I've cut back TV to just sports, stand-up comedy specials, and documentaries. Damn you Game of Thrones!

- I hope the term "Spanish Submarine" gets added to the Urban dictionary as meaning "a completely fucked up thing". Oh by the way - the S-80 Submarine has been offered for export.

Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- Catalan separatists win election. Wish I understood what is going on in Spain.

- Cool - scientists have created a new material called diamene which is as flexible as tinfoil but strong enough to stop a bullet.

- It's OK Bobby - we understand that the 70's were a strange time

- Heh heh

- The Graduate just turned 50-years old. A good reason to remind people that Buck Henry (one of the most underrated comedy writers in history) is still alive.

- The Red Lion Inn. I've stayed here a few times and the place is very cool.

- Is it me or does this woman have serious crazy eyes? And now also an STD.

The Armada by Garrett Mattingly

I think most people who are familiar with the story of the Spanish Armada have the impression that the story went something like this;

In 1588 the Catholic Spanish King sent a fleet of ships bigger than anything ever previously assembled to Protestant England in order to crush the English military and remove Queen Elizabeth from the throne. However, the smaller, faster English fleet coupled with a major storm combined to defeat the Armada and usher in a new era of Rule Britannia.

The true story is much different. The two fleets were actually pretty fairly matched and in the end it was a lack of provisions (especially gun powder and cannon balls) that caused the Spanish defeat. The Spanish ran out of ammunition and the English at the end were able to hammer away at the Armada from close range with devastating effects.

The battle and the results didn't much change the balance of power between England and Spain but surprisingly it had great political ramifications in France.

Garrett Mattingly tells this true story in his fascinating 1959 book The Armada. I highly recommend this book to fans of military or world history. Thank you to whoever first recommended this book to me.