June 23, 2005
News From the Wild Kingdom
More lions like this, please. Less like this.
For the record, I'm highly skeptical of the Ethiopia story. Since when has being small, frail, and helpless ever induced in lions a desire to be protective? It never worked for any of those baby gazelles on the Discovery Channel. The behavior of the Minnesota lion (and tiger) seems much more typical of big cats.
And how bad a day was that Minnesota kid having? Usually, being mauled by a tiger would be enough to win you bragging rights over just about anybody. But this kid looks up while they're pulling the tiger off him and what does he see? A lion coming in to take its turn! Yikes.
Posted by Tim at 10:28 PM | Comments (0)
June 04, 2005
Jeff "Skunk" Baxter: Rock Star, Counterterrorism Expert
Are you tired of playing guitar for the likes of Steely Dan and the Doobie Brothers? Feel like your career as rock star has reached a dead end? Well, why not start a second career in the exciting field of counterterrorism? After all, that's what Jeff "Skunk" Baxter did. (Hat tip: PowerLine)
As much as I love the quirkiness of this story, and as much as I don't want to be a wet blanket, I still have to wonder whether some of Mr. Baxter's boosters aren't motivated more by the PR value of his celebrity status than any insight he has into terrorist tactics. Most of the observations the story credits him with seem stone cold obvious to me. And then there's the complete implausibility of this scenario:
In the late 1990s, Mr. Baxter led a fictional future alliance of Iran and Iraq that was trying to drive the U.S. Navy from the key oil-shipping routes through the Persian Gulf. Facing a massive military imbalance, Mr. Baxter had covert operatives introduce oil-eating bacteria into the Saudi Arabian oil supply that rendered its petroleum shipments worthless. The Navy was forced to pull out after oil-dependent American allies threatened to pull their financial assets out of the U.S.
All I can say is, if I were allowed to pull some Corbomite Maneuver every time I was up against a superior military force, I'd be the most formidable bad guy the Pentagon war gamers have ever seen.
Posted by Tim at 09:13 PM | Comments (0)