After three-some-odd years of beta testing, my FPS of choice, Day of Defeat 1.0, is now available for download. There went my weekend.
Category: History
Elvish Hegemon and the Subaltern Orc.
And now the terrible Orcs invade Balin’s tomb. Let’s be clear about a few things here. The Orcs are fighting a war of self-defense against the invading Fellowship. They basically busted in on the Orcs’ place here…One would think that if the Orcs were as bad as the corrupt Man-Elf coalition says, they would be a lot better at fighting. Via a friend of mine in the department, it’s the lost Fellowship of the Ring commentary track by Noam Chomsky and Howard Zinn. Touche.
Hedging their Bets.
In the wake of Dubya’s embrace of preemption, historian Joyce Appleby wonders whatever happened to Congress as a center of foreign policy. As James Madison put it, “The constitution supposes, what the History of all Govts demonstrates, that the Ex. is the branch of power most interested in war, & most prone to it. It has accordingly with studied care, vested the question of war in the Legisl. But the Doctrines lately advanced strike at the root of all these provisions, and will deposit the peace of the Country in that Department which the Constitution distrusts as most ready without cause to renounce it.” Looks like recent experience has proven him right.
Deep in Right Field.
Slate‘s Timothy Noah revisits the the latest theories on Deep Throat’s identity. The newest Most Likely Candidate: Nixon aide Fred Fielding.
Trail Fever.
Liar’s Poker and New New Thing author Michael Lewis (and family) follow the Mark Twain trail for Slate. Already more entertaining than his dispatches from France.
A Chill Wind Blows.
Rumors grew of a shadow in the East, whispers of a nameless fear…In a bid to stop the spread of SARS, the World Health Organization encourages travelers to stay out of Toronto. (I’m supposed to go there for a wedding in July, and as of right now I’m inclined to take my chances.) Perhaps it’s partly because of the post-Iraq news void, but it’s starting to look like SARS has the potential to be the 1918 influenza epidemic all over again.
Goodnight Euphrates.
Despite significant warnings from historians and anthropologists, the Pentagon does little to stop Baghdad’s National Museum of Antiquities, a priceless archive on some of the world’s oldest civilizations, from being systematically looted and pillaged. Our response to this tragic event is too little too late – what are we going to do? Have a couple of INTERPOL guys watch for suspicious items on Ebay? I doubt many of the most priceless artifacts travel that well anyway. It just wouldn’t have been that hard to station troops around the museum, particularly given (a) that the Pentagon was briefed beforehand, and (b) US troops were already protecting the (ahem) Oil Ministry. This isn’t the burning of Alexandria’s library, but it might just end up being close. For shame.
The Few, The Proud, The Plane Campers.
It’s probably a strange time in world affairs for a link like this, but nevertheless, these FPS propaganda posters cracked me up. Battlefield 1942 players will find them especially on point.
Missing in Action.
My current favorite columnist at Slate, David Greenberg (he’s right up there with Dahlia Lithwick), offers another short history lesson – this time on the changing outlook on American POWs.
Movin’ on Up.
Columbia announced today that my advisor (and probable dissertation mentor) Alan Brinkley has been appointed Provost of the University. (Fortunately, this won’t seem to affect my plan of study.) Congrats to him, and to Columbia on the choice.