“Hilfstadt! See if they can hear us,” he nearly shouted. “And get some men over there!” All eyes were on the black lake, while Hilfstadt depressed the lever and spoke into the microphone. Falkenhayn looked to the radio, waiting for an answer — but nothing came from the speakers. Hilfstadt tried a few more times, and then nodded at Lieutenant Pedersen. “Get a platoon out there. Tell the men to be very careful as they step, there’s a lot of buried ordnance and bogholes to get sucked down into. But get a move on. And call for trucks, and cable. Get cables and a lot of rope.” The major returned his attention to the radio as Lieutenant Pedersen scrambled to carry out his instructions. Within minutes, twenty grey-helmeted men were edging their way down toward the battlefield while another twenty scavenged the staff cars and trucks for rope.

I heard Raisin was hanging around, so this seems like it might be appreciated.

even if you don’t understand what’s being said, you’ll understand what’s being said… n’est pas vrai? ouais….

I think they’re scary. Especially with a trace of Shoshone to amp up the dance-dance madness.

I prefer to watch German/Viking/Assyrians dance:

New hi-def pic from NASA

I’m not one of the people that have a long list of grievances with this particular fellow. A short list, perhaps, and mostly minor.

I tend to think we don’t deserve him. I think we’re extraordinarily lucky he came along. And once he’s gone, I think we’ll miss him. Terribly.

45 to 48 percent of registered voters would vote for either Newt Gingrich or Mitt Romney over Barack Obama. This fact bodes quite ill for our fate as a nation, I think. Clearly.

Lucky.

Colyn Fischer takes a solemn moment to address the haggis at the Second Friends of Burns gathering on the occasion of Robert Burns’ 253rd birthday.

Yes, I had my first haggis today. Have no fear, ’twas a vegan haggis to be sure. So, perhaps it wasn’t a real haggis then. The beast that Colyn addressed in the picture above was the genuine article stuffed in a cow’s stomach and all.

The occasion was magnificent. The location was the same as that where Planet My Love was recently performed, at the home of Shauna Pickett-Gordon, aka my music teacher. The picture below features Shauna on keyboard along with several fiddlers including Colyn (an absolutely amazing musician) and Jim Tillotson beside him (the guy who played violin on the recent PML).

The 12 yr-old laddie over Shauna’s shoulder had been playing for all of two months but looks to have a fine future. That’s his mom playing beside him. There were many toasts to Robert Burns’ memory, to the haggis, to all the lads and lasses, and much premium scotch woggled. Twas a fine time!

Sofi and I even got in the act briefly by reciting a Burns love poem in English and Russian. Turns out Burns is much beloved in Russia and she had known of him since she was a wee lass. Best of all, there was some incredible music performed in a most intimate setting – all about two blocks from our home.

Robbie would have been proud I’m sure.

Dude has pipes.

Video here. Couldn’t resize it. Also annoyingly auto-plays.

VICE goes to the end of a month-long rave in Kazantip, off the coast of the Ukraine, held near an abandoned nuclear reactor. This is a cultural window I have not looked through before.

Think I’m too old for that shit. Think I was always too old.

I thought maybe — River Horse? He likes this kind of stuff, right?

Andrew Sullivan – a self-styled conservative – just penned a fairly stirring defense of he current president n Newsweek. This is certain to piss off a hell of a lot of people on both extremes, a pretty good sign he’s right on target.

A president in the last year of his first term will always get attacked mercilessly by his partisan opponents, and also, often, by the feistier members of his base. And when unemployment is at remarkably high levels, and with the national debt setting records, the criticism will—and should be—even fiercer. But this time, with this president, something different has happened. It’s not that I don’t understand the critiques of Barack Obama from the enraged right and the demoralized left. It’s that I don’t even recognize their description of Obama’s first term in any way. The attacks from both the right and the left on the man and his policies aren’t out of bounds. They’re simply—empirically—wrong.

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