Drudge Report decides to break OPSEC

In case you've missed it, the Drudge Report is boasting about its scoop on Prince Harry's tour in Afghanistan and the rest of the media have now broken their silence and are reporting the story. The Drudge Report's headline ends with "3 MONTH TOUR", and of course, such is the self-fulfilling nature of this headline, it will now only be a three month tour. It is more than likely that Prince Harry will soon have to leave Helmand, where he has been operating as a JTAC since December 14, as the man known as 'the bullet magnet' is forced to fulfil that nickname. Jon Snow thinks this is marvellous and tries to draw a link between this and the recent loss of trust in the media, asking "whether viewers, readers and listeners will ever want to trust media bosses again."

However, this isn't a matter of faked footage or contrived competitions; this is a British Army officer who, through no fault of his own is of particular interest to our enemies and whose life - and the lives of those around him - is now placed at greater risk because of one desperate blogger. A great many people knew he was there; it takes a very special kind of egomania to release that information for one's own benefit.

Update: Channel 4 News' desperate hunt for a negative spin to put on Cornet Wales's deployment knows no end; now they think British Muslims might be offended by Harry's description of his mission there as "killing the bad guys." For British Muslims, as fellow members of the Ummah, must surely feel some affinity for the mass-murdering, medievalist and misogynist fanatics that make up the Taliban's ranks?

The Channel 4 News website reads like the ramblings of a series of competing personalities manifested in a muddled stream of consciousness; it describes its competing - but equally odious - opinions as "voices" and one of these voices is not so sure that Harry's words don't apply to all "Muslim fighters". Quite who Channel 4 News means by "Muslim fighters" is another, more pertinent, question that they fail to address.

Books

Books to the ceiling,
Books to the sky,
My pile of books is a mile high.
How I love them! How I need them!
I'll have a long beard by the time I read them.

- Arnold Lobel

Redbelt

The trailer for Redbelt is out; as with any Mamet project, I'm outrageously excited about this film, but with a cast this good, I think I'm justified in that.

Jerry O'Connell on Jerry O'Connell, actor

This is quite funny. And gave me the idea of a Sliders episode where Jerry O'Connell is the world's most famous actor and Tom Cruise is only famous for a '90s sci-fi series.

Outta My Head (Ay Ya Ya)

This video raises the inevitable question of which Simpson sister is the more artificial; the song, however, is strangely compelling, while the video displays a commendable Surrealist influence.

VISUAL FUTURIST: The Art & Life of Syd Mead

Here's a short video about what looks to be an interesting documentary on Syd Mead's life and work.

(Via David Thompson's Friday Ephemera - a regular post that's well worth keeping an eye on.)

After Fallujah

There's an excellent account of the Battle of Al-Fajr in Fallujah over at Michael J. Totten's Middle East Journal. It's important to look at the realities of that battle as it has become a rallying cry for those who would support the extremists over America and her allies.

Bubbles & Bastards

I regularly read The Underwire over at Wired.com and it's recently brought up two very good - and very pertinent - little videos. Firstly, here's a little ditty by The Richter Scales about the Web 2.0 bubble:

And here's Harlan Ellison talking about Hollywood's attitude to the writers; it makes a much better case for the WGA's strike than Tina Fey's sanctimonious bitching about Desperate Housewives stalling ever could.

Fascists, fakers & funds

Oliver Kamm has a good little roundup post over at his blog; in it he makes a fine summation of what will be Gordon Brown's negligible legacy and outlines exactly how I feel about the Oxford Union furore.

The only addition I'd make to what he says is to express how much I disagree with some of the more militant attitudes I've seen displayed in the blogosphere on the issue. The Drink-soaked Trots have been typically bellicose and therefore make an excellent illustration: they call for those making racist remarks to be met with "a fist, boot, or bottle." At some point, when I have more time and I don't feel like death, I'd like to write what I think about the idea of 'hate crime', but in short our right to freedom of speech should extend to and include even the most repulsive of our personal convictions. As Kamm describes, "Griffin is a demagogue and Irving is a racist faker; but the offence you and I are caused by their views is entirely irrelevant to civic affairs."

We shouldn't meet any opinion with violence because - despite what the Trots say - there is a qualitative difference between calling someone a "nigger/paki/yid/poofter" and genocide; a person's right to express a personal belief - and as Kamm points out, their right to hold one - does not extend to a right to act on it, and definitely doesn't provide a tacit mandate for murder. The crimes that fascists would have done to people based on attributes given them by virtue of birth are already covered by ample laws; we cannot attempt to silence our opponents by force with the possibility that we are averting mass homicide as a fig-leaf to salve our moral conscience.

P.S. Nick Robinson and Kamm's description of Labour's current, self-inflicted, donation scandal as "gob smacking" couldn't be more apt.

B&W's Zeppelin iPod Speaker Dock

These are ever so slightly cool. They should cost somewhere just shy of £300 when they're on sale in the UK. The slight premium over the new Bose Sounddock I think is a price worth paying to have one of these flash fuckers in your bedroom.

That'll distract from all the bloody rags and used needles...