Overnight Open Thread

Oh and congrats to our own Christopher Taylor who's just published his second book.

Why 21st Century Warfare Is Different (and the US Military Is So Good)

Here's a good roundup from Strategy Page on why the US military is able to kill our enemies so effectively while taking historically low causalities.

After ten years of fighting, the war on terror has caused 51,600 American military casualties (6,200 dead and 45,400 wounded). This includes a small number of CIA, State Department and other agency personnel. Over 99 percent are Department of Defense. Not all the casualties were from combat, with 21 percent of the deaths from non-combat causes. In World War II that was 25 percent.

What made the experience so different today, versus past wars? It was a combination of things. The most important difference is that the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan are fighting smarter. While the Vietnam era troops were representative of the general population, the post-Vietnam era army is all-volunteer and highly selective. The troops are smarter, healthier and better educated than the general population. During the last three decades, new attitudes have developed throughout the army (which always got most of the draftees). The army, so to speak, has become more like the marines (which was always all-volunteer, and more innovative as a result). This ability to quickly analyze and adapt gets recognized by military historians, and other armies, but not by the media. It also saves lives in combat.

Mark Steyn: Lessons for us from London in flames
Full of the usual Steynian goodness:

While the British Treasury is busy writing checks to Amsterdam prostitutes, one-fifth of children are raised in homes in which no adult works – in which the weekday ritual of rising, dressing and leaving for gainful employment is entirely unknown. One-tenth of the adult population has done not a day's work since Tony Blair took office on May 1, 1997.

"In Britain, everything is policed except crime."
Her Majesty's cowed and craven politically correct constabulary stand around with their riot shields and Robocop gear as young rioters lob concrete through store windows to steal the electronic toys which provide their only non-narcotic or alcoholic amusement. I chanced to be in Piccadilly for the springtime riots when the police failed to stop the mob from smashing the windows of the Ritz and other upscale emporia, so it goes without saying that they wouldn't lift a finger to protect less-prestigious private property from thugs. Some of whom are as young as 9 years old. And girls.

Ten Years of Instapundit
Back in August 2001 Glenn Reynolds started his own 'web log' as Instapundit. I distinctly remember reading him right before 9/11 (probably through a link from James Taranto's Best of the Web) which means I must have caught him in his first month of blogging. I should get a t-shirt or something.

Blogging is easy. But continuing to blog day after day and producing good material is hard. So after a decade Glenn deserves a medal for perseverance.

Actors With An Insane Acting Range
John C. Reily and Phillip Seymour Hoffman well deserve to be on this list but sadly aren't as big of stars as they ought to be.

“This is our concern, Dude.” With all his outstanding roles you might have forgot that Phillip Seymour Hoffman was in The Big Lebowski. He also brought “sharted” into the pop culture lexicon in Along Came Polly.

Best Tattoo I've Seen This Year

10 Things You Didn’t Know About Caddyshack
The gopher sounds were actually dolphin calls from Flipper and Bill Murray, Chevy Chase, and Rodney Dangerfield were all meant to just have cameo appearances among others.

Snake Oil or Not?
Some dietary supplements work and others are mostly just hype.

Women Spend 5 Hours Every Day Gossiping?
Okay I'm skeptical but hey who's to doubt SCIENCE! reporting from the Daily Mail:

Researchers found whether they are at home or at work women natter for around 298 minutes every day - the equivalent of more than one third of their waking hours.
Discussing other people’s problems, who is dating who and other people’s children form the basis of most of the chat.

...The report also found women spend 24 minutes a day discussing their weight, diets and dress size.
And one third of women say they spend a chunk of their day discussing what they are eating for lunch, while one quarter regularly exchange recipes.

Weekly AoSHQ Commenter Standings
Top 10 commenters:
1 [568 comments] 'George Orwell' [79.73 posts/day]
2 [559 comments] 'Jane D'oh'
3 [522 comments] 'CoolCzech'
4 [511 comments] 'Y-not'
5 [405 comments] 'Kratos (Ghost of Sparta)'
6 [360 comments] 'soothsayer'
7 [337 comments] 'Vic'
8 [325 comments] 'garrett'
9 [318 comments] 'buzzion'
10 [306 comments] 'sifty'

Top 10 sockpuppeteers:
1 [64 names] 'Fish the Impaler' [8.98 unique names/day]
2 [52 names] 'kbdabear'
3 [48 names] 'Methos'
4 [48 names] 'toby928▒'
5 [46 names] 'CoolCzech'
6 [46 names] 't-bird'
7 [44 names] 'George Orwell'
8 [44 names] 'Fa Cube Itches'
9 [37 names] 'al-Cicero, Tea Party Jihadist'
10 [34 names] '18-1'

The group. Yeah.

Tonight's post brought to you by needlepoint:

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posted by Maetenloch at 09:25 PM

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