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Book Review: Slow Apocalypse by John Varley

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Slow Apocalypse by John Varley is one of those books that only come along once every few years.  It is a book that makes you think without even realizing it.  The first Varley book I ever read was Steel Beach and Slow Apocalypse is on a par with that book.  It is an absorbing read and somewhat of a morality tale. The book itself 438 pages long and I would guess it runs about 60,000 words. The premise is interesting and plausible.  Imagine some mad scientist developing a bacteria that breaks the hydrogen bonds in petroleum turning oil into worthless sludge.  That is what happens in this book.  The story itself follows the … More after the Jump…

Jihadis must be sodomized – A Fatwa says so

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The truth is really stranger than fiction.  I first heard about this one in a National Review opinion piece then I had to actually watch it.  Apparently, a Muslim cleric has made the claim that repeated sodomy is a requirement for Jihadis who want to commit a suicide bombing with explosives in their colon.  Apparently, that is the only way to ensure the colon is stretched wide enough to comfortably accept the explosives.  This is too funny for words.  If that is not the craziest explanation for sodomy I don’t know what is. Video below; I love the way the announcer pauses at 51 seconds when he gets to the part where the OP … More after the Jump…

Book Review: The True German: The Diary of a World War II Military Judge

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[FULL DISCLOSURE: I received my copy of this book free from the author. I was not paid for this review and the opinion expressed is purely my own] The True German: The Diary of a World War II Military Judge by Werner Otto Müller-Hill is one of those rare books that come out of war.  A diary written by someone to satisfy themselves with no expectation that it will ever get published.  As such, it provides an almost unique view into the mind of the person writing it.  The vast majority of war memoirs are self-serving and written to make a point.  Diaries tend to be less so, and this one … More after the Jump…

The Crete Campaign: 20-29 May, 1941

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Last Spring I did a presentation to my local Military History group about the Crete Campaign of 1941 and figured that since I now have the time I would put something up here about it as well because I find the whole campaign to be a comedy of errors by both sides in this misguided, ill-conceived, and poorly executed excuse for a battle. First, we should examine the strategic situation in May of 1941.
In May 1941 England had been run out of Greece with its tail between its legs and was using Crete as both a staging ground for evacuation and they were hoping like hell they could hold it and stop the Mediterranean, or at least the eastern part from turning into a German Lake. For their part, Germany did not know what to do. They were in the last stages of planning the attack on Stalin’s Russia set to commence in June but in the meantime they had all these troops hanging out in Greece with nothing to do. The possession of Crete would have conferred no strategic or even operational advantage to the Germans as the British still controlled Malta and the British navy still controlled the waters of the Mediterranean Sea.

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Happy Thanksgiving

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Just want to wish everybody a 🙂 Happy Thanksgiving 🙂 I hope that everybody is as blessed as I am with a great family and multiple reasons for happiness.  While scarfing down the Turkey & fixings and watching all that football take a moment to pause and think of all the things you have o be thankful for.

US Secretary of State Announces “Peace in our Time.”

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Obama: Nuclear deal blocks Iran’s path to bomb In an ironic twist showing that the 60+ years since World War II have only fostered institutional amnesia the US and five other powers buckled and agreed to appease Iran in talks about its nuclear program.  Agreeing that sanctions will be eased in return for Iran behaving US Secretary of State John Kerry channeled former British Prime minister Neville Chamberlain by paraphrasing him and tweeting:

 I just wonder if he is going to wave a piece of paper around when he gets home too?

neville-chamberlainHas the world really forgotten that appeasing tyrannical regimes is a recipe for getting heartbroken and sore?  Why would any sane, rational person think for a minute that Iran would give up the nuclear program they have defended so fiercely over the past decade+ in return for access to less than $10 billion dollars of oil revenue?  My guess is that Iran already has enough fissile material for at least one but probably more bombs and thus it suits them to play nice right now in return for concessions.  Remember, Hitler agreed to only take the Sudetenland in September of 1938, because he was not quite ready for war.  But then he turned around and occupied the rest of Czechoslovakia in spring 1939 and kicked off World War II less than a year later.

Should I be worried about being recalled to active duty to go fight in the next world war?

Book Review: Smithsonian Civil War: Inside the National Collection edited by Neil Kagan & Stephen Hyslop

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[FULL DISCLOSURE: I received my copy of this book free from the author. I was not paid for this review and the opinion expressed is purely my own] Smithsonian Civil War: Inside the National Collection is an amazing look at the Civil War Era holdings of what many people call America’s Attic. The book itself is a large coffee-table glossy format and is 368 pages long with an object list and index.  Each section starts with an explanatory note about the objects chosen to illuminate the theme.  This is essentially a museum in a book. The sheer variety of items presented in this volume is amazing.  What makes it especially interesting … More after the Jump…

Book Review: Operation Barbarossa: Nazi Germany’s War in the East by Christian Hartmann

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[FULL DISCLOSURE: I received my copy of this book free from the author. I was not paid for this review and the opinion expressed is purely my own] Operation Barbarossa: Nazi Germany’s War in the East, 1941-1945 is one of those rare books about WWII written by a German historian and translated into English.  That is not to say that there are not plenty of books in German about WWII and examining its myriad aspects, there are, it is just that most are never translated into English.  There is generally a flood of new WWII histories every year and almost of all of them are written by English speakers.  That … More after the Jump…

Book Review: The Medieval Fortress by J.E. & H.W. Kaufmann

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The Medieval Fortress: Castles, Forts, And Walled Cities Of The Middle Ages is a good study of the art and methods of fortifications and castles built in Eastern and Western Europe during the Middle Ages from the fall of Rome to the early modern period. The book is right around 300 pages long and includes many illustrations.  It also includes a glossary, which is very helpful to those that are not familiar with the technical terms for elements of castles and fortifications. It is separated into 5 chapters, the first deals with the elements of fortification, the next three are chronological about the development of castles and the final chapter covers … More after the Jump…

Book Review: Giap: The General Who Defeated America in Vietnam by James A. Warren

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[FULL DISCLOSURE: I received my copy of this book free from the author. I was not paid for this review and the opinion expressed is purely my own] Giap: The General Who Defeated America in Vietnam by James Warren is one of those books that does not fit neatly into a category.  It is part biography but even more it is strategic history.  It does neither very well but taken as a whole it tells a very interesting story and presents the events it describes in a unique and thought provoking manner.  To be fair, the author admits in the preface that getting hard information about what Giap actually did and … More after the Jump…

200th Anniversary of the Battle of the Nations re-enactment – 20 October, 2013

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The Battle of the Nations in and around Leipzig, Germany from 16-20 October, 1813, was the culminating battle of 1813 and the last major battle fought prior to the fighting in France in 1814 before Napoleon’s defeat, abdication, and exile to Elba.  It was the largest battle fought in Europe to that time with over 500,000 soldiers on both sides.  The city of Leipzig spent millions renovating the huge memorial to the battle and planned a week of commemorations coinciding with the 200th Anniversary of the battle. This past weekend I went to the 200th Anniversary of the Battle of the Nations re-enactment.  This was billed as the highlight of the … More after the Jump…

Book Review: The Sky Behind Me by Byron Edgington

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[FULL DISCLOSURE: I received my copy of this book free from the author. I was not paid for this review and the opinion expressed is purely my own] The Sky Behind Me: A Memoir of Flying & Life by Byron Edgington is the memoir of a helicopter pilot who began his flying career in the Army in Vietnam.  I must admit that I though I would only find the parts about the tour in Vietnam interesting.  I must further admit that I was completely wrong and am happy I was. The book itself is 296 pages long divided into 31 chapters.  About 1/3 of the book is dedicated to learning to … More after the Jump…

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