Friday, November 19, 2004

Communication Protocols

Wife of Utah and me shared a nice Chinese buffet dinner a few hours back. We have an unspoken 'no politics at the table' rule but since it was just the two of us conversation did brush up against current events.

It occurred to us that if the United States chooses the Marines to deliver a message there shouldn't be an RSVP number attached.

And that's exactly how it should be.

We also talked about this. As late as a decade ago I used to bust rabbits and other small game with reckless abandon as practice between hunting seasons. I stopped that right around the time my girls became old enough to accompany me on shooting outings. I don't kill anything anymore unless it's for table or to prevent predation. The idea of a virtual visit to the shooting range is kind of novel but not something I'd pony up for; there are four indoor ranges within a half hour of my house. If I want to shoot on my computer there is a whole universe of arcade style or first-person-shooter platforms out there.

On a related note, did you know that our Hellfire missile-armed Predator drones operating around the world are controlled from stateside facilities - probably Special Operations Command down in Florida? I wonder what kind of response DoD would get if they conducted an internet lottery to "push the button" on terrorist targets and sold live-cam access for the surveillance?

I don't support that shooting idea any more than I do the internet varmint schtick.

I'd pay to watch, though. I surely would.

1 comment:

TmjUtah said...

Wichita -

That's too rich.

You have to wonder how well he hedged on the outlays he is known to have spent to beat Bush. When you measure your moves in billions it isn't all that hard to cover yourself for multiple outcomes of any event and he's a past master at the hedge.

I hope he went short on petroleum futures, though. Whoever or however many speculators were driving up the crude price (to slow our economy) before the election would presumably have positioned themselves to profit from the bottom dropping out of the market when they no longer had reason to buy...

Funny how the price has stayed up in the high forties, isn't it? I wonder if other traders thought the situation through the same way I did? I can dream.