Apartment Living: Basement Camp!

I saw this awesome picture a few months ago and wanted to share it with you folks. I'm not sure that I have the requisite skill to make a room look like a tent out in the woods, but I have thought about using a camouflage net and some parachute cord to give my next living room a bit of a "forward operating base" theme. Maybe with a few maps on the walls, and a metal book case stacked with field manuals? Other than that, it might be a bit tough to furnish and have it look even remotely consistent; really, I think your only options might be a hammock, or a cot, or some other camp furniture, although most of that isn't exactly conducive to having a couple of buddies over for burgers and brews on a Sunday afternoon...

But I digress. Anyway, I thought it was a cool idea and wanted to share. Carry on.

OGHAP: The Procurement of Volume 4

Work continues on my first book, a study of Orcadians who served as Gordon Highlanders during the First World War. One source I've been eager to consult is of The Life of a Regiment Volume IV: The Gordon Highlanders in the First World War 1914-1919 by Cyril Falls, the official account of the regiment's service in the First World War. The curator of the Gordon Highlanders Museum informed me that the volume was not only poorly written ("... to the point where I frequently want to hurl my copy out of the nearest window in frustration!"); but it only went through one printing in 1958, making it extremely rare. I resigned myself to the prospect of waiting for a loaner copy to be dispatched to me across the Atlantic.

The thing is, an edition was listed on Amazon for $17.60 (plus shipping). So, I decided to give it a shot - worst case scenario, I was out $20. My friends at UPS delivered a parcel on Thursday afternoon, and I eagerly tore into the packaging, and...

Holy smokes, holy smokes, holy smokes, seriously!?

Apparently, the University of Michigan Library has a program (by way of HP Bookprep) whereby they reprint rare books in their collection. One such book? The Life of a Regiment Volume IV: The Gordon Highlanders in the First World War 1914-1919 by Cyril Falls. The front cover could do with some serious adjustments, and the printing itself (which apparently took place in December - seriously, December, what timing!) reproduces various artifacts from the library book (for example, stamps indicating that it was due on January 2nd 1997 February 5th 1998), but I received an otherwise pristine reprint of a book that's been out of print since my parents were children... That I need to consult in order to write my own book... For $17.60 plus shipping. Between that and my copy of The Gordon Highlanders: A Concise History by Trevor Royle, which I received as a gift from the Museum to help me with my research, I'm now well resourced to put the Orcadian Gordons' exploits into the wider context of the regiment's service in the Great War.

Holy smokes, holy smokes, holy smokes, seriously!?

So, there's also the little matter of copyrights. According to both British and American copyright laws, the work should be protected from copyright infringement for seventy years after the death of the author. I'm not sure when Cyril Falls died, but given that the book was published in 1958, there is no possible way that the book isn't still protected by copyright in both countries. Even if Cyril Falls died immediately after the book's publication, it would still be protected by copyright until at least 2028. Of course, that's not for me to worry about... But it's certainly interesting, don't you think?

And so, work continues.

Shortwave Radio: The Listening Log

Posted below is a list of some of the stations I've tuned in over the last few years.

Description	Frequency	Time	Date	Location
Arabic broadcast	9.55 mhz	8:27 PST	5-Nov-06	NTC
Radio Australia	9.59 mhz	9:07 PST	5-Nov-06	NTC
Radio Japan	9.58 mhz	9:18 PST	7-Nov-06	NTC
French broadcast	17.9 mhz	10:07 PST	7-Nov-06	NTC
Voice of America	12.0 mhz	11:05 PST	7-Nov-06	NTC
Radio Deutsche Welle	15.4/11.7 mhz	16:00 PST	5-Dec-06	NTC
China Radio International	11.6 mhz	16:50 PST	5-Dec-06	NTC
BBC Caribbean	11.69 mhz	13:25 PST	24-Jan-07	NTC
Radio Netherlands	11.63 mhz	13:07 PST	13-Feb-07	NTC
Radio New Zealand	17.65 mhz	12:00 PST	21-Feb-07	NTC
BBC World Service	9.75/9.5 mhz	7:53 PDT	28-Mar-07	NTC
Arabic music	9.55 mhz	9:55 PDT	5-Apr-07	NTC
DW Arabic	17.9 mhz	11:30 PDT	5-Apr-07	NTC
Radio Netherlands	9.9 mhz	17:30 PDT	7-Apr-07	Barstow, CA
EWTN	5.81 mhz	21:00 PDT	27-May-07	Barstow, CA
Spanish numbers station	17.8 mhz	10:30 PDT	30-May-07	NTC
Radio Taiwan	9.68 mhz	19:45 PDT	30-May-07	Barstow, CA
Radio New Zealand International	13.73 mhz	21:15 PDT	30-May-07	Barstow, CA
Voice of Croatia	9.925 mhz	21:00 PDT	1-Jun-07	Barstow, CA
Radio Havana	11.76 mhz	21:05 PDT	1-Jun-07	Barstow, CA
BBC Arabic	9.915 mhz	21:20 PDT	1-Jun-07	Barstow, CA
Korean broadcast	5.956 mhz	20:00 PDT	2-Jun-07	Barstow, CA
Voice of Russia	9.515 mhz	20:45 PDT	17-Jun-07	Barstow, CA
Voice of Justice (Iran)	6.120 mhz	21:45 EDT	22-Aug-07	Hampton Roads, VA
Radio Thailand	5.0 mhz	20:40 EDT	24-Aug-07	Hampton Roads, VA
Radio Bulgaria	7.4 mhz	20:10 EDT	31-Oct-07	Hampton Roads, VA
Radio Sweden	9.4 mhz	20:20 EDT	31-Oct-07	Hampton Roads, VA
Radio Exterior de España	6.055 mhz	18:55 EST	13-Nov-07	Hampton Roads, VA
Radio Australia International	7.325 mhz	19:20 EST	13-Nov-07	Hampton Roads, VA
Radio Havana Cuba	6.100 mhz	21:30 EST	27-Nov-07	Hampton Roads, VA
Radio Romania	6.145 mhz	20:20 EST	2-Dec-08	Hampton Roads, VA

Oh, yeah, and I've tuned in the Voice of Russia and Radio Havana Cuba a lot.

Topic: OGHAP

One of my big projects at the moment is what I call the "Orcadian Gordon Highlanders Accountability Project", or "OGHAP" for short. I've been working on behalf of the Gordon Highlanders Museum to document Orcadians who served with the Gordon Highlanders during the First World War, and am organizing that research into what will hopefully be my first book. At the moment, I'm in the process of organizing the information I have so that it's practical to use. I've written a draft conclusion, part of a draft preface, and am in the process of rewriting my introduction. The book will include some tables and lists for some of the less narrative-appropriate data.

The bulk of the book will be divided between two types of chapters: biographical sketches of those Orcadian Gordons for whom sufficient biographical information exists, and year-based chapters (1914 through 1919) that will discuss the big picture, the operational history of the Gordon Highlanders, and as many details as possible relative to the Orcadian Gordons. Hopefully, it'll be both a good little volume about the First World War itself, and a good little volume about the Gordons and Orcadians who served in the conflict.

This morning's news feed included an interesting selection from War is Boring: I Learned More About World War I From a Musical Than I Did in History Class. This reminded me of some of the other links I've collected about the First World War over the last couple of months, some of which will be incorporated into my book. Some of these are:

Lurdy, Flotta Blog: Buchanan Battery

Remembering Scotland at War: Fortress Orkney: Defending Scapa Flow

AFP: From gas to submarines, Great War was crucible for deadly innovation

Associated Press: Britain Still at War Over Legacy of World War I

The Independent: British incompetence in World War One has been overestimated. It's politicians, not the military, who deserve censure

The Guardian: First world war: 15 legacies still with us today

BBC: Viewpoint: 10 big myths about World War One debunked

BBC: How did so many soldiers survive the trenches?

BBC: WW1 soldiers' wills go online to mark centenary

As the project continues, I'll post more about the process and my progress in turning a bunch of raw data into a finished manuscript.

Space-Related Links

I was a huge space nerd when I was a kid, and distinctly remember following the news in the days after the 2003 Columbia disasister. I recently read The Audacious Rescue Plan that Might have Saved Space Shuttle Columbia at Ars Technica. The article is detailed and fascinating, and well worth your time if such topics are of interest to you.

Tangentally related is one of my favorite websites, Moon Base Clavius, which dissects and debunks the various conspiracy theories which claim that the moon landings were faked.

Also, I watched Gravity a few nights ago. Great visuals, but I wasn't particularly impressed with the story. For my money, Moon is a much better film. Check it out.

Apartment Living: Acc-Chess-orizing

A while ago, I saw a slideshow of Ten Wild Chess Sets. One thing I wanted during the Interim Months, but didn't buy, was a nice chess set to go on the coffee table. That's one thing I intend to get to make my new place presentable - a nice one. I figure that, if nothing else, it will class things up a bit in a way that mere books can't accomplish.

In addition to playing chess with potential guests, I'd like to figure out how to play an Iranian variant of chess called Shatranj.

Other Folks' Frustrations with Whole Foods

I've never been to Whole Foods, but I've found two recent articles about the grocer fairly entertaining: Whole Foods: America’s Temple of Pseudoscience, and America’s Angriest Store: How Whole Foods Attracts Complete Shitheads. The second article is particularly entertaining, but I found the first article especially interesting. I've spent a lot of proverbial "cycles" researching and debating science, pseudoscience, religion, and cults. The American right gets accused of pseudoscience all the time, but I've witnessed just as much irrational, faith-based pseudoscience from the American (and, for that matter, international) left. So, read the first article for entertainment purposes, and read the second for entertainment and informational purposes.

Topic: Shortwave Radio

Technically speaking, I was introduced to shortwave radio as a middle schooler, through a program at the university I would eventually attend as an undergrad. In 2006, my friend Father Time reintroduced me to shortwave, also known as world band radio, as a hobby that I could enjoy while working long shifts at Fort Irwin National Training Center in the Mojave Desert.

Father Time advised me to purchase a Grundig Mini100PE, which was marked down from $30 to $10 to make way for the new Grundig Mini300PE. All of my early experiences with shortwave were in the Mojave Desert, listening to the 100PE.

In May of 2007, I purchased two additional shortwave sets: a Grundig FR200, and a Grundig S350. In my experience, the S350 has better reception capability, but the FR200 and MINI100PE have the advantage of lacking automatic tuning correction. Automatic tuning is advantageous for some stations, but it tends to wander when receiving weak transmissions. Because of this, I ended up purchasing two more Mini100PE units in 2009 to use backups. They're great, but they do tend to develop shorts in the speaker wires after awhile, and I haven't been able to figure out how to fix the flaw.

I've been able to tune in a number of interesting stations over the last few years, but my two favorite stations to listen to are the "Voice of Justice" program (1, 2) from Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting, and Radio Havana Cuba. I find propaganda broadcasts to be extremely entertaining. In the case of the so-called "Voice of Justice", it's also a great way of keeping up on what the Iranian regime's current party line is. (I'm not positive that you can even tune the Voice of Justice in anymore, but you can download it here.)

There are some great advantages to shortwave. In areas where no AM or FM band signals are available, you can usually find something on shortwave. It's a great form of entertainment when you're out camping, or living or working in remote areas. In this globally connected age, it's also a great way to learn about other regions and distant cultures without spending more time staring at a computer screen than you already have to.

Podcasts: The MacArthur Memorial

I used to live in Virginia, and during my last year there, I decided that I was going to try to start actually doing stuff to enjoy my time there. (That's not to say that I wasn't having fun beforehand, but going to Red Robin isn't exactly Virginia-specific.) One of the things I meant to do, and never quite made it to, was the Douglas MacArthur Memorial. One cool thing about the MacArthur Memorial is that they actually have a tour podcast (site, mp3) - the intent, of course, being that you load it up into your media player in lieu of one of those horrible audio guides that a thousand complete strangers have held onto before you.

The MacArthur Memorial also does two other podcasts: a montly podcast (RSS), and a World War I podcast (RSS). I'll admit that at the time I'm writing this, I haven't had an opportunity to listen to any of them yet, but I'm certainly looking forward to it. If you're interested in American military history, you should check them out, too.

The French Grand Armee and Defensive Developmentalism

This post will probably be solely for my own benefit, but here goes.

A while ago, I posted about my early 2014 reading goals. My first literary conquest of the year was What Went Wrong?: The Clash Between Islam and Modernity in the Middle East by Bernard Lewis, which had been recommended many years ago by my Islamic civ professor. One of the things that Lewis discussed was the Ottoman Empire's efforts to modernize its military during the 19th and early 20th centuries. Thinking about that effort reminded me of a concept described by James L. Gelvin in his book The Modern Middle East: A History by James L. Gelvin. I haven't read that book, but that same professor discussed it in class a couple of years ago when I was sitting in on one of his courses.

Gelvin describes a concept called "defensive developmentalism", which you can read a bit more about here. This was a concept in the Middle East in the late 1800's and early 1900's in which Middle Eastern leaders focused on modernizing their military, which then served as a sort of catalyst for developing industry and society. For some reason, even though I keyed in on that concept when we discussed it in class, it took reading that Lewis book to connect it to another book that I read, this time in preparation for grad school.

In the third chapter of World Politics and the Evolution of War by John J. Weltman - one of my pre-readings for grad school, which has become one of my favorite books that I've ever read - the author discusses the way that the French Revolution changed the way that wars were fought. I won't go too deep into detail, but apparently the social and economic changes which took place in revolutionary France allowed for more effective standing armies, which were able to equip themselves more efficiently and wage prolonged campaigns which were impossible beforehand. Reading Lewis, it struck me how potentially game-changing concepts and practices such as these could have been for the Middle East during the era of defensive developmentalism.

I have another book about the French Revolution entitled The Place of the French Revolution in History by Marvin R. Cox. It was assigned when I was an undergrad, and I have yet to read it, so maybe I'll add it to the list later this year. That's it. I thought the connection between the French Revolution and defensive developmentalism was an interesting concept, and I wanted to share.

Hike Without Actually Hiking!

Last week, I saw that Nature Valley (the granola bar company) is mapping hiking trails a la Google Street View. I'm not sure whether it's amusing or tragic that we now don't even hike for ourselves, though by the way I phrased it you can probably tell which way I'm leaning. Unbelievable.

The Prodigal Box Arrives

Back in July on the Operation Highlander blog, I wrote about demobilizing my library. I donated a handful of my books to CN Constable and CN Silex, packed some of them into my luggage, and consigned others to the care of the Royal Mail. The Royal Mail angle required an investment of probably around sixty or seventy dollars, and a couple of hours of my time in Aberdeen and Kirkwall that I'll never get back. I mailed three packages, and two of them arrived fairly quickly. The other one... Didn't. In late January, I went to the post office to check on it. I checked repeatedly at the address where I'd sent the package in the first place, but nothing. Fortunately, the five items in that package were reasonably easy to replace (although two items which I'll describe shortly had some sentimental value.)

Well, today, that third box finally arrived. I had given up on it last week - in fact, I reordered used copies of two of those books via Amazon. One of them arrived yesterday, and the other one will probably be here by the end of the week, so I'm now on the hook to unload them. So, what did I wind up getting?

The two books with sentimental value were acquired in a convenient meeting with the author, at which point they were personally inscribed to me. These were The Yompers: With 45 Commando in the Falklands War, and In the Service of the Sultan: A First Hand Account of the Dhofar Insurgency, the latter of which I had purchased on my Kindle nearly a year before, and subsequently used the living daylights out of for writing my dissertation. I was really glad to get those back.

The other two books in the box were Storm Front: The Epic True Story of a Secret War, the SAS's Greatest Battle, and the British Pilots Who Saved Them and Saving Private Sarbi. I reordered these books last week, and Storm Front has already arrived. I used Storm Front (sparingly, due to time and subject limitations) on my dissertation, and really wanted to have it for my follow-on writings on the Dhofar Rebellion. I posted about Saving Private Sarbi when discussing my Summer reading agenda, and looking back at that post, I'm actually pretty stoked that I finished three of the four books (keeping in mind that I was already about halfway through Arabian Sands when I arrived in Aberdeen). So, despite the challenge of having to get rid of the extras once they've both arrived, I'm totally stoked that they're here.

The last item was the Explorer Map of Oman, which I got and then never really used - but I will! This map and Storm Front, as well as a number of other books from Op Highlander, were sourced by CN Governor, who worked dutifully at Blackwells and was able to special order some items for me.

So, it's nice to have that proverbial "hanging chad" sorted out.

Should You Visit Oman?

It's no secret that I love Oman. I subscribe to the Times of Oman through Feedly, and was shocked - shocked! - to see a particular article the other day: BuzzFeed finds Oman mind-blowing. On the one hand, I love Oman, and want it to benefit from more tourism. On the other hand, I can't help but worry that Buzzfeed's montage ("19 Reasons Oman Should Be The Next Country You Visit") will encourage hipsters to swarm my favorite desert paradise. (Of course, knowing hipsters, they'll probably find the obnoxious article that The Guardian posted a few years ago which says some undiplomatic things about Sultan Qaboos and Oman, and decide against going at all.)

My trip to Oman was one of the greatest vacations of my life, and left an indelible mark on me. I fell in love with the country and its people, and have done everything in my power to become a subject matter expert on Oman and its history since then.

There are a handful of great resources about Oman, both online and in print. Online, there's The Forgotten Wars of Oman 1957-1959 and 1970-1976 by S. Monick, parts 1 about the Jebel Akhdar War, and 2 and 3 about the Dhofar Rebellion, in the South African Journal of Military Studies. There's also The Jebel Akhdar War: Oman 1954-1959 by John Meagher and The Insurgency in Oman 1962-1976 by Stephen Cheney, both written in the mid-1980's at the Marine Corps Command and Staff College. In print, there's Arabian Sands by Wilfred Thesiger, from which I've quoted previously; and the Rough Guide to Oman, which is a fantastic travel guide about the Sultanate.

I'll continue to post about Oman as often as is reasonably possible. For now, though, I'll just leave this advice: if you're a hipster, please avoid Oman; and if you're a polite traveller, please visit Oman.

Recent Podcast Selections

I've found myself driving a lot lately, and that's allowed me to listen to a lot of podcasts that I wouldn't otherwise retain if I were doing more mentally-focused work.

Somewhat by accident, my year-ago studies of strategic nuclear doctrine have been bolstered by listening to a string of either new or saved podcasts on nuclear issues. I've listened to one podcast from last year (Beyond Compliance: Nonproliferation and the Private Sector) and two recent podcasts (PONI Live Debate: Triad Modernization and Military Strategy Forum: Secretary of the Air Force Deborah Lee James on the Nuclear Enterprise) from the Center for Strategic and International Studies. I've also listened to, and thoroughly enjoyed, two podcasts from War on the Rocks: Nuclear Strategy and the Cold War, and Contemporary Nuclear Strategy. Last but not least on the nuclear theme, I enjoyed the second half of a recent King's College London Department of War Studies podcast in which the conversants discussed India's nuclear policy.

Continuing with War on the Rocks, I also enjoyed their podcasts on Cyberwar and Cybersecurity, and on Counter-Terrorism, Drones, Syria, & More. The War on the Rocks podcast is a great format, because it involves four people (who change up from one podcast to another) who sit around in a bar, drinking, and talking about strategic issues.

The BBC World Service did a documentary recently, which was entitled My War, My Playlist, and which discussed the music that British military personnel listen to while on deployment to Afghanistan.

A few years ago, I discovered the Feed the Pig Podcast, and I recently re-downloaded all of the episodes (partly to listen to, and partly to archive). I've been through about three of them in the last few weeks. They're a bit broad, but good information nonetheless.

One of my favorite podcasts is the Faroe Islands Podcast, and I've listened to two episodes recently: # 172 Hoyvik Church, and # 173 American in the Faroes. Sometimes, it's nice to listen to something that's just interesting, and not related to my work or education. In that same vein, I really love The History Chicks, and I've enjoyed three of their recent offerings, Queen Elizabeth I parts 1 and 2, and their minicast on Elizabethan Life.

Finally, I recently listened to a recent offering from the Heritage Foundation, Churchill’s First War: Young Winston at War with the Afghans, in which author Con Coughlin discusses his book of the same name. I'm tempted to get the book, but moreso, to read the book that inspired it: The Story of the Malakand Field Force by Churchill himself, which my buddy Todd (pictured, as Hawkeye - the only reason for that picture being attached to this post, in fact) recommended I do my MSc dissertation on. (We all know how that went.)

More to come.