Whoops! March Got Away From Me

Alright, so with respect to the blogging (among other things), I've been falling down on the job lately. I think it's going to get better, but here's the apology, and the context.

Today was supposed to be the second day of my "Spring Term" for my self-imposed academic calendar. I didn't really complete my goals for last term's courses. I finished reading Arabian Sands for ENG 199, but have yet to finish my presentation on Thesiger's cultural observations. I've had some extenuating circumstances arise that have prevented me from completing my PAC 130 goals - that was always the course that was most likely to get neglected, but I swear it was outside my control. I was supposed to read something on the order of four books for BA 480, and I literally didn't finish a single chapter. I got some good work done for HST 406, but not as much as I wanted to. I was most successful with REL 199, and was closest to completing it, but I didn't finish it; as I'm due to join the Roman Catholic Church in just over two weeks, I'm still working on that one to ensure that I meet the requirements prior to Easter. I also spent a great deal of February and March applying for jobs, which became a higher priority than some of these other projects. I'm working on adjusting my plan for "Spring Term" so that I can complete ENG 199 and REL 199, and continue with HST 406. At present, I don't have the funds to complete my goals for CS 406, so I'm going to repeat BA 480 and try to kill at least one of those certifications.

With respect to the Joshua Tree Report, I've spent the last couple of Sundays working on those REL 199 lessons, and I've attended Mass both weekends. I've chosen to attend Mass at a beautiful church that Lady Jaye and I visited for the first time in 2015. That's cut into the time that I would normally have used to complete the Joshua Tree Report. I think some of that will settle down in the next couple of weeks... Well, by the end of April, I think. Oh, and I was working on a super secret project for Lady Jaye, that took up some of that time, too.

"Winter Term" was always going to be a tall order. (So will the rest of them, but Winter was going to be a special challenge because it involved changing some long-standing habits.) I'm particularly pleased with how I did in January, I'm pleased that I made progress on several specific projects, and I'm looking forward to more regular postings of the Joshua Tree Reports and more reliable completion of my seasonal projects. Stay tuned, ladies and gentlement.

Joshua Tree Report Special Edition: 13 March 2017

This is a special edition of the Joshua Tree Report. It covers February 20th through March 12th.

General Data

The temperature in Cody is 57° Fahrenheit and the weather is mostly cloudy. The temperature in Kirkwall is 6° centigrade and the weather is rainy. The temperature in Muscat is 33° centigrade and the weather is clear. A barrel of crude oil is selling at $48.40, and $1.22 currently exchanges for £1. This week's geospatial image is the Cydonia, the location of the infamous "Face on Mars".

In the News

Here are a few of the recent weeks' top stories.

Why the French elections will change the face of Europe (al Jazeera)

Why is UAE building a military base in Somaliland? (BBC)

Navistar to upgrade MRAP vehicles for UAE (UPI)

Mass Spying Isn’t Just Intrusive - It’s Ineffective (Wired)

Iranian ships 'force' US and Royal Navy vessels to change course (BBC)

Mike Pence used an AOL e-mail account for state business and it got hacked (Ars Technica)

Yahoo cookie hacks affected 32 million accounts, CEO foregoes bonus (Ars Technica)

WikiLeaks Releases CIA Hacking Tools (Schneier on Security)

All Bets Are Off as a Surprise Offensive Roils the Libyan War (War is Boring)

Factions fight for two Libyan oil terminals (al Jazeera)

Scottish independence: SNP's economic case 'should not include oil' (BBC)

Penny Wise, Pound Foolish: Trump's Misguided Views of European Defense Spending (War on the Rocks)

Trumpeting the Alliance: How Much Will the United States and Japan Lean on Each Other (War on the Rocks)

Preventing a Credibility Crisis in America's Most Important Alliance (War on the Rocks)

That Time Chechen Rebels Floated Into Combat on Inner Tubes (War is Boring)

Catholic dissent: When wrong turns out to be right (U.S. Catholic)

Doner kebab and integration: A story worth telling (al Jazeera)

Kuwait cracks down on state employees faking work (BBC)

Watch Dubai evolve from desert to cosmopolitan in 32 years (Khaleej Times)

New Zealand garden gnome thefts 'fund meth trade' (BBC)

Origin of Wireless Security: The Marconi Radio Hack of 1903 (Hackaday)

As CRT Supplies Vanish the Classic Arcade Machine is Virtually Dead (Gizmodo)

Top Podcasts

These were my favorite podcasts from the recent weeks.

DocArchive: The Colony (BBC World Service)

Episode 190 - Burnout (The Southern Fried Security Podcast)

Episode 220 - Dana Perino (SOFREP Radio)

How statistics lost their power, and why we should fear what comes next - podcast (The Guardian)

Inquiry: Can You Believe What You Read on WikiLeaks? (BBC World Service)

IQ2: Has the U.S.-Saudi "Special Relationship" Outlived its Usefulness? (Intelligence Squared U.S.)

IQ2: Should We Give Trump a Chance? (Intelligence Squared U.S.)

No, the Trump transition isn’t endangering U.S. nukes. Here’s what to really worry about (War College)

The Bannon effect and a brief history of the National Security Council (War College)

Peacetime diplomacy and the New European Order (The National Archives)

The Art of Manliness #239: Saving Your Marriage Before It Starts (The Art of Manliness)

The Art of Manliness #255: The Joy of Missing Out - Getting Control of Your Digital Life (The Art of Manliness)

The Art of Manliness #274: Building Your Band of Brothers (The Art of Manliness)

The Art of Manliness #278: The Surprising Benefits of Marriage for Men (The Art of Manliness)

Whassigo - Wednesday 1st March 2017 (BBC Radio Orkney)

Course Report

ENG 199: I worked on an outline for an upcoming lecture on Arabian Sands by Wilfred Thesiger.
PAC 130: Due to unforeseen circumstances, PAC 199 is cancelled until further notice.
BA 480: I did nothing.
HST 406 (O): I re-outlined my manuscript, and made some edits (additions and culls) to my master Great War timeline.
REL 199: I completed Symbolon 1:5 and 2:5.

Quote of the Week

"The power of enduring privations is one of the finest virtues in a soldier, and without it no army is animated with the true military spirit; but such privation must be of a temporary kind, commanded by the force of circumstances, and not the consequence of a wretchedly bad system, or of a parsimonious abstract calculation of the smallest ration that a man can exist upon."
- Carl von Clausewitz, On War, Book V, Chapter XIV: Subsistence

A Quick Note

On the 25th, I flew home for a week of vacation and thought, "Oh, if I don't post Joshua Tree Reports for a couple of weeks, nobody will notice." I was wrong, and I'm quite flattered that someone (potentially several folks?) noticed. The Joshua Tree Report will return on the 12th in a special edition that covers the intervening period. Stay tuned.

UPDATE: I got engaged on a project this weekend. I'll post the special edition on the 13th.