New photos

...are being uploaded right now. There will be nearly 200 new items once the upload is complete, so give it some time, and check back in a little while at http://www.flickr.com/photos/gjsamps/.

GJS

Showdown in Boulder

Listening to the 'Skers take on Colorado right now on Internet radio...Huskers up 21 - 14 at the start of the 4th quarter. Sounds like the NU defense has been keeping them in the game thus far, offensive stats are lopsided in favor of Colorado. I would like to see Nebraska hold on to pull out a win here in their final regular season prior to the Big 12 Championship against Texas next week.

Go Huskers!

GJS

Contributing to cognitive dissonance

Here are a couple pictures from today's beautiful weather in Kaohsiung. This was the "weather" part of the equation (80° and sunny - did you see my tweet?) causing a bit of cognitive dissonance in my head today. All better now, thanks. :-)

GJS

It's about time...

From the Small Wars Journal blog:

The US Military Academy’s Department of History is pleased to invite you to a West Point Symposium on the History of Irregular Warfare, 18-20 November 2009. The symposium will feature the scholarship of five cadet panel presenters with commentary by distinguished guest scholars, including: Dr. Stephen Biddle as our keynote speaker, Dr. Jeremy Black, Col. Robert Cassidy, Dr. Conrad Crane, Dr. George Herring, Dr. Brian Linn, and Dr. Peter Mansoor. Additionally, Dr. James Le Sueur (Uncivil War: Intellectuals and Identity Politics, 2005) will present a special lecture on Algerian society since 1963. Col. Gian Gentile, a History faculty member, will participate as part of the “Visiting Scholars Panel” with Dr. Crane, Dr. Mansoor, and Col. Cassidy.

***

Dr. James Le Sueur is a professor of history at the University of Nebraska - Lincoln. In the spring of 2004, in my penultimate semester as an undergraduate at UNL, I took a course he taught called "The History of Terrorism." I was struck by his energy and breadth of knowledge, especially relating to the underpinnings of Northern African terrorism (no wonder he is presenting on Algeria's history). Ever since I got back into my current line of work later that year, I have sort of been wondering why I never saw his name associated with any conferences or programs in the burgeoning field of counterinsurgency, counterterror, irregular warfare, and so forth. Clearly he has knowledge that would be very relevant to the ongoing discussion. Welcome to the fold, Professor Le Sueur.

GJS

"The Huskers have hung 30 on the Jayhawks!"

Congratulations to the Nebraska Corn Johnnies on their win on the road against Kansas. Momentum is going in the right direction now. If I had a "corn head," I would be wearing it (I did own one at one point, but I gave it away to somebody who lives in Idaho).

Up next: Kansas State. I'd like to see NU "hang," oh, about 70 points on them.

GJS

NU - KU

It's going down in Lawrence in oh, about 7 hours. Starts at half past four in the AM here, so I will not be tuning on for the beginning. Perhaps I will catch the end, though - my "alarm clock" (see above photo; he passed out with his light on tonight) has already been asleep for over an hour and is an early riser. He always seems to want some breakfast when he gets up, too, and that takes me within arm's reach of the coffee pot - you can see where this is heading. Then I am "up and at 'em," at least in theory. Tomorrow I can listen to the football game while sipping my morning coffee - nice!

Go Huskers!

GJS

FPRI Essays on the U.S. Armed Forces

It's a bit out of character for me to post an e-mail essentially in its
entirety here, but I got this message from the Foreign Policy Research
Institute today with links to many nice essays about the US armed forces
(including one by a former professor of mine at Nebraska, Pete Maslowski).
Looks like I just missed getting this posted on Veteran's Day in the
continental US, but it's worth having a look nonetheless.

Enjoy!

GJS

Sent: Thursday, November 12, 2009 04:01
To:
Subject: FPRI Essays on the U.S. Armed Forces

Today we honor all those who risk their lives -- and all who have given
their lives -- so that we might be free.

Below is a compilation of FPRI essays on the U.S. Armed Forces.

"Ten Things Every American Student Should Know
about our Army in World War II"
by Rick Atkinson, May 2009
www.fpri.org/footnotes/1415.200905.atkinson.usarmywwii.html

"The U.S. Navy in World War II"
by James Kurth, September 2009
www.fpri.org/footnotes/1424.200909.kurth.usnavywwii.html

"Reflections on Memorial Day"
by Mackubin T. Owens, May 2009
www.fpri.org/enotes/20090522.owens.memorialday.html

"The Marines: Premier Expeditionary Warriors"
by Frank Hoffman, November 2007
www.fpri.org/enotes/200711.hoffman.marinesexpeditionarywarriors.html

"World War II and Its Meaning for Americans"
David Eisenhower, April 2007
www.fpri.org/footnotes/129.200705.eisenhower.ww2meaningamericans.html

"Teaching about the Military: Some Basics"
by Paul Herbert, May 2007
www.fpri.org/footnotes/1211.200705.herbert.teachingmilitarybasics.html

"Understanding the Creation of the US Armed Forces"
by Peter Maslowski, April 2007
www.fpri.org/footnotes/1210.200704.maslowski.creationusarmedforces.html

"War and the Military in American History,"
by Walter McDougall, March 2007
www.fpri.org/footnotes/127.200703.mcdougall.warmilitaryushistory.html

"The Future of the U.S. Army,"
by Sherwood Goldberg, December 2005
www.fpri.org/enotes/20051212.military.goldberg.futurearmy.html

"Iwo Jima and the Future of the Marine Corps"
by Mackubin T. Owens, February 2005
www.fpri.org/enotes/20050223.military.owens.iwojimamarinecorps.html

"The Future of the Reserves and the National Guard:
A Conference Report"
by Michael Noonan, January 2005
www.fpri.org/enotes/20050119.military.noonan.citizensoldier.html

Alan Luxenberg
Foreign Policy Research Institute
1528 Walnut Street, Suite 610
Philadelphia, PA 19102
Tel. 215 732 3774 ext 105
www.fpri.org

A few changes

Fending off the Kaohsiung paparazzi

You've no doubt by now noticed the new "splash page" photo here at Garblog....kinda nice, dontcha think? I like to put a new pic up there now and then just to keep things fresh. I hope you like it. If not, let me know about it in the comments.

You've also probably noticed the my Twitter feed on the right of this page. Yep, I decided to bite the bullet and start tweeting. I've produced 75 "tweets" since starting on October 25th. Quite frankly, some of the shorter posts that used to go up here are now being passed there. If you read this blog, then you probably will also find the tweets to be interesting too, at least some of the time. If you are on Twitter, feel free to follow me there, too: @gjsamps.

Finally, there are new photos being uploaded to Flikr. Check back in a while to see them. There will be Halloween stuff, feeding the birds and fish and playing at the park, and other random stuff from the last 2 weeks. As always, there will be a mixture of photos and videos, so be sure to head on over to Flikr to check out the new adds!

GJS

Author Malcolm Gladwell on New Book 'What the Dog Saw' - TIME

I'm still working my way through his new book...a recent interview in
Time magazine.

http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1931100,00.html

GJS

Sent from my iPod

OU(ch)

OK, so I have to admit, I didn't think there was much chance that the Huskers would beat Oklahoma in Lincoln today. "Oh, ye of little faith!" I bet it was quite a feeling to be inside Memorial Stadium Saturday night. What say you, readers? Was anyone reading these words at...the...game? If so, perhaps that faithful eyewitness could post a comment to tell everyone what it was like. Did you scream away your voice? Was it a complete madhouse of rabid 'Skers fans? Were "corn heads" flying through the air like mortarboards on graduation day?

GJS

Photo courtesy D. Allen Sampson.

Another "poorly-scheduled" Husker game

Who decides what time to have these football games anyhow?  Don’t they know there is a huge fan base of one (1) here in Taiwan that would like to follow along in real-time?  J NU – OU trumped by worship services on this end.  Go Big Red!

 

GJS

Baylor

I almost forgot that the Huskers are about to take the field against Baylor in an attempt to redeem recent humiliating football losses (a comment on my last Husker-related post is actually what jogged the tired gray matter to remember - thanx, CCC!)

Let's all wish the Huskers good luck in their pigskin showdown in Waco! I'll read about it in the morning (Taiwan time, that is).

GJS