JB’s Sanctuary points out this FoxNews story about a 12 year-old Boy Scout who rescued his baby sister from a fire.

Spurrier’s departure

One Hand Clapping has some thoughts on Steve Spurrier, the recently departed head coach of the Washington Redskins.

Anyway, what Spurrier has to consider now is that there are no off weeks in the NFL. He is playing the equivalent of Tennessee or FSU every week. There are no rankings, there is only the cold, cruel ledger of the win-loss ratio. Not only is every NFL team going to play him at a consistently high level he is not used to facing week after week, at some point he will realize that the other head coaches are just as good as he is, or better. The other coaching staffs are just as good as his.

College ball has as many layers of skill and talent as a Black Forest cake, but not the NFL. The NFL has only two layers: playoff teams or stay-home teams. And all the teams are hungry, and all the teams are good.

Good stuff. I honestly believe that Spurrier’s offense could work in the NFL, and I think that the ‘Skins had most of the personnel they needed to make it happen. Another offseason of adjustments and another role-player or two might have been enough. I think coaches need three seasons in the NFL before they can be fairly judged.

That being said, Spurrier was clearly flailing and failing. I’m not fan of the guy or his system, but I’m not looking forward to a new guy coming in and needing two years to clean house and a third to bring his plan to fruition.

‘Skins coaches don’t seem to last that long.

I started MO in March for fun. It’s moved twice, from MSN Groups to Blogger and most recently to Movable Type on rented server space. It’s been a lot of fun, very educational, and rewarding.

Here are some of my personal favorite posts from the past ten months, in no particular order.

Who’s naughty, who’s nice?: Why the Air France cancellations might not be such a “win” for our side.

Cry me a river: The Boeing 767 Tanker lease and mess it’s made

Farmers and the Fourth World War: How subsidies and big agribusiness may be hurting our cause in the war against terror

E.T. the activist: Could the film E.T. be partially responsible for peoples’ distrust of the government?

Is Bush going soft?: When Bush went to the UN in September, did it signal an about-face in US policy?

Due to popular demand: The XM8 Assault Rifle: The possible replacement for the M-16. By far and away the biggest search engine draw to MO.

Stryker Talk: One of many posts on the new Stryker Light Armored Vehicle, this one was written shortly after the military announced they would be deployed to Iraq.

Confused: Maureen Dowd argues that the bad guys weren’t in Iraq until the REAL bad guys (anyone agreeing with President Bush) arrived.

Thanks for reading Murdoc Online.

Remember: If you’ve had just HALF as much fun visiting MO as I’ve had writing it, I’ve had twice as much fun as you.

Have a Happy New Year.

LATE CHRISTMAS GIFTS

James Rummel at Hell in a Handbasket points out some commercial equipment that the troops in Iraq are quite fond of. Civilian GPS units, good desert boots, and Camelbaks, among other items. And he provides links.

Check it out, including the comment on the military GPS receiver.

Phony Hiltons buy plenty of pizza

Domino’s Pizza released a survey recently that indicates that the most common fake name used by people ordering pizza is “Paris Hilton.”

How do they know which names are fake?

Also

According to the survey of 630 drivers, nine percent of people who answer the door in the nude tip more than 20 percent, compared with 2 percent of people in pajamas.

Among political pizza findings, people with “Dean for President” bumper stickers on cars in their driveways tipped 22 percent higher than people with “Bush for President” bumper stickers. People with “Bush for President” bumper stickers were three times more likely to order meat-topped pizzas than “Dean for President” drivers.

This is important info, folks.

For the record, MO never answers the door in the nude. Well, virtually never.

Russian nuclear engineers will light artificial sun on New Year’s Eve

Pravda reports that Russian scientists have managed to create a magnetic field that is 20 million times more powerful than that of the earth. This will allow them to “bottle” a thermonuclear reaction, which could potentially be used as an energy source. They are going to attempt to create a test reaction within their field tonight.

What could possibly go wrong?

On a related note, Jupiter still hasn’t turned into a new star.

Nuclear Program In Libya Detailed

United Nations inspectors are ALL OVER the Lybian nuclear program.

Mohammed ElBaradei, director of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said the Libyans exhibited “a good deal of cooperation” during the inspections Sunday, the first since the Libyan leader, Moammar Gaddafi, pledged Dec. 22 to give up the country’s efforts to develop a nuclear device.

They’ve been shown centrifuges and other equipment that could be used to create weapons-grade nuclear material. ElBaradei says the equipment they’ve seen doesn’t point toward former Soviet-bloc sources.

Hmmmm.

When news of Gaddafi’s agreement with the West broke, I wondered if they actually had any WMD programs. We need to make sure that borderline nations don’t agree to give up things they don’t have in return for US aid.

It seems that Lybia had at least the beginnings of a nuclear program. I’d like to verify that they didn’t just slap it together over the past couple of months.

I also wondered then where Lybia may have purchased its WMD materials and equipment. The first places everyone always thinks of, and with good reason, are the former Soviet-bloc nations. That doesn’t seem to be the case here. We’ll see. The UN wouldn’t elaborate. I wonder why.

“What we have seen is all the equipment they have imported,” said ElBaradei, who declined to specify the origin of the imported centrifuges, steel piping and other equipment.

Excuse me? You believe that you’ve seen ALL the eqipment already? Someone please tell me that was a mistake in translation.

Who does he think he’s kidding?

I hope that we (the US) are performing some sort of independent verification of these inspections. We (and the UK) are the ones responsible for the inspections even happening. I hope this doesn’t turn into another mucked-up UN inspection program.

A senior administration official told the AP that the United States intended to pursue its own program for dismantling Libya’s nuclear infrastructure, along with its chemical and biological weapons and missiles. The United States will send an initial group of technical experts to Libya in January; British experts are expected to go with them.

Last week, the State Department spokesman, Richard A. Boucher, sounded a note of caution about Gaddafi’s intentions, saying the United States would “make sure that whatever disclosures Libya makes, that there is a follow-up to identify the full extent of those programs.”

I don’t care if we use covert agents and/or special forces units to make sure we’re getting what we want to get and that no one is pulling wool over anyone’s eyes.

IAEA teams have been visiting Libya for years and knew nothing about the equipment they saw Sunday. Some of it was found along dirt alleys in urban neighborhoods.

Even permission to allow surprise inspections would not guarantee discovery of a nuclear weapons program. “Low-level programs like this are difficult to detect. They can be run in a garage,” ElBaradei said. “You would have to be lucky or have very good intelligence to run across it. We’re doing a lot of soul-searching.”

I’d rather they were doing a lot more Lybia-searching. Good thing that the UN halted its sanctions against Lybia and that they berated us for not doing likewise. We just need to give inspectors more time.

This is a great chance for the UN organizations to prove that they deserve to exist. You want to be relevant? Don’t screw up an opportunity given to you by the US and the UK. The Lybians appear to be complying. How much easier will it ever get?

We’ll see. I’m keeping my fingers crossed.

Sunni group in Tikrit acts to end attacks

Tikrit, Saddam’s hometown, has been the center of opposition to US and Allied forces in Iraq. The people there remained mostly loyal to the deposed dictator long after his regime was destroyed. They helped hide him from our forces for months.

But now, maybe, things are looking up in the area.

Influential spiritual leaders from Saddam Hussein’s hometown — a bastion of anti-American sentiment — are joining forces to persuade Iraqis to abandon the violent insurgency, one of the leaders said Monday.
The effort marks a new, open willingness to cooperate with U.S. forces — a shift in the thinking of at least some key members of Iraq’s Sunni Muslim minority, which lost political dominance with the fall of Saddam and has largely formed the most outspoken and violent opposition to the U.S.-led occupation.

This is very good news. It signals a shift in the mood surrounding the area, probably spurred in part by their leader’s capture a few weeks ago.

Couple this with the Tikrit resident who led US troops to a cache of 580 rockets and you might get the idea that we’re making progress here.

With the U.S.-led occupation trying to install democratic government, the Shiite Muslim majority — long oppressed under Saddam — is positioning itself to hold sway in Iraq. Sunnis apparently are realizing they must cooperate with the occupation if they are to have a role in the country’s future leadership.

Absolutely. This is a step in the right direction for the Sunnis, and it demonstrates that, while we obviously rule Iraq by virtue of our military might, we are also working hard to help rebuild the nation.

News is that Steve Spurrier has resigned as head coach of the Washington Redskins. Although not terribly impressed with his teams, I certainly don’t relish the thought of a new staff with new ideas taking over next year. Part of the problem the ‘Skins have had is inconsistency.

I don’t know who’s available or interested, but the ‘Skins shouldn’t have too much trouble finding a replacement. They’ve got a roster loaded with talent and an owner who doesn’t care what it costs to get what he wants. Whoever it is, they’ll be the team’s fourth head coach in five years, the fifth if you count Terry Robiskie who took over from Norv Tuner for the last couple games of 2000.

Depressing.

UPDATE: Now Spurrier denies that he resigned. The team says Spurrier’s agent called them and told them to issue the statement.

UPDATE 2: Okay. He really did quit. What a joke.

Why English is the new Lingua Franca

An officer in the U.S. Naval reserve was attending a conference that
included admirals from both the U.S. Navy and the French navy. At a cocktail reception, he found himself in a small group that included personnel from both navies. The French admiral started complaining that whereas Europeans learned many languages, Americans learned only English.

Without hesitating, the American Admiral replied:
“Maybe it’s because we arranged it so you did not have to speak German.”

I’ve heard something along these lines several times. Although it’s funny and to the point, it strikes me as more of an urban legend. Nothing on Snopes, but it turns up all over the place as a joke. It must be. Anyone know? (via Nikita Demosthenes)

And just because it didn’t happen doesn’t mean it isn’t true.