Oddly Enough Blog
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Divan intervention in Libya?
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Blog Guy, I rely on your blog for most of my international news, and I’m wondering if you can help make some sense of this thing in Libya. Which side is right?
Well, I’m only speaking for myself of course, but I’ll have to go with the rebels.
Very interesting. You think Gaddafi is a bad leader, or it’s time for a change, or the rebels will be easier to deal with, or….
The rebels have better taste in furniture, which is what it usually comes down to in a civil war.
In this photo at the top, you can see a typical Gaddafi loyalist sofa. Baroque satin, gold paint. Tacky, tacky, tacky…
In contrast, check out the rebels’ sofa. Comfy, indoor-outdoor, well-worn enough so you don’t mind if your guests sit on it with a bayonet.
Thanks Blog Guy, we always get a fresh perspective from you. How long has there been this bitter division in furniture taste in that part of the world?
It goes back to the Ottomans…
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Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi’s most prominent son, Saif al-Islam, pauses during an interview with Reuters in Tripoli March 10, 2011. Libya is preparing full-scale military action to crush a rebellion and will not surrender even if Western powers intervene in the conflict, al-Islam said on Thursday. REUTERS/Chris Helgren
Rebel fighters sit on a sofa at a check point in Ajdabiyah, March 15, 2011. REUTERS/Goran Tomasevic
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BG: I chairish your comments.
I like how the one rebel dude managed to get a blanket that is sort of like camo against his sofa!
Top photo – Andre now understood why the apartment directly beneath Charlie Sheen’s was so cheap. In addition to the constant noise, a weird stain was now coming through his ceiling.
Guy on right of second photo: ‘Hey, how’s the war going?
Guy on left of second photo: ‘Sofa, so good’
If I may ask the opinion of those OEers with military experience, are bayonets still useful attached to an AK or is it just there to look badass? I just get the impression that if one can’t off a dude on the charge with an AK even by spray-and-pray then whipping around a bayonet all Wii controller style isn’t gonna be much of a help either.
I guess Gaddafi is the sofa king? Sofa king evil.
As for the comfy guys – “you go to war with the army you have, not the army you wish you had” becomes very relevant.
Spin & Nosmo comments: Brill!
A film about this conflict could be called:
“Couching Tiger, Hidden Dragon”.
well done BG – 3 chairs for you
@ifly – still nothing like cold steel on the end of a rifle to close the deal. We still train our guys on its proper use too.
Usually, it’s just good to open MREs with.
Arent we all feeling witty today!
Unfortunately my head is all foogged in, mirroring the weather outside so, I am gonna go couch potato….
You’re the expert, Dave, but as I recall from my days in the National Guard, another option is to “open” the MREs on fully automatic, and then go eat at a nice restaurant…
Looks like the rebels have sold out of alarm clocks. Now they’re selling letter openers…
In the U.S. Army, I learned all about the parry, slash, strike, etc. I also learned use of the M-16 in hand-to-hand combat: for example, I learned the “vertical butt-stroke.” (Everyone see why Ifly asked about this?) We also learned unarmed defense, including judo. But that was the military police bootcamp and academy, which was its own little corps.
Gives Rooms To Go a whole new meaning … “Buy a sofa this week, get a free RPG!”
Damn. Good times.
@Doc, yeah I totally asked that in hopes someone would say “vertical butt-stroke”. Thanks for obliging me.
Now when I said “whipping around a bayonet all Wii controller style” I of course was not refering to military training but to Mr. Lay-Z-Rebel up there.
Good to know some things have not changed.
From the actual MRE manual:
http://www.mreinfo.com/us/mre/frh.html
Scroll down the the last picture.
And yes the written instructions on the bag do say ‘Place against a rock or something’.
@nosmo – I knew guys who went crazy looking for those “or somethings”. Wait – they may have already been crazy.
We ate K-rations in the field. I remember sitting high on a snowy mountainside in Bavaria, opening a can of pork cutlets with a P-38. When I got the can open, the cutlets and jelly were frozen.
I was wearing long johns, M-1951 wool field pants (with liner), M-1951 wool field shirt, an M-1967 field jacket (with liner) and an M-1951 fishtail parka. (It was one of the few made with real wolf fur on the hood.) My friend Robby was yelling “I will trade anything for pound cake.”
@Doc, you opened a can of pork cutlets with a P-38 Lightning? Wow, now that is way hardcore and badass! Did you use the prop or had the pilots do a strafing run?
It was a wonky old P-38 can opener. We wouldn’t use anything that wasn’t wonky.
That’s my sort of check point.
@Doc, oh..hmm..a can opener huh? Well hey is it coolio with you if I just stick with thinking you used an airplane? And it will definitely be wonky! A wonky airplane is what you used! Helluva story!
Unca…is a family blog really the place to be talking about your unsheathed bayonet?
We ate C-Rations, too.
K-Rations: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K-ration
C-Rations: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C-ration
I believe one can still buy these over the Internet.
But…but…but…why would one do that?
My apologies. My mountainside memory must be one of eating an MCI, because only the MCIs had pound cake as a dessert item. I think the meat item was supposed to be ham, but it did not look like ham. It was brown. I can still see it. I think we used it as a hockey puck.
Note the pound cake reference:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meal,_Comba t,_Individual_ration
Ah. Memories.
Okay then, when we have the big OE Commenters Gala we will be serving C-Rations and K-Rations. Don’t forget to state your preference on the registration form.
Will we be rappelling onto a mountain in Bavaria?
Non-Miliary Conversation required..Pronto!!!
My preference will be a write in choice for the OE Gala menu! I think I can fit a sandwich in my purse, and I so hope there will be doughnuts for dessert!
I want to donate a love seat to the rebels. Sent with lots of love. If Charlie leaves his stained apartment, he is NOT allowed to sit on it…
BG: you mentioned there is a “bitter division in furniture taste” there. Are they eating the furniture? Can Lamar send the rebels some doughnuts? Fresh ones, so they don’t have to get crumbs on their bayonets trying to cut them in half.
No, Doc. Looks like we can get some good hotel deals in Yemen.
@Spin: Vive le France! Croissants for all!
Though what I really wish is that all the people in the world would play nicely with one another…