Open Thread - 16 October 2009

Just for inspiration-----  pl

Comments

[Bill Wade, NH]

My first thought was famous Hollywood star.

[J]

Virginia Madsen is a fetching lady.

[J]

What's with the new graphic 'doohickies' attached with our posts?

[Patrick Lang]

All

I don't know what the little graphic thingies mean. This is a Typepad thing. Cute, though. pl

[The beaver]

J

If you join Typepad to follow SST and you have included a pic in your profile, that pic will appear in the graphic window every time you are posting.
Since most of us want to maintain our "privacy" :-), we don't join or give any data (include a wink here)

[Cold War Zoomie]

Gadzooks!

[Babak Makkinejad]

Good God man, what path does a man have to take in life to come across an All-Woman girl like that?

Clearly, I have strayed into a dark forest and the right path appears not any where.

[Mary]

I do hope this civilized post means that Colonel Lang has abandoned his numerical rating system of beautiful women. O happy day, Colonel!

[Patrick Lang]

Mary

I'd rate Madsen at about a "12." pl

[sd nadh]

She was great as Dolly Harshaw in The Hot Spot.

[J]

All right Pat, how do you rate Блестящие

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Su8P2gkfmI

My meter reading has gone from analog to digital and pegged off the charts. LOL LOL

[greg0]

The picture of Madsen is much better IMO than her performance in The Haunting in Connecticut movie.

[Cloned Poster]

If she were in a G-String the Colonel would be in ER.

[Cold War Zoomie]

Great. Now I have to go to confession because that confounded temptress has kindled ungodly thoughts! :)

[CK]

uncertainty prevails as to the criteria, but if culinary skills are at all relevant:
http://www.celebritywonder.com/picture/Giada_De_Laurentiis/GiadaDeLaure_A__Wyman_14319525.jpg

[Ken Roberts]

From Open Thread to G-String! ... Freudian slip?

Ok, here's my question/topic. I've heard from a friend that the stats on illness, even mortality, of people who retire from a long military career (20 yrs plus) are very bad. Not referring to health issues related to injuries sustained in combat, but rather change of lifestyle, less structured, what do I do now sort of thing, likely depression.

If the stats actually are anything like what my friend says, and he should be in a position to know, then it is serious public health issue, completely under the radar of media attention. And might be beneficial to focus on it.

That info is for Cdn forces. Can anyone give further data? Yeah, I know, go look it up! Taking the lazy man's way on an open thread weekend.

Thanks!

ps. I kinda like the graphics thingies.

[frogspawn]

Didn't Meghan McCain just get in trouble for this sort of thing?

[John Hammer]

Finally, back to string theory!

[Cieran]

I forgot what I was going to write...

[Babak Makkinejad]

Ken Roberts:

I think the statistics that you are alluding to are not indicative of a causal relationship.

There are millions of people, mostly male, that can live reasonable and productive lives in highly structured environments. That is, situations in which they are told when to get up, what to eat, when to eat, when to sleep, and what to do in between.

It is a fallacy of the Enlightenment Tradition that elevates personal liberty to the status of a semi-religion, thus ignoring the large percentages of people who cannot carry the burden of that liberty.

The military forces, the prisons, and other such organized environments are providing suitable situations for people who cannot - through any fault of their own, deal with being Free.

Recidivism of criminals must be viewed in such light; something known to many a warden.

[Charles I]

Inspired not think.

Second that on the The Hotspot, sd nadh, if that's the movie in which a young Jennifer Connelly disrobes down by the old swimming hole.

Maybe there is a God.

[Brad Ruble]

If you haven't seen a Prairie Home Companion, you should.

[Richard Armstrong]

While her "assets" are indeed admirable, I think it would be a better topic to talk about the issue of Jamie Leigh Jones who was gang raped by KBR (Hallibuton) employees.

Ms. Jones apparently cannot bring criminal charges against KBR or Halliburton because of a binding arbitration clause in her employment contract.

The United States military continues to do business with Halliburton and KBR to this day.

Apparently rape is now a matter for "arbitration" rather than criminal prosecution because the United States military is so completely dependent upon private contractors.

[Ken Roberts]

Babak ...

Thanks for your comment. Guess I was not clear with my question. Let me try again...

1) Does anyone have info (stats or just gut feel) about higher than expected rates of illness or death among people who retire from a military career (arbitrarily, say 20-years plus)? After adjusting for injuries received. My intent is to focus on normal retirement, not the side effects of combat.

2) If so ... it seems to me we have a public health problem. Political stance implicit in that ... there is a tendency to dismiss the ailments of old soldiers as "goes with the territory", relegated to a special department veterans affairs, not part of "public". Which categorization I reject. And is opportunity for public discussion, reorientation of attitudes.

3) My mention of change from a structured environment was just a hypothesis of a possible cause. Perhaps suggesting some ways of approaching problem (if there is one).

Just trying to gather info. Not my field. A member of the public, those to be made aware, if in fact there is a matter deserving of more support by the public. My query on this matter is directed to this group, simply because of your expertise and this is an open thread. Well off topic of general run of these discussions.

[William R. Cumming]

Agree with Babak serious comment. Still somehow motivated by the POST by PL to go on reading SST!

Was it "Escape From Freedom" Eric Hoffer (?) that argued that modern life often resulted in Babak's point. What is "freedom" of course? Maslov had four levels of need which once satisfied allowed Mankind to do his/her best! Always hoping for the best and of course SST is part of all that. Still VM in almost profile does perk my interest.