Measured Doses

A person can only take so much...

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10 Great Articles about War

tetw:

A Tetw reading list

M by John Sack - A stark portrayal of a company of young soldiers preparing for war in Vietnam and what they found when they arrived. 

The Killer Elite by Evan Wright - A reporter rides along with the Marines on the front line in Iraq. The original Rolling Stone articles that form the basis of the best-selling Generation Kill.

The Vietnam Syndrome by Christopher Hitchens - A powerful expose of the ongoing nightmare caused by Agent Orange. 

What We’ve Learned, If Anything by Tony Judt - A great historical essayist looks back over a century of conflict to ask what lessons the past has taught us.

The Coldest War by Kevin Fedarko - If you need convincing of the futility of war, look no further. A great writer treks high into the Himalayas to report on the world’s most pointless conflict.

The Rip-Off in Iraq by Matt Taibbi - How the Bush administration used the Iraq war to (literally) hand over palettes of cash to its corporate sponsors.

Blackhawk Down by Mark Bowden - A classic series of articles about the catastrophic US attack in Mogadishu that gave rise to the film of the same name.

The Man Who Sold the War by James Bamford - An in-depth investigation into the web of misinformation that was used to justify the war in Iraq.

The Last Ace by Mark Bowden - Ride along with the last of a dying breed, the air-to-air-combat fighter pilot.

A Farewell to Arms by John Carlin - A fascinating look at how the conflicts of the future could be played out in cyberspace.

292 notes

thedailywhat: Drive-Thru Religion of the Day: To accommodate parishioners who wish to partake in the rituals associated with Ash Wednesday but can’t spare the time to attend the full service, one church in the Cincinnati-adjacent city of Mount Healthy has decided to offer a “drive-thru” version later in the day. “Some people are very busy, and some people get a little intimidated walking into a church, this is for them,” said Rev. Patricia Anderson Cook of the Mount Healthy United Methodist Church. Rev. Cook will be distributing ashes and blessings to devout drivers who won’t be required to leave the comfort of their car. Though no other church is extending a similar service, The Episcopal Church appearently sent out ministers to hand out “ashes to go” to commuters at train stations.  [cincinnati / msnbc / photo: wlwt.]

thedailywhat:

Drive-Thru Religion of the Day: To accommodate parishioners who wish to partake in the rituals associated with Ash Wednesday but can’t spare the time to attend the full service, one church in the Cincinnati-adjacent city of Mount Healthy has decided to offer a “drive-thru” version later in the day.

“Some people are very busy, and some people get a little intimidated walking into a church, this is for them,” said Rev. Patricia Anderson Cook of the Mount Healthy United Methodist Church.

Rev. Cook will be distributing ashes and blessings to devout drivers who won’t be required to leave the comfort of their car.

Though no other church is extending a similar service, The Episcopal Church appearently sent out ministers to hand out “ashes to go” to commuters at train stations. 

[cincinnati / msnbc / photo: wlwt.]

1,929 notes

utnereader: Since submarines began roaming the depths in World War I, sailors and oceanographers, who use sonar technology to map seafloor topography and identify ocean life, have regularly run into “acoustic ghosts”—inexplicable bodies of movable mass that sometimes rivaled the size of a city. Every time a theory emerged to explain the phenomenon, however, it was quickly shot down. In 2003 scientists aboard a research vessel just south of Long Island, New York, discovered that the UFOs were composed of hundreds of millions of fish—massive gatherings on a scale never before documented. Using low-­frequency sonar technology that penetrated hundreds of miles, they identified a school roughly the size of Manhattan. Keep reading …

utnereader:

Since submarines began roaming the depths in World War I, sailors and oceanographers, who use sonar technology to map seafloor topography and identify ocean life, have regularly run into “acoustic ghosts”—inexplicable bodies of movable mass that sometimes rivaled the size of a city. Every time a theory emerged to explain the phenomenon, however, it was quickly shot down.

In 2003 scientists aboard a research vessel just south of Long Island, New York, discovered that the UFOs were composed of hundreds of millions of fish—massive gatherings on a scale never before documented. Using low-­frequency sonar technology that penetrated hundreds of miles, they identified a school roughly the size of Manhattan.

Keep reading …

178 notes

shortformblog:

Got a chance to see the Oscar-nominated animated shorts tonight, and there were some impressive clips nominated, including a cute Pixar short. But all pale in comparison to “The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore,” above, which on a purely animation level is on a whole ‘nother level. But what’s even more fascinating is that the clip is also available as an iPad app in interactive story form, which is pretty frickin’ fascinating and a great publishing model for short films. (Ironically, the film is about how great the printed book is.) Is MoonBot Studios the next Pixar? Maybe it’s too soon to ask that (though it has a former Pixar staffer at the helm), but you certainly feel like they’re onto something.

(Source: shortformblog)