Columnist Dan Savage on the worst advice he ever gave (to Jake Shears of Scissor Sisters).

Same-sex marriages between foreigners in Canada are (hopefully temporarily) not valid.

Actor Luke Evans was out, but is now back in.

Having a queer look at US recruiting posters. More.

Amorous squids are not finicky about gender of sexual partners ( Read more... )

I have been doing the Heavy Hands(tm) workout system for some time. It takes 30 minutes and I can do it while watching a DVD. I am now up to repetitions of 50 (the maximum) using 9kg weights ( Read more... )

As someone interested in military history from an early age (in fact military history is how I originally became interested in history) and an avid wargamer for many years, Osprey publishing has been part of my reading patterns for a long time. They provide easily digestible specific discussions with an emphasis on how things worked plus helpful ( Read more... )

Nigel lent me his MA thesis Imperial Weakness or Commonwealth Incohesion?: Consistency and Change in British Strategic Policy in the Far East 1939-1942 which is a careful examination of the actual strategic position of the Brtish Empire up to the naval battle off Ceylon in mid-1942. The thesis tackles the ‘fall of Singapore was unparalleled ( Read more... )

It is very disappointing to see a scholarly book published in 2004 repeating one of the most egregious pieces of nonsense in military history. Nonsense that I had hoped was dead and buried:

By the eighth century a new mode of warfare had emerged (the mounted shock cavalry), which in turn played an important part in creating the institutional ( Read more... )

If one was going to pick the worst possible year in the last half-century in which to publish a book on grand strategy, 1991 - the year in which the Soviet Union disappeared from history - is probably it. Nevertheless, I found Grand Strategies in War and Peace edited by Paul Kennedy an informative and agreeable read. ( case studies )

A heartfelt paen to his father.

About one of the first recipe books to explain Chinese cooking to English-speakers. Including recipes.

A proposal for EU imperialism.

They spend thousands of dollars training you, but if you’re sexually interested in your own gender, the US military doesn’t want you. The waste of talent and training is ( Read more... )

Read a truly remarkable book, Civilization and its Enemies: the Next Stage of History by Lee Harris.

Harris is the most prominent, and most insightful, of a particular class of commentator that the interaction of Sept 11 2001 with the rise of the blogosphere has created - the (formerly) non-political writer-commentator. Orson Scott Card, Jeff ( Read more... )