Sunday Link Dump

Here's where i dump to the links I have been collecting throughout the week, but haven't yet had time to comment on appropriately...

Fist up is the Egyptians. I had a friend that worked with them for a while when the US was selling them a few of the above Coastal Mine Hunters (Swiftships). While there were a great many stories he told about that experience,  one of the things that he talked about was their attribution to God when things broke (and on those, things were always breaking). Engines not working? Insha'Allah! Bad Weather? Insha'Allah! Ran out of gas? Insha'Allah! - take the rest of the day off... This was of course well before the Arab Spring and the ouster of Mubarak. From his stories I got the impression of the Egyptians as causal, a little lazy, but still good people. I guess the Arab Spring and all that followed from that changed their culture forever. So when I saw this article about how the Muslim Brotherhood is insulating themselves into their military, it really came as no surprise, but still saddened me.

I gotta say, that just because a guy puts his feet on his desk, it's not necessarily a sign of a lack of respect. There can be reasons. Back when I was much younger and more active, I sprained my ankle rather badly. Part of the remedy for it was to keep it elevated. Therefore, while working, I usually could be found with that bad ankle propped up on the corner of the desk, keyboard in my lap, working away. Once upper management once saw this and complained to my boss, who quickly explained the situation and backed them off. That being said, I too find this picture:

as noted in this article disturbing. As far as I know, he doesn't own that desk (or that Office) - he's just using it for a little while, and I know of no medical reason for that pose...

Finally there is this article about cyber attack on Florida voting process. First known case? Really? That whole massive fraud that was the last presidential election didn't clue you in that there might just be a problem there? (as noted here, even ostriches aren't that stupid)