Quick Roundup 404

Submarine Collision

Below is a mini-roundup of submariner blogging related to the recent collision of two nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines, one French and one British.

• French, British Boomers Collide -- by Bubblehead
• How First Reports Are Usually Wrong (And Often Believed) -- by Chap, who has a slightly different version of same posted at his own blog
• Vanguard & Triomphant Collide! -- by Willy Shake
• HMS Vanguard, "Container" Sub Theory -- by Vigilis

Chap supplies the most apt comment regarding the always-sensationalized media coverage of such events:

It's worth watching news stories like this just to see how the narrative frame is built, how the information presented changes, and what lasting impressions come from the trail of reports even if some reports are factually wrong.

But Vigilis steals the show with his quip about an initial report from the French, who publicly speculated on whether Le Triomphant had hit a shipping container: "[I]n naval (military) etiquette container exceeds rust bucket in degree of insult."

Oof!

[Update, via Matt Drudge, as I write: "France: Sub crews didn't realise they hit each other..."]

Update Also, be sure to stop by The Sub Report for more in-depth coverage.

Depending on the target demographic, ...

... Andrew Dalton may have hit the nail on the head when he notes of Muzzammil Hassan, that he is "doing it wrong. "Hassan, who founded a television station to "portray Muslims in a more positive light," has been charged with beheading his wife, who had filed for divorce.

Obviously, I'm in a silly mood, ...

... and this link probably won't help LB escape top Google ranking for the phrase, "Scottish terrier pees at WKC show, 2009".

Bwahaha!

(In my defense, I have just recovered from a horrendous head cold that had me sitting around in a daze all weekend, culminating with my head exploding in agony from sinus pressure every time I coughed Sunday night.)

"Quality of Life" vs. Life

In a series of posts pursuant to a local busybody dropping dead, Brian Phillips manages to reclaim some value from the life of Eleanor Tinsley.

The phrase, "quality of life," kept popping up as the banner under which Tinsley crusaded for her particular preferences to be enforced at the point of a government gun -- and at the expense of the government fulfilling its actual purpose, the protection of individual rights. From the last of his posts, he quotes the Nanny State Ninny gloating about enacting a smoking ban in Houston (of all places):

You know, people felt like they had a God-given right to smoke. We were taking away from their legal right. It was very difficult to pass. People felt very strongly about it and loved or hated me as a result.

People do, in fact, have the right to smoke. All Tinsley did was remove government protection of that right. Brian discusses this in more detail at his blog, Live Oaks.

And thanks to his efforts, I am now explicitly aware of yet another phrase to watch out for when questions of public policy come up for debate.

-- CAV

Updates

Today: Added link to The Sub Report.