I’ve been trying to scroll less and read more, and as part of that hopeful self improvement program I came across a piece in Esquire about shitty 20th anniversaries.
Oh, and 2004 was also when NASA landed the Spirit and Opportunity rovers on Mars, and despite expecting to get ninety days work out of them Opportunity kept going until 2018. (Spirit made it until 2010.) Yay for engineers and scientists!
So there's a word for that, and now I know it: "swiftboating". Thanks. Seems to be the only approach the right use these days.
I reckon that in retrospect we probably dodged a bullet with the 2004 election. Imagine what a couple of terms under Mark Latham would have ended up like? And instead, Howard was sufficiently despised three years later that he lost his seat as well as the government.
we regularly marvel at that dodged bullet. We can only surmise he would have gone the way of Abbott as a mad captain in charge of the ship and quickly booted to the back bench.
Military spending; no matter how much every area is told to "tighten their belts" we always seem to have money to pay for new toys for the military.
I think it'd be more cost effective to just announce we're spending the money, and not actually do it. I mean, with the current $400 Billion subs, we've pretty much told the world we have no/shit subs and won't have any for a while. If one of our Enemies™ was going to target us, surely they'd do it before we got the new toys rather than wait until we had them, right?
Oh, and 2004 was also when NASA landed the Spirit and Opportunity rovers on Mars, and despite expecting to get ninety days work out of them Opportunity kept going until 2018. (Spirit made it until 2010.) Yay for engineers and scientists!
Any takers for the subs joining the cruise missiles in delivery date?
Since Congress just rejected the bill to build the extra shipyards needed to build them, you'd have to guess so.
So there's a word for that, and now I know it: "swiftboating". Thanks. Seems to be the only approach the right use these days.
I reckon that in retrospect we probably dodged a bullet with the 2004 election. Imagine what a couple of terms under Mark Latham would have ended up like? And instead, Howard was sufficiently despised three years later that he lost his seat as well as the government.
we regularly marvel at that dodged bullet. We can only surmise he would have gone the way of Abbott as a mad captain in charge of the ship and quickly booted to the back bench.
Those two items from 2004 are clearly related. Also I am terrified as to what will can announced as a 20th anniversary in 2044.
Military spending; no matter how much every area is told to "tighten their belts" we always seem to have money to pay for new toys for the military.
I think it'd be more cost effective to just announce we're spending the money, and not actually do it. I mean, with the current $400 Billion subs, we've pretty much told the world we have no/shit subs and won't have any for a while. If one of our Enemies™ was going to target us, surely they'd do it before we got the new toys rather than wait until we had them, right?