Ummagumma

The English portion of the Allied army breaches the French line. Note how the similarity of some uniforms on both sides makes it a bit difficult to tell which unit is on which side.  Many troops get shaken in the process.  Note the disordered Allied units at the top of the pic.  They ran away from the English forcing the French to bring up fresh troops. Note:  This is an update on my play of a wargame I set up back in May . There is a word for how military units moved around on the field of battle in the mid-18th century, at the dawn of modern warfare.  Clunky. But the clunkiness was worth it.  The advantage of lining up a formation of infantry firing muskets about 100 yards or less distance from the enemy was significant.  Linear infantry tactics ultimately dominated the battlefield until the machine gun became common and the tank was invented. But let's review a bit of military history for a moment to understand why a clunky line of muskets was such a revolution in warfar

During my spiritual journey I have encountered and deeply sampled perspectives that elevate our humanity as something basically good and that the word "humane" can be almost universally applied across human expressions of experience and human cultures.  Ultimately, I am skeptical of such positivism and find such perspectives hopeful to the point of absurdity.  I have told many friends and acquaintances through the years that there is no inherent reason humanity will not become a bunch of badass Klingons .  People look at me funny when I say that. Witness the emergence of the Islamic State within the unstable borders of Syria and Iraq by a militant culture known popularly in the current news cycle as ISIS .  The foothold ISIS established in Syria in 2013 has allowed them to spread into much of Iraq in 2014 .  They have successfully carved a unified but diplomatically unrecognized state inside these other two recognized countries. Having been denied an audacious attempt

Fresh-picked basil from our garden, homemade wheat bread with raisins and walnuts, a fresh tomato from Jennifer's dad's garden and aged goat cheese. Optimum awesomeness for fresh taste on my property as late summer approaches. Some sliced beets and a tray of the bread slices in the background. Turbo yummy stuff.