Comments

Reposted from Facebook:

I don't mind comments. In fact, I rather like them. Let me, then, officially encourage comments and commenters, both here or in Facebook.

But if you're going to go off on some freaky tangent every time you comment, that's not even tangentally riffing on the original post (or succeeding commentary), then I'm afraid I'm going to have to let you go.

USA-T - Stranded travelers turn to social media as ash paralyzes Europe

From my archive of press clippings:

USA Today

Stranded travelers turn to social media as ash paralyzes Europe

As ash from a belching volcano in Iceland continues to ground flights across Europe, benched travelers are turning to social media for rides and rooms - and a virtual shoulder to cry on.
Healdsburg, Calif.-based writer Tod Brilliant launched a Facebook group this weekend, "When Volcanoes Erupt: A Survival Guide for Stranded Travelers," after he and his wife Andrea Barrett - who is 31 weeks pregnant - found themselves unable to fly home to California from London's Heathrow airport after a wedding.

Read the whole article here.


-- By Laura Bly, USA TODAY

re: "U.S. military goes hungry in Afghanistan"

This Digital Journal article came up yesterday in a Facebook comment thread, and I'd like to share some of my contributions to the discussion.

1. "I saw this article the other day. Essentially the current surge of troops to Afghanistan is stretching (and sometimes outstripping) the capabilities of our logistics and supply system. This happens in war sometimes. It sounds very much like conditions in Iraq during the first rotation (OIF 1, 2003-4).

I was there. Sometimes there wasn't enough food or water, and there wasn't any "housing" to speak of.

It doesn't mean that the president or the theatre commander are bad, wrong or evil. It means it's a war zone and sometimes things suck. Sometimes they suck a lot, but the troops aren't in garrison anymore and can rough it as needed.

War sucks. Write that down somewhere....

This makes the recent decision to shut down a lot of MWR and fast-food venues seem a lot more sensible."

2. "In case that's not clear, what I mean is that supplying all those MWR and fast-food venues eats up shipping space, storage capacity, and increases the number of "support" personnel burdening each base and the "system" as a whole. You have to look past the initial reaction of "if the chow hall doesn't have enough food, at least the troops could go to Burger King" since it all comes through the same trucks, air freight, and shipping lines of supply. Not quite a zero-sum game but close enough."

3. "We all want the best for our troops. I lost 30 lbs. during my year in Iraq (but I was coming out from behind a civilian desk job to deploy as a reservist), which wasn't all bad. My company had nowhere near enough tentage for both operations and billeting when we were deployed to a tactical assembly area so we spent weeks with our cots sitting in moon dust underneath non-issued tarps and ponchos we strung from the side of our humvee trailers. Food was MREs except when we ran mail and supply runs back to the logistical support areas where there were mess halls."

&

4. "By way of example."

re: "Can the State Department Facebook?"

Peter Spiro at Opinio Juris ("a forum for informed discussion and lively debate about international law and international relations") has an interesting, and brief, post about the Department's use of Facebook.
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Hat tip to John Brown at Public Diplomacy Press and Blog Review, Version 2.0.