Dangling Invective: April 2010

Thursday, April 29, 2010

Iran and the "Status of Women"

The ever helpful and proactive United Nations has allowed Iran to be elected to a four year term on the Commission on the Status of Women.

The mind boggles. Read Amanda Fox's piece linked above.

I've doubted the utility of the UN for many years. Oil for Food showed it to be an organization with much corruption. But this is unbelievable. I suppose women arrested in Iran for having a suntan can seek help from the commission?

And note how they divvy up the spoils of the Commission:

Membership and composition
Forty-five Member States of the United Nations serve as members of the Commission at any one time. The Commission consists of one representative from each of the 45 Member States elected by the Council on the basis of equitable geographical distribution: thirteen members from Africa; eleven from Asia; nine from Latin America and Caribbean; eight from Western Europe and other States and four from Eastern Europe. Members are elected for a period of four years.

Monday, April 26, 2010

The Awesomely Awesome Axis of Awesome

Via mental_floss comes this great clip from the 2009 Melbourne International Comedy Festival - Every song is a 4 chord song:

Sunday, April 25, 2010

What Kind of Handgun are you?

I am a: Heckler and Koch, Model P7 in 9mm
Firearms Training

What kind of handgun are YOU?

ANZAC Day

Today is April 25th, ANZAC Day, a date observed in Australia and New Zealand to remember the members of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) who fought at Gallipoli in Turkey during World War I.

This picture is from an observance in Iraq in 2004:

There’s not much good Aussie companionship when you’re the only Australian in a remote Iraqi township but Maj Craig Madden, RAE, is nothing if not resourceful. Maj Madden, left, scouted around on Anzac Day and eventually came across Rochelle Knight, right, a Kiwi from Christchurch, who is in Iraq working for civilian contract company KBR. Add about 20 US soldiers to hold the flags, wreaths made from locally-growing gum trees and “wha-lah!” a instant Anzac Day ceremony.
Maj Madden and Rochelle were in Balad, a town about 100km north of Baghdad, where he was providing awareness training on mines, improvised explosive devices and unexploded ordnance.