Neall Alcott

Well, I’ve been really busy with work and life and I haven’t been blogging in a while. (Sorry)
My buddy Bruce was asking what was up, so I figured I should set a little time aside tonight and write. I told him that since the mainstream media (MTM) has noticed the improvements in Iraq, I haven’t […]

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. Mostly because it’s a time for the family and it’s not overly commercialized. When Thanksgiving is approaching, you don’t have to worry about budgeting funds for gifts or credit card bills the following month. All you have to worry about is exercising and/or dieting to work off your over-consumption.
One of […]

There was a comment on an earlier post of mine on my Daily Local blog that I found interesting:
gypsy hammond said…
The surge is working? That must explain why 2007 has seen the highest level of troop deaths since the war began. But then, defining success downwards has been a hallmark of this war and this […]

Here’s a really nice (although sad) article in the New York Times about the last surviving American soldier from World War I:
Over There — and Gone Forever
Four years ago, I attended a Veterans Day observance in Orleans, Mass. Near the head of the parade, a 106-year-old named J. Laurence Moffitt rode in a Japanese sedan, […]

I love finding newpaper headlines that are either poorly worded or can be read differently. Here’s one I found in the Washington Post today:
Panel May Cut Sentences For Crack
Drug dealers rejoice! They say that crack is very addictive, but this is ridiculous… maybe they shouldn’t be responsible for sentencing.

Here’s a video of some firemen in Boston making a hasty retreat from a rooftop…

Interesting news article:
An Italian musician and computer technician claims to have uncovered musical notes encoded in Leonardo Da Vinci’s “Last Supper,” raising the possibility that the Renaissance genius might have left behind a somber composition to accompany the scene depicted in the 15th-century wall painting…
Pala explains how he took elements of the painting that have […]

It’s been interesting watching the news as Iraq has been improving… it’s been getting more and more difficult to find any reports, other than independent reports from Michael Yon and other freelance reporters in Iraq.
It looks like the Times of London has noticed the same thing:
The Petraeus Curve
Is no news good news or bad news? […]

Sorry about not posting last week. I’ve been swamped at work and home!
But anyway…
I found this interesting NBC News report (via InstaPundit) that talks about the Nanny State movement and how it can create kids that are unprepared for the real world. I’ve written about this before (HERE).
In particular, this phenomenon has struck South Jersey […]

Interesting stuff happening on Capitol Hill. Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) proposed an amendment to a major health spending bill that said no lawmakers’ pet projects (i.e., earmarks) would be funded until “all children in the U.S. under the age of 18 years are insured by a private or public health insurance plan.”
Sen. Coburn has been […]

Another dispatch from Michael Yon in Iraq: Resistance is Futile:
No thinking person would look at last year’s weather reports to judge whether it will rain today, yet we do something similar with Iraq news. The situation in Iraq has drastically changed, but the inertia of bad news leaves many convinced that the mission has failed […]

I’m not a big John McCain fan, but this is a GREAT debate line that only he could have delivered:

I don’t know whether to laugh or cry: Man accused of hacking into 911
SWAT officers expected to find a victim shot to death, drugs and a belligerent armed suspect when they surrounded the home of an unsuspecting couple, but found they were only a part of a false emergency call caused by a teenager who […]

I just received this email from Michael Yon via Basra, Iraq:

Greetings:
Iraq is on the mend, al Qaeda is on the run, and the civil war has abated to a point where the term “civil war” no longer applies.
Accurate war coverage is increasingly important. Even prominent seemingly well-informed persons can get it wrong, such as […]