The International House of Bacon

…of a non-political nature.

* At work the last few days, I’ve been pulling some Lurlene McDaniel books that were rather beaten up. Can someone, anyone explain the appeal of dying teenager love stories to me?

* Maybe it’s just me, but is there something with some conversion that makes British programming look washed out? Is it just that Hollywood cameras are better?

* Is the Civilization series really the greatest “one more turn” game in the universe?

* Along those same lines, couldn’t some video game company make millions licensing a bunch of those silly flash games, throwing ‘em on a CD, and charging $20? I know XBox Live did it with Bejeweled, but I’m shocked a DVD with, like, 6 gigs of flash games doesn’t exist.

* Listening to The Baseball Project recently, has there ever been a concept band that’s worked well at all? Not so much a band with a schtick (like, say, Daft Punk or Tenacious D), but an actual overriding concept?

* Dwarves with Battleaxes = always cool, right?

Crazy Russian spamming aside, the situation in Georgia is really disheartening. Part of me wonders if we really should have seen this coming with Putin (where was our intelligence again?), but it’s happening and it’s apparently nasty and bad. That’s the tough part.

Now, Georgia is one of our better allies in Eastern Europe. They’re trying to get into NATO, etc. Meanwhile, Russia’s been nothing but crazy aggressive and unpredictable. So which Presidential candidate sounds like they have a better grasp on the situation. Here’s candidate A:

Russia should immediately and unconditionally cease its military operations and withdraw all forces from sovereign Georgian territory. What is most critical now is to avoid further confrontation between Russian and Georgian military forces. The consequences for Euro-Atlantic stability and security are grave.

The government of Georgia has called for a cease-fire and for a resumption of direct talks on South Ossetia with international mediators. The U.S. should immediately convene an emergency session of the United Nations Security Council to call on Russia to reverse course. The U.S. should immediately work with the EU and the OSCE to put diplomatic pressure on Russia to reverse this perilous course it has chosen. We should immediately call a meeting of the North Atlantic Council to assess Georgia’s security and review measures NATO can take to contribute to stabilizing this very dangerous situation. Finally, the international community needs to establish a truly independent and neutral peacekeeping force in South Ossetia.

Here’s B:

I strongly condemn the outbreak of violence in Georgia, and urge an immediate end to armed conflict. Now is the time for Georgia and Russia to show restraint, and to avoid an escalation to full scale war. Georgia’s territorial integrity must be respected. All sides should enter into direct talks on behalf of stability in Georgia, and the United States, the United Nations Security Council, and the international community should fully support a peaceful resolution to this crisis.

For once, I’m not being entirely fair - McCain made statement, Obama made one, then another more strongly-worded one.

You’d think Obama would take advantage of what’s a clear situation to show a little oomph in the one area he’s at a distinct disadvantage. Instead, not only does Obama drop a few pithy lines about getting along, but looks completely uninformed as to the ongoing situation. What’s worse? Obama chairs a subcommittee that deals with NATO issues - you’d think he might have a little more information to use here. Maybe.