Spotted Flycatcher

I've not seen one of these little chaps in my garden for years. The Spotted Flycatcher is unfortunately endangered these days. I'm so pleased that I have seen at least two of them and they have a nest hidden away somewhere in the garden. They are great wee birds with lots of character. Well I suppose you need character if you are that wee and travel from Africa to the NE of Scotland and back every year. Amazing.

Flycatcher by name, fly catcher by nature. They find a nice perch, launch themselves from it and catch flies on the wing before returning to the perch. The smart wee chap in the photo likes to perch on the aerial of my car.

I've been trying to get a decent photo of him for ages, because he is so wee and so busy it has not been easy. Am hoping to get a good one before my visitors return to Africa for the Winter.

The Afghanistan Exit Strategy.

It is the fighting season once again in Afghanistan, for Afghans it has been like this, pretty much every year, for as long as anyone can remember.

Polybore has been following the events in Afghanistan since the Soviet invasion of 1979 when as a precocious 7 year old I wrote to Margaret Thatcher to suggest trade sanctions against the USSR in order to put pressure on them to withdraw.

Well Polybore did not have much influence with Thatcher, instead of trade sanctions she suggested that British athletes boycott the 1980 Moscow Olympics. The Soviet Union remained fighting in Afghanistan for 10 years before their withdrawal in 1989.

What are the differences between the Coalition occupation and that of the USSR.

1. The USSR had a much larger force with up to 104,000 troops, currently Coalition forces are expected to reach approx 65,000 after reinforcement this year.
2. Coalition forces have a mandate to reconstruct Afghanistan and to support the Government. The USSR did not have a reconstruction mandate, per say, however they were there to support the Communist Regime that was governing Afghanistan at that time.
3. USSR troops killed by the end of the 10 year occupation numbered 14,427. During the Coalition's 7 year occupation 841 troops have been lost.

It is clear that the Coalition has had some hearts and minds success in Afghanistan when compared to the USSR occupation. With less troops they have sustained far fewer casualties and fighting has been less widespread during the Coalition occupation.

To sustain this success the Afghan people must have confidence in their Government. The danger is that the Coalition will end up propping up an unpopular Government which would alienate Afghans and result in increased support for the Taliban. Evidence of corruption and incompetence by the current Afghan Government is starting to emerge and this does not bode well for the Coalition's mission.

The truth is that there is no exit strategy. Realistically the Coalition are looking at having to be on the ground in Afghanistan for the next 30 to 50 years for there to be any chance of leaving Afghanistan in a state in which it can secure itself against the Taliban. With few countries comitting battle troops to the Coalition, and with Canada contemplating withdrawal beacause of this, the future of Operation Enduring Freedom is in doubt.

Should the people of Afghanistan begin to think that the Coalition may withdraw then the Taliban will become an increasing military threat. They will be able to move with greater support from Afghan villages looking after their future security in the event the Coalition withdraws.

Firefox's denial of service attack on itself.

As far as publicity stunts go this has to be one of the stupidest I have ever seen. Firefox's record breaking attempt knocked out their promotional web site spreadfirefox.com and reduced their customer's download speed to sub dial up.

Maybe the publicity will end up in a few more downloads of Firefox, maybe even they will get into the Guinness Book of Records. One thing is for sure they have demonstrated that a denial of service attack works very effectively.

Firefox is a great product but if there is one thing Polybore hates more than promotional hype, it's slow download speeds.

Any power companies out there want to try and get a world record for peak demand of electricity? If so just get your all your customers to switch on all their domestic electrical appliences at the same time and watch those sub stations blow.

Weak Bridge.

I drive over this bridge in order to cross a river pretty much every day. Suffice to say it does not inspire me with much confidence. Bridge and weak are not words that should go together as far as Polybore is concerned. Would you get on a plane that had a sign on it saying weak wings?

Tough School

Continuing the series of local signs which amuse Polybore we have Tough School. Want your kids toughened up, then there is only one place to send them.