April 27, 2004

• oops - via DayPop
• Fantastic, pete_best III. Some beautiful, some horrific, shots. Thanks.
• I had been thinking about posting this for a couple days. They are really well composed pertinent photos. Can anybody tell if the burned out tanks are American or Iraqi? Also is that a Predator drone on page 3, the seventh picture down?
• It was the severed leg that got me ... lying there on it's own ... I came very close to hurling. This is a great post - somehow makes the war much more real (and thus unpleasant) than the TV coverage
• Cincinatus, that's a Fairchild/Republic A-10, also known endearingly (or maybe not) as the Warthog. The pic appears to be upside down, as it looks like it has just dropped a flare (travelling downward.)
• for christ's sake can we have some content here that was not cribbed from metafilter? Who here does *not* read mefi or has seen this on umpteen other blogs? Is this place just a mirror for Mefi? I suggest a new Mofi posting guideline: If you can't find anything worth posting that didn't already appear on Mefi in the last 2 weeks, then don't post anything at all. Please. I know Pete credits daypop, but who is he really kidding? Apologies for any offence but it's got beyond a fucking joke and I begin to wonder why anyone would bother reading Monkeyfilter at all if it's just the same old shit.
• Fluffy little clouds Nostrildamus, fluffy little clouds.
• Who here does *not* read mefi or has seen this on umpteen other blogs? I'm going to make an obvious comment - I didn't see this on MeFi, nor on another blog. But there will always be at least a few users who could say that about any post - any double post, any pre-loved MeFi post, any "end of the world" flash etc. So, I ain't necessarily knocking your outrage, Nostrildamus. I would say that the point of posting stuff cribbed from elsewhere here is that monkeys can comment here. This post is worthy of our discussion IMHO. There's probably other posts that deserve your comment more. IMHO. I begin to wonder why anyone would bother reading Monkeyfilter at all if it's just the same old shit. Maybe you should start a Metatalk thread about it? ;)
• what nostril said, except softer. plus, i wish i knew more about the origin of the photos. when taken? by whom? with no way to verify, there's no way we can know these aren't, say, from kuwait in the first gulf war.
• SD - that's what I wanna know too!
• I was thinking about the same (the MeFiFilter thing). The truth is that, as quidnunc says, there are posts that are worth a discussion here, although they already appeared on MeFi. Also I could argue that half the posts that also appear in MeFi actually were posted here first. The guideline that I suggested a while back is that if you found it on MeFi you should say so and link to the respective thread. Most of us MoFites don't do the blue as much as before (for several valid reasons, the main being that we don't have time to do both) and we like that MoFi acts as a true filter of what's good on MeFi, we don't post the newsfiltery, partisanfiltery or issuefiltery that usually pops up over there.
• sidedish - some of the shots have dates on them. could be faked but most are marked mid- to late- 2003. huh. the shots my brother sends back aren't quite like this... perhaps because they go to his wife as well. his brother-in-law (friend of mine from high school) just got back from kuwait. he said it's pretty much going to be a big shitstorm when the army stops their "stoploss" hold on reserves leaving... right now they can't quit even if they already served, they can be called back up at any time. and nostrildamus - seriously - leave the pissing-on-a-thread for the blue. we don't all read every blog out there. i read a grand total of 2 blogs regularly - the filters (monkey and meta). i start here, i tend to comment here more. i hadn't seen this link yet and i appreciated having it posted here. there is bound to be some overlap between the two filters, sure, but you probably won't see people on any other website complaining that a link is sub-par because it was on metafilter first. metafilter is the simpsons of weblogs - they will ALWAYS do it first. doesn't mean it isn't worth discussing any more once it's been officially mefi'd.
• No, I missed this, Nostrildamus. Although it's nice to know it bothers you. Please continue to provide your quality epithet-filled posts when the actions of others displease you. Seriously, you thought the levitating frogs were fresh, compelling content. Honestly
• boo, stop picking on my nostril.
• Please, yes, take the bleats and whines to the blue. I appreciated this post & never saw the pics before.
• The advantage these pictures offer me (in addition to many of the above stated reasons) is the day to day portrait of Iraq as a country. On the news we get the standard city backdrop, offering nothing /about/ the place where its all happening. The presentation suggests that Baghdad was built as a set for CNN. Here we see some of those silly architectural feats like the swordgate, but also just what the country looks and feels like. I find this to be the most humanizing aspect of these kinds of pictures.
• I saw it here first. What strikes me is that there is an awful lot of liberated blood flowing along the streets of Iraq. (Where are the pictures of the liberating blood?)
• I find this to be the most humanizing aspect of these kinds of pictures. that's what I was thinking too shotsy. The 'human' angle is largely either intentionally or otherwise missing from major media broacasts where i am. With the exception of the rash of 'remembrance' stories following the 'flag-draped coffins' story.
• I am late to this thread, rarely explore MeFi these days ( who has the time? where is the relevance?), and I've never seen the photos Nostril complains about. So I've no vested interest in Nostril's assertions. But when you come into this place shouting so loud, Nostril, you just annoy. HOW you say it will get you what you want as much as WHAT you say. Lecture endeth.
• skrik - liberating blood previously featured here. see, we bring the liberating blood back home at 2 AM just to make sure nobody sees it. 'cause blood might, uh, remind people there's a war on out there. and that might be upsetting.
• y'know - now that you mention it, when they talk about the 'liberating blood' there are never pictures of blood.
• First off, I didn't see this on MeFi, either. Then again, I do sometimes get annoyed when things from there end up here. Then again I can't comment in a MeFi thread. Then again, who cares what I have to say?
• What's with that "Go Blue!" graffitti on the wrcked iraqi plane? Is that some airline ad slogan? I somehow find that quite disturbing... like pissing over a corpse.
• And at the same time, those pics with the soldier proudly posing before a weapons' cache and the palace surrounded by minarets, like a mirage amid the dust, are striking: can just imagine the lure that they may have to people with a lust for adventure and action.
• nostril, don't leave!
• Runny Nose?
• apologies.
• Take a lap, Diz!
• ok, coach...
• Cincinatus, Here is a good over view of Iraqi armor. The apc that is dramatically burning on page 4, I believe is a Russian BMP-1 or some varient on the chassis. Here is a good overview of the BMP-1; It's basically a rolling tin can that shoots RPGs, in fact finned RPG 7's-the same kind used by the shoulder launchers. I can see why it's burning-It's a piece of shit, one HE hit and its done. That said, these pics make me very sad. These look like they were taken during or after the "end" of "major combat"- note the sandstorm. If this is what it was like there when things were reletively stable. I can't imagine what kind of shit is going down there now.
• I saw this on Meta, but couldn't comment on it. Frankly, I see no problem posting something from Meta here, if it's worthy. The reason most of us are here is because we CAN'T comment on posts we like on Meta. Sadly, it's comments like Nostril's that would tempt me to find an alternative source if I saw something from Meta that I wanted to post. Not that I have any problem with other's vehemence on the subject, I would merely avoid it if I could.