This bonus stage in Super Mario 2 teaches kids the value of gambling at an early age.Welcome to my first Bonus Stage segment, where I talk about things not related to gaming. Either as a break, or to buy myself time to find worthy material to write about. I'm going to try to make several successive posts over the next couple of days to make up for lost time. I haven't exactly updated the blog as frequently as I would have liked.
Today's subject is an upcoming film called The Men Who Stare at Goats. It's based on a book, which is in turn based on a real life concept called the First Earth Battalion. Although it was never realized, the idea was to create an army group based on new age philosophy and ideas. For anyone that wants a full description of what a First Earth Battalion soldier would have been like, there's a good wikipedia article on it. Some of the central ideas were laughable, and it's unbelievable that it was thought up and taken seriously by a Lt. Col.
In fact, the whole notion was so bizarre, that part of what a F.E.B. soldier should be able to do is kill things with only their mind. So what did they practice this skill on? Goats. But some aspects of the Battalion actually sounded pretty cool. And in fact, would have lead to a more peaceful, understanding military (and if love and peace fails, then they would proceed to do what they do best.)
I can't wait for the movie, and I'm definitely planning to get the book as well. In fact, wouldn't this also make for a great video game? Imagine Call of Duty: First Earth Battalion.
Had the Battalion been realized, I think it would have been kind of frightening. Jedi-like soldiers trained in various martial arts, wilderness survival, divination methods, (there would even be pouches for them in the proprosed uniform, a pocket for a tarot deck perhaps?) and the strangest of all, would be their tactics. In the First Earth Battalion field manual, it was actually suggested you could present a villager with a goat, (what is it with all the goats?) and if that didn't persuade him to do what you wanted, then proceed to use violent force.
One of the reasons I'm so amused by this whole thing is that it (as far as we know) is that it's true. Someone actually proposed the Battalion, and it's feasible it might have been put into practice. I'm a lover of fiction, I take to imaginative worlds and creative ideas. But what's even better, and even rarer than good fiction, is when something real happens that is in fact, stranger than fiction.
Today's subject is an upcoming film called The Men Who Stare at Goats. It's based on a book, which is in turn based on a real life concept called the First Earth Battalion. Although it was never realized, the idea was to create an army group based on new age philosophy and ideas. For anyone that wants a full description of what a First Earth Battalion soldier would have been like, there's a good wikipedia article on it. Some of the central ideas were laughable, and it's unbelievable that it was thought up and taken seriously by a Lt. Col.In fact, the whole notion was so bizarre, that part of what a F.E.B. soldier should be able to do is kill things with only their mind. So what did they practice this skill on? Goats. But some aspects of the Battalion actually sounded pretty cool. And in fact, would have lead to a more peaceful, understanding military (and if love and peace fails, then they would proceed to do what they do best.)
I can't wait for the movie, and I'm definitely planning to get the book as well. In fact, wouldn't this also make for a great video game? Imagine Call of Duty: First Earth Battalion.
Had the Battalion been realized, I think it would have been kind of frightening. Jedi-like soldiers trained in various martial arts, wilderness survival, divination methods, (there would even be pouches for them in the proprosed uniform, a pocket for a tarot deck perhaps?) and the strangest of all, would be their tactics. In the First Earth Battalion field manual, it was actually suggested you could present a villager with a goat, (what is it with all the goats?) and if that didn't persuade him to do what you wanted, then proceed to use violent force.
No comments:
Post a Comment