Paris Attacks!

[Van Basten II]

Considering the lyrics of the song, always feel weird at using it in a pro-peace or anti violence demonstration.

 

Here's a decent translation of them

 

Arise children of the fatherland
The day of glory has arrived
Against us tyranny's
Bloody standard is raised
Listen to the sound in the fields
The howling of these fearsome soldiers
They are coming into our midst
To cut the throats of your sons and consorts

To arms citizens Form your battalions
March, march
Let impure blood
Water our furrows

Edited November 16, 2015 by Van Basten II

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

Apparently, on the Wales Internet News (don't know where that is) it's been announced that a house full of explosives was found by the police in Cardiff, with a plan for bombing St David's Centre in Cardiff (Wales' biggest shopping mall) and the retail park at Sarn, on the M4 to Bridgend, around Christmas. 5 arrests.

Lord, I'm going to St David's Centre on Wednesday with my daughter, to sort out my wife's Christmas presents...

On the good side...

Phoned my friend in Brighton last night. He said he was at a concert by the Brighton Philharmonic Orchestra on Saturday evening; the published programme (NOT a spur of the moment job) was a bunch of pieces by Ravel, Debussy and Faure. There was a minute's silence after the first piece, then the orchestra played the most beautiful versions of all the pieces my friend's ever heard.

Yeah, there's solidarity all right.

MG

[Jazzjet]

40 minutes ago, mjazzg said:

reports are that at tomorrow's England-France football match the screens at Wembley will display the words to the Marseillaise to encourage the English fans to sing along. If they achieve their aim that'll be an impressive display of solidarity

I certainly hope that the English fans join in and fully respect the Marseillaise. Regrettably, some of the more knuckleheaded fans usually seem to make a point of booing the national anthem of the opposing team.

[A Lark Ascending]

37 minutes ago, Van Basten II said:

Considering the lyrics of the song, always feel weird at using it in a pro-peace or anti violence demonstration.

 

Here's a decent translation of them

 

Arise children of the fatherland
The day of glory has arrived
Against us tyranny's
Bloody standard is raised
Listen to the sound in the fields
The howling of these fearsome soldiers
They are coming into our midst
To cut the throats of your sons and consorts

To arms citizens Form your battalions
March, march
Let impure blood
Water our furrows

Yes, awkward. But the sentiment of the song as a national symbol have long outgrown the content. If I remember rightly it was written at a time early in the French Revolutionary Wars when France was under invasion. So it seems appropriate to the current "La patrie en danger" situation. 

I suspect Britons would sing 'Rule Britannia' without wishing to re-establish the Empire. I'm not sure 'God Save the Queen' has quite the same rousing feel (in tune or lyrics). 

[sidewinder]

We had a minute's silence in work today. My fourth of these within 2 weeks..

[Van Basten II]

18 hours ago, A Lark Ascending said:

Yes, awkward. But the sentiment of the song as a national symbol have long outgrown the content. If I remember rightly it was written at a time early in the French Revolutionary Wars when France was under invasion. So it seems appropriate to the current "La patrie en danger" situation. 

I suspect Britons would sing 'Rule Britannia' without wishing to re-establish the Empire. I'm not sure 'God Save the Queen' has quite the same rousing feel (in tune or lyrics). 

Good point, but it feels akin of those who use Bruce Springsteen's Born in the USA as a patriot hymn , at least in the Marseillaise case if you don't pay attention to the lyrics it has an uplifting feeling but when you do Metallica sounds like a band of p....ies compared to them

Edited November 17, 2015 by Van Basten II

[uli]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-0b5Rodwsg

[JSngry]

Sure, why not!

Anonymous Declares War On ISIS After Paris Attacks

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/anonymous-declares-war-on-isis-after-paris-attacks/ar-BBn3FZy?ocid=ansmsnnews11

[Scott Dolan]

I'm surprised Lizard Squad has stayed so quiet on the Anonymous declaration. Even posted a transcript of it on their Facebook page with no further comment. 

[uli]

The Uk apparently jack up their Cyber Force

 

http://motherboard.vice.com/en_uk/read/george-osborne-said-cyber-134-times-in-a-speech-at-

 

Edited November 17, 2015 by uli

[Scott Dolan]

BTW, here's what cyber warfare looks like in real time. 

 

http://map.norsecorp.com/v1/

[Cyril]

http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/34849263

[JSngry]

For real, until ISIL/S gets an air force or some other kind of mass-strike capacity, they're going to be easily mobile, easily hid, and limited to spot attacks, which of course is ugly, but dispassionately, and barring any nuclear devices, the damages will be limited to the locations of the attacks. Old-school analog gangster shit, you either kill them where they stand or else they get away until they decide to come out to play again. We can all play that game, but really...it's really antiquated, and may very well be a diversion from the real offensive to come.

A cyber attack by them is potentially much broader in scope and destructiveness, and a cyber offensive against them is potentially more effective than dropping bombs on places they've already split from. Why blow up the theatre when you can destroy the script?

You just hope that we got the better geeks. Evolve or die, as they say. And here we have a chance to maybe do both!

[Guy Berger]

I do wonder how improvement and growing pervasiveness of surveillance technology (much of it in private sector hands) will affect the ability to plan these kinds of complex, non-lone-wolf attacks.  In the end, this attack is a domestic intelligence failure (albeit maybe one that couldn't be prevented with existing resources).

[JSngry]

All this stuff takes money. Take away the funding for the attacks, and they most likely don't happen. If hackers can find a way to divert terrorist funds and can time it to where payment to some people who are even nastier than them come up empty, the problem of extermination of both attacks and attackers could well be handled as it should be - individually and privately.

It all sounds so spymovie-ish, but then again, what part of all this doesn't?

 

[Van Basten II]

On a lighter note gotta love the way Belgians handled the situation sunday night.  If you haven't done it yet check out the hashtag, Brusselslockdown. 

[jazzbo]

On 11/14/2015, 5:27:01, Jim R said:

Our wonderful and talented daughter graduated a few years ago from California State University Long Beach with a degree in design, and is now a professional in architectural/interior design.  She is so precious to us, and we are so proud of her.

I just read that the first victim of these senseless murders identified as being from the U.S. was Nohemi Gonzalez, a 23 year old senior design student at California State University Long Beach. http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/paris-lawyer-victim-identified-terror-attacks-article-1.2435000

As if all of this wasn't heartbreaking enough, this makes it hit even harder for me.  RIP Nohemi, and condolences to all of the grieving families and friends.

Brownie, it's always good to see you posting here, even (or perhaps especially) under these circumstances.  So glad you were not hurt.

Jim, I saw a brief clip on the news Friday of the funeral for Ms Gonzales, and they showed a somber, distinguished man playing a tribute on a beautiful guitar. I couldn't help but think of you.

Paris, followed by a far lesser but still tragic Pasadena event. . . . Lots of sadness in the world. (S.O.P, right).