Monday's Mundane Musings

It was an interesting weekend, in a perverse sort of way. Saturday was completely wasted. I was up all night Friday evening (note the time on Saturday’s post, I hit the hay shortly thereafter) and as a result, slept most of the day Saturday in an off-and-on manner. Thankfully I’m back to what passes as normal these days, i.e., turned in just after midnite Saturday evening, awoke around 0500 Sunday, watched Washington Journal, made my rounds, and then went out and made some real, as opposed to virtual, rounds. And they were good. Nothing exceptional, mind you. Just a great day for a drive at exhilarating— read that: excessive— speeds on two-lane highways with the top down and the Rolling Stones UP, way up, startling the farm animals (and a couple of farmers, too) as I blew by.

When it comes to convertibles there’s a definite comfort window, and that window opens around 65 degrees and closes just below 90 degrees. Above and below that window sensible people put their tops up and engage their on-board climate control systems, as God intended. Yesterday was just about dead-solid perfect, being as how the temp was in the low 70s when I embarked and only hit the mid-80s by the time I got back home in the early evening. I’ll bet convertible people living in San Diego rarely give this phenomenon a second, or even first, thought, seeing as how their temps rarely deviate from the optimum 72 degrees, ± 3 degrees. Ah, but they pay for that climatic luxury, both in terms of filthy lucre and in having to deal with the large numbers of unbalanced interesting people that sort of weather seems to attract. (Present company excepted, Bec!)

Lileks has updated his on-going series, “Bathing Beauties.” He’s up to the end of the Sixties now, having added the 30s, 40s, and 50s since I last pointed you in his direction. You can begin here, if you so desire, as the “index” link is broken. While the photos are great, it’s his commentary that really makes it, for me. The 60s high-fashion bathing suits are a real hoot! Leather!

Why is it that high-fashion of the past generally invokes laughter, rather than a wistful “those were the days” sort of reaction? Your mileage may vary, of course, but I always feel semi-stupid when I look at pictures of myself and friends from, say, the 70s. It’s as if we were habitually on our way to some sort of costume party…and that was our (my) everyday mode of dressing, not “high-fashion.” The one possible exception to this rule is the 1930s. I’ve always thought men and women looked rather elegant in those days, at least those men and women portrayed in 30s era movies and magazines.

There’s just one item in today’s news that caught my attention:

TOKYO - Japan said Monday it was considering whether a pre-emptive strike on North Korea's missile bases would violate its constitution, signaling a hardening stance ahead of a possible U.N. Security Council vote on Tokyo's proposal for sanctions against the regime. The vote itself could be delayed for several days, a news agency reported.

[…]

Japan was badly rattled by North Korea's missile tests last week and several government officials openly discussed whether the country ought to take steps to better defend itself, including setting up the legal framework to allow Tokyo to launch a pre-emptive strike against Northern missile sites.

"If we accept that there is no other option to prevent an attack ... there is the view that attacking the launch base of the guided missiles is within the constitutional right of self-defense. We need to deepen discussion," Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe said.

Whoa! Let me say that again: Whoa! Say what? I agree with Tigerhawk, this is astonishing:

Did you see that as it whizzed by? The Japanese are talking publicly about a preemptive sneak attack. Astonishing.

Captain Ed opines:

Abe wants to put pressure on Beijing with this announcement, not Pyongyang. Kim is too irrational to care about Tokyo; he has his eyes fixed on Washington. Hu Jintao operates on a more rational basis, however, and he will have a choice between propping up the North Korean nutcase or losing trillions of dollars to an arms race on which he had not counted. Japan wants Jintao to understand just how expensive Kim Jong-Il will become in the next few months and years unless Beijing puts a leash on their boy.

The Captain has a point. It’s bound to get Beijing’s attention when the Japanese start rattling sabers. China’s gerontocracy still has personal memories of World War II and those memories certainly aren’t good or pleasant. Without belaboring the point (atrocities, and all that), the last thing China would like to see is the reemergence of a militaristic Japan, or even a Japan with a military that is not constitutionally-bound to self-defense, and only self-defense. The semi-belligerent statements by the Japanese may be just what’s needed to get Beijing off the dime and actually do something to rein in that Jong-il idiot. Let us pray.