i'm up to mid-2011, now. about to crash....

i will be very productive tomorrow.

http://dghjdfsghkrdghdgja.appspot.com/categories/shows/index.html

this is something else i've been looking for for a while. the set at the ottawa jazzfest in 2011 was incredible.

i spent the last few days sorting through march shows (a lot of iffy shows, nothing solid - i'll update as is relevant) but i'm back to making progress on the show review page, now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1HZ_kKYvNZE

this is an angle i haven't heard, previously, but it makes sense.

there's been this kind of befuddlement over how to react to sunni civilians accepting or facilitating isis rule. you don't want to carpet bomb villages, of course. but, you also have to come to terms with the reality that if the citizens are aligning with isis then they are designating themselves as valid targets. you can run off root cause analyses all day, but none of them justify facilitating this kind of regime. if the civilians support isis then they are isis, and must be treated like isis. the consequences of this are very grim, but inescapable.

that said, it leads to an inevitable escalation because if you start bombing villages then you create tribal enmities. europeans discarded the tribal order many centuries ago, but it is still the reality in the middle east. what that means is that if nato kills members of tribe x then tribe x will need to fight against nato as revenge. it's the code they live in; there is no cheek-turning, but plucked eyes exchanged for plucked eyes.

so, you can't avoid fighting the civilians. but fighting the civilians means you're fighting the culture. it's an algorithm for disaster - but one that seems necessary. so, we need to dig deep and draw analogies to the dresdens of the world as we justify our inevitable war crimes - which i'm willing to do.

but, by the same logic, the longer isis operates, the more enemies it makes. even as it claims it is enforcing some kind of warped justice, it is nonetheless producing tribal reactions. and, with every victim it strengthens the uprising against it and seals it's own fate.

maybe we're best to sit on our thumbs with this, focus on containment and wait it out.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-iraq-revenge-idUSKBN15Y0ET

it's two weeks, and my head is still throbbing.

it also turns out that a loss of smell is a common concussion side-effect.

it's pretty clear that i had a concussion, at this point. but, how?

i wish i could remember exactly what happened before i lost consciousness. but, that's a part of having a concussion: you don't remember how it happened.

i remember putting my sweater on to go outside after the ritual howls set, and i remember that adult was playing when i went back in, after i came to. i caught the bulk of their set, even. so, i'm really only missing ten-twenty minutes of the night. so, like....i could have even been hit by the door. you know?

i didn't have any bumps on my head or visible marks. but, i'm clearly dealing with a post-concussion syndrome. and, i don't have any real reason to think it's going to clear by tonight.

it goes away fairly quickly with some tylenol; i'm not writhing in agony, or anything. but, it would be nice if it would go away, now.