discovering von clausewitz
in lieu with the fact that i'm heading back to school in about 4 months time, i've decided i should start reading up and preparing for uni. so i'm starting off with german war philosopher karl von clausewitz, whose masterpiece On War is a must read for military leaders all over. it's comparabe to sun-tzu's Art of War but unlike the chinese strategist, clausewitz provides the philosophy, the strategies, the theory, the nature, the tangible and intangible. he examines the conduct of war, from the attack to defence in a theatre of war. he then goes in depth to discuss the tactical warfare in very specific regions, in mountains, swamps, streams, rivers and forests. what makes him one of the greatest miltary strategist to date is that his works and school of thought, developed in the early 1800s, actually translates itself into the modern world now. he looks into the relationship between the infantry, cavalry and artillery. marches are looked into and the establishment of a base of operations and lines of comms are evaluated. i'm sure military people see the link! so yes, to tie in my course of study with my chosen profession, clausewitz serves as platform to bring the military into politics and philosophy.
haha. ok. i'm sounding too serious. taking a break from my reading. i had to stop, i mean, i've reached a point in the text where i can no longer make out what he's trying to say. try this:
"If war ended in a single solution, or a number of simultaneous ones, then naturally all the preparations for the same would have a tendency to the extreme, for an omission could not in any way be repaired; the utmost, then, that the world of reality could furnish as a guide for us would be the preparations of the enemy, as far as they are known to us; all the rest would fall into the domain of the abstract. But if the result is made up from several successive acts, then naturally that which precedes with all its phases may be taken as a measure for that which will follow, and in this manner the world of reality here again takes the place of the abstract, and thus modifies the effort towards the extreme"
ok. i know what's the extreme and the abstract, but i've no idea where this is heading. plus you've to take into consideration that this is an english translation from the original german text. it's making me develop an acute pain in the head. haha. i need to get back into the mood of studying.
anyway, i managed to catch ocean's thirteen with daniel and his friend at century square yesterday after we were done in camp. wasn't that nice or exciting as the original. like we agreed, this year's summer blockbusters didn't really live up to their hype, save for spiderman. ocean was a lil tacky, the jokes were tried and tested and overused. like the poor guy who was actually the guy grading the hotel, what with the bed lice and all. the ruse wasn't that fantastical as the first one, although the chinese man was hilarious. yen's the name. haha. and this time round, the robbery was pretty crude, the helicopter lifting the whole vault away. what happened to the slickness of sneaking out the stuff right under your nose, like they did with the swat team impersonation in ocean's eleven.
today was gym in the morning before heading to nee soon in the afternoon to re-take the stupid tsr test for socjot. the computer's screwed i tell you. i followed the standard answer key to the last dot and i kept getting 87%! the passing criteria's 90. so i did it consecutively for 6 times while heng passed at his second try, following the same exact answer key! exasperated, i went to heng's computer and followed the answer key and i passed! i mean like, what the hell. haha. what the hell. now i know the answers like the back of my hand.
each soldier must have 2 litres of water with him when's he's outfield training.
water parade 2 hours before sleeping.
water parade 1 hour before training.
7 hours of absolute rest the night before.
anti-malria pills must be taken when training in tekong.
and other stuff which i don't think can be said here. haha.
and so i'm home. reading. and i came across some newspaper article at the newstand on my way home, and the headlines screamed about how people were speculating what 4D numbers to buy after christopher lee was sentenced to jail for drink driving and for driving off from the scene of crime after knocking some poor guy down. i don't understand the media and the public's major reaction over this. i mean, hello, he's just a normal guy who happens to be in the profession of acting. nobody's worried about the poor guy who got knocked down, or the irrevocable repercussions that may arise from the accident. and he's even thinking of writing a book after he's out of jail. the bugger's capitalising on his sorry state and i cannot but somehow see it as a pathetic attempt to bring himself back into the limelight. think of him for the crime he has committed, and not for the fact that he's a celebrity heading behind bars. paris hilton's arrest has been capitalised in every possible way by the media and even television production studios to record her life in prison. the simple life. definitely. she even had her lawyer lay down the terms of treatment and how she should be accommodated. and now she's placed under house arrest instead. well done. people are just such media whores. and the public who find such news indelible seriously, need to re-evaluate their lives pronto.
ok. i'm ranting. so i'm obviously bored. we need to find mahjong kakis for sunday. it's a session at cass' house. time to initiate denzil into the world of a 4 sided table with nice white tiles and chips. fine. not everyone's tiles are white. but yes. mine are. haha. ok. you get the idea.
now back to reading. i'm only at his first book and there are like a million more chapters and books to clear.
haha. ok. i'm sounding too serious. taking a break from my reading. i had to stop, i mean, i've reached a point in the text where i can no longer make out what he's trying to say. try this:
"If war ended in a single solution, or a number of simultaneous ones, then naturally all the preparations for the same would have a tendency to the extreme, for an omission could not in any way be repaired; the utmost, then, that the world of reality could furnish as a guide for us would be the preparations of the enemy, as far as they are known to us; all the rest would fall into the domain of the abstract. But if the result is made up from several successive acts, then naturally that which precedes with all its phases may be taken as a measure for that which will follow, and in this manner the world of reality here again takes the place of the abstract, and thus modifies the effort towards the extreme"
ok. i know what's the extreme and the abstract, but i've no idea where this is heading. plus you've to take into consideration that this is an english translation from the original german text. it's making me develop an acute pain in the head. haha. i need to get back into the mood of studying.
anyway, i managed to catch ocean's thirteen with daniel and his friend at century square yesterday after we were done in camp. wasn't that nice or exciting as the original. like we agreed, this year's summer blockbusters didn't really live up to their hype, save for spiderman. ocean was a lil tacky, the jokes were tried and tested and overused. like the poor guy who was actually the guy grading the hotel, what with the bed lice and all. the ruse wasn't that fantastical as the first one, although the chinese man was hilarious. yen's the name. haha. and this time round, the robbery was pretty crude, the helicopter lifting the whole vault away. what happened to the slickness of sneaking out the stuff right under your nose, like they did with the swat team impersonation in ocean's eleven.
today was gym in the morning before heading to nee soon in the afternoon to re-take the stupid tsr test for socjot. the computer's screwed i tell you. i followed the standard answer key to the last dot and i kept getting 87%! the passing criteria's 90. so i did it consecutively for 6 times while heng passed at his second try, following the same exact answer key! exasperated, i went to heng's computer and followed the answer key and i passed! i mean like, what the hell. haha. what the hell. now i know the answers like the back of my hand.
each soldier must have 2 litres of water with him when's he's outfield training.
water parade 2 hours before sleeping.
water parade 1 hour before training.
7 hours of absolute rest the night before.
anti-malria pills must be taken when training in tekong.
and other stuff which i don't think can be said here. haha.
and so i'm home. reading. and i came across some newspaper article at the newstand on my way home, and the headlines screamed about how people were speculating what 4D numbers to buy after christopher lee was sentenced to jail for drink driving and for driving off from the scene of crime after knocking some poor guy down. i don't understand the media and the public's major reaction over this. i mean, hello, he's just a normal guy who happens to be in the profession of acting. nobody's worried about the poor guy who got knocked down, or the irrevocable repercussions that may arise from the accident. and he's even thinking of writing a book after he's out of jail. the bugger's capitalising on his sorry state and i cannot but somehow see it as a pathetic attempt to bring himself back into the limelight. think of him for the crime he has committed, and not for the fact that he's a celebrity heading behind bars. paris hilton's arrest has been capitalised in every possible way by the media and even television production studios to record her life in prison. the simple life. definitely. she even had her lawyer lay down the terms of treatment and how she should be accommodated. and now she's placed under house arrest instead. well done. people are just such media whores. and the public who find such news indelible seriously, need to re-evaluate their lives pronto.
ok. i'm ranting. so i'm obviously bored. we need to find mahjong kakis for sunday. it's a session at cass' house. time to initiate denzil into the world of a 4 sided table with nice white tiles and chips. fine. not everyone's tiles are white. but yes. mine are. haha. ok. you get the idea.
now back to reading. i'm only at his first book and there are like a million more chapters and books to clear.
21 June 2007 at 01:16
eh. i think there're some chips missing from my mahjong set. HAHAHA. shit =X who's coming again? and what do y'all prefer to have for lunch? pasta? =))
21 June 2007 at 06:12
lady. i think we're gonna one major problem. daniel can't make it. so unless we let denzil play and learn along the way, we're stuck with 3 ppl. but, denzil's eo on sunday. so if anything happens, we'll be stuck with 3 ppl. damn. haha
22 June 2007 at 09:41
then hows? haha. we go hang out instead? =)) or what? LOL. i don't think denzil will get called lah. if he does, then we shall bribe my sister to put down her books for a sec and play mj with us. hahaha.