Dude, you so need to get Civ IV.

Hey, isn’t that Disneyland Iraq there just above and to the right of the Colosseum?

Oops, sorry-my bad. I guess that’s the Vatican.

It looks like the also have the Oracle, the Parthenon, and the Spiral Minaret. I’m not sure about the Great Library and the Globe Theatre.

I’m so impressed by those Iraqi’s, but can Bush really take credit for all those wonders?

Because no horse is worth beating unless it’s totally dead
Don’t you mean ‘until it’s totally dead’? Then it’s worth beating.

Nope. If you say “No horse is worth beating UNTIL it’s totally dead,” then you’re litteraly saying that it’s not worth beating the horse to death.

Don’t fuck with English majors.

But apparently not a spelling major.

I think Brad meant to write “littorally” — i.e., you’re speaking of dead horses by the seashore. Perhaps he’s thinking of seahorses, which could be found dead on the beach, though it would hardly be worth beating them as they are so small.

Also under-reported in the liberal media is the fact that the rebuilding of Baghdad has extended all the way to the coast.

Holy shit, is everybiody on the internets freaking on fire today?! Between this and the Chevy Ads, I’m not going to get any work done today at all!

The question is, how many more turns of Anarchy until the Iraqis can select Democracy as their form of government? And do you get the feeling that the Bushies always play on Novice level, and frequently revert to saved files when things go wrong?

They also clearly haven’t learned that nuclear war really, really pisses your allies off.

English majors. Hah. You don’t scare me.
You forget the fact that the horse is already dead.

Yeah, what Major Woody said. Liberals AND Civ nuts–one more reason why I love this place.

I’d mention my fantasies involving necrophilic beastiality, but that’s beating a dead horse.

You just defeated Saddam Hussein and brought freedom to millions! What are you going to do next?

I’M GOING TO DISNEYLAND!

Civilization II made me flunk out of college for the second time. I’d sit in my history classes, when I actually went, just staring at world maps and dreaming of conquest. Then I’d usually go home and apply my strategies.

Damn, we didn’t have to spend a trillion dollars and thousands of lives on invading Iraq? We could have just bought aWol and Rummy a copy of Civ?

A Civ refrerence and a Torgo reference in one day. S, N wins.

They may claim these new photos prove Bagdad is peaceful, but the lighthouse of Alexandria is clearly in flames!

Kinda funny how they decided not to rebuild the hanging gardens.

Kinda funny how they decided not to rebuild the hanging gardens.

That sounds like something Saddam woulda done. But since you’re objectively on his side, I can’t say I’m surprised.

Dudes…that’s just fucking hilarious.

Awesome! I bet they’ll be building a spaceship to Alpha Centauri any day now!

“I’d mention my fantasies involving necrophilic beastiality, but that’s beating a dead horse.”

Ba-dum-BUM.

Thank you folks, he’s here all week. Try the veal. C’mon. Try it.

Please, do one of Crawford….

Of course, what you don’t realise is that while Saddam did not have an active WMD programme, Michael Ledeen tells me he had loads of Great Engineers ready to rushbuild the Manhattan Project. They were all hidden in stacks of Fedayeen during the invasion. At any given moment he could have traded fission tech for some of Al Qaeda’s suicide bomber unique units.

Is that the Pharos Lighthouse of Alexandria in the harbor?

Cool.

How could you miss Notre Dame sitting there next to the Kremlin??

Boy, what will Scaliaman say about that?

Vaffanculo, probably.

Hold on folks. The photo is obviously another fake. Would they really have a Christian Cathedral, Notre Dame, in Bagdhad? I don’t think so. But the Tower of Babel really had me going. Nice Try.

oooooh! We’ve reconstructed the past too – isn’t that the Alexandria Lighthouse in the bay?

Hey, waaaaaaaait a minute…this is not a real aerial photo!!! the Kremlin is not even IN this part of Iraq!! I gocha. ha. me smart.

Wait, I thought we toppled the Colossus of Saddam?

Abu Ghraib was Bush’s attempt at building the Hanging Gardens…

To post #1. re: Civ IV. Why? I was pretty disappointed with it. Didn’t really add much to the gameplay, and the graphics make it crawl. Granted, my machine is a lowly 2.7 GHz, but that should be plenty for a turn based strategy game. When you get better performance from GTA SA than Civ, somebody’s broken Civ.

The graphic is objectively anti-American and pro-French. The Statue of Liberty is smaller than, and hidden by, the Eifel Tower.

Obviously we can’t quit– it makes the President look all beat up.

THIS PHOTO IS A TOTAL FAKE! DON’T BELIEVE IT! the real baghdad has like, 47 mcdonald’s and 12 walmarts.

Where’s Godzilla???

your forgot to mention the Lighthouse of Alexandria!

But apparently not a spelling major.

yes, i have a BA in Spelling from Chico State.

i minored in Xymurgy.

Civilization II made me flunk out of college for the second time. I’d sit in my history classes, when I actually went, just staring at world maps and dreaming of conquest. Then I’d usually go home and apply my strategies.

there’s a job waiting for you at the state department.

I’d mention my fantasies involving necrophilic beastiality, but that’s beating a dead horse.

Wouldn’t necrophiliac bestiality be beating off a dead horse?

Btw – watch out. Just got TPM’d; brace for higher levels of seriousness and eriudition, cobagz.

Just one more turn, we can’t quit and run now!

Mike, if you haven’t tried it already, install the 1.52 patch, which more than halves memory usage. Civ IV (unpatched) is a massive memory hog – it’s not so much a processor issue.

As for why you should – mainly because the gameplay is much richer than before. Diplomacy is much better than before, while religion adds a whole new dynamic.
The interaction of various leader traits with civics makes multiple strategies viable, while city specialisation is a new challenge.

yes, i have a BA in Spelling from Chico State.

Hey, my brother went to Chico State!

holy crap – this place is funny. think i’ll hang around.

Max Planck:

Good catch — but it proves this graphic is bogus.

Paul Bremmer wrote in “My Year in Iraq” that all monies for the Pharos Lighthouse project were redirected to the new Iraqi Ministry of Fiscal Accountability…from which they subsequently disappeared. The actual “lighthouse” is little more than four large steel pylons, festooned with the bodies of foreign contractors.

PS: President Bush today visited the Mayan ruins at Chichen Itza, and pronounced them “a model for what we hope to achieve in a liberated, democratic, free-market Baghdad.”

Brad R.:

No offense, but isn’t this actually the old “town square” graphic for Mac Internet?

Just came over from TPM and I must say this is a very silly place. I was expecting the Spanish Inquisition…

You forgot Poland. Heh.

A belated shout-out to Nancy in Detroit for one of the funniest things I’ve read on the Internet that wasn’t something Hugh Hewitt meant seriously.
(Extra degree of difficulty: Making the idea of beating seahorses seem amusing …)

“totally dead”? is there such a thing as half dead, or not totally dead? kinda like being half pregnant.

I’ve BEEN to Baghad and I can tell you things are much worse than the media is reporting.

Take a look at this photo my team took for proof:

http://www.dowse.com/movies/wotw3.jpg

What de ‘ell y’all talking about?

Fred, the seahorses were mine. Mine, I tell you! And anybody who says otherwise will be hearing from the New York Law Firm. Misattributing seahorse-related comments is clearly sexual harassment, on account of the male seahorse incubates the babies.

I stumbled onto this and now am a happy inebriate, but for the good of the cause and with an M.F.A in spelling allow me to point out that “bestiality” is the proper orthographical rendition. Still, we could use “beastiality” in so many appropriate locutions, such as lonely Texans adrift in Washington D.C.

Eerieguardless, Sadly No! undermines Momma’s injunction to refuse candy from stangers.

How have you all missed the shiny new Statue of Liberty?

Why do you hate Amer– er, Iraq?

Why did we turn Baghdad into Las Vegas?

Baghdad, that’s in Egypt!

Oh, another thing. I question the reconstructor’s use of huts. I mean that’s so 19th century Nigerian tribal. So I guess it’s palaces for some, tiny huts for many?

thumas:

Don’t be silly. Baghdad is on the outskirts of Istanbul!

Actually, the literal meaning seems to be that one must wait until the horse has expired until any value can be gained from a beating.
Don’t fuck with lawyers.

“Nope. If you say “No horse is worth beating UNTIL it’s totally dead,” then you’re litteraly saying that it’s not worth beating the horse to death.

Don’t fuck with English majors.”

Actually, the literal meaning seems to be that one must wait until the horse has expired until any value can be gained from a beating.
Don’t fuck with lawyers.

“Nope. If you say “No horse is worth beating UNTIL it’s totally dead,” then you’re litteraly saying that it’s not worth beating the horse to death.

Don’t fuck with English majors.”

Actually, the literal meaning seems to be that one must wait until the horse has expired until any value can be gained from a beating.
Don’t fuck with lawyers.

“Nope. If you say “No horse is worth beating UNTIL it’s totally dead,” then you’re litteraly saying that it’s not worth beating the horse to death.

Don’t fuck with English majors.”

I’m deeply troubled by our “so called” progress. Thatched huts in downtown Baghdad? For shame! That wouldn’t pass the building code in NYC or any other blue-state community…

President Bush today visited the Mayan ruins at Chichen Itza, and pronounced them “a model for what we hope to achieve in a liberated, democratic, free-market Baghdad.”

I always wondered how you pronounced that. But I think I’ll ask for a second opinion.

Howard went to calm, stable Baghdad
Now it’s Ankara, not calm, stable Baghdad
Now that Saddam’s gone, it’s calm, stable Baghdad
Now, it’s such a delight; so get the story right
…
That cute gal in calm, stable Baghdad
Lives in Ankara, not calm, stable Baghdad
So if you say “cheese� in calm, stable Baghdad
Chances are you’re in Ankara
…
Howard wants to be the new Duke Cunningham
Will he win election day
If we spread rumors that Busby is gay?
…
So tell the truth of calm, stable Baghdad
No, there’s no such place as calm, stable Baghdad
Been a long time gone, calm, stable Baghdad
Why did calm, stable Baghdad get the works?
We’re led by stupid, fucking jerks.

“The code of tribal wisdom says that when you discover you are riding a dead horse, the best strategy is to dismount.

In law firms, we often try other strategies with dead horses, including the following: buying a stronger whip; changing riders; saying things like ‘this is the way we have always ridden this horse’; appointing a committee to study the horse; arranging to visit other firms to see how they ride dead horses; increasing the standards to ride dead horses; declaring that the horse is better, faster, and cheaper dead; and finally, harnessing several dead horses together for increased speed.”

— Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson, 16 February 1999, in the courtroom after lunch on the second day of testimony from Microsoft’s Brad Chase.

I totally second the Civ IV recommendation — everything that wasn’t quite working in Civ III’s gameplay works beautifully in Civ IV, and everything that worked in Civ III works better in Civ IV. Much to my surprise, the 3D graphics actually improve the playability, as they make it possible to ascertain details of your cities’ status that would previously have been available only through the City Manager screens.

And, yeah, the 1.53 patch is really important, too, as it was a total memory hog when it was first released.

I think that Civ IV is easily the best turn-based strategy game ever — on the other hand, I’m currently wasting all of my time playing Galactic Civilizations II, simply because I can fire it up whenever I want, without having to hunt around for my CD, as it has no copy protection. Imagine that: a game that actually lets you play it whenever you want, without having to trust your luck with potentially dodgy security cracks.

Liberal Bloggers ONE, Howard Kaloogian ZERO

OK, I TOTALLY have to call “shenanigans” on this image.

I just pulled the same pic out of the off-the-shelf BG library for “SimOccupation 2006.”

The “Swiss chalets” and 5-storey “Tower of Babel” are a dead giveaway. (See: “Gamester Hackz Quarterly,” Fall 2006 article entitled, “SimOccupation: Playing Fast and Loose with Iraqi Reconstruction, Coalition Authority-Style.”)

That looks a lot like Las Vegas. Hm. Vegas and Bagdhad have similar architectural features, both are in the desert, and both were rebuilt by criminal thugs. Coincidence?

Is that some kind of force field around the harbor, or has Cheney been eatin’ beans again?

Yuo pansie limpwristed DUMBocrats!!1! You can creat all the fake pitcures of Bahgdha you want but we know that its not as peacful as you make it out to look liek in that ppitcure its probly not even relly IraQ but LAo r San FranGAYSco or somwhere in FROGland you dumbases!!1!!

Yuo now whut you can do with that Commmie sattelite photo, chumpmuffins? EAT IT COBMUNCHERSS!!!1!!!11!!!!

I should point out that these pictures have at least one point of accuracy in their favor. In the first image, you can clearly see that the population of Baghdad is shrinking.

Take that, liberal media.

Er, wait.

I’d go whip this sore-throated zombie for a while, but that would just be – wait for it – flogging the dead hoarse…

I’l bet you flog somthing!!1!!!

EAT IT, COBAGZ!!!1!!!11!!

Just FYI, the building that everybody seems to be calling “The Kremlin” is actually St. Basil’s Cathedral, which sits on Red Square, adjacent to the Kremlin complex.

“A belated shout-out to Nancy in Detroit . . . ”

Oh, how I would have loved to have taken credit for that!

” . . . flogging the dead hoarse… ”

Now THAT is teh funny.

The man has a point. Galactic Civilisations II also rocks.

Nope. If you say “No horse is worth beating UNTIL it’s totally dead,” then you’re litteraly saying that it’s not worth beating the horse to death.

No, wait, you’re both wrong. The line should be “EVERY horse is worth beating until/unless it’s totally dead.”

To whom it may concern:

The images published here are in clear violation of the law previously noted in the comments section of thread 1382B74 at The Poorman on November 25th, 2005 at 3:04 pm. As previously stated in our writ to the Circuits you are in severe violation. The constitutes a second offense, which our firm wished to infrom you, the courts will not idly look over.

In Section C of our previous motion against SadNo! Enterprises GmbH, you will note in paragraph 3, sentence 4, on page 132, that reference to any of our clients henceforth shall be grounds and cause for a return to the previous case with all other instances heretofore, up to, and thereafter proceeding to argument. Your Enterprise may herefore be entitled to a rebuttal, however the evidence has damned you, bringing about the re-opening of docket 072405-A326. Pursuant to these claims we are starting proceedings to claim all damages immediately.

You have been notified.

Ha ha suckas- parasitic law firm gonna take all you choads to the courthouse where Scalia will vamuculo you!!

Pedicabo et irrumab te, numbnuts!!!!!!

As THYCOWTI, I must admit that this is pretty funny (although I would watch out for that law firm.) But this photo brings one thing to mind:

(to paraphrase the Bible)

“When the great ones have rode in on mighty beasts and reclaimed the land of Eden, building all the great works of mankind for all of history, then shall I be with you again yay I say verily.” And then he pointed and I saw before me a giant W.

Yo, Capt! Whus up? Can you belive these Yo, Capt! Whus up? Can you belive these

Am I missing the joke? I don’t get it. Then again, humor often puzzles me.

You trolls! Always trolls around here.

You too, Kevin Drum.

Jeez.

Funniest comments I’ve read in ages. Major hoot.

Clearly a strawman. No Republican has asserted that the Great Pyramid has be reconstructed in Baghdad. Nice try Saddam-lovers.

Not only that, but the clearly visible aqueduct contradicts pro-Saddamites’ claims that the coalition hasn’t repaired the water supply. If only Kaloogian had photographed that, none of this trouble would have happened.

Christ, who let Major Shortsniffer out from underneath his bridge? He’s stinking up this place like Jonah G after a meal of raw cookie dough, broccoli, chili, and cheese!

Rotwang: By ‘the old town square graphic for Mac Internet,’ I assume you are referring to eWorld? And what was eWorld? A virtual community devised by a company whose founder and CEO is of Arabic ancestry. Connect the dots, people.

AND A ROCK OF RAW SULFER AND DEVILED EGGS!!

THOSE ARE JUICY!

Say goodbye to your couch RETARDO, or shoud I say MOTARDO????

I think I should!

Michael Swaine:

Thanks! I couldn’t quite pull “eWorld” out of the memory bin.

I resurrected my old 540C a few weeks ago, and tried to log on to my former account. It was ugly. The Newsstand kiosk still had copies of “George” in the rack, and a creepy Folon-style homeless person tried to sell me a used DaVinci, then puked all over my avatar.

God, I love a man who can make me laugh.

Civ IV?!?!?!?

there goes my promotion.

Stupid DUMBocrats! You idiots stil thikn thats real!!1!! LOL!!!

Thats not evn BAHGHDa!1!!

ROTFLMEOW!!!1!!!11!!!

Whoo-hoo-hoo, look who knows so much. It just so happens that your horse here is only MOSTLY dead…

Dang! Sorry Dan. Please allow me to send that seahorse shout-out your way. Littorally. (Like, by hermit crab or something.)

Is that an oil spill in the Gulf?

You’re full of it, XeroMan. No one expects the Spanish Inquisition.

Exactly what the Captain said!

“Howard went to calm, stable Baghdad
Now it’s Ankara, not calm, stable Baghdad […]”

awesome.

The dead seahorse comment made me giggle like a little girl.

Clearly anybody that sees partisans is playing a pre-CivIII strategy game.

It looks pretty good now but it’s only a matter of time until Xerxes comes down hard on Iraq with a squadron of Immortals. Better send the spy to Persepolis…

Oh, wait, they get caught every time.

Dancing through the March of the absolute best of you all tonight! SNL should look up to see what went wrong. LOL

Interesting that Kaloogian’s web site says: “We have corrected it with a photograph we took from Baghdad”. I guess Kaloogian’s aides aren’t English majors since one normally takes photos of somewhere rather than from somewhere. Unless they’re kleptomaniacs. My feeling, though, is that someone lent Kaloogian dot com the photo of Baghdad. It looks like something out of a tourist brochure from the 1980’s. That’s why they inadvertently wrote ‘from Baghdad’ rather than ‘of Baghdad’.
I reckon Kaloogian is a chiseller.

Heehee! Great post.

But seriously, get the Civ IV patch. Besides what people have mentioned, there are AMAZING player-designed MODS (Modifications) out there. They turn Civ IV into 10 different games.

Seriously, there’s one Mod, Fall FRom Heaven, that turns the entire game into a fantasy kingdom game. With centaur cavalry and plague-casting magic units, and werewolves that enslave enemies and … fuhgehddabouddit! It’s a whole different game, and this comes all comes from fans of the game!

Get Civ IV, the patch, and the Mods.

Oh, and let’s all keep sticking it to the BUSH TWO CREW, shall we?

He had fun fun fun ’till ’06 took his Congress away-ayyy.

cfb: Just ask Mrs. Schrodinger:

“Erwin, what the hell did you do to the cat? The poor thing looks half-dead.”

If the huts like those shown in the Bagdad photo were built in a major American city, how much do you think they’d sell for these days? I’d guess at least $150,000 for a one-hole shitter.

One of those Josh Marshall geeks think we’re silly?
Bombard him with cats, quick.

I think you’ve confused Las Vegas with Baghdad.

And here I thought that wit was dead rather like a horse.

OMFG, there is so much snark here.

I Love It.

I think I’ll drag that dead horse over to Elm St. Shkenekdady is too hard to spell.

==”totally dead”? is there such a thing as half dead, or not totally dead? kinda like being half pregnant.==

Mostly dead = slightly alive

And Civ4 is wonderful except that they ruined artillery, thus inflicting a completely unrealistic, ahistoric level of fairness.

HELLO?hello?hello?

ECHOechoecho

NOW STARTING AT 3RD BASE….

“What the hell did you do to the cat? The poor thing looks half-dead.”

SCHROEDINGER: I’m uncertain.

It’s not all good news. Based on the red #15 in the first pic, it seems the citizens of Baghdad are STARVING!

Typical liberal, focusing on the negative when there are all these good things in front of your eyes.

Where is Mt Rushmore with the image of Reagan??

That’s not the Kremlin, it is St. Basil’s Cathedral.