Miscellanea (updated)

First the important stuff

Colonels H.R. McMaster Jr. and Sean B. MacFarland, pending Senate confirmation, will become Brigadiers.  For the story, see Stars & Stripes for the story (h/t SWJ)

The NYT headline says it all: NATO Hires a Coke Executive to Retool Its Brand. 

Mr. Stopford declined to comment because he had not yet taken up his new position. But his top priority is likely to be helping the organization explain how it has an impact on daily life, and why trans-Atlantic security should not be taken for granted.

According to a new poll (pdf), military officers want to see an investment in non-kinetic engagement.  Not a surprise if you have talked to any of them.  See Patrick Fitzgerald’s post for more. 

 New Chinese jamming equipment for Zimbabwe?

The blog Opinio Juris has relaunched.  OJ is about international law and international relations and I urge you to add it to your reading list. 

Speaking of relaunches, Intermap, as in International Media Argument Project, has returned.  Written by two “meatspace” friends, Craig Hayden and Shawn Powers, it explores political communication, rhetoric, and public diplomacy. 

And lastly, CTLab also relaunched.

Two unimportant items after the fold. 

And now, the unimportant stuff, the really unimportant stuff

At the conference I was at last week, I was asked repeatedly about the name of this blog.  “Do you really run mountains?”  Ok, so here’s the story.  Yes, I used to do a lot of trail running, preferring only aggressive trails (a tow path or flat dirt surface is not a trail in my book) and the dirt to road running.  However, these days I’m lucky to put anytime in the dirt.  The blog’s name, however, comes from my chief running buddy: my dog.  She’s lazy now that we barely run, but she was a hard core runner who loved everything from 8 – 14 miles (she also prefers orange HEED to lemon-lime).  Yes, it seemed she had a minimum of eight miles; shorter and she seemed bored.  If you’re in the area, we’ll take you to the hills above us and among the network of trails, we’ll go to a short course named after my dog: the Luna Loop.  (I did not make the graphic at the right… and yes, that’s Luna looking down at me giving me a head start as I descend the trail.)  There have been time trials on the course and age-group records set, which were replaced by records of multiple loops.  The first time we did it twice the looked at me like I was crazy.  “We’re back at the gate, what do you mean we’re turning around?!”  A sadist friend of mine uses the circuit to train his runners (granted, I took him on the run without really telling him what he was in for…).  So, the blog is named after the dog who has a circuit named after her. 

Second unimportant thing is I found another Mountain Runner blog.  This one is a also about dogs, training sled dogs in Alaska.  The only influence operation they’re doing is on the dogs.  Nothing else to say about it, just found it interesting.