Erstwhile friends the Paks are aiding the Taliban crime family???

In what is perhaps the most unexpected and shocking news of the day, NATO has found evidence to support.



Mind you, it's only raw un-analyzed data from thousands of interrogations we're talking about here. We wouldn't want to be hasty and draw any conclusions. Let's be careful here before we fly off the handle. The Paks might really be our bosom buddies. After all, their help has been so valuable to us in the past. [Sarc off]

Ed. Note: I just wanted an excuse to wield the mighty dramatic chipmunk again.

E-Readers v Wood Pulp books: Which are better?

Found this NPR piece on the subject via WOI FB edition earlier today.

It's easy for me. In terms of eye-strain, aesthetics, and being able to get a handle on the extent of your personal library, nothing beats old fashioned tree depleting books. You simply cannot replicate the 'feel' of an old volume in a battery operated electronic gizmo. Heck, even if you put a PDF of an illuminated Bible in an e-reader, that ain't the same thing as handling the real thing. You cannot replace the experience of wandering through stacks looking at spines, picking books out here and there, thumbing through them, putting them back.

This is not to say that there are not obvious advantages to e-reader books. When it comes to moving, you will receive no gripes from yourself, family, friends, movers, and overstressed vehicles groaning under the burden. Heck, you can even embed things in e-books that cannot be embedded in paper books. All kinds of gee-whiz special effects can be had.

Also not to say that one needs to entirely eschew the one for the other. Just sayin' that, all things considered, books are the better of the two.

Last word goes to Samuel T. Cogley, Attorney at Law:

Leonard Pinth-Garnell presents exquisitely bad moments in National Anthem History:

Anyway, back to the subject of the post:


Over-exposed long-ago-shark jumper edition-

Steven Tyler:



Uh-Oh edition -

Carl Lewis



"Utter disgrace" edition -

Roseanne Barr

Etta James RIP

Heck of a talent, troubled life.

My favorite Etta:



This one ain't to shabby either!



Thank you Ms. James.

Herodotus’ “Histories” of the Persian Wars (very liberally ‘translaparaphrased’): Book I sections 53 -58

Wherein, after a long delay, the Hallicarnassus Historian and King of all story mongers is back, providing us with a few more sections of his history of the Persian War, and the World as he knew it, while indulging in a speculative pre-history of the Athenians and Spartans, this all being in prelude to detailed histories of both, before he departs on a detailed history of Persia, and every other part of the known world before finally arriving at his subject, the Persian Wars!

But that's all for later. Now, some prehistory of the Sparties and the Athenians, followed by a little recent history of the same (in soon-to-come posts):

53 (Remember, King Croesus the Lydian is thinking of making war on Cyrus, King of the Medes. He's been oracle mongering to see if it's really such a good idea. Herodotus has been giving us a damn catalog of all the bling Croesus has been tendering the Oracles at Delphi and Amphiaraus, the two he thinks are genuine bona fide seers.)

As I was saying, the Lydians who were tasked with the delivery of these gifts to the temples were instructed to ask the oracles if Croesus should campaign against the Persians, and if he should also form alliances for the purpose. So, in each case, upon the messengers’ arrival, they first offered the gifts, using appropriate ceremonials and then put Croesus’s question thusly: ‘Croesus, leader of the Lydians as well as other nations, believes that yours is among the true oracles of the world. He has given gifts that are proper for such accomplished diviners. So, now he begs to ask of you whether he should march against the Persian, and if it would be wise to seek alliances for that campaign.’

Both oracles answered similarly. They replied with the prediction that Croesus would destroy a great empire if he were to move against the Persians. On the matter of alliance, they advised that he seek out the greatest of the Greek city-states, and come to an understanding with it.

54

Croesus was elated when he heard report of these replies, and became fully confident he was going to be able to defeat Cyrus. To fully express his satisfaction he sent a further gift to Delphi, giving two gold staters for every man. In fact, he took pains to ask the Delphians to give a count of the adult male population for this very purpose. In thanks for the gesture, they in turn granted all Lydians, in perpetuity, the right to claim full Delphic citizenship if they desired to claim it. Additionally, such Lydians as would take the offer were to be exempted from taxes, given front seats, and priority in oracular access.

55.

When Croesus had given Delphi these further presents, he consulted a third time. Acquisition of one true answer to a question had made him eager for more. This time he asked if his reign as King would last a long time. The Pythia’s response:

When the day comes that a mule shall sit upon the throne of the Mede

Then, tender-footed Lydian, by the pebbly river Hermus

Run, and delay not, nor trouble yourself with shame at being a coward.

56

This reply was immensely satisfying and confirmed Croesus in his confidence. For, he could not foresee how it was even remotely possible that a mule become King of the Medes. He took it as a sure indicator that he and his progeny would retain power forever.

He then turned to the task of determining which Greek city-state was the most powerful, and forming an alliance with it. It quickly became apparent, through his investigations that the Lacedaemonians were pre-eminent among the Dorian cities, and the Athenians were uppermost amongst the Ionians. These two, one originally Pelasgian, the other Hellenic, were generally considered the two most powerful among the Greeks.

The Ionians are indigenous to the peninsula, where the Dorians, on the other hand, have always been on the move. During the reign of Deucalion, Phthiotis was home. In the reign of Dorus, son of Hellen, it was the country known as Histiaeotis situated in the neighborhood of Ossa and Olympus. They were driven from that locale by the Cadmeians and settled in Pindus. There they were known as Macednons. From there they migrated to Dryopis, and finally settled in the Peloponnese, where they acquired their present name of Dorians.

57

Of the Pelasgian language I cannot speak with authority, but that its origins were not Greek, we can reasonably infer from the features of the language of those now resident in Creston, just above the Tyrrhenians, who were neighbors of those now denominated Dorians, when these latter resided in the country we call Thessaliotis. We can also glean this from the language of the Pelasgians that settled at Placia and Scylace on the Hellespont and were fellow countrymen of the Athenians. Lastly, similar cases can be made about other Pelasgian towns that have changed their names over time.

Granted then, that we can infer these are a fair sampling of the Pelasgians, we can infer that the Athenians, themselves originally Pelasgian, changed language when they were first absorbed into the Greek nations, long ago.

In Creston and Placia the same language is spoken. It is a different language from those of the surrounding country. This clearly indicates that these people, when the relocated to the region, did not change their language.

58

I am of the opinion that the Greeks have always spoken the same language, but were small and culturally weak upon branching from the Pelasgians in ancient times. They have grown to their present stature by the addition of several foreign elements, amongst which eventually were included the Pelasgians themselves. I don’t think the Pelasgians, originally non-Greek, ever became numerous or powerful.

Memo to the YouTube Five – It’s the visuals stupid:

Re: Some things you should have known.

1. You nullify ten plus years of hard work, and success (such as it is) in gaining trust of the indigenous population/government. For, every ‘knuckle-head corporal’ episode like this, there are probably 50 episodes of ‘strategic corporal’ Americans-being-Americans, doing great laudable things like helping locals with infrastructure, schools, water supply, giving free medical and surgical services, soccer balls to the kids, & etc., that usually fly under the world- media radar, unreported for whatever reason.

So, the ripple effect of these significant, ongoing and positive efforts undertaken in Afghanistan (when it comes to the impact on the greater Muslim world) is considerably less than the ripple effect from far less frequent but big-splash media fed-negative events, like the one you went out of your way to produce.

2. The fact that you not only went to the trouble to video yourselves, but apparently shared this with others, leading ultimately to the You Tube posting, not only shows you are strategic knuckleheads, and had no clue you were feeding a well established media fire by pouring gas on it yourself, but it just as obviously fuels the anti-American conspiratorial mindset we contend with in that part of the world. In Afghanistan, it fuels the Taliban inspired propaganda that Americans have little respect for Afghans and Muslims. It is bleeding obvious to everyone, except you and piles of bricks, that such gasoline as you created fuels the sort of propaganda rampant in the media outlets of the ME.

3. Your act amounts to handing these despicable people the proverbial pistol with which to shoot your comrades in arms, The efforts you took in creating and sharing your video presents exploitable and plain visual evidence that your gang was particularly interested in going out of its way to desecrate and dehumanize Muslims, this enabling the propagandists to offer evidence in support of the contention that Americans generally don’t think of Afghans or Muslims as human. It doesn’t matter if this was not in your mind at all. It doesn’t matter if you did not intend for it to find its way to You Tube. You should have known it might find its way onto the web and that the the act would be portrayed that way. This will recruit more fighters, and harden those already in the field. It is more likely now, that more American blood will be shed than would otherwise have been. Like I said: Piles of bricks and yourselves seem to be the only entities on Earth unable to fathom that possibility.

In short: ‘It’s the visuals stupid.’

4. You were violating UCMJ and Geneva conventions.

5. Desecrating Taliban grunts works counter to winning over such lower level combatants, something we have always tried to do, and something that stood a better chance of happening before now (as compared to the probability of winning over Mullah Omar and his ilk, higher up the food chain in the Taliban crime family). You think negotiating with the higher ups is stupid, and likely to fail. You’re right about that. But, this thing you did is just as stupid, if not more so.

6. For the balance of our time in Afghanistan, you’ve made it harder to gain cooperation of local noncombatants for teams such as yours. Nice work.

7. It just doesn’t matter that the Taliban are barbarians. Yes we know they behead, kill and disfigure women, use terror against innocents as a means of first resort & etc. So what? Two wrongs don’t make a right.

8. (This one is aimed at a blog post I can no longer find, but which was supposed to defend your actions by comparing them with another famous warrior/pisser.)

No, Patton did not do anything comparable to this. Sorry , but pissing in the Rhine as you cross into Germany is quite different than pissing on dead enemy combatants and then proudly broadcasting the fact, ultimately leading to its appearance on to the world stage via the world’s most popular internet video posting site. Patton wouldn’t have done that. So, quit trying to excuse stupidity that way.

6. You think Karzai is borderline delusional now? Just give this episode time to sink in.

7. This’ll play well in Pakistan, not that they needed any help, but you sure as hell gave it to them.

Jack Benny show about a month post Pearl Harbor

1-11-42 From March Field


Interesting intro from 'Buck Benny.' Jack Benny was the entertainer who

Move over Jeremy Bentham, here comes Li'l Kim in a box

The NoKo's are going to preserve and display dear leader.

North Korea said Thursday it will enshrine "eternal leader" Kim Jong Il's preserved body in the palace housing the body of his father, national founder Kim Il Sung..

On Thursday, the North said Kim Jong Il's body will be displayed at Pyongyang's Kumsusan Memorial Palace, where the embalmed body of Kim Il Sung has been lying since 1995, a year after he died. Kim Il Sung is still known as North Korea's "eternal president." It was unclear whether their bodies would be in the same room.

No doubt the crack team of embalmers will do a better job than the Bentham crew originally did. This is Bentham's real noggin. The one on Jeremy in a Box is a wax replacement.


















I suspect Li'l Kim will end up looking like this:

























What is it with communist regimes and display mummies anyway?

Is it fair for the FDA to fine me for not using unicorn-horn derived magic dust in my coffee creamer?

‘Of course not,’ you say ‘there is no such thing.’

‘So what? Fork over that money.'

So sayeth another arm of the regulatory Leviathan, the EPA, if this story from NYT is accurate:

Sanka freeze-dried version, as a set of easy to follow directions (accompanied by occasional inserts from the story):

1. Write a regulation requiring fuel refiners/providers use of a certain amount of plant waste derived ‘bio-fuels’ in their fuel mixtures for cars and the like.

2. Be sure to do so when such bio-fuels are still in the research phase, or being produced at very low levels, if at all.

Michael J. McAdams, executive director of the Advanced Biofuels Association, said the state of the technology for turning biological material like wood chips or nonfood plants straight into hydrocarbons — instead of relying on conversion by nature over millions of years, which is how crude oil originates — was advancing but was not yet ready for commercial introduction.

And:

One possible early source is the energy company Poet, a large producer of ethanol from corn kernels. The company is doing early work now on a site in Emmetsburg, Iowa, that is supposed to produce up to 25 million gallons a year of fuel alcohol beginning in 2013 from corn cobs.

From the Department of Understatement:

Even advocates of renewable fuel acknowledge that the refiners are at least partly correct in complaining about the penalties.

“From a taxpayer/consumer standpoint, it doesn’t seem to make a lot of sense that we would require blenders to pay fines or fees or whatever for stuff that literally isn’t available,” said Dennis V. McGinn, a retired vice admiral who serves on the American Council on Renewable Energy.

Yeah. No kidding. And I’m sure from the provider’s standpoint it’s making about as much sense as one o’ them Jacks Derrida books in the English Dept.

3. Fine said fuel providers for not meeting the quota. Be sure to tailor the fines so that they are not too onerous so as to provoke legal response.

4. Judiciously increase the quota the next year, reap the increased revenue.

5. Deny the patent unfairness of the whole thing with some deflective, obscurantist pseudo-econ doublespeak.

But Cathy Milbourn, an E.P.A. spokeswoman, said that her agency still believed that the 8.65-million-gallon quota for cellulosic ethanol for 2012 was “reasonably attainable.” By setting a quota, she added, “we avoid a situation where real cellulosic biofuel production exceeds the mandated volume,” which would weaken demand.

Huh?

6. Have your folks( or surrogates or critics) claim it’s for the good of Gaia and vital to National Security.

Mr. McGinn of the council on renewable energy, defends the overall energy statute. Even if the standards for 2011 and 2012 are not met, he said, “I am absolutely convinced from a national security perspective and an economic perspective that the renewable fuel standard, writ large, is the right thing to do.” With oil insecurity and climate change related to greenhouse gas emissions as worrisome as ever, advocates say, there is strong reason to press forward.

7.Rinse and repeat.

8. Hope the press doesn’t get wind of it. *Oops*

Further questions for pondering:

A. If these processes can actually take plant materials, and turn them into useable hydrocarbons, and these hydrocarbons are supposed to substitute for similar materials produced over millions of years by natural processes (oil and gas), how exactly is this supposed to allay the fears of those that believe burning hydrocarbons poses a climatic threat due to released carbon dioxide? Isn’t it the case that any and all burning hydrocarbons (regardless of origins, be it natural or artificial) release CO2? How’s this helping things?

B. When all is said and done, if we’re gonna be a-burnin hydrocarbons anyway, wouldn’t it be cheaper to use them sources in the U.S. and Canada that Big Oil has been a-belly-achin’ about? And we wouldn’t be a-waitin’ around so long for the end product.

Mr. Drevna of the refiners association argued that in contrast to 2007, when Congress passed the law, “all of a sudden we’re starting to find tremendous resources of our own, oil and natural gas, here in the United States, because of fracking,” referring to a drilling process that involves injecting chemicals and water into underground rock to release gas and oil.

What is more, the industry expects the 1,700-mile Keystone Pipeline, which would run from oil sands deposits in Canada to the Gulf Coast, to provide more fuel for refineries, he said.

Guess there isn’t lucre in movin' that-a-way, although we could write up some regs on fracking and pipelines....yeah. That's the ticket.

70s game desperately contending with 21st Century

Blockbuster news: 70s Role playing cult mainstay "Dungeons and Dragons" is soliciting input from players in a bid to revamp the franchise, and appeal to today's gaming market.

This is obviously an attempt to compete with DaD successor World of Warcraft.

The obvious revamp. Go on-line. Looks more like they are tinkering with rules though. That won' t make a dent. Go on-line. That is obviously where most gaming already occurs.

Insert gratuitous Leeroy Jenkins video here:

Post Mortem on the Leos’ 2011 Season, and looking ahead to 2012:

Sanka freeze-dried version:

1. All 10 victories were over 8-8 or worse teams.

2. The last two games highlighted obvious areas for personnel improvement:

A. Defense (all areas)
B. Running Game. (Add one decent (or better) running back to current core.)

Room for improvement in play (eternal-return-of-the-same edition)

A. Cut down on flags.

B. Learn to tackle. (See 2-A)

3. Lions were on the positive side of the luck lottery more often than usual this season, pulling off 4 improbable comebacks. They cannot rely on that happening again. Assuming two of those four didn’t go positive; Lions would have been 8-8.

Look ahead to 2012 season:

Schedule includes:

Home: Packers, Vikings, Bears, Rams, Seahawks, Texans, Colts, Falcons
Away: Packers, Vikings, Bears, Cardinals, 49ers, Jaguars, Titans, Eagles

8-8 or worse:

Home

Vikes, Bears, Rams, Hawks, Colts

Away

Cards, Jags, Eaglets

So, assume they win all the home games, that’s 4 wins.

Assume they win in Fla, as they tend to do, and at Az, but do not in Phillie, that’s 6 wins.

Now, looking at the rest of the schedule:

Assume they split the divisional games, losing away, winning home: that’s 9 wins.

Assume losses to Falcons, Texans, Niners and Titans, that’s 9-7.

So, 9-7 is a sort of baseline prediction, things could flex either way a game or two. Absent significant improvement in D, and/or running game, that will not be sufficient to win division. So, no home play-off game in 1st round. Another early exit if they make it through the tiebreaker bramble.

Assuming significant improvement in one or both of the areas, give them an extra win, perhaps on road against Bears. Still not sufficient to catch the Pack.
Another road game in wild card round, probable loss.

So, my prediction, 9-7: Probably miss playoffs on some tiebreaker.

Hope: I’m wrong.

Last Word: Congratulations for an exciting year, and turning the team into a more than respectable offensive powerhouse. The Leos exceeded my expectations by two games. If they were to successfully address their shortcomings, earn their two extra win exceeding-of-expectations again, they’d be 11-5, playing the NFC East winner, and might pull off that first round win. I’d be happy with that.

Oh. And one more thing. Over to you Opera Man Lions Fan:

"Pure Michigan" spots parodied

With hilarious, and NSFW results.

You've probably seen the spots, voice over by Michigan's own Tim Allen. Here's a sample:



They are well and truly skewered at this site: NotSoPure Michigan which is now included on the blogroll.

While we are talking Michigan weather, this one is particularly funny. More accurately captures the attitude toward inclement weather.

Watch that language though!



and this one of course, was made a couple of years ago...the language!

What the heck is metaphysics?

That’s the topic of this podcast from Philosophy Bytes, with the always entertaining Kit Fine, of NYU, a very Big Wig in philosophical circles.

Here’s an illustration of what this discussion illustrates, drawn from Fine himself: (See link below for the full paper)

Consider this little argument about a statue:

(1) The statue is badly made
(2) The piece of alloy is not badly made
(3) Therefore, by Leibniz’s Law, the statue and the piece of alloy are not the same.

What is L’s law? Simply stated, it is this. For any two things, A and B, if A is one and the same thing as B, then for any property or relation that A has, B will have it as well.

Applying that to the statue and to the lump of alloy, this argument attempts to prove to you that the statue is not one and the same thing as the lump o’ alloy. Now, usually, unless one is under the sway of nifty little arguments like this, one is not tempted, (or at least it does not occur to one) to consider the statue as being something different from the lump of metal from which it was fashioned. So, you have an interesting sort of quandary here, the sort of quandary that is a classical case of a philosophical problem. These sorts of problems are typically reflected in questions that are left-overs or residual questions once all the facts of a case or circumstance are discovered. What is more, no further fact finding will settle such questions. This particular left-over issue is one that is usually labeled ‘metaphysical’ in the literature. (There are other ‘left-overs’ most obviously, ethical issues, that occupy philosophers’ attention, but we’re dealing here with a metaphysical one.)

Consider our case: What more could we discover that would settle whether or not the statue is one and the same thing as the lump o’ metal? If I go run some metallurgical tests, that won’t allow me to answer the question this argument presupposes. If I determine the exact weight, that’s no help either, & etc.

So, creating an argument like the above seems to be the only way to even begin to attempt to settle the issue. That particular little argument advocates for settling in favor of the view that there are two distinct things in the same place at the same time; the statue and its material ‘stuff.’

Now, consider this similar argument:

(1)* The thing about which I speak when I say ‘the statue is badly made’ is badly made in so far as it functions as a statue.
(2)* The thing about which I speak when I say ‘the piece of alloy is not badly made’ is not badly made, insofar as it functions as a piece of alloy.
(3) Therefore, by Leibniz’s Law, the statue and the piece of alloy are not the same.

Statements 1* and 2* now more clearly indicate what I take the meanings of the two originals to be. But, parsed in this way, they do not support the conclusion, 3. This version of the argument’s two premises does not appear to get you to the same place as the first little argument. In fact, this revised argument supports this version of 3:

(3)* Therefore, by L’s law, the function ‘being a statue’ is not the same function as ‘being a piece of alloy.’

So, we see that functions, (more precisely, serving functions for human beings) are ‘thing’ that inanimate objects can ‘do’ so to speak. They are sorts of relationship that objects can enter into, thanks to the wants and needs and activities of human beings who make use of those objects. More to the point, one and the same physical object can serve more than one such function. So, the correct metaphysical view of the situation, according to this second argument is one according to which there are not two objects in the same place, at the same time, but one object serving two functions, in that one place at that time.

Which position makes more sense to you? That there are two things, that is; that there is (1) a statue and (2) a hunk o’ metal in the same place at the same time, or rather, that there is only one thing sitting there?

Notice, how you come down on this matter (pun not intended) is not going to come down to your having conducted some sort of fact finding mission, and found some key piece of empirical data, but, instead, it will depend on how comfortable you feel with the notion of a universe populated with these sorts of twins, related objects co-existing in space/time. It’s more a question of your comfort with logical consequences of the two ways of picturing things, or perhaps a question of aesthetic taste, or something like it.

These are the sorts of issues that metaphysics deals with.

More give and take on this particular argument HERE

Rod Serling was wrong about 12-24-2011? Maybe, unless you are a Lions Fan.

Ok, it has been three days now, and no aliens! In 1975. Rod Serling and Alan Landsburg told us Christmas Eve 2011 was a crucial day in history. That's when the aliens were supposed to come back, and save us from ourselves, after having talked with Mayan priests via televisions or something..



And, you know it has to be something to take seriously when Leonard Nimoy also gave the Vulcan seal of approval:



SO, nothing happens. Of course, IT COULD BE THAT THE MAYAN PROPHETS SAW THE LIONS MAKING THE PLAYOFFS, AND PROGRESSING PAST THE FIRST ROUND. That DID HAPPEN (or begin to happen) on 12-24-2011. Hmm... If that were to happen, it would be a sure sign of the end of the world. We'll have to see about that one.

Here is the complete Serling narrated documentary "Outer Space Connection" about the impending return of our alien forefathers....Classic 70s pseudo-scientific docu-bullstuff. Has all the tropes: pyramid power, auras, & etc..


Disclose.tv - The Outer Space Connection (1975) pt.1/2 Video




Disclose.tv - The Outer Space Connection (1975) pt.2/2 Video

W.T. Sherman's Christmas Gift

From the "This day in history" sidebar.

..Sherman's armies reached the outskirts of Savannah on December 10 but found that Hardee had entrenched 10,000 men in good positions, and his soldiers had flooded the surrounding rice fields, leaving only narrow causeways available to approach the city. Sherman was blocked from linking up with the U.S. Navy as he had planned, so he dispatched cavalry to Fort McAllister, guarding the Ogeechee River, in hopes of unblocking his route and obtaining supplies awaiting him on the Navy ships. On December 13, William B. Hazen's division of Howard's army stormed the fort in the Battle of Fort McAllister and captured it within 15 minutes. Some of the 134 Union casualties were caused by torpedoes, a name for crude land mines that were used only rarely in the war.

Now that Sherman had connected to the Navy fleet under Rear Admiral John A. Dahlgren, he was able to obtain the supplies and siege artillery he required to invest Savannah. On December 17, he sent a message to Hardee in the city:

I have already received guns that can cast heavy and destructive shot as far as the heart of your city; also, I have for some days held and controlled every avenue by which the people and garrison of Savannah can be supplied, and I am therefore justified in demanding the surrender of the city of Savannah, and its dependent forts, and shall wait a reasonable time for your answer, before opening with heavy ordnance. Should you entertain the proposition, I am prepared to grant liberal terms to the inhabitants and garrison; but should I be forced to resort to assault, or the slower and surer process of starvation, I shall then feel justified in resorting to the harshest measures, and shall make little effort to restrain my army—burning to avenge the national wrong which they attach to Savannah and other large cities which have been so prominent in dragging our country into civil war.


– William T. Sherman, Message to William J. Hardee, December 17, 1864, recorded in his Memoirs


Hardee decided not to surrender but to escape. On December 20, he led his men across the Savannah River on a pontoon bridge hastily constructed of rice flats. The next morning, Savannah mayor R. D. Arnold rode out to formally surrender, in exchange for General Geary's promise to protect the city's citizens and their property. Sherman's men, led by Geary's division of the XX Corps, occupied the city the same day.

Sherman telegraphed to President Lincoln,

 "I beg to present you as a Christmas gift the City of Savannah, with one hundred and fifty guns and plenty of ammunition, also about twenty-five thousand bales of cotton."

On December 26, the president replied in a letter:

Many, many thanks for your Christmas gift—the capture of Savannah. When you were leaving Atlanta for the Atlantic coast, I was anxious, if not fearful; but feeling that you were the better judge, and remembering that 'nothing risked, nothing gained' I did not interfere. Now, the undertaking being a success, the honour is all yours; for I believe none of us went farther than to acquiesce. And taking the work of Gen. Thomas into the count, as it should be taken, it is indeed a great success. Not only does it afford the obvious and immediate military advantage; but, in showing to the world that your army could be divided, putting the stronger part to an important new service, and yet leaving enough to vanquish the old opposing force of the whole—Hood's army—it brings those who sat in darkness, to see a great light. But what next? I suppose it will be safer if I leave Gen. Grant and yourself to decide. Please make my grateful acknowledgements to your whole army—officers and men.