Operation AXIOM
'Tis the Feast of Saint Valentine. What sense does it make to profane a saint's day by making it a ritual of the crassest, most cynical commercialism in the supposed service of romantic love? Should we re-purpose the Hindu festival of Diwali as an excuse to sell greeting cards, chocolates, & sex toys? Of course not, that would be rightly seen as an act of profound disrespect & probable bigotry. Yet to similarly disparage a Christian festival is fine & dandy. Sure, sure, we don't live in an aggressively secular & anti-religious society, no, not at all. To blazes with "Valentine's Day"!

Project PANDORA
This orgy of "romance" seems an apropos time to mention that PANDORA has been stalled since the fall, as other divisions of the CADMUS Endeavour have come to the fore. Progress has been made on both Projects EPIMETHEUS & RADIANT. I need to get Operation ÖSTERREICH back on track before I devote any resources to PANDORA. Nevertheless, a resumption of PANDORA at least on a low level must be made a priority.

The Rebel Black Dot Song of the Day
The Proclaimers, "Scotland's Story" from Persevere (T.L.A.M.)

Commentary: My favorite lyrics from "Scotland's Story," thus that always stick in my head, are not the crucial words of the song's theme. My favorites:

"Michael McGrory from west Donegal,
You came to Glasgow with nothing at all,
You fought the landlord then the Afrika Korps…"

The thematic words:

"In Scotland's story I read that they came,
The Gael and the Pict, the Angle and Dane,
But so did the Irishman, the Jew, and Ukraine,
They're all Scotland's story and they're all worth the same…

"In Scotland's story I'm told that they came,
The Gael and the Pict, the Angle and Dane,
But where's all the Chinese and Indian names?
They're in my land's story and they're all worth the same…

"All through the story the immigrants came,
The Gael and the Pict, the Angle and Dane,
From Pakistan, England, and from the Ukraine,
We're all Scotland's story and we're all worth the same,
Your Scotland's story is worth just the same."