I heart OS X

Why do I heart OS X?



Because it let me run 'Windows' as an application. That way when it crashes while Outlook is running it's rules on eleventy-dozen messages from my server I can cruise along doing other stuff while I wait for it to get over it's hissy fit.

Ugh, Luddites

A: We've got Luddites!
B: I thought we sprayed for those last month?

"I'm fond of the old and suspicious of the new," he says. Mr. Rice explains all this over a rotary telephone from the 1970s.

His phone connects from the 1970s, but it's connected to a network that lives in the 21st century. One suspects he wouldn't like using his 1970 phone on a 1970 phone network .. but who knows?

Mr. Rice will often write a letter on his typewriter, scan it into his computer, and then send the image as an e-mail attachment. "Some people are tickled by it," he says. "Some people are absolutely annoyed."

If I had regular corespondance with the guy .. that would get old, quickly. Not the fact of the attachment but the kludge involved.

Update: Best comment from Noah D.

Don’t spray for Luddites. Wastes ammo. Aimed single shots, or short controlled bursts.

LOL.

Update 2: Good follow up from ScottH . .

Use sabot rounds - give ‘em a taste of their own medicine.

The Atlantic Ocean - with pasta

Since she had her heart attack we've been taking it easy on the salt - not just table salt but reading the ingredients on packaged food with diligence and care. This is what you do if you want to stay alive long enough for Medical Science to come up with a 'cure heart disease' pill.

Still - the kids don't have to follow our diet. Little Monkey asked for this in the store so ... why not? Two cans went into the basket.


The snack that bites back . . Now with sea water flavoring!


Older Monkey had a can for lunch today. He ate a bit. Ate a bit more. Made a face . . .

Him: I don't want this.

Why not?

Him: I'm not .. hungry.

I tried a slurp. Ever gotten a snoot full of salt water at the beach? It tasted like the Atlantic Ocean off the Delaware beach, with pasta. Bleh.

I'll bet the other can will work out well as broth over the dog's food.

Senile Demntia

Just . . . wow.

I literally spent at least half the day just sitting and talking with her, doing my best to help her remain calm and not obsess over contacting her parents or going “back to school”. Even with all my experience and what I’ve learned about distracting her and redirecting her attention, it was an almost constant battle.

And in the middle of it, I got an email from another friend with a link to this video.

That’s basically the last six years of my life compressed into six minutes. You want to have some idea what it is like to be a care-provider for someone with Alzheimer’s or other age-related dementia? Watch it.

When you get the lawyers involved everyone looses

From Atomic Fungus

Mother threatened with jail for homeschooling. No one told her that our government and its shills on the Left are very protective of the government's monopoly on education.

I saw this when the teacher's union won their lawsuit to have my children's state-wide charter school put out of business, just this month. Now, I don't think that every commenter is part of a vast Left wing conspiracy but ...


". . . right-wingers and the Bradley Foundation profiteers . . . "

As if bricks and morter schools don't contract will all kinds of private corporations for cafeteria services, books, and just plain stuff. Profiteers, the lot of 'em.


"The state is paying for homeschooling."

No, my kids are enrolled in public school, but they learn at home.


"It's against the law, it always has been".

A court read the law in a way favorable to the teacher's union. A lower court decided in terms favorable to the school. We might assume that WIVA was launched after the lawyers read the applicable law and provided advice, and we might further assume that that advice was not "you guys are going to get shut down in a few years but .. go have fun, you wacky kids" The state supreme court has yet to hear the case.

The legislature makes the laws, the judiciary interprets them. This is what they do, but it does not mean that the school was illegal from the beginning.


"Talk to your representative, don't bitch about it online".

We are. Blogging is a PR tool - which is part of the process for change.


"The point of teaching and school should be and is socialization and interaction with people who are not your parents."

Gee - I thought the point of teaching and school was education. As for socialization - do you imagine that we keep them under lock and key 24/7? They have friends - online and off. My kids interact with people who are not their parents all the time.

What is so troubling about this is the rabid zealotry and ignorance displayed by some people. Whatever we've been doing with the public schools these last thirty years, it ain't working. More of the same is not the answer ... Brother, I beseech you, in the bowels of Christ, think it possible you may be mistaken.

You get paid to solve the hard problems

Food for thought from Joel Spolsky

The trouble is, the market pays for solutions to gnarly problems, not solutions to easy problems. As the Yorkshire lads say, "Where there's muck, there's brass."

Lyrics

No, I don't listen to lyrics of most songs. They're catchy, it's hummable - so who cares if I don't know all the words?

My personal favorite are the Pepsi ads featuring "Brown Sugar" from the mid-1990's. Nothing like raping slaves to make one thirsty for Pepsi.

Do .. what?

Gold coast slave ship bound for cotton fields,
Sold in a market down in New Orleans.
Scarred old slaver know hes doin alright.
Hear him whip the women just around midnight.
Ah brown sugar how come you taste so good

Well for Goodness' sake.

It's a guy thing

Homosexual culture has a dark side according to Steve Baldwin because - among other reasons

"Research on the homosexual lifestyle confirms it is almost exclusively a youth-oriented culture," Baldwin wrote. "Very few gays exhibit preference for older men."

"Some admit to focus on teenage boys," he said, "some on prepubescent boys, and many cross over between categories."

Dude. Have you watched much TV? Read any 'guy' magazines? Watched an episode of Nip/Tuck?

That isn't a gay thing - it's a guy thing.

Things I did not know this morning

I did not know there was a name for joining a word or a phrase without spaces . . .

CamelCase (also spelled camel case) or medial capitals is the practice of writing compound words or phrases in which the words are joined without spaces and are capitalized within the compound — as in "BackColor" or "iMac". The name comes from the uppercase "bumps" in the middle of the compound word, suggestive of the humps of a camel.

Pretend to be a Time Traveler Day

I missed it, it seems. As if I don't act dizzy and disorientated at the best of times . . .

You must spend the entire day in costume and character. The only rule is that you cannot actually tell anyone that you are a time traveler. Other than that, anything's game.

Remember, the only real rule is staying in character and try to fit in. Never directly admit you're a time traveler, and make really, really bad attempts at keeping a low profile. Naturally, the dystopian future has a little more leeway. And for the record, I've already tried out all of these in real life, in costume. It is so much fun you want to pee yourself.

Interesting idea. Talk Like A Pirate day was cute back in the day but if everyone is walking around sounding like extras from that pirate movie (or this one) then it's kinda lame and mainstream.

Dressing and acting like a time traveler for the entire day - that takes commitment.

Fire!

Ok ... now you're warm - but it's four miles to the tavern . . .



From Colebrook Ski-Bees Snowmobile Club.

Child Training

A fellow on his blog asked as an aside

Speaking of which, if anyone has any tips on getting a six-month old baby to stop waking up every two hours at night I’d sure be thankful.

To which one reply was

As far as the baby goes, if you get up and go to him when he cries in the middle of the night, you are encouraging him to cry for attention. It can be difficult but try to let him just cry himself to sleep. It takes a few days / weeks to train him but once you do, your life will be much easier. Promise!

Sweet Jesus on a ferris wheel.

You call yourself a father, Private Pyle!?!

It's a baby, not a dog. You're raising a human being not crate training a puppy. He's not crying for attention you, unremarkable stain, he's crying because it's dark and he's alone and he's scared. He's an itty bitty primate and loves to be cuddled and held and sung to.

You want life to be easy? The moment your sperm lanced into her egg it stopped being easy and became a lifetime slog of burps, barf and heartache. The only consolation is to see your children grow up into self-sufficient adults.

This is what it's all about.

I saw this as no particular expert in anything. I'm not the world's best father and I frequently fall short of my own expectations in that regard; I have a bad temper, at times I have absolutely no patience with them.


But with all my faults I know that you don't train babies to lie still and alone in the dark you hold them and love them.

Which HeavyInk founder am I most like?

Which HeavyInk founder am I most like? Damn this is scary ...

I'm most like TJIC, the President

You are most like TJIC, the founder of HeavyInk. You like to read and watch science fiction, in the comfort of your own home (who wants to go outside when there are books, dogs, and computers so close to the fireplace?). Skateboarding, frisbee, and travel all sound like great ideas...if only there was some way to do them while surfing the web. People often let you have your way, but it's not clear whether this is because of the obvious correctness of your opinions, or your membership at the local rifle range. Someday you're going to write a great science fiction novel...right after the last customer feature request has been added to HeavyInk.

Take the Which HeavyInk founder are you most like? Quiz at HeavyInk.com

..............

I like travel, but not the part about leaving the wife and kids behind. I am not a member of the local rifle range and I have no ambition to write an SF novel, nor do I work for HeavyInk. Close enough, then! Take the test - it's easy and only has a handful of buttons to push.

The Idiot

'The Idiot' by Stan Rogers.

I do not generally go in for folk music but this is good. Anyone who has moved to follow a job will appreciate it.

I often take these night shift walks when the foreman's not around.
I turn my back on the cooling stacks and make for open ground.
Far out beyond the tank farm fence where the gas flare makes no sound,
I forget the stink and I always think back to that Eastern town.

I remember back six years ago, this Western life I chose.
And every day, the news would say some factory's going to close.
Well, I could have stayed to take the Dole, but I'm not one of those.
I take nothing free, and that makes me an idiot, I suppose.

So I bid farewell to the Eastern town I never more will see;
But work I must so I eat this dust and breathe refinery.
Oh I miss the green and the woods and streams and I don't like cowboy clothes;
But I like being free and that makes me an idiot I suppose.

So come all you fine young fellows who've been beaten to the ground.
This western life's no paaradise, but it's better than lying down.
Oh, the streets aren't clean, and there's nothing green, and the hills are dirty brown,
But the government Dole will rot your soul back there in your home town.

So bid farewell to the Eastern town you never more will see.
There's self-respect and a steady cheque in this refinery.
You will miss the green and the woods and streams and the dust will fill your nose.
But you'll be free, and just like me, an idiot, I suppose.

It's good to be King, baby

Hmm.

I also think the Eloi-Morlock distinction may show some changes over time. The first generation of “Tunnel of Oppression” designers may be highly literate and text-oriented, basing their ideas on the reading of people like Foucault–but ten years later, the Tunnels of Oppression may well be designed by people whose own ideas were formed by earlier Tunnels of Oppression, films, and other sensial interfaces.

Then those second generation tunnel builders cease to be Morlocks and become Eloi who only think they know what is going on. That will work until there is a change in the foundation of the whole works and Eloi in charge will have no idea how to fix things.

Then the Morlocks can step in, set things aright and things will go on as before.

If the change of pace continues as it has for the last fifty years (or longer) the foundations of the tunnels will always be changing.

It’s a good era to be a Morlock.

Haven't read 'In the Beginning was the Command Line'? You're missing out.

Just as I suspected

Near the end of a long working day . .

$ man make-it-all-work-right
No manual entry for make-it-all-work-right
$

Dang.

Shotgun Marco Polo

Alternate rules Marco Polo - the Shotgun variant*

A: Marco!
B: Polo!
A: *BLAM*




*Obviously rarely played due to some limitations in game play and the difficulty of finding players after the first round. Sissies.

Cops and sergeants spoil all the fun

Bob is having trouble with his upstairs neighbor playing his tv (and video games) at loud levels. That worthy said . . .

"We need to fix this, I don't appreciate pounding on my floor."

Cops and sergeants (and downstairs neighbors) spoil all the fun. However it seems to be working out . . .

He could understand why I was complaining!!!!!!!!!!

I'm glad it seems to be working out.

Jean Feraca in New York City

Jean writes

I'm headed for The Big Apple this week to give a reading from I Hear Voices at the Border's on 57th St. in mid-town Manhattan on Tuesday. Whoop-de-doo! Hopefully, more than five people will show up. I've worked so hard to drum up a crowd, I've even invited my best friend's brother from high school!.

While her book does not sound like my cup of tea, Feraca is one of the better hosts on WPR. If you've got a few hours free and you're in the area it would be worth your time to see what she's about.

The Oort Cloud might be far enough

I'm putting this in my .sig file ...

Can we colonize Mars anytime soon? Because I’d like to be as far away as possible from the fuckwads who think spending tax money on a War on Toads is a good idea.

Yes, war on toads. Welcome to the 21st century.

She don't need to be in here

Interesting story of a woman who avoided rape and murder, then charged by the state attorney with ... well read for yourself.

They all turned to me. What'd you do, hit your old man?

I smiled sheepishly and told them the story. By the end, Niecy called to the correctional officer, "She don't need to be in here!"

It made me feel good to know that there are people who are criminals who don't think what I did was wrong. I know it's not wrong.

Part the First
Part the Second
Part the Third

Audie 'Spindly' Murphy

Chris Gerrib on women soldiers . . .

Are women on average physically weaker then men? Well, duh. Can and does that cause problems? Again, duh. In large part, the argument is "optimal" vs. "effective." It might be optimal to have all your soldiers six feet tall and able to carry 200 pounds all day. Can a lesser mortal be effective?

I'm reminded that Audie Murphy - 5'5 and 110 pounds - was rejected by the Marines and the paratroopers for being too spindly.

Which is probably good - if he's enlisted in the Marines he probably would have been another dead grunt at Tarawa instead of the bad-ass soldier he became.

Second Lt. Murphy commanded Company B, which was attacked by six tanks and waves of infantry. 2d Lt. Murphy ordered his men to withdraw to a prepared position in a woods, while he remained forward at his command post and continued to give fire directions to the artillery by telephone. Behind him, to his right, one of our tank destroyers received a direct hit and began to burn. Its crew withdrew to the woods. 2d Lt. Murphy continued to direct artillery fire, which killed large numbers of the advancing enemy infantry. With the enemy tanks abreast of his position, 2d Lt. Murphy climbed on the burning tank destroyer, which was in danger of blowing up at any moment, and employed its .50 caliber machine gun against the enemy. He was alone and exposed to German fire from three sides, but his deadly fire killed dozens of Germans and caused their infantry attack to waver. The enemy tanks, losing infantry support, began to fall back. For an hour the Germans tried every available weapon to eliminate 2d Lt. Murphy, but he continued to hold his position and wiped out a squad that was trying to creep up unnoticed on his right flank. Germans reached as close as 10 yards, only to be mowed down by his fire. He received a leg wound, but ignored it and continued his single-handed fight until his ammunition was exhausted. He then made his way back to his company, refused medical attention, and organized the company in a counterattack, which forced the Germans to withdraw. His directing of artillery fire wiped out many of the enemy; he killed or wounded about 50. 2d Lt. Murphy's indomitable courage and his refusal to give an inch of ground saved his company from possible encirclement and destruction, and enabled it to hold the woods which had been the enemy's objective.

That is Murphy's Medal of Honor citation. It's seems obvious that being effective as a soldier is down to what you are not how you're built.

I also agree with Chris when he says

At any rate, this argument, like many others, is unwinnable, because most of the debaters don't want their opinions confused by the facts.

Amen. So having said my bit I'll retire from the field.

Business as Usual

Coyote wrote

We offer Wi-fi services to campers and recreators in some of the facilities we manage. But I am shutting it all down if I am put in the position of policing how my customers use the Internet.

- I don't see how this could work, from a technical POV.

- Unless the provider has huge resources.

- Which a Mom and Pop coffee shop - or a firm running campsites - doesn't.

- But a huge chain would. Or the Phone Company.

- Hey - guess who wants to run a huge string of hot spots and offer wireless around the world?

Perhaps this isn't an attack on the First Ammendment but congress critters doing a favor for a well-heeled lobbyist.

Nothing to see here, citizens; business as usual - move along.

It looks like you have no clue - can I help?

Windows XP will helpfully notice that you do not have antivirus software installed .. even when you do.



Yes, slagging on Windows for these little foibles is like shooting fish in a barrel. Yes, all operating systems suck, just in different ways.

But Windows can be so lame it's past the point of funny and reached pathetic.

Java bugs me

What the ever loving heck?

We have an application that takes data from one system, magics it to be xml and posts it to a directory. Some time later a process from another server picks it up. Vendors and customers can also pick it up so it's gotta be available via FTP.

No problem - we do this all the time - we are not a financial services firm but we do ship data to and fro on a regular basis so we're not exactly new to this. The files and directories are hosted from a NAS storage array because those files can get big and doing it that way, while it was a pain to setup, is easy to manage.

All of our systems that write data to be shared do it the same way - it's a process we have. We make stuff - process is what we do.

Except this application, a new version of which we're installing, when writing files, seems to insist that the user owning the process must also be the owner of the directory

java.io.IOException: Not owner

Heck the user can touch files there


# touch foo
# ls
foo


But can Java? Oh Hell no.

Because it's it's NAS and because we have about eleventy-dozen operating systems writing files there, the permissions to allow access to that directory can be complicated so we tread with care when changing things.

I asked the developer to call the vendor and ask 'how can you do this'. I assume the vendor's response will be to gaze meaningfully into the distance, hum a bit and pretend to be intelligent. Then I'm going to dig up the documentation and very very carefully edit the permission file allowing data to flow to that directory.

But first I'm going on a date with my wife. It's movie night.

The Lame Super Hero Team From the Upper Midwest!

Canada got Alpha Flight, the UK got Excalibur ... we get ... The Wisconsin Association for Justice.

I guess the trial lawyers don’t like the negative connotations of their old name.

The Wisconsin Academy of Trial Lawyers (the Academy) today announced its members voted unanimously to change the name of the organization to the Wisconsin Association for Justice (WAJ) at the annual meeting on Friday, November 30, 2007 in Milwaukee.

To my addled mind WAJ sounds just like a regional branch of the Justice League. Wonder Twin Powers of the Wisconsin Association for Justice ... Activate! Power of ... intestinal fortitude! Shape of .. cheese!

It's fun messing with people

Scene: A street in Washington, D.C.

LADY: (walking away) If you weren't so ignorant you really could have learned something here, I was just trying to talk to you.
ME: Where are you going? I just want you to tell me the answer! Tell me what we need to do to achieve world peace! If you walk away I win. If you walk away, it's free market capitalism for the win.
LADY: (turning back but still walking away) You should get a brain.
ME: And you should read Adam Smith! Come back! Come back or I win!
LADY: Whatever.
ME: I win!

The friendly taxi dispatcher is back ... awesome.

Sweatpants Dad

Elyse is staying at a hotel with a free continental breakfast . . .

By the way, I looked in the Comfort Inn's breakfast nook this morning and decided that never again will I fuck with a hotel breakfast. Assholes with their bowls of Brown Sugar Cinnamon Instant Quaker in styrofoam bowls or prodding a tough English muffin with a flaccid plastic fork. Thimble of Tropicana. Foil-wrapped margarine pat. Nobody can figure out the toaster. And that suddenly-ubiquitous hotel waffle iron with Dixie cups full of batter! God! Sweatpants Dad, you're humiliating yourself with that thing!

I do not understand people that willingly appear in public places in their pajamas.

Now, yes, if he is fresh from a session on the treadmill, that is one thing - but if he is then he's all sweaty and gross in the dining area so there is another faux paus.

People: sweatpants in a hotel are sleeping and exercise wear. You may pad down to the ice machine in them but appearing in the lobby for breakfast in your PJs is just all kinds of messed up.

Surrender Signal

Virtually every animal with a backbone has a reflexiive surrender signal. It applies only between species. Dogs do not take surrender from rabbits. But stags fighting for mates do not fight to kill. They fight until one turns tail - a popular surrender reflex. When a Siamese fighting fish has lost his plumage and leaves the fight, the winner will not pursue.

Members of a species will not normally kill each other even to steal food. It is common enough for one male of a group to grab all the females and the lion's share of the food - not only among lions. The rest go hungry and horny, and some die of it. You may consider this reprehensible. But it isn't murder, and it isn't war.

Lions have a problem. Too often the juvenile male challenges the head of the pride before he is ready. The elder male kills him. It's a bug not a feature, and a costly one in evolutionary terms.

Man has a problem too.

Man kept his surrender reflex. If you want to see it in action, watch children on roughhousing in a playground. A child gets hurt, he cries, and the others stop picking on him. If a bully refuses to obey the surrender signal, the others may turn on him.

'Playgrounds of the Mind' - Larry Niven

I submit that this is a surrender signal;




To me they look like so many sheep bedding down for the night. Y'all go ahead and lie down before rough men who would do you harm. This is my signal and I'll fly it proudly . . .

From The Mailbag - Peace

From a mail list I subscribe to . . .

" From: "W Ford"
"
"
" ----- Original Message -----
" From: CS
"
" > I am passing this on to you because it definitely worked for me and we all
" > could use more calm in our lives. By following the simple advice I heard on
" > a Dr. Phil show, I have finally found inner peace. On the show, Dr. Phil
" > proclaimed:
" >
" > "The way to achieve inner peace is to finish all the things you've
" > started."
" >
" > So I looked around my house to see all the things I started and hadn't
" > finished and before leaving the house this morning, I finished off a
" > bottle of Merlot, a bottle of White Zinfandel, a bottle of Bailey's, a
" > bottle of Kailua, a package of Oreos, the remainder of both Prozac and
" > Valium prescriptions, the rest of the cheesecake, some saltines and a box
" > of chocolates.
" > You have no idea how freaking good I feel. ;-)

From The Mailbag - Bebo

From the mailbag

Hi Brian

Hi Ziv!

I run marketing and business development for Bebo, the world's 3rd largest social network (after Myspace and Facebook). I checked out the new site you put together and it's just what the agency needed.

Guh-wha?

I wanted to invite you to bring NASA to our 40 million users.

Oh, that. There is a 'Brian Dunbar' who works for NASA. I am not him. I've never met the bloke.

If the above fits with your overall vision for NASA.org, let me know and we'll set up some time to talk.

Don't bother hitting nasa.org. It's a parked page with ad links.


# whois nasa.o
(snip)
Domain Name:NASA.ORG
Created On:29-May-1997 04:00:00 UTC
Last Updated On:11-Oct-2007 19:37:29 UTC
Expiration Date:28-May-2011 04:00:00 UTC
Sponsoring Registrar:Moniker Online Services Inc. (R145-LROR)
Registrant Name:Domain Admin
Registrant Organization:Mrs Jello, LLC


Bebo - or rather Ziv Navoth, VP Marketing & Business Development - gets a medium-sized fail for bad research.





He also gets a gah-wha? for his wardrobe - a tie with short sleeves?

Unintended Consequences

Charles E. Wilson, the president of General Motors in the 1940s ... as told that if the money in such programs was invested in the stock market, workers would be the owners of American business in a few decades. "Exactly what they should be," he replied.
'An Empire of Wealth' - John Steele Gordon
....

To all the frickin' geniusi at the Financial Accounting Standards Board who changed the accounting rules for employee stock purchase plans back in 2005 . . .

Thanks for nothing, guys. Yes you had your reasons

Statement 123(R) will provide investors and other users of financial statements with more complete and neutral financial information by requiring that the compensation cost relating to share-based payment transactions be recognized in financial statements.

but unintended consequences will happen.

In my case, the discount for the ESSP changed from 15% to 5% to conform to safe harbor standards, employee participation dropped (surprise!), and well golly gee it is not cost effective for my employer to continue the plan.

The peasantification of America continues with reckless abandon.

The Continuing Rise of the McService Economy

Holy crap - more jobs available in Bushitler's Amerikka. Not only for hourly wage slaves but for professional folks as well. From HR . .

Refer a friend to our Professional Job Fair next week, and if we hire them for any non-exempt or exempt level position in the Fox Cities, we will give YOU $500*!!

By next week they mean December 4th. By 'Fox Cities' they mean 'North East Wisconsin'. By exempt or non-exempt they mean

• Engineering
• Supply Chain Management
• Technicians
• Finance
• Production Management
• Project Management
• Training
• Leadership Development

By 'give (me) $500' they mean you have to use me as your referral source and you have to work at least 91 days.

Did I say it was cold here? By cold I meant 'refreshingly brisk'. And by brisk I meant 'cold enough to cut right through eighteen layers of clothing. But it's work, right? If you've got money you can pay the fargin' heating bill.

If you need a job and like the idea of working for a mid-sized company with a global presence that is profitable and run well .. give me a shout.

The Man from Hope

Bill Clinton displays a startling lack of awareness . . .

On Iraq, he told the crowd that wealthy people like he and his wife should pay more taxes in times of war. “Even though I approved of Afghanistan and opposed Iraq from the beginning, I still resent that I was not asked or given the opportunity to support those soldiers,” Clinton said.

There is no end of worthy charities supporting the troops. If you want to pay more on taxes the IRS is not going to return the money. C'mon, Bill - I'm from Oklahoma and even I know this stuff.

Oh, wait. Was that code for 'I think y'all should pay more taxes'?

Dang, he's crafty.

The Life and Death of Jesse James

This is long but worth your time. .. The Life and Death of Jesse James - An internet love mystery.

Jesus, that’s fucking insane.”

“You shouldn’t judge,” says Tania.

I beg to differ. This is why we have judgment.

It's got everything - love, deception, emotional rape. Plus, in a minor but key role, Harlan Ellison!

Get my gun

If this guy shows up at my door . . .

"Hello Freedom Lovers. Do I look happy? I am happy."

I won't be responsible for my actions. Creepy guys who sound like they've teleported in from a UFO cult make me itch.

Cart Before Horse

Rocky Persaud knows what space startups need.

Capital? D.D. Harriman? Tax breaks? A market?

A business accelerator.

This would be an organization that mentors new space entrepreneurs from startup and seed-stage through to its first angel investment and beyond. It would provide expertise in management, finance, accounting, product development, marketing, and perhaps some research services as well.

Maybe. Rocky is a smart guy and he's done more in the biz world than I have. And startups in this industry are cursed by having pesky capital concerns - you can't sit down with a laptop, write code for a few months and hey presto build a rocket.

For that matter I have some interesting ideas on how to wedge IT into the mix.

Still ... this seems like one of those deals where the drover is putting the cart before the horse.

...

And yet .. if this does take off y'all could use a good IT pro or two .. call me, eh?

Consuming seed corn

Hey, Jeff?

I dunno, man. I’d like to see us go to Mars as much as the next guy, and probably more than most people. But I can’t see us even attempting it until we’ve spent at least a couple uninterrupted years on the Moon,

Keep dreaming. Obama wants to gut NASA - the Federal agency that gets the smallest portion of the budget - to finance pre-school programs.

Sure he's just one guy but he's popular and hell, he might even win the general election. The rest of the Democrats ... well they simply have not gotten around to noticing NASA yet is all.

Wrong Address

He wrote back and apologized for sending pics to the wrong email address. Also it was a five pointer.

Now if only he'd sent the venison to the wrong address ..

Happy Dance

I'm doing a happy dance ...



Work doubled the amount of memory on my laptop. Life is good.

Drill Instructor

Let me tell you about my Senior Drill Instructor.

Throw out your preconceptions; Staff Sergeant King was not R. Lee Ermey, he was not Jack Webb.

What he was was the eptiome of 'Marine Corps SNCO'. He walked the walk. He talked the talk. He led by example.

He was the most unusual SDI at MCRD. Platoon 3099 was a herd of non-marching diddy-boppers, going into third phase. This was clearly unacceptable and if we kept it up we'd embarrass ourselves.

How bad were we? At one point SSgt Q. called out a command. First and second squad heard 'By the Left Flank .. March'.

Third and Fourth squad heard 'Column Half-Right . . March'

So .. ya. The platoon is rapidly marching away from itself. In front of a brace of Captains and a clutch of Majors and Colonels. I was in First squad and had a perfect view of SSgt Q's face. I thought his smokey-the-bear hat was going to pop off from the pressure.

We were pretty bad.


SSgt King brought a metronome in and installed it by the DI Hut, had it on 24x7. Soon we're all marching around in time in the barracks. My dreams were in time with a steady 'click-click-click'. He borrowed a bass drum from the band and had a pair recruits from the sick, lame and lazy section out beating on it while we drilled.

But they could not carry it around (sick, lame and lazy) so they stood in one place, beating away while we marched around them.

BOOM. BOOM. BOOM .... BOOM .... BOOM

"FASTER!"

BOOM.BOOM.BOOM .. BOOM .. BOOM

"SLOWER!"

BOOM. BOOM. BOOM .. BOOM .. BOOM

"JUST LIKE THAT!"

I don't have a lot of fond memories of boot camp - it's not summer camp - but that scene is one of them. Thanks, SSgt King.

Cross Posted to The Daily Brief.

Good Morning, Oracle Application Server

You know it's going to be a long day when .. after a restore you crank up the ol' Oracle application server and see ...

# opmnctl status
Processes in Instance: agile.redacted
--------------+-----------------+---------+---------
ias-component | process-type | pid | status
--------------+-----------------+---------+---------
(skip)
OC4J | home | 0 | NONE

'NONE'? Ru-oh Shaggy.

This did have a happy ending - the first thing I did last month when I started the upgrade was to un-deploy the application. One long deployment later and things were humming along.

Closed Minds and Crabby Wretches

I've been disemvoweled. And at all places a SF blog. Isn't the point of Science Fiction exploring new ideas and being open to foreign ideas?

From their 'Communications 101: How to Argue Effectively & Respectfully' page

In general:

* respect
* sense of humor
* no pissing contests
* respond to the content not the speaker

This is what I wrote - italics hers, normal print mine. From my perspective it looks like Ide Cyan violated at least three of their general rules. I was writing with respect, a gentle sense of humor and I certainly was not going to engage in a pissing contest with a pseudo-anonymous feminist on her own blog.

The only displays of affection seen between them, however, were a brief kiss on the cheek and a squeeze of the arm, and Cain smiling at Gina during a dinner party.

That’s reasonable considering the position Cain is in - she is (was? time travel and flashbacks confuse me) the CO of a warship - they’re not supposed to play sexual favorites. PDA is a huge no-no between subordinates and the boss.

she, too, was dead by Razor’s end,

A character this interesting is going to be back. Sure, we ’saw’ the basestar blow up but .. death for some in BSG is not forever (hello, Starbuck).

Good thing BSG only has one more season. If this show went on as long as we want it to the place would get as cluttered with resurrected characters as the Marvel comics universe.

she had been the one who’d first shot the civilians on the Scylla, per Cain’s orders.

It’s a dirty job but someone has to do it. Shooting first would be out of character for Fisk - but he’d contribute after the fact and then go on a bender. Having one of the Marines do the job wouldn’t convey the same emotional punch.

To recover from it, the show had better have some sort of positive depiction of a lesbian or gay relationship in Season 4. That is my demand, Ronald Moore! Do you hear me?

Careful what you ask for - it could go too far the other way and then we’ve got ‘Torchwood’.

‘Torchwood’ is good TV but it seems to be less a show with gay/lesbian/etc doing cool stuff and more all about their gay/lesbian/etc issue and oh by the way they just happen to do cool stuff that demos their LGBT issues.


and

Don’t pull a slippery-slope argument about homosexuality on TV *here*.

Don’t mistake friendly argument for hostility, hey?

I‘m only slagging a show, not engaging in rhetorical fisticuffs .. or whatever it is you think I‘m doing.

If you want an echo chamber of agrement, then I‘ll rmove this blog from my feeder and never darken your door again.

Except Gina was a civilian, so, oops! there goes that excuse.

Gina was on board before the attack in a role that I‘m assmnging was ‘civilian contractor’. When they’rre assigned to navy ships here and now they fall under the authority of the Captain, if not the UCMJ. The Colonial Fleet is modled after the US and British Navy the writers are familiar with.

So there goes your smack down of my excuse.

and

Disemvowelled

Charmingly childish. Still .. your blog your rules.

It is a nice blog and I enjoyed reading it. I‘m confused as to why you’d have a blog and then discourage polite and reasonable conversation.

So it’s without malice and with a little puzzlement that I'm pulling your feed from my reader. You won’t miss me but closing your blog off from minds that don’t strictly conform to your world view seems weird - the whole point of SF is to broaden your mind, nu?

If people spew hostility and rage at random passers by who don't agree with their party line they shouldn't wonder why most of us find them humorless and crabby wretches.

Turdy Point Buck

To the person with the Verizon cell phone from the 419 area code who sent me the pictures of someone crouching at the head of a buck . . .

• Congratulations!
  
• Who the heck are you?
• The resolution sucks on the pictures - how many points?

Title hat tip.

Horse Soldier!

A music reviewer I ain't; read at your own peril.



What to say about Corb Lund's 'Horse Soldier! Horse Soldier!' except that I like it a great deal. It's country music for people that don't like country - it ain't a bit Boot Scoot Boogie and Lund has a way with music and lyrics . . .

I tried my best to stop them, yes, I tried to make them wait
And I appealed to their decency show mercy on this day
I issued them strong orders on pain of death and disarray
But in the end they would not listen and raised their lances anyway

Men of no account they were, their breeding crude and low
With not a trace of wisdom, Grace or virtue in their souls
Yet trained them long and hard I did to bend them to the crown
To act as tools of justice, follow edict handed down

You see these were not militia men, a-fighting for their homes
Nor fathers, sons nor husbands, sire, but foreigners on loan
Mercenary killers, career soldiers to a man
Lashing out with vengeance one cannot accept or understand

I could not instill the discipline 'twas duty to inspire
And they responded in the end to instincts of the basest kind
Now on my knee before you here, I drop my eyes in shame
Albeit little consolation take my head for I'm to blame

O, so spoke the leader on losing control

~ A Leader On Losing Control

Now, I'm not an English Lit major and I know ol' Rudyard is not well thought of but ... that would not be out of place in Barrack-Room Ballads, nor would this, if Tommy Atkins were from somewhere south of the Mason Dixon . . .

I wanna be in the cavalry if they send me off to war
I wanna good steed under me like my forefathers before

Courageous at first we took their worst, our positions we held stout
We clung to belief and we hung on the speech from our trusted leaders’ mouths
Overwhelming odds and a hopeless cause and our cities overrun
There were them that said we was badly led and God were we outgunned

I lost count of the worthy mounts that from under me were cut
My favourite mare with her head in the air took the cannons in her gut
In the first two weeks on that bloody creek my brother lost his arm
Was only sixty days till all we prayed was get us home unharmed

~ I Wanna Be In The Cavalry: Reprise

So .. ya. Country music for people that don't like country.

'I Wanna Be In The Cavalry' on YouTube - click here.

Pumpkin Pie

Little Monkey has never had pumpkin pie before last night. He tried a bit.

He liked it "except for the top crust - the orange stuff was mushy and didn't taste good."

Winter

It was a little chilly here last night . . .

Math!

Turkey Algorithm from 'Making Light'

Says Jon:

“For a turkey of greater than ten pounds, the roasting time should be equal to 1.65 times the natural log of the weight of the bird in pounds, cooked at 325 F.”

If you’re not a person who normally calculates natural logs, go to Google. Say you have a 20-pound turkey. Type in natural log 20 and hit the search button. Google will tell you that the natural log of 20 is 2.99573227. Multiply this by 1.65. The result will be 4.9429582455, or five hours.

Math is cool and all but I like my wife's method:

Cover the turkey with something. What that is is not divulged, but it's critical.

Oven to 350 degrees.

Cook until the bird's meat falls off the bones.

This is not precise - my brain demands to know exactly how long this all takes and she can't really say beyond 'when it's done' - but I can't argue with the results: yummy.

Black Friday

My wife, on Black Friday

You'll have to offer me better than 30% off to get me out of bed that early.

Sleep

"Night is when the competition sleeps."

From Nivi

BAM

Nothing says 'get my gun' like the thought of a 8 foot long scorpion.

This is not adaption

More from Bruce . . .

Much of the newsletter of course centers on reports from activists who have been working hard to deal with the space technology issue.

No, sorry. What you and your peers are doing is getting in the way. Y'all are so damned busy being against stuff you have no time to contribute to making anything better. You are an obstacle.

I've been trying to sell my car lately but the bites are few as most people are not in the buying mood. Money is tight and folks are hanging onto what they've got.

Maybe the asking price is too high. Maybe you are not advertising the thing effectively.

Soon, I think, we'll see more creative adaptations as you see in the photo above.

An adaption would be a new carriage made out of light-weight material, with a heater and shock absorbers.

Gutting a truck and hauling the shell around with a donkey is not adaption and it is not creative.

It's failure.

FALCON - America's newest weapon in the war on everyone else

Intrepid activist Bruce Gagnon bravely writes in from Bushitler's Amerika to warn us

Each year the Space Command performs a war game set in 2016. In that war game the new military space plane, the Falcon, flies across the planet at six times the speed of sound and delivers 12,000 pound bombs against the "Red" team. Red team means China in Pentagon language.

I do not think that phrase means what you think it does.

In wargaming, the opposing force in a simulated military conflict is known as the Red Team, and is used to reveal weaknesses in current military readiness.

And .. what a new space plane? How cool. Except, not so much.

The FALCON project includes:

• The X-41 Common Aero Vehicle (CAV) - a common aerial platform for hypersonic ICBMs and cruise missiles, as well as civilian RLVs and ELVs; flew in 2005
• The Hypersonic Technology Vehicle-1 (HTV-1) - a test concept, originally planned to fly in September 2007 now cancelled
• The HTV-2 - to fly in 2008
• The HTV-3 - to fly in 2009
• The HTV-3X - Blackswift
• The Small Launch Vehicle (SLV) - a smaller engine to power CAVs, tests to begin by 2010

Calling FALCON - a program with 6 vehicles (and one cancelled) in test - a new space plane is stretching the truth a bit.

One for the phrase book

Fred On Everything with a catchy saying . . .

My love of country is great: I will use no Chinese mayonnaise.

And then I’ll bring back the one-room school house. Many will denounce me in the public prints as retrograde. Well, when you have driven your car into a swamp full of underfed alligators, retrograde is what you want to be.

I'm adding that to my phrase book.

Mayonnaise? I won't explain it - go read the article.

Vial of Life

Well, hunh.

The Vial of Life or Vial of L.I.F.E. (Lifesaving Information For Emergencies) is a program which allows individuals to provide medical information in advance that can be used by emergency personnel in the case of an emergency. Vial of Life programs are usually sponsored and promoted by Senior citizen's organizations, local Fire Departments, or hospitals, although it may be utilized by anyone. The materials required are usually available for free and some may be downloaded and produced by the individual.

Emergency responders are trained to look for notes in the refrigerator. Makes sense, if a bit odd sounding at first - everyone has a refrigerator.

Federalism

Steve Browne is back from his extended stay in D.C. with a sobering thought

In this scary world, the thought that our rulers are people not too different from ourselves, trying to deal with the incredible power this nation commands is really scary.

All the reason in the world to limit government powers and push it back to the States and the People.

Mission Statement

Great Britain is looking for a new motto. No, really: the UK is looking for a mission statement.

"Once Great: Britain," offered one contributor. "Americans who missed the boat," read a second. "At least we're not French" quipped a third.

That wasn't a quip.

There will always be an England

Speaking of the UK I found this note on how the RAF used to arm their nuclear weapons to be charmingly English . . .

Newsnight reveals that RAF nuclear bombs were armed by opening a panel held by two captive screws – like a battery cover on a radio – using a thumbnail or a coin.

Inside are the arming switch and a series of dials which are turned with an allen key to select high yield or low yield, air burst or ground burst and other parameters.

The bomb is actually armed by inserting a cylindrical bicycle lock key into the arming switch and turning it through 90 degrees.

There is no code which needs to be entered or dual key system to prevent a rogue individual from arming the bomb, although RAF crews were supposed to always work in pairs if they were near the bomb or had the keys for the bomb.

Opening up the hatch with a coin - then using an allen wrench (for the love of mike) to adjust the darn thing - and then launching with a bicycle key - is a touch worthy of Monty Phython. Mary Poppins would appreciate the thriftiness demonstrated; Yanks would spend billions on a special key system from Boeing. The Brits just ran down to the hardware store one day and called it good.

We've always lived in danger

Awesome speech from Guilliani, via TJIC.

I get very, very frustrated when I . . . hear certain Americans talk about how difficult the problems we face are, how overwhelming they are, what a dangerous era we live in. I think we've lost perspective. We've always had difficult problems, we've always had great challenges, and we've always lived in danger.

Do we think our parents and our grandparents and our great grandparents didn't live in danger and didn't have difficult problems? Do we think the Second World War was less difficult that our struggle with Islamic terrorism? Do we think that the Great Depression was a less difficult economic struggle for people to face than the struggles we're facing now? Have we entirely lost perspective of the great challenges America has faced in the past and has been able to overcome and overcome brilliantly? I think sometimes we have lost that perspective.

Do you know what leadership is all about? Leadership is all about restoring that perspective that this country is truly an exceptional country that has great things that it is going to accomplish in the future that will be as great and maybe even greater than the ones we've accomplished in the past. If we can't do that, shame on us.

Gettysburg Address

On this day in 1863 . .

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation, so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate—we can not consecrate—we can not hallow—this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us — that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion — that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain — that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom — and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

Get a job you damn hippie

I know that our economy is turning into a McService industry with welders from GM and Ford working at McDonalds (never mind who all those middle-aged welders are selling hamburgers to, maybe each other, which would make McDonalds a sort of economic perpetual motion machine) but if you're in the upper Midwest my employer is looking for people to fill manufacturing jobs.

Attention (Redacted)/(Redacted)* Employees:

As you all know the (redacted) business is continuing to grow across the (redacted) campus. With that being said, we are looking for additional hourly production labor (contract employees) to help us with our customer commitments. (Redacted) will be hosting a job fair in Building (Redacted) on (Redacted), XX xxth from xpm - xpm. Please share this information with neighbors, friends and family that may be looking for employment.

For those that may be unable to attend the job fair please have them contact (Redacted) at the number listed below...

If you're one of the legion of McService employees looking for meaningful work in Bushitler's Amerikaa - get your ass up here and snag a job.

You do have to pass a drug screen, be intelligent enough to dress yourself and show up on time. A fair number of contractors do stay on and become 'real' employees, so this isn't a 'work 'em for ninety days and drop 'em' deal.

Also it's friggin' cold in the winter - you have been warned.

*Information redacted so as not to associate my employer with this blog. I don't speak for them, all opinions expressed here are my own. If you're close to where I live and you want a job, contact me and I'll forward you the details.

Oh the fun you can have

Darn. I used to have a public wifi on Main Street . . . oh the fun I could have had.

http://www.ex-parrot.com/%7Epete/upside-down-ternet.html

So it's strictly one step at a time for Bangladesh

Bangladesh has been hit by a cyclone

DHAKA, Bangladesh (CNN) -- More than 1,000 people have died in Bangladesh after a devastating tropical cyclone ripped through the western coast of the country, and the toll is expected to rise, a government spokesman tells CNN.

15,000 people hurt, 1,000 missing - it will be worse before it gets better. Villages are flattened, wells poisoned by salt water flooding, crops ruined .. ugh. Puts natural disasters in the West in perspective, hunh?

Oh and the fleet will be ashore soon

U.S. military officials said Friday that Defense Secretary Robert Gates was ready to dispatch Navy vessels carrying 3,500 Marines to the region to help in recovery efforts.

It is expected that the USS Kearsarge and USS Wasp would move from the Gulf of Oman. The USS Tarawa recently left Hawaii, and it could go to Bangladesh as well, officials said.

Semper Fi - again. I'm sure the Army barracks we used at the airfield in Dhaka in 1991 are still there, as are the spiffy flush toilets connected to the open sewers. Watch your step at night, is all I can say - in a country that is pool-table flat the sewage doesn't flow so much as amble.

Subject line hat tip

Market Anarchy

I am not sure that I'm a market anarchist ... but I'm glad that people like William are committed to it and willing to do up excellent table literature about the topic and write about it on their blog.

The state of Market Anarchist propaganda has been pretty dismal. Despite a ton of resources on the internet, there are few books, pamphlets and articles available in the real world. And--aside from a few glossy and expensive volumes published by the Mises Institute--what there is just isn't that pretty or appealing. (Insert standard ironic joke about Market Anarchists being crappy at marketing.) Anyway, to fill that void and maybe make things easier for the Market Anarchist who wants to go tabling or stock their local infoshop I've gone ahead and put together an easy-to-print series of pamphlets/zines on Market Anarchy. As the back of these pamphlets say:

"This Market Anarchy Series was created to republish and showcase historical articles from our tradition that highlight our relation to the revolutionary left and explain Market Anarchist theory in general terms."

All that and links to literature at the Mises Institute.

None of this makes much sense. Don't worry about it.

You gotta work to make a book report about Oedipus Rex this entertaining.

Imagine your like jamming your mom and like you have 4 kids , then the feds come to your house and say that she wuz your mom, and you were like ya? So? And they were like, well that's gross and illegal.

I know, I know. Probably not real. But it should be.

via.

232 Reasons Why the Marine Corps Kicks Ass

232 Reasons Why the Marine Corps Kicks Ass, from the Marine Corps Times.

Cherry picking, we have ...

2. Civilians have to find time to go to the gym. Marines get paid to go.

4. There's no such thing as an "ex" Marine.

8. "Every Marine Into the Fight."

18. The lance corporal underground.

22. "No better friend, no worse enemy."

23. Typhoons approaching Okinawa often spark islandwide beer runs

26. 10 rounds from the 500-yard line.

36. Running cadences that mention napalm. And Eskimos.

55. As if ranks that include the words "master" and "gunnery" aren't intimidating enough on their own, the Corps uses them both. At once.

60. Marines predicted the WWII campaigns in the Pacific years earlier and prepared for the inevitable. So when a Marine says, "Hey, I've been thinking ." perhaps you should take notes.

61. Give a Marine some free time, and he'll rip down your dictator's statue.

83. Chuck Norris was in the Air Force. Steve McQueen was a Marine.

90. Arty guys who do civil affairs. They blow it up, then they fix it. Circle of life.

140. Gunnery sergeants. Don't know the answer? Ask the gunny. Need something? Ask the gunny. In trouble? Avoid the gunny.

153. Shirt stays. Or garters. Whatever you call them, they're a triple whammy, keeping your shirt tucked, your socks up and removing all that unwanted leg hair.

199. "8th and I." Ten bucks says you have no idea where the Army chief of staff lives. Commandants don't hide.

Cross Posted to The Daily Brief.
Via.

Setup a net on the side of the road so we can toss our wallets in

Don't get a parking ticket in Washington D.C. - you can't contest it.

"DMV will complete the phase-out of in-person adjudication of parking tickets in favor of mail-in and e-mail adjudication by December 2008," the Fiscal Year 2008 DMV plan states.

Well you CAN but it's by email or letter. Which the DMV employees can reject or ignore .. and how can you object?

No reason not to put a credit card machine in the cop car and cut out the middle man.

Space Elevator Calendar

Marc Boucher is selling Space Elevator Calendars ..

I've selected some of my better images taken at this years 2007 Spaceward Games to create The Space Elevator 2008 Calendar. I hope you enjoy it, orders yours today.

• Each page measures 11" x 8.5"
• Measures 11" x 17" when hung on wall
• Full bleed dynamic color
• 100 lb cover weight high gloss paper, wire-o bound
• January 2008 - December 2008, 2009 preview, US holidays marked

Looks keen.

Cross posted to LiftPort Staff Blog.

Dresden Codak

Dresden Codak - "a celebration of science, death and human folly."

Excellent web comic. Any comic that has Burt Lancaster stomping an evil William Jennings Bryan - while declaiming 'Stick to free silver, Mack' - is automagically cool. But there is more! Time traveling AI, trans-humanism and Dungeons & Discourse, which is the coolest cartoon I've seen in a long time ...

Happy Birthday, Marines

United States Marine Corps - 232 years old, today. Happy Birthday!


Marine Corps Order No. 47, Series 1921

On November 10, 1775, a Corps of Marines was created by a resolution of the Continental Congress. Since that date, many thousand men have borne the name Marine. In memory of them, it is fitting that we who are Marines should commemorate the Birthday of our Corps by calling to mind the glories of its long and illustrious history.

The record of our Corps is one which will bear comparison with that of the most famous military organizations in the world's history. During 90 of the 146 years of it's existence the Marine Corps has been in action against the nations foes. From the battle of Trenton to the Argonne. Marines have won foremost honors in war, and in the long eras of tranquility at home. Generation after generation of Marines have grown gray in war in both hemispheres and in every corner of the seven seas that our country and its citizens might enjoy peace and security.

In every battle and skirmish since the birth of our Corps Marines have acquitted themselves with the greatest distinction, winning new honors on each occasion until the term Marine has come to signify all that is highest in military efficiency and soldierly virtue.

This high name of distinction and soldierly repute we who are Marines today have received from those who preceded us in the Corps. With it we also received from them the eternal spirit which has animated our Corps from generation to generation and has been the distinguishing mark of the Marines in every age. So long as that spirit continues to flourish Marines will be found equal to every emergency in the future as they have been in the past, and the men of our nation will regard us as worthy successors to the long line of illustrious men who have served as "Soldiers of the Sea" since the founding of the Corps.



A Birthday message from the Commandant of the Marine Corps, General James T. Conway

Since the birth of our Nation, our liberty has been purchased by valiant men and women of deep conviction, great courage, and bold action; the cost has often been in blood and tremendous sacrifice. As America's sentinels of freedom, United States Marines are counted among the finest legions in the chronicles of war. Since 1775, Marines have marched boldly to the sounds of the guns and have fought fiercely and honorably to defeat the scourge of tyranny and terror. We are Marines — that is what we do.

In the words of President John F. Kennedy: "In the long history of the world, only a few generations have been granted the role of defending freedom in its hour of maximum danger." Magnificent heroes fought in the wheat fields of Belleau Wood, in the snows of the Chosin, and on the streets of Hue City. Your generation bears this obligation now, and it is borne on mighty and capable shoulders. Just like the Marines at Belleau Wood — we are once again engaged in sustained operations ashore. Just like at Belleau Wood — the Marines have been given the toughest sector and have prevailed over a resilient and determined enemy — who has made us pay for our gains. Once again, as in any struggle, the road ahead is far from certain, but as Marines, we are not dissuaded by the challenges of war or the tough conditions of a warrior's life. Indeed, we don't just accept our destiny — we shape it.

On our 232nd birthday, to every Marine — those still in uniform and those who have served honorably in the past — be proud of who you are and what you do. Know that your citizenship dues have been paid in full; you are part of this Nation's elite warrior class. Cherish our families who offer marvelous support, abiding resolve, and steadfast patience. Remember those who have served and those who have fallen — their names are chiseled on the roll call of America's heroes. Those who have carried the battle colors of our Corps have forged our heritage, and today's generation of leathernecks chart our future. Carry the colors with pride; carry them with honor.

Happy birthday, Marines!

Semper Fidelis,

James T. Conway
General, U.S. Marine Corps

That was not the correct code

Mark relates a biz story

That was not the correct code.

Click for a belly laugh.

Reading is fundamental

Little Monkey, reading a book.



I love moments like this.

Invisible Hand

The mobbe hath spoken: the cost for a CD of new music?

Around £2.90, it would seem.

Six bucks then, according to Radiohead. Not bad.

Owls

Ain't it the truth?

Legs

This thing has grown legs, gotten up and galloped - as anyone could have predicted.

This letter is in response to the recent news item in WorldNetDaily. You know, the one about how you tried to tell a resident of your city that she was "not authorized" to have a link from her Web site to the site of your city's police department.

Are you out of your mind?!

As a result of reading the news story, I have posted a link from my own personal Web site to the Web site for the Sheboygan Police Department. And, as you can see, this column now also contains such a link. I did not ask anyone's permission, nor will I. I will not remove said link from my personal Web site until I'm ready, which will be at a time of my personal choosing. If you wish, then you are certainly free to order your city attorney waste the tax dollars of the people that elected you by writing me a letter telling me to "cease and desist" from having such a link on my Web site. But, such a letter would be totally unenforceable. (It would become a case of trying to "push puffballs.") In short, it is my Web site. I pay for the Net space, I built it, I write all the content, I write all the HTML code to make it function, and I have chosen to have a link to the Sheboygan Police Department. And, I hereby encourage everyone that reads this column to click onto that link, and to put such a link from their own Web sites.

I wonder if anyone who is in charge in Sheboygan is aware that 'Sheboygan' is becoming synonymous for 'laughing stock'? Mayor Perez, thanks for doing your part to make Wisconsin look like it's home to a bunch of dorks.

Quote of the Day

QOTD from Selenite

A discussion on Transterrestrial Musings wandered on the subject of people who've had successful careers without ever getting degrees. Someone suggested forming an association to explore how common that is. Jay Manifold commented:

the anthropology of such a group would presumably be a hilarious inversion of the usual credentialism, where the college dropouts are ranked above the graduates, the people who never went to college at all are higher up, the ones with GEDs are still higher, and so on until some guy suckled by wolves is running the thing.

Or not - wolf-boy is busy running around devouring his competition and utterly lacks the time (or the interest) to run such a group.  He would delegate the task to one of his minions and call it a day.

Stross on Japan

Charlie Stross went to Japan and wrote an essay ...

They've got our future, damn it.

It's not the shiny future of jet packs and food pills — oh no, that's not what Japan is about. Nevertheless, they've got it and they're living in it, damn them. They've got express trains that run on time and accelerate so fast they push you back into your seat like an airliner on take-off. They've got skyscrapers with running lights, looming out of the sodium-lit evening haze — a skyline just like the famous nighttime scene from Blade Runner except for the shortage of giant pyramids (and they're building one of those out in Tokyo bay). And they shave their cats.

In the future we will all have shaved cats. And six story high pornography boutiques that sell Hello Kitty! novelty toys on the ground floor. And 200mph super-express trains blasting between arcologies through a landscape scorched by the waste heat of a hundred million air conditioning units. And beer vending machines on street corners. And skyscrapers cheek-by-jowl with temples that are modern reconstructions of buildings dating back to the eighth century (said reconstructions only slightly older than the Christopher Wren iteration of St Paul's Cathedral).

Sounds keen. It's crowded and weird and they are (sort of) in a place we'll be at in a few hundred years. Not a place I want to live in, or at least not forever, but a mighty fine place to visit for a few months or years. Caveat; I know no more - and probably less - about Japan than you do. I was stationed in Okinawa for 19 months a long long time ago but that just means I know a little bit and I probably have that much all wrong. Okinawa bears the same resemblance to mainland Japan that Key West does to New York City. If Key West was invaded by acquisitive New Yorkers in 1609 and who then never let the Key Westians forget they were part of New York but would never be New York.

So .. Japan is our future. We really need cheap space launch so the malcontents and borderers can have their frontier.

Future

Saddest thing I've seen all weekend . .

It Could Happen To You

Link to the Sheboygan Police Department's web site. Why?



Because using the police to silence political opposition is pretty shoddy - and hassling a citizen for linking to the police department's web page is retarded. Why should you care about small-town politics in a fly-over state?

It could happen to you.

The Sheboygan PD Website link is http://www.sheboyganpolice.com! Link and enjoy.

Run!

In response to this

Armed with a Georgetown University diploma, Beth Hanley embarked in her 20s on a path hoping to become a professional world-saver. First she worked at nonprofit Bread for the World. Then she taught middle school English in central Africa with the Peace Corps. Finally, to certify her idealism, she graduated last spring with a master's degree in international relations from Johns Hopkins University.

there is only one thing to say . . .

"If I knew a man was coming to my house with the fixed intention of doing me good, I would run for my life,"
~~ Thoreau

via.

Sheyboygan Shenanigans

The police are harassing a blogger in Sheboygan. For linking to the Sheboygan Police Department website. Info here as well.

Because linking is a bad bad thing. Don't do it - The Man gets mad.

Y'all cut that out

Professor Barry Sanders* is back with a reply to his critics: "Y'all quit picking on me!"

Kidding. I am sure that Professor Sanders is sophisticated and would never be caught dead throwing 'y'all' about in conversation.

His reply does seem a tad whiny. It's not his fault, you see, because the military operates behind a scrim of secrecy and it's really difficult to get information out of them. You'd think the military is some kind of bureaucracy or something.

That and people were correcting his mistakes in a way that was not respectful. Shame on y'all. Professor Sanders is from the academic world where people are more polite and don't call bullshit in such vulgar ways.

Let me begin by saying that this is a new world for me, the world of blogging.

One could be unkind and reply that the world of logic, facts and clean prose is new to him as well.

As a friend told me from the outset, one cannot take on the military in this country, without getting knocked about.

Is there a lot to criticize about the military? Darn right there is. My own beef is not that he is taking on the military but that he did so with a poor logic and ratty data.

As for the Standard, Goldfarb does not like the line, "The USS Lincoln helped deliver the opening salvos and air strikes in Operation Iraqi Freedom." He says the Lincoln has no "guns." I took that line from the Navy's own web site. If I am wrong, the military has it wrong.

Reading comprehension is clearly not Professor Sanders strong suite - the Navy web site doesn't mention guns but ordnance. Ordnance is typically defined as 'stuff that goes boom', but they don't mention guns. Clearly the Navy is wrong for not being specific and inserting verbage like this

Lincoln delivered a big bunch of boom stuff by airplane. Because that's what aircraft carriers do.

Or something like that.

He (Goldfarb) claims that only one aircraft carrier is not nuclear powered and so my claim about "ship tracks" is wrong. First, does he not think that nuclear power pollutes, or that no danger exists from an accident? What does he think one should do about spent fuel rods?

The article is titled 'The Military's Addiction to Oil' so the confusion might be understandable. Goldfarb took his argument from the title - if he is wrong, Professor Sanders has it wrong.

The USS Independence did move out to the Gulf in the first Gulf War, in 1991. I mixed up the dates for the two Gulf Wars and inserted the wrong one.

The article centered around current activities and never mentioned a conflict more than a decade in the past. Yet one key point was meant to jump back sixteen years and talk about a now decommissioned ship. Maybe - he's clearly not the most organized thinker.

Also, I inadvertently left out the word battalion in the sentence, "a pair of Apache helicopter battalions can devour more than 60,000 gallons of fuel in a single night's attack

The sentence as published was "Just one pair of Apaches in a single night's raid will consume about 60,000 gallons of jet fuel." Ya - inserting battalion in the middle of that makes a whole bunch more sense. Sure, Ace. And I am Marie, Queen of Romania.

Let's now turn to the question of the number of carrier task forces in the Gulf. First, from Reuters: "On January 20, 2007, the USS Stennis set sail for the Persian Gulf as part of an increase in US military presence within the Middle East. The Stennis joined the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower in the United States Fifth Fleet of operations. On May 23, 2007, the Stennis, along with eight other warships including the carrier USS Nimitz and amphibious assault ship USS Bonhomme Richard, passed through the Strait of Hormuz. US Navy officials said it was the largest such move since 2003."

How many ships does this total? Ten or Twelve? How many "carrier task forces" does that constitute?

This is not difficult - only an academic would make it so. A 'carrier task force' requires a carrier.


Now - all of this has a shooting fish in a barrel feel. I wrote this as a follow-up for yesterday's post out of a sense of obligation and in the hope that by showing people like Professor Sanders he can't use obfuscation and bad data in his arguments we'll get honest data and real discussion.

If not we'll get to make fun of them, which ain't bad either.


*Take a look at his bio page: the title of two of his books is spelled wrong. I don't know where the Huffington Post gets this data but one suspects that Professor Barry Sanders lack of attention to detail is to blame.

Cross Posted to The Daily Brief.

British Humor

In general he doesn't know what to make of the Brits because they appear (in his personal observation) to be the only other people on the face of the earth, besides Americans, who possess a sense of humor. He has heard rumors that some Eastern Europeans can do it, but he hasn't met any of them, and they don't have much to yuk it up about at the moment. In any case, he can never quite make out when these Brits are joking.

-- Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson

And this from Perry de Havilland at Samizdata

I was watching the Channel 4 news coverage of the state visit of the King of Saudi Arabia to Britain, when something I saw nearly made me fall off my chair laughing.

So what does the British Army band for the guard of honour strike up as The Man himself steps out of his limo to high-five Her Majesty?

The Darth Vader March from Star Wars (click on 'watch the report' to see for yourself). I kid you not.

Someone somewhere deserves a medal.

They're always be an England - thank God!