Chaos Manor View, Friday, June 24, 2016
I have a new script that successfully turns off alt-spacebar, a combination that I unfortunately hit quite often. I installed it yesterday and it seemed to work well, but while trying to do this column today I hit something – I don’t know what – that simply locked the system. Keyboard, mouse, didn’t respond to any of them. Control alt delete didn’t work. Tried alt-spacebar and got a blue screen telling me that I had crashed. The system reset itself. Needless to say, all I had been doing was lost.
I have started to run the script again – it turned itself off in the crash – and so far no problems, so perhaps that wasn’t it. Alt-spacebar can produce some disastrous results if you are staring at the keyboard two finger typing and don’t see to popup on screen, so you just keep typing; and since you intended to hit space, it can come at any time. Best disabled if you have to look at the keys.
I am in the habit of accumulating a lot of links I intend to investigate and pass them along to you, but when Firefox restored my “session” there weren’t many of them, and some I had deleted several days ago, and a lot of recent one I had recently deleted were back. It was all messed up. Don’t use Firefox tabs as a memory augmentation device. It’s, alas, not reliable. I have not much experience with Microsoft’s new browser. Firefox has always been unreliable on restoring sessions after an unexpected shutdown, and probably isn’t worse now; but once you have three rows of tabs, you cannot rely on Firefox to keep track of them and restore after a crash, and crashes get more common; coincidence? I don’t know. I just use this stuff now.
And a big new keyboard, very klacky, big keys, no alt next to the spacebar, just came, and I am trying it out. It’s bigger, and the keys are brightly labeled, feels a bit awkward but I am not used to it. So far I have not hit too many multiple keys when trying for one, but it’s early times. It’s noisy, but I can get used to that. We’ll see. The keys are not as large as the ASUS Zen, and I am pretty sure I like the ASUS better. It just told me I was in an alt e sequence whatever that is, but escape will cancel it. Of course it’s tempting to attempt touch typing, but no, I seem to have lost the ability. Ah, I have now twice hit uparrow-space which has me merrily typing in the line above the one I think I’m typing on. Ungood. Ugly. I am definitely slower with this. I’ll try again tomorrow, but it doesn’t seem to be working better than the Logitech K360, and sometimes worse. Sigh.
Back to the K360 for a while. As I think it over.
England may withdraw from the European Union, but Scotland and Northern Ireland voted to stay in the EU – could it be there will always be an England, but not a United Kingdom? The Act of Union was, I think, 1704 and some Scots still don’t accept it. And of course some Brussels Sprouts are saying that this means curtains for England. I seem to recall some States in North America wanted to withdraw from the Union, but now aren’t allowed to fly the old battle flag, just like in the days before Hayes-Tilden ended Reconstruction. Will they send French or German soldiers to try to force England to Remain! It was of course inevitable that the EU Bureaucrats would start to put the EU itself ahead of the member states. Iron Law and all that, you know. Perhaps they can talk the Danes into sending an invasion force? To preserve the Union. And Norway/Sweden can claim Shetland and the Isle of Mann.
California going no-nuke
You’ve probably already seen this.
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-diablo-canyon-nuclear-20160621-snap-story.html
PG&E is closing the Diablo Canyon plant, allegedly because it (1) is close to a fault line and (2) gets in the way of running renewable energy systems.
They’re replacing it with a portfolio of green stuff.
It will be interesting to see how this plays out. I suspect it won’t be fun for California, but, as someone once said, people get the government they deserve, and they generally get it good and hard.
–John
Well, Barrack Hussein Obama is consistent. There is a massacre in Florida, so the solution is to disarm the people of the United States. There is a water shortage – read power shortage, as the Pacific Ocean had a lot of water, but desalination takes power – so the solution is to close down the nuclear and coal plants. That will fix everything.
But when we disarmed, they sold us, and delivered us bound to our foe,
And the gods of the copybook headings, said stick to the devils you know.
Consistent.
I store up interesting places as Firefox tabs, but after a while there get to be to many of them, and Firefow becomes soggy and hard to light .
http://www.breitbart.com/jerusalem/2016/06/20/islamic-state-crucifies-lashes-ramadan-fast-breakers/
Islamic State ‘Crucifies,’ Lashes Ramadan Fast Breakers
The Times of Israel reports: Reports have emerged that Islamic State enforcers lashed and crucified three people in Syria for breaking the Ramadan fast.
The people were said to have been held in cages for hours prior to receiving their punishments at the hands of IS’s Daesh al-Hisbah religious police last week.
http://www.breitbart.com/london/2016/06/20/global-migrant-tide-swells-record-65-million/
Global Migrant Tide Swells to Record 65 Million
AFP – The number of refugees and others fleeing their homes worldwide has hit a new record, spiking to 65.3 million people by the end of 2015, the United Nations said Monday.
Europe’s high-profile migrant crisis, its worst since World War II, is just one part of a growing tide of human misery led by Palestinians, Syrians and Afghans.
Globally, approaching one percent of humanity has been forced to flee.
“This is the first time that the threshold of 60 million has been crossed,” the UN refugee agency said.
The figures, released on World Refugee Day, underscore twin pressures fuelling an unprecedented global displacement crisis.
Exclusive Video: Veteran Forcibly Dragged from Air Force Ceremony for Mentioning God
When a veteran started offering traditional remarks at a military flag-folding ceremony, several uniformed airmen assaulted him, dragging him out of the room because his remarks mentioned God. Now First Liberty Institute lawyers representing retired Senior Master Sergeant Oscar Rodriguez are demanding that the U.S. Air Force apologize and punish those responsible or face a federal civil-rights lawsuit.
Makes you proud to be an American. Or makes someone proud. Doesn’t it? Can’t have the final flag folding eremonies we used to have, even if we have to use force to stop it. This is America, after all.
http://fredoneverything.org/hussein-obama-50-america-0more-adventures-in-multiculturalism/
Orlando? So what else is new? Why the excitement? I am puzzled that everyone is distraught over a perfectly ordinary act of terrorism by a perfectly ordinary Muslim terrorist. We have seen these attacks before and will see them again. They grow monotonous, like car crashes. They are as interesting as a commercial break.
Fred is not politically correct, and hecsays things no one else will say.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/12/04/vaginal-knitting_n_4386419.html
ARTS
‘Vaginal Knitting’ Is Here To Make Everyone Afraid Of Performance Art Once Again (NSFW)
Two words: Vaginal. Knitting.
This curious form of performance art comes to us courtesy of feminist artist Casey Jenkins, a self-professed “craftivist” who is knitting using wool placed — you guessed it — inside her vagina. [ship]
There was a time when we would have thought siuch daring to be decadence, but now we know it’s progressive. As is sowing the wind.
Nothing escapes the attention of the progressives. We can rest easy knowing that.
E9kNmZDNmhhejlGNU9WXC9CVzdzVWtzMlhXUitHZUxvZmNsVktQb0x2WUJYZzRnRlVZSmM9In0%3D
Kaeley Triller Haver is no stranger to the transgender bathroom debate. After being sexually assaulted as a child and going public with her story, the single mom from Washington state now opposes shower, locker room, and bathroom policies that she believes leave her and her daughter vulnerable and unsafe.
So earlier this month, when she found out that Washington public schools quietly adopted a new set of health education standards that include teaching kindergartners about gender expression and identity, Triller Haver was shocked she wasn’t involved.
“The only way I found out was through a Facebook post,” Triller Haver told The Daily Signal. “Not really the way any parent should discover information this critically important to their child’s life.”
911 Transcript Redactions
I was going to write a piece on this but then I decided against it.
Then I saw this and something has to be said even though I’ve completely given up on the left and expect nothing less:
<.>
Fine: President Obama wants to make this about gun control, not terrorism — but ham-handed editing only calls attention to what you’re deleting, and to Obama’s peevish rules against uttering terms like “radical Islam.”
Just look at the redactions:
Mateen: “I pledge of allegiance to [omitted]. “I pledge allegiance to [omitted] may God protect him [in Arabic], on behalf of [omitted].”
All the omissions did was make Team Obama look determined to keep its head in the sand about the nature of the enemy.
</>
https://nypost.com/2016/06/20/obamas-war-on-omitted/
This makes me wonder what they’re doing that we do not know about.
◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊
Most Respectfully,
Joshua Jordan, KSC
Percussa Resurgo
Consistent.
‘In short, the Marines bet their whole tactical aviation future on the JSF.’
<https://warisboring.com/the-u-s-marines-are-pulling-old-f-a-18s-out-of-desert-storage-a9b2febe3d64>
Boyd wept.
—————————————
Roland Dobbins
what to call them?
Dr. Pournelle,
You wrote: “The goal is to have a well regulated militia available at a minute’s notice. I wonder what we can call them.”
Recommendation: Citizens.
For some, this will probably begin to too much resemble the fictional society described by Heinlein’s much maligned “Starship Troopers,” but I reckon it’s about time.
(Msgt USAF, ret)
-d
Jerry Pournelle wrote:
Obviously I had Minutemen in mind, but yes…
Re: what to call them?
Dr. Pournelle,
I agree with the sentiment. Having once worked on Minuteman Missile, and at times visited bars, dry cleaners, neighborhood groceries, and barbershops around Boston with the name, my personal feeling is that “Minuteman” may be overused. Perhaps I’m jaded.
The various authorized “real” state militias, having been Federalized under the National Guard system, have also appropriated the minuteman silhouette symbol. I feel it might be better to avoid outright identification with Federal authority — after all, there may easily be conflicts with the official policies of the government (e.g. the President’s prohibition against the Governor’s use of National Guard to quell rioting in Ferguson).
Such an organization should have a charter and code of conduct, but obedience to the orders of the President of the United States, or authorities appointed by her/him, should not be in that code. Given this, perhaps the first requirement challenge will be to avoid membership bias by association with any political party while still developing strong bipartisan political support at local levels.
-d
Soros Threatens UK
This guy is like the prince of darkness:
<.>
The world’s most famous currency speculator has warned that a vote on Thursday for Britain to leave the EU would trigger a bigger and more damaging fall for sterling than the day he forced Britain out of the Exchange Rate Mechanism almost a quarter of a century ago.
George Soros, writing in the Guardian, said a Brexit vote would spark a ‘black Friday’ for the UK, but the devaluation of sterling would bring none of the benefits to the economy that it enjoyed after it dropped out of the ERM on 16 September 1992 – Black Wednesday.
He said that, as in 1992, there would be big financial gains for speculators who had bet on the UK leaving the EU but that such an outcome would leave “most voters considerably poorer”.
</>
Be sure you didn’t miss “the day he forced Britain out of the Exchange Rate Mechanism”. This isn’t the first time England has their hindquarters soundly handed to them by a financier. The last major fire sale was after the Battle of Waterloo. I wonder if Soros is working with the red shield?
I note the red shield has many recent op eds on Brexit; this is the
◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊
Most Respectfully,
Joshua Jordan, KSC
Percussa Resurgo
Well, Britain – or at least England – has exited. Now we see. Crony capitalists will have a round, but at least the survivor in England won’t have to bow to France/Belgium.
China builds world’s fastest supercomputer without U.S. chips
But surely God looks after fools, drunks, and the United States of America…
Two aircraft carriers just went to PI. The ChiComs are not happy:
<.>
Conveying a so-called message about security through the exhibition of military might,and furthermore describing the events as an act of deterrence is something that the U.S.has done far too many times.
Regardless of how many times it may have gone smoothly in other parts of the world the U.S. has chosen the wrong opponent by selecting China for this type of game. Behind all of this is lack of patience and brassy moves and it also reveals nature of hegemony beneath the surface.
Statements from high ranking officials in the U.S. military as well as the aircraft carrier drills themselves once again demonstrate that the U.S. is definitely not a regional security safeguard, and instead precisely a trouble maker. In the regard of the South China Sea issue, the U.S. is playing an extremely destructive role.
</>
http://en.people.cn/n3/2016/0622/c90000-9075995.html
Keep in mind, this is the official newspaper of the Chinese Communist Party. I’m pretty sure this reflects the positions of the ChiComs on the CMC.
And this is happening just as the US and China are doing joint (cooperative not competitive) military exercises and both forces are heading to Hawaii.
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/chinese-warships-join-forces-massive-8255107
◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊
Most Respectfully,
Joshua Jordan, KSC
Percussa Resurgo
Surely
US Government Pays CNN for Propaganda!
The details of this article are, most likely, worth your time if only so you can refresh your data pool. I suspect you’re not shocked by any of this but it’s always nice to have someone on the inside confirm suspicions.
I conjectured — through investigation — this was happening and I knew this would become open after becoming legal with the repeal of the propaganda law. Of course, I was called crazy. Journalists are all wonderful people who just tell us the news. They’re not biased, in fact, they’re not even human since all humans have biases according to their illogic.
So, when I read stuff like this, I’m not only thinking of the trendy, urbanite who thinks that meat magically appears in the supermarket.
I’m also talking about the small town dweller who thinks that everyone
in the world has their best interests in mind…. Both are naive, in
their own fashion and both are being taken advantage of:
<.>
According to Amber Lyon, a three-time Emmy award winning journalist, CNN is routinely paid by the US government and foreign governments to selectively report on certain events. Furthermore, the Obama administration pay CNN for editorial control over some of their content.
</>
http://yournewswire.com/cnn-journalist-governments-pay-us-to-fake-stories-shocking-expose/
◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊
Most Respectfully,
Joshua Jordan, KSC
Percussa Resurgo
I’m shocked. Shocked…
Piper on YouTube
Dear Jerry,
Knowing, thanks to a panel talk you gave some years ago on H. Beam Piper, something of his life and career, I am not sure if I am happy that his books are this easy to find, or sad that they are being given away like this.
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=H.+Beam+Piper
Have his works gone into the public domain? One of the very best Golden Age writers, and sadly underappreciated by many. I still recall fondly your closing toast to his memory at the panel talk, when you poured his tumbler of whiskey into the water pitcher as you raised yours in salute.
Damn few like him!
Petronius
Beam’s widow sold all of Pipers works to Ace Books for a flat fee. Beam’s works were under the old copyright act, 28 years renewable in (and only in) the 28th year. When the 28th year rolled around, all of Beam’s works fell into the public domain. Think of it as Piper’s legacy to his fans? Of course that also freed Piper scholars such as the team John Carr heads to write their own extensions of Beam’s works.
Dear Jerry,
Your correspondent Chuck Anderson wished for a Kindle edition of The Prince “because my hard copy is falling apart.” The individual novels in the omnibus volume are available on Amazon.com, or in a bundle along with other J.E. Pournelle, et al, works from Baen Books.
CODOMINIUM FUTURE HISTORY BUNDLE: http://www.baen.com/codominium-future-history-bundle.html
High Justice
West of Honor
The Mercenary
Prince of Mercenaries
Go Tell the Spartans
Prince of Sparta
King David’s Spaceship
The Mote in God’s Eye
The Gripping Hand
I’ve enjoyed it having it.
Greg Hemsath
Alas the link leads to a notice that the bundle is no longer available. I did some new scene in The Prince that are not in the original novels which The Prince collects together to make up the Falkenberg/Lysander saga. I am negotiating for a kindle edition to be published.
The Cost of Leftist Government
Was this all so the DNC could get new voters? If so, would this make those decision makers worse than the several diseases they bring, if only through their clumsy touch?
<.>
Six diseases that were recently near eradication are making a comeback in the United States, as the taxpayer funded refugee resettlement industry launches a propaganda blitz about the so-called World Refugee Day this Monday.
The returning diseases are;
1. Tuberculosis
2. Measles
3. Whooping Cough
4. Mumps
5. Scarlet Fever
6. Bubonic Plague
The near eradication of these diseases in the United States during the twentieth century was a remarkable accomplishment of American civilization. Until recently, most Americans believed these diseases were gone from our shores for good.
But a politicized public health system, and a rise in the subsidized migration into the United States, however, have combined to reverse a century of progress.
</>
http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2016/06/19/diseases-thought-eradicated-world-refugee-day/
◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊
Most Respectfully,
Joshua Jordan, KSC
Percussa Resurgo
You can’t make omelets without breaking eggs.
Freedom is not free. Free men are not equal. Equal men are not free.
