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Chaos Manor Home Page> Mail Home Page > View Home Page > Current View > Chaos Manor Reviews Home PageCHAOS MANOR MAILMail 431 September 11 - 17, 2006 |
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Monday
September 11, 2006 Harry Erwin's Letter From England: Letter From England Blair and Brown have agreed to paper over their differences, and things seem to have quieted down. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/5331590.stm> <http://observer.guardian.co.uk/politics/story/0,,1869092,00.html> <http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2088-2350588,00.html> <http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2088-2350585,00.html> Civil service strike upcoming? <http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/5331372.stm> Archbishop Tutu attacks betrayal of liberty <http://observer.guardian.co.uk/world/story/0,,1868923,00.html> Bin Laden story <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/ Wikipedia versus China <http://observer.guardian.co.uk/world/story/0,,1869074,00.html> Cheating at university <http://observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,1869012,00.html> There is a recent Scientific American article (August 2006) on expertise that suggests what we should do for our students is motivate them to continuously push themselves beyond their current levels of ability and then provide accurate feedback on their performance. I did that this summer with some of my programming students, and their performance was *much* improved. So perhaps the problem in education is not with the students, but rather with the approach to teaching--an interesting implication for the current high- stakes testing regime in the schools--it might be wrong-headed. The SA article also suggests that the differences in talent and intelligence between students are much less important than the differences in motivation. So when your goal is to educate experts, don't worry about their raw talent and IQ, but instead keep them pushing their limits--also supported by my experience this summer. Jerry, does this match Roberta's experience? I suspect it does. ( ** ) Air baggage problems <http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/5332894.stm> <http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/5331944.stm> Health news <http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/5332338.stm> <http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/5327354.stm> <http://observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,1869052,00.html> Management practices... Site sued over poor accessibility... (This is something I emphasise in my teaching--to always consider accessibility for people who might not match your prejudices and preconceptions) <http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/09/09/224204> Security issues <http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/click_online/5326654.stm> -- Harry Erwin, PhD, Program Leader, MSc Information Systems Security, University of Sunderland. <http://scat-he-g4.sunderland.ac.uk/~harryerw> Weblog at: <http://scat-he-g4.sunderland.ac.uk/~harryerw/blog/index.php> Comment on Education methodology: that experience exactly matches not only my own experience, but that of most of my generation. Being pushed to just beyond one's limit is apparently the best way to learn almost anything; and the experience that motivation can be as important as intelligence is very much in line with the work of Marva Collins and some of the other inner city teachers (as well as Stand and Deliver). My real education did not begin until the Brothers got hold of me and insisted that "good enough" wasn't good enough; that I wasn't putting out enough effort and by God I would start doing so. Or else. The else was sufficiently unpleasant that I began doing the work. Thank you, Brother I Vincent, Brother Fidelis, Brother Robert... I may have hated you at that time, but you changed my life. And here is something to think about: Seeking straight A's, parents push for pills. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14590058 -- Roland Dobbins ========= Doing What Our Enemies Want. http://www.d-n-i.net/fcs/oreilly_what_our_enemies_want.htm - Roland Dobbins Indeed. ========= Re: Climate change caused civilization, scientist says. Dear Jerry, I was quite surprised at the article on the change to a more arid climate causing the rise of agrarian civilization, as I had watched the first episode of James Burke's "Connections" series earlier this week this week, and Burke stated exactly that. Was there a Dark Age since 1978 where this knowledge was lost? If so, I must have missed it, which I'm not sure would be a bad thing. I do hope that your sinuses improve better soon. I had an episode earlier this year that required a CT scan of my head-they didn't find anything. ;) Take Care, Rod Schaffter -- "The big media companies shouldn’t worry that people will post their copyrighted material on YouTube. They should worry that people will post their own stuff on YouTube, and audiences will watch that instead." --Paul Graham ============ Dr. Pournelle, The last time I wrote I had complained that America seemed to have a rash of unsolvable problems; The war, the economy, Big government conservatism, education, ill eagle immigration etc. You have noted that Despair is a sin, but despair is a normal reaction which, like panic, appears when there are problems that seem to have no solutions. I noted that we seem to have none for many of our problems.A political solutions seems unlikely as we do not appear to have the individual political will to force the hard choices on our leaders, and we do not have leaders who can galvanize us to make those choices. A revolution is out of the question as the cure (historically) is usually worse than the disease. Since I wrote that, I have seen nothing on these pages that causes me to believe that there is a practical, workable solution. I decided that I cannot solve all these issues. I am old enough to know my limits but young enough to still want to try to do something and Despair Is A Sin!. I live in a trailer park that is predominantly Hispanic. There are about 230 trailers here and maybe a dozen or so are Gringos. Many of the Hispanics are second and third generation and do not speak English, or at least not fluently. I an starting a Boy Scout Troop in the park. The Management of the park is chartering it. I am going to try to assimilate these people. Scouting stresses American values and if I can lure the boys in with the fun, I can also get the parents in to help. I do not speak Spanish but most of the boys that age are bilingual as is the manager of the park. It is not much. It will take a long time and will not effect many people but it is something positive and within the capabilities of a single individual. It will not only help assimilate them into American culture, it will help the education process. The Scouts will have a chance to see the good of education by using and honing knowledge they acquire in school to solve practical problems of running a Boy Scout troop and its program. They will also have to learn new skills that schools no longer teach because they are politically incorrect. I may not have gotten the same level of education you did but I got much better than children now a days do and I got something more from my parents; a love of learning. This was reinforced by other (Heinlein for one) and I have continued educating myself over the years. If I can pass that along, and show these boys the unexpected consequences of education, maybe it will be a start. I am not suited for politics. This is something I can do and I must do something because Despair is a sin and that is the only other option I see. Keep up the good work. I am eagerly awaiting Inferno II and Janissaries IV. I would give a lot for a story about The early years of the First Empire, Something shortly after Prince Of Sparta, but I understand you have limited time. Are you still working on the update to A Step Farther Out? Sincerely, Patrick A. Hoage One does what one can. And the old song about everyone lighting one candle is all true. ============d |
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Tuesday, September
12, 2006
Subject: Pray there be law Dr Pournelle From Chaos Manor's mail of Friday, June 30, 2006: "Legal discussions are of interest, but history shows that there comes a time when they are swept aside. Inter armes, silent leges." We are interested in legal discussions because we are a people of law. When the law fails, there is only uncontrolled force. Law puts the bit in the mouth of force and makes it amenable to direction so that it serves our notions of what is fair. Law is the product of the accumulated wisdom of our predecessors. We flounder through the present because we act by logic and self-interest. Our failures we regret. Our successes we preserve and call these precedents. Respectfully h lynn keith Well, yes, but have you not missed my point? Are we a people of law? We used to be. That was one of the gloried of the American experiment. But today politics trumps law. Voter identification is a partisan matter. Illegal aliens are by definition outlaws, but that is controversial. We have so many laws that we cannot possible enforce them all, a situation that usually leads to anarcho-tyranny in which selective enforcement of laws is used in a deliberate manner. Bureacratization of law enforcement also leads to anarcho tyranny. We used to have self government. It was cheap and fairly simple. That no longer suffices for the Powers that Wish To Be. Endless wishing for law does not bring it about; while very practical measures taken to ensure "diversity" almost always indicates an end to law as we knew it. Already there is one law for the property owning citizen who will legally be required to pay his bills, and another for the illegal alien; and that trend will continue. I note today that Harvard has decided not to allow early acceptance for bright students. It is, apparently, unfair to all those others. Contemplate that as you watch institutions crumble. The conservative position has always been that good government is a gift from God, to be cherished and nurtured; not the product of men tinkering with their institutions. Law may once have been the accumulated wisdom of our ancestors, but I do not believe the current crop of laws emanating from the penumbras has much to do with wisdom at all. Law is now the spoils of the victor. Inter armes, silent leges. == The rights of Englishmen, Part XXXIX. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-2352963,00.html The Rights of Englishmen, Part XL.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/ The Rights of Englishmen, Part XLI.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?
- Roland Dobbins ========= Mr. Niven, the prophet. Unfortunately. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-2350794,00.html
J ========== Daily Diatribe Monday's Vent at http://hotair.com/ will feature Robert Spencer of Jihad Watch. That should be well worth the watching and much toned down from the usual "Vent". {^_^} ==== Al Qaeda releases a new tape. Some discossion can be found here: http://michellemalkin.com/archives/005893.htm This includes a video highlights and the full recording for those who want to try their own analysis. {^_^} ==== Palestinians celebrate 9/11 in 2001: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xATs0ExMRHw&eurl= {^_^} ==== Edited and unedited Path to 9/11 video: http://hotair.com/archives/2006/09/10/video-path-to-911/ {^_^} ==== Lest we forget - video from a drone with bin Laden clearly in the video.
http://hotair.com/archives/2006/09/08/video-flashback Had Clinton moved fast enough bin Laden would have been dead rather than nearly 3000 people in New York. {^_^} ==== 45 minute documentary of Arab and Iranian reactions to 9/11 reseaerched from Arab and Iranian news sources. PDF versions exist. This is the full video. http://switch3.castup.net/cunet/gm.asp?ClipMediaID=233961&ak=null {^_^} ==== <grin> Abu Ghraib after the Americans left and the Iraqi's took over.
http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=22501_ Seems we nice guys when treating prisoners compared to the Iraqi guards. "Tortured screams ring out as Iraqis take over Abu Ghraib" http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/09/10/wirq10.xml <snicker> Sharia law is HARSH. {^_^} |
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Wednesday,
Subject: What to do, what to do.... Following the green football link to the new status of prisoners in Iraq got me thinking, Dr. Pournelle... (Thinking -- a dangerous activity.) The Romans probably lined the roads to Baghdad with occupied crosses -- and would today under present circumstances. We send our soldiers to prison for embarrassing photos. FDR sent the Japanese-Americans to internment camps after 12-7. We have sensitivity training to avoid profiling Islamists. Of course everyone knows that NO Islamists in the USA would be terrorists or traitors. (And what was it Heinlein said about sentences which begin with "Of course"?) Charles Brumbelow ========== Subject: Nasa tv Dr. Pournelle, If you and you're readers aren't turning on nasa tv occasionally (online at http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/main/index.html ) you're missing a good show. They're broadcasting live pretty much everything even remotely interesting with the shuttle mission. I've spent the last hour watching two astronaut's helmet cams as they unbolt launch restraints holding the new space station's solar arrays in place. Fascinating how difficult it is to remove a few dozen bolts out in space, and the planning required to do something as simple as change the socket on a wrench after breaking the primary socket. Sean
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September 14, 2006 Subject: Democracy in the Middle East I'm skeptical of anything on ABC News, but Steven Pressfield has written what I think is an excellent article on "Why We Will Never See Democracy In the Middle East": <http://abcnews.go.com/International/story?id=2384603&page=1> I wish the egregious Frum (and others) had had this tattooed inside their eyeballs four years ago. S. -- Stephen Fleming Indeed. But history is no longer required in college. It's not necessary. The article is well worth reading; as is Parkinson's East and West, But I doubt the egregious Frum would profit from reading either. ========= Subject: paid eggs Dear Jerry: I imagine one concern about paying for eggs is that you would end up with many of the same types of volunteers you find at a paid public blood bank: winos, drug addicts, and crack hos. Not only are they an unsavory set but over-indulgence in their libation of choice does no good to the individual’s genome. Best-- Tim And of course an ethicist would know more about this than the research laboratories that are trying to get material to work with. Uh -- if you pay people you can be selective about which ones you pay? Only an ethicist would think there's some universal "solution" to this that can be obtained by pure thought. ========== Subject: Nasa tv Dr. Pournelle, If you and you're readers aren't turning on nasa tv occasionally (online at http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/main/index.html ) you're missing a good show. They're broadcasting live pretty much everything even remotely interesting with the shuttle mission. I've spent the last hour watching two astronaut's helmet cams as they unbolt launch restraints holding the new space station's solar arrays in place. Fascinating how difficult it is to remove a few dozen bolts out in space, and the planning required to do something as simple as change the socket on a wrench after breaking the primary socket. Sean It would be easier with better space suits. And perhaps with young mechanics rather than old PhD types? ========== Subject: lightweight bulletproof vest that protects against armour-piercing rounds Jerry Thought you might be interested in this: http://www.newscientist.com/blog/invention/2006/09/ultimate-body-armour.html "A lightweight bulletproof vest that protects against armour-piercing rounds is being developed by the US government's Army Soldiers System Command." "The new vest has three layers: a top ceramic section, a middle layer of aluminium, and bottom layer of woven nylon." "In testing, the vest could trap armour-piercing bullets fired at point blank range from a rifle at 850 metres per second." Best wishes, hope you find a solution to the headaches and you feel better soon Paul Dove Nemourlon =========== Subject: Seitz ready to post announcement for ADAMANT What's the matter with science and the media? Plenty. Intriguing answers , hard edged questions and for R&R, a factoid menagerie at: http://adamant.typepad.com/seitz/ Russell Seitz =========== Interview with Newt Gingrich Dr. Pournelle: 1.There's an interesting interview with Newt Gingrich in the latest issue of Discover magazine. 2. Regarding Armitage's mistake: The question no one seems to be asking is how did a State Department employee like Armitage learn of Valerie Plame's occupation? What need-to-know could he possibly have? I can see someone in his position needing to know information that a U. S. intelligence officer provided, but (stipulating for the sake of argument that she was actually in an undercover job) what possible reason could Armitage have to know the name of that officer? Why should Rove, a DOMESTIC policy advisor, know the names of any intelligence officers? Is the CIA a sieve, or do politicians like to drop names to prove their own importance? jomath Her husband was a career FSO at State. She has twins and now works at Langley, driving in every day (which is not what actual covert Company people do). In other words, it was not much of a secret. I would guess that several of her neighbors knew where she worked, and many people at State knew. If she had been in some kind of undercover job she would not be driving into the gate at at Langley every morning in a convertible. There is no security there. Hell, not only can't they prevent photographing of all those who go into Langley, they can't even prevent a mad Muslim from going down the line shooting them. ============= Princeton prof hacks e-vote machine http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060913/ap_on_hi_te/electronic_voting TRENTON, N.J. - A Princeton University computer science professor added new fuel Wednesday to claims that electronic voting machines used across much of the country are vulnerable to hacking that could alter vote totals or disable machines. In a paper posted on the university's Web site, Edward Felten and two graduate students described how they had tested a Diebold AccuVote-TS machine they obtained, found ways to quickly upload malicious programs and even developed a computer virus able to spread such programs between machines. <snip> I am reminded of the young Thomas Edison inventing an electric vote recorder and trying to sell it to the United States Congress. The Congress thought it was a terrible idea, and that Members actually standing up and saying "yea" or "nay" was a pretty good way of voting. Slightly different situation from here, but: "if it doesn't have a paper trail, it doesn't count as a vote" seems a good line for a constitutional amendment right about now. Petronius Yea Verily ========= J.K. Rowling challenges airport security http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060914/ap_en_ce/britain_rowling LONDON - British author J.K. Rowling "I don't know what I would have done if they hadn't — sailed home probably," she wrote. <snip> If it had been MY (or your) manuscript, and I/you in the boarding line, methinks the result would have been somewhat different. As in I/you would be composing letters to my/your attorney about how to get out of gaol. But in an Empire there ARE classes of subject that are exempt from some of the more onerous rules that the common class must obey. Salve sclave, indeed. Petronius
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September 15, 2006 Subject: Decline and Fall Don't know if you're a fan of Edward Gibbon, but as I've heard you make Republic/empire comparisons on several occasions, I though you might be interested in this point by point comparison: http://billmon.org/archives/002727.html If I weren't already sobered up from listening to you before, this would sober me up. Best regards, Paul Schindler But, we are told, we are meeting our recruiting goals, and all is well, and all is well. And on that subject Subject: barking mad "For example, Charles Krauthammer proclaims in the Washington Post today that Iran, a nation with a 2,500 year history of military mediocrity going back to the Battle of Marathon and a current military budget a tiny fraction of America's, is far more dangerous than the Soviet Union ever was: The mullahs are infinitely more likely to use these weapons than anyone in the history of the nuclear age. Every city in the civilized world will live under the specter of instant annihilation delivered either by missile or by terrorist. ... Against millenarian fanaticism glorying in a cult of death, deterrence is a mere wish. " > This is, of course, pure horseshit. G Iran has an unstable government, held together in large part through stimulating fear of America the Great Satan. The Iranian government contains many who are barking mad, but the populace has a different view of the world. America's Cultural Weapons of Mass Destruction are doing their work there. Iran does not have to be our enemy. Of course we are busily alienating all our potential friends in the area. Even the Turks have rethought their historic friendship with the United States. ============ Subject: Global Warming and Barley in Greenland >It would be useful to know just what is happening, and whether we can do anything about it. One thing we could do is paint all our roofs white. For some reason there is no national panic about dark colored roofs> Or blacktop parking lots roads and highways! On a related point from memory of my first Navy cruise in 1958. In 1958 I went aboard the USS Rowan DD782 and was on her when she met the USS Ranger off Chile and brought her back to the US after she rounded the horn on her own. On the way from San Diego to Acapulco and then again from there to Panama we did a lot of seemingly unrelated course changes. Several of us asked the captain why we were making such large zigs and zags constantly. His answer was that like all Navy captains setting off on a cruise he visited the Scripps Institute at La Jolla to see if there were any research needs that the ship could fulfill in the area we would be passing through. He was given coordinates through the area from the tip of Baja to Panama they wished depth soundings to be made to record changes being brought about in the region through coral growth and geologic activity. He told us that he had asked the reason for this interest and was told the ridge extending down to Panama from Baja was rising at a fairly rapid rate compared to what coral growth alone could account for. They then told him that they felt by the mid 1980s California and the Desert Southwest would begin getting more humid and the area would become in the next hundred year warm and humid sub tropical rather than its current in 1958 dry and arid desert condition. This would be brought about by the ridge blocking some and gradually more tropical storms that then were marching across to Hawaii and diverting them up the west coast to Baja or into the Gulf of California and the desert South West. I did not think to much about it until the weather patterns began in the early 90s to become this way. I brought it up to several of the anti CO2 crowd that this could be a more accurate explanation for climate change then theirs and got well put down because they believed in the evil of industrial pollution. -- James Early Long Beach, CA = Subject: Hockey Stick As I was reading your "View" today, I couldn't help but think again that the "Hockey Stick" warming model sounded vaguely familiar. Then it hit me (many distractions these days have me a bit obtuse) - anyone remember the "Malthusian" predictions about population growth? Similar catastrophic predictions of an ever-increasing variable, and yet population growth has in fact stagnated if not declined in many areas of the world. You'd think it would be an abject lesson in putting overmuch faith in statistical models when dealing with complex systems with multiple poorly understood inputs. Apparently not. I don't really doubt we're in a warming period. It may even be an unusually rapid one (paleoclimatology is not my area of expertise by any stretch), but until they really explore the possible inputs to the system any predictive model is pessimistically wishful thinking (an odd social phenomenon in itself). Historical data is obviously helpful and the new ice core data could be illuminating, but much of what I've been reading on the "results" being cited from them seems to be all the "news that's print to fit". As you've said, if we invest into researching the causative factors rather than odd stop-gaps that presume human agency as the root of all evils, mightn't we actually get a pretty rapid return on R&D investment with those sorts of resources thrown at the problem? Just a random thought for the day... Regards, J. Scott Cardinal By the way, I do hope you start feeling better soon. Admittedly for partially selfish reasons - I was starting to go into withdrawal there for a bit without my regular daily dose of intelligence and sanity from your site. = Subject: Hurrah for You!!! > One thing we could do is paint all our roofs white. For some reason there is no national panic about dark colored roofs. You said it out loud!!! For a long time, I've wondered about a different form of govt. interference -- might call it the "albedo laws!" Consider all that land that is as black as any lava flow -- parking lots and highways. Make 'em light colored. Any idea of the difference it all might makek? Julie http://walkingprescott.blogspot.com ========= Subject: "Lightweight" bulletproof vests Dr. P, While trying not to be a professional skeptic, I can’t help but notice that the description of the “ultimate body armor” makes no mention of the expected weight of a vest which can stop a standard 7.62mm NATO round. Having some first-hand experience with ceramic plates (e.g., the ESAPI plates currently issued in the sandbox), I can’t help but wonder what the inventors consider to be “lightweight”. That said, once they are ready for field testing, I think these fellows show some promise for assisting with troop testing: http://shock.military.com/Shock/videos.do?displayContent=107890&page=1 Regards, William Clardy = Dr. P, I forgot that military.com requires registration to access the content uploaded to their Shock and Awe section. The video I referenced is now viewable on YouTube at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gsz9ZrFvoQg Regards, William Clardy ================== Subject: In reply to July 27 - Subject " GreenBorder Pro" Dear Jerry, I’m writing in response to a posting on your website/newsletter from July 27 – Subject “ GreenBorder Pro” http://www.jerrypournelle.com/mail/mail424.html#green Since I don’t have Phil’s (the posters) email address I was wondering if you could either relay the below message to him or post it as part of your newsletter. Best Regards, Siggi = Dear Phil, My name is Siggi Petursson and I’m with GreenBorder Technologies, Inc. First of all let me tell you that I’m truly sorry that you experienced issues with our product. I also want to clarify a couple of things that you have written about. 1. Is GreenBorder a rootkit? I can guarantee 100% that GreenBorder is NOT a rootkit. In fact, one of GreenBorder’s main purpose is to protect against rootkits. The Enterprise version of our software is in use on thousands of corporate desktops, including state and federal government entities. When we launched our consumer offering GreenBorder Pro (the version you were using) we got several outstanding reviews by a number of leading news outlets including The Wall Street Journal, PC Magazine and Network World http://ptech.wsj.com/archive/ptech-20060706.html <http://ptech.wsj.com/archive/ptech-20060706.html> http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,1980980,00.asp <http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,1980980,00.asp> http://www.networkworld.com/newsletters/techexec/2006/0821techexec1.html <http://www.networkworld.com/newsletters/techexec/2006/0821techexec1.html> 2. Uninstall Issues This is the first time a user has told us about these kinds of issues. Once a user selects the uninstall option, a script removes all the GreenBorder related content including the deep directory structures you mentioned. There could be a couple of reasons why they didn’t get removed, ranging from files being in use, to a potential bug or incompatibility with existing software on your system. Either way I would like to offer you to have one of our engineers take a look at it so that we can resolve and clarify the issue for you. Please feel free to get in touch with me. Best Regards, Siggi ___________ Siggi Petursson GreenBorder, Sr. Manager QA & Support siggip@greenborder.com | office 650.625.0601 x342 ============= Subj: Judicial automation in China
http://news.com.com/Justice+at+the+click+of+a Justice at the click of a mouse in China | CNET News.com So: China has gone *beyond* Rule of Law -- to Rule of Software! I suppose the next step will be for US legislatures to "offshore" judicial proceedings to China? [shudder] Rod Montgomery==monty@sprintmail.com Why not? It will save money. We can have Wall-Mart negotiate the contracts for us. Isn't the entire purpose of life to get everything at lower prices? Why all this insistence on US control of US justice? Are we racists? Modern technology at it's best. http://theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=34365
Dave Krecklow ======== Subj: Flying Car: Simulator Now, Vehicle Soon
http://news.com.com/Flying-car+firm+releases+simulator%2C Flying-car firm releases simulator, takes deposits | CNET News.com
http://news.com.com/Flying+car+ready+ Flying car ready for takeoff? | CNET News.com Rod Montgomery==monty@sprintmail.com ======== Subject: Feeling puckish about "It's all the Westerner's Faulr" for global this and that Our ancestors did it, perhaps the first great extinction to take place on this planet is all the fault of the ancestors of Americans! Back some 2.4 Billion years ago our ancestors, then in the form of blue green algae caused the MASS extinction of untold numbers of species of anaerobic bacteria that had existed before that and had pumped Earth's atmosphere full of methane. The oxygen produced by the photosynthetic blue green algae poisoned almost all other species existing at that time. See, it's all the fault of our ancestors! http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=20818 But it does give us clues for finding which OTHER planets might have life with mass killer genocidal ancestors. {^_-} == Joanne Dow Subject: - Daily Diatribe with a non time critical important item or two If you ignore all the other links below please at least follow this one that talks about the perils of the European (and growing American) multiculturalism. Ignore the stuff about gays in there if you will; but; do note how the nice European neighborhood Mohammedans treat their women and how they are excluded from society rather than melted into society under multiculturalism. (More below.) http://www.brucebawer.com/tolerating.htm {^_^} === Even the richest of the "moderate" Mohammedans are simply barbarians with lots of money. Dubai is a case in point. Buying kidnapped children to use in a dangerous sport, camel racing, is a despicable practice. But the Mohammedan religion doesn't care. So they do it. I presume they have been "assured" that the children are heathens. http://michellemalkin.com/archives/005932.htm Note her comment at the bottom - it seems Dubai has her site blocked and has had it blocked since at least February. http://michellemalkin.com/archives/004597.htm Dubai is NOT a "free" society. {+_+} ==== The HotAir Vent today has Michelle Maklin and Mary Katherine Ham talk about Rosie O'Donnell's outrageous equation of "Radical Islam" with "Radical Christianity." http://hotair.com/archives/2006/09/14/the-conservative-view/ I note that there is a sense that "Radical Christians" running a theocratic government might get carried away with their treatment of certain minorities. But they are NOT busy taking over the government from top to bottom or talking about anything nearly as radical as Sharia law, which puts these certain minorities to death. Oh yes, Rosie is TWO of those certain minorities, a woman and a homosexual. Neither class is treated as "equals" to "normal men" within Islam. Rosie, and the other "The View" girls need to remove their blinders about Mohammedanism lest they find themselves victimized by it. Bruce Bawer has a page Rosie should read. He comments about American Mohammedans and how they really are quite moderate for the most part. He is a gay. He left the US because of perceived persecution. He moved to Europe. He experienced European Mohammedans more than once. After his beatings he rather appreciates the US and its more moderate Mohammedans. He comments that the US has a genius for taking its immigrants and making Americans of them. And indeed we do. We give them opportunities. And when they grasp those opportunities they are a part of the American success story, and have something to lose by being anti-American. It seems the officials in Oslo and Amsterdam, the two places he lived for awhile, are trying to ignore the problems the Mohammedans create lest they be accused of being "cultural imperialists". Political Correctness at its corrosive worst may to turn Western Europe into an entirely Mohammedan part of the world. That cannot be any sort of a good thing. He mentions Soheib Bencheikh who serves as the grand mufti of Marseille. It sounds like this gentleman is a Mohammedan the West should be helping in any manner possible. Bencheihk proposes "an Islam that preaches tolerance, respects diversity, supports the separation of church and state, and embraces integration wholeheartedly and without hesitation." Instead the French choose the most politicized and radical Mohammedans for their "Muslim Council" "because they are more representative." Bruce speaks of conditions in Denmark as perceived from Norway. I wish our mutual BIX acquaintance "DenverD" would read that part. He paints a FAR different picture in arguments. It seems the Mohammedans in Denmark had thousands of Mohammedans gather in a small town named Norrebro for a protest against democracy. One speaker called for "holy war" against Danish society. I suspect Denver is in some danger there. http://www.brucebawer.com/tolerating.htm The whole article is worth reading with its discussions of the frictions caused by lack of cultural assimilation in Europe and with their turning a blind eye on practices in the Mohammedan communities. In these communities rape is always due to the woman, the rapists go free. Women are property given to a husband by her father with no say at all on her part. If a husband tires of a wife he can accuse her of adultery and have her put to death. There isn't even any way for a woman to turn over and say she has a headache tonight if the man feels like sex - regardless of her current physical condition. And near the bottom he goes into discussions of the reactions within the Mohammedan communities around Europe to 9/11. "Nor did the Norwegian authorities, I'm sure, pay a visit to the celebrating family of that puzzled schoolboy." 'On the day the World Trade Center fell, the Dutch populace learned that Moroccan immigrants in the town of Ede were rejoicing in the streets. That Friday, a TV report on Nederland 1 commemorating the victims in the U.S. was followed immediately by a Koran reading, supplied by the Dutch Muslim Broadcasting System, stating that "unbelievers were fuel for the fire."' (Dutch Muslim Broadcasting System???? Really!) This is an astoundingly informative and long article which Bruce wrote. Do be sure to read it. Again it's URL is: http://www.brucebawer.com/tolerating.htm (Jerry, I suppose that means an amazing number of European cities would sprout your 9/11 memorials? Hmmmm....) This, if nothing else, underscores the fact that multiculturalism is a wretchedly bad idea. Melting pot USA worked. Multicultural USA is failing with Europe showing us the way. {^_^} ==== While I am on a roll of long posts how about I take on CAIR, too, with notes from this long article? http://sayanythingblog.com/2006/09/14/who_the_terror_apologists_support/ It documents the CAIR/HAMAS connection. It documents CAIR diverting 9/11 relief funds it collected to Hamas via the "Holy Land Foundation", a Hamas funds source. It pressures schools to whitewash the 9/11 events and the fact that every one of the participants was a Mohammedan and died with Allah on their lips as they killed thousands. How about asking who represents them in congress? There is a long list that includes the illustrious Nancy Pelosi, Henry A. Waxman, Maxine Waters, Joe Baca, Robert Wexler, Luis V. Wexler, John Conyers, Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick, and others for a total of 154 Democrats. Then we have the independent Bernard 'Bernie' Sanders and 8 Republicans like Heather A. Wilson and Ronald E. 'Ron' Paul. All these people who are supposed to take on the creation of laws for the governance of these United States in our House of Representatives have a 100% voting record in support of CAIR terrorist apologists. These 100% ratings are from CAIR themselves, not somebody else's guess what CAIR would support. This ranking came from a one vote issue, the Real ID Act. It's of note that this act would make it very hard for a terrorist to get an ID in the US and obtain relative freedom of movement and action. {^_^} ==== And I note that Radical Secular Humanists are as dangerous as the Mohammedans, fortunately they have underwhelming numbers just like Radical Christians. It seems "He had a blog." He being the Montreal radical secular humanist Goth who shot up the university. http://hotair.com/archives/2006/09/14/montreal-shooter-had-a-blog/ Truly, we waste too much time these days assuring the alienated stay alienated rather than finding valued places for them WITHIN our single but diverse culture. {^_^} ==== I have a bad feeling about this.... http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/013108.php Dubai - A radical Algerian Islamist group known as the GSPC pledged its allegiance to al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and vowed to pursue jihad in Algeria, according to a statement posted on the internet on Thursday. Along with Zawahiri's threat to France this bodes ill for any peace within that country. If the West waits too long to take on Mohammedan extremists and dissuades them of their radical views we'll fall into the level of desperation that really did lead to the Crusades, in which Christians were literally fighting for their lives and freedom and taking that fight home to the enemy. {O.O} ========= Subject: Great Job on TWiT! Jerry, Catching up on my podcast listening, I heard you as a guest on This Week in Tech, episode #64 (available at http://www.twit.tv/64 ). While I have read you since the days of the CP/M, I have never heard you speak, and it was great fun to hear your views on TWiT. I hope you will accept Leo Laporte's invitation to return to TWiT (or even to join him more regularly on a podcast?). The TWiT network Leo has built has very high quality content -- if any of your readers has not heard Security Now, with Steve Gibson, for example, they are really missing out. Many podcasts, TWiT included, are very focused on the very latest and greatest (the bleeding edge of technology). You brought a valuable perspective to the show, since much of what we see on the bleeding edge today, you have seen analogously in the past. I hope we will get to hear you again. Greg Alonzo I have an invitation from Leo and when I get my neck problem stabilized I will accept. Thanks for the kind words. ========== Subject: English Russia » Lost City of Chernobyl These pictures are absolutely fascinating... to see a modern ghost town is a most unsettling experience. Note especially how the trees have taken over the works of man! http://englishrussia.com/?p=293 Julie http://walkingprescott.blogspot.com ========= Subject: Democracy in The Middle East Jerry, I read the mail from Stephen Fleming and your answer. I disagree strongly. First: There are too many historians for anyone to be familiar with any particular one. I'm sure that Mr. Frum does have many important things 'tattooed inside his eyeballs". Second: Even if Mr. Frum had had this particular historian's ideas in mind what would he have done differently? From just reading the article linked it seems that the answer to this question is 'do nothing'. I doubt that the tribalism in us and in Mr. Frum would allow us to do nothing. Turning one cheek is one thing, turning 3000 cheeks is quite another. Third: I see many benefits of our being in Iraq. Not the least of which is that they're fighting amongst themselves instead of with us. What benefits of/from our presence in the Middle East do you see? Ephraim F. Moya http://moya.us ps. love your site! I do not recall advocating turning the other cheek with regards to 9/11, which is I presume what you mean here. Indeed I was scolded for suggesting that we build monuments. http://www.jerrypournelle.com/war/whattodo.html =========== Subject: Fwd: Clintons deleted 9-11 scenes Hi friends: Here's part of what was deleted from the ABC "Path to 9/11" show, already on the net. I think it is certain the an unexpurgated version, possibly with supplementary information will be a best seller on DVD very soon. Bill
William Haynes ========= Subject: Military enlistment in 2006 Dr. Pournelle: Okay, I'm baffled. I saw your Friday (9/15/06) Chaos Manor mail about military recruitment not being up to stated goals. What I didn't see from following the link (and the link featured in the billmon blog link were actual figures. I'd like it if that site, or some intrepid reader on your site posted what the goals were, either by fiscal year or month-by-month, and actual recruitment. I saw the twelve step commentary from yet another blog (the second link), and it seemed high on opinion and short on data. I had to smile at the statistic of "almost 40%" of recruits scored in the bottom half of the ASVAB. I'd think that'd be cause for celebration unless he meant the lowest 50th percentile. Back in my day you had to be 70% percentile or better. Considering the author is a contributor to lefty papers, lefty organizations, and writes about "war crimes" I'm baffled that anyone takes this guy seriously... or, for that matter the Whiskey Bar. While I know you do not support our current actions on the War on Terror, I know you support our troops. I can't see you, however, taking serious the rantings of these folks. On a completely different tack, I hope that you are feeling better. While I have occasional neck and back pain it is due to my crappy posture when I work. I'm half reclined in my office chair, while positioning my neck forward to see the monitor. I do buy the economy-sized bottles of acetaminophen and ibuprofen from Costco. Is your brace working? Have you considered realigning your monitor so if follows a more "natural" field of vision? Regards, Bill Kelly Houston, TX My position has always been clear enough, I think: Republics have large paid standing armies at their peril. The peril may be adventurism and imperialism ("What's the use of having this powerful army if we can't use it?") or something worse, but the result is never very good. When recruitment becomes an important military activity there's something wrong. A proper republic has a good standing army small enough that one does not want to risk it in adventures. It defends its borders largely with a powerful navy. If you want an expeditionary force you recruit that for that campaign or you use conscription if you are forced to large armies for defense. The old days when the Navy (and Marines) belonged to the President, but the War Department belonged to Congress unless we were really at war seemed to work well. I do not know the actual recruiting situation, but I do know we are increasing the bonuses and incentives, and we seem to be calling up reserves and the Guard. Our involvement in the Middle East does not seem to be working well. I said before we went in that I could spend $300 billion and make us safer by: securing the border; building a 600 ship Navy and increasing Coast Guard; building 100 1000 MW fission power plants; developing better battery/fuel cell technology; going to space and building space solar power satellites; and getting out of entangling alliances and refraining from intervening in the border disputes of Europe or the Middle East. I have not seen any evidence to convince me that my original assessment was incorrect, and many who thought I was mad back then now wish my advice had been followed. And having said all that, I do not know how to get us out of the mess we have got into. Regarding my neck situation, I invented computer glasses -- at least I am so far as I know the first person to have had 28" focal length glasses made for use in writing with computers, and I wrote about that back in about 1980. I use those, and I do vary the positions I use. Thanks for the concern. ========= The Mohammedan Candidate.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/ -- Roland Dobbins
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September 16, 2006 Subject: Hair-trigger sensitivity in health trends? Dr. Pournelle, This article is pretty much a summary of the tainted spinach thing going on right now. http://www.cnn.com/2006/HEALTH/09/15/tainted.spinach.ap/index.html Is it just me, or does anyone else think that finding and linking a common cause for a "mere" 94 illnesses nationwide is pretty darn good work? I don't know how many illnesses they had before the alerts were triggered, but even the current number of 94, with only 29 hospitalizations and 1 death seems like a hair-trigger threshold. It's amazing how they can link that sort of thing so quickly with so few people. Even a dozen years ago, how many people would have had to get sick and/or die before they'd figure it out? I know food safety and E. coli are high priorities, but it still seems amazing how quickly they caught this. There is already noise about harsher regulations and complaints about sluggish federal response, but any kind of not-stupid thought about this event ought to lead to the conclusion that the detection and response was actually pretty fast. Sean It was indeed fast... ========== Russell Seitz on next Tuesday Arrrh now, Cap'n Pournelle , avast ye poxy necked Wheezyanne LaFitterole 'n harken ye to me, , how we came landward lonside O Yer International Chamber O'Commerce Weekly Piracy Report, 5-11 September 2006 , and hailed the lubbers aboard to Talk Like A Pirate or be keelhauled and bastinadoed .Here followin' be a summary o' the lily-livered merchantmen's daily reports hailed by the IMB's Piracy Reportin' Centre t' ships in Atlantic, Indian an' Pacific Ocean Regions on the Safety NET portolano o' Inmarsat-C from 5 t' 11 September 2006. AVAST! Chittagong Lascar soundings Twenty nine ambuscades be havin' been reported since 28.01.2006. Pirates be targetin' ships preparin' t' anchor. Ships ye be advised t' take extra precautions. Yer IMB Report on Piracy an' Armed Attacks on Ships from January t' June 2006 be now published. Pray ye ken the end o' this affadavy t' order Squint crafts n' hostile Men O War a callin : Nary reported this sennit . On this watch ( tis 10.09.2006) at 0250 LT at Chittagong anchorage, Bangladesh. Eight scalwag lascaradoes armed with cutlasses in four boats boarded a bulk carrier preparin' t' anchor sternwise. Foremast hands confronted the wharf rats but they stole ship's stores an' escaped. 07.09.2006 Chittagong anchorage, Bangladesh. Ten lubbers in an unlit boat came alongside o a container ship an' attempted t' board. D/O raised an avast an' crew mustered ,an' boat moved away. 04.09. Chittagong anchorage 'A', Bangladesh. Six robbers armed with long cutlassses boarded a steam brig by the bows. They shivvered t'focs'i locker an' stole ship's tack 03.09. Chittagong anchorage "A", Bangladesh . Corsairs boarded a general cargo barky twice from stern an' bow. Focs'l hands mustered smart as paint an' robbers jumped overboard an' escaped empty han'ed. Black Spot areas an' warnin's * Gulf o' Aden / Southern Red Sea * Somalian waters - East by northeast coastwise be right scurvy areas fer hijackin's . Ships nay makin' scheduled ports'O call in these soundings keep ye at least 100 nm offshore Ye'll not see such plum duff and weeviltry in Don Carlos Seitz History O'Piracy , I thee guarantee ! ============ Subject: religion of peace You know, if the Pope said something that offended Protestants, or Jews, or Buddhists, nobody would be terribly worried about violent reprisals. http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,645201954,00.html If there are really "moderate Muslims" then it appears they are--with good reason--too afraid to speak up against violent responses to "insults" to their religion. If a Muslim speaks out against Islamist violence, he will have a fatwa laid against him. Therefore, "moderate Islam" either doesn't exist or is completely ineffective and might as well be non-existent. S And I note that nearly all the mail I get on this subject requests anonymity. = But not quite all: Subject: Daily Diatribe - tell the truth about Mohammedans and you insult them and get riots. Howls of rage flow from the Mohammedan world when the Pope speaks truth. If you read the Qur'an and Hadith you note how women and non-Mohammedans are routinely dealt with by Mohammedan governments and Sharia police. It is pure evil. But when somebody has the courage to say this they are "insulting Islam". So the Mohammedan world riots like a collection of little babies crying to get their way. Michelle's blog says it all better than I can. http://michellemalkin.com/archives/005935.htm Then she notes the death of Oriana Fallaci, an implacable foe of the Mohammedans and one of Italy's foremost authors, who died on Friday of cancer at age 77. There is a longish translated excerpt from her essay last summer on the London bombings which appeals directly to Pope Benedict. It's worth the time to read it. I note it dovetails neatly with Bruce Bawer's article I cited last night. http://michellemalkin.com/archives/005934.htm I've one addition to make to the discourse. The Mohammedans are screaming about the Pope being a Nazi. Pot, meet aluminum pan. The Mohammedans are assuredly Nazis for to them the Religion is all and the Religion is the State. Literally, that makes them like the Nazis pure and simple. They simply have a different, and equally unforgiving, mysticism they follow. {^_^} For those who missed the Bruce reference: ==== Life in a Korean prison. Dr. Mengele never had it so good. http://www.guardian.co.uk/korea/article/0,2763,1136483,00.html {o.o} ==== Video: 9/11 ticket agent Michael Tuohey
http://hotair.com/archives/2006/09/15/video- Oh my God. This proves that political correctness that led to at least one of the planes being hijacked successfully. And the man who fell victim to the political correctness is now close to a basketcase of guilt over it. {o.o} ==== On the decadent American front we have this gaming innovation
http://www.newscientisttech.com/article/dn10095- It sounds good. But it raises a dark dark SF story idea. You have a basic biofeedback tool of this sort. You toss in a sociopath who basically gets thrills in some sociopathic manner. You have a game that searches for the player's strongest reactions. What to you get? Your imagination, folks, is better than my words, I am sure. {^_^}
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September 17, 2006 Why We Will Never See Democracy in the Middle East. http://abcnews.go.com/International/print?id=2384603 Roland Dobbins Well worth your attention, although it says little not said here before. ======== Writing May Be Oldest in Western Hemisphere.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/15/science/ - Roland Dobbins Which may or may not figure in our next fantasy set in North America. ========== w f g
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