View 438 October 30 - November 5, 2006

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Highlights this week:

In Memoriam, Peggy Gasperik
Net Neutrality and the phantom menace
TabletPC back again?

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Monday October 30, 2006

Back from Santa Barbara. The column is up. There's Chaos Reviews Mail. And I am off to the Monk's Cell to work on Inferno. More later.

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Tuesday, October 31, 2006

All Hallows Eve

From ghosties and ghoulies
and long leggeddy beasties,
and things that go bump in the night,
Good Lord deliver us

I have seen that quoted from various Anglican litanies, but I confess I have never seen the original. It seems a reasonable petition, but then so is "May this house be safe from tigers."

I have been a bit under the weather the last couple of days. Add to that our house guests, and a driving need to work on some rather delicate scenes in Inferno, and I haven't had a lot of time for this place. On the other hand, I have been keeping up with the column in Chaos Manor Reviews. I'm also looking for time to start some new features over there, occasional reviews of whatever seems appropriate and reasonable.

Have you noticed that they aren't making days as long as they used to?

I am also preparing a November letter to subscribers, but that is still very much in preparation, so you will not have that yet.

For all those who recently subscribed, thanks. I believe I have caught up with subscription enrollments. If you subscribed and have not received the welcoming letters, please let me know.

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Wednesday, November 1, 2006

All Saints Day

I paid the bills last night, and found to my horror one from a major Department Store chain for about thirty dollars. The actual purchase wasn't a purchase at all, it was some kind of assessment or fee for about three dollars. Then they didn't send a bill until their cycle was past, so when I paid that it was late and they put in a late fee. This happened again. I am now stuck for a fair amount of money for no purchase at all, just in fees of one kind or another.

I suppose I must pay it, but I am sending in written notice with the payment to cancel the account and if I am ever insane enough to enroll in their credit schemes again I will not pay the bills so do not give me any more credit. That probably won't be read, of course. Every store chain has its own credit cards which they hope to get you to use, but few of them have anyone with intelligence on the other end of the phone. Unlike Citibank and American Express, who have people with the authority to remove "late fees" and such like from your bills, and will do so if you call and explain that the bill did not arrive in time to be paid. At least they will if you've been paying your bills for a long time. American Express in particular seems to employ intelligent people in their customer service departments.

=========

In Memorium, Peggy Gasperik

http://nipandtuck.comicgenesis.com/

A fitting tribute to a friend we all miss.

======

Regarding network neutrality:

http://www.techliberation.com/archives/041070.php

finds the "threat" a phantom menace. I agree. I note that Microsoft has got out of the net neutrality agitation business, meaning that the biggest lobbyist is no longer out there working for new laws.

I have yet to see a precise statement of what new laws are needed, or why we want them.

=======

I found a couple more unposted subscriptions, and received emails from two more. I now believe I am completely caught up on enrolling subscribers. If I am not, please tell me. Repeating from yesteday:

For all those who recently subscribed, thanks. I believe I have caught up with subscription enrollments. If you subscribed and have not received the welcoming letters, please let me know.

=======

Subject: The Troops Respond to John Kerry
I thought you'd get a kick out of this picture:

<http://www.nashvilleistalking.com/archives/2006/11/ so_theyve_heard.html>

(Original link is broken)

:-)

Fair warning: it takes forever to download even with a fast connection.

====

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Thursday, November 2, 2006

Subject: Re: The Troops Respond to John Kerry

Jerry,

FYI, the original link is now broken but the pic is available at:

http://www.nickscipio.com/funstuff/archive18/images/stuckiniraq.jpg

Dave Markowitz

===

Some interesting thoughts in mail. This is going to be a busy day.

===

Kerry years ago said that a volunteer army would be drawn from the uneducated underclasses. His latest remarks show little change in that thought process.

He hasn't thought this through, but Kerry does not seem to think very many things through. There are good republican objections to a large paid standing army. There are good republican reasons to wish the core of the Legionary to be citizens from all classes. Kerry does not appear to be thinking of those reasons.

A republic can be defended by a paid army with citizen officers, expanded at great need by conscription; this has been our model for a long time, and one reason for appointment to West Point and the other service academies by political rather than "merit" processes takes this very much into account; again something not much thought about in these days. Control of the army is of course the first requirement for any republic. I do not think Mr. Kerry gives this much thought.

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Friday, November 3, 2006

Why is Iraq so hard to pacify? Too much diversity.

BY THOMAS SOWELL

http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110009170

====

Another of those days. I had early errands to run, then getting past the headaches to work on both Inferno and Mamelukes. It goes slowly but well, and I think I know where I am going with both books. But we have house guests, and Roberta has got something debilitating. I'd say my neck arthritis was catching except it's not supposed to be. Makes for a rather less than fun household.

Now all I have to do is gin up some words for the column for Monday.

I can't say I have great enthusiasm for the elections. I will vote Republican in any election where it matters, not because I think they deserve to win but because I fear the consequences of losing. I wish mightily that we had a viable party similar to either Republicans or Democrats back in 1960, back when Hugh Bone of the University of Washington said that political parties were groups whose only goal was to capture control of government and use the money to reward their party workers. If that were the worst we had to fear all would be well.

Now we have ideologues on all sides, and they seem to have control of their party nominees; or else we have people who really do want to run the government for their own advantage and have few principles limiting what they will do to keep it. In any such conflict the ideologues will eventually win. And no one seems to think that government which governs best governs least. The old Goldwater principles are long gone.

I have been reading the demographics of Europe and I wonder when the first European "nation" will succumb to sharia? As someone recently put it, in order to stand and fight for freedom you have to be born in the first place. In 50 years at present trends Russia will have a smaller population than Yemen. And I note that the British Flag with its Cross of St. George can no longer be displayed in British prisons.

On that cheery note I guess it's off to dinner.

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Saturday, November 4, 2006

http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2006/12/neocons200612

in which the neoconservatives including the egregious Frum blame the incompetence of everyone but themselves, should be sufficiently depressing. Did it never occur to these people that Jacobinism is difficult to implement? That the United States has no great competence in such matters? We had a military perfectly capable of defeating any enemy. You want things broken and people killed? We had the finest instrument for that purpose the world has ever seen.

That, Mr. Frum, is not quite the same thing as saying we have an occupation constabulary, a military trained in military government, proconsuls who understand their mission, and all the other paraphernalia of empire. We might have hired the Brits to try it for us; they would probably have failed too, but they at least would have had some experience. The United States attempted empire in the Philippines, without notable success. Our adventures in Haiti and the Dominican Republic are not encouraging. We have little experience at governing without the consent of the governed. The TSA and BATF are learning; but our Army hasn't and doesn't want to, nor should we want them to learn that dread secret.

And of all the places for on the job training at Empire, Mesopotamia where everyone has had great difficulties was not a good starting point. If we are to learn competent imperialism there are many easier places to start.

And now:

US military newspapers to demand Rumsfeld's resignation: report - Yahoo! News

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20061104/pl_afp/usvoteiraqmilitary

And we have

In case you haven't seen it, a good column by Orson Scott Card:

<http://www.ornery.org/essays/warwatch/2006-10-29-1.html>

Stephen

It was clearly a difficult column for Scott to write. I will have comments next week.

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Sunday, November 5, 2005

Happy Guy Fawkes Day

Remember, remember, the Fifth of November,
Gunpowder treason and plot!
I see no reason why gunpowder treason
Every should be forgot!

=============

I missed this one when it came out:

Tablet PCs required for Virginia Tech engineers By Caroline McCarthy, CNET News.com Published on ZDNet News: June 30, 2006, 8:18 AM PT

http://news.com.com/Tablet+PCs+required+for+Virginia
+Tech+engineers/2100-1041_3-6090046.html

This fall, incoming freshmen at Virginia Polytechnic Institute's engineering school will be given tablet PCs--and will be required to use them in class, the school has announced.

As part of a new partnership with Fujitsu Computer Systems and Microsoft, Virginia Tech will be using new Fujitsu LifeBook T4000 computers to change the way its engineering classes are taught, particularly at the introductory level, the school said. It will be among the first engineering schools to institute such a requirement.

The LifeBook offers features typical of what is known as a "convertible"

tablet. With a few rotations of the screen, the computer morphs from a conventional-looking laptop with a keyboard to a flat tablet that can be written on with a stylus. Engineering students at Virginia Tech will be able to take notes and construct designs on their LifeBooks, which are intended to make it easier for students to collaborate with each other and share their work with instructors electronically.<snip>

I am convinced that the TabletPC is going to be important in future. I really like mine.

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This is a day book. It's not all that well edited. I try to keep this up daily, but sometimes I can't. I'll keep trying. See also the monthly COMPUTING AT CHAOS MANOR column, 8,000 - 12,000 words, depending. (Older columns here.) For more on what this page is about, please go to the VIEW PAGE. If you have never read the explanatory material on that page, please do so. If you got here through a link that didn't take you to the front page of this site, click here for a better explanation of what we're trying to do here. This site is run on the "public radio" model; see below.

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