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Monday  April 13, 2009

Grid hacks 

Jerry,

As regards the concerns/statements in the discussion of grid hacks in Mail earlier this week, the WSJ at http://online.wsj.com/article/
SB123914805204099085.html  discusses the problem. While it does not explicitly identify the type/nature of systems at risk from the hacks (which information may well be sensitive), it strongly implies that the hacks potential affect control systems rather than administrative infrastructure.

Jim

===========

Subject: The Secret Menace

April 9, 2009: In the United States, the FBI deals with computer crime. Last year, the FBI received 275,000 reports of computer crimes, involving losses of $265 million. Actual losses, and incidents, are believed to be several times larger. The reported incidents were up 33 percent from the previous year. Most of the losses were due to credit card and bank fraud. There was also a lot of information theft and corporate (and military) espionage. A lot of the hacking, and fraud, is facilitated by email. Currently, about 94 percent of all email is spam, seeking to run scams or infect PCs with software that will take them over.

The extent and effectiveness of this Internet based crime has military implications, because the same tools used by criminal hackers, are employed by Cyber War specialists. For military users, the key tactic is building a large arsenal of Cyber War weapons. It works like this. Cyber War weapons consist of freshly discovered, and exploitable, defects in software that runs on the Internet. You want to be the first person to find one of these defects, because these flaws enable a hacker to get into other peoples networks. Called "Zero Day Exploits" (ZDEs), in the right hands, these flaws can enable criminals to pull off a large online heist, or Cyber Warriors can do enormous damage to enemy networks.

China, for example, obtains these ZDEs the same way they have become the place where software manufacturers go to get their software (especially game software) tested cheaply, and thoroughly. In China, you can fill up a large hall hundreds of bright, but otherwise unemployed, Chinese guys, equip them with PCs, and instructions on what to do to test software. Offer bonuses for those who find flaws, and off you go. Finding ZDEs is basically the same drill, except it takes a week or so of on-the-job training to familiarize your searchers with the testing and searching tools (some of them available at hacking sites) used to dig around in software for flaws.

Every time a publisher patches software (Windows, WORD, email software, various browsers, and so on), they create new flaws. As soon as the publisher finds an exploitable flaw, they patch them. So there's never a lack of work for the ZDE crews. Some of these exploit research operations work for criminal gangs, that quickly use the ZDE for some scam, or auction the ZDE off to someone who can, or thinks they can, make a buck with it.

It's unclear what the relationship is between the government supported (Cyber War) ZDE search operations, and those run by criminal gangs. Because ZDEs are perishable, maintaining an arsenal of them is expensive. But apparently the military sells of some of those that appear to have more criminal than military value. At the same time, the Chinese Cyber War organization may be buying those with more military than criminal value.

Another way to make the most of ZDEs is to use them, when it appears they are about to be neutralized by a software patch. The ZDEs can be used to infiltrate lots of PCs, especially government or military ones, or in civilian organizations that have military potential, and install secret control software. This turns the compromised PCs into "zombies" that can be taken over whenever you want (or at least those that don't get dezombified, which often happens the longer the zombie software is in place.)

Even before ZDEs became a valuable commodity, there were individuals, and small groups, that sought them out. But apparently the Chinese approach is much more productive. The Chinese criminal gangs are becoming much more active in Internet related crime as a result. There has also been an upsurge in known attacks on American government sites, that appear to emanate from China. Governments find that they can use the Internet criminal techniques for espionage, and this has become a major activity with military Cyber War organizations.

http://www.strategypage.com/htmw/htiw/articles/20090409.aspx 

The situation is serious, but perhaps this draws a bit too dark a picture. But the resources devoted to attacking the Net have been greatly increased.

===========

LA Civil War Round Table

http://www.geocities.com/lacwrt/index.html 

The above link concerns my next presentation.

Sincerely,

Francis Hamit

=========

Re: an absent friend

I’ve been reading the Chaos Manor mail and view for years, except for the occasional block of time where I’m too swamped by work or family to check up. It looks like I didn’t read Chaos Manor the month you announced that Frank Gasperik had passed away. I learned about it just now through an accidental Internet search, two years too late. It explains why I haven’t seen any postings of his in that long. I knew that he liked to frequent the Sci Fi conventions when he was able to do so, and he mentioned having known you and Larry Niven. In fact, I got turned on to Ringworld and Inferno because of Frank, not to mention a lot of other things. My subsequent Internet searches revealed how little I knew about how well known he really was. What a bloody shame he died so young. I figured he’d outlast both Twinkies and cockroaches. I’d often drifted away and caught up with him later. Several times, in fact. I figured the routine would last quite a while longer. Alas, not this time.

Thanks for posting the news, even if I didn’t catch it at the time.

BTW, he pointed out his appearance in Footfall. I, however, believe I see his likeness in Inferno and Escape from Hell. Is “Frank the Hell’s Angel” modeled after Frank Gasperik?

Henry Wyckoff

Frank Gasperik appears in Lucifer's Hammer, Footfall, and of course in Fallen Angels. He does not appear in either INFERNO or ESCAPE FROM HELL.

==========

re kill ratio

There was an SF story about a pilot in a fancy jet fighter who got knocked back in time to WW1. He went up to fight a wing of enemy WW1 fighters and saw nothing on his radar and landed very disappointed. But everyone was cheering because he had blown the entire flight out of the sky

TMTCTMTSTS

RH

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

who is right

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30091093/ 

Both Russia and the US are building Moon spacecraft. The US is switching from a reuseable to a nonreuseable craft. Russia is switching from a nonreuseable to a reusable craft. Who do you think is right?

R H

The answer to that is a much longer essay than I have time to give now. The short answer is, how quick do you want to go somewhere, and are you trying to build the infrastructure to become a space-faring nation. For a few missions expendables are much cheaper; for the long haul, reusable is proper. See The SSX Concept and How To Get To Space

===========

Computing At Chaos Manor, copyrights

Jerry,

I enjoyed this month's article.

You mentioned that you had stories in both Galaxy and Analog. I subscribed to Analog for a good while, but I wasn't aware you had stories in those magazines. I would like to know how I could read your stories published in those magazines, if its possible. Also, do authors still own the copyright to those stories, so that they might be re-published elsewhere?

Google is now publishing some older magazines, which I think is a good idea. Its not likely they will get much income from old magazines, they aren't even getting much from new ones.

Regards,

Randy Lea

Nearly all my short stories have been incorporated into other works. EXILE -- AND GLORY. FIRES OF FREEDOM, and THE PRINCE, all from Baen Books, have just about all of them.

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

Teachers Learn to Help Kids Behave

Jerry

You'd think they invented the wheel! In preschool, "By giving children more time for dramatic or pretend play, and by building into the school day more lessons in self control, researchers are seeing both big reductions in bad behavior, and gains in cognitive skills:"

http://online.wsj.com/article/
SB123914405198998725.html 

Imagine that! Instead of forcing kids to "school" when they should be out playing, these programs actually allow kids to . . . oh, this is just so revolutionary! . . . actually get in something that resembles play. I, for one, am stunned that the Feds would allow such a thing.

Ed

I think the best prescription for most -- not all, but most -- cases of ADD in boys is recess and physical ed.

=====================d

 

 

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Tuesday,  April 14, 2009

New Russian spacecraft

> Both Russia and the US are building Moon spacecraft. The US is  switching from a reuseable to a nonreuseable craft. Russia is  switching from a nonreuseable to a reusable craft.

This seems to be misstating the situation. The new Russian spacecraft being discussed will be a reusable capsule... but so will the new US spacecraft. Orion capsules are intended to be reused for up to ten flights each.

The Ares I upper stage that puts an Orion in orbit will be expendable, and the Ares I lower stage will at best be as "reusable" as the space shuttle SRBs, but what little news has come out about the winning bid for the next Russian launcher makes it sound like a traditional multistage expendable. Is there anyone outside of SpaceX right now who thinks that rockets might be too expensive to want to make them disposable?

 --- Roy

Thanks for the clarification. I haven't been following the Russian space projects; I was a bit surprised to see they were supposedly working on reusable launch vehicles. Apparently not.

I have already said what I think about the subject in   The SSX Concept and How To Get To Space

==========

space solar

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30198977/ 

"PG&E makes deal for space solar power"

"California's biggest energy utility announced a deal Monday to purchase 200 megawatts of electricity from a startup company that plans to beam the power down to Earth from outer space, beginning in 2016."

San Francisco-based Pacific Gas & Electric said it was seeking approval from state regulators for an agreement to purchase power over a 15-year period from Solaren Corp., an 8-year-old company based in Manhattan Beach, Calif. The agreement was first reported in a posting to Next100 <http://www.next100.com/2009/04/
space-solar-power-the-next-fro.php>  , a Weblog produced by PG&E.<snip>

I wonder if the date is firm or RSN.

The rest of the article is fairly informative.

R H

 I have several messages on this subject. At the moment I don't know any more.

===========

Subject: The Dark Side of Dubai

A rather long, but worthwhile and disturbing account of life in Dubai. The excesses of Western society seems to pay for everything; Westerners then ignore the hidden and nasty side effects.

http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/
commentators/johann-hari/the-dark-side-
of-dubai-1664368.html 

Cheers,

Mike Casey

There are always dark sides. This is a scary story.

In debtor's yard the stones are hard...

==========

RE: Teachers Learn to Help Kids Behave

>> I think the best prescription for most -- not all, but most -- cases of ADD in boys is recess and physical ed.

Crazy Talk!

Next thing you'll say is, "Parents should teach their children to respect their elders", or to say "please" and "thank you"! Even worse, you probably required your children to eat... VEGITABLES!

I think you'll see quite clearly what level society will achieve once a generation or two have been freed from such archaic social constraints...

Dot19408

==

Teachers Learn to Help Kids Behave

Jerry,

Your words: "I think the best prescription for most -- not all, but most -- cases of ADD in boys is recess and physical ed."

I completely agree. As the father of two boys, it has been heartbreaking to watch the feminization of school. When I was a boy in the early 1960's we used to run ourselves ragged at morning, lunch, and afternoon recess. Then I could pay attention.

I've also noticed for myself and for my sons that a goodly amount of physical activity improves productivity and grades. Too much sitting at the desk and I can't concentrate. Don't get me wrong, I've a M.S. in Information Systems Management. I'm well on the right side of the bell curve. But if I'd have had to sit still for as much as my boys were forced to, I'm not sure I'd have been able to realize my achievements.

Doug Roberts

If ADD had been invented when I was in school, I would certainly have been diagnosed as having it. I doubt my parents would have let me be drugged. Fortunately I was required to learn self discipline. Some, anyway.

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

The Decisive Arm

Mr Pournelle does the title sound familiar? How about "One of the problems of war-game design". Well yesterday I opened a wooden foot- locker that hadn't been opened in 30 years and I found some of my old Avalon Hill General magazines. In Vol. 7 No. 3 you had the above named article published. In fact I found at least one more article in an earlier AH Generals. Amazing what somebody finds.

Yours sincerely, Tom Monaghan

I don't really remember what I said in that article. It really was a long time ago. I used to really like Avalon Hill games.

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

The 172nd Carnival of Homeschooling is up - The Peter Rabbit Edition

This week's Carnival of Homeschooling is being hosted by the Home Education Magazine at:

http://www.homeedmag.com/resources/
3729/carnival-of-homeschooling-peter-rabbit-edition/ 

It starts off with this delightful quotation by Beatrix Potter:

"Thank goodness I was never sent to school; it would have rubbed off some of the originality."

Thank you for your support.

-- ---------- Henry Cate

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

Somali Pirates

My understanding, from TV and online articles, is that the Somali Pirates succeed because:

1 - Sea port officials don't want armed merchant ships sailing into their harbors and 2 - Insurance companies charge HIGH rates if the crews are armed and 3 - Some/many/most crews don't want arms, since they are not trained

>One does wonder: how have the Chinese dealt with the Somali pirates?

If the Chinese vessel is not going to other than a Chinese port (see #1) and they don't have non-Chinese insurance (see #2) then I would imagine the Chinese ship owners will either train their crews or put professional guards on the vessal

Also from what I've read... a large part of the problem is caused by the Chinese "factory fisheries" over fishing Somali waters, so the local fisherman turn to piracy since they can't fish for a living

John Thomas Smith

Overfishing is widely asserted as the underlying cause of the Somalis turning pirate in the first place; the continued success of the piracy business model seems to have made it more attractive.

I have no idea what happens with regard to Chinese ships: I don't even know if any have been hijacked, or if the Chinese have paid any ransoms. I expect we'll find out; some of my readers must know.

 

For a PDF copy of A Step Farther Out:

 

 

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Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Watch the ISS come together

Jerry

Definitely worth watching - an animation of the ISS coming together, piece by piece:

http://i.usatoday.net/tech/graphics/iss_timeline/flash.htm 

It's a big sucker.

The next thing they need to do is build a big wheel up there.

Ed

Wow. As you say, it's a big sucker; bigger than I remembered. Impressive.

==========

SPSS by 2016?

<http://www.next100.com/2009/04/space-solar-power-the-next-fro.php

-- Roland Dobbins

We can certainly hope for it.

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

FW: speeding ticket

Top This One For A Speeding Ticket

Two California Highway Patrol Officers were conducting speeding enforcement on I-15, just north of the Marine Corps Air Station at Miramar . One of the officers was using a hand held radar device to check speeding vehicles approaching the crest of a hill. The officers were suddenly surprised when the radar gun began reading 300 miles per hour. The officer attempted to reset the radar gun, but it would not reset and then turned off.

Just then a deafening roar over the treetops revealed that the radar had in fact locked on to a USMC F/A-18 Hornet (Northrop Grumman aircraft) which was engaged in a low flying exercise near the location.

Back at the CHP Headquarters the Patrol Captain fired off a complaint to the USMC Base Commander. The reply came back in true USMC style:

~ ~ ~

Thank you for your letter. We can now complete the file on this incident. You may be interested to know that the tactical computer in the Hornet had detected the presence of, and subsequently locked on to your hostile radar equipment and automatically sent a jamming signal back to it, which is why it shut down. Furthermore, an Air-to-Ground missile aboard the fully armed aircraft had also automatically locked on to your equipment location. Fortunately, the Marine Pilot flying the Hornet recognized the situation for what it was, quickly responded to the missile system alert status and was able to override the automated defense system before the missile was launched to destroy the hostile radar position.

The pilot also suggests you cover your mouths when cussing at them, since the video systems on these jets are very high tech. Sergeant Johnson, the officer holding the radar gun, should get his dentist to check his left rear molar. It appears the filling is loose. Also, the snap is broken on his holster. Thank you for your concern.

Semper Fi

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

Getting it right can be wrong - at least in Korea

Jerry,

Park Dae-sung a South Korean blogger predicted the economic downturn and the fall of Lehman Bros. (five days before it happened). His blogging embarrassed the Korean government so much that they arrested him and charged him with spreading false financial rumors (they say not all of his blogs were quite so accurate).

The Korea Times: http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/
www/news/nation/2009/04/113_43107.html 
Wired: http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke
6/2009/04/blogger-critica.html 
The Washington Post: http://www.washingtonpost.com/
wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/23/AR
2009012303506.html?hpid=topnews 

You'd better be careful there's danger in being correct.

Tim Boettcher

A prophet is not without honor save in his own country...

==========

A ray of Hope?

Dear Jerry,

Gov. Perry is now on board.

Texas HCR 50

"Affirming that the State of Texas claims sovereignty under the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States over all powers not otherwise enumerated and granted to the federal government by the U.S. Constitution, serving notice to the federal government to cease and desist certain mandates, and providing that certain federal legislation be prohibited or repealed..."

http://www.legis.state.tx.us/BillLookup/
History.aspx?LegSess=81R&Bill=HCR50 

Interesting to see what develops (although this is a state where flasks and heating mantles are considered drug paraphernalia). Will other states be able to let go of the Federal teat?

Cheers,

Rod Schaffter

-- "I loathe populism. But if there ever has been a moment when reasonable men's hands itch for the pitchfork, this must surely be it." --Jonah Goldberg

It's a start.

===========

Jerry: Positive article on nasal irrigation at NYTimes:

http://www.nytimes.com/
2009/04/14/health/14real.html?em 

Chris C

 

 Here is where to order the nose pump I recommend:

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

 

===========

Physics autodidact resources

Dr. Pournelle,

I just recently came across a webpage maintained by Gerard 't Hooft, 1999 Nobel Prize winner in Physics, on how to become a good theoretical physicist. http://www.phys.uu.nl/~thooft/theorist.html 

An ambitious goal, to be sure. The intent of the page is to provide the aspiring physicist with the necessary knowledge to practice physics, laid out in a logical order, and vetted by someone who can tell the difference between good science and complete dreck. Everything on this list is free to download. Anyone interested in physics could probably find something of interest here.

The list has some similarities with Roger Penrose's book, The Road to Reality. The choice of subjects is a little different, but the overall goal is similar. The number of topics is smaller, but the presentation is unified by having been written by only one person. Penrose's book has a number of exercises scattered throughout, and the solutions can be found on the web for those who wish to work though the problems. http://www.roadsolutions.ox.ac.uk/  http://www.roadtoreality.info/  http://camoo.freeshell.org/roadtoreality.html 

Both 't Hooft and Penrose are aiming for a fairly high level of understanding. Not necessarily the most useful kind of material for solving a routine problem or explaining matters to struggling undergraduates. For more mundane purposes, I use the archives of John Denker http://www.av8n.com/jsd/  , who published his answers to questions that came up on PHYS-L, a mailing list for physics education. I have used this material occasionally for engineering purposes, particularly the article on measurement uncertainty and significant digits. http://www.av8n.com/physics/  http://www.av8n.com/physics/uncertainty.htm

 -- Benjamin I. Espen

===============w

f

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Thursday, April 16, 2009

Tea Parties

Hi, Jerry. I was about 2 miles from the Sacramento, CA "Tea Party" rally, which attracted upwards of 5,000 people. I would very much have liked to have attended.

But as humorist P.J. O'Rourke observed many years ago, the problem with political rallies during the week is that we conservatives and libertarians have actual JOBS, and can't always just bug out of work to be in somebody's cheering section.

Also; if you've ever been in Sacramento, you know how bad the parking situation can be. I can't imagine trying to squeeze another 2500 cars (assuming 2 people per car, and you KNOW that we right-wingers won't car-pool!) into a few expensive parking garages.

-- Ken

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

DHS inclinations 

Jerry,

I find the recent DHS "Right Wing Extremism" advisory to be of considerable concern, when you add up the details. First, their definition of "right wing extremism" verbatim:

"Rightwing extremism in the United States can be broadly divided into those groups, movements, and adherents that are primarily hate-oriented (based on hatred of particular religious, racial or ethnic groups), and those that are mainly antigovernment, rejecting federal authority in favor of state or local authority, or rejecting government authority entirely. It may include groups and individuals that are dedicated to a single issue, such as opposition to abortion or immigration."

Note the early widening from "primarily hate-oriented" groups to groups that favor state or local authority over federal - would a hypothetical Fans of the 10th Amendment qualify? And then there's the last sentence - groups, or individuals, opposed to abortion or immigration? That brush is becoming very broad by the time they're done. And then they start going after veterans as a threat to watch... The mindset involved does not seem inclined to draw fine distinctions within the Right, to say the least. (Full text at http://video1.washingtontimes.com/
video/extremismreport.pdf

We're told this was written by career civil servants at DHS, not Obama political appointees, so it's allegedly not a political move. But DHS Secretary Napolitano now says she reviewed, approved, and still approves of this scurrilous dreck: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/
2009/apr/16/napolitano-stands-rightwing-extremism/ 

Consider Napolitano's record. Wikipedia has a factual but flavorless summary that still says a lot. Not mentioned at all there was her role as the US Attorney prosecuting the (in my and many opinions laughably harmless) "Viper Militia" in Arizona, a major PR stepping stone to her runs for AG then governor there. Arguably she has a history of successfully exploiting "right wing" threats for political gain.

This fits too well with our previous discussions of the indications that the current regime may go more than a little nuts if it sees its tenure seriously threatened. Preparing the reeducation camps, no - but fostering the mindset, yes. One right-wing "extremist" to another, this does not fill me with warm fuzzies about the near future.

The history of the Alien and Seditions Laws was taught in schools when I was young. I doubt many have heard of them now. Note that in that case the Federalists put the laws in place, and the Democratic Republicans benefitted from the outrage and won the next election; they then repealed them or allowed them to expire; they didn't take advantage of them. It's somewhat different this time. Go have some tea.

===========

VOIP vs. POTS 

As others have mentioned before. VOIP requires electricity at BOTH your house and at all the routers between your house and the internet backbone.

Parts of Houston were without electricity for 3-6 weeks after Hurricane IKE. POTS (plain 'ole telephone service) is extremely reliable during times of electrical emergency. DSL run by the phone company seemed to be pretty reliable also - most likely it's running in the same room with the same backup power with POTS. Cable internet on the other hand - doesn't have 99.99% uptime like the phone company does.

You may have electricity at your house - but if your internet company doesn't - then your VOIP is toast.

POTS gave me the ability to use a modem (if you remember how) and connect to the internet was a godsend. With the internet I could find out which areas of town had power - and thus learn which gasoline stations and grocery stores were operational. The ability to call your friends - is also a godsend. Half the town had electricity pretty quickly. Rapid communication made Hurricane Ike recovery (2008) much easier to endure as opposed to Hurricane Celia (1969).

Part of my hurricane kit is a phone that does not require electricity - many people forget that the phone system can run itself from the voltage on your phone jack. Before your subscribers decide to junk their landlines in favor of cell and VOIP consider...how often do you lose electricity?

Without any form of communication you huddle in the house and conserve what little gasoline you have in your car tank - so you can drive out of area if you run out of your supplies. Survival - without style.

 Jim Coffey

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

Kindle, IPhone, Battery Charging -

Most of your readers probably know this but ...

All batteries are DC. If you convert your Black and Decker spare battery to AC, and then use your AC adapter to recharge your iphone, kindle, etc... you are wasting a large amount of your spare battery power in the conversion from DC>>AC>>DC.

Most of these spare battery packs have either a USB or the 12 volt car adapter. It's much better if you'll keep it DC all the way.

Google "living off the grid" and see what the folks in RV's, mountain cabins, and 3rd world countries are doing.

Then go rent a copy of "Apollo 13" and review the scene in which they are trying to restart the capsule and have a very limited number of watts and amps to play with.

If we want to be able to "survive with style" we need to start paying attention to stuff like this.

 Jim Coffey

Or generate energy cheaply and cleanly enough that we don't care very much.

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

I, for one, welcome our new robot-ant overlords…

http://myrmecos.wordpress.com/
2009/04/08/i-for-one-welcome-our
-new-robot-ant-overlords/

Julie

With folded hands...

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

The best thing Boing Boing has ever done

http://gadgets.boingboing.net/
2009/04/15/bb-video-the-flaming.html 

. png

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

Subj: An alternative to Nationally Recognized Statistical Rating Agencies?

Dr. Pournelle commented, a while ago, that nobody seems to be thinking about alternatives to the Federally-designated agencies that rate securities.

Apparently somebody has:

http://online.wsj.com/article/
SB123976320479019717.html 

>>[SEC] Commissioner Kathleen Casey ... proposed last year to eliminate all references to NRSROs from SEC rules, but it was never enacted. ... Peter Fisher at Blackrock argues that it's time to abolish the NRSRO designation for entire firms and instead allow individuals to become licensed to do credit analysis, like brokers and equity analysts. Mr. Partnoy argues that instead of relying on the failed ratings agencies, regulators should harness the power of the bond and credit default swap markets, which yielded more accurate readings on the default risk of firms like Bear Stearns.<<

http://moneynews.newsmax.com/
streettalk/blackrock_nuke_ratings/
2009/04/01/198420.html 

>>“Abolish ratings agencies,” says Peter Fisher, co-head of fixed income at money manager BlackRock. Just close down Moody’s, Standard & Poor’s and Fitch. ... “To create competition, we should license individuals as credit rating professionals, instead of companies ... These professionals would be required to publicly disclose all ratings, so institutional investors can see the dispersion of ratings on any given security.”

These raters would be paid mainly by institutional investors, just like stock analysts are, Fisher says. Any fees paid to them by issuers would have to be disclosed. <<

't's 'bout time!

Rod Montgomery==monty@starfief.com

 

 

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Friday,  April 17, 2009

U.S. experts: Pakistan on course to become Islamist state

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/227/story/66368.html 

U.S. experts: Pakistan on course to become Islamist state

I'd say we're causing it. My notion is that no red-blooded male Pakistani capable of causing trouble is likely to be thrilled by our Predator strikes and by the Paki government's cooperation with us. Seems to me that it is not that hard to imagine how someone else might see our actions, but official Washington is completely incapable of it. Thinks it's wrong to even try. Unnatural.

I worried about this kind of thing sometime ago & mentioned it to you, I believe.

Gregory Cochran

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

Tea parties and the future

Dear Mr. Pournelle,

I came across your reaction to the Tea Parties via Instapundit. Your response was gratifying because I'd spent yesterday passing out 2000 postcards at Boston's Tea Party (printed at my own cost for people to mail to our Congressmen, like Barney Frank). No, we don't have a national leader yet, but the tea parties have encouraged hundreds of ordinary taxpayers to become inadvertent leaders. Many of us have never protested before, but we will now.

Perhaps you are correct that the best course for many is a government job. For young people starting out with massive students loans, however, a government job is not the answer. I am a first generation immigrant drawn to America by a deep respect for the wisdom of her Founders and the dynamism of her people. Yet, I am not too proud to go back to my parents' country and grovel for employment. If there are fortunes to be made in Asia, then Americans with dreams and ambition will go there until our country invites our return.

Whenever I despair, I listen to some of President Reagan's radio addresses from 1975 to 1979. Liberals were on the march then--Pres. Reagan even spoke of Ted Kennedy's push for national health care. (How little things have changed.) Perhaps my generation needs to experience stagflation at home and humiliation abroad for ourselves, before we are ready for the conservative message.

Thank you for your excellent blog,

Michelle

Well of course the best course would be some kind of sane economic policy, but given current trends, we appear to be heading for a European style economy. Put thirty years into a government job and do what you want after retirement. Doesn't make for a great economy.

===========

Wedgetail And The Little Birds

April 17, 2009: Australia ran a successful test where one of their Wedgetail maritime reconnaissance aircraft was able to control three ScanEagle UAVs. This enables the Wedgetail to expand its recon capabilities, using its own AESA radar and the video on the UAVs to quickly identify land or sea traffic.

Australia is using militarized Boeing 737 transports as the basis for its new Wedgetail maritime reconnaissance aircraft. The cruise speed for the 737 is 910 kilometers an hour and the Wedgetail version has a crew of 8-12 pilots and equipment operators, who use the search radar and various other sensors. The 737 has hard points on the wings for torpedoes or missiles. Any UAV with suitable communications equipment can be controlled by the Wedgetail. This technique has also been tested with fighter-bombers controlling UAVs.

(This is the future of all military aviation. All we need now is the ability to launch and recover UAVs while airborne. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airborne_aircraft_carrier )

John

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

When do we read about Military Recruiting?

Jerry,

I am thinking that we will soon see news stories about the lack of new recruits into the Military, and how Obama will be considering a draft.

Of course, there has developed a culture gap between this administration and the kind of people who serve the country....they being ID'd as potential terrorists.

Bruce Kebbekus

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

The Force is strong with the force: Scottish police say they're 'Jedi'

http://scifiwire.com/2009/04/
force-is-strong-with-the.php#more
 

"Do these look like Scottish police officers to you?"

Steve

 Post hoc ergo propter hoc: Thousands of experiments have conclusively proven that beating drums and clashing cymbals brings back the sun after a total eclipse.

===========

PLAN convoying merchies

Jerry--

The People's Liberation Army Navy has apparently been convoying merchant vessels past the threat of Somali pirates for some time now. According to this article http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2009-02/19/content_7492453.htm they have recently completed their 21st convoy mission. Granted, the merchant ships are mostly Chinese flag, but there are some from other nations.

Question... Why aren't we involved in doing the same? The force commitment isn't great -- the Chinese are using a single DDG and FFG with a single supply ship to support. They are rotating the forces regularly, but I don't know how long they stay on station. I have seen no mention of pirate attacks driven off, so they must be an effective deterrent.

I found another article mentioning that the French recently captured 11 Somali pirates. This was in China Daily also. Heard no mention of this on any of our media.

On another note, I find it disturbing to view the China Daily newspaper website appearing to be so free and westernized, when we know this is nothing more than a facade. The Chinese obviously think this thin veneer of capitalism is a successful camouflage for their Communist totalitarian government. Unfortunately for those who look no deeper, they may be right. I fear the numbers worldwide who are taken in by this charade are quite high. Note that nowhere in the various articles about the Somali convoys do you see the term "People's Liberation Army Navy" used. It is strictly "Chinese navy" (small n).

--Jeff Tucker

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

> The history of the Alien and Seditions Laws was taught in schools when
> I was young. I doubt many have heard of them now. Note that in that
> case the Federalists put the laws in place, and the Democratic
> Republicans benefited from the outrage and won the next election;
> they then repealed them or allowed them to expire; they didn't take
> advantage of them. It's somewhat different this time. Go have some tea.

It was obvious to me at the time DHS and Patriot Act (and TSA!) were bad moves. Aside from the fact that amalgamating many inefficient bureaucracies into one multiplies not divides the inefficiencies - efficient government is not an overriding concern of mine - centralizing power to meet a crisis leaves the centralized power available for abuse long after the crisis is forgotten. The chances that a future Democrat administration would disband DHS and repeal Patriot Act were patently zero even at the time. Expand, politicize, and abuse now are the order of the day, and I am not surprised in the least.

Both major parties seem now irredeemably statist. Many Republicans are starting to say the right things once more, but I doubt 51% will trust the party again soon enough to help. Nor should we, on the record. I attended the public signing of the Contract With America, and I watched as it was abandoned by Republican "realists" who seemed to think that absolute power in *their* hands was kinda neat.

What becomes of the Tea Parties looks crucial to me. "Federalist" might be a good name for the result - small-f federalism would be far better than what we have, and regardless of the details of the history the name has an intrinsic respectability that would make the new alliance somewhat harder to demonize in the bitter political warfare it would instantly face.

Look at what Governor Perry of Texas has been saying in recent days, and at the response. Arguing that Washington has become overlarge in the nation's affairs and that power should flow back to the regions and the people, that the 10th Amendment means what it says, seems as if its time may have arrived as the common ground for a new governing coalition.

It seems highly unlikely that all the factions the Republicans would need to unite to govern from the center-right will ever again simultaneously trust them (or anyone) with the current scale of massively centralized Federal power. Nor should we. Too many Republicans have swallowed far too many contradictions, have met the enemy and become them.

The Federalist Party. It has a certain ring.

===========

Middle Ages Tech Support

Solving the tech support issues for users in the Middle Ages:
http://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=LRBIVRwvUeE 

There's always a penalty to be paid for being at the bleeding edge of technology.

Tim Boettcher

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

Rocket Launches May Need Regulation to Prevent Ozone Depletion, Says New Study 

The research team is optimistic that a solution to the problem exists. "We have the resources, we have the expertise, and we now have the regulatory history to address this issue in a very powerful way," said Toohey. "I am optimistic that we are going to solve this problem, but we are not going to solve it by doing nothing." (emphasis added) http://www.colorado.edu/
news/r/13dcef625a8a43e2
e6d4d0e06e10ac8f.html 

Abstract: ”Solid rocket motors (SRMs) and liquid rocket engines (LREs) deplete the global ozone layer in various capacities. We estimate global ozone depletion from rockets as a function of payload launch rate and relative mix of SRM and LRE rocket emissions. Currently, global rocket launches deplete the ozone layer ∼0.03%, an insignificant fraction of the depletion caused by other ozone depletion substances (ODSs). As the space industry grows and ODSs fade from the stratosphere, ozone depletion from rockets could become significant. This raises the possibility of regulation of space launch systems in the name of ozone protection. Large uncertainties in our understanding of ozone loss caused by rocket engines leave open the possibility that launch systems might be limited to as little as several tens of kilotons per year, comparable to the launch requirements of proposed space systems such as spaceplanes, space solar power, and space reflectors to mitigate climate change. The potential for limitations on launch systems due to idiosyncratic regulation to protect the ozone layer present a risk to space industrial development. The risk is particularly acute with regard to the economic rationale to develop low-cost, high flight rate launch systems.”

-Joe

 

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CURRENT VIEW     Friday

 

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Saturday, April 18, 2009

NASA Embarks On Epic Delay 

And on a lighter note...

"WASHINGTON—Top officials at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration unveiled plans this week for a comprehensive, multibillion-dollar delay—the agency's most ambitious postponement of cosmic exploration ever."

http://www.theonion.com/
content/news/nasa_embarks

_on_epic_delay?utm_source=a-section

==========

Hi Jerry,

It's important to note that the malware distribution mechanism is only through pirated copies of iWork and Photoshop.

Serves the thieves right.

Cheers,

Doug

Not necessarily. But infecting a Mac does require the cooperation of the Mac user. There are as yet no automatic infections (visit a particular site and get zapped). I expect there will be some as Apple gets larger market share.

==========

'Soon soldiers will have 3 tiny choppers in their pocket' 

Jerry

Pocket-sized helicopter:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/
2009/04/17/black_hornet_outdoor_tests/ 

The video shows it spying, recording the contents of a whiteboard.

Ed

==

NOAA Ocean Glider

Did you see this:

http://oceanservice.noaa.gov/news/
weeklynews/apr09/glider.html 

I like the fact that they think the first glider was lost due to “a bite”.

 

TOP

 

CURRENT VIEW     Saturday

This week:

Monday
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Sunday

read book now

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Sunday, April 19, 2009      

Von Braun's Mars pitch to the STG (1969).

http://beyondapollo.blogspot.com/
2009/04/von-brauns-mars-pitch-
to-stg-1969.html

-- Roland Dobbins

In 1969 I was campaign manager for Barry Goldwater, Jr. He won, and got on the space committee. Barry managed to keep NERVA alive for some years; NERVA was (and really remains) the key to interplanetary travel. My novel Exile to Glory (included in the book EXILE -- AND GLORY!) is about the beginning of asteroid exploration using NERVA among other quite feasible technologies. Alas, the book is still science fiction; when I wrote it I thought we would be out there by 2010. We still could be by 2020 if we chose to do it.

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

And on a lighter note...

"WASHINGTON—Top officials at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration unveiled plans this week for a comprehensive, multibillion-dollar delay—the agency's most ambitious postponement of cosmic exploration ever."

http://www.theonion.com/content/news/
nasa_embarks_on_epic_delay?utm_
source=a-section

==========

Hamilton County officials won't rest while burglars are at large.

Most people whose break room lunches are stolen have to put up with it.

Not in the office of the Hamilton County (Ohio) Prosecuting Attorney, though, where taxpayers paid for a hidden camera so the county Sheriff could catch a janitor and a security guard doing Evil Doings with frozen pizza and soda pop. Nobody steals prosecutorial pizza and gets away with it in Hamilton County!

Hamilton County, of course, is otherwise completely crime-free, with the sheriff and prosecutor having nothing else to do with the resources provided to them by a grateful citizenry.

http://nky.cincinnati.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/AB/20090416/NEWS01/304160008 

David

==========

Hi Jerry,

Don't know if you've seen this yet. Haven't been to the web site in a week or so.

The Defeat of the Schools [1939]

http://www.theatlantic.com/
issues/95dec/chilearn/murde.htm 

Take care,

Robert Hickey

I had not noted before that this was a 1939 article. So the problem has long been known... and of course discussed. The Progressive Education movement was going to change everything...

===========

As the stomach turns, 

Jerry

This is a guide to the richest . . . food you have ever seen:

http://thisiswhyyourefat.com/ 

"This is why you're fat," is the title.

Ed

I have managed to find the key to weight loss.  Get radiation therapy. I lost 35 pounds. My problem now is to keep from losing even more weight. Of course there are other effects so perhaps getting 50,000 rad is not the ideal way to lose weight...

============w

 

g

 

 

 

 

 

 read book now

 

 

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