| Wednesday,
July 23, 2008 Regarding the
free Tor Books:
> It works, and I have downloaded several books.
The .mobi format works > for Kindle
FYI, the .mobi format also works on iPhone using
Stanza. So your Kindle-encrypted books are probably locked to that device,
but you can download other .mobi books and use them on both Kindle and
iPhone.
Stephen
-- Stephen Fleming
Actually, once you have the .mobi copy, you merely
email it to yourself (myusername@kindle.com)
and it appears on your Kindle; and you still have the .mobi copy to use as
you see fit. Thanks. I'll have to set this up so I can read on my
iPhone.
=========
Everything old is new again.
<http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=080722180457.q0jlf4en&show_article=1
>
-- Roland Dobbins
Ugh
==========
Subject: Turkey
Dear Jerry,
I read your View piece, Spengler's Asia Times piece
and Rubin's NRO column. Spengler left out one major oil state where Turkish
companies currently do lots of contracting.
Russia.
I submit the strategic repercussions of an Islamist
Turkey will be at least as profound in the North and West as in the South
and East. The strategic imperatives this would create for Putin will leave
him with one viable option. This is to secure an intimate alliance,
bordering on a merger, with a state that can fill Russia's present gaps in
demographics, industry and technology. There is precisely one state that can
both fill these needs and with which Putin possesses sufficient leverage.
Germany.
Best Wishes,
Mark
==========
There is also Pakistan to worry about.
Might as well throw Pakistan into the stew of trouble
that is bubbling away:
http://www.newsweek.com/id/148024
"A host of recent troubles, however, has brought
Pakistan to the brink of collapse. Vast segments of Pakistan's western
borderlands are all but ungovernable, the Taliban has started to
reconstitute itself in these areas and suicide bombers have struck in the
hearts of major cities. These problems, coupled with a global economic
downturn and food inflation, has turned this country of 165 million people
into a powderkeg of popular disaffection, as last week's attack on the
Karachi stock exchange shows."
CP, Connecticut
Indeed. But I was writing a short essay, not a
book! Much of Pakistan is not governed at all, and the US hasn't the
resources to conquer and subdue it.
Our problem is that while Athens could pretty well
count on democracies being friendly with Athens vis a vis Sparta, the US
can't rely on democracies, whether established by us or not, to be friendly
to us. It just isn't true that democracies are automatically all friends.
Islamic republics are friendly only with other Islamic republics -- if
those. Government by the votes of illiterate and uneducated people
isn't guaranteed to be good government or even rational government.
===========
Gone, and Being Forgotten - ChronicleReview.com
Dear Jerry:
This seems to tie in with some of what you've been
saying about education.
Regards,
Francis Hamit
http://chronicle.com/free/v54/i46/46b00501.htm
An interesting essay. I don't agree with all of it,
but it does get me thinking. Thanks!
==========
The Lyons Tablet
Dear Dr. Pournelle,
I’ve just spent two weeks in Lyons, France, a city I
didn’t know at all. Highly recommended: Next time you come here in Europe,
forget Lutetia, go to Lugdunum!
They have an absolute treasure in their museum: the
Lyons Tablet.
It’s the transcript of a speech by Claudius, the
Emperor. And as far as we can tell it’s a *stenographic* transcript of his
speech. - English: <http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/ancient/48claudius.html>
- Latin: <http://www.thelatinlibrary.com/claud.inscr.html>
Tacitus gave his own version, shortened and
embellished: - English: <http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/ancient/tacitus-ann11a.html>
- Latin: <http://www.thelatinlibrary.com/tacitus/tac.ann11.shtml>
Claudius was born in Lugdunum, being the first Roman
Emperor to be born outside Italia. He made this speech before the Roman
Senate in 48 AD. At that time he was 58 and the Emperor since seven years (<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claudius>
).
The topic was a very sensitive one: "It was a proposal
to allow monied, landed citizens from further Gaul to enter the Senatorial
class, and thus the Senate itself, once they had reached the necessary level
of wealth." (<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lyons_Tablet>
)
We only have the lower half of the tablet - and of the
speech.
The text is so confused (and I can tell you it really
is: my wife reads Latin as you read English) that a young tourist from
Winchester asked me if the English translation was reliable, looking in his
worn-out pocket dictionary for the word "clumsy".
(Everything is in both French and English in this
wonderful museum except, alas! their Web site: <http://www.musee-gallo-romain.com/fourviere/accueil/index.html>
.)
I think that Claudius did it on purpose: It was an
almost impossible proposition even for the Emperor to do. The Senate
conceded what he wanted only for the Aedui people and even that was a big
success. So, knowing very well his audience - the Senators -, he exploited
his known weaknesses: head shaking, stammering, confused speech... He was
58; I’m 57 - I almost think I could do it!
That’s my little theory. But what’s not a theory -
except in the etymological sense of the word - is the perfect beauty of the
writing of the "Tables claudiennes"!
From the guide of the museum: "Esthetically, the
exceptional quality of the engraving leads us to believe the Renaissance
engravers of Lyon drew inspiration from the tablet for their own beautiful
sixteenth century typography".
You’ll find an example here: <http://jfbradu.free.fr/celtes/lyon/table-claudienne-detail.jpg>
And my best whishes recovery-wise!
A. Romain
If we go back to France, I will plan a trip just to
see that. Thanks!
==========
A dash of lime -- a new twist that may cut CO2 levels
back to pre-industrial levels
Lime in the ocean...*imagine* that? <grinning madly>
http://www.physorg.com/news135820173.html
Maybe it's NOT true that prophets are without honor
only in their own countries. One may hope, at least...
Best Regards and Wishes for your swift recuperation,
Doug Hayden
========
Ultimate Irony?
Re: the B-25 being towed by a Kubota tractor...
My father served on CVE-76, the USS Kadashan Bay, and
was aboard when she was hit by a kamikaze off Luzon in 1944. The Katy B
survived, was repaired and survived the war, but the Japanese didn't give
up. They purchased her in 1956 and dismantled her for scrap!
Persistant chaps!
David Smith
=========
Hammerfall?
Recently I have been using Windows Maps Live and
Google maps to look at places I and my family have recently traveled
through. Craters of the moon park got me interested in finding a large
volcano that might be near that area. We also went through Yellowstone on
our return journey, and plan on going to Northern Idaho next. As I was
tinkering with Maps Live in 3d, I noticed that, zoomed quite far out there
was a very clear circular pattern. Looking to the center for a large
volcano, I found instead the Wallowa Mountains. From what I could find they
don't seem to be volcanic mountains. They do have a very interesting shape
though, and sit nicely in the center of the large circle, approximately from
Portland OR to Bozeman MT in width, and nearly the Canadian line to Nevada.
I started to look at rivers in the circle too. The Columbia River Basin
seems to have an affinity for the Wallowa range. It seems to me this has to
be a massive impact crater. I have tried to search for any information about
that possibility, surely someone else has to have noticed this also? I so
far have found nothing mentioned about the possibility of this happening.
At any rate I thought you might find this interesting.
I have included a .jpg attachment of what seems to me the largest meteor
crater on the face of this planet. It looks as if the ejecta blanket from
the impact is the major feature of Nevada. The picture in black and white is
a Martian crater that just happed to look similar to my assumption.
Yellowstone park sits on the craters wall from what I can tell.
Hopefully, if I am wrong this post will at least be
amusing. If I am right, I doubt I am the only one to notice this. I just
wish I could find some disscusion about it using google. The picture I sent
is not a very high quality one, so using Google Maps or Maps Live ought to
be a better way to see it.
Maybe this has been missed since it is so large?
Best wishes to you and all you love
Dennis Kinniburgh
==========
Subject: The Autism "racket"
Dr. P,
I saw that bit about the 99% of autism being a racket,
and my reaction was much the same as yours, although with one key
difference. That difference is that my 2-year-old son has been recently
diagnosed with “moderate” autism, so I am experiencing it all from the
inside.
Stuart is a clever, well-developed, highly coordinated
child who has yet to speak, and exhibits some typical autistic traits like
hand flapping, toe walking, not making eye contact, etc. He is very well
behaved (for a two-year-old, certainly) and this is in large part because,
some odd traits or no, we won’t tolerate just plain bad behavior from any of
our kids. As mentioned above, he’s a smart kid with a highly practical sort
of intelligence at this point. We are in the process of starting his speech
therapy (very necessary) and some other therapy geared towards getting him
communicating. He already understands “no”, something I’m willing to bet a
lot of those rich “autistic” kids you were describing do not.
There is an entire industry based around autism and
the treatment thereof, even in the socialized medicine paradise of Canada.
It would take us at least 2 years (worse in some other provinces) to get him
into government funded programs, so the first part is private and
correspondingly expensive. There is therefore great capitalist incentive to
propagate autism as something requiring extensive treatment and in two or
three years I will be in a position to tell you how that works out. I’m
already keeping a wary eye on the process, because I want Stuart to get the
best treatment we can provide, and that means effective, not just “more”. We
caught him young, and I personally am convinced that by the time he’s to go
to school he’ll be ready to do so. That is, as long as we pick the eyes out
of the available treatment options and don’t allow ourselves to be sucked
into (expensive) treatments that don’t help him...
Regards,
Steve.
I have no expertise in this matter. I can say that
this sounds a lot like the case of my LASFS friend and his son, and his
dedication and unremitting devotion managed to take care of the problem; but
it took years.
I think you have picked the right course, but again
I have no claim to expertise in this. When I took my graduate work in
psychology there wasn't anything at all about autism or ADHD at all. Whether
this was due to the rarity of the conditions at that time, or failure to
diagnose, or just what I don't know. I was not a specialist in young
children, and it's possible that those who took pediatric abnormal
psychology were taught something about the subject; my focus was 12 years
old to adult.
There is no question about it: something seems to
have changed since the 1950's. I find it hard to believe that 25% of the
young men in this society suddenly developed some kind of syndrome requiring
expensive drugs, and I know for a fact that some diagnoses of autism are
just plain wrong (and probably self-serving on the part of the physician). I
also know for a fact that some cases of autism are frighteningly real.
I have also read learned treatises on how Bill
Gates exhibits symptoms of autism. Having known Gates since he was 17, I can
say this is pretty silly. Gates is capable of simply going away inside his
head when the conversation gets sufficiently boring, and he does that. He
can also focus on some detail of a dinner conversation and again seem to
vanish. And yes, he does have some repetitive gestures. We should all have
his problem....
I repeat I am no expert; but the shock jock who put
the rate at 99% fraud was wrong on his percentage, but not entirely; there
certainly are fraudulent diagnoses. How many I don't know and I have never
seen a study, nor do I expect to see one for obvious reasons.
==========
Subject: Ubuntu wants to take a bite out of
Apple
<http://www.infoworld.com/img/newsletter/platforms_report.gif>
InfoWorld<http://www.infoworld.com/img/newsletter/logo.gif>
Wednesday, Jul 23, 2008
Ubuntu founder urges Linux desktop to rival
Apple <http://cwflyris.computerworld.com/t/3374440/122594430/127798/0/>
Posted July 23, 07:15 a.m. Pacific Time
Ubuntu Linux Founder Mark Shuttleworth
urged development of a Linux desktop to rival what Apple has done in
this space and aired a vision of software changing the world. >> <http://cwflyris.computerworld.com/t/3374440/122594430/127798/0/>
===========
Subject: The Dark Knight
I have to say I agree with some of the comments about
this Batman Film, but not all.
Heath L. was a great Joker, although based upon how he
died, maybe not all of it
was acting... he had better lines than Jack N. I
think. But both were stellar
depictions of the Clown of Crime. Ceasar R. was never
a serious performance.
The variant time line was OK, although I agree the
microwave emitter in the prior
film was pretty hard to believe.
The Rachel Dawes twist was OK, but it should have been
Vikki Vale... or Catwoman.
Two-Face is gone... Too bad, that would have been a
great recurring villain...
Brice
I have not seen the picture yet, but I intend to.
===========
Some buildings still say NACA
Had a trip this morning to NASA Ames. Some of the
buildings still say NACA. Worden is trying to rebuild his center along the
NACA model. Feel free to use the picture.
Rich
==========
Subject: Spengler
Mr. Pournelle,
Having just recently read Spengler’s piece on Turkey,
I followed the Instapundit link to your post. It has been added to my stack
of stuff to read real soon now.
Skimming to tweak formatting (attached) after
processing in my home magazine generator, I was surprised that a writer of
your stature would not go out of your way to credit Spengler as the author
of the Asia Times piece. I have been reading his work for many years and
find it a rewarding, sometimes shocking and often hilarious singular point
of view on many things.
Some of your readers might be similarly rewarded by
the discovery.
Best regards,
Stephen Anderson
There was attached a pdf of
my essay on the crisis
in Turkey. I have no idea how a pdf came about, as I certainly have
never published one. I gave the URL for the Spengler article on Turkey in my
essay. What more was I supposed to have done?
Apparently I never get anything right now, and that
bothers me. Have I lost my mind?
==========
From another discussion group:
I predicted the Chinese takeover of Sub-Saharan Africa
at least fifteen years ago, but it is happening sooner than I thought.
Louis
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/
worldnews/article-1036105/How-
Chinas-taking-Africa-West-VERY-worried.html
How China's Taking Over Africa, and Why the
West Should Be VERY Worried AR Articles on Africa The Agony of Africa
(Dec. 2003) Why is Africa Poor? (Jan. 1992) Light on the Dark Continent
(Oct. 1992) Search AmRen.com for Africa More news stories on Africa
Andrew Malone, Daily Mail (London), July
22, 2008 On June 5, 1873, in a letter to The Times, Sir Francis Galton,
the cousin of Charles Darwin and a distinguished African explorer in his
own right, outlined a daring (if by today's standards utterly offensive)
new method to 'tame' and colonise what was then known as the Dark
Continent.
'My proposal is to make the encouragement
of Chinese settlements of Africa a part of our national policy, in the
belief that the Chinese immigrants would not only maintain their
position, but that they would multiply and their descendants supplant
the inferior Negro race,' wrote Galton.
'I should expect that the African seaboard,
now sparsely occupied by lazy, palavering savages, might in a few years
be tenanted by industrious, order-loving Chinese, living either as a
semidetached dependency of China, or else in perfect freedom under their
own law.'
Despite an outcry in Parliament and heated
debate in the august salons of the Royal Geographic Society, Galton
insisted that 'the history of the world tells the tale of the continual
displacement of populations, each by a worthier successor, and humanity
gains thereby'.
A controversial figure, Galton was also the
pioneer of eugenics, the theory that was used by Hitler to try to fulfil
his mad dreams of a German Master Race.
Eventually, Galton's grand resettlement
plans fizzled out because there were much more exciting things going on
in Africa.
But that was more than 100 years ago, and
with legendary explorers such as Livingstone, Speke and Burton still
battling to find the source of the Nile-and new discoveries of exotic
species of birds and animals featuring regularly on newspaper front
pages-vast swathes of the continent had not even been 'discovered'.
Yet Sir Francis Galton, it now appears, was
ahead of his time. His vision is coming true-if not in the way he
imagined. An astonishing invasion of Africa is now under way.
In the greatest movement of people the
world has ever seen, China is secretly working to turn the entire
continent into a new colony.<snip>
==
Interesting...
I remember that about thirty years ago, I and several
friends used to speculate that India would eventually colonize Africa, given
its much higher population growth and much greater geographical proximity.
Looks like we were wrong and you were right...
R
==
And Galton was prophetic, as JD told us quite a few
years ago. Go to http://www.galton.org/
and under Eugenics look for "Africa for the Chinese", a letter to The Times
of 5 June 1873 (or maybe a slightly different date). From memory Galton also
discounts the capacity of the Indians to do it, and there is a letter from
someone else who is pro black and anti-Chinese based on his colonial
experience.
James
============w
f
g
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