CHAOS
MANOR MUSINGS
The View from Chaos Manor
Jerry Pournelle
The Original Blog *
This is my personal journal and day book. For computer related reviews and mail, see Chaos Manor Reviews, which is a continuation of the old BYTE column I began in 1980 with BYTE Magazine. For the old home page click here. For more on what this place is about, click here.
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Thursday, July 02, 2009 12:38 PM
Escape From Hell by Niven and Pournelle Now Available
Washington Post bash; GM and CAFE
More on Firefighters, IQ, and SCOTUS
Ideas and consequences: climate and public domain
A note on Iran and a screed on education
Another publisher collapses; Iran and democracy
AIDS Denial and consensus science
Finding a theory of bureaucracy
Continuing discussion of Dyson and science
Dyson and Global Warming Again
Sotomayor, Civil Rights, and the Firemen
Judicial activism and the separation of powers
On Proposition 8 and Sotomayor and other matters.
Health care discussion continues
Totalitarian science and national education
Piracy Incident Ends; what next?
The quiet sun; and some threats
The Ratings System; And who's out to get whom?
Niven and I will be at Space Access 2009
Conficker and Malware: Warning
AIG Executive resigns: his story
Kristol, Dyson, and other matters
Obama on global financial action
New Mailbag; New Treasury Plan
Big Bonuses for AIG Executives. Wow.
Success, failure, wishing, opposition, and a Naval Test
Das Rheingold, pictures, and other matters
More on Limbaugh and the Iron Law
Limbaugh, Obama, Success; And the Iron Law at work
Withdrawing from Iraq and a Strategy of Technology
Bailouts, Kindle, Climate, and MOLES
Continuing discussion on the future of air power:
Future of airpower and other matters.
Sir Terry Pratchett; California Raises Taxes
Stimulus; the Author's Guild on Kindle; and other interesting mail
Stimulus and Death to the Elderly
On Progress and more on Stimulus
More on education, singularity, and civilization
Education and a grab bag of links
Recent Topics in Chronological Order below. For Topics of Continuing Importance and more about this place, click here.
(MORE Old Headlines On OLD HEADLINES Page)
Some topics of continuing importance
How to get my job: the secret of becoming a
professional writer.
Want to teach anyone to read English?
Pournelle's Iron Law of Bureaucracy
How To Publish Your Book as an Ebook
Pournelle's Iron Law and a Defense of the Teacher's Unions
Work In Progress at Chaos Manor
Want to teach your kids to read?
What this place is about: Jerry Pournelle's Web Site, including Chaos Manor Mail. Accept no Substitutes. This page is generally updated daily. Most of the action here is in The View from Chaos Manor, and Chaos Manor Mail. Many of my observations are given as comments on Mail. View is mostly my comments and mini-essays on many topics. One popular permanent item is HOW TO GET MY JOB.
Extensive discussions on technology and civilization, education, the space program, the future of freedom, etc. With contributions by a lot of smart people. See Current Mail and Current View. For more on what this place is about, including permanent features, see below. For Topics of continuing interest, see below. And for more on what we are doing here, including saving the space program and desert adventures, click here. For my computer columns which formerly appeared in BYTE, see Chaos Manor Reviews. And be sure to have a look at the various Reports which include trip reports, adventures, and other special topics. For Roberta Pournelle's Reading Program, look here.
I can make some claim to this being The Original Blog and Daybook. I certainly started keeping a day book well before most, and long before the term "blog" or Web Log was invented. BIX, the Byte exchange, preceded the Web by a lot, and I also had a daily journal on GE Genie.
I note that a Google Search on Blog doesn't show me, at least not in the first 10 or so pages, but then I long insisted I don't "blog" because I find the word ugly. But I have a fair amount of traffic and a quality readership, so I can hardly complain. This site is supported by subscribers on the "Public Radio" model: if you think it is worthwhile, please subscribe.
This Web Site supplements my column that ran in the print version of BYTE for twenty years and continues weekly at Chaos Manor Reviews. This web page adds more, including mail to both me and the column. You'll find: Computers, Blogs, Blogging, Operating systems, Linux, Features, Journals, Day Books, Mail, Discussions, Current Topics, Science Fact and Fiction, Space Policy, Defense Policy, Population Density, Global Warming, History, Republic or Empire?, and Other Stuff I think is interesting. It is mostly text. The main action here is in VIEW and MAIL which are updated more or less daily. There is also my work in progress. If you have not the foggiest notion of what you've found, click here.
NOTE: Mail sent to me not intended for publication should be clearly marked as such.
Order Windows Version Reading TLC Now
Report Electronic Piracy Sites to epiracy@sfwa.org
REPUBLIC AND EMPIRE: A continuing discussion
A Serving Officer in Iraq: Letters
How the Ashkenazi Got Their Smarts
See Chaos Manor Reviews for regular columns and show reports.
Saving the space program: things change slowly. The latest is Getting to Space: Prizes. The older relevant papers are still relevant. Start with Getting To Space. You might also look at The Megamissions Paper about military policy. For my testimony to Congress about what to do with NASA and what we learned from DC/X, see Why Have Nasa? Most 0f the space papers are summarized in this Space Reports index page.
You will find my essay on The Voodoo Sciences (what's wrong with social science) here.
Much of what we do here ends up in Reports. The summary page is here. There are many subjects.
There are a lot of reports. Each reports folder has a summary page. Contents vary among from Republic vs. Empire (and incompetent empire) to the Yorktown Incident through Christening of a godchild to the opening of a corpse plant to picture reports of rolling my Bronco in Death Valley to a stroll along a canal in Japan. How a report ends up in one folder rather than another seems largely to be whim, but they all have quite a bit of good stuff accumulated over the years.
There also photoessays about trips to Paris and Rome.
How to get my job: the secret of becoming a professional writer.
SURVIVAL in DEATH VALLEY: With PIX
Summary Pages:
| Are you a professional? | ||
| How to get my job. |
If you got here looking for the MegaMissions paper, click here. I find that my space papers are not well organized or indexed and are very hard to find. I'll try to do something about that. The other paper referenced in my recent talk is Getting to Space.
Some not very Current Topics which continue to generate interest:
How to get my job: the secret of becoming a professional writer.
SURVIVAL in DEATH VALLEY: With PIX
Special Reports on many subjects:
The Chaos Manor Reports Page Index: various reports of interest.
This is a content oriented site. You are not likely to find pretty new graphics here. This is not a course on web design. I do try to make things readable, and keep the download times small. Topics include: New machines, chip reports, book and game reviews, musings on many matters. The View From Chaos Manor is updated almost every day. There is a great deal of mail, on many topics. If you don't know why you're here, try VIEW, then "What Is This Place?" It can be confusing here, but many like it that way. Reminds them of The Adventure Game.
WARNING: this place is updated frequently. RELOAD/REFRESH early and often. Good Luck.
We have testimonials for my wife's READING PROGRAM. If you know anyone having problems reading English, you should look into this. If you home school or know people who do you need to know about this.
I have prepared a TOUR GUIDE to this place. It may give a bit more about what is going on here.
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Entire Site Copyright 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 by Jerry E. Pournelle. All rights reserved.