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CHAOS MANOR MAIL

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Mail 82 January 3 - 9, 2000

 

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Monday January 3, 2000

Too many things to do.

 

 

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Tuesday, January 4, 2000

Hi Jerry,

Let me start by saying I enjoy reading your column a great deal. It's probably my favorite in all the major tech magazines.

In your Jan. 3rd column (DVD RAM And The TEAC 6-Pack) you mention trouble with the ATI DVD software working with a TNT chipset. I suspect the problem is that the ATI software is dependant on (and exclusive to) an ATI chipset (such as the Rage Pro or Rage 128). I'd recommend Intervideo's WinDVD. I have a TNT2 based card and have been using it with no problems at all. In fact, I originally used a hardware decoder, and WinDVD has a noticeably sharper picture and is quite a bit more responsive. Again, thanks very much for providing such a uniquely interesting column (and for doing all the dirty work so your readers don't have to). Best regards -Bill

-- WL Carr [bcarr@pointecom.net] IdArt [http://www.pointecom.net/~bcarr/idart.html] PGP Public Key Block [http://www.pointecom.net/~bcarr/pubkey.asc] --

Thanks. I realized after I sent that off that the ATI software made heavy use of the ATI chips. Their DVD movie player works well, and I can recommend it, if you have an ATI video board... And thanks for the kind words.

Kind Sir,

Don't know if you have ATI 3.0 or 3.1 but you might want to check this out if you have not already:

Source: http://www.dvdutils.com  and go to "software" and look on bottom of page. (this site has frames but the page with the info is actually here: http://perso.libertysurf.fr/dvdutils/softs.htm  )

Quote

Hint: Make ATi DVD Player v3.1 work with any VGA compatible cards (not only ATi's) ?

- Install ATi DVD Player v3.1

- Use DVD Region Selector (ATi/Cinemaster panel) and deselect any h/w acceleration (ATi Rage Pro Motion Compensation or Rage128 iDCT). - Select Full Quality (CPU) instead. Voila !

Unquote

Bruce bdenman@ftc-i.net  http://web.infoave.net/~bdenman 

I'll have to look. Thanks. I got some other problems just now but with luck I'll get another board with ATI on the motherboard and work with that as a test. I am very happy with the system I have that has that ATI Rage Pro; good enough is good enough...

 

 


I seem to be the only fan of the literary Heinlein that also liked the film _Starship Troopers_, and after reading some of this latest thread, I feel compelled to explain why.

First off, one should not make a direct comparison of a book to its movie adaptation - and never, never read the book just before you see the movie, since you're *bound* to be disappointed then. Simply speaking, what your mind extracts as the highlights of the book probably won't be what someone else's does, and what you see on the screen by definition is someone else's version.

A movie can be considered a highlight film of a book. There just isn't enough time to put the whole book on the screen, even in a mini-series. Compare the excellent series "I, Claudius" to the two Robert Graves books that spawned it. Lots still left out, even though the mini-series had six times the time of a standard two-hour movie (there were only 12 episodes of "I, Claudius").

A book and its film adaptation are really two separate entertainments that share common characters, a common "universe," and a common plot - and the commonness is highly variable. The reason for this is: (a) money, (b) time compression, (c) plot compression, and (d) character compression - and b, c, and d are all variations on a.

Any number of examples other than ST can be used to illustrate this. I understand that Brocolli et al were specifically prevented from using the plots of Bond books, so anyone who knows James Bond only from the movies is in for a shock if he/she picks up one of the books (did you know that in the books, Bond always ends up shot up?). Or look at _Jurassic Park_, which in Spielberg had a *much* better director than Verhoven. The plot is similar, but different, the *feel* of the movie is different from the book, different characters survive, and the personalities are also changed (particularly Attenborough's character), etc. Still a good movie.

Now (finally) speaking specifically of Starship Troopers. Lots of the complaints stem from the depiction of the society. Someone called it "Triumph of the Will 90210." First of all, ST is a very complex book (something common to Heinlein's work) and cries for multiple re-readings, because you just aren't going to "get" it on one reading. What is on-screen is very similar to my first interpretation, at least. Also, there is a lot of Verhoven in the movie, just as there is a lot of Speilberg in Jurassic park. When you consider that Verhoven grew up in Nazi-occupied Holland, and had V-2s launched from his backyard, that explains a lot. Then again, the "Triumph" parts of ST are in sections that are *supposed* to be government propaganda.

But Heinlein is not lost in the movie. The only History and Moral Philosophy class depicted is (almost) straight from the book. And Michael Ironside gets to say some classic Heinlein-isms is other places, too.

The rest of the differences come from the time/character/plot compressions discussed above. These sometimes these create things that you might never consider. I rather liked the idea of Rico's old H&;MP teacher being his Lieutenant. And I also did not mind the parallel "Carmen" plot, though the book concentrated solely on Rico.

Anyway, that's my rant.

Steven Dunn

Well, one major problem with the movie is that the officers all ought to be shot for incompetence. Every one of them. They brought the wrong equipment, the trained for the wrong war (that happens at first of course, but not this bad) and they hadn't the foggiest notion of how to handle mass attacks from critters that don't use missile weapons or firepower.  Ye gods, leave out that they could have used insecticides, a few mortars and grenades would have made all the difference in the world. And as to troops standing around in a circle in a Slobbovian Firing Squad...

The parallel Carmen plot was the best addition they made. But the contempt for those who stand between their loved homes and the war's desolation comes through strong, and I didn't much care for that.


Well, here's another ignorant move by OSHA. It should pretty much kill working at home, which was just beginning to become viable. Companies are not going to be responsible for the conditions in someone's home, which they cannot possibly have any control over.

OSHA is a shining example of one the old adages, the purpose of government is to employ people. Unfortunately, in this case, it only applies to those who work for OSHA.

OSHA covers at-home workers

Employers responsible for safety violations in the home

By Frank Swoboda and[NL]Kirstin Downey Grimsley[NL]WASHINGTON POST [PARA] WASHINGTON, Jan. 4 - Companies that allow employees to work at home are responsible for federal health and safety violations that occur at the home work site, according to a Labor Department advisory.

Tracy Walters [tracy@nemontel.net]

We're from the government and we're here to help you. Of course this is the end of the green movement to keep people from traveling to work. And coupled with ADA it's a primary hamper to our competitiveness just as we try to compete world wide free trade. Well, why not?  Won't hurt me. I don't have any employees. Had a couple to help out here, but the paperwork and the government stuff made it harder to have them work here than not, so we no longer do the THERE WILL BE WAR anthologies among other things. Oh. Well.

But we were born free.

Dr. Pournelle,

After the latest decision by OSHA that its regulations apply to home offices, I can just imagine an OSHA inspector dropping by to take a look at Chaos Manor. Oh the horror!!!

Ken Jancaitis

Horror indeed! Fortunately no one works here but me... See

http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20000104/ts/health_osha_3.html 

for details.


Jerry-

In response to the couple of notes from readers who located Stabilant 22A for about $50 from NAPA: when I first went looking for the stuff I did some searching on the web and found that MicroTools (www.micro-tools.com), a camera &; video repair supplier, sells the 15ml Stabilant 22A bottle for $28 (plus shipping, naturally- comes to about $35 total). They can't ship it by air due to its haz-mat classification, so you have to wait the 5 days or so for ground shipment, but if you don't need it urgently it's a much better deal. They have it listed in their online catalog under 'Contact Cleaners'.

The best price for it I've found on the web is from ElectroSonic (www.e-sonic.com) in Canada: $30 Canadian (~$20 US). They're not licensed to export it, though (even to the US-- haz-mat regs again), so only folks in Canada can take advantage of that price.

-Dave Neevel Milwaukee, WI

Thanks!  It's worth the price. Or so I think.

 

 

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Wednesday, January 5, 2000

Christmas Eve for the Orthodox. Merry Christmas.

Dr. Pournelle, I know you are a busy man, so I'll be brief. The writers of the film (Starship Troopers) held a clear contempt for the military. What sticks out in my mind is the comment made by the desk sergeant when Rico was signing up- (paraphrasing) "Joining the Army? Good, made me the man that I am today!" As he turns in his chair and the audience can see that he is an amputee. Also, the bungling of every battle and scene with the Army in it. Reminds me of a couple of Vietnam films, that while they were good films, focused on the desperation of a pitched, undermanned and equipped battle (Siege of Firebase Gloria, Green Berets). Any professional force should be, at least marginally, better than that. My bias is clearly showing, but Verhoeven must be a Liberal. Sorry for the rant against the Ant-Military element.

George Laiacona III <george@eisainc.com> ICQ 37042478/ 28885038 "Suit up boys, we're point on the Dragonstar." -Lance

Not so much a liberal as an intellectual. As in George Orwell's remark, "You must be an intellectual. No ordinary person would say a thing like that." Green Berets was made before we really got into the war, of course, and was a pitch that we ought to win it and get out.

After many years of thinking about it I have to conclude that we blundered into the right strategy. Lose it and stay in. Or more exactly, give the enemy the illusion of winnability while continuing to destroy more armor than the Wehrmacht ever fielded, more trucks than Patton ever had in Red Ball, more equipment than most armies ever had, all made in USSR and sent at enormous expense to the far corners of the world to be destroyed.  That was a game we could win. Easily. At the time, when Allard Loweinstein hit me with that "You want to win, but your friends in Washington want to lose it and stay in," I was devastated; but it turns out he was right, and that was oddly enough the right strategy. Ah well.

But agreed, the movie was contemptuous of grunts. It did seem to have some deference to female Navy officers. In a word, it was PC in the silliest possible way, which says all that needs to be said about those who made it.

Do you want to know more?


Incidentally there is an odd creature that can't stay away from here and sends me raving notes that have caused me to alert my local security watch. I am told that Green Berets was made in 1968, which is probably true, in which case I was wrong about a detail. I never knew John Wayne well, but he appeared for us in an ad endorsing Mayor Yorty when I was campaign manager in 1969, and I probably ought to know when the film was made. From the internal evidence of the film at least part of it is of a time when the war was still in the guerrilla phase. It hardly matters although according to my correspondent 

"Green Berets was made before we really got into the war...? At what hippie ranch/commune/rehab clinic did you make that connection?"

which is about the most polite statement in it. He also refers to 

"As usual you get key facts wrong, not surprising in that you frequently paint yourself as some kind of crypto-facist super patriot who invented Space Planes, NASA and defeated Traveling Sam Yorty in some old forgotten LA election or another along with that tubercular parasite who was fired from the Navy and then inflicted his diseased hallucinations on us in the guise of science fiction..."

which makes no sense to me; I didn't defeat Sam Yorty, I managed his quite successful campaign for a third term, and indeed predicted the outcome of the election so closely that TIME Magazine couldn't believe it. (It wasn't difficult; I just went by percentages in councilmatic districts, then determined what the turnout would be. Our strategy was not to campaign in districts where we would lose badly, and work very hard to get out the vote in places where we were solidly ahead. Let the other guy turn out his voters, I won't make it easy by sending my candidate in to stimulate them.) As a result I became Executive Assistant to Yorty, a post that has since been retitled "Deputy Mayor." I confess I sometimes tell people I used to be Deputy Mayor of Los Angeles, but in fact when I held the post it didn't have that title. I hope I can be forgiven the exaggeration; after all I am a bit old to apply for jobs.

Certainly Mr. Heinlein's attempt to win Democratic nomination to the California Assembly against Yorty was an obscure election indeed; I had never heard of it until Robert mentioned it as a curiosity. Why a man who graduated from Annapolis with honor, served with honor prior to WW II, was retired on medical disability due to tuberculosis, then served as a civilian manager of a Navy research facility in Philadelphia during WW II deserved to be called a parasite is a bit beyond me. Tubercular he certainly was. I have some sympathy with that: of my grandmother's 16 siblings, every one of them but her died of consumption. I presume I inherited some small resistance since she lived through that period. I would not myself think "tubercular" to be a term of contempt, merely descriptive, but then I am not an intellectual like my correspondent. He seems to maintain a web page designed to annoy me, but since I never visit it, I wouldn't know.

As to my being a crypto-facist super patriot [sic] I can only demur. As I have been careful to try to explain, "fascism" used to have a precise meaning, and it was not the same as "NAZI" or "National Socialist". It may well have been the proper government for Spain after the disastrous civil war; I wouldn't know. I had good friends who fought on the Republican side in the Spanish War (Ted Cogswell chief among them; he used to regale Mr. Heinlein and me with stories, and also with a couple of songs he had written about a squad of men and a Maxim gun). I also have good friends among the new Spanish aristocracy who are Franco sympathizers. I don't live in Spain and am unlikely to, but the few times I have been there I have found sentiments divided, and Franco seems to have a fair number of supporters to this day -- including the Jewish tour guide who conducted us through the old Synagogue in Toledo, the one that looks like a mosque...  But fascism hasn't any appeal to me as an American. I don't think we have irreconcilable class war, and I don't think that strengthening the government in order to force the warring social classes to cooperate is a good thing for us. Indeed, my druthers are to devolve most government power back to the states, or to the people, as in the Bill of Rights. Fascists want to increase government power. I want to lessen it, or at least transfer it down to state and local levels. I am emotionally but not intellectually attracted to the kind of vague distributism of Chesterton and his friends like Hillaire Belloc, although I have no idea how it might be implemented. In any event, whatever my political philosophy might be, it most certainly is not fascism. Huey Long said Roosevelt was a fascist, and called to evidence the NRA, the destruction of food stuffs (plowing under crops to get the price up) at a time when the minimum caloric intake of  the American unemployed was below that required to maintain health; and a bunch of other Rooseveltian programs. Certainly it would be easier to make the case that Roosevelt was a fascist than to demonstrate it of me.

Anyway, it is this kind of thing that makes maintaining the place interesting. My thanks to all my subscribers, since I have some gauge of the popularity of this place by that number. What I don't understand, even with my psychology and novelist background, is why someone has so little to do as to keep watching this place when clearly he hates it? He sent quite a nice letter the other day, and I had even contemplated posting it, but now comes this.  Surely my mistaking the date of a movie is forgiveable? But in any event, clearly I misremembered. It was, after all, 30 years and more ago. 

This place also gives me the chance to ramble somewhat. I can't think where I could publish any of this nonsense, so it's well to have this outlet. Thanks for putting up with me.

There are times I am grateful for my old grad school classes in abnormal psychology. And even more so for the private patrol as well as my excellent relations with the LAPD. Ah well.

 

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Thursday, January 6, 2000

 

Or, an alternate title subject: Don't worry, be happy!

Dr. Pournelle, Raving maniacs who shoot their mouths off before thinking are everywhere, not just in Washington. Like hecklers at a comedy show, their only entertainment is spoiling that of others. It is inevitable. I would wish him harm, but it is bad Karma for me to do so. He has his right to speak, but I'm sure you, and collectively we your readers, wish he would do it elsewhere. Clearly passionate about his opinions, yet uninformed, typical of the know-it-all liberals pouring out of our nations higher learning institutes today. "Green Berets" filmed in 1966. How do I know? I watched the credits. I also have a thing for movies made in the year of my birth. "The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly" comes to mind right away. As I recall, we really didn't engage in much in Vietnam before 1968, so you are correct, our involvement at that time was small-time, and the public new little of it. I do not, however, concurr with your opinion of the correct strategy. So be it, that is the way of things. My point in mentioning the film was watch the base scenes, in 'Berets where the base is overrun and men died because an adequate force wasn't fielded, or equipped, for the task, same for 'Gloria, and in ST as the little pre-fab fort gets swarmed (pun intended). They did seem to have a thing for female aviators, so it's a good thing it wasn't filmed at the Las Vegas Hilton. The Intelligence Branch seemed to wear strangely Gestapo-like uniforms. Hmmmnn, now where would this message lead? I am really surprised, and at the same time not surprised at all, at the contempt Hollywood has for the military. Afterall, the grunts are the dregs of our society, the uneducated, the stupid, the expendable little people, baby killers and trash collectors, are they not? (Recall, however, that I am an admitted grunt. I already had a year of college under my belt before I enlisted, scored very high on the ASVAB, over 1200 on the SAT, and a middle class whiteboy - clearly not fitting.)

Sorry that you became the subject of abuse from a comment I made.

George Laiacona III <george@eisainc.com> ICQ 37042478/ 28885038 "If we put armor on the back, it will just encourage them to get shot there." "Besides, If they get shot in the back, they deserve it." -Design Engineer, Neemis Enterprises' Templar Power Armor

Actually, we got heavily into Viet Nam in 1964 when the Tonkin Gulf resolution went through a compliant Congress because everyone took the President's word for it; in those days, "politics stop at the water's edge" and we had a pretty strong tradition of bi-partisan foreign policy. When Eisenhower left office there were only 15 US military people in Viet Nam. By the time Kennedy was assassinated we had many thousands more, but it was Johnson who put is in there big time. But a check reveals that the movie was released in 1968 meaning it was probably made in 1966 or so. Not that it matters. I was never under the impression that I was infallible. 

I am continually amazed at your level of decency.

You continually give reasoned and respectful responses to raving madmen.

That is why I like this cyber-daybook experiment of yours - a little oasis of sanity in a sea of vitriol.

Andy Kowalczyk Lexington, Massachusetts "The Birthplace of American Liberty"

Thank you for the kind words.

One of the nice things about this place is that I can always count on getting the definitive answer to nearly any question:

Jerry,

According to the Internet Movie Database (http://us.imdb.com), "The Green Berets" was filmed in 1967, with a release date of 1968.

Calvin

Jerry,

As best as I can tell, the book "The Green Berets" (which the movie was based on) was written in 1965, so THAT is probably the best date to place the story in.

Calvin Dodge

And that makes sense, as the author would be working on it in 1963 and 1964, and that's the flavor of the movie. Incidentally, my old friend and colleague in working for stratetic defense, the late General Daniel O. Graham, was one of the founders of the Green Berets when he was as he put it a "gravel agitator" before he left infantry for intelligence. I used to twit him about that. We were of an age, and I could say "General, in our day we used to say if you didn't trust an officer with troops, you put him in intelligence." A phrase Danny had heard often enough and he was always gracious enough to laugh. He had some stories about trying to air drop lengths of railroad rail segments that would curl your hair.


Many people wrote me about this:

Jerry, Just heard on the news that OSHA has reversed itself on requiring businesses to control the environment at home of it's telecommuting employees. This is good news, and pretty amazing that the government actually acted this quickly. This had far reaching consequences. It could have made employees responsible for the environment wherever they were in the world.

It had 'sue me' written all over it. Thank God it has gone away, at least for now.

Tracy Walters tracy@nemontel.net

I wish I had confidence that this is over, but I don't. I don't at all. I  think they'll wait until some of the noise dies down, then make another grab.


It seems clear no one wants you to go to a web site with an address like:

from http://asia.dailynews.yahoo.com/headlines/world/article.html?s=asia/headlines/000106/world/afp/

NATO_used_speeded-up_film_to_excuse_civilian_deaths_in_Kosovo__newspaper.html

-----

Thursday, January 6 10:13 PM SGT

NATO used speeded-up film to excuse civilian deaths in Kosovo: newspaper

BERLIN, Jan 6 (AFP) -

Videotape shown by NATO to explain the killing of at least 14 civilians aboard a train on a bridge in Serbia last April was shown at triple its real speed, the German daily Frankfurter Rundschau reports in its Thursday edition.

The alliance had sought to excuse the killing of the civilians by saying the train had been traveling too fast for the trajectory of the missiles to have been changed in time.

NATO warplanes fired two missiles at the 50 metre (yard)-long bridge over the Juzna Morava River at Grdelica Klisura, some 300 kilometers (180 miles) south of Belgrade on April 12 during its campaign to force Belgrade's troops to leave Kosovo.

NATO's supreme commander in Europe, US General Wesley Clark, shortly afterwards showed two videotapes of the train appearing to be traveling fast on the bridge, and said it had then been impossible to alter the missiles' trajectories.

The Frankfurt newspaper said the two videotapes were both shown at three times normal speed.

A spokesman for NATO'S military command in Mons, Belgium, acknowledged in a telephone interview with AFP that those images had been altered by "a technical problem."

The footage, recorded by a camera installed in the warhead of one of the missiles that destroyed the bridge and train were altered during the process of being copied for screening, said the spokesman.

He said NATO was aware of the problem since last October but did not consider it "useful" to disclose it.

The Frankfurt newspaper said the US air force, which carried out the bombardment, had not noticed for some months that the tape had been speeded up, and also attributed it to a technological error.

"We did not deem it useful to go public with this information after we noticed it," the newspaper quoted a US air force spokesman in Europe as saying

Why am I not surprised? It turns out more people have been displaced after the pacification than had been refugees before it, and certainly more have been murdered. As to stability, the KLA is the real destabilizing force over there and anyone paying much attention to the place knows it. Oh. Well. 

 

 

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Friday, January 7, 2000

Column day

 

 

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Saturday, January 8, 2000

I am working on the column so this is short shrift on comments.

Hi,

I finished reading your book Starswarm and I enjoyed it very much. Not every writer has the talent to write. I can't explain why, however there are certain styles of writing that make it easier to read the story and to be relaxed while reading. While some styles require me to exert myself in order to read the story line. Thank you very much.

I have one question about Starswarm. I felt that the ending wasn't fully written. The book flowed until the last two pages. I was wondering why you decided to cut the ending short? Unless you plan to write a sequel to it???

I am curious why you didn't prolong the ending, i.e.. the relationship between Kip, Lara, and Marty. The relationship with Kip and his Uncle Bernie. Mike asking J. to marry him. etc. I felt that it was a very rushed ending, and I am curious why.

I hope that you aren't offended with my question. I apologize if I give you the impression that I am criticizing you.

Sincerely yours,

Jay Rosenthal

Well, I thought that the story I had started was ended. Sure there are other stories; but this WAS a Jupiter Book, ie intended for younger people, and length is important; also, I didn't follow all the themes. I will probably do at least one more in that series, Kip in adolescence...  He and Lara should be interesting. Will Lara be jealous of Gwen?

My Dear Dr. Pournelle,

Ages agone...in computer time about 2-3 years in real time, I saw a keyboard with pointing device and speakers integrated.

I laughed.

Now I look at my peer to peer print server and wish I had bought one. The keyboard sits atop the monitor, the smallest speakers I have are lost behind the monitor and somewhere between the monitor, and printers is the mouse...I hope...the cats have been back there lately.

Does anyone know if such a keyboard still available?

Jeff Timm Who showed his wife Dr. Keyboard's nice clean office...so much for my Saturday afternoon.

Intergraph computers used to come with such things. As to pointing devices and real estate, I like the Microsoft thumb ball with wheel. Others like the Logitech Marble. I have a pair of speakers from Lab Tec that sit on a small bridge like ears on my monitor; the base unit sits under the table. That saves space on that machine. Most of my systems have the problem of where do the darned speakers go... I am sure someone makes keyboards as you describe but at the moment I have none. I suspect we'll both know more in a day or two.


Dear Dr. Pournelle,

Windows 98 comes with a software DVD player.

I don't know if it's installed by default. The program file is dvdplay.exe.

It's not a great DVD player but it works. (It even works with Windows 95, or so I've been told).

Claud Addicott

I sure can't find it in Windows/options/cabs or anywhere else on my W 98 disk. Oddly enough there is a dvdplay.cnt in HELP.  Anyone know more on this?

From: Stephen M. St. Onge saintonge@hotmail.com

Subject: Experiment in re Global Warming

Dear Dr. Pournelle:

I assume you remember John Daly and his "Still Waiting for Global Warming" website, which was discussed at length last October ( http://www.jerrypournelle.com/mail/mail71.html ) He is now conducting an interesting experiment in long range forecasting. Daly contends that global temperature changes are strongly influenced by the "El Nino-La Nina" (ENLN) conditions in the Pacific off the coasts of South America, and that these conditions are in turn forecast by the "Southern Oscillation Index," (SOI) a measure of the difference in barometric pressure between Tahiti and Darwin, Australia. He is now posting these readings regularly, as well as sea temperature satellite photos. If past correlations continue, we can look for cooler temperatures worldwide for the next three to six months at least. His URL for this data, along with a description of its significance is http://www.vision.net.au/~daly/elnino.htm 

Of course, even if we confirm this hypothesis, we still won't know what drives the SOI and the "ENLN" events, but either way it will be ONE step forward for real science.

Best, St. Onge

P. S. : Do see MAN ON THE MOON, with Jim Carrey. A very good movie.

It would be nice to have some data in this matter. Thanks.

 

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