Category Archives: View

Chaos Manor View, Monday, September 5, 2016

LABOR DAY

Liberalism is a philosophy of consolation for the West as it commits suicide.

James Burnham

If a foreign government had imposed this system of education on the United States, we would rightfully consider it an act of war.

Glenn T. Seaborg, National Commission on Education, 1983

Deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.

We have dial tone. This is the second time I have written this. I wrote about a thousand words but as I was completing my account of how my dial tone was restored, I managed to hit the alt key and the spacebar simultaneously, then some more keys – I was typing rapidly – and Word closed without saving. I do not know what combination of keys produces that result. I don’t care. I am now looking for alternatives to Word. No text editor ought to have a combination of keystrokes that will close it without saving.

I thought I had a work-around: I would save as a work file whatever I was working on, and this would automatically save every few seconds. It does not. Word Help does not have any response to “save Word file automatically”. So far as I can see the response is the same to any search that has save and Word in it. Microsoft, you bloody ought to be ashamed of yourselves, and I wonder if a handicap organization does not have a valid case under some obscure provision of the Americans with Disabilities act. Worse, if there’s a setting to do automatic saving I can’t find it. Help as usual is not much help. I suppose it doesn’t matter. I once had the habit of saving early and often because computers were not reliable. I gradually lost the habit – not entirely, but I did trust more to the electronics I guess – and today I lost a thousand words. Gone. They weren’t crucial, and I know what I said, but I am irked. Annoyed. And it’s Microsoft’s fault. There should be no way to simply close Word without saving.

Back to my story. Dial tone. Early this morning, Roberta called AT&T again, got a human, and Lo! They already had a record of our problem and said a technician would be here before Six. He showed up an hour later. Armando had been with The Phone Company for 42 years, and oozed competence. He cut the cable tie off the outside box in back, and said something to the effect of “You only have one line?” I told him that at one time we had had six active lines, but that was long ago.

I then conducted him back into the house to the hall phone, where we have a simple phone that needs no house power and connects directly to the outside. He unplugged it and plugged in a small signal generator, and went out to the outside box again. I went to my office and lifted the Panasonic wireless phone – one of several we have around the house, and heard warbling. Since the Panasonic station is attached to a jack on the same line as the hall phone where the signal was coming from, it was pretty clear that the problem wasn’t in the archaic wiring of Chaos Manor.

The technician said he had to go up the pole on Cantura, a street about half a mile away. A few minutes later we had dial tone, and his cell phone number in case we had other problems. And now we have dial tone, the plumbing is working again, when I am writing fiction I use the ASUS laptop upstairs where I don’t hit alt-spacebar and I do save early and often as I am doing now, and things are back the mild but chronic state of chaos normal at Chaos Manor.

The War Drums are beating. Russia could not govern the Ukraine even if the Ukrainians overwhelmingly asked them to; the economies are too bare. Russia is beginning to rise from the depths, but Putin is no fool: he sees what reviving East Germany did to the Germans. They know what rebuilding the Crimea is costing. There is a great effort underway to get the United States into hostilities with Russia. Trump opposes that.

For more, see

Hillary, Trump, and War with Russia: The Goddamdest Stupid Idea I Have Ever Heard, and I Have Lived in Washington

http://fredoneverything.org/hillary-trump-and-war-with-russia-the-goddamdest-stupid-idea-i-have-ever-heard-and-i-have-lived-in-washington/

It is Labor Day, and we have guests. I’ll let Fred talk on this one. Fred and I don’t agree on everything, but I don’t think I can find much to argue with here.

If you’re planning on submitting to There Will Be War, Volume 11, this is the month to do it. We should have it put together by October, which means my introductions need to be done, which means I have to have all the stories and articles we’re going to include since I tend to use them to generate a theme.

The school systems

Hello Jerry,

In your blog a reader signing in as ‘B-‘ provided an account that started like this:

“Maybe that will teach me.”

The problem described is not confined to the educational system.  It is rampant throughout ALL government bureaucracies.

When I worked for the federal government there were two absolute career killers for budding managers:

1.  Being tagged with a ‘diversity problem’.  ANY diversity problem.

2.  Failing to spend your budget—all of it—PRIOR TO the end of the fiscal year.

Spending several million dollars on a program (ideally, a multi-year effort) that produced absolutely nothing of use or relevance was specifically NOT a career killer.  Quite the contrary.  Proving your expertise in program management by running a multi-million dollar program for a couple of years that ultimately produced nothing, then moving on to the next hot (higher budget) project before the first one cratered was the path to career glory, whether the programs produced anything useful or not.  The key was to get in while the programs were hot, then bail upwards before the crash.  

Of course not ALL programs were useless.  But a large number of the folks who gravitated to the top did so by ‘managing’ a succession of those which were.

Bob Ludwick

The Constitution gives no powers over education to the Congress or any other part of the Federal government, meaning that was supposed to be left to the states; which meant competing educational systems, some better, some worse, some very good, some awful. The important thing was some were very good.

Then came Sputnik (The Soviet launched first Earth satellite) and there came a drum beat for Federal Aid to Education, since we clearly needed a national education system and we had the experts to provide it. That generated a Federal Department of Education. Teachers’ Unions, who wanted tenure and credentialism, instantly jumped aboard the bandwagon they had helped build, and fewer than a dozen years later the National Commission on Excellence in Education concluded that

If a foreign government had imposed this system of education on the United States, we would rightly consider it an act of war.

The schools have deteriorated greatly since that accurate system. Prior to Federal Aid to Education, the United States boasted some of the best schools in the world, the envy of every other country. They encouraged the growth of excellence, and imposed the learning of as much competence as possible on everyone. We had a few school systems considered awful, several in the South, but note that in Tennessee I received, in Capleville with two grades to the room and more than 20 pupils to the grade, a very good grammar school education. I wasn’t made to work as hard as I should have been, but I still learned more in eight grades than nearly any present day public school student learns in twelve. There wasn’t a single student in Capleville school who didn’t learn to read, and I include the girl who was 15 in the fifth grade. She didn’t understand much, but she could read.

(Parenthetically, she did right well. Her parents were Italian truck gardeners. An Italian prisoner of war was assigned to be a farmhand at her place, and he and she were married within a year, thus keeping her from spinsterhood, her husband from being repatriated at the end of the war, and her parents from not having grandchildren. Sometimes stories do end well.)

And it remains true, “If a foreign government had imposed this system of education on the United States, we would rightly consider it an act of war.”

sc:bubbles]

Freedom is not free. Free men are not equal. Equal men are not free.

Chaos Manor View, Sunday, September 4, 2016

Liberalism is a philosophy of consolation for the West as it commits suicide.

James Burnham

If a foreign government had imposed this system of education on the United States, we would rightfully consider it an act of war.

Glenn T. Seaborg, National Commission on Education, 1983

Deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.

I’ve actually been getting some work done, but I’ve also been engaged in monkey motion because of the new ATT&T system. It didn’t help that I seem to brought back about seven different varieties of common cold or mild influenza from Kansas City. I’ve pretty well shaken them off – I no longer have that ache all over feeling – but I admit to doing a lot of funking out and reading old Nero Wolfe stories.

My problem with AT&T can be stated in a few words: on my cell phones the service fades in and out over time, from never more that three dots, generally only one, and all too frequently zero, which still sometimes permits a call, or worse it says on my iPhone, “no service”, and really means it. My wife’s old fashioned flip phone has the same kind of service – erratic fading to zero – but her phone doesn’t give her information. It just works or it doesn’t, and all too frequently, it doesn’t.

This bad wireless service has been a problem for decades, and I dealt with it by buying a mini-tower from AT&T; that worked like a charm for years, but then it stopped working, and I’ve lost all record of how to use it. This problem I can solve: I just take the Mini-tower to an AT&T Store and tell them to make it work, and if they can’t, I buy another. It will shoot a morning, but it can be done.

Because cellphone or wireless service is so erratic in this part of Studio City, I have always had a landline. At one point I actually had five of them, including a kind if primitive high speed digital preview of ISDN which I used for broadcast radio back in the days before the Internet. I couldn’t get actual ISDN. We are three hundred feet beyond the distance allowed to the switch.

But the landline always worked. Back before they got clever and broke up the old AT&T, the two things you could count on from the SAT&T Regulated Public Utility: arrogance for the clerical staff, and dial tone. If you ever lost dial tone, it was likely that all your neighbors had as well. If it was only you and you could use a neighbor’s phone to report it, you were never more than one day without dial tone, and more usually only an hour or two would go by before an AT&T truck pulled op in front of your house and a very competent technician fixed the problem, generally without cost. AT&T might be hated for its attitude, but by gum they got you dial tone.

They broke up AT&T, but the parts kept merging, and eventually someone put enough of them together to be able to call itself AT&T. Of course it no longer had or supported Bell Labs, AKA the Basic Research Institution for the human race, but that’s not all it had lost: Gone, too, was the basic mission of “we always give you dial tone.” There are a few of the old AT&T people who remember that era, but most have died out; and their replacements apparently don’t care.

In my case, my problem is that I have no dial tone, and I have no way of getting AT&T to acknowledge they know that. I go on line and it tells me, if I have no dial tone, disconnect everything and wait five minutes “to let the line clear.” Did that. Another tells me to go to the box outside and connect a working telephone and listen for dial tone. The Phone Company put a big cable tie around that box so I cannot open it.

I need help. I tried 611 calling on my cell phone. So has my wife. The result is invariant. I get a person who tells me my cell phone is fine. I say I want to report a landline without dial tone. Considerable conversation about who I am and what number I want to report takes place. Eventually this person, probably in Bombay, says she can’t do anything but she’ll connect me to someone who can, please hold. Then nothing no matter how long I wait. Now it may be that the cell phone irregularity has something to do with this, but it happens every time. Every dadgummed time.

If anyone knows a way to report NO DIAL TONE to AT&T, please let me know. I thought of going to the AT&T store on Ventura, but Roberta called them and they said there is no one they can notify. I saw an AT&T Service truck as we were on the way to church this morning, but we were late and I didn’t see it on the way home after we left church for breakfast. Come Tuesday, I may just go out and hunt one down. Or go to the AT&T store and sit there with a sign saying NO DIAL TONE or something similar.

If any AT&T execs read this, I have NO DIAL TONE on an AT&T landline. Attempts to dial the number produce the illusion of ringing to the caller, but my phones never ring. If I answer while it is “ringing” to the caller, I hear a sort of buzzing noise in the phone I answer with. After 20 rings I hear a robot tell the cell phone that the number you are calling is unavailable. I cannot test the NIB because the AT&T tech put a cable tie around the outside box; and how would I know if the test phone I was trying it with works anyway?

I HAVE NO DIAL TONE. I cannot find a way to report that.

Aside from the AT&T nonsense, and recovering from seven kinds of flu, I am getting back on track. Thursday was entirely devoured by locusts, including a no charge visit by reliable Mike Diamond to root out the sewer pipe which was causing my toilets to overflow. Distracting. Friday the flu got me. Friday and Saturday were used in vain and frustrating attempts to report the landline had no dial tone. It’s now Sunday afternoon and Labor Day is tomorrow.

There’s a great deal of mail, some important, and I need to do an essay on the essence of America and The Melting Pot.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDPE-NronKk

The Indianapolis: Men of Courage

Starring Nicholas Cage

The trailer doesn’t say how much might have been taken from Jack Chalker’s historical fiction novel of the event, The Devil’s Voyage. Hopefully a lot, but probably none, since they didn’t use his accurate but melodramatic title. Those of my age will recall the discussion of the loss of Indianapolis – not mentioned by name – in the infamous move Jaws.

(Jack’s book ended with the speculation that chain of events which lead to the discovery of the Manhattan Project – and a suggestion that the Russians warned the Japanese about the Indianapolis – was a Russian spy finding out about the government’s investigation of Astounding Science Fiction magazine in 1942 for Cleve Cartmill’s story Deadline, and Robert Heinlein’s Solution Unsatisfactory, both of which feature a fictional Manhattan Project-like secret program to develop nuclear weapons.)

J

He also, more frivolously, sends this, for those who prefer nerdish jokes:

Subj: T-shirt spotted at Staples

I can see your graph paper. You must be plotting something.

 

 

People who were doing actual work, contributing to their economy, were forced away so that twenty of the most elite could have the entire city to themselves to bloviate and do nothing to actually contribute to an economy.
The fact that they forced people out of the city and filled the space with security personnel is telling all by itself.  They are frightened of the population whose wealth they have stolen.

China’s Xi warns against ’empty talk’ as G20 summit opens

Ben Dooley

AFP – AFP – ‎Sunday‎, ‎September‎ ‎4‎, ‎2016

Leaders of the world’s biggest powers met Sunday to try to revive the sluggish world economy, with their host Chinese President Xi Jinping urging them to avoid “empty talk”.

http://a.msn.com/r/2/AAitqOK?a=1&m=en-us

It is also reliably reported that every prostitute within ten kilometers of the meeting and where the delegates staying was banished, to be replaced by state agents who are trained in the arts of  honey-pot. This would be a technique long in use by the GRU and KGB, so hardly surprising, except the Chinese employ it with amazing efficiency.

EM Drive
Dear Dr. Pournelle:
You’ve mentioned several times that the controversy over the drive could be settled easily enough if someone would test it. It looks like someone was listening.
http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/energy/a22678/em-drive-cannae-cubesat-reactionless/

Tim Scott

There are many reports that the test results merit publication. Extraordinary results require extraordinary evidence, said Descartes (and Carl Sagan); perhaps we are seeing that. More when I learn more. I am still dubious but hopeful.

As the bear moves so does the dragon:

<.>

In early August, Japan’s Coast Guard witnessed an unconventional Chinese assault on its territorial waters. According to Japanese officials I met with last week, at least 300 Chinese “fishing vessels”

began incursions into the exclusive economic zone around the uninhabited Senkaku Islands, disputed territory administered by Japan but claimed by China and Taiwan as well.

</>

https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2016-08-31/china-s-little-green-boats-have-japan-on-alert

And Japan is keeping the British in business:

<.>

Tensions in the South China Sea have led Japan to splurge on British-made hardware to prepare for a confrontation with China.

Recent saber-rattling by North Korea has also given Japan cause to restock its armory.

</>

https://www.rt.com/uk/357768-japan-china-arms-sales/

◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊

Most Respectfully,

Joshua Jordan, KSC

Percussa Resurgo

The Ignorant Generation

Dear Jerry:

“Our students’ ignorance is not a failing of the educational system – it is its crowning achievement. Efforts by several generations of philosophers and reformers and public policy experts ­ whom our students (and most of us) know nothing about ­ have combined to produce a generation of know-nothings.”

From Patrick Deneen’s essay “How a Generation Lost its Common Culture” at http://www.mindingthecampus.org/2016/02/how-a-generation-lost-its-common-culture/

Best regards,

–Harry M.

Crowning achievement, to have sown the wind…

Amazon jet delivery service

https://www.bloomberg.com/features/2016-amazon-delivery/

A good article. I think your comments on too big to fail is too big to exist really applies here. Just as Walmart destroyed the mom and pop stores in small town America and now, due to obsession with profit over everything else, is letting their giant stores become crime magnets and slums, Amazon may do the same thing to all other retail business and even the shipping business.

I think what Amazon has done to the book business is fantastic, especially for authors, but books are something that lend themselves to online sales. For many of the things Amazon sales, you need to see it in the real world first to evaluate whether you want it. That need leads to shop locally and buy online which destroys the local retailers who have to pay for the stores and still loose the sale.

I don’t want to see Amazon stop innovating, but I do think our existing anti-trust laws need to be enforced. If Sherman anti-trust does not apply here, then we the country need to start talking about the situation.

—

Phil Tharp

Agreed that the existing laws ought to be enforced; whether we need new ones is clear. What they should be is not so clear. Bezos has said he has no intention of absorbing FedEx. But as a general proposition, I think there must be limits to growth, particularly in vital services; and I think the “growth” fetish is very dangerous. I see no need for Hersey to “grow”. It makes a profitable and very satisfactory product; why the pressure to “grow”? I could name many other such products.

Unlimited Capitalism sees no value in stable communities.

Professors tell students: Drop class if you dispute man-made climate change

http://www.thecollegefix.com/post/28825/

L

http://www.q-mag.org/

This summer of 2016, excavations led by Nicholas Conard at the Hohle Fels Cave in the Swabian Jura in Germany have, once again, yielded an extraordinary find: a 40,000 year old tool, made of mammoth ivory, which served to make ropes. The implications of this find are invaluable…

sc:bubbles]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/09/02/obese-patients-and-smokers-banned-from-all-routine-operations-by/

How to get rid of your beer belly http://www.telegraph.co.uk Obese people will be routinely refused operations across the NHS, health service bosses have warned, after one authority said it would limit procedures on an …

Stephanie Osborn

“The Interstellar Woman of Mystery”
http://www.Stephanie-Osborn.com

This is WAY COOL

https://techxplore.com/news/2016-09-d-pen-professionals-special-materials.html

A 3-D printing pen for professionals handles special materials, lets users fine-tune work techxplore.com (Tech Xplore)—At first sight drawing objects in the air has you rubbing your eyes in disbelief and then you realize you are looking at a 3D pen in action.

Stephanie Osborn

“The Interstellar Woman of Mystery”
http://www.Stephanie-Osborn.com

I think I want one.

just bought two old fluke bench meters

They are 8840A’s from the 80’s. I’m a little over whelmed. Both units are in perfect condition. They look like they are maybe a year or two old, not 30 years old! They both came with excellent printed manuals with theory of operation and schematics! I would be happy to get a PDF version, but they are real manuals that make sense and are easy to use.

And they were made in the USA.

I don’t know who convinced Agilent (to us old guys, that’s HP) to move test equipment production to Malaysia, but they should be pilloried for it. There is no excuse for building high margin, long term durable equipment in a 3rd world country. And then, of course, there is the intellectual property theft that goes with it. I bet executives at HP/Agilent/Keysight (or whatever name they have now) are stymied why China is making better and better test equipment. Perhaps it was all the intellectual property that went out the back door of the Malaysian plant Agilent setup.

—

Phil

Made in a time when there were values.

Walmart is cutting 7,000 jobs due to automation, and it’s not alone

It’s not manufacturing jobs that the robots are taking now

But the Walmart decision may be a bit more alarming for those in the workforce. As the Wall Street Journal reports, the most concerning aspect of America’s largest private employer might be that the eliminated positions are largely in the accounting and invoicing sectors of the company. These jobs are typically held by some of the longest tenured employees, who also happen to take home higher hourly wages.

Now, those coveted positions are being automated. The Journal reports that beginning in 2017, much of this work will be addressed by “a central office or new money-counting “cash recycler” machines in stores.” Earlier this year, the company tested this change across some 500 locations. “We’ve seen many make smooth transitions during the pilot,” said Deisha Barnett, a Walmart spokeswoman.

https://www.yahoo.com/tech/walmart-cutting-7-000-jobs-135725099.html

John

 

By 2024 half the lobs in the US could be done by a robot costing no more than ten times the annual wage of the person now doing that job. Live with that knowledge.

 

And on that happy thought I’ll leave you. More shortly.

Freedom is not free. Free men are not equal. Equal men are not free.

Chaos Manor View, Tuesday, August 30, 2016

Liberalism is a philosophy of consolation for the West as it commits suicide.

James Burnham

If a foreign government had imposed this system of education on the United States, we would rightfully consider it an act of war.

Glenn T. Seaborg, National Commission on Education, 1983

I’ve been in something of a funk the last few days, and have conserved what energy I have for fiction. I’ve managed a couple of thousand words of new text, and some revisions of old text, but I suspect I brought a bug home, and it’s going to take a few days to get it out of my system.

I did manage to get a newsletter out to my platinum subscribers, with the intent of making it the subject of my next View (this one). I thought it important information and said so. I give it next, but before you go read it, read my second letter I had to send.

 

“He did great. His new meds seem to be working very well.”

<http://www.amren.com/features/2016/08/drugs-and-ipads-in-the-class-room/>

—————————————

Roland Dobbins

I had never seen or heard of that site. Of course in my haste I sent it without reading the comments to that post. Fortunately a friend did, and almost immediately advised me to do so. I realized I had to send this:

Subject: Maybe that will teach me

To: “Jerry Pournelle” <jerryp@jerrypournelle.com>

Date: Sunday, August 28, 2016, 4:16 PM

On inspection of the comments to that school piece I sent, I send this warning.

I have no authentication of that particular piece, but I do have a number of reports of much of what’s in it from sources I know personally.  Thus I cannot guarantee that this is actually by a working teacher, but I have enough reliable information to believe it could be an exact account. Conditions in many LAUSD schools are exactly as described. Most of the iPads are locked up, and many EMR (Educable Mentally Retarded) students are mainstreamed where they take up at least as much of the teacher’s time as the rest of the class put together; you may draw your own conclusions as to the effects on the education quality for the ordinary students of all races.  I note that fewer and fewer teachers send their own children to public schools in LAUSD according to the Times.  Apologies for not doing the checking earlier; it’s busy around here. You may find the comments to that piece offensive.

Jerry Pournelle

Chaos Manor

South Room

Keep in mind that the map is not the territory, and I have many sources to verify that incidents like those described in the article have taken place, so that while I do not endorse the site, I can say that I find the entire article not only credible, but common. The schools were as early as The National Commission on Education indistinguishable from an act of war against the United States, and far from improving, they get steadily worse. Now California has an initiative to give the schools even more money. Of course it is vague on what improvements it will generate, but it certainly hints that they are lousy and need more money. That’s been the remedy advocated by educational authorities for forty years. The result has been they get the money, but the schools get worse.

I had many comments, but this one is typical:

Maybe that will teach me

Having worked for a school district My opinion is this is just the tip of the iceberg.

A consequence of what you call ‘creditialism’ is the idea of following mindless rules is a substitute for common sense and sound judgment.

This infects every level of government, it infects private industry also which is a consequence of the heavy regulatory environment we have today.

When I worked in government, if a person squandered massive amounts of money but did so within the agency parameters, they would be in less trouble than if they saved a fortune, but broke even a minor rule by doing so.

When I worked for the State of Alaska they could afford to pay 4 computer programmers overtime every weekend for 4 years, but could not afford to hire another programmer.

At Juneau, they had a massive transmission tower failure (a consequence of the salt water spray) but because the power company and utility company were separate entities. The Utility company could not pay extra to have a new transmission tower built in an expedited manner (costs extra) due to regulations, so the city and all the surrounding area had to run on the diesel generators for 3 weeks. Diesel costs a lot more than hydropower.

B-

Russian Military Deployment

This is worth noting:

<.>

Russia has announced plans to position a new coastal defense military

division along its eastern coast, with some troops expected to be

stationed approximately 50 miles from Alaska.

The new division, expected to be in place by 2018, will be responsible

for defending Russia’s sparsely populated Far East, stretching from

the Alaskan border to the Kuril Islands, which are disputed with

Japan.

</>

http://www.infowars.com/russia-positions-troops-50-miles-from-alaska/

◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊

Most Respectfully,

Joshua Jordan, KSC

Percussa Resurgo

We want to put missiles in the suburbs of St. Petersburg; why should they not have a garrison on their eastern frontier?

Media Protects Investment (Hillary)

I read the other day that Dr. Drew’s show got canceled after he speculated about Hillary Clinton’s negative health. And it’s not just

him:

<.>

Hillary Clinton and her media allies have been working overtime to put out numerous fires that continue to pop up and spread during the final weeks of her campaign for president. Recently, the flames have gotten more difficult to smother as reports of Clinton’s frail health have bled into the mainstream media, despite the unanimous and unilateral decision by the MSM to treat anyone who even raises a question as akin to a Holocaust denier. (On Sunday night, for example, Huffington Post fired contributor David Seaman and deleted his columns simply for linking to a Hillary health video that’s been viewed four million

times.)

Julian Assange stoked more flames when he suggested a murdered DNC worker was the Wikileaks source for the DNC hack. Most recently, the Associated Press released a blockbuster story concluding that more than half of the people Clinton met with as secretary of state gave donations to the Clinton Foundation.

Despite these ongoing scandals, Clinton’s close yet questionable ties to media outlets such as Google, CNN, PBS and The New York Times have seemed to pay off. These entities have gone out of their way to censor negative stories about Clinton, particularly ones involving the Clinton Foundation. There’s one common thread though these media outlets suppressing harmful Clinton stories all share: they’ve donated to the Clinton Foundation.

</>

http://observer.com/2016/08/media-orgs-donate-to-clinton-foundation-then-downplay-clinton-foundation-scandal/

And the media continues to protect their investment. I sent you a video of some CNN talking head named Cuomo or Como or whatever his name is admitting that they give Hillary a “free ride” and so her presidency “better happen” on air on CNN during a newscast.

This behavior is so shocking and disgraceful that I can’t see how anyone who admits trust in the corporate media can be taken seriously in conversation any more than one would care to listen to a five year old’s opinions on dating and night club experiences.

◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊

Most Respectfully,

Joshua Jordan, KSC

Percussa Resurgo

Huma Abedien Corruption

I cannot keep up with all the corruption. I have tons of tabs open and I need to sleep. I just can’t believe how much crap is coming out about Hillary Clinton, the Democrats, the Clinton Foundation, and still everyone keeps chanting and clapping. Now Huma is in a pay to play scam:

<.>

Judicial Watch today released 725 pages of new State Department documents, including previously unreleased email exchanges in which former Hillary Clinton’s top aide Huma Abedin provided influential Clinton Foundation donors special, expedited access to the secretary of state. In many instances, the preferential treatment provided to donors was at the specific request of Clinton Foundation executive Douglas Band.

</>

https://www.judicialwatch.org/press-room/press-releases/new-abedin-emails-reveal-hillary-clinton-state-department-gave-special-access-top-clinton-foundation-donors/

◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊

Most Respectfully,

Joshua Jordan

Innerscapes Meditation

the Paint Job

Dear Jerry Pournelle:
Your alt-right-ish correspondent Mark says that the politics of the 21st Century will be about ‘clan, tribe and identity’. Such particularism is one side of an ancient equation. The other side is universalist. Benjamin Barber called this “Jihad versus McWorld”. There’s nothing new about any of this; the game is the same as ever, just the stakes have grown.
Part of the trouble with tribalism is that tribal identity is largely illusory, and its arbitrary definitions are cynically manipulated by power elites, to control the uncritical. This has been well understood for a long time.
One of the more pernicious identity-illusions is race. The genetic science is clear: race is skin-deep. DNA differences within any so-called race are generally far greater than differences between alleged races. This science is intellectually disruptive; but for political disruption, try technology. I therefore invite you to imagine this future technology: germ-line skin-tint re-editing, a.k.a. the Paint Job.
Here’s the Paint Job’s salespitch:
“Dear future parents of color: have you been stalked by guards in department stores? Are you constantly pulled over? Do you fear for your life when a policeman looks at you? Have you been denied loans, schools, homes and jobs at first sight? If you have, and if you want a better life for your children, then have we got a cure for you! Just one injection of our patented Paint Job ™ serum, and all of your children will be so white and blonde and blue-eyed that they’ll never need to hear the Talk!”
I predict that the Paint Job will be genetic engineering’s killer app; simple, cheap, safe, but with high demand in a massive market. Racial identity-jihadists will object to this erasure of the very concept of race, but the corporations will smell money.
To see the inevitable end result, read “The Sneetches” by Dr. Seuss:
http://teacherweb.com/VA/WarwickHS/Elliot_T/Text-The-Sneetches.pdf

– paradoctor

While hair straightener and various “make you lighter” cosmetic products were once best selling items among American Blacks, I think that is no longer the case. I do know a Black colleague of my wife’s once told her son’s school principal to list him as white, and when the principal was startled asked if there were something wrong with her hearing – after which came the plea to change that racial designation because they needed “good Black students” for their statistics, and calling him white would cost her school money.

Long ago when I was a graduate assistant I told an education class that I thought the racial problem would be solved entirely by the American Melting Pot; that lecture caused quite a stir at the time, and certainly I have hardly been proved correct; and since that time I have visited many places where I learned a lot more about assimilation. I was introduced by a very high ranking corporate officer of one of Finland’s biggest companies and he introduced his assistant with these words: “He’s a Swede, but he lives in Finland, and he’s my head of the xxx Department.” I later learned that this man’s family came to Finland in the 19^th century. I have similarly been introduced to people in Japan with the statement that they were Koreans, although it was soon clear that their families came to Japan 200 years ago.

Edmund Burke and many others had a different view from The Paint Job:

To observing men it must have appeared from the beginning, that the majority of the Third Estate, in conjunction with such a deputation from the clergy as I have described, whilst it pursued the destruction of the nobility, would inevitably become subservient to the worst designs of individuals in that class. In the spoil and humiliation of their own order these individuals would possess a sure fund for the pay of their new followers. To squander away the objects which made the happiness of their fellows, would be to them no sacrifice at all. Turbulent, discontented men of quality, in proportion as they are puffed up with personal pride and arrogance, generally despise their own order. One of the first symptoms they discover of a selfish and mischievous ambition, is a profligate disregard of a dignity which they partake with others. To be attached to the subdivision, to love the little platoon we belong to in society, is the first principle (the germ as it were) of public affections. It is the first link in the series by which we proceed towards a love to our country, and to mankind. The interest of that portion of social arrangement is a trust in the hands of all those who compose it; and as none but bad men would justify it in abuse, none but traitors would barter it away for their own personal advantage.

I do not think we will settle it here. The question of differences has been with us a while:

“There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” St. Paul may have been an optimist.

How _A Spaceship for the King_ inspired the creators of the Traveller RPG.

<http://www.castaliahouse.com/retrospective-a-spaceship-for-the-king-by-jerry-pournelle/>

—————————————

Roland Dobbins

Perhaps, particularly in the early days of the game. Spaceship for the King was the title given to the first part of the novel King David’s Spaceship; it was serialized in Analog and in those days they were reluctant to run longer works, and three part serials was all John Campbell would accept. The story still holds up well even now. So does the full novel. I gather Traveler has done well also.

Obama to ratify treaty without Senate

Obama will bypass Senate, ratify Paris climate accord himself during trip to China:

http://m.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/aug/29/obama-will-bypass-senate-ratify-paris-climate-acco/

What is going on in his little world?

Respectfully,

Joshua Jordan

Innerscapes Meditation

I suspect the Congress can deal with that threat. I do appreciate all the work Mr. Jordan does in finding stories for me.

Enough for tonight. We’re going to try an new gluten-free restaurant.

Freedom is not free. Free men are not equal. Equal men are not free.

Chaos Manor View, Monday, August 22, 2016

Liberalism is a philosophy of consolation for the West as it commits suicide.

James Burnham

If a foreign government had imposed this system of education on the United States, we would rightfully consider it an act of war.

Glenn T. Seaborg, National Commission on Education, 1983

 

Money will get you through times of no Hugos better than Hugos will get you through times of no money.

Jerry Pournelle

Just back from Kansas City, where I was nominated for a Hugo. Didn’t expect to win, and I didn’t, but I had a good time, as did everybody there. I got more exercise than if I’d stayed home. The WorldCon was in a Convention Center, and although I was at one of the closest hotels, it was still a half mile walk to and from the Convention Center. Then, in the Convention City, it was another half mile of walking from the Green Room to some of the panels, the ballrooms and big event halls were spread about over a wide area, and if I got away with fewer than three miles a day I’d be surprised. My son Frank gave me one of those gadgets that measure how far you’ve walked, but alas I didn’t pack it, although I did pack far more than I needed. Ginny Heinlein once told me the proper way to travel was with seven elephants, and always to be sure there were two bathrooms available.

The last time I was in Kansas City was 1976 for a WorldCon. Mr. Heinlein was Guest of Honor, and somehow I got into the act as his executive officer. Sarge Workman drove my son Alex out from California and served as security, everything went well, and I have some stories including Walter the Lobster but for another time. It’s too late tonight.

Had breakfast with Tom Doherty, who recalled 1976 vividly: he had just bought Ace Books, and when he came into the Mulebach Hotel where the convention was, the first person he saw was me, proclaiming “I’m the Chairman of the Grievance Committee, and I’m auditing your company’s books.” They certainly needed auditing. The previous owner had engaged in some odd practices that resulted in quite a bit of money being owed to the authors, and back while I was President of Science Fiction Writers of America I had invented the Grievance Committee (which consisted of me at the time). When Fred Pohl became President he asked if I’d stay on, which I foolishly did, for several years, until I caught Joe Haldeman in a merry mood and got him to accept the job, thus letting me out of it. Anyway, it became a race to see who could find what money was owed to whom. Tom wanted to beat me to it and pay before I could find any, while I wanted to find it first. I don’t recall who won, but it cleared up all the suspicions of the writers against ACE, and also helped SFWA’s reputation as good for authors. Saturday night I went to Tom’s big party which was so loud I told him I was going to flee for my life, and he came with me, letting his subordinates run the party. We walked back to our hotel together. 

I also had a strenuous book signing, lasting more than an hour, after which I had to go to a reception so there were still people standing in line when I left. I apologize, but there was nothing I could do about it. They should have scheduled it at an earlier hour, but that might have been difficult. I did have a lot of people to see. This was my first WorldCon in years, what with recovering from brain cancer – still all gone – and the stroke.

Met some new friends in the SFWA suite, saw a lot of old ones, and had a great time. Due to the layout of things – no really central hotel, the huge Convention Center a half mile from the nearest hotel, and no obvious place for it – the usual pro party in the main hotel bar didn’t happen and I never did see a lot of people I should have. But I had a great if somewhat exhausting time.  I also got to spend some time with Eric Kaplan, the Executive Producer of one of my favorite TV shows, The Big Bang Theory.  He lives half a block from me, but we had a great afternoon in Kansas City; we’re both usually too busy when at home.  He was glad to meet Larry and some other writers he reads but has never met. Made for a good afternoon.

One of my functions seems to be as an intellectual honeybee, introducing people who ought to know each other but don’t. That happened a lot in Kansas City.

More another time.

Bunny inspectors, meet shellfish monitors

This appears to be the last “news” story on the doomed website Gawker.com:

http://gawker.com/south-carolina-is-giving-body-cameras-to-shellfish-moni-1785566901

.              png

My old friend Peter Glaskowsky is one of those whom I managed to introduce to some people who ought to know him.

‘Whatever job you do, Cato wants seven billion others in domestic competition.’

<https://kakistocracyblog.wordpress.com/2016/08/14/guanabara-knocking/>

—————————————

Roland Dobbins

Odd. Very odd. Then there’s

Lind: ‘And how exactly did we get caught up in this mess? By keeping troops in South Korea long after the Cold War ended, an event that removed all reason for their presence.’

<https://www.traditionalright.com/the-view-from-olympus-watch-korea/>

—————————————

Roland Dobbins

We also kept troops in a lot of other places they didn’t need to be. We nearly went to war over Soviet Missiles in Cuba, but somehow we don’t understand that US missiles in Estonia worry the Russians. Odd, that.

This is when we NEED a space program.

http://www.universetoday.com/130276/earth-like-planet-around-proxima-centauri-discovered/

They’ve found what appears to be an Earth-like planet orbiting Proxima Centauri.

In the “Goldilocks” zone.

I don’t know whether the Hubble can be pointed precisely enough to image the planet, or whether it could get anything useful.

John

Hubble probably can’t but we have new ones coming up.

Pedagogy of the Oppressed

Jerry,

   This may be a contributing factor to the current cultural embracing of the far left by the education community.  I was having a discussion with an individual who was explaining to me how I was racist (and some other choice terms) simply because I am a white male conservative.  She made these statements before knowing any more about me, such as the fact that my wife (and hence my children) are native American, that I spent years in Africa putting systems in hospitals to help with the distribution of anti-retro viral drugs, have been involved in several programs through foundations and my church to help minority groups.  She then told me about a conference they were having discussing ‘The Pedagogy of the Oppressed’ and

Two excerpts from the Wikipedia discussion on the treatise and the Wiki discussion on it:

Dedicated to what is called “the oppressed” and based on his own experience helping Brazilian adults to read and write, Freire includes a detailed Marxist class analysis in his exploration of the relationship between what he calls “the colonizer” and “the colonized”.

Since the publication of the English edition in 1970, Pedagogy of the Oppressed has been widely adopted in America’s teacher-training programs. A 2003 study by David Steiner and Susan Rozen determined that Pedagogy of the Oppressed was frequently assigned at top education schools

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pedagogy_of_the_Oppressed

 

 

 

Pedagogy of the Oppressed – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

en.wikipedia.org

Pedagogy of the Oppressed (Portuguese: Pedagogia do Oprimido), written by educator Paulo Freire, proposes a pedagogy with a new relationship between teacher, student …

And it’s getting late. This will have to do.

From Last Monday

 

Nice view. Obviously, I lean in your direction. Uncontrolled tech is potentially bad, leave most of this to the states and better yet local communities. They bay area for example. Read the constitution and follow it. If a section needs improvement, amend it. Don’t screw with it.

A practical example. Fluke meters for the USA are built here by hand with a life time warranty. They have a China plant in China that builds them for Chinese. I’ll take mine from the USA plant, built by Americans.

While they could be built by robots cheaper, I’ll take mine built by American hands. That way, people have jobs, and worth, and I don’t have to pay taxes to take care of them. Who knows, we might find people built is better than machine built.

A lot of the bay area wants a socialist utopia. Ok, let the bay area try it. Get rid of the cars, tax everyone at 50 to 90 percent and see what happens. It should be interesting. Most of the Chinese will run like hell, many of the whites already have. I may finally convince my wife to move to Texas or Florida where saner heads exists.

in about a hour, I take Katelin to high school and Angelin to junior high. What happened to my little girls?

—

Phil Tharp

There will always be a market for reliably built and improved only when improvements are needed durable goods.  Of course that’s not a growth industry and Capitalism puts growth ahead of good service, steady but not large profits, and social stability.  Its inevitable, and of course regulations make it necessary to grow or die by raising the cost of doing business and supporting regulators and compliance officers increasingly necessary.

Freedom is not free. Free men are not equal. Equal men are not free.