Mail 761 Monday, February 04, 2013

–

8th century gamma ray burst?

Dr. Pournelle —

From the Royal Astronomical Society web site:

Did an 8th century gamma ray burst irradiate the Earth?

http://www.ras.org.uk/news-and-press/224-news-2013/2215-did-an-8th-century-gamma-ray-burst-irradiate-the-earth <http://www.ras.org.uk/news-and-press/224-news-2013/2215-did-an-8th-century-gamma-ray-burst-irradiate-the-earth>

"In 2012 scientist Fusa Miyake announced the detection of high levels of the isotope Carbon-14 and Beryllium-10 in tree rings formed in 775 CE, suggesting that a burst of radiation struck the Earth in the year 774 or 775. Carbon-14 and Beryllium-10 form when radiation from space collides with nitrogen atoms, which then decay to these heavier forms of carbon and beryllium. The earlier research ruled out the nearby explosion of a massive star (a supernova) as nothing was recorded in observations at the time and no remnant has been found"

"Dr Neuhӓuser comments: ‘If the gamma ray burst had been much closer to the Earth it would have caused significant harm to the biosphere. But even thousands of light years away, a similar event today could cause havoc with the sensitive electronic systems that advanced societies have come to depend on. The challenge now is to establish how rare such Carbon-14 spikes are i.e. how often such radiation bursts hit the Earth. In the last 3000 years, the maximum age of trees alive today, only one such event appears to have taken place.’ "

It’s a dangerous universe out there.

Pieter

We live in a comparatively safe neighborhood – obviously or we would not be here. But there is no guarantee that it will be safe forever. “If the human race is to survive, then for all but a very brief period of its history, the word ship will mean space ship.” –Arthur C. Clarke

Lucius Cornelius Obama.

<http://openchannel.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/02/04/16843014-exclusive-justice-department-memo-reveals-legal-case-for-drone-strikes-on-americans>

I do not know where in the Constitution the President is given the power to make proscription lists that include American citizens. It was a common practice during the battles and riots accompanying the transformation of the Republic to Empire. Lucius Cornelius Sulla spared the life of one Caius Julius Caesar, supposedly against his better judgment. Caesar himself had no proscription lists, but Octavius and Mark Anthony did. On Anthony’s wife’s insistence Cicero was on the list. When the soldiers found him, Cicero told the non-com in charge of killing him “Young man there is nothing proper in what you are about to do, but I trust you will do a proper job.”

Chernobyl life surprises

Dr. Pournelle —

It seems that the flora and fauna around Chernobyl isn’t behaving the way it "should".

Do Animals in Chernobyl’s Fallout Zone Glow?

http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/nuclear_power/2013/01/wildlife_in_chernobyl_debate_over_mutations_and_populations_of_plants_and.html

"Chernobyl’s abundant and surprisingly normal-looking wildlife has shaken up how biologists think about the environmental effects of radioactivity. The idea that the world’s biggest radioactive wasteland could become Europe’s largest wildlife sanctuary is completely counterintuitive for anyone raised on nuclear dystopias."

Is radiation not as bad as was thought or are people simply more dangerous? Both are possible. It sounds like a fascinating place to research although I think I’d still be inclined towards lead BVDs.

Pieter

Now that is interesting. Very.

Scientific integrity

Jerry:

I have written you in the past with questions about scientific integrity. For example, you posted my question about fabrication in the scientific literature at

https://www.jerrypournelle.com/chaosmanor/?m=201208

<https://www.jerrypournelle.com/chaosmanor/?m=201208> Specifically https://www.jerrypournelle.com/chaosmanor/?m=201208#science

<https://www.jerrypournelle.com/chaosmanor/?m=201208#science> In addition, the field of climate research has provided ample evidence in recent years about the use of the peer review process for the suppression of scientific evidence.

Indeed, there is ample evidence that peer reviewers do not even exist in some cases http://chronicle.com/article/Fake-Peer-Reviews-the-Latest/134784/

<http://chronicle.com/article/Fake-Peer-Reviews-the-Latest/134784/> (subscription required)

It has been documented that two-thirds of scientific journal retractions result, not from the discovery of scientific error, but from the discovery of fraud and other scientific misconduct.

http://chronicle.com/blogs/percolator/misconduct-not-error-found-behind-most-journal-retractions

<http://chronicle.com/blogs/percolator/misconduct-not-error-found-behind-most-journal-retractions> http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2012/09/27/1212247109

<http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2012/09/27/1212247109> And now we have evidence of extensive financial fraud among scientists who take duplicate funding for the same research project. Note that it was not self-policing by the granting agencies that detected the problem but research by a university-based bioinformatics institute that disclosed the fraud. Thus, we read:

http://www.vtnews.vt.edu/articles/2013/01/013113-vbi-garner.html <http://www.vtnews.vt.edu/articles/2013/01/013113-vbi-garner.html>

BLACKSBURG, Va., Jan. 31, 2013 – Big Data computation at the Virginia Bioinformatics Institute at Virginia Tech reveals that over the past two decades funding agencies may have awarded millions and possibly billions of dollars to scientists who submitted the same grant request multiple times ­ and accepted duplicate funding.

…

The analysis was presented in the comment section of this week’s Nature.

http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v493/n7434/full/493599a.html <http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v493/n7434/full/493599a.html>

(subscription required

Obviously we should not expect integrity in the scientific literature when financial fraud forms the foundation of the research funding process.

Best regards,

–Harry M.

And a great deal of scientific publication is churning brought on by publish or perish, and the concept of tenure. The whole notion of tenure needs to be reinvestigated. Its purpose, to protect the integrity of research, does not always apply now. In fact it seldom does.

Subject: Substitute Teacher

I’m pretty sure the creators of this sketch had no choice but to make it a cheap joke about race.

If they’d merely shown a public school teacher having a psychotic break as a result of being corrected in an error, not only would it have been a "dog bites man" story, but the unions would have had them whacked.

Matthew Joseph Harrington

e pur si muove (the motto of consensus deniers since 1633)

Perhaps. It is a disturbing video.

On Name Pronunciation

The primary language in the United States and the one that government record keeping is kept in, including personal records on citizens such as birth certificates, is the English language. As such, pronunciation using English or at least American English rules apply.

Blame it on the Prince Effect. Or should that be The Artist Formerly Known As Prince Effect? Symbols are useless for conveying information until the people (or machines for that matter) using them agree with their meaning and rules of use.

While some mother might think that writing her little girl’s name as "La-a" for "Ladasha" is cute, and then thinks she has a right to become angry that most people never pronounce it that way, such an attitude is both irrational, anti-social, and a sign of a lack of education. (Are we becoming more anti-social as a nation? If so, could that be due to a failure of our education system to properly socialize people?) Based on the same logic the mother employed, I’d be correct in assuming that the child’s name was pronounced Lahyphena (Which could cause either some amusing reactions or really severe repercussions from the hearing impaired, such as myself.) I suspect most people would look at La-a and pronounce it correctly as written with a glottal stop similar to “uh-oh!”

Michael D. Houst

GREAT TRUTHS

1. In my many years I have come to a conclusion that one useless man is a shame, two is a law firm, and three or more is a congress. — John Adams

2. If you don’t read the newspaper you are uninformed, if you do read the newspaper you are misinformed. — Mark Twain

3. Suppose you were an idiot. And

suppose you were a member of

Congress. But then I repeat

myself. — Mark Twain

4. I contend that for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle. –Winston Churchill

5. A government which robs Peter to

pay Paul can always depend on

the support of Paul. — George

Bernard Shaw

6. A liberal is someone who feels a great debt to his fellow man, which debt he proposes to pay off with your money. — G. Gordon Liddy

7. Democracy must be something more than two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for dinner. –James Bovard, Civil Libertarian (1994)

8. Foreign aid might be defined as a transfer of money from poor people in rich countries to rich people in poor countries. — Douglas Case, Classmate of Bill Clinton at Georgetown University.

9. Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys. — P.J. O’Rourke, Civil Libertarian

10. Government is the great fiction, through which everybody endeavors to live at the expense of everybody else. — Frederic Bastiat, French economist (1801-1850)

11. Government’s view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it. –Ronald Reagan (1986)

12. I don’t make jokes. I just watch the government and report the facts. — Will Rogers

13. If you think health care is expensive now, wait until you see what it costs when it’s free! — P. J. O’Rourke

14. In general, the art of government consists of taking as much money as possible from one party of the citizens to give to the other. — Voltaire (1764)

15. Just because you do not take an interest in politics doesn’t mean politics won’t take an interest in you! — Pericles (430 B.C.)

16. No man’s life, liberty, or property is safe while the legislature is in session. — Mark Twain (1866)

17. Talk is cheap, except when Congress does it. — Anonymous

18. The government is like a baby’s alimentary canal, with a happy appetite at one end and no responsibility at the other. — Ronald Reagan

19. The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of the blessings. The inherent blessing of socialism is the equal sharing of misery. — Winston Churchill

20. The only difference between a tax man and a taxidermist is that the taxidermist leaves the skin. — Mark Twain

21. The ultimate result of shielding men from the effects of folly is to fill the world with fools. — Herbert Spencer, English Philosopher (1820-1903)

22. There is no distinctly Native American criminal class, save Congress. — Mark Twain

23. What this country needs are more unemployed politicians — Edward Langley, Artist (1928-1995)

24. A government big enough to give you everything you want, is strong enough to take everything you have. — Thomas Jefferson

25. We hang the petty thieves and appoint the great ones to public office. — Aesop

FIVE BEST SENTENCES

1. You cannot legislate the poor into prosperity, by legislating the wealthy out of prosperity.

2. What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving.

3. The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else.

4. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it.

5. When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work, because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that is the beginning of the end of any nation!

An interesting list.

Subject: The PC Police strike again!

Last time I checked, businesses have a right to serve who they want to:

http://radio.foxnews.com/toddstarnes/top-stories/baker-faces-investigation-for-refusing-to-make-gay-wedding-cake.html

We reserve the right to serve refuse to anyone… I fear my views of freedom are not politically acceptable. My objection to legal segregation is the same as my objection to forced integration. But I don’t much care to have extended discussions on it, because they are likely to be fruitless.

Subj: And so, it begins…

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/02/03/us-usa-crime-chicago-idUSBRE91200X20130203?feedType=RSS&feedName=politicsNews&utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter&dlvrit=574655

Reuters) – Civil rights leader Jesse Jackson and relatives of victims of fatal shootings in Chicago urged President Barack Obama <http://www.reuters.com/people/barack-obama?lc=int_mb_1001> on Saturday to come back to his hometown and address the gun violence plaguing the city.

Before a march on the city’s South Side, Jackson, a former Democratic presidential candidate, said America’s third most populous city needed more help than Mayor Rahm Emanuel and police superintendent Garry McCarthy could offer.

"When the president shows up, it shows ultimate national seriousness," said Jackson, a Chicago resident. He also called for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to help patrol the streets of Chicago.

(emphasis added)

Or, how about letting the law-abiding citizens of Chicago arm themselves and patrol their own streets and homes?

J

Tree Octopus

Re Drop Bears/Killer Koalas, I don’t know if you know about the Tree Octopus.

http://zapatopi.net/treeoctopus/

-Petrus Senex.

Peter Polson

I have led a sheltered life. I lived in Seattle for years and we went to car races on the Olympic Peninsula fairly often, but I never was told of the tree octopus. Ah well.

Drop bear defense

Dr. Pournelle,

I think it is Terry Pratchett who proposes, in _The Last Continent_, pointy hats as a defense against drop bears. I think it is a matter of a learned behavior.

-d

Superstition and the scientific method

Hi Jerry

About once a year I find myself bitten by an idea, that I then attempt to express. I don’t know if you will find it worthy, but I submit the following for your consideration:

http://richards.kri.ch/patterns_and_superstitions.html

Cheers

Brad

We certainly do see patterns where there are none. Percival Lowell’s maps of Mars make one great example.

Penn Station – tongue in cheek photo essay?

http://takingnote.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/02/01/what-about-penn/?ref=opinion

I especially appreciate this concluding comment:

"It even has photos showing what an awful place the old Penn Station was, before they tore it down.

"Look at all that cold stone and drafty space. It looks like a cathedral, or some Roman edifice. It looks intimidating, if you’re one of those people who is made uncomfortable by imposing architecture, open air and sunlight. At Penn, those problems have been fixed."

Charles Brumbelow

Hello Jerry,

I’ve been interested in your ongoing commentary about ‘computer glasses’.

As I had cataract surgery in both eyes fairly early (possibly related to long time exposure to microwaves in my work environment) accommodation is NOT an option; both my lenses are plastic and their focus ‘is what it is’.

Accordingly, I have been using ‘computer glasses’ for years.

With that principle in mind, you may want to consider other ‘speciality glasses’, such as ‘driving glasses’. Since my ‘plastic eyes’ do not focus–at all–I have taken to using special ‘driving glasses’. The top part is made with the best distance correction possible and the bifocal calibrated for the distance from my eyes to the instrument panel, with the seat set in the most comfortable driving position. Also, the bifocal part is a little higher than normal for reading so that you don’t have to tilt your head back to view the instrument panel; just a simple down glance.

And of course there are iterations on a theme for this one too. More and more control panel functions are appearing on the steering wheel, which is appreciably closer than the instrument panel. There are a couple of options to address this problem: trifocals with distance, instrument panel, and steering wheel corrections or bifocals with one eye optimized for the instrument panel and the other for the steering wheel. This works well, as depth perception is not an issue in this case. Then there is the ‘nav system’ to contend with. It is usually in the central stack, or stuck to the windshield, if you have a ‘portable’ GPS box.

The point is, given that for driving you want the best (binocular) distance vision you can get, you still have up to four different prescriptions to play with to ‘see’ things inside the car. None of them (inside the car) require binocular vision and your brain easily picks out the one that gives the best picture for what it wants to see. Hop in your car with your tape measure, take the measurements, then trot them over to your optician and consult.

Bob Ludwick=

I now wear trifocals as my regular – including driving – spectacles. It took a while to get used to them, but they seem natural now. My computer glasses have a focal length of 28 inches and are also bifocal to make it easier to read my hand-written notes when I am working.

I received this some time ago:

"Outies" ebook

Dr. Pournelle,

I’m currently trying to decide if your daughter’s book is worth $150 (ebook plus cheapest Kindle). If I could get a dead-tree version (at a typical dead-tree price point) I would buy the book without a second thought. But I really don’t want to read leisure fiction on my computer (or phone), and I have so far resisted moving to ebooks.

Problems I have with ebooks: DRM, competing and incompatible devices (if I want to read "Outies" I MUST use a Kindle device or software), and the ability of Amazon to change their mind about books they’ve already sold ("1984" was the first example, but just today I read that they have decided to "unsell" some books because the story included incest. This could seriously limit the sales of Robert Heinlein’s body of work, not to mention the Bible!).

This is not a complaint to your or your daughter. I’ve found your coverage of the ebook "revolution" very interesting, and I hope that you will encourage your daughter to add her experiences to the dialog.

It just seems a shame that the technology which should be making it easier to connect writer to reader seems to be doing just the opposite.

Sincerely,

John Bresnahan

Orlando, FL

It came at a time when I was overwhelmed and went unopened and unanswered until the other day when I found it while archiving mail.

RE: "Outies" ebook

Doing some archiving and I came across this. Of course no one book is worth that much, but one gets a Kindle for other reasons

What did you finally decide?

Jerry Pournelle

Chaos Manor

Dr. Pournelle,

I succumbed and bought a Kindle. Actually, I bought one, found I wasn’t using it, and gave it to my Mother, then eventually bought another one.

I only buy the ebook version when it is considerably less expensive than the dead-tree edition. I’m a software developer, and I noticed that some of the technical books I wanted were so much less expensive as ebooks that the savings on 4-5 ebooks would more than pay for the reader. One downside is that only about half of the books I would buy even have ebook versions so I can’t make a clean break of it.

If there was a reasonably inexpensive way of converting my entire library into ebooks, I would seriously consider doing so. I’m considering moving in the near future, and my book collection is the largest (not to mention

heaviest) "object" I would have to move. However, the current option of re-buying all the books is too expensive to me. I have actually tried to scan books to convert them into ebooks, but I haven’t found a reasonable way to do this.

Surprisingly to me, my 79-year-old Mother does all of her reading on the Kindle now, but that may have something to do with the ability to change the font size. I have read a few fiction books (including "Outies" which I

enjoyed) on the Kindle, but I still prefer "real" books. I probably won’t fully convert unless/until I have no other choice.

I haven’t seen an update on your next "something big hits Earth" book. I’m eagerly awaiting it. That’s one book I will be buying in the first-edition hard cover.

I hope you and your family have a happy and healthy new year. I especially hope that Sable has a long, pain-free time yet with her family.

Sincerely,

John Bresnahan

Orlando, FL

“The TSA has not determined whether passenger-screening canine teams can mitigate threats at airports, and despite inconclusive analysis, it has invested at least $19 million a year in the program.”

<http://www.ibtimes.com/why-tsas-canine-unit-doghouse-1056344>

Roland Dobbins

Surprise!

Mail 760 Friday, February 01, 2013

USS Dorchester and the Immortal Chaplains

This Sunday is the 70th anniversary of the sinking of USS Dorchester. Most famous for the loss of the Immortal Chaplains, the sinking claimed almost 700 others.

The Chaplains:

Reverend George Fox
Rabbi Alexander Goode
Reverend Clark Poling
Father John Washington

A prayer for those lost at sea:

FATHER of all Love, we pray Thee that those who are safe on land may ever remember the many who go down to the sea in ships, and that those in peril may contact with something of comfort. We ask these petitions knowing that Thy Love faileth never. Amen.

Antigua copyright free?

Now this should be interesting. Antigua is planning on hosting a pirate warez site in order to punish the US for killing their gambling business.

http://torrentfreak.com/antigua-government-set-to-launch-pirate-website-to-punish-united-states-130124/

I wonder if eBooks will be in the mix as well as video/audio stuff?

E.C. "Stan" Field

Heh. Well, if they annoy Hollywood enough then the President will send the Marines in to show them the salmon of correction, whap! I doubt the publishing industry has that much influence. Certainly authors won’t.

Doublethink

I saw, and thought to share, a grotesque example of doublethink in the mainstream media.  The Associated Press wrote an article on the U.S. jobs data:

<.>

The mostly encouraging jobs report Friday included one negative sign: The unemployment rate rose to 7.9 percent from 7.8 percent in December. The rate is calculated from a survey of households, and more people in that survey said they were unemployed.

</>

http://news.yahoo.com/us-gains-157k-jobs-jobless-rate-rises-7-135803757–finance.html

Did you laugh at "The mostly encouraging jobs report"?  Does this really work with people?  If it does, I’ll just have to use that.  "Well, Sir, the data on your investments is mostly encouraging with only one negative sign:  the value of your portfolio dropped by nine percentage points this quarter".  Or how about, "Yes, Sir, we have great news for you with only one cloud in an otherwise blue sky, we’re going to have to begin foreclosing on your home".  Or, hear this from your doctor, "Sir, your health is impeccable with only one exception.  You have a terminal illness and you have three months to live".  Come on!    What sort of idiot actually falls for this other than the eternal, unjustified optimist?

—–

Most Respectfully,

Joshua Jordan, KSC

Percussa Resurgo

We seem to be in a Depression although that is not what the economists say. Unemployment is not way up only because the number of people looking for work has fallen, and if you have given up seeking work and now seek benefits from government, you are not unemployed. There are radio and TV ads exhorting people to seek Food Stamps (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP); in California it’s a debit card called Cal Fresh); and it is counted as success if more take them. The number of people using food stamps rises monthly. This is not the way to economic recovery, nor is increasing government employment. I don’t say that government employees do not do useful things, and sometimes help create wealth, but with the present structure we have more than enough government employees; adding more isn’t going to increase wealth creation.

As to your question, someone must be falling for it.

microorganisms and carbonic acid

When I was a boy I was fascinated by "Ripley’s Believe It or Not!" and recall quite clearly reading one snip-it which claimed that scientists had found microorganisms which not only were immune to carbolic acid, but actually thrived in it. Reading your blog entry on the subject brought that to mind and a quick Google search turned up a number of such, including some which actually excrete carbolic acid (no doubt as a weapon in that species war on the rest of the microbial universe!). In fact, there are mention of microorganisms documented to survive the entire Ph spectrum from 0 to 13, and others who’s preferred environs include the interior of nuclear reactors.

Not that I’m suggesting that any of those extremophiles are "germs" which are also causing deadly diseases in humans – only pointing out that it’s far from impossible for a "germ" to develop an immunity to phenol. Nor am I passing myself as an expert on the subject, but for many years I’ve worked at a major metropolitan hospital and have been privileged to hear, first hand, the opinions, hopes, and fears of those who are. That in mind, I will caution you not to underestimate the little guys. To paraphrase Stephen Jay Gould: You can talk all you like about "the Age of Man" or "the Age of the Dinosaurs", but this planet is in "the Age of the Bacteria". Always has been and probably always will be…

Thank you for your time,

Carl E Campbell

IT Manager – Corporate Systems

NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital

Yes, to some extent I was teasing. I know carbolic isn’t universally deadly, but it is pretty effective. We used it a lot in the old lab I worked in.

I remember an old after dinner joke. At the end of an international science conference cruise, passengers in the first class dining room came up to the podium to say “Auf Wiedersehen! That’s goodbye in German.” Others came up, same thing. When it was the biologist’s turn he didn’t know any foreign languages, so he said “Carbolic acid. That’s goodbye in anybody’s language.” I heard that some time in the 40’s, and there was a science fiction story about an intelligent virus – sort of – in I think Adventures in Time and Space in which a biologist out of habit reaches for the carbolic acid when he fears contamination.

It’s still a pretty effective and fairly cheap disinfectant. If I have to go to hospital I think I’ll take some with me just in case…

Boffins slip ‘KILLER KOALA’ satnav study into journal

Jerry

“A confession: when Australians meet tourists worried their holidays will be disturbed by dangerous animals – sharks, spiders, snakes, crocodiles and jellyfish are all prevalent here in Vulture South – they often slip in a mention of a little-known but very menacing marsupial: the drop bear. The drop bear is, according to this Australian Museum page, “a large, arboreal, predatory marsupial related to the Koala.” The beast lurks high in trees, waits until it spots prey below – including humans – before allowing gravity and its sharp fangs do the rest.”

This article reports on a paper, “Indirect Tracking of Drop Bears Using GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) Technology”. The paper explains that drop bears cannot be fitted with satellite trackers, as they are aggressive and knock the trackers off when rubbing themselves against trees. Alternate methods are proposed:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/01/31/drop_bear_killer_koala_science_fun/

Another mystery from the land of Oz.

Ed

I think this is the first I have ever heard of killer koalas…

Walter Russell Mead and "The Seven Trolls"

http://blogs.the-american-interest.com/wrm/2013/01/30/life-after-blue-the-middle-class-will-beat-the-seven-trolls/

Well worth your time if you have not seen it.

Phil

An interesting essay. Of course there is hope for intelligent members of the middle class, and despair is a sin. Well worth your time. Thanks.

content

I miss the content as it was a few years ago. Interesting letters about damn near everything and the various answers and comments. Correspondents from around the world and subjects that were all over the place.

Now it appears (to me anyway) that the site is pretty well always focused on politics. Us V them stuff.

Or am I missing a part of the site that still does that.

Cheers,

Peter Durand

Sort of my fault. I have slowed down a bit, especially in the last few weeks. But I am catching up and thanks for the feedback. I will try to do better.

Nails it!

Bingo! …

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NyYYgLzF6zU

A talk by a legal immigrant citizen with some common sense observations on gun control.

‘Democracy, then, in the centralizing, pattern-making, absolutist shape which we have given to it is, it is clear, the time of tyranny’s incubation.’

<http://www.americanthinker.com/2013/01/the_lupine_socialist_dream.html>

Roland Dobbins

The modern affection for ‘democracy’ is fairly new, and most political philosophers believed that democracy was suitable only for rather small and homogenous states, such as the Swiss Lander cantons, and city states. Cicero observed that under democracy the exceptional could not thrive properly and are tempted to use their talents for their own ends, not those of the general good. Of course Cicero is one of the more eloquent proponents of “the Republic”, the form of government that mixes monarchy, aristocracy, and a democratic element; and it is explicitly this that the Framers of the Convention of 1789 hoped to establish.

The problem with democracy has ever been envy. Voting to distribute the goods of fortune among the voters is a strong temptation. It seldom works to the permanent interest of those who use government to despoil the rich, or limit the rewards of the very able. Sometimes the aristocracy finds more in common with those of similar rank in a foreign country than they do in their own. (See the La Grande Illusion for a more dramatic presentation.) Sometimes the wealthy simply hire a ‘friend of the people’ to look out for their interests – you will remember that the First Triumvirate consisted of Pompey, Caesar, and the richest man in Rome. And despite all the protestations about the origin of the maxim that democracies do not long survive the discovery by the masses that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury, it is a valid hypothesis, often confirmed. “There never was a democracy that did not commit suicide.”

‘The new general has all the problems of an empire, without any of the power and freedom of action of an empire.’

<http://sultanknish.blogspot.com/2013/01/youre-in-new-army-now.html>

Roland Dobbins

The ultimate question of any polity is who does the army obey? That is not a trivial question. Why men fight – now I suppose we are to say why men and women fight – is the ultimate question of political power. For two centuries the United States has been served by an officer corps that put Duty, Honor, Country first, and was able to win the loyalty of the troops. This has been so effective for so long that no one wonders why, or whether our egalitarian insistence will have an effect on the motives of the officer corps. Other nations have discarded the principles to their detriment. We of course are the great exception and our political leaders are, or are convinced they are, exempt from these kinds of questions.

The Amazing Amazon

Somewhat terrifying. I like Amazon a lot, but.

http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox/2013/01/29/amazon_q4_profits_fall_45_percent.html

I recall when the standing joke among computer columnists was “next year Amazon will make a profit”. For a long time Amazon invested in structure and organization. Then suddenly they made their move, and the publishing industry was changed forever. And meanwhile Amazon went on to use their book selling mechanisms to sell other things, many other things, until they challenge the whole retail marketing establishment.

Now they are investing again in organization and structure. Think about it.

BSR Review New Music Concert

A review of a concert devoted to chamber music by a young Philadelphia composer, Michael Djupstrom.

http://www.broadstreetreview.com/index.php/main/article/michael_djupstroms_contemporary_pieces/

Tom

…and the PULP–O-MIZER link (!)

http://thrilling-tales.webomator.com/derange-o-lab/pulp-o-mizer/pulp-o-mizer.html

Roger G. Smith

BBC News – Phantom comics reissue keeps early masked hero alive

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-21266631

Thought you might enjoy!

John Harlow

I have long been a fan of The Phantom. I even liked (not wildly) the movie they made about him. The Ghost Who Walks will never die…

Substitute Teacher – YouTube

Jerry

Speaking things we cannot talk about, there is this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dd7FixvoKBw

I don’t expect you’ll be posting a link to it, even if it appears to have been a sketch on TV.

That may be the most racist thing I have ever seen. What is the story on this? It’s intended to be infuriating isn’t it?

Jerry Pournelle

Chaos Manor

Substitute Teacher – YouTube,

It is billed as Comedy Central. So perhaps Hollywood types can get away with this. After all, it is hitting the culture, not the race. I work with Africans from Africa. Their names are not what this piece is satirizing.

It may be another example of "If a conservative said it, it would be hate speech."

On the gripping hand, when I was searching for this (I deleted the link the first time it was sent to me) I found a comment by an African American woman who felt these names had gone too far. I was discussing this at lunch and a dietician recalled that at her former job, a mother was incensed when the dietician did not know how to pronounce her daughter’s name, La-a. It was "ladasha" of course.

On another level, it may be that the perpetrators of this were turning the tables on white folk, showing how their white names can be mispronounced by someone who does not share pronunciation conventions with the name-holder.

Hence "ehrun" becomes "ay-ay-ronn," etc. I particularly loved O-shag-hennessey. That one is choice.

I dunno, though. Could be all of the above.

It may be as informative as it is – interesting. I suppose it is a different view I had not considered.

I will note that the United States has thrived under the Melting Pot model, and just as we were beginning to assimilate the freedmen after a long period of segregation, the goal changed to ‘diversity.’ Diverity has not historically been a winning strategy. The early Roman Republic flourished by allowing conquered people to become Romans; it wasn’t conquest, they were taken into the firm, as Fletcher Pratt put it in The Battles That Changed History (one of the books I think everyone ought to have read). Recall Paul of Tarsus. “I am a Citizen of Rome.” “You have appealed to Caesar, and to Caesar you shall go.”

Diversity does not build successful Republics, or at least has not on my view of history.

Computer glasses and myopia

Thank you for the comments from January 24th about "computer glasses".

I recall your comments about correction to screen-distance from the original BYTE column but regrettably didn’t give them proper attention as I was still sufficiently young I had sufficient accommodation to read a screen with infinity-corrected glasses.

Anyway, my experience over the last 10 years has persuaded me that wearing glasses corrected for one’s primary distance of work not only reduces eye strain but, at least in my own anecdotal case, (documented in):

http://www.fourmilab.ch/documents/health/myopia/

actually reduces the correction required for myopia–my experience was a full diopter in each eye over 10 years, and I think I’ve gone a bit further down since the last examination in 2010 based on pushing my glasses down my nose to focus in dim light conditions.

My experience is based on wearing the "reading/computer" glasses almost all the time: using the infinity-corrected or progressive glasses only for driving, taking walks outside, or other activities where such correction is appropriate. Since I published this report, I’ve heard from around a dozen people who have experienced the same improvement in myopia prescriptions by wearing "reading glasses" most of the time, and none reporting contrary results (but of course this may be due to a selection effect).

If this exists, it is a slow effect. One should expect it to manifest itself only over several years. But simply getting off the life-long treadmill of every-stronger prescriptions is worth it to me.

John Walker               | If it’s settled

kelvin@fourmilab.ch    | it isn’t science.

I find my computer glasses (they are bi-focal) more comfortable around the house than my regular tri-focals, although I certainly don’t wear them outside and it would be a disaster to wear them for driving. I sure wish I had patented the concept. Probably wasn’t patentable. But I think that old BYTE column was the first place to talk about compouter glasses. Certainly I don’t remember any source for the concept, and I think I invented it.