![\"clip_image002\"](\"http:\/\/www.jerrypournelle.com\/chaosmanor\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/clip_image0029.gif\" "\\"clip_image002\\"")
<\/a><\/p>\nFor many years I have paid dues to AFTRA. I don\u2019t do much in the way of paid radio or television commentary or performances, but once in a while I do and AFTRA collects for me. Overall I think I am ahead in that I get paid for some guest appearances that otherwise would be gratis; I suppose I have missed some opportunities too. For the most part I haven\u2019t paid much attention; AFTRA hasn\u2019t been as activist as some Hollywood unions. Last year AFTRA merged with the Screen Actors Guild, and I got a union card that says ONE UNION SAG-AFTRA. <\/p>\n
Now I have a card that lets me vote in the Oscars, and I have been getting DVD\u2019s of Oscar nominated films. They have dire warnings against sharing them or letting them out of my custody, with the implication that the FBI will put twenty agents on the case if I do. I\u2019m sort of against piracy to begin with so that\u2019s no burden.<\/p>\n
I have a moral problem here. I will not have time to watch all the movies that ought to be considered for the Oscars; is it fair to vote for ones I like when there are others that might be a lot better? Of course I will vote. I don\u2019t read all the science fiction novels written each year, or even all those nominated, but I vote when I think there\u2019s a work worthy of SFWA\u2019s Nebula, and I\u2019ll employ the same criterion here.<\/p>\n
One of the movies we got was ARGO, and we watched it the other night. The opening propaganda about Mossadegh and the Shah is standard hogwash. I suspect that if Iran could have a fair election now, the Pahlavi dynasty would probably be returned to power; the Shah\u2019s government was certainly authoritarian but it was also a great deal more tolerant than what replaced it. But if you ignore the introductory political massaging, it\u2019s a good movie, and not all that far from the way things actually went down. They manage to build tension well even though everyone watching has to know that eventually they\u2019ll get away with it. If you like caper movies you\u2019ll probably like this one.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve spent the day working on the California Sixth Grade Reader \u2013 this is the reader that was standard in California public schools when California arguably had the best public school system in the world \u2013 which I will put up with commentary shortly. I\u2019m adding a few items to it: in those days California built it\u2019s textbooks largely out of public domain, and some important works that would have been in it if they hadn\u2019t been expensive can be included now. Also, there are some poems that readers would have encountered in fourth and fifth grades in those days, and some of them should be in here as part of preparation for works that are included.<\/p>\n It\u2019s not all that much work, but it is a bit time absorbing. I\u2019ve let this slide for years, and that\u2019s not fair. Given the state of our public schools we need some decent reading materials out there. There\u2019s a lot of Western Civilization that ought not be lost, but which is fading from our collective consciousness. This is one book that will help connect the next generation to those that came before. At some point the education system collapse can\u2019t continue \u2013 if something can\u2019t go on forever it will stop \u2013 but recovering from the rot that our public education system has become will not be easy.<\/p>\n It won\u2019t be all that easy. In 1914 when this reader was standard in California, something like half the people of this country were involved in agriculture, farming, food processing, food distribution, and other occupations related to food production and distribution. Now that\u2019s a much smaller number because the productivity of our agriculture and food processing system has so greatly increased.<\/p>\n People then moved from agriculture into manufacturing; but manufacturing productivity grows yearly \u2013 Moore\u2019s Law directly affects electronics and computers, but that affects productivity of everything else \u2013 and fewer and fewer people are needed to do that.<\/p>\n Western Civilization once inspired people. Something needs to do that for the future. Perhaps that will be something new, but it seems important that we don\u2019t throw away all our cultural heritage while we try to figure out what it is.<\/p>\n And it\u2019s dinner time.<\/p>\n View 757 Tuesday, January 08, 2013 I have been working on getting the California Reader into print, and also on fiction, so I have been a bit slow with commentary here, and also I have let the mail pile up. I\u2019ll try to do some of the mail tonight. As \u2026 Continue reading <\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"