How the Dixie Chicks feel about the war is a matter of some indifference to me. If they had supported the war, I imagine their opinions would have come from the same well of ignorance.
Froma Harrop, "Taking the Chicks to task"
20030406
The will of the voters is heard perhaps too damned often
Today's Denver Post opinion pages begin with two columnists arguing about the value of voter initiatives.
I'll be right up front. I like the idea of TABOR, which would never have happened if it hadn't been an initiative, but I hate hate hate voter initiatives. Voter initiatives constitute my paying twice for something that was supposed to be done right once. We already have a legislature that represents voter interests.
How exactly does a bad law, passed as an initiative instead of through the legislative process, get repealed? How does a bad initiative get improved, modified, adjusted for agreement with Constitutional protections or even with existing Colorado law, before it goes on the ballot? Even attempts to make the initiative process obey simple requirements such as "single subject" are circumvented, often drawing the courts effectively into the business of legislating.
I agree with Mr Briggs, that initiatives to amend the Constitution are worse than legislative initiatives. A Constitution needs an amendment process that places as many hurdles as possible in the path of each amendment, from each branch of government as well as direct voter will, much like the path that ordinary legislation must take, but more stringent.
Conventions are hotbeds of potential for abuse too; witness New York's Constitution, that allows a Convention to be voted up or down only every 20 years. Otherwise, individual amendments must be passed through two consecutive sessions of the legislature, one before and one after a general election, before it can be put to a popular vote. Even with such controls in place to avoid seeming random or bizarre amendments, their Constitution has come to resemble an encyclopedia. What other hurdle could be added to this process to weed out nonsensical amendments? Still they exist.
There is a limit to how much we can rely on processes to make governments behave, however one defines "behave" and however one agrees in the first place with the premise that governments are supposed to behave.
We may have reached that limit in Colorado, and are now dealing with problems that are created by the tinkering with processes itself. The unspoken assumption may be that it shouldn't matter who we elect, or what kind of people we elect, the outcome will be acceptable. Further tinkering with processes will only mask our failure to elect officials who understand and obey their Constitutional constraints, or failure to eject public officials who ignore them.
And our failure to accept some of the downsides, compromises, and consequences that laws always bring with them.
Today's Denver Post opinion pages begin with two columnists arguing about the value of voter initiatives.
I'll be right up front. I like the idea of TABOR, which would never have happened if it hadn't been an initiative, but I hate hate hate voter initiatives. Voter initiatives constitute my paying twice for something that was supposed to be done right once. We already have a legislature that represents voter interests.
How exactly does a bad law, passed as an initiative instead of through the legislative process, get repealed? How does a bad initiative get improved, modified, adjusted for agreement with Constitutional protections or even with existing Colorado law, before it goes on the ballot? Even attempts to make the initiative process obey simple requirements such as "single subject" are circumvented, often drawing the courts effectively into the business of legislating.
I agree with Mr Briggs, that initiatives to amend the Constitution are worse than legislative initiatives. A Constitution needs an amendment process that places as many hurdles as possible in the path of each amendment, from each branch of government as well as direct voter will, much like the path that ordinary legislation must take, but more stringent.
Conventions are hotbeds of potential for abuse too; witness New York's Constitution, that allows a Convention to be voted up or down only every 20 years. Otherwise, individual amendments must be passed through two consecutive sessions of the legislature, one before and one after a general election, before it can be put to a popular vote. Even with such controls in place to avoid seeming random or bizarre amendments, their Constitution has come to resemble an encyclopedia. What other hurdle could be added to this process to weed out nonsensical amendments? Still they exist.
There is a limit to how much we can rely on processes to make governments behave, however one defines "behave" and however one agrees in the first place with the premise that governments are supposed to behave.
We may have reached that limit in Colorado, and are now dealing with problems that are created by the tinkering with processes itself. The unspoken assumption may be that it shouldn't matter who we elect, or what kind of people we elect, the outcome will be acceptable. Further tinkering with processes will only mask our failure to elect officials who understand and obey their Constitutional constraints, or failure to eject public officials who ignore them.
And our failure to accept some of the downsides, compromises, and consequences that laws always bring with them.
Does this not make me green?
Contrary to Publicola's observation, I am not a manufacturer of death. I merely recycle it.
I am reloading brass empties that would otherwise go to a landfill---the firm that picks up my Number 2 plastic and clear glass does not provide a separate service to collect brass.
A businessman-hobbyist in Montana collects .22 LR spent cases, cleans them, and converts them into .224" bullet jackets. He probably sifts lead from the berms of his local ranges, and processes it to make the bullet cores. I buy from him, so not only am I recycling some of my own output, I'm supporting a local market for recycled content rather than buying from a gigantic multinational and helping to limit the spread of known environmental toxins.
Tools are also available, I hear, to convert .22 magnum cases into 6mm jackets. I'd rather have my kids doing that for pizza money than delivering newspapers.
Contrary to Publicola's observation, I am not a manufacturer of death. I merely recycle it.
I am reloading brass empties that would otherwise go to a landfill---the firm that picks up my Number 2 plastic and clear glass does not provide a separate service to collect brass.
A businessman-hobbyist in Montana collects .22 LR spent cases, cleans them, and converts them into .224" bullet jackets. He probably sifts lead from the berms of his local ranges, and processes it to make the bullet cores. I buy from him, so not only am I recycling some of my own output, I'm supporting a local market for recycled content rather than buying from a gigantic multinational and helping to limit the spread of known environmental toxins.
Tools are also available, I hear, to convert .22 magnum cases into 6mm jackets. I'd rather have my kids doing that for pizza money than delivering newspapers.
The passive voice will be used
Further on the grammar and style of the construction that uses "based on": y'all would not annoy me so much if you used the active voice in the first place. Past participles inhabit that gray area between adjective and verb, like Republican Guards who doff their uniforms when it serves them---one is mischief, two together danger. A part of speech must commit, know its place and stay in it.
Further on the grammar and style of the construction that uses "based on": y'all would not annoy me so much if you used the active voice in the first place. Past participles inhabit that gray area between adjective and verb, like Republican Guards who doff their uniforms when it serves them---one is mischief, two together danger. A part of speech must commit, know its place and stay in it.
20030405
Who is the master, you or the word?
Kim duToit announces, correctly, that attrit and surveil are not words. They are sawed-off verbs made from Pentagonese nouns. I have been observed using the former, just last Wednesday in fact, but I have resolutely refused to use the latter.
I would direct your attention, however, to the usage based on. The word based in this case is a past participle. Without feverishly rifling through Strunk and White, I don't think one can cast a sentence with two participles in a row, one modifying the next.
Kim duToit announces, correctly, that attrit and surveil are not words. They are sawed-off verbs made from Pentagonese nouns. I have been observed using the former, just last Wednesday in fact, but I have resolutely refused to use the latter.
I would direct your attention, however, to the usage based on. The word based in this case is a past participle. Without feverishly rifling through Strunk and White, I don't think one can cast a sentence with two participles in a row, one modifying the next.
" . . . our procedures must be modified based on the current situation"is not acceptable, and causes the listener to grit one's teeth. How about "modified on the basis of"?
Reloading as foreplay
If shooting is viewed as sex, then reloading must be foreplay.
Over the last few weeks, I have tumbled almost 700 empties of five-five-six, trimmed or culled them to 1.760 inches plus .001 or minus .002, swaged the primer pockets, and chamfered the necks. Note: Hirtenberger's primer pockets are rather loose; that must be why they are crimped. Lake City's are tight. Swage them all, they seat without a hitch. There's remarkable variation in rim thickness too, so be careful trimming on case trimmers that grab on the rim.
Today I dusted off and reassembled the Suburban Clandestine Arsenal of Liberty, otherwise known as the Dillon RL550B progressive reloading press.
The first station is set up to prime only: CCI450, small magnum rifle. Though the RL550B can decap and resize, it is more consistent to do all of the resizing, decapping, and primer pocket swaging on the Rockchucker a few inches away (a slice of it is visible to the right in the photo).
The second station drops a charge of 21.5 grains of WC846, which is just a hair slower than BL(C)-2.
The third station seats the bullets, which today are bulk 60-grainer soft-points that were made from swaged lead cores jacketed by extruded twenty-two long rifle empties. The "H" on the casehead is still visible, meaning these were Winchesters, IIRC. Corbin offers the kits and press to make these bullets, but that's fun for someone else with more time, who sells them to me.
The fourth station is the Lee factory crimp die, then the dump into the Akro-bin.
It took more time to set the press up, adjust the propellant charger to the right volume and set the seater and crimp, than to roll one hundred rounds. Don't tell Chuck Schumer.
A small dab of a loud-colored nail polish in the cannelure tells me which load to look up in the notebook.
Over the last few weeks, I have tumbled almost 700 empties of five-five-six, trimmed or culled them to 1.760 inches plus .001 or minus .002, swaged the primer pockets, and chamfered the necks. Note: Hirtenberger's primer pockets are rather loose; that must be why they are crimped. Lake City's are tight. Swage them all, they seat without a hitch. There's remarkable variation in rim thickness too, so be careful trimming on case trimmers that grab on the rim.
Today I dusted off and reassembled the Suburban Clandestine Arsenal of Liberty, otherwise known as the Dillon RL550B progressive reloading press.
The first station is set up to prime only: CCI450, small magnum rifle. Though the RL550B can decap and resize, it is more consistent to do all of the resizing, decapping, and primer pocket swaging on the Rockchucker a few inches away (a slice of it is visible to the right in the photo).
The second station drops a charge of 21.5 grains of WC846, which is just a hair slower than BL(C)-2.
The third station seats the bullets, which today are bulk 60-grainer soft-points that were made from swaged lead cores jacketed by extruded twenty-two long rifle empties. The "H" on the casehead is still visible, meaning these were Winchesters, IIRC. Corbin offers the kits and press to make these bullets, but that's fun for someone else with more time, who sells them to me.
The fourth station is the Lee factory crimp die, then the dump into the Akro-bin.
It took more time to set the press up, adjust the propellant charger to the right volume and set the seater and crimp, than to roll one hundred rounds. Don't tell Chuck Schumer.
A small dab of a loud-colored nail polish in the cannelure tells me which load to look up in the notebook.
20030401
To confuse the enemy, to help soldiers remember code words, and boost morale with humor
Group Captain Mandrake is amused by the choices of codewords for Operation James. If only Uncle Sugar had such a sense of humor.
In an upcoming exercise in the States, two operating areas will be codenamed Condi and Tori. Beats the heck out of Temuka and Caravaca.
Group Captain Mandrake is amused by the choices of codewords for Operation James. If only Uncle Sugar had such a sense of humor.
In an upcoming exercise in the States, two operating areas will be codenamed Condi and Tori. Beats the heck out of Temuka and Caravaca.
20030328
We're bringing the war back home
The occasion of the possible sunset of the 1994 Federal assault weapon ban reminds one: it is a respected ancient tradition for the victorious soldier to bring home a trophy from the vanquished. That trophy was usually a weapon claimed from his defeated foe.
What better to motivate some of our troops in Southwest Asia? Just remove the red tape.
Okay, yeah, it's just a Kalashnikov. But it's the thought that counts.
The occasion of the possible sunset of the 1994 Federal assault weapon ban reminds one: it is a respected ancient tradition for the victorious soldier to bring home a trophy from the vanquished. That trophy was usually a weapon claimed from his defeated foe.
What better to motivate some of our troops in Southwest Asia? Just remove the red tape.
Okay, yeah, it's just a Kalashnikov. But it's the thought that counts.
20030327
Oh to have been in that press conference
Some of the questions I would have posed to Tori Clarke:
By the way, Tori's autograph graces a copy of the orders that put my butt on that Rotator. She and Rummy toured a Forward Operating Location where it was my privilege to meet them both.
Yes, I am openly and crassly bragging.
Some of the questions I would have posed to Tori Clarke:
- Ma'am, can you comment on the company and the country of manufacture of the nerve agent antidotes discovered in the hospital?
- If you cannot name the company or the country, can you at least comment on whether that country is a NATO, EU, or UN member?
- Can you comment on whether that same company also provides war materiel to the United States?
- Can you comment on when those antidotes were manufactured or shipped to Iraq, with reference to when any embargoes or sanctions were in place?
- Does the mere existence of these antidotes in a military store of some kind represent a violation of any of the UN Resolutions in place at the time they were probably obtained by Iraq?
By the way, Tori's autograph graces a copy of the orders that put my butt on that Rotator. She and Rummy toured a Forward Operating Location where it was my privilege to meet them both.
Yes, I am openly and crassly bragging.
One year ago today
my ass was on a Rotator headed from Rhein-Main to Southwest Asia.
Today my days are spent preparing a Wing in the doctrine known as "C-CW Conops." It's not clear where I would rather be, here, safe in the States talking the talk, or in SWA walking the walk.
I pray over every meal that our people succeed and come home.
my ass was on a Rotator headed from Rhein-Main to Southwest Asia.
Today my days are spent preparing a Wing in the doctrine known as "C-CW Conops." It's not clear where I would rather be, here, safe in the States talking the talk, or in SWA walking the walk.
I pray over every meal that our people succeed and come home.
20030319
Maybe one floor can be mocked up as an aircraft cabin
WUTT joins the contest to propose a new purpose for the UN Headquarters should they become vacant in the near future: lease several floors out to Gunsite, LFI, Marksman's Enterprise, Thunder Ranch, and other fine dynamic conflict resolution schools, for indoor ranges and funhouses. The highrise looks like it has hallways about 200 meters long.
WUTT joins the contest to propose a new purpose for the UN Headquarters should they become vacant in the near future: lease several floors out to Gunsite, LFI, Marksman's Enterprise, Thunder Ranch, and other fine dynamic conflict resolution schools, for indoor ranges and funhouses. The highrise looks like it has hallways about 200 meters long.
It's been done before
Rachel Lucas is piqued to no end about a fellow being tried for having an unregistered defensive tool. The prosecutors reduced the charge to a lesser offense so they could try him without a jury.
Tell it to Laura Kriho. They did that to her too. Her offense, by the way? Go read the links.
At times like this I wish Liberty magazine's online presence were, um, present. There was a wonderful article on how to prepare yourself for the examination to be put on a jury, so you can still render a verdict within your conscience but hopefully protect yourself from what happened to Laura Kriho. Vin Suprynowicz wrote something similar, reprinted in Send In the Waco Killers.
Rachel Lucas is piqued to no end about a fellow being tried for having an unregistered defensive tool. The prosecutors reduced the charge to a lesser offense so they could try him without a jury.
Tell it to Laura Kriho. They did that to her too. Her offense, by the way? Go read the links.
At times like this I wish Liberty magazine's online presence were, um, present. There was a wonderful article on how to prepare yourself for the examination to be put on a jury, so you can still render a verdict within your conscience but hopefully protect yourself from what happened to Laura Kriho. Vin Suprynowicz wrote something similar, reprinted in Send In the Waco Killers.
Maybe time to drop PayPal
Aubrey Turner discusses PayPal's change of policy to prohibit the use of its service for legal commerce in modern firearms. This merely puts PayPal's policy in line with that of their owner, eBay. The only time I ever used eBay was to try to replace a collectible that my son destroyed on a visit to a friend's house. I like the concept of eBay but I did not enjoy the experience of being sniped out of some POS knicknack.
I wonder, to what extent are these policies an attempt to avoid litigation, like the suits being brought by cities against the gun industry? Is there actuarial basis for companies to exclude activities like firearm transactions on the part of their clients because the companies' part in those activities exposes them to gun lawsuits? These don't sound like inspirations of a goo-goo dot-com executive, but policies influenced or even initiated by corporate counsel.
In any case, if they continue this policy, I will drop them and tell them why. Just like I'm about to do to the Denver Post.
Aubrey Turner discusses PayPal's change of policy to prohibit the use of its service for legal commerce in modern firearms. This merely puts PayPal's policy in line with that of their owner, eBay. The only time I ever used eBay was to try to replace a collectible that my son destroyed on a visit to a friend's house. I like the concept of eBay but I did not enjoy the experience of being sniped out of some POS knicknack.
I wonder, to what extent are these policies an attempt to avoid litigation, like the suits being brought by cities against the gun industry? Is there actuarial basis for companies to exclude activities like firearm transactions on the part of their clients because the companies' part in those activities exposes them to gun lawsuits? These don't sound like inspirations of a goo-goo dot-com executive, but policies influenced or even initiated by corporate counsel.
In any case, if they continue this policy, I will drop them and tell them why. Just like I'm about to do to the Denver Post.
Quote of the day (from yesterday, actually)
Jonathan Gewirtz at ChicagoBoyz
People who get shafted have long memories.
Jonathan Gewirtz at ChicagoBoyz
20030318
Get your finger out of that G-d-damned triggerguard!
Fox News Channel is interviewing Specialist Roberto Jimenez about his fighting load. As he was describing his service rifle, his magazine was seated, and his finger was in the triggerguard. The ejection port cover was down so nobody knows whether the bolt was in battery or his chamber was clear.
This stuff does indeed chap my ass. At least he was pointing his muzzle into the floor.
Fox News Channel is interviewing Specialist Roberto Jimenez about his fighting load. As he was describing his service rifle, his magazine was seated, and his finger was in the triggerguard. The ejection port cover was down so nobody knows whether the bolt was in battery or his chamber was clear.
This stuff does indeed chap my ass. At least he was pointing his muzzle into the floor.
... balloon man whistles far ... and ... whee
The latino man approached our table at the Pancake Place, sensing an opportunity to entertain Firstborn, Middlechild, and Boy with his balloon art.
"Hello, would jour children enyoy balloons?"
"Of course."
"Jour boy, he would like a sword?"
"He really likes airplanes," offered Barbaloot. Boy's winged LarryMobile already needs a new purple paint job. His little wooden JayJay has lost both of its engines. His aircraft get a lot of attention and a lot of wear.
But the sword was already done, and handed to Boy after a final squeaky twist. His syrupy hand seized it and he lost all interest in pancakes.
It was Middlechild's turn. "I want a cat, please."
"How about a hommingbord?"
"Please may you make me a cat." The terminal "t" was distinct.
"Hmmmm, what color chall I make this hommingbord?" Squeak squeak.
He drew big lunatic walled eyes on the head with a permanent marker.
"I wanted a cat." Softly, humbly. With disappointment.
"Here is jour hommingbord."
Firstborn is far less inhibited. "I want a puppy" she shouted, before he even reached to his belt for the inflating pump. A puppy she got, though it was improvised from the giraffe page of the Big Balloon Art Handbook.
The "head" of this gir-puppy sprang out, then popped and sagged in pink tatters, moments after she received it and its creator was tipped by her grandparents. Firstborn sobbed.
One week later, off again to Pancake Place after Mass. As we are seated, I scan the crowd for balloon artists. Noticing none, I take a seat and open the menu. Only then I see balloon swords in boys' hands at a nearby table. Behind the clink of flatware and the clatter of plates, the rubbery squeaks and pump hisses are faint but certain.
After our order is taken, he approaches. He makes eye contact with me, recognizes me. It must be my expressive face.
"Ohhhh, this is the family who wants balloons only after the children are done eating." He smiles, twinkles his eyes. "I will come back soon," then he turns to the other end of the Pancake Place.
Firstborn and Middlechild finished a ten-inch chocolate-chipped pancake between them without distraction. Boy cared only for link sausage.
The balloon man did not come back.
The latino man approached our table at the Pancake Place, sensing an opportunity to entertain Firstborn, Middlechild, and Boy with his balloon art.
"Hello, would jour children enyoy balloons?"
"Of course."
"Jour boy, he would like a sword?"
"He really likes airplanes," offered Barbaloot. Boy's winged LarryMobile already needs a new purple paint job. His little wooden JayJay has lost both of its engines. His aircraft get a lot of attention and a lot of wear.
But the sword was already done, and handed to Boy after a final squeaky twist. His syrupy hand seized it and he lost all interest in pancakes.
It was Middlechild's turn. "I want a cat, please."
"How about a hommingbord?"
"Please may you make me a cat." The terminal "t" was distinct.
"Hmmmm, what color chall I make this hommingbord?" Squeak squeak.
He drew big lunatic walled eyes on the head with a permanent marker.
"I wanted a cat." Softly, humbly. With disappointment.
"Here is jour hommingbord."
Firstborn is far less inhibited. "I want a puppy" she shouted, before he even reached to his belt for the inflating pump. A puppy she got, though it was improvised from the giraffe page of the Big Balloon Art Handbook.
The "head" of this gir-puppy sprang out, then popped and sagged in pink tatters, moments after she received it and its creator was tipped by her grandparents. Firstborn sobbed.
One week later, off again to Pancake Place after Mass. As we are seated, I scan the crowd for balloon artists. Noticing none, I take a seat and open the menu. Only then I see balloon swords in boys' hands at a nearby table. Behind the clink of flatware and the clatter of plates, the rubbery squeaks and pump hisses are faint but certain.
After our order is taken, he approaches. He makes eye contact with me, recognizes me. It must be my expressive face.
"Ohhhh, this is the family who wants balloons only after the children are done eating." He smiles, twinkles his eyes. "I will come back soon," then he turns to the other end of the Pancake Place.
Firstborn and Middlechild finished a ten-inch chocolate-chipped pancake between them without distraction. Boy cared only for link sausage.
The balloon man did not come back.
20030315
20030305
it's like telling them not to swear
Lt Smash reviews General Order Number Zero with his personnel.
See this also.
Lt Smash reviews General Order Number Zero with his personnel.
See this also.
20030303
They oughtta have 'em, too
I noticed a large plastic jug in our kitchen last night, with a label claiming that it contained "Pi-Mag treated water." Beloved wife Barbaloot says she got it from friends of hers, who offer various nutritional and alternative health products.
Her frown must have been in reaction to my facial expression of skepticism.
Later during dinner, after Boy was settling down from a tantrum, he crawled up into his mother's lap and asked for "magnet." Huh?
Barbaloot produced a little plastic shell holding two magnetized nubbled balls, which she rubbed over his back to soothe him.
My skeptical facial expression returned. We proceeded to discuss (quite energetically) these alternative health products, and how I thought they were hucksterism, and she thought I should be more open to possibilities that the white lab smocks don't have all of the answers.
The "infrared" blanket she had put on our bed did, in fact, make the bed more comfortable, though I woke two hours early, rolling back and forth with a splitting headache.
. . . twenty-four hours later . . .
I resume an article where I had left it Friday night, about how very small amounts of normally toxic chemicals or ionizing radiation can make one healthier---hormesis. Sorry, no online link to this article; see The American Spectator, July/August 2002, page 54, "Underdosed" by Tom Bethell. Like the guy in Repo Man says,
I noticed a large plastic jug in our kitchen last night, with a label claiming that it contained "Pi-Mag treated water." Beloved wife Barbaloot says she got it from friends of hers, who offer various nutritional and alternative health products.
Her frown must have been in reaction to my facial expression of skepticism.
Later during dinner, after Boy was settling down from a tantrum, he crawled up into his mother's lap and asked for "magnet." Huh?
Barbaloot produced a little plastic shell holding two magnetized nubbled balls, which she rubbed over his back to soothe him.
My skeptical facial expression returned. We proceeded to discuss (quite energetically) these alternative health products, and how I thought they were hucksterism, and she thought I should be more open to possibilities that the white lab smocks don't have all of the answers.
The "infrared" blanket she had put on our bed did, in fact, make the bed more comfortable, though I woke two hours early, rolling back and forth with a splitting headache.
. . . twenty-four hours later . . .
I resume an article where I had left it Friday night, about how very small amounts of normally toxic chemicals or ionizing radiation can make one healthier---hormesis. Sorry, no online link to this article; see The American Spectator, July/August 2002, page 54, "Underdosed" by Tom Bethell. Like the guy in Repo Man says,
Half-baked goggle-box do-gooders telling everybody it's bad for you. Pernicious nonsense! Everybody could stand a hundred chest X-rays a year. They ought to have them, too.
20030226
Calling for a declaration of war cannot be anti-war
There is a difference, though some will argue there is not, between several Congressional resolutions authorizing the President to use force in Southwest Asia on the one hand, and a declaration of war against an underground organization and its supporting states on the other.
Put me down as one of those who think the Congress should declare the war. Anything less is a delegation of powers to the President that were clearly intended to stay with Congress. It also affords our less honorable members of Congress with the opportunity to hide behind weasel words if the war does not succeed: "We passed a resolution allowing the President to use force to effect A. We didn't say anything about him invading B."
The President, as Commander in Chief, wages the war. He determines how and with how much. The Congress decides whether, and upon whom, the war will be waged. These roles were separated for a purpose.
Of course antiwar leftists are calling, and even suing, to force the President to stop preparations in Southwest Asia, until and unless Congress declares war. As Bigwig suggests, a fine way to silence them is to grant their wish.
If war is the continuation of politics by other means, then the decision to go to war is a political one. A decision of such gravity, of such consequences, deserves the public visibility of recorded votes for the genuine article, the real thing, the full monty.
There is a difference, though some will argue there is not, between several Congressional resolutions authorizing the President to use force in Southwest Asia on the one hand, and a declaration of war against an underground organization and its supporting states on the other.
Put me down as one of those who think the Congress should declare the war. Anything less is a delegation of powers to the President that were clearly intended to stay with Congress. It also affords our less honorable members of Congress with the opportunity to hide behind weasel words if the war does not succeed: "We passed a resolution allowing the President to use force to effect A. We didn't say anything about him invading B."
The President, as Commander in Chief, wages the war. He determines how and with how much. The Congress decides whether, and upon whom, the war will be waged. These roles were separated for a purpose.
Of course antiwar leftists are calling, and even suing, to force the President to stop preparations in Southwest Asia, until and unless Congress declares war. As Bigwig suggests, a fine way to silence them is to grant their wish.
If war is the continuation of politics by other means, then the decision to go to war is a political one. A decision of such gravity, of such consequences, deserves the public visibility of recorded votes for the genuine article, the real thing, the full monty.
Single-parent soldiers
Michael Reagan's radio program this evening discussed the plight of single parents in the Army of One (and the Air Force to which No One Even Comes Close, and so forth). The DoD should contract with accessing members, offering an annuity equal to one-half the value of the services they must provide to enlisted families. If the member makes it through the first term of enlistment (or to NCO status, whichever comes first) without taking on any dependents, the annuity is paid, in the form of a 401(k) with income taxes deferred. Any dependents, oops, no annuity.
Update: link to the radio program's website was corrected.
Michael Reagan's radio program this evening discussed the plight of single parents in the Army of One (and the Air Force to which No One Even Comes Close, and so forth). The DoD should contract with accessing members, offering an annuity equal to one-half the value of the services they must provide to enlisted families. If the member makes it through the first term of enlistment (or to NCO status, whichever comes first) without taking on any dependents, the annuity is paid, in the form of a 401(k) with income taxes deferred. Any dependents, oops, no annuity.
Update: link to the radio program's website was corrected.
20030224
Mark your calendar
The feast day of Saint Gabriel Possenti is 27 February. He is, or ought to be, the Patron Saint of Handgunners.
Update: Kathy Kinsley responds to this with "Ick." I think it has something to do with handguns versus any kind of gun, with which sentiment I disagree. Handguns are inherently less accurate than long-guns. Marksmanship with a handgun is, caeteris paribus, more difficult and thus more daunting to the goblins. It deserves its own term to distinguish it from other forms of marksmanship.
Coyote tells me that the Saint was also a lawyer.
Please drive some traffic, and drop some dollars, at the site for the Possenti Society.
The feast day of Saint Gabriel Possenti is 27 February. He is, or ought to be, the Patron Saint of Handgunners.
Update: Kathy Kinsley responds to this with "Ick." I think it has something to do with handguns versus any kind of gun, with which sentiment I disagree. Handguns are inherently less accurate than long-guns. Marksmanship with a handgun is, caeteris paribus, more difficult and thus more daunting to the goblins. It deserves its own term to distinguish it from other forms of marksmanship.
Coyote tells me that the Saint was also a lawyer.
Please drive some traffic, and drop some dollars, at the site for the Possenti Society.
20030221
Hey, hon, let's get patriotic
Bigwig describes how French kissing has become so, je ne sais quoi. Y'know. French.
Bigwig describes how French kissing has become so, je ne sais quoi. Y'know. French.
20030220
20030219
The sum of Tom Tancredo's fears, and Michell Malkin's fears
Read this discussion about crackdowns versus liberalization of immigration and their impacts on homeland security.
Then read Kathy Kinsley's take on it.
Then mine.
Read this discussion about crackdowns versus liberalization of immigration and their impacts on homeland security.
Then read Kathy Kinsley's take on it.
Then mine.
Close enough for me
Horsefeathers proposes a concise set of principles for foreign policy.
I disagree somewhat with his fourth point:
If our policy does in fact provide our trading partners and ostensible allies "Paradise at our expense," our choosing to no longer bear that expense will adequately offset any economic advantage they have over us. Japanese "steel dumping" should no longer be an problem, for example.
Found this via the Third Hand.
Horsefeathers proposes a concise set of principles for foreign policy.
I disagree somewhat with his fourth point:
We must help our businessmen to win out over our rivals in the great game of commerce.
If our policy does in fact provide our trading partners and ostensible allies "Paradise at our expense," our choosing to no longer bear that expense will adequately offset any economic advantage they have over us. Japanese "steel dumping" should no longer be an problem, for example.
Found this via the Third Hand.
20030213
A nice compromise between controlling power and stoppability
The .380 Auto is known in Europe as the 9mm Short. Does that mean the .40 S&M is called the 10mm Shibari over there?
Freudian slip noticed in comments to a post about defensive handguns at DailyPundit.
The .380 Auto is known in Europe as the 9mm Short. Does that mean the .40 S&M is called the 10mm Shibari over there?
Freudian slip noticed in comments to a post about defensive handguns at DailyPundit.
20030211
Idea number 241
I would also very much like the USAF to buy me a PDA. Not that I don't like my present platform, the Palm m500.
A commander some years back shared with us his vision that "someday the Air Force will not issue its airmen rifles, but computers." That vision is coming true haphazardly and unconsciously; we are now required to update dependent information through a website, for example, and we use the execrable FormFlow to prepare travel vouchers (the FormFlow version of the travel voucher still admonishes you to "press the pen firmly so all four copies are legible"---on an electronic form). But the automation has not penetrated deeply enough, and I still need the rifle.
Virtually all Air Force instructions ("regs") are available as PDFs now, downloaded from either a central Air Force site or from a CD-ROM copy. Technical Orders (equipment manuals) are beginning that painful transition from paper to pdf. My career field depends upon a constellation of AFIs, AFMANs, AFHs, TOs, and purpose-built network clients. I already share my schedule with two peers, two managers, three classrooms, and three email lists.
The only reason that all of these files cannot be crammed into 16 MB on a PDA is that the AF simply dumps full-size JPEG images into their pubs, in effect bloating a 300KB document to several MB by adding color photographs, even in a document that will only be printed in black and white anyway. If the AF simply hired some illustrators to take these photos and "compress" them the old fashioned way, Idea number 241 would. be. feasible. Today.
The AF then issues a standard PDA to everybody---Palm or the OS formerly known as Wince, makes no difference---and each office would have one or two cradles to dock them. "Hey, Tony, there's a new 10-2501 waiting for you at your next synch. Look at my notes attached to it. And there's a change 3 for 14P4 dash 15 dash 1!"
Yes, we do verbalize the dashes.
The AF could then stem the explosion in the number of desktop and notebook computers it has to buy, maintain, and replace. Even morale uses of these computers could be reduced---just read and compose emails to Significant Other offline, and they'll be sent the next time you dock. You can still get your Instapundit and your DavidMSC too.
In a small way, I've done this already---four of us bought our own Palm pilots before a recent deployment, and shared schedules, documents, and so forth. Sand didn't bother them (perspiration did---somebody needs to build a waterproof PDA).
If you came here from this post, then you can guess what's coming next.
Either the digital camera snaps on to the PDA, or communicates with it. The PDA uploads the images, calculates the contamination and digests it to a file. I would caution against using a flash memory device to transfer images from camera to PDA, because handling those little devices while wearing rubber gloves is difficult and invites ESD. Wireless would be unwise because RF on an airbase is discouraged. Infrared is cheap and proved, and you won't be using this capability while hostiles are watching you through night vision gear.
When the images are uploaded and digested, you get yourself to the nearest dock and blurt the digested information to the mapping terminal. If the PDA gets slimed, throw it away and restore your backup to a new one.
Then the mapping terminal blurts back to you a password-protected map of where the slime is.
I would also very much like the USAF to buy me a PDA. Not that I don't like my present platform, the Palm m500.
A commander some years back shared with us his vision that "someday the Air Force will not issue its airmen rifles, but computers." That vision is coming true haphazardly and unconsciously; we are now required to update dependent information through a website, for example, and we use the execrable FormFlow to prepare travel vouchers (the FormFlow version of the travel voucher still admonishes you to "press the pen firmly so all four copies are legible"---on an electronic form). But the automation has not penetrated deeply enough, and I still need the rifle.
Virtually all Air Force instructions ("regs") are available as PDFs now, downloaded from either a central Air Force site or from a CD-ROM copy. Technical Orders (equipment manuals) are beginning that painful transition from paper to pdf. My career field depends upon a constellation of AFIs, AFMANs, AFHs, TOs, and purpose-built network clients. I already share my schedule with two peers, two managers, three classrooms, and three email lists.
The only reason that all of these files cannot be crammed into 16 MB on a PDA is that the AF simply dumps full-size JPEG images into their pubs, in effect bloating a 300KB document to several MB by adding color photographs, even in a document that will only be printed in black and white anyway. If the AF simply hired some illustrators to take these photos and "compress" them the old fashioned way, Idea number 241 would. be. feasible. Today.
The AF then issues a standard PDA to everybody---Palm or the OS formerly known as Wince, makes no difference---and each office would have one or two cradles to dock them. "Hey, Tony, there's a new 10-2501 waiting for you at your next synch. Look at my notes attached to it. And there's a change 3 for 14P4 dash 15 dash 1!"
Yes, we do verbalize the dashes.
The AF could then stem the explosion in the number of desktop and notebook computers it has to buy, maintain, and replace. Even morale uses of these computers could be reduced---just read and compose emails to Significant Other offline, and they'll be sent the next time you dock. You can still get your Instapundit and your DavidMSC too.
In a small way, I've done this already---four of us bought our own Palm pilots before a recent deployment, and shared schedules, documents, and so forth. Sand didn't bother them (perspiration did---somebody needs to build a waterproof PDA).
If you came here from this post, then you can guess what's coming next.
Either the digital camera snaps on to the PDA, or communicates with it. The PDA uploads the images, calculates the contamination and digests it to a file. I would caution against using a flash memory device to transfer images from camera to PDA, because handling those little devices while wearing rubber gloves is difficult and invites ESD. Wireless would be unwise because RF on an airbase is discouraged. Infrared is cheap and proved, and you won't be using this capability while hostiles are watching you through night vision gear.
When the images are uploaded and digested, you get yourself to the nearest dock and blurt the digested information to the mapping terminal. If the PDA gets slimed, throw it away and restore your backup to a new one.
Then the mapping terminal blurts back to you a password-protected map of where the slime is.
Idea number 372
We have received some constructive criticism of Idea number 354, from none other than an experienced cadre member at a US military NBC training facility.
The portable paper-band contamination tracker fails to satisfy on several counts:
So Cadre one-upped me. "Our people have already stationed the detector paper around the base, as part of pre-attack detection measures. Give us a device that looks at that paper and quantifies the contamination. What do digital cameras cost these days?"
OK. The required granularity would be there. We'd be using an existing resource more wisely rather than procuring a new system with its own expendables. So:
If any readers are familiar with the equipment used to perform complete blood counts, for example, please reality-check me. The software involved in counting colored dots in an image with fixed background color can't be so complex it can't be packed into a high-end notebook, right? Statistical output of an image compressor, such as JPEG?
In fact, might this software be simple enough to run on a properly configured PDA? If so, check out idea number 241.
The challenge to such a system would be porting all of these images back to one location where they can be assembled and assessed. The bandwidth required for hauling around two-meg jpegs would kill a base network; if the assessment function were pushed out to the periphery of the system, closer to where the images are captured, then the message coming from the imager to the mapping software would be a few bytes showing color, concentration, and temperature, a couple bytes identifying the camera, operator, and date/time group, and a couple bytes of location coordinates.
It's also a reason for the USAF to buy me AutoCAD.
We have received some constructive criticism of Idea number 354, from none other than an experienced cadre member at a US military NBC training facility.
The portable paper-band contamination tracker fails to satisfy on several counts:
- Even if the device went out for competitive bid and somebody like Lexmark or Brother won the contract,
Uncle Sugar would still never buy enough of them to cover an airbase with the granularity needed to capture a meaningful
image of the "plume," the footprint of deposited liquid agent. - Of course Uncle Sugar would never put this device out for competitive bid, and would ultimately pay five thousand dollars each, for seventy-five bucks of hardware and a fifteen-dollar expendable paper band cassette. There's a reason I suggested two fax/printer/copier manufacturers as bidders---this device is no more complex than that.
So Cadre one-upped me. "Our people have already stationed the detector paper around the base, as part of pre-attack detection measures. Give us a device that looks at that paper and quantifies the contamination. What do digital cameras cost these days?"
OK. The required granularity would be there. We'd be using an existing resource more wisely rather than procuring a new system with its own expendables. So:
- Control the focus and lighting with a simple, folding (disposable?) plastic frame that holds the camera at a fixed distance and reflects the flash evenly across the sample detector paper. Put a thermometer in a corner of the frame.
- Capture an image of the paper under known shutter speed and aperture, with a known resolution and color depth. Done right, this system could be independent of camera make and model. Just meet the exposure, resolution, and flash specs.
- Imprint coordinates with the image, captured from a GPS receiver. Better yet, snap the coordinates of the paper when it is stationed in the first place, and record the coordinates directly on the paper so it's imaged there, instead of captured later.
- Issue software that sucks the images in from several cameras,
- assesses each image by color of spot, size of spot, number of spots, and
- determines agent type and concentration of deposition, then
- plots the concentration on a base map for the Wing King.
If any readers are familiar with the equipment used to perform complete blood counts, for example, please reality-check me. The software involved in counting colored dots in an image with fixed background color can't be so complex it can't be packed into a high-end notebook, right? Statistical output of an image compressor, such as JPEG?
In fact, might this software be simple enough to run on a properly configured PDA? If so, check out idea number 241.
The challenge to such a system would be porting all of these images back to one location where they can be assembled and assessed. The bandwidth required for hauling around two-meg jpegs would kill a base network; if the assessment function were pushed out to the periphery of the system, closer to where the images are captured, then the message coming from the imager to the mapping software would be a few bytes showing color, concentration, and temperature, a couple bytes identifying the camera, operator, and date/time group, and a couple bytes of location coordinates.
It's also a reason for the USAF to buy me AutoCAD.
20030209
Why I'd rather not fly any more
Penn Jillette talking to a TSA representative after an unpleasant security experience; found via Armed Liberal.
" . . . freedom is kind of a hobby with me, and I have disposable income that I'll spend to find out how to get people more of it."
Penn Jillette talking to a TSA representative after an unpleasant security experience; found via Armed Liberal.
Cafe con piernas
Mind the web filters, y'all.
During a business trip to Chile in 1995, our hosts took us to a coffeeshop whose name translates to "coffee with legs."
There was no seating; all customers stood. The walls were mirrored such that we could admire the young women serving coffee, in dresses that revealed their legs very flatteringly.
Courtesy of dustbury, links to the blogosphere equivalent of cafe con piernas.
Mind the web filters, y'all.
During a business trip to Chile in 1995, our hosts took us to a coffeeshop whose name translates to "coffee with legs."
There was no seating; all customers stood. The walls were mirrored such that we could admire the young women serving coffee, in dresses that revealed their legs very flatteringly.
Courtesy of dustbury, links to the blogosphere equivalent of cafe con piernas.
20030206
Grudging acceptance?
James Rummel comments on my post about the purpose and limits of government.
Update: sorry, yes, it was "grudging realization." Anyway, government has to be intrusive to be effective, but there must be limits to the degree of intrusion, to preserve the faith of the governed that the intrusion is justifiable and should be allowed. The difference between party A investigating party B for a possible violation of party C's rights, and a fishing expedition for A to find something about B, possibly with no party C of any kind.
This does work back to an express libertarian principle, that there has to be a wronged party, a victim. It also means that there must be laws and impartial referees to determine when intrustion is justified, and penalties when the intrusion is not justified but happens anyway.
James Rummel comments on my post about the purpose and limits of government.
Update: sorry, yes, it was "grudging realization." Anyway, government has to be intrusive to be effective, but there must be limits to the degree of intrusion, to preserve the faith of the governed that the intrusion is justifiable and should be allowed. The difference between party A investigating party B for a possible violation of party C's rights, and a fishing expedition for A to find something about B, possibly with no party C of any kind.
This does work back to an express libertarian principle, that there has to be a wronged party, a victim. It also means that there must be laws and impartial referees to determine when intrustion is justified, and penalties when the intrusion is not justified but happens anyway.
I feel left out too
Follow this link to Silflay Hraka, for a proposed new romantic holiday.
It's only days before my birthday.
Follow this link to Silflay Hraka, for a proposed new romantic holiday.
It's only days before my birthday.
20030204
Ubicams may not be enough
One of my struggles with libertarianism involves the question of whether the civil rights we recognize and enjoy are protected only against government, or against other forms of power as well. Can an employer, for instance, be prohibited from sampling the urine of her employees or applicants? Can a homeowners’ association be restrained from fining me if I paint my house a non-approved color?
David Brin’s The Transparent Society repeatedly stresses that government is not the only center of power able to threaten individual liberties. Government is a necessary evil precisely because other centers of power rise to overwhelm the individual. Governments are instituted among men to secure the rights of the individual against other parties that naturally form among men, as well as against other governments. That governments pose the gravest threat to liberties is secondary, and though Brin agrees (I think) he cautions that government is not the only threat.
I had finished that book last week. This evening, in an article about libertarians’ frequent kind sentiments for the Confederacy, this struggle again caught my attention in a comparison of our Constitution’s Founders with the Chicago mob:
Timothy Sandefur, "Liberty and Union, Now and Forever," Liberty Magazine, July 2002, page 37. Inexplicably, not available online.
Put aside for the moment that the criminal underworld to whom the writer is referring was trafficking in substances and services that Libertarians would legalize, removing the artificial profits and allowing competition to occur peaceably in the sunlight. Timothy Sandefur instead points to the possibility, even the likelihood, that gangs, mobs, conspiracies and so forth tend to form, either with evil intent at the outset, or by later transformation from innocence to evil, and that the power of government must from time to time be used to oppose them.
The question then becomes: what role has government to play in limiting the power of these other entities? The classical response from libertarians has been the free market. If you object to pissing in the cup for your next job, keep looking---employers have rights to hire and fire as they wish. If you want to paint your house flamingo pink, you should not have bought a house in the covenant-controlled community---government has no power to impair contracts. This is a far cry from Al Capone, of course.
I’ve always found such answers to be inadequate, but cannot yet successfully articulate that inadequacy. I can only offer examples of how it’s not adequate. Go ahead, try buying a house in the Denver metro suburbs without a covenant attached to it. Try getting a position of responsibility and challenge, with commensurate compensation, without having to submit bodily fluids for inspection.
Better yet: Your violent ex-husband knows where you work, what car you drive, your schedule, so forth. Try to carry an otherwise lawfully-concealed handgun on your employer’s premises. Try to carry it to the school to drop off and pick up your kid, or to church to celebrate Mass with the kid. Try to rent a video for the kid or buy her a new pair of tennies. You will encounter numerous other entities who don’t want your business, and who are using the force of law and their status as “private” to give you the bum’s rush. Entities that are not innately evil. Misguided, mistaken, but not Trying To Take Over The World.
You will quickly realize that you have rights that only government is bound to respect, and only very well-behaved government at that. But when the power of government is used to protect those rights, we often end up with laws that grant some entity the “rights” to the contents of your pocket.
You actually thought I’d try to make an argument of any kind without working in a blaster? I accept this about myself: this is the lens through which I view most topics.
I am slowly coming to agree with David Brin that transparency will bring accountability, which is more likely to protect rights without the nasty side effects of government regulation. But I don’t think transparency alone will suffice.
David Brin’s The Transparent Society repeatedly stresses that government is not the only center of power able to threaten individual liberties. Government is a necessary evil precisely because other centers of power rise to overwhelm the individual. Governments are instituted among men to secure the rights of the individual against other parties that naturally form among men, as well as against other governments. That governments pose the gravest threat to liberties is secondary, and though Brin agrees (I think) he cautions that government is not the only threat.
I had finished that book last week. This evening, in an article about libertarians’ frequent kind sentiments for the Confederacy, this struggle again caught my attention in a comparison of our Constitution’s Founders with the Chicago mob:
What is the difference between a group of men in Philadelphia in 1776 declaring themselves no longer subject to the laws of the English monarch, and a group of men in Chicago in 1920 declaring themselves no longer subject to the laws of the United States?
Timothy Sandefur, "Liberty and Union, Now and Forever," Liberty Magazine, July 2002, page 37. Inexplicably, not available online.
Put aside for the moment that the criminal underworld to whom the writer is referring was trafficking in substances and services that Libertarians would legalize, removing the artificial profits and allowing competition to occur peaceably in the sunlight. Timothy Sandefur instead points to the possibility, even the likelihood, that gangs, mobs, conspiracies and so forth tend to form, either with evil intent at the outset, or by later transformation from innocence to evil, and that the power of government must from time to time be used to oppose them.
The question then becomes: what role has government to play in limiting the power of these other entities? The classical response from libertarians has been the free market. If you object to pissing in the cup for your next job, keep looking---employers have rights to hire and fire as they wish. If you want to paint your house flamingo pink, you should not have bought a house in the covenant-controlled community---government has no power to impair contracts. This is a far cry from Al Capone, of course.
I’ve always found such answers to be inadequate, but cannot yet successfully articulate that inadequacy. I can only offer examples of how it’s not adequate. Go ahead, try buying a house in the Denver metro suburbs without a covenant attached to it. Try getting a position of responsibility and challenge, with commensurate compensation, without having to submit bodily fluids for inspection.
Better yet: Your violent ex-husband knows where you work, what car you drive, your schedule, so forth. Try to carry an otherwise lawfully-concealed handgun on your employer’s premises. Try to carry it to the school to drop off and pick up your kid, or to church to celebrate Mass with the kid. Try to rent a video for the kid or buy her a new pair of tennies. You will encounter numerous other entities who don’t want your business, and who are using the force of law and their status as “private” to give you the bum’s rush. Entities that are not innately evil. Misguided, mistaken, but not Trying To Take Over The World.
You will quickly realize that you have rights that only government is bound to respect, and only very well-behaved government at that. But when the power of government is used to protect those rights, we often end up with laws that grant some entity the “rights” to the contents of your pocket.
You actually thought I’d try to make an argument of any kind without working in a blaster? I accept this about myself: this is the lens through which I view most topics.
I am slowly coming to agree with David Brin that transparency will bring accountability, which is more likely to protect rights without the nasty side effects of government regulation. But I don’t think transparency alone will suffice.
20030203
Sauve qui peut
Am slowly recovering my blogroll goodies since the template files were getting damaged---this includes, with humble apologies, restoring the ring code for the Colorado Bloggers' webring. Reconstruction should continue this evening if I can sled my way up I25.
13SEP16805769 thru 13TER14935702
Am slowly recovering my blogroll goodies since the template files were getting damaged---this includes, with humble apologies, restoring the ring code for the Colorado Bloggers' webring. Reconstruction should continue this evening if I can sled my way up I25.
13SEP16805769 thru 13TER14935702
20030130
Guy's gotta eat
I can manage to pay the bills without starring in bondage videos.
My full-time boss at my Guard unit is very ill, cannot work. I am temping in his place since my civilian job dried up. Please keep Jim in your thoughts.
13TER14935702
I can manage to pay the bills without starring in bondage videos.
My full-time boss at my Guard unit is very ill, cannot work. I am temping in his place since my civilian job dried up. Please keep Jim in your thoughts.
13TER14935702
Woo hoo!
I passed the second exam of Course 6.
This is the correspondence course that satisfies Professional Military Education requirements for one to advance from E6 to E7.
Imagine a correspondence course on leadership, management, protocol, and international affairs written by the United States Air Force. In fact, you don't have to imagine it. That's what Course 6 is, a poke-yourself-in-the-eye-with-dull-stick pain.
Then consider that the materials are about 12 years out of date. The AF regulation regarding uniform and personal appearance is still listed as AFR 35-10. That number changed long ago to the 36 series.
An errata list included with the course materials instructs the student to delete entire passages in the international affairs section describing the Soviet Threat---or simply inserting the word "former" at certain points. There is no mention of the decisive successes of Airpower! in Desert Storm and Shield. Missed opportunities that should be rued.
Still, I passed it, it's behind me, and I'm in a slot in the org chart that allows me to proceed to that grade.
13TER14935702
I passed the second exam of Course 6.
This is the correspondence course that satisfies Professional Military Education requirements for one to advance from E6 to E7.
Imagine a correspondence course on leadership, management, protocol, and international affairs written by the United States Air Force. In fact, you don't have to imagine it. That's what Course 6 is, a poke-yourself-in-the-eye-with-dull-stick pain.
Then consider that the materials are about 12 years out of date. The AF regulation regarding uniform and personal appearance is still listed as AFR 35-10. That number changed long ago to the 36 series.
An errata list included with the course materials instructs the student to delete entire passages in the international affairs section describing the Soviet Threat---or simply inserting the word "former" at certain points. There is no mention of the decisive successes of Airpower! in Desert Storm and Shield. Missed opportunities that should be rued.
Still, I passed it, it's behind me, and I'm in a slot in the org chart that allows me to proceed to that grade.
13TER14935702
20030125
Idea number 354
Military airfields are big s**t magnets. They cannot be hidden, they cannot be moved. One of the biggest threats to our airfields in Southwest Asia, in the coming conflict, will be chemical attacks. To mitigate the threat, we need the ability to detect when and where a chemical has been released, to know which areas are contaminated and to what concentration. With this information we can predict when an area will be usable or even traversible again.
US and NATO forces already possess a very effective and inexpensive (expendable!) device to detect contamination, a detector paper that changes color when it is contacted with suspected chemical agents. Each country has its own model or designation of the paper, some adhesive-backed. It's a throw-away item, everybody carries a little pack of it.
Measuring droplet size is key to determining a few important parameters. Measuring change of droplet size over time also helps to predict how long the agent sticks around---"persistence"---which the base commander must know so he can balance the threat of the chemical against the loss of personnel to heat injuries caused by the clothing that protects them.
Idea number 354 would use a long ribbon of this paper, say 10cm wide in a 50 meter cassette just like an oversized VHS videocassette. It loads in a machine that exposes a 10x10cm window of this ribbon at any moment, horizontally facing the sky, advancing the ribbon about 20mm a minute. As the ribbon passes out of the window and back into the machine, it comes under a color scanner, just like the scanning head of a flatbed scanner you probably have connected to your home computer. The scanner notes change of color, from the olive drab of the paper as it is manufactured, to the red or yellow or blue-green that indicates contamination. A color change trips an alarm. A date/time stamp, including temperature, is imprinted on the paper at the trailing edge of the window exposed to the sky. An optional windcock attachment includes windspeed and direction (really useful information) in the stamp.
This device is networked through a narrowband connection on standard field wire to a PC in some command post, which polls as many devices as you've positioned. When the flag flies, the PC starts drawing all of the inputs in, and depicts the areas of the base with the highest concentrations of contamination, with a time resolution that does not overload (air quotes here) the Boss who Needs the Info.
The PC can also hold the devices in non-scroll mode until an attack is expected, can speed up the ribbon movement to catch more-precise measurements of droplet size (timestamps continue every minute while the detection is active), slow it back down, stop the scroll if it's a false alarm, and so forth.
If no chemicals land in the window, the machine scrolls the ribbon to the end, then reverses direction and scrolls back. The cassette doesn't have to be replaced unless it has detected something, and then it will be retrieved and shipped off to a lab for verification (and evidence) anyway.
The active dyes in this paper could be masked in a pattern that helps the scanner to measure droplet size with usable precision.
Anybody want to guess what this box would cost? Remember, it needs to be painted in sand color, powered by either battery or AC mains, and handled by high-school graduates. Over-engineer it a bit.
13SEP16805769
Military airfields are big s**t magnets. They cannot be hidden, they cannot be moved. One of the biggest threats to our airfields in Southwest Asia, in the coming conflict, will be chemical attacks. To mitigate the threat, we need the ability to detect when and where a chemical has been released, to know which areas are contaminated and to what concentration. With this information we can predict when an area will be usable or even traversible again.
US and NATO forces already possess a very effective and inexpensive (expendable!) device to detect contamination, a detector paper that changes color when it is contacted with suspected chemical agents. Each country has its own model or designation of the paper, some adhesive-backed. It's a throw-away item, everybody carries a little pack of it.
Measuring droplet size is key to determining a few important parameters. Measuring change of droplet size over time also helps to predict how long the agent sticks around---"persistence"---which the base commander must know so he can balance the threat of the chemical against the loss of personnel to heat injuries caused by the clothing that protects them.
Idea number 354 would use a long ribbon of this paper, say 10cm wide in a 50 meter cassette just like an oversized VHS videocassette. It loads in a machine that exposes a 10x10cm window of this ribbon at any moment, horizontally facing the sky, advancing the ribbon about 20mm a minute. As the ribbon passes out of the window and back into the machine, it comes under a color scanner, just like the scanning head of a flatbed scanner you probably have connected to your home computer. The scanner notes change of color, from the olive drab of the paper as it is manufactured, to the red or yellow or blue-green that indicates contamination. A color change trips an alarm. A date/time stamp, including temperature, is imprinted on the paper at the trailing edge of the window exposed to the sky. An optional windcock attachment includes windspeed and direction (really useful information) in the stamp.
This device is networked through a narrowband connection on standard field wire to a PC in some command post, which polls as many devices as you've positioned. When the flag flies, the PC starts drawing all of the inputs in, and depicts the areas of the base with the highest concentrations of contamination, with a time resolution that does not overload (air quotes here) the Boss who Needs the Info.
The PC can also hold the devices in non-scroll mode until an attack is expected, can speed up the ribbon movement to catch more-precise measurements of droplet size (timestamps continue every minute while the detection is active), slow it back down, stop the scroll if it's a false alarm, and so forth.
If no chemicals land in the window, the machine scrolls the ribbon to the end, then reverses direction and scrolls back. The cassette doesn't have to be replaced unless it has detected something, and then it will be retrieved and shipped off to a lab for verification (and evidence) anyway.
The active dyes in this paper could be masked in a pattern that helps the scanner to measure droplet size with usable precision.
Anybody want to guess what this box would cost? Remember, it needs to be painted in sand color, powered by either battery or AC mains, and handled by high-school graduates. Over-engineer it a bit.
13SEP16805769
20030122
Our elements are burnt out, our beasts have been mistreated, I tell you it's the only way we'll get this road completed
13TER14935702
Another installment in my saga of the disappearing hrefs. They disappear when I edit my template with Netscape 7. Every time, it seems. Not every time I use the version of MSIE included with MacOS X. That is, caeteris paribus, considering that Norton Personal Firewall and AntiVirus stand between my Mac and Blogger.
So I must reset the template once again, and load my blogroll, commenting, SiteMeter, and other stuff back up. Sorry.
13TER14935702
Another installment in my saga of the disappearing hrefs. They disappear when I edit my template with Netscape 7. Every time, it seems. Not every time I use the version of MSIE included with MacOS X. That is, caeteris paribus, considering that Norton Personal Firewall and AntiVirus stand between my Mac and Blogger.
So I must reset the template once again, and load my blogroll, commenting, SiteMeter, and other stuff back up. Sorry.
20030116
20030113
. . . never did like it all that much, and one day the axe just fell
I am so much at peace with being laid off this time, it is scary. We're going out to dinner tonight.
Options on the BDU side of the career are available; the kids missed me while I've been traveling to Kansas and now I get to put them to bed for a few more nights; I just took the second exam to qualify for E7. There's nothing to sweat.
I am so much at peace with being laid off this time, it is scary. We're going out to dinner tonight.
Options on the BDU side of the career are available; the kids missed me while I've been traveling to Kansas and now I get to put them to bed for a few more nights; I just took the second exam to qualify for E7. There's nothing to sweat.
20030102
20021228
Reason to quit
Some eight hundred thousand unemployed persons will soon stop receiving unemployment compensation.
Naturally there is pressure from certain quarters for Congress to find some way to extend this compensation.
The first instinct of fiscal conservatives and libertarians would be to attempt to persuade the public that this extension of benefits would hurt the economy. Let me suggest an alternative.
Pressure Congress and the White House to offer an escape hatch. Go ahead, offer an extension of benefits, but with a catch. In exchange for accepting the extended unemployment compensation, the unemployed person agrees in writing to be exempted from all future Social Security benefits of any kind, and will no longer have FICA collected from him or her.
In short, "if you take The Package, it's over. Ninety more days, then you're out for good, no coming back. No paying into it either. Deal? Sign here."
Update: did I mention that anyone taking The Package also receives a handsomely-framed certificate stating that future employers of said person will no longer collect from nor contribute FICA for that person?
Some eight hundred thousand unemployed persons will soon stop receiving unemployment compensation.
Naturally there is pressure from certain quarters for Congress to find some way to extend this compensation.
The first instinct of fiscal conservatives and libertarians would be to attempt to persuade the public that this extension of benefits would hurt the economy. Let me suggest an alternative.
Pressure Congress and the White House to offer an escape hatch. Go ahead, offer an extension of benefits, but with a catch. In exchange for accepting the extended unemployment compensation, the unemployed person agrees in writing to be exempted from all future Social Security benefits of any kind, and will no longer have FICA collected from him or her.
In short, "if you take The Package, it's over. Ninety more days, then you're out for good, no coming back. No paying into it either. Deal? Sign here."
Update: did I mention that anyone taking The Package also receives a handsomely-framed certificate stating that future employers of said person will no longer collect from nor contribute FICA for that person?
Been through this once already
After reloading this template, then adding my blogroll back in, then Sitemeter, BlogHop, and Enetation, I figured I had WeckUpToThees back on line and fully functional again after some sort of terrible hacking.
How mistaken I was. Less than one day after things were restored, whatever hosed me up in the first place hosed me up again. All links in the template have lost their href arguments. Every g*****ned one.
After reloading this template, then adding my blogroll back in, then Sitemeter, BlogHop, and Enetation, I figured I had WeckUpToThees back on line and fully functional again after some sort of terrible hacking.
How mistaken I was. Less than one day after things were restored, whatever hosed me up in the first place hosed me up again. All links in the template have lost their href arguments. Every g*****ned one.
20021224
Holidays make me think about such things
While preparing our large list of Christmas cards, Mama-san and I were faced with the grim task of reprinting several envelopes. Divorces and separations, in addition to a death, have caused several "Mr and Mrs" to become just "Mr" or "Mrs."
Being an INTP, it struck me that one's way of dealing with that event would be useful as a personality type indicator. Expect to see the following question on a Meyers-Briggs test someday.
Do you:
While preparing our large list of Christmas cards, Mama-san and I were faced with the grim task of reprinting several envelopes. Divorces and separations, in addition to a death, have caused several "Mr and Mrs" to become just "Mr" or "Mrs."
Being an INTP, it struck me that one's way of dealing with that event would be useful as a personality type indicator. Expect to see the following question on a Meyers-Briggs test someday.
Do you:
- strike through the "and Mrs" with a pen,
- cover the whole address with an adhesive label, and fret that the thin paper label still allows one to read the mistake (and the strikethrough) through it,
- ask Mama-san to print a new envelope (only two or three left!),
- kick yourself viciously for having let the mistake through in the mail-merge stage?
- All of the above.
I am not a number! I am a free man!
One of my Christmas gifts arrived already, but was not gift-wrapped inside the shipping carton. So I feel guilty that I know what it is already: a boxed set of the first three episodes of The Prisoner. Mama-san, aka Barbaloot, will not let me watch it until Christmas day.
One of my Christmas gifts arrived already, but was not gift-wrapped inside the shipping carton. So I feel guilty that I know what it is already: a boxed set of the first three episodes of The Prisoner. Mama-san, aka Barbaloot, will not let me watch it until Christmas day.
Merry Christmas!
We hope this letter finds you well.
Boy is a two-year-old Force of Nature, who is growing into his maternal grandfather’s physique.
Middlechild wears glasses now at age four, and is doing well at school. She is daddy’s girl.
Firstborn reads very well at six, and enjoys learning Spanish. She has tried climbing an indoor pinnacle at the local REI shop, and has expressed an interest in skiing. She is a self-described chatterbox.
Fuze is back from a year of active duty with the Air Force, serving in Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and Qatar. He returned to regular work with a systems integration firm, but this job takes him away from home too much.
Barbaloot participates in a mothers’ group, Bible study, and the choir. Until recently she signed regularly for some deaf people in our parish. She is the center of our home, and still manages to give time and attention to church and neighbors.
We are thankful for everything we have, and all we would ask is more time with each other.
Please enjoy your Christmas season, and may this time renew your faith and energy for the coming New Year.
We hope this letter finds you well.
Boy is a two-year-old Force of Nature, who is growing into his maternal grandfather’s physique.
Middlechild wears glasses now at age four, and is doing well at school. She is daddy’s girl.
Firstborn reads very well at six, and enjoys learning Spanish. She has tried climbing an indoor pinnacle at the local REI shop, and has expressed an interest in skiing. She is a self-described chatterbox.
Fuze is back from a year of active duty with the Air Force, serving in Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and Qatar. He returned to regular work with a systems integration firm, but this job takes him away from home too much.
Barbaloot participates in a mothers’ group, Bible study, and the choir. Until recently she signed regularly for some deaf people in our parish. She is the center of our home, and still manages to give time and attention to church and neighbors.
We are thankful for everything we have, and all we would ask is more time with each other.
Please enjoy your Christmas season, and may this time renew your faith and energy for the coming New Year.
20021218
Met fellow blogger Walter in Denver the other night, at a party of a mutual friend. He immediately knew who I was. Pseudonymity is a pretense.
20021211
My blogroll is hosed
Either Blogger has come down with another bug, or someone has hacked it to the point that the hrefs are all gone from the links in my blogroll.
Bastidges!
Update: partially restored. Will validate links to blogs who have moved. Please let me know if you link to me but I have not reciprocated.
Update to the update: partially restored my a**. The template keeps losing the href arguments to all links on the blog.
Either Blogger has come down with another bug, or someone has hacked it to the point that the hrefs are all gone from the links in my blogroll.
Bastidges!
Update: partially restored. Will validate links to blogs who have moved. Please let me know if you link to me but I have not reciprocated.
Update to the update: partially restored my a**. The template keeps losing the href arguments to all links on the blog.
20021209
Ah ayahm ruh'miss . . .
. . . in welcoming to my blogroll, Jakester and Chicago Boyz.
My feeble connections to Chicago amount to one memorable lunch at the Berghoff and many plane changes at my least favorite airport (so far), O'Hare. Sorry.
Seattle holds more for me, as I had a customer in Bellevue, and still have a friend in North Bend. And a coffee mug from Poulsbo.
Update: . . . and my wife's cousin in Seattle proper, and two trips to the pie shop in North Bend, featured in the show Twin Peaks.
. . . in welcoming to my blogroll, Jakester and Chicago Boyz.
My feeble connections to Chicago amount to one memorable lunch at the Berghoff and many plane changes at my least favorite airport (so far), O'Hare. Sorry.
Seattle holds more for me, as I had a customer in Bellevue, and still have a friend in North Bend. And a coffee mug from Poulsbo.
Update: . . . and my wife's cousin in Seattle proper, and two trips to the pie shop in North Bend, featured in the show Twin Peaks.
20021208
Darwinian testimonials
James Rummel asks why many people who depend upon handguns in their professions appear to be so emotional about the caliber .45 Automatic Centerfire Pistol cartridge.
The very unscientific answer to James's question is that many users either survived a lethal encounter, or know closely someone who has, while using said caliber. Those who entered similiar lethal encounters with arms or cartridges dispensing less power, uh, are less likely to have survived them, so there are fewer people available to testify to their effectiveness. Doubtless many cops have shot their way out of such encounters with a 9mm, for example, but I seriously have never heard anyone in that business say "If the 9mm Parabellum weren't such a potent and decisive manstopper, son, I wouldn't be standing here today." I have heard quite the opposite, from people who were skilled or lucky enough to survive in spite of the round. Reports of orcs absorbing multiple hits from .45, or from 10mm, are met with head-scratching puzzlement, because they are so rare.
Consider the term Darwinian testimonial, though perhaps a better term can be found. I do not claim to have had such an experience either way, but I know enough people who have, and their consensus is that the 9mm is an inadequate round for the application, all other things being equal. That suffices. If recoil, expense, platform, or other reasons require that one choose the 9mm over a larger caliber, its lesser effectiveness could be compensated, say through training to emphasize shot placement.
Update: Please visit James's post, and the comments thereunto. This argument is as old as either cartridge is, and will not be resolved any time soon. Your humble narrator is mulling a further post on the "conceptual space occupied by a handgun" the better to frame my flimsy argument.
James Rummel asks why many people who depend upon handguns in their professions appear to be so emotional about the caliber .45 Automatic Centerfire Pistol cartridge.
The very unscientific answer to James's question is that many users either survived a lethal encounter, or know closely someone who has, while using said caliber. Those who entered similiar lethal encounters with arms or cartridges dispensing less power, uh, are less likely to have survived them, so there are fewer people available to testify to their effectiveness. Doubtless many cops have shot their way out of such encounters with a 9mm, for example, but I seriously have never heard anyone in that business say "If the 9mm Parabellum weren't such a potent and decisive manstopper, son, I wouldn't be standing here today." I have heard quite the opposite, from people who were skilled or lucky enough to survive in spite of the round. Reports of orcs absorbing multiple hits from .45, or from 10mm, are met with head-scratching puzzlement, because they are so rare.
Consider the term Darwinian testimonial, though perhaps a better term can be found. I do not claim to have had such an experience either way, but I know enough people who have, and their consensus is that the 9mm is an inadequate round for the application, all other things being equal. That suffices. If recoil, expense, platform, or other reasons require that one choose the 9mm over a larger caliber, its lesser effectiveness could be compensated, say through training to emphasize shot placement.
Update: Please visit James's post, and the comments thereunto. This argument is as old as either cartridge is, and will not be resolved any time soon. Your humble narrator is mulling a further post on the "conceptual space occupied by a handgun" the better to frame my flimsy argument.
What she said
This is just one more reason I admire Megan McArdle's writing. Conciseness, and an appeal to shared experience.
I've said such things more times than I want to remember.
This is just one more reason I admire Megan McArdle's writing. Conciseness, and an appeal to shared experience.
I think we've all had the experience of saying something accidentally that appeared to have an unequivocal horrifying meaning which was not at all what we had meant to say.
I've said such things more times than I want to remember.
20021202
Aww shucks
This blog is listed under "Other Fine Blogs" by Mr. duToit. Many thanks.
Yes, I've been away, devoting all of my Thanksgiving time to my wife and children. I managed to fit in a shooting expedition in Boulder County with a friend I hadn't seen for a year, helped him break his fiancee's Jeep's front driveshaft, and function-fired an FAL and an Ishapore pseudo-Scout.
My firstborn has also tried out the Pinnacle at the nearest REI store.
Sorry I've been away so long, but like James Rummel, I've had other things to do than sit in front of a computer. Upon returning from this hiatus, I was checking to see if anyone dropped links to me, and I'm grateful that James and Kim have not.
This blog is listed under "Other Fine Blogs" by Mr. duToit. Many thanks.
Yes, I've been away, devoting all of my Thanksgiving time to my wife and children. I managed to fit in a shooting expedition in Boulder County with a friend I hadn't seen for a year, helped him break his fiancee's Jeep's front driveshaft, and function-fired an FAL and an Ishapore pseudo-Scout.
My firstborn has also tried out the Pinnacle at the nearest REI store.
Sorry I've been away so long, but like James Rummel, I've had other things to do than sit in front of a computer. Upon returning from this hiatus, I was checking to see if anyone dropped links to me, and I'm grateful that James and Kim have not.
It's a stinkin' NAAK, Greta
Greta Van Susteren was interviewing a talking head on her Fox News program this evening about smallpox vaccinations. The file footage running along with the interview showed a BDU-clad woman demonstrating a Mark I nerve agent antidote auto-injector kit. Two injectors yoked together, a short one loaded with atropine sulfate, and a long one loaded with pralidoxime.
The Mark I's only application is to counter nerve agent poisoning. Self-administered or buddy-administered when symptoms are presented, intramuscular, right through the protective clothing. They contain huge needles, backed by huge cocked steel springs, to inject the drugs into the large outer muscle of your thigh while your hands are shaking.
This kit has no relation to vaccination against smallpox whatever.
Even Fox News is not immune to the errors that accompany reporting about the military, even on a topic that has been receiving much (deserved) attention, NBC defense.
Greta Van Susteren was interviewing a talking head on her Fox News program this evening about smallpox vaccinations. The file footage running along with the interview showed a BDU-clad woman demonstrating a Mark I nerve agent antidote auto-injector kit. Two injectors yoked together, a short one loaded with atropine sulfate, and a long one loaded with pralidoxime.
The Mark I's only application is to counter nerve agent poisoning. Self-administered or buddy-administered when symptoms are presented, intramuscular, right through the protective clothing. They contain huge needles, backed by huge cocked steel springs, to inject the drugs into the large outer muscle of your thigh while your hands are shaking.
This kit has no relation to vaccination against smallpox whatever.
Even Fox News is not immune to the errors that accompany reporting about the military, even on a topic that has been receiving much (deserved) attention, NBC defense.
20021116
but do you think anybody would be grateful? Nooooooo
Glenn Reynolds sees the value in third parties, by keeping the extremists from prevailing:
As Thomas Sowell put it, the GOP offers (mostly) second-rate firemen to protect my liberties, and the Democrat party (mostly) first-rate arsonists who would burn those liberties down. Having the second-rate firemen firmly in charge, with a majority capable of cloture over a filibuster, can be just as bad as having the arsonists in charge by just one seat.
Anyone from the Dems or the "moderate" GOP who appreciates the valuable service we Libertarians provide in keeping the even keel, please donate to one of the charities in the ribbon to the right, or to the LP itself. In a way we keep you guys from looking worse than you would, even without getting our own people into office.
What would really fix this problem, though, would be a return to the original State appointment (and State recall) of Senators, instead of directly electing them. But Libertarians would still have the Governorships to regulate.
Glenn Reynolds sees the value in third parties, by keeping the extremists from prevailing:
this is how third parties traditionally have an impact -- by costing one of the two major parties close elections.
As Thomas Sowell put it, the GOP offers (mostly) second-rate firemen to protect my liberties, and the Democrat party (mostly) first-rate arsonists who would burn those liberties down. Having the second-rate firemen firmly in charge, with a majority capable of cloture over a filibuster, can be just as bad as having the arsonists in charge by just one seat.
Anyone from the Dems or the "moderate" GOP who appreciates the valuable service we Libertarians provide in keeping the even keel, please donate to one of the charities in the ribbon to the right, or to the LP itself. In a way we keep you guys from looking worse than you would, even without getting our own people into office.
What would really fix this problem, though, would be a return to the original State appointment (and State recall) of Senators, instead of directly electing them. But Libertarians would still have the Governorships to regulate.
20021113
My wife will be home from work any minute now
 .You're cautious, a bit paranoid. You left the scene for the suburban married life, but somehow, trouble seems to follow you and piss on your mornings. You are quick to share your point of view, but have no problems with giving in to the requests of wives and wolves. Take the What Pulp Fiction Character Are You? quiz. |
sans Toto
Northwestern Kansas is much like Southwestern Nebraska, or Eastern Colorado, or the Oklahoma Panhandle.
At night, while driving along whatever Interstate Highway that President Eisenhower has provided through that country, one can see the next town about 30 klicks out. One has a stunning view of a meteor should one enter the atmosphere. For the record, it burned out into tiny orange splinters directly south of me at mile marker 44 on I-70.
And at 0530, one can see both Venus and Mercury.
But no witches, no ruby slippers, no wizards behind the curtain. If I am lucky, no tornadoes either.
Northwestern Kansas is much like Southwestern Nebraska, or Eastern Colorado, or the Oklahoma Panhandle.
At night, while driving along whatever Interstate Highway that President Eisenhower has provided through that country, one can see the next town about 30 klicks out. One has a stunning view of a meteor should one enter the atmosphere. For the record, it burned out into tiny orange splinters directly south of me at mile marker 44 on I-70.
And at 0530, one can see both Venus and Mercury.
But no witches, no ruby slippers, no wizards behind the curtain. If I am lucky, no tornadoes either.
20021110
I prefer "breasteses"
I laud the idea of bloggers baring their breasts for charity and cancer awareness. Sainted Wyff would agree that I am what would be called a "breast man." However, just as Andrea Harris despises the usage "coming with?" or "going with?", I despise the word "booby" when used for a woman's breast.
Tits, please. Or hoots. Or a rack. Boobies sounds, umm, undignified.
I laud the idea of bloggers baring their breasts for charity and cancer awareness. Sainted Wyff would agree that I am what would be called a "breast man." However, just as Andrea Harris despises the usage "coming with?" or "going with?", I despise the word "booby" when used for a woman's breast.
Tits, please. Or hoots. Or a rack. Boobies sounds, umm, undignified.
20021103
Back in bidness
Good thing I keep a copy of everything, so I could see what was wrong with the comment tags. Sorry, I obliterated two comments from regular readers in the process (yes, MommaBear, the blog title must be made orange). But all else should be restored and working.
Update: but now my archives have disappeared.
Good thing I keep a copy of everything, so I could see what was wrong with the comment tags. Sorry, I obliterated two comments from regular readers in the process (yes, MommaBear, the blog title must be made orange). But all else should be restored and working.
Update: but now my archives have disappeared.
20021102
Straightforward . . . yeah, right, straightforward my a**
It wasn't just the bloody image tags. When I edited them with the actual image locations, then saved changes and republished, they got un-changed.
I moved everything into a new template, then brought over BlogHop, Enetation, and SiteMeter. Now how to make the blogtitle orange again?
It wasn't just the bloody image tags. When I edited them with the actual image locations, then saved changes and republished, they got un-changed.
I moved everything into a new template, then brought over BlogHop, Enetation, and SiteMeter. Now how to make the blogtitle orange again?
20021101
Flatulating for Columbine
Rachel Lucas takes apart Michael Moore's grape-juice fart attack on Chuck Heston. The comments were so good I had to chip in. Do visit.
Rachel Lucas takes apart Michael Moore's grape-juice fart attack on Chuck Heston. The comments were so good I had to chip in. Do visit.
the island of misfit toys
After two weeks back at work, I realize I work for a very dysfunctional firm. Everyone who has been there more than a year has something wrong with him or her, such as a personality disorder, a criminal record (not unusual for the cable TV industry), or just general low self-esteem, to the point that he or she doesn't believe another, more enjoyable job is out there to be had. For me, it's a port in the storm.
During a call with my manager yesterday, I said without even a hitch in my voice, that if the owner of the company objected in a particular way to how I was running my project, I would just as soon be unemployed. That is not like me. Not at all. Especially considering the job market in this area and this industry. It just came out.
But the project will teach me a lot of valuable things, and I am glad to have a crack at it. But it is keeping me from maintaining my blog, which appears to have suffered from the hacking earlier this week. BlogHop and Enetation buttons are all hosed up. Maybe this weekend I can clean these things up, and loft a goodly post on the pending attack on Iraq.
After two weeks back at work, I realize I work for a very dysfunctional firm. Everyone who has been there more than a year has something wrong with him or her, such as a personality disorder, a criminal record (not unusual for the cable TV industry), or just general low self-esteem, to the point that he or she doesn't believe another, more enjoyable job is out there to be had. For me, it's a port in the storm.
During a call with my manager yesterday, I said without even a hitch in my voice, that if the owner of the company objected in a particular way to how I was running my project, I would just as soon be unemployed. That is not like me. Not at all. Especially considering the job market in this area and this industry. It just came out.
But the project will teach me a lot of valuable things, and I am glad to have a crack at it. But it is keeping me from maintaining my blog, which appears to have suffered from the hacking earlier this week. BlogHop and Enetation buttons are all hosed up. Maybe this weekend I can clean these things up, and loft a goodly post on the pending attack on Iraq.
20021023
I could have sworn . . .
. . . that I heard one of Phil Hendrie's voices calling in to Glenn Beck's show today.
. . . that I heard one of Phil Hendrie's voices calling in to Glenn Beck's show today.
Twenty-seven days until Ammo Day
Would it count if I bought the components for 100 rounds instead?
Reminds me, I need a new primer follower for the RL550B press.
Would it count if I bought the components for 100 rounds instead?
Reminds me, I need a new primer follower for the RL550B press.
My attorney's phone number is . . .
One more reason comes to mind about why many gunbloggers are reluctant to speculate about the I-95 shootings.
We don't want to attract the attention of agencies investigating the shootings, like that paid to poodle-shooter owners in the area. They are being treated rather poorly, if what I hear is true. I'm rehearsing, "all attorneys advise their clients never to consent to a search, so I won't. Either give me your consent to record this conversation, or this conversation is over" and similar phrases in case I get a call like they've gotten.
One more reason comes to mind about why many gunbloggers are reluctant to speculate about the I-95 shootings.
We don't want to attract the attention of agencies investigating the shootings, like that paid to poodle-shooter owners in the area. They are being treated rather poorly, if what I hear is true. I'm rehearsing, "all attorneys advise their clients never to consent to a search, so I won't. Either give me your consent to record this conversation, or this conversation is over" and similar phrases in case I get a call like they've gotten.
20021021
Back in the yoke
I have returned to my civilian job, finally, after more than a year's absence. It was sad, and weird. My manager didn't remember my skills and could not find my resume. I had two handshakes and one literal "thanks for your service" from the whole office.
Of course I should be grateful that I still had a job to which to return. The industry is in the chumbucket and I could easily have been laid off, so I'm grateful to be drawing a salary. Still, I am disappointed. More on this topic later.
I have returned to my civilian job, finally, after more than a year's absence. It was sad, and weird. My manager didn't remember my skills and could not find my resume. I had two handshakes and one literal "thanks for your service" from the whole office.
Of course I should be grateful that I still had a job to which to return. The industry is in the chumbucket and I could easily have been laid off, so I'm grateful to be drawing a salary. Still, I am disappointed. More on this topic later.
No dead pool here
With a tip of the hat to James Rummel over at Hell in a Handbasket, your humble blogger will speculate a bit further on the Beltway shootings.
There is a shooter and a driver: two people. The shooter does most of the shooting, the driver does most of the driving. Changing roles may be responsible for the muffs that have occurred so far.
Whether the shooter-and-driver team are al-Qaeda-connected is not relevant. If they are, we've a full-blown nightmare. If they aren't, they are still establishing the feasibility of such attacks to the world. Look for similar attacks to appear elsewhere. They will continue against lone targets of opportunity, where they are exposed and alone, not in groups or within places of cover.
There have been discussions in the shooting community about the rules of engagement that would apply should an armed citizen be in position to challenge such an attack, just as the anti-defense community has editorialized that armed citizens are "powerless against such attacks." Powerless, hell. Folks, the solutions are being developed by people who know what they are talking about, away from the media glare. The solutions simply haven't been tried, and those who hold themselves responsible for Our Safety would rather eat ground glass than promote them.
It is not necessary for an armed citizen to wound or kill the shooter or driver to help bring these shootings to an end. A motor vehicle with a punctured radiator, shattered windshield, or body with non-factory ventilation will be easier to find than one that has not been challenged. Find the vehicle and we're that much closer to finding the perpetrators.
The most urgent point is that the armed citizen must call the police at once, within seconds of ceasing fire, to warn them of location, direction, markings, and what things he or she shot out of the vehicle, so the police can assemble their cordon immediately and tightly.
I won't try to argue that our police, through the media, should be briefing citizens of our imperial capitol and nearby provinces about the pertinent law. When to shoot, when not to, what to aim for, whom to call and when. Which arms and ammunition would be best for the application. What would happen to the armed citizen who did not follow these instructions carefully.
For those citizens who aren't taking the armed option, what to carry instead, such as a camera with a date-time imprint, on a lanyard around the left wrist at all times between car and building. The mobile phones with integral cameras come to mind. A voice-activated digital recorder might also be useful, in the hands of a person trained to stream consciousness into it if shooting starts.
Surely a Fox affiliate could summarize these instructions so pithily, after in-depth interviews with the experts, that motorists at the Seb'me Leb'm would be reciting them unconsciously under their breath while stroking their ATM cards in the gas pumps.
Naah. Never happen.
With a tip of the hat to James Rummel over at Hell in a Handbasket, your humble blogger will speculate a bit further on the Beltway shootings.
There is a shooter and a driver: two people. The shooter does most of the shooting, the driver does most of the driving. Changing roles may be responsible for the muffs that have occurred so far.
Whether the shooter-and-driver team are al-Qaeda-connected is not relevant. If they are, we've a full-blown nightmare. If they aren't, they are still establishing the feasibility of such attacks to the world. Look for similar attacks to appear elsewhere. They will continue against lone targets of opportunity, where they are exposed and alone, not in groups or within places of cover.
There have been discussions in the shooting community about the rules of engagement that would apply should an armed citizen be in position to challenge such an attack, just as the anti-defense community has editorialized that armed citizens are "powerless against such attacks." Powerless, hell. Folks, the solutions are being developed by people who know what they are talking about, away from the media glare. The solutions simply haven't been tried, and those who hold themselves responsible for Our Safety would rather eat ground glass than promote them.
It is not necessary for an armed citizen to wound or kill the shooter or driver to help bring these shootings to an end. A motor vehicle with a punctured radiator, shattered windshield, or body with non-factory ventilation will be easier to find than one that has not been challenged. Find the vehicle and we're that much closer to finding the perpetrators.
The most urgent point is that the armed citizen must call the police at once, within seconds of ceasing fire, to warn them of location, direction, markings, and what things he or she shot out of the vehicle, so the police can assemble their cordon immediately and tightly.
I won't try to argue that our police, through the media, should be briefing citizens of our imperial capitol and nearby provinces about the pertinent law. When to shoot, when not to, what to aim for, whom to call and when. Which arms and ammunition would be best for the application. What would happen to the armed citizen who did not follow these instructions carefully.
For those citizens who aren't taking the armed option, what to carry instead, such as a camera with a date-time imprint, on a lanyard around the left wrist at all times between car and building. The mobile phones with integral cameras come to mind. A voice-activated digital recorder might also be useful, in the hands of a person trained to stream consciousness into it if shooting starts.
Surely a Fox affiliate could summarize these instructions so pithily, after in-depth interviews with the experts, that motorists at the Seb'me Leb'm would be reciting them unconsciously under their breath while stroking their ATM cards in the gas pumps.
Naah. Never happen.
20021014
The heretofore-unknown aphrodisiac
The most powerful aphrodisiac for a married woman is, strangely enough, a trusted babysitter, or family of babysitters, that will look after the children for a whole weekend. Then leave town for, say, Laramie.
Add two Bombay martinis and a digital camera, and shake. The erotic effects may last well into the following week if you cook dinner and get the kids to bed on time.
The most powerful aphrodisiac for a married woman is, strangely enough, a trusted babysitter, or family of babysitters, that will look after the children for a whole weekend. Then leave town for, say, Laramie.
Add two Bombay martinis and a digital camera, and shake. The erotic effects may last well into the following week if you cook dinner and get the kids to bed on time.
20021010
The migratory pattern of the Netscape profile
The problem of migrating user profiles from Netscape 4.7 to 7.0 has been figgered out. As usual with my skills and equipment, a kluge was involved.
The Profile Migration tool included with 7.0 gave me nothing but blank stares because it did not prompt for a location of profiles, insisting that it was smart enought to look for them itself. Not finding any on its present drive, it had nothing to migrate and plopped me at Netscape's home page to read today's news.
The profiles were, of course, on the original drive, not the new drive upon which OS X, OS 9.2 and Netscape 7.0 were installed "clean." I first copied them over to a folder on the new drive and ran the Profile Migration tool. No dice, still blank stares, here are today's headlines. So I restarted with OS 9.2 on the new drive, ran Netscape 4.7 on the new drive, and used its Profile Manager to port over the profiles from the older drive. Then restarted with OS X, and ran the Profile Migration tool again. The tool now saw a previous version of Netscape on its present drive, and recognized the profiles, and migrated them.
Would it have been unreasonable to expect a paragraph in a readme to explain this?
The problem of migrating user profiles from Netscape 4.7 to 7.0 has been figgered out. As usual with my skills and equipment, a kluge was involved.
The Profile Migration tool included with 7.0 gave me nothing but blank stares because it did not prompt for a location of profiles, insisting that it was smart enought to look for them itself. Not finding any on its present drive, it had nothing to migrate and plopped me at Netscape's home page to read today's news.
The profiles were, of course, on the original drive, not the new drive upon which OS X, OS 9.2 and Netscape 7.0 were installed "clean." I first copied them over to a folder on the new drive and ran the Profile Migration tool. No dice, still blank stares, here are today's headlines. So I restarted with OS 9.2 on the new drive, ran Netscape 4.7 on the new drive, and used its Profile Manager to port over the profiles from the older drive. Then restarted with OS X, and ran the Profile Migration tool again. The tool now saw a previous version of Netscape on its present drive, and recognized the profiles, and migrated them.
Would it have been unreasonable to expect a paragraph in a readme to explain this?
20021009
Keep it clean around here . . .
A man of the cloth now visits from time to time. Please welcome Donald Sensing of One Hand Clapping. Owing to his military service, he is listed among Bloggers in Force.
A man of the cloth now visits from time to time. Please welcome Donald Sensing of One Hand Clapping. Owing to his military service, he is listed among Bloggers in Force.
20021007
The Sidearm and the Militia-Utility Test
Instapundit pointed me to this post, where Mark Kleiman argues that there is Constitutional protection for a long gun, owing to what I would call a militia utility test. If one can demonstrate what the militia is for, and how it should be armed, the Constitution protects the right to own that kind of arm---but none other. He then turns that argument to sidearms.
Sidearms are indispensable for searches of or working in such places as buildings, tunnels, and vessels, for driving vehicles, or for those carrying specialized equipment where weight of one's kit is at a premium. All of these are conceivable roles for members of various teams in a well-regulated militia.
I carried a sidearm, as a mid-level enlisted man, just last year in Central Asia. It was there in those cases when I could not carry a rifle; each time, I had an escort with a rifle nearby. I was issued both pistol and rifle, and I was free to choose which to bear according to the situation.
Anyone who carries a crew-served weapon, such as an MG, rocket launcher, in fact anything other than the standard service rifle, carries a sidearm as the backup in case the primary arm fails or its ammunition is exhausted. Private soldiers tend to acquire sidearms whenever they can; if they are not issued sidearms at the outset it is more likely a budgetary or training decision rather than one of philosophy of how men should be armed.
This also:
Organizationally, they'll look more like investment clubs, HAM radio clubs, and fantasy-football leagues. (I expect ridicule out of this last point, and perhaps I deserve it. So horse-laugh now and get it over with.)
Historically, the sidearm was developed for cavalry, because the service rifle (or its equivalent of that period) was too cumbersome for operation from horseback. The Confederate Colonel John Singleton Mosby was the first cavalry officer to order all of his troops to abandon the saber completely and standardize on the revolver among his troops.
The M1 Carbine of World War II was conceived, among other reasons, as a means to eliminate the several other classes of small arm, including the sidearm, so that the US would need to supply only the Carbine and the M1 service rifle. Obviously the sidearm continues to this day, because there was, and is, still a valid and fairly common need for it. Uncle doesn't issue M1 Carbines any more.
So I disagree that the sidearm would not enjoy strict Constitutional protection under the militia-utility standard. It is neither an officers-only nor a specialist's weapon. It is a tool designed for certain applications, and a militia could be called upon to carry out those applications. The same can be said for the shotgun and the SMG; Jeff Cooper's essay "The Role of the Five" explains this, and if I can find it online I will link it here later. They have their uses in a militia organization, especially one formed as American values and character would have it. The full-dress service rifle should be considered its principal arm, necessary but not sufficient.
Instapundit pointed me to this post, where Mark Kleiman argues that there is Constitutional protection for a long gun, owing to what I would call a militia utility test. If one can demonstrate what the militia is for, and how it should be armed, the Constitution protects the right to own that kind of arm---but none other. He then turns that argument to sidearms.
"A side-arm is not a weapon of war, because it lacks the range to strike the enemy. No private soldier carries one. Side-arms are for officers, to threaten, or if need be to shoot, disobedient subordinates. The rank-and-file carry long guns."This is true for the Russian model, and others, but not for the present American one.
Sidearms are indispensable for searches of or working in such places as buildings, tunnels, and vessels, for driving vehicles, or for those carrying specialized equipment where weight of one's kit is at a premium. All of these are conceivable roles for members of various teams in a well-regulated militia.
I carried a sidearm, as a mid-level enlisted man, just last year in Central Asia. It was there in those cases when I could not carry a rifle; each time, I had an escort with a rifle nearby. I was issued both pistol and rifle, and I was free to choose which to bear according to the situation.
Anyone who carries a crew-served weapon, such as an MG, rocket launcher, in fact anything other than the standard service rifle, carries a sidearm as the backup in case the primary arm fails or its ammunition is exhausted. Private soldiers tend to acquire sidearms whenever they can; if they are not issued sidearms at the outset it is more likely a budgetary or training decision rather than one of philosophy of how men should be armed.
This also:
"A militia member fights as a soldier, with whatever arms are conventional at the time . . . "Even soldiers fight less like soldiers today, as there are fewer and fewer of them, and more specialists in support and services fields, enhancing the effectiveness of the fewer but better-equipped and better-supported infantrymen. The tooth-to-tail ratio of the modern army is diminishing (whether this is sound theory, or effective in practice, is outside our scope here); we can expect the same for the militia if they are to be easily assimilated into the army, especially in a culture that prizes diverse experience, advanced education, initiative, and individualism. If our militia reflects our society and its values, we will not be forming waves of conscripts prodded forward by pistol-waving officers.
Organizationally, they'll look more like investment clubs, HAM radio clubs, and fantasy-football leagues. (I expect ridicule out of this last point, and perhaps I deserve it. So horse-laugh now and get it over with.)
Historically, the sidearm was developed for cavalry, because the service rifle (or its equivalent of that period) was too cumbersome for operation from horseback. The Confederate Colonel John Singleton Mosby was the first cavalry officer to order all of his troops to abandon the saber completely and standardize on the revolver among his troops.
The M1 Carbine of World War II was conceived, among other reasons, as a means to eliminate the several other classes of small arm, including the sidearm, so that the US would need to supply only the Carbine and the M1 service rifle. Obviously the sidearm continues to this day, because there was, and is, still a valid and fairly common need for it. Uncle doesn't issue M1 Carbines any more.
So I disagree that the sidearm would not enjoy strict Constitutional protection under the militia-utility standard. It is neither an officers-only nor a specialist's weapon. It is a tool designed for certain applications, and a militia could be called upon to carry out those applications. The same can be said for the shotgun and the SMG; Jeff Cooper's essay "The Role of the Five" explains this, and if I can find it online I will link it here later. They have their uses in a militia organization, especially one formed as American values and character would have it. The full-dress service rifle should be considered its principal arm, necessary but not sufficient.
20021006
More on the Warthog
Toren at The Safety Valve and Kathy on the Third Hand praise the A-10.
Let the Army have them, because the Air Force won't fly them, or will shoehorn them into "observation" roles. It will require a change in Federal law to make it possible, but that's what we have a Congress for, right?
Toren at The Safety Valve and Kathy on the Third Hand praise the A-10.
Let the Army have them, because the Air Force won't fly them, or will shoehorn them into "observation" roles. It will require a change in Federal law to make it possible, but that's what we have a Congress for, right?
20021005
These nutjobs have to be stopped
They will be stopped with forensic ballistics, not by vigilant cops catching the sniper in the act. What ballistic facts have been released are sketchy, and have been (characteristically for the press) poorly reported.
The bullets recovered may indeed be consistent with those used in the .223 Remington cartridge. But that does not mean that they were fired from a .223 Remington, also known as 5.56 x 45mm or 5.56mm NATO. The same diameter bullet, even the same bullet models themselves, are used in dozens of other, more powerful hunting cartridges. The graphic descriptions I have read so far of the wounds and placement suggest this, rather than .223 in the urban carbine. Any shooting enthusiast can rattle off the names of such cartridges. Update: Kim du Toit rattles some of them here.
Handguns can be had in these cartridges too, though these will be single-shot handguns with a bolt action or a "cannon lock" to contain high pressures. These handguns do not lend themselves to concealment inside the waistband. But they are capable of the accuracy and range exhibited here.
The police reports confirming the .223 caliber---the diameter of the bullet, actually dot two two four inches---can also be smoke. How much of the bullet's material has been recovered?
Bullet manufacturers routinely brag on "high weight retention," how much of the bullet is left, as a percentage of original weight---some is expected to be lost. Hunting bullets get mushroomed, flattened, and fragmented, such that the original dimensions of the bullet may be difficult to determine. They are built to expand, to bring the animal down immediately, nothing inhumane about it. In contrast, military bullets are more likely to be recovered intact, and less likely to do such spectacular damage, because they are constructed not to expand, in accordance with the Geneva Conventions, and they are driven with less energy so the rifles firing them have a longer useful life.
So the bits of lead and gilding metal that were recovered could be from a .243", a .25", maybe even a .264". Blogs4God has conjectured a caliber of .308" though I don't buy that either. They could have been fired from your granddad's Savage 99 in .22-250, or a Swedish Mauser '96 in 6.5x55 (the model numbers are abbreviated years of introduction, beginning in Eighteen, not Nineteen). The rifle could be older than everyone investigating the crime today.
Of course, if I were investigating these crimes, I would not release more of the ballistics I've discovered than I absolutely must to satisfy the baying press. Nor would I be above minor disinformation to protect the progress of the investigation.
So I'm not sold yet on the notion that the sniping is being done with off-the-shelf .223 Remington ammunition and/or with an AR.
They will be stopped with forensic ballistics, not by vigilant cops catching the sniper in the act. What ballistic facts have been released are sketchy, and have been (characteristically for the press) poorly reported.
The bullets recovered may indeed be consistent with those used in the .223 Remington cartridge. But that does not mean that they were fired from a .223 Remington, also known as 5.56 x 45mm or 5.56mm NATO. The same diameter bullet, even the same bullet models themselves, are used in dozens of other, more powerful hunting cartridges. The graphic descriptions I have read so far of the wounds and placement suggest this, rather than .223 in the urban carbine. Any shooting enthusiast can rattle off the names of such cartridges. Update: Kim du Toit rattles some of them here.
Handguns can be had in these cartridges too, though these will be single-shot handguns with a bolt action or a "cannon lock" to contain high pressures. These handguns do not lend themselves to concealment inside the waistband. But they are capable of the accuracy and range exhibited here.
The police reports confirming the .223 caliber---the diameter of the bullet, actually dot two two four inches---can also be smoke. How much of the bullet's material has been recovered?
Bullet manufacturers routinely brag on "high weight retention," how much of the bullet is left, as a percentage of original weight---some is expected to be lost. Hunting bullets get mushroomed, flattened, and fragmented, such that the original dimensions of the bullet may be difficult to determine. They are built to expand, to bring the animal down immediately, nothing inhumane about it. In contrast, military bullets are more likely to be recovered intact, and less likely to do such spectacular damage, because they are constructed not to expand, in accordance with the Geneva Conventions, and they are driven with less energy so the rifles firing them have a longer useful life.
So the bits of lead and gilding metal that were recovered could be from a .243", a .25", maybe even a .264". Blogs4God has conjectured a caliber of .308" though I don't buy that either. They could have been fired from your granddad's Savage 99 in .22-250, or a Swedish Mauser '96 in 6.5x55 (the model numbers are abbreviated years of introduction, beginning in Eighteen, not Nineteen). The rifle could be older than everyone investigating the crime today.
Of course, if I were investigating these crimes, I would not release more of the ballistics I've discovered than I absolutely must to satisfy the baying press. Nor would I be above minor disinformation to protect the progress of the investigation.
So I'm not sold yet on the notion that the sniping is being done with off-the-shelf .223 Remington ammunition and/or with an AR.
20021004
Keep it outside the squadron, kids
Donald Sensing posted something a few weeks back, about some military force (not the US, likely) instructing its members not to sleep with each other, because it harms morale. Unfortunately, the link in his post did not lead me to the article he cited. But weigh in on the topic, I will.
If you haven't figured it out already, I just came back from a year of active duty in the War on Terrorism. I started this blog while deployed overseas for that duty. I observed a few things that will be described, in due time, in this space, as I figure out what safely to say about it and what not to. This is the first.
Trying to keep young men and women working and living together, and sharing hardship, from knocking boots is like keeping them from getting tattoos. I spent nearly six months at one location, a logistics center, where the split was nearly 60-40 men to women. There was ample evidence that sexual congress was occurring, and clear communication that Uncle Sugar disapproved of it. It is the first instance I've seen of the term "fraternization" applied to anything other than that (properly) harshly forbidden between officers and enlisted folks.
As Donald quoted in his post:
I agree. It can't be stopped, but it should be limited. Soldiers will accept the limits, if the reasons for such limits can be articulated. And the reason is right there in the quote. Mutual trust, morale, unit cohesion are undermined if sex or even courting is taking place among people who work that closely together, even if they are of the same rank. It can be as damaging as O-on-E fraternization.
Keep it outside the squadron. Don't even date within the squadron. Look after the people in your own unit like brothers and sisters. SPs, you can pursue the Loggies. Fire dogs, hit on the babe in the command post. And so forth. But not inside your immediate unit---not anyone who has the same first shirt as you. It's like incest.
I realize that many military marriages started out this way, and it verges on hypocrisy for me to weigh in against it, because my wife and I met through work. Still, the reason for such a prohibition is not hard to argue, nor hard to understand.
Please see my lone comment at Donald's post also.
Donald Sensing posted something a few weeks back, about some military force (not the US, likely) instructing its members not to sleep with each other, because it harms morale. Unfortunately, the link in his post did not lead me to the article he cited. But weigh in on the topic, I will.
If you haven't figured it out already, I just came back from a year of active duty in the War on Terrorism. I started this blog while deployed overseas for that duty. I observed a few things that will be described, in due time, in this space, as I figure out what safely to say about it and what not to. This is the first.
Trying to keep young men and women working and living together, and sharing hardship, from knocking boots is like keeping them from getting tattoos. I spent nearly six months at one location, a logistics center, where the split was nearly 60-40 men to women. There was ample evidence that sexual congress was occurring, and clear communication that Uncle Sugar disapproved of it. It is the first instance I've seen of the term "fraternization" applied to anything other than that (properly) harshly forbidden between officers and enlisted folks.
As Donald quoted in his post:
. . . sleeping with fellow soldiers of either sex, or indeed their partners, would be bad for morale, threatening "mutual trust and soldiers' willingness to help each other."
I agree. It can't be stopped, but it should be limited. Soldiers will accept the limits, if the reasons for such limits can be articulated. And the reason is right there in the quote. Mutual trust, morale, unit cohesion are undermined if sex or even courting is taking place among people who work that closely together, even if they are of the same rank. It can be as damaging as O-on-E fraternization.
Keep it outside the squadron. Don't even date within the squadron. Look after the people in your own unit like brothers and sisters. SPs, you can pursue the Loggies. Fire dogs, hit on the babe in the command post. And so forth. But not inside your immediate unit---not anyone who has the same first shirt as you. It's like incest.
I realize that many military marriages started out this way, and it verges on hypocrisy for me to weigh in against it, because my wife and I met through work. Still, the reason for such a prohibition is not hard to argue, nor hard to understand.
Please see my lone comment at Donald's post also.
20020927
Amtrak with Boeings
Writer, raconteur and grouch Kim du Toit invites airline executives to pound sand since they have hit economic hard times and are seeking a bailout from Uncle Sugar. Says he:
It's too late for the free market to punish these businesses and reward newcomers. Air travel has already been effectively nationalized. In what meaningful ways can an airline distinguish itself from the dinosaurs and capture business from them? Between local government ownership of the airports and Fed responsibility for security at all points in the air travel experience, there is little left to the airline itself to improve service without diminishing its profits further, or either changing or violating a law.
Air travel won't be profitable as a business again, nor tolerable for Kim or for me, until the present airline security approach is removed, so airlines can begin treating their passengers as paying customers instead of felons. With what to replace it?
Give me back my Gerber E-Z Out.
I've advocated allowing pilots to arm themselves with firearms, and that actually might happen. I've also advocated allowing flight attendants to carry firearms, but that is unlikely and has even been dissed here in the Blogosphere.
Allowing passengers to carry firearms is even less likely. But a few stout folding knives would have been very useful to the brave passengers of United 93, or the folks who restrained the shoe bomber.
Writer, raconteur and grouch Kim du Toit invites airline executives to pound sand since they have hit economic hard times and are seeking a bailout from Uncle Sugar. Says he:
"F*** 'em. Let 'em go out of business. Let new airlines arise from the ashes of these burnt-out, bloated conglomerates, let these new airlines heed the lessons from these failed and extinct dinosaurs, and maybe everyone will be better off."
It's too late for the free market to punish these businesses and reward newcomers. Air travel has already been effectively nationalized. In what meaningful ways can an airline distinguish itself from the dinosaurs and capture business from them? Between local government ownership of the airports and Fed responsibility for security at all points in the air travel experience, there is little left to the airline itself to improve service without diminishing its profits further, or either changing or violating a law.
Air travel won't be profitable as a business again, nor tolerable for Kim or for me, until the present airline security approach is removed, so airlines can begin treating their passengers as paying customers instead of felons. With what to replace it?
Give me back my Gerber E-Z Out.
I've advocated allowing pilots to arm themselves with firearms, and that actually might happen. I've also advocated allowing flight attendants to carry firearms, but that is unlikely and has even been dissed here in the Blogosphere.
Allowing passengers to carry firearms is even less likely. But a few stout folding knives would have been very useful to the brave passengers of United 93, or the folks who restrained the shoe bomber.
20020923
Countercounterfeiting
Found via Dustbury, a recently invented technique to derive keys from physical objects. This reminded me of a Scientific American article, maybe 1985 to 1989, just a little sidebar story about a technique the US military-industrial complex developed to authenticate serial numbers on cruise missiles.
Spray a mixture of lacquer and microscopic ground glass particles over the serial number, and photograph it from several angles. The reflection patterns of each marking will be unique and reproducible (standardize the flash intensity and color, and the angle of incidence) but difficult or impossible to forge.
Found via Dustbury, a recently invented technique to derive keys from physical objects. This reminded me of a Scientific American article, maybe 1985 to 1989, just a little sidebar story about a technique the US military-industrial complex developed to authenticate serial numbers on cruise missiles.
Spray a mixture of lacquer and microscopic ground glass particles over the serial number, and photograph it from several angles. The reflection patterns of each marking will be unique and reproducible (standardize the flash intensity and color, and the angle of incidence) but difficult or impossible to forge.
Somebody likes me
Somebody who shall remain nameless bought my banner. Thank you.
Should the mood strike you, gentle reader, to look for my tip jar, I do not have one nor will I install one. Please drop shekels into the coffers of the many deserving institutions listed to your left, members of the Public Policy Institute.
Somebody who shall remain nameless bought my banner. Thank you.
Should the mood strike you, gentle reader, to look for my tip jar, I do not have one nor will I install one. Please drop shekels into the coffers of the many deserving institutions listed to your left, members of the Public Policy Institute.
Another idea of mine stolen
Found courtesy of Dodgeblog, in an article about women deeply conflicted about what they want from men:
First the sleeplearning pillow, then the adaptation of DOCSIS to line-of-sight wireless, now this.
Found courtesy of Dodgeblog, in an article about women deeply conflicted about what they want from men:
Glenlivet, the whisky brand, ... is opening a male finishing school
First the sleeplearning pillow, then the adaptation of DOCSIS to line-of-sight wireless, now this.
20020919
further evidence that I've not kept up with my reading
When did Ruger resume making the .44 Carbine? I saw one at a show last weekend, with a plastic upper handguard. Had to be recent manufacture. Yup, they did.
There's a Thumper candidate.
When did Ruger resume making the .44 Carbine? I saw one at a show last weekend, with a plastic upper handguard. Had to be recent manufacture. Yup, they did.
There's a Thumper candidate.
Honeydews
I'm catching up on housework, now that I have the time and the energy. My corner of the basement is being reorganized, the whole garage is straightened up, the flagship PowerMac is upgraded (more on this later). We took delivery of some pavers to purty up the card-table-sized back yard.
Half of the stuff in the garage is now on casters so we can get at it. After saying goodbye to a massive war surplus steel desk (kept in the garage because the movers wouldn't try to get it to the basement) I deck-screwed a plywood plate to the bottom shelf of one of those cheesy-looking plastic
modular shelving units, then lag-bolted 250-pound casters to the plate. I liked the effect so much I built a few more low platforms on 75-pound casters, just big enough for the Rubbermaid 20-gallon storage tubs that are stacked in the basement.
Yet to go: the Linux box needs device statements to tell KDE where the CD-ROM and CD-RW drives are. A batch of porter needs to be brewed. And my wife and I need to get to Jim Crews's school.
I'm catching up on housework, now that I have the time and the energy. My corner of the basement is being reorganized, the whole garage is straightened up, the flagship PowerMac is upgraded (more on this later). We took delivery of some pavers to purty up the card-table-sized back yard.
Half of the stuff in the garage is now on casters so we can get at it. After saying goodbye to a massive war surplus steel desk (kept in the garage because the movers wouldn't try to get it to the basement) I deck-screwed a plywood plate to the bottom shelf of one of those cheesy-looking plastic
modular shelving units, then lag-bolted 250-pound casters to the plate. I liked the effect so much I built a few more low platforms on 75-pound casters, just big enough for the Rubbermaid 20-gallon storage tubs that are stacked in the basement.
Yet to go: the Linux box needs device statements to tell KDE where the CD-ROM and CD-RW drives are. A batch of porter needs to be brewed. And my wife and I need to get to Jim Crews's school.
The low spark of Breathe-Right strips
Take a Breathe-Right nasal dilator strip into a completely dark place. Watch as you peel open the paper envelope in which the strip is packaged. A faint blue glow is created as the adhesive holding the two sides of the envelope together yields.
Take a Breathe-Right nasal dilator strip into a completely dark place. Watch as you peel open the paper envelope in which the strip is packaged. A faint blue glow is created as the adhesive holding the two sides of the envelope together yields.
20020914
20020910
Getting reacquainted
Returning to my family after six months is like an amnesiac being told that he has a family, a history, whom he must approach almost as if it were an introduction. I didn't appreciate how rich and fortunate a man I was until I met these people again and was charmed by them, learning little things about them that I thought I knew.
Boy is now 2 years old. When my wife handed him to me at the airport, he immediately squirmed to escape me. He didn't recognize me.
He ran back to his mother, who told him that I am his father. He ran back to me. He would not stop talking during the drive back to Castle Rock. His mother says he is one hundred percent boy. After spending some Dad-and-son time with him, I conclude he is also about 30 percent orc.
Middlechild is a Daddy's girl who wears glasses at age 4 due to astigmatism inherited from me. And who was picked up from the school office today because she bit someone who was fiddling with her Spongebob keyring. I need to borrow a polygraph from someone and be shown how to use it, because this girl can lie like a rug.
Firstchild, six years old, started first grade this year. I gave her a small wad of Omani currency to take to school for show-and-tell. I showed her how to look at the watermark, how Arabic reads right-to-left, how currency comes in units and subunits, and how to pronounce rial and baisa. She can make change in US currency, and reads at a better level than I did at her age. She benefits from the marriage of two powerful concepts in education: charter and Montessori.
The town has changed in these six months as well. Mama-san needed to inflate a vinyl wading pool, and I couldn't find my airchucks, so I had to make a tool run. At the point where I normally would turn left to head for the WalMart, hoping they had air-powered parts, the entrance to the new Home Depot came into view off starboard. To hell with anybody's viewshed, and screw your objections about big box stores. I now live within five minutes of a Home Depot and I didn't have to move, thank you.
Returning to my family after six months is like an amnesiac being told that he has a family, a history, whom he must approach almost as if it were an introduction. I didn't appreciate how rich and fortunate a man I was until I met these people again and was charmed by them, learning little things about them that I thought I knew.
Boy is now 2 years old. When my wife handed him to me at the airport, he immediately squirmed to escape me. He didn't recognize me.
He ran back to his mother, who told him that I am his father. He ran back to me. He would not stop talking during the drive back to Castle Rock. His mother says he is one hundred percent boy. After spending some Dad-and-son time with him, I conclude he is also about 30 percent orc.
Middlechild is a Daddy's girl who wears glasses at age 4 due to astigmatism inherited from me. And who was picked up from the school office today because she bit someone who was fiddling with her Spongebob keyring. I need to borrow a polygraph from someone and be shown how to use it, because this girl can lie like a rug.
Firstchild, six years old, started first grade this year. I gave her a small wad of Omani currency to take to school for show-and-tell. I showed her how to look at the watermark, how Arabic reads right-to-left, how currency comes in units and subunits, and how to pronounce rial and baisa. She can make change in US currency, and reads at a better level than I did at her age. She benefits from the marriage of two powerful concepts in education: charter and Montessori.
The town has changed in these six months as well. Mama-san needed to inflate a vinyl wading pool, and I couldn't find my airchucks, so I had to make a tool run. At the point where I normally would turn left to head for the WalMart, hoping they had air-powered parts, the entrance to the new Home Depot came into view off starboard. To hell with anybody's viewshed, and screw your objections about big box stores. I now live within five minutes of a Home Depot and I didn't have to move, thank you.
jardin défendu
The Front Range has been rainy and overcast every day since my return. Still, people worry about the drought, and several municipalities here have restricted water use or are going to court to restrict someone else's water use, which reminds me of Ed Quillen's column about architecture's adaptation to climate, and the water-conserving walled garden homes of the Mediterranean.
Housing developments here, at least in my price range, all have card-table-sized lawns in front and in back. The front lawns are all sodded and have irrigation gear installed, whether you like it or not, and privacy fences running from house to house. Not enough room here to throw a Frisbee, not enough room for a decent porch either.
The rear lawns are left in mud, brown-eyed susans and purslane, and you will install your own privacy fence to separate your mud from your adjacent neighbors' mud. You will also be blessed with some massive green box or doghouse of some kind, to provide the electrical power, telephone, or cable TV service for the block.
Your covenant gives you an arbitrary 60 days to get the rear sodded, or your homeowners association will hound you, financed to do so by your dues. Any landscaping more complex than sodding from fence to fence requires a permit that must be signed by your adjacent neighbors.
I'm the kind of guy who likes to solve more than one problem with one solution, and yes, I classify busybody neighbors with veto power over my front and back yards as a problem. The windswept front lawn whose irrigation system blows acre-feet of water down the street is also a problem.
So somebody please design a development where each block looks in upon itself, like an atrium. Move the houses out to the sidewalk, turn them so they face each other inwardly, and merge each useless little front lawn and its nearly-useless rear lawn into one workable lawn for each property, protected from the wind. Run a sidewalk down the middle, flanked by waist-high fences, where neighborhood kids can bike, skate, toss balls and whatnot, free from the dangers of automobiles and perverts. The paved bike paths that lace these communities together today can be passed through the block.
Anybody who Joneses for a dramatic porch and window treatments can still do so and compete with his neighbors (double entendre intended). Anybody who wants to be able to sunbathe buck naked in his lawn can erect privacy fences, set back from the sidewalk an appropriate distance, thereby closing off the view to his porch.
From the outside, where the automobiles move about, one sees only walls---whether wooden, concrete, or discarded car tires rammed with earth, it doesn't matter---say 8 feet high, and the rears of the houses, punctuated at regular intervals by garage doors. By covenant, these outward facing walls have no windows, or have windows such that no one can look from his window into anyone else's. Balconies here, overlooking the street, would be permissible only if the view is similarly restricted. And by covenant, anything that neighbors see on your house from out there is legit, whether it's a solar collector, a satellite dish, a HAM antenna, or aluminum foil to block the CIA's brain scans: the HOA must keep its hands the hell off.
All of the utilities are accessed from the street, so no hardhats will ever be poking around in your yard. The mailbox pod is placed at one end, and everybody gets to greet each other as they waddle down the central sidewalk to pick up their mail. Heavy deliveries are made through the garage. Firefighting is conducted through the sidewalk entrances, because that's where the hydrants are located.
The security-obsessed developments can put coded gates on the sidewalk entrances, directing transient footpath traffic around the blocks rather than inviting them through.
With this neighborhood design in place, we can then talk about the little stuff, such as recycling the laundry and shower water for irrigation, and putting twenty-buck sensors on the irrigation systems so they don't irrigate when it rains.
The Front Range has been rainy and overcast every day since my return. Still, people worry about the drought, and several municipalities here have restricted water use or are going to court to restrict someone else's water use, which reminds me of Ed Quillen's column about architecture's adaptation to climate, and the water-conserving walled garden homes of the Mediterranean.
Housing developments here, at least in my price range, all have card-table-sized lawns in front and in back. The front lawns are all sodded and have irrigation gear installed, whether you like it or not, and privacy fences running from house to house. Not enough room here to throw a Frisbee, not enough room for a decent porch either.
The rear lawns are left in mud, brown-eyed susans and purslane, and you will install your own privacy fence to separate your mud from your adjacent neighbors' mud. You will also be blessed with some massive green box or doghouse of some kind, to provide the electrical power, telephone, or cable TV service for the block.
Your covenant gives you an arbitrary 60 days to get the rear sodded, or your homeowners association will hound you, financed to do so by your dues. Any landscaping more complex than sodding from fence to fence requires a permit that must be signed by your adjacent neighbors.
I'm the kind of guy who likes to solve more than one problem with one solution, and yes, I classify busybody neighbors with veto power over my front and back yards as a problem. The windswept front lawn whose irrigation system blows acre-feet of water down the street is also a problem.
So somebody please design a development where each block looks in upon itself, like an atrium. Move the houses out to the sidewalk, turn them so they face each other inwardly, and merge each useless little front lawn and its nearly-useless rear lawn into one workable lawn for each property, protected from the wind. Run a sidewalk down the middle, flanked by waist-high fences, where neighborhood kids can bike, skate, toss balls and whatnot, free from the dangers of automobiles and perverts. The paved bike paths that lace these communities together today can be passed through the block.
Anybody who Joneses for a dramatic porch and window treatments can still do so and compete with his neighbors (double entendre intended). Anybody who wants to be able to sunbathe buck naked in his lawn can erect privacy fences, set back from the sidewalk an appropriate distance, thereby closing off the view to his porch.
From the outside, where the automobiles move about, one sees only walls---whether wooden, concrete, or discarded car tires rammed with earth, it doesn't matter---say 8 feet high, and the rears of the houses, punctuated at regular intervals by garage doors. By covenant, these outward facing walls have no windows, or have windows such that no one can look from his window into anyone else's. Balconies here, overlooking the street, would be permissible only if the view is similarly restricted. And by covenant, anything that neighbors see on your house from out there is legit, whether it's a solar collector, a satellite dish, a HAM antenna, or aluminum foil to block the CIA's brain scans: the HOA must keep its hands the hell off.
All of the utilities are accessed from the street, so no hardhats will ever be poking around in your yard. The mailbox pod is placed at one end, and everybody gets to greet each other as they waddle down the central sidewalk to pick up their mail. Heavy deliveries are made through the garage. Firefighting is conducted through the sidewalk entrances, because that's where the hydrants are located.
The security-obsessed developments can put coded gates on the sidewalk entrances, directing transient footpath traffic around the blocks rather than inviting them through.
With this neighborhood design in place, we can then talk about the little stuff, such as recycling the laundry and shower water for irrigation, and putting twenty-buck sensors on the irrigation systems so they don't irrigate when it rains.
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