not bad

Ordinarily I don't watch any TV sports. However, there's a pretty good film on ESPN Classic about steroids, bodybuilding, and the Law.

Bigger, Stronger, Faster.

Buying American

Am recently on a jag to buy American more often. Seems to me that I'd rather spend $100 to hire an American to repair an older chainsaw, than $100 to buy a new chainsaw made elsewhere. The $100 spent in town on American labor to fix an older piece is likely to stay in town.

QFTD

The first generation of kids who grew up using hand sanitizer every 30 seconds and everyone gets a trophy is currently Occupying Whatever.

Says Uncle

If you can't protect it, don't collect it

Chez Fûz just received two identical letters from a company that does IT work for TriCare. One addressed to Her and one addressed to Him.

We are sorry to inform you that a backup tape of many healthcare transactions, while being transported by one of our employees, was stolen from the employee's vehicle. This tape includes sosh-scurty numbers, addresses, names, and piles of other information prone to compromise. Your information may be among those records lost, we aren't sure. Because we feel so very very very very very sorry, we're telling you about it more than 2 months after our employee notified us of the theft, and encouraging you to monitor your credit reports very carefully for the foreseeable future, in case the guy who went to such extraordinary effort to steal this data tries to use it.

And by the way, we have arranged for a fourth party company to watch your credit reports for you, for free, for one year. All you have to do is send them your sosh-scurty number, name, address, and much of the other data that we already have, but have allowed to become stolen. Just fill out the attached form and put it in the postage-paid envelope.

If I were the guy reading this letter, my first thought would be that this is a mother-schtupping phish. Sainted wife will call TriCare tomorrow to rule that out.

My next thought would be, DOD cannot transition from the SSN to a randomly-assigned service number fast enough. As the DOD's successes, failures, and lessons-learned accumulate, the rest of the Fed Gov should be compelled to follow suit.

The next thought after that would be, let's adjust all future contracts between DOD and TriCare to require them and their subcontractors to apply the same risk management practices over these records that GIs are required to use when they plan anything more dangerous than the company picnic. Make them liable for costs plus penalties for the abuse of the lost data. The dollar signs will probably tell them that they should catalog and encrypt every backup volume that ever leaves their data center, and use a courier service to transport those volumes.

Then let's require TriCare and their subcontractors to identify the clients whose records were on the lost volume, and notify only those clients. Within 48 hours of the loss.

And I was the guy reading that letter. How many thousands of other letters just like it have been read tonight?

Nervous reflex

Congress punts the spending-reduction deal. All of Europe, not just the PIIGS, at risk of collapse. I missed National Ammo Day. Bennetton pulls its ad with the photo of the Pope and the imam swapping spit. My knee-jerk reaction?

I ordered more shelf-stable stuff from Honeyville Grain, and am adjusting the shopping list for Sam's Club. Buying in bulk.

third-world visual impression in DFW

Passing through a major airport this weekend, my eyes fell on a wall-sized ad for Christmas toys. Except for the name of the retailer, there were no other English characters, just pictures of the toys, each with its QR thingy beside it. It made me feel like I was back in Barrigada, or Bizerte. Don't people here read English, dammit? Well, uh, no they don't.

C33 at DFW, BTW.

higher education bubble visible to the military

One of the biggest pushers of higher education is the United States military. They encourage it among their enlisted, they require it of their officers, and Congress lets them craft myriad ways to shower money on it. I myself am a shameless beneficiary in my own modest way.

This week, for the first time, I heard an education counselor for the military admit that there are perhaps too many Masters degrees in circulation. "How would your life be any different if there were fewer" higher-degree holders, he asked. It wouldn't, he answered for us. Then, "how would your life be different if there were fewer engine mechanics, chefs, or plumbers?" Insert vague reference to Occupy Wall Street encampments here.

He was hinting that fields needing advanced degrees are saturated with graduates, and reminding his audience that GI bill education benefits also are eligible for the trades. The benefits taper off quickly over time in such apprenticeships, because the GIs receiving them are drawing steadily increasing pay.

Makes me want to drop out, again, and go to gunsmithing school.

CCW bleg

Anybody fly through Dulles with checked pistol recently?

IAD is supposedly on D.C. soil.

It has arrived

It has arrived.

Update: We didn't make it while it was playing in theaters. Sainted wife and I watched it, and I was delighted with how it was done. Wife at once dug out my 32-year-old paperback copy and started in on it.

an addition to the if-wishes-were-horses wish list

I'd like to see R. Lee Ermey do I Like to Move It as a jody call. Lyrics should be adjusted to suit the messenger.

Friedrich Hayek on the Military Decision Making Process

Compare this:

The peculiar character of the problem of a rational economic order is determined precisely by the fact that the knowledge of the circumstances of which we must make use never exists in concentrated or integrated form but solely as the dispersed bits of incomplete and frequently contradictory knowledge which all the separate individuals possess.

. . . in any society in which many people collaborate, this planning, whoever does it, will in some measure have to be based on knowledge which, in the first instance, is not given to the planner but to somebody else, which somehow will have to be conveyed to the planner. The various ways in which the knowledge on which people base their plans is communicated to them is the crucial problem for any theory explaining the economic process, and the problem of what is the best way of utilizing knowledge initially dispersed among all the people is at least one of the main problems of economic policy—or of designing an efficient economic system.

to this:

The peculiar character of the problem of battle command is determined precisely by the fact that the knowledge of the circumstances of which that command operates does not spring into being in a concentrated or integrated form but solely as the dispersed bits of incomplete and frequently contradictory knowledge which all the various members of the command's staff possess, and must consciously concentrate and integrate under the command's leadership.

. . . in any military organization . . . planning . . . will in some measure have to be based on knowledge which, in the first instance, is not given to the planner but to somebody else, which somehow will have to be conveyed to the planner. The various ways in which the knowledge on which a battle staff bases its plans is gathered is the crucial problem for any theory explaining the staff process-—thus the main problem of designing a coherent operation.

Such problems, consequences of how information is distributed among line units and staff agencies, appear even in very small organizations.

bugger

it appears that blogrolling is tango uniform now too. What next?

for a friend and valued reader

Cancer strikes another person near me. Please visit TheFatGuy, find the tipjar, and donate.

how high definition television has made my life worse

Watching HD programming on a good HD set now enables me to see the blemishes that stage makeup erased before.

Today, a fairly attractive 30-something woman spoke about finance on a cable news network. Her blouse was sleeveless and exposed all of her neck and some of her chest. The makeup on her face, under her chin, and going halfway down her neck was flawless. The digital compression of HD video also tends to smoothe out made-up skin.

But right about where the first wrinkle on her neck would be, the makeup stopped. Abruptly. From there down, it almost looked like a rash. The same fine texture also appeared on her shoulders and upper arms. It moved consistently with the limb and the skin upon the limb.

So that's what real skin looks like in HDTV under studio lighting. Gals, HD television cameras add a lot more detail than earlier cameras did. Cover up with either clothing or foundation, not just halfway down the neck.

Notes found in the Comments window

of the Training Schedule for Period 47 in DTMS:

The Commander has an agenda. The Deputy Commander has an agenda. The Sergeant Major has an agenda. Hell, S6 has an agenda. They're schemers. Schemers trying to control their little worlds. I have no agenda. So when I say that the S4 not making captain's career course this FY was nothing personal, you'll know that I'm telling the truth.

It's the schemers that put you where you are. You were a schemer, you had an agenda. . . . and, well, look where that got you.

I just did what I do best. I took your little agenda and stood it on its head. Look at what I did to this unit with a couple of MFRs and FM 7-0! Hmmm?

You know what I noticed? Nobody panics when things go according to their agenda. Even if the agenda is horrifying. If tomorrow we're cancelling thirty days of leaves in the brigade to catch up on AWT, or we're changing lanes dates because of the availability of airlift, nobody panics, because that's all part of the plan. "Embrace the suck" or "everybody gets a bite of the shit sandwich" or "would you rather be in the Stans?" or some such, all just attempts to distract you from their failure to make good plans and adhere to them.

But when four of our Soldiers have overdue travel cards because they're waiting for airfare refunds, well then everyone loses their minds!

Introduce a little FM 7-0. Upset their agendas, set them against one another until they all collapse. Then the only agenda that can prevail is no agenda at all: doctrine.

I'm an agent of doctrine. Oh, and you know the one thing about doctrine?

It's fair.

Anime characters that really look Japanese

Aside from Mushi-shi, what other anime series draw their characters to really look Japanese?

I like the heck out of Mushi-shi. Damn near everything about it.

why indeed?

The Wisconsin Senate passed a bill Tuesday that would allow concealed weapons in the state Capitol and other public places, but not in ... specifically exempted locations.

"If this bill helps make Wisconsin safer, then why are there any exceptions?" said Sen. Tim Cullen, D-Janesville.

Because your party introduced the exceptions. You would have added more if you could have gotten away with it:

Before Tuesday's vote, Democrats introduced about 20 amendments that would have expanded the number of locations where concealed carry wouldn't be allowed. Those sites included the Capitol, polling places and places of worship. Those amendments were all voted down.

And this:

Sen. Spencer Coggs, a Democrat from Milwaukee, . . . said the way to deal with violence in cities wasn't to encourage people to carry hidden weapons.

"The solution is less guns, not more guns," he said.

Prove it, numbskull. Do you have one of those CoEx1St bumper stickers too?

Gary Johnson writing clearly

If you get the deadtree of American Spectator, the one that just hit your mailbox has a good Freedom Watch column by Gary Johnson, former governor of New Mexico and Ilya Somin's kinda-preferred libertarian candidate for GOP nomination for President of the US.

Not available today, but go buy the deadtree if you must not wait: Government Spends Too Much Because It Does Too Much.

"you cannot limit government spending with an unlimited government."

"Truly controlling spending demands much more than juggling numbers on spreadsheets: it demands a long overdue return to the proper role of government."

Manga heroine?

GOP Presidential straw polls

I notice ads posted by Townhall.com, polling readers' opinions on GOP Presidential candidates. (Update: I navigated back to it, here).

I picked Herman Cain, just to back the dark horse as I usually do (no pun intended) (no, really, no pun intended) (honest).

What was missing, especially at this stage in the race---it's too early even to call it a race---is the option to pick which pre-candidates do not deserve further interest. Instead of picking "your favorite Republican candidate", Republicans (and I am not one) should be winnowing the field.

The usual suspects were all there, even Santorum. I don't recall whether Trump was there (going to Townhall.com's home page didn't even cough that ad up, either, so I still don't know whether Trump is there). Trump can stay, for right now, just to give the Donks something to throw tomatoes at. Update: No Trump. Maybe Townhall takes the Presidency seriously.

It was refreshing to see "Name YOUR Favorite for 2012" where the reader could supply another dark horse name if I could think of one. Well crap, I can think of five. Fred Thompson, Dick Armey, Steve Forbes, Walter Williams, and Bob Barr. But that's not the problem. The ad/poll listed, well, there must have been at least 30 potential candidates (Update: 18 plus Fill in the Blank). This many candidates being proffered, or launching exploratory committees, is a sign of a vacuum, a dearth, a void.

The GOP needs to be told who they should keep on the back benches, who they need to bring in from outside, and who they need to bring forward from the shadows. Some folks who were listed on this poll need to stay where they are and actually achieve legislative goals there before being groomed for higher office: it's too soon for Ryan and Bachmann, for example. And, frankly, Governor Palin too. Too early for Christie, and I wouldn't vote for him anyway given his RKBA stance. We're all better off with him keeping New Jersey afloat.

Besides, the office of the President isn't where the problem or the solution lies. It's Congress---the Senate most urgently, the House only less so. They're hosed and they are where discipline will do the most good.