Category: Uncategorized

A brief appearance with the good Fraters.

Headline: Games industry is ‘failing women’
Subhead: Game makers need to make titles women want to play

[My rhetorical question: why?]

I wonder why the BBC hasn’t published a similar story about how the romance novel industry is ‘failing men’. Obviously, they want to ruin video games for male entertainment in much the same way they have ruined television, not that I’m shedding any tears for that myself.

From the New York Times:

Surveys done since then, in communities around the world, suggest the same thing: aiming for a target as elusive as fame, and so dependent on the judgments of others, is psychologically treacherous.

I have long felt that the desire for fame is an indication of psychological disturbance. The problem is that fame, even a modicum of it, is so useful in achieving other things that one might more reasonably desire. It has to be incredibly frustrating to a genuinely talented singer and musician to see a talentless media whore like Paris Hilton not only handed a record contract, but given the benefit of a major marketing push as well.

As I mentioned already, the reason I pulled the rights to my forthcoming novel – it will be out later this fall – from Pocket Books was due to their enthusiastic revelation of their new strategy, namely, marketing ghostwritten autobiographies of 50 Cent and other rappers. So, fame certainly has its uses, but if you look at its downside and at the ambivalence of the famous towards it, there doesn’t seem to be any point in actively pursuing it unless you are a very sad, very damaged individual.

I need to add some pages prior to page 1 in a Microsoft Word document, but I don’t want them to have page numbers. Does anyone know how to go about doing this?

Thanks….

Dale makes a cogent case for why I will never appear in your local newspaper:

I quit. I have tried to read your stuff but it is not written for the average guy but for the inter masses of your own brain.

your article today Riding the Weak Horse III is so broken that it takes me three time as long to read it.

I don’t blame Dale, and I don’t even mind that some people don’t like my idiosyncratic style. I feel rather the same way about William F. Buckley and Doug Giles, although for very different reasons, obviously. I don’t see any reason why every commentator should sound the same, although obviously the editors at Townhall, National Review and every major newspaper in America tend to disagree.

JH feels rather differently:

Just stumbled onto your blogsite (via fraters..) and column a few weeks ago. I think you mentioned back then that you were considering dropping your WND column. After having a couple of weeks to digest, I’d have to say ‘please don’t’. I like the blog quite a bit but the thoughts in the column seem a bit more polished.

Most columns are unreadable, even if you agree with the writer – I would hate to see one of the good ones fold.

As is usually the case, I got bored after getting lazy and writing about things that don’t require any thought. The columns of the Weak Horse series are the sort of thing from which I actually derive satisfaction, unfortunately, it’s not always possible to summon the necessary energy needed to produce the more in-depth columns.

Now, it’s possible that I may have to quit writing altogether soon out of sheer professional humiliation, but more on that in a few months time….

From the Wall Street Journal:

The term “Islamofascism” was introduced by the French writer Maxine Rodinson (1915-2004) to describe the Iranian Revolution of 1978. Rodinson was a Marxist, who described as “fascist” any movement of which he disapproved.

No wonder the Neocons love it, being left-leaning faux-conservative big-government Trotskyites.

DO groks today’s column:

Vox, yes, and how do we promote strife within Islam? By getting out of Iraq. We are actually in the strange position of striving to “unite” the Shia’s and Sunnis of Iraq! Why?

We’ve set the fuse in Iraq. Our pullout will light it. We are the only glue holding the house of cards in Iraq together! And the beauty of it is the Saudis have their own Shia problem . . . as do the Gulf States. The Kurds are generally Pro US and are yet another fly in the ‘PanIslamist” ointment. They, the Muslims, will be devoting precious blood and treasure(not to mention petro dollars)”solving” their intra-Islamic crisis.

We need to realize dissent within Islam, the promotion of Kurds and Berber identity, the defence of Christians everywhere in the middle east, and the promotion of a real civil war between the Shia and Sunni which will only take place in earnest, with passion, on our exit from Iraq are all in our interests. Are there no political leaders who see this? Hagel sees Iraq as a failure but would never want to bring civil war to Iraq….

Actually by fomenting intra Islamic war, we will achievve our CENTRAL goal which
is cutting the legs out from under a potent, united, global Jihad.

Yes, well, I have been urging our pullout from Iraq for more than two years now. The absurdity of attempting to fix Iraq by uniting it is not particularly stupid because it’s impossible, but because it is directly contrary to our interests. Civil wars are eminently desirable when all of those involved in fighting them are your openly declared enemies.

Pat Buchanan offers yet another warning:

“The children born in 2006 will witness in their lifetimes the death of the West.”

One in every twelve people breaking into America has a criminal record.

By 2050, there will be 100 million Hispanics concentrated in the U.S. Southwest.

Between 10 and 20 percent of all Mexicans, Central Americans and Caribbean people have already moved to the United States.

Every month, the U.S. Border Patrol apprehends more illegal aliens breaking into our country, 150,000, than the number of troops we have in Iraq.

My respect for Pat Buchanan has grown enormously over the years. I don’t agree with him on everything, especially regarding the Israeli-Arab issue, but his wisdom is becoming more and more apparent with every year that passes. He is simply decades ahead of every other national commentator on the most vital issues facing America, as a perusal of his past books will demonstrate quite clearly.

It always amuses me when people dismiss individuals like Mr. Buchanan as Cassasandras; it makes me wonder if they’ve actually read any Homer.

Scott Adams sees this as a general comment on the human condition, I see it as a more apt metaphor for the US system of governance:

If aliens landed in your backyard and gave you one minute to describe everything there is to know about human behavior, what would you say?

I found an answer to that question today as I was looking through my old e-mails. This story was sent to me by a Dilbert reader.

— start —

The maintenance man is moving the thermostat in our office today. I started talking with him about the “Thermostat Wars” [from Dilbert comics]. He told me about one office with 30 women where they could never get the temperature to an agreeable level. At his suggestion they installed 20 dummy thermostats around the office. Everyone was told that each thermostat controlled the zone around itself.

Problem solved. Now that everyone has “control” of their own thermostat there is no problem.

Most times, the illusion of control is enough to satisfy people.