Category: Uncategorized

Pebble Chaser thinks they drive fast out west:

You Know You’re From Montana When… You get passed when you are driving seventy five.

Spacebunny and I were driving back from Verona one Sunday morning, which is a pleasant little place billed as the city of Shakespearean love, but actually has a history of appallingly brutal violence dating back to Roman days. The Venice-Milan autostrada was empty, so we were moving along at a pretty good clip, about 130 MPH, when I happened to look back in the mirror. I couldn’t believe my eyes.

A car was not only gaining on me, it was gaining fast. I quickly moved into the right lane and watched with appreciative awe as a silver Ferrari 456 roared past. A moment later, a blue Porsche 911 twin turbo followed suit, they had to be going at least 170.

The Germans may have their autobahns, but the Italians have a charming take on the matter. There are speed limits, sometimes even posted, but they primarily viewed as suggestions for the lily-livered, and in the unlikely event you get a ticket of any sort, you are expected to throw it out as long as they haven’t already towed your car. Works for me.

TP makes some claims for the positive nature of atheism:

The primary benefit of atheism is a skeptical mind and a healthy distrust of “certainties”. The benefits are manifold, from an enhanced ability to discern reality to a much diminished chance of being hoodwinked by “authority”.

Which is nice. Of course, he forgets to mention a few other attributes of atheists such as:

1. Living a shorter life.

2. Being handicapped with regards to pattern recognition. (28 January, New Scientist)

3. Being less evolutionarily fit. (New Scientist)

4. Being unhappier and suffering more physical and mental illnesses.

It is ironic that the Reason which many atheists hold sacred is considered a lower circuit (third) than the Religion circuit (fourth). Neurosomatically speaking, the atheist is actually less evolved than the religious believer, which would explain some of the aforementioned handicaps if you are inclined to such imaginative theories.

RAW addressed the rationalists thusly: “The totally robotized make up the vast horde of the Fundamentalist wing of the Materialist church and other True Believers in the scientific paradigms of 1968, 1958, 1948 or whenever their nervous systems stopped taking new imprints.

These are the people who are perpetually frightened and dismayed by the large portion of human behavior mediated through Circuit II mammalian politics. They think that because this territorial-emotional behavior is not Rational, it should not exist. They accept Darwin as dogma, but are nervous about “Darwinism” (because it accepts mammalian politics as an Evolutionary Strategy that has worked thus far) and are repulsed by the data of ethology, genetics and sociobiology. They don’t like the rest of the human race much, because it is not guided by their favorite circuit, and they are uneasily aware that the rest of the human race does not like them much.

These Rationalist robots are also very uncomfortable with the newer circuits and some of them spend most of their lives writing articles and books devoted to “proving” that the newer circuits do not exist and that all scientists who have recorded the behavior of these newer circuits are liars, fools, bunglers, charlatans or some manner of Damned Heretics.”

I found this quote from Prometheus Rising to be particularly amusing in light of the naked fear demonstrated in the headline of 8 October’s New Scientist: “SPECIAL REPORT FUNDAMENTALISM Descent into the new Dark Ages”, to say nothing of TP’s own angry, irrational rantings in defense of Reason.

Ted Kennedy writes a children’s book:

“The Senate has voted to approve our education bill!” one staff member says. “Our bill will make schools safer, let them hire more teachers, and even put a computer in every classroom!”

“But the House of Representatives has passed a different education bill,” says another staff member. “This is a problem.”

“Well, there’s no time to lose,” says the Senator. “We need to meet with members of the House immediately and work out the differences between the two bills. The schoolchildren are counting on us!”

Fortunately for many public school kids, they can’t read and so will be spared the horror. I’m not a big fan of social services, but any parent who knowingly reads this book to his child should not only have his parental rights terminated, but should be rendered sterile as well.

I know a ticking clock is considered critical to the thriller genre, but I had no idea it was equally vital in children’s books about bicameral committee meetings in Washington.

With “leaders” like this, no wonder the country is ripe for a smiting.

From Debka:

On March 17, DEBKA-Net-Weekly’s intelligence sources in Baghdad revealed as a result of a discreet scan that almost 130 of the 275 candidates the Shiite Alliance posted for the December election were connected in some way or other with, or on the payroll of, the Iranian bodies pulling the wires of Iraqi politics from across the border.

Six Iraqi lawmakers elected on the United Iraqi Alliance ticket were identified as undercover “amid” officers – brigadier-generals – of the Iranian revolutionary guards and intelligence service. They used political fronts to disguise their undercover missions on behalf of the Islamic republic.

DEBKA-Net-Weekly reveals the names and functions of those six Iraqi politicians-cum-Iranian brigadier generals.

Abu Muchtabi Sari – former secretary general of the Iraqi Hizballah.

Abu Hassan Al Amari – the last commander of the Badr Force at its base in Iran.

Abu Mahdi al Muhandis – former Badr Force officer.

Rajah Alwan – former Badr Force officer.

Dager Moussawi – Head of the Lord of the Martyrs Movement, which Iran’s military intelligence established in the Shiite regions of central and southern Iraq. (Lord in the Shiite sense refers to the holy Imam Hussein)

Tahsin Aboudi – a high-ranking Iraqi interior ministry official, under which cover – and as an Iraqi member of parliament – he is an undercover brigadier general of Iran’s external intelligence service, which is operated by the foreign ministry in Tehran.

Obviously, the primary problem in Iraq is the insufficient enthusiasm of the American media for nation building…. It is amazing what lengths some commentators will go in order to cling to their preconceived notions about the essential goodness, wisdom and munificence of the present administration.

And look at me, part of the problem, talking about the bad news of electing Iranian intelligence officers while not even mentioning how ecstatically wonderful it is that a government school was built yesterday.

Sure, the invasion of the American Southwest continues apace, but at least we are installing an Iranian puppet government in Baghdad. I think it’s settled now that Jorge Bush is a worse president than Billy Jeff Clinton, if only because the expectations were significantly higher. After six years of Jorge’s foreign adventurism and domestic debacles, the idea of an executive branch paralyzed for two years by Congressional investigations of petty felonies and misdemeanors suddenly looks pretty good, doesn’t it? You certainly don’t hear much talk about how “Reaganesque” Jorge is these days.

ESPN’s Daily Quickie beats an intriguing drum:

While I’m making radical suggestions, there’s never been a better time to make my annual argument:

Expand the NCAA Tournament to all 334 teams.

(1) End conference tournaments: With every team in the Big Dance, there’s no need for them anymore. The first half of the new, all-in tournament will replace them — and improve on them.

(2) Give the top 32 teams byes: If everyone is invited to the tournament, qualifying for seeding in the 32-team “bye” pool would become the incentive to shoot for as a reward for a superior season.

(3) Create a “Little Dance”: The remaining 302 teams are seeded into a 1-week, 4-round frenzy that cuts that field to 32 teams, which are seeded into matchups with the Top 32.

Yes, I do like this idea very much indeed. (Meanwhile, the WB just dropped to his knees and began weeping with joy.) Of course, it would end American productivity as we know it, but so what? If you’re going out anyhow, why not go out having a blast?

EM can’t make it all the way through:

I enjoy your writings. It is refreshing to have an apparently informed and literate commentator. I would like to make a suggestion. I have noted in your writing, there tends to be a flurry of gbblety-gook toward the end. As in this article, you write of second and fourth circuit imprint, blah, blah, blah.

I hate to admit. I completely lose interest and close the window. I am not advocating you dumb-down your writing. This flourish is just unnecessary and very unreadable. It would be nice to not have to reread to understand your close.

It’s true that most people aren’t familiar with neurosomatic circuit theory, but that expected lack of familiarity doesn’t justify leaving it out. What EM considers to be a flurry of nonsense is actually a summing up, in which I have neither the space nor the inclination to further explain the subject.

Of course, I have to admit that the entire topic today may well be gobbledygook, but it’s INTERESTING gobbledygook, which suffices to justify it. I assumed everyone else would have this week’s theme of Immigration is Bad pretty well covered.

DO concurs:

I saw EM’s comment on your 4/3 blog, and I have to agree. I am a 52-year-old, professional, college-educated lab manager for a tech company with an MBA, and more often than not I give up halfway through your column because I can’t figure out what you’re trying to say.

There’s a difference between “dumbing down” and being clear. You seem to take great pains to emphasize your intellect and education by peppering your writing with nearly incomprehensible, obscure terms. Your general position and topics are usually timely, interesting and relevant. I only wish I could enjoy them more fully.

Don’t be afraid to employ more “common” English. You have a great deal to say. More people will hear it if you speak our language.

To hear some folks tell it, you’d think I was sitting down with a thesaurus to write my columns. The truth is that most of the time I dash them off in 30 minutes on Saturday afternoon, and not only do I not spiff them up with a thesaurus, as the more perceptive of you have noted, I don’t even spell check them.

Today’s column was admittedly on the unusual side, but I’d just finished reading Prometheus Rising the night before, only a day after the lecture, and I was intrigued with the connections I’d discerned between the two. Since I had put off starting the column until Sunday afternoon, this was a case of WND getting stuck with either a) whatever happened to be on my mind, or, b) generic commentary on the news cycle.

In my post-syndication freedom, I have decided that there is no longer any reason to go with (b), so you can safely expect further strangeness to ensue any time I don’t have a specific column topic in mind. Which reminds me, some of you were worried and emailed me to ask me if I was out of favor with WND after Mr. Keyes was featured on the top of the page last week. The commentary editor emailed me this:

Keyes writes for us whenever the spirit moves him, though he used to be a regular feature on Mondays. But he does have a national following, so we promote him strongly when the opportunity arises.

Your writing is unpredictable, interesting, intelligent and cohesive, so why on earth would we want to drop you? Barring a major screw-up on your part — which I regard as highly unlikely — if one of our editors ever got a notion to let you go, you can be sure I would be fighting hard on your behalf to keep you. OK? And just so you know, I’ve argued to acquire, keep and drop a sizable number of our writers over the last five years and I seldom lose — I say that not to brag, but to reassure, since I know I can make a solid case on your behalf if the need arises. So tell your readers to relax.

After today’s column, I imagine the emphasis is likely on the “unpredictable”, but then, I get the feeling this particular editor would rather slit his wrists than edit 10 virtually identical columns on the topic du jour.

Another murder in Minneapolis:

In a burst of violence in a busy area of downtown Minneapolis, a gunman fired into a crowd late Friday night and killed Alan D. Reitter, 31, of Minnetonka, who had been out with a group of friends, authorities said. Police and community leaders said the shooting of Reitter near the Block E entertainment complex was a senseless act, and the death raised questions about safety downtown and led to calls for renewed efforts to stop gun violence in the city….

The Block E scene was especially crowded, with dozens of people on the street Friday night, according to workers and visitors. Many people, including a large number of teens and young adults, were there to see an opening night show of “ATL,” a coming-of-age movie about four teenagers in working-class Atlanta, said Ron Edwards, a member of the Police Community Relations Council (PCRC) and a longtime activist.

He went to a 5 p.m. showing of the movie. “It wasn’t the movie” that led to the night’s violence, Edwards said, noting that the movie had a positive message about resisting the temptations of the streets.

I always enjoy how the media is careful to let you know the race of the parties involved without informing you directly. A movie about the ATL, I wonder what color the teenagers interested in that could possibly be?

I’ve been out and about in downtown Minneapolis exactly once in the last four years. (I’m not counting when you drive to the Hilton, park in the parking ramp, have dinner at Manny’s and then go home.) That was last July, when Spacebunny, The Perfect Aryan Male and I hit one of the posh We Wish We Were in New York restaurants that was so desperate to convince you it was somewhere that wasn’t Minneapolis that all of the windows were covered.

After dinner, we walked outside and saw that apparently the restaurateurs had gotten their wish and Block E had been magically transported to Atlanta. Now, keep in mind that I spent many an evening in downtown Minneapolis and the Warehouse District, in fact, that’s where I first met Spacebunny. The difference was striking, as a downtown crowd that had once been 98 percent white was now 60 percent black.

I gave TPAM a commiserating pat on the shoulder – he owns a downtown condo – and hoped that he would enjoy his declining property values. I also asked him if they’d seen a big jump in crime yet, he shook his head, but as we walked past the skinny, exuberant would-be thugz and overfed, underdressed would-be hoz, he admitted that he didn’t think it would be long before the inevitable crime wave got rolling. We stopped in for a drink at the place where Spacebunny and I met, it caters to twenty and thirty-something professionals and needless to say, it was all but empty.

And while neither the summer nor the expected crime wave is yet upon us, it wouldn’t surprise me if we soon began to see a revival of the Murderopolis headlines that featured so prominently in the Star & Sickle back in the mid-eighties. The DFL can embrace diversity all it likes, but if it wants to fight suburban sprawl and urban decay, turning the downtown entertainment district into an Atlanta ghetto strikes me as a particularly backwards way of going about it.

As economist Stephen Levitt shows in Freakonomics, aborting black children has proven to be the best defense against crime. I am, as every reader knows, opposed to all abortion for any reason, (except, of course, the termination of half-human demon babies of the sort seen in the Belgariad), but it serves no one, least of all the black community, to pretend that the fatherlessness and other social pathologies of that community do not exist or affect anyone else. Blacks themselves know it very well; the first thing the black upper middle class does is attempt to disassociate itself geographically from their socially dysfunctional relatives.

The right to free association, in other words, discriminate on the basis of color or anything else you may happen to choose, is guaranteed in the Constitution. Congress has no power to dicatate who you will hire, fire or live next to, regardless of what illegitimate chest-beating in which it may engage. Until Americans reclaim that right, diversity will be used as a wedge to divide and conquer them.

I don’t have an answer, except to maximize individual freedom with the goal of keeping ghetto pathologies in the ghetto. Money is no solution, as forty-plus years of the failed Great Society has proved. Public education is a bad joke. Open carry laws are good, but there’s no defense against a social sickness that isn’t seeking anything except a buzz from random violence. Since segregation is preferred in every human culture, merely removing the structures of forced desegregation may suffice to bring about a more harmonious and peaceful co-existence.

Despite its best efforts, the media fails to pull one over on (the vast majority of) men:

At last count Cargo had 373,727 subscribers, according to the Audit Bureau of Circulations, which does not break down numbers on how many are metrosexuals. Introduced by Condé Nast in March 2004 as the men’s equivalent of Lucky, Cargo seemed to be an instant hit with consumers. It was a ready source of validation for any number of articles about trends in men’s grooming and luxury products.

“More guys flash jewelry,” wrote The Denver Post, citing Cargo. “Shaving pits latest trend for today’s manly men,” trumpeted The Kamloops Daily News in British Columbia, also invoking the magazine. Articles about the “return of the dandy” in The San Antonio Express-News and about how “men enjoy pampering too” in The Triangle Business Journal of Raleigh, N.C., relied on the magazine. And last week an article by this reporter in The New York Times about men with beards cited as evidence two editors of Cargo.

“I don’t think the idea of a shopping magazine for men is wrong,” said Joe Zee, its former editor, who now works on special projects for the company. “It all just happened too much too fast. The idea of metrosexuals was something created by Madison Avenue for advertising reasons. It was such a gimmick that, of course, it was going to fall flat at some point.”

Given that I have my suits and shirts custom made, I devote conscious thought to my footware loyalties – currently Adidas (soccer, gym) and Geox (dress) – and that Spacebunny receives invitations to shows by Milanese designers, you’d think that I’m a pretty fashion-conscious man, of the sort that the media glorified in proclaiming a metrosexual trend.

I’m pleased to say that not only did I never read the aforementioned Cargo, but I’d never actually been cognizant of its name. (I had read somewhere that there were two magazines, the existence of which proved the metrosexual trend, but that was all.) Nor did I buy into the mythical “trend”. What magazines do I follow? Sports Illustrated, the Economist, New Scientist and Computer Gaming World.

The truth is that men of style ignore fashion. Fashion is female and ephemeral. It changes from year to year. Boys can be trendy if they want, after all, there has to be a way for one generation to signal its differences from its predecessors and once the girls of an age collectively decide what they want, the boys have to follow suit if they wish female favors to be conferred upon them.

A man, on the other hand, simply dresses as he does. Regardless of whether you habitually wear a suit made by Armani Collezione, a swim suit and suntan lotion or a cowboy hat and wife beater, true male style is to go with what is most natural to your personality, the occasion and your occupation.

As for those three hundred thousand would-be trendfollowers, well, those that were nominally of the male sex should be ashamed of themselves. You might as well go all the way and subscribe to The Advocate, or better yet, grow up and learn that dressing according to a magazine is little more than advanced Geranimals.

From the SFWA:

The 13th annual RITA Awards will be announced on July 29, 2006 at the Romance Writers of America’s 26th National Conference, which will be held in Atlanta, Georgia. The award catagories include Best Paranormal (Science Fiction and Fantasy) Romance.

Best Paranormal (Science Fiction and Fantasy) Romance Finalists:
The Misted Cliffs by Catherine Asaro
Ghost Walk by Heather Graham
My Shadow Warrior by Jen Holling
Spirited Away by Pamela Labud
A Taste of Crimson by Marjorie Liu
After Midnight by Teresa Medeiros
Gabriel’s Ghost by Linnea Sinclair
Dark Lover by J. R. Ward

The frightening thing is that Asaro actually won the Nebula award a few years ago. Fortunately, it was just a popularity contest that year – she also won the Presidency – but it’s not a good sign for the future that publishers – and readers – have so enthusiastically embraced the romance novelization of the genre.

Speaking of real science fiction, I’m sorry to learn that David Feintuch has died. While I did not know him well, I met him at my first book signing; we sat next to each other all day and he was kind enough to give me signed copies of four of his books. As others have described him, he was a big, gentle man and a decent human being. His Nicholas Seafort books are worth checking out if you haven’t read them yet, a sort of Aubrey-Maturin in space, albeit minus the Maturin.

From the Star & Sickle:

A mumps vaccine was introduced in 1967. Iowa law requires schoolchildren to be vaccinated against measles and rubella, and the mumps vaccine is included in the same shot. The state’s last major outbreak was in 1987, when 476 people were infected.

Of the 245 patients this year, at least 66 percent had had the recommended two-shot vaccination, while 14 percent had received one dose, the Public Health Department said.

“The vaccine is working,” Quinlisk said. “The vaccine certainly was made to cover this particular strain, because it’s a fairly common strain of mumps.” Quinlisk said the vaccine overall is considered about 95 percent effective.

So, the question is this: if the vaccine, not improved hygiene or some other factor, is primarily responsible for preventing transmission of the disease it is supposed to prevent, how is it possible that 80 percent of the infected in this latest outbreak are at least partially vaccinated against it?

And isn’t it at least somewhat doubt-inspiring that the health authorities continue to insist that the vaccine is working in the face of direct evidence that, at least in some cases, it is not?