Government against the citizenry

Lest you be under the impression that the U.S. government’s job is to protect the interest of its citizenry, disabuse yourself of the notion:

A Texas catering business will pay the United States $26,400 for engaging in “citizenship-discrimination,” as part of a settlement with the Justice Department announced Tuesday.

Culinaire International unlawfully discriminated against employees based on their citizenship status, the Justice Department claimed, because it required non-citizen employees to provide extra proof of their right to work in the United States.

Culinaire has agreed to pay the United States $20,460 in civil penalties, receive training in anti-discrimination rules of the Immigration and Nationality Act, revise its work eligibility verification process, and create a $40,000 back pay fund for “potential economic victims.”

And this is the institution citizens are relying on to feed hungry Americans, heal sick Americans, educate young Americans, protect vulnerable Americans, defend Americans against foreign invasion, and provide a healthy American economy?

Why would you expect them to do so they don’t even take the side of actual American citizens?

Any faith you might still have in the U.S. government is very sadly, and badly, misplaced.

One Bright Star To Guide Them

At long last, we are very pleased to announce the publication of ONE BRIGHT STAR TO GUIDE THEM  by John C. Wright. It is a beautiful novella in which Mr. Wright once more proves himself to be the Master of the Final Word; in all my reading I have yet to discover an author who is more accomplished at writing elegant, perfectly-fitting endings that leave the reader in breathless awe. The novella is available in Kindle format for $2.99 at Amazon and in DRM-free EPUB format at Castalia House.

As children, long ago, Tommy Robertson and his three friends, Penny,
Sally, and Richard, passed through a secret gate in a ruined garden and
found themselves in an elfin land, where they aided a brave prince
against the evil forces of the Winter King. Decades later, successful,
stout, and settled in his ways, Tommy is long parted from his childhood
friends, and their magical adventures are but a half-buried memory.

 But on the very eve of his promotion to London, a silver key and a
coal-black cat appear from the past, and Tommy finds himself summoned to
serve as England’s champion against the invincible Knight of Ghosts and
Shadows. The terror and wonder of Faerie has broken into the Green and
Pleasant Land, and he alone has been given the eyes to see it. To
gather his companions and their relics is his quest, but age and time
have changed them too. Like Tommy, they are more worldly-wise, and more
fearful. And evil things from childhood stories grow older and darker
and more frightening with the passing of the years.


 
ONE BRIGHT STAR TO GUIDE THEM begins where other fairy tales end.
Brilliant and bittersweet, the novella hearkens back to the greatest and
best-loved classics of childhood fantasy. John C. Wright’s beautiful
fairy tale is not a subversion of these classics, but a loving and
nostalgic homage to them, and reminds the reader that although Ever
After may not always be happy, the Road of Life goes ever on and evil
must be defeated anew by each and every generation. 

If you are a fan of John C. Wright or C.S. Lewis, this is one novella you simply will not want to miss. Nor is it the only Wright-related book news today, for as can be seen below, the hardcover version of AWAKE IN THE NIGHT LAND has arrived and will soon be available from Amazon.

UPDATE: Amazon, in its inimitable wisdom, has finally decided to provide pricing information and permit prospective readers of ONE BRIGHT STAR TO GUIDE THEM to “Buy Now with 1-Click”. Please consider taking the time to post a review after you read the novella.

The mystery of the missing light

Astrophysics keeps getting curiouser and curiouser:

There is a “missing light crisis” taking place in the universe with a huge deficit on what there should be and what there actually is, astronomers have said. In a statement, experts from the Carnegie Institution for Science said “something is amiss in the universe” with 80% of the light missing.

Lead author of the study Juna Kollmeier said: “It’s as if you’re in a big, brightly-lit room, but you look around and see only a few 40-watt lightbulbs. Where is all that light coming from? It’s missing from our census.”

Published in Astrophysical Journal Letters, scientists found that the light from galaxies and quasars is not enough to explain observations of intergalactic hydrogen, with a difference of 400%. Empty space between galaxies are bridged by tendrils of hydrogen and helium that act as a “light metre”.

The scientists discovered that when looking at galaxies billions of light years away in the early universe, the amount of light present appears to add up. However, in more localised parts of the universe, the calculations fail massively….

Kollmier said: “Either our accounting of the light from galaxies and quasars is very far off, or there’s some other major source of ionizing photons that we’ve never recognised. We are calling this missing light the photon underproduction crisis. But it’s the astronomers who are in crisis—somehow or other, the universe is getting along just fine.”

With the new school year starting, homeschool parents should consider helping prepare their children to deal with this “missing light crisis” by ensuring that they are properly educated on the subject. And one of the best ways to do that is to take the Astronomy and Astrophysics course for which the curriculum is available from Castalia House. Written by Dr. Sarah Salviander, it is the best curriculum on the subject you can find anywhere.

Ex-US intelligence warns the EU

A group of retired intelligence officers are warning Angela Merkel and the other EU leaders not to trust current US intelligence regarding the reported Russian invasion of Ukraine:

Timing of the Russian “Invasion”

The conventional wisdom promoted by Kiev just a few weeks ago was that Ukrainian forces had the upper hand in fighting the anti-coup federalists in southeastern Ukraine, in what was largely portrayed as a mop-up operation. But that picture of the offensive originated almost solely from official government sources in Kiev. There were very few reports coming from the ground in southeastern Ukraine. There was one, however, quoting Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, that raised doubt about the reliability of the government’s portrayal.

According to the “press service of the President of Ukraine” on August 18, Poroshenko called for a “regrouping of Ukrainian military units involved in the operation of power in the East of the country. … Today we need to do the rearrangement of forces that will defend our territory and continued army offensives,” said Poroshenko, adding, “we need to consider a new military operation in the new circumstances.”

If the “new circumstances” meant successful advances by Ukrainian government forces, why would it be necessary to “regroup,” to “rearrange” the forces? At about this time, sources on the ground began to report a string of successful attacks by the anti-coup federalists against government forces. According to these sources, it was the government army that was starting to take heavy casualties and lose ground, largely because of ineptitude and poor leadership.

Ten days later, as they became encircled and/or retreated, a ready-made excuse for this was to be found in the “Russian invasion.” That is precisely when the fuzzy photos were released by NATO and reporters like the New York Times’ Michael Gordon were set loose to spread the word that “the Russians are coming.” (Michael Gordon was one of the most egregious propagandists promoting the war on Iraq.)

No Invasion – But Plenty Other Russian Support

The anti-coup federalists in southeastern Ukraine enjoy considerable local support, partly as a result of government artillery strikes on major population centers. And we believe that Russian support probably has been pouring across the border and includes, significantly, excellent battlefield intelligence. But it is far from clear that this support includes tanks and artillery at this point – mostly because the federalists have been better led and surprisingly successful in pinning down government forces.

At the same time, we have little doubt that, if and when the federalists need them, the Russian tanks will come.

This is precisely why the situation demands a concerted effort for a ceasefire, which you know Kiev has so far been delaying. What is to be done at this point? In our view, Poroshenko and Yatsenyuk need to be told flat-out that membership in NATO is not in the cards – and that NATO has no intention of waging a proxy war with Russia – and especially not in support of the ragtag army of Ukraine. Other members of NATO need to be told the same thing.

For the Steering Group, Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity

        William Binney, former Technical Director, World Geopolitical & Military Analysis, NSA; co-founder, SIGINT Automation Research Center (ret.)
        David MacMichael, National Intelligence Council (ret.)
        Ray McGovern, former US Army infantry/intelligence officer & CIA analyst (ret.)
        Elizabeth Murray, Deputy National Intelligence Officer for Middle East (ret.)
        Todd E. Pierce, MAJ, US Army Judge Advocate (Ret.)
        Coleen Rowley, Division Counsel & Special Agent, FBI (ret.)
        Ann Wright, Col., US Army (ret.); Foreign Service Officer (resigned)

Just remember, the Official Story is never, ever, true, especially with regards to military situations. The only thing you can be absolutely sure of is that whatever is being reported in the mainstream media is not what and how actually took place. It’s remarkable that people forget this, when almost every single book of military history openly describes how the various governments almost always mislead their people, or at the very least leave them in the dark at the time the important decisions are being made.

Mailvox: somehow, I doubt it

One of the Baby Boomers who was defending her generational cohort emailed me this morning:

Well, I’ll give you this much, Vox. In twenty years of Internet discussions, this is the first time I have ever been told by a fellow Christian to SHUT. THE FUCK. UP and hurry up and die. I have never talked about myself in the NYT (or, for that matter, the Poughkeepsie Palimpset); I didn’t destroy America; I haven’t personally ruined your life. In fact, up until three months ago, neither of us had ever heard of the other. But I guess none of that matters. Because I’m a boomer.

I have no idea what inner demons you’re wrestling with on this issue, or why. I would wish you peace, but the truth is I don’t give a rat’s ass.  However, I do have more important things to do with my time than hanging around just to be abused by you for the apparent crime of not sharing your personal hatreds.

Therefore, your wish is granted. I will SHUT. THE FUCK. UP. and go away.

The amusing thing is that this is the commenter who kept saying that GenX was whining. Who is whining now? Isn’t it terrible that we don’t abase ourselves in admiration before their special world-changing specialness! The amazing thing is that even when it is being directly pointed out to them, this sort of Baby Boomer is so haplessly narcissistic that they cannot tell the difference between personal and generational criticism. Their identity is apparently so closely tied to that of their generation that any criticism directed at it is taken as a personal affront.

Nor can the commenter bear to recognize, in spite of the evidence right in front of them, that my feelings about their generation are, in fact, quite widespread. I do not know a single member of Generation X who admires or speaks well of the Baby Boomer generation. If you do, by all means, I’m quite open to hearing your reasons why… but only from an actual member of Generation X. Not from a Baby Boomer with cool stories about how the kids think she’s amazingly with it and not at all old because “love Sam Cooke!”

I will be utterly shocked if this individual does, in fact, manage to shut up and go away. Because, let’s face it, few Boomers can resist when someone is t-t-talking about their g-g-generation.

Steve Sailer adds:

Babyboomers like me are pretty much impervious to the strategies that we pulled on our parents to put them at a generational disadvantage, which disadvantages newer generations.

See how cool they are? They’re still at the top of the generational heap and impervious so you totally can’t, like, say they’re old and irrelevant. Now, I wonder why that might be? I find it telling, as only a Boomer would be so obtuse as to brag about his generation’s bulletproof self-absorption.

They certainly don’t seem to be impervious to hearing that they’re not admired.

So much for the Cloud

I’ve always thought the idea of putting your data up on someone else’s server was absolutely and utterly retarded. I’ve turned down more offers of cloud-based storage than I can recall for just that reason. But most people don’t understand that because MPAI. So, it seems likely that what 4chan is calling “The Fappening” (one has to love the way those guys name things) is going to throw a monkeywrench into more than a few business plans, including those belonging to Apple and Microsoft, because even idiots can understand the problem when naked pictures of celebrities are involved.

In case you’re not aware of what happened, a hacker got access to a number of directories belonging to celebrities and discovered that a number of young actresses such as Jennifer Lawrence, Kate Upton, and Kirsten Dunst rather like to take pictures of themselves sans clothing. Which is a fine, time-honored tradition, of course, but again, storing those pictures on public servers protected by dubious security is not exactly what one would describe as the technologically sound option.

The EU states the obvious

The European Union has no intention of fighting to defend its Ukrainian puppet:

There can be no military solution to the Ukraine crisis, only a political one, Federica Mogherini, the European Union’s new head of foreign policy, has insisted.

In her first interview since being appointed at the weekend, Ms Mogherini, soon to step down as Italy’s foreign minister, said: “It’s in the interests of Ukraine, Europe and Russia that the crisis should have a political, not a military solution.”

The prospect of Europe going to war to defend Ukraine against Russian aggression “simply does not exist”, she insisted.

At least the Eurofascists are not operating in the realm of complete fantasy, at least where the Russians are concerned. Putin has stated that Russian forces can take Kiev within two weeks, and based on the inability of the Ukrainian army to hold its ground, there is little reason to question his assertion:

Kiev forces retreated from Luhansk airport after battling a “Russian armed forces” tank column on Monday, Kiev said, in what Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko described as the latest stage of Moscow’s “direct and open aggression”.

The battle came ahead of a key meeting between Russia and Ukraine in Minsk, the Belarus capital, later on Monday.

“In the Luhansk direction, Ukrainian forces have received an order and have pulled back from the airport,” Ukraine army spokesman Andriy Lysenko told reporters. He said seven Ukrainian service personnel had been killed in the past 24 hours. Ukraine’s defence minister Valeriy Geletey said that Russian units are moving into other towns in the region, including the largest city of the region Donetsk.

Ukraine should jump at the opportunity to give Novorossiya its independence if that is what Putin is demanding at the Minsk talks. It is strategically risky to fight a war you are certain to lose if what is at stake is not vital, because you often end up losing far more than you were hoping to protect. And the Ukrainians should keep in mind that NATO is not a magic shield; neither the European nations nor the USA are going to go to war with Russia over resistance to their their shabby attempt to financially pillage Ukraine and expand NATO.

There are no good guys here, but it is a positive sign to see that there is resistance to the global vampire squid as well as limits to its rapacious reach.

The decline of game reviews

Speaking of the declining quality of reviews, consider the implications of this superficially glowing review of McRapey’s latest book in USA TODAY: “Lock In cements the award-winning writer as one of the best in today’s sci-fi community”

That is intended as praise, but it is more correctly understood as an indictment of today’s sci-fi community. And this comment from an Amazon review made me laugh: “I was a little irked that the huge revelation in this book is basically
that computers can be hacked. I mean really? You put a computer in
someone’s brain and you are all like “Oh, that will be completely safe,
we have a ton of safeguards in place.” I think it was incredibly
ignorant (and anti-climatic) to think that no one would realize a brain
computer can be hacked just like any other type of computer. If you
have software it can be hacked.”

Wait, embedded computers can be hacked? MIND! BLOWN! I can only conclude that Mr. Scalzi’s technological genius sounds like a perfect match for the SyFy audience.

Given the rather limited enthusiasm with which Lock In has been greeted by his fans (it only has a 4.1 rating on Amazon in its first week),  I’m wondering why Tor Books has put such a big marketing blitz behind the book. I’ve heard rumors (and seen some indications myself) that they are experiencing difficulties, and certainly it isn’t a good sign that their bestsellers for the last three years have either been game tie-in novels or Orson Scott Card novels first published three decades ago.

My surmise, and at this point it is nothing more than that, is Tor Books desperately needs Scalzi to have a Larry Correia-sized hit in order to make up for all the award-winning drek it has published that hasn’t sold. Hence the outsized push, which McRapey’s book doesn’t appear to be able to support. I expect it won’t be too long before we start hearing more about this, probably in the next 6-9 months.

The usual suspects may now commence with their customary accusations of jealousy. Go ahead, my little friends, you know you want to. Go ahead and get them out of the way so the rest of us can proceed with the discussion. Anyhow, to return to the subject of game reviews, I see Breitbart has a good summary of the Quinnspiracy and #GamerGate:

The enduring effect of #GamerGate is obvious: the gaming media has destroyed its reputation and its relationship with readers, who will never again trust it on any issue beyond which power-up is most likely to get you past level 17. By blaming its readers and burying its head in the sand, the politicised bloggers who previously influenced the opinions of millions have voluntarily given up their authority to rabid, single-issue campaigners who silence criticism and sleep with journalists and peers to get ahead.

This is a subject I’ll return to in a later column: a brief history of corruption in video game journalism needs to be written. In the meantime, those of us with some critical distance from the chaos can only sit back and marvel at how wide-ranging and fundamental the damage to the indie games industry has been these last two weeks. There are now two, bitterly opposed factions in the industry. Journalists and activists, who care more about gender politics than the video games they are supposed to be reporting on, and gamers, mocked, derided and bullied… but unbowed.

Video gamers, and video game culture, will never be the same again.

That certainly sounds more than a little familiar, doesn’t it?

The myth of the melting ice

Despite the science supposedly being “settled”, global warming still resolutely refuses to show its shy face anywhere on the planet:

Myth of arctic meltdown: Stunning satellite images show summer ice cap is thicker and covers 1.7million square kilometres MORE than 2 years ago…despite Al Gore’s prediction it would be ICE-FREE by now.

The most widely used measurements of Arctic ice extent are the daily satellite readings issued by the US National Snow and Ice Data Center, which is co-funded by Nasa. These reveal that – while the long-term trend still shows a decline – last Monday, August 25, the area of the Arctic Ocean with at least 15 per cent ice cover was 5.62 million square kilometres.

This was the highest level recorded on that date since 2006 (see graph, right), and represents an increase of 1.71 million square kilometres over the past two years – an impressive 43 per cent.

Other figures from the Danish Meteorological Institute suggest that the growth has been even more dramatic. Using a different measure, the area with at least 30 per cent ice cover, these reveal a 63 per cent rise – from 2.7 million to 4.4 million square kilometres.

The polar bears are doing well too. “Computer model predictions of decline caused by ice melt have also failed to come true. In 2004, researchers claimed Hudson Bay bear numbers would fall from 900 to fewer than 700 by 2011. In fact, they have risen to over 1,000.”

The entire Anthropogenic Global Warming/Climate Change affair reminds me of the clever front-runner who makes a habit of making smart guesses while pretending that he actually knows the relevant material. Al Gore and company saw a short-term trend, guessed it would continue, and made a lot of money from selling people on the “settled science”. But it was never anything more than a simple logical extrapolation that had no basis in either fact or science, and is being continually exposed on an ongoing basis to be an erroneous and non-predictive model.

VPFL draft

It starts in 12 minutes. Have your sciencestat sheets ready!

UPDATE: Hrmm. Missed out on the Seattle DEF, which I strongly considered keeping. But I have Chicago and KC as potential replacements; last year I had KC as my backup DEF and it actually outscored Seattle. If anyone in New York can throw the ball, Eric Decker could be a nice accompaniment to Thomas, Brown and Patterson, and I have hope for my backup RBs Moreno and MJD. So, I didn’t get my usual elite Kicker/DEF combination, but then, I haven’t won anything with that strategy either.

Yahoo says: “Led by a Talented WR Corps, Moundsview Meerkats Is Loaded with Talent. Moundsview Meerkats parlayed a solid draft slot into a
respectable performance. With a mark of 11-3-0 (948 points), they’re
projected to finish third in VPFL League.”

A+ Gilbert Gamma Rays
A+ FavreDollarFootlongs
A  Moundsview Meerkats
A  RR Redbeards
B  KING
B- Bane Cornshuckers
C+Texas Chili Eaters
C  Greenfield Grizzlies
D+Boot Hill Bogs
D Clerical Errs