Recent Articles

Spam mail of the day (if not of the year)

Spam mail of the day (if not of the year)

| June 9, 2011 | Reply

This doesn’t appear to be so much a real spam message as it is a student at a university having fun. Subject: Free heroin shipping From: “freeland temp” <XXXXXXX@uark.edu> Date: 9 Jun 2011 08:49:27 +0600 To: “der frederic” <[my e-mail address]> FREE HEROIN SHIPPING! 1. Heroin, in liquid and crystal form. 2. Rocket fuel and […]

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On Memorial Day — here’s to my dad

On Memorial Day — here’s to my dad

| May 30, 2011 | Reply

I know I haven’t been posting much lately — I haven’t had a lot to say. But today, on Memorial Day, I want to repost the eulogy I gave for my father when we scattered his ashes out at sea in June 1997. My father’s life spanned three-fourths of this [the 20th] century and was, […]

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“Friday” as radical text

“Friday” as radical text

| March 23, 2011 | Reply

Clearly, I’ve been looking at this music video all wrong: Rebecca Black wakes somewhat too perfectly in the early scenes of her viral video, “Friday.” Her eyes open exactly as the clock beside her bed flashes seven. She wears full make-up. Rare for a teen, she isn’t tired, longs not for any receding dreams. Her […]

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Internet veritas

Internet veritas

| March 22, 2011 | Reply

CIA’s ‘Facebook’ Program Dramatically Cut Agency’s Costs The Onion, as usual, nails it. Once you’ve watched it, watch it again in full-screen mode to read the headlines and factoid crawls (starting around 1:45).  ..bruce w..

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Keeping perspective

Keeping perspective

| March 19, 2011 | 1 Reply

Click on the chart above to see it in full size. The smallest scale is the one at the bottom (labeled (1)). Each scale above that one represents 10x the range of the scale below it. When you hear news reports about “detectable radiation that is above normally accepted limits” around the heavily damaged Fukushima […]

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Tsunami photos and footage

Tsunami photos and footage

| March 13, 2011 | Reply

[UPDATED 03/13/11 — 1809 MDT] Jerry Pournelle links to the blog of an American engineer in Japan who points out at length just how well everything has worked in Japan during and in the aftermath of the quake, with a gentle reminder of how big Japan is: Quite a lot of the reporting on Japan, […]

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“Battle Los Angeles”: a brief review (w/spoilers)

“Battle Los Angeles”: a brief review (w/spoilers)

| March 11, 2011 | Reply

My sweet wife Sandra is not a particular fan of SF films (though she’ll certainly watch or go see them with me), nor of war movies. Yet after we saw this movie today, she talked about how engrossed she was during the entire film. (I’ll note that she went with me to see “Skyline” last […]

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The Left: reinventing fascism [updated][again]

The Left: reinventing fascism [updated][again]

| March 10, 2011 | Reply

What Hitler is currently being quoted as saying: “We must close union offices, confiscate their money and put their leaders in prison. We must reduce workers salaries and take away their right to strike” – Adolf Hitler, May 2, 1933 Problem is, as far as anyone can tell, Hitler never said that. On the other […]

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Memes in collision

Memes in collision

| March 8, 2011 | Reply

Just watch. ..bruce w..

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The Coming Dark Age

The Coming Dark Age

| March 7, 2011 | Reply

Robert Vacca wrote his work The Coming Dark Age back  in the eco-70s. His basic premise was that our technological and logistical infrastructure was becoming so complex and inter-dependent that a major failure somewhere would trigger a domino effect, causing civilization to grind to a halt. Vacca underestimated the ability of complex systems — particularly […]

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