Well, for all the hullaballo over us "shooting down" a satellite (for anybody watching, the damn thing is still up there, we just made it into pieces parts), everybody is missing the big picture. From a small ship (a destroyer) we have missiles deployed that can destroy a satellite. Sure, it was (still is) in low Earth Orbit, but still.
Hello, is this mike on? WTF do the news media need here? Do they need some one to point it out.
New alert: Deployed anti-satellite weapons that are ship platform ready.
No more "over the rainbow" aircraft doing ballistic trajectory. No more "damn, we need a frickin' silo/gantry for these things." Nope, we launched this weapon off a destroyer. That, ladies and gentlemen, is what this story is really about.
Think you're so tough blowing up a weather satellite in deep orbit, eh China? Eat this. We don't need no stinking cosmodrome facility. We don't need a weeks worth of preparation time. We don't need no special stinkin' ship/launch platform. Yeah, this was as much about hydrazine as wearing 18mm pearls is about keeping warm. We destroy sensitive technology, and show the world just what we've got. Extra bonus, we make things go boom up in space. Welcome to the new battle front, space. Some one finally realized we are in a Cold War with China (not that I'm happy we just militarized space, in fact I'm pretty ticked about that part).
Extra bonus points to everybody who can remember where and how the first blood was taken and how that relates to the events of today (Thursday). Some things that look "spontaneous" aren't, just saying.
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Story Bone
Okay, so the last couple (okay, most) of the story bones have been real short pieces. Here's a full story idea. I've worked through three stories (SF, Fantasy, or Horror, I glom more toward the horror idea) that I could write, but I just don't have the time. And the muse commands, so as she commands, so I do.
First off, for the story, reincarnation is a reality. And it's reincarnation as a mix of several Buddhist Traditions (and some New Age permutations). Reincarnated souls have memory, skills, and traits that transfer to the new body (this is how you find or prove the reincarnated lamas, they remember their friends and the favorite belongings, the also demonstrate knowledge and skills the previous lama had). These souls can "fragment" and inhabit several bodies in the same temporal space (Steven Seagal anybody). The new age part is that these fragments can be merged to create new "soul beings" (like soul sexual reproduction? - that's the New Age part). So, if you were a person of a minor soul (lesser flame), would you be jealous of a person of greater soul (brighter flame)? Say like Salieri was of Mozart in "Amadeus." Now, lets add in that, although not well known, there is a way to force mingling of souls during reincarnation. Would our character be willing to kidnap a greater soul they admire and go through a murder-suicide ritual to ensure their reincarnated souls would be greater? Would that ability be an example of of greater skill of soul (brighter flame), so some irony there. What would society be like if such could happen? Would there be an intense caste system, although one enforced by "ritual practitioners" would could weed out lesser from greater souls? Would there be forced adoptions? Would families hobble children of "greater flames" for whatever testing there might be to then be shown to have "prodigy" traits of their own? Would society have developed mechanisms to mingle souls to create a mediocrity of beings (in an extreme case of social engineering meant to "better the race" - like the Bene Gesserit breading programs of Dune or eugenics)? Would we have a defacto meritocracy in all levels of society (Gattica)?
First off, for the story, reincarnation is a reality. And it's reincarnation as a mix of several Buddhist Traditions (and some New Age permutations). Reincarnated souls have memory, skills, and traits that transfer to the new body (this is how you find or prove the reincarnated lamas, they remember their friends and the favorite belongings, the also demonstrate knowledge and skills the previous lama had). These souls can "fragment" and inhabit several bodies in the same temporal space (Steven Seagal anybody). The new age part is that these fragments can be merged to create new "soul beings" (like soul sexual reproduction? - that's the New Age part). So, if you were a person of a minor soul (lesser flame), would you be jealous of a person of greater soul (brighter flame)? Say like Salieri was of Mozart in "Amadeus." Now, lets add in that, although not well known, there is a way to force mingling of souls during reincarnation. Would our character be willing to kidnap a greater soul they admire and go through a murder-suicide ritual to ensure their reincarnated souls would be greater? Would that ability be an example of of greater skill of soul (brighter flame), so some irony there. What would society be like if such could happen? Would there be an intense caste system, although one enforced by "ritual practitioners" would could weed out lesser from greater souls? Would there be forced adoptions? Would families hobble children of "greater flames" for whatever testing there might be to then be shown to have "prodigy" traits of their own? Would society have developed mechanisms to mingle souls to create a mediocrity of beings (in an extreme case of social engineering meant to "better the race" - like the Bene Gesserit breading programs of Dune or eugenics)? Would we have a defacto meritocracy in all levels of society (Gattica)?
Sunday, February 17, 2008
Fascinating, Jim, but is it life.
Yeah, I lose geek points for mixing my Star Trek metaphors. Since the last photo post was a bit to, um, forward looking, here's something more realistic. Yes, as a kid I practiced how to raise that eyebrow. I'm such a total geek.
If you all are good I might upload some of the crazy photos I took while I experimented with my wife's new mac (it has an iSight camera built in).
Also, Greenyflower points to a virtual model site where she had a composite made. My friends and I saw a prototype of this way back in the last century, it's interesting to see it finally come to market. Apparently full beards aren't so stylish anymore, but here's what the site made of me and my personal info.
If you all are good I might upload some of the crazy photos I took while I experimented with my wife's new mac (it has an iSight camera built in).
Also, Greenyflower points to a virtual model site where she had a composite made. My friends and I saw a prototype of this way back in the last century, it's interesting to see it finally come to market. Apparently full beards aren't so stylish anymore, but here's what the site made of me and my personal info.
Saturday, February 16, 2008
Calling Matt Mitchell
The ever perceptive and perspicuous Ken McConnell reminds me, Mr. Mitchell's blog, Unabashed, seems to have gone all kerfluee this past week. I saw the post where he talked about having problems and noted it earlier, but then the week went all maddening. Matt, let us know you're still alive and kickin' down there in the south, and what you're new digs will be. Thanks.
Also, here's hoping our favorite Littlebird is having a blast at the Convention where Jay Lake is Master of All Toast.
I know there's about eight other things I wanted to comment on this week. Sorry for all the political stuff. Usually in a month I get at least one week where I don't have any government meetings, but that doesn't happen in February. And it looks like a many a month I'll be having more weeks with meetings. Sigh. And it's an election year. Everybody duck and cover.
Also, here's hoping our favorite Littlebird is having a blast at the Convention where Jay Lake is Master of All Toast.
I know there's about eight other things I wanted to comment on this week. Sorry for all the political stuff. Usually in a month I get at least one week where I don't have any government meetings, but that doesn't happen in February. And it looks like a many a month I'll be having more weeks with meetings. Sigh. And it's an election year. Everybody duck and cover.
Friday, February 15, 2008
Whatchamecallit
One of the fun things of being a writer is you get to wordsmith fresh and brand new words and uses. To paraphrase Stephen King, if you can describe it maybe you’re in the wrong business.
So, with the proliferation of back of the seat monitors and DVD players in cars, what do you call that when you’re following such an equipped car and can make out what video their watching (one van had a very large screen the other day).
In-flight movie. As in, “Hey, look, I wonder what’s on the in-flight movie.”
Usually it’s a children’s movie or feature. Although I have been able to identify a number of them, including “A Charlie Brown Christmas.” But could I get a good action flick every now and then? Like one of the Die Hard or Lethal Weapons?
So, with the proliferation of back of the seat monitors and DVD players in cars, what do you call that when you’re following such an equipped car and can make out what video their watching (one van had a very large screen the other day).
In-flight movie. As in, “Hey, look, I wonder what’s on the in-flight movie.”
Usually it’s a children’s movie or feature. Although I have been able to identify a number of them, including “A Charlie Brown Christmas.” But could I get a good action flick every now and then? Like one of the Die Hard or Lethal Weapons?
Congressional Shenanigans
The Democratic Party really needs to get it's marketing together. Why isn't the party, when it criticizes, able to get their words together? We don’t need a four paragraph response to yesterday.
Yes, the Republicans in Congress stood up and found the backbone to act to preserve their jobs as the President’s Lapdogs and the corporate stooges they’ve become.
Simple, direct, starts sounding like a compliment and then slips the knife in, works well in the news cycle. It could be followed up with this.
They walked out on doing their job. This is okay as they’ve shown they have no ability at it.
You say all of that fast, it could be the 15 second sound bite.
Bonner, for this act, for your rhetoric regarding this act, I call you a puppet. Instead of standing up for the people who elected you, to protect them, you instead stood up to protect the companies you take money from. You’ve shown your parties true colors, and for that I thank you. You’ve shown the Republicans don’t give a crap about real people, except to make them afraid and coerce their votes. Just remember who you’ve sold out when your sucking on that. Fortunately, you aren’t my representative. If you were, I would seriously consider running against you.
You’re outraged? Join the club. If you, as speaker, had actually done your job, instead of being a political fat-cat, you wouldn’t be in this position. And while I’m at it, stop smoking. The state you represent has figured it out, it’s time for you to get smart. Plus, it’s way to easy to satire you smoking a cigar.
As for the liability protection for the telecoms, if they’ve done nothing wrong, they have nothing to fear. Just like if we’ve done nothing wrong we have nothing to fear. Goose, meet gander. If they broke the law, do not remove the public’s method of redress. Everybody believes in Smith’s invisible hand of the market until it comes around to bitch slap them.
Yes, the Republicans in Congress stood up and found the backbone to act to preserve their jobs as the President’s Lapdogs and the corporate stooges they’ve become.
Simple, direct, starts sounding like a compliment and then slips the knife in, works well in the news cycle. It could be followed up with this.
They walked out on doing their job. This is okay as they’ve shown they have no ability at it.
You say all of that fast, it could be the 15 second sound bite.
Bonner, for this act, for your rhetoric regarding this act, I call you a puppet. Instead of standing up for the people who elected you, to protect them, you instead stood up to protect the companies you take money from. You’ve shown your parties true colors, and for that I thank you. You’ve shown the Republicans don’t give a crap about real people, except to make them afraid and coerce their votes. Just remember who you’ve sold out when your sucking on that. Fortunately, you aren’t my representative. If you were, I would seriously consider running against you.
You’re outraged? Join the club. If you, as speaker, had actually done your job, instead of being a political fat-cat, you wouldn’t be in this position. And while I’m at it, stop smoking. The state you represent has figured it out, it’s time for you to get smart. Plus, it’s way to easy to satire you smoking a cigar.
As for the liability protection for the telecoms, if they’ve done nothing wrong, they have nothing to fear. Just like if we’ve done nothing wrong we have nothing to fear. Goose, meet gander. If they broke the law, do not remove the public’s method of redress. Everybody believes in Smith’s invisible hand of the market until it comes around to bitch slap them.
Thursday, February 14, 2008
More Writing Advice
The ever glorious Justine Larbalestier weighs in with her own advice. Which seems to revolve around procrastination (is it worth it or not) and IMing.
Happy Valentines Day
Yep, it's the annual reminder that, hey, Barry White is an excellent songster, baby. :)
Hope you and yours are having a nice day.
Hope you and yours are having a nice day.
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
It's a Pirate's Life for Me
In case you all are missing it, John Scalzi is showing the cards on the writing life, specifically about money. He also has several follow-ups, some hidden in various and sundry kinds of articles. Of course, because it’s John, others are commenting with their own experiences and conspiracy theories (cribbed from John). And then another post where he describes his income in more depth.
Expect more people chiming in. Tobias can’t be far behind.
End result from distilling it all, don’t quit the day job. Todd, you should be alright. It was a night job after all. :) I also think you’re hitting the mark on John’s other points in his first post.
Well, that’s enough hyper linking for one day.
Expect more people chiming in. Tobias can’t be far behind.
End result from distilling it all, don’t quit the day job. Todd, you should be alright. It was a night job after all. :) I also think you’re hitting the mark on John’s other points in his first post.
Well, that’s enough hyper linking for one day.
Union Bustin' New Age Style
After posting the worse yearly loss of a company ever, GM is giving money away to it's union employees, you know, the people who actually make the stuff. But only if they all go away. All of them.
The people who actually know how to put the cars together, GM wants them all to go away. Then GM can replace them with lower paid people. That was one of the concessions that GM had won, a second tier of payment. That tier they said wouldn’t affect anybody currently working and was for non-assembly work.
So, GM will then have a union force that is making less, and hence paying less into the Union Run Pension Health Care Plan. Yeah, see how the UAW is about to take a huge financial hit, one that is bigger than they expected.
And that’s how you break unions, new age style.
GM management, your all pieces of sewage, just thought you’d like to know. Good luck making cars without experienced employees. And, no, I don’t’ think your management team really does know how it’s done. They think they do, though. It’s call pride and hubris.
BTW, you might want to engineer your cars better. If I have to remove the windshield-washer reservoir to change the battery out, or use a screwdriver to change a headlamp, or need a special wrench to change the air filter, your design has failed. You know, that and having most of your light vehicles getting less than 33mpg might have something to do with your reduced market share.
The people who actually know how to put the cars together, GM wants them all to go away. Then GM can replace them with lower paid people. That was one of the concessions that GM had won, a second tier of payment. That tier they said wouldn’t affect anybody currently working and was for non-assembly work.
So, GM will then have a union force that is making less, and hence paying less into the Union Run Pension Health Care Plan. Yeah, see how the UAW is about to take a huge financial hit, one that is bigger than they expected.
And that’s how you break unions, new age style.
GM management, your all pieces of sewage, just thought you’d like to know. Good luck making cars without experienced employees. And, no, I don’t’ think your management team really does know how it’s done. They think they do, though. It’s call pride and hubris.
BTW, you might want to engineer your cars better. If I have to remove the windshield-washer reservoir to change the battery out, or use a screwdriver to change a headlamp, or need a special wrench to change the air filter, your design has failed. You know, that and having most of your light vehicles getting less than 33mpg might have something to do with your reduced market share.
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Everybody's Talkin' At Me
My lurker-fu extends. Currently unread posts number over 400. Ha ha ha. Four Hundred!
For some reason I was inexplicably proud when the counter went over that marker today. Even though I do go to some of the big poster sites to just knock it back down, I still ended the day over 400.
In other news, I had an injury at work late Friday night. I cut open my hand, well a three inch gouge at the outside base of the thumb. The urgent care facility's doctor used a foam gel patch to close it back up (flap of skin was still attached). It's kind of interesting to see into your own body. And then there was the fact I needed to keep pressure on it to stop it from bleeding. That was all kinds of fun as I'm thinking, "pressure bandage, or tourniquet?" Well, it wasn't bleeding enough for the tourniquet, and I couldn't find a pressure bandage so it was the other hand pressing some gauze on it. Made filling out the forms especially interesting. Fun part was that I wasn't using a knife or razor blade, and the metal I opened my hand up with is rather dull (hence the more gouge like mark than a straight cut). So that's also slowed me down. The cut really isn't bad, but it's in the perfect spot that a bandage doesn't want to stay attached, so I have a cloth wrap around my hand to hold the bandage down (yes, it's still oozing). On the plus side there's no sign of infection and it's healing nicely.
For some reason I was inexplicably proud when the counter went over that marker today. Even though I do go to some of the big poster sites to just knock it back down, I still ended the day over 400.
In other news, I had an injury at work late Friday night. I cut open my hand, well a three inch gouge at the outside base of the thumb. The urgent care facility's doctor used a foam gel patch to close it back up (flap of skin was still attached). It's kind of interesting to see into your own body. And then there was the fact I needed to keep pressure on it to stop it from bleeding. That was all kinds of fun as I'm thinking, "pressure bandage, or tourniquet?" Well, it wasn't bleeding enough for the tourniquet, and I couldn't find a pressure bandage so it was the other hand pressing some gauze on it. Made filling out the forms especially interesting. Fun part was that I wasn't using a knife or razor blade, and the metal I opened my hand up with is rather dull (hence the more gouge like mark than a straight cut). So that's also slowed me down. The cut really isn't bad, but it's in the perfect spot that a bandage doesn't want to stay attached, so I have a cloth wrap around my hand to hold the bandage down (yes, it's still oozing). On the plus side there's no sign of infection and it's healing nicely.
Sunday, February 10, 2008
Some Requested Photos
I sent an email to my grade school friend who had tracked me down a few years ago. In that email I talked about how with going through some old boxes of stuff at my Mom's I had found an old grade school sweatshirt and that my loving wife had it framed. He said he'd like to see a picture of that, as well as any photo of me. So, Rog, this post is for you.
Yes, at one point in my life I could wear something that small.
And here's one of me.
Share and enjoy.
Yes, at one point in my life I could wear something that small.
And here's one of me.
Share and enjoy.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)