So far under, daylight is just a tease

So two quickies while I pretend I'm not blogging.

On history, Cordoba, and leaving the ruminations that Mr. Gingrich actually teaches history in college up to the reader. (Grokked from Jay Lake).

Hmmm, well, there goes another myth we tell ourselves. This one is about how unregulated industry is better than regulated industry and how the moratorium on deep water drilling is costing jobs. (also via Jay Lake)

Where two or three are networked

At 3350 words, Grace is a rough draft. There's lots of work that needs to be done on it, but that's for tomorrow (or next week). But, hey, short short rough draft completed. That hasn't happened for a while.

Final Grades

Okay, well, I guess I shouldn't have changed that one answer, because I only got one wrong on the test. Damnit. So that's 149/150 or 99.33% for the final. Overall that makes 328 out of 330 points, or 99.39%. Overall there were 5 extra points you could make, so really I had 328 out of 335, which is 97.91%.

Have I said how much I like math and doing numbers?

The question I got wrong? What is the meaning of the prefix "dia-". I eliminated two of the responses right off the bat and was left with "flow" and "complete." I thought it was complete and marked that first. I also put a tick next to the question which tells me to go back and check my answer after reading the whole test. There was no other help on the test so I tried to remember all the words I could come up with, such as dialysis, diaphragm, diaspora, etc. I had a transient thought of dialysis meaning "complete breakdown" and how that wasn't really what we did in dialysis, and thought I remembered that being discussed in class (many medical terms aren't reducible, some are historical anomalies like phlebotomy and orthopedist, some are just not close to what the root and extra parts mean). But then I thought of diaphragm and diaspora and thought they described a "flow" and changed my answer to "flow." Well, as we all know now, "dia-" means complete.

So, a little disappointing after the 103+% in the previous class, but still, nothing to sneeze at. In this class I don't have any comparison to others. There wasn't as much student interaction during class other than "Hey, how are you" and "Did you do well on the test." I didn't hear any "I've just gotta get a C in the class" conversations like I did for the previous. So there's no knowing how well I stacked up against the other students in this or the other classes this professor taught (in the earlier class the prof let me know that in approaching the final exam there were four of us who had already earned Bs with the points we had accumulated).

The Final Exam

Well, final exam is over, and because you know I like the math, here we go. An "A" is 91% or greater, total points are 330 (180 in quizzes/tests and 150 final exam). So overall I could miss 29 (well 29.7). Leading up to the final, I was down 1 point (because of extra credit). That means I could miss 28 (81%) on the exam and still get an A.

I know I missed 1. It was one of the questions I kept going back and forth on. Unfortunately I switched it from the correct answer to an incorrect answer. Dang it. One the plus side, I did switch others that would have been incorrect.

In other news, I missed a deadline to register for the HOBET/NET test. So now the next test available is in September. Which will delay my application for nursing and radiologic program. Damn.

Hyperventilation Thursdays

Sometimes I feel like such a slacker, he said facing his comprehensive final, something worth 50% of his grade, this evening and is going to talk about not writing.

My friend, Mer, talks about this a little on why people give up. Now, I should say I'm not giving up. But I have to be honest, since I got this new job I haven't been burning up the time trying to write and edit. Heck. I have three rejections sitting in my inbox that I haven't dealt with yet. And they've been there for a month at least. And I have a novel that while isn't the next Dashiell Hammet breakaway book, isn't chopped hepatocyctes either. With another round of edits using the notes form the novel workshop two three months ago, I think it would be in good shape to go agent foraging with.

The self-doubt, the gremlins that gibber in the witch's midnight of my mind, have they worked out a new tool? Those sonsabitches. I'll bet they're behind this.

Or maybe it's as Stephen King says in "On Writing" that smart people are generally the more lazy and are more often prone to shipping oars and drifting when they can get away with it. That may have something to do with it. This job takes much more of a toll on me than I originally thought. So when I do have time, I really just want to relax. And it just hasn't been the writing that I've been ignoring. There's also the Village work I haven't really been paying attention to as much as I should. That part, however, actually does feel a little good. I am looking forward to the closing of my position in a year and a half.

Yes, I too know why the freed bird sings. And I know why the caged bird sings as well. I know the many reasons the caged bird sings.

So after tonight, there's a bunch of "living" stuff that needs to get done. Including scheduling other things for the retraining (which, just found out, a test I need isn't offered until the middle of next month when I thought there were two more test dates this month - margle). As well as cleaning, and petting the cats, and getting ready for fall, and yard work I've been ignoring, and all that other stuff. I need to get to rewriting the novel and getting some of these short stories out.

And some more politics

Sometimes, if you watch the crazy long enough, the truth will out. Remember when Sharron Angle was the darling of the conservatives and the Tea Party when she was ahead in polls and looked likely to unseat Harry Reid? Yeah, not so much these days (even though the polling is still close). Also see here, and here. okay, well, that last one is just cluelessness.

And yes, Rep. Charlie Rangle is gone, baby, gone. What I think is very funny is how actual actions by the Ethics Committee is being spun as "the dems have not changed anything after promising to 'drain the swamp'," by people like Rep. Boener. Oh really, Johnny boy. Let's see, we have an actual working Ethics Committee that has the balls to bring down a chairman. Say, how did the Ethics Committee work when you and Hasteurt were in charge? Oh yeah, it didn't. Or do I need to say bad words like Vitter and Ensign who are facing criminal charges relating to their inability to keep it in their pants, all of which occurred on your watch. Or say, how about Jack Abramoff, just how well did the Ethics Committee under your rule work on that? Oh, right, they didn't because you gutted their office and didn't actually assign people to work on it. Tell ya what, Johnny boy, I'll take all the Democratic representative scandals of the past four years and stack them up against just the Gay Sex Republican scandals. I still think I'll come out on top.

I was working up a post on this one, but the Washington Monthly beat me to it. It seems strange that those who say they love and honor the Constitution as it was originally written would be working so hard to amend it on so many points. And then there's this Washington Post editorial on political amnesia. (both grokked from Jay Lake) All those wonderful conservatives and their small government and no deficit spending. Yes they all forget about how this coming "tax raise" is actually a programmed end to tax cuts because even at the time of a Republican President and control of both House and Senate, they couldn't stomach the financial problems of making those cuts permanent. And that when those tax cuts were initially brought it, the former VP himself, the Cheney Man, said "Deficits don't matter." Yeah, the people who more than doubled the government and brought about greater deficit spending than any previous administration, let's put those people back in charge. Um, wait a sec, couple their previous transgressions with the worse GNP growth over a decade since the Great Depression, and maybe we ought to rethink those policies.

Just a clarification on the Wikileaks

Apparently some right wing whackaloons are advocating the death sentence for the Wikileaks people. Really?

Okay, I'm on record with my condemnation of the wikileaks posts. However, I understand that leaks are a vital asset to keeping our government transparent (see, Eric, we're not all that far apart). My main beef with them is that they put people in jeopardy for no good reason. That is, the leaks didn't give us anything new, say like the Pentagon Papers which proved several things about the progress of the Vietnam War that the Nixon (and Johnson) administration(s) denied. Like the bombing of Cambodia. As I remember, nobody was really denying any of the "secrets" in the wikileaks documents. And all they did was get people who helped us into serious trouble (including maybe being targeted by the Taliban for elimination).

So, I'm up for jail time, or maybe a oneway ticket to Western/Southern Afghanistan for an all expenses paid week long trip. But the death penalty to meet with some of the people they outed? Not really seeing it. They just need to learn their job and that "just putting it out there" has consequences.

story bone

"Please use the spaces in between the words you're saying," I said to the person who answered the phone.

Tuesday at a clip

Today was just manic. And the first part of tomorrow will be cleaning up and correcting what was done in haste today. Sigh.

Tonight was the final chapter test/quiz in Medical Terminology. I got at least two wrong, and there were no extra credit. So that's 38/40, or 95%. My lowest grade so far. An A in this class is 93%.

Do this make it less biased?

Well, now that Alan Greenspan says it does it make these charts (that I linked to previously) slightly less suspect? Probably not.

And the final quote in that first story keeps rankling me. Diane Swonk says, "We've seen enormous political backlash, and there is no comfort for anyone who's wealthy, if they've got to deal with a pretty big class warfare, at the political level, via taxes or anything else." Yeah. My heart bleeds. Not.

My God, it's full of links

Elder Signs Press is having a "Haiku for Cthulhu" contest going on. Come on, you know you wanna. Plus, three prizes, all include books. What's not to like?

On NPR last week there were several stories about book publishing. First up was a literary agency publishing their backlisted author's ebooks. While there are points to be made all around, and I trust the agency to do a much better job at ebook publishing than the hackers and rippers out there, I do see the argument from the publisher's side. What the agency is pushing is also, to some degree, the product of the publisher as well. Just a reminder that book publishing is not like how it's portrayed in the movies and tv shows. Don't believe me? Ask your favorite author about "editorial letters" and see what you don't know (both about the process and the mental stability of the author).

And because I haven't processed all of the ramifications, yet, free books for donations is noted without comment.

Michelle Sagara West on something that is "what she said" worthy. And yes, I too am guilty of meeting famous writers only to start the conversation with, "I'm sorry, I haven't read your stuff, yet." The fabulous L. E. Modesitt, author of The Magic of Recluce (which comes highly recommended) I'm thinking of you right this moment. Michelle also quips something about only avoiding her if you really don't like her. How can you not like Michelle? I haven't read any of her books yet (which also come highly recommended), though. But hey, the only moments I got to spend with her was while she was standing at Larry & Sally's booth going over just how they managed the logistics of selling books at cons. And Michelle even made that fun (okay, I have to admit, I had been thinking of the exact same questions in previous months, so there was the guilty pleasure of learning about Larry and Sally's business).

Another reason I hate Microsoft.

And just because it was relevant to an IM conversation, the Gumbys. And with that, I fall in love with the internet all over again. "My brain hurts."

One of the reasons I don't watch much TV.

So, because I was bored and there was nothing else on I saw an episode of Top Shot on the History Channel. This was the episode with the long bows and crossbows.

Okay, so I'm sure there's a bunch of editing and selection of the photo shoots that drive the story, but really, what a bunch of whiny little girls. Yeah, competitive bullcrap abounds, but the whole "WTF is this with bows, I just, blah blah blah." Really smarty pants, then get your asses out there on the line and practice until the sun goes down instead of sitting in the house and bitchin' about how it's such an unfair requirement.

Really, I'm in a skills competition and I'm not on the line throwing lead (or wood as the case may be) down range until I can barely see? Is there some rule that prevents them from practicing? Eating is something you do when your hands hurt and you need a break (or you start shaking from either protein or glucose deficiency).

And they perpetuated a myth. And that myth is that the crossbow was more advanced on the field. It wasn't. The yew bow (aka English Long Bow) was. Now, they did it right that combat long bows had 150-200lb draw weights. You typical current era long bow has a 40lb draw weight, and hunting compound bows have a 60lb draw weight.

Crossbows are very old weapons, having seen service in the Greek Army and were a way of balancing the power of the composite bow and the ability to aim it. And while the long bow is just as old, the advent of the yew bow was a late arrival on the battlefield and slightly post-dates the arrival of the metal composite crossbow. No matter what, the crossbow was only just a strong short bow. The determining factor was that the yew bow was just as powerful at close range (yes, the yew bow would put a steel-tipped shaft through platemail, knight, and pierce the back of the mail at close range), twice as effective at a medium distance, and had a long range of 300-500 yards, which the crossbow couldn't match. Also, a skilled crossbowman could shoot 5-8 quirils in a minute and required extensive training. This is why in the middle ages most crossbowman were mercenaries. The long bow, on the other hand, could put 15 shafts per minute down range and didn't require the extreme training (although English Law required yeoman to train so many times per year), and were also able to use their short swords and pikes.

The yew bow gained prominence in the 100 Years War (late 14th century) and most importantly gave Henry V his victory at Agincourt. Well, that and the French losing their minds and feeling over confident by outnumbering the English 5 to 1 (in mounted knights). Then French brought 1,500 crossbowman to the field (Italian mercenaries). While most accounts of the battle talk about how the French longbowman and crossbowman were shuffled to the back, what is less well known is the Italian Mercenaries quit the field in the onslaught of the English Yew Bowman in the forest of Tramecourt.

While the crossbow became the template that was used to integrate man-portable firearms into battle, it was the competition of the long bow that caused firearm adoption