I had a nice short email from Libertarian candidate Tara Grub. There is more about her on my politics and religion page.
I changed formating - the other template I was using was very complicated and I had trouble making changes.
Friday, August 30, 2002
Wednesday, August 28, 2002
The 18 million Texas residents cause more greenhouse gas pollution than one billion people in the world's poorest regions according to the National Environmental Trust. Big pdf document, you might have to search to find reference which I picked up off an unstable news link..
initgame
Botticelli on the internet and radio!,
Cory Doctorow has an interesting story in Salon but I think it has been squeezed down too tight. Ninety percent of the time I think stories or novels are too slack and need editing by 10% or more but I would expand 0wnz0red. There are hyperlinks to some lingo in the document.
Civilians hobbyists are launching a rocket up 60 miles. Next step is for hobbyists to launch craft into orbit.
Salon also has a good review on Ken MacLeod, one of my favorite new writers. Smart politics and SF, what more do you want? How about an excerpt? Maybe I should have uploaded this before trying to infect someone else on MacLeod at the last CLSciFiBook IHOP meeting.
My friend Carol Phillips has gone off to World Con. Arghh, I'm stuck trying to get a job. Speaking of cons, Carol recently said:
"There are other great cons. Dragon Con in Atlanta, which I have never been
to, is supposed to be wonderful and huge (20,000 attendees) and of course,
Comic Con (50,000) is turning into an SF con with a comic focus. World Con
has never gotten over 8,000,"
Botticelli on the internet and radio!,
Cory Doctorow has an interesting story in Salon but I think it has been squeezed down too tight. Ninety percent of the time I think stories or novels are too slack and need editing by 10% or more but I would expand 0wnz0red. There are hyperlinks to some lingo in the document.
Civilians hobbyists are launching a rocket up 60 miles. Next step is for hobbyists to launch craft into orbit.
Salon also has a good review on Ken MacLeod, one of my favorite new writers. Smart politics and SF, what more do you want? How about an excerpt? Maybe I should have uploaded this before trying to infect someone else on MacLeod at the last CLSciFiBook IHOP meeting.
My friend Carol Phillips has gone off to World Con. Arghh, I'm stuck trying to get a job. Speaking of cons, Carol recently said:
"There are other great cons. Dragon Con in Atlanta, which I have never been
to, is supposed to be wonderful and huge (20,000 attendees) and of course,
Comic Con (50,000) is turning into an SF con with a comic focus. World Con
has never gotten over 8,000,"
Tuesday, August 27, 2002
Teaching job search has not been going that well and I'll write about it when it goes better.
I have added a lot of stuff on my liberal ideas blog.
Long article which I doesn't convince me that Al-Quida was named after and inspired by Isaac Asimov's Foundation.
Saturday, I played Puerto Rico again, this time I came in second. I also got into a four person game of Risk 2210 finally. I decided it takes too long. I am going to juggle rules to speed up play. I think it means getting rid of the cards, except I like the nuclear weapons cards.
Sunday Pat and I went to a video meeting of the Clear Lake Fantasy and Science Fiction Book Club Group. Terrific, nice house, good company.
The videos we watched were The Sixth Sense - remains very powerful with repeated viewings, Monty Python's Search for the Holy Grail - good, might as well stop watching before the ending, and Dogma - had its moments, not great. Google if you want links to the movies. Two of the videos were mine. I decided to only bring two and they would have to be fun and likely to appeal to the crowd, SF nerds. I would have also liked watching some of the other choices available. LOTR and The Crystal, the ending four story arch of Spring Farscape (the reason why I concluded Farscape was the best SF on TV), and some others.
We also took a break for eating and playing Flux - a card game. While waiting for Pat and I to get there Illuminati the board game was introduced. I have an idea - I should clean my living and dining room and have a game or video meeting here.
I have added a lot of stuff on my liberal ideas blog.
Long article which I doesn't convince me that Al-Quida was named after and inspired by Isaac Asimov's Foundation.
Saturday, I played Puerto Rico again, this time I came in second. I also got into a four person game of Risk 2210 finally. I decided it takes too long. I am going to juggle rules to speed up play. I think it means getting rid of the cards, except I like the nuclear weapons cards.
Sunday Pat and I went to a video meeting of the Clear Lake Fantasy and Science Fiction Book Club Group. Terrific, nice house, good company.
The videos we watched were The Sixth Sense - remains very powerful with repeated viewings, Monty Python's Search for the Holy Grail - good, might as well stop watching before the ending, and Dogma - had its moments, not great. Google if you want links to the movies. Two of the videos were mine. I decided to only bring two and they would have to be fun and likely to appeal to the crowd, SF nerds. I would have also liked watching some of the other choices available. LOTR and The Crystal, the ending four story arch of Spring Farscape (the reason why I concluded Farscape was the best SF on TV), and some others.
We also took a break for eating and playing Flux - a card game. While waiting for Pat and I to get there Illuminati the board game was introduced. I have an idea - I should clean my living and dining room and have a game or video meeting here.
Monday, August 26, 2002
MDN: Photo Journal Having succeeded globally with cars, electronics and even fashion, it was only natural the Japanese turned their hand to trying to surpass the West with one of its favorite culinary delights - ice cream.
Thursday, August 22, 2002
Stock Tip - Obvious -
"Financial adviser Geoffrey Hargadon has calculated the five-year rate of return on the stocks of the 45 publicly held companies that have attached their names to stadiums (e. g. Safeco Field in Seattle, 3Com Park in San Francisco, etc.). They are, in a word, dogs. According to Hargadon's calculations, a portfolio composed exclusively of stadium stocks lost an average of 11 percent per year over the past five years. The S&P 500 gained an average of about half a percent each year." Boston Globe
"Financial adviser Geoffrey Hargadon has calculated the five-year rate of return on the stocks of the 45 publicly held companies that have attached their names to stadiums (e. g. Safeco Field in Seattle, 3Com Park in San Francisco, etc.). They are, in a word, dogs. According to Hargadon's calculations, a portfolio composed exclusively of stadium stocks lost an average of 11 percent per year over the past five years. The S&P 500 gained an average of about half a percent each year." Boston Globe
Wednesday, August 21, 2002
Tuesday, August 20, 2002
Monday, August 19, 2002
When Justice Is Mocked Registration required. This is a follow-up to the story about Alabama jailing three retarded blacks over murdering a baby that doesn't exist.
Or maybe it does if you can "believe any of the good, honest, law-abiding Christian people in Choctaw County when they say the woman was pregnant" over two doctors, one a fertility expert.
Or maybe it does if you can "believe any of the good, honest, law-abiding Christian people in Choctaw County when they say the woman was pregnant" over two doctors, one a fertility expert.
MSNBC.com: Arthur Frommer's Budget Travel This is one of my favorites. Right now it has the links and info for getting about a week in fairly nice hotels in either London or Puerto Rico for under $400 including airfare.
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The Molly Ivins
What is it about Texas that produces such strong smart independent women as Molly Ivans, populist columnist, and Elizabeth Moon, science fiction writer?
Somewhat related to this I've posted some stuff in the Liberal Notebook.
What is it about Texas that produces such strong smart independent women as Molly Ivans, populist columnist, and Elizabeth Moon, science fiction writer?
Somewhat related to this I've posted some stuff in the Liberal Notebook.
I was at my Dad's two houses yesterday. Yes, I helped move beds. More interesting was ripping out a shower room the previous owner had tried to build. Bill, my sister's husband, is much better at home projects like that and did most of the work.
As part of the removal a bookcase was removed from a window. I would have kept the bookcase. Based on my experience you can never have too many bookcases.
As part of the removal a bookcase was removed from a window. I would have kept the bookcase. Based on my experience you can never have too many bookcases.
NY Times: "Testing out a tactic to combat online piracy, a group of record companies asked a judge yesterday to order four major Internet service providers to block Americans from viewing a China-based Web site that offers thousands of copyrighted songs free of charge."
Do you think this will work? NY Times may require free registration.
Do you think this will work? NY Times may require free registration.
RhinoTimes - LiberalWatch Column Serendipity, I ran across this column and only after reading it found out it was by noted SF writer Orson Scott Card. I like his column much more than I like his recent books. Ender's Game is a classic in both story and novel form (but probably not series). Unfortunately, his last series was retelling the Book of Mormon as Science Fiction. Ender's Game may be coming out as a movie within 2 or 3 years.
Saturday, August 17, 2002
Friday, August 16, 2002
CIV---- Earlier culture flip formula forgot the distance factor. More information here. Doesn't apply to how many troops needed but useful to know.
Thursday, August 15, 2002
Futurescan
This is produced at UHCLC Futures Studies program. I abandoned a Master's degree plan there as I was interested in hard numbers forecasting and futures studies jobs seemed to be more visioneering. Course i probably could have gotten a job with Compaq or Enron as a visioneer.
This is produced at UHCLC Futures Studies program. I abandoned a Master's degree plan there as I was interested in hard numbers forecasting and futures studies jobs seemed to be more visioneering. Course i probably could have gotten a job with Compaq or Enron as a visioneer.
Alabama prosecuters sound like Texas prosecutors. They had three people in jail for 15 years for killing a baby that never existed. Now that the case has been overturned they plan to appeal. May require free New York Times registration.
I will have a seperate page for religion and politics so my postings on those subjects are easier to skip over. I should probably do that for other topics as well.
I realize not everyone is wanting to know the details on what I'm doing with Civilization III but I am holding off a bit about creating another one for that because I want to move my old posts there.
Wednesday, August 14, 2002
Teaching -
Finally was able to do the final interview at Houston Independent School District Human Resources yesterday. I tried to a month ago and they said they weren't doing them then.
Arrive at 2:50 for 3:00 appointment, after calling them at 2:10 to confirm. I wait over an hour. Finally, I get the 15 minute interview (4:05 - 4:20). I am told "Fine, you'll make a great urban school district teacher. Now you need to contact a principal and get hired, but a lot of them may have filled spots already." Why wasn't I told this a month ago? Particularly, as I was originally told over a month ago they were doing the interviews. So I have to schedule last minute interviews to be done in the next few days to try to get a spot in the September alternative certification classes. They also said don't worry about the September class. We will stick you in a classroom with training to be done later if the principal wants to hire you.
Doesn't seem like a very organized way to run a school district.
Another reason why I like Elizabeth Moon.
"Understand that corporations do not have a conscience, do not have
morals, do not have ethics. They are fictional constructs designed to
remove responsibility from individuals--does that sound like something
you can trust to have the best interests of employees, the community,
natural resources, or the country in mind? No, of course not.
Corporations are a valuable concept, but it's a mistake to confuse them with a real person who has a real ethical stance. Corporations must be subject to laws which they will find onerous if they are not to end up
destroying the welfare of the community as a whole."
"Understand that corporations do not have a conscience, do not have
morals, do not have ethics. They are fictional constructs designed to
remove responsibility from individuals--does that sound like something
you can trust to have the best interests of employees, the community,
natural resources, or the country in mind? No, of course not.
Corporations are a valuable concept, but it's a mistake to confuse them with a real person who has a real ethical stance. Corporations must be subject to laws which they will find onerous if they are not to end up
destroying the welfare of the community as a whole."
What is your Political Compass?
I am economically 3.25 degrees Left
and socially 5.13 degrees Libertarian.
I have stayed about the same in the libertarian direction in the last three years. Big surprise, I like liberty and understand what it means. I have moved off of neutral on economics.
I am economically 3.25 degrees Left
and socially 5.13 degrees Libertarian.
I have stayed about the same in the libertarian direction in the last three years. Big surprise, I like liberty and understand what it means. I have moved off of neutral on economics.
Tuesday, August 13, 2002
SF Fred Pohl tells an amusing story. While in Europe he met an Italian count whose daughter wanted to write SF - actually, what she really wanted was to have published SF, so her father seriously asked Pohl what writer would do the actual work for her, so she could be an "author". Pohl recalls toying with the idea of giving him Heinlein's or Ellison's address, but thought better of it.
I've been reading writer anecdotes lately brought on by a memorial collection about Isaac Asimov in the magazine named after him.
I've been reading writer anecdotes lately brought on by a memorial collection about Isaac Asimov in the magazine named after him.
Civ Topic While looking for an answer to a Civilization 3 specific question,i.e. can I give stealth bombers unlimited range to reflect the way they are used, I did find a useful formula to determine the odds of culture flipping.
The required garrison to prevent captured cities from flipping back is:
G = (Foreign in city+Tiles worked by Foreign Civ)*2(for a looong time*H(1)*(Their total culture/Your total culture)
F=double for resistors, long time=until your cultural points for that city is more then theirs
H=2 for disorder, .5 for We Love the King 1 for normal
So if there is 1 resistor and my culture is just a bit above theirs I need 4 units in the city. If I have 4 times as much culture I need 1 unit. Adjust for city populations and cultures.
The main point of this formula is that it confirms why I don't have problems except for occasionally the enemy capital. I hurry and build roads to captured city, rush built improvements, keep the city in WLTKD, as well as being a culture building fool in all my other cities. The people who go off on long rants about how unrealistic culture flipping is are the ignorant culture-less warmongers. Which I knew. They are about the same ones who go off on flaming rants on the corruption problem as your civilization gets too big.
The required garrison to prevent captured cities from flipping back is:
G = (Foreign in city+Tiles worked by Foreign Civ)*2(for a looong time*H(1)*(Their total culture/Your total culture)
F=double for resistors, long time=until your cultural points for that city is more then theirs
H=2 for disorder, .5 for We Love the King 1 for normal
So if there is 1 resistor and my culture is just a bit above theirs I need 4 units in the city. If I have 4 times as much culture I need 1 unit. Adjust for city populations and cultures.
The main point of this formula is that it confirms why I don't have problems except for occasionally the enemy capital. I hurry and build roads to captured city, rush built improvements, keep the city in WLTKD, as well as being a culture building fool in all my other cities. The people who go off on long rants about how unrealistic culture flipping is are the ignorant culture-less warmongers. Which I knew. They are about the same ones who go off on flaming rants on the corruption problem as your civilization gets too big.
Monday, August 12, 2002
Going around on the Net (rec.humor.funny):
"The best thing anyone could say about the latest results from America's largest airlines was that clearly they had not been embellished by questionable accounting practices. As Don Carty, chief executive of American Airlines said, "Nobody in their right minds would make up numbers like these.""
"The best thing anyone could say about the latest results from America's largest airlines was that clearly they had not been embellished by questionable accounting practices. As Don Carty, chief executive of American Airlines said, "Nobody in their right minds would make up numbers like these.""
Sunday, August 11, 2002
I'm up at my Dad's.
Last night found out the San Jacinto college gaming group is meeting over the summer. I did not get to play Risk 2120.
We played Puerto Rico instead. Five people playing. I believe final scores were 51, 50, 37, 35, 22. The college professor who is teaching a class this fall on World History through Games was first. The person whose game it was came in second. I don't remember if the person who was third had played before or not. Me and the person who came in last had never played before. A very good strategic board game.
Dad and I grilled steaks and then we returned his Kodak digital camera to Best Buy for possible repair. It will not download either from cradle or directly, focus and zoom often not working, functions sometimes not working.
Digital cameras and new models of computers with new operating systems from brands with problems in the past are the only things I believe are worth extended warranties. Best Buy seems to have a reasonable system - reasonable warranty prices and non-commission salespeople. Unlike their main competitor Circuit City whose pushy salesman are on commission and are apt to loss their jobs if they do not sale enough extended warranties. No link to Circuit City, I have to recommend something to link to it.
My expertise on these matters is only that I sold electronic products at a department store for several years before moving on to other things.
Last night found out the San Jacinto college gaming group is meeting over the summer. I did not get to play Risk 2120.
We played Puerto Rico instead. Five people playing. I believe final scores were 51, 50, 37, 35, 22. The college professor who is teaching a class this fall on World History through Games was first. The person whose game it was came in second. I don't remember if the person who was third had played before or not. Me and the person who came in last had never played before. A very good strategic board game.
Dad and I grilled steaks and then we returned his Kodak digital camera to Best Buy for possible repair. It will not download either from cradle or directly, focus and zoom often not working, functions sometimes not working.
Digital cameras and new models of computers with new operating systems from brands with problems in the past are the only things I believe are worth extended warranties. Best Buy seems to have a reasonable system - reasonable warranty prices and non-commission salespeople. Unlike their main competitor Circuit City whose pushy salesman are on commission and are apt to loss their jobs if they do not sale enough extended warranties. No link to Circuit City, I have to recommend something to link to it.
My expertise on these matters is only that I sold electronic products at a department store for several years before moving on to other things.
Saturday, August 10, 2002
Yahoo! News - World - Reuters A group of Iraqi soldiers paraded in Baghdad with explosives tied to their waist. Is this supposed to scare us or make us fall on the floor laughing?
Easter Lemming Photos OK, sometimes the photos linked from here come through, sometimes they don't. Is it a Yahoo limitation? Will replace with a link to photo instead of image of photo.
I really don't need blogspot. I could just use Yahoo or PDQ or Tripod to host my blog. Then I could include in the blog host a storage file for the photos and not have to link from elsewhere and wonder about them showing up. Blogger just adds a few blogging tools.
Saw Greenway's 8 1/2 Women, a homage to Fellini. Thumbs down.
Coming along on the spreadsheet for worldwide current military forces for Civ 3. Also received RISK 2120 in the mail. I have to look at the rules more closely but can see a few things I want to change. I got started with a 3 person game of this at San Jac con two months ago but the room closed before we got too far.
Might go to San Jacinto college this evening to see if anyone wants to play. Also just to see if wargames group is meeting weekly this month. If they aren't will head to nearby sisters and check out her new pool.
Will see Dad and Jean tomorrow and grill steaks, will try to talk Jim and Amy into going.
I really don't need blogspot. I could just use Yahoo or PDQ or Tripod to host my blog. Then I could include in the blog host a storage file for the photos and not have to link from elsewhere and wonder about them showing up. Blogger just adds a few blogging tools.
Saw Greenway's 8 1/2 Women, a homage to Fellini. Thumbs down.
Coming along on the spreadsheet for worldwide current military forces for Civ 3. Also received RISK 2120 in the mail. I have to look at the rules more closely but can see a few things I want to change. I got started with a 3 person game of this at San Jac con two months ago but the room closed before we got too far.
Might go to San Jacinto college this evening to see if anyone wants to play. Also just to see if wargames group is meeting weekly this month. If they aren't will head to nearby sisters and check out her new pool.
Will see Dad and Jean tomorrow and grill steaks, will try to talk Jim and Amy into going.
Friday, August 09, 2002
Military Balance One of my best sources for military information. Unfortunately military statistics have many problems.
- Countries like to keep what they have more or less secret.
- Sources often disagree.
- Sources are available from different dates and it can be unclear as to the date..
- Being mainly numbers there can be many typos.
- Military equipment isn't used much. This means a lot of it is stored until it might be used. When it comes time to use it a lot of it isn't usable. Sometimes equipment might be kept on the books but just used for spare parts. A lot of this might be classified as "reserves" but it can be more or less informal when something moves from frontline well-maintained, to OK, often not working, to spare parts source, to reserve, to scrap.
- Sometimes armed forces may have more equipment than they can afford to operate or can efficiently operate. On the other hand, countries might have millions of men under arms without enough equipment.
- A lot of what Cordesman has available here is tables and charts. Which is what you want, at least, if you are like me and are just wanting some numbers. However, you might run across something like the Indonesian artillery being given 3 different numbers in the same report. "Typos" and the the difference between "immediately usable" and "on the books" and "disagreements between sources" explain this.
Still very good work, a lot based on Institute of Strategic Studies Military Balance reports and other sources he mentions.
You can probably tell I am still wrapped up in creating a Civ 3 mod.
-
- Countries like to keep what they have more or less secret.
- Sources often disagree.
- Sources are available from different dates and it can be unclear as to the date..
- Being mainly numbers there can be many typos.
- Military equipment isn't used much. This means a lot of it is stored until it might be used. When it comes time to use it a lot of it isn't usable. Sometimes equipment might be kept on the books but just used for spare parts. A lot of this might be classified as "reserves" but it can be more or less informal when something moves from frontline well-maintained, to OK, often not working, to spare parts source, to reserve, to scrap.
- Sometimes armed forces may have more equipment than they can afford to operate or can efficiently operate. On the other hand, countries might have millions of men under arms without enough equipment.
- A lot of what Cordesman has available here is tables and charts. Which is what you want, at least, if you are like me and are just wanting some numbers. However, you might run across something like the Indonesian artillery being given 3 different numbers in the same report. "Typos" and the the difference between "immediately usable" and "on the books" and "disagreements between sources" explain this.
Still very good work, a lot based on Institute of Strategic Studies Military Balance reports and other sources he mentions.
You can probably tell I am still wrapped up in creating a Civ 3 mod.
-
Sign of the times, for the first time venture capitalists are returning money to investors. No good investments out there.
In connection with this, my father and stepmother just bought a vacation house near them as they don't like what the stock market has done in the last two years.
Welcome to Houston! I picked a place to add or copy photos.
In connection with this, my father and stepmother just bought a vacation house near them as they don't like what the stock market has done in the last two years.
Welcome to Houston! I picked a place to add or copy photos.
I don't use a Mac but have friends that do.
From DR. MAC: (may require free sign up at the Houston Chronicle)
"After a month I replaced the PowerBook with a dual 1-gigahertz Power Mac G4. In two words, double wow -- that's a "wow" for each processor. Once again it's the fastest Mac I've ever used by a good margin.
After I packed it full of RAM (1.5 GB, the most it can support), it was amazing. I could edit video, surf the Web, send mail, write a story, back up to another hard drive and paint a picture, all at once, with absolutely no degradation of performance.
The new PowerBook and the Power Mac are noticeably faster than my existing PowerBook G4/667 and my Power Mac G4/500. If you have the need for speed, these are the two fastest Macs I've ever tested.
So which is better? That depends upon what you do. Photoshop filters were faster on the dual 1 GHz, and rendering speed in Final Cut Pro was faster as well. Furthermore, since Mac OS X supports dual-processors automatically, the dual 1 GHz ran OS X 10.1.5 faster than any single-processor Mac.
If you use processor-intensive applications or run OS X full-time, consider a multiprocessor Mac.
If you don't use heavyweight graphics or video software, you might wish for a dual-processor setup, but a single-processor Mac is all you really need.
I have no complaints about the dual 1-GHz Power Mac."
From DR. MAC: (may require free sign up at the Houston Chronicle)
"After a month I replaced the PowerBook with a dual 1-gigahertz Power Mac G4. In two words, double wow -- that's a "wow" for each processor. Once again it's the fastest Mac I've ever used by a good margin.
After I packed it full of RAM (1.5 GB, the most it can support), it was amazing. I could edit video, surf the Web, send mail, write a story, back up to another hard drive and paint a picture, all at once, with absolutely no degradation of performance.
The new PowerBook and the Power Mac are noticeably faster than my existing PowerBook G4/667 and my Power Mac G4/500. If you have the need for speed, these are the two fastest Macs I've ever tested.
So which is better? That depends upon what you do. Photoshop filters were faster on the dual 1 GHz, and rendering speed in Final Cut Pro was faster as well. Furthermore, since Mac OS X supports dual-processors automatically, the dual 1 GHz ran OS X 10.1.5 faster than any single-processor Mac.
If you use processor-intensive applications or run OS X full-time, consider a multiprocessor Mac.
If you don't use heavyweight graphics or video software, you might wish for a dual-processor setup, but a single-processor Mac is all you really need.
I have no complaints about the dual 1-GHz Power Mac."
Thursday, August 08, 2002
Military forces
Found a nice but incomplete table for world military forces in 1995. I can use this for the smaller countries. Not good for modern and large countries where I need more detail - what type of planes, how many armored vehicles - but I have most of that already.
Civ 3
Figured out how to do images, you have to find a site that doesn't block you using them. I really need to get my own site I can post them to and use that bandwidth instead of hijacking someone else. However, it is not like I am going to get a lot of traffic.
I now have about a dozen PDF files downloaded regarding current and recent world military force structures. I am going through them and other online stuff to create a master spreadsheet for the CIV 3 scenario I am creating.
Last night, really this AM, stayed up going through NATO forces. Leaving me really wracked this morning.
Had 2 cups of coffee (2/3rds decaf) and 2 scrambled eggs, salsa, cheese, some green beans for breakfast. Is borderline on my diet, probably somewhat over 5 grams carbo. Have been just off my diet all year with the result of no weight loss.
Saw Midway while eating breakfast. I was again most impressed with naval pilots in WW2 who fly out over the ocean to do battle in brand new unstable technology. Big ocean, small carrier landing strips, weeks of doing nothing for a few minutes of shooting and being shot at. Can see why people who were born in the 30's are called The Greatest Generation.
Figured out how to do images, you have to find a site that doesn't block you using them. I really need to get my own site I can post them to and use that bandwidth instead of hijacking someone else. However, it is not like I am going to get a lot of traffic.
I now have about a dozen PDF files downloaded regarding current and recent world military force structures. I am going through them and other online stuff to create a master spreadsheet for the CIV 3 scenario I am creating.
Last night, really this AM, stayed up going through NATO forces. Leaving me really wracked this morning.
Had 2 cups of coffee (2/3rds decaf) and 2 scrambled eggs, salsa, cheese, some green beans for breakfast. Is borderline on my diet, probably somewhat over 5 grams carbo. Have been just off my diet all year with the result of no weight loss.
Saw Midway while eating breakfast. I was again most impressed with naval pilots in WW2 who fly out over the ocean to do battle in brand new unstable technology. Big ocean, small carrier landing strips, weeks of doing nothing for a few minutes of shooting and being shot at. Can see why people who were born in the 30's are called The Greatest Generation.
Wednesday, August 07, 2002
Well got most of laundry done. Decided to just take 5 washing machine loads. Will do linens tomorrow.
Enterprise had the best of season 1 episode on tonight. Most interesting story and had a good fit with the rest of the Star Trek universe. This is the one where they run across the heretic Vulcans who believe they can integrate their emotions with their logical side. They even smile and laugh
There was another episode also on that was typical slow and dull. One of the big problem with Enterprise is that it seems designed for people 50 and over. Slow and not kool at all.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I haven't figured out a way that works to put pictures here. I was going to have one of director Wim Wenders here but you will have to go to IMDB and imagine the small picture here.
Finally saw The Million Dollar Hotel. Interesting but slow, not American commercial at all but should have done better than it did. Probably demands too much of an American audience, you have to think and they are characters most Americans don't want to think about.
. Wim Wenders's Until the End of the World is on my top 5 greatest movies list.
Voice Over that starts the movie:
1999 was the year the Indian Nuclear Satellite went out of control. No one knew where it might land. It soared above the ozone layer like a lethal bird of prey. The whole world was alarmed... Claire couldn't care less. At the time, she was living her own nightmare. The same dream arrived each night. She was gliding over an unknown land, pleasantly at first, but then the gliding would turn into falling, the falling into panic, and then she'd wake up.
Enterprise had the best of season 1 episode on tonight. Most interesting story and had a good fit with the rest of the Star Trek universe. This is the one where they run across the heretic Vulcans who believe they can integrate their emotions with their logical side. They even smile and laugh
There was another episode also on that was typical slow and dull. One of the big problem with Enterprise is that it seems designed for people 50 and over. Slow and not kool at all.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I haven't figured out a way that works to put pictures here. I was going to have one of director Wim Wenders here but you will have to go to IMDB and imagine the small picture here.
Finally saw The Million Dollar Hotel. Interesting but slow, not American commercial at all but should have done better than it did. Probably demands too much of an American audience, you have to think and they are characters most Americans don't want to think about.
. Wim Wenders's Until the End of the World is on my top 5 greatest movies list.
Voice Over that starts the movie:
1999 was the year the Indian Nuclear Satellite went out of control. No one knew where it might land. It soared above the ozone layer like a lethal bird of prey. The whole world was alarmed... Claire couldn't care less. At the time, she was living her own nightmare. The same dream arrived each night. She was gliding over an unknown land, pleasantly at first, but then the gliding would turn into falling, the falling into panic, and then she'd wake up.
Tuesday, August 06, 2002
Why I am doing this.
I wanted to start logging things that I'm doing or that catch my interest to someplace on the net instead of just using my email application for it. I also think that my collection of files on Outlook Express is getting too large and that might be responsible for the weird things somethimes happening.
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Right now, I have just finished up doing a lot of research on current worldwide military forces for a Civ 3 scenario I want to create. I found a lot of stuff today that I didn't manage to find last week. Of course, I start to find it after I broke down and ordered used ISS Military Balances from Barnes and Noble. I was supposed to get a new Social Security card I'll need for teaching job and do laundry but got on the web with a spreadsheet also open and 12 hours later it is time for a late dinner.
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I'll pass along a great article about dissent and the American tradition. I didn't know that America the Beautiful was written by a progressive lesbian. Maybe that means I can get my UU Church to include it as a hymnal one day. The only time I tried the Director of Religious Education disapproved. Remind me to start going to church more.
I should mention something about politics or science fiction but I'm curious to see how this posting works and looks.
I'll add more later.
email me
I wanted to start logging things that I'm doing or that catch my interest to someplace on the net instead of just using my email application for it. I also think that my collection of files on Outlook Express is getting too large and that might be responsible for the weird things somethimes happening.
Right now, I have just finished up doing a lot of research on current worldwide military forces for a Civ 3 scenario I want to create. I found a lot of stuff today that I didn't manage to find last week. Of course, I start to find it after I broke down and ordered used ISS Military Balances from Barnes and Noble. I was supposed to get a new Social Security card I'll need for teaching job and do laundry but got on the web with a spreadsheet also open and 12 hours later it is time for a late dinner.
I'll pass along a great article about dissent and the American tradition. I didn't know that America the Beautiful was written by a progressive lesbian. Maybe that means I can get my UU Church to include it as a hymnal one day. The only time I tried the Director of Religious Education disapproved. Remind me to start going to church more.
I should mention something about politics or science fiction but I'm curious to see how this posting works and looks.
I'll add more later.
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