When I turned 18, Minnesota had just made 18 the legal drinking age. When my bud and me went a bar-hopping, we always chose one designated driver. No booze for you! That way, the rest of us could get plastered in safety. If a bunch of high school seniors can figure that out in 1974 (I'm OLD), I see no reason to have sympathy for idiots who can't today.
Urban planning which forces higher population density so mass transit makes sense? Please. While we're at it, why not force everyone to wear see-through plastic clothes to prevent concealed weapons? Because many consider the cure worse than the disease. So you like high density life. Fine. Enjoy! I don't.
Not sure what you want me to say. It's no great secret that Niven hosted, and I chaired, the meetings in Tarzana that drafted the space defense policy transition team papers, and that we continued to submit papers through the National Security Advisor that were taken directly to President Reagan. The SDI policies were jointly developed by a number of organizations. The late General Dan Graham was in DC and developed much of the political support both grass roots and working with the services and the White House. My Citizens Advisory Council on National Space Policy argued for strategic defense in line with the "Assured Survival" chapter of The Strategy of Technology by Stefan Possony and Jerry Pournelle (1970). Strategy of Technology was used as a textbook in service academies, and had some influence over cadets who later became senior officers.
We later developed and advocated the DC/X as part of a technology for making America a Space-faring Nation again (a goal advocated by the Council). Some of the DC/X story including a picture of me, General Graham, and Max Hunter presenting the DC/X pitch to the Chairman of the National Space Council (VP Dan Quayle), and some discussion can be found here.
I probably should update the space papers section of this web site, but it's one more thing to do and I don't have anyone to do it but me. The best summary I have managed is found here.
The story of the Council and how Niven and I "brought down the Soviet Union" has been told in a number of places including a BBC special filmed here and at Niven's house that at one time got considerable exposure, but I suspect it is no longer available; I certainly don't know where it is. That, of course, is an overstatement. SDI was certainly crucial; Gorbachev has often said so. If one had to name a single individual as the most important in getting SDI adopted as a national policy, it would have to be General Dan Graham, who stayed in Washington and coordinated political, military, and scientific efforts into a single policy; and kept those policy recommendations at the forefront of discussion. This was particularly important after the first National Security Advisors (Dick Allen and Judge Clarke) left the White House. SDI would not have been adopted without General Graham.
Dan has said he couldn't have done it without me, and immodestly I have to agree; but I couldn't have done any of this without many others. Niven's role was as host and providing an atmosphere in which a meeting of 70 influential and often temperamental people could spend weekends working on policy; the atmosphere of a high tech California millionaire's home was crucial in keeping people polite and allowing me to chair the meetings. Mrs. Marilyn Niven and a number of volunteers provided gourmet meals for this crowd in the early meetings. Later meetings were held in my home and Mrs. Roberta Pournelle was hostess and provided the meals and atmosphere. DC/X was designed and the briefing that brought it to life was written in those meetings at my home with Roberta as hostess.
And do note that I was chairman, not dictator; the SDI papers were drafted by over 70 people including Buzz Aldrin, Phil Chapman, Lowell Wood, John McCarthy, Danny Hillis, the invaluable Stefan Possony, George Merrick, Dr. Gould, the late Max Hunter, Greg Benford, the late Harry Stine, and many others, some now famous and some not. The reports were effective in large part because we had Robert Heinlein, Poul Ande
You must not be familiar with Niven and Pournelle!
As for "a bunch of wild directions" both are grounded in their science. SCIENCE, not wild ideas. Both are adept at looking at on-the-edge break throughs and figuring out the impact it could have on society. For instance, there has been increasing news reports about the sale of the organs of political prisoners in China. Rich people can get whatever they need for a few tens of thousands of dollars. Of course it's all illegal but that is no problem when there are corrupt officials. All of this is no surprise to those of us who read Niven's work in the 1970s. He called them "Organ-leggers."
Oh, and Pournelle has also been a successful computer columnist for many years. His "Chaos Manor" column was one of the best things in Byte magazine. Do check out his Chaos Manor Reviews at http://www.chaosmanorreviews.com/ and his Chaos Manor Musings at http://www.jerrypournelle.com/index.html.
I've had this since it rolled out about a year ago.
1. Love having the DVR. Too bad there's only one. Too bad the limit is four TV streams.
2. Then again, they're pumping 24 MB/sec down my old copper phone line and I recorded four movies all at once from different channels the other night. Amazing!
3. It's been a heck of a better deal than cable. We pay less, yet we now get Showtime and Starz channels that would have cost a fortune on Time Warner.
4. There is some pixelation that is irritating. Maybe you don't get that with HDTV. I wouldn't know.
If you think the Democrats didn't play the "We're in charge and you are NOT!" game when they were in power, then you are either too young to remember or not paying attention. I don't like it, but the Dems won. To the winner go the spoils (and the gavels of committee chairmanships). Just watch them plow through their agenda, giving the other side no quarter. That is how it works in our system. If you thought that was just "evil elephants," you are in for quite a shock!
Were I to emigrate to France (not likely!) I'd have to learn French. ETC!
Why is it that the "Ugly American Who Only Speaks English (and that badly)" is a bad thing who should be ridiculed but the "Algerian who only speaks Arabic" or "Mexican who only speaks Spanish" should be protected and understood and cherished?
As the center of the system moves out of the Earth, there will be a moment in time when it's at just the right height above the surface. If you were to be standing there at that moment, then the Earth would actually be revolving about you!
That house was used as military launching pad? Legitimate target. Deaths of innocents there-in? Hizb'Allah's sin.
Mainstream Islam (i.e., the ones allowed to run their holiest sit, Mecca) teach that the Jews are descendents of apes and pigs. "Jooooooos" is a reference to them.
Israeli issues:
1. Yeah, they've got nukes. They have not used them offensively. Haven't threatened to use them offensively, AFAIK. Kind of an indicator of decency, there.
2. Flouting UN resolutions. Like not disarming the private army Lebanon allowed to continue to occupy their southern region, in violation of the UN deal in 2000.
3. The Hizb'Allah raid that started this was on a military target. True. That's not terrorism, just as it wasn't when the hit our building full of Marines, way back when. One of the few things of all they've done that is legitimate. That ignores their many other violations. Meanwhile, bombing THE RUNWAY of airports that the enemy uses for resupply (or to spirit your captured people out of the country to Iran, which would be another violation) is a legitimate act. Had the roles been reversed, just try to say Hizb'Allah wouldn't have tried to kill as many as possible in the terminals.
4. Have you never seen the pictures of the Hizb'Allah emplacements snuggled right up to the UN positions? The UN had six years to tell them to move. They didn't. Have you not heard of the letter from one of the Canadians who was killed, in which he remarked at how the fire was coming not at them, but at the Hizb'Allah emplacements. Attempting to hide like that, using a protected place (hospital, UN position, etc.) is another war crime. It was no accident. But, it was mostly Hizb'Allah's fault and partly the UN's.
No side is blameless. True. Israel is more good than bad, but it has its faults and warts. Conversely, Hizb'Allah is more bad than good, but it has its virtues. They've done quite a bit of charity work among other moslems and they truly believe in their cause. So what? Israel would gladly live in peace (witness their relationships with Jordan and Egypt). Hizb'Allah had that choice, too, for 6 years. But they explicitly seek the destruction of Israel. The choices are between a side which is more good than evil and one that is more evil than good. All warts considered, I place Israel on the "more good" side. Easy choice.
Cruise ship? Four words: "Achille Lauro" and "Leon Klinghoffer" (my spelling may be off and I'm rushed.)
Where did the guy who did that end up? Living in Iraq. Somehow, he died just *before* the invasion. What was a major terrorist doing living there . . . ?
Did they target the building BECAUSE there were children there? No.
Do people like Hizb'Allah target children? Yes.
Do those awful Joooooos hide behind children when they shoot? No
Does Hizb'Allah base their attacks from among civilians who are SURE to be hurt when the Joooooos shoot back? Yes.
War crimes are clearly described in the Geneva Conventions. Hizb'Allah violates them by the score; they seem to be TRYING to see how many they can violate!
The conventions also make clear in Article 28 (http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu3/b/92.htm): "The presence of a protected person may not be used to render certain points or areas immune from military operations." The blood of the innocent at that house stains the hands of Hizb'Allah.
Katusha rockets are small, and shoulder launched? Far too big for that. The warhead alone is about 45 KG, IIRC. And EVERY ONE of them is fired in the hope it will kill Jooooooos -- An indescriminate weapon fired at civilian targets. Every one a war crime.
But, no. You can't seem to see that. You hate those awful Joooooooos who drop leaflets to warn civilians to flee and TRY to limit their attacks to military targets.
And now I'll probably have to remove some other relationship in order to designate a new Slashdot Foe.
It also inspired one of the best and funniest SciFi novels I've ever read: Fallen Angels, by Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle, and Michael Flynn.
The plot: SciFi geeks save fallen astronauts from a tyranically green/luddite government. Oh, and the glaciers? Our greenhouse gasses were holding back the next ice age, but the greens got their way. Most of Canada is already under the ice.
But even though I misspoke (miswrote?), this still illustrates that there was a thorough legal process. The prosecuters went after him hard, as they should have. That's their job. He was held accountable. We do that! If you don't like the outcome of the legal process, please take that up with Jane Roe and O. J. Simpson.
Aside: There has been no name calling in this discussion. Excellent! We should be able o discuss & disagree with civility. I thank my opponents for this!
US Defence officials have said charges including murder may be brought against Marines following a US investigation into the 24 civilian deaths in Haditha, a stronghold of the Sunni Arab insurgency.
Many Iraqis believe unjustified killings by US troops are common, though few have been confirmed by investigations.
Mr Maliki also vowed to disband militias....
In order: We will punish the guilty. Many have been falsly accused. There are a lot of "militias" causing problems.
Oh, and My Lai? Yes, people went to jail.
How many WMDs were found? There was at least one -- when a roadside bomb fizzled, it was because it used a chemical warhead. Good thing the enemy didn't know what they had! Why didn't they? Becaause there were no special markings. One way Saddam hid such things. Every Western intelligence service was sure he had them, it wasn't just us. Even his generals thought he had them. By the 1990 cease fire, he was supposed to SHOW how he got rid of them. Maybe he did get rid of them, but he tried to make sure nobody knew that.
Was Iraq working with al Queda? You've heard of the leader of "Al Queda in Iraq." Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. A Jordanian. How did he come to be in Iraq? He was injured while fighting Americans in Afghanistan, if memory serves. He went to Iraq for medical treatment. Then, our war against terror followed him there.
How many of those {civillians killed} were at the hands of US or Australian forces? Too many, sure! But we try to minimize civilian casualties. The Brave Mujahadeen murder and terrorize civilians on purpose. The mayor of Tall 'Afar sent a letter of thanks to the US soldiers for liberating his town from this:
By the summer of 2005, foreign jihadists - allied with al-Qaida - were ruling the city through intimidation and brute force. The situation seemed similar to Fallujah in 2004. Local police and tribal leaders were cowed, the population terrorized. Bombings, assassinations, beheadings and torture perpetrated by the terrorists against Iraqi citizens became commonplace. Even some victim's corpses were wired with explosives to kill family members coming to retrieve them. http://www.thespectrum.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?A ID=/20060215/OPINION/602150335/1014
No country is as pure as the angels. (Even ANGELS aren't that pure! Christians, Jews, and Moslems agree that some of them revolted against their creator.) Neither are any 100% evil. Though some come close to that, there are vestiges of decency in even the most corrupt. On balance? If some soldiers are about to capture me in battle, I hope they are more like ours than most others. We generally try to treat people decently.
Maybe he was not punished because he did nothing purposefully wrong. Our pilots do train at low-level, and accidents do happen. And maybe that was the end of his career, maybe he got court-marshalled...that needs research before I could say.
But I note that you ASSUME he is as guilty as if he had shot them on purpose. How many civilians did the mighty Mujahadeen blow up in Iraq today?
There's a One-Star General who got dumped because she was the commander over the outfit that brought us the infamy of Abu Graib (however that's spelled). Punish the guilty, say I -- as a retired USAF officer. Punish them HARD.
A year ago I was charged with two counts of premeditated murder and with other war crimes related to my service in Iraq. My wife and mother sat in a Camp Lejeune courtroom for five days while prosecutors painted me as a monster; then autopsy evidence blew their case out of the water, and the Marine Corps dropped all charges against me ["Marine Officer Cleared in Killing of Two Iraqis," news story, May 27, 2005].
My beef is that the critics of war are really selective in who they criticise. Far too often, our guys are presumed guilty; the other side has "legitimate grievances."
We "allow torture" and "support war crimes?" We have publicly PUNISHED those who did such things. Meanwhile, those we fight specifically target children and other innocents, joyfully slicing through throats and trading videos of the beheadings via cell-phones & websites. Daniel Perl was not killed by an American soldier.
Funny how my country's faults are so often trumpeted by those who are enjoying her Blessings of Liberty.
I was on the team for another major aerospace firm that considered bidding on this work. It is a huge, huge, gigantically awesome problem. The expected amount of data to be archived and indexed and protected is mind boggling -- many terabytes the first year, then it really grows!
We decided to not bid on it. Too much technical risk.
Slashdot Mirror
What, I'm no longer welcome here, either?
(snif)
You insensitive cad!
Question: Why is this a Slashdot-worthy issue? Where's the geek connection?
When I turned 18, Minnesota had just made 18 the legal drinking age. When my bud and me went a bar-hopping, we always chose one designated driver. No booze for you! That way, the rest of us could get plastered in safety. If a bunch of high school seniors can figure that out in 1974 (I'm OLD), I see no reason to have sympathy for idiots who can't today.
Urban planning which forces higher population density so mass transit makes sense? Please. While we're at it, why not force everyone to wear see-through plastic clothes to prevent concealed weapons? Because many consider the cure worse than the disease. So you like high density life. Fine. Enjoy! I don't.
Before he chaired the committee that came up with SDI, he co-authored a book that was used at several of the service academies, "The Strategy of Technology" http://www.jerrypournelle.com/sot/sot_1.htm. His words summarize this best (follow the link for access to the links he provides) http://www.jerrypournelle.com/mail/mail454.html#SD I
"Good science fiction writers...?"
You must not be familiar with Niven and Pournelle!
As for "a bunch of wild directions" both are grounded in their science. SCIENCE, not wild ideas. Both are adept at looking at on-the-edge break throughs and figuring out the impact it could have on society. For instance, there has been increasing news reports about the sale of the organs of political prisoners in China. Rich people can get whatever they need for a few tens of thousands of dollars. Of course it's all illegal but that is no problem when there are corrupt officials. All of this is no surprise to those of us who read Niven's work in the 1970s. He called them "Organ-leggers."
Oh, and Pournelle has also been a successful computer columnist for many years. His "Chaos Manor" column was one of the best things in Byte magazine. Do check out his Chaos Manor Reviews at http://www.chaosmanorreviews.com/ and his Chaos Manor Musings at http://www.jerrypournelle.com/index.html.
I've had this since it rolled out about a year ago.
1. Love having the DVR. Too bad there's only one. Too bad the limit is four TV streams.
2. Then again, they're pumping 24 MB/sec down my old copper phone line and I recorded four movies all at once from different channels the other night. Amazing!
3. It's been a heck of a better deal than cable. We pay less, yet we now get Showtime and Starz channels that would have cost a fortune on Time Warner.
4. There is some pixelation that is irritating. Maybe you don't get that with HDTV. I wouldn't know.
If you think the Democrats didn't play the "We're in charge and you are NOT!" game when they were in power, then you are either too young to remember or not paying attention. I don't like it, but the Dems won. To the winner go the spoils (and the gavels of committee chairmanships). Just watch them plow through their agenda, giving the other side no quarter. That is how it works in our system. If you thought that was just "evil elephants," you are in for quite a shock!
Well said.
Were I to emigrate to France (not likely!) I'd have to learn French. ETC!
Why is it that the "Ugly American Who Only Speaks English (and that badly)" is a bad thing who should be ridiculed but the "Algerian who only speaks Arabic" or "Mexican who only speaks Spanish" should be protected and understood and cherished?
Everyone who goes to a private Christian college has CHOSEN to be there. Don't like their policy? Go elsewhere!
How do you support the "i can't stand these christian colleges that force their beliefs in every way possible" canard?
As the center of the system moves out of the Earth, there will be a moment in time when it's at just the right height above the surface. If you were to be standing there at that moment, then the Earth would actually be revolving about you!
That house was used as military launching pad? Legitimate target. Deaths of innocents there-in? Hizb'Allah's sin.
Mainstream Islam (i.e., the ones allowed to run their holiest sit, Mecca) teach that the Jews are descendents of apes and pigs. "Jooooooos" is a reference to them.
Israeli issues:
1. Yeah, they've got nukes. They have not used them offensively. Haven't threatened to use them offensively, AFAIK. Kind of an indicator of decency, there.
2. Flouting UN resolutions. Like not disarming the private army Lebanon allowed to continue to occupy their southern region, in violation of the UN deal in 2000.
3. The Hizb'Allah raid that started this was on a military target. True. That's not terrorism, just as it wasn't when the hit our building full of Marines, way back when. One of the few things of all they've done that is legitimate. That ignores their many other violations. Meanwhile, bombing THE RUNWAY of airports that the enemy uses for resupply (or to spirit your captured people out of the country to Iran, which would be another violation) is a legitimate act. Had the roles been reversed, just try to say Hizb'Allah wouldn't have tried to kill as many as possible in the terminals.
4. Have you never seen the pictures of the Hizb'Allah emplacements snuggled right up to the UN positions? The UN had six years to tell them to move. They didn't. Have you not heard of the letter from one of the Canadians who was killed, in which he remarked at how the fire was coming not at them, but at the Hizb'Allah emplacements. Attempting to hide like that, using a protected place (hospital, UN position, etc.) is another war crime. It was no accident. But, it was mostly Hizb'Allah's fault and partly the UN's.
No side is blameless. True. Israel is more good than bad, but it has its faults and warts. Conversely, Hizb'Allah is more bad than good, but it has its virtues. They've done quite a bit of charity work among other moslems and they truly believe in their cause. So what? Israel would gladly live in peace (witness their relationships with Jordan and Egypt). Hizb'Allah had that choice, too, for 6 years. But they explicitly seek the destruction of Israel. The choices are between a side which is more good than evil and one that is more evil than good. All warts considered, I place Israel on the "more good" side. Easy choice.
Cruise ship? Four words: "Achille Lauro" and "Leon Klinghoffer" (my spelling may be off and I'm rushed.)
Where did the guy who did that end up? Living in Iraq. Somehow, he died just *before* the invasion. What was a major terrorist doing living there . . . ?
Mayhaps the alert is because they know that they haven't caught everyone they suspect, eh?
Did they target the building BECAUSE there were children there? No.
Do people like Hizb'Allah target children? Yes.
Do those awful Joooooos hide behind children when they shoot? No
Does Hizb'Allah base their attacks from among civilians who are SURE to be hurt when the Joooooos shoot back? Yes.
War crimes are clearly described in the Geneva Conventions. Hizb'Allah violates them by the score; they seem to be TRYING to see how many they can violate!
The conventions also make clear in Article 28 (http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu3/b/92.htm): "The presence of a protected person may not be used to render certain points or areas immune from military operations." The blood of the innocent at that house stains the hands of Hizb'Allah.
Katusha rockets are small, and shoulder launched? Far too big for that. The warhead alone is about 45 KG, IIRC. And EVERY ONE of them is fired in the hope it will kill Jooooooos -- An indescriminate weapon fired at civilian targets. Every one a war crime.
But, no. You can't seem to see that. You hate those awful Joooooooos who drop leaflets to warn civilians to flee and TRY to limit their attacks to military targets.
And now I'll probably have to remove some other relationship in order to designate a new Slashdot Foe.
ENOUGH of this "both sides are about as bad" B-S. Let's see if I can make this clear....
Those who intentionally TARGET children and PUBLICLY celebrate the deaths of children == Terrorist
Those who intentionally try to NOT TARGET children and publicly MOURN and REGRET the deaths of even their enemy's children == Probably NOT terrorists.
"Just like God and Robert A. Heinlein intended!"
Man -- I wish I was the one who'd thought that one up....
It also inspired one of the best and funniest SciFi novels I've ever read: Fallen Angels, by Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle, and Michael Flynn.
The plot: SciFi geeks save fallen astronauts from a tyranically green/luddite government. Oh, and the glaciers? Our greenhouse gasses were holding back the next ice age, but the greens got their way. Most of Canada is already under the ice.
Ah -- thank you. Missed finding that.
But even though I misspoke (miswrote?), this still illustrates that there was a thorough legal process. The prosecuters went after him hard, as they should have. That's their job. He was held accountable. We do that! If you don't like the outcome of the legal process, please take that up with Jane Roe and O. J. Simpson.
Aside: There has been no name calling in this discussion. Excellent! We should be able o discuss & disagree with civility. I thank my opponents for this!
I note some interesting quotes in the article: In order: We will punish the guilty. Many have been falsly accused. There are a lot of "militias" causing problems.
Oh, and My Lai? Yes, people went to jail.
How many WMDs were found? There was at least one -- when a roadside bomb fizzled, it was because it used a chemical warhead. Good thing the enemy didn't know what they had! Why didn't they? Becaause there were no special markings. One way Saddam hid such things. Every Western intelligence service was sure he had them, it wasn't just us. Even his generals thought he had them. By the 1990 cease fire, he was supposed to SHOW how he got rid of them. Maybe he did get rid of them, but he tried to make sure nobody knew that.
Was Iraq working with al Queda? You've heard of the leader of "Al Queda in Iraq." Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. A Jordanian. How did he come to be in Iraq? He was injured while fighting Americans in Afghanistan, if memory serves. He went to Iraq for medical treatment. Then, our war against terror followed him there.
How many of those {civillians killed} were at the hands of US or Australian forces? Too many, sure! But we try to minimize civilian casualties. The Brave Mujahadeen murder and terrorize civilians on purpose. The mayor of Tall 'Afar sent a letter of thanks to the US soldiers for liberating his town from this:
No country is as pure as the angels. (Even ANGELS aren't that pure! Christians, Jews, and Moslems agree that some of them revolted against their creator.) Neither are any 100% evil. Though some come close to that, there are vestiges of decency in even the most corrupt. On balance? If some soldiers are about to capture me in battle, I hope they are more like ours than most others. We generally try to treat people decently.
Maybe he was not punished because he did nothing purposefully wrong. Our pilots do train at low-level, and accidents do happen. And maybe that was the end of his career, maybe he got court-marshalled...that needs research before I could say.
But I note that you ASSUME he is as guilty as if he had shot them on purpose. How many civilians did the mighty Mujahadeen blow up in Iraq today?
But make darned sure you get the right "guilty" parties. Remember that guy who was going to be court martialed for shooting those poor, wounded men in a mosque a while back. Autopsies showed he did the right thing. See his letter in the Washington Post http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/arti
My beef is that the critics of war are really selective in who they criticise. Far too often, our guys are presumed guilty; the other side has "legitimate grievances."
I would imagine that they trust the USA about as much as USA citizens trust the EU (i.e., very, very little!)
We "allow torture" and "support war crimes?" We have publicly PUNISHED those who did such things. Meanwhile, those we fight specifically target children and other innocents, joyfully slicing through throats and trading videos of the beheadings via cell-phones & websites. Daniel Perl was not killed by an American soldier.
Funny how my country's faults are so often trumpeted by those who are enjoying her Blessings of Liberty.
Paranoia? It's not paranoia when the buggers you're concerned with do things like fly planes into a pair of buildings with ~30,000 people in them.
I was on the team for another major aerospace firm that considered bidding on this work. It is a huge, huge, gigantically awesome problem. The expected amount of data to be archived and indexed and protected is mind boggling -- many terabytes the first year, then it really grows!
We decided to not bid on it. Too much technical risk.